Of Living URLs, Newspaper Rankings & California Fires

Aug 31, 2009 at 8:14pm ET by Danny Sullivan

As Google has grappled with newspapers firing rip-off accusations at them, one of the key responses has been from Google's Marissa Mayer. A move to "living URLs" would drive them more traffic, she's said, talking about it twice this past month. But such a system won't work unless Google News fundamentally changes how it handles news content. Below, a further look, using the current news about California fires as a living example of what can and can't be done with living URLs. The Living URL Concept Mayer is Google's vice president of search product and user experience. She testifi [...]

Filed in: Features: General, Google: News, How To: SEO, Top News

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 31, 2009

Aug 31, 2009 at 5:00pm ET by Barry Schwartz

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 Still No. 1 Search Engine On Earth; Search Activity Way Up, comScore SaysSearch activity around the world jumped 41 percent between July 2008 and July 2009, and Google remains the most popular search engine with 67.5% global market share. Those are some of the stats that comScore shared today about the global search market. According to comScore, Google is not only No. 1 around the world, but it [...] Danny Sullivan’s Preview Of Search [...]

Filed in: SearchCap

Google Still No. 1 Search Engine On Earth; Search Activity Way Up, comScore Says

Aug 31, 2009 at 2:14pm ET by Matt McGee

Search activity around the world jumped 41 percent between July 2008 and July 2009, and Google remains the most popular search engine with 67.5% global market share. Those are some of the stats that comScore shared today about the global search market. According to comScore, Google is not only No. 1 around the world, but it also continues to gain market share -- rising 58% between July 2008 and July 2009. Yahoo is second in overall market share, but its growth is stagnant at just 2% in the same period. Chinese search engine Baidu is third overall, but Microsoft/Bing may eventually surpass i [...]

Filed in: Google: Web Search, Stats: Popularity, Stats: Search Behavior, Stats: comScore

Danny Sullivan’s Preview Of Search Engine Land’s SMX East 2009 Search Marketing Conference In New York

Aug 31, 2009 at 2:05pm ET by Danny Sullivan

In five weeks, our SMX East search marketing conference arrives in New York City from Oct. 5-7. The show features four to five tracks of sessions spread across three days and covers all aspects of search marketing. Below is a personal tour from me on what attendees can expect. Our SMX Advanced conference that sells out each year is especially designed for experienced search marketers. In contrast, SMX East is one of the two “big” or “supermarket” events that we run in the United States designed for search marketers of all skill levels (the other is SMX West, which will retur [...]

Filed in: Features: General, SEM Industry: Conferences, Top News

Gulli Leaves Ask.com For Microsoft Bing, Finally Has “Resources”

Aug 31, 2009 at 1:25pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Ten days ago, we reported that Antonio Gulli left Ask.com after 4 years heading up their technology team in the European R&D center. Gulli announced his new plans are to continue in search, but switch ships and work for Microsoft Bing. Gulli said he will be "leading all the engineering development for UX and verticals in Europe," focusing on Microsoft Bing's search technology and user interface. He will be working at Microsoft's London site of STC Europe nearby Carnaby Street. What I found most interesting about his announcement post was that he, in not so many words, explained that he [...]

Filed in: Ask: Business Issues, Ask: Employees, Microsoft: Business Issues, Microsoft: Employees

SMX East Rate Increases Sept 12 – Register Today & Save

Aug 31, 2009 at 1:17pm ET by Search Engine Land

Register now for Search Marketing Expo – SMX East and you’ll save $150. You have until the end of the day Friday, September 11 to take advantage our early bird rate. 50+ conference sessions for all experience levels on SEO, PPC, social media, local search and more. Check out the agenda. New to search engine marketing? Here's your Dream Agenda for Beginners. Need to stay on top of paid search developments? Check out A PPC Professional's Dream Agenda. The program is by Search Engine Land, the site you trust to keep you up to speed on search marketing. See the team that makes it [...]

