Beanstalk's SEO News Blog

I love Friday's (and who doesn't). Today there's a bit of news from the SEO realm for you and I'll add a bit of humor at the end just to make the end of your day (or weekend) a bit more entertaining. :)

First let's discuss Bing (oh God not again). Annoyingly - I have more good news for Webmasters from Bing. For why this is annoying you can reference yesterday's post. But here we go anyways.

A few days ago Bing released a PDF for webmasters and publishers on Bing the basically outlines some of the core differences between Bing and those "other engines" (read: Google). If you really searched on Bing you'd figure this stuff out fairly readily however it's a worthwhile read. You can download the PDF from their download center here.

I came across the document when I read Vanessa Fox's analysis of the document on Search Engine Land at http://searchengineland.com/microsofts-search-engine-optimization-advice-for-bing-21152. Both are recommended reading but if you only have time for one - stick with Vanessa'a take.

And now I get to smile a bit as I have some "bad news" on Microsoft. They're bribing Australian users to switch from Firefox back to IE with a contest for $10k. Basically, they have "hidden" some money on the web and are giving tips away on Twitter. The first to find it gets to keep the cash but it won't work if you're using Firefox.

My tip to Microsoft would be to just build a better browser and I'll just switch. You don't need to bribe me. :)

You can read more about the bribery on the Australian site at http://www.microsoft.com/australia/ie8/competition/default.aspx.

And last but not least - the humor I promised you. So turn down your speakers or slap on your headphone (unless your at home in which case feel free to enjoy over your full surround system if you feel so inclined) and enjoy. The following is a clip from comedian Louis CK from his appearance on Conan O'Brien. You've got a very good grasp of this generation Louis. :)

Labels: bing, comedy, firefox, microsoft

Well it appears that it's Christmas in June Bing. For the second consecutive week it has "stolen" marketshare from the other two major engines. comScore reports that Bing is now at 12.1% market share which is up from the 11.3% they were at last week which was up again from the 9.1% Microsoft had prior to the launch of Bing.

In search penetration (% of users who have used the engine - this number can surpass 100% as users (like yours truly) can use multiple engines) they've seen further gains at 16.7% last week which was up from 13.7% prior to Bing.

So it appears that Microsoft might have finally done something right in the world of search. They've built an engine that is far superior to their previous attempts in both function and results. While they still have algorithmic advancements to be made to bring their system up to the level of results of Google - they are well situated to finally take a shot at the search pie.

Personally - I wish them luck but I've got to say - it feels odd to cheer for Microsoft as the "little guy" (especially given that that have enough to just buy Google). :)

Labels: bing, marketshare, microsoft

Update 1: Microsoft has now pulled the public beta, and several people that managed to start a download have had the download killed. They have now replaced the text on Technet to "Windows® 7 Beta coming soon!". This just keeps getting better, I've only spent 2.5 hours trying to sign up and start this download and all the MS pages associated with the download now return 404 errors.

I'll start this Blog post with a disclaimer that if you don't like rants, then stop here. As some of you may be aware today Microsoft officially launched their Windows 7 Public Beta, which is available to the first 2.5 million people that sign up. Now you might think well I'll just go over to Microsoft's website sign up, then download my copy where in reality their servers are most likely nearly on fire! I've seen the screen "Server is too busy" well over 200 times, and I've seen their error page around 20 different times. I've now also seen the signup page twice, however after submitting my data the server was then too busy to process it, and I was redirected to an error page so I can't even repost my request, and I'm now back in the queue (90+ minutes and counting) to reenter my data.

In my eyes the Windows 7 Public Beta launch is a monster failure because they definitely didn't extend their planning to making sure that their Microsoft profile website / web server could handle this kind of website traffic volume. I personally find this extremely ironic as Microsoft claims to make the best Web server Internet Information Services (IIS). On a side note this is actual the second failed launch I've witnessed within the last 30 days on an IIS server, if this doesn't say another about its performance under a heavy load I don't know what does. The other failed launch was for NCIX for their boxing day sale which started on December 24th at 4PM, their website was down with Server is too busy message (if it actually showed up at all) for the first 45 minutes, and even then it took 30 minutes to add 3 items to my cart and complete my transaction!

