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November 30, 2006

Search Headlines

The Day Has Come; Danny Sullivan Leaves SEW

If you’ve been paying attention at all, you know that today will be Danny Sullivan’s last day at Search Engine Watch.

In honor of the day, Danny has penned a farewell post (check out the graphic of SEW back in 1997. Hellooo, ugly.) to his readers to keep them up-to-date on his plans and to once again explain his reason for leaving. As many times as we’ve heard the story, it’s still not easy to hear.

We now know that Elisabeth Osmelowski will be taking over Danny’s role as Managing Editor at Search Engine Watch. She commented over in the SEW forums about what today means for her and it’s expected we’ll hear more from her later in the day. Here’s hopin’.

If you want to say goodbye to Danny, a thread has been started over at Search Engine Watch. However, let’s remember that Danny is moving to Search Engine Land, he’s not dying. Let’s try and keep those comments meaningful, but upbeat. Got it?

UPDATE: Elisabeth speaks!

Yahoo! Swoops in to Answer Your Questions

I’m sure you’ve heard that after the first of year you’ll no longer be able to submit your questions for answering over at Google Answers, but don’t fret my loyal readers, Yahoo! has already valiantly come to your aid.

Wasting no time, the Yahoo! Search blog has formally invited all Google Researchers, question askers, and community fanatics to use Yahoo! Answers for all their community answering needs. Well played, Yahoo.

Yahoo! got slack for not taking full advantage of this social community crazy when it first showed itself, but I think they’ve come along way since them. Though released later, Yahoo! Answers has been far more successful than Google Answers because it focused on what users were really interested in – the community aspect of question answering. Google tried to charge people to get information, whereas Yahoo! welcomed them with open arms. This a big win for Yahoo.

(The best headline for the closing of Google Answers: TechCrunch’s Google Has No Answers. Heh.)

AskCity Coming December 4th

A couple days late on this one (I’m useless, I know), but Barry Diller revealed that InterActiveCorp, Ask.com’s parent company, will release a new local information service on Monday. The service is nicknamed AskCity (doesn’t this sound like it should be an Xbox 360 game?) and, according to Barry Diller, it:

“Integrates maps, integrates events, integrates all of these different attributes that we have got in the best thing you will be able to use in a city to do things.”

Okay, okay, for those of you thinking that ‘sentence’ made no sense, you’re right, but I’ve had a rough week and it made me laugh. [You know, I had to read it twice to figure out why it wouldn't make sense to some people. I think like Barry Diller apparently. Send help. --Susan]

Barry, however, was able to coherently note that AskCity will combine functionalities of Ask.com, Evite, CitySearch, Ticketmaster and other IAC properties, so it sounds like this will be a fine-tuned local media service that will strengthen the Ask.com engine. But that’s a guess at this point.

We also hear that once AskCity is released, Ask.com will undergo a major update, as will the Ask.com homepage, so that’s something to watch.

Fine, twist my arm, here’s another fun Barry quote regarding AskCity:

"I have not seen anything that anyone is doing that is anywhere near it."

Heh. I’ll never get a job working at Ask now, will I?

November Newsletter

The end of another month means it’s time for another edition of the highly coveted (I can dream, right?) Bruce Clay, Inc. SEO Newsletter. Look excited, people!

This month Susan takes a look at the Search Engine Family Tree as part of our Back to Basics article, while I take a deeper look into Ad:Tech’s Merging Web Analytics with Email Marketing Metrics to Increase Performance panel (yowsa, that’s a mouthful). And as always, there’s lots of juicy search news and tidbits that you’re definitely not going to want to miss.

If you’re a faithful newsletter subscriber (and Susan loves you all very, very much), keep your eyes glued to your inbox because it will be arriving shortly. If you haven’t yet subscribed, go do it!

[Competitive Blogger Plea: If you love me, please make sure you go read this month’s feature article entitled When Web Analytics and Email Marketing Collide. (Make sure to click through from your email!) It’s very important to my fragile ego that I beat out Susan in the my-article-got-more-clicks-than-yours-did ‘game’. Please? I’ll give you a hug in Chicago? ]

Fun Finds

AOL Gives Away Free Movies. Let’s hear it for AOL. That’s way better than them giving away all your personal information.

The Yahoo! Tech blog gives users a way to protect the sanctity of their email address when signing up for one-time offers – use a disposable email instead of your real one. The 10 Minute Mail is a free, easy to set up, email account that will self destruct just 10 minutes after you create it. I’m having total Inspector Gadget flashbacks. Wowsers!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/30/06 at 3:54 PM
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

Are you a good bot or a bad bot?

One of the lessons I learned during the Bot Obedience Course in San Jose was that there are two kinds of bots – the good spidering ones and the bad bandwidth stealing ones. (I know, I’m slow.)

Good bots are the robots sent out by the various search engines to crawl your site and bring you yummy traffic. They enter your site, soak up all the data and then report back to their parent engine on their findings. We like these bots. They are our friends.

Bad bots are the annoying content scrapers, web copiers, data aggregators and other nefarious beings which ignore your Meta tags and will use as many IP addresses as possible to get into your site with the intent of making money off your hard work. You want to stop these guys from being able to infiltrate your site to prevent them from crashing it or stealing copyrighted content.

In order to do this, you need to be able to verify who it is knocking on your site’s door. Typically this means verifying that the bot is who it says it is. However, because spammers often name their bots to mimic authentic ones, this isn’t always an easy task.

Back in September, the Google Webmaster blog released information to help users verify Googlebot, and now MSN has followed suit, giving users the information they need to verify that it’s a known MSN bot trying to index their site.

To verify that the user-agent visiting your site is the real MSNBot, abide by the following:

1. When you get a page view request, it specifies a user-agent and an IP address. As I described above, all requests from Live Search use a user agent starting with the word ‘MSNBot’.
2. If you see the MSNBot user-agent, it’s time to check the identity of the bot. Starting with the IP address (i.e. 207.46.98.149), you can use reverse DNS lookup to find out the registered name of the machine.
3. Once you have the host name (in this case, livebot-207-46-98-149.search.live.com), you can check that it really is coming from Live Search. The name of all live search crawlers will end with ‘search.live.com’. If the name doesn’t end with ‘search.live.com’, you know it’s not really our crawler.
4. Finally, you need to verify that the name is accurate. In order to do this, you can use Forward DNS to see the IP address associated with the host name. This should match the IP address you used in Step 2 – if it doesn’t, it means the name was fake.

Verifying the spiders true identity will allow you to uncover whether you’ve just been visited by a real MSNBot or a convincingly camouflaged bad bot. If you find that the bot isn’t who it claimed to be, don’t hand over your content. Instead, block them, deliver them a different for empty page, or a 403 Forbidden. It’s also recommend that you keep a list of good bots vs. bad bots to speed up processing in the future.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/30/06 at 11:18 AM
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

November 29, 2006

Google’s Super Secret Ad Network Emerges

Google still won’t admit to it, but the Tech Zone’s John Chow broke the story about an invitation he received to join Google’s exclusive, super secret CPM display advertising network which hopes to bring Fortune 1000 companies into Google’s advertising hold.

The top secret system is nicknamed the Google Display Advertising Network and is strictly invitation only. John outlined the goal of Google’s new ad network on his blog yesterday:

“Google has been hand-selecting sites (no word on how many sites has been chosen) that they want to put in front of Fortune 1000 companies. The goal being to sell these big companies display and video ads at a very high CPM – unlike the AdSense network, the display network is 100% CPM based.”

How does it work? Google is handpicking several exclusive sites to experiment with the new image and video display ads. Once on board, publishers will be able to negotiate a flat CPM rate with Google. John says the contracts are good for one year and publishers must guarantee Google they will provide [X] number of ad inventory each month. Publishers are able to increase the ad inventory while still receiving the same CPM rate, and will also receive weekly (but limited) status emails from Google giving them their page views and ad impressions.

Since small publishers can already take advantage of display advertising via Google’s AdSense network, we assume the new Google Display Advertising Network will be geared solely toward large sites, at least for now.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much more than that, which is a shame, because as usual, I have questions.

First, can the flat CPM rate be adjusted during the year-long contract? Or do publishers sign off their rights to Google, who can then sell the add space to the highest bidder? If I was an advertiser I’d be curious about that. I’d hate to find out Google is giving me a $10 CPM and then selling it big name advertisers for three times that amount. It seems to me the flat rate may benefit Google much more than publishers.

Second, what’s the purpose of the contract? Does it give Google sole rights to act as your advertising middleman, lock you into a certain CPM price year-long, or promise publishers something else the general public doesn’t get? I have no idea.

