A couple months ago, I noted that one of the 6 mistakes B2B marketers continue to make with organic search was inadequate site architecture-the fact that many B2B sites don't have sufficient content to respond to desired search terms. The solution, however, isn't simply adding more content. Proper site architecture is also critical. Here are five steps to success. 1. Identify potential keywords Keyword strategy in B2B SEO is downright difficult. I talked about many of the reasons why in a previous Search Engine Land article about navigating B2B keyword strategy. Erik-Jan Bulthuis [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: SearchBiz: Google And The "M-Word," Mozilla Engineering VP To Facebook, Flickr Founder Criticizes Yahoo & Digg Confirms Google Rumors (Sort Of)The "M-word" has popped up recently several times around Google's search market share and its paid search deal with Yahoo (now under Justice Department review). Google, of course, doesn't see itself as a monopoly and is taking pains to distinguish itself from the likes of Microsoft and others who were... Google [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Remember Google losing its head of PR, Elliott Schrage, to Facebook back in May? Google has quietly found a replacement, that of Rachel Whetstone. She formerly headed corporate communications for Google in Europe. Google confirmed to us she was named to the post several weeks ago, though no announcement was made. But her replacement got some coverage -- BBC editor Peter Barron is reportedly going to join Google as head of communications for the UK, Ireland, and Benelux regions, according to this Guardian UK report. The "M-word" has popped up recently several times around Google's search mark [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Marketing | Search Biz

Google Maps (Earth) is far and away the company's most successful product after search. It is now the second most popular mapping service online (Mapquest still leads) and the most popular mobile mapping tool (Mapquest Mobile is second), according to comScore. Every few months, it seems, Google "tweaks" the service, adding new features here and there (walking directions were added last week). Today's feature-add is a clean up of the interface, which makes it slightly larger, easier to expand to full screen, and removes a bit of what Google itself calls "the clutter" of the previous UI. Dire [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Maps & Local

Today, the Search Engine Roundtable has a post explaining that Google News only shows results for news articles up to thirty-days old. To access any older news content, you must use Google News Archive Search. The thing is, not all Google News sources are included in Google News Archive Search. In fact, you must qualify your content by requesting that Google add you to this special index. Google is specifically looking for "historical content" for this index Here is an example of the latest story indexed by Google News from Search Engine Land: Search Engine Land is currently not in Go [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: News

It appears that Google's Gmail SMTP (send mail) server might have let their secure certificate expire. I personally just got notified that the smtp.gmail.com server was not secure due to the certificate expiring. Here is a screen capture: So, it seems like it just expired just minutes ago. I asked others to confirm the issue and they said they are getting the same error. Scott Hodge did twit about a month ago about the same issue. But this is the first time I am seeing this issue and the certificate clearly shows that it expired just minutes ago. Postscript: A Google spokesperson tol [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Gmail

Today, Google has a special logo up for NASA's birthday. Yesterday, Google had a logo up for the late Beatrix Potter's birthday. NASA was established on July 29, 1958. Potter was born on July 28, 1866 and died on December 22, 1943. Here are the logos: Google NASA Logo: Google Beatrix Potter Logo: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos

It's hard to believe, but Digg's latest feature, the recommendation engine, is one that has been in the works for over two years. Before they developed images functionality, launched visualization tools, released Google, Netvibes, and Myspace widgets, developed Facebook functionality, rolled out dataportability enhancements, released updates to the comment system, updates to digg the candidates, and added several other features or enhancements to the social news site, the team at Digg already had the idea for a recommendation engine. They were looking at the site as a platform that monitors [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social

Organic optimization brings more than just results in the search engines. This week's infographic shows off the additional benefits and return on investment that comes along with properly optimizing a site and pursuing targeted keywords: Graphic by Elliance, an eMarketing firm specializing in results-driven search engine marketing, web site design, and outbound eMarketing campaigns. The firm is the creator of the ennect online marketing toolkit. The Search Illustrated column appears Tuesdays at Search Engine Land. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Infographics | Search Illustrated

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Cuil Launches -- Can This Search Start-Up Really Best Google? Can any start-up search engine "be the next Google?" Many have wondered this, and today's launch of Cuil (pronounced "cool') may provide the best test case since Google itself overtook more established search engines. Cuil provides what appears to be a comprehensive index of the web, a unique display... Power Searching Google News With Cluster FilteringIonut Alex Chitu noticed [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Ionut Alex Chitu noticed a new feature in Google News that allows you to filter news clusters by three options. The three options include, "All Sources," "Blogs," and local news options. Let me walk you through this step by step. You can access Google News clusters a few ways, but here are the two most common methods: (1) Google News' home page groups stories into clusters. You can view the details of that cluster by clicking on "all ### news articles »" at the end of the news block. (2) Google News' search results do a similar thing for the news search results. I picked the Brett F [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: News

