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Yahoo Japan has announced it’s to use Google search technology instead of Microsoft Corps Bing service.

The move shuns a deal made last year which saw Microsoft agree to provide Yahoo Inc with search engine technology. The agreement didn’t include Yahoo Japan, of which only 35% is owned by Yahoo! Inc. In turn, Yahoo Japan were free to choose between Google, MS and domestic search engine providers.

Yahoo Japan will also be using Google’s paid advertising system in the move, which is set to take place by the end of this year.

According to Yahoo Japan, they currently hold around 57% of the market share in Japan, and Google controls around 38%.  By joining forces the two will hold a near monopoly in the search engine market in Japan. Microsoft holds a mere 3% share.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10773532

Broadband access is now a legal right for Finnish citizens. As of the 1^st of this month, Finns have the right to access a 1Mbps (megabit per second) broadband connection. The move came as the Finnish government identified broadband access as a priority, and has stated that it aims to provide the whole population with 100Mbps by 2015.

96% of the Finnish population already has access to the internet. The new law will mean internet providers will be expected to fit Finnish households who aren’t already connected with broadband lines. Before the law was implemented, certain parts of Finland were restricted in terms of internet access. Now more rural parts of the country will be able to experience the same kind of connection speeds that the other parts of Finland already has.

The view that fast internet is a necessity for everyday life is shared by other nations too; in fact the USA is the only industrialised country which doesn’t have a policy to promote high speed internet access to all of its citizens. The British government has made a promise (though not a law) to supply all homes with connections speeds of 2Mbps by 2012.

Brighton, 14th July 2010. The world leading international search engine optimisation and marketing agency, OBAN Multilingual, have launched their International SEO News channel on Youtube, the first of its kind to provide exclusive and in-depth insight into internet, search and social media trends across the globe.

OBAN Multilingual have been at the forefront of multilingual search strategies for over almost a decade, and have worked with a vast range of prestigious clients in researching and developing SEO and SEM strategies on an international platform. Now they have decided to share their findings and knowledge with the rest of the world.

The ‘International SEO News’ channel delves into the World Wide Web, looking at how the internet and search varies from place to place, and provides valuable and thought-led insight into cultural differences and search engine marketing.

“We carry out extensive research into internet trends and search in a number of different markets, and we often discover some interesting and unexpected facts and figures, the sort of things we wouldn’t want to keep to ourselves. Our short videos cover some of these findings, as well as some general multilingual SEO tips.” says Greig Holbrook, MD, OBAN Multilingual Strategies.

There are currently three films on the channel, the first providing some valuable insight into international SEO from Greig, the second covering SEO in China, and the third Russia. OBAN plan to release several more over the coming months, with each covering a different market.

The videos can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/InternationalSEONews.

British-born octopus Paul, who now lives in Oberhausen’s Sea Life Aquarium in Germany, has managed to predict the winners of every Germany match played in the World Cup. The predictions have made him one of the top ‘octopus’ related search terms.

Paul’s lucky talent was first realised during the 2008 Euro Championships when four out of his six predictions were correct. He has been predicting match results ever since, and his knack for predicting match outcomes made him into a star in Germany.

However, as we have seen many times before, fame always comes at a price. After Paul correctly predicted that Germany would beat Argentina in the quarter final, Argentinean fans threatened to kill and eat him, and since Spain’s victory over Germany on Wednesday, another outcome predicted by Paul, even the German’s have suggested Paul be turned into a tasty meal.

A Hitwise Intelligence report has found that the term ‘octopus world cup’ was one of the top ten ‘octopus’ related search terms for the 4 weeks leading up to July 3, 2010, and this is no doubt set to rise hugely since Wednesday’s match.

A ComScore report has revealed that the average internet user in Singapore spent 10.5 hours watching videos online in April this year. This involved consuming 130 online videos, each lasting an average of 4.9 minutes.

15-24 year olds were the most engaged, consuming an average of 192 videos per viewer and overall watching an average of 15 hours of online footage each. Surprisingly, people aged 55 and over also demonstrated heavy engagement with online videos, averaging at 12 videos each over the month.

Internet users aged 25-44 represented the highest number of unique online video watchers, however they spend less time viewing them and watch fewer videos on average compared to the higher and lower age brackets.

Online videos are one of the most popular forms of online entertainment  in Singapore. In April 320 million videos were watched there. Google sites ranked as the top video hosting service and represented 63.8% of the videos watched online. Youtube.com accounted for 99% of these. Facebook and Tudou ranked a far second and third.

(comScore, June 2010)

A recent Reform Digital report has unearthed the interesting search market in South Korea.

South Korea is extremely digitally advanced, and has often been ahead of the western world in terms of internet development. 95% of homes have broadband access, and the country was one of the first to receive TV via the internet.

The report found that Google accounts for less than 5% of the search engine market share in South Korea, and it’s local search engines Naver and Daum which hold 77% and 11% respectively.

PPC and paid advertising are hugely prevalent in South Korea, in fact the report states that ‘natural search plays little or no role in this market’, and SEO is more about social media saturation than content or link-building as it is on Google.

Social networks are big news in South Korea. CyWorld is the most popular, with over 90% of adults having accounts. As in China, Facebook and Twitter are barely heard of, and local social network sites and online communities are far more popular. Virtual goods have managed to generate a lot of revenue for social networking sites, and users can buy ‘add-ons’ for their social networking profiles. It is here that social networks are seen as more successful than those in the West in terms of financial gain. CyWorld is a very popular advertising platform, and brands engage users by including interactive advertisements.

http://www.netimperative.com/news/2010/june/south-korea-search-market-review-a-nation-of-web/