UNIVERSAL ACCESS gets stuck in middle: "UNIVERSAL ACCESS gets stuck in middle
Feeling effects of telecom downturn that hurt clients
August 16, 2004
By H. Lee Murphy
Slumping demand and changing technology in the telecommunications industry landed UNIVERSAL ACCESS Global Holdings Inc. in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, following some of its best customers.
For instance, once-stalwart customers such as MCI Inc. have fallen into bankruptcy over the past year, creating a domino effect across the telecom industry.
'They were once a $3-million-a-month customer of ours,' says Universal CEO Randall R. Lay. 'Now that they've gone through bankruptcy they've reduced their spending on leased telecom network capacity.'
Universal acts as a middleman in the telecom industry, locating unused transmission capacity for those who need it in a hurry.
'If a carrier comes to us and needs four or five alternatives to complete a circuit, we can give them an answer within minutes,' Mr. Lay says.
But with so much excess capacity in the industry, wholesale pricing has gotten so low that there is little money left for middlemen like Universal. Moreover, new automated technology interconnects calls across competing transmission systems automatically, with no need for direction from Universal.
'Companies like UNIVERSAL ACCESS need to redefine themselves or move with the momentum of the marketplace if they want to continue independent,' says Daniel Klein, a senior analyst at Boston consulting firm Yankee Group.
Consolidation has been rampant in the telecom world lately, and Mr. Lay says Universal's directors would consider any offers. Universal hasn't turned a profit since going public"
June 14, 2003
Troubles mount at telecom firm
The turmoil continues at Universal Access Global Holdings Inc., a Chicago company that helps connect the networks of competing telecommunications carriers.
Co-founder Robert Pommer, a senior vice-president, resigned from the struggling firm Friday, one day after interim CEO Lance Boxer announced he will leave Universal Access on July 15, according to a federal filing. Mr. Boxer assumed the CEO duties formerly held by PATRICK SHUTT, a co-founder who resigned last November. Chief Financial Officer Randall Lay will run the company while its board seeks a new CEO.
Cookies endangered by new legislation
In
trying to kill spyware, the authors drafted a bill with language that questions the legality of using any code to capture and store user information, including most first- and third-party cookies employed in online advertising. Basically, the bill makes little distinction between bad cookies (such as spyware-type programs) and good cookies (such as ad-server code and legitimate adware).
Everyone working in online advertising, publishing, and e-commerce should educate himself about this bill and the issues underlying it. The bill may not go anywhere. Passing a House committee in a year when the entire country is focused on a presidential election and a war doesn't mean it's about to become law. Yet the very fact that using an important, general-interest technology like cookies can be put at risk so easily should give pause.
Reflect on how much you rely on that technology, how important it is to the industry, and how much we stand to lose if it disappears. Ad serving and ad measurement as we know them today would be placed in serious jeopardy. We don't need this bump in the road just as we're making real headway and real profits.
HR 2929 is more than a public policy issue. It's a marketplace issue, too. Many companies that develop and maintain key elements of our infrastructure, from browsers to virus protection and firewalls, deploy applications that can't differentiate between good and bad cookies. These applications have the potential to erode our ability to rely on an important, useful, and ultimately consumer-friendly technology that's core to what we do. Let's not wait until it's too late to understand the issues and do something about them.
Yahoo! Search blogWe’ve gotten a ton of comments and suggestions. The overall feedback is quite positive, and the virtual suggestion box is overflowing with great ideas and useful critiques, such as this recent suggested enhancement from Dave Winer. This kind of stuff pumps us up.
Of course we’ve also gotten some constructive criticism too. Most of it’s around holes in the data. Just like cell phone service…there can be dead zones. Comprehensiveness is one of the biggest challenges and we’re focusing a lot of time and energy on it.
Here’s the thing about local content: some of the best stuff isn’t on the Web, which makes the aggregation process pretty manual. Right now, we have more depth in some areas than others, largely because restaurants and hotels have taken to electronic publishing more quickly than, say, roofers and barbers.
Over time, you’ll see us expand the breadth and depth of information available. It’s out there, but it’s gonna take a little time to get it all. We think merchant and user communities can be very helpful in providing fresh, accurate content.
To that point, a way to help build out the content on Yahoo! Local, is to submit a review of your own, like my eloquent write-up on Sal’s Pizzeria in Mamaroneck NY.
Not only have we gotten a ton of restaurant reviews – people are submitting reviews on just about anyplace or anyone. I’ve seen reviews for dentists, auto repair shops, even the local dry cleaner. We’ve received thousands of reviews already, and in general, they’ve been very informative.
Shopping directory lists links to most popular searches ...
SurfControl said the Google scam, discovered this week, appears in in-boxes with the subject line "Google, #1 Search Engine." The e-mail asks users to download the latest Google tool bar to stop pop-up ads and spyware and then directs them to a link to download the tool bar executable. However, this download is most likely a virus-infected file, according to SurfControl.
At least two aspects of the e-mail indicated it was a hoax, SurfControl said. First, the sender address was from an individual, rather than Google. Second, the IP address for the tool bar download matches that of a suspicious Web site that sells "The Essential Underground Handbook," a guide to get-rich-quick schemes and other forms of fraud, according to SurfControl.
SurfControl's research team also said spammers are increasingly embedding images into their messages rather than using HTML, which allows them to work around spam protections that can block HTML-based graphics offered in Microsoft Outlook. And since the text is all part of the embedded image, this techniques also bypasses the text-scanning abilities of traditional antispam filters, the company said.
ClickZ Experts on Search Engine Optimization:
Lets define cloaking not in technical terms but by the end result:
Cloaking is getting a search engine to record content for a URL that is different from what a searcher will ultimately see, often intentionally.
Google: "The term 'cloaking' is used to describe a website that returns altered webpages to search engines crawling the site. In other words, the webserver is programmed to return different content to Google than it returns to regular users, usually in an attempt to distort search engine rankings.
Inktomi: Pages that give the search engine a different page than the public sees (cloaking).
Teoma: Web pages that show different content than the spidered pages.
Only Google suggests a technical definition with its statement about a Web server programmed to deliver custom content. I'm being broader than this, but I think that fits well with other Google guidelines warning against hiding information from users.
Indeed, "cloaking is hiding," summarizes search engine marketer Jill Whalen, who published Perkins's article in her popular High Rankings Advisor newsletter. She diligently followed the ensuing debate on the ihelpyou forums and WebmasterWorld.com. Both threads provide excellent views on this subject.
Another crucial difference between my definition and Perkins' is I do not automatically equate cloaking with spam. It's an important distinction if the goal is to help educate people about cloaking's potential problems.
It's also important, because AltaVista and FAST don't actually say "don't cloak" in their Webmaster guidelines. Both, together with Inktomi and Teoma, arguably allow cloaking via XML feeds.
Even Google, despite its ban, might be considered to allow cloaking when some "everyone cloaks" examples are employed. Anyone who thinks these arguments will protect them if caught cloaking will likely lose the battle. We'll come back to this.
To Win for Free, Focus on Content
Cloaking often goes hand in hand with low-quality doorway pages, which search engines often regard as spam. If you consider cloaking, it's probably because you're creating content you hope will please a search engine algorithm rather than content that should exist to please human visitors. Such efforts are often time-consuming, don't yield desired results, and may only work for a short time.
All search engines reward good content. This is partially so because good content attracts crucial links everyone wants. Focus on content. When it comes to getting listed "for free" in the major crawlers' editorial results, you're playing the smart, long-term game."
A Brief History of SEO: "The Hubs and Authorities model is clearly a winner at Google. It universally clears out junk from the bloated dbs and identifies the core mega sites in each keyword sector. "
part 2 success with Google
about 49 Yahoo Search Results for www.totaltravel.co.uk
Yahoo%21 Search Results for www.totaltravel.co.uk
MSN Results 1-4 of about 4 containing "site:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
CitySearch teams with Overture CNET News.com CitySearch said Thursday that it has signed a deal with Yahoo's Overture Services to run the latter's paid ads in its local search listings for select cities and categories.
Overture specializes in selling advertising links that accompany search results on sites such as Yahoo and MSN. Under the deal, Overture ads will appear in categories where CitySearch has available ad inventory, such as home services, professional services and medical specialists. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The move comes little more than a year after CitySearch, which is owned by InterActiveCorp, introduced its own advertising service to compete with Overture on a local level. The company unveiled a pay-per-click ad service, called Local Pay for Performance, which reflected the business model of Overture's national ad network. CitySearch sought to match up advertisers with consumers searching for local dining, entertainment and shopping services. Advertisers pay for the ads only when people click through.
Under terms of the deal, Overture ads will appear as "sponsored results" when a customer uses CitySearch for conducting a local search.
Local search has been the rage of late. Last month, Google launched what it called Google Local, a service that helps Web surfers find local businesses by typing in a search term and a city name.
The market for local advertising online is small, but analysts are predicting it will eventually take a larger chunk of the $12 billion overall market for local ads in the United States.
