December 2008

December 31, 2008

Will Google Track the Stomach Bug Like It Did the Flu?

If you missed my posts on Monday, it's because I was up at 3am blowing chunks into the porcelain throne the night before. It takes a lot for me to not blog, even when I'm sick, so you know I was hit with something awful. And no, I wasn't hungover.

Instead, as I later found out, I fell victim to this year's stomach bug. I picked it up at a holiday party here in Ohio, where I am doing the annual visit the in-laws thing. After garnering enough energy by Monday afternoon to Tweet about my ordeal, I learned from the @ replies, that I was not alone.

The stomach bug was not only afflicting others in Ohio, but a search on Google News revealed that it had earlier been spreading in the western part of my home state of North Carolina and throughout the U.S.

I also learned that the British were more likely to call it "norovirus" and that it was spreading like wildfire throughout the UK. (It is also called the "Norwalk virus" which is only completely ironic since I'm in Norwalk, Ohio.)

The stomach bug is not generally deadly, though it gives symptoms that send many to the emergency room. But it's lack of lethal-ness is perhaps the reason why Google has not been officially tracking it like it did the flu.

But oh - what a public service if it did! So, I went to Google Trends to see for myself how "stomach bug" and "norovirus" were, um, trending:

As you can see, the ailment is actually trending lower this year than in previous years, but it is on the rise.

Here are some tips to keep this trending lower:

Prevention Tips from the CDC:

Frequently wash your hands, especially after toilet visits and changing diapers and before eating or preparing food.
Carefully wash fruits and vegetables, and steam oysters before eating them.
Thoroughly clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces immediately after an episode of illness by using a bleach-based household cleaner.
Immediately remove and wash clothing or linens that may be contaminated with virus after an episode of illness (use hot water and soap).
Flush or discard any vomitus and/or stool in the toilet and make sure that the surrounding area is kept clean.

Treatment Tips from the CDC

Get hydrated The vomitting and diarrhea dehydrate you. Drink water, oral rehydration fluids (ORF), or juice. Sports drinks will not work in this case.
Stay away from people You're contagious from the moment you get the bug until 3 days after.
If symptoms persist, see a doctor The stomach bug should go away in 24-48 hours. If it doesn't, get medical attention.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watch a Live Stream of the Times Square New Year's Celebration

TimesSquare.com is offering a free, live stream of the most famous New Year's celebration in the world. It will begin the stream at 4pm and last until 12:15am. Mogulus will provide the streaming technology.

This way you can enjoy Times Square without being surrounded by thousands of drunk, screaming people, having beer poured all over you and not having access to public bathrooms.

Or, if you prefer, you can go to Times Square and use your Wifi-enabled device to access TimesSquare.com (provided you can grab a Wifi signal) and be completely ironic with yourself.

No matter how you ring in 2009, and to our friends our the globe who already have - Happy New Year!

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

50 Most Memorable Moments in Search for 2008

It was one heck of a year for the search industry. The convergence of outside economic forces, a wild presidential election and the 2008 Beijing Olympics were all signs of an industry becoming more and more mainstream and global. Here's a look at the completely subjective biggest stories in search from 2008:

Microsoft Makes Unsolicited Offer for Yahoo! - On February 1, one of tech's biggest companies made a generous offer of $31 a share for the number two search engine. CEO Jerry Yang was defiant in his stance that the company he founded over 10 years ago would remain independent. Yahoo! turned the initial offer down, endured an "ultimatum" from Steve Ballmer, was rumored to have rejected an increased offer of $33 a share, and neglected to negotiate selling off just the search portion of Yahoo!. Yahoo!'s stock price is now hovering in the low double digits, and many analysts think it will be sold in 2009.
Search Advertising Plays Major Role in Elections From the primaries to the general presidential election, it appeared that whoever outspent their competitor headed to the next step. Barack Obama, with his arsenal of cash, went on an online advertising shopping spree and will be inaugurated in a mere 21 days.
Google and Yahoo! Form Search Advertising Partnership, DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit Threat Shuts Down Google/Yahoo! Deal - Google made it quite clear they didn't want to see search engines #2 and 3 integrate. So they offered up a search advertising deal to Yahoo!, who in their desperation to avoid a hostile Microsoft acquisition said yes. After the Microsoft negotiations died, so did the Google deal. It seems the team over in Mountain View wasn't up for a battle with the Department of Justice and nixed the deal just an hour before the suit was served.
Carl Icahn Threatens Yahoo with Hostile Takeover of Board, Later Agrees to Compromise and Joins Expanded Yahoo! Board Investor Carl Icahn wasn't happy with Yahoo's rejection of Microsoft's generous offer, so he threatened a hostile takeover of his own for the annual shareholders meeting. But just before the meeting occurred, a deal was struck. Yahoo would expand its board, adding Icahn to the table.
Jerry Yang Steps Down as Yahoo! CEO After spending just a little over a year in the CEO seat, Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang announced his resignation. He will remain in the position until a replacement is found and then will remain at the company as Chief Yahoo.
Twitter Becomes Agent of Search Whether you deem it a microblogging tool or a mass chat client, Twitter went mainstream this year and the search industry was smack dab in the mix of things. Many users found Twitter useful for the actual conducting of searches, while others found it useful in networking.
Google Completes DoubleClick Acquisition with EU Approval Even though Google announced the DoubleClick acquisition in 2007 and it was approved by US regulators late last year, the deal wasn't finalized until EU approval was gained earlier this spring. Once it was, Google began the great integration. Google also sold the search marketing arm, Performics, to Publicis.
Page Load Time Affects Quality Score In its everpresent goal to improve ads, Google AdWords added yet another factor to Quality Score - landing page load time.
Microsoft and Facebook Enter Into Search Partnership. After rumors of a possible acquisition, Microsoft and Facebook simply expanded their existing partnership, which has the software giant invested in a 1.6% stake in the company, to include a Live Search on the social network.
Yahoo Wins Gold in the Search Engine Olympics. Yahoo was the big search winner when it came to Olympics-related web traffic. Microsoft won big, too, with its partnership with NBC, which covered the big event. Meanwhile, Google seemed to sit the event out entirely.
G1, the First Google Android Phone, Released Through T-mobile
A Judge orders Google to hand over user data in a suit brought by Viacom over YouTube. Later, Viacom agrees to let Google scramble user IDs and IP addresses. A Judge threw out a similar case that IO Group brought against YouTube competitor, Veoh.
Hulu, an online video site for copyrighted work by major networks, launches to compete with YouTube.
Google Adds Ads across various sites
Google launches VisualRank, which is PageRank for images
Microsoft acquires semantic search engine Powerset
Yahoo Indexes Microformats, Opens Up Search Technology with SearchMonkey, BOSS, and Fire Eagle.
Microsoft incentivizes Live Search with Cashback and Search Perks
Yahoo changes minimum bid policy on search ads
Yahoo rebrands display advertising platform AMP as APT and launches
Google Launches Search Within Search Results
Yahoo! acquires assets of the Inquisitor 3 Plug-in for Safari, speeds it up, adds languages and then expands the search suggestion plugin to Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Google sites surpass Yahoo sites in traffic for the first time.
Google, Yahoo & MySpace Team Up for OpenSocial, AOL signs on later.
Cuil launches under much fanfare and then much criticism.
Live Search implements instant answers, Wikipedia into search results.
AOL and Yahoo redesign home pages
YouTube rolled out sponsored videos
Google launches Image Search by content type
Yahoo! acquires analytics company, IndexTools.
AOL buys Bebo and SocialThing
Ask.com to acquire Dictionary.com family of reference sites
YouTube launches Insight, limited analytics for users regarding their uploaded videos.
Adobe Provides Flash Technology to Google and Yahoo for Better Indexing, Google Analytics now tracks Flash Content.
Yahoo, Ask, Zillow conduct layoffs
Google offers video Adsense units.
Compete acquired by TNS.
Googlers Head to Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, and Zillow.
Cable firms collaborate to compete with Google
Visual search engines Searchme, Viewzi launch
Answers sites see increased traffic; Hearst acquires Answerology, Answers.com integrates with Wikianswers.com.
Google AdWords offers TV Ads for everyone.
AOL's display advertising platform, Platform-A, expands to Europe.
Google Trends goes from hourly to daily, launches Trends for Websites.
Google launches Ad Planner, a media planning and buying aid for media buyers.
Time Warner announces AOL split
Yahoo! Buzz opens to all publishers
IAC, parent company of Ask.com, splits into five companies.
Google enables cross-language search for News and Enterprise Search Appliance.
LinkedIn launches new search platform

Honorable Mentions

Microsoft adds Image Hotspots to Live Search
Georgian conflict exposes online mapping weaknesses
Google launches Knol, its own version of Wikipedia.
Google Lively comes and goes.
Yahoo tests Glue Pages in India, then brings modified version to the States

What are your most memorable moments in search for 2008? Leave a comment and let us know!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Online Holiday Shopping Down 3% Overall for 2008

It's the news I hoped I didn't have to share, but alas it has arrived. We hoped during the flat Black Friday and decent Cyber Monday that we could edge out the holiday season with a slight gain. But while web site traffic was up by 5% to retail sites this holiday season, it didn't translate into an increase in sales. Instead, e-tailers saw an overall decline in holiday sales of 3% in 2008, according to comScore

“The 2008 online holiday shopping season has declined 3 percent versus year ago, falling behind our expectation of flat sales this year,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “This marks the first time we've seen negative growth rates for the holiday season since we began tracking e-commerce in 2001. The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online.”

The good news, in my humble opinion, is that 2007, the year to which 2008 is being compared to, was somewhat of a banner year. It was up 19% over 2006. So, 2008 was still up 16% over two years ago. 2006 was also a huge year over 2005. I think when we hear Wall Street folks talk about the markets correcting themselves, this 3% decline is symbolic of that. I just don't know how the growth of online sales in 2006-2007 could really have been sustained.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Cuil May Sound Cool But Did Not Kill Google This Year

Touted as a possible Google killer when it launched July this year, Cuil has had a disappointing start.

Traffic numbers reflect the company's lack of stickiness following its launch. TechCrunch sees it as flat lining.

Interesting that Business Week has it amongst its most promising start ups of 2008.

Kevin Ryan gave us a thorough examination of the problems with Cuil and DaniWeb did an interesting analysis of their search results in comparison to Google.

Posted by Frank Watson on 4:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Marissa Mayer To Leave Google?

Rumor has it Google VP Marissa Mayer will be leaving the company in 2009, Gawker reported.

Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, joined Google from Stanford's graduate computer science department in 1999 as the company's first female engineer. She also is a part-time introductory computer programming teacher at Stanford and has been given the Centennial Teaching Award and the Forsythe Award.

In a recent interview Mayer seems to contradict these rumors when she talked about the future of search and Google. "We think that when you look at the winning search engine in 2020 and what traits it's likely to have, we think the one thing that will be true is that it will understand more about you the user."

Mayer was the keynote speaker at SES San Jose 2007 and is one of the more public faces of the company. She has worked with many of the company's newer products and has been known as a long time advocate of the minimalist homepage.

Posted by Frank Watson on 3:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Use Caution When Growing Your Site

Search Engine Watch Expert - Eric Enge If you're considering drastic changes in the volume of pages on your site, you might want to reconsider. In today's By the Numbers column, "Use Caution When Growing Your Site," Eric Enge explains how user experience combined with the infamous Google sandbox could derail your best of intentions.

» Full story

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Taking a Small Business to the Big Time Through Search

Search Engine Watch Expert - Aaron Shear Small business owners can make it big on the web, but they must understand how online retailing works. In today's Big Biz column, "Taking a Small Business to the Big Time Through Search," Aaron Shear shares how site usability, store credibility, and the right keywords can make or break an e-commerce effort.

» Full story

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 30, 2008

Dumb and Dumber: E!'s The Soup Blog Links to a YouTube Video Taken Down By E!

I'm a big fan of The Soup (Fridays, ~~11pm~~ 10pm EST), an E! network clip show that makes fun of the entertainment industry. It's where I first learned that the camera-shy Amish were selling fireplaces that you can roll around the house (only 2 per household!). It's also where the whole Cameron Mathis' thong-no-wait-it's-a-tshirt scandal erupted.

So when I was reading The Soup blog featuring a YouTube video about the Amish fireplace (here's visual proof, click to enlarge)

and the copy below included a link about the Cameron Mathis situation, naturally, I clicked on it. Here's what I found:

In case you can't read that, it says:
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by E! Entertainment Television

That's right. E! linked to a YouTube video which it had YouTube take down because of its own copyright.

Give it up, E! YouTube had 100 million unique visitors in October. Don't you want people watching your network? Ok, at least The Soup?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Lawrence Lessig Calls for the Demolition of the FCC

Just weeks before the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Lawrence Lessig has taken to the pages of Newsweek to call for the demolition of the FCC. His reasoning is that the FCC curries favor for monopolies which keeps big business and big beaurocracies in power.

Lessig wants the FCC replaced by a government regulation agency he dubs the iEPA, the Innovation Environment Protection Agency. The agency would be established by Congress and would keep a check on monopolies and the government in order to spur and protect innovation.

While Lessig makes some good points about the use of patents and copyrights, trading one government agency for another doesn't seem like a plausible solution.

Lessig's primary goal is the desire of many Americans - to rid government of corruption in order to create a level playing field for innovation, technology and business. His idea with the iEPA is that no one in the agency would have ties to the industry. But how do you find qualified individuals without ties?

Furthermore, the current FCC is already enabling some of the goals that Lessig desires, such as open spectrum. This year's spectrum auction was won by Verizon but requires, due to a big enough bid by Google, to keep the spectrum open.

If Lessig truly wanted to create change, he could have probably had the job of FCC chairman. He's been friends with the President-elect since they taught together at the University of Chicago.

Whatever the reality behind Lessig's piece, the man is a curiosity indeed. His keynote speech at SES Chicago was appropriately academic, demonstrating the obvious need for archaic federal regulations to be updated for the YouTube hybrid generation.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pizza Yellow Pages Searches Expected to Soar in January

Well here's an interesting nuanced piece of information. Searches for pizza on yellow pages tend to peak in January, according to the Yellow Pages Association. It starts with the very first day of the month, when football games fuel the need for a greasy pie. Football continues the calls to local pizzerias with the NFL playoff series (Go Panthers!).

This year, politics could play a roll in puffing up pizza pertinent searches with the inauguration of Barack Obama occurring on January 20th. Of course, if you didn't vote for the man, you can always buy a pie on that day in celebration of yours truly, who will turn 31 on that very day (and whose birthdays are always overshadowed every four years by the unfortunately timed presidential event.)

Other interesting tidbits about pizza searchers:

52% are looking for a local restaurant
The most likely pizza searcher is a single male, aged 18-24, with a college degree and renting in the Northeast.
Maine is the most pizzeria-saturated state with four pizzerias for every 10,000 people.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CitySquares Expands to Delaware and Maryland

In August we learned that CitySquares.com was the fastest growing search engine according to Quantcast. They also announced that they would be slowly but surely expanding their reach from just local search in the northeast to the rest of the United States. Earlier this month, that expansion began.

Today, CitySquares officially made the Delaware and Maryland sites live.

How will the rest of the country roll out? Here's what to expect, according to CitySquares co-founder Bob Leland:

To give you an idea of how we're rolling out, we started in the northeast, are currently knocking down the mid-Atlantic states, and making our way down the coast to Florida. We will then move west towards the great Mississippi River and then jump to the Pacific coast. We'll be skipping over a few less populous states as we roll-out and circle back to them. Our overall roll-out plan shows us launching about 40 states in 30 days.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SEW Experts: The Paid Links Debate Rages On

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson To buy a link or not buy a link? That is the question that keeps going and going with no good answer. In today's Au Natural column, "The Paid Links Debate Rages On," Mark Jackson offers up some frank talk on the pros and cons of purchasing links.

» Full story

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Meet the Conference Speakers at SES London 2009 - Part 2

Yesterday, we took a look at video interviews with half a dozen of the conference speakers who will be at SES London 2009. Today, we'll look at another six of the people who will be making presentations at one or more of the sessions which will be held at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, Feb. 17-20, 2009.

SES%20London%202008%20Orion%20Panel%20All%20Star%20Analytics%20Team.jpg Now, what is it worth hearing these top search engine experts speak? Some of them currently have a contract minimum of $10,000 per month. Some of them charge up to $1,000 an hour for consulting. Some of them charge $10,000 to $15,000 for speaking engagements that last 30 minutes to 2 hours. And some of them charge $5,000 to $25,000 for training workshops.

Hey, even with the U.S. dollar worth less than .69 British pounds, you couldn't afford to hire 47 of these the search engine experts to visit your organization for four days.

But you can hear more than a third of them speak at SES London 2009. (The conference is organized into three concurrent tracks, so you can't hear everyone speak - unless you bring a team of three people to the conference. But, that's a topic that I'll tackle next week.)

So, who are these search engine experts and what SEM tips, tactics and strategies can you learn from them - individually and collectively - that will grow your business online? In alphabetical order, here are another six video interviews that were conducted in 2008 with conference speakers who will be presenting at SES London 2009.

First up is Liana Evans, Director of Internet Marketing for KeyRelevance. She's speaking about "Online Video Update - The Next Wave" on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, and she's moderating the "Site Clinic" on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009. I interviewed Li at SES Toronto 2008 about winning social media strategies from companies such as Dell, Houlihan's, and Loblaw's.

Li Evans on Social Media Success and BBQ Sauce

Next up is Cindy Krum, CEO of Rank-Mobile. She's speaking about "Mobile Search Update - The Next Generation" on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Cindy at SES San Jose 2008 about mobile's evolution, its impact on Web connectivity, phones, web browsing, and death of the .mobi.

