Search Engine Industry News Archives

Possibly the first "Barry" in the SEO industry, Barry Lloyd, aka MakeMeTop, has sold the MakeMeTop brand, software and analytics business to Unica. Barry Lloyd has been in the industry for a really long time and he has been somewhat quiet recently, but has given so much to the industry over the years.

He joined the WebmasterWorld forums back in 2000. It is over there where he used the MakeMeTop username for years and years. There is now a forum thread at WebmasterWorld discussing the acquisition.

It is over there where he thanks everyone for their wishes and explains the situation a bit more. He said:

Thanks everyone and I suppose (and hope) I am permitted one more post under the MMT name before I transform into another ID!

Just one clarification, the MMT trademark, software and analytics business has been acquired, but my company Microchannel Technologies (which owned the MMT brand and trademark) is still here and will be doing SEM consultancy, a bit of affiliate stuff and the odd thing in this space. I can just afford to be way more selective about what I do!

For the past 10 years MMT enabled me to be part of this industry in many forms, SEO, SEM, affiliate marketer and lately SEM software provider. It has also enabled me to have a somewhat more decent standard of living than I probably deserve and allowed me to travel the World meeting like minded individuals.

For that, in no small part, I have to thank the people I have met here both virtually and in person. Some of you have been an inspiration and all have been a pleasure to enagage with in lively discussion.

As MMT rides off in to the rosy future I fully expect it to have (although under new ownership) I will be able to be able to choose what I want to do a lot more and that, of course, means I can get back to going to PubCon. Now that is something to look forward to!

Congrats Barry!

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Today is Groundhog Day and in the past we have seen special logos from AOL, DogPile, Bing and others. But we never get a theme or logo from Google and Yahoo for the day.

In any event, here is Bing's theme for Groundhog day:

We also have a theme up, here is how it looks:

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

comScore released their search growth report and it showed searches have grown 46% worldwide. The U.S. grew 22% from December 2008 to December 2009, with 22.7 billion searches. China followed with 13.3 billion searches, but only grew 13% year over year.

Google took account of 66.8% of those searches, with 87.8 billion searches worldwide, and a growth rate overall of 58%. That is not too bad, although little Microsoft saw a spike of 70% in search share from last year to this year. Here are the charts and also make sure to read Search Engine Land for more analysis:

Forum discussion at two WebmasterWorld threads.

Yesterday, the HuoMah blog uncovered a new person trying to trademark the term SEO. Yes, this was not the first person, see here for the other. I then wrote about it, with Danny Sullivan, at Search Engine Land.

It turns out that this guy is not looking to trademark the term SEO as Search Engine Optimization. Even though this guy's company is under the DBA of "Search Engine Partner." Instead, he is claiming that he coined the acronym SEO for the term Strategically Elevating Optimization back in September 23, 1996 with first commercial use on September 24, 1999.

So there you have it, from now on, when you say SEO you cannot think Search Engine Optimization. Instead, he wants you to think SEO means Strategically Elevating Optimization.

Either case, I doubt this guy will win a trademark on that term, but what do I know.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Every year, the search engines post special logos for Martin Luther King, Jr. This year is no different, we have logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, Dogpile and others. MLK, Martin Luther Kind, Jr needs no explanation. It is a legal US holiday today and a day celebrated by many around the world. Here are the logos:

Google's MLK Logo:

Yahoo's Flash MLK logo:

Bing's MLK Theme:

Ask.com's MLK Theme:

DogPile:

Search Engine Roundtable:

Also see the 2008 MLK logos for a bit of the history with these logos and doodles.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

A new bill in the UK Parliament named the Digital Economy Bill [HL] 2009-10 is proposing to give search engines, such as Google, a form of immunity against being sued over copyright infringement. It is a bit more complex than that but overall, if you want your content out of the search engines, block them - otherwise, you can't sue them over copyright law.

A Sphinn thread is pretty heated over the topic. Primarily between Michael Gray and Danny Sullivan. Let me quote some of the conversation:

Danny Sullivan in response to Michael Gray:

Yeah, yeah, simmer down there troll boy :)

So the actual article this is talking about from The Guardian says this proposal also says:

The presumption (of having an automatic license) may be rebutted by explicit evidence that such a licence was not granted. Such explicit evidence shall be found only in the form of statements in a machine-readable file to be placed on the website and accessible to providers of search engine services.

In other words, this gives robots.txt legal backing. You block that way, search engines can't index you. Fair enough. I mean, that's how things have worked for ages with the respected search engines. But if some rogue spider copied you, you couldn't easily claim a copyright violation because robots.txt had no force of law. Now, you could sue saying they'd been restricted and still indexed your content.

Michael Gray in response to Danny Sullivan:

being a troll boy ;-) and not a lawyer I may be missing something, but this seems pretty clear...

In other words, Google would be free to copy everything - but a publisherblocking search spiders with a robots.txt file would be taken as withholding that right. An explicit "fair use" provision, which Google often cites against copyright-abuse claims, does not exist in UK law.

Google can copy whatever it wants, unless you block it with robots, so if you want to retain you copyright then you do so by slitting your own throat for search engine traffic. That just doesn't make any sense for anyone ... except google.

The debate goes on and on in the thread, so if you are in a troll/rant mood or if you just find the topic interesting, do check it out.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

I love it when you have the old geezers (in the SEO world, that means 10 years old), take a look in the past at how the industry has evolved. Danny Sullivan has done it and so have others. I personally have only been covering search for over six years, but I have been involved in the web development since I was 16, which was in 1996 (yea, I turn 30 this year).

In any event, Jill Whalen posted her A Decade of 21st Century SEO. She goes through each year, starting in 2000, and pulls out her notes of SEO thoughts and best quotes for that year. I cannot summarize them all, and although it is 10 years long, it is a quick and fun read. So make sure to check it out.

There is a Sphinn thread on the topic as well. Danny Sullivan let the cat out of the bag that his decade in search post will be out over the weekend. He is currently up to 2007.

I'll just end this post with a quote from her ending remarks:

It's important to note that my ideal of SEO even before the year 2000 has always assumed that search engines will someday be perfect. Through the years, Google has given credence to my mantra during the times when they haven't allowed the crap-hat SEO stuff to work. By the same token, they have also made me look silly at the times when it does still work. My hope is that Google (or any other search engine) never gives up trying to find the best, most relevant results for their users – the searchers – because my SEO methods are based on that ideal.

There are only a few in this industry who have stood up, given themselves to the community for as long as she has. I won't name them all, but Jill deserves huge credit for not just practicing SEO for over 10 years, but for being involved in the industry, actively, every day, for the past 10 years plus. You can't say that about many people in the industry.

Thank you Jill.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Typically, I compile the New Years logos from the various search engines and search industry on New Years Day, but most of the search engines, with the exception of Google, have the logos out already. So here are the 2010 New Years logos. If any of them update and when Google adds there logo, I will update this post.

Google:

Yahoo (Animated):

Yahoo (Static):

Bing:

AOL:

Ask.com:

DogPile:

Baidu:

Clicker:

Sogou:

Zuula:

Cre8asite Forums:

Search Engine Roundtable (that's us):

For the past year's logos, see: New Years 2009, New Years 2008, New Years 2007, Google's 2006 logo, Search Engine Roundtable's 2006 logo, Cre8asite's 2005.

Forum discussion currently at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Bing Forums, HighRankings Forums, Google Webmaster Help, WebmasterWorld and Cre8asite Forums.

Update: Remember the I'm Feeling Lucky Google Countdown feature? Well, at midnight, when you click it, this is what it looks like: Via websonic.nl...

Merry Christmas! Although I have about five items to write about today, I figured I hold off on them until Monday. Trust me, I know how it is to be swamped and buried in feeds and news to catch up on while I am celebrating a Jewish holiday - so I will spare you all. Plus, I finally am making the move to Google Chrome, using Chromium on my Mac - so it is nice to take it slow to get up to speed on it.

If you are reading today, make sure to check out our Christmas logos for 2009, which I just updated this morning to add several more logos from other search engines. In short, there are logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, and many others - so check it out.

In addition, I caught Googlers working on Christmas again. For the past few years, I have caught Googlers helping webmasters in the forums. This year is no different. JohnMu from Google posted in at least two threads on Christmas eve. One was the Merry Christmas Google thread and the other was a more technical webmaster question. Googlers did the same in 2008, 2007 and 2006. They also worked on New Years last year and the year before.

Finally, I will be working on my weekly search video recap today. Expect it to go live later today and you can watch (or just listen to) it at your leisure.

Merry Christmas and in our tradition, forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Cre8asite Forums, Google Toolbar Help, HighRankings Forums, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, Google Maps Help, Google AdWords Help & Google Webmaster Help.

Merry Christmas Search Engine Roundtable readers! I believe most of the search engines have their special logos or themes live today. They include a handful of logos from Google, an animated logo from Yahoo, an awesome picture from Bing, a sweet Ask.com theme, DogPile's fun dress up and more from the industry.

Google began their logo blitz on the first day of Winter. While, we had Winter themes from YouTube, Bing and others, Google started with "the holidays." Calling it "The Holidays" made some Christians upset, mostly those in the U.K. Also, Google did not have a Chanukah logo like Bing or Ask did.

In any event, here are pictures of the Christmas logos, but this time I will end with Google, since they have so many:

Yahoo (animated) Christmas logo:

Yahoo (static) Christmas logo:

Bing's Christmas Theme:

December 24th:

December 25th:

Ask.com's Christmas Theme:

DogPile's Christmas Theme:

Baidu's Christmas Logo:

Quintura's Christmas Logo:

Clicker Christmas Logo:

Sogou Christmas Logo:

FriendFeed Christmas logo:

Zuula Christmas Logo:

BruceClay Christmas Logo:

Cre8asite Christmas Logo:

Search Engine Roundtable Christmas Theme:

Google's Christmas / Holiday Logos (so far four):

#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

I'll update this post when I find more logos from the search industry.

For the past year's holiday and Christmas logos, see our posts from 2008, the 2007 logos, plus Google's five logos, 2006 logos, Cre8asite in 2005, also '05 Search Engine Roundtable and '05 Google, Yahoo and Ask, plus we have 2004 and some of 2003 archived for you.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Cre8asite Forums, Google Toolbar Help, HighRankings Forums, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, Google Maps Help, Google AdWords Help & Google Webmaster Help.

The next two weeks are typically the slowest two weeks in the search industry (and probably most other industries). It is the holiday week, with Christmas and New Years coming, as well as it being the first day of Winter today.

Google already started their holiday logo blast, although Google missed Chanukah this year, they are calling the logos "Holiday logos". You will be able to see a new one every day and Google will archive them at google.com/logos/holidays-2009.html. Here is the first one:

Like I said, Google will have a new logo each day (maybe I will update this post here or make a new one for those).

Google # 2:

Google # 3:

Google # 4:

Yahoo is running a flash based logo also for the past few days:

But today is actually the first day of Winter here on our side of the world. And for the day, we have a nice theme from Bing, YouTube and from ourselves as well:

Bing Winter:

YouTube Winter:

Search Engine Roundtable Winter:

Happy holidays, cold winter and relaxing/healthy next two weeks.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and Google Web Search Help.

Update: Bing, Yahoo, Ask and many others posted their Christmas eve logos. You can see them all at Christmas Logos From Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask & Others (2009).

Chanukah (Hanukah) starts tonight, technically, in Israel it is already Chanukah. It last for eight days and this year it does not overlap with Christmas. Currently, the only major search engine to have a logo or theme up is Microsoft's Bing. Google (even Google.co.il), Yahoo, and Ask.com do not have a theme up yet. Maybe they will wait for tonight or tomorrow, but for now, here is Bing's theme:

We also have theme, sporting driedels with SEO spelled on them out of our name, the Search Engine rOundtable.

Also, Cre8asite Forums plans on uploading this logo shortly for the holiday season:

We will update this post with more logos if they come out. For the past years, see 2008, 2007 and 2006.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Update: Ask.com posted a theme on Saturday, December 12th, see Nick's comment below:

No logo from Google, Yahoo or others.

Tony Ruscoe, the co-editor at Google Blogoscoped has confirmed he will be joining the Google team next month. Tony has been writing at Google Blogoscoped since 2006, he has broken so many stories by digging deep into Google and finding tons of hidden treasures.

Tony is becoming a Googler in January 2010. He will be working in Google's London office as part of the Google Webmaster Team. He said he is not exactly sure what he will be working on at Google yet, but likely in the same role as JohnMu who also joined Google from the webmaster ranks back in August 2007. John has been a huge asset to the webmaster community before and even more so after joining Google.

Googlers are obviously delighted to have Tony join the team there. A Google Blogoscoped Forums thread has comments from Googlers. Matt Cutts said, "w00t! I'm so excited that you're joining Google. :) I can see it now: "Day 1: Clean up the home page a bit. Make sure it's smaller but validates. Day 2: ..." :)" JohnMu said:

Congratulations, Tony! I'm excited to see that you're coming aboard & really looking forward to catching you in London or perhaps on a visit to the Zuerich office :-).

Tom, if you have worked out how cloning works, I have a list of names ... :-)

Tony, the webmasters will miss you as being part of the team but I am sure we will all benefit more from you moving over to Google.

Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.

We are one major step closer to Microsoft and Yahoo closing on their Micro-hoo search deal which started officially back in July. Yahoo announced on Friday that the details of the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft are final now.

Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corporation today announced that the companies have finalized and executed the definitive Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and License Agreement in accordance with the letter agreement announced in July.

The companies released the following joint statement:

"Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value, and more innovation.

"Yahoo! and Microsoft welcome the broad support the deal has received from key players in the advertising industry and remain hopeful that the closing of the transaction can occur in early 2010."

Now, all they wait for is for approval from the various bodies of law in the U.S. and abroad.

A Bing powered Yahoo Search is just another step closer.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

SEMs should do their best to represent search marketers in this top 100 marketers vote. There are lots of Internet marketers listed on this list, some are SEOs and SEMs, so go vote for them.

Shameless plug: If you like, vote for me, I may have the most hats on that list:

Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Land, RustyBrick (@Rustybrick)

If you do not like me, then vote for another SEM. Keep it in the family!

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

If you visit Google, Yahoo or Ask.com today, you will see they are all honoring World AIDS Day with a red bow on their logo or on their home page. Bing, AOL, DogPile and others seem to be missing the mention today (we may put something up later).

Google has a ribbon under the search box which links to google.org/world-aids-day-2009.html (yes, Google.org):

Yahoo has an animated logo which links to yahoo.com/worldaidsday/:

Flash Version:

Static Version:

Ask.com is the only one linking to a search result (go figure):

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, it is my favorite holiday. As you can imagine, the search news (as in all news) will be slow today, so here is a look at today's special logos, themes and designs from our industry. We have logos from Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing, Ask and others in the search industry. For the past years logos, see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 logos.

Here are 2009's Thanksgiving Day Logos:

Google:

Yahoo (Flash):

AOL (Flash):

Bing:

Ask.com:

Dogpile:

Cre8asite Forums:

PPC Heros:

Search Engine Roundtable (us):

Again, For the past years logos, see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 logos.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Yesterday, Danny Sullivan wrote an article named 10 Years Ago: The First Search Marketing Conference, A Retrospective. The article is a must read for everyone who is a daily reader of this site.

In short, Danny talks about how the first search marketing conference came about. He also talks about the various sessions they hosted then. Including many of the panelists who still talk today at his conferences. Yes, the first conference in search marketing was in 1999 and Google's founders were on a panel as the "small search engine."

While the agenda listed Larry Page as speaking, Sergey was also there. He either joined Larry or replaced him at the last minute. Some conference veterans remember how Sergey rollerskated on stage. Actually, he did that a year later, joking about new Google technologies and demoing his shoes with pop-out wheels.

We didn't start covering search conferences until 2003, four years after the first search conference. Wow, has the time flown by and has this industry changed or has it?

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Today is Veteran's Day and the search engines, well most of them, are commemorating the day. We have logos from Google, Bing, Ask.com, AOL and even here but not from Yahoo, at least not yet. Here are the logos.

Google:

Bing:

Ask:

AOL (Flash):

Search Engine Roundtable:

For the past logos for this holiday, see 2008 Veterans logos (no Yahoo there also), 2007 Veterans logos and then we skipped to 2007 Veterans logos.

Also, at Google UK today, they have a logo with a poppy for a belated Remembrance Day. Yes, Remembrance Day was a few days ago, but the Sesame Street logos trumped it.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Happy Halloween! Here are the logos from the search community including Google, Yahoo, Bing, AOL, Ask, Dogpile, and so many more. For the past years logos, see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 logos.

Here are 2009's Halloween logos:

Google has four (click, click, click and click):

Yahoo (Flash):

AOL (Flash):

YouTube:

Bing:

Ask.com:

Dogpile:

BruceClay's design:

JohnMu of Google dressed up his forum logo:

Search Engine Roundtable (us):

Google also added fun bits to their robots.txt file:

User-agent: Kids
Disallow: /tricks
Allow: /treats

Matt Cutts dressed up and Bing went visual.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

Today is Columbus Day, and the only search engine to have a special logo or theme up today is Microsoft's Bing. Here is a picture of Bing today, with one "hot spot" highlighted:

Pretty neat theme, background and hot spots. We also, at the Search Engine Roundtable, have a Columbus sailed the ocean blue theme. Here is a picture:

We don't have logos from the other major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Ask.com or AOL - but that is not surprising. In fact, last year, Google had a Paddington Bear Doodle on Columbus day.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Today, in some parts of the world, is the first day of Autumn. Yes, summer is officially over. Bing is the only major search engine to have an image up for the day. Although Google had season logos in the past, today, they skipped it. Why? Well, maybe because seasons are not always black and white in where they start and when they start.

In any event, here is the Bing image with hotspots:

We also created a pretty nice theme for the Search Engine Roundtable for Autumn:

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Today is the anniversary of the horrible attacks of the U.S., forever known as September 11th, or 9/11. People will be asking, why doesn't Google have a special logo up (a Doodle) to remember the day. The answer is because Google only has logos up for days that are lighthearted or fun. Today, is a special and very sensitive day for many people.

Other search engines are able to post something that does show some type of remembrance. For example, Microsoft's Bing and IAC's Ask.com have custom backgrounds for their home pages.

It doesn't mean Google is doing nothing. Google has a blog post named Make History with the National September 11th Memorial & Museum. Google partnered up to create a web site, using Google Maps API, named 911history.org.

Also, let's not forget the way the Google home page looked on the day of 9/11:

For more internet 9/11 resources, check out ResourceShelf.

So why no Google logo? It just isn't the right thing for Google to do today.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Today is Labor Day in the United States and the search engines have special logos up, except Google and Yahoo. There is no surprise there, historically, Google and Yahoo never have logos for the Labor Day holiday. So although Google and Yahoo don't like to put up logos for the day, Microsoft's Bing, Ask.com and DogPile do have logos.

Here is a run down of the logos for Labor Day 2009:

Bing's Labor Day 2009 Theme:

Ask.com's Labor Day 2009 Theme:

DogPile's Labor Day 2009 Logo:

Also, Cre8asite Forums designed a special logo for today:

And we dressed up this site, the Search Engine Roundtable, for Labor Day:

For the past years logos, see 2008, 2007, 2005 and 2004 - yes, I am missing 2006 and like I said, Google and Yahoo historically do not do logos for Labor Day.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

I am sure Matt will get a kick out of this... Matt Cutts of Google showed up at SES San Jose last week with his head shaved. In short, he lost a bet with a Google team about a deadline, so he had to shave his head. Here is a video of him explaining the story (well, there are tons of videos of him explaining the story):

Here is another video on that and Caffeine:

In any event, it seems like the SEO women out there are finding the new hair cut appealing.

A Google Webmaster Help thread has several SEO women commenting that they like it. Here are some of the comments:

Oooh, Matt's kinda hot. Hot computer nerds are yummy.

He sucks for being married, though.

that video made me drool a bit.

Matt, you have risen to a new level.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Yahoo and Microsoft have finally announced their search deal, after years of negotiation. In short, if the deal is approved by regulators, Yahoo Search will be powered by Microsoft Bing and Yahoo Search Marketing (aka Panama) will be powered by Microsoft adCenter.

For SEMs, you need to know when this will happen. Best case scenario, the deal will be complete in early 2010, the longest it can take for full implementation is two years. The integration will begin in the United States with search and then with search ads. The integration will then expand to other countries and regions.

The search brand at Yahoo will remain to be "Yahoo Search" but it will have a label at the bottom of the page that says "Powered by Bing." Nothing is changing now, not until they get regulatory approval, and then when they get that approval, they will begin pushing out the integration. So SEMs and SEOs have time to prepare. They won't have to worry about managing both adCenter campaigns and Panama campaigns, just adCenter (and of course, Google AdWords). I assume this means that the Yahoo Publisher Network is dead and really dead (not just in action, but legally dead).

I spent some of the morning posting the key financial points at Search Engine Land and now Danny and Greg are posting their notes on the conference call now.

I assume the forums will heat up throughout the days going forward. But again, this will take time, so no need to panic right now. Remember, Yahoo first started off as a directory, then they powered their search off of that directory, then worked out a deal with Google to power their search, then dropped Google for their own search engine and now is dropping their own search for Microsoft's Bing. Who knows, maybe in 5 years (even though this is a ten year deal), maybe Yahoo will go back to Google. :)

More news coverage at Techmeme and forum discussion at Sphinn, Google Webmaster Help, DigitalPoint Forums & WebmasterWorld.

Last night, Google sold off their 5% stake in AOL for $283 billion. Google acquired that 5% stake in 2005 for $1 billion. The news of the sale was pretty big, showing that AOL was valued at less than $5.66 billion and Tim Armstrong, a former Google executive, now CEO of AOL, will earn at least $1 million a year in salary and up to $4 million a year in bonuses, not including stock options.

AOL is really trying to change their perception and gain some traction this year, under the wings of Tim Armstrong. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

For more details on the deal, see Techmeme.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

40 years-ago today, on July 20, 1969, the United States's Apollo 11 mission, successfully landed a man on the moon. Some search engines, such as Microsoft's Bing and Google's YouTube have special logos for the day. Surprisingly, Google, Yahoo and Ask.com have no logo. We have a logo for the day also. Here are the logos from the 40th anniversary of the special day.

Bing:

YouTube:

Search Engine Roundtable:

Actually, we had a logo two years ago as well. Maybe you will remember it:

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Update: At 3:30pm (EST) Google has added a special Google logo (Doodle) for the special day:

Also, Google's Street View Man is dressed in a space suit today:

Last night, Google (GOOG) announced earnings and they "met" expectations, because the revenues were up 3%. There is a lot of buzz about this on Techmeme, but to read more about the earnings and the conference call about the earnings, see Greg's notes at Search Engine Land, there are some really nice tidbits in there.

Shortly after, news is leaking out that Yahoo and Microsoft are back at the table and this time, they are really really close to finalizing a deal. Of course these rumors and discussions have been going on for a really long time and many of you are tired of hearing about it. I for one, would like not to mention it until it actually happens, which I hope is soon.

Meanwhile, the biggest buzz over the past 12 hours is that TechCrunch posted stolen internal memos about Twitter's business strategy, that involved their discussions with Google, Microsoft, future growth plans and so much more. Matt McGee posted at Search Engine Land how these correspondence impact the search industry, so you can read those details there. The situation is just a sad one, and I believe law suits will follow.

That is the past 12 hours in search business news, it has been pretty busy.

Forum discussion on the GOOG news at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Several weeks ago, we discussed the debate over if Google treats SEOs as criminals. We even polled our readers on that question and the results were split.
In any event, if you believe this to be true, or even if you don't but you don't want to risk it, you might want to do your best to not be labeled as an SEO.

Winning the Web posted a piece named 7 Red Flags that Reveal to Google You're an SEO Criminal – Avoid These!. He goes through save things to avoid, in order not to be profiled as an SEO. Here are those points, in short form:

• You have a big mouth about your SEO tactics
• Your sites are all tied together = easy target
• Your site is over-optimized for certain keywords
• Your link profile is unnatural
• You use the nofollow link attribute to sculpt PageRank
• You buy or sell obvious paid links
• You use SEO and links to get a spammy site to the top of the rankings

On a personal level, I find it funny that I fall for some of these and I am not an SEO. I mean, I write about SEO and know a heck of a lot about SEO through writing and hands on work, but I don't sell "SEO services."

In any event, is it better to be safe then sorry?