CitySearch had been talking with Google about a partnership.
Google Search about 49,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk Yahoo about 95 for site:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Google Search%3A allinurl%3Awww.totaltravel.co.uk: about 49,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Yahoo about 95 for site:www.totaltravel.co.uk
MSN Results 1-4 of about 4 containing "site:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
NB MSN tech preview has now closed and these are the results "proper"...
re Expedia dropped by IHG policy ...creates buzz at TravelCom
Hotel Motel - IHG policy creates buzz at TravelCom: "IHG committed its franchisees to working only with distributors and their affiliates that do not engage in confusing and potentially unclear marketing practices that clearly present taxes and fees to consumers that respect trademarks and that ensure reservations are guaranteed through an automated and common confirmation process"
Forbes.com%3A Search Engine Stocks a Risk for Some: "But the (search) industry's short history shows that consumer loyalty to search services is perilously erratic. Google didn't exist a few years ago, and there's no guarantee it will exist a few years hence.
Search, said Randall, may prove to be an area that works best if there is just one winner. In this, it's like the auction business, where eBay Inc. has been elevated above all other online players.
Buyers and sellers like having one place to go. People looking to find things like it if they only have to look in one place.
"There is a potential to own the one true winner here, not simply a good company, but to invest in a company that could be the sole survivor," Randall said. "The risk of being involved as an investor ... is that it's early enough that the long-term leaders haven't yet been chosen."
SearchBlog was exactly what the referral was - the
Yahoo Search Blog!
Following up on trendy business blogging from many in the tech industry and even Google, Yahoo has gone live with their new form of blog relations, making interaction between the blogging community an intricate part of the Yahoo Search Blog. Why so? They have LIVE COMMENTS! Yahooo! Hope they have some sound comment spam filters set up.
The Yahoo Search Blog was set up with the help of Jeremy Zawodny, famed blogger and Yahoo employee. The
first blog entry is by Jeff Weiner, the SVP of Yahoo’s Search and Marketplace business unit and it’s a great starting post with multiple comments already and 19 trackbacks at press time (I’ll see if it tracks back this entry).
After the Google blog was launched, some people gave Google some flack for not including comments or even blogger names at first. Not only does the Yahoo Search Blog include comments, feedback,
RSS, and trackbacks (giving it a true blog and community feel) but it also has one excellent blogroll of links, including the SearchEngineJournal and favorites such as WebProNews, SearchEngineLowdown, and ResourceShelf. I wonder how many other bloggers are waking up to find these ysearchblog.com referrals? Great Blog PR strategy Yahoo!
Other Search Shares $$$ Rise and Fall on Google IPO
Forbes.com%3A Update 1%3A Net Rivals Rise and Fall on Google IPO: "Rivals to Internet search giant Google Inc. rode the momentum of its long-awaited initial public offering and saw mixed gains in early trading Thursday but sank near the closing bell as Googles shares remained level through most of the afternoon session."
52,200 Google steadying
52,200 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Google
Yahoo about 30, showed home page yesterday, not today
search engine listings..oddity re link:
about 779 linking to
www.totaltravel.com
about 3,150 linking to
www.totaltravel.co.uk shows all the internal links...
about 52,200 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk.
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Google Search%3A allinurl%3Awww.totaltravel.co.uk: "41%2C900 for allinurl%3Awww.totaltravel.co.uk"
Yahoo%21 Search Results for www.totaltravel.co.uk: " 71 for www.totaltravel.co.uk"
Business News - Chance to pick Google's brain
Business News - Chance to pick Google's brain: "Senior Google scientist Dr Mehran Sahami told the Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Auckland last week that the company's 2200 employees were constantly battling to cope with users' needs and to fight crafty website designers who packed their pages with whole dictionaries of keywords..
He said some website designers tried to get their sites to the top of search engine hitlists by "cloaking" long lists of keywords at the bottom of their web pages, which were invisible to readers but were picked up by search engines. "Some would take an entire dictionary at the bottom of their web pages so a web page has the potential to match any single query in that language."
Google was developing more sophisticated techniques to distinguish "natural language" from long lists of keywords.
It also aimed to develop personalised web searches for individual users, better image searching and ways to handle multimedia websites.
He invited people to help develop new services listed on its laboratory web pages, including a glossary of acronyms and local search engines.
Google Labs"
KAnoodle targetted ads - topis based...Feedster Launches RSS Feed Media Program
Feedster Launches RSS Feed Media Program: "'Kanoodle is committed to providing our partners with the most relevant ads and our advertisers with access to the best audiences,' said Mark Josephson, SVP Marketing and Business Development for Kanoodle. 'Because our contextually targeted sponsored links rely on a topic-based rather than a keyword targeting system, our ads are more relevant to content. Feedster's customers will now receive the highest quality sponsored links alongside their RSS content.'"
Branding Versus SEO
Branding Versus SEO: "Branding versus search engine optimization is a marketing dilemma that larger companies will need to come to grips with on the Internet. Often companies will need to decide whether to promote their own brand name as their main keyword phrase or optimize for a more generic keyword phrase.
For instance, one search engine report states that 1.3 million visitors per month search for the term 'Best Buy.' This same report states that the term 'electronics' is searched for by 1.1 visitors per month. The obvious choice in this scenario is for Best Buy to optimize for their own brand name first and the word 'electronics' second.
Concludes; So in order to create the largest return on investment, large companies need to optimize their websites both for their own brand names and for the generic, high-traffic keywords and keyword phrases relevant to their sites. Otherwise, they are letting tons of online business just slip away."
Search Stats and Usage MediaDailyNews 08-16-04
MediaDailyNews 08-16-04: "Predictably, Google scored high with respondents, with 47 percent identifying it as the search engine they use most often. Yahoo! ranked second with 26 percent, with MSN (7 percent) and AOL (5 percent) trailing further behind. 'Google does this better than anybody else,' shrugs comScore Vice President of Marketing Solutions James Lamberti. 'The design is clean and the interface is simple.'
comScore's tracking revealed that Americans performed 3.9 million searches in June. The average Internet user conducted 33 searches and spent 41 minutes at search engine sites during the month"
MSN Search: 62 pages site:www.totaltravel.co.uk -- More Useful Everyday
MSN Search: site:www.totaltravel.co.uk -- More Useful Everyday
First site listed:
Great Britain weather forecasts - five day local reportsGreat Britain weather forecasts - five day local reports
home british maps weather in britain travel directory members Weather forecasts for Great Britain Aberdeen Sunny Aberporth Sunny intervals Aberystwyth Sunny intervals Andover Sunny intervals Anglesey Sunny ...
www.totaltravel.co.uk/weather/
Dancing ? Yahoo! Search Results for http://www.totaltravel.co.uk/
Various forums report that there may be an algo update gong on at Yahoo
Yahoo! Search Results for http://www.totaltravel.co.uk/: "Great Britain Maps & Travel Directions
Accommodation. Dining & Nightlife. Attractions. Place. Street (optional) Postcode/town/suburb. The Cafe. Leaving From. Going To. LOADING. Can't see the map? Download Java Its free! Drag to zoom. Click to glide. Popular Maps. Birmingham. Manchester
www.totaltravel.co.uk/maps.asp?fid=532871 - 13k - Cached "
First page listed is Great Britain Maps & Travel Directions
Great Britain Maps & Travel Directions for The Cafe Northallerton
Latest Search Engine Spam Techniques [Promotion & Marketing]
Latest Search Engine Spam Techniques [Promotion & Marketing]: "Search engines value popular, content-rich sites; however, many Website owners either can't or don't want to spend the money required to create that type of content and popularity. The needed resources, such as researchers, Web content developers, copywriters and skilled SEOs, aren't available, or are beyond the financial resources of the company.
This is the something for nothing scenario that launches all spam projects.
TrafficPower is a SEO provider that was made infamous by Google's taking action to ban the company and its clients from their index. A Google rep was quoted as saying 'I believe that one SEO had convinced clients either to put spammy JavaScript mouseover redirects, doorway pages that link to other sites, or both on their clients' sites. That can lead to clients' sites being flagged as spam in addition to the doorway domains that the SEO set up.'
Now, it seems Traffic Power's clients are suing the company, but the damage is done. We still have to wonder who the guilty parties are.
In reality, when a site utilizes spam tactics, it is the client who's ultimately responsible, not the SEO provider. The client has control over a Website and its deployment. When spamming occurs, the Website owner is solely responsible."
Spammingsite1.com used several types of spam to achieve strong results:
mouse-activated redirects
hidden table cells stuffed with keywords within h1 tags
links from contrived Websites
The end users saw a different page than the search engine indexed. The search engine was tricked by these tactics, and, as is the case with all instances of spamming, lost control of the product it served to search users.
Spammingsite1 was a leader in the search results -- but only because of spam. A check of the sites that linked to Spammingsite1 revealed a list of dubious quality sites with which no legitimate site owner would have wanted to be associated. One of the sites was a growing list of open directory copies -- sites that draw all their content from the open directory project. Copies of Open Directory listings represent a huge problem for Google.
