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February 26, 2008

Yahoo Making Noise at SMX - Yahoo! Buzz & Search Monkey

Yahoo is making some noise at the current SMX West conference in Santa Clara. They have officially launched Yahoo! Buzz, a Digg style social news site and at the same time are unveiling a project code-named "Search Monkey" which consists of a set of open-source tools that allow users and publishers to annotate and enhance search results associated with specific web sites.

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July 23, 2007

Let the Privacy Wars Begin!

I was asked recently if Google's dominance in search would ever change, at least anytime soon, to which I responded that I did not believe so unless they make a major mistake. And what is the most crucial area that Google needs to pay close attention to? How they handle privacy. More and more Internet users are worried about the amount of information Google and other search engines have on them. In fact, my father recently told me that he was through with Google because he feels they have become a type of "big brother." He does not trust their privacy policy practices.

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June 12, 2007

The Yahoo! Acquisition Report Card

After putting together a clever post grading Google's acquisition progress over the years, Joe Sinkwitz from the Pay Loan Affiliate Blog has put together another report card grading acquisition behavior. This time it is for Yahoo! The Yahoo! Acquisition Report Card reaches back to their first acquisition of Net Controls in September 1997 to its most current acquisition of Right Media in April 2007.

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March 08, 2007

Ask CEO Jim Lanzone Comments on Yahoo!'s Hypocrisy

I don't know how I missed this. Possibly because the day it was posted was my birthday and I was out of the office most of the day. What I am referring to is a post on the Stepforth blog by Ross Dunn announcing Yahoo!'s revamping of their paid inclusion program. Even had I come upon the news, I probably would have merely yawned because really, who cares about their paid inclusion program anyway? Instead of revamping it, they should killing it. Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask seems to feel the same way.

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February 28, 2007

Yahoo! Search Support for 'NOYDIR' Meta Tag Finally Here!

We've been asking for some time now. It was even promised as a possible future development. Well now it is finally arrived - support for a "NOYDIR" meta tag. Web site owners have long been frustrated over the lack of control they have had in they way their home page appears in the Yahoo! search results if they are also listed in the Yahoo! Directory. This due to the fact that Yahoo! would use the title and description from the directory listing as opposed to the site's title tag and meta description tag and/or snippet of content from the actual web page. Today Yahoo! finally provides a way for webmasters to have more control over how their home page appears in Yahoo! search results.

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February 05, 2007

Yahoo! Phases in New Ranking Model Today

As promised last week, Yahoo! is rolling out their new ranking model today for its paid search advertisers. Gone is the highest price gets the highest position model and what is replacing it is a system that operates in much the same way as Google AdWords does. Read on for five tips Yahoo! provides advertisers in preparation of this new ranking model.

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January 24, 2007

Yahoo! Sets Date For Change To PPC Ranking Algorithm

Mark your calendars - as promised, February 5th is the date set that Yahoo! will switch over to a new ranking algorithm for their PPC ad platform. In the same way that Google's AdWords works, Yahoo! will now factor in the ad's quality as well as the bid amount. The old system awarded the highest position to whomever spent the most. Now they will consider how well the ad actually performs along with actual bid amount for each ad. This has been expected since Yahoo! started converting advertisers to their new platform but now has an actual date attached to it.

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January 17, 2007

How Yahoo! Missed the Boat

Fred Vogelstein from Wired News has put together a lengthy article on how Yahoo! has blown it over the years in trying to position itself as the leader in search. The article looks at the many mistakes Yahoo!'s CEO, Terry Semel, has made along the way which to this day still has them playing catch up to their biggest rival, Google. It all began with their failure to buy the search giant back in 2002 and the cycle has continued up to today. read on for summary as well as link to entire article.

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January 09, 2007

Yahoo!'s Latest Acquisition - MyBlogLog

It was first rumored in November but never confirmed. Today it is a reality. Yahoo! has acquired MyBlogLog, a social network for bloggers and blog readers. MyBlogLog will be part of the Yahoo Developer Network. The size of the deal is not being confirmed, although rumors put it at around $10 - $12 million. I have only recently heard about MyBlogLog when Andy Beal introduced me to it. In fact, I have barely set up my own personal profile little alone started to build any kind of community before news of this acquisition hit today.

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November 30, 2006

Yahoo! Search Marketing Changes Managed Bids

As many Yahoo! Search Marketing advertisers continue to wait for the implementation of the new ad management platform dubbed Panama, some changes have been rolled in the way bids will be managed. This has been done in order to help prepare advertisers for the new platform. The changes will affect the Sponsored Search Manage Bids page so that all advertisers - both those who have upgraded and those who have not - will have equal access to the same relevant bidding information.

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November 16, 2006

Can't We All Just Get Along? Apparently Google, Microsoft and Yahoo Can!

