June 29, 2008 - July 5, 2008
Need To Track Your Brand Online? Try Search Monitor
There was a new service launched at the beginning of the month that follows all uses of your brand, domain, special keywords and more - Search Monitor. And before you jump at me for the plug I am not associated with it at all.
I was sent the press release and information about the product and from what I have seen so far this could be a great tool for reputation management, keeping an eye on competitors using your name etc. or even to track affiliates.
There are some products out there that cover some of the elements, but the interface is easy to navigate and provides some valuable monitors that many of us can use.
The press release states:
The Search Monitor (“TSM”), an online monitoring service that tracks competitive advertiser activity on paid search, blogs, news, and web sites, announces the product release of three new automated monitoring utilities: Competitor Monitor, Trademark Monitor, and Affiliate Monitor.With this launch, interactive agencies, marketers, affiliate managers, and compliance teams gain critical insight into search marketing strategies, affiliate activities, trademark abuse, and brand buzz. The Search Monitor offers important information that can only be gained by careful 24x7 automated monitoring, and surfaces the information in 3 easy to use reporting sections:
1. Competitor Monitor gives insights into competitive bidding strategies, competitor market share and visibility, ranking on sponsored search, ad copy strategies, and promotions like free shipping, trials, or sales.
2. Trademark Monitor eases the tasks associated with reputation management by auto-detecting advertisers sponsoring branded keywords, use of trademarks and slogans in ad copy and display urls, and brand buzz on blogs, news, and web sites.
3. Affiliate Monitor simplifies oversight of affiliate programs by auto-identification of affiliates using sponsored search to detect violations of rank requirements, keyword restrictions, ad copy
requirements or restrictions, and landing page copy requirements or restrictions.Search engine marketing has become a critical component for advertisers. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), North American advertisers spent $12.2 billion on SEM in 2007 and that figure is estimated to more than double to reach $25.2 billion by 2011. The Search Monitor was developed to provide the tools necessary to optimize the sizable investments being made in this medium and to protect brands from competitive threats.
“There is a big problem in the industry known as ‘Piggybacking' which is when smaller advertisers use the trademarks or slogans of bigger advertisers in ad copy or display urls to lure consumers into clicking on their ads”, says Shaun Martinec, a TSM founder. “For our larger brand clients, we have discovered as many as 1 in 10 competitors engaging in this practice. We were quite alarmed to learn that some violators are parked domains, phishing, and spyware sites. With The Search Monitor, our clients are able to catch these activities and react quickly.”
Another advantage of having a monitoring tool such as The Search Monitor is that marketers and agencies can glean insights into competitive online advertising campaigns including ad copy, promotional offers and ad placement strategies.
Posted by Frank Watson on July 3, 2008, 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Blackberry Pearl Gets Google Voice Search for Mobile Maps
If you're a Blackberry Pearl user in the US, then you have a new way to conduct searches on Google Mobile Maps: voice search. The feature has been made available for models 8110, 8120, and 8130. The Google Mobile Team says the feature is experimental and should improve better over time as more and more people use it.
And here's how to access the feature on the device, according to the Official Google Mobile blog:
1. Press "0" to center the map view around your location
2. Press the left-side key and hold it while you say the name or type of business you're looking for (for example, "pizza")
3. When you're done speaking, release the left-side key, and our voice recognition technology will figure out your request and find the business you've been looking for, no typing needed.
Do you have a Blackberry Pearl and have tried out the voice search for Google mobile maps? Let us know in the comments.
Related Reading:
Google Updates BlackBerry Search Results Pages
AT&T iPhone Google Deal Pits Apple Against Blackberry
Google Releases Google Talk for Blackberry
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 3, 2008, 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Search Sold Separately: Breaking Down Yahoo's Parts
Despite a search advertising deal with Google, Yahoo shares are down and rumors are on again about Microsoft buying just the search chunk of Yahoo. But just how big is that chunk? Would it destroy Yahoo as a whole if sold separately? Not necessarily, according to Hitwise Vice President of Research, Heather Hopkins.
Hopkins analyzed the US internet hits for the top 20 Yahoo properties in the month of June. Yahoo Mail by far saw the most traffic, at 37.47%. Yahoo.com saw 30.62%, and remember that's a portal not just a search page like Google.com. Yahoo Search came in third but only saw 12.10%. The remaining 17 made up a combined 19.83%. Here's the full breakdown of Yahoo's top 20 properties.
