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May 2008

Google Launches Google Merchant Search

Google Merchant Search has quietly launched as a test program to compare products and services in shopping comparison engine fashion. Google Merchant Search is a test feature, apparently in the UK, and is not available for every search. You may see it when conducting some searches but not others.

Lead gen providers like Bankrate.com in financial services, one of Google's largest customer segments, can't be too pleased with Google offering a free service that competes indirectly with theirs.

Our friends over at SearchEngineLand had the story first with "Outing Google Merchant Search" as if GMS were in the closet.

Here's the view from Google and their FAQ for Google Merchant Search.

What is Google Merchant Search?

Google Merchant Search is an easy new way for you to find products or services from providers who match your needs.

What products or services are supported through Google Merchant Search?

The service is currently only available for secured loans from financial services providers.

How do you choose which providers to show me?

Our search results are based on the criteria you provided in your request; we compare your request with our list of participating providers, and show those that are most relevant for you. Participating providers pay Google when someone requests a quote through this system.

How does Google connect me to the provider?

You submit your contact details and request a time to speak to the provider. A Google operator will call you at the appointed time, then connect you with the provider. Because we do not share your contact information with the provider, they won't be able to contact you again about your request unless you decide to give then your contact details.

How much does it cost to use Google Merchant?

This service is free for the user (the person searching for services). Please note that when calling the free phone number from a mobile phone, operator or carrier charges may apply.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 30, 2008, 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most Irrelevant Google News Story of the Day

We know how fascinated people are by every move that Google makes. Google experiments on a daily basis. We're glad. It gives us something to do.

Sometimes, though, we think people get carried away with reporting Google news. It's like the song "Every Breath You Take" by The Police.

So here's our contribution: the most irrelevant Google news story of the day.

Google has apparently changed its "favorite icon" or favicon from an upper-case G to a lower-case G, as shown here blown up by 300 percent.

Granted, it may be a slow news day but does this story deserve play in Search Engine Roundtable, SearchEngineLand and SearchEngineWatch? If we're wrong and this is a life-changing event for you, let us know.

"Every move you make Every step you take Ill be watching you

Ill be watching you
Ill be watching you
Ill be watching you
Ill be watching you..."

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 30, 2008, 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Adsense Video Units Now Available in 8 More Countries

When Google announced the addition of video units to Adsense, it only rolled out the program only to U.S. Adsense users. A month later, the program was expanded to the UK, Ireland and Canada. Now, the program includes 8 additional countries, and here they are:

France
Italy
Spain
Australia
Netherlands
Poland
New Zealand
Japan

Hat tip to Australian SEW reader David Webb, who noticed the change.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 30, 2008, 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Testing Applies to Widgets and Accessories, Not Just Landing Pages

The Google Website Optimizer blog is serving up a helpful tip on testing widgets and other site accessories.

They gave an example of a popcorn company that tested their current trust seal against an upgraded one they were being pitched. The test also included a factor where there was no seal shown to visitors.

Having no seal at all performed poorly. But there was little difference between the old trust seal and the upgraded one. The popcorn company was able to put their money to better use than having a new seal on their site.

Do you test your widgets? Have any tips? Leave your advice in the comments!

Related Reading:
SEO Conversion Testing: Advanced Search Engine Optimization
Testing Landing Pages Includes Testing Best Practices

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 30, 2008, 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Need Sitelinks? Show Google Your Site Is Useful

Not all sites are blessed with Google sitelinks. Google only shows them when its algorithms determine they'd be useful. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Need Sitelinks? Show Google Your Site Is Useful," Chris Boggs and Frank Watson share some ideas on making your site useful, and addressing your site's structure to make sure Google can see that.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 30, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Winning the Local Search Battle

Consumers are shifting from "what to buy" category searches to "where to buy" phrases. With that specificity comes a higher propensity to purchase. In today's Vertical Search column, "Winning the Local Search Battle," local search expert Gregg Stewart looks at some of the publishers who are winning the local search charge.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 30, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Maps Spotcrime.com Mashup

No, this isn't the latest update of Google Maps Guide to Grand Theft Auto IV.

This is the real deal: Manhattan crime committed in New York, NY and depicted over a two month period from April 2008 to the end of May, 2008.

Spotcrime.com claims it's the most comprehensive online source of crime information. The site is probably right. They offer local maps, crime reports, crime classifications, and real-time interactive maps.

Soon you'll be able to find the exact location of the Manhasset High School lockdown as reported by News 12 Long Island, where two students were found at the Manhasset high school carrying firearms.

Spotcrime.com is a Google Maps mashup. Sure Google I/O and 3D apps have drawn all the media attention lately. We thought it would be worthwhile to keep our readers safe in this dangerous world.

You have your choice of crime alerts if you're interested in a particular illegal act, or if you need to brush up on definitions of illegal acts, Crimespot.com offers a handy index of crimes:

SpotCrime.com Crime Classifications

* Theft - The act in which property belonging to another is taken without that person's consent.

* Burglary - The criminal offense of breaking and entering a building illegally for the purpose of committing a crime in that building.

* Robbery - Using force or intimidation to take property away from another person in the presence of that person.

* Assault - A physical attempt or threat to use violence with the intent to do harm to another.

* Arson - The crime of intentionally setting fire to a building or property of another or the burning of one's own property to collect insurance.

* Shooting - The act of firing a weapon in order to hit, wound, or kill someone or something.

* Vandalism - The intentional destruction of or damage to the property of another.

* Arrest - The seizure of an alleged or suspected offender to answer for a crime.

Plus, you can drill down to see the details of the crime. Oh look, here's one that occurred uptown just from last week:

Shooting - 126th St and Lenox Ave, New York, NY 2008-05-26

EMS command is reporting 10 people shot in total. During this situation multiple foot pursuits, random gunfire, and a RMP MVA took place. Several large pockets of crowds are within the confines this large scene. Ems command has given a general summarization describing the victims as either yellow or green tag patients.

Of course, if you're a criminal it doesn't hurt to know what neighborhoods have been overfished by your fellow criminal element. It's all here for you at Crimespot.com, with new service available on the iPhone.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 29, 2008, 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo to File White Proxy Card with SEC

Yahoo is urging its shareholders to use the white proxy card to vote for the current board, which the company has nominated to continue serving for the coming year. Additionally, Yahoo is advising shareholders to read the proxy statement that will be filed with the SEC.

Here's the statement from the Yahoo corporate blog:

Yahoo! will be filing a definitive proxy statement and accompanying WHITE proxy card with the SEC in connection with the solicitation of proxies for its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Stockholders are strongly advised to read Yahoo!'s 2008 definitive proxy statement when it becomes available because it will contain important information. Stockholders will be able to obtain copies of Yahoo!'s 2008 definitive proxy statement and other documents filed by Yahoo! with the SEC in connection with its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or at the Investor Relations section of Yahoo!'s website at yhoo.client.shareholder.com. Yahoo!, its directors, and certain of its officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in connection with Yahoo!'s 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Information concerning Yahoo!'s directors and officers is available in its preliminary proxy statement filed with the SEC on May 22, 2008.

Related Reading:
Yahoo Confirms Icahn Proxy Fight
Microsoft Puts New Yahoo Deal on Table: Full Text

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2008, 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Joins OpenSocial

At the All Things Digital conference, AOL announced that it would be joining Google's OpenSocial. AOL recently acquired social network Bebo, which had already joined OpenSocial. First up will be the adoption of gadgets on myAOL.com.

Writing on the OpenSocial blog, AOL Principal Software Engineer Eric Staats said, "We're excited to work toward supporting Gadgets and OpenSocial across AOL's many products, platforms and services. By working with Google and other leaders in the industry to create products based on a more open, uniform standard, AOL and AOL users will be able to safely take advantage of a wide variety of new applications within our products that have been built by developers around the world.

Related Reading:
Google, Yahoo & MySpace Team Up for OpenSocial
Microsoft Tries to Compete with OpenSocial

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2008, 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Obama's Online Ad Spend Favors Google, Top Source of Donations

Kate Kaye at Clickz has done some in-depth analysis of the online ad spending of Democrat Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator has spent $3.47 million this year in online advertising.

Of that, $2.8 million went to Google while Yahoo received $180,000. Smaller amounts also went to Facebook, CNN.com, Gothamist, and Politico.

Google, of course, dominates the online advertising market, so it's a smart play by anyone to spend with them. But Google just happens to be number 13 on OpenSecrets.org list of top donors. The list compiles monies donated by corporate political action committees and individuals (who must report who they work for when contributing).

Related Reading:
Presidential Candidates Need Some Help with their Reputations
Clinton, McCain, Obama: Drilling Down on Local in Campaign '08

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2008, 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

comScore Acquires M:Metrics

comScore has acquired mobile measurement company M:Metrics. The acquisition will include three measurement products:

MobiLens is a syndicated monthly online survey that captures overall mobile phone usage of a representative sample of more than 40,000 mobile device users.

MeterDirect is an on-device meter that passively measures the mobile Internet behavior and media consumption of more than 4,000 existing Smartphone panelists on more than 280 device models.

M:Ad is a mobile ad tracking service that continuously monitors clickable display advertising.

“With the substantial growth of 3G devices and Internet friendly handsets, we believe we are now at an inflection point in Internet usage on mobile devices,” said Dr. Magid Abraham, comScore's president and chief executive officer. “Our acquisition of M:Metrics makes comScore an immediate market leader in this space and positions comScore to deliver significant shareholder value as wireless carriers, telecom equipment providers, media companies, advertising agencies, online publishers, and marketers extend their reach into the mobile Internet world.”

Related Reading:
ComScore Launches Search Marketing Intelligence Service
New Research Product Tracks from Search to Sale

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2008, 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ascent of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hilary: New Google Logo

Google has created a logo on its homepage to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary's ascent of Mt Everest, the world's highest mountain..

Sir Edmund Hilary, a New Zealand native, died in January. His ascent of Mt. Everest, with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first to reach the peak.

The only problem?

The logo is only visible on the Australian and New Zealand Google homepages:

* Google.co.au

* Google.co.nz

Google celebrates special events and anniversaries by changing its logo, much as the Empire State Building changes its lighting scheme to celebrate holidays.

UPDATE: The logo appears to be showing up on Google's home pages worldwide.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 29, 2008, 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

SEW Experts: Five Traits of the Ideal Link Builder

If you've decided to expand your team, or perhaps hire your first link marketer, there are some important qualities to look for in potential hires. In today's Link Building column, "Five Traits of the Ideal Link Builder," Justilien Gaspard outlines those five traits, which can help you identify candidates that are most likely to be successful and productive members of your link marketing team.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 29, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Microsoft Search CashBack: Stealing from Google?

Microsoft announced it will give cash back to people who use Live Search and subsequently click-through and make a purchase. In today's Building Brand Equity column, "Microsoft Search CashBack: Stealing from Google?," Erik Qualman notes that the Live Search CashBack program just might steal that cash (in the form of market share) back from Google.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 29, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Matt Cutts: Can You Help A Brother Get A Lap Dance?

Figured the title would get Matt's attention. Okay Matt I need some help. I have been hired by an adult entertainment site to build their presence online - get better rankings etc.

I need to build their inbound links and want to make sure I am not wasting my time and their money. So before I started I did a search for your comments on directory submissions, paid links (well everyone knows that opinion), reciprocal links, bad neighborhoods (of the IP kind - not the seedy parts of towns where my client's businesses are located) and your example site review post.

So I began to think that I may not be able to do much for them. In general adult content has a bad rap in our industry - the job no one wants to take on for fear of the association - but it is also the industry that has been 'gaming' the system for the longest and thus most neighborhoods have been marked bad.

What's a guy to do Matt?

Directory listings seem to be one way. But how do we really know which ones are still considered any good and are the adult areas of some of the bigger directories taken with a TON of salt?

Could Google set up a Monitored By Google program? Why not give a Good Search Keeping Seal of Approval? Since directories should be an important part of deeper search results, if there was a system or established list maybe the work on one end could help in other areas of the fight against spam.

I know I am going to hear: "Google does not want to classify good and bad" or some variation of that, but we are being told to use no follow - so maybe other rules and system checks could help this.

Given the basis of the Google algorithm is link based and your job is to fight back the constant spamming, some sort of system could help people.

Interestingly, as I did my searches I did find a lot of people using your name to promote themselves, the one by submit edge is particularly good. They are 2 and 3 for Matt Cutts Directory Submissions and offer to get you in to hundreds of directories for a fee. Despite their SEO efforts I am thinking they may not be a good investment.

There are millions of directories, hell I started dozens back in the day. But if you are going to push your way up the rankings you need links.

I want to do it the right way, so am reaching out to you Matt for some advice. I could do a hoax press release about some gossipy fake story - hey include a porn star and a search industry leader (Danny smart move introducing me to your wife now I can't use you) and I will get a lot of links.

I have read your advice to use common sense when looking at directories but unless I am building the ultimate "good directory list" it is an endless job and one that is still subjective.

Hell, I am sure the people below still do not share the views they once stated:

Rand may not still think:

What does suck, imo, is that Google doesn't want to recognize more legitimate sources of paid links - I'm not talking about link brokers, but about sponsored links on particular sites or in directories, etc.

The belief that a link should not be counted as a vote if someone paid for it is a very dangerous idea. Imagine the link structure of the web without the influence of paid or monetarily influenced links. It would be a very, very different environment and I wonder if Google really believes it would be a better one. It's particularly egregious since their business model is serving links to paid sponsors, but they don't want folks doing it on their blogs or sites unless they add "nofollow" and remove some of the value of that link... Seems highly hypocritical to me.

Jill Whallen:

Come to think of it, it's just not fair that Google doesn't want to count my link farm links as links. Google sucks and so does Matt Cutts.

Okay that one was a joke - don't shoot me Jill.

Time has changed what w do. Would love some insight into where directories stand now as a link building tool.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 28, 2008, 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

China Real Estate Search Engine Launches in English Before Beijing Olympics

Jipingmi.com, a real estate search engine in China, officially launched an English version of the site yesterday. English.Jipingmi.com collects real estate property listings from a variety of English property listing sources and organizes the results into a single search platform.

The sophistication of the search engine falls somewhere between Craigslist and Craigslist, with a 2-D Google Maps thrown in. Tremendous opportunity remains in the Chinese real estate market online.

Since the launch of Jipingmi.com (Mandarin for "How many square meters?" or "A few square meters") in late 2007, Jipingmi.com has become the stripped-down Zillow or Trulia of the Chinese real estate search engine market. Jipingmi.com now hopes to open the platform to international users.

Jipingmi Co-founder and VP Strategic Development, Alex Farfurnik said English.Jipingmi.com will organize the foreign real estate market in China:

"There are over 6 million foreigners living in China, and the number is constantly growing. All these people need housing solutions and often turn to the internet to look for related information. The number of websites that provide real estate listings is increasing rapidly as well. There are more and more Chinese and foreign companies aiming to target foreign clients.

"Currently the foreign real estate market in China is very fragmented and there is a growing need to organize this market. Altogether, this makes it a perfect time for Jipingmi to come in and assist the market by using its superior technology and industry knowledge to help and connect all sides: home seekers, foreign targeted companies and English websites in China." Mr. Farfurnik said.

Jipingmi Co-founder and Co-CEO, Guy Sivan said English Jipingmi.com is designed specially to suit the unique needs of the foreign real estate market in China.

"The English version of Jipingmi.com was designed with the target market in mind. Understanding that the local knowledge of many foreigners is limited, English.jipingmi.com provides several creative features to assist home seekers including map-based navigation and housing complex information for housing complexes that are most relevant to foreigners. The Interface of English.Jipingmi.com was completely redesigned and looks entirely different from the Chinese website in order to answer the unique needs of the foreigners In China." Mr. Sivan said.

English.Jipingmi.com is plans to provide special features for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, such as short-term rentals. An estimated 500,000 foreigners will stay in Beijing during the Olympics.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 28, 2008, 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Launches Google Earth API and Browser Plug-in

In the escalating war over the planet Earth between Google and Microsoft, Google has opened up Google Earth for development.

Today at the Google I/O developers conference, Google launched the Google Earth API and browser plug-in. The Google Earth API enables web developers to Web pages into 3D map apps.

Google points to the rise of the Geoweb, a collection of user-generated content (UGCe.g. photos, videos) associated with a location.

The Google Maps API, with over 150,000 developer sites, and the Google Earth client, with over 400 million downloads, promise to help users visualize this Geoweb of content.

Key features from the Google Earth team:

• Embed Google Earth inside any web page with only a few lines of code.

• Use the JavaScript API to enable rich Earth-based web applications.

• Manipulate KML and the 3D environment: create polygons, lines, placemarks, and more.

• Convert your existing Google Maps API site to 3D with as little as one line of code.

• View the thousands of existing 3D buildings, or add your own 3D models.

• Switch to Google Sky mode for high-res imagery of stars, planets, and galaxies.

Google has yet to launch a desktop telescope to keep pace with Microsoft but opening up the API should yield some innovative applications.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 28, 2008, 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SES San Jose: Speaker Deadlines

Search Engine Strategies San Jose is fast approaching, and as Kevin Ryan outlined earlier this month, the SES San Jose speaker deadlines are coming up:

Deadline for new session pitches: May 31, 2008.
Deadline for speaker pitches: June 15, 2008.

To submit your idea for a session, or your services as a speaker, use this online form. For more details, check out Kevin's post to the Search Engine Strategies Blog.

Remember, even past speakers will need to submit a pitch, so if you're sitting around waiting for your invitation, you'll be left out in the cold.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 28, 2008, 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Rolls Out Search Index Update

If you're seeing a shift in your Yahoo rankings, you're not alone. Yahoo has announced that it is rolling out updates to its search index.

Writing on the Yahoo Search blog, Priyank Garg and Sharad Verma said, "We'll be rolling out some changes to our crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the next few days, but expect the update will be completed soon. As you know, throughout this process you may see some ranking changes and page shuffling in the index."

Have you noticed a difference? The last time website owners noticed a difference in Yahoo was the middle of April. Let us know what you're seeing in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2008, 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Belgian Newspapers Want $77.5 million in Damages from Google

A Belgian newspaper group has filed a suit asking for $77.5 million in damages from Google. The group, Copiepresse, claims Google has violated copyright law by publishing their pages on Google News and caching pages from their websites.

Copiepresse first brought a suit in 2006 and The Court of First Instance in Brussels sided with the newspaper group. Google has appealed, but removed the pages from its News and main search sites.

But Google began indexing the pages on its main site again, which drove Copiepresse to bring its latest suit. Google maintains that its search products are legal.

What do you think of Copiepresse's lawsuits? Think they should just slap a robots.txt file on their site? Tell us how it is in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2008, 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Gates: Microsoft will Build World's Best Search Engine

Last year, Bill Gates announced that his focus for his remaining full-time work at Microsoft would be search. But the job is not yet done and now he's announced that search will be a projects he will be involved with post-retirement (besides his Chairmanship). Buried in the stories about Windows 7 and its multitouch abilities is a statement from the software giant's founder about his vision for the future of Microsoft's search.

"I'm very involved in search, the internal development," he told the audience at the D6 conference. "We will build the world's best search."

Do you think Gates can pull it off? Discuss in the comments.

via BBC News

Related Reading:
Microsoft Launches Live Search Cashback and Live Search Farecast
Microsoft to Bring Advertising to Live Search Mobile

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2008, 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

SEW Experts: Forget Competition, the Search Wars are Over

Advertisers love competition because (arguably) costs will be driven down. In the single search environment that already exists in many countries around the world, search advertising costs are set by one entity. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Forget Competition, the Search Wars are Over," Kevin Ryan wonders if maybe we shouldn't count the other (non-Google) search engines out just yet.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 28, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reinstalling My PC, Part 2: Secure Your PC, For Free!

Once the most popular reasons for reinstalling your operating system is that it is often the easiest way to deal with a preponderance of viruses, spyware and other collected nasties that find their way onto your computer. So when reinstalling, it make sense to secure your like-new PC as best as possible. Here are five programs that make that possible.

AntiVirus – AVG Free
The most important security measure you can take on a new computer is protecting against viruses and Trojans. That's where anti-virus software comes in. AV software, usually, runs in the background of your computer, analyzes new files received via email, downloaded or elsewhere to make sure they are safe. You can also schedule it to check your computer for viruses it may have missed, or manually check whenever you want.
For AV software to be good, it needs to stay up-to-date. For it to be tolerable to the user, it needs to run lightly in the background, and it needs to easily offer the user options to override it when it's too aggressive, as nearly all anti-virus programs have been reporting too many false positives lately. AVG's Free version accomplishes all that—and does it for free. Runner ups include NOD32, Kaspersky and BitDefender.

Anti-Spam – SpamBayes
Viruses may be the most dangerous problem possible affecting your computer, but Spam is probably the annoying. According to Akismet, nearly 90% of all email received is Spam. That comes out to 1,000 spam messages per day for an average user. While most of that Spam is trapped on your mail server, more than enough makes it through to your email reader, clogging up your folders, slowing down your email downloads and generally making finding real emails that much more annoying and tedious.

That are plenty of solutions for combating Spam, including the filters built into Microsoft Outlook, but I'm a big fan of SpamBayes. I've been using the open-source SpamBayes filter for more than five years now, ignoring newer and flashier filters. Why? Well, for one, it just works. It catches nearly all my Spam, and I get very few false positives. The way it works is also significant; like the name suggests, SpamBayes draws its power by using Bayesian algorithms to determine what is spam and what is ham. Simply stated: SpamBayes learns from you. Every time you tag a message as spam or ham, SpamBayes analyzes the email for clues as to what makes spam and what comprises ham. The more emails you tag, the smarter it gets.
SpamBayes is easily added on to Outlook, other desktop mail applications, webmail or even to your mail server. Set up is a breeze (just tag a few emails and go) and the program is light and fast.

Anti-Spyware – Ad-Aware and SpyBot
If viruses are dangerous and spam is annoying, spyware is the unholy marriage of the two; it slows down your computer, hijacks your home page and—as its name suggests—spies on you. It certainly annoys you, and can be very dangerous, either leaving your PC susceptible to viruses or stealing private data from you. Above all, it is intrusive. And it comes from some unlikely sources: companies you know, love and trust.
But you don't have to succumb to it. Anti-virus programs like AVG will prevent most spyware programs from lodging on your computer, but there is more you can do. Firstly, read the End User License Agreement (EULA) on every new software program you install. Don't just blindly click ‘Next' when installing new programs. Secondly, download the above two programs: Ad-Aware and SpyBot. Both will scan your computer for spyware, adware and malware programs, and offer you the option of removing the programs they find. The free version of Ad-Aware won't protect your PC in real-time, but you can upgrade to get that feature. SpyBot, which is freeware, includes TeaTime, which provides free real-time protection, including registry monitoring. SpyBot can even replace spyware programs with “dummy programs” so you can still run spyware-dependant programs. Between the two, you can remain completely spyware-free.

Extra Protection – Sandboxie
Even after all that protection, sometimes you need a little bit more. That's where Sandboxie comes in. Sandboxie is a remarkable (and free) program that protects your PC from everything and anything run on it—by providing a virtual “sandbox” for that program to run it. Within the sandbox, no registry changes can be made and nothing can be installed to your actual PC; nothing bad can happen.

Someone sent you a program they swear is virus-free—and AVG also thinks it's clean—but you're still unsure about? Run it in the sandbox. You teenage niece is using your computer and you don't want her messing anything up? She can browse the internet and work in Sandboxie. Son uses P2P software? No problem when it runs in Sandboxie. Don't trust Internet Explorer? Set it to always run sandboxed. All downloads need to be approved by you before they can run. Executables run without affecting anything else.
And Sandboxie manages to give you all this protection without slowing down your PC. It runs quietly and unobtrusively in the background, and gives you that extra measure of protection you need.

Posted by on May 27, 2008, 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Twitter Birds Just Can't Lift That Whale

The constant over capacity problems Twitter is experiencing - and also its millions of new users - has been creating a situation where people are slowing there use of this new social media community. Whenever the site goes down and back up it is inundated with comments about it going down which in some cases causes it to drop offline again.

There have been offers of donations and suggestions of ways to monetize. The Twitter team - tweam? - has their hands full. But lets hope this gets solved soon.

You have to love the picture though... well captures the size problems they are having right now.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 27, 2008, 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

JumpTap Expands Mobile Search and Ad Network in Europe

Cambridge, Massachussets-based JumpTap has announced the expansion of their European mobile search and advertising network. The company is adding offices in Madrid, Spain and Stockholm, Sweden as part of the expansion. JumpTap pointed to recent projections from eMarketer, which see European spending tripling over the next three years, as part of the reason for the expansion.

“We are experiencing stellar renewal rates from our advertisers in Europe which is attributed to highly successful campaign results,” commented Dan Olschwang, president and CEO of JumpTap. “We have established our superior leadership working with the mobile advertising medium across global markets, and our clients are gaining a competitive advantage derived from our expertise and lessons learned.”

Related Reading:
8 Spending on Mobile Search Ads to Reach $2bn by 2013
Social Networking on Mobile Phones is Hot in the UK
Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2008, 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Testing Landing Pages Includes Testing Best Practices

The Google Website Optimizer blog has an interesting case study about a landing page test. The test was done for a stair remodeling and new home construction business. Best practices dictate that the original page with a model of a customer service rep should have done better. But it did not.

Instead, the page performed better after removing the image and a sidebar, both of which impeded the view of a beautiful set of stairs. How much did it improve? Online conversions increased by a whopping 144% and average order size increased 18%.

What do you think about this case study? Do you test best practices? Let us know in the comments!

Related Reading:
Tim Ash
Emotional Motivators in Landing Page Optimization
Google Adwords Launches Landing Page Load Time on Keyword Analysis Page
Pimp My Site: Tweaking High Traffic Landing Pages

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2008, 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Releases Study on Mobile Search Query Suggestions

Google has released the results from a study on query suggestions for mobile search. The study tested search queries for phones with a numeric keypad. Typically, a 15 character query requires approximately 30 key presses to perform, according to the study.

But when query suggestions are added to the mix, workload and key presses declined while enjoyment increased. However, the suggestions did NOT decrease the amount of time spent querying a search.

Google has already implemented query suggestions for the iPhone.

Related Reading:
YouTube Adds Query Suggestions for Search
Yahoo Unveils Upgrades to Mobile Search Platform
Firefox To Add Search Suggestions To Search Toolbar

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2008, 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google to Viacom: Don't Turn YouTube into SueTube

Viacom President and CEO Philippe Daumann joined Kevin Johnson, President of Microsoft, onstage last Wednesday at the Microsoft advance '08 client sumnmit to discuss the Future of Search. They didn't discuss copyright infringement or Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube. Perhaps they should have.

Google, YouTube's owner, claims the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit questioning YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off YouTube.com threatens the free exchange of information on the Internet.

Google's lawyers filed papers on Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in response to Viacom's lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others.

Viacom filed its lawsuit last year, asking for damages for the unauthorized viewing of programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as "The Colbert Show" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

In papers submitted to a judge late Friday, Google claimed YouTube "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works."

By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Google said Viacom "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."

Google said YouTube was faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they responded properly to content owners' claims of infringement.

