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February 22, 2009 - February 28, 2009

Google Adds Friend Connect to Blogger

Users of Google's blogging product, Blogger, can now add Friend Connect to their blogs. The feature enables them to incorporate social networking to their blog. Now, that might seem a bit redundant. Isn't a blog already social with comments?

Yes, but blogging isn't a comprehensive social community. Granted, Friend Connect isn't comprehensive, but it's a simple way for those who don't have the time or resources to build out a full-on social networking site.

Friend Connect is also a social media marketing tool. Users share their activity with others, so Blogger users might get new readers when it's noted that Friend Connect users are reading them.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 27, 2009, 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Facebook Releases New Terms of Service for Feedback; Allows Users to Vote on Changes

After enduring controversy over a new Terms of Service, Facebook has released another new version - this time with a whole new vision for its implementation. The new TOS is open for feedback, in the spirit of being transparent.

There are two documents being released. One is "Facebook Principles," which defines the rights of members. The second is a "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities," which replaces the Terms of Service. Facebook also says their users will be notified of and get to vote on changes made to the documents.

When testing occurs on the social network, it will not be subject to notification or voting.

With today's announcement, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg assured users that his social network doesn't own data, the users do.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 27, 2009, 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Translate Adds 7 Languages; Now Up to 41

Google Translate has added 7 more languages. They are:

Turkish
Thai
Hungarian
Estonian
Albanian
Maltese
Galician

This brings the total number of languages on Google Translate to 41. The available languages reach the ones spoken by 98% of internet users.

Last September, Google added 11 languages and last summer, Google "went live" with human translation as a service.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 27, 2009, 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fourth estate is dead; long live the fourth estate

Back in May 2005, Linda Rutherford sent me an email with the subject line: "Demise of the fourth estate." Linda is now the Vice President of Communications and Strategic Outreach at Southwest Airlines, but she is a former a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald newspaper.

Adam Macbeth John Mulligan and Fionn Downhill at SES San Jose 2008.jpg In her email, Linda wrote, "If you have a few moments, please take a look at this short video. It's an interesting short movie from the Museum of Media History predicting the demise of the fourth estate.

"The scenario is entertaining, a bit frightening and not too far-fetched.

"It hints at the monumental changes afoot in how consumers will learn about news and form opinions about brands.

"Thought given your role you would enjoy this creative prediction of what's to come."

Linda was right. The 8-minute video by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson is a bit frightening. And the scenario it depicted was not too far fetched: "In the year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline. The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned. What happened to the news?"

The same day that Linda sent her email, The New York Times Company announced a "targeted staff reduction program that will include approximately 190 employees at The New York Times and the New England Media Group, which includes The Boston Globe."

While the staff reduction represented less than 2% of the New York Times Company's total workforce back in 2005, the cuts didn't end there.

In its report on The State of the News Media 2006, the Project for Excellence in Journalism, asked, "Will we recall this as the year when journalism in print began to die?"

In December 2007, I wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, "Blogs are the new trade press." I observed, "In many industries, the trade press has imploded." In our industry, I reported that online publications and group blogs generated close to 88 percent of the coverage of SES Chicago and PubCon. (The remaining 11 percent was - you guessed it - press releases.)

A year later, I reported on the battery of online video crews interviewing speakers between sessions at SES Chicago 2008. I also interviewed Abby Johnson of WebProNews about this trend. Abby is a pioneer in the field and has been producing videos for the WebProNews Video Blog for years.

Abby Johnson, WebProNews, discusses the top trends at SES Chicago

We're now halfway between 2004, the year that Museum of Media History made its predection, and 2014, the date when it predicted the demise of the fourth estate.
So, I think it's time to declare: The fourth estate is dead; long live the fourth estate!"

Yes, print journalism continues to implode. The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado's oldest newspaper, is publishing its last edition today. The Chicago Tribune and LA Times have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Christian Science Monitor is going "all digital." US News & World Report is now published every other week. PC Magazine is going "all digital."

Even in my home town, The Boston Globe is cutting 50 jobs in its newsroom, fifth newsroom staff reduction since 2001. At its peak in 2000, the Globe newsroom had 552 full-time jobs. When the latest cuts are complete, there will be about 300 full-time newsroom and editorial employees, plus another 29 news employees at Boston.com.

At the same time that print media are imploding, blogs are exploding into a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream. According to eMarketer, there were 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12 percent of Internet users) and 94.1 million US blog readers (50 percent).

And comScore Video Metrix reports that Nearly 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 96 videos per viewer in December 2008, or a record 14.3 billion online videos during the month. This means 78.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in December. The duration of the average online video was 3.2 minutes. So, the average online video viewer watched 309 minutes of video, or more than 5 hours.

Now, this doesn't mean that all of the predictions in the Museum of Media History video turned out to be right. For example, it predicted that Google would acquire TiVo. It didn't. Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion instead.

Still, I predict that you'll be able to see the new fourth estate for yourself at SES New York 2009. There will be lots of bloggers and a bunch of videographers. And, who knows, we might even see a print reporter or two -- attending sessions like "Publishers & Agencies: New Business Models for Changing Times", "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond" and "News Search SEO."

I'll be at all three of these sessions, so I'll let you know if my prediction comes true.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on February 27, 2009, 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TripAdvisor Joins the Travel Search Space

TripAdvisor has launched a search engine where people can compare fares from various airlines and booking agencies. The site which is known for its reviews of travel destinations will also include a feature others have yet to add - the inclusion of bag fees, food and other items such as headphones.

"Nobody else has been able to give consumers clarity about what's the true cost of travel," Bryan Saltzburg, general manager of new initiatives for TripAdvisor told the Boston Globe.

