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July 13, 2008 - July 19, 2008

July 19, 2008

JumpTap Adds New York Office in Growing Mobile Search Market

The mobile search world paints a slightly different picture of the distribution of search providers. Yes, we have the big guns as the dominant forces in the mobile search marketplace. But many of the carriers view the big search companies as rivals, and have opted to partner with lesser known companies such as JumpTap, Medio, InfoSpace, and FAST.

These companies provide carriers with their own white labeled search engine, which offer generous revenue sharing models to the mobile carriers. Mobile carriers are looking beyond their flat rate monthly data plans to bolster revenue, and JumpTap is offering their carrier partners just that. JumpTap collects behavioral data provided by the carrier to serve ads that are most relevant to searchers. These highly targeted ads are likely to generate high click-throughs. A win-win solution for the carrier, JumpTap, the advertiser, and the searcher.

This model has allowed JumpTap to secure relationships with partners include Boost Mobile, Alltel Wireless, Rogers Wireless, Fido , Virgin Mobile USA, Bell Canada , Telefonica, and TeliaSonera. On the content syndication side - JumpTap has partnered with both NBC - Universal, and FOX. The reach is approximately 140 million mobile subscribers.

What makes the JumpTap search experience different than it's competitors? JumpTap is unique in that it only indexes sites that are optimized for the mobile web. The company boasts the largest pure mobile search index. Mobile searchers will not be delivered sites developed in Flash, for example, which cannot be viewed on the great majority of handsets.

We asked what makes the mobile search experience different than traditional web search. "Mobile search is completely different. You are not likely to do research for a term paper via your mobile device. Queries are more likely to be fall into categories such as entertainment, games, restaurants, shopping. Mobile search intent is completely different", said Eric Brown, Manager of Ad Operations at JumpTap.

Another JumpTap enthusiast told us - "Mobile is so important, because for many individuals, particularly in emerging countries, it's their only gatway to the web. It's the only medium for them to harness the power of a search".

A guest of the event, Adam Broitman - a blogger on the subject of emerging media shared with us his thoughts. "JumpTap’s realization that the mobile phone is slowly becoming the remote control for our entire life could not be more timely. The mobile web needs companies like JumpTap in order to help further the mobile web, and I could not have been happier to have been in attendance at the celebration of their arrival in New York City."

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 18, 2008

Google's Matt Cutts on Spam, Ranking, and Your Search Future

Matt Cutts has now earned international film star status.

Google Webmaster Central in Germany has created an SEO video with excellent production values - particularly by YouTube standards. They've even translated Matt into German:

Hallo an alle User aus Deutschland! Ob ihr nun User, Webmaster oder ein SEO seid - ich freue mich, hier die Gelegenheit zu haben, ein bisschen mit euch zu sprechen. Ich hoffe, dass ich bald die Möglichkeit finde, auch einmal nach Deutschland zu kommen. Bis dahin bin ich froh, dass wir hier viele talentierte Googler haben, die sich um den deutschen Markt kümmern und den Kontakt zu deutschen Webmastern halten.

We were hoping they might dub Matt into German for the video with English subtitles, but no such luck. You will find out a number of cool things, including Matt's vision of search in the next five years.

For example, do you know when Matt first came across spam at Google?

After this interview, you will.

To find out Matt's true vision of the future of search, you'll have to read SES Magazine, available only at SES San Jose.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Legg Mason Continues Support Yahoo's Current Board

In April, before Microsoft's ultimatum for Yahoo to accept its bid came to pass, Legg Mason threw its support behind Yahoo. Now the investor group is continuing its support of Yahoo and plans to vote for the current board at the upcoming August 1 shareholders meeting.

However, Legg Mason did advise Yahoo and Carl Icahn to bury the hatchet by the time of the meeting. Icahn has submitted a proxy board to replace the current board and has been in talks with Microsoft for a deal should his board win.

Legg Mason owns 60.7 million shares of Yahoo, adding up to 4.4% of the total shares.

via Reuters

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Auto-tagging Adwords and URL Redirects: Please Pass the Gclid

To pass the gclid or not to pass the gclid, that is the question. At least, if you're trying to tag your AdWords URLs in Google Analtyics it is. On the Google Analytics blog, they're talking about using auto-tagging in Adwords in order to facilitate easy viewing of info in Analytics. But problems may arise if you've got some URL redirecting going on.

Basically, auto-tagging inserts a little snippet of code into destination URLs. But if you have several redirects, the snippet could get stripped. That snippet is "gclid." What happens if the gclid gets snipped?

While Google Analytics still records the visit and the subsequent user activity, it doesn't have the information necessary to properly attribute the visit to your Google ad. As a result, some of this traffic will be included in the "direct" category while other visits may show up as "not set". Furthermore, your Adwords Campaigns report in Google Analytics may show cost metrics, but your visits columns may show zeros.

If this is happening to you, you have two options.

1. Ask your site administrator to configure their servers to pass the glid
2. Manually tag your Adwords

So how do you figure out if you're passing the gclid? Follow these steps:

Scenario 1 If your destination URL has no query parameters and looks something like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/:

1. Paste this URL in your browser's address bar, but before you press Enter, append "?gclid=test" to the end, like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?gclid=test.

2. Now press Enter.

3. If the gclid is present on the final landing page URL, you're golden.

Scenario 2
If your destination URL already has query parameters and looks something like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?param=a¶m2=b:

1. Paste this URL in your browser's address bar and before pressing Enter, append "&gclid=test" to the end, like this: www.i_will_redirect_you.com/?param=a¶m2=b&gclid=test.

(This is why the "?" and the "&" distinction were important to note earlier. It's a matter of URL syntax. Luckily, auto-tagging knows the difference.)

2. Press Enter.

3. If the gclid is still there, you're in good shape, and need only to enable auto-tagging.

Related Reading:
Rewriting URLs: SEO for CMS, E-Commerce, and Dynamic Sites
Tracking and Analytics 101

Google AdWords 101

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Buys Russian Ad Agency for $140 Million

Google is looking to extend its global ad reach with its purchase of a Russian ad agency. Rambler Media has sold Begun advertising agency to Google for $140 million. Begun serves up contextual ads. Rambler will also contract search technology from Google as part of the deal.

"Google is very committed to giving Russian users, advertisers and partners the best possible service and experience," said Mohammad Gawdat, Managing Director Emerging Markets, Google. "This agreement will result in better search results and more relevant advertising for our Russian users and publishers."

In 2006, Google opened a development center in Moscow, and tapped another Sergei, last name Burkov, to run the place. Burkov was the founder of Dulance, which Google acquired in the process of opening their Russian center.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft's 18% Growth Disappoints Wall Street

Google wasn't the only one reporting second quarter revenues yesterday. Microsoft also dished, though they label the same period as their fiscal fourth quarter.

The software giant made $15.84 billion last quarter, up 18% over the same quarter last year. Annual revenue was $60.42 billion, which was also up 18% over the year prior.

The growth rate is not good enough for Wall Street, however, as the stock was down nearly 5% at the time of this post. Analysts see Microsoft as struggling in a weak economy.

