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(Continued) The RFS Newsletter, Sept. 24, 2005. Page 18 
Noteworthy news to ponder about... Last week, the New York Post reported that Microsoft was interested in paying Time Warner an unspecified amount of cash to take a large enough stake in AOL and then merge it into their MSN network. The Microsoft ‘acquisition’ of AOL would surely lead to an establised partner where MSN could showcase its MSN Search Engine and MSN AdCenter Keywords advertising (to be launched by MSN this year). The acquisition would also add to MSN’s registered customer base, edging it closer up the ladder to Yahoo. However, Google currently powers AOL’s search engine and Google AdWords ads are served on AOL during search results. Additionally, Google revenue generated from its AdWords partnership with AOL is 12% of Google’s total revenue model. As a defensive move to keep that revenue, Google may enter a bidding war with Microsoft over AOL. Besides keeping its revenue, Google would also add strengths from the deal similar to what MSN would gain; registered members and content channels. Wouldn’t such an action by Google be taking the company into the wrong direction? Google’s recent acquisitions have been innovative technology companies and more cutting edge than AOL.  No matter how you cut it, 12% of the total annual sales of a company the size of Google amounts to a lot of money. I guess Google will fight Microsoft with everything it's got. Not that those two companies aren't fighting each other already... However, the deal with AOL is important. AOL still has about 20 million or so customers left and that is no small patatoes. Will Microsoft succeed in 'pulling the rug under Google's feet' on that deal? Or will Google have the last word? Corporate bickering or not, I am following that one closely. That's over and above all of what Google is secretely doing right now: In case you haven't heard yet, for the past 5 years already, Google has been buying 'dark fibre' in some of the largest cities in the US. Dark fibre is fiber-optic cable that is run through major metropolitan cities, but that isn't used at the present time, hence the term 'dark'. You might wonder what on earth Google would want to do with fiber that nobody else wants? Think again! Rumor "on the Street" has it that Google wants to build it's own network, read: it's own Internet folks! Why? Well, for one thing, Google is currently paying a small fortune in Internet bandwidth costs every month! Having it's own Internet network all to itself would save the company at least 100 million a year, probably more. At any rate, as I've said above, I'm watching that one carefully and I will let you know in this section if I see anything of interest. 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. |
