Seo Sem Tips By Avanindra - News And Events

Yahoo Opens Up Search Results "In an effort to open up its search results page and provide users with better access to structured content from trusted publishers, Yahoo is launching a new program that allows site owners to build plug-ins for Yahoo Search that will enhance the site owner's listing in Yahoo's search results.

Under the open search platform, users who turn on a Yahoo Search plug-in created by a publisher will see enhanced listings when the publisher's site is returned on a Yahoo search results page. The plug-ins are intended to expose structured information, and provide more deep links into a site, images, or ratings and reviews, for example. The experience is dramatically different, and very useful to searchers," said Amit Kumar, director of product management for Yahoo Search.

One of the first publishers to publish a plug-in will be local content site Yelp. Searchers who have enabled the Yelp plug-in will see an enhanced result when Yelp shows up in search results. Instead of the typical title and description, the result will appear more like a Yahoo Shortcut, Google Onebox, or Ask Smart Answer. It will include links to Yelp reviews, photos, ratings, and contact info for the business."

By Kevin Newcomb, Search Engine Watch

13 Sites that have millions of links "Have you ever wondered how some sites get so many links? Clearly sites such as Google deserve to have millions of links but I decided to see which sites and sub pages were building links into the millions.

Check out the results below and see if you can spot the linkbait strategies that have got a site penalised, the automated linkbuilding strategies that work very well and the benefits of creating great plugins and tools.

150 million links to http://www.statcounter.com/
24.8 million links to http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
24 million links to http://wordpress.com
22 million links to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
14 million links links to http://www.technorati.com
13.7 million links to http://www.moneyexpert.com/Compare-Loans.aspx
7.5 million links to http://www.moneyweb.co.uk/products/mortgages/mcapital.html
5.5 million links to http://threestore.three.co.uk/
5.5 million links to http://www.microsoft.com/
4.8 million links to http://www.apple.com/
4 million links links to http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/geovisitors/
3 million links links to http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/
2 million links to http://alexking.org/projects/wordpress/popularity-contest
1.3 million links to http://photomatt.net
By Patrick Altoft

Search engines offer SMEs an international audience
"Global internet information provider comScore has just released research which shows that Google became Canada's most-visited website for the first time in January, overthrowing the Microsoft destinations which had previously been the most popular.

This is not a terribly surprising development as the search giant has long been one of the most popular websites globally and is the most visited in the UK. In Japan, it is beaten by Yahoo! and closely followed by various Microsoft sites.

As the importance of search engines grows across the worldwide markets, there are more opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to market themselves within an international arena, all they need is visibility.

Recently, Dan Cobley, Google's director of marketing for UK, Ireland and Benelux, told IT Wales that the internet allows businesses access to customers they could never previously have engaged.

He highlighted: "Even the smallest company operating out of a garage and with a marketing budget of a few pounds a week, can tap into these new opportunities."

By Stuart Tofts
Yahoo! Search Marketing Lowers Minimum Bid

"Yahoo! Search Marketing has changed the way it handles minimum bids. Previously, minimum bids were set at .10. Period. Now, they're based on quality and value.

That's nice, and I'll tell you why. The Yahoo! Search Marketing blog mentions that auction houses have a similar minimum bid system. It's called a reserve bid. And it's based on the minimum ascribed value of the merchandise being auctioned off. This reserve bid is based on certain factors like quality, fame, market dynamics, etc. If, for instance, a rare guitar model is valued at $10,000 because it no longer manufactured and was the guitar model of choice by a fair number of professional recording artists then that can be considered a good starting point. Take into consideration that a particular guitar of that certain model was once owned by Elvis Presley (hypothetically) then that raises the value. If it was a guitar that was owned by Elvis Presley and no one else then it could be even more valuable. If he'd only played that guitar once in concert then it's value is raised again. And if he played only one song with that guitar EVER and that song was, say, "Jailhouse Rock" then that could raise the value again. Soon, we're talking about a standard $10,000 guitar model going for $75,000 simply because of these quality and value factors.

