Search Engine mood swings

What has been mentioned above may look like an oversimplified version to many of the people, especially the webmasters. But, it would be an understatement to overlook it in the first place. Few people understand that even the most intricate systems and designs work on some simple, basic principles. In the first generation or the immediate period following the incorporation of new technology or production of a new system, analysts often focus on the essential working principles and structural designs. Later on, when enough knowledge is available some of them might miss by a fraction and lose it all.

In the first generation webmasters tried to study the basic working principles by which the search engines processed the huge number of pages. Their findings led to the discovery of some essential components – algorithms; keywords; tags and meta tags, links, etc. It was a dominant trend and based on it researchers put forth the key elements that should be considered in order to bring websites to first few search result pages. Such efforts required the customization of the websites according to the predefined values of scaling used by search engines in their ranking method. Thus was born Search Engine Optimization, and all those researchers, observers, browsing specialists became the masters of the web.

Today the trend has changed as the techniques of yesteryears are not very helpful. The people behind the creation of search engines realized that people have deciphered their codes and might exploit it for benefits. So they kept on making upgrades and at the same time provide for a better ranking system. Today, web promotions include a lot of activities, but the codes still remain the codes. Website promoters literally leave no stone unturned – blogs, links, networks, unconventional and unorthodox marketing exercises; so many things. Sometimes they get lucky and hit the jackpot; otherwise it is a long, long waiting.

Google throws a lifeline to Yahoo!

Since the news of Microsoft’s (apparent) hostile takeover of Yahoo, I have a feeling that I am watching a nail biting thriller. As the story unfolds, every news seems like mystery and the suspense is killing me!

The latest that I heard is that Google has thrown a lifeline to its stumbling rival Yahoo! This so called benevolent move (only future will tell whether Google too turns out to the big bad wolf) proposes a partnership between the two internet search sites so as to foil the Microsoft's $44.6bn (£23bn) hostile takeover bid. Another twist in the tale.

Now this marriage of the odds would involve Yahoo outsourcing its search and advertising functions to Google. In return, Google would allow the company its independence and maintain its idiosyncratic corporate culture which could be lost under Microsoft management.

But is Yahoo! ready to admit defeat? Because that will be what it amounts to, if the two get together. Though Yahoo has not reacted to this news publicly, I am waiting for a response like many of you.

Microsoft on the other hand is confident that Yahoo would join hands with it very soon. Now that is confidence- whether it turns out to be misplaced remains to be seen!

What does it take to merge Google, Yahoo and MSN?

Just when we thought that the search world is becoming dormant, the breaking news of Google, Yahoo and MSN joining hands, exploded the Internet industry circuits. For some, this is too big a news to digest. It sure is, after all Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, hitherto, have been known to battle over search and platform restrictive productivity enhancements. Or could it be a giant merger-for-altruism with these three forces combining in order to create exclusive platforms that impart authentic, unbiased information along with being globally accessible. Also the long running friction between Microsoft and Google holds some significance in this context.

Hitwise has studied the vital statistics of all these organisations involved and the analysis seem quite interesting. Google rules the search world with 65.98 percent share in the month of January with Yahoo and Microsoft following at 27.84 percent. But then, web is not only about search. There are many international arenas in which Yahoo still dominates. It still is the numero uno in e-mail with 54.63 percent U.S. market share with Google falling behind at 5.51 percent. Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance on the other hand boast of 7.38 and 29.15 percent respectively.

The bitter rivalry between Microsoft and Google has been a bone of contention for the mainstream press over many years now. Both these organisations are kings in terms of global goodwill and business potential in their respective domains of software and search. Each of them has been competing for the much coveted audience and talent share as well.

Trade analysts who often compare search and revenue with Google have been giving Yahoo a hard time by declaring it legally dead. Apparently, Microsoft came across the table with their own offer while Yahoo was still contemplating buyout and merger plans. And when Yahoo did not respond to the offer fast enough Big Blue came out with it in the open that gave it an ugly face.

In an attempt to denounce the hostile takeover by Microsoft ,Google has, in the most unlikely of happenings, decided to support Yahoo. There is still some fog in the Internet Industry as to what this Yahoocrosoft promises but isn’t it quite obvious that there must have been some strategy behind the Yahoo buyout? But on the flip side there are the brutal realities that any giant merger brings about- mass loss of jobs followed by the painful consolidations and headaches for the consumers for next one or two years. Surprisingly enough, in the PR arena these combatants are seen declaring themselves as the "tech providers of the people". When it could just be a mere race for moolah and just that!

