Is Google getting ready for an IPO? Not just yet, according to reports out of Silicon Valley. While Google is likely to be the most successful IPO in the last couple of years, it is in no rush to make the move.

Certainly, by staying a private company, Google can make decisions and plan it's next steps without having to disclose to investors (and Yahoo or MSN).

I agree with this report, you wont see Google go public this year, but early 2004 should see the IPO.
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ResearchBuzz is reporting changes going on at AltaVista. They have changed the news source from Moreover to AlltheWeb and made some other improvements.
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Ask Jeeves UK has made some changes to the search results being shown. The removal of some ads and the adjustments to the type of searches available, align the site with it's US property. Changes at Ask Jeeves UK
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Ted Meisel of Overture has confirmed that the average click charge with their service is around 40 cents and growing.

"When we look at the return that advertisers are getting, we certainly don't see anything that would get in the way of that moving up towards 50 cents." said Meisel.

They need to work on maintaining strong partnerships to justify Overture users spending more per click.

Read the Reuters article on Overture
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On a lighter note... It appears that a well known Space website has decided to include me in a list of "wealthy individuals" who are building their own space rockets. To quote from the article...

"Wealthy individuals, that are successful in business, have decided to enter the commercial space market. Dennis Tito, who reportedly paid a $20 million dollars to fly with the Russians to the International Space Station in 2001; Elon Musk, who founded his launch vehicle manufacturing firm by selling his internet companies for $1.8 billion; Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com has also started a commercial space research venture called Blue Origin; Bob Bigelow, a real estate and land developer in Navada founded Bigelow Aerospace; and Andy Beal, V.P. of Proranking.Com, an Internet search engine developer, was involved in the development of a new launch vehicle design are among commercial space entrepreneurs interested in creating commercial space launch ventures."

Reports of my "wealth" and pending space program are very much exaggerated. :-)

Congressional Hearing Charter: "Commercial Human Spaceflight" | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference
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More coverage on LookSmart with talk of the potential partnership with AOL. LookSmart Shares Jump After Earns Report (TechNews.com)
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The Internet is flooded with reports that MSN could soon acquire LookSmart. The stock price has soared 25% in today's trading.
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Interesting report out of Australia relating to LookSmart's latest quarterly results. With such strong numbers, rumors are rife that MSN is likely to acquire the search engine company.

"But most of the stock's recent gains have more to do with Yahoo's $US1.6 billion bid for LookSmart rival Overture this month. Speculation was fuelled that LookSmart might become an acquisition target, with potential acquirers including its largest customer Microsoft. LookSmart would be cheap with a current market value of $104 million.

Mr Kellerman said LookSmart was still in talks with Microsoft about a new sales agreement and neither side would comment until negotiations were completed."

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Google is getting ready to launch a new interface for it's popular Adwords advertising service. The new design is still in beta testing but will be rolled out of the next few weeks. Existing Google Adwords customers can check out the new interface now.

For information on the new look and additional features, visit their information page.
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MSN has announced that they have signed a partnership with WebRelevance, a start-up from Seattle, to provide technology to analyze content on the MSNBC site and show relevant ads from the MSN Shopping site.

WebRelevance's product is ad serve technology and not a service such as Overture or Google Adwords. With this deal, MSN is demonstrating that it's network is robust, it just needs help with utilizing it.

"What we really wanted was just a piece of software to integrate with our e-commerce partners," said Tillinghast. "We look at this not as search technology, but as match technology. It evaluates the story and makes the best possible match to the story. We found that WebRelevance had the highest contextual fit."

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LookSmart released it's second quarter numbers at the close of business today.
===============
Highlights:

Revenue Grows 83%: LookSmart reported second quarter 2003 revenue of $38.4 million, representing an 83% increase from the second quarter 2002.

Paid Clicks Rise 141%: During the second quarter paid clicks grew to 210 million, up 141% from the second quarter 2002.

Distribution Costs Unchanged: LookSmart's average distribution costs were 53%, unchanged from the prior quarter. Distribution costs are expressed as a percentage of revenue.

"LookSmart's leadership in the paid inclusion sector drove revenues and profits above our expectations," said Jason Kellerman, LookSmart's chief executive officer.

