Search Engine Optimization News Blog

In a startling turn of events, AT&T is removing the default Google search functioning on the upcoming Android OS Backflip phones and replacing it with Yahoo.

According to Business Week:

Google declined to comment on the Backflip. “This is not a Google-branded product and, therefore, product inquiries should be directed to AT&T and Motorola,” the company said.

Yahoo execs, however, are crowing, according to Fox Business:

David Katz, a vice president at Yahoo, said in an e-mailed statement, “We have a long-standing relationship with AT&T and more than 80 carrier partnerships around the world for our award- winning mobile-search experience. Mobile search continues to be a focus for investment and innovation.”

The folks at Engadget weren’t impressed with the change to the Motorola phone:

Yahoo has replaced Google as the default search provider throughout the phone. It’s crazy: the home screen widget, the browser, everything’s been programmed to use Yahoo. We love us some irony, but golly, we’d prefer Google searches most of the time.

Gizmodo proposes the idea that AT&T is trying to placate their big client Apple by shutting Google out of the open source phone and choosing Yahoo instead:

AT&T’s undisputed bread and butter is the iPhone, which means that appeasing Apple is high on their priority list. And it’s hard to see what other advantage this move has for the carrier other than scoring a point in their patron’s favor in the escalating Apple-Google feud.

This is just one more reason to optimize for and be indexed in Yahoo’s search engine – Google is only going to be a competitor in mobile search, and not the undisputed top dog. Search Engine Submission is going to take on a whole new meaning as the various engines fight for supremacy, so make sure you have a standing in each index to ensure you show up in results!

Back in what is commonly referred to as ‘the day’, a couple of Stanford grads put their heads together over some White Castle burgers and came up with a brilliant plan to create a guide to the world wide web.

(OK, I have no independent confirmation that White Castle burgers were present, but it makes the story sound even more authentic.)

Anyhoo, Jerry Yang and David Filo may not have been Harold and Kumar, but they definitely started something. In 1994 they renamed their self aggrandizing guide Yahoo, and the second largest search engine was born.

They talk about the early days on the Yahoo blog:

After many late nights and a lot of pizza, we decided to take the big leap, turn our hobby into a business, raise money and devote ourselves totally to building a company.  This was no sure thing.  For example, 15 years ago, we wanted a free service that was ad-supported. But the conventional wisdom was that our business needed to be subscription-based. Few people thought that advertising could be the key revenue generator for the Internet. Of course, the conventional wisdom was wrong and so today we know that August, 1995, the month our first ad went live, was a critical milestone in the history of Yahoo!, as well as the history of the internet.

They are also hosting a Twitter challenge:

1. We’re starting the Yahoo! Birthday Twitter Trivia Challenge in a few minutes-here are the details http://bit.ly/aO3Y8A #Y15

As a bit of history, on Flickr where a snapshot of the Yahoo timeline can be seen, a commenter showed this bit of Yahoo history:

Happy Birthday, Yahoo!

The wildly popular Yahoo Answers has gotten a bit more than a facelift. According to the Yahoo Answers blog, the revamp is pretty intense and in depth.

The homepage and navigation have been entirely redone.  On top of the the Answers banner, there are four new, navigation tabs: Home, Browse Categories, My Activity, and About. These tabs and the green Answers banner stay up constantly, so reaching important parts of the site is a snap.

Home brings you to a standard screen from which you have several choices. The link to the Answers Blog is now on the right hand side, as well as the most recent questions. You can also see  the Best of Answers rotating module. My activity lets you go directly to your Answers profile and view your network/ your network activity or edit your preferences. About allows you to get a refresher on Answers and the Community Guidelines, and view the leaderboard, Suggestion Board,  and  Answers Blog.

Browse categories has been greatly updated. Previously all of the categories were permanently displayed on the left hand column on the homepage. Now they can be accessed from the top hide-away menu and you can browse the category tab to reach a page where you may view all of the questions that are open, resolved or in voting.

The Yahoo blog states:

“Over the past few years we’ve heard from quite a few of you that you love the Answers green but it’s just a little too green. So we’ve taken your feedback to heart and have toned down the green just a bit and have replaced the white background with a light blue that is a little easier on the eyes. Our smilies have also received a facelift and look a bit more polished throughout the site.

Additionally, you’ll notice that the page feels a bit wider—one thing we heard from you when we introduced the new category pages several months back was that you liked the extra space. This extra space allows us to display even more questions on the homepage, making it easier for you to jump right in.”

In addition, some  backend bug fixes are included in the update as well as  feature requests such as updating the category leaderboards daily instead of weekly.

seeks to dump other properties.

Yahoo is divesting itself of ‘baggage’ apparently – as they pull back more and more from seach to concentrate on news, the online company is changing a lot of things. First comes the dumping of HotJobs – rumored for some time, it was finally formally announced.

