Forum Moderators: mack
also reuters is repeating [today.reuters.com] the story:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc is closing in on a deal with Microsoft Corp. to team up on an online advertising service to compete with Google Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the talks. The paper said the two companies were now focusing on a deal that would combine their advertising-related assets, with little or no money changing hands. It said they expected to reach an agreement before the end of the year, but that it was still possible that Time Warner's America Online unit could strike a deal with competitor Google instead. Time Warner has been holding talks with both Microsoft and Google over AOL, sources familiar with the situation have told Reuters and other media.
Previous threads on subject:
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It's going to be the same problem with MSN, though the risk will be a bit more diversified if you have all your traffic tied up in one site.
I think the big advantage to MSN getting AOL will be for adwords customers and min bids / better conversion functionality / better fraud click testing.
Bad move for AOL as it's just another reason for people to dump their service and go direct with their phone or cable company.
You have to ask yourself why people use AOL when it requies a download, requires updates, I think is more expensive than a lot of other dialup services, etc. I doubt it's for the web search provider (which can be circumvented when you're connected, anyway, by clicking on the little blue "e" on the taskbar or desktop). Ever used AOL?
IMHO AOL Users will not even notice the difference, as they are not very internet savvy, and continue to use AOL out of habit, and not knowing any other way to get to the internet.
Back to watching
WW_Watcher
IMHO AOL Users will not even notice the difference, as they are not very internet savvy, and continue to use AOL out of habit, and not knowing any other way to get to the internet.
I wouldn't say all that. I would say it has a lot more to do with habit than ignorance. My father finally got DSL at home and STILL uses AOL also because he's used to it and he's tied to it via email addresses, familiarity, etc.
Googles mistake is they left no friends in SEO community with their algo, which currently favors large corps that can buy couple very expensive links - thats about all u need to rank in G today, while any attempt at SEO is punished sooner or later.
This is a testament to AOL's brand stuck in people's head (especially those that don't know that you do not need AOL to get on the 'net).
Nevertheless, MSN will provide worthy competition which is going to benefit searchers and webmasters alike.
Good News!
Although on another note its hard to hate Google when you see people like Matt Cutts at Webmasterworld - he seems like such a down to earth guy that is much more approachable than some corporate types. I feel they have some good people working for that company.
But as always..The more competition the better.
It just means better results and a chance for MSN to play too but it does need to fix the bugs soon. But I feel we may see something MSN has not shared with us about. Maybe in some dark low light server cluster that kicks into high gear and they become a crowd pleaser. We as SEO Specialist always enjoy a new experience to success. Let's see what MSN has up its sleeve.
Look at the example at Pubcon 10 SE Smack down
"And It Was" MSN vs. Google
Googles mistake is they left no friends in SEO community with their algo, which currently favors large corps that can buy couple very expensive links - thats about all u need to rank in G today, while any attempt at SEO is punished sooner or later.
Blanket statements such as this aren't fact - but theory. Spend time researching and testing the algorithm and your eyes will be opened. The algo does not favor large corporations but authoritiative websites. An authoritative website does not necessarily equal a large corporation. Our firm is less than 50 employees and we consistently rank ahead of many Fortune 100 firms for their products and proudly frame every C&D letter we get!
Cheers,
CaboWabo
not hardly! the google algo favors commercial websites above all else, not authoritative websites.
try typing in "widget review", wherein widget=any item, and the only thing you'll get is a bunch of websites that sell the item... google is all about price shopping, not answers to questions from qualified websites.
not hardly! the google algo favors commercial websites above all else, not authoritative websites.
You're right, one example debunks all the testing results. <sic>
Cheers,
CaboWabo
MSN ranks #2, whereas google ranks #3.
Even Googles algo thinks MSN is better. haha
Yahoo, MSN and AOL all have alot to fear from Google, as giving away millions of dollars in services and putting companies out of business overnight (analytics), and now buying millions in internet connectivity equipment. If Google gives Free Internet connections many ISPs will be hurt. It may be in AOL's best interest to use another search provider. MSN results are actually pretty good.
So in 2 years Google has lost about 40% or all online searches. Thats a huge loss of power. And now here and on Matt Cutt's blog webmasters are showing alot Anti-Google sentiment. Some of these webmasters are the same "sneezers" that put them where they are today.
What was it Seth Godin said about the backlash of the original sneezers, and the failure to produce new sneezers?
The major mistake in the Search Wars was other Major search portals telling the world that Google results are the best, that's why we use them.
They in effect help make G the company it is today. And it appears their removal of G listings has not effected G's revenue.
Its going to be an interesting year. If this goes through a more level playing field it will be.
its fairly obvious that they aren't banking on search to be the thing that carries them forever (smartly so, imo). The fact that "sneezers"here, seth or whatever blog have now seemingly switched sides and the anti-google (as a SEARCH engine) sentiment is flying is one thing... but WHATEVER. We will we all also say "don't give me free wireless internet because we sneeze at google now!" when it hits there town.
rrriiight.
WebmasterWorld is great, but people here are VERY much the minority, a niche, "cutting-edge" webmasters and a tiny tiny tiny piece of the market and very much the most critical of anything in this industry. such sentiment really need to be taken with a grain of salt.
Now, I'm not just blindly singing the Google tune, I'm just saying that its not doom-and-gloom for G and "omg-they-lost40%-of-there-search!" either just cause AOL has gone back to the "other bad guy (who is usually the one to take all the heat)" << insert irony.
The Battle of the Search giants will go on. But search is no longer anywhere near the full scope of the War.
We will we all also say "don't give me free wireless internet because we sneeze at google now!" when it hits there town.
Well, it remains to be seen what kinf of free Internet this will be. What is the price the user has to pay for this? Things that come to mind:
- Relayed/proxied pages
- Adsense/Adwords on pages loaded
- Forced startup page
- Forced search page
- Blocking certain pages
Come on, when was the last time we enjoyed a fully free lunch? Why should G offer free Internet access? Just to market their brand? Er, no - I don't think so. They have a strong brand already. There must be more to the story...
This doesn't help me at all though, as Jagger (or whatever you guys called it) absolutely killed me. At least I'm top 20 on MSN. Hooray!
Sometimes I really hate this job.
/pointless rant
Some here are right we just have to wait and see what the end is like, me now i wont try to hard to focus on my ranks on google, if its really true and AOL goes over MSN whats the point then to work my azz off for google, its better to wait until the battle is over.I already rank well on MSN on almost all keywords so if this increases by 10% then :D
Remember though ... AOL is only a small portion of web users.
I havent seen the interface recently but as I remember for the subscribers it is AOL 1st other relavent websites later. Is this to be the actual results that AOL users see or the www.aol.com and www.aol.co.uk ect results?
Hmm .. anyone know better about AOL now a days? Is the user interface all adverts and a browser that doesnt support forms and things? Or has it changed to be usable as an internet interface, like all other isp's offer, rather than just an AOL interface?
