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November 2007

November 30, 2007

Search Headlines & Links: November 30, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:43 PM | Permalink

Facebook Alters Beacon program

Facebook has faced objections from users and privacy groups since it launched the Beacon program earlier this month. The controversial program notifies a user's Facebook friends when the user buys a product at, or in some cases just visits, a partner site.

Facebook has apparently seen the light, making changes to the Beacon program to make it an opt-in program, rather than an opt-out one, according to the NY Times.

Facebook still does not offer users an option to opt out of the program altogether, other than to stop publishing their feed to friends. Users can opt out on a case by case basis with each advertiser, which Facebook has made more prominent.

Previously, when a user bought something from a participating advertiser, a pop-up box notified the user that it would send that information to Facebook, with an option for the user to click "No thanks." If the user didn't, a message would pop up at their next Facebook visit asking for permission to share that data with the user's friends.

Now, the pop-up box will ask for permission, assuming the answer is "no" unless told otherwise. The box will also remain on the screen longer, making it easier for users to notice.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:32 PM | Permalink

Strategic Link Building

A reader sent an email with a great question about the Widget Case Study that I published in my By The Numbers column. The question was as follows:

"If the widgets are built in javascript (presumably), how does it help with SEO? Was it via NOSCRIPT tags?"

Actually, the answer is no. The nature of the benefit has to do with the ongoing evolution of what SEO means. As we all know, link building is a critical component of improving ones search engine rankings. In spite of all the tweaks and changes to search algorithms you hear about, this is likely to remain true for the foreseeable future.

So the short answer to the question above is that one critical strategy for getting visibility for your site and its content and tools. CLIQ accomplishes this. It may not receive links directly (although some of the people who install the widget will link to the site that provided it), but it will create visibility.

The question got me to thinking about the broader strategic question underlying it, and concept I call Strategic Link Building. The rest of this post will focus on that topic, and provide a more comprehensive answer to the original question.

It is generally acknowledged that there is this notion of Trust Rank, where some sites are more trusted than others. For example, if nearly every site in a given market area links to one site, the chances are pretty good that the site receiving the links can be considered "authoritative".

You can also identify people in pretty much any space who are major influencers. Many times these people have their own authoritative sites, but many times they don't. An example would be a highly respected writer for a major newspaper.

An owner of an authoritative site has a valuable asset, as does a major influencer, and it is likely that they will treat this asset quite seriously. As a result, getting a link from them is not easy. I also maintain that it will become increasingly unlikely over time that you would be able to purchase a link from these sites or people.

No doubt we will continue to see stunning exceptions to this guideline, but Google's recent hard line against selling and buying links that pass PageRank will put cause fewer and fewer of these types of sites to sell links. Their reputation is critical, and they must protect it.

Even among non-authoritative sites, you will find a growing reluctance to link out to other sites unless they perceive them to be authoritative themselves. No one wants to link to a bad neighborhood, and if you are going to send some of your link juice to a third party, it better be for a really good reason.

Fortunately, many, many site owners will link to other sites when such good reason exists. The first step in getting these types of links is to become an expert regarding the topic matter of your site, and then make that obvious through the nature and the quality of the content and tools on your site.

Once you have done this, the next step is to create a high level of visibility for that expertise. There are many good ways to approach doing this. Here are a couple:

  1. Get links on authoritative sites
  2. Earn the trust of influencers in your space

So how does this all relate to link building? If you can accomplish either of these 2 things, you have gotten yourself into a situation that will produce links even if you do nothing at all (except continue to publish great content). That's a great place to be, and it will keep you secure from changes in search engine algorithms.

How do you earn that type of trust? Generally speaking, not by emailing someone and asking them for a link. Here are a few ideas as to how you can develop such trust:

  1. Build a relationship by investing time and effort to help out the person whose trust you are trying to earn
  2. Syndicate some of your content (showing your expertise) to other major sites in your market space
  3. Mount a successful social media campaign that provides regular visibility on relevant social media sites
  4. Offer tools to other parties that they can put on their sites

In the case of widgets, it fits in with point 4 in the above list. They can provide an excellent way to get visibility with a lot of people. Or in the case of the subject of our case study, CLIQ, it provides visibility with a highly targeted audiences (the other sites in the CLIQ), and it directly exposes your high value content in a fashion that is similar to syndication.

Posted by Eric Enge at 11:45 AM | Permalink

Google experimenting with Digg-like features

First, Jessamyn West spotted a Google experiment and posted a screen shot on Flickr entitled, "Google becoming Digg?" Then, Haochi Chen of Googlified posted an item about the "Google Digg-Style Experiment." So, what's up?

According to Google Experimental Labs, "Google is always experimenting with new features aimed at improving the search experience. This experiment lets you influence your search experience by adding, moving, and removing search results. When you search for the same keywords again, you'll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you've made. Note that this is an experimental feature and may be available for only a few weeks."

Check it out for yourself (while you can) at http://www.google.com/experimental/a840e102.html.

Posted by GregJarboe at 8:57 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Local Search: Competing All Over the Map - Part 2

While Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft battle for online mapping domination, another competitor is fortifying its position quietly off to the side. In today's Vertical Challenge column, "Local Search: Competing All Over the Map - Part 2," local search expert Michael Boland looks at EveryScape, a new 3-D mapping beta site from MapQuest that could change everything you thought you knew about map-based advertising and local search.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 29, 2007

Search Headlines & Links: November 29, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:56 PM | Permalink

YellowPages.com Explains Ingenio Acquisition

Yellowpage.com CEO Charles Stubbs made a surprise appearance at ILM:07/ SES Local today to talk about AT&T's acquisition of call tracking provider Ingenio.

The acquisition didn't get the mainstream spotlight for the most part; admittedly, it's not the sexiest announcement out there. But it is big, and has gotten a nod in certain local search circles (Kelsey Group post here; and of Frank Watson posted about the deal here on SEW).

This comes down to a unifying call tracking platform to integrate with AT&T disparate media channels including Yellowpages.com, AT&T print directories and directional advertising that will emerge in new places such as IPTV.

"With all of the assets of AT&T, we needed a cross platform ad tool," said Stubbs. "This will be a common business platform to communicate to small business when our local sales reps sit down with them."

Stubbs admitted that selling clicks has been a great business for local (TMP Directional Media CEO Stuart McKelvey later presented data showing that more than 80 percent of local online advertising is resold by yellow pages sales channels). But a call is closer to most small businesses (and to the cash register) than a click is. This is especially true for certain categories such as trade services -- a huge local category.

Ingenio effectively brings this call tracking capability across AT&T media assets:"And Ingenio is more than call tracking," said Stubbs. "It gives us a platform for fraud protection, a self serve ad store and dynamic procurement across assets."

More importantly, it allows AT&T to execute better ad bundling to small businesses including clicks and calls across different forms of media including those mentioned above.

"There is a lot of fragmentation in the way consumers take in content. If we build 20 brands we’ll split our audience," says Stubbs. "This is an attempt to unify our brands. It will be all about execution which won't be easy. But we’ll continue to put smart people on it and get it done."

Posted by MikeBoland at 6:22 PM | Permalink

Citysearch Partners with MerchantCircle

Citysearch expanded its reach to small business advertisers and added small business content to its local guides through a deal with MerchantCircle, a social media network for local businesses. Combining Citysearch's high-touch, urban-reaching network with MerchantCircle's low-touch, mostly suburban base, makes for a complementary partnership, according to Citysearch President Jay Herratti.

In today's SearchDay, "Citysearch Looks to MerchantCircle to Complete Picture," Herratti and MerchantCircle chairman Ben Smith share their thoughts on local business search.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 6:18 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Europe Gets New Hire, Facing Possible Closing

Though Yahoo Europe has been given until the end of the first quarter next year to improve their numbers or face closing, their new hire of Kristof Fahy - former brand manager for BlackBerry and telephone service provider Orange - shows they do not plan on going out without giving it a hard shot.

Fahy dealt with brand, planning and advertising for the mobile operator Orange's UK business. Something Yahoo needs in Europe where they have a track record of abandoning products.

The growth of international search resurrected their interest in non-US countries and purchases of companies like Terespondo, the Latin search engine for Spain and South America.

Toby Coppel, the Yahoo! Europe managing director said recently "that poorly performing parts of the European business have until the end of the first quarter next year to improve or faced being closed down or sold," the UK Guardian reported.

Though I have advocated Yahoo move to niched portals and communities - I think they should have these available in Europe and the other continents, not just the US. If they are serious about competing in the search world then any plans to drop countries being serviced is a major sign of surrender.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 2:30 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Fine Tuning Panama Tools, Launches Campaign Tune Up and More

Yahoo has announced some tweaks to the Panama paid search product including campaign tune up tools.

The Yahoo Search Marketing blog reported the changes today.

The blog stated:

Campaign Tune-Up
Kind of like installing a nitro booster, we’ve revved up your account with a new tool called Campaign Tune-up. Campaign Tune-Up can help you optimize your Sponsored Search campaigns if you’re not running Campaign Optimizer. It automatically analyzes a campaign’s performance history, budget and business objectives, such as cost per click or conversions, and offers suggestions for bids, match types and budgets. You can either accept or reject the suggestions, but fine-tuning your bids could help your campaign run a lot better.

From your Campaign Details page, you’ll see a new link, “Tune-up Campaign.” Clicking the link starts the tuning. You can then set the business measurements that matter to you for tuning your campaign and will be walked through the rest of the process.

Sticky Widget
For our next tweak, we updated the system so that more of your preferences are remembered. As a result, viewing your account the way you want is easier and requires fewer clicks. These “sticky” preferences are also remembered each time your log into your account. This tweak affects the column-sorting on your Campaign Summary and Campaign Detail pages and your Ad Group Detail page.

Let's see how they work... any reviews can be posted here.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 2:18 PM | Permalink

Yahoo to Distribute Contextual Ads on PDFs

Advertisers on Yahoo's Content Match network may soon see their ads appearing alongside Adobe PDF (portable document format) documents. In a new deal with Adobe, Yahoo will begin testing a program that will allow publishers to monetize PDFs with with contextually targeted text ads. The program, dubbed Ads for Adobe PDF, displays contextual ads in a side panel of Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat when a user views the PDF.

PDFs will be added to the Content Match inventory, with no plans yet to allow advertisers to opt-out. But Josh Jacobs, VP for publisher solutions at Yahoo, told ClickZ News that Yahoo will consider allowing advertisers to opt out of the format or to specifically target readers of PDF documents.

"A big goal of the beta program for both of us is to gain more insight into how users are engaging with this," said Jacobs. "We'll continue to look at whether there are other types of creative and ad placements that make sense."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:53 PM | Permalink

Google Using Doodles To Viral and Brand Market

Guess Google just wanted to push their brand in the Australian market, but their promotion to hold a competition for the Google Doodle that will adorn the Australian search results next January 26th definitely had that impact.

A twelve-year old from Melbourne, Janelle San Juan won the Doodle4Google competition - one that saw over 10,000 entries from all over Australia.

The picture can be seen here. Congratulations Janelle on a great job.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 1:34 PM | Permalink

News Sites Look For More Control Over Search Listings

A number of the leading online news publishers are looking to organize greater control over how and what news of theirs gets listed in the search results of the various search engines, according to a report by the Associated Press.

