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July 26, 2006

July 26, 2006

Study Reveals Changing Web

A report of a new study over on WebSiteOptimization.com has some interesting research showing how users ineract with web sites, revealing an "F-shaped" eyetracking patterns similar to the results Enquiro found looking at earch results. From the study:

A new browser study revealed a shift in how we interact with the Web. University of Hamburg researchers found the Web moving from static hypertext information to dynamic interactive services. Clickstream heatmaps and web page statistics show rapid interaction over smaller areas of the screen. The authors recommend that web developers create concise, flexible, and fast loading web pages to keep pace with the speed of web navigation.

Read on: Clickstream Study Reveals Dynamic Web

Posted by Chris Sherman at 6:02 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: July 26, 2006

Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we've spotted but not blogged separately:

From The SEW Blog...

  • Daily SearchCast, July 26, 2006: Google Use Of Landing Pages For Ad Rank Raises Issues; Google Now Reporting Invalid Clicks? Google Parachute (Beta) & More!
    Today's search podcast covers issues with Google making more use of landing pages to rank ads; Google now reporting invalid clicks to advertisers; online ad spend expected to continue rising; bailing out of the Google Jet and more!
  • Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo
    Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool....
  • New US Child Protection Law Might Make Webmasters Second Guess What They Write
    Via Threadwatch, Congress spanks naughty sex sites from News.com covers how the US is likely to gain a new law making it illegal to send people to porn by using misleading text....
  • FAA Safety Instructions For The Google Jet
    InsideGoogle spotted a funny write up from the Seattle Times called Google founders eager to take users for a ride. I'll quote the piece InsideGoogle quoted: I’m now required by the Federal Aviation Administration to give the following safety instructions, because our aircraft is in beta and always will be:...
  • Google Toolbar Look-Alike Installing Malicious Programs
    Search Engine Journal reports on a SurfControl release that fake Google Toolbars are being downloaded unknowingly and causing those computers to be contaminated with malicious programs. The programs then use the computers to send out mass-email spam and/or for "internet attacks." So be careful where you download your toolbars....
  • Online Ad Spend 9% Of All Ad Spend By 2011
    ClickZ reports on a JupiterResearch report that online advertising spend is projected to snag up nine percent of the total advertising pie by 2011. They estimate that $25.9 billion in revenues will be spent on online ads by 2011, "rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent over the next five years." For search marketers, 43 percent of the online ad spend will be search-based ads, accounting for $11.1 billion by 2011....
  • Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates
    Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers....
  • AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides
    Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that AOL has launched a beta redesign of its popular CityGuides. Here's the current version of the site for New York and here's the new beta version of the same city site. Of the more than 300 CityGuides AOL offers, the top 25 are part of the new beta. Among the upgrades and improvements are a visually richer interface, more imagery, more dynamically generated content and more community features. Gary also points out that AOL's Moviefone and CityGuides have also been added to the AOL mobile application....

Headlines & News From Elsewhere

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:21 PM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 26, 2006: Google Use Of Landing Pages For Ad Rank Raises Issues; Google Now Reporting Invalid Clicks? Google Parachute (Beta) & More!

Today's search podcast covers issues with Google making more use of landing pages to rank ads; Google now reporting invalid clicks to advertisers; online ad spend expected to continue rising; bailing out of the Google Jet and more!

Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Tuesday through Friday, via our Odeo channel or through iTunes via this link (or use alternative iTunes instructions explained here) or though our Yahoo Podcasts channel. Need more help tuning in live or finding the chat room? See the Daily SearchCast FAQ.

Below are links to items discussed:

  • Detailed Look into the Google AdWords Landing Page Algo
    The Google AdWords landing page algo changes this month have resulted in many advertisers sitting up and thinking about quality issues beyond their ad copy, and looking more closely at their landing pages. I caught up with Google to get specifics on how the algo works, including just how they decided what made a good landing page versus what didn't when they created their algo. I also have ten best practices for advertisers needing to improve landing page quality. The full length SEW subscribers article is here. A shorter (but free!) version is here. Want to share your own best...
  • Virgin's Not So Generous Frequent Flyer Program
  • Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates
    Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.
  • Google Toolbar Look-Alike Installing Malicious Programs
    Search Engine Journal reports on a SurfControl release that fake Google Toolbars are being downloaded unknowingly and causing those computers to be contaminated with malicious programs. The programs then use the computers to send out mass-email spam and/or for "internet attacks." So be careful where you download your toolbars.
  • Online Ad Spend 9% Of All Ad Spend By 2011
    ClickZ reports on a JupiterResearch report that online advertising spend is projected to snag up nine-percent of the total advertising pie by 2011. They estimate that $25.9 billion in revenues will be spent on online ads by 2011, "rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent over the next five years." For search marketers, of that 9-percent of the pie, 43-percent of the online ad spend will be search base ads accounting for $11.1 billion, by 2011.
  • AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides
    Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that AOL has launched a beta redesign of its popular CityGuides. Here's the current version of the site for New York and here's the new beta version of the same city site. Of the more than 300 CityGuides AOL offers, the top 25 are part of the new beta.
  • FAA Safety Instructions For The Google Jet
    InsideGoogle spotted a funny write up named Google founders eager to take users for a ride. I'll quote the piece InsideGoogle quoted. I’m now required by the Federal Aviation Administration to give the following safety instructions, because our aircraft is in beta and always will be:

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:16 PM | Permalink

Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo

Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 3:13 PM | Permalink

New US Child Protection Law Might Make Webmasters Second Guess What They Write

Via Threadwatch, Congress spanks naughty sex sites from News.com covers how the US is likely to gain a new law making it illegal to send people to porn by using misleading text.

