The Search Landscape Reflected In Paid Results

Any of you who have read some of my past articles or who have visited Beanstalk's services pages will know - I'm not a PPC guy. Quite honestly, it's not in my primary skill set and it's something I would definitely prefer to leave to the experts. Now that said, following Google and its health (which is tied directly to AdWords and AdSense) is something I'm keenly interested in. To this end, recent changes in Google's paid search display and ranking systems will have huge impacts on advertisers and, more important for the purpose of this article, on Google itself.

 

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine, Richard Stokes from AdGooroo sent me a PDF entitled, "Search Engine Advertiser Update - Q208" . With this document they outline the changing trends in the paid search marketplace and many of the stats are surprising. If you're a PPC manager they're obviously directly important. For those of us in the organic optimization world they are still both interesting and important. They're interesting for reasons which will become clear below and they're important because anything that affects the economic health of the search engines affects the search landscape both inside and outside of the paid search realm.

Paid Search Market Share

what could be more important to the engines than their percentage of the paid search arena? Does Google really care about being the dominant search engine as far as organic search goes? Let me put this a different way, if Google was standing in front of their shareholders - would they prefer to announce that they held 80% of all worldwide searches and reported revenues of $7.8 billion dollars for the quarter OR would they rather stand up and say they hold 20% of all worldwide searches and reported revenues of $8.7 billion dollars? Organic results drive traffic which in turn results in clicks on paid ads. From a business standpoint that's the only reason that organic search even matters.

So which engine has the healthiest paid search environment? According to AdGooroo, Q2 results show a different world than one might guess (which is why I noted that it is interesting).

Over the past twelve months advertiser growth (or lack thereof) breaks down as follows:

Google: -8.5%
Yahoo!: +9.8%
MSN: -6.7%

Advertiser counts have also changed (i.e. the number of advertisers on the engine). Yahoo! leads in this area as well with a growth of 0.03%. Google dropped by 6.4% and MSN dropped by almost 20% (good thing they have their OS revenue to fall back on).

And A Drop In Ads

To go even further, Google has increased the importance of quality which has resulted in a reduction of nearly 40% in the number of ads that appear on a results page. 6 months ago ~6.5 ads appeared per page whereas now that number is closer to 4. This has the potential to significantly help or significantly hinder Google's revenue.

 

As Richard Stokes points out and I completely concur, this places Google in an environment where one of two things will happen:

1. Advertisers will realize that their clicks are converting much higher, search marketers will spend more time and resources creating more and more relevant ads and landing pages and advertisers will be willing to bid more as the conversions improve, or

2. The competition for the top spots will be reduced and so too will the average bid prices.

Google's Q2 Report

And what inspired the writing of this article was actually the release of Google's Q2 report earlier today. After reading it I immediately had to contact Richard and let him know that the results confirmed some of the predictions noted in his work. He writes:

"... the auction-based bidding system makes this a double-edged sword. As the number of advertisers declines, so does the competitive pressure for higher bid prices. If advertisers don't step up to the plate and bid more aggressively for placement, then it's possible that search revenues could stagnate."

Google revenues were up only 3% over Q1 of this year and revenue from paid clicks was down by 1%. This is the first time in Google's history post-IPO that I can remember them showing reductions in revenue in one quarter over the previous. It appears that this new paid search model in not quite as effective at pulling in money as the old.

Now, to be fair, the new system of requiring higher quality scores and better ads and landing pages is new - only a few months old at this point and so there are likely still bugs to be worked out, but Wall Street did not react favorably to the announcements today and I suspect that the situation isn't going to look better for Google at the close of day tomorrow (though what do I know about stocks).

What Does This Mean?

So what does this mean? This means that Google has a lot of work to do and those in the paid search space need to pay close attention (even closer than normal) as shareholders don't like to see losses and Google is going to need to make moves to recover and show significant gains by the time their Q3 reports come out.

 

One might guess that this also means that Yahoo! is gaining ground (which is true) but it's definitely a case of too little too late. Also earlier today (it was a busy day in search) Yahoo! released a letter to its shareholders that on one hand referred to the alliance between Microsoft and Carl Icahn as a destroyer of shareholder value for Yahoo! and then went on to say that they would be willing to sell the company to Microsoft at $33/share (which is what Microsoft has offered previously and which is more than $10 above their current market value).

It seems that one can't look at the stronger relative results in the paid search area that Yahoo! has achieved as a win when they seem to be backsliding on their initial position regarding the sale to Microsoft.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

For one thing, watch closely. Monitor resources such as AdGooroo's research library, and the Clix Marketing blog. Pay close attention as we're going to see a lot of changes to what's going on and these changes are likely going to have effects on both the paid and the organic results as Google strives to provide the better results they're targeting through paid search now but at the same time improve their revenue.

This may involve adjustments to the quality scoring (I can pretty much guarantee that one) and may involve adjusting how paid ads appear on the page with the organic results. All we can really do is watch, wait and adapt.

Google Inc. Advertising Program Terms Policy Update

The Google AdWords Team

You can find out about the advertising program (Google Adwords) updates below under Google AdWords terms and conditions.

Dear AdWords Advertiser,

We're writing to let you know about a change to Google's advertising
policies that may affect your AdWords account.

Beginning in the coming weeks, we are expanding our Mobile
Subscription Services policy to no longer accept AdWords ads that
promote mobile content that require users to enter personal
information if the site does not clearly display pricing. Mobile
content includes, but is not limited to, one-off purchases as well as
subscriptions.

