Alert Blog Reviews

When Google’s Matt Cutts makes this statement on Twitter: “This is important. Google provides webmaster tool to see how fast your site is…” You can pretty much take to the bank that Google is getting ready to add site load speed to its complex search algorithm. In fact, Cutts points us to this Google announcement : On Site Performance, you’ll find how fast your pages load, how they’ve fared over time, how your site’s load time compares to that of other sites, examples of specific pages and their actual page load times, and Page Speed suggestions that can help reduce user-perceived latency. Our goal is to bring you specific and actionable speed information backed by data, so stay tuned for more of this in the future. So, why is Google adding “speed” to its algorithm? The clue is given by Google: Studies have repeatedly shown that speeding up your site leads to increased user retention and activity , higher revenue and lower costs . Oh, you thought Google was talking about your revenues and costs? No, silly, it’s Google’s. PS. Want to check your site’s performance? You’ll need a Google Webmaster’s account , then follow this navigation path: yoursite> labs> site performance (thanks NC_SEO )

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Google REALLY Wants You to Speed Up Your Web Site

2008 was a rough year for Yahoo . First Microsoft tried to acquire them, then Yahoo spurned them, then shareholders wanted a merger, then they lost CEO Jerry Yang, then their search ad deal with Google fell through. There was nowhere to go but up in 2009, right? We got a new CEO, Carol Bartz, and Yahoo finally looks like it’s making an effort and has a new search ad deal with Microsoft in the works. But in some ways, they’re wishing for the old days—the Q3 report today says that the company has seen a year over year drop of 12% in revenues (to $1.575B). They’ve also seen a drop in operating cash of 6% ($384M). Considering last year’s Q3 was rough (although even then, their revenues were up), even lower revenues this year isn’t exactly what they wanted to hear. But the Q3 report has good news, too. While revenues fell, net income was up an amazing 244% (to $186M). (I know, that kind of growth makes you think “creative accounting.”) Carol Bartz has been cracking down on the company and trimming the fat, one of the tasks she was brought in to do. Even with lower revenue, they ended up with a substantially higher net income—that’s pretty darn good. Of course, there’s still one big question here—will a search deal with Microsoft help Yahoo where it’s struggling in the long run? Well, since the deal currently says that their revenue/search must match Google’s , there’s a big “maybe” on that one. Yahoo’s notoriously suffered from a lower revenue per search, something they’ve tried to ameliorate with now two search deals. Will this be the one to do it—and will that be enough to turn the company around? What do you think? Is this more good news than bad news for Yahoo? Will a partnership with Microsoft reverse their revenue fortunes?

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Yahoo Revenue Down 12%, Net Income Up 244%