Search Engine Strategies in San Jose
I have been at the SES conference in San Jose all week and have met and heard some great speakers including Chris Sherman of SearchWise who writes for Search Engine Watch, Danny Sullivan of Calafia, who also writes for Search Engine Watch , Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts, Kevin Lee of Did-it.com, Bill Tancer of Hitwise, and the CEO of Google - Eric Schmidt. This is a practical who’s who of Internet Marketing professionals and experts.
The common theme so far has been:
- the migration of advertising to online
- the importance of SEM – Search Engine Marketing (those sponsored ad’s turning up everywhere you look)
- the importance of SEO – Search Engine Optimization
- the dominance of Google – I tried to count the mention of the word "Google" but 30 mins and 103 counts in, I gave up and decided to pay attention to my session.
One of the most talked about things at the conference is (or rather was) the Google Dance – an annual party with all the bells and whistles. While the party was fantastic, a friend of mine who had heard about it before had hyped it up way too much for me and the party fell short of my expectations. What do you expect – after all, I am from Los Angeles.
Amidst all the Google frenzy, one theme that seemed to be implied was that Panama by Yahoo, as delayed as it is, will not be better than Google, but it will change the way some people advertise on Yahoo.
Some of you may already know that Google is planning to launch on Radio and eventually Television. The question then is – Is Google an Internet Search Engine or a Media company similar to Time Warner? I don’t know the answer but it sure is interesting.
Finally – for those who wonder, let me just tell you that the Google campus is like a 5 star university campus. They provide their employees a full gym w/ lockers, showers and Google shampoo, free laundry service, beach volleyball, swimming pool, more cafeteria’s than I cared to count, on-site medical professionals (doctor, masseuse etc.) and oh yea – free food all day long – from eggs to meat (ostrich, halibut etc.), from chinese to mexican cuisine, from ice cream and sodas to chewing gum, nuts, candy and snacks – everything is free. I happened to visit their campus at 7p and it was packed. People who work there never want to go home because everything is provided for them at work. What a culture!
Since this blog is about stocks, I do not want to disappoint. I still like GOOG and YHOO long-term. Once Yahoo launches its new ad platform, their earnings will rise significantly.
Since this blog is about stocks, I do not want to disappoint. I still like GOOG and YHOO long-term. Once Yahoo launches its new ad platform, their earnings will rise significantly.
– Faisal Laljee
Have you been able to
determine weither Baidu
is an effective “google clone”
that has a grip on Chinese
seach engine market or just
and overhyped $3 Billion
market cap 30x sales
marginalized wannabe?
any thoughts about this
would be of interest.
I believe both Google and Yahoo are providing serious competition for Baidu. Also, looking at Chinese net stocks, they have all sold off after goof earnings. So while I like Baidu, short-term weakness seems to be the prevailing theme. Long-term, it is a growth company and will make money.
To the question of whether Google is a search engine or a media company, I would classify Google as an “advertising platform”.
Interestingly, I would classify Yahoo as a media platform, ebay as an auction platform, and Amazon as a product distribution/fulfillment platform.
My belief is that each company has been successful in leveraging the internet to become the dominant platform company in their space.
If one looks at things from this perspective, it’s clear that there is no need for multiple players in any of these spaces…each company has built defenseable barriers to entry in their chosen platform.
FYI in the second quarter
the CHinese search enginee
market advanced to an annualized
rate of $200 million, with
Baidu at 50.5%, Google 13%
and Yahoo 14% down 7%.
also yahoo! has pulled out
of CHina by selling to Alibaba.
and 10 months ago ALibaba chairman said we have 6 months
to get it restructed and going
or we will never catch Baidu.
my outlook for Baidu is good.
i serously doubt the communist
will ever allow Google or other
american media companies on
400 million 3G internet phones.