On that count, Viacom says Google has failed miserably.

The Associated Press reports that in a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its Web site and viewed tens of thousands of times.

Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted programming — including "SpongeBob SquarePants," "South Park" and "MTV Unplugged" episodes and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" — that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times."

The company said its count of unauthorized clips represents only a fraction of the content on YouTube that violates its copyrights.

It said Google and YouTube had done "little or nothing" to stop infringement.

"To the contrary, the availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants' business plan," Viacom said.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 27, 2008, 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: It Pays to Link Consistently

You have control over the internal links on your site, so be sure you're taking advantage of that when creating them. In today's Organic Search Engine Optimization column, "It Pays to Link Consistently," Mark Jackson takes a look at ways to improve your Web site's consistency in internal linking and the use of your domain name, which can make a big difference in your site's organic search engine rankings.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 27, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: The Big Picture -- Well Rounded SEM for SMBs, Part 1

There are many different elements a small business can use to put together a well rounded online marketing campaign. In today's Small Business Search Marketing column, "The Big Picture -- Well Rounded SEM for SMBs, Part 1," Carrie Hill puts together a list of things to think about when putting your search marketing to the test.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 27, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CAPTCHA Hacks For Gmail, Blogspot, Craigslist Causing Problems

Seems the hackers have found a way to work around CAPTCHA - the once great hope of stopping bots from spamming. SEW Forum member, Sitetruth, notes that there are now programs being offered that work around the filter.

So if you notice a lot of spam coming from Gmail accounts and hacks of Blogspot you will know why. Even the spam fight over at Craigslist is getting to be a major problem according to TechDirt.

Matt Cutts' team over at Google must be working over time on this one. I have been noticing bounces off my Gmail account in my spam folder - hey this has always been a problem, but if bots are out there creating millions of "soon to be spamming" accounts - then Gmail may start getting blacklisted by various email filters.

Hackers have always been part of the internet landscape. Gaming systems is almost part of the lore of the web - at least in the regular media. No doubt many of the 'Black Hats' grew up with a steady diet of movies where the hacker is the hero's sidekick. Virtually all the people I know begrudgingly admit the skills used to hack systems is impressive... but most also see them living in their parents' basements.

Hey guys the weather is gorgeous today. Step away from the computers and go outside. Life in the light feels good and it is a lot of fun interacting with flesh.

Leave Craigslist alone. It is such a globally shared egalitarian resource - that it should be an "all hat colors free zone".

Matt if you need any input or help from this community just let us know.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 26, 2008, 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Is Yahoo Gouging For Domain Registrations?

A thread over at WebmasterWorld has reported that Yahoo will be increasing its charges for domain registration as of July 1, 2008 to $34.95. Now I have not heard that the major domain registries have increased prices so is this another way Yahoo thinks it can help increase revenue?

Most companies charge about a third of the new price so it looks like Yahoo will be losing a lot of that business. Guess the ones left will pay extra and Yahoo can cut back on staff.

This is not a smart move given all that is happening right now. Almost looks like they don't want to do it any more and figure to just boost the prices to a level where everyone leaves.

The price seems to include a starter hosting package. Curious would this have a spill over effect on visitor counts to Yahoo? Does it force sites to include Yahoo links or advertising?

I know gas prices are increasing a lot of goods and services but there is no gas needed to do this service.

Yahoo may want to reconsider this move. Sounds like desperate measures.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 26, 2008, 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Microsoft Live Search Cashback: How Will You Spend Your $600 Rebate?

This morning investment bank Collins Stewart hosted a confrerence call for clients who wanted to learn more about Microsoft Live Search Cashback.

The buzz and excitement surrounding the Cashback launch has been palpable.

CNET has coverage of the Microsoft Live Search Cashback call this morning.

What's truly brilliant about Microsoft's move: share of searches is the most watched index of search engine success. What matters most, though, is the quality of those searches.

The most valuable searches are commercial searches. Helping satisfy the collective curiosity of a nation is, at times, a noble mission. Most searches, though, tend to be news and gossip-related.

While it's great for the online tabloid industry, there's not much value in being the go-to search engine for the Gossip Girl and lad mag crowd. Does a search engine really care if it delivers the best results for "elke the stallion," gyrotonics, and "la rag mag?"

Microsoft wants all Americans who receive a $600 rebate check to think of Live.com search first. If you're going to spend money online, what's the most relevant result?

The SERP that delivers value, savings and bargains.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 23, 2008, 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft Closing Live Search Books and Academic Projects

Microsoft has announced that they are closing their Live Search Books and Live Search Academic Projects. While they will still index books and scholarly publications in their primary search index, Microsoft's digitization initiatives will come to an end.

Libraries and publishers are encouraged to build digital archives utilizing the platform Microsoft built with Kirtas, the Internet Archive, CCS, and others.

Commenting on the future of the search business, Satya Nadella Senior vice president search, portal and advertising, wrote on the Live Search blog, "Given the evolution of the Web and our strategy, we believe the next generation of search is about the development of an underlying, sustainable business model for the search engine, consumer, and content partner."

What do you think about Microsoft's move to end their Live Search Books and Academic Projects? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 23, 2008, 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google's Page Says Microsoft Does 'Bad Stuff'

Google co-founder Larry Page was in the nation's capital making the case for white spaces when the conversation inevitably turned to Microsoft-Yahoo. According to several news outlets, Page said, "Now, if you put 90% of communications all in one company ... that's really a big risk, especially one (Microsoft) that has a history of doing bad stuff. So if you want to have good products you need to have some degree of openness."

There are obvious problems with Page's statement. One is, why is Page acting threatened? Google more than dominates search engine queries and advertising.

Another is, if a Microsoft-Yahoo merger would produced closed products, and if good products require openness, then what in the world is Page worried about?

Besides rethinking his logic, Page may also want to do some number crunching. USA Today pointed out that comScore predicts that a Microsoft-Yahoo deal would combine to have 70% of email and instant messaging market share in the U.S.

During the same speech, Page said that a Google-Yahoo ad deal would pass the antitrust test. Together, Google and Yahoo dominate 80% of the search ad market.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 23, 2008, 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Microsoft's Ballmer Says Yahoo Bid Was 'Never Strategic'

Yeah, you read that headline correctly. In a statement that no one believes, Steve Ballmer said in Moscow today that the bid for Yahoo was 'never strategic.'

Ballmer has been going around saying that Microsoft wants to catch Google in the search game, which was the reason behind their Yahoo bid.

strat·e·gy noun - a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result (via Ask.com's recently acquired Dictionary.com)

The Microsoft CEO is now boasting that it has $50 billion to spend on all sorts of acquisitions. Not that they're strategic or anything.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 23, 2008, 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo Nominates Current Board but Postpones Shareholder Meeting

Yahoo has nominated 9 of the 10 current board members for re-election this July. But the shareholders meeting has been postponed. Originally scheduled for July 3, the meeting is now expected to occur in late July.

Who the delay ultimately ends up helping remains to be seen. On the one hand, the delay could help Carl Icahn in his proxy board fight. Or the time could help the current board negotiate a deal with Microsoft or an ad deal with Google.

In order for that to happen, Jerry Yang will need to cooperate. Kara Swisher is reporting that Yang is no longer going it alone in negotiations. Roy Bostock, Yahoo's Chairman, is assuring shareholders that "others" including independent directors to make sure the renewed talks with Microsoft go a little better.

But at least one current board member is trading in the drama for a more peaceful life. Edward Kozel is retiring from the board to spend more time with his family. He will not be replaced. Yahoo is only nominating the remaining 9 members.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 23, 2008, 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Do Social Networks Bring Out the Animal in Us?

The surreal nature of the Web has shown it brings out the animal in people who don't feel anchored to society's rules. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Do Social Networks Bring Out the Animal in Us?," Frank Watson and special Crossfire guest Kevin Ryan share their thoughts on the flawed promise of social networking bringing human communities together.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 23, 2008, 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: How to Take on a Major SEO Client

Taking on a large search engine optimization client can be a daunting proposition. In today's SEM Agency Issues column, How to Take on a Major SEO Client"," William Flaiz shows that it's simple, when you break it down: first, give them what they need; then give them what they want. Finally, give them what they don't yet know they need.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 23, 2008, 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: What's In Your Travel Tool Bag? - Part 2

Are we just so mesmerized by the glitz and glam of the coolest, latest and greatest flavor of the day that we've become oblivious to basic principles of marketing? In today's Vertical Search column, "What's In Your Travel Tool Bag? - Part 2," travel search expert Elisabeth Osmeloski urges a return to basics: creating a product that fulfills a specific need, is well positioned against its competition, is priced appropriately, and is promoted within the right context.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 23, 2008, 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Sees Search Share Growth in April, Others Decline

Google was the only one of the "big" search engines to experience month-over-month growth in April 2008, according to U.S. search engine rankings released by comScore. Overall, searches by Americans declined by 2%. Core search engines received 10.6 billion of the total searches, with Google seeing over 6.5 billion, Yahoo 2.2 billion and Microsoft 961 million. Here's the stats:

Related Reading:
Nielsen Online Releases April 2008 U.S. Search Rankings
ComScore Places Google Sites Ahead of Yahoo Sites for First Time

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2008, 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft to Bring Advertising to Live Search Mobile

Microsoft has announced the upcoming availability of advertising for Live Search Mobile. The service is currently in private beta, but Microsoft hopes to expand it in the second half of 2008.

The software giant also announced the availability of display advertising on its Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Hotmail products.

"In today's connected world, the mobile device is emerging as a prime opportunity for advertisers to reach their audience," said Brian Arbogast, corporate vice president of Mobile Services at Microsoft. "This announcement is evidence of our commitment to providing advertisers with further opportunities to connect and engage consumers throughout their 'digital day' -- at home, at work and on the go across multiple platforms, devices and geographic regions."

Related Reading:
Price Check! Products Added to Mobile Live Search
Spending on Mobile Search Ads to Reach $2bn by 2013

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2008, 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Who to see at Search Engine Strategies Hamburg

Check out these headlines from Google News Deutschland the other day:

Steuereinnahmen Ìbertreffen SchÀtzungen
Financial Times Deutschland
(English translation): Tax revenues exceed estimates
Financial Times Germany

Google klebt News auf die Weltkarte
Spiegel Online
(English translation): Google sticks news on the map of the world
Spiegel online

"Harrison Ford ist in großartiger Kondition"
WELT ONLINE
(English translation): “Harrison Ford is in great condition”
WORLD ON-LINE ONE

That right. Except for tax revenues exceeding estimates, the top stories in Germany are similar to the top stories in other parts of the world.

That's why search engine marketers from outside as well as inside Germany should consider attending Search Engine Strategies Hamburg June 23-24. The German market is too big to ignore and it is worth understanding the similarities as well as the differences of this spot on the globe.

Of course, it will help if you speak German. Only one of the 21 sessions (Search Around the World) will be in English. But, most of the German SEOs and SEMs that I've met are bilingual. So, don't worry that you won't be able to network if your German is as limited as mine. (My favorite expression is “Nicht verstehen.”)

If you go to the SES Hamburg website, you'll see that there's an English as well as German version. Look over the Conference at a Glance and see that there are two tracks: Fundamentals and Advanced. So, you should benefit from attending, whether this is your first Search Engine Strategies conference or you are an alumnus of other SES events.

The keynote presentation will be given by Martin Sinner, the Founder and Managing Director at Idealo Internet GmbH, a Berlin based company which runs product and flight price comparison websites within Germany, France and the UK. Idealo.de is one of the top 50 German websites. Axel Springer AG, Germany's leading publishing company, acquired Idealo in 2006. So, Martin is now responsible for several SEO and SEM activities of Axel Springer companies.

Now, I confess that I'm not familiar with about 80% of the speakers on the agenda. I haven't been back to Germany since I helped to launch PC Professionell, PC Direkt, ZDNet.de and Yahoo! Deutschland for Ziff-Davis Verlag, GmbH back in the 1990s.

But, there are some colleagues that I've seen speak at SES events in Canada, the UK and the US that I encourage you to go hear. This includes Andy Atkins-KrÃŒger, Managing Director, WebCertain Europe Ltd, who I interviewed at Search Engine Strategies London back in February.

Andy Atkins-Krueger, WebCertain, at SES London on YouTube

Another colleague that I can vouch for is Thomas Bindl, Founder and CEO of Refined Labs GmbH, who I interviewed at Search Engine Strategies New York back in March.

The German SEM World from Thomas Bindl at SES NY 2008

A third colleague that I can vouch for is Richard Zwicky, Founder and CEO of Enquisite, who was one of the first to volunteer for our “Escalator Pitch” at Search Engine Strategies New York.

Enquisite Escalator Pitch, SES NY 2008

I can also vouch for 80% of the panel of speakers in the Search Around the World session. This includes:
• Massimo Burgio, Founder and Chief Strategist, Global Search Interactive
• Anne Kennedy, Manager, Managing Partner, Beyond Ink
• Erica Schmidt, Global Director of Search, Isobar
• Mona Elesseily, Director of Marketing Strategy, Page Zero Media

The only speaker on this panel that I don't know is Anders Hjorth, Research & Production Director, Relevant Traffic Europe. But, he should do just fine – as long as he remembers to compliment Mona on her “nice shoes.” (Anders, trust me on this.)

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 22, 2008, 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spending on Mobile Search Ads to Reach $2bn by 2013

Juniper Research has released data about search ad spending in the mobile market. Here's what you need to know.

• 2008 mobile search adspend will reach $445 million, which is 34% of total mobile adspend.
• Mobile search revenues (including data charges) will reach $4.8bn by 2013.
• Both mobile search adspend and total mobile adspend will be highest in the Far East/China region, followed by Western Europe and North America.

According to Juniper Research's Principal Analyst, Dr Windsor Holden, "While mobile advertising was historically dominated by campaigns conducted almost exclusively via SMS, the mass adoption of 2.5G and 3G handsets -- combined with the development of applications enabling targeted, instant measurement and frequency capping -- mean that we now have a situation where consumers can receive personalised advertising across a variety of rich media delivery channels."

What do you think of this data? Are you exploring the mobile search ad space? Leave a comment!

Related Reading:
Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing
One in Five Users Gives Mobile Search and Audio Ads Thumbs Up

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2008, 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Get in on the Conversation about the Future of SEO

There has been much discussion about the future of SEO lately. A-list bloggers galore are writing SEO's obituary, much to the dismay of site owners and search engine marketers. Earlier this week, Mike Grehan delivered his thoughts on the matter over at ClickZ. He also started a thread in the Search Engine Watch forums to discuss his post.

Here are some main takeaway points from Mike's post:

• SEO will give way to a new form of digital asset management and optimization. This new SEO will place a much larger emphasis on optimizing a range of file types, from PDFs to images to audio/visual.
• More effort will be placed on feeds to search engines. Not just XML feeds into paid inclusion and shopping comparison, but also feeds with other types of information, such as local, financial, news, and other verticals.
• Mobile will become much more popular, search will gradually become more of a personalized experience.
• Personalization and digital asset optimization will end 1999-style ranking reports, as search engine results will be based on blended results from end-user specifics, such as geographic location, time of day, previous searching history, and peer group preference.
• Online, monitoring the customer voice will become more important than pushing a brand message. Reputation management will become more important as marketing continues its reversal from a broadcast medium to a listening medium.
• Marketing into networks will see huge growth, and social search will grow with it.

Over at the forums, Grehan is looking for feedback on the following:

• Should search engine ranking algorithms continue to be based only on the data they have about people who happen to have web sites and therefore have text pages and can link to others. Or is the voice and opinion of the end user now being heard much more clearly?
• Do I really think that a number one result at Google for the term – blue widgets – is a fair result if only people who have web sites can vote for its top ranking position? Or should the millions of people who use blue widgets and don't have a web site also be able to have some influence on that ranking?

Get in on the conversation about the future of SEO. Head over to the forums and share your thoughts.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2008, 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Do We Need Educational Standards For Learning SEO?

The real meat and potatoes of the discussion right now isn't necessarily what standards to employ, but whether we need -- or should even consider -- SEO standards. In today's SEM.EDU column, "Do We Need Educational Standards For Learning SEO?," Ron Jones wonders how we can effectively train people if we don't have basic guidelines for the industry.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 22, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Link Building for Dumb Asses

We searched deep within our lexicon of vocabulary prowess to not offend your eyes with such a crass descriptor. We assure you, dear reader, there's no better way of describing what we're about to lay before you. In today's Link Building column, "Link Building for Dumb Asses," Sage Lewis takes a look at some people in various media who have mixed up a dose of dumb with a cup of ass to create some very linkable content.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 22, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Image Search Review

Ann Smarty - aka SEOSmarty - has written a great overview of image search. If you look for images online this is well worth a read to hone your searches and find the right engine for you.

The article gives insights into filters, tagging and how best to use these features to really find what you are looking for. Ann's has great expertise in this area and there are other posts about image search worth adding to your must read list.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 21, 2008, 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yandex Going Public, IPO On Nasdaq Later This Year

Yandex the leading search engine in Russia - bigger than Google in that country which is a global rarity - announced it will have an IPO later this year, Reuters reported.

If they were every to link with Baidu - another engine that dominates Google, but in China - they could grab the international traffic online marketers are started to see the great value in.

While Google CEO Eric Schmidt sees Google biggest threat as being internal, as Fortune reported, if they overlook the growth of alternative engines outside of the US they could have a lot more problems.

Add Yahoo Japan's dominance and three of the biggest overseas markets are not Google controlled.

Now if I can get rid of my Yahoo stock without a loss before the IPO I am in!

Posted by Frank Watson on May 21, 2008, 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft Launches Live Search Cashback and Live Search Farecast

Yesterday Search Engine Watch broke the news that Microsoft Live Search would offer cash rebates to consumers who purchase products while searching on Live.com.

Microsoft Corp. today announced it will offer ad-funded cash rebates to customers who find and purchase their favorite products through a new program called Microsoft Live Search cashback. Key partners include top Internet retailers eBay, Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears, Zappos.com, and WPP. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made the announcement this morning at advance08, Microsoft's annual advertising leadership event.

The word "game-changer" is overused by analysts but it applies here. Microsoft's innovative program has the potential to revolutionize online search and advertising. While some critics have criticized the program as a bribe, in practice it's no different than Google Checkout rebates or DoubleClick Performics CPA campaigns for retailers.

The primary difference? Consumers could be the big winners. Live Search Farecast won't offer a rebate to consumers initially but Microsoft will evaluate the option.

Live Search cashback features more than 700 merchants offering more than 10 million products. More than 13 of the top 40 U.S. retailers will participate.

In addition, Microsoft also announced a new Live Search travel destination, Live Search Farecast, making it easy for searchers to find the best travel deals on the Web.

“We believe search can offer much more value to consumers and advertisers than it does today, and we see Live Search cashback as an important opportunity to deliver additional value,” Gates said. “Our goal is to make Live Search the most rewarding commercial search destination on the Web. Live Search cashback will help advertisers drive more online sales while giving consumers a new way to stretch their dollars.”

During his keynote address, Gates outlined three areas of focus for the company's broad search vision:

1. Delivering the best search results by continuing to focus on relevancy and selection

2. Expanding the role of search around the set of tasks that searchers are most often working to accomplish — including commerce, entertainment, navigation and reference — through improvements in its user experience, intelligent tools and access across devices

3. Innovating in the economic model that today powers the search business by rewarding both advertisers and consumers for engagement

Microsoft's new strategy focuses on “Commercial Search” as the first of four tactics to achieve its goal as the premier search engine for consumers making purchases online and doing product research.

New Business Opportunity for Search Advertisers
The opportunity to reach consumers via search advertising is enormous and growing. According to eMarketer Inc. and other industry data, U.S. online retail is projected to grow to $335 billion by 2012, and today 68 percent of all those retail transactions begin at a search engine. This translates to 3.7 billion commerce-related queries a month.

The primary choice for advertisers to reach these search customers is the cost-per-click (CPC) model, where merchants pay a fee each time a searcher clicks on their ad, whether or not the potential customer makes a purchase.

The cost-per-action (CPA) model, where advertisers pay only when a customer makes a purchase, or completes a specific transaction, gives advertisers a more precise return on their advertising investment, and is currently being deployed on a relatively limited basis. The CPC and CPA search advertising models represent the most targeted advertising approaches available today, but there is still room for improvement.

With Live Search cashback, Microsoft helps merchants maximize their advertising investments and drive more sales by providing consumers with an added incentive to buy — a cash rebate. Participating merchants choose to pay Microsoft a CPA fee each time a customer completes a sale through Live Search cashback. The fee is a percentage of the retail price, and when that transaction is complete, Microsoft returns that fee to the consumer in the form of a cash rebate.

“Our business is to connect consumers with brands in the most effective and efficient ways. Microsoft's Live Search cashback creates a real incentive for consumers to connect with our clients,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP. “We believe this is a major development in the evolution of search marketing and look forward to participating and measuring the results.”

Key partners participating in the Live Search cashback offering include Abe's of Maine, B&H, Backcountry.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Circuit City, Cookware.com, Crutchfield, eBags, eBay, Foot Locker, GiftBaskets.com, The Home Depot, HP, Jockey, J&R, Newegg.com, OfficeMax, Overstock.com, PetSmart, QVC, Sears, Spiegel, TigerDirect.com, Vitamin Shoppe and Zappos.com. A complete list of Live Search cashback partners can be found at http://www.live.com/cashback.

“We're happy to be partnering with Microsoft on this innovative program,” said John Donahoe, president and CEO of eBay Inc. “By combining eBay's marketing expertise and incredible volume and velocity of trade, PayPal's leadership in online payments, and Microsoft's cashback program, we see a great opportunity to deliver more value in the eBay marketplace.”
Available to Consumers Today: Live Search Cashback and Live Search Farecast

Live Search cashback, built on technology and partnerships acquired through Microsoft's October 2007 purchase of comparison shopping site Jellyfish, launched online today at http://www.live.com/cashback. With Live Search cashback, Live Search users can find some of the best deals on the Web either at the cashback gallery — where they can compare prices and get ad-funded rebates on more than 10 million products — or by discovering cashback ads in Live Search sponsored listings.

Customers sign up for a Live Search cashback account at the time of their first purchase, accrue ad-funded rebates in their account each time they purchase a product in the Live Search cashback program, and receive their rebates in their cashback account directly from Microsoft 60 days after completing purchases.

Also available today is the new Live Search Farecast, which includes technology acquired through Microsoft's April 2008 acquisition of Farecast Inc., the award-winning travel site known for helping users find the lowest airfares by predicting when to buy. Starting today, Live Search Farecast results can be found at http://farecast.live.com and via Instant Answers in the main Live Search results page. Microsoft will explore the possibility of also incorporating an ad-funded rebate option for travel services in the future

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 21, 2008, 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Not Even a Little Evil

A top story from Ars Technica was making the rounds through Digg and Reddit yesterday, bashing Google for being a "little evil." The charge is based on an unusual case, where Google helped Indian police nab Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid, an IT professional living near New Delhi, for posting disparaging messages about Sonia Gandhi on an Orkut group. Vaid was charged under section 292 of Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information Technology Act, for posting disparaging, "vulgar" content about Gandhi in a group entitled "I Hate Sonia Gandhi." The creator of the group, interestingly, was not charged.

While the law may be outrageous in its limitation of free speech (my opinion), Google's response to it was far from. And it certainly wasn't evil. If Google wants to operate in India, their local branch must follow local laws. And while everyone seems to claim that Google's actions in this case, and in the infamous case of Chinese censorship, violated their motto of "Don't Be Evil," it seems that very few people actually read Google's explanation of their de facto motto. According to Google's Code of Conduct, "'Don't be evil' is...about doing the right thing more generally – following the law." Google can choose not to operate in certain marketplaces where the feel that following the local laws would clash with the other principles of "Don't Be Evil," like "acting honorably and treating each other with respect," but the search giant cannot just decide to break the law.

In any marketplace, Google needs to weigh the ethical benefit of its service, which offers free information to people, against the ethical limitations of the marketplace, such as censorship. Google decided that it was more evil in China to deprive the population of any search results than to censor some results. Now it's made the same decision in India--and rightly so.

Every time Google is required to comply with local laws, it is accused of being evil; every time Google stores or analyzes a new piece of information--like mail or health records--it is accused of being invasive and violating users' privacy. These cycles are predictable and they predictably pass (do you know anyone who doesn't use Gmail because they are worried about Google reading their email?).

"Don't Be Evil" is (sadly) a lot for any international company to live up to. Google actually pulls it off quite well.

Posted by on May 21, 2008, 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Search Engine Strategies Toronto Adds 3 Conference Sessions

Search Engine Strategies Toronto has just added three more conference sessions to the agenda. While attendees can only attend one of the three sessions, because they are being held concurrently, each one is aimed at a different point in the learning curve.

For Beginners: The "Get Me Up to Speed" Track

If you have never attended a Search Engine Strategies event before, plan on attending the "Get Me Up to Speed" track. Then, from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17, consider going to the "Meet the Crawlers" session.

Okay, so the title of the session sounds like a scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But, we're not talking about those kinds of creepy crawlers.

We're talking about the search engine spiders that crawl around the internet collecting information about Web sites to insert into their index. Come to think of it, that does sound pretty creepy.

Nevertheless, this session will feature representatives from major crawler-based search engines, who will cover how to submit and feed them content, with plenty of Q&A time to cover issues related to ranking well and being indexed.

Intermediate: The "Practical & Actionable" Track

Alumni of last year's Search Engine Strategies Toronto will want to attend this year's "Practical & Actionable" track. Most of the sessions are brand new.

And, even ones like "Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions," which is back by popular demand, will feature content that is 83% new.

How can I be so certain? Well, Joe Thornley, Chairman and CEO of Thornley Fallis Communications & 76design, will be speaking at this session for the first time. And, while I spoke at this session at SES Toronto 2007, only four of the dozen slides that I'm planning to present will be repeats.

In fact, the session description says, "Link building is crucial, but linkbait tactics that worked this year may not be as effective next year." How true.

That's why this session will focus on the underlying quality, as well as ingenuity needed to get other Web sites to link to you early and often. And it will also explain how you should approach journalists, bloggers, and other authoritative sources to enhance your company's online reputation – whether or not you get links.

Now, the panel at Search Engine Strategies Toronto will have to work overtime to top some of the success stories that were shared during a similar session at SES New York back in March.

How can I be so certain? Because I was in the audience – with my jaw on the floor – when Sally Falkow of Expansion Plus told the story of HerRoom.com, which had a series of videos on their site that show how effective various makes of sports bras are at reducing breast movement while exercising.

Rather than get into trouble trying to explain what Sally said, just watch my video interview with her below.

The Sports Bra Test - Beyond Linkbait With Sally Falkow

For Experts: The "Advanced" Track

Finally, even if you're already an expert link builder who has attended every Search Engine Strategies conference held in Toronto since 2004, there's a new, new session for you in the "Advanced" track.

It's entitled, "Twitter: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?"

With micro-blogging taking the world by storm, should you be incorporating Twitter? Is it worth it? And, even if you do Tweet, how many followers do you have? How many do you want?