If making $15.84 billion in three months is struggling, then I want to suffer!

Related Reading:
Microsoft Earnings Key Takeaways: Where's the Search?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 17, 2008

Google Earnings Top $5.37 Billion in Revenue Q2 2008

Google revenues topped $5.37 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, an increase of 39 percent compared to the second quarter of 2007. That's also an increase of 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008.

But those numbers still disappointed investors who basked in the glow of Google's growth and perhaps lingered a little too long in the sun.

The big news? Weakness in key sectors such as real estate, where paid search has proven resilient in the face of the recession. As SEW readers know, Auto finance average CPC was down in June; as was the total Finance category.

Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. In the second quarter of 2008, TAC totaled $1.47 billion, or 28 percent of advertising revenues.

"Strong international growth as well as sustained traffic increases on Google's web properties propelled us to another strong quarter, despite a more challenging economic environment," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, in a statement. "As we continue to focus on innovating in our core business of search, ads and apps, we also look forward to enhancing the experience of our users and expanding the reach of our advertisers and partners with new technologies and formats, particularly as our integration of DoubleClick gains momentum and creates new opportunities in display advertising and elsewhere."

Highlights of the 2nd Quarter:

Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.53 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. This represents a 42% increase over second quarter 2007 revenues of $2.49 billion and a 4% increase over first quarter 2008 revenues of $3.40 billion. Google Network Revenues - Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.66 billion, or 31% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. This represents a 22% increase over network revenues of $1.35 billion generated in the second quarter of 2007 and a 2% decrease over first quarter 2008 revenues of $1.69 billion. International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.80 billion, representing 52% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 48% in the second quarter of 2007 and 51% in the first quarter of 2008. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the first quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2008, our revenues in the second quarter of 2008 would have been $88 million lower. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2007 through the second quarter of 2008, our revenues in the second quarter of 2008 would have been $249 million lower. Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $774 million, representing 14% of revenue in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 15% in the second quarter of 2007 and 15% in the first quarter of 2008. Paid Clicks - Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 19% over the second quarter of 2007 and decreased approximately 1% over the first quarter of 2008.

The growth of paid clicks year-over-year is good news, showing the strength of the paid search marketplace. As Google has stated previously, the company has made an effort to improve the quality of clicks rather than increasing click volume. AdWords and AdSense were down sequentially, due to quality control and seasonality.

Google acknowledged the weakness of key sectors (Autos, Finance, Real Estate) that have wreaked havoc with display advertising. Real estate sector for paid search and contextual ads is down year-over-year. Auto ad spend is up year-over-year, but not consumer financing.

Ad Sense partners may have felt the squeeze too. Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC), the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, decreased to $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008. This compares to TAC of $1.49 billion in the first quarter of 2008. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 28% in the second quarter, compared to 29% in the first quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC expense is related to amounts ultimately paid to Google's AdSense partners, which totaled $1.32 billion in the second quarter of 2008. (TAC is also related to amounts ultimately paid to certain Google distribution partners and others who direct traffic to Google's website, which totaled $154 million in the second quarter of 2008.)

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

GoDaddy's New .Me Domains Turning Into Circus

Seems GoDaddy is having some problems with their just launched .me domains. People were applying left and right for them and obviously GoDaddy seemed to have a "box office" hit with the new domain extension.

But as SEW moderator Discovery details here, everyone seems to get an initial you got your domain only to find out a little while later that the names have already been assigned to someone else. Jeremy Shoemaker had the same problems over at Shoemoney and posted the responses.

GoDaddy is going to make a lot of money with this new domain roll out, but now that people are being rejected after being told otherwise, the loss of goodwill may have a much bigger longterm negative effect for the company.

Hope GoDaddy registered younolongerlike.me and dontblame.me, as they may need to use them to offset the bad publicity.

Posted by Frank Watson at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

SEO Can Be A Bear

We often take the mainstream press to task for not understanding the value of search engine marketing and search engine optimization. So it's a welcome change when a national columnist gets it right.

Today Steven Strauss in TheStreet.com wrote a column titled, "Get on Google's Good Side with SEO." With Matt Cutts' recent endorsement of "white hat" SEO, it's great to see small business embrace search engine optimization.

Strauss writes, "One of the questions I hear most often these days goes something like, 'How the heck am I supposed to keep my small business going in this economy? I don't have a lot of money for advertising.'"

He states - or perhaps overstates:

The good news is that there is in fact a great way to market your business that is not expensive and is very effective. However, it is quite time-consuming.

It's called search engine optimization. SEO gets you noticed, is practically free marketing and increases sales. SEO is the magic bullet.

Anyone who's done SEO knows it's not a magic bullet. Calling SEO a magic bullet beats "snake oil" any day of the week.

Since he's writing for beginners, Strauss compares fear of SEO to an Alec Baldwin-Anthony Hopkins movie written by David Mamet, "The Edge."

I am reminded of the 1997 movie The Edge with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. In it, the two men are stranded in the Alaska Outback after their small plane crashes.

Soon they are being stalked by a bear. Eventually Hopkins' character convinces himself and Baldwin's character, Bob, that they can slay the bear.

"I'm going to kill the bear," Hopkins' character says, "Say it! Say I'm going to kill the bear!"

Bob says it, halfheartedly.

Charles (Hopkins) then yells at Bob: "Say it! Say I'm going to kill the bear!" Bob says it.

"Say it again," says Charles. Bob, starting to feel it, says it more loudly. "I'm going to kill the bear." "Again!" Charles bellows. Finally, Bob yells, convincingly, " I Am Going To Kill The Bear!"

Finally, they kill the bear.

You must believe in SEO and your ability to achieve online marketing goals to succeed.

Steven D. Strauss is a lawyer, author and USA TODAY columnist. His latest book is the Small Business Bible. He's spoken around the world about entrepreneurship, including at the UN, and has been seen on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, The O’Reilly Factor, and many other television and radio shows. He maintains a Web site at www.MrAllBiz.com.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google On User Intent in Search Queries

In the latest installment from Google about search quality, the topic du jour is user intent. Google Fellow Amit Singhal is at the helm of the Official Google blog again and wrote about efforts Google makes to help searchers find what they're looking for.

Singhal writes, "Search in the last decade has moved from give me what I said to give me what I want." I guess that depends on who you ask. Perhaps the search engines have approached it this way, but users have always been in the give me what I want column. Either way, today it's all about what searchers want.

Using the example of kofee annan, Singhal says Google knows a searcher is really looking for Kofi Annan, and will prompt the searcher as such. However, in a query for kofee beans, Google knows that the searcher is looking for coffee beans. Basically, Google isn't a spelling-monger.

Singhal also says that Google knows when Dr means doctor and when it means drive, and that searching for new york times square church is a search for an actual church and not something in the New York Times.

Understanding user intent is also something that drives Google's initiatives in both personalized and universal search.

Finally, Singhal introduces Cross Language Information Retrieval (CLIR). The technology allows searchers to discover information in a language other than the one they're searching in and use Google's translation technology to access it.