Posted by Frank Watson on February 27, 2009, 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Launches Apps Status Dashboard To Address Outage Information

Google launched an Apps Status Dashboard this week, following the problems they had with Gmail, AdSense and other products.

Given many businesses now rely on these services, it was a smart move to give people an area they can go to check whether the outage or problems are local to them or something Google is experiencing on their end.

As they stated in their Enterprise blog:

"The Google Apps Status Dashboard represents an additional layer of transparency that we believe will be particularly useful for our business users, and it's also relevant to users of our consumer products. The Status Dashboard is the best place to check for information on service availability for Google Apps anywhere in the world. In my role on the sales team, I regularly talk with customers to make sure that they're getting the most out of Google Apps and I think that you will find this tool indispensable in managing your Google Apps deployment."

TechCrunch mentioned the dashboard in terms of "Gfail" - funny how we all seem to be using the new Twitter-speak (the Fail Whale has become an icon).

While I am sure Google does not want to have an association with the up and down swing of Twitter - the fact that they launched this app was a smart way to take away the impact of their recent outages.

They also offered a 15 day credit to all enterprise level users of Gmail following the problems earlier this week. But given these users are paying $50 a year (per user) - the discount amounts to about $2 per person. If my dedicated server goes down for more than an hour I get a month credit as part of the contract.

Posted by Frank Watson on February 27, 2009, 6:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bartz Blogs: Yahoo! Reorganizes, Customer Advocacy Group Created

It's been rumored for a week, and now is making it official in her first post on Yodel Anecdotal: Yahoo! is reorganizing. Bartz says she wants to make things run smoother and simpler. She says the "notorious silos" are gone.

Bartz also announced the creation of a Customer Advisory group. She says she's frustrated with how many customers call up and are angry. Bartz wants Yahoo! to do a better job of listening to customers.

This is very good to hear. Their primary competitor, Google, has always presented a customer-oriented business model. Yahoo! at times has presented themselves as "Look what we're doing."

I hope these goals that Bartz is pushing for with the reorganization work. It would be great to see Yahoo! emerge as a stronger competitor to Google. Competition is driven through innovation, and the beneficiaries will be the customers.

But reorganization has its not-so-pretty side. Yahoo!'s CFO Blake Jorgensen will be leaving his post once his replacement is found. Expect more exits to follow as the reorganization is implemented.

By the way, Wall Street reacted positively to the news. Yahoo! stocks went up after the announcement.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 26, 2009, 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YouTube Adds Help Center Video Submission; API Gets Recent Activity

YouTube is now accepting video submissions for its Help Center. Now, users can help others learn how to use YouTube. Simply go to a Help Center topical page (find one that's super specific) and look for the box on the right hand side where you can submit a video.

Here's a screenshot of the page for "Sign-up and Log-in Issues: Unsolicited 'Reset Password' email"

YouTube is also enabling "Recent Activity" to be accessed through the API. The "Recent Activity" info appears on YouTube channels and lets viewers know what users have been up to lately.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 26, 2009, 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yahoo! Sets Facebook SearchMonkey App as Default

Yahoo! has set the SearchMonkey application for Facebook as default. This means, when you search for a name and see a Facebook result, the customized result developed by Facebook via SearchMonkey will appear.

Here's an example of the result for Facebook engineer, Alex Moskalyuk:

Facebook joins other SearchMonkey apps already set as default, including Wikipedia, Yelp, LinkedIn, Citysearch and Zagat.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 26, 2009, 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SearchMe Launches Search Advertising Beta

Visual search engine SearchMe has launched a search advertising test and is looking for beta testers. The program is open to 500 participants who will get free advertising for 30 days. To apply, click here.

"We are fusing together two popular advertising formats to drive better tracking of both ROI and branded advertising spend. We want consumers to know exactly what they're getting before they even click on an ad," said John Galatea, vice president of sales and marketing at SearchMe. "The combination of search marketing with the power of branded display ads creates more valuable clicks leading to increased conversions and that's what advertisers want. The added qualification of seeing before clicking makes a huge difference for end users and advertisers and provides an exciting glimpse into the future of visual search advertising."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 26, 2009, 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stress Tests for SEO, SEM, PPC at SES New York

Regulators are putting banks through stress tests to determine whether they have adequate capital. And if you look at the SES New York conference agenda, you'll see that you can put your SEO, SEM and PPC programs through some pretty rigorous stress testing at six express site clinics that will be held in the Expo Hall.

Now, why would you want to do that? For starters, you can get some free advice from SEO, SEM and PPC experts. In addition, you'll get an honest opinion from search engine marketing specialists who will tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, even if it hurts.

For example, the first clinic is being taught by Shari Thurow, the Founder and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Director at Omni Marketing Interactive. I first met Shari at Search Engine Strategies Spring in Boston -- back in 2002. And I've learned that she'll tell you exactly what she thinks -- without fear or favor.

And you'd be a fool to ignore her recommendations. Shari has a 100% success rate for getting client sites ranked at the top of search engines -- and her clients include Yahoo, Microsoft, America Online, ABC News, HSBC, Expedia, Deloitte and Touche, National Cancer Institute, and WebMD.

Shari is holding an "Express Search Usability Clinic" on Tuesday, March 24, from 1 to 2 p.m. You can get one-on-one advice for usability, design, copy, link development, and any technical issues that may prevent your Web site from receiving high quality search engine traffic and visitor conversions.

David Szetela of Clix Marketing.jpg Need another example? Check out the "Power PPC Advertising Clinic" being taught by David Szetela, the CEO of Clix Marketing, on Tuesday, March 24, from 2 to 3 p.m. I've known David even longer than Shari. Back in the 1990s, we both worked together at Ziff-Davis Publishing.

