If the latest reports and rumors are true, Microsoft and Yahoo are (once again) about to enter a partnership. So this afternoon, Hitwise's Bill Tancer looked at whether they'll make more of a natural fit or an odd couple. Specifically, Tancer analyzed statistics to see whether there's much of an overlap in terms of searcher demographics and behavior patterns. If so,

Right after I posted Optimized Schedule for SES San Jose Plus Social Media & Video Strategies I discovered that there's going to be another event that week. It's was like hearing Ron Popeil tell me, "But wait! There's more!" That's right, I just found out that Local Search Summit:09 will be held on Thursday, August 13, 2009, at at the San Jose Marriott. To put this in context, SES San Jose 2009 will be held next door at the McEnery Convention Center from Monday, August 10,

Welcome to the Online Publicity Journal! Online publicity comes in many different shapes and colors. One thing you must remember is that it is very important to actively perform online publicity and PR to spread the word not only on your services or products but to also build your brand online. This blog is designed to help website owners start to venture online and proactively promote themselves through all means possible.

Trends in the number of weekly searches on terms related to the Palm Pre indicate that the "Now Network" advertising campaign by Sprint during the second half of May helped create early interest in the device, according to comScore. The number of searchers more than doubled during the week ending May 24, coinciding with the YouTube homepage takeover. Interest fell somewhat during the falling week, but recovered in the next two weeks after the official launch of the device,

From time to time here at Search Engine Optimization Journal we get a comment that looks decent and could have been made by anyone who wants to contribute to a discussion but the name on the comment is something like Big Buddy SEO Internet Marketing Clown or Link Building God These are obvious ploys to snag an inbound link from a cheap comment. Sometimes the comments are good and sometimes they're not. But the effect is always the same: Comment Spam. Do you approve them?

Following Twitter's recent problems, identity verification is at the forefront of everyone's mind, and Adobe launched a new program this morning that may play an interesting role in the field. The Adobe Approved Trust List aims to make digital signatures more dependable. As an Adobe representative explained in an email to WebProNews (and on its security blog ),

Yahoo! and Microsoft are reportedly at it again. According to Kara Swisher's mole at Yahoo! , a team of Microsoft search execs (some of which used to be Purple People) have flown to Sunnyvale (sans Ballmer) to hash out the finer points of technology involved in the deal. Now, there's all sorts of speculation flying , from how much Microsoft will dish out to Yahoo! to which roles each company will have in the deal. Apparently, Microsoft will take over Yahoo!

by Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. NAACP (Searches increased by 560%). Obama delivered his first speech as president to the organization that helped pave the way for him to lead the country . Crocs shoes (+476%). The company that puts out those plastic Flintstone-looking shoes may be going down . Jennifer Aniston (+347%). Romantically linked to Gerard Butler, the two stars "laugh about" relationship rumors . Blue Dog Democrats (+153%).

My phone has been ringing off the hook today with last-minute submitters to the Search Engine Watch Awards asking for an extension to today's deadline. In an effort to get all these great submissions included in our awards, we've decided to extend our deadline through Tuesday, July 21. Besides that, it will allow me to get something done today without answering my phone or e-mail about this every few minutes. :) To make your submission, or for more information,

This past Wednesday it was made public that 300+ confidential documents from Twitter had been stolen . While most industry related sites chose not to post these documents, a few did, most notably being TechCrunch . Was TechCrunch wrong or right in publishing the stolen documents? Tell us . To say Twitter is unhappy with TechCrunch would be an understatement . But, why is Twitter so angry? According to TechCrunch,