BT Yahoo Chooses Google Search

In an amazing development in the UK, Google search has just replaced Yahoo’s web search engine for natural and sponsored results on BT Yahoo, the online portal for BT Broadband users that is run by Yahoo. The co-branded BT Yahoo service was initially launched in Sept 2003 and provided a wide-range of Y! services to BT Broadband users, including search. The new service will continue to provide Yahoo services such as email, but the Y! search engine has now been replaced by Google’s.

Google and Yahoo tried to agree a deal in 2008 in the US to replace Yahoo sponsored listings with Google’s higher value listings, but the deal ran into Justice Department issues and didn’t complete. This deal in the UK clearly goes one step further by replacing not only Yahoo’s sponsored results, but the whole Yahoo web search engine i.e natural results, with Google’s. Image and Video results appear to be still coming from Yahoo though.

The deal makes good sense to BT, the leading broadband provider in the UK with 35% market share of the market. Unlike in the US where Microsoft and Yahoo have respectable shares of the search market, the situation in the UK is very different with Google totally dominating the UK search market with over 90% of the market. By replacing Yahoo’s search engine, BT are hoping that overall search usage will increase by providing users easy access to the #1 service in the UK. By doing so, BT should also benefit from Google’s higher Revenue Per Search (RPS), which is believed to be up to 2-3x that of Yahoo’s. It will be interesting to see if any of Yahoo’s other ISP partners such as Rogers or SBC follow suit.

It represents a strange move for Yahoo on the back of the 10 year search deal that was announced with Microsoft last month, that will result in Microsoft Bing becoming the default search engine on Yahoo.com with Yahoo’s sales teams selling the ad inventory on both services. I wonder if Microsoft knew when they signed the deal that 35% of broadband users in the UK would be directed towards Google’s search engine, rather than the new Bing/Yahoo search engine when they signed the deal? Some UK advertisers may divert even more of their spend over to Google now that Yahoo will no longer represent BT’s users, which wouldn’t be good for Microsoft’s/Yahoo’s ambitions in the 2nd most valuable internet market in the world.

Google must be extremely happy to have sewn up BT’s users, the leading broadband provider in the UK with 35% market share. Capturing BT is a big coup for Google and they now have deals with all of the big ISPs in the UK.

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Microsoft and Yahoo To Share Technologies

Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry. In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers.

For Web users and advertisers, this deal will accelerate the pace and breadth of innovation by combining both companies' complementary strengths and search platforms into a market competitor with the scale to fuel sustained development in search and search advertising. Users will find what they care about faster and with more personal relevance. Microsoft's competitive search platforms will lead to more value for advertisers, better results for web publishers, and increased innovation and efficiency across the Internet.

Under this agreement, Yahoo! will focus on its core business of providing consumers with great experiences with the world's favorite online destinations and Web products.

"This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry. And I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development," said Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz. "Users will continue to experience search as a vital part of their Yahoo! experiences and will enjoy increased innovation thanks to the scale and resources this deal provides. Advertisers will also benefit from scale and enjoy greater ease of use and efficiencies working with a single platform and sales team for premium advertisers. Finally, this deal will help us increase our investments in priority areas in winning audience properties, display advertising capabilities, and mobile experiences."

Providing a viable alternative to advertisers, this deal will combine Yahoo! and Microsoft search marketplaces so that advertisers no longer have to rely on one company that dominates more than 70 percent of all search. With the addition of Yahoo!'s search volume, Microsoft will achieve the size and scale required to unleash competition and innovation in the market, for consumers as well as advertisers.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the agreement will provide Microsoft's search engine, Bing, the scale necessary to more effectively compete, attracting more users and advertisers, which in turn will lead to more relevant ads and search results.

"Through this agreement with Yahoo!, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company," said Ballmer. "Success in search requires both innovation and scale. With our new Bing search platform, we've created breakthrough innovation and features. This agreement with Yahoo! will provide the scale we need to deliver even more rapid advances in relevancy and usefulness. Microsoft and Yahoo! know there's so much more that search could be. This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search."

"This deal fits the long-term strategic direction of Yahoo! to remain the world's leading online media company and Carol Bartz has the full and unanimous support of the Yahoo! Board behind this deal," said Roy Bostock, chairman, Yahoo! Inc. "This is a significant opportunity for us. Microsoft is an industry innovator in search, and it is a great opportunity for us to focus our investments in other areas critical to our future."

The key terms of the agreement are as follows:

• The term of the agreement is 10 years;

• Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!'s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;

• Microsoft's Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.

• Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft's AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter's automated auction process.

• Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.