Filed in: SEM Industry: Conferences, SMX & SMN Alerts

Microsoft Now Promoting Cashback Program With TV Ads

Aug 31, 2009 at 9:03am ET by Barry Schwartz

TechCrunch reports Microsoft is continuing with the Bing TV commercials but this time promoting the Cashback program. Most recently, Bing doubled the Cashback rewards to drive more awareness to the program. That double reward increase was so successful on some sites that Microsoft had to pull the program four days early. Maybe TV commercials end up being cheaper than double rewards? Here is the ad: [...]

Filed in: Microsoft: Bing, Microsoft: Bing Shopping & Cashback, Microsoft: Marketing

How To Choose A Web Analytics Solution

Aug 31, 2009 at 9:00am ET by Evan LaPointe

Choosing the analytics tool you will use to track what's happening on your web site can be a time-consuming, expensive, and incredibly frustrating experience. There are a number of good candidates to choose from and each touts an impressive feature set that promises to significantly improve everything about your web site. But while there's a lot of hype about what these tools will do to improve your life, it's important to remember that you're not actually choosing an analytics provider, you're choosing a reporting and data gathering system—in other words, a very pretty database. I ca [...]

Filed in: How To: Analytics, SEM Tools: Web Analytics

Wolfram Alpha To Enable API, Open Data To Others

Aug 31, 2009 at 8:01am ET by Greg Sterling

Not long ago "computational engine" Wolfram Alpha struck a deal with Microsoft to license some of its data to Bing. Now, according to the Guardian UK, Wolfram is going wide with that strategy and will soon enable an API that third parties can use to create mashups or enhance their sites. This may be a step toward monetization and/or an admission that as a "search destination" it's foundering. Wolfram today has a defined range of data (see the Wikipedia list), making it unpredictable for those not familiar with its capabilities and limitations. Chris and Danny both wrote positive reviews [...]

Filed in: Search Engines: Answer Search Engines, Search Engines: Wolfram Alpha

Boost Quality Scores With These Simple Tips

Aug 31, 2009 at 8:00am ET by Niraj Shah

Read the search marketing press today and you’ll find abundant information on the importance of bid management strategies, as well as tools to maximize campaign ROI. However, as anybody who’s managed a search campaign recently knows, bid levels are only part of the equation. Effective search marketers know that search engines are looking to maximize their yield from advertising&mdashjust as you are—so efforts to align your interests with those of your search partners can reap rich rewards. Search engines (primarily Google) have effectively shifted the onus of finding this balance [...]

Filed in: Google: AdWords, Industrial Strength

Microsoft’s Lu A Formidable Search Foe For Google

Aug 31, 2009 at 7:27am ET by Greg Sterling

The NY Times offers an extensive and flattering profile of the former Yahoo EVP Qi Lu who, in January, 2009 was named president of online services for Microsoft. Lu was deemed an unlikely appointment by some given his background not as a business and advertising executive but rather as an engineer. However, he was apparently instrumental in helping facilitate the Yahoo-Microsoft search deal. One of the striking things about the article is the uniform praise Lu receives from former Yahoo colleages and Google's Udi Manber: "He is probably the best competition I can have.” The other is Lu's [...]

Filed in: Microsoft: Bing, Microsoft: Employees, Microsoft: Partnerships, Top News

Be Careful When Evaluating Paid Search Tests

Aug 31, 2009 at 7:00am ET by George Michie

The delay between clicks and orders can often make test results appear artificially bad or good in the early stages. This post defines two different approaches for more accurately gauging the effectiveness of tests.

Filed in: Paid Search

Matching Mobile Ads To Consumer Intent

Aug 31, 2009 at 6:00am ET by Travis Fairchild

In my last article, "Matching Local Advertising to Consumer Intent," I encouraged local advertisers to consider the intent of the consumers that they wanted to reach with their advertising distribution sources. The same idea can be applied to mobile, including the types of advertising that best fits your desired action (i.e. an enticement for an in-store visit, such as a coupon; or establishing your business as a brand, associated with other similar content; or a phone call to set-up an appointment). Here are some mobile search options, with observations on when they are most effective at havi [...]

