Google

Google Gets Fearful, Flags Entire Internet As Malware Briefly

Earlier today, Google started placing malware warnings next to every site listed. TechCrunch has an excellent screenshot, and there’s much discussion on Techmeme. As part of its malware blocking system, this also meant anyone trying to reach a site by clicking on a link from Google were instead routed to a “do you really want […]

Analytics & conversion

Marin Software’s Multi-Conversion Tracking Helps Fine Tune Keyword Bidding

Marin Software has introduced a new tool that the company says is unique in the industry. It’s called “Multi-Conversion Tracker.” It enables search marketers to define various kinds of actions or “conversions” (e.g., newsletter sign up, e-commerce transactions, e-mail capture, etc.). That process then enables SEMs to determine the relative performance of keywords and ad […]

PPC

Losing Hope With Yahoo, After Watching The Paid Search Division Stumble

Come and get us, Microsoft. That might as well be what Yahoo’s search ad division — Yahoo Search Marketing — is doing with its action of changing advertiser accounts without asking first. Part of Yahoo’s long-standing problem has been that it generates less advertising revenue per ad than Google. The Panama upgrade that came out […]

Content

Are You An SEO Hybrid?

During search engine optimization (SEO) consultations, have you heard any of the following statements: “I didn’t hire you for website usability. I hired you for SEO.” These statements, and the sentiments associated with them, come in many variations, such as: “I didn’t hire you to redesign my site. I hired you to get my site […]

Bing

Live Search “Auto Suggest” Add-On For Firefox Released

Microsoft’s Live Search still isn’t built into Firefox, but you can add it to your Firefox search box manually. Now, a new add-on from Live Search does this complete with the ability for the search box to auto-suggest terms you might be searching for. For more, see the Live Search blog.

PPC

Martin Schaedel (Lazerzubb) Killed In Plane Crash

I can recall when I first met Martin Schaedel, known widely by his online handle lazerzubb, I think it was at a search conference in Sweden or Germany years ago. He was the youngest person I’d ever seen show up at one (he was maybe 15 at the time), and he was eager to make […]

Local

Google Street View Car Kills Bambi, Removes Pictures Afterward

We’ve seen Google’s Street View cars capture a variety of interesting scenes, such as a house on fire or car accidents, but this is a new one. Apparently, one hit a deer and then captured a photo of the poor thing lying dead or dying afterward. The Daily What has the before screenshots, reprinted above […]

Content

Obama Inauguration Sets Standard For Live Video Streaming

On January 20th, CNN.com served over 21.3 million live video streams of President Obama’s Inaugural Address, breaking CNN.com’s previous daily-streaming record (5.3 million on Election Day). Page views swelled to 136 million. The CNN feed also included a sidebar that allowed Facebook users to comment live on the speech. Others watched on CBS.com, Washingtonpost.com or […]

SEO

A Look At Article Directories and Their Influence in Organic Rankings

Article directories and article syndication websites are one the earliest forms internet marketing, but do they still work and are they worth the effort? The main problem with syndicated articles is that they will most likely be seen as duplicate content, which Google claims will be filtered out of organic SERP’s. Article directory owners tell […]

Google

Google AdWords Testing New Interface

Tim Cohn writes about a new user interface beta that Google is offering to some AdWords advertisers. As you can see from Tim’s screenshot below (which was probably left small to protect personal data), the new interface looks similar to the charting/graphing system that Google Analytics uses: (It also looks somewhat similar to the Yahoo […]

Local

SMB’s Need More “Local” Outreach

(Business owners, if you’re looking for actionable advice, skip to the end) I spoke at a local Chamber of Commerce here in the Portland area last week, giving a brief presentation on the fundamentals of SEO. Unlike a previous event I’d attended just three months ago in eastern Washington, about 75% of this audience had […]

Content

YouTube Searchers: It’s All About The Music

You can learn a lot about a web site by peeking below the hood of its internal site search. And, based on Hitwise data out today, YouTube is a surrogate music video search engine. Hitwise research suggests that 72% of the site’s Top 50 search terms from December 2008 are music-related — from L’il Wayne […]

Content

Google TV Ads Tells How DVRs Affect Your Ads

Google’s TV Ads team has announced the addition of new metrics detailing time-shifted viewings of your TV ad. Here’s the formal explanation from Google’s announcement: “[Time-shifted viewership data] … provides you with insight into how and when viewers see your ads during DVR playback of recorded content. As with all metrics in your Google TV […]

Content

Pew: Young Or Old, Search Cuts Across Age Categories

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has come out with a fairly comprehensive look at generations and internet activity, called “Generations Online.” The report segments users by age categories (i.e., X, Y, Boomers) and looks their online activities. The data were drawn from responses by thousands of users to surveys conducted by Pew researchers […]

SEO

Content: The Once, Current & Future King Of Big Site SEO

All web sites, whether large or small, have many of the same search engine optimization challenges. Since the beginning of interactive time, it has been a struggle for many business websites to find their voice and to provide meaningful content to the Internet audience. At Agency.com we see this struggle every day, particularly in an […]

