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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 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 / Online Ads

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 SES Chicago 2006

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, 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, 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)
See more entries in Google, Live Search, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines, Yahoo

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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Search Headlines

Ten Spammers Cause 80 Percent of the Trouble

Over at Security News, David Utter reports that ten spammers are responsible for 80 percent of the spam headaches felt by North American and Europe users. Known spam fighter Spamhaus identifies the ten annoying life forms and gives us a short description of their credentials. Did you know there were spam gangs? This is all so crazy.

I say now that we know their names, locations and favorite hangouts, let’s go pelt them with rocks. You with me?

Michael Arrington Served Cease and Desist Order

Unless you’re Michael Arrington, this is kind of funny. After linking to a tool that helps users download YouTube videos onto their iPod, Michael Arrington received two voicemails and an official cease and desist order from YouTube’s lawyers accusing him of “tortuous interferences of a business relationship”, “unfair business practices” and “false advertising”. Bad, Michael, baaaad.

Of course the whole thing is very comical since YouTube probably wouldn’t try and enforce such a silly order, especially considering their entire business model revolves around doing exactly what they’re accusing Michael of. Either way, it gave me a giggle.

[This all reminds me of the furor whenever Google tells people to stop using google as a verb. --Susan] -- Yes, this has “Google made me do it” written all over it.

Holding $500 million? Don’t be ridiculous

Though Eric Schmidt assured us that Google was not holding onto $500 million to crush any legal battles from content producers, it turns out he was only talking about a discrepancy with the number. He’s really holding on to $200 million. I’m sure you see the difference.

Sure.

The Associated Press reports that Google is holding on to 12.5 percent of the stock (or $200 million) allotted to YouTube for one year in order to “secure certain indemnification obligations”. It makes absolute sense for Google to do so, but why not be upfront about it when asked? That’s not very transparent of you, Eric.

Blog World to hold Blog Conference on ‘07

News is spreading fast that Blog World will host what they claim to be “the first and only tradeshow, conference, and media event” dedicated to promoting blogging. Awesome!

The event will be held next year in Las Vegas on November 8 and 9th, and will address topics such as blogging basics, branding, monetizing your blog, podcasting, RSS, SEO, corporate blogging opportunities and more. Wait – a conference that tackles blogging, branding and SEO? Hey, Bruce, can I go? It’s only in Vegas.

Fun Finds

Okay, so this one isn’t as much a find as much as me asking you, my loyal readers, to find it for me. Barry reports from PubCon that SEMInternational has created a spin-off of Bruce’s Search Engine Relationship Chart nicknamed the Bruce Lee Chinese search engine relationship chart. I wanna see! Who can help me out? Anyone?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/15/06 at 4:38 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Google Base One Year Later

It’s hard to believe that the little Craigslist-competitor-that-could was launched one year ago today. They all grow up so fast. However, the anniversary made me wonder – What is Google Base up to these days? It doesn’t sound like it’s thriving the way a one-year-old should.

Admittedly, I don’t spend much time on Google Base. Mostly because I have nothing to sell and I’m too broke to actually buy anything, but also because Google never brings it to my attention. Let’s take a look at it.

Once I venture over there I’m immediately bothered. I want the search bar moved up higher. The first time I viewed the page I felt myself getting all uppity about not being able to search directly from the homepage. Then I noticed it was hiding down on the bottom. Google, please don’t scare me like that.

Moving on.

I decide to play with a few of the categories. Let’s start out in jobs.

Google already knows my zip code and has brought up a list of jobs in my area. Drats, if only I had gone to school for nursing I’d be totally set.

I change my specs and see a position that matches my official title here. Most exciting, it’s located a mere 20 miles from my apartment. Let’s see what it’s about. I click on it and am immediately transferred off the site. Hmm, I’m not a big fan of that. Why aren’t Google Base listings kept on the GB site? I trust Google. I don’t trust other people. That’s a turn-off.

Of course, once I make it to the third-party site I realize I don’t actually do any technical writing here and I am completely unqualified for this position. Bummer. [What do you mean "bummer"? You're never leaving here.--Susan] Still, the process is easy, gives me all the info I need upfront (where’s it’s located on the big Google map, job category, distance from my house, etc), and it only feels slightly random and disorganized.

Now I’m hooked, let’s do another search. How about housing? This hour-long commute to work everyday is killing me, girl needs to move!

I enter in a zip that’s close to work and enter in all my necessary info (listing type = for sale, price = under $600,000, bedrooms = 1+, etc) and see what Google Base spits back. Okay, it’s confirmed. I’m never moving. Still, the listings are clean, the interface is easy to use, and I can even subscribe to an RSS for this search. Pretty awesome.

I conclude I’m happy with the Google Base interface and the information it provides, but I do have one major complaint.

Why isn't this information integrated into my Google search? It’s not even listed in their full menu of options. (click for full size.)

What I mean is, when I search for “real estate 93003”, where are all the Google Base listings on the SERP? They’re nowhere to be found. Sure, I get my onebox if I search for just “real estate”, but I don’t like the extra step of having to input my data. I think Google should just recognize that I’m looking to buy real estate I can’t afford and offer the sad news upfront. I can take it.

It may sound nitpicky, but I think it’s important. First, most users won’t do a broad search for “real estate”. They’ll search for “real estate California” or “real estate Ohio”. By not providing them the onebox upfront, they’re missing out (and therefore so are the listers) on a targeted searcher.

Second, by not showing me the strength of your verticals at every chance possible, I’m more likely to forget you even have them. How many non-search nerds know Google Base even exists? How many people have used it?

I was still determined to see Google Base results on my SERP, so I did a bunch of searches with the sole intent of hitting something that would bring up the product Google Base onebox. I searched for New Balance sneakers, computer monitors, action figures (that was for Susan), but all to no avail. [She's not joking, I collect DC action figures. My desk is awesome--Susan] -- We need a picture of this for the blog. Maybe in Friday’s Recap? Finally, my internal light bulb went off and I searched for my dinner staple – the almighty “popcorn maker”. (You’re starting to feel sorry for me, aren’t you?)

This works, almost.

My search brought up the product listings, but I noticed that my results weren’t being pulled from Google Base. Instead, they’re still being pulled from Froogle. Why?

Froogle was supposed to be phased out in time for this year’s holiday season – or at least that’s what we were told. Today is November 15th, deep into 2006’s all important fourth quarter, and we’re still pulling from the old database. That’s troubling. I would expect Froogle to be gone by now and for Google Base listings to be prevalent in Google’s main SERP. And the fact that it’s not is a problem.

Users are confused. Should they be looking in Froogle for holiday gifts or should they be looking in Google Base? Are users met with the same results in both? I don’t know and it’s frustrating enough that I don’t care. I’ll just shop on Amazon and save myself the headache – which is the sentiment Google needs to fight.

By allowing Google Base to remain under the radar, it’s stunting its growth and separating it from its customer base. The fact is, despite its potential, users still have to work to bring it up, and even when they do hit the magic word, they’re still not being given the right service.

I think Google has a gem in Google Base, but there are still growing pains that need to be worked out. Google needs to rev up its attempts to fully integrate Google Base into its SERP and give it a hard re-launch. The functionality and appeal is there, but because it’s not integrated into the Google page we used everyday, few users know it exists.

Happy Birthday, Google Base. May you have a more publicized second year.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/15/06 at 12:30 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 14, 2006

Search Headlines

UK Online Spending Soars

The holidays are coming and users don’t want to leave their homes. Aw, don’t be sad, it just means they’re doing all their holiday shopping online. Bigmouthmedia reports that UK shoppers are estimated to spend £7 billion dollars this holiday season – that’s £4 million every hour from now until December 25th.

What does that mean for you, the smart UK marketer? It means if you haven’t kicked your PPC campaigns into high gear, now is the time! Money-clad customers will soon be entering “buy [insert your product name]” into their search bar and if your site is missing from both the organic and sponsored search, you’re about to get passed on by. Don’t let that happen! Put down the pumpkin pie, and go rev up your campaigns.

(No, no, put down the pie.)

Apple Alienates an Entire Country

Over at SEOmoz, Rebecca shows what happens when international Web sites fail to display their country-specific pages to the appropriate IP addresses. -- you anger an entire country and tick off one feisty blogger. While searching in the UK alongside Ammon Johns, Rebecca noticed her query for “ipod nano” brought up Apple’s US site. A site that shows pricing information in dollars (not pounds), offers a 1-800 number instead of a 0-800 number, and is completely useless to a UK consumer looking to make an online purchase. Not good.

Rebecca uses Apple in her example, but it’s a fatal flaw for many international companies. Serving your customers US-centric sites when they’re finding you from foreign lands, is not a good idea. Make sure a customer in the UK who is accessing your site is delivered the UK version of your site. There’s nothing more off-putting then reading a page that doesn’t address your needs because it was meant for someone else. Way to make people feel unimportant and not worth your time.

Will A 24 Hour Embargo Won’t Help Newspapers?

No, it won’t.

Oh, did you want a recap of the story? Fine – MediaPost’s Wendy Davis reports that the California First Amendment Coalition has ‘a plan’ to save newspapers from the evil ways of indexing search engines. (Ooo, a plan!) The plan includes creating a 24 hour embargo where content is only available online to paying subscribers. Genius, right? The coalition’s executive director Peter Scheer thinks so.

So his way to solve the ‘problem’ is to kill newspaper’s relevancy by making them a day late and a dollar short? That’s a very good idea. Why don’t you take newspapers off the Web entirely (which is really what you’d be doing…)? Then you don’t have to worry about those nasty engines indexing your content and making it available to ad-clicking, revenue-bringing customers who otherwise wouldn’t read your paper. Or you can use smoke signal to let people in on the news of the day. The engines haven’t figured out how to index that backwards method just yet.

Me thinks I gots a future in politics.

[The newspapers of the world are better off investing in a good search engine optimization firm for a year than shutting down for a day. It'll probably even cost roughly the same. Then they'll have everything they want indexed, indexed and everything they don't, locked down tight. Though I guess if they don't want anything indexed they'll only need to hire their SEO for as long as it takes toss up a robots.txt file that says: User-Agent: * Disallow: / --Susan] -- Oh, no. Now you’ve gone and upset Susan…

Are Google and Yahoo Headed in Different Directions?

Bill Wise does an excellent job explaining why Yahoo! won’t release a traditional advertising strategy like Google did. I don’t read many blog posts or newsletter articles that get my attention the way Bill was able to do, so you know this is good stuff.

Bill states that for Google, unleashing a traditional advertising campaign makes sense. Their entire game plan is based around organizing the world’s information and making it more accessible. Obviously, part of that plan extends to adapting their core search (Web Search, Google News, Google Images, etc) for the mobile Web. Traditional advertising methods give them another way to do that.

