December 2009 Archives : 2/4 : Bruce Clay Blog
December 17, 2009SEM Synergy Sync Up
The last few weeks have flown by in a blur. And in the mad dash of the holidays, I’ve failed to give due love to the podcast this month. I have a sneaking suspicion that if I don’t talk about the podcast here on the blog, no one’s going to remember that exists! Why is that? You love the podcast, right?
You just haven’t been able to listen to it lately, what with the crazy time of year. I know how it goes. So to help you jump back into the podcast, here are your SEM Synergy extras for December’s episodes thus far.
Ask.com Develops New Q&A Search Technology, Aims to Index the Human Source
If you’re an online marketer interested in keeping up with the bleeding edge of search, you really can’t miss this podcast. Doug Leeds, the president of Ask.com U.S., talks to me about the company’s strategy for developing the next generation of search.
Read more of SEM Synergy Sync Up.
December 16, 2009
December 2009 SEO Newsletter: A Great Holiday Gift for Your Search Geek
The 74th volume of the SEO Newsletter hits inboxes today. Subscribers will find all the usual bite-sized news bits from the last month in search and SEO. If your appetite is more substantial, the articles offer just the treat.
The high-level overview of the happenings of the year is a lovely pairing for the nitty-gritty guide to Web design for SEO. And of course, any end-of-the-year edition finds a smooth finish when washed down with some bubbly. But first… you’ll need to have your head on for these.
Back to Basics: Web Design for Usability and SEO
Designing a great looking Web site with no thought to search engine optimization is like building a car and forgetting to put gas in it. It isn’t going to go anywhere. However, search engine optimizers also need to know a thing or two about Web design. To balance the needs of both, Web designers must understand…
Read more of December 2009 SEO Newsletter.
December 15, 2009
Making the Switch to Bing
My name is Paula, and I’ve switched from Google to Bing.
Last week was a bit mind-blowing for anyone watching the search industry. Google’s new feature announcements kept coming, fast and furious. It started with their policy change to track and personalize search results for all users, which they sneaked in past the Eastern close of business the Friday before. Monday morning’s Web Search Evolution event cranked the fire hose up to full blast as Google demoed real-time search, Google Goggles, real-time language translation, voice recognition-powered “What’s Nearby” searches for mobile users, and so on.
And the innovations show no sign of letting up, with glimpses of the future Google phone and a new Google URL shortener making news already this week.
Normally I would think, “Woohoo, more search power! Free stuff! Go, Google!!!” But their no-warning expansion of personalization had left me with an eerie feeling that this gift horse might be trying to eat my shoes. When Google CEO Eric Schmidt explained away people’s need for privacy on the Internet, I was glad for the decision I’d made: to switch my default search engine to Bing. (Note: I wasn’t the only one.)
Here are a few of my observations and criticisms as a new Bing user.
Read more of Making the Switch to Bing.
December 14, 2009
Moves in Mobile Marketing
Once upon a not-so-distant time, in a land not so far away, there was no such thing as human-controlled electricity. If warmth was needed, you’d stoke a fire. If light was needed, you’d light a candle. And, for most, even the simplest tasks we take for granted today, like baking cookies or playing football after dusk, would never happen without a heavy helping of time, dedication and hand labor.
There are few people living today who can remember a time before electricity was controlled by the flip of a switch. Even fewer witnessed electricity’s spread throughout American households in the early 1900s, and the fundamental shift of society, of expectations, and of daily life that followed.
Gen X and Yers are in a similar position, having experienced the end of an era sans cell phones and the Internet. Who today can imagine life without that handy other half, the mobile appendage, that cellular extension of ourselves connected to the cloud?
Read more of Moves in Mobile Marketing.
December 11, 2009
Friday Recap: Festival of Funderful Edition
What a week it’s been since the last time we danced the Friday Recap waltz! Google’s been spitting out new features left and right. SES Chicago liveblog coverage kept Susan at a level of busy that I’m pretty sure has been linked to alien hand syndrome. [No joke, I lost feeling in my fingers there for a bit and my hands still hurt. --Susan] And the holiday season kicked into high gear. The end.
Okay, in all seriousness the world didn’t stand still because the writers were swamped by Google and SES. Today we finally got caught up on our feeds and faves, just in time to share!
Paula started us off by spilling secrets…
Read more of Friday Recap: Festival of Funderful Edition.
December 10, 2009
All You Need to Know About Google’s New Feature Updates
Let me just let you in on a little story I like to call my life in search. On top editing and posting the fire hose of liveblog posts and photos coming out of Chicago (so much info it’ll make your head explode!), I’ve been flailing to stay above water just to keep up with the changes Google has launched this week.
Since entering the search marketing industry, I’ve often felt like Lucy at the chocolate factory. Wrapping those drops of cocoa heaven in their tidy little packaging, I thought I was getting a handle on the search industry news cycle and was covering announcements as they rolled down the conveyer belt. Thing is, they just dialed up the speed.
So naturally, my logical initial reaction to this information overload is to freak the flip out.
Like myself, businesses are asking a series of important questions:
How is search changing? What does that mean for my Web site? What do I need to do now? And how does Google expect regular businesses to keep up with this madness?!
So what’d Lucy do when faced with the daunting conveyer belt that wouldn’t quit? She stuffed the chocolates in her mouth — where they went on to undergo serious digesting. I’ve had a chance to process and analyze Google’s new features with the help of a few of my favorite BCI SEOs. Now I’ll try to distill the info of highest import and make the business implications of these changes clear.
Read more of All You Need to Know About Google’s New Feature Updates.
Google Search Updates
Over the past week or so Google has released a slew of updates to its search operation. Some of these are somewhat controversial (personalised search) and some are just aesthetic changes (minimalist homepage) but Google seems to have ramped up their refinement process for the coming festive season. Here are just some of the new [...]
December 9, 2009
Black Hat, White Hat: Does It Really Matter Anymore?
Last session! Last session! Yay! I’m not even going to try to make this clever because we’re almost done!
Moderator:
Frank Watson, CEO, Kangamurra Media
Speakers:
Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz.org
Todd Friesen, VP Search, Position Technologies
David Naylor, SEO, Bronco
Matthew Bailey, SES Advisory Board & President, Site Logic Marketing
Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
Read more of Black Hat, White Hat: Does It Really Matter Anymore? from SES Chicago 2009.
Search Becomes the Display OS
So I’m not really sure what this panel is going to be about because I originally had something else scheduled. Still, I think this will be a good time, and this way I don’t have to run between rooms for the next session. This also means I won’t lose my seat.
It’s a win-win. I mean just look at this line up:
Moderator:
Matt McGowan, Incisive Media
Speakers:
Steven Kaufman, MediaMath
Jonathan Mendez, RAMP Digital
Dax Hamman, iCrossing
Read more of Search Becomes the Display OS from SES Chicago 2009.
Facebook Rockstars Roundtable: Marketing for the Other Internet
We’re in the home stretch now. I’m still nervously checking my flight status but at the moment I might just get home tonight. Score.
The panel is providing their own music as we get ready for a rock star session. Marty Weintraub is blasting “Never Let You Go” by Third Eye Blind and Muhammad Saleem requests “Beautiful Day” by U2. We get about a minute of that before we switch over to Vertigo and there’s some chatter about the original iPod ad. We got through a couple more U2 songs before switching to Rush. Marty, meanwhile, has been encouraging everyone to sit as close to the front as possible, promising that it will be worth our while. I hope there’s crowd surfing.
Read more of the Facebook Rockstars Roundtable from SES Chicago 2009.
