Well, we love April Fools here around the office.  We love it so much that we were this close to saran-wrapping the men’s toilet this morning.  We decided against it though, seeing as how the economy is tough and we’d probably be out of a job.

Who else loves April Fools?  Google!  Check out all the crazy pranks they’re playing on unsuspecting internet-combers today:

Yep, Google is Topeka in honor of Topeka changing their name to Google, Kansas last month.  They did it in hopes that they would win the nation-wide race to be the first city to get Google’s experimental high-speed fiber optic technology.  They’re back to normal now that it’s April, but we admire their commitment.

For a list of compiled Google pranks, check out Search Engine Land.

And they’re not the only ones.  Check out the headlines at Wikipedia News today:

Photo courtesy of W Promote

In early 2008, Jason Gambert (who?!) began his quest to trademark SEO.  Many people were after him to squelch it, but only one woman kept fighting until the end.  Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media, was able to hire a lawyer out of her own pocket and file a Notice of Opposition in response to Gambert’s “SEO” trademark application.  As Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land reports, we all owe a great deal to Rhea.

So what would have happened if he had been successful in trademarking SEO?  Rhea cites his blog from April 9, 2008:

“My goal in owning the trademark for the word SEO is not to try to force people to change their SEO process, but rather, prevent companies from selling “SEO” as a service under false pretenses.

…We will also be forming a board of directors to oversee changes to the process, and format in which SEO can be sold (basically the BBB for the SEO industry). We will restrict businesses from selling the process of SEO as an “SEO” service if they do not meet the process approved by the SEO trademark requirements. Those approved will use SEO as normal, but will now be able to use the term as SEO™, and will be able to claim that their SEO service is approved under SEO trademark guidelines.  This power is for the people of the Search community and the protection of the general business consumer.”

And Rhea’s response after her arduous journey for the industry?

“Was it worth it? I don’t know. I do know that I learned an invaluable amount about business, trademark law, the SEO industry, my relationships and myself. I never asked the industry to donate to the cause, because this was my responsibility. I chose to pursue this in the face of criticism. I knew that it was something I believed to be wrong. I knew the USPTO did not understand what our industry did or how SEO worked. I wanted to fight for that knowledge and I won. I don’t regret the experience, but I am going to take a breather from hopeless causes for awhile.“ -R. Drysdale

Sources: Search Engine Land, Barry Schwartz; Outspoken Media, Rhea Drysdale

Photo courtesy of getclickz.com

Happy New Year everyone!  The new decade is being ushered in with the onset of Google Caffeine, but does not have a debut date just yet.  According to Official Wire, Caffeine is actually just a souped-up version of the Google we already know- with faster speed, emphasis on real-time search results and slight changes to the way Google indexes websites.  It is imperative; however, that websites stay up-to-date in order to maintain relevancy in the search results.  Things like blogs, press releases, social media, etc. will need to be integrated into your business marketing and maintained with the introduction of Caffeine.  Most users might not notice a difference in their web results, but “keeping websites fresh through regular updates will be important to ensure that they are crawled by Caffeine” (Crisafi).

Source: Peter Crisafi, Official Wire

Photo courtesy of Yelp! Atlanta

According to Search Engine Round Table, Google might be “swallowing” Yelp! for 500 million dollars.  Yelp! is “arguably the best of its kind” of search, with local listings and endless amounts of reviews.  Google might be forced to integrate the service into Google Maps and Local services, which would effectively end the Yelp! brand.  However, Google kept YouTube as is instead of incorporating it into Google Video, so the matter of how Google would handle Yelp! could still be up in the air.

Source: rustybrick at SERoundtable

Today, on BusinessInsider.com, there was a story regarding Microsoft offering money to companies (a big part being News Corp.) that take themselves off of Google search results, a process they call “de-listing.”  “The idea is to force Google to pay for content, thinning its currently fat margins,” Nicholas Carlson writes.  But Google’s Matt Brittin said that “Google [does] not need news content to survive.”  Although it might spread out “search engine share some,” it remains true that Google will probably still have other websites indexed that carry the news stories.

-Nicholas Carlson, Silicon Alley Insider

BusinessInsider.com

Starting today, you can see relevant photos, videos, and tweets about a breaking news story on the Yahoo! News Shortcut. Many of you are already familiar with the existing Yahoo! News Shortcut, which displays headlines on our Web search results page when you look for news stories. The enhanced shortcut with these new tabs will now display for many breaking or major news searches.  For example, if you searched Space Shuttle Atlantis just after it was launched this week, you would have seen news, photo, video, and Twitter tabs in the news shortcut:

If you are interested in visual information about your query, check out the photos and videos tabs, which pull information from Yahoo! News.