If your site has been buried under a heap of results, there may be a good reason for it. Google, which partially bases its search results on inbound links, has made life difficult for some marketers by declaring war on paid link sites.

While Google has always banned paid links, the search giant now seems serious about enforcing the rules.

OK, it's not technically classified as SEO news, but it affects something we hold very dear and therefore deserves to brought to the public's immediate attention.

In a Special Report from CNET's Cutting Edge, Caroline McCarthy reveals that beer production is under threat.

An Associated Press report details the findings from climate scientist Jim Salinger, who presented his research at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling's annual convention in Wellington, New Zealand. The grim results?

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January 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

RESTON, VA, February 21, 2008– comScore, Inc.(NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the search marketplace. January 2008 saw Americans conduct more than 10 billion core searches, representing a significant jump in activity versus December.

January 2008 U.S. Core Search Rankings

In January, Google Sites marginally extended its share of core searches to 58.5 percent. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 22.2 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.8 percent), AOL LLC (4.9 percent), and Ask Network (4.5 percent).

SUNNYVALE, Calif -- Yahoo Inc.(YHOO)has formally rejected Microsoft Corporation's (MSFT) $44.6 billion takeover bid as inadequate. The response had been expected after Yahoo's intentions were leaked over the weekend.

Yahoo's rebuff raises the stakes in a battle involving two of the world's most prominent technology companies.

Many analysts expect Microsoft to raise its offer by $5 billion to $12 billion to entice Yahoo to sell. Yahoo is believed to want a bid of at least $56 billion, or about $40 per share.

Microsoft's first offer, which was made public Feb. 1, was originally valued at $31 per share. Microsoft also could take its bid directly to Yahoo shareholders.

The decision could provoke a showdown between two of the world's most prominent technology companies with Internet search leader Google Inc. looming in the background. Leery of Microsoft expanding its turf on the Internet, Google already has offered to help Yahoo avert a takeover and urged antitrust regulators to take a hard look at the proposed deal.

They aren't going to get it

One of Yahoo's big institutional investors chatted with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about sweetening the deal.

With Microsoft's stock price drifting down since announcing interest in acquiring Yahoo last week, the company with the most to make on the buyout wants to know if Microsoft will toss a little more money at Yahoo shareholders.

The New York Post said Capital Research and Management asked if there would be a new offer if Yahoo rejects what is on the table now. Yahoo's board is rumored to be in discussion over the offer today.