"We'll be rolling out some changes to our crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the next few days, but expect the update will be completed soon. As you know, throughout this process you may see some ranking changes and page shuffling in the index."
"The update had apparently begun. There appears to be less reliance on social sites in the SERPs than in the previous updates."
"There also appears to be even more reliance on the search term in the URL as well from my observations. Any one else noticed this?"
Labels: Yahoo
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 4:50 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
"In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us."
Labels: Google, Yahoo
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 2:02 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 2:29 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 6:18 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
April 5, 2008Board of DirectorsYahoo! Inc.701 First AvenueSunnyvale, CA 94089Dear Members of the Board:It has now been more than two months since we made our proposal to acquire Yahoo! at a 62% premium to its closing price on January 31, 2008, the day prior to our announcement. Our goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction. Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy. While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement. We understand that you have been meeting to consider and assess your alternatives, including alternative transactions with others in the industry, but we've seen no indication that you have authorized Yahoo! management to negotiate with Microsoft. This is despite the fact that our proposal is the only alternative put forward that offers your shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.During these two months of inactivity, the Internet has continued to march on, while the public equity markets and overall economic conditions have weakened considerably, both in general and for other Internet-focused companies in particular. At the same time, public indicators suggest that Yahoo!'s search and page view shares have declined. Finally, you have adopted new plans at the company that have made any change of control more costly.By any fair measure, the large premium we offered in January is even more significant today. We believe that the majority of your shareholders share this assessment, even after reviewing your public disclosures relating to your future prospects.Given these developments, we believe now is the time for our respective companies to authorize teams to sit down and negotiate a definitive agreement on a combination of our companies that will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders, creating a more efficient and competitive company that will provide greater value and service to our customers. If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board. The substantial premium reflected in our initial proposal anticipated a friendly transaction with you. If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal.It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!'s shareholders and employees. We think it is critically important not to let this window of opportunity pass.Sincerely,Steven A. BallmerChief Executive OfficeMicrosoft Corp.
April 5, 2008Board of DirectorsYahoo! Inc.701 First AvenueSunnyvale, CA 94089Dear Members of the Board:It has now been more than two months since we made our proposal to acquire Yahoo! at a 62% premium to its closing price on January 31, 2008, the day prior to our announcement. Our goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction. Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy.
While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement. We understand that you have been meeting to consider and assess your alternatives, including alternative transactions with others in the industry, but we've seen no indication that you have authorized Yahoo! management to negotiate with Microsoft. This is despite the fact that our proposal is the only alternative put forward that offers your shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.During these two months of inactivity, the Internet has continued to march on, while the public equity markets and overall economic conditions have weakened considerably, both in general and for other Internet-focused companies in particular. At the same time, public indicators suggest that Yahoo!'s search and page view shares have declined. Finally, you have adopted new plans at the company that have made any change of control more costly.By any fair measure, the large premium we offered in January is even more significant today. We believe that the majority of your shareholders share this assessment, even after reviewing your public disclosures relating to your future prospects.Given these developments, we believe now is the time for our respective companies to authorize teams to sit down and negotiate a definitive agreement on a combination of our companies that will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders, creating a more efficient and competitive company that will provide greater value and service to our customers. If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board. The substantial premium reflected in our initial proposal anticipated a friendly transaction with you. If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal.It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!'s shareholders and employees. We think it is critically important not to let this window of opportunity pass.Sincerely,Steven A. BallmerChief Executive OfficeMicrosoft Corp.
Labels: Microsoft, Yahoo
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 2:00 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 12:14 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
"I'm from Australia but have a .com Domain. Before the changes our keywords were all in the top 10 for Yahoo.com.au (Australia only). Now not even in the top 1000. It appears that Yahoo give a strong weighting to the country domain"
"Overall it is positive. Again, there is a balanced representation of small to medium verse large sites and companies being returned on the SERPs when doing searches."
"Seems anchor text plays a bigger role...Just a thought...."
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 4:37 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 12:01 AM GMT | View Post | 2 Comments
"Yahoo plans to invest in some areas, reduce emphasis in others, and eliminate some areas of the business that don't support the company's priorities. Yahoo continues to attract and hire talent against the company's key initiatives to create long-term stockholder value."
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 4:13 AM GMT | View Post | 1 Comments
"I decide to search for [lego organizer], but I second-guess myself before completing the second word. As I'm pondering, Search Assist decides I need some encouragement. I get further suggestions that suddenly appear"
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 3:40 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
We've been rolling out some changes to our fresh web data and crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the last few days. We expect the update will be completed by the weekend. So, as you know, throughout this process you may see some changes in ranking as well as some shuffling of the pages in the index.
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 6:15 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
Labels: ebay, Free Tools, Google, Yahoo
Posted by Lara Appelhans at 5:18 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
"We rolled out some changes to our index and ranking algorithm last night. So, as you know, throughout this process you may see some changes in ranking as well as some shuffling of the pages included in the index. This update should be complete very soon."
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 3:30 AM GMT | View Post | 1 Comments
"The future of the web is about personalization. Where search was dominant, now the web is about 'me.' It's about weaving the web together in a way that is smart and personalized for the user"
"They're basically admitting defeat." "They've realized they can't compete with Google on search."
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 2:40 AM GMT | View Post | 2 Comments
Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 4:45 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments
