September 2008

September 30, 2008

Google Translate Adds 11 Languages

Google has added 11 languages to its Translate product. They are:

Catalan
Filipino
Hebrew
Indonesian
Latvian
Lithuanian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Ukrainian
Vietnamese

The total number of languages is now 34 and the total number of language pair combinations nearly doubled from 506 to 1122.

Recently, Google added human translators as well.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Searching for Healthcare: How Online Communities are Changing the Face of Medicine

The New York Times has a great article about using the internet for information on medical conditions, including how search is involved in the process. As you know, results can change just by adding a keyword to the phrase you're already searching for.

Search for a condition and add the word community, for example, and you suddenly have access to patients dealing with the same issues, according to Susannah Fox of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

I can personally attest to the power of the internet, especially the ability to communicate and share experiences with other patients. When I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer in 2003, the internet became the authority on my care. Because the cancer affects so few people, doctors with little experience in seeing patients with thyroid cancer can be misinformed on how to treat it.

Thankfully, I found an online community that helped me through every step of the process. I was able to find doctors that knew thyroid cancer and could adequately treat me. My experience greatly improved as the result of "meeting" other patients. (I did, also, eventually meet several in person as well.)

As much as social networking can sometimes get a bad rap for being an untamed jungle of wild party pictures and obscene comments, we can't forget the power of online communities and their role in so many important aspects of daily life. From jobs to cancer treatment, social networking is impacting lives. And that's something to feel good about - and get involved in.

Is your company there yet? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

WebTrends Releases New Online Analytics Tool

WebTrends is rolling out a new feature to help web markters and developers track specific analytics. The tool is called TagBuilder. It's online, it's free and it generates WebTrends data collection tags, which have been rewritten as standardized, object-oriented JavaScript code.

Here's what you can do with TagBuilder:

Access automated click-event tracking for download links, offsite links, form submissions, image maps and navigation areas
Automate parameter mapping and the capture of information from custom META tags for detailed reporting
Flexibly define the site with options for single or multiple first-party cookies and the choice of single or multiple on-site domains for accurate cross-domain tracking
Integrate conversion tracking with WebTrends Ad Director, an automated search marketing optimization service
Easily create cookies compliant with the U.S. Office of Management & Budget policies for federal government web sites

“WebTrends TagBuilder greatly simplifies one of the most arduous, error-prone tasks of web analytics,” said Eric Rickson, product manager for WebTrends. “This free utility lowers the barriers to rich reporting and analysis by providing our customers with a direct way to take advantage of our innovations in data collection.”

What do you think of this new tool? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Search Engine Marketing Inc. (Second Edition) Is Hot Off The Press

Run, don't walk, to your favorite bookstore and pick up a copy of Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site (2nd Edition). Okay, okay, so most search engine marketers will simply order the paperback on Amazon.com. But, somehow 1-click ordering takes all the drama out of buying the latest book by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt.

And if you don't believe me, check out what Lee Odden, the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing and author of the Online Marketing Blog, has to say: “With Search Engine Marketing, Inc., Bill Hunt and Mike Moran have successfully updated what is already known in the industry as 'The Search Marketing Bible.' With new content, examples, and insight including social media and Web site search, this is a must read book for marketers at companies of all sizes from startups to the Fortune 100.”

I interviewed Bill about the new edition of the book back in August at Search Engine Strategies San Jose. And I've been keeping the video interview under wraps -- until today. You can watch it below -- before getting your hands on your very own copy. And, yes, this will be on the mid-term exam.

Greg Jarboe interviews Bill Hunt about his new book

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Also Launches Site Defending Search Ad Deal with Google

Last week, Google launched a site that explained what they feel are the facts behind their search advertising agreement with Yahoo. Now, Yahoo is doing the same.

The site does not offer much new in the way of arguments supporting the partnership. Yahoo reiterates the point that advertisers set the price of search ads through the bidding process, and that there will be no price setting between Google and Yahoo.

But that argument hasn't seemed to calm many fears. It's almost like saying, "Hey, if the price goes up, it's your own fault."

There has been no denying that the price could, indeed, rise as a result of the deal. If there was such assurance, that would mean that Yahoo and Google are, in fact, price setting. That would go against Google's business model that has brought them so much success.

Most of this just chalks up to bad timing. The economy is what it is right now, emotions are high, fears are high. It's a bad time to defend this deal, whether it has merit or not.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AdWords API Gets Local Database Sync Update

Google has launched AdWords API Local Database Sync. This allows you to run reports, store them in a local database, and then query that database.

The AdWords API team says that this should make querying a local database faster and more cost effective.

Jeffrey Posnick informed on the code behind the project:

The scripts are written in Python, and make use of the SOAPpy libraries for accessing the AdWords API SOAP service. The Python code is written against the dbapi2 database API, and by default it will use the SQLite implementation and store the report data in a SQLite database file on the local file system. It's possible to swap out the SQLite libraries for another database library that supports the dbapi2 interface.

What do you think about Local Database Sync? Share your impressions in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: The Geometry of SEM -- What's your Angle?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Carrie Hill When you're competing with hundreds of other Web sites for the attention of just one user, how can you ensure your site stands out? If you look at what you offer, what you make the most money on, and what people are asking for, you can build your Web site to serve the most profitable aspect of that need. In today's small business search engine marketing column, "The Geometry of SEM -- What's your Angle?," Carrie Hill shows how an angle for your Web site and search marketing can mean all the difference between a successful Web site venture and a failure.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Tin Foil Hat? I Have Mine On

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson Google's intentions are good, but we must also remember that they aren't in the business of helping your Web site rank highly in Google. So when Google advises against URL rewriting in their Webmaster Central blog, is there an ulterior motive? In today's organic SEO column, "Tin Foil Hat? I Have Mine On," Mark Jackson weighs the pros and cons of URL rewriting, and explores some possible reasons why Google would rather webmasters didn't do it.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2008

Google Wants Government on Its Client Roster

Google has opened a new office in Reston, Virginia and staffed it with sales people tasked with getting their products used in the government. Their neighbors include widely known government contractors including Northrup Grumman and Raytheon.

Their challenge is to convince government agencies to shift to a cloud computing method. Of course, when you're dealing with so much confidential information, the gravity of the challenge seems intense indeed.

There is also a Washingtonian sense that the more complex a program is, the more sophisticated it must be. This works against Google's success which is largely based on making things easier on the user.

What works in Google's favor is that workers want to see the same kind of simple-yet-advanced programs at their workplace that they use in their personal life.

What do you think of Google's government aspirations? Let us know in the comments.

via Washington Post

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

93% of Americans Expect Companies to Have Social Media Presence

A new study is showing that 93% of Americans expect companies to have a presence in social media. 85% say companies should interact with consumers via social media, according to the data released by Cone, Inc.

Specifically, those surveyed believe:

Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)
Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)
Companies should market to consumers (25%)

Men are twice as likely to interact with companies via social media than women. 33% will interact one or more times a week while only 17% of women will.

Two-thirds of households with 3 people or more and those making $75,000 or more feel a stronger connection to brands they interact with online.

What do you think about this survey? Does it change the way you think about social media as an advertising medium? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yahoo's Sue Decker Weighs In on the Defense of the Search Ad Deal with Google

Yahoo President Sue Decker took to the Yahoo Anecdotal blog to defend the search advertising deal her company struck with Google a few months ago.

Google has been doing the heavy lifting when it comes to defending the deal to the critics. So, it was about time we heard from Yahoo again on the deal.

But Decker started off with a sarcastic tone. Her first paragraph ended with:

Since the critics clearly don't understand the deal and what it means for Yahoo!, Google, advertisers, and users, it's time for some myth-busting.

Sue, if you want to win friends to your side, you shouldn't alienate these critics. Many of them are AdWords customers!

But Decker devolves even further by saying making her two points about what the deal does for Yahoo instead of making it about the customer:

Yahoo! will use this agreement to help us become a stronger competitor in all aspects of online advertising; and
Yahoo! is not exiting the sponsored search business. We plan to remain a strong player in sponsored search.

I know that Decker has probably been consumed with trying to save a flailing Yahoo. But the fact that she's going after this argument by defending the business aspirations of Yahoo might show why this company is struggling in the first place.

Companies succeed when they focus on the customer. But Yahoo is focused on stock prices and board preservation. This is not the way to win the hearts of search advertisers or investors.

Otherwise, Decker made points that Google has made. She says there will not be price setting between Yahoo and Google because advertisers set the prices through the bidding process. The price is related to the value which is based on demand.

Decker even played on Google's unofficial motto "Do no evil" by saying the partnership would be implemented through respect for the Hippocratic Oath "first, do no harm."

To be fair, Yahoo probably needs this deal in order to bring in some extra income. What they need to do what that income is invest in innovation that brings a better search experience to users. That's what the search industry needs right now. And it's the only way to truly compete with Google.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Judging PPC Performance: Focus on Conversions

Search Engine Watch Expert - David Szetela Knowing how and when to make decisions about your PPC campaign's keyword and ad performance can make or break your campaign. In today's Profitable PPC column, "Judging PPC Performance: Focus on Conversions," David Szetela reminds you that almost every action you take to improve your PPC ad campaign should be based on conversion data.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 26, 2008

Collins Stewart Analyts Puts YHOO Value at $21

I guess Yahoo possibly talking with AOL again and launching a brand new advertising platform were not enough to ease opinions on the current state of Yahoo. Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Agrawal does not have a lot of faith in Yahoo right now. He maintains his hold status on the stock, and places the value at $21. That's quite a bit less than the $31 Microsoft was offering to acquire Yahoo earlier this year.

Agrawal writes, “We believe that the fundamentals at YHOO are deteriorating. On the one hand, economic headwinds and turmoil in the financial markets are causing weaker display ad revenues. On the other hand changes with the minimum bid with search and a possible GOOG/YHOO deal are causing an outcry among many advertisers. To further complicate the situation is an ongoing loss of talent which might accelerate with renewed restructuring efforts. We don't see any near-term upside in the shares of YHOO on a fundamental basis.”

Sounds like deal or no deal, Yahoo is screwed at the moment. What do you think?

via Barron's h/t AllThingsD

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Facebook Traffic Up 50% Over Last Year; myYearbook on the Rise

Facebook's market share is up 50% year-over-year, according to data released by Hitwise. myYearbook.com saw a 256% growth, propelling it into the third spot for most visited social network sites in the United States in August 2008. Still, they only had 1.65% of the total share.

MySpace lost market share, 10% to be exact. But it still holds the number one spot at 67.54% of the market.

Here are the charts:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google's "In Quotes" Search Helps the Spin Go Round and Round

Just in time for the debates (whenever they happen), Google has released a political search engine called "In Quotes." The search engine helps people find what John McCain or Barack Obama have said about a variety of issues. (For elections in Canada, India, or the UK, see the drop-down menu in the top right hand corner.)

Sad but true, elections are often won and lost on one-liners, whether they be gaffes or zingers. Now, "In Quotes" will help passionate politicos perpetuate the sound bites fast and furious.

Interestingly enough, the "quotes" that appear on the front page are already soundbites culled by reporters. It would be a little more helpful if the search results provided excerpts from speeches posted on the candidates' websites so that people could (finally) start investigating the context of what was said.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Launches Facts Site About Yahoo Search Ad Partnership

In Google's quest to make sure its search advertising deal with Yahoo goes through, it has added yet another defense to its arsenal: a new facts site. If it sounds political, that's because it is. The Department of Justice opened an official investigation into the deal months ago. It turns out that when the largest search engine teams up with the second largest search engine to combine advertising, it raises antitrust issues!

On the homepage, Google doesn't waste any time getting to the three major talking points it touts in support of the deal:

This is a non-exclusive deal that will strengthen Yahoo!.
Ad prices will continue to be set by competitive auction.
The deal is win-win for consumers, advertisers and publishers: more and better ads.

On the right hand side is a link to an in-the-tank New York Times article that drinks extremely potent Kool-aid by practically copying and pasting a previous Google blog post supporting the deal.

Underneath that are quotes from rather large advertisers who also support the deal.

But those who have the most to lose from the deal are small businesses and web entrepreneurs who, rightly or wrongly, have built their success on Google. They fear a sharp increase in prices once the deal goes through.

Google assures that hardly anything will change, save for Adsense ads showing up on Yahoo. They also point to their relationship with Ask.com as proof that the marketplace will remain competitive.

But Ask, despite its slight growth, is not Yahoo. And when it comes to politicking, people have been burned far too often by broken promises. Plus, websites have also been burned by changing algorithms and vague policies.

Right now, in the midst of a significant economic prices, people are looking for stability. And they're not finding it in huge companies with enormous, quick growth. The housing market is certainly different from the search market, but with sensitive emotions running high, Google just seems insensitive right now, another characteristic of companies "too big to fail."

I don't know what they hope is the outcome of this site. Do they hope for a groundswell of support and grassroots letter writing campaigns on their behalf? I just don't see that happening.

Google needs to continue its lobbying and legal advocacy with the Department of Justice. But unless Google wants to suddenly become more transparent on their algorithms and site penalties, then they should just leave the little guy alone in this effort.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Common Problems with 404 Error Pages

Search Engine Watch Expert - Chris Boggs Search Engine Watch Expert - Frank Watson Misconfigured 404 error pages can affect your search engine rankings. The last thing you need in the Google index is an error page, but even worse are multiple URLs that were mistyped being returned as "OK." In today's Search Marketing Crossfire column, "Common Problems with 404 Error Pages," Chris Boggs and Frank Watson outline some best practices for creating custom 404 pages.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: When will ROBO's Time Come?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Michael Boland "Research online, buy offline," (ROBO) is the concept that a growing volume of product research is happening online while the majority of buying remains offline in physical stores. A growing number of local search engines are basing their business model on the concept. In today's vertical search column, "When will ROBO's Time Come?," local search expert Michael Boland explores some of the reasons why ROBO features haven't picked up on a mass market level.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: The Universal Mastery of Video Content

Search Engine Watch Expert - William Flaiz Video listings cause us to reexamine the way we've traditionally viewed search engines, and this is simply part of the natural progression. After all, it wasn't too long ago when universal search rocked the world of SEO or social media changed how we use the Web. In today's SEM agency issues column, "The Universal Mastery of Video Content," William Flaiz walks you through the proper way to optimize video content for universal search.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 25, 2008

Google Site Search Integrated with Adobe Community Help

Adobe released Creative Suite 4 this week and included with the update is a Google Site Search-powered help feature. Google Site Search is used with the new Adobe Community Help, which harnesses the power of social media and online communities to provide another source of support.

Adobe Senior Product Manager John Nack, writing on the Official Google blog, said, "We've plugged the whole community brain trust right into the Suite and used the power of Google Site Search to do it. Creative Suite 4 customers can find fast, relevant information from our online communities, without ever having to leave their desktop work environments, making design faster and more fun. And because we've built the Adobe Flash Platform into the whole Suite, other developers can take these concepts even farther. This is just the start of great online integration to come."

Indeed, recently Adobe provided Flash technology to Google in order to assist with indexing of text within Flash.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just in time planning for SES Chicago 2008

If you are like me, then you are a master of just-in-time planning. While Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008 won't be held until December 8-12, if you register by tomorrow – Friday, Sept. 26 – you can take advantage of the “recession special” and save up to $600.

Kevin%20Ryan%20SES%20Chicago%202007.jpg So, if you were already planning to attend, register now and save some dough. If you haven't made up your mind yet, look over the conference agenda below pronto.

