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April 27, 2008 - May 3, 2008

Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Offer; Yahoo Responds

Microhoo bid raised aloft; Google-Yahoo Kool-Aid quaffed. "No Mas" cried Ballmer's Microsoft.

Yahoo drank the Google paid search Kool-Aid to fight off Microsoft, leading the Redmond giant to retract its higher bid to acquire the Sunnyvale search engine. Microsoft reportedly offered $33 a share, and Yahoo held fast at $37 a share. That was too rich for Steve Ballmer's blood. The prospect of Yahoo outsourcing its paid search to Google was also too much for Ballmer to stomach.

So Microsoft walked. In a letter to Jerry Yang (full text below), Steve Ballmer cited Yahoo's intention to outsource search as the primary reason he decided to scotch the deal.

Of course that doesn't mean enraged Yahoo! shareholders won't sue Yahoo.

Ballmer wrote, "I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!."

Here's why, according to Microsoft's business logic:

Advertisers would use Google rather than Yahoo! Panama to manage paid search, fragmenting not only PPC but display advertising and the Yahoo! advertising ecosystem.
Yahoo then wouldn't be able to retain talented engineers working on advertising systems - engineers whom Ballmer considers a key aspect of Yahoo's attractiveness.

The decision would also create a morass of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer - especially Microsoft - would want to slog through. Ballmer believes search market share of the combined Yahooo-Google deal would reduce competition and advertiser choice.

Ballmer took the argument one step further, stating the deal would "effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and (Yahoo!) search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo.

While it would be hard to prove a keyword-auction would enable Google or any search engine to "set prices," the deal would increase keyword prices based on Google's ability to monetize inventory more efficiently.

Yahoo responded by promising (again) to maximize shareholder value and pursue strategic opportunities. Yahoo still maintains Microsoft undervalued the company.

Yahoo! banged the drum (again) about:

"-- a refined strategic focus to drive enhanced volume and yield;

-- reorganized to focus its efforts on its most promising products and services;

-- invested in innovations designed to revolutionize display advertising and facilitate closing the competitive gap in search; and

-- enhanced expense and resource management to support improved profitability."

As Jerry Seinfeld might have said, "Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, Yahoo."

Be prepared Monday for Yahoo shares to plummet back to earth. (Full text of Steve Ballmer's statement after the jump.)

Below is the text of the letter from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang.

May 3, 2008

Mr. Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Dear Jerry:
After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.

I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!'s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.

I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.

In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.

Also, after giving this week's conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.

We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a "hostile" bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:

-- First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!'s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display advertising business to fuel future growth.

-- Given this, it would impair Yahoo's ability to retain the talented engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our interest in a combination of our companies.

-- In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among other things, this would consolidate market share with the already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce competition and choice in the marketplace.

-- This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.

-- It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search provider that is not already relying on Google's search services.

Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!.

We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.

I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.

But clearly a deal is not to be.

Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.

Sincerely yours,
/s/ Steven A. Ballmer

Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation<

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 3, 2008, 9:59 PM | Permalink

First Annual SES Awards for Best Search Engine Strategies

In celebration of Search Engine Strategies' 10-year anniversary, SES San Jose 2008 will host the first annual SES Awards ceremony. The SES Awards will be held Wednesday, August 20, 2008, hosted by Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies.

Winners will be selected in each of the following categories:

* Technology Platform Search Marketers Can't Live Without
* Best Business-to-Business Search Marketing Campaign
* Most Innovative Use of Search Engine Optimization
* Search Engine with Most Relevant Search Results
* Best Multi-National Search Marketing Campaign
* Best Integration of Search with Other Media
* Best SEM Technology Platform for SMBs
* Best Social Media Marketing Campaign
* Most Advertiser-Friendly Search Engine
* Most Innovative Paid Search Campaign
* Most Effective Use of Web Analytics
* Most Innovative New Search Engine
* Best Search Engine Ad Platform
* Best Web Analytics Platform
* Best Use of Local Search
* Editor's Choice

The mission of the SES Awards: to inspire innovation and encourage new ideas. The SES Awards honor 15 outstanding winners in the search universe. The awards will be judged by a panel of industry experts and the SES Awards editorial staff.

The Editor's Choice award winner will be selected exclusively by the SES Awards editorial staff.

Can you guess who the SES Awards judges will be?

Questions? SES Awards FAQ has your answers.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 2, 2008, 5:57 PM | Permalink

Live Search QnA Gets Updates

Microsoft's Live Search team has announced updates to its answer feature, QnA. The updates to the service, still in Beta, are being dubbed the "Renaissance release" and include the following, according to their blog:

• Focus on the QnA experience for new users.
• Encourage users to discover content and functionality in new ways.
• Highlight and award higher quality content by featuring members who are Top Contributors in given areas of expertise.

When it comes to search, answers are where it's at for an increasing number of searchers. Recent data showed answer sites growing 118% in 2007, while social media is a medium for answer-finding as well.

For example, conducting a search for "laptop" in a search engine may return a list of companies selling laptops, but a searcher is really looking for a product that has good performance. Those answers are found through consumer and expert reviews, and answer sites are a source of that kind of information.

Microsoft's Live Search team seems to understand this search behavior. Recently, they updated their product search experience and added products to mobile search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 2, 2008, 10:18 AM | Permalink

Getting Cozy with Online Ad Formats

The SEO community has been a-buzz lately about standards. There's the epic conversation going on about SEO standards. And then there's the new mobile image ad guidelines that immediately outdated Google's new mobile ads.

Today, Google's Adwords blog got in on the action by talking about general online ad formats. Specifically, the Adwords team has published an online ad format guide. The one-page PDF guide is super simple to read and comprehend. There are recommendations for 6 different ad types:

• Text ad
• Local Business ad
• Image/Flash ad
• Click-to-play video ad
• In-video ad
• Gadget ad

The guide provides the following info on the 6 types:

• Description of the ad type
• When to use it
• Where to use it
• Ad sizes
• Metrics

So go ahead and get your online ad on!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 2, 2008, 9:42 AM | Permalink

Yahoo-Google Deal is Imminent, So is Microsoft Decision

The Wall Street Journal is yet again providing Microhoogle scoops this morning. First up, Yahoo may announce a deal with Google to run its search ads. A few weeks ago, we learned that the tests of those ads were successful. And though the Justice Department is concerned about the partnership, the agreement will likely be nonexclusive, which should alleviate regulators' fears.

