While Microsoft and Yahoo have held informal deal talks over the years, the latest approach signals an urgency on Microsoft’s part that has up until now been lacking, the newspaper said, citing sources.

The approach follows an offer Microsoft made to acquire Yahoo a few months ago, which Yahoo spurned… (source: Forbes)

Although these merger discussions are almost as elusive as el chupacabra, and are in no way confirmed by either party, many in the industry think that Yahoo, who was once very interested, may be getting cold feet [read:Hard to get?].

“They’re getting tired of being left at the altar,” said one banking source who has recently had talks with Microsoft. “They now seem more willing to extend themselves via a transaction to get into the game.” (source: NY Post)

This time however, Microsoft has pulled in some financial heavy weights to broker the reportedly 50 Billion dollar deal. That’s Billion with capital B.

The [NY Post] report values Yahoo! at $50 billion; the interest by Microsoft is said to be serious to the point that world renowned bankers Goldman Sachs are advising Microsoft on the deal.

If the deal comes to fruition, the takeover would be one of the largest corporate takeovers in American corporate history, and likely the largest ever in the Tech sector. (source: TechCrunch)

That last point begs the questions: how will this affect search and how will this impact the user? Google has 65% market share on search and Yahoo is a distant second with Microsoft steadily losing share, so a) how will this benefit Yahoo (aside from wheelbarrows full of cash) and b) if Yahoo is on the blocks, why wouldn’t Google be after them instead?

So is this real? Will there be a MicroHoo or an MS-Yahoo!? (or even a Yahoogle?) Well, the social networking community seems to think so. It’s page one in Digg as of this writing and Tech Crunch reports that Yahoo stock is up 18% as of this morning.

And all this comes on the heels of Yahoo CEO Terry Semel’s comments last year (when it would have made more sense for Yahoo to join Microsoft, before Microsoft developed its own ad program).

“My impartial advice to Microsoft is that you have no chance,” Mr Semel said. “The search business has been formed.” (source: Search Engine Land)

Whatever happens, the search landscape will be different, which is probably a good thing for the user and a bad thing for the SEM’s trying to keep up. What do you think?

More on Google’s own plane of hell, trust of pharma distrusters, WoW maps and some Da Vinci code answers in this weeks links:

•  A new survey shows that blogs that are critical of Pharma are seen as more credible. (PMB)
• Five reasons not to launch viral content on a mini-site, although the subservient chicken may disagree. (SEOmoz)
• Google Maps has gone virtual. They now have the map of World of Warcraft fully mapped. Perhaps they’ll get around to Middle Earth next? (SEOBH)
• Here’s Matt Cutts telling us why it’s really not bad to be in the Google “supplemental results”. I guess some animals are more equal than others. (Matt Cutts)
• Power to the people. Digg users defy DMCA, Digg Moderators and fascism everywhere by posting (and posting and posting…) an HD DVD crack. (SER)
• Hey. Guess what? It doesn’t matter if you’re not paying attention, user generated media is killing your brand. (aimClear)
• Having trouble finding a loyal audience? Pick a fight with somebody. It’s so Machiavellian. Like Tupac! (Copyblogger)
• Cool link: Rosslyn Chapel code deciphered as a haunting musical score. Heathen rock! (SFE) and video/audio (Youtube)

As the search marketing manager for several large pharmaceutical brands with largely funded DTC campaigns, I speak with the brand teams regularly about the importance of establishing a comprehensive SEM strategy. An SEM strategy is needed to make sure that not only is the brand ready and highly visible online for those consumers that are prompted by DTC ads to go to the web, BUT also to fill the increasing void as more consumers turn to the web for their healthcare information, because they are becoming less trusting of pharma’s DTC ads. Additionally, it is important to remember that often times, the “language” used within a DTC ad (which can be impacted heavily by trademark or regulatory requirements) can be quite different from how consumers are thinking about or searching for healthcare information online (think “ED vs. impotence“, so you need to be prepared for the unexpected!

• Power to the people. Will Blogs be the death of news? (SEW Blog)
• J&J to give 120,000 employees personal blogs? I’m sorry I can’t hear you because the hell freezing over is so loud. (Pharma Marketing Blog)
• MySpace’s new Digg/Netscape/Reddit/American Idol clone is a few telomeres shy of a double helix. (SEOmoz)
• Google’s web search history in personalized results is ruining the party for everyone. And I thought that my name was #1 in Google because I’m. Just. That. Awesome. Damn. (Gord)
• Matt Cutts not convincing me one single bit. (Matt Cutts)
• I think I know your password, dummy. Top 10 most frequently used (and hacked) passwords. Guess what? Password is #1. Damn. (Threadwatch)

Not long ago, many businesses who were jumping on the SEM band wagon decided the SEO component of SEM required technical expertise that they did not have internally, so it was a fairly easy decision to farm that piece out to an experienced SEO firm.   Conversely, many companies felt they could manage the paid search component in-house since it was a fairly straightforward process in that you could completely control your rankings simply by outbidding your competitors. 

The SEM world is now a very different place.  If you are considering the option of managing your campaign in-house, make sure you know what you are getting into.  Mistakes will cost you in terms of rankings and revenue, and you can quickly burn through your SEM budget.

On the organic side of SEM, gone are the days of doorway pages, invisible text, and other black hat short cuts to success.  Competition for the top spots is stronger than ever and the search engines have strict rules about how you can optimize your site to improve rankings.

Optimizing your paid search engine marketing campaign has also become very sophisticated.   Paid search engine marketers need to have in depth knowledge of the search engine tools and features.   The days of controlling your ranking based solely on your bid are over.  Nowadays, your quality score is at least as important as your bids.   Keyphrase relevancy, click-through rate, ad quality, landing page quality, and site quality are all factors that impact your ranking and the amount you pay per click.   It may not be rocket science but its getting there.   Furthermore each search engine has its own unique algorithm for ranking paid search ads, unique rules for writing ads, different match type options, different methods for handling plurals and mis-spellings, different demographics and psychographics, and well you get the idea.  Its not as easy as it used to be.  And oh yeah, the rules and tools are constantly changing.  

Just remember, at the end of the day it all comes down to your return on investment.  Good search engine marketing not only requires good technical and marketing skills, it requires good business skills.  Do you have what it takes?

Suppose you have internal search on your site. Your brand, Acme Dialysis, is trying to help people find kidney dialysis centers near them. Assuming the user’s first stop is a typical search engine like Google, where they type in, for example, “Dialysis centers in Chicago”. You have a search results page on your site that contains a list of all your dialysis centers near Cleveland. But how do you serve an ad on Google’s search results page that links people to your internal search results page for Chicago?

The answer is that those long, complex, and often intimidating URLs of internal search results pages are actually quite systematic. By tapping into this systematic URL structure, we can generate super-targeted keyphrases and ads, so that when someone types in:

“Dialysis centers in Chicago”

They see an ad that says:

Chicago Dialysis Center
Visit Acme Dialysis Center Located
Near You in Chicago.
www.Acme-Dialysis-Centers.com

And they are then taken to page on the site as though they had just searched your internal database for centers in Chicago. It is possible to do this for hundreds of locations at a time, as well as for multiple products. The end results is a campaign with thousands of keywords, each of which has a highly targeted specific ad, and each of which takes users to exactly what they wanted on your site.

Major e-commerce retailers have long used this tactic. For example, if you search for an ordinary product and click on an eBay ad, you will be taken to the same page as if you had searched within eBay for that product. As brand marketers’ sites become more integral to their business, they should consider integrating this type sophistication into their paid search campaigns as well.

• Is Stephen Colbert the Greatest Living American? You decide. (SEOmoz)
• Now that Google is an advertising giant, will search get abandoned and/or outsourced? (Gord)
• Search for regulated industries? Who knew? (Catalyst Blog)
• Want to know how far you walked after dinner last night and if you burned enough calories to account for the creme brulee? Try Google Maps Pedometer. (Gmaps Pedometer)
• Channel Partner B2B search marketing tactics (Search Engine Land)
• Wikipedia seeks to bar submissions for “The Office” because of wiki-vandalism. (Yahoo News)
• Ask.com CEO explains “the alogorithm” and why it keeps finding Jesus. (SEW)

Social media sites such as Digg, del.icio.us, and YouTube have very different business models and functions, but they share the same “killer app.” They provide an environment where people with similar interests can easily share links to sites they like. If you are a Red Sox fan, like me, we no longer have to e-mail game highlights to each other. I can simply bookmark the highlight for myself on del.icio.us, and the sharing happens automatically.

• Jupiter study finds that local search and vertical search are on the rise. Whew! (Search Engine Land)
• Jupiter also says that Search Marketers are happy with ROI and plan to spend more. (ClickZ)
• Jupiter is a failed star, or gas giant that saves us from most intra-solar system comets and meteors (Wiki-P)
• Why you should blog. And this one says a little more than my list which is: for the money, duh. (SEOmoz)
• Sometimes you can actually over SEO-ize your site. (Copyblogger)
• From the dark side…viral videos. Beware. Only what you take with you… (SEO Blackhat)
• 6 Reasons Aaron Wall shouldn’t blog: Again: for the money duh… (SEO Book)
• Dave Sifry expands his “State of..” from the blogosphere, to the “State of the Live web.” Next, is Sifry’s “State of the known universe including your box full of wires that your fiancee keeps trying to throw away, but when she needed an extension cord for her bridal shower, that box was looking pretty good wasn’t it? Wasn’t it?” (Sifry’s Alerts)

And to kill the rest of your afternoon: The entire movie Office Space, reshot using Peeps as actors. Freekin. PEEPS. Head over to YouTube to see it because apparently it’s too hot for our servers to handle. (Go)