Tim just posted on his blog earlier this week that he's moving on from Yahoo! Knowing Tim, albeit not that well, I sat and thought about this for awhile. It brought up a number of interesting questions about our industry. I thought them worthy of comment.

Don't Judge a Book..

Tim is a pretty quiet guy. In fact, many readers of this column probably don't know who Tim is. Tim is the head of Yahoo's Anti Spam patrol, so he's a bit like the Matt Cutts of Yahoo. But not quite. While Tim came to Yahoo through the acquisition of Inktomi way back in 2003 he has generally let the spot light shine on his counterpart at Yahoo, the more vocal Tim Mayer. In an industry notorious for flocking the algorithmic cops at the major engines (see my first encounter with Mr. Cutts) Tim Converse can walk through most shows unscathed and unrecognized. In fact, it's only very recently that I've seen Tim participate on a panel at a show, at this fall's Pubcon in Vegas. Tim is not as comfortable as Tim Mayer or Matt Cutts in the public eye. He doesn't have the same practiced ease of the other Tim or the open charm of Matt, but it becomes quickly apparent that his brain is packed with algorithmic gold. This guy knows his stuff. And if you've ever had the chance to chat with Tim or read his blog, you'll find a razor sharp wit and some pretty deep thinking lies below that deceptively calm exterior.

Moving On

The post went live on Tim's blog on Monday. The well wishers that commented made it clear that while many may not know Tim Converse, those that do have a great deal of respect for him. Posters included Matt Cutts and Danny Sullivan. While Tim's announcement didn't elicit the same type of response that Danny did when he dropped his bombshell that he was moving on from the Search Engine Strategies franchise (imagine what would happen if Matt posted that he was leaving Google), one can't help but wonder what the impact on an already battle sore Yahoo might be. Certainly no one is irreplaceable but Tim was a definite asset in the relevancy war staged by the big three. He's looking forward to seeing the showdown continue, albeit from a distance: "Who is going to have the highest-quality general web search a year from now? I think it's still going to be a brutal battle between the current top three (including MSN), and the winner will be whoever can innovate and execute the fastest. I'm sorry I'm going to watch that particular game from the sidelines, because it's definitely not even halftime yet."

Hot Property

My other thought that came from Tim's departure is more a precursor to what will inevitably happen at all the major engines. The people who serve on the algorithmic side of the engines, such as Tim Converse, are privy to an extraordinary amount of proprietary information. Now with the introduction of quality scoring on the sponsored side, the same is true for these teams as well. At some point, all that knowledge is apt to walk out the front door and never return. I'm sure Yahoo's corporate legal department has a sheath of non disclosure and non compete agreements, but those have always been relatively hard to enforce when put to the test. This concern over trade secrets is certainly not unique to search, but with the importance of search for millions of marketers, it does put a universally recognized premium on the value of that knowledge. It's inevitable that others from all the three engines will follow Tim's lead and move along. When they do, they will suddenly find themselves hot properties, even if they tend to be quiet guys, a little on the shy side.


Gord Hotchkiss
President and CEO
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Blog: www.outofmygord.com

Copyright 2005 - Enquiro Search Solutions.