Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Logo The Worst Identity of 2009, According To Brand NewUnder Consideration’s Brand New devision posted their best and worst identities of 2009. Guess who made the top of the list for the worst identity? Bing, bing, bing – you got it, it was Microsoft’s new brand for their search engine – the Bing logo. Honestly, I am not sure how reputable the [...] Attribution: What It Is And Why It’s ImportantForrester Resear [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Under Consideration's Brand New division posted their best and worst identities of 2009. Guess who made the top of the list for the worst identity? Bing, bing, bing - you got it, it was Microsoft's new brand for their search engine - the Bing logo. Honestly, I am not sure how reputable the Under Consideration site is, but I did see the Seattle Pi magazine mention this - so it did get some attention. Under Consideration's comments about the logo were: When I first posted the new logo for Microsoft’s search engine I blasted it for using scaled typography then "Bob," who designed the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Marketing

Forrester Research, Inc. recently released their Interactive Attribution Q4: 2009 report, a 44-criteria evaluation of interactive attribution vendors. The report opens with a statement of why accurate, interactive attribution is so crucial: "The de facto industry standard of measuring the value of campaigns or media placements by the most recent click or interaction is ripe for change." The report continues by defining interactive attribution as "the practice of measuring the correct partial value of each interactive ad that drove a desired outcome." Reading the report will give you an un [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Credit Is Due | How To: Analytics | How To: SEM

Following October's release of Google Analytics new features, Google has just released another set of very cool new features. Among them is "Annotations," a tremendously useful new feature both to analysts as well as executives, who are usually not up to date on granular details about website activity. The annotations feature basically allows users to make comments on graphs regarding events that happened on specific days. For example, have you ever used Snagit or some other screen capture utility to create an snapshot image like the one below to explain what happened on a specific analytic [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics

Irony & deja vu. Earlier this year, a rumor swept the internet that Jeff Goldblum had died -- and for a short time, searches on Google seemed to confim it. Now the same is happening to Natalie Portman -- who like Goldblum, is alive and well despite what Google's search results say. Jeff Goldblum Is NOT Dead (Despite What Google Says) has the background on what happened with Goldblum and how a joke site called FakeAWish allows people make a story about any celebrity being dead in an accident (with one scenario placing this in New Zealand). With Goldblum, Google News had picked up an a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: Analysis | Google: Real Time Search | Top News

Tim Cohn spotted that the Google Advertising Professionals Search is now live. It can be accessed at adwords.google.com/professionals/search and lets you search for certified AdWords professionals based on location and budget. After you conduct a search, you can narrow your search even more by checking off additional services offered by the agencies in Google's database. They include Online display advertising, Search engine optimization, Traditional advertising (print, TV), Web design, Website analytics, Affiliate programs, New media (mobile & social networks), Creative and desi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Top News

Sam Palmissano has transformed IBM over the past decade or so that he's been in top positions in the company. IBM isn't just a mainframe hardware company any more—it's involved in a wide range of businesses, throughout the world, and unlike many tech companies is still growing—and some of the best SEOs in the world have worked for/with IBM. Today's Barron's has a profile of IBM, with some interesting quotes from Palmissano on a number of topics. Inevitably, with Google's push into enterprise and cloud computing, the "is Google unstoppable" question arose. His spot-on and refresh [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Critics | Top News

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: From NORAD Santa Tracker To Twitter: Santa Tracking For Christmas Eve 2009Merry Christmas! Christmas Eve, that is, and you know what that means. Santa Claus is coming to town! How long until he arrives? Can you spot him in flight? Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus, and he can be tracked. Below, a round-up of Santa trackers. Most of the ones below come from NORAD, the [...] Christmas ‘09 Logos From Google & OthersAs many of you know, Go [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Do you ever read reviews of companies you do business with? Do you read product reviews before buying a new camera, vacuum cleaner, or computer? If so, you are not alone! According to Lynn Terry on Clicknewz.com, 90% of consumers use reviews at least some of the time when planning purchases. That being said, as owner of a SMB, you want to help your customers recognize the merits of your business and the products you offer. And beware the unhappy customer. An unhappy customer may post reviews that can damage your company’s reputation and persuade potential customers to shop elsewhere. Do not [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Small Is Beautiful

According to November comScore data (published by TechCrunch) Google News is the second largest online news property in the world in terms of traffic. Yahoo ranks as the top global news site. Here's the partial comScore list: Yahoo News Google News New York Times sites CNN China’s QQ.com BBC MSN In the US Yahoo still ranks as number one but Google News reportedly falls down the list below the traditional news domains, such as NY Times and CNN. However, over at Nielsen (via Editor & Publisher) the numbers appear to be quite different than the comScore data above -- espe [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Google: News | Google: Outside US | Search Engines: News Search Engines | Stats: Compete | Stats: comScore | Stats: Hitwise | Stats: NetRatings | Stats: Popularity | Yahoo: News

As many of you know, Google started their holiday logo blitz earlier this week. Google has now posted four of (I believe) five logos they have for the holidays. We also have logos from Yahoo, Bing, Ask, DogPile, Baidu and many other search engines and search industry web sites. I wanted to share them with you today and update them tomorrow, as more come in. Here are the logos: [...]

