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January 2008

January 31, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: January 31, 2008

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 6:42 PM | Permalink

Google in Wall St. Matrix: Faces Red or Blue Pill Dilemma

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The message from Wall St. to Google rang as clear as the opening bell today. Unfortunately for Google, it was finally "For Whom The Bell Tolls."

After hours, Google found itself in a Matrix of its own making. Analysts played the role of Morpheus to Eric Schmidt's Neo:

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."

The blue pill: Google starts giving guidance to Wall St. and manages expectations. The red pill: have it your way and suffer the slings and arrows of analysts who project exponential growth. Let's face it, it's tough for investors to read the tea leaves.

Look for Google stock to yoyo as investors try to figure out what's behind the deceleration in growth. Mary Meeker received some Homer Simpson-style credit for noting paid search revenues were at the core of Google's problems. D'oh Henry.

Google posted revenue growth of 51% Y/Y and 14% Q/Q with Google properties revenue revenue growth up 58% Y/Y and 14% Q/Q.

Google stated property revenue growth (+58% Y/Y) was driven by "strength in the holiday retail season." We'll look closer at what's really driving Google revenue growth in the coming days. Battelle summed it up: Google...Disappoints.

Google network revenues increased 37% Y/Y and 12% Q/Q. Strong international performance, with $2.3 billion in Q4 international revenue.

Google has added some "dots" to their new slogan: now, "Search.Ads.Apps Strategy." The Street feels they'd be better off dotting their i's and crossing their t's in executing on social media / social search strategies.

Google ecosystem numbers were healthy. Good for the rest of the Internet; not as good apparently for Google. Traffic Acquisition Costs, revenues Google shares with partners in the Google ecosystem jumped to $1.44 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. Last quarter, TAC of $1.22 billion in the third quarter of 2007.

TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 30% in the fourth quarter, compared to 29% in the third quarter of 2007.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:37 PM | Permalink

Search Comes Full Circle?

Reading the search headlines these days, it may seem like we’ve gone a long way to get right back where we started: human-generated search. Well, not exactly where we started; these new breed of search engines aren’t human-powered in the same way DMOZ and the original Yahoo were, they’re algorithmic search engines that have been human-enhanced by allowing searchers to rank or vote on results, and even to tag or comment on them—much like social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit do.

And they are growing in popularity, with some of the biggest names in search behind them. Jason Calcanis, entrepreneur poster-boy and SEO public enemy #1, recently introduced an update to Mahalo , his human-powered engine, that adds aggregation of user profiles and pages from various social networks . Matt Cutts hinted that Google was integrating social interaction into results and we’re beginning to see Google test it. And Google’s best friend, Jimmy Wales, is making headway with Wikia Search, his admittedly “poor” but improving search engine that integrates the philosophies of Wikimedia and user-generated content.

So are human-enhanced search engines really the future? And if they are, is that a good thing?

As with any search engine, the first criterion that needs to be addressed is relevance. Do social search engines like Sproose, which promises “user-improved” results, really provide better results than regular algorithmic search engines? Looking at most social search engines, including Sproose, Mahalo, Wikia, ChaCha, EarthFrisk and Eurekster’s Swickis, it seems that the answer is generally “no.” Social search engines, or any search engine counting on human participation, need a critical mass of said human participation, which none of these engines seem to have (at least, as of yet). For the most part, each engine returns nearly identical results to Google, with the exception of some highly popular search queries.

The second thing to look at is the trustworthiness of the results, or—to be more frank—the excess or lack of spam therein. Do social search engines prevent SEO spam by giving more power to their audience and less to SEO professionals, or do they open themselves up to more spam by allowing regular (registered) users to directly influence rankings? In an ideal world, social search engines would police themselves from spam the same way social bookmarking sites and networks do—by counting on their user base. Social search would then solve the problem of aggressive SEOs pushing irrelevant sites to the top of the SERPs and create an ideal, democratic system of ranking search results.

But it’s not an ideal world. These social engines have such small user bases that nearly all search spam that exists in traditional engines gets through to them as well. And on pages where users have contributed, such as gambling and SEO queries, social spam unique to these new breed of engines is rife. If anything, these engines are the worst of both worlds from a searcher’s perspective.

But that doesn’t mean the idea of social, human-empowered/enhanced search should be abandoned. The theory of allowing users to remove obvious spam and to optimize results pages based on true semantic knowledge (they know what they’re looking for, after all) is the light at the end of the tunnel that can truly propel search to its idyllic usefulness. But it is unlikely that a minor player will get there. Social products survive on a mass of willing users. Google, Yahoo and Live Search have those users. No one else does, and it is unlikely that others will acquire them. For social search to really work, Google is going to need to push its experiment beyond Google Labs (which it seems they are doing)—or Yahoo and Microsoft will need to step up to the plate. One thing is for sure: whoever gets there first will be tomorrow’s search leader.

Posted by EliFeldblum at 5:53 PM | Permalink

Search Engine Strategies London Calling

If you register for Search Engine Strategies London by Friday, February 1, 2008, you can save £100 with the early bird special. (Which as everyone on this side of the pond knows is worth almost $200, as everyone on the other side of the Chunnel knows is worth €134, or as everyone North of Hadrian’s Wall knows is worth a 750 ml. bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.)

Now, if you haven’t decided to attend “The Premier Event for Search Engine Marketing & Optimization” yet, check out the conference at a glance, which has been updated since I wrote Its “Horses for Courses” at SES London back on January 8.

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Fredrick Marckini

There will be an opening keynote by Fredrick Marckini, Chief Global Search Officer, Isobar. Fredrick founded iProspect in 1996 and is recognized as a leading expert in the field of search engine marketing. He has authored three of the SEM industry’s earliest books, including Secrets To Achieving Top-10 Positions (1997), Achieving Top-10 Rankings in Internet Search Engines (1998), and Search Engine Positioning (2001). Fredrick is considered one of the pioneers of search engine marketing and was named to BtoB Magazine’s Top 100 Marketers in both 2005 and 2006.

Fredrick was a founding Board Member of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), where I worked with him during the non-profit organization’s early years. He’s also from the Boston area, as am I. So, it will be a little “roundabout” to go all the way to England to see someone I know from New England. But, hey, search is that kind of industry.

Other additions to the Search Engine Strategies London conference agenda are two sessions in the Kelsey Group Local Track on Tuesday, February 19. One is entitled, Local Search 2.0, and the other is entitled, Mobile Local Search: A Moving Target.