"Currently, Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other top search companies voluntarily respect a Web site's wishes as declared in a text file known as "robots.txt," which a search engine's indexing software, called a crawler, knows to look for on a site," AP noted.

Though the individual engines have other proprietorial code and the publishers want to have a greater influence on how this is developed and would like to see a unified methodology, the article reported.


"The current system doesn't give sites "enough flexibility to express our terms and conditions on access and use of content," said Angela Mills Wade, executive director of the European Publishers Council, one of the organizations behind the proposal. "That is not surprising. It was invented in the 1990s and things move on," Wade told AP.

Robots.txt files were first developed in 1994 and have been the standard method webmasters use to block spiders (the crawlers search engines use to go through websites' content). However, there has been much conversation online over the past 5-6 years that some crawlers ignore the robots.txt file.

The publishers desire for "proposed extensions, known as Automated Content Access Protocol, partly grew out of those disputes. Leading the ACAP effort were groups representing publishers of newspapers, magazines, online databases, books and journals. The AP is one of dozens of organizations that have joined ACAP", AP noted.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 1:10 PM | Permalink

Are Your Eyes Open to the Changed Advertising Ecosystem?

Books are food for the mind. Some merit gobbling down quickly; others are to be read more slowly, nibbled at and savored. Kevin Lee’s new book with Steve Baldwin The Eyes Have It (ISBN 13: 978-0974380667) published by Easton Studio Press should be read carefully and thoughtfully, for there is a lot of nutrition for the mind between the covers. Those familiar with Kevin’s column in ClickZ already know how many thought-provoking ideas he can cram into just a single column. Now, imagine what’s in 189 pages of this book.

The book’s premise is that we live in a time when advertising, as it was once known, has undergone fundamental changes. The advertising ecosystem of just a few short decades ago is dying. Gone are the days where a brand could rapidly get at millions of untargeted consumers through a few select television ads. The dying ecosystem is being replaced with a new ecosystem of digital media where constant change is the norm, and results are highly accountable and can be achieved very rapidly.

In the book Kevin provides a roadmap for navigating this changed ecosystem. It is a roadmap that is familiar ground for those who work in the new ecosystem, for it is both search and consumer-centric. Kevin provides a great deal of advice for those on the client side who are charged with marketing in the new environment, when to seek advice and what type of advice to look for.

This book gives an eyes-wide open view of the search space. I particularly enjoyed his tongue-in-cheek outline of the warning sign that he believes should be flashing at the start campaign moment of paid search. Marketers should heed this warning. The warning would remind (1) that the search engines are not responsible for the success of the purchaser’s campaign (you’ve got to pay attention to conversion and bear the burden yourself), (2) that the search marketplace is very competitive and opaque, (3) that the engines provide lots of sophisticated targeting tools requiring intense concentration to learn and use, and (4) that lots of advertisers are chasing the same keywords – some smart and some well . . . you know who they are.

For those who must have the details, the book is in nine chapters, most of which have multiple subsections. They are titled:

Chapter 1 – Eye of the Storm: Madison Avenue in Crisis
Chapter 2 – Eyestrain: Digital Marketing Isn’t Easy (And It Isn’t Going to Get Easier
Chapter 3 – Eyes Wide Shut: The Media Plan is Obsolete
Chapter 4 – Lyin’Eyes: The Search Engine and Digital Media Marketplace are Neither Fair nor Transparent
Chapter 5 – 20:20 Vision: Branding Is Not dead
Chapter 6 – Eye of the Robot: Technology Is Central (But It Isn’t Enough)
Chapter 7 – Fleeting Eyes: Change Is the Only Constant
Chapter 8 – Eyes on the Prize: Assessing the Digital Marketing Opportunities Provided by Today’s Major Players
Chapter 9 -- Conclusions

One note that is heard throughout the book and is echoed in my own conversations with other search marketers is that search marketing is not getting any easier in fact it is a very complex marketplace even for the professionals to navigate. I am eager to hear Kevin’s take on “Selling Your Integrated Plan to the C-Suite” Wednesday, December 5 when he is on a panel by this name at Search Engine Strategies Chicago.

Posted by amandawatlington at 1:02 PM | Permalink

Organic Results Showing Many Malware Sites, Google Expunges Thousands

Seems companies using malware are starting to get good placement in the organic SERPs (search engine result pages), according to numerous reports this week. The sites contain code that install intrusive software that creates automated popups and subvert browsers amongst other things.

Sunbelt Software CEO Alex Eckelberry told ComputerWorld he had come across "27 different domains, each with up to 1,499 [malicious] pages. That's 40,000 possible pages."

Sunbelt offers security software including antispyware and antimalware.

One site "tried to install more than 25 separate pieces of malware, including numerous Trojan horses, a spam bot, a full-blown rootkit, and a pair of password stealers. All the malicious code pitched at users is well-known to security vendors, and can only exploit PCs that aren't up-to-date on their patches," ComputerWorld reported.

Google has expunged thousands of such pages since Monday when the problem was first reported, according to Sunbelt.

"Google did confirm yesterday with us that they were working the case, and they are good about nailing this stuff," Eckelberry told ComputerWorld.

Though ComputerWorld did say Google had not confirmed or denied any actions taken on their part.

