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Nielsen Online released data for the top U.S. search engine share rankings for June 2008 on July 18, 2008. The colossal search engine, Google, garnered an estimated 4.7 billion or 59.0% for the month of June 2008 for U.S. search inquiries according to Nielsen Online, a service provided by The Nielsen Company. Google gained a 19.0% increase year over year (YOY) growth.

Depicted below is pie chart of the top five U.S. search engines with search share percentages according to Nielsen Online for June 2008.

* Other - 1.9% is a compilation of search share for: Comcast Search, My Web Search, MapQuest Search, NexTag Search and AT&T Worldnet Search.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is headquartered in New York, USA with an inception in 1964. The privately owned company is a foremost global media and information company providing top market position information. Nielsen Online is a principal Web analytics provider of online audiences under the Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics brands.

© R & R Web Design LLC is a Michigan web design company that serves Chicago, Illinois, Michigan and beyond providing custom web design, ethical search engine optimization and website maintenance.

Yahoo announced today that the company has reached a truce with billionaire corporate activist investor, Carl Icahn, with a settlement agreement. This strategic move settles the pending proxy battle led by Mr. Icahn a mere eleven days before the Internet pioneer’s 2008 stockholder meeting on August 1.

The terms of the agreement include:

• 8 Yahoo! board members standing for re-election at the annual meeting that include: Roy Bostock, Ronald Burkle, Eric Hippeau, Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern, Mary Agnes Wilderotter, Gary Wilson and Jerry Yang.
• The current board member, Robert Kotick, will step down.
• Following the annual meeting, Yahoo! will then increase its current board from nine to eleven members.
• Carl Icahn will appointed to Yahoo!’s board.
• The two remaining board seats will be appointed from Mr. Icahn’s list of nine candidates.
• Carl Icahn will also withdraw his slate of proposed board members and will vote his portion of Yahoo! shares – 68,786,320 shares or 4.98% of Yahoo! common stock, in support of Yahoo!’s board nominees.

Roy Bostock, Yahoo! Chairman stated, “We are gratified to have reached this agreement, which serves the best interests of all Yahoo! stockholders,” as reported in Yahoo!’s press release, Yahoo! Announces Settlement with Carl Icahn. “We look forward to working productively with Carl and the new members of the Board on continuing to improve the Company’s performance and enhancing stockholder value.”

Carl Icahn is reported as stating, “I am very pleased that this settlement will allow me to work in partnership with Yahoo!’s Board and management team to help the Company achieve its full potential.” He continues by reiterating that he continues “to believe that the sale of the whole Company or the sale of its Search business in the right transaction must be given full consideration, I share the view that Yahoo!’s valuable collection of assets positions it well to continue expanding its online leadership and enhancing returns to stockholders.”

Jerry Yang, Yahoo! Co-founder and Chief Executive Office stated, “This agreement will not only allow Yahoo! to put the distraction of the proxy contest behind us, it will allow the Company to continue pursuing its strategy of being the starting point for Internet users and a must buy for advertisers.”

The settlement agreement was reached with only eleven days until the August 1st Yahoo! annual shareholders meeting and will put out the fire on the Icahn led proxy battle. It will also impede the possibility of an immediate business deal with Microsoft Corporation.

© R & R Web Design LLC is a Michigan web design company that serves Michigan, Chicago, Illinois and beyond specializing in custom web design, search engine optimization and webmaster services.

The top U.S. search engines for June 2008 were announced by comScore, a foremost Internet measurement company of the digital world. The search engine forerunner, Google, continued to dominate in the United States with search engine shares at 61.5%. Statistics revealed that Americans preformed an astounding 11.5 billion searches which is a 7% increase over May’s 10.8 billion. Google captured 7 billion of the June’s searches.

June 2008 top U.S. search engines

The following statistics were published by comScore for the top five search engines for month of June 2008 with the percentage changes over the previous month:

Depicted below is pie chart of the top five U.S. search engines with search share percentages as reported by comScore for June 2008.

About comScore

ComScore, Inc. is headquartered in Reston, VA and is a leading Internet information provider that measures Internet behavior by utilizing permission-obtained data from over two million Internet users.

© R & R Web Design LLC is a Michigan web design company that serves Michigan, Chicago, Illinois and beyond providing custom web design, ethical search engine optimization and website maintenance.

