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 Instant Provides A Hint For Local & Mobile OptimizationUndoubtedly, you may have seen Google’s Instant Preview interface which provides glimpses for webpages listed in SERPs. What you may not be aware of is that they’ve added sophisticated code to make it unique on mobile devices. These Instant Previews provide compelling evidence that mobile optimization continues to be important. Google rolled out Instant Previews in Novembe [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Undoubtedly, you may have seen Google's Instant Preview interface which provides glimpses for webpages listed in SERPs. What you may not be aware of is that they've added sophisticated code to make it unique on mobile devices. These Instant Previews provide compelling evidence that mobile optimization continues to be important. Google rolled out Instant Previews in November 2010, and a number of marketers immediately began to try to tweak website elements to optimize the preview views and callout text. Yet other types of sites, such as news publications, were slightly irked that Go [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

The "inspiring" in the headline isn't about SEO clients that are inspirational; it's about how to inspire SEO clients to take/continue action. That was the subject of the "Discussion of the Week" last on our sister site, Sphinn. It may have only generated a handful of comments, but there were plenty of quality ideas in the conversation. Our choice for best comment comes from Sphinn member Alan Bleiweiss of Search Marketing Wisdom, who talked about the impact of pricing on client response: The first step I took to inspire SEO action was to start charging for every audit, regardless of siz [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Sphinn

Most companies measure paid search based upon revenue targets, ROI goals, and conversion rates. Metrics such as bounce rates are generally left for the web design team to figure out, or the paid search term to obsess about without any clear strategy. In this column, we will examine bounce rates and put them in the proper context of PPC optimization. Defining The Bounce When someone bounces from your website, they are considered a non-engaged visitor. Someone came to your site, didn’t find what they wanted, and before going to any other pages – they decided to leave. Bounces are oft [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search

As the other Mobile Mondays columnists have established, since mobile devices have  become more popular, mobile sites are becoming an option for many organisations. Maybe this is because the decision makers are sporting iPads and smartphones in the board room, but there are also significant business reasons to create a mobile version of your website. Since many websites could provide an added benefit users with a mobile offering, the only question is - when it comes to the build and what content to offer, what is the best option for your website? Let’s look at three types of websites [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Mobile Search

I hear this question, in various forms, quite often these days: "What's up with Google now, post-Panda/Farmer/whaddayacallit? What am I supposed to be doing for SEO?" (Usually accompanied with a deep sigh, aggressive hand gestures, and/or grimacing.) It All Started With Caffeine "Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale." - Carrie Grimes, Google   If we look back a year ago, when Google rolled out Caffeine, which was (and still is) unprecedented in search, it was this infrastructure change that allowed for the dramatic algorithm improvements we've seen recentl [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Industrial Strength | Panda Update Tips

Mark your calendars! Dates for sixth annual Search Marketing Expo - SMX West show have been announced. Returning to the San Jose Convention Center, conference sessions will run Tuesday, February 28 thru Thursday, March 1, and the SMX Expo Hall will be open February 28-29. The SMX West program will also feature several in-depth workshops held on Monday, February 27. Stay tuned for more information! In the meantime you can visit the SMX West site to review this past show's coverage, and sign up on our mailing list to receive updates on the 2012 show. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: Search Marketing Expo - SMX | SMX & DMD Alerts

There are lots of different ways to speed up searching. Google, Bing and Yahoo all offer browser toolbars -- no need to visit their home pages, just search wherever you are. Google and Yahoo both have their own versions of "instant search," where search results appear as you type. Google's Chrome web browser lets you search right from the browser address bar. And they all fall short of my new favorite search tool: Slashtag.it. If you're really looking to search faster, this is the way to do it. Slashtag.it isn't a search engine; it's an interface that lets you access several dozen se [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Features: General | Firefox | Search Features: Shortcuts

Austrian officials have lifted an almost year-long ban on Google Street View, but Google says it has no current plans to offer the service there, anyway. According to the Austrian Independent, Austria's Data Protection Commission (DSK) announced on Thursday that it was ending the ban that started in May 2010; that's when Google admitted that its Street View cars had been accidentally collecting personal data over unsecured WiFi networks. But that doesn't mean Austrians should expect Street View to be available anytime soon: Google Austria said today it was "happy" about the DSK's dec [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Outside US | Google: Street View

Apple and Google are helping intensify an already intense digital privacy debate with last week's revelations that both companies' mobile software track your movements in detail without your affirmative consent. This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that the iPhone stores user location data even when location-services are entirely turned off: Apple Inc.'s iPhone is collecting and storing location information even when location services are turned off, according to a test conducted by The Wall Street Journal. The location data appear to be collected using cellphone towers and Wi-Fi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Legal: Privacy | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines | Top News