If anyone is seeing any of these in any of the search engines please let us know here.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 12:38 PM | Permalink

SEW Experts: 5 Best Reasons to Build Links In-House

It's tempting to outsource link development, but that may not be the best move for your site. In today's Link Love column, "5 Best Reasons to Build Links In-House," Justilien Gaspard shares the key advantages to in-house link development.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Brand Strategies for Search Marketing - Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we showed you how to convince your executives to buy your own brand terms, even when you already rank first organically for these terms. Now the question is: How do I properly manage and measure my paid brand terms? In today's Brand Equity column, "Brand Strategies for Search Marketing - Part 2," Erik Qualman shows you why dumping these terms into your portfolio is not a wise move. See how to prevent brand terms from covering up weakness in other areas.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 28, 2007

Search Headlines & Links: November 28, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:50 PM | Permalink

Everything's Jake at Kelsey Group ILM:07

The Kelsey Group Interactive Local Media Conference in LA kicked off with SES Advisory Board member Anne Kennedy and Search Engine Watch News Editor Kevin Newcomb's panels -- featuring, among others, SEW Expert Sage Lewis on link building.

Of course, Kelsey Group analyst and SEW Expert Mike Boland is one of the star Local Search moderators.

It's been a great day of CEOs, audience members, and Kelsey Group analysts debating -- and learning -- about the past, present, and future of Local Search.

One of the stellar presentations: RH Donnelley. Hunh? The YP guys? Sure, now that everything's jake at the old media stalwart.

Business.com Founder/CEO Jake Winebaum became President of R.H. Donnelley's interactive unit (RHDi) 90 days ago, reporting directly to the Chairman and CEO.

RHDi now includes DexKnows.com, search marketing company LocalLaunch! , Business.com, Work.com and the Business.com Advertising Network.

Great catching up with Todd Sims, Business.com VP Business and Corporate Development. I first met Todd when Business.com was little more than a famous domain name and a small vertical search engine.

Kevin Newcomb interviewed Jake after his presentation. Keep an eye out for RHDi search marketing / digital strategy from a vertical search engine veteran transforming old media.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:31 PM | Permalink

Strumpette testifies in social media press release trial

Yesterday, during the prosecution’s opening remarks, I asked, “Is the Social Media Press Release a Meatball Sundae?” A short time later, the defense said, “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, The Social Media Release is not a Meatball Sundae.”

With the opening arguments out of the way, the prosecution will now call its first witness to testify.

Q: For the record, can you please state your name and tell us something about your background?

A: My name is Amanda Chapel. I have about 20 years experience in marketing communications. I am a former vice president in the Consumer Marketing Group at Weber Shandwick, one of the world's largest PR firms. Prior to Shandwick, I spent about 10 years bouncing around various leading agencies. That includes senior posts at Cone Communications in Boston and Porter Novelli in Chicago. I started my career at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in London.

Most recently, I was the managing editor of Strumpette. Strumpette is one of the leading online PR trade publications. I helped launch the pub and was partly responsible for establishing its unique brand.

Q: When did you first hear of the social media press release and what was your initial reaction to it?

A: As I recall, PRX Builder made an announcement of a new service on around September/October ‘06. I thought it was a good idea actually. Obviously, communications forms, like language, are dynamic. Certainly, a modified version of a paper release needed to be adapted to a digital networked environment.

Q: When did you discover that StoryCrafter is almost identical to Shift Communications’ social media news release template?

A: The moment Edelman released it. Wrote a story about it actually, “Mega PR Firm Releases ‘StoryMakerUpper 1.0’”. Ya know, you can count on Edelman for comedy. Frankly, I think their involvement severely hampered the adoption of the concept ironically.

Q: Do you believe that PR’s Web 2.0 “leaders” are a band of self-important nincompoops and, well, snake-oil salesmen? In other words, please expand on today’s Strumpette article by Mark Abrams, "An Open Letter Apology to PR's Web 2.0 'Leaders'".

A: Funny. Just saw that. I do think Mark’s piece speaks for itself. But I will say that these guys are the product of a society that has raised mere opinion to the status of celebrity. In reality, they’ve got little to no genuine expertise. When you add that their primary motive is to bamboozle ya, it gets pretty smarmy.

Q: So, in your expert opinion, would you say that the social media press release is a meatball sundae -- the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas?

A: Indeed. The assumption that “conversation” is always good isn’t silly; it’s stupid. The language of a corporation is primarily contracts. Contracts are not something that is open to the whims of a mob. In the “StoryMakerUpper” piece, I jokingly said, “by also incorporating features such as comments and trackback, Edelman uniquely can help companies dramatically lessen the time it takes to get mugged by rabid pitchfork-and-torch-bearing idiots in the blogosphere.” That's the form’s Achilles Heel. The language of a corporation is 90 percent articulation and 10 percent conversation. The snake-oil gang doesn’t get that, nor do they want to.

Posted by GregJarboe at 3:39 PM | Permalink

What are exhibitors exhibiting at SES Chicago?

A significant number of people will attend SES Chicago next week with an expo only pass (which is free if you get one in advance or $25 if you pick one up on site).

That’s right. A lot of people will be coming to see what the exhibitors are exhibiting on the show floor.

But, what will they see?

While I should disclose that SES Chicago is a client, I don’t have any inside information to share about what the exhibitors will be exhibiting on Dec. 4-5.

In fact, the lack of advance publicity from exhibitors reminds me of “Silver Blaze”, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In the story, Inspector Gregory of Scotland Yard asks, “Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”

Holmes replies: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”

Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”

Holmes: “That was the curious incident.”

In contrast to the curious lack of publicity from exhibitors, you can find half a dozen press releases about conference speakers like the ones below:

Adapt Agency Development Director to Discuss Agency Pay-Per-Click Management Challenges

Engine Ready CEO Jamie Smith to Speak at Search Engine Strategies Conference

Local.com to Present at Search Engine Strategies Chicago

Red Bricks Media's CEO to Speak at Search Engine Strategies Conference 2007

Think Partnership to Present at Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2007

Where 2 Get It CEO Manish Patel to Speak at Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago 2007

So, if speakers are out promoting what they will be saying in the conference sessions, why aren’t the exhibitors promoting what they’ll be exhibiting on the trade show floor?