Yahoo! Search Marketing is headed that direction with its search marketing minimum bids. That's a good thing because it will increase the competition for certain keywords. It will also establish a market value for every keyword in existence, which means that certain keywords may actually lose value depending on the competition for those keywords. Since competition among advertisers for keywords is based on the demand value of those keywords at the search engines then whatever happens to be popular at the search engines - likely, most popular at Yahoo! - will have more value as an advertising keyword.

Seasonal concerns will play into this as well. For instance, the keyword "Easter egg" will be more valuable in March and April than in September and October. "Christmas tree" will be more valuable after Thanksgiving than in the summer. But other keywords, like "auto parts," may be valuable year round and could be more valuable in certain markets than in others. And that's what I like about this new plan - it gives the market more control over prices rather than the other way round. It is definitely a change for their pay per click structure"
By Brick Marketing
Google Sites: New service from Google based on JotSpot "Google Sites: New service from Google based on JotSpot Search engine giant Google has announced their latest web based service named Google Sites. This service makes use of the technologies they gained by acquiring JotSpot. Google said that this new service would enable the web users to create web sites using their technologies. The service is aimed at people who want to share information with their groups or batch mates. Users would be able to quickly create web pages containing interactive elements based on their other services. These sites would be hosted by Google." Google Gets Into WebSiteBuilding Biz "SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Google, already the world's most popular spot for finding Web sites, is aiming to become the go-to place for creating Web sites too. The Mountain View-based company is taking its first step toward that goal Thursday with the debut of a free service designed for high-tech neophytes looking for a simple way to share information with other people working in the same company or attending the same class in school. With only a few clicks, just about anyone will be able to quickly set up and update a Web site featuring a wide array of material, including pictures, calendars and video from Google Inc.'s YouTube subsidiary, said Dave Girouard, general manager of the division overseeing the new application. "We are literally adding an edit button to the Web," Girouard said. All sites created on the service will run on one of Google's computers.

Google acquired many of the Web-site tools when it bought a Silicon Valley startup, JotSpot, last year. The tools are the latest addition to a bundle of applications that Google offers to consumers and businesses as alternatives to similar products sold by Microsoft Corp., one of Google's fiercest rivals. Google's latest service represents a challenge to Microsoft's SharePoint, which charges licensing fees. Google is unveiling its alternative just a few days before Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft hosts a SharePoint conference in Seattle. While Microsoft's programs typically are installed on individual computers, Google keeps its application on its own machines so users can access them from anywhere with an Internet connection. By gradually introducing free versions of word processing, spreadsheet, and calendaring programs over the past two years, Google has been threatening to siphon revenue away from Microsoft, which makes most of its money from software sales. Microsoft, in turn, hopes to take a bite of out Google's bread-and-butter in online search and advertising by buying Yahoo Inc. for more than $40 billion. Google says more than 500,000 companies, government agencies and schools use at least some of its applications.

The company won't say how many of those organizations subscribe to a premium version of its software suite, but the fees haven't made much of a dent at Google so far. Last year, Google's software licensing and other products generated $181 million in revenue while $16.4 billion poured in from advertising. ___ On The Web: http://sites.google.com" Baidu Search Engine Launches IM in Beta - Baidu Hi "Search engine Baidu has launched instant messaging (IM) in beta, the first formal foray into the Chinese IM market. The "Baidu Hi" service won't be expected to generate revenue in the short term. But the Chinese search titan must find a way to diversify its revenue base. The Chinese language search engine recently launched a Japanese portal. Baidu, China's most popular search engine, has more than 60 percent of the search engine industry revenues, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm.

Google China holds second place with about 26 percent share. Yahoo China site remains in third with a little less than 10 percent share. Baidu considers the service a strategic product, according to the Chinese search engine's press release issued tonight. As with Google, search drives revenue for the fast-growing Baidu. For the past three years Baidu has doubled in size every year. The growth rate may drop to 30 percent in the next five years as Baidu's revenue base grows. The beta is restricted to Baidu employees only. No word on how long the beta will last or when the product will officially launch. One company, Tencent, based in Shenzhen has about 80 percent of the IM market share in China with its QQ service. How large is Tencent's customer base? QQ has 580 million users. The company earned 1 billion yuan in the Q3 last year through Internet services. In second place, Microsoft's MSN Instant Messaging runs far behind Tencent's QQ platform By Kevin Heisler