• Yahoo! will innovate and "own" the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.

• Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!'s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.

  • Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!'s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.

  • Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.

• Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!'s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.

• At full implementation (expected to occur within 24 months following regulatory approval), Yahoo! estimates, based on current levels of revenue and current operating expenses, that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million.

• The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today.

The agreement does not cover each company's web properties and products, email, instant messaging, display advertising, or any other aspect of the companies' businesses. In those areas, the companies will continue to compete vigorously.

The transaction will be subject to regulatory review. The agreement entered into today anticipates that the parties will enter into more detailed definitive agreements prior to closing. Microsoft and Yahoo! expect the agreement to be closely reviewed by the industry and government regulators, and welcome questions. The companies are hopeful that closing can occur in early 2010.

The companies have established a website at http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com to provide consumers, advertisers and publishers with additional information about the benefits of the agreement.

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Can Facebook and Twitter Help a Startup Company Succeed?

Toronto, ON (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 1, 2009 -- ShipGooder, Inc. today announced that it has officially launched pages on Facebook and Twitter, the social networking websites that are both experiencing explosive growth by leveraging community-based interaction.

Image via CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

The term "Social Networking" has been gaining notoriety over the past few years. As of today, Facebook has over 200 million active users, while Twitter already has 17 million registered users in the U.S., up 3,000 percent from a year ago. Although Facebook and Twitter are primarily focused on individuals rather than corporate entities, both websites offer tremendous advantages for startup companies to bring their message to the masses.

Facebook provides businesses with a page that includes an overview, announcements, photo galleries and discussions. Users on Facebook become "fans" of the business, and are kept up to date on what the company is doing. When an individual becomes a fan, their friends on Facebook are presented with a "fan" notification; the friends then can become fans as well. The viral effect of friends announcing their "fandom" to other friends can lead to hundreds of thousands of followers for a company. The Starbucks coffee company alone currently has close to 1.8 million fans on Facebook.

Twitter is an announcement system, where users post a short message called a "tweet". The tweet can be a simple description of what they are eating, where they are going, website links and photos. Users "follow" other users on Twitter and receive a real-time stream of announcements. As each user follows a new user, they can "tweet" their new following, again creating a viral effect. Companies are using Twitter to post news and announcements, using the medium to promote their marketing messages.

"Facebook and Twitter provide ShipGooder.com with powerful communication channels for our customers, website visitors, and new visitors who may not be aware of the exceptional free services that ShipGooder offers," said Nancy Chafee, VP of Sales and Marketing for ShipGooder, Inc. "We're using both of these services to augment our existing sales and marketing efforts, promoting our brand, and our primary message that ShipGooder.com provides instant shipping rate quotes from FedEx, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service alongside quotes from regional and local courier companies," she added.

"ShipGooder.com is the 'search engine for shipping rates', offering its services free of charge, with no advertising and no visitor registration required," said Franc Vodopivec, President of ShipGooder, Inc. "Our proprietary Rapid Rate Search system allows smaller couriers and messengers to compete directly with large national carriers, and we're going to continue to promote this message through the mediums that prove to be the most effective," he added.

ShipGooder has used Facebook and Twitter to announce their new Courier Directory of carriers from across the U.S. and Canada, as well as announcing the recent addition of international rate quotes. Can social networking help achieve success to an innovative startup? The question was best answered by Nancy Chafee, who stated, "Word of mouth about ShipGooder is our most powerful promotional vehicle. We are delighted that 'word of mouth' is evolving into new, creative and exciting mediums."

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New SEO Friendly Search Engine Captures Niche Market

Search Engine SEOENG(R) and other small tech startups break new ground in Search - carving out the visionary niche markets of the future, while Search Giants enhance their current industry-dominating Search solutions by increasing Search 'intelligence'.

Bradenton, FL (PRWEB) - A new storm is brewing in Search 2009, and Search Engine SEOENG(R) is rapidly gaining traction in a highly saturated industry with its unique SEO Friendly Search Engine. This technology startup has developed a Search Engine with a transparent and navigable interface where users can, for the first time, see precisely how a Search Engine analyzes and ranks a Website. SEOENG(R) is taking Search in a new direction, by opening its arms to the very industry that Search Giants have fought so hard to keep at arm's length. A new market for Search, directed at Website Owners, Web Designers, and SEO Experts is proving to be a prosperous and exciting venture for this tech company.

