We’re rolling out a web index update over the next few days. During this process, you may see some ranking changes and page shuffling in the index.

To share your thoughts or check in with other Yahoo! Search users, please visit the Site Explorer Suggestion Board.

Dan Rampton
Yahoo! Search

After closing the social network platform SpotM, Yahoo has launched Meme, in English, to take on microblogging site Twitter. The company had launched this service in Spanish and Portuguese languages earlier this month.

Meme is currently in an invite-only mode, similar to few microblogging services like Tumblr, Twitter, Pownce and others. After creating the account, users get a blank blog for micro-sharing text, images, music, videos or mash up of all these things.

It also offers the facility to add new friends by searching the internet, which is quite similar to Tumblr and Twitter.

The company’s previous efforts to capitalize on the social networking domain kept failing in spite of repeated attempts. The recently launched ‘Know Your Mojo’ also failed along with the Indian social network, SpotM, which was closed down less than a year after its launch.

Meme does not allow much in terms of customization. The users cannot customize the themes with background images and custom CSS to style the text, as this facility is available with Twitter and Tumblr. Both these services have a rich faux-cabulary, which defines how a person uses the service. Meme does not lend on a particular vocabulary. The setting panel has minimal options like Meme title, 100 character description, avatar/photo and notifications. It also shows the comments posted by the users recently.

Yahoo Meme can have a big advantage over Twitter in terms of reliability. Twitter’s image has suffered for frequent service outages, with its “Fail Whale” graphic appearing whenever the site is overloaded, emerging as the company’s unofficial logo.

Several technology sites like TechCrunch and paidContent are not pleased with Yahoo’s move, they said, “Meme seems to lack in its features and in potential to surpass its competitors.” They also pointed out that the company has a spotty record with Mash and SpotM.

As BoomTown promised earlier today, here’s the first of many filings related to the Yahoo-Microsoft online search and advertising deal announced last week.

The 8-K filing was made with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Yahoo.

Some highlights, although most of them are not that new:

* No termination fee.

* There is a $50 million annual payment to Yahoo (YHOO) by Microsoft (MSFT) for three years, for unspecified “transition and implementation costs” beyond the agreement.

(Personally, I think it’s for extra Advil needed for the headaches engendered organizing this circus.)

* At least 400 Yahoo employees will be hired by Microsoft, which will also provide funds for retention packages to keep 150 more Yahoos motivated during the transition.

* The “Definitive Agreement” between the Silicon Valley company and the Redmond, Wash., software giant needs to be sketched out by October 27, 2009.

But why don’t you read all the niggling details yourself, including about Google (GOOG), below (I stripped away only minor SEC legalese and fill-in-the-blank details):

Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

Binding Letter Agreement–General Terms

On July 29, 2009, Yahoo! Inc., a Delaware corporation (”Yahoo!”), and Microsoft Corporation, a Washington corporation (”Microsoft”), entered into a binding letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”), pursuant to which the parties will negotiate and execute a Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and a License Agreement (the “Definitive Agreements”), each reflecting and supplementing the provisions of such Definitive Agreements as set forth in annexes to the Letter Agreement, the material provisions of which are summarized below.

Negotiation and Execution of the Definitive Agreements

Pursuant to the terms of the Letter Agreement, the parties will negotiate and execute the Definitive Agreements as soon as practicable but in any event by October 27, 2009 (the “Negotiation Period”). If the Definitive Agreements are not executed during the Negotiation Period, the parties will submit any disputes regarding the final terms of the Definitive Agreements to an arbitration panel. The arbitration panel will render its decision based upon the terms of the Letter Agreement, the nature of the commercial relationship to be created thereunder, and the submissions and presentations of the parties at a hearing conducted by the arbitration panel. The arbitration panel will render a decision by choosing the final proposed contractual language of either Microsoft or Yahoo! without modification, subject to a final review process to resolve any potential inconsistencies. The decision of the arbitration panel will be binding on the parties, and the parties agree to execute Definitive Agreements as determined by the arbitration panel within three (3) days of the receipt of the arbitration panel’s final decision.