Hopkins also took a look at what search referrals look like for the above 20 properties. Yahoo Answers, Finance, My Yahoo, Mail, Flickr, Fantasy Baseball, Hot Jobs, Sports, and Groups all received more referrals from Google search than from Yahoo search. Check out the full chart below.
These numbers are only for the U.S., and Yahoo is more popular in Asia. Attempts to reach Hitwise for Asian data were not immediately returned.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 3, 2008, 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Judge Protects Google Source Code, But Not YouTube Users
Remember when Google and Viacom were friends? Ah, those were the days. But not anymore. Over a year ago, Viacom filed suit against Google for the copyright infringment found on YouTube videos. In the latest plot point in the ongoing saga, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton has ruled that Google can keep its source code secret, but must hand over user logs for the popular video sharing site.
Viacom says it wanted the code to prove that Google could use it to "purposely" find the content in question. Nice try, Viacom. Google's code, of course, is a trade secret. But it's almost a wonder the judge protected the code, because he ruled that Viacom can have access to the user logs. Data to be released includes user names, IP addresses, and videos watched.
Google has often defended its data collection, saying it's not a threat to privacy. It appears the argument worked a little too well on Judge Stanton.
For a history of the Google-Viacom battle, check out these links:
Google Fights Back in Viacom/YouTube Copyright Suit
Others Join YouTube, Google Copyright Lawsuit
Viacom Would Rather Not Sue, Chief Counsel Claims
Google to Viacom: Don't Turn YouTube into SueTube
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 3, 2008, 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Banned from Google? Get Back in the Game
The Official Google Webmaster Central blog has posted steps on how to get reincluded in the search results should you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of being exempted. Mariya Moeva, of the Search Quality Team, hosts an entertaining how-to vid explaining the steps you should take when your site is Google-less. For those who can't or don't want to view the video, look below for the steps in text.
1. Check your access. Log into your Webmaster Tools account and check the Overview page to see what happened when Googlebot visited your site last. Also, check your robots.txt file to make sure there aren't any pages blocked that you want seen by Google.
2. Check your messages. There could be a message in your Message Center inbox of your Webmaster Tools account regarding your site.
3. Read the Guidelines. Make sure you know what Google does and does not allow for sites it lists in its search results.
4. Help Group. When all else fails, join the webmasters help group where other webmasters and Googlers can help determine what's going on.
5. Fix your site! Once you know what's wrong, fix your site!
6. Submit a Reconsideration Request. After you've made the fixes, submit a request for Google to check your site again.
Have you ever submitted a reinclusion request? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
Related Reading:
Google Updates SEO Recommendations Article
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 3, 2008, 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Yahoo and MerchantCircle Enter Local Online Marketing Partnership
MerchantCircle, a network of local business owners, has announced a new partnership with Yahoo. As a newly minted Yahoo! Local Ambassador, MerchantCircle members will have exclusive access to Yahoo Local online marketing services. MerchantCircle has seen dramatic growth since December 2007, when it began a new push for its online advertising products. The network has now surpassed 500,000 members.
“Yahoo! is one of the most important brands on the internet – one that really appeals to our local business members. Local business owners tell us they want to advertise on Yahoo! to get more local customers to their storefront,” says Darren Waddell, Vice President of Marketing, MerchantCircle. “This partnership creates an important product option in our growing suite of advertising products for local merchants.”
Merchant Circle expects its members to get access to the program by the end of the summer.
MerchantCircle offers its members SEO-friendly profiles on its site. Last November, MerchantCircle announced a partnership with Citysearch, where members can be featured on the popular online local guide.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 3, 2008, 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Get smart at universal search SEO training class in Seattle
Greg Jarboe: Search Engine Strategies (SES) is asking us to teach a full-day SEO training class about “Optimizing for Universal Search” on Thursday, July 17, 2008, at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, 515 Madison Street, Seattle, WA 98104?
Amanda Watlington: I don't believe you.
Greg: Would you believe SES is sending us to teach a Google universal search engine optimization training workshop in Microsoft's backyard?
Amanda: No.
Greg: How about going to Seattle to get a proper cup of coffee?
Amanda: I demand the Cone of Silence!
Greg: Okay, if you insist. I'll download the Cone of Silence blog widget. So, now that our conversation is enshrouded in a transparent sound-proof shield, what's the problem?
Amanda: Who in Seattle wants to learn search engine optimization strategies from a couple of SEO experts from Boston?
Greg: Well, our “Optimizing for Universal Search” workshops at SES London and SES New York were well attended. And if British Red Coats and New York Yankees didn't mind that their SEO classes were taught by a couple of search engine optimization experts from Boston, why should Seattle companies?