There are, of course, numerous tactics that are considered spam. Below are some of the most common spamming techniques being used right now -- tactics that should be avoided.
Publishing Empires
Wikis
Networked Blogs
Forums
Domain Spam
Duplicate Domains
Links inside No Script Tags
Javascript Redirects
Dynamic Real Time Page Generation
HTML invisible table cells
DHTML laying and Hidden text under layers
Humungous machine-generated Web sites
Link stuffing
Invisible text
Link Farms
Enormous Machine-Generated Websites
Those Webmasters who are not adept to html, dhtml or css tricks may try something simpler. When there's not enough content to go around, they often try to stretch a minimal amount of content across thousands of pages. The pages are built with templates and the sentences within them are basically shuffled from one page to the next. Unique title tags are plugged into each page that's generated.
This technique basically sees the same page repeated hundreds to thousands of times. It can even be done using a computer program that systematically stuffs the text sentences, paragraphs and headings, including keywords, into pages.
This technique is most often used with ecommerce sites that have a limited range of products for sale. Often, the products are simply re-organized, or shuffled to create another page that appears to be unique. It's actually the same selection of products presented countless different ways.
Broadband users more likely to book tickets Internet Users: A Day in the Life, Part 2
Internet Users: A Day in the Life, Part 2: "Pew also surveyed broadband Internet users and determined that the more likely US adults are to have ubiquitous access to high-speed � both at home and at work � the more likely they are to conduct daily activities online. For example, 74% of those with broadband at work and at home buy tickets online, whereas just 62% with broadband in one of the two locales say the same and only 48% of dial-up users say they buy tickets online. "
rEC ARTICLES RE Wordtracker and XML Feeds - Interview with Wordtracker Founder Andy Mindel and John Alexander
PRESS RELEASE: Wordtracker and XML Feeds - Interview with Wordtracker Founder Andy Mindel and John Alexander: "Wordtracker and XML Feeds "Andy Mindel: "Here are a few recommended articles..."
http://www.xmlrpc.com
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/827/1
http://davenet.userland.com/1998/07/14/xmlRpcForNewbies
I would also head to http://www.google.com/apis/ as well as the
newsgroups that discuss the API.
Spy Ware Google hijacked Kansas City Star | 08/15/2004 | TROUBLE AGENTS
Kansas City Star | 08/15/2004 | TROUBLE AGENTS: "A variation on the hijacking theme affects the Google search engine. Several spyware applications hijack Google search results and insert ads to make them appear as if they were real results.
In that case and some others, spyware is installed when Internet surfers click on the wrong thing on a Web site's pop-up ad.
Clicking in the wrong place � and sometimes that's a button that says �exit� � downloads spyware, Kedish said. Often, one spyware begets others."
about 71 Yahoo! Search Results for www.totaltravel.co.uk 52,400 in Google
Yahoo! Search Results for www.totaltravel.co.uk: "about 71 for www.totaltravel.co.uk"
about 52,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk 39,900
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk: "about 39,900 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
49,600 site:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Local search tested Yahoo, Google Ask Jeeves MediaPost Advertising & Media Directory
MediaPost Advertising & Media Directory: "MediaPost inspired the Search Insider to take the Elkin challenge. Should she and others plug in ZIP codes? Is it worth Internet users' time? The Insider devised a quick test to get a rough, but honest answer.
Before embarking on this study, there's a caveat. Yahoo! is beta testing a local search site at local.yahoo.com, Ask Jeeves has tapped CitySearch for local business information that will be incorporated into its results next month, and Google Local (local.google.com) has been in beta since March. Local search is constantly improving, but the Insider looked at each of the engines' main sites to get a snapshot of ZIP code searches today.
For the test, the Insider hypothesized some ZIP codes might work better than others, so three samples were employed: For the West Coast, Portland, OR, ZIP 97204; for the East Coast, the Insider used MediaPost's Manhattan headquarters, ZIP 10011; for Middle America, it's Ponca City, Oklahoma, ZIP 74601, population 26,000...
So far, Yahoo! wins with a knockout. It stands out as the most innovative with what it currently offers. Google loses points for its word order quirk, and Jeeves still needs to serve up something for ZIP-only queries.
Impressive as Yahoo!'s victory here is, the crown is up for grabs. Google has had months of live tests to hone its local site, and it won't settle for being second best. Ask Jeeves is willing to pay to stay competitive, and in the past year, it has earned raves as the most-improved search engine. Finally, Yahoo! only wins if users and advertisers vote with their traffic and dollars. It's not enough to have the best technology.
There are dozens of tests the Insider had in mind to run, and the search landscape changes so quickly that it requires countless snapshots to assemble a complete picture. Meanwhile, for marketers, the tens of thousands of U.S. ZIP codes present tens of thousands of opportunities that are largely wasted so far.
With billions of dollars of local advertising at stake, everyone's stepping it up. Whether you're a user or marketer, now's the time to take advantage of the new options. "
One to promote? Porthcawl Elvis Festival
travmedia.com: "The Porthcawl Elvis Festival takes place over the weekend of 1, 2 and 3 October 2004. Highlight of the Festival is 'The Elvies,' an award ceremony for Elvis Tribute Artists, being held at the Grand Pavilion on the Saturday night. Award Categories include Young Elvis, GI Elvis, '68 Special Elvis, Vegas Elvis and International Elvis. This is the first event of its kind in the World...
Spokesman for the event, Peter Phillips says. "Given the support we have received from the people of Porthcawl, the Town Council, Capital Regional Tourism and Bridgend County Borough Council, we are confident that this event will establish itself as the premier annual Elvis event in Europe."
For further information, please contact Mike Evans on +44 (0) 1656 672931, or at travel@southernwales.org"
Google IPO to turn employees into millionaires
Google IPO to turn employees into millionaires: "Google's initial public offering will likely give birth to a new generation of millionaires, led by an immediate $100 million purse for founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page when the search engine goes public in the next few days.
In a payday that harkens back to the dot-com wealth of the late 1990s and the legendary crop of Microsoft millionaires, many of Google's 2,292 employees will likely end up holding stock worth big bucks, depending on a variety of factors.
Upon completion of the IPO, the Mountain View, Calif., Internet search firm will have 271.2 million shares. At the $121.50 midpoint of Google's IPO price range of $108 to $135 per share, Google would carry a total market cap of about $33 billion.Dividing the market cap by the number of employees brings up a stock market"
The expected crop of Google millionaires evokes tales of the most famous batch of millionaires in the tech world from No. 1 software maker Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile).
The company has delivered thousands of wealthy stockholders from the ranks of its management, sales and engineering staff.
Microsoft alumni helped kick off firms such as RealNetworks (RNWK: news, chart, profile), started in 1994 partly with stock option money raised by CEO Rob Glaser, who worked at the software giant for 10 years.
The poster child for former Microsoft employees' wealth is co-founder Paul Allen, riding the crest of the money wave that has transformed Seattle. See full story. Microsoft workers had $3.5 billion in stock-option income in 2001, on top of $2.4 billion in wages, according to a Microsoft economic study cited by the Seattle Times. The economist who authored the report estimated the number of Microsoft millionaires near 10,000.
Stories continue to surface about Microsoft millionaires. Retired Microsoft President Jon Shirley's name popped up recently after he spent $557,000 at a charity auction for a new Ford GT sports car.
In its IPO filing, Google acknowledges that, "employees may be more likely to leave us after their initial option grant fully vests, especially if the shares underlying the options have significantly appreciated in value relative to the option exercise price."
But the search firm stresses that it values its employees and that it'll try to keep them.
"Our employees, who have named themselves Googlers, are everything," Google said in its IPO filing. "We will reward and treat them well."
Google already provides free meals, doctors and washing machines to employees.
"Expect us to add benefits rather than pare them down over time," the company said.
As a possible example to the Google millionaires, Google is setting up a charity called the Google Foundation with about 1 percent of the company's equity and profits.
The company also lists an unusual "Don't Be Evil" policy in its IPO filing.
"We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served -- as shareholders and in all other ways -- by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains," Google said. "This is an important aspect of our culture and is broadly shared within the company."
EBay buys Craigslist stake, dipping into classified ads
EBay buys Craigslist stake, dipping into classified ads: "EBay (EBAY: news, chart, profile) said Friday it's taking a 25 percent stake in Craigslist, a popular classified Web site where people can post or access information about jobs, real estate, events or people in their local area.
Neither company would disclose the financial terms except to say that the stake eBay purchased was from a former Craigslist employee.
For EBay's part, the Craigslist investment is the online auctioneer's foray into classifieds, said eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy.
'We're doing this to gain exposure to this business model,' said Durzy.
The online classified business, which totaled more than $1 billion last year, according to J.P. Morgan, is expected to be one of the faster-growing sectors across all of online media.
It's a business that Craigslist is enjoying, alone, but which dominant search engines have been trying to tap through their localized initiatives.
With this investment, eBay is making an obvious move onto the competitive grounds of Google (GOOG: news, chart, profile), Yahoo (YHOO: news, chart, profile), Ask Jeeves (ASKJ: news, chart, profile), InfoSpace (INSP: news, chart, profile), Microsoft's (MSFT: news, chart, profile) MSN, InterActiveCorp's (IACI: news, chart, profile) CitySearch and Verizon's (VZ: news, chart, profile) yellow pages. It's a convergence of business models that CBS MarketWatch spoke of last year.
See: EBay vs. Google: They compete.
See: Fast-growing Craigslist.
Nearly 75 percent of eBay's gross merchandise volume is derived from auctioning goods. But a little more than 25 percent comes from selling fixed-price items. EBay essentiall"
Cendant Corporation Announces Amount of Common Stock to Be Purchased By Holders of Upper DECS(sm) Securities
Cendant Corporation Announces Amount of Common Stock to Be Purchased By Holders of Upper DECS(sm) Securities: "NEW YORK, Aug 13, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Cendant Corporation (CD) today announced that the holders of its Upper DECS securities will purchase approximately 38 million shares of common stock on August 17, 2004 for aggregate proceeds of approximately $863 million in cash. Following this purchase, no Upper DECS securities will be outstanding.
The forward purchase contracts forming a part of the Upper DECS securities require the holders of such securities to purchase Cendant common stock based upon the average closing price per share of Cendant common stock for the 20 consecutive trading day period which ended on August 12, 2004. Cendant initially issued the Upper DECS securities in July 2001.
Cendant Corporation is primarily a provider of travel and residential real estate services. With approximately 90,000 employees, New York City-based Cendant provides these services to businesses and consumers in over 100 countries. More information about Cendant, its companies, brands and current SEC
NEW YORK, Aug 13, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Cendant Corporation (CD) today announced that the holders of its Upper DECS securities will purchase approximately 38 million shares of common stock on August 17, 2004 for aggregate proceeds of approximately $863 million in cash. Following this purchase, no Upper DECS securities will be outstanding.
The forward purchase contracts forming a part of the Upper DECS securities require the holders of such securities to purchase Cendant common stock based upon the average closing price per share of Cendant common stock for the 20 consecutive trading day period which ended on August 12, 2004. Cendant initially issued the Upper DECS securities in July 2001.
Cendant Corporation is primarily a provider of travel and residential real estate services. With approximately 90,000 employees, New York City-based Cendant provides these services to businesses and consumers in over 100 countries. More information about Cendant, its companies, brands and current SEC filings may be obtained by visiting the Company's Web site at http://www.cendant.com or by calling 877-4-INFOCD (877-446-3623). "
Yahoo! about 8 Google about 45,400
Yahoo! Search Results for http://www.totaltravel.co.uk: "about 8 for http://www.totaltravel.co.uk."
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk: "about 45,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk show all about 66,000
Yahoo! link:http://www.totaltravel.co.uk redirects have gone
Yahoo! Search Results for link:http://www.totaltravel.co.uk: "about 12 for link:http://www.totaltravel.co.uk"
Netimperative - Who needs SEMPO? - Part deux!
Classic example of attempted professionalisation....
Netimperative - Who needs SEMPO? - Part deux!: "a private meeting was brokered between myself and SEMPO board members, including Barbara Coll and Mauro Lupi. This was also fascinating to me. After reiterating one of the fundamental points I had made in my earlier column - that of a representative for Europe but no board representation for the UK - I learned that this was actually a mistake on their behalf and they had never intended to give the impression that Mr Lupi was anything more than another board member. However, the press release at the time clearly stated:
"The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) today announced that Mauro Lupi has been added to its Board of Directors. The non-profit association also appointed Lupi to the newly created position of Chairman of SEMPO Europe. Additionally, the organization named seven international search engine marketing executives members of its new SEMPO European Committee."
This mistake slipped by all members of the board and the PR guy, eventually, mistakenly, slipping into an online PR distribution network. The same mistake seemed to occur live at the SEMPO meeting in London some weeks later, when Barbara Coll mistakenly introduced Mauro Lupi as SEMPO's newly appointed European representative. And where he mistakenly stood up, and gave a prepared address to the audience, presumably by mistake.
I've looked at some of the responses to the various posts made in the online industry forums. And they are few and far between from anyone officially connected to the board of SEMPO. I listened to every word at the "crisis" meeting in San Jose. And I listened carefully at the subsequent private meeting I had. They all have one thing in common: the sound of furious back-peddling and the odd waft of BS.
...
It would be extraordinarily sad and disappointing to see the good work done in getting the thing off the ground, to have it dashed because of the very poor handling of the recent situation. And it has been handled very badly in my opinion.
We do need a representative organisation. But we need one which is there to represent the interest of the individual members and not the board of directors and a few select 'cash rich' SEM firms.
We do need to increase awareness of SEM as an integral part of the promotional mix. But promoting the people who 'do the stuff' not the media companies and their advertising services. They have enough cash of their own to promote search engine advertising.
We do need a voice which can lobby and use our united strength when another search engine decides to do a Looksmart and change the rules overnight. But that would be very difficult if that search engine happens to have pots of sponsorship monies in the organisation kitty.
SEMPO admitted they had screwed-up in terms of their poor connect with the members and asked for more time and support. But as Barry Lloyd of �Make Me Top�:http://www.makemetop.co.uk (a Gold Circle member) commented: 'I gave them five grand. What other kind of support do they need!'
Personally, I believe that, after one year and about quarter of a million dollars in the bank, support and goodwill has been at a premium for the organisation. If they couldn't hire a professional in that space of time to throw out a few newsletters and keep lines of communication open with the membership, then...
I wish SEMPO the best of luck for the coming months.
It's going to need it."
Business & Technology: Internet Advancement told to refund clients
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Internet Advancement told to refund clients: "Internet Advancement told to refund clients
SEATTLE � The state attorney general said yesterday Redmond-based Internet Advancement must pay penalties for failing to get its customers top placement on major search engines.
Internet Advancement, which also goes by 4GreatBuys.com, must refund customers, pay $24,432 to the state for costs incurred and a civil penalty of $25,000.
The company had promised to get its customers ranked in the top 10 to 20 results on the search engines for $980 to $1,500 in set-up fees and monthly fees of $79.80 to $89.95.
The case involved 'search engine optimization' services, which attempt to get businesses high placement in search-engine results.
'Internet Advancement misrepresented its success rate, promised more than it could deliver, then refused to provide refunds to customers who didn't get what they paid for,' said Attorney General Christine Gregoire.
She said the Attorney General's Office, the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau received more than 100 complaints from customers around the country"
Interesting, comprehensive Whois....Whois Source - totaltravel.com [2004-08-13]
Whois Source - totaltravel.com [2004-08-13]: "TOTALTRAVEL.COM
Image updated 2004-07-30
Website Title: Australia Total Travel Guide: Accommodation, Tours, Restaurants & More
Meta Description: Australia travel guide covering accommodation and attractions with photos, maps, transport and more.
Meta Keywords: sydney melbourne brisbane byron bay maps australia travel accommodation hotels backpacker apartments
Response Code: 200
SSL Cert: www.totaltravel.com expires in 173 days
DMOZ: 2 listings
Y! Directory: 6 listings
Server Type: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
IP Address: 210.193.7.84 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: - Singapore - Singapore - Qala Singapore Pte Ltd
Cached Whois: Cached today
Whois History: 8 records stored
Record Type: Domain Name
Monitor: Monitor or Backorder
Wildcard search: 'totaltravel' or 'total travel' in all domains."
Copyscape - Website Plagiarism Search - Web Content Copyright Infringement Protection
Copyscape - Website Plagiarism Search - Web Content Copyright Infringement Protection: "Find copies of your content on the Web.
2 copies found for Welcome - Leongatha Motel Accommodation Australia NSW:
Leongatha Motel Accommodation Australia NSW
... Family rooms include microwaves, high chairs and 24 hour kids TV channel. The Motel is within easy stroll from shops, clubs, cinemas and restaurants. ... cinemas and restaurants. Enjoy a barbeque in quiet garden surrounds or stroll across the road for a hit of tennis or a game of golf. ...
http://www.totaltravel.com/travel/vic/phillipisland/southgippsland/accommodation/motels/leongatha/ - cached"
WebProWorld :: Proof that Outbound Links improve SERPs?
WebProWorld :: Proof that Outbound Links improve SERPs?: "One of the theories that have been bouncing around in different forums is the possibility that outbound links helps a website (page) improve its ranking position. Everybody seems to have an opinion on this, but I've been hard pressed to find any hard evidence one way or another.
So, I decided to conduct an experiment...
