Microsoft and Yahoo! are finally together. But not like many of us believed it would happen a while ago. Jerry Yang may have infuriated Microsoft and his own shareholders by snubbing Microsoft a while ago, but the big plans have not gone as smoothly as Yahoo! wanted them to. So Yahoo! and Microsoft have finally finalized a partnership deal to stop Google on its tracks. Google currently holds 65% of the market share in online search, and neither Microsoft nor Yahoo seems to be capable of mounting a real challenge to Google. So why does this deal matter? It’s all about Bing!

Bing is a very capable search engine but Microsoft still has to find a way to get it in front of as many people possible to let them try it for themselves. By taking over Yahoo! Search, Microsoft gets more eyeballs on Bing and can build momentum for its new product. Here is what Steve Ballmer had to say about the future of search:

Microsoft and Yahoo know there’s so much more that search could be … This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search.

It’s very interesting to sit back and see whether Microsoft can make a real Google challenger out of Bing. Bing has been decent, but I am not sure you can make people change their behavior and start using a whole new engine with an expensive marketing campaign. The Yahoo! deal is a good move in the right direction, but Microsoft has got to do a better job selling Bing to searchers. As someone who was fixed on Yahoo! search for a while before finally accepting the superiority of Google, I can tell you old habits die hard. Grabbing Yahoo’s audience certainly helps, but I want to see the vision of future that Microsoft talks about by my own eyes and not just hear about it.

Will Google challenge this partnership through legal channels? Will Chrome OS give Google yet another layer of advantage over its rivals? Microsoft and Yahoo! may have made the news today with their partnership but Google has just too many things going on for them to start worrying about their future. As a searcher and a SEO, I do hope that the new partnership brings the best of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on Microsoft beating Google in its own game.

Your turn: can Bing beat Google in online search?

Unless you have gotten rid of your TV and unplugged your computer, chances are you have heard of Microsoft Bing. Microsoft has spent a lot of money getting the word out about Live.com (err… I mean Bing.com). I am not a big Bing fan, but I appreciate the fact that Microsoft is making chances to make things happen in the search engine market. Google has been almost too dominant, so I am pulling for Bing to grow and become a major factor. But as great as Bing is, there is something better than that around: BingTweets. BingTweets is a very cool Twitter + Twitter Trends + Bing mashup that lets you stay on the top of everything going on Twitter and get some search done at the same time.

So here is how Bing Tweets work. At the very top, you are reminded of what’s hot on Twitter. Whatever is trending on Twitter is going to show up in a bigger font. Once you click on a specific keyword, the Bing results are updated automatically to show you what’s already on the Internet about that trend. Your Twitter sidebar is also updated with the latest discussions about your topic.

BingTweets which has come about from a partnership between Microsoft and Federated Media is a great way to stay on the top of things on Twitter and have fun searching online on Bing. There was a time when people did most of their research on search engines. But after being on Twitter for months, I can tell you that there is no better place to get cool research done than Twitter. Whether you are looking for instant feedback, ideas on how to expand your business, or information on a specific topic, there is a good chance you can find what you need on Twitter. And just in case you don’t, BingTweets has your back. Who know Bingtweeting could be this much fun?

Search engine optimization has been around for a while now. I remember when I got started with SEO in 2002. It was the challenge of trying to make my site show up as the #1 result on Google and other top engines that drove me to learn more and find new ways to dominate my niche. But at the same time, I knew the good times wouldn’t last too long. They have actually. For more than I ever expected. Now that people are talking about bringing regulations to the Internet industry, it’s time for the industry to take a close look at itself. There is no question that sites such as Google have been influential in changing the way we consume content online. More people are now going online to get their shows, news, entertainment, and even education. If you are a consumer, you are going to love all the options that you have on the Web. But if you are a content publisher, you are going to deal with a lot of headaches before getting your content in front of folks. The days of writing a good article and hoping to show up on the front page of a search engine are essentially over. Don’t get me wrong. You can still rank high for many keywords, but that’s not what a search engine should be all about. Content should be the king but with search engines it’s not so much.

Tech Crunch had a very interesting article on why Google and SEO should be regulated. But I am not going to talk about the article but rather how it was presented. The author decided to remain anonymous for various reasons (one could be Google’s backlash). I have personally seen and experienced backlashes of that kind before, and I can tell you they are not pretty. My site which got hammered was not even that popular, but it still got hammered. That’s what you get when you are dealing with monopoly. If Google is the only company that really matters in the search industry, you are going to have a tough time not playing by its rules. It’s true that people choose Google as it was duly noted by E-consultancy, but that still doesn’t mean you can do what you want just because people have chosen to work with you, especially if you have as much power as Google has. That’s why I believe there will be regulations, and that will be scary.

