search advertisers
Microsoft Strikes Toolbar Agreement with Sun Microsystems
Microsoft has struck a deal with Sun Microsystems to have the MSN toolbar downloaded with Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The agreement will give Internet Explorer users in the United States the option of downloading the toolbar when they download JRE. The toolbar offers access to Live Search features, the MSN network, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger.
“This agreement with Sun Microsystems is another important milestone in our strategy to secure broad-scale distribution for our search offering, enabling millions more people to experience the benefits of Live Search,” said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of the Online Audience Business at Microsoft. “With the vast array of Java software-based Web applications that are downloaded every month, this deal will expose Live Search to millions more Internet users and drive increased volume for our search advertisers.”
Earlier this year, Microsoft reached a deal with HP to have the toolbar shipped on 2009 PCs.
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Google CEO Schmidt Will Not Be Obama’s CTO
President-elect Barack Obama ran on a technology platform that included creating a new cabinet-level position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Many names have been thrown around as possibilities with the most prevalent of them all being Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
But Schmidt says that’s not going to happen. He’s happy at Google and he has no plans to go anywhere. He does intend to remain an advisor to Obama.
This is good news since Google likely needs Schmidt to stay put right now. Search advertisers, like many other companies, are bracing to see just how big of a hit they’ll take during the tough economy.
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Rep. Barton Suspicious of Google/Yahoo Deal
It turns out that the concern over the Google/Yahoo search advertising partnership is bipartisan. Earlier this month, Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc) urged caution in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett.
Now, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) has written a letter to Barnett expressing his concern. Barton’s beef is with what he feels is Yahoo’s inadequate response to questions regarding the deal.
Barton represents a district that includes Fort Worth as well as suburbs of Dallas. The area is home to many search advertisers. It’s no surprise that Barton is raising concern on their behalf.
Google and Yahoo have tried to assure both the DOJ and advertisers that prices will not go up as a result of the deal, but fears remain. Both companies have said that advertisers set the pricing through the bidding process, but when you’re thinking about bidding for a term on the top 2 search engines, it’s understandable to think that prices will go up – even if Google and Yahoo do not set them higher.
What remains is uncertainty, which is not exactly comforting in a volatile economy.
Yahoo’s Sue Decker Weighs In on the Defense of the Search Ad Deal with Google
Yahoo President Sue Decker took to the Yahoo Anecdotal blog to defend the search advertising deal her company struck with Google a few months ago.
Google has been doing the heavy lifting when it comes to defending the deal to the critics. So, it was about time we heard from Yahoo again on the deal.
But Decker started off with a sarcastic tone. Her first paragraph ended with:
Since the critics clearly don’t understand the deal and what it means for Yahoo!, Google, advertisers, and users, it’s time for some myth-busting.
Sue, if you want to win friends to your side, you shouldn’t alienate these critics. Many of them are AdWords customers!
But Decker devolves even further by saying making her two points about what the deal does for Yahoo instead of making it about the customer:
- Yahoo! will use this agreement to help us become a stronger competitor in all aspects of online advertising; and
- Yahoo! is not exiting the sponsored search business. We plan to remain a strong player in sponsored search.
I know that Decker has probably been consumed with trying to save a flailing Yahoo. But the fact that she’s going after this argument by defending the business aspirations of Yahoo might show why this company is struggling in the first place.
Companies succeed when they focus on the customer. But Yahoo is focused on stock prices and board preservation. This is not the way to win the hearts of search advertisers or investors.
Otherwise, Decker made points that Google has made. She says there will not be price setting between Yahoo and Google because advertisers set the prices through the bidding process. The price is related to the value which is based on demand.
Decker even played on Google’s unofficial motto “Do no evil” by saying the partnership would be implemented through respect for the Hippocratic Oath “first, do no harm.”
To be fair, Yahoo probably needs this deal in order to bring in some extra income. What they need to do what that income is invest in innovation that brings a better search experience to users. That’s what the search industry needs right now. And it’s the only way to truly compete with Google.
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To Fear or Not to Fear: That is the Question (About the Google-Yahoo Ad Deal)
Will Google Merchant Search ‘Set the Cat amongst the Pigeons’?
Last week, Google launched Google Merchant Search. This week, Edward Cowell, Director of digital marketing agency Guava; says, ““Google Merchant Search will truly put the cat amongst pigeons for some of Google’s biggest search advertisers, the financial services comparison websites.”
Price comparison websites are big business in the UK and all the major industry players
advertise heavily on Google. Research by Resolution Foundation shows that 45% of UK adults used a comparison site to help them make a financial decision in the last year and that the price-comparison market is estimated to be growing at 30% a year.
That’s why the launch of the new service comes at a critical time for Google and its financial services advertisers. Says Cowell, “Most big financial services websites are just coming to terms with a marked increase in their paid search advertising budgets due to the recent changes in Google’s trademark bidding policies, so Merchant Search could be rubbing salt into the wound.”
Sites such as Ebay have boycotted Google Adwords by withdrawing its adverting when Google attempted to encroach on PayPal’s territory. So, uprisings are not unheard of in the search arena.
That’s why Cowell and the rest of the industry is waiting to see how the price comparisons companies react to the launch of Merchant Search.
Can Better Tools Make Up for Less Traffic for Microsoft?
The old saying goes that it’s not about quantity, but quality. Can that be true for search marketing as well? Microsoft is hoping that new tools it’s launching today at Search Engine Strategies Chicago will allow advertisers and webmasters to make the most of limited traffic.
In today’s SearchDay, “Microsoft Adds More Tools for Search [...]
Report: Click Fraud Up to 15.8% Last Quarter
According to the latest Click Fraud Index report from Click Forensics, the overall industry average pay-per-click fraud rose to 15.8 percent for the second quarter of 2007. This is an increase from 14.1 percent for the same quarter in 2006 and 14.8 percent for Q1 2007.
On content networks, such as Google AdSense and the Yahoo [...]
Click Fraud Up In Second Quarter
Click Forensics has released pay-per-click (PPC) fraud figures for the second quarter of 2007.
The overall average click fraud rate was 15.8 percent for the second quarter of 2007. This was an increase from 14.1 percent in 2006 and 14.8 percent for the first quarter of 2007.
The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements on search [...]
ComScore, Semdirector Partner For Marketing Deal
comScore and SEMDirector said today that they have entered into a joint marketing initiative to offer a new set of analytic solutions for managing large paid and organic search advertising programs.
SEMDirector will use comScore’s qSearch data to measure search activity and provide analysis to the search advertising market. SEMDirector will use comScore’s data to enhance [...]
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