I created three blogs to rank for the search term Nigritude Ultramarine. I designed the original blog to be a psuedo-directory for the term in typical blog fashion. I linked to various websites that I thought gave good information about the contest. My other two blogs were controls. Control A had the same posts and links as the original but I specifically excluded the term Nigritude Ultramarine from the outbound anchor text. Control B had the same posts as the original but no outbound links. This control blog was to determine if the original ranked just due to keyword density.
I had some trouble with Google's duplication filter and had to rearrange the wording on the two control blogs to bypass that. But, other than that, and what I stated above, the blogs are virtually identical
Here is how the blogs ranked this morning:
Nigritude Ultramarine News & Views: 351
Nigritude Ultramarine Control A: 588
Nigritude Ultramarine Control B: 587
Unless there is some flaw with the experiment that I'm not seeing, this seems to indicate that the outbound links in the original blog are giving it a scoring boost for the term Nigritude Ultramarine.
I didn't really set out to prove this point, rather I'm interested in testing a theory. Actually, for awhile there I didn't think there would be a scoring boost. By all means, if someone sees a flaw in the testing, please let me know.
The obvious possible difference is in the inbound links to the different blogs. I tried to control this as much as possible. Yahoo shows all the links as being the same, except for control B which also show a link to itself.
Edit: I checked the rankings through Googlerankings.com"
a brief summary of my interpretation of Hilltop.
Expert pages are qualified by:
1. Meeting a certain "out-degree" threshold. The paper mentions 5. I don't know if this is 5 links or 5%, my guess is that it is a percentile number. (a page with one link in and one link out would have an out-degree rating of 0)
2. Expert pages must be non-affiliated to each other and to the target page.
Affiliated is defined as:
a. The first three octets of the IP address being the same, and,
b. The right most non-generic word of the url being the same. (ex. ibm.com is affilated to ibm.co.uk)
Expert pages are culled from the general population of the web into a seperate inverted index in order to determine authority pages.
Authority pages are determined and ranked by:
1. Having 2 or more non-affiliated expert pages pointing to it.
2. Having the search term query (labeled as "key word") in either the Title, Heading, or Anchor text (labeled as "key phrase) on the page that points to it. (If the search term query is in the title, then all the outbound links are determined to be relevant, if the term is in the heading, then all the links underneath that heading are relevant until the next heading occurs, if the term is in the anchor text, then only the url that link points to is determined as relevant.)
3. Inbound links from expert pages are scored two different ways.
a. Level Score: If the search term query is in the title a level score of 16 is assigned (according to the paper). If the term is in the heading, then a level score of 6 is assigned, and if it is in the anchor text a level score of 1 is assigned.
b. Fullness Score: The fulness score is subtracted from the level score depending on how diluted the key word is within the key phrase.
I assume that this "authority scoring" is then added to the other variables in the general algorithm.
How to "look like" a link farm...duplicate content... :: Sabotaging Competitors
WebProWorld :: Sabotaging Competitors: "First purchase a few different domain names (they are pretty cheap like $9/year) Doesn't matter what they are.
Next find the IP address of your competitors website.
Now, create a DNS record for your new domain names to point your competitors IP Address.
Last, put links to those domain names on your website, maybe hidden links or something.
The result will be that google will spider each domain and will eventually consider your domain names and the competitors website to be duplicate content of each other, and it will majorly hurt its rankings.
-------------------------
How did I learn this?
Simply we purchased many domain names, and didn't have the time to build websites for them, and so we pointed the domain names (via the DNS) towards the IP address of our main search engine. The next thing you know all of our domain names that were pointed including the main website was kicked 2-4 pages deep in the rankings. So we removed ALL domain pointers and within one month our main website was back at the top 5.
_________________
But the question was, "how does one protect one's self from this?"
Document your losses meticulously, document your competitor's activities. If there is a website with your content on it that may be affecting your rankings (use this: http://www.copyscape.com/ ) document its existence, make screenshots with datestamps, have others do this, record whois info on the offending domain
42,400 Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk Yahoo 3 pages
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk:
"42,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
about 46,300 site:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Yahoo! Search Results for http://www.totaltravel.co.uk: "Results 1 - 3 of about 3 for http://www.totaltravel.co.uk"
Yahoo To Keep Site Match
Yahoo To Keep Site Match: "In spite of the fact that the majority of the search engines on the Internet have ceased paid inclusion, Ken indicated that Yahoo has no intention of discontinuing Site Match. He feels that Site Match continues to be valuable because it 'makes for a better search.' This thinking stems from the fact that Site Match gives webmasters more control getting their information indexed. This, in turn, gives users a more comprehensive search experience.
Ken emphasizes this by saying, 'We feel (Site Match) really improves the quality of the (search) experience. And it's also a great vehicle for content providers to take more control (of the indexing process). It is definitely something that continues to be an important part of our product.'
So there you have Yahoo's stance on paid inclusion and Site Match. By offering this service, they feel it improves all aspects of the search experience, from the submission process to the end user aspect. Although, considering the fact that most major search engines have discontinued these types of services, one wonders if Yahoo will eventually bow to the market trend."
Prices for the Site Match service start at $49 for your first URL submission, and $29 for the next 9 that you may submit.
While Overture's service does offer "guaranteed" listings within Yahoo, AllTheWeb, and AltaVista, according to Jill Whalen, when signing up for Site Match, "you get to also pay for every click to your site from any of Yahoo's properties. This PPC fee will be either 15 cents or 30 cents each, depending on the category your site falls into. I believe any business-to-business site falls into the $.30 price, and I'm sure there are many other types that also fall into this category."
Not only do members have to pay per clicks once they are apart of Site Match's service, subscribers are not guaranteed a top listing, they are only indexed with Yahoo and Inktomi. Gaining the first position will be up to you and your SEO ability.
Goldman ups stake in Lastminute.com
NewsFinder: "Goldman ups stake in Lastminute.com (UK:LMC) By Steve Goldstein
LONDON (CBS.MW) -- Goldman Sachs has upped its stake in U.K. travel group Lastminute.com (UK:LMC) , buying 6.2 million shares on Aug. 5 to bring its holding in the company to 6.085 percent, Lastminute.com said in a filing on Wednesday. Goldman bought the shares, which have been hit hard of late, on the day when Lastminute said the fourth quarter would be 'challenging' but reiterated its transaction volume outlook. Shares were steady at 106.5p per share."
Survey: Searching for maps becomes top activity online
Survey: Searching for maps becomes top activity online: "Searching for maps tops Net survey"
46,700 Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Number of pages seems to be levelling out whichever search syntax is used...PR soon maybe....
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk: "46,700 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
46,300 from www.totaltravel.co.uk for site:www.totaltravel.co.uk
COLON SearchTHIS: My Plan to End Spam
iMedia Connection: SearchTHIS: My Plan to End Spam: "The Coalition for Organic Listing Optimization and Naturalization (COLON) would be a brand new effort to introduce collaborative efforts for collected industry groups to establish optimization guidelines standards. It would be an unbiased approach, if you will, to organizing the various efforts of industry leadership. The COLON�s efforts will be funded by multiple industry groups and efforts. "
Key methods would include:
Conducting discovery surveys to determine what constitutes spam in the marketer’s eyes
Identifying small, medium and large business spending on spam-related efforts
Calculating costs associated with clean-up efforts once it is banned from indexes
Gathering additional data on where dollars would be spent if spamming was regulated out.
Resource: Link Building Articles for Linking101.com
Link Building Articles for Linking101.com
examples:
Creating Link Popularity - Without Getting Banned
Linking Legalities...What You Need to Know
A Technique For Selecting Sites For Link Requests
Potpourri of Linking Facts and Fiction
Getting Your Site Unblocked By Google (and You Know Hoo)
Getting Your Site Unblocked By Google: "perhaps the site has been banned from Google. Should that be the case, the only thing to do is to weigh the options and look for solutions to the problem.
The first is to clean up the site to conform with the search engine�s published guidelines and try for reinstatement. The
second option is simply abandoning the entire site and the domain name, and making a fresh start. The
third possibility is some variation or combination of the first two choices.
To retain existing customers, let them click into the old site, but advertise a relaunch of the new site as a positive event. The visitor traffic will move to the new site if it’s worthwhile for them to do so. If the replacement site is larger and better designed, than its banned predecessor, migrating the customers and link partners shouldn’t pose too much difficulty. It will take time, however, to get everyone switched over to the new site.
A risky possibility for retaining visitor traffic is using a 301 redirect from the banned site to the replacement site. The danger of that idea is possibility that Google might penalize the redirecting site. Linking to a banned site is always frowned upon, and usually penalized in some way by Google. It is not a recommended idea. The site traffic will simply have to be rebuilt.
This is no time for vague promises about maybe making some changes. They simply must take place. Politely writing to Google requesting reinstatement might also help the cause. Google�s response letter will be vague on their part. They will not commit themselves to returning a site to their listings until they are absolutely certain the offending activities are discontinued permanently. The bottom line, if the cleanup and salvage option is chosen, is to wait and see how Google responds. There are no guarantees.