Third, John mentions that while normal AdSense publishers are left in the dark about the revenue split on their accounts, things are much more open in the new display network. Why is Google willing to be more transparent with these big money sites than they are with regular publishers? That’s not very Googley. I don’t like the idea of Google catering to those with deeper pockets, while leaving their bread and butter publishers in the dark.

Fourth, why is this network being kept so super secret? Is Google trying to scoop up more advertisers without drawing attention to it? Are they afraid the network may fail? Or perhaps they’re running this like a beta and quietly testing things (which would make sense)? We don’t know, but by not saying anything about it, it makes it look a little fishy.

Regardless of the motives behind it, it's obvious Google is trying to improve what has so far been a lackluster dive into display advertising. Maybe working one-on-one with a small group of handpicked advertisers will allow them to get the feedback they need to launch this network publicly. Either way, this is definitely one to keep an eye on…even if it technically doesn’t exist.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/29/06 at 2:51 PM
See more entries in Pay Per Click

Schedule for SES Chicago 2006*

As promised, here’s my schedule for next week’s SES Chicago. If you see me, please do come and say hi. I would absolutely love to chat with you. And ignore the smoke coming from my fingers as I try to liveblog Barry Schwartz style. It’s perfectly normal and the bleeding stops eventually.

Day 0: Sunday, December 3, 2006

Early/ Mid Afternoon: Arrive in Chicago, let frostbite set in

Day 1: Monday, December 4, 2006

9:00am – 10:30am: Multimedia Track -- Video Search Engine Optimization
11:00am – 12:30pm: Advanced Advertising Track – Ads in a Quality Score World
12:45pm – 1:45pm: Lunch with Google Webmaster Central
2:00pm – 3:30pm: Fundamentals Track – Search Engine Friendly Design
4:00pm-5:30pm: SEM Firm Track – Working with Clients

Day 2: Tuesday, December 5, 2006

9:00am – 9:45am: Keynote Conversation with Jason Calacanis
10:15am – 11:45am: Advanced Organic Track: Bulk Submit 2.0
12:00pm – 1:00pm: Yahoo! Search Marketing Lunchtime Panel
1:15pm – 2:30pm: Advanced Organic Track – Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues
3:00pm – 4:15pm: Mobile & Vertical Track – Mobile Search Engine Optimization
4:30pm-5:45pm: Fundamental Track: Successful Site Architecture

Day 3: Wednesday, December 6, 2006

9:00am – 10:30am: Beyond HTML Track Firm – Images and Search Engines
11:00am – 12:30pm: Social Search Track – SMO: Social Media Optimization
2:00pm – 3:15pm: Social Search Track – Reputation Monitoring and Management (or if I haven’t gotten my Rand fix from the previous session – Link Baiting & Viral Search Success)
3:45pm – 5:00pm: Measuring & Converting Track – Usability & SEO: Two Wins for the Price of One
5:15pm-5:45pm: Keynote: Search in 2006

Day 4: Thursday, December 7, 2006

9:00am – 10:15am: Small & Fast Track – Big Ideas for Small Sites & Small Budgets
10:45pm – 12:00pm: In House Track: In House: Big PPC
12:30pm – 1:45pm: Organics Listing Forum
2:00pm – Heading to the airport. It’s time to get back to California!

So that’s where you can find me. I hope to see you all there and remember these three little words: Grande. White. Mocha. :) [Also sandwiches! Notice how there's not any time for food in that schedule? --Susan]

*note this schedule is tentative and may change at any time should I see someone interesting (like Kim) or someone Men-Of-SEO-worthy (I think you know who I’m talking about) walking into another session. However, it should be good enough to help you keep tabs on me and to prevent Susan and Bruce from installing that painful locator chip in my neck like I’m sort of mischievous puppy who keeps getting under the fence. [Ruin all my fun why don't you? --Susan]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/29/06 at 1:28 PM
See more entries in seschicago06

An SEO blogger critiques an SEO critic answering his critics

Here we go again.

Everyone remembers our buddy Dave Pasternack from Did-it, right? In case you don't want to click the link, I'll summarize. Last month, our intrepid SEO critic pointed out that search engine optimization as an industry was dying because it's not hard and a monkey could do it. (I'm paraphrasing.) Well, he's back again this month. Mr. Pasternack's new article is entitled, "An SEO critic answers his critics".

In making his point, Dave likens all SEOs to quack doctors.

If your doctor behaved the way many in the SEO crowd believe SEO firms should work, he’d run some tests, come up with a treatment plan, but wouldn’t give you the medicine to rub on your skin. He’d keep this medicine (labeled “Super Secret SEO Sauce”) locked up in a vault in his office. Then he’d make a series of appointments for you to come in so that he could rub this medicine on your skin, charging you hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars for each visit.

Can I just say that I liked my gardeners analogy from the first post way better? Mine had nice visuals of pretty flowers and neatly trimmed hedges. Who doesn't like good landscaping? However, since he did go with the doctor analogy, I'll play along. You may now call me Dr. Susan.

I diagnose Mr. Pasternack's article with a severe case of link-bait-itis. This condition, often seen in certain Seattle SEOs that Lisa is fond of, is the insatiable need to create content that others can't help but link to and comment on. It's a wonderful skill for an SEO to have (particularly if you can pull it off for your clients as well as yourself) but I'm not sure that a PPC guy like Mr. Pasternack is going to benefit from it.

The article continues to suffer from the misapprehension that SEO is a one time palliative and not necessary for the maintenance of good health. From this we can deduce that the author probably doesn't do much optimization himself and isn't concerned about gaining and maintaining top rankings for competitive terms. (To be perfectly fair, my perception of PPC is much the same. Set up the campaigns, write a couple of lines of good script and let it go--why do you need a dedicated PPC person? Nick, our PPC guru, regularly corrects my wrong-headedness in this regard.)

In further examining the patient, I find that he still does have his original correct point from the first time he came through my office. SEO is still not rocket science. If you have the time and inclination, you can learn to do it yourself. Does it take skill? Yes, of course. Does it require dedication, absolutely. Like any profession, practicing (perfectly, natch) will make you better at it. If you don’t want to take the time to learn, then hire someone who has made SEO his or her passion. It's really just that simple.

What I'd really like to see is a stop to the artificial PPC/SEO feud. Both pay per click and search engine optimization are valuable tools in your internet marketing tool box. They have different purposes and require different kinds of skills but neither of them are rocket science or medicine. They're gardening and it takes care to cultivate a beautiful garden.

Now take two of these and call me in the morning. [/shameless newsletter plug]

Posted by Susan Esparza on 11/29/06 at 9:24 AM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

November 27, 2006

Weekend Update

Google Gives Blog Search Its Own Onebox

I’m a fan of all things blogs, so this makes me happy. Andy Beal reports a find by Andy Boyd (I feel left out of the AB club, don’t you?) that shows Google returning a onebox for blog results for certain queries. It’s a nice feature, though I’d rather be able to search for specifically for blogs directly from Google’s homepage, like you can do for Images, News, etc. It’s better than nothing though and will hopefully inspire more blog optimization. Rolling out this onebox should also give Yahoo! incentive to put their blog results back on their SERP and encourage Google to strengthen its Blog Search, which frankly, is lacking in awesomeness.

John Battelle Hearts Dora the Explorer

John Battelle details his troubles during his attempt to buy a Dora the Explorer Mr. Face Plush Backpack using Google Checkout, including Google keeping and tracking all sorts of purchase information, obliterating the relationship between seller and buyer, and eventually kicking him out of his order altogether.

It’s a good read, if not for the insightful Checkout info, for the visual of John Battelle frustratingly trying to buy a Dora the Explorer backpack. We know, John, it was for “research purposes”. We’ll keep your dirty little secret.

Don’t Hate Web 2.0

Kathy Sierra (seriously, can we just start the cult already?) finally gives us a reason not to hate the term “Web 2.0”. The trick is not to think of it as an annoyingly over-used buzzword and to think of it as industry-specific jargon, or a word that lets users feel part of the search community. If you don’t know the difference, let Kathy explain. Contrary to what I’ve always believed, the term isn’t elitist and it actually does serve a purpose:

“…To say it means nothing (or WORSE--to say it's just a marketing label) is to mistake jargon (good) for buzzwords (bad). Where buzzwords are used to impress or mislead, jargon is used to communicate more efficiently and interestingly with others who share a similar level of knowledge and skills in a specific area.”

And with that, all of my contempt for Web 2.0 has been taken away. I wonder if Kathy can work the same magic for “the long tail”?

Now that I think about it, I wonder if I can take Kathy Sierra home with me for the holidays so she can explain to my family what I do for a living and define the term ‘search engine optimization’. Think she’ll let me kidnap her?

Where will you be in Chicago?