The Company is raising its full year 2003 revenue and earnings guidance. LookSmart expects to report revenue in the range of $147 million to $152 million and modified EBITDA in the range of $14 million to $15 million.

===============
I'm not a financial analyst, but the numbers released by Looksmart look very good. Increased growth in revenue while maintaining distribution costs. They are predicting similar strong results in the 3rd quarter and have raised revenue guidance for the year. If they can work on other partnership deals (such as the one with Lycos), they should show some great numbers.


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The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Web registry Network Solutions Inc., comparing Internet domain names to property such as homes and cars, and saying that the Web registry could be liable for damages after a convicted forger purloined ownership of www.sex.com from an e-commerce entrepreneur.

This is good news for everyone as NSI claimed that domain names were only rented to the registrants and not owned by them. The courts, rightly, decided otherwise.
Network Solutions responsible for theft of lucrative ``Sex.com'' domain name
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Looksmart will today announce its second quarter results. They plan on holding a live press conference at 6pm ET to make the announcement. Hopefully this is a good sign. LookSmart - Press Conference details
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Since June of this year, Google watchers have been in a frenzy as the world's most popular search engine shows signs that the "Google-Dance" (the monthly update of its index) might turn into an ongoing waltz. Over the past few weeks, many website owners have reported that their listing in Google has been updated more frequently. I've noticed this as well, with Google updating it's cache of this search engine blog on a frequent basis.

While Google appears to be making efforts to move away from a rigid monthly update, it is still unknown what will come of its PageRank system. Many online businesses have reported that the PageRank shown for their site has not moved for a number of months and some are already claiming that it is obsolete.

I'll post more as the story unfolds.
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Lee Gomes has an excellent article in today's Wall Street Journal that discusses the use of search engines to track changing trends. You can also check out Lee's blog. The Lee Gomes Research Blog
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Overture is growing again. It today announced a partnership with Knight Ridder Digital, the Internet arm of newspaper publisher Knight Ridder Inc. Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
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Further news on MSN and it's development of a new search engine. Looks like MSN is going to do this the right way. They'll continue using Inktomi, LookSmart and Overture until they have a search engine robust enough to take on Google.

"This is not a short-term project, it is a pretty extensive project," said Lisa Gurry, group product manager for MSN. "It is a strategic area for the [MSN] group and we are increasing the number of employees in that area far greater than in any other group in MSN."

Microsoft boosts MSN to compete with Google
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It's Sunday, but I could here my search engine blog calling....MSN has confirmed that it will, for the time being, stay in partnership with Overture.

Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi said MSN has no plans to end its agreement with Overture, which is slated to provide sponsored text listings within MSN search results through 2004. But he added that in the long term, the portal will consider building its own commercial search operation.

The article also confirms that MSN does have a "out" clause, which if excercised would result in Overture having to pay MSN $50 million (which was put in place should Yahoo buy MSN).
BusinessWeek Online: News from C|Net.com
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Attracting visitors to your website via PPC campaigns can be very expensive, with many people wasting money. If you are going to create a campaign, at least follow Robin Nobles' recommendations for tracking ROI. Are YOU getting your Money's Worth When Buying PPC Traffic?
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Ask Jeeves is to drop its friendly British butler...

Searching Google Where's Jeeves?
Allison Fass, 08.11.03

When you're only the fifth-biggest search service and have a reputation for bad searches, whom do you blame? The butler, of course. The Emeryville, Calif.-based Ask Jeeves is canning its once-ubiquitous pinstriped Brit butler from advertising after four years.

The company spent $90 million in marketing the little guy during the boom years, but he didn't clean up. Ask Jeeves holds only a 3% share of the search market, behind Google, Yahoo, America Online and MSN.

President Steven Berkowitz says that dropping the butler will signal consumers that the search engine has changed--its technology has been upgraded. Notwithstanding, the butler logo will remain on the site.

Replacing the butler in ads will be a theme that claims Ask Jeeves is "an easier, more intuitive search." The company will be spending an estimated $3 million marketing the idea this year. Forbes.com: Searching Google Where's Jeeves?