I was reviewing print yellow pages book usage statistics this week, in preparation for the SMX Local & Mobile conference, and I was struck once again by the large numbers that the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) touts in their press releases and research papers. I've had some individuals at conferences dismiss the idea that print usage could be dropping much, based on these YPA's figures, and it's made me wonder if there could be some degree of error involved in the data sampling methods used by the research companies behind the reports. With very little checking, I found my suspicion [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

When I tried out the new Google Ad Planner recently, I had no idea my reaction would be so out of step with the reactions of various observers on the scene. Has this ever happened to you? It’s like being in an episode of The Twilight Zone, as you pass by the horrified shouts of onlookers towards some scene that will surely turn out to be horrific carnage when you turn the corner, but all you see when you get there are gingerbread houses and bunny rabbits. There I was, doing research using Google's intuitive interface in order to develop a list of potential target sites broken down by [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search

The Yahoo Search Marketing Blog announced they have improved the Ad Performance Reports to include a few new columns. The new columns include: Ad ID column – This column displays your ad's ID number.Ad: – This column provides a visual representation of your ad, including its title, short description, and display URL.Destination URL – the URL of your landing page. In addition to these changes, Yahoo moved the various status changes into a single column named "ad statuses." These new columns can be exported and downloaded into a third-party system, if needed. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Yahoo: Search Ads

The Yahoo Search Blog announced they have made "significant enhancements" to how they show news results in the web search results. Yahoo is now showing news results in different positions throughout the web search results, based on their new "News Direct Display (DD)" algorithm. In addition, Yahoo improved how they detect news queries and will show more news boxes in the search results due to that improvement. For example, a search on spears returns a news box in the middle of Yahoo Search: I decided to see how Yahoo handled a search for Cuil (for more on Cuil, see Cuil Launches -- Can T [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Yahoo: News | Yahoo: Search

Google is starting to take StreetView beyond major US and EU metro areas to more rural locations. In the process it may be, in some cases, disregarding "no trespassing" warnings on private roads. According to a Sonoma County, California newspaper, Google has started capturing images of large areas of mostly rural Northern California. In at least one instance Google included images of private property where a "no trespassing" sign was reportedly disregarded. Google was previously sued for allegedly trespassing onto a private road and taking photographs of homes. And a St. Paul, Min [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Street View

Reuters reports that Gordon Crawford of Capital Research and Management, one of Yahoo's largest shareholders, has apparently said that he may not support the existing Yahoo board at Friday's annual shareholder meeting. The only trouble is that Yahoo's settlement with Carl Icahn removes the ability for Crawford and other disgruntled shareholders to vote for alternatives to Chairman Roy Bostock, CEO Jerry Yang, and their fellow board members, which will now include Icahn. While the shareholder meeting promises to put Yang & Co. on the hot seat, it will all be largely "symbolic" at this point. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo: Business Issues

Now that Cuil is live, I wanted to do a few fast queries to get a sense of how it seems to stack up against Google. With the huge caveat that nine queries are far from letting anyone conclude anything, I still didn't come away with a sense that Cuil has Google-beating relevancy. Instead, it has some flaws though, admittedly, is better than many start-up search engines appear out of the box. Queries I tried: miserable failure: Cuil has suggested it wouldn't be vulnerable to the Googlebomb that made President George W. Bush rank at the top of Google for years for this phrase. Not so. Bush show [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Engines: Cuil

Can any start-up search engine "be the next Google?" Many have wondered this, and today's launch of Cuil (pronounced "cool") may provide the best test case since Google itself overtook more established search engines. Cuil provides what appears to be a comprehensive index of the web, offers a unique display presentation, and emerges at a time when people might be ready to embrace a quality "underdog" service. The big questions now are how does the relevancy hold up and can word-of-mouth really still build significant share? [Note: The Cuil site was supposed to be live for searches at [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Engines: Cuil | Search Engines: Hakia

One of the biggest frustrations for an AdWords advertiser is when a minimum bid for highly relevant keywords jumps from a few cents to a few dollars without any seemingly reasonable explanation. The keyword, ad copy, and landing page can all be highly relevant. The CTR could be above 5%. The keyword converts well. Users are obviously happy to be clicking on your ads. However, when Google updates the quality score, there are days when logic and minimum bids seem to disagree. Besides screaming at Google and calling the AdWords system illogical, what should you do next? Below is a step by [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search