Over at Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz posts the quadruple coverage schedule to let you know where he, Chris Boggs, Kim Krause and Robert Kerry will be session-by-session during next week’s SES Chicago. You cheer for quadruple coverage, I cheer for a how-to-stalk-Kim-Krause-and-Barry-Schwartz guide! Huzzah!

And as promised, over the next few days I’ll figure out which sessions I’ll be hitting and posting my own schedule here so you’ll know where to find me and what goodies to look out for in the blog. I’ll be heading out there Sunday morning and returning Thursday evening, so that means four straight days of conference coverage for you and absolutely no sleep for me. I hope to see you there (if I’m still standing)! [If you see Lisa, she drinks Grande White Mochas and claims that she never has time to eat. Buy her a coffee and give her a sandwich or something, will you?--Susan] Please give me food. I like food. And messenger bags.

Fun Finds

WebMetricsGuru on the best time to daypart PPC ads.

There’s a very good chance Susan is going to scrap this link before you even see it, but in case she shows a small degree of compassion, here is the greatest Tom Brady video in the history of Tom Brady videos. All I’m going to say is that it’s to the tune of “Lady” and you won’t know whether to laugh or cry. [I'll have mercy on your weird football obsession this time. But this is deeply disturbing and you scare me, I just want you to know that.--Susan]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/27/06 at 3:01 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Google, SEM Events, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines

Copyright Crazy All Around the World

Say you’re Google (or perhaps you’re Larry or Sergey since Google’s not actually human), how many times would you have to be sued for copyright infringement before you crash your own engine, pack up your index and go home (assuming you could still sell ad space on its dead remains of course)? Five times? Twenty times? Nine billion times?

Because that’s what it’s coming to. Google is going to be sued nine billion times for allowing publishers to have their content in the Google index. It amazes me how hard people kick to stay out of the Google and how loud they scream when they find their content getting free traffic and attention. And the “sue first, reason later” mentality of publishers is only getting worse and becoming more far reaching.

Here’s a look at some of the new global complaints and craziness:

Australia

Australian copyright law got a bit of coverage a few weeks back when bloggers discovered the country may be on its way back to the pre-Internet era thanks to proposed copyright law, but now there’s even more bad news coming from down under. MSNBC reports on proposed legislation that could make upload sites like YouTube illegal in Australia.

The trouble comes from wording in the new legislation that forbids using an iPod, home computer or other music or video player with the intention infringing on someone else’s copyright.

That means it’s just as illegal to upload copyrighted episodes of The Daily Show, as it is to upload a video of yourself performing your own rendition of your favorite ‘80s song. I’m sorry, but I can’t support any law that tells me it’s wrong to upload videos of myself singing Rick Springfield while dancing around half naked using my purple hair brush mic. That’s just wrong and this legislation is ridiculous.

There has to be a line drawn that holds users responsible for what they upload. You can upload a video of your 1-year-old singing his ABCs, but you can’t upload the entire South Park catalog. Banning sites like YouTube or the use of an iPod won’t solve the copyright problem, it just makes people want to throw rocks at you.

France

More legal trouble for the boys of Mountain View and this time it hails from France. A French film producer has sued Google France for “distributing” the film “The World According to Bush” via Google Video. Flach Film, the production house responsible for the film you’re not interested in seeing anyway, is asking that Google be forced to “provide compensation” (almost $650,000 for more than 43,000 downloads), alleging that Google acted as a “fully responsible publisher” and not just a host for the infringement to take place. [I have more sympathy for these guys than the people who are putting their own content online and then complaining when Google finds it. Not a whole lot of sympathy but a little bit is more than none at all.--Susan] They get none for me. Do you know how many movies end up on Google Video or elsewhere? That’s life. Stop crying.

Perhaps the reason I feel the need to keep documenting these ridiculous lawsuits is because they completely infuriate me. How was Google a publisher of this content? They didn’t distribute the film. It was illegally uploaded to the site by a user who chose to ignore Google Video’s TOS and was then immediately removed once Google heard of its existence. Where’s the foul play on Google’s part? There is none. Google Video is as responsible for the misuse of this content as the movie theater owner who let a viewer inside with a video camera.

(Curious Blogger Note: Is this the film hinted at in Google’s quarterly filing where they mentioned they were named in a suit over a video that appeared briefly on their site? Or there is another lurking? Just wondering.)

Belgium

Speaking of infuriating copyright lawsuits, the latest regarding the Google/Belgium copyright war is that Google has reached an agreement with Sofamn and Scam, two of the Belgian copyright groups involved in the original Copiepresse suit. Combined, the two groups represent approximately 3,700 Belgium news photographers and journalists.

Google hasn’t released details of the deal so all we know is that it will allow Google to use the content. There’s no word whether it involved Google paying for the content, how the content can be used, or if they’ll try to recreate the arrangement with Copiepresse and Agence France-Press. It’d be nice to see all this settled. Personally, I’m over it.

Danny has extensive coverage over at Search Engine Watch here and here.

I suppose being the big dog means you’re going to be involved in a lot of frivolous lawsuits with publishers trying to squeeze every last dime out of you they can. But it’s wrong, and it’s distracting. Let Google concentrate on making these services better instead of figuring out how to make all the annoying people go away.

[The interesting thing about all this is that if these guys win, we're looking at a whole new ballgame. How many of the non-commercial sites are going to know that they should be explicitly giving permission? I take it all back, this is great for the search engine optimization community! Bring on the total lack of competition! Who cares if it's dreadful for the users? --Susan] -- Just the thought of that makes me sad.

I have one piece of advice for all publishers out there, if you don’t want your content uploaded on the Web, don’t make any.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/27/06 at 1:06 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Google, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

Is it awesome in here today or is it just me?

Around here there are a few things we believe in--Luck Dragons, the Dodgers [if by Dodgers you mean Red Sox, then yes! – Lisa], and the importance of what we like to call practicing perfectly. Sometimes called textbook SEO, the optimization of Meta tags, alt attributes and other on-page elements are often dismissed as unimportant because they're "ignored by the search engines". You'll never get ranked for your Meta Description tag, right?

I've always thought that was a short-sighted view to take and I've said so on more than one occasion. My opinion, and our best practices, say that you shouldn't just be picking on a few algo elements and doing those right. You should be doing everything right. That's what makes for a good and polished campaign. Guess why I'm happy today? [Because you’re still feeling the effects of your turkey-delirium? Do I get more cookies if I guess correctly? – Lisa] Sure! You're wrong, by the way.

Looking at your site in the search results, it appears that your pages would be well served by meta description tags. For most queries, the generated snippet is based on where the query terms are found on the page, and in those cases, your results are fine. But for some more generic queries, where a logical snippet isn't found in the text, the generated snippet seems to be coming from the first bits of text from the page -- in this case, boilerplate navigation that is the same for every page.

That's Vanessa Fox in a Google Groups post, advising a site owner hoping to get more of his pages indexed and at the same time, helping me make the case for doing your optimization correctly right from the very beginning. Look at what she's saying right there--most of the time, Google goes for "logical" page content but for some generic queries, they're using the first bit of text on your page. If you don't have a Meta data section, that first text is often your site-wide navigation and suddenly all your pages look duplicate. You know what happened to duplicate pages, don't you? They get filtered.

Tell me again how you don't need to worry about your Meta data because the search engines just ignore it and it doesn't provide you with any benefit? Vanessa, love you for this one. I'm sticking it on my wall so that I can point to it for the next time that someone declares Meta data optimization dead and buried.

By the way, the same problem with duplicate pages can happen if you do have a Description tag but you don't bother to make it unique to the page that it's on. Having the same Description tag on every page is duplicate content.

Wait, let me say that again: Having the same Description tag on every page is duplicate content!

You're not served by doing your search engine optimization efforts halfway. Ever. Yes, it takes more time, no, it's not an instant fix and it won't get you from 100 to 1 in a month. But it's worth the time it takes to do it because you'll end up with a stronger, more-balanced site for it. If your site isn't important enough for you to spend the time to make it great, then why should search engines and your visitors think it's important enough to come back to?

(Hat-tip to Barry, SER)

Posted by Susan Esparza on 11/27/06 at 11:03 AM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Google, SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engine Optimization

November 22, 2006

How to Survive Thanksgiving 2006 (aka your Wednesday Recap)

I don’t know how to tell you this, but due to the holiday there will be no Friday Recap this week. I know, I know, but you’ll be okay, I promise.

In its place, I offer you a few goodies and some advice to help you optimize your Thanksgiving experience while you’re strapped seated next to your lovely family who you purposely haven’t seen all year at this year’s Thanksgiving table. Hopefully there’s enough here to keep you smiling until its time for pie.

