SEO Blog

It’s been on the cards for a while, but now the social networking giant has finally agreed a deal to add an extra layer to its service. Facebook and the Microsoft-owned Skype will begin collaborating to offer users video call functionality.

This has been widely seen as a coup by both sides. Firstly Facebook get to develop their service offering, effectively licensing the existing software, and its extensive user base, to provide a quick, cheap integration.

For Microsoft, and possibly Bing as a consequence, it represents the first major roll out of their new acquisition (albeit the deal is still awaiting final ratification). Whilst they have maintained strong links with Facebook, including providing search functionality and previously managing advertising, this is another huge step. Whether it will claw back any of the $8.5 billion they have spent on acquiring Skype remains to be seen.
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One thing that Google has always been extremely adept at is gaining column inches. It’s one of the many inevitabilities of being one of the world’s largest businesses and also impacting so many industries. Sometimes this is a good thing; however on other occasions the search titan would probably much rather prefer the spotlight was elsewhere.

This week though they will no doubt be extremely pleased with the level of coverage they are receiving. Not only are blogs, Twitter and Facebook buzzing with talk of Google+, but the slowly morphing SERPs and now the redesign of Gmail are helping to provide ample additional ammunition.
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In the world of online and digital business, expansion and integration of services has become the order of the day – particularly amongst the ruling elite of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Apple. Today’s deal by Microsoft, which saw it snap up Skype for a princely $8.5 billion, perfectly encapsulates this ethos of growth at any cost.

Most industry analysts agree that the deal is a little inflated, some even suggest that Microsoft have paid upwards of $2 billion too much for Skype, but that’s simply empty speculation. What they have bought is a recognised technology. It’s established within its marketplace and has a ready-built audience.

Of course Microsoft will already have its own plans when it comes to integration and future development for its new partner (and biggest investment to date). However, in a swiftly distributed press release from Skype, it has been announced that they will be integrating with Lync, Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox live. That’s already a pretty extensive list of products and user base in the tens (if not hundreds) of millions.
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If you’ve been following the latest online news with even a casual interest, you will no doubt have read a good deal about the various changes going on with the three major search engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Google are currently in the process of rolling of their real-time element within the search engine results. Bing too have adopted these Twitter updates and will soon be getting Facebook messages to display too. So what does this mean for SEO? Well, not a lot really. Yes, it is a significant change and the SERPs pages will look different; but ultimately it won’t affect your ability to optimise for certain key phrases and achieve a high level ranking.
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The Internet is rarely a stable place. However, developments in the last few months, particularly in the realms of search, appear to far outweigh those in recent memory.

First of all in June, Bing gets announced. There’s a major furore as Microsoft sneaked it out a few days early, possibly in an attempt to avoid Google attempting to trump them – which they actually did with the announcement of Google Wave on the very same day.
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