Although Google Offers hasn't formally launched yet, the service is already facing its first lawsuit. Walker Digital, a private R&D lab that created and launched Priceline.com in the late 1990s, is suing Google for allegedly violating four of the company's patents. The lawsuit, which asks the court for a jury trial, seeks unspecified damages and a permanent injunction. Google Offers began taking sign-ups yesterday in three U.S. locales and technically hasn't even launched yet. The Walker Digital lawsuit was filed in a US District Court last night. Earlier this month, the company file [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Legal | Google: Offers | Legal: Patents | 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: Bing’s Read/Write World: An Ambitious Project To Bridge Maps With Movies, Photos, Local Data & MoreIt’s probably not something that you can wrap your head around pretty quickly. It’s also not something you can describe in quick, easily digestible terms. “It” is a new Microsoft Bing effort called Read/Write World that has some pretty lofty goals: things like indexing and connecting all of the world’s “geo-li [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

It's probably not something that you can wrap your head around pretty quickly. It's also not something you can describe in quick, easily digestible terms. "It" is a new Microsoft Bing effort called Read/Write World that has some pretty lofty goals: things like indexing and connecting all of the world's "geo-linked media." And not just indexing and connecting all this media, but also making it easy to use and consume, too, on any platform and type of device. It's stuff like maps, photos, panoramas, movies, business listings -- almost anything that can be tied to a physical location - [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Features: General | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing Streetside | Microsoft: Photosynth

Bing has added the Bing Rewards program directly to the top header bar of Bing's search results. Now when you search on Bing, you will see the "Rewards" link and icon on the right of the "sign in" link. Here is a picture: Bing said that integrating this Rewards link into the header will give Bing users "easy and quick access to earning credits and redeeming rewards." The feature should be visible for all US users using Internet Explorer 7 or later and the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, and Safari browsers. Here is a picture of the Rewards menu showing earned rewards: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Marketing

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's Front Door In Madrid: Yahoo Knives?: Google Fashion Retail Store: Google's Living Wall Logo In Sydney: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Search In Pictures

When I first started down this 6-lane highway called Online Marketing over six years ago, we used an absolutely archaic bid management software whose name escapes me. I want to say it was a Yahoo! (or precursor to Yahoo!) product, and basically it automated our bids so they would go up and down based on search volume. It worked about 10% of the time and was always down or broken….we quit using it pretty quickly. Fast forward to today – and remember the leaps and bounds PPC advertising has taken in just the last 12 months - take a look at Google  AdWord’s "Automated Rules" and prepare [...]

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

On the face of it, Facebook marketplace and search advertising are similar. In both platforms, the advertiser places a bids for an ad, competes against other advertisers at the impression level and then pays the platform a CPC for every click. These similarities help search marketers who are increasingly being asked to manage Facebook campaigns. However, there remain some fundamental differences in the two platforms which can be categorized under two broad umbrellas – strategic objectives and tactical campaign management. While much can and has been written about the strategic differen [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Search & Analytics

Over the past several months, I’ve been trying to crystal ball what the future of search might look like. I’ve had fascinating discussions with several visionaries in the industry, including Stefan Weitz (Microsoft), Shashi Seth (Yahoo), Hampus Jakobsson (RIM) and John Battelle (Federated Media). In my last column, I started to sum up the overarching themes that emerged from these conversations. Today, I wanted to wrap up the journey I started almost a year and a half ago. Searching From Different Devices One of the biggest catalysts of change in search has been the adoption of differ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Search & Usability

Today on Google's home page is a special interactive Google logo for Earth Day. Earth Day this year falls out on Good Friday and for the special day, Google made a fun, animated and interactive Google logo. Ironically, it seems as if you have Pandas playing (see the Google Panda update), the logo also has birds flying, fish swimming, lions sleeping, penguins sledding and much more. Here is a video me interacting with the Google logo. Google was not the only search company celebrating Earth Day with a special logo, so is Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, AOL and others. Here they are: [...]

Related Topics: AOL: General | Ask: General | Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos | Microsoft: Bing | Yahoo: General

Google has added a pair of features today that make Google News a little more personal. First, the "News for you" section of Google News now includes stories based on your previous Google News activity. If you click on a lot of articles about a certain topic, this section will begin to show more articles on that topic. Second, the right column has a new feature called "Recommended Sections" that also uses your news history to suggest new topics to add to your customized Google News homepage. These personalized news features can be disabled by using the "Standard US Edition" of Goo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: News | Google: Personalized Search | Search Features: Search History & Personalization | Top News