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SEL reports that Ask will soon roll out a contextual ad network, starting with their own premium branded sites:

The Ask contextual product will initially launch within IAC's own network of sites including Match.com, Ticketmaster, Evite and Citysearch and will then expand to trusted third party publishers. Individual publishers will most likely have to wait until next quarter to gain access to this contextual product.

What will they do with ticket scalpers? Currenty they are suing eBay's Stubhub.

Once Ask opens up their network to publishers, perhaps next quarter, they will allow you to match your ads for maximal earnings or maximal relevancy.

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Diller Sacks the Butler:

Jeeves is out of a job.

IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) is dropping the butler who doubles as the mascot of its recently acquired Ask Jeeves online search business.

The New York-based online empire, which acquired Ask Jeeves for $1.9 billion in July, plans to rebrand the Web site as Ask.com, CEO Barry Diller said Wednesday at an investment conference.

The article also mentions China next year. If they are smart they will talk to Shak before then, assuming they know what they want to do ;)

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Ask announced the launch of their pay per click advertising network. Advertisers will be able to buy pay per click ads directly from Ask as soon as the 15^TH of this month.

Danny Sullivan has an article about the new Ask launch, and a subscribers only more in depth version as well.

For the most part their internal ad network will be a duplication of much of the core AdWords ranking technology (ad rank based upon CTR and CPC), and they will still use AdWords to backfill their ad network when they do not have many high value internal ads.

MSN should be launching their network around the end of this year, which will place Ask's ad network at #4 in terms of reach. With limited reach (Ask has around 5 to 6% of US search traffic), and the ability to buy ads that list on Ask directly from Google, it is going to be hard for Ask to build a large advertiser base.

What could help Ask gain exposure and mindshare for their new ad network (and may open them up to legal liabilities) is if they allow certain types of ads that people can't buy on other ad networks (such as US targeted gaming related ads). Controvercy equals free marketing.

They also should be able to do well in travel, loan, dating, and event ticket related verticals if they open up network ad space on IAC partner sites. Where would sold out concert ticket ads have any more value than being advertised on TicketMaster.com?

Advertisers will follow the inventory, so if IAC markets the heck out of Ask and increases search marketshare they will sell more ads. Running an internal ad network will allow them to be more flexible with how they monitize other properties and will make them less dependant on Google for revenue.

Ultimately the soon launching PPC networks has to be bad news for the smaller pay per click providers. Instead of Google, Overture, then FindWhat soon FindWhat (recently renamed to Miva) will be a number 5 position player, which can't bode well for their perceived traffic quality with how some of the other smaller pay per click engines are doing.

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Zoom Zoom Zoom

Ask Jeeves now allows you to zoom in or out on a concept, as well as find related concepts. Andy has the scoop on the Ask Jeeves pressblog Search Engine Lowdown.

just giving you crap Andy :)

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Needed:
Danny Sullivan writes Worthless Shady Criminals: A Defense Of SEO

Decry a particular SEO tactic, if you want -- but don't decry the entire SEM industry as being rotten. If you want to do that, then here are some other stereotypes you'd also better buy into:

• All car salesmen are crooks

• All lawyers are crooks
• Teachers teach because they can't do
  
• Bloggers don't check facts

• [Insert Race/Culture/Nationality Here] is [Insert Derogatory Comment/Stereotype Here]

Ask Jeeves:
Profits increase 35%

Yahoo!:
Think Big contest gives away 10,000,000 Yahoo! ad impressions. I think Jeremy Z should win with the Viagra Rolex Watches.

Yahoo! also thinks small. Cutting up ads on stored My Yahoo! web pages. Webmasters are already complaining about how My Yahoo! stores web pages.

Charity:
Google foundation may invest in for-profit firms. Am going to apply for a grant soon. Will let you know how it goes :)

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Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday debuted a test service called My Search History that analysts said is a move closer to personalized search, which is widely considered the Holy Grail for the Web search leader and its rivals. source

to use My Search History you must register at Google Accounts and maintain an active account.

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Hola:
Spainish Ask Jeeves

Lycos:
Lycos to use AlmondNet to target contextual ads

Who Owns Culture?
Webcast at 7pm Eastern tonight. Steven Berlin Johnson is one of my favorite writers, and he will be chatting with Jeff Tweedy and Lawrence Lessig.

Like Search Research?
DG's Desk links to a bunch of research papers.

SEO URL Tip:
this looks like a cool new blog about eBay, but why not spend the $8 /yr to buy a static domain name?

also, Gawker media lagunched Sploid. I think they come up with some pretty cool names.