Regulatory Review

Microsoft and Yahoo! agree to use their respective best efforts to cooperate in connection with all necessary regulatory filings. In addition, as soon as practicable after July 29, 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! will make all filings required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 as amended (the “HSR Act”) and by any applicable foreign antitrust laws. Microsoft further agrees to use its best efforts to obtain any consents, clearances or approvals required under or in connection with the HSR Act or any other applicable antitrust law, including offering, negotiating or committing to any restrictions on the activities of Microsoft and its subsidiaries in search and paid search and contesting and defending any threatened or pending litigation, investigation or proceeding under applicable antitrust laws.

Conditions to Commencement and Termination Prior to Commencement

The obligations of each party to commence performance of their obligations under the Definitive Agreements (the “Commencement Date”) are only subject to (a) termination or expiration of the HSR Act waiting period and receipt of certain required foreign antitrust approvals and (b) the accuracy of the party’s representations and warranties in the Letter Agreement as of the time immediately prior to the Commencement Date and performance by the other party of its obligations required to be performed by it in connection with the Letter Agreement and the Definitive Agreements at or prior to the Commencement Date, except where the failure of such representations and warranties to be true and accurate or the failure of such performance would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect with respect to such party.

Prior to the Commencement Date, the Letter Agreement and Definitive Agreements may be terminated only by (a) mutual consent, (b) if a breach renders a condition incapable of being satisfied by the Termination Date (as defined below), or (c) if the conditions to commencement have not been satisfied by July 29, 2010 (the “Termination Date”); provided that Yahoo!, in its sole discretion, has the right to extend the Termination Date by six (6) months if the required antitrust approvals have not yet been obtained.

Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement

Pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the parties have agreed to enter into a global Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement (“Search Agreement”), which will include, among other provisions, the terms summarized below.

General Services

For a period of ten (10) years beginning on the Commencement Date (the “Term”), Microsoft will be Yahoo!’s exclusive technology provider for algorithmic and paid search services and Microsoft will provide contextual advertising to Yahoo! on a non-exclusive basis. Yahoo! will be the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for Yahoo!’s and Microsoft’s premium search advertisers.

The services provided by Microsoft under the Search Agreement will be provided on all web sites, applications and other online digital properties owned or operated by or on behalf of (a) Yahoo!, Yahoo! subsidiaries and Yahoo! joint venture relationships, as well as on software applications developed or distributed by Yahoo! or Yahoo! subsidiaries that provide access to or enable algorithmic search services or paid search services (”Yahoo! Properties”) and (b) Yahoo! Syndication Partners (as defined below), as well as software applications developed or distributed by Yahoo!’s Syndication Partners that provide access to or enable algorithmic search services or paid search services from Yahoo! (”Syndication Properties”). “Syndication Partner” means a third party with whom Yahoo! has contracted to provide algorithmic search services or paid search services.

Subject to certain specified restrictions, Yahoo! will have full flexibility with respect to the user experience, content and look and feel on all of its web pages, and will also be entitled to use the paid search services and algorithmic search services for non-internet search queries with minimal restriction.

The scope of the services to be provided by Microsoft under the Search Agreement are limited to web sites, applications and other online digital properties designed for use and consumption on personal computers. In addition, Yahoo! may at its option elect to receive Microsoft’s mapping services and mobile search services. Yahoo! may implement each of the mapping services and the mobile search services on a non-exclusive or an exclusive basis. Yahoo! also has the option to work with Microsoft to implement the services on other platforms. If Yahoo! elects to receive services for other platforms, it must receive such services on an exclusive basis.

Revenue Share Payments and Other Payments

During the first five years of the Term, Yahoo! will be entitled to receive 88% of the net revenues generated from Microsoft’s services on Yahoo! Properties (the “Revenue Share Rate”). Yahoo! will also be entitled to receive its share (at the Revenue Share Rate) of the net revenues generated on Syndication Properties after the Syndication Partner’s share of net revenues is deducted. For new Syndication Properties during the Term, and for all Syndication Properties after the first five years of the Term, Yahoo! will receive its share (at the Revenue Share Rate) of the net revenues generated from Microsoft’s services on Syndication Properties after the Syndication Partner’s share of net revenues and certain Microsoft costs are deducted.

On the fifth anniversary of the Commencement Date, Microsoft will have the option to terminate Yahoo!’s sales exclusivity for premium search advertisers. If Microsoft exercises its option, the Revenue Share Rate will increase to 93% for the remainder of the Term, unless Yahoo! exercises its option to retain its sales exclusivity, in which case the Revenue Share Rate would be reduced to 83% for the remainder of the Term. If Microsoft does not exercise such option, the Revenue Share Rate will be 90% for the remainder of the Term.