SES Chicago is the only major search engine marketing conference and expo in the Midwest. And, with more than 70 conference sessions, strategic development workshops, keynote presentations, Orion panels, and training workshops, I'll bet you find plenty of content that was designed for you – whether this is your first SES conference ever or the fifth one that you're going to attend this year.

This is especially true if you are involved in retail marketing. There is a Retailer Track on Tuesday, Dec. 9, and a Vertical & Retail Track on Wednesday, Dec. 10.

I've been optimizing SES schedules for clients and Search Engine Watch readers for years. And there are plenty of sessions at SES Chicago 2008 that everyone should attend, including:
• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend the Conference Welcome/Orientation and Opening Keynote from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m. and the “Orion Panel: CEO vs. SEO” from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m.;
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend the Morning Keynote Presentation from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and the “Orion Panel: Why Does Search Get all the Credit?” from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.; and
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend the Morning Keynote from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

But, there are four to five concurrent tracks over the four-day conference and there are three concurrent training workshops on Friday. So, attendees of SES Chicago 2008 will need to make some choices about what to attend.

For first-time Search Engine Strategies attendees, here are the conference sessions and training workshops that I'd recommend:

• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend “Search Industry Update” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., and “Search and Packaged Goods” from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and “Landing Page Testing & Tuning” 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend “Introduction to Search Engine Marketing” from 10:30 to 11:45am, and “SEO Tools” from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend “Search Advertising 101” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., “Getting Vertical Search Right” from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m., “Blogging for Business” from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and “In House: Lessons Learned & Victories Won” from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.
• On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend “How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively With Your IT Department to Get Stuff Done” from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., the “Ad Copy Continuity Clinic” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and the “Site Clinic” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the “Search Engine Optimization Workshop” from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the “Optimizing for Universal Search” workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

For veteran attendees responsible for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, here are the SES conference sessions and training workshops that I'd recommend:

• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend “Search Industry Update” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., “Is There Life Beyond Google?” from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and “Landing Page Testing & Tuning” 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend “Advanced Keyword Research” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., and “Managing Automated PPC Bid Management” from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend “Advanced B2B” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., “Search Advertising Tools” from 12:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., “Ads in a Quality Score World” from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and “Advanced Paid Search Techniques” from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m.
• On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend the “Contextual Ads & Ad Sense Clinic” from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., the “Ad Copy Continuity Clinic” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and “Brand & Reputation Management” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the “Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness” from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the “Advanced AdWords” workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

For veteran attendees responsible for search engine optimization (SEO), here are the SES conference sessions and training workshops that I'd recommend:

• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend “Universal & Blended Search” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., “Igniting Viral Campaigns” from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and “Semantic Search: How Will it Change Our Lives?” from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend “Usability & SEO: Two Wins for the Price of One” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., and “Advanced Link Building” from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend “SEO Through Blogs & Feeds” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., “Video Search Engine Optimization” from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m., “SEO Friendly Flash” from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and “The Next Wave for Online Video” from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.
• On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend “How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively with Your IT Department to Get Stuff Done” from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., “Affiliate 2.0: New Distribution Value Using Search & More” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and “Black Hat, White Hat & the Best Kept Secrets to Search” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the “Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques” workshop from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the “Viral Marketing & Link Baiting” workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Of course, veteran SES conference attendees already know how to navigate the conference agenda. They may want to check out the Issues Track on Tuesday, the Social Media Track on Wednesday, and the Local Track on Thursday. The point I'm making is there are plenty of conference sessions, strategic development workshops, keynote presentations, Orion panels, and training workshops to help them take their skills to the next level.

You'll also see a couple of sessions “reserved for late-breaking topic.” Every year that I've been attending Search Engine Strategies – which goes back to the spring of 2002 – there have been unexpected developments in the search industry. So, use the optimized schedule above to get the folks in finance to approve your plans to attend. But, even I expect to be “calling audibles” when I get to SES Chicago 2008.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Rebrands AMP as APT and Launches

Last April, Yahoo unveiled details of a forthcoming online display advertising platform called AMP, to be released in the third quarter of 2008. Well, it's Q3 and AMP was launched this week at Advertising Week in New York. Except, it's not called AMP anymore. It's been rebranded as APT.

Jon Hamm, star of the AMC Drama Mad Men which is based on a 1940s ad firm, was on hand to celebrate. This really excited Jerry Yang.

"The advertising landscape has changed dramatically since the days when Don Draper was roaming the halls of Sterling Cooper," said Jerry Yang. "While Mad Men celebrates the Madison Avenue of 40 years ago, APT from Yahoo! clearly represents the future."

APT is being touted as a streamlining of the display advertising process, from planning to buying and optimizing.

APT will undergo a phased roll-out. Select newspapers get the first stab at it, specifically publishers the San Francisco Chronicle of Hearst Newspapers and San Jose Mercury News of MediaNews Group.

Features include:

Guaranteed cross-selling with pre-defined selling rules
Ad Exchange for non-guaranteed inventory
Advanced audience targeting techniques based upon behavior and geography
Inventory lookup and forecasting across individual and partner sites
Creative workflow automation and personalization
Powerful rate card tools for improved yield management
Filters for better controls around creatives
Flexible and powerful APIs
Federated ad call to support multiple ad formats

"One of the major benefits of APT from Yahoo! is the fact that it's an open system, designed to enable advertisers to reach their audiences in their favorite places across the Web, and publishers to monetize inventory across the broadest possible demand channels," said Sue Decker. "As we transform the advertising marketplace, we're excited to have key members of the Newspaper Consortium, the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News, lead the way in this historic journey."

APT (as AMP) has often been one of Yahoo's defenses about the strength of its company. Yahoo has undergone much scrutiny in the past year, especially since Microsoft attempted to acquire it. They've placed high hopes on AMP, and now it's go time.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft adCenter Launches Learning Center

Microsoft's adCenter has launched a Learning Center. It's pretty self-explanatory what this feature does, but specifically you'll find articles, videos and other content that can help you as you navigate your adCenter campaigns.

The Learning Center is designed to help users at any point in their experience with adCenter. From figuring out where your ad is in the Live Search results to tracking conversions, the Live Team wants the Learning Center to help with every step of the process.

Have you checked out the Learning Center? What are your first impressions?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Using Twitter as an Education Tool

Search Engine Watch Expert - Ron Jones Innovations are popping up everywhere as educators find more uses for Twitter and other social media tools to cater to 21st century students. In today's SEM.edu column, "Using Twitter as an Education Tool," Ron Jones outlines a few examples of professors and teachers using Twitter in their lesson plans.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: A Tale of Two Links

Search Engine Watch Expert - Sage Lewis Be ready. A great link can come to you at a moment's notice. If you don't pounce on it, it very likely will slip through your fingers. In today's link building column, "A Tale of Two Links," Sage Lewis shares his recent experiences of being ready and getting a link, and a missed opportunity.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 24, 2008

Rebecca Lieb On Top 100 Silicon Alley's Digital Business Execs

Former head of ClickZ Rebecca Lieb is on the Silicon Alley Insider's Top 100 digital executives list and is moving up into the top ten!

The site is getting users to vote so everyone show some support for a person who worked hard for us.

It is an impressive list of people, well worth a look.

Posted by Frank Watson on 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rich Media Now Available Across AdBrite's 70,000 Site Network

AdBrite has announced that rich media is now available on their advertising network. Fox has been using AdBrite's rich media to promote its new television drama, Fringe.

"Advertising with AdBrite's network was a key part of our FRINGE fall season premiere campaign," said Laurel Bernard, SVP Marketing, Fox Broadcasting Company. "Combining unique rich media experiences with advanced targeting, a broad range of distribution, and full transparency made AdBrite a great media partner for our launch."

AdBrite's 70,000 sites include 8 out of the top 20 largest media properties, according to comScore. The network reaches over 80 million Americans each month.

"Rich media allows advertisers to create unique, compelling consumer experiences, while delivering premium CPMs to publishers," said Ignacio Fanlo, CEO of AdBrite. "We're pleased to be working with the industry's leading platforms to bring rich media to our customer base, and are thrilled to have been a key part of Fox's FRINGE launch."

Currently, the rich media format is only available by invitation. If you're interested, email sales@adbrite.com.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Yahoo Board Approves Talks with AOL

Yahoo's new board of directors met on Tuesday and approved new talks with Time Warner regarding a possible sale of AOL. Yahoo recently expanded its board to 11 members, adding investor Carl Icahn in a settlement after his attempt to takeover the company with a new board. Frank Biondi and John Chapple also joined the board.

AOL has also been going through some changes, refocusing its business model on media and not on internet access. Subscriptions to its internet access product have declined in recent years due to the increased (and ironic for the Time Warner-owned AOL) broadband high speed internet subscriptions via cable companies.

No talks are currently underway. Tuesday's decision simply approves a move to proceed with them.

via Financial Times

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Maps Adds Comprehensive NYC Transit Directions

Riding the subway, hopping the ferry, and catching the train just got easier in the New York City metropolitan area. Google Maps has added comprehensive transit directions for the region, which includes data from:

Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA)
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
New Jersey Transit
City of New York

To check out the new NYC info, click here.

Writing on the Official Google blog, Chris Harrelson, Tech Lead & Creator of Google Transit said, "Transit is a vital part of the infrastructure that makes cities run efficiently, and can help mitigate congestion, environmental concerns, and increasing energy costs. But until recently, access to that information has been more difficult than it needs to be. Even very prominent train and subway stations were often omitted entirely from maps in many cases. And as for bus lines, well, forget about it! This lead us to the fundamental goal of the Google Transit project: make public transit information as easy to find as any other geographic information."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Adds SmartBox (aka Query Suggestions) to iPhone Mobile Search

AOL is adding query suggestions to its mobile search for the iPhone and iPod touch. Dubbed SmartBox, it's designed to aid searches on mobile phones since it is a pain to type on mobile phones. (Well, it is!)

Writing on the AOL search blog, Farhon Memon says, "By combining the functionality of query auto-complete and related searches all in one place, we've maximized the screen space of the iPhone and hopefully made AOL Mobile Search easier for you to use."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

hakia Calls for Librarians to Contribute Credible Web Sources

Semantic search engine hakia is calling for librarians to contribute credible web sources. They've done this in the past in the health industry. One of the reasons behind the request is that popular websites aren't always credible and vice versa.

It's also clearly a strategic alternative to Google, which bases rankings largely on popularity via links.

"By having information experts suggest sites to hakia, we can guide searchers to relevant and credible information on the Web. As a search engine, we will rely on information professionals' collective knowledge to add a dimension to search: credibility," said Melek Pulatkonak, President and Chief Operating Officer of hakia, at the Web Search University event in Washington DC.

"The campaign that hakia is starting is a great way to leverage the never-ending knowledge and information analysis skills of the information professional in building a Web database full of the web resources that are most useful, and most importantly, have the most credibility," said Gary Price, Editor, ResourceShelf.com. "This is a new chapter for library collection development. I hope this is only the beginning."

Librarians can find out more or contribute here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Use Care When Choosing an SEO Agency

Search Engine Watch Expert - Eric Enge The increasing awareness about what SEO is and what it can do is a good thing. But it's important to beware of "instant experts" who know a few things about what's going on, but don't get the whole picture. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "Use Care When Choosing an SEO Agency," Eric Enge warns against hiring an SEO or beginning SEO work on your own without validating that it's the right course of action.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: I'm a PC, What Are You?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Kevin Ryan Apple is trying to connect with the rest of the world (beyond college students dominating the Mac audience) via great ad campaigns. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "I'm a PC, What Are You?," Kevin Ryan reminds us that if you can't connect with your audience in the real world, you're flushing all your marketing efforts right down the drain.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 23, 2008

Technorati Releases State of the Blogosphere 2008 Report

Technorati has started releasing the State of the Blogoshpere 2008 report. It will be a couple of more days before the full report is online.

The previous report was release in April 2007, so a lot has changed in the past year-and-a-half. Here are just some of the highlights:

Blogs are now a pervasive part of our daily lives. While there have been a number of studies conducted that tried to understanding the size of the Blogosphere -- both in terms of the number of blogs and blog readership -- all of these studies agree that blogs are now a global phenomenon that is "mainstream."

Technorati cites the numbers from three of the studies, which vary in the details but generally agree that "blogs are here to stay."

comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)
o Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
o Total internet audience 188.9 million

eMarketer (May 2008)
o 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)
o 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)

Universal McCann (March 2008)
o 184 million have started a blog worldwide, 26.4 million have started a blog in the US
o 346 million read blogs worldwide, 60.3 million read blogs in the US
o 77% of active Internet users read blogs

Other findings include this: "All blogs are not created equal." There are only 76,000 blogs with a Technorati Authority of 50 or higher.

The majority of bloggers that Technorati surveyed currently have advertising on their blogs. Among those with advertising, the mean annual investment in their blog is $1,800, but it's paying off. The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month.

Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% posting them frequently. And one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates.

There's lots more data -- and some eye-catching charts like the one above. Check out Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 for yourself.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

T-Mobile Officially Unveils First Google Android Phone

After months of speculation, the long-awaited announcement of the first Google Android-powered mobile device has officially been announced. Today, in New York City, T-mobile unveiled the G1, an HTC device with a touch screen and a slide-out QWERTY keypad.

This definitely has the potential to be an Apple iPhone competitor. There have been previous attempts at competing with the iPhone, but that was primarily by going after the touch screen technology only. But the real competition with the iPhone lies in the user interface and applications. Only the geekiest of geeks are likely to notice the advantages that the cult of Mac are going to tout in claiming the iPhone as superior.

But that might not last long. The word of the day at the G1 launch is OPEN. While Apple allows third parties to develop for the iPhone, there's a relatively strict application and approval process. Not so with the Android.

Additionally, the music player on the G1 plays mp3s that can be purchased from Amazon. If done right (and if opened up to other vendors such as Napster and eMusic), this could seriously take a chunk out of Apple's iTunes and iPod/iPhone profits.

Android will also be available on additional advices in the future. And did I mention that T-mobile/Google/HTC is smart to add a QWERTY keypad in addition to the touch-screen technology?

What does this mean to you, dear Search Engine Marketers and Website Owners? It means that you have to start paying attention to the mobile internet.

You'll need mobile versions of your websites. And I don't mean with .mobi extensions (sorry, .mobi domain owners!). No, you'll need the ability to know what device your visitors are browsing from - whether it's an iPhone, G1 or other device - and be able to send them to a mobile-friendly site accordingly.

The mobile site will need also to compatible with the mobile browsers. G1 will be using a browser built on Webkit, something Chrome uses too. Developing mobile applications that reside on the phone itself will become a marketing tool all on its own.

Of course, search is also a highly important factor. Mobile advertising is largely in its infancy. Until mobile search ads are widely implemented, organic results reign supreme.

GPS and cellular triangulation make local search all that more important. As an iPhone owner, I have access to several apps that are solely based on finding what I need locally. There are also user reviews and ratings.

Which leads us to social networking, which in turn reminds us that the internet has made life global as well.

Mobile will advance all of these initiatives. iPhone got the ball rolling. But G1 may just take it to the next level, if for no other reason but reaching those, who, for whatever reason (phone contract, pricing, touch-screen only, etc) are not on board with the iPhone.

