Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 1/28 – 2/1

A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including Twitter tracking Tweetmeme arrives – a new service that finds new Twitter content and tracks who else is talking about it, Microsoft becomes the exclusive provider of paid and contextual ads for The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Yahoo will cut 1,000 jobs after Q4 earnings report brings mixed reviews, Click Forensics reports that click fraud has risen to 15% in 2007, and finally, Microsoft makes $44.6 billion bid to fully acquire Yahoo!.

Monday

• Tweetmeme – The Twitter Tracker Arrives – We have Technorati. We even have TechMeme. But now we have Tweetmeme, a new service that tracks what’s hot on micro-blogging platform Twitter. TechCrunch describes it as “the business of tracking the online conversation just a got shot in the arm a big hit with the tech equivalent of crack cocaine.” Tweetmeme looks for new content and tracks who else is talking about it. It then ranks the content based upon who and how much a particular item is being discussed. TechCrunch points out that “the number of URLs which spread virally through Twitter each day must run into the millions, so tracking where that viral trail starts and gains momentum is going to be fascinating.”

Tuesday

• Microsoft To Provide Ads for The Wall Street Journal Digital Network – The adCenter Blog announced that Microsoft and The Wall Street Journal Digital Network reached an agreement in which Microsoft will become the exclusive provider of contextual and paid search ads for The Wall Street Journal Digital Network (WSJDN), which includes WSJ.com, Barrons.com, Marketwatch.com, allthingsd.com along with other sites. The post points out that WSJDN reaches a savvy worldwide audience of over 20 million unique users and serves over 330 million page views per month on its sites specific to the highly sought-after financial services audience for advertisers. Microsoft is on the move as this is the second major contextual partner Microsoft has made deals with, having made one a couple of weeks ago with EDGAR Online.

Wednesday

• Yahoo To Cut 1,000 Jobs As Q4 Earnings Report Were Mixed - With net income down from last year and an uncertain outlook of what 2008 might bring, Yahoo will proceed to cut approximately 1,000 jobs. Search Engine Land’s Greg Sterling comments that the layoffs are the largest in the company’s history (after 650 people let go following the 2001 ‘dot-com bust.’) However they’re relatively modest considering the overall size of the organization (7 percent). Check out Greg’s post for more detailed information including some of Yahoo’s current strengths and some charts from the earnings presentation.

Thursday

• Click Fraud Up 15% in 2007 - The overall industry average click fraud rate rose to 16.6 percent for Q4 2007. That’s up from the 14.2 percent click fraud rate for the same quarter in 2006, and 16.2 percent for Q3 2007. This according to Click Forensics’ most recent report on the matter. Click Forensics is the company that maintains the Click Fraud Index, a network that monitors and reports on data gathered from more than 4,000 online advertisers and their agencies. Additional findings are available in a post by Chris Sherman of Search Engine Land.

Friday

• Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion To Acquire Yahoo! - Posted in an official press release, Microsoft is offering to pay $31 a share to fully acquire Yahoo who has been struggling as of late. Most of the blogosphere is covering this including Marketing Pilgrim, Mashable, Search Engine Land, and TechCrunch to name a few. And what is Yahoos response thus so far? In a short response to what they call an “unsolicited offer,” Yahoo said, “that its Board of Directors will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo!’s strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.” Microsoft’s offer represents a 62% premium above the closing price Thursday of Yahoo at $19.18. The question is, will they take it? Will we soon see a “Yahoosoft” or “MicroHoo” on the horizon?