Is this a conspiracy against us Brits? My (American) wife wants me to become a US Citizen anyway, maybe I should follow Ask Jeeve's lead ;-)
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Have you visited Hotbot recently? Seems as if they have changed the names of the search engines you can select for your search. They used to read Intomi, AllTheWeb, Google and Teoma; now they show Hotbot, Lycos, Google and Ask Jeeves. Funnily enough, they are all the same database, so why change the names. I guess they found that people recognized Lycos over AllTheWeb and Ask Jeeves over Teoma. Homepage HotBot Web Search
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Overture posted increased revenues but lower profits. Investors didn't care, they're just happy that Yahoo is going to buy their stock. The Register
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AOL is struggling and it looks like Google might do for them, what Overture did for Yahoo. Some interesting facts in this article including:

Paid search is becoming a force to be reckoned with and is expected to reach $5 billion in revenue by 2008. (explains Yahoo's acquisition of Overture).

Google will add $28 million to AOL's revenue this year, rising to $76 million by 2007.

AOL is reportedly considering placing Google's Adwords throughout the AOL network. What's stopping them? They need a way to take advantage of the reducing subscriber numbers before they lose them all.
Can Google save America Online? | CNET News.com
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Congratulations to LookSmart, as they announce their One-Billionth paid click. They are the first search engine to reach that level of paid traffic, so hats off to them. Their next goal? Maybe get bought out by MSN. MSN Money - US:LOOK Recent Stock News: Investing
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ClickTracks has now officially launched v4.0 of their website visitor analyzer. If you have not seen this fantastic, award winning tool then head on over to their website right now. We use this tool for our ProRanking clients and love it! It even beat WebTrends in the recent ClickZ awards. ClickTracks Log File Analyzer.
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Spread the word...JimWorld is back! The staff are working on some great updates as we speak and the forum is re-launching. This is the place that first gave me the taste for SEO. JimWorld | Articles, Resources and Tools for Webmasters, Online Marketing Professionals
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More Ask Jeeves news. Seems like they are heading in the right direction, they posted a profit for the second quarter. Revenue of $25.6 million with net profits of $5.2 million. Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
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Ask Jeeves has named a new President, Steve Berkowitz who will report to CEO Skip Battle. Investors must approve as the stock is up today. News: Breaking News In Brief
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Hot off the press...

Search Engine Optimization Basics Part 4 – Submissions

This is the latest article in the “Back to Basics� series. Previous articles include the importance of search engine marketing (SEM), effective keyword research, title tag formats and Meta tag use. In this topic we take a look at how to submit to the search engines.


Do you remember when a website needed to be submitted every day in order to get listed on the search engines? Or the time when we all needed to submit our sites to over 50,000 search engines in order to achieve traffic? Well, actually we never needed to do any of the above, but in a rush to achieve top search engine positioning, many businesses were convinced that submitting often and to thousands of search engines would bring that pot of search engine gold they so desperately wanted.

Fast-forward to today and the concepts behind submitting your website have dramatically changed. While many people believed that the submission process played a large part in the search engine ranking achieved, most businesses now realize that the submission process is merely a means of delivering optimized pages to the search engines. I often find analogies to be beneficial, so lets try this one. If your optimized website was this summer’s blockbuster movie, then the movie theatre’s projector would be the submission process. You want to make sure that the movie is shown using the best projection methods possible, but the actual projector does not make the movie a blockbuster. However, without the projector, your movie would not be seen. With search engine optimization, it’s the changes to the website that ensure top positioning, but without correct submission to the search engines, no one will see them. Still with me?

So now that you’ve started to optimize your website, how do you make sure that your “blockbuster� reaches its target audience? No doubt, you can name the most important search engines and I would hazard a guess that you could name many of the smaller ones too. Which ones are important and how should you submit to them? Let’s take a look.

The Big Four

Google – 29.5% of searches*

Google is everyone’s favorite search engine, but how do you get your website listed? First there is the submission form, located on their website. The instructions provided by Google are pretty straightforward: submit your top-level page and Google will spider the rest of the website. However, submitting your website this way does not guarantee that you’ll be indexed. Google has always preferred to find new websites by spidering existing sites in its index and following new links from there. If you want to increase your chances of seeing your website indexed, find some quality websites or directories to link to your new site now. You don’t need hundreds of links, but 3-5 quality links at this stage will encourage Google to index your site. Google typically updates its full index once a month, so do not panic if 4 weeks have gone by and there’s still no sign of being indexed. However, if after 6 weeks, you site is still not indexed, concentrate on adding more quality links and work on getting listed in the Open Directory. See below.