Microsoft will also pay Yahoo! a payment of $50 million annually during the first three (3) years of the Search Agreement. Yahoo! may use these payments to partially cover transition and implementation costs not otherwise covered under the Search Agreement.

Microsoft will provide in each country an 18-month guarantee for the gross revenue per search (the “RPS”) for Yahoo! Properties. The guarantee will be based on the RPS average for the trailing 12-month period prior to the initial implementation of paid search services in such country.

Termination Provisions

In addition to the termination rights described in the Letter Agreement above, the Search Agreement may only be terminated as follows (each, a “Termination Event”): (a) either party may terminate upon repeated material breaches of material provisions of the Search Agreement such that it is unlikely that the breaching party is willing or able to continue to perform its obligations under the Search Agreement without continuing to materially breach it; (b) Yahoo! may terminate if Microsoft attempts to exit the business of algorithmic search or search monetization, either by ceasing to offer the services or by selling or attempting to sell all or substantially all of either its algorithmic search services business or paid search services business to an unaffiliated third party; (c) Yahoo! may terminate the Search Agreement if the trailing 12-month average of the RPS in the United States (the “U.S. RPS”) of Yahoo! and Microsoft’s combined queries falls below a specified percentage of Google Inc.’s (”Google”) estimated RPS measured on a comparable basis or if the combined Yahoo! and Microsoft query market share in the United States falls below a specified percentage; (d) on the fifth anniversary of the Search Agreement, and any time thereafter, Yahoo! has the right to terminate the Search Agreement if the trailing 12-month average of Yahoo!’s U.S. RPS is less than a specified percentage of Google’s estimated RPS; or (e) subject to exceptions, either party may terminate if a law, regulation or order would have a significant, adverse impact on a primary aspect of such party’s intended benefit of the Search Agreement.

If a Termination Event occurs in the United States, the entire Search Agreement may be terminated. If a Termination Event does not occur in the United States a party’s termination right is limited to the specific country or countries in which the event occurs.

If Microsoft proposes or attempts to sell all or substantially all of either its algorithmic search services business or paid search services business to an unaffiliated third party, Yahoo! will have a right of first refusal and right of last offer to purchase such businesses.

Service Level Agreements

The Search Agreement will provide (a) for service parity under which applicable application programming interfaces (”Microsoft API”) will be made available to Yahoo! at full parity with that which is made available to Microsoft’s internal teams; (b) for ranking and content parity under which Microsoft will provide the same algorithmic and paid search results in the same order as would be provided in response to the same inputs on web sites that are owned or operated by or for Microsoft, its subsidiaries and its joint venture relationships (”Microsoft O&O Properties”) in a particular country, including any content that is included in Microsoft’s algorithmic index; (c) for prioritization parity, under which Yahoo! will have full visibility into Microsoft product roadmap and parity with Microsoft’s internal teams in the product update prioritization process; and (d) for advertising parity under which neither party will allow advertisers to designate paid listings from Microsoft’s paid search or encourage advertisers to designate paid listings from Microsoft’s contextual advertising services to be displayed exclusively on Microsoft’s or Yahoo!’s respective results web pages. Furthermore, Microsoft will not treat Yahoo! or Yahoo!’s Syndication Partners less favorably than Microsoft and Microsoft’s partners in connection with its delivery and operation of the services.

Microsoft will optimize the delivery of paid listings by evaluating performance across all Microsoft O&O Properties and the Yahoo! Properties. The paid listings provided by Microsoft for Yahoo! will be optimized at parity with Microsoft’s optimization for Microsoft O&O Properties. Yahoo! may further optimize based on its own desired implementation.

Yahoo! may, at its option, elect to have Microsoft deliver the algorithmic search services and paid search services through a search results page hosted by Microsoft (the “White Label Solution”) on a country by country basis (if the United States is also a White Label Solution country), instead of through the Microsoft API. The White Label Solution will be in all material respects the same as Microsoft’s search results pages. Yahoo! may substitute Yahoo! applications or services for Microsoft applications or services within the White Label Solution.