Now, before you leave work today, make sure to set your email auto-responder. This will make people think you have a life and they will be less inclined to get angry when you ignore their emails for several days. If you haven’t yet penned your own, may I point you to Jeremy’s? He captures the holiday spirit quite well. I haven’t created mine yet, but when I do I imagine it will have something to do with being submerged in pie and possibly something about needing a shovel. But I’m just guessing.

If you’re reading this sweating shamelessly because you just now realized you forgot to buy the turkey, don’t worry. Just go and grab the largest one you can find and bring it home. If you can’t find a turkey, get a really big chicken (super-sized guinea pig?). Trust me, after inhaling all that tension, no one will know the difference.

If you’re worried that your chicken secret will be discovered, the solution is easy – start up the deep fryer! First, it’s trendy, and second, once a dead animal has been submerged in 30 quarts of grease and oil, everything tastes like chicken anyway. If you’ve never deep fried a once-living animal before, Make Zine offers complete DIY instructions. Apparently there’s a ladder involved…and occasionally a fire extinguisher.

That should get you to the table. Once you’re there you have to play smart.

The trick is to look like you’re paying attention to as many table conversations as possible. If people think you’re drifting they’ll try to start a conversation with you. This should be avoided at all costs.

If you feel yourself wandering off during the countless regurgitation of the same Thanksgiving folklore, hold fast. Try recalling Stuntdubl’s Pubcon 2006 RoundUp post in your mind and make a game out of pairing up the elusive hyperlinked first names with their respective Web personas. This is sure to fill at least 42 minutes. If that doesn’t work, think about how cool the Scooba is, how obsessed Cuttletts can be, or how you wish you were bowling in the Kingpin suite with Danny Sullivan. [Danny and I have the same average. I feel this gives me all kinds of Search Guru cred. --Susan]

If someone is rude enough to try and make idle conversation with you, don’t panic. Calmly ask them for their thoughts on that 17-year-old in Michigan who created a nuclear fusion reactor in his basement. End it with, “crazy, huh?” Or instead, go into a rant about how the atrocious abuse of the quotation mark and apostrophe really makes you want to hurt someone. This will immediately end people’s interest in your life. [Unless you're in my family. Then it could be cause for a whole family grammar nit-picking session. Know your audience, folks. --Susan]

Even though no one will be talking to you, there may still be times where, to appear polite, you must laugh at things that are blatantly not funny. This is where you tune them out and think of immensely funny things, like giggling-out-of-control babies or a baby hanging on the wall that could easily be converted into a projectile baby with a hearty pull. [I'm so disturbed at you right now. --Susan] - Projectile baby rocks!

When it’s time to look pensive, contemplate what SEW is going to do after losing almost its entire cast, how you’re going to get unbanned in MSN or how cool Matt Cutts is for only going to PubCon parties where everyone is invited. Way to keep it real, Matt.

If all else fails, suddenly discover your deep love for all things football while accidently “falling asleep” on the couch. Be sure to snore every once and awhile to make it look convincing.

For even more advice on surviving the day, Ze Frank also offers some suggestions that are worth checking out.

I hope you all have a most wonderful Thanksgiving. We’ll see you on Monday!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/22/06 at 11:50 AM | TrackBack (0)
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November 21, 2006

Search Headlines

European Mobile Firm Launches Flat Rate System

Bigmouthmedia reports that European mobile network operator 3 has partnered up with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Skype/ eBay in a far-reaching new mobile deal that will allow 3's customers to make free internet phone calls, watch television, and access their computers all for a fixed rate.

For me, that flat fee is what sets this deal apart and gives mobile the launch pad it needs. Utilizing a fixed fee and getting rid of all those confusing usage and per byte charges makes the mobile Web far more attractive to users. Would you rather pay $5 a month to check your email and watch TV on the mobile Web or would you prefer to sit there and calculate usage charges? I think most users would find the first option better for their wallets and peace of mind.

October’s Search Numbers Are In

The monthly search numbers are in, but as usually, the results vary depending on which report you read. comScore reports that Google led the engines in searches for October (I know, you’re shocked) with 3.1 billion or 45.4 percent of the market share. They have Yahoo! coming in second with 1.9 billion searches or 23.9 percent market share, MSN in third with 11. 7 percent, and Ask fourth with 5.8 percent.

Nielsen/NetRatings agrees that Google is top dog (with 49.6 percent of searches) and that Yahoo! is a slightly less pretty princess (what? Yahoo is obviously female) with 23.9 percent of the market share. However, their numbers for MSN and Ask are noticeably different. Nielsen gives MSN/ Live only 8.8 percent market share and has Ask in fifth behind AOL with just 2.8 percent.

And not that we needed numerical proof, but comScore shows us that Americans' Web obsession has grown, bringing us up to 6.8 billion searches last month, up 33 percent from this time last year.

Google Shares break $500 mark

While we’re talking about how dominating Google is, we may as well mention that the Google stock broke the all important $500 a share mark today. By the time NASDAQ closed on Tuesday, Google was sitting comfortably at $509.65. [I can hear my brother ripping out his hair from here. He told my father to buy Google when it went public and has never let anyone forget it. --Susan]

That would probably mean more to me if I knew anything about the stock market, but yay?

Search Engine Land Tests Reactions to New Logo

It’s starting, people. Over at Search Engine Land, Danny asked readers for their opinion on some of the final logo ideas being tossed around for Search Engine Land earlier this afternoon. By the number of responses, it looks like Search Engine Land will have no problem finding an audience (not that we were worried). My personal favorite was the first option (which got 18 percent of the votes), though they all sort of look like they were made with that snazzy Web 2.0 logo generator.

Look, here’s the one I created courtesy of the generator:

See what I mean?

[Oh, and I think Jbrock wants to fight. Don’t mess with the BC logo! ;)] [I think he's actually thinking of the SEOToolSet™ logo anyway. I think it's sweet of Danny to want to be like us. --Susan]

Fun Finds

Most fun quote of the day:

“It’s one of those A-list ego things that I hate because it reminds me that I’m not Rand Fishkin.” -- Kim Krause, on the harsh reminder that comes with realizing you haven’t yet reached the blogging A-List.

Don’t worry, Kim. We’re not Rand-worthy either. Here’s to the B-List!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/21/06 at 5:15 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Locations Foreign and Domestic

Lesson Learned: Don't mock the popular one.

So Graywolf is picking on me for not knowing that Lisa is from Longuylind and not Long Island as my foolish Californian upbringing would have me believe. But because Michael is the kind of stand up guy that he is, he also went on to give me a lesson in how to properly pronounce some of the other towns over there: [It really is an acquired skill. – Lisa]

"Now I live in Wantagh (pronounced like Juantaw) and my wife works in Hauppauge (pronounced hophog), but she used to work near Nissequogue (pronounced Nisaqwog). We’re pretty close to Massapequa (pronounced Massapeekwa) but I have visited Copiague (pronounced Kopayg), and Patchogue (pronounced Patchog)."

Gesundheit. Does the fact that your towns aren't pronounced the same way as they're spelled affect optimization? If I wanted to visit scenic Longuylind, how would I know where my hotel in Hophog really was? [I’ll show you! My parents live in Smithtown, it’s practically connected. – Lisa] I'm almost afraid to ask how you pronounce that one.

Forget Norway

Speaking of names that I can't pronounce: Because all the cool countries want to hang with France, Belgium and Australia, Norway is jumping on the 'Google is stealing our stuff' bandwagon. Pandia reports that the Norwegian association for media companies, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, is claiming that Google may not use their copyrighted photos to illustrate Google News Norway stories without proper agreement.

Google's response to this most recent complaint? “I have had more phone calls from people that complain about not being included, than publishers concerned about copyright,” says Google News’ Product Manager Nathan Stoll.

I'm with him. Forget Norway, everyone knows Kenya is where it's at.

Dragon meat, yum!

Here's another story from across the pond. It seems that the Black Mountains Smokery in Wales is being required by UK trading standards officers to change the name of their Welsh Dragon sausages because they're not made from real dragons.

I know, I was shocked too.

But I want to encourage the Black Mountains Smokery to not look on this as a ridiculously frivolous, possibly brand destroying order. Think of the new opportunities for optimization you have! Previously your SEO keyword was "Welsh dragon sausage" and your audience was Renn Faire fanatics [Like our very own Susan “I prance around in frilly dresses” Esparza - Lisa] and Tolkien geeks. (The difference between the two is subtle.) Now you can focus your efforts on the much more exciting phrase "Welsh dragon pork sausage" and presumably rope in the people who think dragons are a type of pig! [That’s absurd. They’re a type of cocker spaniel, right? – Lisa] No, those are Luck Dragons. These are Welsh Dragons. There's a huge difference.