Yahoo can come together with Google, sell to AOL, or might as well continue alone safely sidelining Microsoft. Whatever it be, the news circuit is going to stay abuzz in the near future. We just hope that the point of Altruism (on which it all started) doesn’t get missed in this entire hullabaloo.

Microsoft Yahoo! Duo Challenges Google

All the news that I come across these days are hell bent on unraveling the threads of mystery behind the Microsoft’s so called “unsolicited bid” for Yahoo! Even I would like to know the ulterior motive behind the takeover.

Let me guess the reason behind this curiosity. When 2 of the major giants in internet advertising market plan to get together, there are bound to be some major changes in the equation.

This lucrative online industry is currently worth $40 billion and is expected to grow to $80 billion within three years. The undisputed king of this segment is none other than Google. But now, its supremacy is being threatened by the duo.

If you look at the statistics, Yahoo! shares lost around 30 percent of their value in the year gone by. Google shares on the other hand have gained, despite reporting low fourth-quarter earnings.

Yahoo! had announced earlier this week, to lay off employees by mid-February, quoting what CEO Jerry Yang described as "headwinds" facing the company.

I believe that if this deal goes through, this somnambulant giant may get a new lease of life. This lethal combination is no doubt posing an imminent threat to Google. Its irrefutable stint at the top is in jeopardy. And so it is crying foul.

I will keep you posted on the latest from these 3 camps as and when something new comes up.

Microsoft to Borrow For The High Stake Yahoo! Bid

Well I am back with the latest on Microsoft-Yahoo! takeover. Let me ask you something. Have you played a game with high stakes? It seems to me that for once Microsoft has bitten more than it can chew.

In a new development Microsoft Corp has conveyed that it may have to borrow money to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo. This will be a first in the history of the company which was able to single handedly monopolize the PC industry a few years back.

Instead of drawing down its entire $21 billion cash pile, the software giant may take on some debt to finance the cash portion of its 50-50 stock and cash offer for Yahoo.

This is what Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said in an annual strategy meeting with analysts "It's likely we're actually going to borrow for the first time. It's going to be a mixture of the cash we have on hand plus debt."

However, he did not divulge on what form of debt Microsoft will look for in the capital markets. He also declined to comment on whether Microsoft was already buying Yahoo stock on the open market.

The lifeline handed out by Microsoft is expected to pay Yahoo shareholders either $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock.

Well in this high stake game future of Yahoo can make or break. What new twists will this bid take remains to be seen. Till next time….

Google rolling in the dough!

Let me tell you on the onset that I am not going to discuss the Microsoft and Yahoo! Deal. What I will share in this post is some statistics and numbers released by Google. Numbers can be very interesting and heartening if they show growth and profit.

Contrary to the reason why its 2 main rivals (you guessed it right- Microsoft and Yahoo!) have been in news, Google has caught the media’s attention through numbers!

Undeterred by Microsoft’s hostile takeover, the search giant continues to report strong growth, with its fourth-quarter revenue up by 51% over the same period the year before.

About the numbers that I talked about. Google generated revenue of $4,83bn for the quarter ending December 31 using generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Net income for this period was $1,21bn as compared to $1,01bn in the third quarter last year. As polled by First Call, on a non-GAAP basis, with earnings per share of $4.43, Google missed analyst consensus of $4.44 by a hair’s breadth.

The revenues from outside the U.S. have played a pivotal part in this growth. It is reported that 48% of total revenue in the quarter came from international markets. That is up from 44% in the same period last year.

This is what Eric Schmidt, CEO and chairman of Google had to say “The international market is still very nascent, with tremendous potential with what we can do".

Google doesn’t seem to worry much about the recession that has hit the US of late. The potential economic slowdown in the US is not expected to decline Google’s fortunes. "We have not yet seen any negative impact from the rumors of a future recession," says Schmidt.

What I am waiting for with baited breadth is how these numbers change when the Microsoft and Yahoo! deal goes through.

Google Launches Email Security Services

Google has decided to be in the news for all the right reasons unlike its rival Microsoft.

Last year Google acquired Postini which provided them the security services necessary for it to take on its rivals Microsoft, Cisco, and Symantec among others in the e-mail market.

Using its Postini acquisition, Google is offering security features for any e-mail system. These several new security products are part of its Google Apps platform which will be targeted at organizations that aren't using Gmail and other Web-hosted applications from Google.

The services will include message filtering with spam and malware filtering, message filtering plus enhanced virus detection, content policy management, and other support to stop e-mail data leaks and message discovery.