The second choice is to abandon the website and domain name entirely. Creating a brand new site and registering a different domain name might be a good solution in some cases. Starting a new site involves registering a different domain, adding fresh incoming links, and writing entirely new website content.When developing a replacement site, there should be no duplication of the previous banned site�s content. Everything has to be entirely different"
No website owner should ever think that any search engine optimization company might have some sort of special influence with Google. During a banning, many unscrupulous SEOs will attempt to gain a quick buck by claiming they can get a site unblocked. No search engine optimization firm works with Google. That is a myth perpetuated by dishonest people who have no business claiming to be part of the SEO community. They simply can’t deliver on any of their promises to get a site reinstated.
The best method to getting a site back in Google’s good graces is to adhere completely to Google’s guidelines and then wait. The process will be a slow and frustrating one, so patience is strongly recommended. In the meantime, creating an alternative site as a backup plan, is a sound policy. Should Google elect to maintain the site block, a brand new site featuring brand new content and links, might be the only hope.
Maintaining a cool head, correcting any website transgressions, and being patient is the best policy to take for any webmaster.
43,200 Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk:
"about 43,200 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
64,100 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk WITH omitted entries
61,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk
"bad redirects" still in Yahoo for UK
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=link%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.totaltravel.co.uk%2F&ei=UTF-8&n=20&fl=0&dups=1&icp=1
Yahoo Google deal...MediaDailyNews 08-10-04
MediaDailyNews 08-10-04: "'We are pleased to have resolved these issues and with the terms of the agreement,' stated Steve Langdon, a Google spokesperson. A similar statement was also issued by Yahoo!
The $2.7 million will go to Yahoo! subsidiary Overture as payment for licensing its proprietary search technology. Commercial search provider Overture holds property rights to pay-per-click and placement ranking technologies that Google also deploys across its vast ad network.
The agreement ends a two-year court battle with Yahoo! that could have otherwise affected the company's advertising revenue. Google expects the settlement to result in a charge of between $260 million and $290 million, leading to a net loss for the quarter ending Sept. 30.
According to GartnerG2 Analyst Denise Garcia, this could mean '[Google] felt it couldn't win the case and 2.7 million shares is a small price to pay'--or it could mean the lawsuit was more about the processes by which Google generates paid search listings than the actual technology, and Google decided to avoid a lengthy court battle that could elevate risk for its pending offering. She said that a lot of technology companies try to patent their technology, and many times end up trying to patent their processes, which cannot be patented. Garcia noted that Google grew its own technology in-house.
The settlement also ended a dispute between the search giants over Yahoo!'s right to buy shares in Google. Following the agreement, Yahoo! dropped its suit against Google, issuing a 'fully paid, perpetual license' to the company, covering each of the 67 claims of Overture's patent. Under an agreement struck in 2000, Yahoo already owned 5.5 million shares of Class B stock.
Investors may be wondering how they should feel, as the settlement with Yahoo! has forced Google to up the "
Start-Up Steps Up to Local Product Search Challenge
Start-Up Steps Up to Local Product Search Challenge: "Take Shopping.com's product search functions and combine them with Internet yellow pages players' local focus. What do you get? A San Francisco-based start-up called StepUp.com wants to be the answer to that question.
The 10-employee firm, headed by three Handspring alums, aims to create a local product search destination, which would enable consumers to find things online, then buy them in local retail outlets. Someone looking for a particular model of TV, for example, could find exactly which merchants within driving distance had the item in stock at the best price, potentially saving themselves time and money. The beta version of StepUp.com launched this week. "
Content aquisition via RSS feeds ...WebProWorld :: What is an RSS feed?
WebProWorld :: What is an RSS feed?: "I have been hearing or should I say reading a lot of talk lately on RSS feeds and how it can be an asset when it comes to search engines. What and how does an RSS feed work? Posts: 163
Answer:
rss feed published xml data to the web
it can be any sort of information whatver the creator wants
you need a parser script and an address of the feed
the parser script will create html for the information in the feed
this is an example
http://www.axandra.com/news/rss.xml
it could be good for seo and marketing in general because it allows websites to publish your content dynamically , whihc means when you update your feed the content on all those site updates too"
Tips For Link Buying Part 3 Matt Cutts of Google ..Don't .... no apologies for double posting this one here and Google blog
Tips For Link Buying Part 3: "
Matt's approach to link building was more of a philosophical one than straight tips and tricks. However, when taken with the advice that appeared in the previous link building articles, you have a fairly comprehensive list of ideas to keep in mind when designing a website, not just attempting to build links.
Making your content valuable enough to be linked to seems to be the emphasis of all speakers well, that and link relevancy. Of course, the first part is a little easier to control than the second. The thinking seems to be: if you build it (quality content), they will come (links pointing to your site).
Though he was philosophical about how to build links,
Matt was specific on things to AVOID when link building. One of the first things he said while speaking on what to avoid was
controlling whom YOU link to. Make sure that that any site you are linking to is relevant, quality site. Again, no shady SEO users should appear. He also stated another obvious point: avoid hidden links. Be sure and place your links where site visitors can find them.
Matt also
suggests avoiding links coming from or pointing to guest books. These are notorious havens for spammers. He did not say whether or not Google discounted these links, but because he warned about them, you can guess that they don't give much relevance to these types of links.
He also mentioned to
avoid buying anything that will artificially boost PageRank. Reading Google's Information for Webmasters Page discusses why this is something that should be avoided: 'Linking schemes do not increase a given site's PageRank, and will often do a site more harm than good. Many sites that advertise link-sharing programs not only offer little value, but will distribute your email address without your permission, resulting in an increased volume of unwanted mail to you."
Another area that should be avoided is interlinking of sites within your own domain. Google can perceive interlinking between domains, because they are on the same IP, as link spam, and this is an action that they can and will penalize." (Update:he meant to say don't interlink multiple domains on the same IP. Internal linking should be fine.)
The Wonders of Wordtracker It s More than a Hunt for Keywords
The Wonders of Wordtracker It s More than a Hunt for Keywords John: "Tips to identify human behavior?
Where you'll find most of your 'revelations' or 'insights' are in the 'comprehensive search' feature of Wordtracker. Try entering one part of a search phrase and letting 'comprehensive search' figure out the best 'full use' of the phrase. Another technique I like to use is to examine the top reports for a 'high performance' keyword or topic related to my client and then cut and paste it into comprehensive search to get streams of currently 'hot topics.' I define a hot topic as a popular topic in high demand, which may also have lists of related keyword phrases also in high demand.
Let's study a real life example . . .
Now let me give you a recent example of understanding behaviors. I wanted to pull additional traffic into a site selling baby furniture. The site sells strollers, baby furniture, cribs and other baby products. The client explained that they wanted me to find ways to pull in their true audience. Sometimes you'll discover the true audience is not what it first may seem. By true audience....I mean 'targeted audience' or the folks most likely to 'BUY' or 'respond' to the Web site.
If you just think only in 'keywords' mode, you may miss this.
Performing a comprehensive search within Wordtracker by typing in the word 'baby,' Wordtracker returns interesting results. Do you know what I learned? The target audience for baby strollers is NOT people who have babies! You heard correct. The 'true audience' for those buying strollers and baby cribs ARE NOT 'folks who have NEWBORN BABIES!' Here is the catch....if you are targeting folks with newborns, to sell them a stroller....you're too late! The true audience a"
Slashdot | Google and Yahoo Settle Overture Patent Lawsuit
Slashdot | Google and Yahoo Settle Overture Lawsuitanonymous reader writes "Google and Yahoo have apparently [0]settled their ongoing lawsuit involving patented on-line ad technology owned by Yahoo subsidiary Overture. ([1]U.S. Patent 6,269,361). According to reports, Google will issue 2.7 million common shares to Yahoo in return for a license. Read more about the [2]infringement suit here. This move is expected to lower any potential downsides to Google's upcoming IPO."
Latest Business News and Financial Information | Reuters.com
Patently Obvious: MBHB Patent Law Blog: Google's Amended SEC Filing Discusses Overture Lawsuit Overture Services (now owned by Yahoo) has sued the [Google], claiming that the Google AdWords program infringes certain claims of an Overture Services patent. It also claims that the patent relates to an Overture Services own bid-for-ad placement business model and its pay-for-performance technologies. The Company is currently litigating this case. If Overture Services wins, it may significantly limit the Company’s ability to use the AdWords program, and the Company also may be required to pay damages.
Google plans to continue to “rigorously defend this lawsuit.”
Overture’s patent, filed in 1999, covers a “system and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine."
Martin Schwimmer discusses Google's potential trademark problems here.
The Trademark Blog If "googling" becomes a generic term, then it would lose its power as a trademark.
