By: Candace Lombardi | Source: news.zdnet.com

Google and Yahoo separately announced on Wednesday that their services will be featured on two different mobile phones.

Yahoo has partnered with Virgin Mobile USA to have Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger preloaded on several of Virgin’s handsets. Yahoo Mobile Web also will be the search tool of choice for Virgin’s Surf the Web service.

Beginning in April, the Yahoo mobile instant-messaging application will be included as part of Virgin’s e-mail and messaging service plans. Virgin Mobile also plans to adopt Yahoo’s SMS services in the coming months.

A mobile partnership Google has formed with LG Electronics encompasses more than search and messaging.

Under the deal, which is expected to eventually extend into the “digitalized home,” according to a joint statement from the companies, LG handsets will be marketed as “LG-Google” phones. Select cell phones, in addition to a one-click Google search tool, will come installed with mobile versions of Google Maps, Gmail and Blogger. Blogger Mobile will include the ability to upload and download images, as well as text.

The LG-Google linkup is set to involve phones in Asia, Europe and North America. Consumers can expect to see the changes implemented on LG handsets beginning in the second quarter of 2007, the companies said, with 10 new handsets shipped by the end the year and more in the next few years.

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By: Loren Baker | Source: searchenginejournal.com

Google and MySpace put together a major partnership last year with a focus on Google Advertising. About two months after the partnership, Google AdSense contextual ads began appearing throughout the MySpace social network.

The main advertising channels throughout MySpace are branded sponsorship of MySpace (think X-men or Transformers), display advertising, and contextual advertising. MySpace also charges companies for the set up of professional profiles.

The display advertising in MySpace, usually a leaderboard banner served on the top of all pages, including user profiles, seems to be served mostly via Advertising.com and other ad networks. I have not seen any graphic display ads served by Google yet.

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By: Stoney deGeyter | Source: webpronews.com

When we are quoting development work for prospective clients we are often asked to develop a website that is search engine optimized. This usually brings me into a long-winded explanation on how developing a website to be search engine friendly is not the same thing as optimizing that website for search performance. Kind of like how building a car is not the same as making it ready to compete in the Indy 500. Those are two different tasks altogether.

Let me explain.

The SEO provider or consultant should be involved in the website development process, though those two roles are completely different. The developer designs and creates the front and back end of the website. A good developer can do that job well, but mostly they do it to function for the user, not perform for the search engines. The SEO should be involved to ensure that what the developer produces is as search engine friendly as possible.

Most web design and development companies don’t know the first thing about SEO or creating SE friendly websites. And most who claim to are liars. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.

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