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

The Florida update, Vince/Brand update, April Fools update, Dewey update and so many more are code names for Google updates. We even named a few Yahoo updates, like the Tim update.

A Google Webmaster Help thread asks what are these names all about? Well, typically nothing. Naming updates first came from WebmasterWorld, with the Boston update being named in 2003. Sometimes they are named after people, like the Tim update and Vince update. Sometimes they are named for places or events and sometimes by date and by type of update.

The question is, do we need the names? I personally don't think the names are necessary, but they are nice to have, especially for big updates. Who doesn't remember the Florida update that shook the SEO space? Calling updates by names, gives it more character in my opinion. Some don't agree, what do you think? Take our anonymous poll:

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Happy July 4th All! Here are the logos celebrating the special day from Google, Yahoo, AOL, Ask, YouTube, Bing, Dogpile and many others.

Google:

Yahoo:

AOL:

Bing:

Ask:

Dogpile:

YouTube:

Search Engine Roundtable:

For past July 4th logos from the search industry, see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

This is my first time being a father for Father's Day, so it is a bit different for me now. I am about to go to sleep here on the East Coast but many of the logos from the search industry are live now. Including logos from Google, Yahoo, AOL, DogPile and others. Here is a quick run down, which I hope to update tomorrow, when more logos and themes go live (specifically from Bing and Ask.com).

Google:

Yahoo:

AOL:

DogPile:

Bing:

Ask.com:

Cre8asite Forums:

Search Engine Roundtable:

For previous Father's Day logos from Google and the search industry, see our archives:

• Father's Day Logos from 2008
• Father's Day Logos from 2007
• Father's Day Logos from 2004

A week ago, we asked our readers to vote on their thoughts on if Google sees SEOs as criminals. If you remember, this is based on the double-standard that some bloggers feel Google is placing on some groups over another group.

With just under a 150 responses, I wanted to share how we (SEOs) perceive how Google sees us.

Question: Does Google See SEOs as Criminals?

:: Only Some Groups of SEOs said 77 respondents or 52%
:: Yes said 43 respondents or 29%
:: No said 25 respondents or 17%
:: Other answer... said 3 respondents or 2%

It is very interesting looking at how SEOs perceive how Google sees SEOs. Kind of a circular statement there, but you know what I mean.

Forum discussion continued at Sphinn (Lisa), Sphinn (Michael) and Sphinn (Susan).

The Nofollow PageRank sculpting topic was not the only heated debate at last week's SMX Advanced conference. We have some SEOs claiming Google sees all SEOs as criminals before being innocent.

Michael Gray's How Google Profiles SEO’s and Lisa Barone's Google Openly Profiles SEOs As Criminals are both well written pieces arguing that Google doesn't treat SEOs equally to all personalities on the internet. Let me quote one section to sum it up, but honestly, you should read both pieces in their entirety.

How does this show that Google is profiling SEO’s and not the rest of the blogging world? How else can you explain high profile A-List bloggers like Robert Scoble and Sarah Lacy accepting free all expense paid trips to Isreal and not getting penalized? How can Guy Kawasaki get “loaned” one, two, three cars in three years and still be within Google’s guidelines . How can “lending” Guy Kawasaki an Audi Q7 for three months in exchange for him blogging about it be OK but I can’t connect bloggers with people who want to give away a pair of sunglasses? Matt Cutt’s says “The closer you get to money for links, the higher risk we consider it”. Go to any rental car agency ask how much it is to rent an Audi Q7 for three months, you’ll have your answer how close it is to the money.

On the other hand, Susan Esparza takes the opposite view in her piece named I Don't Like Conflict (But Google Doesn't Think SEOs are Criminals). Susan explains that SEO are rightly held to a higher standard, because SEOs are search professionals.

I totally see both sides of the argument. I thought I conduct an anonymous poll asking our readers if they think Google see SEOs as criminals or not. Here is the poll, please have your friends take the poll:

Forum discussion at Sphinn (Lisa), Sphinn (Michael) and Sphinn (Susan).

Today is Memorial Day in the United States of America. And to recognize the day, Google, Yahoo, AOL, Live.com, Ask.com, DogPile and others have special logos up. Google, who is known not to show a special logo for the day, has placed a little yellow ribbon below the search box. This is a historic move for Google, since they gone on record as saying the Google logo is not appropriate for the day.

Google's yellow Memorial Day ribbon:

Yahoo (animated):

AOL (animated):

DogPile:

Live.com:

Ask.com:

And our theme, here at the Search Engine Roundtable:

For past logos, see:

• Memorial Day Logos from Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile But Still Not Google
• Memorial Day Commemorated: Ask.com & Search Engine Roundtable
• Ask Jeeves Commemorates Memorial Day : 2005
• Memorial Day & Search Engines : 2004

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

This is a great video posted at SEOptimise on what should Google do with black hat SEOs. The video interviews 50 SEOs at SES London.

Really funny stuff - great job!

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! Here is a collection of logos from the search industry, celebrating Mother's Day. We have logos from Google, Yahoo, Live.com, Ask.com, AOL and others.

Google:

Yahoo (animated):

AOL (animated):

Live.com:

Ask.com:

Google Maps changed the Street Views guy to a mom and son:

Search Engine Roundtable (Out) Theme:

It seems like DogPile is missing a logo today, which is not normally the case.

For past Mother's day logos, see our 2008 Mother's Day logos and 2007 Mother's Day logos and 2004 Mother's Day logos - I seem to be missing 2006 and 2005 coverage.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

A couple weeks ago, I ran a poll asking do you currently have a job. We have just under 400 responses, which I would consider a great sampling, and I wanted to share those results with you.

According to our survey, 7% of search marketers are out of a job and consider themselves unemployed. The current unemployment rate is 9%, so it looks like the SEM space is a bit better off, but not all that much better off.

65% of the respondents said they are an employee of a company, while 25% said they are self-employed. 7% said they are currently unemployed and 2% answered "other." The other responses included:

• Employee and Self Employed
• Retired
• at a startup working for equity...no pay yet
• Both Employee and Self-Employed
• yes - employee, i also do web development and graphic design
• yes, employee, but barely. layoffs keep coming. kind of scard.
• Was employed, quit, now self-employed and better off
• Freelance but looking for permanent

I was kind of hoping the responses would be a bit more encouraging in this industry. I was hoping to see closer to 4 or 5%. Why? Well, in this industry, even if you are out of a job, many can do begin their own job, work for themselves and put together a livable income. The 25% figure for those who are self-employed seemed high to me, but not high for this industry. Last figure I saw was from 2007, where the overall US self-employment rate was at just under 9%.

Do you think the figures above, i.e. 7% unemployment in the search marketing industry, sounds right? Do these numbers shock you in any way?

Forum discussion continued at Search Engine Watch Forums.

I wanted to run a quick poll to see how many of you are employed in this deep recession. The poll is completely anonymous and it would help others gauge how safe or unsafe the search marketing industry is during this recession. Please take the poll below and tell your friends to take it.

A Search Engine Watch Forums thread seems to believe that the search marketing industry is doing excellent these days. In fact, this person says that there are plenty of job openings and very few skilled SEMs to fill those positions. Do you agree?

Are you currently employed or looking for work in the SEM field? Please take the poll above and tell your colleagues and friends to take the poll.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

One of the oldest areas of unspoken SEO blogging is the SEO Code. In short, blogging (now inclusive of Twitter) is a dangerous thing in this industry. On the one hand, you want to break stories, post something unique and different and even cause a buzz to get lots of people talking about your blog. On the other hand, you don't want to be ousted by the community for 'outing' any other SEO.

Todd (aka Stuntdubl) took the time to write a post named What's your SEO code? In that post is classifies various types of people in the industry. But I take offense to the classification of the "Journalist" and I'll quote him:

For people whose business model is based on news, hype, ratings, and traffic - they’re going to out as much stuff as they can to get the traffic. Just the same as traditional media, they are not active practicioners of SEO. The trouble becomes when you are an active practicioner of SEO and don’t respect your craft enough to have a solid code.

Todd is the same person who commented on our code, the Search Engine Roundtable Code of Ethics - which was one of the first ever code of ethics written in the SEO blogging space. Todd said then, in 2005:

Very nice to put the "unwritten rules" down on paper Barry. You've done a very nice job earning everyone's respect, and it's a tough thing to do.

Being one of the people who probably generates the most news or journalistic oriented content in this industry. I.e. I write several posts here per day and write several at Search Engine Land, including manage virtually all the topics that get written by other authors or go into the SearchCap. I might take offense when Todd, who I respect, calls Journalists in our industry people who do not "respect your craft." That cannot be further from the truth.

I know Todd was likely not thinking of me personally when calling Journalists out - so I have no ill-will towards him. But some might take Todd's blog post the wrong way, which is why I write about it today.

From someone who has been writing in this industry for six years or so. From someone who created one of the first SEO blogging ethics ever. From someone who, I believe, never really crossed that line. I hope the Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Land prove that you don't have to sell out to blog in this industry.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

If you visit Google.com today, you may notice a new logo on the home page. The logo looks like this:

The logo is to remember Samuel Morse who was born on April 27, 1791. Today is his birthday, and Samuel Morse invented Morse code.

We have several threads on the topic, many of them asking why is Google's logo broken. In fact, one asked why is Google's logo not fully loading?

Googler, Jamie created a Google Web Search Thread specifically to talk about why Google changes their logo on special days.

FYI, Google had a Google Braille logo back in 2006.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help, Google Webmasters Help and DigitalPoint Forums.

Today is Earth Day and many of the search engines have created special logos to remind people of the day! We have Earth Day logos from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft's Live.com, AOL, Ask.com, DogPile and others!

Google:

Yahoo (animated):

AOL (animated):

Live.com:

Ask.com:

DogPile:

Cre8asite Forums:

Search Engine Roundtable:

We covered the logos for the past several years including 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums & Cre8asite Forums.

Today is the holiday of Easter, it is also Passover. Some search engines have special logos and themes for the day, while others don't. Google, Yahoo & AOL are all missing special logos for Easter or Passover. Microsoft's Live.com, Ask.com, DogPile and a few others do have special Easter themes and logos. Here they are:

Microsoft's Live.com theme:

Ask.com:

DogPile:

Cre8asite Forums:

Bruce Clay:

Happy Holidays!

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.

I wrote a big write up at Search Engine Land on the various search related April Fools gimmicks over here. Here, let me focus on the forum threads I found related to questions on the various April Fools jokes.

Google went back to 1990 with CADIE: Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity. In short, the intelligently designed this awesome blog. Honestly, I am not too much into the joke. The funny part is that someone asked "How can I install Gmail Autopilot by CADIE in my gmail account?" Hmm, April Fools!

Cre8asite Forums renamed to Cre8abanana:

Finally, you may have noticed that visiting this site, will spring you for an April Fools hoax. The hoax changes if you are on a PC or Mac.

Mac users (or linux) get the ever so scary kernel panic:

PC users users get the blue screen of death:

Hope it didn't freak you out too much. Honestly, every time I visit this site and get that hoax, I get nervous. Something about seeing the kernel panic that scares me, even though I know it is a hoax.

I wrote a big write up at Search Engine Land on the various search related April Fools gimmicks over here.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help, Cre8asite Forums and Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Today is the first day of spring and Google, Live.com, AOL, FriendFeed and others have special logos and themes live on their home pages today. It is also Nowruz, the beginning of the Iranian year and is a secular holiday - FriendFeed's logo is around that. Also, March Madness is this week, so we have a logo from DogPile for NCAA basketball. Only major search engine missing a logo today is Yahoo.

Let's start with Spring logos:

Google:

Now, there is something you may have missed, as Kalena Jordan found, Google New Zealand accidently linked the result to the "First Day of Fall" and not the "First Day of Autumn." It seems to have been corrected now, but it is not Fall in New Zealand, it is now Autumn.

AOL (animated):

Live.com has a theme with spring related "hot spots:"

Search Engine Roundtable's theme:

FriendFeed has the Nowruz logo:

DogPile has a March Madness logo:

Forum discussion on the Google New Zealand slip up at Sphinn and other logos at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! The mandatory line, please drink responsibly! I wanted to share with you the logos from around our industry celebrating the day. We have logos from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft's Live.com, AOL, Ask.com, DogPile, YouTube and others!