We will also require that subscription information be clearly
displayed if the service is not a one-off purchase. For sites
promoting subscription services, both the price and billing interval
should be displayed along with a checkbox or other opt-in method. If
the user does not opt in, he or she should not be able to proceed.
All of the above should be located in a prominent place on the page on
which users enter their personal information and should be easy to
find, read and understand.

When we make this change, Google will suspend all ads identified as
being in violation of this policy. If your account is affected by this
policy change, please make any necessary changes to your site to
comply.

We have thought hard about our stance on the advertising of this
content and the potential effect that our policy decision could have
on AdWords advertisers. However, as a business, Google must make
decisions regarding the advertising that we accept. We apologise for
the inconvenience that this policy change may cause you.

Yours sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

Google Inc. Advertising Program Terms

These Google Inc. Advertising Program Terms ("Terms") are entered into by, as applicable, the customer signing these Terms or any document that references these Terms or that accepts these Terms electronically ("Customer") and Google Inc. ("Google"). These Terms govern Customer's participation in Google's advertising program(s) ("Program") and, as applicable, any insertion orders or service agreements ("IO") executed by and between the parties and/or Customer's online management of any advertising campaigns. These Terms and any applicable IO are collectively referred to as the "Agreement." Google and Customer hereby agree and acknowledge:

1 Policies. Program use is subject to all applicable Google and Partner policies, including without limitation the Editorial Guidelines (adwords.google.com/select/guidelines.html), Google Privacy Policy (www.google.com/privacy.html) and Trademark Guidelines (www.google.com/permissions/guidelines.html), and Google and Partner ad specification requirements (collectively, "Policies"). Policies may be modified at any time. Customer shall direct only to Google communications regarding Customer ads on Partner Properties. Some Program features are identified as "Beta," "Ad Experiment," or otherwise unsupported ("Beta Features"). To the fullest extent permitted by law, Beta Features are provided "as is" and at Customer's option and risk. Customer shall not disclose to any third party any information from Beta Features, existence of non-public Beta Features or access to Beta Features. Google may modify ads to comply with any Policies.

2 The Program. Customer is solely responsible for all: (a) ad targeting options and keywords (collectively "Targets") and all ad content, ad information, and ad URLs ("Creative"), whether generated by or for Customer; and (b) web sites, services and landing pages which Creative links or directs viewers to, and advertised services and products (collectively "Services"). Customer shall protect any Customer passwords and takes full responsibility for Customer's own, and third party, use of any Customer accounts. Customer understands and agrees that ads may be placed on (y) any content or property provided by Google ("Google Property"), and, unless Customer opts out of such placement in the manner specified by Google, (z) any other content or property provided by a third party ("Partner") upon which Google places ads ("Partner Property"). Customer authorizes and consents to all such placements. With respect to AdWords online auction-based advertising, Google may send Customer an email notifying Customer it has 72 hours ("Modification Period") to modify keywords and settings as posted. The account (as modified by Customer, or if not modified, as initially posted) is deemed approved by Customer in all respects after the Modification Period. Customer agrees that all placements of Customer's ads shall conclusively be deemed to have been approved by Customer unless Customer produces contemporaneous documentary evidence showing that Customer disapproved such placements in the manner specified by Google. With respect to all other advertising, Customer must provide Google with all relevant Creative by the due date set forth in that Program's applicable frequently asked questions at www.google.com ("FAQ") or as otherwise communicated by Google. Customer grants Google permission to utilize an automated software program to retrieve and analyze websites associated with the Services for ad quality and serving purposes, unless Customer specifically opts out of the evaluation in a manner specified by Google. Google may modify any of its Programs at any time without liability. Google also may modify these Terms at any time without liability, and Customer's use of the Program after notice that these Terms have changed constitutes Customer's acceptance of the new Terms. Google or Partners may reject or remove any ad or Target for any or no reason.

3 Cancellation. Customer may cancel advertising online through Customer's account if online cancellation functionality is available, or, if not available, with prior written notice to Google, including without limitation electronic mail. AdWords online auction-based advertising cancelled online will cease serving shortly after cancellation. The cancellation of all other advertising may be subject to Program policies or Google's ability to re-schedule reserved inventory or cancel ads already in production. Cancelled ads may be published despite cancellation if cancellation of those ads occurs after any applicable commitment date as set forth in advance by the Partner or Google, in which case Customer must pay for those ads. Google may cancel immediately any IO, any of its Programs, or these Terms at any time with notice, in which case Customer will be responsible for any ads already run. Sections 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 will survive any expiration or termination of this Agreement.

4 Prohibited Uses; License Grant; Representations and Warranties. Customer shall not, and shall not authorize any party to: (a) generate automated, fraudulent or otherwise invalid impressions, inquiries, conversions, clicks or other actions; (b) use any automated means or form of scraping or data extraction to access, query or otherwise collect Google advertising related information from any Program website or property except as expressly permitted by Google; or (c) advertise anything illegal or engage in any illegal or fraudulent business practice. Customer represents and warrants that it holds and hereby grants Google and Partners all rights (including without limitation any copyright, trademark, patent, publicity or other rights) in Creative, Services and Targets needed for Google and Partner to operate Programs (including without limitation any rights needed to host, cache, route, transmit, store, copy, modify, distribute, perform, display, reformat, excerpt, analyze, and create algorithms from and derivative works of Creative or Targets) in connection with this Agreement ("Use"). Customer represents and warrants that (y) all Customer information is complete, correct and current; and (z) any Use hereunder and Customer's Creative, Targets, and Customer's Services will not violate or encourage violation of any applicable laws, regulations, code of conduct, or third party rights (including without limitation intellectual property rights). Violation of the foregoing may result in immediate termination of this Agreement or customer's account without notice and may subject Customer to legal penalties and consequences.