I've never known David to pull a punch -- on his company's blog, in his weekly Profitable PPC column published by Search Engine Watch, or at search and advertising industry events. And Clix is also one of the few agencies paid according to their performance -- as a percentage of profit or a commission per sales lead generated.

You can get your Google AdWords PPC advertising campaigns and landing pages expertly analyzed, with specific recommendations for improvement and optimization. Or just come to watch and learn a wide range of tips and best practices!

The third Express Site Clinic is being taught by Jonathan Mendez, Founder and CEO of RAMP Digital. It is entitled, "CPA Optimization Station," and will be held on Tuesday, March 24, from 3 to 4 p.m.

Now, I don't know Jonathan as well as I know the other presenters, but here's what I do know: Jonathan authors the popular marketing blog Optimize & Prophesize. And he has provided expert pre-click and post-click strategies and execution for online testing, targeting and optimization to some of the world's leading brands and businesses, including Amazon.com, Ameriprise, Disney, Citibank, H&R Block, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Monster.com, Sears, and T-Mobile.

With advertising dollars more accountable than ever, optimizing your Cost Per Acquisition or Cost per Action (CPA) has never been more important. So, you should take advantage of this rare opportunity to sit with Jonathan as he finds ways to improve your ROI. He will perform strategic evaluations and provide actionable insights on the consumer touch-points in your conversion path -- keywords, ads, landing pages and registration/checkout. Jonathan will also offer test ideas for use with Multivariate & A/B testing and advice on how to use emerging marketing technologies to further improve your results.

These stress tests will let you know if your SEO, SEM and PPC programs can do heavy lifiting. But wait, there's more!

Matt Bailey and Kristjan Mar Hauksson.jpg On Wednesday, March 25, Matthew Bailey, the President of Site Logic Marketing, will hold a clinic entitled, "Small Changes, Big Results," in the Exhibit Hall from 1 to 2 p.m. Now, what can I tell you about Matt that I haven't already revealed -- in about 120 articles, blog posts or video interviews? (Those of you who know that I went to the University of Michigan understand how hard it is for me to say warm, fuzzy things about a guy from Ohio, but I'll try. Hey, the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is even a Wikipedia listing.)

Matt and I are both members of the Market Motive faculty, which has been called the "Internet marketing dream team." He is the primary trainer and developer for The Direct Marketing Association's Search Engine Optimization Certification program, and the trainer for the DMA's 2-Day Website Marketing Seminar. This year, Matt was selected as the Direct Marketing Association's emissary to France because of his expertise in search marketing. (Coming from a Wolverine, that's high praise for a Buckeye.)

If you need some help, or just another pair of eyes to check your website, then the Express Clinic with Matt will help you identify minor changes in your website that could provide major results. If you are particularly daring, bring the access to your analytics (if they are hosted online), and he will really dive in! (Actually, we are good friends and are both co-presenting the First Timer's Guide to SES and SEM at SES New York. So, we don't let football get in the way of our friendship ... except on one Saturday each fall. Oh, and maybe on New Year's Day.)

Now, I mentioned earlier that the SEO, SEM and PPC experts holding these Express Site Clinics will tell you the truth, even if it hurts. My fifth example of this is the title of the next clinic: "Your Baby Is Ugly - Landing Page Mini-Critiques." It will be held on Wednesday, March 25, from 2 to 3 p.m. by Tim Ash, President of SiteTuners.

Tim Ash is the author of the bestselling book "Landing Page Optimization," published by Wiley. He is a contributing columnist to several publications including Search Engine Watch. And he has also worked with Verizon Wireless, American Express, Sony Music, American Honda, COMP USA, Harcourt Brace, Universal Studios, HomeGain, Fair Isaac, TransUnion, Rand McNally, Red Envelope, Black & Decker, and Coach to develop successful Internet initiatives.

If your landing page has severe and fundamental problems or if you think it could have a much higher conversion rate, join Tim on the exhibit show floor for complimentary mini-critiques. His firm offers consulting, full-service flat-fee guaranteed-performance tests, and advanced software tools for landing page optimization. (Tim's Salsa dancing is pretty impressive, too.)

Dave Naylor.jpg Finally, you'll want to attend the clinic entitled, "Dave Naylor Search Marketing," which will be taught by none other than David Naylor, SEO of Bronco, on Wednesday, March 25, from 3 to 4 p.m.

David, more commonly known as DaveN, is constantly developing new optimization techniques and has the uncanny ability to see algorithmic changes before most other SEOs. He has a proven track record of successes in some of the most competitive markets. And his blog is well known for its down to earth, yet informative approach on all SEO issues.

If you have ever wanted the chance to have an industry leading SEO take a look at your website, if you want to get an honest and often brutal opinion on whether it is any good, then Dave is available to do a mini site clinic for you. You'll be amazed at the information you will glean within seconds of the analysis.

A few final words of warning for those who put their SEO, SEM and PPC programs through one or more of these stress tests at SES New York. First, these PowerPoint free, interactive clinics are "first-come, first-served." Second, if you can't handle the truth, don't get your Website reviewed live by one of these SES experts.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on February 26, 2009, 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Google Adds Panoramio Picture Browsing to Street View

If you love to travel but the economy or your own budget have you staying home, traveling virtually can be a fun way to still see the sights. Street View on Google Maps tempts our wanderlust, and now they've enhanced that temptation by adding Panoramio picture browsing.

Panoramio, which was acquired by Google in 2007, is a photo-sharing site that focuses on photographs of locations and points of interest around the world.

