A few weeks ago, we went over the pros and cons of using Phone Extensions and Location Extensions in your AdWords campaigns. This week, I’d like to finish up our AdWords Extension feature by running through the best practices for using Site Extensions and Product Extensions. Using Product Extensions In Adwords Being in the travel niche, product extensions are not available to us because vacation rentals or hotel rooms are not allowed in Google Products. I’ve done a few tests with various other non-travel products and think they work very well for a business that sells and ships merchandi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | How To: PPC | Intermediate | Search Marketing Toolbox

For the past several months in this column, I’ve been asking a number of people the same question: Where will search go from here? For the next two columns, I wanted to sum up what came out of those conversations and find the common themes. A Shift In Our Expectations Of Success A number of people talked about a sea change in our expectations of what search should be. The basic paradigm of web search hasn’t changed very much in almost 20 years: one query box and an ordered list of results. If you held a search result screenshot from 1996 alongside a result from today, you woul [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Search & Usability

Google said that it's not going to release its tablet version of Android, Honeycomb, to the broader market for several months yet. This comes despite the fact that an onslaught of Android tablets using the software have been announced, some of which are now hitting the shelves (e.g., Xoom) Big mobile hardware makers and close Google partners Samsung, HTC, LG and Motorola Mobility have all developed tablets running the software but the open source community and smaller companies are not getting access yet -- because it's apparently not ready (for phones). Not Ready for Phones Bloomberg quo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Android | Google: Mobile

Facebook is not testing a second search box on its website and says anyone who sees such a thing might be the victim of malware or some other kind of third-party app. Earlier today, an article on All Facebook showed a user-submitted screenshot that included a second search box adjacent to the regular search at the top of Facebook's user interface. The second box included the text "Search The Web," prompting much speculation about a possible Facebook-Bing deal and what it would mean for both companies, as well as for Google. A Facebook spokesperson just sent us this statement via email sa [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Top News

Google has announced a new version of AdWords called Media Ads, aimed initially at marketers of major motion pictures with new releases. It will allow them to embed the trailer into their ad, and have it automatically come up first when someone searches for the title, or some variation of it. When someone clicks, Google will bring up a large lightbox to play the video, dimming the rest of the screen. Marketers will pay a flat fee every time someone clicks on the ad, but there's no bidding and no keywords. If they're the verified studio behind the movie, they'll get the top ranking. G [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords

Google is encouraging TV show owners/providers to begin tagging their online videos with several new fields that can be used in both video sitemaps and mRSS feeds. The new fields include specific data for identifying the show/series title, season and episode numbers, premiere date and more. Google's blog post explains and shows the correct code in more detail. Interestingly, that blog post also begins by saying the new fields should be used "if your website is the authoritative source for the video of a particular TV show." But there's nothing stopping other sites that post unofficial TV [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: TV | Google: YouTube & Video | Legal: Copyright

Google has won a $1.6 million settlement against five defendants that it sued in December 2009 over the use of Google's name in what the company called "a widespread Internet advertising scam." Today's decision involves five of the 50 defendants that Google originally sued: Bloosky, Just Think Media, Crush, Hyper Interactive, Search 4 Profit, and Viable. Google had previously settled with another defendant, Pacific WebWorks, last June. The companies created a variety of online marketing schemes that used Google's name, such as "Google Cash," "Google Profits" and "Google Money Kit." In i [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Legal: Trademarks | Top News

Ready to exchange ideas, influence the industry and build your network? Join the most accomplished search marketers in the world – attend Search Marketing Expo - SMX Advanced Seattle, June 7-8. Register by April 2 and you’ll receive the best rates offered for the only conference designed exclusively for experienced search marketers. Chose from in-depth session on SEO, paid search, social media and more. SMX Advanced attendance is limited – don’t miss out! Secure your spot and the lowest rates available — register today! [...]

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: The Yahoo Search Direct Alphabet: Where Every Letter Starts With YahooAnd you thought Google favored its own properties? Check this out: In Yahoo’s new Search Direct feature, 21 of the 26 one-letter alphabet queries show a Yahoo property as the first “answer.” If you type the letter “A,” for example, Yahoo Answers is the featured result; type “B,” and Yahoo Bookmarks is the first answer, [...] European Advo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

And you thought Google favored its own properties? Check this out: In Yahoo's new Search Direct feature, 21 of the 26 one-letter alphabet queries show a Yahoo property as the first "answer." If you type the letter "A," for example, Yahoo Answers is the featured result; type "B," and Yahoo Bookmarks is the first answer, and so on through most of the alphabet. That continues until you get to the letter "I," where iTunes becomes the featured answer. In fact, the five letters that don't show a Yahoo property first are: I - iTunes J - Jennifer Lopez Q - QVC X - Xb [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Magazine | Top News | Weekender | Yahoo Search Direct | Yahoo: Search

