As you put the finishing touches on 2012 budgets and plans, it’s important to build a point of view on the future. While it’s impossible to predict what will happen or when, running through a few what-if scenarios makes you more prepared for changes as they come. In this column, we’ll highlight some of the trends and possibilities we see for digital marketing in 2012. But first, let’s review the predictions I made in our 2011 predictions and trends column last year – to see if my foresight was correct. My prediction that marketers would increasingly apply automation to combat r [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM

Mobile search has never been just one result type. It  provides different results and presentation formats, depending on whether the search query is from a feature phone, smartphone or tablet. Google has just announced a specially designated crawler for smartphones apart from what it uses currently for feature phones, which foreshadows a deeper divergence of results between the two mobile types, as well as from desktop results. Until recently, the results for the different mobile types has been assumed to be the same as those for the desktop or simply just more Google local results.  H [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | How To: Mobile Marketing | Mobile Search | SEO: Mobile Search

In this post, let’s look at the Canonical Form that Search Engines use behind the scenes when matching our paid keywords to actual user queries. What is it? Why do they do it? So what? Or, more importantly, how can we use it to our advantage? We will answer each of those in turn. First up: What is it? Canonical Form The canonical form of a keyword refers to the form of the keyword that Paid Search Engines use behind the scenes to match keywords to actual search queries. It is sometimes referred to as Normal Form (Normalized Form) or Equivalent Form. For this article, let's call this Ca [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Microsoft: Bing Ads | Paid Search

"If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with 'Local Online Marketing" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!" - Ebenezer Scrooge Tis the season to contemplate the future of the local Web marketing for small businesses (SMBs) my friends. For all of you tight-fisted hands at the grindstone, 2012 is loaded with opportunity. But are you going to be a Marley, the walking dead bogged down by the chains of your past, or a reborn Scrooge, dancing in the streets in your pajamas? "There is never enough time to [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Local Search | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing | Search Marketing: Mobile

It's Christmas Eve! Santa Claus is on his annual trip of delivering presents to good little boys and girls around the world. Time also for our annual tradition, telling you how to track Santa using the internet, by smartphone and even through good old-fashioned voice telephone calls. NOTE: For the latest news on 2012 Santa tracking, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2012 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google, From The Web To Apps NORAD: One-Stop Shopping For Santa Tracking This is my seventh year writing about ways to track Santa. When I started in 2005, there were a variety [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Engines: Santa Tracker

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 New Happy Holidays Logo: Dancing Christmas Lights & Jingle BellsFor Christmas and the holiday season, Google has a new musical logo out that plays Jingle Bells and ends by wishing “Happy Holidays.” The special logo, or “doodle” as Google calls them, starts out with an all-white background: Push any note, and the logo lights up with the Google name as Christmas lights: As you [...] Free Speech Battle In Indi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

For Christmas and the holiday season, Google has a new musical logo out that plays Jingle Bells and ends by wishing "Happy Holidays." The special logo, or "doodle" as Google calls them, starts out with an all-white background: Push any note, and the logo lights up with the Google name as Christmas lights: As you click more of the buttons, a xylophone sound plays, and the letters keep changing into decorations: After you've clicked all the lights, a complete multimedia production with dancing lights begins, with a short version of "Jingle Bells" playing that's just begging for a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos

According to a report from Chinese news agency Xinhua, a judge in India has ordered a broad range of online companies, including Google, Facebook and Yahoo, to "delete 'inflammatory' images of religious figures" from their sites. Though not identified in news reports the images were deemed offensive or blasphemous under a sweeping law enacted earlier this year aimed at blocking or removing "offensive" or "objectionable" content from the internet in India. In case the problem with implementation of a law against "objectionable" content isn't self-evident its provisions are vague and scope [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: Censorship | Legal: Copyright | Legal: Regulation

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. Snowing At Google: Yahoo Holiday Decorations: Facebook Bike: Google's Indoor Food Truck: Google Menorah: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Search In Pictures

You know how some people always tend to put 'analytical thinking' skills down on a resume, even if it's not 100% accurate? Luckily, that's not the case with our analytics experts at Search Engine Land. Over the course of 2011, our contributors shared everything and anything they know about measuring the value of website traffic, social media influence, direct ROI and looking critically at campaign data to squeeze out any insights and create efficiency. Here's a look at the top analytics-related posts, organized by their respective categories from the last year. Big Picture Analytical T [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Search & Analytics

If the answer to this question is stunned silence, your website could lose long-term search engine visibility. Archiving has always been an important part of the SEO process.

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Search & Usability

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Blekko Expands: Bigger Index, More Slashtags & New DesignBlekko is closing out 2011 with a round of updates that affect the search engine’s front- and back-end — both how it looks and how it works. The upstart search engine has announced three changes as part of a “major upgrade” to end the year: 1.) “Significant improvements to index quality and relevance” Blekko has [...] The Most Popular SEO Posts Of 2011If [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

I've seen some weird Google results in my time, but this one is pretty strange. Search for "define an english person" or some related queries, and Google brings up the Wikipedia page about the C-word in response. As spotted by Search Engine Roundtable, people were asking in Google's help forums why various searches related to defining English people returned the Wikipedia page about the C-word, as shown below: The screenshot shows Google listing the Wikipedia page first in a search for define english person. It also lists that page first or in the first page of results for related sear [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Link Building: Link Bombs | Search & Society: General | Top News

Blekko is closing out 2011 with a round of updates that affect the search engine's front- and back-end -- both how it looks and how it works. The upstart search engine has announced three changes as part of a "major upgrade" to end the year: 1.) "Significant improvements to index quality and relevance" Blekko has expanded the size of its index, which CEO Rich Skrenta says will help surface relevant results for more long-tail queries than before. "These are searches where there doesn't tend to be a lot of spam, the needle in a haystack kind of queries," he told us via email. "We don't [...]

Related Topics: Blekko | Channel: Consumer | Top News

How Under Armour Outscores The Competition This webcast and guide discuss: Five steps to build an online marketing roadmap How Under Armour engages visitors with customized content Syncing dynamic messages across online channels Download Now! [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Sponsor Messages

If there's one thing anyone can say about the state of search engine optimization (SEO) in 2011, it's that this year certainly wasn't boring. Barely two months in, on February 24, 2011 - we were first introduced to the now infamous Panda Update at Google. That story alone gave our expert SEO columnists and staff writers something to talk about endlessly. While some search marketers might feel like they were given a giant lump of coal by St. Google, the best gift Panda gave online marketers was additional insight into the need to develop high quality content, as well as the importance of div [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO

Following the major engines themselves, Experian Hitwise announced the top search terms of 2011. The company looked at the top 1,000 search queries of 2011 and found that Facebook topped the list for the third year in a row. Overall Facebook had four of the top 10 search terms for 2011, the same as in 2010. However query volume for the collection of Facebook terms grew 33 percent vs. last year. Top search queries of 2010 and 2011 What's noteworthy is that all of the top 10 are navigational queries. Beyond the top 10, Hitwise said that "social networking-related terms dominated the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search & Society | Search & Society: General | Stats: Hitwise | Stats: Popularity | Top News

In June, Google dropped the option to search the general web index from the Google News search box. Google redesigned the Google News search box to add the ability to search the general web index. Here is a screen shot: As you can see, you can click on the last result in the suggestions, you will be taken to a general web search. Plus, as short cut, you can hit the enter key to search Google News or Shift+Enter to search the web. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: News

Iconic Yahoo billboard taken down via the Associated Press reports that Yahoo's "iconic" billboard has been taken down after 12 years of standing tall and proud on the highway as you approached the Bay Bridge. The billboard space is managed by Clear Channel and currently is being offered at an extremely low rate of $65,000 per month. Yahoo, who has not been seeing that much growth over the recent years, said they are looking for "new and innovative ways" to advertise and market themselves. Removing the classic billboard is just one more symbolic nail in the coffin for Yahoo. For more [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Marketing

Yelp is now established and mainstream enough to be included in BMW's Online/in-car content. Yelp reviews and related content will shortly be available to BMW owners "who subscribe to the optional BMW Assist Convenience Plan and have a navigation-equipped vehicle capable of receiving the BMW Online service." This means select BMW vehicles (see below for list) and is available in the US only for now. However Yelp's international coverage makes it probable that the partnership will roll out more broadly if it proves successful in the US. Yelp offered some screens of the BMW in-car search o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines | Search Features: Cars | Yelp