South Florida Web Marketing Blog

DuckDuckGo has good reason to quack. The small startup search engine announced via Twitter that it received more than 1 million searches for the first time on the eve of Valentine’s Day. More than a million searches were also conducted on Valentine’s Day.

A total of 1,067,006 searches were conducted on DuckDuckGo Monday, and 1,019,602 searches on Tuesday. This is significant growth compared to the number of direct queries DuckDuckGo were seeing per day last year.

Just a year ago those numbers were much lower – 175,914 on Feb. 13, 2011, and 211,669 on Feb. 14, 2011, according to its traffic page. That’s roughly a 507 percent year-over-year increase for Feb. 13 and 382 percent increase for Feb. 14. Congrats, Gabriel Weinberg and DuckDuckGo!

Quite impressive growth, but DuckDuckGo is nowhere near cracking the Big 5 search engines in the U.S. – Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL. As a comparison, at last “official” count, a billion searches are conducted daily on Google.

Save up to $400! Register now for SES New York 2012, the leading search social marketing event, taking place March 19-23. Google’s Digital Marketing Evangelist Avinash Kaushik will keynote. Early bird rate expires March 2.

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2152872/DuckDuckGo-Hits-New-Milestone-1-Million-Searches

Google was on the hot seat as online privacy concerns swirled in Washington, D.C., where the Data Privacy Day event was held last Thursday. A group of lawmakers sent Google CEO Larry Page a letter requesting responses to several detailed questions about changes the company made to its privacy policies on January 24.

Google last week announced that starting March 1, more than 60 privacy policies associated with its various platforms and services will be boiled down to one simpler policy. Through the consolidation, cross-platform data tracking that already exists for Google is made more transparent.

“In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,” wrote Alma Whitten, director of privacy, product and engineering at Google in the initial post introducing the policy changes.

The changes are intended to make “things simpler and we’re trying to be upfront about it. Period,” wrote Betsy Masiello, Google’s policy manager, in a Google Public Policy Blog post.

Legislators, privacy advocates, and the Federal Trade Commission have suggested that companies like Google simplify their privacy policies for years. In consolidating policies associated with various Google products, it stands to reason the company believed it was satisfying such requests.

Some privacy watchdogs and legislators didn’t see it that way. The announcement spurred outcries including a letter from eight House Members, including Joe Barton, Edward Markey, Jackie Speier, and Cliff Stearns, each of whom have sponsored privacy bills.

The missive asked why Google made the changes, and requested responses to questions about what types of data the company will track and across which platforms, as well as how the data is protected and how it is used.

“While Google suggests that the purpose of this shift in policy is to make the consumer experience simpler, we want to make sure it does not make protecting consumer privacy more complicated,” stated the letter. ”We believe that consumers should have the ability to opt-out of data collection when they are not comfortable with a company’s terms of service and that the ability to exercise that choice should be simple and straightforward.”

Responses are due by February 16.

Google’s answer on the call for more opt-out control: don’t log in.

“If you are logged in, you can still edit or turn off your Search history, switch Gmail chat to ‘off the record,’ control the way Google tailors ads to your interests, use Incognito mode on Chrome, or use any of the other privacy tools we offer,” noted Masiello in her post. She also stressed that Google isn’t collecting any more data than it already did.

Google has already merged data across platforms in some cases; for instance, the company can already send someone a meeting reminder based on their location and Google Calendar data. Now, interactions with other products including YouTube will be included in the cross-platform tracking.

“I plan to ask the Federal Trade Commission whether Google’s planned changes to its privacy policy violate Google’s recent settlement with the agency,” said Markey in another statement referencing the firm’s settlement over its Google Buzz product. The settlement prohibits Google from “future privacy misrepresentations.”

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2142417/Google-Responds-to-Privacy-Policy-Backlash-Dont-Log-In

Campaign structure remains woefully undervalued. When you have the right campaign structure, Google will reward you with a better quality score. You’ll also be rewarded through improved downstream results.

Campaign structure optimization is critical. Let’s look at the three main areas you should focus on when creating the structure of your account.

Improve Your Relevancy

Search engines want to see tightly themed ad groups. This means that your keywords are all related, and they match your ad copy and landing page messages.

For example, if you’re selling motor oil, you would want to keep all your auto branded keywords in unique ad groups so you can write copy that aligns to that auto brand. The example below shows how the existing structure of an account might be re-mapped into tighter campaign structure.

What is the right number of keywords per ad group? Well, the number of keywords isn’t the correct metric to monitor.

Below is some performance data from retail clients that shows there isn’t a correlation between the number of keywords in an ad group to CTR, or quality score.

Focus on the downstream metrics, and how your structure can be improved from a customer experience standpoint versus the size of the ad group.

