Archive: September, 2008

The US Department of Justice has hired a noted antitrust expert to examine Google’s pending take-over of Yahoo!’s paid search advertising program. Slated to start in October, the hail-Mary plan to keep Yahoo!’s assets out of Microsoft’s hands comes into effect. Google AdWords will display some of its ad-inventory over its former competitor’s networks, a move which potentially gives Google over 90% of all search ad-spend.

Several Justice Department lawyers spent the better part of the summer gathering information about the partnership between the two search giants with their efforts intensifying in the weeks following Yahoo!’s annual general meeting in early August.

On Monday, the Justice Department hired veteran anti-trust lawyer Sanford M. Litvack to study the evidence and prepare the case. Litvack was Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ Antitrust Division during the Carter Administration.

Earlier this week, the Association of National Advertisers made a statement asking the Justice Department to stop the partnership. The American Association of Advertising Agencies and the International Advertising Associaton also oppose the deal. The investigation is said to be limited to a narrow focus on the PPC partnership and will not involve other online advertising channels such as display or CPA.

It’s been two full weeks since Search Engine Strategies San Jose ended and I am just now starting to do the proper and polite thing, follow-up on the dozens of new connections made.

It’s hard to believe time has flown so fast however, in the hurly-burly world of IT, hours condense into minutes and twelve hour work-days pass so quickly one hardly realizes they are actually working. Those stories about programmers camping in their offices for weeks at a time because they are obsessed with task and process are absolutely true. When truly dedicated IT workers get working on something fascinating they tend to devote 100% of their focus to that project.

Here at Metamend, we’ve been busying ourselves perfecting our new website and our re-branding initiative. Moving beyond simple search marketing, Metamend has articulated several new services designed to offer a fuller range of online marketing options to our clients. One of Metamend’s strongest assets is the experience and knowledge necessary to anticipate and adapt to change. Collectively, we have almost two-hundred years of Internet marketing experience to call upon from some of the best brains in the industry.