Data Provisions

Microsoft will provide Yahoo! all data it collects as a result of its implementation of the services on Yahoo! Properties and Syndication Properties and, subject to Yahoo!’s privacy policies and applicable law, Yahoo! may use such data without contractual restriction in connection with its businesses. Microsoft will also use commercially reasonable efforts to enable Yahoo! and its Syndication Partners to obtain any other data that Yahoo! currently collects with respect to its own algorithmic search services and paid search services. Microsoft may obtain and use the data it collects as a result of its implementation of the services (including any derivative information that results from this data) only for the purpose of operating and enhancing the services and not for other Microsoft products and services.

Transition and Implementation Plan

As promptly as practicable, Yahoo! and Microsoft will agree on a detailed transition and implementation plan and schedule for implementing Microsoft’s algorithmic search services and paid search services on all Yahoo! Properties and Syndication Properties. The transition and implementation plan will be for a period of no longer than 24 months from the Commencement Date, subject to an extension for up to three additional months if the end of the 24-month period ends during the fourth quarter of a calendar year. The parties intend that the transition and implementation plan will be either set forth in a separate transition services agreement or as part of the Search Agreement.

Following the Commencement Date, Microsoft will hire not less than 400 Yahoo! employees (the “Transferred Employees”) and will offer the Transferred Employees market competitive compensation packages. In addition, Yahoo! and Microsoft will mutually agree on a retention plan to be paid for by Microsoft to assist in retaining the Transferred Employees and an additional 150 Yahoo! employees to be mutually agreed upon between Microsoft and Yahoo! to assist with providing the transition services.

License Agreement

Pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the parties have agreed to enter into a License Agreement (the “License Agreement”), which will include, among other provisions, the terms summarized below.

Exclusive Technology License

During the Term (as defined in the summary of the Search Agreement above), Yahoo! will grant to Microsoft a worldwide license (the “Technology License”) under copyrights and trade secrets relating to specified Yahoo! algorithmic and paid search technology for Microsoft to use in connection with providing specified algorithmic search, paid search and contextual advertising services (the “Field of Use”). The Technology License will be exclusive (even as to Yahoo!) as to certain algorithmic search and paid search services in the Field of Use. Upon termination or expiration of the Search Agreement, the Technology License will remain in effect but will become non-exclusive.

Limited Non-Exclusive Patent Cross License

During the Term, Yahoo! will grant to Microsoft a worldwide, non-exclusive limited patent license solely for Microsoft to provide services in the Field of Use to Yahoo!; and Microsoft will grant to Yahoo! a worldwide, non-exclusive limited patent license for Yahoo! to use and implement the services provided by Microsoft, as contemplated by the Search Agreement (the “Limited Patent Cross License”). The Limited Patent Cross License terminates upon the termination of the Search Agreement.

Patent License Option

Microsoft will also have an option to obtain from Yahoo! a worldwide, non-exclusive license under Yahoo!’s patents for Microsoft to provide online services in the Field of Use both with Microsoft’s owned and operated websites and to third parties (”Patent License”). The option will expire upon the earlier of July 29, 2011 and the date six (6) months following the Commencement Date. Should Microsoft exercise its option to obtain the Patent License, Microsoft will pay for such Patent License at a specified discount from fair market value. Such Patent License will also terminate upon termination of the Search Agreement.

Yahoo! may terminate the Patent License if Microsoft files an infringement action against Yahoo!, Yahoo! subsidiaries or Yahoo! joint venture relationships. Termination of the Patent License does not affect Microsoft’s obligations under the Search Agreement.

Assignment and Transfer

Microsoft may not assign the License Agreement without Yahoo!’s permission. Assignment or transfer of the licensed technology will be subject to the licenses. Neither party is prevented or restricted from licensing, selling or otherwise disposing of any of its patent assets, and Microsoft’s option to obtain the Patent License will not apply to any patents sold or otherwise disposed of by Yahoo! prior to the exercise of the option.

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

YAHOO! INC. (Registrant)
By: /s/ Michael J. Callahan
Name: Michael J. Callahan
Title: Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Date: August 4, 2009

source: allthingsd

Microsoft will pay Yahoo $50 million a year for three years and hire at least 400 Yahoo employees, as part of the companies’ recent search agreement, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Yahoo-Microsoft deal will make Microsoft’s Bing search engine power Yahoo’s search site, while Yahoo will sell premium search ad services for both companies. Yahoo’s form 8-K, which appeared online Tuesday, reveals a few additional details about the agreement that Yahoo and Microsoft had announced last week.

