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January 31, 2007

Search Headlines

My brain is a little spent today but here are the search headlines you should be aware of:

• Andy Beal summarizes the long press release Google sent me which lets us all know that they’ve done it again. Somehow Google has nearly tripled their fourth quarter profit and brought in a net income of $1.03 billion. I have no words. I mean, surely at some point Google will already have dibs on all the money and market share in the world and they won’t be able to triple anything anymore, right?
• ShoeMoney interviewed Brian Axe of Google AdSense and got him to dish about the policy changes at Google AdSense, search engine arbitrage, YouTube revenue sharing, site revenue sharing and tons more good stuff. If you’re one of those people who can actually comprehend what you’re hearing in a podcast (I’m not), we encourage you to go listen to the audio version of Jeremy’s interview; if not, check out the blog.
• Matt McGee does a good job breaking down The 4 Most Underrated Pages on Your Web Site (via Andy).
• Dark Reading outlined Seven Ways to Be Mistaken for a Spammer (via /.)
• The SEO Blog dishes with Scott Smith on the subject of Web copywriting.

And some fun stuff for good measure:

• DazzlinDonna provides comfort in that I’m not alone in my opinion on the podcast. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why people like them; I just don’t have the attention span to listen to one without getting distracted.
• I know it’s not Friday, but I’m going to point to Boing Boing anyway. Today is National Gorilla Suit Day so if haven’t done your part, please go home and change. Thank you.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/31/07 at 5:40 PM | Comments (15)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

People Watching in the Blogosphere

Rebecca Kelley’s right; we do all blog for attention. Damn attention trollops, we all are.

If I’ve learned anything from the immediate, wide-spread adoption of MyBlogLog, and the emergence of sites like Technorati’s disappearing WTF site and the currently-in-beta Serph, it’s that everyone wants to know who’s talking about them and whose visiting their blog. We can’t even wait a day to find out; we have to know RIGHT NOW.

Let me ask you: How many times have you refreshed your MyBlogLog profile today? I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that but it’s clear a lot of us having been using the conversation to gauge our success. We once just resorted to googling ourselves every few days, but now we can’t even wait long enough for them to update their results.

Andrew Girdwood had an interesting post today. He blogged that his New Year's Resolution for 2007 was to do something with his blog. He comments that in January alone he has already blogged more than he did in 2006’s entirety. For me, that signals he’s been successful, but that’s not what he seems to be using to determine if he’s reached his goal or not. That’s apparently been charted out for him by his star-packed MyBlogLog Reader Roll which shows the faces of search wizards like Michael Gray, Kim Krause, Bill Slawski, and others. He rates his blog’s success by the collective celebrity of his readership.

I don’t know if I agree with that (I think his blog success is what got the famous faces there, not the other way around) but I think it’s interesting. I admit. Last week Chris Hooley suggested I hop on the MyBlogLog bandwagon and I have been hooked ever since. I love it because I can see who’s checking us out, but I hate it for the exact same reason – you can see I’m checking you out. How am I supposed to stalk my favorite search folk if they can see it every time I visit their profile? Counterproductive, I say. It’s completely different than hitting your local coffee shop and eavesdropping on the amusing conversations and bad fashion choices of others. Those people can’t see you.

And why does the emergence of ShoeMoney’s name on my profile page make me break into a sweat? Because I’m a search dork who cares (but is also frightened) that you’re interested in us. At the end of the day I suppose I’ve held on to that junior high mentality of just wanting you all to like me and not believing that you actually might. (Go ahead, you can “aw”.) [Oh brother. --Susan]

That’s also why I signed up to tryout the beta version of Serph which if you missed Search Engine Journal’s write-up yesterday, is like Technorati on crack. It reports up-to-the-minute what people are saying about you. I tried it out yesterday while the whole Andy Beal/Jeremy Zawodny firestorm was going on (glad to see you crazy kids worked it out!) and Serph was right there telling me who said what to whom right as it happened. Pretty cool stuff.

I think these sites are all great for people watching. It’s fascinating to me all the faces that have dropped by to check out my MyBlogLog profile. I hope you keep coming back to say hi, and more importantly, I hope you remember to add the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog to your community list (please?). We’re thrilled, shocked and humbled to have every one of you here, and we’ve really enjoyed watching our real community (as opposed to the MyBlogLog one) grow as we’ve opened up blog comments.

However, I’m going to be careful to not let myself use our Reader Roll or the frequency of my name in Technorati searches affect how I view the success of our blog. I think ultimately the success of this blog will be dependant on the same measure that Bruce Clay as a company always has been, on the quality of our content and the uniqueness of our search engine optimization services. It’s okay. You can aw. ;)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/31/07 at 5:34 PM | Comments (8)
See more entries in Blogging

The UK, Yahoo and PPC

We have a problem. Humor me for a moment, okay?

To a large extent, the success of a site’s pay-per-click campaign depends on its ability to target the highest-traffic, highest-conversion terms related to its products and/or services. It’s about going after the keywords that will bring your site the most visibility and the highest rate of conversions for the least amount of money. If you’re a UK-company looking to sell to UK customers, it’s probably pretty important that your ad is running in the right country, right? Right.

Unfortunately for some UK advertisers, Yahoo seems to be having a slight problem with this and is actually displaying ads completely outside of their intended realm.

I came across an interesting Threadwatch thread today where one member comments that UK Yahoo PPC ads are being displayed on non-UK sites and Yahoo claims there is nothing they can do about it.

The member explains that he recently launched a UK-based paid search campaign for a site geared towards people living the United Kingdom. Since Yahoo UK PPC ads are supposed to run only in the UK and Ireland, he was pretty surprised when he discovered them running on sites in Germany and Italy.

When the TW member asked Yahoo about the strange occurrence, this is what they told him:

“We would like to inform you that when you sign up with Yahoo! Search Marketing, you sign up to display your search listings in Yahoo! Search Marketing's search engine and in all of our partner search engines. Please note that unfortunately we cannot cancel the display of your search listings on any of the smaller search engines as you have listed.”

That doesn’t make sense, especially after they originally assured him that his ads were only running in the UK and Ireland. If Yahoo can’t control where they ads are run, why do they require advertisers to set up different Y!SM accounts for each of their 12 European-supported countries? I guess it’s possible that some of Yahoo’s affiliates are posting traffic on sites they shouldn’t and it’s being filtered out, but that’s somewhat unlikely.

I’m not sure if Yahoo has a problem with its country targeting or if they’re just unable to control where ads are displayed in general. You’ll remember back in May when Ben Edelman exposed Yahoo’s click fraud troubles in the US which spurred them to stop inadvertently (or not perhaps not inadvertently) running ads on low-quality spyware and adware sites. Maybe these cases are related, and maybe they’re not. Regardless, Yahoo seems to have a problem managing its publisher sites.

When Yahoo runs your ads on sites out of your intended target locale, it costs you money in unqualified clicks. Not to incite a riot of any sorts, but this may be considered another form of click fraud – charging advertisers to publish ads on high-quality sites and then replacing those sites with others unrelated to their business. The big advantage of contextual advertising is that you get to market yourself to the people who are interested in your products and will convert. Otherwise, why bother paying the high cost per click?

I was aware that Y!SM ran in twelve European markets, I just though advertisers had control over where their ads ran. I understand that if I set up a UK Y!SM account my ads will run in both the UK and Ireland, but I don’t want to waste my advertising dollars being charged for clicks coming from Austria and Switzerland. It doesn’t make sense and Yahoo should be able to do a better job controlling that.

If you’re a UK advertiser, we’d recommend taking a look at your campaign metrics to see if you’re being charged for clicks coming from outside your intended countries. If you are, it may be time to contact Yahoo and apply some pressure to get this problem resolved. As an advertiser, you can’t afford to be charged for clicks coming from misguided, un-targeted traffic.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/31/07 at 3:29 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Pay Per Click

January 30, 2007

Search Headlines

New Features Added To Yahoo Site Explore

The Yahoo Search Blog announced a few new features to Yahoo! Site Explorer today, including authentication via Meta tags, detailed errors on authentication failures, the Site Explorer Badge, and the ability to delete URLs from the index with one click.

The new version of Site Explorer is said to have been crafted based on user feedback gathered from feedback forums, message boards and from SES Chicago. Good work, guys.

Stuff I didn’t know about Wikipedia

There’s been a lot of talk lately about whether Google gives Wikipedia special treatment in its search results, which is perhaps what sparked Phil Lenssen’s interview with Mathias Schindler. If you haven’t read it, you should. Mathias reveals a lot of good information I was previously unaware of. [Like the lamest edit wars page, I spent all last night reading that and giggling. -Susan] - Wow, and Monday’s your big TV night too! :)

It’s a rather lengthy interview (at least for my ADD brain. Look, it’s raining outside) so I’ll go ahead and share some of the tidbits I found interesting:

• Google donated 187 shares of Google stock to the Wikimedia foundation.
• Forty to fifty percent of newly created Wikipedia pages show up in Google’s index within just 100 hours of creation.
• Google and Wikipedia currently collaborate on Google Co-op, Google Earth, and Google is also said to be scanning Wikipedia “for fact extraction” results.

I don’t know what to make of all this Google/Wikipedia talk. They’re just too chummy for me. I’d like to see Google back up a bit and to have Wikipedia NOT rank in the top three for every generic keyword phrase. I know people love Wikipedia, but this just doesn’t seem right. Wikipedia shouldn’t rank first for everything.

Fun Finds

Barry writes that Google has added Docs & Spreadsheet Integration with Gmail. The official Google announcement came yesterday, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been opening Word docs in Google Docs & Spreadsheet for at least a week or so now. And this may be old news as I’m usually blind to these things, but I also learned that Blogger has been integrated with Docs & Spreadsheets, as well. It looks like Google is working hard to flesh this one out. Hooray for cross product integration.

