If you ever wanted to know about the Google AdSense ads that you have recently clicked from Firefox or IE, here’s a tip:

Open the history panel (Ctrl+H) in the browser and type googleadservices - you will see all the Google Ad URLs that you have clicked since the last time you cleared your browser history.

You can also know the exact web address of the Adwords advertiser from these URLs. Firefox 3 users can type googleadservices in the address bar and get the same information from the auto-complete entries in the drop down.

Nothing very useful but will give you an idea about how frequently you click on Google AdSense Ads on other websites.

By: Vlad Constandes, SEO News Editor

Digg is shopping itself around, and a purchase is really likely to happen any time soon, according to Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch. The user-generated news site has been working with investment bank Allen & Co., that I last mentioned was the one behind Bebo being sold.

An inside voice quoted by Arrington said that at the moment
there are four companies interested in the acquisition, two major media / news companies and two Internet companies, namely Google and Microsoft. The latter two are really close to making the bids. According to the same source, Digg had a valuation last year at some $300 million, but at the moment they’re willing to take less.

Guess which of the two Internet giants will probably make the highest bid? Which has the cash flow and the stability to give away without blinking a ton of money? Google, of course, as it is believed to make a bid of $200 - $225 million, as opposed to Microsoft, which has a smaller number in mind.

Most of the user-generated news site’s revenue comes from a three-year advertising deal it signed last year with the Redmond-based company, so the smaller bid would only make sense – it’s difficult to pay for the revenue you supply. The deal will most likely be terminated, should Digg accept the Google bid, but that shouldn’t be a problem for Brin and Page’s company, as it has the means to provide the same thing as Microsoft.

Kevin Rose decided to sell, and that’s all that matters at the moment for the two companies to start a bidding war. Whichever manages to get it, it would be a big slap in the other’s face. Microsoft would be noted as a much-more-open presence on the Internet stage, while Google would be grinning from ear to ear in case it manages to swipe Digg from Gates’ company’s grasp.

Even with all of the speculation that Microsoft will end up buying Yahoo, Google doesn’t have anything to worry about in regards to search dominance. According to what I see every month on several of the sites I own and operate Google clearly dominates the search referrals I see. Ninety-three percent (93%) of the search referrals I receive are Google, with MSN/Live trailing at 1.3% and Yahoo a measly 0.2% of referral of referral traffic. AOL search (powered by Google) provides more search referrals than Yahoo does on more than one of the websites I operate.

Below are the February 2008 statistics for designertoday.com (10 year old medium traffic website). As you can clearly see Google out performs all other search engines.





With the popularity of Google’s other services such as Google Docs, I think Google has such an pervasive presence online that Microsoft (including the Yahoo purchase) will not gain much traction with the launch (beta) of Office Live Spaces. While Microsoft does hold a tight grip on business productivity software (offline), the company has a very long battle to take online application market share away from Google.

Jason Calacanis (CEO of Mahalo) is claiming that Google will own ninety percent (90%) of the search market in the US within a year. From what I see each month, I believe that Google is already there.

“That's an insane prediction I was told, after I made it in front of a half dozen of the most important public market investors in the tech world at a conference recently (think the largest shareholders in Yahoo and Google). It was midnight and folks were on their second or third Macallan 25*, but folks immediately sobered up.” Jason Calacanis

I hope that, in the event that Microsoft ends up with Yahoo that the combined companies do become more aggressive and gain more of the online services market share, as it could only benefit consumers. Competition on such a grand scale will ultimately lower costs of products and services and with the US economy being in the shape it is in, would help tremendously.

As the weeks keep flying and nothing worthy of mentioning is happening after Yahoo! turned down Microsoft’s unsolicited bid, rumors are starting to get leaked and suppositions made.
The lawsuits filed against the Sunnyvale-based company are something of lesser importance, because they are in a unsolvable situation whichever way the coin flips. Out of the seven suits, there are two accusing Yahoo! of encouraging MS to bid, and others that demand the sales as being in the shareholders’ best interest. It doesn’t matter what Yahoo! does, it will still get sued.

Google responded very quickly when Microsoft made the big announcement. In an instant, a press release was put together, deeming the bid as dangerous, and the next day, investment banker George Boutros was hired for advice. "Boutros is known in M&A circles as a briefcase slammer. […] The kind of negotiator who will do whatever it takes to make the other guy blink," Valleywag quoted Adam Lashinsky.

Two weeks’ work later, the solution presented to Google’s directors was that the Mountain View-based company should bid for just under 20 percent if Yahoo!’s stock at an inflated price. There are two theories as to why that is. The first, presented by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, is that "Google clearly wants to see the status quo continue in the search space, and would rather fight a fragmented market than a single, stronger, Microsoft/Yahoo."

The second has a lot more to do with chaos and mayhem, that would destabilize the two companies currently involved in their very own cold war right now: Microsoft shareholders are unhappy and penalized the Redmond giant severely by lowering its stock value, while Yahoo! is hit with lawsuits and has talent departing due to the vesting packages that just expired. If crazy is what Google’s after, it did a very good job. I wonder if the bid is actually made what will be to come.

AdSense users are up for some "I Agree" clicking in the near future, if they want to continue using Google’s service, as one of the general changes in the terms and conditions is looming around the corner. The development of the Internet, Web 2.0 alongside it, is constantly demanding new technologies and services to be pushed up front by every company in order to keep up with the times and trends.

