Thursday, February 4, 2010
UK online shoppers spend most in Europe
UK shoppers spent more online than anywhere else in Europe last year- totalling almost a third of all European sales.
UK consumers spent £38bn online in 2009, or an average of £1,102 per shopper, according to the Centre for Retail Research (CRR).
Online sales now account for almost 10% of total retail sales in the UK, the centre calculates.
It added that internet shopping would continue to grow sharply this year. The centre foresees total online sales hitting £42.7bn in 2010.
UK online shoppers are growing in confidence, with the proportion of them prepared to spend more than £1,000 or more on a single transaction rising from 12% in 2008 to 25% in 2009.
The recession, from which the UK has only recently emerged, helped to explain the increase in online shopping, he argued.
Germans were the next most prolific spenders online last year with a total spend of £29.7bn, while the French spent £22bn, the research indicates.
UK consumers spent £38bn online in 2009, or an average of £1,102 per shopper, according to the Centre for Retail Research (CRR).
Online sales now account for almost 10% of total retail sales in the UK, the centre calculates.
It added that internet shopping would continue to grow sharply this year. The centre foresees total online sales hitting £42.7bn in 2010.
UK online shoppers are growing in confidence, with the proportion of them prepared to spend more than £1,000 or more on a single transaction rising from 12% in 2008 to 25% in 2009.
The recession, from which the UK has only recently emerged, helped to explain the increase in online shopping, he argued.
Germans were the next most prolific spenders online last year with a total spend of £29.7bn, while the French spent £22bn, the research indicates.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, February 04, 2010
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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Search engines ranking- latest global results 2010
comScore has published a report on the global search market which shows more than 131 billion searches were conducted across the web in December 2009.
The top 5 leading countries in the search market are the United States, China, Japan, UK and Germany:
One of the interesting things to note from the report is the relatively slow growth rate of searches from China.
Whilst they are sitting second in terms of overall volume, their growth rate is by far the lowest amongst the top ten countries.
When you compare this to the high volume and growth rate from Japan, it is foreseeable that the Japanese, British and the Germans may claim second spot in the not to distant future.
Google continues to lead the way as the dominant search engine, followed by Yahoo! and Baidu claiming the number three spot.
If Google follows through on their threat to pull out of China, it’s possible that Baidu could pickup their lost market share and claim the number two spot above Yahoo. Which would be an interesting situation if you work at Yahoo.
Another two thoughts are these figues do not include Twitter, nor do they include the searches on google's You Tube.
Labels: bing, Facebook, Google, search engine marketing, search engines, Search Marketing, Twitter, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, February 03, 2010
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Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Google Analytics and the customer experience- do you have thr right tools?
Website analysis can generate improved performance, but your focus should be on measuring and analysing perception against expectation in three key linked areas.
The argument as to whether marketing is an art or a science has raged for years. It is interesting that long-term brand appeal is built primarily on emotion not rationality. The great TV ads are primarily emotional in nature; think of Guinness and its sea horses; does it matter how long the wait for the wave actually was, the point is that waiting pays off. Interestingly the same is true of oratory; Winston Churchill did not say how many owed how much to how many less; it was the idea that counted. People buy and recall ideas. Numbers were put to the sword in '1066 and all that'.
It is clear that people make emotional decisions in the main. They may think that they are making rational ones, or even post rationalise them. I would argue that an emotional decision is the sum of a number of rational trade offs. One example is whether we choose the highest interest rate for our savings or the lowest premium for our insurance.
Customer experience measures
It seems to me that a similar approach is likely to be most helpful in developing analysis of customer experience. Customer experience is also very much about perception. In essence it is a measure of external perceptions against external expectations, not internal measured results against internal standards.
It is not terribly helpful to know that we answered the phone in 8 seconds against a standard of 10. The customer might have expected 10, but perceived to be waiting for 12. Why? Largely because of prior, perhaps negative, experience of the brand, but more likely because the call was unsatisfactory when the connection was made – i.e. the customer did not get what he or she wanted.
The key question then in using analytics to help improve customer experience is to ensure that we analyse the things that matter to customers. Customers will be much influenced by the recency and frequency of their interaction with the brand and these are key members for us. But the focus is on the emotional response to those interactions.
Hence, we argue that the key numbers for analysis are three:
* How did you feel about your interaction with us today?
* How do you feel about us as an organisation?
* Would you recommend us to your family, friends and colleagues?
This is crucial. It is the day to day measurement of perception against expectation, and enables daily tracking of customer experience. Analysis should track both the customer’s previous answers and, in a person to person interaction, the performance of the agent. This data should then be viewed in the context of the operational performance on the day; were systems fully functional, was there a particular call flow issue?
This is a wider concept. How people feel about the organisation as a whole, takes into account not only day to day interactions but the total set of experiences and perceptions of the organisation and its brand. The customer will be influenced not only by his or her experiences but also by the experiences of others. This is because brand associations are a reflection of the individual’s personality. People wish to be seen to have made good choices in the eyes of others.
Whilst customer satisfaction tracking surveys will provide meaningful numbers for analysis, it is likely that qualitative research will be required to better understand customer attitudes and motivations.
We know that customer satisfaction and loyalty are closely linked and that they are correlated through the Net Promoter Score to business performance.
In a separate article we shall analyse in more depth the true relationship between loyalty and business performance across various business and activities. Satisfaction is clearly linked to both longevity and frequency, value, volume of cross sales and repeat purchase. We shall explain the mechanics.
Key to understanding the benefits of customer experience is measuring and analysing recommendation. We know that people only recommend if they are highly satisfied; satisfaction in its own right is not a motivator.
There are two aspects of recommendation which require analysis. Firstly, the characteristics and motivation of the recommendee. In sum, people recommend for altruistic reasons and also to build esteem in their social group. They like to be seen as early adopters. We also want of course to look at the value of our recommendee; there may be a correlation between their value to the organisation and the recommender.
Secondly, we want to understand the value of recommendation to us both in terms to reduce marketing costs and increased customer flows, including the performance of recommended customers compared to those joining by other means.
However, the real value arises from considering the perceptions of customers against their expectations on day to day and long-term horizons, in conjunction with their behaviour vis a vis recommendation.
The argument as to whether marketing is an art or a science has raged for years. It is interesting that long-term brand appeal is built primarily on emotion not rationality. The great TV ads are primarily emotional in nature; think of Guinness and its sea horses; does it matter how long the wait for the wave actually was, the point is that waiting pays off. Interestingly the same is true of oratory; Winston Churchill did not say how many owed how much to how many less; it was the idea that counted. People buy and recall ideas. Numbers were put to the sword in '1066 and all that'.
It is clear that people make emotional decisions in the main. They may think that they are making rational ones, or even post rationalise them. I would argue that an emotional decision is the sum of a number of rational trade offs. One example is whether we choose the highest interest rate for our savings or the lowest premium for our insurance.
It is clear that the majority do not, but will take name awareness, features, security, recommendation, history and a range of attributes into account.
Customer experience measures
It seems to me that a similar approach is likely to be most helpful in developing analysis of customer experience. Customer experience is also very much about perception. In essence it is a measure of external perceptions against external expectations, not internal measured results against internal standards.
It is not terribly helpful to know that we answered the phone in 8 seconds against a standard of 10. The customer might have expected 10, but perceived to be waiting for 12. Why? Largely because of prior, perhaps negative, experience of the brand, but more likely because the call was unsatisfactory when the connection was made – i.e. the customer did not get what he or she wanted.
The key question then in using analytics to help improve customer experience is to ensure that we analyse the things that matter to customers. Customers will be much influenced by the recency and frequency of their interaction with the brand and these are key members for us. But the focus is on the emotional response to those interactions.
Hence, we argue that the key numbers for analysis are three:
* How did you feel about your interaction with us today?
* How do you feel about us as an organisation?
* Would you recommend us to your family, friends and colleagues?
This is crucial. It is the day to day measurement of perception against expectation, and enables daily tracking of customer experience. Analysis should track both the customer’s previous answers and, in a person to person interaction, the performance of the agent. This data should then be viewed in the context of the operational performance on the day; were systems fully functional, was there a particular call flow issue?
This is a wider concept. How people feel about the organisation as a whole, takes into account not only day to day interactions but the total set of experiences and perceptions of the organisation and its brand. The customer will be influenced not only by his or her experiences but also by the experiences of others. This is because brand associations are a reflection of the individual’s personality. People wish to be seen to have made good choices in the eyes of others.
Whilst customer satisfaction tracking surveys will provide meaningful numbers for analysis, it is likely that qualitative research will be required to better understand customer attitudes and motivations.
We know that customer satisfaction and loyalty are closely linked and that they are correlated through the Net Promoter Score to business performance.
In a separate article we shall analyse in more depth the true relationship between loyalty and business performance across various business and activities. Satisfaction is clearly linked to both longevity and frequency, value, volume of cross sales and repeat purchase. We shall explain the mechanics.
Key to understanding the benefits of customer experience is measuring and analysing recommendation. We know that people only recommend if they are highly satisfied; satisfaction in its own right is not a motivator.
There are two aspects of recommendation which require analysis. Firstly, the characteristics and motivation of the recommendee. In sum, people recommend for altruistic reasons and also to build esteem in their social group. They like to be seen as early adopters. We also want of course to look at the value of our recommendee; there may be a correlation between their value to the organisation and the recommender.
Secondly, we want to understand the value of recommendation to us both in terms to reduce marketing costs and increased customer flows, including the performance of recommended customers compared to those joining by other means.
However, the real value arises from considering the perceptions of customers against their expectations on day to day and long-term horizons, in conjunction with their behaviour vis a vis recommendation.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk, ROI
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, February 02, 2010
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Monday, February 1, 2010
Basic website filenaming structures
Your website's URL structure is an important search engine optimisation factor, so Dr Search thought I’d write a quick post covering some useful guidelines for you to keep in mind when building your website.
Let’s take a look at a typical small business website. While this may not be the case for every business, most sites often have the following pages in common:
* Homepage
* Services/Products Page
* Testimonials Page
* About Us Page
* Contact Us Page
Using the pages above, here’s an example of how to maximize the SEO impact of your URLs.
Homepage (www.example.com)
When choosing your domain name, always try and include your primary keyword somewhere in the name. A good strategy for this is creating a keyword + generic domain name. For example, if you’re targeting the keyword "electrican", you might go for gloucestershireelectrcian.com, cheltenhamelectrician.net, or gloucestershirelighting.com etc.
Services/Products Page (www.example.com/[keyword])
On the page which lists your services or products, use another major keyword as the directory for this page. Using the example above, you might want to create the following pages:
* /electrcian-services
* /electrican-qualifications
Testimonials Page (www.example.com/[keyword]-testimonials)
The testimonials page is another chance for you to include one of your important keywords. Try using the format /[keyword]-testimonials, where keyword represents your business type or industry. Some examples might be:
* /electrician-testimonials
* /gloucestershire-testimonials
* /lighting-testimonials
About Us Page (www.example.com/about-[business name])
The about us page is a chance to make sure your website ranks strongly when customers search for your business name. Using the directory format /about-[businessname] with the business name in Meta tags and body content a good way to achieve this.
Contact Us Page (www.example.com/contact-us-[business name])
For the contact us page I’d recommend sticking with a simple /contact-us [business name] format which is standard across most sites and is easy for customers to remember. You will also get your name in regularly if you have a contact us link at the bottom of every page- as a call to action.
Whilst URL structuring is no magic bullet for search negine optimisation, following the above guidelines is a good way to build a solid foundation.
Let’s take a look at a typical small business website. While this may not be the case for every business, most sites often have the following pages in common:
* Homepage
* Services/Products Page
* Testimonials Page
* About Us Page
* Contact Us Page
Using the pages above, here’s an example of how to maximize the SEO impact of your URLs.
Homepage (www.example.com)
When choosing your domain name, always try and include your primary keyword somewhere in the name. A good strategy for this is creating a keyword + generic domain name. For example, if you’re targeting the keyword "electrican", you might go for gloucestershireelectrcian.com, cheltenhamelectrician.net, or gloucestershirelighting.com etc.
Services/Products Page (www.example.com/[keyword])
On the page which lists your services or products, use another major keyword as the directory for this page. Using the example above, you might want to create the following pages:
* /electrcian-services
* /electrican-qualifications
Testimonials Page (www.example.com/[keyword]-testimonials)
The testimonials page is another chance for you to include one of your important keywords. Try using the format /[keyword]-testimonials, where keyword represents your business type or industry. Some examples might be:
* /electrician-testimonials
* /gloucestershire-testimonials
* /lighting-testimonials
About Us Page (www.example.com/about-[business name])
The about us page is a chance to make sure your website ranks strongly when customers search for your business name. Using the directory format /about-[businessname] with the business name in Meta tags and body content a good way to achieve this.
Contact Us Page (www.example.com/contact-us-[business name])
For the contact us page I’d recommend sticking with a simple /contact-us [business name] format which is standard across most sites and is easy for customers to remember. You will also get your name in regularly if you have a contact us link at the bottom of every page- as a call to action.
Whilst URL structuring is no magic bullet for search negine optimisation, following the above guidelines is a good way to build a solid foundation.
If you’ve got any other URL advice, please let the Search Clinic know in the comments box below!
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, Search Clinic, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Services
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, February 01, 2010
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Thursday, January 28, 2010
How to grow a forum online- the right and wrong way to go
Growing online forums should be simple, however some people make it harder to be succesfull.
Dr Search recently come across this guide from FeverBee Richard Millington on the Right and Wrong way to develop a community:
Do you think the person that created this forum really had a clue what s/he was doing? Nobody will participate in a forum that looks this empty.
There are a few lessons here:
1) When you launch a new forum you begin with just one subject/topic. As the forum grows and it becomes clear that you need more than one place, you create another topic.
2) Don’t try to predict what your community will talk about in advance. This is what leads to empty forums like those above. Just respond to what they talk about – and put an influential member on that topic in charge of that section.
If your members talk about obscure widgets from china a lot, create a separate forum for it with someone who speaks about the topic the most in charge of moderation.
3) It’s really hard to be the first person to create the topic. So when you do create the second forum you transfer relevant existing threads (and if you have any, you don’t need the forum) from the old forum to the new forum.
p.s. This is my favourite example of a terrible online community.
Thanks to Richard Millington
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Clinic
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, January 28, 2010
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Yahoo profits increase but sales fall
Online marketing giant Yahoo has posted a £95m net profit in the fourth quarter of 2009, but has seen it's sales continue to fall.
The profit figure is an improvemen on the £200m loss in the same period in 2008, but revenue fell 4% to £1 bn.
Yahoo struggled during the global downturn as advertisers trimmed their budgets. The firm cut more than 2,000 jobs to try to reduce costs.
Shares in Yahoo rose 1% in after-hours trading in New York to $16.17.
"The fourth quarter marked a strong finish to 2009, which was a transformative year for Yahoo," said chief executive Carol Bartz.
"Our business has positive momentum and we feel good as we head into 2010."
For the whole of 2009, Yahoo made a £598m profit, up 43% on the previous year.
The profit figure is an improvemen on the £200m loss in the same period in 2008, but revenue fell 4% to £1 bn.
Yahoo struggled during the global downturn as advertisers trimmed their budgets. The firm cut more than 2,000 jobs to try to reduce costs.
Shares in Yahoo rose 1% in after-hours trading in New York to $16.17.
"The fourth quarter marked a strong finish to 2009, which was a transformative year for Yahoo," said chief executive Carol Bartz.
"Our business has positive momentum and we feel good as we head into 2010."
For the whole of 2009, Yahoo made a £598m profit, up 43% on the previous year.
Labels: online marketing, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Larry Page and Sergey Brin Google's founders to sell shares
According to an SEC filing late last week, Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin “each intend to sell approximately 5 million shares” — over a period of five years.
This is not a reaction to any particular development in the market or perception of the outlook for Google; rather this is part of a plan to diversify their portfolios over time.
According to the filing:
According to the filing:
" These pre-arranged stock trading plans were adopted in order to allow Larry and Sergey to sell a portion of their Google stock over time as part of their respective long term strategies for individual asset diversification and liquidity . Using these plans, they can gradually diversify their investment portfolios and can spread stock trades out over an extended period of time to reduce market impact ."
Larry and Sergey currently hold approximately 57.7 million shares of Class B common stock, which represents approximately 18% of Google’s outstanding capital stock and approximately 59% of the voting power of Google’s outstanding capital stock.
Under the terms of these Rule 10b5-1 trading plans, and as a part of a five year diversification plan, Larry and Sergey each intend to sell approximately 5 million shares. If Larry and Sergey complete all the planned sales under these Rule 10b5-1 trading plans, they would continue to collectively own approximately 47.7 million shares, which would represent approximately 15% of Google’s outstanding capital stock and approximately 48% of the voting power of Google’s outstanding capital stock (assuming no other sales and conversions of Google capital stock occur).
Google has a dual class stock structure, consisting of Class A and Class B stock. Currently Brin and Page control about 59% of the Class B stock, but a minority of all outstanding shares. Class A shares have one vote each and Class B shares each control 10 votes.
At the end of the five year diversification term specified in the SEC filing, the two co-founders would own 47.7% of Class B shares. And together with CEO Eric Schmidt they would still own more than 50% of the Class B shares.
There have been unsuccessful efforts in the past to equalize the voting power of all shareholders.
One could argue that this dual-class stock structure enables Google to do things like stand up to the Chinese government, against the dominant logic of the market and potential objections of Class A shareholders (especially institutional shareholders). Indeed, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has criticized the move as “irrational.”
With the closing price tonight at $542 (£338) if the full 10 million shares were sold today they would generate around £3.40 billion in cash. However they would still have stock holdings worth approximately another £30 billion.
Google has a dual class stock structure, consisting of Class A and Class B stock. Currently Brin and Page control about 59% of the Class B stock, but a minority of all outstanding shares. Class A shares have one vote each and Class B shares each control 10 votes.
At the end of the five year diversification term specified in the SEC filing, the two co-founders would own 47.7% of Class B shares. And together with CEO Eric Schmidt they would still own more than 50% of the Class B shares.
There have been unsuccessful efforts in the past to equalize the voting power of all shareholders.
One could argue that this dual-class stock structure enables Google to do things like stand up to the Chinese government, against the dominant logic of the market and potential objections of Class A shareholders (especially institutional shareholders). Indeed, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has criticized the move as “irrational.”
With the closing price tonight at $542 (£338) if the full 10 million shares were sold today they would generate around £3.40 billion in cash. However they would still have stock holdings worth approximately another £30 billion.
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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Monday, January 25, 2010
Facebook campaign puts the boot into First Capital Connect
Disaffected commuters on the Bedford to Brighton train line have started employing Facebook social media to apply pressure on government transport chiefs to strip the operator of its franchise.
First Capital Connect (FCC) has come under criticism since last year, but anger has mounted over the last two months following severe timetable disruption, cancelled and delayed trains and customer misinformation on the Thameslink line.
The problems have been blamed on drivers working to rule and the cold snap. However it is the management which is supposed to be in charge of the system.
But increasing levels of frustration among commuters have led them to set up a grassroots campaign that appears to be gaining political weight. An ‘I hate FCC’ group has been set up on Facebook, which now numbers over 2,000 members.
An online Downing Street petition has also been signed by 4,758 people, while a spoof website has been created - First Crapital Connect - "We've Got You Over A Barrel" - leading thousands of commuters to register their fury at the company. Local newspapers along the route have also been inundated with letters of complaint.
As a result, Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton and Cheam, lodged an early day motion last week calling for FCC’s franchise to be withdrawn. If the move were to come to pass, it would be the second route to be taken back into public ownership, following the nationalisation of National Express’ East Coast route in November last year.
Labels: Facebook, social media websites, social web marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, January 25, 2010
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Friday, January 22, 2010
The importance of Twitter
Dr Search has been fairly reserved over our coverage of Twitter this year. However, Ricky Gervais's recent experience of the social media has raised both his and Twitter's profile.
Ricky Gervais, who, after just 6 tweets, anounced that he was quitting the service:
"I just don’t get it I’m afraid. I’m sure it’s fun as a networking device for teenagers but there’s something a bit undignified about adults using it. Particularly celebrities who seem to be showing off by talking to each other in public."
"If I want to tell a friend, famous or otherwise what I had to eat this morning, I’ll text them. And since I don’t need to make new virtual friends, it seemed a bit pointless to be honest."
Dr Search agrees with his point about celebrities, and feel that the way many have jumped on the Twitter-wagon, building their own profiles in the process, can be slightly nauseating.
Especially when so many of them simply bring their broadcast mindset to a dialogue based communications tool.
But his suggestion that Twitter is simply somewhere for teenagers to share what they had for breakfast is so very wide of the mark that it demands consideration.
The idea that Twitter is simply a glorified version of Facebook’s updates, used for nothing other than posting inane titbits from people’s lives, is not an uncommon one, and one that many share. But it also betrays a complete lack of understanding of what Twitter offers. As Gervais himself says, he just doesn’t get it.
In essence, Twitter is just a tool for communicating with others, nothing more, nothing less.
But then again, so is a phone. Would people say “I’m not going to use a phone, if I want to talk to my mates, I’ll do it in person”? Of course they wouldn’t. Because a phone is only as interesting as the things it’s being used for.
Need to check whether a store has an item in stock? Use a phone. Need to connect with friends and relatives on the other side of the world? Use a phone. Now swap the word phone for Twitter and you start to see quite how wrong Gervais is.
For just as a phone is an endlessly versatile tool, one that made distance a thing of the past- and which is now driving the Internet into previously impenetrable areas, such as rural India and Sub-Saharan Africa. Twitter is only limited by its users’ inventiveness.
It can be used to source information, crowdsource investigative journalism, raise money for charity, connect with like-minded peers and, yes, occasionally tell people what you had for breakfast. It’s proving to be a valuable tool for individuals, entrepreneurs, businesses, both small and large, politicians, charities and even historical buildings.
Of course this doesn’t mean that Twitter will be right for everyone or even every brand. But writing it off as a waste of time is like throwing away your phone because you don’t like being cold-called.
Like a phone Twitter allows one to one conversation. However you also have the opportunity to use a speaker phone to reachmany more poeple.
Additionally Twitter's focused niche role allows one to find the target market so accurately by segmenting one message directly.
All in all Mr Grevais's observations about Twitter have a certain semblance to his "dancing". Unusual and excruciating, but also entertaining.
Labels: Dr Search, Search Clinic, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, January 22, 2010
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
Bad customer service costing billions of Pounds in lost revenue
Another study reveals the shocking cost of poor customer service- this time it's Dr Search's alma mater- Oxford Brookes University who delivers the damning verdict on poor service standards.
Its survey suggests that three out of four people have switched at least one product or service in the last two years due to poor service.
Its survey suggests that three out of four people have switched at least one product or service in the last two years due to poor service.
And the University's Professor Merlin Stone estimates that if the study is reflective of the entire population, firms could have lost up to 20 million good customers, costing them around £3.39 billion.
More than one in five people blamed poor customer service for switching to other firms in areas including finance, telecoms and utilities.
Lifestyle firm WhiteConcierge, which commissioned the study, said the findings suggested that more than 30 consumers were signing up with different companies every minute of the day.
The report found that the worst affected sectors for losing customers over the past two years were motor insurance, electricity and home insurance.
Organisations have to work harder than ever to keep their best customers. Consumers have become increasingly demanding and discerning, and with the rise of price comparison websites for example, it is now much easier to compare and switch products.
Jonathan Breeze, managing director of WhiteConcierge, said: "Price is undoubtedly one important factor for causing people to change providers but many companies cannot compete on this at the moment. As our research findings show, issues surrounding customer service experiences are also key and can be addressed more readily."
The findings have come as no surprise to the CRM community. In the recent tough economic times, service may have been one of the many cutbacks made across the breadth of the organisation. However, service is precisely what will keep current customers and continue to attract new ones.
Much has been made of the birth of 'Generation Y'-ers – those who multi-task throughout life and communicate with organisations via a multitude of channels. This should strongly underline the need for businesses to reassess their service provision.
The findings have come as no surprise to the CRM community. In the recent tough economic times, service may have been one of the many cutbacks made across the breadth of the organisation. However, service is precisely what will keep current customers and continue to attract new ones.
Much has been made of the birth of 'Generation Y'-ers – those who multi-task throughout life and communicate with organisations via a multitude of channels. This should strongly underline the need for businesses to reassess their service provision.
This young demographic’s demand is for more, not less, personalised and tailored services, fully utilising technology to deliver robust services. Organisations that are providing and delivering robust services win; there is no second place.
Dr Search concludes by suggesting that although price is always a decision making factor- service is becoming increasingly important.
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, Search Marketing, Top Tips
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, January 21, 2010
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Website Marketing budget guide- the real costs of online marketing
Online Marketing cost guide by Dr Search. Although we at the Search Clinic are pretty open about our services- both what we offer and how much it's going to cost you, when we found this recent post at INeedHits we thought that we would repeat it as a third party independent guide for your benefit.
Whether you’re just starting out, or re-evaluating your website strategy, it’s important for you to get your plan and budget right.
The rule “Build it and they will come” rarely works in the online space. For you to be successful with your website marketing strategy – you need to have a solid plan and be realistic about the real costs of doing it properly.
Too many business owners spend £1000’s on getting a fancy website developed, only to find they have no money left to promote it.
One of our sales guys uses this analogy
“It’s like building a shopping mall in the desert. Without the budget to promote it – who’s going to find it?”
“It’s like building a shopping mall in the desert. Without the budget to promote it – who’s going to find it?”
So to help you get your website design and marketing budget right – here’s a quick guide to what you need and the approximate costs to do it properly.
- 1. The website: Development/Design & Maintenance
The development of a website has many variables. Accordingly the costs can vary significantly depending on factors such as whether its static or dynamic, whether it includes a shopping cart, is the design bespoke or templated etc, etc, etc.
The reality is that websites can vary from £1000 – £50,000, and 90% of the time, you get what you pay for.
If it’s really cheap, it’s likely that there won’t be much functionality and it’ll use a template. The flip side of that is that if it’s too expensive – ask yourself whether you “really” need all the bells and whistles.
And most importantly – shop around. Draft a detailed requirements document and then check with a few website designers/developers to get the best price.
Also, don’t forget to budget for hosting and maintenance. Websites need to be updated in terms of content and systems (e.g. cms) regularly, and without hosting - you wont appear anywhere.
- 2. SEO – Search Engine Optimization
The simple truth is that the majority of website traffic comes from search engines and directories. Most of our clients see upwards of 60% of traffic coming from search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. While the organic search engine traffic is free (no click costs), you do need to invest in a professional SEO program to ensure you’re maximizing this free search engine traffic.
SEO campaigns again vary significantly. To hire an industry leading SEO consultant can cost as much as $1000 per hour.
Here’s a guide on SEO pricing that Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz posted 2 years ago. As you can imagine – prices have grown since then…but it serves as a guide for the premium end of the scale:
| Service | Low End | Mid Range | High End |
| Site Review + Consulting | $500 | $2,500 | $10,000 |
| Hands-On Editing of Pages/Code | $2,000 | $10,000 | $50,000 |
| Manual Link Building Campaign | $500 | $5,000 | $20,000 |
| Keyword Research Package | $100 | $500 | $2,000 |
| Monthly Retainer for Ongoing SEO | $2,500 | $7,500 | $20,000+ |
Professional SEO is an investment. If you’re in business for the long haul, you’d be crazy not to allocate a decent proportion of your initial online budget on SEO – (or if your budget is tight, then study hard and invest the many hours needed to do it yourself).
To get started with an SEO campaign (fully managed by an experienced SEO professional) that’s going to generate serious ranking and traffic results – you should be looking to pay at least £500 per month - minimum.
- 3. PPC – Google AdWords and Other Search Advertising
As with all things, you’re probably looking for some quick wins in terms of traffic and results from your website. This is where PPC (pay per click) Search Engine Advertising (e.g. Google AdWords) helps.
With a well setup Google AdWords campaign, you can have highly targeted visitors delivered to your website almost instantly. It’s a great way to ensure you’re still getting a return on your website investment while your SEO and other strategies take effect.
Professional PPC campaigns, depending on your industry and how much traffic you need, can cost as little as $200 per month and the sky is the limit. But be aware that with cheaper campaigns, you’ll find most of your investment is going into the setup and management – rather than the media (click costs) – which makes it hard to generate decent ROI.
A serious PPC campaign for a small business should start at approx £500…and depending on your goals – go up from there.
- 4. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a very cost effective way of generating traffic for your website. With most affiliate networks offering CPA models (cost per acquisition) – it allows you to generate traffic that you only pay for when the visitor converts (makes a purchase, signs up for a newsletter, submits a query).
The challenge with affiliate networks is that they take time to be effective and the best networks are often very selective as to who they promote.
Most decent networks will charge a small set up fee ($500-1000 upwards) and then take a commission on every sale or acquisition. Some of the larger ones will also charge a monthly management fees to help you optimize your campaigns.
Most publishers will be looking for between 10% - 30% commission on sales, or a decent bonus for lead/enquiry based programs.
- 5. Social media, Email marketing & Ad Networks
There’s a range of other website promotion opportunities such as Social Media, Email marketing and Ad Networks.
With Social Media, it’s definitely an area that small businesses should be getting involved with, but remember; it’s not a fit for every business and Social media is like SEO - it’s an investment and normally takes a while to generate good results.
There are plenty of other ways to drive more traffic to your site, but in reality – the areas mentioned above will be your main traffic sources.
So with that in mind – you can now get a much clearer and more realistic picture of what it costs to get serious results online. Even if we use the lower end of these costs as a guide, small business owners should be looking at
| Cost Guide | |
| Website Development | £1000+ |
| Hosting & Maintenance | £120+ |
| SEO - 6mth program | £3000 |
| Search Advertising (PPC) - 6mths | £1200 |
| Affiliate Marketing | Depends on Program |
| Others | Depends on Tactics |
| TOTAL | £5000+ |
Now that’s only a starting guide, and as I’ve mentioned previously - the cheapest options aren’t always the best in terms of results and generating good ROI.
So if you’re starting a new website project - you can see there’s more to consider than just the website design costs. If you want your new website in 2010 to be a success - be realistic when doing your planning and budgeting!
Labels: Adwords, Dr Search, online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Clinic, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Services, social media websites, social web marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, January 20, 2010
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Now it's the Germans turn to attack Google
Coming hard on the heels of France's attempts last week to curb Google's activities (See France considers extra tax on Google, Yahoo and Facebook ) now the Germans are considering anti competitive legal rulings.
Last week, in a German magazine interview, government minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger suggested that Google was “becoming a giant monopoly.” She casually asserted that government action might be coming at some point if Google didn’t become more “transparent” and responsive to government concerns.
Almost on cue several companies have filed diverse complaints with Germany’s Cartel Office about Google.
Those complaints, which have not yet been publicly released, involve the following, according to Deutsche Welle:
* German newspaper and magazine publisher associations the VDZ and BDZV have reportedly filed their complaints about uncompensated use of article snippets. There are also complaints about how publications are ranked in Google search and news results
* Shopping site Ciao, now owned by Micrososft, is upset about its AdSense contract (entered into before the Microsoft acquisition): “The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that Ciao believes the contract to be overly restrictive, while not offering enough transparency on advertising revenues generated by AdSense.”
* Finally mapping site Euro-Cities asserts that the availability of Google Maps to third party sites for free is “is destroying its business model.”
These descriptions are based on second hand information and so it’s impossible to evaluate the merits of the respective parties’ claims.
While there may be merit to some or many of these claims, one gets the sense that there is lots of frustration being expressed in Europe and thrown at Google in the form of various legal theories to see what sticks.
However, as a general matter, Google’s size and market power is alarming many European regulators and they seem intent on finding ways of asserting more control over the company.
Labels: Google, Microsoft, online marketing, Pay Per Click Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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Monday, January 18, 2010
Top tips to make your social marketing produce profits
The Search Clinic outlines 7 tips to help your make money from social media marketing.
1. Plan your social media strategy for 2010.
Set your 2010 social media goals. Then map out the projects that you’ll need to undertake to achieve your goals. Throughout this process, you will need to start listening to determine which online communities are most important to your business. Your observations will help guide your decisions on how to engage each community most effectively.
2. Offer exceptional products and services.
Social media is simply another tool. If your products and services aren’t great, it’ll be an uphill battle to win. You’ll find yourself firefighting against a tide of negative comments. In social media, you can’t buy reach. You can’t buy market share. You can’t buy advocacy and customer evangelists.
If you want to win, create exceptional products and services that add value and delight customers. That is the fastest and most cost-effective way to get people talking positively about your brand!
3. Focus.
Prioritize to focus your time and energy on the social networks that really matter. Don’t try to be everywhere, do everything and respond to every single discussion – instead, focus on the discussions that will influence other conversations for maximum impact.
4. Create synergy to amplify your marketing messages.
Social media participants are getting savvier by the second. Treat consumers with respect and add value to the communities that you play in. When you add value, your messages will be shared. Take stock of how relevant communities are interconnected, and build your strategy to amplify communication and marketing efforts.
As you contribute content and participate in conversations, link all the disparate sites together to optimize your results.
5. Build your brand using location based social networks.
In 2010, expect to see location based social networks take off, as more customers access the mobile web through their smartphones. This will present a major opportunity for retailers to make their mark on the 'local' social web to promote and engage conversations about their brands online.
Smart businesses will get on the bandwagon first with innovative promotions which will not only capture the attention of community members but also the media.
6. Allocate a budget for social media.
Take a step back and rethink how participating in social media will be funded in your organisation. Look at your total mix of marketing spend within traditional activities such as advertising, PR and lead generation. Is social media currently an integrated part of your existing campaigns? Or does it make more sense to bypass the 'traditional' marketing outlets and create a separate social media programme? Will you be creating content internally or using external resources and agencies to produce high-quality, engaging content?
7. Reach within your organisation for social networking talent.
As tempting as it is to hire new social marketing specialists to drive and influence online conversations about your brand, don’t overlook the talent that already exists within your company – people who are already in your organisation who are passionate about your product, services and culture.
1. Plan your social media strategy for 2010.
Set your 2010 social media goals. Then map out the projects that you’ll need to undertake to achieve your goals. Throughout this process, you will need to start listening to determine which online communities are most important to your business. Your observations will help guide your decisions on how to engage each community most effectively.
2. Offer exceptional products and services.
Social media is simply another tool. If your products and services aren’t great, it’ll be an uphill battle to win. You’ll find yourself firefighting against a tide of negative comments. In social media, you can’t buy reach. You can’t buy market share. You can’t buy advocacy and customer evangelists.
If you want to win, create exceptional products and services that add value and delight customers. That is the fastest and most cost-effective way to get people talking positively about your brand!
3. Focus.
Prioritize to focus your time and energy on the social networks that really matter. Don’t try to be everywhere, do everything and respond to every single discussion – instead, focus on the discussions that will influence other conversations for maximum impact.
4. Create synergy to amplify your marketing messages.
Social media participants are getting savvier by the second. Treat consumers with respect and add value to the communities that you play in. When you add value, your messages will be shared. Take stock of how relevant communities are interconnected, and build your strategy to amplify communication and marketing efforts.
As you contribute content and participate in conversations, link all the disparate sites together to optimize your results.
5. Build your brand using location based social networks.
In 2010, expect to see location based social networks take off, as more customers access the mobile web through their smartphones. This will present a major opportunity for retailers to make their mark on the 'local' social web to promote and engage conversations about their brands online.
Smart businesses will get on the bandwagon first with innovative promotions which will not only capture the attention of community members but also the media.
6. Allocate a budget for social media.
Take a step back and rethink how participating in social media will be funded in your organisation. Look at your total mix of marketing spend within traditional activities such as advertising, PR and lead generation. Is social media currently an integrated part of your existing campaigns? Or does it make more sense to bypass the 'traditional' marketing outlets and create a separate social media programme? Will you be creating content internally or using external resources and agencies to produce high-quality, engaging content?
7. Reach within your organisation for social networking talent.
As tempting as it is to hire new social marketing specialists to drive and influence online conversations about your brand, don’t overlook the talent that already exists within your company – people who are already in your organisation who are passionate about your product, services and culture.
There may be a learning curve in terms of how to best engage with social media, but the advantage they have is that they already live and breathe your company culture, adding authenticity which will humanise your brand.
Labels: Dr Search, social media websites, social web marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, January 18, 2010
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Friday, January 15, 2010
Poor customer service- the true cost of lost sales
Poor customer service is costing UK plc about £15.3 billion in lost business per annum- with younger consumers less likely to put up with poor treatment than older ones.
According to a survey undertaken by Greenfield Online among 514 consumers, 73% had terminated a relationship in the past because of bad experiences, with the average value of lost sales being £248 per year.
But the report entitled ‘The Cost of Poor Customer Service: The Economic Impact of the Customer Experience’ also found that younger customers aged between 27 and 43 were 60% more likely to go elsewhere than older ones if dissatisfied with the level of service they received.
It is becoming increasingly crucial for organisations, particularly in service industries such as finance, to ensure they retained customers by providing "exceptional" customer service.
As to what poor customer service actually meant to respondents, the study found that problems could be broken down into several categories: customers having to repeat information; feeling trapped in automated self service systems and being forced to wait too long to receive a service.
Other bugbears included speaking to company representatives who were unaware of their service history and not being able to switch easily between communications channels. Some 41% of those questioned said they were most unhappy with having to use voice-based self-service systems, while 39% said they felt it critical to integrate such systems more intelligently with human interaction.
A huge 83% also said they would welcome proactive help when they became stuck trying to undertake a web transaction or some other form of self-service activity.
According to a survey undertaken by Greenfield Online among 514 consumers, 73% had terminated a relationship in the past because of bad experiences, with the average value of lost sales being £248 per year.
But the report entitled ‘The Cost of Poor Customer Service: The Economic Impact of the Customer Experience’ also found that younger customers aged between 27 and 43 were 60% more likely to go elsewhere than older ones if dissatisfied with the level of service they received.
It is becoming increasingly crucial for organisations, particularly in service industries such as finance, to ensure they retained customers by providing "exceptional" customer service.
As to what poor customer service actually meant to respondents, the study found that problems could be broken down into several categories: customers having to repeat information; feeling trapped in automated self service systems and being forced to wait too long to receive a service.
Other bugbears included speaking to company representatives who were unaware of their service history and not being able to switch easily between communications channels. Some 41% of those questioned said they were most unhappy with having to use voice-based self-service systems, while 39% said they felt it critical to integrate such systems more intelligently with human interaction.
A huge 83% also said they would welcome proactive help when they became stuck trying to undertake a web transaction or some other form of self-service activity.
With the rise of social media and increased consumer awareness, the cost of customer frustration continues to grow. Dr Search is advising enterprise businesses in the UK to develop cohesive strategies that straddle all channels of customer communication including Twitter and Facebook."
Labels: Dr Search, Facebook, online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Clinic, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, January 15, 2010
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Thursday, January 14, 2010
New data protection fines jump to £500,000
Beware- the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will be imposing much stiffer fines for data security breaches in the future. At the moment the maximum fine the ICO can levy is £7,000.
The Information Commissioner's Office is getting tougher over data security with the imposition of fines of up to half a million pounds for serious breaches, something which could prove costly for careless marketeers.
"The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will be able to order organisations to pay up to £500,000 as a penalty for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act," said an ICO statement. "The ICO has produced statutory guidance about how it proposes to use this new power, which has been approved by the Secretary of State for Justice, and has been laid before Parliament this week."
The size of the fine will be determined after an investigation to assess the gravity of the breach and will also be based on the the size and finances of the organisation at fault, whether the breach was accidental or deliberate, and how much distress the leak of information caused.
"The Information Commissioner will take a pragmatic and proportionate approach to issuing an organisation with a monetary penalty," the ICO statement said. "Factors will be taken into account including an organisation’s financial resources, sector, size and the severity of the data breach, to ensure that undue financial hardship is not imposed on an organisation."
"Getting data protection right has never been more important than it is today. As citizens, we are increasingly asked to complete transactions online, with the state, banks and other organisations using huge databases to store our personal details," said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham. "When things go wrong, a security breach can cause real harm and great distress to thousands of people."
"These penalties are designed to act as a deterrent and to promote compliance with the Data Protection Act. I remain committed to working with voluntary, public and private bodies to help them stick to the rules and comply with the Act. But I will not hesitate to use these tough new sanctions for the most serious cases where organisations disregard the law."
The original Act came into force in 1984. Under the most recent Act of 1998, data can only be used for the purposes for which it is collected and cannot be given to others without the consent of the individual. Everybody has the right to see information that is held about them, with the exception of crime-related data.
The Information Commissioner's Office is getting tougher over data security with the imposition of fines of up to half a million pounds for serious breaches, something which could prove costly for careless marketeers.
"The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will be able to order organisations to pay up to £500,000 as a penalty for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act," said an ICO statement. "The ICO has produced statutory guidance about how it proposes to use this new power, which has been approved by the Secretary of State for Justice, and has been laid before Parliament this week."
The size of the fine will be determined after an investigation to assess the gravity of the breach and will also be based on the the size and finances of the organisation at fault, whether the breach was accidental or deliberate, and how much distress the leak of information caused.
"The Information Commissioner will take a pragmatic and proportionate approach to issuing an organisation with a monetary penalty," the ICO statement said. "Factors will be taken into account including an organisation’s financial resources, sector, size and the severity of the data breach, to ensure that undue financial hardship is not imposed on an organisation."
"Getting data protection right has never been more important than it is today. As citizens, we are increasingly asked to complete transactions online, with the state, banks and other organisations using huge databases to store our personal details," said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham. "When things go wrong, a security breach can cause real harm and great distress to thousands of people."
"These penalties are designed to act as a deterrent and to promote compliance with the Data Protection Act. I remain committed to working with voluntary, public and private bodies to help them stick to the rules and comply with the Act. But I will not hesitate to use these tough new sanctions for the most serious cases where organisations disregard the law."
The original Act came into force in 1984. Under the most recent Act of 1998, data can only be used for the purposes for which it is collected and cannot be given to others without the consent of the individual. Everybody has the right to see information that is held about them, with the exception of crime-related data.
The new rule is expected to come into force in the UK on 6 April 2010.
The cost of data breaches is already staggeringly high for UK businesses; last year the average breach cost £1.7 million, or £60 for each identity lost. If the ICO's bite turns out to be as big as its bark, this cost could exceed £2 million; a huge expense at a time when businesses and public sector bodies can ill afford to waste money.
The cost of data breaches is already staggeringly high for UK businesses; last year the average breach cost £1.7 million, or £60 for each identity lost. If the ICO's bite turns out to be as big as its bark, this cost could exceed £2 million; a huge expense at a time when businesses and public sector bodies can ill afford to waste money.
Organisations that want to avoid these massive financial penalties must look to implement watertight data protection strategies, employing proven technologies such as data encryption to ensure that confidential information is locked down. It is only by doing so that companies can be sure that their customers, reputations and profits are protected.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Clinic
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, January 14, 2010
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Social media marketing spreading across the whole business function
2009 was the year for testing out social computing concepts such as blogs and communities, now 2010 will see their transformation into a more mature channel for interacting with customers, believes Forrester Research.
As a result, such tools will start to be adopted beyond simply marketing departments and some organisations will start providing budgets to enable the implementation of actionable strategies. Others will even set up separate units in order to exploit them to the full.
According to a report entitled ‘Top Social Computing Predictions for 2010’ recently published by the research firm, the forthcoming year will see enterprises view such tools less as an end in themselves and more as a means to an end.
This means that they will realise that the value of social media tools lies less as simply a means of acquiring lots of followers and more in turning such followers into business assets. Therefore, there will be an increased focus on measuring the performance of such offerings and in understanding their impact.
A growing appreciation that what is said on one platform such as Twitter will be picked up on another, thereby informing consumers’ overall view of the brand, will likewise mean that interest in such tools is no longer confined to just the social or interactive arm of the marketing department.
As a result, such tools will start to be adopted beyond simply marketing departments and some organisations will start providing budgets to enable the implementation of actionable strategies. Others will even set up separate units in order to exploit them to the full.
According to a report entitled ‘Top Social Computing Predictions for 2010’ recently published by the research firm, the forthcoming year will see enterprises view such tools less as an end in themselves and more as a means to an end.
This means that they will realise that the value of social media tools lies less as simply a means of acquiring lots of followers and more in turning such followers into business assets. Therefore, there will be an increased focus on measuring the performance of such offerings and in understanding their impact.
A growing appreciation that what is said on one platform such as Twitter will be picked up on another, thereby informing consumers’ overall view of the brand, will likewise mean that interest in such tools is no longer confined to just the social or interactive arm of the marketing department.
This situation will manifest itself in the growing appeal of such offerings to customer service and product development departments.
Firms will also start work on improving mobile device support and cross-channel integration to ensure that mobile technology can be used to share information and learn about brands as easily as other modes of access.
But as the adoption of social computing activities moves more into the mainstream so will advocates come under increasing pressure to both use them to turn a profit and ensure that the privacy of customer data is safeguarded.
Firms will also start work on improving mobile device support and cross-channel integration to ensure that mobile technology can be used to share information and learn about brands as easily as other modes of access.
But as the adoption of social computing activities moves more into the mainstream so will advocates come under increasing pressure to both use them to turn a profit and ensure that the privacy of customer data is safeguarded.
Labels: mobile marketing, Search Clinic, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Bad customer support leaves Google's Nexus One users fuming
Despite all the hype, the launch last week of Google's Nexus One smartphone has been far from problem free, with many users left frustrated by the lack of customer support provisions.
Inadequate customer support facilities for Google's much-hyped Nexus One smartphone have resulted in the vendor's online forums being inundated with complaints from customers.
Google is selling its device, which was launched on Tuesday 5 January in the US, directly to end-users, which means that they are turning to the supplier as the first port of call to fix any problems.
But the company is currently only accepting email based customer queries, which it promises to reply to within one or two days. Many clients are saying that such a timeframe is too long, however, particularly if they are facing technical difficulties that require telephone support.
They are also unhappy at being passed from pillar to post if they approach partners Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC, or mobile carrier T-Mobile, for help. Various complaints indicated that T-Mobile often refers users back to either Google or HTC, while HTC transfers people on to T-Mobile.
Other people have complained about poor 3G performance, but said they were told by HTC customer service staff that NexusOne does not support the technology, although the device itself does.
Some long-term T-Mobile customers were likewise disgruntled that they had to pay more for the phone than new customers, while others were told that they were eligible for subsidies when Google's sales site indicated they were not. Yet more consumers were peeved about the fact that they placed an order but failed to receive confirmation as much as three days later.
Andy Rubin, Google's vice president of engineering, admitted to Digital Daily's John Paczkowski in an interview that: "We have to get better at customer service."
The European version of Nexus One, which is based on the Android open source operating system and will run on Vodafone's mobile network, is due to follow in the second quarter of this year. An enterprise version is also expected to appear at some unspecified time in the future.
Inadequate customer support facilities for Google's much-hyped Nexus One smartphone have resulted in the vendor's online forums being inundated with complaints from customers.
Google is selling its device, which was launched on Tuesday 5 January in the US, directly to end-users, which means that they are turning to the supplier as the first port of call to fix any problems.
But the company is currently only accepting email based customer queries, which it promises to reply to within one or two days. Many clients are saying that such a timeframe is too long, however, particularly if they are facing technical difficulties that require telephone support.
They are also unhappy at being passed from pillar to post if they approach partners Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC, or mobile carrier T-Mobile, for help. Various complaints indicated that T-Mobile often refers users back to either Google or HTC, while HTC transfers people on to T-Mobile.
Other people have complained about poor 3G performance, but said they were told by HTC customer service staff that NexusOne does not support the technology, although the device itself does.
Some long-term T-Mobile customers were likewise disgruntled that they had to pay more for the phone than new customers, while others were told that they were eligible for subsidies when Google's sales site indicated they were not. Yet more consumers were peeved about the fact that they placed an order but failed to receive confirmation as much as three days later.
Andy Rubin, Google's vice president of engineering, admitted to Digital Daily's John Paczkowski in an interview that: "We have to get better at customer service."
The European version of Nexus One, which is based on the Android open source operating system and will run on Vodafone's mobile network, is due to follow in the second quarter of this year. An enterprise version is also expected to appear at some unspecified time in the future.
Labels: Google, mobile marketing, Search Clinic
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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Monday, January 11, 2010
France considers extra tax on Google, Yahoo and Facebook
Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other online companies could be taxed extra under plans being considered by the French government.
A report, commissioned by the government, suggests firms such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook should pay a new tax on their online ad revenues.
The money could be used to fund legal alternatives for buying books, films and music on the internet.
But critics say the tax would be difficult to implement and Google says it could slow down innovation.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has taken a tough line on the increasing dominance of digital content.
France has just introduced tough new legislation aimed at removing those who persistently download illegal content from the net.
It has also gone head to head with Google over its plans to digitise the world's books, with a project to set up its own digital library financed by the government to the tune of £700m.
Additionally it is considering a law which would give net users the option to have old data about themselves deleted.
The proposals for a tax on content is still very much in the early stages and there are few details of how it would exactly work.
Patrick Zelnik, who contributed to the report and is also the founder of the French president's wife's record label, hopes the idea will be taken on board across the EU.
But Google is among those to have voiced opposition to the plan.
"We don't think introducing an additional tax on internet advertising is the right way forward as it could slow down innovation," said Olivier Esper, senior policy manager for Google France.
The better way to support content creation is to find new business models that help consumers find great content and rewards artists and publishers for their work."
A report, commissioned by the government, suggests firms such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook should pay a new tax on their online ad revenues.
The money could be used to fund legal alternatives for buying books, films and music on the internet.
But critics say the tax would be difficult to implement and Google says it could slow down innovation.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has taken a tough line on the increasing dominance of digital content.
France has just introduced tough new legislation aimed at removing those who persistently download illegal content from the net.
It has also gone head to head with Google over its plans to digitise the world's books, with a project to set up its own digital library financed by the government to the tune of £700m.
Additionally it is considering a law which would give net users the option to have old data about themselves deleted.
The proposals for a tax on content is still very much in the early stages and there are few details of how it would exactly work.
Patrick Zelnik, who contributed to the report and is also the founder of the French president's wife's record label, hopes the idea will be taken on board across the EU.
But Google is among those to have voiced opposition to the plan.
"We don't think introducing an additional tax on internet advertising is the right way forward as it could slow down innovation," said Olivier Esper, senior policy manager for Google France.
The better way to support content creation is to find new business models that help consumers find great content and rewards artists and publishers for their work."
Labels: Facebook, Google, online marketing, Twitter, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, January 11, 2010
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Friday, January 8, 2010
More small businesses move online to reduce costs
The recession is prompting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase their online presence as they seek to cut running costs and use marketing budgets more efficiently, a new survey has revealed.
According to the Kleinwort Benson UK Entrepreneurs Survey 2009, 76 per cent of approximately 100 respondents said they intended to increase the use of e-marketing in 2010 and 53 per cent said an online presence was critical.
“When making choices to cut costs and determine future strategies, businesses are focusing on online channels,” said Joe White, chief operating officer of Gandi.net, an online service provider.
“It is cheaper to set up and distribute via the internet, so companies may well choose to close the shop. The recession has bought forward some of those decisions to focus on online channels.”
Social media are also being used more extensively, the survey revealed. Forty two per cent said LinkedIn and Twitter, two forms of online networking, would be used to expand their businesses in 2010. Thirty eight per cent and 36 per cent, respectively, said they would employ Facebook and YouTube.
Dominic Davenport, chief executive of Escape Studios, which trains computer graphic artists, said: “We have found that social media deliver very quick, tangible returns in terms of building awareness of our brand, and also identifying new customers.”
Glyn Heath, chief executive of Centiq, an IT consulting and services company, said the interest in social media and web marketing was striking.
“However, smaller businesses are still getting to grips with tools such as Twitter and LinkedIn,” added Heath. “Executives recognise that the web offers exciting engagement possibilities, but they are finding that social media are resource-heavy marketing channels, so increased spending will have lasting implications for workload.”
Julie Hall, founder of Women Unlimited, an online community for female entrepreneurs, said she was surprised that only 53 per cent of respondents thought an online presence was critical.
“The 47 per cent that don’t believe an online presence is critical to their business, don’t get it,” she said. “If they aren’t online, positioning themselves as the ‘go-to company’ in their field, one of their competitors will be.”
The Search Clinic is amazed that more than half of entrepreneurs are still not recognising the benefits of online marketing. Agreed online marketing can waste huge amounts of time and money- but if you get it right, you can acheive up to 500% ROI.
Labels: Dr Search, Facebook, online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Clinic, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, January 08, 2010
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Thursday, January 7, 2010
ENom sucks your money
Having reviewed one company that purports to care for it's customers over the past few days Search Clinic reviews another at the other end of the customer care spectrum- eNom Inc.
eNom a domain name registration company has increased it's redemption fee for domains to a whopping $250 US Dollars- and has also stopped warning it's customers that their sites are up for renewal.
In an recent announcement, eNom states that they have increased their Redemption Fee for domains in the Redemption Grace Period (RGP) to $250 plus the fee for a 1 year renewal of the domain.
The redemption grace period follows the deletion of the domain by the registrar and was introduced by ICANN as an additional means to recover expired domains by the original registrant. The process of restoring the domain results in a higher charge by the registry and is a process consisting out of more than one step.
In many cases registrars such as eNom “simulate” this period for domains since they will offer domains in their partner marketplaces for purchase or auction after the domains’ expiry. Should a domain in this state be returned to the original registrant, the registrar will not occur any additional charges from the registry aside from the renewal fee.
However the redemption charges registrars apply is decided only by them.
Enom last year also increased some of their new registration prices by 50% for some of the most popular URLs like a .tv domain name.
The moral of the story is to shop around- if registrars like enom try ripping off customers- WALK AWAY.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Clinic
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, January 07, 2010
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Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Google's philosophy continues
Search Clinic complete's it's overview of Google's philosophy today.
7. There's always more information out there.
Once Google had indexed more of the HTML pages on the Internet than any other search service, our engineers turned their attention to information that was not as readily accessible. Sometimes it was just a matter of integrating new databases, such as adding a phone number and address lookup and a business directory.
Once Google had indexed more of the HTML pages on the Internet than any other search service, our engineers turned their attention to information that was not as readily accessible. Sometimes it was just a matter of integrating new databases, such as adding a phone number and address lookup and a business directory.
Other efforts required a bit more creativity, like adding the ability to search billions of images and a way to view pages that were originally created as PDF files. The popularity of PDF results led us to expand the list of file types searched to include documents produced in a dozen formats such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
For wireless users, Google developed a unique way to translate HTML formatted files into a format that could be read by mobile devices. The list is not likely to end there as Google's researchers continue looking into ways to bring all the world's information to users looking for answers.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
Although Google’s headquarters is in California, our mission is to facilitate access to information for the entire world, so we have offices around the globe. To achieve this, we maintain dozens of Internet domains and serve more than half of our results to users living outside the United States. Google search results can be restricted to pages written in more than 35 languages according to a user's preference.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
Although Google’s headquarters is in California, our mission is to facilitate access to information for the entire world, so we have offices around the globe. To achieve this, we maintain dozens of Internet domains and serve more than half of our results to users living outside the United States. Google search results can be restricted to pages written in more than 35 languages according to a user's preference.
We also offer a translation feature to make content available to users regardless of their native tongue and for those who prefer not to search in English, Google's interface can be customised into more than 100 languages. To accelerate the addition of new languages, Google offers volunteers the opportunity to help in the translation through an automated tool available on the Google.com website. This process has greatly improved both the variety and quality of service we're able to offer users in the most far-flung corners of the globe.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
Google's founders have often stated that the company is not serious about anything but search. They built a company around the idea that work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. To achieve this, Google's culture is unlike any in corporate America, and it's not because of the lava lamps and large rubber balls everywhere, or the fact that the company's chef used to cook for the Grateful Dead. In the same way Google puts users first when it comes to our online service, Google Inc. puts employees first when it comes to daily life in our Googleplex headquarters.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
Google's founders have often stated that the company is not serious about anything but search. They built a company around the idea that work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. To achieve this, Google's culture is unlike any in corporate America, and it's not because of the lava lamps and large rubber balls everywhere, or the fact that the company's chef used to cook for the Grateful Dead. In the same way Google puts users first when it comes to our online service, Google Inc. puts employees first when it comes to daily life in our Googleplex headquarters.
There is an emphasis on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments that contribute to the company's overall success. Ideas are traded, tested and put into practice with an enthusiasm that can make you dizzy. Meetings that would take hours elsewhere are frequently little more than a conversation in the lunch queue and not many walls separate those who write the code from those who write the cheques. This highly communicative environment fosters a productivity and camaraderie fuelled by the realisation that millions of people rely on Google results. Give the proper tools to a group of people who like to make a difference, and they will.
10. Great just isn't good enough.
Always deliver more than expected. Google does not accept being the best as an endpoint, but a starting point. Through innovation and iteration, Google takes something that works well and improves upon it in unexpected ways. Search works well for correctly spelt words, but what about typos? One engineer saw a need and created a spell checker that seems to read a user's mind. It takes too long to search from a WAP phone? Our wireless group developed Google Number Search to reduce entries from three keystrokes per letter to one.
10. Great just isn't good enough.
Always deliver more than expected. Google does not accept being the best as an endpoint, but a starting point. Through innovation and iteration, Google takes something that works well and improves upon it in unexpected ways. Search works well for correctly spelt words, but what about typos? One engineer saw a need and created a spell checker that seems to read a user's mind. It takes too long to search from a WAP phone? Our wireless group developed Google Number Search to reduce entries from three keystrokes per letter to one.
With a user base in the millions, Google is able to identify areas of conflict quickly and smooth them out. Google’s distinguishing feature however, is anticipating needs not yet articulated by our global audience, then meeting them with products and services that set new standards. This constant dissatisfaction with the way things are is ultimately the driving force behind the world's best search engine.
* Full-disclosure update: When Google first wrote these "10 things" four years ago, they included the phrase "Google does not do horoscopes, financial advice or chat." Over time they've expanded the view of the range of services they can offer –- web search, for instance, isn't the only way for people to access or use information -– and products that then seemed unlikely are now key aspects of our portfolio.
* Full-disclosure update: When Google first wrote these "10 things" four years ago, they included the phrase "Google does not do horoscopes, financial advice or chat." Over time they've expanded the view of the range of services they can offer –- web search, for instance, isn't the only way for people to access or use information -– and products that then seemed unlikely are now key aspects of our portfolio.
This doesn't mean that they've changed their core mission; just that the farther they travel toward achieving it, the more those fuzzy objects on the horizon come into sharper focus (to be replaced, of course, by more fuzzy objects).
The full review can be viewed at:
Labels: Google, Search Clinic, search engine marketing, search engines
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, January 06, 2010
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Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Google's top 10 philosophy part 2
Search Clinic continues it's review of Google today.
4. Democracy on the web works.
Google works because it relies on the millions of individuals posting websites to determine which other sites offer content of value. Instead of relying on a group of editors or solely on the frequency with which certain terms appear, Google ranks every web page using a breakthrough technique called PageRank™. PageRank evaluates all of the sites linking to a web page and assigns them a value, based in part on the sites linking to them.
By analysing the full structure of the web, Google is able to determine which sites have been "voted" the best sources of information by those most interested in the information they offer. This technique actually improves as the web gets bigger, as each new site is another point of information and another vote to be counted.
5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.
The world is increasingly mobile and unwilling to be constrained to a fixed location. Whether it's through their PDAs, their wireless phones or even their cars, people want information to come to them. Google's innovations in this area include Google Number Search, which reduces the number of keypad strokes required to find data from a web-enabled mobile phone and an on-the-fly translation system that converts pages written in HTML to a format that can be read by phone browsers.
5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.
The world is increasingly mobile and unwilling to be constrained to a fixed location. Whether it's through their PDAs, their wireless phones or even their cars, people want information to come to them. Google's innovations in this area include Google Number Search, which reduces the number of keypad strokes required to find data from a web-enabled mobile phone and an on-the-fly translation system that converts pages written in HTML to a format that can be read by phone browsers.
This system opens up billions of pages for viewing from devices that would otherwise not be able to display them including Palm PDAs and Japanese i-mode, J-Sky and EZWeb devices. Wherever search is likely to help users obtain the information they seek, Google is pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
Google is a business. The revenue the company generates is derived from offering its search technology to companies and from the sale of advertising displayed on Google and on other sites across the web. However, you may have never seen an ad on Google. That's because Google does not allow ads to be displayed on our results pages unless they're relevant to the results page on which they're shown. So, only certain searches produce sponsored links above or to the right of the results. Google firmly believes that ads can provide useful information if, and only if, they are relevant to what you wish to find.
Google has also proven that advertising can be effective without being flashy. Google does not accept pop-up advertising, which interferes with your ability to see the content you've requested. We've found that text ads (AdWords) that are relevant to the person reading them draw much higher click-through rates than ads appearing randomly.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
Google is a business. The revenue the company generates is derived from offering its search technology to companies and from the sale of advertising displayed on Google and on other sites across the web. However, you may have never seen an ad on Google. That's because Google does not allow ads to be displayed on our results pages unless they're relevant to the results page on which they're shown. So, only certain searches produce sponsored links above or to the right of the results. Google firmly believes that ads can provide useful information if, and only if, they are relevant to what you wish to find.
Google has also proven that advertising can be effective without being flashy. Google does not accept pop-up advertising, which interferes with your ability to see the content you've requested. We've found that text ads (AdWords) that are relevant to the person reading them draw much higher click-through rates than ads appearing randomly.
Google's maximisation group works with advertisers to improve click-through rates over the life of a campaign, because high click-through rates are an indication that ads are relevant to a user's interests. Any advertiser, no matter how small or how large, can take advantage of this highly targeted medium, whether through our self-service advertising program that puts ads online within minutes or with the assistance of a Google advertising representative.
Advertising on Google is always clearly identified as a "Sponsored Link." It is a core value for Google that there is no compromise on the integrity of our results. We never manipulate rankings to put our partners higher in our search results. No one can buy better PageRank. Our users trust Google's objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust.
Thousands of advertisers use our Google AdWords program to promote their products; we believe AdWords is the largest program of its kind. In addition, thousands of web site managers take advantage of our Google AdSense program to deliver ads relevant to the content on their sites, improving their ability to generate revenue and enhancing the experience for their users.
Advertising on Google is always clearly identified as a "Sponsored Link." It is a core value for Google that there is no compromise on the integrity of our results. We never manipulate rankings to put our partners higher in our search results. No one can buy better PageRank. Our users trust Google's objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust.
Thousands of advertisers use our Google AdWords program to promote their products; we believe AdWords is the largest program of its kind. In addition, thousands of web site managers take advantage of our Google AdSense program to deliver ads relevant to the content on their sites, improving their ability to generate revenue and enhancing the experience for their users.
Labels: Adwords, Google, Pay Per Click Marketing, Search Clinic, search engine marketing, search engines
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, January 05, 2010
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Monday, January 4, 2010
Search Clinic wishes you a Happy, Healthy and Wealthy New Year
The Search Clinic starts 2010 by looking at the oganisation that will statistically send the most traffic to your website- Google.
Google has a 10 Things Philosophy. Over the next few day we will be covering them all. But the Top 3 below are key for any online business:
Never settle for the best
"The perfect search engine," says Google co-founder Larry Page, "would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want." Given the state of search technology today, that's a far-reaching vision requiring research, development and innovation to realise. Google is committed to blazing that trail.
Although acknowledged as the world's leading search technology company, Google's goal is to provide a much higher level of service to all those who seek information, whether they're at a desk in Boston, driving through Bonn or strolling in Bangkok.
To achieve this, Google has persistently pursued innovation and pushed the limits of existing technology to provide a fast, accurate and easy-to-use search service that can be accessed from anywhere. To fully understand Google, it's helpful to understand all the ways in which the company has helped to redefine how individuals, businesses and technologists view the Internet.
Ten things Google has found to be true
1. Focus on the user and everything else will follow.
From its inception, Google has focused on providing the best user experience possible. While many companies claim to put their customers first, few are able to resist the temptation to make small sacrifices to increase shareholder value. Google has steadfastly refused to make any change that does not benefit the users who come to the site:
* The interface is clear and simple.
* Pages load instantly.
* Placement in search results is never sold to anyone.
* Advertising on the site must offer relevant content and not be a distraction.
By always placing the interests of the user first, Google has built the most loyal audience on the web. And that growth has come not through TV ad campaigns, but through word of mouth from one satisfied user to another.
2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.
Google does search. With one of the world's largest research groups focused exclusively on solving search problems, we know what we do well and how we could do it better. Through continued iteration on difficult problems, we've been able to solve complex issues and provide continuous improvements to a service already considered the best on the web at making finding information a fast and seamless experience for millions of users.
Google's dedication to improving search has also allowed them to apply what they've learned to new products including Google Mail, Google Desktop and Google Maps. As they continue to build new products while making search better, their hope is to bring the power of search to previously unexplored areas and to help users access and use even more of the ever-expanding information in their lives.
3. Fast is better than slow.
Google believes in instant satisfaction. You want answers and you want them right now. Who are we to argue? Google may be the only company in the world whose stated goal is to have users leave its website as quickly as possible.
By fanatically fixating on shaving every excess bit and byte from our pages and increasing the efficiency of our serving environment, Google has broken its own speed records time and again. Others assumed large servers were the fastest way to handle massive amounts of data. Google found networked PCs to be faster. Where others accepted apparent speed limits imposed by search algorithms, Google wrote new algorithms that proved there were no limits. And Google continues to work on making it all go even faster.
Search Clinic points out that speed is a Google fixation. In 2009 they announced that it would effect a website's ranking in Pay Per Click casino and it may start to have an effect on free results ranking soon.
Labels: Google, Pay Per Click Marketing, Search Clinic, search engines, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, January 04, 2010
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Economist fans social network boost
The Economist plans to add 500,000 fans on Facebook and 750,000 followers on Twitter within six months, in another sign that traditional publishers are looking to social media as a substantial source of new web traffic and readers.
Readers of The Economist’s website will soon be able to log in and make comments using their Facebook identity, through Facebook Connect. The Economist.com will also take on features similar to social networks itself, allowing readers to create profile pages and earn a reputation through other users’ recommendations of their comments on the site.
Ben Edwards, publisher of Economist.com, hopes that Facebook will help his site acquire new readers and develop a “deeper level of engagement” with existing ones.
“We have a mission online of being the foremost destination for global discussion and debate, which is a social proposition,” Mr Edwards told the Financial Times. Making Economist.com more social is “the core of our strategy”, he said.
Broadcasters such as Sky and ITV, as well as publishers such as Guardian and the New York Times, are finding that mingling with the huge audiences gathering on Twitter and Facebook can be a source of traffic to rival that of search engines. The Economist, in which the Financial Times owns a 50 per cent stake, currently has more than 90,000 Twitter followers.
About 180,000 people have joined its official “fan page” on Facebook. A marketing budget of “tens of thousands of pounds” will be allocated to help boost those figures to meet its targets.
Both sites publish links to Economist.com, which has 4m monthly unique visitors, 3m of whom have registered their details with the site. Mr Edwards said the number of paying subscribers was “fairly small, but growing healthily”.
Profile pages for registered users will be expanded to include additional details such as where they have studied and worked.
But more people are expected to use their Facebook profile details than registering with Economist.com directly. Although advertisers might find that data valuable if shared with The Economist rather than Facebook, Mr Edwards is betting that using Facebook Connect will ultimately bring more comment makers to Economist.com.
Reader comments on The Economist’s Facebook page are shorter than the lengthy notes on its own site. So a new Economist.com reputation system will make sure the most popular comments more prominent, whether from Facebookers or long-time readers.
The Economist will also be “a lot more active” on Twitter, which will be a “full-time job”, Mr Edwards said. “That shows the importance we place on it as a source of traffic,” he said.
The changes are expected to be introduced within three to four months, alongside improvements to its subscriber-only features.
But The Economist’s discussion forums will remain free.
“People aren’t accustomed to being charged for conversation,” Mr Edwards said.
Readers of The Economist’s website will soon be able to log in and make comments using their Facebook identity, through Facebook Connect. The Economist.com will also take on features similar to social networks itself, allowing readers to create profile pages and earn a reputation through other users’ recommendations of their comments on the site.
Ben Edwards, publisher of Economist.com, hopes that Facebook will help his site acquire new readers and develop a “deeper level of engagement” with existing ones.
“We have a mission online of being the foremost destination for global discussion and debate, which is a social proposition,” Mr Edwards told the Financial Times. Making Economist.com more social is “the core of our strategy”, he said.
Broadcasters such as Sky and ITV, as well as publishers such as Guardian and the New York Times, are finding that mingling with the huge audiences gathering on Twitter and Facebook can be a source of traffic to rival that of search engines. The Economist, in which the Financial Times owns a 50 per cent stake, currently has more than 90,000 Twitter followers.
About 180,000 people have joined its official “fan page” on Facebook. A marketing budget of “tens of thousands of pounds” will be allocated to help boost those figures to meet its targets.
Both sites publish links to Economist.com, which has 4m monthly unique visitors, 3m of whom have registered their details with the site. Mr Edwards said the number of paying subscribers was “fairly small, but growing healthily”.
Profile pages for registered users will be expanded to include additional details such as where they have studied and worked.
But more people are expected to use their Facebook profile details than registering with Economist.com directly. Although advertisers might find that data valuable if shared with The Economist rather than Facebook, Mr Edwards is betting that using Facebook Connect will ultimately bring more comment makers to Economist.com.
Reader comments on The Economist’s Facebook page are shorter than the lengthy notes on its own site. So a new Economist.com reputation system will make sure the most popular comments more prominent, whether from Facebookers or long-time readers.
The Economist will also be “a lot more active” on Twitter, which will be a “full-time job”, Mr Edwards said. “That shows the importance we place on it as a source of traffic,” he said.
The changes are expected to be introduced within three to four months, alongside improvements to its subscriber-only features.
But The Economist’s discussion forums will remain free.
“People aren’t accustomed to being charged for conversation,” Mr Edwards said.
Dr Search notes that the future for 2010 is social networking. Are you making the most of your opprotunities?
Labels: Facebook, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, December 29, 2009
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Thursday, December 24, 2009
Google’s tips to avoid duplicate content issues
Google have shared some insights into duplicate content and how the search engine deals with it.
Google Search Quality Engineer, Greg Grothaus, presents the video as part of the Webmaster Outreach program.
Greg clears up one of the most common myths in SEM: the duplicate content penalty.
Here’s how Greg explains it:
I’ve seen evidence of people kind of get worried about this and thinking that [being omitted from the search results] is a penalty Google are applying on their site. What’s actually happening is that we’re looking at the query the users doing and we’re saying we want diversity in the results we’re going to show a user.
So if someone searched for “fluffy bunnies” we want to show, as maybe page one, the wikipedia article on fluffy bunnies but we don’t want to show as page 2 the print version of the same article with the exact same text. So what we’re doing for that specific query, we’re omitting the print article.
How can you combat this? Here are some suggestions:
* Don’t attempt to manipulate search engine rankings by deliberately duplicating content. If the content is changed in some way or additional value is added, then this is ok. But don’t just copy another website word for word, Google see this as a big no no
* Don’t dilute your linking by backlinking to several URL versions with the same content.
* Make sure your URLs are user friendly in the search results. URLs with useless parameters may offset branding efforts and decrease usability.
* Make it easy for Google to crawl you site. More time spent crawling the same content means less time to discover the important content. So make sure that you have a sitemap- and update it regularly.
* Pick one “canonical’ URL for each page and ensure you link consistently within your site.
Dr Search has posted Greg’s video here, so you can check it out yourself. It’s about 15 minutes in length, so you might need to grab yourself a drink and settle into a comfy chair.
Dr Search- the Principle Consultant at the Search Clinic wishes you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Labels: Dr Search, Google, online marketing, Search Clinic, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, December 24, 2009
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Nielson's top five advertising trends for 2010
Whilst the overall advertising environment in 2009 was fairly gloomy with revised strategies to address the credit crunch new trends developed.
The online marketing industry evolved, and the lessons learned will likely pay off in the year ahead. For example, advertisers started to look at the need for accountability metrics beyond the simple “click-through” and on to campaign-specific performance.
They also started to embrace burgeoning social networks and consumer generated media to bring consumers closer to a product or brand.
Top Advertising Trends for 2010
1. Optimizing media convergence is a top priority. A better understanding of media convergence will manifest in order to deliver a better return on investment. The ability to accurately measure activity and link online ads to offline purchasing behavior will be critical.
2. New models emerge to take advantage of smartphones. Accurate mobile measurement will be required to stay head of the snowballing growth of that media platform.
3. More cross media ad campaigns surface. The massive growth of online video games played and shared online leads the way for more successful interactive and cross-media advertising campaigns to appear. Growth in the adoption of this innovative advertising across screens and activities will increase.
4. Commercialization of social networking hubs increase. Social media will provide a new sales channel for establishing product awareness and commercializing brands to better support traditional advertising or text-based ads.
5. More interesting and interactive online ads appear. Increased use of more creative advertising and content models online such as video, attention-seeking page takeover ads and mechanisms for greater interactivity will drive the next era of Web development.
Top Advertising Trends for 2010
1. Optimizing media convergence is a top priority. A better understanding of media convergence will manifest in order to deliver a better return on investment. The ability to accurately measure activity and link online ads to offline purchasing behavior will be critical.
2. New models emerge to take advantage of smartphones. Accurate mobile measurement will be required to stay head of the snowballing growth of that media platform.
3. More cross media ad campaigns surface. The massive growth of online video games played and shared online leads the way for more successful interactive and cross-media advertising campaigns to appear. Growth in the adoption of this innovative advertising across screens and activities will increase.
4. Commercialization of social networking hubs increase. Social media will provide a new sales channel for establishing product awareness and commercializing brands to better support traditional advertising or text-based ads.
5. More interesting and interactive online ads appear. Increased use of more creative advertising and content models online such as video, attention-seeking page takeover ads and mechanisms for greater interactivity will drive the next era of Web development.
From:
Labels: mobile marketing, online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Engine Optimisation, social web marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Google pays no tax on £1.6bn sales in Britain
Google was accused of "ducking its social responsibility" whose informal corporate motto is "don’t be evil", as it emerged that it did not pay any tax on its £1.6 billion advertising revenues in Britain last year.
The firm, which has a substantial presence in London, diverted all its advertising earnings from customers in Britain to its Irish subsidiary.
The arrangement allowed Google legally to avoid paying more than £450m in corporation tax to HM Revenue & Customs in 2008.
The disclosure prompted politicians to criticise Google, widely lauded as a pioneer of the internet age, for “ducking its social responsibility” and for “tax avoiding”.
Accounts filed with Companies House in the past week show Google’s 2008 UK corporation tax bill amounted to just £141,519 — and that was tax on the interest generated by its cash pile in UK bank deposits.
Vince Cable, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, urged the search firm to “pay its fair share” of tax.
“Avoidance like this is hard to stomach at the best of times,” said Cable. “But when the country is in recession and everyone is feeling the pain, it really sticks in the throat — it means higher taxes for the rest of us.
“Google’s reputation will be severely damaged if it continues to behave in this way. It is ducking its social responsibility.”
Google says its structure complies fully with UK tax rules and that the company makes a “substantial” contribution to tax receipts wherever it operates.
About 13% of Google’s global revenues now come from the UK, and 770 staff are based at its London offices.
Accountants said that if the firm’s £1.6 billion UK earnings were paid directly into Google UK Limited, the London operation, it would have been liable for UK corporation tax of between 28% and 30%.
This could have raised about £450m for the public finances— enough tax to fund three NHS hospitals, buy at least eight Chinook helicopters or pay the annual salaries of about 15,000 policemen.
Any British individual or company who places an advertisement with the search engine pays a fee to Google’s European headquarters in Ireland, where corporation tax is levied at between 10% and 25%.
The Dublin operation’s latest accounts show that only €7.5m (£6.7m) of Irish tax was paid in 2008, even though the bulk of Google’s €6.7 billion (£5.9 billion) European earnings flowed into Ireland.
Austin Mitchell, the Labour MP for Great Grimsby, who campaigns against tax avoidance, said: “Google isn’t just sucking money out of local newspapers and other people who rely on advertising for a living — it’s also draining money out of the public finances.
“The search engine is a marvellous service, but the company is run by tax avoiders. If they are going to make so much money here they need to give more back to society.”
As well as paying little tax, Google UK Limited’s latest accounts disclose that it made modest charitable donations of just £5,662 during the year.
The document also reveals that Google’s highest-paid UK director earned nearly £1.1m — an 80% rise on the previous year.
The average British based Google worker earned more than £90,000 last year, with the company paying National Insurance and other social security contributions of £10m.
From the Sunday Times article at
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6962880.ece
The firm, which has a substantial presence in London, diverted all its advertising earnings from customers in Britain to its Irish subsidiary.
The arrangement allowed Google legally to avoid paying more than £450m in corporation tax to HM Revenue & Customs in 2008.
The disclosure prompted politicians to criticise Google, widely lauded as a pioneer of the internet age, for “ducking its social responsibility” and for “tax avoiding”.
Accounts filed with Companies House in the past week show Google’s 2008 UK corporation tax bill amounted to just £141,519 — and that was tax on the interest generated by its cash pile in UK bank deposits.
Vince Cable, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, urged the search firm to “pay its fair share” of tax.
“Avoidance like this is hard to stomach at the best of times,” said Cable. “But when the country is in recession and everyone is feeling the pain, it really sticks in the throat — it means higher taxes for the rest of us.
“Google’s reputation will be severely damaged if it continues to behave in this way. It is ducking its social responsibility.”
Google says its structure complies fully with UK tax rules and that the company makes a “substantial” contribution to tax receipts wherever it operates.
About 13% of Google’s global revenues now come from the UK, and 770 staff are based at its London offices.
Accountants said that if the firm’s £1.6 billion UK earnings were paid directly into Google UK Limited, the London operation, it would have been liable for UK corporation tax of between 28% and 30%.
This could have raised about £450m for the public finances— enough tax to fund three NHS hospitals, buy at least eight Chinook helicopters or pay the annual salaries of about 15,000 policemen.
Any British individual or company who places an advertisement with the search engine pays a fee to Google’s European headquarters in Ireland, where corporation tax is levied at between 10% and 25%.
The Dublin operation’s latest accounts show that only €7.5m (£6.7m) of Irish tax was paid in 2008, even though the bulk of Google’s €6.7 billion (£5.9 billion) European earnings flowed into Ireland.
Austin Mitchell, the Labour MP for Great Grimsby, who campaigns against tax avoidance, said: “Google isn’t just sucking money out of local newspapers and other people who rely on advertising for a living — it’s also draining money out of the public finances.
“The search engine is a marvellous service, but the company is run by tax avoiders. If they are going to make so much money here they need to give more back to society.”
As well as paying little tax, Google UK Limited’s latest accounts disclose that it made modest charitable donations of just £5,662 during the year.
The document also reveals that Google’s highest-paid UK director earned nearly £1.1m — an 80% rise on the previous year.
The average British based Google worker earned more than £90,000 last year, with the company paying National Insurance and other social security contributions of £10m.
From the Sunday Times article at
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6962880.ece
Labels: Adwords, Google, Pay Per Click Marketing, Search Clinic, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, December 22, 2009
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Monday, December 21, 2009
Google fined over French copyright infringements
A Paris court has found Google guilty of copyright infringement in a ruling which could have ramifications for its plans to digitise the world's books.
The search giant must pay £266,000 in damages and interest to French publisher La Martiniere. Google was also ordered to pay £9,000 a day until it removes extracts of the books from its database.
It was one of many to take Google to court for digitising its books without explicit permission.
Google expressed disappointment at the ruling.
"French readers now face the threat of losing access to a significant body of knowledge and falling behind the rest of internet users," said a spokesman for the firm.
Google wants to scan millions of books to make them available online.
This court case will be seen as a victory for critics of the plan who fear Google is creating a monopoly over information.
Publisher Herve de La Martiniere launched his court case three years ago but Google continued to scan books during this period.
La Martiniere, the French Publishers' Association and authors' group SGDL who started the court battle initially demanded that Google be fined £13.2m.
The search giant must pay £266,000 in damages and interest to French publisher La Martiniere. Google was also ordered to pay £9,000 a day until it removes extracts of the books from its database.
It was one of many to take Google to court for digitising its books without explicit permission.
Google expressed disappointment at the ruling.
"French readers now face the threat of losing access to a significant body of knowledge and falling behind the rest of internet users," said a spokesman for the firm.
Google wants to scan millions of books to make them available online.
This court case will be seen as a victory for critics of the plan who fear Google is creating a monopoly over information.
Publisher Herve de La Martiniere launched his court case three years ago but Google continued to scan books during this period.
La Martiniere, the French Publishers' Association and authors' group SGDL who started the court battle initially demanded that Google be fined £13.2m.
The book publishers claimed that scanning books was an act of reproduction and, as such, was something that should be paid for.
Google's plans to establish a digital library have hit several road blocks. It agreed to a settlement with US authors and publishers but is renegotiating after the US Justice Department concluded that the deal violates anti trust law.
Labels: Google, online marketing, search engines, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, December 21, 2009
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Thursday, December 17, 2009
Quick tips to boost your holiday sales
With Christmas fast approaching, here are some quick tips which can help you to maximise your sales during this peak time of year.
1. Increase Your Campaign Budgets
Throughout December there will be a big spike in the number of people looking for gifts online. If you are promoting your business through a pay per click program like Google AdWords, make sure to increase your campaign budgets to take advantage of the extra search activity.
2. Don’t Stop on December 25th
Even though the big day has come and gone, keep your holiday campaigns running into the New Year. Boxing day can be the busiest day of the year for online retailers, with many people looking for retailers trying to clear excess stock.
1. Increase Your Campaign Budgets
Throughout December there will be a big spike in the number of people looking for gifts online. If you are promoting your business through a pay per click program like Google AdWords, make sure to increase your campaign budgets to take advantage of the extra search activity.
2. Don’t Stop on December 25th
Even though the big day has come and gone, keep your holiday campaigns running into the New Year. Boxing day can be the busiest day of the year for online retailers, with many people looking for retailers trying to clear excess stock.
But make sure that you are your staff keep checking your online order emails! We know of one business that kept their pay per click running over the holiday period- but no one checked until Jan 2nd. So they had much lost money and dissatisfied customers.
3. Clarify Your Shipping Dates
A large majority of your customers will want to receive their goods on or before the 24th December, so make your shipping policy clear. On your home and product pages, list the final order dates for guaranteed delivery before xmas.
4. Consider a Holiday ‘Sale’
Give yourself an edge over competitors by running a special offer or discount during the holiday period. Some examples may include:
* Free Shipping
* Shop wide discounts- like a £10 off your next sale voucher code
* Buy One Get One Free Offers
* Free Order Bonuses- like a T shirt
5. Prompt Customer Service
Frantic, last minute shoppers will be looking for quick answers to their questions. By speeding your response times you’re more likely to keep their business away from competitors.
Good Luck- Dr Search hopes that you’ve found these tips a useful addition to your holiday marketing!
3. Clarify Your Shipping Dates
A large majority of your customers will want to receive their goods on or before the 24th December, so make your shipping policy clear. On your home and product pages, list the final order dates for guaranteed delivery before xmas.
4. Consider a Holiday ‘Sale’
Give yourself an edge over competitors by running a special offer or discount during the holiday period. Some examples may include:
* Free Shipping
* Shop wide discounts- like a £10 off your next sale voucher code
* Buy One Get One Free Offers
* Free Order Bonuses- like a T shirt
5. Prompt Customer Service
Frantic, last minute shoppers will be looking for quick answers to their questions. By speeding your response times you’re more likely to keep their business away from competitors.
Good Luck- Dr Search hopes that you’ve found these tips a useful addition to your holiday marketing!
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Clinic
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, December 17, 2009
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Google and Facebook launch URL link shorteners
Google and Facebook have launched their own URL link shorteners, tools that transform a long internet address in to a much shorter string of characters.
Google's new URL shortener, goo.gl, will be available through Google's Toolbar and its Feedburner RSS feed, but is not yet available as a stand-alone service for "broader consumer use". Facebook's shortener, fb. me, is predominantly designed for use on mobile device, and it's unclear whether fb. me will be rolled out across the whole platform.
URL shorteners have grown in popularity over the last 18 months, with an increasing number of web users using services such as TinyURL and bit.ly to condense links so that they can be shared more easily on social networking sites such as Twitter, which imposes a limit on the number of characters that can be contained within a single message.
Google and Facebook's foray in to link shortening could be a disaster for rival service bit.ly, which has rapidly become the de facto URL-condensing tool. It is the URL shortener of choice for many third party Twitter clients, and bit.ly short links currently account for around 75 per cent of all shortened URLs circulated on the microblogging platform. Last month, bit.ly shortened more than two billion links, up from just 11.8 million the previous year.
Much of bit.ly's popularity stems from the metrics that can be gathered from every clicked link, enabling website owners to see where their traffic comes from. At present, neither Google nor Facebook has announced any plans to add analytics to their URL shortening services, but some industry experts believe Google could leverage its existing web trends and analytics tools and apply them to its goo.gl service if the tool is made generally available to businesses and consumers.
Within hours of Google's and Facebook's announcements, Betaworks Studios, which helped to develop
bit.ly, said that the company was launching a new service that would allow websites to create their own custom URLs built on the bit.ly platform.
Some industry experts have warned that the sheer volume of short links that could be generated by Facebook's and Google's URL shorteners could "overwhelm" the number of bit.ly links circulating on the internet.
URL shorteners have grown in popularity over the last 18 months, with an increasing number of web users using services such as TinyURL and bit.ly to condense links so that they can be shared more easily on social networking sites such as Twitter, which imposes a limit on the number of characters that can be contained within a single message.
Google and Facebook's foray in to link shortening could be a disaster for rival service bit.ly, which has rapidly become the de facto URL-condensing tool. It is the URL shortener of choice for many third party Twitter clients, and bit.ly short links currently account for around 75 per cent of all shortened URLs circulated on the microblogging platform. Last month, bit.ly shortened more than two billion links, up from just 11.8 million the previous year.
Much of bit.ly's popularity stems from the metrics that can be gathered from every clicked link, enabling website owners to see where their traffic comes from. At present, neither Google nor Facebook has announced any plans to add analytics to their URL shortening services, but some industry experts believe Google could leverage its existing web trends and analytics tools and apply them to its goo.gl service if the tool is made generally available to businesses and consumers.
Within hours of Google's and Facebook's announcements, Betaworks Studios, which helped to develop
bit.ly, said that the company was launching a new service that would allow websites to create their own custom URLs built on the bit.ly platform.
Some industry experts have warned that the sheer volume of short links that could be generated by Facebook's and Google's URL shorteners could "overwhelm" the number of bit.ly links circulating on the internet.
Labels: Facebook, Google, online marketing, online marketing uk, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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Tuesday, December 15, 2009
4 predictions for online marketing in 2010
Dr Search senses a cautious sense of hope with everyone I’ve spoken with that the prospects for next year are stronger for local search providers and our advertisers.
Looking to next year, I’d like to share some predictions on market trends that will impact those small businesses looking to harness local search in order to play a part of our national economic recovery. If local search providers and advertisers keep these trends in mind, I think they will ultimately come out ahead in the local search race.
Prediction 1: Mobile will drive local search growth
BIA/Kelsey predicts that mobile local search ad revenues will grow to $130 million by 2013, and that mobile local searches will increase to 35 percent of all searches by 2013. Amid this growth, we’re seeing significant innovation on the mobile front, from new Yellow Pages iPhone apps to mapping technologies that deliver relevant local information to users on the go.
In 2010, advertisers will be faced with a growing set of options, and many will have limited knowledge of how to break through. The providers that will do well will be the ones who can make sense of this quickly changing platform and deliver programs that offer quality sales leads to advertisers.
Prediction 2: Local search providers will vie for social media
The truth is that no one owns social local search yet, but all the major players have an eye on getting there. Here’s why: Neilsen reported that ad spending at top social media sites increased 119 percent over the last year, and the share of social media ad spending to total online spending doubled to 15 percent in 2009.
Advertisers know that significant trust exists within online social communities and that social networks have become a crucial way in which we relate with others. The question in 2010 will center on how we can authentically tap into those networks to serve local business information to consumers looking for it.
AT&T has said it will launch its answer to this question in 2010, and SuperPages has a Twitter search tool available right now. Praized Media launched Calgary.com this fall as a beta program and is hoping to expand it additional regions. I can only imagine where we’ll be a year from now.
Prediction 3: Local print advertising will continue to decline but won’t disappear
Dr Search has been predicting the death of print media for quite some time. I don’t believe that print media will disappear anytime soon, but certainly usage is changing. Media fragmentation is causing a gradual decline in the quantity of print Yellow Pages references, for example, although the quality of those references is still very high. Quite frankly, the perception of the usage decline in the printed Yellow Pages far exceeds the reality of what is actually happening.
For advertisers, this means taking a close look at advertising spend and evaluating their print investment. Those who are too quick to abandon it may see a reduction in qualified sales leads, while those who aren’t open to some of the newer platforms available might be missing a big opportunity.
Prediction 4: A hybrid marketing approach will win
My colleagues spent a good part of this year talking about the hybrid model that they’ve deployed in their sales teams. Yellow Pages sales representatives, for example, are now armed with portfolios of options ranging from owned products to partner products. And in this way, have essentially become advertising consultants to small businesses.
Advertisers should think about taking advantage of these kinds of information resources by devoting an hour or two to thinking through the options out there and devising a strategy that spans the appropriate media for the business.
Prediction 1: Mobile will drive local search growth
BIA/Kelsey predicts that mobile local search ad revenues will grow to $130 million by 2013, and that mobile local searches will increase to 35 percent of all searches by 2013. Amid this growth, we’re seeing significant innovation on the mobile front, from new Yellow Pages iPhone apps to mapping technologies that deliver relevant local information to users on the go.
In 2010, advertisers will be faced with a growing set of options, and many will have limited knowledge of how to break through. The providers that will do well will be the ones who can make sense of this quickly changing platform and deliver programs that offer quality sales leads to advertisers.
Prediction 2: Local search providers will vie for social media
The truth is that no one owns social local search yet, but all the major players have an eye on getting there. Here’s why: Neilsen reported that ad spending at top social media sites increased 119 percent over the last year, and the share of social media ad spending to total online spending doubled to 15 percent in 2009.
Advertisers know that significant trust exists within online social communities and that social networks have become a crucial way in which we relate with others. The question in 2010 will center on how we can authentically tap into those networks to serve local business information to consumers looking for it.
AT&T has said it will launch its answer to this question in 2010, and SuperPages has a Twitter search tool available right now. Praized Media launched Calgary.com this fall as a beta program and is hoping to expand it additional regions. I can only imagine where we’ll be a year from now.
Prediction 3: Local print advertising will continue to decline but won’t disappear
Dr Search has been predicting the death of print media for quite some time. I don’t believe that print media will disappear anytime soon, but certainly usage is changing. Media fragmentation is causing a gradual decline in the quantity of print Yellow Pages references, for example, although the quality of those references is still very high. Quite frankly, the perception of the usage decline in the printed Yellow Pages far exceeds the reality of what is actually happening.
For advertisers, this means taking a close look at advertising spend and evaluating their print investment. Those who are too quick to abandon it may see a reduction in qualified sales leads, while those who aren’t open to some of the newer platforms available might be missing a big opportunity.
Prediction 4: A hybrid marketing approach will win
My colleagues spent a good part of this year talking about the hybrid model that they’ve deployed in their sales teams. Yellow Pages sales representatives, for example, are now armed with portfolios of options ranging from owned products to partner products. And in this way, have essentially become advertising consultants to small businesses.
Advertisers should think about taking advantage of these kinds of information resources by devoting an hour or two to thinking through the options out there and devising a strategy that spans the appropriate media for the business.
It’s more important than ever to consider a multi channel approach because today’s consumers get information for a multitude of places before making a purchasing situation. And that fragmentation will only continue to grow as we head into 2010.
Labels: Dr Search, mobile marketing, Search Marketing, social media websites, social web marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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Monday, December 14, 2009
Now it's Google's turn to blow your personal data
Aftre Facebook did a major overhaul of its privacy settings to open your data to all members, there was an immediate outcry from some quarters as the site was a bit aggressive in setting users’ defaults to “everyone.”
In addition, Yahoo got called out for trying to suppress its surveillance menu for law enforcement. And Asa Dotzler of Firefox railed against Google and urged users to switch to Bing in response to comments from Google CEO Eric Schmidt that made the latter seem indifferent to consumer privacy.
So what exactly did Schmidt say about privacy?
He told CNBC Anchor Maria Bartiromo, on the cable network’s recent special “Inside the Mind of Google,” that people who have something to hide shouldn’t be doing things online that might potentially expose them if law enforcement seeks access to their search histories.
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place,” said Schmidt.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have decried that position, especially as others within Google, such as Google VP Marissa Mayer, seek to assure consumers that their privacy is “protected” at Google.
In fairness to Schmidt he was saying that Google (and others) are subject to US law (the “patriot act”) and that law enforcement and government authorities can, as a practical matter, get access to search records because they’re retained “for some time.”
That then — the period of data retention — becomes the practical privacy battleground.
In addition, Yahoo got called out for trying to suppress its surveillance menu for law enforcement. And Asa Dotzler of Firefox railed against Google and urged users to switch to Bing in response to comments from Google CEO Eric Schmidt that made the latter seem indifferent to consumer privacy.
So what exactly did Schmidt say about privacy?
He told CNBC Anchor Maria Bartiromo, on the cable network’s recent special “Inside the Mind of Google,” that people who have something to hide shouldn’t be doing things online that might potentially expose them if law enforcement seeks access to their search histories.
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place,” said Schmidt.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have decried that position, especially as others within Google, such as Google VP Marissa Mayer, seek to assure consumers that their privacy is “protected” at Google.
In fairness to Schmidt he was saying that Google (and others) are subject to US law (the “patriot act”) and that law enforcement and government authorities can, as a practical matter, get access to search records because they’re retained “for some time.”
That then — the period of data retention — becomes the practical privacy battleground.
Google’s new personalized approach to search results generally seeks to retain user data indefinitely, in cases where users don’t actively delete their histories. Danny explains how it works:
In Signed-Out Web History, Google knows that it has seen someone using a particular browser before. Behind the scenes, it has tracked all the searches that have been done by that browser. It also logs all the things people have clicked on from Google’s search results, when using that browser.
In Signed-Out Web History, Google knows that it has seen someone using a particular browser before. Behind the scenes, it has tracked all the searches that have been done by that browser. It also logs all the things people have clicked on from Google’s search results, when using that browser.
There’s no way to see this information, but it is used to customize the results that are shown. It only remembers things for 180 days. Information older than that is forgotten. Google doesn’t know your name. If you use a different browser, Google doesn’t know your past history. In fact, you can’t even see your past history.
In Signed-In Web History, Google knows that a particular Google user is using Google. Behind the scenes, it has kept a record of all the things that person has done when signed-in, regardless of what computer or browser they’ve used. If they’re using the Google Toolbar with the page tracking feature enabled, then it has also kept a record of all the pages they’ve viewed over time. This information can be viewed by the user at any time, and the user can selectively delete info. They can also delete everything, if they want. If they don’t, then Google forgets nothing.
For those not signed in data is retained for 180 days and is associated with a particular browser. For those with a Google account who are signed in, data and web search history are, as mentioned, retained indefinitely until actively deleted.
The Google Chrome browser has a private “incognito” mode where no web history is captured. (Microsoft’s IE8 offers comparable functionality, called inPrivate browsing.) However if you’re signed in to a Google account while in incognito mode Google will still capture your search history:
if you sign into your Google Account while in incognito mode, your subsequent web searches are recorded in your Google Web History. In this case, to prevent your searches from being stored in your Google Account, you’ll need to pause your Google Web History tracking.
All this is not unlike the Facebook default “everyone” settings. Google will capture your search history and behavior unless you take affirmative action to prevent or block it.
In Signed-In Web History, Google knows that a particular Google user is using Google. Behind the scenes, it has kept a record of all the things that person has done when signed-in, regardless of what computer or browser they’ve used. If they’re using the Google Toolbar with the page tracking feature enabled, then it has also kept a record of all the pages they’ve viewed over time. This information can be viewed by the user at any time, and the user can selectively delete info. They can also delete everything, if they want. If they don’t, then Google forgets nothing.
For those not signed in data is retained for 180 days and is associated with a particular browser. For those with a Google account who are signed in, data and web search history are, as mentioned, retained indefinitely until actively deleted.
The Google Chrome browser has a private “incognito” mode where no web history is captured. (Microsoft’s IE8 offers comparable functionality, called inPrivate browsing.) However if you’re signed in to a Google account while in incognito mode Google will still capture your search history:
if you sign into your Google Account while in incognito mode, your subsequent web searches are recorded in your Google Web History. In this case, to prevent your searches from being stored in your Google Account, you’ll need to pause your Google Web History tracking.
All this is not unlike the Facebook default “everyone” settings. Google will capture your search history and behavior unless you take affirmative action to prevent or block it.
You too can opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Opt Out ad and content network privacy policy and click on the OPT OUT button.
Save your opt-out preference permanently- With this browser plugin you can permanently opt out of the DoubleClick
Labels: bing, Facebook, Google, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, December 14, 2009
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Friday, December 11, 2009
Facebook destroys you personal privacy
Privacy groups are lambasting Facebook after the world’s largest social networking website made changes to its privacy settings this week.
The changes allow users to apply more specific privacy settings to the content they post on the site. But many of the default settings mean that, unless users follow a prompt to go in and change their settings, they end up sharing most of their information with everyone on the internet.
“Under the banner of simplification, Facebook has pushed users to downgrade their privacy,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a US advocacy group.
The changes allow users to apply more specific privacy settings to the content they post on the site. But many of the default settings mean that, unless users follow a prompt to go in and change their settings, they end up sharing most of their information with everyone on the internet.
“Under the banner of simplification, Facebook has pushed users to downgrade their privacy,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a US advocacy group.
Dr Search warns that Facbook has altered the default for ALL settings from closed to open which means that your date of birth, religious and political views as well as your home address and phone numbers are open to EVERYONE! If you have facebook account we strongly recommend that you urgently login and change your account settings NOW.
Facebook first announced the changes in July. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive, reiterated them in an open letter to users last week when he also announced the site had 350m users.
As Facebook has grown, privacy advocates have grown increasingly concerned that users are ceding control of their most intimate – and valuable – information.
“These new ‘privacy’ changes are clearly intended to push Facebook users to publicly share even more information,” said Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US digital rights group. “Even worse, the changes will actually reduce the amount of control that users have over some of their personal data.”
Facebook maintains that it is not trying to trick users into sharing more data. The latest settings offer more control of what information users share and with whom, it has said.
However, the company acknowledged that the introduction of the settings could lead users to make more of their information publicly available.
“As a result of providing more control, there will be more sharing,” said Elliot Schrage, vice-president of public policy for Facebook, on a conference call on Wednesday.
Along with other internet companies, Facebook has been working on the delicate balance between storing personal data and using that information to enhance services and gain a business edge. The issue of privacy has dogged Facebook since its inception in 2005.
Because of Facebook’s sizeable social footprint, Mr Rotenberg said it was unlikely users would abandon it for a newer social network. But he expects a push for better regulation.
“I think you’re going to see a political maturing of the Facebook community,” he said. “These are issues that require legislation and some regulation.”
Facebook first announced the changes in July. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive, reiterated them in an open letter to users last week when he also announced the site had 350m users.
As Facebook has grown, privacy advocates have grown increasingly concerned that users are ceding control of their most intimate – and valuable – information.
“These new ‘privacy’ changes are clearly intended to push Facebook users to publicly share even more information,” said Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US digital rights group. “Even worse, the changes will actually reduce the amount of control that users have over some of their personal data.”
Facebook maintains that it is not trying to trick users into sharing more data. The latest settings offer more control of what information users share and with whom, it has said.
However, the company acknowledged that the introduction of the settings could lead users to make more of their information publicly available.
“As a result of providing more control, there will be more sharing,” said Elliot Schrage, vice-president of public policy for Facebook, on a conference call on Wednesday.
Along with other internet companies, Facebook has been working on the delicate balance between storing personal data and using that information to enhance services and gain a business edge. The issue of privacy has dogged Facebook since its inception in 2005.
Because of Facebook’s sizeable social footprint, Mr Rotenberg said it was unlikely users would abandon it for a newer social network. But he expects a push for better regulation.
“I think you’re going to see a political maturing of the Facebook community,” he said. “These are issues that require legislation and some regulation.”
Labels: Dr Search, Facebook, Search Clinic, social media websites, social web marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, December 11, 2009
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tiger Woods sex scandal better for websites 'than Michael Jackson dying', says Yahoo CEO
The Tiger Woods sex scandal has been "better than Michael Jackson dying" for helping websites make money, the head of Yahoo! has said.
Carol Bartz told an investor conference in New York that major Internet businesses and niche publications alike are benefiting from stories about the world No 1.
The scandal is "better than Michael Jackson dying" for helping Yahoo make money, because it is easier to sell adverts against racy stories than tragic events, she said.
"It's kind of hard to put an ad up next to a funeral," she added.
In response to a question, Miss Bartz even said Tiger Woods will "absolutely" help Yahoo hit its targets for this quarter, a comment the a spokesman later claimed was meant as a joke.
Google and Yahoo, which account for more than 80 percent of all Internet searches in the US and an even higher number in Britain, said they've seen a significant spike in traffic from people looking up Woods and his alleged extramarital affairs.
Yahoo says searches for the golfer's name are up more than 3,900 percent over the last 30 days.
However traffic levels have not matched the peaks seen in June following Jackson's unexpected death or Barack Obama's inauguration in January, both companies said.
Revelations about Woods' private life began emerging last month after he crashed his car outside his home in a gated community in Florida.
Yahoo has been more successful in capitalising on the Woods story than Google, according to Hitwise.
Hitwise says Yahoo and Yahoo News captured more than 17 per cent of all the traffic to major sites that came from searches of Woods' name. That's ahead of Tigerwoods.com, CNN.com and Google news.
Carol Bartz told an investor conference in New York that major Internet businesses and niche publications alike are benefiting from stories about the world No 1.
The scandal is "better than Michael Jackson dying" for helping Yahoo make money, because it is easier to sell adverts against racy stories than tragic events, she said.
"It's kind of hard to put an ad up next to a funeral," she added.
In response to a question, Miss Bartz even said Tiger Woods will "absolutely" help Yahoo hit its targets for this quarter, a comment the a spokesman later claimed was meant as a joke.
Google and Yahoo, which account for more than 80 percent of all Internet searches in the US and an even higher number in Britain, said they've seen a significant spike in traffic from people looking up Woods and his alleged extramarital affairs.
Yahoo says searches for the golfer's name are up more than 3,900 percent over the last 30 days.
However traffic levels have not matched the peaks seen in June following Jackson's unexpected death or Barack Obama's inauguration in January, both companies said.
Revelations about Woods' private life began emerging last month after he crashed his car outside his home in a gated community in Florida.
Yahoo has been more successful in capitalising on the Woods story than Google, according to Hitwise.
Hitwise says Yahoo and Yahoo News captured more than 17 per cent of all the traffic to major sites that came from searches of Woods' name. That's ahead of Tigerwoods.com, CNN.com and Google news.
Dr Search isn't surprised- "It's the old adage- Sex Sells".
Labels: Dr Search, Google, online marketing, Search Clinic, search engine marketing, search engines, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, December 10, 2009
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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Speed matters- Britons lose temper after three minutes 38 seconds
It's not just Google- Britons last an average of eight minutes and 22 seconds before they lose their temper, according to new research.
It found that the Internet has increased people's service demands and is eroding the classic British trait of patience as more than half admitted they lose their temper quicker than ever before.
People have become so used to the speed and convenience of the internet that more than seven in 10 get angry if forced to wait longer than one minute for a web page to download.
It found that the Internet has increased people's service demands and is eroding the classic British trait of patience as more than half admitted they lose their temper quicker than ever before.
People have become so used to the speed and convenience of the internet that more than seven in 10 get angry if forced to wait longer than one minute for a web page to download.
As the internet continues to quicken up it's bound to place greater expectations on the offline world too.
"And with 37 per cent of people saying they have cancelled a service after being forced to wait it poses some real problems for companies.
Being kept on hold made Brits see red more than anything else, with the average person reaching their impatience threshold after five minutes and four seconds.
In today's fast food culture, restaurant rage kicks in after only eight minutes, 38 seconds, when the average diner will start to wonder whether the meal they have ordered will ever arrive.
People running late to meet a friend should not leave it any longer than 10 minutes, one second if they do not want to face their wrath.
And tradesmen arriving to a job more than 10 minutes, 43 seconds late should not expect a cup of tea from their impatient householder.
Finally, when receiving a text or voicemail, be warned that the clock is ticking as the average Briton expects a response within 13 minutes and 16 seconds.
The research found that younger people were much more impatient than their older counterparts. A third of 18 to 24-year-olds expect to wait up to 10 seconds for an internet page to load compared to only one in 10 of over 65s, most of whom were happy to wait up to a minute for a page to load.
Younger people are more impatient in the offline world too. Twice as many 55-64 year olds than 18-24 year olds were prepared to wait more than 30 minutes for a friend to show up for a meeting.
Frustrated youngsters are also more likely to get physical, with 19 per cent of 18-44 year olds having thrown something in anger after reaching the point of impatience, compared to just four in 10 of over 45s.
Top points of impatience:
"And with 37 per cent of people saying they have cancelled a service after being forced to wait it poses some real problems for companies.
Being kept on hold made Brits see red more than anything else, with the average person reaching their impatience threshold after five minutes and four seconds.
In today's fast food culture, restaurant rage kicks in after only eight minutes, 38 seconds, when the average diner will start to wonder whether the meal they have ordered will ever arrive.
People running late to meet a friend should not leave it any longer than 10 minutes, one second if they do not want to face their wrath.
And tradesmen arriving to a job more than 10 minutes, 43 seconds late should not expect a cup of tea from their impatient householder.
Finally, when receiving a text or voicemail, be warned that the clock is ticking as the average Briton expects a response within 13 minutes and 16 seconds.
The research found that younger people were much more impatient than their older counterparts. A third of 18 to 24-year-olds expect to wait up to 10 seconds for an internet page to load compared to only one in 10 of over 65s, most of whom were happy to wait up to a minute for a page to load.
Younger people are more impatient in the offline world too. Twice as many 55-64 year olds than 18-24 year olds were prepared to wait more than 30 minutes for a friend to show up for a meeting.
Frustrated youngsters are also more likely to get physical, with 19 per cent of 18-44 year olds having thrown something in anger after reaching the point of impatience, compared to just four in 10 of over 45s.
Top points of impatience:
- Waiting for an Internet page to load 3 mins 38 secs
- Waiting on hold on telephone 5 mins 4 secs
- Waiting for the kettle to boil 5 mins 6 secs
- Waiting for food in a restaurant 8 mins 38 secs
- Waiting for friends to show up 10 mins 1 secs
- Waiting for a tradesman to show 10 mins 43 secs
- Waiting for someone to reply to a vm/text 13 mins 16 secs
- Average 8 mins 22 seconds
Labels: Google, online marketing uk, search engine marketing, search engines
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, December 08, 2009
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Monday, December 7, 2009
Cyber Monday shoppers to spend £350m online today
Today is expected to be the busiest day of the year for UK retail websites, with bargain hunters expected to spend a total of at least £350m on Christmas gifts.
The first Monday in December – so called Cyber Monday, is the cue for a stampede as shoppers who see goods on the high street over the weekend use their office high speed broadband connections to place orders once they return to work.
This year’s forecasts from the IMRG, the trade body for online retailers, are exceeded by those of Kelkoo, the shopping comparison service, which predicts sales of £417m.
Total sales are expected to be £5bn for December, a 14 per cent increase on last year, according to IMRG.
“To reach that amount during a recession shows the huge resilience of the online sector,” said David Smith, IMRG director of operations. “People are turning to the internet to look for value.”
On the equivalent Monday last year, Amazon said it saw 1.4m items ordered in 24 hours. The website expects this to rise about 10 per cent this year.
The first Monday in December – so called Cyber Monday, is the cue for a stampede as shoppers who see goods on the high street over the weekend use their office high speed broadband connections to place orders once they return to work.
This year’s forecasts from the IMRG, the trade body for online retailers, are exceeded by those of Kelkoo, the shopping comparison service, which predicts sales of £417m.
Total sales are expected to be £5bn for December, a 14 per cent increase on last year, according to IMRG.
“To reach that amount during a recession shows the huge resilience of the online sector,” said David Smith, IMRG director of operations. “People are turning to the internet to look for value.”
On the equivalent Monday last year, Amazon said it saw 1.4m items ordered in 24 hours. The website expects this to rise about 10 per cent this year.
Shopping usually reaches its peak at lunchtime, between 1pm and 2pm.
Kelkoo found that about 70 per cent of people plan to shop online, while the IMRG’s research suggests that nearly three in four people who shop online will buy most of their gifts over the internet.
Christmas will be less frugal than in 2008, according to indications from Google. Searches for “Christmas gifts” have risen 22 per cent in the past year, while searches for “gold jewellery” are up 39 per cent and “diamond rings” 76 per cent. In contrast, searches for “coupons” were a theme last year.
According to Kelkoo, about 40 per cent of British shoppers plan to spend more on gifts than last year. The average household spends £665.
Kelkoo found that about 70 per cent of people plan to shop online, while the IMRG’s research suggests that nearly three in four people who shop online will buy most of their gifts over the internet.
Christmas will be less frugal than in 2008, according to indications from Google. Searches for “Christmas gifts” have risen 22 per cent in the past year, while searches for “gold jewellery” are up 39 per cent and “diamond rings” 76 per cent. In contrast, searches for “coupons” were a theme last year.
According to Kelkoo, about 40 per cent of British shoppers plan to spend more on gifts than last year. The average household spends £665.
Labels: Dr Search, Google, online marketing uk, Search Clinic, search engine marketing, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, December 07, 2009
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Friday, December 4, 2009
3 tips to ensure B2B content is SEO friendly
Increasing the external links to your website is one of the most important elements of a successful optimization strategy.
They can boost your rankings in the search results, drive traffic, and increase your presence across the Web. But securing external links can be a challenge. That’s why it’s important to explore every opportunity to acquire them.
Standout B2B websites are usually brimming with great content, including lead generating materials such as whitepapers, articles, and case studies.
Standout B2B websites are usually brimming with great content, including lead generating materials such as whitepapers, articles, and case studies.
Because this type of content generally includes interesting and useful facts or best practices, a target audience is likely to share the information via email, blogs, and forums. Given that, such content represents considerable opportunity to generate external links via proper online citation.
But despite the valuable time and resources spent on developing great content, it often doesn’t get the chance to fully live up to its potential to create external linking opportunities. Why?
But despite the valuable time and resources spent on developing great content, it often doesn’t get the chance to fully live up to its potential to create external linking opportunities. Why?
Because more often than not, little thought is put into making sure that the website gets cited when the content is shared online. In fact, many marketers simply assume that when someone cites their content, they also automatically link to the website. Unfortunately, that is not the case. As a result, many marketers are missing the opportunity to leverage their content to secure valuable external links.
For example, let’s say that a consumer research firm publishes a whitepaper about shopping trends by the day of the week. The document is emailed to existing clients, who then copy and paste key callouts in emails to their colleagues, quote the whitepaper in their blogs, comment on other blogs with snippets, and mention it at a meeting, prompting others to search for it.
Obviously, the content succeeded in engaging the target, and it was shared amongst many potential customers.
For example, let’s say that a consumer research firm publishes a whitepaper about shopping trends by the day of the week. The document is emailed to existing clients, who then copy and paste key callouts in emails to their colleagues, quote the whitepaper in their blogs, comment on other blogs with snippets, and mention it at a meeting, prompting others to search for it.
Obviously, the content succeeded in engaging the target, and it was shared amongst many potential customers.
However, there is nothing to confirm that the interest generated resulted in a single link back to the firm’s website. If the firm were using some type of proactive method to ensure citation, they may have increased their external links. Instead, the lack of attention to SEO-friendly citation translates into a huge missed opportunity to increase their link credibility for search.
To effectively leverage your content for external links, you need to ensure that your shared content is accompanied by a link – even when it’s just snippets. But keep in mind that generating external links through online citation is not the responsibility of your visitors.
To effectively leverage your content for external links, you need to ensure that your shared content is accompanied by a link – even when it’s just snippets. But keep in mind that generating external links through online citation is not the responsibility of your visitors.
After all, even if they do link back to you, they may not do so in an SEO-friendly way. Given that, automating the online citation process may yield the best results. Below are a few tools that will help ensure you receive proper online citation and net external links when visitors share, post, or copy and paste your content:
1. Social Bookmarking – An old favorite, social bookmarking widgets have evolved to encompass nearly every social media platform and network available – from Facebook and Twitter to more niche sites such as Slashdot and Sphinn. These widgets are commonly customizable to match the aesthetic of your website and the platforms you prefer, and are easily implemented with the code generated by the provider.
1. Social Bookmarking – An old favorite, social bookmarking widgets have evolved to encompass nearly every social media platform and network available – from Facebook and Twitter to more niche sites such as Slashdot and Sphinn. These widgets are commonly customizable to match the aesthetic of your website and the platforms you prefer, and are easily implemented with the code generated by the provider.
Many of the most popular social bookmarking widgets are free, and some come packaged with analytics to track click-throughs. My personal favorite is Social Twist’s Tell a Friend, whose tabbed format offers social bookmarking, blogging, social networking, email, and IM options.
2. Site-Hosted jQuery Script – Search and Share, a jQuery script for your website, takes automated citation to the next level. Recognizing that when visitors highlight your content they’re most likely interested in sharing it with others, Search and Share automatically provides sharing options when text on your site is highlighted. In addition, the script embeds the source page’s title and URL when the content is shared — even when a mere snippet is copied and pasted.
If your target audience is highly engaged in blogging and forums, the benefits of this script are undeniable. Instead of hoping that your site will receive a link when your content is quoted, you can feel confident that Search and Share will make it happen automatically. As a result, it will simultaneously increase the links to your site, and decrease your dependency on your visitors for proper online citation.
3. Providing Optimized HTML – For online marketers, it’s sometimes hard to remember that not everyone on the Web is an HTML whiz. Considering that, one of the simplest ways to make sure people are linking to you in the way that fits your optimization strategy is to actually provide them with the code.
For example, take a look at PR.com’s Link to Us page. PR.com has provided pre-formatted HTML code for people to use when linking to their site. By eliminating the work of coding a link, PR.com is increasing the chance that their target will follow through.
Providing an exact HTML link enables you to pursue any optimization strategy you choose, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the links on your search visibility. This strategy can be especially beneficial when securing a link from a business partner or vendor, as you may have more flexibility in determining the format of the link.
If you are going to invest in developing interesting and engaging content for your website, be sure to leverage it as a means to generate external links via proper online citation. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that your visitors are citing your content. With several tools that eliminate the hassle and increase the likelihood of linking back to a site, there’s no reason to miss this opportunity.
With thanks to Search Engine Land at:
http://searchengineland.com/3-tips-to-ensure-b2b-content-gets-seo-friendly-citations-30456
If you are going to invest in developing interesting and engaging content for your website, be sure to leverage it as a means to generate external links via proper online citation. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that your visitors are citing your content. With several tools that eliminate the hassle and increase the likelihood of linking back to a site, there’s no reason to miss this opportunity.
With thanks to Search Engine Land at:
http://searchengineland.com/3-tips-to-ensure-b2b-content-gets-seo-friendly-citations-30456
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Services
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, December 04, 2009
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Thursday, December 3, 2009
Top Yahoo! searches in 2009
Yahoo! Year in Review for 2009 has arrived!
Perhaps bigger and better than ever, this year’s Yahoo! roundup includes in-depth pictorials and a slew of popular topics to sort through, as well as some bonus features – such as the decade in sports, Yahoo Answers highlights, and a Twitter contest where you can share your top moments of 2009 for a chance to win one of the most popular products of the year, the iPod Touch.
Don’t have the time to scan them all? Here are the highlights of the most popular searches on Yahoo! in 2009:
Top 10 Overall Searches
1. Michael Jackson
2. Twilight
3. WWE
4. Megan Fox
5. Britney Spears
6. Naruto
7. American Idol
8. Kim Kardashian
9. NASCAR
10. Runescape
Top 10 Celebrity Farewell Searches
1. Michael Jackson
2. Farrah Fawcett
3. Patrick Swayze
4. Natasha Richardson
5. Jett Travolta
6. Billy Mays
7. David Caradine
8. Steve McNair
9. Jade Goody
10. Ted Kennedy
Top 10 Sudden Fame Searches
1. Jon & Kate Gosselin
2. Erin Andrews
3. Susan Boyle
4. Kris Allen & Adam Lambert
5. Nadya Suleman (aka Octomom)
6. Carrie Prejean
7. Mark Sanford
8. Portuguese Water Dog
9. Falcon Heene (aka “Balloon Boy”)
10. Sonia Sotomayor
Top Finance Searches
1. Coupons
2. Unemployment
3. Stimulus Plan
4. Cash For Clunkers
5. Student Loans
6. IRS Refund
7. Foreclosures
8. Government Jobs
9. Bernard Madoff
10. Health Care Bill
“Market Darlings” Related Searches
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Hulu
4. Bing
5. iPhone
6. LinkedIn
7. Dollar Stores
8. Palm Pre
9. Rosetta Stone
10. Kindle
Top Yahoo! Mobile Searches
1. Megan Fox
2. Mobile Games
3. Michael Jackson
4. Movies
5. Rihanna
6. Mail
7. Lady Gaga
8. NFL
9. Ringtones
10. iPhone
Top Obama Searches
1. Obama Inauguration
2. Obama Biography
3. Obama Speech
4. Obama Stimulus Plan
5. Obama Family
6. Obama Health Care Reform
7. Obama Approval Ratings
8. Obama Facebook
9. Obama Overseas
10. Obama Dramas
Among the other must read lists ae the Top Travel Destination Searches 2009 and the Top Viral Videos of 2009 which has a number of funny vids.
Don’t have the time to scan them all? Here are the highlights of the most popular searches on Yahoo! in 2009:
Top 10 Overall Searches
1. Michael Jackson
2. Twilight
3. WWE
4. Megan Fox
5. Britney Spears
6. Naruto
7. American Idol
8. Kim Kardashian
9. NASCAR
10. Runescape
Top 10 Celebrity Farewell Searches
1. Michael Jackson
2. Farrah Fawcett
3. Patrick Swayze
4. Natasha Richardson
5. Jett Travolta
6. Billy Mays
7. David Caradine
8. Steve McNair
9. Jade Goody
10. Ted Kennedy
Top 10 Sudden Fame Searches
1. Jon & Kate Gosselin
2. Erin Andrews
3. Susan Boyle
4. Kris Allen & Adam Lambert
5. Nadya Suleman (aka Octomom)
6. Carrie Prejean
7. Mark Sanford
8. Portuguese Water Dog
9. Falcon Heene (aka “Balloon Boy”)
10. Sonia Sotomayor
Top Finance Searches
1. Coupons
2. Unemployment
3. Stimulus Plan
4. Cash For Clunkers
5. Student Loans
6. IRS Refund
7. Foreclosures
8. Government Jobs
9. Bernard Madoff
10. Health Care Bill
“Market Darlings” Related Searches
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Hulu
4. Bing
5. iPhone
6. LinkedIn
7. Dollar Stores
8. Palm Pre
9. Rosetta Stone
10. Kindle
Top Yahoo! Mobile Searches
1. Megan Fox
2. Mobile Games
3. Michael Jackson
4. Movies
5. Rihanna
6. Mail
7. Lady Gaga
8. NFL
9. Ringtones
10. iPhone
Top Obama Searches
1. Obama Inauguration
2. Obama Biography
3. Obama Speech
4. Obama Stimulus Plan
5. Obama Family
6. Obama Health Care Reform
7. Obama Approval Ratings
8. Obama Facebook
9. Obama Overseas
10. Obama Dramas
Among the other must read lists ae the Top Travel Destination Searches 2009 and the Top Viral Videos of 2009 which has a number of funny vids.
Labels: Dr Search, search engines, Search Marketing, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, December 03, 2009
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Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Bing's top 2009 searches
It is Bing.com’s very first appearance since officially launching as the decision engine, halfway through the year in early June.
Coupled with an $80 million dollar advertising campaign to rebrand the new search engine (formerly Live Search) and attract new users, it may have actually worked – since Bing also appeared on the 2009 Yahoo Year in Review, with searchers asking, “What is Bing?”
In fairness, Bing did officially release their Most Popular Searches for all of 2009, including data from the first half of the year as Live Search. Decidedly, Michael Jackson would have made it to the top of the list, whether it was Bing or Live Search.
Twitter seems to have infiltrated Bing in the same way, clearly users needed help trying to decide, “To Tweet or Not to Tweet?” Or could it be that the Bing-Twitter integration was that big of a deal?
In fairness, Bing did officially release their Most Popular Searches for all of 2009, including data from the first half of the year as Live Search. Decidedly, Michael Jackson would have made it to the top of the list, whether it was Bing or Live Search.
Twitter seems to have infiltrated Bing in the same way, clearly users needed help trying to decide, “To Tweet or Not to Tweet?” Or could it be that the Bing-Twitter integration was that big of a deal?
Top Overall Trending Topics on Bing in 2009:
1. Michael Jackson
2. Twitter
3. Swine Flu
4. Stock Market
5. Farrah Fawcett
6. Patrick Swayze
7. Cash for Clunkers
8. Jon and Kate Gosselin
9. Billy Mays
10. Jaycee Dugard
Top 3 Celebrity Searches:
1. Perez Hilton
2. Robert Pattinson
3. Megan Fox
Bing plans to unveil a relevancy quiz on Facebook, so you can test your knowledge of the most popular searches in 2009. Stay tuned to the Bing blog to find out more.
For a real-time look at what’s popular on Bing, don’t forget about Visual Search, where you can view the Top Albums, Top iPhone Apps, Top Movies and more at any given time.
1. Michael Jackson
2. Twitter
3. Swine Flu
4. Stock Market
5. Farrah Fawcett
6. Patrick Swayze
7. Cash for Clunkers
8. Jon and Kate Gosselin
9. Billy Mays
10. Jaycee Dugard
Top 3 Celebrity Searches:
1. Perez Hilton
2. Robert Pattinson
3. Megan Fox
Bing plans to unveil a relevancy quiz on Facebook, so you can test your knowledge of the most popular searches in 2009. Stay tuned to the Bing blog to find out more.
For a real-time look at what’s popular on Bing, don’t forget about Visual Search, where you can view the Top Albums, Top iPhone Apps, Top Movies and more at any given time.
Labels: bing, Microsoft, search engine marketing, search engines, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, December 02, 2009
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Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Top questions at Ask search engine
In true Ask fashion, we’ve got the answers (well…not complete answers) to what the most popular questions were on Ask.com during the year.
According to Ask.com, visitors are three times more likely to type search queries in the form of a question. Holding steady at 50 million visits per month (October 2009, ComScore), question based searches continue to grow year over year on Ask.
Falling in line with the most popular searches on other engines, questions surrounding the economic crisis and financial stability were among the popular categories, but it was the celebrity rumors that created the most comic relief in the search stimulus package.
Searchers were feverishly fighting off symptoms of the Swine Flu, while trying to get answers on a number of health and fitness issues. Popular question categories unique to Ask.com include the most popular searches on Ask Kids, and likely from the Ask.com / Nascar partnership.
Ask.com’s Top Overall Questions of 2009:
1. How much should I weigh?
2. How do I get out of debt fast?
3. How do I get pregnant?
4. What is Twitter?
5. What is Miley Cyrus’ phone number?
6. What is the meaning of life?
7. When will the world end?
8. How long does marijuana stay in your system?
9. What are the symptoms of Swine Flu?
10. What time is it?
Again, Twitter questionably makes the cut. And isn’t 2012 the answer to #7? Does it strike anyone else as odd, that no one in the US was curious to ask if Michael Jackson was really dead? Read on…
Top Personal Finance Questions
1. What is a good credit score?
2. How do I file for bankruptcy?
3. How do I start my own business?
4. What is a short sale in real estate?
5. Who owns the Federal Reserve Bank?
6. How much is minimum wage?
7. How do savings bonds work?
8. What can I deduct on my taxes?
9. What is a trust fund?
10. What is a hedge fund?
Top Celebrity Rumors of 2009
1. Is Miley Cyrus pregnant?
2. Is Adam Lambert straight?
3. Is Lady Gaga a man?
4. Is Michelle Obama pregnant?
5. Is Robert Pattinson dating Kristen Stewart?
6. Did Chris Brown get Rihanna pregnant?
7. Are Jon and Kate getting a divorce?
8. Is Michael Phelps using marijuana?
9. Who is the father of Michael Jackson’s children?
10. Did David Letterman keep a secret bedroom is his studio?
Meanwhile, across the pond…an entirely different set of UK questions arose:
Ask Jeeves’ UK fastest rising searches of 2009
1. What is Twitter?
2. Have I got swine flu?
3. Is Lady Gaga a man?
4. Who is Aleksandr Orlov?
5. Is Michael Jackson dead?
6. Where is my nearest Primark?
7. Who is the father of Heather’s baby in EastEnders?
8. What is the Lisbon Treaty?
9. When will the recession end?
10. What is cervical cancer?
Needing a little bit of help to understand what brought on some of these questions? Ask UK provided some insight:
While Lady Gaga’s sexuality is at third on the list of rising questions, at number four is ‘ Who is Aleksandr (corr) Orlov?’ the animated Russian meerkat in TV adverts for an internet comparison website.
His catchphrase “Simples” has become a favourite among TV viewers and led to scores of queries from search engine users, including questions about where he comes from and the voice is behind him.
In fact he is voiced by Simon Greenall, who also starred as Geordie hotel worker Michael in ‘I’m Alan Partridge’.
Note that since this is the UK list, the 10th most asked question about cervical cancer, most likely can be linked to the cause of death for the reality star, Jade Goody, of the UK “Big Brother” edition, who made the “Farewell Searches” Top 10 list in Yahoo’s annual recap.
In support of the theory that at the close of the decade, our search habits are indeed changing at a much faster rate, Nadia Kelly, a spokesperson for Ask Jeeves, added:
“Last year we looked at our top questions on Ask Jeeves and found that the identity of the Stig from Top Gear was on everyone’s minds. This year, we have had a wide variety of unusual searches from Lady Gaga’s gender to TV meerkat to swine flu symptoms. It proves that more people than ever are turning to internet search engines for answers to not only everyday things, but weird and wacky subjects too.
The internet has become the virtual text book of choice for millions with its ability to give quick and accurate answers to even the most bizarre questions.”
Labels: Ask, search engine marketing, search engines
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, December 01, 2009
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Black Friday searches up 20% on last year
Google have released search figures that show queries for “Black Friday” rose by more than 20% compared to last year.
Furthermore, searches for “black Friday sales” and “black Friday ads” also showed impressive growth, rising 50% compared to 2008. Black Friday (the Friday after thanksgiving) typically marks the start of the holiday shopping season for consumers in the U.S.
The figures show that more consumers are taking advantage of the black Friday deals offered by various retailers on this day. The Google retail blog also shared some of the fastest rising search terms on the day, which included:
* “Walmart Black Friday”
* “Kohls Black Friday Ad”
* “Sears Black Friday Sales”
* “Target Black Friday Deals Online”
Hitwise also published their own stats about black Friday, which shows that big retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Apple saw a surge in traffic on the day.
The top visited Retail Website on Black Friday 2009 was Amazon receiving 13.55 % of U.S. visits among the top 500 Retail Web sites.
Walmart was the second most visited with 11.18 % of visits followed by Target.com with 5.65%, BestBuy.com with 4.62%. followed by Sears with 2.95%.
Among the top 20 sites visited on Black Friday 2009, The Apple Store saw the largest increase in visits compared to Thanksgiving day 2009 with a 110% increase, Staples saw a 47% increase YoY and Dell saw a 40% increase. Amazon had a 9% increase.
Labels: Google, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, November 30, 2009
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Friday, November 27, 2009
Search marketing- what's in the future?
If there’s one thing that both Google and Microsoft agree on, it’s that search marketing isn’t solved yet.
Google’s vice president of search product and user experience Marissa Mayer has said:
We’re all familiar with 80-20 problems, where the last 20% of the solution is 80% of the work. Search is a 90-10 problem. Today, we have a 90% solution: I could answer all of my unanswered Saturday questions, not ideally or easily, but I could get it done with today’s search tool. (If you’re curious, the answers are below.) However, that remaining 10% of the problem really represents 90% (in fact, more than 90%) of the work.
We’re all familiar with 80-20 problems, where the last 20% of the solution is 80% of the work. Search is a 90-10 problem. Today, we have a 90% solution: I could answer all of my unanswered Saturday questions, not ideally or easily, but I could get it done with today’s search tool. (If you’re curious, the answers are below.) However, that remaining 10% of the problem really represents 90% (in fact, more than 90%) of the work.
Coming up with elegant, fitting and relevant solutions to meet the challenges of mobility, modes, media, personalization, location, socialization, and language will take decades. Search is a science that will develop and advance over hundreds of years. Think of it like biology and physics in the 1500s or 1600s: it’s a new science where we make big and exciting breakthroughs all the time. However, it could be a hundred years or more before we have microscopes and an understanding of the proverbial molecules and atoms of search. Just like biology and physics several hundred years ago, the biggest advances are yet to come. That’s what makes the field of Internet search so exciting.
Well, Dr Search agrees with the philosophy, if not the time lines.
Well, Dr Search agrees with the philosophy, if not the time lines.
Information discovery and dissemination is a science that is already hundreds of years old. Google, in its present state, is a small but significant wrinkle in that time line. What is exciting is that it’s marking an important change in how we look at information.
What Google has done is introduced a “Just in Time” information economy. It’s a little presumptuous to say that we’re at the beginning and that internet search marks an entirely new science. Really, this still comes down to how we seek and use information. The internet and search has represented a monumental shift, yes, but it’s not a new ball game. And I certainly hope we don’t have to wait hundreds of years for significant advancements in the state of search.
Microsoft’s Director of Product Planning Stefan Weitz also said in an Ars Technica interview with that we’re early in the game of search:
“’We’re not at where we’d like to be,’ Weitz began, and then dove in to explain that people are generally happy with how their search engine is working, until the data shows that they are not.”
So, there seems to be consensus that there’s a lot to do to improve web search. The question is, what does that improvement look like? A blog post by author and industry pundit John Battelle caught my attention:
I describe my frustration with search as it relates to helping me make a complicated decision: How to possibly buy a classic car. From it:
So first, how would I like to decide about my quest to buy a classic car? Well, ideally, I’d have a search application that could automate and process the tedious back and forth required to truly understand what the market looks like. After all, if I’m looking for classic Camaro or Porsche convertibles from the mid to late 1960s, there are only so many of them for sale, and they can be categorized by any number of important variables—price, model, region, color, features, etc. And while a number of sites do a fair job with a portion of the market, I don’t trust any of them to give me a general overview of what’s really out there. That’s where an intelligent search agent can really help.
So here, Battelle hits on the idea of search assisting in complex decisions. And then, from our own Search 2010 series of interviews, usability expert Jakob Nielsen voiced a similar concern:
I think we can see a change maybe being a more of a usefulness relevance ranking. I think there is a tendency now for a lot of not very useful results to be dredged up that happen to be very popular, like Wikipedia and various blogs. They’re not going to be very useful or substantial to people who are trying to solve problems.
In the same series of interviews, I talked to Marissa Mayer about where search may go, and she envisioned a more interactive set of search results:
We will be able to have much more rich interaction with the search results pages. There might be layers of search results pages: take my results and show them on a map, take my results and show them to me on a timeline. It’s basically the ability to interact in a really fast way, and take the results you have and see them in a new light. So I think that that kind of interaction will be possible pretty easily and pretty likely. I think it will be, hopefully, a layout that’s a little bit less linear and text based, even than our search results today and ultimately uses what I call the ‘sea of whiteness’ more in the middle of the page, and lays out in a more information dense way all the information from videos to audio reels to text, and so on and so forth. So if you imagine the results page, instead of being long and linear, and having ten results on the page that you can scroll through to having ten very heterogeneous results, where we show each of those results in a form that really suits their medium, and in a more condensed format.
The common theme, it seems to me, is aspiring to move beyond relevancy as the metric by which a list of search results is ordered to providing us with information that we can do something with. For that quest, there seems to be two different approaches.
Microsoft’s Director of Product Planning Stefan Weitz also said in an Ars Technica interview with that we’re early in the game of search:
“’We’re not at where we’d like to be,’ Weitz began, and then dove in to explain that people are generally happy with how their search engine is working, until the data shows that they are not.”
So, there seems to be consensus that there’s a lot to do to improve web search. The question is, what does that improvement look like? A blog post by author and industry pundit John Battelle caught my attention:
I describe my frustration with search as it relates to helping me make a complicated decision: How to possibly buy a classic car. From it:
So first, how would I like to decide about my quest to buy a classic car? Well, ideally, I’d have a search application that could automate and process the tedious back and forth required to truly understand what the market looks like. After all, if I’m looking for classic Camaro or Porsche convertibles from the mid to late 1960s, there are only so many of them for sale, and they can be categorized by any number of important variables—price, model, region, color, features, etc. And while a number of sites do a fair job with a portion of the market, I don’t trust any of them to give me a general overview of what’s really out there. That’s where an intelligent search agent can really help.
So here, Battelle hits on the idea of search assisting in complex decisions. And then, from our own Search 2010 series of interviews, usability expert Jakob Nielsen voiced a similar concern:
I think we can see a change maybe being a more of a usefulness relevance ranking. I think there is a tendency now for a lot of not very useful results to be dredged up that happen to be very popular, like Wikipedia and various blogs. They’re not going to be very useful or substantial to people who are trying to solve problems.
In the same series of interviews, I talked to Marissa Mayer about where search may go, and she envisioned a more interactive set of search results:
We will be able to have much more rich interaction with the search results pages. There might be layers of search results pages: take my results and show them on a map, take my results and show them to me on a timeline. It’s basically the ability to interact in a really fast way, and take the results you have and see them in a new light. So I think that that kind of interaction will be possible pretty easily and pretty likely. I think it will be, hopefully, a layout that’s a little bit less linear and text based, even than our search results today and ultimately uses what I call the ‘sea of whiteness’ more in the middle of the page, and lays out in a more information dense way all the information from videos to audio reels to text, and so on and so forth. So if you imagine the results page, instead of being long and linear, and having ten results on the page that you can scroll through to having ten very heterogeneous results, where we show each of those results in a form that really suits their medium, and in a more condensed format.
The common theme, it seems to me, is aspiring to move beyond relevancy as the metric by which a list of search results is ordered to providing us with information that we can do something with. For that quest, there seems to be two different approaches.
Microsoft, with Bing, appears to be favoring Battelle’s “online valet” model—an all-knowing wizard that helps guide us through complex decisions. Indeed, the branding of Bing as a “decision engine” reiterates that aspiration. Bing’s strategy, still in it’s nascent stages, is to pick the categories where complex decisions and the need for more useful information abound: shopping, local, travel and health.
I believe Bing is on the right track, but they’re still are too bound to the typical search format. Even searches in these targeted categories don’t usually deliver a search page that offers substantially more useful results than Google.
I believe Bing is on the right track, but they’re still are too bound to the typical search format. Even searches in these targeted categories don’t usually deliver a search page that offers substantially more useful results than Google.
If the goal of Bing is to be a decision engine, it should rise to the challenge more boldly. For example, I’m thinking of buying a Prius, which, with all the trade-offs between a higher sticker price but potentially lower operating costs certainly qualifies as a complex decision. To echo John Battelle’s wish, I’d love a digital valet to go out and gather all the relevant information and then guide me through it. This is what Bing promises to do. Let’s see how it delivers.
Labels: bing, Google, Microsoft, Search Clinic, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, November 27, 2009
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Thursday, November 26, 2009
Firefox double celebrations- turns 5 and 25% Market Share
Firefox from Mozilla turned 5 this month, and celebrated by having achieved 25% of the global browser usage market share.
NetMarketShare.com from Net Applications tracks global and local usage market share for browsers, operating systems, search engines and mobile systems.
“What an exciting milestone for Mozilla, particularly as we are celebrating five years of Firefox this week,” said Mitchell Baker, Chair, Mozilla. “The momentum around Firefox adoption has been truly astounding.”
When Firefox entered the browser wars, we asserted it needed to achieve 10% usage market share to be considered a true competitor to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Mozilla crossed that threshold back in March of 2006 and they have grown their usage share fairly steadily since then.
Now 1 in 4 people globally are browsing the Internet with Firefox.
That’s impressive, especially when you consider the advantages the other browser providers have enjoyed over the years:
* Internet Explorer has been the default browser on Windows systems, and often the only browser supported by many company’s IT departments
* Safari has been the default browser on Macs and iPhones
* Opera has often been first to introduce new browser features, and has supported many mobile and gaming devices
* Chrome comes from Mozilla’s primary source of revenue, Google, and has performance advantages over other browsers
The competition has been heated, but Mozilla has focused on a formula of:
* Free (this may seem obvious now, but there had to be a difficult decision made between charging for the browser as Opera was doing early on, or come up with another revenue model)
* Open source
* Extensibility
* Excellent user experience
* Frequent updates and innovation
That formula has been successful so far, but the war is far from decided. Microsoft’s release of Windows 7 has seen a very impressive early adoption rate. There are 2 major decisions computer users will face with a major new operating system available.
First, do they upgrade to Windows 7, or is this the time to consider an alternative such as a Mac OS or Linux based system. New Mac users will most likely lead to new Safari users. Second, with a new operating system many people will have to decide on a default browser again. This gives IE a great opportunity to win back some of its lost market share. But, it also gives Chrome, Opera and other browsers an opportunity to become the alternative browser of choice over Firefox.
Another major force in the browser wars is the move to mobile. The iPhone has proven that people will browse from their mobile device if the browser and device can provide a similar user experience to a computer.
Mobile browsing is projected to grow substantially in the years to come, so this may be the next big battle ground for browser providers.
See current usage market share and trends at NetMarketShare.com.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, November 26, 2009
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
New Google search results layout preview
For Google, 2009 has been the year of UI testing. There have been more tests on Google’s Search Engine Results Page this year than any other that I can recall.
Now it appears the testing is paying off. Many of the changes which were tested this year look to be securing permanent positions and will be appearing in early 2010.
The overhaul of Google’s Search Engine Results Page is aimed at tackling the issue of “User Interface Jazz” that Marissa Mayer raised with Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land.
It seems that all the UI testing that Google has been conducting has been creating some discontent in the Google ranks, with Marissa describing it like “Jazz”. As she puts it:
I don’t like jazz, because you never know what’s going to happen next…I’ve been calling this problem ‘user interface jazz.’ This result looks this way, and that result looks that way [something much different], and it really does slow you down.
So Google will probably look to consolidate some of 2009’s testing with permanent changes to roll out in 2010. And Search Options appears to be one of the most noticeable changes. Courtesy of Search Engine Land, here’s some screenshots of the new interface being tested.
The Search Options area on the left hand side now has additional filters (or “modes” as Google call them), making it a one stop navigation point for Google’s results, including video, blogs, local etc.
Search Options will be permanently displayed, unlike the current incarnation, where users have to click to display the options.
If you want an in depth review of the new interface – I recommend reading over Danny’s post at Search Engine Land.
The Search Clinic would love to hear what you think about the new interface:
- do you think it improves usability?
- how do you think it will impact website owners?
- will you be doing anything to leverage the improved access to other modes e.g. video, local?
Labels: Dr Search, Google, Search Clinic, search engines
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Speed- another reminder from Google
Google have given webmasters a strong indication that the speed of your website may become an even bigger organic ranking factor in 2010!
Here’s what Google’s Matt Cutts has to say on the issue:
“A lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast, it should be a good experience and so it’s fair to say if you’re a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus, or if you have an awfully slow site, maybe users don’t want that as much.”
Google already considers page load times as part of the AdWords quality score, so it’s a logical step for this to be included in organic listings too.
While it’s unlikely to have a huge impact on rankings (there are over 200 other factors) it would be a smart decision to prepare for its introduction ahead of time and get your site loading as fast as possible. Here are a couple of tools which can help you get started:
- Google’s Page Speed Tool – This is a firefox plugin from Google that enables you to see which areas of your site need improvement.
- WebPageTest.org – Another speed tool which provides optimization recommendations and other interesting stats.
Labels: Google, online marketing, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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Monday, November 23, 2009
How you can create a UK Bing local listing
Dr Search has had some questions from our UK readers who pointed out that the Bing local listing center was only accepting US based businesses.
While UK listings were showing in search results, this was sourced from other data providers and it didn’t appear there was any way to get your information included.
Well, thanks to one of our loyal readers, it appears you can! Microsoft gets UK local business listings from a company called Market Location.
Here’s a screenshot from multimap.com (owned by Bing) on how to get your business listed:
All you have to do is simply visit http://www.marketlocation.com/changereq/ and add your details!
There’s been a bit of discussion on the issue over at the Bing community forums, and some readers have confirmed the inclusion of previously unlisted businesses by using the form above.
So if you’ve got a UK business, add your details with the form above and please leave a comment if/ when you get included!
The Search Clinic wishes you Good Luck!
Labels: bing, Dr Search, Search Clinic, search engine marketing, search engines, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, November 23, 2009
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Friday, November 20, 2009
Cyber Monday is coming- is your website ready?
Cyber Monday (the first Monday after US Thanksgiving), marks the start of the online holiday shopping season for most retailers.
With a flurry of online activity expected on this day, it’s important to ensure your website’s going to capture the attention of as many shoppers as possible.
In 2008, Cyber Monday spending hit a record high, with consumers spending a whopping $846 million online.
In 2008, Cyber Monday spending hit a record high, with consumers spending a whopping $846 million online.
The good news for retailers is that Cyber Monday is only the start - with strong online sales expected to continue right through until the New Year.
So the big question is: are you ready? The key to improving your sales during this period is to focus on marketing that can deliver instant results.
In the online world, this typically includes:
* Google AdWords / PPC Advertising
* Local Search Listings
* Featured Listings on smaller search engines
Google AdWords (PPC) Advertising
Google AdWords advertising would definitely be the number one way to target holiday shoppers. It offers pinpoint targeting and instant exposure enabling you to get on the first page of Google when customers are searching for your products and services.
Key Benefits:
* Campaigns can be live within hours.
* Ability to target customers via keyword and location.
* First page placement on Google.
Local Search Listings
If you’re targeting local customers, a local search listing across Google, Yahoo and Bing is another way to get on the first page of organic search results. It’s simple to setup and there’s no limit to the number of people who click on your listing.
Key Benefits:
* Once verified, listings are live almost immediately.
* Can be included on the first page of results.
* Free organic traffic.
Featured Listings
If your customers use a search engine besides the top 3, there’s no harm in being found there either. Top 10 featured listings can help boost the efforts of your PPC and Local campaigns.
Key Benefits:
* Listings are live within 48 hours.
* Traffic is free – no click fee’s.
* Keyword targeted traffic.
This year, Cyber Monday falls on the 30th November, so there’s only a few weeks now to get prepared. But don’t leave it to the last minute!
So the big question is: are you ready? The key to improving your sales during this period is to focus on marketing that can deliver instant results.
In the online world, this typically includes:
* Google AdWords / PPC Advertising
* Local Search Listings
* Featured Listings on smaller search engines
Google AdWords (PPC) Advertising
Google AdWords advertising would definitely be the number one way to target holiday shoppers. It offers pinpoint targeting and instant exposure enabling you to get on the first page of Google when customers are searching for your products and services.
Key Benefits:
* Campaigns can be live within hours.
* Ability to target customers via keyword and location.
* First page placement on Google.
Local Search Listings
If you’re targeting local customers, a local search listing across Google, Yahoo and Bing is another way to get on the first page of organic search results. It’s simple to setup and there’s no limit to the number of people who click on your listing.
Key Benefits:
* Once verified, listings are live almost immediately.
* Can be included on the first page of results.
* Free organic traffic.
Featured Listings
If your customers use a search engine besides the top 3, there’s no harm in being found there either. Top 10 featured listings can help boost the efforts of your PPC and Local campaigns.
Key Benefits:
* Listings are live within 48 hours.
* Traffic is free – no click fee’s.
* Keyword targeted traffic.
This year, Cyber Monday falls on the 30th November, so there’s only a few weeks now to get prepared. But don’t leave it to the last minute!
Labels: Adwords, bing, Dr Search, Google, online marketing, online marketing uk, Pay Per Click Marketing, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, November 20, 2009
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Thursday, November 19, 2009
Google’s major Caffeine update coming after US holidays
Google blogger Matt Cutts has announced that Google’s "Caffeine" update will be going live after the US holiday period.
Matt explains that this timing is good for webmasters who don’t want to deal with any unexpected updates during the busy holiday sales period.
"I know that webmasters can get anxious around this time of year, so I wanted to reassure site owners that the full Caffeine roll out will happen after the holidays. Caffeine will go live at one data center so that we can continue to collect data and improve the technology, but I don’t expect Caffeine to go live at additional data centers until after the holidays are over."
Google’s caffeine update is a major upgrade to their search technology which is expected to improve speed and accuracy of search results.
"I know that webmasters can get anxious around this time of year, so I wanted to reassure site owners that the full Caffeine roll out will happen after the holidays. Caffeine will go live at one data center so that we can continue to collect data and improve the technology, but I don’t expect Caffeine to go live at additional data centers until after the holidays are over."
Google’s caffeine update is a major upgrade to their search technology which is expected to improve speed and accuracy of search results.
Google has said they don’t expect this to be a dramatic change to existing results; rather it is “the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions.”
Users have been testing the caffeine-powered search results via the Google sandbox for the past few months, but this has now been pulled, with a message that Caffeine is ready for a larger audience.
We’ll be sure to update our blog as soon as this starts being pushed out across more data centers.
Users have been testing the caffeine-powered search results via the Google sandbox for the past few months, but this has now been pulled, with a message that Caffeine is ready for a larger audience.
We’ll be sure to update our blog as soon as this starts being pushed out across more data centers.
Labels: Adwords, Google, Pay Per Click Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, November 19, 2009
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Google adds gold stars to AdSence presentation
Google has added yellow stars on Google AdSense ads — these ads were named "featured ads".
Dr Search didn’t believe it. I thought maybe this was some type of AdSense hack that placed gold stars on the ads. I just received confirmation from a Google representative that these ads are, indeed, real.
Here is a picture of the ad:
Google told us: “We are currently running a limited test in which a small number of users are seeing ads that are marked based on signals related to quality and relevance. This experiment is part of our ongoing efforts to help users find what they’re looking for, and we’re closely monitoring feedback.”
This sounds like Google is showing a star near ads that are contextually more relevant than the others. I asked Google for confirmation on that point.
Clearly, many AdSense publishers will find these ads hypocritical, since Google disallows images placed near ads. But at the same time, I doubt publishers will mind Google placing these stars on the ads, since it will lead to higher clicks and more money for the publisher.
Labels: Adwords, Google, Pay Per Click Marketing, PPC
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
6 ways local URLs beat .com in international SEO
We’ll look at the top six reasons why local domains are for winners and dot coms for runners up.
Dr Search will also attempt to put on record why newbies to the promotion of international sites are seduced by the songs of the dot com siren and how to spot those who have been enchanted away on magical waves of sound.
So here are the six reasons why I believe local domains are the clear winners when trying to promote international sites.
1. Clear unequivocal geo-targeted signal
To own a country code domain or ccTLD (in this article called local domains), you actually need to go and buy them and register with a local authority. As such, the local domain has always represented the best controlled and strictest identifier of a specific geography. There are some exceptions of course, but these are mostly to do with certain domains, such as .tv (the tiny island state of Tuvalu) having found that their particular geography had a gold mine domain name it could use to generate revenue.
On several occasions I have been approached by engineers employed by search engine specifically who were working on geo-targeting of their results. In all cases they have given the local domain as the first and best signal they would look for in determining a local result.
2. Good site architecture
The argument is often put forward that it’s far too expensive to switch an existing dot com website with zillions of pages over to its relevant local domains in the various countries its owners wished to target. It can, of course, be expensive to switch the domain used and this needs to be done with great care.
1. Clear unequivocal geo-targeted signal
To own a country code domain or ccTLD (in this article called local domains), you actually need to go and buy them and register with a local authority. As such, the local domain has always represented the best controlled and strictest identifier of a specific geography. There are some exceptions of course, but these are mostly to do with certain domains, such as .tv (the tiny island state of Tuvalu) having found that their particular geography had a gold mine domain name it could use to generate revenue.
On several occasions I have been approached by engineers employed by search engine specifically who were working on geo-targeting of their results. In all cases they have given the local domain as the first and best signal they would look for in determining a local result.
2. Good site architecture
The argument is often put forward that it’s far too expensive to switch an existing dot com website with zillions of pages over to its relevant local domains in the various countries its owners wished to target. It can, of course, be expensive to switch the domain used and this needs to be done with great care.
However, when corporations calculate the cost of making the change, they tend to give less financial value to the ongoing cost of SEO and of compensating for not having the relevant local domain. This could mean additional local hosting costs or even substantial link building to overcome the inherent disadvantages of the dot com.
Many great SEOs will repeat to you over and over again how important it is to have good site architecture. I’m a firm believer that using local domains for your site is a very good place to start when structuring your site.
3. People generally buy locally
Purist SEOs may not see conversion factors as the most important in recommending which steps a client should take. However, I firmly believe users read URLs in the search engine results and that it has a direct impact on how many of them click on links. Say you’re looking for a “second hand car” and you live in Germany. If you know nothing else about a website, which is most likely to be the most compelling: “secondhandcar.com” or “secondhandcar.de?” To me, it is clearly the latter.
Even beyond the results page, the local domain plays in the mind of the user. “If this is a .de and I live in Munich, then they’re more likely to deliver” is a reasonable conclusion for most folks to draw.
4. Link attractiveness
Having a local domain also helps in your link building programs. Other sites in the same country are much more likely to link to you if you have a local domain. But it’s especially true that they’ll be more interested in receiving links from you if you’re local—after all, they need local links too. Many local directories will only accept local domain names in any case.
5. More powerful internal linking
Links between sites of the same dot com are less valuable, in my view, than links between truly international versions using local domains. So a site which splits its dot com into many countries has an opportunity to reap some benefits from the many different domains it now controls—subject to the normal caveats such as having quality content and offering a good experience to the user.
6. Resistance to the shifting sands of algorithms
I can’t prove this one to you, but after more than a decade of experience I’m convinced that local domain sites tend to be more stable in results than dot coms which move up and down when search engine algorithms change.
Enchantment from the dot com sirens
Why do so many talented SEOs first conclude that dot coms are just as acceptable as local domains when they first start working in the international field? The first issue is that many look at the situation in the UK as a test case for what happens internationally.
Many great SEOs will repeat to you over and over again how important it is to have good site architecture. I’m a firm believer that using local domains for your site is a very good place to start when structuring your site.
3. People generally buy locally
Purist SEOs may not see conversion factors as the most important in recommending which steps a client should take. However, I firmly believe users read URLs in the search engine results and that it has a direct impact on how many of them click on links. Say you’re looking for a “second hand car” and you live in Germany. If you know nothing else about a website, which is most likely to be the most compelling: “secondhandcar.com” or “secondhandcar.de?” To me, it is clearly the latter.
Even beyond the results page, the local domain plays in the mind of the user. “If this is a .de and I live in Munich, then they’re more likely to deliver” is a reasonable conclusion for most folks to draw.
4. Link attractiveness
Having a local domain also helps in your link building programs. Other sites in the same country are much more likely to link to you if you have a local domain. But it’s especially true that they’ll be more interested in receiving links from you if you’re local—after all, they need local links too. Many local directories will only accept local domain names in any case.
5. More powerful internal linking
Links between sites of the same dot com are less valuable, in my view, than links between truly international versions using local domains. So a site which splits its dot com into many countries has an opportunity to reap some benefits from the many different domains it now controls—subject to the normal caveats such as having quality content and offering a good experience to the user.
6. Resistance to the shifting sands of algorithms
I can’t prove this one to you, but after more than a decade of experience I’m convinced that local domain sites tend to be more stable in results than dot coms which move up and down when search engine algorithms change.
Enchantment from the dot com sirens
Why do so many talented SEOs first conclude that dot coms are just as acceptable as local domains when they first start working in the international field? The first issue is that many look at the situation in the UK as a test case for what happens internationally.
This is not a good idea as the UK is a very odd example indeed where US sites are often as acceptable to British folks as home-based UK ones. The balance between .co.uk and dot com in the UK is NOT typical of how it works in the wider world.
Second, the structure of a site’s geo-selector—the method by which countries and languages are chosen—plays a key role in sharing link values around the site. Dot coms have an advantage here,but only because using local domains shows up the poor structure of the geo-selector. With improvement, they will easily overtake the dot com.
The third reason is that SEOs just love research and data. So they head into the search engines and check some keywords and then assess how many dot coms or local domains show-up. I have seen this so many times.
Second, the structure of a site’s geo-selector—the method by which countries and languages are chosen—plays a key role in sharing link values around the site. Dot coms have an advantage here,but only because using local domains shows up the poor structure of the geo-selector. With improvement, they will easily overtake the dot com.
The third reason is that SEOs just love research and data. So they head into the search engines and check some keywords and then assess how many dot coms or local domains show-up. I have seen this so many times.
The problem with this approach is that you would have to check a huge number of keywords to get a sensible result, you’d have to check the correct language keywords and you’d have to work out how competitive the sector is. If it’s relatively uncompetitive—more dot coms will show up. And if you use the wrong keywords… well, that’s a story for another column.
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, online marketing uk, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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Monday, November 16, 2009
Loca Social Search- a powerful marketing channel for small businesses
The combination of social networking and local search will result in a marketing opportunity which diversifies the mix of sales tools and empowers circles of families, friends, co-workers and organizations to share experiences and opinions in the local search space.
For a number of years, consumers have had a collective, powerful online voice through ratings and reviews. That voice continues to grow and has never been more powerful thanks to social media. Now, small businesses must learn how to harness “local-social search” or risk missing important growth opportunities.
Social networking has taken ratings and reviews to the next level by giving them a real influence on a local scale. Early local-social search products like Yelp raised the bar.
For a number of years, consumers have had a collective, powerful online voice through ratings and reviews. That voice continues to grow and has never been more powerful thanks to social media. Now, small businesses must learn how to harness “local-social search” or risk missing important growth opportunities.
Social networking has taken ratings and reviews to the next level by giving them a real influence on a local scale. Early local-social search products like Yelp raised the bar.
Now Twitter, Facebook and Google’s new local-social search efforts are fortifying the movement. Google recently launched Place Pages, which will aggregate reviews, photos, details and maps. Also, Google Maps recently integrated a user review feature, and Yahoo! Local modified its relevance engine to include review content in its index.
And so it goes. Mobile search has mutated into mobile-local-social search. Some local search destinations have recently launched user-generated content. YellowBot, for example, offers local search results based on networking and tagging. Unique users? One million since March.
While Yelp catered to foodies, and vice versa, should we expect to see such social network forums for florists, dog groomers, hair salons, doctors, etc.? I’d say, most certainly.
Social networking companies are providing local-social search platforms targeted to their unique audience demographics. For advertising and product marketing, local-social search enhances the ability to promote products and identify micro-target markets. And for business listings, local-social search provides a fundamental change in how listing information is collected.
User-generated content not only enhances the local-social search experience, it changes the game. And local search companies not embracing social search are ignoring an important avenue in how local information will be found today and tomorrow.
As local business information becomes less static through the partnership of social networking and local search, businesses must take advantage of the growing and ever-changing environment to help consumers and businesses connect in meaningful ways, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, or new platforms that have yet to be launched.
And so it goes. Mobile search has mutated into mobile-local-social search. Some local search destinations have recently launched user-generated content. YellowBot, for example, offers local search results based on networking and tagging. Unique users? One million since March.
While Yelp catered to foodies, and vice versa, should we expect to see such social network forums for florists, dog groomers, hair salons, doctors, etc.? I’d say, most certainly.
Social networking companies are providing local-social search platforms targeted to their unique audience demographics. For advertising and product marketing, local-social search enhances the ability to promote products and identify micro-target markets. And for business listings, local-social search provides a fundamental change in how listing information is collected.
User-generated content not only enhances the local-social search experience, it changes the game. And local search companies not embracing social search are ignoring an important avenue in how local information will be found today and tomorrow.
As local business information becomes less static through the partnership of social networking and local search, businesses must take advantage of the growing and ever-changing environment to help consumers and businesses connect in meaningful ways, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, or new platforms that have yet to be launched.
Labels: Dr Search, Facebook, Google, Search Clinic, search engine marketing, social media websites, Twitter, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, November 16, 2009
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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Switzerland suing Google over StreetView
Switzerland is taking Google to court over privacy concerns related to Google’s StreetView service.
"Numerous faces and vehicle number plates are not made sufficiently unrecognisable," said Swiss data protection commissioner Hanspeter Thuer.
Google said it was disappointed by the move. The firm says it is sure that Street View is legal in Switzerland and will "vigorously contest" the case.
Mr Thuer is especially concerned about people shown in sensitive locations such as hospitals, prisons or schools.
He also said that the height of the camera was problematic because it allowed a view over fences, hedges and walls, meaning that more could be seen from Street View than by a normal passer-by.
The commissioner said Google was asked in August to take various measures and had not complied with the requests.
It is likely to take months before any court case actually starts, but it could have a more immediate impact on the Swiss availability of the service.
Mr Thuer has asked a tribunal to order Google to remove all pictures of Switzerland and to cease taking any more until a ruling has been made.
Labels: Google, search engine marketing, search engines, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Saturday, November 14, 2009
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
Analyzing short and long keyword phrases
At the Search Clinic we see many different styles of PPC campaign design, from in-house teams, other agencies, and occasionally running across those from the search engines themselves.
Broadly speaking, campaigns can fit into one of two categories:
1. Those heavy on keywords or phrases made up of low number of fairly generic terms (for the purpose of this article, referred to as “shorter keywords”)
2. Those using a high number of terms ranging from generic to improbable (or “longer keywords”)
Our approach has always been to go for broke with the number of terms we use in our campaigns. So, we’re better aligned with option two and I know we are not alone.
I’m a huge fan of the new advanced segments feature in Google Analytics. This article offers another example of how advanced segments can help us chop up our data into more digestible morsels. My aim here is to show the workings of this type of segmenting and combine it with a custom report to analyze keyword data more efficiently.
I finish with a note on applying similar filters and the many possibilities that follow. The goal? To demonstrate that there is now an easy way to measure the reward for the effort of building those keyword lists.
I know some of you are thinking “why not just use “long tail” and “head” instead of saying “shorter” and “longer.” I can hear a lot of experienced search marketers and analysts replying “because they aren’t the same thing!” But then there are some slightly quieter murmurs coming from an unnamed corner of the SEM population. This sounds more like “erm, well, yeah, they are. Aren’t they?”
To clear things up, the “long tail” refers to the hundreds or thousands of keywords sending users to your site which, individually have few visits but collectively form a substantial chunk of your total traffic. The length or number of words in the keyword in this definition is irrelevant.
To make the second group feel better about this situation, I would like to point out that the long-tail often is full of keywords containing 3 or more words. To compound this, we also don’t really have a collective term for these long, ungainly but highly profitable terms. If we did it might prevent this misconception.
In the example above, the obvious starting point for defining a “longer keyword” is four words or more because from this point onward, the sum total of all the bars in the chart is less than the total of the previous (three words) bar alone. By that mark, keywords with three words or less become my “shorter keywords.” As a general rule, your “longer keywords” will be between 3+ and 5+ terms. Either go with that or your own analysis.
I doff my cap to the Google Analytics Twitter team for publishing this screenshot of a regular expression (regex) filter.
Labels: Search Clinic, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, November 12, 2009
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Bing gains search engine share in October
Bing and Microsoft can smile at the latest search engine market share report from Experian Hitwise.
Google is still light years ahead of Yahoo, Bing, and Ask … but Experian Hitwise shows Bing with a 7% increase during October, while both Google and Yahoo saw small drops in search share.
Experian Hitwise also updates some stats related to search queries:
“Longer search queries, averaging searches of five to more than eight words in length, increased 3 percent between October and September 2009. Searches of eight or more words increased 4 percent. The same time period showed that shorter search queries – those averaging one to four words long – decreased 1 percent from month to month.”
Labels: bing, Google, Microsoft, search engine marketing, search engines, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Yahoo’s closure of GeoCities.com could decrease your ranking
Yahoo! has officially shutdown all GeoCities.com websites.
If you perform a search for site:geocities.com in Google, Yahoo, or Bing - you’ll notice the major search engines have also removed all links to these pages.
The SEO impact of this shutdown is potentially huge. Let’s take a look at the numbers:
* There were 7,450,000 GeoCities URLs indexed in Google
* GeoCities.com had around 10 million visitors in September
* GeoCities URLs ranked in the top 20 of Google for around 680,000 different keywords
* There were 7,450,000 GeoCities URLs indexed in Google
* GeoCities.com had around 10 million visitors in September
* GeoCities URLs ranked in the top 20 of Google for around 680,000 different keywords
All of this content, images and links, are permanently gone as of the 26th October. If you end up following a link to an expired geocities page, you’ll be presented with this generic message from Yahoo:
When you think about the huge amount of content that’s simply been deleted, this puts a sizeable black hole in the overall link structure of the web. The bad news for website owners is that you may have lost a whole bunch of valuable incoming links from GeoCities.com pages.
If these links were from high PR pages, this might also have an impact on your website’s PageRank and even ranking in search results.
Did you just lose some incoming GeoCities links? Please let us know via the blog comments below.
Labels: search engine marketing, Search Marketing, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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Testimonials- a free link building opportunity
Testimonials are a very powerful form of advertising, but you can also use them as a link building tactic.
Most testimonials include a link back to the author (to show it’s a credible source) and this can be a great way to get some valuable incoming links.
Testimonial link building really is a win win scenario for both sites and usually has a much higher approval rate than your standard link request emails. The contact gets another testimonial to place on their site, while you get a new incoming link.
Another good feature of testimonial based links is that they can be often found on core product pages or even the homepage. This means they’re going to have a strong positive influence in your overall link popularity.
Getting started is as simple as writing an email to a few of your suppliers. Explain to them how happy you are with the service and offer to write a few lines they can place on their site.
If they accept, write something specific and ask if it would be ok for them to provide a link to your site. You can make it simple for them by showing an example of how you would like the link to be created:
Hello Supplier name,
“This is an example comment praising the suppliers business.”
Your Name, Director of Company name – a leading provider of xx services.
Obviuolsy only offer to write a testimonial if you are genuinely happy with a supplier’s service!
Testimonial link building really is a win win scenario for both sites and usually has a much higher approval rate than your standard link request emails. The contact gets another testimonial to place on their site, while you get a new incoming link.
Another good feature of testimonial based links is that they can be often found on core product pages or even the homepage. This means they’re going to have a strong positive influence in your overall link popularity.
Getting started is as simple as writing an email to a few of your suppliers. Explain to them how happy you are with the service and offer to write a few lines they can place on their site.
If they accept, write something specific and ask if it would be ok for them to provide a link to your site. You can make it simple for them by showing an example of how you would like the link to be created:
Hello Supplier name,
“This is an example comment praising the suppliers business.”
Your Name, Director of Company name – a leading provider of xx services.
Obviuolsy only offer to write a testimonial if you are genuinely happy with a supplier’s service!
Equally, ask your clients and customers for testimonials for your own services. Not only are they usually very happy to say something positive, but nearly always they are really chuffed to be asked.
For example, I was just chatting with one of my clients who was snowed under with new extra work, so I asked him how he was getting his new business.
Unprompted he said: I'm now getting all of my new work from my website as it's being found at the top of the search engines above millions of my competitors.” Andy Turvey.
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, Search Clinic, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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Monday, November 9, 2009
Google Commerce search - powering large online retail websites
Google has entered the world of ecommerce. Last week, Google unveiled Commerce Search which promises to make ecommerce searching as easy as using Google.com.
The release is timed perfectly for the holiday season rush, which happens to be online retailing’s busiest time of the year.
Google Commerce Search is a new enterprise product which allows website owners to power online retailing directly via cloud based product database. According to the New Google Commerce Search area, it aims to:
Improve your shopping experience with fast, intuitive Google search technology.
* Enable visitors to find the right products faster
* Filter results by category, price, brand or other attributes
* Provide user-friendly spelling options and synonyms
* Increase website conversions and sales
* Boost or promote chosen products within search results
* Deploy search solution in days, and scale effortlessly
* Customize, track, and optimize performance
To use Google Commerce Search, users will submit their product data to the Google Merchant Center and Google Product Search. This can be done via direct upload, data feeds or using Google’s API.
User can then go to the Commerce Search administrative console to customize look and feel of the search experience, and also add special offers, promotions and other product/search options.
As with most Google enterprise offerings, there’s extensive reporting to ensure you can optimize the results from your online retailing efforts.
Now before you cancel the subscription to your existing e-commerce software or application, please note that the new Google Commerce Search starts at a cool USD$50,000 per year.
The release is timed perfectly for the holiday season rush, which happens to be online retailing’s busiest time of the year.
Google Commerce Search is a new enterprise product which allows website owners to power online retailing directly via cloud based product database. According to the New Google Commerce Search area, it aims to:
Improve your shopping experience with fast, intuitive Google search technology.
* Enable visitors to find the right products faster
* Filter results by category, price, brand or other attributes
* Provide user-friendly spelling options and synonyms
* Increase website conversions and sales
* Boost or promote chosen products within search results
* Deploy search solution in days, and scale effortlessly
* Customize, track, and optimize performance
To use Google Commerce Search, users will submit their product data to the Google Merchant Center and Google Product Search. This can be done via direct upload, data feeds or using Google’s API.
User can then go to the Commerce Search administrative console to customize look and feel of the search experience, and also add special offers, promotions and other product/search options.
As with most Google enterprise offerings, there’s extensive reporting to ensure you can optimize the results from your online retailing efforts.
Now before you cancel the subscription to your existing e-commerce software or application, please note that the new Google Commerce Search starts at a cool USD$50,000 per year.
Dr Search thinks that a more affordable model will be released in the future.
Labels: Google, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, November 09, 2009
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Friday, November 6, 2009
Why it pays to be optimised
The Free Dictionary definition for optimize is: op·ti·mize: To make as perfect or effective as possible.
Ergo the long standing definition of Search Engine Optimization (SEO): “Making your site the best it can be for users and search engines.”
SEO is both as simple and as difficult that
Making something optimal by its very nature is going to be hard work. Being the best you can be at your job, your schoolwork, your relationships, or anything else is not easy. Very few people, if any, will ever be optimized, or perfect. The same is true for websites. But that shouldn’t stop you from attempting to be optimized.
Rule #1: Optimization shouldn’t turn people off
Take a bartender who has a great sense of humor, but can be sarcastic at times. While thick-skinned patrons (like me) find her extremely witty and amusing, others don’t. These folks didn’t come to a bar to be teased, thus, making this bartender not truly optimized. Or take the bartender who can never quite pour a full beer and doesn’t notice that your glass is empty until 10 minutes later. He or she is far from being optimized.
As it applies to your website: Is your website stuffed full of keywords? Is it extremely slow-loading and/or all Flash? Is it optimized for search engines, but not people?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re turning people off and therefore, your website isn’t optimized.
Rule #2: You can’t fake optimization
As it applies to a bartender: Take the one who is super-duper nice to everyone. While you might think she is an optimal bartender, she’s not; her extreme niceness comes across as phony to many. While it does fool some, and may even be optimal for them, she’s not optimized because she’s only pleasing one segment of her clientele.
As it applies to your website: Are you creating doorway pages/domains? Are you writing about “the history of whatever”? Are you using automated software to scrape articles off others websites and then mixing up the words? Are you hiring someone to write hundreds or thousands of low quality articles?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you may be faking your optimization. While it may appeal to some search engines for a time, it’s certainly not optimal, nor will it provide you with long term results.
Rule #3: Optimization is hard work
As it applies to a bartender: The optimized bartender is not necessarily perfect, but she is authentic. Everything she does on the job is to be the best bartender she can be. She works her butt off to please each and every customer the way they want to be pleased, which is no easy feat.
Ergo the long standing definition of Search Engine Optimization (SEO): “Making your site the best it can be for users and search engines.”
SEO is both as simple and as difficult that
Making something optimal by its very nature is going to be hard work. Being the best you can be at your job, your schoolwork, your relationships, or anything else is not easy. Very few people, if any, will ever be optimized, or perfect. The same is true for websites. But that shouldn’t stop you from attempting to be optimized.
Rule #1: Optimization shouldn’t turn people off
Take a bartender who has a great sense of humor, but can be sarcastic at times. While thick-skinned patrons (like me) find her extremely witty and amusing, others don’t. These folks didn’t come to a bar to be teased, thus, making this bartender not truly optimized. Or take the bartender who can never quite pour a full beer and doesn’t notice that your glass is empty until 10 minutes later. He or she is far from being optimized.
As it applies to your website: Is your website stuffed full of keywords? Is it extremely slow-loading and/or all Flash? Is it optimized for search engines, but not people?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re turning people off and therefore, your website isn’t optimized.
Rule #2: You can’t fake optimization
As it applies to a bartender: Take the one who is super-duper nice to everyone. While you might think she is an optimal bartender, she’s not; her extreme niceness comes across as phony to many. While it does fool some, and may even be optimal for them, she’s not optimized because she’s only pleasing one segment of her clientele.
As it applies to your website: Are you creating doorway pages/domains? Are you writing about “the history of whatever”? Are you using automated software to scrape articles off others websites and then mixing up the words? Are you hiring someone to write hundreds or thousands of low quality articles?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you may be faking your optimization. While it may appeal to some search engines for a time, it’s certainly not optimal, nor will it provide you with long term results.
Rule #3: Optimization is hard work
As it applies to a bartender: The optimized bartender is not necessarily perfect, but she is authentic. Everything she does on the job is to be the best bartender she can be. She works her butt off to please each and every customer the way they want to be pleased, which is no easy feat.
Every patron is different and what’s optimal for them won’t necessarily be what’s optimal for another. If a patron likes to be flirted with, she can do that, but not so much that they think she wants to date them. On the other hand, she would never dream of flirting with a guy who was with his wife or girlfriend.
The optimal bartender treats both genders equally, and quickly learns their drink preferences, where they like to sit, little tidbits about their family, etc. She also discloses bits of personal information about herself and family, but not so much as to be always talking about herself. She’s humorous and can be self-deprecating, but in good quantities. And by the end of her shift, you know she’s exhausted (it’s often exhausting just watching her!). You can bet that this level of optimization is hard work.
As it applies to your website: Like patrons at a bar, every website is different. While there are basic strategies and tactics most websites need, there’s no SEO formula that will work for each and every one.
The optimal bartender treats both genders equally, and quickly learns their drink preferences, where they like to sit, little tidbits about their family, etc. She also discloses bits of personal information about herself and family, but not so much as to be always talking about herself. She’s humorous and can be self-deprecating, but in good quantities. And by the end of her shift, you know she’s exhausted (it’s often exhausting just watching her!). You can bet that this level of optimization is hard work.
As it applies to your website: Like patrons at a bar, every website is different. While there are basic strategies and tactics most websites need, there’s no SEO formula that will work for each and every one.
Are you spending time every day making your website better? Are you being authentic and putting yourself out there in your blog or newsletter? Are you thinking about each and every potential customer, client or user of your website and making sure your website has exactly what they need? And are you working your butt off to do all this?
If you answered yes to those questions, you are probably tired! But you’re also on your way to having a successful website and business online. Congratulations! But first, go take a nap–you deserve it, and will need it before the real work begins!
If you answered yes to those questions, you are probably tired! But you’re also on your way to having a successful website and business online. Congratulations! But first, go take a nap–you deserve it, and will need it before the real work begins!
Labels: Dr Search, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Services
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, November 06, 2009
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Thursday, November 5, 2009
Lucky 13 reasons why your business needs a blog
13 reasons your business needs a blog- A blog can increase your sales and profit. Here, we list 13 reasons why your business needs a blog.
1. Attract an audience
Every business needs traffic, whether this is foot traffic in a high street store or 'eyeballs' to an online store. A good blog not only generates traffic, but also helps retain that traffic, keeping people coming back and growing in loyalty.
2. Inform, interact and learn from your audience
Informed and educated visitors become confident, loyal customers. More people are turning to the internet to research before they buy. You can position your company as a go-to resource, thereby winning more business.
Plus, with blogging, information flows both ways. You can gain insights into your customers' minds, their needs, challenges and preferences. Comments, feedback forms, surveys and polls become instant, spontaneous market research tools. It’s like working with a free focus group that tells you which products you should create and why.
3. Retain your audience
Too many marketers focus on gaining initial visibility through advertising or attention-seeking stunts. If that tactic does not convert into instant sales, the budget and effort are wasted. With a blog you can hold prospects' interest for longer, winning customers round over time, and bringing them back to hear from you long after their first contact. No need for spammy, desperate-sounding sales messages.
4. Energize your audience
Even better than a growing, loyal audience is a growing, loyal audience that takes action. A blog can motivate your visitors to do things. All you need is copy that warms them up, a motivating story and a clear call to action.
5. Recruit help, contacts, employees
Why spend thousands on recruitment consultants and advertising when you have the best recruitment mechanism at your fingertips? Your blog audience is the most likely to respond and the most likely to be appropriate future employees and networking contacts.
6. Respond to stories and customers
Customer service and public relations have never been more important; a bad story can spread around the web’s social networks at speed. Your blog becomes a responsive outlet to explain your side of any story and douse the fires of negative activity.
3. Retain your audience
Too many marketers focus on gaining initial visibility through advertising or attention-seeking stunts. If that tactic does not convert into instant sales, the budget and effort are wasted. With a blog you can hold prospects' interest for longer, winning customers round over time, and bringing them back to hear from you long after their first contact. No need for spammy, desperate-sounding sales messages.
4. Energize your audience
Even better than a growing, loyal audience is a growing, loyal audience that takes action. A blog can motivate your visitors to do things. All you need is copy that warms them up, a motivating story and a clear call to action.
5. Recruit help, contacts, employees
Why spend thousands on recruitment consultants and advertising when you have the best recruitment mechanism at your fingertips? Your blog audience is the most likely to respond and the most likely to be appropriate future employees and networking contacts.
6. Respond to stories and customers
Customer service and public relations have never been more important; a bad story can spread around the web’s social networks at speed. Your blog becomes a responsive outlet to explain your side of any story and douse the fires of negative activity.
7. Links for direct traffic
You can’t beat valuable, authoritative content for attracting links from other websites, forums, discussion lists and social networks. These links bring a quantity of attention, as well as quality, targeted visitors that turn into good leads.
You can’t beat valuable, authoritative content for attracting links from other websites, forums, discussion lists and social networks. These links bring a quantity of attention, as well as quality, targeted visitors that turn into good leads.
8. Links for SEO
As well as the direct traffic benefit of leads, links are important in bringing in search visitors. The more linkable your website, the better your search results will be. Very often traditional websites are difficult to link to and not easy for search engines to index. This can be due to the website's structure, the software it's built with, or its overly complex URLs. Blogs are almost always superior in this respect.
9. Building trust and familiarity
Trust is vital in making sales and important for encouraging visitors to opt into your lead-generation process. By starting with compelling information and resources, and by encouraging repeat communication, you build familiarity. Over time, this creates a strong bond of trust, making sales so much easier.
10. Branding
This positive attention and these value-based, long-term experiences don’t just create trust. They help to create a stronger, better brand. This leads to word-of-mouth advertising, which is one of the best forms of promotion you can get.
As well as the direct traffic benefit of leads, links are important in bringing in search visitors. The more linkable your website, the better your search results will be. Very often traditional websites are difficult to link to and not easy for search engines to index. This can be due to the website's structure, the software it's built with, or its overly complex URLs. Blogs are almost always superior in this respect.
9. Building trust and familiarity
Trust is vital in making sales and important for encouraging visitors to opt into your lead-generation process. By starting with compelling information and resources, and by encouraging repeat communication, you build familiarity. Over time, this creates a strong bond of trust, making sales so much easier.
10. Branding
This positive attention and these value-based, long-term experiences don’t just create trust. They help to create a stronger, better brand. This leads to word-of-mouth advertising, which is one of the best forms of promotion you can get.
11. Grow a community
Through discussion, interaction and comments, you can help forge a sense of community that can be strengthened both online and off.
12. Offer better service
Your blog provides multiple routes for customers and prospects to get in touch. It can show your human, approachable side, allow better customer interaction, and improve customer service.
13. Initiate more sales
All of these benefits add up to more new and repeat sales from much happier and better informed customers.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, November 05, 2009
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Google Adwords boost your PPC CTR with Search Clinic's 7 steps
Google Adwords ROI- “After your advice I was able to cut my PPC spend by 93% whilst still getting the same amount of clicks”, says James Brown, MD of Click HQ- clickhq.co.uk.
That advice came from Dr Search the Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic and here he shares it with you.
That advice came from Dr Search the Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic and here he shares it with you.
Below are the 7 Steps to Adwords Optimization that Dr Search used to fine tune his client's Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign and drive the business forward during difficult times:
1. Review, refine and add to your keyword list
If a keyword has a Clickthrough Rate (CTR) of less than 1% after you’ve tried to optimize it, then delete it. That was easy.
Remember you are bidding on keywords that real people search with and their popularity changes over time. Also, new keywords will always be emerging.
Add the new keywords you find to relevant existing Ad Groups. If there is no relevant group, start a new one.
Within your Ad Groups, always look for keywords that can be used to start new Ad Groups with their own adverts and landing pages.
This allows the old and new Ad Groups to each have adverts and landing pages more relevant to their keywords. And more relevant ads and landing pages means higher Quality Score, lower Cost Per Click (CPC) and higher Conversion Rates.
For example, one Ad Group might contain both Marquee Hire Kent and Wedding Catering Kent. To work for both these keywords, the ad copy will need to be generic and will struggle to mention both target keywords. Likewise, the landing page won't be able to focus on either keyword.
But if each of those phrases is given its own Ad Group they can have their own ad copy and landing pages that focus on their specific keywords.
2. Use Keyword Matching options to lower costs
Are all your keywords using Broad Match? Make sure you are also using Phrase Match and Exact Match bid types.
Use the Adwords Keyword Estimator Tool to create a 'bid stack' which involves bidding on the same keyword with all three match types. Sounds crazy but it works. Here’s how and why …
Exact Match is the exact keyword you are targeting and so should deliver the best response. Of your three bids this one is for the highest amount because you know exactly what you’re bidding for and these are searchers you most want to see your ads.
Make your Broad Match searches just 25% of the Exact Match amount because such searches are, generally, the worst.
Eg, I might bid £0.50 for a Broad Match with keyword Marquee Hire. Meaning I will pay £0.50 for any phrase that contains those keywords, eg, Hire Marquee in Kent and also any keywords that Google decides are similar. This might include badly matching phrases like van hire. This is why our Broad Match bids should be low.
It seems complicated but it’s really simple and ensures that your ad first appears for the best keyword searches, ie, Exact Match. But your ad will only appear for less responsive keywords if it can do so for a much lower cost, ie, you'll pay less for Phrase and Broad Match.
You can really start to save money and increase Clickthrough Rate (CTR) if you add Negative Broad Match and Negative Exact Match keywords to your Phrase and Broad Match Ad Groups.
Rather than being keywords you want to bid on, Negative keywords are those that you do not want to bid on. For example, I might have an Ad Group that includes the following keywords that I *do* want to bid on with a Broad Match:
* marquee hire kent
* wedding hire kent
… and the following negative keywords that I do not want to bid on:
* cheap
* free
* van
Which means that even though they contain my Ad Groups ‘positive’ keywords, I will not be bidding on the following:
* cheap marquee hire kent
* cheap wedding hire kent
* free marquee hire kent
* free wedding hire kent
* van hire kent
3. Keep testing your ad copy & landing pages
It is always possible to improve your ad copy and increase Clickthrough Rate (CTR). AdWords doesn’t charge you to test new ads so Always Be Testing one to three new ads against your current best performing ad.
You can also test new landing pages against your current page. Send 50% of clicks to landing page A (your existing or ‘control’ page) and 50% to a new landing page B (your ‘test’ page). If B performs better it becomes your new control which you then try to beat with a new test page.
You can test changing everything on your landing page, from the color of your response buttons to your choice of font. But try starting with your ‘offer’ – your product's price, discount and package.
Google's Website Optimizer allows powerful A / B testing of your landing pages and is available for free.
4. 200 is the magic number at which response can be judged
200 is the magic number. 200 ad impressions and 200 clicks.
If a Keyword gets 200 impressions then 200 people whose searches have matched your keyword bid have seen your ad. And 200 impressions is enough to judge your ad’s performance.
If your ad gets less than a 1% Clickthrough Rate (CTR) then you must either delete the keyword, add more negative keywords or improve your ad text.
If a Keyword gets 200 Clicks then 200 people who have seen your ad have clicked on it and visited your landing page. And 200 visits to your landing page is enough to judge its conversion rate and subsequent profitability.
Your unique bid cost, sales process and profit margins will determine what Conversion Rate is required to make a profit. But if you are converting at less than 1% then it’s likely that either something needs changing to improve conversion or that you should delete the keyword.
5. Use location targeting to show your ads only in relevant parts of the country
Many AdWords accounts only have one Campaign, targeted to one location.
If your product or service is location specific – you can use AdWords Location Targeting features to only target people in the areas you can sell to. You can configure this from the Audience section on your Campaign’s Settings page.
But the location service is not perfect as it’s based on IP address, and some IPs don’t match user location. (For exapmle the Telegraph.co.uk site is currently sited in Holland) To deal with this, you can run a second Campaign with much broader location settings - eg a whole country - but only bidding on keywords that include ‘location words’.
Eg, if you’re selling pizzas in Chicago, only bid on keywords containing Chicago and other words for relevant locations in Chicago.
Smart location targeting like this should dramatically decrease your AdWords costs and increase relevancy.
6. Run Search Query Reports to find new keywords to bid on
Running a Search Query Report in Google Adwords will show the specific searches that your ads appeared for and you can use these to further refine your Ad Groups. Here’s how to do it …
Go to the ‘Keywords’ tab:
Click on the ‘See Search Terms’ box and then ‘All’. A pop-up window will appear like this:
Look at the Phrase and Broad Match keywords and consider adding them as specific keywords, perhaps with their own Ad Groups. Any inappropriate keywords can be added as negative keywords.
7. Schedule your Campaign to be on when customers respond
You can easily increase your Clickthrough Rate (CTR) by making sure your campaign is on only when you get the best results. Find out when that is by studying response across different days of the week and times of the day (an hourly report is available to help you).
Your Campaigns’ current scheduling is summarized in the ‘Ad scheduling’ column in the ‘Settings’ tab view for all your campaigns. See right-hand column on the grab below.
The default setting is ‘Show ads all days and hours’.
You can configure a specific Campaign’s timing by clicking on its name in the above report or on its own ‘Settings’ tab. Then click on ‘Edit’ to the right of ‘Ad scheduling’ beneath ‘Advanced settings’.
If you click the ‘Bid adjustment’ link you can further refine your Campaigns with different bid amounts for different times of the day.
Summary of how to optimize your Adwords Campaigns
* Never stop optimizing your Adwords Campaigns.
* Regularly look for new keywords to add to your Ad Groups.
* Split Ad Groups up to allow more targeted ad copy and landing pages.
* Use different match type bids to create a 'bid stack'.
* Always be testing your ad text and landing pages to find higher clickthrough and conversion rates.
* Judge keywords after 200 page impressions.
* Judge landing pages after 200 clickthroughs.
* Cull keywords that you can’t get better than 1% clickthrough and conversion rates for.
* Use location targeting to show your ads only in relevant parts of the country.
* Run Search Query Reports to find new keywords to bid on.
* Schedule your Campaign to be on when customers respond.
Labels: Adwords, Dr Search, Google, Pay Per Click Marketing, PPC
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, November 04, 2009
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Google updates PageRank and confuses online marketers
Just a month after removing PageRank data from webmaster tools, Google has decided to update their toolbar PageRank values, giving a conflicting message to online marketers.
Here’s the statement Google made when removing PageRank values from their webmaster center:
We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.
If this is Google’s stance, why bother updating their toolbar PageRank values?
Here’s the statement Google made when removing PageRank values from their webmaster center:
We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.
If this is Google’s stance, why bother updating their toolbar PageRank values?
Doing so is only going to create a stir in the online marketing community. As Dr Search mentioned in my earlier post, it would be much more effective to remove it from both webmaster tools and the Google toolbar at the same time.
It’s also important to remember that toolbar PageRank values can be a couple of month’s old, so you’re not likely to notice any changes in your ranking from the update.
It’s also important to remember that toolbar PageRank values can be a couple of month’s old, so you’re not likely to notice any changes in your ranking from the update.
Labels: Google, online marketing, online marketing uk
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, November 03, 2009
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Monday, November 2, 2009
Google indexing content from RSS newsfeeds- how you can get your content listed
Google has announced it is now using RSS and Atom Feeds to find and index new web pages on the internet.
Historically Google has relied on URL submission and links on other web pages as its primary way to find new online content. Using these submissions and links, Google’s spiders crawl and index the relevant content it uncovers.
RSS and Atom Feeds aren’t new, having come to prominence with the introduction of blogging. Most blogging platforms include some form of RSS and Atom feed service as a way for publishers to push their content online. For example, here's the Search Clinic's RSS newsfeed:
For those of you unfamiliar with RSS feeds, Wikipedia explains them as:
RSS (most commonly translated as “Really Simple Syndication” but sometimes “Rich Site Summary”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically.
Google has been using RSS and Atom feeds to index content into its Blog and News search indexes for some time, so it seems this latest move will simply be an extension of this practice, with the goal to feed it’s core web search database.
As pressure in the real time search arena heats up, the use of RSS and Atom feeds to find content was an obvious next step - and in real terms, probably long overdue.
Unlike its Blog and News search engines, where feeds are submitted for consideration, Google is suggesting it will use existing aggregators to find content.
We may use many potential sources to access updates from feeds including Reader, notification services, or direct crawls of feeds. Going forward, we might also explore mechanisms such as PubSubHubbub to identify updated items.
So how should you ensure your content is being found? If your site publishes an RSS feed for new content, be that web pages or blog posts, you should seek to have it aggregated as much as possible.
As a starter, get your new web content syndicated or published through the following services:
* Google Reader
* iGoogle
* Twitter
* Friendfeed
While I am sure there’ll be much debate as to the spam risks of this indexing via RSS, it’s a method that lies at the foundation of Google’s real time search plans. Accordingly expect to see this practice grow, with Google sure to find a way to ensure it maintains the integrity of its search database.
RSS (most commonly translated as “Really Simple Syndication” but sometimes “Rich Site Summary”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically.
Google has been using RSS and Atom feeds to index content into its Blog and News search indexes for some time, so it seems this latest move will simply be an extension of this practice, with the goal to feed it’s core web search database.
As pressure in the real time search arena heats up, the use of RSS and Atom feeds to find content was an obvious next step - and in real terms, probably long overdue.
Unlike its Blog and News search engines, where feeds are submitted for consideration, Google is suggesting it will use existing aggregators to find content.
We may use many potential sources to access updates from feeds including Reader, notification services, or direct crawls of feeds. Going forward, we might also explore mechanisms such as PubSubHubbub to identify updated items.
So how should you ensure your content is being found? If your site publishes an RSS feed for new content, be that web pages or blog posts, you should seek to have it aggregated as much as possible.
As a starter, get your new web content syndicated or published through the following services:
* Google Reader
* iGoogle
* Friendfeed
While I am sure there’ll be much debate as to the spam risks of this indexing via RSS, it’s a method that lies at the foundation of Google’s real time search plans. Accordingly expect to see this practice grow, with Google sure to find a way to ensure it maintains the integrity of its search database.
Labels: Google, online marketing, online marketing uk, search engine marketing, search engines, Search Marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, November 02, 2009
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Bing and Google keep gaining search market share in September
The September search share statistics are out and Yahoo! is the biggest loser yet again as Google and Bing increase their traffic.
According to statistics released by Compete, Yahoo’s search share continues to take a steady dive. It lost another 1% market share last month and has now lost a total of 5% since September 2008.
It’s a whole other story for the new kid in town, Bing, whose search share continues to rise and unlike many of the other major search engine also had an increase in the number of total queries.
Here is a rundown of the market share for each search engine.
The all mighty Google remained pretty stable from last month, but has grown over 4% from this time last year. I wonder if we will see this same growth this time next year or will Bing cause Google’s growth to slow in 2010?
The introduction of Bing to the market seems to have had little effect on AOL and Ask. Both search engines market share has remained quite constant over the last few months. Although with less than 4% market share combined, it’s hardly going to cause any sleepless nights for Bing.
So how did search do overall in September? Not too good actually! Searchers submitted 200 million less queries than in August. There’s no cause for concern yet though as this will likely bounce back with with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all just around the corner.
Labels: bing, Google, search engine marketing, search engines, Search Marketing, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, October 30, 2009
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
The science of rating your search engine optimisation (SEO)
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a science. Crafting rewrite rules and so forth is pretty geeky stuff. The science side of SEO is where Dr Search spends most of my time.
A dichotomy is that SEO is both subjective and objective. The point at which a title tag, URL, or headline is “good enough” and thus moving on to the next task is warranted — that is certainly subjective. Also consider what might comprise the most optimal URL structure? Does it end in / (slash) or a file extension like .html? Again, subjective.
In my view, SEO for the most part is cut-and-dry, it’s objective. That’s because it can all be boiled down to an algorithm, and in fact, it already has. The algorithm I speak of, of course, is Google’s (or Yahoo’s, or Bing’s).
A dichotomy is that SEO is both subjective and objective. The point at which a title tag, URL, or headline is “good enough” and thus moving on to the next task is warranted — that is certainly subjective. Also consider what might comprise the most optimal URL structure? Does it end in / (slash) or a file extension like .html? Again, subjective.
In my view, SEO for the most part is cut-and-dry, it’s objective. That’s because it can all be boiled down to an algorithm, and in fact, it already has. The algorithm I speak of, of course, is Google’s (or Yahoo’s, or Bing’s).
The SEO practitioner’s challenge is to reverse-engineer that algorithm to the best of their ability. But it shouldn’t stop there. Why not write your own algorithm — an approximation of the search engine’s own algorithm, one that teases out the various signals and accurately assesses the quality, relevance and importance of these signals without human intervention/assistance?
Running algorithmic analysis on a site-by-site and a page-by-page basis will then allow you to ascertain a site’s SEO health, and more importantly, the subsequent actions required in this never-ending process known as optimization. That is data-driven decision-making, my friends, and it will be a key driver in the next stage in the evolution of SEO.
To be effective, SEO scoring has to get granular. Knowing you scored an 89 out of 100, or a B+, overall with your SEO may be reassuring, but there weren’t any next steps that followed from that knowledge. The same is true even if you individually score each of the major SEO areas of focus.
Running algorithmic analysis on a site-by-site and a page-by-page basis will then allow you to ascertain a site’s SEO health, and more importantly, the subsequent actions required in this never-ending process known as optimization. That is data-driven decision-making, my friends, and it will be a key driver in the next stage in the evolution of SEO.
To be effective, SEO scoring has to get granular. Knowing you scored an 89 out of 100, or a B+, overall with your SEO may be reassuring, but there weren’t any next steps that followed from that knowledge. The same is true even if you individually score each of the major SEO areas of focus.
In my SEO Report Card column for Practical Ecommerce, I (arbitrarily) chose the following areas of focus: Home Page Content, Inbound Links and PageRank, Indexation, Internal, Hierarchical Linking Structure, HTML Templates and CSS, Secondary Page Content, Keyword Choices, Title Tags, and URLs. I don’t claim that these are the best “buckets”. Nonetheless, scoring such broad areas is still not actionable, really.
Score the title tags, internal anchor text, keyword prominence, H1s, meta descriptions and so forth separately, and on a page-by-page basis, and now you’re talking!
SEO effectiveness can be deconstructed into its many components. It can be benchmarked against competitors. Inferences can be made, priorities can be set, content can be massaged, link juice can be directed. Consequently, the SEO practitioner relies less on their gut and more on the data to drive their actions.
Score the title tags, internal anchor text, keyword prominence, H1s, meta descriptions and so forth separately, and on a page-by-page basis, and now you’re talking!
SEO effectiveness can be deconstructed into its many components. It can be benchmarked against competitors. Inferences can be made, priorities can be set, content can be massaged, link juice can be directed. Consequently, the SEO practitioner relies less on their gut and more on the data to drive their actions.
Labels: Dr Search, Search Clinic, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Services
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, October 29, 2009
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
DMOZ- the Open Directory- everything you wanted to know part 2
Dr Search continues yesterday's DMOZ Open Directory interview between Debra Mastaler of Search Engine Land recently posted an interview with Bob Keating, Editor In Chief of the Open Directory Project who graciously agreed to the interview.
Debra: Why can’t DMOZ notify webmasters when their sites are included or rejected? Has there been any discussion on being able to pay for this feature?
Bob: Because the ODP is not designed to be a site listing service, creating a notification system has not been a priority. In the past, there was a “check my site status” thread offered via the editor-run public forums at Resource Zone (www.resource-zone.com). It was not hosted or administered by AOL. It was a good faith effort to reach out to the webmaster community.
However, the thread got quite unruly and unmanageable, so it was taken down. Moreover, some editors felt the “check status” thread conflicted with their other editing pursuits. Nonetheless, I can see us adding this as a feature in the future. As with any feature associated with DMOZ, it would be provided at no cost.
Debra: What are the top three reasons sites don’t make it into the ODP?
Bob: They are:
1. The site was submitted to the incorrect category. Editors may move these submissions to the correct category (which can significantly delay review); or delete them from the submission queue.
2. The site is incomplete, under construction, returns an HTTP error, or lacks adequate or unique content.
3. The site’s content mirrors a URL that is already listed in the directory.
Debra: Mention DMOZ to a group of webmasters or read forum posts discussing the directory, and you’ll usually find the negative comments far outweigh the positive. How is the ODP dealing with their legacy issues?
Bob: Webmaster angst stems from the fact that the ODP is not designed to be a site listing service for webmasters. Webmasters have worked very hard to make the ODP work for them, and the editors have worked equally hard against Webmaster tactics that are contrary to how the directory operates. As result, this conflict has created a cloud of distrust and negativity between both camps.
The Webmasters feel shut out of a community that was intended to be open to all types of contributions. For a while now, our challenge has been to create system that allows Webmasters to contribute to the ODP in a mutually beneficial and meaningful way, while preserving editorial quality.
The solution is not as simple as turning the ODP into a submission service or maintaining the status quo. Rather, the solution involves expanding the ODP’s scope, offerings and levels of participation. This is at the heart of what we are working on today.
Debra: It’s great to hear the ODP is working to expand its scope, offerings and participation levels, can you tell us a little more about your plans and when we can expect to see them implemented?
Bob: ODP is committed to expanding its scope, offerings and participation levels, but I can’t share any details with you at this point. When we are ready to announce more details, we will be sure to let you know.
Debra: Do you think people would be so passionate about being included in the directory if it wasn’t used by Google?
Bob: It depends if you are talking about Webmasters or editors. Clearly, webmasters would not care much about DMOZ if it weren’t for its influence on search engines. Editors, on the other hand, have a different perspective. The reasons editors participate in the ODP are as diverse as the global makeup of its participants.
Debra: There was a post on the DMOZ Blog recently where an editor (crowbar) outlined what makes content unique by ODP standards. It listed a number of points but seemed to dwell on the issue of mirror sites, or that “A site should not mirror content available on other sites”. Since this is a strong criteria for inclusion (or not) in the Directory, why does the DMOZ give away its content through the dump program? On one hand, DMOZ admits to deleting sites submitted that don’t have unique content and yet they provide mirror content to anyone who asks. Is this a case of do as I say and not as I do?
Bob: There are two separate issues here. One is content distribution and syndication, which the ODP does as do billions of other websites. Sites that include syndicated content are not considered “mirror sites” simply because they include syndicated content.
The other issue is content that an entity replicates over different branded domains. This is a common tactic in e-commerce, and is the issue the guidelines around “mirror sites” are intended to address.
The interview ended there. Here’s my tidbits and takeaways:
The tidbits
When I heard Bob make this comment:
“the lion’s share of agency sites are directed and listed in the Regional area of the site, which is where a lot of the editors in this area are spending their time and effort.”
The word “regional” caught my ear. I’ve been following Tim Armstrong since he came on board as AOL’s CEO and understand he (and now AOL) have a strong interest in Patch.com. It’s interesting to note Patch.com is a regional, community specific platform showing news and events from specific cities and towns. Seeding Patch.com with regional results from a respected directory would make a lot of sense, so if you’re bricks and mortar based, now might be a good time to submit your business to DMOZ.
The second tidbit worth noting, is the comment about the notification service. Notifying webmasters why their sites aren’t being added to the directory would go a long way in eliminating the frustration many feel about the ODP; after all, education is preferable to being ignored. I sincerely hope this project moves along much faster than the DMOZ 2.0 project they dropped hints about back in June 2008.
The last and most notable takeaway from this interview, IMO, is the response to my question on why sites don’t make it into the DMOZ. Bob’s answer is informative and also very unsettling because it speaks directly to what I feel is the core problem with the DMOZ – a lack of editors.
Here’s what he said when I asked “What are the top three reasons sites don’t make it into the DMOZ?”
“The site was submitted to the incorrect category. Editors may move these submissions to the correct category (which can significantly delay review) or delete them from the submission queue“.
I’ve spoken to many DMOZ editors who all say the same thing, they delete submissions made to incorrect categories rather than send them along. Why? I’m told it’s because so much of the directory is without editors and/or because they have the authority to do so.
Hmm. This attitude is interesting especially since the DMOZ states “fairness and objectivity prevail here” in their editor requirements. It doesn’t seem “fair” or “objective” to simply delete a submission added to the wrong category but hey, that’s the way things go at the DMOZ.
Debra: Why can’t DMOZ notify webmasters when their sites are included or rejected? Has there been any discussion on being able to pay for this feature?
Bob: Because the ODP is not designed to be a site listing service, creating a notification system has not been a priority. In the past, there was a “check my site status” thread offered via the editor-run public forums at Resource Zone (www.resource-zone.com). It was not hosted or administered by AOL. It was a good faith effort to reach out to the webmaster community.
However, the thread got quite unruly and unmanageable, so it was taken down. Moreover, some editors felt the “check status” thread conflicted with their other editing pursuits. Nonetheless, I can see us adding this as a feature in the future. As with any feature associated with DMOZ, it would be provided at no cost.
Debra: What are the top three reasons sites don’t make it into the ODP?
Bob: They are:
1. The site was submitted to the incorrect category. Editors may move these submissions to the correct category (which can significantly delay review); or delete them from the submission queue.
2. The site is incomplete, under construction, returns an HTTP error, or lacks adequate or unique content.
3. The site’s content mirrors a URL that is already listed in the directory.
Debra: Mention DMOZ to a group of webmasters or read forum posts discussing the directory, and you’ll usually find the negative comments far outweigh the positive. How is the ODP dealing with their legacy issues?
Bob: Webmaster angst stems from the fact that the ODP is not designed to be a site listing service for webmasters. Webmasters have worked very hard to make the ODP work for them, and the editors have worked equally hard against Webmaster tactics that are contrary to how the directory operates. As result, this conflict has created a cloud of distrust and negativity between both camps.
The Webmasters feel shut out of a community that was intended to be open to all types of contributions. For a while now, our challenge has been to create system that allows Webmasters to contribute to the ODP in a mutually beneficial and meaningful way, while preserving editorial quality.
The solution is not as simple as turning the ODP into a submission service or maintaining the status quo. Rather, the solution involves expanding the ODP’s scope, offerings and levels of participation. This is at the heart of what we are working on today.
Debra: It’s great to hear the ODP is working to expand its scope, offerings and participation levels, can you tell us a little more about your plans and when we can expect to see them implemented?
Bob: ODP is committed to expanding its scope, offerings and participation levels, but I can’t share any details with you at this point. When we are ready to announce more details, we will be sure to let you know.
Debra: Do you think people would be so passionate about being included in the directory if it wasn’t used by Google?
Bob: It depends if you are talking about Webmasters or editors. Clearly, webmasters would not care much about DMOZ if it weren’t for its influence on search engines. Editors, on the other hand, have a different perspective. The reasons editors participate in the ODP are as diverse as the global makeup of its participants.
Debra: There was a post on the DMOZ Blog recently where an editor (crowbar) outlined what makes content unique by ODP standards. It listed a number of points but seemed to dwell on the issue of mirror sites, or that “A site should not mirror content available on other sites”. Since this is a strong criteria for inclusion (or not) in the Directory, why does the DMOZ give away its content through the dump program? On one hand, DMOZ admits to deleting sites submitted that don’t have unique content and yet they provide mirror content to anyone who asks. Is this a case of do as I say and not as I do?
Bob: There are two separate issues here. One is content distribution and syndication, which the ODP does as do billions of other websites. Sites that include syndicated content are not considered “mirror sites” simply because they include syndicated content.
The other issue is content that an entity replicates over different branded domains. This is a common tactic in e-commerce, and is the issue the guidelines around “mirror sites” are intended to address.
The interview ended there. Here’s my tidbits and takeaways:
The tidbits
When I heard Bob make this comment:
“the lion’s share of agency sites are directed and listed in the Regional area of the site, which is where a lot of the editors in this area are spending their time and effort.”
The word “regional” caught my ear. I’ve been following Tim Armstrong since he came on board as AOL’s CEO and understand he (and now AOL) have a strong interest in Patch.com. It’s interesting to note Patch.com is a regional, community specific platform showing news and events from specific cities and towns. Seeding Patch.com with regional results from a respected directory would make a lot of sense, so if you’re bricks and mortar based, now might be a good time to submit your business to DMOZ.
The second tidbit worth noting, is the comment about the notification service. Notifying webmasters why their sites aren’t being added to the directory would go a long way in eliminating the frustration many feel about the ODP; after all, education is preferable to being ignored. I sincerely hope this project moves along much faster than the DMOZ 2.0 project they dropped hints about back in June 2008.
The last and most notable takeaway from this interview, IMO, is the response to my question on why sites don’t make it into the DMOZ. Bob’s answer is informative and also very unsettling because it speaks directly to what I feel is the core problem with the DMOZ – a lack of editors.
Here’s what he said when I asked “What are the top three reasons sites don’t make it into the DMOZ?”
“The site was submitted to the incorrect category. Editors may move these submissions to the correct category (which can significantly delay review) or delete them from the submission queue“.
I’ve spoken to many DMOZ editors who all say the same thing, they delete submissions made to incorrect categories rather than send them along. Why? I’m told it’s because so much of the directory is without editors and/or because they have the authority to do so.
Hmm. This attitude is interesting especially since the DMOZ states “fairness and objectivity prevail here” in their editor requirements. It doesn’t seem “fair” or “objective” to simply delete a submission added to the wrong category but hey, that’s the way things go at the DMOZ.
Say anything and even top management is quick to point out “the ODP is not designed to be a site listing service for webmasters”. I think you’ll find a lot of webmasters support that statement and want a quality DMOZ maintained, they just don’t always get it right when they submit. Submitting your site to the wrong category should not preclude you from being added to the directory.
One of the reasons for doing this interview was to find out what the DMOZ was going to do about recruiting editors to fill its very empty ranks. While Bob reaffirmed the DMOZ’s commitment to quality editing, he didn’t address the issue of recruitment, even though I asked the question twice.
How can the directory maintain quality content with so many categories missing editors? Case in point, when I view the page dedicated to the hot topic of H1N1/Swine Flu, see no editor and note the page was last updated October 18, 2009 I wonder if the DMOZ is really a serious search source.
Add to it, I don’t see popular sites such as the Mayo Clinic, the World Health Organization, MedicineNet or FluView listed and now I’m also wondering about the ability of ODP to provide relevant information. It’s not hard to list the top health sites on the Web for the term H1N1/Swine Flu, but it’s impossible when you don’t have a editor working the category.
Yes, yes – I know section editors can and do come in to edit but they’re obviously not doing that here, are they? For topics in the news or representing financial/health issues, every effort should be made to fill those categories with qualified editors and keep the category updated. To do anything less is a disservice to the public and the directory.
I sincerely hope DMOZ doesn’t become invisible like the Great Pumpkin, as it has been an integral part of the search industry for 11 years and deserves respect for its contributions. A hand-edited directory of 4.5 million websites is an accomplishment no one else can claim and I support the stringent admission standards they have in place.
One of the reasons for doing this interview was to find out what the DMOZ was going to do about recruiting editors to fill its very empty ranks. While Bob reaffirmed the DMOZ’s commitment to quality editing, he didn’t address the issue of recruitment, even though I asked the question twice.
How can the directory maintain quality content with so many categories missing editors? Case in point, when I view the page dedicated to the hot topic of H1N1/Swine Flu, see no editor and note the page was last updated October 18, 2009 I wonder if the DMOZ is really a serious search source.
Add to it, I don’t see popular sites such as the Mayo Clinic, the World Health Organization, MedicineNet or FluView listed and now I’m also wondering about the ability of ODP to provide relevant information. It’s not hard to list the top health sites on the Web for the term H1N1/Swine Flu, but it’s impossible when you don’t have a editor working the category.
Yes, yes – I know section editors can and do come in to edit but they’re obviously not doing that here, are they? For topics in the news or representing financial/health issues, every effort should be made to fill those categories with qualified editors and keep the category updated. To do anything less is a disservice to the public and the directory.
I sincerely hope DMOZ doesn’t become invisible like the Great Pumpkin, as it has been an integral part of the search industry for 11 years and deserves respect for its contributions. A hand-edited directory of 4.5 million websites is an accomplishment no one else can claim and I support the stringent admission standards they have in place.
But I also hope the directory makes every effort to utilize the vast resources AOL has to recruit quality editors to its empty categories. The H1N1/Swine Flu category is a classic example of how out-of-date the directory is and how important editors are to keeping it current. I believe once editors are in place, many of the other issues will take care of themselves.
Labels: AOL, online marketing, online marketing uk, search engine marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
DMOZ- the Open Directory- everything you wanted to know
The Open Directory Project (ODP or DMOZ) always seems to creep into the conversation when we’re discussing links and SEO.
Check any forum, social news or answer site and you’ll see a wide variety of opinions on the 11 year old directory and how it’s managed.
Since DMOZ is not a search giant, and seemingly does little to promote itself or the core values of the directory, you have to wonder why editors and SEO’s even bother with it.
Since DMOZ is not a search giant, and seemingly does little to promote itself or the core values of the directory, you have to wonder why editors and SEO’s even bother with it.
Debra Mastaler of Search Engine Land recently posted an interview with Bob Keating, Editor In Chief of the Open Directory Project who graciously agreed to the interview. Below and tomorrow Dr Search carries the interview:
Debra: Tell us a little about yourself Bob, how did you get started with the Open Directory Project (ODP) and how long have you been there?
Bob: I have been working on the ODP since I joined AOL in June 1999. Initially, I was brought on to work on a directory solution for AOL Search. I joined the ODP team shortly afterward to help develop the ontology and the community self-governance model. About a year later, the ODP Founders appointed me Editor in Chief.
Over the years, I’ve worked on number of search and publishing projects at AOL. In 2004, I left full-time employment with AOL, and took a position with the Federal government to start-up a new search engine program, but I remained as a consultant on the ODP. Since 2006, I’ve worked in the strategy consulting space, helping Federal clients develop product strategies around search, social media, and web-based services.
But through all these career changes, the ODP has been a constant in my life. For the last five years, my involvement has been more focused on overseeing the community and advising the ODP team at AOL on everything from the project’s history to community interaction.
Debra: Why is the directory sometimes referred to as the ODP and other times DMOZ? Is there a difference?
Bob: The directory’s “official” name is DMOZ: The Open Directory Project. DMOZ means “Directory Mozilla” – the idea was to align the directory with the Mozilla brand, even though it was not actually part of that group. DMOZ and ODP are now used interchangeably to refer to the directory.
Debra: Most of us know that DMOZ is owned/operated by AOL, but the site still lists Netscape as “hosts and administrators”. Who ultimately makes the “big decisions” at DMOZ?
Bob: By design, it is the community that makes the “big decisions.” But in terms of the corporate entity that is ultimately responsible for DMOZ, it is AOL.
Debra: Can you explain the chain of command at DMOZ?
Bob: DMOZ is essentially a meritocracy in which editors are granted high permissions based on their interest and quality of participation. There are two general types of permissions: those that allow one to edit anywhere, and those that allow one to participate in community management. An editor with the former permission is known as an “Editall.” Editalls can edit anywhere are engaged in discussions around taxonomy and the editorial guidelines.
An editor with the latter permission is known as a “Meta Editor.” Meta Editors are community managers and are responsible for reviewing editor applications, investing and resolving abuses, and leading editor discussions. For all intents and purposes, Meta Editors and Editalls are “equal” permissions but focus on different aspects of the community.
The “Administrator” permission is the highest community management permission, and is granted to a few, trusted editors to oversee the day-to-day operations of the community. They ensure that Meta Editors and Editalls are being fair and equitable, and that the guidelines are kept current.
The ODP’s governance model is intended to be self-regulating, so there are checks and balances in place to ensure all topics and all points of view are represented, and to foster an inclusive environment in which any editor who wants to contribute is encouraged to contribute. This model doesn’t always work perfectly, but it has been very successful in creating a self-regulating environment, which actually has less to do with the model and more to do with the extraordinary group of editors who contribute to the directory’s governance.
Debra: How do you respond to the allegations some DMOZ editors accept money for submissions?
Bob:Accepting money for submissions is strictly against the community codes of conduct. In cases where we have confirmed this is happening, we revoke the editor’s account. That said, in more cases than not, the allegations are just that… allegations. Still, accepting money in exchange for submission is a consequence of an open directory operation in a closed community.
As I mentioned previously, our challenge is to create a system that allows Webmasters to contribute to the ODP, rather than feeling disconnected from it, which gives one incentive to abuse the system. This solution involves expanding the ODP’s scope, offerings and participation levels. I can’t promise the solution will rid the ODP of nefarious activity, but I think becoming more inclusive while still retaining the directory’s self-governance model will be a significant improvement.
I think it’s important to note that our editor application review process is very thorough. From a directory quality perspective, the best time to identify potential abusers is before they get a foot in the door. We ask that applicants provide a thorough listing of site affiliations and we use full disclosure (as opposed to the affiliations themselves) as a criterion for selection along with general editing quality of the sample sites they provide. While this may mean that we occasionally reject good applicants, the end result is that we keep out many potential abusers. That’s good for everyone.
We unfortunately do sometimes encounter editors who abuse their editing privileges for personal gain. We have a system of community policing to help weed out these “bad eggs.” The public, as well as other editors themselves, are able to report suspected abuse via our abuse reporting tool. When a report comes in, meta editors investigate these allegations fully and if we find that they have merit, we revoke the editor’s account. In the case that a meta editor is suspected of abuse, the case will be investigated by an admin.
We recently did a blog post about what editor abuse really is and what information we need to have in order to fully investigate it.
Debra: There are a lot of categories at DMOZ without editors. I know there is an open invitation for anyone to apply, but what is DMOZ doing to recruit people to fill the empty categories?
Bob: Even though there are lots of categories without listed editors, anyone listed in a parent category or with directory-wide editing permissions can edit these categories. So, even though an editor is not listed in a category does not mean the category is not being maintained.
We are an all-volunteer force, so recruitment is primarily through word of mouth from our current editors and through data users themselves. The editors reach out to others within their own communities and this has produced tremendous growth in some areas.
We also get new editors who find us via the DMOZ data attribution badge on other sites or because they learn about us by seeing our results in Google or another search engine. DMOZ gets hundreds of applications daily, and routinely accepts those most likely to edit well and contribute more than just their own site.
Debra: Yes, I understand category editors can/do pitch in, but when I look at a major category like Real Estate and notice seven of the first nine categories are without editors and one category shows 2007 as the last date the page was updated, I have to wonder what the Directory is doing to keep its results fresh. How can a handful of people in a major category like Real Estate keep that section of the Directory current?
Bob: The date at the bottom of the page can be misleading. It’s not always an indicator of freshness. Some pages are not updated frequently simply because they are directional pages (i.e., they direct users to categories where sites are listed); or because the kind of site listed in the category is so specific that few sites are listed at that particular level. http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Real_Estate/Agents_and_Agencies/ is a good example.
The category description page explains how agency sites are listed. The lion’s share of agency sites are directed and listed in the Regional area of the site, which is where a lot of the editors in this area are spending their time and effort.
Debra: Has there been any discussion about the ODP offering a paid review program?
Bob: This issue has been raised and discussed many times. Paid review really goes against the whole idea behind the ODP. In fact, our Social Contract with the web community takes an especially firm position on this issue.
Dr Search hopes that you found this post educational. For more, please see tomorrow's post.
Debra: Yes, I understand category editors can/do pitch in, but when I look at a major category like Real Estate and notice seven of the first nine categories are without editors and one category shows 2007 as the last date the page was updated, I have to wonder what the Directory is doing to keep its results fresh. How can a handful of people in a major category like Real Estate keep that section of the Directory current?
Bob: The date at the bottom of the page can be misleading. It’s not always an indicator of freshness. Some pages are not updated frequently simply because they are directional pages (i.e., they direct users to categories where sites are listed); or because the kind of site listed in the category is so specific that few sites are listed at that particular level. http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Real_Estate/Agents_and_Agencies/ is a good example.
The category description page explains how agency sites are listed. The lion’s share of agency sites are directed and listed in the Regional area of the site, which is where a lot of the editors in this area are spending their time and effort.
Debra: Has there been any discussion about the ODP offering a paid review program?
Bob: This issue has been raised and discussed many times. Paid review really goes against the whole idea behind the ODP. In fact, our Social Contract with the web community takes an especially firm position on this issue.
Dr Search hopes that you found this post educational. For more, please see tomorrow's post.
Labels: AOL, online marketing, online marketing uk, search engines
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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Monday, October 26, 2009
Links building- 5 simple tips for you
Links building- when it comes to SEO, increasing your inbound links is one of the most effective ways to improve your ranking.
If you’ve recently launched a new website, or are looking for some advice to get started – here are 5 simple (but effective) link building methods.
1. Internal Linking
One of the easiest methods simply involves linking to relevant pages from other pages on your website. By using content based links, you can control the anchor text of each link to ensure you get the maximum SEO benefit.
2. Directory Submission
Submitting your website to free online directories doesn’t take much time and can be a very effective way to increase your inbound links. Many directories also allow you to write your own title and description which is another chance to include relevant anchor text.
3. Social Media Links
Bookmarking your website across some popular social media sites is another way to ensure you receive a keyword based incoming link. To get you started, here’s a list of some of the more popular sites:
* www.delicious.com
* www.folkd.com
* www.diigo.com
* www.reddit.com
* www.weblinkr.com
4. Article Distribution
Writing informative articles and distributing them online is another powerful link building tactic. Write original articles, keep them to around 500 words and submit them to popular sites like www.ezinearticles.com and www.articlebase.com.
5. Start Writing a Blog
Setup a blog using Wordpress or Blogger and get into the habit if writing one new post per week. Make sure to link to your website using targeted anchor text where possible. Aside from the direct linking benefit, your blog posts might also get syndicated on other sites which will create another incoming link.
If you want to build more incoming links but don’t have the time, you can also consider our new link building service which can help to improve your ranking.
1. Internal Linking
One of the easiest methods simply involves linking to relevant pages from other pages on your website. By using content based links, you can control the anchor text of each link to ensure you get the maximum SEO benefit.
2. Directory Submission
Submitting your website to free online directories doesn’t take much time and can be a very effective way to increase your inbound links. Many directories also allow you to write your own title and description which is another chance to include relevant anchor text.
3. Social Media Links
Bookmarking your website across some popular social media sites is another way to ensure you receive a keyword based incoming link. To get you started, here’s a list of some of the more popular sites:
* www.delicious.com
* www.folkd.com
* www.diigo.com
* www.reddit.com
* www.weblinkr.com
4. Article Distribution
Writing informative articles and distributing them online is another powerful link building tactic. Write original articles, keep them to around 500 words and submit them to popular sites like www.ezinearticles.com and www.articlebase.com.
5. Start Writing a Blog
Setup a blog using Wordpress or Blogger and get into the habit if writing one new post per week. Make sure to link to your website using targeted anchor text where possible. Aside from the direct linking benefit, your blog posts might also get syndicated on other sites which will create another incoming link.
If you want to build more incoming links but don’t have the time, you can also consider our new link building service which can help to improve your ranking.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, October 26, 2009
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Friday, October 23, 2009
More on the Twitter, Google deal
Google’s Marissa Mayer has announced at the Web 2.0 Summit that Google Social Search will be launching in the coming weeks.
I’ve seen an early release of it. It’s way cool. Below, what details we have now about this plus some follow up on today’s Google-Twitter search deal that was announced.
I’m in a bind because I can’t say more about the product than what Mayer released today. I wasn’t able to make it to Web 2.0 nor were her remarks on the product broadcast live. TechCrunch was there and summarizes what she said this way:
I’m in a bind because I can’t say more about the product than what Mayer released today. I wasn’t able to make it to Web 2.0 nor were her remarks on the product broadcast live. TechCrunch was there and summarizes what she said this way:
There’s a new Google product called Social Search that is launching in Google Labs. This is a new feature that allows you to see results for queries from people in your social network. This works by using your Google Profile. If you fill it out with the other social networks you’re a member of, such as FriendFeed, Google will scan who you are connected to and give your results from those people.
For example, I have a Google Profile here. On that page, I’ve listed my Twitter account. This means when I’m signed into Google, it can tell who I am and what my Twitter account is with certainty. Then when I search, it can offer to show me web pages that are related to other people in my Twitter profile.
More specifically, if I were do to a search relating to journalism matters, because I follow a number of people in the journalism field (not everyone might see this Twitter List yet), I’d get back both “regular” search results as well as those that are from people who I follow. News.com notes that Mayer said these would appear at the bottom of regular search pages.
Other links from social sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn could also be added to your profile (any link can be added to it). To the degree Google can see your network, those can be used to filter your results.
The social search product also predates today’s news that Google has a partnership with Twitter to tap into its data. That means Social Search doesn’t depend on the Twitter deal, but it certainly should help.
What exactly will Google do with the Twitter data. Are we getting a dedicated Twitter search engine like Bing Twitter Search launched today?
