You’ve made the case for advanced optimization, implemented loads of slick technology and deployed across some or all of your paid search programs. Did you do the right thing? Did you make more money? If so, how much more? To answer the question “did I make more money” implies a baseline. Trouble is, you don’t […]
What’s the value of reputation to the success of your local business? In short: it’s priceless. Reputation is, essentially, what others say about you. And for years, reputation was mostly shaped and influenced by word of mouth and through advertising in yellow pages, broadcast and print media, and direct mail. That traditional model, however, has […]
Search marketing firm iProspect has released the results of its most recent research study, attempting to quantify the value of digital media and the effect of branding on customers’ purchase paths. The key finding was that online digital media assets have considerable branding influence, and that specific combinations can significantly impact a brand’s success. The […]
As part of my Life With Google TV series, I’ve been looking at other internet-to-TV devices. Previously, I reviewed Roku. Next up? The Boxee Box. If you’re already a fan of the Boxee software service, the device might be worth it. However, it left me underwhelmed. That may improve when Netflix & Hulu Plus support […]
Four of Google’s highest-ranking executives will soon pick up equity awards valued at more than $50 million total, as well as 30% pay raises for 2011. Co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, along with CEO Eric Schmidt, will continue to collect $1 salaries, as they’ve been doing for many years. According to a new SEC […]
While many parts of the global economy remain mired in the doldrums, the search marketing industry continues its pace of relentless, healthy growth, according to the recently released SEOmoz Industry Survey 2010. Compiling data from more than 10,000 respondents in 90 countries, the survey offers one of the most comprehensive views yet of the current […]
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’s Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island Logo Saturday, November 13th is Robert Louis Stevenson’s 160th birthday. Robert Louis Stevenson is a famous writer including some works Treasure Island, A Child’s Garden […]
Saturday, November 13th is Robert Louis Stevenson’s 160th birthday. Robert Louis Stevenson is a famous writer including some works Treasure Island, A Child’s Garden of Verses, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. For his special birthday, Google has a special Treasure Island logo. Here is a picture of the logo: The logo […]
BusinessWeek has published a terrific and lengthy article on Chinese search engine Baidu, how it “won” China and its global aspirations. The following is the CliffsNotes version. Baidu holds a 73 percent market share in China, the world’s largest internet market. The company is worth $38 billion and is 57 percent larger than Yahoo. Its […]
Guess which one of these company names is Google approved? An alcohol price comparison search engine based in Australia has been forced to change its name after a six-month trademark battle with Google. Originally called “Groggle,” the web site is now known as Drinkle. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Groggle owner Cameron Collie received […]
There are many rumors that Yahoo is going to be doing a mass layoff soon. TechCrunch believes there will be a 20% layoff across the board, although Yahoo denied it. Kara Swisher said it is more like 10% and only impacting the product group at Yahoo. The product group has about 6,500 people, so a […]
The Google Webmaster Central Blog posted an update on their Flash indexing capabilities. Google said, as of today, they are able to index and understand “almost any text a user can see as they interact with a SWF file on your site.” Typically, Flash has been one of those big No-Nos in the SEO space. […]
Get out your slides, this is a great statistic: 53 percent of mobile searches on Bing have a local intent. This was casually told to me yesterday by Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz during a briefing call about a dozen other things. I stopped him and made him repeat and confirm the number. He did. It’s from […]
Last month I took a look at consumer search behavior for restaurants. This was a high-level analysis, and I mentioned in closing that I would contrast those findings to a model that has consumers searching for a particular type of restaurant—in this case family restaurants. Since this is essentially part two of the analysis, you […]
The PubCon Las Vegas 2010 show is now over and here is a recap of all the live blogging that I found while at the conference. Day One: David Pogue Keynote – PubCon 2010, SEO.com Day 1: Ecommerce and Shopping Cart Optimization Recap – PubCon 2010, SEO.com Day 1: Online Reputation Management Session – PubCon […]
Google is correcting how it displays a small island in the Strait of Gibraltar after erring twice and putting Google Maps in the midst of a years-old dispute between Spain and Morocco. At question is a tiny island that’s only about one-third of a mile in each direction. Spain calls it Perejil and Morocco calls […]
Expanding on something it’s been doing in the U.S. since last year, Google is now showing emergency information at the top of the search results in 13 countries. This means that searchers who type in queries that are the equivalent of English phrases like “poison control” and “emergency” will see special information above the search […]
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 For Android Now Available To Everyone Bing for Android was previously only available on selected Verizon Android handsets. Now, according to Microsoft, it’s available to everyone with an Android handset, […]
Bing for Android was previously only available on selected Verizon Android handsets. Now, according to Microsoft, it’s available to everyone with an Android handset, from the Android market: We are pleased to announce that we have just released the Bing App to all major U.S. mobile operators through Android Markets. As we highlighted in August, […]
It looks like one of the early adopters of Twitter’s “Promoted Accounts” advertising program is … Google. I took the screenshot at left just moments ago when I visited my Twitter home page. Right at the top, under the “Who to follow” heading, is an ad encouraging me to follow Google Mobile’s Twitter account, @GoogleMobile. […]