From the bill:

2252C. Misleading words or digital images on the Internet

(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images into the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not more than 10 years.

(b) MINORS.—Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images into the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material harmful to minors on the Internet shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not more than 20 years.

Hmm -- and source code means meta data? Body copy? Both:

the term ‘source code’ means the combination of text and other characters comprising the content, both viewable and nonviewable, of a web page, including any website publishing language, programming language, protocol or functional content, as well as any successor languages or protocols.

And what's obscene or harmful to minors? I didn't find that defined in the copy (PDF file) of the bill News.com is pointing at. Section 2252B covers the part about minors, and that's here.

(d) For the purposes of this section, the term “material that is harmful to minors” means any communication, consisting of nudity, sex, or excretion, that, taken as a whole and with reference to its context—

(1) predominantly appeals to a prurient interest of minors;

(2) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(3) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

(e) For the purposes of subsection (d), the term “sex” means acts of masturbation, sexual intercourse, or physcial [1] contact with a person’s genitals, or the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

The News.com article goes into more depth on how a lack of clarity could mean that a porn site showing things like Barbie dolls having sex could potentially fall into trouble.

As a parent, I certainly appreciate an effort to protect my children and those of others. But I also get worried about laws that potentially are overly broad. What's "obscene" isn't well defined, for example, from what I can see. We'll see how it goes.

FYI, even without this law, the US government has already been able to stop sites that are misleading. FTC Steps In To Stop Spamming covers how in 1999, the US Federal Trade Commission did exactly this in a case of a porn site trying to mislead people to it.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:24 PM | Permalink

FAA Safety Instructions For The Google Jet

InsideGoogle spotted a funny write up from the Seattle Times called Google founders eager to take users for a ride. I'll quote the piece InsideGoogle quoted:

I’m now required by the Federal Aviation Administration to give the following safety instructions, because our aircraft is in beta and always will be:
In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, stock options will drop from the ceiling above you. Please inflate the options until you feel financially secure.

In the event of a sudden loss of propulsion, look under your seat for the blue, red, yellow and green Google parachute. Place the straps around your shoulders, tighten the waist belt, jump out of the aircraft and press the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on your chest.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:27 AM | Permalink

Google Toolbar Look-Alike Installing Malicious Programs

Search Engine Journal reports on a SurfControl release that fake Google Toolbars are being downloaded unknowingly and causing those computers to be contaminated with malicious programs. The programs then use the computers to send out mass-email spam and/or for "internet attacks." So be careful where you download your toolbars.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Online Ad Spend 9% Of All Ad Spend By 2011

ClickZ reports on a JupiterResearch report that online advertising spend is projected to snag up nine percent of the total advertising pie by 2011. They estimate that $25.9 billion in revenues will be spent on online ads by 2011, "rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent over the next five years." For search marketers, 43 percent of the online ad spend will be search-based ads, accounting for $11.1 billion by 2011.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:06 AM | Permalink

Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo

Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates

Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.

Concern about click fraud has been rising over the years, though whether click fraud itself has risen remains a debatable point. In my The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google's Click Fraud Detection Practices post yesterday, I highlighted one example of this -- of how Google is conducting more investigations into click fraud reports but not paying out more. The independent expert who compiled the report felt this was due to people having more concerns rather than more click fraud occurring.

Still, that same report highlighted what many search marketers already know. It's difficult to know what exactly is going on within the black box of Google's ads billing system. The reporting Google is doing will help shed a bit more light into that box.

Specifically, there are new reporting options to see "Invalid Clicks" and "Invalid Clicks Rate." Check these, and you'll see all the clicks that Google has filtered before you were billed, plus the percentage of those clicks versus the total clicks to your campaign. More help from Google is covered here.

It will be especially interesting to see what stats individual advertisers start to share publicly. Going back to that independent report I mentioned, it covered how Google catches far more invalid clicks through its filters compared to those found when investigations are done after billing. Some advertisers might find they have double-digit invalid click rates. That's not a reason to panic, in the sense that you aren't paying for those clicks. You should be reassured.

Then again, I suspect anyone seeing high levels of invalid clicks being caught might also want to take a harder look at what they are actually getting billed for beyond this, since the high rate might suggest they are in a click-fraud prone industry and perhaps stuff is still slipping past the Google filters. Of course, a low rate might warrant a further look since perhaps Google's not catching stuff it should.

Confused? Here's the overriding advice. Everyone should be auditing their click logs, watching for odd things, just as you would your credit card statement. Google and Yahoo both have long had systems in place to automatically catch fraud. The Google move significantly helps advertisers understand that this protection is already in place. But it doesn't relieve the advertiser of being prudent and doing their own review, as well.

Finally, isn't giving this data making it easier for those who want to conduct click fraud to test what can get through? What prevents someone from opening an account, then trying various things until they find a way to generate clicks that Google can't catch?

"If you want to invest a huge amount of time and resources, you could already run those type of experiments. It doesn't provide significantly more feedback to fraudsters," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's business product manager for trust and safety.

By the way, though the reports are said to be "real-time," they actually give you a total for an entire day. You can't see minute-by-minute catches.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 4:42 AM | Permalink

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