While I should disclose that SES London is a client, others agree that this is a must-attend event. For example, Lyndsay Menzies, Managing Director UK, bigmouthmedia, says, “If you live and breathe search, or just want to know more about it, then Search Engine Strategies is for you. SES is a great show for anyone who wants to hear experts share their knowledge, find out about the latest developments and future technologies, and hone their search expertise.”

Posted by GregJarboe at 4:56 PM | Permalink

Google's Marissa Mayer Looks Beyond Universal Search to Social Search

In an interview with VentureBeat, Google VP Marissa Mayer says that social search is one avenue Google is pursuing to improve relevance in future iterations of its search engine. The algorithms could incorporate search history from a searcher's Gmail contacts, or input from human experts, as startups like Mahalo, Search Wikia, Collarity and Eurekster are doing (in different ways).

Some ways to incorporate social data into search results that Mayer mentioned include:


  1. Labeling or annotating search results, similar to the way social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and StumbleUpon let users add comments and tags to sites they find.

  2. Show results from "users like you," the technique used expertly by Amazon.com to help shoppers discover new products they may not have even known they wanted.

  3. Using aggregate search histories of friends (or Gmail contacts) to influence search results

When asked what Google will look like ten years from now, Mayer replied, "I think one way it will be better is in understanding more about you and understanding more about your social context: Who your friends are, what you like to do, where you are. It’s hard to imagine that the search engine ten years from now isn’t advised by those things."

Social search is expected by many to define the next generation of search. According to search historian Danny Sullivan, search 1.0 used on-page elements to rank pages, search 2.0 added external linking, and search 3.0 is the current state, with universal search and blended search. Search 4.0 will incorporate these social factors.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:22 PM | Permalink

Search Marketers Share Their 2008 Wish Lists

So far, we've shared some New Years resolutions, and predictions from several search marketers and social media marketers. I asked many of those same marketers what they would most like to see from search engines in 2008. Yesterday, we ran part one, and today we share even more wish lists from search marketers in "Search Marketers' Wish Lists, Part 2."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:32 PM | Permalink

Yellowbook Closes Gap in Local Search

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Local search guru Peter Krasilovsky of Local Onliner fame reported on Yellow Pages veteran Pat Marshall's move from Superpages to archrival Yellowbook back in July 2007. As the CNMO (Chief New Media Officer) Marshall assumed operating responsibility for Yellow Book's new media products, including yellowbook.com and search engine advertising. Krasilovsky noted that YellowBook’s website wasn't really a priority at the company, and one line of business where Idearc had a strong lead.

So how's he doing? The chart on the left shows traffic through Oct, 2007. Here are the comScore numbers for December:

Yellow Book Network jumped 137 percent to 10.4 million visitors. Visits to Yellowbook.com network sites tripled (up 207 percent to 4.6 million visitors) with the acquisition of a new property.

Yellowbook can't rest on its laurels. AT&T’s Yellowpages.com has replaced Yahoo Local Search for AT&T’s broadband and Internet customers. (Krasilovsky also reported YellowPages.com recently told analysts it expects to attract two billion searches in 2008, and three billion by 2010.)

Yellowpages.com Network grew by 51 percent to more than 24 million visitors in December, 2007.

Mike Boland of The Kelsey Group explained in SEW Experts why Google, Yahoo, and MSN need to take the IYP threat seriously. Verizon's also reportedly competing with Google for the $4.7 billion C-block for 700 mhz wireless spectrum, according to Saul Hansell of The New York Times.

For search marketers, their clients, and small and medium sized enterprises, that means online-offline integrated search advertising.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:53 PM | Permalink

CrazyEgg: Free SEM/SEO Analytics Tool Blows My Mind

I'm constantly on the lookout for software tools and services that help us serve our clients better. Since I've been a closet geek and software junkie my entire life, I get a mild kick when I come across software that's well-designed and provides value and features that really stand out. Yesterday I was tipped off to one that almost literally knocked me out of my chair.

It's called CrazyEgg, and it analyzes site visitor behavior in ways I didn't think possible -- and presents the results in a strikingly powerful, engaging manner.

The thing is so chock full of features that time and blog space don't allow me to go into too much depth. In a nutshell it lets you see exactly what elements a site page visitor clicks on - in various graphically-rich ways - like a scatter-map (they call it "confetti"), or a "heat map," or a variety of other views.

It also allows you to test page variations against each other in novel ways - absolute gold for conversion optimizing.

Best of all, it delivers tremendous value, available elsewhere at a much higher cost. But they're giving away most of the valuable functions for free.

Run, don't walk.

P.S. Rumor has it a search industry luminary is behind the service.

Posted by DavidSzetela at 10:28 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Recession-Proof Your Business by Building Links

Can you feel the nervousness in the business community? Even search -- the golden child of marketing -- has been getting pushed around by the market. In today's Link Love column, "Recession-Proof Your Business by Building Links," Sage Lewis warns that search marketers need to wake up and stare reality in the face.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How To Educate Search Staff from Scratch

Educating employees in SEO and PPC marketing can seem impossible when they have no search background. In today's SEM.EDU column, "How To Educate Search Staff from Scratch," Ron Jones offers advice for those struggling to organize a program to teach employees the fundamentals of search.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 30, 2008

Is EU Softening On Online Activites, Acquisitions

Seems the European Union is becoming more sensitive to the workings of the internet. Recent rulings have changed their once strong position about its impact on Europe and its people.

Recent reports tell that they are ready to approve the acquisition of DoubleClick by Google - regardless of what had previously been thought to be a move closer to an online monopoly.

The latest is their decision not to make ISPs give the information of users who have used P2P software for sharing files, a battle that has been fought globally for copyright issues of music and film.

"The European Union's highest court ruled this week that Internet service providers in the EU do not have to give entertainment companies the names of Web users suspected of illegal file sharing.

Internet service providers only have to disclose the names of suspects in criminal cases, not in civil lawsuits, the EU court upheld.

EU countries generally provide consumers a broad range of privacy protections," AVN reported today.

It will be worth watching how these new decisions change the internet legal landscape in Europe.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 10:09 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Strategy from the Yahoo Magic 8 Ball?

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Yahoo's Yodel Turns Into a Whimper. That's how BusinessWeek described the Yahoo earnings call. In his NY Times Tech blog, Saul Hansell savaged Yahoo execs on the conference call for not articulating a strategy, obfuscation, and excessive use of jargon.