Google will have a booth. Will we see Android, the first complete, open, and free mobile platform? It’s a mystery.

Microsoft adCenter will also have a booth. Will they open their publisher network, aka ContentAds, to the public? This, too, is a mystery.

Ask.com will also have a booth. Will we see anything new from Bloglines? This is also a mystery, for now.

I plan to spend some time on the trade show floor trying to find answers to these and other questions. If you are exhibiting at SES Chicago and want me to drop by to see your new product, service or research, send me an email at Greg dot Jarboe at SEO hyphen PR dot com.

I’m pretty confident that there will be plenty of news hidden in plain sight on the trade show floor. I’m just curious why the dogs aren’t barking about it ahead of time.

Posted by GregJarboe at 2:59 PM | Permalink

SEO Is Not a One-Time Event

Too often, companies "approve" SEO only to treat it as a one-time hit, or a short-term project. Months or years later, when they asked someone else to "do" SEO for them, it is discovered that the company had laid none of the basic foundation for SEO, and it is clear that even the implementation was done incorrectly. Unfortunately, no follow-up or long-term measurement plan is in place that would catch this. In today's SearchDay, "SEO Expectations and Commitments," Steve Haar offers some guidelines for those who approve SEO to know what to expect, and what's expected of them.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:06 AM | Permalink

Defense of the social media press release

Yesterday afternoon, the prosecution asked, "Is the Social Media Press Release a Meatball Sundae?"

A short time later, the defense made its case on the PR 2.0 blog in a post entitled, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, The Social Media Release is not a Meatball Sundae."

As a member of the jury, you should read both posts -- and then look forward to both the prosecution and the defense calling expert witnesses to take the stand. Each of these witnesses will be asked to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The prosecution will not rest until all the facts in this culinary disaster have been examined.

Posted by GregJarboe at 9:08 AM | Permalink

YPA Adds Mobile to Local Search Guide

At The Kelsey Group's Interactive Local Media 2007/Search Engine Strategies Local show today in Los Angeles, the Yellow Pages Association launched a mobile section to its Local Search Guide. The Local Search Guide provides information on Internet Yellow Pages, search engines, search tools, vertical directories, and now profiles local mobile tools including voice-based search and free directory assistance providers.

According to a Local Search Guide home page poll, 66 percent of visitors are using mobile phones to search for local information. Of these voters, 37 percent say they use free directory assistance, 17 percent most often use SMS/text messaging and 12 percent say they use downloadable mobile search applications to find local information. An additional 34 percent report not using mobile search because the experience is frustrating.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:04 AM | Permalink

Google Maps Add Collaboration Features, Terrain Maps

Google Maps has gained some more features from Google Earth this week, including the ability for a group to collaborate on map updates, and the addition of a terrain maps feature, according to the Google Lat Long Blog.

The collaborative map-making option lets multiple people edit the same My Map by clicking on the 'Collaborate' link and enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite. Users need to be signed into a Google Account that's associated with that email address. Users can also allow anyone to edit a map.

Terrain maps focus on physical features such as mountains, valleys, and vegetation, with labels for even very small mountains and trails. They are enhanced with subtle shading that can often give a better sense of elevation changes than a satellite image alone, according to Google

As Duncan Riley notes on TechCrunch, these two features were among the remaining differences between Google Maps and Google Earth. Google has been moving more and more features into Google Maps since it acquired Keyhole Software in 2004 for its satellite imagery technology.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 8:42 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: SEO for Widgets: CLIQ Case Study

The search marketing world continues to expand in all sorts of ways. In an SEO strategy, widgets can be extremely effective gaining exposure for the content and tools featured on a site. In today's By the Numbers column, "SEO for Widgets: CLIQ Case Study," Eric Enge shares an exclusive preview of a new SEO case study of a beta widget called CLIQ, developed by Offermatica, Otto Digital, and StepChange.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Understanding the Global Search Marketplace - Part 2

Searches are up all over the world, and it's an interesting juxtaposition to think of the rest of the world as "emerging" compared to North America and Europe. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Understanding the Global Search Marketplace - Part 2," Kevin Ryan looks at some global search data provided by comScore to see if any search provider is staking a claim to the title of global search leader.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 27, 2007

Take Advantage of the Offline Rush

As an online advertiser, you can actually take advantage of the Offline Rush -- and maybe stretch your holiday ad budget as well. Especially if you are a multichannel or off-line retailer who’s aiming to boost holiday sales, then it’s possible to consider pacing your ad spends differently through Christmas Day and beyond.

Take a look at these interesting findings from Microsoft’s Atlas Institute, based on last year’s holiday season. Atlas analyzed display ad consumption (red line below) versus online sales volume (green line below). The Online Crush period took place between Thanksgiving and December 11th, followed by the Offline Rush until Christmas.

HolidaySalesAds.JPG

Index: Middle bar equals average holiday sales
Upper bar is 50% higher; Lower bar is 50% lower


Note that sales volume peaked right at the end of the Online Crush, at about 175% or so of average holiday sales levels. Yet that’s just the beginning of the highest online ad consumption for the season, which seemed to top out and remain at 125% of average levels throughout the Offline Rush.

While these data are based on display ad impressions, the consumption trends seem quite relevant for text ads too. If you are finalizing search or contextual ad buys now, then don’t taper too early in the season. Your customers are still actively shopping online before they head to the malls, and can be influenced during that last-minute frenzy.

Posted by debbyr at 11:30 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: November 27, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 6:26 PM | Permalink

Social Media + Press Release = Meatball Sundae?