Google Product Listing Ads are now being offered to all advertisers over the coming week. They are a way for advertisers to give Google a feed of products, have images of those products appear in the ads, and to pay on a cost-per-acquisition basis. Google has been offering the ads since last year, in a […]
It seems not a week goes by without news of a new investigation into Google’s Street View service, or into Google’s collection of personal data via unencrypted WiFi networks that occurred over three years as Street View vehicles drove the world’s streets. It seems like one country opens an investigation just as another country ends […]
Here’s another hit on the availability of directories as link building tools: Dex One has announced plans to shut down Business.com, a national directory of business listings, and fold it into its Dex One business, which includes the DexKnows.com online yellow pages site. Business.com was ostensibly a B-to-B directory, but had often been referenced as […]
Back in October, Bing announced that it uses over 1,000 signals used to determine how to rank pages. Google has typically quoted using more than 200. Game on! I predicted Google would quickly find a way to match Bing’s figure. Yesterday, it did. Google’s 200 Factors For several years now, Google has said that it […]
This past Monday Vurve launched. The CEO is Amit Kumar, who built SearchMonkey at Yahoo and then was at Dapper, which was recently acquired by Yahoo. The company’s tagline is “advertising on autopilot for your online store.” Vurve is targeting small businesses (SMBs) with e-commerce stores that spend up to $10,000 per month. The minimum […]
Last night, Matt Cutts of Google gave a talk to the attendees at the PubCon. I was in the audience and I wanted to share my personal key takeaways from the talk. Specifically items Matt mentioned that I found to be new or interesting. Spam reports get 4 times priority in the spam queue at […]
If you are a Brand Manager, or you work in a similar discipline – how much do you really need to know about SEO? You may hear the term “SEO” and immediately think about the tactics and technical mumbo jumbo, right? But – what if I were to tell you that SEO can play a […]
Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom. Google, Bing and Ask.com have special logos for both, while Yahoo has decided to not participate. Here are the various logos from these search engines. Veteran’s Day Logos 2010: Google: Bing: Ask.com: Remembrance Day 2010: Google UK: Bing UK: Ask […]
Fox Broadcasting has become the fourth major US network to block Google TV from accessing its programing. The Rupert Murdoch-owned entity joins ABC, CBS and NBC, which all previously blocked Google TV access to their shows. Google has said it’s “actively negotiating” with ABC, CBS and NBC to restore access to the programming. Add Fox […]
Well, my friends, this column, a one-year search course is coming to an end soon. Hopefully, you’ve learned enough to manage and steward your own paid search accounts. For those of you already engaged in search engine marketing, maybe you learned a few extra tips and tricks that have helped you out through the year. […]
Although the FTC ended its investigation into Google’s collection of personal data via unsecured WiFi networks, Google’s not necessarily in the clear with the Obama administration. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC is looking into whether Google broke the law when its Street View cars collected personal data between 2007 and May, 2010. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Foursquare’s Crowley Can Feel Foursquare Fatique, Has Plans To Fix It Feeling Foursquare fatigue and perhaps wondering what’s the point of checking in at times? Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley sometimes feels […]
Feeling Foursquare fatigue and perhaps wondering what’s the point of checking in at times? Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley sometimes feels it too — but he’s got plans to keep you interested. More on that as well as turning Foursquare into a “product building machine,” from my interview with him last week. Why Check In? I’ve […]
In a six-page letter to House Oversight Committee leaders, a watchdog group has called on the government to do a “thorough investigation” of both Google’s WiFi data collection and the FTC’s recent decision to end its investigation without penalizing Google. In a blog post announcing the letter (PDF download), Ken Boehm, chairman of the National […]
Continuing on from Danny’s Facebook: You’ve No Right To Export Email Addresses , it appears Google has upped the ante. ReadWriteWeb noticed that when you try to export your contacts to Facebook, Google gives you a big warning. This warning stems from Google recently changing their terms of service of their contacts API to prevent […]
Google has finally released the beta AdSense management interface they have been testing for over a year now to all publishers. AdSense publishers will now or soon be able to see the new interface via a link at the top of the old interface or by visiting google.com/ads/newadsense. Afraid to try out the new beta […]
At some point during the course of the past couple of years, perhaps catalyzed by the shock of Nokia’s roughly $8 billion acquisition of Navteq, Google decided it needed to “own” maps top to bottom. Since that time the company has been making a systematic effort to collect and improve the base data for this […]
We regularly perform expert CRO reviews of web designs for our clients. What informs these reviews? Is it just our aesthetic opinion? Must a design look a certain way to be effective at conversions? No. But whatever their appearance, conversion-optimized designs do share some common traits, and in this article I’ll discuss three I consider […]
The “last click wins” method of awarding affiliate commissions means that whichever affiliate is responsible for placing the most recent cookie on a user’s machine is awarded 100% commission for the sale. In this model, affiliates responsible for earlier cookies or impressions do not prevail financially—they get nothing. The question is does the “last click […]
Has Christmas come six weeks early for Google employees? Business Insider is reporting that the company has given all of its employees a $1,000 holiday cash bonus, 10% salary hikes starting in 2011, and the opportunity to earn additional salary next year, too. All of this is detailed in what Business Insider says is a […]