Cindy Krum, Blue Moon Works discusses mobile

Next up is Jennifer Evans Laycock, Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Guide. She's moderating "Social Responsibility in a 2.0 World" on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, speaking about "SEO Through Blogs & Feeds" on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, and teaching the "Reaching Your Audience Through Blogs" training workshop on Friday, Feb. 20, 2009. Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media, who is also speaking at SES London 2009, talked with Jennifer at SES San Jose 2008 about the best tips on viral campaigns and social media marketing, especially for small business who want to make the most of their business online without spending too much money.

Small Business Viral Marketing Tips, SES San Jose 2008

Next up is Michel Leconte, CEO of SEO Samba. He's speaking about "SEO Through Blogs & Feeds" on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. Byron Gordon of SEO-PR talked with Michel at SES Chicago 2008 about their new platform technology that provides SEO campaign management.

SEO Samba at SES Chicago 2008

Next up is Amanda Watlington, Owner of Searching for Profit. She is moderating the Orion Panel about "Universal & Blended Search" on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, moderating the "Search Advertising Tools" and speaking about "Video & Podcast SEO" on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. I interviewed Amanda at SES Chicago 2008 about how to get the most out of your marketing campaigns in today's economic times.

Amanda Watlington, Searching for Profit, on SEO in tough times at Chicago 2008

Finally, there is Richard Zwicky, Founder and CEO of Enquisite. He's speaking on the Orion Panel about "Measuring Success in a 2.0 World" on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. Bryon Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Richard at SES San Jose 2008 about click fraud.

Richard Zwicky, Enquisite, discusses click fraud

Now, this is just a sample of the search engine experts who will be conference speakers at SES London 2009. If you want to a more comprehensive list, go to SES London Speakers.

As I mentioned above, I'll take a look next week at the wisdom of bringing a team of three people from your organization to the definitive event for UK and European marketers, corporate decision makers, webmasters and search engine marketing (SEM) specialists, including pay per click (PPC) advertisers and search engine optimization (SEO) consultants.

In other words, "If you can't bring 47 search engine experts to your organization, then bring your organization to 47 search engine experts." Okay, so maybe the original English translation by Frances Bacon said something about Mohammad and a mountain. But, a more modern translation would be: Take advantage of the Special Group Discounts for SES London 2009.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

YouTube Doesn't Change The Way We Think - It Matches the Way We Think

Clive Thompson, over at Wired, and titling his post in the third person, is saying that YouTube is changing the way we think. Oh contraire.

It matches the way we already think.

It should be more common knowledge, that people learn and think in different ways. But years of "reading, writing, and arithmatic" has so many thinking that TV and video games rot your brain.

But they don't. So many of us learn, think, and communicate visually. Video provides us with the opportunity to truly express ourselves in ways that our brains have long desired.

One of the reasons my family chose to homeschool was the crude lack of technology in our school district. My son is very much a visual learner. Now, he uses YouTube as a search engine, since reading is such a struggle for him. He can watch news reports, DIY videos, and yes, he has his very own YouTube channel that he uses to communicate his thoughts on Mario, Bionicles, and Transformers to anyone interested in the matter.

That video is going mainstream and people are thinking visually is really not as far fetched as some want to believe. History has shown that people in ancient civilizations carved drawings as their first and instinctive form of communication.

If anything, it is written communication that changed mankind, and now we have a mix of the manners in which people think. The obviously great think about the internet as a whole is the ability to match so many different types of learning and communication.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 29, 2008

Does Google Weight Algorithm In Their Own Favor?

I was looking for something about analytics today so went to Google and did a search. The number one result was Google Analytics - not surprising given it is very popular and very discussed. But a closer look showed it had 3 listings for the site and one for the blog - a bit of a home field advantage.

So I looked a little deeper.

A search for catalog and catalogue and low and behold Google catalogs tops the list. A little curious - they cannot possibly be the best known online catalogs.

And on to email. We know Yahoo has the biggest email program and yet it comes in second behind them. Does Yahoo just not know how to optimize?

Interestingly, a search for videos places Google Video above YouTube which they also own and is one of the most popular sites on the web.

So is there a self-interest factor in their algorithm or have human hands been involved?

Hey they own it so have every right to present data any way they want - but a little transparency on this would be good.

Posted by Frank Watson on 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Search Will Get Smarter: The Prediction Made Every Year

The prediction that search engines will get smarter has been made by a number of people. And surprise, surprise it is one that seems to be made every year. Guess it is the easiest one to make.

In 1999, Microsoft was on a mission to make its engine smarter .

In 2001, getting a search engine to think like a human was a method touted to make it smarter.

In 2002, natural language improvements seemed to be the way to make search engines smarter.

In 2003, LookSmart thought the answer was to look smarter. Funny, this was also the year Mooter Search was launched in Australia and was heralded as a humanized msart engine - wonder whatever happened to them.

2004 saw the launch of Accoona that was hailed as a smarter engine using synonyms and not exact word matches in its searches. This method is now used by virtually all engines.

In 2005, smarter search was supposed to come from niched engines such as travel search engines. Though Ask - still known as AskJeeves - saw the future in Web Answers as a supplement to their Smart Search.

2006 saw the launch of ChaCha - the human-powered search engine. It was also the year Google started its customized search - another answer to smarter search. Former SEWer Chris Sherman was even quoted by the Times Online saying it would find the needle and not the haystack.

Last year the integration of mobile phones and localized results was seen as the smart move for the future though at least one that would take 5 years to be fully functional.

So as you read the predictions over the next few weeks keep this in mind. Search engines will always be getting smarter, but sometimes the methods suggested do not bear the fruit.

Posted by Frank Watson on 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Meet the Conference Speakers at SES London 2009 – Part 1

Search Engine Strategies (SES) London is coming up Feb. 17-20, 2009. If the economy in the U.K. is anything like the economy in the U.S., then somebody somewhere in your organization is going to ask why you're planning to spend four days out of the office.

SES%20London%202008.jpg Hey, they ask that question every year. But, now they expect you to hunker down like everyone else and wait for things to eventually get better. Well, you can wait it out – like many people seem to be doing these days – or you can learn the SEM tips, tactics and strategies that will grow your business online.

Or, as Winston Churchill once said, “I never worry about action, but only inaction.”

So, if you attend SES London 2009, what can you learn? According to the conference and expo website, you can learn:
• How search engines list web sites for free and through paid placements.
• How to get free “organic” traffic by building a site that pleases search engines and your visitors.
• How to efficiently purchase listings guaranteed to rank your company at the top of search engine results.
• How to calculate the ROI of your search marketing efforts by tracking your visitors from the time they hit your site until they buy-and get tips on improving conversion if they don't.
• How to build links that generate traffic to your web site, and how to avoid the penalties of “spamming” the search engines.
• What's coming next in the constantly evolving world of web search, and how you can profit from those changes.

But, you can learn most of that by reading the 10 search engine marketing and search engine optimization books that I wrote about back on Dec. 16, 2008. But there are some things that books can't teach you.

For example, reading books won't help you network with your peers. And, if you want to learn the ins-and-outs of search engine marketing from top search experts and the search engines themselves, then you need to go where they gather. And I can confidently predict that they'll be gathered in the same place (the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington) at the same time (Feb. 17-20, 2009).

How can I possible make this outlandish prediction? Because, I know they will be speaking at SES London 2009. (It isn't rocket science.)

Search Engine Strategies London is a great place to network with fellow marketers and search engine industry professionals. The conference gives you access to the world's most comprehensive gathering of search engine marketing and optimization-related solutions providers and potential partners.

Today, I'm going to share video interviews with half a dozen of these conference speakers. While the interviews were conducted in 2008, they'll all be speaking at SES London 2009.

Tomorrow, I'll share another six video interviews. I'm listing them in alphabetical order, although it's worth noting that the conference has been organized by Mike Grehan, the fifth interview below.

First up is Andy Atkins-Krueger, Managing Director of Web Certain Europe Ltd. He's speaking about “Search Around the World: US, Europe & Asia” on Tuesday, Feb. 17. I interviewed Andy at SES London 2008 about multilingual tongue-twisting, polyglot poker, and the more serious aspects of organic seo and paid search optimiztion when operating internationally.

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

Next up is Matthew Bailey, President of Site Logic Marketing. He's speaking about “Analytics: Data Into Action” on Tuesday, Feb. 17, “Search Engine Friendly Design” on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and “Dynamic Websites: Beyond the Basics” on Thursday, Feb. 19. I interviewed Matt at SES London 2008 about the Ohio State Buckeyes (the college equivalent of Manchester United in American football) and the show's ability to connect SEO and SEM.

Matt Bailey, SiteLogic, at SES London 2008 on Networking

Next up is Thomas Bindl, Founder & CEO of Refined Labs GmbH. He's speaking about “Search Advertising Tools” and at the “Searcher Behaviour Research Update” on Wednesday, Feb. 18. I spoke with Thomas at SES New York 2008 about his German contribution to the “Search Around the World” panel.

The German SEM World from Thomas Bindl at SES NY 2008

Next up is Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder of Future Now, Inc. He's speaking about “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” on Tuesday, Feb. 17. I spoke with Bryan at SES London 2008 about the ad-hoc floor meetings he'd had as well as the more planned sessions.

Bryan Eisenberg, Future Now, at SES London 2008 on SEO

As I mentioned above, next up is Mike Grehan, Global KDM Officer of Acronym Media. He's not only organized SES London 2009, he's also moderating the Orion Panel about “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” on Tuesday, Feb. 17. I spoke with him at SES London 2008 about rolling up his sleeves and participating in the panels such as the universal search Orion Panel, and his excitement about organizing the analytics Orion Panel.

Mike Grehan, Acronym, on SES London 2008

Finally (for today), is Bill Hunt, CEO of Global Strategies Intl and Director of Global Search Strategy for Neo@Ogilvy. He is speaking about “The State of Search Integration” and “Why Does Search Get All the Credit?” on Tuesday, Feb. 17. I talked with Bill at SES San Jose 2008 about his new book, “Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site.”

Greg Jarboe interviews Bill Hunt about his new book

I'll have more video interviews tomorrow. But, to meet these top search experts, all you need to do is attend SES London 2009. Or, as Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.”

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UK Introducing Movie-like Website Rating System

The UK government is looking in to giving websites rating similar to those used for movies, Reuters reports, and they are reaching out to the United States to get involved.

While the idea of stricter restrictions for kids' access to certain web content may not be a bad one, the idea of some government appointed official determining ratings is scary. Or will it be put to a vote? Will we get to vote on who becomes the web czar? How many people will be involved?

Reuters reported Andy Burnham, Britian's Culture Minister, said "the government was planning to negotiate with the administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to draw up new international rules for English."

"This is not a campaign against free speech, far from it; it is simply there is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it," Burnham told the UK Telegraph.

Censorship of the internet by governments is nothing new, but the US government is not the same as China. This initiative seems like a slippery slope. It is definitely something everyone should keep aware of, if it starts you should be recognize the people acting as censors - they will be the same guys pulling the books from our library shelves.

Posted by Frank Watson on 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Google 2008 Review

2008 has been an up and down year for Google. From their stock price to the various products they have introduced or updated - it would seem the bloom is finally off the rose.

All investors are aware that Google has had a 52 week swing of 707.95 to 247.30 this year and they are currently hovering around the $300 level. While this can be partially blamed on the general economic malaise of 2008, another part is the drop in growth rate of the company. Not surprising, given the large percentage of the market they already had going into the year and the decrease in overall advertising budgets.

All year long there have been claims that search advertising is recession proof. Well apparently, in the short term, this has not been the case, though given many bigger budgets are preset, it is possible we will see this swing in 2009.

The Yahoo-Google as partnership seems like another misstep by Google this year. What was once seen as a move to stop Microsoft from buying Yahoo, has left Yahoo in even worse financial straits following the dissolving of the agreement due to pressure from the Department of Justice.

I suggested another more sinister possibility, in my own blog, where Google knew what it was doing, but perhaps that was a mere conspiracy theory. But the demise of Ringside Networks despite involvement with Google is a sad story.

Google's entry into the browser space did not go the way of most previous Google product launches. After 4 months, Chrome has barely grabbed 1% of the market - despite its promise and definite unique properties. Meanwhile, Mozilla has managed to increase to over 20%, and gets the bulk of its income from Google.

Though Chrome could be the future for Google - because while a browser it also is a web application execution platform. If they stay with their commitment, Chrome may be the product that ultimately makes Google the true organizer of the world's information.

Meanwhile, they have also had some successes.

The search engine, itself, added a few features that are very handy and will only become more popular with time such as the information on when pages were created, improved the use of snippets, and indexing of Flash. Many also see the including of search suggest as a default as an improvement.

The jury is still out on some of the new products Google launched this year. SearchWiki - the ability to shape your search results - and Knol - the Google version of a wikipedia.

The introduction of the much hyped G-phone - G1 - has not yet been the iPhone killer it had been thought.

Google has been increasing its involvement with its users reaching out through a number of its publishing and social networking products - such as providing insights into converting traffic with Conversion Room, their commitment to Open Social and the Black Googlers Network.

They have even improved the quality of the videos over at YouTube and offered niched landing pages.

It has been a mixed bag this year for Google, but without a doubt the company continues to provide helpful products. What 2009 brings we will have to wait and see, but can know it will not be passive.

Posted by Frank Watson on 3:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

SEW Experts: Will Social Networks Become the New Inbox? Part 2

Search Engine Watch Expert - Erik Qualman Many companies still believe they need to get users into their prospecting databases in order to market to them. But businesses capture a lot more information via social media about their consumers than they've ever had before. In today's building brand equity column, "Will Social Networks Become the New Inbox? Part 2," Erik Qualman explains that good businesses realize that the relationship still needs to be cultivated. Just like dating, companies need to learn how to court their customers in social networks.

» Full story

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

SEW Experts: SEO Site Structure 101, Part 2

Search Engine Watch Expert - Ron Jones We began our discussion of site structure last week by looking at meta tags. In today's SEM 101 column, "SEO Site Structure 101, Part 2," Ron Jones continues exploring the SEO impact of site structure, including title tags, URL structure, and other on-page elements.

» Full story

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

December 26, 2008

Microsoft, Google and Apple Being Sued Over Icon Navigation

A lawsuit was filed in Arizona Federal court against Microsoft, Google and Apple by Cygnus Systems, Inc. over use of their just granted patent for "System and method for iconic software environment management."

As Ars Technica points out:

"Its abstract describes "a method and system for storing, navigating, and accessing files within an operating system through the use of a graphical thumbnail representing the video display of the active document within the active application." In other words, Cygnus' patent describes features similar to those of Windows Explorer and Apple's Finder—these applications use scaled-down previews to represent the actual documents being browsed by users. The patent could also include things like file icons that dynamically update to reflect changes to the contents of their respective documents, as well as Opera's "Speed Dial" feature, which offers a visual dashboard of easy-access websites. Cygnus' complaint even cites the iPhone's "accompanying iconic file preview and access functionality" and the Safari browser's tab thumbnails."

As Ars Tecnica details the suit has some flaws - Google as yet does not have an operating system, and prior art - a major factor in patent law - "constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality. If an invention has been described in prior art, a patent on that invention is not valid," according to Wikipedia.

Add this lawsuit to the rest that impact the industry and have yet to be ruled on.... should be an interesting year in the legal realm.

Posted by Frank Watson on 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Has eBay Hit The Wall Or Is The Economy The Reason

Motley Fool has reported that holiday spending at eBay this year is lower than last year, despite the fact that one would expect them to be a good source of lower priced gifts in these hard economic times.

Meanwhile Amazon has reported higher sales numbers over last year.

Are people forgoing secondhand for discounted new items? Or is there another reason eBay is being bypassed?

To truly see what is happening I would like to be able to track the number of sales being done through Craigslist. Given you have to generally pay for shipping when buying through eBay, is it possible people are going through Craigslist to save the shipping and increase the buying power of their total dollar spend?

If we had these numbers maybe they would give eBay a way to continue their growth potential.

Online spending did have a spurt for the last weekend before Christmas as we reported the other day.

Could eBay have another growth spurt if they made localization easier to organize? Right now they have hit a wall, but it could be one they can move by making the interface a little more intuitive for new users and add better access to local auctions.

If you guys over at eBay use these ideas don't forget to drop a few bucks in my Paypal account.

Posted by Frank Watson on 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

December 24, 2008

On the Go or at Home: Keep Tabs on Santa's Whereabouts

If your kids are like mine, it's been a bit difficult for them to sit still, focus on anything and have good behavior because of their extreme excitement about opening presents tomorrow. Need help keeping them occupied? Let them track Santa via the interwebs.

Google is the official partner of NORAD Santa, which reveals Mr. Claus's real time location on the all important Christmas Eve. If you have to go out for last minute shopping, you can even track Santa via Google Maps for Mobile.

Of course, because of time differences, Jolly Ol' St. Nick is already on his way. In fact, as of this post, he was getting stuck in chimneys in Southeast Asia! (Don't worry, he'll wrangle himself loose and make it to all the homes just in time.

Who knew Santa could be so geographically educational? Enjoy your holidays and don't forget to leave out the cookies and milk! (And carrots for the reindeer).

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

Twitter Brings Back People Search

Want to find a person by name on Twitter (again)? Well, now you can (again). Twitter has brought back the ability to search for a person by name.

Once you're signed in, look for the "Find People" link on the navigation bar on the top right hand corner.

Twitter says the search is faster than the original version and that it now boasts a "phonetic similarity algorithm" which helps you find names for possibly misspelled words.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Considering a Last Minute Gift Card? You're Not Alone

It's Christmas Eve. If you're in need of a last minute gift, might I suggest gift cards? You won't be alone, contrary to reports that gift cards are on their way out. At least, that's according to new data on gift card searches released by Hitwise.