Google:

Yahoo (animated):

AOL (animated):

Live.com:

Ask.com:

DogPile:

YouTube:

Cre8asite:

PPC Hero:

Search Engine Roundtable:

We covered the logos for the past several years including 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

Update: It seems, Googler JohnMu made his Google profile icon green for today. How funny!

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Late last week, I polled our readers, asking them how are you weathering the recession. As it turns out, most SEM and SEO companies are saying, they are doing just fine. In fact, most said they have seen a recent spike in sales leads with a recent spike in actual sales.

As I reported then, some companies have noticed a recent turn around in business after being hit by a slow down to the recession. That same day, the market fell to its 52 week low at 6,469.95. But yesterday it rose almost 400 points, so maybe a positive sign? Who knows, this whole economy and recession is confusing and depressing, to say the least.

That being said, many businesses said they saw a recent pick up in sales. Let me give you the break down of the 130 responses.

How Is Business Doing For You Now?:
:: Increase In Leads said 41 respondents or 32%
:: Increase in Sales said 26 respondents or 20%
:: Decrease in Sales said 22 respondents or 17%
:: No Change in Sales said 16 respondents or 12%
:: No Change in Leads said 15 respondents or 12%
:: Decrease in Leads said 10 respondents or 8%

I would like to point out a comment from Chris Elwell, President of Third Door Media:

It is pretty typical in downturns that spending starts slowly in a new year. Decisions are reviewed to death before spending decisions are made. But investing in growth can't be put off forever, and inevitably some initiatives are approved.

Forum discussion continued at HighRankings Forum.

In March 2007, Google Israel had a special logo for today's Jewish holiday, Purim. Last year and today, there is no special logo at Google Israel or Google or any of the search engines that I looked at, including Yahoo, Live.com, Ask.com, or even DogPile.

But that is okay, we have a special theme live for the holiday. Here is a picture of it, but you can see the whole theme live at the Search Engine Roundtable:

We also had a theme last year and a picture of that is over here.

Maybe Google will have a logo in 2010? It is a fun holiday and they can go wild with the logo, if they like.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

You think Google is a "geeky" company? Well, they did not have a special logo for Pi Day last year, nor do they have a special logo for today, Square Root Day.

What is Square Root Day? Well, today is 3-3-9 and it is celebrated on "dates where the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits in the current year," according to Wikipedia. The next time it is celebrated will be on April 4, 2016, so it doesn't happen all that often.

We decided to put up a special theme for the day, even though no other search engine did. Here is our theme:

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and Google Webmaster Help.

Update: Google's Twitter account posted a mention saying, "Happy Square Root Day from all of us at Google!" at 5:16pm (EST) linking to a search result for square root of 9.

Search Engine Strategies is just three weeks away now and that means the IM Charity Party will be raising funds for those in need.

The party will take place at Heartland Brewery in Union Square, New York. It happens on March 23rd, starting at 8pm and goes until midnight.

This party is open to anyone who donates $50 to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To donate, go to IMCharityParty.com and click on "buy tickets."

You can also win prizes from the raffle, including:

• Ionic Hair Dryer & Flat iron. ( $400) Courtesy of Folica
• Wine Gift Set - 6 Bottles ($100) Courtesy of My Wine Direct
• 1 Year SEOmoz PRO Elite membership ($2299) Courtesy of SEOmoz
• 3 - 1 Year Subscriptions to Fantomasters’ 10 Links A Day ($1044) Courtesy of Fantomaster
• 1 pass to SMX East, Oct. 5-7, 2009 ($1595) Courtesy of SMX
• 5 - 1 Year Search Engine Land Premium memberships ($149) Courtesy of Search Engine Land
• 2 Passes to SES San Jose, Aug. 10-13, 2009 ($1995) Courtesy of SES
• 2 Passes to Any SES Search Engine Marketing Training Workshop ($1345) Courtesy of SES

GoodROI said in a private WebmasterWorld thread:

If you plan on attending either drink soda or bring a notebook and pen. You just might have a hard time remembering those juicy tips after drinking for a few hours :)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

The other day we wrote about being your own SEO client isn't easy, but clearly that doesn't stop the bulk of you from working on your own solo projects. We ran a poll, asking which would you rather do? Either work with clients or do your own work? Most of you said, you prefer to do both and mix it up.

Here is the break down of the 126 responses:

:: Both Clients & My Projects said 56 respondents or 44.44%
:: For My Projects said 48 respondents or 38.1%
:: For Client Projects said 22 respondents or 17.46%

The results really do not surprise me at all. Doing both client work and self work give you the advantage of a stable income while experimenting on how you can make yourself rich overnight. ;-)

There are many quality comments in our previous article on the topic of being your own SEO client from first hand SEOs who have done it both.

Forum discussion continued at HighRankings Forum.

Today is the ever so popular Mardi Gras and some of the search engines have special logos for the day. Google, Yahoo and Ask.com are missing logos, but AOL, DogPile, Live.com and others have logos. Let me archive those logos for you below:

AOL's animated logo:

Live.com's theme:

DogPile's Logo:

We, the Search Engine Roundtable, have a special theme up:

Today, supposedly is also international pancake day and PPC Heros has a special something for that.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

comScore released their January 2009 report on search market share, and for the first time in a while, Google's share declined month to month.

In December 2008, Google had a 63.5 % share, but in January, they dropped down to a 63.0% share. Yahoo gained month to month with a gain from 20.5% to 21.0%.

Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in December with 63.0 percent of the searches conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites (21.0 percent), Microsoft Sites (8.5 percent), AOL LLC (3.9 percent) and Ask Network (3.7 percent).

In any event, you need to understand this is month to month and you need to look at the numbers over time. So I wouldn't jump to any conclusions after looking at the monthly numbers.

A WebmasterWorld thread is discussing this and one member said something very funny, as to a possible explanation:

maybe it had to do with that malware issue to which google was linking people

Could be... They go to Google, do a search on that Saturday and freak out and leave. Then they head over to #2, Yahoo.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Today is President's Day, a legal holiday in the United States. It is around the time of Washington's birthday and it is used to celebrate all the Presidents of the United States every year. But today, Google and Yahoo do not have logos for the day.

We know Darwin one upped Lincoln at Google on their birthdays, but to go silent completely on President's Day? It should not come as a surprise for those who have been tracking Google or Yahoo logos. Last year, Google and Yahoo did not show their American pride either.

In any event, we did have logos from AOL, Ask.com, Live.com, DogPile and we have our own theme. Plus Google did have a logo up for a short period of time, more on that later.

AOL's logo:

Live.com's Theme:

Ask.com's Theme:

DogPile's Theme:

Search Engine Roundtable's Theme:

As you can see, most went with Mount Rushmore.

Google did have a special logo up for a short period of time. It was up on February 13th. Here is that logo:

Philipp Lenssen explains, "at 2009-02-13 23:31:30 UTC specifically, the Unix time stamp in decimal was 1234567890. "For the occasion, Google very briefly put up a special logo," Philipp added. Check out some more details on this at 1234567890day.com.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Here are the logos from the various search engines:

Google had two logos, depending on where in the world you were:

Yahoo's animated logo:

AOL's animated logo:

Live.com's Theme:

Ask.com's Theme:

DogPile's logo:

YouTube's logo:

Cre8asite Forum's Logo:

BruceClay's logo:

Search Engine Roundtable (us) Theme:

For the past years, see Valentines 2008, Valentines 2007, Valentines 2006 and Valentines 2005.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

I cannot tell you how many horrible SEO articles I read at major publications. Be it from giving advice on SEO that is completely wrong and out-dated to trashing the SEO industry because of taking the wrong advice. The other day, John Dvorak decided to bash the SEO industry because he took the wrong advice from a so-called SEO. John's article was named SEO Fiascoes: The Trouble with Search Engine Optimization.

In his article, he explains how the advice given to him by an SEO totally killed his blog. He concludes from getting bad advice from one so-called SEO that the whole SEO product line is a scam and that you shouldn't waste your time and money with it, unless you have a site built in Flash.

I often skip writing about this articles, but this one took it to the heart of many SEOs.

There is a large Sphinn thread with tons of comments from our community on the topic. Let me isolate a few of those comments for you:

The problem with Dvorak's article is not that he's bashing SEO's and bad suggestions. He's bashing SEO as a principal, and that is where I feel this is an article that promotes ignorance. You would think a man who works for a tech magazine, and owns a website, would know how research basic seo methods.

If this article would have taken the position that he got bad seo advice from bad seo's, then I would completely agree with you. However, it does not. It bashes seo as a principal, and that is just completely misinforming his readership and the readership of PCMag, and that is wrong. He is blaming SEO's for his own misguided problems.

He is a site owner, and he is not doing his due-diligence. It's like owning a car. We have two people that own cars. One does not put oil in his, and the other does. As a car owner, it's up to both to maintain their cars, and know that you should put oil in it. Now the guy not putting oil in his car is pissed because his car doen't work, so to hell with all cars. That, in essence is his argument.

I took on Dvorak's asinine attack on SEO, too. His ignorance certainly seems to have ruffled a great number of our feathers, but let's not forget one important fact: that is EXACTLY what it was intended to do. :)

Other than that, SEO defending SEO is like republicans defending Bush or Wall Street fat cats defending big bonuses. Zero credibility due to obvious bias. Outcries against Shoemoney saying "SEO has no future" or Calcanis saying "SEO is bullshit" or Dvorak saying "SEO = SOS" is a road to nowhere.

Let's not forget, Danny bashing Dvorak and his kind in his keynote yesterday.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Today is Groundhog day and some search engines have a special logo for the day. While some are still sporting Super Bowl 43 themes, from one of the best Super Bowls ever played.

Let's start with AOL's flash logo for Groundhog day:

Also, Dogpile has an animated GIF logo, but here is a static version:

We have a Groundhog Day theme:

Dogpile had a Super Bowl theme:

YouTube still has a special logo live for Super Bowl:

Live Search has a sweet picture for the Super Bowl:

Google, Yahoo and Ask.com all are missing logos for either day, just like the past years.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

It has now been a year since adCenterEU, the official Microsoft adCenter representative at WebmasterWorld, has posted at the forum. His last post can be found at a thread named Microsoft To Serve Ads On WSJ Digital Network where he said:

Thankyou pageoneresults!

Nice comments like that get us all fired up!

:-)

Cheers

adCenterEU

That was on January 29, 2008 at 12:12 pm (EST). Since then, not one peep from adCenterEU.

How about adCenterEU's US counterpart, adCenter411? Well, that representatives last post was on February 18, 2008 at 11:36 am in a thread named Is it posible to split test ads with adcenter.

So why aren't adCenter representatives still participating at WebmasterWorld? I know they have launched a major initiative to education at the adCenter Community, but should they ignore where they got their start? I hope not.

Forum discussion, well - it doesn't exist.

Yesterday was the Chinese New Year and if you visited the main Yahoo.com site, you would have noticed a cute and animated logo for the day. Here is it, just in case you missed it.

But visiting Google.com did not show a logo for the day. Instead you needed to visit a localized version of Google, such as the Google Malaysia site. You would have noticed this logo:

Some are upset that Google did not put the logo on their main Google.com site, like Yahoo has done.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

In the past two days, Google and Microsoft have announced earnings. Google's announcement is over here and Microsoft's announcement is over here.

The market had time to react to Microsoft's announcement of cutting 5,000 jobs and a weak outlook on sales and products. Microsoft (MSFT) saw a 11.71% drop in their stock price based on that announcement. Google released their earnings report yesterday, after the market closed. It is hard to predict if their stock price will rise or fall but they are currently down 2.67% in the after market. Although Google's revenue was up 18%, they saw a 68% drop in fourth-quarter profit.

We have lots of discussion around the two announcements. Google discussion at WebmasterWorld,Microsoft job cuts discussion at WebmasterWorld and Microsoft earnings discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums. Plus respective coverage at Techmeme.

Today is the day Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States of America. It is Inauguration day and this one, is more hyped up then any other inauguration I have ever witnessed.

That being said, we have logos from AOL, Live.com, DogPile and yours truely - but nothing from Google, Yahoo or Ask.com. I find it particularly interesting that Google doesn't have a special logo, knowing that the Google executives are huge Obama supporters. In any event, here are the logos I currently see, maybe Google will have a logo a bit later on.