Are you ready?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Web Analytics Association Asks for Public Comment on New Standard Definitions

The Web Analytics Association is asking for public comment on a new and revised standard definitions for metrics regarding visits, content, and conversion. The WAA is hosting a blog where the analytics community may give comment. They will be accepting comment through early 2009. Discussion of the new standards will also take place at the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit in Washington, DC October 20-23.

You can access the new and revised definitions here.

An addition to the definitions is an "Ask Your Vendor" denotation, which will provide questions that can be asked of vendors when terms differ among vendors. The WAA is, however, asking vendors to standardize the definitions. The "Ask Your Vendor" denotation is a provision to address confusion in the meantime.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL's Platform-A Unveils Plans for Self-Service Ad Marketplace Exchange

AOL's Platform-A is planning to launch a new self-service marketplace exchange for advertisers. Dubbed BidPlace, the platform will allow advertisers to dynamically bid and manage inventory for display ads across Platform-A's network. BidPlace will launch in the first half of 2009.

The platform will include:

Pricing – Change bids at any time
Creative Gallery – Manage creatives in a central repository for easy access
Price Volume Analysis – Get forecasts for expected volume at different price points and targeting options
Budget Allocation – Maintain complete control over how budgets are allocated across campaigns
Campaign Management Controls – Ability to have full control over campaign delivery
Reporting – View detailed reporting on campaign and creative performance.

“BidPlace unleashes the industry's most powerful advertising technologies and puts them in the hands of advertisers,” said Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform-A. “This is the next step in Platform-A's efforts to provide marketers a unified solution for brand advertising at scale and performance advertising across multiple media. BidPlace gives advertisers what they've been asking for -- a more accessible and transparent approach and an ability to adjust the dials to get the best results.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Larry Page to Keynote White Spaces Advocacy Event in DC

Tomorrow, Google co-founder Larry Page will keynote the "Broadband for the Future Event" in Washington, DC. The event is designed to advocate for white spaces, something Google has been adamant about for a long time.

If you're unaware, white spaces are a unused airwaves between TV stations. Google wants them to be used for free nationwide wireless. Opponents say that it will interfere with the television signals.

Here's the details on the event if you wish to attend.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
11:30 am - 1:00 pm ET
Room SD-G50, Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Who Audits the Auditor?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson There are some individuals and companies who will provide SEO audits. But some of these folks look at this as an opportunity for them to earn new business or referral checks. So how do you get an honest opinion on whether your SEO efforts have a passing grade? In today's organic search engine optimization column, "Who Audits the Auditor?," Mark Jackson offers some guidance on getting an honest assessment of your site's SEO activities.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Worried About the Economy? Why Not Try SEO?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Aaron Shear Many companies that have been focusing on search advertising are finding their budgets starting to be squeezed by the recent economic downturn. It may be time to pay more attention to SEO. In today's enterprise search marketing column, "Worried About the Economy? Why Not Try SEO?," Aaron Shear shows that search engine optimization doesn't require a huge investment, but it can offer large rewards.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 22, 2008

Where's The 30 Rock Search?

The real Emmy story last night came near the end, when Tina Fey arrived on the stage for last time and received the 30 Rock team award. She reeled off all the places where the critical hit could be seen online, including Hulu and NBC, and then said something like "and occasionally on TV" as well.

Perhaps Fey sounded a bit promotional but it seemed, well, normal. We definitely live in a video-on-demand world and TV shows are viewed when they are convenient for viewers. In her acceptance speech, Tina was shining the light on all the online access points.

However, we're not searching with a video mindset yet. When googling "30 Rock," you first see an NBC paid ad that directs searchers to their network portal. In the organic results, the program's homepage comes up first. There's no Hulu or other video access points in the results, only information about the award-winning program.

We're still in that 500-channel universe, without an easy or standard searching mechanism. In this 30 Rock example, visitors are directed to channels containing their programs or else to the program homepage, rather than to specific episodes they might really want to see.

The TV shows aren't directly accessible unless you are consciously refining results for videos or deciding to use a video search engine. When all the results are videos, at least you can save a few clicks. Still there tends to be duplication based on the different outlets and, even then, you may not land on the exact episode that interests you most.

On the video destinations, the searching mechanisms are somewhat lacking as well. For videos, the assumption is that you will know which episodes you have missed and browse what's available until you find the right date and description.

At this point, people are trained to navigate through menus and directories, and don't really know what they are missing. With search, they would be able to find what's interesting within an episode or discover moments they want to see again. If there's social inputs, then visitors would also benefit from what others have found interesting too.

In the search world, we know there are some real opportunities ahead. Now that viewers know their programs are available online, consumption can be increased with better searching and discovery mechanisms.

Posted by on 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Moms See Search as Task-Oriented; Websites as Entertainment

Moms are now packing more activity into their day, according to a new data released by AOL's Platform-A. A survey of 7,000 women found that the average internet-using mom reports conducting 27 hours of activities during the day.

On average they spend:

2.6 hours on the internet
2.1 hours of television
1.2 hours a day listening to the radio
30 minutes with newspapers, magazines and games

Parenting was the #1 online activity conducted by moms. They use the internet for advice on parenting and as a resource to help their children learn.

Another popular online activity is shopping

79% of those surveyed use the internet for shopping.
52% use the internet to find coupons or sales.

So how do moms feel about search? They associated the words "task-oriented," "focused," and "interested" with search. 71% use the internet to find information.

Websites were described as "entertainment."

Hopefully, your website is entertaining to moms and offers them coupons or sales. Because 86% report being the primary decision maker in their household.

52% will recommend a good brand to others (another reason why social media is so hot!).

And moms like to share media with their children. 95% of moms share at least one form of media with their children at least once a week. Here's what they share.

79% share television
62% share internet
58% share mobile phone
48% share digital camera
38% share email
33% share games

Do moms fit into your target audience? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online Ad Company Yodle Adds Franchise Offering

Online advertising company Yodle has announced the expansion of its technology platform to include franchise operations. YodleFranchise enables local franchises and corporate offices to coordinate online advertising campaigns. Local operations can target their areas and corporate can make sure the brand messaging remains intact.

“We recognize that franchises have unique advertising needs that require a solution that is both large enough to handle a franchise's entire network and local enough to drive results to their individual locations,” said Yodle CEO Court Cunningham. “YodleFranchise combines the local online advertising capabilities of our original offering with reporting and centralized control features that are powerful enough even for the largest of franchises.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Engine Strategies Builds Up Programming Team

We here at Incisive Media, home of Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies (SES), are pleased to announce a few promotions within our event programming team.

First off, Stewart Quealy has been promoted to VP of content development. Stew has been programming the Search Engine Strategies events since 2001, most recently as senior conference program director. He will become the senior person responsible for creating conference program content for all events in the group and will be involved in the overall strategic development of our conference business. That includes the SES conferences, webcasts, and training courses.

Marilyn Crafts has been promoted to senior program director. She's been programming our SES events for the past 8 years. She will continue to work closely with Stewart, Jackie Ortez, and the rest of their team in program development, speaker selection and event strategy.

"Anyone who's spoken at or attended an SES event has seen the hard work and professionalism of Stewart, Marilyn, and the rest of their team," said Gary Lynch, managing director of the Interactive Marketing Group in North America for Incisive Media. "We're happy to be able to recognize and reward that hard work, and continue to produce top-quality events."

Kevin M. Ryan, who has been serving as VP and global content director for SES, will transition to the role of chairman of the SES Advisory Board. He will continue to have an active and visible presence at our events, and to advise Stewart and his team in their programming efforts.

"A little over a year ago, Kevin took on the assignment to stabilize and build the SES brand during a critical transition phase for the business. A year later our events, including the global SES conference and expo series, are still the dominant brand in the industry with a strong global presence," Lynch said.

Kevin plans to return to his roots on the agency side of search as CEO and founder of Motivity Marketing, a strategic consulting firm focusing on search and interactive marketing. He will also continue to write his weekly column here at SEW, "Searching For Meaning."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

To Fear or Not to Fear: That is the Question (About the Google-Yahoo Ad Deal)

As October approaches, and Google prepares to implement its advertising deal with Yahoo, more and more commentary is flowing about the pros and cons of the deal.

The New York Times is saying there's nothing to worry about. But their argument is mostly full of talking points released by Google itself last week. (Their talking points were not bad, mind you.)

Meanwhile, TechCrunch is so afraid of the deal, I'm thinking the makers of Xanax must be making a huge profit off of their anxiety alone.

Fears of price-setting do seem to be misunderstood, and the timing might only fuel those fears. Advertisers are flocking to the web in large numbers. In an unstable economy, they do so even more because search advertising is still a great deal over some traditional forms of advertising. With demand and competition higher, prices could increase. So the timing of this deal may affect how people view the prices, even though those traditional forms of advertising are a form of competition.

Still, people want competition in search.

Personally, when it comes to monopolies, I think of Microsoft (not for their search, of course). They've had so much of the operating system market for a long time. But in recent years, Apple has come along to snag some of that market share away.

This had nothing to do with regulation, but instead innovation. That innovation is based on how people want to work and what they want to do with their computers. There are other operating systems, but there are reasons why they don't appeal to the masses. It's the same in the search industry.

There's a reason Google has so much of the market share. It's because their search and Adwords program are what people want. In the future, I suspect the tides will shift. After all, how many times do you really find what you're looking for on the first search? And how many times have we heard complaints about Adwords?

But no one else has anything better - at the moment. However, perhaps letting Google dominate will be the very thing that drives innovation.

There's enough to dislike about Google to desire something better. And some genius, perhaps in a dorm room or working passionately late nights on a project after work, will come up with it.

But preventing a Google-Yahoo deal won't make that happen any sooner. Regulation in this matter will not spur innovation. Regulation will not keep prices down. Google already has too much of a market share, and hardly anyone views Yahoo as a real competitor anyway.

Oddly enough, if Yahoo were to ever become a stronger competitor, it could result largely from the increase in income generated by this deal. More revenue would provide more money to fund research into search. This, of course, can only be facilitated by a good business model and the right focus at Yahoo. And for this, we can only hope that Carl Icahn continues to give Yahoo a much needed kick in the butt.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo Redesigns SearchMonkey Template

Yahoo has redesigned the SearchMonkey template. The new design features deep links horizontally underneath the title. The reason for the change is that testing showed the new format was more easily scanned by users and increased the click-through rate for app developers.

Here's a before and after shot:

What do you think of the change? Give your impression in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: PPC Bidding Strategies: Prudence vs. Aggressiveness

Search Engine Watch Expert - David Szetela When it comes to PPC bids, should you start low and build up? Or start high and come down? As with many things, the right strategy for your company depends on your situation and objectives. In today's search advertising column, "PPC Bidding Strategies: Prudence vs. Aggressiveness," David Szetela outlines the benefits and drawbacks of each type of strategy.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 20, 2008

Has YouTube Passed Yahoo in expanded searches?

Back on July 20, 2008, I asked: "Is YouTube about to pass Yahoo in expanded searches?" Well, I've just had a chance to digest the latest data from comScore for August 2008 and its appears that YouTube has passed Yahoo -- if you look at "expanded" search queries instead of "core" search queries.

First, what's the difference between an expanded and a core search query? According to comScore, a "core" search query is one that occurs on "the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers."

If you expand the definition of a search query to include searches on YouTube, MapQuest, MySpace eBay, Craigslist.org, Facebook.com, or Amazon, then you get a different picture.

Google had 7.4 billion core search queries and 7.6 billion expanded search queries in August to lead no matter how you define a "search query." Yahoo! had 2.3 billion core search queries and 2.4 billion expanded search queries that month. But "YouTube/All other" Google sites had 2.6 billion expanded search queries that month. Microsoft sites had 977 million core search queries and MSN-Windows Live had 988 million expanded search queries.

So, depending on your definition, the top three search engines are either (1) Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, or (2) Google, YouTube, and Yahoo! That is a distinction with a big difference.

By the way, comScore Video Metrix reports that YouTube accounts for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at Google sites. (This means Google Video accounts for less than 2 percent of all vides viewed at Google sites.)

So, if you've optimized the pages on your website that contain videos, you've optimized them for Google Video and other video search engines. They won't help them get discovered, watched or shared on YouTube.

YouTube doesn't crawl the web trying to index videos posted on millions of websites. Instead, users are now uploading 13 hours of new video to YouTube every minute. So, getting your video found in about 2.6 billion expanded searches a month means uploading and optimizing video for YouTube, not Google Video.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

September 19, 2008

Axciom Unveils New Online Advertising Targeting Tool

At the OMMA Conference in New York this week, Axciom is unveiling their new online advertising targeting tool. Dubbed Relevance-X™ LifeStage, the tool was designed to help interactive marketers identify audiences based on life stage. Once the identification has taken place, advertisers can make a single media buy to reach publishers with a message coordinated with offline efforts.

“The consumer targeting capabilities available in Relevance-X LifeStage enable marketers to increase the performance of their online marketing investment,” said Tim Suther, Acxiom's senior vice president for digital marketing services. “Today, our clients see improvements in click-through rates, greater clarity in their brand message, and fewer wasted ad impressions.”

What do you think of this tool? Leave your impression in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FriendFeed Adds Duplicate Detection! And Twitter Tweaks Interface Design

Social sites FriendFeed and Twitter have (separately) updated the designs of their interfaces. You won't notice much by going to the homepage not logged in.

But once you're passed the wall, you'll notice a few changes.
Twitter's are largely cosmetic in nature, with the biggest change being moving the tabs for Replies, Direct Messages, etc. to the sidebar. They've also slapped some Ajax on there to just refresh Home or @Replies when you click on them. Thank goodness.

FriendFeed's new design incorporates a much needed feature: friend lists. Kind of like buddy lists on AOL's Instant Messenger, you can sort the people you've subscribed to Friends, Professional, etc. You can also create your own lists. Another new feature is adding photos directly to FriendFeed.

But the biggest awesomeness of the day is DUPLICATE DETECTION! This makes Friday end on a happy note after such a crappy week on Wall Street. Ok, it doesn't bring your money back or prevent all those financial companies from failing, but it does make FriendFeed that much nicer!

What do you think of the updates? Let it fly in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Searches at 63% of the Search Market for August 2008

comScore has released their search market data for August 2008. Google saw 63% of the 11.7 billion core searches conducted in the U.S. during the late summer month. The number of core searches barely changed from July to August, so Google's 1.1% rise over July 2008 certainly stole a little share from someone else.

Or rather, two someone elses. Both Microsoft and Yahoo took the hit, while Ask and AOL also added a bit of market share.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

adCenter Introduces Dynamic Text Insertion

Microsoft's adCenter is introducing Dynamic Text Insertion into its offering.

Similar to using {keyword} insertion, Dynamic Text Insertion works by using these placeholders: placeholders {param1}, {param2} and {param3}.

adCenter gave four tips on how it works:

If submitting keywords via a spreadsheet – Dynamic Text should be placed in the ‘Dynamic Text {param2}' column
If submitting keywords via Microsoft adCenter click into the relevant ‘campaign' and ‘ad group' and then once you've reached the ‘keywords' tab, click on the ‘edit keywords' button./li>
Alter {param1}, {param2} and {param3} as appropriate. The ‘Bulk Edit' function can be used by ticking next to the keyword parameters you wish to edit and then clicking ‘Bulk Edit'.
{param1} is typically used for destination URLs as it offers more characters with which to ensure the link is as detailed as possible. {param2} and {param3} can be used to include as much of the keyword and other engaging information (e.g. price points) as possible. The bulk editing function makes it really easy to update your dynamic text when required.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEW Experts: Getting to Know Local SEO

Search Engine Watch Expert - Gregg Stewart Local SEO is a must for businesses that sell products locally to a specified geographical area. In today's vertical search column, "Getting to Know Local SEO," local search expert Gregg Stewart shows how the channels consumers are using to search are changing. Is your marketing strategy adapting?

