Why do some companies thrive at conversion optimization, while others languish? I'd argue that the biggest factor is not technology, testing tactics or creative brilliance. It's the agility of your marketing team. The more agile you are, the better your conversion optimization will be. So if you really want to boost your online marketing performance—in a game-changing way—consider adopting agile methodologies in your management. How agile methodologies began Once upon a time, software was built using a rigid process known as the waterfall model. Developers would first gath [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Search & Conversion

Let's give Microsoft's marketing folks some credit for thinking inside the box. Literally. They've taken their Bing promotional efforts inside Microsoft's own Xbox gaming platform with free codes that let Xbox Live users outfit their avatars in Bing t-shirts. That's what you'll see when you search Bing with the magic search phrase. As Bing said on Facebook, "Your Xbox LIVE avatar might not be a real person -- but that doesn't mean they shouldn't still be fashionable." So very, very true. Microsoft made an $80 million push when Bing launched last year. Some of that advertising was cle [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Marketing

Apparently, Google's Sergey Brin now believes that the US government should make fighting Chinese censorship a high priority, is disappointed with Microsoft for continuing to censor and is surprised that some question Google's sudden U-turn in China. I'd say Google needs to get a little time under its belt being outside of China and setting a true example for others to follow, if it really wants to be taken seriously and demonstrate leadership. Brin's comments came in an interview with the Guardian. On the US government, as well as businesses in general, he said: Human rights issues deserv [...]

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

The SES New York show just completed their first day of conference sessions. Below is a listing of all the conference blogging I have found throughout the day. 10 Things To Supercharge Your SEM Campaigns in 2010 from SES Y 2010, Search Engine Roundtable Achieving Success with Improved Ads Quality from SES NY 2010, Search Engine Roundtable Augmented Reality Session at #sesny [LIVE BLOG], Search Engine Watch Blog Augmented Reality: It's a Brave New World from SES NY 2010, Search Engine Roundtable Augmented Reality: It’s a Brave New World, outspokenmedia.com Deep Dive Into [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Conferences

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 AdWords Search Funnels Launched: See All The Keywords That Led To ConversionsGoogle launched a new AdWords reporting feature named AdWords Search Funnels. AdWords Search Funnel shows you all the keywords that assisted in conversion made through Google AdWords, rather than just the last one before a buy or conversion action. This feature is being rolled out over the next few weeks, so keep [...] New Ruling May Mean More Googling In CourtA [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google launched a new AdWords reporting feature named AdWords Search Funnels. AdWords Search Funnel shows you all the keywords that assisted in conversion made through Google AdWords, rather than just the last one before a buy or conversion action. This feature is being rolled out over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for it. Until now, Google would only show you the last keywords that led to a conversion. In many cases, searchers will go through a searching process that includes research that might not lead to an immediate sale but may assist in a sale after a few more searches. [...]

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

A federal appeals court ruling this week may open the door for judges to increase their use of search engines during court cases. Monday's ruling authorized a judge's use of Google to "confirm an intuition about a matter of common knowledge," according to Reuters. The case in question was a criminal matter in which the defendant allegedly violated the terms of his release. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin used Google to confirm his intuition about some of the evidence -- the wearing of a yellow rain hat -- and eventually found the defendant guilty. The defendant appealed, citing Chin's search [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: General | Legal: General | Search & Society: General

When Yahoo and Microsoft announced their partnership to replace Yahoo organic search index with Bing's, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said that while Yahoo would no longer crawl and index the web, they would own the search experience and continue to innovate there. I was skeptical. There's only so much innovation a search engine can do without crawling the web directly. But Yahoo is trying to prove me wrong (key word in that sentence: trying; mostly through sensational press releases, but more on that in a minute). One way Yahoo has been focusing on new searcher experiences has been through mobile. Ya [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Search

The cookie cutter approach to link building has never really worked. You can't apply the identical linking strategy for one site to another site. Even so, services that sell that exact thing have flourished.  I really can't believe people are still buying link building packages from cheapest-priced, overseas vendors/workers who can barely type, and don't speak English. I still get emails that say things like: Please to links now will exchange with us for pagerank 3? I go about things my own way, but I also recognize my weaknesses, and see the link building trade becoming more and more [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Week

Social media monitoring is the practice of monitoring social media for topics and mentions that are of interest to your company or brand. Social media monitoring is generally discussed with in the context of online reputation management. However, social media monitoring can also be used to help promote a brand, aid customer service, contribute to product development, and measure off line marketing efforts, among other things. Here, I am going to talk about how to use social media monitoring to build relationships for SEO and brand building. Why are we interested in building relationships? B [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social