Sure, there's been a dip in searches, but gift cards are very much alive.

Besides, this data doesn't even include the number of people going directly to a website and ordering a gift card. That's what I do. I've bought e-gift cards for Apple iTunes, Amazon.com and Southwest Air without ever conducting search.

But those conducting searches reveal an interesting trend: searching for discounted gift cards that can be found via Craigslist. Sometimes people get or purchase gift cards they won't use so they sell them for less than the value of the card on Craigslist.

An analysis of search terms "breadth" shows just how popular this trend is:

Want to win an American Express gift card? Then take the Search Engine Watch Readership Survey and enter to win a $200 gift card.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online Spending Soared Last Weekend Before Christmas by 98%

You didn't read that wrong. Online spending increased by 98% last weekend, compared to last year's last weekend before Christmas.

A winter weather event in the Northeast likely caused the surge, which may have come at the expense of brick and mortar stores. But let's take the good news where we can get it.

Even better news if you look at a historical context is that 2007 was an unusually high spending year compared to the years around it. It kind of bucked the trend. If the growth had been more steady, a lot of the nervousness about the online economy may not exist.

Here are the stats:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft to Announce Second Quarter Earnings January 22, 2009

Microsoft will announce second quarter earnings (their fiscal year begins July 1) on January 22, 2009.

A live webcast will be available at 2:30pm PST at http://www.microsoft.com/msft.

It will be interesting to see if anything is said about Cashback and its affect on Live Search. In November came word that the program was working. But a glitch on Black Friday turned some Cashback customers sour.

Still, the program expanded to offer instant Cashback on eBay purchases made via PayPal.

Of course, Microsoft is much more than a search company, but with recent hires coming into the company from Yahoo, we'll be looking for any statements made about search during the call.

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

Digg Adds New Twitter Feeds

You can track Digg via RSS. You can track Digg by simply visiting the site. Now you can track a variety of Digg topics via Twitter.

This is awesome because if you're like me and keep your Twitter client open most of the day, you'll always know when things are going hot on Digg. This is a great way to streamline two of your social media management tasks.

Here are the new feeds. (Click here for the links to each one.)

Digg Homepage updates as every new story is promoted
Digg 2000 : Stories that reach 2,000 or more Diggs
Technology
Apple
Software
World & Business
Political News
Science
Environment
Offbeat
Gaming
Images
Video
Entertainment
Sports

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Assembling Your Landing Page Optimization Dream Team, Part 4

Search Engine Watch Expert - Tim Ash Landing page testing isn't just about creative; you have to have tech types involved in the process, as well. In today's By the Numbers column, "Assembling Your Landing Page Optimization Dream Team, Part 4 ," Tim Ash concludes his four part series on the ideal people you need to maximize your site's profits.

» Full story

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 23, 2008

Matt Mason, Author of "The Pirate's Dilemma", to Give Opening Keynote at SES London 2009

In the U.S., we'd say, "Stop the presses." But, in the U.K., they simply say, "Stop Press." The expression means that a news item has been inserted into a newspaper after the printing has been started.

I was just sitting down to write about a new video interview with Andy Atkins-Krueger, the Managing Director of Web Certain Europe. The YouTube video has just been uploaded to the SESConferenceExpo's Channel.

pirate%27s%20dilemma%202008.jpg That's when I visited the Search Engine Strategies London site and discovered that Matt Mason, author of "The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Reinvented Capitalism," will be giving the opening keynote on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009.

Stop Press!

Matt is a writer, consultant and entrepreneur, who is an expert on how youth culture drives innovation and is changing the way the world works. His book tackles the problems and opportunities created by the rise of piracy and its potential as a business model.

According to the SES London conference agenda for Day 1, Matt thinks that the trends emerging from the youth culture are blurring long-established boundaries between right and wrong and unraveling some of our most basic assumptions about business, society and our collective future. He has explored the problems these new trends pose to business and the opportunities they represent, as well.

For example, when pirates create value for society and society gets behind their creations, it doesn't matter how many lawsuits you throw at the problem -- you are assaulting your own potential future. This reality positions piracy as a new business model.

Matt plans to speak about how this model works and how it applies to your business at SES London 2009. I plan to have a front row seat. (I may need to wear my pirate costume.)

This topic was also raised by Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, during his opening keynote at SES Chicago 2008. This is where my original post about Andy Atkins-Kruger comes in.

Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Andy at SES Chicago about Lessig's keynote and asked Andy to give a quick preview of SES London 2009, where he will be speaking at the Search Around the World: US, Europe & Asia session on Day 1. Check out the interview below.

Andy Atkins-Kruger, WebCertain, discusses SES Chicago and SES London 2009

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: The Small Business Guide to Choosing Keyword Phrases

Search Engine Watch Expert - Carrie Hill How do you know which keywords to focus on in your search optimization or advertising campaigns? In today's Little Biz column, "The Small Business Guide to Choosing Keyword Phrases," Carrie Hill explains the Keyword Effectiveness Index and how to use it to your advantage.

» Full story

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

Hubspot Releases State of the Twittersphere Report

Hubspot has released a report it dubs the "State of the Twittersphere" which they say is akin to Technorati's "State of the Blogosphere." It uses data from Twitter Grader (a very vain way of showing who's "popular" on Twitter) to offer the following interesting stats about the popular social networking tool:

What's missing from this data is how many user accounts are active. With so many users following or being followed by 25 or fewer people, it has me wondering if many people try Twitter but not really getting how it's useful. I was that way when I first tried Twitter in 2007. Of course, that was before you could do good searching of Twitter and when there were fewer people using it.

I started up again when I heard Peter Shankman speak at a local interactive marketing luncheon. He explained how to network on it and how to participate in the conversations going on via Twitter, and I've been a avid user ever since.

Now, I'll pass along the advice. Here are some great blog posts on how to make the most of Twitter.

Small Business Owners Need Twitter and LinkedIn
Zappos + Twitter = Innovative Success!
Add Value to Twitter Tweets
Using Twitter as an Education Tool
Twellow: Twitter Member Search
Is Twitter the New Google Alternative?
It's Official - Twitter's a Marketing Medium

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chinese Internet Portal Sina Buys Focus Media for $1 Billion

Chinese internet portal Sina.com, has announced plans to buy parts of Focus Media for $1 billion, according to the New York Times.

Focus Media is an outdoor digital advertising company, using LCDs to display ads, as well as an internet advertising company. Sina.com, incidentally is purchasing the outdoor ad portion while Focus retains the internet ad part.Sina.com uses Google for web search and advertising.

In a statement released by Sina, President and CEO Charles Chao said, “The transaction is intended to combine the forces of the two of the most powerful new media advertising platforms in China to provide more effective and integrated marketing solutions to our customers. We believe that this business combination will significantly extend our media reach and influence, reinforcing our position as a partner of choice in new-media advertising in China.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blogging Helps LA Times Find Success Online

The LA Times appears to have not gone the way of the traditional newspapers such as the now bankrupt Chicago Tribune and the struggling New York Times. They have focused intently on their online content and it's paying off.

Latimes.com grew their audience by 143% this year. It became the #2 online newspaper for the first time in November.

So how did they do it? Blogging.

Politics, fashion, and entertainment helped boost readership. I must confess, that 3,000 miles away in North Carolina, I've read an Latimes.com blog a time or two myself.

The web has also helped the paper venture into more interactive features, which they used to cover the Olympics and the Elections. It has also boosted what would be a typical feature story in print to an interactive experience online.

"It's great to see this incredible reader response and to know the improvements we've been making at latimes.com are engaging to the online community," said Meredith Artley, Executive Editor, latimes.com. "We're complementing The Times unique voice and outstanding coverage with a strong blog network, database projects, visual journalism and interactive features, and we'll be undertaking even more efforts in 2009 to better serve our growing audience."

Of course, these papers that do succeed are great places to try and get links. But tread professionally. Recently, SEW Expert Sage Lewis got a few tips from his wife, an editor, on how to talk to newspaper types.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Social Media and SEO -- Friends with Benefits?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson Social media this and social media that. Why in the world should SEO's care about social media? In today's Au Natural column, "Social Media and SEO -- Friends with Benefits?," Mark Jackson talks about the "link" between social networking and optimizing your site.

» Full story

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Big Music Companies in Negotiations to Form Hulu-Like Site

The Music Companies versus YouTube debacle continues to unravel one bit at at time. Now, Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that Warner, Universal, Sony and others are in talks to create their own Hulu-like site for music videos.

The music labels are "only" making a max of $25,000 per month off of ad revenues from YouTube. But that's only half the story. The real money is made from a pay-per-play licensing deal.

To be making this kind of direct money off of music videos, which have only been used as a marketing tool up to this point, is a big shift in the music industry.

Universal makes tens of millions on YouTube and they expect to make even more next year. Overall, they expect to make $100 million next year from all of their agreements with various sites.

Since Hulu keeps NBC content on just two sites - Hulu and NBC.com, why would Universal want to restrict their offering to just one site?

Pulling from the world's largest online video site means less exposure to millions of people. YouTube had 100 million unique visitors in October. Those visitors are concert-goers and merchandise-buyers.

Another factor is how YouTube is no longer just a video streaming site, but a bonafied search engine. YouTube is starting to pass Yahoo in searches conducted. On an anecdotal note, my son conducts searches via YouTube frequently. He hates reading; watching video is a much easier way for him to learn.

Bailing on YouTube would be pulling an entire, effective marketing channel. So, here's my final warning to the music companies. The numbers speak for themselves.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Great Last Minute Christmas Idea

Okay had to share this. Was brought to my attention by two great people in our space Nicola And Cheryl.

This should be sent to all your friends. R/GA, an interactive agency developed it - the best online Christmas card possible.

I can see this one being well used today!

Posted by Frank Watson on 5:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 22, 2008

SEW Experts: SEO Site Structure 101, Part 1

Search Engine Watch Expert - Ron Jones You've heard about keyword research, optimized copy and link building, but did you know that the way your site's pages are organized affects SEO too?. In today's SEM 101 column, "SEO Site Structure 101, Part 1," Ron Jones explains how search engines crawl your site and why it's important to pay attention to site architecture.

» Full story

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Revisiting My 2008 Search Predictions

Search Engine Watch Expert - William Flaiz It's that time of year to look back and see what predictions came true in 2008. In today's Outsourced column, "Revisiting My 2008 Search Predictions ," William Flaiz looks back to see whether he truly had his finger on the pulse of what's trending in SEO.

» Full story

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Image Search Adds Search By Content Type

If you've ever conducted a search on Google Image Search and wished you could separate the photos from the clip art, then you're getting your wish. Now you can use a drop down menu to sort through the specific type of image you're on the hunt for.

Here's a screenshot:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holiday E-Commerce Sales Flat Overall According to Latest comScore Data

With the economy in the pooper and 5 fewer holiday shopping days than last year, the latest data from comScore will show whether you're a half glass full or half glass empty kind of person.

As the 2008 holiday shopping season draws to a close, online sales are trending flat for the year.

If you look at just Thanksgiving through December 19th, and remember, there were five fewer days in 2008, sales were up 5%. I'm half glass full, so I'm loving that number:

Cyber Monday wasn't the top online shopping day of the year, either. It came in third:

Here's our journey up to this point:
Holiday E-Commerce Update: Spending Flat Last Week (12/15/08)
Holiday E-Commerce Spending Up 7% Year-Over-Year Last Week (12/10/08)
Online Black Friday Sales Up 1% Over Last Year (12/1/08)
Preparing for the Worst: Bad Online Economic Data Just in Time for Black Friday (11/26/08)

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Warner Music Not as Thrilled As Universal, Says Goodbye to YouTube

After writing about how Universal Music is making tens of millions from YouTube this year, I was surprised to see Warner Music withdraw from YouTube.

Round up the usual suspect for the reasons why they've bailed: Warner Music wants more money from the advertising revenue being brought in.

Nevermind that YouTube has been struggling to monetize itself. Nevermind that the music industry is struggling since the fall of the cd and the rise of the mp3.

Nevermind the current crappy economy.

Warner wants more money. They didn't get it, so they bailed on the money they were getting. In a time where CEOs are begging Congress for money to stay afloat, this seems like a stupid move.

But with other licensing deals expiring soon, we may see this scenario repeated like a bad version of Groundhog day.

If companies want to abandon an online video site which is starting to generate more searches than Yahoo and saw a whopping 100 million visitors in October, fine. But they're shooting themselves in the foot, big time.

via Media Memo

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Facebook's New Privacy Problem: Groups Created Under False Pretenses

Brad J. Ward is an online communciations coordinator at Butler University. Though he hails from a small academic institution, he's unveiled a whale of a problem going on at Facebook (read, don't skim, for the exciting conclusion).

As high school seniors across the country are being accepted into Universities for the Fall 2009 semester, groups for 2013 grads are popping up on the popular social network. There's just one problem. It seems that one Patrick Kelly of Plano Senior High School is planning on attending a bunch of colleges - 500 to be exact. For that is how many 2013 groups he has created.

Ward rightly points out that the big problem here is that Patrick Kelly likely represents a data collection company that could end up being lifelong "friends" of millions of incoming freshman each year.

They also control the administrative privileges for each group.

But Brad Ward didn't stop at just blogging about this problem. He's got people talking on Twitter, organizing via Google Docs, and submitting Flickr pics regarding the problem.

The effort has identified other names associated with the group squatting including Ron Tressler and Justin Gaither, and he even has a company suspect: College Prowler. What a fitting name!

He even found an ad by College Prowler seeking unpaid interns to set up all this, as Ward rightly deems it, "dirty work."

But get this: College Prowler responded by pulling the fake names that are associated with their company (Patrick Kelly was not, as it turns out) and pulling the administrative privileges. That is quite impressive. College Prowler says that they see social media as essential to their college guides business, but I think most of us would agree that they could go about social media in a different way.

Here's a solution: College Prowler could create a community around its brand of college guides by identifying their Facebook groups with their brand. The group could be "College Prowler's Guide to Butler University Class of 2013."

So, College Prowler, and others interested in using social media, check out these posts from Search Engine Watch and sister site ClickZ to learn how to truly leverage social media to maximize those marketing dollars (and time!):

Facebook: Get Educated on the Hottest Social Media Platform
Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media
SocialTwist's Tell-A-Friend Button Enables Word-of-Mouth and Social Media Marketing
A Social Media Marketing Primer
Social Media Link Building: From Fantasy to Reality
18-34 Year Old Responds to Email Marketing Over Social Network Marketing
How Blogs Drive More Sales Than Social Media Sites
93% of Americans Expect Companies to Have Social Media Presence
Using Twitter as an Education Tool
Less is More: What Social Media and Electronics Can Teach the Establishment
Go Slow With Video Ads in Social Media

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Google, AOL Gain While Yahoo, Microsoft, and Ask.com Lose Share in comScore's November 2008 Rankings

comScore's November 2008 search engine rankings are out and Google remains at the top, gaining on its share while AOL is the only other one to make gains, albeit slight, month-over-month.

November's searches were down 3% from October, likely due to the elections being held at the beginning of the month. But unfortunately, the decline corresponds with online retail sales for the month.

By the way, YouTube is still giving Yahoo a run for its money:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 19, 2008

Google Enables Cross-Language Search for Enterprise Search Appliance

If your business is global, then you likely have many documents in foreign languages. In order to help employees find documents in languages other than their first, Google has enabled cross-language searching for enterprise customers using the Google Search Appliance.

Queries will be passed through a translation engine which will enable search in several languages. Users can choose the document to be returned to them in any of the available languages.

Google Mini and Google Search Appliance owners can head to this link at Enterprise Labs to check out the new feature.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Viacom and NBC Take Note: Universal Music (and Others) are Making Tens of Million$ on YouTube

Instead of suing or shunning YouTube, Universal Music, the largest recording company in the U.S., is making tens of millions of dollars from music videos, according to CNET. They have a revenue-sharing agreement with YouTube for the ads the online video network has increasingly been displaying.

And it's working.

Universal's YouTube channel is the most-watched channel in YouTube history at 3 billion views, with artists like U2 and the Black Eyed Peas. In second place is Sony BMG, incidentally the second largest recording company, with 485 million views.

Next year, Universal is projected to make $100 million from online video streaming across several sites, including YouTube, MySpace, and MTV. The MTV one is ironic, since Universal claims they never made money via MTV (on TV) when the network actually played videos. Of course, the ROI isn't direct, so that's why MTV doesn't get the credit for its obvious place in music video history. But now, MTV's online site is helping to keep videos alive, with a more direct link to profits.

Big media companies such as Viacom, who is suing YouTube/Google, and NBC, which launched its own video streaming site, Hulu, earlier this year should take note: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Many experts have said that Viacom has no case, just an ill informed judge. That sentiment was backed up by a similar case against online video site Veoh, which was thrown out by a different judge in August.

Meanwhile, NBC's Hulu only saw 9 million unique viewers in November, compared to YouTube's 82 million. Hulu, of course, primarily streams what has already been on TV, not user-generated content. Still, I'm guessing if NBC had a Universal-like agreement with YouTube, they'd be making more dough.

Call me crazy, but I think the 500 workers getting the axe from NBC Universal would have appreciated a more open mind when it comes to these things.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 18, 2008

YouTube Rolls Out HD, Niche Landing Pages

YouTube has enabled HD viewing following the recent format change to a wider layout for videos. In case you're HD unaware, high def videos require a widescreen format for optimal viewing. That's why all the fancy pants LCD HD tvs are widescreen. YouTube was prepping for HD videos online with the format change.

Just click "watch in HD" under an HD-enabled video and it will automatically play in HD. You can also visit the new HD videos section to browse HD videos. If you need to prepare your videos for the new widescreen format, click here for the FAQ.

Another addition is new niche landing pages for YouTube. The new pages are for News (http://www.youtube.com/news), Music (http://www.youtube.com/music), and Movies (http://www.youtube.com/movies).

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Search Results Now (Visually) Optimized for the iPhone and G1

Google has launched visually optimized search results that are designed to fit the screens of the iPhone and G1 mobile devices. With the new look, users shouldn't have to zoom in or scroll side to side.

The update was previously released on the iPhone, but only when you manually went to Google.com in the Safari browser. Now, for the iPhone, the new results page will appear when you use the default Google search box in the Safari browser.

For the G1, you can access the new results page after searching via the search widget on the Android home page or also through Google.com in the browser.

Here's what the new results page looks like:

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

SocialTwist's Tell-A-Friend Button Enables Word-of-Mouth and Social Media Marketing

If you want to enable word-of-mouth marketing and social media marketing in the form of bookmarking, then adding SocialTwist's "Tell a Friend" button is a great way to do it.

The reason I like SocialTwist's button is because it has a call to action "Tell a Friend." I know there are others, usually they include the word "Share." But I think "Tell a Friend" is more specific and concrete.

Plus, users can, in fact, share what they've found on social sites Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, FriendFeed, MySpace in addition to sharing via email and IM.

SocialTwist also touts the following features about its button:

First brandable and customizable social share button.
First button that offers extensive context wiring allowing marketers to pass context of shareable content.
Most extensive support for content management system (CMS) and blog platforms; Joomla, Word Press, Moveable Type, Xanga, Expression Engine and Pligg among others.
First multi-lingual share button.
Lightest and fastest social share button.

One tip, if you want a different code snippet, you need to change your settings under account details. It feels like you should be able to access it under the "Widget Code" page, but you have to make the choice under Account Details first.

What do you think of SocialTwist's Tell a Friend button? Let us know in the comments. Oh, and use the button below to tell a friend about this post!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

81% of Online Holiday Shoppers Read Product Reviews

It's no secret that reviews and ratings can affect a customer's purchasing decision, and today, Nielsen Online has released data showing just how powerful those reviews can be.

81% of online holiday shoppers read a product review at some point during the shopping process.
71% said that customer reviews made them feel better about their purchase
63% agree that having more than one review on a product is important
14% looked for reviews from an established source
Only 3% sought out reviews from people they knew personally.

Marketing of any kind starts with the product. If you have a solid product, it will be so much easier to advertise it. Plus, you're more likely to have a positive experience with marketing that is out of your control, like reviews, ratings, and word-of-mouth. All of these things can show up in search results, especially the more clicked upon organic search results.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Coupons.com Launches Facebook App; Local.com Partners With Valpak for Coupons

Online coupons are hot, and they've become even hotter in a tight economy. It's no surprise to see two announcements today regarding the expansion of online coupons. Even more, these expansions are focused on social media and local search, which are also trends in the online marketing space.

First up, Coupons.com has launched a Facebook application. Once installed, users can print coupons directly from their Facebook page and also share coupons with friends.

Second, Local.com has partnered with Valpak, a coupon provider. Valpak coupons will appear in search results and profile pages.

What do you think about these announcements? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Website Optimizer Launches New Help Forum for Those Pesky Landing Page Testing Questions (and Answers!)

So you've heard about all of this landing page testing you're supposed to be doing and are delighted that Google offers a free testing tool - Website Optimizer. Still, you're not sure how to proceed, got stuck in your test setup or maybe don't know what the heck you're doing in the first place.

Have no fear, the new Google Website Optimizer help forum has arrived. Popular questions will be pushed to the forefront, based on votes by the users. Related questions will appear as you type in your question.

On the flip side, it's also a great venue for experts in landing page optimization to strut their stuff.

Related Reading:
Google Website Optimizer Integrated with Magento Open Source Ecommerce Platform
Landing Pages: Test Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
Website Optimizer Enables Pruning and Offline Validation

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Wifi Enabled Mobile Devices Drive Increased Wifi Usage

Wifi-enabled mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, G1, and Blackberry Bold are driving the increase in accessing the mobile web via Wifi, according to new data released by Admob.

Last month, mobile web requests via Wifi represented 8% of all mobile web requests. 19% of all mobile web requests were made by Wifi-enabled devices, up from just 9% in August.

Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch dominates the field of total Wifi requests at 78%. In fact, 42% of all web requests from the iPhone are generated on Wifi. But keep in mind that the G1 was just released in the middle of October and one month later was in the top 10 of devices accessing via Wifi. It already represents 7% of total T-Mobile traffic. The Blackberry Bold hasn't cracked the top 10 (yet) but is also a relatively new phone.

Another interesting note is that Sony's portable gaming device, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), generates 13% of all Wifi requests for the mobile web. It's not the only portable gaming device that is Wifi-enabled. The Nintendo DS can access Wifi, but it's not showing up at the top of these lists.

You can download the entire PDF report here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Releases AdWords Editor Version 7.0

Just two and half months after releasing Version 6.5, Google has launched the new version of AdWords Editor. Version 7.0 is now available for Windows and Mac. Be sure to back up your work before you upgrade. You can import your work into 7.0 once it's been deleted.

Here's what to expect with the new version:

First page bid estimates: AdWords Editor now uses first page bid estimates for your keywords. Minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bids are no longer used.
Keyword Quality Score: The Keywords tab now displays the Quality Score for your keywords.
Keyword Opportunities locale: Tailor your keyword suggestions to a particular language and location by changing your Keyword Opportunities locale.
Campaign targeting in the data view: You can view your targeting settings in the new 'Language' and 'Location' columns on the Campaigns tab. These columns are hidden by default, but you can select them with the column chooser.
Send feedback to Google: Help us improve AdWords Editor by enabling usage tracking in your AdWords Editor settings (Tools menu > Settings).
Other updates:
- The 'Volume' column on the Keyword expansion tab of the Keyword Opportunities tool now shows absolute numbers (traffic for the last month) instead of scaled values.
- The Keyword Opportunities tool isn't available for draft accounts.

Check out the release notes for more info.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 17, 2008

Yahoo! Finance is Market Leader in Business Information Sites

One of our readers, Marc Jones, asked me to update a blog post that I wrote back on March 19, 2007, entitled, "Yahoo! Finance Market Share 52 times Bigger than Google Finance." Well, 'tis the season.

So, Marc, here's an update from Matt Tatham of Hitwise:

Business Information Sites Nov-08
Rank Website Domain Market Share
1 Yahoo! Finance finance.yahoo.com 29.63%
2 MSN Money moneycentral.msn.com 10.24%
3 CNN Money money.cnn.com 9.02%
4 Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com 3.81%
5 Market Watch www.marketwatch.com 3.44%
6 Reuters www.reuters.com 3.11%
7 Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov 2.32%
8 Google Finance finance.google.com 2.31%
9 The Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com 2.29%
10 CNBC.com www.cnbc.com 2.26%

So, Yahoo! Finance is the leader of the pack -- by almost a three-to-one margin over MSN Money, which is in second place. But Yahoo! Finance is no longer 52 times bigger than Google Finance. Today, it is "merely" 12.8 times bigger.

Okay, that's still a "humongous" lead. (Humongous is a term that we bloggers use to mean extremely huge. We don't get to use it that often when talking about someone who competes with Google. But, we are talking about Google Finance and not Google.)

So, let me thank Marc for asking the question and thank Matt for answering it. And for all of you who are watching your 401K plans become 201K plans, may I suggest that you visit some of the top business information sites to see if one provides you with better insights than the others. And let me know what you find.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

AOL's Platform-A Reaches Now Reaches 160 Million in Europe

Following recent launches in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, AOL's advertising network, Platform-A, now reaches more than 160 million internet users in Europe. Platform-A was already reaching users in France, Germany, and the UK.

According to comScore, Platform-A is ranked No. 1 in Finland, France, Norway and the UK; No. 2 in Denmark and Germany; No. 3 in the Netherlands and Sweden.

Platform-A has consistently ranked as #1 in the United States.

Commenting on the achievement, Brendan Condon, Managing Director for Platform-A International, said, “We are now open for business in eight European countries. Platform-A is the only online advertising network that offers a full suite of advanced affiliate, display and search solutions across Europe which perfectly addresses the complex needs of today's advertisers.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online Video Wins the 9-5 Hour, Weekdays

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I know you're busy and all, watching online videos between 9-5 during the week. It's a pleasure that you took the time to stop by when you could be watching vids of cute cats and dancing humans.

At least, that's what you're likely to do according to Nielsen Online.

65% of online video viewers conduct their viewing during business hours. That would be 9-5 weekdays.

51% also engage in the habit during the weekends. You just can't get enough of the tube (the YouTube, that is).

The number of unique viewers dropped by 4 million, but the 120 million of you still sticking around are very loyal to your online video usage. You increased the amount of time spent watching by 10 minutes. That's the length of an Ally McBeal-like dramedy in television years.

Of course, YouTube took top honors as the most watched network. MySpace (owned by Fox Interactive Media) comes in a very distant second followed by NBC's Hulu, which was launched earlier this year (so that no one watches their shows on YouTube.)

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Live Search General Manager Brad Goldberg to Exit Microsoft

Live Search general manager Brad Goldberg is leaving Microsoft. His next venture will be heading up the online business at Peak6 investment company.

Microsoft is promoting from within to replace Goldberg. Mike Nichols will fill the role next. Nichols has held roles with search engineering and strategic partnerships.

Recently, Microsoft has added a couple of Yahoo's and promoted Yusuf Mehdi to senior vice president of online audience business.

via TechFlash

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! to Anonymize Data After 90 Days

Yahoo! will begin anonymizing the data it collects after just 90 days, according to a statement released by the company. The data includes search logs, page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks.

"In our world of customized online services, responsible use of data is critical to establishing and maintaining user trust," said Anne Toth, Yahoo!'s Vice President of Policy and Head of Privacy. "We know that our users expect relevant and compelling content and advertising when they visit Yahoo!, but they also want assurances that we are focused on protecting their privacy."

Personally, I wish the search engines would do a better job of informing the public about how their data collection really isn't the privacy issue that so many make it out to be. I don't think anyone at Yahoo! or Google is sitting around looking at what *I'm* doing on the internet. They have millions of people using their services. They don't have the time to sit around and watch what each individual is doing. Search engines were built on a system of automation, partially for this reason. From their perspective, I'm just a number that contributes (or doesn't) to trends and behavior.

But that's just my opinion. What do YOU think? Leave a comment and let us know.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

December 16, 2008

Yahoo! Unveils Social Inbox and Open Features for Key Products

Following quite closely in the footsteps of AOL's Bebo, Yahoo! has unveiled a new version of their email inbox, which incorporates social media. Starting with a limited beta release, Yahoo is opening Mail up to third-party applications such as Flixter, Wordpress, and Xoopit.

Continuing on the theme of opening up products, Yahoo also announced advancements in the following products:

My Yahoo! - Starting today, My Yahoo! can be enhanced by adding applications created by third-party developers. The aps will range from productivity tools to games, and will infuse My Yahoo! with new social relevance. A new My Yahoo! Theme API lets third-party designers create themes for My Yahoo! pages
Yahoo! Toolbar - Next year's new toolbar will be available for a sneak preview later this week at toolbar.yahoo.com and will provide constant access to online tasks and news. Features include:
- Apps for checking new email from Yahoo! and other popular Web-based email providers, monitoring or searching for items on eBay, and finding local movie showtimes
- Alerts that notify a user about Updates from their personal connections - including their friends' recent activity across the Yahoo! network and eventually, elsewhere on the Web.
- Personal search suggestions that surface the sites a user has visited and provide vertical search results directly from the Toolbar.
Yahoo! Updates - This new feature will allow users to quickly check their updates across the Yahoo! network, such as a recently Buzzed article, a hotel review in Yahoo! Travel, adding a new app to My Yahoo!, or a rating on Yahoo! TV. Earlier this fall, Yahoo! has already begun displaying activity updates in Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Buzz. Activity updates from other social sites across the Web will be included in the coming months. The Yahoo! Updates platform is also available as an open API.

What do you think of the Yahoo! announcements? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Zillow Launches Answers Feature

It's been a popular year for answers sites as well as adding answers to existing sites and now real estate search engine Zillow is getting in on the action. Their new feature, Zillow Advice, provides a much needed answers niche for an industry going through much upheaval.

"In today's changing and unprecedented housing market, homeowners, buyers and sellers are hungry for advice and information," said Rich Barton, CEO and co-founder of Zillow.com. "This is apparent in the traffic and activity we are seeing on Zillow, with unique visitors up 44 percent over this time last year - it's clear more people than ever are searching for answers. Zillow Advice is a place where people can ask questions, find information on a very specific and local level, and connect with the real estate professionals in their area who can help. This, in addition to Zillow's updated home value and for-sale data on 80 million U.S. homes, creates an invaluable resource for consumers trying to navigate today's market."

Here's what to expect:

Localization - Users can tag questions by locality, at the state, city, or neighborhood level. Professionals and other Zillow users can then answer with information pertaining to that specific location. For example, if a user had a question about pricing their home in a specific Seattle neighborhood, a local Seattle real estate agent, or a recent seller from that neighborhood could answer with relevant information or advice.
"Local Expert" Badge - Users who ask questions can notate the "best answer" to their questions. Those whose answers are frequently voted "best answers" earn points towards a "Local Expert" Badge - a way for the Zillow community to know which experts are active and frequently commended for their helpful contributions.
Subscription - Professionals can subscribe to specific locations or topics in their area of expertise. When a question is tagged with a city, neighborhood or topic they have subscribed to, they are notified immediately via an email or RSS feed and can quickly respond with relevant information. This feature helps consumers connect quickly and easily with the local experts who can best answer their question.
Key Word Search - Users typing in a specific word or phrase, like "refinancing" are directed to all the questions that have been asked, or discussions taking place on Zillow Advice around that word or phrase.
Profile Pages - All Zillow community contributions link to a user's free Zillow Profile Page, where real estate professionals can choose to include contact information, photos and a narrative about their areas of service. Profile pages show all of an individual's contributions to Zillow.com - from active listings, to questions answered or discussion participation.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Books

If you are looking for corporate Christmas gift ideas (or Hanukkah gift ideas), let me recommend 10 business books, search engine marketing books and search engine optimization books (that you may also want to give yourself as a present).

And unlike the typical book reviews, you can decide which business, SEM or SEO books are worth buying and wrapping up for the holidays by checking out the video interviews with the authors below, who have all spoken at the Search Engine Strategies conference and expo series this year. I spoke with him after his keynote

Winning Results with Google AdWords by Andrew Goodman: This is at the top of my list because 97% of search engine marketers use Google AdWords, according to SEMPO's most recent State of the Market survey. Andrew is also the world's leading authority on Google AdWords. (He will be speaking about Ads in a Quality Score World at SES London on Feb. 18, 2009.) The forward was written by Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land. Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team, likes Andrew's book: "Review: Winning Results with Google AdWords." (Plus, Andrew gave me an autographed copy at SES Chicago.) But, you can also make up your own mind by watching the video interview below, where Andrew talks about his book (and gives a sneak preview of what you can expect at SES Toronto 2009, which he will be organizing and hosting.)

Andrew Goodman on Google Adwords

Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters by Bill Tancer: This is the book that I want to buy for myself for Christmas. Bill is General Manager of Hitwise, which reports on how more than 25 million Internet users (10 million in the U.S.) interact with over 1 million websites across more than 160 industries. I interviewed Bill after his keynote speech at SES Chicago 2008, which was entitled, "We Are What We Click."

Bill Tancer on Search Patterns in 2008

Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt: If this isn't the bible of SEM, it is at least the new testament. I just recommended it yesterday to one of my brand name clients. The forward was written by David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of "The Rules of Marketing and PR." I interviewed Bill following one of his presentations at SES San Jose 2008.

Greg Jarboe interviews Bill Hunt about his new book

Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy by Lawrence Lessig: A Stanford Law School Professor and Wired columist, Lawrence was also another one of the keynote speakers at SES Chicago 2008. Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed him last week at the show.

Lawrence Lessig on Copyright laws at SES Chicago 2008

Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik: Okay, so Avinash is a Buckeye from The Ohio State University (and I'm a Wolverine from the University of Michigan). Nevertheless, he's also the author of the highly rated web analytics blog Occam's Razor and the Analytics Evangelist for Google. So, I can overlook his alma mater and focus on his expertise in web analytics strategy. I interviewed Avinash after his presentation at SES New York 2008.

Web Analytics Recap with Avinash Kaushik at SES NY 2008

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr: Nick was one of the keynote speakers at SES London 2008 and SES New York 2008. He is also a neighbor of mine -- the next town over. I interviewed him back in February.

The Big Switch by Nicholas Carr

Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer by Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-von Tivadar: Bryan is a New York Times bestselling author and John is his chief scientist at FutureNow. They show you how to test and tune your site to get more leads, sales, and profit by using Google's free A/B and multivariate website testing tool, Google Website Optimizer. Bryan will also be speaking at SES London 2009 at the Measuring Success in a 2.0 World session. Mitch Joel, President of Twist Image, interviewed Bryan following his keynote presentation at SES Toronto 2008.

Bryan Eisenberg Always be Testing: Google Website Optimizer

Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob by Lee Siegel: After his keynote speech at SES San Jose 2008, I interviewed Lee. Actually, to be more precise, I attempted to interview Lee, who was more interested in beating up on Gawker.

Lee Siegel Punches the Internet

Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions by Tim Ash: Before I interviewed Tim at SES New York 2008, I extracted a promise that he'd show me his best salsa dance steps. Hey, I don't shill just anybody's book.