With SEO, if you write for the user, the rest will take care of itself. Here, if you build your campaign structure to be the most relevant to the user, the results will come.

Better Budget Control

One of the biggest reasons to create a new campaign is budget control. Since this is a campaign level control, you should leverage a new campaign when there is a specific budget control item to be addressed.

You need to be aware of a keyword’s percent of total spend per campaign. If any one keyword is eating up too much budget, and not allowing better performing keywords to get visibility, then that keyword should get its own group.

In some cases, consider giving a campaign to just one specific keyword if you want to be able to control the budget allocated to that keyword.

Alter Your Advanced Targeting Options

The last main theme that drives new campaigns is the ability to set advanced targeting options. These include mobile, geo, and day-parting targeting options.

All campaigns should be separated to uniquely target mobile and tablet campaigns differently than desktop. Another example might be targeting keywords to specific region. Maybe you only want to target your “swimsuit” keywords to Florida during the winter versus Minnesota.

When considering what campaigns to be set up, or when to break them out, try to think about what levers you’ll be able to use to optimize your campaigns, and how you can better take advantage of the data you get.

For example, impression share is a metric that allows you to better understand the opportunity for a given keyword set. If you want to better measure the opportunity of a unique keyword set, you might create a new ad group, or campaign so Google will provide the data back for just that keyword set.

Summary

Campaign structure should be living and breathing during the course of a campaign. You’ll never have it exactly right, and there is always room for improvement. Just consider how your business goals – and users – will be impacted with any campaign structure changes you make, and you’ll find yourself in a positive situation.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2142426/3-Keys-to-Optimizing-Your-PPC-Campaign-Structure

Local small businesses rarely use Google’s AdWords program to its full potential. Want to learn three cool ways to use AdWords, even if the local business doesn’t have the world’s most robust online presence? If you help local businesses with their online marketing, these strategies will be very useful arrows in your quiver.

1. Straight-up AdWords for Traffic and Leads

First, there’s the obvious reason for setting up an AdWords account for a local client: nearly instant traffic. AdWords is now more important than SEO for local searches, since between ads, maps, and local listings (the “7-pack”), the top organic listing is often below the fold, as this screenshot below demonstrates:

A compelling ad can start generating traffic right away. Notice the uninspiring headlines in the above screenshot? “Dentist.” “General Dentistry.” Dental Care Provider.” “Find a Local Dentist.” Wow, talk about “Mad Men”. If you’re advertising a dental practice, use the headline to differentiate your ad:

• Big Benefit: Gentle Dentist for Cowards
• Social Proof/Story: “I Woke With a Toothache”
• Great Offer: Get $300 Whitening Coupon

In conjunction with a prominent Google Places listing and lots of favorable reviews, AdWords can produce a prominent presence on the search results page.

Unlike national campaigns where keyword selection is a complex job, local markets don’t require hundreds or thousands of medium- to long-tail keywords. Instead, if you geographically limit the campaign to a city or metro area, you can successfully bid on broad match short-tail words like “dentist” or “oral surgeon.”

As a bonus, Google rewards this sloppy bidding strategy by letting you know the exact search phrases that triggered your ads. You can add those keywords to you AdWords account, optimize just those phrases for organic SEO, and make sure the pages that receive this most targeted traffic contain specific, relevant, and compelling content.

2. Test Messaging For Other Media

Even if the local search volume is so low that the number of new leads is negligible, AdWords has another trick up its sleeve. By split testing different ad copy, businesses can find the best copy for their print ads, radio and TV scripts, and yellow pages listings.

It’s not unusual for one ad to perform 2-5 times better than another. Imagine leveraging that improvement across all advertising platforms – especially the ones where testing is unwieldy, expensive, or just plain impossible.

Since most offline media is of the “interruption” variety (print ads, radio and TV commercials, billboards, etc.), you can take advantage of the interruption arm of AdWords, the Display Network. Not only does the Display Network generate about 10 times the traffic of search, the clicks are also cheaper (typically half the price of clicks from search). So the Display Network is the perfect place to find the messages, offers, and calls to action in offline media.

3. Remarketing for Lead Gen and Branding

Remarketing is one of the most powerful AdWords features – and one of Google’s best kept secrets. You’ve experienced remarketing if you’ve ever seen an ad “follow” you around the web. Here’s what happened: you visited a website and Google planted a remarketing cookie on your computer. Now whenever you visit a page in the AdSense network, Google checks for cookies and often shows you ads based on sites where you’ve already demonstrated interest.

Remarketing done well can make you seem ubiquitous, like a giant billion-dollar brand, even if your ad budget is a couple of hundred bucks a month. Because you’re only ubiquitous for the very targeted and highly qualified people who have already visited your site, and didn’t convert on their initial visit.

Imagine sending your local business client a screenshot of their ad on the New York Times or Washington Post – while keeping their advertising budget under $300 per month.

Here’s a powerful local twist to remarketing: when you get an inbound call, try to take the prospect to a page on your website where you have a demo, a price list, a feature list; whatever can help educate your prospect and further the sale.

Stick the Google remarketing code on that page, so that your ads now follow the prospect around the web. Instead of being one more forgettable contender for the prospect’s business, you soon become the dominant player; the obvious choice.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2141107/3-Ways-Local-Small-Businesses-Can-Use-PPC

Facebook’s 60 new Open Graph app partners span a range of domains, from food to fitness to travel, as announced in their live press event January 18. In addition, they will begin the process of approving apps for the new platform, which will allow for greater expression of activities; “If you’re into reading a book, or running, or knitting … the sky’s the limit,” the social network announced.

Opening up the app building and approval process also presents a huge opportunity for brands and marketers to engage users. The announcement isn’t surprising, but builds upon the groundwork they laid last year at the f8 Developer’s Conference.

According to the announcement, app content will show up on the Timeline in three different places. At the end of each Timeline section, Facebook will summarize all of your app activity for the month.

Users can start adding apps right now and, as long as they are using the Timeline, can authorize all 60 by tomorrow. Some of the apps were already available, but this newest release allows them to post to Timelines by default. You authorize once, it posts continuously. You can set privacy for individual apps.

App partners include TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, LivingSocial, Airbnb, Pinterest, Instagram, BranchOut, FundRazr, and more.

In a just-released blog post on the Developers blog, Facebook’s Eddie O’Neill writes, “Starting today, developers can build apps that let people add anything they love to their Timelines – whether it is eating, traveling, shopping, running or taking pictures.” He continues, “The apps launching today are just starting to demonstrate the types of self-expression that are possible with the Open Graph. There are many more stories to tell and great apps to tell them. Get started today!” The Facebook Developers blog has a tutorial to help users get started with the new apps.

The main Facebook blog posted an announcement for users that says new apps will be released over time and explains, in part, “You choose when to add an app, and you decide who can see it. After you’ve added an app, you can always remove posts directly from timeline, and you can also edit your settings from your personal Activity Log.”

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2139898/Facebook-Launches-60-New-Timeline-Apps

I recently spoke at SES New York on best practices for mobile marketing with QR codes. Here’s a follow-up crash course on tools, tactics, and best practices to confidently help you jumpstart a 2D barcode marketing campaign.

1. A QR Code is a 2D Barcode

QR codes are an encoded barcode image resembling a square-like maze. Unlike a 1-dimensional UPC code, a 2-dimensional barcode stores data in both directions and can be scanned vertically or horizontally to be decoded.

2. 2D Barcodes Can Store a Variety of Data

A traditional 1D barcode (UPC/EAN) stores up to 30 numbers, while a 2D barcode (QR) can store up to 7,089 numbers. The additional storage capacity accommodates a variety of data beyond numbers:

• Text
• Hyperlink
• Telephone number (Phone call)
• SMS/MMS message
• Email (Send message)
• Contact entry (vCard or meCard)
• Calendar entry (vCalendar)

Storing a hyperlink presents a myriad of possibilities beyond just loading a web page — play a video, download a mobile app, check-in on Foursquare, update a Twitter status, “Like” a Facebook page, display map directions, and more.

3. Read/Decode a 2D Barcode by Scanning it With a Smartphone

(A 2D barcode reader app is required to decode the encoded data.)

4. 2D Barcodes Can be Placed in and on Nearly Any Location

Once the barcode image is created, it can be printed on nearly any surface and location — newspapers, TV ads, billboards, temporary tattoos, product packaging, clothing labels, cake frosting, and more. This enables you to drive traffic, interaction, and conversion from anywhere. 2D barcodes excel at bringing non-digital media to life.

Note: Use caution placing barcodes online. They should always enhance the user experience. If a user could click a hyperlink, don’t make them scan a code to complete the same task.

Bear in mind the location must be easily scannable. Plastic frames and packaging can reflect light. Lighting can cast shadows, and hillsides and subways can kill Wi-Fi access. Consider all contextual factors that could impact the scanning experience.

5. Mobile Barcode Scanning is on the Rise

• 2D barcode scanning outnumbered 1D (UPC) scans in Q1 2011.
  - ScanLife’s Q1 2011 Trend Report
• Mobile barcode scanning grew 1,600 percent in the year 2010.
  - ScanLife’s 2010 Trend Report (PDF)
• QR barcode scanning was up 1,200 percent in the second half of 2010.
  - Mobio’s Naked Facts Report
• 22 percent of the Fortune 50 have already used mobile barcodes.
  - Burson-Marsteller Report

QR codes can be used for nearly any function (logistics, advertising, customer service, etc.) for B2B and B2C across a variety of industries:

• Best Buy uses QR codes on in-store price tags for quick access to online reviews.
• Golf Digest uses Microsoft Tag in their magazine to accompany tips with interactive video.
• Real estate agents use 2D barcodes on “for sale” signs providing prospective buyers access to virtual tours.
• Libraries are using QR codes to facilitate learning via interactive scavenger hunts.

6. QR Isn’t the Only Type of 2D Barcode

The most popular 2D barcode formats are QR code, DataMatrix, ScanLife EZcode, and Microsoft Tag (Tag).

There are several key differences in these code formats. ScanLife EZcode and Microsoft Tag are proprietary formats only decodable by their tools, while QR and DataMatrix formats are open standard. (Additional format differences can be addressed in another blog post.)

A Google Trends analysis of these 2D barcodes shows “QR code” dominates by far from a search popularity perspective. QR has become a common term used to reference a 2D barcode (2D code, mobile tag, mobile barcode, etc.) even when codes are technically a different format. Even @MicrosoftTag uses the #QRcode hashtag on Twitter.

7. Tools to Generate and Read 2D Barcodes are Free

Tools are available for all major mobile phone handsets. To run a 2D barcode campaign you’ll need to following:

1. 2D barcode generator (Website service)
2. 2D barcode reader (Mobile app)
3. [Optional” 2D barcode management/tracking tool (Website service)

Generators:

Different generators have varying features. Choose a generator based on the options for:

• Code Format (i.e. QR, EZcode, Tag, etc.)
• Stored Data (i.e. hyperlink, meCard, SMS, etc.)
• Output (i.e. color, size, download file type, etc.)

QRstuff.com is a comprehensive QR generator providing a variety of stored content, color, size, and output options. ScanLife’s generator creates their proprietary EZcode as well as QR and DataMatrix formats. Microsoft Tag only generates Tag.

Note: To generate a code on the ScanLife or Microsoft Tag sites, you’ll first need to create an account. (Tag requires providing personal info like birth date, gender, etc.)

Readers:

Microsoft Tag and ScanLife EZcode can only be decoded by their respective reader apps. Because of the open standard for QR codes, dozens of reader apps are available. (DataMatrix is usually supported on most QR readers.) Some mobile handsets come with a reader app pre-installed.

The following 2D barcode reader apps work on the majority of phones/handsets.

RedLaser and ATT Code Scanner also have geolocation features for local price comparison shopping.

8. Management Tools are Available to Track Scanning Analytics

URL-shortener and web analytics for 2D barcodes storing URL hyperlinks are a great start. For comprehensive scan tracking, you’ll need to use a barcode generator tool that includes tracking analytics. (These tools are not independent.) Some management tools will merely track the number of scans while others provide detailed metrics like demographics, repeat scans, geolocation, and more. Collected analytics depends on the reader app used for scanning, so data results may vary.

Management tools are relatively inexpensive and sometimes free. Paid plans typically have a free trial with fees based on the number of scans.

2D Barcode Management Tracking Tools:

• Microsoft Tag (Tag)
• ScanLife (EZcode, QR, DataMatrix, UPC)
• Tappinn (QR, UPC)
• Paperlinks (QR)
• QReateBUZZ (QR)
• BeQRious (QR)
• SPARQCode (QR)
• QReate and Track (QR)

9. 2D Barcode Content Should Provide Special Value for the Customer

It’s work to scan a barcode, so users have higher expectations as to what content they will find. Reward the user with discounts, exclusive content, or useful tips relevant to the code’s context. Consider scenarios that leverage smartphone features (email, SMS, phone call, video, map, apps, etc.) to save the user time.

For example, including a QR code on a business card that links to a meCard would be a lot easier than the user manually entering the contact record. In contrast, a QR code that links to a website homepage adds limited value.

Note: If you link to a web page, make sure that it’s mobile-friendly.

10. Small or Complex QR Codes Can’t be Scanned by Smartphones With Lesser Quality Cameras

Complex 2D barcodes (a lot going on, not very dense) are more challenging and time consuming to scan. In the case of QR codes, more stored content forces a larger code size. In general, it’s best to minimize data stored in 2D barcodes. Always use a URL-shortener to shrink hyperlinks. (Add analytics tracking parameters before shortening the link.)

Warning: Small, complex QR codes are the biggest mistake currently being made by marketers. (Microsoft Tag and EZcode formats generally don’t have this issue.) Smartphone cameras with resolution less than 4-megapixels can’t scan a QR code smaller than about 1″x1″. Moreover, without the auto-focus (AF) camera feature, a complex QR code will have the same scanning issue, even if the code is larger. The iPhone 3GS and Blackberry are popular handset examples that lack both of these camera features. Unscannable codes kill and delay the adoption rate for 2D barcode campaigns.

