5 Years Ago Today: A New Beginning

Five years ago today I left Overture. It had been Overture for all of a week. I had spent two a half years at GoTo.com and GoTo. I guess I really didn't like the name Overture or took a hint from the ticker symbol OVER. When I left, there were...

Kinder Stop: Kinderstart Sues Google over Lost Traffic

File this one under stupid lawsuits. Kinderstart, a parental advice website, sued Google over lost search engine rankings. Kinderstart wants Google to reveal how it ranks websites in the SERPs. [Play REM's "End of the World as We Know It here.] If my kid came home complaining that some other...

Google Wins Another Copyright Case

C|NET reported that Google won a case against a paralegal who publishes a website. While I would love to be able to report that Google won a case allowing it to sell trademarked terms in paid search results, this case has absolutely nothing to do with that. This case is...

SEO Entitlements

Yesterday Jeff Molander questioned whether affiliates are entitled to strong search rankings based on a question at AffiliateTip. I thought it deserved a response as an article and not merely as a comment. Two Opposing Views and Both May Be Correct Just as absense make the heart grow fonder while...

Trademark Bidding Is Alive and Well

A funny thing happened at Affiliate Summit... a lot of people were talking about Trademark Bidding. It started with Anne Holland in the keynote. While I don't necessarily agree with all ofAnne's findings, it was there as an important part of her keynote address. Three more panels talked about TM...

Microsoft in Talks to Invest in AOL

The rumor mill has it that Microsoft is in talks with Time Warner to acquire a significant share of TWX's AOL unit. I know, you're thinking "Ho hum... dial up is so last millenium and AOL has no real broadband strategy to speak of." Forget about ISP revenue (still huge...

The Cult of Google

Has Google attained cult status? If you compare Google to cults of past (present?) day and look at how they recruit, you may see a similarity forming. Take, for instance, the Google Pizza Program. It's there on Google's website. Students can sign up (just send an e-mail to pizza_ambassador@google.com) to...

Creative Domains on AdWords

When Google changed its policy on search arbitrage, it seemed that arbitragers would get creative. Some have succeeded by creating new sites (what a concept!) while others have merely created new domains (Ugh!) I found this one as I was surfing around. I don't think the merchants will appreciate it...

Affiliates Begging

While I may not agree with the tactics, I do find this hilarious. Oh, and I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment of paying affiliates more. You can also take part in Todd Tweedy's survey regarding PPC....

VeriClix: Free Click Fraud Monitoring

VeriClix has launched a free service to monitor and audit clicks from paid search with Google, Overture and Kanoodle. This sounds great. Everyone would like to know how much fraud there is in paid search and everyone should know their own numbers. Why is VeriClix doing this? Is it out...

Ad$ense: Threat or Savior for Publishers

The second half of Stephen Messer's lunch talk at Affiliate Summit was a discussion on the effects of AdSense on affiliates. This is a hot topic and I am glad to see that it is getting focus at the highest levels of affiliate networks. Lunch wasn't the place to highlight...

Affiliate Marketing and Paid Search: A Six Year View

My first day at GoTo.com (later GoTo, Overture and now Yahoo! Search Services) was six years ago today. Time sure flies. Paid Search in 1999 Back then, we had a few thousand advertisers with a few hundred listings and we celebrated when we hit $10,000 in revenue for a day....

Bizarre PPC Keyword Restrictions, European Style

Fresh from Europe, here are the new PPC keyword restrictions from Kelkoo. This is a doozy and may even outdo Shop.com's restriction that banned affiliates from bidding on the term "shop". From: TradeDoubler [mailto:no_reply@ext.tradedoubler.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 9:49 AM Subject: Urgent Kelkoo Keyword News Dear Kelkoo Affiliate, Please...

Google Gulp: Tasty New Drink

Google rewarded its advertisers this week with a preview of its new drink. We didn't know what to think when a case of Google Gulp showed up at the office. Then we tried it. I don't know what's in it or how Auto-Drink works but the stuff is great. My...

Liberte, Fraternite, SueGooglete

I'll just come out and say it this time: Google should pull out of France. France needs Google more than Google needs France. I won't bore you with the long list of companies in France that have sued Google and won. The latest two French agencies to try to fry...

Claria: Targetted Search?

Claria has worked with Overture for years both spawning pop unders with Overture search results and through its search site Search Scout. With all of the talk about contextual search (e.g. AdSense (live for 2 years), Yahoo Publisher Network (in test) and MSN (rumored to be working on its own...

Doggone it: Petco and Merchant SEO for Affiliates

I often hear that the problem with affiliate marketing is affiliates. I'm not going to get into that today but instead will give an example of a merchant (or its partner) that has crossed the electronic boundary. Birds of a Feather Flock Together Some merchants have pages to promote their...

Yahoo SMS: The End of an Era

Say goodbye to Overture. Say hello to Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions. The change from GoTo.com to GoTo was easy to handle. The change to Overture signalled a shift to a serious B2B venture. This is just too much. Back in 1999 and 2000, Yahoo and Google wanted nothing to do...

Odd Choice by The Sun

The Sun (UK "newspaper") has chosen to switch from Google to eSpotting according to Forbes. Maybe times have changed since I headed up GoTo International's business development. Maybe that acqusition by FindWhat wasn't such a bad idea (remember the transaction that blew up a couple of times most likely due...

Google AdWords Landing Page Software

Every time I read about affiliate marketing, it seems that affiliates are blamed for all of the ills of affiliate marketing. While I'm not ready to make that leap (and I will write more about this soon), I found someone who is to blame: www.getyoursiteongoogle.info offers software so that affiliates...

TM Bidding Restrictions Get Bizarre

I have been dreaming of a merchant coming out with a policy as bizarre as the one in the e-mail below. It seems that Altura has leased Shop.com from Alex Jacobson. I'm sure it's going well for them. Then they come out with this policy. I'm glad that we never...

Google's Analyst Day

Google had its much-anticipated Analyst Day today. I haven't had time to site through the entire presentation but there probably isn't too much being said. You can see reviews by Search Engine Watch, Greg Linden, eweek and Slashdot....

Should Google.fr be Google.fu?

By now you've heard that Google lost a case in French courts... again. That leaves me wondering whether this is Unusual Business As Usual or France's revenge for the Concorde. You remember the Concorde, the European supersonic airplane. While there are many theories about the cause of Concorde's demise, the...

PPC Bidding by Affiliates (Part III)

By now you should be questioning the rationale of banning ALL affiliates from bidding on your trademarked terms. You still have some questions and wonder whether or not your general counsel will laugh you out of his/her office. You’ve also checked search results for your trademarks to see if any...

PPC Bidding by Affiliates (Part II)

In my last post, I stated that banning affiliates from bidding on your trademarks hurts your brand. Now it’s time for some examples of why that’s true. Control Your Brand’s Search Results There are 3 simple reasons to let affiliates bid on your trademarks: Control, Control and Control. You should...

PPC Bidding by Affiliates: It's about Controlling Your Brand

"Merchants' policies that forbid their affiliates from bidding on their trademarks hurt the merchants' brands." Wayne Porter and Jeff Molander shook their heads when I made this statement as we sat outside at a New York cafe last month. Before we finished our coffee, they were scratching their heads and...