But regulators are not the only ones with fears that Yahoo needs to alleviate. Wall Street and shareholders have been waiting with baited breath to see if Microsoft and Yahoo could reach an agreement on price for the proposed acquisition. But the two remain divided on the value of Yahoo, and Microsoft is expected to make an announcement about whether it will pursue a hostile takeover of Yahoo or walk away from its unsolicited bid.

Even if Microsoft announces a hostile takeover, the Yahoo-Google deal could still go through. The agreement will likely use Right Media's ad exchange which employs a real-time auction system. Yahoo acquired Right Media last year. At least one analyst, Citigroup's Mark Mahaney, has the deal as bringing Yahoo an additional $1 billion a year in revenue. Mahaney previously predicted that Microsoft would increase it's offer to $34 per share based on Yahoo's revenue projections for the next three years. Earlier this week, Microsoft indicated it would offer $32-33, while Yahoo wants upwards of $35-37. The original offer is for $31 per share.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 2, 2008, 8:49 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Top 5 Non-SEO Ways to Increase Your Search Rankings

Contrary to what some search marketers may think, marketing is not all about search. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Top 5 Non-SEO Ways to Increase Your Search Rankings," Chris Boggs explains that by branching out into other areas, like usability and PR, you can increase the effectiveness of your search efforts.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Training Your Search Marketing Employees

Your employees are the most important asset of your business. Once you've found and hired new employees, it's time to train them. In today's Business of Search column, "Training Your Search Marketing Employees - Part 1," Fionn Downhill outlines some of her training methods for new search agency employees.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing

As with any emerging marketing medium, advertisers should try to learn from some of the key lessons of those who were willing to blaze the online trail before us, in hopes of not making the same mistakes. In today's Vertical Search column, "Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing," local search expert Gregg Stewart shows how the advertising potential of mobile now resembles that of the early days of the Internet, in both variety of search options available and the fragmented nature of the keyword search volume.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

New Updates and Publishers for Yahoo! Buzz

Yahoo! Buzz updated with new features last night. Among them are:

• “Top Buzz” widget for any publishers interested in expanding their content offerings by displaying the top articles across Yahoo! Buzz (or within specific categories)
• “First Buzzed By” indicators (showing who was the first to Buzz an item) and personal
• RSS feeds for top Buzz stories overall, as well as within specific categories

Meanwhile, new publishers have been signing up to Yahoo! Buzz including:

• AskMen.com
• ThePanelist.com
• Venture Beat

And it's no wonder publishers are jumping on the Yahoo! Buzz bandwagon. So far, the service has sent almost 50 million referrals to their subset of publishers from the "Buzzing Now" links that appear on the "Featured" section on the homepage. Some highlights:

• After being featured on Yahoo.com, HowStuffWorks.com received nearly 1 million total visits for its story on “How the Aptera Hybrid Works.”
• In part as a result of being featured on Yahoo.com, RollingStone.com reached its highest page view traffic of Q1 2008 on March 11, 2008. The highlighted “buzzing” story on the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame received over 700,000 visits from Yahoo.com, resulting in over 2.4 million page views.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 11:23 AM | Permalink

DoubleClick Mobile Integrates with Mobile Ad Networks

Just one week after Google announced mobile image ads, the newly acquired DoubleClick is announcing the integration of its mobile ads with mobile ad networks. The networks are AdMob, Google Adsense, and Millenial Media's Mbrand and Decktrade networks.

"This integration is a great example of how DoubleClick is working with key industry players to bring value to publishers by enhancing the liquidity of mobile display inventory," said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products. "We believe that the ability to sell mobile inventory directly and indirectly will provide mobile advertisers with more options, ultimately leading to better monetization for publishers."

Yesterday, Admob was included in a Marchex announcement of its agreement with mobile ad networks to provide pay-per-call services.

"AdMob is always eager to extend our engineering investments in mobile advertising relevance and optimization to new platforms," said Omar Hamoui, AdMob's founder and CEO. "We are excited that DoubleClick's clients will now be able to join over 4000 existing AdMob publishers in leveraging AdMob's ad liquidity and mobile specific ad serving technologies."

An estimated $1.7 billion is expected to be spent on mobile advertising this year, up from $878 million last year. Projections have the spend reaching $6.5 billion by 2012.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 11:09 AM | Permalink

Pimp My Site: Tweaking High Traffic Landing Pages

When you have a page that is bringing in a lot of eyeballs, it may be tempting to just leave it alone. Cliches become mantras. "There's no need to stir the pot." "Let sleeping cats lie." "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The problem is that if your traffic isn't converting, then your landing page is, in fact, broken.

Thankfully, the Google Website Optimizer team is serving up tips on knowing which pages to tweak via a post on their blog.

First up are Landing Pages. Go to the "Content" section of Google Analytics and check out the "Top Landing Pages." The pages you need to focus on have high bounce rates and high entrance rates. The blog recounted a scenario Avinash Kaushik spoke about at SES. He said he was searching for faucets and the top sponsored result led him to a sinks page. Perhaps the site is experiencing large numbers of site visitors, but they're just throwing money away if they're not giving the people what they want.

Secondly, check out funnel pages. These are pages that a visitor arrives at after performing an action such as a purchase, registration or download. In Google Analytics, you can set up a funnel which contains 10 pages pertaining to a goal. Then, you'll be able to view "funnel visualization" reports that can show you where your site visitors get stuck in the process.

Remember, it's the conversions that matter the most. Not the clicks or the referrals or the number of eyeballs. If your site visitors are not engaging in the actionable goal you've set for them, then it's time to tweak.

Related Reading:
Your Baby's Ugly - Why You Need Landing Page Optimization Now
PPC Triage Now! Emergency Action Steps for Dying AdWords

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 10:01 AM | Permalink

Live Search Team Gives Insight into Product Search Updates

Recently, Microsoft updated the Product Search Experience, part of its Live Search offering. Now they're giving insight into the specific updates included, via the Live Search blog. The updates were based on feedback given by users of the feature while it was still in beta.

And the updates are (drum roll please)...

• One stop to research product details and find good prices -- Results display an image and description for each product as well as reviews, prices and spec sheets.


• Feature-based refinements -- View reviews based on features that are important to you (i.e battery life, portability)


• Sorting -- Sort results by user ratings, expert ratings, and price.


• Filtering -- Filter results by specific brands, categories, and price ranges.


• Richer product details -- Read expert reviews and a spec sheet describing the product.

Product search has been seeing a lot of action, lately. Earlier this week, the Product feature was added to Live Search for mobile phones.

It's really no wonder that such an emphasis is played on these types of product searches and results. Searchers are increasingly wanting answers (as opposed to branding) and with the popularity of devices like the iPhone (which offers full HTML browsing), product searches for both the regular and mobile web are important to the consumer buying process.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 9:43 AM | Permalink




Google Adwords: TV Ads for Everyone!

Google TV Ads have been in private beta since last summer, but now they're groomed and prepped and available for U.S. customers. Why in the world should a search marketer such as yourself care about TELEVISION? I'm so glad you asked.

Offline advertising prompts online searches. Last summer, iProspect released study data suggesting that 37% of TV watchers are prompted to conduct a search based on a TV ad. I can attest to the validity of this statement as I've seen these results in the marketing analytics of a Fortune 500 company I previously worked with.

Because of this, integration is crucial. If your TV people aren't talking to your Web Marketing people, then you're not maximizing your marketing, plain and simple.

And then there's the future. Expect TV advertising to become more and more interactive, so that it's not just marketing campaigns that are integrated - but the actual ad is a mashup of TV + Web.

Whether you go with Google, engage in a local TV campaign or hire an ad agency, Google's announcement today is a great reminder of keeping our marketing eyes on the big picture.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 9:19 AM | Permalink




Microsoft Board Meets, Indicates Higher Bid for Yahoo

Late yesterday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal got word of a Microsoft board meeting. And ever since they reported the news, the speculation and rumor mills have been working overtime.

Henry Blodget over at the Silicon Valley Insider got a glimpse of a WSJ story suggesting that MSFT would raise the bid to $32-$33 a share. The story is no longer to be found on the interwebs, which is likely Microsoft's strategy, according to Blodget. The apparent strategy is to get comment out of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang on whether or not the upped offer would be accepted.

Earlier reports have both shareholders and Yahoo execs saying "I see your $32-33 and raise you a $35-37." This is not likely to please the big wigs from Redmond.

But they may have forced their own hand in the matter when they didn't offer a higher bid sooner. It's the Yahoo-Google deal that likely tipped the scales in favor of Yahoo in the negotiating process.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 8:50 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: There Are No Free Links: Budgeting Resources for SEO Link Building

There's no such thing as a free link. The amount of time and resources to invest for link development depends on the profits your company stands to make from top rankings. In today's Link Building column, "There Are No Free Links: Budgeting Resources for SEO Link Building," Justilien Gaspard explains that being realistic about your available resources, budget, and goals when setting up a link marketing program will save you and your staff from unnecessary frustration. Plus, you'll end up with better results!

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 1, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: Social Media = Society's Watchdog

Are social networks so powerful to cause an adjustment in personal and corporate behavior on a macro level? You bet your camera phone they are. In today's Building Brand Equity column, "Social Media = Society's Watchdog," Erik Qualman reminds us that companies and individuals now need to live their lives as if everyone is watching...since they probably are.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 1, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink




Future of Search Marketing? Behavior-AOL



Search retargeting and post-click behavioral targeting is the future of search. The future's here - now - with the launch of Platform A's integrated search marketing platform using Tacoda technology.

Call it Platform A.O.L.

ClickZ's reporting that the use of Tacoda technology will begin in June across the whole Platform A network. That means marketers will have a single software platform for tracking, reporting and delivering, and running behavioral marketing campaigns.

For anyone following innovations in search marketing campaigns, that's exciting news.

We're sure some savvy marketer will be the first to design an award-winning search campaign on Platform AOL.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on April 30, 2008, 3:04 PM | Permalink




iGoogle: O Pop, Where Art Thou? Jeff Koons, Wiggles, La Cicciolina



Google commissioned Jeff Koons, the controversial modern artist, to create graphic images for iGoogle backgrounds. Koons' Google Doodle today features his interpretation of (chrome) tulips. "Where art thou?" asks Marissa Mayer, VP of search products & user experience, in her official blog post this morning:

"Did you notice the chrome tulips on Google's homepage today? They are part of a special Google doodle done by renowned artist Jeff Koons. And that isn't the only art appearing anew on Google today. As part of our iGoogle Artists project, we have collaborated with almost 70 artists in 17 countries on 6 continents to create special iGoogle themes -- works of art that appeal to all ages and interests."

Our response: "O Brother, Google, where art thousands of dollars going?"
Or perhaps, "O Pop, Where Art Thou?"

Most of the time, the controversy about Koons -- at 53-years old modern art's aging bad boy -- centers on whether he's a brilliant artist or the emperor's new clothes.

Jeff Koons isn't the only Google artist designing for iGoogle: non-artist artists like UK rockers Coldplay and U.S. kiddieboppers The Wiggles (shown below); fashion designers Mark Ecko (rhino logo) and Diane von Furstenburg (wife of Ask.com owner Barry Diller of IAC); architects Phillipe Starck (W Hotels) and Michael Graves; and New Yorker cartoonist Robert Mankoff.

Why in the world would a world-famous artist like Jeff Koons hire himself out for graphic design work?

It seems the multimillionaire artist and ex-husband of an ex-porn star may need the moolah.

