SEO Headlines 03/11/2008

You take a day off due to sickness and suddenly when you get back you’re buried in three weeks worth of work. How did that happen? Here are the SEO headlines you need to know to not look like a n00b at the water cooler.

Google Officially Takes Hold of DoubleClick

This is either good (if you’re Google) or scary (if you’re not), but Eric Schmidt has chimed in on the Official Google Blog to let us know that Google has officially completed their acquisition of DoubleClick after shelling out $3.1 billion for the company last April. Now that the European Commission has given Google its blessing to go ahead with the merger (and without any conditions!), Google is one step closer with its plan for world domination.

I kid. Sort of.

Now that integration is on its way, Eric says there may be a "reduction in headcount" as Google tries to figure out where overlap exists between its own and DoubleClick employees. Not surprisingly, Eric feels that the DoubleClick merger gives them the leading display advertising platform, "enabling [them] to rapidly bring advances to the market in technology and infrastructure" to improve "the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies". Well, duh. This is why Yahoo and Microsoft were so up in arms about it in the first place – because it basically locks everyone else out of the game and allows Google to take over the one area of online advertising they hadn’t yet conquered. Too bad the EU didn’t buy their complaints.

What’s The Best Site Traffic? Direct URL Visits

An Engine Ready study analyzed 18.7 millions visits to 500 client Web sites over two years and found that the highest converting and most valuable source of traffic comes from a user who actually types a URL directly into their Web address box. Comparing organic search to paid, the study found that paid listings convert 17 percent more often than visitors coming from the organic side.

The moral of the story here is that your ROI ultimately rests on your ability to brand your company and get users associating your company with your most important keywords. Seems obvious, no?

We really didn’t need a study to tell us that a visitor who is familiar enough with your Web site to type its URL directly into their browser is more likely to convert than someone who is simply finding you through the search results. I’d also suggest that perhaps the reason said user has established trust in your brand is because of those SEO and PPC campaigns you’re running. Seems to me, Internet marketing is about building that oh-so-important brand image that is going to increase your conversion rate over the long term. But again, we’ve known this forever.
Bruce Clay UK SEO Training Rescheduled

Remember how last week I gave you the dates for UK SEO training? Yes, well they’ve now been rescheduled and it’s not my fault. However, I now have the new dates and these have been confirmed, locked in and bolted down so they can’t change. Get your pen.

Bruce Clay’s UK SEO Training will take place 9-11 September 2008 in London. Got it? Good. Mark those dates on your calendars and start booking travel arrangements if you need them. These things have a way of selling out pretty fast.

Fun Finds

Search Engine Roundtable posted their session schedule for next week’s SES New York show. Our schedule should be up tomorrow (assuming Susan comes to work again), so keep an eye out.

Matt Cutts chimes in on the impact of search on the lodging industry and Web 2.0. That’s "lodging" like hotels and not "logging" like men who climb up trees for fast times. I was confused for a moment there.

Huomah.com gives us Alls fair in love and SEO. Can I get an amen and for people to stop complaining now? Sweet!

Lisa Barone is a writer, content marketer & VP of strategy at Overit Media. She's also a very active Twitterer, much to the dismay of the rest of the world.

See Lisa's author page for links to connect on social media.