Logo and Site Redesigns For Mother's Day

Many search engines (particularly the big ones), redesigned their home page and/or logo in honor of Mother's Day. Here are some pictures from around the Web.

Mamma.com - The Search Engine for Mother's Day

When you think of a search engine, either Google, Yahoo, or MSN most likely come to your mind.
Although because it is Mother's Day we would like to remind/inform you of another search engine, Mamma.com.

Mamma.com was one of the Web's first search engines, launching in 1996. In June of 2007 Mamma.com was renamed Copernic Inc. but before the name change Mamma.com's slogan was "The Mother Of All Search Engines".
Check Mamma.com out for yourself - c'mon its Mother's Day.

Google Now Enforces Its AdWords Display URL Policy

On April 1st, 2008 we reported that Google was to begin enforcing its new display URL policy. In many cases AdWords advertisers were still allowed to have different display and landing URL's.
This no longer seems to be the case, As of now Google strictly enforces its display URL policy. So if you have any AdWords ads that do not share the same display and landing URL's - make sure everything is in sync.

Microsoft Takeover of Yahoo Not Going to Happen

Microsoft has officially withdrew its offer to takeover its competitor Yahoo. The following is a link to Microsoft's press release regarding its withdrawal.

Google TV Ads Now Open to All

In January we announced that Google AdWords will start supporting TV ads. Well for the past few months it has been limited to a small number of AdWords advertisers. Google has announced that this is no longer the case and that its TV advertising program is open to all AdWords advertisers.
Best of all Google is offering a promotion to help you get started. Google will help you pay for the creation of your TV ad (if it costs no more than $2000).

Brand Images on Cell Phone Ads

Google has announced that it has introduced the support for mobile brand-image advertisements according to the keywords people search for on their cell phones. Because cell phone screens are relatively small, Google will only display one image ad per search. Mobile image ads are available in 13 national markets: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, the UK, and the United States.

Check Whois Information via Google

Checking the Whois information for a domain name has just gotten easier. All you have to do is search Google for "Whois domain.com" - and let Google do the rest. Google uses Domain Tools for the Whois information and if you click on the Whois search result link, you will be sent to the Domain Tools web site.

Yahoo Reports Quarterly Profits

Yahoo posted its quarterly profit - the company's net income for the first quarter rose to $542.2 million. This is compared with the $142.4 million Yahoo profited in the first quarter of 2007.

Google's Earth Day Logo From 2004

We know what Google's 2008 Earth Day logo looks like, but have you wondered what Google's 2004 Earth Day looked like? Below is an image of Google' 2004 Earth Day logo.

Google Exceeds Expectations, Again

The first quarter ended on March 31, 2008 for Google and they reported earnings yesterday evening. Google reported revenues of $5.19 billion and a net income of $1.31 billion. Google exceeded expectations and their stock price is on the rise.

Yahoo Search Marketing Changes its Minimum Bid Format

Yahoo Search Marketing(YSM) has done away with its universal minimum bids at $0.10 per click. YSM now plans to use a quality metric in order to calculate the minimum bid requirement for each keyword. The quality metric will be based on the following two factors:

1. Value - the number of bidders and their bid amounts in a particular keyword market

2. Quality - the relevance of keywords, or how frequently users click on the ads associated with them relative to competing ads. 

Microsoft Live Search Update Underway

It is being reported that MSN's Live search engine is either rolling out a new update or cleaning up its update from late March 2008.
If you are interested in the ranking of your web site on Live.com you should definitely do a search to see where your site is located for your related keywords.

Google AdWords Ads Now Live on Yahoo Search

On Wednesday we reported that Google and Yahoo were working on a partnership to have Google AdWords ads run on Yahoo. Well it has now been confirmed that the partnership is now live and in effect. AdWords ads are now running on Yahoo's search engine.

If you manage any ad campaigns thru Google you do have the opportunity to disable your ads from running on Yahoo, meaning that all AdWords advertisers are not required to run their ads on Yahoo. It is believed that only 3% of Yahoo's searches will run AdWords ads and the current test will run for about two weeks.

We Help You Get Your Site on Google...Fast

Some of the most successful web sites on the Internet have a strong presence on Google. You can surely succeed on the Internet without the help of Google, but it is not very easy. If you manage a web site you should do your best to have a strong presence on Google. At IPOWERWEB we understand this and therefore provide our users with a free $30 Google AdWords credit in order to get started. This credit is a wonderful jump-start to get your site on Google. Best of all there is no catch. All you have to do is purchase a new web hosting account with IPOWERWEB and that's it. The AdWords credit is available to all of our new and existing web hosting users.

Google Ads on Yahoo?

It is believed that Yahoo will beginning testing Google search ads on its search engine result pages. As you probably know Yahoo and Google are competitors and Microsoft has been attempting to take over Yahoo in recent months. According to a statement by Microsoft, the partnership between Yahoo and Google will "consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google's hands."

It will be quite interesting to see how the relationship between Microsoft and Yahoo plays out.

Keyboard Shortcuts When Searching

When using Google Labs in order to perform a search you may notice that you can participate in an experiment where Google will provide you with special keyboard shortcuts each time you search.

67% Of All US Searches By Google in March

Google received approximately 67% of all searches in the US during the month of March (until the 29th). According to Hitwise, Google received 64% of all searches during the month of March 2007 - so things are looking good for Google. Yahoo came in second place for the month of March 2008 with 20%, MSN in third with 7% and Ask.com in fourth place with 4%. 

Google Placing Humans on Mars?

The Virgin Group, owned by Sir Richard Branson, has partnered with Google to establish Virgle. Virgle's goal is to create the permanent settlement of humans on Mars. The organization plans to send a number of spaceships to Mars, if you're lucky you can join them.





Unfortunately (for some people at least), the Virgle Project is one of many April Fools Day pranks by Google.

AdWords Users Must Follow URL Policy Starting Today

A little less than a week ago we explained how beginning on April 1st all AdWords ads must follow Google's new landing/
display URL policy. Well today is the first of April and it means that it if you are running any ad campaigns thru AdWords you now must follow the new URL policy.

Telephone Support Hours For Yahoo Search Marketing

Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) has changed its support hours. In order to contact a live person at YSM, you must do so during the following times:

*Monday - Friday: 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time

*Saturday: 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time

*Sunday: Closed

In order to contact YSM's telephone support, call them at 866-924-6676.