Optimizing Landing Pages -- Tim Ash's Tips and... Footwork

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel: Okay, so you can't buy Mitch's new book until next year. But I only had nine Christmas gift ideas so far and most lists have either the top 10 books or top 10 Christmas gifts. And it doesn't hurt to get a sneak preview, right? Mona Elesseily of Page Zero Media interviewed Mitch at SES Totonto 2008 about his upcoming book.

Six Pixels of Separation and Universal Search by Mitch Joel

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

59% of Small Businesses Don't Do Paid Search Marketing

59% of small businesses with a web site don't do paid search, according to a survey conducted by Microsoft adCenter. 90% of that number haven't even tried. To which I say, "What is up with that people?" That is just leaving money - potentially gobs of it - on the table.

I can't say I'm surprised. Recently, on a trip to the beautiful North Carolina mountains, I was appalled at the lack of paid search listings for small businesses.

Not a single resort conducts a paid search campaign "ski North Carolina" on Live Search, Yahoo or Google. Even the ones from West Virginia could be snagging tourism dollars out of the state, but they're not. None of the resorts are great at optimizing organically either. The first ski resort appears at number 3 in the natural results for both Live Search and Google and #5 on Yahoo!

Perhaps it's because, according to the survey, 70% of small business owners would rather do their own taxes than do paid search.

Now, if you're a small business owner out there who maybe has heard that paid search is something you should do, but you'd rather become an accountant, let me give you some assurance.

I experimented with paid search for the first time this fall. That may sound crazy for someone who blogs on Search Engine Watch, but my background is copywriting, not paid search campaign conducting. I was nervous, but once I did it, I wondered what I had waited for. It was much easier than I anticipated and I can assure you that it's not even close to the awful experience of doing your own taxes.

Besides, like taxes, there are paid search marketing professionals who can do it for you. They know the tips and tricks to help keep costs low and maximize your marketing dollars.

So jump right in, the water's just fine. Or at least, it's frozen enough to ski on.

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

The Purple People Collective: Freelance and Job Listings for Laid-Off Yahoos

Yahoo! has gone through layoffs twice this year and at least one formerly purple person has turned his lemons into lemonade (though his tweets suggest he's a big fan of lattes).

Ryan Kuder has launched a site called the Purple People Collective (ironic that the initials are PPC). It has listings for work for laid off Yahoos.

Others who have been laid off are welcome, as well. Most of the listings as of this post appear to be for tech-related jobs.

On a personal note of encouragement, I've been laid off a few times and every time the next job was way better than the last. My husband was laid off at the beginning of this year and his "new job" is so much better.

Hopefully, the same happens for ex-Yahoo's and others facing the same fate. Don't forget to check out the Search Engine Watch Job Board for opportunities as well!

via BoomTown

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 15, 2008

Google Friend Connect Adds Twitter

Google Friend Connect was made available (in beta) to all webmasters last week. But most of these types of social efforts that enable portability among sites/networks have been missing one very important network. Until now.

Twitter has joined Google Friend Connect. Now if you're using the technology to add social components to your website, Twitter users can sign in with their ID and check to see if any of their followers are also using your site.

Anyone using Google Friend Connect yet? Tell us about your experience in the comments - and if adding Twitter will be a boost to the experience.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google, Lessig Defend Net Neutrality Positions (Mis) Stated in Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has caused quite a stir by publishing a story saying that leading proponents of net neutrality have been softening on their positions. Few blogs fell for the embellishment and Google and Lawrence Lessig have defended their not-so-shifty positions.

Google's Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, took to the company's public policy blog to clarify:

Despite the hyperbolic tone and confused claims in Monday's Journal story, I want to be perfectly clear about one thing: Google remains strongly committed to the principle of net neutrality, and we will continue to work with policymakers in the years ahead to keep the Internet free and open.

Lessig, a professor of internet law at Stanford and keynote speaker at last week's SES Chicago, explained how the Journal got his position correct, but the idea that his position new is wrong:

I distinguish between "zero price regulations" (such as Markey's bill (which I say I am against)) and what I called "zero discriminatory surcharge rules" (which I say I am for). The zero discriminatory surcharge rules are just that -- rules against discriminatory surcharges -- charging Google something different from what a network charges iFilm. The regulation I call for is a "MFN" requirement -- that everyone has the right to the rates of the most favored nation.

This is precisely the position that the Journal breathlessly attributes to me today. It represents no change -- no "softening" no "shift" in my views.

When it comes to net neutrality, no matter what side of the issue you tend to take, one thing is for sure: journalists and PR people who misunderstand how the internet works are only adding to the confusion.

Google also seems to be learning little from its recent failure in Washington, which cost them a search advertising deal with Yahoo!. Unless they learn to be proactive instead of reactive, they're going to consistently lose to more experienced players. Then again, being against regulation for search advertising and for regulation regarding net neutrality is a delicate stance to balance.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

AOL.com Homepage Ad, Traffic, and Time Spent on Site Stats Up Since Relaunch

AOL has some good news regarding their homepage since they relaunched in late October.

The click-through rate for the primary 300x250 ad banner increased 30% in November. Unique visitors and daily visitors grew by 13% and the minutes spent on the page increased by 29%.

“This week, the new homepage was rolled out to all AOL.com users, so we anticipate that our consumer usage numbers will continue to grow in the coming year,” said Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform-A. “Even in a tough economy, advertisers are finding ways to maximize their returns on investment, and our AOL.com homepage ad units have proven that consumers will respond positively to brand messaging within a new, highly customized consumer environment.”

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

Holiday E-Commerce Update: Spending Flat Last Week

comScore has been providing weekly updates on holiday e-commerce spending and the reports have been like a roller coaster.

First, we started down, with November spending down 4% over last year. Then we took a gentle climb on Black Friday (1% increase) followed by a steeper incline on Cyber Monday, which saw sales rise 15% over last year. The week that started with Cyber Monday had an overall lift of 7%.

But what goes up must come down, with last week's sales falling flat year-over-year.

Looking at the glass half full, considering last week's downright awful economic news, it's almost a miracle the sales were flat instead of down. Unemployment increased and a $50 billion ponzi scheme was exposed. (Those unemployment numbers didn't even include the thousands of layoffs announced/performed last week.)

It's starting to get a bit late to have anything ordered online delivered to your door, so if you're looking to stay in the game, you might want to consider expedited shipping offers. Or if you have brick and mortar stores, drive foot traffic through the doors with printable coupons or mobile coupons if you're especially awesome.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 12, 2008

Bebo Launches Social Inbox to Aggregate Feeds from Your Networks

Social network Bebo is getting in the aggregation game. Their new Social Inbox is an attempt at a FriendFeed-like feature that culls feeds from your Twitter, Flickr, Del.icio.us, YouTube, and AIM accounts, among others, so you can manage your online social life all in one place. You can also check email accounts from Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail and others.

"People want the ability to stay in-touch with their contacts in real-time wherever their friends may be across the Web. The current fragmented social networking environment makes keeping up-to-date with others increasingly difficult. Bebo's new Social Inbox is our first step in solving this problem," said Joanna Shields, President, AOL People Networks. "By opening up our network to the most popular sites and allowing our users to pull in the best of the Internet, we are creating an environment where everyone can easily and effectively manage their online lives, no matter where the individual pieces reside."

Bebo and social aggregator SocialThing were both acquired by AOL this year.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online PR Industry in UK Can Learn Lessons from SEO Industry

E-consultancy has just issued an Online PR Industry Benchmarking Report, based on a survey of 300 UK marketers and PR professionals who work for both in-house company teams and for agencies.

Among the key findings: A surprisingly large percentage of retained PR budgets are being spent on Online PR. Company respondents report that 39% of their PR activity is online whilst agencies report that 47% of their clients' retained fees come from online PR.

The results also show that when companies outsource Online PR to agencies or specialists, 51% of companies are using PR agencies but a significant percentage are using search marketing agencies (29%) and web development agencies (22%) to develop and deliver Online PR strategy.

Deeper in the report was another interesting news nugget: "Agencies and specialists should note that levels of client satisfaction are not encouraging and they may need to improve their Online PR knowledge and offering. A fifth of clients (20%) are very satisfied with their agency‟s level of Online PR knowledge, 28% are moderately satisfied, 19% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 15% are mildly dissatisfied and 13% are very dissatisfied. Equally, clients recognize that their own knowledge could be improved with 49% saying that their Online PR knowledge is good and 12% poor."

So, where can PR agencies and clients go to improve their online PR knowledge?

As I mentioned a week ago in my post, "Half of British and Irish Marketers Use SEO for PR Purposes," all marketers need to do is attend Search Engine Strategies London, February 17-19, 2009.

Since then, some of the speakers at SES London 2009 have been posted to the site. And, yes, I should disclose that I'll be speaking at the "Online Video Update - The Next Wave" session on Tuesday, Feb. 17, the "News Search SEO" session on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and the "Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online" session on Thursday, Feb. 19.

But there are a number of other sessions at SES London 2009 that PR agencies and clients should attend to improve their online PR knowledge. This includes:

-- Universal & Blended Search
-- SEO Through Blogs & Feeds
-- Video & Podcast SEO
-- Link Building Basics
-- Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations
-- Brand & Reputation Management
-- Search Term Research & Targeting
-- Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues

Now, if some of these terms aren't familiar to PR people yet, well that's why they need go to the conference. I've been combining SEO and PR for almost six years. And during one of my presentations at SES Chicago 2008, I shared five case studies of press releases that generated a measurable ROI:
-- $200 million in B2B leads for Symmetricom,
-- $2.5 million in ticket sales for Southwest Airlines,
-- 1.3 million searches for “florists” on SuperPages.com,
-- 450,000 unique visitors to The Christian Science Monitor,
-- 88,000 entries into a photo contest for Parents magazine.

Greg%20Jarboe%20at%20SES%20London%202008.jpg

So, I think that SES London 2009 is exactly the right conference to attend to improve your Online PR knowledge and offering. And who am I to make such a bold claim? I'm the guy in the photo above with the sock puppet on his hand at SES London 2008. The one on the left. (Have I disclosed that SES London is a client?)

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Citysearch Launches Application for iPhone and iPod Touch

Local search site Citysearch has launched an application for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Citysearch is touting the following features for the app:

Search nearby destinations: food, bars, spas, shops and hotels
Search listings by keyword, category and location and map the results
Review listing details: address, phone, maps & directions, photos, hours of operation and more
Submit user reviews instantly, without a lengthy registration process
View previous searches & recently viewed listings
Browse editorial recommendations, user reviews and advice from business owners
Featured write-ups on what's hot in a local neighborhood or city
Sort results by key listing attributes including distance, cost and Citysearch rating
Bookmark your favorite listings

Unfortunately, the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. The top listing for Food using My Location is a catering business based out of a nearby home. Another listing is an independent coffee shop that no longer exists.

Shopping was worse. The top results didn't include anything from nearby Brier Creek, a very popular shopping area in North Raleigh where I live.

The app looks fantastic. I like the dark background and light colors that don't make my eyes strain. But hopefully Citysearch will improve its results to make the app more useful.

Related Reading:
Citysearch Rebuilds Site with a More Social, Local and Mobile
MapQuest Partners with Citysearch for Comprehensive Search Results

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

Google Releases Chrome Out of Beta

In early September, Google launched a new product: a web browser named Chrome. Like most of Google's products, it was released into beta, which basically means the product could be (and was) imperfect but they kinda sorta don't have to take credit for it.

But 14 updates and 10 million users later, Google Chrome gets to shine in all of its glory, without that pesky little beta tag holding it back.

With its new beta-less state comes the 15th update and here's what to expect, via the Official Google Blog:

Better stability and performance of plug-ins (particularly video). Google improved the performance of video and audio and fixed a bunch of the bugs that existed during the beta period.
Faster than ever Since the first beta, the V8 JavaScript engine runs 1.4 times faster on the SunSpider benchmark and 1.5 times faster on the V8 benchmark. Google says Chrome will get even faster in the future.
Bookmark manager Better bookmark features were a top request Chrome users made to Google. It's now easier to switch your bookmarks in other browsers over to Chrome.
Privacy controls Features related to privacy are grouped in one spot with detailed explanations.

Have you tried the beta-less Chrome? Let us know your impressions in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 11, 2008

Underreported Stories from Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008

All week long, I've been reporting on the top 10 stories from each day of Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008. Generally, they were generated by news coverage of the three keynotes and two Orion Panels, or interviews with speakers at the 63 conference sessions. Hey, that's just fishing where the fish are.

But there were a couple of other places where I found underreported stories from SES Chicago 2008: SES Magazine, the Expo Hall, the free mini clinics, and the search training workshops.

If you didn't attend Search Engine Strategies Chicago this year, find someone who did. And “borrow” his or her copy of SES Magazine. There is a lot of content in there – beyond the conference information.

For example, there's an article by Kate Kaye, senior editor of ClickZ News, entitled “Politics 2.0: Political Change Comes to Search, Too.” It looks at the search marketing tactics that Chicago's own Barack Obama and his rivals used during the 2008 presidential electiion. My favorite underreported story is how the campaigns employed search to take advantage of hot topics right away.

If you can't find someone with a copy of SES Magazine, then check out the interview below with Kate, which appeared back in June.

Obama Ads Online: Search Advertising Analysis by Kate Kaye

Meanwhile, over at booth #315 in the Expo Hall, ideaLaunch was giving demos of WordVision, its new SEO software tool that uses a complex algorithm to recommend hot keywords to SEO writers. Yes, that got my attention. And once this content is uploaded to a website, it tracks the contents' impact on search engine listings so that SEO managers can understand the overall ROI of content assets. Yes, that got my attention, too.

But wait! There's More!

Over at booth #204, there were a series of free mini clinics. Tim Ash, the President of SiteTuners, ran one called, “Your Baby Is Ugly - Landing Page Mini-Critiques.” David Szetela, the CEO of Clix Marketing, ran another called, “Power PPC Advertising Clinic.” Jonathan Mendez, Founder and CEO of RAMP Digital, ran a third called, “ CPA Optimization Station.” And Brad Geddes, Founder of bgTheory.com, ran a fourth called, “Ad Copy to Landing Page Review.”

In fact, check out what Kurt Scholle, Head Coach of WebAsylum.com, wrote about them at Website-ROI-Guy:
-- I Met a Rockstar at Search Engine Strategies/Chicago
-- Your Baby Is Ugly - Landing Page Mini-Critiques (SES Chicago)

Okay, so maybe the mini clinics weren't as underreported as SES Magazine and the Expo Hall stories. But it doesn't hurt to overreport them, does it?

Finally, there are the six search training workshops, which will be held on Friday, Dec. 12 at the Chicago Hilton. These include:

Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness -- Analytics are a gold mine of information, just waiting to be uncovered. The results of campaigns, effectiveness of the website, and the efficiency of your rankings can all be measured with a good analytics program. Unfortunately, many site managers do not make changes to the website without prior measurement, nor do they measure after the changes. As a result, there are many changes to sites that are not based on facts, merely assumptions. Similarly, if changes are not analyzed, then there can be no clear understanding of whether or not improvements made a difference on the site or to the bottom line.

Viral Marketing & Link Baiting -- Attendees will gain a better understanding of the concepts, ideas and implementations that are required to launch a viral marketing or link baiting campaign. They will learn why the Internet has created a unique environment that allows for rapid, inexpensive word of mouth marketing and how they can harness that environment to promote their own products and services. The workshop will give real life examples of both good and bad viral marketing campaigns and will share insight on how your business can capitalize on your competitor's viral disasters. This workshop will also focus on how you can make use of consumer generated media environments like social media outlets, blog marketing, discussion forums and more to both monitor and expand your company's online persona. Consumer generated media (the very core of viral marketing) is the fastest growing form of media online today. It's only a matter of time until someone online talks about your business. This course will not only help prepare you in the ways to respond to the conversation, it will help you learn how to shape that conversation to your advantage.

Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques -- Need links? In order to rank well and successfully promote your online business, you need an effective link building program as part of your overall SEO strategy. This link building workshop will help you to better understand and manage your link building campaigns by providing you with the knowledge to create proven, practical and creative link marketing campaigns. You'll walk away understanding why you need certain links, how to find them, and how to effectively use links to promote your brand and your search engines rankings.

Advanced AdWords -- This session is broken down into two sections. The first section examines how to effectively use keywords, ad copy, landing pages, and the search and content networks to effectively reach your target audience based upon where consumers are in the buying cycle. The second section will examine different bidding strategies you can employ to maximize your campaign's goals.

Search Engine Optimization Workshop -- A search-engine friendly Web site is a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers. In order for a site to be search-engine friendly, it must meet the terms and conditions set forth by the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, Ask, etc). Additionally, the site must satisfy the needs of site visitors. Ultimately, the site must be profitable for the Web site owner. Can a single site satisfy all of these groups? This workshop will demonstrate that these skills are essential for building a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers.

Optimizing for Universal Search -- Universal search changes everything! The advent of Google's Universal Search has been called "the most radical change to its search results ever." So, how do you take advantage of Google's new approach that blends listings from news, maps, video, and image search among those it gathers from web search? This training session will help you get found in all the right places.

The full-day training session is $1,345 and half-day is $745. Register for SES SEM Training at http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/chicago/training.html.

Now, I realize that the search training workshops haven't even been held yet. So, it may be premature to call them underreported. But trust me on this. Most of the journalists and bloggers who covered SES Chicago 2008 this week have already headed home. So, I'm pretty confident predicting that this, too, will be one of the underreported stories from the conference and expo.

Hey, I could be wrong. As Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over till it's over."

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

10 Top Stories and Videos from SES Chicago 2008 on Day 4

You don't need to read most of the 10 top stories from Day 4 of SES Chicago 2008. You can watch them. In fact, one of the photos that I hope someone took the week was the battery of online video crews interviewing speakers between sessions.

