MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Yahoo has discovered that outsourcing data storage and management has become expensive and inadequate in capacity to meet their demand, and is consequently developing a multi petabyte SQL database. The system will, like Google’s BigTable, use a system of distributed columns rather than the typical tables system, which is organised by rows and columns. The difference from Google’s BigTable is that Yahoo’s database is designed for a SQL interface.

Google’s BigTable method of using distributed columns employs a plurality of storage servers, one with a database engine that partitions database tables into column chunks.

2 Comments »

Choosing a consumer market to go after can be a difficult choice to make in business. This is especially challenging when the section of the market you are targeting has very specific needs. Ask.com has recently announced that they aim to target their search results around a more feminine market. As women can be particularly fussy, they’ll need a lot of oomph in their marketing strategy.

5 Comments »

Perhaps you’ve heard of siloing, which is a method of categorising content on your site, revolving around a central theme. You determine that theme and its sub-topics by looking at the target key/search phrases for your business and its relevant market. You then optimise your site’s internal PageRank by linking the “silos”, or as Microsoft would say, the “blocks”, together using rel=”nofollow” tags on pages that are unimportant in relation to the main theme. Ideally, this means that Google would crawl only the quality internal links to the site, and derive the PageRank successfully from the upper-tier pages. The thinking goes that on account of the nofollow tags, PageRank is siphoned off into the most “searchable” pages.

3 Comments »

Barry Schwartz of searchengineland.com has written that Yahoo! now redirects those who use their search platform to their country’s version of the search engine by default. He relays information directly from his editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan, who at the time of the post was in the UK.

According to Danny, Yahoo! will now redirect someone searching within the UK to the “UK & Ireland” Website. The searcher will initially be allowed to opt out and return to the main Yahoo! domain, which will then return as their default page, unless they forego this option, in which case they remain “local”. A laymen, or average search engine user, can still easily reach a country site version by typing in the address URL into their browser address bar. The redirect only happens when someone from Germany, for example, tries to access Yahoo.com , and are automatically taken to their local version.

3 Comments »

When Google first began, no one knew quite what to make of it. They had a policy of “Do no evil”, they didn’t conform to traditional business practices, had unique hiring practices and took pride in their inherent quirkiness. For instance, they’re now famous for their dedication to staff satisfaction with their free lunches, massages and relaxation rooms. They also allow employees one day a week to work on whatever project they want.

No Comments »

Yahoo! hasn’t succeeded in the great PPC race nearly as much as Google, because they focused more on how much advertisers are spending to determine where to place their ads, rather than on sheer relevance. Is it no surprise then that they are running to Google to try a last resort and probably ineffectual boost to their overall share value? Yahoo! co-founder Yang is still too stubborn to go into a more substantial partnership with Google. The two week trial of placing AdSense into Yahoo! search results is set to take up only 3 percent of their ad space. It goes to show that sometimes following the leader (Google) is the more profitable venture.

No Comments »

Think of contemptuous boy-children fighting in the schoolyard. The biggest, most feared bully in the class, Microsoft, has been yanking up the undershorts of the other kids for some time, and has inspired some retaliation, in the form of a gang-up.

Microsoft stands to gain a lot by sponging up Yahoo! into its online makeup. They want the search and social media power that Yahoo! have built, and can offer an incommensurate wad of their cash, stock value and the power of its application development. They have the home PC software market, but they want it all; they want the online market as well, they want to be the biggest, toughest kid in the classroom and on the playground. Yahoo! have stood their ground up until now.

No Comments »

While Sarah Bird from SEOMoz was working on trademarking some new SEO Moz Marks, she noticed that a chap named Jason Gambert put in an application to Trademark SEO. What?

Not only did he put in an application, but she also noticed that he had managed to get all the way to publication phase too. So, it passed the preliminary review and is now sitting in that waiting period where people who may be harmed by this can object.

This guy managed to convince the TMO’s reviewing attorney that SEO is a process that involves the manipulation of keywords and is in fact not a marketing service.

1 Comment »

According to an article I read on the net recently, Yahoo! have been keeping busy by getting some extra exposure on radio channels in the United States, appearing as an attempt to up their game against Google. Their added features have created a new possibility of competition in the search engine industry. Yahoo!’s proactive approach carries the slight potential of disrupting Google’s comfortable spot at the top of this industry. The more exposure Yahoo! gets, the higher the chances are that some of our clients will be asking to make sure they are in the top 10, not only of Google, but Yahoo! too.

3 Comments »

It’s refreshing to see a company stick to their ethos and honour their mission statement.

Of course, Performics was never going to be a massive moneyspinner for the giant, but the signal sent out to the SEO industry of impartiality is to be commended.

More often than not, spin teams are wheeled out in these situations to justify sitting on both sides of a corporate fence, but G has taken the high road and sold it off.

1 Comment »