What Microsoft should have done for their Windows 7 Public Beta Launch was 1) not to use one of their main websites and used a dedicated website on a dedicated load balanced server setup 2) Put together a queue based system which emulates standing through a lineup so people weren't constantly refreshing and putting more load on the server 3) Removed that error page so that you can resume from the point in your signup where the process failed instead of having to redo steps 4) Switch to Apache and PHP and actually run an efficient web server and scripting language.

Steve Balmer at CES said "We're putting in all the right ingredients [to Windows 7]: simplicity, reliability and speed. And we're working hard to get it right and to get it ready." All I have to say to Steve Balmer is "Thanks for nothing, and try putting those ingredients into Windows Server and IIS as I'm not seeing any reliability or speed".

Labels: microsoft, steve balmer, windows 7

Well the fine folks over at Google have come up with a response to Friday's bid by Microsoft for Yahoo! Now, believe me - I understand that business is business and that Google has to respond with a negative spin against their competitors but the blog post and press release they put out made me smirk more than think. The official line, put forth by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer for Google, was:

"So Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation."

Ummmmm, OK - you've got to be kidding me. Now I mean no offense to Google - love them to bits and use them daily but seriously, the two properties search market share combined still only account for slightly over half of Google's so exactly what is the threat to competition? Google will still have the overwhelming majority of search so really - they can decide how much innovation goes into it. And please - openness !!! When I get my weekly email updating me on the algorithm or when the numbers get put out on searches/day even - THEN that argument might stand. :) He then writes:

"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers."

Ouch.

Now, they raise decent points regarding the past practices of Microsoft but again - what competition? If anything the deal will raise the bar on competition in the industry - but Google knows that. Whenever Google's doing something or buying someone everyone makes a big to-do about it. Well now the shoe is on the other foot and Google gets their chance to point the finger.

In the end the likelihood of Google getting their way and the deal being blocked is low. Heck, the fact that Google's against it probably has some FTC people thinking it's a pretty good thing and heck - it might be good for Google as well. Let's consider this - who is the master of search? (hint - it's Google).

People will choose MSN/Live because it's easy (part of their browser, etc.) people will chose Yahoo! because it's part of other services they use or because it's not Google. Well the former will see their services changed dramatically when Microsoft takes over and the later won't like being part of Microsoft any more than Google and so they'll either give up and go to Google or, the company that I view as the true likely winner in this - Ask (come on - give them a chance :)

Of course only time will tell but I'm looking forward to the journey. This is going to be a very VERY interesting story to follow.

Labels: ask, google, market share, microsoft, msn, yahoo

In a move that oddly seemed to surprise many, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! today. How much? - only $44.6 billion dollars. This would pay investors $31/share - a 62% premium over the previous day's close.

Steve Ballmer is confident that this is the right move for Microsoft. He's also confident that it's the right move for Yahoo! But is he right?

Based on the discussed layoff of a thousand employees from Yahoo! (as well as their current financial slump) combined with Microsoft's huge wallet, inability to get any solid foothold on the search market and control of the desktop and OS makes this an interesting notion. And it comes an an ironic time ...

A couple days ago I completed a survey for SEOmoz (you can too at http://www.seomoz.org/seo-survey) and one of the questions was, "how (if anyone) can challenge Google". My response was Microsoft based on 2 things; their control of the desktop and their ability to simply purchase Yahoo! which they pitched for last year. And it appears that it just *might* happen.

The combined exposure of these two engines would be roughly 33%, still only slightly past half of Google's and there are other considerations. Yahoo! has a large hold on a variety of other properties that Microsoft would obviously leverage to increase their exposure and work to further monetize. Sites such as Flickr, MyBlogLog, etc. (these are my two favorites so that's why they're the ones listed :)

The down side, many people use Yahoo! as "the Google alternative". If Yahoo! is combined with Microsoft it loses the appeal of being an alternative and becomes a cog in a bigger machine. Will users who've been loyal to Yahoo! leave? Also in my questions list: which algorithm will they lean towards? Will they keep all the Yahoo! properties or spin them off. What will happen to Yahoo!'s staff? (not that they have a ton of security right now anyways)

