Inktomi has cut back it's staff an operations by around 80% over the past year to renew concentration on web search. With around 150 employees, Yahoo! have said they plan to employ most of the current staff.

With Yahoo! signing on Google as it's key search provider earlier this year, the obvious speculation is circulating that Google will be dropped and the Inktomi PFI (Pay-for-Inclusion) database will be used in Yahoo!'s main search listings.

Terry Semel, Yahoo's chief executive, said in an interview; 'Being less dependent on others to create the innovation for us is worth an awful lot of money to Yahoo' - (NYTimes).

To read more on Yahoo!'s own spin on the acquisition see the Yahoo Press Release.

Basically these people are trying to sell keywords in a 'patch' for Internet Explorer that allows the user to input a single keyword into the browsers address bar that will take them directly to the advertisers site.

Obviously Overture are concerned that their customers are being targeted (and therefore confused) in these scams and have also included a note pointing out that the 'Overture Advertiser List Not for Sale'. I would expect it to have taken a large number of help queries / complaints for them to release such a statement to all advertisers.

On the up-side Overture have announced their deal with Yahoo! Japan, an extended deal with Freeserve.com (UK) and a three year exclusive deal with CNN.com.

You can open an Overture account and start advertising your site straight away by clicking here.

Google.com.au

Here's the details from the Google Adwords team themselves:

If you choose to display your ads on Google partner sites, your ads could be seen on sites including AOL, EarthLink, and AskJeeves (in the United States). Your ads will also appear on results pages for Google web search, Froogle (http://froogle.google.com), 'Directory' (http://directory.google.com/), and 'Groups' (http://groups.google.com/).

If you choose not to participate, your ads will only be shown for Web results on Google. You can opt out at the campaign level. This means that you can choose to syndicate some or none of your campaigns.

If you wish to opt out, please follow these steps:
1. Log in to your account.
2. Click 'View/Edit Campaigns' at the top of the page.
3. Click 'Edit Campaign Settings' next to the campaign for which you would like to opt out.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page to locate the 'Syndication Preference' box.
4a. If you want your campaign to appear on our partner sites, the box should not be checked.
4b. If you do not want your campaign to appear on our partner sites, check the box.
5. Click 'Save Changes' after completing the above edit.

Cnet reports Terra Lycos as saying it has launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to promote the site.

'Yahoo! has tried to offset the advertising slump by adding fee-based premium services such as high-speed internet access, job listings and personal ads, and taking transaction fees for e-commerce activity it facilitates.... Yahoo! executives said they expected revenue to rise by 30 per cent in 2002 and by 20 per cent in 2003 - FR article

With the massive reduction in prominence of their in-house directory it was questioned by many where their revenue was going to be coming from. Webmasters in general appear to be holding off the over-priced submission to Yahoo!'s directory in favour of targeting Google and being displayed in Yahoo! SERP's by default.

Ensuring your site (no matter how large) has adequately covered the search engine optimisation issue is key to surviving in any competitive market on the web.

Discussing her latest research with yours truly, Kalena Jordan, CEO of Web Rank finds insights into the Australasian Internet industry.

'You would assume that companies spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on web site development and online advertising would ensure their web sites were compatible with search engines', said Kalena Jordan. 'But surprisingly, nearly all of the Top 100 fail to address this issue. To invest such a massive amount of time, money and effort into an online presence and not ensure it can be found is like constructing a storefront with no doors.

Copies of the research report (in two versions) are available here.

'Froogle applies the power of Google's search technology to a very specific task: locating stores that sell the item you want to find and pointing you directly to the place where you can make a purchase.'

Google have also added a 'Google Viewer' to their labs. A must see.

Fifteen registrars have been authorised so far and the first three competitive registrars have connected to the SRS (Shared Registry System). WebAddress, iSERVE and Iconz join Domainz as being able to register and manage .nz domain names directly with the registry.

You can find out more information regarding the transition at the Office of the Domain Name Commissioner setup by InternetNZ to be 'responsible for the day to day oversight of the .nz domain name registration and management system'.

'Having pulled out of most of its other internet-based joint ventures to concentrate on its broadband push, BT is keen to retreat to its core businesses without the distraction of online joint ventures.'

Guardian: BT pulls out of Looksmart

Talking about 'Live Query' and the detailed worldwide search statistics that may be commercialised by Google one day.
Search party: Inside Google’s engine

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