Google’s kind of cagey on that front. Mayer said at Web 2.0 that it will be integrated in to regular results. But what’s that mean? Integrated only using Universal Search, which could mean there’s also standalone Twitter search engine out there (just as there’s a standalone image search, news search, blog search and so on)? Integrated to use Twitter data as part of the core ranking data?
I couldn’t get clarity on whether there will be a standalone Twitter search. Personally, I think there will be, or that there will be a combined microblog search service. We know Google has at least gotten people to translate a name for that service.
Whether that type of dedicated search for microblogged content service gets integrated into the completely different Social Search service that refines results on your social network remains to be seen.
Certainly Google sees the microblogged content as something that needs to be gathered and somehow integrated alongside web pages. Johanna Wright, director of product management at Google, talked to me today about this.
“There are things on Twitter that you can only find on Twitter,” she said, especially local happenings that might never see an actual news article written about them.
One example Wright gave, of stories she says Google is collecting, was about an art project where 2,000 “invisible dog” leashes were handed out in Manhattan. You know, those solid leashes that look like you have an invisible dog holding them up? No one wrote a news article about this, but if you were trying to figure out what was happening if you saw people with them, the information was blogged on Twitter.
For example, I have a Google Profile here. On that page, I’ve listed my Twitter account. This means when I’m signed into Google, it can tell who I am and what my Twitter account is with certainty. Then when I search, it can offer to show me web pages that are related to other people in my Twitter profile.
More specifically, if I were do to a search relating to journalism matters, because I follow a number of people in the journalism field (not everyone might see this Twitter List yet), I’d get back both “regular” search results as well as those that are from people who I follow. News.com notes that Mayer said these would appear at the bottom of regular search pages.
Other links from social sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn could also be added to your profile (any link can be added to it). To the degree Google can see your network, those can be used to filter your results.
The social search product also predates today’s news that Google has a partnership with Twitter to tap into its data. That means Social Search doesn’t depend on the Twitter deal, but it certainly should help.
What exactly will Google do with the Twitter data. Are we getting a dedicated Twitter search engine like Bing Twitter Search launched today?
Google’s kind of cagey on that front. Mayer said at Web 2.0 that it will be integrated in to regular results. But what’s that mean? Integrated only using Universal Search, which could mean there’s also standalone Twitter search engine out there (just as there’s a standalone image search, news search, blog search and so on)? Integrated to use Twitter data as part of the core ranking data?
I couldn’t get clarity on whether there will be a standalone Twitter search. Personally, I think there will be, or that there will be a combined microblog search service. We know Google has at least gotten people to translate a name for that service.
Whether that type of dedicated search for microblogged content service gets integrated into the completely different Social Search service that refines results on your social network remains to be seen.
Certainly Google sees the microblogged content as something that needs to be gathered and somehow integrated alongside web pages. Johanna Wright, director of product management at Google, talked to me today about this.
“There are things on Twitter that you can only find on Twitter,” she said, especially local happenings that might never see an actual news article written about them.
One example Wright gave, of stories she says Google is collecting, was about an art project where 2,000 “invisible dog” leashes were handed out in Manhattan. You know, those solid leashes that look like you have an invisible dog holding them up? No one wrote a news article about this, but if you were trying to figure out what was happening if you saw people with them, the information was blogged on Twitter.
Take That, Twitter: Google Hot Trends Integrated Into Google Search is another article from us that covers a primary signal that Google has if something is a hot topic — actual searches on Google that happen. And while Google’s has a “query deserved freshness” algorithm that can very quickly find new pages and rank them in top results, Twitter’s data potentially could make that even faster.
Labels: Google, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Friday, October 23, 2009
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Thursday, October 22, 2009
Google and Twitter also agree tie up
Following hot on the heels of the Bing / Twitter partnership which we announced yesterday, Google has now also announced that it, too, has struck a deal with Twitter to include real-time tweets in Google’s search results.
“We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. "
"That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.”
That was published minutes ago on the official Google blog by VP Marissa Mayer. Not coincidentally, she’s due to speak shortly at the Web 2.0 Summit — where Bing made its announcements earlier today. We plan to live blog her appearance just as we did earlier when Microsoft’s Qi Lu was on stage.
That was published minutes ago on the official Google blog by VP Marissa Mayer. Not coincidentally, she’s due to speak shortly at the Web 2.0 Summit — where Bing made its announcements earlier today. We plan to live blog her appearance just as we did earlier when Microsoft’s Qi Lu was on stage.
Labels: Google, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, October 22, 2009
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Bing to do deal with Twitter as it launches it's own Twitter Search
It has been reported that Microsoft will announce a deal with Twitter today to gather its real time data. We’re able to confirm that from a source as well and provide some additional details.
The deal will make Bing the first major search engine to have access to Twitter’s “Firehose” of tweets. It’s not exclusive, however. Google potentially could still do a deal, to.
We’re told that:
* The deal will be announced today shortly after Microsoft’s Qi Lu takes the stage at the Web 2.0 conference at 11:30 Pacific Time today. Some sessions are being broadcast live here, and Lu’s might be one of them.
* There will be a standalone Twitter search service offered at Bing, with some ranking technology other than sort by date involved, and that shortened URLs will be expanded. That service should go live today.
* There will be some integration within the regular Bing service itself
Discussions to gather data from Facebook are also continuing, and there’s a chance a deal might be concluded for announcement today.
We’ll update as we learn more. To understand the importance of Twitter and Facebook data to the major search engines, see my What Is Real Time Search? Definitions & Players. It covers what Bing currently does with limited Twitter data it’s able to get now.
The deal will make Bing the first major search engine to have access to Twitter’s “Firehose” of tweets. It’s not exclusive, however. Google potentially could still do a deal, to.
We’re told that:
* The deal will be announced today shortly after Microsoft’s Qi Lu takes the stage at the Web 2.0 conference at 11:30 Pacific Time today. Some sessions are being broadcast live here, and Lu’s might be one of them.
* There will be a standalone Twitter search service offered at Bing, with some ranking technology other than sort by date involved, and that shortened URLs will be expanded. That service should go live today.
* There will be some integration within the regular Bing service itself
Discussions to gather data from Facebook are also continuing, and there’s a chance a deal might be concluded for announcement today.
We’ll update as we learn more. To understand the importance of Twitter and Facebook data to the major search engines, see my What Is Real Time Search? Definitions & Players. It covers what Bing currently does with limited Twitter data it’s able to get now.
We hope more working relationships with organizations in the search business will mean even more variety for users.
Labels: bing, online marketing uk, search engine marketing, social media websites, social web marketing, Twitter
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Social Media- top tips to avoid getting burned
If you’re not already tapping into social media, you should, as the channel offers brands tremendous opportunities to foster community and engagement.
But many marketers jump into social media efforts with little more than a “cool” idea. This is a mistake. Not only could it pose serious implications for a brand, but it could also obliterate the value you sought to derive from social media in the first place. To effectively leverage social media, you first need to devise a plan. Here are five tips to help you get started.
1) Develop your vision. Get creative and develop a vision of what your brand looks like in social media. For example, will your brand be personified, or will it have a catchy tagline? Will the user get special deals or coupons if they connect with you in this space? What is the message you wish to have transcend the brand?
1) Develop your vision. Get creative and develop a vision of what your brand looks like in social media. For example, will your brand be personified, or will it have a catchy tagline? Will the user get special deals or coupons if they connect with you in this space? What is the message you wish to have transcend the brand?
During this process, be sure to think through the different sites you are interested in using, such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, and define how you envision your brand acting within these sites. Give thought to what you might tweet about, the discussions you might create, how to best use Facebook notes, or what to include on your YouTube channel. When the sky’s the limit—as it is in social media—it is essential to take the time to first create this vision.
2) Understand your goals. Outline what you are trying to achieve with social media and be specific about your goals. And note that jumping into the fray just because your competitors are doing so is not a valid reason. Instead, perhaps you want to leverage social media to interact with your customers, or drive sales, or simply to reinforce your branding efforts in alternative channels.
2) Understand your goals. Outline what you are trying to achieve with social media and be specific about your goals. And note that jumping into the fray just because your competitors are doing so is not a valid reason. Instead, perhaps you want to leverage social media to interact with your customers, or drive sales, or simply to reinforce your branding efforts in alternative channels.
Whatever the case, you first need to have clarity on what you are hoping to achieve so you can put together an effective strategy to get the job done.
3) Identify your success goals. Decide how you will gauge the success of your social media efforts and the specific metrics you will use. For example, if the goal of your campaign is to create awareness for a contest that you are running, it’s important to measure contest and brand impressions, numbers of fans or followers, video views and interaction with the site. In addition to identifying your success metrics, be sure to have analytics in place so that you can track on-the-page site interactions and monetary value.
4) Define how you will communicate value. Identify the value you are offering your audience and how you will communicate it. In doing so, be sure to make the connection between cool and valuable. Why? Because while creative content generates initial interest, the communication of value will keep the discussion with your audience going longer.
3) Identify your success goals. Decide how you will gauge the success of your social media efforts and the specific metrics you will use. For example, if the goal of your campaign is to create awareness for a contest that you are running, it’s important to measure contest and brand impressions, numbers of fans or followers, video views and interaction with the site. In addition to identifying your success metrics, be sure to have analytics in place so that you can track on-the-page site interactions and monetary value.
4) Define how you will communicate value. Identify the value you are offering your audience and how you will communicate it. In doing so, be sure to make the connection between cool and valuable. Why? Because while creative content generates initial interest, the communication of value will keep the discussion with your audience going longer.
Regardless of the means you choose—maybe it’s a contest, or an exclusive coupon for fans or followers—be sure to give your audience a reason to stay connected. Not only will it facilitate engagement, but it will also boost the longevity of your social media effort.
5) Integrate your efforts. From the outset, you should plan to integrate your social media efforts with the rest of your marketing initiatives as it can produce a symbiotic effect. For example, by integrating social media with your offline programs, you can create “buzz” for the launch of a new commercial, or solicit feedback about your latest magazine feature. Likewise, by integrating social media with search, you can leverage SEO tactics to help your social content rank in the search engines, build a PPC campaign to capture the demand created by you or your competitors and leverage optimized press releases to promote your efforts.
6) Identify sufficient resources. Give thought to the effort and resources necessary to launch your social media initiatives and keep them going. Remember, just showing up in social media won’t suffice. Instead, you need to continually update your presence on a daily basis. For example, you can’t just create a Facebook fan page and walk away from it.
5) Integrate your efforts. From the outset, you should plan to integrate your social media efforts with the rest of your marketing initiatives as it can produce a symbiotic effect. For example, by integrating social media with your offline programs, you can create “buzz” for the launch of a new commercial, or solicit feedback about your latest magazine feature. Likewise, by integrating social media with search, you can leverage SEO tactics to help your social content rank in the search engines, build a PPC campaign to capture the demand created by you or your competitors and leverage optimized press releases to promote your efforts.
6) Identify sufficient resources. Give thought to the effort and resources necessary to launch your social media initiatives and keep them going. Remember, just showing up in social media won’t suffice. Instead, you need to continually update your presence on a daily basis. For example, you can’t just create a Facebook fan page and walk away from it.
You need to invest the time necessary to leverage it as a creative means to interact with your audience and expand the conversation. As you develop your social media plan, make it a priority to identify who will be responsible to update and outline communications with your constituents. Otherwise, your social media vision will get stonewalled.
Social media is a growing channel that offers brand marketers creative ways to interact with their audience and keep the conversation going, but getting started requires more than a cool idea. To derive the most value from it, you first need a plan, and these tips should help you get started.
Social media is a growing channel that offers brand marketers creative ways to interact with their audience and keep the conversation going, but getting started requires more than a cool idea. To derive the most value from it, you first need a plan, and these tips should help you get started.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk, search engine marketing, social media websites, social web marketing
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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Monday, October 19, 2009
The correct content for a landing sales page
What do the best landing pages have for potential customers?
Can an ecommerce store’s product detail pages bog a visitor down in too much detail? Can you provide the wrong information and leave people with unanswered questions?
My friend and ongoing client Michael runs Very Colourful Jewellery, an store for handmade fashion accessories. He recently asked me for some online marketing consulting to help him increase his conversion rate. I thought I’d share this mini-usability review to help Mike and other store owners who may be struggling with these issues.
First let’s check out detail page.
The page gets the general info down fine. It obviously matches the keywords likely to deliver visitors, and like the rest of the site, there’s shopping cart info in the top right.
My friend and ongoing client Michael runs Very Colourful Jewellery, an store for handmade fashion accessories. He recently asked me for some online marketing consulting to help him increase his conversion rate. I thought I’d share this mini-usability review to help Mike and other store owners who may be struggling with these issues.
First let’s check out detail page.
The page gets the general info down fine. It obviously matches the keywords likely to deliver visitors, and like the rest of the site, there’s shopping cart info in the top right.
Possible solutions to test:
* By far the easiest solution is to offer no alternative colors. By making the color question a simple yes-or-no decision, momentum is a lot easier to maintain.
* A better solution is to offer a very limited range of popular colors. You could probably copy The Gap and go with blue, pink, gray, red and black. This avoids leaving money on the table in the case of people thinking, “No, I don’t like the default color.”
* Add pictures of the product in the alternative available colors.
* Have some pretty girls model the product, and explain what size they’re wearing. Tests typically show that actual-use pictures convert better.
Shipping questions for detail pages- two common questions visitors have are:
* When will the product arrive? (Sometimes phrased as, “When will it ship”)
* What will the price of shipping be.
The product arrival date info is automatically estimated, which is a great piece of functionality. Unfortunately, this too is hidden in the discreet “Additional Information” box below the product image.
As to the price of shipping, this is nowhere to be found on this detail page or any others.
Normally this emphasis on the checkout is good, but in this case it will create a lot of scenarios like this:
* Add to cart
* Check cart info
* Continue to checkout
Then when people move on to the billing page, the ‘Standard’ and ‘Rush’ shipping options don’t provide any more info on price.
So what?
So the net effect of this lack of information on shipping times and rates creates anxiety. Again, this slows momentum towards conversion.
Possible solutions
* Embed a simpler calculator in a reasonably prominent part of the product detail page. For example, some of the whitespace on the right hand side could be used without affecting how clean the page looks. Of course, that’s just a hunch – you’d have to test that to know for sure.
* Since most products have a standard weight and size, Mike could use USPS’ “If it fits, it ships” product and just automatically list shipping rates on his product detail page according to product type.
The fundamental role of a product detail page is to decrease anxiety by spelling out clearly what the product offer is. It should offer enough information to answer visitors’ questions, without overwhelming them and making them bounce.
Labels: online marketing, online marketing uk, SEO Services
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Monday, October 19, 2009
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Saturday, October 17, 2009
Yahoo to drop paid inclusion program
Yahoo has announced that their paid inclusion program will cease at the end of this year.
Partners were informed this week and a Yahoo representative confirmed the move on a panel discussion moderated by Search Engine Land Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan at the iProspect/Range Online Media Client Summit today. We’ve also received a statement from Yahoo, which is posted below.
Yahoo wasn’t sure how they would handle paid inclusion when asked on the Yahoo/Microsoft press conference a few months back.
Yahoo wasn’t sure how they would handle paid inclusion when asked on the Yahoo/Microsoft press conference a few months back.
Historically, there has been a lot of controversy over paid inclusion. Accepting money to be included in a free, unbiased, organic search index is a bit “hypocritical,” as former Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone would say.
If you try to access Yahoo’s paid inclusion sales page you are redirected to advertising.yahoo.com. Both the “Search Submit Basic” program that charged an annual fee per URL and the “Search Submit Pro” cost-per-click program will end as of Dec. 31, 2009.
Yahoo has sent us a statement on this change:
We are committing our resources and efforts to our core areas of focus, including improving the search experience and relevancy of our ads to increase user engagement and ROI for advertisers, and as a result, have decided to exit Search Submit. We have stepped up innovation in Search Marketing, recently rolling out search retargeting, Rich Ads in Search and improved matching technology, and in Consumer Search, with enhancements like the new search results page. These enhancements deliver value, control, innovation and relevance to our advertisers, leading to increased ROI.
Yahoo! will exit Search Submit at the end of 2009. Yahoo! is providing those advertisers affected by the decision a sufficient lead time to assist in the transition. In addition, Yahoo! has recently announced a series of important enhancements to its Search advertising business and will work closely with many Search Submit advertisers to provide them with search solutions that will benefit their businesses.
If you try to access Yahoo’s paid inclusion sales page you are redirected to advertising.yahoo.com. Both the “Search Submit Basic” program that charged an annual fee per URL and the “Search Submit Pro” cost-per-click program will end as of Dec. 31, 2009.
Yahoo has sent us a statement on this change:
We are committing our resources and efforts to our core areas of focus, including improving the search experience and relevancy of our ads to increase user engagement and ROI for advertisers, and as a result, have decided to exit Search Submit. We have stepped up innovation in Search Marketing, recently rolling out search retargeting, Rich Ads in Search and improved matching technology, and in Consumer Search, with enhancements like the new search results page. These enhancements deliver value, control, innovation and relevance to our advertisers, leading to increased ROI.
Yahoo! will exit Search Submit at the end of 2009. Yahoo! is providing those advertisers affected by the decision a sufficient lead time to assist in the transition. In addition, Yahoo! has recently announced a series of important enhancements to its Search advertising business and will work closely with many Search Submit advertisers to provide them with search solutions that will benefit their businesses.
Labels: search engine marketing, search engines, Yahoo
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Saturday, October 17, 2009
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Thursday, October 15, 2009
Google’s Caffeine update- what it means for your website
Dr Search has been asked several times recently about Google's Caffeine update and what it means of websites. I hope that the following makes sence to you- if not please leave a comment below:
Google recently announced that a massive operations overhaul is in the works. “Caffeine,” as it’s known internally, is described by Google’s Matt Cutts as primarily driven by “under the hood” changes to improve Google’s indexing technology, allowing the engine to be more flexible and efficient in the way it collects pages.
He went on to say that while power-users may notice some minor changes to search result pages, no major user interface changes are to be expected with this update.
Based on Matt’s description of the algorithm changes, we shouldn’t expect to see vastly different search results in the short run.
Based on Matt’s description of the algorithm changes, we shouldn’t expect to see vastly different search results in the short run.
However, it sounds like Google is putting infrastructure in place to index web pages more quickly, be more effective in ranking real time updates (from blogs and social media) and to provide more accurate local search results.
These changes will remedy some of Google’s current shortcomings and put them in a unique position that over the long term could change the user experience significantly.
We all know that Google’s organic and paid search listings are two completely separate entities and your performance or lack thereof in one does not impact your standing in the other. While the upcoming update will directly impact organic search results, paid search managers should not completely write-off the update as insignificant to the PPC world.
Any change to Google’s algorithms, whether on the organic engine or in the AdWords platform, in one way or another will effect the user experience over time. In this case, as with previous algorithm updates, Google is pushing forth changes that may alter the mix of organic results.
Many have speculated that the Caffeine update is geared directly towards competing with recent moves made by Facebook (acquiring FriendFeed) and the rising popularity of Twitter’s real time search capabilities.
As a PPC manager, what should I do?
In almost all situations, any change brings some level of uncertainty and the Caffeine update is no exception. Thankfully for PPC managers the upcoming update should only affect the organic listings and will not directly alter cost-per-clicks in anyway. This however does not mean that PPC managers should ignore the “Caffeine Update”.
Most SEM managers have multiple responsibilities, including maintaining the SEO and PPC programs (not to mention affiliate and email marketing duties, etc..). A well-balanced SEM campaign often includes a strategic mix of SEO visibility complemented by PPC listings and vice versa. In some cases, SEM managers don’t feel the need to bid on certain terms due to outstanding organic visibility. Over the next few weeks, do yourself a favor and
Monitor your SERP positions closely
No one is 100% sure how the latest update will shakeout, so your best bet is to run a position report on key terms and watch for any fluctuations – not to mention the fact that it is a generally smart idea to track your SEO positions from time to time. If you are one of those mangers that have shied away from bidding on keywords (because you’ve felt that your SEO visibility is sufficient) you may want to start supplementing your organic efforts with PPC listings.
Google is responsible for the majority of traffic for many online businesses. While it’s great to have a reliable traffic source, it’s also extremely risky to rely so heavily on one source.
We all know that Google’s organic and paid search listings are two completely separate entities and your performance or lack thereof in one does not impact your standing in the other. While the upcoming update will directly impact organic search results, paid search managers should not completely write-off the update as insignificant to the PPC world.
Any change to Google’s algorithms, whether on the organic engine or in the AdWords platform, in one way or another will effect the user experience over time. In this case, as with previous algorithm updates, Google is pushing forth changes that may alter the mix of organic results.
Many have speculated that the Caffeine update is geared directly towards competing with recent moves made by Facebook (acquiring FriendFeed) and the rising popularity of Twitter’s real time search capabilities.
As a PPC manager, what should I do?
In almost all situations, any change brings some level of uncertainty and the Caffeine update is no exception. Thankfully for PPC managers the upcoming update should only affect the organic listings and will not directly alter cost-per-clicks in anyway. This however does not mean that PPC managers should ignore the “Caffeine Update”.
Most SEM managers have multiple responsibilities, including maintaining the SEO and PPC programs (not to mention affiliate and email marketing duties, etc..). A well-balanced SEM campaign often includes a strategic mix of SEO visibility complemented by PPC listings and vice versa. In some cases, SEM managers don’t feel the need to bid on certain terms due to outstanding organic visibility. Over the next few weeks, do yourself a favor and
Monitor your SERP positions closely
No one is 100% sure how the latest update will shakeout, so your best bet is to run a position report on key terms and watch for any fluctuations – not to mention the fact that it is a generally smart idea to track your SEO positions from time to time. If you are one of those mangers that have shied away from bidding on keywords (because you’ve felt that your SEO visibility is sufficient) you may want to start supplementing your organic efforts with PPC listings.
Google is responsible for the majority of traffic for many online businesses. While it’s great to have a reliable traffic source, it’s also extremely risky to rely so heavily on one source.
To mitigate this dependency and in the spirit of reducing risk, diversify your SEM campaign (create campaigns on Yahoo, Microsoft adCenter as well as other niche vertical search engines like Business.com).
The next tip should go without saying, but paying attention to your competitors is also very important.
The next tip should go without saying, but paying attention to your competitors is also very important.
I’m not suggesting that you increase bids simply because your competitor has (you should base bid-management decisions on CPA and ROI metrics). However, it is always useful to know how your competitors are reacting to changes in the market.
To summarise, with every change to the Google algorithm comes a level of uncertainty, and by taking proactive steps to monitor and minimize your risks, you will be in a better position to make smart decisions for your online accounts.
To summarise, with every change to the Google algorithm comes a level of uncertainty, and by taking proactive steps to monitor and minimize your risks, you will be in a better position to make smart decisions for your online accounts.
Labels: Dr Search, Google, Pay Per Click Marketing, Search Clinic, search engine marketing, search engines, social media websites
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Thursday, October 15, 2009
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sir Tim Berners-Lee the web creator apologises for his backslash strokes
Ask your average computer user what irks them the most about going online and you might have thought it was the proliferation of pop up advertisements and what about that spam mail?
But when the British scientist who devised the world wide web two decades ago was asked if he had any regrets about his most famous creation, the answer was somewhat unexpected:
"I could have designed it to not have '//'," said Sir Tim-Berners Lee.
A backslash or backlash? Either way, the man who wrote the code that transformed a private computer network into the most powerful communications tool in history is adamant he could have done a better job with the basics.
“Really, if you think about it, it doesn’t need the '//'," he told a symposium on the future of technology in Washington DC. Sticking out his index finger, he added: “People are having to use that finger so much.”
Berners-Lee is commonly considered the architect of the world wide web, which is distinct from the internet, the network of computers that was already 20 years old before he began to work on it. His innovation was to use the physical network of the net and create an abstract space on top it, so that it could be used by everyone.
The effect was to transform the internet into something usable and understandable by more than just computer programmers. Today, the URLs he created, better known as web addresses, are familiar to anyone navigating their way around the internet.
As well as the time and effort it has taken humanity to type two keys countless millions of times, Berners-Lee lamented the environmental effect of his browser-based pedantry, bemoaning the printer ink and paper that has been wasted on such unnecessary characters.
Labels: Dr Search, Search Clinic
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
SEO training should be a marketing imperative
Dr Search belives that nearly every organization should offer SEO training to anyone who even remotely touches the company’s web site, and why every senior manager should also be encouraged to attend.
Failure to train people can lead to serious problems, with a frightful waste of time, blown schedules, wasted expenditure and ultimately a failure to effectively capture search traffic. You may think I am fear-mongering here, but to head that off, let me provide some real world examples:
One company had an existing site that they wanted to migrate to a new domain. A key goal was to preserve the legacy search traffic as much as possible. They selected a CMS for the project and built the site. Then they brought in the SEO firm to begin working on the site. The trouble was that the CMS was an SEO disaster, and did not allow unique title tags on each page.
One company had an existing site that they wanted to migrate to a new domain. A key goal was to preserve the legacy search traffic as much as possible. They selected a CMS for the project and built the site. Then they brought in the SEO firm to begin working on the site. The trouble was that the CMS was an SEO disaster, and did not allow unique title tags on each page.
The cost of fixing this problem: a six month launch delay at a cost of hundreds of thousands of Pounds.
Another company was rebranding their site. They were going for a major upgrade in look and feel, and they had made a corporate level decision to target all their messaging at the “C-Suite” (CEOs, CFOs, CIOS, etc.). Based on this they made a decision to implement an all-Flash site. They created a site with a beautiful user experience, but that was virtually impenetrable to search engines.
Another company was rebranding their site. They were going for a major upgrade in look and feel, and they had made a corporate level decision to target all their messaging at the “C-Suite” (CEOs, CFOs, CIOS, etc.). Based on this they made a decision to implement an all-Flash site. They created a site with a beautiful user experience, but that was virtually impenetrable to search engines.
The in house SEO that was trying to work on the site did not have the authority to get people to understand the consequences of this decision, and search traffic plummeted.
In large enterprises one of the big challenges is that there are many different groups that are involved in decisions. You have marketing, sales, development and the executive staff. Anyone of these groups can make decisions that are basically fatal to SEO.
In large enterprises one of the big challenges is that there are many different groups that are involved in decisions. You have marketing, sales, development and the executive staff. Anyone of these groups can make decisions that are basically fatal to SEO.
Successful SEO efforts require that all these groups are working in unison. Yet coordinating all these groups of people can be very difficult to do.
There are two ways that the problem gets worse, both of which are examples of bad decisions being made about SEO. These are:
A- In some organizations SEO is thought of as something you do after the site is built. This is just too late. At this point the damage has already been done.
B- The organization hires someone to do SEO work for them, and they are knowledgeable about SEO, but they are relatively junior and do not have the confidence or presence to sway the C-Suite or other decision makers.
There are two ways that the problem gets worse, both of which are examples of bad decisions being made about SEO. These are:
A- In some organizations SEO is thought of as something you do after the site is built. This is just too late. At this point the damage has already been done.
B- The organization hires someone to do SEO work for them, and they are knowledgeable about SEO, but they are relatively junior and do not have the confidence or presence to sway the C-Suite or other decision makers.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing at their expensively revamped website cim.co.uk have just made exactly these mistakes. The Cs- David Thorp and Rod Wilkes don't know anything about online marketing and even less about search engine optimisation. Their only care is cost.
To summarize, either bringing in an SEO resource too late, or making use of one that is too junior to have sufficient influence in the organization is a mistake you do not want to make.
How do you solve this problem? You put key people in all constituent groups in your organization (including the C-Suite) through basic SEO training. Knowledge can be a very powerful thing. Once people “get it” they are in a position to make much better decisions. Sometimes there is a tension between corporate objectives and the requirements of SEO, but these can nearly always be handled elegantly if the issues are confronted up front.
In one training session I did, I had the senior management team of a good sized company for a full morning. The group was comprised of really smart people, but with no background in SEO. During the course of that meeting we kept everything at a high level, and we covered a lot of ground. There were tons of questions and dialogue, and by the end of it all the team had gotten the basics down.
The outcome of the meeting was amazing. Historically, they had a great focus on onsite SEO (or technical SEO) but the focus on link building and web site promotion was not high enough. After the meeting decisions started to get made a bit differently. The focus on link building went way up, and the improved results on new business obtained from search engine referrals has been impressive.
The key to success
Large organizations are complex beasts, and a lot of different people have the opportunity to provide input (or directives) about the web site. Everyone is usually well-intentioned, but what you don’t know can hurt you.
To summarize, either bringing in an SEO resource too late, or making use of one that is too junior to have sufficient influence in the organization is a mistake you do not want to make.
How do you solve this problem? You put key people in all constituent groups in your organization (including the C-Suite) through basic SEO training. Knowledge can be a very powerful thing. Once people “get it” they are in a position to make much better decisions. Sometimes there is a tension between corporate objectives and the requirements of SEO, but these can nearly always be handled elegantly if the issues are confronted up front.
In one training session I did, I had the senior management team of a good sized company for a full morning. The group was comprised of really smart people, but with no background in SEO. During the course of that meeting we kept everything at a high level, and we covered a lot of ground. There were tons of questions and dialogue, and by the end of it all the team had gotten the basics down.
The outcome of the meeting was amazing. Historically, they had a great focus on onsite SEO (or technical SEO) but the focus on link building and web site promotion was not high enough. After the meeting decisions started to get made a bit differently. The focus on link building went way up, and the improved results on new business obtained from search engine referrals has been impressive.
The key to success
Large organizations are complex beasts, and a lot of different people have the opportunity to provide input (or directives) about the web site. Everyone is usually well-intentioned, but what you don’t know can hurt you.
Training people is the key. It’s not necessary for most people to spend years learning all the ins and outs of optimisation, but they do need to know the basics.
The best time to do this is as soon as possible. Decisions about the web site are made on a regular basis. Of course, there are other priorities in the organization, and those need to be taken into account. Sometimes a good time to fit this training in is in conjunction with planning meetings for site redesigns or updates. These meetings usually bring the various constituent groups together to make decisions anyway, so it’s an ideal time to provide them with the knowledge they need to make better decisions.
Training can help prevent disastrous decisions, and can also enable great decisions. Knowledge is indeed power, so make sure that those with power over your web site have the knowledge they need to be successful.
The best time to do this is as soon as possible. Decisions about the web site are made on a regular basis. Of course, there are other priorities in the organization, and those need to be taken into account. Sometimes a good time to fit this training in is in conjunction with planning meetings for site redesigns or updates. These meetings usually bring the various constituent groups together to make decisions anyway, so it’s an ideal time to provide them with the knowledge they need to make better decisions.
Training can help prevent disastrous decisions, and can also enable great decisions. Knowledge is indeed power, so make sure that those with power over your web site have the knowledge they need to be successful.
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, online marketing uk, Search Marketing, SEO Services, social media websites
# posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic : Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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Monday, October 12, 2009
Twitter- focus of attention for Google and Microsoft
Twitter has now been running for almost 3 three years and has become a huge treasure trove of information and links – which makes it hot property for the likes of Google and Bing (aka Microsoft).
The major search engines have deflected the need to talk real-time data with Twitter for some time – but times have changed.
A few months back, Twitter repositioned itself as a search engine for its own content. Given the rapid adoption of the platform, this move caught the attention of the major search engines.
This week, Twitter is in separate discussions with both Google and Bing. The aim of discussions is to strike deals that would see both search engines inco