According to regulatory filing by Yahoo, the share of revenue that Microsoft pays to run search ads on Yahoo’s network of sites will increase from 88 percent to 90 percent in the second five years of the partnership.

The agreement also mentions that five years into the ten-year agreement, Microsoft can opt out of the exclusive engagement for Yahoo’s ad sales services. Yahoo and Microsoft have estimated that implementing the deal will take two years, and in case they fail to implement the deal by July 29, 2010 the companies can terminate it by mutual consent. Yahoo can also decide to use Microsoft’s mapping and mobile search services.

It seems the International Cricket Council (ICC) has realized the enormous benefits the Internet has as a medium of marketing and propaganda. Yesterday, it roped in Internet giant Yahoo! as its online partner for all ICC events.

What Yahoo! gets out of it.

After a troubled 2008, this year has begun on a positive note for Yahoo! The 3-year deal entitles Yahoo! to exclusive online content rights & marketing entitlements for major ICC tournaments, including World Cup 2011, ICC World, Twenty20, and ICC Champions Trophy. Yahoo! will also have access to exclusive images, videos, interviews and player chats around all major ICC events.

Yahoo! to Launch dedicated ICC site!

For its part, Yahoo! has created an exclusive property called iccevents.yahoo.com , which will host all relevant information for every ICC event. Yahoo! has also launched a new, global cricket website — cricket.yahoo.com . Yahoo! calls it the ‘complete resource’ on the game. It is expected to feature news, updates, images, match schedules, statistics, and player profiles. The site however is still in the beta version.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said, “In today’s technology-driven world, this is a massive boost for the ICC and cricket. The ICC corporate website and the various event sites that will spring from this partnership will set a new benchmark for innovation and user interaction to ensure that people who choose to follow their team online are rewarded with an entertaining and exciting experience.”

When it comes to Web analytics, Google has been shaking up the established fee-based players with its free offering — Google Analytics — and quickly grabbed the lead in market share, but researcher CMS Watch said big companies would be well-advised to check out a lesser known analytics player, Yahoo

Last spring, Yahoo bought Web analytics company IndexTools and converted the company’s service to its own under the name Yahoo Web Analytics. CMS Watch said with the conversion complete, Yahoo is slowly ramping up promotion and further development of the service, but it already offers several advantages over Google Analytics.

Both services are free, though actively marketed by resellers who offer consulting services to help companies implement them. “Google has more customers than anyone else,” CMS Watch Founder Tony Byrne told InternetNews.com. “The difference at a feature level between Google and Yahoo isn’t very much if you’re a small to mid-level size Company, and those customers might prefer Google’s slicker interface. But when you start talking about bigger sized companies with big Web site issues, Yahoo is more relevant.” Of course, Google and Yahoo are hardly the only game in town.

CMS Watch evaluated 20 Web analytics platforms, including Coremetrics, Omniture, Visible Measures, and WebTrends, against 12 potential use cases in a 470-page report released this week. Byrne said smaller firms are attracted to the free services from Google and Yahoo, but they’re not for everyone.

Google said it had no comment on the CMS Watch report. Yahoo couldn’t be reached by press time. Byrne notes that the Terms of Service (TOS) agreements for both Google and Yahoo give those companies the right to reuse the data they collect as part of their ongoing aggregation of Web traffic data. Paid services typically don’t, the data belongs to the client. “Commercial Web analytics vendors, like WebTrends, Coremetrics, and Omniture, those guys will tell you, and I think it’s true, that Google has helped them because it introduced a whole generation of Web managers to what analytics can do in a training tools kind of way,” said Byrne.

“They know there comes a time when these larger firms reach the limits of what Google can do and they’ll need to upgrade.” On that later point of delivering what enterprises or large companies need, the CMS Watch analysis grades Yahoo higher in several areas. For one, it has a larger default monthly page-view limit, 200 million for Yahoo versus five million for Google. Google offers more if you’re running an active Google AdWords campaign. Another key difference is access to traffic data. Unlike Google, Yahoo gives you access to the raw data about Web site, not just the summary reports both offer, and the ability to export that data.

