It was my responsibility to explain the solution and build the case that search traffic, properly monetized, would generate more revenue than subscription-based archive access. The top executive at Tribune Interactive explained to me that archive subscription revenues didn’t “generate enough revenue to pay the lighting bill at their offices.”

Eventually the paradigm changed within the leadership of major publishers and they began to eliminate archives and optimize content for search–this generates additional ad revenue from the traffic referred by search engines.

Murdoch acts as if he fundamentally does not understand that search engines referring eyeballs to newspaper sites is a positive that increases ad revenue. I don’t buy it.

This is nothing more than an opportunity to leverage Microsoft’s desperation to compete with Google for profit. There are ways he could benefit from Microsoft, Google, or both through structured agreements.

The biggest blow to the newspaper industry was caused by a person named Craig Newmark.

In reality very few publications are able to survive on a subscription-based model. There are just too many news sources that are willing to compete by providing free access (while generating ad revenue). The opportunity for most newspapers lies within their ability to monetize traffic.

http://www.ionadas.com/450/google-real-estate-listings/

@Susannah – I definitely recommend having a check list/fact finding conversation before starting a link building campaign. We discuss \linkable assets\ which include everything from existing content to individuals who could potentially give interviews with bloggers (thought leaders). These assets, along with the keywords they’re targeting, in turn inform the queries we use to identify link prospects.

Here’s Wiep’s suggestion, related to your question, from above: \…one thing that always works very well for me is asking the client what the most important industry related websites and blogs are, and which ones his or her favorite are. Then I do some searching in the LinkedIn connections and Twitter followers of the client and some of his colleagues, and look for connections with these websites. If I find a match, explain to my client how he can use that connection and turn it into a link.\

Cuban’s talk of cornering the market in “specific categories” borders on the absurd. Even if it were possible to magically separate “news” from “non-news,” categories in search only exist as semantic concepts. Cuban citing mesothelioma is of itself both ironic and telling: solve the problem of news monetization by providing information that will generate high advertising revenue. That doesn’t sound like a paywall to me – it sounds more like the epitome of an open information funding model.

I wonder if any future Conservative governemt will force the BBC to drop SEO so as not to be ‘anti-competitive’? Or force them to stop offering web content outside the UK? I wouldn’t rule it out

Great analysis and some interesting points you raise. I agree that giving the advertiser the ability to bid different amounts to each network would be a step towards efficiency, and would benefit both the networks and the advertisers by reducing consumer surplus and maximizing utility.

Those networks which perform well, such as Google, AOL, Amazon and Comcast will see their bids increase, while under-performing networks such as eBay and Ask will see their bids reduce. Separating networks will stop the good performers subsiding the poor performers, so will create an incentive for the poorly performing networks to improve targeting and relevancy of traffic.

But as you point out – will it work in practice? Will it over-complicate paid search management?

Perhaps for some advertisers, who will inevitably continue to bid the same for each network. But I think the option to bid differently for each network is worthwhile, even for the minority of advertisers who would take the time to analyze the relative profitability of each network.

Network separation would provide an extra opportunity to stand out from the competition, reward insightful analysis and help make bids a better reflection of their true value.

I say bring it on.

Alan