I disagree, so we'll let our search industry readers decide for themselves.

Here are the 5 most important questions Wall St. analysts asked and Yahoo executives answered about Search, excerpted courtesy of SeekingAlpha.com, where you read the full transcript of Yahoo's earnings call and tomorrow's Google earnings call (January 31).

Judge the answers for yourself. There are golden nuggets you'll be able to use when developing your search engine strategies.

Brian Pitz, Banc of America: Would you comment on whether you continue to see click-through rate improvements from Panama accelerating since Q3?

Susan Decker, President, Yahoo: Brian, the click-through rate improvements have been the primary driver of the RPS (revenue per search) gains, as we have said in the past. We don’t get too specific on all the components, but I did mention that in Q4 a couple of initiatives that will help advertiser ROI actually may have limited our gains and were deliberate moves against coverage. We have seen continued improvement in click-through rates and as I mentioned, the RPS gains in Q4 were pretty consistent with what we saw in the prior two quarters of close to 20%.

Mark Mahaney, Citigroup: You (Susan Decker) made some comments about some macroeconomic uncertainty. What kind of impact in a hard recessionary environment do you think you could see in your display and search advertising, whether one would be more insulated than the other? Specifically in Search, to the extent that you were to see a major negative macroeconomic impact, do you think you would see that more in terms of advertiser demand or a change in user or searcher behavior?

SD: Just going back to some of the comments I made in my script, we have, from time to time, seen pockets of weakness and certainly a couple of pockets in the fourth quarter as I outlined. We’ve also had areas of strength that have been offsetting.

The challenge in answering your question is clearly the secular trends in online advertising have historically, and even today, very much been overwhelming the cyclical environment. It’s early to tell though if the weakness in the housing and financial and travel sectors -- a little bit in retail -- will start to affect the consumer more broadly and the advertiser more broadly and therefore searches in terms of what kind of commercial searches happen.

I don’t think we have a crystal ball in that, but we are encouraged, actually, by how much offsetting strength we’ve seen in some of the other categories which has kept our overall marketing services growth rate in line in display and Search with what we saw earlier in the third quarter, or actually even a little bit better.

Jason Helfstein, CIBC World Markets: Can you give us some color on the affiliate weakness? How much of that was pricing versus volume? What was headcount at the end of the quarter?

Blake Jorgensen, Yahoo CFO: On the headcount front we didn’t disclose headcount in this conversation but it is roughly 14,300. As a reminder, we closed two acquisitions during the fourth quarter that added approximately 200 heads to that group.

SD: On the affiliate -- this is Search affiliate, just to be clear on that -- the overwhelming majority of it is price. I said in my comments that the TAC (traffic acquisition cost) rate for the last two years really looking at 2006 to what is implied in our projections for ‘08 has gone from 72% to about 80% on TAC-attributable revenue and that excludes the Yahoo! Japan deal which has been restructured.
…In terms of volume, the only real volume changes have been some traffic quality partners and really not much else.

Justin Post, Merrill Lynch: On query volume, I know market share has been an issue for The Street. Can you talk about how your query volume growth has trended both U.S. and internationally over the last three or four quarters?

SD: On the Search side we talked about our overall revenue being up about 30% plus in Q4 and RPS being up about 20%. You can do the math, but the implied query growth is up about 10% double-digits.

Business Week asked search marketing firms for commentary on Yahoo's dilemma: Didit Executive Chairman Kevin Lee, was quoted as saying, "We give them every dollar we can but if they don't have the traffic, there's nothing for us to spend the money on."

That's the general sentiment of the SEMs managing paid search campaigns. Everyone's rooting for Yahoo, MSN adCenter, even Ask to win back share from Google.

Ellen Siminoff, CEO of Efficient Frontier (whose search spending study was detailed by ClickZ yesterday) noted Yahoo can't cut its way to prosperity and shared an astounding statistic: overall search ad spending on Yahoo by Efficient Frontier clients fell 3.8 percent in Q4 y/y while Google's share of search ad spending rose to 76.6 percent from 70.5 percent last year.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:21 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: January 30, 2008

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 6:18 PM | Permalink

Search Engine Market Share: comScore's December Scorecard

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Google increased its slice of the growing global search pie in just-released search engine market share stats from comScore. In 2007, searches at the five major search engines -- including partner searches and cross-channel searches -- finished with 9.6 billion searches in December, 2007.

The surprise winner? For December 2007, total searches on Google sites increased more than 30 percent year over year, totaling 5.6 billion searches.

Yahoo sites ranked second with 2.2 billion searches. Microsoft sites, third with 940 million searches in December.

Time Warner Network with 442 million searches finsihed neck-and-neck with Ask Network, at 415 million total searches - but lost ground: down 4 percent from this time last year.

Microsoft sites gained 8 percent year-over-year, with Ask (415 million) posting a 5 percent gain on a small base of 396 million searches last December.

AOL (part of the O&O Time Warner network) didn't fare much better than Yahoo, posting a 4 percent decrease in total search volume.

It's important to note that searches conducted on mapping sites, local directory sites, and video sites (read YouTube) are not counted in the core search statistics.

On the Yahoo earnings call, Yahoo President Sue Decker complained about the accuracy of the comScore numbers. Unlikely Eric Schmidt will do the same.

Yahoo's new strategy won't be measured by standard third-party metrics (Web Analytics 1.0) such as page views, reflecting the new dynamics of distributed traffic on the Internet.

"Third-party services such as comScore (that) assess unique users or time spent (on site) may not tell the story of what’s happening (in aggregate)," said Decker. "Our internal logs show that metrics we’ve discussed with (analysts) in the past, such as uniques and page views, continue to grow in the double-digits in Q4, with unique users now topping 500 million and page views about 4 billion per day."

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:25 PM | Permalink

1,000 Yahoo Layoffs and 4 Key Yahoo Trends for CEOs

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Yahoo Panama posted a 20 percent improvement in RPS (Revenue Per Search) in Q4, following three consecutive revenue growth quarters. "Yahoo O&O" - owned and operated -- was the new search buzzword tossed around during the conference call. More good news: search revenue grew by approximately 30 percent. International search for Yahoo properties showed RPS gains accelerating into the high teens.

Improving the quality of traffic with domain controls and ad quality filtering promise to improve lead quality and advertiser ROI over time. The cleanup, though, limited Yahoo's revenue growth in Q4. Yahoo's stock price dropped below $20 again.

