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February 28, 2007


Search Headlines & Links: Feb. 28, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 28, 2007, 10:52 PM | Permalink


Autobytel's MyRide.com: The Future of Automobile Search?

MyRide.com, set to debut during the second quarter of 2007, will offer consumers a comprehensive array of information related to "the automotive purchase and ownership lifecycle." Is the company that invented the automotive Internet now reinventing it? Greg Jarboe takes a look at what MyRide.com has to offer in today's SearchDay.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 28, 2007, 10:46 PM | Permalink


Google Holds Testapalooza

Google held an in company conference this week, gathering techies from their various departments. They assembled "engineers from Testing, Development, User Experience, and other groups to submit conference sessions: tool presentations, tutorials, workshops, panels, and experience reports", the Google testing blog reported.

Testapalooza was a big sucess, they reported in the blog.

"The idea for Testapalooza came out of discussions about how to build a vibrant testing community here at Google. Many diverse groups work daily on quality-related activities, but each group uses different tools and has different ideas for testing an application, so it can be difficult to find out what others are doing. So we decided to put on a conference!"

"All Testapalooza sessions were video recorded (many were videoconferenced to other offices). We want to publish as many of these videos as possible, and will review them over the coming weeks to publish sessions which did not contain any confidential information. Watch this space for more information on the videos."

Posted by Frank Watson on February 28, 2007, 9:11 PM | Permalink


Clicktracks CEO Interviewed

John Marshall, the highly respected CEO of Clicktracks, and I had chance to talk about analytics recently. Clicktracks is well known for it's analytics software solution.

While many people are familiar with Google Analytics, fewer people are aware that Clicktracks offers a free analytics solution as well, known as Clicktracks Appetizer. This is a great free tool that offers a powerful set of capabilities for users who want to have their analytics software analyze their log files instead of putting Javascript on their web site (which is something that Google Analytics requires).

John talks with me about a wide range of topics that may help you get a better idea of how to make use of web analaytics as a tool in your web promotional strategy.

Posted by on February 28, 2007, 7:44 PM | Permalink


Convera Offering New Search Tools

Convera Corporation, a leading provider of search technologies for publishers, announced their launch of the Convera Publisher Control Panel. This new tool is designed to help publishers to integrate vertical search tools into their sites.

The tool provides publishers with tools to tune results for their search engines, providing a broad range of editorial capabilities that enables publishers to develop very high quality vertical search tools for their sites. In addition, the Convera Publisher Control Panel allows the publisher to see detailed traffic information enabling them to further tune their results.

Convera has been providing enterprise search solutions for the past 20 years, with organizations served including the Department of Defense, Justice and Agriculture, and the FBI.

Posted by on February 28, 2007, 7:30 PM | Permalink


Yahoo's Yang and Semel Going On the Road

The beginning of March will be busy for Terry Semel and Jerry Yang - they are going on the talk circuit as it were. A press release I received today highlights two stops these Yahoo members of the board are making.

Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) will present at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference and Thomas Weisel Partners Internet & Digital Media Conference during the week of March 5, 2007.


Morgan Stanley Technology Conference
Terry Semel, Chairman and CEO
Susan Decker, EVP, Head of Advertiser and Publisher Group and
acting Chief Financial Officer
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
12:30pm Eastern Time / 9:30am Pacific Time.

Thomas Weisel Partners Internet & Digital Media Conference
Jerry Yang, Co-Founder and Chief Yahoo
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
6:15pm Eastern Time / 3:15pm Pacific Time.

A live webcast of both presentations will be available on the Investor Relations website at http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/calendar.cfm?CalendarID=5.

Can't hurt solidify their stock which has been getting good reviews lately.

Posted by Frank Watson on February 28, 2007, 3:59 PM | Permalink


Google Ad Sales Exec Exits

Patrick Keane, until recently the head of advertising sales strategy at Google, has left to become executive VP and chief marketing officer at CBS Interactive. Keane will help CBS implement systems to market and sell its content on emerging media platforms and expand the company's roster of advertisers, according to a press release. Keane joined Google four years ago, having previously been a VP and senior analyst at Jupiter Research, covering the online advertising space.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 28, 2007, 2:49 PM | Permalink


Yahoo Adds NOYDIR Tag

Finally we get to undo the silly descriptions the Yahoo directory editors foisted upon us.

I mean DMOZ edits were bad, but the Yahoo ones seemed like they were written by someone composing a telegram. I have about 5 or 6 descriptions that are all of 8 words....