Yahoo – 28.9% of searches

Up until about 18 months ago, the best way to get listed in Yahoo was by paying the annual $299 fee to be listed in their directory. However, at this time, Yahoo gets its results from the Google index and a directory listing is no longer vital (although many like having the directory listing as well). So for the time being, I recommend concentrating on getting your website listed in Google, and that will take care of Yahoo (although with Yahoo acquiring Inktomi, this could soon change).


MSN – 27.6% of searches

There are two effective ways to get your website listed in the MSN results (sponsored listings aside). You can submit your website to Looksmart (see below) and find your site listed in the “Web Directory Sites� or you can favor Inktomi and have your website listed in the “Web Pages� section. The Looksmart results are shown ahead of the Inktomi results, so if you choose just one option, make sure it is Looksmart. However, Inktomi is a crawler and is very useful if you have lots of content or hundreds of different products. If someone searches for a multiple-word search term or a particular model number, it will be Inktomi that will likely have the answer, not Looksmart. We’ll cover submissions to Inktomi, below.

AOL – 18.4% of searches

The submission process for AOL, is well, non-existent. AOL uses the results from Google, so obtaining a listing at Google is important if you wish to be shown in AOL.

* NetRatings for January 2003. Results do not add up to 100% as some searchers use more than one search engine.

The Directories

The Open Directory

The Open Directory is also referred to as ODP or DMOZ. It is a vast directory updated and maintained by thousands of volunteer editors. To get your website listed in the directory, simply find the most appropriate category for your website and click the “add url� link. Follow the instructions carefully. Not only are there standard instructions for each category, but also some editors have their own quirky set of guidelines. Do not be tempted to write a description that is full of dozens of keywords. Pick 3-4 of your most important keywords and write a 20-30-word description that includes these terms. DMOZ editors are known for changing the descriptions submitted by website owners, so make sure yours is well written so that you reduce the chance of it being edited; it could be your keywords that are edited out. Remember, editors are unpaid at DMOZ, so don’t expect to see your website listed after just a few days. It could take weeks or even months. You can read further instructions at the DMOZ site.

Looksmart

Looksmart used to ask for a simple $299 fee to have your site reviewed by editors and then listed in the directory. That is long gone, and now they use their own unique combination of paid-inclusion and editorial review. Pay the $29 to have your site reviewed and listed in the Looksmart directory. Once listed, you will pay $0.15 per click for the first 5,000 visitors that Looksmart generates to your website. After that, your click-thru rate is adjusted depending on the type of business you operate (rates range from $0.23 to $0.75 per click). The good news is that you can set your monthly budget to ensure that you do not overspend (minimum spend is $15 a month). You can submit your site via this link. (Note that these are basic instructions for getting listed in Looksmart - you can view further information on their website).


The Crawlers

There are many other search engines that you should consider. So that we are not here all day, let’s take a brief look at the best way to submit to each of them.

Inktomi – provides results to Looksmart, MSN, Hotbot and Overture.

Inktomi does not have its own search engine interface but provides crawler results to many other search engines. The best way to get listed in Inktomi is to use one of the many paid-inclusion services. The cost is typically $39 a year for the first URL you submit and $25 for each URL thereafter. The subscription is for one year and usually ensures your site is listed within 48 hours. Two of the main providers of Inktomi paid-inclusion are: PositionTech and Network Solutions.

Ask Jeeves

Ask Jeeves is a growing search engine with many loyal users. The crawler results for Ask Jeeves are provided by Teoma (which Ask owns). Unless Teoma happens to spider your website from another already in its index, the best way to get listed is to use their paid-inclusion service. Fees are in line with Inktomi and are $30 per year for the first URL and $18 for each additional URL. The main paid-inclusion partners are PositionTech and Ineedhits.com.