You can hear from experts in the field on the latest in social connecting and marketing. The speakers will be:

1. David Snyder, Search Strategist & Marketer, JRDunn,
2. Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, and
3. Chris Winfield, President, 10e20, LLC.

I know, I know, this session looks like the perfect candidate for "buzzword bingo." But, remember this: It is being held at SES Toronto first. Attendees of Search Engine Strategies San Jose will just have to wait for their turn at this new topic.

So, now there's an extra reason to attend SES Toronto, which is being held June 16-18. And, if you decide to register before Friday, May 30, you can save $150 CAD on a Platinum Passport through the Early Bird Special.

That's 75 Toonies, which – as Yogi Berra would say – "is just as good as money."

See you at Search Engine Strategies Toronto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 21, 2008, 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Opens Up About Search Quality, Kinda

Google has secrets. Despite their promotion of open source, open spectrum, open mobile, and overall openness, they are not very open about their algorithms. And who can blame them? They have a business to run.

But today on the Official Google blog, Udi Manber, VP Engineering, Search Quality offered up insight into the teams that work on Google's core product.

Manber said the heart of the group is the core ranking team. While PageRank is the "most famous" part of Google's algorithm, Manber pointed out that other factors work into the system, including:

• Language models (phrases, synonyms, diacritics, spelling mistakes, etc.)
• Query models (how people use language)
• Time models
• Personalized models

Next up is the evaluation team. Did you know....

• There are automated evaluations every minute
• There were over 450 new algorithm improvements in 2007 (that's about 9 per week)

Manber says that most of the improvements are related to relevancy, but some projects are dedicated solely to simplifying algorithms.

Developing new features and new user interfaces is the responsibility of yet another team. Last year's Universal Search update is attributed to this team as well as Google Notebook, Custom Search Engines, and many of iGoogle's improvements. This team is so dedicated to users, that it sometimes goes into people's homes and observes them as they search!

Of course, there is a spam-fighting team. Black hats beware, this team focuses on hidden text, off-topic pages, keyword-stuffed pages, and other ways people attempt to abuse rankings. The team is in cohorts with the team at Google Webmaster Central, which gives them access to feedback from site owners.

Manber said there are other teams working on specific projects, but didn't get into any additional details - yet. He said to look for more posts in the future that will inform about updates to search quality.

What do you think about Google's "transparency"? Did they really offer up anything new? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 21, 2008, 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Earth Gets Layer for News

Google Earth has a new layer: Google News. Writing on the Google LatLong blog, Brandon Badger, Product Manager said, "By spatially locating the Google News' constantly updating index of stories from more than 4,500 news sources, Google Earth now shows an ever-changing world of human activity as chronicled by reporters worldwide."

The Google News layer can be activated through the "Layers" menu on the left-hand side of Google Earth. Expand the "Gallery" mode and select "Google News." Then browse the world for the latest goings on.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 21, 2008, 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YouTube Tops UK Social Media Sites for April 2008

Nielsen Online has released April 2008 social media rankings for the U.K. YouTube topped the list for the seventh straight month in a row.

Here's a look at the top 10:

And the top 10 from last year.

What do you think about YouTube's popularity? Are you leveraging online video in your social media campaigns? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 21, 2008, 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEW Experts: The Challenge of Mobile Web Analytics

One of the biggest challenges resulting from the growth in mobile Web use is measurement. Conventional Web analytics applications don't do a good job of tracking mobile Web site usage, making it difficult to tune and enhance your mobile Web site's performance. In today's Web Analytics and ROI column, "The Challenge of Mobile Web Analytics," Eric Enge offers some alternatives to tracking mobile Web site usage.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 21, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Yellow Pages and Search

Yellow pages directories and search engines are hopelessly intertwined as directories feed search queries and search queries feed directories. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Yellow Pages and Search," Kevin Ryan proposes a new spin on the old book that might just connect the dots.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 21, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft to Launch "Live Search Cashback"

The major Microsoft Live Search announcement scheduled for tomorrow will be the official launch of a new product: Microsoft Live Search Cash Back.

The program in partnership with eBay and its PayPal unit will offer cash back to consumers who search on Microsoft Live and make a purchase. The announcement will be made in conjunction with a taped message from eBay CEO John Donahoe. The technology is based on the acquisition of Jellyfish by Microsoft in September, 2007.

The announcement is expected to be made by Satya Nadella, SVP Search, portal & Advertising Platform Group, Microsoft, prior to Bill Gates' presentation on "Connecting the Future." The goal is to differentiate Microsoft's vertical search experience for users while leveraging improvements in the core search algorithm.

Microsoft believes the Live Search Cash Back program will align the interests of consumers and the search engine, putting Microsoft "on the same side as the consumer."

The job of Live Search will be to match the most relevant products with the most relevant consumers.

Microsoft will likely offer advertisers a CPA (Cost-Per-Acquisition) model rather than a traditional search engine Cost-Per-Click (CPC) auction.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, said in a taped interview that the program would help overcome the barriers of first-time buyers of shoes online.

A Barnes & Noble executive stated that clickthrough rates and purchases had increased through the use of the Jellyfish pilot program.

The following message is posted on the Jellyfish.com Web site:

"As part of our pledge to save you money on the products you buy, our Cash Back rewards service is currently offline to perform necessary service upgrades and enhancements. Jellyfish Account holders will receive an e-mail notification when our Cash Back service is up and running again. Thanks for your patience.

Using Jellyfish, consumers could compare prices of products from a number of online stores. Retailers paid Jellyfish fees to feature products. A portion of that fee was refunded to consumers who bought through the Jellyfish site.

Jellyfish also offered "Smack Auctions." During each Smack show, Jellyfish would auction off new products in a unique price dropping format. Every second that ticks off the clock, Jellyfish would drop the price of the product, until the deal sold out.

Jellyfish founder Brian Wiegand is agroup manager at Microsoft. Last year, ye stated, Microsoft is "investing heavily in shopping and e-commerce."

Microsoft closed the deal on Sept. 27, 2007 but didn't announce it until Oct. 2, 2007.

This isn't the first foray of Microsoft into the world of search engine incentives.

Microsoft Live Club is an ongoing experiment with incentivizing searchers but never on the Live Search Cash Back scale. For example, Microsoft Live Search Club lets users play games. A completed gives earns tickets toward prizes, such as Zune accessories, song downloads and ringtones.

Microsoft's official statement on the announcement:

On Wednesday, we will be announcing a major new initiative that our search teams have been driving. We are getting better and better with our core algorithmic search, and at the same time, we are investing to differentiate in vertical experiences and to disrupt the current model. You'll hear more about our plans Wednesday.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 20, 2008, 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Dear Lucky Winner: Yahoo-Google Inc. $900,000 Online Scam

Even if you truly believe you've won $900,000 in the nonexistent 2008 Yahoo/Google Award promotion, please do NOT respond to the following inquiry.

Sure it might be a good idea for Yahoo to incentivize searchers with Yahoo share of searches dropping year-over-year. But this is not it.

Thanks to Incisive Media Marketing VP Matt McGowan for sending us the laugh of the day.

Dear Lucky Winner,

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Nine Hundred Thou sand Dollars (US$900,000.00 ) in the YEAR 2008 YAHOO/GOOGLE AWARD promotion which is organized by YAHOO/GOOGLE INC. for the introduction and Launching of the new YAHOO ! BETA MAIL which all YAHOO! as well as all other subscribers are required to switch to.

This is to encourage both Yahoo and non Yahoo users to start using Yahoo !

The online Cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of five hundred thousand email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer selection from the web.

Your email address is attached to Ref No:

ESE/WIN/008/02/10/MA & Batch No:EULO/1007/444/606/08; Serial No:
6594.

Bear in mind that prizes will strictly be remitted to winners that officially file in for their claims within the given time frame. To begin your claim, you are to forward this message to our accredited claim's agent including your : 1. Name: 2. Address 3. Marital Status: 4. Occupation: 5. Age: 6. Sex: 7. Nationality: 8. Country of Residence:9. Telephone Number: 10:Fax number:

Contact Person: Mr. GEORGE GRANTS

EMAIL : grantsgeorge@XXXXX.com

Your prize award has been insured with your email address and will be transferred to you upon meeting the requirements of the Gaming Board Authority which includes
your statutory obligations.

Best Regards,

Mr. Gabriel Christopher

(Lottery Coordinator).
London,
England

Note: All Won Prizes must Be claimed/Cleared not later than Two Weeks of receipt of this email notification. After this time, all other winnings will be considered as
UNCLAIMED and returned to National Treasury.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 20, 2008, 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

James Cameron Live on "Avatar" - His New 3-D Film

The theme of Microsoft Advance '08 is "Connected Entertainment" -- mobile, music, TV/video, gaming. The big Live Search announcement will be covered live tomorrow.

Today, filmmaker James Cameron's producing partner at Lightstorm Entertainment, Jon Landau, said the abundance of digital information and the ability to use technologies opened up a whole new window that Cameron didn't know existed.

James Cameron started making films when they were photochemical emulsions. Now, films are digital.

"The essence of storytelling stays the same," said Cameron. "Intense CG (computer-generated) scenes with multiple shots doesn't change that. My greatest horror was the best thing we created would end up like the Ark of the Covenant and be put in a warehouse somewhere. I will make all my films in 3-D. I've been banging on the door at Microsoft since I introduced Windows Media 9 with LL Cool J and Bill Gates in 2002. Now I tell them, this is what you guys need to be doing. I'm going to continue to surf that wave."

His new film, Avatar, features a man who tries to become a miner by combining his being with an alien during an interplanetary war in which aliens can manifest themselves through human bodies — avatars.

"'Avatar' will make people truly experience something," said Cameron."One more layer of the suspension of disbelief will be removed. All the syn-thespians are photo-realistic. Now that we've achieved it, we discovered CG characters in 3D look more real than in 2D. Your brain is cued it's a real thing not a picture and discounting part of image that makes it look fake."

Part of the movie is subtitled because it takes place on an alien planet.

Avatar will have a human heart beating at its narrative center. It's an emotional journey of redemption and revolution; the story of a wounded ex-marine, who's thrust into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity. He eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

Cameron has created an entire world, a complete ecosystem of phantasmagorical plants and creatures, and a native people with a rich culture and language. The film has a December 2009 release date.

"I don't know whether it will be a great film from a narrative and critical standpoint," said Cameron. "The experience of Avatar will be an experience unlike any other movie."

He started with Microsoft Research looking at the way people see. The project soon moved out of the realm of speculation.

"'Avatar' is the single most complex piece of filmmaking ever made," said Cameron. "We have 1,600 shots for a 2.5 hour movie. It's not with a single CGI character, like King Kong or Gollum. We have hundreds of photo-realistic CG characters. We were Microsoft's sandbox for filmmaking beyond the cutting edge."

During the film, he would grab chairs, gather his team, and talk about what they were doing wrong, how to do it better. That just isn't done on a film set.

The heart of the film technology is a digital asset management system created by Microsoft, which was praised by Cameron and Landau for understanding the arts and filmmaking. The system can track every cloud and every blade of CGI grass in the film.

Cameron noted that Titanic was about how technology let us down. He has always tried to be on cutting edge of what's going on. The Abyss featured the first photo-realistic CG character. Then "The Terminator" combined CG and human actors. "True Lies" pushed the bar even higher with composite technology.

In "Titanic" as a filmmaker, I struck the perfect balance of technology and the human heart," said Cameron. "I haven't forgotten that lesson with Avatar. It's the best lesson for any filmmaker."

Cameron also noted the radical changes in film distribution and made a prediction for the future:

"I'm on the fourth screen. The giant screen. Then it scatters down to other screens. It gets more interesting as more means of digital distribution become available to us. The interesting thing is the actual movie business is going strong. If you valued up revenues of what's lost to piracy, movies are doing better now than they ever have. You can have an HD screen in your home.

He noted, "Windows organized things spatially. That gave it its power. But we're not displaying things spatially. What could happen is now that the digital cinema revolution has taken place is the killer app is 3D. Dreamworks has announced all its animated films will be made and projected in 3D. Gaming will be changed by 3D. Consumer electronics people will need to make players for stereo-enabled monitors. Future versions of Windows should be fully stereoscopic. Smaller devices already are 3D-enabled without glasses. If you play "Avatar" on a 50-inch monitor, you're in the game."

Cameron said, "This is the ultimate immersive media. It's my fundamental belief that when you're viewing media in stereo, more neurons are firing, learning rates are higher. Engagement levels are higher. As advertisers, you need to think about how you're going to use this new dimension. How will you use the deeper levels of engagement?"

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 20, 2008, 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

WhiteFence.com: First Vertical Search Engine for Phone, Internet, TV, Utilities

WhiteFence.com is the first vertical search engine that enables people to search for the best values in 40 home service categories, including home phone, Internet, TV services and utilities. The target audience is people who are moving but it's a one-stop shop for anyone searching for the best bargains in communications technologies.

The search engine is built around solving basic problems. For example, users can decide whether they want to:

* lower my bills
* bundle my services
* find a better deal on my services
* shop for service on my new home
* find the best price in my area on residential service
* get reliable service from trusted national companies
* order home essential services today

Search by Category:

Bundle your services and save.

Home Phone
Get local phone and long distance.

High-Speed Internet
Find fast Internet service.

Television Service
Compare satellite and cable TV.

Electricity Service
Find your local electricity provider.

Natural Gas
Warm up with your local natural gas company.

Change of Address
Let everyone know you're moving.

Green Energy Offset
Buy RECs to offset your energy usage.

Moving Services
Mover quotes, tips, checklists & more!

Financial Services

If you're not moving, it's still an excellent search engine to compare your current deals with what's available. For home energy conservation tips, check out the WhiteFence blog.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 20, 2008, 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nielsen Online Releases April 2008 U.S. Search Rankings

Nielsen Online has announced its April 2008 search share data for the U.S. Let's dive right into the numbers:

Google - 62% market share, up 35.4% year-over-year
Yahoo - 17.5% market share, down 3.4% year-over-year
MSN/Live Search - 9.7% market share, up 30% year-over-year
AOL - 4.3% market share, down 5.1% year-over-year
Ask - 2.1 % market share, up 35.8% year-over-year

Google saw an estimated 5.1 billion searches, while Yahoo saw 1.4 billion and MSN saw nearly 800 million.

Related Reading:
Nielsen Releases March 2008 U.S. Search Data
Wikipedia Traffic Grows 8,000% in 5 Years Due to Search Referrals
Google, Nielsen Establish Strategic Relationship

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2008, 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google's Mayer Reveals Search Advances Unveiled During "Factory Tour"

Yesterday, Google hosted a "factory tour" of their new search advances. Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience, blogged about the tour on the Official Google Blog. There were three main search areas that she touched on.

1. Image search. Google now offers an "early form of face recognition" in their advanced search. Also, Google is looking at including ads with image search.

2. Geo search. User-generated content (UGC) is critical when it comes to geo search, and Google is working on how to make all of it searchable.

3. User intent. Google hopes to read the minds of searchers by figuring out what they meant to search instead of the actual keywords typed. Wrote Mayer, "You'll get pictures or maps when that's what you meant. Understanding user intent also helps us break down language barriers and find the best possible answer regardless of what language it's in or where it lives on the web."

Do you think Google is psychic? Let us know if you think Google can pull off "user intent" by leaving a comment!

Related Reading:
Google: Our Brain is Just Fine, Thank You
Google News Clusters: Keep 'Em Un-Separated
Google Finally Copies Microsoft, Adds 'Related Searches' to Google News

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2008, 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo Makes Minor Updates to Sponsored Search

In the midst of a proxy board fight, new negotiations with Microsoft, and a possible deal with Google, Yahoo has made updates to its sponsored search listings. In an announcement on the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog, Jeff Hecox said the changes wouldn't make "worldwide headlines" but they designed the changes to be more intuitive to users.

Here's what to expect:

• Names of objects (campaign, ad group, keyword, etc.) that are offline will be displayed with red text for easy recognition.
• "Top Campaigns” and “Watched Campaigns” tables on the Dashboard page now include a “Status” column to help you identify if and why any campaigns are offline.
• On the “Campaigns” page, there's a new “Status” column, the ability to filter by “Status” when using the Advanced Search function, and the “Campaign On/Off” button have been replaced with individual “Pause” and “Unpause” buttons.
• On the Ads table On Ad Group pages, a “Status” column has been added and “Pause” and “Unpause” buttons have replaced “Campaign On/Off” button on the Ads table.
• New status settings have been added on the Search page, under the Campaigns tab.
• The ability to export (using the “Download” button) account information has been added to account-level Ad Group and Keyword pages, under the Campaigns tab.

What do you think about the updates to Yahoo's Sponsored Search? Leave a comment!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2008, 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Don't Hire a Butcher to do a Baker's Job - Part 2

If SEOs are bakers, then Web site designers are the butchers of the search engine world. In today's Organic Search Engine Optimization column, "Don't Hire a Butcher to do a Baker's Job - Part 2," Mark Jackson offers 13 questions customers need to ask their butchers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 20, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: WebMD CEO Fights Off Google Health Virus with SEO

CEOs need to invest in search engine optimization. Perhaps no company knows that better than WebMD. In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "WebMD CEO Fights Off Google Health Virus with SEO," Kevin Heisler looks at ways WebMD is using SEO to drive traffic to their site, and to lessen the additional pressure from the launch of Google Health.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 20, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Social Media Marketing in an Enterprise Environment

Social media sites like MySpace or Facebook, and even long-standing social media tools like blogs remain a mystery to many large organizations. In today's Enterprise Search Marketing column, "Social Media Marketing in an Enterprise Environment," Aaron Shear explains how that's all beginning to change, as more big businesses find ways to incorporate these elements into their overall marketing strategy.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 20, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Completes Bebo Acquisition

AOL has announced the completion of its acquisition of Bebo, a social network based in the UK. Bebo boasts an estimated 40 million users worldwide.

Randy Falco, Chairman and CEO of AOL, said of the deal, “AOL is now fully focused on growing our business in three key areas – our advertising network, publishing and people networks – by delivering relevant content and advertising across the Web, and we're making great progress in each area.”

But will the acquisition threaten another ad network? Last year, Yahoo UK inked an ad deal with Bebo for the social network's display advertising.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 19, 2008, 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YouTube Adds Query Suggestions for Search

YouTube has announced the addition of query suggestions for search. In case you're not aware, query suggestions are search suggestions that pop up once you start typing a search.

The announcement said that you have to opt in to the suggestions using the "advanced" link next to the search button. But I'm getting suggestions without doing the opt in.

YouTube has also added a contact importer and improvements to the inbox.

Related Reading:
YouTube Videos Now Part of Google Maps Search Mix
Google Launches YouTube Insight - Google Analytics Lite

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 19, 2008, 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Content Network Expands Ad Network

The Google Content Network has expanded its ad network to include new advertising partners. The new partners underwent a certification process to make sure ads comply with Google's ad standards.

Here they are broken down by category:

• Advertiser ad servers: DoubleClick (DFA), Mediaplex
• Rich media agencies: DoubleClick Rich Media, Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, Interpolls, PointRoll, Unicast
• Research firms: Dynamic Logic, IAG Research, InsightExpress, Factor TG

Google says it will be certifying more third party advertisers in the future.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 19, 2008, 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Placement-Targeted Campaigns: Taming the Beast

Having trouble with Google AdWords placement-targeted campaigns? In today's Content Advertising column, "Placement-Targeted Campaigns: Taming the Beast," David Szetela shares the secrets of getting those stalled campaigns off the ground, churning out conversions like the best search campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 19, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Quick To Reply To New Microsoft Statements

Following a Microsoft press release today - detailed in the story below - Yahoo has replied to reinforce Microsoft's confirmation of not wanting to buy "all of Yahoo" - but that it may be interested in doing something with Yahoo.

"Yahoo! Remains Open To Value Maximizing Transactions" the press release was titled. What type of transactions given Google is already supplying PPC ads and WPP just signed to distribute other media.

The most interesting part of the press release was the note about how shareholders can assign proxy votes - given the threats to the current board investors have presented.

The press release read:

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today issued the following statement in response to the announcement by Microsoft Corporation that it is continuing to review potential transactions with Yahoo!:

"Yahoo! has confirmed with Microsoft that it is not interested in pursuing an acquisition of all of Yahoo! at this time. Yahoo! and its Board of Directors continue to consider a number of value maximizing strategic alternatives for Yahoo!, and we remain open to pursuing any transaction which is in the best interest of our stockholders. Yahoo!'s Board of Directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value."

About Yahoo! Inc.

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com.

Important Additional Information

Yahoo! will be filing a proxy statement and accompanying WHITE proxy card with the SEC in connection with the solicitation of proxies for its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Stockholders are strongly advised to read Yahoo!'s 2008 proxy statement when it becomes available because it will contain important information. Stockholders will be able to obtain copies of Yahoo!'s 2008 proxy statement and other documents filed by Yahoo! with the SEC in connection with its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or at the Investor Relations section of Yahoo!'s website at yhoo.client.shareholder.com. Yahoo!, its directors and its executive officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in connection with Yahoo!'s 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Information concerning Yahoo!'s directors and officers is available in its Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, filed with the SEC on April 29, 2008.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 18, 2008, 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Breaking: Microsoft Puts New Yahoo Deal on Table: Full Text

Microsoft (MSFT) released a statement on Sunday that it has made an alternative offer to Yahoo (YHOO) that wouldn't entail a full acquisition. In the unexpected move, Microsoft would be acting as something of a white knight, saving Yahoo from fighting a proxy battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions.”

Although Microsoft isn't making a new bid to buy Yahoo, the Redmond giant "reserves the right to reconsider that alternative" depending on discussions with Yahoo, shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft, or other third parties.

Icahn on Thursday named an alternative board to replace Yahoo's board with directors to reopen talks with Microsoft. In inimitable Icahn style, he claimed Yahoo had "acted irrationally" in refusing Microsoft's $47.5 billion (24.3 billion pound) bid.

Reuters reported that Microsoft had not held discussions with Icahn about Yahoo.

The exact nature of the deal has not been revealed by either party.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 18, 2008, 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Is The AOL Brand Associated With Old School Web?

Seems the folks over at Time Warner have finally realized that the AOL brand does not have any impact in the niched content space. But is AOL mired in the thoughts of web users as that "old internet dialup service" as some of the Time Warner staff believe?

According to the Associated Press, AOL parent Time Warner was more blunt in a regulatory filing:

"If AOL cannot effectively build a portfolio of alternate brands that are appealing to Internet consumers, AOL may have difficulty in increasing the engagement of Internet consumers on its Web products and services. AOL believes that the `AOL' brand is associated in the minds of consumers with its dial-up Internet access service."

To overcome this hurdle AOL has started creating separate niched communities - though they may want to hire someone else to name them. Asylum for the young men's site, Spinner, the indie music site, WalletPop, the personal finance site, StyleList for fashion and AOL Body (which kept the association after tests showed it works) for women's health.

Should be interesting to see how that works for them. I had not heard of any of them prior to reading the AP report so the new branding has not made much of an impact yet. Though why, as AP stated, have they decided to roll the new sites out quietly?

Branding requires people knowing about the name. Forget replacing the Yahoo board, AOL needs some new minds at the helm - maybe some that are not still thinking like last century.

ValleyWag has had some interesting things to say about Bill Wilson, the head of the AOL rebranding effort.

Bill Wilson: Forget about his mother, will he frag AOL?

Posted by Frank Watson on May 17, 2008, 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Forget The Video CameraTwitter Child's Birth

In what may be the ultimate use of social media, Adam Audette - or just audette on Twitter - is twittering the birth of his child. Live from the hospital are messages on the stages of the process.

We are being brought along for the ride as it starts:

It's on! Heading to the hospital w/ an extra car seat in the back. I'll update when we're checked in

http://twitpic.com/14vs <- Our room at the birthing center

WE EVEN GET PICTURES

http://twitpic.com/14vw <- Sally feeling good!

Sally is 6 centimeters dilated. Hooked to pitocin and ramping up

Now we are getting details! It is great reading... stream of consciousness texting - almost like a James Joyce novel. One wonders how some of our experimental writers would have delivered their art with all the media available today to use.

Adam and Sally I wish you all the best and guess I will be following this one - even on my phone while I am at dinner later - to its happy conclusion.

PS: My vote is for Sophia.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 16, 2008, 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo's Search Syndicate Gets Harsh Review By SEOBook

Aaron Wall has written a thorough and unflattering overview of Yahoo search traffic following the release of search numbers that show Yahoo gets well over half its search volume from its partners.

Aaron discusses how this impacts arbitrage and motivates poor quality. Though possibly just a little harsh, it is worth reading and keeping in mind.

Recent numbers from Efficient Frontier show that Yahoo has nearly three times more search partners than Google - funny given Google has over three times more search volume. And as Aaron notes direct search converts "nearly twice" more than partner search traffic.

Not good numbers moving forward in a battle for the search industry. But I always managed to convert Yahoo traffic at a better CPA than Google in the financial vertical. So maybe there are niches where Yahoo benefits from its partners.... will have to keep track of this one.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 16, 2008, 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Inside the Googleplex: Google to Webcast Google Factory Tour of Search

All those media pundits who said Google is a publisher are wrong.

Google isn't a publisher. Google is a broadcaster. The 4th Network.

Or maybe just a search factory. We'll know for sure soon.

On Monday, May 19, 2008, Google will webcast the "Google Factory Tour of Search" from Mountain View, CA and their Googleplex headquarters. Featured will be VP Marissa Mayer and product directors R.J. Pittman, Carter Maslan, and Johanna Wright among other Googlers certain to make cameos.

The focus? Google Health. Not "health" as in "stock price" but Google Health as in Google Docs.

Google promises an insider's perspective on Search. You can't be any more of an insider than webcasting from Google's black box. Plus, the speakers will provide an update on Google Health.

You can find videos of executive talks and much more on the Official Google Channel on YouTube.

photo credit: Sydney Morning Herald

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 16, 2008, 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

More Updates for Mobile Live Search

After receiving feedback from the recent updates to Mobile Live Search, the team over at Microsoft has made even more updates. Here's what to expect:

-- Weather
-- Traffic coverage for more cities through Live Maps
-- Map a Contact
-- Speech recognition via Bluetooth (available only on select devices)
-- Collections - allows users to search community-generated content. See image below for an example of "dog parks in San Francisco."

What do you think of these updates? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
Price Check! Products Added to Mobile Live Search

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 16, 2008, 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Google: Facebook Is Just Not That Into You

Google FriendConnect friended Facebook. It looked as if Facebook (stocked with former Google executives) might become BFFs (best friends forever).

Then Facebook blocked Google FriendConnect.

The message is clear:

Dear Google,
Facebook is just not that into you.

Facebook says Google has forced them to break off their FriendConnect relationship. Apparently, Google has invaded the privacy of Facebook users without their permission.

Facebook hasn't turned a cold shoulder or abandoned the search giant. The social network has "reached out" to Google to find a way to make it work.

We view this trial separation leading to divorce, not an open marriage.

Here's what Facebook had to say in their developers' blog, under "Thoughts on Privacy." Read, "I want to be alone."

Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we've had a chance to evaluate the technology.

We've found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users' knowledge, which doesn't respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service.

