When most people talk about a local search strategy, they mean limiting results to a particular city or similar region. But when dealing with a multi-national client, "local" can mean a particular country. This presents a whole different set of challenges when devising their strategy. Jennifer Osborne poses some questions critical to determining what that strategy will look like. Will your client have one overriding strategy, or discrete one for different markets? And how does Google differentiate sites between countries? Knowing the answers now could avoid problems later on.

E-Marketing Performance has posted the stats for search marketing share for the month just ended. In a surprise to no one, Google remains the dominant force in search with 51.25% of the market, down slightly from March. Coming in an extremely distant second is Yahoo with 10.85%, which is up slightly from March. The order from there is MSN, AOL and Ask. EMP provides the info in a handy graf, but also lists the individual stats for each engine. No shockers here, but always enlightening to see the vast distance between Google and the others represented graphically.

Google has reportedly approached IBM about teaming up to sell the search giant's software to big businesses. Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke with some of IBM's key partners on Thursday about how a deal between the two firms could be key to getting Big Blue's desktop applications out to more business customers. The two companies have worked together before, so another partnership is certainly possible. The move shines a light on Google's current revenue situation -- the bulk of its revenue now comes from advertising -- and the company's desire to diversify.

Too many marketers are reading their site's analytics reports as a series of facts that don't fit into any larger narrative, writes Melissa Burdon. But unless you're seeing the story they're trying to tell you, your reports are meaningless. In order to see the full story, marketers need to think like news editors, she says. Your reports should be "breaking news," not simply reporting facts. Become an investigative reporter, and learn the full story from your reports. There is a larger story waiting to be told if you just know how to read it.

Scott Allen bravely admits to being addicted to the TV show "Friends." Having watched each episode at least 30 times, he was, not unpredictably, finding himself strangely compelled to patronize the many brands receiving subtle mentions on the show. This has convinced him that "Friends" holds many lessons in link building. Allen compares a brand reference on the show to a good link on a Web site -- it's barely noticeable because it appears within the context of the program and is subtle. It is simply part of the conversation. So you find yourself wanting the product just …

Registering an original domain name is harder than ever, forcing many of us to buy URLs already in existence. Jennifer Sleg provides a checklist of 12 things to consider before making the leap. Her advice? Take time to run some keyword searches. Consider whether the URL has branding appeal ("Google" is preferable to "Best-search-engine-ever.com"). Check Archive.org to make sure your new site didn't have a previous life as an adult site, or worse. And my favorite: Do the double entendre test. Pen Island sounds great till you see it typed as one word, all lowercase. Ditto Experts Exchange.

AT&T is reportedly set to launch its own mobile TV service, Qualcomm's MediaFLO, to compete with Verizon's VCast. It will debut on two phones, LG and Samsung, and be available in 58 U.S Markets. It will feature 10 channels, eight of which are already available on VCast. Too bad nobody cares, writes Greg Sterling. Several studies, as well as sales, show that most Americans aren't particularly interested in watching TV on their mobile devices -- at least not yet. And at a cost of $15 a month, AT&T's service may be in for a cool reception. Still, the …

Several reports yesterday had Microsoft executives considering, though not yet committing to, raising their bid for Yahoo. If they don't, they either have to let Yahoo go, or withdraw the bid and wait for the stock price to fall, setting the stage for a hostile takeover. Microsoft had given Yahoo until April 26 to accept the $41.8 billion bid. Pandia believes Microsoft will ultimately get what it wants, if only because it desperately needs Yahoo's content and search engine to meet the threat from Google -- and because Yahoo's leadership hasn't developed a viable alternative. But expect an …