Try Again:
Google alternate searches being tested? that or spyware...

Gel Conference:
April 28-29, 2005 New York City. Looks pretty cool.

Interview:
of MSN Search.

Across the Ocean:
apparently in the UK Online ad spend trumps airwaves

A Good Blog:
about social, legal, and economic issues.

Dirty Words:
Marcia. hehehe

Paris Hilton:
still looking for that video? view the Paris Hilton porncast podcast. you KNOW stuff is overhyped when a megacorp has Paris doing something.

Yahoo! Shopping:
rss feeds

VoIP:
AOL tries to be undead, launching a VoIP service. pricing structure hosed from the word go?

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InterActiveCorp, the Internet company headed by Barry Diller, is close to an agreement to acquire Ask Jeeves Inc., the nation's fourth-largest search engine company, for about $1.9 billion, according to an executive involved in the negotiations.

An announcement could be made as early as today. - NYT

IAC own CitySearch, Expedia, HSN, and a ton of other web properties.

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Ad Links by Google:
Peter D shows new AdSense change

Google Local Business Center:
wonder if the Yellow pages are feeling yellow? Andrew Goodman has the details. for now US only.

Wonder What Google thinks?
of a free product that strips out their published ads for the user

their response to autolink thusfur has been nothing short of pathetic. nice job Mark.

Ask Jeeves also recently created a FireFox toolbar.

Google Sandbox:
Does the sandbox only affect phrases containing popular words?
found on ThreadWatch

I have recently seen a site under a month old rank for some rather short query sets.

New SEO / SEM Blogs:
maybe not new, but at least new to me.
Got Ads? - seems to be more focused on the ad / ppc side of the search game. have not read it a ton yet but have seen John contribute many good posts on Andrew Goodman's SEM 2.0
Wolf Howl - should have mentioned and found this one a while ago as multiple friends have recommended it to me. his most recent post references Flatland, so it must be a cool blog :)

the conference I am at:
ended today. I could blog about a bunch of stuff but now find myself headed toward the closing party, which I suspect may give me more stuff to blog about.

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Ask Jeeves:
Interviewed. Mike Grehan interviews Jim Lanzone & Apostolos Gerasoulis.

Search Stocks:
downgraded on weak PPC spend

thread asks:
When is it OK to Sell SEO Services?

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Writing:
Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes

How to Be a Consultant:
Create The Warm Fuzzy Feelingâ„¢. Reading it certainly takes much longer than 10 minutes, but it is well worth it if you are considering becoming a consultant.

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AdSense and AdWords shakeup:

• Dear AdWords, Whatever you did yesterday... thread about increased traffic quantity and improved ROI

• Very bad two days AdSense earning thread. some people complain and others say their earnings are better than ever.
• Botnets strangle Google Adwords campaigns

found on ThreadWatch

SearchGuild birthday awards:
fun stuff

I was nominated but was beat out by Orion. a real shame that I do not know more about fractal spam and semantic co-occurance...

Free Link Renting Guide:
Patrick Gavin offers free link renting tips (PDF link)

Complacency:
Tim Converse (from Yahoo!) calls out Marissa Mayer (from Google). I am sure there are lots of fun dialogs between the various engines employees.

Ask Jeeves:
creates their obligitory blog.

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Google vs Geico:
Huge news for many marketers, Google won.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that there was not enough evidence of trademark violation to bar Google from displaying rival insurers when computer users search the word "GEICO."

Search Engine Filiters:
Three was a good thread on SEW forums about search engine filters. A couple people defaced the original thread with useless garbage, but ThreadWatch's coverage is a great read.

Search Engine Strategies:
I was going to attend, but decided not to at the last minute...anyhow, if you want coverage RustyBrick is posting about many of the sessions here...he may not be blogging the event though ;)

Funny:
GoogleGuy reviews a non-profit site: (really funny)

I'd recommend that he remove all links to these aggressive sites, and then send an email to us requesting reinclusion.

(found on ThreadWatch)

Google Suggest:
DaveN has opened up his scraper for public use.

MSN Desktop Search:
launched, & integrated into the MSN toolbar.

Search Stats:
ClickZ writes about a recent ComScore search survey

Of those consumers who converted on a trademark keyword, 91 percent did so after starting with a different term type. A full 80 percent started with a generic search term. Trademark searches, meanwhile, accounted for 20 percent of all online searches.

As for conversions, an estimated 92 percent of all computing and consumer electronics purchases occur offline. Meanwhile, 7 percent of conversions occur in the form of latent conversions. Only 1 percent of conversions occur in the same session online.