5 Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, GOOGLE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FOR NONINFRINGEMENT, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Google disclaims all guarantees regarding positioning, levels, quality, or timing of: (i) costs per click; (ii) click through rates; (iii) availability and delivery of any impressions, Creative, or Targets on any Partner Property, Google Property, or section thereof; (iv) clicks; (v) conversions or other results for any ads or Targets; (vi) the accuracy of Partner data (e.g. reach, size of audience, demographics or other purported characteristics of audience); and (vii) the adjacency or placement of ads within a Program. Customer understands that third parties may generate impressions or clicks on Customer's ads for prohibited or improper purposes, and Customer accepts the risk of any such impressions and clicks. Customer's exclusive remedy, and Google's exclusive liability, for suspected invalid impressions or clicks is for Customer to make a claim for a refund in the form of advertising credits for Google Properties within the time period required under Section 7 below. Any refunds for suspected invalid impressions or clicks are within Google's sole discretion. EXCEPT FOR INDEMNIFICATION AMOUNTS PAYABLE TO THIRD PARTIES HEREUNDER AND CUSTOMER'S BREACHES OF SECTION 1, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: (a) NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, INTEREST, GOODWILL, LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA OR FOR ANY LOSS OR INTERRUPTION TO CUSTOMER'S BUSINESS) WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION NEGLIGENCE) OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY; AND (b) EACH PARTY'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO THE OTHER IS LIMITED TO AMOUNTS PAID OR PAYABLE TO GOOGLE BY CUSTOMER FOR THE AD GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. Except for payment obligations, neither party is liable for failure or delay resulting from a condition beyond the reasonable control of the party, including without limitation to acts of God, government, terrorism, natural disaster, labor conditions and power failures.

6 Agency. Customer represents and warrants that (a) it is authorized to act on behalf of and has bound to this Agreement any third party for which Customer advertises (a "Principal"), (b) as between Principal and Customer, the Principal owns any rights to Program information in connection with those ads, and (c) Customer shall not disclose Principal's Program information to any other party without Principal's consent.

7 Payment. Customer shall be responsible for all charges up to the amount of each IO, or as set in an online account, and shall pay all charges in U.S. Dollars or in such other currency as agreed to in writing by the parties. Unless agreed to by the parties in writing, Customer shall pay all charges in accordance with the payment terms in the applicable IO or Program FAQ. Late payments bear interest at the rate of 1.5% per month (or the highest rate permitted by law, if less). Charges are exclusive of taxes. Customer is responsible for paying (y) all taxes, government charges, and (z) reasonable expenses and attorneys fees Google incurs collecting late amounts. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Customer waives all claims relating to charges (including without limitation any claims for charges based on suspected invalid clicks) unless claimed within 60 days after the charge (this does not affect Customer's credit card issuer rights). Charges are solely based on Google's measurements for the applicable Program, unless otherwise agreed to in writing. To the fullest extent permitted by law, refunds (if any) are at the discretion of Google and only in the form of advertising credit for only Google Properties. Nothing in these Terms or an IO may obligate Google to extend credit to any party. Customer acknowledges and agrees that any credit card and related billing and payment information that Customer provides to Google may be shared by Google with companies who work on Google's behalf, such as payment processors and/or credit agencies, solely for the purposes of checking credit, effecting payment to Google and servicing Customer's account. Google may also provide information in response to valid legal process, such as subpoenas, search warrants and court orders, or to establish or exercise its legal rights or defend against legal claims. Google shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of such information by such third parties.

8 Indemnification. Customer shall indemnify and defend Google, its Partners, agents, affiliates, and licensors from any third party claim or liability (collectively, "Liabilities"), arising out of Use, Customer's Program use, Targets, Creative and Services and breach of the Agreement. Partners shall be deemed third party beneficiaries of the above Partner indemnity.

9 Miscellaneous. THE AGREEMENT MUST BE CONSTRUED AS IF BOTH PARTIES JOINTLY WROTE IT AND GOVERNED BY CALIFORNIA LAW EXCEPT FOR ITS CONFLICTS OF LAWS PRINCIPLES. ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE GOOGLE PROGRAM(S) SHALL BE LITIGATED EXCLUSIVELY IN THE FEDERAL OR STATE COURTS OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, USA, AND GOOGLE AND CUSTOMER CONSENT TO PERSONAL JURISDICTION IN THOSE COURTS. The Agreement constitutes the entire and exclusive agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes and replaces any other agreements, terms and conditions applicable to the subject matter hereof. No statements or promises have been relied upon in entering into this Agreement except as expressly set forth herein, and any conflicting or additional terms contained in any other documents (e.g. reference to a purchase order number) or oral discussions are void. Each party shall not disclose the terms or conditions of these Terms to any third party, except to its professional advisors under a strict duty of confidentiality or as necessary to comply with a government law, rule or regulation. Customer may grant approvals, permissions, extensions and consents by email, but any modifications by Customer to the Agreement must be made in a writing executed by both parties. Any notices to Google must be sent to Google Inc., Advertising Programs, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, with a copy to Legal Department, via confirmed facsimile, with a copy sent via first class or air mail or overnight courier, and are deemed given upon receipt. A waiver of any default is not a waiver of any subsequent default. Unenforceable provisions will be modified to reflect the parties' intention and only to the extent necessary to make them enforceable, and remaining provisions of the Agreement will remain in full effect. Customer may not assign any of its rights hereunder and any such attempt is void. Google and Customer and Google and Partners are not legal partners or agents, but are independent contractors. In the event that these Terms or a Program expire or is terminated, Google shall not be obligated to return any materials to Customer. Notice to Customer may be effected by sending an email to the email address specified in Customer's account, or by posting a message to Customer's account interface, and is deemed received when sent (for email) or no more than 15 days after having been posted (for messages in Customer's AdWords interface).