Guy Kawasaki pens The Top Ten Stupid Ways to Hinder Market Adoption, outlining some of the more popular ways companies discourage searchers from using or interacting with their site. I have to say, I’m with Guy on pretty much every one of these. Have you ever tried to explain to someone how to get to a window that doesn’t generate a URL? It’s like trying to explain to my mother over the phone how to program her universal remote to turn on the television. Seriously not fun.

This isn’t tied to any one piece of news but I’m quickly finding that Search Marketing Gurus is the place to be. The last time I checked, Li’s Reader Roll was showing the faces of Dave Pasternack (awesome!), Andrea Schoemaker, SEOFangirl, Graywolf, Jim Boykin, Marie Howell, and Lee Odden. Geez, how am I supposed to top that? Looking good, Li. :)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/30/07 at 4:17 PM | Comments (0)
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SEO Is Not Long Term or Short Term

In her ClickZ article entitled Short- vs. Long-Term SEO, Shari Thurow argues that search engine optimization can be broken down into two forms: short term and long term.

Not surprisingly, short term search engine optimization is the reactive ambulance-chaser approach where a site waits until their rankings fall and then frantically calls their SEO to “reanalyze” the search engines algorithm to get things straightened out. The long term approach to SEO, according to Shari, is where the site owner isn’t after a quick fix, but instead after “long-term, continuous, qualified search engine traffic”.

I agree with Shari that search engine optimization has different flavors, but I’m not completely comfortable calling optimization that focuses on best practices “long term”, because, to me, long-term implies there’s an end. You spend two years, five years maybe, working on your site and perfecting your optimization campaign, and then you can bask in premium search rankings bliss.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Search engine optimization is neither long term nor short term. It’s not a cake, cupcake, rocket science or an Oreo cookie. SEO is ongoing. Susan’s a big fan of her garden analogy, so I’ll stick with that and amuse her. In order for your site to bloom, it needs to first be set up correctly. You need the right seeds, to decide where everything will be planted and make sure it’s set in an area that receives ample sunlight. Then, once the seeds are planted, your search campaign fragile garden needs to be lovingly cared for. It needs to be watered daily, adjusted to address the varying weather conditions, and altogether tended to. It doesn’t need this for a year or two; it requires this for its entire life. Sort of like a baby, if you stop feeding your garden or your search engine optimization campaign, it will die.

I don’t know how other SEO companies work, but when we first take on a client we like to do a full assessment of their site to help us, and them, identify their unsightly problem areas. Be it large thighs, a troublesome mid section, or flabby arms, every site has its flaw and we uncover them with the purpose of cutting the fat and creating a leaner site. We’ll report back to you what we find and together we’ll craft a search engine optimization strategy for your site that addresses your individual site’s goals, both short-term and ongoing.

We understand that all of our clients have different needs, but we believe everyone can benefit from long term optimization. This doesn’t mean that we don’t offer solutions to immediately stop the bleeding and get your site back on track, but through our client relationships and SEOToolSet training class, we emphasis the importance of establishing a well-balanced, ongoing search engine optimization campaign. It’s not about time limits; it’s about making your site an expert and keeping it that way.

We’ve been around long enough to know that taking a reactive approach to the search engines does not work. We give site and business owners the tools they need to form pro-active optimization search engine optimization strategies that address competitive keyword research, siloing, link building and usability isses. It’s not about short term or long term SEO; it’s about creating an excellent site, achieving strong rankings, and then maintaining that for the life of your site.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/30/07 at 4:07 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in SEO, SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engine Optimization

Google Steps Up Local OneBoxes

Do you want to know what I love about Google? They implement smart new features so seamlessly that you don’t realize they haven’t been there all along until someone tells you.

Take today, for example. I was talking to a friend this morning about soccer arenas located in Simi Valley, California. He was on the hunt for one so he could, um, “borrow,” their services for late night pickup soccer games. I didn’t have any inside knowledge to share with him, so I opened up Google and searched for “simi valley soccer”. And there you go -- three local soccer arenas for him to take advantage of. Google had even spelled out his options with a friendly A, B, or C selection process. That was easy.

It wasn’t until I got into work and opened up my feeds that I realized I was looking at Google’s new, more expanded local OneBox. That’s Google, always giving me what I didn’t know I didn’t have and secretly always wanted.

The Google Operating System is running parallel images of Google’s old local OneBox and the newer version to help clueless searchers like myself differentiate between the old format and the new one. Personally, I find the expanded version suits everyone a lot better. The old text-only business links looked too much like the sponsored listings you’re used to see above your search results. The newer model offers rating, URL and full address information, raising local results beyond just being an online White Pages and makes them more usable for searchers. It also gives local advertisers more exposure and a better chance to convert.

Another reason I like the new Local OneBox is that it makes local search intuitive for users. Greg Sterling commented that Google Maps only gets 1 percent of the traffic that Google.com gets despite Google’s desire to drive users there. If that’s the case it makes a whole lot of sense strategically to leverage Google.com in order to give Google Maps a boost. Similar to the way Ask.com has used its Smart Answers to work RSS into a searcher's daily life, Google is using its OneBox to highlight local search. Smart.

And as someone who considers herself fairly tech savvy, even I need a little reminder every now and then that Google Maps is on hand to help me with my local searching needs. I spent a good 20 minutes fruitlessly searching for local furniture stores this weekend before someone reminded me to try a local search. Only then did I fire up AskCity and realize there are no less than 6 furniture stores within 7 miles of my apartment (all of which I unknowingly drive past every day). Sometimes I am just that smart.

However, trying out potential searches, it doesn’t look like the new Google OneBox is worked in everywhere just yet or maybe I’m just not hitting the right triggers. I would expect a search for “simi valley furniture” to bring up the new OneBox format but no luck. I’m still greeted with just one OneBox result – the Reed's Furniture on LA Avenue. (They had the exact couch I wanted but it was sold, drat!). I happen to know there are at least three other furniture stores within 2 miles of that Reed's Furniture. I know they are there because AskCity told me this weekend.

With Google giving Google Maps a harder push into their search engines it gives small business owners a great opportunity to take advantage of prime placement above Google’s algorithmic results. I’m not sure what factors Google is using to rank results, but getting in that top three will give you credibility in the eyes of consumers actively searching for the product or service you offer.

If you’re a business owner who is not taking advantage of local search, you’re missing out on a booming market.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/30/07 at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Google, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

January 29, 2007

Weekend Update

Get ready because this is going to be a big one. I can feel it!

YouTube Puts Ads On Videos, Everyone Wins

Kudos to YouTube for masking the news that they’ll be putting ads on user-generated content under a barrage of “YouTube to Share the Wealth” headlines. Might crafty, I say. Not that we weren’t expecting a Google-owned property to not place ads on anything it can get its hands on, we just didn’t think they’d be applauded for it.

John Battelle guesses that users will be able to select what kinds of ads (3 seconds, 15 seconds, etc) they want to include in their video and where they’re placed (before, after, during the video), while Phil Lenssen thinks they’ll copy Metacafe’s system.

Regardless, it’s definitely something worth watching. Depending on how successful the ads are, we may finally see people put down their copyright infringement torches and appreciate YouTube as another advertising channel. Though as Battelle notes, we may also see YouTube requiring users to place some sort of advertising on their videos in order to upload. If that’s the case, there goes the free-forming YouTube community.

Graywolf offers David Pasternack sage advice

Michael Gray offers David Pasternack some excellent reputation management advice. Because let’s be honest, if you’re David Pasternack, you need it. Plus, Long Island people have to stick together.

Graywolf suggests that David do whatever he can to get that Dave Pasternack SEO Contest squashed and then host a rockin’ “SEO Is Rocket Science”-themed party at SES New York (complete with sexy rocket scientists) to redeem himself. As someone who is slated to be attending SES NY, all I can do is respond with an enthusiastic huzzah! If you ask me, following Michael’s advice could actually get David Pasternack liked by the search engine optimization community.

Oh and there’s also something in Michael’s plan about David dressing up as a giant frog, but I’m pretty sure that won’t happen. Maybe he could just hand out these instead?

Link Wars

Did you catch this weekend’s linking flame wars courtesy of Resident Ranter Robert Scoble? (This is why I read my feeds on the weekends, Karl). If you missed it, the short version is that Robert broke the story regarding Intel’s new 45nm processors on Friday night. A short while later Engadget posted its own version of the story and didn’t give Robert his rightful link back. Robert than issued an angry rant (as he’s known to do) outing major gadget sites that (according to Robert) don’t link back, blogged about the importance of A-listers linking, offended a few dozen readers, and then apologized when he finally calmed down. Yikes!

I found it interesting for a couple of reasons. First, Engadget was wrong not to link back to Robert. (They are now claiming it was an editorial decision.) No question. If you find content that’s important enough to reference, you should link back to the place you found it, even it’s a mere “via” link. We’ve said it before, but it’s worth another mention.

Second, it reignites the conversation about A-listers who suddenly feel they are too big and too powerful to link out. If you read our Don’t Be Famous; Be Useful post back in August, you may remember how infuriating I find it to watch quality blogs turn into celebrity guess-who-I-met-today blogs. I commented it was going to make me grow up into a jaded wrinkly blogger and I still fear that. Don’t make me go wrinkly, people.

Thirdly, I found this all very amusing because isn’t Robert Scoble the guy who doesn’t link to A-listers anyway? I’m so confused. I’d expand but Susan encourages me to save my angry, off-topic rantings for my cats. Fine. [I do. Because Scoble is boring and I'm way over him.--Susan] - Agreed. Scoble should be locked in a gadget-less room where he can sit and complain all he wants.