Search marketers, agency owners, CEOs, and CMOs need to know whether Yahoo CTR improved due to Panama; how the recession will affect search and display advertising; and how much Yahoo share of total searches improved.

4 Yahoo Q4 Trends All CMOs Need to Know

1. Search marketers can count on improved click-through rates from Yahoo searchers clicking on paid search (PPC) ads.

2. Search continues to be strong and as close to "recession-proof" as any form of online advertising. Advertisers can expect high ROI unless the recession significantly reduces commercial searches.

3. Yahoo share of searches continue to increase, reassuring major brands and search marketers that the Yahoo spotlight will continue to shine on search.

4. Search marketing agencies who specialize in one vertical would be well-advised to diversify their client portfolio, with weakness in housing, financial services, travel, and to a lesser extent retail.

The bad news: 1,000 Yahoo employees will be laid off, a move that may streamline the company but won't boost stock price or improve client service for search marketers, CMOs, and agencies. With higher revenue per employee than competitors, Yahoo executives may not even see productivity gains.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:46 AM | Permalink

Microsoft adCenter Partnering With WSJDN

Microsoft has announced it will provide the advertising for the Wall Street Journal Digital Network (WSJDN), which includes Barrons and marketWatch as well as WSJ.com.

Microsoft signed a deal to be the exclusive third-party provider of contextual and paid search advertising on their sites. WSJDN is a leading provider of business and financial information news and analysis on sites such as WSJ.com, Barrons.com, MarketWatch.com, allthingsD.com and more. WSJDN reaches a savvy worldwide audience of over 20 million unique users and serves over 330 million page views per month on its sites specific to the highly sought-after financial services audience for advertisers. In addition to being a traffic leader in the Business & Finance verticals, the WSJDN reaches a highly qualified audience:

• A larger concentration of C-level Executives than any other original financial news sites
• A higher concentration of affluent males than any online network
• More Business Decision Makers and Technology Decision Makers than any other online publisher of original financial news
• A high number of active investors, both institutional/professional and self-directed
• 983,000 WSJ.com subscribers
• 723,000 C-levels
• Average age: 48 years
• 67% male

The Microsoft press release noted:

“Relevant and targeted digital advertising is important to our business and to the quality of the experience that we deliver to our users,” said Gordon McLeod, president of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. “Microsoft’s state-of-the-art advertising platform will enable us to dramatically improve our revenues from this key sector, and we look forward to working together.”

“This deal is a significant win for Microsoft for two key reasons. First, it makes the extended Microsoft advertising network the premier destination for advertisers interested in reaching financially minded users, as it complements our offering in this vertical through MSN Money and other syndication partners,” said Brian McAndrews, senior vice president, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions at Microsoft. “Second, this deal is a strong indicator that we’re gaining significant traction with our advertising platform. The Wall Street Journal Digital Network is one of the largest financial services publishers in a very dynamic vertical segment, and we’re delighted to add it to our portfolio.”

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 11:25 AM | Permalink

Who Are The Real Online Influencers?

The prominent players in our space may not have the impact they think they have, if you follow the ideas explored in Guy Kawasaki's recent blog post.

Having read the article and the stories it links out to, I have to say that the dynamic of the web may have changed who and what has sway and how things become popular in the internet age. With the myriad of social networks and fun interactive tools everyone has access to these days, is it any wonder that authority is a fleeting thing and the power of influence can fall in the hands of flip teenagers and cranky seniors who can turn a creative phrase.

Trendsetters may no longer be the term of the new millennium - maybe hip is giving way to hap - as in happenstance. I am waiting for my 15 year-old to use that term - "he is so hap" and I will know I am on to something.

I read a lot of different blogs and occasionally read Guy's - but it was so 'hap' that I found this one today.....

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 10:56 AM | Permalink

Where’s The Online TV Search?

FutureTV.JPGAs consumers, we should be thrilled the TV networks have started delivering nice, deep inventories of video clips and longer-form videos online. That’s great until you want to explore the current and archived stuff on each domain.

Maybe I should cut some slack to our beloved cable and broadcast networks, who are used to having audiences find their fare through on-air guides and remote controls. After all, TV audiences don’t conduct free-form searches to find shows. But I don't think any video providers deserve this break.

So where’s the online TV search? Last week, I asked many Future TV Show 2008 attendees about findability matters.

Their responses were very interesting, at least to me. While I won’t name names, I heard several executives flatly say their site searching and browsing capabilities were terrible. The rest I would classify as apathetic, which probably comes from years of limited options and lack of control.

Yet these TV networks are not different online, and sound like other web publishers these days. They are paying attention to acquiring and keeping visitors on their domains.

At the NYC show, I heard many familiar questions: How do I get people to my site? How can I get more video streams and page views? How can I really make money online? How do I measure our success?

We’re all learning that online video isn’t exactly the same animal as its on-air cousin. There are differences in terms of consumption patterns, for starters. The destinations that succeed will learn how to engage and optimize their new online audiences through effective video search, discovery and sharing mechanisms.

Posted by debbyr at 2:10 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The Day the Agency Model Died

Endless possibilities might not be the best way to label the latest round of partnership redefining. It will end, just maybe not how the agencies would like. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "The Day the Agency Model Died," Kevin Ryan explains how the recent Google-Publicis relationship reflects a sea change in the current ad agency model.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The New Age of Search Marketing

One of the more misunderstood parts about the Web environment today is just how much the user is in control. In today's By the Numbers column, "The New Age of Search Marketing," Eric Enge offers three reasons this shift in control to the consumer is happening.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 29, 2008

Hospitality Social Media Marketing: Influence Critical Customer Reviews

UGC (User Generated Content), especially in the form of customer reviews, can send scads of excited visitors to your door credit card in hand, or destroy your business’s reputation overnight by polluting SERPs. It's certainly a double edge sword.

More and more search marketers lay awake at night, in pools of sweat, freaking out about losing brand control in light of UGC. Hospitality industry SEM success can be the stuff of peaceful dreams or horrible nightmares. Unfortunately/luckily it's all in the hands of actual customers-or well placed shill reviewers.

What sites does Google mine hospitality reviews from, many of which are submitted by the public? How does a hotel or restaurant business get a grip and influence reviews? What major travel and review sites should hotels and restaurants point happy customers (or savvy stand-ins) towards in order to bolster, cleanse, and protect reputation?