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Could Social Media Be the Google Killer?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Frank Watson Search Engine Watch Expert - Chris Boggs Much discussion has been made of where the David to the Google Goliath will come from. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Could Social Media Be the Google Killer?," Frank Watson and Chris Boggs wonder if the ongoing growth of social media may indicate that we should look beyond a Yahoo-Microsoft merger and other algorithmic-based search engines and explore the possibility of search becoming less important.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2008

WidgetBucks Launches Local and Travel Ad Verticals

Ad widget company WidgetBucks today announced the availability of two new advertising verticals: local and travel. WidgetBucks already has a shopping vertical which serves a billion impressions per month worldwide.

"We fundamentally believe that advertising should be more customizable, personal, engaging, and more measurable for publishers and advertisers," said Matt Hulett, chairman and CEO of Mpire and WidgetBucks. "Clearly, Internet consumption habits are evolving from single destination sites to a more disseminated approach. Our new ad widgets help publishers and bloggers provide this influx of visitors with relevant, monetizable content."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Street View and Walking Directions Added to Google Maps for Mobile

Google has added Street View and walking directions to its mobile maps. This will be especially useful for those of you lucky enough to live in a walkable city.

To explain the usefulness of this update, Google made a video on just one of the many ways Street View and walking directions could come in handy. Take a look:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Makes AdWords Site Stats Logo Optional

Google has made it optional for AdWords users to place the "Google Site Stats" logo on their conversion pages. Originally, the logo was designed to let customers opt out of conversion tracking. But advertisers told Google that the logo was often a redundancy of their site's own privacy policy.

If you want to remove the logo, it will require action on your part. Click here to learn the steps to take.

What do you think about the change? Are you planning to remove the logo? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Powerset's First Integrations with Live Search

Microsoft acquired semantic search company Powerset earlier this year, and now the Live Search team is revealing the first integrations of Powerset with Live Search.

Freebase Answers Live Search wanted to include more of Live Search Answers, so they made use of Freebase, an open, shared database and something Powerset incorporates in its search.
Improved Wikipedia captions Live Search also used Powerset to improve its Wikipedia captions within the search results. Previously, the results showed sentence fragments, but now the caption is more substantial.
Improved Related Searches Live Search is incorporating Powerset's Factz engine to create the list of related searches on a given search.

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

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Premium Ad Network for Bloggers from BuzzLogic

BuzzLogic is unveiling a new premium ad network specifically designed with bloggers in mind, and they're launching it at this week's BlogWorld & New Media Expo event in Las Vegas. The network was launched into beta in June.

Bloggers can apply to the network or are invited to join. They're compensated with brand advertising based on their influence in conversations in the blogosphere.

“We've seen a strong correlation between campaign effectiveness and the quality blogs our technology is able to surface since launching our targeting platform last year – now we're expanding our targeting approach to our own network of sites,” said Rob Crumpler, CEO of BuzzLogic. “In this fragmented media environment, it has become clear that a popular site isn't necessarily influential when it comes to niche subject areas. Many lesser-known blogs have the capability to deliver great advertising results, they're just not getting paid for it – our technology helps correct that imbalance.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Turn Introduces Dynamic Pricing into Behavioral Targeting Ad Solution

Online advertising firm Turn, Inc. is introducing dynamic pricing models into its behavioral targeting offering. The model will take factors such as recency and relevancy of message and combine it with a retargeting method that allows advertisers to monitor real-time behavior and adjust their campaign within seconds.

So, does this dynamic pricing work? Turn offers three examples of its success:

A telecommunications client in Turn's market saw a 28 percent lift in click-through-rate and a 423 percent jump in conversion rate when adding retargeting to their buy.
A Fortune 500 financial services client had an increase of over 200 percent in both click-through and conversion rates after starting their retargeting campaign.
A major auto insurance company saw a 2x lift in ROI when they included behavioral into their campaign targeting auto-intenders.

"Our dynamic pricing model is an alternative to how advertisers are purchasing behavioral inventory today. In this world, offerings aggregate all users in the behavioral segment and every impression is assumed to have equal value to the advertiser. In reality, all users are not equal and pricing should reflect that," comments Dominic Bennett, vice president of engineering at Turn.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google To Acquire Content Distribution Platform With Purchase of Valve

Google could be acquiring Valve which also owns Steam - one of the best content distributions, according to the Inquirer. Valve is also a game developer with titles like Half Life and has a game search engine, Source.

"Ostensibly, Google would want to acquire Valve to take control over the digital distribution business, which is ushering in an era of downloading games directly to consoles without physical media and the company could even use it as a new means of software distribution. And by owning some of the most celebrated titles in gaming to-date, Google could also establish a foothold in the gaming business.," the Washington Post opinions.

Who knows maybe Google could use its business strategies to build a new game - World Dominance or perhaps Big Brother.

Posted by Frank Watson on 3:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

GPhone Coming Soon, Should IPhone Worry

The oft rumored G phone is becoming a reality and given the popularity of the Google brand I wonder if the Apple crew are starting to worry. T-Mobile will soon be offer the Android-driven cell phone, according to reports.

The phone is being manufactured by a small Taiwanese-based company, "that makes its own (relatively obscure) brand of handsets, plus house brands for carriers including Vodafone and Telecom New Zealand," the National Business Review reported.

Given Google's popularity, this foray into the mobile space could have implications for the entire mobile industry. As NBR asks is the company "poised to take advantage of Google's recent foray into buying large amounts of wi-fi spectrum – creating a possible future scenario for mobile VoIP calls that cut traditional cellphone service providers out of the picture altogether."

The one plus is the phone is selling for the same price as the new IPhone - usually Google buys into an industry and gives away the services to dominate. If they start reducing pricing the industry may have cause to start worrying.

The other notable part of the new phone is the Google branding given they are not the carrier or the manufacturer - a first in the space. Guess Google sells!

Guess the new Androids dream of world dominance of the mobile industry.

Posted by Frank Watson on 2:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Now Allowing Anti-Abortion Ads After Settling With UK Religious Group

Google settled with a UK-based anti-abortion group who had sued them for not allowing them access to advertising for abortion keywords, the Times Online reported. And will now allow anti-abortionist to advertise along with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion advertisers.

I checked the UK results and none have yet to start advertising as of yet.

Is this the way to make Google change their edicts? Obviously in the case of advertising where only one side gets to play stacks the deck and offers the opposition a chance to challenge. Let's see what other areas use this method to change some of Google's restrictions.

As an aside, I would love to know how much money Google has put aside to deal with their never-ending legal issues. Wonder when United Airlines will weigh in with their law suit following the stock price drop last week?

Posted by Frank Watson on 1:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Homepage Redesign Disses Microsoft

Michael Arrington over TechCrunch has screen shots of the new Yahoo redesign, including their third party mail access which offers AOL and Google but notably leaves hotmail and MSN out of the options.

The new design has taken some of the Yahoo personalised elements at this stage, but has yet to be solidified and will be rolling out further changes in the days ahead, according to TechCrunch.

Posted by Frank Watson on 1:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SEW Experts: 5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook? No Problem

Search Engine Watch Expert - Erik Qualman Facebookers are annoyed that their beloved social network implemented a new design. But will their annoyance outweigh the value they get from using the product? In today's building brand equity column, "5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook? No Problem," Erik Qualman considers whether Facebook's brand will be damaged, or emerge stronger than ever.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Link Marketing: What Google Can Teach You

Search Engine Watch Expert - Justilien Gaspard Google's success story has many important lessons about link marketing. In today's linkbuilding column, "Link Marketing: What Google Can Teach You," Justilien Gaspard explains that you can learn how to build links to your site by studying how Google has successfully built their business.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 17, 2008

Google Goes on the Defensive About Yahoo Ad Deal Cost Projections

Google is none-too-thrilled about a SearchIgnite study suggesting that search advertising prices would increase by 22%. Now they're fighting back by saying the study was misleading. Here are their main points:

Ad prices are not set by Yahoo! or Google, but by advertisers themselves
Yahoo! won't be able to see the current auction prices for Google ads, just as Google won't be able to see Yahoo's prices
The report mistakenly assumes that Yahoo! will serve Google ads for as many of its search queries as possible. This contradicts Yahoo's own statements that their plan is to serve Google ads on search results pages where they have few relevant ads to serve.
The report includes a misplaced focus on cost per click (CPCs) rather than the more important measure for advertisers -- return on investment of their advertising dollar.
the study fails to take into account that fact that Yahoo! shows significantly more ads per page than Google

I'm sure the analysts will be split on whether they agree with Google or not.

But one thing Google is getting wrong is the timing. This week's fast collapse of companies in the financial market and the mortgage problems that have plagued the U.S. for a year now are only reminders of the great risks associated with companies becoming TOO BIG.

Of course, forging an ad deal with Yahoo is not the same as taking on irresponsible loans, but consumers, Wall Street, and the feds are undoubtedly wary of big promises made by big corporations. And Google has become just that in a short 10 year time frame.

Even without the current mess, antitrust concerns abound. And while Google may have permeated our culture, for some the side effects of such power have been extremely costly.

In a week after a devastating hurricane and financials falling left and right, Google is not exactly demonstrating sensitivity to the current consumer and regulatory climate by supporting their desire to expand their overwhelming majority market share even further.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SocialMedia.com and Buddy Media Team Up for Social 'App-vertising' Solution

Socialmedia.com is a social advertising network. Buddy Media is a social media consulting and analytics company (i.e. they have clients!). Today, they have announced a partnership that allows people to buy advertising and access analytics to make the most of their social media campaigns.

They're calling it social 'app-vertising' and brands like FedEx and New Balance have already been privy to the service.

“Advertising in social media is about getting users to engage with a brand's messaging in a way that scales and is measurable,” says Seth Goldstein, CEO of Socialmedia.com. “Our partnership with Buddy Media simplifies the buying and execution of campaigns that get users to interact with brands.”

“In many ways, the app is the new ad unit, and many marketers are beginning to realize that,” says Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media. “With the launch of the BuddyBrain and our partnership with SocialMedia.com, advertisers and brand marketers now have a one stop shop to launch their social app-vertising campaigns and reach over 500 million people on social networks.”

Despite all the dark news from Wall Street, social networking and its projections remain hot, hot, hot! Yesterday, I reported how social networking is taking share from dating and pornography (who would have thought?)!

This partnership seems like a smart one, especially for those of you concerned about how you measure social media campaigns.

What do you think of this announcement? Comments, please!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ChaCha is Fastest Growing Mobile Text Search Service

Since launching a mobile text search service in January, ChaCha has answered 27 million queries, already gaining 7% of the U.S. mobile search market. They tied Yahoo in mobile search market share by the end of June 2008.

ChaCha experienced an 800% growth rate in the second quarter of 2008.

"Mobile search is growing at an incredible pace,” says Chris Quick, mobile media analyst with Nielsen Mobile. “Within the mobile SMS search category, ChaCha is the fastest growing service, increasingly competitive with other mobile search providers. We're therefore keeping very close tabs on how ChaCha will affect the mobile market.”

Looks like refocusing their business model on mobile text search is working out pretty nicely. I've used ChaCha myself, and I find it quite useful. I can text a question, keep going about my day and then get the precise answer I need a few minutes later. It saves me time, because I can get stuff done instead of sifting through a bunch of different search results, which may or may not be relevant.

What do you think of ChaCha's mobile text search service and growth? Direct your thoughts to the comments section.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Google Releases Audio Indexing into Google Labs

In July, Google launched an iGoogle gadget that enables video speech search for select election videos. The technology searches transcribed speech snippets from the videos.

Now, Google has released this technology into Google Labs. So far, you can still only search the few transcribed snippets from election-related videos.

Now, you can "search within a video" and share videos with pals.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Launch Google Freedom Now

Search Engine Watch Expert - Kevin Ryan How much power should Google have? How much is too much? Why should you care? In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Launch Google Freedom Now," Kevin Ryan asks if we would really be better off in a Google-free world.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization -- Insource or Outsource? Part 2

Search Engine Watch Expert - Tim Ash Deciding whether to outsource your landing page optimization and testing program is not an easy decision. There are advantages to each. In today's By the Numbers column, "Landing Page Optimization -- Insource or Outsource? Part 2," Tim Ash shares three more important considerations before you choose to outsource your testing program or "insource" it by doing everything in-house.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 16, 2008

Google Discusses Search Evaluation Process

Google had been doing a series of posts about search quality. Today, the latest post in the series discusses how evaluation enters into the the process.

Scott Huffman, Engineering Director, gave four insights into the nuances of difficulty experienced in search evaluation:

First, understanding what a user really wants when they type a query -- the query's "intent" -- can be very difficult. For highly navigational queries like [ebay] or [orbitz], we can guess that most users want to navigate to the respective sites. But how about [olympics]? Does the user want news, medal counts from the recent Beijing games, the IOC's homepage, historical information about the games, ... ? This same exact question, of course, is faced by our ranking and search UI teams. Evaluation is the other side of that coin.
Second, comparing the quality of search engines (whether Google versus our competitors, Google versus Google a month ago) is never black and white. It's essentially impossible to make a change that is 100% positive in all situations; with any algorithmic change you make to search, many searches will get better and some will get worse.
Third, there are several dimensions to "good" results. Traditional search evaluation has focused on the relevance of the results, and of course that is our highest priority as well. But today's search-engine users expect more than just relevance. Are the results fresh and timely? Are they from authoritative sources? Are they comprehensive? Are they free of spam? Are their titles and snippets descriptive enough? Do they include additional UI elements a user might find helpful for the query (maps, images, query suggestions, etc.)? Our evaluations attempt to cover each of these dimensions where appropriate.
Fourth, evaluating Google search quality requires covering an enormous breadth. We cover over a hundred locales (country/language pairs) with in-depth evaluation. Beyond locales, we support search quality teams working on many different kinds of queries and features. For example, we explicitly measure the quality of Google's spelling suggestions, universal search results, image and video searches, related query suggestions, stock oneboxes, and many, many more.

Not sure if I'm buying that Olympics example. Google didn't do a great job with the Beijing Olympics, and surely their algorithm could handle serving up more relevant search results during the time surrounding the event.

I'm not saying that search query intent evaluation is easy, just that the Olympics query is not quite as problematic as Google is making it out to be.

The rest of the points are things we've been hearing from Google for a long time. We know they're progressing on universal and personalization search efforts, all in their famous intent to create the best user experience.

So, what methods does Google employ to address these evaluations? Huffman offered up the following:

Human evaluators. Google makes use of evaluators in many countries and languages. These evaluators are carefully trained and are asked to evaluate the quality of search results in several different ways. We sometimes show evaluators whole result sets by themselves or "side by side" with alternatives; in other cases, we show evaluators a single result at a time for a query and ask them to rate its quality along various dimensions.
Live traffic experiments. We also make use of experiments, in which small fractions of queries are shown results from alternative search approaches. Ben Gomes talked about how we make use of these experiments for testing search UI elements in his previous post. With these experiments, we are able to see real users' reactions (clicks, etc.) to alternative results.