Should you choose to migrate to another service, that export feature would let you continue to maintain a historical record instead of starting over. “Enterprises with legal departments care about that availability to the raw data,” said Byrne. He notes neither Google nor Yahoo shares the data outside of their own companies, but the rise in privacy and security-related issues have made IT departments more sensitive than ever to who has access to their company information. Overall, CMS Watch found that Yahoo Web Analytics had its drawbacks, including “an administrative complexity that accompanied its functional richness.

“It also dinged the service for lack of 24/7 tech support. Byrne said neither Google or Yahoo is going to be a good fit for some enterprises that would be better off considering a fee-based Web analytics solutions. “What Google has done is focused on simplifying the report experience, but some enterprises may find the result too simple,” said Byrne.

Feb 12, 2009 at 3:55pm ET by Vanessa Fox

The web is full of duplicate content. Search engines try to index and display the original or “canonical” version. Searchers only want to see one version in results. And site owners worry that if search engines find multiple versions of a page, their link credit will be diluted and they’ll lose ranking.

Today, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (links are to their separate announcements) have united to offer a way to reduce duplicate content clutter and make things easier for everyone. Webmasters rejoice! Worried about duplicate content on your site? Want to know what “canonical” means? Read on for more details.

Multiple URLs, one page

Duplicate content comes in different forms, but a major scenario is multiple URLs that point to the same page. This can come up for lots of reasons. An ecommerce site might allow various sort orders for a page (by lowest price, highest rated…), the marketing department might want tracking codes added to URLs for analytics. You could end up with 100 pages, but 10 URLs for each page. Suddenly search engines have to sort  through 1,000 URLs.

This can be a problem for a couple of reasons.

• Less of the site may get crawled. Search engine crawlers use a limited amount of bandwidth on each site (based on numerous factors). If the crawler only is able to crawl 100 pages of your site in a single visit, you want it to be 100 unique pages, not 10 pages 10 times each.
• Each page may not get full link credit. If a page has 10 URLs that point to it, then other sites can link to it 10 different ways. One link to each URL dilutes the value  the page could have if all 10 links pointed to a single URL.

Using the new canonical tag

Specify the canonical version using a tag in the head section of the page as follows:

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish“/>

That’s it!

• You can only use the tag on pages within a single site (subdomains and subfolders are fine).
• You can use relative or absolute links, but the search engines recommend absolute links.

This tag will operate in a similar way to a 301 redirect for all URLs that display the page with this tag.

• Links to all URLs will be consolidated to the one specified as canonical.
• Search engines will consider this URL a “strong hint” as to the one to crawl and index.

Canonical URL best practices

The search engines use this as a hint, not as a directive, (Google calls it a “suggestion that we honor strongly”) but are more likely to use  it if the URLs use best practices, such as:

• The  content rendered for each URL is very similar or exact
• The canonical URL is the shortest version
• The URL uses easy to understand parameter patterns (such as using ? and %)

Can this be abused by spammers? They might try, but Matt Cutts of Google told me that the same safeguards that prevent abuse by other methods (such as redirects) are in place here as well, and that Google  reserves the right to take action on sites that are using the tag to manipulate search engines and violate search engine guidelines.

For instance, this tag will only work with very similar or identical content, so you can’t use it to send all of the link value from the less important pages of your site to the more important ones.

If tags conflict (such as pages point to each other as canonical, the URL specified as canonical redirects to a non-canonical version, or the page specified as canonical doesn’t exist), search engines will sort things out just as they do now, and will determine which URL they think is the best canonical version.

The tag in action

This tag will most often be useful in the case of multiple URLs pointing at the same page, but might also be used when multiple versions of a page exist. For instance, wikia.com is using the tag for previous revisions of a page. Both http://watchmen.wikia.com/index.php?title=Comedian%27s_badge&diff=4901&oldid=4819 and http://watchmen.wikia.com/index.php?title=Comedian%27s_badge&diff=5401&oldid=4901reference the latest version of the article (http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Comedian%27s_badge) as the canonical.