Yahoo!, however, is working off a different mission statement. Yahoo! has chosen to embrace the mobile Web by engaging with mobile specific items like ring tones and screensavers. Yahoo is setting itself up to “the most powerful new-media empire”. Where Google is using the mobile Web to strengthen its core search, Yahoo! is using it to branch out and attract a wider range of customers. In fact, according to Bill, there may come a time when Google and Yahoo! are no longer competitors in the same industry. Smart stuff, right?

What is Microsoft doing?

TechCrunch explains that Microsoft has apparently launched a social network for IT professionals called Aggreg8. Besides finding the name moderately adorable, I’m not sure what purpose this is supposed to serve? It all sounds very odd, especially since Microsoft’s PR team hasn’t said anything about the launch.

Maybe they’re embarrassed. To be honest, this looks like an idea that never fully materialized – the formatting is off, there are bad links, images are broken. Looks like Microsoft should have held on to this one a little before launching.

Fun Finds

I’m about a week late on this one, but over at QAQNA, Tom Vander Well gives readers 10 Things Your Customers Don’t Want to Hear. It’s worth a read because (a) it’s funny and (b) its true.

Kim Krause celebrates World Usability Day by taunting the ever-annoying Ms. Dewey. Can’t we just shoot her already? (Ms. Dewey, not Kim. We love Kim.)

And perhaps most amusing of them all, Chris Pirillo is very excited about NOT buying a Zune. Hee.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/14/06 at 3:03 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Google/ YouTube Deal Closes as The Face of YouTube Evolves

It’s over.

Today I announce my plans to say farewell to the gang at Bruce Clay, Inc. and lock myself in a cold, dark room in order to dream up the startup to end all startups. I will run my fledgling company for approximately 12-16 months, at which time I will hesitantly agree to sell it for tens of billions of dollars. After which, I will move to a far away island (no, not that one) with my two cats, where we will live happily ever after in geek billionaire bliss. Ahh.

[Traitor! I was going to give you a share in my startup but you're just going to leave me out in the cold? Harsh! --Susan] -- Hey! You wanted to trade me for SEOmoz’s Rebeeca. Talk about harsh! (That is in no way a diss of Rebecca’s proven awesomeness. It is a diss of Susan’s obvious lack of loyalty or existence of a soul.) Oh, and why is it /your/ startup?

Fine, perhaps not (since I can’t break free from these leg restraints Susan has me in), but that idea is starting to sound very appealing, isn’t it?

An email from the Google Press Center tells me that Google has officially closed its deal with YouTube, and suddenly the buying price seems to have swelled. Though the initial price was reported at $1.65 billion, according to the specs of the deal, it looks the deal is actually worth $1.775 billion – netting the founders $15 million a piece in cash, plus 3,217,560 shares of Google Class A Stock, and an additional 442,210 shares of restricted stocks and warrants. Yowsa.

Many are surprised with how quickly this deal seems to have closed, arguably illustrating that Google is not overly concerned about uprisings from angry content producers looking to file precedent-setting lawsuits. But should they be worried about an audience falling away?

There’s a short, yet interesting, Beet.TV video being passed around that shows Google Video exec Hunter Walk discussing plans for Google Video -- plans that include placing ads on user-created videos in order to monetize all of Google’s video content. That signals a change of pace for Google Video, which up until now has made money through paid downloads of individual video segments.

It’s also not a far stretch to assume that whatever Google plans for Google Video will also reach out to YouTube. At the end of the day it sounds good for Google, but how will Average Joe video voyager feel about that? Do they want their content monetized and should they have a say? If this poster is at all accurate, many of them feel taken advantage of.

A New York Times Post article explains that many of YouTube’s most loyal posters are starting to feel “increasingly disenfranchised with each new major corporate alliance” YouTube enters into. Many have posted videos expressing their anger and frustration at being pushed out of the community by professionally produced content looking to make a buck.

YouTube user Paul Robinett sums up many users’ feelings, saying:

"It is starting to appear as though the regular guy doesn't have a chance on YouTube anymore. The majority of the content on YouTube belongs to people like me, yet they seem to be cutting deals with everyone that owns content but us."

And that seems to be the heart of it. YouTube’s once loyal community is now feeling betrayed – especially after hearing that Google was reportedly in talks with Verizon to put user-generated content on cell phones. The underground vibe once held by YouTube is slowly dwindling away as rough thirty second videos are being replaced with more polished video created by professional movie producers. All signs point to one thing: YouTube has sold out.

Yes, they have, for a whopping $1.775 billion, but that doesn’t mean YouTube’s fan base is getting any smaller, it’s not. It's evolving.

While YouTube’s co-founders are sitting and counting the money, Google will have to learn to monetize the new YouTube content generators. I imagine this won’t be too much of a struggle since most of their new uploaders are wanna-be actors. All that’s left is make the deals with the TV studios. But what about YouTube’s audience, the ones watching, not uploading? Is there room for the group that made them famous in the first place or will they all disappear?

That has yet to be determined and it could be the wildcard in this whole saga. Without the audience, YouTube is just like all the other video upload sites out there. Unfortunately, I don’t think Google and YouTube are working them into their new plans, and even more dire, neither does their old audience.

Regardless, YouTube is now a Google-owned property and Google is about to set out on a full-scale attack to monetize its content and make friends with advertisers. The face of YouTube may have changed, but has the strength of its mass? Keep your eyes glued because it looks like we’re about to see the official rise of online video. Either that, or we’re about to see what happens when you trade a loyal fan base into a more money hungry one. Get the popcorn.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/14/06 at 12:08 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 13, 2006

Weekend Update + a Bruce Clay, Inc. Secret Revealed!!

By the time you read this, your customers will be gone

A JupiterResearch study (via WebProNews) found that 33 percent of consumers who use a broadband connection will wait no more than four seconds for a Web page to load. That’s four seconds until your audience determines you are too slow to meet their needs, forms a negative brand impression about you, and tells everyone they know what a loser your site is. No pressure.

The report also notes that 75 percent of online shoppers who experience a site that freezes or crashes, is too slow to render, or involves a convoluted checkout process will no longer buy from that site. Would you pass that test?

As a site owner, it’s more important than ever to make sure your site is running on a dedicated IP, that graphics and video render quickly, and that your site is equipped to handle the surge in traffic that comes with the holiday season. You may want to go take a look at your site.

New Guidelines for Mobile

You’ve heard the buzz, now it’s time to familiarize yourself with the rules. MediaPost announced that the Mobile Marketing Association has issued new guidelines for mobile ads. Go learn.

Kim Rants So We Don’t Have To

I try not to use the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog for bra-burning rants (I really need to create my own blog…), so I was very happy to see that Kim (aka Sex Goddess) responded to Phil Lenssen’s Popular Blog Post, where he highlighted a list of top bloggers. Everyone on Phil’s list had one noticeable trademark in common – they were all men. It seems the blogosphere’s boys club is still firmly intact. Awesome.

Phil, who we love and don’t mean to pick on, stated he had emailed bloggers of both genders but that no women responded in time. Fair enough, but why not give them more time? Creating a more diverse list of bloggers would have been far more informative and interesting for readers. He also wouldn’t have offended his entire female readership.

A Secret Revealed

Okay, it’s the part of the post you’ve been waiting for. It’s clear that SEO Fangirl has officially outed me and ruined my cover as just another Bruce Clay, Inc employee. She is right, the reason you have not seen a picture of me with any of the BC gang is because I am not who I have claimed to be these past 9 months.

The fact is…I am Rand’s Mystery Guest.

It’s true. I live in Seattle, have a hot boyfriend named Rand, and am best friends with Rebecca. Actually, I’ve never even stepped foot inside Bruce’s Simi Valley, CA search engine optimization headquarters.

To prove my case, I present you with a 100 percent undoctored photo of myself with pal Danny Sullivan, and the one that I adore the most – my Rand.

The truth is out. Happy?

Heh. Okay, so maybe it’s not true. However, I do look forward to crossing paths with both SEO Fangirl and Rebecca during the next conference. We will unite and bring much mayhem. Muahaha.

[Well, it's better than the theory that Lisa and Bruce are the same person, I guess. --Susan] -- Hmm, I don’t know. The Bruce theory is funnier, but being Mystery Guest comes with better perks (i.e. direct access to Rand).

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/13/06 at 1:49 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Branding, Design, Fun Stuff, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Optimization

When SEOs Are Sued Over Past Work

I’m not sure how many of you are avid readers of LED Digest, but a good thread has developed that’s well worth a read. A search engine optimizer working in a niche-based industry is asking for advice after discovering he is being sued by a former client for working with other clients in the same industry and allegedly “taking away their business”. The SEO (who must remain anonymous for obvious reasons) wants to know if he should feel obligated to pay the client off or just ignore the suit. The question got such a response that LED Digest felt the need to create a Special Issue to specifically deal with the topic.

If you ask me, the whole thing is ludicrous.

We’re talking about a client this SEO hasn’t worked with in four years. I’m sorry, but if you haven’t touched your site in four years, of course your rankings are inferior to your competition. That’s the nature of the game. As Bruce stated in his comment to the thread, evolve or die.

Amen, boss.

I think its gross behavior to sue a company based on your own internal breakdowns. It was this client’s decision not to keep their site updated and fresh. They chose to sit on past rankings and not evolve with the algorithms. They got lazy and thought methods put in place four years ago would be enough to compete in today’s ultra-competitive market. Obviously that’s not the case. SEO is not a one time deal.

Even the strongest sites designed for search engine optimization need some tending to and routine care. To go back to Susan’s garden analogy (which I very much enjoyed), you wouldn’t plant a bed of sunflowers (quiet, I love sunflowers) and then forget about them, would you? No, you would go out and water them daily, make sure they were getting enough sun, shoo away the neighborhood rodents and maybe even serenade them every once in awhile. Or, if you didn’t have time to do it yourself, you would hire someone to do it for you. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be surprise when you walk out of your house say, four years later, and are greeted by a nice compost pile, not a beautiful garden.

The fact is you can’t blame a third party for your own failure to act. The rankings they helped you achieve were based on the algorithms, competitiveness, and the freshness and relevance of your site back then. There is absolutely no legal merit or ethical validness in putting the blame on someone else. This lawsuit is completely unfounded.

This client willingly chose to end their services with the SEO, and as such, the SEO moved on. New clients were taken on and this SEO used today’s tactics to help these sites achieve high rankings in the search engines. To now bellyache that it is unfair for these new clients to rank higher is ridiculous. It should never be assumed that the rankings your site has today will last any longer than that.

Bruce commented that nuisance suits like these set a dangerous precedent for the entire search engine optimization industry, and he’s right on. Setting balls like this in motion create the idea that SEOs are responsible for the success of a client’s site, and that is fundamentally not true. Site owners are responsible for the success and failure of their site. We’ll give you the tools and show you how to use them, but it’s your job to actually put them to use. It’s your job to keep your site fresh and relevant, and to employ the methods we teach you.

