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The Wall Street Journal is yet again providing Microhoogle scoops this morning. First up, Yahoo may announce a deal with Google to run its search ads. A few weeks ago, we learned that the tests of those ads were successful. And though the Justice Department is concerned about the partnership, the agreement will likely be nonexclusive, which should alleviate regulators’ fears.

But regulators are not the only ones with fears that Yahoo needs to alleviate. Wall Street and shareholders have been waiting with baited breath to see if Microsoft and Yahoo could reach an agreement on price for the proposed acquisition. But the two remain divided on the value of Yahoo, and Microsoft is expected to make an announcement about whether it will pursue a hostile takeover of Yahoo or walk away from its unsolicited bid.

Even if Microsoft announces a hostile takeover, the Yahoo-Google deal could still go through. The agreement will likely use Right Media’s ad exchange which employs a real-time auction system. Yahoo acquired Right Media last year. At least one analyst, Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney, has the deal as bringing Yahoo an additional $1 billion a year in revenue. Mahaney previously predicted that Microsoft would increase it’s offer to $34 per share based on Yahoo’s revenue projections for the next three years. Earlier this week, Microsoft indicated it would offer $32-33, while Yahoo wants upwards of $35-37. The original offer is for $31 per share.

The standards debate may be in full swing in our industry - but the decisions may be soon taken out of our hands if the FTC continues to define allowable advertising practices.

MediPost has a good overview of the developments of behavioral targeting and how they can be used. “Ad industry players are urging the FTC not to impose any new regulations — and also argue that the proposed voluntary guidelines are too restrictive,” they reported.

Where this gets close to our industry comes from the people seeking greater regulations. “Privacy advocates, on the other hand, want to see rules that will require companies to honor Web users’ preferences about whether they wish to be tracked online and to receive targeted ads,” MediaPost notes.

If this occurs then search is on the horizon of these groups. And we better be aware of them if consumer advocacy groups are claiming they “want to see new rules, rather than rely on voluntary compliance with trade groups”.

MediaPost quotes both Google and Microsoft at the end of the article and they have opposing views.

“Google, meanwhile, is especially concerned that the standards could affect search ads. In comments to the FTC, Google said it’s testing personalized search results, and argued that search ads shouldn’t be considered “behavioral” even when the ads displayed to users are based on their search history.

“We are currently experimenting in our Search service with providing ads based on both the current query and the immediately previous search,” Google wrote. “For example, a user who types ‘Italy vacation’ into the Google search box might see ads about Tuscany or affordable flights to Rome. If the user were to subsequently search for ‘weather,’ we might assume that there is a link between ‘Italy vacation’ and ‘weather’ and deliver ads regarding local weather conditions in Italy.”

Google rival Microsoft, on the other hand, said it supports the FTC’s goals and that the proposed guidelines should be extended “to include the full array of online advertising activities.”

Funny about the Microsoft position given I have been in a pitch for increasing our budget where they used competitors advertising information to suggest other terms and ads….. anonymous of course but not hard to reverse engineer.

At Search Engine Strategies New York this week, some of the best-attended sessions are about Web analytics. Two sessions I sat in on yesterday had standing-room only crowds. It’s clear that search marketers – like all online marketers – are finally realizing that it’s not all about getting people to your site. The volume game is fine when driving volume is cheap, but with concerns about rising keyword prices and a looming recession, it’s only natural that there’s a new round of belt-tightening going on.

Smart online marketers have been using analytics to squeeze better performance from the traffic they already have, instead of looking for new ways to drive low-converting traffic. From the looks of things, the idea is catching on, with the desire to learn about Web analytics spreading to the masses.