Just as we've been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we've had to suspend Friend Connect's access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance.

We've reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.

What this means to you: the search engines are becoming more like car dealerships where certain models can be sold under the same roof. Facebook and Google will form their alliances and consumers will lose out.

The full text of the Facebook "Dear Google" blog post is after the jump.

Thoughts on Privacy

Published by Charlie Cheever (Facebook)

As developers, you're probably curious about the recent initiatives we and other companies in the industry have taken to help you build applications that let users take their information around the web. We wanted to give you a little more information on how we're thinking about these projects and get your feedback in the forum.

At Facebook, we always look out for the privacy of our users. That's a key reason users feel safe sharing their information on our site.

We also strive for openness, releasing the first Facebook API for external websites in August 2006, and then opening up the Facebook website itself with the most recent launch of Facebook Platform in May 2007. Last week, we announced Facebook Connect, which enables users to connect their identity, friends, and privacy across the web.

Privacy and openness go hand-in-hand – as we open up, we have to make sure that users always have control of their information, and understand how and where it's being used. We've maintained that trusted environment while opening up Facebook Platform and the social graph to external developers by requiring third-party application developers to treat user information with the same respect we do. All Facebook Platform developers agree to the Developer Terms of Service, which strictly limit the collection, use, and redistribution of user information. We have technology and a team to ensure applications abide by those policies.

We're excited that our industry partners are taking greater steps toward openness and enabling users to share their information around the web. We hope, though, that we can collectively find a model that allows users to share data while protecting the privacy of our users' data and ensuring that the user is always in control.

In the past, when we found applications passing user data to another party (for instance, to ad networks for the purpose of targeting), we suspended those applications and worked with those developers to ensure they respect user privacy. Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we've had a chance to evaluate the technology. We've found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users' knowledge, which doesn't respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service. Just as we've been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we've had to suspend Friend Connect's access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance. We've reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.

We think MySpace's Data Availability, Google Friend Connect, and Facebook Connect can be part of a great movement in the industry to give users a better and safer experience online, while respecting user privacy. We look forward to working with our developer community and everyone else in the industry to help all of our users take their information, and their privacy, with them wherever they go.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 16, 2008, 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Internet Advertising Reaches Record High in 2007

Internet advertising revenues reached an all-time high in 2007, totaling $21.7 billion, which is 26% higher than 2006. The data comes from internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007 Internet Advertising Revenue Report. Keyword search leads the field when it comes to types of internet advertising. Here's the breakdown of ad types:

David Silverman, partner, Assurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers pointed out that the data defied economic woes: "Despite the current state of economic uncertainty, 2007 was another record year and the 13th consecutive record quarter. Interactive advertising is not just the future, it is the here and now, as it represents a meaningful and growing component of U.S. advertising and marketing spend."

What are your thoughts on 2007 internet ad revenues? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Related Reading:
IAB/PwC Reports New Heights, Slower Growth in Online Ad Revenues

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 16, 2008, 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Leads UK Q1 2008 Search Engine Spending

Google leads in UK search engine spending for the first quarter of 2008, according to data released by Efficient Frontier. The search engine enjoyed 85% of the market. Click-Through Rates (CTR) actually saw a slight decline for Google over Q4 2007, but the ROI increased by 14%.

The same couldn't be said for Yahoo. Yahoo's search advertising market share was 11.9%, down 0.5% from Q4 2007. CTR declined 38% quarter-over-quarter and ROI declined 6%.

MSN increased their market share by 0.4% in Q1 to reach a 3.5% market share in the UK. While MSN's ROI dropped 10%, it was still 17% higher than Google's ROI.

Related Reading:
Paid Search Click Data: Syndicated Versus Pure Search Referrals
Social Networking on Mobile Phones is Hot in the UK
Google Sees 79% European Market Share in March 2008

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 16, 2008, 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo, WPP Partner To Sell Ad Inventory

Yahoo just announced they will be partnering with WPP to provide access to their advertising inventory to the clients and agencies associated with WPP. The agreement involves the use of WPP's recent acquisition, 24/7 Real Media.

The press release (below) suggests Yahoo will give direct access to available inventory to the clients and agencies partnered with WPP.

The real question is if the inventory will be strategically grouped remanent traffic or direct access to all traffic in some type of bidding mechanism.

Beyond that it also seems Yahoo is trying to develop a hands off method for monetizing their traffic. First working on the change over to Google's paid search and now this partnership with WPP to sell their other media.....

The other view - which may be more accurate now before everyone just starts using the third party vendors - is that Yahoo is trying to maximize all possible ways to sell their traffic in all its forms.

Let's see how this impacts stock prices tomorrow.

Read the press release after the jump:

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and WPP's (NASDAQ:WPPGY) GroupM, 24/7 Real Media and WPP Digital today announced a strategic partnership that will enable WPP agencies to buy digital display advertising across the Internet more efficiently than ever before. The partnership will initially involve a collaboration between Yahoo! and WPP's GroupM and 24/7 Real Media.

"More and more, we see the need for agencies and media and technology companies to work together to create a new level of value," said Mark Read, WPP's Director of Strategy and CEO of WPP Digital. "We are very pleased to have established this partnership with Yahoo! which, enabled by our earlier acquisition of 24/7 Real Media, will turn this vision into a reality."

As part of the agreement, WPP agencies, working through 24/7 Real Media, will develop a proprietary media trading platform that connects to Yahoo!'s Right Media Exchange. WPP agencies will work with 24/7 Real Media to integrate their proprietary targeting capabilities into the platform and develop custom trading strategies, which can be seamlessly executed via the Right Media Exchange on a highly targeted and cost-effective basis.

"As marketers take new approaches to understand and engage consumers, we are thrilled to partner with a powerhouse like WPP to evolve and grow their digital practice with our next-generation solutions," said Hilary Schneider, EVP of Global Partner Solutions for Yahoo!. "We are committed to providing the technology, insights and media expertise required to deliver the most relevant audiences across the web and to power the seamless conversation with consumers that drives greater brand awareness, consideration, intent and most importantly - action."

WPP will also work with Yahoo! to develop a WPP marketplace, giving WPP's agencies even greater access to inventory, visibility across the market and insight into value. WPP intends to draw inventory for the WPP marketplace from Yahoo!'s owned- and-affiliated networks and 24/7's Global Web Alliance. The marketplace would also be open to third-party publishers.

"This partnership with Yahoo! will give our agencies and, in turn, our clients, an advantage in securing more relevant, high-quality digital media inventory. And, it will be aggregated to our bespoke needs, at the best value for our clients," said Irwin Gotlieb, CEO of GroupM.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 16, 2008, 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Google Sitelinks - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The addition of sitelinks to the top listing in certain Google searches can be a boon to site owner. Unfortunately, as with all tests of new technology, this feature has some pretty serious bugs. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Google Sitelinks - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," Chris Boggs shows you how to fix the ones that are a fault of your site structure, and deal with the ones that are Google's fault.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 16, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Training Your Search Marketing Employees - Part 2

Advanced practitioners come to an agency with the skills in place to help grow the business. That's why we hire them. In today's Business of Search column, "Training Your Search Marketing Employees - Part 2," Fionn Downhill notes that because they're skilled in relation to their job, the priority is to train them to flourish in the agency.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 16, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taguchi Sucks for Landing Page Testing

I recently spoke on the multivariate testing panel at eMetrics in San Francisco. You would think that I dropped a hand grenade into the room when I opined that the Taguchi Method was a bad fit for landing page testing. This is a well understood fact to anyone with a solid understanding of basic statistics. Unfortunately this seems to leave out most landing page testers...

In the world of landing page testing there are two common mathematical approaches: A-B Split testing, and parametric Multivariate testing. A subset of Multivariate testing is known as "Design of Experiments" (DoE) and is also called "fractional factorial". A common fractional factorial approach is called the "Taguchi Method".

Some online marketers consider A-B Split testing to be kind of wimpy, and endow fractional factorial methods with an almost mythical quality.

I spend way too much of my time explaining to people that at least when applied to landing page optimization fractional factorial methods are a really bad idea. Despite this, the illusion persists that this kind of testing is somehow state-of-the-art, when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

For a lot more detail (30 pages worth), download the whitepaper - "The Truth About Taguchi".

Testing is composed of two important activities:

- Deciding what to test and coming up with good ideas
- Finding the best solution among your tested alternatives

People claim to get really good results with fractional factorial multivariate testing, and they credit this to the method that they use to analyze the data.

In reality, the improved conversion rates are the results of the great ideas for new landing page elements that go into the test. If all of your alternative landing pages designs are better then the original, it does not really matter what method you use to confirm that. Fractional factorial approaches may actually miss the best version of the landing page in your test and often lead you to a sub-optimal answer.

There is a huge mismatch between the original environment in which fractional factorial testing was developed and how it is usually applied to landing page optimization. It was basically transplanted to online marketing because it is relatively easy for a non-mathematical audience to understand, and not because of its appropriateness or fitness for the task.

The principal drawbacks of fractional factorial methods are:

• Very small test sizes
  
• Restrictive & inflexible test designs
  
• Less accurate estimation of individual variable contributions
  
• Drawing the wrong conclusions
  
• Inability to consider context and variable interactions
  

Despite misinformation to the contrary, fractional factorial methods do not offer any speed advantage over full factorial data-collection approaches (such as those available in the free Google Website Optimizer tool) if you are simply planning to understand the impact of the individual variables in the test (a so-called "main effects" analysis).

If you plan on using parametric (i.e. "model building" )approaches for landing page testing you should always use full factorial data collection regardless of the subsequent analysis you plan to do. It greatly simplifies your test design, and produces better estimates of the main effects.

All parametric methods (including fractional factorial) are also outclassed by newer non-parametric testing methods such as the SiteTuners TuningEngine, which can be licensed to run your own tests in-house and have the following advantages:

• Very large test sizes (1,000-10,000 times larger with the same data rate)
  
• Much faster data collection (on the same data rate)
  
• More accurate results (consider variable interactions)
  
• Flexible test construction
  
• No knowledge of statistics required
  

Hopefully this will set the record straight. If you still have an issue with this, and insist on proclaiming the superiority of fractional factorial methods, tell your statistician to call us and I will have my Chief Scientist beat them up properly.

Posted by Tim Ash on May 15, 2008, 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yahoo Starting To Geo Target Vistors?

There is a discussion at WebmasterWorld forums about Yahoo sending visitors to country specific versions of their homepage.

So if you try and go to Yahoo.com from England or Germany you end up at the country specific version of the Yahoo homepage. Google has been doing this for a long time, interesting that it has taken this long for Yahoo to catch on and drive local traffic to their many country specific sites.

Could this help international search numbers?

Posted by Frank Watson on May 15, 2008, 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Responds To Icahn

Yahoo's Chairman of the Board Roy Bostock fired back a reply, on behalf of the beleaguered board members Carl Icahn has been trying to replace, stating Icahn had a "significant misunderstanding of the facts about the Microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal".

Icahn had sent an open letter to the board informing them of his intended proxy fight, Kevin Newcomb reported earlier today.

Read Bostock's letter after the jump:

Dear Mr. Icahn:

We are in receipt of your letter with regard to your intention to seek control of Yahoo!'s board of directors.

Unfortunately, your letter reflects a significant misunderstanding of the facts about the Microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal. A fair-minded review of the factual record leads to one conclusion: that Yahoo!'s ten-member board, comprised of nine independent directors along with Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang, remains the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo! stockholders.

Conversely, we do not believe it is in the best interests of Yahoo! stockholders to allow you and your hand-picked nominees to take control of Yahoo! for the express purpose of trying to force a sale of Yahoo! to a formerly interested buyer who has publicly stated that they have moved on. Please may I remind you that there is currently no acquisition offer on the table from that company or any other party. That said, we have been crystal clear in our stance that we have been and remain willing to consider any proposal from any party including Microsoft if it offers our stockholders full and certain value.

From the beginning of the process with Microsoft, Yahoo!'s independent directors focused on one central goal: how best to maximize stockholder value. At all times directing this process, Yahoo!'s independent directors carefully considered Microsoft's initial unsolicited proposal, which was at the time valued at $31 per share. After considering input from its financial advisers the board unanimously concluded that Microsoft's proposal significantly undervalued Yahoo! and was, therefore, not in the best interests of the company or our stockholders. While we rejected this offer publicly on February 11, 2008, we could not have been more clear in that communication and in every subsequent communication, both public and private, that we were and are willing to enter into any transaction that would maximize value for stockholders and provide them certainty of value.

The record of our efforts to engage Microsoft in meaningful discussions is unequivocal. Following receipt of Microsoft's proposal on January 31, our board of directors has met over twenty times to review Microsoft's proposal and Yahoo!'s other strategic alternatives. Throughout this process our board kept an open mind and an open ear. Our independent directors met with several of our largest stockholders to solicit their views and to make it clear that Yahoo!'s independent board is fully committed to maximizing stockholder value. In addition, at the direction of our board, our management team met with many of our investors to provide insight into Yahoo!'s strategy and views on value.

Our board's openness also extended to Microsoft. Without reciting all of the contacts between us and between our advisers, the senior-most management of Yahoo! and Microsoft and the companies' respective financial advisers spoke on numerous occasions and met in person seven times. During those meetings, Yahoo! discussed its strategic objectives in search and display advertising monetization, its perspectives on operating strategy and integration in a transaction with Microsoft, its perspectives on transaction synergies, and other non-price deal terms. Because certainty of closing is a critical issue, we sought to understand Microsoft's thinking with regard to the regulatory issues associated with a potential transaction. In fact, at the board's direction, our lawyers on March 28 asked for additional information in this regard, information which was never forthcoming.

On April 15th, a meeting was held at Yahoo!'s request. At that meeting, which included our respective financial advisors, we made clear, once again, that we were open to a transaction with Microsoft. During those discussions, Yahoo! made a detailed presentation of its strategic and financial plan, its thoughts on integration and its view with respect to the potential synergies that could be achieved in a transaction, essentially laying the foundation for Microsoft to understand--and respond to--our board's conclusion that Microsoft's offer substantially undervalued the company. Following that meeting we also provided to Microsoft a list of key non-price deal terms that our board believed were critical items to be addressed in a deal to provide reasonable protections for our stockholders.

Throughout this period, Microsoft continued to state that it would not raise its offer, and even suggested that it could lower it.

Despite this failure by Microsoft to respond in any substantive way to any of Yahoo!'s requests, on May 2nd, the same day we first learned of Microsoft's apparent willingness to increase its proposal to $33 (although this oral "offer" was never delivered in writing and did not include details of a cash/stock mix), our board determined to continue discussions, instructing Jerry Yang to indicate to Microsoft that we would be prepared to enter into a transaction that valued Yahoo! at $37 per share and that provided reasonable certainty of value and certainty of closing. This was communicated to Microsoft in-person at a meeting in Seattle on May 3rd. With Microsoft's offer at $33 and Yahoo!'s counter-proposal at $37, Microsoft elected, within hours, to walk away from the negotiating table and informed us that they were "moving on," having never engaged further on price or any of the key non-price deal terms.

In short, Yahoo!'s board was at every point in this process prepared to enter into a transaction with Microsoft that would maximize stockholder value--and included certainty of value and closing. What Yahoo!'s independent board refused to do was to allow control of this company to be acquired for less than its full value.

That brings us to today. Our business is performing well as evidenced by our first quarter results. As we have publicly stated, our board continues to actively and expeditiously explore strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value. None of the alternatives we are considering would preclude us from entering into a transaction with Microsoft or any other party.

We continue to believe that Yahoo!'s current board has the independence, the knowledge, and the commitment to navigate the Company through the rapidly changing Internet environment and to deliver value for Yahoo! and its stockholders.

We look forward to a productive dialogue.

Very truly yours,

Roy Bostock

Chairman of the Board

Posted by Frank Watson on May 15, 2008, 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Social Media Evil: Lori Drew and the Dark Side of MySpace

The U.S. government charged a mother who allegedly used MySpace in a deadly hoax that drove her daughter's 13-year-old classmate (pictured here) to suicide with conspiracy.

Missouri resident Lori Drew, after her daughter's schoolgirl fights with neighbor Megan Meier, 13, created a fake MySpace account to pose as a boy and flirt with Meier. When Drew began using her online identity to taunt Meier, the girl hanged herself.

The boy Megan had been corresponding with on MySpace unexpectedly began calling her a fat slut. He wrote "the world would be a better place without you." It turns out he was a hoax created by the mother of a former friend.

Drew was indicted today for conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to inflict emotional distress. She faces 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty.

"Any adult who uses the internet or a social gathering website to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realize that their actions can have serious consequences," Los Angeles federal prosecutor Thomas O'Brien, who brought the charges, said in a statement.

The case was filed in California, where MySpace is headquartered.

The suit goes a long way toward establishing and enforcing the boundaries of acceptable and illegal behavior on the Internet in general and social media sites in specific.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 15, 2008, 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Delving into the SearchMonkey

Yahoo announced today the general public availability of their SearchMonkey program. This is a program that has been in beta testing with limited partners. It allows the partner to provide Yahoo with structured data that provides advanced information about a web page. This information is then used by Yahoo to influence the presentation of organic search listing results for that page.

This is a very powerful concept in that a modified search listing can surely influence click through rates. Imagine your search listing with an image and several related links built in. Let's look at a quick example:

You can see additional examples in my interview with Yahoo Chief Scientist Andrew Tomkins. The interview was published this past Monday and focuses on SearchMonkey.

The basic process for creating SearchMonkey applications is straightforward. SearchMonkey supports multiple formats, including microformats, RDFa, eRDF, XML feeds, and APIs such as OpenSearch, so publishers have many options for exposing the data.

In addition, developers can build sophisticated applications into the search results. An example of this is the notion of an InfoBar. With an InfoBar, you can actually put an active control in your search listing result. When users click on the control, you mini application will run and can present additional data that displays inline right on the Yahoo search results page.

Here is what it looks like:

The InfoBar provides a very powerful mechanism for managing complex interactions with users right on the Yahoo search results screen. This should have significant value from a branding and click through perspective.

Here is a summary of the development process:

1. Application Type – Decide what type of app you want to build (Enhanced Result or Infobar) and enter basic info such as application name, description, and icon.
2. Trigger URLs – Decide the URL patterns that will trigger your app.
3. Data Services – Data Services are the structured data on which SearchMonkey apps are based. They can be created using data available in the Yahoo! Search index (via data feeds or page mark-up such as microformats or RDF) or by using APIs or page extraction.
4. Appearance - Use PHP to configure how structured data should appear in the application.

Commentary

Note step 2, the one in which your application gets activated. A critical part of the program will be determining when and where you would like your enhanced result to show up.

One key element of the program is that creating an enhanced result, or an InfoBar, does not mean that all users will be exposed to them. Users need to enable the enhanced listings on a publisher by publisher basis. In addition, users can change their minds later and remove your SearchMonkey application from their results.

I spoke to Amit Kumar, Director of Product Management at Yahoo, this past Tuesday, and he indicated that in the future that select SearchMonkey applications may get exposed to all comers. Applications that are adopted by lots of users, and not remove by many at all would be more likely to make this leap to general availability. This however, is not a certainty.

Amit also told me that Yahoo is going to setup a Gallery of such applications for users. This will be a place where the user can go to select an application and enable it. It will be interesting to see how much exposure the Gallery gets. This will play a critical role in the rate of adoption of these types of results. The publisher can, of course, promote their own application, and try to drive people to sign up for it.

Another thing that Amit emphasized during our conversation was that the effort level for developers to engage with SearchMonkey is quite low. The platform makes it really easy for them to engage. This could play a critical role in broadening adoption.

One thing I learned in my interview with Andrew, and also from his presentation at SES New York, is that building SearchMonkey applications will not help you improve your rankings. The program is not intended to be used for that purpose.

Personally, I'd like to see a stronger move towards exposing some of the applications to all users. This maybe a difficult thing to implement at some level, and it makes it far more susceptible to spam. But it would certainly accelerate the exposure of these types of applications to the general public.

The early action (in terms of users) will likely be driven by early adopters. Then we will need to see how widely it penetrates the market, and how aggressively Yahoo pushes it forward.

That said, this is exciting stuff. I have long been a believer that search engines should get more information from the publishers, in a structured format. Yahoo has taken a big step in that direction with this program.

Posted by on May 15, 2008, 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yahoo's SearchMonkey Open for Developers, Launches Contest

Recently, Yahoo announced SearchMonkey, which will allow developers access to open source to create applications for search results. Well, today is the day that developers finally get their hands on the tools to make that happen.

There are two types of applications developers can build using SearchMonkey – Enhanced Results and Infobars.

• Enhanced Results take the current standard results and give them a makeover with a richer display. Links to results must remain intact (don't mess with those search results!).
• Infobars will appear below search results and can display information such as metadata about the result, related links or content, or links for user actions (i.e. adding a movie to a Netflix queue).

The process for building SearchMonkey applications is very straightforward:

1. Application Type – Decide what type of app you want to build (Enhanced Result or Infobar) and enter basic info such as application name, description, and icon.

2. Trigger URLs – Decide the URL patterns that will trigger your app. For example, for the Enhanced Result above, the pattern would be “acmemovies.com/*”

3. Data Services – Data Services are the structured data on which SearchMonkey apps are based. They can be created using data available in the Yahoo! Search index (via data feeds or page mark-up such as microformats or RDF) or by using APIs or page extraction.

4. Appearance - Use PHP to configure how structured data should appear in the application.

Need incentive? How does a contest with $10,000 in prizes? Submit your application by June 14th to enter. The contest has four categories: Best Enhanced Result, Best Infobar, Most Innovative Use of Structured Data, Best Data Service, and Grand Prize (best over all categories).

And if you're in the Bay Area, catch the SearchMonkey Launch Party tonight at Yahoo's Headquarters in Sunnyvale.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2008, 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Confirms Icahn Proxy Fight

Yahoo has confirmed that billionaire investor Carl Icahn has initiated a proxy fight via an open letter to Yahoo's board of directors notifying them of his intention to replace the existing board with his own slate of directors.

The proposed board includes: Harvard Law Professor Lucian Bebchuk; Frank J. Biondi, Jr., senior managing director of WaterView Advisors; John Chapple, president of Hawkeye Investments; investor and NBA team owner Mark Cuban; Adam Dell, managing general partner of Impact Venture Partners; Carl Icahn; Keith Meister, principal executive officer and vice chairman of the board of Icahn Enterprises G.P.; Edward H. Meyer, chairman, CEO and chief investment officer of Ocean Road Advisors; private investor Brian S. Posner; and Robert Shaye, co-chairman and co-CEO of New Line Cinema.

The full text of Icahn's letter is after the jump.

Carl C. Icahn
ICAHN CAPITAL LP
767 Fifth Avenue, 47th Floor
New York, NY 10153

May 15, 2008

Roy Bostock
Chairman
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Dear Mr. Bostock:
It is clear to me that the board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft. It is quite obvious that Microsoft's bid of $33 per share is a superior alternative to Yahoo's prospects on a standalone basis. I am perplexed by the board's actions. It is irresponsible to hide behind management's more than overly optimistic financial forecasts. It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72% premium over Yahoo's closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer. I and many of your shareholders strongly believe that a combination between Yahoo and Microsoft would form a dynamic company and more importantly would be a force strong enough to compete with Google on the Internet.
During the past week, a number of shareholders have asked me to lead a proxy fight to attempt to remove the current board and to establish a new board which would attempt to negotiate a successful merger with Microsoft, something that in my opinion the current board has completely botched. I believe that a combination between Microsoft and Yahoo is by far the most sensible path for both companies. I have therefore taken the following actions: (1) during the last 10 days, I have purchased approximately 59 million shares and share-equivalents of Yahoo; (2) I have formed a 10-person slate which will stand for election against the current board; and (3) I have sought antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission to acquire up to approximately $2.5 billion worth of Yahoo stock. The biographies of the members of our slate are attached to this letter. A more formal notification is being delivered today to Yahoo under separate cover.
While it is my understanding that you do not intend to enter into any transaction that would impede a Microsoft-Yahoo merger, I am concerned that in several recent press releases you stated that you intend to pursue certain "strategic alternatives". I therefore hope and trust that if there is any question that these "strategic alternatives" might in any way impede a future Microsoft merger you will at the very least allow shareholders to opine on them before embarking on such a transaction.
I sincerely hope you heed the wishes of your shareholders and move expeditiously to negotiate a merger with Microsoft, thereby making a proxy fight unnecessary.
Sincerely yours,