Amanda: True, we haven't dumped their tea in our harbor or faced them in the ALCS. But, give me a couple of specific examples of companies in Seattle that would benefit from sending their search engine optimization specialists, public relations professionals, and corporate video producers to a full-day SEO workshop on universal search taught by a couple of SEO experts from out of town.
Greg: Good idea Amanda – although a comprehensive list would include every member of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. But, conduct a web search using Google for the term, Steve Ballmer, and you'll see an example of a company in Redmond, Washington, that needs help optimizing for universal search.
Amanda: I see YouTube videos and websites integrated into a single set of results. So, who is responsible for managing this special blend?
Greg: No one is which means anyone could be. I'd hate to be on the receiving end at Waggener Edstrom when one of their largest PR clients calls to ask, “What do you know about blended search?” But, they are not alone. Google the term, Seattle Mariners, and you'll see that there are a lot of media companies in the Seattle area that have dropped the ball, too.
Amanda: I see news results blended in with the web listings above the fold. But the news sources displayed in the universal search results are from The Associated Press, SportingNews.com, and The Canadian Press, not the Seattle Times, Seattle Post Intelligencer, KING5.com, KOMO, or KIROtv.com.
Greg: Right, and according to Steve Lohr of The New York Times, search engines are “delivering 30 percent or more of the traffic on some newspaper, magazine or television news Web sites. And traffic means readers and advertisers, at a time when the mainstream media is desperately trying to make a living on the Web.”
Amanda: So, we've seen YouTube videos and news results blended into universal search results. What about images?
Greg: Ah, the old leading question trick. That's the second time I've fallen for that this week. Well, Google the term, Starbucks logo.
Amanda: I see three images at the top of the search engine results page. Don't tell me that clicking on any one of the Starbucks logos doesn't take you to a page in the Starbucks Coffee Company press room.
Greg: Clicking on any one of the Starbucks logos doesn't take you to a page in the Starbucks Coffee Company press room
Amanda: I asked you not to tell me that. You realize you'll be facing every kind of danger imaginable if you show this example to Starbucks coffee drinkers?
Greg: And loving it! But wait! There's more! Use Google to search for the term, Seattle hotels downtown.
Amanda: I see two pushpins on Google Maps. Hold on, the Renaissance Seattle Hotel is missing! Greg, the location of our SEO training class about “Optimizing for Universal Search” isn't on the map!
Greg: It's a shame that they didn't use local SEO instead of web SEO.
Amanda: Okay, you can invert the Cone of Silence. I'm ready to use it as a loudspeaker.
Greg: This is the Search Engine Watch Blog. We don't "loudspeaker" here.
Amanda: Never mind. I'll use YouTube. Their slogan is “Broadcast Yourself.” So, where's the video interview that we conducted about our upcoming SEO training class?
Greg: Missed it by that much!
Amanda: Then, how are we supposed to provide more information about our universal search engine optimization training workshop? Oh, this is utter KAOS!
Greg: Sorry about that Chief! We could try image optimization.
Amanda: That just might work. I hope I wasn't out of line with that crack about utter KAOS.
Greg: I don't mind, 99. Let's just hope that business professionals in Seattle “get smart” and attend our universal search SEO training class.
Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR and Amanda Watlington of Searching
for Profit will teach “Optimizing for Universal Search” in
Seattle on July 17, 2008.
Posted by Greg Jarboe on July 3, 2008, 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
SEW Experts: Three Tips for Creating a Successful Blog
Instead of focusing on where to find links, SEOs and site owners should think about setting up a site so people will want to link to it. In today's Link Building column, "Three Tips for Creating a Successful Blog," Sage Lewis notes that people usually put the cart (the links), before the horse (the content). But the horse is what drives the cart.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb on July 3, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
SEW Experts: SEM Going Legit – Literally EDU
Many newcomers are looking for some kind of accredited SEM course. But for a university to offer such course, it must be created in theory, pass through boards and deans, and be completely vetted. That can take anywhere from two to five years. In today's SEM.EDU column, "SEM Going Legit – Literally EDU," Ron Jones outlines some of the existing college-level courses for SEM training.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb on July 3, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Google Updates SEO Recommendations Article
Google has updated its article entitled, "What's an SEO? Does Google recommend working with companies that offer to make my site Google-friendly?" Included in the update are the benefits of SEO as well as guidelines when choosing an SEO company or consultant.