[caption id="attachment_65488" align="alignright" width="270" caption="Image courtesy Shutterstock.com"][/caption] The European Advocate General is recommending that the Court of Justice of the European Union rule against retailer Marks & Spencer for bidding on the trademarked terms of Interflora, the flower delivery network company. If the Court of Justice acts on the findings, it could effectively spell the end of bidding on competitors' trademarks in the European Union. Unlike other cases, like Luis Vuitton v Google, this case pitted the trademark owner, Interflora, directly again [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: Trademarks

Bloomberg is reporting that Ohio Attorney General (AG) Mike DeWine is the latest figure considering an antitrust investigation against Google. So is Wisconsin's AG, but specifically around the proposed ITA acquisition. Texas is already conducting its own broad antitrust investigation against Google. Google is formally under antitrust investigation by the European Commission. In addition, Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl has said that his Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights committee will be looking at Google this Congressional session. Missouri Just Wants to Help Beyond this, B [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Critics | Google: Legal

[caption id="attachment_69922" align="alignright" width="240" caption="courtesy of Shutterstock.com"][/caption] When a business receives a call from a potential new customer, a slew of questions immediately pop up:   How did they find us? Which search engine or ad drove the call? Did they visit our website first? Did they make a purchase as a result of the call? A business that can quickly answer these questions and extract relevant call details and caller demographic information is equipped to measure the effectiveness of their online and offline advertising programs and immediately [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Credit Is Due

Optimizing for search engines and shopping engines is all about accessibility, relevance and authority. In the process of continuously optimizing for search and searchers, sometimes basic areas get ignored, overwritten or overdone leading to entire sections of the site being blocked, duplicated or rendered useless for search engines. Here are ten quick checks to ensure your site has not stumbled into the no or low visibility zone.   1.  Check robots.txt on every sub-domain Are you blocking sections of your site in the robots.txt file? If so, check to make sure that you are no [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search & Retail | Search Engines: Shopping Search Engines

There are a number of ways to describe FindTheBest, the site launched last year by DoubleClick founder Kevin O’Connor. One is "decision engine" another might be "comparison engine," a third could be "anti-search engine." It might be called an "anti-search engine" because, like Blekko's Rich Skrenta, FindTheBest's O'Conner believes that search results have become cluttered and filled with spam. O'Conner wanted to provide structured, "apples-to-apples comparisons" of places, institutions and products with total transparency. The site aggregates and then provides structured comparison dat [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Squared | Search Engines: Experimental | Search Engines: Help Engines

Google is now providing new reporting for its AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE), which allow advertisers to test keyword, bids, placements and other variables. The new report allows advertisers to see ACE metrics side-by-side with their regular campaigns. Previously, one had to download reports and do analysis in a spreadsheet. The results also show whether differences between control and experiment are statistically significant. A grey up and down arrow icon show that the change is not statistically significant, while different variations on blue arrows show statistically significant change [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords

Today on Google you will find a special logo for Harry Houdini's 137th Birthday. Houdini is a legendary magician, actor and escape artist. He was born today in 1874 in Budapest and made his claim to fame in the United States living to the age of 52, dying in Detroit, Michigan on October 31, 1926. The logo helps honor Houdini's contributions to the world by remembering him for what he is most well-known for - his escape acts. Those include, Mirror handcuff challenge, Milk Can Escape, Chinese Water Torture Cell, Suspended straitjacket escape, Overboard box escape, Buried Alive stunt and [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos

Earlier this year the Italian Communications Authority decided that YouTube was effectively a TV broadcaster and imposed the same rules and restrictions that apply to TV in Italy -- and potential penalties for their violation -- on Google. It said that Google is now legally responsible for any content appearing on YouTube. Now an Italian court has done something potentially much more sweeping with broad implications for search in Italy. Yahoo Guilty for Linking to Infringer Yahoo (in its capacity as a search engine) has been found liable for helping facilitate copyright infringement by index [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Outside US | Google: Web Search | Legal: Copyright | Microsoft: Bing | Yahoo: Legal | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Partnerships

On March 7th, Google acquired BeatThatQuote.com. The attention of the acquisition got SEOs to call out that BeatThatQuote was violating Google's webmaster guidelines and led to the site being penalized by Google. Then yesterday, I reported BeatThatQuote was no longer penalized, at least that was until they were found to still be violating Google's guidelines. Now if you look at the [beatthatquote] search results, beatthatquote.com is not in the first spot anymore. So Google penalized the site they own again! Did you get all of that? Google bought a web site, penalized it a day [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Google: Webmaster Central | SEO: Spamming

Brand Finance published their annual report on the most valuable brands and this year Google reached the top spot, ranking as the most valuable brand in the world. Brand Finance said, "the world's increasing dependence on the internet is reflected by Google’s position at no. 1." According to the full list, Google was the number two brand in 2010 behind Walmart. Walmart dropped to position 3, and Microsoft is the number two, after ranking 5 last year. Google also ranked as top brand this year in a "brand desire" survey from earlier this year. Here is the top ten valued brands accor [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Google: Business Issues | Stats: General | Stats: Popularity