Fast – provides results to Lycos and AllTheWeb

Fast is similar to Inktomi in that it is not a search interface. However the sites indexed are displayed at both AllTheWeb and Lycos, so submitting is definitely worthwhile. The fees are typically $34 per year for the first URL and $16 for each additional URL. The main paid-inclusion partners are PositionTech and Lycos InSite Select.


AltaVista

AltaVista is no longer the search engine power it once was and with Overture recently acquiring the company (and Yahoo acquiring Overture), its future is unknown. That being said, should you wish to submit your website you can use either its basic submit service, which is free but very slow, or you can use the paid inclusion option which will cost you $39 for your first URL (this is for 6 months only).

Netscape and iWon

Both Netscape and iWon receive their crawler results from Google.


In Summary

Now for some caveats and clarification on the above. While some search engines offer free submission services and others will index your site eventually if you have inbound links, the advice above concentrates on the quickest and most effective means of getting your website indexed. In addition, I have not delved into the realms of “Direct-Feeds� or Pay-Per-Click which would need articles in their own right. However, for most small to medium sized businesses looking to follow the best methods of submitting a website, the above information should be enough to ensure that your site is indexed. If you’re ready for your website to be the next “blockbuster,� then following the guidelines above will help ensure your success.

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Keep up to date with SEO news by subscribing to Search Engine Guide's daily or weekly newsletter. Robert does a great job of offering a wide range of articles and information. Search Engine Guide: Search Engine Newsletters
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I can't tell you the number of times that I have "cut and pasted" text from an article or document into Google or another search engine. Now, thanks to gophoria, I can simply highlight the text, right click and search for the phrase or text. While other toolbars offer a similar function, gophoria also lets you check a dictionary and thesaurus. This is great tool for anyone that conducts a lot of research and best of all, it's free! Go to the website and download today. Go on, go! gophoria the portal alternative - think. click. goPhoria!
Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

 
Lycos has decided that Google's toolbar is a good thing and wants a piece of the action. They launched their new "Sidesearch" tool which provides a second opinion on any search that you carry out at any search engine. Surprisingly, the second opinion comes from Lycos search results. Lycos Sidesearch - the ultimate search comparision tool!
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Google has launched a new "Advanced News Search" which allows users to search news article for exact phrases, a particular date range or even a particular publication. Mercury News | 07/21/2003 | Google introduces advanced news search Use the tool at Google Advanced News Search.
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Looks like DMOZ (the Open Directory) has fixed the issues they were having. They appear to be accepting site submissions once again.
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Interesting article on Ask Jeeves and it's future. It is clear that Ask is a tempting acquisition target for anyone, be it Google or MSN. They have great technology and a loyal following. Maybe I should check their stock price ;-)The Globe and Mail
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The Search War Is About to Get Bloody
Yahoo! is spending like crazy to try to grab back business it has been handing Google for years

Three years ago, Yahoo! Inc. and the other leading Internet portals largely wrote off the search business. Spiffing up the way Web surfers plug words into a search engine to navigate around the Net seemed like a waste of time and money. So they put the brakes on developing their own search expertise and licensed technology from small fry like Google Inc. Big mistake: The search business boomed, and Google reaped the benefits. Consumers flocked to its site -- and thousands of advertisers quickly followed.

Now, Yahoo is out to take back some of the thunder it so unwittingly ceded. On July 14, the Net kingpin agreed to dole out $1.6 billion for Overture Services, Google's main competitor. The deal gives Yahoo better search technology and, even more important, a stronger position in "paid search," a fast-growing segment of the online ad market in which advertisers pay to be listed in Web search results. Overture is the top player in that market, raking in an estimated $1 billion this year by auctioning placement in search results to advertisers and then distributing those rankings on the sites of partners such as Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Yahoo. "This assures a great rivalry between Yahoo and Google," says Anthony Valencia, an analyst at TCW Group Inc., which owns shares in both Yahoo and Overture.