CARL C. ICAHN

SLATE BIOGRAPHIES
Lucian A. Bebchuk
Lucian Bebchuk is the William J. Friedman and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor of Law, Economics, and Finance and Director of the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard Law School. Bebchuk is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Inaugural Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Network. Trained in both law and economics, Bebchuk holds an LL.M. and S.J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.A. and Ph.D in Economics from the Harvard Economics Department. He joined the Harvard Law School faculty in 1986 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor in 1988, and the Friedman Professor of Law, Economics and Finance in 1998. Bebchuk has written extensively on corporate governance, corporate control, and corporate transactions. He has published more than seventy research articles in academic journals in law, economics, and finance. Upon electing him to membership in 2000, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences cited him as "[o]ne of the nation's leading scholars of law and economics," who "has made major contribution to the study of corporate control, governance, and insolvency." He is the 2007-2008 President of the American Law and Economics Association, and a former chair of the Business Association Section of the American Association of Law Teachers. Bebchuk's recent writings include Pay without Performance: the Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation (Harvard University Press, 2004, co-authored with Jesse Fried), "The Case for Increasing Shareholder Power" (Harvard Law Review, 2005), "The Costs of Entrenched Boards" (Journal of Financial Economics, 2005, co-authored with Alma Cohen), and "The Myth of the Shareholder Franchise" (Virginia Law Review, 2007). Bebchuk has been a frequent contributor to policy making and public discourse in the corporate governance area. He has appeared before the Senate Finance Committee, the House Committee of Financial Services, and the SEC. He has published many op-ed pieces, including in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Financial Times. He was included in the list of "100 most influential people in finance" of Treasury & Risk Management and the list of "100 most influential players in corporate governance" of Directorship magazine.
Frank J. Biondi, Jr.
Since March 1999, Mr. Biondi has served as Senior Managing Director of WaterView Advisors LLC, an investment advisor organization. From April 1996 to November 1998, Mr. Biondi served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Studios, Inc. From July 1987 to January 1996, Mr. Biondi served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom, Inc. Mr. Biondi is a director of Amgen Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp., Hasbro, Inc., The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and Seagate Technology. Mr. Biondi is a graduate of Princeton University and earned a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard University.
John H. Chapple
John Chapple is President of Hawkeye Investments LLC, a privately-owned equity firm investing primarily in telecommunications and real estate ventures frequently working in conjunction with Rally Capital LLC. Prior to forming Hawkeye, John Chapple worked to organize Nextel Partners, a provider of digital wireless services in mid-size and smaller markets throughout the U.S. He became the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Nextel Partners and its subsidiaries in August of 1998. Nextel Partners went public in February 2000 and was traded on the NASDAQ Exchange. In June 2006, the company was purchased by Sprint Communications. From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Chapple was the President and Chief Operating Officer for Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment in Vancouver, B.C. During Mr. Chapple's tenure, Orca Bay owned and operated Vancouver's National Basketball Association and National Hockey League sports franchises in addition to the General Motors Place sports arena and retail interests. From 1988 to 1995, he served as Executive Vice President of Operations for McCaw Cellular Communications and subsequently AT&T Wireless Services following the merger of those companies. From 1978 to 1983, he served on the senior management team of Rogers Cablesystems before moving to American Cablesystems as Senior Vice President of Operations from 1983 to 1988. Mr. Chapple, a graduate of Syracuse University and Harvard University's Advanced Management Program, has 26 years of experience in the cable television and wireless communications industries. Mr. Chapple is the past Chairman of Cellular One Group and CTIA-The Wireless Association, past Vice-Chairman of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and has been on the Board of Governors of the NHL and NBA. Mr. Chapple serves on the Syracuse University Board of Trustees currently as Chairman and the Advisory Board for the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. He is also on the Board of Directors of Cbeyond, Inc., a publicly traded Atlanta-based integrated service telephony company; Seamobile Enterprises, a privately held company providing integrated wireless services at sea; Telesphere, a privately held VOIP (voice over internet protocol) company based in Phoenix, Arizona; and on the advisory boards of Diamond Castle Holdings, LLC, a private equity firm based in New York City and the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at University of Washington.
Mark Cuban
Since early 2000, Mr. Cuban has been the majority and controlling owner of the National Basketball Association franchise, the Dallas Mavericks. In 2001, Mr. Cuban co-founded HDNet, an all high-definition television network on DIRECTV that broadcasts high-definition sports, movies and other entertainment. Prior to his purchase of the Dallas Mavericks, Mr. Cuban co- founded Broadcast.com in 1995 and served as its Chairman of the Board until it was sold to Yahoo! in July of 1999. Before Broadcast.com, Mr. Cuban co-founded MicroSolutions, a national systems integrator, in 1983, which was later sold to CompuServe Corporation in 1990. Mr. Cuban is an active investor in cutting- edge technologies and various industries, including the entertainment industry.
Adam Dell
Since January 2000, Mr. Dell has served as the Managing General Partner of Impact Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on information technology investments. He also serves as Managing Director at Steelpoint Capital Partners, a private equity firm with offices in New York and California. From October 1998 to January 2000, Mr. Dell was a Senior Associate and subsequently a Partner with Crosspoint Venture Partners in Northern California. From July 1997 to August 1998, he was a Senior Associate with Enterprise Partners in Southern California. From January 1996 to June 1997 Mr. Dell was associated with the law firm of Winstead Sechrest & Minick, in Austin, Texas, where he practiced corporate law. Mr. Dell's investments include: Buzzsaw (which was acquired by Autodesk), HotJobs (which was acquired by Yahoo!) and Connectify (which was acquired by Kana Software). Mr. Dell has been a director of XO Holdings, Inc., a telecommunications services provider, since February 2006, and of its predecessor from January 2003 to February 2006. In addition, Mr. Dell currently serves on the boards of directors of the Santa Fe Institute, MessageOne and OpenTable. He also teaches a course at the Columbia Business School on business, technology and innovation and is a contributing columnist to the technology publication, Business 2.0. Mr. Dell received a J.D. from University of Texas and a B.A. from Tulane University.
Carl C. Icahn
Mr. Icahn has served as chairman of the board and a director of Starfire Holding Corporation, a privately-held holding company, and chairman of the board and a director of various subsidiaries of Starfire, since 1984. Since August 2007, through his position as Chief Executive Officer of Icahn Capital LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P., and certain related entities, Mr. Icahn's principal occupation is managing private investment funds, including Icahn Partners LP, Icahn Partners Master Fund LP, Icahn Partners Master Fund II L.P. and Icahn Partners Master Fund III L.P. Prior to August 2007, Mr. Icahn conducted this occupation through his entities CCI Onshore Corp. and CCI Offshore Corp since September 2004. Since November 1990, Mr. Icahn has been chairman of the board of Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc., the general partner of Icahn Enterprises L.P. Icahn Enterprises L.P. is a diversified holding company engaged in a variety of businesses, including investment management, metals, real estate and home fashion. Mr. Icahn was chairman of the board and president of Icahn & Co., Inc., a registered broker- dealer and a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers, from 1968 to 2005. Mr. Icahn has served as chairman of the board and as a director of American Railcar Industries, Inc., a company that is primarily engaged in the business of manufacturing covered hopper and tank railcars, since 1994. From October 1998 through May 2004, Mr. Icahn was the president and a director of Stratosphere Corporation, the owner and operator of the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, which, until February 2008, was a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P. From September 2000 to February 2007, Mr. Icahn served as the chairman of the board of GB Holdings, Inc., which owned an interest in Atlantic Coast Holdings, Inc., the owner and operator of The Sands casino in Atlantic City until November 2006. Mr. Icahn has been chairman of the board and a director of XO Holdings, Inc., a telecommunications services provider, since February 2006, and of its predecessor from January 2003 to February 2006. Mr. Icahn has served as a Director of Cadus Corporation, a company engaged in the ownership and licensing of yeast-based drug discovery technologies since July 1993. In May 2005, Mr. Icahn became a director of Blockbuster Inc., a provider of in-home movie rental and game entertainment. In October 2005, Mr. Icahn became a director of WestPoint International, Inc., a manufacturer of bed and bath home fashion products. In September 2006, Mr. Icahn became a director of ImClone Systems Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, and since October 2006 has been the chairman of the board of ImClone. In August 2007, Mr. Icahn became a director of WCI Communities, Inc., a homebuilding company, and since September 2007 has been the chairman of the board of WCI. In December 2007, Mr. Icahn became a director of Federal-Mogul Corporation, a supplier of automotive products, and since January 2008 has been the chairman of the board of Federal-Mogul. In April 2008, Mr. Icahn became a director of Motricity, Inc., a privately-held company that provides mobile content services and solutions. Mr. Icahn received his B.A. from Princeton University.
Keith A. Meister
Since March 2006, Keith Meister has served as Principal Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc., the general partner of Icahn Enterprises L.P., a diversified holding company engaged in a variety of businesses, including investment management, metals, real estate and home fashion. Since November 2004, Mr. Meister has been a Managing Director of Icahn Capital LP, the entity through which Carl C. Icahn manages third party private investment funds. Since June 2002, Mr. Meister has served as senior investment analyst of High River Limited Partnership, an entity primarily engaged in the business of holding and investing in securities. Mr. Meister also serves on the boards of directors of the following companies: XO Holdings, Inc., a telecommunications company; WCI Communities, Inc., a homebuilding company; Federal-Mogul Corporation, a supplier of automotive products; and Motorola, Inc., a mobile communications company. With respect to each company mentioned above, Carl C. Icahn, directly or indirectly, either (i) controls such company or (ii) has an interest in such company through the ownership of securities. Mr. Meister received an A.B. in government, cum laude, from Harvard College in 1995.
Edward H. Meyer
Mr. Meyer serves as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Ocean Road Advisors, Inc., an investment management company. From 1970 to 2006, he served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Grey Global Group, Inc., a multi-billion dollar global advertising and marketing agency. Mr. Meyer serves as a Director of Harman International Industries, Inc., Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc., National CineMedia, Inc. and NRDC Acquisition Corp. Mr. Meyer holds a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.
Brian S. Posner
Brian S. Posner is a private investor. From 2005 through March 2008, he served as Chief Executive Officer and co-Chief Investment Officer of ClearBridge Advisors LLC (and its predecessor company, CAM North America), an asset management company based in New York with approximately $90 billion in assets and a wholly owned subsidiary of Legg Mason Inc. Prior to ClearBridge Advisors, he was a co-Founder and the Managing Partner of Hygrove Partners LLC, a hedge fund company that was formed in 2000. Prior to ClearBridge Advisors and Hygrove Partners, he served as a Portfolio Manager and an Analyst, first at Fidelity Investments from 1987 to 1996 and then at Warburg Pincus Asset Management/Credit Suisse Asset Management from 1997 to 1999. At Warburg Pincus Asset Management/Credit Suisse Asset Management he was a Managing Director and served as the Senior Investment Manager of the Value Equity Group, co-Portfolio Manager of the Warburg Pincus Growth & Income Fund, and Portfolio Manager of the Warburg Pincus Institutional Value Fund and the Warburg Pincus Trust, Growth and Income Fund. Prior to the acquisition of Warburg Pincus Asset Management ("WPAM") by Credit Suisse Asset Management in July 1999, he was co-Chief Investment Officer, Director of Research, Chairman of the Global Asset Allocation Committee, and a member of the Executive Operating Committee at WPAM. At Fidelity Investments, he was the Portfolio Manager of the Fidelity Equity Income II Fund from 1992 to 1996 and the Fidelity Value Fund from 1990 to 1992. He also managed the Select Life Insurance, Select Property Casualty Insurance and Select Energy Portfolios. From 1987 to 1990, he was an Oil, Insurance, and Financial Services Analyst. From August 2000 to April 2003 he served on the Board of Directors for Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. He currently a member of the Board of Trustees at Northwestern University and the Board of Visitors for the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. Mr. Posner received his undergraduate degree in history from Northwestern University in 1983 and his M.B.A. in finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1987.
Robert K. Shaye
Robert Shaye is Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of New Line Cinema. As the Founder of New Line Cinema and a filmmaker himself, Robert Shaye has spent more than 40 years developing and distributing films that reflect a wide array of cultural movements, creating new paradigms for the motion picture business, and most importantly, entertaining millions of moviegoers. Since he founded New Line in 1967, Shaye has guided the company's growth from a privately-held art film distributor to one of the entertainment industry's leading independent studios and a veritable box office force. He has been involved in such films as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Rush Hour, Austin Powers and Seven. A University of Michigan graduate with a degree in business administration and a J.D. degree from Columbia University Law School, Shaye is also a Fulbright Scholar, member of the New York State Bar, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Motion Picture Pioneers, and the American Film Institute.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 15, 2008, 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comcast Aquires Social Networking Site Plaxo

Plaxo has signed an agreement to be aquired by cable giant Comcast, accoring to a post on the Plaxo blog. The two companies had previously been working together in partnerships, but have now decided that a permanent merger would maximize their efforts.

Those efforts include a unified approach to mashing up tv and social media. For example, one of the goals includes photo sharing across a variety of mediums including mobile, tv and computer.

Plaxo is known for its online address books that have been instrumental for popular social networking sites. The company is dedicated to open source and privacy efforts as well.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2008, 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How to Bury Negative Online Mentions of You - Intermediate Level Tactics

Yesterday I published a post on the Search Engine People site titled 50+ Sites to Help You Bury Negative Posts About You or Your Company!.

While the tactics mentioned may be enough to push some negative online mentions of you or your business to the second page of the search results or lower, in other cases they will not. The question then becomes; what else can you do when the initial tactics themselves aren't enough, and you've got a negative piece about you ranking in the search results for an important phrase. Burying your head in the sand and hoping it goes away isn't really a viable option. The answer ... LOTS can be done!

Lets start with our goals ... they're progressive.

Progressive Goals:
Goal #1: First ... bump the listing below the fold asap
then
Goal #2: Bump the listing off the first page of the search results for the given term(s)

With goals in hand, we can now consider tactics.

Tactics:
To Achieve Goal #1:

a. select the strongest 3-5 of those 50+ sites, where strong is a subjective assessment based on many factors. My personal assessment would be:

1. Digg
2. Twitter
3. Stumbleupon
4. MyBlogLog
5. Linkedin

b. establish a profile on each, where the profile name is the term/phrase the negative piece ranks for
c. get lots of friends on each of those sites ... the more the better. It works best if you take an active role and participate. Each friend will result in an internal link back to your profile on that site, making it stronger.
d. within each site, you can see which profiles are the strongest in the offending engines' eyes ... the search engines themselves with rank them in order of importance given a simple search query (eg. site:twitter.com). Try to secure links from the strongest profiles first ... they pass the most value.
e. join groups where possible too ... often these will pass link power to your profile as well.
f. possibly create a social profiles menu on your site(s), and link to each of these profiles.

To Achieve Goal #2:

a. determine how far down you actually wish to push the piece. Beyond the first page will take a great deal of time and energy.
b. assuming you've already bumped the offending post below the fold, you need to select the number of sites you will need to use from the 50 + listed in the 50+ Sites to Help You Bury Negative Posts About You or Your Company! article.
c. follow the steps outlined above for each
d. within each (where possible) include links to all your other profiles on the other sites

Following these steps should be enough to push most negative mentions to the second page. If not, or if you don't have the time and energy, do engage the services of a professional with experience in the space. Aside from the obvious value ... its not a bad idea to take out profiles under your name anyway, just as a pre-emptive measure.

Please note ... these tactics are by no means comprehensive or advanced. They're just a relatively quick and efficient means for burying negative online mentions. Much more advanced tactics exist, which I will not delve into here.

Other great reference posts about reputation management include:
Glen Allsopp - What Is Online Reputation Management
Andy Beal - Free Online Reputation Management Beginner's Guide
Todd Malicoat - Reputation Management Emancipation PRoclamation - 10 Ways to Own Yourself Online
Lee Odden - Basics of Online Reputation Management
Marty Weintraub - 9 Essential Tactics for Reputation Management in Social Media
Andy Beal - Buzz Monitoring: 26 Free Buzz Tracking Tools
David Wallace - Using Social Media to Help Manage Online Reputation

Posted by on May 15, 2008, 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Wikipedia Traffic Grows 8,000% in 5 Years Due to Search Referrals

Nielsen Online has released data showing that Wikipedia's 8,000% growth in the past 5 years is attributed to search. Really? Is that what happens when Google ranks all of your pages as #1? I had no idea.

Breaking down the not-at-all suprising data:

Google sent the most search traffic to en.wikipedia.org with 61% of searches on home computers and 66% of work computers. Yahoo came in second at 19% home, 16% work. The main www.Wikipedia.org came in third, beating out MSN and AOL at home and search.MSN.com and search.Live.com at work.

Wikipedia's growth is slowing, however. Here's data for unique visitors in the month of April for the past six years with the year-over-year growth percentages:

2003 700,000, n/a
2004 2,082,000, 197%
2005 6,753,000, 224%
2006 25,970,000, 285%
2007 45,934,000 77%
2008 55,820,000 17%

Related Reading:
Powerset Launches Piggybackipedia: Wikipedia Search Engine
Wikipedia External Links Now "Nofollow"
Ten Reasons Marketers Should Pay Attention to Wikipedia

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2008, 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ask.com to Acquire Dictionary.com Family of Reference Sites

IAC-owned Ask.com has agreed to acquire Lexico Publishing Group, the owner of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com.

The move will help Ask.com fulfill its recent strategy to focus on reference and providing answers to questions. More than half a billion monthly worldwide searches consist of dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia queries, according to comScore.

The acquisition brings to Ask.com 15.6 million monthly unique users, growing 29% year-over-year, giving the combined entity more than 145 million unduplicated users worldwide, making Ask.com the ninth-largest Web property in the world. A full 88 percent of Lexico sites' traffic comes from direct navigation, where users type in "dictionary.com" or other site names in their browser.

"We think it fits in very nicely with what we have at Ask.com," Doug Leeds, chief strategy officer at Ask.com, told Search Engine Watch. "We're going to take some of the things that make Ask.com great, like related search and binoculars, and bring them to Dictionary.com."

The Lexico sites will also be redesigned to include the three-paneled Ask3D functionality for its search results, he said.

For dictionary.com, the move brings users closer to their next or previous destinations, which quite often is a search engine, Leeds said. The addition of Lexico's reference sites will improve Ask.com users' experience as well, since more than 30 percent of all searches conducted on Ask.com are in the reference category.

Terms of the all-cash transaction were not disclosed. Once the deal closes, the 16 employees of privately held Lexico are expected to join Ask.com's team.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 15, 2008, 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Icahn Trumps Yahoo Board: "You're Fired!"

Yahoo may need to fight off Carl Icahn Syndrome by Proxy today.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSP) is a type of factitious disorder which appears strikingly similar to the Icahn strategy. MSP is a mental illness where a person acts as if an individual he's caring for has a physical or mental illness when the person is not really sick.

Is Yahoo sick? No. That won't stop dissident investors, though, from acting as if the company is.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who's invested more than a billion dollars in Yahoo, will initiate a proxy contest to oust Yahoo Inc.'s board of directors, according to the WSJ, a move designed to jumpstart the stalled MicroHoo merger.

Icahn (pictured here in a conservative blue suit) hasn't won every proxy war he's waged: Marvel Comics, for example, stands out as a success story after the superhero company defeated Icahn and his minions.

People with MSP assume the role of a sick person indirectly by lying about illness in another person under their care. We're not calling Icahn a liar but we don't think the Yahoo board is crazy for declining the Microsoft takeover bid.

In a proxy battle, Icahn would nominate 10 directors to replace Yahoo's board before today's deadline. The new slate of directors is said to include former Viacom Inc. CEO Frank Biondi, an Icahn proxy war ally.

Of course, the reason for the proxy battle differs from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which is not done to achieve a concrete benefit, such as financial gain. For Icahn, it's all about the Benjamins. In Sunnyvale, he'll be known as the Yahooligan.

Like Baron von Munchausen, who rode a cannonball behind enemy lines then rode one back when he decided it wasn't such a good idea, Icahn can enter enemy territory without suffering a scratch from Microsoft or Yahoo. His proxy board will wage the war for him.

Icahn has some big wins under his belt: he spurred Motorola's decision to spin off its mobile phone business in March. He has also led a campaign by video-store chain Blockbuster to purchase electronics retailer Circuit City Stores.

If that deal doesn't go through, Icahn has stated he'll buy Circuit City.

No word on whether he'd buy Yahoo.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 15, 2008, 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

eMarketer Lowers Social Network Advertising Projections

eMarketer is lowering projections for social network advertising from $1.6 billion to $1.4 billion for 2008. Two reasons are attributed to the adjustment: a slowing economy and the uncertainty over what advertising actually works on social sites.

Adjustments have been made for site-specific projections as well. MySpace's projection has been lowered from $850 million to $755 million, while Facebook has been lowered from $305 million to $265 million.

Related Reading:
Consumers Ok with Social Ads, But Rarely Find Them Targeted

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2008, 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

ComScore Places Google Sites Ahead of Yahoo Sites for First Time

While Google has dominated the search market, it's Yahoo that's been the leader as a destination site (think email, photos, etc.), according to published reports. But the tide is turning in that field, as comScore reported Google sites finally overtook Yahoo sites in the month of April.

But unlike its lead in search, this lead is a slight one. Only 466,000 visitors separate the #1 and #2 slots in this field. Here's the raw data for April:

Google sites saw 141.1 million visitors, up 18% year over year.
Yahoo sites saw 140.6 million visitors, up 7% year over year.
Microsoft trailed in third at 121 million.

Yahoo does still lead in page views, meaning either people are returning or are more engaged in Yahoo content. Yahoo had 33.6 billion page views while Google saw 28.7 billion page views.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2008, 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEW Experts: Keeping SEO Staff Motivated and Driven

Talented link developers are hard to find -- you want to retain them as long as possible. In today's Link Building column, "Keeping SEO Staff Motivated and Driven," Justilien Gaspard offers tips on some incentives you can use to keep your link marketers productive and driven, while reducing staff turnover.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 15, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Facebook & MySpace Connect: Good Idea or Social Media Catastrophe?

Both MySpace Data Availability and Facebook Connect will soon let users' personal information follow them as they traverse the Web. In today's Building Brand Equity column, "Facebook & MySpace Connect: Good Idea or Social Media Catastrophe?," Erik Qualman notes that, besides the implications for personal and business transparency, it looks like Google should worry about social media stealing some of its market share.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 15, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Obama Needs You! Obama Campaign Endorses Search Engine Watch Jobs Board

Barack Obama needs internet marketers to win the Presidential Election. So his campaign wisely advertised on the Search Engine Watch Jobs Board.

You know Obama Rocks the Youth Vote but he's not stopping at the primaries. Here are the first two requirements for joining the Obama internet revolution:

We're looking for internet experts who strongly support Barack Obama for President and have expertise in one or more of:

* Search Engine Marketing
* Search Engine Optimization

You can check out the full requirements for the Obama For America internet marketing gigs here. Note: This is a short-term gig. There's no guarantee this will turn into a Cabinet-level position.

But wouldn't it be great if the new President named a couple Joint Chiefs of the Internet? After all, Secretary of the World Wide Web doesn't sound like much fun.

Or how about Internet General?

Yeah, we like the sound of that.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 14, 2008, 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Consumers Ok with Social Ads, But Rarely Find Them Targeted

Consumers are fine with ads on social networks, but do not find them targeted to their needs and desires, according to a new Prospectiv survey.

87 percent surveyed felt that ads didn't match their preferences.

Of those:
-- 58% felt that most ads do not match
-- 29% felt that no ads match

Still, 85% of participants said they would prefer ad-supported networks to paying for premium sites. And these are the types of ads they respond to:

-- One-off coupons and discount offers from the brands and products they
buy (62 percent)
-- E-newsletters featuring coupons, discounts, news and tips about
favorite brands (24 percent)
-- Invitations to join interactive email groups, online forums and social
networks for sharing and communicating (14 percent)

Prospectiv surveyed 800 people who use sites like Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 and Friendster.

"These poll results clarify that members of social networking sites are open to offers and promotions as long as they are targeted to their interests," said Jere Doyle, Prospectiv's CEO. "The next step for the web publishing industry seeking to monetize their online communities is to improve ad relevance, and the best way to do this is to work with online lead generation providers and ad networks that have the brand relationships, technologies and services to ensure that the ads presented are tailored to their audience's needs and wants."

What do you think about the data? What kind of ads should be used on social networks? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Related Reading:
How to (Actually) Earn Money (Now) with Social Media (Really): Part 1
How to (Actually) Earn Money (Now) with Social Media (Really): Part 2
Social Media Meets Local Search
Social Media Marketing for Small Business

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2008, 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google News Clusters: Keep 'Em Un-Separated

The Google news team has improved the "clusters" in their search results. Clusters are similar news stories that are grouped together. Previously, clusters were formed for 3 days, and then the individual news stories were kicked out the house to make it on their own.

Now, those clusters will exist for the full 30 day indexing of the news stories.

Writing on the Google News Blog, Lucian Cionca commented on how this change affects the big picture for Google News: "I think this brings us a step closer to our goal of making news universally accessible from as many sources, perspectives and languages as the world can offer."

Related Reading:
Google Finally Copies Microsoft, Adds 'Related Searches' to Google News
Windows Live Search Offers Google News Alternative
Google News Unveils Two Updates to Comments Feature

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2008, 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Student Searches: The Top 15 Searches for the K-12 Set

What are your kids searching for during the school day? netTrekker d.i. has released data about the Top 15 In-School searches for the first quarter of 2008. And here they are:

1. Games
2. Dogs
3. Animals
4. Civil War
5. George Washington
6. Holocaust
7. Abraham Lincoln
8. Multiplication
9. Math Games
10. Weather
11. Frogs
12. Fractions
13. Planets
14. Sharks
15. Plants

The results were tracked by Thinkronize, the developers behind netTrekker d.i., which is a safe educational search engine.

"Search engines like Google(TM) and Yahoo® pull together lists of the most popular keyword queries, underscoring our nation's interests and fixations and showcasing trends and patterns," said Thinkronize CEO Randy Wilhelm. "Our report offers a different view -- a real-time school-based mirror of what our children are searching for -- both for academic purposes and out of genuine curiosity."

Related Reading:
Yahoo Releases Safe Search Product into Beta
The New Multitaskers: Kids Split Attention Between TV, Internet
Quintura For Kids: Another Search Engine For Kids
A Look at the Top Searches of 2007

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2008, 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Engine Watch Forums Names Chris Boggs Associate Editor

Chris Boggs, manager, Search Engine Optimization for Brulant has joined Search Engine Watch Forums as Associate Editor. Chris is a highly sought after speaker on the circuit. He's presented at Search Engine Strategies (SES), PubCon and SMX among others.

Chris will be teaming up with Search Engine Watch Forums Editor, Frank Watson, founder of Kangamurra Media.

Chris and Frank write the weekly SEM Crossfire column for SEW Experts: debating, arguing, and discussing the hottest search engine marketing and SEO issues in the industry.

So what can you expect from Chris in the Forums? The best example may be found here.

I also asked Chris to warn me about what kind of trouble he plans getting me into:

"I am very excited to become more involved with SEW Forums. I can really say that I learned a lot from the forums when it they first started, and I have continued to benefit from community participation. I have unfortunately had less time to participate at SEW forums as I used to, but I plan on ramping back up during the off-hours. One thing I am tied of seeing at SEW and other forums is so-called experts coming in and making absurd or non-factual statements."

Hey, me too, Chris. But what do you plan to do about it?

"Those types of participants can take my new position announcement as notice that I'm tired of being nice. I and other Moderators plan on urging people to back up their statements with proof, or suffer public ridicule. Those people that are newer to the industry and openly want to learn (and do not claim falsely to be experts) will hopefully be less likely to be derailed by advice based on zero sum experience."

Wow. You heard it here first.

Hello Chris, goodbye B.S.

photo credit: SearchEvangelist on Flickr

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 14, 2008, 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Branding is Dead; Long Live SEO

There's been a lot of talk recently about how SEO is dead, and branding will rise out of its ashes. I have to disagree. If anything, branding is the marketing technique on its way out--a victim of how search has changed the way people think and shop, online and offline.

Once upon a time, a consumer had to juggle a lot of information just to make a relative intelligent purchase. In 1991, if you wanted to buy a portable compact disc player, you had to know:
1. What you wanted to buy (portable compact disc player)
2. What brand you wanted to buy (Sony)
3. What product you wanted to buy (Discman)
4. What store to buy it at (The Wiz)
5. Where to find that store (Menlo Park Mall)

Aside from Step 1, every other piece of information came to you from branding. Sony did an amazing job branding the Discman, to the point where it was synonymous with "portable CD player." The Wiz was also an obvious choice based on branding; after all, no one beat it. And Menlo Park Mall was close to my house and it was the mall from Mallrats. If you wanted to research prices, you either had to go store to store (and presumably know which stores to go to) or compare Sunday circulars. To compare products, you needed a copy of Consumer Reports. All that knowledge, or the ways to access it, was put into your head through branding.

Today, it's quite different. Looking to buy a new MP3 player in 2008? With a search engine, that's about all you need to know. A search in Google for "mp3 player" brings up C|Net's MP3 Buying Guide. After reading some reviews, you decide on a flash memory player and then on the Creative Zen 16GB. You might then check out the prices quoted on C|Net, or search for "Creative Zen 16GB" in Google, or in a price comparison engine like Google Product Search or Shopping.com. And you'll likely end up getting the Zen from whichever store has the best price and seems trustworthy.

Branding still matters somewhat. After all, you might recognize the names "C|Net," "Creative" and "Zen." But you didn't find them based on their brand; you found them via search. In fact, the branding that matters the most were those of the tools you used: Google, Google Product Search and Shopping.com.

