Big news in the world of search engine optimization this week, as Yahoo! announced their plans to shut down their Paid Inclusion program at the end of the year. The removal comes has part of Yahoo’s new partnership with Bing, which will switch Yahoo’s search platform to Bing’s algorithm. Yahoo’s Paid Inclusion program has been a controversial topic in the search industry since its advent in 2001. To read more about the history of Yahoo’s paid inclusion, check out Matt Kain’s ‘Eulogy for Yahoo’s SSP’, and for a discussion about how this change will effect SEO optimization, check out Otto’s blog post ‘ The Death Knell for Yahoo Paid Inclusion.’

Levinson Leaves Google Board

Google announced early this week that Arthur Levinson has left his position on the company’s board of directors, effective immediately. Levinson leaves his post of five years in the middle of a federal antitrust investigation into Google and Apple’s boards. The investigation has been ongoing since May 2009. Since then Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned his seat on the board of directors of Apple. Although no official explanation was given, some speculate that his resignation reflects growing tension between Apple and Google over competition in the mobile market. To read more about the topic, check out Cecilia Kang’s article in The Washington Post.

Shazam Attracts Kleiner Perkins

Shazam announced this week the popular mobile music discovery engine had reached the 50 million user milestone. This news was coupled with an announcement that Shazam will receive funding from Kleiner Perkins iFund, the same venture capital firm that backed Google and Amazon.

Digg’s Ad Commenting to Increase Revenue

Digg executives tripled their revenue expectations for the year based on the growing success of their ad commenting platform. The advertising platform was first introduced back in June 2009. It enables users to comment on advertisements the same way they interact with posted articles. To read more about why this platform has proven to be so popular and profitable, check out  Andrew LaVallee’s article in the Wall Street Journal.

Google’s Profits in Third Quarter Point to Growth in Search Ads

As economists all over the world argue about the future of America’s economy, Google surprised everyone this quarter with a 27% jump in profit. It is still unclear whether this improvement reflects overall economic progress or a rebound for the online advertising industry. To read more about how Google’s announcement reflects the economy at large, check out David Sarno’s article and to find out more about how other search engines are fairing, check out Miguel Helft’s article in the NYTimes.

Bits and Bolts

• Google Books saga got more interesting this week, when Barnes & Noble announced their plans to team up with Google Android to develop an eReader.
• Google removed PageRank data from its webmaster tools this week, making it a very dramatic week for SEO.
• AT&T and Google continue to squabble over Google Voice.
• In an interview with Steve Lohr, Internet Godfather Tim Berners-Lee confesses his one Internet regret.
• Urbanspoon introduced a new point-and-shoot restaurant finder iPhone application.
• Taiwan’s Acer became the first non-American computer company to rank as the #2 seller of personal computers. 
• Spigit is raising capital to begin offeringworkspace social network services to the small and medium businesses.