The benefits mentioned in the article are:
- Reviewing and providing recommendations on your site content or structure
- Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
- Content development
- Managing online business development campaigns
- Keyword research
- SEO training
Google also offers up 6 questions to ask a potential SEO vendor, but back in March, our own Marty Weintraub posted 48 questions you should consider when signing up for search marketing services. And earlier today, Aaron Shear discussed upsells agencies use to keep clients on board.
When hiring an SEO agency, it's always important to know enough SEO to make sure your vendor is pursuing the best practices. Google's article is a good place to start and of course, stay tuned to Search Engine Watch for news and tips in the SEO industry.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 2, 2008, 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
DOJ Opens Formal Antitrust Investigation into Google-Yahoo Deal
We knew this was coming. The Justice Department has begun a formal antitrust investigation into the search advertising agreement recently announced between Google and Yahoo. But other internet companies will be required to provide documents, according to the Washington Post. The move is thought to indicate a closer scrutiny than originally expected.
Lawyers told the Post that the demand for documents from other companies suggest that Google-Yahoo deal will be reviewed by those higher up in the antitrust division of the DOJ.
Still, the investigation should come as no surprise. When Yahoo was running a test of Google's ads back in April, the Justice Department investigated. However, they were notified of the test ahead of time.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 2, 2008, 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Yahoo Gives Upcoming a Makeover
Just in time for the Fourth of July, Yahoo has given Upcoming a new look. They've also increased the scope of events searchable on the local events site. New event types include farmers markets, craft fairs and street festivals.
Events for over 8,000 cities can be found on Upcoming and the results are also integrated into other Yahoo products, including My Yahoo!, Travel Guides, Music, and Local. Last October, Yahoo announced that Upcoming would be blended into its search results, along with Flickr and Yahoo Answers.
If you already have an account on Upcoming, then you'll still have access to your communities. Check out the screenshot below to see the new look:
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 2, 2008, 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
SEW Experts: Yahoo's Judgment Day
Microsoft was set to save Yahoo from certain death with a solid offer to purchase assets, or so we thought. According to yesterday's shareholder presentation, the deal wasn't such a great idea. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Yahoo's Judgment Day," Kevin Ryan notes that, while the jury is still out on the merits of the Google-Yahoo partnership, this is the first time since the Yahoocrosoft insanity began that it's publicly outlined strategic thought and tactical execution plans that make sense for Yahoo's future.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb on July 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
SEW Experts: Avoid Getting Coding Problems Flagged by Search Engines
Some common SEO and Web development practices can be used quite legitimately, yet still could look like spam to search engines. In today's Web Analytics and ROI column, "Coding Problems: How to Avoid Getting Flagged by Search Engines," Eric Enge explains that the key is to use these techniques for legitimate reasons, use them in moderation, and in ways commonly found on the Web.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb on July 2, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Nikki Catsouras, Death on Highway, Search Engine Victim
Nikki Catsouras has achieved Internet immortality. She was an 18-year-old college freshman living in California with her parents and two sisters in 2006.
Nikki Catsouras loved to shoot videos on her camera, according to ABC News, and ironically, it a camera would memorialize Nikki's life and death as a gruesome and macabre joke on the Internet.
Photos of Nikki Catsouras in death are now the top search results in Google. Even Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the gory car crash.
Search engines, in our view, are neither good nor evil. How people use search engines determines whether the engines benefit society.
So when the Nikki Catsouras story broke today, we weren't surprised. It's not the first time MySpace or other social media sites have been caught up in seamy stories.
She borrowed the keys to her father's Porsche 911 Carrera, a car that goes zero to 60 miles an hour in less than five seconds. She had never driven the Porsche before.
According to state highway patrol reports, at approximately 1:45 p.m. last Halloween, Nikki Catsouras was traveling 100 mph on State Route 241, near Lake Forest, Calif., when she clipped another car and lost control, going across lanes over the median and slamming into a concrete tollbooth. She was killed instantly.
"Her head was more or less cut in two and sort of cleaved and then smashed. It's nothing that anyone should ever have to see," said Michael Fertik, the founder of ReputationDefender, a company that helps clients such as the Catsouras family remove items from the Internet. The Catsouras family was told they should never see the photos from the scene of the horrendous accident.
As the Catsouras family was grieving for their daughter, the accident scene photos showing Nikki's mutilated body suddenly appeared on the Internet.
A fake MySpace page was created, which at first looked like a tribute to Catsouras but also led to the horrific photos.