Miriam Ellis has published an extremely practical case study over at SearchEngineJournal, profiling websites from which Google harvests reviews showing up in the ever dominant (and now 10-list) “one box” results. She profiled “1000 reviews listed in Google Maps for hospitality industry businesses" and shared results.

If you're objective is to “finesse” reviews from your restaurant or hotel’s happy customers, the majority of the 34 sources listed accept public reviews and are therefore susceptible to (at least) some level of manipulation by pleased patrons or savvy local search marketers. Aol.com to Zagat.com, Google’s predominant hospitality site sources are listed along with suggested strategies and tactics.

In the rollercoaster world of Google SERPs, especially in light of Universal Search and ever-expanding local search, the landscape is frighteningly fluid. Sites like Yelp appear, disappear, and reappear in Google reviews practically overnight, leaving narrowly targeted review-writing campaigns subject to overnight obsolescence.

Hedge your bet. Miriam’s post lays priceless groundwork to cast a wide net, understand, and influence the multi-headed Google review SERP monster to your hospitality business’s benefit.

Posted by aimclear at 11:40 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: January 29, 2008

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 5:53 PM | Permalink

SEO for Reputation Management

Even after many years of clean business practices, a single negative event can stain your brand image in the public eye for a long time. Simple things like a negative product review in a blog can be detrimental to your brand, especially when competitors are standing close by to snatch up customers. In today's SearchDay, "Using SEO for Reputation Management," Apogee Search's William Leake shares some best practices for creating a reputation management strategy built on search engine optimization.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:47 PM | Permalink

Google Bar Codes and Three Martini Lunches

Google is now the network that connects the social graph of the advertising industry. From global AAAAs to interactive agencies to SEM firms and SEO consultants, there are less than six degrees of separation. Last night was deja vu all over again, reminding me of AdWords early days when Google just wanted parity with Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) in corporate search budgets.

Peter Grill, Mimeo.com vp of marketing AKA The Rogue Marketer emceed the panel and mentioned that Mimeo is now a client of Efficient Frontier.

Two of the leading authorities on search marketing joined me last night at Google: SES Chair Kevin Ryan and SEW Forums Editor Frank Watson, AKA aussiewebmaster. Frank's take on Google products and Google exec panelists differs from mine.

Ryan, Watson and I were in the distinct minority based on folks I chatted with and questions from the floor. (Exceptions: Sendtec and Dani of DaniWeb.com IT forum) More proof? Witness upcoming Ad Club of NY events: Magazine Day Forum and Radio Forum 2008.

Search marketing firms have a tremendous competitive advantage over traditional ad agencies. Managing campaigns based on ROI is second nature. Analytics and technology platforms, a necessity. They understand the dynamics of online auctions and advertising exchanges.

If Google is Goliath, ad agencies would be foolish to think of themselves as David.

Google's success in moving beyond the "self-serve" model will depend on the buy-in not only of global ad agencies like Publicis Groupe, but the AAAA clients who drive their decisions. For years in SEM, Google has had a vertical industry focus with corporate clients, providing consulting to executives who make agency decisions. Google's vertical sales team will win the day.

Last night at Googleplex East, Google execs outlined the future of Google TV, Google Audio, and Google Print Ads in an Ad Club of New York Meetup. In my Search Engine WarGames column, " Future of Search: All the Media That's Fit To Be Googled ," Google shares how you can produce ads on Google TV, when you can buy a spot on "WWE RAW," and why Google Print Ads 2D Barcodes won't fly.

Dan Frommer shares his take on Google 2D bar codes, while Michael Learmonth shares his on self-serve Google AdWords TV Google TV ads from a Silicon Alley Insider perspective.

The key takeaway for Madison Avenue: Google has warned you. Google has publicly stated -- and again, last night -- that your model is broken. Your clients say so, according to Google executives. Last night, Google director of agency relations Derek Kuhl said, you know it too.

The Google Publicis Digitas alliance will shape the future of advertising both online and offline.

Humans are winning the search engine WarGames, for now. Agencies will cling to clients through long-standing relationships that originated in the era of the three martini lunch.

Only technology can produce scale and efficiency in advertising. And it will.

Welcome, traditional advertisers, to the Google Ecosystem.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:26 PM | Permalink

Balogh Named New Yahoo CTO

Aristotle "Ari" Balogh, 43, was named CTO for Yahoo! today, according to the Yahoo press release.

"World-class technology development is a critical part of Yahoo!'s strategy. Bringing a strong technology leader on board to drive engineering and operational excellence across our technology group has been a significant priority for the company," said Yang. "In Ari Balogh, Yahoo! is adding one of the industry's most talented leaders to our bench-strength of technology experts. With a proven track record for successfully leading large scale engineering initiatives and driving rapid cycles of technology innovation, Ari's leadership skills are well suited to leading Yahoo!'s development efforts as we continue in our mission to deliver the best, most indispensable experiences on the Internet."

Seems like this was good timing. CEO Jerry Yang gives his quarterly earnings report very soon.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 4:43 PM | Permalink

Marchex to Distribute Ads from Superpages Advertisers

Advertisers who buy placements on Idearc's Superpages.com local search site will now be able to get the added distribution over Marchex's network of more than 200,000 vertically-focused local sites, as well as more than 50 partner ad networks and vertical sites. Under the new distribution deal, ads will be served and tracked by Marchex's Enhance Interactive subsidiary.

Enhance Interactive also distributes ads from several large interactive agencies and advertisers, including Avenue A | Razorfish, Reprise Media, Carnival Cruise Lines, Cox Auto Trader Publishing, FXCM Forex Capital Markets, Roto-Rooter and Reunion.com. Through Marchex Connect, a private-label search marketing platform, Marchex also distributes ads sold by AT&T's YellowPages.com.

Ads can appear on Marchex's OpenList network of local sites, as well as search engines like Yahoo, Dogpile, Snap, and Verisign.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:45 PM | Permalink

Google So Big They Don't Know Their Own Products

The presentation of various Google products detailed by Kevin Heisler may have given a bunch of people a little insight into the various advertising products Google now offers, but the lack of connection between them and the lack of knowledge a few showed of their own products questioned how long this expansion can last.

The Ad Creation Marketplace to develop rich media ads for Google advertisers was a side project the speakers were not aware of. How designers can be outsourced through Google - a major coup for people recognized by Google as worthy of recommending - was unknown when the Q&A period asked for more details.

The cross over of measurement and how detailed analytics could get was another thing no one seemed to have handy.