The upcoming changes are Google’s way of making sure that there’s no
legal ambiguity between any aspects of the AdSense program, and furthermore to assure that every possible aspect of the projects in development is already covered when they hit the Web.

Two broad categories will be targeted by the new rules and regulations. The first has the future products and features at its core, and this comes right as the DoubleClick acquisition will finally receive the big OK from the European Union regulators, the last to have second thoughts about the non-monopolistic approach to advertising that Google is hinting at. Upcoming ad formats and mediums are the ones pointed at, such as Gadget Ads, which offers the option to deliver the Mountain View-based company’s money-making content offline.

The changes to this section aren’t grand in design, just re-writes of the old terms and conditions designed to cover the possibility that future products be priced, paid or managed differently than the current ones, Julie Beckmann, AdSense Publisher Support, writes in a post on the Google AdSense Blog.

Category number two includes the troublesome privacy requirements, an area Google has always had problems with. Just last week, the EU Article 29 Working Party announced that Search Engines have to shorten the time the cookies are active, among other things. Right in the heels of this decision, the announcement about the update to the terms and conditions comes as a natural next step. Publishers will be obliged to notify their users about all the data-collecting beacons and cookies delivered in the ad-serving process, Beckman points out.

The changes don’t limit to those mentioned above and the whole process is long and tiring. However, reviewing the updated information is a must for AdSense publishers, if they are to keep using the product and services abiding the law. There's no need to skim through the modifications though, the date until they have to be accepted (or not) is the 25th of May.

New York, February 2: A combined Microsoft and Yahoo could pose a real challenge to Google overseas and in hot new ad markets such as mobile Internet, but only if Microsoft ignores its basic instincts.

Microsoft Corp's unsolicited offer of some $44.6 billion for Yahoo Inc would create a larger second player to Google Inc's dominance of Web search and put nearly 600 million unique monthly visitors from around the world under one roof.

But the success of a merger would depend on letting some of Yahoo's brands survive and even acknowledging that a few of its products are superior to Microsoft's, ad executives and experts said on Friday.

"They've got to resist their own impulses, which would be to roll the Microsoft product with the Yahoo product and bundle it all in Windows Mobile," said Daniel Taylor, senior analyst at research firm Yankee Group. "It might mean making some hard decisions about whether Yahoo's search product is better."

To be sure, Yahoo has yet to show signs of accepting the offer. Major concerns remain over whether Microsoft could keep Yahoo staff on board while integrating two very different corporate cultures and combining separate e-mail, messaging and advertising platforms.

But advertisers will like the deal because they want more consolidation in the estimated $40 billion Internet market and hope to see a strong alternative to Google.

"They don't like one-player markets because they lose complete control. They don't like markets with lots and lots of competitors either," said Rishad Tobaccowala, chief executive of the Denuo Group, a consulting arm of Publicis Groupe SA.

"The agency structure and marketer structure is that they are only used to dealing with 8 or 9 people in a particular category. Otherwise they don't know how to do it," he said.

In addition, smaller rivals such as Time Warner Inc's AOL or News Corp's Fox Interactive Media could enjoy the breathing room for niche players created in the wake of an intensified Microsoft-Google clash.

"One of the unintended consequences is you suddenly have one fewer player at the table," said Peter Horan, CEO of the media and advertising unit at IAC/InterActiveCorp. "This could have the effect of opening up a little opportunity for other players. It may help AOL.

"Over time, you'll start to see more sophisticated media plans. Advertisers will say: 'I'm buying a lot of reach and bulk off the big ad networks, now I want to add color and flavor by adding the Washingtonpost.com or Ticketmaster or the New York Times'."

Crack in Google's armour

The timing of the offer comes as some investors begin to question Google's power. The company reported disappointing quarterly results on Thursday and analysts said its ability to easily take market share from competitors could be waning.

When it comes to the future of advertising, the market for mobile Internet is still up for grabs. Social networks are also a closely watched category and Microsoft already has a partnership with fast-growing site Facebook.

Google hinted more than once on Thursday that it had yet to get a firm grip on making money from social networks, despite a partnership with News Corp.'s MySpace.

"Some of the things we were working out in the fourth quarter didn't pan out," Google co-founder Sergey Brin said. "But it's a big opportunity because it's so much inventory."

Looking ahead, Microsoft and Yahoo's operations are complementary when it comes to their reach overseas, as well as Yahoo's entry into online advertising exchanges with its purchase of Right Media last year, according to Tobaccowala.

Microsoft's MSN portal is strong in western Europe whereas Yahoo has a foothold in China, including a stake in Alibaba.com.

Yahoo's network of sites on every topic from finance to news and travel, as well as ad sales deals with major newspaper sites, also open up much vast ad inventory for Microsoft.

"Microsoft is in big trouble (in online use) ... the only thing they have proven is they cannot build a large audience," said Bob Davis, managing general partner at venture firm Highland Capital. "Yahoo at least gives them some footprint."

That audience reach should work well with Microsoft's aQuantive, which helps serve and track advertising online.

The danger is that Microsoft goes too far in co-opting all of Yahoo's properties and possibly regretting paying a high price for a company that some view as drooping with fatigue.

"The only brand that will survive is Yahoo Answers and that they will call Live Answers. The rest, nobody needs," said Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research. "You are eliminating a loose cannon."