Jeff Koons famously married a European porn star, La Cicciolina ("fleshy one"), after hiring her as his muse for photos, paintings and sculptures.

The artwork Koons spawned from their union was graphic but not graphic in a Googley design way. Think NSFW: sexually explicit in a flashy, fleshy Paris Hilton - Britney Spears - Lindsay Lohan kind of way. The only difference? Koons' sculptures starred Jeff and (as Brit wits might say) his naughty bits.

A few weeks ago, La Cicciolina, AKA Ilona Staller, sued her ex-husband, Jeffrey Koons, for $2.4 million dollars (1.5 million euros) in child support for their 15-year old son, Ludwig Maximilian Koons, according to papers filed in Manhattan State Supreme Court.



Child support payments of 15,000 euros a month were ordered by an Italian court in June 2007. Koons has only paid 191,426 euros for child support during the roughly nine year period (Oct 1998 - Dec 2007), leaving a balance owed of about 1.5 million euros.

Staller starred in X-rated films in Italy as La Cicciolina before she was elected to serve as a member of Italy's parliament for five years.

After the jump we have a two-minute clip from the Sundance Channel: fashion designer "Tom Ford on Jeff Koons" from the Iconoclast series. You can see what Jeff Koons Safe-For-Work art is all about in a SFW video.

AP reported that after their divorce in New York in 1994, Koons was given custody of their infant son. A judge ordered that the child remain in New York. In June of 1994, Staller slipped away from Koons' security guards and escaped to Italy with the boy.

When the divorce and custody issues were litigated again in Italy, Staller, an Italian citizen, was granted a divorce. After appealing, she received custody of the boy.

Koons piled up legal bills of almost $4 million trying to bring his son back from Italy. So maybe we can call this Google's "No Child Left Behind" Pop Art campaign.

Here's Tom Ford explaining the art of Jeff Koons, whose work has been displayed at London's Royal Academy, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain:

Posted by Kevin Heisler on April 30, 2008, 12:47 PM | Permalink




Jerry Yang's Anything-But-Silent Life

While many are saying how Jerry Yang seems to be silent on last weekend's come-and-gone Microsoft ultimatum, his life is anything but silent. Kara Swisher reports that his wife had a baby!

But I'm not sure why people expect Yang to pull himself away from his new bundle of joy to simply repeat what he's said all along: Yahoo is undervalued by Microsoft's bid and the answer to the offer as it stands is No.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 30, 2008, 11:31 AM | Permalink




Marchex's Local Advertising Branches Out into Mobile Market

Marchex today announced the expansion of its local advertising services into the mobile market. The new offering will include call-based advertising, which is a result of its acquisition of VoiceStar. The call-based services will be part of agreements with three mobile advertising providers: AdMob, Ringleader Digital, and 4INFO.

Call tracking will accompany the new agreements and offer up the following features:

1. Track the calls generated by advertisements on their network
2. Determine exactly which advertisements delivered the calls
3. Track and report key information including the duration, time of day and geographic location of callers
4. Record the calls.

“Marchex is focused on partnerships with leading aggregators of local advertisers across all channels: online, offline, and mobile,” said John Keister, Marchex President and COO. “We believe that the mobile advertising opportunity is significant and is poised to realize tremendous growth over the next five years. Our call tracking and pay-per-phone-call capabilities provide a significant advantage for Marchex in the mobile search advertising market.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 30, 2008, 11:14 AM | Permalink




Microsoft's $1.5 Billion Plan to Retain Yahoo Employees

While we await the news of Microsoft's next move in its pursuit of the unsolicited Yahoo acquisition, the Wall Street Journal has learned that the software giant plans to spend $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees should a merger - or takeover - occur.

The plan was revealed in court transcripts regarding a suit by shareholders against Yahoo's directors. The shareholders who filed the suit feel that Yahoo hasn't responded in good faith to Microsoft's bid. The suit was brought forth by two Detroit pension funds. The lawyers for the funds argued that a recent expansion of Yahoo employee benefits make it difficult for shareholders to get maximum value should an acquisition take place.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 30, 2008, 10:28 AM | Permalink




Google Analytics for Bloggers - Google Relaunches Measure Map



As Twitter microblogging captures the mainstream media's imagination, Google Analytics has quietly relaunched Measure Map analytics for bloggers. Email invitations went out this week to alpha users of the blog tracking software.

The bad news for Measure Map bloggers: historical analytics data from the original Measure Map can't be imported into the Google Analytics / Measure Map platform.

We reported on the acquisition of Adaptive Path's Measure Map by Google back in February, 2006. Since then Jeffrey Veen and his team have redesigned Google Analytics and integrated new features such as Website Optimizer with great success.

Sitepoint's Technical Editor Andrew Tetlaw posted a question on April 11, 2008 in a dormant Google Groups forum for Measure Map:

Is it just me or does anyone else get the feeling MM has been abandoned?

Performance is terrible, the browser report still doesn't even
recognize Firefox 2.0....

That post seems to have spurred the Google Analytics team to email all the original users of Measure Map to test the newly rebuilt analytics software for bloggers. You can ask the MM team questions in the resuscitated Measure Maps Google Group.

Andrew also told me that to convert to the new and improved Measure Map you need to sign up for a Google Analytics account and add GA tracking code to your site. For an update, check out Andrew's excellent post today in Sitepoint: Measure Map Redux.

We're not sure whether the original MM "Date Slider" will be reinvented but it was one of the original cool tools for Analytics that had wide appeal (even if it seems clunky by today's Web 2.0 standards).



Posted by Kevin Heisler on April 30, 2008, 8:01 AM | Permalink




Fredrick Marckini to Give Opening Keynote at SES Toronto

Fredrick Marckini, chief global search officer of Isobar, will be giving the opening keynote speech at SES Toronto on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Fredrick also gave the opening keynote at SES London back in February.

While he was in London, I interviewed him about his keynote speech on search engine marketing trends and his duties at Isobar. You can get a pretty good idea of Fredrick's perspective by watching the YouTube video below -- which has just been posted in its entirety. (A portion of Fredrick's interview was included in our Day 1 roundup.)

