Posts on State of Search about ‘Yahoo’

Facebook and Yahoo: No, But What If…?

what-if

This weekend suddenly the rumour popped up that Facebook and Yahoo were supposedly talking about creating a search engine, something which also was denied in a later stage. That off course led to a lot of speculation: wass this really true? Would it make sense? What about Bing? And would a combination between Yahoo and Facebook have any chance of succeeding, let alone beating a Google or Bing?

We decided to drop this question on the desks of some industry experts to see how they would feel about this if it were true (which it most probably isn’t). Because we can dream right, dream of a Google competitor. Or not? (more…)

What Should Marissa Mayer do at Yahoo?

10 months ago by Bas van den Beld 1 Comment
things-to-do-today

Marissa Mayer’s move shocked a few people, made some eyebrows frown and made a lot of people think: what on earth is she doing? But what will she be doing is one of the big questions.

In the past few years new CEO’s have always given their views on what they believe they should focus on at Yahoo. No doubt Marissa Mayer will shortly come with a similar statement. What that will say we will have to wait and see, but in the meanwhile we can think about things she can do ourselves. So we’ve asked our blogging team and we’ve asked you on our Facebook page to tell us what you thought Marissa Mayer should do on her first day at Yahoo. Here are the answers: (more…)

Official: Marissa Mayer Named as New Yahoo CEO

10 months ago by Bas van den Beld 1 Comment
Marissa-Mayer-Yahoo

It is coming as a shock on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ at the moment and when Barry Schwartz just tweeted it I first thought it was a joke but The New York Times just announced that Marissa Mayer is supposedly the new CEO of Yahoo. This is a stunning move from one of Google’s top names and oldest employees and food for a lot of discussion as well.

Ms Mayer will be appointed as the president and chief executive of Yahoo, making her one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley. Mayer moved from search to local in 2010 and has been very active in that area since, with the launch of Google+ Local recently as her high point.

Mayer has been very ‘quiet’ over the past few weeks, not tweeting or updating her Google Profile for two weeks. We now know why.

The move is a very surprising move from Mayers side with Yahoo not being in the best position possible at the moment and will feed rumors about the future of Yahoo as well. Apparently she resigned today and will be starting tomorrow. (more…)

Yahoo Launches “Axis” a Visual Way of Searching Focussed on Devices

Yahoo!-Axis

It is time for change people. Change in the search engines. After Bing and Google now Yahoo decided to bring in a whole new way of searching: Yahoo! Axis.

With Axis Yahoo! introduces a way of searching which is much more visual and, as Yahoo claims, with much more interaction, “all without ever leaving the page you are on.” (more…)

Yahoo CEO Thompson Resigns over Resume and Disease

Scott-Thompson-Yahoo

Things are going in all directions for Yahoo these days, but its far from a steady road ahead. Even though the former search giant keeps developing they are also experiencing a lot of headwind.

Yesterday Yahoo announced that its president Scott Thompson has resigned. His place will be taken for now by Yahoo’s global media head Ross Levinsohn. Thompson has been under fire for lying on his resume but health issues are supposedly also part of the reason he is leaving.

Thompson came from Paypal after Carol Bartz was fired last September and thus has not been in charge for very long. Recently it rumors came up suggesting Thomspon had been lying on his resume. This is one of the reasons the CEO is stepping down. (more…)

Yahoo Offering Small Businesses a Marketing Dashboard

Yahoo-Marketing-Dashboard-logo

I do many different types of training sessions. Many of the times it is in company, which means that its a large company which centrally organizes which products and tools they use.

Sometimes I do ‘open’ training sessions. In these sessions I usually get small business owners. They are looking for ‘free’ or ‘cheap’ tools with which they can track their online performance: analytics of sites of course, but also online mentions, brand reputation.

