|
|||||
|
Hello, I am Serge Thibodeau and I am a search engine optimization expert. My company is Rank for $ales and this is my personal search engine blog. This is where I give my personal comments, some general observations I make about the search industry as a whole, interesting SEO articles and topics that will interest anybody that owns a website and wants it to rank higher in the major search engines. This blog is updated daily and is said to be addictive. Welcome to Serge Thibodeau, Live. |
|||||
|
Read the latest search engine news 
Search the Web
Bookmark this blog 
|
My 2 featured articles for the week ending Feb. 9, 2008: 
Learn the Best SEO Tips from a Pro
Are Most CMSs Search Engine Friendly?Archived blogs for the week of February 11, 2008 1411 - Feb. 14, 2008 - 11.59 AM EST The consolidation in search will continue... Since the news Monday, Yahoo's rejection of Microsoft's buyout offer could mean that a potential acquisition, either by Microsoft or anybody else could take a lot longer than what some expected. It might even take a much different direction as well. The next few weeks will in fact be revealing as to what the outcome of all of this will be. Whatever happens, there are some that still think Yahoo remains rather strong in its position in the search industry. By any measuring standard, Google still largely dominates search and by a very wide margin. According to Efficient Frontier, in the U.S., the company's portion of search advertising spending increased among the top three search engines from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the fourth quarter of 2007. To be fair, Google's main competitors haven't been sitting still either, not by a long shot. Additionally, the launch of Yahoo's Panama search platform greatly increased the company's ROI by almost 40 percent during the period studied. Efficient Frontier also added that MSN leads the major search engines in average click-through rate and ROI. The survey company credited this to MSN's smaller number of advertisers, making for less competition and thus stronger performance for its advertisers. On average, every percentage point of market share matters a lot in search advertising. Overall, eMarketer projects that U.S. search ad spending growth will drop a bit for the next four years when compared with today's data, and that search will still remain the largest portion of the U.S. Internet ad spending market.
It's important to note that Internet advertisers have a weighted interest in the outcome of any search industry consolidation. Although a good majority of those advertisers are fairly happy with Google, others worry about its overall market dominance, and its hefty footprint when compared to even Yahoo and MSN combined. On average, paid search reached about a 40 percent share of total U.S. Internet ad spending four years ago. Since then, Internet advertisers and eTailers have in the past, and will continue to place about the same percentage into search. Efficient Frontier's study is very clear on that. Read more... Posted on Businessblog™ 1410 - Feb. 11, 2008 - 11.17 AM EST Bad news for Microsoft... Earlier today, Yahoo has confirmed it is rejecting the $45 billion unsolicited buyout bid from Microsoft. Yahoo said it has rejected the offer since it wasn't in the best interest of its shareholders. "Yahoo's management board strongly believes that Microsoft's buyout offer substantially undervalues Yahoo, including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects." "It also negatively reduces our free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments," said the official company statement. On Feb. 2, Microsoft offered $31 a share for Yahoo, in a cash and stock bid that analysts said represented a 62 percent premium from the previous day closing price for Yahoo' stock. The proposed merger of Microsoft and Yahoo would create a powerful No. 2 player in the online search business, which Google currently controls by a very wide margin. Yahoo also added that it would evaluate all other strategic options and that it remains committed to improving value for all its shareholders and partners. However, Yahoo's rejection to the offer wasn't a surprise to many, and had been expected by investors since Feb. 7. Some industry observers believe this is part of an effort by Yahoo to get a higher sales price from Microsoft. While the offer represented a large premium from the recent pre-offer price, it only represented the price level seen for Yahoo stock in November 2007. Read more... Posted on Businessblog™  Sponsored by Marketing Trends.org Copyright © Serge Thibodeau. All rights reserved. All views and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Serge Thibodeau only and are not representative of any company listed. All slogans, trademarks, text or logo representation used or referred to on this blog are the property of their respective owners. | ||||
