It looks like Yahoo is trying to out-Google Google. Having shocked the world with setting stricter standards of respect for privacy than the No. 1 search engine, Yahoo has decided it's time to change its algorithms. I suppose it's time.

And why not? Google just underwent some algorithm changes itself. If you're going to play follow the leader you should probably follow the leader when the leader does something you'd expect the leader to do (based on past performance). But I wouldn't expect the same reaction from the people who watch the leaders and followers.

Mark Jackson Will Speak on Two Panels at Special Web Marketing Conference Aimed at Travel Industry
Search Engine Strategies Travel 2007

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vizion Interactive (www.vizioninteractive.com) announced today that Mark Jackson, President/CEO of the Dallas area interactive marketing agency, will be speaking at the upcoming Search Engine Strategies 2007 Conference & Expo in Seattle. This particular engagement is two day conference focused on search marketing topics for the travel industry.

The 13 months Yahoo will keep search data is shorter than the 18 months announced by Microsoft and Google.

Feeling pressure from U.S. and European Union legislators, the major search engine providers have now all fallen into step by providing greater visibility into the types of data they collect from Web users and promising to make that data anonymous after a certain period of time. Yahoo on Monday became the latest, stating that the company would "anonymize" data about searches and searchers within 13 months after each search is performed.

The next time someone posts a naked photo of you online, don't get even — get a hold of a reputation management company who can delete the photo. Or push good stuff about you to the top of Google. But do these companies cross an ethical boundary?

While driving up to HostingCon 2007 from Ohio, I had an odd moment of Zen regarding Google and search engines in general, which I shared with my business cohort Jamie Harrop, who was busy making blog posts from the passenger seat of my car (three cheers for Verizon Broadband Wireless!). For the sake of this blog post, I'm using Google as a stand-in for all major search engines - they've earned it by virtue of market share. If you don't like Google, substitute the search engine of your choice as you read on.

Ask.com announced Friday that it will allow search users to control how and whether their searches are recorded, marking the first time a major search company has modified their data retention policy to make it user controllable.

CHOOSING A SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION partner can be a real challenge. For those with a bad past experience, there's likely to be a great deal of reticence. Those just starting this process have heard all these stories. And what about those who have had some marginal success, but want to see more? Follow these recommendations for better results.

Some time back Google launched its new service, called Google Base. Not many people know about Google base, and even search engine optimizers have very little idea as to what Google base is, in fact considering that its an innovation launched by Google, Google base has yet to gain much popularity. This however does not mean that Google base will not gain popularity, Google base is still in the beta version, and should eventually be popular.

The first great but difficult thing about working in Search Engine Optimization is the fact that the field is constantly changing. Nothing stays the same in search for very long, a reality reflected in the SERPs. As the sands are continuously shifting, SEOs need to remain on top of new technologies, techniques and online marketing opportunities.

If Rene Descartes were alive today, rather than saying "Je pense, donc je suis" ("I think, therefore I am"), he might say, "Il est, donc j'optimise" ("It is, therefore I optimize"). By that same reasoning, if Monsieur Descartes were alive today, instead of emerging as both the Father of Modern Philosophy and the Father of Modern Mathematics, he'd be trying to figure out how to optimize Web widgets -- the next frontier of search engine optimization.