Search drives the sale; branding only validates it. We've been conditioned by search not to be brand loyal. We may check out Amazon.com for the MP3 Player, but we have no qualms about buying it elsewhere. We have a world of information at our fingertips, and we only need the barest bit of data to access it. Why remember a brand when you can so easily find it again? Even when branding works on us, we validate that branding by searching for the brand in a search engine instead of going straight to the brand's web site. If that branding fully worked, the lucrative field of reputation management would disappear.

So branding isn't exactly dead yet, but in a world where we've been conditioned to use brands as--at most--a secondary measure of a company's worth, and to validate branding through search, it's importance continues to wane. In that world, a world where search still leads the way in driving revenue, SEO cannot die.

Posted by on May 14, 2008, 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)

Advertisers Can't Sell Hard Liquor But Google Can

Google AdWords has a strict no advertising rule for hard liquor, as they call it. You will not find ads for terms like rum, gin or vodka. Well... vodka searches now add a twist. Google has started to promote their vodka sellers with the top entry.

Before you get to the search results, there is a Google Checkout listing promoting various vodka sellers. Now that does seem like they are contradicting their own rules.

One hopes this was an oversight, since there are none for rum or gin as yet. Maybe vodka is just such a good Checkout seller that it has reached some number where it automatically gets the Checkout promo?

Hopefully someone at Google will publicly address this one. Right now, I would guess every vodka seller is signing up for a Google Checkout account. Not a bad mistake to make, if it generates new shopping cart customers.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 14, 2008, 1:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

SEW Experts: Google's Superiority Complex

In the end, is Google's search advertising system better than Yahoo's, or are they just monetizing better? In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google's Superiority Complex," Kevin Ryan says it sounds like a little bit of both, but we shouldn't count Yahoo out.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 14, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Emotional Motivators in Landing Page Optimization

Visitors will arrive at your Web site with their own needs, perspectives, and emotions. In today's By the Numbers column, "Emotional Motivators in Landing Page Optimization," Tim Ash explains that since you don't know much about them individually, you can influence them collectively with the design of your site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 14, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Chief Scientist Andrew Tomkins Interviewed by Eric Enge

SEW Expert Eric Enge published a terrific interview on his Stone Temple blog with Yahoo Chief Scientist Andrew Tomkins, who keynoted SES New York. What makes it a great read? Eric asks spot-on questions that cut to the heart of the matter.

Eric Enge: In New York you talked about the future of search, but the thing that really struck me in the conversation was the notion of “webmaster supplied content” communicated essentially directly to the search engine. Maybe you can tell me whether that notion resonates with you in just your general thoughts on the concepts that you laid out in the presentation?

Andrew Tomkins: I'll start by saying that characterization of webmasters and publishers sharing more structured representation of their content is exactly what we are talking about. I guess it's easy to think of it as sharing it with a search engine.

The exchange that really impressed me was late in the interview when Eric and Andrew discuss a site's authority:

Andrew Tomkins: Understanding how authoritative a site is, then specifically for each part of the site; what they are about, how much you should trust them and how much people tend to believe them. How deep they go; all of this is very valuable from the ranking standpoint.

photo credit: Marc_Smith in Flickr

Eric Enge: You could have a site that has a million links, and that has many sections like I talked about, but the tennis section for some reason has very few inbound links from third party sites. Whereas, the camping section has half a million links, where you would actually allocate trust differently by site section.

Andrew Tomkins: That's a great example of a good cue that you would want to pay attention to.

If you care about how search enignes work and where they're headed in the future, this interview is a must-read.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 13, 2008, 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft WorldWideTelescope Launches

Microsoft launched WorldWideTelescope, it's downloadable answer to Google Sky, Google Earth and Google Moon, yesterday. Other than being a bit of a memory hog (understandable for the power it provides) and requiring the latest version of DivX and .Net framework to install, WWTelescope is a pretty amazing program. You can aimlessly browse around the solar system and beyond, zooming in with incredible detail on Earth, the moon, other planets or galaxies, or you can download a professional tour of any of the above. Each item you look at comes with various "Imagery" options. You can check out satellite images of Earth, a street view, a hybrid of both or use the incredible cool "Earth at Night" mode. The options for viewing space are too numerous to numerate. For a quick fix, you can browse through various collections of space images, like those taken from the Hubble or Chandra telescopes, and see where in space those images are from.

If anything, WWTelescope is too advanced, offering a slew of advanced and sometimes incomprehensible options aimed at professionals and true hobbyists. You can even hook up your telescope to it. But it's still great, interesting fun for the average user. I just wasted an hour or so "researching" it for this article, and left with the same semi-accomplished feeling I get when I waste time on Wikipedia.

Microsoft products have often fallen behind Google on the coolness factor of their products. This time they definitely have the search giant beat.

Posted by on May 13, 2008, 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Superpages.com Launches Desktop Widget

Superpages.com has launched a Yahoo! Widget to provide easy local searching. The results come up right in the widget and once a business is clicked on, users will see reviews, maps and a business profile.

This is the latest effort by Superpages.com to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace. Previously, the company has developed Superpages.com applications for mobile phones, including Blackberry. Superpages also has a Google Gadget and a Browser Toolbar.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 13, 2008, 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Paid Search Click Data: Syndicated Versus Pure Search Referrals

Efficient Frontier has released data showing where those paid search click referrals are coming from. Here's the raw data:

Yahoo: 45% from pure search, the rest from its 1196 syndicated sites
Google: 59% from pure search, the rest from its 431 syndicated sites
MSN: 99% from pure search, the rest from its 5 syndicated sites

But when it comes to conversions, pure search beat out syndicated sites every time:

Yahoo: 58% from pure search
Google: 75% from pure search
MSN: 100% from pure search

Does this data line up with what you're seeing in your niche or industry? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Related Reading:
B2B Advertising Brilliance: Word Frequency Techniques for Killer PPC Campaigns
Data Segmentation: Web Site Analytics for PPC

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 13, 2008, 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEW Experts: Don't Hire a Butcher to do a Baker's Job

There are a few firms that I might believe do a good job of both Web design and SEO. Most Web design companies have no business claiming to "do" SEO. In today's Organic Search Engine Optimization column, "Don't Hire a Butcher to do a Baker's Job," Mark Jackson explains why Web designers and IT teams that claim to be handling SEO are probably not doing enough for your site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 13, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Small Business Owners Need Twitter and LinkedIn

It's a time investment. But something worth having takes time. Keeping up with what's going on in your industry and creating a community you can talk with are key factors that successful web businesses employ. In today's Small Business Search Marketing column, "Small Business Owners Need Twitter and LinkedIn," Carrie Hill explains how social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn can benefit small business marketers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 13, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The One SEO PowerPoint Your CEO Must See

The PowerPoint Your CEO Must See" comes courtesy of the tremendous response we've received from the SEO community about the Matt Cutts SEO video we published from the Web 2.0 conference.

A few readers asked for a transcript (not available) -- and no, the embedded Flash video is not search engine optimized. So we're presenting the next best thing: Matt's "What Google Knows About Spam" Google Docs deck in a slide show.

If your CEO doesn't have 10 minutes to invest in this SEO deck, you can find a new job here

If there's one slide your CEO should see, it's the "SEO Is Good" slide.

Spam? Bad.
SEO? Good.

Last month Search Engine Watch blogger and RankAbove CEO Eli Feldblum created an industry firestorm when we published "SEO Spam is Good" last month. The post was misinterpreted, reviled and bashed by SEOs for implying that SEOs spam search engines. We didn't have comments enabled then. Now we do.

Matt says in his blog:

I've always meant to do a post to say that search engine optimization (SEO) is not spam and that Google doesn't hate SEO, but I never seem to get around to it. This presentation gave me a chance to slip those facts into the minds of several thousand tech-savvy folks.

[Thanks to Tracy O for cc-licensing the "money" image that I used in the presentation.]

Tracy O has a very cool "Where's Waldo?" photo of a floppy disk in a landfill. Check it out. But I digress.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 12, 2008, 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Google "Friend Connect" to Make Advanced Social Features Easily Available

Many site owners dream about adding deep social features allowing users to interact with their friends in external communities. However the cost and know-how required to script against various sites' APIs have traditionally been prohibitive for all but the largest publishers. Google's Friend Connect bridges the programming gap by offering standardized tools to facilitate "richer social experiences" to mid and small size publishers. But what are the benefits to the average site owner? Why does this matter?

Background First
The Friend Connect "preview release" announcement today may foreshadow, in palpable terms, the ultimate street level impact of OpenSocial platform-thinking. Though not fully aimed at data portability objectives," webmasters will download cross-site "widgets" using a wizard starting sometime later today. The "social gadget" engine will generate turnkey code which includes "built-in functionality like user registration, invitations, members gallery, message posting, and reviews, as well as third-party applications built by the OpenSocial developer community."

According to the press release any site which deploys Google Friend Connect widgets will be able to "see, invite, and interact with new friends, or, using secure authorization APIs, with existing friends from social sites on the web, including Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more."

Site Owner Benefits
These new tools will engage visitors and drive traffic by offering opportunities to interact with friends who publish their activities to other social sites, a technique many of us practice to various degrees. However Friend Connect offers all of this functionality without hiring a team of programmers...just download the widget, hook it up and rock.

Visualize your users inviting their Facebook and other social community friends (contacts) to "join" them to participate in your site. Users can them "publish back" to other social communities they're active in, making the promotion of your content truly exponential as it ripples amongst friends of friends, etc... While this type of viral propagation has long been in the vocabulary of social media publishers, in past years activity has been largely limited to closed-loop thinking. In other words, what happens in one site stays in the site absent specialized configurations and a lot of know-how.

Already cross pollination add-ons like the StumbleUpon Facebook Application mingle multiple social site experiences to where recommending a site on SU results in publishing the thumbs-up to your FB profile for all of your friends to see. There are many third party widgets which accomplish similar ends including WordPress Twitter Plugs which automates pulling tweets into your blog and creating new tweets on blog posts and from within WordPress.

It takes a lot of research to put together custom suites of such tools. The excitement surrounding Friend Connect is in regards to standardization, expanding reach and lowered cost to make a wide array of previously unavailable social integration available to mid and small size publishers

Posted by Marty Weintraub on May 12, 2008, 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Search Engine Marketing Training at SES Toronto

On Monday, June 16, 2008, before the start of the Search Engine Strategies conference in Toronto, Canada, there will be four search engine marketing training classes. While each of the half-day SEM training workshops costs CAD 795, if you register for a full day, the cost is CAD 1,395.

That's a savings of 195 Loonies – which is worth between 97 and 98 Toonies. (SES Toronto Conference Chairman, Andrew Goodman, has been trying to help me translate American into Canadian, but Search Engine Strategies Global Content Director, Kevin Ryan, thinks it's a lost cause.)

Seriously, why would you want to take a search engine marketing training class or two – independently or in addition to registering for the SES Toronto?

There are three key reasons.

First, you'll be provided with “guided, hands-on exposure that puts theory into practice in a highly interactive environment,” as it says on the Search Engine Strategies Toronto website. These SEM training workshops will be taught by Debra Mastaler, Todd Malicoat, Adam Goldberg and Liana Evans, and I can personally vouch for three of them. (While I don't know Adam Goldberg personally, he's an ex-Google Insider who started Google's Inside Sales team in NYC in 2003. So, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.)

These search engine marketing experts will provide you with the tools and techniques you need to become (or remain) outstanding in your field. (I know there's a joke about a guy who is out standing in his field, but I forget the punch line.)

In the end, you'll not only walk away from the search engine marketing classes with the knowledge and skills you need to be a successful search engine marketer, you may also “jump-start your career and enhance your professional know-how,” as the SES Toronto website puts it.

Second, all four of this year's SEM training workshops are brand new. Compare them to last's year's line up of search engine marketing training classes. There are absolutely no repeats.

In Track 1, Debra Mastaler of Alliance-Link.com is teaching “Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques” from 8 a.m. to noon. And Adam Goldberg of ClearSaleing is teaching “Search Engine Marketing Metrics and Myths” from 1 to 5 p.m. (I love the use of alliteration in the titles of their SEM training workshops.)

In Track 2, Todd Malicoat of Stundtdubl is teaching “SEO Tools” from 8 a.m. to noon. And Liana Evans of KeyRelevance is teaching “How to Effectively Use Social Media for Search Marketing Campaigns” from 1 to 5 p.m. (Just because they don't alliterate their titles doesn't mean their search engine marketing training classes won't be fun.)

I interviewed Todd and John Marshall of Market Motive at ad:tech San Francisco a couple of weeks back, when Market Motive announced it has teamed with Search Engine Strategies to provide online classes for training in search marketing, web analytics, and web conversion techniques.

Todd also talked about his SEM training workshop at SES Toronto. Check out the video interview below.

Stundubl's Todd Malicoat's Upcoming Session at SES Toronto

There's a third key reason why you would want to take a search engine marketing training class or two – independently or in addition to registering for the SES Toronto. (There are always three key reasons to do anything. Hang on a second, I'll remember it.)

You get a lunch break. (No, that's not it. The lunches are getting better at all of the Search Engine Strategies events, but that's not a reason to take workshops covering optimization and advertising strategies, analytics, tactics and best practices.)

Oh, now I remember. Whether you're a consultant, site designer, website owner, or in-house marketing professional, you can't afford to miss this opportunity to learn firsthand about the latest developments in search engine strategy. (I thought I was having a “senior moment” there.)

No matter where you are on the SEO or SEM learning curve, you'll leave these intensive workshops with the necessary skills and tools to improve your business results and take your search engine marketing to another level. “Something that never looks bad on your permanent record,” according to Greg Marmalard in Animal House (1978).

See you at the Intercontinental Toronto Centre Hotel, which is a different venue than the main Search Engine Strategies conference, which is being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, which is attached to the InterContinental Toronto Centre Hotel. (Was that clear? Check Google Maps.)

See you at SES Toronto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 12, 2008, 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google's Friend Connect: Add Social Networking to Your Site

If you've wanted to ride the social media marketing wave by adding social features to your website, but the economy has you worried about spending lots of money on apps, then get excited. Google is again coming to the rescue by offering a free service for you to get your social media game on.

After Google's Campfire One event tonight, website owners will be able to utilize Friend Connect (http://www.google.com/friendconnect). Basically, it's social applications for the coding-challenged. Visitors to sites using Friend Connect will be able to "see, invite, and interact with new friends, or, using secure authorization APIs, with existing friends from social sites on the web, including Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more."

David Glazer, Director of Engineering at Google had this to say: "Google Friend Connect is about helping the 'long tail' of sites become more social. Many sites aren't explicitly social and don't necessarily want to be social networks, but they still benefit from letting their visitors interact with each other. That used to be hard. Fortunately, there's an emerging wave of social standards -- OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial, and the data access APIs published by Facebook, Google, MySpace, and others. Google Friend Connect builds on these standards to let people easily connect with their friends, wherever they are on the web, making 'any app, any site, any friends' a reality."

What do you think about Friend Connect? Plan to add it to your site? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Related Reading:
SLI Systems Joins Bazaarvoice Radius to Help Marketers Execute Integrated Social Commerce Strategies

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2008, 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Google on Spam: Best 10 Minute SEO Video Ever Made

Matt Cutts is Google's Genghis Khan of Spam. He probably slaughters more search engine spam sites in one week than Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great and Napoleon combined killed people in their conquest of the known world.

While we don't have any proof that's true (Google doesn't release spam stats), we can all agree that Matt Cutts is the world's most famous spam killer with more kills to his name than any other search engine spam cop.

Matt's pictured here in a Halloween pic from his blog in full frontal punk rock mode.

So if you want a great introduction to "What Google Knows About Spam" then spend 10 minutes watching Matt's Web 2.0 keynote video.

It will be the best 10 minute investment you make all week.

Don't forget to leave a "thank you" for Matt here or on Matt's blog. Either way, he'll see your comment and respond if he has time.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 12, 2008, 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Get Alerted to SERP Changes Via Twitter

Has there been a change in the SERPs? You might find out about it first - from Twitter.

Twitter has been breaking all sorts of news lately, from weather events to earthquakes. Now, it's becoming a great source for finding out about possible search engine updates.

This morning, I read the following:

@alscillitani: anyone else noticing their rankings change several times over the last 24 hours in google. Up, down, back to up, ??? weird!!

@danlondon: @alscillitani I am seeing a few rankings bounce around. what is up?

This is a great way for Search Engine Marketers to put social media to use. It's easy to think that social media must be used for marketing and sales, but remember that tools like Twitter are great for networking and keeping up with the industry.

What are your thoughts on Twitter and search engine marketing? Let us know by leaving a comment!

Related Reading:
Is Twitter the New Google Alternative?
Twitter and Search

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2008, 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Social Networking on Mobile Phones is Hot in the UK

Nielsen has released data showing the popularity of social networks being used via mobile phones in the UK. Here are three key takeaway points:

• Almost half (44%) of UK mobile phone subscribers belong to an online social network. Of this group, one in four (25%) use their mobile phone for social networking-related activities
• Around 812,000 Britons each month, or 1.7% of all UK mobile subscribers, visited a social networking website using their mobile during the first quarter of 2008
• Facebook is the most popular site for mobile social networking, being visited by over half a million Britons (557,000) from their mobiles, or 9% of all UK Mobile Internet subscribers

Kent Ferguson, Client Services Manager, Nielsen Mobile had this to say about the data: “Social networking is already a global phenomenon, and mobile could be the next big thing in the space. Large numbers of people are interacting with their social networking profiles while they're on the move. There could be increased consumer demand for mobile social networking driven by the flat fee price plans offered by the leading operators that give subscribers unlimited mobile Internet access.”

So what do you think? Are social media and mobile phones colliding? Leave a comment and let us know!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2008, 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Powerset Launches Piggybackipedia: Wikipedia Search Engine

Who won Survivor last night? Powerset doesn't know.

Okay - maybe that's an unfair question for Powerset since the aptly-named Parvati Shallow only won Survivor Micronesia last night. It might be easier to ask "Who is Parvati? The answer: in Sanskrit, "parvati" means "Mountain's daughter" one of the names for Shiva's wife, the Universal Mother.

So what is Powerset? That's a much more intelligent question to ask.

Powerset is the much-hyped beta natural language search engine metaphor-challenged mainstream media call the Google Killer. That means you can type questions in a search box the way you normally ask them. (Think Ask Jeeves 1.5)

That doesn't mean natural language search or Powerset can kill Google, or even commit assault and battery on Google.

Powerset launched with a smart concept: better search results than Wikipedia's own search box. So the play is a "non-Google Custom Search Engine" for Wikipedia. Let's see about what Powerset can can do..

"What is Powerset?" we asked. Powerset separates results by combining the primary keyword (Powerset) with related verbs and nouns from Web pages and Wikipedia. Here's the answer we weren't looking for from Powerset itself.

Factz from Wikipedia: we found the following about Powerset Powerset opened : community and Powerlabs.

Results for Powerset opened community

Powerset (company) In a form of beta testing, Powerset opened an online community called Powerlabs on September 17, 2007.

Results for Powerset opened Powerlabs

Powerset (company) In a form of beta testing, Powerset opened an online community called Powerlabs on September 17, 2007.

Results for Powerset displayed advertise

Powerset (company) (Powerset is not currently selling or displaying any advertising.)

Results for Powerset searched language

Powerlabs Let's roll, is a prerelease of Powerset's general natural language search.

Wikipedia Articles: results 1 - 10 of 78

1. Powerset (company)
Powerset is a company based in San Francisco, California that is developing a natural language search engine for the Internet.
2. Power set
In mathematics, given a set S, the power set (or powerset) of S, written , P(S), or 2S, is the set of all subsets of S. In axiomatic set theory (as developed e.g. in the ZFC axioms), the existence of the power set of any set is postulated by the axiom of power set.

6. Powerlabs
Powerset Applications Currently, Powerset has released two applications: Powermouse and a beta of its search engine.

Only when you click on the expand snippet (powermouse) miniviewer button, do you find the answer you're looking for (sort of):

Powerset (company)

Powerset is a company based in San Francisco, California that is developing a natural language search engine for the Internet.

The company's stated desire is to build a search engine to compete with Google and Yahoo which would act on a user's questions, as opposed to keywords. For instance, a user who wanted to find out which U.S. state has the highest income tax would enter "Which state has the highest income tax?" at Powerset, as opposed to "state income tax" at Google. The advantage to the user, aside from using questions similar to what one person would ask another verbally, is that a natural language search engine would, depending on its underlying programming, return a result that is more relevant to what the user seeks

Powerset is limited by the poorly-written Wikipedia entry. The comparison to Google doesn't work. If someone's searching for the state with the highest state income tax, they'll type in "highest state income tax." No one would type in "state income tax" in Google if they'd type "Which state has the highest income tax?" in Powerset.

At this stage in beta, Powerset can be considered a search engine survivor.

But unless the technology yields better results -- and fast -- people will think of Parvati and Powerset as "shallow" contestants.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 12, 2008, 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PPC Advice, Podcast Style

If you're interested in pay-per-click marketing, you've no doubt checked out our Content Advertising column by SEW Expert David Szetela, founder and CEO of Clix Marketing. If you're looking for more advice from David, you can find it via his brand-spanking-new podcast airing on Webmasterradio.fm beginning today, "PPC Rockstars."

The show will be broadcast live on Mondays at 4:00 PM EDT, 1 PM PDT, 21:00 GMT, and available for download soon after. In each week's show, David will feature a current or future PPC Rock Star, and have a discussion about one particular aspect of PPC advertising. David's first guest is one of PPC's brightest stars, Matt Van Wagner of FindMeFaster.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 12, 2008, 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Avoid Extreme Makeovers During the Optimization Process

Whether you're optimizing a page for the first time or tweaking a page to improve your rankings, it can be tempting to give a page an extreme makeover. From title tags to keyword selection and density to link building, sometimes an SEO may feel the pull to change it all in the hopes of getting a quick return.

But making a bunch of changes all at once is not a prudent process. When multiple changes are made simultaneously, it's difficult to know what is contributing to any changes (declines or increases) in rankings.

Instead, try focusing on one change at at time. So what should your first change be? It can vary from keyword to keyword. Using SEO tools can help you perform competitive intelligence to figure out which metric is most likely to have the greatest impact for a given keyword, as well as analyze your site for strengths and weaknesses within those metrics.

Have an optimization tip to share? Think I'm completely off-base? Leave a comment and show us how it's done!

Related Reading:
SEM Tools of the Experts
SEO Tools Bonanza from SEOValley & SEO Book

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2008, 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Editor a Great Tool for Content -- and for Yahoo/Microsoft!

Time is money, and these two tips will free up many moneymaking hours for you. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Editor a Great Tool for Content -- and for Yahoo/Microsoft!," David Szetela explains how Google has created a tool that will increase ad revenue for itself, but for Yahoo and Microsoft as well.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 12, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Acquires Assets of the Inquisitor 3 Plug-in for Safari

Yahoo has acquired the assets of the Inquisitor 3 plug-in for the Safari web browser. Mac developer Dave Watanabe created the plug-in, but will not become a Yahoo! employee. Watanabe will, however, temporarily consult for Yahoo.

Inquisitor 3 aids searchers by auto-completing their search keywords and delivers results directly in the Safari browser. When users begin to type in the chrome (you know, that area where the toolbars and menus are), websites and alternative search terms pop up to assist the searcher. Yahoo says the plug-in is similar to their Search Assist-type function, but within the chrome.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 9, 2008, 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft Prefers Flash to Silverlight

Despite all the controversy over Microsoft using Silverlight to take over the rich internet market from Adobe Flash, the software giant seems to be not even trying. In fact, even most Microsoft web sites are using Flash instead of Silverlight.

A quick check through Microsoft properties reveals that only the Microsoft Home Page and the Microsoft Developer Network use Silverlight; MSN Video, Zune.net and the new WWTelescope all use Flash.

Microsoft even appears to be on par with Adobe when it comes to platforms outside of Windows. Silverlight works on Safari for Mac or PC, as well as on Firefox and other Mozilla-based browsers. Silverlight even seems to work "unofficially" on Opera (as long you pretend you're not running Opera).

Silverlight isn't supported in Linux, but as an avid Ubuntu fan, I can tell you that Flash does not work well in Linux either. A host of open-source alternatives, like Gnash, have mostly solved that issue. Former Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen's fears of Microsoft favoring Windows seem incredibly unfounded.

But if Microsoft is playing nice for a change, why are they afraid of promoting their product -- and why are they afraid of even using it? Maybe "nice" is too novel a strategy for Redmond. It may take some getting used to -- for everyone.

Posted by on May 9, 2008, 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Free to Go: Microsoft Releases Proxy Yahoo Board

It's speculation Friday, again. And today, the analysts will be pondering whether or not Microsoft will come back for Yahoo, something they haven't been secret about hoping for. But Microsoft is throwing a wrench into those plans by releasing members of its proxy Board of Directors, prepared for a hostile takeover of Yahoo.

Good negotiating is careful business, though, so this could be another negotiating ploy. Or it could be a very real indicator that Microsoft truly is moving on. Speculate away!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 9, 2008, 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Adwords Launches Landing Page Load Time on Keyword Analysis Page

Recently, Google announced that landing page load time will become a factor in determining quality score for Adwords. Today, they have launched a landing page load time metric for Adwords users.

The metric can be found on the Keyword Analysis page.

The load time factor will begin affecting Quality Score in mid-June. Need help improving your landing page load time? Google helps you out with, "How does load time affect my landing page quality?"

Related Reading:
Pimp My Site: Tweaking High Traffic Landing Pages
Google Website Optimizer Tool is Out of Beta!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 9, 2008, 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Maps Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA 4): Your Google Guide to Liberty City

Grand Theft Auto 4 sales topped half a billion dollars during its first week of release, earning about 5 times as much as the blockbuster movie, Iron Man. GTA 4 takes place in Liberty City, a parallel universe of New York, NY. More realistic than ever, many buildings and landmarks in the game are spot-on. The soundtrack rocks.

So how are GTA 4 fans navigating the game? Google Maps is powering the Grand Theft Auto Big Map, a wiki-style map where gamers can update places they've found in Liberty City.

The Google map has proven so popular with the GTA 4 community, moderators have posted the following message:

Note: Due to the sheer amount of submissions from all you pimps, the review process is taking longer than expected. Please do not submit the same marker twice out of fear your submission didn't go through.

Here's an example showing "Missions" and "Services" identified on the Google Map:

There's a helpful outline of the basic controls of the Liberty City Interactive Map system at GTA 'Hood. Yo'u'll also find a detailed guide to help you add new marker location points within the Liberty City Interactive Map.

If you want to explore Liberty City online, you have lots of categories to choose from in addition to "Missions" and "Services." Here's what's currently listed: Clubs, Bars, Cabaret Clubs, Strip Club, Comedy Club, Emergency Services, Police Station, Hospital, Fire Department, Missions, Start, End, Primary Objective, Secondary Objective, NPC, Steps 1-10, Most Wanted, Items, Body Armor, Health Pack, Weapons, Vehicles, Secrets, Hidden Package, Easter Egg, Funny Signs, Multiplayer: Extraction Point, NPCs, Contact Person, Pervert, Pigeon.