I’m equally concerned over the thought that an SEO can be sued for helping competing sites rank well. I understand that a conflict of interest may arise if you’re working on both side-by-side (which is why Bruce Clay, Inc. doesn’t do it), but unless you sign a contract stating otherwise, working on a competitor years after your contract has ended should be 100 percent within your legal bounds. Anything else threatens the livelihood of the SEO profession, especially those working in tight niche industries.

Chris Nielson came up with a strategy to fight back that I personally enjoyed:

“If you decide to fight this misguided former client, you should document every detail and create a site about it (if your lawyer agrees). Your site will be well-optimized and may be found for many of the keywords that your former client is upset about, including their company name. I can contribute a few links from some of my sites. You can issue press releases and use other marketing methods to get your side of this story out there.”

I believe that’s called the Michael Graywolf method of dealing with annoying companies. ;) If this case goes any further, however, it may come to that. Remind the client just how good you are at what you do. Maybe they’ll rehire you.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/13/06 at 11:35 AM | TrackBack (0)
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November 10, 2006

Friday Recap

You know, I leave the office for three small days and suddenly Susan is hijacking the blog to go shopping and play the no-one-loves-me game (ignore her, she hates conferences), YouTube was somehow named the “best invention: of 2006” beating out cancer-fighting drugs and a shirt that stimulates a hug (!), and the adorable Mac guy has been banned. I feel lost and scared in this strange new world. [As far as I'm concerned this just goes to show that PC was always better. Yay, PC! Also, it's not hijacking the blog when it used to be my job to write it, silly. --Susan]

First, you were just as sad about the Mac guy’s departure as I was, so don’t pretend you’re a loyal PC user, and second, yes it is.

Let’s seek comfort in all the fun almost-search related stuff together, shall we?

I’ve always been a big pretty big fan of the Marketing Pilgrim blog. Let’s face it, Andy Beal knows his stuff, but today he is my hero. Andy calls out Mark Cuban on being the whiny little kid he is and informs him he is free to take his self-obsessed, look-at-me-I’m-complaining-again self and kick rocks. Good riddance, I say.

This makes me laugh every time. Over at Good Morning Silicon Valley, John Paczkowski points to a hilarious video about one man expressing his excitement over the Bank of America/ MBNA merger. It’s amazing.

If you haven’t heard, Kim Krause is a Sex Goddess. Did you hear that? Kim Krause, Sex Goddess. I mean, of course she is. Look at her!

Way to keep that blog sexy, Kim.

Phil Lenssen pointed to the Simple English Wikipedia’s totally rocking and unbiased definition of the term Web 2.0, which said in part (emphasis added):

“It is essentially the wet dream of Wikipedophiles, Furries and other assorted nerds.

Second Life is a clear indication of the failure of the second web – it has already degenerated into an orgy of porn, debauchery and pseudo-homosexual activity. The Wikipedia is not far behind – the idea of an Encyclopedia that Anyone Can Edit has created a place where the mob can rule, where ignorance can reign supreme so long as it is powered by one or more fat, basement-dwelling nerds with an unlimited supply of Doritos with a twitchy finger on the “revert” button.”

Oh, whatever. I don’t even like Doritos. Luckily, the Simple English has since, um, altered their definition.

Also from Phil: the Best of Google Earth. Some of these are seriously cool (dolphins in Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden!) and others make me never want to leave my house (mysterious sunbathers? Ew).

Google Blogoscoped also informed us of a new social “game” called Drop Spots where “people hide little gifts in public (yet semi-hidden) places” and then direct people to them via Google Maps. Yeeeah, that sounds safe. Don't be surprised if you show up to find your "treasure" and are greeted by a scary man who wants to kidnap you and peel off your face.

Is it me or this is Evil Matt Cutts in Italian? Hmm…

If you love search and you love commercials, you’ll love this. SEOTrickster compiled 15 search television commercials, both domestic and international. The Ask ones will always be my favorite, but then again, I love Ask.com. [Sadly they don't love us. Why no love for the SEO community, Ask? All we want is an API! --Susan]

With Election Day landing this week, Nathan Weinberg put together a list of politicians who received funding from Google. Pretty interesting.

Over at his other blog, Nathan Weinberg lifts some images out of Microsoft’s new 3D Virtual Earth interface. Perhaps it’s because I spent my formidable years being dragged there, but the 3D image of Shea Stadium is totally awesome. It’s just like being there, except without the eardrum-bursting planes flying overhead every five minutes.

Over at Search Engine Roundtable, Barry finds that Google is tired of aiding your stupidity. Now when you misspell a word they use their middle of the page results to direct you to the dictionary. There should also be a Google Hand that comes out and smacks you.

Rebecca said ‘ello from London and let us all in on what she’s been up to since arriving in Worthing. Her recap includes typical Rebecca Kelley humor, with gems like:

“Griped that I wasn't that impressed with all of the religious paintings at the National Gallery because they all consist of a group of fat and pale people poking at Jesus”

Ah, fat and pale people poking at Jesus, it’s good to see SEOmoz’s Rebecca is alive and well in London. Heh.

How well do you know eBay? Spot the right logo.

Showing that they have a sense of humor, the Google Operating System blog issued 10 Difference Between This Blog and Google’s Blog to make sure users are 100 percent aware that GOS is NOT affiliated with Google. Hopefully this will make the Google lawyers leave them alone.

Maybe it was because search figures were in New York for Ad:Tech or gearing up for PubCon, but Gurtie was flat-out bored with the quality of search news this week. So bored, we are instead presented with a photo of one of the GHN cats instead of a real post. Gurtie’s kitty looks like my Jack Jack. I’d show you a picture, but Susan doesn’t let me post pictures of my cats on the blog (or link to them). I know, I know, take it up with her. [I knew you were going to bring this up. The answer is still no. --Susan] --You just don’t understand real love. You’ve never had a pet.

PubCon is quickly approaching and the bloggers are taking note. Over at SEO Thursday, Nathaniel Broughton updated his PubCon Drinking game, Graywolf wrote an amusing How PubCon Is Like Stars Wars and gave a shout out to all the people he’d like to meet at PubCon. Unfortunately, Michael, I won’t be there this year, but perhaps we’ll cross paths in Chicago. I’m bummed, it sounds like it’s going to be a great event.

While we’re on the topic of SEO events, thanks to everyone who made it over to our booth during Ad:Tech this week and took the time to attend Bruce’s Fireside Chat session. The session was a complete success though I was slightly bummed that the Fireside Chat came sans any type of cozy fire. Talk about no truth in advertising.

Also, I hear quite a few people stopped by the booth looking for me while I was running around like a crazed blogger (okay, giving 11,000 people 15 minutes to trek between sessions = the worst idea ever) and battling grown men for power outlet space (battle scars rock!), so I apologize for that. I’ll try and be better about posting my schedule for SES Chicago so you guys know how to catch me. Or I’ll just install that locator chip Susan and Bruce keep whispering about when they think I’m not listening. [Paranoid, much? We have no idea what you're talking about… Memo to self: Hide GPS chip catalogs, she's on to us. --Susan]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/10/06 at 1:55 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Fun Stuff, Search Engine Optimization

November 9, 2006

Was Google’s Revised Core Search Focus Just a Ruse?

The latest product news over at Google is that a public test of their radio ads may appear as early as the end of this year – which if you haven’t been paying attention, is less than two months away (Huzzah!).

The release has Gary Price wondering if Google was really serious when they declared they would be put their focus back on core search and stop releasing new products, or if perhaps it was just lip service to appease an angry user base.

Gary notes that since announcing that they would stop throwing out meaningless products, Google has shelled out $1.65 billion for YouTube (and made all necessary music deals), released Google Custom Search and started ‘a new push towards radio’.

Obviously, product releases take time so it’s possible that at least some of the deals Google announced after their Oct. 6 statement were planned far before, but were all of them? Not likely.

I think Gary touches on something important, though I don’t think it’s an automatic sign that Google is reneging on what they promised us. I think its Google recognizing there needs to be a balance.

The deals Gary mentioned don’t really bother me. Depending on how you define “core search” (just traditional organic search or the complete Google engine), I think that YouTube fits right in and you could probably make a case for the custom search, as well. That stuff doesn’t raise red flags, it’s about search and that’s what Google promised us – more concentration on improving core search and bettering existing products.

I’m a fan of the Google engine, but no engine is perfect and there are always tweaks to be made. I would love to see Google make grand-scale improvements to their search engine, improvements that would enhance rankings for sites using trusted tactics and obliterate cheating spammers. However, Google is already demolishing its competition in this area. Its market share far outranks any other engine in the market and to concentrate solely on search would put Google at a disadvantage compared to its competitors.

In my eyes, search should always be Google’s top objective, but that may be naïve. Google is after all a business.

Because Google is a business they also have to think about increasing their reach and creating competitive services. Last month Google released stronger version of its Mobile application and recently users got a better mobile Gmail. These releases have nothing to do with search, but they were important for Google.

If Google stops releasing products they make themselves vulnerable to its competitors and opens up a window to be passed by. Had Google not released enhanced mobile applications it would have given Yahoo, Ask and Microsoft a chance to capitalize on their lack of presence. Not pushing out their audio ads opens the door for someone else to do it first.

In order to stay competitive, Google has chosen to make it a priority to enter all aspects of your life and figure out how to place ads there. Does that mission statement go against the return to basics approach they promised? Not if the releases are smarter.

I didn’t take Google’s statement as they wouldn’t release another product until their engine was perfect. I took it that we wouldn’t get anymore half-releases. No more spreadsheet applications that lack basic capabilities like chart creation. And to their credit, I think the “upgraded” Google Docs & Spreadsheet release was the only product to not meet that smarter release standard thus far.

That being said, what does bring up red flags for me is all the other stuff they’ve been doing. Like buying JotSpot, entering political debates, and of course there was that whole buying a spaceship thing. This is the stuff that makes me raise an eyebrow – or at least it would if I was physically able to perform such a crafty maneuver. [I'm learning how. Once I do, I'll do it for you. --Susan]

It bothers me, but at the same time, I accept it as long as I continue to see search being improved. I don’t think Google attempted to mislead users by announcing that would focus on search, I think they realize that for them to thrive there needs to be a healthy combination of both.

We don’t know what Google is doing behind the scenes. It’s possible that the Google engineers have been strapped to their desks in the Googleplex for weeks while they make improvements to the engines. We don’t know what’s coming. Google’s return to basis promise came just over a month ago so we probably haven’t seen the full weight of it. Give it time. If we start to see more weak acquisitions and fluffy releases, then it’s time to storm the gate. I’ll keep my torch handy.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 9/06 at 3:54 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Google, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines

November 8, 2006

Image analysis makes Like easy to love.

I'm for any search engine that makes my shopping job easier and so I'm super excited about Lisa not being here so that I get to do the review on Like.com.