What do you think of Google's search evaluation? What evaluations would you like to see them conduct? Discuss in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Social Networking Taking Market Share from Dating, Adult Entertainment Sites

Juniper Research is projecting social networking is expected to overtake dating in 2009 to become the largest revenue generating segment.

Social networks are projected to generate $7.3 billion in advertising revenues by 2013. That will amount to a steady rise in revenues over 2008's projected $1.1 billion.

According to report author Dr. Windsor Holden, "It's clear that we have seen an industry wide shift regarding the implementation of business models in this area. Whereas initially there was a perception that users would pay a small mobility premium to access social networks on their handsets, it rapidly became clear that to achieve truly mass adoption, it would be necessary to offer free membership and then to augment that with advertising and the sale of premium content."

Meanwhile, Hitwise general manager of global research, Bill Tancer, is saying that searches for pornography are down about 50% due to increase in searches for social networking.

"My theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don't have time to look at adult sites," Tancer told Reuters.

Tancer analyzes search behavior and its reflection on society in his new book, Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why It Matters.

What do you think of the rise in social networking? Is it changing societal behavior? Give us your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Google Makes "My Location" Circle Smaller, Larger Depending on, Er, Your Location

Google has made some adjustments to the blue "My Location" circle on the mobile version of its mapping product.

If you're in a metropolitan area, the circle will be smaller. If you're in a rural area, the circle will become bigger. The reason behind the change and the sizes has to do with cell tower triangulation.

Google gathers data from cell towers near your phone to determine your location. If you're in an urban or suburban setting, you're likely to be close to more towers, giving Google the ability to pinpoint your location more precisely. If you're out in the boondocks, you have access to fewer or maybe just one tower, so the location is more approximate.

What do you think about the change? Let us know in the comments!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

27 Million People Watched Over 3 Billion Videos Online in the U.K.

According to new data from comScore Video Metrix, more than 27.4 million U.K. Internet users (78 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience) viewed 3.2 billion videos online in June 2008. Google Sites, driven by the popularity of YouTube.com, attracted nearly half of all videos viewed online in the U.K, followed by BBC Sites (1.4 percent share), Microsoft Sites (0.8 percent share), Fox Interactive Media (0.7 percent share) and ITV Sites (0.6 percent share).

U.K. Internet users watched an average of 117.7 videos per viewer in June – the highest videos per viewer average of any of the five countries reportable in comScore Video Metrix, which also includes U.S., Canada, France and Germany.

Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (20.5 million), who watched an average of 77.8 videos per person. BBC Sites drew the second most viewers (5.9 million), followed by Microsoft Sites (5.8 million), and Fox Interactive Media (3.9 million).

Other notable findings include:

-- 19.7 million viewers watched 1.4 billion videos on YouTube.com (72.4 videos per viewer).
-- The average online video duration was 3.0 minutes.
-- The combined U.K. online video viewing audience watched a total 161 million hours of video content.
-- 4.2 million mobile phone subscribers used their phone to watch any kind of TV or video in the U.K., of which 37.6 percent were younger than 25 years old.

Video Search Engine Optimization Panel Recap, Greg Markel

At SES San Jose 2008, Greg Markel of Infuse Creative talked with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR about the Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) session. Markel emphasized the crucial nature of an online video (and online video optimization) strategy especially with relation to YouTube and Google's universal search.

The Video Search Engine Optimization session will also be held at SES Chicago on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. As I've mentioned before, if you register before Sept. 26 you can take advantage of the "recession special" to save up to $600.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Making the Most of Search Engine Copywriting

Search Engine Watch Expert - Carrie Hill Whether it's organic page titles and meta descriptions or PPC ads, it's your job, as someone who's seeking a conversion, to deliver what you promised. In today's small business search engine marketing column, "Making the Most of Search Engine Copywriting," Carrie Hill explains that small business owners must be aware of what their ad copy promises, and how they deliver on those promises.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Hosting Issues and SEO

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson When it comes to server issues, many of us would rather not get into the down-and-dirty details. In today's organic search engine optimization column, "Hosting Issues and SEO," Mark Jackson reminds us that knowing the basics of server response codes -- and when to use them correctly -- is critical for any competitive Webmaster or search marketer.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 15, 2008

Google Launching Quality Score Changes in Days

Google AdWords blog announced it will be launching the changes it told us about last month in the next few days.

Still no mention on turning on old accounts when they stop the inactive status, but they have given more details on how the Quality Score is measured including all of the CTRs in your account. This may force people to be a lot tighter with the keywords they add to their accounts so they do not have to pay higher rates for their established terms.

The front page bid estimates that will be replacing minimum bids also have some interesting new details:

For queries without many advertisers competing for placement, the first page bid estimate should be relatively close to your existing minimum bid. However, queries with a high level of advertiser competition may have significantly higher first page bid estimates, because you'll likely need to bid above the old minimum bid to rank higher than your competition and show on the first page. Remember that you can bid less than your first page bid estimate and still show on subsequent pages -- as long as your keyword is relevant to our users.
Advertisers familiar with the competitive landscape for their keywords may indeed notice that the first page bid estimates provided are in line with the CPCs that they had been bidding to appear on the first page prior to the release of these Quality Score improvements, although this is not a given.

Posted by Frank Watson on 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Less is More: What Social Media and Electronics Can Teach the Establishment

Read the news and it quickly becomes obvious how complex this world is. So, it's no wonder that what's popular in social media and electronics is simple.

MySpace (IMHO) was easier than Friendster. But Facebook took the best of both and now reigns.

LinkedIn makes it easy to network professionally, and YouTube makes it easy to be entertained - and quickly.

Twitter makes a bunch of things easy - from breaking news to gathering feedback about a product you're considering.

In electronics, the Flip Video has revolutionized camcorders (I am a proud owner of one myself). And now, smaller, more affordable laptops are all the rage. Plus, Apple threw its iPod on a mobile phone, inserted the internet and simplified mobile communications.

So why are these services and gadgets so popular but companies like Microsoft are watching their market share slowly fade?

Dan Kimerling at TechCrunch thinks its all about motivation. Microsoft is motivated by features, while Facebook, et al, are motivated by the user experience.

He has a point. Microsoft considers Google a major rival, and Google is almost always talking about the user experience.

Steve Ballmer might want to take a cue, because he talks an awful lot about catching Google via advertising. And while advertising revenues are most certainly a key to Microsoft's long term success, it will only prove profitable if the customer is happy.

Google should also watch out to avoid the pitfalls that plagued Microsoft. But a Google failure would not automatically equal Microsoft success. It would only leave the door open for a Facebook-esque startup to come along and steal the show.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Concerns Over Google's Monopolistic Actions Make Their Way to DOJ

Sourcetools.com, a former business directory, was making $115,000 a month in profit until the summer of 2006, when Google changed its algorithm and spiked some AdWords bid prices for sites with "poor landing pages." The business model was one employed by many an internet entrepreneur - bid on AdWords and slap some AdSense on the site.

Of course, Google calls this ad arbitrage if all you have is a made-for-adsense site. But Sourcetools provided a service - a business directory not unlike many other directories out there.

Sourcetools spent a ton of money revamping their site to make it to Google's liking, not that Google was being terribly specific about what that liking is. But they could never get back into Google's good graces, and now the domain sits service-less, and up for sale.

This is just one of the many complaints being sent to the Department of Justice as they conduct an investigation into Google's ad deal with Yahoo.

Last week, the Association of National Advertisers sent a letter to the DOJ expressing their opposition to the deal. And the DOJ is taking the concerns seriously. They hired antitrust lawyer Sandy Litvack to consult on the deal.

Whether Google's actions are an inadvertent breakdown in internal communications or intentional pursuit of power, they do appear to be monopolistic. That along with today's financial news is a good reminder that to be wary of fast money and to diversify your site's income!

via NYT

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Omniture Launches Analytics-Driven Site Search

Web analytics provider Omniture today launched Omniture SiteSearch, a hosted site search product it picked up in its Visual Sciences acquisition, which closed in January 2008.

The SiteSearch product was an early entry in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) space. It was originally launched in 1999 as Atomz Search, part of its content management suite. Atomz was later acquired by analytics provider WebSideStory, which later acquired Visual Sciences. The entire company changed its name to Visual Sciences, and was then acquired by Omniture.

A few clients, including Verizon and BusinessWeek have been using SiteSearch as a standalone product, according to Jeff Minich, senior product marketing manager at Omniture. Today, it becomes an integrated part of the Omniture online marketing suite.

The biggest effect of this is the ability to impact site search results using data from Omniture's SiteCatalyst analytics package. So on an e-commerce site, for example, a search for "shirts" could be made to return the most popular shirts of the season, or those that return the highest margin, or those that are converting highest, Minich said.

"You can set business rules to break ties, or to push a page higher in the results," he said. "You can also combine metrics, and weight them relative to each other, and relative to the natural relevancy ranking in SiteSearch."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometrics Releases Social Media Advertising Management Platform

Sometrics today launched "Social Ad Manager," which was designed to help social networks manage their advertising inventories. The product aggregates both third-party networks and direct sales. Sometrics says Social Ad Manager will eliminate server costs and produce custom traffic reports.

“We're making it possible for publishers to apply our social intelligence to their entire ad inventory, to optimize the delivery of their ads and increase revenue,” said Ian Swanson, Sometrics CEO and co-founder. “We've built a system that combines analytics, targeting and branding capabilities all designed to help developers and advertisers reach their audiences within the social web. Now our clients can apply this social intelligence to every ad they serve.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LinkedIn Launches Targeted Advertising Network

LinkedIn is today launching the LinkedIn Audience Network, a new advertising option that allows highly targeted ads to reach the professional social network's members. The great advantage to this ad network is the ability to target Executives or IT professionals. LinkedIn gathers so much information from user profiles, and this information makes it easier for advertisers to target who they truly want to reach. And users will get more relevant ads as well.

“The message we hear from advertisers is simple: they want mass reach against specific segments of decision-making professionals, and they want their ads to appear in quality environments,” said Steve Patrizi, LinkedIn's Director of Advertising Sales. “The LinkedIn Audience Network offers advertisers one of the most accurate audience data sets available on the web along with the confidence of knowing that their brands will only appear on sites with high editorial standards.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

AOL's ADTECH to Provide Ad-Serving Capabilities for React2Media

AOL has announced that ADTECH will provide ad-serving capabilites for React2Media. R2M is a full service online advertising network. ADTECH's ads will be served up on R2M's network of 150 sites, including search portal QuikZilla as well as CookingTown.com.

“With the future of digital advertising unfolding, and TV and the Internet increasingly becoming indistinguishable, React2Media has been able to identify and surpass some of the greatest hurdles in the industry,” said Dirk Freytag, CEO of ADTECH. “Our goal in bringing ADTECH's robust, scalable technology to React2Media is to help them further this impressive progress in the current advertising climate, as well as into the future.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Show Me the Money: Bidding for Profitability

Search Engine Watch Expert - David Szetela How much should you bid? How do you know if your PPC campaign is working? Setting ad group bid prices at the beginning of a campaign is one of the more challenging tasks for many PPC advertisers. In today's search advertising column, "Show Me the Money: Bidding for Profitability," David Szetela shows that the answers are a snap, once you know the fundamentals.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 12, 2008

Google Invests in Low-Cost Internet Connectivity for Developing Nations

Google has announced an investment in 03b Networks, whose goal it is to get internet connectivity to developing nations. Of course, the idea is that the internet will be high-speed and low-cost.

Google Product Manager Larry Alder explains why this is so difficult, but how it can be accomplished:

Most of today's developed countries are linked by thousands of kilometers of submarine fiber optic cables to carry core Internet traffic. This is a very cost-effective solution, once the fiber is in place; but in many developing and remote areas, fiber isn't available due to economic and sometimes political roadblocks. Though existing geo-synchronous satellites are able to reach theses areas, they provide slow Internet connectivity because of their distance from the Earth - and they're expensive and often fully subscribed. O3b plans to deliver fiber-like Internet backhaul service using a constellation of medium-orbit satellites. This means data can be quickly transmitted to and from even the most remote locations such as inland Africa or small Pacific islands.

What do you think of this initiative? Will it work? Let us know your impressions in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yahoo is Planning Home Page Redesign

Yahoo is planning an overhaul of their homepage design, and will open up to third party developers. The design will incorporate widgets, and Yahoo Music will open up to iTunes and Amazon.

This continues a pattern of Yahoo opening up various products and services to third party developers. Earlier this year, Yahoo launched SearchMonkey, which lets developers manipulate how search results are displayed within Yahoo and later BOSS (Build your Own Search Service), which allows people to use Yahoo technology to fuel custom search sites.

The news wasn't enough to impress Wall Street analysts. Jeffries & Co. lowered their target stock price for Yahoo to $26 from $28. The stock was at $19.07 at the time of this post.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online Video Advertising to Peak in 2012 Predicts eMarketer Report

According to a new report from eMarketer entitled, "Video Advertising Online: Spending and Pricing," online video advertising will peak at 78.9% in 2012 -- when "both traditional and alternative media companies will be distributing far more professional-quality video content online, and when the national elections and the summer Olympics will contribute far more to video ad spending than they will in 2008."

US%20Online%20Video%20Advertising%20Spending%20Growth.gif
That doesn't mean that growth has been anemic this year. According to eMarketer, this year's 55.9% increase in online video ad spending is a key indication that the channel is at least gaining speed -- accompanied by parallel growth in the kind of trusted video content, such as sports, to support it.

David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer and author of the new report, says, "Next year, there will be slightly slower growth, due to the still-struggling economy and the fact that advertisers are working out the best ways to do online video ads."

He adds, "Marketers want video advertising for its far-greater branding power than other online formats." Meanwhile, "Publishers want video advertising for its far-greater revenues -- or at least higher CPMs—than other online ad formats."

Stay tuned to see what happens next.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft Increases Mainline Ads on Live Search from 3 to 4

AdCenter customers requested more clicks for their ads. Microsoft ran tests that found adding a fourth mainline ad (the ads that appear above the organic results) increased clicks. So, the Live Search team is implementing those changes, and advertisers should notice the change beginning today.

The top 2 mainline ads will continue to get an extra placement at the bottom of the page as well. This is something that also proved successful in the ad placement testing.

What do you think of these changes? Will they increase your clicks? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Adds "My Location" Search Feature to Windows Mobile Devices

Google has added the ability to search by a user's location to mobile search on select Windows Mobile devices. The feature, dubbed "My Location" uses the Google Gears Geolocation API, which employs Cell ID Technology aka cellular triangulation.

"My Location" will be available in the U.S. and U.K. initially and on the following devices:

HP IPAQ hw6900
HTC 4350
HTC 8525
HTC Atlas
HTC MTeoR
HTC P3300
HTC P3450
HTC P3600
HTC P3650
HTC Touch (not supported on some devices)
HTC Touch Dual
HTC Touch Diamond (only works in IE Mobile)
HTC TyTN
HTC TyTN II
o2 XDA Orbit
Palm Treo 750
Samsung Blackjack II
Samsung i780
Samsung SCH i760

Two devices can also use "My Location" via GPS:

HTC Mogul on Sprint (users can enable GPS with a firmware upgrade*)
Motorola Q9

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MIVA Unveils Plans for New Online Advertising Platform

MIVA has announced plans to launch a new online advertising platform. The new platform will incorporate MIVA's existing Pay-Per-Click solution and add online advertising formats for a more comprehensive offering.