Of course, the real problem here is that Black Mountain Smokery is now much less relevant for their own branded term than all the news stories about the fact that they have to change their branded term. The search engines can be so cruel.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 11/21/06 at 1:55 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 20, 2006

Weekend Update

Yahoo!’s Newspaper Deal
The other big Yahoo story of the day reveals that Yahoo! has made a deal with 7 newspaper chains (representing 176 US newspapers and 12 million subscribers) to “share content, advertising and technology”. If Yahoo! and the newspapers can leverage this correctly, Yahoo! gets content, a new distribution channel and a stronger foothold in the local market, while the newspapers benefit from Yahoo!’s traffic and increased advertising revenue. It’s win-win.

Also part of the deal, local newspapers will use Yahoo’s HotJobs site to post job listings, as well as advertise HotJob listings in their own classified sections. The partnership will make HotJobs the largest local and national jobs network around. (But seriously, who even knew HotJobs was still around? Is there anyone who doesn’t use Craigslist to find job listings?)

As many have already stated, it’s easy to make these deals, but it’s harder to actually leverage them. It’ll be interesting to see whose newspaper deal is more lucrative – Google’s pairing with a small number of high profile papers, or Yahoo!’s pairing with a large number of local papers.

Terry Semel Must Go

Eric Jackson penned an inspired letter to Yahoo!’s co-founders explaining why Terry Semel must go. Reasons include a loss in support from Wall Street and Yahoo employees, and the fact that he’s 64-years-old. Perhaps the first two reasons have more weight.

Eric also outlines solutions to some of the current problems facing Yahoo! and names who he thinks should Yahoo!’s next CEO -- Susan Decker. It’s worth a read.

[Wait, Susan "It's not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search." Decker? Well, that's an...interesting choice. That would really be the ultimate choice if Yahoo! wanted to show that they were not interested in making search their core service.--the other Susan]

Gender Guesser

If you’re one of those who enjoyed Microsoft’s Ad Labs tools, you’re going to love the Gender Guesser tool spotted by WebMetricsGuru. The tool analyzes your content based on word usage and uses it to guess your gender.

Knowing the gender of your site’s wording can be helpful in ensuring that your content is targeting the right demographic. There’s no sense in applying the latest search engine optimization tactics if you’re going to create a misgendered site that will be off putting to your target audience. Personally, I haven’t had any luck into converting the BC blog into a female (despite all my best efforts). I entered in a few different BC blog posts, including a Friday Recap or two, and kept getting back that I’m a European male. Stupid gender guesser. [And you all laughed at the theory that Lisa was really Bruce. --Susan]

Win a shiny iPod from Andy!

This made me giggle just a little bit. Over at Marketing Pilgrim, Andy Beal is launching a please-subscribe-to-my-feed “contest” where readers can win a free iPod if they subscribe to the Marketing Pilgrim RSS feed. Better yet, the prize gets increasingly shinier the more people that participate. The contest starts with the offer of a free iPod shuffle, but the shuffle is upgraded to a Nano if 2,500+ readers subscribe, and upgraded again to a video iPod if 4,000+ users subscribe.

Can’t you just feel the shiny?

We applaud on Andy on this shameless method of enticing readers to subscribe to his RSS feed. In all seriousness though, you should be reading Marketing Pilgrim on a daily basis, so if you haven’t subscribed, go and do it. If not for the awesome search knowledge you’ll get, then because it might get you something new and shiny to sell on eBay. Ooo, shiny! [Dear Andy, consider making your Nano giveaway the red one. Not because it benefits charity, simply because it's the best color.--Susan] A most excellent Nano optimization tip.

Fun Finds

Stuntdubl’s Top 11 Euphemisms for Cloaking.

Kathy Sierra reveals the real culprit responsible for her recent “unplanned acrobatic dismount” while riding. I’m a big fan of Kathy (as shown by my incessant, fan club-esque linking tendency), but honestly, while reading her post all I can think of is PONY!

Most fun quote of the day:

"Google by a lot of criteria is probably at the top of the list. They're in this honeymoon phase of, Google can do anything at all times. If it was rumored they were doing pizza, you'd think it was going to be zero calories and free." -- Bill Gates

Mmm, free, zero calorie pizza? It’s a little slice of heaven right here on Earth. [Drat, there go my original plans for dinner. Yay, pizza!--Susan]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/20/06 at 5:21 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Yahoo!’s Peanut Butter Manifesto

Those of us who obsessively check Techmeme on the weekend instead of having a life were greeted with a little gem in the form of Yahoo! Senior Vice President Brad Garlinghouse’s leaked Peanut Butter Manifesto. And let me tell you, it was pretty tasty.

In Garlinghouse’s now very public ranting, he blasts Yahoo! for its lack of focus, habit of releasing competing properties (something Rand Fishkin mentioned last month), and accomplishing nothing in the pursuit of trying to do everything. After dissecting all of Yahoo!’s various missteps, he then calls for a ‘radical reorganization’ of the company, which includes not only a change of focus, but losing up to 20 percent of Yahoo!’s workforce.

As hard as it is to swallow, the memo is right on. No one needs me to point out that a weakness of Yahoo!’s has been releasing overlapping product lines. For users, this can present a problem because they don’t know which service to use for which need, and instead of figuring it out, they just head to Google where everything is streamlined within one Google account.

If you’re having trouble remembering Yahoo!’s overlapping releases, let’s play a little game. Can you identify the differences between the following?

• Yahoo! Answers vs. Ask Yahoo!
• del.icio.us vs. MyWeb vs. Yahoo! Bookmarks
• Yahoo Music Exchange vs. Musicmatch

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. [No. No. No but I do know what Launch and Yahoo Music Unlimited are. Do I get a prize?--Susan] -- You get my undying respect and admiration, happy?

But creating dueling properties isn’t always a negative. For one, it encourages competition and growth, and second, it allows you to address multiple audiences. For example, Flickr’s audience is very different from that of Yahoo! Photos. Flickr is populated by the savvy Web 2.0 type, where Yahoo! Photos is used most often by people resembling my mother. Merging the two may offend both audiences, and could potentially start an hour-long conversation where I have to explain the concept of tags to my technology-inept parents. Personally, I don’t want to do that.

However, I do think Yahoo! should take a nod from Google and work at putting their faith into one product and streamlining the process to make it easy to use. Similar to the new stance taken by Google, Yahoo needs to start tying their services and homepage together in order to make them a more cohesive unit. Release smarter, not more often.

Though the slap in the face was hard, I don’t think it’s a reason to give up on Yahoo. There are a lot of bright minds over there and I think there’s every reason to believe they can pick themselves up. Take Friday, for example. We saw Yahoo making some strong strides with social acquisitions. There’s an obvious plan there in motion. And how about today’s big newspaper partnership?

There’s plenty of ways for Yahoo to pick itself up from the bootstraps. But if Garlinghouse is right and employees are just “phoning it in”, then it is time to cut some heads. Keep the leaders who want to be there and say farewell to the team members passing the buck. It’s also time to get rid of Terry Semel, which could be the most interesting result of this whole ‘leaked’ memo business. Semel and Garlinghouse cannot coexist – one of them has to go. If it’s Semel, then Garlinghouse looks like a prophet; if it’s Garlinghouse, then he escapes blame and looks like one of those risk-taker employees forced to leave.

We’ll have to wait and see which verdict it is.

In the meantime, I think the Peanut Butter Manifesto should be printed out and distributed to companies nationwide. Because frankly, we all have the same peanut butter problem -- everyone wants to be liked by the masses, and as a result we all turn into useless blobs from time to time. This memo is a good reminder to fight that urge.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/20/06 at 4:40 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Will SEW survive without Danny, Chris and Barry?

In eleven days, Danny Sullivan will end his reign at Search Engine Watch. It’s industry-changing news, but it’s a departure we were expecting. What we weren’t expecting was for Barry Schwartz and Chris Sherman to leave Search Engine Watch to join him. But, according to Barry, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Rustybrick commented over at Threadwatch that he’s not on contract with SEW and that he will join Danny in leaving on Nov. 30th. Barry also revealed that Chris Sherman, who is contracted, will meet the boys over at Search Engine Land once his contract expires in January. For those keeping score, that’s two SEW editors and (arguably) its most personable blogger leaving the Search Engine Watch brand.

Two questions immediately arise.

One, what was Incisive thinking by not offering these guys a long term contract and two, will Search Engine Watch be able to survive the loss of three of its biggest names?

It’s unbelievable to me that Barry Schwartz wasn’t contracted for his work at Search Engine Watch. How can a company survive without at least thinking of the long term, especially for someone with as much authority and industry respect as Barry? Though I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised, they did let Danny walk away uncompensated.