Things that need mentioning

Did Search Engine Watch, once the place to go for all that is vital in search engine optimization news, really just cover the launch of Stephen Colbert’s IntegrityJustice blog? Did anyone else read that and think they had accidentally hit their Best Week Ever feed instead? Hands?

I think Matt Cutts needs another vacation. He’s over at his blog deliriously talking about conquering Mt. Email and hoping to find a reasonable base to camp in a few days. Huh? Someone please get Matt to lay down. We’re here for you, Matt.

Reason 249,024,309 Why I Want Need To Be Rand Fishkin’s girlfriend: You get to hangout with Danny Sullivan at Google Kirkland. How awesome is that? However, unlike Mystery Guest, I wouldn’t be making googley (get it?) eyes at Danny; you’re all I need, Rand.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/29/07 at 3:59 PM | Comments (5)
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January 26, 2007

(Not the) Friday Recap

I'm a very mean boss and I'm making Lisa do other work today. However, since we know it would break hearts if there wasn't a Friday Recap, I used the fun links she found over the week and pretended to be as funny as she is.

Complaints can be directed at her. Praise goes to me. Yes, I promise she'll be back next week.

Google's dinosaur

Google's got a fake dinosaur on campus. I know this is technically old news but Inside Google, Valleywag and Cartoon Barry linked to it this week and I want to be like them. I also want to be like Google and have my very own T-Rex. That would be better even than a pony.

Best Interview Ever

Chris Hooley interviews himself. Declares it the best interview ever. I really don't have any extra commentary on this, so I'll give you a highlight from it instead.

Cool. Let’s move on then. What would you say your best SEO trick is?

Well Chris, since people cannot possibly deny my awesome, I simply think about sites I want links from. And if there are girls anywhere in a certain organization I look at them.

Look at them?

Yeah.

What does that do?

Makes em link to my sites. I can’t explain it, it just happens. I’m like the Fonzi of SEO.

Belly-vertisment

You all thought Lisa was a huge football fan but the truth is she is weak. For instance, she's not willing to exploit her (theoretical) unborn child in order to get Super Bowl tickets. Luckily someone out there is. Recognizing a good marketing opportunity when she sees it, one Chicago Bears fan is trying to sell the ad space on her nine-months pregnant belly for tickets to the upcoming game. The fact that her kid will forever be known as GoldenPalace.com Boy (or Girl) is just a bonus.

Statistics of the [Random Time Period]:

65% of Americans spend more time with their computers than with their significant others. And some of us just skip the significant other part all together. Wow…that makes me more pathetic than the Slashdot crowd. Okay, moving on!

Sponges get icky and gross; this is just a fact of life. Luckily, some brilliant scientists figured out that if you microwave a damp sponge for two minutes it will kill 99% of the germs. Granted the 1% of germs that are left are radiation-resistant and likely to rise up against us puny humans and they're really mad about our genocide of 99% of their brethren. But hey, if you're too cheap to spend $.50 on a new sponge, well, thanks for ensuring our destruction. Jerk.

Comment of the Week*

I could have been targeting the lucrative tourism/hotels/travel market! Why didn't I think of that (slaps forehead)?

Next time I'll definitely be more aware about including words like travel, hotels, and tourism. Because travel, hotels, and resorts are important. ;)

--Matt Cutts, trying to build his vacation spam empire from our comments section.

*A new feature that will last as long as I remember and you lot remain entertaining**.

**Or until I get bored.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 01/26/07 at 3:24 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Fun Stuff

January 25, 2007

Search Headlines

Fox Trying to Uncover YouTube users

Google Watch reports that Twentieth Century Fox has subpoenaed YouTube to hand over the identity of one of its users after they someone uploaded Fox programs The Simpsons and 24 onto the site earlier this month. The subpoena asks YouTube to “disclose information sufficient to identify the Subscriber so that Fox can stop this infringing activity”.

It looks like the ‘infringing activity’ has already been stopped since the identified user ECOTotal has had their YouTube account suspended. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here. While the Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects YouTube from copyright lawsuits, it doesn’t protect its users. If Fox wants to go after ECOTotal for infringement there’s nothing to stop them -- unless ECOTotal was smart enough not to give YouTube a real email address since he knew he’d be uploading illegal material. If that’s the case, it’ll take a lot of work on Fox’s part to figure out who the offending user is and how to reach him.

Of course, I don’t think Fox will actually go that far though. This is probably just a friendly reminder that Jack Bauer is out there. Or something. I don’t watch 24.

Who Are The Most Influential Men and Women On The Web?

I don’t know but I know who they’re definitely not: Jessica Rose and Perez Hilton. I’m not sure who got hit over the head with what over at Forbes, but according to them LonelyGirl15 is more influential than Seth Godin, Michael Arrington, Jimmy Wales and the beautiful Ze Frank. Only not really, of course. LonelyGirl15 isn’t even a real person.

Completely missing from the list were people like Mark Cuban, Dave Winer, Kevin Rose, Nick Denton, etc. Forbes tries to justify this by saying people who were famous before they hit the Web were ineligible but I don’t buy that. Mark Cuban has become far more annoying and influential since given a soapbox. I don’t think that can be ignored.

Who do you think should have been on the list? Kim Krause offers her two cents over at Cre8pc.

(via Andy)

Fun Finds

Matt Cutts lets everyone know he’ll be at SES London, which will be taking place in a couple weeks. Well, fabulous. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day in London without me. I’m going to have to get Bruce Clay UK’s Marie Howell to tell me all about the rockin’ parties the wonderful sessions.

David Temple stopped calling me a whiny cry baby (hehe) long enough to post his interview with our own Bruce Clay. In the interview, Bruce talks about the coining of “search engine optimization”, how the SEOToolSet came about, and why on earth he hired me.

Lastly, Karl Ribas presents his list of favorite search engine marketing blogs and, I think, insults me in the process. What’s with everyone picking on me lately?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/25/07 at 5:23 PM | Comments (7)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

Buy From You? I don’t even know you!

You may remember a few weeks back when we wrote about trust. I went off about what makes me trust people in the blogosphere and even rattled off a few names of the people I’ve learned to put my trust into over the past year. Well, the issue and the importance of trust hasn’t wavered, and people are still talking about it (trust, not my blog post. Nobody cares about my blog posts).

In case you haven’t been following at home, there’s a great thread developing over at the Cre8asite forums where members are talking about how to establish trust on your Web site.

Let’s be honest. Every site is selling something. Be it a product, service or just your company to fill a certain need, you’re trying to get customers to buy into something. I’ll use Bruce Clay, Inc. as an example. Clearly we’re not out selling branded T-shirts and hats (though that would be totally awesome if we did!), but we do sell training and services related to search engine optimization and Internet marketing. It’s our hope that if you find the educational resources on our site useful, you’ll think of us if you ever need professional search engine optimization help. If not, we at least hope you found the information we provided useful.

As a site owner, it’s important to give yourself a little ego check every now and then. Realize that as snowflake-like as you think you are, there are a hundred other sites that offer similar services. Quite frankly, your customers have options. To keep them coming back you have to provide some extra value and establish yourself as different, and most importantly, trustworthy.

There are all sorts of clichés about putting the customer first, promising small and delivering big, and that ridiculous nonsense about the client always being right, but when it comes down to it, when I visit a site, there’s really only a handful of things I’m looking for. If you don’t have them, I am so over you.

Here’s a list of what helps me decide whether or not I trust you enough to have my credit card information.

• Your Site Text: Yes, this is shocking but I like Web sites that have real text, not just pretty pictures or contextual ads. Your site copy has to be captivating and be able to curb my ADD tendencies of finding something more shiny and pretty. I want strong titles, interesting descriptions, and copy that isn’t filled with words like “good”, “new” and “unique”. If everything on your site is “unique” someone needs to buy you a dictionary AND a thesaurus. Craft them carefully because the words on your site will affect the signal you’re giving off to customers.

  If copywriting isn’t your specialty, Customers Rock! has a good list of meaningless clichés that you should avoid using on your Web site. I personally disagree with their stance on the word “awesome”, though. I think every page of your Web site should include the word awesome. How else will people know how awesome your company is?

• Pictures: I know. I said I wanted words but I also want pictures. I don’t care if they don’t help your search engine optimization goals any, I still want them. They help me to know what I’m getting myself into and if that skirt goes with my skin tone or if it’ll make me look like a clown. Providing users with a thumbnail (and a larger accompanying image) lets them trust what they’re buying and trust you to deliver it.

  You’d think including product images would be a no-brainer but then you’d be wrong. I’m currently in the market for a couch and since I don’t like people asking if I’m doing okay (maybe I’m not but do you really want to hear about it?) or if I need help with anything (I don’t.), I prefer to do my shopping online. Imagine my surprise to find that a number of online retailers don’t provide pictures of their $800 couches. In what world am I going to pay $800 for an item I can’t see before buying? I’m not. Give me a picture.

• Do other people like it?: Testimonials and consumer ratings belong under product descriptions; they just do. It helps to see some community on your site and it also assures me that the TV stand I’m about to buy isn’t going to fall apart once I put the TV on it (one Target customer apparently learned this the hard way). Testimonials and user ratings help me to establish confidence in your brand, your product, and show me that you stand behind what you’re selling. I like a company with a little integrity. Hearing about others past experiences is important in helping me to establish confidence in your site.
• Is your site well-maintained and appropriate to your niche?: If your site footer still has your 1999 copyright, someone on your team is careless and I don’t trust you with my credit card number. Also, if you’re selling holistic spa good on a black-background site with knives cascading down it and scary metal music, it's obvious you don’t understand your audience or what makes them happy. How do I know you’re not going to accidentally send me a dead baby pig instead of the aromatherapy candles I ordered?
• Does it looks and acts trustworthy?: I don’t need a bio for every person that works for you, but it is nice to know your production line is fueled by humans, not robots. Seeing a picture of your headquarters and team members helps to put a face on an otherwise cold brand name. And if your staff is cute, well then that doesn’t hurt either. It’s all about the warm and fuzzies.

