More from Search Engine Land: Page 3

Ecommerce

Did Google Let The Search Cat Out Of The Bag?

Shortly after announcing last week’s “Search Options,” Google offered a peek behind the scenes of its decision-making process and how the company arrived at the current version of Search Options. But they did reveal a little too much in the process? Google Operating System did a close examination into one of the screenshots Google shared […]

Local

Pay-For-Call: Moving Clicks To Live Sales Leads

Many local businesses have long relied on incoming phone calls to drive their commerce. This is particularly true for needs-based businesses, such as plumbers or exterminators that require an initial conversation with a potential customer to determine whether a solution can be provided and an appointment should be made. This need is met over the […]

Advertising

Microsoft Completes adCenter Upgrade

Microsoft has announced an upgrade to adCenter that the company says will give advertisers “more control over targeting, bidding, and distribution of your advertising campaigns.” Microsoft wrote several blog posts to explain all the changes: Campaign Management Updates covers the new targeting options, new bidding flexibility, and improved keyword research tools Account Management Updates covers […]

SEO

Hitwise: Natural Search Referrals On The Rise

As a followup to last week’s report that fewer searchers are clicking on paid ads, Hitwise has released a follow-up report showing that organic search referrals are on the rise. “For the majority of categories measured at Hitwise, search is the top source of traffic referrals and the share has increased year-over-year,” writes Heather Dougherty. […]

Content

Google And Other Tech Firms Brace For More Anti-Trust Scrutiny

As the Wall Street Journal reports, and as we’ve written about before, the Obama Administration is getting ready to be much tougher than its predecessor in the anti-trust realm. The terrible irony is that a large number of tech executives and workers at Silicon Valley companies supported the Obama candidacy and now it may impact […]

SEO

AdQuants: Top Local Search Advertisers Are Traffic Resellers

Analytics firm AdQuants has compiled some very interesting data on the local search market. It’s based on the company’s crawling of the major search engines in “250 US metros with approximately 300 local keywords spanning the spectrum of local service providers and retailers.” AdQuants found that national paid search market share trends were magnified at […]

Content

Bit.ly Adds At-A-Glance Click Counts

Last week, I talked with Bit.ly about future product improvements in their URL shortener service that I’d like to see. I’m still working on a full write-up, but one’s already emerged: at-a-glance click counts. I’ve shortened well over 200 URLs through Bit.ly, and it’s been a real pain to log into my account and then […]

Google Analytics

SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 15, 2009

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Wolfram Alpha Live Review: The Un-Google The already much discussed Wolfram Alpha official launch is Monday May 18, though the company has said they plan a “soft launch” starting tonight, with […]

Ecommerce

Wolfram Alpha Live Review: The Un-Google

The already much discussed Wolfram Alpha official launch is Monday May 18, though the company has said they plan a “soft launch” starting tonight, with access gradually becoming available to everyone throughout the weekend. Some members of the press, like myself, have been able to directly use a preview version to test it out. Expect […]

SEO

Congrats Barry Schwartz On New Baby Girl!

Our hard working news editor Barry Schwartz is taking the day off today — something he almost never does — and with good reason. Barry’s become a father for the first time! His daughter (no name yet) was born this morning. Search Engine Land readers see Barry’s name in plenty of stories, but few really […]

Paid social

Twitter: Multiple Revenue Streams Being Explored

Yesterday at the EconSM conference in San Francisco, Kevin Thau, director of mobile biz dev for Twitter, suggested that the company is currently exploring and/or working on several revenue streams: search, content partnerships and mobile carrier-based deals (sharing in data revenues). There are probably others on the “white board” as well including fees for premium […]

Content

Hulu Traffic Controversy Pits comScore Against Nielsen

In the world of competition between and among websites, search engines and online publishers there is also the “behind the scenes” competition between Nielsen and comScore. Both want to be the source of record for traffic data and both are occasionally the subject of controversy. There was the incident early in 2008 where comScore put […]

PPC

Is Your Paid Search Account Structure Optimal?