So we can now get Yahoo to use our carefully crafted descriptions (well that is another story). The implications of these recent moves are important.

Let's get the Yahoo statements out of the way first. They released this through their blog:

We're adding support for the Meta tag called ‘NOYDIR' that will complement the ‘NOODP' Meta tag, which we already support. If you're unfamiliar, the ‘NOODP' Meta tag is basically a way for webmasters to indicate that Open Directory Project (ODP) titles and abstracts will not be used in search results for their pages. While we continue to pull from various sources to provide the best title and abstract for a given page in search results, we realize that webmasters may still want the ability to exclude titles and abstracts from the Yahoo! Directory. So, as promised, we're providing support for ‘NOYDIR' which will recognize the following Meta tags on your pages:

or

For pages with this tag, we will not use Yahoo! Directory titles or abstracts for your URL in web search results. This will grant webmasters the ability to participate in the Yahoo! Directory Submit program and benefit from inclusion in the Yahoo! Directory, while maintaining control over URL titles and abstracts in search. This will not have any effect on the Yahoo! Directory Search experience, which will continue to use the Yahoo! Directory and title abstract information.

We are re-indexing content on the web to launch this change, and you should immediately begin to see the changes on Yahoo! US, Yahoo! Japan and Yahoo! Korea. (Other regions will roll-out in the future.) This will be accompanied by the usual ranking changes and page shuffling that is typical of weather updates.

There are two MAJOR points mentioned in this information.

First, we now have the ability to have our description tags used in organic results. The ability to more directly determine how people perceive us is critical for effective marketing as well as AB testing, etc. How the choice of words in the description impact rankings can now be tested directly.

Second, and more importantly, Yahoo states there will be ranking changes from this... a strong indicator that either they will no longer use the directory listing as a major impact on ranking or the description tag is being given more importance or it had impact but the directory listing kept it in check.

Either way there are changes coming and things to play with.... you have to love this industry.

Insights, impacts or comments? Jump in!

UPDATE: The great people in the Yahoo PR Department ran down some answers to a few questions for me last night...

Will using the NOYDIR tag default organic descriptions to the onpage
description if filled out? If so how many characters wuill it be
limited to?

The NOYDIR tag will take the Yahoo! dir and title out of contention, we
could still use the ODP t&d, page t&d, anchor text etc. There are no
changes to what organic description guidelines are from before

Does using the NOYDIR tag stop any link love from the directory listing
itself?

No, the directory listing link credit will still carry.

Has Yahoo checked how this may impact other search spiders when reading
the tag?

No, we also noted this on the comments section on the blog post.

Your blog entry mentions changes coming to the organic results. Does
this mean not using the tag will lower sites or will possible more
keyword rich descriptions possibly improve some listings?

This is a regular weather update related to a new index launch without
any other implied effects...

Posted by Frank Watson on February 28, 2007, 2:49 PM | Permalink


Panama from a Big Agency Perspective

Avenue A | Razorfish put Yahoo's Panama platform through the paces this month, and has shared some data from 33 search clients in an article on its Search Marketing Trends site, "Yahoo Panama First Look."

Some highlights:

  • Search Impressions – Up an average of 5%
  • Cost Per Click – Down an average of 6%
  • Click Rate – Up an average of 10%
  • Conversion Rates – Down an average of 5%
  • Overall CPA – Up an average of 6%

The agency stresses that there is still a wide variance in data across clients, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 28, 2007, 1:51 PM | Permalink


Mobile, Video Search Ads Set to Grow?

After digging deeper into the results of its "State of Search Engine Marketing 2006" report, SEMPO has revealed that a majority of respondents in the North American study said they were interested in mobile and video search, but few were willing to pay more for those ads.

That's not surprising, given human nature -- if you ask someone if they'd like to pay more or less for something, I'd assume that most would choose "less." What's more interesting is the level of interest from marketers, indicating that these ad models may be farther along than some would think.

SEMPO reports that 66 percent of respondents say they would be interested in contextually targeted advertising attached to video search results. Of those marketers, 53 percent want contextual video ads, compared to 33 percent who want contextual text ads attached to video clips. For mobile, SEMPO found that 60 percent of respondents are interested in contextually targeted ads delivered to mobile search users.

Dana Todd, president of SEMPO, says she's cautiously optimistic on the future of mobile search.

"Advertisers go where the audience is interacting. In the U.S., the fact that everybody is carrying a cell phone is less important than what they're doing with it. Right now, they're using them in rudimentary ways, for communication, and for playing games and listening to music," Todd told SEW.

