Reading on the PC World site this morning that Yahoo could begin carrying Google ads within a week. As we all know Yahoo is currently resisting a takeover by Microsoft - and this could well make it harder for Microsoft to achieve its aims.
I have not read the original article on the WSJ site - but I loved the phrase “…provide Yahoo with increased cash flow” - surely they mean increased profit - LOL
It had to happen one day I suppose - and it looks like today - when the final transition from warm and cuddly “Do no evil” v cool internet business faces the harsh reality of commercial life.
In an article on the Guardian website this morning we read that, for the first time, Google is to implement “significant job cuts”.
This is in response to the acquisition of DoubleClick back in March and Google states “As with many mergers, this review has resulted in a reduction in head-count at the acquired company.”
The item finishes with this - “One of DoubleClick’s divisions, its search marketing business, helps companies to secure high search engine rankings. Google said it was addressing concerns over a potential conflict of interest by selling this division.”
I always wondered how they would address that issue…
Full story here
Just heard a whisper that the infamous SEO Roadshow will make a return appearance this year, possibly in the Emerald Isles, possibly Sept/Oct time.
These roadshows are the last in a line of meetings that began with Mr Mackin’s first “PubCon” - an informal get-together of SEOers and general Internet geeks. The idea being instead of going to pay-for conferences that were a little lightweight and then spending quality time in the bar - just miss out the conference and meet up in a bar.
The last one was hosted in Denmark back in 2006 so it’s about time!
I see that Google has had the painters and decorators in 
UK market leaders Bigmouthmedia got a good kicking this weekend when they lost the coveted number one spot at Google for the keyphrase search engine optimisation.
The company was founded in 1997 have a team of over 200 staff across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents - they have held the number one position for years apart from a few days when “something special” involving BMW happened.
To add insult to injury I believe that one of the companies that have risen above them, Cybernetmedia, is a one guy operation - well, good for you matey if this is true.
But top of Google’s pops this fine sunny morning is HighPosition - so good luck to them.
It’s reassuring to know that anything is still possible in this unpredictable industry of ours - even if we have dropped a place in the last day or two…
How long this will last is anyone’s guess but someone at Bigmouth must be hurting this morning.
A friend just Skyped me a link to Microsoft’s (new?) SEO offer - “Improve your search-engine rankings and start attracting more sales leads to your company’s website.”
Now I’ve been around awhile and I’ve seen ‘em come and go but this caught me unawares. Still, healthy competition is a good thing, yeah?
Hang on though, don’t Microsoft have a reputation for crushing their competitors?
Read about it here
News in today’s Guardian that 23andme, a start-up company based in Silicon Valley has launched a personal genotyping service. Anyone providing a sample of saliva, and a fee of around £500, can have their DNA run through a gene-reading microchip, the results of which are uploaded to the web.
Using various tools clients can explore their ancestry/origins - and also find out the chance of contracting any hereditary diseases.
So why am I writing about this in an SEO blog? Because they have Google backing them - and Sergey Brin’s wife, Anne Wojcicki, is one of its co-founders.
Hmmm, let me think, what would I do if I had Google bank-rolling my next project? It would probably involve luxury motor yachts in the Mediterranean Sea…
Yahoo yesterday apologised to the families of two journalists currently in jail in China. Both journalists have been given 10 year sentences after Yahoo handed their email over to the Chinese authorities who accused the pair of “incitement to subvert state power” and “passing on information that was designated a state secret” - prompting a US congressman, Tom Lantos, to describe Yahoo as moral pygmies.
One of the incarcerated journalist’s wives said they were “subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including arbitrary, prolonged and indefinite detention, for expressing their free speech rights and for using the internet to communicate about democracy and human rights matters”.
Landos yesterday described Yahoo’s behaviour as a “disgrace”.
Read more here
News in the Guardian technology section that Google’s shares reached $700 on wednesday, putting it into the top five American companies beating the likes of Bank of America, Procter & Gamble and Citigroup.
The other members of the top five are ExxonMobil, General Electric, Microsoft and AT&T.
News on the dBTechno site today is Google adding Postini to its suite of Google Apps software.
Google bought Postini in July, vice president and GM of Google Enterprise Dave Girouard said, “With Postini, we saw the potential to deliver a more complete hosted solution for businesses of all sized.”
Postini is is an email service provider with 35,000 business customers as well as 10 million users around the world.
Full story here.
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