The pictures, taken by California Highway Patrol (CHiPs) officers and e-mailed outside the department, became so prevalent that Lesli Catsouras stopped checking her e-mail. Nikki's younger sisters were forbidden to use the Internet, and 16-year-old Danielle was taken out of school to be home schooled for fear her peers might confront her with the photos.
A lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol for allegedly releasing the accident scene pictures has been filed by the parents of Nikki Catsouras.
Of course, not only search engines and the Internet spread stories like this one. ABC News has a Primetime special on the Nikki Catsouras story tonight.
Google search results photos and images after the jump:
Posted by Kevin Heisler on July 1, 2008, 2:11 PM | Permalink
Live! From Redmond, It's Microsoft Powerset Live!
Ya-Who? Seems Microsoft has already forgotten the Sunnyvale search engine.
Microsoft has agreed to buy Powerset, the semantic search engine touted as the next generation of search. Powerset is the much-hyped beta natural language search engine that the 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's interesting is that Microsoft appears to have purchased Powerset as much for the software engineers as the software.
From the Live Search blog:
More importantly, Powerset brings to Live Search a set of talented engineers and computational linguists in downtown San Francisco. This is a great team with a wide range of experience from other search engines and research organizations like PARC (formerly Xerox PARC).We're buying Powerset first and foremost because we're impressed with the people there.
Microsoft shares our goal to improve search through deeper analysis of queries and documents, and understands that our technology and expertise will play a key role in the evolution of search. With an existing search infrastructure, incredible capital resources, unlimited data, a leading search team, and clear mission to revolutionize the search landscape, Microsoft can rapidly accelerate our progress in building semantic search technology and bringing it to full Web scale. When we launched our first product, we heard: this is great, but when and how will we get Powerset to go beyond Wikpiedia? Microsoft accelerates our ability to move Powerset to the entire Web faster than anyone could have imagined.Powerset will continue to operate much as we currently do, working in the same building, with the same organizational structure, and with the same uniquely talented and growing team (apply on our jobs page). We'll continue to tackle the hardest problems in parsing, semantics, ranking, indexing, scalable computing, user experience and all of our other specialties. But now we'll do it with the support of Microsoft and the vast resources of the entire Live Search team.
Posted by Kevin Heisler on July 1, 2008, 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Local.com Partners with Hearst's White Directory Publishers
Local.com has announced a new advertising partnership with White Directory Publishers, a division of Hearst Holdings. Through the agreement, Local.com will be able to sell its online display advertising inventory to White Directory's national sales channel. The ads will appear on Local.com as well as White Directory Publisher's Talkingphonebook.com and Area-wide.com sites.
“This partnership allows Local.com to reach out to large businesses with regional presence through a leading feet-on-the-street sales force,” said Peter Hutto, Local.com vice president, business development and sales. “This partnership will give Local.com better reach into the small business market, and provide White Directory with a large online distribution channel for their advertisers.”
"This is a tremendous opportunity for national advertisers to extend their reach to local consumers on one of the leading local search sites that consistently ranks in the Top 100 in traffic generated,” said David Bowling, director of national sales for White Directory Publishers. “This is an innovative approach to the sales and targeting of display ads to local consumers by national advertisers with local points of presence."
Related Reading:
Local.com Renews With Yahoo As Search Partner
Local.com to Distribute Superpages Ads
Hearst Jumps on Answers Bandwagon, Acquires Answerology
Hearst to Acquire Social Shopping Site Kaboodle
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 1, 2008, 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Google Nixes AdSense Referrals, AdWords PPA; Rebrands DoubleClick Performics
Google has a slew of announcements about its advertising products, including AdSense, AdWords, and DoubleClick.
First up, AdSense is no longer accepting referrals. They're advising users to remove the code from their sites, but to save the data collected through the referrals. Meanwhile, AdWords is phasing out the AdWords Pay-Per-Action program. Both programs have the last week of August as the expiration date.
Users of AdSense Referrals and AdWords PPA are being pointed to the Google Affiliate Network, formerly known as DoubleClick Performics. Performics was previously both an affiliate network and a search marketing company. Google divested itself of the Performics search marketing business for the obvious conflict of interest. The affiliate portion of the business is what is being rebranded.
Advertisers will be able to set CPAs for campaigns or design custom payments to affiliates. Publishers must apply and be accepted to the program, similar to the application for Adsense.
Finally, while the three remain separate programs for now, an integration could be in the future. Trevor Claiborne, writing on the Inside AdWords blog, "The Inside Adwords blog The Google Affiliate Network is currently a separate product from AdWords and AdSense." (emphasis mine) That sounds like a hint of things to come, don't you think?