The platform will be launched through a phased roll-out. The first phase will be a beta release, expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“As the online advertising market continues to mature, the needs of advertisers and publishers are also evolving. MIVA's new platform is intended to address these needs through completely updated technology that we believe will provide a significantly enhanced set of features and online marketing options for advertisers and publishers,” commented S. Brian Mukherjee, SVP and Group Managing Director, MIVA Media.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live Search to Be Integrated with Blackberry Browser and Maps

Microsoft and Research in Motion, the company behind the Blackberry, have announced a partnership regarding the smartphones and Live Search. Microsoft's search product will be integrated with Blackberry Browser and Blackberry Maps. Users will also be able to access Live Search via Mobile.Blackberry.com.

“This joint endeavor with RIM is a strategic indicator of our increased focus on securing broad-scale distribution for Live Search,” said Brian Arbogast, corporate vice president of the Mobile Services organization at Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to extending our services across mobile platforms, and we are very pleased to be joining forces with RIM to help bring Live Search to millions of BlackBerry users worldwide.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Would You Endorse this Web Site?

Search Engine Watch Expert - William Flaiz Think of link building as running for president of your SERPs. The candidate is your Web site, and you need all the support you can muster to get there. In today's SEM agency issues column, "Would You Endorse this Web Site?," William Flaiz shows that the right connections can provide the bump you need, and the wrong connections can prove calamitous.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: SEO Reporting: Going Beyond Rankings

Search Engine Watch Expert - Chris Boggs Search Engine Watch Expert - Frank Watson Enterprise-level SEO provides consistently outstanding ROI over the life of the project. One of the best ways to substantiate this is through ongoing reporting. In today's Search Marketing Crossfire column, "SEO Reporting: Going Beyond Rankings," Chris Boggs and Frank Watson remind you that if you're just tracking organic positions and nothing else, you're doing a disservice to your clients.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 11, 2008

Searching Rich Media at TechCrunch50

Video search has been a key topic at the TechCrunch50 show in San Francisco. Lots of newly launched companies presented (kind of like DEMO minus the payola). In a “rich media” grouping of companies, the proverbial challenge of making images and video searchable kept coming up.

Presenting companies were
• VideoSurf: video search
• GazoPa: image search
• Fotonauts: image search
• Bojam: online music collaboration (like garage band in the cloud)

On the panel of judges was Bradley Horowitz who was a key part of Yahoo's acquisition of Flickr back in 2005. Now he in charge of Google Gadgets and recently oversaw the integration of facial recognition software in Picassa.

“For a number of years I worked at MIT on image recognition technology and the first time I saw Flickr, I wanted to rip up my diploma,” he said from the stage. “It turns out humans are very good at this. You don't need a hyper-technical solution. It can sometimes be the activity around the video, not the content in the video that defines relevance.

This point underscores many of the companies walking different lines between algorithmic solutions and user interaction/tagging in order to solve this longstanding indexing issue.

For the sake brevity, I'll just talk about the best one I saw -- San Mateo, Calif based video search engine VideoSurf. CEO Lior Delgo agrees that users should be brought into the mix but asserts that relying on this alone is flawed.

The company still got Horowitz' vote for its underlying technology, which includes a great deal of intellectual property around visual recognition. This is paired with some social features that together make it a viable choice for video search over and above existing engines like Truveo and Blinkx.

The technology essentially goes beyond the voice recognition, meta data, and surrounding content that many existing sites rely on, and instead tags each frame with more granular information. This includes character names in popular shows and other things that are more contextually relevant and likely as search terms. Relevancy is weighed on frequency of these keywords, click throughs and a few other factors.

This could also be the right time for this technology, given the expanding corpus of video being brought online. This isn't just the long tail YouTube ranks but head content that will get more search queries such as network shows on sites like Hulu. Lots more to the nuts and bolts, and it's clear video search will continue to be a tough nut to crack. But this will be one to watch.

I hope to dive deeper in a column later this month on this and the many other search related companies here -- including a social network for bird watchers (seriously).

Posted by Mike Boland on 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

MapQuest, Google Launch Blackberry Mobile Apps

Both MapQuest and Google are have launched new Blackberry Mobile Apps.

MapQuest's application is called "MapQuest 4 Mobile" includes hybrid imagery, traffic information and a GPS “find me” feature. Users can also conduct their usual MapQuest business, such as conducting a search for a business. At first, MQ4M will only be available through Sprint on the BlackBerry 8830 and AT&T on the BlackBerry 8800, 8820, and 8310. Other handsets will be added in coming months.

Google's new Blackberry app is a downloadable search application similar to the one for iPhone. Google says that searching via the app is faster than accessing Google via mobile web. The app includes Google Suggest and has quick links to other Google apps including Calendar and Docs.

Earlier this year, Google added Voice Search for Blackberry Pearl, and updated Blackberry search results pages.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

18 U.S., 3 International Systems Added to Google Transit

Whether you live in or visit cities with transit systems, it's always good to know when and where the buses and trains are running. Google has been teaming up with transit systems across the country and around the world. Today, they're announcing the addition of 18 U.S. transit systems and 3 international city systems to Google Transit.

United States

MetroLink Transit (Los Angeles, CA metropolitan region)
Irvine Shuttle (Irvine, CA)
OMNITRANS (San Bernardino County, CA)
Roseville Transit (Roseville, CA)
AC Transit (Alameda & Contra Costa County, CA)
Broward County Transit (Broward County, FL)
Miami-Dade Transit (Miami-Dade County, FL)
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (Atlanta, GA)
Metro Transit (Minneapolis, MN)
Mountain Line (Missoula, MT)
Capital District Transportation Authority (Albany, NY)
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (Cleveland, OH)
Central Ohio Transit Authority (Columbus, OH)
Cleveland Area Rapid Transit (Norman, OK)
Island Transit (Island County, WA)
Jefferson Transit Authority, (Port Townsend, WA)
Green Bay Metro Transit (Green Bay, WI)
Mountain Line Transit Authority (Morgantown, WV)

International

Ottawa in Canada
Olsztyn, Poland
Moscow, Russia

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Searching Rich Media at TechCrunch50

Video search was a key topic at the TechCrunch50 show in San Francisco this week. Lots of newly launched companies have presented (kind of like DEMO minus the payola). In a “rich media” grouping of companies, the proverbial challenge of making images and video searchable kept coming up.

Presenting companies were
• VideoSurf: video search
• GazoPa: image search
• Fotonauts: image search
• Bojam: online music collaboration (like garage band in the cloud)

This point underscores many of the companies walking different lines between algorithmic solutions and user interaction/tagging in order to solve this longstanding indexing issue.

I hope to dive deeper in a column later this month on this and the many other search related companies at the show -- including a social network for bird watchers (seriously).

Posted by Mike Boland on 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Change How You Think About Your Life and Company

Search Engine Watch Expert - Sage Lewis Even the smallest thing can make a big difference. Here are some very small things you can do make a difference and serve a cause greater than yourself.In today's link building column, "Change How You Think About Your Life and Company," Sage Lewis reminds us that sometimes, it's more about doing what's right. The links will come naturally.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: YouTube-ery: Online Videos as Learning and Marketing Tools

Search Engine Watch Expert - Ron Jones YouTube is user-generated content at its best...and worst. Everyone in the world with a video camera -- or just a Web cam and microphone -- can be part of the nebulous social monster that is YouTube. In today's SEM.edu column, "YouTube-ery: Online Videos as Learning and Marketing Tools," Ron Jones looks at what this that mean for educators and marketers.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 10, 2008

YouTube Dominates July 2008 Online Video Rankings with 5 Billion Views

Over 5 billion video views occurred on YouTube in July 2008, according to new data supplied by comScore. That gave Google Sites a whopping 44% of the video market in the U.S. In a distant second is Fox Interactive's MySpace with 3.9% of the market and 446 million videos watched.

142 million, or 75%, of internet users watched online videos in July. The average number of videos watched per viewer is 80.

92 million of those viewers hung out at YouTube, consuming an average of 54.7 videos. 54 million absorbed video content at MySpace, at an average of 8.1 videos.

Here are the charts for the complete picture of the top 10 sites:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Rebecca Lieb Interviews Chris Boggs About Effective Blog Strategies

At SES San Jose 2008, Rebecca Lieb, Contributing Editor of ClickZ, interviewed Chris Boggs, Search Engine Watch Expert and Manager of SEO at Brulant, which was recently acquired by Rosetta. Rebecca had moderated the SEO Through Blogs & Feeds session and Chris was one of the speakers on the panel.

Rebecca asked Chris about blogs and domain strategy. Chris discussed where a blog should be hosted, in particular, on a root domain, for purposes of search engine optimization. He also talks about appropriate blog protocol.

You can watch and listen in below.

Effective Blog protocol and domain strategy

The SEO Through Blogs & Feeds session will also be held at SES Chicago 2008, which will be held Dec. 8-11 at the Chicago Hilton. As I mentioned a few days ago, if you register before Sept. 26, you can save up to $600 by taking advantage of the "recession special."

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Analytics Tool Aids Shift from Print Yellow Pages to Online Advertising

Most of the time when discussions arise about yellow pages advertisers shifting from print to online, the talk is in generalities. But not all markets are the same. Certainly, some have shifted online in greater numbers than others.

An Oregon search marketing company seeks to aid companies in managing their yellow pages across different markets with a new analytics tool.

G5 Search Marketing today launched their Yellow Pages Analytics Tool, which is added to their Local Marketing Platform. The tool provides analysis showing how many customers would be lost by cutting print yellow pages or offset by engaging an online campaign.

"We have clients looking to cut millions of dollars per year in print yellow page advertising,” said G5 CEO Dan Hobin. “The issue becomes when to cut as you don't want to cut too soon. For businesses with multiple locations, every market is different. Our tool enables our clients to cut advertising in major metros while keeping the smaller markets where yellow pages still perform.”

Projections from Borrell Associates have local advertisers shifting $13.1 billion to online advertising from various offline media. A look at average CPMs explains why. The average internet CPM is $3.65 while the average yellow pages CPM is $9.29.

What do you think about this new tool? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

AOL Now Aggregates Email from Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo

In a refreshing show of humility and honesty, AOL has admitted that perhaps visitors to AOL.com do not necessarily have @aol.com at the end of their email addresses.

So, they've enabled users to aggregate their email from Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo on the AOL.com homepage.

“With the launch of mail aggregation, AOL will be the first among the big traditional portals to offer a centralized email experience,” commented Bill Wilson, Executive Vice President of Programming, AOL. “We know that consumers today have multiple email accounts on different services to keep tabs on daily, and we want to make it easier for them. This is an important first step in opening up AOL.com and giving users the ability to populate the AOL.com homepage with content and services they use on a daily basis, regardless of where it lives.”

Of course, you can do the same on iGoogle, but the applications were developed by third parties.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Analytics Now Available in Google Code

Care to do more with Google Analytics code than just cut and paste a snippet in your website code? Well, you're in luck. Google Analytics has been added to Google Code.

Now you can do marvelous things like manipulate the length of marketing campaigns and add search engines to be tracked.

If you want more control but don't have a Google Code monkey on your team, then you can always try one of their Authorized consultants. Of course, Google provides plenty of documentation for Google Code.

Feel like discussing this? Leave a comment!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Releases Beta Version of Truveo Video Search

AOL has announced the launch of the beta mobile version of Truveo, a video search engine. There's already an iPhone application, but now other mobile phone users have a chance to search Truveo from their phones. Users can access the mobile version at http://wap.aol.com/truveo.

“One of our missions is to provide consumers with easy access to our products no matter where they are or what device they are using,” said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. “Truveo Mobile Video Search continues that effort by giving mobile users access to the industry's leading video search engine and enabling them to enjoy videos anytime, anywhere.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Keep Your Ideas Simple and Increase Conversions

Search Engine Watch Expert - Eric Enge Good ideas are often simple ones, and this rule applies to online marketing as well. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "Keep Your Ideas Simple and Increase Conversions," Eric Enge explains how looking at the implementation of your ideas from a customer's perspective can help you see if you've simplified things enough, or gone too far.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 9, 2008

MapQuest Launches Local Portal

MapQuest today added a local portal to its popular mapping website. Found at local.mapquest.com or by clicking on the local icon on the front page, the new local site shows news, weather, dining, movies, and more for your location.

The features are displayed in modules, which can be dragged and dropped where you would like to put them. To remove a module altogether, simply click the "Customize" button near the top and uncheck the box of the module you're not interested in.

Each module can be individually refreshed for the latest information, or you can click the "Refresh Page" button, which is next to the Customize button near the top of the page.

Recently, MapQuest tapped Citysearch for comprehensive local search results.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

YouTube to Launch New 'HotSpots' Feature

According to Abbey Klaassen of Advertising Age, YouTube plans to launch a new feature called HotSpots this week that will allow "video creators to monitor how viewings rise and fall within a video."

Klaassen writes, "HotSpots plays a video alongside a graph that maps whether the audience is lower or higher than average for a particular length of video. When the graph goes up, the video is 'hot,' and more viewers are watching -- because there's either less attrition or some viewers are fast-forwarding or rewinding to isolate a particular point in the video. When the graph goes down, the video is 'cold' because viewers are leaving the video or skipping to another part of the content."

Klaassen adds that YouTube plans to unveil another service, called Visible Measures, which measures audience engagement within a video.

I can't find any additional information about YouTube's HotSpots or Visible Measures, so it appears that Abbey has a scoop.

In her article, Klaassen also interviews Matt Williams, a senior at State University of New York-Brockport, who makes funny videos and with his friend Andrew Reynold under the YouTube channel name StanleyJenkins. Williams estimates that optimizing videos based on YouTube Insights data has doubled his traffic.

Williams also noted that most of his video traffic was referred from related videos. That's something that I also highlighted during my presentation at SES San Jose last month.

Li Evans of KeyRelevance interviewed me following the Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) session about the importance of related videos -- and the benefits of reaching out to influential bloggers to ask them to embed videos in their blogs. Check out Li's interview below.

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Search Monitor Launches Geo-Targeted Ad Monitoring of Competitors, Trademarks, and Affiliates

Tools to monitor your brand or your competition have become an important part of an SEMs arsenal. Search Monitor has been working hard to provide the latest tools for our industry and just announced the launch of geo-targeted monitoring.

"Geo-targeted monitoring enables companies to watch their competition and affiliates, and to manage their reputation and brand use locally. With this launch, interactive agencies, marketers, affiliate managers, and compliance teams are able to monitor paid search, blogs, forums, news, and web sites around the world from a local point of view in countries including: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and many thers. Monitoring can be conducted in English or in the language native to each country," their press release stated.

Search Monitor covers

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 negative, positive, and neutral 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.

Posted by Frank Watson on 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Updates IP Retention Policy; Adjusts Anonymization in Google Suggest

Google is slicing and dicing the amount of time it stores IP addresses. Previously keeping them intact for 18 months, Google is now anonymizing IP addresses at 9 months.

This should make a European Group happier. In April, Article 29 Data Protection Working Party called for search engines to set their data retention at 6 months. The EU requires search engines to set their data retention limit at 18 months.

On another privacy front, Google is addressing concerns about Google Suggest. They're changing the anonymization of user suggestions to 24 hours. Google only takes 2% of search requests as data for Suggest.

Expect the new Suggest data anonymization to be rolled out by the end of the month.

What do you think of Google's updates to their stored data? Do you feel better about privacy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google TV Gets Boost with NBC Universal Deal

Google has partnered with NBC Universal to broker a portion of the TV ads on some of its cable networks, and to develop new ways of measuring success of ads delivered over its Google TV Ads platform.

Google and NBCU will also work together to develop a better solution for selling and targeting local TV ads, and to conduct several research projects on the platform.

The multi-year deal will provide both a boost in ad inventory, and a boost in legitimacy in the eyes of many advertisers. Google will initially sell ads on six NBCU cable networks: Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, and Chiller. More networks may be brought on as the partnership develops. NBCU also owns Bravo, USA, and several owned-and-operated local stations. It also owns the Telemundo Spanish-language network.

NBC Universal will maintain its direct relationships with agencies and advertisers, and will maintain control over the inventory that is included in the Google TV Ads program.

Google TV Ads had been in private beta since last summer, and was made widely available in May. Google followed that in June with the addition of AdWords TV ads to Google Analytics reporting.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live Search and Windows Live Toolbar Now Offer Translation

Microsoft's Live Search now offers translation, powered by Microsoft Translator technology. Additionally, the Windows Live Toolbar and Internet Explorer 8 have translation technology as well. Even Windows Messenger is getting a translation bot.

Supported languages are:

English to/from:

Arabic
Chinese Simplified
Chinese Traditional
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese
Russian (Russian to English only)
Spanish

Chinese Simplified to/from Chinese Traditional is also supported.

Microsoft is responding to a boom in non-English speaking web users. Writing on the Live Search blog, Lane Rau, Marketing Manager, Microsoft Research Machine Translation team said:

Now that the Web is more worldwide than ever, the number of non-native English speakers going online has ballooned, and yet online content in English still dominates. For these users, free translation services mean that an entire world of information can now actually be at their fingertips. We're doing something to help them out.

Adding translation is just the most recent of several updates to Live Search this year. Read about other updates by clicking on the links below:

Microsoft Adds Image Hotspots to Live Search Design
Live Search Displays Paragraph Under Wikipedia Results
Microsoft to Bring Advertising to Live Search Mobile
Microsoft Launches Live Search Cashback and Live Search Farecast

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Nabs Former MSN Exec Bradford

Yahoo has initiated another executive shakeup, but this time they've brought in a big gun to help their ad sales and business development. Joanne Bradford, who led Microsoft's MSN for 7 years until March, when she left Microsoft to join Spot Runner, the Web-based TV ad startup.

Bradford has joined Yahoo in the newly created role of senior vice president, U.S. Revenue and Market Development. She will oversee sales, market development for advertisers, small business, and Yahoo HotJobs, and will report to executive VP Hilary Schneider.

"My decision to come to Yahoo was simple, because there is no other company that combines one of the world's most recognizable brands with unparalleled reach, industry-leading products and programming, and a full spectrum of advertising offerings for marketers," Bradford said in a statement. "I am convinced that the very best days for this company are ahead, and I want to leverage my experience in programming, distribution, and selling to help Yahoo! take this business to the next level."

Bradford's new role in effect replaces that of David Karnstedt, Yahoo's senior VP of U.S. Sales. Karnstedt announced his plans to resign earlier this summer, and will now leave Yahoo on September 16 for a new opportunity as an executive-in-residence at a Valley-based venture capital firm. Karnstedt was largely pushed aside in the February reorg that also led to the departure of Wenda Harris Millard.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.S. Hires Lawyer for Possible Court Action Against Google-Yahoo Deal

The United States has hired a lawyer to consult in their investigation of the search advertising deal between Google and Yahoo. The DOJ informed the companies that they've tapped Sandy Litvack, former Disney vice chairman and former antitrust chief.

The news comes just a couple weeks after Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Google was moving forward with the deal in October.

Yesterday, we reported that the Association of National Advertisers wrote a letter to the DOJ expressing their opposition of the deal.

via Reuters

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Launches Historical Newspaper Initiative

Google has announced a new initiative that aims to digitize newspaper archives. Through the initiative, Google will be partnering with newspaper publishers to bring what they estimate are billions of print records online.

Already available is a 1969 article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the first landing on the moon.

Searching for the digitized records can be conducted via Google News Archives or through using the Google News timeline.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Domain Acquisition -- How Much is Too Much?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson Think you can't afford to spend the money to buy an existing domain name? If you do the math, the cost savings you gain may surprise you. In today's organic search engine optimization column, "Domain Acquisition -- How Much is Too Much?," Mark Jackson describes a case where the SEO benefits of a $20,000 domain name proved to be more than worth the expense.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Ready to Finally Try SEO?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Aaron Shear Is your enterprise taking the first steps toward search engine optimization? In today's enterprise search marketing column, "Ready to Finally Try SEO?," Aaron Shear explains how the decisions you make now about building an in-house team or outsourcing some or all of your SEO program will either make your life much easier, or lead to problems that will drive you out of your mind.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 8, 2008

I'm Google, And I've Just Found...The Internet

A new patent filing by Google evokes images of a new advertising campaign by AT&T featuring tv anchor Bill Kurtis traveling to the furthest regions of the earth and using a mobile broadband card to "find the internet."

Google seeks to take the internet to the seas by placing shipping containers filled with data centers on barges or other platforms.

And the energy source is quite efficient. Google wants to use the splashing of waves up against the barge to create energy to power the data centers.

Google wouldn't be the first to use shipping containers for servers. Hewlett-Packard, I.B.M., Dell and Sun Microsystems have all used the method, and Microsoft is building one of the world's largest data centers using shipping containers.

Google hopes that their data containers could be used at large events to ease the burden on the local infrastructure. They also seek to aid the military with their data containers.

What do you think of the patent? Share your impressions in the comments.

via NYT

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Association of National Advertisers Opposes Yahoo-Google Deal

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) have written a letter to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett expressing their opposition to an advertising deal between Yahoo and Google. The deal, which has come under much scrutiny from the US Department of Justice and a U.S. Senate committee, has Yahoo using Google ads in their search results.

Google has said they will proceed with the deal in early October. So far, there has been no action against the deal from the federal government.

Do you agree or disagree with the ANA? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

via Reuters

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Zillow Launches New Ad Network with Consortium of Newspapers

Real estate search engine Zillow.com has announced a new advertising network with its consortium of 282 newspapers from 11 companies. With a reach of over 63 million unique monthly consumers, the Zillow Advertising Network is the largest online real estate advertising network.

Advertisers on both Zillow and the newspapers will have the opportunity to buy from both inventories.

"The Zillow Advertising Network gives local and national advertisers unprecedented access to the largest online audience of home buying and selling consumers available, including the loyal, engaged audiences visiting Zillow and our newspaper partners," said Greg Schwartz, vice president of advertising sales at Zillow. "This affluent and qualified audience of consumers making major home-related purchases is extremely valuable to advertisers and can now be targeted across a range of geographic considerations."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo's oneSearch Now Default on AT&T's MEdia Net Mobile Portal

Yahoo's mobile search, oneSearch, is now set as the default mobile search engine on AT&T's MEdia Net portal. Users will be able to access news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos and web and mobile sites. Additionally, users will see ringtones, wallpaper, gaes and other content for their phones.

AT&T's YellowPages.com will still provide local search results.

"Our customers want mobile search to be convenient and intuitive, and Yahoo! oneSearch is an important step for us in delivering that level of experience to them," said Michael Bowling, vice president--Converged Services, AT&T.

"With Yahoo! oneSearch, we created an award-winning mobile-first search experience capable of delivering relevant answers to mobile users on-the-go. With over 60 partnerships with leading mobile operators around the globe, we are a leader in mobile search and are incredibly excited to bring Yahoo! oneSearch to more and more users every day," said Bruce Stewart, vice president and general manager, Connected Life Americas, Yahoo! Inc. "Together, AT&T and Yahoo! are meeting consumer demand for compelling mobile services, while creating scale for advertisers, enabling them to reach the rapidly growing audience of mobile consumers."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Killer PPC Ads: The Final Word

Search Engine Watch Expert - David Szetela Last week's column on PPC fundamentals sparked some feedback. In today's Profitable PPC column, "Killer PPC Ads: The Final Word," David Szetela responds, and clarifies some simple guidelines that will pave the way to pay-per-click nirvana: double-digit click-through-rates.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 5, 2008

xRank and the Yahoo Buzz Index

Recently, SEW Expert Erik Qualman examined Google Insights for search trends related to newly announced Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Like Barack Obama, being unknown sends people a-searching on the internet.

Google Trends and Insights gets a lot of attention when it comes to measuring searches, and so does measurement firm comScore.

But the number 2 and 3 search engines also provide insight into hot searches. So, let's take a look at Microsoft's xRank and Yahoo's Buzz Index to see what's hot in their user searches this week too.

Microsoft's xRank sorts hot searches by categories. The current categories are Celebrities, Musicians, Politicians, Blogger and Olympics.

Here's a screenshot of the Politicians page for this week:

The Yahoo Buzz Index has categories, but not one for politics. Here's a general look at the top searches:

What do you think of xRank and Buzz Index? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Incentives Key to Mobile Marketing Success

Incentives can help mobile users overcome their initial negative reactions to mobile advertising, according to survey data released by ABI Research.

37% said incentives would increase their response to a text-based ad

11% said incentives would have no impact

“We think that in general, advertisers and operators must tread carefully when delivering marketing messages to a consumer's mobile handset, especially given that many subscribers believe they are paying a significant amount of money for their mobile services,” says research director Michael Wolf. “However, we believe that marketing and advertising messaging that is properly crafted and that utilizes incentives could enjoy more acceptance on the part of the consumer.”

This is in line with recent data we've seen showing that online couponing is on the rise.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google AdWords Separates Content and Search Network Stats - FINALLY!

In the Search Engine Watch forums, user searchengineman (Does he wear a cape? I hope so!) noticed a change to his AdWords statistics. Now, he could check separate statistics for ads on the content network and ads via search.

So how did he feel about it?

In the words of a famous Etta James song, searchengineman wrote, "At last."

Check it for yourself. There's a new Statistics drop down menu, which lets you change your view to see content and search network stats in separate rows.

The AdWords team says, "By separating the statistics by network on your summary pages, you can not only see which campaigns or ad groups need your attention, but you can also identify which network you need to optimize for."

What do you think of the separation? Is this a welcome update? Let us know in the comments - or head over to the forums to join the conversation.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Analytics Now Shows When a Visitor Uses Chrome

Want to know when the uber early adopters and drinkers of the Google kool-aid are browsing to your site? Then check your Google Analytics.

GA is now showing Chrome in the browser section of your data. Chrome is the Google-developed browser that was released into, what else, beta this week.

Anyone checked their Analytics for this yet? Got anyone browsing from Chrome? Share in the comments!

Update from Kevin Newcomb: I wanted to share our early Chrome visitor stats for Search Engine Watch. For Wednesday and Thursday combined, we saw 4.4% of visitors using Chrome, compared to 51.7% using IE, 34.4% using Firefox, 4.5% on Safari, and 3.4% using another Mozilla browser.

It's very early to tell, and entirely non-scientific, but it appears that Chrome is taking its share mostly from Firefox, with a small dip into IE. In August, the browser usage of SEW visitors broke down like this: 52.9% IE, 37.1% Firefox, 4.4% Safari, and 3.7% Mozilla.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: All That Glitters Is Not Chrome

Search Engine Watch Expert - Frank Watson With the launch of Google's Chrome browser Tuesday, the Google machine moves into another territory. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "All That Glitters Is Not Chrome," Frank Watson and Kevin Newcomb ask if Chrome will grab a decent amount of market share and reignite the browser wars? Does Google even want it to?

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 4, 2008

Sugarrae: Google Pushed Twitter To NoFollow All Links?

While the rest of the world was distracted by the launch of Chrome, Sugarrae aka Rae Hoffman - definitely a woman who "pulls rank" - was covering the nofollowing of links over at Twitter at the behest of Google.

Her argument is powerful and once again challenges Google for pushing sites to do what they want. As she asks:

"If Google is the one who wants that web link nofollowed because some twitter profile pages may be automated bots or spammers, then it is time they realize that THEY are responsible for determining which of those individual pages is authoritative, trusted and legitimate enough to pass link popularity, by a method other than demanding that other websites and social networks change the ways they do business to help Google stop links being used as a form of currency and to manipulate their algorithm - an issue Google and Google alone created and profited from."

This should be read by everyone in our industry. Leave the shiny new browser alone for a few minutes and see where our futures are going. Thanks for not being distracted by Chrome.

Posted by Frank Watson on 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As consumers cut back, marketers offer “recession specials”

Earlier this week, comScore released the results of a study examining recent changes in consumer attitudes and perceptions about the state of the U.S. economy. The study found that consumers in all income segments are cutting back on spending due to concerns about the economy, and that they were doing so to an even greater extent in July 2008 than in April 2008.

So, what does this mean for search engine marketers?

Many consumers have become increasingly cost conscious and are turning to the Internet for pricing information. The survey findings revealed that nearly three out of four consumers believe the Internet has made it “a lot easier” or “somewhat easier” to find better, more useful pricing information.

In addition, 75 percent of respondents said that they believe the Internet will become an even more important channel for pricing information, with 41 percent of respondents saying it will be “a lot more important” and 34 percent of respondents saying it will be “somewhat more important” in the future.

Do you need some examples to drive this point home?

In New York, Andrew Jeffery of Minyanville.com reports, “It appears the city that never sleeps has finally succumbed to the economic slowdown, and it's not just the neon “Recession Special” sign outside Gray's Papaya.”

In San Francisco, Liza Zimmerman of the S.F. Wine & Cocktail Examiner reviews a “Recession special: the Viansa 2007 Dolcetto is another well-executed example of using classic Mediterranean grapes on California soil.”

When Hyundai asked the Complex Blog to review their first Genesis offering touching down in the states, the company best known for econo-boxes “threw Complex the keys and we took this recession special for a ride.”

But wait! There's more!

Go to the Rates and Registration Details page for SES Chicago 2008. Just like last year, there is an Early Bird Rate that enables you to save $200 if you register before November 21. But, unlike last year, there is also a “Recession Special,” which lets you save $600 if you register before September 26.

Recession%20special.jpg And if you want to appear as “sartorially challenged” as one SEM industry observer said “the brains of Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization are,” then turn up at SES Chicago wearing the “Recession Special Shirt” being offered by Ten Deep at Turntablelab.com. According to the review, “Nothing like a nice, timely shirt that reflects things going on in today's headlines.”

Of course, wearing such a shirt violates the dress code in the SES Speaker Guidelines, which states: "Business casual attire is recommended. Formal business attire is perfectly fine. If in doubt, overdress. You won't feel out of place, as many speakers will also be in formal attire. How you look has an impact on how well the audience receives your presentation."

It's a classic dilemna for marketers: Follow the guidelines or take advantage of today's headlines. What would I recommend? I'd advise you to jump on the "recession special" to save $600, but skip over the shirt. But, I should disclose that SES is a client. If you want to take more of a fashion risk, that's a decision that you'll have to make for yourself.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Adds Some Cities to Georgia Maps; Still Can't Find Abkhazia

Recently, I examined various online maps for their ability to provide data in the country of Georgia, a Caucasus state which was recently invaded by Russia.

