SEO Blog

I’m running a little late with this post today but given the level of speculation in the search media surrounding rumours of another round of Yahoo! / AOL negotiations, I’m glad to be in a position to place a well informed second-thought opinion.

This is an interesting story, no matter how it turns out. According to a Fortune.com report published on the CNN Money website early Saturday afternoon, Yahoo! is interested in coaxing AOL away from Time Warner. Authored by Tim Arango and Adam Lashinsky, the piece has generated a great deal of discussion in the search marketing community.

The article comes early to the conclusion that the status quo is deadly for Yahoo!, outlining several options facing CEO Terry Semel. One of the options suggested sees Semel putting Yahoo! up for sale to Microsoft or to Google, depending on which was willing to part with the most money to keep Yahoo! out of the other’s hands.

What a difference a year makes. Last year, Yahoo! was solidly number two to Google. It still is in almost every respect except for that all essential element of business success, respect.

Loren Baker over at Search Engine Journal has posted a good piece by SEOResearcher.com writer Oleg Ishenko outlining five reasons Flash is not an optimial option.

“Flash Is Evil. Five Big Reasons Not to Use Flash”

1/ Flash requires bandwidth

Despite of the DSL Internet access being available almost everywhere, there are still lots of people surfing the Net via dialup or other limited bandwidth connection. Flash files, especially those using sound effects, embedded movies or bitmap images, can take a while to load.

2/ Disabled back button

Some Flash designers use meta refreshes or other tricks to disable browser’s Back button. As the famous usability expert Jacob Nielsen says, ‘Back button is the second most important navigation element after hyperlinks’. People not able to use Back button will click the third most important navigation element - that X button in the top right. Besides, if you are going to promote a Flash site via PPC, you should know that Google AdWords doesn’t approve pages with disabled back button.

3/ Flash ignores users needs

Sometimes the stories sort of write themselves. This is one of those times. The two most prominent and widely ridiculed examples of vapour-wear are about to be released, possibly within months of each other.

IGN Entertainment, a gaming news site published by Fox Interactive reports today that Take-Two Interactive has signed a $4.5 million agreement with 3D Realms to distribute a video game that was “highly anticipated” six years ago. A bonus clause in the agreement promises $500K if the game is delivered before December 31. It looks like Duke Nukem really will return, likely sooner than later.

Meanwhile, down the road in Redmond Washington, an inevitable and unenviable announcement has leaked from Microsoft. A devastating bug was found in Vista (Build 5824) two weeks ago. Though the bug was fixed in Vista Build 5840, reprogramming will cause yet another delay in shipping the software to PC manufacturers.

According to Ethan Allen, a software tester contracted by Microsoft who discovered the bug, the problem, “…totally crash the system, requiring a complete reinstall,” Allen made his comments in an interview with CIO.com writer Al Sacco.

Barry Schwartz over at the SERoundTable points out a lively debate over at the Search Engine Watch forums regarding the nature of the SEO business. The debate was initiated in response to a DMNews article, “Troubled Times for SEO Firms” written by David Pasternack, President of SEM services firm, Did-it.com.

In the article, Pasternack suggests SEOs see themselves as Jedi-Knights offering a one-time, front loaded service. Citing a recent MarketingSherpa study that says revenues in the SEO sector have virtually flat-lined in comparison to previous years, Pasternack suggests that the decline in SEO spending shows that mainstream marketers have learned SEO is an easy game. In other words, Pasternack is suggesting, in few uncertain terms, that SEO shops are losing business because mainstream businesses have learned they don’t really need them.

Did-it’s main focus is found primarily in the pay-per-click market. The company’s management is universally respected in the SEO industry and includes names such as Kevin Lee, John Merryman and Bill Wise. David, Kevin, John and Bill have all spoken at industry conferences and have each been published as expert authors in the search marketing media. Perhaps that level of respect explains the surprise and sharp tone found in many of the responses.