AOL's animated logo:

Live.com's background theme:

DogPile's awesome Barack cartoon:

And our special theme:

Forum discussion at the Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

SEMPO is running their yearly survey for in-house SEMs. They are asking all in-house SEMs to take the salary survey. The survey is available at this location and is available until February 20th, 2009.

The survey is 22 questions and should not take more then 10 minutes. It is also completely anonymous.

I am very interested in seeing how the recession may or may not impact SEM salaries and jobs. So if you have ten minutes, go take that survey.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and many of the search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Live.com, AOL, and others are remembering the day with special logos. Here is a collection of logos from the various search engines in 2009. For last year's collection, see over here.

Google:

Yahoo:

AOL:

DogPile:

Live.com:

Ask.com:

And us, at the Search Engine Roundtable:

Tomorrow is inauguration day, so expect a batch of additional logos for tomorrow.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Happy New Years Search Engine Roundtable readers! I would like to wish you a happy and healthy 2009 from myself and the whole search industry. To keep up our tradition, below is a collection of special logos from the 2009 New Years. The logos are from the search engines Google, Yahoo, Live.com, Ask.com, AOL, Dogpile, Baidu and search community sites BruceClay, Cre8asite Forums and us.

Google's Logo:

Yahoo's Animated Logo:
Seems like Yahoo had a calendar that said December 31, but on New Years itself, they have nothing this (updated, a reader sent me what they had).

Live.com's Theme:

AOL's Animated Logo:

Ask.com's Theme:
2008...

2009...

DogPile's Logo:

Baidu's Logo:

BruceClay's Logo:

Cre8asite Forums Logo:

Search Engine Roundtable's Theme:

Want to go back to the past? Here are logos from New Years 2008, New Years 2007, Google's 2006 logo, Search Engine Roundtable's 2006 logo, Cre8asite's 2005.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums, Google Webmaster Help, DigitalPoint Forums, HighRankings Forum, Search Engine Watch Forums, Cre8asite Forums, and WebmasterWorld.

At High Rankings Forums, there's a disgruntled individual who has been looking for honest copywriters and hasn't had any luck. All have been deadbeats.

Maybe this individual isn't looking in the right place, given that there are a lot of good copywriters out there that I know. So how do you find them?

* Get a reference before you hire them.
* Buy a cheap writing sample to see what you're getting into.
* Speak with site owners and find out if they have professional writers on staff who can help with content production.
* Copy+paste snippets of text to make sure they're providing original and not plagiarized content.

How do you spot good copywriters?

Forum discussion continues at High Rankings Forums.

Know everything there is to know about search? You sure about that? Matt McGee is hosting the 2nd annual search quiz and you're invited to challenge me and others.

Last year, I won this cool contest, but this year, well, I won't tell you -- I'll wait for Matt to tell you himself :)

You have till tomorrow evening to play, so be sure to sign up now!

Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.

According to MacWorld, a small company has filed suit against Google, Apple, and Microsoft over a patent for document previews, claiming it owned the patent before the three companies utilized the technology. The patent was applied for in 2001. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday.

Will they prevail against three tremendous and very powerful technology companies? Most are assuming it will be very hard. Others are betting that they'll settle out of court.

My question: hello, guys -- this is not new technology and you had plenty of time to react. Why are you suing these companies now?

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

Additional discussion is at Techmeme.

I just wanted to wish everyone a warm and happy holidays! Every year I try to echo the same message about our industry. From the search engines, the search marketing firms and the search community, this industry is truly a pleasure to be working in. The warmth and care I have personally experienced in the industry is very meaningful to me. So thank you and have a wonderful holidays!

As it is tradition at the Search Engine Roundtable, we have for the past five years, documented the holiday logos from the search engines and search industry. Here they are:

Google has five logos, here they are in order:

Yahoo's animated logo:

Live.com's holiday theme:

DogPile has a Christmas and Chanukah theme:

Ask.com has a nice theme:

AOL.com's logo is actually animated also:

Baidu:

FriendFeed has a logo:

Quintura's logo:

BruceClay has two logos:

Hitwise dresses up their logo:

Marketing Pilgrim is colorful:

PPC Heros is ready:

Cre8asite Forums:

Search Engine Roundtable, that is us, we have a new theme every day. Here are the ones you have seen, including Chanukah, Festivus and Christmas - but we got more to come!

That is the logo roundup, hope I did not miss anyone.

Want to go back to the past years? Here are the 2007 logos, plus Google's five logos, 2006 logos, Cre8asite in 2005, also '05 Search Engine Roundtable and '05 Google, Yahoo and Ask, plus we have 2004 and some of 2003 archived for you.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help, Google Docs Help, WebmasterWorld, HighRankings Forums, WebmasterWorld, and Cre8asite Forums.

Search Engine Land has a new look as of this morning. The new look really makes the site look more "news" oriented. Stories are no longer in chronological order all the time. We (I am the news editor) have the ability to control which sections the content shows up and for how long. This is great flexibility that Danny, Greg, Matt and the rest of the team will use.

In addition, my favorite feature is that readers can comment directly at Search Engine Land. This way, if you hate what I wrote, you can blast me right there. Instead of having to submit the story to Sphinn, or sending me hate mail. This should make for good times.

There is also a new premium membership, which I recommend you sign up for. You get a lot in return and it is your way at giving back to the community. I personally do this at many sites, including WebmasterWorld and SEOmoz, amongst others.

Huge kudos to the team who worked for months and months to get the new design, features and format live. It totally is impressive and makes me want to redo the Search Engine Roundtable - which would mean scrap Movable Type for a custom built CMS (I will never go with WordPress).

Anyway, I hope you like the new features - I sure do!

Forum discussion on the new design and features at Sphinn.

Last night, those of us who celebrated Chanukah lit the first candle. This means it's holiday season officially! Google is also building momentum with their holiday festivities with two new images:

And given that there are 8 days of Chanukah, we're doing something special at Search Engine Roundtable. Every night around the time the Daily Search Rountup comes out, we'll have a new theme. Here's our first logo which is live until later this afternoon:

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums and Cre8asite Forums.

Last week was the SES Chicago show, we were unable to make it, but I am hearing a lot of buzz about it from the community. As someone who has been reporting on the industry for over five years now, I found one topic pretty interesting.

It seems like either SEO "blackhats" are becoming more "whitehat" or that we are all starting to understand each other a lot better or maybe, the line has blurred more over the years. What makes me say this now?

Well, besides for many folks, including (I am 99% sure) Matt Cutts of Google claiming that more and more blackhats are learning that its best to go whitehat - we have a post from the whitest of whitehats, Doug Heil. Now, if you don't know Doug, Doug has been in the industry for a really long time - he has always been on the extreme whitehat side. So much so, he has taken stances against certain conferences, forums and individuals in the industry.

Doug, for the first time (I believe), attended and spoke at the Search Engine Strategies show. In fact, he spoke on a panel named Black Hat, White Hat & the Best Kept Secrets to Search. Now, he spoke on the panel with Richard Zwicky, Eric Enge, Todd Friesen, and David Naylor. I assume Todd and David were the blackhats and Richard and Eric were the whitehats. Now, for Doug to agree to sit down on a panel at an SES with blackhats is major. But it is even more major how Doug described his experience at his forums, I Help You Forums and Search Engine Watch Forums.

He outed Todd as a whitehat:

Todd Friesen; This dude rocks. He tries his best to maintain the blackhat image, but trust me; after having quite a few talks with him, he's nothing but pure BS and totally whitehat. That's right; whitehat. You've been outed Todd. I think he understands my definition of cloaking now as well.

Actually; Todd (oilman) has been a whitehat for a very long time. I simply confirmed my own thoughts last week about it. Yes; he buys links, but buys them for large .com's with lots of quality incoming links. That's a big difference from the small to medium who are buying those links. If Todd buys 5 links for someone like amazon.com, I call that buying paid advertising. NO risk at all.

And claimed that David Naylor will soon be a whitehat:

Dave is really nothing but a teddybear. He's a blackhat, but I think I can sway him to the other side eventually.

Naylor? He will be a whitehat in due time. He's not much a blackhat anyhoo.

Really good stuff, in fact - he is now open to communication with "blackhats," which is a wonderful thing.

But you see, Doug also seems to imply that certain link buys and certain forms of redirection are not considered blackhat. I do not know if Doug always felt this way, but for some reason - I think 4 years ago, he would not have found buying links "for someone like amazon.com" as "buying paid advertising." Nor would I have thought he would be okay with any form of "content delivery" in any way.

So what has happened over the years? I think the most important thing is that Google is more detailed about what is allowed and what is not allowed. Clearly there are forms of content delivery and redirection that is allowed. But four years ago, that was a mystery. Link buys, well - Doug's comments surprised me.

In any event, I am really happy to see a more open dialog between the whitehat side of things and the blackhat side of things. Now if we can get Doug to sit down with Ralph Tegtmeier (a.k.a. Fantomaster) at SES London. :)

Forum discussion at I Help You Forums and Search Engine Watch Forums.

SEM Insights posts results of a survey that included 254 SEM professionals on all levels. Who are our SEM colleagues? How many years of experience do they have? What is their job title and income?

After tallying all the results, it seems that the majority of respondents have the following in common:
* They have beginner knowledge of SEO (1-2 years) - 19%
* Their title is best represented as "search director" - 19%
* Most are making less than $50k/year - 35%
* The majority's highest level of education is Bachelor's Degree - 48%
* Most feel that title tag is the the most important SEO element - 51%
* Most believe that the biggest challenge facing SEOs today from a sales perspective is lack of mainstream knowledge - 41%
* Most believe that the biggest challenge facing SEOs today from a deliverables perspective is undefined expectations - 46%

And there's more. The survey is divided into other categories, including SEO at work, search conferences (83% think it's important to attend them!), SEM and Affiliate Marketing, and the future of SEM. I wouldn't do the survey justice by reposting all the results, so I've given you just a small amount of what you can see if you hop on over to the survey results.

The one question I have which I pose in the Sphinn discussion is: why are there so many beginner level SEOs? Do they end up moving to other careers after 1-2 years? (Or is SEO just such a new field that they are just learning about it and are still in the beginning stages?)

Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.

What does one in this industry do when they find out that one of their own is out of a job? In most industries, everyone just says "sorry" and then they go on about their day. But not on Search Engine Watch Forums. Long-standing member abbottsys is about to close a door on a job he's had for awhile but forum members are keeping his spirits up. Even AdWordsRep has recounted memories of a not-so-plentiful past where the job market wasn't really working out for him either. The words of encouragement, however, were to keep his head held up high.

One forum member is already jumping to get abbottsys on board and is encouraging him to apply for a new job.

It's great to see how this industry actually cares about each other and how it's a community and a family.

Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums.

We wanted to wish all you American's a Happy Thanksgiving. As you can see, if you click through to the Search Engine Roundtable, we have a special theme live for the day - it is worth checking out. In addition, many search search engines and search related sites have special logos or themes live. Let me take you through them, as I do every year, at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Google's Logo:

Yahoo's flash logo:

Live.com's theme:

Ask.com's theme:

DogPile's logo:

AOL's logo (which is also animated):

FriendFeed's Logo:

Cre8asite Forums Logo:

Search Engine Roundtable's theme:

For the past years, see Thanksgiving 2007, Thanksgiving 2006, Thanksgiving 2005 and Thanksgiving 2004.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and we will likely postpone all new posts until tomorrow.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Today is a day to thank our troops for their bravery and all they have done for this country. As a way to thank our troops, Google, DogPile, Live.com and the Search Engine Roundtable have put together logos and themes for the day. I personally do not currently see a special logo or theme from Yahoo or Ask.com, which is unusual.

Google's Veterans Day Logo:

Update: Google left out coast guard so they updated the logo:

DogPile's special logo:

Live.com's awesome background image:

Our theme:

In 2004, Ask Jeeves and Cre8asite Forums had special logos and in 2007, DogPile and Google had special logos.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Today is election day in the United States of America, if you haven't noticed. To note the day, several major search related sites, including us, have posted special logos, themes and content. Note, Yahoo does not have a special logo for the day, but they have a rocking political dashboard to keep tab on your next president.

Here is a run down of logos and themes:

Google:

DogPile:

Microsoft's Live.com:

Ask.com:

Search Engine Roundtable:

Go Vote!