Google Library:
Google to digitize lots and lots of books...

Late to the Party:
Ask Jeeves desktop search

Brits Behind the Curve on Spam?
Nearly a quarter of all online UK consumers (23%) have purchased some form of goods or services from a spam email, according to new research. I wonder if thats why many of the UK SEOs are so good at what they do ;)

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Google created the PageRank and Google Toolbar as a smart marketing ploy, but for the most part they speak in ways which intentionally convolute their actual ranking criteria.

Yahoo! has tried to be a bit more open with Yahoo! Shopping doing link renting / SEO for their own sites and the Yahoo! Search blog referencing and communicating with SEO industry members.

MSN Search Beta went one step further than Yahoo!. They not only link off to SEOs on their blog, but they also brought some SEOs in on developement of their search engine.

Bill Gross recently released Snap, which was founded on the idea of a 100% transparent search engine.

Lycos and Ask Jeeves (1 page PDF) are going one step further by selling SEO services. Is there any better way for a search engine to throw their credibility in the dumpster?

forum threads covering Lycos & Ask Jeeves:

• IhelpYou

• SearchGuild

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Right as Google updates its local search...
Ask Jeeves disappears?

I am going to go look for him in London.

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Ask Jeeves lauches Ask Jeeves Japan. The site currently does not have an ad partner, and Ask Jeeves has some strategic partnerships which should make the site fairly popular right out of the gate.

Cnet has more info on the new search site.

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Terrar for Sale
My Buddy Chris Ridings is selling off Terrar, his RSS search engine.

If I were more technically inclined I would really want to buy it. I think it could be used as an amazing PR tool used to track what various people are saying about other people in real time...similar to Web Fountain but at a much lower cost.

Here is his full post about the Terrar sale. You can contact him via PM at SearchGuild if interested.

Paparazzi Search?
Ask Jeeves offers celebrity search. Example: Elvis (who is not dead by the way)

Taking a Break
The MSN tech preview has ended...for now at least. They will be back soon though and likely more evil than ever :)

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Get Loco Local
Stefanie Olsen writes about the new Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves local products.

Yahoo! Launches Yahoo! Local
http://local.yahoo.com/

Yahoo! still has an ongoing relationship with CitySearch but will be using Yahoo! data to power this beta release. If it does well enough Yahoo! may replace Yahoo! Get Local with the new Yahoo! Local product.

CitySearch Finds Ask Jeeves

Ask Jeeves just announced a partnership with CitySearch for the new Ask Jeeves city guide product.

Ask Jeeves on Monday also added a new feature to its results for queries on cities, called a city guide unit, which displays local information such as weather on metropolitan areas. The company also introduced a service that lets people call up local maps and driving directions. Ask Jeeves' upcoming service will complement its "Smart Search" feature by letting people retrieve a box of information on locally relevant search queries, such as "Manhattan Thai restaurants" that would include address information for a business and user reviews or ratings.

Ask Jeeves signed an exclusive multiyear deal with CitySearch and intends to start serving the CityGuide ads in September.

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In business it is usually either you are with us or you are against us.

Ask Jeeves has used used Google AdWords for a few years now to generate the lion share of their income.

Now Ask Jeeves has partnered with Kelkoo (a Yahoo! owned shopping site) to provide visual comparison shopping from within the Ask Jeeves site.

Perhaps Ask could be getting ready to soon clean up their overly ad filled search results...we shall see.

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Wow, July is already here...

New Look MSN
MSN launched their new look MSN search engine results page. Now they clearly separate ads and organic listings.

How Other Search Engines Look
Google has always done this and Yahoo! started testing mid June and will release the new look soon. This leaves one to Ask Jeeves when they intend to dump the 10 ad blended serp technique.

While Asking Jeeves...
MicroSoft has not publicly stated any great interest, but

Ask Jeeves President Steve Berkowitz suggested he might be open to deal if it was in the interests of the company's shareholders, although he did not comment directly on any offers coming from Microsoft. - source

New MSN Search Features
In addition MSN has added a drop down box to allow people to search for specific things such as movies or news. Elsewhere MSN added its search technology preview to the MSN sandbox.

Paid Inclusion is Garbage

MSN also decided to filter out their paid inclusion search results. (time to edit my ebook again) "We really we want customers to feel the best about the results being served," MSN's Grothaus said.

Google"It's hard to be sure that the end result of the algorithm would be the same and that everyone is being treated fairly," Google's Silverstein said of allowing paid inclusion.

Ask Jeeves"We will continue to get better at crawling," said Jim Lanzone, vice president of product management at Ask Jeeves. "The value proposition of Site Submit has ceased to exist."

