The Axandra newsletter archive - 4 May 2004
Welcome to the latest issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.

This week, we're informing you about Google's IPO and the new version 4.0 of our top rated web site promotion tool IBP.

In the news: More about Google's IPO, Lycos is for sale, LookSmart acquires Netnanny and more.

Table of contents:

We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it helps you to get more out of your web site. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.

Best regards,
Andre Voget, Johannes Selbach, Axandra CEO

1. Google IPO
As predicted in our last issue, Google announced its IPO this week. You can view the official papers here: form 10-12G, form S-1

Google also published the "Letter from the Founders" - an open letter attached to the IPO filing. We have searched the IPO documents for the most interesting pieces of news regarding Google and the search engine world.

About Google's management:

    "We run Google as a triumvirate. Sergey and I have worked closely together for the last eight years, five at Google. Eric, our CEO, joined Google three years ago. The three of us run the company collaboratively with Sergey and me as Presidents. The structure is unconventional, but we have worked successfully in this way.

    To facilitate timely decisions, Eric, Sergey and I meet daily to update each other on the business and to focus our collaborative thinking on the most important and immediate issues. Decisions are often made by one of us, with the others being briefed later.

    This works because we have tremendous trust and respect for each other and we generally think alike. Because of our intense long term working relationship, we can often predict differences of opinion among the three of us. We know that when we disagree, the correct decision is far from obvious.

    For important decisions, we discuss the issue with the larger team. Eric, Sergey and I run the company without any significant internal conflict, but with healthy debate. As different topics come up, we often delegate decision-making responsibility to one of us."

About the risks:

    "We will not shy away from high-risk, high-reward projects because of short term earnings pressure. Some of our past bets have gone extraordinarily well, and others have not."

    "Currently, we consider our primary competitors to be Microsoft and Yahoo."

    "We expect our growth rates to decline and anticipate downward pressure on our operating margin in the future."

    "We are in the process of transferring to a third-party service provider our worldwide billing, collection and credit evaluation functions. [...] If we do not successfully implement this project, our business, reputation and operating results could be harmed."

    "An increasing amount of information on the Internet is provided in proprietary document formats such as Microsoft Word. The providers of the software application used to create these documents could engineer the document format to prevent or interfere with our ability to access the document contents with our search technology."

    "For example, there is a risk that the word 'Google' could become so commonly used that it becomes synonymous with the word 'search'. If this happens, we could lose protection for this trademark, which could result in other people using the word 'Google' to refer to their own products, thus diminishing our brand."

    "In connection with our AdSense revenue share agreements, the Company is periodically required to make non-cancelable guaranteed minimum revenue share payments to a small number of its Google Network members over the term of the respective contracts."

    "Overture Services (now owned by Yahoo) has sued the Company, claiming that the Google AdWords program infringes certain claims of an Overture Services patent. It also claims that the patent relates to an Overture Services own bid-for-ad placement business model and its pay-for-performance technologies. The Company is currently litigating this case. If Overture Services wins, it may significantly limit the Company's ability to use the AdWords program, and the Company also may be required to pay damages."

About the Google ranking algorithm:

    "Our text-based scoring techniques do far more than count the number of times a search term appears on a web page. For example, our technology determines the proximity of individual search terms to each other on a given web page, and prioritizes results that have the search terms near each other."

Google chose Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston to serve as lead underwriters for its offering. Google has plans to employ the Dutch auction system for the IPO. They didn't specify a date for the IPO.

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2. Ten professional tools for your web site success
We've just released a new version of our popular web site promotion tool Internet Business Promoter (IBP). IBP 4.0 offers everything you need to successfully promote your web site.

It is a suite of 10 professional web promotion tools that help you with all aspects of web site promotion and search engine optimization. IBP 4.0 is also available in a powerful free demo version that allows you to use many of IBP's powerful web site promotion tools for free.

10 professional web site promotion tools for your web site success
  1. Search Engine Submitter (automatically): Submit your web site automatically to all important search engines in 30+ countries using state-of-the-art technology.

  2. Search Engine Submitter (semi-automatically): Submit your web site to search engines that require a validation code.

  3. Directory Submitter (semi-automatically): Submit your web site to directories that don't accept auto-submissions.

  4. Special Interest Site Submitter (semi-automatically): This unique tool submits your web site to industry-specific sites. It also improves the link popularity of your site.

  5. Search Engine Ranking Checker: Easily check and track the positions of your web site in hundreds of search engines. View your ranking results as web pages, PDF, Microsoft® Word®, plain text, or export them to databases or Microsoft® Excel®.