Update: Here is Yahoo's Flash logo:

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Today is Columbus Day and we have a special theme up for the day. It looks like this:

But if you visit Google, you will see a Paddington Bear 50th birthday logo up for today. The logo looks like this:

Boy does that bring back memories. Of course, the logo links to a Google search result for paddington bear.

Happy birthday Paddington Bear and happy Columbus Day also!

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day, one of the geekiest days of the year. Yes, our geek companies are loving up the day!

Google Pirate Search interface, via Google Blog:

Dogpile pirate looking dog:

Facebook's translation via TechCrunch:

FriendFeed's logo:

Our, Search Engine Roundtable's theme:

Finally, I dressed up for the day!

Last year Flickr had a pirate logo, but not this year. And Ask.com in 2005 dressed up Jeeves as a Pirate, not since.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Like last year, Google, Yahoo and Ask.com do not have special logos up for Labor Day. But Dogpile and even Live.com have logos or themes live for the day.

Here is DogPile's logo:

Live.com has a mention of Labor Day in one of their mouse over elements:

We at the Search Engine Roundtable have a theme for Labor Day:

It is not uncommon for Google and Yahoo not to have logos for Labor Day. They didn't have them ever before, we documented it in 2007, 2005 and 2004. Memorial Day is also a day Google won't display a logo, this year, they told us:

Thank you for your note. We understand your interest in seeing a Memorial Day Google logo. If we were to commemorate this holiday, we'd want to express reverence; however, as Google's special logos tend to be lighthearted in nature, this would be a particularly challenging design.

We wouldn't want to create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful in any way.

We have a long list of holidays that we'd like to celebrate in the future. We have to balance this rotating calendar with the need to maintain the consistency of the Google homepage. We really appreciate your feedback regarding the Google logo, and please be assured that we're actively pursuing ways in which we can acknowledge Memorial Day and other such occasions in the future.

Regards,

The Google Team

American's, enjoy the day!

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Congratulations to Search Marketing Standard Magazine for their recent acquisition by iNET Interactive. We first reported about the print publication in January 2006 and now it has gotten bigger as Andrey Milyan reports on Crea8site Forums.

In case you didn't know, the Search Marketing Standard magazine is a print magazine "with a goal to provide readers with practical, relevant and easy-to-understand information that [marketers] could apply to directly improve their search engine marketing campaigns." Many people in the industry have contributed to the magazine in the past with informative articles and good information. The magazine up until the acquisition was staffed by the following people:

• Publishers - Boris Mordkovich & Eugene Mordkovich
• Editor-in-Chief - Andrey Milyan
• Associate Editor - Frances Krug
• Advertising Director - Alex Lukashov
• Office Manager - Alina Vernikov
• Graphic Designer - Jonathan Limoanco

Will the magazine change at all? It's still too early to tell, but they are considering a more frequent publishing schedule since people love reading search engine news offline too.

Pretty cool -- congratulations to the entire team.

Forum discussion continues at Cre8asite Forums.

Back in June, I told you the story I had with and other SEOs had with the Most Dependable awards being given to SEOs and Web Design companies, amongst others.

In short, a company named Goldline Research calls you, telling you that they create an "editorial" page in a popular magazine, like Entrepreneur magazine and others. The page will highlight your company as the most dependable in your niche and region.

The catch? If you are selected, you need to pay a fee. After going through the contracts myself, I noticed the fee was $3,500. I was a bit skeptical about it, but when I spoke to Goldline about that fee, they were honest and told me that it was to cover the costs of printing, research and so on. They said the content was editorial and these magazines would not let them buy an ad if they abused the editorial part.

In any event, I personally decided not to enroll my company. Why? It just felt off for me.

Yesterday, we were told by Miguel Salcido of eVisibility, an SEO company I respect, that they fell for it. Miguel told us and updated the HighRankings Forum thread, saying he just received a bill from Goldline Research for the amount of $5,500! He had no idea he was going to receive a bill for it and was shocked to see it. In fact, he was embarrassed they fell for it. He said:

We were blown away and VERY angry as we never expected the invoice. They never mentioned it to us at all, I confirmed that for the 5th time with our CEO.

I feel so bad for Miguel and company. Miguel added:

We are embarrassed that we were involved in this. We were genuinely excited about it and felt that it was legitimate.

So, please, if this helps one other company learn that there is a fee behind this award, then I am happy. I won't argue that $3,500 or $5,500 might be money well spent for advertising in a popular magazine. But you should know you are spending money and what this is all about.

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum.

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China start officially today. To celebrate the day, Google, Yahoo and Ask.com all have logos and themes up. We also have our theme up, we hope you like it.

Here is the Google Logo:

Here is Yahoo's animated logo:

Here is the Ask.com theme:

Dogpile and Live Search do not have themes. It would have been nice to see a custom background with Olmypic "hotspots," maybe next year.

Here is our theme:

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

There is an excellent paid only WebmasterWorld thread on the topic of why would the best SEOs decide to take on client work, as opposed to building out their own ideas and cashing in on those ideas. The rational is, if they are the best, why not make a living doing your own thing then making someone else rich?

This debate really is valid in most "consulting" practices. But many SEOs get a thrill from helping other companies achieve their goals. In addition, not every SEO has the entrepreneurial spirit to run their own thing. Some do both and have client work as a way to reduce financial risk.

I personally run a web development shop named RustyBrick. Sometimes clients ask me, what is stopping you from taking our idea and doing it yourself? I respond, I am in the business of building web sites and software, not in the business of running other businesses. Of course, I have built out our own software and products but at the same time, most applications and software require a whole new business to operate them. In many cases, one doesn't have the means either financially, physically or emotionally to run a separate business.

There are many reasons why an SEO might do client work. What are some of yours?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld (note, paid access required).

I honestly hate to write about this and I will not be talking in any specifics. But in the past week or two there has been a lot of sadness around the industry, the search industry of course. No, this does not relate to Microsoft or Yahoo. No, this does not relate to Ask.com possibly giving up on search. This relates to the SEM/SEM community.

I will link you over to three Sphinn threads, all with opinions and comments that might make an outsider go - wow, this is sad. In all the years that I have covered this industry, and I have been doing this a really really long time, I have never really seen it at this level. It is like three or four different events and actions have overlapped at the same time to cause an incredible about of hurt throughout the industry.

If you are unaware of anything that is going on, then that is good and I suggest you do not get involved. As a matter of covering this as at this particular site, I must. As promised in our mission, I must report on the "Pulse of the Search Marketing Community" and the pulse right now is in hyperdrive and much of it is over anger, fear, dislike, a ton of miscommunication and it all amounts to not having respect for each other.

Respect is a key element in my personal life. Before doing anything, anything at all - I try so hard to think and say, is this how I would like to be treated. Like I said in the Search Engine Roundtable's Code of Ethics back in 2005.

What it comes down to is a deep consideration of respect towards the industry and the people within the industry.

In any event, I can just hope this short post impacts those who read this and understand what is going on.

Here are the three threads at Sphinn. Each thread links to a blog post, each blog post has comments and there are also comments at the Sphinn threads. Again, if you think nothing is going on, then I honestly would not read them - because they place a sad light over our industry and industry that has been struggling externally with respect issues and now has major respect issues internally - more than ever before.

• The Sphinn Expose - My Story About Social Media Networking, Sphinn
• I Refuse To Participate In The Vicious Nastiness Going On In Our Industry, Sphinn
• Unintended Consequences, Sphinn

Happy July 4th everyone! We have special logos and themes from across the search industry, including a special logo from Google, Yahoo and even a pretty neat theme from us, the Search Engine Roundtable.

Here is the logo from Google:

Here is the outstanding Yahoo Flash logo:

Ask.com's look:

MSN actually added some July 4th love:

Dogpile does not have a logo today, I am honestly shocked! They rocked it out the past years.

In any event, here are the logos from the various search marketing sites, including ours:

Here is PPC Hero:

Cre8asite Forums (logo might not be live yet):

Happy July 4th & Enjoy the Day! For a look at the past July 4th logos, see 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

Another tidbit of news is that John Mueller of Google, one of the hardest working people at Google, is taking a much deserved vacation. He announced his vacation at Google Groups on July 4th, saying he will be off until July 21st. Here is his message:

Hi everyone & happy 4th of July for those celebrating!

It's that time of year again, the kids are all fidgety and can't wait to get away from it all. I'll be off on vacation until July 21, when I hope to be back with fully charged batteries (thanks to solar energy :-))!

Lots of Googlers are still watching over the groups, and I'm glad that we have so many people regularly active here (thanks, everyone!!) that I know things will run smoothly.

See you all again soon!

John, enjoy the much deserved time off, we will miss you and come back soon!

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and DigitalPoint Forums.

Happy Father's Day fathers! We have a special video edition for you, where you can win schwag from Google, Yahoo, Live Search and others. In any event, I hope all the fathers out there have a wonderful day. Here are logos from the search engines to celebrate the day. Logos come from all the major search engines including Google and Yahoo but not Live Search, we also have logos from Ask.com, Dogpile, Cre8asite Forums and the Search Engine Roundtable. Here they are:

Google:

Yahoo:

Dogpile:

Ask.com

Cre8asite Forums:

Us, Search Engine Roundtable:

Last year, you can see the logos from Google, Yahoo, Dogpile, and the Search Engine Roundtable.

Happy Father's Day and forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Last night at 6:30pm (EST), Yahoo announced a search ad deal with Google and discontinued talks with Microsoft. As you would imagine, this made major news - so read all the news stories, go to Techmeme, they organized most of the major stories for this announcement, as they always do.

The angle I am going to take with this article is to find out if this is good for you - the advertiser and the publisher. Let me explain that I listened to Jerry Yang and Susan Decker of Yahoo on the 6:30 conference call last night. In that call, I learned that Yahoo will pick and choose which keywords and industries queries they will show Google search ads over their own Yahoo search ads. They continue to call the Google ads, Google AdSense for Search - but in my mind, isn't Yahoo just a distribution partner of Google AdWords? Anyway, that is not as important - I assume they will show up in your AdWords reports as a normal syndication partner would.

Yahoo first announced that they would be testing Google ads back on April 10th. The day after, we saw first signs of Google ads on Yahoo Search results. The ads continued for well over a week, which was a surprise to many. Some advertisers loved having only to manage one campaign, a Google campaign, to also show their ads on Yahoo. But when I polled advertisers and publishers if they wanted to see Google power Yahoo ads in the future, advertisers will split down the middle.

The pie chart above and the detailed chart below are the results of our poll:

Of course, we only polled a limited set of users - mostly advertisers and/or publishers.

I would suggest, if you haven't yet, go answer the poll so I can get more responses and publish the results again.

Clearly, the deal would make it easier for advertisers in that they only have to manage one campaign. Of course, Yahoo said their ads will still be live - so it doesn't fully take the responsibility off the advertiser to manage their Yahoo campaigns. Most advertisers prefer the Google ad management interface over Yahoos'. But having one major player in the space is also scary to manage advertisers and publishers - yes competition is a good thing.

Note: I should have added that the Google ads won't be live on Yahoo for about 3.5 months, while Yahoo awaits approval from the Senate.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums and Search Engine Watch Forums.

While I was at SMX West, I received a call from Goldline Research about being on a short list for being awarded one of the "Most Dependable" web development companies in New York. What caught my attention was that this award was supposedly being published in Entrepreneur Magazine, as an editorial article. I was very much into the idea, until I heard there was a fee if I was actually selected. Then I started to doubt the validity of the award. I did some research, to find out they do send out press releases and publish the awards in the magazine - but they were clearly not purely editorial in nature, in my opinion.

Why do I tell you this? Well, it seems like Goldline Research is now doing their rounds for "Most Dependable SEOs" in your state. A HighRankings Forum thread has a bunch of SEOs who were called to ask to be part of the "selection process." If selected, there would be a fee, but you would also be listed in Inc Magazine.

So I decided to see if the Goldline Research web site was given the right by any of these publications to list their names. I couldn't find inc mentioned on the site, nor was I able to spot Entrepreneur mentioned on their site at all. When I looked at past awards, I noticed magazines like Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine, Delta Airlines Sky Magazine, Texas Monthly, and a few local magazines.

The thread is very skeptical about the business practice, as one would imagine. I personally opted not to continue with the selection process. I did go as far as asking them to send me a contract, so I can review the details. It was at that point, where I learned I might have to pay $3,500.00 to Goldline. the contract also read very similar to an ad being placed in the magazine, even though the sales rep made it sound more like an editorial column.