They're rivals with very different strategies for dominating the Net. Nine-year-old Yahoo built what is still the most popular spot on the Web, with 121 million visitors in May, according to Nielsen//NetRatings Inc. It did this by creating a self-contained digital world packed with a smorgasbord of services that users can linger over, from e-mail to online shopping malls. Its revenues, which are expected to rise 35% this year, to $1.3 billion, are well diversified, coming from banner ads, paid search, subscriptions for services such as personals, and a fast-growing broadband partnership with SBC Communications. Google, with an elegantly simple site that offers nothing but search, has upended the traditional notion of what it takes to lure a large, loyal following online. In just a few years, this band of techies led by CEO Eric Schmidt have created the fourth-most-popular site on the Web, with 83 million visitors in May. It will pull in an estimated $700 million in revenues this year -- all from paid search and licensing of its search technology.

But the Overture deal may give Yahoo the means to keep its lead over the fast-rising newcomer. Yahoo now has search services that match Google's offerings, and can focus on using its unique advantages to best Google in ways the search-only service can't match. For example, Yahoo can offer businesses bundled packages of banner ads, paid search, online yellow-pages listings, and even the hosting of Net retailing sites. "The fact that Yahoo has all the components under one roof gives it a leg up. Yahoo can be all things to all advertisers, a one-stop shop," says Pacific Growth Equities Inc. analyst Derek L. Brown. That should help Yahoo maintain the top spot in what's shaping up to be a three-horse race, with Google and MSN, for the attention of advertisers and consumers online.

The Overture deal comes not a minute too soon. Since Yahoo started using Google's search technology on its site in 2000, Google's share of searches jumped from 1% to 38% this year. Over the same period, Yahoo has seen its share slip from 49% to 32%, according to analytics firm WebSide Story. Overseas, Google looks even stronger. In the past year, Google's traffic has soared past Yahoo's overall traffic in numerous key markets, including France and Britain, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

It will be tough to beat Google at search, but now Yahoo has a better chance at holding its ground. Four months ago, it bought search engine Inktomi Corp. to bolster its position in traditional search, where results are based on mathematical algorithms, not on how much advertisers pay. Overture gives Yahoo more traditional search engine technology and a top-notch paid-search business. Overture has a network of 88,000 advertisers, just shy of Google's 100,000. That's critical because the paid-search market is projected to more than double over the next three years, to $5.4 billion, making up 60% of the U.S. online advertising market, according to Pacific Growth Equities. "Yahoo now owns all the crucial elements of an end-to-end search offering," says Yahoo CEO Terry S. Semel.

Semel & Co. will quickly try to wring even more benefits out of Overture. Yahoo could woo some of the 88,000 Overture advertisers into signing up for Yahoo's other forms of advertising, such as banner ads. And it should be able to convert some of its own 300,000 small-business customers into paid-search advertisers. "This may give us more leverage across the entire Yahoo portal," says Eric Opel, manager for online advertising at Gateway.com, which buys search ads from Google and Overture.

Beyond that, Yahoo hopes to distribute paid-search ads into places Google can't. Unlike Google, Yahoo develops much of its own content, from a careers site to a travel property. Instead of simply displaying paid-search ads when users type in a search, Yahoo plans to showcase these ads as users peruse the broader Yahoo site. For instance, a visitor reading Yahoo's Caribbean travel guide might see a paid-search ad from Club Med.

Yahoo also may have an edge over Google in placing paid-search ads into content from other companies, such as newspaper articles. Google's approach is almost entirely technology-based, scanning content and automatically placing ads with virtually no human intervention. That can lead to trouble. On July 1, a gruesome New York Post article about hacked-off body parts found in a deserted suitcase included three Google links to online luggage shops. Overture has a staff of 100 editors who screen out articles that may be inappropriate for advertisers. Google declined to comment for this article.

Still, all of this promise is based on one challenging assumption: Yahoo must skillfully integrate its newly acquired companies. While analysts have long speculated that Yahoo would purchase Overture, the timing could be problematic. Many analysts expected Yahoo to wait until it had fully digested its March acquisition of Inktomi, and Overture had integrated the search units it acquired from AltaVista and Fast Search & Transfer earlier this year.

Overture represents Yahoo's largest acquisition since Semel took over in 2001 and the third-biggest in the company's history. Overture, meanwhile, already is struggling to work out the kinks in its two acquisitions, analysts say. It cited unexpectedly high infrastructure costs in a recent warning that 2003 earnings would fall far short of expectations. Now, Yahoo must somehow solve these problems and weave a razor-sharp search organization out of business units scattered from southern California to Norway. "Strategically, there are a ton of positives here, but I'm surprised about the timing," says Pacific Growth's Brown.