August 22, 2006

Search Engines Accounts Structure & Limits

The limitations on Campaigns, Ad Groups, and Keywords are listed below:

 

In last 4 years I almost work with all the top to bottom Search Engines PPC Ads for my search engines advertising campaigns and you probably read/heard that search engines advertising specialist persons categorized that top to bottom or pay per clicks (PPC) search engines as:

 

First tire & second tire of Search Engines

In first tire there are

 

Google AdWords

Yahoo! Search Marketing

Microsoft AdCenter

 

The second tires of Search Engines are:

 

Ask.com

LookSmart.com

Enhance.com

Findology.com

ClickRiver.com (ads on Amazon.com)

Miva.com and any other which you ever heard is the entire second tire as they all some how or at the end gather there sponsored ads from the first tires Search Engines.

 

I am here listing only the three Search Engines who can really care and return true visitors to your web sites and you can work with (just work with your Logic).

 

Google AdWords:

Campaign: 25 Campaigns per account

Ad Groups: 100 Ad Groups per Campaigns

Text Ads: 20 Text ads per Ad groups

Keywords: 50,000 (for more keywords need to Google Representatives)

 

Google they are really champions in Search Engines Industry and Google never ever like misleading with there customers by any mean they always there to help you for there Google AdWords Advertisers to assist them.

 

A precaution for the new advertisers that it's really painfully easy to destroy & drain your $$ with the Google AdWords but you really don't need to scare with go with as Google AdWords and two programs one for new users which they call Starters Editions and most of the work will be done by Google specialist and you just have to pay according to you pocket space or you as little as $5 up to YOU and the second options is Standard edition where you can easily start your campaigns with in 5 minuets and your ads will be On the move so you need some smart and self creative persons to handle or work with Google AdWords.

 

Yahoo! Search Marketing:

Campaign: 20 per account

Ad Groups: 1000 per Campaigns

Text Ads: 20 per Ad Group

Keywords: 1000 per Ad Group and 50,000 per account (For New Users)

 

Yahoo! Search Marketing offers three levels of service to advertisers: New, Premier, Gold, and Platinum. Advertisers that make a significant advertising commitment to Yahoo Search Marketing qualify for Gold or Platinum level services. They review your average spending every quarter and will contact you automatically if you qualify for a new service tier.

 

If you reach these limits and require additional account space, they can create a sub account for you. The accounts will be created as sub accounts under your main account. This allows to you access all of your accounts through your main log in. Keep in mind that since each account can hold 20 campaigns, Yahoo! do ask that you only create sub accounts if you have a true need for them.

 

In order to create a sub account for you, Yahoo! needs 5 pieces of information:

 

The name that you would like to give the new account

The Display URL for the new account

The last 4 digits of the Credit card you would like to associate to the account

The initial charge amount (can be $30 or greater)

The account ID for your main account that you would like to associate the others to

 

You can either call in or email Yahoo! through the support link in your account to provide this information. You may reach Yahoo! Customer Solutions department anytime by email or by dialing 1-866-YAHOO-SM (1-866-924-6676) Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. or Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time. One of there representatives will be happy to assist you.

 

 

MSN AdCenter:

Campaign: 10,000 per account

Ad Group: 10, 000 per Campaign

Text Ads: 20 ads per ad group

Keyword: 10,000 keywords per ad group

 

MSN Desktop Beta is available and you can Import data from 3rd party program to Microsoft AdCenter Account. I realize how frustrating this could be, and I would like to assist you with this.

 

When you import keywords or phrases, please be aware of the following requirements: 

 

      ·   Your Web browser must be set to allow pop-up windows.

      ·   For best results, use the provided templates. They can be downloaded from the links below the Import button. 

      ·   Each keyword or phrase is limited to 100 characters. 

      ·   Ad groups can contain up to 10,000 words. 

      ·   If you use keywords as dynamic text, make sure that they do not exceed 70 characters. 

      ·   Adding multiple negative match keywords is limited to 1,022 characters total. 

      ·   The total file size must be 2 megabytes (MB) or smaller. 

      ·   Delete all placeholder text from the file. 

      ·   Make sure that the source file is closed before the import process starts.

    ·   Look for duplicate keywords in the file. For example, "Apple" and "apple" will appear as duplicates.

    ·   You must use the most current import template from AdCenter.

    ·   Look for keywords that may not be permitted, for example "gambling" and "sexually explicit."

 

Just send me an email at raheelaquil@gmail.com if you need any info or assistance in the Search Engines Advertising the bad day are gone its really very easy and productive to work with these Search Engines and get the visitors feast to get what your web site require " Visitors" as easily as you could buy a candy.

 

Google to Offer a Tool To Measure Web Hits - WSJ.com

Google to Offer a Tool To Measure Web Hits - WSJ.com

Yahoo partners with Google - CNN.com

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Yahoo!'s efforts to revive takeover talks with Microsoft Corp. have reached a dead end, prompting the Internet pioneer to hire online search leader Google Inc. to handle some of its advertising sales.