Like.com is an alpha product from Riya that bases its suggestions on pictures of items or celebrities. You can search their index or browse by product categories (just four right now: jewelry, watches, shoes and handbags. They promise that more are coming soon.) Their About page claims to be the first true visual search engine and says:

Key features of Like.com include:

• Likeness Search™ - the ability to search by image instead of text;
• Like Detail™ - finds items that have a specific feature you like (such as a buckle, straps, bezel, etc);
• Like Color™ - find color variants of the item you desire;
• Like Celebrity™ - find clothing, shoes and accessories similar to those worn by your favorite celebrities;
• Like Upload™ - the ability to upload your own photo of your favorite item and find the same or similar products, coming soon.

Because it's always fun to steal the fashion of the stars, I started there. There are several famous women to choose from; I went with Sienna Miller. Once chosen I was presented with four pictures of Sienna, each with a different item isolated--shoes (very cute Mary Janes), earrings (really pretty teardrop shapes), and two different purses (one purple clutch and one black handbag). The items were repeated at the bottom of the page with Like's best guess match. The shoes lost their patent leather shine and flowers and the clutch mysteriously gained a handle. The earrings were, as far as I could tell, pretty close though the picture was too small to really scrutinize them. The site would benefit a great deal from a zoom function.

Anyway, I went with the earrings because I was least tempted by them (I don't have pierced ears, it's a long story.) Now I was in the real search section. Three sliders--color, shape and pattern--sit at the top while the original image is available on the side for comparison. The other neat thing is that you can draw a box around part of the image so that you're matching just that. After playing with it for a few minutes, I felt the urge to pierce my ears again and that never ends well, so good-bye Sienna, thanks for the fashion advice.

Back on the main page, I decided to go shoe shopping. More celebrities appeared on this page as well as a breakdown into categories by types of shoes. Resisting the urge to check out Catherine Zeta-Jones's heels, I went for casual shoes, choosing sneakers on the drop down. Again, I was trying to not be tempted into buying something.

On the next page, I was dismayed to see that my options for narrowing down what I was looking for were limited to Brand and Site. No color selector? No shape or pattern? Where were my sliders and check boxes? I was stuck looking at ugly white sneakers. Page two was a little better (hey, look! A black shoe!) and I clicked on the likeness search for a very cute pair of Adidas. Once on the likeness match page, my sliders and choices came back. Excellent.

Deciding that I didn't really care all that much about color, I deemphasized that quite a bit and pumped up the shape (too many heels and boots showing up in the matches.) After a bit of perusing, I clicked on some Diesel running shoes. Breadcrumbs at the top of the page tracked my progress with pictures of the shoes I'd looked at so far. Nice. I didn't get the shoes (…today) but I definitely will keep them in mind.

All in all it was a fairly seamless experience. What I'd really like is a favorites feature so that I can go back and compare all the things I'm interested in. It would also be awesome to be able to point the engine to a picture of my own choice and have it return products based on that. Riya's been working on it (notice that it says coming soon in their key features) and when they manage it, Like will be a killer.

Of course, the real question is not, "did Susan find shoes to wear to the next soccer game?" but "hey, I sell shoes, how do I get my items into Like so that I can benefit from all this traffic and sell my shoes to Susan?"

Fret not, Like.com offers an add products page on their site. Fill out your company's information and Web site URL. Make sure that your product description are clear and contain the sort of things that Like is looking for: color, material, type, brand. Optimizing for visual search is a different beast but some of the same principles apply--be clear, be relevant, don't be deceptive.

As for me, I'm an equal opportunity shoe buyer and I respond well to sales and special discounts. I'm a size 8.

Don't like my review? Check out Danny's trip through Like at SEW. He's got a collection of links to other review and similar search engines.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 11/ 8/06 at 12:22 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 7, 2006

Search Marketing: Bid Management

My next ad:Tech session touched on the subject of bid management for PPC, and included famed panelists Jon Ostler (First Rate), Martin Fleischmann (MostChoice) and David Berkowitch (360i).

Pay per click has become increasingly popular as site owners realize the potential to earn, controllable rankings. Of course, as the number of players in the game increase, so does the competition. As a result, it’s becoming critical to achieve the right balance between cost and positioning. This is where bid management tools come into play.

Jon Ostler started the session by identifying several types of PPC big management strategies.

Obviously, there is the basic settings, which allows you budget, use phrase matching, target positioning, day parting, etc. Most PPC campaigns will start here.

The next option highlighted was position bidding. This is when you decide that you want your ad to remain at a specific bid position. It’s particularly helpful for branding purposes, but could get very expense, very fast if you forget to specify a max bid. If you are going to use it for branding purposes, the panel recommended keeping your site in the top three listed. Position Bidding works best for terms with a high conversion rate.

Next on Jon’s list was return bidding. Return bidding adjusts bids based on cost per acquisition, cost per sale and ROI. The panel recommended using this option for phrases with lower conversion rates.

Another method mention by Jon was time-based bidding. Time-based bidding allows you to lower or raise bids based on the time of day or the day of week. A lot of advertisers find this very useful, especially when they want to sync their cross-media advertising.

For example, say you have a television commercial that runs during prime time on Monday nights. You may want your ad to only run during those times when users are more likely to be thinking about your brand. Or another option, maybe you want to have your ad appear when you know competitor ISN’T running theirs. Get the exposure for lower the cost!

Those were the main bid management strategies focused on by the panel, but that is no means an exhaustive list. Whichever bid management method (or methods!) you decide to go with, make sure you’re not flying blind. Understand what your model is about before you go with it.

Here are some factors to take into consideration before deciding:

• Where do you want to be?
• How many leads do you want to generate? What is the cost per lead?
• What is your budget?
• What management tools are your competitors using?
• How will variables affect your campaign?
• Pick your battles.

That last one struck me. It’s important to pick your battles on your Web. If a competitor jumps higher than you for one of your keywords, ask yourself if it’s worth the battle. If it is and that term is important to you, pressure them for the spot – outbid them, try and push them to go higher or penny them down. But if it’s not worth it and fighting will only generate ill will, let someone else go after them. The people you anger today, will anger you back tomorrow. Break the cycle.

JupiterMedia reports that paid search is one of the fastest growing categories online, and with good reason. Studies show that if you appear in both the organic and paid search results, you’ll do better on both listings. The double exposure makes you appear more credible and increase your expertness, so bid wisely.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 7/06 at 3:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Pay Per Click / Online Ads, ad:tech New York 2006

A new business model for Australian copyright holders: Sue Google

I suppose it's a good thing that Australians have such a go-it-alone, maverick sense of adventure because if Google is correct search engines may have to abandon Australia because of a new law that will make comprehensive indexing impossible.

According to the AFP story, the crux of the problem is that legislation in the Australian senate "could open the way for copyright owners to take legal action against search engines for caching and archiving." Obviously this is a nightmare for Google (and Yahoo! and Ask and MSN and any other search engine) because right now the engines have an opt-out policy of indexing. To protect themselves from copyright infringement suits, the engines would have only two choices: get permission from every (!) copyright owner individually or pull out of Australia altogether.

Given a choice between the two, what do you think the engines would pick? From the sound of the article, Google seems to be leaning toward the latter, a choice which would seriously hurt the ability of Australian companies to play in the global market.

Let's not forget either the damage to the fledgling search engine marketing community in Australia. In terms of search engine optimization, it's still the Wild West in Oz; losing Google would be sort of like kicking everyone off their homesteads and telling them to go back to the old country. Yikes.

The Australian government claims that the laws are written to keep pace with the rapidly changing technology of the Internet but it's hard to see how that can be when they're missing the most basic aspect of putting your content on the web. If you want to be found, you have to be in a search engine to do it. Google isn't going to ask you if you want to be spidered and indexed, they're just going to assume that you do.

That's why you're on the web in the first place, right?

Apparently Australia is looking to join the growing number of countries and organizations that disagree. AFP itself sued Google for copyright infringement and of course, we all know what's going on in Belgium. If the trend toward opt-in instead of opt-out continues, the search engines might find themselves being made obsolete and we'll wind up back in the world of directories ruling all again.

On the other hand, it’d be nice to see DMOZ having to actually be relevant.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 11/ 7/06 at 2:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in International, Search Engine Optimization

Running a successful viral campaign

We’ve written about the power of word-of-mouth marketing campaigns before, so today’s Intricacies of a Great Viral or WOM Marketing Program session was especially interesting to me. I also happen to think WOM is something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, so I’m always happy when sessions like these arise.

The session got off to a humorous start when Zdeneck Kratky introduced attendees to Norelco’s ShaveEverywhere campaign. If you’re not familiar with the campaign, go check out that site (but come back!) and peruse the collection of videos.

Aside from just being humorous and blush-inducing, Zdeneck’s example showed the power of attacking even sensitive issues head on. If you appear uncomfortable with what you’re marketing, so will your users. (I’ll never look at a peach the same way again *shivers*)

Jason Woodmansee took over once Zdeneck finished embarrassing the group and outlined a strong WOM strategy. What I really liked about what Jason was offering was he talked a lot about establishing a presence in a market where a dominant player is already exists. I’m sure it’s something a lot of attendees could relate to (perhaps Yahoo should have been there…) and it put a whole new spin on the concept of getting your message out.

Jason’s strategy involved four basic steps.

Prepare the field -- Before you launch your viral campaign, leak rumors that something may be in the works. Google is the king of this. How many times have we ‘accidentally’ discovered a new beta they were working on or a new service that was about to be released. By getting the information out early, it puts your name back in user’s top of mind and makes people more receptive to what you’re offering.

Let consumers to do your marketing – If you’re having an event, invite bloggers and other media and let them do the work for you. You’d be surprise how a bunch of enthusiastic voices can stir up positive attention. Many bloggers have very loyal audiences, if you win them over, you’ll win over their audience. This is a great way to promote good will and get ‘more authentic’ buzz.

Get the product in the hand of influencers – Bloggers aren’t the only people who can help put fire under your viral campaign. Before your campaign goes public, send consumers of your most prized demographic a sample of your product. Go out to message boards and give them a special link or code to get an advanced copy of whatever you’re selling. This will generate an awareness and an interest in your product, and you may even see people posting positive reviews on the message boards.

Start the official marketing campaign – Now that people are talking and buzz has already been generated, it’s safe to launch your official marketing campaign. Your audience is already waiting.

Your job isn’t over once your launch your campaign. It’s important that you monitor the conversation about both you, and your product. In today’s market, not only do you have to market what you make, you also have to market who you are. Users won’t buy your products if they don’t trust who you are and what your company represents.

And don’t underestimate the power of negative feedback. Rumors and conspiracy theories grow like wildfires on the Internet. If you don’t monitor your buzz, you may find yourself quite surprised to hear what people are saying behind your back.

The best way to monitor the conversation is to join in. Find out where your users are expressing themselves and be there. Create a portion of your web site, perhaps a company blog, which will address and add to these online conversations. Maybe you should start a newsletter or offer an opt-in RSS feed. Create SEM initiatives that use relevant keywords to invite visitors into your site.