Don't tell me "you just hype it... but really never use it so how could I have such knowledge".

I never did get the chance to ask how the bar code technology being used by print would allow tracking.... and I was intrigued by the thought it could.

Events like these are an important part of making people aware of the variety of Google's reach in media... it would just be nice if the information was a little more detailled.

Kevin noted there were no engineers present... maybe there should have been. I know the guests were savvy and knowledgeable.... but then again we use the products.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 11:55 AM | Permalink

Measuring PR in cold, hard cash

If you haven't read Mike Grehan's ClickZ article, "Search and the changing face of public relations," read it now. Among the many pithy and insightful comments within his article is this one: "I think traditional PR firms may be on their way out." Go, read it now. This will be on the mid-term exam.

When you're done reading that, read Sally Falkow's post in the Search Engine Watch Blog, entitled, "Search not understood and used in PR campaigns." Do we begin to see a trend yet?

Now, go back and read my article in Search Engine Watch, entitled, "Blogs Are the New Trade Press." Yep, the experts agree. "The world of public relations has changed dramatically over the past five to 10 years – or, at least it should have."

But it often seems like the folks over in PR didn't get the memo.

Well, they're not the only ones who didn't notice that the world was changing. On March 27, 2007, The Project for Excellence in Journalism noted in The State of the News Media 2007, "The press is no longer gatekeeper over what the public knows. Journalists have reacted relatively slowly. They are only now beginning to re-imagine their role. Their companies failed to see 'search' as a kind of journalism."

And many (but not all) people failed to see "blogging" as a kind of journalism. Or, at least some percentage of blogging. As the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported on July 19, 2006, in a report entitled, "Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers, "34% of bloggers consider their blog a form of journalism" and "56% of bloggers spend extra time trying to verify facts they want to include in a post."

Now, that's a couple of paradigm shifts at the same time. So, don't blame your public relations people if they didn't connect the dots.

Who do I blame? Well, it's the Chief Marketing Officer in some companies or the Vice President of Marketing in others who is responsible for measuring the results of various elements of the marketing mix. And if the CMO or VP of Marketing is still content with a getting a stack of press clippings at the end of each month, can you blame his or her PR people from thinking that they've done their job?

Okay, so counting press clips has been a bogus PR metric for more than 20 years. I've told the story in "Measuring PR in Cold, Hard Cash" of my first month as Director of Corporate Communications at Lotus Development Corp. -- way, way back in 1986.

After my first month on the job, I took a very thick book of about 700 magazine and newspaper clippings that we’d received, walked down the hall to CEO Jim Manzi’s office, and casually dropped it on his desk. Manzi took a quick look and said, "Jarboe, if I could deposit these in a bank, I’d know what they were worth. But, until you can measure the impact of PR in cold, hard cash, don’t waste my time with these so-called reports."

And, I have to admit, Manzi was right.

So, what are the right PR metrics?

In MarketingSherpa’s Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008, you'll find more than half a dozen, including:
-- Press mentions,
-- Blog mentions,
-- Ranking of a press release in news search engines,
-- Click through rate (CTR) from links in a press release,
-- Rise in site traffic around launch, and
-- Track leads from click through conversion.

That's the memo that most CMOs and Marketing VPs haven't received. They can measure public relations in both PR outputs and business outcomes. And they had better get the memo before the CEO does.

And, trust me on this: When the big boss starts asking for "real" measures of success, then the traditional PR people will start learning about SEO, blogs and web analytics.

One last note: There are other PR people who know how to do this. Sally Falkow is one. Lee Odden, the founder of TopRankResults.com, is another. And Katie Paine, my predecessor at Lotus, is a third. She writes The Measurement Standard Blog.

She and I both started looking for ways to measure PR in cold, hard cash -- before search, blogs, and web analytics -- but after the big boss started asking for "real" measures of success.

See the trend?

Posted by GregJarboe at 7:01 AM | Permalink

SEMPO Nominees for Board of Directors

SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, has announced the nominees for its 2008 board of directors. The 2008 board will consist of 13 individuals who will each serve a two-year term. Voting runs from February 6 to February 15. Candidate profiles are available to SEMPO members on the SEMPO site.

Twelve of the 13 current board members are running for re-election: Chris Boggs, eMergent Marketing; Massimo Burgio, Global Search Interactive; Fionn Downhill, Elixir Systems; Dave Fall, DoubleClick; Duane Forrester, Microsoft; Sara Holoubek, Free Agent; Gordon Hotchkiss, Enquiro Search Solutions; Bill Hunt, Global Strategies International; Kevin Lee, Didit; Jeffrey Pruitt, iCrossing; Dana Todd, Newsforce; and Tanya Vaughan, Hewlett-Packard. 360i's Dave Williams opted not to run again.

There are 21 other candidates for the board seats: Damien Anderson, Blowfish Digital Limited; Jay Berkowitz, Ten Golden Rules; Lindsay Blankenship, Avenue A | Razorfish; Jessica Bowman, Yahoo; Paul Bruemmer, Red Door Interactive; Luar Buso, Getupdated; Bruce Clay, Bruce Clay, Inc.; Chris Copeland, Outrider; Marc Engelsman, Digital Brand Expressions; Mark Fiske, Bazaar Advertising; Mark Jackson, Vizion Interactive; Mike Jacobs, iMarketing LTD; Ron Jones, Symetri Internet Marketing; Max Kalehoff, Clickable; John Koehler, VML; Chris Kramer, NETexponent; Robert Murray, iProspect; Steve Riegel, Faction Media; Farukh Shroff, Solid Cactus; David Szetela, Clix Marketing; Lori Weiman, Click Forensics.

You'll recognize many of the names of the nominees as SEW Experts and ClickZ Experts columnists, including Chris Boggs, Fionn Downhill, Kevin Lee, Mark Jackson, Ron Jones, and David Szetela. Congratulations, and good luck to them and to all the nominees.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:55 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The Future of Search: All the Media That's Fit to Be Googled

The battle between search engines and human beings has moved to a new stage where online advertising and search ads are overtaking the search engine. In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "The Future of Search: All the Media That's Fit To Be Googled," Kevin Heisler looks at Google's forays into TV, radio, newspapers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Online Retail SEO: Holiday Shopping Seasonality

The Q4 holiday season makes or breaks the success of online retail. Yet many companies don't realize how important the holidays are for SEO. In today's Big Biz column, "Online Retail SEO: Holiday Shopping Seasonality," Aaron Shear outlines a variety of factors revolving around seasonality that retailers must take into account for SEO to be successful.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: SEO Millionaire: Who Wants to Be One? - Part 2

Last week, we challenged SEOs to identify which of the big three travel sites has a canonical issue? In today's au Natural column, "SEO Millionaire: Who Wants to Be One? - Part 2," Mark Jackson provides the answer, and responds to voluminous reader response.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 28, 2008

Search not understood and used in PR campaigns

The Public Relations Society of America's Los Angeles chapter holds an event in January of each year where they have a panel of the top PR experts look at what the state of PR is and where it is headed for the next year. All five panelists mentioned social media and how it has changed the practice of PR this year.