The message discovery adds one year of message data archiving, retention, and discovery to help companies act in accordance with legal and government regulatory compliance requirements

The message discovery holds special appeal to executives who are all the time worried about employees downloading copyrighted content and leaking confidential information in e-mails.

The packages are available online, directly from Google or through channel partners. The Google Apps Premier Edition, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Start Page for creating a home page, will include policy management and 90-day message discovery services.

Google has kept the rates of its services to a minimum. They range from $3- $25 per user per year.

How successful these security services are remains to be seen. Nevertheless I think I will buy this service to secure my email system.

A Lifeline for Yahoo Shareholders

Like a true superhero, Steve Ballmer the CEO of Microsoft has rescued the day! To me he is no less than a knight in the shining armor who has given a new lease of life to the stock holders of an ailing company.

There might be speculations about the ulterior motives behind Microsoft’s offer, but the fact for everyone to see is that it has shaken Yahoo out of the deep sleep. Their shares had been on a downward spiral ever since mid 2004 while the rest of the stock market escalated. Google seemed unstoppable, rolling in the cash!

And then came Microsoft with its $44.6 billion bid ($31 a share). Rising from the slumber, Yahoo stock hit the roof from $19.18 on Thursday night to $29.27 on Monday.

All the Yahoo share holders have been given a lifeline. I would suggest that you sell your shares while you can and take what Microsoft is offering you -$31 a share. That's a hefty price- 62% more than the market.

The other option that Microsoft is dishing out is 0.9509 Microsoft shares in lieu of $31 a share. This share is only worth about $29 today. The bid is half cash and half shares. So the value averages out at around $30 right now.

Tax is another issue you look into before making a decision but I would still suggest that you take what you can, while you can. There is every chance that something could mess up the takeover. So why take a chance!

Google Breaks Silence on Microsoft’s Bid for Yahoo

For Affiliate Business owners, some new wave has appeared in the ocean of news. Let's examine if it has the potential to become a tsunami for the rest of us. Here goes:

Ever since I have read the news of the so called ‘unsolicited bid of Yahoo by Microsoft,’ I have been wondering about the third side of this love-hate triangle. You guessed it right. Google. Google till now had maintained its silence which was finally broken by David Drummond, their chief legal counsel.

In a Google blog post Drummond conveyed that the hostile bid “raises troubling questions” about whether Microsoft is attempting to turn its old monopolistic and manipulating tricks to the Internet as it did with the PC.

Now that is ironic because Google is known for its dominance in search and online advertising. It has not reached this position without unsolicited and hostile takeovers themselves.

Right now Google is tied up in acquiring DoubleClick-a display ad serving firm for $3.1 billion. This bid has not been smooth sailing for them as they are facing regulatory challenges by the European Commission. I believe it is trying to turn this whole takeover of Microsoft to its own advantage by diverting the pressure off its own anti trust dealings. (Operators in Affiliate marketing have their own math to do with this new development.)

Even if the blog post is a ruse to ease its own antitrust battles, it still indicates that Google believes the duo could pose a deadly competition if the deal goes through.

I read in The Wall Street Journal report tonight that Google CEO Eric Schmidt called Jerry Yang on Friday and offered his support to Yahoo in fighting the Microsoft bid. That to me indicates that Google views the Microsoft-Yahoo alliance as a real threat. It would be interesting to watch how the story unfolds from here on .. I would keep you posted, that's a promise!

Alternative of online marketing for your online business

Mushrooming, perhaps that is the right word to describe any aspect of online business. Online marketing has been diversifying; diversifying as in branching out in different directions. Apart from the popular tools we now have vast resources and some new components to help us serve in the propagation of messages.

Previously, the best we had in terms of meeting the challenges posed by the market was a handful of techniques and few platforms. But today have a look at the valuable resources we have – blogs, search engines, networks, PPC, article submissions, affiliates, banners, etc. So, when the popular methods fail or deliver little you may opt for the alternatives. The most effective marketing alternatives known today include:

· Press Releases: Press releases are not restricted to serve as pubic relations tools. In the present scenario press releases are effective communications that can better help your marketing campaign.

· Social Network: With more and more people registering for the communities there is no better place to catch the audience. Social networks exist in the form of social websites and community websites that are open to the people at large.

· Social Book marking: Social book marking are some new tools to help in promoting the product or websites. They exist as a set of useful links and resources and can be shared to any number of people.

· Podcasts: Audio messages and presentations can be more useful than the traditional stagnant texts. Called as podcasts, these audio presentations can be made available to the people on websites and portals.

· Videos: Videos are the best alternatives as they can provide better description of your products. However the large size of the video files can be a little problem and not many people have patience to wait on the Internet.