Furthermore, making the acquisition pay off is no sure thing. As the behind-the-scenes provider of paid-search services to many Web sites, Overture occupied a neutral position. Now that that neutrality is gone, Yahoo rivals could jump ship. Most at risk is MSN, which accounts for about one-third of Overture's revenues. If that happens, Yahoo would end up paying about 60 times Overture's estimated 2004 earnings for the company. Even if MSN stays onboard, the price tag is still about 40 times next year's earnings. "That's fairly expensive," says Troy Mastin, an analyst at William Blair & Co. "I'm not sure it was a wise move."

Yahoo defends the price and timing of the deal. Semel argues that his merger-and-acquisition track record at Yahoo is solid and that the three previously acquired companies under his watch are right on schedule. In addition, Yahoo Chief Financial Officer Susan L. Decker insists the Overture acquisition will be at least at breakeven in its first year. Moreover, MSN's future as an Overture customer is not sealed. Although MSN can get out of its current Overture relationship if it wants to, Semel anticipates retaining the MSN business. MSN says the company has not made any decisions regarding its Overture deal.

Yahoo's bid to strengthen its search business won't be easy. But if the portal can pull it off, the price for additional firepower in this arms race could end up looking very affordable.

By Ben Elgin in San Mateo, Calif., and Arlene Weintraub in Los Angeles

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Want to keep track of what is being said about your company? Worried that your Google rankings might take a huge drop? A free service from Google Alert allows members to set up particular searches and have an email sent should the results change. I'm going to test this over the next couple of days, but the concept is a good one. Google Alert tracking service - Automatically search the web 24/7
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How to make a cool $11 million in one day. It's easy, as Yahoo CEO Terry Semel demonstrated today. He sold 500,000 stock options which netted out at around $11m in profit. Now what does that tell you about Yahoo's future? I hope he doesn't know something that we should. Yahoo CEO Semel sells 500,000 shares - Jul. 18, 2003
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Special thanks to Danny Sullivan for inviting me back to speak at the Search Engine Strategies in San Jose. If you have never attended one of Danny's conferences, then I encourage you to attend. Search Engine Strategies San Jose - August 18-21, 2003
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As indicated in the press conference, Yahoo's acquisition of Overture allows them to take advantage of the IP rights of Overture. It appears that Overture has over 60 different patents for their PPC technology. The article also touches on the growth of the search industry with the search market to reap $4 billion in revenue by 2005. Overture to a patent war? | CNET News.com
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Interesting Yahoo/Overture news. Should the deal be broken up by another company, Overture would have to pay Yahoo a tidy sum of $65 million. And you thought a fiance keeping the diamond after a break-up was tough! Read the story...Overture would owe Yahoo on merger breakup-filing
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Ever wanted to know what a search engine spider sees when it visits your website. You can get an idea of any issues your website might have by using this handy little tool. Search Engine Spider Simulator
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Read some interesting research in the recent Entrepreneur magazine. eBrain Market Research conducted a study to see "What features make U.S. consumers more likely to buy something from a web site?"

The results included:

90% Free Shipping
81% Discounts to Frequent Shoppers
77% Tracking on purchases
62% Published Privacy Policy
51% Received a High Rating from an independent source

So what does it tell us? Well it tells me that online consumers are extremely trusting and are led by price factors rather than reliability. Only 51% say it is important for a website to be recommended by an independent source??? So my advice for anyone setting up a brand new website......offer free shipping and 90% of your target audience will be likely to buy from you, even if they have never heard of you.
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I am seeing a lot of companies claiming to be the successor of RealNames. They are calling on companies and claiming that they can sell you exlusive rights to a particular keyword, which when typed directly into a IE browser will display only the keyword owners website.

This is a scam and you should stay away from any company that makes these wild claims. I have done some digging and found that Danny Sullivan had issued a warning back in Feb 2003.

Navigational Keyword Space Heats Up; Watch Those Claims!
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Great article in today's Wall Street Journal. Lots of commentary and speculation regarding Yahoo's recent acquisition of Overture and how Google and MSN might react. It is no secret that MSN is currently developing their own search engine technology and according to the WSJ the next version of Microsoft Windows (code-named Longhorn) might have capabilities to search across all PC applications, from files to the web.

I have a quicker and easier idea for MSN. When they have the technology ready for their own search, simply add a search toolbar to the next version of Internet Explorer. After all, Google saw the biggest growth in useage after it made available a toolbar you could download to IE allowing search from your browser. MSN currently has the lame option of typing keywords directly into the address field, but let's be honest, who does that? However, if MSN had a great new search engine why not include their own search toolbar to pre-empt any possible installation of Google's?

Ok, MSN, if you use that idea, I want royalties. ;-)
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Hey, just realized. This is my blog and I can post whatever I want! With that being the case, our ProRanking.com service has just secured NBC as a client (yes the NBC, not the local NBC affiliate). Here's the press release. NBC Selects ProRanking.Com to Increase Traffic on All Major Search Engines for Online Store
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Search Engine Watch today ran an article I had written on Keyword Research. Optimizing Keywords for Search Engines
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Have you seen this? SEO Today Article: Seeking an SEO Firm? You Better Shop Around

Ok, so every SEO company is different. Some offer guarantees and some don't. It goes without saying that every company owner should check credentials and references and not rely on just a guarantee, but is Michael Pedone serious?

Anyone who knows KeywordRanking.com also knows that they have a money back guarantee. Michael quoted their guarantee in his article and advised people to be wary of it. THEN he posts his own company's guarantee. Not only is his guarantee vague "We guarantee your rankings will improve" but he doesnt offer any compensation, no money-back guarantee.

Every good SEO company should be able to "improve" your rankings, otherwise why use them? KeywordRanking.com has more than 1000 clients and have achieved more than 10,000 top 10 rankings. Their guarantee is their for piece of mind, like a warranty on a car.

Clients do not select a company simple because it has a guarantee, but it does tip the scales. I wish the SEOs who cannot guarantee the same level of service as KeywordRanking.com would stop trashing guarantees. Imagine if a new car company, that didn't offer a warranty on their cars, started trashing Toyota by saying "they offer a warranty, their cars must be prone to breaking down". That would be a ridiculous statement to make and would only make consumers question the quality of any car if the manufacturer cannot provide a warranty of quality.

I hope the SEO industry moves beyond taking swipes at each others guarantees and compares results with results.
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It looks like I am finally going to get back to actively contributing to the search engine forums. Both JimWorld and WebProNews recently contacted me and asked if I would like to help out their forum users by answering questions they have and starting new threads. Not sure where the time is going to come from to do this, but they are both great resources and JimWorld's Search Engine Forum was one of the first places I visited when learning SEO years back.

Search Engine Forums is owned by JimWorld and you can find my posts under my real name (no hiding behind fake names, I promise).

WebProWorld is owned by ientry and is part of the WebProNews family of websites. Again, I'll be posting there as "andybeal".

I hope you'll stop by.
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So Yahoo decided to buy Overture and attempt to stop Google from taking over the world. A smart move by Yahoo who can combine the PPC technology of Overture and the crawling technology already acquired via Inktomi.

After listening to the Press Conference it's quite clear that Yahoo is not too concerned whether Overture keeps MSN as a partner. They seem ok with potentially losing MSN and feel that the value of Overture's IP rights are worth the $1.6B alone. Only time, and perhaps more money, will tell if this works out for Yahoo.

In the meantime, the next play will be made by MSN. Will they purchase a PPC company such as Findwhat or rely on their own technology? My guess is that they will use their internal ad services to replace Overture while developing their own crawler technology.

You can view some more of my thoughts at Search Engine Guide.
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Welcome to the new Search Engine Lowdown blog, created by search engine analyst Andy Beal. Each day (or every other day, depending on how much free time I have) I'll post search engine related news and give you my own thoughts and commentary. This blogg represents my own personal opinions and not that of WebSourced or it's KeywordRanking.com or ProRanking.com divisions.

I hope you enjoy my blog and if you have any search engine related questions then please do not hesitate to contact me.
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