Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Helping Or Hurting: The Debate Over Google+ LocalIt’s been two months now since Google replaced Google Places with Google+ Local. The reactions thus far have been mixed: SEOs hailed it as a revelation for small businesses, while consumers were left scratching their heads over the new Zagat system. Google+ Local has the potential to be everything this column is about: the intersection [...] Intent, Content & Spamming – Is There A Differ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

How to integrate SEM with emerging media channels This white paper discusses: How web analytics can transform your business Becoming insight-rich through data How to create a "single version of the truth" Download now » [...]

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It’s been two months now since Google replaced Google Places with Google+ Local. The reactions thus far have been mixed: SEOs hailed it as a revelation for small businesses, while consumers were left scratching their heads over the new Zagat system. Google+ Local has the potential to be everything this column is about: the intersection of search (indexed local search listings) and social (integrated Google+ business pages). It’s a major update from the number-one player in the local search game: 97% of consumers say they research local businesses before making a decision, and Google [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Google: Maps & Local | Search & Social | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing

The difference between intent and content is what Google is missing. [caption id="attachment_128943" align="alignright" width="240" caption="My White Hat Feels Dirty"][/caption] Keywords at their most basic level are what we use to communicate, and if you think back to those COM 101 days, you’ll remember that the way it works is our thoughts are encoded in our brains into words, those words are spoken or written, and then decoded by the brains on the other end. This is why when you say something, it may not come out (or be received) the way you meant it to be. If we think of our [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Keywords & Content | SEO: Spamming

The interwebs are all a flutter over how a critic of NBC's Olympic coverage had his Twitter account suspended after tweeting the email address of the executive in charge of that coverage. It was private, said Twitter. Public to anyone with Google, said journalist Guy Adams, whose account was suspended. Actually, from what I can tell, it really wasn't public to anyone with Google. A Tweet Too Far Adams is a journalist who works for The Independent. He's tweeted loudly and proudly against NBC's coverage of the Olympics, as Deadspin details. But when he encouraged people to email Gary Zenkel, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: Analysis | Legal: Privacy | Search & Society | Top News | Twitter

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Microsoft Explains Removal Of Age And Gender Targeting From AdCenterWhat do you do when you figure out that a lot of self-reported data you’re using to target ads is inaccurate or just plain sparse? If you’re Microsoft adCenter, you remove that targeting capability — in this case, age and gender. In a support thread from last week, a representative gives the reasoning behind a [...] Bing Adds Friend-Tagging To Social SidebarBing [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

What do you do when you figure out that a lot of self-reported data you're using to target ads is inaccurate or just plain sparse? If you're Microsoft adCenter, you remove that targeting capability -- in this case, age and gender. In a support thread from last week, a representative gives the reasoning behind a change made back in February: There are certain inherent problems when you ask someone this information. Some people add the information accurately, most don’t and even more don’t add the information at all. So if you use age and gender, your [sic] limiting yourself to what info [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Microsoft: Bing Ads

Bing has just announced a small tweak to how its Social Sidebar functions -- but it's one that overcomes one of the Sidebar's true limitations. The change is this: When using the Social Sidebar, you can now tag up to five Facebook friends with whom you want to share your search results. Before this change, the Sidebar would automatically show a few connections under the "Friends Who Might Know" or "People Who Know" tabs. But you were limited to notifying/asking those suggestions, or to asking all of your friends at once via the "Ask Friends" feature. And that was hit and miss, because there [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Social Search

2012 is the year of mobile. Or is it 2013? Or maybe it was supposed to be 2011. Regardless of the calendar year that we’ll end up attributing the explosion of growth to, the mobile tide has been on the rise for some time. This past April, the Interactive Advertising Bureau released a report citing that mobile is the fastest growing media channel, with ad spending up 149 percent in 2011. As mobile continues to grow from a buzzy talking point to a standard marketing approach, it’s worthwhile to take note of some important trends related to mobile search and how they are bound to affect [...]

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

When you are managing hundreds of ad groups, it’s easy to neglect certain details; however, the diamonds in the rough can often only be found through account deep-dives. Thus, I’m always looking for the next tip or tool that could speed up and make more efficient my management of large, complex AdWords accounts. Below I provide 3 proven tricks that make managing large, complex programs much easier: Bulk changes to local business listings AdWords labels Automated rules Examples and step-by-step implementation steps are given as well. Bulk Changes To Local Business Listings D [...]

Related Topics: Advanced | Channel: SEM | How To | How To: PPC | Paid Search

As SEOs, we focus on external customers: Getting more people outside an organization to sign up, buy, read, follow and otherwise participate. We don’t invest a lot of effort at helping internal customers: Colleagues at our own company who need help finding critical information, but end up grinding their teeth after 10 minutes lost in the company’s ‘search’ tool. It’s time for a career tune-up, everybody. As an SEO, you have a lot to offer in the field of enterprise search. Here’s how you can help, and how you can capitalize on internal needs. Content Collection Enterprise sear [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Enterprise SEO

During last week's Facebook earnings call COO Sheryl Sandberg argued that the company could and would compete for marketing dollars "throughout the entire marketing funnel." That is, from branding and awareness at the "top" of the so-called funnel to "demand fulfillment" at the "bottom." Below is the quote in broader context: We believe we are very well positioned to compete for advertising dollars throughout the entire marketing funnel, from the very top where companies focus on generating demand, to the bottom where the focus is on fulfilling demand. The majority of the advertising spend [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Top News

Confused by the latest link warnings that Google has been sending out? As we covered before, it's all been pretty confusing. That's why Google has posted more information meant to calm some worries, though it's still likely that even after this, some are going to panic. The "Old" Link Warnings: Entire Site Impacted Google's post starts with some history, explaining just as we've done how earlier this year, it began sending out link warnings: Let's talk about the original link messages that we've been sending out for months. When we see unnatural links pointing to a site, there are d [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: SEO | Google: Webmaster Central | Link Building: General | Top News

Want to know the how various countries are doing in the London 2012 Olympics? For finding out using a major search engine, I give the gold to Yahoo, with Google narrowly missing to earn silver and Bing getting bronze mainly by virtue of being third in a three contestant race. Ready, Set, Search! Checking for results today on my phone, I was pretty impressed with Google's Knowledge Graph box that came up at the top of my results, showing the medals won by various countries. Kazakhstan was ranked seventh? Cool to discover! Plus, I was able to quickly learn this was for winning gold in road c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: Knowledge Graph | Google: Web Search | Microsoft: Bing | Search Engines: Olympics | Search Engines: Special Events | Search Features: Direct Answers | Top News | Yahoo: Search

iAcquire, banned by Google in late May after allegations of buying links for clients, has now has been restored to the Google index after two months. The company has blogged about the news and changes to its business model. iAcquire never says itself that it was banned over buying links for clients. Instead, it uses the "financial compensation" euphemism it has used before. From the post: Google’s war on paid links came close to home when we were accused of buying links for clients, which subsequently led to Google’s big hand swinging hard on the back of our head. We admitted that f [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | SEM Industry: General | SEO: Spamming | 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: A Gold Medal Roundup Of Online Olympics ResourcesThe games of the XXX Olympiad begin in a few hours in London. For the next two weeks people around the globe will be viewing the games in person, on television and on the web. There will also likely be record numbers of posts, tweets, pins, etc. from viewers, media and athletes and other participants [...] AdWords Remarketing Gets Tag Makeover, New FeaturesGoogle has made some changes to the way adve [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google has made some changes to the way advertisers do remarketing on AdWords, and is expanding an ongoing test. The various moves are aimed at making remarketing on AdWords simpler and more effective. The process of putting tags on websites for creating remarketing lists is undergoing a substantial change. Rather than putting a separate remarketing tag on every page that you want to create a list for, you can just place a single piece of code on every page, but create lists for based upon the URL For example, you could create a remarketing list that includes every person who visited [...]

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

The games of the XXX Olympiad have begun in London. For the next two weeks people around the globe will be viewing the games in person, on television and on the web. There will also likely be record numbers of posts, tweets, pins, etc. from viewers, media and athletes and other participants in the games. There are tons of Internet information resources that can help enhance your knowledge and enjoyment of the games. Hopefully these resources will also provide you with some interesting facts (with links to discover even more) that will help you "wow" your  friends, colleagues and others ab [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: General | Search Engines: Olympics | Search Engines: Special Events | Top News

Thomas is the CEO of a major corporation. He had supervised a recent website redesign project, loved the snazzy new look with bells and whistles created by a talented graphics designer - but was calling me to help with a problem. His beautiful new website wasn't getting many visitors! "Why don't people want to visit our lovely website?" Thomas wailed, genuinely puzzled that the results of his intensive efforts weren't as rosy as he had expected. As a strategic SEO consultant, the reasons were glaringly obvious to me... but I had to soften the impact, and gently explain what went wrong. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Search & Usability

As search marketers, we are constantly digging around in analytics, finding data, thinking it looks neat, then stepping back and saying, "But is this important?" I've done this a million times, and recently came across a quote that put some of what I'm always looking for into perspective. Don't make the measurable things important but make the important things measurable. The data you have is not necessarily the data you need to succeed. I think we go about this all wrong sometimes. Instead of finding data in Google Analytics or some other tracking program and trying to figure out if [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | How To | How To: Analytics | Search & Analytics