Yahoo is not going to sell its self in part or whole to Microsoft. Over the past two weeks, there have been rumblings of a potential merger or outright acquisition involving the two tech giants. In an interview with the Financial Times, “Yahoo rebuffs Microsoft offer”, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel confirmed rumours regarding discussions between the two firms but stated unequivocally that Yahoo is not for sale.

“The search business has been formed”, said Semel. “My impartial advice to Microsoft is that you have no chance.” Read more…

Mona Elesseily has nearly five years experience crafting Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) campaigns for her clients but over the last 16-months, she has been absolutely immersed. As the Yahoo! (Overture) PPC expert working at Canadian paid search advertising firm Page Zero Media, Mona has enjoyed a unique opportunity to learn, explore and understand the inner workings of Yahoo’s premier PPC program. In the autumn of 2004, she was “challenged” by her employer, Andrew Goodman, to write a book explaining the intricacies of establishing and managing a successful YSM PPC campaign.

The result of her work is the Yahoo Search Marketing Handbook, a 102-page manual that starts with the basics, outlines potential pitfalls and gradually guides the reader towards establishing and maintaining winning YSM PPC campaigns. Read more…

Yahoo is testing a new paid-ad placement and revenue model in Scandinavia that appears similar to the algorithm Google uses to determine the placement of paid advertising.

Basing its rankings on a combination of cost-per-click and the number of times search users click specific paid ads, Yahoo’s new ad placement system is expected to be rolled out in the UK in July.

While there is no official word on when the new system will be introduced in North America or other parts of the world, an announcement about Yahoo’s intentions is expected in the coming weeks with speculation on a global rollout in late 2006 or early 2007.

Codenamed, Project Panama, the switch is expected to bring a higher volume of click-throughs than the current system that determines ad placement based on the highest keyword bidder.

According to a story in Forbes Magazine, Yahoo has already notified a number of high volume search buyers of the upcoming changes.

Google is without a doubt the world’s number one search engine. According to the research firm Neilsen/NetRatings, Google’s share of the global search market in February 2006 was 48.5%, more than double the 22.5% share its nearest rival Yahoo saw. Having been the engine of choice for nearly five years, Google is synonymous with search. Because Google is the first thing most folks think of when they think about search, it is the most important search marketing venue, at least for the vast majority of SEOs. Read more…

Through its Overture pay per click search division, Yahoo has been found facilitating fraudulent click activity generated by known spyware makers including 180solutions, Intermix, and Direct Revenue. A study released earlier today, The Spyware – Click-Fraud Connection – and Yahoo’s Role Revisited, (Apr. 4, 06), shows how at least a dozen different spyware firms redirect Internet users searches through their servers, inserting Overture ad links on unrelated websites or with pop-ups triggered by those sites. Read more…

For years, the major search engines have been building membership lists by offering a diverse range of services to registered users. Yahoo and MSN, for instance, have offered email accounts to registered users for several years. The major search engines are working to brand user experiences on as many levels as possible and claim memberships as indicators of user loyalty.

The membership race heated up dramatically over the past two years with the introduction of Google’s wide array of membership driven services. Read more…

The banner across the top of the site reads, “In a World of Conflict, the Truth Must Survive”. Below the banner, we see a twenty-two year old image of a dead man, minutes before he met his fate. The image, captured by Israeli photographer Alex Levac in 1984, shows a Palestinian hijacker being led away by Israeli Defense Forces. Minutes after the shot was taken, the hijacker was dead. The official story issued by Israeli authorities said the hijacker was already dead when the IDF found him. The story illustrates the importance of war correspondence in an environment where the greatest casualty is almost always the truth. Read more…

A report in today’s Financial Times says, “Yahoo has called for broad co-operation among internet, media and communication companies and the US government to counter Chinese censorship on the web.”

The company is calling on the other tech giants, along with the US Government to take a harder, collective stand against Chinese Government censorship of the web. Read more…

For fans of US Football, the most important annual television event kicks off early Sunday afternoon, live from Motor City USA, Detroit. The Super Bowl is the biggest yearly sporting event in North America, rivaled only by European Football’s World Cup. More viewers are expected to watch the game for three hours on Sunday than are expected for any other scheduled program or event. That makes the commercial spots, which are billed higher than for all other time-slots, extremely important for the advertisers who purchase them. Read more…