Tip: Always provide a back-up (i.e. hyperlink, SMS text message, etc.) option for users to retrieve info within the code. A back-up enables non-smartphone users to also participate.

11. Consumers Need Guidance to Scan 2D Barcodes

The variety of code types, readers, and different terminology is confusing to consumers. Nielsen Company estimates that only 40 percent of U.S. mobile devices are smartphones as of Q1 2011, growing to almost 50 percent by Q3 2011. That means there are a lot of smartphone rookies that barely know how to use their phone, much less distinguish differences in mobile barcode formats and reader apps. As long as 2D barcodes are a novelty concept, always include a brief step-by-step guide with the context of your code.

Logical steps:

1. Get the reader app
2. Scan the code with your mobile device
3. (Action that happens upon scanning)

Tip: For the reader app download, include a URL link or SMS shortcut to expedite the process. This step is imperative when using proprietary Microsoft Tag or ScanLife EZcode formats since only one reader is capable of scanning their codes.

Steps two and three can be combined as a call-to-action. Example: “Scan to ____.” (… watch a video, download our app, call customer support, etc.)

12. 2D Barcodes can be Customized Artistically

QR codes include an Error Correction Level (ECL) that enables “damaged” codes to still be scanned. The error level tolerance (set by the code generator) can be as high as 30%. As a result, creative license can be used to create designer QR codes from a variety of colors or materials (i.e. jelly beans, sand castles, product packaging, etc.) as long as there is adequate contrast to read the code.

When it comes to advanced QR code graphic design, it’s harder than it looks. If you want to get fancy, I recommend connecting with QR art experts at QRarts.com or Delivr.com.

Microsoft Tag also allows for artistic codes. Their custom tag tool allows users to generate art from codes or even overlay codes on top of photographs.

Tip: Some artistic design is fun and good to see; however, don’t go overboard. As long as 2D barcodes are novelty, it’s important that users easily recognize a scannable code from a distance.

13. Testing Scannability is Imperative.

Before you mass print or distribute barcodes be sure to test for scannability. Testing factors:

• Smartphone cameras (resolution/auto-focus)
• Reader apps
• Scan context (i.e. lighting, shadows, surfaces)
• Scan distance
• Scan timing

14. Seek Expertise to Ensure Successful Campaigns

To ensure campaign success, consider consulting with a mobile barcode marketing expert, especially if it’s your first time running a mobile barcode campaign. Technology, trends, and tools in this arena are rapidly changing. A few hours of expert consulting can bring your team up to speed, help optimize campaigns for success, and avoid unnecessary embarrassment for poor implementation.

Expertise goes beyond consultants: Talk to your web analytics guru and learn all you can about the mobile users currently accessing your website. Seek out mobile marketing industry statistics regarding popular devices and demographics to appropriately target your audience. (Compete, ScanLife, and eMarketer provide regular useful reports.) Follow the #QRcode Twitter hashtag or subscribe to “QR Code News Mobile Trends” (Paper.li) for the latest news and case studies.

Finally, download my QR Code Best Practices Checklist Campaign Worksheet to help plan and manage your campaigns:

Next Steps…

Are you ready to jump start a QR code campaign? What questions do you have about the technology, tools or tactics? Please let me know in the comments below. I’ll be sure to address the most popular topics in upcoming articles.

Editor’s note: This column originally was published on April 26, 2011, and was the most popular column of the year on Search Engine Watch in 2011. Over the final two weeks of 2011, we’ve celebrated the Best of 2011 by revisiting our most popular columns, as determined by our readers. We hope you have enjoyed this look back!

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2066777/Top-14-Things-Marketers-Need-to-Know-About-QR-Codes

The process has already started, and as a publisher you need to make sure you are adapting your marketing strategy to line up, or get left behind.

Google made the link building algorithm popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was a revolution in its time because it provided search engines with a method for identifying the most important web pages for a given topic. However, as has been well documented, spammers have assaulted the algorithm with a wide variety of methods for buying links or creating them in other ways that don’t work for the algorithms.

Even if you generate all your links in a pure white hat way, through reaching out to site owners and requesting them without compensation, or are doing high quality guest posts, you aren’t necessarily generating the best possible signal for search engines. Certainly this type of link building done properly would not be a violation of the Webmaster Guidelines, but from the perspective of the search engines it also doesn’t represent a groundswell of opinion raving about your product. It still means something, but it is brute force driven through your efforts, rather than resulting from the enthusiasm of your audience.