I have a different take than a lot of people I suppose, I like it and hope it goes through. As much as I like Google and appreciate their excellence - I'd like to see at least some kind of quasi-competition for search dominance. Heck, with a third of the market share when combined maybe I'll here something other than (I don't care about anyone else - I just want to rank on Google) from clients. ;) If the deal goes through then my job gets a bit more interesting and to me, that's a good thing. :)

Now I'm not an economist, nor can I predict the future. I've given a quick summary here of what it a HUGE issue and could change the search landscape dramatically. I highly recommend reading up on this further and keeping up with it as it progresses. To get you started, here are some great resources on the story thus far:

• CNN on the bid
• PC World writes about web users' concerns over the deal
• CNET provides a great walk through on why Microsoft made the bid public this time rather than privately as they did last time (very interesting to learn a little bit about the tactics behind the offers and what we can expect to come)
  

And as a final note, I find it very funny that this deal is going to be reviewed by the anti-trust folks. How's THAT for a waste of the tax payers dollars? Two companies merging so they can together be half of what the leader is. This is building competition not eliminating it. But it'll probably cost a few million dollars for them to sort that out and come to the same conclusion. ;)

Labels: google, microsoft, yahoo

Today while sorting through the daily news I came across a truly bizarre posting about a Kids book written by Microsoft. So what exactly is the message of this "Educational kids book", well its to promote their new Windows Home Server. And its official if a Dadddy loves a mommy, and wants to get her a special gift, she will love a "Stay at home server", which he can install himself! But I think thats enough of a spoiler to truly appreciate the book you must read it your self. Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?

But hey at least now you will know why the kids may be making fun of you, because they're just jealous deep down and wishing their daddies would buy them a stay at home server...

Congrats Microsoft on some great corporate conditioning branding, and a fine piece of link bait.

Labels: branding, link bait, microsoft

I realized upon setting up to write this post that I need to apologize to you, our valued blog visitor. In logging into Bl0gger I noticed that it was in fact a week ago that I wrote last. Unacceptable. To remedy these delays between posting I'm going to try to post more often AND within the next couple weeks you'll start reading from some new voices over here at Beanstalk including those of Daryl Quenet and Ken Nichol. This will also provide some different perspectives and topic than just my one lone voice can provide. So stay tunes and don't forget to Bookmark us (and if you use Google bookmarks or one of the other great social bookmarking sites ... all the better :).

But now onto the real post:

Today, being Thursday - I did my weekly show on Webmaster Radio. It was a great show with a great guest and, as always, I was joined by Jim Hedger. As we usually do, Jim and I spent the first 15 minutes discussing some of the major goings-on in the search engine world. Today this included:

• Jim Lanzone leaving Ask - The Internet Marketing community mourns the loss of Jim Lanzone from Ask. Jim revitalized Ask.com and under his leadership turned the engine into a world leader (if not in market share then in technology). He will be missed but at the same time we're all excited to see what his successor Jim Safka can do.
• Microsoft To Buy Fast Search Engine - Microsoft has made an offer of $1.2 billion for the Fast search engine. This move stands to shake up Enterprise search considerably and will be a "need to watch" issue after the sale completes (likely in Q2 of this year).
• Google hits 66% market share - Hitwise has releases their stats for December in regards to search market share. It appears Google is up yet again. The stats are:
  
  Google - 65.98%
  Yahoo! - 20.88%
  MSN - 7.04%
  Ask - 4.14%
  
  
• Aaron Wall PPC v SEO Debate - Aaron Wall yesterday posted a blog on the SEO vs. PPC debate. Jim and I quickly discussed how one affects the other and how it's difficult to track what campaign is providing what result when the combination may be increasing overall conversions. We skipped through this section and when we came back we were able to discuss it with ...

Andrew Goodman from PageZero.com. Page Zero just launched into organic SEO - a jump from pure PPC Management they have provided thus far. Jim and I pelted Andrew with questions and got some great info. I'm going to be a jerk though and make you visit the Webmaster Radio site and download the podcast or read the transcripts on the Webmaster radio site. They should be available in the next 24 hours (at least the podcast - the transcripts can take a bit longer).

Labels: aaron wall, andrew goodman, ask, google, market share, microsoft

Today is a good day. As we all look towards a weekend that extends for a couple extra days, as many of us share the opportunity to get together with friends and family and as we ponder all the resolutions we're going to break in the new year. But for none of us is today as special as it is for the folks at Google - well - perhaps even happier are the folks at DoubleClick.