The search engines stress that it’s still important to build good URL structure and also note that if you aren’t able to implement this tag, they’ll still keep the processes they have now to determine the canonical. For instance, at SMX West on Tuesday, Maile Ohye of Google explained how Google can detect patterns in URLs if they use standard parameters. For instance, with these URLs:

• http://www.example.com/buffy?cat=spike
• http://www.example.com/buffy?cat=spike&sort=evil
• http://www.example.com/buffy?cat=spike&sort=good

Maile explained that Google can detect (particularly when looking at patterns across the site) that the sort parameter may order the page differently, but that the URLs with the sort parameter display the same  content as the shorter URL (http://www.example.com/buffy?cat=spike).

While it’s rare for the search engines to join forces, this isn’t the first time they’ve come together on a standard. In November 2006, they came together to support sitemaps.org. And in June 2008 they announced a standard set of robots.txt directives. Matt Cutts of Google and Nathan Buggia of Microsoft told me that they want to help reduce the clutter on the web, and make things easier for searchers as well as site owners.

This new tag won’t completely solve duplicate issues on the web, but it should help make things quite a bit easier particuarly for ecommerce sites, who likely need all the help they can get in the current economic conditions. Site owners have been asking for help with these issues for a really long time so this should be a greatly welcomed addition.

Postscript by Barry Schwartz:

The search engines will be talking about this news at the Ask the Search Engines panel at SMX West. We will be blogging this panel live at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Back in 2005, we launched Yahoo! MyWeb with the goal to help our users save valuable information they discover on the Web. As we have continued to innovate with the 2.0 release of Delicious and the upgraded Yahoo! Bookmarks, we saw that MyWeb users’ needs are being served by our newer products. To streamline our bookmarking services, we will discontinue the MyWeb service starting March 18, 2009 and focus our efforts on improving Delicious for social bookmarking. We are working on many Delicious product enhancements for 2009 – in the meantime, we’ll make the transition for our MyWeb users in the least disruptive manner possible. MyWeb users have three choices to migrate their bookmarks:

1. Yahoo! Bookmarks: For users primarily interested in private bookmarking, the switch is simple – all MyWeb bookmarks are already available in Yahoo! Bookmarks.

2. Delicious: For users who enjoy sharing their bookmarks and exploring the bookmarks of other users, we recommend migrating to Delicious. The migration is a three-step process – see details here.

3. Export. For users who choose to use other bookmarking services, we recommend using our export tools, which will provide an archive of your bookmarks that is easily readable by 3rd party services and browsers such as Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

For publishers using the MyWeb Bookmark button or the MyWeb badge, we recommend migrating these to the Delicious button or badge.

If you have any questions about the migration, please contact at the MyWeb Feedback page.

Located in the company’s cafeteria for employees to see, touch, and follow along with real-time updates on energy use at the campus. The plan is to roll out other green screens to more Yahoo campuses over time.

The Green Screen, which uses building dashboard technology by Lucid Design Group, gives users the ability to see, for example, how many pounds of carbon have been emitted per person on the Sunnyvale campus. Employees will also be able to see energy consumption across buildings and compare trends viewed over time.

Yahoo is displaying green tips too - such as commute options and where to shop for green products. The Green Screen will also be available on Yahoo’s corporate intranet.

Cloud computing is an Internet-based computing wherein resources are provided over the Internet ‘as a service’ to users, in a completely transparent manner.

“We plan to set up cloud infrastructure at IIIT-H research centres and at the institute level. We also aim to contribute in a big way to open source development in the area. The collaboration with Yahoo! India Research and Development will help boost our efforts to achieve these goals,” said Vasudeva Varma, associate professor at IIIT-H and principal investigator of the joint collaboration project.

Cloud computing is being offered as an optional course in undergraduate and postgraduate curricula at IIIT-H.

The collaboration will provide IIIT-H students an opportunity to research and work with Yahoo’s key architects on cutting-edge technologies. It will also give Yahoo! India R&D a chance to absorb IIIT-H students who participate in collaborative research.

According to Yahoo! India R&D, collaborations like these will aid industry-academia interactions and lay a strong foundation for the creation of the much-needed research talent, according to a release. The two organizations will help in the development of open source technologies and research focusing on cloud computing - a new area with immense potential to change the world of computing.

Last year, the institute had forged ties with US-based Nvidia Corporation to set up a visual computing lab. The company has invested $30,000- $50,000 for the lab. The lab will provide the students and institute with equipment, software licences and the requisite know-how to research in the field. It is estimated that, in future, around 90% of computing globally will be done through this new paradigm.