I don’t believe that search engines will penalize people who link build this way, but I think they will value the link profile that is manually built less than one that obtains unsolicited endorsements from the web.

Prior to the emergence of Google, links weren’t a ranking factor in a significant search engine. At that time, any unpaid links were implemented solely based on merit, because the publisher had no other reason to link to someone else’s page. Even paid ads were based on the advertiser valuing the traffic from the target site enough to be willing to pay for it, since there was no other benefit – so these too went to highly relevant pages as a rule.

Short and simple: links were a better quality signal when the world didn’t know that they were a signal. But, those days are gone.

What the Search Engines are Doing

The search engines are constantly in search of additional signals to help provide better data on the best results to return for a given query, and to make it harder for spammers to succeed in ranking lower quality sites (lower quality than others that are available on the web). The increase in the use of social signals by the engines has been a part of that effort.

However, social signals are relatively noisy. As I documented in “Social Signals and SEO: Focus on Authority,” the number of people on the major social sites that are actively recommending sites/content is still a relatively small percentage of the population.

That same article also documented how using social media’s “wisdom of the crowd” (showing the most liked articles) was something that Bing tried, but then later removed. I believe that this happened because using social media mentions as votes in the same way that links were used did not really work, even in the limited fashion that Bing tried it.

I expect that for many categories of searches search engines will weight sites that show multiple types of signals more than those that show only one. Back in July I wrote about “The Dangers of a One Dimensional Link Building Plan.” However, in addition to not doing one type of link building, you should also be careful to not use old-fashioned link building as your only method for promoting the site. Find a way to get the web to generate other signals about what you are doing!

Some Ideas

The first key is to focus on where your audience is (what sites they visit, what videos they watch, whose columns they read, …). Think like a pre-Internet marketer would when trying to decide how to spend their ad dollars. Ranking signals can be generated by both your potential customers and the publishers of the content on the web that they visit.

Potential customers can create signals by:

1. Talking about you in social media.
2. Visiting your site.
3. Searching on your brand name.
4. Doing a search for products or services like yours and clicking on your search result.
5. Discussing you in comments on blogs or forums.

There are a lot more methods than these few!

Publishers of the content that your audience consumes can generate signals as well, in the form of good old-fashioned links. So what are the ways to encourage the generation these types of signals?

As per my recent columns, you should certainly focus on authority, and seek to become an authority. Even if you aren’t yet an authority yourself, you can do things to get your name out there to start getting exposure to authorities and to build visibility with others. Here are a few specific ideas on how you can do that:

1. Start a blog: But only do this if you can produce unique, high quality content on a regular basis. It is a real time commitment. However, don’t emphasize volume over quality. Two great articles a month will do far more for you than 4 decent ones a month, or 10 crappy ones
2. Start a social media campaign: Become an active community member. Read the Become an Authority article for more tips on how to do that effectively. Note that it is better to execute extremely well at one social media site than it is to do an OK job in several.
3. Participate in communities: If you can’t start a blog or drive a highly active social media campaign, you can still participate in communities. Comment on blogs, forums, videos, or whatever medium your potential customers consume. In other words, as a fallback to Becoming an Authority, work at becoming known. Drive interactions that take place in front of your target audience. Go to conferences and engage in dialogues. Be the person that asks a great question of one of the speakers during the QA.
4. Generate press releases: Issue press releases from time to time, but only when there is something worth talking about on the web.
5. Generate news: Do something newsworthy that someone else would be interested in writing about.
6. Advertise on web sites where your target audience goes: Not for the purposes of buying links, but for exposure to your target audience, and to the people that publish content that your audience consumes.
7. Advertise in search engines: More great exposure!
8. Advertise on Facebook: For the same reasons, but only use this one if you can reach your potential customers here

Regardless of where you are in the process of building your own authority, do some things to attract positive attention to your website. Participating in discussions online is a great place to start. Participating in offline discussions that you can use to help drive online interactions is also a great thing to do.

The key is to create great signals in addition to the links that your site attracts.

Summary

The past couple of years have made us all aware of the growing importance of social media, and Google’s Panda update made it common knowledge that other types of user behavior could be a factor in search engine rankings. Expect this trend to continue, and possibly even accelerate. What it means for you as a publisher is that you need to do more than old-fashioned link building.

While this type of link building can and should be a part of your marketing mix, doing it in isolation will send unbalanced signals to search engines. You can imagine a search engine thinking to itself: “Gee – if the link profile of this site is so hot, how come no one is talking about it online of searching for it”?

Search engines will continue to strive to understand how people evaluate the value of a particular website. Their goal is to get as close to that human evaluation as possible.