To see the photos, when you're in Street View on Google Maps, click on the box in the top right corner labeled "User Photos." That will launch a visual menu of photos that streams across the top.

The more popular the place you're looking at in Street View (think Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Coliseum), the more likely you are to browse a lot of photos from Panoramio.

Here's a video by the Google LatLong team showing how to use the new feature:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 26, 2009, 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Best Twitter Tip of the Day

Canadian marketer and clever Twitterer Danny Brown pointed out what has to be the best Twitter tip of the day. Use the link you have for your site/blog in your Twitter profile to point to a page about Twitter and other articles you may have written about the service.

Hey given people are on Twitter and interested it definitely should grab you some good pageview numbers from each visit.

Will try and bring some more of these on a regular basis so check back.

Posted by Frank Watson on February 26, 2009, 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Brands Hit Big In Google SERPs, Others Drop

Hats off to Aaron Wall for a great article about how Google has used brands as the basis for their most recent algorithm update.

Seems many sites have fallen from their comfortable front page rankings in preference for sites well branded in the niche for many of keywords impacted. Insurance companies, airline tickets and boots to name a few have suddenly seen well known but unoptimized sites shoot up in the rankings.

These results will no doubt send us SEOs running to the mattresses s we try to figure out how to counter this action by Google. Is it an increase in attention to trust rank? If these sites have not done any quiet SEO, then Google has obviously increased their worth on some basis - who is to say an airline deserves the better position for a travel search. Many small sites provide all types of support information not available.

To make this happen Google had to use some method to measure - brands do not shout out numbers that an algorithm can measure - in normal circumstances. Are they being rewarded for years of PPC spend - not likely.

My theory - and is only that - is they may be using some sort of measuring of typed in traffic numbers. But no doubt the methodology will be explore quite a bit over the coming weeks and be a major conversation piece at SES NYC next month.

Hey if you have any insights drop a comment.

Posted by Frank Watson on February 26, 2009, 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Google News Gets Ads in Search Results

Search advertising has come to Google News. Type in a query and you'll see sponsored links running along the right side just like you do in "regular" Google.

Here's a search for coffee on Google News:

Google began testing ads on a variety of its web properties last November. The testing of ads then in Google News was for "search refinements." In other words, if you searched for a term on the main Google site and then clicked "News," that's a search refinement.

Google also rolled out sponsored videos to YouTube last November.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 26, 2009, 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Obama Speech to Congress Relevant to SES New York Delegates

President Barack Obama's speech to Congress on last night contained a number of relevant messages to the delegates planning to attend SES New York next month.

For example, President Obama said, "We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity." And the search engine marketing industry has lived through years when it was easier to launch pay-per-click campaigns than it was to launch search engine optimization programs.

In fact, Fredrick Marckini, the chief global search officer of Isobar, made this point during his keynote speeches at SES London 2008 and SES Toronto 2008. According to Marckini, "Paid search alone does not constitute a search engine marketing program. I interviewed Fredrick a year ago about the importance of natural search in search engine marketing campaigns, which is still a potent issue as we wrestle with a global recession.

Greg Jarboe & Fredrick Marckini on SEM at SES London 2008

Another line by President Obama that still resonates a day later is this: "The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest working people on earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure."

And today, I received an email from Search Engine Strategies that said, "Bad news can easily derail you from your goal. Don't fall flat on your Q2 achievements. Stay on top of your marketing plan and learn how you can ride through the troubled economy and stand tall in the end. Search Engine Strategies New York is your survival guide to the unsteady economy. From Web 2.0 strategies for small businesses with small budgets to winning online campaigns on a dime."

And the email backed that up with specific suggestions of conference sessions to attend at SES New York:
• The Impact of Today's Economy on the Search Landscape
• Survival of the Fittest 2.0
• Every Day, In Every Way: Search Marketing as a Business Activity
• Publishing: New Business Models for Changing Times
• Lower Your Marketing Costs with Vertical Search
• Four Paths to Success in a Tough Travel Economy

Or, take a close look at the SES New York conference agenda and you'll discover more sessions that "confront boldly the challenges we face." This includes:
• The Dozen Most Common Search Marketing Mistakes That CMOs Make
• Search on a Dime
• 8 Things You Aren't Doing That Will Boost Your SEM Results
• Extreme Makeover: Live Ad Copy & Continuity Clinic!
• SEO Tools of the Trade: What's in YOUR Toolbox?
• Google Website Optimizer: Radically Improve your Conversion Rate!

And if you register for SES New York by March 6, you can save up to $200. Plus, you have a chance to win an extreme makeover of your website in real time during SES New York! And there are other bonus offers.

So, if you think "the time to take charge of our future is here," as President Obama does, then check out the conference agenda for SES New York, which will be held March 23-27, 2009, at the Hilton New York. To borrow a phrase, "So often, we have come to view these documents as simply ... laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it ... as a blueprint for our future."

Posted by Greg Jarboe on February 25, 2009, 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Releases Toolbar 6 for Internet Explorer

It's hard to read and write the news about Google's Toolbar 6 for Internet Explorer without thinking of how it must result from their official position siding with the EU against Microsoft's bundling of IE with Windows.

One of the major updates for the new IE toolbar is the Quick Search Box. This places the Google logo in the IE taskbar for a widget that enables a quick query with search suggestions. Obviously, Google isn't waiting around for regulations to help them maintain their search market ~~monopoly~~ share.

IE toolbar users will also get the personalized tab page that Firefox toolbar users got a few weeks back. The page loads the most visited pages of the browser user. (Google says they do this without gathering data. Instead, the data resides on the PC.)