How detailed is the Liberty CIty Interactive Map? Here's a screenshot showing all markers:

Of course there are always GTA 4 cheats available, like this one from Playstation Insider, if you want to find the flying rats, weapon locations and half-naked zombies faster.

After the jump, a quick lesson on how to use Google Maps to add your own markers.

How to Add a Marker on Google Maps: Grand Theft Auto Big Map

1) Find the location on the map, hover your mouse pointed over the spot and right click the map. You'll see an "Add Marker" menu pop up.

2) Navigate through the menu popup and select the appropriate maker (Note: if you can't find one that fits your needs, you can contact the GTA 'Hood directly with your suggestion). For example, if you know where a truck is, choose: Add Maker > Vehicles -> Vehicle.

3) A pop up box will appear once you select the marker type. Fill in the name and description of the location.

4) Now you can move the marker around with your mouse to make sure it's in the right place.

5) Once you're happy with your new location, click the Save button.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 9, 2008, 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Yahoo Rejects Microsoft: Worst Decision Ever?

There have been some major missed opportunities in our industry; decisions that must haunt those involved. Arguably the biggest faux pas of our industry came in 1999, when Excite had the opportunity to buy Google for $1 million and refused. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Yahoo Rejects Microsoft: Worst Decision Ever?," Frank Watson wonders if Yahoo's turn-down of Microsoft's offer could trump it?

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 9, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Optimization by Numbers

In the complex world of online marketing, you will likely be asked to run several digital programs at any given time. While getting these programs off the ground can be an achievement in itself, the real challenge is campaign optimization. In today's SEM Agency Issues column, "Optimization by Numbers," William Flaiz discusses ways to keep track of what is working, and identify which channels you should invest in further or pull the plug.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 9, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Black, White, and Blue all Over

The LA Times is in the midst of an aggressive online product rollout. If anyone should be able to build solid local content sites, it's newspapers. In today's Vertical Search column, "Black, White, and Blue all Over," local search expert Michael Boland outlines their efforts, noting that it's their game to lose, with a sizeable but quickly closing head start, as publishers across the country sit on their hands.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 9, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pro Intellectual Property Act Passes House

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act.despite opposition from the Department of Justice.

The act, sponsored by Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas), would allow for forfeiture of property such as computers and other equipment used by convicted copyright infringers.

While this is mainly aimed at music and movie piracy and is backed by the entertainment industry, it will be interesting if it could be applied to website content theft. If so, this could create all sorts of interesting developments for the future of the web.

Scrappers and other copyright material thieves could be risking a lot more than dropped Google listings.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 8, 2008, 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

FBI Hot For 'Wikipedophilia'

The FBI is investigating Wikipedia's inclusion of a photograph of an underage girl on one of their information pages, WorldNetDaily reported. The company has defended their inclusion of adult content despites its ease of access for children, WND noted.

The offending photo is of an old Scorpion album cover that "depicts a naked pre-pubescent girl (appearing about 10 years of age) in a provocative pose. Her chest is completely exposed and a small crack is placed over her vagina."

There have been some complaints about the inclusion of images of graphic sexual acts - heterosexual and homosexual.

ValleyWag mentions these problems in a profile of Wikipedia's Erik Moeller, their number two who oversees content and was instrumental in the development of WikiYouth. Problem is guys you have no restrictions to the adult content on your main site. Even the porn industry requires checking age or having anyone logging in to commit to an age.

A warning before this content displays could be a good start.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 8, 2008, 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google: Our Brain is Just Fine, Thank You

Recently, Google has been losing executives and staff to social sites and startups. This has led many to speculate that Google is losing the brainpower that built the mega company.

But the so-called brain drain is not occurring. At least, that's what Google spokesman Matt Furman told BBC news. Furman said that Google's management pool is deep. Plus, they're not want for talent with 1,300 resumes arriving at their doorstep every day.

Many Googlers have hopped over to Facebook, where they're more likely to find the startup culture that was so endearing about the Google of years past. Now Google, despite its free lunches, is a bonafide corporation, with structure and chains of command to boot. Still, those Googlers may have had a harder time landing their Facebook gigs had it not been for the presence of Google on their resumes.

Of course, Googlers-turned-Facebookers may question that move if Microsoft should really, truly buy Facebook.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 8, 2008, 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yahoo Tests 'Glue Pages' in India

Yahoo is testing a new home page design for its search engine in India. Dubbed 'Glue Pages,' the design has a 3-newspaper look with modules reminiscent of iGoogle or some RSS newsreaders like Netvibes. However, while iGoogle widgets are all over the place design-wise, Glue Pages modules have a clean, uniform look. On the other hand, you can't drag and drop the modules or choose from a catalog of modules to customize your page. Instead, Glue Pages changes up the modules and the placement of those modules according to the keyword that is being searched.

The organic search results are in the left column. Because we're so used to paid search listings being in a sidebar, these organic listings look like sponsored results. (Don't worry, there are still 10 organic results per page.)

On a search for "cell phones," a Google blog search module (of all things!) was the top center module. But on a search for "tea," a MyRecipes.com module took center stage (and that Iced Mint tea recipe looks delicious!). Other modules include Yahoo! Answers, Flickr images, and How Stuff Works.

Glue Pages facilitates both discovery and answers, something that searchers and Web 2.0 users love. On both of my searches, however, the Yahoo! Answers module was placed at the bottom. And with the success of Answer sites over the past year (with Yahoo! Answers leading the pack), perhaps the module should be tested above the fold. But perhaps that will be part of the test in the future.

Check out the screenshots below or go and test Glue Pages for yourself.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 8, 2008, 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Giving Links Away

There are a few ways of controlling what pages of your site share their link love. In today's Link Building column, "Giving Links Away," Sage Lewis explains the concepts of PageRank "sculpting" and siloing: two methods that use the "nofollow" attribute to control which links are counted in search engine ranking algorithms.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 8, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Seat at the Table for Web Analytics

I just got back from speaking on a multivariate testing panel at eMetrics in San Francisco.

A conversation I had with Marshall Sponder triggered this post. Marshall was bemoaning the fact that web analysts can't even get "a seat at the table" (i.e. serious consideration) within many companies. To me this was a statement of the obvious. There are three main reasons that web analysts are not taken seriously.

Trying to do too many complicated & custom things

Data mining and analysis is pretty open-ended. A smart person can think up many ways to slice and dice the data. The very word "analyst" conjures up images of complexity. This is "rocket science" and no amount of simplified Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on a customized dashboard for your boss will change that. If you dumb down the data too much then others may jump to the wrong conclusions. If you let them peek under the hood, then the complexity comes roaring back.

Looking in the rearview mirror

Analytics pores over data that was collected in the past. No matter how detailed or insightful it is, it can not necessarily be translated directly into actions because the conditions now may have changed significantly since the data was collected (e.g. traffic mix, seasonal factors, actions of competitors).

Not speaking the language of business

Analysts speak the language of numbers - but unfortunately not the right ones. Management only understands numbers in the context of finance. Does it make more money for us? Does it cut down costs?

So what can a web analyst do to get some respect?

1) Focus on mission-critical projects only - unless it can make a big impact on the business you should not waste your time on it. Intellectual curiosity and "what if" open-ended idea exploration should be limited to a small proportion of your time.

2) Get proactive - You should be working on actionable forward-looking activities such as landing page optimization which can actually lead to significant changes, and will not be filed away and never looked at.

3) Learn to speak in the language of finance - The only numbers that matter to your managers are the financial ones. Once you start presenting your projects and priorities in terms of their contribution to business performance you will get a lot more respect and attention.

You must reinvent yourself - instead of being viewed as a passive "analyst" you should become a business process architect who is relentlessly driven to improve the economics of your company.

If you do these things then you will be much more likely to get a seat at the table.

Posted by Tim Ash on May 7, 2008, 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

About Face(book): Microsoft Feels Out Social Network Acquisition

Though Bill Gates was out there telling people Microsoft is not interested in making non-Yahoo acquisitions right now (at least in the search/social world), word comes that Microsoft bankers have sent "feelers" to Facebook about a full acquisition.

Here's why this is a solid move:

1. Microsoft already owns 1.6% stake in Facebook, worth $240 million
2. Microsoft formed a data portability partnership with Facebook and 4 other networks
3. At least two Google execs have jumped ship to Facebook in recent months

While Facebook has yet to "overtake" MySpace in the social media market, it is a viable competitor. And I'm sure Ballmer would love for Microsoft to own a social network that even Apple has used as a marketing ploy as of late. Recent commercials for the iPhone entice potential customers through the ability to access Facebook on the popular mobile device.

Additionally, internet users are turning to their social networks during their search process. Consumers want answers and reviews and social networks help them get opinions from trusted sources.

The Facebook move would likely be seen by many as a better fit than Yahoo. But expect just as many to see it as a negotiating ploy in their bid for Yahoo. Though Microsoft has officially withdrawn its bid for Yahoo, many analysts expect Ballmer and the team to return to the table for another stab at a grab for the search engine.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2008, 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google - Clearwire: WiMax Paves Internet Autobahn

Clearwire isn't the latest Google acquisition. The Internet search giant, though, has joined a group of blue-chip corporate investors in the new Sprint-Nextel bailout of Clearwire -- a move that will save WiMax and further Google's innovations in mobile search.

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel said today they plan to merge their wireless broadband units to create a $14.55 billion communications company. Sprint Nextel will own a majority equity stake (51 percent) in the new joint venture.

Clearwire, will receive a $3.2 billion cash infusion from Google Inc., Intel, Comcast., Bright House Networks and newly spun-off Time Warner Cable. The investment is based on a target price of $20 per Clearwire share and will give the companies a 22 percent stake in the new venture.

The new Clearwire JV will be headed by Ben Wolff, Clearwire's current CEO , who said in a statement that the merger's "expanded relationships with Intel (INTC) and Google (GOOG) will expand our vision of an open network." He added that the partners will enables Clearwire "to tap into some of the greatest innovators of our time."

Clearwire, a startup founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, is shooting for a U.S. W9Max network of 120 million to 140 million people by the end of 2010.

So here's what we want to know: "How fast will WiMax be?"

Clearwire's first mobile WiMax network (being built in Portland) boasts speeds of 5 to 6 mbps on the downlink and 2 to 3 mbps on the uplink while going down the freeway.

Wow. That's not your father's Internet Highway.

That's the frackin' Internet Autobahn.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 7, 2008, 12:42 PM | Permalink

Scorned Lovers: Microsoft Takes Some "Me Time;" Jerry Yang Stays Put

Microsoft and Yahoo are officially "off again" and their mutual friends are trying to decide who to side with. While many hold out hope that the two will eventually reunite Ross and Rachel-style, it's really anyone's guess as to what will transpire next.

For its part, Microsoft seems to be taking the chick flick approach. Top execs are making it known that the software giant is seeking some alone time and that they're not ready to date again just yet. Windows Live General Manager Brian Hall told Merrill Lynch Technology Conference attendees that Microsoft is moving on. And don't look for a rebound acquisition. Bill Gates has said Microsoft isn't pursuing alternative third parties. I guess MSFT will be eating the obligatory breakup chocolate ice cream all alone.

Meanwhile Jerry Yang is trying to paint Yahoo as a guy dealing with a crazy ex. He said Microsoft never made the purported higher bid of $32-33 a share. He claims that Yahoo thought that two companies were finding common ground when Microsoft bailed.

The whole thing is very reminiscent of a scene from The Break-Up starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn:

Brooke: I just don't know how we got here. Our entire relationship, I have gone above and beyond for you, for us. I've cooked, I've picked your stuff up off the floor, I've laid your clothes out for you like you're a four year old. I support you, I supported your work. If we ever had dinner or anything I did the plans, I take care of everything. And I just don't feel like you appreciate any of it. I don't feel you appreciate me. All I want is to know, is for you to show me that you care.
Gary: Why didn't you just say that to me?
Brooke: I tried. I've tried.
Gary: Never like that, you might have said some things that meant to imply that, but I'm not a mind reader...

But don't expect Yang's pithy comments to prelude his ouster. Kara Swisher reports that talk of Yang's firing is "greatly exaggerated." And while some shareholders are upset over the falling out, Yahoo's stock remains higher than it was before the unsolicited bid was put on the table. At the time of this post, Yahoo was trading at 25.36, which is a good seven points higher than before this soap opera began. Then again, stocks remain up over Wall Street's hopes that Microsoft will try to get back together with Yahoo and/or that a Google ad deal will be the rebound girl.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2008, 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spot Runner Raises $51 Million in Funding

Internet-based ad agency Spot Runner has secured a combined $51 million in funding from Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), Grupo Televisa, Legg Mason Capital Management and Groupe Arnault/LVMH. Spot Runner CEO Nick Grouf said of the funding, "These strategic investments serve as a strong validation of Spot Runner's technology-driven advertising model, as well as the results we have generated for advertisers and media owners. This further accelerates our momentum as we expand into a broader spectrum of online and offline media, both domestically and abroad."

DMGT is a large media company based in the U.K. with operations in Central Europe, the U.S. and Canada, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. The company has interests in a variety of media channels including national newspapers and related digital operations, local media, business and financial information, exhibitions and radio.

Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. is the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world. Operating four broadcast channels in Mexico, Televisa maintains interests in pay-television network production, international distribution of television programming, direct-to-home satellite services, cable television, magazine publishing and distribution, and radio broadcasting.

Luxury products group Groupe Arnault/LVMH boasts a portfolio of over 60 prestigious brands including Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Donna Karan, Sephora and TAG Heuer.

Louis Vuitton communications head Antoine Arnault said of Spot Runner's funding, "The global media landscape is undergoing a sea change. For advertisers to be effective, they will need to completely shift their thinking about how media is targeted and distributed, and how creative can be versioned for multiple audiences. Spot Runner is the clear leader in this area. As one of the largest advertisers in the fashion category, we're very enthusiastic about the prospect of working with them to capitalize on these transformations."

Earlier this year, Spot Runner acquired local online advertising provider, Weblistic.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2008, 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Sees 79% European Market Share in March 2008

So many Europeans use Google for search, you have to wonder if they know that other search engines exist. A whopping 79% of searches were conducted on Google in the month of March, according to comScore. That amounts to 19 billion. No wonder European regulators are so wary of a Googleopoly.

Coming in second was eBay with 3.1% followed by Russian search engine Yandex with 2.2%. Yahoo came in fourth at 2.0% with Microsoft rounding out the top 5 at 1.9%.

Google's overwhelming dominance didn't prevent the EU from approving its acquisition of DoubleClick earlier this year.

Related Reading:
European Group Wants to Cut Search Engine Data Storage
comScore launches Video Metrix in Canada, France, Germany and UK
Google on Global Search Standards: Thanks, But No Thanks

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2008, 10:33 AM | Permalink

Google to Internet, FCC, Verizon and Viacom: Keep it Open

Google has been busy on the legal, tech and policy front lately, and there's a primary theme running through all of their pursuits: Google loves wide open spaces.

First up, as is being widely reported, Clearwire and Spring are combining their wifi and broadband services. But did you know Google is one of the companies behind the $3.2 billion deal? They've teamed with Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners to create the new company.

Sprint's 2.5 GHz spectrum is part of the deal. And spectrum is something at the top of Google's wish list lately. Google didn't win any of its bids on a recent FCC spectrum auction. And last week, Google raised concern that Verizon will not keep its spectrum auction space open afterall.

Google is also facing resistance to its plan for "white spaces." Several sports groups including the NFL, NBA and NASCAR are now lobbying the FCC to not open up "white spaces" on TV spectrum. Google wants them opened up for wireless. The groups are concerned about signal interference for things like coaching headsets and referee microphones.

In a different kind of open battle, Google is saying that it won't settle a lawsuit brought by Viacom over copyrighted material, according to Business Week. David Eun, vice president in Content Partnerships at Google told Dow Jones newswires that they plan to go all the way to the Supreme Court with the case. Viacom brought the $1 billion suit after the two companies couldn't reach a licensing agreement for content on YouTube.

Whether it's content or spectrum, Google wants to keep things out in the open. They're going to great lengths to make it happen, and while corporations may not be thrilled, consumers are likely to be happy should Google meet its open goals.

Related Reading:
Google's New Wifi Push Will Drive Mobile Search

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2008, 10:00 AM | Permalink

Bryan Eisenberg Giving Keynote Presentation at SES Toronto

Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder of Future Now Inc., will be giving the keynote presentation at SES Toronto on Wednesday, June 18, 2008. He was also a speaker at SES London earlier this year.

While in London, I interviewed Bryan about web analytics, Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo (MicroHoo), converting visitors into buyers, his new book, and where to find the best pizza in Brooklyn. The video below takes advantage of YouTube's high-quality video toggle button to give you a significantly better view of that interview. Check it out.

Bryan Eisenberg, Future Now, at SES London 2008 on SEO

So, what will Bryan be talking about at SES Toronto? Well, he's the publisher of Future Now's award-winning blog, GrokDotCom, so you might want read some of his latest posts to get a sense of his point of view.

Bryan is also a columnist for ClickZ, so you might want to read "Recession-Proof Your Online Marketing" to get a sense of his scientific approach.

However, Bryan is currently working on his next book, Always Be Testing, due in September 2008. So, I'll bet we'll get a sneak preview of his latest insights at SES Toronto.

Then again, maybe SES Toronto Conference Chairman Andrew Goodman, will show Bryan where to find the best pizza in Canada and that will be the subject of his keynote presentation.

Now, let me think. Always Be Testing or the best pizza in Canada? My money is on the book.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 7, 2008, 7:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The Top 3 Reasons PPC Lead Gen Campaigns Miss Volume Targets - Part 2

Understanding how to analyze keywords using a waterfall analysis can give you a great deal of insight into what's happening with your campaign, and bring a sharp focus to the nature of the opportunities available to you. In today's Web Analytics and ROI column, "The Top 3 Reasons PPC Lead Gen Campaigns Miss Volume Targets - Part 2," Eric Enge outlines the steps involved, and the opportunities keyword waterfall analysis can reveal.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 7, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: 100 Million Theoretical Dollars

In a recent episode of South Park, the characters set out to create a viral YouTube video to earn their millions. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "100 Million Theoretical Dollars," Kevin Ryan advises marketers looking for 100 million real dollars that capitalizing on the connection between traditional placement and search can be as easy as lip-syncing Romanian dance music.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 7, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

Explaining Digg to Clients and Newbies Alike

In the world of social media, Digg is a behemoth. A hot Digg submission is capable of generating tremendous volumes of traffic and links – so much so that many sites experience the "Digg Effect" for the first time and crash under the strain of the traffic.

That said, Digg can be a very important component of many social media and search campaigns. But, how can you possibly explain the Digg concept and its implications to clients who still haven't really acknowledged the Internet as anything more than a passing fad?

Digg is Like a Newspaper
Think of Digg as a newspaper ... though not for a specific region, but rather for the entire English-speaking world. This of course means there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of stories submitted daily.

Sections
Newspapers have different sections; Business, Sports, Lifestyles, Technology, and so forth. So too does Digg. It has:
a. Technology
b. World & Business
c. Science
d. Gaming
e. Lifestyle
f. Entertainment
g. Sports
h. Offbeat

Within each section, there are subsections. These are needed to manage the sheer volume of news and information, and help people search by core interests.

The Organization of Stories
Democracy meet editorialization ... readers are the editors! Unlike traditional newspapers, where front page news is determined arbitrarily by editors at the paper, Digg-type sites permit voting on each story. Stories with the most votes by readers in each section or subsection move progressively nearer the front page of the section or subsection, with the most popular appearing in the best positions. Ultimately, stories with very large numbers of positive votes will be moved to appear on the main page of Digg, which is equivalent to appearing on the front page of a newspaper.

The Reporters
While traditional newspapers often have reporters trained in the art of journalism creating their content, Digg-type sites do not. Stories (news, humor, and educational types) are found across the web, and are submitted by everyday people. Some of these stories will inevitably come from newspapers, but also from blogs, videos found on video sites, and images found virtually anywhere online. This is very interesting though, as it means Joe Average Blogger now has an opportunity to experience the benefits traditionally reserved for the biggest companies. What can follow is exceptional traffic, branding, and numerous relevant links.

Conclusion
As a result, clients need to be involved in the content creation process, or at the very least, willing to adopt a content-centric strategy. Do so, and your chances of winning online increase exponentially.

Posted by on May 6, 2008, 1:40 PM | Permalink

SLI Systems Joins Bazaarvoice Radius to Help Marketers Execute Integrated Social Commerce Strategies

Bazaarvoice Radius is a platform that enables eCommerce sites to develop partnerships to facilitate social media campaigns. Today, SLI Systems, a provider of on-demand search services for eCommerce, has announced that they are joining Bazaarvoice Radius. The partnership hopes to accelerate social media adoption by marketers, vendors and agencies to participate in what is being dubbed as social commerce.

"Our research shows that customers find it easier to make a purchase when they can see how other people have rated certain products. As such, Bazaarvoice Radius is a great way for us to extend the benefits of our site search offering to deliver an even better customer experience by including user-generated content within the site search results," said Todd Watson, director of business development for SLI Systems. "By turning our intelligent site search engine into an intelligent social site search engine, we'll help retailers gain an even greater positive impact on conversions and revenues."

The integration of Bazaarvoice and SLI is expected to make searching easier for eCommerce consumers. Searches will be able to be sorted by product rating, and in the future SLI's Learning Search will be integrated with Bazaarvoice's answers platform. Basically, consumer-generated content will be searchable.

"Customer-to-customer conversations and user-generated content are top of mind for marketers -- in fact, nine out of 10 marketers plan to add Web 2.0 capabilities this year," said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. "The integration between Bazaarvoice's social commerce platform and SLI Systems provides marketers with a powerful new way to extend the value of their user-generated content to engage more customers and ultimately drive more sales."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2008, 12:40 PM | Permalink

Google's Adsense for Search Integrates Custom Search

It's a match made in heaven, or at least Mountain View, California. Adsense for search is now integrating Custom Search. Now you can control those search results users conduct on your site and make moolah at the same time. Here's what you can look forward to:

• Site Search: Choosing this option will keep users on your site only.
• Improved indexing of your pages: Google hopes its recent indexing updates will prove to benefit your Site Search users by providing better Adsense for Search results.
Vertical search: You can allow your users to search outside your site, but still set some boundaries. Examples include forums, blogs, or a network of sites.
• Tuning search results and ads with keywords:Control search results by setting a context. If your site is about cats, then enter "cats" and "cat food" as keywords and when someone searches for bowl, then results for cat food bowl will come up instead of other types of bowls or the sport of bowling.
• Selecting ad location: Choose where ads will be placed in relation to the the search results on your site.
• Quick and easy updates: You can now use the ad management feature in Adsense to control the settings for your custom search engine ads.

Here's a video from the Googleplex explaining the update:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2008, 11:21 AM | Permalink

Web Developers Rate Microsoft/Windows Live Over Google, Yahoo

Searchers may prefer Google, but when it comes to developing so-called Web 2.0 sites, web developers rated Microsoft/Windows Live the best, according to a report by Evans Data Corp. Google did come in second with Yahoo coming in third. Incidentally, Google and Amazon came in first and second respectively when it comes to ease of use.

Neither ease of use or overall ranking directly correlated with profits. Paypal and eBay brought in the most dollars - albeit barely. And Paypal was apparently the bain of many a developers' existence. It ranked the worst

And while Facebook may be popular among users, developers found it to be one of the most cumbersome APIs to work with, coming in second to last. Ironically, Microsoft owns a 20% share in Facebook.

via ComputerWorld

Related Reading:
So You Wanna Be a SearchMonkey?
Microsoft Tries to Compete with OpenSocial
Google, Yahoo & MySpace Team Up for OpenSocial

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2008, 10:32 AM | Permalink

Google, Baidu, Sohu Search Engines Spanked by People's Republic of China

The Chinese government claims search engines are spying on the People's Republic via online mapping. Communist Chinese officials are worried satellite maps will reveal state secrets and damage the so-called integrity of borders, according to The People's Daily, a Chinese government-controlled newspaper.

Google, Baidu and Sohu have all been warned not to use satellite images to show sensitive regions of the People's Republic of China. With the Beijing Olympics scheduled for August, there's no desire to showcase the communist state's military power or disputed borders.

Nor does the Chinese government welcome any further attention on the crisis in Tibet.

The UK Inquirer reported today that the vice head of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, Min Yiren, said authorities were trying to eliminate all Internet maps which 'wrongly' depicted China's borders, or show locations of military bases and army presence.

Last month Chinese state media said the government would crack down on sites showing roughly 10,000 unapproved maps. Taiwan for example should not be shown as an independent nation since it's a disputed territory.

The People's Daily called out Internet search engine giant Google, along with China's own Sohu and Baidu for illegal mapping.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 6, 2008, 10:13 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Releases Safe Search Product into Beta

Yahoo has teamed up with McAfee to develop SearchScan, a new safe search service. Here's what you need to know:

• Provides always-on alerts to users for "risky" sites with security concerns including spyware, adware and other malicious software
• Identifies sites that have shown bad email practices such as flooding user in-boxes with spammy emails
• Available for Yahoo! Search users in the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Spain

"The new SearchScan feature from Yahoo! Search makes searching the Web even safer than ever before. No other search engine today offers this level of warning before visiting sites that can damage or infect a user's PC and cost them valuable time and money," said Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Search. "Through this partnership with McAfee, we can offer users a safer search experience and drive more users to make Yahoo! Search their starting point on the Web."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2008, 10:01 AM | Permalink

Google Finally Copies Microsoft, Adds 'Related Searches' to Google News

In Microsoft's big pursuit of Google, they often seem to update their search products to include features Google has already mastered. This time, the tables are turned and Google is following in Microsoft's footsteps.

Google News has announced the addition of 'Related Searches' to its news feature. When Live Search launched recently, 'Related Search' was a built-in feature.

And in more shocking news - Live Search does it better, in my humble opinion. Related searches are placed on a right sidebar above the fold, ready to be of assistance. Google places its related searches after the last result on a page.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2008, 9:46 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: CEO Tells Wall St. Why He Invests in SEO

Not every CEO understands the value of search engine optimization. Here's one who does: Tom Evans, CEO of Bankrate. In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "CEO Tells Wall St. Why He Invests in SEO," Kevin Heisler outlines Evans' comments to Wall St. analysts explaining why SEO is one key to the company's success.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 6, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Conducting a Redirect Audit on Your Web Site - Part 2

Knowing which pages on your site are returning errors, and which ones are being redirected can help you pinpoint issues to address. In today's Organic Search Engine Optimization column, "Conducting a Redirect Audit on Your Web Site - Part 2," Mark Jackson shows how performing a redirect audit can help you get to the bottom of those problems.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 6, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Convincing the Executive Team to Invest in SEO

Convincing senior managers of the value of search marketing is not always easy. In today's Enterprise Search Marketing column, "Convincing the Executive Team to Invest in SEO," Aaron Shear reminds us that by gathering the right data and getting support from clients and other departments ahead of time, the task will be much easier to accomplish.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 6, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

Is Google Dropping AdSense Sites Using AdWords?

A discussion over at WebmasterWorld suggests Google may be dropping AdSense accounts from sites that buy traffic from AdWords.