And what about Chris Sherman? His departure is perhaps even more notable than Barry’s because it was believed he was being groomed to take Danny’s place. But with Chris now following Danny, who will takeover Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies? Who has the same kind of name recognition of a Danny Sullivan or Chris Sherman? As the last remaining editor, perhaps Elisabeth Osmeloski will be asked to take over (though I doubt it). Maybe Greg Sterling? No one knows for sure.

To be honest, I’m less concerned about the conference series than I am the SEW blog. My personal opinion is that once Danny establishes his own conference, the big names in SEO will join him and SES will hit the fast track to obscurity. I’m okay with that because I think most of us will simply change the name in our conference calendar and life will go on as normal. It’ll be sadder for me to see the SEW blog become less and less relevant, because it’s a place a lot of users have developed a great respect for.

Sure, there are other writers at Search Engine Watch, but Danny, Barry and Chris deliver the bulk of content. A quick look at the SEW blog this morning shows 14 blog posts with only 5 of them not written by either Danny, Barry or Chris. Not to say that SEW’s other cast of players like Jennifer Slegg, Greg Sterling, Elisabeth Osmeloski aren’t capable of picking up the slack, but will their authority resonate the way Danny’s did? Can they help the SEW brand maintain the same kind of presence that it had under Danny?

Respectfully, I say no.

To be fair, no one knows what will happen to SEW or SES once Danny and the boys leave, but what we do know is that the future of both will depend on the presence and leadership of the person ultimately named as Danny’s successor. They will need to demonstrate the same kind of presence, heart and expectation of excellence that Danny did, and they’ll need to help Search Engine Watch evolve and compete against the competition of soon-to-be-launched Search Engine Land.

And don’t think that Danny is going to make that easy for them. You have to give credit where credit is due, and Danny has been very good about quietly shifting user focus away from Search Engine Watch and over to Daggle. He has also made Search Engine Land read like a seamless transition for users migrating over from SEW. I’m sure the similarity of Danny’s SearchCap and SEW’s SearchCast didn’t go unnoticed.

My personal opinion is that Incisive is certifiable for not placing SEW’s biggest players under contract. I think that the SEW and Search Engine Strategies brand will become less influential as readers flock to Search Engine Land in support of Danny. Part of me is excited to watch all this pan out, and the other part wants to hibernate until Spring to see how the dust has settled. I guess we’ll see, and it all starts Dec. 11th.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/20/06 at 2:09 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 17, 2006

Search Headlines

Google Increases UK Market Share

If you thought Google’s hold in the US was strong, prepare to be dumbfounded. WebProNews reports on the new Hitwise UK numbers that show Google increased its market share another 9 percent this month, bringing them to a scary 78 percent of all UK searches. Yahoo! is in second with only 7.7 percent. Heh. [That really brings home how important it is to rank in Google.co.uk. Good thing our pals over at Bruce Clay, London have the optimisation skillz to manage it. See, I even spelled optimisation all British. --Susan] --Yes, but you spelled skills with a ‘z’. I don’t even know what to do with that.

Universal Music Sues MySpace for Copyright Infringement

Just as they threatened to do with YouTube, Universal Music has filed suit against MySpace claiming the social networking site is profiting off “user-stolen” content, including music, videos and other material. MySpace calls the suit meritless.

So did YouTube sign its content deal just in time or is this suit part of that conspiracy theory that said YouTube-compensated content publishers would file suits to squash rival video upload sites?

SearchMash Upgrade

The Google Operating Blog discovered that Google has given SearchMarsh an upgrade that allows users to opt-in to blog, video, image or Wikipedia searches directly from the SERP. Each option appears as a right-hand widget that can be expanded to view advanced results. I don’t totally hate the idea, but it is somewhat cumbersome to use. Someone needs to work out an effective way to be able to access everything from one screen, though. People are relying on verticals more, not less.

[There’s also a ‘hide details’ feature that I never noticed before that lets users view the SERP as a list, without any description information. That’s kind of cool but I’m not sure it’s new.]

December 11th – Danny Lands in Search Engine Land

There are less than two weeks left before until Danny Sullivan says goodbye to Search Engine Watch and yesterday we got a small glimpse into how he’ll be spending his time once his reign ends. Danny announced that his new search blog, Search Engine Land, with launch on Dec. 11. Chris Sherman and Barry Schwartz will join Danny in “providing information about search engine marketing and how search engines work in general, from a searcher’s perspective”. I’ve already subscribed and you should too. Sullivanites* Unite.

I can’t wait to see what Danny has in store for us and how Barry and Chris work into the equation. Will they leave Search Engine Watch and join Danny? I thought Chris Sherman was being groomed to be Danny’s successor? More importantly, if Danny, Chris and Barry are all blogging over at Search Engine Land, will SEW even matter anymore? Things to ponder, people.

*coined by David Temple.

Fun Finds

Over at SEOScoop, Donna shares four revealing tidbits overheard at PubCon.

Grant Robertson gives readers Five Simple Rules for Keeping an Empty Inbox. I don’t know that I could ever do all the things he advises (like letting my inbox go an entire hour without checking it), but he’s on to something.

Nathan Weinberg shows users how to use Google Maps to make prank phone calls. Not that we would ever do that, especially not tonight after work.

Microsoft gives bug-reporting testers a free copy of Windows Vista Business or Ultimate. That’s very generous of them.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/17/06 at 5:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Yahoo! Looking To Social Acquisitions

Something has lit a fire from under Yahoo! The company has announced three new acquisitions and two product upgrades all within 24-hours. Don’t they know Friday is Google’s day for announcements? I mean, seriously. Someone please show Terry Semel the memo.

Here’s a breakdown of what they bought and what you get:

Acquisitions:

• Bix – There were a lot of raised eyebrows yesterday when it was revealed Yahoo! had acquired online contest and karaoke site Bix. Was Yahoo! crazy? What interest does Yahoo! have in a site that is most known for their online karaoke competitions? Well, for one, that little karaoke site has brought in 1 million unique visitors in its three months of existence, and second, it may not be the technology Yahoo! was interested in.

  With the company, Yahoo! also acquires Blix CEO Mike Speiser – described by TechCrunch as a “seasonal social media man” – to take over product management responsibilities for Yahoo! Groups, Photos and 360. Is Yahoo! hoping to capitalize on Speiser’s know-how to rev up the quality of their social launches? It’s a theory.

• MyBlogLog – The only Yahoo-acquired start-up I’d previously heard of, MyBlogLog is a blog community and analytics tool that lets bloggers and their readership learn more about each other (Aw). According to TechCrunch, Yahoo! was said to have paid $10 million for this one. Smart?
• Kenet Woks – GigaOm’s Katie Fehrenbacher breaks the news that Yahoo! finally confirmed their acquisition of Swedish mobile company KenetWorks that was rumored to have taken place last month. Yahoo! believes the acquisition will help them to “build [their] leadership in mobile services…and connect consumers with the people and information they care about” which really does seem to be their agenda lately.

  Yahoo!’s not taking the Google-route with mobile. Instead of using it to expand their search, they’re really using it to strengthen their portal and to provide users with genuine-mobile features, like ringtones and wallpapers. This acquisition should help them continue that.

Upgrades

• Yahoo! Answers Gets New Push – Fans of Yahoo! Answers will enjoy the system upgrades debuted today. Previously, searchers could view Yahoo! Answer questions at the bottom of their SERP, but as of today they will see the question and an excerpt of the “best answer”.

  I played around with it a bit looking for the best pumpkin pie recipe (you’re starting to see a pattern here, aren’t you?), and I admit it’s perhaps interesting on open-ended queries. It’s nice to get a preview of the answer before you commit to a click. I don’t see myself ever using it, but I know people that would.

  (Kind of interesting, Phil Lenssen notes that Yahoo! Answers is Yahoo! Clever in Germany. Who knew?)

• Yahoo Maps Released From Beta -- Yahoo! Maps has been officially released from beta and integrated within Local. Yahoo! also rolled out street-level maps for Europe and a host of other improvements with the upgrade. It looks fun and user-friendly, but to be honest, Flash apps turn me off.

Whew. Did you catch all that?

The upgrades are cool, but it’s the acquisitions that are particularly interesting to me. Its obvious Yahoo! is trying to position itself as THE place for user-generated content, and I think that’s a smart move for them. Yahoo! users have a history of engagement with the Yahoo! portal. Yahoo! Answers has been hugely successes and though it’s estimated this will soon change, Yahoo.com is still the most trafficked site on the Web.

