A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including Yahoo! agrees to acquire Right Media for $680 million in cash, rumors surface that Microsoft is interested in acquiring 24/7 Real Media, Digg loses control to Digg users, 16 steps to becoming a respected Wikipedian, and finally, Yahoo! and Microsoft are discussing merger once again. Notice that Google did not make any of my headlines? A first I think for these weekly recaps!

Monday

• Yahoo! To Acquire Right Media in a $680 Million Cash Deal - In a move seen to counter Google’s recent plans to acquire of DoubleClick, Yahoo! has announced that they intend to acquire the remaining 80% of Right Media that they did not already own for $680 million in cash. Yahoo had previously bought 20% of the company back in October of last year in a $45 million Series B round of funding. Right Media runs an advertising marketplace that allows for much more efficient advertising pricing than older negotiated models (something still in the planning stages at DoubleClick). They also also tend to work with large intermediate ad brokers and address the short tail of the ad market (as does DoubleClick), whereas Overture and AdSense are definitely long tail products with many smaller advertisers and publishers. Further coverage at TechCrunch, Search Engine Land and Search Engine Watch.
  

• Microsoft Interested in Acquiring 24/7 Real Media - They attempted to buy DoubleClick but lost to Google. Now Yahoo is acquiring Right Media. Microsoft doesn't want to be left out and so comes the rumor from the New York Post that Microsoft is looking to acquire 24/7 Real Media. Sources said the software giant is considering a price in the $1 billion range - a giant leap from the $600 million valuation analysts placed on the firm. Of course if they do acquire them, they would be in the same place as Google is in that they would then own a search marketing company which will create controversy seeing that they also own a search engine.
  

• Digg Loses Control To Diggers - A revolt occurred late Tuesday when the Digg powers that be removed a story that contained a decryption code for HD-DVDs. They were acting in response to a cease and desist as revealing the code was a potential violation of the DMCA. In retaliation, Diggers essentially took over the site by publishing countless stories revealing the code and voting their way to the top. The home page of Digg was soon filled with stories revealing the code. Digg founder, Kevin Rose finally conceded, stating that they would no longer delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. You can find further coverage at Marketing Pilgrim, Graywolf's SEO Blog, SE Roundtable, Search Engine Land, TechCrunch, and WebProNews.

• 16 Steps To Gain Respect When Using Wikipedia for SEO - I came across an excellent article by Stephan Spencer published at Search Engine Land on the topic of the right and wrong ways to go about editing Wikipedia. The article starts out with the accusation that Google is giving too much weight to Wikipedia in its own search results which I wholeheartedly agree with. This allures SEOs into editing Wikipedia pages for their own interests and in worse case scenarios, spam Wikipedia. Does this mean that SEOs should resist editing Wikipedia pages to avoid being labeled as spammers? Not if edits are done correctly. Herein Stephan provides 16 tips that will help you become a respected Wikipedian.
  

• Yahoo! and Microsoft Considering a Merger - Both the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that sources say Microsoft and Yahoo are talking again about how they might merge or cooperate. The Post writes, "Stung by the loss of Internet advertising firm DoubleClick to Google last month, Microsoft has intensified its pursuit of a deal with Yahoo!, asking the company to re-enter formal negotiations." From the Wall Street Journal, "In what appear to be early-stage discussions, executives at Microsoft and Yahoo are taking a fresh look at a merger of the two companies or some kind of match-up that would pair their companies' respective strengths, say people familiar with the situation." Personally, I think Microsoft would ruin Yahoo! but only time will tell. Additional coverage and discussion at Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Watch, SE Roundtable, and Marketing Pilgrim just to name a few. If you catch the home page of Techeme today you will also find tons of additional coverage.