If your looking for something new to put that spark into your business’ SEO, changing your business name isn’t an easy direction to head. Changing your business name is going to require a lot of SEO work just to maintain your current Google ranking and user traffic. Be forewarned, unless your willing to put in some hours of SEO for your company name change, you could be looking at penalties from Google, lost customers, less traffic and confused users.

Don’t Touch that Domain Name

Your domain name is going to hold a lot of your search engine traffic, so switching that domain name and your going to take a serious dip in Google rankings. Changing your domain name will result in having to accumulate new links and social sharing signals. You’re going to need a good internet marketing strategy in place, like a PPC marketing, to get that website traffic going again. This is going to mean more money and time from you.

Keep Current with Your Business Contact Info

Along with the many things Google does, using an algorithm to correlate phone numbers, addresses and names (or NAP) to your business is one of them. Correlating these factors will determine your rank for local search inquires. In order to keep your rankings up there your going to need to update your Google+ Local, Bing Local, Yahoo Local accounts, and any other local listing account.

You’ll have to make sure all your old local listings are updated because old business listing can show as duplicate content and NAP corruption to Google, thus hurting your traffic and rankings more. If you change your business phone number you have to make sure that is also updated or you’ll face the same problems. Also (though it may seem obvious) make sure you change the name on your website, this is probably the easiest change you’ll make but a vital one to say the least.

Tag up that Title

If your going through the whole trouble of changing your business name you might as well put some keywords and/or locations of your business in their. By incorporating names and location in the title your increasing your SEO value.

An example of this would be “Coronado Eye Doctor”. Also take into account the title for social media benefits, does it have a ring to it?

Keep The Customer Informed

With all these changes and updates going on make sure that your customer gets the heads up on whats going on. On your website and/or your facebook page give your customers an alert that you’ll be changing your business name soon. This will help lessen confusion and keep those loyal customers.

So if your dead set on a new business name, be prepared for what might seem like a daunting task and hope that new business name is a winner.

Can a search platform really change your web browsing experience? Until now, many would say that search has been a means for them to simply find their desired results, but this may soon change with the introduction of Yahoo Axis; a new visualized search and browsing experience connected among all of a user’s devices. The new platform functions as a browser plug-in for PCs and as an application on iPad and iPhone with an Android version to be launched soon. Yahoo announced and launched Axis Wednesday.

But really how is Yahoo Axis different from other search platforms? Yahoo has seamlessly connected the search and browsing experience to be based on a visually personalized search experience. Users can search the live pages of the top ranked results for the search query and horizontally navigate the pages within the Axis window, deleting the process of clicking links and hitting the back button to return to results. The results displayed for the user do not follow conventional search algorithms; they are personalized by calculating clicks and time on underlying sites into the Axis search results. The effects of this and how a search engine optimization agency will adapt remain to be seen.

As shown above, the search results are visually shown and navigated in a horizontal format. Currently Axis only displays the top 20 ranked results for the query, and rationalizes this format because users typically only browse the first two pages of search results. Because the new search is so visually stimulating and in a horizontal format, it proposes the possibility that users will begin to browse results longer than before. This stands the possibility to impact how companies and Internet marketing companies aim to rank and optimize web content to attract users, due to the visual depiction of the web page influencing the user navigation.

Furthermore, Axis aims to personalize the search experience for the user by connecting this platform across all of the users devices. Yahoo has done this through the Yahoo Cocktail mobile development platform, which incorporates an open source JavaScript MVC framework and a cloud-based host environment. Search results and bookmarks can be seamlessly shared between all devices. The application shares information on social media networks such as Twitter and Pinterest, as well as via email.

At this point, the Axis user interface is clean and attractive with its use of a black background, simple search query, and vivid page examples. At this point there are no ads, but as search engines typically seem to eventually foster advertisements this may open up another channel for pay per click internet marketing.

The culmination of innovations that Yahoo Axis incorporates makes it an “outside the box” option for searching the web. This new interesting, different, and highly visual experience may change how people search the web.  Let us know your thoughts on this new platform.

As part of the change at Yahoo, they announced today that roughly 2,000 people with be terminated or phased out from their daily activities. The intention is to focus their efforts on maintaining true to their core competencies of growth and profitability. The heaviest losses will come from Yahoo’s product division – the division run by Blake Irving the overseer of consumer and advertising products. The cut is projected to save from upwards of $375 million a year, which half of this will be seen in this second-quarters financial result. Yahoo currently employs over 14,000 people and thousands of outside contractors. This big move is part of a transition brought upon by new CEO’s Scott Thompson plan to bring “real change” to the company

Yet, Yahoo still has a solid foundation with thousands of internet marketing companies and millions of users. With the new corporate restructuring, Yahoo says that they will, “grow by responding more quickly to customer needs and competing more effectively in areas where it can win”. This likely means no more jumping into projects because everyone else is, instead as Yahoo states, they will focus on their “identified key parts” that stick more closely to their core – where ROI for marketing companies is plentiful and users feel a personalized touch.

On the other side, Google and Facebook hired more engineers and sales representative to their product development and sales team. Last year Google added 8,000 employees, and Facebook moved their HQ to Menlo Park, Calif. for the highly anticipated tripling of their current workforce of about 3,200 people within the next few years.

While the firings took place, Yahoo has also begun battling Facebook after filing 10 patent violations against Facebook. In return, Facebook has accused Yahoo of violating their technology patents as well.

ComScore reported December 2011 U.S. search engine rankings this past week with, to no surprise, Google still in the lead. On a more noteworthy finding is Bing surpassing Yahoo, coming in at the number two spot. When Bing launched as a search engine in June 2009, they were at a mere 8.4 percent search engine market share. As of this past year they now account for 15.1 percent of internet searches.

Google still dominates the market with 65.9 percent market share, and Yahoo dropped to the number three spot at 14.5 percent.

The reported search engine rankings for December 2011, according to comScore, are stated below:

• Google – 65.9% (up from 65.4% in November 2011)
• Bing – 15.1% (+.1 change from November)
• Yahoo – 14.5% (down from 15.1%)
• Ask – remaining at 2.9%
• AOL – remaining at 1.6%

More than 18.2 billion explicit core searches were conducted in December, which is a two percent increase from November. 12 billion searches were placed on Google sites, 2.7 billion were through Bing (up 2 percent), and 2.6 billion on Yahoo! Sites. We are anxious to see if Bing will remain in the number two spot in following months, and maybe even further the gap with Yahoo searches.

Yahoo’s Associated Content site is being rebranded as Yahoo Voices. This new transition will also improve the design and content base, increasing standards for publication.

What is Yahoo Voices?

Yahoo Voices is a new online base for over two million pieces of original content on a variety of topics. It was created by over 500,000 people who have published articles, videos, and recordings. All of this content could previously be found on Yahoo’s Associated Content site (www.associatedcontent.com), however this site is officially closing and Yahoo Voices will take over. On Yahoo Voices, consumers and advertisers will be able to see real perspectives and get real expertise on nearly every topic. However, the guidelines for publishing on Yahoo Voices are more specified than previously on Associated Content. The updated submission guidelines are leaning towards making the site more unique and well written. They are focusing more on first person stories from experts, enthusiasts, and citizen journalists. After being reviewed and approved by a Yahoo editor, content will be published.

How it Works:

Authors submit stories on topics of their choice to the Yahoo Contributor Network. After being reviewed by a Yahoo editor, stories that meet submission guidelines are published on Yahoo Voices or other Yahoo destinations.

“Through our unique publishing platform (Yahoo! Contributor Network) and this new digital library (Yahoo! Voices), Yahoo! upholds and expands the scope of Associated Content’s original mission: Enabling any individuals with specialized knowledge and experience to create original content, share it with an audience of millions, and often earn a portion of the revenue it generates.”

Over a year ago, beginning on August 24, 2010, Yahoo! switched over to using Bing’s search results. Within the first week of the merger, the company Experian Hitwise, a leading global online competitive intelligence service, stated that the new Yahoo-Bing relationship had a combined 24.56% of the U.S. market share. At this time, Google was still maintaining a U.S. market share of almost 72%.

Now, fast-forward one year to August 2011. According to Experian Hitwise, the Yahoo-Bing relationship has gained just over 4% of the U.S. market share. This pushes their total U.S. market share from 24.56% to 28.99% in just over one year’s time. In this same period of time, Google has seen their total U.S. market share decrease by over 6%. They went from having a U.S. market share of 71.59% in August 2010 to 65.09% in August 2011.

So what is causing this increase in market share by Yahoo-Bing? Although there’s no clear-cut answer, there seems to be a few contributing factors. The Yahoo-Bing return-on-investment for advertisers has increased by over 10% in the last year while the Google Adwords ROI fell by roughly 12% in the same time. Also, according to Experian Hitwise, “Yahoo! Search and Bing achieved the highest success rates in…2011.  This means that for both search engines, more than 81 percent of searches executed resulted in a visit to a Website.  Google achieved a success rate of 66 percent.”

For now, the Yahoo-Bing market share gains seem rather minimal, but they are at least heading in the right direction. Do you see this shift in market share continuing?

In a move that seemed to be a long time coming, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz was fired recently after less than three years as head of the company. Although she performed well at times for Yahoo!, her approval rating had fallen to dismal levels recently and many people were calling for her termination. Bartz received a 90% approval rating in her first quarter, but it declined from there. In her last quarter she received a 33% approval rating, and dipped as low as 24% at one point.

Bartz began her tenure as CEO with the task of bringing Yahoo! back to relevance after the failure of Yahoo! Co-founder Jerry Yang’s experiment at CEO. With such high expectations, the initial support and grace she received quickly turned to disappointment. As such, it seemed to be only a matter of time before she was fired and the news of her termination caused Yahoo!’s stock price to increase.

Now that Bartz is gone, Yahoo! is left with an important choice on what to do next. Rumors of Yahoo! selling parts or all of its company are being circulated around, but it seems much more likely that they will instead try to find a game-changing CEO to run the company. What Yahoo! needs is a Steve Jobs as their CEO. Jobs, the former CEO of Apple, is seen as one of the greatest CEO’s of our time. He effectively saved Apple from the brink of bankruptcy and morphed it into one of the most successful companies in the world with a revenue of over $60 billion, in a little over 10 years.

Although it is unlikely that Yahoo! can find another Steve Jobs, there are a lot of options for the company going forward. Should Yahoo! cut its losses and sell the company? Or should they go after a game-changing CEO? If so, who?

Yahoo’s new image search presentation replicates Google and Bing’s enhancement, but has many significant features. Yahoo has just launched their new image presentation and is catching up to competitors Google and Bing by having a large thumbnail gallery that expands to multiple pages and increasing the image size when a user scrolls over the thumbnail. It also allows an easier search of galleries, a connection to your friend’s Facebook images and a simpler navigation of full sized images.

What Yahoo has that Google and Bing doesn’t have…

If you notice at the top of image search in Yahoo, there are three tabs. These tabs let you better categorize the images that you are more interested in.

•  Top Images: Next to the “Top Images” tab will be an additional “Latest” tab that will automatically appear for image search results of trending topics, such as images of events, news, or celebrities.
• Galleries: This will include photo galleries from Yahoo News, Flickr, and OMG.
• Facebook: The Facebook tab automatically appears if the search results include matches from your Facebook friend’s name or photo albums. This tab works only if you set up your Facebook account with Yahoo Image Search.

That isn’t it for Yahoo Image Search. Yahoo has a new design element that when after you click on the thumbnail, it uploads the full sized image in a large gallery. The original site that provided the image is listed at the bottom, while the top bar gives a close-up of the image. The right navigation allows users to browse between options from Yahoo’s original image search results. This is an important change for Yahoo.

Yahoo Stepping Up Their Game

Yahoo’s new design of their image search will hopefully guide Internet users to search more in their image search rather than Google or Bing. These improvements were longer over due, but now they are launched and ready to be enhanced by users. The tabs of Top Images, Latest, Galleries and Facebook provides the most simple view and a clearer understanding of browsing and navigating through images.  Check out Yahoo’s new Image Search design and tabs and let us know what you think!

What Google lacks in catchy television commercials, it more than makes up for in service.  Coming off the heels of those surprisingly memorable television ads, Microsoft’s Bing experiment has carved out a respectable slice of the search market share but hardly gained any traction against the Internet behemoth we all know as our homepage or as Google. Google’s share of the market floats at 65%, changing minimally from month to month, with Yahoo (17%) and Bing (13%) lagging so far behind their combined share doesn’t equal half of Google’s total share.  The search engine holds an unassailable position atop the search engine hierarchy.

This is perhaps a result of Google offering users more than just search results – Google has become a one-stop shop, affording users the ability to check their mail, get directions, watch the latest viral video, find up to date news sourced more than a thousand times, and even translate the website for that hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland, which doesn’t seem to have an English button.

6 Slick Tricks

Nonetheless, most Internet surfers are unaware of the many tools Google provides that does not warrant an insular tab at the top the page.  By entering specific codes into the search field, you can manipulate Google to do whatever it is you want it to.  Here are six of my favorite unknown tricks of the trade:

1. Spell Check:

Google is perhaps the fastest way to check your spelling.  By typing your word into the search field, Google will confirm a million times over the correct spelling or suggest an alternate.  Likewise, you can enter the “define” operator to instruct Google to show you only dictionary entries.

2. Calculator:

Yes, your computer does have a calculator.  So does your phone.  But sometimes those places are just farther away than a Google search bar.  Try searching an arithmetic nightmare like “538/14 * (17+284)/ 2”. Then go ahead and check it on your calculator and ask yourself which method was easier.

3. World Clock:

Trying to figure out if you can call that hotel in Reykjavik to book a room?  Search “time Reykjavik” to see whether or not it’s business hours.  Naturally, this is an invaluable tool in a world were you need to call London, San Diego, and New Delhi all in one working day.

4. Currency Converter:

Need to find out how many kroner you’re getting for your dollar? Type “100 dollars in kroner” to find out.  You can, of course, use Google to find out that Iceland is on the kroner before you begin converting.

5. Exclusion Operator:

This one is an oldie but worth repeating.  Search ‘ “masters” –woods ’ to see the untold stories of this weekend’s golf tournament.  That little minus sign may be all that stands between you and a torrent of unwanted search results.

6. File Type Operator:

You can limit your search results to specific file types.  Ever want to know what power points people have published on Reykjavik?  Search “reykjavik filetype:ppt” to be amazed.  Likewise you can search everything from avi to zip for your file-finding needs.

Yahoo is actually the most visited website in the world because it is a content site but it currently only controls about 20% of the search market. It would make sense to combine with Microsoft and MSN which is going to be the only way they will be able to compete with Google moving forward in my opinion. Here are the most recent Comscore stats on Yahoo’s percentage of the search market:
ComScore: Yahoo! Web Search Reported Total Search Share (US)

Dec 07 22.4%
Jan 08 21.7%
Feb 08 21.2%
Mar 08 20.8%
Apr 08 19.9%
May 08 20.1%
Jun 08 19.6%
Jul 08 20.0%
Aug 08 19.7%
Sep 08 19.8%
Oct 08 20.1%
Nov 08 20.3%
Dec 08 20.5%

They really have not grown their share and with more competitors hitting the market and Google growing their monster engine, it will be tough for Yahoo moving forward. This being said, our clients at Internet Marketing Inc still get decent results and high conversions from Yahoo. In fact sometimes conversion rates are actually even higher on Yahoo than they are in Google. With the recent CEO change, I am excited to see how Yahoo grows moving forward. I actually still use them as my home page and personal search page over Google but apparently I only make up 20% of people. Check with your internet marketing company to see what search engine is right for you and your business. Odds are that it will be a combination of all the major search engines.
-Brandon