  6. Top 10 Optimizer: Get professional advice on how to get top 10 rankings for a specific keyword on important search engines. IBP's advice is based on the current search results and so it is always up-to-date. It's even better than having an optimization expert at your fingertips because you'll get real-time advice.

  7. Keyword Generator: Quickly find the right keywords for your web site and create keyword lists for your pay per click search engine activities.

  8. Keyword Density Analyzer: Find out if you overuse the keywords on your web pages and risk getting banned by the search engines.

  9. Search Engine Spider Simulator: See your web site through the eyes of search engines and learn which parts of your web site cannot be read by the search engines.

  10. Create professional and customizable reports for you, for your boss or sell them to your clients. You can save all reports as web pages (.htm), PDF, Microsoft® Word® and plain text.

The new IBP version has more than 50 improvements over the old IBP version. IBP 4.0 has many new features and a new interface so that it is as easy to use as possible.

If you haven't done it yet, download the powerful free demo version now. IBP 4.0 will help you to get the most out of your web site.

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3. Search engine news of the week

Lycos for sale, 98 percent off

    "Terra Networks has reportedly asked an investment bank to arrange the sale of Lycos.com. The asking price is said to be $200 million, 98 percent less than the $12.5 billion value of the merger with Lycos in 2000. They'll take cash or stock, the report said."



Gmail accounts go up for bid

    "Google's initial stock offering isn't the only piece of the search engine company that's up for bid.

    Beta testers invited by Google to take part in its new free e-mail service also received invitations to give to another person, but many are being auctioned on eBay, so far fetching bids as high as $61."



LookSmart slides after deal, acquires Net Nanny

    "Shares of LookSmart sagged 10% Friday after the company reported solid earnings and agreed to push into the online content filtering business.[...] LookSmart posted a narrower-than-expected loss in the first quarter and raised full-year guidance. The company also agreed to acquire Net Nanny for some $5 million in cash and stock from privately held BioNet Systems LLC."



German portal Web.de now works with Overture

    The German web portal Web.de announced that it signed a three year contract with paid search results provider Overture. Web.de will display the sponsored listings in addition to its normal results.



Search engine newslets

  • Google now displays links to Flash contents on its search result pages. Try it for yourself.
  • Google's image search now displays related images from Google news. Try it for yourself.
  • Yahoo has added targeted ads to its companion toolbar.
  • The news feeds from Moreover now start using Google AdSense ads.
  • UJIKO is a new search engine that uses Flash technology to show Yahoo results, made by the developers of developers of the meta search engine KartOO.
  • The About network has revamped its web site.

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4. Articles of the week

SuperGoogle: When all is known

    "No information, public or private, is concealed from SuperGoogle. It knows what we write in our e-mail and what we say on the phone. It surely knows everything we buy and everywhere we travel. It knows our medical histories; maybe it's even seen our DNA. SuperGoogle knows our faces. It can recognize us on a street camera when we stroll on by.

    How would you feel about a SuperGoogle knowing almost everything about you? Because soon, it will."



Google's instigated public optimization

    "Will harsh glare of shareholder equity kill the Google dream -- or will it be the one that survives going public?"



Google denies FBI link to Gmail

    "Google on Thursday denied that it has had any contact with the FBI regarding the design of its Gmail Web e-mail service. The search firm's denial came after the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI seeking information about whether the bureau was considering the 'possible use of Google's Gmail service for law enforcement and intelligence investigations.'"



Google's feeling lucky

    "On Thursday, Mountain View Calif.-based Google took the first step towards its eagerly anticipated initial public offering. While a regulatory filing opened up the financials of the oft-secretive master of Internet search, the company's S-1 presents just as many questions as it answers."



Google this: reality check

    "The search-engine's eagerly awaited IPO will attract big bucks and ballyhoo. It won't, however, spark a fresh tech boom. [...] The ultimate beneficiary of the Google hype will probably be the investment bankers who'll pocket some hefty fees. Google's employees who hold stock options will also benefit as a long-awaited payday arrives. And it will certainly make Google founders Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and current CEO Eric Schmidt wealthier than they already are."



Google IPO? No thanks

    "That's not a bet I'd make at all. But this mania over its IPO, certain to come out 15-20 times sales and perhaps over 100 times earnings, just has me scratching my head. Great companies can have lousy stocks if you buy them at the wrong price. Given the excitement here, that's almost exactly what this promises to be."

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5. Recommended resources

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6. Previous articles

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