Yahoo has signed on to power paid and contextual search ads for Media Corporation, a U.K.-based Web publisher. Media Corp.'s network includes sites like gambling.com, creditcardexpert.co.uk and onthebox.com, and boasts an average of three million visitors per month. Though the network currently generates over 15 million monthly ad impressions, they've mostly been from display and banner ads, so the Yahoo deal ads are an entirely new revenue stream. Yahoo will also be the default core search provider for sites within the network.

As Hamlet Batista notes, a solid link-building strategy involves equal parts link-baiting and link-conquesting--and he delves into the pros and cons of each tactic. "Chasing links is the traditional way of building links," Batista says. "This includes things like submitting your site to directories, creating press releases, submitting articles and comments with your site link and anchor text, and other strategies." Aggressively pursuing links gives you the ability to pick and choose which kinds of sites you get them from--meaning you can stick to high authority, highly relevant Web sites and reap the benefits. The only con …

A logo serves two key purposes for a company--to help establish brand identity, and to give a visual representation of the company's products or services. Ann Smarty reviews a number of search firms' logos to see how well their logos match up with these tasks--with a focus on how they actually describe SEO with their graphic. For example, SEO Design Solutions uses an arrow that shoots in from the left up through the middle of their logo, which Smarty interprets as showing the growth aspect of SEO (be it growth in rankings or profits). A nice touch, but …

A A majority of e-commerce Web sites have secure domains or sections to help protect consumers while they're making purchases (designated by the https: prefix as opposed to http:). While security is a must, these secure and non-secure site versions can cause duplicate content issues, so Stoney deGeyter offers tips for how to avoid them. DeGeyter suggests that the problem typically arises when consumers enter secure mode by adding items to their shopping cart--and then continue browsing, viewing all ensuing content under the https: domain. The fix for this is simple. "There is no reason to go …

While Google has officially stated that search results are not case-sensitive, observant SEOs in both the U.S. and the U.K. have recently reported seeing some case-sensitivity variances in the wild. Chris Silver Smith offers screenshots of two instances, one in the travel vertical (for "Chicago Hotels" and "chicago hotels") and the other for a general search ("Fossil watches" vs. "fossil watches")--and while the SERP differences are subtle, they are still noticeable. "If this continues much longer, I think that SEOs will likely start doing all sorts of case-sensitive keyword research and optimization based off of it," …

John Cook has the inside scoop on Microsoft's pick-up of Farecast, a Seattle-based travel search startup. Cook's sources say that Microsoft paid $115 million for Farecast, and though the software giant confirmed the acquisition, the spokesperson didn't say how much the deal cost. The two companies had partnered in the past (via a content-sharing deal for MSN Travel), and Microsoft's spokesperson said that the plans are to "incorporate and apply" Farecast's price forecasting technology in "new and interesting ways." Cook reports that the software giant wasn't the only interested bidder, particularly in light of the …

Pinkorpunk.com is an e-commerce Web site for fashionistas in search of accessories that are either pink or unleash their inner punk. While it's a concept that's likely to draw in both viral and highly targeted traffic, Jeff Meundel gives the site an overall grade of "C" when it comes to SEO--meaning there's significant room for improvement. While the homepage is visually interesting, Meundel says that there's not enough text content for the spiders to crawl, so it gets a "C-." "Some good keyword research is in order to determine what a potential customer might be searching for," he …

Making a domain change can be perilous to your search rankings, but if you follow Google's best practices, it doesn't have to be. "Your aim is to make the transition invisible and seamless to the user, and to make sure that Google knows that your new pages should get the same quality signals as the pages on your own site," says Riona MacNamara. First do a trial run with one directory or subdomain first, and use 301 redirects to notify Google of the change. Once you're satisfied with the results (all pages are showing up in the index, …

Once the initial tasks of on-page optimization are done, the "heavy lifting" phase of SEO takes a back seat to rankings maintenance. And as Jim Hedger notes, sustaining strong organic rankings isn't rocket science, but it is hard work. So he serves up a roadmap for maintaining top organic placement in the long run. "Barring unforeseen circumstances and assuming best practices have been followed all the way through, the majority of a search marketer's working time is likely spent on continuing to update the blog, link building and social media marketing," Hedger says. In addition to …