--> To gain an edge over your competitors online, follow these tips to push your business's site to the top of the major search engines' results pages:

It's a question Smart Answers readers often ask: How can I increase the Google ranking for my business? To get a good ranking on Google, or any major search engine, you have to make sure your Web site is "search-engine optimized." Search engine optimization (SEO) just means your site is as accessible as possible to the search engines to improve the chances that they will serve it up when your potential customers type in specific search terms. The more easily search engines find your site, the higher up it appears on their results pages.

Constructing your site the right way is important. "Structure your site properly, code it cleanly, and use necessary keywords," says Andy Leff, an entrepreneur and lead blogger for INCplace.com. "Sites that have the proper architecture in place, and are not slapped together, have a better chance of getting picked up by the major search engines." Search engines "crawl" the Web looking for the keywords that their users enter, so sprinkling those keywords throughout your site means your pages will be picked up during searches.

Too Much of a Good Keyword:

What keywords should you use? Think about what your prospective customers type in when they are looking for you. "Try to think from a user's perspective," says Jeff McPherson, director of client services for SilverTech, an interactive marketing firm in Manchester, N.H. "You may sell hats, but your customers may call them caps, lids, or fedoras." If you're not sure, ask your clients how they got to your site.

When you have a good set of keywords, put them into the URLs, page titles, and content of your Web pages. "There are lots of little tricks to this," says McPherson. "For example, the most effective page titles are about 75 characters long and include the most important keywords at the beginning. On each page, keywords and phrases should represent 2% to 3% of the total content." Don't overdo the use of key search terms, however. "If a search engine's algorithms interpret your site as a keyword hog, it will pass it by," Leff notes.

Next, you'll want to link your site to other sites, which will both increase traffic overall to your site and boost your search engine rankings, since the search engines pick up on the number of times people link to and from your site and rank you higher accordingly. So do things like listing your site with online business directories, even if you think no one will find you through them. "Those links may not produce any direct leads, but they could bump you up in the search engine rankings, especially if they are popular or highly visited sources," McPherson says.

You should also formally submit your site to the major search engines, which allows them to index it. Include at least Yahoo, Google, and MSN, Leff suggests, but don't necessarily limit it to those three. People searching the Internet don't all use the same search engines. "Research shows that older audiences still like AOL and professional audiences tend to like MSN and Google, while younger audiences often like Yahoo. Only about one-third of users use one search engine consistently," McPherson says. Knowing your audience will help you decide which search engines to optimize for. Go to their home pages and search "how do I submit my site?" to get easy instructions.

Flash Won't Help Rankings:

Use plenty of text on your site, even in your drop-down menus, your headers, and your footers on each page. Text is what the search engine crawlers are looking for. Text within Flash-based components won't help, however. "This text is not accessible to the search engine site crawlers, and will not get picked up. Flash looks great, but it won't help boost your search rankings," Leff says.

Search engine optimization is technical and can be time-consuming, since the major search engines are constantly changing their methodology to stay ahead of competitors. That means you have to keep jockeying for position so your site gets noticed. You can hire a professional to keep your site optimized, do it yourself, or contract with an Internet-savvy student looking for part-time work.

Virtual Tour Guides:

If you engage an SEO firm, consider the cost and the return on investment, remembering that moving up in the search rankings is a gradual process that may take several months. Chances are, if your corporate competitors control the top 10 search engine results spots, it will be costly and perhaps even impossible to dethrone them. The good news is that search engine rankings are free, and online searching is the third-most-frequent activity for people who are online: Only checking e-mail and Web surfing rank higher, McPherson says. "Search engines not only help users find you, they play virtual tour guide by taking users directly to the page with the information they're seeking."

Another plus that McPherson points out: Studies show consumers trust user-generated search engine rankings more than paid advertisement rankings by a wide margin, as much as 70%. And optimizing your site gives you a huge competitive advantage. "Even now, only 25% of the Fortune 100 businesses have completely optimized their sites in this way," McPherson says. "If you act now, you'll have an edge over competitors who haven't optimized their sites."

Source: businessweek.com

The European Commission has taken the unusual step of sending questionnaires to Google customers before the company officially seeks permission to take over a rival, two business sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

Google is expected to file with the European Union's top antitrust regulator for the $3.1 billion (1.53 billion pounds) purchase of U.S. Web advertising supplier DoubleClick by mid-September, the sources said. "We believe they have taken this step because the Commission believes this will be an unusually complex and contentious merger," one of the sources said.

Once Google files -- as it has in the United States before the Federal Trade Commission -- the European Commission will evaluate the deal to determine whether it is anti-competitive.

The European Commission often sends questionnaires to competitors and customers once a deal is formally filed, but it is far more unusual to provide one early. A Commission spokesman declined to comment. In Washington, the Federal Trade Commission has already requested additional information about the deal.

Rivals have asked authorities to look closely at the proposed buy, raising concerns that Google could gain too much control over online advertising.

Source: uk.reuters.com

If you happen to be the proud owner of a shiny new Mercedes-Benz with Tele Aid, then you should be pleased to hear about our new Send to Car feature, which allows addresses and businesses found on Yahoo! Maps to be sent directly to your Mercedes-Benz vehicle through their new Search & Send program.

Starting today, a new 'Send to Car' link joins 'Send to Phone' and 'Send by Email' in the dropdown menu on Yahoo! Maps, and it's super easy to use in two ways:

1. Just enter an address or get driving directions on Yahoo! Maps as you normally would. Click the "Send to Car" link, and select which (if more than one) address or addresses you'd like to download to your vehicle. Edit the title of the address if you're so inclined and finally, enter the email address of your car and hit send
2. Or, you can send business information directly from their popup window when you use "Find a Business on the Map." Search for businesses by keyword or by name, such as "dry cleaners" or "Pizzeria Uno" and click "Send to Car" on the in-map popup and follow the same instructions above.

Once in your vehicle, simply push the i-button, and the address information will be downloaded directly to your navigation system. You will be prompted to begin routing immediately, or save the address for later use.

One of the best uses for this feature is not only to send yourself addresses to use later, but to have friends and family send you addresses while you’re on the road when you need them, so you don’t have to worry about writing down information as you drive, or pull over to enter addresses yourself.

We were pleased to work with Mercedes-Benz as the first automobile manufacturer in our new Send to Car feature, and we think this new bridge between the comfort of your own keyboard and your in-car nav system is the best of both worlds.

Michael Lawless – Sr. Product Manager, Yahoo! Maps

Source: ylocalblog.com

The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.

The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to "Net neutrality," the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user. Several phone and cable companies, such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., have previously said they want the option to charge some users more money for loading certain content or Web sites faster than others.

The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the "entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers," the agency said in its filing.

Such a result could diminish or delay network expansion and improvement, it added. The agency said providing different levels of service is common, efficient and could satisfy consumers. As an example, it cited that the U.S. Postal Service charges customers different guarantees and speeds for package delivery, ranging from bulk mail to overnight delivery.

"Whether or not the same type of differentiated products and services will develop on the Internet should be determined by market forces, not regulatory intervention," the agency said in its filing. The agency's stance comes more than two months after Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras cautioned policy makers to enact Net neutrality regulation.

Such a regulation could prevent rather than promote Internet investment and innovation and have "significant negative effects for the economy and consumers," the Justice Department said in the filing. Supporters of Internet regulation have said that phone and cable companies could discriminate against certain Web site and services.

However, the agency said it will continue to monitor and enforce any anticompetitive conduct to ensure a competitive broadband marketplace.

Source: washingtonpost.com