Funny how this may have been the way to stop arbitrage way back before all the other methods were used and the experimentation cost regular advertisers lots of money through all the minimum bid increases.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 5, 2008, 1:59 PM | Permalink

Ask Should Have Asked Jeeves How To Spell Cinco De Mayo

The BOTW boys were quick to find and post the mistake Ask made on their homepage. Guess Jeeves was the strong speller in that crew!

Is the staff that annoyed by the break up that they don't care anymore? Or did Barry Diller give that part to one of his preteen grandkids to edit?

Posted by Frank Watson on May 5, 2008, 1:38 PM | Permalink

Cinco de Mayo: The 411 on 212 Interactive Cinco de Mayo Bash

What is Cinco de Mayo? It's the best reason to party (May 5th) at the Cinco de Mayo bash hosted by 212, NYC's interactive advertising club. Sure there will be lots of Cinco de Mayo activities in New York and Cinco de Mayo food (margaritas!)

What's the origin of Cinco de Mayo? Whether you spell it Cinco de Mayo, Sinco Demio, Cinco de Mio, or Sinco de Mayo, it's a great Mexican holiday. Here's a very brief Cinco de Mayo history:

In the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862, an underdog Mexican army defeated the massive, well-trained French army, arguably the most powerful in the world (that year). The French lost the battle but won the war. That can't stop us from celebrating Cinco de Mayo traditions, though:

If you're not 21 years old, please click thru to the next post.

Cinco de Mayo Bash
Dates: May 05, 2008
Times: 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Where: Touch Night Club, 240 W. 52nd St. (b/w Broadway and 8th Avenue)
Event Type: 212 Event

Description: Complete madness and good times. Kevin M Ryan will be there with Matt McGowan. Open bar.

A few reasons why you should scrap whatever plans you have on May 5th to party with 212:

1) Touch Night Club (Midtown Manhattan)
2) Hot 97's DJ Camilo on the ones & twos
3) Open Bar
4) VIP floor (more on that later)
5) Dance performance by Tre Armstrong (from “How She Move”)
6) Open Bar (one more time for emphasis)

And there will be more surprises the night of that 212 can't share now but would be a shame to miss.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 5, 2008, 11:37 AM | Permalink

Lycos Cinema Expands, Adds Video on Demand

Lycos Cinema has expanded to include Video on Demand (VOD). Previously the social video platform supported ad-supported video.

"Our experience shows us that while film and TV fans welcome the increasing availability to view premium content online, they also desire the social interaction that is inherent in today's web as part of their viewing experience," said Chuck Ball, vice president of sales and marketing for Lycos. "By enabling users to watch the same program at the same time, Lycos Cinema gives users a unique viewing experience they cannot find anywhere else."

All new Lycos Cinema features now include:

• 4 key viewing modes
• Thousands of free VOD and VOD Rental titles
• Lobby chat accommodating thousands of users
• Easy to use scheduling & invite functionality with automatic
• Notification features
• Clip & ship widget functions
• Time-stamped comments
• Full buddy list import-ability to invite AIM buddies to join viewing
Rating and recommendations
• Online movie rentals streamed in H.264/MPEG-4 for higher quality
• Viewing
• 'Watchlist' functionality to keep track of favorites

Related Reading:
Lycos Jumps Into the Social Mix

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 5, 2008, 10:51 AM | Permalink

New Board of Directors for the Web Analytics Association

The Web Analytics Association has announced a new board of directors, and here they are:

• Vicky Brock, Highland Business Research, Inverness Highlands, Scotland
• June Dershewitz, Semphonic, San Francisco, CA
• Andrea Hadley, NetSetGo Marketing, Vancouver, BC Canada
• Avinash Kaushik, Author, Analytics Evangelist -- Google, Mountain View, CA
• Alex Langshur, PublicInsite, Medford, MA
Neil Mason, Applied Insights, Oxford, England
• Lauria Paxia, I.C.C. S.r.l., Catania, Italy
Seth Romanow, Microsoft, Redmond, WA
• Marshall Sponder, Monster Worldwide, New York, NY
• Robbin Steif, LunaMetrics, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA
• Jim Sterne, Target Marketing, Santa Barbara, CA
• April Wilson, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX

WAA Chairman Jim Sterne said, "The WAA is growing and maturing, and this new Board is a wonderful mix of talent and geography. The cumulative experience of these people is exceeded only by their cumulative IQ. We have a great team for tackling our objectives for the coming year."

Related Reading:
Bryan Eisenberg Talks about Persuasion Architecture
Interview of Analytics Expert, Eric T. Peterson

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 5, 2008, 10:16 AM | Permalink

Microhoo No More: What the Analysts are Saying

Now that Microsoft finally withdrew their bid for Yahoo, it's a free-for-all for anyone claiming to be an analyst.

Mostly, there's a lot of nervousness about what will become of the Sunnyvale search engine. At least one investor is calling for shareholders to withhold their votes for the current directors. Eric Jackson, who represents 140 shareholders who collectively own 2 million shares of Yahoo stock, said that the board didn't negotiate in good faith. He expected Yahoo shares to be trading at $19-20 per share when the stock market opened this morning.

But Yahoo may have won over enough analysts. There's the cautious experts who think that a partnership with Google for search advertising could save Yahoo. (Some estimates have Yahoo's stock as being worth $35 as a result of such a deal.) Additionally, the optimists are hopeful over Yahoo's open source initiatives such as Search Monkey. Then there's the promise of a robust advertising platform, expected to arrive this fall.

Until then, Wall Street is punishing Yahoo for its rejection of Microsoft's offer, though not quite as severely as Mr. Jackson expected. RBC Capital Markets Internet analyst Ross Sandler dropped the price target on Yahoo to $27 from $32. Expect to see agreement on this valuation. Overseas, the stock price dropped, an action echoed at the Opening Bell on Wall Street this A.M. At the time of this post, YHOO stock was down to $23, after closing on Friday at $28.67.

Investors knew this would happen and some are none too thrilled, as you might imagine. Some still hold out hope for Microsoft to return (or Yahoo to go begging at MSFT's doorstep) or a separate deal to be developed with AOL or News Corp. Even though News Corp's Murdoch officially said that he's not interested in Yahoo, there has been speculation that talks have still occurred. Still, at least one report today says those talks have "cooled."

So what happens next? Most likely, a Yahoo-Google deal will be announced, as early as this week. And then we'll wait and see if that's enough to keep investors happy or bring Microsoft back to meet Yahoo's demands for a higher bid.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 5, 2008, 9:55 AM | Permalink

Yang's Yahoo Answers "OK, so now what?"

"OK so now what?" is the headline of Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang's blog post this morning at Yodel Anecdotal, the official Yahoo! blog. Yahoo must face the future with Microsoft at its doorstep and Google as the dominant search engine.

Yang outlines the furious pace of Q1 when the search engine bought another company, launched new products, added partners, and opened new R&D labs:

* Acquired Maven Networks.
* Launched Yahoo! Buzz, OneSearch 2.0, mobile voice search, Flickr video, Shine.
* Previewed AMP and SearchMonkey.
* Addied Newspaper Consortium members.
* Opened new R&D labs in India and Israel.

All very impressive (along with a solid first quarter) but the blog post doesn't address the number one question on everyone's mind - and the most important one: What will Yahoo! do with search?

Yahoo has some innovative plans for improving search results but no plans for increasing market share.

OK, so now what for Google? Now that Microsoft is on the sidelines, does Google have any incentive to do an outsourcing deal with Yahoo?

The reality? No. Google share of searches continues to grow. Yahoo and Microsoft have been weakened further by the merger distractions.

Everything's not OK in Sunnyvale today.

Without a Google deal in hand, Jerry Yang faces a very black Monday.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 5, 2008, 7:37 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Want to Double Conversions in One Month? Split Those Ad Groups

Would your boss be happy if your campaign conversion rates doubled in 30 days? In today's Content Advertising column, "Want to Double Conversions in One Month? Split Those Ad Groups," David Szetela puts his strategies to the test. By splitting ad groups and paying attention to display URLs, advertisers can improve their content advertising results.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 5, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

Microsoft-Yahoo Mashup Scrapped: Hidden Winners and Losers

On Saturday, Microsoft formally withdrew its proposal to acquire Yahoo. With the Microsoft-Yahoo mashup scrapped (for now), who are the hidden winners and losers?

I'm not talking about the stockholders, advertisers, employees, CEOs, management teams, boards of directors or other stakeholders of Google, Yahoo or Microsoft. They are the obvious winners and losers.

No, I'm talking about the hidden winners and losers – or, at least the ones that have been hidden in plain sight. I may have missed some. I've been busy. (I've got a day job.) But, here are the ones I was able to find on Sunday:

Hidden Winners of the Scrapped Microsoft-Yahoo Mashup

The biggest hidden winner is AP photographer Mark Lennihan. His May 4, 2007 file photo of a Times Square news ticker flashing a headline about Microsoft above a billboard for Yahoo became one of the most used images in Google News to illustrate stories about Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo.

Another hidden winner is the Flickr group photo pool, "Microsoft: Keep You Evil Grubby Hands Off Our Flickr." Its About Us statement reads, “THIS GROUP WILL STOP MICROSOFT FROM BUYING YAHOO! AND DESTROYING THE FLICKR WE KNOW AND LOVE OR WE WILL DIE TRYING.” Put down the camera, son. It's over.

Kevin Ryan on the Microsoft Yahoo bid (Associated Press)

The final hidden winner is Kevin Ryan, the global content director for Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch. His comments to AP on what the possibility of a Microsoft-Yahoo conglomerate means for the online marketplace ranks #1 in YouTube if you search for the two-word term, Microsoft Yahoo.

Hidden Losers of the Scrapped Microsoft-Yahoo Mashup

The biggest hidden loser is the Y-Que T Shirt Superstore. While it ranks #1 in Google Product Search for MicroHoo, that wasn't as popular at term as "Microsoft Yahoo," according to Google Trends. And now it's stuck with a bunch of funny t-shirts commemorating the takeover of Yahoo by Microsoft.

Another hidden loser is Kevin Heisler, executive editor of Search Engine Watch. What was he doing Saturday night at 9:59 p.m.? He was posting a story to the Search Engine Watch Blog entitled, “Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Offer; Yahoo Responds.” He should have been out watching Iron Man, like Deborah Richman.

Steve Ballmer going crazy

The final hidden losers are the Rapid Response Team at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and the staff at Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher. Do a search for Steve Ballmer on Google. See the YouTube video of Steve going crazy? I've got four words for public relations professionals: Search Engine Reputation Management.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 4, 2008, 3:31 PM | Permalink

Iron Man: Ode to Gates and Ballmer?

Tonight I saw the Iron Man blockbuster, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. The movie defines Stark as a precocious kid, by flashing an old photo of him with Bill Gates. Along with some additional life history, we learn that Iron Man is at the top of his technical game but has seen some better days.

In Iron Man, the Microsoft parallels could continue beyond this introduction. Bill has been thinking about how computing can positively impact the world for years. In Stark's case, a near-death episode makes him question the meaning of all his weaponry and its world-wide impact.

Meanwhile, Obadiah Stane has worked at Stark Industries for many years and serves as the second-in-command for the business. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Steve Ballmer, don't you agree?

As played by Jeff Bridges, Stane shares some of Ballmer's focus on the marketplace. If you leave aside the more sinister plot twists, Stark Industries is the biggest worldwide supplier of weapons. The company needs to stay technically competitive, and will do what makes sense to get there.

Of course, Microsoft is the worldwide supplier of desktop operating systems and has every intention of becoming a more potent online force. While in the game later, Ballmer wants to guide Microsoft in the most expedient ways possible -- with or without Yahoo.

So where does this movie metaphor take us? I think that Ballmer is saying that Microsoft will create an even better Iron Man now. It all about the war, not about saving the peace, right?

Posted by on May 4, 2008, 2:48 AM | Permalink

Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Offer; Yahoo Responds

Microhoo bid raised aloft; Google-Yahoo Kool-Aid quaffed. "No Mas" cried Ballmer's Microsoft.

Yahoo drank the Google paid search Kool-Aid to fight off Microsoft, leading the Redmond giant to retract its higher bid to acquire the Sunnyvale search engine. Microsoft reportedly offered $33 a share, and Yahoo held fast at $37 a share. That was too rich for Steve Ballmer's blood. The prospect of Yahoo outsourcing its paid search to Google was also too much for Ballmer to stomach.

So Microsoft walked. In a letter to Jerry Yang (full text below), Steve Ballmer cited Yahoo's intention to outsource search as the primary reason he decided to scotch the deal.

Of course that doesn't mean enraged Yahoo! shareholders won't sue Yahoo.

Ballmer wrote, "I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!."

Here's why, according to Microsoft's business logic:

Advertisers would use Google rather than Yahoo! Panama to manage paid search, fragmenting not only PPC but display advertising and the Yahoo! advertising ecosystem.
Yahoo then wouldn't be able to retain talented engineers working on advertising systems - engineers whom Ballmer considers a key aspect of Yahoo's attractiveness.

The decision would also create a morass of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer - especially Microsoft - would want to slog through. Ballmer believes search market share of the combined Yahooo-Google deal would reduce competition and advertiser choice.

Ballmer took the argument one step further, stating the deal would "effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and (Yahoo!) search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo.

While it would be hard to prove a keyword-auction would enable Google or any search engine to "set prices," the deal would increase keyword prices based on Google's ability to monetize inventory more efficiently.

Yahoo responded by promising (again) to maximize shareholder value and pursue strategic opportunities. Yahoo still maintains Microsoft undervalued the company.

Yahoo! banged the drum (again) about:

"-- a refined strategic focus to drive enhanced volume and yield;

-- reorganized to focus its efforts on its most promising products and services;

-- invested in innovations designed to revolutionize display advertising and facilitate closing the competitive gap in search; and

-- enhanced expense and resource management to support improved profitability."

As Jerry Seinfeld might have said, "Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, Yahoo."

Be prepared Monday for Yahoo shares to plummet back to earth. (Full text of Steve Ballmer's statement after the jump.)

Below is the text of the letter from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang.

May 3, 2008

Mr. Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Dear Jerry:
After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.

I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!'s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.

I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.

In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.

Also, after giving this week's conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.

We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a "hostile" bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:

-- First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!'s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display advertising business to fuel future growth.

-- Given this, it would impair Yahoo's ability to retain the talented engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our interest in a combination of our companies.

-- In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among other things, this would consolidate market share with the already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce competition and choice in the marketplace.

-- This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.

-- It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search provider that is not already relying on Google's search services.

Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!.

We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.

I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.

But clearly a deal is not to be.

Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.

Sincerely yours,
/s/ Steven A. Ballmer

Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation<

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 3, 2008, 9:59 PM | Permalink

First Annual SES Awards for Best Search Engine Strategies

In celebration of Search Engine Strategies' 10-year anniversary, SES San Jose 2008 will host the first annual SES Awards ceremony. The SES Awards will be held Wednesday, August 20, 2008, hosted by Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies.

Winners will be selected in each of the following categories:

* Technology Platform Search Marketers Can't Live Without
* Best Business-to-Business Search Marketing Campaign
* Most Innovative Use of Search Engine Optimization
* Search Engine with Most Relevant Search Results
* Best Multi-National Search Marketing Campaign
* Best Integration of Search with Other Media
* Best SEM Technology Platform for SMBs
* Best Social Media Marketing Campaign
* Most Advertiser-Friendly Search Engine
* Most Innovative Paid Search Campaign
* Most Effective Use of Web Analytics
* Most Innovative New Search Engine
* Best Search Engine Ad Platform
* Best Web Analytics Platform
* Best Use of Local Search
* Editor's Choice

The mission of the SES Awards: to inspire innovation and encourage new ideas. The SES Awards honor 15 outstanding winners in the search universe. The awards will be judged by a panel of industry experts and the SES Awards editorial staff.

The Editor's Choice award winner will be selected exclusively by the SES Awards editorial staff.

Can you guess who the SES Awards judges will be?

Questions? SES Awards FAQ has your answers.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on May 2, 2008, 5:57 PM | Permalink

Live Search QnA Gets Updates

Microsoft's Live Search team has announced updates to its answer feature, QnA. The updates to the service, still in Beta, are being dubbed the "Renaissance release" and include the following, according to their blog:

• Focus on the QnA experience for new users.
• Encourage users to discover content and functionality in new ways.
• Highlight and award higher quality content by featuring members who are Top Contributors in given areas of expertise.

When it comes to search, answers are where it's at for an increasing number of searchers. Recent data showed answer sites growing 118% in 2007, while social media is a medium for answer-finding as well.

For example, conducting a search for "laptop" in a search engine may return a list of companies selling laptops, but a searcher is really looking for a product that has good performance. Those answers are found through consumer and expert reviews, and answer sites are a source of that kind of information.

Microsoft's Live Search team seems to understand this search behavior. Recently, they updated their product search experience and added products to mobile search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 2, 2008, 10:18 AM | Permalink

Getting Cozy with Online Ad Formats

The SEO community has been a-buzz lately about standards. There's the epic conversation going on about SEO standards. And then there's the new mobile image ad guidelines that immediately outdated Google's new mobile ads.

Today, Google's Adwords blog got in on the action by talking about general online ad formats. Specifically, the Adwords team has published an online ad format guide. The one-page PDF guide is super simple to read and comprehend. There are recommendations for 6 different ad types:

• Text ad
• Local Business ad
• Image/Flash ad
• Click-to-play video ad
• In-video ad
• Gadget ad

The guide provides the following info on the 6 types:

• Description of the ad type
• When to use it
• Where to use it
• Ad sizes
• Metrics

So go ahead and get your online ad on!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 2, 2008, 9:42 AM | Permalink

Yahoo-Google Deal is Imminent, So is Microsoft Decision

The Wall Street Journal is yet again providing Microhoogle scoops this morning. First up, Yahoo may announce a deal with Google to run its search ads. A few weeks ago, we learned that the tests of those ads were successful. And though the Justice Department is concerned about the partnership, the agreement will likely be nonexclusive, which should alleviate regulators' fears.

But regulators are not the only ones with fears that Yahoo needs to alleviate. Wall Street and shareholders have been waiting with baited breath to see if Microsoft and Yahoo could reach an agreement on price for the proposed acquisition. But the two remain divided on the value of Yahoo, and Microsoft is expected to make an announcement about whether it will pursue a hostile takeover of Yahoo or walk away from its unsolicited bid.

Even if Microsoft announces a hostile takeover, the Yahoo-Google deal could still go through. The agreement will likely use Right Media's ad exchange which employs a real-time auction system. Yahoo acquired Right Media last year. At least one analyst, Citigroup's Mark Mahaney, has the deal as bringing Yahoo an additional $1 billion a year in revenue. Mahaney previously predicted that Microsoft would increase it's offer to $34 per share based on Yahoo's revenue projections for the next three years. Earlier this week, Microsoft indicated it would offer $32-33, while Yahoo wants upwards of $35-37. The original offer is for $31 per share.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 2, 2008, 8:49 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Top 5 Non-SEO Ways to Increase Your Search Rankings

Contrary to what some search marketers may think, marketing is not all about search. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Top 5 Non-SEO Ways to Increase Your Search Rankings," Chris Boggs explains that by branching out into other areas, like usability and PR, you can increase the effectiveness of your search efforts.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Training Your Search Marketing Employees

Your employees are the most important asset of your business. Once you've found and hired new employees, it's time to train them. In today's Business of Search column, "Training Your Search Marketing Employees - Part 1," Fionn Downhill outlines some of her training methods for new search agency employees.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing

As with any emerging marketing medium, advertisers should try to learn from some of the key lessons of those who were willing to blaze the online trail before us, in hopes of not making the same mistakes. In today's Vertical Search column, "Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing," local search expert Gregg Stewart shows how the advertising potential of mobile now resembles that of the early days of the Internet, in both variety of search options available and the fragmented nature of the keyword search volume.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

New Updates and Publishers for Yahoo! Buzz

Yahoo! Buzz updated with new features last night. Among them are:

• “Top Buzz” widget for any publishers interested in expanding their content offerings by displaying the top articles across Yahoo! Buzz (or within specific categories)
• “First Buzzed By” indicators (showing who was the first to Buzz an item) and personal
• RSS feeds for top Buzz stories overall, as well as within specific categories

Meanwhile, new publishers have been signing up to Yahoo! Buzz including:

• AskMen.com
• ThePanelist.com
• Venture Beat

And it's no wonder publishers are jumping on the Yahoo! Buzz bandwagon. So far, the service has sent almost 50 million referrals to their subset of publishers from the "Buzzing Now" links that appear on the "Featured" section on the homepage. Some highlights:

• After being featured on Yahoo.com, HowStuffWorks.com received nearly 1 million total visits for its story on “How the Aptera Hybrid Works.”
• In part as a result of being featured on Yahoo.com, RollingStone.com reached its highest page view traffic of Q1 2008 on March 11, 2008. The highlighted “buzzing” story on the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame received over 700,000 visits from Yahoo.com, resulting in over 2.4 million page views.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 11:23 AM | Permalink

DoubleClick Mobile Integrates with Mobile Ad Networks

Just one week after Google announced mobile image ads, the newly acquired DoubleClick is announcing the integration of its mobile ads with mobile ad networks. The networks are AdMob, Google Adsense, and Millenial Media's Mbrand and Decktrade networks.

"This integration is a great example of how DoubleClick is working with key industry players to bring value to publishers by enhancing the liquidity of mobile display inventory," said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products. "We believe that the ability to sell mobile inventory directly and indirectly will provide mobile advertisers with more options, ultimately leading to better monetization for publishers."

Yesterday, Admob was included in a Marchex announcement of its agreement with mobile ad networks to provide pay-per-call services.

"AdMob is always eager to extend our engineering investments in mobile advertising relevance and optimization to new platforms," said Omar Hamoui, AdMob's founder and CEO. "We are excited that DoubleClick's clients will now be able to join over 4000 existing AdMob publishers in leveraging AdMob's ad liquidity and mobile specific ad serving technologies."

An estimated $1.7 billion is expected to be spent on mobile advertising this year, up from $878 million last year. Projections have the spend reaching $6.5 billion by 2012.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 11:09 AM | Permalink

Pimp My Site: Tweaking High Traffic Landing Pages

When you have a page that is bringing in a lot of eyeballs, it may be tempting to just leave it alone. Cliches become mantras. "There's no need to stir the pot." "Let sleeping cats lie." "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The problem is that if your traffic isn't converting, then your landing page is, in fact, broken.

Thankfully, the Google Website Optimizer team is serving up tips on knowing which pages to tweak via a post on their blog.

First up are Landing Pages. Go to the "Content" section of Google Analytics and check out the "Top Landing Pages." The pages you need to focus on have high bounce rates and high entrance rates. The blog recounted a scenario Avinash Kaushik spoke about at SES. He said he was searching for faucets and the top sponsored result led him to a sinks page. Perhaps the site is experiencing large numbers of site visitors, but they're just throwing money away if they're not giving the people what they want.

Secondly, check out funnel pages. These are pages that a visitor arrives at after performing an action such as a purchase, registration or download. In Google Analytics, you can set up a funnel which contains 10 pages pertaining to a goal. Then, you'll be able to view "funnel visualization" reports that can show you where your site visitors get stuck in the process.

Remember, it's the conversions that matter the most. Not the clicks or the referrals or the number of eyeballs. If your site visitors are not engaging in the actionable goal you've set for them, then it's time to tweak.

Related Reading:
Your Baby's Ugly - Why You Need Landing Page Optimization Now
PPC Triage Now! Emergency Action Steps for Dying AdWords

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 10:01 AM | Permalink

Live Search Team Gives Insight into Product Search Updates

Recently, Microsoft updated the Product Search Experience, part of its Live Search offering. Now they're giving insight into the specific updates included, via the Live Search blog. The updates were based on feedback given by users of the feature while it was still in beta.

And the updates are (drum roll please)...

• One stop to research product details and find good prices -- Results display an image and description for each product as well as reviews, prices and spec sheets.


• Feature-based refinements -- View reviews based on features that are important to you (i.e battery life, portability)


• Sorting -- Sort results by user ratings, expert ratings, and price.


• Filtering -- Filter results by specific brands, categories, and price ranges.


• Richer product details -- Read expert reviews and a spec sheet describing the product.

Product search has been seeing a lot of action, lately. Earlier this week, the Product feature was added to Live Search for mobile phones.

It's really no wonder that such an emphasis is played on these types of product searches and results. Searchers are increasingly wanting answers (as opposed to branding) and with the popularity of devices like the iPhone (which offers full HTML browsing), product searches for both the regular and mobile web are important to the consumer buying process.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 9:43 AM | Permalink




Google Adwords: TV Ads for Everyone!

Google TV Ads have been in private beta since last summer, but now they're groomed and prepped and available for U.S. customers. Why in the world should a search marketer such as yourself care about TELEVISION? I'm so glad you asked.

Offline advertising prompts online searches. Last summer, iProspect released study data suggesting that 37% of TV watchers are prompted to conduct a search based on a TV ad. I can attest to the validity of this statement as I've seen these results in the marketing analytics of a Fortune 500 company I previously worked with.

Because of this, integration is crucial. If your TV people aren't talking to your Web Marketing people, then you're not maximizing your marketing, plain and simple.

And then there's the future. Expect TV advertising to become more and more interactive, so that it's not just marketing campaigns that are integrated - but the actual ad is a mashup of TV + Web.

Whether you go with Google, engage in a local TV campaign or hire an ad agency, Google's announcement today is a great reminder of keeping our marketing eyes on the big picture.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 9:19 AM | Permalink




Microsoft Board Meets, Indicates Higher Bid for Yahoo

Late yesterday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal got word of a Microsoft board meeting. And ever since they reported the news, the speculation and rumor mills have been working overtime.

Henry Blodget over at the Silicon Valley Insider got a glimpse of a WSJ story suggesting that MSFT would raise the bid to $32-$33 a share. The story is no longer to be found on the interwebs, which is likely Microsoft's strategy, according to Blodget. The apparent strategy is to get comment out of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang on whether or not the upped offer would be accepted.

Earlier reports have both shareholders and Yahoo execs saying "I see your $32-33 and raise you a $35-37." This is not likely to please the big wigs from Redmond.

But they may have forced their own hand in the matter when they didn't offer a higher bid sooner. It's the Yahoo-Google deal that likely tipped the scales in favor of Yahoo in the negotiating process.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 1, 2008, 8:50 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: There Are No Free Links: Budgeting Resources for SEO Link Building

There's no such thing as a free link. The amount of time and resources to invest for link development depends on the profits your company stands to make from top rankings. In today's Link Building column, "There Are No Free Links: Budgeting Resources for SEO Link Building," Justilien Gaspard explains that being realistic about your available resources, budget, and goals when setting up a link marketing program will save you and your staff from unnecessary frustration. Plus, you'll end up with better results!

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 1, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink




SEW Experts: Social Media = Society's Watchdog

Are social networks so powerful to cause an adjustment in personal and corporate behavior on a macro level? You bet your camera phone they are. In today's Building Brand Equity column, "Social Media = Society's Watchdog," Erik Qualman reminds us that companies and individuals now need to live their lives as if everyone is watching...since they probably are.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 1, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink

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