Interestingly enough, yesterday's Safari browser update offers similar personalized funcationality.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 25, 2009, 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Top Yahoo! Mobile Exec Departs for Personal Reasons

Marco Boerries, Executive Vice President of the Connected Device Division at Yahoo! has announced his resignation. Boerries cited personal reasons. Apparently, he has some family issues that has his time being split between the Bay Area and Germany.

Boerries spent four years as Yahoo!'s top mobile exec.

Here are just a few of the stories that happened on his watch:

Yahoo! to Launch New, Comprehensive Mobile Portal
Yahoo! Adds Features to oneSearch Shortcut, Including Voice Search and Auto-Locate
Yahoo! oneSearch Selected as Mobile Search Service for T-mobile's Web2go
Yahoo Unveils Upgrades to Mobile Search Platform
Yahoo Uses Windows Mobile To Escalate Yahoo Go Reach
Yahoo Signs Mobile Search Deals with Six Asian Carriers

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 25, 2009, 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Engine Strategies Names 5 New Members to SES Advisory Board

This afternoon, Search Engine Strategies announced that five new members are joining the SES Advisory Board. The new advisory board members are: Matthew Bailey, President, SiteLogic; Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now, Inc.; Andrew Goodman, Principal, Page Zero Media; Mike Grehan, Global KDM Officer, Acronym Media; and John Marshall, CTO, Market Motive.

The five new members join eight current members, who will continue to serve on the SES advisory board, which is chaired by Kevin Ryan, CMO, WebVisible, Inc:
• Ron Belanger, Vice President of Agency Development, Yahoo Search Marketing;
• Jeff Ferguson, Director of Online Marketing, Napster;
• Chris Henger, Vice President, Affiliate Marketing, Performics;
• Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner, Beyond Ink;
• Jeff Levick, Director, Global Industry Development and Marketing, Google;
• Pauline Ores, Senior Marketing Manager, Community and Collaboration Strategy, Global Small & Midmarket Business, IBM;
• Erynn Petersen, Senior Manager, Advertising Platform Evangelism, Microsoft; and
• Randy Peterson, Search Marketing Innovation Manager, Proctor and Gamble.

In a press release, Matt McGowan, the Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, which includes Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and ClickZ, said, "Over a year ago we created an advisory board consisting of individuals from the industry and beyond to help our programming and operations teams guide the direction of future conferences. The board has made significant contributions to the success of SES. We want to thank seven of the original advisory board members, who are now rotating out of the lineup, as well as welcome five new members who are joining the board members as we chart our way in this rapidly changing industry."

The members of the originaly advisory board who are rotating out include:
• Sandeep Aggarwal, Senior Equity Research Analyst, Oppenheimer & Co.;
• Jocelyn Griffing, Senior Vice President, Online Media, Icon International;
• Steven Kaufman, Senior Vice President, Media Director, Digitas;
• Carol Kruse, Vice President, Global Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Co.;
• James M. Lamberti, former Senior Vice President, Search and Media, comScore Networks;
• Jeannie Moran, eCommerce Marketing Director, AutoNation; and
• Gregg Stewart, Senior Vice President, Interactive, TMP Directional Marketing.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on February 25, 2009, 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Takes EU Side in Microsoft IE Monopoly Case; Will It Come Back to Bite?

Google is siding with the European Commission in its disapproval of Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. Google says that Microsoft has an unfair advantage in the browser market as a result of this practice.

But will such a stance come back to bite Google in the butt? In 2007, Google released Android, a mobile operating system, and then last year Chrome, an internet browser. In the next year or two, Android will begin being released on netbooks (aka small laptops). Google could use that opportunity to bundle Chrome and increase their browser market share, but they'll now face criticism if they do.

And as one smart commenter on the Google Public Policy blog pointed out, there's no criticism of Apple bundling their Safari browser with Mac OS (not to mention the constant requests to do so for Windows users who have downloaded iTunes).

Sure, Apple doesn't have a monopoly on the browser market with Safari (and there's a good reason for that until perhaps yesterday's updated release of the browser), but what other purpose would they be attempting to achieve with the bundle?

Of course, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt currently sits on the board of Apple, so it wouldn't be prudent for them to criticize Apple for the same practice. But things are bound to get a little dicey on all fronts as Google also competes with Apple, maker of the popular iPhone.

Siding with the EU is also an interesting move just months after they canceled a partnership with Yahoo! which would have increased their dominance in the search advertising field.

Google has yet to master politicking, and watching them in this regulatory space should be interesting indeed.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 25, 2009, 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Google Analytics Adds iPhone Advanced Segment

Last fall, Google Analytics began rolling out 7 major updates. One of those updates was Advanced Segmentation, which allows users to dig into subsets of data. Now, one of those subsets that users can check out is iPhone traffic.

To access the iPhone segment, click on the Advanced Segments drop down menu (the box next to the words "Advanced Segments") and choose "Visits from iPhones." If it's difficult to decipher the percentage of visits from iPhone, turn off "All Visits" to get a better picture of your iPhone traffic.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 25, 2009, 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

16 Map Maker Countries Added to Google Maps

Google's Map Maker allows users to create and enhance maps all around the world. It's kind of like the Wikipedia of mapping. As a result of the diligence of the Map Maker community, 16 countries are being added to the main Google Maps.

They are:

Bhutan
Bolivia
Cambodia
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Guam
Iceland
Mauritius
Paraguay
Philippines
Senegal
Seychelles
Sri Lanka
Tajikistan
Vietnam
Zimbabwe

Anand Srinivasan, Lakshminath Bhuvanagiri and Jessica Pfund, of the Map Maker Team commented on the milestone on the Google LatLong blog:

This launch is a testament to the spirit of map makers who have taken it upon themselves to map entire neighborhoods -- and in some cases entire cities and counties. We have observed many users add more than 1,000 edits to maps and a few have even made 10,000. Even in countries where not many have access to high-speed internet, we have found expatriates and caring users living abroad helping map countries they are far away from. Hats off to all you map makers out there!