Google Analytics Evangelist Avinash Kaushik noted in his presentation that there are four keys to Web analytics success:
1. Integrate or Die – Measuring basic metrics are the price of entry. To succeed, you need to apply those measurements to other events beyond your Web site, and see what’s making or costing you money.
2. Measure Bounce Rate – Bounce rate is your Web site visitor saying to you, “I came, I saw, I puked.” If they come to one page and leave right away, you’re not giving visitors what they’re looking for. Figure that out and fix it.
3. Go Beyond Ego Bidding – The definition of success for one site will be different than success for another. The key is to find your own success metric, such as conversions, or time on site, and measure your performance against that metric.
4. Experiment or Go Home – Most sites are designed by “HiPPOs”: The Highest Paid Person’s Opinion. That often means the site is not designed around what users are searching for. You could be sending people to a less relevant page than you could or should be doing, or offering something different than what was promised in your search ads. Avinash calls this “Writing a check on a search engine that your site can’t cash.” Both are bad for the user.

If you missed the analytics sessions yesterday, there are still plenty of options. This afternoon, Google is putting on a session about Google Analytics and Website Optimizer, and Omniture is doing one on optimizing SEM campaigns. Later, Tim Ash will show you how to test and tune your landing page. For a deep dive into analytics, Matt Bailey is leading a four-hour training session on Web analytics on Friday.

ComScore did what Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, and Digg only dreamed of.

ComScore killed the search engine star.

ComScore data on Google paid clicks rocked the world this week. The proprietary comScore qSearch report was analyzed to death by Wall St. analysts and media pundits. Data: summarized and judged; Google, convicted, flogged and sentenced to an early demise.

It wasn’t hit and run, though: comScore’s SVP of Media and Search, James Lamberti, and CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Magid Abraham delve deep into the data to correct the rush to judgment in the marketplace. It’s a must-read. Great analysis; surprisingly lifeless title: “Why Google’s surprising paid click data are less surprising.”

It should’ve been “Data doesn’t kill Google, people do.”

QSearch showed a 7 percent decline in January ‘08 vs. December ‘07. Paid click annual growth? Flat for Google.

Month-over-month the number of paid clicks per search on Google dropped by 8 percent (December ‘07 to January ‘08). Consumers clicking less on search ads? Maybe. A weaker buying appetite?

Google’s share price took a hit and rebounded. Reports of Google’s early demise? Greatly exaggerated. That doesn’t mean the momentum-driven Google shares won’t take a hit if Google fails to impress the Street this quarter.

Wall St. analysts - looking for clues where Google gives no guidance - had accomplices: mainstream media and bloggers hoping for a Google stumble.

No one wants to miss the Hindenburg. The only problem? The Hindenburg Crashes Nightly when Google news goes viral.

The Google backlash reared its ugly head and this time it wasn’t just Valleywag.

LendingTree whose multimillion dollar paid search campaigns are managed by search marketing firm Efficient Frontier, made public its new online marketing strategy: cutting back on PPC or paid search.

LendingTree spokesperson Allison Vail was quoted in CNET News.com by Stefanie Olsen.

“With the Fed changes in January, we were driving natural traffic. It’s smarter for us,” said Vail.

Our readers know it’s always smart to optimize for natural search. I’m not sure anecdotal evidence from a financial services pure play in the throes of a global subprime mortgage crisis proves paid search revenues are declining.

Statistics from search marketing firms, though, would lend credence to the argument.

For average CPC (Cost Per Click) by industry vertical (Financial Services, Mortgage, Credit, Auto), click here.

Efficient Frontier Chairman Ellen Siminoff, chairman told CNET that paid search advertising spendi in financial services has typically risen between 30 percent and 50 percent annually.

So far this year it’s either flat or down for some companies. credit and mortgage advertisers raised their spending by 24 percent, but this year, their spending has risen only 3 percent year over year, according to Efficient Frontier data.

Coming soon: Efficient Frontier / Search Engine Watch Average CPC data for February.

Be the first investment banker or hedge fund manager on your block to see the stats.

Warning: You must be 21 years of age to view this site.

You must be of legal purchase age to enter the corrupt world of this online video / search campaign — winner of the Yahoo Searchlight Awards.