Today Google, "... welcomed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's clearance of its planned acquisition of DoubleClick Inc." This opens the door for Google to purchase the provider of display advertising technology earlier this year (on the last day of SES NY in fact).

Now all that stands between Google and the deal is the European Commission. Eric Schmidt obviously " ... hopes that will soon reach the same conclusion."

But what does this mean for us? Not a whole heck of a lot really - it means that Google get to get better at targeting ads. Yeah, not something they'd do anyways right?

In this SEO's opinion, the deal in no way compromises the right or ability of other companies to compete with Google. In fact, it appears to be the companies themselves that are helping Google take more and more market share. Yahoo! focuses too much on communities, Microsoft got in the race too late, Ask dropped Jeeves, etc. etc. Google has yet to make a major misstep and has enough trust and market share at this point to live through one.

I would also argue that the purpose of insuring competition is to protect consumers and to insure that better products get a shot rather than being crushed by larger properties. That fact of the matter is, the product (search) is free to consumers - the advertising side isn't free but is fixed in it's cost by what the market will bear (which is the same as it would be if Google did have a monopoly) and let's face facts - while I'm not happy with every algorithmic shift, Google has the best and most comprehensive search utility ever created. They aren't crushing their competition unfairly - they're just producing a better user experience.

Now I'm not trying to say that they're completely following their "Don't be evil" motto to the letter each and every day. They're definitely done some questionable things but overall they're providing the service they promise and they're providing it well. And to their favor, when something they do screws up, they can shift the algorithm again a couple days later. If only Microsoft had that same ability when they put out Vista. ;)

If you'd like more information on this purchase you can find a great overview on the Business Week site.

Labels: ask, doubleclick, google, market share, microsoft, yahoo

I've gotta admit, I can't confirm whether this is true or not and I found this info at TheInquirer.net so it's worth noting that it's likely true - but not 100% guaranteed (you know - like our SEO services ;).

Microsoft has been subpoenaed by Grisoft, developers of the AVG anti-virus software (great software - I use it at home) for allowing the website www.avg-soft.com to appear in the SERPs.

Well, at least it did. A search as of a few moments ago for the domain by URL produced 0 results - on MSN/Live at least though it can still be found on both Google and Yahoo! engines but not in what any of us would consider to be "prominent positions". :)

And if you decide to visit the site in Firefox you get the friendly warning "Suspected Web Forgery". You can see an image of it above. You know, in case any of you might want to go there to download the AVG anti virus software.

So it appears supoenas work - at least, if the story is true. :) And to give credit where it's due - you can read the full story on the Inquirer website here.

Labels: firefox, google, microsoft, msn, yahoo

Alright, I just realized that I've been missing some press releases from comScore over the past week (caught in filter) and of course - that's when all the news comes in. Here's a summary of what the stats are saying this week:

December 13, 2007:
Between the dates of November 1 to December 11, more than $20 billion was spent online showing a whopping 19% increase over last year. eBay has coined the second Monday of December as Green Monday (it is the heaviest online spending day of the season) and this year showed retailers $881 million in love, up 33% over last year and setting the record as the heaviest online spending day in history.

December 16, 2007:
The week of the 9th to the 15th marks the heaviest spending date of the season (likely) with $4.7 billion in sales showing a 22% increase over last year.

Today (December 19, 2007):
Top 50 Websites released. Comscore's report of the top 50 website rankings is released. And here are the results:

1. Yahoo! sites: 136,180,000 uniques
2. Google sites - 131,538,000 uniques
3. Microsoft Sites - 119,194,000 uniques
4. Time Warner Network - 119,084,000 uniques
5. Fox Interactive Media - 81,325,000 uniques
6. eBay - 80,510,000 uniques
7. Amazon Sites - 59,058,000 uniques
8. Wikipedia sites - 55,157,000 uniques
9. Ask Network - 51,636,000 uniques
10. New York Times Digital - 47,997,000 uniques

And for the rest of the list you'll just have to read their press release ont he topic (there's lots of other interesting figures in there as well) at http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1974.

You can view their other press releases at http://www.comscore.com/press/pr.asp.