The process has already started. As a publisher you need to make sure you adapt your marketing strategy to line up. Otherwise, you’ll get left behind.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2137556/The-End-of-Link-Building-as-Weve-Known-and-Loved-it

In September, Senators questioned whether Google had too much power. Lawmakers got a taste of just how much power Google can wield yesterday.

Blacking out its logo and urging its users to “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!” Google added 4.5 million names to a petition opposing controversial anti-piracy bills SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), the Los Angeles Times reported.

The petition, which is still available via Google’s End Piracy, Not Liberty website, warned the millions who visit Google every day how the two anti-piracy bills would result in censorship and hurt American businesses: “Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.”

The 4.5 million people who signed Google’s petition is in addition to the more than 3 million people who had already signed petitions opposing SOPA, according to Google’s “Congress, Can You Hear Us?” graphic on the website.

In addition to Google, here are some other stats the LA Times reported out of the mass online protest yesterday:

• 1.458 million people signed a similar petition to Google’s at Avaaz.org.
• Fight for the Future reported “at least 350,000 people have sent emails to representatives in the House and Senate”.
• More than 103,000 people signed petitions through the We the People website
• 25,000 WordPress blogs blacked out their blogs, while another 12,500 added a “Stop Censorship” ribbon.

Meanwhile, Twitter reported there were more than 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets between midnight and 4 p.m. yesterday. The top five terms were: SOPA, Stop SOPA, PIPA, and Tell Congress, and #factswithoutwikipedia.

Elsewhere, MC Hammer, the former rapper and man behind the forthcoming “deep search engine” WireDoo, spoke an anti-SOPA rally yesterday in San Francisco.

“We don’t want people who spend their days legislating trying to control creativity,” Hammer said, according to a WSJ report. “I speak on behalf of a lot of artists … who would like to be able to continue to utilize the valuable tools that the Internet has brought.”

Today, support for the bills seems to be eroding, and Bloomberg credits Google in part for “changing the legislative debate in Washington.” However, a visit to Wikipedia is a good reminder: “We’re not done yet.”

“SOPA and PIPA are not dead: they are waiting in the shadows,” reads a message on Wikipedia’s site, which also noted that 162 million visitors yesterday saw their anti-SOPA message. “What’s happened in the last 24 hours, though, is extraordinary. The Internet has enabled creativity, knowledge, and innovation to shine, and as Wikipedia went dark, you’ve directed your energy to protecting it.”

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2140190/Google-Protest-Adds-4.5-Million-SOPA-Opponents

Predictions are popping up everywhere as the New Year begins. Instead of producing another list of things that are likely to happen, here are the five things I’d like to see happen in 2012 but in reality probably won’t.

Bing Takes 15% Search Market Share From Google

It’s not the first time I’ve found myself writing that competition spurs on innovation. While Google might be innovating without a strong search competitor in the west, increased competition can only be a good thing – and helps keep large companies honest.

Which brings me to one way Bing might achieve this, in my idealized version of 2012.

Bing and Facebook Crack Social-Assisted Search

Word of mouth is still the most effective form of marketing, with search engines often ranking as the second most effective. So taking the word of mouth nature of social and using this to influence search results sounds like a perfect marriage, but nobody has made it work, with scale, internationally – yet.

If Bing and Facebook could crack this, they might just have a competitive advantage over Google, which will be focused on growing their user base on Google+ and lack much of the data Facebook have. Microsoft invested in Facebook and powers its web search, after all.

Yahoo is Reinvigorated With a New Strategy

Poor Yahoo. Left behind in search by Google, lacking a CEO, and the subject of constant speculation, the company is a long way from the Internet pioneer it once was. A reinvigorated Yahoo would be great to see; they still have many great services they’ve built or acquired.

Clients Appreciate That Specialists Deliver Better Campaigns – and Are Worth Paying For

Recessionary pressure and the power of procurement departments has meant some clients have consolidated activity under one all-service agency – even if that agency isn’t strong in digital areas like search, ad exchanges or conversion optimization.

These brands are getting a “cheap” deal overall but are often missing a vital point – as Honda CMO Steve Center has said, “If you grind the margin out of your agency you will get a marginal agency.”

This especially applies when a digital department is charged out with a low fee to protect an all-service deal; that department’s PL might not be funded to hire the best digital people (or simply enough people). Specialist agencies know these accounts well – they’re the ones you onboard and have to rebuild from scratch, or achieve amazing results for quickly – because there was so much low hanging fruit left by the other agency.

CMOs and CEOs Finally “Get Digital”

Many digital marketers will tell you how frustrating they find senior executive attitudes to funding digital. They’re happy to spend millions on TV ads, but ask them to agree to fund a landing page optimization tool and they recoil – even though the latter will bring concrete sales improvements.