A Yahoo! sign is seen in New York's Times Square on April 22.

The news disclosed Thursday caused Yahoo! shares to plunge 10 percent as investors abandoned hope that Microsoft would renew a nearly five-month quest to buy the Sunnyvale, California-based company.

Although a stock sell-off is never welcome news for any company, Wall Street's disenchantment comes at a particularly bad time for Yahoo! and its board of directors.

Yahoo! is trying to fend off a shareholder mutiny led by activist investor Carl Icahn, who has vowed to replace the company's board because of the way the directors handled the Microsoft negotiations.

But Icahn has been hoping to engineer a sale to Microsoft, so some shareholders may be reluctant to support his attempted coup unless he can demonstrate that his slate of directors has a better turnaround plan than the current board.

Icahn did not return phone calls seeking comment Thursday.

The fate of Yahoo's board is to be determined at the company's August 1 annual meeting.
Don't Miss

* Icahn seeks to oust Yahoo board

"If you are a Yahoo shareholder, you just have to be scratching your head right now," Standard and Poor's equity analyst Scott Kessler said.

With Microsoft apparently out of the picture, Yahoo! is turning to Google to help its chief executive, Jerry Yang, prove that he made the right decision last month when he turned down Microsoft's takeover bid of $47.5 billion, or $33 per share. Yang asked for $37 per share, prompting Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to withdraw the oral offer.

If the Google partnership passes what's likely to be a rigorous review by U.S. antitrust regulators and lawmakers, Yahoo! intends to use its rival's superior search technology to display ads on its own Web site as well as those of its partners' in the United States and Canada.

Yahoo estimated that the arrangement could boost its revenue by as much as $800 million during the first 12 months of the partnership.

The deal shapes up as a major victory for Mountain View-based Google, which didn't want Yahoo! to fall into Microsoft's clutches.

"I am happy to be helping them to stay independent," Google co-founder Sergey Brin said Thursday.

Yahoo!'s advertising partnership with Google won't start until late September at the earliest because the two companies voluntarily agreed to wait at least 3½ months to allow the government to review a deal involving the two leading players in search advertising.

Google already holds about 75 percent of the $11 billion search advertising market in the United States, with Yahoo! in a distant second at 9 percent, according to the research firm eMarketer Inc.

Microsoft had hoped to use Yahoo! as a weapon in its efforts to slow Google's growth, but they couldn't agree to terms.

"Clearly, it's time to move on," Yang said during a Thursday conference call with analysts.

Before signing the Google deal, Yahoo made a last-ditch effort to persuade Microsoft to revive its last takeover offer of $47.5 billion.

But after withdrawing that bid last month, Ballmer began to focus his efforts on persuading Yahoo! to sell its search operations instead.

Yahoo! concluded that its search engine was too important to sell piecemeal.

Without explaining its logic, Microsoft said it believed that a deal involving Yahoo's search engine would have been more valuable to Yahoo! than if it had bought the entire company at $33 per share. The Redmond, Washington-based software maker said it remains open to buying Yahoo!'s search operations.

Yahoo!'s deal with Google includes an escape hatch should Microsoft or another suitor buy the company. If Yahoo! is sold, Google would receive a termination fee of up to $250 million.

That clause could still raise hope that Icahn might be able to renew the Microsoft talks if he can win control of Yahoo!'s board.

Investors clearly favor a sale of Yahoo in its entirety. Yahoo! shares dropped $2.63, or 10.1 percent, to finish at Thursday at $23.52 and then shed another 7 cents in after-hours trading.

The Google partnership expands upon a two-week trial conducted in April, while Yahoo! was trying to pressure Microsoft into raising its bid. The tests confirmed that Google's technology would generate more revenue for Yahoo! than its own system, which cost more than $2 billion to acquire and improve.

Nevertheless, Yahoo! still intends to use its own search engine to distribute some ads and process all search requests. Working with Google will give Yahoo "the best of both worlds," Yahoo! President Sue Decker said in Thursday's conference call.

But Microsoft and a variety of consumer interest groups have signaled that they will turn up the political heat in an attempt to prevent Google from working with Yahoo.

The outcry already has drawn the attention of U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, who chairs an antitrust committee.

"The consequences for advertisers and consumers could be far-reaching and warrant careful review, and we plan to investigate the competitive and privacy implications of this deal further," said Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat.

Google and Yahoo! have hope they can overcome the antitrust concerns by convincing lawmakers and regulators that their deal is similar to business arrangements between rivals in other industries.

Brin and his co-founder, Larry Page, both think the partnership could even help foster more competition by providing Yahoo with more money to improve its own search technology.

"Having more money is a good thing," Page said.

If it isn't blocked, Yahoo!'s advertising partnership could last for the next decade.

Although a Google deal could help boost Yahoo!'s short-term profits, some analysts think Yahoo could be hurting itself by ceding any ground to an already powerful rival.

But Yang was under intense pressure to do something bold after Yahoo repeatedly spurned Microsoft attempts to buy the company or arrange some kind of joint venture to challenge Google.

The talks date to 2006 and included a 2007 merger proposal that Yahoo rejected, according to a January 31 letter that Ballmer sent to Yahoo to announce his initial bid of $44.6 billion, or $31 per share.

Microsoft adCenter DesktopBeta Connect Site!