Search, however, is not part of the PR lexicon yet. In answer to a question from the floor Joe Kessler of SS & K said that search is an area every PR person should understand and use, but it is a gaping hole in the PR toolset.

When Greg Jarboe saw the importance of search for PR and started to optiimize press releases four or five years ago he called his agency SEO-PR. But it was not the PR industry that adopted the practice, it was SEO agencies. So we had the odd situation of non-PR folk writing press releases.

And here we are in 2008 and one of the top agency CEOs says search is something of value and should be an integral part of all PR campaigns.

What makes search so important to PR?

* Studies have shown conclusively that page one positioning in the search engines affects your brand value. In many cases the SERP is the first contact someone has with your company. How you appear on that page influences their perception of your business.
* If a searcher persistently sees your business on page one for the key phrases they're searching it leads them to believe you are a major player in this field
* User-generated content has given the power of voice to consumers. Peer reviews and comments are the number one influencer prior to action or purchase today. Blogs and comments are showing up in search results pages.
* If there is negative content on the page it can damage your reputation.
* Journalists are using search engines to find information when they research a story. Being highly visible in the search engines could increase your media coverage.

These are all very traditional PR areas of expertise. And search is influencing every one of them. It is tool PR professionals have to master.


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Posted by SallyFalkow at 7:25 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: January 28, 2008

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 5:33 PM | Permalink

Property of Google? No! The Google of Property

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While many startups aspire to become "The Property of Google," UK-based DotHomes wants to be "the Google of property."

Just when you thought the days of aspiring Googles had ended, vertical search took on a life of its own. In real estate, Zillow, Trulia, Craigslist, Redfin and other sites have become classic disruptors in the marketplace.

In the UK, the disruptor was DotHomes.co.uk. After conquering South Africa, DotHomes (free for consumers and realtors) has crossed the pond to the U.S.

Greg Sterling of Screenwerk is all gloomy about survival prospects for 10-12 real estate search engines. He likes the Bob Tedeschi POV in his NY Times E-Commerce Report today, Despite Housing Slide, Real Estate Sites Sell . Tedeschi quotes Nielsen Online that the number of ads displayed on real estate sites are down, though the number of visitors is up.

The DotHomes press release notes in big caps that it "DOES NOT" host realtor listings on its site, only result summaries. Users are directed to the agents’ original listings, from the more than 1 million broker listings aggregated.

Other Googly features: one-box search, customized for natural language queries, and the potentially dangerous “I’m Feeling Wealthy” button to view the most expensive U.S. homes on the market.

I may have found an error in the pricing of a home. See if you can find the sky-high property in a town not known for $40 million properties in the "I'm Feeling Wealthy" New York, NY listings and let me know if I'm way off base.

A couple great Web 2.0 benefits of the DotHomes site for real estate brokers:

Heat maps of local prices per square foot may not be as popular with brokers as "On-the-fly video uploads" designed to make updating DotHomes easier.

Now DotHomes and the Flip video camera may give a whole new meaning to "flipping properties."

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:33 PM | Permalink

Facebook Ads & Applications: Critical SEM Learning Curve

The New York Facebook Social Advertising Event Nov. 6, 2007 introduction from boy-wonder Mark Zuckerberg was a millennial harbinger of marketing-things-to-come. If your business or agency’s search marketing department has dismissed Facebook applications & paid ads, as outside of your product’s demographic, think again. Though advertisers are making millions now on the Facebook platform, the revolution is far more important than Facebook.

facebook1.jpg

Not Your Father’s PPC
The SEM concepts employed on Facebook’s fledgling paid ad platform embody a methodology which will be likely be embraced by mainstream search engines and communities. Keyword research has always been the staple of classic “pull” search marketing. When configuring Facebook paid campaigns, marketers research and target buzz pockets of user interests, as expressed by their dealings with friends. It’s called the “social graph.”

As an example, now it’s possible to target ads to “Woman between 24-29 years old, interested in gardening, organic food, wine, cooking, live in Minnesota or Wisconsin, and are in a relationship.”

Last week Google responded by (re)announcing beta-testing of an enhanced AdWords feature, called demographic bidding. Advertisers will target gender and age groups on some sites within the Google content network. The feature is being tested over the next few weeks with a select group of advertisers in the U.S. and the U.K.

There has been industry debate regarding the long-term value of demographic targeting. MSN has had similarly rudimentary demographic targeting features for quite some time.

Facebook Applications: Fad or Future?
INC Magazine recently published a celebrated case study about quick scores. Whether you believe in Facebook apps or not, Google has already responded with Open Social developers’ platform, "a set of common APIs for building social applications across many websites,” and inked deals with prominent social sites. These next-gen social apps and widgets are coming. Early adopters, who figure things out now, will clearly have the advantage.

“Facebook Ads represent a completely new way of advertising online,” Zuckerberg imparted to more than 250 advertising and marketing executives on that day in New York. “For the last hundred years media has been pushed out to people, but now marketers are going to be a part of the conversation. And they’re going to do this by using the social graph in the same way our users do.”

Facebook ads and applications represent marketing early adopters’ first opportunity to dapple in, what will clearly be, a significant wave of future viral techniques and media buys. Study Facebook and practice marketing to points on the social graph in order to prepare for a future which is already here.

Posted by aimclear at 7:30 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Inside AdWords and Contextual Advertising: The Tipping Point

Once the ugly stepchild of online ads, contextual advertising has shed its "remnant inventory" reputation. In today's Content Advertising column, "Inside AdWords and Contextual Advertising: The Tipping Point," David Szetela looks at the evolution of online content advertising, to help you understand where the category has been, and where it's going.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 27, 2008

Google NYC and Digitas Lead Google-Publicis Partnership

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Google's Tim Armstrong, president North American advertising and commerce, and Penry Price, vice-president of North American sales, with Digitas Chairman and CEO David Kenny will lead the global Google-Publicis partnership.