Google Vs Microsoft: Who Bags the Yahoo Deal

Yet another twist to the Microsoft and Google battle is the bid to take over the giant Yahoo. After its public announcement of offering an unsolicited $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo, Microsoft has created a storm in the online industry. But for Google, it was yet another altercation after the tiff over Google's proposition to buy the online advertising company DoubleClick.

According to sources, now Google is also paving its path to help Yahoo. Almost a year back, when Google proposed to buy Yahoo, the deal did not happen. It is that time of the year again, when two giants are battling it out to pull off the deal. As per Google, if Microsoft wins over the deal, then it would have formidable control of the web and that makes the 'openness' of the web quite vulnerable.

Sources close to Yahoo opine that the board at Yahoo has asked for more time from Microsoft to think over the deal. They also said that Yahoo is open to Google buying them out and it is also considering the choice to remain independent.

But what do netizens, the end users, have to say about all this? There have been mixed responses from the netizens who also are aware of both the propositions. While some believe that Microsoft's takeover of Yahoo would not really affect their search and that it would be a good match, on the other hand, others opine that Google would remain the undoubted leader whether Microsoft wins Yahoo or Google does.

Online Marketing trends

I started as a genuine explorer seeking what is there on the Internet. There is no single discovery but a load of information I happen to step on. All this has taught me to make some, to do my tasks efficiently, to remain in touch with the others and explore yet new dimensions of life. From an Internet browser to a successful marketer, the key lies not in the fact that how much I gave to it but how much I got from it.

In online marketing the trends have been changing and I can clearly see where the innovations and all that technology are leading us. From traditional search engine optimization to the treading upon of social media networks, things have been changing and those who share success story know how to adapt.

There was an era, a brief period of time, when people learned to play with the keywords and the Meta tags. Everyone thought they have championed the game. The truth however is that the rules have been changing from day one. Now we have so much happening in the web world – the blogs, community websites, viral marketing, guerrilla marketing, social media marketing, so on and so forth. There is one thing that is worth noting: the current trend is trying to free itself from all rules. There is a popular saying: ‘Everything is fair in love and war,’ which in fact defines the new trend. It can be said either due to the love for making online money quickly or war against the other experts.

People, including me, have to keep on exploring new avenues and keep digging to remain in the business. The great umbrella term, online marketing, under which we all deliver our best, will require the best of the eyes and a good foresight. Whether it is customizing the web pages content or joining a social network, the one who knows where the industry stands has better prospects.

Losing significance of paid links

In the present day world of online marketing people want fast results and do not find it worth to go for natural optimisation techniques. To stand in the competition, and want quick result to stand their, people think for short method link paid optimization. Whether such a move helps can be debated.

From my point of you, if I am handling a business or website I would rather go for natural optimisation like, to come with hundreds of keywords and on the first pages of the search engines. That would be an ideal situation, one we can only try to achieve. To reach to such a level or gain a very good search engine page rank, some website publishers often go crazy and about anything. No sooner did they realize that links were giving better results in terms of ranking, all of them started massive campaigns to get as many links as can be got. Sometimes buying, some times begging, the owners or promoters have just broken all limits.

We would start from a very basic question – Does paid link really help and if so to what extent? In the heydays of online promotions the masters of the web could see the impact of the number of back links on the page rank. Popular search engines including Google, provided more than simple analysis of the sites based on algorithms.

Links were and still are considered as important resources that any website is linked to. But when the habit of buying links became popular the search engines also redefined the priorities. All this has led to a verification of the kind of links a website is using. In case of links that are found as being bought rather than being shared or wishfully granted, the search engines are not much convinced. With the result the importance or significance of paid links has been observing a decline.

The best practice is not the buying of a website link but earning one. For that your own product must be outstanding in quality as well as the practices you are engaged must be genuine. Google knows it, in fact it knows everything.

Google Files Patent- Search to Include Text in Pictures

Google has filed for a patent with the world intellectual property organization which is based on the idea of “Recognizing Text in Images”. This patent would enable machines to read text included in pictures.

It was further disclosed in Information Week report that the patent would allow tasks like searching videos by keywords appearing in the content.

The technology behind it is based on receiving an input of one or more image search terms and identifying keywords from the received search terms said by patent abstract.

Also, it would consider searching a collection of keywords including keywords extracted from image text, retrieving an image associated with extracted image text corresponding to one or more of the image search terms, and presenting the imag

If this technology is pulled off, it would take web search to a new level. Search on the web would take on a new meaning; especially now when it is full of myriad typefaces and languages.