Google may know how to monetize their property, but Yahoo! understands their audience. They know why they visit Yahoo! and Yahoo! has responded by giving them what they want – better social features. And to Yahoo!’s credit, this extends both on and off the traditional Web. On the Web they get better integration of Answers in their SERP, and on mobile they get access to the fun stuff Google isn’t concerned with, like ringtones and funky wallpaper. You have to give it to Yahoo!, they’ve decided where they want to go and it looks like they’re being active about trying to get there. They’ve also got us not talking about Google on a Friday. That’s an accomplishment in itself.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/17/06 at 4:36 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Friday Recap

My week got off to a sad start after reading a BoingBoing post that reported a blasphemous Massachusetts judge ruled that the burrito is NOT a sandwich. That is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Of course it’s a sandwich. It’s also a breakfast omelet, the perfect afternoon snack, and a complete three course meal. Crazy non-Californians. [Says the girl from Long Island. Don't try to get Cali cred now, you Sox fan. --Susan] -- I can’t be a NY-bred Sox fan who loves a good burrito? Psh, don't try to put me in a box.

Shimon Sandler finally figured out how to answer that “what do you do for a living” question that I hate so much. I’m still fine tuning my own answer. As proven by the curious looks and blank stares I received on the plane to Ad:Tech, “writer”, “blogger” and “Internet Marketing copywriter” are all horrible, horrible answers that make people assume I live in my parent’s basement.

Ms. Dewey, who I now officially loathe, got far too much attention this week, mostly because Sex Goddess Kim Krause has formed an “unhealthy obsession” with her (hey, I didn’t say it, Matt Bailey did!). She’s not the only one though; MarketingVox went as far as to call her “strikingly beautiful”. Please. More like strikingly annoying. [We took a poll in the office; no one rated her as more than "attractive". Ms. Dewey, not Lisa. Lisa is adorable even if she does look like she's 12.--Susan] Sad, but true.

However, all the attention has given me the idea for that startup I’m going to create. You heard it here first – I’ve decided I’m going to create my own insulting search engine called Mistress Lisa (a nickname coined by an old boss. Gross, right?). It’s sure to be vastly popular, considering I am (a) nine shades of adorable, and (b) far more clever than Ms. Dewey could ever hope to be.

(By reading Matt’s post I also learned that Kim will be attending SES Chicago. Huzzah! I will track you down see you there.)

Phil Lenssen points us to the Yahoo Color Schemes generator that presents you with the most commonly used color palettes to describe a given search term. Sure, it’s fun to see which yellows are associated with a banana, but have you ever wondered what my wardrobe looks like? Yep, that’s a pretty accurate representation.

Also from Phil, the big news this week was that Yahoo! finally beat Google in the Battle of the Net. Unfortunately for Yahoo!, it was only a tennis match. I guess you’ve got to start somewhere.

This made me giggle: Microsoft exec Robbie Bach blames the awful brown Zune color on his poor daughter. Way to go, Dad.

If you didn’t catch DazzlinDonna’s Guide to Gambling, you should go read it because it’s hysterical. I’ve never been gambling myself, but I imagine my own methods will be pretty close to what Donna’s preaching here. [She relates search engine optimization to gambling but that sounds so much more like pay per click to me. SEO is all about the long term. Like marathons. --Susan]

Just in time for PubCon, Jim Boykin posted Pictures of SEO People, which is pretty much a who’s who of the industry. I can’t wait for SES Chicago, I’ll just print out this baby and check ‘em off as I go. It’s a little scorecard. Thanks, Jim.

Speaking of PubCon, deep inside one of Barry’s session recaps was a video from Greg Hartnett that shows a ‘fight’ his young hockey player son was involved in. Between the frantic ice scurrying, the running towards safety and the slapping (yes, the slapping) – it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. Also, props for the Islander jerseys. The Islanders rock.

Okay, last PubCon mention; I just need to get this off my chest. I was shocked, horrified and heartbroken while perusing Barry Schwartz’s pictures from Wednesday’s Yahoo! party, which includes a photo of former BC employee Becky Ryan receiving a massage from my man—I mean Rand. Clearly there is no honor among thieves. I thought we were friends, Becky!

Speaking of Barry, over at Cartoon Barry he reveals that the RustyBrick messenger bags have arrived. Super cool. I’m not sure why I’m so excited by this. I think I may have a messenger bag fetish. Fear not, I’m seeking help.

Steve Bryant illustrates that God Loves Google but Yahoo can go to Hell. Ouch.

Also, Steve Jobs says “boom” a lot and it makes me giggle uncontrollably. Is it my fault I break into giggle fits when people recite words so often it renders the word unrecognizable? Again – seeking help.

Lastly and sadly, Variety published an obituary for the VHS. Though the death is being attributed to natural causes, I can’t help but be sad about this great loss. How am I supposed to watch my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies without VHS? They’re just not the same when pirated. Growing up is tough. Can I ask for a moment of silence here?

[Lisa didn't mention it but I want to. Over at Marketing Pilgrim, Andy wants to know why Yahoo bought the karaoke video site, Bix. While I don't have an answer for him (though I suspect it has to do with the fact that Yahoo collects users like Google collects information), I do want to support the idea he had in the comments. Karaoke SEO videos should totally be the next contest. Best Matt Cutts impression wins! --Susan] -- Um, way to RUIN my moment of silence!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/17/06 at 1:10 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 16, 2006

Burning a Hole Lets Users Shop By Price

Susan got to review Like.com while I was making my way back from Ad:Tech last week, so I think it’s only fair I get to play take a look at Burning a Hole and show the UK some love.

If you’ve haven’t heard, Burning a Hole is a new UK-based shopping engine for indecisive shoppers who don’t exactly know what they want. I could write you a little blurb about what exactly their web mission is, but frankly, they do a pretty good job at explaining that themselves:

“We’re more than a search engine. We’re an ideas-by-price engine. We’re a make-the-internet-work-for-your-wallet engine. We’re a what-do-you-do-with-that-fifty-quid-you’ve been-saving-in-your-sock-drawer engine. We’re your Christmas inspiration engine (and have you seen the range of office gifts we’ve got for under a tenner?) We think this is what the internet was always supposed to be about.”

I like these guys already.

Unlike traditional price comparison engines, Burning a Hole lets users search by either by category OR price. This is exactly what I need to get through my holiday shopping. I’ve never been able to do much shopping on sites like Amazon.com because I don’t know what I want until I see it. (It’s bad and I’m even worse when dinner approaches.) With Burning a Hole, I don’t have to know what I’m looking for, I just have to know how much I’m willing to spend. You tell them how much money you have and they’ll search hundreds of retail sites to tell you what you can get. (Kind of like how in the movies a frozen, snot-nosed waif would always walk into a diner and ask what his handful of change got him. Somehow it always equaled pie.)

I gave Burning a Hole a try this afternoon, and even though I had to convert pounds to dollars in my head to understand the dollar amounts (it is a UK engine, after all), I was more than satisfied with the quality and diverseness of products I found. There’s even a Secret Santa section that lets searchers sort for £5 or £10 items. And best of all, most of the stuff listed in the Secret Santa sections is chocolate! If you ask me, there’s no better way to say Happy Holidays than with dark chocolate truffles. Mmm.

If you have a little more money burning a hole in your pocket (oooh!), the products get increasingly more expensive and more elaborate (though nothing is better than chocolate). There’s fine art, theme park passes, shoes (yes, Susan, shoes), various furniture pieces, bicycles, diamonds, stoves, “fridge freezers” (known in the states as a “refrigerator”), and anything else you can imagine. (Note: Be careful shopping with your kids, some of the products listed are not for innocent eyes!)

My only issue with this shopping engine is that you don’t know where the item is until you click on it. For example, pretty necklace, right? But when I click on it I see the listing was pulled from a UK store, not one in the US (to be fair, there’s a healthy mix of both on the site). I’m not a big fan of International shipping so I’m likely to pass on the necklace, but now I’m sad because they teased me with a pretty necklace and I found out I couldn’t have it. [But it's great for the UK shopper, who would normally have to suffer the opposite. --Susan] -- Until they find a pretty necklace only available in the US. There’s nothing worse than getting your hopes up and then getting shot down, so it’d be nice to know where each listing is being pulled from before I get emotionally attached.

Overall though, this a mighty fun engine to play around with. It’s very nice not being stuck in one particular shopping category. Searching with only a base price lets you look at a variety of different options that all somehow fit in your price range. Very handy. Especially with the expensive holiday season quickly approaching.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/16/06 at 3:01 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Whip Email Campaigns into Shape For The Holidays

Regardless whether you love ‘em, hate ‘em or live for ‘em, the holidays are coming. There’s no escaping it, next Thursday is Thanksgiving, which means while you’re suffering through forced family conversation and turkey (personally, I’ll be on a delightful mini-break), your customers will be talking about their holiday plans. And according to Advertising.com’s 2006 holiday survey, those plans include a lot of online shopping.

Shoppers are expected to hit the URLs early this year and spend even more than they did in 2005. With customers salivating with cash in hand, now might be a good time to remind them of your existence.

The holiday season offers marketers an unparallel opportunity to reach out to current and prospective customers. And one of the best ways to do that is by using holiday emails. If your holiday campaigns aren’t finished yet, you better stop eyeing that turkey leg and get to work. Here are some tips for creating awesome deck-the-hall-worthy holiday emails.

• Personalize, Personalize, Personalize -- We all get a little needier during the holidays (you feel that way too, right? Right??), so reach out to customers and show them you’ve been paying attention. Address them by name, offer products related to the ones they’ve already purchased, mention the city they live in, etc. Show them you know who they are – or at least pretend that you do.
• Holiday Templates -- Which email would put you in the holiday buying spirit – the same old generic template you’ve been seeing all year, or fresh and fun, high-impact holiday-inspired greeting card? I think we know the answer. Contact your email service provider to see what kind of holiday templates they offer. It’s likely they offer a wide-range of fun holiday templates for you to choose from.

  Or if you're one of those folks with design skills, create your own! But be careful, avoid the smiling reindeers and frantic colored lights design, there’s a difference between embracing the holiday spirit and looking like a 3rd grader’s holiday sweater.

• Give Those Heartstrings a Gentle Tug – It the holiday’s, darn it. If you can’t form an emotional connection with your customers today, when can you? Hint back to the days of yore and help give customers that sought after warm and fuzzy emotional aftertaste.

  To me, the absolute best example of this is Starbucks “Its Red Again” campaign. It’s Thursday and I’ve already been there three times this week. There’s just something about those red cups, yummy holiday flavors, and decked out store front that makes me keep coming back for more wonderfully overpriced coffee. [Gingerbread lattes are the real reason for the holiday season. --Susan]

• Highlight Holiday Sales and Promotions – Whether it’s free shipping or 10 percent off their entire order, customers like feeling like they’re getting something a little extra. Offer incentives to encourage customers to explore the depth of your site.
• Offer Gift ideas – Finding the perfect gift is never easy. Make your customers' lives a little easier by offering them suggestions for special holiday gifts. Highlight the best products available for mom, dad, siblings, that special someone, and even that special I-think-I-like-you-but-we-haven’t-had-the-talk-yet person. Presenting them with a list of unique gift ideas gives you the chance to highlight some of your favorite products and it draws them in by catching their interest, encouraging them to click further into your site.
• Present a Call to Action – Don’t get so caught up in setting the tone that you forget to tell customers what you want them to do. Invite them to explore your site or to come and visit your brick and mortar store. Don’t let your holiday emailing be confused with just another holiday greeting card.
• Say Thank You! – You should be doing this anyway, but it’s even more important during the holidays. When a customer makes a purchase or completes some other action, offer a genuine thank you. Whether it’s a short email back or a surprise free gift with purchase, this will help reinforce a positive brand image, show your customers you’re a real person, and will encourage customers to make a return visit.

Don’t miss out on the holiday shopping season. It’s time to get that holiday email campaign finished up and start sending them out to customers. Following the tips above should ensure everyone has a most enjoyable fourth quarter.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/16/06 at 2:08 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Search Engines Bring United Front to Sitemaps

The big news item of the day is that Yahoo! and Microsoft have joined together in support of Google’s Sitemaps XML protocol, an open-source tool that allows site owners to submit their content via crawler feeds in order to ensure proper spidering. This means site owners will now be able to go to one place to manually submit their site and alert GYM to any site changes.

This is pretty cool, and something most savvy search folk have been after for a long time.

Yahoo Search Product Manager Priyank Garg does a good job of explaining the benefits for both the engines and webmasters:

“This should make is easier for web sites to provide search engines with content and metadata. And in turn, search engines can spend less time crawling unchanged pages and can update indexes faster as new content is discovered. This will help us reflect the changes more quickly, and improve our ability to provide more timely and relevant search results for users.”

If you’re already using Google Sitemaps, you don’t have to do anything to reap the benefits. Just be aware the change has taken place and you can now reach Yahoo! and Microsoft using the same protocol.

If you haven’t been using Google Sitemaps, you can head over to the newly debuted Sitemaps.org site and learn how to install the XML file that will allow GYM to track site updates.

Again, this is very cool.

According to CNET, the idea for the standard protocol was initiated by Google and Yahoo!. The tool has been given Creative Commons license so that other engines can get on board as well, though who knows how much participation they’ll be allowed. There’s no mention of Ask.com’s lack of involvement, but that may be because they don’t accept manual submissions. Or maybe they just weren’t cool enough to be invited to the party. (I feel your pain, Ask.)

Even if Ask never gets on board, this is a great step for the engines to have made. Getting competitors to agree on common standards will enable site owners to spend less time worrying about submitting sites and more time on making those sites as strong and relevant as possible. It’s also good to see GYM united for good every once and awhile. We saw it when they united on the nofollow attribute for links, and now we’re seeing it again here,

And who knows, now that we’ve seen unification on this, maybe we’ll see other big search issues get a common solution down the road. It’d be nice to see the engines support universal advanced search commands or create a better system for detecting click fraud or work together to fight spam and great more relevant engines. But we’ll try not to get ahead of ourselves.

If you want to read more from straight from the engines themselves, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have all blogged about it. And of course, it’s getting just a touch of coverage at Techmeme.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/16/06 at 11:18 AM | TrackBack (0)
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November 15, 2006

Email Marketing Even Harder in Europe

If you’re anything like Susan, you’re not a big fan of all the work that goes into creating and sending out targeted emails to your customers. But according to DMNews, it’s a task that’s even harder in Europe.

I know, we can hear our Yankee readers sighing and rolling their eyes at this very moment (Susan is no doubt about to launch a heavy object straight over my computer monitor), but could it really be true? Is successful email marketing even harder for European sites than it is here in the States? DMNews breaks it down for us.

In the United States, there are a small number of email service providers that users are loyal to. You have your ISP provided emails, work related or domain-specific emails, or emails that sport a fancy @gmail.com, @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com at the very end of it. (Fine, maybe there’s a @aol.com in there too, but those users are dying fast – no pun intended. Oh no, here comes the hate mail.). These three trusted types of addresses are used by a wide range of users. The commonality makes it easier for marketers to test and ensure that these ESPs are bug-free and delivering their message properly. However, that’s not the case overseas.

In Europe, ESPs are considerably more fragmented. You have all the major players listed above, but then you also have the other guys like Virgin.net, BT, Wannadoo and a host of others. The multitude of ESPs exposes European marketers to a host of new deliverability issues. Marketers must now make sure that each ESP is displaying their emails properly (rendering images, not misaligning text, etc.) and that they are getting through the various spam filters.

Of course, there are also ISP issues that marketers must be concerned with, though studies have shown European ISPs have a much higher deliverability rate than those in the US.

The second problem that DMNews notes is widespread language differences.

Sure, the US is plenty culturally diverse, but for the most part, we all speak the same language. This gives US marketers an advantage in reaching customers. However, in Europe that’s not the case. The article notes:

“The European market includes a number of countries with different languages, cultural traditions and demographics. HP is one e-Dialog client that sends e-mails to 18 different countries in various languages.”

That’s 18 different emails in 18 different languages. I fear for the safety of the unlucky Bruce Clay employee that has to tell Susan she needs to format our newsletter 18 different ways. He’s bound to lose an eye, an arm, or perhaps an entire upper torso.

Another problem facing European email marketers are cultural differences. Personalizing an email for one country may make it offensive or ineffective in another.

So what is a savvy email marketer to do in order to target customers based on varying ISPs, ESPs, language and cultural differences?

First, determine if you should really be targeting all of Europe. Where are your customers more centrally located? Are they in France, Sweden, Spain, the UK? It may be that you can save yourself a little time and sanity just by focusing on select European regions that have similar a language and cultural traditions.

If not, then it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start segmenting.

Break down your customer list based on language, cultural beliefs, ESP and start creating customer profiles to give yourself a better idea of who you’re targeting. Then, tweak your newsletter to meet each profile needs. This includes translating newsletters, making subtle (or not so subtle) design changes, tweaking the tone, writing new articles, whatever you feel is necessary. Yes, it’s tedious, but if each segment is important to the success of your business, it will be time well spent.

Once you have your different versions, you have to test them all individually to see what needs further repair. Take all the lessons you’ve learned from creating your first email campaign, and apply it here. It’s the same process 18 times over.

If you have trouble doing it yourself, just let us know. We’d be happy to send Susan over to help you. [Why are you picking on me? What did I do to you? Is this about the fact that I still owe you cookies?--Susan] -- Yes!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/15/06 at 5:16 PM | TrackBack (0)
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