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It’s easy to pick on Microsoft. It’s practically a national pastime at this point. So when they announced their Cashback program to help grow Live Search, the snears came fast and furious.

“You have to pay people to search?” they said.

Turn your laughter into claps, people. It turns out that Cashback is working. Microsoft is seeing positive results on three goals it said it would report. They are:

• Number of offers in the system
• Advertiser return on investment (ROI)
• Percentage of commercial search queries as measured by comScore

There’s been a 30% increase in the number of products offered via Cashback. 4.5 million unique users per month are generating 68 million commercial queries. eBay has seen an increase of 50% on their ROI.

“We believe this early traction speaks to the differentiated and unique value proposition of Microsoft Live Search cashback for both consumers and advertisers, especially in these tough economic times,” said Brad Goldberg, general manager of Microsoft Live Search.

Is it really any surprise that incentives work? No. Have you ever been listening to the radio and they’re having a $1,000 giveaway? You have to be listening at the right times to call in.

Incentives are nothing new. Microsoft was smart to implement them into Live Search. People don’t necessarily use Google because it’s any better but because it’s familiar. Live Search needs a way to get people searching, and Cashback is working to help accomplish those goals.

That may be why Microsoft is expanding Cashback by partnering with shopping cart providers Miva Merchant, Early Impact Inc. (ProductCart) and 3DCart. Through the agreement, merchants who use the shopping carts are eligible for Cashback.

Google is converting their Help Forums to a new system. The new features include:

• improved search results, including posts from current and new forums
• the ability to designate especially helpful forum members as “Top Contributors”
• a reputation and ranking system
• the ability for users, Top Contributors and Googlers to mark questions as answered
• easier access to Help Center content
• expanded user profiles that highlight your forum activity

Forums that have already been converted include:

• AdWords
• AdSense
• Android Market
• Google Apps
• Google Chrome
• Most of the Polish products

For a more detailed look, check out this vid:

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Jerry Yang told attendees at the Web 2.0 Summit yesterday that a deal with Microsoft is still the best option for Yahoo.

To which I say: Then why didn’t you accept the $31 per share acquisition offer made earlier this year?

And then I read this: “People who know me know I don’t have an ego about remaining independent versus not remaining independent.”

Wow. I have to admit that asking for $35-37 per share earlier this year seemed a bit egotistical on the “Let’s stay independent front.”

To be fair, with both sides having slung a fair amount of mud, it is difficult to know what really went down. And really, any CEO who isn’t at least somewhat egotistical about his own company isn’t worth his weight in gold.

Matters of ego aside, it seems that a white flag might be flying over the Sunnyvale campus. Now, we’ll wait to see just how low that Yahoo stock goes before the white knight of Microsoft comes by to do the rescuing.

LinkedIn has launched a new survey feature that will enable its members to conduct market research. LinkedIn is an online social network built around business and careers and has 30 million members.

“LinkedIn overcomes quality and authenticity issues that other sample providers face,” said Dan Shapero, Director of Business Services, LinkedIn. “Because of the public and self-policing nature of LinkedIn, members provide deep and accurate profile information and they update that information constantly.”

LinkedIn also announced that it raised $22.7 million from Goldman Sachs, The McGraw-Hill Companies, SAP Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.

“We secured this investment with innovators in enterprise software, investment banking and business information who see the potential to create value and transform industries through the LinkedIn platform,” said LinkedIn CEO, Dan Nye. “These leading companies understand that LinkedIn is building a network with broad and enduring value.”

Related Reading:
LinkedIn Launches Targeted Advertising Network
Yahoo Sets Yelp, LinkedIn, and Yahoo Local SearchMonkey Apps to ‘Default On’

Google CEO Eric Schmidt must love controversy. In a speech to magazine executives Wednesday he called the internet “a cesspool”, AdAge reported.

I don’t know if that makes Google a sewerage company, but I think Schmidt should realize that many look at Google as their filter to the web. Employees like Matt Cutts spend all their time working on ‘purifying’ the results, to expect publishers to be the answer may not be the right approach.

Criticizing opponents to the Yahoo-Google ad deal may not be a smart move given the recent drop in value of the once “golden child” of the web. Schmidt challenged “if you are going to criticize us, criticize us properly.” Claiming ad prices would not increase under the Google Yahoo ad deal.

Schmidt displayed a certain amount of callous aloofness when he avoided questions about how publishers could improve their ranking with Google.

“”We don’t actually want you to be successful,” he said. The company’s algorithms are trying to find the most relevant search results, after all, not the sites that best game the system. “The fundamental way to increase your rank is to increase your relevance,” he added” AdAge reported.

If you call the web a cesspool but do not offer insights to quality content providers who pay money to provide professional journalism I don’t think you are serious about cleaning it up, so much as taunting an economically challenged industry.

In August, Americans went online at work to get sports info 26% more year-over-year, thanks largely in part to the Olympics and Fantasy Football. Yahoo! Sports enjoyed a whopping 112% growth, putting them in the top spot for the month, according to Nielsen Online

Also of note, visits from women jumped 37% while traffic growth from men increased by 21%.

Here’s the chart:

Related Reading:
Yahoo Wins Gold Medal for Online Olympic Traffic
NBC’s Olympic Fool’s Gold; Google Comes Home Empty-Handed
Online Olympic Traffic Soars; Mobile Viewing Habits Form
ConnectU Co-Founders Place 6th in Olympics Rowing

Socialmedia.com is a social advertising network. Buddy Media is a social media consulting and analytics company (i.e. they have clients!). Today, they have announced a partnership that allows people to buy advertising and access analytics to make the most of their social media campaigns.