Microsoft adCenter Desktop. Use adCenter Desktop to:
. Quickly navigate through multiple accounts.
. Bulk edit multiple items at once-within or across groups of items.
. Scan campaigns for editorial issues before uploading to adCenter.
. Receive alerts about performance changes.
. Copy and paste keywords, negative keywords, match types, and bid amounts from adCenter Add-in (Beta) for Excel 2007.
. Expand keywords and optimize bids with built-in keyword intelligence tools.
. Upload changes to the adCenter user interface instantly, with one click.

System requirements

Microsoft adCenter Desktop requires the following system configuration:

Component
Minimum requirement

Operating system
PC running a 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista

Administrator permissions required
Microsoft adCenter Desktop does not run on 64-bit versions of Windows
Microsoft adCenter Desktop installs Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Redistributable Package

Processor
32-bit processor required; 64-bit processors are supported

Memory
1 GB of RAM

Hard-disk space
250 MB of available hard-disk space

Web broswer Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later
Internet connection
Dial-up or broadband Internet access required during installation and for subsequent exchanges of data with Microsoft adCenter online

Microsoft adCenter account
Microsoft adCenter user name and password required during installation and for subsequent exchanges of data with Microsoft adCenter online

Memory4less.com Offers Solid state Drives

Solid state isn’t the only thing looming on the horizon in the enterprise storage drive space. Drive makers say small-factor (2.5-inch) SAS is poised to encroach on 3.5-inch Fibre Channel’s turf in storage arrays.
Seagate is eyeing enterprise storage arrays with drives such as the Savvio 10k.3 that it launched this week. At 300GB, the self-encrypting drive offers more than twice the capacity of Seagate’s previous SAS drives. It also supports the SAS 2 interface. SAS 2 includes 6 Gbit/s speed and other enterprise features likely to show up in storage systems by next year.
“300-gig drives will be more attractive to storage vendors, and they’re starting to find the small form factor drives more compelling,” said Henry Fabian, executive director of marketing for Seagate’s enterprise business. “You’ll start to see the small form factor ship in the second half of the year in storage arrays because of higher capacity and lower power requirements.”

Joel Hagberg, VP of business development for Seagate rival Fujitsu Computer Products of America, also sees small form factor SAS coming on strong in enterprise storage. “The storage vendors all recognize there is a shift coming as we get to 300 gigs or 600 gigs in the next couple of years in the 2.5-inch package,” he said. “We’re cutting power in half and the green initiative in storage is increasing.”
As for Fibre Channel, the drive makers agree you won’t see hard drives going above the current 4-Gbit/s bandwidth level.
“Four-gig is the end of the road for Fibre Channel on the device level,” Hagberg said. “All the external storage vendors are looking to migrate to SAS.”
By the way, Hagberg says Fujitsu isn’t buying into the solid state hype for enterprise storage yet. He considers solid state to be a few years away from taking off in storage arrays.
“There’s a lot of industry buzz on solid state, and I have to chuckle,” he said. “I meet with engineers of all storage vendors and talk about the hype versus reality on solid state drives. Every notebook vendor released solid state in the last year. Are any of those vendors happy with those products? The answer is no. The specs of solid state performance look tremendous on paper, but a lot less is delivered in operation.”

DellPartsSearch.com offers a wide range of world-class Accessories of Dell

The first Dell laptop made its debut in 1991 and by 1993, it became one of the top five computer companies in the world. By 1995, those$8.50 shares were worth $100. The progress of the business was rapid and in1997, Dell had shipped its ten millionth system.Reasons to shop from DellPartsSearch.com that they offers a wide range of world-class Accessories of Dell including Keyboards, CD-RW/DVD Drives, Laptop Batteries, Laptop Hard Drives, Notebook Auto/Air Adapters, AC Adapters, and more.

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Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

Experience WWT

Want to see the same images that scientists at NASA use for their research or perform your own research with those images? Or do you want to see the Earth from the same perspective that astronauts see as they descend to Earth? How about taking a 5 minute break and viewing a panorama of a different city? Install WWT and start your explorations.

Google may end up as winner if Microsoft buys Yahoo!

One of the biggest players behind Microsoft's drive to buy Yahoo has never been at the bargaining table - Google.

That company's dominance in search advertising prompted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to go shopping and seek a tie-up with Yahoo so he could bolster his efforts against what has turned out to be one of Microsoft's toughest competitors.

If the deal happens, Google could face a stronger challenge in the $41 billion online advertising market. But a protracted antitrust review by U.S. and European officials, or difficult corporate integration, could actually help the Mountain View search giant.

And if the deal does not occur? Google still wins. Most analysts believe the Mountain View juggernaut will continue gaining market share.

More than half of Web advertising revenue comes from online queries. In March, Google garnered 59.8 percent of the U.S. search market, while Yahoo had 21.3 percent and Microsoft, 9.4 percent, according to ComScore.

Microsoft, which has sputtered online, decided that hooking up with Yahoo of Sunnyvale in a $44.6 billion deal is the best way to gain traction against its rival.

But don't expect quick results.

"The Yahoo structure, as far as I'm concerned, does not work as effectively as Google's does," said George Kepnick, co-founder of DottedOnline, a search marketing firm. "It's the same thing with Microsoft. So merging two platforms that don't work too well on their own isn't going to create a Google killer."

In other aspects, though, the companies if they combined could pose new problems for Google.

Ballmer has noted that Yahoo and Microsoft have duplicate services. It's expensive to run services like e-mail, instant messaging and search. A joint effort would free up more resources for a fight with Google.