Expect more great things from Google Map Maker in the future. Last week, 27 languages were added to the tool. Additionally, Map Maker maps were made available to the Google Maps API.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 25, 2009, 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft Research Introduces Search Projects at TechFest

Microsoft Research introduced search projects at its annual TechFest in Redmond, Washington. If you're not aware, TechFest is an event where Microsoft employees share research and ideas for technological progress via computing.

The search ideas put forth include:

Geolife 2.0 - a GPS-data-driven social network on Microsoft Virtual Earth
Opinion Search - collecting, storing and organizing opinion data such as user reviews to help searchers more easily make informed purchase decisions
Renifang, Web Scale Entity Summarization - a web-mining summarization system that extracts information about particular entities (such as a person or product) from billions of Web pages to reduce the number of pages a searcher has to comb through to find the information they are looking for.
Color-Structured Image Search - a new image search interface that uses rough color layouts to indicate searchers' intent (instead of using keywords only)

These projects were introduced by the Research team and are not (yet?) part of Live Search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 25, 2009, 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dr. Brilliant Shifts Role at Google.org

Dr. Larry Brilliant has shifted into a new role at Google.org, the search giant's philanthropic arm. He will now be the Chief Philanthropy Evangelist. Meanwhile, Google's Vice President of New Business Development will add Google.org General Manager to her duties.

As part of the shift, Google will re-align its goals to focus on philanthropic missions tied more closely to its business model.

Dr. Brilliant explained in a post on the Official Google Blog:

During our review it became clear that while we have been able to support some remarkable non-profit organizations over the past three years, our greatest impact has come when we've attacked problems in ways that make the most of Google's strengths in technology and information; examples of this approach include Flu Trends, RechargeIT, Clean Energy 2030, and PowerMeter. By aligning Google.org more closely with Google as a whole, Megan will ensure that we're better able to build innovative, scalable technology and information solutions.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 24, 2009, 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.S. Online Search Behavior Mimicks Economy

comScore has released data revealing search behavior that reflects sentiment about the economy in the United States. Searches for terms like coupons, unemployment and bankruptcy are experiencing triple digit growth.

The younger you are and the less you make, the more likely you are to conduct such searches:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 24, 2009, 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Local.com Gets a New CFO

Local search site Local.com has announced the appointment of Brenda Agius as its new Chief Financial Officer. Agius has 15 years of experience in corporate financial management for such companies as Miva, Neighborhood America, and Slingpage, Inc.

"We are pleased to welcome Brenda to Local.com's management team. She brings broad financial knowledge and industry specific experience in the publicly traded global online advertising sector, M&A and corporate financing," said Heath Clarke, Local.com chairman and CEO. "She has a solid reputation among the financial community and a deep understanding of Local's business model. We are confident that Brenda will drive value to the bottom line for our shareholders. I would also like to express my appreciation to Doug for his contribution to the company over the past six years, and wish him the best in his future endeavors."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 24, 2009, 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How to Get Your Facebook Profile Removed Once You're Dead (It's Harder than You Think)

When Emmy-award winning investigative journalist William Bemister passed away last November, his sister Stephanie decided to have his Facebook profile removed. You might think such a thing would be simple, but during a time of grief, Facebook makes it as hard as possible for profiles to be removed.

Ms. Bemister sent a copy of her brother's death certificate, but Facebook refused to remove the profile, sending this reply:

"Per our policy for deceased users, we have memorialized this person's account. This removes certain more sensitive information and sets privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or find the person in search. The Wall remains so that friends and family can leave posts in remembrance."

Eventually, Facebook gave the real reason: it was because Ms. Bemister said only that she was a relative and did not inform them she was next of kin.

This certainly doesn't help Facebook's problems with privacy. Just last week, Facebook went through a debacle of returning to a previous version of their Terms of Service after users protested the new one, which they felt took too much control over their content.

In years past, Facebook has faced privacy issues related to advertising when a program used private information to advertise to Facebook members.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 24, 2009, 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Webmaster Central Launches YouTube Channel

We've seen some new YouTube videos and channels launched by various Google teams lately. Google Website Optimizer launched a channel while Google AdWords added four videos about their display ad builder.

Now Google Webmaster Channel is getting in on the action. You can find the channel here.

Right now the only video up on the channel is Matt Cutts' State of the Index (more will be added later). Here it is in all of its 23 minute glory:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 24, 2009, 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Atlantis Not Found on Google Earth Afterall

For about a week, the blogosphere has been abuzz over the idea that Google Earth's new ocean mapping had led to the discovery of the lost (and mythical) city of Atlantis. It's this pattern found off the west coast of Africa:

Unfortunately, it's just a bunch of ship tracks. It's terribly un-glamorous, but completely necessary for those pesky exports and imports.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 24, 2009, 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yahoo Adds Behavioral Targeting Features for Search and Display Ads

Yahoo today unveiled a trio of behaviorally targeted ad options for both search and display ads.

