Yahoo CEO says Microsoft search deal underperforms | Reuters: " . . . Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said the company's search partnership with MicrosoftCorp was not delivering the market share gains or the revenue boost that it should. "One of the points of the alliance is that we collectively want to grow share rather than just trading share with each other," Mayer said at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. In her first appearance at an investor conference since taking the reins of the struggling Web portal in July, Mayer said she planned to prune a sprawling lineup of mobile apps and she reiterated her focus on enticing consumers to spend more time on Yahoo's online properties, in order to display more money-making ads. . . . "
The Misleading Sinister Surge in Traffic Before Google Panda & Penguin Struck - Search Engine Watch (#SEW): "Don’t fall victim to the surge. Understand your site, your efforts, and your traffic levels. You should know how and why new organic search traffic is hitting your site. And above all, make sure it should be hitting your site in the first place! Because if it shouldn’t, there are several mechanisms that Google can use to understand what’s going on. Remember, that surge in traffic could reverse itself faster than you can say “Panda” or “Penguin”. And at that point, you won’t have much to look at in your reporting. Ask questions, do your own detective work, and avoid a major hit. Fear the surge."
Google Warns SEO & Businesses to Avoid Fake Reviews - Search Engine Watch (#SEW): "Google warns business owners that “fake glowing testimonies” written by SEO or reputation management companies will be taken down. Also, “if a business accepts paper comment cards it might be tempting to collect them and ‘digitize’ them by posting the reviews on Google+ Local,” Google says in its advice for SEOs. “We ask that all reviews come from first hand experience and do not allow posting reviews on behalf of others.” On a related note, Google advises against companies asking customers to write a review on a computer or tablet located on the business’s premises. Google said businesses should send reminder emails to customers encouraging them to review the business on their own time – just don't go so far as to give free gifts or discounts in exchange for encouraging them to leave positive reviews, Google warned."
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