Dubai’s weather has been getting better and better by the day. I just missed the rain today but I loved the cool breeze on my walk home (Yup my crib is just 20 minutes walk away from office, how sweet is that?!).

So what’s up with this week’s Search Engine News? Well nothing much… We have announcements mostly from Google and let’s see 2 giants finalizing their collaboration deal. So let’s get on it…

I’d always start with my favorite updates and for this week it would have to be Matt Cutt’s presentation on the recent PubCon 2009. It was not an official announcement (which Google hardly does especially in disclosing search elements), but Matt Cutts discreetly implied  that site speed would be a possible ranking factor in 2010. Although I would assume site speed would not be a heavy-weighted ranking element, it will be a noteworthy action. Important note: we are not advocating that you do major changes on your site just to anticipate this update. But if you do build a site, redesign, re-brand, etc., do consider CSS, java, image files as well as codes and scripts that actually affect your site’s loading speed. This is Google’s attempt to make the web efficient and faster for users.

Which brings me to the next update – the SPDY Project. I’m not really a developer SEO hybrid (Yes, there are SEO Hybrids), you can see the technical details of the project on Google’s SPDY Whitepaper. I don’t know how to explain it in simple terms so I’m just going to quote Geek.Com’s description:

The project describes SPDY as a protocol that uses several methods to help improve web page load time through the use of HTTP header compression, prioritized requests and multiplexed data streams.

Another noticeable update on Google is the breadcrumbs rollout on their SERP’s. You won’t see this on all results yet because this is still a limited test. Personally, I think this is Google’s way of rewarding sites with excellent data architecture/structure. If you have great usability features for your visitors, then search engine spiders will benefit from such (of course that’s still a debatable theory). Whether or not Google will fully implement this feature in the weeks to come, only their engineers will know.

That’s enough of Big G, let’s take a look at Yahoo and Bing’s update. When we heard these 2 giants sign of a collaborative endeavor a few months back, almost everyone in the search industry was excited. I mean finally, someone has to stand up to Google and challenge its empire. But there weren’t definitive clauses on who will be in charge of which platforms. So last week Yahoo & Microsoft finally signed the definitive agreement that will govern both the search and advertising platforms. I’d be glad to see Microsoft’s technology and Yahoo’s content delivery performance together. (Psst Microhoo! Please keep Yahoo Site Explorer running, we still need it badly!)

There you go. That’s enough for last week’s search engine news. If I do have missed any important updates, you can drop us a comment or you can send us an email at news [at] seodubai [dot] org with the subject: “For Dave” (duh!)

Microsoft is said to pay $20 billion to acquire the second’ top search engine Yahoo. The proposal forms the centerpiece of a complex transaction that would see Microsoft support a new management team to take control of Yahoo. But there is no plan of Microsoft tabling another takeover bid for the web giant, after its aborted $47.5-billion offer this summer,”

A report from Sunday Times says that ex-chairman and chief executive of AOL and a former president of Fox Interactive Media, have been lined up to lead the new management team.

The Sunday Times said that under the terms of the proposed transaction, Microsoft would provide a $5billion facility to the Miller and Levinsohn management team. The duo would raise an additional $5-billion from external investors.

This cash would be used to buy convertible preference shares and warrants which would give it a holding in excess of 30 per cent of Yahoo, the report noted. “The external investors would also have the right to appoint three of Yahoo’s 11 board directors. The talks with Yahoo involve Microsoft obtaining a 10-year operating agreement to manage the search business. It would also receive a two-year call option to buy the search business for $20 billion. That would leave Yahoo to run its own e-mail, messaging, and content service,” The Sunday Times reported.

It is expected that the operating agreement would boost Yahoo’s income by as much as $2 billion per annum.

Analysts say it is an appropriate time for Microsoft and Yahoo to work on a new deal. There is a management vacuum at Yahoo after Jerry Yang, the group’s co-founder, said this month that he will step down as chief executive as soon as the board finds a successor. He opposed the earlier Microsoft deal and an advertising alliance with Google that he championed broke down because of competition worries.

Microsoft has now already made two unsuccessful attempts to buy Yahoo.