Most search advertisers are familiar with this organizational structure: Account -> Campaign -> Ad Group -> Keyword That’s the way paid search was logically set years ago and it made complete sense at the time. Targeting/budgeting at the campaign level with keywords grouped with creative at the ad group level is an easy way to […]

SEO

Quietly, Google Updates Its Blog Search Algorithm

There’s no official announcement (yet), but Google tells Search Engine Land that it’s made several improvements under the hood of Google Blog Search. In an email conversation, Google’s Jeremy Hylton — head of the search quality group in Google’s New York office — explained how the changes impact the “clusters” of stories that appear on […]

Content

Google Continues Its Overhaul of Google News

The paint might still be drying, but you can take the new Google News for a spin. It has a mix of aesthetic and functional changes, all of which Google announced earlier today. If you remember last week’s news about Google’s new story display pages, you’ll recognize this week’s changes to the category pages. “Top […]

Apple

Google To Allow Trademarks To Be Used In AdWords Copy In US

Google, which recently liberalized the use of trademark terms as a trigger for showing ads, has again opened up its ad policies to allow trademark terms to be used within ad copy, in certain circumstances, within the United States. Currently, registered trademark holders can request that Google prevent their trademarks from being used in ad […]

Ecommerce

Up Close With Google Squared & Some Wolfram Alpha Thoughts

One of the more interesting things to me that came out of the Google Searchology event this week was “Google Squared.” It’s a new search tool launching later this month that tries to build spreadsheet-like answers to anything you search for. I had a few screenshots from the event that take a deeper look that […]

SEO

SMX London Keynote Preview: Brian Fetherstonhaugh

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO, OgilvyOne Worldwide will be presenting the keynote address at SMX London next week. We’re extremely excited and honored to have Brian give this talk. He has a unique vantage point on how brands are built, how corporate cultures are created, and what happens as the world goes digital. Brian is […]

Apple

SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 14, 2009

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Employee Required To Hand Over AdWords Account Details We obtained documents on a court order, where the judge issued in the Jeremy Schoemaker case against a Google employee for trademark […]

Content

Google Employee Required To Hand Over AdWords Account Details

We obtained documents on a court order that the judge issued in the Jeremy Schoemaker case against a Google employee for trademark infringement. Both Jeremy and the defendant filed motions, in which the court ordered the defendant to hand over the historical data of his AdWords account, amongst other items. The court order, which is […]

Ecommerce

Google Adds Barcode Scanning to Product Search (Android-only)

Google Product Search for Mobile now has barcode scanning ability. The obvious convenience factor is that, rather than typing in the name of the product you’re looking at, you can just scan the barcode and get shopping results (and information) on your Android-powered phone. Google’s announcement today explains that barcode scanning currently is at its […]

Google

Google Services Go Down For Many

Currently, many people who use Google’s services, including web search, Gmail, Google Reader and other products are either down or incredibly slow for some Google users. For Danny and myself, we are able to access these services with no problem. However, if you look at recent Tweets about Google, you will notice that many people […]

Google Ads

Ben Edelman Accuses Google Of Conversion Inflation Fraud

In a new report by Harvard professor Ben Edelman shows how he believes Google and its partners inflate conversion rates and, in turn, increase advertising costs. From his report: Google and its partners systematically inflate advertisers’ conversion rates by interceding in transactions advertisers would otherwise have received for free. This conversion-inflation syndication fraud overstates the […]

SEO

What?! A Search-Hostile Site That Still Ranks Well

What follows is a rant, which is something I rarely, if ever, do. It’s done in the spirit of fun, so don’t take it too seriously. Enjoy! I feel like the grandpa who laments in a crotchety voice to his grandkids: “Nobody ever writes letters anymore! They just sit on their computers and their cell […]

Local

Gauging The Online Visibility Of SMBs

Today, the question every small business owner needs to ask himself is: will search engine users be able to find my business online? The online visibility of a business is difficult to measure. Having a good website is just the beginning. SMBs need to be listed on leading directory sites, vertical and local sites and […]

Apple

Can GRPs Help Build The Web Video Market?