Related Topics: Ask: General | Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos | Microsoft: Bing | SEM Industry: General | Top News | Yahoo: General

In a Security and Exchange document filed on Tuesday night, AOL plans on cutting about one-third of their staff, about 2,300 people. The filing said, "the Restructuring will include the reduction of approximately a third of the Company’s current employee base, which will be conducted on a voluntary and involuntary basis." AOL became an independent company earlier this month, as the "new" AOL. It is unfortunate that so many people are going to lose their jobs early next year. It is also very unfortunate AOL had to officially announce this a day before Christmas eve. [...]

Related Topics: AOL: General | Channel: Other

Merry Christmas! Christmas Eve, that is, and you know what that means. Santa Claus is coming to town! How long until he arrives? Can you spot him in flight? Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus, and he can be tracked. Below, a round-up of Santa trackers. NOTE: For the latest news on 2012 Santa tracking, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2012 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google, From The Web To Apps Most of the ones below come from NORAD, the missile tracking people. They've been tracking Santa for more than 50 years, thanks to a phone number that was misprinted (and sadly, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: General | Search Engines: Santa Tracker | Top News

Factual has analyzed data from 4 million web sites and provided a holiday gift for stats junkies. Did you know 5% of pages have either a Twitter or Facebook link? Or that 28% of sites run Google Analytics? Or 12% of them run Google AdSense? Now you do! The core data comes from CommonCrawl, a non-profit group designed to crawl the web and provide data for anyone to use. Gil Elbaz is both a founder of CommonCrawl and of Factual, a start-up that creates tables of structured information from data found on the open web (see Factual: Parting The Curtains Of The Invisible Web). Factual found st [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Factual | Google: Business Issues | Google: Critics | Google: General | Search Engines | Search Engines: Experimental | Stats: General | Top News

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 Paying Luggage Fees At Two Bay Area AirportsPeace on earth, good will toward holiday travelers. That seems to be Yahoo’s modus operandi today: The company is paying the baggage fees for all outbound travelers at San Francisco and San Jose international airports. It’s part of the Yahoo for Good campaign, and as local news reports suggest, it’ll probably help build some goodwill [...] FTC To Take A Closer Look At Google-AdMob T [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Peace on earth, good will toward holiday travelers. That seems to be Yahoo's modus operandi today: The company is paying the baggage fees for all outbound travelers at San Francisco and San Jose international airports. It's part of the Yahoo for Good campaign, and as local news reports suggest, it'll probably help build some goodwill among harried holiday travelers. It's noteworthy because Yahoo has shut down its offices over the holidays as a cost-cutting measure. But paying for luggage at two busy airports on one of the busiest travel days of the year? That should cost Yahoo a nice, littl [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: General | Yahoo: Marketing | Yahoo: Other

The 30-day window for the FTC's review of Google's $750 million acquisition of AdMob is now up and the regulatory agency has decided it's going to take a closer look at the impact of the deal ("second request") on the nascent but rapidly evolving mobile advertising sector. This means that the FTC will be gathering more information from Google, AdMob and potentially others. According to the Google Public Policy blog: As we said when we announced the deal, we don't see any regulatory issues with this deal, because the rapidly growing mobile advertising space is highly competitive with more t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile | Legal: General | Top News

Staring into a crystal ball is a dangerous undertaking, especially when you’re attempting to predict the future of a market as dynamic as paid search. Leading analysts continue to project that paid search marketing spend in the U.S. will grow from $13 billion in 2009 to $26 billion by the year 2014. But how this growth will happen remains unclear. One thing is certain, as more dollars flow into paid search, the number of tactics, targeting options and channels available for search marketers will need to grow to ensure that search campaigns can deliver ever-increasing ROI. Here are five pr [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Features: Analysis | Search Marketing: General

Sometimes it's difficult for non-marketers to reasonably gauge the overall success of branding programs, because they have neither dashboard nor perspective to use as benchmarks. This post suggests easy-to-identify measurements to serve as general indications of the marketing department’s success in building a brand (henceforth referred to as [brand]) to top of mind with the general search and social media public. We’ll follow the 9 clues with a simple questionnaire any stakeholder in [brand’s] success can forward to the marketing manager to help improve [brand's] public image. 1 [...]

Related Topics: Brand Aid | Channel: Strategy

Your resolution list might look different than this one, but that’s not the point. The point here is that you actually have an SEO resolution list. Either get cracking on those projects that stalled in 2009 and find your success by managing the work smartly, or use some of these ideas to jumpstart your 2010 projects. 1) Hold an internal SEO summit The size of your company will dictate how large this event becomes. The goal is to provide broad exposure to the topic of SEO and get the chatter going about your program. Ideally, you’d treat this the same as an actual conference, just one [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | In House Search Marketing