  Looking and acting trustworthy also includes clearly stating your company’s pricing information, keeping promises, owning up to your mistakes, knowing how to handle complaints, and never, ever sending me a form response when I ask you a question. If I was really a “valued customer” and my “opinion was important” to you, you’d take the time to write me a two paragraph email. Not repeatedly send me a form that ignores everything I just asked you and tells me to call your customer service department. Take the time to listen to your customers concerns, complaints, affirmations and respond accordingly.

Why is trust important to your search engine optimization and Internet marketing goals?

Because trust drives sales.

Users aren’t going to buy from a site that they can’t trust it. Your customers are out there looking for signals to tell them that your site is credible and won’t take advantage of them. They want to know that they can trust what you’re selling and that if they have a problem you’ll make it right. Address your customers concerns, show them that you’re proud of what you’re selling and your team members, and give them what they need to make an informed decision about your product. If you trust them to do that, they’ll trust you to do the rest.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/25/07 at 4:14 PM | Comments (4)
See more entries in Design

January 24, 2007

When Wikipedia Gets It Wrong

Whether you agree with their nofollow decision or not, Wikipedia rules the Web. Encyclopedias weren’t a hit when you were in grade school lugging that 20lb torture device around, but online, they’re golden. Drop your favorite noun, ‘80s TV show or an office supply you never have enough of into Google and hit search. I bet its Wikipedia entry is on the first page of your search results. Heck, it’s probably even in the top five.

Wikipedia originally caught attention in the search engine optimization community because it was great way for sites to gain exposure in their topic area. But what do you do when your product, brand or company is being misrepresented? What happens to your search engine optimization campaign and/or reputation management concerns then?

Let’s back up.

I opened up TechMeme this morning and this is what I found. Oh, no, I thought to myself, now what did they do. It sounded pretty grim for Microsoft. However, despite the hyperbolic headlines, it seems Microsoft didn’t really try to “doctor” or “manipulate” anything. Here’s what happened.

Good-intentioned Microsoft employee Dough Mahugh felt that the Wikipedia page regarding Open XML Format contained slanted and inaccurate information. Dough wanted to bring attention to the misinformation but didn’t know how to go about it, saying flagging the article got him nowhere. (For what it’s worth, the only comment I see from Dough before this all went public is from August 15th where he talks about the lack of attribution in the OpenDocument entry.)

Frustrated and without getting approval from Microsoft, Dough decided to email Rick Jelliffe, Chief Technical Officer for Topologi and an Australian blogger, and ask for his help. Below is an excerpt from the email Dough sent Rick:

“Wikipedia has an entry on Open XML that has a lot of slanted language, and we'd like for them to make it more objective but we feel that it would be best if a non-Microsoft person were the source of any corrections ... Would you have any interest or availability to do some of this kind of work?

"Feel free to say anything at all on your blog about the process, about our communication with you on matters related to Open XML, or anything else. We don't need to "approve" anything you have to say, our goal is simply to get more informed voices into the debate ... feel free to state your own opinion.”

Rick then blogged about the interesting offer he had received from a Microsoft employee and a firestorm erupted.

Taking a look at Dough’s email, it doesn’t appear that he was trying to doctor or manipulate anything. He wasn’t asking Rick to fill the page with Microsoft-propaganda. He wanted someone with actual expertise to read the page and fix the inaccuracies. Isn’t that the entire principle behind Wikipedia?

Should Dough have run his idea through PR and legal before he acted? Lord, yes.
Should he have offered to pay Rick for his services? No. No. No

But though his initial judgment wasn’t so great, you have to give Dough credit for owning up to his mistake over at Slashdot, a community not exactly known for being pro-Microsoft, and explaining what happened.

The trouble with Wikipedia is also what makes it so great: Anyone can say whatever they want about anything. Yes, there are safeguards involved – others can edit and flag misleading information. And that may work when you’re talking about ponies or Luck Dragons, two beloved topics at Bruce Clay, but when you’re talking about technical articles people often don’t know when information is incorrect.

My problem with Wikipedia has always been this. Looking at it from a search engine optimization or brand management angle, it’s difficult to combat uninformed users from spreading false information about your product. It’s dangerous considering how highly these pages are known to rank on the SERP.

Clearly, had Dough tried to edit the Wikipedia pages himself he still wouldn’t have won any favor. Editing an article that’s about you or a company you work for violates Wikipedia’s terms. If I remember correctly, Jason Calacanis mentioned in his Chicago keynote how Wikipedia wouldn’t even let him correct his middle name when they had it wrong. He would change it and then they would change it back because individuals aren’t allowed to edit their own pages. Clever.

If there’s a Wikipedia page spreading false information about your company start a conversation about it, everywhere you can. This includes speaking out in Wikipedia’s discussion area so that your objections are made in public (and you can offer your opinion on the matter), but it also includes blogging about the inaccuracies and pointing readers to the real information. Never ask anyone to make the changes for you, just expose the misinformation. Chances are people will take the hint and the initiative to correct the information.

After that, take it offline. If the information about your site is glaringly inaccurate, contact Wikipedia and tell them that.

And you don’t let up on your traditional search engine optimization techniques. Social media and user generate content sites can be powerful tools for branding, but they’re not the keys to Internet marketing and they’re still fairly new to the game. Wikipedia may be golden today, but no one knows where social media will go in the future or how much power it will hold. Use the tools, but monitor them wisely.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/24/07 at 12:19 PM | Comments (5)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

January 23, 2007

Search Headlines

New Google Features

Lots of fun stuff coming out of Google over the past few days. Like what, you ask? Let’s recap:

• The Google Operating System discovered Google is testing out a OneBox for related blog results at the bottom of its search engine results page. I’m glad to see blog results being featured, but don’t put them at the bottom of the SERP. I’ll never see them; I just don’t scroll that far down the page. (I’m an SEO's worst nightmare, I know.) You can blame Yahoo for this, but I want my blog results by the Sponsored Links section. Placing them under or above the results will cause my brain to discount them as irrelevant, trying-to-sell-me-something junk.
• The GOS blog also found Google letting users view their sponsored link activity. Meaning, you can use Google Search History to see which Sponsored Links you clicked on in the past. Looking at this from a search engine optimization perspective, this is pretty cool. It you’re the kind of person who clicks on a lot of ads (I’m not), it may give you some insight as to what makes an ad more clickable. Imagine if you could get your target audience to hand over this data? Maybe you can bribe them?
• Over at Search Engine Journal, Loren Baker informs me that Google is also offering expanded blog feeds from the Google Personalized Homepage. A nice addition, though I’d like to get a little snippet without having to click on the expand-o-button. All those buttons make my page feel cluttered.

Ignore your mail, lose your domain

It was being reported yesterday that Google had taken down its German site after users who visited were repeatedly forwarded to Goneo.de. However, according to conversation happening within TechCrunch’s comment section, it looks like it was just a case of Google not denying a request someone made to take over the domain.

According to one commenter at TechCrunch, that’s how it works in Germany:

“In Germany is the strange thing, when you want to move with your domain, you write to denic.de. They then write to your olh host. But if the host does not answer in five days it means “Yes”. So the host og google germany forgott to say “No” to the denic:) It ist strange but the rules here in germany are really like this.”

That’s…an interesting system. Hey, I wrote Mystery Guest a letter six days ago and asked if I could have Rand for myself and she never responded. Does that mean he’s mine? I say yes. Seriously though, my life would be far sweeter if I could take people’s stunned silence as permission to act.

Matt Cutts is back from vacation

Matt is back from vacation and uses his first blog post back as a reminder that keyword density is an important concern for any search engine optimization campaign. To prove his point, Matt uses the keyword “vacation” five times in just over 350 words. Well done, Matt! [You may want to try to use synonyms in the future, Matt. Google suggests "travel, hotels, resorts and tourism" for starters. --Susan]

Fun Finds

Danny Sullivan lists the 10 Google Feeds You Should Subscribe To. I’m subscribed to most of the feeds on his list, but that Gmail feed still makes me nervous. It’s too easy to accidentally share the entire contents of your Gmail account with a million or so strangers, potential stalkers, and puppy kickers.

I finally figured out why DazzlinDonna and I got asterisks next to our names over at SEO SEM Training & Certification. See, I’m a smart, non-mean cookie. [Ahem, who figured it out? --Susan] - Fine, maybe it was you.

Shoemoney polls the industry to see who people consider the Godfather of Search. The responses are worth a read. Personally, I’d go the Todd Malicoat/Pringles route – I don’t think you can name just one. There are different families of search and I think each one has their own Godfather. What say you?

Threadwatch pokes fun at the idea that Google could save the world 3,000 Megawatts a year by performing a reverse Michael Jackson. The best response on the subject comes from Brad, who blames the whole thing on Danny Sullivan.

“Didn't I hear Danny Sullivan has like 18 monitors on one PC? If he would just turn a few off we could power a village or two. heh.”

Awesome.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/23/07 at 4:16 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

January 19, 2007

Friday Recap

Seth Godin says Adults Are The New Kids, which leads me to believe Seth has been secretly stalking me in the grocery store. What’s wrong with rolling up to the checkout counter with nothing more than a box of Oreos, a bottle of Sprite, peanut butter and a $6 chocolate bar? Sounds like all the essentials to me.

Seth also confirms that I was right to add a “the” in front of my name. Seth says by doing that it changes the entire tone. Being “the Lisa” is far better than being “a Lisa”. For sure.