The third annual Yahoo Searchlight Award winner: “Partay” the whitest boys in the room hip-hop video promoting the responsible consumption of Smirnoff Raw Tea by search marketing firm Outrider.

Target demographic for search ads: Who cares? Par-tay! You don’t have to type in your age to click on a “Crizazy” text ad for Russian hooch.

Don’t agree with the winner? Don’t blame the judges. All, including Kevin Ryan, were limited to “one man, one vote” while the big audience voted electronically.

That’ll teach interactive agencies not to send a whole crew to an awards ceremony.

Funniest line: Ron Belanger called Kevin Ryan, “The Howard Stern of Search.”

2nd Funniest line: What world-famous comedian and emcee Craig Ferguson called Kevin Ryan.

To find the answer, go to the Search Engine Strategies blog.

For more drunken rap videos in the East vs West Rap WarGames, go to TeaPartay.com. (No link love for preppie rappers.)

Outrider copywriter say, IF YA WANNA ROLL WIT DA TEA PARTAY WE NEED TO KNOW YOUR AGE PLAYA. Submit, yo.

Want a snapshot of the day’s search marketing news? Here we’ve collected today’s top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

• SEO for Reputation Management
  One way to combat the threat of negative branding is through a reputation management strategy, which can begin with search engine optimization (SEO).
• Google Bar Codes and Three Martini Lunches
  Search marketing firms have a tremendous competitive advantage over traditional ad agencies. Managing campaigns based on ROI is second nature.
• Balogh Named New Yahoo CTO
  Aristotle “Ari” Balogh, 43, was named CTO for Yahoo today.
• Marchex to Distribute Ads from Superpages Advertisers
  Advertisers who buy placements on Idearc’s Superpages.com local search site will now be able to get the added distribution over Marchex’s network of more than 200,000 vertically-focused local sites, as well as more than 50 partner ad networks and vertical sites.
• Measuring PR in cold, hard cash
  Counting press clips has been a bogus PR metric for more than 20 years. So, what are the right PR metrics in the age of search engines?
• SEMPO Nominees for Board of Directors
  The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization has announced the nominees for its 2008 board of directors.
• SEW Experts: The Future of Search: All the Media That’s Fit to Be Googled
  The battle between search engines and human beings has moved to a new stage where online advertising and search ads are overtaking the search engine.
• SEW Experts: Online Retail SEO: Holiday Shopping Seasonality
  The Q4 holiday season makes or breaks the success of online retail. Yet many companies don’t realize how important the holidays are for SEO.
• SEW Experts: SEO Millionaire: Who Wants to Be One? - Part 2
  Last week, we challenged SEOs to identify which of the big three travel sites has a canonical issue. Now we give you the answer.
• Search not understood and used in PR campaigns
  PR experts recognize that social media has changed the practice of PR. Search, however, is not part of the PR lexicon yet.

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The battle between search engines and human beings has moved to a new stage where online advertising and search ads are overtaking the search engine. In today’s Search Engine WarGames column, “The Future of Search: All the Media That’s Fit To Be Googled,” Kevin Heisler looks at Google’s forays into TV, radio, newspapers.

The Search Ad marketplace “sky” won’t fall when our economy slows or possibly kicks into a recession this year.
Lately, we have all heard confirmations about the downturn. Jim Zarroli reported “hiring is down, real estate is in a coma and banks have suddenly become a lot more skittish” on NPR. Some 42% of surveyed [...]

Want a snapshot of the day’s search marketing news? Here we’ve collected today’s top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:
From the SEW Blog:

AdSense Video Units To Launch In UK, Ireland and CanadaPublishers will be able to show videos from YouTube content partners in ad [...]

Content ads need to work harder than search ads to distract the reader’s attention from the Web site content that attracted them in the first place. In today’s Content Advertising column, “Content Advertising Explained - Part 3,” David Szetela shows you some ways to test your content ads, and offers some good and bad examples [...]