Abby Klaasen broke the news late last night in Advertising Age. The news tops off a terrific week for Digitas, which won the P&G Crest digital account. Crest is P&G's second biggest spending brand online. Should be interesting to see what products Google engineers can build to help digital agencies scale their business.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Google Publicis partnership elicited a scathing exchange between WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell and Publicis CEO Maurice Levy. (Google CEO Eric Schmidt was, in effect, switzerland.)

Nikki Sandison of Brand Republic reported the barbs traded by Sorrell and Levy this weekend. Sir Martin Sorrell told Reuters:

"Next time I meet with Eric Schmidt, I think we'll send out a press release. This morning I met with Maurice Levy, does this mean we're putting together a joint venture?

"What Publicis is doing represents a little bit of a concern that they didn't get the technology right. I think Maurice is acknowledging a bit of an Achilles heel when it comes to technology."

No comment from CEO-engineer Eric Schmidt, but technologist/engineer CEO Maurice Levy didn't take the slight lightly, telling Reuters:

"I'm sorry Martin said that -- it's really cheap, but it's probably the result of his lack of understanding of technology.

"He's a financier, I'm an engineer, and you can see the difference. I'm pleased with what we have done, and I'm sorry that my dear friend has not understood it."

With "dear friends" like that, who needs frenemies?

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:18 PM | Permalink

SES Paris is Burning in flickr

sesparis.jpg

While some may think of SES Paris as hors d'oeuvres before the lavish SES London banquet, there was no shortage of fun in the City of Lights. SES Global VP Kevin Ryan (pictured here) plans to launch new coverage of worldwide SES events on media sharing sites.

You can get a taste of Paris in the photo collection posted by burningmax.

If that doesn't whet your appetite, then stay tuned to your video player for exclusive coverage of SES Chicago.

Remember, if you didn't attend SES Paris this year, we'll always have SES Chicago.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:12 PM | Permalink

Souljah Boy to TellMe: Search, Listen and Obey

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Machine translation from voice to text promises to be the grail of local mobile search. Michael Fitzgerald in The New York Times today highlights voice search and voice recognition software in gadgets that "Listen and Obey."

For example, with the new Vlingo app (Microsoft TellMe competitor), searchers can speak into their mobile phones send SMS messages to find and download Souljah Boy Tellem songs. Instead of texting a friend to decide on a sushi restaurant, Vlingo Find (integrated with Yahoo Maps) lets you talk it over and pinpoint the restaurant of choice.

Listen and obey? That's optimistic. Voice recognition still can't guess users intentions easily. Om Malik discussed Vlingo way back in August 2007, but we're glad the Times is highlighting innovations in mobile search and local search.

Plus, voice search won't achieve ubiquity until it's faster to talk than type.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:48 AM | Permalink

January 26, 2008

Facebook Drops Another Hurdle

Facebook.JPGStill looking for some attention from the social networks? Facebook delivered a new client library on Friday afternoon, which makes your widgets easier to launch in their ecosystem. While this library isn’t exactly the second coming, it’s welcome news.

According to Facebook developer Wei Zu, “This JavaScript client library allows you to make Facebook API calls from any web site and makes it easy to create Ajax Facebook applications. Since the library does not require any server-side code on your server, you can now create a Facebook application that can be hosted on any web site that serves static HTML.”

Facebook also encourages developers to install applications outside its domain, which I understand was possible (if more difficult) before this release anyway. Blogger Nick O’Neill is ebullient about the social connections to be made across the web, if you place these applications on your site.

My reaction is just more measured, that's all. When someone arrives on your site, they can connect with others only if they are signed into Facebook. Will you attract people or turn them off? This entirely depends on your business and whether joining up is an important attribute right now.

Here's a gameplan for your Facebook interactions. Since the widget hurdle has been virtually dropped, it's worth thinking about what kind of traffic (or links) you might get from Facebook overall. Like any social network, it's not under your control -- but you should try to become more available and present there. Consider the following approaches for engagement.

Groups: As a start, you can simply set up a group that attracts people who identify with your site or services. Try setting up an open group for some specific purposes, like sharing opinions or news, having events, etc. Of course, the postings there can link back to your site too. You can be a more active moderator, or let interested group members start to communicate and drive the agenda.

Widgets: In addition, you can create widgets that people insert on their pages. Look at what works on your site, and see what's transportable to a widget. Don't assume that since interactivity matters, your quiz or poll idea will be a runaway success. If you're a content site, then consider options like headlines and stories. If you're an e-tailer, then try sharing your latest arrivals or bargains.

Domains: Although this is a alpha or pioneering effort, consider inserting your Facebook widget back on your domain. This widget should be a tool that helps people connect, rather than a dominant site feature. Also make sure you mention this in your policies, since you'll be using external cookies on your site too.

With this latest Facebook news and hype, one thing is clear: it's time for you to test communications and interactions through this "coin of the realm" social network. Just as you have placed pages on MySpace to drive traffic, there's more to be gained by injecting into Facebook too.

We just don't have the metrics and stories to share with you yet, so let us know what you learn. What kinds of traffic do you see? Are the engines picking up things differently for you? We're all learning about optimization from this latest social network together.

Posted by debbyr at 10:30 PM | Permalink

Google Enigma: Code Cracked by Carr

NickCarr.jpg

'Some say Google is God,' Sergey Brin once said. 'Others say Google is Satan.' The confusion about Google’s identity may not be quite that Manichean, but it does run deep."
- Nicholas G. Carr, in strategy + business

Nick Carr asks the question every forward-thinking executive has top of mind: Should innovation-minded managers view Google as an examplar — or a freak?

He cautions business execs to think twice before making "Google-ize" a strategic imperative. Why not?

1. Google is a young company and hasn't been tested by adversity. (see Yahoo) Is Google's approach to innovation a cause of its success? Or a result of success?

2. No one knows how well Google’s model would transfer to other companies.

Read the article in the new issue of strategy+business.

Then check out Nick's Rough Type take on Google's new $600 million data center in North Carolina.

The key question: how many jobs does $600 million create?

To discuss, go here.


Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

January 25, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: January 25, 2008

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 6:00 PM | Permalink

Google Position 6 Smack-Down: Filter, Penalty, or Bunk?

google1.jpg Since late December, best-of-breed search marketers have been