Most importantly, if you do add a voice, it has to be an honest one. This includes being honest in your relationships with other people, your opinions and your identity. Remember what happened to Edelman.

WOM is the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. Start your viral campaigns off on the right foot and you’ll have a greater chance at success.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 7/06 at 10:29 AM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Branding, ad:tech New York 2006

SEO Optimization Strategies and Tactics

The SEO Optimization Strategies and Tactics panel gave users valuable tips for creating a sound organic search engine optimization campaign.

First up, Gary Smith.

Gary's speech focused on optimizing your entire Web site, from top to bottom. According to Gary, optimization isn't just about making a few pages engine-friendly or identifying keywords, it's about making the entire site a subject matter expert. Long time readers know that we couldn't agree more.

In order to do this, you have to optimize for both broad and niche (long-tail) terms. These niche or long tail terms have a much higher conversion rate than the broad search terms. As a result, we're seeing the popular broad term search phrases are accounting for a smaller percentage of total search engine traffic and conversions.

Gary shared his recipe for optimizing the long tail:

• Create a content rich site to attract qualified traffic. The Long Tail is about individual pages.
• Whole Site Optimization - Optimize the entire site and get it indexed to maximize keyword combinations and traffic, which is a challenge for large sites.
• Search Saturation - you want to appear in more searchers than your competitors.
• Analyze your site content and keyword combinations and match pages with the search terms people are actually looking for and look for gaps. When you find the gaps, plug them by creating content to meet that need.
• Scalability

Gary applies this 'recipe' for long-tail terms, but really, adhering to Gary's ways will give you a good basis for creating any type of search engine optimization campaign.

Next up was Ellen Duffie-Fritz who gave tips for increasing your site's link popularity by following the strategy outlined below:

Internally

• Every page of content must be accessible to the engines and to users.
• All links should be text base to encourage spiders to crawl the entire site.
• Anchor text should always use important keyword phrases.

Externally

• Create a list of respected sites in your industry that would give you the highest "vote of relevancy" and obtain links from them.

Authoritatively

• Create compelling content to encourage linking. Content can be in the form of unique tools, proprietary content or rich information.

Up next, Brian Kaminski (iProspect) who focuses on customizing search engine strategies to your specific site needs.

It's natural that every site will have different goals for SEO. Understand your organization's strengths and weaknesses and build your strategy based on your own objectives. If you're just starting out, don't try to do too much at once. Make sure to cover the basics (technology, metrics, etc) before moving on to more complex issues (audience, conversions, credibility). Getting proportions right is what will help your campaign to be successful.

Once you get those set, here's a list of other tools you may want to consider to increase traffic:

• Create optimized press releases
• Images/PDFs
• Video Search Engine Optimization
• Local Search
• YouTube strategy
• Blogging
• User Generated Content

Lynne DeRoche discussed how to take your site from invisible to center stage.

Why is it important that your content be searchable? Lynn noted that increasing searchable content gives you more 'chances' to appear on the engines' SERPs. It also helps you stand out from your competition and establish yourself as an expert. All the great content in the world won't matter if no one knows you exist.

Lynne shared four search engine optimization strategies to improve your content:

Map strategic keyword phrases

• Lynne recommends only optimizing for one or two keyword phrases per page (we typically recommend 3 or 4 related words) to not dilute your efforts.
• Don't force your content. Google SEO = a good user experience.
• Is this an appropriate entry page for you consumers? Is it contextually relevant? Will it meet users' needs?

Improve your Site's Crawl-ability

• Spiders can't find text 'hidden' behind drop down menus, text-based forums, JavaScript navigation or Flash. Instead, create text based versions of Flash elements or links found in drop-down menus.

Build New Pages

• You may find it necessary to build new content to appeal to new keywords or site goals. Remember that all new content should appeal to search engines and search engine users.
• Think carefully about page placement - give pages a 'home' within your site navigation.

Build a Theme

• Create keyword-rich text, using keyword phrases 2-3 times per page.
• Include targeted keywords within your URLs.
• Leverage keywords within link text.
• Include keyword in title and description tags.
• Use the keyword phrase intact.

Some great words from our panelists here. I think if you're looking for the ultimate SEO optimization strategy, combing the advice of Lynne and Gary will help your site see strong rankings.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 7/06 at 10:14 AM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization, ad:tech New York 2006

The Online Video Revolution

Maybe it’s because it’s 9am and people are still jazzed up from their morning coffee, but these early morning keynotes are turning out some powerful stuff.

This morning’s keynote was entitled “The Online Video Revolution: A Marketer’s Dream or a Consumer-Generated Mess?” and was delivered by Paul Sagan (Akamai Technologies), Suzie Reider (YouTube), Jonathan Klein (CNN), and Sarah Fay (Isobar Communications).

It doesn’t take much to see that over the past year, users have been very vocal about wanting to see online video. Sarah Fay noted that the number of users watching television shows online has double since this time last year; YouTube’s Suzie Reader stated that 65,000 videos are being uploaded a day to YouTube, with far more than 100,000 videos being watched; and over at CNN, Jonathan Klein says users can’t get enough video – the more video CNN uploads, the more users who are watching.

Regardless of how you feel about it, video is here to stay.

One thing I found interesting was that, when asked by moderator Drew Ianni what was on her top of mind, Suzie Reader responded:

“How do we take the YouTube environment, capture what’s going on and bring marketers into it in a meaningful way without messing it up.”

An important statement because I think that’s on everything’s mind these days. How do you take something so controlled by users and not let it get away from you? And then, how do you let marketers in without allowing them to affect (and ultimately destroy) what users have created naturally for themselves?

Sarah Fay, who was in my eyes the star of the panel, smartly noted that consumers have always had a ton of control over the success of brands, whether the brands purposely gave it to them or not.

Sarah Fay stated (slightly paraphrased):

“People are tuning out ads. By letting them create their own media on your site, it’s an attempt to try and bring them back into your brand. It’s a way to show the consumer that you trust them and that you are willing to let them have a voice in your world. There’s always going to be risk and potential for backlash, but if you respond in the right way it’s ultimately a positive thing.”

By far the smartest statement I’ve heard in the past day and a half.

The panel also noted that users’ patience threshold is dropping at a rapid rate. In years passed it was said that a user would give your site 7 seconds to load before eyeing the back button. Now that number is down to less than 4 seconds. With users becoming increasingly more impatient, how do you create a system that uploads video as fast as users create them and how do you instill editorial control without creating a delayed system?

This problem becomes intensified for a site like YouTube. When YouTube launched it unleashed a system where brands have thousands of publishers instead of just one (themselves). YouTube (or perhaps now Google) will need to create an infrastructure that constantly able to handle the increase demands of users.

Infrastructure concerns are what separate online video from television and other forms of media. With television, it doesn’t matter what time of the day you watch or how many other people are watching the same show – it always works. On the Internet, if you air a program between 12pm and 2pm EST, it degrades severely because it’s the busiest time of the day. Along the same lines, if too many people try to access the same site, that site will crash

But customers don’t care. They expect higher performance with immediate, perfect results. If you don’t give it to them, they’ll find someone who will.

This was a great keynote and touched on a number of important issues facing online video. If you look at social networking and video, the consumption rate is going up at an alarming rate, which presents a big opportunity for marketers.

I have to admit, it was surprising to hear these panelists talk about online video in such a powerful way. It’s clear they don’t view consumer-generated media as the mess I thought they would. Instead, they understand its potential and are working hard to try and leverage it the most efficient way possible. Which is exactly what you should be doing.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 7/06 at 9:10 AM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Branding, ad:tech New York 2006

November 6, 2006

The Anywhere Consumer

Monday night’s keynote was delivered by the Yankee Group’s Emily Green and focused on the emergence of the Anywhere Consumer. It seems that according to Emily, a battle is upon us.

What’s creating the Anywhere Consumer

The Anywhere Consumer refers to today’s customer who is available anywhere, at anytime, as a result of the emerging technology. This new type of consumer was ultimately formed through the rise of broadband, the constant connectivity of today’s Anywhere Network, and what Emily called "the Trinity", which includes:

• Mobility – Extends the value of all consumer services, like voice, messaging, imaging, audio, video, socializing, etc.
• Network Applications – The computer has developed into our network, while the Web has been demoted into the content platform.
• Entertainment: The motive force behind the next generation of home devices, mobile devices and consumer electronics, services and apps.

The battle of the anywhere experience

According to Emily, the stage is set for battle between The Imperialists and The Guerilla’s, but who are they?

The Imperialists are the Telcos, the wireless operators, cable companies and retailers who work off a subscription business model. They are the old dogs in the fight still holding onto their old networks and infrastructure. They want to guide consumers into the future with a gentle embrace of connected, managed devices in the home and on the go. They fear the loss of control that comes with users venturing off their networks.

The Guerillas are the Web 1.0 survivors, PC vendors, bloggers and podcasters. They believe that consumers will reject the old Imperialist services and will instead opt for network platforms that allow them to be connected without relying on the Telcos infrastructure. This group works off an advertising subscription or transaction business model -- or maybe even none at all.

Emily harks that unless Imperialists see the light and upgrade ad networks, appease Wall Street, and protect their bandwidth, while still moving at the speed of the consumer marketplace, The Guerillas will be victorious in battle with few of the network providers surviving.

Marketing to the anywhere consumer

There are three ways to reach today’s Anywhere Consumer:

• Broadband TV (watching cable channels via your PC) – When polled by Yankee Group, 55 percent of users who bought subscription video said they were also interested in having TV channels delivered to their PC. It’s become more apparent that users want to take their television shows out of the TV set and enjoy them on their own time.
• Mobile Information Services – Studies have shown users are very interested in using mobile information services, especially if they get it for free in exchange for watching advertising.
• Mobile TV – An interesting study of Korean mobile TV users found that drama and music videos far surpassed news and sports for preferred genres. Most surprisingly, the average viewing time was 20-30 minutes – that’s a full episode of television!

The biggest challenge right now for mobile is that many users find it too expensive. People fear how much it will cost, and fear that browsing once will sign them up for a monthly service. Marketers are working to combat this.

The impact of ‘anywhereness’

What will happen as the idea of ‘anywhereness’ begins to grow in the industry?

• Users are showing a need for media to be fluid. They want to be able to download music and video and be able to listen to it on a variety of platforms. Media can no longer be anchored.
• Network providers will realize that the information they have about their audience is the most valuable asset they have, not the actual network.
• There will be ‘mobility premium’. Mobile media providers will have to establish what the mobile premium will be. How much money, time, commitment can we expect users to make?
• Platforms will continue to diversify and consumers will continue to lean towards the ad-supported models that cost them less.
• Users have to work at not being reachable, instead of the other way around.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 6/06 at 7:54 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Weekend Roundup

It's a quiet Monday here in the Bruce Clay office because all the cool kids are off in New York for ad:Tech. This includes Lisa and does not include me, which tells you which of the two of us is actually cooler. (No, I'm not bitter. Much.) If you're at ad:tech, make sure you track her down and say hello.

