SEO News Bites

Remixed from photo by Rich115

I’m not sure if my attention span is short circuiting or if there’s a good reason I’m unable to concentrate on one topic at a time. I think it’s a busy news day. Am I alone here? Bueller?

Whatever the cause, today my focus seems to be shifting from one story to the next as a number of big headlines come hurtling down the social stream. You know what that means. It’s time for some delectable search marketing news bites.

Imminent Partnership between Bing and Yahoo Finds SEM Industry Support

Six weeks after the launch of Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, search market share estimations are showing some normalizing as the initial-launch frenzy dies down. And while it looks like Bing saw a gain in momentum, rumor is Microsoft will soon be announcing a partnership with Yahoo!. Obviously, many questions remain. For instance, what might the deal mean for the Yahoo! Search Submit program? Will they do away with it or integrate it into Bing?

A poll conducted by Search Engine Journal suggests that the search engine optimization community is overwhelmingly in support of a Yahoo!-Bing partnership.

And with the early buzz of the launch now fading, analysts have been able to observe some trends in users’ behavior on Bing. One such observation comes from the ad network Chikita, which found that Bing users are 50 percent more likely than Google users to click on ads on the destination site.

Horizon Realty Sues Twitter User for Libel

In May, Twitter user Amanda Bonnen tweeted that property management company Horizon Realty was doing little to remedy a mold problem at her apartment. Today Horizon Realty took legal action against Bonnen, asking for $50,000 in reparations.

Never one to accept an attack lying down, the Twitterverse has rallied in support of the former Twitter user (Bonnen has since deleted her Twitter account). As if we didn’t already know this, the scorn of the Twitterverse should be avoided at all costs.

The social media savvy have pointed out that Twitter has proven to be a valuable tool for resolving customer dissatisfaction issues, with @comcastcares being an example that comes to mind. Instead, some believe Horizon Realty took the sue-now-ask-questions-later approach. It just may backfire as Horizon Realty becomes synonymous with a company that just doesn’t understand how to treat customers right.

On the flip side, Horizon Realty (pdf) says that Bonnen was suing them first. Curiouser and curiouser. I’m beginning to think Lisa’s right when she says the whole consumer empowerment thing is going too far.

Time Warner Buys Back Google’s Stake in AOL, Signaling an AOL Spin Off

In what could be the first step towards an AOL IPO, Time Warner purchased Google’s five percent stake in AOL for $283 million. The Time Warner board voted to spin off AOL as a separate company last May, with a prerequisite being a buy back of Google’s shares. The sale was a loss for Google, which purchased its stake for $1 billion in 2005.

Earlier this month, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, formerly of Google, shared his vision for the future of AOL following his first 100 days with the company. In interviews, Armstrong suggested that AOL would be shopping around for a search partner when its deal with Google comes up next year.

Buckle your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen. We’re in for a fast ride!

Virginia Nussey is the director of content marketing at MobileMonkey. Prior to joining this startup in 2018, Virginia was the operations and content manager at Bruce Clay Inc., having joined the company in 2008 as a writer and blogger.

See Virginia's author page for links to connect on social media.