Jeremy Zawodny points us to the incredible Weller Mini Torch, which, at less than $10, is definitely the greatest keychain accessory a single, young female could have. Take that you scary-guy-who-lurks-in-dark-corners freak. (Sorry, I had a strange encounter last night. I don’t want to talk about it.)

Speaking of fun little toys, Engadget reports that 1 in 8 blokes (That’s Brit for “guy”) would trade their lady for a “must have” gadget. I see nothing wrong with that. I would take a flat screen TV, funky cell phone or even a Weller Mini Torch over a boy any day. Jack Jack is the only man I need in my life. [ <-- a link to one of my kitties in the blog. Rejoice!] [Word. Guys are easy to find and replace. --Susan]

And though this hasn’t been confirmed, I say the reason boys are so willing to give up their lady friends is because their toys now dress up for them in pretty little outfits. Sadly, I’m built just like that laptop. [Why did I click on that link? Why? Never. Clean. Again. --Susan]

If you’re looking for something to lift your spirits, check out the Wo-Wo-Windows/386 Song. It cured my morning.

I’m sure you know how I feel about Mark Cuban [grumble, grumble], but earlier this week he ranted about the ridiculousness of the suit, and I have to say, I’m with you, Mark. I’m not with you on anything else you’ve ever said, but I’m with you on this. Suits are dumb. Let’s all show up to work barefoot and in sweats.

Phil Lenssen asks How Much Would You Pay For Google. I wouldn’t pay anything for Google. It’s free. Duh. I think Phil’s working too hard.

Over at SEOFangirl’s blog, we learn that Danny Sullivan is so powerful a mystical white aura surrounds him. Ooo. .

Jeremy Zawodny, our diet guru, found the trick to weight loss is eating like an ape. Note, that’s eating like an ape, not eating apes. Hmm, do apes eat cupcakes?. Because I want a Zelda cupcake.

What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen in your life? Is it a giant rabbit capable of swallowing small children in one gulp? I bet it is! However, if you looking for the best laugh you’ll have all day, peruse the comments section over at Slashdot on the topic. Absolute giggle fits. [I want a giant bunny. Also a pony. Yes, I'm five. --Susan]

Also terrifying: Brain worms. [holds head]

What’s the opposite of horrifying giant rabbits and worms that wiggle in your brain? A squealworthy baby Sri Lankan slender loris. It’s so cute I almost want to eat it.

I’m sure you’re aware (unless you’re Susan) that NFL playoff season is among us. [That has to do with hockey, right? --Susan] On Sunday, Tom Brady and the rockin’ New England Patriots will take on Eli’s brother and the Indianapolis Colts. I’m not saying the Colts don’t have a shot (but they don’t), I’d just like to remind all the haters out there that the Pats are 5-0 in AFC Championships since 1966 and own more conference championship victories than any other team in NFL history. That’s all I’m sayin, Bob, if that is your real name.

To help everyone get in the mood for the big AFC game on Sunday, I present you with this touching Tom Brady tribute (If it looks familiar it’s because we’ve linked to it before) and a reminder of what a real Patriots fan looks like. :) Happy tailgating, people.

[Oh yeah, and the New Orleans Saints are also playing the Bears in Chicago, but I’m not so much interested in that game. East Coast pride.] [All I need from a team is a great theme song. (Thanks for the link, Chris!) --Susan]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/19/07 at 10:53 AM | Comments (8)
See more entries in Fun Stuff, Search Engine Optimization

January 18, 2007

Search Headlines

Here We Go Again

I know; I’m a sucker for these stories. TheAge reports (via Search Engine Land) that Copiepresse, the same Belgian newspaper that sued Google and Microsoft, may now take Yahoo to court over the same issues: having the nerve not to give them special treatment and giving readers access to archived articles. When will the engines just delete Copiepresse from their index? Let’s just pretend they don’t exist; then we don’t have to hear them complain. Smart, right?

Meanwhile, we’re all still waiting to hear the results of Google’s appeal regarding its cause with Copiepress. You can be sure I’ll let you know what happens.

European Online Ad Spending On The Rise

eMarketer reports that in 2007 the Internet will make up 7.3 percent of total European ad spend, reaching 9.4 percent in 2010, beating out newspapers, radio and magazines. Also noteworthy was that online ad spending in Western Europe is expected to hit $7.5 billion this year, a 25 percent increase over last year.

I wasn’t aware of this, but eMarketer notes that the UK is the most expensive country in the world for online advertisers, and projects that advertisers will spend $217 per Internet user in the UK and $136 per user in France. Yowsa. Italy, in comparison, is expected to spend only $10 per Internet user. Just one more reason why the entire world should move to Italy.

Searchers Heart Tom Brady (and so do I)

WebProNews discovered that Tom Brady and the New England Patriots’ crushingly awesome win over the San Diego Chargers last weekend (you saw it, right?) seems to have spurred some Tom Brady search craziness. The Yahoo Buzz Log notes that after the Pat’s Chargers destruction, searches for Tom Brady rose 83 percent, with searches for “tom brady pictures” up 93 percent.

That is because Tom Brady is drop-dead gorgeous a highly decorated NFL quarterback who represents all that is good in New England. I’m not sure if you know this, but Tom is my sports figure boyfriend. Peyton should stay home on Sunday.

[Brady may be cute, but the Chargers have the best theme song in all of sports. Just try to not chair dance to that one.--Susan] - You're kidding, right? That theme song is ridiculous. And even if it wasn't, a cool theme song does not surpass the hotness that is Tom Brady.

Fun Finds

Search Engine Watch finds that Two- and Three-Word Queries Rule. I want to know what crazies are out there performing 10 word queries. That’s not searching, that’s like playing Web Charades.

SEOmoz’s Jane Copland writes The Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know. I like when the Mozzers let Jane out of that closet they keep her in; she’s fun.

Li Evans is back with the sixth installment of her Women of Internet Marketing series. Do you love these as much as I do? This week Li features two women we love: Jennifer Laycock, and my personal Rand-stalking buddy, SEO Fangirl.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/18/07 at 4:16 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in Fun Stuff, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

Yahoo Panama Workshops

Guest Entry by Nick Guastella, Search Engine Marketing Analyst--Bruce Clay, Inc.

Yesterday, I attended the invitation-only Yahoo Sponsored Search Upgrade Workshop at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles for the newly released Panama system. Upon arrival, participants were presented with names tags, Yahoo journals, Swissmemory portable computer storage, and most importantly, a full copy of the presentation.

The presentation covered (in no particular order):

• Geo-Targeting
• Forecasting
• Fast Ad Activation
• Bidding in the New System
• Ad Testing and Optimization
• New Reports
• Campaign Budgeting and Scheduling
• Content Match

One piece of interesting information provided about the new ad testing feature was that while Yahoo’s new system currently allows for A/B testing, it cannot provide tracking information back to a specific ad and requires use of a third party system.

When questioned about this by several participants, the logic given was that in the end it was the keywords that convert, not the ads, so it was more important to test for an ad that received high clicks. The panelists also stated that it was rare for an ad with a lower click-thru rate to convert better than one with a higher CTR.

I know from experience that ads that have lower CTRs often do convert better than ones with a higher CTR. In fact, I often see ads I manage with lower CTRs converting very well and with a lower cost. Perhaps this was just an “oops” on Yahoo’s part or they didn’t have time to integrate the feature in their rush to roll it out.

Overall, the new system definitely is a big improvement over the old one with all the new flexibilities added. It could also prompt users from Google to give Yahoo a try now that the ad systems are so similar and Yahoo allows for an easy migration of an existing Google campaign. As with any new system, the biggest hurdle will be one of familiarity. However, once people adjust to the new system they should be able to do very well.

Until then, I’ll be reading the manual provided since it is a better teaching tool than the workshop was.

Though the workshop was intended to be an in-depth review of the enhancements and new features of the Yahoo Panama platform, it was actually more akin to an unorganized panel presentation. Instead of following the presentation material, the various speakers skipped about making it hard for anyone following along with the accompanying materials provided to keep up.

The presentation was continually interrupted by questions from the audience, which bogged down the presentation and frustrated the participants. Each successive break taken saw the crowd dwindle as people left in frustration. Of the five Yahoo members, only one person was actually a trainer. Disappointingly, this individual was not given the reigns of the presentation or any speaking time. The end of the presentation was rushed due to running over time and was simply a “Why Do You Use Yahoo?” question and answer for the audience.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/18/07 at 2:52 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Pay Per Click, Yahoo

Changes to AdSense Give Publishers Headaches

Jennifer Slegg comments at JenSense and Search Engine Land that Google is swaying a little farther on the evil meter this morning (my words, not hers) with announced changes to its AdSense policy. The term changes make it a violation of AdSense’s TOS to run any kind of ad, contextual or otherwise, using the same layout and colors as Google’s ads.

The new Competitive Ads and Services policy says in part:

“In order to prevent user confusion, we do not permit Google ads or search boxes to be published on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colors as the Google ads or search boxes on that site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads cannot be confused with Google ads.”

Prior to the policy revision, it was already a violation to put competing contextual ads on the same page as AdSense ads, but this new change in policy steps that up a notch. Where publishers once just had to carefully rotate AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Networks ads so they were never on the same page at the same time, now, because ads have to be easily distinguishable, they virtually have to change the entire layout of their site with each rotation. Or they run ads that clash with the scheme of their site, their call.

Jennifer also notes:

“This policy applies to the entire site, not just the page and actual page view that the ad is appearing on. This change could affect a significant number of publishers, especially those who do A/B testing (like myself) as well as those who have anything else anywhere on the site that resembles AdSense.”

Way to make life more complicated.

