Oban SEO news update
October 28th, 2008
Our SEO news expert Mohammad Heidari Far shares some of the most important recent news in the SEO world.
Google allowing gambling ads in UK
Google announced on October 18th that it is going to allow gambling ads in its paid search service. Yahoo and MSN have recently started allowing gambling ads, and Google surely did not want to miss out on this opportunity.
Google, like Yahoo, requires a copy of gambling license to be submitted when setting up the campaign; MSN at this point does not require the licensing. There is a good amount of interest in this sector and Oban is currently doing some initial market research for a client to tap into this area.
Google webmaster tools alerts site owners about possible hacks
Google announced on the 16th that its webmaster tools will alert site owners of possible hack of their CMS. The post has triggered different reactions from users. The initial step would start with five to six thousand webmasters that run their sites on WordPress version (2.1.1), since this version is known to be vulnerable to exploits.
Google Q3 financial report
Despite the worries from analysts about the weakening economy and its impact on Google’s revenue in this quarter, Google reported a Q3 revenue increase of 31% year-over-year, and an increase of three percent over the second quarter of 2008.
This further proves that online advertisement has not suffered enormously due to the credit crunch, since advertising on Google turns out to be much more economical and affordable than traditional marketing methods, such as print and TV.
Yahoo to cut workforce by 10%
Everyone remembers Yahoo turning down Microsoft’s offer a few months ago. Microsoft offered a share price of $33. Yahoo had its quarterly financial report this month and there was no good news. The share prices are at an all time low of approximately $12 and Yahoo announced the plans to cut its workforce by 10%, i.e. 1,500 employees. Mr. Yang has a hard few months ahead of him.
Cheers! Mo