Filed in: Locals Only

Google Logo Remembers Michael Jackson’s Birthday

Aug 29, 2009 at 9:32pm ET by Vanessa Fox

Google's August 29th logo notes Michael Jackson's birthday. Google has commemorated birthdays of many famous people and events, such as Luciano Pavarotti, Lego, and Dr. Seuss. [...]

Filed in: Google: Logos

SPONSOR MESSAGE: Try Acquisio SEARCH and Get a Free T-Shirt!

Aug 28, 2009 at 7:17pm ET by Search Engine Land

Acquisio SEARCH is a comprehensive productivity platform built for interactive agencies that helps you launch, manage, optimize, automate and report on your pay-per-click campaigns for all your clients across all search engines. Take Acquisio SEARCH for a spin today and receive a free t-shirt. [...]

Filed in: Sponsor Messages

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 28, 2009

Aug 28, 2009 at 4:46pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Adds Products, Businesses, Events, Discussions & News To SearchMonkeyThe Yahoo Search Blog announced the expansion of the SearchMonkey platform to not only include richer search results for categories such as Video, Documents, and Games but now also in the categories of Products, Local Businesses, Event, Discussions, or News. Here are some example search results that show off some of these features: We [...] 10 SEO Tips For Maximizing [...]

Filed in: SearchCap

Yahoo Adds Products, Businesses, Events, Discussions & News To SearchMonkey

Aug 28, 2009 at 1:37pm ET by Barry Schwartz

The Yahoo Search Blog announced the expansion of the SearchMonkey platform to not only include richer search results for categories such as Video, Documents, and Games but now also in the categories of Products, Local Businesses, Event, Discussions, or News. Here are some example search results that show off some of these features: We have covered Yahoo SearchMonkey extensively here, for past articles see the Search Monkey category. Postscript From Danny Sullivan: An important change is that those making use of Yahoo's paid inclusion programs are now guaranteed rich res [...]

Filed in: Yahoo: Search, Yahoo: Search Monkey

10 SEO Tips For Maximizing Facebook Visibility

Aug 28, 2009 at 12:33pm ET by Marty Weintraub

No discussion of social media's effect on organic search results is complete without considering Facebook's well-laid play for "search" domination, in a closed-loop-members-only end run around Google's public algorithmic crawl. With 250 million users, the recent purchase of friendFeed and newly offered ability to search at macro and/or granular users' network levels, Facebook's internal community-search platform may well threaten other search models by sheer magnitude of participation and users' trust of their friends, extended networks and themed groups. Why SEO for Facebook is now cruc [...]

Filed in: Facebook, How To: SEO, SEO: Blogs & Feeds, Search Engines: Social Search Engines

Google Expanding Access To Wave Soon, First “Hands-On” Impressions

Aug 28, 2009 at 12:25pm ET by Greg Sterling

At the end of next month, September 30, Google will expand the current "developer preview" of Google Wave to roughly 100,000 consumer users. According to Google, "included in this group of early testers will be some of the businesses using Google Apps." In anticipation of this wider release, Danny and I got some time with Lars Rasmussen and the rest of the Google Wave team the other day. By way of background, Danny and I wrote about Wave when it was first announced earlier this year and then offered some third-party developer observations. Without doing a full "review," I'll offer [...]

Filed in: Features: Analysis, Google: Gadgets, Google: Gmail, Google: iGoogle, Top News

Search In Pictures: Google Holy Water, Yahoo Frisbees & Celebrating Onam

Aug 28, 2009 at 10:30am ET by Barry Schwartz

In this week's Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Google Holy Water: Yahoo Frisbees: What's behind the wall? Google SMS Search in Nigeria: Yahoo Celebrates Onam: [...]

Filed in: Search In Pictures

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