In traditional television media, GRPs are the coin of the realm.  Gross Rating Points are the metric that agencies use to buy ads on the networks.  Now, Mindshare, a unit of WPP’s GroupM media arm, is embracing GRPs as a metric for web video.  Can this help speed the movement of dollars from traditional TV […]

Google

Gmail: All Your Emails Are Belong To Us

Google is removing one of the most common excuses for not using Gmail: “It’s such a pain in the (beep) to switch!” The company announced a new tool that simplifies the process of importing emails and contacts from other providers, including bigger competitors like Yahoo Mail and Hotmail. All new Gmail users have access to […]

Google Analytics

SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 13, 2009

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: New York Times To Restore Links To IHT Stories In Coming Weeks Over the weekend, the New York Times was once again ridiculed for how links to its former International Herald […]

SEO

New York Times To Restore Links To IHT Stories In Coming Weeks

Over the weekend, the New York Times was once again ridiculed for how links to its former International Herald Tribune web site were not redirecting readers to new locations for IHT stories. The situation, which was first noticed at the end of March, seemed another example of a newspaper that didn’t get the online world. […]

Link building

Need A Culture Shift? Build An SEO Taser!

It’s no secret everyone wants to see results these days.  Times are tough, revenues down, expectations are up.  It’s a fight to maintain market share, never mind grow it.  And every day your inbox bubbles up requests for “SEO to drive more traffic, more page views, MORE REVENUE!”  You want to help folks, you want […]

SEO

Hitwise: Less Searchers Clicking On Search Ads?

Paid Search Traffic Share Down 26% from Hitwise reports that paid traffic from search engines is declining. Hitwise’s data said “in the four weeks to May 9, 2009, 7.25% of search engine traffic to All Categories of websites was from paid clicks. This compares to 9.84% in the same four week period in 2008 – […]

Ecommerce

Wolfram|Alpha To Broadcast Its Launch

Several cynical takes I read on yesterday’s Google Searchology event suggest that it and related announcements are directed at stealing Wolfram|Alpha‘s thunder. I think that’s incorrect but Google is certainly aware of the new engine’s impending launch and is keeping an eye on it. For its part Wolfram is going to webcast its launch or […]

Google Ads

AdWords Tests Quick Links To Product Results

I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google seems to be testing a new type of AdWords ad. The ad is an extension of the AdWords Product Plusbox feature Google has been introducing to advertisers who use Google Base. The new method is to not show the plus box, but instead just show three […]

Google

Google Promotes New “Small Business Network”

Although it’s been around for a little while, Google is doing some promotion of its new “Small Business Network.” Believe it or not it’s a lobbying effort to represent small business interests in Washington DC and at the state level. It’s also a clever way to open a new direct communication channel with SMBs: Google’s […]

Analytics & conversion

Optimize Forms To Maximize Conversions

Many B2B marketers use web forms to facilitate registrations, generate leads, or to acquire customers. Improving implementation of online forms can have a dramatic, positive impact on increasing conversion rates and maximizing ROI associated with B2B marketing programs. In my last article, Six Usability Tips to Maximize B2B Website Conversion, I briefly touched on one […]

SEO

Google Searchology 2009: The Big Recap

Google’s latest Searchology event happened on Tuesday, and the blog posts and tweets were flying fast and furious. If you found it all to be a little too much to keep track of, have no fear. It’s our pleasure to share this Big Recap of the most important posts and news. Search Engine Land Coverage […]

Google

Google Webmaster Tools Gets Major Overhaul

Google has announced a major overhaul of Webmaster Tools that’s filled with both major and minor design and functionality changes. The most obvious change is the new dashboard that now shows Top search queries, Crawl errors, Links to your site, and Sitemap information — saving users what used to be several clicks to get this […]

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