There are many free tools out there which you can combine and which can be quite useful. Most of them however are very ‘global’, not local. Yahoo now decided to get into the local opportunities by offering (US only for now) a “Yahoo! Marketing Dashboard”, a tool which will show you how your local online marketing is doing. (more…)

Yahoo To Be Operating in Three Groups Says CEO

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After the 2,000 lay offs last week at Yahoo it was just a matter of time before more clearness would come regarding the future of Yahoo!. Today Kara Swisher got hold of an internal e-mail sent by Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson which explains where Yahoo is going: three primary divisions.

The memo was sent today to all Yahoo employees and shows that Yahoo is not being sold to any company but is simply restructuring and refocussing. The memo also makes clear that search is not a focus on Yahoo anymore, but that is nothing new. (more…)

UPDATE: Official: Yahoo To Lay Off 2,000 and Being Sued: A Facebook SetUp?

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Update: Yahoo now officially announced it will indeed be laying off 2,000 people.

According to Kara Swisher of AllThingsD, who is usually very well informed, this week could be a week of major changes for Yahoo. One of the older search brands in the industry is supposedly making a lot of changes, starting with about 2,000 lay offs in the next few days.

Is this the end of Yahoo as we know it? Will the company be restructured or will there be a maybe surprising other move, like a sale? At the same time as Yahoo is having its own issues they are being sued as a counter reaction by their partners Facebook over patents. To say that Yahoo is in rough waters in an understatement.

A few years ago Yahoo was the center of attention when both Google and Microsoft tried to buy the former search giant. This ended not with a sale but with a partner deal with Microsoft. This deal was made by the Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz who has always been a source for news, because there was always something going on.

With her departure things seemed to have calmed down, but behind the scenes her CEO successor Scott Thompson is as busy or busier than Bartz restructuring the company. According to AllthingsD this will result in 2,000 lay offs this week. And that is just the start. (more…)

Yahoo Working On Searchers Intent With News Features

Yahoo-intent

Did you think search at Yahoo was over? They are done, through and won’t be doing anything new again? Think again. At Yahoo they keep continuing working on new developments, even for search, a place where they lost a lot of ground over the past few years.

Where everybody keeps talking about Google and their “Search Plus Your World” and how they try to make that as personal and as relevant as possible, in the shadow of all that noise around that Bing and Yahoo are trying to make their results as personal and relevant as well. Last week Yahoo reported about work their “Search science team” had done, trying to make search more intuitive and relevant. They want to “better anticipate the needs of the individual user as he or she searches online” and added a feature which will change your news feed constantly based not only on the news there is, but also on the intent of the user. (more…)

Yahoo Sues Facebook: History Repeats?

patent-approved-stamp

Many many years ago I studied history. Which immediately means that people think I always win at Trivial Pursuit. I don’t, because ‘facts’ isn’t the main factor when it comes to studying history. As I said last Friday at a talk I did at the UK Searchconference, what you do learn is that history seems to repeat itself. Or better said: people keep on making the same kind of mistakes.

When I read on Techmeme (it really is all over there) that Yahoo was going to sue Facebook for no less than infringement on 10 patents, I had a feeling that what I learned back in college was about to happen again: history ‘repeats’. (more…)

The End of an Era: Yahoo Site Explorer Closes Today

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We knew it was coming, but today will be an historical day. Today Yahoo officially closes Yahoo Site Explorer. Most of the Site Explorer functionalities will be returning in Bing Webmaster Tools.

However, one of the main reasons people used Site Explorer is the link-data: who links to what site. That specific element will not return at Bing. (more…)

Is Microsoft Going For A Second Attempt to Buy Yahoo?

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When Carol Bartz was fired in a way the “Bold and the Beautiful” writers could have thought of immediately rumors started about Yahoo possibly being up for sale. So far there is no official news around that, but now there are rumors that Yahoo’s partner in crime when it comes to search, Microsoft, might be considering a new attempt to buy Yahoo.

In 2008 Microsoft also tried to buy Yahoo bidding up to an amount of 44.6 billion dollars in a hostile take over attempt. That take over then was prevented and Yahoo and Microsoft found each other in a special search deal with Bing. (more…)

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