Search Retargeting for Display Ads -- lets advertisers target display advertising based on a user's search activity. So a user that searches on a term like "sandals" could be served a display ad for footwear elsewhere on Yahoo's network.
Enhanced Retargeting for Display Ads -- allows advertisers to deliver dynamically generated display ads across the Yahoo network based on user activity on an advertiser's site. Going beyond standard site retargeting, the new technology would allow an advertiser to target users who visit an airline website to check offers for flights from SFO-JFK, and serve them a personalized offer for that specific flight when they visit a page within the Yahoo Network.
Enhanced Targeting for Search Ads -- adds capabilities for Sponsored Search and Content Match ads, including ad scheduling and demographic targeting within search. New features are designed to extend the advertiser's control over where and when an ad is shown at both the campaign and ad group level, including what time of day and day of the week an advertiser would like campaigns to run (ad scheduling), and what age and gender they'd like to reach (demographic). Advertisers will be able to vary their bids for different segments in order to increase their ability to reach the desired audience.

Much of this technology was developed through Yahoo's BlueLithium division, which was acquired by Yahoo in September 2007.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 24, 2009, 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: International SEO Challenges and Tips

Search Engine Watch Expert - Mark Jackson Search engine optimization for multi-national companies' Web sites comes with its own set of challenges and pitfalls. In today's organic search engine optimization column, "International SEO Challenges and Tips," Mark Jackson shares a few challenges that companies with an international Web presence face, and some advice for how to create an optimal Web presence that can do well in international search engines.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 24, 2009, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SEW Experts: Spending in a Tough Market

Search Engine Watch Expert - Aaron Shear Many large organizations are looking to engage an SEO agency as an alternative to hard-to-track media buys. In today's enterprise search marketing column, "Spending in a Tough Market," Aaron Shear reminds us that the SEO should make sure that goals included in a response to an RFP are related to revenue and traffic, with a stipulation around the source of the traffic.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 24, 2009, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo! News Executive Editor Heads to Hearst

Yahoo!'s executive editor and general manager of news is heading to Hearst. Neeraj Khemlani will become Heart's VP of Digital Media.

Khemlani is one of many Yahoo! execs to leave in the past year. Though, most of his former colleagues have ended up at Microsoft.

Most recently, Larry Heck, vice president of search and advertising sciences departed for Microsoft. Prior to that, Sean Suchter, Qi Lu, and Scott Moore gave up their purple people status for digs at the Redmond-based software giant.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 23, 2009, 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ask.com Implements Canonical URL Tag

A couple of weeks ago, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft announced their support for a new tag that helps sites with duplicate content issues. The tag helps web developers show which URL the search engines should prioritize.

Now, Ask.com is getting in on the new tag action.

If you're not familiar with the tag, here's an example, provided by Ask.com:

Basically, you'll want to place the tag on all the dup pages to point it to the original content.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 23, 2009, 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

61% of Reluctant Consumers Can Be Positively Swayed Online

It seems like the news about the economy gets worse by the day. If it has you scratching your head (or ripping out your hair) trying to figure out what your online marketing strategy should be in the coming years, don't get discouraged just yet.

In a survey conducted by Jupiter Research for Bazaarvoice and richrelevance, 61% of reluctant shoppers said they could be positively swayed by online shopping resources.

The niches most affected by hesitation are:

Automotive - 50%
Travel - 46%
Electronics - 43%

Consumers are shopping around and leaving their options open. 42% visited 3 or more sites to research their last purchase, and only 33% of online shoppers had made up their minds about the price they were willing to pay for their purchase in advance of going online to research.

That leaves some good wiggle room for sites and brands to compete. Before researching:

31% had made up their minds on which item or title to choose
23% knew which brand they wanted to buy
16% knew which store they would purchase from
13% knew when they would make their purchase

Once online, they trust the reviews and opinions of other consumers, so make sure your product offering is solid.

77% look to user ratings and reviews
66% use recommendations based on other consumers' purchasing
65% use recommendations based on browsing behavior of fellow consumers

These numbers are also a very good reason why you have to keep an eye on your brand's online reputation. Bazaarvoice knows this and their efforts at reputation management have paid off.

"Shoppers trust and use the opinions of others in making choices about products and brands," said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. "As consumers head to the web to research online and offline purchases, companies have a tremendous opportunity to provide them with the authentic user-generated content that is proven to build confidence, increase satisfaction, and drive sales. The benefits of user-generated content are amplified in a bad economy, and this is why 9 out of 10 of the Internet Retailer Top 50 who outsource reviews choose Bazaarvoice."

Related Reading:
Bazaarvoice Lets Brands Push Ratings to E-Commerce Partners
SLI Systems Joins Bazaarvoice Radius to Help Marketers Execute Integrated Social Commerce Strategies
Bazaarvoice Syndicates Merchant Reviews to Shopping Portals

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 23, 2009, 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft Forms Advisory Council for the Development of Next Gen Ad Platform

Microsoft today announced the creation of the Publisher Leadership Council. The council will consist of a select group of top web publishers who will consult the software giant in the development of its next generation advertising platform, Microsoft PubCenter.

The group's charter members include executives from IAC, Dow Jones Online, The New York Times Co., Time Inc. and Viacom Inc. PubCenter will be built on the existing adCenter Publisher architecture and combined with technologies from Atlas and Rapt.

"Digital media publishers have diverse needs and face many challenges," said Scott Howe, corporate vice president of the Advertiser & Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft, the platform and monetization engine for Microsoft Advertising. "This initiative is validation of our commitment to partnering with the industry to meet those challenges together. Some key features of PubCenter are still on the whiteboard, and we're giving our partners a pen."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 23, 2009, 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Adds Collapsable Widgets, New Theme Color to Home Page

AOL has made two updates to their home page. First up, some widgets are now collapsible. For example, if all of the current news about the economy is too depressing, just click the arrow next to "Financial News" in said widget, and the box tightens up to just display the title bar. Click the arrow again to display the headlines again.