The rest of the coverage from the only major Search Marketing Conference and Expo in the Midwest was provided by online journalists and bloggers. In fact, the “dog that didn't bark” at Search Engine Strategies was the print media. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but the Chicago Tribune filed for bankruptcy this week. And earlier this month, PC Magazine decided to go “all digital.”

I don't know about you, but I think I saw the future of journalism this past week – and it was already “all digital.”

Personalizing Video Analytics for Campaign Success - Interview with Omniture's CEO Josh James
ReelSEO's Contributing Reporter Erika Blackwell interviewed Josh James, CEO and Co-Founder of the online analytics and business optimization firm Omniture. Erika spoke with Josh after his keynote presentation at Search Engine Strategies Chicago, Avoiding the Chasm of “Anticipointment, and asked him, is it possible to do a video ad campaign that offers personalized, relevant online experience for each visitor, and how could it be tracked?

SES Chicago: Profitable Opportunities for CPG Marketers
Abby Johnson of the WebProNews Video Blog interviewed Eli Goodman, Search Evangelist for ComScore, who says 73% of searchers are now becoming more specific with their search queries and are looking for information and help. She adds, “Although these observations strengthen a paid strategy, comScore is seeing a shift in traffic to social media enhancers such as Yahoo! Answers, Google Blogger, and About.com.

More WebProNews Videos

Paid Links: A Black Hat/White Hat Discussion
Kevin Newcomb of Search Engine Watch writes, “Those expecting a knock-down, drag-out brawl at the ‘Black Hat/White Hat' session at SES Chicago may have left a bit disappointed. It looked like the sparks could fly, with Dave Naylor, director of search marketing at Bronco, and Todd Friesen, VP of search at Position Technologies there representing the black hat side, and Eric Enge, president of Stone Temple Consulting and Doug Heil, owner of ihelpyou there defending the white hat side. But, as Friesen so eloquently said, ‘As it turns out, Doug's actually a nice guy.'”

Gary Stein on Battle of the Browsers
I interviewed Gary Stein, the Director of Strategy at Ammo Marketing, who elaborates on search engine data analysis after the heated SES Chicago Orion Panel “Battle of the Browsers- Personalization or Privacy.”

SES Chicago: SEO Through Blogs and Feeds
Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog writes, “Yesterday I presented at SES Chicago in a session on SEO Through Blogs and Feeds with Stephan Spencer and Sally Falkow. I went first and presented the slideshow embedded below, a presentation in two parts:
1. Why blogs created solely for SEO purposes will inevitably fail.
2. Tips on how to create a successfully optimized company blog that will last.”

Lawrence Lessig at SES Chicago 2008
Sage Lewis of SageRock.com talks about Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society. Lessig, who was the opening keynote speaker at SES Chicago, is also a founding board member of Creative Commons. According to Sage, Lessig “sheds some really provocative insight into the world of copywrite and how it is negatively affecting today's culture.”

Blogging To Build Buzz About Your Business
Mike Sachoff of WebProNews writes, “While blogs are now considered mainstream with more businesses using them to get their message out, just how are they building buzz online? The SES session ‘Blogging For Business' has the answers.”

SES Chicago 2008: Sally Falkow and Shari Thurow
Sally Falkow of ExpansionPlus and Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing Interactive discuss content syndication, link development, and news search optimization at the 2008 Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo in Chicago.

YouTube's Guitar Hero
Anna Maria Virzi of ClickZ writes, “As a marketer, what YouTube video do you wish you had dreamed up? I posed that question to participants of the SES Chicago panel, ‘The Next Wave for Online Video,' which I moderated yesterday. Gregory Markel, founder/president, Infuse Creative, pointed to this one featuring JerryC, which has 55 million page views and counting. It's snagged the number-two spot on Google's search engine results page for the search term ‘guitar,' appearing higher than Gibson, Fender, and Guitar Hero.”

Jordan Kasteler: PocketCam Interview at SES
Manny Rivas of the aimClear Blog writes, “Yesterday at SES Chicago 2008 I met up with Jordan Kasteler a.k.a Utah SEO Pro. Not one to miss a cool opportunity, I whipped out my pocketCam to ask him a few questions. At age 26, Jordan has made quite a name in the search community and consistently contributes valuable content and thought-leadership that can't be overlooked.”

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Paid Links: A Black Hat/White Hat Discussion

Those expecting a knock-down, drag-out brawl at the "Black Hat/White Hat" session at SES Chicago may have left a bit disappointed. It looked like the sparks could fly, with Dave Naylor, director of search marketing at Bronco, and Todd Friesen, VP of search at Position Technologies there representing the black hat side, and Eric Enge, president of Stone Temple Consulting and Doug Heil, owner of ihelpyou there defending the white hat side.

But, as Friesen so eloquently said, "As it turns out, Doug's actually a nice guy."

So despite the lack of violence, the session turned out to be an hour-long discussion of techniques that will or will not get you banned by Google, the ethical considerations of search marketing, and a few black-hat tips thrown in for good measure.

Much of the discussion centered on buying links for SEO purposes, which is frowned upon by Google. Naylor and Friesen both said buying links should be allowed, noting that paid links are still relevant, since they bring a user to the page they promise.

"If a user clicks on a link that says 'Buy Viagra', they're going to land on a page that's selling Viagra," Naylor said.

The difference is that Google sees a bought link as an "unnatural" link, since payment has entered the picture. But that argument gets muddied when it comes to bartered links, or other kinds of non-monetary rewards given in exchange for links.

To be safe, Enge says, "Google makes the rules. If we want to have a stable business for the long term, we have to follow them."

The paid links debate is muddied further by the issue of links from trade organizations, which usually charge a membership fee. Enge pointed out that the reason those are OK in Google's eyes is that there is some kind of review process involved, as there is with a quality directory listing like Yahoo or Best of the Web.

In Heil's view, it's a matter of authority. Sites that have earned the authority to vouch for a business, or sponsor an event, for example, should be allowed to do so with a link. The caveat, of course, is that they don't abuse that authority and start linking out without any kind of quality oversight.

Naylor outlined one of his favorite white hat methods of getting links: press releases. When you issue a press release with links in the copy, you will often get people that reprint the release on their site with the links intact. He also recommends getting your site's content into Google News.

Everyone on the panel agreed that dropping the PageRank meter from the Google Toolbar would be a good idea to help curb buying and selling of links for SEO value, and it appears that Google is headed in that direction. "It's a beast they never should have unleashed," Naylor said. It would also help if Google's algorithm stopped relying so heavily on links as a measure of a site's quality, they said.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Google Webmaster Tools Launches Message Center API

Google Webmaster Tools has launched a new Message Center API that is part of the Webmaster Tools GData API. Google uses the Message Center to relay important messages about a site to its webmaster.

Here's what Google says you can expect from the Message Center API:

Retrieve messages: The messages feed contains all the messages sent to your account. These messages have important information about your verified sites. Examples of messages include infinite spaces warnings and crawl rate change notifications.
Mark messages as read or unread: In order to keep track of new communications from Google, you can mark your messages as read or unread, the same way that you would manage your inbox. If you retrieve a single message, this message will be automatically marked as read.
Delete mesages: It's possible to delete messages using the GData API. However, be careful because if you delete a message through the API it will also be deleted in your Webmaster Tools account, as both interfaces share the same data.

You can download code samples in Java to assist you in your API development.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Shareholder Wants Search Sold to Microsoft

Ivory Investment Management LP is calling for Yahoo to sell its search to Microsoft. Ivory owns 1.5% of Yahoo shares.

Ivory is smart to call for only selling search to Microsoft, as Steve Ballmer has repeatedly made clear that he's no longer interested in buying the whole enchilada.

However, Microsoft has already snagged two Yahoo acquisitions in the form of executives who know a thing or two about search. Is there any incentive left for Microsoft to return to its scorned lover for another negotiation?

Tell me your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google's Nishar Heads to LinkedIn

Dipchand "Deep" Nishar is leaving Google to join social network LinkedIn. He will become Vice President of Products for the career and professional oriented social network.

While at Google, Nishar contributed to mobile efforts and most recently oversaw product development for Asia-Pacific.

Nishar is the latest of a string of Googlers leaving to join startups or build their own companies. While the current economy makes this a risky move, LinkedIn is one of the few startups bucking the trend. In fact, if you're one of the many finding yourself "in between jobs" right now, LinkedIn is a great place to network.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Look for SEO Opportunities in these Dire Economic Times

Search Engine Watch Expert - Justilien Gaspard Times are tough, but you can weather this economic downturn by taking advantage of some remarkable opportunities for those willing to think outside the box. In today's online promotion & linkbuilding column, "Look for SEO Opportunities in these Dire Economic Times," Justilien Gaspard shows you some ways to be poised to outrank your competition when the economy turns around.

» Full story

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

December 10, 2008

Jerry Yang's Casual Note To Employees Thrown Overboard

The outgoing CEO and co-founder of Yahoo Jerry Yang seems to be taking the new round of layoffs rather casually, if his letter to them at Yahoo Anecdotal is any indication.

The entry titled "Tough times" was written in all lower case - written in a casual tone despite the seriousness of the occasion to those leaving. Obviously "saying goodbye to colleagues and friends is never easy" but perhaps it deserves more than what looks like a casual note jotted off in a hurry.

A sale of Yahoo at $31 may have led to as many layoffs, but the departing employees would have more money than the 4 months severance ValleyWag reports to fall back on. A sentence in the About page for Yahoo Anecdotal - though not directed at this situation - has a resonance I can't get out of my head.

"Much as we'd love to help resolve your concern, support issues are way out of our realm."

Combine that with the slides ValleyWag acquired for layoff instructions to managers and one sees the big business actions of this declining corporation.

The Twitters of the employees as they have been given the news and their friends reactions have made this day seem like an industry tragedy - which in the short term it definitely is. Hopefully though some of these people go on to create new companies and products that build on its continued future.

Posted by Frank Watson on 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Skin Your iGoogle Page for a Good Cause

If you're looking for an iGoogle theme with a little more meaning, then look no further than iGoogle Themes for Causes. These new themes feature charitable partners representing a variety of causes to be passionate about.

One of the participating charities (and a favorite of yours truly) is Doctors Without Borders, one of the only charities assisting in the current crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and helping Somalian refugees who arrived in Yemen this week. Here's what their theme looks like:

That "I'm Feeling Lucky" button sure does take on a whole new meaning when you are reminded of what millions of less fortunate people face every single day of their lives. These people would love to have the "problem" of cutting back on Christmas.

It's far too easy to forget the needs of people around the world and here at home. But these iGoogle Themes for Causes can help you keep charity constant in your life.

Other charities include:
The One Campaign
Charity:Water
Heifer International
American Red Cross
Save the Children

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Special Message to the Ladies Attending SES Chicago: Woman to Woman

I see you at the keynotes. I see you at the sessions. I see you in the expo hall during the day.

But at night, when I go to the networking cocktails, it's a testosterone festival.

Maybe you're rocking it so much that you don't need to network. Maybe you feel so good about the economy that you're not worried about your job. Maybe you love working for the man so much that you never want to start your own company or become an indie consultant.

But on the off chance that you do want to advance in your profession, but you're curling up in your pjs and watch reruns of Sex and the City instead of hangin' at Kitty O'Sheas, we need to talk.

Sure, the sessions and keynotes are a great way to learn stuff, but it doesn't amount to a hill of beans if you don't have clients, are busting out a bunch of manual work instead of streamlining your process with awesome search tools, or are out of a job. All of those things could happen unless you get your butt down to the bars.

By networking alone, I am seeing the potential for my non-SEW 2009 work to bring in thou$and$ more. That's a different financial scenario than you'll hear by flipping on the cable news channels and crying in your Cheerios (no matter how cute you look in those flannel jammie pants!).

So, how do you do said networking?

Step 1. Go down to the bar.
Step 2. Put a drink in your hand. (non-alcoholic is fine if that's how you roll)
Step 3. Walk up to someone you don't know.
Step 4. Stick out your hand for a shake and say "Hi, My Name is (fill in the blank) and I'm from (fill in the blank with your company). What's your name?"
Step 5. Listen.
Step 6. Ask questions about that person. Get them to talk about themselves.

What kind of questions, you may ask? Well, first you're off to a good start by just asking that very question to me. Here are more:

1. Where are you based? (i.e. Where do you live?)
2. How long have you been in your position?
3. How many people are at your company?

Pay attention to those answers and get curious. Turn your curiosity into more questions and you're golden.

If you're really ~~drunk~~ brave, you'll pull a harmonica out of your coat pocket and say, "I dare you to go up and play with the band." (What? That sentence seemed like it came out of nowhere? That's because you weren't down at the bar last night.)

Seriously, though, I'm not going to lie to you. Some people will be snobby. Not many, but a few. Wrap up your time with them and move on to more laid back people. Your time is valuable and spend it with people who make it worth your while.

Oh - and the more you do it, the easier you'll be. Once you've met a few people - you can look for them and hang out with them at future cocktails, lunches, etc. You'll inevitably meet who they know and expand your network.

You just have to get started. So get out of the pjs, into some jeans and down to the bar. Don't worry, Sex and the City will be on again tomorrow night. Same bat channel, same bat time.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holiday E-Commerce Spending Up 7% Year-Over-Year Last Week

It seems as time goes by and concerns over the economy get worse, tracking the economy becomes more frequent and dare I say micro.

Thankfully, I have good news to report. E-commerce spending last week was up 7% year-over-year, according to comScore.

Even better news is that the gains from Black Friday, Cyber Monday and last week have made up for the 4% drop in sales for most of November which marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

There is a caveat for some of you search marketers, however. Many advertising budgets are shifting dollars towards paid search - possibly making e-commerce more competitive and ad bid prices higher.

Another thing e-tailers are using are incentives, such as free shipping, and coupons. They're using them because they work. All of this can cut into your margins, but perhaps not as bad as missing out on sales altogether.

This holiday may have to be the most fluid and flexible one in recent memory for search marketers. Keep an eye on your analytics and on your paid search accounts. Don't assume the ad that was there yesterday is working fine and dandy today. Vigilance is the name of the game in this volatile economy.

Tell us what you're seeing in your industry and niche by leaving a comment!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Assembling Your Landing Page Optimization Dream Team, Part 3

Search Engine Watch Expert - Tim Ash We've already described some key roles necessary for a successful landing page optimization program. In today's By the Numbers column, "Assembling Your Landing Page Optimization Dream Team, Part 3," Tim Ash examines three more roles: the copywriter, marketing manager, and user experience expert.

» Full story

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

December 9, 2008

YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008

The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC discusses some under reported "Holy Mackerel" stories each evening. Well, I'd like to share a "Holy Mackerel" story from SES Chicago 2008.

I'm one of the speakers at the Video Search Engine Optimization session on Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. And tonight, I did a double-check to see if there was any last-minute news about online video that I should be aware of before tomorrow's panel.

And I read this: "YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008." Holy Mackerel!

Here are the details: According to comScore Video Metrix, more than 147 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 92 videos per viewer in October. Google Sites attracted a record 100 million online video viewers, or more than two out of every three Internet users who watched video during the month. This means that Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.4 billion videos viewed, with YouTube.com accounting for more than 98% of all videos viewed at the property.

Specifically, 99.5 million viewers watched 5.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (53.2 videos per viewer).

But, YouTube isn't a video search engine. It is a video sharing site. Which means that YouTube doesn't crawl the videos on your website. You need to upload your videos to YouTube in order for them to be found when someone conducts a "YouTube Search."

Fortunately, I have a YouTube case study to present at tomorrow's session. It's a follow-on story that I shared at SES San Jose on a similar panel. Li Evans of KeyRelevance interviewed me after that session a couple of months ago. So, you can see that this "Holy Mackerel" story has been told before.

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe

Still, I can't tell you how many times people ask me how to optimize video for Google Video. Ummm. How do I say this? If YouTube is accounting for more than 98% of all videos viewed at Google Sites, then Google Video accounts for less than 2%. Right?

So, video search engine optimization appears to be round-off error. What is more important is optimizing video for YouTube. That's what I plan to talk about tomorrow. It may be a little surprising. But no more surprising than the latest data from comScore.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Book Search Adds Magazines

In the wake of news that Google has struck a deal with publishers for its book search, and that they've acquired millions of digital newspaper archives, comes news that Google is pursuing magazine archives.

Today, they announced the new initiative, with new partnerships to digitize periodical archives including New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Ebony.

Eventually, the results will be blended into the "regular" results over at Google.com.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How Low Performing Banner Ads Can Actually Increase Conversions

So you stopped your banner ad campaigns a long time ago because the click through rate sucks and the conversion rate was even worse?

The problem is - you might be leaving money on the table.

In a couple sessions at SES, I've been hearing about how banner ads can drive people to search. So while they may not be clicking on your display ads and converting off of them, they may send people to a search engine to find your product or service.

What you'll want to do is set up the banner ad and then watch your analytics to see if you have increased searches and if those searches are related to the banner ad. You'll want to take all of that into consideration when creating your landing page, bidding on keywords in paid search, and writing the paid search ad.

The only caveat I would add is to place your display ads carefully. Social network users have said they don't find the ads targeted to them, so other content networks may prove more successful.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

AdGooroo Report Shows Times Not So Tough for Search

The economic downturn may not be affecting search advertising, according to the latest Mid-Quarter Search Engine Update from AdGooroo. The report shows that first-page advertising activity on all three search engines was up sharply during the first two months of Q4. Google active advertiser counts were up about 54.9%, Yahoo up 11.2%, and Microsoft up 29.6%

Some of the uptick is due to increased spending on holiday campaigns across the engines. Some of Google's large increase in advertiser counts is due to the increase in ads per page that Google implemented this quarter.