They’re calling it social ‘app-vertising’ and brands like FedEx and New Balance have already been privy to the service.

“Advertising in social media is about getting users to engage with a brand’s messaging in a way that scales and is measurable,” says Seth Goldstein, CEO of Socialmedia.com. “Our partnership with Buddy Media simplifies the buying and execution of campaigns that get users to interact with brands.”

“In many ways, the app is the new ad unit, and many marketers are beginning to realize that,” says Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media. “With the launch of the BuddyBrain and our partnership with SocialMedia.com, advertisers and brand marketers now have a one stop shop to launch their social app-vertising campaigns and reach over 500 million people on social networks.”

Despite all the dark news from Wall Street, social networking and its projections remain hot, hot, hot! Yesterday, I reported how social networking is taking share from dating and pornography (who would have thought?)!

This partnership seems like a smart one, especially for those of you concerned about how you measure social media campaigns.

What do you think of this announcement? Comments, please!

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Over the past few days, more and more articles and posts from SES San Jose 2008 have been written. I’m sure there will be more stories to come out of the event, but this seems like a good time to recap the conference.

A quick Google News search for “SES San Jose” finds 276 articles from the past month – 138 when the duplicates are removed. A search in Yahoo! News for “SES San Jose” finds 114 articles from the past month. A query in Google Blog Search for “SES San Jose” finds 5,554 blog posts that mention “SES San Jose” from the past month, 337 when the duplicates are removed.

A little content analysis reveals the top 10 stories from the past month that were triggered by a keynote, panel, session or workshop at the 10th annual SES confence. Seven of these stories were ones that I predicted in my post on the Search Engine Watch Blog entitled “SES San Jose tip sheet for bloggers and journalists.” But three of the top stories came as surprises — even to an SES veteran like myself. Here, in order, are the Big Ten.

Kevin Ryan, VP, Global Content Director, SES & Search Engine Watch. (Twenty-three articles and 72 unduplicated blog posts, including “SES San Jose Photos – Paparazzi Style” by Lee Odden of TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog.

Tuesday Morning Keynote by Satya Nadella, SVP, Search, Portal & Advertising Platform Group, Microsoft. (Nineteen articles and 69 unduplicated blog posts, including “Is Microsoft’s Vision of Search Enough to Catch Google?” by Rob Hof of BusinessWeek. Rob wrote, “It would be dangerous for anyone to write off Microsoft. Its determination was on display today at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s senior VP of search, portal, and advertising platform group, told the crowd that he sees searchers moving from merely typing keywords into Google to getting tasks done.”

Matt Cutts, Software Engineer Guru of Google. (Ten articles, 74 blog posts and a YouTube video entitled “Matt Cutts on Big Brand BlackHat Sites” on the ChrisDaviesCa Channel. Chris happened to be sitting next to Matt, Google’s head of webspam, when Matt weighed in about big brand sites that have been banned for black hat seo practices during the Black Hat/White Hat session during SES San Jose 2008.

Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land. (Eleven articles, 41 unduplicated blog posts and a video interview by Mike McDonald of the WebProNews Video Blog entitled, “SES: Staying Focused On Search.”) Danny said that social marketing and all sorts of other things can be useful, but it’s important to get back to the search marketing basics.

Universal & Blended Search. (Four articles, 42 unduplicated blog posts and a video interview for the SESConferenceExpo channel entitled, “Johanna Wright of Google on Google Universal Search.” Johanna gives some insight into how vertical search results are blended into universal search results and advocates a thoughtful approach to making information accessible to Google through use of sitemaps and detailed descriptions.

Keynote Roundtable: Why Does Search Get the Credit for Everything? (Four articles and 38 blog posts, including “SES roundtable: Search shouldn’t take all the credit” by Ellen Keohane of DM News. Ellen wrote, “Search marketing often gets credit for the final sale or conversion, even when it shouldn’t, according to a roundtable discussion today at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose.”

Opening Keynote Presentation by Lee Siegel, author of Against the Machine. (Two articles and 27 unduplicated blog posts, including “Trust: The Backbone of Consumer Satisfaction” by Kevin Lee of ClickZ.) Kevin wrote, “In an afternoon keynote, Lee Siegel, author of “Against the Machine,” predicted a backlash against the Internet as it has evolved. His book (which I’ve partially read) discusses how there are unforeseen consequences due to technology, and the Internet is responsible for largely unforeseen positive and negative effects on individuals and society.”

Thursday Morning Keynote: Dan Heath, author of Made to Stick. (One article and 27 unduplicated blog posts, including “Dan Heath 2008 SES San Jose Keynote” on WebmasterRadio.FM.) Listen to Dan explain Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die as he delivers his 2008 SES San Jose Keynote. Dan offers six key factors for sticky ideas, plus offers numerous supporting examples.

Orion Panel: How Much Search is Enough? (Three articles and 19 unduplicated blog posts, including “SES San Jose 2008 - Where’s Money For Search Going?” by Manoj Jasra of WebProNews. Manoj wrote, “How much Search is enough? Aaron Goldman of Resolution Media, Steven Kaufman of Digitas, Robert Murray of iProspect and Bob Tripathi of Discover Financial Services were posed that very question by SES’s own, Kevin Ryan.”

Orion Panel: Technical & Information Giants. (Six articles and 15 unduplicated blog posts, including “Technical & Information Giants Keynote - SES San Jose 2008” by Jason McElweenie of The SEM Blog. Jason wrote, “WOW. Let me repeat that. WOW….This was a great panel of some very huge icons on the web today. Bravo SES!”