Todd pointed to a recent comScore study, which found that cell phone Internet usage is an activity for the young. That study found that 29 percent of respondents in the 25-34 demographic and 23 percent of 18-24 year olds currently subscribe to a cell phone Internet service, while only 13 percent of adults over 35 do so.

"Until users find it's a useful environment, we're not going to see significant play, but there's still a market there," Todd said. "This is an area where local search has the most promise. We need to look at how users are interacting with their phones, and find a way to engage them there."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 28, 2007, 11:19 AM | Permalink


SEO Is Easy...and Hard

Reduced to its simplest form, SEO is a four-step process: set some ground rules; get your site right; post some great content; and earn inbound links. Sounds easy, until you try to do it. PJ Fusco offers some tips for in-house search marketers on how to go about making it work in her latest ClickZ column, DIY SEO.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 28, 2007, 10:30 AM | Permalink


Step Right Up, Start A Community Site

Maybe community sites are the next wave for entrepreneurs. Now anyone can invite their extended neighbors into a closed community and begin making money, right? We wish it were that easy.

In yesterday's WSJ, there's an interesting article (subscription required) about several niche sites that grew into something meaningful. What these sites share in common is a loyal and active user base. Otherwise, they seem quite different.

Stick To Targets:

First there's QuentinsFriends.com, a marketplace site for younger New Yorkers that's akin to Craig's List. It charges membership fees and accepts members via referrals. Next is ASmallWorld.net, which helps diplomats and other travelers find each other. It's ad-based and free but also controls invitations. Finally, MothersClick.com addresses the concerns of new parents. It's also ad-based yet open for registration.

These sites are experiencing success on a niche scale. They focus on meeting the needs of members who share similar demographics and interests. People can ask questions, make posts, or participate in transactions. Perhaps it's the small-town feel that makes these sites work.

Flash back to 2005, when we were all exploring the potential targeting opportunities for vertical search. There was even going to be a vertical search destination for left-handed dog walkers, right? Maybe not, but a large variety of vertical search destinations didn't come to pass either.

Keep Them Active:

Community sites may be targeted like search sites, but the similarity ends there. These are destinations which seek far higher levels of participation. At some point, there's enough activity to keep things interesting for active users.

Reporter David Enrich says that the main obstacle to the ongoing success of niche sites is the profit motive. The balancing act between revenue and membership growth may wipe out “the niche player aura that made the sites attractive in the first place.”

However I'm not sure that community sites are more trustworthy or successful because they're smaller. Their success may hinge on sticking to their main mission of social participation, without adding extra functionality. Another reason for success may be some rate of natural turnover and freshness among the members, which keeps the sites more vibrant.

Who knows? Maybe these communities and others like them are considered hip places by their audiences now. When other hip places open, some will stagnate or close due to diminished interest in them. We have all followed the herds before.

Posted by on February 28, 2007, 1:36 AM | Permalink


Jump On The Video Distribution Bandwagon

Right now, web publishers of all stripes are busy developing video to entertain or inform visitors. The best video content engages your visitors and encourages them to spend additional time on your site.

In the rush to develop your site, you may not have focused on other traffic opportunities for your professionally-produced video. That rich video content can provide additional revenue streams outside your own domain.

In the old world order, this is called syndication. As an intellectual property holder, you sign contracts which grant licensing rights to others. In return, these licensees pay you based on where the video is shown, audience levels, specific channels, number of plays, and time periods.

In the age of YouTube, your audience is getting used to finding videos there and across the web. Thus it makes sense to solicit help from your site visitors. Encourage them to embed your videos on their own sites, blogs and pages. With ad pre-rolls and sponsorships attached to your own videos, you'll earn incremental revenue from this extended audience.

Fortunately the barriers to hosting video have fallen lately. Since you already host video on your own site, consider extending that support when it's embedded on other sites. Check out StreamingMedia.com, one of the better resources for tips and contacts.

Why go through this effort? Dan Rayburn presents a wake-up call in Broadcasting & Cable, telling publishers they should not “risk their videos' being marketed by other media outlets like bloggers and those who can drive traffic and awareness.” Publishers are advised to control their content distribution, so they can easily adjust their advertising as well.

External distribution isn't reserved for the biggest publishers anymore. It's true that some entertainment companies have been reacting to YouTube in recent weeks and going it alone. However this is an important matter for all video producers who want to maximize traffic and revenue opportunities – wherever their video appears.

Posted by on February 28, 2007, 12:58 AM | Permalink

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