Offline and branding are vital parts of the marketing mix – but the appropriation of budgets between channels is often out-dated. Twenty-five percent of time spent in media was on the Internet in 2010 in the U.S., but only 19 percent of budgets were spent on the channel; mobile saw 8 percent of time with only 0.5 percent of budgets. Print, by comparison, received 27 percent of budgets but only 8 percent of time.

There’s still a long way to go before the top execs at many brands truly “get” digital and budgets are more fairly apportioned.

Do you have a wish list of digital in 2012? Leave a comment below.

Image Credit: Felipe Venâncio 

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2133549/5-Things-That-Should-Happen-in-Digital-in-2012-But-Probably-Wont

Google introduced huge new features today that bring some clarity to many of the changes they’ve made over the past several months, including the creation of their own social media network and the implementation of SSL search. Their latest search engine incarnation is called Search Plus Your World and it’s rolling out on Google.com over the next few days.

The new features bring personal results, largely from the Google+ network, into the SERPs at the click of a button. People, Pages, and Profiles are also fully integrated in search results. A look at a few of the new features:

Personal Results from Google+ Fully Integrated in SERPs

Users can click a new personalization icon at the top of the search results page, which pulls relevant posts and pictures from their Circle of friends into their search results. This is already happening to some degree, as people have noticed Google+ posts sometimes outrank even the original content to which it refers. The new icon, however, drills down further to limit these personalized results to those from within the user’s network, including content shared privately with the signed in user.

Notably, these are results from their Google+ network, not Facebook or Twitter. If ever the two other major social media players might have felt Google, as the search giant, had an edge in promoting their social platform, this pretty well seals the deal.

Amit Singhal told Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land this morning, “Facebook and Twitter and other services, basically, their terms of service don’t allow us to crawl them deeply and store things. Google+ is the only [network] that provides such a persistent service. Of course, going forward, if others were willing to change, we’d look at designing things to see how it would work.”

Google+ Profiles in Search

In another thinly veiled jab at their competitors in the social arena, Google wrote in their blog post about the release:

Every day, there are hundreds of millions of searches for people. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the person you’re looking for. Once you do find him or her, there’s no quick way for you to actually interact. Starting today, you’ll have meaningful ways to connect with people instantly, right from the search results.

Typing in the first few letters of a person’s name allows Google to autocomplete and bring up their own search results page, which includes their Google+ profile page and “other relevant web results.” Once you’ve found the person you’re looking for, you can see every single web result Google attributes to them, leaving out all others with the same name.

This feature alone has the potential for great convenience for the average user, as well as massive abuse. A result about a person could be highly relevant and “do all the right things” as far as SEO is concerned, but malign the person it’s about. It will be interesting to see how Google handles complaints about content generated by others when it’s now available curated on a single page.

Google may also suggest to users others they may wish to search by autocompleting with popular Google+ profiles, which they can add to Circles with a single click from the results page. In particular, this feature builds on the author profile markup that Google introduced towards the end of last year.

People Pages Suggestions in AdWords Territory

Google started embedding Google+ brand pages into primary search results in mid-December. At that time, Brightedge VP Brad Mattick said he believed that “blurring the lines between G+ and search results parallels Microsoft’s inclusion of the Internet Explorer browser in its Windows OS in the 1990s.”

The integration of People Pages results on the right side of the SERPs is an interesting idea, as these listings of suggested users to Circle seem to take the place of PPC ads normally displayed in this area. This will also be an interesting area to watch, as it’s not clear at this time whether users will see ads, or how often, using this type of personalized search.

Unprecedented SERPs Security – Just Like Gmail

Google explains the switch to SSL search for signed-in users, the cause of much angst in the search community:

Since some of the information you’ll now find in search results, including Google+ posts and private photos, is already secured by SSL encryption on Google+, we have decided that the results page should also have the same level of security and privacy protection. That’s part of why we were the first major search engine to turn on search via SSL by default for signed-in users last year. This means when you’re signed in to Google, your search results—including your private content—are protected by the same high standards of encryption as your messages in Gmail.

While this sounds like a wonderful feature for users, it could also mean that secure personalized search results and history are subject to the same draconian search and seizure methods the government now employs under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to access personal email accounts. As we discussed last year, government officials may seize electronic data including email accounts under this legislation with no probable cause a crime has been committed, no search warrant, and without notifying the user.

Google received 4,601 requests from July to December 2010 to hand over user data as a result of search warrants, subpoenas, and requests under the ECPA. They complied with 94%, according to their Transparency Report website.

Google put out a video explaining the new features of Search Plus Your World, which is currently available only at Google.com and in English.

What do you think of Google’s new vision for search, is it the next logical step or are they treading further into antitrust territory and total domination of the web? Let us know in the comments!

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2136615/Google-Launches-Search-Plus-Your-World