Google left a lot to be desired, but today comes an announcement that more data has been added to their Georgia Maps. Notice in the screenshots below how more cities are visible upon a search for Tskhinvali today than a few weeks ago.

BEFORE

TODAY

Still, upon a search for Abkhazia, Google takes me to a business listing in for an institute dedicated to policy in the Georgian region.

What do you think of this update? Is Google still lagging behind on data for this region of the world? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Obama v. McCain in Online Display Ads, Video Views, and Searches

After two weeks of political conventions, comScore is releasing data regarding activity for the candidates of the two major political parties in the U.S.

comScore has analyzed the online display ad views, website video views, and searches conducted for Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.

Obama leads McCain in online display ad spending and searches conducted. McCain may want to look into competing better in online display ads - if they're working for the Senator from Illinois, something perhaps only his campaign knows. Both numbers probably speaks to Obama being less known as well as his popularity over McCain, which has been demonstrated in the polls.

McCain did begin outspending Obama in search advertising in May and June. Subsequently, the race tightened according to polls. Google has attributed both candidates' primary wins to their search advertising spends.

Here's are the charts from today's comScore release:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ad Network interCLICK Expands to Los Angeles

Fast growing ad network interCLICK is opening an office in Los Angeles. They've tapped Monica Seebohm to head the office, and have made her the Senior Director of Sales, Southwest. Seebohm was previously at ValueClick Media as a strategic accounts manager.

“Monica has tremendous sales experience with a strong track record for exceeding performance goals, managing and developing teams, and establishing solid customer relationships,” said Michael Katz, president, interCLICK, Inc. “She has valuable relationships in the Los Angeles area, particularly with the interactive community, and will be a strong asset for our team especially in terms of building greater brand recognition for interCLICK in the Southwest. In addition to our newly-established Chicago and San Francisco offices, expanding our presence in the Los Angeles area is an important milestone as we continue our rapid U.S. growth trajectory.”

In July, interCLICK named Jason Lynn, former Director of Solutions Engineering for Yahoo/Right Media, as Vice President of Product Management.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google AdWords Now Provides Geographic Performance Report

Google AdWords has added Geographic Performance reports to their Report Center. Now, you can get a better snapshot of how your AdWords campaigns are faring in various locations.

The Inside AdWords blog gave the following example of how you can use the new report:

Say, for example, you sell and ship gourmet ice cream to anywhere in the U.S. After running the report, you find that your ads are doing great in Miami, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona, but you're also finding a surprising amount of customers from Juneau, Alaska. Next step: refine your campaigns. By specifically targeting those locations where your ads perform best you can maximize your campaign's performance.

What do you think of the new Geographic Performance reports? Have you run one? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: (Google) Insights on VP Candidate Sarah Palin

Search Engine Watch Expert - Erik Qualman The recently announced Google Insights tool provides unprecedented data on Google's user searches and trends. In today's building brand equity column, "(Google) Insights on VP Candidate Sarah Palin," Erik Qualman offers three quick tips on how to leverage Google Insights, whether you're running a Presidential race or a brand marketing campaign.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Viral Link Building: Size Doesn't Always Matter

Search Engine Watch Expert - Justilien Gaspard Despite some popularly held ideas to the contrary, viral campaigns don't need to be massive to be successful. You can have a small campaign that has a big impact in your industry or community. In today's linkbuilding column, "Viral Link Building: Size Doesn't Always Matter," Justilien Gaspard explains that the power of viral marketing for link building comes from going after a targeted audience.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 3, 2008

AOL's Platform-A Launches iPhone Advertising Solution

AOL has announced that their ad-serving platform and network, Platform-A, is launching an iPhone ad optimization solution. The solution is offered through Third Screen Media and detects when web browsing is being conducted on an iPhone. AOL says the combination of the Third Screen Media mobile network gives Platform-A, which reaches 90% of the internet audience, the ability to deliver up to 75 million iPhone ads per month.

“Today's launch is a perfect example of how Platform-A's unmatched reach, solutions and technologies can benefit advertisers trying to reach consumers in the most compelling way,” said Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform-A. “We can not only help advertisers effectively reach iPhone users on WAP pages and Web pages, but we can also deliver banners optimized for display on the iPhone.”

Last month, Platform-A opened up mobile ads to third parties. In June, Platform-A was made available in Europe.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Camp Philly This Weekend

The Internet Marketers of Delaware Vally (IM_DV) have organized an unconference as they are calling it on their website. But in reality, they have rounded up an impressive group of speakers and are offering attendance for only $21 for the 2 day event.

Our own Kevin Ryan will be speaking, along with many other well known names in our space. Li Evans, Kim Krause Berg, Greg Meyers, Debbie Weil, Geoff Livingston and Will Reynolds are just some of the featured speakers.

The event is being done in conjunction with PodCamp so there are many areas to pick up tips and learn. The sessions have been broken into Beginner, Intermediate and two Advanced programs with 40 sessions to choice from over the 2 days.

So if you are in the area I would suggest stopping by. Hey where else can you get a great cheese steak and a 2 day conference for under $30!

Posted by Frank Watson on 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Idearc Creates Executive Council, Reorganizes Sales Division

Idearc CEO Scott Klein has announced the nine members of the new Executive Council. In addition to the new Council, Idearc is reorganizing their sales operations.

The nine Council members are:

Samuel D. (Dee) Jones, executive vice president, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Jones, who also served as senior vice president - Investor Relations, has been Acting CFO since November 2007.
Cody Wilbanks, executive vice president - General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Wilbanks has been Acting General Counsel since March.
Sandy Henjum, executive vice president - Transformation and Marketing. Henjum's centralized organization will guide a wide range of business transformation initiatives that address sales productivity, new products, pricing programs and market and customer segmentation.
Briggs Ferguson continues as president - Internet. Ferguson, a former Citysearch executive who joined Idearc in April, will focus on executing Idearc's complete digital strategy as rapidly as possible.
Georgia Scaife, executive vice president - Human Resources and Employee Administration. Scaife's organization has been restructured to further centralize the department and improve its efficiency and focus.
Frank Gatto continues in his role as executive vice president – Operations. Gatto's organization is responsible for receivables management and billing, sales support and customer care, publishing and printing services, distribution, Information Technology (IT) and other operational functions.

In sales, three Vice Presidents will oversee new divisions, divided into East, West, and Central.

Mike Pawlowski will oversee East and Scott Laver will oversee Central. Newcomber Dave Bethea joins Idearc from PrimeSource Building Products, an independent distributor of building products, where he served as regional Vice President for Operations.

"I'm very pleased and excited about our new organization," Klein said. "I'm thrilled to be able to make this announcement almost one month ahead of schedule in order to allow us to even more aggressively move ahead with our transformational plans."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google AdWords Releases New Editor Guide

The Google AdWords Agency blog has announced the release of a new guide for AdWords Editor, their account management tool. The guide is available as a 2 page PDF download.

In it you'll find tips for bulk editing, copying and pasting, error checking and exception requests, account performance evaluation, and collaboration. You'll also find several keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate Editor even faster.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Q Interactive Launches Display Ad Network with Predictive Behavioral Targeting

Digital marketing firm, Q Interactive, has announced the launch of a display advertising network that offers predictive behavioral targeting. The service is powered by Q Interactive's proprietary targeting technology, the TrueConversion Engine, and uses a combination of offline data and online self-reported geo-demographic, behavioral and transaction-based data to predict which consumers are most likely to respond to an ad.

"Most behavioral targeting in the marketplace is really just contextual re-targeting -- delivering a female-oriented ad to consumers who have visited a women's lifestyle site, for instance," said Matt Wise, president and chief executive officer of Q Interactive. "This approach is not much more advanced than an ad exec in the 1950s placing a detergent or diapers ad in Family Circle. What differentiates Q Interactive's behavioral targeting is that it's proactive rather than reactive; we use a wealth of online and offline data to proactively predict the consumers most likely to respond to a given ad."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 2, 2008

Google's Picasa Launching Face Recognition Software

At noon in Mountain View, Google will announce the launch of face recognition software in their latest version of Picasa, according to Cnet.com.

The software will help people tag names to their photographs - handy for that odd face in a group shot you are not sure of. Now I wonder how long it will be before one of the crime shows makes use of it in the field when they do not have access to their lab!

Hey it may not have access to police records yet... but knowing Google a collaboration no doubt will eventually come. Versions for small police departments would make sense and further ingrain the brand.

Posted by Frank Watson on 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

140 Million Mobile Social Users by 2013, Generating $410 Million

Social networking is hot, but connecting on a mobile phone is on the rise. ABI Research projects that by 2013, over 140 million mobile users will use social networks on their phones, generating $410 million in subscription revenues in the process.

And just where will this growth be the strongest?

ABI research director Michael Wolf says, “That uptick is based on assumed acceptance levels in the giant emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Those countries are wildcards, very difficult to estimate, so we are quite conservative in our forecasts.”

Last month, ABI projected location-based social networks to generate $3.3 billion by 2013.

What do you think of these projections? Let us know in the comments!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Courting Agencies for Advertising Beyond Search

Traditional advertising agencies have long been wary of Google. That's no surprise, really, when a company comes out of almost nowhere to change an entire industry.

And as Google has grown, the search company has expanded beyond search to create revenue streams from other all-too-lucrative advertising mediums.

Now, Google is courting agencies in an attempt to get them to divert those ad spends via Google ad products.

The New York Times features a story about how Google employees set up shop at an agency for a day to expand upon the technology and opportunities the internet giant has to offer. It wasn't a laptop-fest. Google brought couches, bean bag chairs, candy and food. This isn't your three martini lunch on Madison Avenue, but it is making an impression.

Still, many remain wary. They feel Google is just using the ad agencies to get to their clients, with an ulterior motive of stealing them away.

What do you think of Google's efforts? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

AdEx Acquires Online Lead Gen Firm, Bay Harbor

Online marketing company AdEx has announced the acquisition of Bay Harbor, an online lead generation firm. Bay Harbor uses a proprietary software platform to perform behavioral targeting which identifies marketers' best prospects in several financial services and other consumer interest segments.

"Bay Harbor's lead generation platform allows us to capitalize on the ever-growing online financial services sector," said Scott Rewick, Chief Executive Officer of AdEx Media. "This acquisition is synergistic with our existing business and will further enable us to meet the needs of our large customer base of advertisers, publishers, distributors, online retailers and consumers."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google OS Arrives, In the Form of a Browser

Rumors of a "Google Operating System" have been around for a few years now, fueled by Google's expansion into e-mail, analytics, desktop search, Web applications, pizza delivery...well, maybe not that.

Today, Google has made a significant step toward becoming a Web-based operating system by launching a beta version of the open-source Google Chrome browser, which has been optimized to run Web applications rather than simply rendering HTML on a page.

"All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends -- all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build."

Chrome's main features include a beefed-up Javascript engine (aka V8), which will improve performance of AJAX apps like Gmail and Google Docs. It also offers better memory allocation, and an architecture that keeps apps running in separate windows as isolated processes -- so a crashed app won't bring down the browser, and security is markedly improved.

The browser includes its own URL box, which Google is calling the "Omnibox." It incorporates features from Google Suggest, browser history and search history.

As with the Google Toolbar before it, Chrome will also present an opportunity for Google to collect more user behavioral data. On the plus side, that could help Google develop better Web analytics applications. More cynically, Google can also take this mountain of user data and use it to better monetize its ad platforms.

While this move can be seen as a challenge to Microsoft on the browser front, it's more of a threat to Microsoft's Windows operating system. By developing its own open-source browser, Google is able to establish de-facto standards for Web applications.

Combined with Google Gears coming at Web applications from the developer side, and there's not much use for a desktop operating system any more.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Google Offers Video Sharing in Business Applications Suite

Google has added video sharing to its business applications suite, Google Apps Premier Edition. The feature is being called Google Video for business and there are high expectations for the application.

Matthew Glotzbach, product management director of Google Enterprise told Reuters, "What YouTube did in the consumer world, Google Video for business is going to do in the enterprise."

Google Apps Premier Edition is $50 a year per user and includes e-mail, scheduling, Web site design capabilities, and other business software. Starting September 8, educational users can try Premier Edition free for the first 6 months and $10 a year afterwards for video capabilities.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SEW Experts: 6 Tips for Small Business Marketing Success

Search Engine Watch Expert - Carrie Hill How can the success of a sticky idea be analyzed and repeated? In his new book, SES keynote speaker Dan Heath shares some thoughts that can help marketers find success. In today's small business search engine marketing column, "6 Tips for Small Business Marketing Success," Carrie Hill looks at how these rules can be applied to small business Web marketers.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: How Much Are You Spending on SEO?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson Organic search results get many more clicks than the paid search results. And, due to the nature of SEO, you're not limited to a certain "budget." So why aren't more companies spending big bucks on SEO? In today's organic search engine optimization column, "How Much Are You Spending on SEO?," Mark Jackson examines some of the reasons for the gap between the benefits of search engine optimization and its share of marketing budgets.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 1, 2008

Google Chrome: Google Open Source Browser

Philipp Lenssen over at Blogscoped has a detailed article about Google's browser project including a link to a great cartoon. Apparently the rumors were true and the former Mozilla employees have been busy.

Posted by Frank Watson on 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Aaron Wall and Wordtracker Publish ‘50 Kick-Ass Keyword Strategies'

Wordtracker has teamed up Aaron Wall to publish new e-book, “50 Kick-Ass Keyword Strategies,” which offers simple, smart and speedy ways to use keywords to attract more customers online.

Or, to keep the alliteration going, “50 Kick-Ass Keyword Strategies” is packed with pointed, practical tips that focus on what today's online marketers care about most: getting real PROFIT from keywords.

“We wanted to create a simple, readable book that got people buzzing with fresh keyword ideas—ideas they could start using right away to improve their business profit. And knowing how busy people are, we insisted that Aaron cut out the fluff and get to the meat of what you
really need to know,” said Ken McGaffin, the CMO Wordtracker.com, in a press release issued over the weekend.

“Online success is not so much about spending tons of money, but more about working hard to come up with unique, creative and useful ideas that attract and engage your audiences,” said Aaron Wall in the release.

This practical e-book gives businesses of all sizes lessons and insights that include:

-- Clever, little-known strategies for getting more valuable website visitors.

-- Outwitting competitors, and impressing clients with surefire ways to skyrocket their website traffic.

-- How to reach beyond the obvious keywords to discover terms and phrases with untapped commercial value.

-- How getting rid of words like free and discount can boost your conversion rates and get better customers.

-- How mining analytics data can be the key to uncovering valuable, low-competition keywords that bring in valuable streams of traffic.

-- How a site's search box is the key to finding profitable new keywords and content ideas as well as ideas for new products to add to a website.

Wall added, “It's not just the right keywords that guarantee your online success -- but how you use them. Most marketers tend to blindly follow the same, tired research path that everybody else follows. As a result, they miss out on all of the traffic and profits that some clever keyword thinking could bring them.”

“50 Kick-Ass Keyword Strategies” is available as an e-book at www.wordtracker.com/academy/kick-ass and retails at $39. Check it out.

Or, check out my interview with McGaffin at SES London 2008. It appears that one of the new groups to discover the power of keyword research is ... journalists! There goes the neighborhood.

Ken McGaffin, WordTracker, SES London 2008 Keyword Research

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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