And, as you'll see, YouTube's recent site updates now enable you view the high quality video by just clicking on the television icon below and to the right instead of using the format 18 code.


Fredrick Marckini at SES London on Search Engine Marketing

You can also get a sense of Fredrick's point of view by reading: Fredrick Marckini iProspect Exclusive SEO Interview with Dan Horton.

Fredrick Marckini founded iProspect in 1996 and is recognized as a leading expert in the field of search engine marketing. He has authored three of the SEM industry's earliest books, including Secrets To Achieving Top-10 Positions (1997), Achieving Top-10 Rankings in Internet Search Engines (1998), and Search Engine Positioning (2001). He is considered one of the pioneers of search engine marketing and was named to BtoB Magazine's Top 100 Marketers 2005 and 2006 lists.

Fredrick is a frequent speaker at industry conferences around the country including: Search Engine Strategies, ad:tech, the iMedia Summit, Search Insider Summit and the eMarketing Association Conference. He has written bylined articles for Search Engine Watch, CMO Magazine, BtoB Magazine, iMedia Connection, ClickZ and numerous other publications. He has been interviewed and profiled in a variety of media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times of London, Inc., Investors and Business Daily, Internet Retailer, National Public Radio, and others.

Fredrick serves on the Board for the Ad Club of Boston, and was a founding Board Member of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). He earned a bachelors degree from Franciscan University in Ohio.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on April 30, 2008, 7:00 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: What Are You Converting?

Many people view conversions as large-scale events, such as product sales or sign-ups for a service. But a conversion can mean many things, depending on the site. In today's Web Analytics and ROI column, "What Are You Converting?," Tim Ash defines conversions as events that move a visitor toward the mission critical activities that you've identified. Measure those smaller events, and you'll know much more about what your visitors are doing than if you only focus on the end results.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on April 30, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: Visually Impaired Search

Like search ads, PageRank, and blended search, Google's newly launched VisualRank image search technology has the potential to change the way SEO is done. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Visually Impaired Search," Kevin Ryan explains that while the game hasn't changed yet, it will very soon.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on April 30, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink




Sunrgi: Stealth Tech Startup May Transform Search Engine Industry



Nick Carr (The Big Switch) created the framework to view the transformation of the search engine industry (the world's information indexed) into a knowledge grid that companies and people can plug into, the same way a century ago companies stopped generating power from steam engines and dynamos and plugged into the newly built electric grid.

Sunrgi, a new solar energy system startup just out of stealth mode today promises to produce cheap electricity at wholesale prices: 5-cents per kWh (kilowatt hour). Google

XCPV (Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics) concentrates the equivalent of more than 1,600 times the sun's energy onto hyper-efficient solar cells, was announced today by Sunrgi, a solar energy system designer and developer, at the National Energy Marketers Association's Annual Global Energy Forum in Washington, DC.

The technology may enable utility companies, corporations, and residents to produce electricity from solar energy at a lower cost than has ever been possible.

Google (GOOG) spent $842 million on infrastructure in Q1 2008, its largest capital expenditures (CAPEX) ever for a single quarter, according to Data Center Knowledge. The record capex investment will acceleration increase Google's need to generate vast amounts of cheap power efficiently.

Google announced four major data center projects in the U.S. in 2007, including facilities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Iowa. Google says its capital expenditures are "related to IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers, and networking equipment."

The green technology isn't vaporware but it may be a couple years before widespread adoption.

"In a little more than a year we were able to develop and successfully test XCPV," said Bob Block, co-founder and Sunrgi principal in a statement. "We expect the Sunrgi system to become available for both on and off-grid power appplications, worldwide, in twelve to fifteen months"

The price is right: 5-cents is on par with the wholesale cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels. That would make solar power as affordable as coal, natural gas or other non-renewable sources, without requiring a subsidy. Plus, it's a fraction of the cost of producing solar energy now.

At a nickel per kWh, NEMA (National Energy Marketers Association) calls solar power, "a world-changing breakthrough."

Posted by Kevin Heisler on April 29, 2008, 5:27 PM | Permalink




Social Media Marketing for Small Business

Are there really opportunities for small business to succeed using social media?



Absolutely, if one factors the strengths and weaknesses of the media with the strengths, weaknesses, and goals of the company.

The reality of the matter is that various social media have different strengths and weaknesses. While it is true the most obvious benefit of social media is branding and traffic, the truth is that social media can also:


• generate lots of good, quality, relevant links, which we all know can help a site perform better in the search results
• help to forge relationships. Not necessarily relationships with potential clients, but with those who help to influence potential client decisions i.e. indirect sales
• generate direct sales
• build a company's authority in an industry

In order for a small business to utilize social media to its fullest, and to determine which social media it should be using as part of its effort, it must understand the trade-offs it faces. Without being able to commit time or money to social media, many small businesses will seriously need to question their commitment to winning in their space in the foreseeable future.

What are the variables to consider:
a. available client time vs. available client $
b. complexity of client product/service information
c. client goals (direct sales, improved positioning, authority building, etc.)

As is the case with search, those social media sites offering the most potential for traffic, also contain the most competition. The more competition there is, the more thought and effort must go into being successful in that medium.

Does that mean that small business should avoid search? Not at all. Same with social media. It just means that small business must assess their desire and means, and find reasonable opportunities where competition is not too intense for their means. Precisely as with search ... though rather than looking for keyword opportunities, you're looking for content and medium opportunities!

For example, would you ever suggest to an SME client that you would try to rank for a generic, ultra-competitive, one-word term such as "weight loss"? Never. Though you may consider "weight loss san diego," right? Precisely!

That said, here are the strengths and weaknesses of several major social media sites, as they relate to small to medium sized businesses:

1. Yahoo Answers:
Yahoo Answers will not require much money to engage in, making it an attractive option for small business. Since in most cases, SMMs (Social Media Marketers) won't/can't play a large role in Yahoo Answers, as they're not experts in the space, it will require client time and expertise.

