Today’s search engine marketing news and opinion: Should Your SEO Strategy Target the Head or the Long Tail?; Report: Carol Bartz to Become Yahoo CEO; Obama to Nominate Former IAC Executive as FCC Chairman; and more.

Let me walk you through my two reactions to learning about the compensation package for newly appointed Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz.

First:

Your starting annual base salary will be at the rate of one million dollars ($1,000,000) per annum, less applicable taxes and withholdings…You will also be eligible to receive an annual target bonus of two hundred percent (200%) of your annual Base Salary…

My reaction? $1 million–maybe 2–to take over a company that is arguably in the sorriest state of its entire existence? I’d want at least $10 million on the table before I’d consider putting my good name alongside that mess.

Then I read:

Bartz, 60, could supplement her salary with a cash bonus up to $4 million, depending on Yahoo’s financial performance. She also is guaranteed a 2009 payment of $2.5 million in cash and $7.5 million in Yahoo stock…None of Bartz’s stock options will vest unless she can increase Yahoo’s stock price by at least 50 percent above the exercise price of her options.

All told, Bartz could earn a whopping $19 million, if she can come in and right the ship. This tells me two things.

1. The Yahoo board is smart enough to offer a package that only really rewards if Bartz excels as CEO.
2. Bartz is ultra confident that she can get Yahoo on track and its stock price back closer to $20.

Bartz may not be a big name–at least "not round these parts"–but clearly the signs are good that Yahoo’s not out for the count!

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Today’s search engine marketing news and opinion: Should Your SEO Strategy Target the Head or the Long Tail?; Report: Carol Bartz to Become Yahoo CEO; Obama to Nominate Former IAC Executive as FCC Chairman; and more.

Dow Jones reports new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s gut instinct is to hold on to Yahoo’s search business–and I tend to agree.

She apparently…

…told employees on Wednesday that she needs to better understand the pros and cons of selling the struggling Internet giant’s search business, but her gut instinct was not to.

While Yahoo Search may not show signs that it can compete with Google–and its recent acts are turning off advertisers–the psychological impact of dumping its search business could be huge. Without search, Yahoo would find it a lot tougher to gain the attention of the media and its (our) infatuation with all things search. Need proof? How often do we discuss AOL, since it pretty much gave up on the search race?

There may come a time when it will make sense for Yahoo to sell off its search division, but the company is beat-up and bruised right now. Just as I wouldn’t sell my home during the housing bust, Yahoo should take the time to sit back and decide if it really wants to get out of the search biz.

What do you think? Should Yahoo sell its search division or not?

I doubt that anyone (aside from maybe Sue Decker, the Yahoo President who announced her resignation in the official announcement of the new CEO) envies Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz. It’s going to take more than just business acumen to turn around the company’s failing fortunes—but does Bartz have what it takes?

Popular opinion is divided so far. Henry Blodget is pretty excited about her take-charge attitude and her track record of turning a failing company around.

The more we learn about Carol, the less she seems like the safe choice and the more she seems like the smart choice. We LOVED her attitude on yesterday’s short introductory conference call:

In Yahoo’s conference call this afternoon, she lectured everyone sternly to give Yahoo some “friggin’ breathing room” and also noted that the company “frankly, could use a little management.” (Swisher)

You go, girl.

John Paczkowski of All Things Digital calls Bartz “The ALL CAPS CEO” (as opposed to Jerry Yang, the “ceo”), but notes that some feel she doesn’t have enough experience with consumers or advertising.

Reuters says she lacks Web and deal-making experience.

Bartz, however, does not have an established reputation as a deal-maker and Yahoo investors regarded her appointment skeptically, with shares of the Internet search and advertising company dropping more than 3 percent during the trading day. . .

She is credited with increasing Autodesk’s revenue from $285 million to $1.5 billion during her 14-year tenure, as well as diversifying its business. Bartz, 60, built the company by buying small and medium-sized businesses, including a $444 million buyout of Discreet Logic in 1999.

“She seems to me to be more of a builder than a buyer-and-flipper,” Davis said. “I’m sure that plenty of people wanted to buy Autodesk over the years.”

Analysts lauded her for being a dextrous, capable and committed executive, but said that without any experience in the Internet sector, she would likely find it daunting to turn around Yahoo, which is a distant second to Google Inc in the search advertising market.

Reuters appears to look at her appointment as a sign that Yahoo will not be selling to Microsoft, instead opting to try to turn the company around on its own (and there seems to be some implication that this is a bad thing).

Now, none of us can predict the future, but from what we know about Carol Bartz, what do you think the new CEO means for Yahoo’s future?

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As rumored just a few days ago, Yahoo is expected to announce Carol Bartz as its next CEO. Bartz, the former chief executive of software company Autodesk Inc., will take over from Jerry Yang, according to the WSJ.

There’s no official word of the appointment–CNET suggests that Bartz has not yet accepted Yahoo’s offer–and Silicon Alley Insider has gone as far as to suggest that board politics played a major role in the selection decision:

[A] Yahoo executive went so far as to call Bartz a “board buddy” of Yahoo’s current top management, because she sits on the Intel board alongside Decker and with former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang on Cisco’s board.

We’ll wait for the official word, but everything suggests that Yahoo is ready to appoint a CEO with substance over flair.

In the meantime, we expect “Carol Bartz” to make an appearance on Google trends, as people try to figure out who she is.

What type of CEO do you think Yahoo needs? Calm and steady, or someone with more flair and willing to take risks?

According to the WSJ, Yahoo could be close to choosing a CEO that’s a safe bet, rather than a gamble.

Among candidates still under consideration is Carol Bartz, the former chief executive officer of Autodesk Inc., a publicly traded company that builds design software used in engineering. She’s “on the list,” said a person familiar with the matter…[and] would indicate that Yahoo is looking for a steady hand who has run a public company over someone with Internet and online advertising experience.

As the search continues, I can’t help compare it to the annual football coaching shuffle, which happens this time of year. Will the AD/manager pick someone on the rise? Someone with proven experience? Or, pick the offense coordinator in-situ–which rarely gets anyone excited.

What type of CEO do you think Yahoo needs right now?

PS. Carol Bartz should be grateful she wasn’t fired just for interviewing!