Some quick updates on the MSN - Yahoo saga.After the most recent offer was rebuffed by Yahoo, both MSN & Yahoo are potentially targeting AOL. As the Aug 1 shareholder meeting nears, both sides are trying to leverage their position and out position themselves for what is bound to be a heated conversation where landscape changing decisions will be made.

Will Yahoo merge with AOL giving Yang some leverage going into the meeting that Yahoo is heading in the right direction and do not need MSN? Will MSN come in and scoop them up for their own benefit both in their standings in the search world but also for this upcoming meeting? Either way, what kind of impact will that have on the Yahoo Google partnership that apparently Yang was overheard admitting that it was an anti-competitive move against MSN?

The battle continues. Stay tuned to see what happens when the dusts settles.

UPDATE: This feels like following a sports rumor mill where information gets leaked and rumors go around that particular athletes will be traded..

There is some word going around that the news about the AOL acquisition is being more participated by people close to the Time Warner company. Time Warner apparently sees this situation as an opportunity to unload a depreciating asset. AOL once a leader in the internet space has lost tremendous brand awareness and affiliation with web browsing and as an internet provider. Neither Microsoft or Yahoo! are trying hard to acquire AOL but are simply listening as Time Warner makes the pitch. A deal at this point involving AOL before the Aug 1 shareholder date could be a reach.

Paul Lee
Director of Online Marketing
LeadQual - Search Engine Marketing

Yahoo! Inc turned away a proposal by Microsoft and activist shareholder Carl Icahn. The new proposal would have broken off Yahoo’s search business to be sold to Microsoft while the rest of the business would be left under the control of Ichan’s new board.Yahoo! balked calling it an “odd and opportunistic alliance” that doesn’t consider the best interest of Yahoo’s shareholders and investors. Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock also made a statement that Microsoft and Ichan brought a “take it or leave it” offer. He said “It is ludicrous to think that our board could accept such a proposal. We will not be bludgeoned into a transaction that is not in the best interest of our stockholders.” Yahoo noted that Microsoft and Icahn did try to sweeten the offer by offering to buy $8 billion in Yahoo shares for $35 each in addition to purchasing the search business for $1 billion dollars. Yahoo! and MSN would also have struck a long term search engine partnership that would have generated more revenue for Yahoo!.This is probably the last proposal to be brought to the table before the upcoming shareholder meeting on Aug 1st which is expected to be a heated battle as Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang and Icahn fight for the control of the board.Yahoo! would have been opened to selling at $33 a share which was the last price Microsoft offered 6 months ago. The original offer was $44.6 billion.

Paul Lee
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
LeadQual - Search Engine Marketing

Did you know the Google Mini Fridge can be plugged into your car lighter? Did you know the Google Mini Fridge can be set on Cold or Hot? Did yo know the Cold & Hot switches are switched backwards? For those who have been using Google Adwords extensively for their businesses may know about a little swag called the “Google Mini Fridge”. Most small business users are often surprised when this gift appears at their door but for those who have been advertising on Google for years know, this is the swag you wanted. Why? The fridge itself is nothing spectacular but it’s almost a trophy item. It’s a badge that says, you’ve spent a lot of money on Google. Hopefully this translate to having a lot of experience rather than having wasted tons of money. Regardless LeadQual is a proud owner of a mini-fridge. See it below!

What does that mean for LeadQual? It means we have tons of experience…In all seriousness, since several of us have done PPC and SEM for many years we’ve come across many fridges in our time.

So how does one receive such a novelty item?
You have to hit particular milestones. Whether that be a million clicks, 3 million clicks, 1 million leads, it is certainly all over the place depending on who you ask but what is certain is that you have to hit the million mark to be considered. The three figures I noted above were real click and lead milestones I’ve heard that warranted a Google Mini Fridge. It seems to be its really up to the Google reps.There are some interesting things people are doing with the fridge. Some are posting it on Ebay. Others are using it to create back links for their blogs by running contests that requires the entrants to link to their blog. Others like us are just using it as a beauty piece occasionally used to hold cold drinks for the office.

Paul Lee
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
LeadQual - Search Engine Marketing

For those of us who have been in search marketing for a few years we all have fond memories of the Overture (now known as Yahoo) Traffic/Inventory Estimating tool. I know I personally utilized this tool to gain insight into the search inventory available and make best guesses on how much traffic I would be able to drive for my former employers as well as for my clients. This tool was useful to see what type of keywords people would search on and it would be roughly applicable to all engines whether it was Google, Yahoo, MSN, or ASK.  Then.. Yahoo killed the links to this tool. For the more savvy veterans, we found roundabout ways to access this tool. We managed to do this for a few months until Yahoo finally killed it completely. All was lost. There were weeks of mourning. Meanwhile other 3rd party tools rejoiced as their products became suddenly more valuable. Google on the other hand, surprisingly never showed us search volume. Google would only provide us little bars that would signify the level of traffic but whether that meant 1000 clicks or 10,000 clicks or 1,000,000 million clicks,  who knew? However today they’ve added search volume data to their Keyword Tool. Listening to advertiser feedback, they are now showing approximate search volume for the previous month as well as the approximate average search volume a month. I wish I could provide a link to the tool, but it will require you to log into your adwords account. If you are not familiar with the tool here is how you get to it.