Secondly, a new theme has been added to the options available for customizing the homepage. Due to popular demand, a pink theme has been added. You can find all of the theme options in the upper right corner of the home page.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 23, 2009, 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YouTube Launches Collaborative Annotations

Last year, YouTube enabled annotations, which lets users make little notes about their videos. Now, they're offering users the opportunity to open annotations up to their viewers for collaborative annotations.

To do so, go to the annotations editor under "My Videos" or on the page of your video that you want to allow the collaboration for. There will be a link that you can send out to people you wish to collaborate with.

If you don't like an annotation, you can delete it.

What do you think of collaborative annotations? Are you going to give it a try? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 23, 2009, 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google AdWords Changes URL Display Policy

Starting tomorrow, February 24, Google AdWords will begin implementing a new URL display policy. From then on, if you have multiple display URLs in the same ad group, they must all have the same top-level domain.

Google gave the following example as a group of URLs that would work in the same ad group:

www.example.com
www.widgets.example.com
www.example.com/widgets/redwidgets/
www.example.com/index.html

Here's an example of what will NOT work:

www.example.com
www.example.widgets.com

In order to comply, you'll either need to create new URLs or create separate ad groups.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on February 23, 2009, 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Guy Kawasaki and John Gerzema to Keynote at SES New York

I've just returned from Search Engine Strategies London and it's already time to get ready for SES New York 2009. Fortunately, most of the content for the two keynotes, Orion Panel, 65 conference sessions, and nine training workshops will be brand new and even the format for the show is significantly different, so it won't feel like I've "been there, done that, got the t-shirt."

You can see the changes in the industry reflected in the two keynote speakers.

On Tuesday, March 24, 2009, Guy Kawasaki, Author of "Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition" and Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures, will be giving the opening keynote, which is entitled: "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media."

Now, Twitter was barely mentioned last year at Search Engine Strategies New York 2008. (The honor of being ahead of the curve goes to Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder of Future Now, who discussed Twitter during his session on "Redefining the Customer.")

And last summer, there was a debate at SES Toronto 2008 about whether Twitter was the ultimate time waster, or a Great tool? I interviewed Dave Snyder, Co-Founder Search & Social , and Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, about Twitter back then.

Twitter and its Uses & Abuses for Marketing at SES Toronto

And now at Search Engine Strategies New York 2009, the social networking and micro-blogging service is the topic of a keynote speech.

The rapid elevation of Twitter's importance is also reflected in recent articles.

On Jan. 26, 2009, Erik Qualman wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, "10 Ways Twitter Can Make Money." Eric asks, "How can Twitter make money? That's the billion-dollar question. This question is important for Twitter, as well as its users and global advertisers."

On Feb. 6, 2009, Anna Maria Virzi wrote an article for ClickZ entitled, "Twitter's Glory Days." She wrote, "As Facebook evolves as a place for friends and family to connect, Twitter continues to penetrate the mainstream as a grassroots consumer-complaint bureau and a virtual business network. Giving the microblogging platform even more oomph is its search tool, which can give a quick snapshot of a developing event and instantaneously connect Twitter users."

On Feb. 13, 2009, Frank Watson wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, "Should Google Buy Twitter?" According to Frank, "Left to its own devices, Twitter could create a large chink in Google's armor. It generates traffic and is far more accurate on building TrustRank."

Twitter's emergence as a major topic is just one example of who even veterans of the Search Engine Strategies conference and expo series come back year after year to this must-attend event to get updates on the major topics.

Another major topic that will put "butts in seats" is the morning keynote on Thursday, March 26, which will be given by John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer of Young & Rubicam Group and the best-selling author of "The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How To Avoid It."

Now, "brand" was the subject of two conference sessions at SES New York 2008. The first was "Big Brand Search Strategies: Build Connections and Fuel Online Promotions, which featured Carol Kruse, Vice President of Global Interactive Marketing for The Coca Cola Company. The second was "Oldtimers: The Impact of Search on Brand Health Metrics."

And "brand" is also the topic of two conference sessions at Search Engine Strategies New York 2009: "Thinking Outside of Your Website: Branding without Borders" and "Brand & Reputation Management."

But bringing in Gerzema, who has designed brand strategies for clients for almost 25 years, to give a keynote address underscores the value of brands -- especially in a recession.

Last summer, I interviewed Gord Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro Search Solutions, about Enquiro's online branding and search industry research. Hotchkiss told me about his recent work on the relationship between brand lift and SEO search rankings, essentially contending that high web search rankings are a necessary but not sufficient component of strengthening a brand online. Although established brands do receive lift from winning on relevant web searches, it has yet to be established that unknown brands receive any lift for their high rankings.

Web Search, Branding, & Brand Lift with Gord Hotchkiss

At SES New York 2009, Gerzma, a pioneer of account planning in American advertising agencies, will take the topic of brand value to the next level. This is just another reason why this an event you can't afford to miss.

And if you register for Search Engine Strategies New York by March 6, 2009, you can save up to $200.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on February 23, 2009, 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEW Experts: Social Media Madness -- The Sweet 16

Search Engine Watch Expert - Erik Qualman In the spirit of College basketball's upcoming March Madness tournament, we've got the "Sweet 16" of social media. In today's building brand equity column, "Social Media Madness -- The Sweet 16," Erik Qualman scores each company's strengths and weaknesses, along with details on how your company or brand can leverage these social media offerings.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 23, 2009, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Social Media Marketing 101, Part 2

Search Engine Watch Expert - Ron Jones Social media marketing can be a great arrow in your quiver of marketing tools. In today's SEM 101 column, "Social Media Marketing 101, Part 2," Ron Jones shows that to leverage it correctly, you must consider first what you want to accomplish.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on February 23, 2009, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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