Content

Your 2009 Marketing Budget: Why It’s Worth Revisiting

Despite the fact that we are already a month into the new year, and that you probably made a valiant effort in putting together your 2009 marketing budget, you just might want to revisit it. Why? Because given the current economic conditions, it’s more important than ever to get the most out of your marketing dollars, […]

PPC

Click Fraud Rate Hits Highest Level Yet

Click fraud is worse today than ever according to an announcement from tracking company Click Forensics. Click Forensics estimates the overall average click fraud rate for Q4 2008 at 17.1%, the highest level since they began tracking it in 2006. That rate is up from 16.0% in Q3 2008 and from the 16.6% rate reported […]

Google Analytics

Change (& In-House SEO)

Change is a popular word lately, and living in DC area the theme is practically unavoidable. You can even buy (a shiny version of) change at the mall. I walked through a Macy’s department store last week and passed a large rack of sparkly “Change” pins for sale. Change is everywhere.

PPC

Yahoo Tries To Justify Automatic Account Optimization

Three weeks after the latest uproar over its decision to auto-optimize sponsored search accounts, Yahoo has published an explanation under the brassy headline, “The Truth about Account Optimizations.” As a refresher, earlier this month Yahoo emailed advertisers about its new Terms and Conditions, which says that Yahoo may create ads, edit keywords, and/or optimize the […]

SEO

Yahoo Q4 Shows Operating Loss; CEO Bartz: ‘This Is Not A Company That Needs To Be Pulled Apart And Left For The Chickens’

Yahoo was widely expected to report lower earnings. But the lower earnings reported beat some financial analysts’ very low expectations. Here are the top-level highlights from the earnings release: Q4 Financial Results Revenues were $1,806 million for the fourth quarter of 2008, a 1 percent decrease compared to $1,832 million for the same period of […]

Apple

How Search-Like Are Social Media Sites?

Like search? Who doesn’t — great traffic, huge brand value and an audience ready to convert. Like social media? What’s not to like — huge growth, tons of buzz and an entire new marketing frontier that is opening up. For the search marketer looking at social media, how does it measure up? Which social media […]

Google

Google Logs Help Convict Husband Accused of Murdering Wife

CNET reports on a conviction based in part on search query logs from Google that was upheld on appeal: A physical search of Justin’s computer revealed that a few months before the murder, he had searched for terms including “trauma, cases, gunshot, right chest” and “Florida & divorce.” Prosecutors had also discovered that the defendant […]

LinkedIn

Packaging Yourself For Success: A Search Marketer’s Resume Guide

In today’s competitive search landscape you need to go beyond a basic resume and find a way to stand out in the crowd of applicants. It’s not just about outlining your experience anymore. Employers are raising the bar with specific metrics, certifications and requirements. Here are a few key components to hone in on when […]

Link building

How To Maximize Your Link Traction

In my last Link Week post, I talked about how monitoring Twitter could help build links. Search Engine Land Managing Editor Elisabeth Osmeloski had this comment: “not really underscored in this example is the potential for the link to gain traction over time. Sure, Jane’s blog may not be that popular, but it only takes […]

Google

Google (Finally) Addresses FeedBurner Problems

After weeks of reports that FeedBurner wasn’t working, Google finally talked about the situation today on the AdSense for Feeds blog. The problem surrounds the transfer of FeedBurner accounts to a new platform (and a new URL). Many FeedBurner users saw their feeds go dead when switching to the new platform; some received 502 or […]

Ecommerce

Google Confirms Testing Favicons In Search Results

Over at Search Engine Roundtable, Barry posted this weekend about Google showing favicons in search results, and updated the post with confirmation from Google that it’s a test, not a bug. I can’t get this to show on my computer right now, but here’s the screenshot Barry posted (via Brian Ussery): The favicon only appears […]

Local

The Local Mobile Opportunity … “Yes We Should.”

Last week’s inauguration was a great time to reflect. Witnessing such an inspirational, historic event combined with the ground-swell of optimism gave me a renewed sense of purpose and possibility. Professionally, it made me think about how I can get even more resourceful in my marketing approach and solving the problems of my valuable clients.

Google Ads

Heads-Up, Google: Broad Match Controls We Need

Last week, the Rimm-Kaufman Group disclosed what is apparently an inadvertent bug in Google’s Broad Match algorithm. Last summer’s switch from minimum bid to first-page minimum bid wasn’t supposed to impact broad match logic at all, but it did in a big way. The result? Agencies and advertisers who pay attention to the numbers saw […]

Google

No Surprise: Google Is No. 1 Internet Property Worldwide

Not that we needed any confirmation of Google’s popularity, but comScore has put it into numbers with today’s release of data about worldwide Internet usage. comScore says Google is the most popular Internet property in the world, with its sites reaching 77% of the online population that’s 15-years-old and up in December, 2008. Microsoft and […]

Ecommerce

Google To Push Semantic Search In 2009?

At Google Watch today, Clint Boulton found an interesting comment from Google CEO Eric Schmidt during Thursday’s earnings call. During the call, Schmidt spoke about focusing on the “untapped potential of search and ads” and Google’s emphasis on search quality: “Wouldn’t it be nice if Google understood the meaning of your phrase rather than just […]

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