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 1, 2008, 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Yahoo Releases Search Index Update
Yahoo has announced its latest search index update. So, if you see a change up in your rankings, now you know why. But earlier news of new crawling abilities for Adobe Flash don't appear to be part of this update. Instead, expect to see those updates in the future.
“Yahoo! is committed to supporting webmaster needs with plans to support searchable SWF and is working with Adobe to determine the best possible implementation,” said Sean Suchter, vice president Yahoo! Search Technology Engineering.
Yahoo's last update occurred on May 28, 2008.
Are you seeing any changes in your Yahoo rankings? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 1, 2008, 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Adobe Provides Flash Technology to Google and Yahoo for Better Indexing
For years SEOs have been about the inability of search engines to crawl flash pages. But now Adobe is making an effort to keep Flash in the web development toolbox. They've announced the provision of Flash technology to Google and Yahoo in order to facilitate the indexing of sites and pages created with Flash.
“Until now it has been extremely challenging to search the millions of RIAs and dynamic content on the Web, so we are leading the charge in improving search of content that runs in Adobe Flash Player,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We are initially working with Google and Yahoo! to significantly improve search of this rich content on the Web, and we intend to broaden the availability of this capability to benefit all content publishers, developers and end users.”
Over at the Google Webmaster Central Blog, an FAQ was posted offering up more details about the update. Here are some highlights:
- Google will now be able to better crawl the text content of SWF files. The content includes buttons, menus, self-contained websites developed in Flash and "everything in between."
- Google can use the text it crawls to provide a descriptive "snippet" for its search results.
- Links included in Flash content will also be crawled.
- If your Flash file is loaded by JavaScript, Google won't be able to read it
- If your Flash file loads an HTML file, an XML file or another SWF file, Google will index that separately from the original Flash file.
Google says it can't crawl images, videos or FLV files because they do not contain text content.
What do you think about search engines crawling Flash? Are you more inclined to use Flash on your sites now? Leave your reaction in the comments!
Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 1, 2008, 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
SEW Experts: Some New SEO Services Not So "Special"
Many SEO agencies are running out of ways to draw in large clients, especially when so many offer little to no value over the next agency. This dilemma has given birth to new "special services," which can set an agency apart. In today's Enterprise Search Marketing column, "Some New SEO Services Not So "Special"," Aaron Shear warns enterprise clients to beware, as there are some unscrupulous agencies using these in ways that can sometimes be a threat to your rankings.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb on July 1, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
SEW Experts: Newspapers Bleed Red Ink: Death by Internet
Journalists are a dying breed. Newspapers face death by Internet. In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "Newspapers Bleed Red Ink: Death by Internet," Kevin Heisler suggests that it's time to rethink journalism as a career choice.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb on July 1, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
SEW Experts: SEO Quarterly Web Site Review: Villas of Distinction
The latest in a series of site reviews, this week's subject is a travel site that already has three of the key ingredients to success: Web site depth, links to the site, and age of domain. In today's Organic Search Engine Optimization column, "SEO Quarterly Web Site Review: Villas of Distinction," Mark Jackson notes that the site is nice, but with just a little bit of attention to some details, it could generate a lot more organic search engine traffic.
Posted by Kevin Newcomb on July 1, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Mike Moran Exits IBM, Joins Converseon
Mike Moran is leaving IBM after 30 years to take a position in the newly created role of Chief Strategist at social media marketing agency, Converseon. Moran will be involved in the development of Conversation Miner as well as provide consulting to Converseon clients.
“We're thrilled to have Mike join us,” said Rob Key, Converseon CEO. “He brings to the table the perfect combination of industry-leading expertise with hands-on knowledge of how to internally adopt and promote these practices within complex, enterprise environments. As we often say, social media can be technically relatively simple, but culturally quite difficult. His experience will be invaluable as we help leading brands develop and execute innovative social media campaigns. He will also play a key role in consolidating Converseon's position as a leading social media marketing and consulting agency offering end-to-end services, from listening to engaging to measuring.”
While at IBM, Moran led several search technology projects including IBM's OmniFind search and text analytics products, the first commercial linguistic search engine, and automatic categorization technology for business search at ibm.com. He has been granted multiple patents and is the author of Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules.
“With their focus on pushing the edges of innovation in reputation management, search marketing and social media, Converseon is the ideal fit for me,” said Mike Moran. “I look forward to working with their standout team and clients.”
