Sensitive to privacy issues surrounding ad targeting, Google is opening the kimono to consumers about why certain search and Gmail ads are targeted to certain people. The company is launching an additional section to its ad preference center -- where users can already manage targeting criteria for display ads. In the new area, people will be able see information about search ad targeting and opt-out of receiving ads from certain advertisers. Users will now see a display at the top of ad blocks on Google.com and Gmail that says "Why these ads?" or "Why this ad?" When they click the link, the [...]

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

In paid search, it's one thing to get a click but it's completely something else to get a visitor to convert. To get a high enough ROI to make paid search profitable, practitioners need to be proficient not only in PPC optimization tactics, but also have ninja techniques on how to improve conversions. And where better to get PPC landing page conversion pointers than at the Conversion Conference? I was there in New York City a few weeks ago and partook in a number of great sessions, including one on A/B testing tips by Anne Holland and Lisa Seaman from WhichTestWon.com. Let’s dissect so [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid 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: Content Strategy Tuesday, Improve Paid Search on Thursday – Webcasts this weekSearch Marketing Now, our sister site, will host two webcasts this week. Tomorrow, November 1, Maria Pergolino of Marketo will deliver a presentation on “Content Marketing Success with Search and Social Optimization”. She’ll cover what marketers need to know to build the best content strategy. On Thursday, the topic is how to improve your paid [...] [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Search Marketing Now, our sister site, will host two webcasts this week. Tomorrow, November 1, Maria Pergolino of Marketo will deliver a presentation on "Content Marketing Success with Search and Social Optimization". She'll cover what marketers need to know to build the best content strategy. On Thursday, the topic is how to improve your paid search campaign. Alex Cohen of H. Bloom and Larry Kim of WordStream will present "Things You Can Do NOW to Improve Your Paid Search." They'll talk about how to audit your paid search account, and things you can do on a daily basis to improve your pai [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SMX & DMD Alerts

Google is unveiling some changes to its location-targeting tool in AdWords which allow advertisers to search and discover new targets, view targeted areas on a map, and get additional information about the audience likely to see the targeted ads. The first change involves a search interface that gives instant results on matching locations, locations that enclose the search term's location, and related locations that might be nearby, have a similar name, or enclose a location that has a similar name. On the list of results, advertisers can choose the ones that they want to target or exclude. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Google: Maps & Local

Today, Google webmaster tools has launched a new message alert to let site owners know when a particular URL doesn't appear because Google sees it as duplicate of a URL on a different domain. In the blog post announcing the feature and in an in-depth help topic, they provide details on how they identify duplicate clusters of content and choose a "canonical" version of that cluster to display in search results. "When we discover a group of pages with duplicate content, Google uses algorithms to select one representative URL for that content. A group of pages may contain URLs from the same site [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Google: Webmaster Central | SEO: Duplicate Content | Top News

How big is Google compared to competitors Bing and Yahoo -- and can they catch it? One metric is the number of searches each search engine handles in a given month. Search Engine Journal created a nice infographic charting these figures over the past few years. It highlights Bing's climb, mostly at Yahoo's expense: Want the infographic for yourself? You'll find it here: Comparison Of The Top Three Search Engines: Bing+Yahoo > Google? Remember, it's possible for a search engine to see its share of searches drop while the actual number of searches -- the search volume -- rises. Also, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Infographics | Stats: Popularity

The new iPhone 4s comes with a feature that is bound to impact how search marketers try to reach iPhone users. Siri, the voice recognition app that comes standard with the new iPhone, can be used to control text messaging and reminders inside the device. But it can also be used as a search tool, to call up specific information from the outside world. With the mobile search space already in flux, Siri adds a game-changing angle, particularly for marketers that want to reach the lucrative (presumably affluent) iPhone audience. Here are some factors for businesses to consider as Siri gro [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: SEO | Mobile Search | Search Features: Search By Voice | Search Marketing: Mobile | SEO: Mobile Search

Several people spotted a Google test involving a new look for local results on Google.com. It substitutes a horizontal map for a vertical one on the right rail (thus allowing more ads to appear above the fold) and gray pins instead of red. The gray pushpins become red when moused over. Here's a screen showing the current look of Google Places search results: Here's the new SERP being tested, which features the horizontal map in the upper right and the gray-to-red pins: My guess is that Google ultimately won't adopt the horizontal-rectangle version of the map you see immediatel [...]