"You have more engineers," said Karsten Weide, an analyst with market research firm IDC. "That makes the combined entity more competitive than each one currently is."

While a retooled competitor may not ever be able to catch Google in search ads, it could be in a strong position to dominate in emerging advertising areas, such as video. Google, which acquired online video sensation YouTube, hasn't been able to exploit its popularity for advertising revenue.

"Brand advertisers shun it because they don't think it's safe," Weide said. "Very significant amounts of money will be moved out of broadcast television onto the Internet, hundreds of millions of dollars, over the next few years. Right now, nobody is in a position A combined Yahoo and Microsoft could also become leaders in behavioral targeting advertising - technology that enables advertisers to offer up ads more relevant to Internet users based on their online actions, such as Web sites visited. Last year, Yahoo acquired digital marketing company BlueLithium, which specializes in this software.

Both Yahoo and Microsoft have leading mobile technology. Google's Android project, a new operating system for cell phones, is only at the prototype stage. Yahoo's Go software, on the other hand, already runs on hundreds of mobile devices. And Microsoft last year acquired TellMe, whose voice-recognition technology enables people to get directions through their phones by speaking the address.

"If you look at all the assets Yahoo and Microsoft have for future markets, they are very strong," Weide said.

Google, though, could gain an advantage if its chief competitors get tied up with regulatory red tape.

"In the fast-paced Internet industry, that kind of delay is an anathema," said David Garrity of Dinosaur Research. "It would leave the two organizations as sitting ducks. And it would be excellent for Google."

Even a swift completion of the deal wouldn't guarantee success.

"The real question is, how well does Microsoft execute the integration and whether, in the process, Microsoft manhandles the Yahoo enterprise such that by the time the process is finished all the vital elements have decided to depart?" he said.

10 funny flirting facts

So you’ve mastered the eye-contact game and can beckon a cute prospect with a few coy glances… but do you really know all there is to know about the fine art of come-hither? Just to make sure you’re up to speed, we culled some very surprising info that you can use to your advantage. Read on for some juicy tidbits that may up your cute quotient in no time.

1. Flirting is good for you. Studies show that people who flirt have higher white blood-cell counts, which boost their immunity and keep them healthy.

2. Think it ends at a little eye batting? Hardly—all told, scientists say there are 52 “flirting signals” used by humans. Of these, the hair flip is the most common.

3. In some places, flirting is illegal. In Little Rock, AR, an antiquated law is still on the books warning that engaging in playful banter may result in a 30-day jail term. In New York City, another outdated law mandates that men may be fined $25 for gazing lasciviously at a female; a second conviction stipulates the offender wear a pair of blinders whenever he goes out for a walk.

4. Why wait for Happy Hour? Lots of people get their flirt on during their morning commute. A full 62 percent of drivers have flirted with someone in a different vehicle while on the go, and 31 percent of those flirtations, it turns out, resulted in a date.

5. Flirting need not occur face to face. According to Pew Research, 40 percent of people who look for love online say they can easily flirt with someone via email or IM.

6. In the Victorian era, fans were the ultimate playful prop that could communicate all sorts of messages. A fan placed near the heart meant, You have won my love. A half-opened fan pressed to the lips suggested, You may kiss me. Hiding the eyes behind an open fan meant, I love you, while opening and closing the fan several times warned, You are cruel. Given how much a fan could come in handy, it’s a shame they ever invented air conditioning.

7. These days, cell phones do the flirting. In one survey, half of all mobile phone users have texted suggestive messages to keep things interesting while away from their amour.

8. Watch out, you can overdo it. According to the Social Issues Research Centre, the most common mistake people make when flirting is maintaining too much eye contact.

9. Sometimes, flirty gestures aren’t what they seem. Research has shown that men tend to routinely mistake friendly behavior for flirting.

10. Flirting is universal. A woman living in New York City and one in rural Cambodia may not have much in common, but when it comes to attracting a little attention, they both employ the very same move: smiling, arching their eyebrows, then averting their gaze and giggling. Animals flirt, too: Birds, reptiles, and even fish have their own way of strutting their stuff. Moral of the story: If the simple sea bass can act cute to enhance a romantic agenda, you can, too—so give it a go!


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Article courtesy of Happen magazine, www.happenmag.com.
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Bear's Blog: Season Two...

Bear's Blog: Season Two...

International Consumer Electronics Show 2008 (CES) in LV

This is the good way to the business, its really good for the end-user consumer and the business consumer alike to attend the show at the same time.Attendees and media flood into the Central Hall at the 2008 International CES excited to see the latest and greatest in consumer electronics technology.Attendees and media gather around the Panasonic exhibit booth to see the world's largest advanced HD 150" plasma display.http://www.cesweb.org/press/images/rd_photos_floor.asp?option=show_floor

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SanDisk Vaulter Disk - TFOT

CompactFlash card lets you quickly capture, view, upload and transfer large image files. It is ideal for demanding photo shoots under severe weather conditions heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, etc. and is built to perform in the most extreme environments and temperatures. It has a minimum data transfer rate of 20MB per second.Specification for Extreme III Compact Flash Cards Capacity Manufacturer PartNumber Price 4GB SanDisk Corp. SDCFX3-4096-901 $30.94 2GB SanDisk Corp. SDCFX3-2048 $45.52 1GB SanDisk Corp. SDCFX3-1024 $122.84 Check Prices at: http://www.memory4less.com/search?q=SanDisk%20Flash%20Drive&cat=flash-memory-cards

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Google Owns A Search Engine Optimization Company

A Slippery Slope: Google Owns
a Search Engine Optimization Company
================================


If you own or work with a search engine optimization company, or even if you're just hoping to better your search engine placement, then you are probably aware of the recent acquisition frenzy that took hold among the major search engines. Google paid $3.1 billion for DoubleClick, Microsoft paid $6 billion for Aquantive, and Yahoo paid $680 million for the 80 percent of Right Media that it did not already own and another $300 million for BlueLithium. The companies purchased are all intended to help widen the advertising range of each of the engines in question, and to take advantage of increasingly sophisticated behavioral-based ad-serving technologies that the acquired companies owned.