It’s not easy to tell how future regulations will affect the Internet industry. But from what I have heard from the Supreme Court and the latest nominee, we can expect more regulations, and there is nothing you can do about it. So don’t be surprised if lawmakers introduced bills to regulated everything on the Internet. But thanks to the power of social media, we shouldn’t worry about what will happen with Google. I like Google, Bing, and other search engines for that matter. But I still find Twitter, Facebook, and Friendfeed much more useful in finding new information and getting instant feedback.

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I have always believed that a company that is looking to hire a SEO company needs to go through a through due diligent process to make sure it’s getting what it’s paying for. A lot of SEO agencies charge you a hand and a couple of leg to “optimize” your pages for search engines. Many SEO companies are great at sales. In other worlds, they can convince you they can do anything when they are in reality in capable of getting the job done. These folks believe that they can always do their research and learn things on the job to get the work done for their client. So they put a loaded presentation up for the management to get the gig, and once they’ve got it, who knows what’s going to happen. That is of course until they get caught asking questions on forums about how to do certain things.

Hiring a SEO company is not a simple task. Your goal should be to do everything you can to make sure you are paying someone who knows what they are talking about. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong about asking questions on forums. No SEO knows everything. So you can always count on colleagues and peers to help you out and give you ideas about your projects. But make sure you stay as vague as possible when it comes to your client. And if you have to share a link with your peers, either don’t do it on a public forum or use TinyURL. Search engine optimization is a changing field, and even the best SEOs consult with their colleagues and mentors to find ways to solve complicated SEO problems. So asking question is not a dis-qualifier. Having a bad track record or lousy reputation is.

When it comes to paying a company $50,000 or $100,000 to get a SEO job done for your company, you want to make sure you get what you paid for. Don’t hesitate to search forums and blog and do a comprehensive research on the reputation of the company you are planning to work with. You should also talk to at least 5 references to make sure the company you are trying to hire has enough experience and know-how to get the job done. You may say, 3 reference are enough. But trust me. People have a lot more trouble giving you 5 references than 3. You should try to outsmart some of these companies. Many of them find 3 or 4 references and rely on them to get jobs quick. Some even make up references. So the more references you talk to, the better idea you get about how these companies work.

Hiring a SEO company can take a day or weeks. Unless you know and trust your SEO company, you can’t possibly complete the process in a matter of days. Doing research and background check takes time. So make sure you don’t cut corners. If you take your business seriously, you are going to have to take this process seriously as well. There are no short-cuts here.

Stay tuned for the part II in which I discuss how to identify legitimate SEO companies from posers.

There are many things webmasters need to worry about in order to generate the most leads for their website and take their business to the next level. Optimizing your website for search engines is a big part but not everything. A holistic approach to search engine optimization makes it easier to not only get more traffic to your website but convert more leads as well. As a webmaster who’s been in this business for years, I can tell you that playing with link-baits and optimizing your title tags is only a small part of the equation. You can spend days finding the right keywords for your site, but if your site is not optimized for speed and conversion, you are going to have trouble getting anything out of your traffic. If you have no idea what you need to do beyond SEO to get more out of your online venture, you need to take a look at Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets from O’reilly.

The book does cover PPC and SEO a bit but it mainly focuses on teaching you how to optimize your site’s performance and how to increase your conversion rates. What I like about this book is that it focuses on ways you can optimize your website’s code to increase its speed and provide a more convenient experience for your visitors. Here are a few chapters that you should read if you are using web technologies such as AJAX and CSS on your landing pages and beyond:

• CSS Optimization tactics
• AJAX performance optimization
• Server side Optimization tactics
• Client side Optimization tactics

You also learn how to optimize your pay per click campaigns to avoid wasting any money while generating the most leads. What’s more impressive about this book are the case studies that are included. I don’t know about you, but I learn more from case studies than just plain theory. With this book, you actually do get a couple of case studies to chew on. And since the book teaches you what metrics you need to pay attention to, you are going to learn how to deal with various situations after finishing this book up.

Ultimately, Website Optimization is a great book for anyone interested to delving into details of what it takes to get the most out of their traffic. This is not your average everyday book talking about meta tags and simple things like that. This book shows you how professionals get the job done. If you are over those books that tell you the same thing over and over again about how SEO, you are going to be pleasantly surprised how many new tricks you can pick up with this book. A must read book.