Google Search: allinurl: www.totaltravel.co.uk
Google Search: allinurl: www.totaltravel.co.uk: "about 39,500 for allinurl: www.totaltravel.co.uk"
about 39,000 for allinurl: www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk/
site:www.totaltravel.co.uk about 43,500
site:www.totaltravel.co.uk www.totaltravel.co.uk about 55,000
MediaDailyNews 08-09-04
MediaDailyNews 08-09-04: "According to MarketingSherpa's 2004 Search Marketing Survey, on average, neither marketers or their agencies feel their search marketing efforts are 'very effective.' However, as MarketingSherpa Publisher and Editor Anne Holland says, it's their own fault...
"For one, most marketers don't send their click-throughs to specialized landing pages. Holland said this means they're losing out on a lot of conversions. Results from a 2003 MarketingSherpa survey of Google AdWords customers pointed out that 75 percent of those using specialized landing pages reported significantly higher conversion rates than those who sent traffic to a regular site page. Sixty-three percent of that survey's respondents said they sent click-throughs to specialized landing pages...
He noted that effective search marketers aren't buying 10 or 20 keywords--they're buying 5,000 keywords and monitoring their progress constantly.
"Often, we need to tell clients why they should be tracking," Middleton said. The MarketingSherpa report also revealed that search optimization boosts traffic considerably, despite search marketers' lukewarm response to it. According to the data, marketers said organic clicks increased an average of 73 percent in the six months after optimization; organic click-throughs convert 6.7 percent for business-to-business marketers and 6.5 percent for business-to-consumer marketers.
Despite this, marketers will only spend $238.5 million on search engine optimization (SEO) services, while paid search spending will be $3.3 billion. "Optimization is very mysterious," said MarketingSherpa's Holland. She said that companies are overly wary about SEO because they know so little about it.
Overall, Holland said that hiring outside help improves search performance. SEM agencies get significantly higher average click rates (3.4 percent versus 2.8 percent), and higher conversion rates for paid search (6.1 percent versus 5.8 percent)--and they also bid nine cents higher on average than most in-house SEM operations, which results in more leads.
Holland said a good agency is largely determined by the number of man hours it can devote per page, per site. By man hours, she means technicians, not salespeople. "
Yahoo! Local Search - Submit your Site Australia
Yahoo! Local Search - Submit your Site: "the Online Form
Please complete the following form and press SUBMIT. The * symbol denotes required fields. Click for help.
Unlike traditional business directories Yahoo! Local Search never closes! Get your business listed free in Yahoo! Local Search!
Yahoo! is committed to providing:
Internet users with the leading Australian local business search experience; and
Australian businesses with access to millions of Yahoo! users.
By providing as much of the following information below you will be helping potential customers find your business quickly and easily when it is the most relevant to them.
Once you submit your details via the form below, you will be contacted by telephone within 15 business days by our editorial team to confirm your business details. Providing you application is accepted, your Business Listing will appear in Yahoo! Local Search in a further 10 business days. "
Example
http://localsearch.yahoo.com.au/displayBusinessDetails.do?id=2.15331227690184
SOLOMON U
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Business Name:
ROYAL SOVEREIGN HOTEL
Address:
Royal Sovereign H, 306 Liverpool St,Darlinghurst, NSW 2010
Phone:
(02) 9360 1099
Fax:
None Provided
Toll Free:
None Provided
Email:
None Provided
Web Site:
None Provided
Show:
Map
Things you should know:
Category:- Hotel
Keywords:Accommodation Hotel Inn
Products & Services:None Provided
Payment Methods:None Provided
Brands:None Provided
Opening Hours :None Provided
Paid search growth may slow | Outlook for GoogleCNET News.com
Paid search growth may slow | CNET News.com: "JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia, has forecast total online ad spending, including search and display ads like banners, will nearly double to $16.1 billion by 2009 as consumers devote more time to the Web and new technologies make it easier to create and track campaigns...
"You have to assume that three years from now, Google is more than just a search engine," said Mahaney, who expects the Google IPO would be priced at the lower end of a $108- to $135-per-share range. "Seventy-five percent of your investment is based on your outlook on paid search and 25 percent on your belief that this company can successfully generate other revenue."
Google has been testing additional ventures, including its comparison shopping site Froogle, Gmail electronic mail service and local search advertising as it faces growing competition from Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN.
According to JupiterResearch, local search spending will grow more slowly than total online advertising or paid search, rising to $879 million in 2009 from $502 million this year.
"There's not a really attractive model here for local marketers" from restaurants to dentists, Elliott said. "They still want you to walk through the door."
The rise in search prices per click also will lose steam, growing 26 percent to 36 cents in 2004, then slowing in 2006 to incremental annual growth of 1 cent to 2 cents per click.
At the same time, advertisers have already begun to scrutinize the rising cost of search marketing and demand more precise ways of tracking the effect of their spending.
"
MSN Search: site:www.totaltravel.co.uk -- 62 containing 'site:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
MSN Search: site:www.totaltravel.co.uk -- More Useful Everyday: "Results 61-62 containing 'site:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
Google Search: allinurl:totaltravel.co.uk 43,400
Google Search: allinurl:totaltravel.co.uk: " 43,400 for allinurl:totaltravel.co.uk"
59,700 for allinurl:totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk
44,800 from totaltravel.co.uk for site:www.t
64,600 from totaltravel.co.uk for -online
WebProWorld :: The Future of Link Exchanging
WebProWorld :: The Future of Link Exchanging: "So, what is the future of link exchanging?
The answer seems to be in practices that not only gain a link into a web site, but will also add useful content to any site. The idea of article or content exchanging is not a new idea, but it is rarely practiced. Basically two web site owners will write an article for each other, with a link to their website in the article. An entire page is devoted to each article. Not only does this provide very relevant content to the page of the outgoing link, but the entire weight of the pages rank is transfered through one link to the other site. So instead of transferring 1/50th or 1/100th of the weight of a pages rank, you transfer 100% of the pages rank. And for those people who are caught up in the google PR race, 1/100th of a PR6 page is probably worth less than a single link on a PR3 page especially if the link is from a relevant topic.
This rank obviously takes into account any internal linking, but there is internal linking either way, so that factor is negligible when differentiating between the two.
Trading articles and content is definitely much harder than trading links because some actual work is needed to create quality relevant content but the effects are much more positive.
How many link pages do you see on dell.com, or msn.com?
None.
This is because links pages are a very tacky unattractive method to boost rank. But a well written page devoted to a related relevant topic, linking to a high quality web site, adds to the overall content and appearance of the site, and boosts the exchange partner's site in the process.
I think it is just a matter of time before recip link pages and web site directories are devalued completely, and many people are going to be left with poor rankings wondering what happened. "
WebProWorld :: SES Day 1: Yahoo Talks Personalized Search
In addition to bringing in content from multiple search engines, Yahoo! also aggregates websites and incorporates that content in the listings. "We use a structured data backbone and we're combining that with the unstructured content to bridge that gap and bring it all together in one place."
WebProWorld :: SES Day 1: Yahoo Talks Personalized Search: "I wonder if he is vaguley referring to their new RSS 'Add to My Yahoo' as a personalisation feature? I was not scoring very well in Yahoo until I added 'AMY' to my web pages. I had been told this was a great, new, and currently free way (AMY is still in Beta) to get listed better in Yahoo. It seems to work - I am now listed in Yahoo in as good keyword results as Google."
Greenlight Trusted Feeds > Complete trusted feed management solutions for SEO's
Greenlight Trusted Feeds > Complete trusted feed management solutions for SEO's
Google a favorite among hackers, too | CNET News.com
Google a favorite among hackers, too | CNET News.com: "well-crafted searches turned up so many sites with vulnerabilities that even jaded researchers laughed during the session.
'It is an old dog with new tricks,' Long said. 'It never ceases to amaze people, all the vulnerabilities out there.'
By searching for default server page titles, for example, an attacker can find easily exploitable servers. Applications left in default modes can also be found by searching for error pages generated by the software. And searching for specific file names can pinpoint vulnerable servers connected to the Internet.
'It is the first step to finding vulnerable targets,' Long said.
A simple search for the log-in page of Microsoft's Web server software, the Internet Information Server, turned up 11,300 sites on the Internet that exposed the page to the public. Gathering log-in information for poorly configured databases is also easy, he said."
Tips For Link Building Part 2
Tips For Link Building Part 2: "tips that were offered by Michael Palka from Ask Jeeves and Matt Cutts from Google. "
Michael offered concerning link building was trying to attain links that go to your site's deep content. Don't just settle on links to your homepage. With strong content, Michael believes you establish yourself in your community and therefore, acquiring links would be less difficult. The theory is that with good content, people who interested in the subject will WANT to link to your site, deep content included.
Michael also offered some tips on things to avoid when building links. First and probably most obvious are link farms. These sites are heavily into the black hat SEO and by linking to them, you can find your site penalized and/or banned. Plus, in the case of the Ask/Teoma algo, the links obtained from these farms probably won't be that valuable unless they are relevant to your site's subject. He mentioned to avoid anything that would artificially boosts your search engine ranking. Things like this are a quick fix, and they have a way of blowing up in your face, search engine-wise.
He also mentioned the obvious, like avoiding links to anyone that employs spam techniques like doorway/cloaked pages and pages that contain invisible links.