Yahoo Answers is a great tool for generating direct sales, rather than links or even indirect sales ... an anomaly amongst social media sites.

* Some SMMs may offer Yahoo Answers training solutions, designed to get SMEs up to speed quickly, and teach a few inside tricks. It will also be important to make the system as efficient as possible, so senior-level involvement is not necessary in identifying and answering each question. Instead, relevant questions should first be identified (and answered where a simple answer will suffice) by a junior-level person, then handed to more senior-level people as the questions become more in-depth and technical.

2. Wikipedia:
Wikipedia is another great solution for companies with more time than money. This is often a do-it-yourself solution for companies, though a good SMM can greatly aid with training, planning, and implementation, and can save companies a great deal of time. Securing a presence on relevant pages on Wikipedia isn't necessarily intuitive.

As Wikipedia doesn't like companies adding information about themselves (as it's likely biased), having information added by an experienced SMM with a solid reputation is worth its weight in gold.

Wikipedia is great for generating links (not direct as they are nofollow, but indirect through copied text), but is not exceptional at generating either indirect sales via forged relationships or direct sales.

3. Digg:
Having a submission go hot on Digg is equivalent to ranking on an ultra-competitive keyword on Google, in terms of the number of links generated. Digg is, in reality, the Google of the social media world in terms of those looking to build links, which means Digg itself has had to become very cautious and difficult as a result of being gamed so frequently.

As Digg's algorithm favors larger, more trusted sites, SMEs cannot expect to do well on Digg routinely without a substantial investment of either time and/or money in the effort. The cost of doing so is therefore beyond the means or commitment of many small to medium sized companies.

Beyond its biggest benefit (links), Digg can also be utilized to forge strategic relationships with key influencers such as reporters, DJs, and the like.

4. Reddit:
Reddit is capable of generating significant volumes of links, although somewhat less than Digg. It is like Digg, except on a lesser scale. Though it generates fewer links, the results are greater, given the lesser level of effort required compared to Digg. That said, Reddit still requires a significant time and/or money investment from the client. It still involves a commitment to win!

5. Propeller:
Propeller (formerly Netscape.com) is also like Digg and Reddit, though generating fewer links again. This is in essence what makes it so attractive though ... it's the MSN of the social world. Most companies focus so heavily on Digg, that Propeller is often overlooked. Accordingly, small business can still win on Propeller with reasonable effort.

Time needs be invested in Propeller to determine how the system works, identify the types of posts that are successful, and to forge the necessary friendships to seed posts properly on the Propeller network. SMM Training solutions can again expedite the process, and engaging the services of an experienced quality SMM will trade money for time where time is very limited.

6. Delicious:
Delicious is a good option for small businesses, though it does require a commitment. SMEs need to spend time creating resource, research, and/or instruction type blog posts. These posts take time, often 8-10+ hours of research per post. Special insight into topics that might be successful on Delicious will absolutely be aided by the guidance of an experienced SMM. Otherwise, much time and effort can be spent creating content that really has no chance of being successful.

Posts that do well on Delicious typically attract a good many links, albeit typically less than those on Digg or Reddit, and more than Propeller.

7. StumbleUpon:
StumbleUpon is capable of driving large volumes of traffic (more than Reddit and less than Digg) to a site, given the right content. For whatever reason though, it generates substantially fewer links than either Digg or Reddit on average.

For companies with brand new, innovative products and services, StumbleUpon is a great way to gain exposure and build awareness. It is not however, good at generating direct sales unless the item is an impulse type item.

8. YouTube:
YouTube is unlike any of the other social media mentioned above. While video itself has the ability to generate substantial quantities of links via other social channels, the YouTube medium essentially attracts all links for its own purposes, leaving the video creator with virtually no additional link power.

What YouTube can do when great content is created is attract additional quality search traffic via the search results (YouTube videos are often included in the search results of major engines), and can help to forge relationships with key influencers.

Summary:
In the end, success with any of the above social media sites is still largely based on the quality and creativity of the content. For companies without the time to dedicate to creating such content, it will require a financial investment. In this situation, hiring experienced SMMs skilled in the art of choosing topics is very important, as they can likely aid real quality content be successful on numerous platforms.

This is why I say it takes a commitment to winning. It's going to require either time and/or money from the small business perspective, but success is absolutely achievable, given appropriate amounts of either, and proper selection of media.

Posted by on April 29, 2008, 10:54 AM | Permalink




Online Promotions: The Sleeping Beauty of Online Advertising

Much has been written, theorized, and analyzed about search and online display advertising. But companies are increasingly turning to the Cinderella of online advertising: Promotions.

Douglas Quenqua at ClickZ looked into a recent study by Borrell Associates that says spending on online promotions could triple in the next five years. Last year, a whopping $8 billion was spent on promotions.

For now, national companies are the ones accounting for most of the promotional spend. But local companies may want to take notice. Since the spend is expected to increase so dramatically, while display advertising is expected to decline, then something must be working in this arena. And that's no big surprise as contests, coupons and giveaways are great methods for lead generation.

Related Reading:
Online Advertising Shifting from Branding to Direct Response

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 29, 2008, 10:47 AM | Permalink




Mobile Marketing Association Issues New Display Ad Standards

Last week, the Mobile Marketing Association updated its standards for mobile display ads. In doing so, it automatically outdated Google's brand spanking new mobile ad formats.

The new MMA guidelines are:

300 x 50 pixels
216 x 36 pixels
168 x 28 pixels
120 x 20 pixels

Google's new banners are:

305 x 64 pixels
215 x 34 pixels
192 x 34 pixels
167 x 30 pixels

According to ClickZ, Google said that its ads are compliant with MMA's previous recommendations. While mobile industry leaders differ on the need and implementation for mobile ad standards, most agree that innovation by both MMA and companies like Google are good for the industry.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 29, 2008, 10:37 AM | Permalink




Fast Search Acquisition Completed by Microsoft

In January, Microsoft announced it's $1.2 billion offer for Norway-based enterprise search company, Fast Search. Last Friday, Microsoft completed the acquisition.