According to Business Wire:

Monster Worldwide, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Yahoo! HotJobs, a leading online recruitment website, from Yahoo! for $225 million in cash. Monster and Yahoo! have also entered into a three year commercial traffic agreement, to take effect upon the closing of the acquisition, in which Monster will become Yahoo!’s provider of career and job content on the Yahoo! homepage in the United States and Canada. The traffic agreement calls for performance based annual payments calculated by clicks and expressions of interest, subject to annual floors and ceilings. In addition, the traffic agreement provides Monster with an exclusive right for a period of time following the closing of the acquisition to negotiate similar traffic agreements with Yahoo! properties on a global basis, including countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, subject to certain limitations.

In addition, Paid Content listed a few extra addendums to the deal:

Ancillary agreements include

—(i) a license agreement, pursuant to which Yahoo will grant to Monster a license of certain patents and trade secrets for use by Monster, and Monster will agree to grant back to Yahoo a license of the technology, trade secrets and patents assigned to Monster
—(ii) a transition services agreement to ensure Monster’s ability to operate the HotJobs business for a period of six months following the closing (as such time period may be extended in Monster’s discretion by up to three additional months) and
—(iii) a commercial traffic agreement, pursuant to which Yahoo has agreed to place hyperlinks on Yahoo’s homepages in the United States and Canada and certain other Yahoo properties designed to direct user traffic to Monster.com and Monster.ca.

Is Yahoo really planning to pull back on EVERYTHING except news? They have also been rumoured to be planning to unload additional assets such as Zimbra (according to The A Register):

VMware has agreed to purchase Yahoo!’s Zimbra unit – an outfit that offers enterprise email, collaboration, and calendering – after earlier reports indicated a pact was on the cards.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But sources speaking with All Things Digital say the price is “well below” the $350m Yahoo! paid for Zimbra in the fall of 2007.

VMware says it will purchase all Zimbra technology and intellectual property, but that Yahoo! will retain the right to use Zimbra tech in its consumer email and calendar services: Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Calendar.

Yahoo Small Business was also said to be on the bock, but has since been pulled, according to Reuters:

The sale of Yahoo’s small business unit, which had been rumored for months, has apparently found no takers and now the Internet firm has pulled the offer from the table, news website DailyFinance reported.

Last September a source “familiar with the matter” told Reuters that Yahoo’s asking price of between $350 million to $500 million was “likely higher than what buyers were willing to pay.”

Yahoo’s small business division provides domains, email, Web hosting and other merchant services to customers.

The Reuters story listed private equity firm General Atlantic LLC as a potential buyer because it owns Network Solutions, which provides similar services to small businesses.

Brian Nelson, Yahoo’s director of communications, told DailyFinance via email: “We are focused on competing and winning in Yahoo Small Business. We will always look at parts of the business where divestitures, partnerships or outsourcing could generate incremental value and help us improve our focus.”

Next week marks the one year anniversary of Yahoo’s restructuring that put Bartz at the helm. According to Bloomberg.com,

The CEO of Autodesk Inc. from 1992 to 2006, Bartz took the reins at Yahoo from the company’s co-founder Jerry Yang. He rankled investors in 2008 by spurning a $47.5 billion takeover attempt by Microsoft. Yang then pursued an ad partnership with Mountain View, California-based Google Inc. That deal fell apart in late 2008 after the U.S. government threatened to challenge the agreement.

By the time Bartz took over, Microsoft said it was no longer interested in an acquisition, preferring a partnership instead. She worked out that deal about six months after her arrival. Under the 10-year agreement, aimed at challenging Google, Yahoo will use Microsoft’s Bing search engine on its Web sites.

Bartz says she gives herself a B- for her first year efforts, but Yahoo chairman Bostock reportedly gives her an A-. Bartz had a tough row to hoe taking over the helm from Yang after the failed sellout and subsequent attempted coup by investors, but she has managed to steer the company away from the abyss it was threatening to disappear into last year.

In other Yahoo, news, BOSS isnt dead – yet. In a post on the Yahoo BOSS Tech Group, Ashrim notes that BOSS has been in limbo sicne no-one was sure how the deal with Microsoft would work out:

Under this agreement, Yahoo! is permitted to continue offering the BOSS web service, with search results that would integrate Yahoo! services and content with algorithmic results provided by Microsoft. As always, our intention is to provide a BOSS offering as long as it makes business and economic sense to do so. We are still examining what the BOSS offering will consist of, with some services powered by Microsoft, unique content that Yahoo! currently provides, and the potential for additional Yahoo! content in the future.

Prior to the announcement of the Yahoo!-Microsoft search agreement, we’d already shared our intention to explore a fee-based structure for BOSS. We continue to explore an appropriate fee structure or other revenue model as we work through the future of BOSS.

As you know, we must receive regulatory clearance before actual implementation of the search deal with Microsoft can occur.

Yahoo is also experiencing a higher level of ad implementation, according to WSJ:

Yahoo Inc. has signed an agreement to produce online programming that could push the integration of advertising into dramatic storylines, news and reality shows to new levels.

The partnership between Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo (YHOO) and content studio Electus, which is run by former NBC (GE) executive Ben Silverman, was announced early Friday.