In any event, I am not one to judge. Let the forum thread do that.

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum.

Historically, most search engines do not place a special logo up on their home page for Memorial Day. I am not sure why, I know it is just a U.S. holiday - but typically, the lack of a special logo, confuses many Americans.

This year, we had some search engines that historically have not placed a special logo for Memorial Day, place one. But Google, still, has yet to showcase a special logo for today. In any event, here is a run down of the special logos from Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile, Cre8asite Forums and yours truly.

Yahoo:

Ask.com:

Dogpile.com:

Cre8asite Forums:

Search Engine Roundtable:

Here is a look past at the previous years coverage of Memorial Day:

• Memorial Day Commemorated: Ask.com & Search Engine Roundtable
• Ask Jeeves Commemorates Memorial Day : 2005
• Memorial Day & Search Engines : 2004

Where is 2006? Well, I got married on Memorial Day weekend of that year.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Update: Where is Google's logo, the Stepforth blog has a comment from Google:

Thank you for your note. We understand your interest in seeing a Memorial Day Google logo. If we were to commemorate this holiday, we'd want to express reverence; however, as Google's special logos tend to be lighthearted in nature, this would be a particularly challenging design.

We wouldn't want to create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful in any way.

We have a long list of holidays that we'd like to celebrate in the future. We have to balance this rotating calendar with the need to maintain the consistency of the Google homepage. We really appreciate your feedback regarding the Google logo, and please be assured that we're actively pursuing ways in which we can acknowledge Memorial Day and other such occasions in the future.

Regards,
The Google Team

Yesterday was Mother's Day and the search engines and search industry blogs/forums had special themes and logos up for the day. Here is a compilation of the logos I found:

Google:

Yahoo (Flash):

Dogpile:

Ask.com

Cre8asite Forums

Search Engine Roundtable

Plus today, Google has a special logo on Google.co.uk for Florence Nightingale:

To view last years Mother's Day logos from the search engine industry, click here. Also, Gary Price has his quick Mother's Day facts.

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums, Search Engine Roundtable Forums, and DigitalPoint Forums.

Over the weekend, Microsoft finally backed off Yahoo and has decided to pull their offer to buy Yahoo and also decided they would not pursue a hostile takeover of the company. That sums it up basically. Now, if you want to read more, let me send you to Search Engine Land where we covered the news extensively.

• Microsoft Yanks Its Offer For Yahoo
• Leaving Las Yahoo: Microsoft's $5 Billion Mistake?
• Yahoo Next Steps: Google Deal, AOL Purchase & Pleasing Investors

Yes, this weekend's news is still dominating Techmeme's front page. So again, if you want to read Microsoft's letter to Yahoo or Yahoo's response or future thoughts, check out those links.

Many now believe Yahoo will begin outsourcing their search ads to Google. The advertisers want it based on the past test, it seems like Yahoo and Google both enjoyed it. So we should hear some news on that this week.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, and Search Engine Watch Forums.

At Search Engine Land, Barry writes about how a US court has decided that META keywords don't matter -- they are "immaterial." The tip came from Eric Goldman's blog where he writes about a recent case that held a company responsible for including trademarked terms in their meta tags.

In this case, because search engines don't use the actual META tags, there is no case. Jill Whalen says on Sphinn that you can test this easily by including a page with an arbitrary word and seeing if that word will come up in your search results once Google spiders the page.

META keywords are not discussed in this Google Help document which should support the law's findings.

However, as another member points out, Yahoo may be using these keywords to rank. In other words, the US Court is overly focused on Google, but perhaps they should weigh in on other search engines.

Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.

Today is Earth Day and the search industry is sporting special logos for the day. Here is a run down for the 2008 logos:

Google:

AOL:

Ask.com:

Cre8asite Forums:

Search Engine Roundtable (our theme, it actually glows):

Past earth day themes and logos from the search industry:

• Google, Ask.com & Yahoo! Earth Day Logos, 2007
• Search Engine Commemorate Earth Day 2006, 2006
• Ask Jeeves & Google Earth Day, 2005
• Google Commemorates Earth Day, 2004

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums

Kevin Heisler writes at Search Engine Watch that an "SEO agency" called Internet Advancement has been sued by Washington State and required to pay over $100,000 in fees for scamming its clients. Among the restitution includes penalties against offering services to new members and requiring refunds to be handed to scammed clients.

Some of their failures are outlined in this complaint (doc link) document. They include:

• Defendants represent they will be able to secure top 10 search engine rankings for their customers. In fact, in many instances, they are unable to do so.
• Defendants represent that their customers will obtain increased sales by obtaining defendants’ services. They have told customers to expect a “flood of traffic,” have promised thousands of “hits” a day, and have said the customers’ “only concern will be having extra employees to fill the orders.” In fact, in many instances, defendants’ services do not result in increased sales.
• Defendants represent that they have a “96% success rate” with their “over 47,000 clients.” In fact, they do not.

So what did they do wrong? They made false promises and lied about their service offerings. Additionally, as Kevin Heisler notes, they made unauthorized charges to clients' credit cards and lied about their standings with the Better Business Bureau.

Hopefully, for the sake of their clients who were scammed out of thousands of dollars, this company will be put to rest.

Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums.

The saga continues with a very unusual night for Yahoo yesterday. Let me catch everyone up with what happened yesterday. Follow the timeline, all reports are linked via Search Engine Land (times are estimates and EST):

• 15:00 (EST) - Confirmed: Yahoo To Test Google AdSense For Search Ads, has confirmed reports from Yahoo that they will be testing Google's ad on Yahoo.com search results in the US for a 2 week period.
• 16:00 (EST) - Microsoft: Forget It On Paid Search Partnership, Google & Yahoo, has a response from Microsoft that they will take them to court if they made an ad deal with Yahoo. Basically, it would give Google a 90% or more share of the search ad space.
• 21:30 (EST) - Report: Yahoo & AOL Approaching A Deal, has a second report from the WSJ that now even thought they are testing things with Google and Microsoft wants them, they may make a deal with AOL to bring in the AOL division in exchange for a cash investment.
• 22:00 (EST) - News Corp, Google, AOL, "MicroHoo" The Movie Enters A Surreal, Climactic Sequence, now we have reports from the NY Times that News Corp is interested in joining forces with Microsoft to make a bid for Yahoo.

Got all that, now that all happened in a 12 hour period yesterday. It was like, a wow, after a wow, after a wow and then another wow!

Michael Arrington thinks Yahoo is making a huge mistake:

It’s time to end this thing before Yahoo ends itself. I don’t care if they throw AOL, MySpace, and half the rest of the Internet into the deal along with Yahoo. But the health of the Internet demands a counter balance to Google.

He now says, "Yahoo-Microsoft, given the current state of things, is the only reasonable outcome."

I wonder what the major shareholders are thinking right now, especially after Yahoo's second largest investor, Legg Mason backed Yahoo against Microsoft, only now to have to deal with all this crazy news.

How will this impact SEMs? It is unclear right now. But if Google does power Yahoo's search ads, then it will make Google even stronger and that quality score and the Google slap can impact more SEMs then ever. Of course, it will give SEMs once less search ad company to master.

Forum discussion at these following threads:

• Confirmed: Yahoo To Test Google AdSense For Search Ads, Sphinn
• Breaking: Yahoo, AOL Close In on Tie-Up Deal, DigitalPoint Forums
• Microsoft Said to Be Talking With News Corporation About Joint Yahoo Bid, WebmasterWorld
• Microsoft: Forget It On Paid Search Partnership, Google , Sphinn
• Report: Yahoo , Sphinn
• Yahoo , Cre8asite Forums
• Yahoo search result show up Adsense?, Search Engine Roundtable Forums
• Yahoo Search to run Google ads, DigitalPoint Forums
• Yahoo to test search ad outsourcing with Google, WebmasterWorld
• Yahoo! Teams up with Google to Offer AdSense Ads in Yahoo! Search Results, DigitalPoint Forums
• Yahoo, Time Warner closing in on AOL deal: source, WebmasterWorld

Microsoft's CEO, Ballmer, sent Yahoo's board members a public letter saying:

If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board.

Basically, if you do not accept our offer in three weeks, then we will acquire you another way.

The news flew through the blogosphere and news pipelines, you can see a piece of that articles and blog posts at Techmeme.

There is some discussion on this at the forums. If you want to read SEO and Webmaster reactions, check out WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Personally, this just seems like corporate bullying done through the PR teams. I wonder how Yahoo's shareholders will see this and how this will impact any decision Yahoo makes. Thankfully, I am not in Yang or Decker's shoes right now.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Then this morning, Yahoo responds that they have rejected their offer. Not because they are opposed to a deal with Microsoft, but because they feel the price under values what Yahoo is worth. In short, Microsoft, if you want us, give us more money.

After Google finally acquired DoubleClick the controversy of Google now officially owning an SEM company was a reality. DoubleClick owned Performics, a company that sells SEM services, including SEO and PPC. Yes, a major conflict of interest. Google, officially announced that they will be selling off the search marketing side of Performics.

While that means a bunch of SEOs and SEMs jobs are bit up in the air now, the SEM community still feels, overall, that Google has made the right decision. Google's blog post explains the rational in selling it off:

It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business. Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers. While we have not yet identified a buyer, we’ve received preliminary interest from a number of our current partners. Search Marketing will continue to run as a separate entity until the division is sold.

Stand up in my opinion. On the other hand, Google will be keeping the affiliate marketing group of Performics. Google explains that keeping that division in the Google team will provide "enhanced value and reach for our affiliate advertisers, and additional tools and monetization opportunities for our publishers." I guess it can bolster the Google AdSense referral project and some of their DoubleClick ventures.

Did any individual influence this decision? I suspect Danny Sullivan and Google's Matt Cutts had an influence, I suspect Matt actually had a huge impact on that decision, but he can obviously not talk about it. In fact, I am glad it happened after our April Fools Matt Cutts Transfers to Performics – Will Assume Lead SEO Role (it would have killed that story if released a couple days earlier).

In any event, I wish the best to all the SEMs and SEOs at Performics. I am sure it will work out for the company and your jobs in the long run. You can always pitch clients that Google once owned your company, as John jokes. But the bottom line is that this is the right move by Google and most of the SEM community would agree on that. Of course, this decision comes to no surprise to any of us.

Forum discussion at Sphinn, WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

So, if you haven't noticed, today was April 1st. You know, April Fool's Day. Some of our little pranks were funny, while others were expected. Perhaps we should pull more pranks during the year when you guys least expect it.

In any event, for the 24 hours that marks April 1st on the East Coast (which is still ongoing), we were the Search Engine Squaretable. And we also had some interesting news:

• Microsoft Buys Yahoo So Google Buys Microsoft in Hostile Takeover
• Berkowitz Replaced By Lanzone at Microsoft
• Danny Sullivan Starts Four Door Media
• Matt Cutts Transfers to Performics - Will Assume Lead SEO Role

But we weren't the only ones who pranked the Internets. Cre8asite Forums Staff took a break and their logo turned upside down.

In fact, other members, such as DazzlinDonna, did the same thing:

WebmasterWorld members point out that Google Australia also participated in the festivities with gDay with Mate. The idea is to search tomorrow's news today.

It's a simple concept, really:

Similarly, one WebmasterWorld member fell for the Gmail Custom Time prank. It seems that a guy on DigitalPoint Forums also fell for it.

Actually, my Grandma's birthday was 5 months ago. I need to set the custom time....

DigitalPoint Forums members were more amused with the Virgle initiative to help establish a human colony on planet mars. Together with Virgin's chairman, Richard Branson, Google will start this mission in 2014. If you believe you have what it takes, take the questionnaire and then you'll need to upload a YouTube video. Here are some Virgle Videos.

Today, Dogpile also has April Fools Cards that you can send your friends and foes. Just click on the doggie, yo!

If you wanted to do some April Fools jokes for 2009, check out this April Fools Guide for Webmasters. Oh, and it's on Sphinn too.

Finally, for more April Fools jokes and inspiration, check our previous coverage on April Fools Day right here at Search Engine Roundtable.

Forum discussion is, franky, everywhere.

Of all days, on April 1st, Microsoft finally acquired Yahoo. All the silence we have been hearing was confidential discussions between Yahoo's executive team and Microsoft's executive. It really didn't even take that long, but most of us expected that Microsoft would own Yahoo in the long run.