European luxury goods maker LVMH (Luis Vuitton) sued Google in France over its AdWords policy allowing third parties, including LVMH competitors, to bid on its trademarked terms as keywords. The case originally arose when marketers bid on "Louis Vuitton" and turned out to be selling counterfeit Louis Vuitton items. The company won in France's highest court, even as Google was liberalizing its AdWords policy in Europe to conform to the more permissive US policy that routinely allows such third party trademark-keyword bidding. (Trademarks cannot appear in competitors' ad copy however.) Google [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: Copyright | Legal: General | Legal: Trademarks | Top News

If you visit Google UK, Google Israel or many of the international Google properties, you will find a special Google Doodle for Akira Kurosawa. Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese film director and producer, he was awarded the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1989. He was known as "one of the most important and influential of all filmmakers," as stated in Wikipedia. Today is his 100th birthday and Google made a "Doodle" to remember him. But that Doodle is not on Google.com. Here is a picture: I am not sure why it is not on Google.com and it is on Google.co.uk and many other [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos

Today's news that Google is defying Chinese authorities by no longer censoring search results leaves many wondering whether the government will simply force Google to cease operations in China. Even if that happens, China is still an important market to consider. Google is not the first western company to fall out with the Chinese government nor will it be the last. Google is making its own decisions for its own reasons and my purpose here is not to delve into the politics nor analyse Google's motives, but to guide others on how to gauge what this situation means for their own businesses a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

A "small portion" of Google Maps users may see the latest experiment on Google Maps: the addition of hotel prices as part of the business listing information. You'll know that you're one of those users if you see an interface like this next time you search for hotels on Google Maps: The pricing information comes from a "limited number of advertisers" that have agreed to give Google their pricing information -- judging from the image, this appears to include travel portals such as Expedia, Priceline, and the like. It's unclear if any hotels are participating directly. In today's annou [...]

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

How much time do you waste every day working tediously on boring, repetitive SEM tasks that would be much better performed by a robot? Put an end to this nonsense and adopt Acquisio SEARCH as your sidekick. Automate the robot work, save time, improve performance and take control of your life. Contact us now to find out more or to get a live demo of Acquisio SEARCH. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Sponsor Messages

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 Stops Censoring In China, Hopes Using New Domain Meets Legal RequirementsBeginning today, Google is no longer censoring results on its Chinese search engine, the company has announced. But rather than the expected “pullout” from China, Google hopes to continue operating within the country. It all comes down to whether the Chinese government decides operating off a Hong Kong domain — rather than the main Chinese [...] Intern [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Beginning today, Google is no longer censoring results on its Chinese search engine, the company has announced. But rather than the expected "pullout" from China, Google hopes to continue operating within the country. It all comes down to whether the Chinese government decides operating off a Hong Kong domain -- rather than the main Chinese domain -- lets Google get around its censorship rules. Google Finally Acts In January, Google announced that it would no longer censor its search results, in the wake of an attack on its business infrastructure. Google never blamed the Chinese governm [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Business Issues | Google: Outside US | Top News

The internal linking structure of a website represents a wealth of (usually) untapped opportunity. Back link acquisition is always going to be fundamental to organic search efforts, but before reaching out across the vast web for links, look within. You may have more potential juice to leverage inside your own site than you would get from several links from other sites, and manipulating your own links is (usually) much easier than securing links on other sites. It's important to recognize that internal linking isn't just about SEO. It's intimately tied together with site architecture, conv [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Industrial Strength

At SMX West Google Senior Product Manager for Ads Quality Nick Fox offered a detailed look at several new PPC product offerings: sitelinks, product extensions and comparison ads. If you're considering rolling any of these out, here's the lowdown on how they work, along with some tactical tips. Sitelinks With sitelinks, up to four text links are displayed underneath an AdWords ad unit. In the interface, advertisers can list up to 10 sitelinks per ad unit. Generally speaking, ads are displayed for top ranked ads with a high Quality Score, but—typical of Google's approach to a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search

Yahoo was the first of the major search engines to use search query data to inform and influence subsequent display ad serving. However, as Magnetic CEO Josh Shatkin-Margolis pointed out to me, that only works within the Yahoo network, not across the broader internet. He would know, having worked as a Director of Engineering at Yahoo, and before that at DoubleClick and Performics. What his company Magnetic (previously known as Domdex) is doing is seeking to make search re-targeting available to potentially any publisher, ad network or ad exchange that wants to buy the query data. The compa [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Search Marketing: General | Search Marketing: Search Term Research