Labels: ask, comscore, google, microsoft, time warner, yahoo

ComScore released it's numbers for October and, oh my goodness, Google is up. In a rare turn of events the folks at Google appear to have won over some users, increasing their marketshare by 1.5%. The number now break down as follows:

• Google showed a 1.5% gain from 57% markshare in September to 58.5%
• Yahoo! realized a 0.8% loss going from 23.7% to 22.9%
• Microsoft took losses (surprise surprise) going from 10.3% to 9.7%
• Ask (YEAH !!!) held steady at 4.7%
• The Time Warner Network lost 0.1% marketshare ending at 4.2%
  

Now, that said - it's not as bad as it looks for the non-Google site. Let's look at the number of searches conducted on each engine in the month of October which, overall, were up by 11.8%:

• Google was up 14.8% with 6.151 billion searches in October over 5.356 billion searches in September
• Yahoo! realized an 8% gain in total searches ending with 2.405 billion searches (up from 2.227 billion in September)
• Microsoft showed gains in search number though more modest with a 5.6% increase in October going from 969 million searches to 1.023 billion
• Like Google, Ask's gains were in the double digits (and since I have a soft spot in my heart for Ask I'm happy to see this) jumping from 444 million searches in September to 491 million with a 10.7% gain in October
• And the Time Warner Network gained 9.4% in search numbers going from 405 million to 443 million

You can read more on the ComScore site at http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1908.

Labels: ask, comscore, google, market share, microsoft, msn, time warner, yahoo

As if the folks over in Microsoft's search division didn't have enough woes in their lives lately (and by "lately" I mean for all the years after people started using search engines) the data released by ComScore yesterday paints a bleak picture. Until yesterday they were at least able to call themselves one of the big three. It appears that they can no longer claim even that. And who is the engine that overtook them? Could Ask finally be making some moves forward? No, the "newcomer" is likely an engine most of you may not have heard of if you're from North America. The engine is Baidu.com and it's the primary search engine in China (did you think that might have been Google.cn after all the hoopla over their expansion into there and the debates over their censoring search results?)

The current marketshare for August 2007 breaks down as follows:

Search Property Searches
Worldwide 61,033,000,000
Google Sites 37,094,000,000
Yahoo! Sites 8,549,000,000
Baidu.com Inc 3,253,000,000
Microsoft Sites 2,166,000,000
NHN Corporation 2,044,000,000
eBay 1,319,000,000
Time Warner Network 1,212,000,000
Ask Network 743,000,000
Fox Interactive Media 683,000,000
Lycos, Inc. 441,000,000

Another interesting fact is that this does not include access from cyber cafes or cell phones and PDA's. The Asian market is lightyears ahead of us in their us of their portable devices as full-scale Internet devices which could further influence the results in favor of engines such as Baidu.com if they were counted.

Another good question you might want to ask is, who the heck is NHN Corporation? They're a Korean engine and they're right on the heels of Microsoft as well.

Does this reflect a dramatic shift in the engines? In my opinion, not really. We're all used to hearing the data relative to North American or US-based numbers. This is the first comprehensive study of worldwide search behavior that we have been exposed to (that I've heard of at least) and it appears that the Asian market is far more active that many of us may have assumed. In retrospect, if we had really though of it, would we have been surprised? I for one am not shocked by the data but it has reminded me that there are important markets outside of North America and Europe and it's high time we started paying closer attention to them.

To read the full take on the ComScore data you can read the ComScore press release from yesterday here.

Labels: china, comscore, google, market share, microsoft, msn, yahoo

Never one to let his competitors keep any type of advantage, MSN has announced the the "beta" launch of "Virtual Earth" - their answer to the additiona of satellite images to Google Maps.

What makes it different is that the images MSN will provide are taken not from satellite but from sleughs of planes and provides not jsut topographical images but 45 degree images as well (which is great visually but I don't really see how it'll help me find that new restaurant any faster). :)

This comes to us through a press release yesterday by Pictometry who just signed a 5-year deal with Microsoft. You can read more on the details of this agreement and the upcoming launch of "Virtual Earth" on the Pictometry website at http://www.pictometry.com/pressrelease/msft.asp (Note: link removed as page no longer exists).

Labels: microsoft