Obviously, it’s Google’s right to do whatever they want with their product and it’s up to publishers to decide to either abide by their rules or go play somewhere else. But it’s difficult to support a system that’s constantly changing. Each time Google revamps their AdSense policy sites have to jump through higher hoops to meet the new requirements.

In December Google Officially Disallowed Images Near AdSense Ads and now they’re telling publishers if they’re using AdSense with competitor ad networks, all ads need to be re-customized with different color palettes and formatting to make sure they’re easily distinguishable. Why doesn’t Google just create a flashing marquee for publishers to put over their ads that reads, “GOOGLE AD, GOOGLE AD, GOOGLE AD”? [Because that would be annoying and Evil. Give it a few years.- Susan]

I get that this is some kind of defensive move on Google’s part and that because their dominance with AdSense is so overpowering publishers will roll over and make the needed changes, but does that make it right?
I don’t think so.

Google’s motives behind these new policy changes are curious. They say they are doing it to prevent “user confusion”, but as a user, do you care if the ads you’re looking at come from Google or Yahoo? Do you know anybody who notices? I don’t. Granted, I don’t spent a lot of time clicking on contextual advertising anyway, but even if I did, I surely wouldn’t care what advertising network the ad is coming from. I care about the ad.

Like I said, its Google’s right to do what they wish with their product, but maybe it’s our right to demand something better. What publishers need is a system that gives them more freedom than AdSense currently does.

Unfortunately, right now, there isn’t one. Yahoo is a little less strict, they haven’t banned using similar color schemes with your ads (yet), but you can’t run competitor ads on the same page as YPN ads. I think most publishers are okay with that, though. It’ll be interesting to see how publishers react to Google’s new policy changes (and when the policy changes go into affect). Will they change their sites to meet Google’s new demands or will they start looking elsewhere? Who’s going to be the savvy PPC service to offer publishers freedom to show ads the way they see fit? Now would be a good time to come out, don’t you think?

Annoyances aside, the new policy changes to AdSense do have one interesting addition. The Copyrighted Material section reads:

“Website publishers may not display Google ads on web pages with content protected by copyright law unless they have the necessary legal rights to display that content. Please see our DMCA policy for more information.”

Sorry, plague-on-my-life, AdSense-running scraper sites. We’ll see how good Google actually is about enforcing this.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/18/07 at 2:41 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Google, Pay Per Click

January 17, 2007

Search Headlines

Free Microsoft Analytics Coming

Search Engine Guide reports (via Inside Microsoft) that Microsoft will soon be offering a free Web analytics tool called “Gatineau”, which is said to currently be in top secret Alpha testing.

“Gatineau” is built off the technology Microsoft acquired through DeepMetrix last Spring. Project team member Ian Thomas says Microsoft hopes to launch an invitation-only beta to test the service in the next few months, with a mainstream release slated for later this year. Users will be added gradually as to avoid the problems competitor Google Analytics faced when it brought users on too quickly. Ian was tight-lipped about the functionality but did say this:

“The target audience for this project is broadly similar to the target audience for Google Analytics - though it's emphatically not our intention simply to replicate the functionality within that product.”

Yuh huh. We’re always in favor of “free” analytics programs but of course everything comes with a price. This time it means Microsoft gets access to user data.

A Third of Mobile Users Feel Lost Without Their Cell Phone

Greg Sterling reports on a comScore study which is a beautiful testament to why mobile Web adoption is a when, not if, scenario. Among the key findings were that 33 percent of mobile users “feel lost” without their cell phone and 14 percent of users have given up traditional landlines. I can proudly say that I fall into both of those statistics.

The shift from the computer Web to the mobile Web will be a natural one for most users. As Greg also notes, the technology and interest for mobile is there, we’re just waiting for prices to come down and for network speeds to improve. Once that happens, we’ll see mainstream adoption. Right now it’s a waiting game but I’m first in line for when I can actually afford to check my email and surf the Web while stuck in glorious Los Angeles traffic. Maybe then I’ll leave my house. [Bruce Clay, Inc. does not actually endorse checking your email or surfing the Web while on the 405. Keep your eyes on the BMW in front of you, please. --Susan]

101 Years In Jail For You!

This sparked a lot of giggles upon reading, but a 45-year-old California man was convicted on multiple counts of phishing last week and was sentenced to 101 years in prison. Heh, heh.

It seems Mr. Jeffrey Brett Goodwin was not only a fan of having two first names, he also enjoyed running elaborate phishing schemes and tricking AOL users out of their credit card information. Prosecutors say JB used hacked Earthlink accounts to email AOL users urging them to update their billing information or have their service canceled.

The Goodin conviction is the first by a jury under the Can-Spam Act of 2003, so spammers and phishers beware!

In the spirit of full disclosure: I once fell victim to a similar phishing scheme when I was in my early teens and blamed the password leak on my younger brother. Sorry, Chris. Lucky for me you don’t get jail time for being gullible.

Fun Finds

ProBloggers asks if you credit your sources when you blog. We say yes. Linking to where you found the good content, even if they’re just linking to where they found the good content, is an absolute must on the Web.

Danny Sullivan sits down for a Q&A with TechMeme founder Gabe Rivera. I heart TechMeme.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/17/07 at 4:42 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

Is Slurp Behaving Badly?

There are reports at the Search Engine Watch forums, WebmasterWorld and LED Digest that Yahoo’s Webcrawler Slurp may be sticking its nose where it’s not welcome and indexing pages Webmasters have marked off limits in their robots.txt files.

The offending bots all appear to come from the 74.6 IP block and a WHOIS lookup for the IPs show that they all resolve back to Inktomi Corporation and Yahoo.com name.

So, what are we dealing with? Based on the WHOIS information, we’re not talking about bad renegade bots posing at Yahoo’s crawler. These are actual Yahoo crawlers ignoring robots.txt files and indexing pages in quantities that could cause serious server issues for site owners. That’s hot.

Will Bontrager is just one site owner who was recently greeted by Yahoo’s overeager bot, noticing Slurp trying to into this directory files. He commented that it seemed that after not being able to get into the directory files, as per Will’s robot.txt files, Slurp then began attaching the request with random query strings to try and fight its way in.

Will notes:

“When I started seeing requests with URI /directoryname/?N=D

I felt a little uneasy. The query string varies -- ?D=D, ?M=A, ?S=A
-- sometimes the same directory queried with different query strings
spaced over several days.”

So if Yahoo can’t get into part of your site you’ve locked, they’ll just start throwing rocks until they can break a window? That’s special.

I actually wasn’t surprised to read that Yahoo was doing that. There are always rumors in the forums that Yahoo will often ignore a site’s robot.txt files if you don’t disallow it using a user-agent string. I just didn’t think they were true.

Derrick Wheeler offered up his two cents saying perhaps it wasn’t a case of a Slurp rampage and that merely that site owners were inadvertently linking to these indexed pages via another page on their site. That’s actually fairly common. Sites get so large that it can be difficult to remember what page has links where. You block one page from the engines not realizing that deep within your site is another page that links directly to it. Derrick’s point is valid, but it’s still curious to me that there would be so many reports of Slurp abuse all the same time. Or maybe everyone’s just jumping on the Slurp Is Evil bandwagon.

But I don’t think so. Why would Slurp be adding user-agent strings to try and get around a site’s robots.txt files? It seems dirty. It’d be nice to get a response from Yahoo about what’s going on.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/17/07 at 12:01 PM | Comments (5)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines, Yahoo

January 16, 2007

Put Smiles In Your Marketing Campaign

Kathy Sierra gives us another fantastic post about how very often it’s the small things that can make the difference and cause a customer to smile. And not the fake Barbie and Ken smile either, but the real, warms your soul kind.

Bruce may tie me a to a pole in the parking lot during lunch for saying this (come check later!) but Internet marketing isn’t just search engine optimization. Sure, SEO is important in establishing your site as an authority to the engines and to users, but it’s just a slice of the larger Internet marketing pie. For your Web site to be overall successful, customers need to be over the moon about your product and site. According to Kathy, real customer satisfaction comes in the form of crinkly-eyed smiling customers.

For a lot of us we work behind the scenes and don’t see an actual customer in our day-to-day routines. As a result, we don’t keep customers in mind when we’re designing our site or writing site copy or constructing the never-friendly users’ manual. But think about the impact we could make if we did. If we slipped a snarky remark in with our product’s setup information, or spontaneously cracked a joke (one that’s actually funny) deep within our site content. We could inspire customers to smile, possibly increase their satisfaction level with our product.

You have the power to make your customer’s day brighter simply by giving them something they weren’t expecting. Are you doing it?

Kathy Sierra is. If you’re a follower of the Creating Passionate Users blog you know that there’s something about Kathy that makes people feel warm and fuzzy. It may be all the cute graphics, her warm voice or her ability to hit the nail on even the smallest head, but she’s got that something. And so should your site.

Kathy talks a lot about employees “virtually smiling” at users. It’s the idea that if you’re having a good time, your customers will too. Smiles are infectious, but only when they’re genuine.

If you’ve ever rummaged through an old photo album, it’s easy to pick out the times you were genuinely happy and when your parents forced you stand for an obligated photo op. The difference is in your smiles. When it’s faked, you smile with your lips; when it’s not you get the crinkly eyes. I’m a firm believer that crinkly eyes and belly laughs are good for the soul.

If you want to know how to make your customers smile, consider what makes you smile. What has someone done with their site or product that left you smiling from the inside? Did someone make you smile simply because they did something they didn’t have to do? Be it an Easter egg in a piece of already good software, a funny sign or maybe a hidden joke, it’s those small design or product decisions that have the power to change someone’s day.