More Paid Inclusion is Garbage / Bad Press for Yahoo!
Recently a person I consulted in the past had some of their Yahoo! listings disappear overnight (and from my talking to many other SEOs this is becoming somewhat common). After paying for inclusion into Overture Site Match, my friend's site still does not show up for terms he has shown up for ever since the inception of Yahoo! Search.

He sent them a request question and they gave him a complete crap form letter response that suggested he visit WebmasterWorld to learn more about SEO.

There horrific customer service and near complete disapproval toward the program from SEOs and webmasters has Yahoo! considering dumping or changing the program. (or at least that is what credible sources say)

While I am Picking on Yahoo!
Does anyone know what this is?
RENAMEDBYADMWHILEHIDDENTOALLOWDUPLICATEACCELERATORS

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"We have been advised that as of September 30th 2004, Ask Jeeves will be no longer accepting new submissions to the Site Submit Paid Inclusion program. ...

Customers who currently have URLs in Ask Jeeves Site Submit managed by ineedhits.com will continue to receive the full benefits of their current subscription until such time as their subscription expires. This includes click thru reporting, regular refreshes and access to customer service."- source: SEW forums

"Ask Jeeves rolls out new search shortcuts and a site-preview tool today as it aims to offer itself as a credible search alternative to Yahoo and Google." - source: DM News.

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What is going on with that search engine war? I don't know.
Why don't we Ask Jeeves?

Recently Ask Jeeves decided to get ready to get some more cash.

Then the spent a bit.

Shall we take a look ahead?

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A cool find from the Internet Marketing Research Forums using the Thumbshots Ranking Tool.

If you search Yahoo! vs Yahoo! for the same phrase the results line up.
Yahoo! Search: SEO Book

If you search Teoma vs Teoma for the same phrase the results line up.
Teoma Search: SEO Book

If you search Google vs Google for the same phrase then the results are sometimes all over the place.
Google Search: SEO Book

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Ask Jeeves Advertising

It would be a lie for me to say I often view most of the mass media. What little I have viewed though has shown me that Ask Jeeves is becomming more serious about gaining market distribution.

Recently at SES New York I have got my Ask Jeeves magic 8 ball and free Ask Jeeves pen, but these are small issues. What media I have seen has had more ads here and there for their product. Also while I was walking through Times Square I saw a huge Ask Jeeves ad on the Nasdaq board...which was cool.

Ask Jeeves Paid Inclusion

Ask Jeeves recently droped its XML paid inclusion program, citing relevance as its primary problem. They still offer a single URL site submit program.

AOL to buy Ask Jeeves?

AOL is a rather large site to be using a third party search provider. Many rumors have been floating around that AOL may aquire Ask Jeeves. I hate AOL and hope they do not buy and ruin Ask Jeeves.

Ask Jeeves Buying Search Engine Distribution

"Ask Jeeves said on Thursday it would buy Interactive Search Holdings Inc. for about $328 million, rocketing the stock by as much as 43 percent as the company seeks to compete with the top Internet search engines Google and Yahoo.

The company said its plan to acquire the owner of search Web sites iWon, Excite and My Search would double Ask Jeeves' market share in the increasingly cut-throat industry to 7 percent, and would also boost its profits."
- source: Yahoo! News

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Ask Jeeves (ASKJ) stock slid about 5% today, only to regain its ground in after hour trading after posting strong results. Revenue grew to $31.8 million from $20.2 million. Ask Jeeves reported "net income from continuing operations of $7.6 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with its year-earlier net income from continuing operations of $2.9 million, or 6 cents per share."

Though Teoma is one of the most powerful search engines in the world they lack the public support of Google and do not have the financial resources to compete with Yahoo or MSN.

Ask Jeeves is exceptionally dependent on ad revenues from Google AdWords, as they drive most of the companies profits. It will be interesting to see how Ask markets this product throughout the year, and what steps (if any) they may take to distance themselves from their current partnership.

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Just a reminder to those who do not have good Inktomi placement that MSN is to be dumping LookSmart in about a half a month (Jan 15). Some speculate that MSN may want to eventually shift to Ask Jeeves until it gets its technology in order.

I presume that MSN will stick with Inktomi until it builds its own technology. With Yahoo desiring to part ways with Google it is certain they will be investing heavily into making Inktomi a competitive product.

MSN will become competitve and remain so by the natural market forces of competition between Yahoo and Google... until it creates its own search product... You can check your Inktomi placement using Hotbot on its default setting, or by useing Pure Search provided by PositionTech.

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