In a development that is sure to alter the dynamics of the search engine world, the pay-per-performance giant Overture announced that a deal to purchase AltaVista would be finalized by April 2003. The purchase cost a mere $140 million which, in comparison to CMGI's purchase of AltaVista in 1999 for 2.3 billion, is yet another example of fall-out from the dot-bomb stock drop.

According to yesterday's breaking press release (see archived copy) Overture made this purchase to acquire AltaVista's powerful search-related technology patents. Overture has not provided many specifics at this early date, however, it is expecting to use the AltaVista.com web site as a testing ground for new search technologies while incorporating the current technology so that it can offer enhanced search services to its many portal partners.

AltaVista is one of the few surviving founders of the search engine industry. Initially launched in 1995 by the Digital Equipment Corporation (now Compaq), even then AltaVista's search database once powered such giants as Yahoo! and CNet's Search.com (see the original AltaVista).

Overture's acquisition of AltaVista is another indication of the contraction in the search engine marketplace. Much like Yahoo!'s recent purchase of Inktomi, this deal shows how the major players are trying to compete with each other by incorporating proven search technologies to maintain a balance of power and profits.

The business end of search engines has never been so intense. Pressure has been mounting on Google's competitors as their shareholders expect them to emulate Google and capture a generous slice of the market. Obviously the acquisition of AltaVista is a play for the best of both search engine markets; pay-per-performance and unpaid search engine listings. Overture has said that it plans to enhance the Paid Inclusion system that AltaVista currently offers while continuing to provide the traditional "free" listings. We expect this deal to trigger additional power plays within the search engine industry.

Google Purchases BLOGGER maker, Pyra Labs

Weblogs, or ‘BLOGS are amazingly popular amongst IT professionals looking to interact with others in a personal but still professional environment. Items ranging from programming to personal opinions to breaking news appear in the tens of thousands of BLOGS that have been established over the past year.

News of the Columbia shuttle disaster was broken on a BLOG discussion group 11 minutes before Associated Press put the story on the news wires. Not surprisingly, the acquisition of Prya by Google was also first aired on a BLOG just minutes before Prya CEO Evan Williams announced the news. This purchase is reminiscent of the acquisition of DejaNews by Google in 2000 which has become the widely used Google Groups service.

Combined with its purchase of Outrider search-themeing software, Google may be establishing a real-time search option for BLOG users based on the BLOGs the individual users tend to visit. Whether this is good for BLOG communities or not remains to be seen.

TerraLycos and Telefonica Fill Each Other’s Gaps

Following a growing trend amongst Search Portals, TerraLycos has signed a six year, $500Million deal to supply search and other portal services to subscribers of Spanish access provider Telefonica. The deal helps fill a massive revenue shortfall for Lycos left by music giant Bertlesmann which, last year decided to renege on its $1Billion advertising contract with Lycos after market conditions turned highly unfavourable. For Telefonica subscribers, the deal will introduce new Email, messaging, personal websites and other personalized services. For Telefonica, the deal provides a platform to advertise other media offerings as well as much needed value added services. TerraLycos will also maintain Telefonica’s corporate websites and allow for the introduction of premium content offerings.

This deal, and the timing of it are quite similar to the one recently signed between Yahoo and British Telecom’s broadband unit. Telefonica has over 77Million customers in 16 nations throughout Europe and Latin America, making Lycos the major player in the Spanish/Latin American search engine market.

Over the past year StepForth has been fortunate to have forged a strong alliance with WeDoHosting.com, a leader in the web hosting industry. WeDoHosting.com is a full-featured hosting company run by an experienced and dedicated staff of programmers, server technicians, customer service representatives and sales agents. StepForth has been recommending web hosting at WeDoHosting.com ever since we created our alliance and we have never looked back. With service packages for every need at extremely competitive prices and untouchable customer support, WeDoHosting.com has filled a very real need for quality web hosting in Canada and abroad.

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Branding is an important part of any business but it is often neccessarily budgetted to varying degrees. Some companies with massive budgets will promote their web sites on just about anything with the quip that no matter what, they are being branded. This is not likely the case for small companies and thus it is very important to maintain a strict level of brand identity through all facets of a business.

As SEO's we often find ourselves optimizing multiple web sites for one company and sometimes we find that each site is totally different. Short of the business name, there does not seem to be a single thread of commonality throughout each web site. In today's search engine market it is more important than ever to appear knowledgeable and bigger than the competition. If you deem it necessary to create multiple web sites for your company, be sure that they are all similarly branded (ie. same colors, same design different colors, etc). This way if a potential customer finds your web sites under separate searches they will be more likely to remember your company and perhaps make that all-important purchase.

It is becoming harder and harder to stand-out online, this is just another element that will make your online marketing more effective.

One of the dangerous absurdities of the 90’s tech-boom was the practice of rewarding workers and executives with lavish stock options. Seen as one of the prime rationales for the cooked books of WorldCom, Enron and others, Yahoo CEO Terry Semple yesterday attacked the practice as unfair and unhealthy. In an interview with the Financial Times, he said: "In the long run, it's not a healthy way to reward people. Some people became very wealthy and some people struck out." After three years of losses, investors are increasingly irked by the large pay-outs received by some option holders. Yahoo, which does not report share options as costs posted a $26Million profit for the years 1999 – 2001. Had Yahoo reported the shares as a cost, it would have recorded losses of $2.5Billion over the same period.
This looks like a job for Dr. Koop.Com/.