Search Engine Week

This week in the search engine marketing industry was marked by Yahoo adding personalized search. The search engine giant Yahoo! Inc. introduced the beta release of My Web from Yahoo! Search (available at http://search.yahoo.com).

My Web is described as a "personal search engine" that extends users' existing Yahoo! Search experience by providing a simple way to save, recall and share online information with friends and colleagues.

My Web enables users to create their own personal online archive by saving their favorite pages, search results, and search history to My Web.

In addition, users can share their information with friends and colleagues via integrated tools such as email, instant messenger, and personal networking provided by Yahoo!'s new Yahoo! 360° product.

"Yahoo! Search is focused on providing innovative, useful technologies that enable people to find, use, share, and expand knowledge," said Dr. Qi Lu, vice president of engineering for Yahoo! Search.

Additionally Yahoo! Search Marketing, formerly Overture Services, announced today the launch of its "Think Big" contest. The new structure will award one small business with 10 million free ad impressions across the Yahoo! network.

Sir Richard Branson, world renowned entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Group, will serve as the official contest judge. He select the winning company based on its business plan and proven ability to "think big."

"Yahoo! created the 'Think Big' contest to offer a business owner a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take their business to the next level by leveraging the power of the Yahoo! network", said Todd Daum, vice president, Yahoo! Search Marketing.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), there are currently 25 million small businesses in the United States, representing approximately 99.7 percent of all employers.

This week on the air in search engine marketing is the voice of Search Engine Radio. Search Engine Radio turned to Mike Murray, Fathom SEO's vice president, as its latest on air expert.

The radio addresses everything about search engines, including search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and the latest tools.

Murray presented his views (archive www.seoradio.com/20050419-mike-murray-on-selling-seo-to-large-companies.html) on everything from selling search engine optimization services to large companies to making the most of return on investment (ROI) initiatives.

During the show, Murray stressed that businesses - not just search engines - must accept responsibility for how well the industry works for Internet users. Companies, Murray said, need to go out of their way to select the right keywords and include them in web sites that are search engine-friendly.

Fathom SEO's ability to reach large companies involves several factors. His firm landed some large clients simply because of existing relationships that were established by Fathom IT Solutions, where Fathom SEO operated as a small division.

This week InterAge Ltd., a provider of integrated web marketing solutions, announced that it summarized a fundamental distribution condition with Urchin Software Corporation (www.urchin.com), bought recently by Google Inc.

According to the terms, InterAge will have a distribution agreement to represent Urchin in selling its proprietary web analytics tools and log analysis solutions to the public.

"Urchin is an excellent partner," notes InterAge CEO, Kobi Freund. "They were recently bought out by Google because they are a leader in the web analytics market."

It is estimated that the market potential for this group of new products for InterAge will exceed $25 million per year.