But whatever you do, please (please, please) don’t go overboard with the smiling. If you walked into a store and saw a line of employees staring blankly and giving you ear-to-ear grins, you’d run away frightened. Know that people who smile all the time are 100 percent crazy in the head and “funny” jokes are not made more funny simply because they are well-intentioned. If you’re not sure if your joke is funny, try running it through Google Laugh Rank. (I am totally kidding. Please do not do that.).

It’s the little, unexpected things that produce the biggest results and get the warmest smiles. Try working some into your Internet marketing efforts and see how customers respond.

While you’re coming up with your list of what makes you smile, here’s some stuff that always gets a grin out of me:

• When the Starbucks barista remembers my name and knows I don’t like whip cream on my Grande White Mocha
• When Jack Jack* jumps in my lap after knocking something over and scaring himself
• Susan’s spontaneous laughing
• Country music
• Boston accents
• Laughing babies
• Good blogging/writing

What makes you smile? And who makes you do it?

*Susan feels I should mention that Jack Jack is my kitten. I do not allow strange boys with double names to jump in my lap. No matter how scared they may be.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/16/07 at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)
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January 15, 2007

Weekend Update

DMOZ Accepting Submissions

News is quickly spreading at places like here, here and here that DMOZ is back from the dead and open for business. The question now is: Do you care?

It’s been pretty well documented that DMOZ had been having some “technical issues” dating back to October 2006, but it seems things are starting to get back on track over there. Site Submission, Update Listings and Forgotten password forms are all online again, though editor applications are still unavailable. (You’ll have to find another way to game the system.) But will its 3.5 month hiatus make it better or are people just over it?

I’m not expecting great improvements from DMOZ, but I wouldn’t cross if off your Search Engine Optimization To Do list. Clearly it has lost the importance it held in its heyday, but it is still worth the time to submit your site if you’re not in there already. Who knows, your DMOZ link may that tiebreaker point you need to help you jump a spot in the rankings. Site submission only takes a few minutes, what do you have to lose? Just submit it and forget it.

As a side note: We would never insinuate that DMOZ’s back-from-the-dead announcement had anything to do with them recently losing their spot on Bruce Clay’s Search Engine Relationship Chart, except we all know it totally does. Bruce’s Search Engine Relationship Chart is just that powerful.

TLD Trouble Down Under?

Evilgreenmonkey notes a problem one SEW forum member is having where a Web site for an Australian local tourism organization isn’t showing up in queries when the “pages from Australia” option is selected because it’s using a .com TLD and is hosted in the United States.

Issues like this are not uncommon; in fact, Matt Cutts mentioned a similar situation in his Infrastructure Update last week. Though you don’t necessarily need to be using your country-specific TLD in order to rank well in your country’s engine, it’s worth doing. If it’s important to Google to show local sites for certain queries, then it should be important enough to be worked into your search engine optimization campaign.

If it’s absolutely impossible for you to make the switch, your best bet is step up the number of links you’re getting from regional sites and at least host your site in the country you want to rank in so your WHOIS information includes a local address.

Google Reader to Evolve?

James Corbett (Via RWW) does some speculating that Google Reader may evolve into a “ReWriter” in 2007:

"The addition of support for tagging and link blogging were the warning shots but the coming months will see Reader evolve into a fully fledged Reader/Writer (let's call it ReWriter). Google ReWriter is the first product that will tie the major pieces of the Read/Write web together - RSS/ATOM (feeds), OPML, Social-Bookmarking/Tagging (folksonomies), Attention and Microformats."

Those are some hefty goals for 2007, but how awesome would that be? I don’t think we’ll see all that in the next year, but I will say this: If Google Reader can make it so I can bookmark pages, “note” things in Google Notebook, and comment to blog posts directly from GR, I’ll make the switch from Bloglines. Let’s see how badly they want me!

Fun Finds

Congrats to Andy Hagans on winning his bet with Neil Patel, where he had to get this post to rank in the top three for Neil’s name by today. Perhaps now that Andy has won Bruce will stop asking why I keep referring to Neil as a “pretty princess” in the blog. ;) See, I was doing it for Andy!

Rebecca Kelley calls bloggers the ultimate attention whores and the New York Times compares blogs to Labradors, calling them “friendly, fun, not all that bright, but constantly demanding your attention”. Geez, where’s the love?

Danny Sullivan says sites need to get in the top 5, not the top 10, if they want to be found by searchers. Danny’s analysis of a Microsoft eye-tracking study [PDF] is super informative, extremely telling, and very, very, very, very long. Read it when you have a good 10-15 minutes to spare. [Lisa has a short attention span. I thought Danny's post was great. --Susan] - Were either of those points up for debate?. Funny, I don’t see you commenting on it, Ms. I Read Every Word.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/15/07 at 2:46 PM | Comments (6)
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Newspaper Mantra 2007: Give Them What They Google

The Wall Street Journal (via WebProNews) comments that while Belgian newspapers are doing their best to get out of Google’s index, newspapers in the United Kingdom have decided to become intelligently proactive. They’re optimizing their sites and launching effective paid search campaigns to help them rank better for the terms users are most likely to be searching for.

The WSJ notes:

“The Daily Telegraph, for example, bought the phrase "North Korea Nuclear Test" after the country detonated a nuclear device last October. People in the United Kingdom and the U.S. using English-language Google who typed the phrase into the search engine saw an ad for the Telegraph Web site on the top right of their screen.”

As long as it’s done intelligently, pay per click campaigns are 100 percent worthwhile for newspaper sites. By design, newspapers should be writing about topics that readers are most apt to be searching for. Forgive the vapid nature of this example, but when the whole Michael Richards debacle was going on (I know), savvy news sites ran pay per click campaigns that focused on securing those high traffic search terms they knew searchers would be using. For example, when a searcher performed a query for “Michael Richards” or “Kramer Laugh Factory” they saw the site’s ad in the paid search section, which linked back to that site’s coverage of the situation. Newspapers leveraged the explosive nature of the situation to bring targeted users into the site and saw its effectiveness. Smart.

It can be a highly efficient process considering it’s fairly easy to guess which terms users are most apt to type into their search box. By aggressively targeting those keywords into your pay per click campaign, you help put your story in front of an audience who is already salivating for it.

The brand effects of launching such campaigns are obvious. Though The Daily Telegraph may be widely read in the UK, its audience isn’t quite so large in the United States. Having pages appear in the sponsored section of the engines’ index, as well as in the organic side, helps to strengthen a site’s credibility and image, enabling users to associate “finding news” with “Site X”.

But no good deed goes unpunished.

Everyone knows if it bleeds, it leads, but what I don’t want to see is newspapers just giving readers what they google (sorry, Google trademark team). It’s one thing for newspaper sites to keep the engines in mind while optimizing content, but it’s another for them to try and manipulate the system. Quality should never be sacrificed for rankings, regardless if its search engine optimization, pay per click, or spouse selection.

I received my BA in print and multimedia journalism, so I have a lot of respect for the system and for the “real” journalists (as opposed to the fake blogging kind) out there who cover the stories that matter and educate the masses. I never want to read something and think that the story was covered or written a certain way because those are the terms that receive a high level of traffic. That would be very saddening.

There’s a difference between speaking the language of your potential audience and keyword stuffing. There’s also a fine line between giving readers what they want and giving readers what the engines respond to. I don’t even want to see newspapers trying to find a medium there. Newspapers are supposed to inform and that should be their goal. Use the Web to target a new audience, but don’t sacrifice your mission.

Newspapers are just starting to play with using pay per click campaigns in order to grab and entice readers. There’s a great potential for good and to help expose readers to the information they’re already after. I just hope it continues to be about that, where the newspaper sites continue to view readers as their customers, not the search engines. Otherwise, I’m moving to Belgium.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/15/07 at 10:52 AM | Comments (1)
See more entries in International, Microsoft

January 12, 2007

Friday Recap

I’m jealous. It sounds like there’s a fun blogger/search meet up happening in PA in a few weeks where Li Evans, Kim Krause, Loren Baker and others will all be attending. I, however, will be stuck in California unable to attend. Not that anyone asked me, but I think the next one should take place in southern California. On the beach. I’ll bring the drinks!

According to Yahoo and WebProNews, it’s National Break-Up Season, which means if you were only staying with your significant other to avoid to the awkward “So, are you seeing anyone” question that never fails to come from your wrinkled, near-death relatives, now’s the time to cut them loose and get your date on.

In unrelated news, if you’re an attractive, not-living-with-your-parents male between the ages of 25 and 30 (?), Susan and I are both single. Super. [Next week: The Bruce Clay Dating Game! Optimized to find you a mate. Please send headshots.--Susan] - Really? Yes!

MiniMatt posted the Top 8 things to do before (and after) you stupidly lose your wallet. It’s a Must Read, if only because I am the queen of losing my wallet. And my keys. And my glasses. And sometimes a cat or two.

Karl Ribas’ blogs had one of this week’s funnest finds, reporting that “Plutoed” was named 2006’s word of the year. That is awesome. I plan to use plutoed as often as I can in casual conversation. For example, it really bothers me that Susan continues to pluto the blogworthness of my cats. Just because she’s allergic doesn’t mean she gets to ruin all my fun. [They tried to kill me. I'm allowed to hold a grudge. --Susan] - They didn’t try to kill you. They just wanted to cuddle. It's not their fault you're allergic.

Another fun find for this week, did you know that Chris Hooley can do the patented jump through your leg dance move? I am so jealous. Maybe I can get him to teach it to me at the next SEO conference.

Quite brilliantly, Phil Lenssen created a generic template for the next company releasing a touted “Google Killer”. It needed to be done. I love the idea of paying users $3 per entered search query. I’d be able to pay my year's rent in a day.

What better way to celebrate the year of the pig than with a pork-scented scratch-and-sniff stamp whose glue tastes of sweet-and-sour pork. Excuse me while I go throw up...