This is a listing of Google's corporate acquisitions, including acquisitions of both companies and individual products.

Acquisition Date	Company/Product	Business Area	Value (USD)	References
2001
September 20, 2001	Deja's Usenet archive	Google Groups.	undisclosed	[1]
September 20, 2001	Outride, Inc.	Spin-off from Xerox PARC.	undisclosed	[2]
2003
February, 2003	Pyra Labs	Blogger.	undisclosed	[3]
April, 2003	Neotonic Software	CRM technology.	undisclosed	[4]
April, 2003	Applied Semantics	Advertising technology.	$102 million	[5]
September 30, 2003	Kaltix	Search engine technology.	undisclosed	[6]
October, 2003	Sprinks	Paid listings unit of Primedia.	undisclosed	[7]
October, 2003	Genius Labs	Blogging	undisclosed	[8]
2004
May 10, 2004	Ignite Logic	Website creation technology.	undisclosed	[9]
June 23, 2004	Baidu (2.6% stake)	Chinese language search engine. All shares were sold in June, 2006	$5 million	[10][11]
July 13, 2004	Picasa	Photo management software.	undisclosed	[12]
October 27, 2004	Keyhole, Inc.	Mapping software; used in Google Earth.	undisclosed	[13]
Sept.-Dec., 2004	Where2	Mapping software; used in Google Maps.	undisclosed	[14]
Sept.-Dec., 2004	ZipDash	Used in Google Ride Finder.	undisclosed	[14]
2005
ca. 2005	2Web Technologies	Web-based spreadsheet.	undisclosed	[15]
ca. 2005	Phatbits	Widgets engine.	undisclosed	[16]
March 28, 2005	Urchin Software Corporation	Web analysis.	undisclosed	[17]
May 12, 2005	Dodgeball	Social networking.	undisclosed	[18]
July, 2005	Reqwireless	Web browser and Mobile email.	undisclosed	[19]
July 7, 2005	Current Communications Group	Broadband internet.	$100 million (partial investment)	[20]
August 17, 2005	Android	Software for Handheld devices.	undisclosed	[21]
November, 2005	Skia	Graphics software.	undisclosed	[22]
November 17, 2005	Akwan Information Technologies	Latin American internet operations.	undisclosed	[23]
December 20, 2005	AOL (5% stake)	Internet.	$1 billion	[24]
2006
January 17, 2006	dMarc Broadcasting	Radio advertising software and platform.	$102 million	[25]
February 14, 2006	Measure Map	Blog analysis.	undisclosed	[26]
March 9, 2006	Upstartle	Writely, online word processing.	undisclosed	[27]
March 14, 2006	@Last Software	SketchUp, 3-D modeling.	undisclosed	[28]
April 9, 2006	Orion	Advanced search method.	undisclosed	[29]
August 15, 2006	Neven Vision	Computer vision	undisclosed	[30]
October 31, 2006	JotSpot	Website applications	undisclosed	[31]
November, 2006	YouTube	Video sharing	$1.65 billion	[32]
December, 2006	Endoxon	Mapping solutions	$28 million	[33]
2007
January, 2007	Xunlei (partial acquisition)	Network, file-sharing.	undisclosed	[34]
February, 2007	Adscape	Video game advertising	$23 million	[35]
March, 2007	Trendalyzer	Software	undisclosed	[36]
April, 2007	Tonic Systems	Presentation software	undisclosed	[37]
April, 2007	Marratech video conferencing software	Video conferencing	undisclosed	[38]
May 11, 2007	GreenBorder Technologies	Desktop enterprise security	undisclosed	[39]
June 1, 2007	Panoramio	Geospatial Photo-sharing Service	undisclosed	[39]
June 3, 2007	FeedBurner	Online RSS Feeds	$100 million	[40]
June 5, 2007	PeakStream	Parallel Processing	undisclosed	[41]
June, 2007	Zenter	Presentations Software	undisclosed	[42]
July 2, 2007	GrandCentral	VOIP Phone Aggregation	$45 million	[43]
July, 2007	ImageAmerica	High resolution aerial cameras	undisclosed	[44]
July 9, 2007	Postini	Communications Security	$625 million	[45]
September, 2007	Zingku	Mobile social network and communication platform	undisclosed	[46]
October, 2007	Jaiku	An activity stream and presence sharing service that works from the Web and mobile phones	undisclosed	[47]

Pending acquisitions

==========================

Pending acquisition means that the purchase was confirmed, but not executed yet. The execution can take from several days to several months depending on the size and position of the two involved companies and on the impact of the acquisition on the market place. Even if both companies agree on the deal this does not mean that it will actually happen. In some cases regulatory approvals by 3rd parties are required (e.g. government). The deal goes bust if the required approvals cannot be obtained.

Acquisition Date	Company/Product	Business Area	Value (USD)	References
2007
April 13, 2007	DoubleClick	Online Advertising	$3.1 billion	[48]