In addition, AdGooroo reports that We estimate that Microsoft has increased its advertiser share from 11.5% in Q3 to about 15.8% in Q4, a 37% increase. That brings Microsoft much closer to second-place Yahoo, which stands at 22.1%, with Google squarely in the lead at 80.3%.

The full 4-page report is available for download.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Please Take the Search Engine Watch Readership Survey

Search Engine Watch continues to grow by adding new users every month. But we're always looking for ways to improve the site, and would like to ask for your help. Please give us your feedback in our Search Engine Watch Readership Survey.

To learn more about you and your information needs to serve you better, we'd like to ask you to take a short survey. The survey will only take about 10 minutes to complete, and you could win some cool prizes. We'll be randomly choosing five respondents to receive a $200 AmEx gift card or a year's membership to Search Engine Watch (a $299 value). Please complete the survey before December 28 to be entered into the drawing.

Your answers will be anonymous and will be used only to form a composite profile of our readers. We'll only use your email address to contact you if you've won.

See the complete rules here.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

News from the World of Search Outside SES

I don't have as much time to blog about each story this week, being at SES Chicago, but I've been keeping an eye on the news for you. So here are links to news that's happening in the world of search this week:

Microsoft Live Search
A call for industry standards for data anonymization

Yahoo:
BOSS Reaches a Milestone
Yahoo Moves Ahead With Layoffs on Wednesday: The Sad Details
Searching for real estate gets a facelift

Google
An update to the AdWords alcohol policy
Web Security in the Cloud

AOL: AOL's Platform-A and Schick Wilkinson-Sword Partner on Lemondrop.com Holiday Gift Guide

Trulia: Trulia's Publisher Platform Powers Real Estate Search for More Than 100 Websites

Techdirt: If There's A National Cybersecurity Policy, What Should It Cover?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: PPC & SEO -- Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

Search Engine Watch Expert - Carrie Hill Put peanut butter and chocolate together and you get something that transcends each of the individual ingredients. In today's small business search engine marketing column, "PPC & SEO -- Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together," Carrie Hill explains that the same effect can be had when you combine paid search advertising with search engine optimization efforts.

» Full story

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

SEW Experts: Is it Too Late for Holiday Search Traffic?

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson Holiday phrases like "Christmas" show up in Google's universal search results, so there still may be an opportunity to show up. In today's organic search engine optimization column, "Is it Too Late for Holiday Search Traffic?," Mark Jackson says that for other competitive keyword phrases, you'd be better off targeting New Year's, or even Valentine's Day.

» Full story

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

December 8, 2008

Ten Top Stories from SES Chicago 2008 for Day 1

It takes a little effort to spot the ten top stories from the first day of SES Chicago 2008. That's because some of them appear in Google News or Yahoo! News, some in Google Blog Search or Technorati, and some on YouTube. And I didn't even try to monitor Twitter.

So, if you are trying to keep up with all the news coming out of the event, here's my take on the top ten stories from Day 1:

Google AdWords Launches iPhone and G1 Options (Plus Mobile Marketing Tips from SES!)
Nathania Johnson of Search Engine Watch reported that Google has launched AdWords options that will be visible on the iPhone and G1. Both devices have web browsers that display full HTML. And since around 95% of all mobile searches are conducted on the iPhone (according to today's Mobile Search panel at SES Chicago), today's announcement opens up a brand new opportunity for search engine marketers.

Larry Cornett Yahoo! Universal Search
Dr. Larry Cornett, VP of Consumer Products for Yahoo! Search, spoke on the Universal & Blended Search session. He gave an overview about universal/blended search results across the major search engines: Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google. He also shared a some new search user research about universal search results with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR.

SES Chicago: Igniting Viral Campaigns
John W Ellis of the Web Analytics World Blog wrote, “My favorite session from Day 1 of SES Chicago was Igniting Viral Campaigns.”

SES Chicago Highlights: Search Industry Update
The Search Engine Strategies session "Search Industry Update" was an informative session especially if you need to convince those holding on to the marketing purse strings on how big the effort needs to be.

Legal Considerations for Video SEO – Interview with IP Attorney Mark Rosenberg
Grant Crowell of ReelSEO interviewed Mark Rosenberg, and intellectual property attorney and Search Engine Strategies Chicago conference speaker, who shared the important legal issues that both companies and Video SEO professionals needto consider, especially before they even get started with making and promoting video content online.

SES Chicago Winds of Change
Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog, writes, “Today kicks off another Search Engine Strategies conference, this time in the windy and bleeping cold city of Chicago. Change has been in the air for SES.”

Live Blogging Day 1 at SES Chicago
Jeff Woelker is attending SES and will be live blogging the conference.

Nixed Presentation for SES Chicago Mobile Search Battle Update
Bryson Meunier of the Natural Search & Mobile SEO Blog writes, “For the Mobile Search Battle Update panel, we have elected to present in a more panel-based format since there will only be three speakers.”

WebProNews Heads to Chicago for SES!
WebProNews is covering the Search Engine Strategies show in Chicago. At least, they hope to cover the show this year. They write, “As of the time of this writing, it is 14 degrees in Chicago and calling for snow showers on Monday, December 8 right at the time of our departing flight. We are determined to get there though since we have lots of exciting coverage to bring you!”

More WebProNews Videos

Speaking at SES Chicago
Dave Naylor, more commonly known as DaveN, is speaking at two sessions at SES Chicago: SEO Tools on Tuesday and Black Hat, White Hat & the Best Kept Secrets to Search on Thursday. Writes Dave, “I'm making it a flying visit. Arriving on Monday afternoon and flying back out on Thursday evening, so that I can be back in the office for Friday afternoon if I manage to get some sleep on the flight back.”

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is the Bad Economy Bringing Branding Back?

So, here at SES Chicago, I keep hearing about a marketing practice I thought was dead - BRANDING. After all, aren't conversions, ROI, data, analytics and landing page testing/optimization the name of the day?

Maybe not in a tough economy. With consumers buying less (save for Black Friday and Cyber Monday), brands who brand during the recession may be the ones to emerge on top when the good times roll back in.

Integration will be key to that branding. Advertisers are shifting their dollars from expensive traditional methods to the better deal that is online advertising. Of course, all that bidding is driving/will drive up prices.

But this might lead to better deals for offline channels, which can make that integrated marketing campaign bloom.

Whatever your strategy, do your best to stay visible during the recession. You might just be the first retailer consumers turn to when they go shopping again.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google AdWords Launches iPhone and G1 Options (Plus Mobile Marketing Tips from SES!)

Want to bid on mobile searches via AdWords? Well, now you can. Today, Google launched AdWords options that will be visible on the iPhone and G1. We first learned Google was preparing iPhone ad options this past October.

Both devices have web browsers that display full HTML. And since around 95% of all mobile searches are conducted on the iPhone (according to today's Mobile Search panel at SES Chicago), today's announcement opens up a brand new opportunity for you.

Here are some other mobile marketing tips and facts you need to know:

Do keyword research specifically for mobile searches. Using search suggest on Google search iPhone app is one way to do it.
Mobile searches are longer than desktop/laptop searches. Some of this may be attributed to voice search.
Mobile searchers are motivated and they want to fill an immediate need/want (food, coffee, etc). Look for this to shift to include bigger purchases (TVs) as mobile becomes more familiar in the coming years.
Track behavior/ROI via mobile coupons and redemption codes
Tracking via 2D and RFID is popular in mobile-friendly Japan and is likely the future of mobile commerce in the U.S. (we have 2D barcodes on our badges at SES!)
Mobile apps - don't build them unless you have a unique idea (like Shazam, UrbanSpoon, etc.). Instead, get listed in the mobile search apps (i.e. Yellowbook's G1 app).
If you have a separate mobile site, watch out for duplicate content.
If you don't have a mobile site, don't build a separate site, say on .mobi. Instead, build one on a subdirectory or subfolder on your existing site. Make sure the user experience matches mobile browsing.
Kill Flash on your sites. It doesn't work on mobile devices and is not likely to. Even if it did, it would take too long to load.
Don't worry about WAP. WAP is dead or at least will be soon

Let us know when you've tried out Google's iPhone/G1 AdWords options. Report your findings (at least, what you can) in the comments!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

FutureNow Launches Just-In-Time Optimization Service

One of the problems with the traditional Web site optimization consultant model is that clients become overwhelmed with the recommendations and end up doing nothing. The new OnTarget software/service from FutureNow, Inc. changes that.

OnTarget, which launched today in beta at SES Chicago, is a web-based subscription service that measures and analyzes actual web traffic against a client's plan, then delivers ongoing recommendations to improve conversion rate and get their web traffic back on target to meet their goals. OnTarget breaks recommendations down into manageable chunks, and prioritizes them based on potential returns so companies can make the best use of their limited time and resources.

“Consulting recommendations are just advice, no matter how excellent, until clients implement them. It's only when they implement a recommendation that they can reap the rewards," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, CEO of FutureNow.

Instead of performing the analysis and providing a 20-page report of recommendations, OnTarget allows clients to identify the resources they have available to implement change, and then they get the most impactful recommendations that can be done in that amount of time.

It's more than just software. FutureNow's analysts use web analytics, heuristic analysis and FutureNow's Persuasion Architecture methodologies to make the recommendations clients see with OnTarget.

Eisenberg calls the model ”just-in-time optimization.” Since nobody has unlimited resources or time, OnTarget only recommends what clients can do when they have the resources to be able to do it.

Future Now has been optimizing Web sites to improve conversions for years. But the process required a large investment of time and money on the part of clients. With OnTarget, the barrier to entry is much lower, so its Persuasion Architecture methodology will now be accessible to many more clients. Those clients with an expert on staff will benefit from the additional analysis and guidance that OnTarget offers.

OnTarget runs on top of a client's Web analytics program to identify areas where a site can be improved. Setup involves adding Javascript tags to the site, and OnTarget can start providing recommendations in the first week. The monthly fee is structured to include a given amount of analyst's time. If the client finds more analyst time is needed, they can pay a bit more and get more analyst hours in their plan.

"The consulting model is broken. There are some companies out there that just shouldn't pay for consulting, because it won't bring the return they need." said Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder and executive VP of FutureNow. "At its core, OnTarget is a way to deliver Persuasion Architecture improvements without having done Persuasion Architecture from the beginning."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEW Experts: Universal Search Should Be a Plus

Search Engine Watch Expert - William Flaiz Variety in the search results gives online marketers multiple opportunities to rank and gain new listing visibility. But how does the user feel? In today's SEM agency issues column, "Universal Search Should Be a Plus," William Flaiz reminds us that as new listing types begin appearing in results, we often lose sight of whether these listings are really helpful to the user.

» Full story

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

SEW Experts: Keyword Discovery 101, Part 1

Search Engine Watch Expert - Ron Jones Developing proficiency for identifying and refining your keywords crosses many disciplines. It's important to think about a strategy for your campaign and what goals you wish to accomplish before you begin. In today's SEM 101 column, "Keyword Discovery 101, Part 1," Ron Jones begins to outline a sound keyword strategy.

» Full story

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

December 5, 2008

Google Creates One Page for Webmaster Tools Settings

Google has placed the Webmaster Tools settings on one page for your convenience. The settings that can be adjusted are:

1. Geographic Target
2. Preferred domain control
3. Opting in to enhanced image search
4. Crawl rate control

Some settings are time-bound, such as the crawl rate, which automatically sets back to default after 90 days. So, be sure to make note of those settings and revisit as warranted.

You'll also be prompted every time you make a change to Save or Cancel.

Have you checked out the new settings page? What are your thoughts?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Friend Connect Beta Available for All Webmasters

Google has made Friend Connect available to all webmasters in a beta form. Friend Connect lets sites add social networking to their site. But users can sign in with an established account from Google, Yahoo, AOL, or OpenID, instead of creating yet another account.

Here's a vid with more details

Google Friend Connect was announced in May and made available as a preview release.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rich Riley to Head Yahoo! Europe and Canada

Yahoo! is filling the void left by Europe and Canada head, Toby Coppel, by hiring from within. Rich Riley, head of Yahoo!'s Advertiser & Publisher Group in Europe, has been tapped to fill the role. He will be based in Rolle, Switzerland, where Yahoo! Europe's headquarters are located.

Rich Riley has been at Yahoo! for almost ten years, joining the company with the acquisition of his startup, Log-Me-On.com. He rose up through the ranks and at one point led the U.S. Small and Medium Business Division.

Sue Decker, president, Yahoo! Inc., said, "The appointment of Rich Riley represents the next phase in the evolution of our European and Canadian businesses, enabling us to build on the great foundations laid by Toby Coppel. We are committed to continuing our growth as a leader in Europe and Canada."

Commenting on his new role, Rich Riley, said, "Yahoo! is one of the leading global internet companies and a leader in both Europe and Canada. With our focus on creating brilliant starting points for consumers and being a must buy for advertisers, we will continue to grow these key businesses. I look forward to leading these businesses and driving Yahoo! forward in Europe and Canada at this exciting time."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Half of British and Irish Marketers Use SEO for PR Purposes

According to new research by Citigate Dewe Rogerson, 51.4% of marketers in the UK and Ireland use search engine optimization (SEO) tactics for public relations (PR) purposes. Brilliant!

And almost two-thirds of respondents suggesting that internet-based PR was important. Brilliant!

However, just over four in 10 marketers in the UK and Ireland said that they did not have the in-house digital skills to develop a sound online PR strategy, while 31.2% indicated that their organizations did not fully understand the business benefits of internet PR.

Well, to remedy that situation, all marketers need to do is attend Search Engine Strategies London, February 17-19, 2009. On the agenda are sessions like:

Universal & Blended Search -- Search result multiplicity is not a new phenomenon, but recent advancements guarantee that the world of search and marketing will be changing forever. Before you attend this week's optimization and best practices sessions, learn from industry gurus how the steps that follow the search are developing. Our ongoing series on universal search will include research data available only at SES.

Online Video Update: The Next Wave -- This session will provide tips on how to navigate the new wave of online video, as more people are watching, sharing, and finding videos online. It will cover the four contributing factors to the massive surge in popularity and predicted continued growth for online video, as well as the converging factors that have led to the next wave of online video search. The panelists will also discuss the issues with video search, and the industry's desire for standards on how to tag, organize, and find videos.

SEO Through Blogs & Feeds -- Not yet running a blog? Not syndicating your content through web feeds? Then you're missing out on an important area that can help your overall SEO efforts. Learn more about the unique advantages blogs and feeds offer to search engine optimization.

News Search SEO -- News search engines offer a great way to receive targeted traffic related to breaking topics or to help with a public relations launch. In this session, we look at how to make use of press releases and news content to tap into the power of news search.

Video & Podcast SEO -- New products make it easier to locate video content from across the web or to find "podcast" programs, on-demand radio-like shows people can listen to on MP3 players or their computers. This session will provide a look at various services and how to get your content visible and audible within them.

Brand & Reputation Management -- Can you use a competitor's trademark in your own search advertising? Or what if a competitor has an ad running on your trademarked brand name? Should you engage professional legal help or are there other options? What if bloggers are posting negative or false claims about your brands and these are spreading with viral speed through other blogs? Are there ways to get these damaging messages out of the search engines? This session will provide an exploration of these and other brand protection issues.

Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online -- Link building is crucial, but linkbait tactics that worked this year may not be as effective next year. This session focuses on the underlying quality as well as ingenuity needed to get other websites to link to you early and often. It will also explain how you should approach journalists, bloggers and other authoritative sources to enhance your company's online reputation, whether or not you get links.

And on Friday, February 20, 2008, there are half-day workshops, including:

Reaching Your Audience Through Blogs, taught by Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide.

Link and Reputation Workshop, taught by Dixon Jones of Receptional.

In other words, marketers can develop the in-house digital skills to develop a sound online PR strategy. And, if their organizations don't fully understand the business benefits of internet PR now, they will by the end of SES London 2009.

At SES London 2008, I interviewed Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, about some of the public relations oriented sessions at that conference.

Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing, at SES London 2008

And if you register for one of the SES conference packages before Dec. 22, 2008, you can save up to £300 with the Early Bird Rate. Brilliant!

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 4, 2008

Another (Former) Yahoo Heads to Microsoft

Earlier this year, Dr. Qi Lu left his role as Executive Vice President of Search and Advertising Technology at Yahoo in the aftermath of the failed Microsoft acquisition for the Sunnyvale search engine.

Now, Microsoft is bringing Lu on president of the Online Services Group. A couple weeks ago, it was confirmed that Yahoo's VP of Search Technology, Sean Suchter, was heading to Microsoft.

I'm starting to actually believe Steve Ballmer's insistence that he's not coming back around to pick up Yahoo at a reduced price. Why buy a company when you've snagged two of its top talents?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why Retailers Should Be Day Trippers to SES Chicago

Okay, so I'm an old Beatles fan. But there are lots of very current reasons why retailers should consider becoming day trippers to Search Engine Strategies Chicago next week.

Hidden in plain sight on the rates & registration details page is this nifty option: “One-Day Package” for SES conference sessions is $895. I'm not making this up. Check it out for yourself.

And which day might a retailer consider being a day tripper? Check out the SES Chicago Agenda Overview and retailers will see two options.

The first is Tuesday, Dec. 9. You can start with the morning keynote presentation by Bill Tancer, General Manager of Global Research at Hitwise and author of “Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters.”

Bill is going to talk primarily about what search term data can tell us about the economy and consumer sentiment. He'll also spend some time on finding insights on the effect of an economic downturn on search. You could get an ROI on your day trip just by attending the keynote.

But wait! There's more!