Announced at PubCon in Las Vegas, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to come together and accept a standard protocol for submitting web pages to their crawlers via site maps. Google was the first to develop a site maps program where one could submit a feed to the Google index and not only ensure their pages are crawled but identify any potential problems. Now MSN and Yahoo follow suit. A new site (Sitemaps.org) has been launched that will contain more information on the subject.

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October 26, 2006

Yahoo! Search Marketing Launches Official Blog

Yahoo adds another blog to their mix - the Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog. Why now? Yahoo! Search Marketing has been around since they originally acquired Overture, right? The reason they are just now launching a blog is to coincide with the launch of their new platform. Subscribe to the feed and you will be able to keep abreast with the latest news and developments surrounding their search marketing platform.

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October 11, 2006

Yahoo! Will Now Support the NOODP (No Open Directory) Tag

Yahoo!'s Tim Mayer appeared as a special guest last night on The Pulse, a weekly WebmasterRadio.FM show that presents a round table discussion on the latest news in search. Barry Schwartz asked Tim if Yahoo would follow MSN and Google's lead in supporting the NOODP tag. What is a NOODP tag anyway? It is a meta tag that allows a web site owner to opt out from having the search engines display the Open Directory information in the organic SERPs. The tag was first adopted by MSN and then by Google earlier this year. The good news is that Yahoo will now follow the others and support this tag. We should see this occurring over the next couple of weeks according to Tim.

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August 17, 2006

Yahoo! Search Marketing Debuts New Ad Platform at SES

At the recent Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, I had the opportunity to see a live demo of the new ad platform that Yahoo! Search Marketing will replace with the old antiquated Overture platform. What is it like? A whole lot like Google's AdWords which is not a bad thing at all. Read on the see some of the features that will be coming in the fourth quarter.

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July 19, 2006

Yahoo!'s New Ad Platform "Panama" Delayed

ClickZ reports that Yahoo is delaying the launch of its revamped ad system dubbed "Panama" after previously stating that it would be launched sometime during the third quarter. Now they are shooting for the fourth quarter. Yahoo blames the delay on previously unforeseen complications in the quality control and testing process. In the meantime, advertisers are left with a very outdated and poorly functioning system.

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July 18, 2006

Current State of Who Powers Who in Search

Are there really only four major search engines that dominate the search landscape today? Pretty much but there are a variety of search "services" that still exist. However, most of these are powered by one of the four major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN & Ask). Following is a quick rundown of what the current state of "who powers who" looks like... at least today anyway.

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June 30, 2006

MSN Says Goodbye To Yahoo! Sponsored Search

It's offical! As of July 1st, Yahoo! Sponsored Search (Overture) ads will no longer appear on MSN or Windows Live. They have been slowly phasing the ads out anyway but tomorrow is the official end to the agreement between the two companies. Now if you want PPC exposure on MSN, you'll have to us Microsoft's AdCenter itself.

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May 11, 2006

Yahoo! Turns Down Microsoft Offer

"The search business has been formed. Microsoft doesn’t have a chance." That is essentially what Yahoo! Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel was quoted as saying at a talk organized by the Newhouse communications school of Syracuse University. In light of last week's stories questioning the possibility of a Yahoo!/Microsoft partnership to combat Google, he also stated that he had turned down an offer from Microsoft to buy a stake in Yahoo’s search business and that discussions about Bill Gates’ software group acquiring the company had not taken place.

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May 09, 2006

Yahoo! To Finally Upgrade Sponsored Search

No sooner does the ink dry on my 10 Things I Hate About Yahoo! Search Marketing post that Yahoo! announces that they are finally going to revamp Sponsored Search (Yahoo!'s PPC program), at least by this fall anyways. "You've told us your needs and we've listened. A completely redesigned search marketing platform is on its way, full of advanced, easy-to-use features that will help you better connect with Yahoo!'s vast and valuable audience," the email states.

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May 05, 2006

10 Things I Hate About Yahoo! Search Marketing

Just about everytime I manage a Yahoo! Sponsored Search account, I am frustrated to no end. I have nothing against the traffic they bring. It is the antiquated toolset they have for managing your campaigns. It just plain sucks! I can find no better words for it. So, my list of 10 things I hate about Yahoo! Search Marketing.

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May 03, 2006

Yahoo Sued For Encouraging Click Fraud

A class action lawsuit has been against Yahoo! in a New Jersey federal court accusing them of encouraging click fraud through use of spyware and adware products. Additionally the suit claims that Yahoo! allows ads to be displayed on "typosquatter" Web sites that capitalize on misspellings of popular trademarks or company names. Supposedly, the plaintiffs are looking to settle out of court before case goes to trial.

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Would Microsoft and Yahoo Combine To Combat Google?

Could Microsoft and Yahoo combine forces to fight Google's dominance in the search arena? The Wall Street Journal seems to think so. In a story entitled "A Microsoft, Yahoo Tie-Up?", the WSJ looks at the possibility of the two giants joining forces to take out Google as the dominant force in search.

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