Posted by Nathania Johnson on June 30, 2008, 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Google Maps Inks 5 Year Deal with Tele Atlas
Google Maps has signed a five year agreement with Netherlands-based digital mapping company, Tele Atlas. Google will now have access to Tele Atlas' content for over 200 countries for current and future projects, including Google Earth and mobile applications.
"Google's innovation and leadership is undisputed, and we are proud to have the opportunity to be the map foundation for one of the world's most progressive web companies," said Bill Henry, CEO of Tele Atlas. "This agreement is important too because it gives us access to input from a significant online community of map users, whose feedback can help us keep our maps fresh and accurate."
"Geospatial data enhances global search significantly by organizing data and delivering results based on location," said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Google Maps. "Tele Atlas' map quality and the company's innovative approach to business were the key drivers for our decision."
Related Reading:
Google Maps Adds Richer Data to Search
Google Launches Google Map Maker
Google Opens Location-Aware Application to 3rd Party Developers
Google Maps for Mobile Adds Public Transportation Directions
Google Launches Google Earth API and Browser Plug-in
Posted by Nathania Johnson on June 30, 2008, 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
SLI Rolls Out Learning Search Update with New Auto Complete Feature
On-demand search provider, SLI Systems has upgraded Learning Search, a hosted site search solution. The update will include:
- Faster generation of results. Search queries will return results up to 50% faster.
- Redesigned merchandising console. SLI says the new design will help customers more easily change the order of search results, create banner ads, and customize landing pages.
- Auto Complete. This is a new feature which provides search suggestions.
Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems had this to say about the announcement:
"We're always looking for new ways to improve our search solutions, and to give our customers more flexibility in how they can maximize the functionality of our offerings. The newest enhancements help everyone, regardless of their technical ability, to make decisions about merchandising, and make changes themselves -- without having to rely on their IT departments."
Posted by Nathania Johnson on June 30, 2008, 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Another Year, Another Reorganization for MIVA
Yahoo is known for its (in)famous reorganizations, but they now face a contender for the title of "Most Likely to Shake Things Up." Just over a year after its last reorganization, MIVA has headed back to the drawing board in the hopes of revising the struggling digital ad company.
On the chopping block is 15% of its workforce as well as the MIVA Media operations in Italy. MIVA says this will save them $4 million a year plus a one time savings of $1.4 million.
The recent reorganizations are just the latest of what ails MIVA. In 2006, Craig Pisaris-Henderson and Phillip Thune resigned as CEO and President respectively. And in 2005, the company agreed to an $8 million patent settlement with Yahoo.
As a result, MIVA dropped their partnership with Yahoo and made one with Google. Boy, that sounds familiar.
MIVA licensed FAST technology in 2005. FAST was recently acquired by Microsoft. Since MIVA has such an admiration for the way Yahoo does things, we offer the following words of advice: If Ballmer offers to buy, say YES.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on June 30, 2008, 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
AOL's Platform-A to Offer Guaranteed CPM to Facebook, Bebo Developers
AOL has announced that its online advertising solution, Platform-A, will offer a guaranteed CPM to third party developers creating Bebo and Facebook applications. But the guarantee comes with a catch: it's only good for the first three impressions for each unique U.S. visitor who visits an approved developer's application.
Boasting one of the highest CPMs in the industry, AOL says the offer is part of WIDGNET™ publisher network launched earlier this year by Platform-A's Advertising.com. WIDGNET brings advertisers and third party developers of widgets and social networking applications together.
“This announcement reinforces Platform-A's commitment to helping developers generate revenue and monetize their Bebo and Facebook applications in the rapidly evolving social networking space. Advertiser interest in social networks is rising at a steady rate, and Platform-A is making an unprecedented flat-fee commitment to help application developers generate revenue and guarantee monetization of their applications,” said Dave Jacobs, Senior Vice President of Publisher Services, Platform-A Advertising.com Networks. “Platform-A views social networking applications as an area where we can add significant value by letting developers focus on expanding their install base, without worrying about monetization of applications.”
Earlier this year, AOL acquired Bebo for $850 million.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on June 30, 2008, 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
EveryScape Goes Where Google Maps Does Not
Going where no man - or search engine - has gone before, Everyscape has launched an online mapping feature that allows people to go inside shops and restaurants.
Users can navigate through neighborhoods and tourist sites. A special icon next to a building invites users to enter and have a look around.