Michael expanded on this thought, as did Greg in another session. Reciprocal links, unless they are part of your "community", will lack authority and diminish the importance of the link.
Greg's advice concerning reciprocal links was along the same lines. He believes that there are more valuable things to exchange than links, which would probably be RSS feeds and things he mentioned in the first part of this article. Like Michael, Greg believes that most link exchanges are done with sites that have no relevance to yours. They both feel that you should have a legitimate reason for having a link. Having non-relevant links plays into the concept of artificially boosts rankings. If you have a number of links that are in no way relevant pointing to and vice versa, these actions can cause the search engines to "red flag" your site. Which is something that is obviously to be avoided.
Google to follow
38,200 Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk: "38,200 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk"
37,500 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk
54,800 from www.totaltravel.co.uk for -www.directory.co.uk
New search tool gets billionaire's backing | CNET News.com
New search tool gets billionaire's backing | CNET News.com: "News.com publisher CNET Networks relaunched its own metasearch site, Search.com, on Wednesday.
Like previous generations of metasearch engines, IceRocket relies on some of its primary rivals, ranging from Yahoo and Ask Jeeves' Teoma to littler sites, including LookSmart's WiseNut.
Each search result provides a small thumbnail snapshot of the site it points to, which the company says will help users decide if they actually want to visit or not.
A feature still being tested enables cell phone or PDA users to send an e-mail with a search term to the site and get an e-mail back with the top five search results.
Rhodes said Cuban was an investor but declined to say how much money the Dallas entrepreneur provided.
On his Web log, Cuban said he was helping suggest features that would be useful.
'I've offered to help come up with some unique features that hopefully can allow them to separate from the pack,' Cuban wrote. 'To me, this is a unique way to 'design my own search engine.'' "
Google may have issued shares illegally | CNET News.com
Google may have issued shares illegally | CNET News.com: "Google may have run afoul of securities laws when it doled out millions of shares to employees and consultants over the past three years, according to a document filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, which is preparing for a hotly anticipated public offering, is offering to rescind more than 28 million shares because it said it failed to register them under federal and state securities laws, according to an amendment to the company's IPO prospectus."
Anyone using geo-tagging?
Anyone using geo-tagging?: "Here are materials from a presentation that was given at an IBM conference in Israel this past February. The same presentation was given about a week ago at the SIGIR conference. Those slides are not yet available.
It's right on topic.
Web-a-Where: Geotagging Web Content
By, Nadav Har'El and Ron Sivan, IBM Haifa Research Lab
http://www.research.ibm.com/haifa/W...eminarFeb04.pdf
Btw: I just posted a link to some slides from a presentation by a Google researcher in the the Google forum."
NTR Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2004, Posts: 4
Location: Atlanta Georgia Reputation:
Geo mapping
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I first heard of geo mapping from GeoUrl.org
when I first started blogging a year ago. People used it to find blogs close to them and some mapping systems used it to pin-point blogs. I used the following tags:
geo.accuracy: 1
geo.city: atlanta
geo.country: us
geo.datum: nad83
geo.latitude: 33.786027
geo.longitude: -84.351418
geo.postal: 30306
geo.state: us13
This is the first I've seen those tags. I often wondered if this would be a way to help local search engines find you as well. I look forward to additional information.
Yahoo problems update WebProWorld Forum :: Did Yahoo Fix 301 Bug Yet?
WebProWorld :: Did Yahoo Fix 301 Bug Yet?: "Yup. As HardCoded said, 'Crap is crap'. And these are all examples that Yahoo's results are likely to be crap on any given search.
There seem to be a couple of problems at work here.
One is that Yahoo seems to have thrown together a number of old indexes in order to claim to have something approaching the number of files that Google has in its index.
Unfortunately, Yahoo doesn't seem capable of spidering fast enough to fix the outdated entries that they threw into their index.
And even when they do spider a site, their 301 bug causes bizarre entries. As an example, check the Yahoo entries for 'Queen City Cruise' [without quotation marks]. There are two entries for my site in that search. Both #4 and #6 list a urls that were replaced and redirected months ago. Both also show preview text that's at least a year old even though Yahoo has spidered the new page and has it in its index.
Although I'm not getting it on today's search, I've seen them provide an even more bizarre result. They'll occasionally show the new page name and sample text from the new page but associate that page with a two-year old url.
And that is crap. A big TV ad budget and a loyal user base will help them for only so long. Eventually their users may begin to notice that they're getting bad results too often and turn elsewhere. At the very least, associated companies should be questioning whether a buggy Yahoo is a wise choice as an SE partner."
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk about 38,100
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk: "about 38,100 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk "
37,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk/
54,600 from www.totaltravel.co.uk for -www.directory.co.uk
Google Local BETA
Google Local: "
Search termsStreet address, city, or zip
Save location
Find local businesses and services on the web."
RESULTS
http://local.google.com/local?sc=1&q=HOTEL&near=NEW+YORK&btnG=Google+Search
Ask Jeeves Expands Local Search via Citysearch
Ask Jeeves Expands Local Search via Citysearch: "To expand its local search options, Ask Jeeves Inc. on Tuesday partnered with Citysearch for access to its local business listings.
Ask Jeeves over the course of the next month plans to add Citysearch information to its search results, said Jim Lanzone, the company's senior vice president of search properties at Ask Jeeves. Along with listings, Ask Jeeves also will incorporate editorial and user reviews, ratings, and other information on businesses such as hours.
The additional local data will be added into Ask Jeeves' Smart Search results, the name for its intuitive results that appear atop links, as well as a new local search channel to be added to the search site, Lanzone said
Along with its local-content partnership, Ask Jeeves on Monday expanded its Smart Search features to provide maps and driving directions as well as city guides to about 4,000 cities, Lanzone said.
'What we found was that people really needed more context in the results to their local queries for a business or service,' Lanzone said"
Yahoo! Local - Welcome BETA
Yahoo! Local - Welcome Sign In
New User? Sign Up
Local Home - Yellow Pages - Help
Welcome
You're one of the first people to use the beta version of Yahoo! Local — our newest offering that combines the best of Yahoo! Yellow Pages, Yahoo! Maps and Yahoo! Search to help you find what you are looking for.
With Yahoo! Local you can find everything from Sunday brunches to ATMs, dry cleaners to daycare. It also helps you narrow down what you want and find things related to what you want to do. So, if you're planning a date, Yahoo! Local finds the romantic restaurant you're looking for, the nearest parking garage, and the ATM around the corner — plus it'll plot it all on a Yahoo! Local map.
We're working hard on Yahoo! Local but it's still a work in progress and we need your input. What do you think of the new drycleaners down the street? Which local pizza place has the best deal in town? Is the local mechanic a rip-off or a gem? You're the real local — you tell us.
So, try it and tell us what you think. To start searching, just type in your address below, include a business or service (like restaurants, ATMs, or grocery stores) and see what you find.
Inside The Searcher's Mind - Live from SES San Jose
Inside The Searcher's Mind - Live from SES San Jose: "Inside The Searcher's Mind - Live from SES San Jose "
No real new meat. Recycle this example:
The "Search Funnel" was explained through a focus group. Person one was looking to go on a cruise. She searched for "cruise" first. Then she refined her search to "Caribbean cruise" to narrow down the search. She then sees a "Panama Canal Cruise" in one of the pages that interests her. So she goes back to Google and searches on "Panama Canal Cruise" and is now looking for 3rd party reviews. Now she learns she likes the Princess cruise line and then does a search on "Princess Pananma Cruise" and obtains information. Then she purchases offline. That is the "Search Funnel." As you get closer to the bottom of the search funnel, conversion rates will increase. "Cruise" has 1.3m searches per day but very low conversions, as you go deeper the conversions but reach is lower
this IS interesting: Google: Generally you see higher clickthrough rates on Froogle then Google. The majority of Froogle traffic comes from Google.com froogle results inclusion.
The Definitive Link Building Strategy
The Definitive Link Building Strategy: "'The definitive linking strategy'. So here goes.
First of all, link building is not about search engine optimization, it's not about boosting your Google PageRank, it's not about publishing a link directory and it's not about swapping links with as many other websites as possible.
So what is link building about and where should you put your efforts for maximum return?
Strategic link building is about establishing your competitive position in the online marketplace that already exists, albeit informally around your industry sector...
An effective link building strategy is not, "I'm looking for 50 links from websites with a minimum PR of 5" but rather, "I want 50 links from the most important information websites that my customers and potential customers regularly use."
" link building was not about the number of links you could get. Likewise monitoring and evaluating is not simply a matter of counting how many links you manage to get. What is really worth measuring is the benefit those links bring your business.
So as a minimum you should measure:
How much increased traffic comes from links
Which links bring the most traffic
How much your sales increase as a result.
And finally a quotation from Sun Tzu [Wu] (BC 535 - 228) courtesy of http://ww w.quotesandsayings.com,
"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."