As a parent or if you have children in your home, you may have asked yourself how you can keep your child safe online and if there are any search engines specifically tailored for kids that you can trust. There are several options that are uniquely designed for kids with Internet safety as a priority.

Yahoo! Kids
Yahoo! Kids is the brain storm of the Internet pioneer, Yahoo! Specifically tailored for kids from the ages of 6 to 12, Yahoo! Kids was launched in 1996 as “Yahooligans”. With the mission to connect parents and children with the best – and safest – content on the Web, Yahoo! Kids brings together the power of Yahoo! network, the expertise of leading producers of children’s content and kid-safe search on over 10,000 websites that have been scrutinized by Yahoo! editors. Advertising is included on the site. Highlights include:

• Study Zone – A vast collection of information for kids from sections on news, animals and science, to dinosaurs, reference and a World Factbook. Children can concentrate on homework or research in a safe online environment without distraction.
• Parent Section – A separate section for parents that offers information for parents including online safety and frequently asked questions about Yahoo Kids!

Ask for Kids

Ask for Kids was originally know as “Ask Jeeves for Kids” is a kid-friendly website for kids to ask questions online in a fast and safe environment. Predominately an educational site that children may use to assist with homework and for researching information, the site also includes activities and games for children. Sites have been carefully selected by an editor and only include “G-rated” pages that are specially written for children that are perceived as safe. Ask for Kids does accept advertising for products that are appropriate for kids under the age of 13. Features include:

• News Resources section that provides links to age appropriate news include Scholastic News Zone, Time for Kids and Weekly Reader.
• Links to online useful tools including a dictionary and thesaurus and search areas for history, science and more.
• Parent Page – explains the Ask for Kids editorial policies.

KidsClick! Web Search

KidsClick! is a web search for kids by librarians and is a project of the Ramapo Catskill Library System based in Middletown, New York. It was created by a group of librarians as an answer to “concerns about the role of public libraries in guiding their young users to valuable and age appropriate web sites.”

Not an Internet filter, the intent of KidsClick! is to guide surfers age K-7 to “good” sites; not block them from “bad” sites. The site does not contain advertising and offers over 600 subjects.  Search results offer the number of illustrations and reading level along with the result listings. KidsClick! has a strict selection policy.

Internet Safety

The use of search engines specifically designed with kids’ safety as a priority is one step a parent can enforce to help protect children online. Additional steps as recommended by the FBI include:

1. Putting your computer in your living room or family room so you can keep an eye on what your kids are doing.
2. The use of parental controls or blocking software to restrict what sites they can visit.
3. Most importantly, explain the risks to your kids.

Additional information from the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation about keeping children safe online may be found at: A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety.

© R & R Web Design LLC - a Michigan web design company offering custom web design, search engine optimization and website maintenance.

You may have heard that Google warns against duplicate content and may even penalize a site that violates guiding principles. Google’s Webmaster Guidelines clearly outlines in their “Quality Guidelines” that one should not “create multiple pages, sub domains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.”

What is duplicate content?

When the number one search engine in the world speaks, the world should listen. Google defines duplicate content as “substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar.”

What isn’t duplicate content?

Google clearly spells out what they do not consider duplicate content in Deftly dealing with duplicate content. Included is the statement that their algorithms do not see the “same article written in English and Spanish as duplicate content.” In addition, the use of occasional snippets and quotes should not be a concern and will not be flagged as duplicate content.

Google on duplicate content due to “scrapers”

What if your website content has been scraped and republished on another site? Will Google penalize the original site? Google published an extremely informative article, “Duplicate content due to scrapers” that addresses these concerns. Sven Naumann, from Google’s Search Quality Team, explains that the search engine giant realizes that webmasters have no control or influence on others lifting content and redistributing that content without their consent. The result would be identical content across several websites and Google perceives this as “not inherently regarded as a violation of our webmaster guidelines.”

Naumann explains that Google takes further “processes with the intent of determining the original source of the content.” He reveals that the number one search engine is “quite good” in most circumstances at deciding which site the content originated at “resulting in no negative effects for the site that originated the content.”

How many webmasters and site owners have fought the plagiarism battle with the major concern that somehow their original work will be perceived as duplicate content resulting in de-indexing from the world’s number one search engine?

In general, Google can distinguish between two main situations associated to duplicate content that include:

• Within your domain duplicate content: identical content which appears in more than one place on your site – often unintentionally.
• Cross domain duplicate content: identical content of your site which appears (again, often unintentionally) on different external sites.

In the case of the “scrapers” when someone plagiarizes your site’s content, Google assures us that they “look at various signals to determine which site is the original one, which usually works very well.” Furthermore, the explanation the states that one should not be extremely concerned about noticing negative effects on their website’s presence on Google if you discover that your site has been plagiarized. The “scraped” content will simply get filtered out of Google.

The final verdict on duplicate content resulting in a violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and penalty is when, “there are signals pointing to deliberate and malicious intent.”

For frustrating plagiarism cases, Google states that website owners are welcome to file a DMCA request to claim content ownership and have them handle the offending site. For tips on fighting plagiarism, see: 5 Steps to Fight Website Plagiarism.

© R & R Web Design LLC - a Michigan web design company serving Michigan, Chicago, Illinois and beyond specializing in web design, search engine optimization and website maintenance.

Sparing words flying, the YIM Chronicles intensified yesterday with the Internet pioneer, Yahoo! Inc., billionaire corporate activist, Carl Icahn, and the world’s largest software company, Microsoft Corp. Each waged a battle of words to set the record straight in last weekend’s case of Yahoo’s rejection of the proposed company breakup and who ultimately has the solution that would bring profit Yahoo shareholders.

Yahoo’s CEO, Jerry Yang, and Chairman of the Board, Roy Bostock, tailored a letter to shareholders on Monday explaining why they “believe that this odd and opportunistic alliance of Microsoft and Carl Icahn has anything but the interests of Yahoo!’s stockholders in mind.”

Addressing last weekend’s proposition, Yang and Bostock state, “It is ludicrous to think that your Board would accept this “take it or leave it” proposal – under which we would restructure the Company and hand over to Microsoft Yahoo!’s valuable search business and to Carl Icahn the rest of the Company – with less than 24 hours to respond.” The two reiterate that “Carl Ichan is not the right answer for Yahoo” and end with two choices that stockholders now face:

• Either to turn their Company and its uniquely valuable combination of assets over to Carl Icahn and his nominees and allow Microsoft and Mr. Icahn to dismantle the Company and deliver its search business to Microsoft on terms they believe would be disadvantageous to Yahoo! stockholders.
• Or to re-elect Yahoo’s experienced and dedicated Board with a clear strategy and a demonstrated commitment to create value for Yahoo! stockholders.

Lastly, the pair state, “We are prepared to let you, our stockholders, not Microsoft and Carl Icahn, decide what is in your best interests and we look forward to the upcoming vote.”

Carl Icahn’s open letter to stockholders fires back. “I have yet to see a company distort, omit and twist events and facts in the manner that Yahoo! has done in their press release issued Saturday night, July 12th.” He continues to address last weekend’s deal and calls Yahoo’s statement about the Microsoft-Icahn alliance “patently ridiculous”.

Icahn states that Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, “has made it clear to me that if a new board consisting of my nominees were to be elected, Microsoft would be willing to enter into discussions immediately regarding a transaction along the lines described above.” He appeals with, “If and when elected, I strongly believe that in very short order the new board would, subject to its fiduciary duties, be approving an offer along these lines for its shareholders.”

Microsoft issued their own statement, Microsoft Sets the Record Straight, addressing Yahoo’s July 12th letter as containing “inaccuracies that need to be corrected” and claiming that the “proposal did not include changes to Yahoo!’s governance.” Tempers appearing to be escalating, Microsoft includes, “This discussion has been mischaracterized as a take it or leave it ultimatum, rather than a timetable in order to move forward to intensive negotiations.”

Pretty Woman, this is not as the YIM Chronicles continue to accelerate. According to The Wall Street Journal, Jerry Yang sent a company-wide e-mail on Monday preparing Yahoo employees for the proxy fight to intensify stating, “Proposals and attacks by Microsoft and Carl Icahn leading up to our meeting are likely to get even more contentious.”

Yahoo!’s Board of Directors’ meeting looms on the horizon when shareholders decide the fate of the Internet pioneer.  That fateful day is scheduled on August 1, 2008.

Yahoo, Inc. rejected a new joint proposal from Microsoft Corporation and billionaire corporate activist, Carl Icahn, over the weekend. The recent proposition to break up Yahoo was presented late Friday and gave Yahoo 24 hours to “take it or leave it.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Microsoft would buy Yahoo’s search business and let Mr. Icahn and his slate of directors control the rest of the company. The deal was conditioned on the removal of Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and its board.” The proposed agreement also entailed:

• Yahoo handing over its search business to Microsoft in exchange for $1 billion plus a guaranteed annual payment for five years to Yahoo of $2.3 billion.
• The new deal would carry a minimum annual payment of $1.6 billion for the subsequent five years, according to people familiar with the matter according to The Wall Street Journal.
• In addition, there were provisions of Microsoft purchasing Yahoo shares in the amount of $3.9 billion and the buyout of $2.8 billion of Yahoo’s debt. The Internet pioneer would then be left its Internet content division. The earnings from the debt relief would then be used by Yahoo for a exclusive dividend to shareholders.

Yahoo blasted back with the press release, Yahoo! Rejects Microsoft/Icahn Search and Restructuring Proposal. Yahoo! Chairman, Roy Bostock, is quoted as stating, “It is ludicrous to think that our Board could accept such a proposal.”

Making it crystal clear, the press release spells out its belief that “a whole company transaction could be negotiated and executed prior to August 1st.” Yahoo then reiterates its offer “to sell the entire Company to Microsoft for at least $33 per share, but also offered to negotiate an improved search only transaction.” It then confirms that Microsoft rejected both offers.

The statement concludes with quoting Bostock with the accusation, “Microsoft and Mr. Icahn are trying to dismantle the Company and deliver our search business to Microsoft on terms that would be disadvantageous to Yahoo! stockholders.” Finally, the press release states one more time that Yahoo will not be bullied with, “We are prepared to let our stockholders, not Microsoft and Carl Icahn, decide what is in their best interests and we look forward to the upcoming vote.”

The day of reckoning is now seventeen days away when Yahoo! stockholders vote to either keep the current board or to oust them in favor of Ichan’s dissident slate of board directors on August 1, 2008. The question remains: How will Yahoo!’s stockholders vote on that day?

Drums rolling… Trumpets blaring… Friday, July 11, is the day that the new iPhone 3G goes on sale at 8am at Apple and AT&T retail stores. The new Apple phenomenon will be sold on a first come, first served basis.

The iPhone 3G’s new features over its predecessor include:

• GPS (Global Positioning System)
• Faster connection speed – utilizing AT&T’s 3G, an advanced third generation wireless network. The company reports that 3G is twice as fast as the current EDGE connection.

Brian Ducharme, VP and General Manager for AT&T’s wireless operations in Michigan is reported by The Detroit Free Press as stating, “Having access to 3G in more places means having incredible speed and reliability from your broadband wireless network in places you once thought weren’t possible”.

How much does the iPhone 3G Cost?

Apple and AT&T’s official pricing information for the iPhone 3G:

• 8GB model: $199
• 16GB model: $299 for the.
• Prices require two year contracts and are available to customers activating a new line with AT&T and for current iPhone AT&T customers who will extend their contracts. For plan pricing, see: AT&T iPhone 3G Plans

What do you need to purchase the iPhone 3G?

If you plan to face the crowds to purchase the new iPhone 3G, plan to spend from 5-15 minutes after the purchase in the store as activation will be done on site. The following are the items you will need as recommended by Apple to ensure your purchasing experience and activation is as smooth as possible:

• A credit card
• Social Security number
• A valid government-issued photo ID
• Your current wireless account number and password or PIN.

For more about the “Twice as Fast – Half the Price” new iPhone 3G see: Apple iPhone – Where to Buy.

© R & R Web Design LLC is a Michigan web design company that serves Michigan, Chicago, Illinois and beyond specializing in web design, search engine optimization and website maintenance.

Imagine raising money for your favorite nonprofit organization each and every time you search the Internet – at no cost. Would you use a search engine that offers the ability to do this?

GoodSearch is a search engine dedicated to providing the vehicle to raise money to support your favorite charity. The Los Angeles-based search engine allows searchers to choose their favorite charity from a database of over 60,000 participating nonprofit organizations and schools. Each time a person conducts a search and designates a charity, approximately 1 cent is goes to that nonprofit organization.

How can 1 cent per search launched actually benefit an organization?
If 10,000 people choose the same nonprofit organization or charity and conduct searches two times a day for a year, the organization will earn an astounding $73,000. For smaller organizations, 100 support surfers averaging 2 searches a day will generate $730 for their cause annually.

The search engine “with a heart” is the brainstorm of the brother and sister team, Ken and JJ Ramberg. With a dream to offer a vehicle for people to benefit their favorite cause by doing something they do every day, searching the Internet, GoodSearch was launched in 2005 and is powered by Yahoo!. This simple and compelling concept blossomed and the search engine now donates 50% of its revenue to user designated charities and schools.

GoodShop
Would you like to benefit your favorite cause by shopping online at your favorite online store? GoodShop was added to GoodSearch in 2007 as an online shopping mall. When users purchase products online through participating merchants on GoodShop, a portion of the sale is donated to the designated cause.

Retailer donation percentages are reported to average 3% each, however, the range may be from .5% to as high as 27% (Webroot Software donates from 17.5% to 27.5%). Each retailer’s logo has its donation percentage listed next to it. Some purchases made through GoodShop may not qualify as each retailer has its own rules. For example, a number of merchants do not contribute donations for gift certificates or gift cards.

How to Add Your Nonprofit Organization
To add your nonprofit organization to the GoodSearch list, first check the database on the home page box, “Who do you GoodSearch for”. If your organization is not listed, go to Add a New Charity. Your nonprofit status will be verified and will be added to the GoodSearch database generally within a few days. A welcome letter will be emailed when it is added.

Nonprofit Earnings from GoodSearch
GoodSearch will generate checks to organizations over the minimum of $20.00 once a year in December for the money earned during their fiscal year of October 1 through September 30.

Effortless Vehicle of Support
Whether you have a cause that you are passionate about or you are a nonprofit organization that would like to raise revenue, GoodSearch is a vehicle that will help that organization each and every time a person searches. In the words of GoodSearch co-founder Ken Ramberg, “It’s really an effortless way for people to support their favorite charity or school.”

© R & R Web Design LLC is a Michigan web design company that serves Michigan, Chicago, Illinois and beyond specializing in web design, search engine optimization and website maintenance.

Microsoft Corporation stated that it is willing to restart Yahoo Inc. deal talks on Monday, July 7, under the condition that the current board of directors be replaced. The YIM (Yahoo – Icahn – Microsoft) Chronicles begin yet another chapter in the quest of the Internet search engine pioneer.

Carl Icahn, the billionaire corporate activist investor and stockholder proxy leader, issued an open letter to Yahoo shareholders on Monday. Ichan reveals that he has “spoken frequently with Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft” stating that the talks centered “on the industry in general but, more importantly, on how Yahoo! and Microsoft can do a transaction together”.

Icahn exposed that Ballmer “cannot negotiate any transaction with the current [Yahoo] board” and continues with a call for a new board, if elected, to “Immediately start negotiation with Microsoft to sell the whole company or, in the alternative, sell “Search” with large guarantees.” Finally, Icahn admonishes stockholders to “Move expeditiously to replace Jerry Yang with a new CEO with operating experience”.

Microsoft then issued an official response, Microsoft Statement Regarding Carl Icahn Letter. Referring to the current Yahoo! Board of Directors, the Redmond, California software giant revealed that it has “concluded that we cannot reach an agreement with them”. Microsoft then divulged its intention to reopen talks with Yahoo! Inc. under one strong condition with, “We confirm, however, that after the shareholder election Microsoft would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the “Search” function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company”.

Yahoo Inc. swiftly responded to Icahn’s open letter statements with, “Yahoo!’s Board of Directors continues to stand ready to enter into negotiations with Microsoft Corporation for an acquisition of Yahoo!”. Describing the Ballmer and Icahn discussions as a teaming up in the effort to force Yahoo! into selling to Microsoft, Yahoo! states that the company feels “very strongly that the outcome would not be in the best interests of Yahoo!’s stockholders”. In a call to make them a offer they can’t refuse, Yahoo! then challenges, “If Microsoft and Mr. Ballmer really want to purchase Yahoo!, we again invite them to make a proposal immediately”.

Countdown: 24 Days
With twenty-four days until Yahoo!’s Board of Director meeting scheduled for August 1, investors, Wall Street and the Internet community contemplates what the outcome of the YIM Chronicles will be. Will Microsoft make another offer to Yahoo! or will the colossal software company wait until after the meeting? Will Icahn continue to blast public letters? Will Yahoo actually accept if Microsoft makes a pre-August 1st offer and “if” that offer is one it cannot refuse? Finally, will Yahoo!’s stockholders actually elect Icahn’s proposed dissident board of directors’ slate?