"While Google has focused their technology on building a better map, we wanted to do more and replicate the experience of actually being somewhere," Everyscape chief executive Jim Schoonmaker told ABC News.
Everyscape employs independent contractors to operate specialized equipment. "Destination ambassadors" are assigned regions and are paid per mile to map. By getting locals involved, Schoonmaker hopes to "enable the world to build the world."
On top of earning $10 for every street mile, destination ambassadors receive a commission whenever they convince a business to have its interiors photographed.
Joe Ryan, owner of the Press Box Sports Bar in Manhattan, was quickly sold on the idea when he was approached with an offer to lease his locale on the interactive map.
"It's absolutely worth the price of the lease," Ryan said. "We have a very nice private party room upstairs and whenever people call to see if they can have a party there, it was very hard for me to describe it. Now I just tell them to go to the site, and they can take a look around. It's a big help."
Everyscape has secured $7 million in investment from venture capital firms. Some experts say to cut into Google's market, the company would need to extend its mapping capabilities abroad to popular destinations like Sydney and London, where the legality of such technology has been challenged.
Posted by Kevin Heisler on June 30, 2008, 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Cutts Talks Spam While Obama Supporters Flag Blogspot Blogs
Matt Cutts is addressing the ever-present topic of spam again, only this time it's on the Official Google Blog. Cutts wrote about coming across spam links in the search results. He says this doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to, thanks to Google's anti-spam metrics.
One of those metrics is data from search logs. Many have worried what Google does with the data collects, and Cutts assures that data such as IP and cookie information is used to help improve the search results.
"The IP and cookie information is important for helping us apply this method only to searches that are from legitimate users as opposed to those that were generated by bots and other false searches. For example, if a bot sends the same queries to Google over and over again, those queries should really be discarded before we measure how much spam our users see. All of this--log data, IP addresses, and cookie information--makes your search results cleaner and more relevant."
But Cutts is also aware that the war against spam continues on:
"If you think webspam is a solved problem, think again. Last year Google faced a rash of webspam on Chinese domains in our index. Some spammers were purchasing large amounts of cheap .cn domains and stuffing them with misspellings and porn phrases. Savvy users may remember reading a few blogs about it, but most regular users never even noticed. The reason that a typical searcher didn't notice the odd results is that Google identified the .cn spam and responded with a fast-tracked engineering project to counteract that type of spam attack. Without our logs data to help identify the speed and scope of the problem, many more Google users might have been affected by this attack."
Another unsolved webspam problem - that was not addressed by Cutts - is letting humans in on the reporting of spam. Over at Blogspot, supporters of Presidential candidate Barack Obama have reportedly been flagging anti-obama blogs as "spam." As a result, several of the blogs, including ones created by Hilary Clinton supporters, have been frozen.
Of course, this problem is experienced in the 'paid links debate' as well. Google accepts anonymous reports about paid links, which is an easy way for competitors to attempt to flag each other out of the results.
What do you think of Cutts comments? Do they reduce your fears about Google's data collection? Should Google let third parties flag sites? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on June 30, 2008, 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
If Google Gives You Comics...
While the announcement of the Seth "Family Guy" MacFarlane link to Google was not new, the way in which Google has announced it will distribute and monetize reflects a deeper reach for the online media behemoth. Google is going into the content production space.
The caveat about this is the actual information given for advertisers about publishers and their audience.
As NYT reports: "The innovative part involves the distribution plan. Google will syndicate the program using its AdSense advertising system to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane's target audience, typically young men."
The question is how are they determining the target audience? Topic-based decision or cookie-based?
Is Google making an across-the-board push to present as many of the new methods that they want to use to track, distribute and develop traffic? Are they headed for a period of controversy and legal challenges?
Hey, they have weathered them so far in numerous continents, so maybe they have it written into their growth program.
The creation of an online-only broadcast of popular content is interesting for the US, where over-the-air television goes digital early next year. The use of the Family Guy creator, popular with a large number of internet users and online spenders, is a smart move, if when the smoke clears they can monetize it in acceptable ways.
I am waiting for the day when Google and Yahoo are bidding for online presentation of the Olympics. Right now, it seems NBC is starting their Olympic online connection.
Bob Costas was pushing people off the TV and onto the NBC Olympics sites to follow the rest of the Swimming Olympic trials Sunday night. His closing was " Bob Costas telling people to turn off TV and watch online live Olympic trials. "if you are not online already online, fire up those computers and start watching."
In the meantime, I look forward to the new characters from MacFarlane.
Posted by Frank Watson on June 30, 2008, 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