“With our companies combined, we'll be uniquely able to offer customers what they've been telling us they want most — a strategy for meeting everything from their basic to most complex enterprise search needs,” said Jeff Teper, corporate vice president for the Office Business Platform at Microsoft. “I'm incredibly excited to have the talented team from FAST joining us.”

Fast Search CEO John Markus Lervik will become Microsoft's corporate vice president of Enterprise Search.

“From the moment I started talking to Microsoft about the prospect of bringing our talent and technology together, I realized what a powerful impact we could have on the way companies use search to drive new revenue streams and improve productivity,” Lervik said. “Together we'll deliver better technologies that make enterprise search a ubiquitous tool, central to how people find and use information.”

Related Reading:
Holiday Period is a Busy Time at Fast Search and Transfer
Google Not The Leader In Enterprise Search
FAST AdMomentum: Private-Label Contextual Advertising

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 29, 2008, 10:04 AM | Permalink




Price Check! Products Added to Mobile Live Search

When you're shopping online at home, it's easy to check a bunch of different sites for the best price or read reviews to see if that new gadget you have your eye on is really a dud. But when you're out in the brick and mortar stores, it can be a challenge to get the same answers quickly.

Thankfully, team over at Microsoft's Live Search wants to make it easier for you to conduct that all-important product searching while you're on the go. Product search has been incorporated into Mobile Live Search. The results include prices and a starring system to reflect reviews. Obviously, you can click on individual results for more info.

Another feature being rolled out with the update is "Find My Location." By using this feature, you'll get results close to the nearest cell towers.

Related Reading:
Microsoft Rolls Out More Live Search Updates
Microsoft Buys MotionBridge, A Mobile Search Company

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 29, 2008, 9:47 AM | Permalink




Google Custom Search Offers Creative Commons Labels

The Google Custom Search team has announced the addition of four labels to enhance searches for Creative Commons content. The four labels are:

* free_use_share (by-nc-nd)
* free_use_share_commercially (by-nd)
* free_use_share_modify (by-nc-sa)
* free_use_share_modify_commercially (by-sa)

These labels can be used to restrict all custom search content to Creative Commons results or to help refine searches. The CC labels are filter labels.

Google also took the opportunity to remind us of how to document Creative Commons license. They gave four examples of the many ways licenses can be documented on an HTML file:

1. with ... in the HTML head or body
2. using
3. using
4. using ... in a comment

Related Reading:
Google Adds Option to Limit to Creative Commons Licensed Material

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 29, 2008, 9:22 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: Conducting a Redirect Audit on Your Web Site

A redirect audit looks at the server redirects that are happening on your site, and which sites are sending visitors to links on your site that are being redirected. It also looks at 404 errors (file not found), as well as other server status codes appearing in your site's log files. In today's Organic Search Engine Optimization column, "Conducting a Redirect Audit on Your Web Site," Mark Jackson shows you how a redirect audit can take care of many issues that search engines might be having with your Web site, and may help you recover visitors you may be losing due to technical issues.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on April 29, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: Taking the Fear Out of Web Analytics for Your Small Business

Many small businesses are afraid of the perceived complexity of Web analytics. At the same time, they know they can make more money in less time with Web analytics. In today's Small Business Search Marketing column, "Taking the Fear Out of Web Analytics for Your Small Business," Carrie Hill simplifies the process by breaking down the four metrics you should be analyzing on your small business web site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on April 29, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink




Court Orders Negative Keywords Used To Block Trademark Terms

Eric Goldman reported a Florida court made a default judgment that requires including negative keywords in search advertising to ensure broad match does not include their trademarked term. Obviously this only applies to the specific instance but there is a dangerous precedent being allowed.

Goldman sees the suit applying to just expanded match in broad match - but it is restricting the use of a trademarked term as just a keyword and not in the ad as Google currently allow and requires the use of negative keywords to ensure they get blocked - or at least then passing the culpability to Google.

With the isolation of responsibility to Google by following these rules - if that is the case - I wonder if Orion Bank will be going after them next... this one I don't see them having a no show for a defendant.

The requested ruling that won by default (no one showed to contend it) included:


a) from any and all use of the term ORION, ORION RESIDENTIAL
FINANCE, or any other confusingly similar term;
b) from using any sign, advertisement, slogans, internet domain name,
promotional material, promotional communication, and/or printed or electronic
matter containing the term ORION, or any other confusingly similar term.

That would stop them from using orion as a term, the domain they own (but they could be a registered company with the name Orion Residential Financein Florida as the suit lists) OrionResidentialFinance.com, and much more.

Beyond the one to one defendant - the suit did allow for it to apply to any other company by including:

ORION RESIDENTIAL FINANCE,
LLC, a Florida limited liability co.,
and VARIOUS JOHN DOES,
JANE DOES and ABC COMPANIES,

Does ABC Companies mean any future people trying to use Orion?

This has to get taken back to the courts soon.

Posted by Frank Watson on April 28, 2008, 7:11 PM | Permalink




Google Wins Appeal - Most Bizarre Lawsuit Ever Filed Against Search Engine



Anyone who knows the best conspiracy theories of the 20th century can't blame Dylan Stephen Jayne for trying to sue Google.

Every good conspiracy theorist knows that playing certain songs on LPs backwards is a Satanic chant. The number of clues on the Beatles' Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover that "Paul is Dead" (Paul McCartney) are too numerous to mention.

So it must have come as a shock to the Conspiracy Theory community that Google prevailed in an appeal of the most bizarre lawsuit ever filed against the search engine.

In September of 2007, Dylan Stephen Jayne filed a (handwritten) suit against the founders of the Google internet search engine, alleging that his social security number when turned upside down is a scrambled code that spells the name “Google.”

He was asking for $5 billion for Google's alleged "crimes against humanity."

The District Court reviewed the lawsuit and dismissed it sua sponte (on its own will or motion") for failure to state a claim. In other words, the judge made a decision without having been asked by either party. (ie. never happened: "Your honor, the defendants, Larry and Sergey, move to dismiss!")