According to Seth Godin, a meatball sundae is the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas. In this case, the meatballs are the press releases and the sundae toppings are the Technorati tags, Digg buttons, del.icio.us bookmarks and other Web 2.0 features. In today's SearchDay, "Is the Social Media Press Release a Meatball Sundae?," Greg Jarboe puts the social media release on trial, and finds it guilty.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:51 PM | Permalink

IBM enhances free enterprise search software

Earlier today, IBM unveiled a new release of the free IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition enterprise search software. OmniFind Yahoo! Edition 8.4.2 enables users to further customize and personalize their searches to quickly and easily find, access and capitalize on information stored inside organizations and across the Web.

The new version of IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition offers the ability to separate content into different searchable document collections, an improved administration console, and enhanced search support based on the latest open source Lucene indexing library. Other enhancements improve the performance, indexing and custom search field capabilities. It also supports additional browsers.

IBM introduced IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition last December. Since its launch, nearly 25,000 users have downloaded IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition. In addition, numerous ISVs and businesses have developed new offerings that integrate with or support IBM’s free search platform.

Earlier this year, IBM announced localized language support to meet expanding worldwide demand for the product in Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Dutch, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish. IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition can search websites and local or remote file systems up to 500,000 documents per instance and search the web all from a single search user interface.

IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition is available at no charge and can be downloaded at http://omnifind.ibm.yahoo.com. Worldwide phone support is available from IBM.

Posted by GregJarboe at 4:15 PM | Permalink

Matt Cutts Videos on Search Snippets

Matt Cutts did a video about search snippets during his recent visit to the Google Kirkland office. In it Matt takes a detailed look at how Google constructs a search snippet. Matt uses the example of a search on "Starbucks", which results in the following search result:

Starbucks Snippet

Here is a summary of the observations by Matt, with a few incremental comments sprinkled in by me:

  1. The title of the snippet comes from the title of your page. In this case, it's "Starbucks Homepage" and the SEO advice that Matt provides is that you might want to have this say "Starbucks Coffee" instead. Now in the case of Starbucks, they already rank #1 for the term "Starbucks Coffee" any way, so the advice may not be important to them. For most web sites, however, Matt's advice is critical.

    To paraphrase: Get the keywords that are most relevant to your web page in the title of the page. Do this in a way that does not baffle the user, as this will lower your click throughs to your site. Do this for all the pages on your site.

  2. Next up is the description. This can come from multiple places. First of all, if Google can't currently crawl your page for some reason (e.g. you server is down when the Googlebot comes visiting) Google can't construct the description snippet from your page. This is the one scenario where you may see Google using the Open Directory Project (aka "DMOZ") description for your site (if such a description exists).

    Next, Google looks to see if they can find text within the user visible part of the page itself that matches up with the query. For example, if the search was for a specific name, and that name shows up at the bottom of the page in the text, the description snippet will likely get pulled from there, even though it is way down on the page. Google does this to help searchers more rapidly determine the relevance of the returned result to the query.

    If Google is not satisfied that what they find in the user visible text of the page matcehs up with the query they are then likely to return the contents of the met description tag. This is why this tag is so important. While it does not influence rankings in any search engine I know about, it is a powerful opportunity to entice the user to click on your listing instead of someone else's.

  3. The other thing that Matt observes about the title and the description in the result, is that keywords from your search query will be bolded. For that matter, if the keyword appears in your URL, that will also be bolded, but we'll cover the URL separately in a moment.

    Matt notes that Google does know about stemming and synonyms, so if your search includes the word "car" in it, that it will understand that this is the same as "automobile" and potentially the same as "auto". However, in this example, automobile and auto will not be highlighted in the search results, only car will.

  4. Over to the right of the description you will see a link to get a stock quote for Starbucks. This is because Google knows that Starbucks is a public company, and many of their users who search on Starbucks may be looking for a stock quote. Similarly, if their is an address on the page, Google may show a link to a Google Map for that location.

  5. Below the description you will see a line that has the URL in it. This is simply the URL of the page for this search result. As mentioned above, a portion of this may be bolded if the a word from the search query shows up in it.

    Just to the right of the URL you will see a page size, 12K in our example. Sometimes you will also see a time stamp for when it was last crawled. This likely shows up most on those sites where freshness matters.

  6. Further to the right of the URL, you see a link called "Cached". This shows the copy of the page that Google last obtained from your site. At the top of the cached page you will also see information on when Google last retrieved the page from your site. The cashed page is one way for you to see if Google has seen your latest changes. In addition, searchers can click on this is for some reason you site is currently down.

    To the right of the Cached link appears "Similar Pages". This is a link that will show you links to other similar sites. In Starbucks case, you get Starbucks Japan, Pizza Hut, Peet's, Quiznos, and other food and beverage chains.

    "Note This" is a link that shows up over on if you happen to be logged into Google Notebook (I was not for my screen shot). You can use that link to save a bunch of links if you are actively researching something.

  7. Next up is the site links. Google only does this for some sites. As Matt clarifies in the video, there is no way to pay to get Google to put up sitelinks for your site, it is done completely algorithmically. The sitelinks show other pages within the site that are very popular.

    Basically, Google is trying to help the user get to the page they really want much more quickly. If they really wanted to see the About Us page, for example, this presentation will save the user a click.

  8. Lastly, there is the "More results from starbucks.com" link at the bottom of the snippet. Clicking on this will automatically generate a " site:starbucks.com starbucks" query for you, which will basically repeat your orignal query, but limit the search results to those pages on the starbucks.com site.


That provides a pretty complete look at a Google search result snippet. Matt has promised more videos and I will make a point of covering them all in detail as they come out.