What do you think about Google's understanding of user intent? Leave a comment and let us know!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

77.4% of Search Ads to Google in Q2 2008

Efficient Frontier has released search advertising market data for the second quarter of 2008, and it showed Google growing 2% over Q2 2007. For every new dollar spent on search ads in 2008 over 2007, Google received $1.10, while Yahoo lost $0.09 and Microsoft lost $0.01.

As a result, Google enjoyed 77.4% of total search engine spending in Q2 2008, while Yahoo fell 2% to 17.8% and Microsoft came in at 4.8%. Google's rise comes despite Adgooroo data suggesting their client base has actually declined.

Google accounted for 77.4 percent of total search engine spending in Q2 2008, an increase of 2 percentage points over the previous year.

Here's more toasty data nuggets for your consumption:

• Cost per click (CPC) rates increased by 13.8 percent for Google in Q2 2008 versus a year ago, while average CPCs on Microsoft Live Search increased at a slower rate of 5.6 percent, and Yahoo! CPCs declined by 7.3 percent.
• Return on Investment (ROI) improved on all three search engines, with Microsoft Live Search improving 25% YOY, while ROI on Yahoo! Search increased by 13%, and Google’s ROI increased by 3%.
• Automotive advertisers increased search advertising spending by 24 percent in Q2 2008 versus Q2 2007, but retailers increased search spending by a cautious 1 percent. Financial services advertisers, hit hard by the mortgage crisis, decreased search engine spending by 7 percent YOY, and travel advertisers decreased spend by 17 percent as consumers pulled back on leisure spending.
• The global outlook for Google’s growth is very positive, with the search giant capturing 75% or more of search engine spending in Q2 2008 in the global markets in which Efficient Frontier operates, with the exception of Japan and China. In Q2 2008, for the first time Google captured a majority share of search engine spend in Japan, with 56% of search spending in that market.

Google releases Q2 revenues after the closing bell on Wall Street later today.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yahoo's Latest Letter to Shareholders: We'll Sell for $33 Per Share

In a letter that is likely to believed by almost no one, Yahoo regurgitated much of the same old statements about Microsoft and Carl Icahn - and then slipped in something about selling the entire company for $33 a share. Of course, that's only "if Microsoft will negotiate a transaction that delivers certainty of value and certainty of closing. This is the simplest, most straightforward way to maximize value for you."

Rumor had it that Yahoo wanted somewhere in the neighborhood of $35-37 per share in the spring when the deal went south. Both sides have accused the other of walking away prematurely.

Then Carl Icahn created a proxy board and subsequently called for Yahoo to sell for $34.375 a share. Now Yahoo says it will go for $33 per share.

If I were Microsoft, I would just sit back, relax and continue to watch the price drop. If I were Google, I'd continue laughing all the way to the bank.

Here's the full letter:

Dear Fellow Stockholder:

The recently-formed Carl Icahn-Microsoft alliance continues to make misleading statements about their plans for Yahoo!. Your Board of Directors believes strongly that the Icahn-Microsoft agenda -as presented to us jointly last week - will destroy stockholder value at Yahoo!, serving only their very narrow special interests, clearly not your interests.

Your Board continues to work to maximize value for you and is taking the following steps to do so:

-- Moving forward with our strategic plan and strategies to lead in online advertising - with both search and display;

-- Preparing to implement our recently signed commercial agreement with Google that will increase cash flow;

-- Continuing to explore other ways to unlock value and return value to you such as unlocking the value of our Asia assets; and

-- Remaining open to negotiating a value creating transaction (including with Microsoft) that provides real and certain value - not just the possibility of value.

In contrast, let's review Carl Icahn's brief involvement with the Company to date.

Carl Icahn bought his stock two months ago for an estimated average cost of less than $25 per share. He is well-known as a corporate agitator with a short-term approach to his investments. His short-term approach gives Mr. Icahn a strong incentive to strike any deal with Microsoft that enables him to recover his investment and get back his money quickly, even a deal that does not provide full and fair value to you. Is that in the interests of all stockholders? Clearly, it is not.

Mr. Icahn has severely handicapped himself in his ability to negotiate a favorable transaction with Microsoft. Why?

-- Mr. Icahn has made it clear that his only objective is to sell part or all of Yahoo! to Microsoft. That fact, combined with his lack of an operating plan going forward, means that he will have no leverage to negotiate a fair deal with Microsoft. He has set himself up for failure.

-- Second, Mr. Icahn and his slate lack the working knowledge of Yahoo! and its Internet business needed to do two things that are required to successfully deliver a value-enhancing transaction for Yahoo! stockholders. First, they do not have the detailed knowledge to negotiate a complex restructuring of a large, innovative high technology company in a rapidly changing environment. Second, they do not have the hands-on experience to manage and lead Yahoo! during the approximately one year period estimated to be required to gain regulatory approval for a deal or to manage and lead the remainder of the Company (non-search) after a transaction is completed. Don't take our word for that. Mr. Icahn will be calling the shots if his slate wins and yet Mr. Icahn himself told the Wall Street Journal last fall: "Technology hasn't really been one of the things I've focused on too much before" and "It's hard to understand these technology companies." That's why you need a knowledgeable, experienced and independent board to represent your interests vis-a-vis Microsoft.

Mr. Icahn can't make up his mind about what he thinks will work for Yahoo!. He bought his position believing that he could bring Microsoft back to buy all of Yahoo!, at one point suggesting we publicly offer to sell Yahoo! to Microsoft for $34.375. But he didn't do enough due diligence to determine what your Board already knew: that it was Microsoft's decision to walk away and that it had rebuffed repeated efforts by your independent directors to get a whole company acquisition back on the table. Recognizing that a sale to Microsoft might not be an option, Mr. Icahn said as an alternative that we should enter into an agreement with Google (which we were already negotiating and subsequently signed), and that we should walk away from Microsoft's search-only proposal (which we did after careful evaluation of that proposal). Then, in an extraordinary flip flop, Mr. Icahn teamed up with Microsoft and embraced their latest joint search-only proposal--even though it involved significant execution and operational risks and was fraught with flaws that made the "headline value" asserted by Microsoft and Mr. Icahn more illusion than reality.

How can Yahoo! stockholders trust Mr. Icahn to deliver what he claims he can deliver when his actions have been so contradictory -and when all he has delivered so far is a risky proposal of questionable value from his new friends at Microsoft? Yes, the Microsoft/Icahn proposal is somewhat of an improvement over Microsoft's last search-only proposal, but no one should confuse a modestly improved offer with a good offer. The Icahn/Microsoft proposal was more "smoke and mirrors" than objective reality.

Now let's turn to the recent marriage of convenience between Microsoft and Mr. Icahn.

This "odd couple" collaboration - between two parties with keenly different agendas - is indeed perplexing. Why does Mr. Icahn believe he can count on Microsoft to complete a transaction? Certainly Microsoft is a well-respected and successful company and we have been clear that we are fully prepared to do a deal with them. But Microsoft's flip flops and inconsistencies over the past five months are so stupefying that one can only conclude that Microsoft was never fully committed to acquiring Yahoo! either because:

-- Microsoft can't decide what is and isn't strategically important to its online business; or

-- Microsoft is more interested in destabilizing a key competitor so that it can either enhance its competitive position or buy our highly valuable search business--and the enormously desirable intellectual property associated with it --at a bargain basement price.

Microsoft desperately needs to improve the performance of its online services business (consisting of its search and display assets) which, cumulatively since 2003, has lost money despite billions of dollars of investment. And yet Mr. Icahn would ignore this track record and its implications for his fellow Yahoo! stockholders, swallowing a deal that leaves Yahoo!'s future dependent, in part, on Microsoft's ability to monetize search. And, as Mr. Icahn has himself pointed out, it would eliminate any opportunity we may have to sell the entire Company for an attractive premium.

In contrast to the conflicting and confusing statements emanating from the Icahn-Microsoft alliance, your Board and management have been crystal clear about our position.

First, we will sell the entire Company to Microsoft for $33 per share or more if Microsoft will negotiate a transaction that delivers certainty of value and certainty of closing. This is the simplest, most straightforward way to maximize value for you.

Second, we remain open to selling only search to Microsoft as long as it provides real value to our stockholders and resolves the substantial execution and operational risks associated with the separation of our search and display businesses.

Third, your Board takes seriously its obligation to examine all value-creating steps it could take and continues to actively examine many of these now, including a potential spin-off of our Asia assets and a return of cash to stockholders. These are steps Yahoo! could take, if we determine they are feasible and in our stockholders' best interests, without any "help" from Microsoft or Mr. Icahn. But they are complex steps that require care and prudence. These should not be adopted simply because Mr. Icahn and Microsoft are trying to dress up Microsoft's inadequate search-only proposal.

While your Board continues to evaluate the foregoing avenues, your current Board and management continue to execute on our strategy to grow the value of our unique collection of assets. That strategy is working and we believe it can result in substantial double digit growth in operating cash flow as we move forward. Our recently executed search advertising agreement with Google reflects our commitment to achieving our strategic goals, while preserving flexibility to pursue a sale of the Company or even, on the right terms, a sale of our search business.

Please compare and contrast the straightforward, responsible actions and positions of your Board of Directors with the behavior of Mr. Icahn and Microsoft.

There you have the situation, as we see it, put as simply and clearly as we can. We believe the Icahn slate and agenda present significant risk to your investment in Yahoo!. We believe you cannot count on Microsoft to bail out Mr. Icahn's misguided agenda, at least not on terms that are in the best interests of Yahoo! stockholders.

In contrast, your Board remains fully prepared to represent your interests aggressively and conscientiously in the effort to maximize value--whether that takes the form of negotiating a transaction that provides full and fair value, with certainty; finding other ways to unlock and return value to you; or moving forward with our accelerated strategies to lead in online advertising.

Your Board of Directors remains committed to maximizing stockholder value. It is--and will remain--our number one priority. Do not be fooled into thinking otherwise by Carl Icahn.

We strongly urge you to vote your WHITE Proxy Card today for your current Board of Directors.

Thank you for your support.

Roy Bostock Jerry Yang
Chairman of the Board Chief Executive Officer

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google's Mobile Ratings Increase Need for Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management just became much more crucial. Google has enabled reviews and ratings for businesses, restaurants, etc via mobile. Now people don't have to wait until they get home (and have time to cool down on the way?) to write a review after a negative (or perceived negative) experience.

On the flip side, you could encourage your customers to write a review if they had a positive experience.

Don't freak out too much yet - it's still not available for iPhone customers. But, it will be soon.

Never fear, we've got you covered. Read up on online reputation management to keep your virtual image afloat:

• How to Bury Negative Online Mentions of You - Intermediate Level Tactics
• Local Search Lives or Dies by User Reviews
• Constructive feedback on online reputation management
• Defining Yourself Through Search
• Search and Reputation: Your Brand Standing Is Your Shelf Landing
• Video Marketing and Brand Management Online
• Hospitality Social Media Marketing: Influence Critical Customer Reviews
• Women Execs Have Better Online Presence

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Internal Links And My High School Evolution

Understanding internal linking is made easier by comparing it to high school. In today's link building column, "Internal Links And My High School Evolution," Sage Lewis shows that, just as cool kids in school can make others cool by associating with them, internal linking can spread the "coolness factor" of your site, aka PageRank, among various pages.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: SEM.edu: College and Career Points

Though few and far between, there are opportunities to learn search marketing at an accredited university. In today's SEM.edu column, "SEM.edu: College and Career Points," Ron Jones shares some letters from readers who have come across a few programs that may not be on your radar.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 16, 2008

Q&A with Google's Tim Armstrong

Canadian Business Magazine has an excellent Q&A with Google's Tim Armstrong. Here are some choice excerpts that show where Google's headed and why.

Canadian Business: What are some other emerging trends you're seeing in Internet advertising?

Tim Armstrong: Social networking will be a big part of online advertising in the future. There's also going to be a lot more analytics beneath Internet advertising. It's still hard to measure how different types of online ads and targeting techniques affect a consumer's perception of a brand. We're also excited about mobile opportunities.

CB: How big could mobile advertising become for Google?

TA: It will vary depending on the country. For example, in some developing countries, the infrastructure is being built more for cellphone access than stationary computer connections, and some people are skipping the computer generation altogether. We've done a lot of mobile testing in Japan, which has done a nice job of building high bandwidth access for cellphone users. I don't think one mobile search will eliminate one computer search or interaction on the web. Consumers have different needs when they're using those devices.

CB: How will the advertising industry change in the future?

TA: Advertising over the last 50 years has been about coming up with a big idea, planning around it for a year, then launching a six-month or year-long campaign for a product or service. In the future, advertisers will come up with 10, 100 or 1,000 creative messages for their products and services, then run, test and optimize them in real time. Campaigns won't be based on a time schedule, but on consumer behavior patterns.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

.Me and .Pro Domains to Go on Sale

Beginning tomorrow (July 17), GoDaddy will offer .me domains in open registration. The registrar and hosting provider hopes that people will sign up for two reasons: 1. to have their own name as their domain and 2. to have more control over their email address.

"'I want my name as a domain name' is something I hear often from Internet users," said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "DotME not only gives everyone a chance to register their own name, but provides the perfect domain for expressing themselves."

Next Monday, July 21 at 12pm EST, Encirca will sell .pro domains (pdf) as part of the relaunch of the extension. Only licensed professionals can register .pro domains.

"We enthusiastically support the re-launch of dot-pro," says Thomas Barrett, President of EnCirca, the leading dot-pro registrar. "These long overdue changes will open the door for businesses representing over 1,100 licensed professions, from every country in the world, to establish their Internet brand identity with the .pro domain name."

Previously, the .pro domain was only available for four types of professionals in four countries, but now the domain is available to many more professions in hundreds of countries. Examples of eligible licensed professionals include:

• Lawyers
• Accountants
• Engineers
• Architects
• Surveyors
• Doctors
• Dentists
• Chiropractors
• Nurses
• Opticians
• Optometrists
• Podiatrists
• Psychologists
• Therapists
• Social Workers
• Veterinarians
• Plumbers
• Inspectors
• Building Contractors
• Electricians
• Investment Advisors
• Real Estate Brokers
• Insurance Brokers
• Educators
• Patent and Trademark Examiners
• Court Reporters
• Police and Fire Safety Officers
• any other profession where an official credential is required for a business or individual to offer services

Before you make those all important domain purchases, be sure to brief yourself on the impact of domain names on SEO:
How to Choose the Best Domains for Search Engine Visibility
What's in a (Domain) Name? Take 2
Is The Company Worth As Much As The Domain Name?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Google to Hold Ad Planner Webinars

Google recently announced Ad Planner, its new media measurement tool. The tool is designed to help media buyers in their ad campaign spend planning. Though the tool is currently in private-beta, anyone is welcome to attend two upcoming webinars introducing the tool. Both webinars are free of charge. You must register to attend, so check out the links and info below:

July 16, 2008 (TODAY!)

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm EST
Register
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239
Registration password: agency1
Event number: 573 433 113
Event password: planner1

July 18, 2008 (Friday)

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm EST
Register
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239
Registration password: agency1
Event number: 577 712 627
Event password: planner2

Related Reading:
Google to Unveil Media Planning Tool
Does Google Analytics Share Data with Google Trends and Ad Planner?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DoubleClick to Launch Proposal Exchange Platform

Currently being tested by over 20 companies, DoubleClick has an electronic propsal exchange platform in the works. In a 2007 survey, 70% of DoubleClick's ad agency clients said that a publisher’s use of an automated proposal tool would have a positively impact on their decision to send that publisher an RFP (Request for Proposal).

The new tool would automate the RFP process and integrate with DoubleClick's existing DART® Sales Manager (DSM) for publishers and DART® for Advertisers’ (DFA) MediaVisor planning tool.

"DoubleClick's vision is to help digital advertising scale by developing platforms that bring advertisers and publishers together," said Group Product Manager Jonathan Bellack. "Our new proposal exchange platform reduces operational friction by eliminating error-prone manual data entry. In addition, our tight integration with Salesforce.com continues to develop DART Sales Manager's mission to enable an integrated quote to cash solution for publisher sales teams."

Related Reading:
Google + DoubleClick = 69% of Online Advertising Market
DoubleClick Mobile Integrates with Mobile Ad Networks
Google Nixes AdSense Referrals, AdWords PPA; Rebrands DoubleClick Performics

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft Server Update Includes New Enterprise Search Features

Microsoft has released an update to its servers and new enterprise search features are included in the mix. The update (which is a series of three bundles) affects:

• Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
• Search Server 2008
• Search Server 2008 Express
• Office Project Server 2007 and Office Project Professional 2007

The new enterprise search features include:

• A federated search capability, which can index content stored in other repositories
• An administration dashboard
• Performance updates

These updates were already included in Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express.

via PC World

Related Reading:
Fast Search Acquisition Completed by Microsoft
Social Media Marketing in an Enterprise Environment
Large Enterprise SEO: CMS Duplicate Content

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Seeks Microsoft Deal Before Yahoo Aug 1 Shareholders Meeting

AOL is feeling the urge to merge and soon. Time Warner is reportedly seeking a deal with Microsoft prior to the fast-approaching August 1 Yahoo shareholders meeting.

The deal would merge AOL with Yahoo's search business, and owned by Microsoft. Time Warner would take a minority stake in the newly formed company. AOL has shifted its focus from dial-up internet service to online advertising.

Previously, Yahoo talked to AOL about a merger in what appeared to be one of many attempts to stave off Microsoft.

AOL's Platform-A was the top online advertising network in the month of March. The network reaches 9 out of 10 internet users, or 170 million people. Yahoo Networks came in second at 160 million, while Google came in third at 152 million.

Seems like Microsoft should acquire AOL with or without Yahoo. Then again, nothing is quite what it seems when it comes to the whole Microhoo debacle is it?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google to Scramble YouTube User IDs and IP Addresses in Viacom Case

Yesteday, I reported that YouTube user viewing histories would not longer be handed over to Viacom by Google per an agreement by the two. I also wrote that User IDs, IP addresses, and Visitor IDs would still be handed over. What yours truly completely missed (i am afterall, only human) is that even that data will be scrambled. Here's the legalese:

When producing data from the Logging Database pursuant to the Order, Defendants shall substitute values while preserving uniqueness for entries in the following fields: User ID, IP Address and Visitor ID. The parties shall agree as promptly as feasible on a specific protocol to govern this substitution whereby each unique value contained in these fields shall be assigned a correlative unique substituted value, and preexisting interdependencies shall be retained in the version of the data produced. Defendants shall promptly (no later than 7 business days after execution of this Stipulation) provide a proposed protocol for this substitution. Defendants agree to reasonably consult with Plaintiffs’ consultant if necessary to reach agreement on the protocol.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: When Being First Isn't Worth It

A new report from AdGooroo shows that, generally speaking, for short keywords it's not profitable to bid your way into the high positions. These types of keywords actually lose money in the first and second positions, but longer keywords can do well near the top. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "When Being First Isn't Worth It," Eric Enge shows that by testing this idea on your campaigns, you stand to create more profitable PPC campaigns.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Google's Path to Domination

And you may ask yourself, 'how did we get here?' Today's search landscape is a result of Yahoo trying to integrate large acquisitions too fast, while Google focused on core disciplines, small complimentary acquisitions, and smart build-outs. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google's Path to Domination," Kevin Ryan points out that today, Microsoft is trying to do the same thing Yahoo failed at five years ago. Think it'll work this time?

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

MSNBC Digital Network Becomes Number 1 News Site

According to Nielsen Online, the MSNBC Digital Network (msnbc.com) was the number one Current Events and Global News site in June, attracting 37.6 million unique visitors that month. The MSNBC Digital Network's surge in unique visitors is a 29 percent increase above its 2007 average.

Yahoo! News ranked #2, with 35.0 million unique visitors and the CNN Digital Network ranked #3, with 33.4 million unique users, according to Nielsen Online.

The MSNBC Digital Network was also ranked #1 in total minutes, with consumers spending a total of 1,058,344,000 minutes on the site (eight percent ahead of the CNN Digital Network and 42 percent ahead of Yahoo! News).

As I mentioned back in April in a post entitled "CNN and MSNBC Battle Yahoo News for Top News Site," the battle for news site supremacy is a big story – similar to the newspaper war between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst in the 1890s.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Share of Searches Almost 70 Percent

Google grabbed 69.17 percent of all U.S. searches for the four weeks ending June 28, 2008, Hitwise announced today. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 19.62, 5.46 and 4.17 percent respectively. The remaining 42 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.70 percent of U.S. searches.

Note: Data is based on four week rolling periods (ending 5/31/ 2007, 4/26/08, 5/26/2007 from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users. * - includes executed searches on Live.com and MSN Search but does not include searches on Club.Live.com.

In the U.K. market, Google search properties (Google.co.uk and Google.com) accounted for 87 percent of all UK searches in June 2008 representing a 10 percent increase compared to June 2007. Yahoo! search properties accounted for 4.00 percent of UK searches in June 2008, a 2 percent increase compared to April 2008. MSN search properties accounted for 3.72 percent and Ask search properties accounted for 3.07 percent of searches. MSN increased two percent compared to April 2008 and Ask increased 6 percent.

In the Australia market, Google search accounted for 88 percent of all AU searches in June 2008 representing a 12 percent increase compared to June 2007. MSN search accounted for 7 percent and Yahoo! search accounted for 4.00 percent of AU searches in June 2008.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Congressional Judiciary Committees Look into Yahoo-Google Ad Partnership

Last week the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on online advertising and privacy. Today, the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and House get in on the action as it relates to the recent Yahoo-Google deal.

The Senate hearing began at 10:30 am, but is largely eclipsed by a speech by the President as well as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's umteenth appearance on Capitol Hill. You can watch it live by clicking on "Live Webcast" here.

The House hearing begins at 1:30pm and the site has links to webcast video, though I personally couldn't get them to work on my laptop. If you're in the DC area, head on over to 2141 Rayburn House Office Building to observe the hearing for yourself.

Google Senior VP for Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond will be appearing at both hearings and is planning to touch on the following:

• The agreement will be good for Internet users (who will see ads that are better targeted to their interests); advertisers (whose ads will be better matched to users' interests, allowing them to reach potential customers more efficiently), and website publishers (who will see increased revenue from better-matched ads on their websites).
• Google and Yahoo! will remain vigorous competitors, and that competition will help fuel innovation that is good for users and the economy. Commercial arrangements between competitors are commonplace in many industries. Antitrust regulators in the US have recognized that consumers can benefit form these arrangements, especially when one company has technical expertise that enables another company to improve the quality of its products
• The agreement will not increase Google's share of search traffic, because Yahoo will continue to run its own search engine and compete in online search.
• Yahoo! will make its instant messaging network interoperable with Google's. This will mean easier and broader communication among a growing number of IM users, and enable users to choose among competing IM providers based on the merits and features of the services.
• A number of steps have been taken in the Yahoo! agreement to protect user privacy. As Google supplies ads to Yahoo! and its partners, personally identifiable information of individual Internet users will not be shared between the companies. Yahoo! will anonymize the IP address of a searcher's computer before passing a search request to Google.

Also scheduled to appear are:

• Michael Callahan, General Counsel, Yahoo!
• Brad Smith Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft
• Matthew Crowley, Chief Marketing Officer, Yellowpages.com
• Tim Carter, President and CEO, Askthebuilder.com

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Viacom Agrees to Skip YouTube Viewing Histories

Despite a court order requiring Google to hand over YouTube user viewing histories, Viacom and Google have come to an agreement where that data will be left out of the user log handover. Viacom will still receive user ID, user IP addresses, and visitor ID data.

Viacom has been going after Google for the copyright material found on YouTube, something many predicted would happen once the Mountain View-based search giant acquired the popular online video site. And while Viacom may have the law on its side, many feel the media conglomerate should just accept the free advertising that comes with the so-called copyright violations.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and Yahoo may want to take notes on how to negotiate an agreement without the help of the mainstream media.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Twing Search Engine Launches Buzz Graph

Twing.com, a new search engine dedicated to finding information within forums and communities, today announced it has launched new features that can help brand managers gain insight into product and company discussions.

“Our Saved Search and Buzz Graph products were created for our users,” said General Manager Kevin Shea in a statement. “And they also have a lot of value for anyone tracking brand conversations.”

Buzz Graphs let visitors see the popularity of various terms within the online community space, as well as refine terms by category and share the results with colleagues. Typical web users might find the results fun and interesting. For brand managers, it’s a valuable tool offering insight into what’s being said about products and companies.

According to Forrester’s North American Social Technographics Online Survey, Q2, 2007, those who read online forums account for 28 percent of US Consumers – even more than blogs, which account for 25 percent. In terms of participation, 18 percent contribute to online forums, whereas only 14 percent comment on blogs, with 11 percent maintaining their own blogs. While blog writing and usage is considered explosive, the facts show that much of the online conversation is happening in forums.

Launched in January 2008, Twing.com is a search engine dedicated to online communities and forums. Twing.com’s proprietary software and algorithms index thousands of forums and millions of conversations worldwide. Analyzing forum posts, topics, and whole forums provides accurate and relevant search results.

“If today’s marketing is really about conversations and relationships, then good brand stewardship demands managers pay attention to the conversations happening in forums,” said Director of Product Management Scott Germaise in a statement. “Keeping track of web pages and blogs is not enough. The real person-to-person communication is happening in online forums.”

Twing offers multiple search options plus advanced filtering and sorting tools so people can effectively search forums in ways not available until the advent of Twing.com. The company also seeks to build even more awareness of the online forum space.

Twing.com is easily used by entering search terms to quickly locate specific discussions and/or topics. Visitors can register – for free – to become a Twing.com member, participate in Twing.com’s forums and take advantage of current and upcoming personalization options.

Twing.com’s use of proprietary software and algorithms enables users to search into forum content well beyond the limitations of traditional search engines. With Twing.com, Internet users can search the rich user-generated content found in online communities and forums, and access these discussions through highly relevant, easy-to-read search results.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Extends Webmaster Tools Access Program to Qualifying Hosting Providers

Google is extending the Webmaster Tools Access Provider Program to include more hosting providers. Originally, the pilot program was a partnership with GoDaddy. Now other hosting providers can apply for qualification in order to offer the same services to their customers.

The program allows hosting providers to offer Google's Webmaster Tools directly through their account management panels. Webmasters may find this particularly useful as they can now use the Webmaster Tools right along their other account management tools, if their provider qualifies.

Related Reading:
New Google Webmaster Tool Aids Robots.txt Creation
Google Adds Site Location To Webmaster Tools
Google Adds Malware Tool To Webmaster Central Tools

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Website Optimizer Offers $100 AdWords Credit for 60 Minutes of Your Time

Google's Website Optimizer Tool came out of Beta in April, and practing what they preach, they're doing some testing. They are looking for a few good partipants for a test that requires 60 minutes of your time. In exchange, you'll get $100 AdWords credit.

Here are the requirements in order to sign up:

• 18 years old or older
• Sign their Usability Non-Disclosure Agreement
• Windows 2000/XP and Internet Explorer installed (sorry, no Macs)
• Broadband Internet connection or stronger (such as DSL, Cable, or T1)
• Have a phone (cell or land line) with a handless option so you can speak on the phone and use your computer simultaneously

Interested? Sign up here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Launches Election Video Gadget with Transcribed Speech Text

Google has launched a new iGoogle gadget that allows users to search for election videos. The gadget uses speech recognition technology, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

The only speech that is transcribed are fragmented snippets. If you click on little yellow squares along the play bar, you can find out the snippet that occurs at that point and jump to that point in the video.

Of course, what would be most useful is a fully transcribed version of the videos. So much of politics seems to be about statements taken out of context (on both sides of the aisle). At least the full video is there.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft Gives Their Side of the Latest Yahoo Offer Story

If Microsoft and Yahoo spent half as much time developing search technology as they did battling out the proposed acquisition in the court of public opinion, they might actually make the marketplace competitive.

But instead of working together in peace and harmony, they're engaged in posturing that's akin to a nasty celebrity divorce - or an episode of The Hills.

This time, Microsoft is feeling the need to correct what they say are inaccuracies of Yahoo's account of the latest search proposal. Primarily, they say that no change-up in Yahoo leadership was part of the latest offer.

Furthermore, they say that Roy Bostock called Steve Ballmer and requested a new offer. They quoted him as saying, “with substantial guarantees on the table and an increase in the TAC (traffic acquisition cost) rate, there are the pillars of a search only deal to be done.”

Because of that, Microsoft says they made an offer that "included significant revenue guarantees, higher TAC rates, an equity investment and an option for Yahoo! to extend the agreement over a 10-year period."

That offer was made on Friday, rejected on Saturday, the same day as Yahoo's latest statement. It took Microsoft two more days to release their statement. Sounds like they took some time to get their story together?

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Duplicate Content -- A True Story

Dealing with sites that steal your content is not fun. But it doesn't have to be difficult. In today's organic SEO column, "Duplicate Content -- A True Story," Mark Jackson outlines a few simple steps before and after you discover the offending scraper sites.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SEW Experts: Recruiting SEO Talent for Big Sites

Finding an experienced SEO expert is not easy, when most are either in top-level positions at an agency or have their own successful consulting firms. In today's enterprise search marketing column, "Recruiting SEO Talent for Big Sites," Aaron Shear advises that, to begin your search, you must first throw everything you know about hiring out the window.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Bernstein Research Predicts the Future of Paid Search

In a full-blown recession, what's the future of paid search? In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "Bernstein Research Predicts the Future of Paid Search," Kevin Heisler looks at a new study from Sanford C Bernstein's research arm that's a virtual crystal ball into Google and search engine marketing.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 14, 2008

Americans Watched 12 Billion Videos Online in May

comScore today reported that U.S. Internet users viewed more than 12 billion online videos during May 2008, a 45 percent increase from a year ago.

Google Sites ranked as the top U.S. video property that month with 4.2 billion videos viewed (representing a 35 percent share of all videos viewed). YouTube.com accounted for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at the property, making Google Video less popular than Hulu.com, a joint venture of NBC and Fox, which debuted in the 10th position with 88 million videos being viewed (0.7 percent).

Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 778 million videos (6.4 percent). Yahoo! Sites ranked third with 347 million (2.9 percent), followed by Microsoft Sites with 246 million (2.0 percent).

According to comScore, nearly 142 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 85 videos per viewer in May. Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (83.8 million), who watched an average of 50 videos per person. Fox Interactive attracted the second most viewers (60.8 million), followed by Yahoo! Sites (40.2 million) and Microsoft Sites (29.5 million).

Other notable findings include:
-- 74 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
-- The average online video viewer watched 228 minutes of video.
-- 82.2 million viewers watched 4.1 billion videos on YouTube.com (50.4 videos per viewer).
-- 54.8 million viewers watched 703 million videos on MySpace.com (12.8 videos per viewer).
-- 6.8 million viewers watched 88 million videos on Hulu.com (13.0 videos per viewer).
-- The duration of the average online video was 2.7 minutes.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Vote WHITE: Yahoo's Bastille Day Response to Carl Icahn

In language much more formal than his blasting of Icahn and Microsoft in interviews, Yahoo's Jerry Yang responded -- with capital letters -- to the proposed board of directors designed to unseat him. Today on Bastille Day, Yahoo's fighting its own revolution.

There was no mention of liberte, egalite or fraternite, but Yang could have easily addressed his shareholders:

"Chers Les Miserables,"

Yahoo Inc. mailed this letter to stockholders.

July 14, 2008

Dear Fellow Stockholder:

We have written to you before to explain why we believe your Board of Directors has the knowledge, experience, independence and commitment to best represent the interests of all Yahoo! stockholders. We have also told you why we believe the slate of directors advanced by Carl Icahn is not the right answer for Yahoo!.

When Mr. Icahn began his proxy contest he had no articulated plan for Yahoo! other than a sale of the Company to Microsoft. Today he still lacks a plan that makes sense for Yahoo! stockholders. On Monday, July 7, Mr. Icahn announced that he and Microsoft had engaged in conversations he claimed could lead to a transaction between Yahoo! and Microsoft if his slate is elected. In what was clearly a coordinated approach, Microsoft promptly followed Mr. Icahn's announcement with its own press release, stating that if – but only if – a new Board of Directors is elected, it might be interested in discussing either a transaction involving only Yahoo!'s valuable search assets or an acquisition of the entire Company (something Microsoft had refused to discuss with your Board for months).

The fact that Microsoft and Icahn had indeed teamed up to serve their own ends became entirely clear the evening of Friday, July 11, when Microsoft and Mr. Icahn jointly proposed a new complex restructuring of Yahoo! that would include the acquisition of Yahoo!'s search business by Microsoft. Your Board of Directors was given less than 24 hours to accept the proposal, the fundamental terms of which Microsoft and Mr. Icahn made clear they were unwilling to negotiate. After reviewing the proposal with our legal and financial advisors, your Board of Directors determined that accepting the proposal is not in the best interests of our stockholders.

The Board's rejection of the new proposal was based on a number of factors, including the following:
• 1. Yahoo!'s existing business plus its recently signed commercial agreement with Google has superior financial value and less complexity and risk than the Microsoft/Icahn proposal.

• 2. The Microsoft/Icahn proposal would preclude a potential sale of all of Yahoo! for a full and fair price, including a control premium.

• 3. The major component of the overall value per share asserted by Microsoft/Icahn would be in Yahoo!'s remaining non-search businesses which would be overseen by Mr. Icahn's slate of directors, which has virtually no working knowledge of Yahoo!'s businesses.

• 4. The Microsoft/Icahn proposal would require the immediate replacement of the current Board and removal of the top management team at Yahoo!. Your Board believes these moves would destabilize Yahoo! for the up to one year it would take to gain regulatory approval for this deal.

We believe that this odd and opportunistic alliance of Microsoft and Carl Icahn has anything but the interests of Yahoo!'s stockholders in mind. Clearly, Microsoft, having failed to advance in search, is aligning with the short-term objectives of Mr. Icahn to coerce Yahoo! into selling its core strategic search assets on terms that are highly advantageous to Microsoft, but disadvantageous to Yahoo! stockholders. It is ludicrous to think that your Board would accept this "take it or leave it" proposal – under which we would restructure the Company and hand over to Microsoft Yahoo!'s valuable search business and to Carl Icahn the rest of the Company – with less than 24 hours to respond. We remain open to any transaction that delivers full value to our stockholders – we just do not believe such a transaction should be dictated by Microsoft and a single short-term investor.

In addition, Microsoft's position that it would not deal with, or otherwise engage with, Yahoo!'s management to reach agreement on this proposal or to implement it, is completely absurd and irresponsible given the complexity of the deal – one that requires the removal of half of Yahoo!'s business from Yahoo! and then its integration into Microsoft.

In contrast, your Board of Directors points out that a transaction to acquire the whole Company would be much more straightforward and involve far less risk than the new proposal or any similar alternative. The Board believes a whole company transaction could be negotiated and executed prior to August 1st . In communicating with Microsoft and Mr. Icahn our position with regard to their search and restructuring proposal, your Board not only repeated its offer to sell the entire Company to Microsoft for at least $33 per share, but also offered to negotiate an improved search only transaction. Microsoft rejected both offers.

Ironically, Mr. Icahn, who jointly with Microsoft developed and presented this proposal, had previously urged Yahoo! not to sell its search business to Microsoft. Specifically, in an interview on CNBC's Fast Money program, on June 4, 2008, Mr. Icahn said, "... it's crazy for this company now to do this alternative deal and give the store away, because obviously, an alternative deal is a poison pill because once you've done an alternative deal and given the search to Microsoft, you don't need Microsoft to buy you anymore. So, that would be a poison pill...."

Significantly, the Board also believes Microsoft and Mr. Icahn are overstating the value their search and restructuring proposal would deliver to Yahoo! stockholders and substantially understating the risks. A transaction that would separate the Company's search and display businesses is an undertaking of great complexity. While this most recent proposal contains a number of improvements over Microsoft's earlier proposal, your Board's conclusion that the current proposal is not in the best interests of stockholders is based on the following factors in addition to those we set forth above:

The revenue guarantees suggested, which are conditional and subject to reduction, are well below the search revenue that the Company is expected to generate on its own and in association with its announced commercial agreement with Google. That agreement alone is estimated to generate $250 to $450 million of incremental operating cash flow for the first twelve months following implementation, while allowing Yahoo! to remain a principal in paid search;
• The success of the remaining Company is critically dependent on Microsoft's ability to effectively monetize search;

• Microsoft/Icahn's proposed traffic acquisition costs rates are below market;

• The proposal calls for Yahoo! to sell its industry-leading algorithmic search business and its related strategic and valuable intellectual property portfolio for no incremental consideration; and

• Many of the components of the headline value that Mr. Icahn and Microsoft put forward, such as the spin-off of Yahoo!'s Asian assets and the return of cash to stockholders, are steps that could be taken by Yahoo! on its own, and the Board continues to evaluate these options.

The choice for Yahoo! stockholders is clear: turn your Company and its uniquely valuable combination of assets over to Carl Icahn and his nominees and allow Microsoft and Mr. Icahn to dismantle the Company and deliver our search business to Microsoft on terms that would be disadvantageous to Yahoo! stockholders, or re-elect your experienced and dedicated Board with a clear strategy and a demonstrated commitment to create value for Yahoo! stockholders. We are prepared to let you, our stockholders, not Microsoft and Carl Icahn, decide what is in your best interests and we look forward to the upcoming vote.

We strongly urge you to vote your WHITE Proxy Card today for your current Board of Directors.

Thank you for your support.

Roy Bostock
Chairman of the Board

Jerry Yang
Chief Executive Officer

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Incorporates Code Search Results into Universal Search

In news that is likely to make my software-developer husband happy, Google has incorporated Code Search results into its main search results. Blended search results is often referred to as universal search, and in the past has included news, images, videos, etc.

Code Search, which launched in October 2005, competes with other vertical code search sites, such as Krugle. Krugle has a deal with IBM, a partnership with the Yahoo Developers Network, and indexes the Microsoft Codeplex.

via TechCrunch

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now States are Investigating Yahoo-Google Deal

Just a few weeks after the US Department of Justice formally opened its investigation to the Yahoo-Google search advertising partnership. Now, about a dozen states are looking into the matter, according to the Washington Post.

Not at all surprising, Connecticut is one of those states. Earlier this year, a bill was introduced to the state's General Assembly that sought to tighten the rules of data collection for companies who serve ads on sites they don't own.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told the Post, "We're looking at it because we're concerned about an excessive concentration of market power." Connecticut has subpoenaed both Yahoo and Google for documents related to their new partnership.

Also issuing subpoenas is the state of Florida. Recently, the Sunshine State has been cracking down on online ad fraud. A spokeswoman for the Attorney General Bill McCollum told the Post, "We are reviewing the proposed transaction in conjunction with other state attorneys general, as well as the Department of Justice."

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Find Free Cash Online with MissingMoney.com Search Engine

This may be the most important blog post you will ever read.

UPDATE: One of the hottest Google Hot Trends today is "missing money" so we thought it would be a good time to revisit our post on unclaimed money. The keywords searched include missing money .com, you might be rich, missing money.com, and missingmoney.com

You need to try out the most valuable vertical search engine ever created. It's Free Money with a Free Search.

Search for the cash and property you're owed right now. You owe it to yourself. This isn't just a free offer. It's not the IRS 2007 File Free program.

It's the law.

We're talking about cash you've earned. Forgotten cash. No, not Johnny Cash.

Cash money.

Free cash is better than free chat, free movies, free hugs, free books, free iTunes, free agents, free ringtones, free screensavers, free downloads, duty-free shops, free video games, free TV, gluten-free, free software and even free search engine optimization.

Well, maybe not better than free search engine optimization.

But it's way better than totally awesome killer freebies.

What's more - the money's already yours. You don't have to enter a lottery, win a game show, or wait for Oprah to give it away.

Here's how to find money that's owed to you: missing money AKA "unclaimed funds."

Click here: MissingMoney.com

Enter your Name and Zip Code in the secure database.

MissingMoney.com is a search engine for state unclaimed property records - not real estate, but real property. The states must keep your money and return lost funds. It's the law.

The Top 10 most common types of unclaimed property:

1. Bank accounts
2. Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
3. Uncashed checks and wages
4. Insurance policies
5. Utility deposits
6. Safe deposit box contents
7. Escrow accounts
8. Trust funds
9. Certificates of deposit (CDs)

Unclaimed property does not include real estate property.

You may not find as much cash as you receive in the upcoming $600 tax rebate checks to be sent out as part of the U.S. economic jumpstart package. But then, you won't have to thank the lame duck President.

You can just thank us and the search engine: www.missingmoney.com.

Once you've identified the location of your money, you can contact the appropriate state government unclaimed property office directly to recover it.

Keep on rockin' in the free world!

After the jump: All the states that participate - and the next two that will.

Participating States:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin

The following states will soon have their public records on the MissingMoney.com Web site:

Illinois, Rhode Island

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:41 AM | Permalink

Google Talks Ranking and Basic SEO Again, This Time on Adsense Blog

Recently, Google's Matt Cutts gave USA Today readers 5 SEO Tips, which many of our readers found quite basic (albeit good). Then, last week, Google gave an overview of its ranking system. Both come in the midst of Google's latest push to inform about its privacy policy. Now, Google has taken to the AdSense blog to inform publishers of basic SEO tips.

Here's what Ambroise Fensterbank, Search Quality Evaluator, recommends:

• Your pages should have a clear hierarchy and relevant internal links. We also recommend creating a Sitemap and using Google's Webmaster Tools. These tools are useful, user-friendly and will provide information such as where your backlinks come from or which queries visitors used to reach your site.
• Use