1. Sign into your Adwords Account.
2. Choose Campaign & Adgroup. (if you aren’t looking to modify a specific adgroup, just click TOOLS from the top nav and navigate directly.
3. Choose the Keyword Tab.
4. Click on Keyword Tool.For further information of how to use the tool directly visit the Help Center Here.  

As you utilize this tool, please be aware that these tools generally inflate the search volume available. If I owned a search engine I would do the same. Who wouldn’t want to bid on more keywords if there is so much opportunity to be had! But remember, just because you see 100,000 click volume available, it does not mean you would be able capture 100,000 clicks. You are competing against a lot of competitors both national and local who are also making an effort to capture as much volume as they can handle. Also how you structure your account, what type of match type you use, how often you optimize, how you develop and test your creative, how you modify and test your landingpages, how much good quality score history you can build and maintain, all have an effect on whether or not you will be able to compete against the 10s if not 100s of competitors in your industry.

Paul Lee
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
LeadQual - SEM

The search landscape has always been prone to big changes. Universal Search comes to mind. The revamp of Google’s algorithm last year caused epic chaos and closing of businesses. However in the first 6 months of 2008, it’s been relatively quiet other than the Yahoo MSN acquisition drama. Here are some quick hits for the big search engine players.

Google

- Finished the Acquisition of DoubleClick: I recently made a visit to the Google SF campus and there seems to be a lot of talk about many features and tools brewing between Google & DoubleClick. I hope Google could really capitalize on DoubleClick’s strengths and pump out some new betas soon.

- Questions about Search Growth: There was much hoopla about ComScore’s data release sometime in February about the slowing growth of the search market. Wall Street Analyst responded with concerns and lowering of valuations. However there was immediate response by the search expert blogosphere claiming Wall Street has no idea what they are talking about and the many inaccuracies of the ComScore data. I for one don’t forsee Google or any search firms running into any trouble. In this down market, companies continue to allocate a greater amount of their marketing budgets to search as search has been found to be the most effective marketing medium outside of email blasting your consumer base. It is also highly attractive during the down turn because it is direct marketing meaning you know for every dollar you put in how much you get out.

- Google Sites: Launched in Feb. This tool allows you to collaborate with others and create a website. Similar to a wiki, it can be edited and modified by multiple people. It is fully integrated with Google Docs.

-Google Health: Launched in May. I have to admit I’ve not used this feature. If anyone has any feedback or comments it would be greatly appreciated.

- Google Planner: Launched in June. This is a research tool to further give insight and visibility into Google’s Content network. You can sort by demographics or type of sites and see what websites from the Google Content Network matches with you set of inputs.

- Google Death: Just kidding. Partially. As many know Google pumps out betas and are constantly testing new products and features. Two of these features specific to search engine marketing are getting the axe. Cross Channel Tracking and Pay Per Action Campaigns. Both are a tragedy and has made things a bit complicated for our Google Adwords Management though I could see their reasoning. By eliminating these tools the need to utilize their Google Analytic Tools become all the more important. Sneaky Devils.

Yahoo

- Acquisition: Hands down the biggest news of the first half of 2008. Microsoft put in a bid to acquire Yahoo. There has been endless coverage of this saga. Even now there are whispers of Yahoo being more open to selling themselves to Microsoft at the lower bid price. With the recent partnership with Google, any acquisition will cost Yahoo $250 million to break out of the contract.

MSN

- MSN AdCenter: The only big news outside of the acquisition is the continued roll out of the Microsoft AdCenter Editor desktop tool. As they continue to expand the beta program, more and more word is coming out on its functionalities. Speculation abound on how this will affect MSN search. LeadQual has access to this beta and so far we’ve run into many issues and bugs, but still its a billion times better than MSN’s web UI, so we’ll patiently wait for the updates.

ASK

- They are still alive?: You bet they are. The reason you are hearing less and less of them in the search world is that they shifted their strategic focus from competing against Google & Yahoo for market share to targeting a specific niche: Middle Aged Women & Housewives. If your company caters specifically to that demographic, its a good time to actively think about advertising on their site.

Paul Lee
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
LeadQual - Search Engine Marketing