Posted by Eric Enge at 10:52 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: SEO for New Web Site Launch

The first step in any SEO initiative for new sites is to set realistic expectations and goals. In today's au Natural column, "SEO for New Web Site Launch," Mark Jackson shares SEO tips and tricks for brand new Web sites.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: SEO and Usability: Use 'em or Lose 'em

Making sure your small business Web site is user- and search engine-friendly is a challenge. In today's Little Biz column, "SEO and Usability: Use 'em or Lose 'em," Carrie Hill shows you that SEO strategy combined with Web site usability can complement each other, allowing search engines and users to find what they're looking for.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 26, 2007

Search Headlines & Links: November 26, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:07 PM | Permalink

Seth Godin Interview - What's a Meatball Sundae?

In my latest interview, I sat down again with Seth Godin to talk about his upcoming keynote speech at SES Chicago on Tuesday December 4th. The session focuses on his new book, Meatball Sundae, and focuses on the confusing nature of today's marketing opportunities.

Seth spoke about the nature of the problem previously in a pre-show webinar. You can see coverage for the webinar from Lisa Barone, Kevin Newcomb, and yours truly.

One of the major components of the discussion that was particularly interesting to me was a discussion about SEO. Seth had offered some criticism of SEO in the past, and I wanted to see what his thinking was on the matter.

It turns out that the real criticism Seth has is not of SEO, or SEOs. It's more focused on what happens when people start thinking that SEO is a magic bullet. I.e., take you online business, no matter how crummy it is, stir in some SEO, and presto change-o, you are raking in the dough. He goes on to say that the real challenge for all webmasters is what are they going to to present some new unique stuff to the world that people are going to want to see.

He then goes onto say:

I am just going to spend money, because I am a marketer hiring some guy to wave a magic wand to make something happen. And then, when the SEO people comeback and say here are ten recommendations, eight of which are about better stuff and two of which are about magic words and secret hyper-tags, all they do is take the other two, and leave the eight important ones off.

What I've been saying to people and mostly people who read my work or other clients is pretend it doesn't exist. Do everything you can before you call on the SEO wizards to do the last part. Because, if you are not willing to do the first part, if you are not willing to put in the effort, it doesn't matter how good they are, it's not going to work. Somebody else who is doing the first eight steps will do better even if they don't do the last two.

I have definitely seen some of this along the way as well. As an SEO, what I have learned to do is to qualify the willingness of a potential client to invest in the quality of their web site before taking them on. If they don't seem willing to do that, we turn them away. No sense in taking on a client where we will not be successful.

Posted by Eric Enge at 10:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The 5 Commandments of Content Advertising

Content algorithms operate in ways that are counter-intuitive, and to some extent different than the search engines' explanations imply. Before you get into content advertising, you need to know what to do, and what NOT to do. In today's Content Advertising column, "The Five Commandments of Content Advertising," David Szetela describes best practices for structuring and creating content campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Knowledge Gap: CEOs, CMOs, VPs and SEM

When your CEO, CMO, or other decision-maker knows a little bit about SEM, you've got trouble. While knowledge sharing is a good thing, there's a problem when people consider themselves knowledgeable on a subject well before that's actually the case. In today's Search Ads column, "Knowledge Gap: CEOs, CMOs, VPs and SEM," Matt Spiegel discusses the need to help those decision-makers realize that because they now have more knowledge doesn't necessarily mean they are prepared to make key decisions with this information.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 21, 2007

Search Headlines & Links: November 21, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:26 PM | Permalink

BidHero Brings Analytics to PPC Bid Management

Bid management for PPC campaigns has become more complicated with the introduction of "quality scores" by the major ad platforms, including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. BidHero, a new bid management tool from Lyris, addresses the changes through its integration with Lyris' ClickTracks Web Analytics product. In today's SearchDay, "Lyris Intros BidHero Campaign Management Tool," we look at BidHero, along with the larger Lyris HQ portfolio it is a part of.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:39 AM | Permalink

Gift Giving That Really Helps

If you have not chosen all your holiday gifts for your family and have children who you need to get something for then the current promotion for the charity One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) may be just the answer.

For the next few days the OLPC Foundation has a buy one get one free promotion going where you can buy a needy third world child a laptop and get one for someone in your life.

Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. This is the first time the revolutionary XO laptop has been made available to the general public. For a donation of $399, one XO laptop will be sent to empower a child in a developing nation and one will be sent to the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. $200 of your donation is tax-deductible (your $399 donation minus the fair market value of the XO laptop you will be receiving).

For all U.S. donors who participate in the Give One Get One program, T-Mobile is offering one year of complimentary HotSpot access a $350 value free.

"OLPC’s mission is to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education" their website tells us.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 11:36 AM | Permalink

Privacy Group Takes on Facebook

The latest advertiser to use Facebook's new Social Ads platform may not have been the kind of marketer the company was hoping for. Privacy watchdog MoveOn.org has posted an online petition demanding that Facebook respect the privacy of users by making it easier to opt out of the "Beacon Ads" program, where actions Facebook users take on partner sites are added to their Facebook news feed. The feed is delivered to the user's friends, along with a related ad and the user's profile picture.

The full petition text reads:

"Facebook must respect my privacy. They should not tell my friends what I buy on other sites – or let companies use my name to endorse their products– without my explicit permission."

MoveOn.org has also launched a group on Facebook, "Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!." There are currently more than 4,900 members.

Facebook does not offer users an option to opt out of the program, other than eliminating their feed altogether. Users can opt out on a case by case basis with each advertiser.

When a user buys something from a participating advertiser, a pop-up box notifies the user that it will send that information to Facebook, with an option for the user to click "No thanks." If the user doesn't, a message will pop up at their next Facebook visit asking for permission to share that data with the user's friends.