(By the way, I owe her cookies so buy her one for me, won't you?)

First up, Rand graciously responded to Lisa's plea on Friday and explained for us the meaning of moz. (The short version? It means open. The long version is worth a read.) Thanks, Rand! Rebecca is safe for another day.

Also in good stuff from Rand is his unofficial Speaker's Guide. It's a nice look inside what to expect if you're speaking and what to expect from your speaker.

Normally we hold our attaboys for the newsletter but this one struck me as something that should probably get a mention before then. Without Inside Google, I'd never have known that in October Microsoft raised 63 million dollars for charity. Kudos to Microsoft for running the campaign and matching the donations. And even more kudos to the 58% of Microsoft employees who gave so generously. There are a lot of jokes about Redmond being evil that it's easy to overlook when they do good stuff like this.

If you haven't heard that Google is going to be running a limited newspaper ad trial, thanks for making us your first stop. Said Tom Phillips, Google's director of print advertising, "This is money that our advertisers would spend with us if we had the online inventory for them to spend it on."

Understandably that kind of language makes newspapers nervous that they're going to be the dumping ground for excess ads but let's remember that this is Google and contextual advertising is Google's favorite topic. If they can't find relevant advertisers to fill the ad space, they'll just stick a PSA in there instead. I hear they don't get nearly the same click through rates though.

I can't decide if this is fantastic or horrific. But now I want sushi.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 11/ 6/06 at 3:14 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Fireside Chat with the SEO Experts

Though I’ve never had the chance to attend it before today, I’ve always been a big fan of this Fireside Chat with the SEO Experts session, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Bruce is one of the co-presenters. It just always struck me as the perfect way to run a session – let people ask questions and allow them to get answers from people who actually know what they’re talking about. It sounds simple, but it’s really not.

Today, Bruce and Dana Todd were on hand to discuss a number of important search engine optimization issues, including technical, content, linking, and server and architecture-based issues. A lot of excellent information and tips were revealed in this fast-paced sessions, so I’ll highlight some of the main points here.

Technical issues

• Keyword Density – in order for you to hit the ideal density for your keywords, you need to know how the engines index data. Bruce defined ideal density as the top of a bell curve, with most sites either falling either over or below the optimum mark. True keyword density goals will be determined by the index as a whole. Each of your keywords will have a different density.
  
  To find your keyword density, you want to look at what your competition is doing and figuring out how many times they’re using a word.
• Bruce on code: “Keep it simple, do it right and you’ll be okay.” Some sage words there from our Bruce.

Content Issues

• Optimize for both broad and targeted words. Dana Todd noted that she doesn’t waste time on words that have less than 200 monthly searches, but really marketers should be more concerned about the ROI.
• Misspelled words belong in the Meta Keyword tag and only in the Meta Keyword tag.
• Don’t optimize for research terms and shopping terms on the same page, it will dilute your rankings for both. Each page should target a unique set of keywords that help reaffirm your theme.
• Search engines are looking at the intent of the query to determine if you could be a subject matter expert. If your site has a lot of content, you’ll have a greater chance of being labeled an expert than a thinner site.
  
  If you want to experiment with this, head over to mindset.yahoo.com and see how the SERP changes based on the position of the slider.
• The search engines will determine your site’s theme internal navigation and depth of content.

Linking Issues

• Dana: Linking is the online method of namedropping at a cocktail party. It’s not just who you know, but who knows you. (Awesome!)
• Just like with dating, it’s quality, not quantity that counts when measuring the importance of inbound links. The strongest inbound links are links from respected sites in your industry.

Server and Architecture Issues:

• If the spiders can’t crawl through your site, you won’t be in the index. This has a lot to do with architecture and the kind of technology you’re using (i.e. Flash).
• Be aware that hosting companies have been known to accidentally block the search engine spiders in order to save bandwidth.
• If your server is slower than the person next to you, the engines will spider less content and your site won’t appear as deep.
• The more technological complicated your site is, the harder it is for the engines to crawl.
• Use W3C to check your site for compatibility with HTML standards.

Greatest Line of the Session

"Paid Inclusion is like SEO on steroids" – Dana

Heh. Great session guys. Tons of top-notch information!

On to the next…

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 6/06 at 2:32 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization, ad:tech New York 2006

Mobile Marketing 101

This was a packed session, which should come as no surprise given all the attention that the mobile Web has received over the last month. Mobile marketing is being called the “any” era because customers are always on and always available for a one-on-one dialogue. Like Visa, the mobile web is suddenly everywhere you want to be.

Establishing a company presence on the Web means that you have access to your audience whenever and wherever they happen to be. It’s your job to deliver the right message, to the right customer, at the right time. As mobile becomes important, it means integrating mobile into your already established campaigns.

Mobile can build brand awareness, generate revenue, drive up attendance to events, encourage engagement and improve customer loyalty. Basically, it’s the Swiss army knife of marketing, with tools you never knew you didn’t have.

But how do you start? What should you keep in mind when creating your first mobile initiative? Here are some tips.

• Panelist Laura Marriot noted the first step in your mobile marketing campaign should be to define your strategic objectives. Your goals don’t have to be complex, but you should be able to define them in order to measure success later on. Let your customers dictate where you choose to stick your toe in the water. They’ll tell you what sites they are interested in, don’t try and dictate them.
• Find a carrier that you’re compatible with. Realize that your audience is also the customer of the carrier, meaning they may dictate what you’re allowed to do. If carriers aren’t 100 percent on board with your marketing campaign, they may shoot down your marketing ideas. Know this in advance.
• Another tip, understand that mobile marketing really is similar to marketing on the traditional web. Its choices may be more complex, but the actual medium is no different.

What about obstacles?

According to panelists, the biggest obstacle to mobile marketing is coming up with a valuable consumer proposition so that users want to communicate with you. Your first meeting about mobile should be why a consumer should let your company send them a text message. There must be some sincere value or users won’t opt-in. Your mobile marketing campaign should address user needs, not your own.

A second obstacle is the lack of education. Getting the word out about mobile marketing is still a difficult process. Users are more engaged now than before, but there is still a hesitation to accept a new format. The existence of browser charges is always keeping many users off the Web.
On the marketing side, many companies still don’t know what it means to market on the Mobile web, so there’s a learning curve that needs to be addressed there, as well.

To sum things up, the panelists gave their predictions on where will mobile marketing go in 2007?

• Mobile video
• Mobile search
• More locally-based

Overall, this panel gave a good introduction to mobile marketing. I would have loved to have seen more in-depth analysis and more information on starting a mobile campaign from scratch, but this session gave more tips than new information. Maybe next time.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 6/06 at 2:20 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Branding, ad:tech New York 2006

Finding the value in consumer generate media

It’s a well known fact in the office that I have two very serious crushes. The first is on a certain Seattle-based SEO and the other is on brilliant video blogger, Ze Frank (congrats on your two Vloggies, Ze!). The latter is sitting on a panel about 5 feet in front of me and part of me just wants to hide under the chair (the other part just won’t stop staring).

Ze is taking part on today’s Consumer-Generated Media's Role in The Engagement Equation, along with Terry Pittman (AOL Digital Services), Jonah Peretti (Huffington Post) and Bob DeSena (Mediaedge:cia).

Today’s session was supposed to help marketers identify the individuals who are engaged, determine their engagement level and predict what their response will be to a product based on that level. But none of that happened.

It didn’t happen because among the panel (as well as on the Web in general), no one could agree on what the term “engagement” actually meant. If we can’t define it, how can we add value to it?

Bob DeSena started the session by giving users the ARF definition of the term engagement, which is:

“Turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context.”

What does that mean? I have no idea. It takes a vague concept and somehow makes it even harder to distinguish. Bob noted that even when first formed, the definition he gave was thought of as a “working definition”, and he agreed it didn’t accurately reflect the term.

That’s kind of lame.

Moving on, he saved himself (in my eyes) by noting that engagement is really a symptom, not a cause. If you deal with engagement by talking solely about engagement and not your product, you end up with a lot of talk and no product. Terry Pittman says, sometimes “it’s all about the product, stupid”.

Absolutely.

For Ze, engagement is about learning to take advantage of this huge distribution platform that is the Internet. It’s about facilitating energy stages and figuring out how to play with it. (Facilitating energy states? Sexy.)

I think what Ze’s saying is that you have to learn how to use the Internet to give your users what they want in a new way. It’s about bringing something new to the table that will make users voluntarily interact with it. It’s similar to what David spoke about in his keynote earlier this morning.

And it wasn’t just defining engagement that tripped up the panel, so did trying to put value to it. What defines an engaged audience? Is it measurable?

Yes it is, but you have to determine what’s more valuable – a unique visitor, a video download, a page view, that they perform some over specific action, etc? And when you determine a site has “more value” – more value than whom, in what regard?

For example, Ze Frank has a hugely popular video blog called “The Show” where users are actively (perhaps over-actively) engaged. But should advertisers pay more to advertise on ZeFrank.com than on a site where users are less engaged?

It depends on your site. Instead of blindly putting your ad dollars towards popular sites, do some research. Use the engagement of Ze’s site to get to know his audience. Then determine if his audience is valuable to you. Are the people who flock to Ze’s site (card-carrying Sports Racer right here), the kind of people who would be excited about what you’re offering? If they are, then yes, it’s worth paying a little more to reach them, if not, well, there’s your answer.

In the engagement war, it’s not just about finding an engaged audience, it’s about finding out where your audience is engaging and putting yourself there.

The one thing audience members took away from today’s panel was that site owners have to be “in the game”. They have to be there to see what’s working and what’s not. They should be going to interest points that are unexpected to customers. It doesn’t mean you’re losing control by following them, it means you’re reacting to your customers' movements.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 6/06 at 10:20 AM | TrackBack (0)
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From the Alley to the Avenue

Ad:Tech New York 2006 kicks off with a keynote by new media expert David Lumbars. The keynote was introduced by ad:Tech chair Drew Ianni, and if you missed it, you may want to start pestering Google about their time machine plans. This was one of the good ones.

David is Chairman and CCO of BBDO North American. He is something of a savant in the new media and television world, but his insights can easily be transferred onto the Web and implemented into your marketing strategy.

This morning’s keynote focused on the following topics:

• Brand planning
• Producing quality creative
• Dealing with short attention spans
• Engaging user controlled media

What I loved about David’s speech is that he really never answers any of the questions posed. Instead, he produces more questions and ultimately dares marketers to be creative enough to find the answers within themselves. I completely love that about him.

Drew Ianni questioned David about what’s on his top of mind right now. What are the things that he is focused on?

It seems that David, like most of you, is focused on creating things that are so great and engaging that users voluntarily want to go and grab it.

Well, sure, but how do you do that?

You make brilliant content and put it on a medium no one would ever expect. Don’t think about the new online video you want to make or the MySpace page you’re waiting to create for your client. Think about whom you’re engaging and how they like to be engaged. Think about the “what” before you determine the “how”. The medium will always follow.

As David stated, “I don’t care what the medium is, as long as it’s something people want to engage with… I’m just about reaching people.”

Amen, David.

David’s about reaching people, not offending them. When asked what keeps him up at night (in the context of his job. David was quickly reminded this wasn’t a Barbara Walters interview. Heh!), David answered that he fears now that there are so many ways to engage customers, we’ll upset them by bombarding them with too many ads and giving them no room to escape. By constantly asking users to engage, you risk upsetting them.

How do you get around this?

David answered his typical, “I don’t know” (David is not concerned with having answers to everything), but I think the way to get around this is to not to ask them to engage, but to make them want to. Make them seek out the experience. Put a lot of colors on your palette. Find mediums you didn’t know existed and be there.

For example, David talks about the grates that business owners in New York pull down at night to secure their shops. Artists are now using them to paint and create beautiful murals. Be where people don’t expect you to be. People will notice.

One of the best questions asked during the keynote was, “how do you convince a client to be doing something online or in mobile when they’re hesitant?”

The quick answer is you don’t.

You should never have to convince a client to do anything. If your insight is rich and deep, the work that falls out it should seem like common sense. It should be that Eureka! factor. The logical path you never saw before.

I love that. I think the reason David struck such a chord with me is because he reminds me of one of our Analysts. David is Bruce Clay’s version of Bradley.

Bradley Leese is one of Bruce Clay, Inc. most successful analysts. He’s nothing short of brilliant, and his mind works in the same abstract way that David seems to do. You see the tree bark and visualize the leaves. Bradley and David see the leaves and figure out how to connect it to the tree. They think outside the box and they create amazing things you never would have thought of. If you haven’t met our Bradley, he’s at ad:Tech right now, so come on down to the booth and introduce yourself. You can tell him Lisa sent you. :)

To end, David reaffirms that your quest as a site owner or marketer will always be to find something engaging and fulfilling. Unfortunately, there’s no gospel to tell you how to do this. Wherever the genius (madness?) comes from is entirely up to you. Go be mad!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 6/06 at 9:40 AM | TrackBack (0)
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November 3, 2006

Are you following Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship?

I’m sure you’ve heard about Andy Beal’s SEM Scholarship, which is actively on the hunt to uncover the next great SEM talent. We’ve been silently watching the past few weeks and have been pleasantly surprised (and admittedly impressed) with the amount of talent taking part in the contest.

If you’re not familiar, Andy is offering up a $5,000 scholarship, a host of mouthwatering prizes (including a full pass to SES Chicago, one-on-one training opportunities and educational resources) and giving SEMs top notch exposure, putting them in front of industry figures such as Mike Grehan, Lee Odden, Barry Schwartz, Kim Krause, Rand Fishkin and others.

Seems to me that getting your name in front of these guys is prize enough!

The deal is each week a new batch of contestants write and submit an SEM-related article that users will find useful. The writer with the most unique clicks at the end of the week is deemed the winner. Each week a new finalist is named (we’re onto week four now) and at the end the judges will select their favorite to take the ultimate prize.

Fun, right?

There’s still time to read the submissions for this week (there’s 20 of them!) and forward them off to your friends. The winner will be announced Monday.

It’ll be interesting to see who takes the top prize. So far applicants have been a mix of both familiar faces and relative unknowns, and article topics have been diverse as the writers themselves. What are the judges looking for – straight knowledge, a sense of humor, hire potential, a mix of all three? I’m sure the judges will make the right decision.

[Our somewhat-biased pick of the week? David Temple and his Shhhh!...the dirty little secrets about sem seo certification.]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 3/06 at 3:42 PM | TrackBack (0)
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MySpace is Dead. Long Live MySpace

Just recently, the Washington Post ran an article proclaiming the death of MySpace. The kids are moving on, claims the article. High school students, the ultimate arbiters of what's cool and what's not, are looking to Facebook for their social networking fix. MySpace is so last season. Facebook, which recently opened its membership beyond its previous college student only base, is the new hotness.

I'm just going to have to take their word for it, I suppose. I haven't been a teen in a few years and was never cool anyway. I don't have a MySpace and never will. (Sorry to all my friends who can't get a hold of me because of it. My cell phone still works! No, I still don't have text messaging.)

The gloom and doom of the article predicts dire things for Google who shelled out quite a bit to get their name on MySpace (they provide search) and who spent even more to acquire the currently white-hot YouTube. So if MySpace is losing the teen market, can YouTube be far behind?

Probably not. Even if the anecdotal evidence of one class of high school students can accurately chart the course of a web site with millions of users, this is what kids do after all. Popularity is a short-lived virtue among the teen set. Eventually someone will come up with a newer, shinier, edgy YouTube (or at least something that appears to be newer and shinier) and the teen market will move.

However, before you play taps for MySpace or YouTube, consider that according to an October fifth ComScore study, most of MySpace's users are over 35. At a guess I would say that YouTube's members are probably around the same age brackets. Those users aren't going to be as fickle as the teenagers (and not all teenagers will be as fickle as others.) Even if the buzz is going elsewhere, the disposable income isn't.

What the recent studies are really showing is that the population of these sites is becoming more like the general population. Less youth, more adults and that's just what happens as sites gain in popularity. Things mature and they become reflective of the world around them.

The real key here is not for advertisers to give up on MySpace, but to be sure they know who their ads are reaching. You've heard the saying before "I know that half of my advertising is wasted but I don't know which half."

What it's not is buying into doomsday articles that purport to tell the future of an industry still growing up. So what if MySpace is dead to the teenagers? If you're desperate for the eyes of the 14-17 year olds, MySpace might not be your best bet. Throwing your money at a target audience that isn't listening or present is wasting money. Do your research, know where to find your audience and aim your campaigns accordingly. Sometimes that's a simple task--you're going to find more women at HGTV.com than you will men. Sometimes it's a matter of watching the market.

Of course, we'll have to wait for a real study for that. Or ask a few more high school students for their opinions.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 11/ 3/06 at 2:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Friday Recap

Hi guys. Let’s get to it, okay?

We’ll start with some of this week’s Most Fun’s:

• Most fun game ever? Line rider. (via Rocketboom)
• Most fun video ever? This one. The only way this video could be made funnier is if we got Fernando to remake it. Unfortunately for us, he has far too much self respect for that. [Also a greater sense of self-preservation than shown in the video. --Susan] -- it’s because he went to Stanford.
• Most fun offer ever? Represent Ze Frank at the Vloggies and wear a Ze-provided duck suit. Wicked awesome!
• Most fun demo ever? The new Flash demo released by Ask. Why wasn’t I asked to be the quirky Ask-enthusiast female sidekick? I’m personally offended.

Earlier in the week, Jeremy Zawodny asked, What's your stripper name? (and got a good reaction out of Susan...) If you haven't played before, you take the name of your first pet and the street you grew up on and combine them. My stripper name is Bo Bo Cygnet. That’s hot. [I don't have a stripper name. I've never had a pet. --Susan] -- That explains so much about you…

I have to thank WebMetricsGuru for giving me the biggest laugh I had all week. Just go here. I’m still giggling.

Amusingly, the Music Industry Piracy Investigations developed a Web page to tell you if you're a pirate. I was totally tricked into clicking on this link. I thought it was going to ask me the name of my parrot or give me an eye test that I would ultimately fail. But, no. It just tries to make me feel guilty about downloading copyrighted music -- which I don't. I’m poor. [Neither do I but that's because I have Yahoo Music Unlimited which is awesome and everyone should get. --Susan] --/plug?

In Search of Stuff penned the Top Ten Ways to Build Your SEO Brand Through Paranoia because everyone knows the best way to get someone to do something is to scare the bejesus out of them. (Notice the URL is actually the top ELEVEN ways – we were cheated!)

The Google Operating Blog gave users 10 Tips for Google Image Search, which are totally fun and included things I never would have thought of. Like this one:

"2. If you don't know the meaning of a word, the pictures may help you."

Freakitude revealed 40 uses of Google, but there has to be way more than that. That list doesn’t include stalking. Hmm, can you think of any more? [Phillip has 55 ways to have fun with Google so I think Freakitude has work to do. --Susan]

Congrats to Matt Cutts for the best search-related Halloween costume I’ve seen thus far. His Jeeves was straight on – even if Matt refused to shave his head. My fiancé was particularly amused by his Silent Bob impression. Both were very good. Good going, Matt.

As you’ve probably read, IE7 has been officially released. What makes IE7 so different from the versions that came before it? Well, according to IE Platform Architect Chris Wilson, “it doesn’t actually suck”. Heh, yes, that would certainly be an improvement. [Team FireFox!]

Kathy Sierra wrote an awesome article entitled Why does engineering/math/science education in the US suck? If you haven’t read it, you should. I overheard two of our very intelligent analysts talking about this very topic yesterday. Both seemed apt to agree with Kathy. Personally, I can't count past twenty. I think math, I think pie charts and Pac Man.

Because sometimes you just need a little reassurance, someone found a giant Jesus Loves You that’s visible in both Google Maps and Google Earth. It’s like your own little virtual hug.

Phil Lenssen rewrote a girls’ love story for the year 2006. You know it’s bad when the object of your affection blocks you on AIM. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Over at SEOmoz, Rand created a great post where he explains How Much You Should Make depending on your position in SEO. It’s a pretty interesting roundup if you’re interested in seeing where you stand.

In totally unrelated news, I’ve decided I am going to hang up my blogging reigns and become a full time SEO! You’d trust me to optimize your site, right? I’m told I have a very honest face.

Side note: Rand, are you listening? After much thought, Susan and I have agreed that we have absolutely no idea what the ‘moz’ in SEOmoz stands for. It’s causing us both a great deal of stress. In fact, we often wake up confused and disoriented halfway to Seattle to kidnap Rebecca for answers. Please help us. All our love – the BC blog girls

This is interesting in a scary, is-he-serious kind of a way. Over at WebmasterWorld, one member wants advice on “finding help” (help=people) without breaking the bank. He’s apparently in favor of hiring people who are too dumb to ever become competition and giving people “small jobs” so they can never see the big picture. Oy. There are so many things wrong here.

Also, in case you missed it, the SEO Newsletter went out this week. Its chock full of October's goodies, and includes articles touching on Site Usability and Keyword Research. If you like what read, subscribe!

P.S.

Just a reminder that I’ll be jumping on a plane and heading to New York this weekend for Ad:Tech, so expect session updates all next week. Also, if you’re attending the show or just a NY resident, drop me an email and we’ll meet up. See ya there!

P.P.S

Bugs up close!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 3/06 at 1:36 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 2, 2006

Yahoo! Answers "What's For Dinner?"

This gets me excited for an assortment of horribly geeky reasons, but Yahoo! has just launched Yahoo! Food, a delicious one stop shop for recipes, video cooking guides, expert chef advice, food blogs and easy-to-use Web tools. Oh, there will be much dancing in my kitchen tonight.

The new vertical will pull content from sites like Allrecipes.com, Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Everyday with Rachael Ray and Wolfgang Puck, and let users share and rate recipes.

My favorite features is the quick recipe search which lets me search by which type of cuisine I'm in the mood for, how I want it prepared and what ingredients or spices I want to avoid. It basically ensures I will create something I'll actually eat (which is a big issue for me) and that I'll still be alive after I eat it. [That one is a big issue for me. --Susan]

There are two reasons being reported for the launch – first, an increased demand by advertisers, and second, that Yahoo! finally observed that approximately 1.5 million searches for recipes occur daily around 4 pm

(That's nothing. You should see the confusion that ensues over here around lunch time.).

Whichever reason is more accurate, I imagine it's the first, good for Yahoo! for listening to its audience and delivering what they want – a portal to yummy food!

More importantly than the yummy food (but not more important than pumpkin pie), this should make Yahoo! a fast friend to niche cooking sites looking for a more targeted place to advertise. Right now advertising options include branded recipes, banner ads, sponsorships and behavioral targeting based on users' movements.

Why use Google when Yahoo! offers niche cooking sites with a window leading to their most loyal audience – the 45 million users who flock to food sites every month. You have to think if only half of them make their way over to Yahoo! and only half of that number is enticed enough to click on one of the mouth-watering advertisements, Yahoo! still wins.

It's smart for Yahoo! to attack an area that Google (and others) has left largely undeveloped. And very smart for them to release so close to the holiday season when people live only to consume more food.

As usual, Yahoo will also use Yahoo! Food to tie in several of its other portals, including Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! Local.

All in all, a very good release by Yahoo!, far better than their other release today -- a plan to match souls. That totally gives me the creeps.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 2/06 at 5:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
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Ask/ Lycos Deal Is No Laughing Matter

It was announced yesterday that Lycos had paired up with Ask.com to deliver its Web, Image and Zoom Related search, as well as its sponsored listings. So far the industry reaction has consisted of a lot of laughs, disinterest and badly executed math equations. But this deal isn't as funny as you think, in fact, it's actually pretty smart.

While perhaps you haven't heard the name Lycos since the early '90s, more than 25.7 million unique visitors conducted a total of 125 million searches in September. Believe it or not, Lycos is the fifth most popular Internet portal in the United States and ranked as a top 20 US Web property. Lycos isn't as dead as everybody thinks it is.

Another thing, by signing this deal, Ask.com takes valuable search property away from both Microsoft and Google. Prior to this deal Lycos' Web and Image search results were pulled from Windows Live Search and its PPC ads were delivered by Google's. Now it's all Ask's domain. Smart.

This deal will increase Ask's exposure throughout the Lycos Network properties and perhaps even give it some legitimacy in the market. After all, Ask has to be doing something right for Lycos to leave Google and Microsoft behind.

A Lycos spokesperson told MediaPost that it was Ask's unique set of features that set it apart from the competition.

"For its part, Lycos said that it switched to Ask.com because it provides better overall search technology--including its Zoom feature, which offers suggestions to expand or narrow a search query. In recent months, Lycos has taken steps to expand its video offerings, including partnerships to add video search and a movie trailer site."

Lycos will look to Ask to help them strengthen their brand and make the transition into video.

I think this is a smart deal for both Ask and Lycos. Lycos gets more exposure from the Ask brand and, I imagine, someone more excited to be paired with them than Google and Microsoft were. Ask gets to increase its market share in both search and PPC, while also decreasing that of its competitors, mostly notably from Microsoft who is already struggling. They also get increased branding, as the Ask logo will be displayed on the Lycos homepage, as well as in several places on their SERP.

I think the reason this deal has been met by a lot of chuckles is because everyone expects Ask to sit on its laurels like Yahoo! and Microsoft seem apt to do. They expect them to roll over and play dead while Google eats up all remaining market share. But Ask isn't going to do that. Instead, they're making deals that are smart for them, seizing opportunities, and are actually taking market share away from competitors. That's nothing to laugh at.

After releasing promising third quarter results this week, results that showed Ask increasing revenue, Barry Diller said his goal is to have Ask reach 10 percent of the market share. Currently they are at 5.8 percent. It will be a long way to 10, but if this Lycos deal is part of Barry's plan to build that "interactive conglomerate" he keeps talking about, it may be doable.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 2/06 at 1:51 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Ask, Branding, Pay Per Click / Online Ads

What is Search Engine Optimization?

An interesting thread over at WebmasterWorld has grown some legs, asking "Can any SEO company be black hat free from Google's view?".

That may be the initial question posed, but based on the debate that occurred, I think the real question is what is search engine optimization and do Google and the rest of the engines support it?

Trying to define search engine optimization is never easy. It's one of those questions that you can ask a hundred people and get two hundred different answers. Some people will start talking about doorway pages, others will jump into a tirade about content and links, some will run away scared and then some will start talking about colors and hats for no apparent reason.

I try to avoid the good vs. evil debates as it pertains to SEO. Frankly, the white hat/black hat debate is tired. SEO isn't about hats (even if they do come in a multitude of shades). There is no good versus evil. Search engine optimization is a methodology and there are many ways to go about it.

Search engine optimization is about effectively communicating what you do to the search engines and your visitors, in order to increase traffic and ultimately conversions.

For me, that's the basic definition of SEO. Or at least that's how I would answer if anyone ever asked me, not that they ever will.

But of course, there are different ways to accomplish that task and different degrees of SEO, which is where the definition can get a little muddy. There are no hats here, so instead I'll refer you to the contrasting approaches offered by Tedster in the thread:

"Low Risk: Understand how Google measures relevance-trust-authority and clarify every possible relevance-trust-authority signal associated with a site and its urls.

High Risk: Look for and exploit loopholes in the way Google measures relevance-trust-authority, causing Google to rank a url higher than the actual intention when Google put the algo together."

For me, intention is the best way to look at it. Of course, there are obvious risk levels that would fall between low and high, but if you want to know what side of the fence you're on, ask yourself what you're trying to do.

Are you trying to learn the ways of the search engines to better communicate the topic of your site, or are you trying to find loopholes in the system to help your site 'earn' rankings by beating the algorithm?

That may seem like an over-simplified way to look at it, but I think it's a solid means to differentiate between the two (and to admit there is a difference). It also makes it crystal clear which the engines would be in favor of and which they wouldn't.

I think it's fair to say that the search engines benefit from low risk SEO. SEOs help companies to understand the rules of the engines, helping them to create better sites, which will ultimately rank better. The sites are easier to crawl, more tightly themed, and better structured so the engines can feel confident they are sending visitors to the "best", most expert site on the Web for that topic.

High risk SEO is a different beast altogether. It's less about creating the "best" site and more about creating "the most rankable" site. Search engines do not support sites that try to spam, bully, trick or scream their way into their SERP. The search engines are about providing value, not rewarding manipulation, as noted in their Webmaster Help Center.

If you want to know if the engines support search engine optimization, it depends on which level you're offering. If you're creating better, more tightly themed sites, then yes. The engines will probably reward you. If you're trying to expose flaws in their algorithms, well, the I think you'll find the rewards aren't as sweet or as long-lasting as you originally hoped.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 2/06 at 1:50 PM | TrackBack (0)
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November 1, 2006

The Internet Governance Summit Gets Heated

In case you're unaware, there's a UN summit on Internet governance currently going on in Athens and, if you have any degree of a Web presence, it's worth paying attention to. The conversation has gotten heated in the past few days, as representatives attempt to tackle a number of big dollar issues, including Web censorship and the dominance of the English language online.

Censorship in China: Net censorship in China once again came under fire, as a yet-to-be-named Chinese official said his main goal in attending the forum was to help "promote openness" in China regarding the Web. Comically, he vehemently denied allegations that Chinese officials censor the Internet for users in any way.

"In China, we don't have software blocking Internet sites. Sometimes we have trouble accessing them. But that's a different problem...We do not have restrictions at all."

Are there restrictions in China? Obviously, it doesn't take much work to prove that there are, but the official's statement is moderately accurate. Sort of. The Chinese government doesn't censor the Web; they merely threaten the ISPs to do it for them. Internet Service Providers are threatened into over-aggressively censoring material on the Internet or risk the government taking action against them.

The official followed up his first troubling statement with this one:

"We do not have restrictions at all [in China]. ... Some people say that there are journalists in China that have been arrested. We have hundreds of journalists in China, and some of them have legal problems. It has nothing to do with freedom of expression."

Eh, remember all this? I'd say their 'legal problems' were directly related to free speech.

It's statements like that which are dangerous, because they deny what's really going on in the country and impose a distorted sense of reality. It also makes people crazy. And, I imagine, slightly paranoid. If you're going to tamper with what people read and are exposed to, at least be upfront about it. Otherwise it gets even creepier.

English language dominance: Another hot topic being debated – the English-centric rules of the Web. When Internet guidelines were first established, there was a specification that stated domain names could "only include letters, digits and hyphens". Obviously, the ASCII-only way of the Web excluded domain names that used Chinese, Arabic, kanji or Cyrillic lettering. The issue at hand today is whether or not this infringes on rights of other cultures.

Of course it does. Not allowing other cultures to express themselves in their native tongue is absolutely infringing on their rights, but in a system as developed as the Web, how do we go about fixing it?

Well, there are actually already attempts in the work to fix the 23-year-old problem. For example, the newly released IE7, FireFox, Safari and other browsers have all been designed to support non-English characters in domains. Unfortunately, this isn't yet mainstream and we're seeing that many non-ASCII domains are often being used for malicious purposes. Like last year's PayPal.com spoof that used a Cyrillic letter "a".

People will always prefer (and demand) to express themselves in their native language. But, according to ICANN, it will have to be addressed slowly. The organization has been very public with their belief that haphazardly creating domain names using non-English letters could "break the Internet" for good. I don't know if he's right or not, but that's certainly a scary thought.

Either way, as more and more international countries increase their Internet usage, this problem will have to be addressed. And you, as a site owner with an international presence, will need to know how to address your new audience.

As you can see, there's lots of great debate going on right now in Athens, and it's important, even to us all the way over here in the States. If your company has dealings or customers in China, you need to know that your content may be blocked if it touches on certain topics. You'll need to figure out how to work around it or whether China is a market your company really belongs in.

If you're creating International sites, you need to know the rules for communication. What type of domain should you set up and what kind of characters can it use? How will users be able to search for it?

You need to know the policies that the Internet is based on. Decisions and changes that come from the forum going on in Athens or from similar forums happening around the world, may change the way your company does business on the Web.

If you'd like to stay current on all the on goings of the Internet Governance Forum (and you really should), the IGF site includes session transcripts, as well as web casts.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 11/ 1/06 at 4:25 PM | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in International, Search Engine Optimization