Or, if you’re looking for something to help you keep your food down, how about some frozen milk. Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

Evil Matt Cutts Myheritaged’d (2007’s word of the year?) the real Matt and found that he most resembles James Bond. Now, I’m not saying Matt Cutts is not a dead ringer for Pierce Brosnan (he is a hottie, after all), but I performed the same test on myself and was told I am an 80 percent match for Cameron Diaz. Um, yeah.

Boing Boing asks if a safe playground can be fun. The answer is NO! It is not the wild running, nor the carefree playing, that makes a school playground fun. It is the knowing that at any moment little Johnny may be catapulted 10 feet in the air when he’s-just-big-for-his-age Charlie jumps off the see-saw and sends him a-flyin’. Or that Sally may face an untimely demise when her perfect pigtails get stuck in a merry-go-round crevice and she’s violently dragged under the spinning wheel. Oh. I’m scaring you again, aren’t I?

Also from BB, I don’t know what kind of mom you had, but I want this one. Parents in Rhode Island are hardcore!

Slashdot asks if you should tell a job candidate how badly they did on an interview. The answer to this question is always yes. Any opportunity to pluto someone and make them feel like total useless space should always be capitalized on.

Gord Hotchkiss wrote a frightful Day in the Life of the Average American. What makes the article unnerving are the stats Gord lists, including that people spend a total of 65 days in front of the television and only a week reading the newspaper. Who are these people and how do we revoke their cable?

Just a reminder. That small, dog-like creature that’s drooling and crawling around your house right now is called “a baby”. As its “parent”, you are expected to feed it several times a day. If you don’t, it said baby will embarrass you in you public by “making friends” with statues. This concludes today’s personal service announcement.

Tomorrow’s a big day for me. With the help of almost half the BC staff, I will be moving my possessions and liabilities kitties into a brand new apartment. I’ll admit that while packing this week, I often stared at my kitchen utensils and thought, “Hmm, I wish I had another use for all these white plastic forks”. And now I do! Never let it said that Bruce Clay kids don’t know how to par-tay.

I hope you’re all having a fabulous Friday. Now let’s see how long it takes for Chris Hooley to comment. Ready? Go! ;)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/12/07 at 2:59 PM | Comments (7)
See more entries in Fun Stuff

January 11, 2007

Google Weather Report

It’s been awhile, but Matt Cutts issued his first infrastructure status update of the year last night while I was knee-deep in Operation Apartment Pack-Up hell (moving is divine, isn’t it?). Matt says the executive summary is that things are relatively quiet. Quiet at Google? Is that possible?

If you’ve noticed frequent shifts in rankings it may be because Google’s data pushes every 1-2 days instead of the monthly timeline they used to use. Any shifts in rankings are not because of the PageRank update that Matt says is looming since, as we’ve heard many times, Google is already using the up-to-date PageRank values internally. It’s only us that get the old, outdated, limited scale numbers. Think of it as a glimpse of what your page used to look like to Google.

Though it can be fun to panic over PR issues, try not to. Your entire life’s worth isn’t dependant on PageRank. It’s dependant on how pretty you are.

I found this interesting. Matt commented that supplemental results are not something for site owners to fear and don’t necessarily signify a penalty against your site. He comments:

“If you used to have pages in our main web index and now they’re in the supplemental results, a good hypothesis is that we might not be counting links to your pages with the same weight as we have in the past. The approach I’d recommend in that case is to use solid white-hat SEO to get high-quality links (e.g. editorially given by other sites on the basis of merit).”

See, now that sounds like something to fear to me. If Google is suddenly devaluing the links that were helping my site to rank, that’s going to mean a major shift in my search engine optimization campaign. That doesn’t make me fearful, that makes moderately paranoid and/or homicidal. I’m hoping the only people who will have to worry about this are those not using trusted white-hat strategies, which Matt suggests. But if site owners start to see the type of supplemental hell that we saw last year, signaling that Google may be placing value on different elements or devaluing certain links, then there is definitely room for fear.

On that note, if you’re having trouble getting your pages out of the supplemental index, Supplemental Listings – How To Avoid Them provides a great overview.

Some other things mentioned by Matt that may be of interest to you:

Know that the link: operator only shows a sampling of a site’s inbound links and that Google will be giving its filetype: operator an adjustment so that no additional keywords will be needed to perform a search. For example, simply searching for filetype:pdf will be enough to produce results.

Matt also mentions that Google seems to have fixed the problem where foreign sites using .com TLDs weren’t ranking in their country-specific index. (e.g. a site in the UK with a .com TLD that ranks on Google.com but not in Google.co.uk). Afflicted sites should get relief in a few days.

In other weather news: Matt posted his travel/ vacations plans for the first half of 2007 to hopefully prevent the search community from having panic attacks when he goes a week without blogging. Personally, I hope I’m never important enough that I have to keep people updated on my every move. The GPS tracking device Susan and Bruce make me wear is itchy enough.

So that’s it. Consider yourself up to speed on Google's updates and Matt’s attempt at a personal life.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/11/07 at 3:46 PM | Comments (0)
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Bruce Clay News & Announcements

Twice A Month Means Twice the Fun!

A lot happens in any given month. There are high profile industry shuffles, a healthy assortment of startup acquisitions, rumblings of insider drama and everyone knows Google is guaranteed to have earned at least a handful of industry accolades. To help everyone keep on top of all the latest search industry happenings, techniques and gossip, the Bruce Clay SEO Newsletter will now be arriving in your inbox twice a month – that’s the 15th and the last day of every month to be exact.

What’s that you say? Twice a month equals twice as fun? We know!

But we’re not just increasing the quantity; we’re also working hard to increase the quality of our SEO Newsletter. To address the growing interest and demand for international search engine optimization and search marketing news, one issue per month will be dedicated to covering what’s happening on the other side of the pond, wherever that may be.

Expect authoritative articles written by members of the Bruce Clay, Inc. staff regarding search engine optimization and Internet marketing issues for Australia, London, South Africa and beyond.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the Bruce Clay SEO Newsletter, this is the perfect time. Our first issue of 2007 will be hand-delivered* to your inbox on Jan. 15th. Don’t miss it.

[*Hand-delivery void where prohibited by the limitations of the InterTubes.]

The SERC Gets a Makeover

You’ve asked for it, so here it is. The Bruce Clay Search Engine Relationship Chart has undergone an update to better represent the recent changes that have taken place in the evolving search space. You’ll notice that the chart reflects that MSN has launched MSN adCenter and is no longer receiving paid search results from Yahoo, and that DMOZ has lost the 1 percent market share required to earn it a spot on the chart altogether.

If you want to take a look back at past versions of the Search Engine Relationship, check out the Search Engine Relationship Chart histogram, which includes a copy of each of the SERC’s many revisions. Take it from me, it’s way fun to play with.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 01/11/07 at 3:36 PM | Comments (0)
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January 10, 2007

The goods behind Yahoo & MyBlogLog

Loren Baker has an in depth look at Yahoo’s recent MyBlogLog acquisition, giving readers an overview on the actual property, ideas on how Yahoo can leverage it and soliciting opinion from some of the industry’s most avid MyBlogLog users.

If you’re not familiar with MyBlog Log, Loren defines it as “a hybrid between analytics solution and a social networking environment”.

Basically, by signing up, bloggers are given a piece of code they can add to their site which will keep track of all their analytics data (referrals, links, etc.), as well as giving them a (literal) picture of who’s visiting and what other blogs they frequent. The value of the analytics data is obvious, but the blogger profiles are equally valuable. MyBlogLines gives bloggers a representative look at who their visitors are and what else is on their blogging diet. The community aspect is reinforced by users being able to submit photos to appear on your Reader Roll.

If the Yahoo/ MyBlogLog acquisition sounds familiar, it’s not surprising. We, along with most other blogs, reported it happened back in November. But alas, we were wrong. This time, however, it’s been confirmed. Yahoo acquired MyBlogLog for a reported sum of $10 million.

The sum is noteworthy because it signals Yahoo!’s interest in the property. Ten million dollars may not seem like an obscene amount of money for a growing startup (Google spends that on lunch), but take into consideration that MyBlogLog is a six month old company with FIVE employees and zero revenue. This is something Yahoo! aggressively pursued, and with good reason.

So what will Yahoo do with the startup now? Loren Baker offers three possibilities, which I’ll simply outline here (check out SEJ for the real juice.):

• Use it to build a friendlier Yahoo 360 network, eventually merging it into MyYahoo
• Implement the MyBlogLog Reader Roll into Yahoo’s search, channel, local and news communities
• Use in conjunction with Yahoo Publisher Network to connect with bloggers

Obviously the value of MyBlogLog is less about what its worth at present and more about what Yahoo can do to leverage it in the future. This was a smart buy for Yahoo because it opens the door in several other areas and gives them a way to connect with a group comprised of heavy influencers – those annoying bloggers. You might say Yahoo’s MyBlogLog acquisition rounds out their social network offerings for bloggers.

Of the four main engines, Yahoo has always been the most blog-friendly. They allowed users to bookmark early on and they were the only engine to integrate a beta blog search in with users traditional search results (though they killed it later). If Yahoo can successfully integrate MyBlogLog with already-owned properties del.licio.us, Flickr and MyYahoo it will help them regain some of that blogger love they lost when they inexplicably removed the beta blog results late last year. If Yahoo can become a bloggers source for all things bookmarks, tagging, Web 2.0 and social network-related, imagine the authority it gives Yahoo and the new monetization options it creates. I’d let Yahoo be my one-stop blog shop if they gave me the goods. Maybe they’ll go ahead and create a better version of Blogger.

I’ll also be interested to see if Yahoo expands MyBlogLog’s analytics offerings. Right now MyBl