Competition is alive and well in the Search Industry, as top Search Engine Google(TM) recently announced its new Google Labs project, which according to the Official Google Blog, is called 'Google Squared', and is Google's attempt at delivering a more structured result to a user's question. Search Giant Yahoo!(R) is also talking about its new vision of Search, which is called 'WOO' (Web of Objects). WOO is Yahoo's take on the next generation of Search, which some believe involves a graph of 'things', not just Webpages. And finally, Microsoft(R) is rumored to be releasing 'Bing(TM)' (formerly Kumo), which according to the Website is a new version of a Search Engine called a 'Decision Engine'.

After more than a decade of rule by Search Giants, SEOENG(R) and other small startups have staked new land in the World of Search. According to Search Engine SEOENG(R), "We are entering a historic time that is very different from the past ten years, because no longer is the competition about delivering the best '10 blue links'. It's all about the 'Next Generation of Search' and the many niche markets that Search is now exposing due to the rapid decrease in costs of infrastructure."

The largest of these niche markets appears to be Semantic Search. Semantics is the study of meaning, and in Search this means not only delivering relevant results, but attempting to infer the 'reason' behind the user's question. Because computer hardware is much less expensive these days, Semantic Search and other new niche markets do not require large investments in infrastructure upfront, and some smaller Search Engine startups, including SEOENG(R), are entering the race and reinstating that spark of creativity and competition that some might say has been lacking for some time.

In addition to SEOENG(R), Wolfram Alpha(TM), is a new Search Engine startup whose Website promises '...an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.' Wolfram Alpha, created by Stephen Wolfram (the inventor of the famous technical and scientific tool suite Mathematica(R)), may have found its niche as the next premiere research tool for scientists and engineers. Other niche markets in Search also exist, and companies are quickly starting to take claim.

SEOENG(R) Co-Founder and President, Marketing & Operations, Maura Stouffer, recently stated that "One only has to look at our tiny startup SEOENG(R) , an acronym for 'Search Engine Optimization Engine(R)', to see the potential available in new Search technologies. We have created what none of the Search Giants have even considered - an honest attempt at being 'friendly' to Webmasters and SEOs. Sure, there were Google's Webmaster Tools and Yahoo's Site Explorer, but did Google and Yahoo! really let users in to their Search Engines to see how things were working? How things could be improved?" SEOENG(R) is the creation of talented individuals from Carnegie Mellon and Cornell University, and promises to be the first SEO Friendly Search Engine for Webmasters, SEOs, and basically anyone who owns a Website. A Search Engine that shows the World how it ranks a Website by disclosing where the internal penalties and deficiencies lie, and how they can be fixed to improve placement on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). As more and more innovation begins to take place, new ideas will bring new direction to Search, and that can only mean one thing: In Search, good times are ahead for both businesses and end-users!

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Aiden Davies' Online Reach

11 year old Aiden Davies has given the best performance of the series in tonight's episode of Britain's Got Talent. And having been blown away by his solo dancing piece, I found myself online within minutes to rerun the video for some of the younger members of my family - And then it hit me... I wonder what impact his performance will have within the online space?

According to the current stats from Google, Aiden does not appear to be in much demand, with a miniscule 16 searches as a monthly average for the term "aiden davies", and only 7 mentions within Twitter.

But with the exposure he has just received, through which all of a sudden his skills have been aired to millions of viewers, I'm in no doubt that Aiden's online popularity will see a huge surge over the next few weeks as he sails his way through the rounds for this year's opportunity to perform in front of her majesty.


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SEO and social media join up : DirectNews

Image via Wikipedia

Businesses are increasingly looking to join up their social media and search engine optimisation(SEO) strategies, it has been suggested.


According to PRWeek, Volvo has surprised the PR sector by using a media agency rather than a PR specialist to manage its social media campaigns.

Duncan Forrester, head of PR for Volvo UK, said that the company had decided to do this because it believed traditional PR agencies are less able to incorporate SEO into their work than media buying organisations.

"It is very clear that social media actually feeds into the SEO side of the business. Can a PR agency do SEO as well? I think there are question marks around that," he commented.

Read the full story

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Twitter Integrates Search

For a while now, Twitter has been making use of the technology they acquired when they bought Summized back in July 2008, but until now this had only been available under a separate website.


The integration has taken a few months, but it appears to have finally made it through to the main site, as per the visions sketched during the discussions surrounding the partnership.

Since the early days, search has been an important element of Twitter:

"There is an undeniable need to search, filter, and otherwise interact with the volumes of news and information being transmitted to Twitter every second. We will be adding search and its related features to the core offering of Twitter in the very near future."

And it looks like the future has arrived, what's more, as well as being able to find who's Twitting about a particular topic, you're now even able to save your searches to return to them at a later date.

Give it a try!

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