MoveOn.org thinks that's not enough. In the Facebook group, they write:

"Facebook says its users can 'opt out' of having their private purchases reported to all their friends. But that option is easily missed. And even if you do 'opt out' for purchases on one site, it doesn't apply to purchases on another site – you have to keep opting out over and over again. The obvious solution is to switch to an 'opt in' policy, like most other applications on Facebook."

More coverage on Techmeme.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:33 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How to Integrate PPC and Display Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) or display advertising? You don't always have to choose one or the other. In today's By the Numbers column, "How to Integrate PPC and Display Advertising," Eric Enge shows you how to integrate PPC campaigns with display advertising, and use this cyclical approach to improve overall ROI.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 20, 2007

Discover Your Video Search

At the recent NewTeeVee conference, a panel comprised of several Video Search providers agreed that indexing and searching through millions of online videos isn’t the real challenge facing them. According to Mary Hodder, Chairman of Dabble, “recommendation and discovery is 80% of the problem.”

No one is denying the video explosion and fragmentation underway. In October 2006, there were approximately 100 million video viewings online, with over half seen through YouTube. Today, by contrast, about a quarter of all videos are viewed on YouTube, and online consumption has grown to 300 million total views monthly.

In response, Dabble and its competitors are adapting their approaches to content management. How the results are organized, clustered and presented is important. Tim Tuttle, who serves as the CEO of Truveo (owned by AOL), explained that, “we want to make it possible for you to find video every time you want it...[and] it’s hard to solve this problem.” According to Alex Vikati, president of castTV, “the lines between search, discovery and browse are a little fuzzy.”

Tuttle says that a focused approach is also important, and Truveo “goes to all [key] places, including media companies and major content producers.” Vikati feels that, “it’s not just size, but comprehensiveness” that matters. He believes that premium content is important, but classifying spam and other poor quality results should be addressed first. Bearing in mind how many videos are ephemeral, there has been significant progress made by providers in de-duping and updating search results.

Additionally, search vendors are working with new outputs from video sharing and social environments. They have taken advantage of user metadata, like commentary, surrounding the videos. While I do think the answer lies somewhere in the social arena, text surrounding the videos seems a bit askew – comments may not actually be very insightful or even related to the video subjects.

A better approach to discovery? It’s telling that when NewTeeVee attendees were asked to vote on the best Video Search provider, they crowned StumbleUpon as the winner! Founder Garrett Camp doesn’t focus exclusively on video but rather anything interesting on the web. His business helps people share what’s intriguing to them. Heresy? Perhaps. But clearly the answer isn’t about old-school search.

Posted by debbyr at 5:22 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: November 20, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:00 PM | Permalink

Oodle 2.0: Improved Classifieds Search

With a new release it's dubbed "Oodle 2.0," the classifieds search engine has greatly improved its search functionality and user experience. To improve its search experience, Oodle has redesigned and better integrated features it had before, as well as added new features and improved search on the back end. All results also offer additional data to place the results in context, such as how often new results are expected to appear, or what the average price for similar items in the area have been in the past. In today's SearchDay, "Oodle Upgrades Search Features," we take a look at some of these features.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:53 PM | Permalink

Senate Subcommittee Cautions FTC on Google-DoubleClick Acquisition

U.S. Senators are urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look with a critical eye on Google's planned acquisition of DoubleClick. According to ClickZ News, the heads of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights sent a letter yesterday to FTC Chairperson Deborah Platt Majoras urging her to examine the competition questions raised by the deal.

"While we have not reached any definitive conclusion regarding this issue, we urge that you only approve the merger if you determine that it will not cause any substantial lessening of competition with respect to Internet advertising," the Senators wrote.

The deal is also being looked at by the European Commission, which has until April 2 to render a decision. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved the deal earlier this month.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Google Custom Search Engines Go International

Google has expanded its Custom Search Engine program internationally. Now it's available in 40 languages, and in close to 80 countries worldwide. The Custom Search Business Edition (CSBE), which provides users with complete control over their look and feel, and does not show any ads in the results, is also being made available in those same languages and countries. Unlike the free edition of Custom Search Engines, CSBEs come with a fee. Another benefit of CSBEs is that you can get email support, which is not available in the free edition.

Yesterday I spoke with Nitin Mangtani, lead product manager of enterprise search at Google, and he told me that Google has found the predominant use of Custom Search Business Edition is as a tool to implement site search. Correspondingly, Google plans to setup a web page just for site search applications, though this page is not currently implemented. This should make the setup and management of site search versions of Custom Search Engines easier to manage and deploy.

Posted by Eric Enge at 8:25 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: On Page vs. Off Page SEO

Off-page SEO factors are getting all the attention these days. But good, old-fashioned, on-page factors are also vital for every SEO project. In today's au Natural column, "On Page vs. Off Page SEO," Mark Jackson discusses a few cases where on-page SEO is most appropriate, and others where off-page SEO tactics will get the most bang for your buck.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Slow Growth in Search? Long Tail Keyword Solutions

When building a new startup, you initially see search marketing boom year over year. Inevitably, that growth will slow. In today's Big Biz column, "Slow Growth in Search? Long Tail Keyword Solutions," Aaron Shear explains that the first step in reversing the slow growth trend is to admit your search campaigns may have hit a wall.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Global SEM Growth Leaves U.S. SEOs Behind

Now that search engine marketing has become a global game, the need for translation services for Web sites has never been greater. In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "Global SEM Growth Leaves U.S. SEOs Behind," Kevin Heisler notes with surprise that relatively few SEOs and SEMs leverage language translation.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 19, 2007

Search Headlines & Links: November 19, 2007

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog: