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(Continued) The RFS Newsletter, March 26, 2005. Page 18 
Expect more M&A activity in search As witnessed in the news on Monday, there were two important acquisitions done in the search sector this week. IAC InterActive acquired Ask Jeeves for $1.85 billion and, later in the day, it was Yahoo that bought picture-sharing website Flickr. This of course is over and above the many other acquisitions done since the beginning of 2005, and on top of all the others done in 2004. As I've said many times last year and even the year before, expect a lot more merger and acquisition (M&A) activity now, and for the next couple of years. I think what we are seeing now is a consolidation of search as an industry. In a few years, there will be only three big search engines left: Google, Yahoo and MSN. The others will probably be acquired or merged into existing search properties. As advertisers today are scrambling to be on the best search engines and to increase their visibility on the Web, they are willing to pay top dollar for it, and are in fact seen competing against each other. When will all of this end? I don't know for now, but one thing is certain: search is now a very big industry, and one of the fastest-growing sector on the Internet. Look at the other alternative: Can they afford NOT to be present on one of the most if not the most popular communications media on the planet? Similar to when television first appeared in the early 50's, the Internet today is completely revolutionizing the way advertisers can reach their potential audiences and potential new customers. As many of you have no doubt realized, the Internet has an ability to target potential customers that no other media has. When a person types in certain keywords in a search engine, this potentially new customer knows what he or she is looking for, and now, many advertisers know that and want to be part of the 'loop'. Ignoring the importance of search today would be like having your head in the sand. And we all know what that can do to a company... Well, that's it for today folks. Thanks for being here and I will see you all next week. Have a great and safe weekend! Serge Thibodeau, editor Please note that I am available for SEO consultative work or to help you optimize your website for the major search engines. Feel free to contact me for an honest and fair assessment. Note: Although I always try my best to answer each individual question that I receive, there are times when it's just impossible for me to answer every one I get, as the amount of emails sent to me keeps increasing all the time. Also, please note that, for confidentiality reasons, the names of people writing to us are never disclosed. Please send all your questions, comments or general enquiries to: questions@rankforsales.com Subscribe to the free Rank for Sales Weekly Newsletter <<< Previous page Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 14 15 16 17 18  Bookmark the RFS Newsletter by simply clicking here. Search engine industry news corner:  About Rank for $ales Rank for $ales can be reached via email at info@rankforsales.com or you can call from anywhere in the US or Canada, via our toll free number at 1-800-631-3221. Our offices are located near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Visit our web site at www.rankforsales.com About Serge Thibodeau Pagina+™ is offered by Rank for $ale's parent company: GCIS Inc. Besides serving as editor and CEO of Rank for $ales, Serge Thibodeau currently writes professional search engine optimization articles in some of the following publications:
SEO Today (www.seotoday.com) Additionally, Serge Thibodeau has successfully developed and deployed Global Business Listing, a powerful and flexible 'paid inclusion' search engine that will further increase any company's rankings and visibility in the major search engines. On the Web, at: www.globalbusinesslisting.com Bookmark the Rank for $ales newsletter by simply clicking here. Legal Notice This newsletter is sponsored by Rank for Sales, a professional SEO firm in business since 1997. We suggest you bookmark our newsletter and place it in the list of your favorite websites by clicking here. Feel free to contact us if you need to have your website optimized by a professional SEO firm, or if you have any question on the subject of search engines. |
