I've got a meeting soon, but I need to get this out while it's fresh on the mind. Last year I sat in Seattle at a Google Dance, and watched the beginning of blended search. It wasn't on Google. It was on the new Ask.com. I was stoked. The interface was smooth, easy to understand, and put everything in one place.A few months ago, Ask announced that it was dropping out in the race for search dominance, and focusing on women. What everyone in the ...

We got a call from AOL marketing services yesterday. Bit of a surprise to me, but then I thought about how many times I've heard AOL's name in the past week and was surprised no longer. From new executives to the acquisition of Bebo, their like 105th acquisition in the past year (I exaggerate), I can see they are on the move.Then thinking about how Time Warner is planning to spin them off got me thinking. Ask just made a dumb move focusing just ...

Everyone knows that my hero is Matt Cutts. I don't hide that fact. But I came across something really funny today ... to me at least. I started with a new auto refinance company (It's my blog, I can link to who I want), and presented my 24 Hour Strategic Plan to them yesterday. That's my plan I came up with in 24 hours. Well, in that plan I mentioned that in marketing material (website copy and ad copy on AdWords) does best with numbers in it. ...

I just read a story about how Google is heading downwards in financial terms. Of course this has little impact on their status as the search engine leader, but its interesting to read today. One reason really ... Ask.comThe morons (sorry, its true) at Ask.com have decided to go back to the 1996 way of doing things and stop playing with the big boys.Partner this with Yahoo's downturn ... and all of a sudden I am scared. Seriously. I really don't ...

Microsoft tried to buy Facebook to no avail. Now they are trying with Yahoo. And Google got flack with Doubleclick? Wait ... why isn't anyone noticing that MSN is buying EVERYONE again. There may still be competition, but really??I am still riding the fence on this one though. There is some real good that COULD come from a Yahoo/Microsoft merger. But I still am not a fan of Microsoft. So what I really need to say is Go Ask Go! ...

Barry notes today that a number of sites have been wrist slapped by Google for selling paid links. Good for Google. I hate to say it, but Barry is right, Google gave plenty of warning. Google can do what it wants, what it thinks is best for the end user, not the advertiser. If you want to do well in Google, you have to do what they say. It's as simple as that. If you want to buy links, go for it. It just won't help anymore. ...

Search Engine Watch just posted a rant about paid linking. One of many since SES San Jose (I'm still mad that I didn't go. Matt told me to, I should have.)After everyone in the SEM world harking on Google for their initiative to go after paid linkers, I really hope they don't drop it. Paid linking is the source for many bad sites being ranked just because they have money. This whole thing is like file sharing. When it's a random person (or site ...

Vanessa Fox just published a live blog from MSN's event yesterday announcing their changes to MSN (aka LIVE search). They recognize that their relevance sucks and they aren't talking to webmasters. So ... they're fixing it. It'll be interesting to see what happens. ...

I'm all about it. I can't wait to get one of my websites on this to try it out. Go ASK Go! ...

Microsoft is after everyone really. They had it good for so long, and have so much money as a result, what else can they do?Search Engine Land notes that with the acquisition of aQuantitive, Microsoft is attacking Google at all sorts of legal levels. Okay, I am not a master at business law. Acquisitions are marginally interesting to me. But what really gets me is what is Microsoft main goal?Squash Google like they did Apple and Netscape?I don't ...