At this point, Microsoft tells us that they will leave Yahoo as a standalone property. They did not yet decide if they will consolidate their efforts on the search front. But I suspect they will group the two search teams together and join forces in building out an engine that can seriously compete against Google.

Of course, Google is not happy. Google, in fact, is taking the Microsoft approach and placed a bid of $50 per share for Microsoft. Google is going to use the hostile take over approach to buyout Microsoft, Google's biggest ever acquisition. Probably the biggest acquisition anywhere.

So in this round about way, Google will own both Yahoo and Live Search. Google will soon secure almost 100-percent of the search market share, if this hostile takeover happens, which seems very likely.

What crazy news for April Fools Day, who would believe it?

We've received reports that Danny Sullivan and his friends (Chris Elwell, Chris Sherman, Claire Schoen, Sean Moriarty, Michelle Robbins, and Karen DeWeese) have launched Four Door Media. What's behind door number four? The team has decided to take a direction away from search. Four Door Media is all about Apple and Mac evangelism.

Last month, Danny finally caved and bought a Mac. Only a few days later, he was raving about Mac and Windows on his blog. A week after that, I ran into Danny at a bar in NYC and he whipped out his Mac to show me some neat tricks. I'm not kidding when I say that Danny got me super excited to start using my Macbook.

With this change comes nothing incredibly big -- Danny will continue blogging about Macs, he'll hold conferences and brag about his Mac, and he'll probably one day do a dance in a hot Mac tank top. Expect future Search Marketing Expo conferences to provide Macbook Airs to all conference attendees in hopes that they, too, convert over to the other side. (If you already have one, you're SOL.)

In a move that comes as a surprise to many, Google has decided to reinforce Performics, a company that came with the Doubleclick Acquisition, by transferring long time search quality lead Matt Cutts into a role with the search engine optimization firm. This immediately strengthens the perceived value of working with Performics, since Matt is obviously very familiar with the Google algorithm, and has had insight into the Yahoo system during his brief stint with Yahoo last year.

Matt will head up the SEO team at Performics, which will undoubtedly operate strictly within the search engine-approved guidelines for ethical optimization tactics. In December of 2007, Matt Cutts and his team changed the Google Help Document about SEO slightly. This caused some including Tamar “Scoop” Weinberg at Search Engine Roundtable to openly wonder if these changes had anything to do with the Performics Acquisition. Apparently, this transfer may have been in planning for some time.

As of press time, Mr. Cutts was unavailable for comment. His personal press attaché, Ozzie Houndslayer, did confirm that Matt would be moving over to Performics, but would not comment on the allegation that Performics would be listed as a primary recommended SEO in the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

Fact: Google is now selling SEO services through Performics. An investigative team recently contacted Performics directly and was told that Performics was unable to offer SEO services to anyone not spending over $1Million U.S. per year with Google AdSense. This seems to be strong evidence that there is in fact a correlation between Paid Search spending and organic rankings, as long suspected . Search Engine maven Danny Sullivan is one of many who have officially suggested that Google should divest itself from Performics. The transfer of Matt Cutts is obviously a sign that this discussion is far from being over.

Yesterday was Easter and some search engine related sites has special logos up for the day. Google and Yahoo did not have any logo up for the day. Here are some of the logos from the industry.

DogPile's Easter Logo:

Ask.com's Easter Theme:

Cre8asite Forums Easer Logo:

Bruce Clay Blog's Easter Logo:

Google did once post a special Google Easter Bunny Search a while back, but nothing really new this year.

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums and DigitalPoint Forums.

comScore released February 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings which showed that month-to-month, search volume was down about 6-percent from January 2008 to February 2008. Here are the stats on that by engine:

At the same time, Google gained slightly more market share in the US, when compared to the previous month. In February 2008, Google saw a 59.2 percent share up from 58.5 percent in January 2008. Note, Danny hates comparing stats month to month - and I am sure he will have his huge stats slides up soon to give us a better perspective of patterns we are seeing, if any - in the industry. Here are the stats by engine:

Tons of coverage on this can be found at Techmeme. The forum threads discussing the comScore stats are at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums. Here are some quotes from the threads:

There's 2 less days in Feb than Jan. Gosh, I wonder why total monthly searches were down. Journalists love a sensationalist story about Google, and Comscore definitely loves the free PR they get when these stories run.

This is not only for google, i think all are getting affected from economy crisis now a days...

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. In typical Search Engine Roundtable, here are a collection of logos from Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, DogPile and various SEM communities celebrating St. Patrick's Day on the web.

Let's start with Google:

Yahoo has a Flash logo, here it is:

Ask.com goes with a theme:

DogPile is always cute:

Cre8asite Forums has a special logo:

PPC Hereo's Blog has a theme.

Bruce Clay Blog has a logo:

And we have a theme for the special day:

I am sure I missed some special logos and I apologize in advance. But let's take a historical look at past St. Patrick's Day logos:

• 2007 St. Patrick's Day Logos
• 2006 St. Patrick's Day Logos
• 2005 St. Patrick's Day Logos
• 2004 St. Patrick's Day Logos

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and Cr8asite Forums.

Today is Pi Day, yes, March 14th, 3.14 and due to π being about equal to 3.14 (i.e. 3.1415926). Pi is a favored number by mathematicians and tech people - so I am a bit surprised there is no mention of it via a Google logo or Ask theme. However, I don't think they did anything in the years before.

But that didn't stop us, as you can see, we have our Pi Day theme live here. Here is a picture for archiving purposes.

Do you have a favorite activity for Pi Day? If so, add your thoughts to PiDay.org on that.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

Google's proposal to acquire DoubleClick received the EU's approval yesterday and Google closed out the acquisition of DoubleClick yesterday. They now officially own DoubleClick and all that comes with it.

A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion about the acquisition. Most in the thread are of the feeling that this gives Google an unfair advantage. But the government backed groups in the States and Europe both decided it does not give Google that unfair advantage. Here are some quotes from the thread:

LMAO - good to see the eurocrats still have no idea...

They are spineless - yet another example of fat wages for a useless quasi-ruling 'body'

So much for the Internet being independent.

Got to love forums and what people have to say in them.

Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land feels Google should divest themselves of Performics, an SEM company owned by DoubleClick. Why? "Conflict of interest," to the utmost.

But doesn't Yahoo have internal SEO staff? What about Microsoft? Yes, they both do - but Yahoo and Microsoft are content companies with larger stake in publishing, e-commerce and other online business (including lead generation and affiliate marketing). In fact, both Yahoo and Microsoft had most of these businesses going prior to building out core web search teams. Google, well - they keep telling us they are a search company and nothing more. If so, yes, this is a conflict of interest.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Two threads erupted yesterday all on conference controversy in the search industry. We have a thread on the controversy of paying speakers at Cre8asite Forums and a thread on the controversy of sponsor paid and run sessions at Sphinn.

Should Search Conferences Pay All Speakers?
This is far from a new question, this question is on the minds of all speakers and those who have been in the conference circuit forever. There is knowledge that some speakers are compensated for their flights, hotel and food and sometimes even more. Some smaller conferences actually cover speaker costs and pay a hefty fee to them for speaking. But conferences like SES and SMX typically do not pay speakers and if they do pay speakers, they typically don't cover anything outside of covering flight, hotel, food and miscellaneous fees. But yes, some speakers are compensated at SES and SMX for their costs.

Let's start with keynote speakers. People like Barry Diller, Eric Schmidt, Louis Monier, Jerry Yang and so on are likely not compensated. Think about it, these guys are well off, how much money would a person like Diller, Schmidt, Yang accept to speak at a conference? I doubt any real money an SES or SMX can afford would entice them. So these guys, in my opinion, are not compensated in any way.

How about company representatives from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and so on? Their companies pay for them to fly to conferences, book their hotels, pay for their meals and so on. Why do they do this? For webmaster and advertiser relation. I doubt the conferences pay them, because in a sense - you, the advertisers are already paying for them to come with your PPC spend.

Mostly everyone else who speak do it for the face time and potential business they might get out of it. So the air time and business cards they get from speaking, covers their costs in the long run.

But there are some who don't get business out of going to these conferences. If they are invited and attendees love to hear them, they are paid. Danny Sullivan did twit that the conference do cover some speakers who are "small consultants doing solo stuff," and adds "say you're doing a session where you're not likely to get much client work but you kick ass on a regular basis. that's one example."

The forum thread at Cre8asite Forums is neutral on the concept of paying some speakers. I suspect if one speaker doesn't get paid, while another one does - it may be possibly insulting or upsetting to the one not getting paid.

How about us? The press who cover the sessions? No, we don't get paid to cover sessions. I mean, we do have ads on the page, but those aren't from session coverage, they are from posts like theses. Our live blog volunteers pay their own way, we don't cover their hotel, food, travel but we do provide a press pass that comes from the conferences (which do cost the conferences money). We pay our own way. The only person I compensate completely is Tamar, since she is a RustyBrick employee. But everyone else shells out a ton of money on travel, hotel and so on for the conference experience, to network, see old friends, learn stuff and also to give back to the community by sharing for those who cannot be there.

So that covers paying speakers and others to come to these events. Forum discussion on that topic at Cre8asite Forums.

Sponsor Paid & Run Sessions?
The second debate is taking place at Sphinn on the topic of sessions designed to enable the sponsors to speak and promote their products. This debate is much more heated and lively then the previous one. There are two sides of the story:

(1) The attendee is paying very good money and they don't want to pay for a speaker to give them a sales pitch. Most attendees can get the sales pitch for free by calling the company's 800 number and expressing interest in their services.

(2) The sponsors who pay big money want to be given the opportunity to pitch their products. They want the attendees to have a way to learn about what they can offer. They feel, if the attendee is interested, they will go to the session.

SMX & SES conference have been having these sponsored paid and run sessions for a while now. The main concern, and I noticed this when I began working on the session coverage for SES, was that SES is having a whole time slot to only session paid presentations. If you look at the SES NY Day two agenda, and scroll down to the 3:15pm-4:30pm time slot, you will notice that the only sessions being offered are classified as "Sponsored Sessions." That gives the attendee no choice but to either skip the whole time slot or visit a sponsored session. Typically, a conference will have a single session that is sponsored amongst three or four additional sessions that are not sponsored - giving the attendee the choice. Here, attendees may feel they have no choice.

The debate on that topic is pretty lively but civilized, so check it out at Sphinn.

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums and Sphinn.

It is not often we have a leap day so I knew Google would create a special logo for the day and they did. They actually went with what I thought they would go with, a frog.

Simple but it works.

I am surprised we didn't see anything from Ask.com, Yahoo or DogPile on this. Too make up for them, we created a theme, yes the people are leaping...

Don't you love it when you gain an extra billable workday?

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

The Internet Marketers of New York, which I am a member of, is hosting a charity event during SES NY, in just a few weeks.

The charity event takes place on March 18th at the Black Finn on 218 East 53rd Street at 8pm until about midnight. There is an entrance fee of $40 that will go, in its entirety to charity. The drinks are free and are being sponsored by Best of the Web.

Which charity is all the money going towards? Well, Best of the Web is holding a charity poll for us to choose. It is now between Camp Interactive, Colitis and Crohn's Disease, HMBANA Milk Banks or Leukemia/Lymphoma Society. All great causes.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Patrick Gavin, co-founder of Text Link Ads, started his personal blog and wrote about the History of Text Link Ads, also known as TLA. The story is a good read and goes back to how TLA was created by two college roommates, Patrick and Bill.

For disclaimer purposes, TLA is an advertiser here and my company has built a significant portion of their back office systems. But anyone in the SEO community knows that TLA's history is really an important part of the history of SEO. The amount of threads, discussions, debates, concerns and success in the industry steams from the controversial paid link. Text Link Ads runs a nice portion of the public sale of paid links. They may be the most visible sign of the paid link in the SEO world, which makes them significant.

In any event, TLA has grown significantly in the past few years, as has the industry. I added my personal thoughts at my personal blog.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

Google & Yahoo typically do not show off any special logo for President's Day, which is today. But Ask.com and Dogpile are both showing off special logos and themes for the day.

Here is Ask.com:

Yes, that is Mount Rushmore - more details at ask.com/web?q=Rushmore.

And DogPile goes cute again:

Got to love DogPile!

Update: Here is our theme:

Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.