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

Google has been making a big deal out of privacy lately, but Google+ just launched a slew of new features designed to make people easier to find. I am particularly intrigued by the new Ripples feature, which allows you to see who has shared a post and track it as it gets shared by others. It is, in fact, like watching a ripple. Ripples strikes me as much more of a feature for marketers than for consumers. I suppose Google+ wants to attract power users who typically have more of a marketing mindset than the average Joe. So of course the first thing I thought of was that Ripples would [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Social Search | Local Search

Google Operating System reports a finding by guao.hk where Google is testing a new top bar navigation bar that may replace the navigation bar we have today. As you can see, there is a little arrow down mark on the right of the Google + logo. Clicking on it drops down this black bar with the various Google logos. What you cannot see in this image, but in the images shared by guao.hk is the new sharing section of the bar on the top right. I am not sure if this interface is a test just for the Google + design or for the global Google top bar. I guess time will tell. I would th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: User Interface

Last holiday season, online consumers spent approximately $32.6 billion, a 12 percent increase from 2009. We can safely assume the trend will continue in 2011 as shoppers’ propensity to search online for the best deals grows and retailers respond by bulking up their online offers. As a result, competition among online retailers will be at an all-time high this holiday season. Our own research also indicates shoppers will likely begin their search for holiday gifts earlier than in previous years. According to our findings, four of the top five days for paid search conversions in 2010 occur [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM

There is a special Google logo on Google for Halloween today, the logo is a video of Google's Doodle team carving the Google logo out of huge pumpkins. One of the pumpkins 1,298 pounds, and many of the others are over 1,000 pounds. Here is the video of the Google logo in action: Here is a video of the Google Doodle team making the logo: Google is not the only one with an animated logo for Halloween. Both Bing and Yahoo have animated logos or themes: Yahoo: Bing: Ask.com: Dogpile: For more logos from the search industry, see my other post over he [...]

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

Apple has apparently bought its third mapping company, the Sweden-based C3 Technologies. The company's site has been taken down. C3 provides 3D mapping (a la Bing Maps or Google Earth) for a number of other publishers such as Nokia (Ovi Maps) and UK directory publisher Yell. (In the wake of this transaction Nokia will probably need to shift to Bing's 3D mapping.) I was given a demo of the product in Europe early this year and from what I could tell it was every bit as good as anything that Microsoft or Google are doing with 3D imagery on maps. Here's Nokia's description of C3 and its techno [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines | Top News

Lady Gaga and Snooki … err, Nicole … from MTV's Jersey Shore were among last year's hottest Halloween costume searches. Are they back this year, or have other pop culture icons replaced them? Let's take a look at the hottest 2011 search halloween costume searches, courtesy of a few different sources from Google to one shopping search engine. If you're still on the hunt for a last-minute Halloween costume idea, you're bound to find something that works below. Google's Halloween Costume Search Trends Google has been digging into Halloween costume searches [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Search & Society: General | Stats: General | Stats: Search Behavior | Top News

US presidential candidate Republican Mitt Romney can't seem to catch a break even from Google. Not only does it suggest that he can't win, if you start typing in Romney's name, but if you disagree, Google tries to correct you. Suggestion: Romney Can't Win Start typing in Romney, and Google as its top suggestion "romney can't win," as you can see below: Did You Really Mean He Can Win? Romney believers who ignore the suggestion and go on to search for "romney can win" get this response: "Did you mean: romney can't win" -- that's Google's spell checking system kicking in. Don't Bla [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Instant | Google: Suggest | Google: Web Search | Search & Society: 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: Google Tweaks Its Rel=Author Display, Promotes Google+ In Search ResultsGoogle has rolled out a few changes to how it shows results that use the rel=author markup. Some of these are things that have been spotted in testing in recent weeks, so today’s announcement formalizes how that markup will display in Google’s search results. Here’s how it currently looks using one of Danny Sullivan’s recent [...] Eyetracking & SEO: F [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google has rolled out a few changes to how it shows results that use the rel=author markup. Some of these are things that have been spotted in testing in recent weeks, so today's announcement formalizes how that markup will display in Google's search results. Here's how it currently looks using one of Danny Sullivan's recent articles: (I was going to use one of my articles as an example, but Google has turned off my rel=author status for some reason. But I'm not angry. At all.) Anyhoo, the author's image is justified to the left of the snippet information -- that was changed some [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Authorship | Google: Google+ | Google: Rich Snippets | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search

Do SEO professionals use eyetracking usability studies as a link-juice fad? Can eyetracking tests yield useful information about Web searchers?

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Search & Usability

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. Yahoo Octoberfest: Angry Birds At Google: Yahoo Basketball: Google + Profile Collage: Jerry Yang Visits Yahoo Hong Kong: Google +1 License Plate: Real Android Ice Cream Sandwich: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Search In Pictures