The ever-resourceful Jayne filed a timely appeal. His case was on appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and guess what? He lost the appeal a couple months ago.

To prevail on his claim, Jayne needed to demonstrate the Google founders acted "under color of state law" and deprived him of Constitutional rights or rights secured by federal law.

The judges concluded, "It is clear that neither of these criteria is satisfied here. As explained by the District Court, Google and its founders are not state actors, and Jayne's allegation concerning his coded social security number does not constitute a violation of the Constitution or federal law."

Making it a particularly bad day for Jayne and sending a shiver down the spine of many a conspiracy theorist, the judges noted, "We also agree that any amendment of the complaint would be futile."

Posted by Kevin Heisler on April 28, 2008, 3:33 PM | Permalink




Clinton, McCain, Obama: Drilling Down on Local in Campaign '08


Seattle is the place to be for Drilling Down on Local Marketplaces this week (April 30 - May 2). For the first time, The Kelsey Group will provide a deep dive into how local search and local media buys will impact political campaigns.

ClickZ Campaign '08 editor Kate Kaye (just promoted to ClickZ senior editor), will speak on two panels during the Kelsey Drilling Down Local conference.

Kate's going to discuss why Buckeye and Lone Star news sites scored big. Of the three main primary contenders, she also found Senator Barack Obama's campaign has done the most local online advertising, some of it especially innovative. A more compelling local Web effort involved big multimedia ad buys on local news homepages.

Obama is also leading the pack in innovation with expandable video billboard ads.

A few savvy congressional candidates have started to place online ads for this year's election. You'll also learn why the majority of congressional, statewide and local candidates lag far behind presidential campaigns when it comes to even considering advertising online.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on April 28, 2008, 11:35 AM | Permalink




Google Will Bank on VisualRank - PageRank for Images


On Thursday, Google Research engineers presented a paper at the International World Wide Web Conference in Beijing on PageRank for Google Images (pdf) to improve search results for photos, art and graphics. The system promises better image results than are currently available when searching in Google Images and may eventually improve Google Universal Search SERPs.

Key takeaways: Google's breakthrough uses the "wisdom of the crowd" and contextual signals to rank the relevancy of images. VisualRank does not improve on a search engine's ability to identify people or determine activities in a photo. The biggest benefits will be reduction of duplicate image content in search results and reduction of "image spam" or inappropriately tagged photos.

This morning The NY Times reported on the new ranking algorithm that identifies and analyzes “authority” nodes and "visual link structure" between a group of images. As with PageRank, images are assigned numbers to define their relevance and relative importance.

Google conducted a series of experiments by retrieving images for 2,000 of the most popular products queries in Google. Users in the experiments were more satisfied by the results and felt they were more relevant.

The Google SERP image shown here displays top ranking results for a group of queries. You can judge for yourself how intuitive and relevant the results are. Google notes an interesting result for the query “Picasso Paintings”; not only are all the images by Picasso, one of his most famous, “Guernica”, was selected first.

We're assuming the search queries related to the product, "Febreze" were spelled correctly, unlike the typo in the paper misspelled as: "Fabreze." The current Google image results for keyword "fabreze" are quite different.

Winners: Trademark owners of big brands and commercial products

Losers: All those people who spent innumerable hours tagging photos in Google Image Labeler:

All-time Top Google Image Labeler Contributors
1. SunChaser has 22,961,020 points
2. Zip has second with 22,353,450 points
3. FrD AUTO no car has 15,460,240 points
4. MC DUDE no man has a close 15,350,830 points
5. Mighty is hot on the heels of MC DUDE: 15,339,300 points

Google believes a Web page author will likely choose relevant images for a topic. People, though, don't typically link to content based on the relevance of images. People link to text.

Google gives an example of an ambiguous query (McDonalds) with a logo that can be identified in photos that link commercial searches. That's a “visual theme” or 'visual signal" among all the photos. There may be lots of other themes that can define the relative "strength" of common and commercial images.

In terms of overall performance on queries, the proposed VisualRank displayed fewer irrelevant images than Google for 762 queries. Google's standard image search produce better results in only 70 search results. In the remaining 202 queries, both approaches tied. Google notes in the majority of these queries, there were no irrelevant images).

Posted by Kevin Heisler on April 28, 2008, 9:57 AM | Permalink




Microsoft's Deadline Passes Without Yahoo Deal

Steve Ballmer's "Deal or No Deal" utlimatum has passed without a deal and the analysts are all-a-flutter with predictions and speculations. If you read all the reports, the possibilities for what will happen next can seem dizzying. So, let's keep it simple and gossip-free. There are only 4 likely outcomes:

Microsoft pursues a hostile takeover
Microsoft presents a higher bid
Microsoft withdraws from proposal altogether
Microsoft buys another company (AOL?, Ask?)

With analysts predicting all four outcomes, depending on who you read, all the speculation means squat. The only thing matters is action, and rest assured we'll keep you posted should anything resembling action occur regarding Microhoo.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 28, 2008, 9:52 AM | Permalink




Microsoft Prepares Push into Chinese Search Market

When it comes to search, Microsoft is ever the egg while Google remains the chicken. Just a week after news of Google amping up its efforts in the world's largest nation, Microsoft is revealing its plans to make headway into China.

But just how serious is Microsoft about this oh-so-important market? Only 100 employees are currently dedicated to Chinese search while Google will be adding 200 to its existing 600 person staff this year with expectations to continue adding to its numbers along those lines in coming years.

No doubt, acquiring Yahoo is part of Microsoft's overall Asia strategy. Yahoo has a strong showing in Asia, something the Sunnyvale search engine wishes Microsoft would have taken into consideration when making its recent unsolicited bid.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 28, 2008, 9:20 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: Killer Site Targeting: PPC Content Scrape & Bake Tools

Successful placement-targeted content campaigns depend on showing your ads on all the right sites. In today's Content Advertising column, "Killer Site Targeting: PPC Content Scrape & Bake Tools," David Szetela outlines a new tool and methodology for finding the right destinations for your ads.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on April 28, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

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