Tuesday features a Retailer Track. There are three sessions focused on:

Squeeze More Sales Out of Your Existing Online Campaigns
Given the economic downturn, learn how companies are using the latest tools, like Google Website Optimizer and others, to maximize online sales without increasing their ad spend. Three internet retailing companies will discuss how they are increasing the ROI of their ad campaigns in these tight budgetary times.
• Moderator: Kayden Kelly, CEO, Blast Advanced Media
• Speakers:
Chris Benson, CTO, AudioEditions.com
Todd Curry, VP of Marketing, ifbyphone
Sandra Niehaus, VP, User Experience and Creative Director, Closed Loop Marketing

Google Site Search: Fast, Relevant, Customized Search Results for Your Website
Over the past decade, website search has increased in importance from a technical feature to a core marketing and sales asset. End-users are increasingly losing patience with multiple navigation options on websites and are looking to search as the answer. To this end, Google's Nitin Mangtani will be discussing how customers are using Google Site Search to grow their businesses and how you can do the same for yours in this sponsored session.

Rebecca%20Lieb.jpg A Case Study From American Greetings: Rethinking Optimization
What happens when you combine thousands of keywords across 2 engines with 3 products and a single, optimized landing page? Nothing much really. In this session, attendees will learn how American Greetings became post-click marketing mavens by discovering the inherent value of AdGroup-level testing and iteration for increased lift. American Greetings and ion interactive will explain how and why they moved from a single optimized landing page to testing over 40 landing pages tightly matched to each individual search AdGroup--enabling them to deliver the right content to the right people in the most compelling format. Attendees will hear real American Greetings examples — what worked and what didn't — that achieved increased engagement, increased conversions and increased behavioral data that impacted their bottom line. Session takeaways include best practices for running simple, high-impact A/B tests that any front-line marketer can easily implement and understand.
• Moderator: Rebecca Lieb, Contributing Editor, ClickZ
• Speakers:
Tessa Fraser, Marketing Manager, Online Media, American Greetings
Anna Talerico, Executive Vice President, ion interactive

Now, if retailers have a conflict on Tuesday, then they should check out what's being offered on Wednesday, Dec. 10.

The morning starts with a keynote by Josh James, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omniture. The title of his presentation is “Avoiding the Chasm of ‘Anticipointment'” To drive to the next level of conversion and optimization, Josh thinks it's time for online marketers to consider the entire marketing value chain and bridge the gap between ads and a personalized, relevant online experience for each visitor.

Then there is a Vertical and Retail Track that features sessions on:

Advanced B2B
Forget consumers. You want leads! Leads that become opportunities that convert into booked business! Join our seasoned panel of B2B marketing professionals as they share the latest tips and trends in using search to find those niche decision-makers that drive your business.
• Moderator: Aaron Kahlow, Chairman & Founder, Online Marketing Summit
• Speakers:
Karen Breen Vogel, President and CEO, ClearGauge
Patricia Hursh, President & Founder, SmartSearch Marketing
Adam S. Goldberg, Chief Innovation Officer, Clearsaleing

Getting Vertical Search Right
The need for specialized search capabilities has never been more prevalent than it is today. Established leaders and experts in vertical search application and execution will discuss the state of the industry, positive and negative experiences, and best practices for answering needs of today's demanding searchers.
• Moderator: Elisabeth Osmeloski, Founder, AdventuresinSearch.com
• Speakers:
Paul Forster, CEO, Indeed
John Ellis, Senior Online Marketing Manager, ResortQuest
Jeff Tinsley, CEO, Reunion.com

Shopping Search Tactics
Learn how content from your e-commerce or merchant site can - and should! - be included in shopping search engines.
• Moderator: Brian A. Smith, Analyst, ComparisonEngines
• Speakers:
Greg Hintz, General Manager, Yahoo! Shopping
Jonathan Ashton, VP of SEO & Web Analytics, Agency.com
Dave Moran, Sr. Manager Search Marketing, Performics
Aaron Shear, Partner, Boost Search Marketing

In House: Lessons Learned & Victories Won
As Search Engine Marketing (SEM) grows in popularity, many companies are attempting to handle the SEM function in-house despite the inherent complexity and challenges. Join us for a spirited discussion and get a chance to meet some of these intrepid do-it-yourselfers behind the in-house movement, as we debate the pros and cons of developing and training a dedicated in-house team. Laying the foundation for in-house SEO success, long-term cost savings, gaining project support at the executive level, leveraging innate knowledge and creating accountability are just some of the topics to be discussed.
• Moderator: William Flaiz, VP, Search Engine Optimization & Web Analytics, Razorfish
• Speakers:
Olivier Lemaignen, Group Manager, Global Search Marketing, Intuit
Jessica Bowman, SEO Strategist & in-house SEO Expert, SEMinhouse.com
Maura Ginty, Senior Web Manager, Web Content Team, Autodesk, Inc.
Mark Ruzomberka, Traffic.com

Oh, and the exhibit hall also happen to be open Tuesday and Wednesday, so retailers can what's new on the show floor.

I think these are some pretty compelling reasons why retailers should consider becoming day trippers to SES Chicago next week. Of course, I've got a ticket to ride for the entire week. So, I also think there are some pretty compelling reasons for attending the entire conference and expo.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Alessio Signorini Tapped as Director of Search Technology at OneRiot

Social search engine OneRiot has a new Director of Search Technology and it's Alessio Signorini, former Director of Technology at Ask.com. While at Ask.com, Signorini oversaw natural language processing, ranking optimizations, and query classifications.

"It's testament to the work we're doing that someone as talented as Alessio has joined our team," said Kimbal Musk, OneRiot CEO. "His experience and expertise will help us continuously improve our efforts to enable users to find the pulse of the web."

"OneRiot is unique in its ability to help users find the pulse of the web -- to find the news, videos and products that people are talking about right now," said Alessio. "OneRiot is a very attractive search company. I can't wait to get started!"

Related Reading:
Expedia Chooses Baynote Social Search to Improve Site Usability
Social Search Site Scour Now Speedier (Say That 10 Times Fast)
Google Xooglers Launch Social Search Engine Mechanical Zoo
Social Search: Welcome to the World of Socialommerce
Mahalo Adds New Social Search Tools

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CitySquares.com to Begin National Expansion

CitySquares.com began as an online neighborhood community site for 7 neighborhoods in Boston. Over the summer, they expanded to include New England and recently added 1.7 million businesses to their New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania communities. They are one of the fastest growing local search sites on the web.

Now, CitySquares has their sights set on a national expansion, but they are proceeding with caution. They stress that they don't want to be just another directory, but to truly offer online communities for local cities and neighborhoods across the United States.

Writing on the CitySquares blog, co-founders Bob Leland and Ben Saren said,

Whether a county in Montana, a borough in NY, a village in Vermont, or a neighborhood in Seattle, we want to get all the information about that community, that locale, online. Get the geopolitical information online, municipal information, local government, post office, libraries, public schools, trash and recycling collection schedules, historical facts, playgrounds, parking lots, public transportation, local school lunch menus, athletic program information, July 4th fireworks locations, and so much more. CitySquares' vision is, and has always been, to be “Your Neighborhood, Online.” Not easy, but necessary. And it will happen.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Releases Top Searches for 2008

In the ongoing end of year list season, AOL has released its top searches for 2008. Unlike Yahoo and Ask.com, AOL inexplicably only released the top searches for select niches, not a top 10 list of overall searches. Nevertheless, here they are:

‘American Idol' - Top TV & Movies
NASCAR - Top Sports
Britney Spears - Top Celebrity
Flat Belly Diet - Top Health
iPhone - Top Shopping
Jonas Brothers - Top Musician
Presidential Election - Top News

To see the full lists, click here.

All I have to say is: Seriously, people - Britney Spears!!?!?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo Adds Search Assist to Image Search

Yahoo has added Search Assist to their image search. If you're not aware, Search Assist is Yahoo's technology that brings up search suggestions when you start typing in your search.

Here's what it looks like for an initial search:

But Yahoo has added a second tier to Search Assist for Image Search. On a results page, if you click in the search box, you'll get the search suggestions plus image suggestions.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 3, 2008

UPDATE: Jonathan Miller Seeks Funds for His VC Firm, Not Yahoo

It turns out yesterday's news about former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller trying to gather money to buy Yahoo was false. Miller has been raising money, but it's for his own venture capital firm, not for buying Yahoo.

Miller's firm is Velocity Interactive Group and it does invest in digital media.

This is the second false rumor in a week regarding a purchase of Yahoo. Over the weekend, media reported that a new Microsoft-Yahoo deal had been reached.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cyber Monday Spending Up 15% to $846 Million

Cyber Monday sales were up 15% reaching $846 million, making it the second highest online spending day recorded, according to comScore.

Earlier this week, comScore said that rate of growth for Cyber Monday sales have traditionally indicated the overall rate of growth for holiday spending in general. If that remains the case this year, that's good news. While the rate has certainly declined, it is still growing.

Here's a look at historical weekly online sales during the holidays:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live Search Flags Questionable Sites

Microsoft's Live Search is now flagging sites which they deem questionable in terms of malware. Users can still visit the site, but you'll have to click a special link in the warning box, as the main link has been disabled.

If you find that your site has been flagged (perhaps a third party hacked your site), you can use Live Search's webmaster tools to get back on track.

Here's a screenshot of what a warning would look like:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Advertising to Cretins Expected To Drop in 2009

While the News Corp founder's biographer Michael Wolff may think Rupert Murdoch's MySpace users are "cretins", the company's CEO Chris DeWolfe believes profits will "continue to grow in spite of the poor economy".

"If you're on MySpace now, you're a (expletive) cretin. And you're not only a (expletive) cretin, but you're poor," said Wolff."

"Nobody who has beyond an eighth grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people," Cnet News reported.

Guess Wolff will not be getting Murdoch to promote his book, The Man Who Owns The News, any time soon.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported the MySpace CEO has seen a drop in the value of many online companies over the past six months - which we have all seen - but the numbers mentioned are interesting.

"Web companies that were worth between $200 million and $300 million just six months ago are now willing to sell themselves for $20 million to $25 million, and some have begun knocking on his door recently," DeWolfe told Reuters.

DeWolfe said the company was interested in some international companies, as well as some music ones. So will MySpace be rolling out an iTunes competitor in the new year?

Guess 'cretins' like music.

Posted by Frank Watson on 2:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 2, 2008

Google Makes New Ad Quality Videos

Perhaps in an effort to become more transparent, or maybe just hoping more people start advertising, Google has published two new videos on Quality Scores.

As their Inside AdWords blog describes the first is an introductory video, "an overview of Quality Score and answers to some common questions about Ads Quality." Great for people curious about how Quality Scores work and some idea of what elements impact them.

The second is a little more advanced.

Good job guys...

Posted by Frank Watson on 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dogpile.com's Search & Rescue Program Raises First $100,000 for ASPCA

Dogpile.com searchers have raised $100,000 for the Search & Rescue Program, a philanthropic arm that donates money to animal-related charities. The program is on its way to reaching its goal of raising $1 million for the ASPCA by the end of 2009.

“Whether people are using Dogpile.com for their online holiday shopping or just for general information searches, the traffic to the site has helped us raise a significant amount for the ASPCA already,” said Stacy Ybarra, senior director of corporate giving, InfoSpace. “Search and Rescue allows any individual with access to a computer to support a worthy cause without significantly changing their habits or spending a penny of their own money.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller Trying to Raise Funds to Buy All or Part of Yahoo

This is breaking news and it is literally just a headline from the Wall Street Journal at this point. Jonathan Miller, former CEO of AOL, is trying to raise funds to buy all or part of Yahoo.

It was suspected that Miller would have been tapped to run things if Microsoft had indeed acquired Yahoo earlier in the year, but of course they didn't.

Miller may have trouble coming up with the funds with credit markets in their current dried up state.

Just yesterday, we learned that Carl Icahn bought 7 million more shares of Yahoo. Was that move a little too coincidental in light of today's news?

Have your say in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEMPO's Annual State of the Market Survey Open Now Open for 2008

It's that time of year. SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) has opened their State of the Market survey to gain (and later give) insight into what SEOs and SEMs are doing with their marketing budgets and strategies.

There are perks for participating, including an 8GB iPod Touch and a free pass to a North Americaan SES Conference to randomy drawn participants. You do not have to be a SEMPO member to participate.

This year, your participation may be more crucial than ever. An uncertain economy has many people guessing, but surveys such as these can help provide tangible realities into what's really going on in search advertising.

“While there are numerous surveys publishing online spend projections, what differentiates the SEMPO survey is its ability to tap into the largest qualified pool of professionals actively engaged in search marketing,” says Kevin Lee, co-founder and executive chairman of Didit, and a founding board member of SEMPO who continues to coordinate this annual research project.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Buys Digital Historical Newspaper Archives from PaperofRecord.com

Google has completed the purchase of 20 million digitized historical newspaper pages from PaperofRecord.com. The two have had an agreement for two years and has now concluded in a sale that was voted on by shareholders of PaperofRecord's parent company, Cold North Wind, Inc.

This should be quite an asset to Google's historical newspaper initiative, announced in September.

PaperofRecord is based in Canada and was the first to digitize the entire history of the Toronto Star. In addition to digitizing newspapers in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe, PaperofRecord has digitized historical documents including he Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's longest serving Prime Minister.

"It is a bittersweet day for PaperofRecord.com. We are very pleased to have our legacy and vision of a 500 year, global, multiple language newspaper historical archive being placed in the stewardship of Google. As a Canadian entrepreneur, it is disappointing to not be able to muster the resources in our country to bring such a digital resource to its fruition at home. However, without the help and vision of a company such as Google, this immense, global, educational resource would not be possible on the scale that is being contemplated," said R.J (Bob) Huggins, Founder and CEO of PaperofRecord.com.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live Search Offers Instant Cashback, Responds to Black Friday Glitch

After a Black Friday blackout, Live Search is responding to the glitch and also offering a new update: Instant Cashback.

Cashback was down for about three hours last Friday and Live Search explained why with the following three reasons:

A significant spike in traffic caused the system to go down for several hours on Friday
The downtime was partly related to investigating the issue and partly to rebuilding and redeploying the databases and indexes that support Microsoft Live Search cashback.
The issues that caused Friday's problem have been resolved. We're confident we won't have further problems.

Contact Live Search support if you want to recoup your Cashback monies.

The new Instant Cashback is available via PayPal for eBay purchases. It will not be available for all users and you'll only know if you're one of the lucky ones after you make a purchase. If you're not, then you'll still get your Cashback deal in 60 days per the original plan.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 1, 2008

Pownce To Fold, Founders Join Six Apart

The founders of Pownce announced they are closing their social networking platform and joining Six Apart - the creators of Movable Type, TypePad and Vox, the company blog announced today.

Co-founder Leah Culver stated in the blog, "We're bittersweet about shutting down the service but we believe we'll come back with something much better in 2009. We love the Pownce community and we will miss you all."

"Mike and I have joined Six Apart as part of their engineering team and we're looking forward to being a part of the talented group that has created amazing tools for blogging and publishing," he explained.

Given the technology will join Six Apart and that company's strength in the blogging software arena, Leah's comment that they should be coming back in 2009 with something "much better" is intriguing.

Posted by Frank Watson on 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Website Optimizer Integrated with Magento Open Source Ecommerce Platform

Open source e-commerce platform Magento has released a new version of its software, and with it is a Google Website Optimizer integration.

All you have to do is cut and paste a URL into Magento's GWO tool and bam - you're ready to optimize that landing page.

Seriously, if you're not convinced you need to be testing - then stop everything and read these links:

Landing Page Optimization: Guessing vs. Testing
Coherency in Landing Page Testing
Landing Pages: Test Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
Testing Applies to Widgets and Accessories, Not Just Landing Pages
Testing Landing Pages Includes Testing Best Practices
Assembling Your Landing Page Optimization Dream Team, Part 2

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo and Ask.com Reveal Top Searches for 2008

Top searches lists are beginning to roll out and today, both Yahoo and Ask.com revealed the hottest searches for 2008 on their respective engines.

Over at Yahoo!, entertainment was the name of the game:

Britney Spears
WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)
Barack Obama
Miley Cyrus
RuneScape
Jessica Alba
Naruto
Lindsay Lohan
Angelina Jolie
American Idol

Ask.com's Top 10 list was a little less shallow

Dictionary
MySpace
Google
YouTube
Facebook
Coupons
Cars
Craigslist
Online degrees
Credit score

To drill down into specific niches such as politics and news, check out the breakdown of top searches for Yahoo here and Ask.com here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Icahn Buys More Yahoo Stock; European Head Out

Carl Icahn has increased his investment in Yahoo by purchasing nearly 7 million shares. This comes on the heels of the announcement that Jerry Yang will be stepping down as CEO, once a new one has been tapped.

While some may see this as a sign of "Carl in Charge," I wonder if this move is just a bit risky on Icahn's part. If the stock drops lower and Yahoo goes to Microsoft in a fire sale, Icahn will lose even more money than the millions he's already lost this year. Icahn bought a nice chunk of shares earlier this year in order to have a stronger voice as a shareholder. He later became a member on Yahoo's newly expanded board.

Meanwhile, and unrelated, Yahoo's European Head Toby Coppel is leaving his post. Stepping up is SVP of Europe's Advertiser & Publisher Group Rich Riley.

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

Online Black Friday Sales Up 1% Over Last Year

Despite all the bad economic news going into Black Friday, online spending was up 1% over last year, according to comScore. Online shoppers spent $534 million, up from $531 million for Black Friday 2007.

One of the advantages for online shopping is sleeping in (and not trampling Wal-mart employees to death). Online spending peaked between 12-4pm with the 8am to 12pm slot following closely behind:

However, it's today's sales that may be the strongest indicator of the overall season. Cyber Monday growth rates are strongly correlated to the growth rate of the full holiday season.

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

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