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Google Experimenting with Markup for Product Data
February 28, 2010, 10:37 pm"Google is experimenting with markup for product data. We do not currently display this information, unless the product is part of a review."
Important Reminders About Keyword Research
February 28, 2010, 10:04 pmDepending on what type of website or business you have you will most likely be conducting different types of keyword research during the initial onsite search engine optimization process. If you have a smaller service based business with ten pages on your website you will take a different approach than if you have an ecommerce site that has a...
SEO Consulting: How To Construct Great Proposals
February 28, 2010, 8:38 pmLike in any consulting field, SEO is rife with competition. There is only one way to win in such an environment, and that is to set yourself apart from the crowd. Not in a bad way, of course :) Here are some ideas on how to construct winning proposals. Size Isn't Everything, But It Does Count Large proposals take a long time to do. On the upside,...
126 Million Blogs on the Internet
February 28, 2010, 8:23 pmby Manoj Jasra
JESS3, a creative agency specializing in data visualization, has put together an amazing video which shows the current state of the Internet. We have highlighted some of the data below, but please also watch the video for yourself (it rivals the Social Media Revolution).
1.73 Billion Internet users worldwide
90...
PayPal's Ed Eger on Reserves
February 28, 2010, 7:40 pmHi All-I'm Ed Eger, the new general manager of North America. Recently our partners over at Channel Advisor let us know that there is a lot of confusion among our merchant customers about our reserves policy. In fact Scot Wingo, the CEO of Channel Advisor, wrote a blog post about .
Beating the Logic & Creativity Out of You
February 28, 2010, 5:51 pmI remember in 2nd grade when our teacher was teaching us how to do math I raced ahead and was doing lessons for today, tomorrow, and next week. The teacher rewarded my efforts by yelling at me and ripping up the pages from the book and giving me a 0 on that homework. In fourth grade we would play around the world with math flash cards where you...
And now back to our regularly scheduled program'
February 28, 2010, 5:34 pmIt's been an exciting 17 days! By the end of the day on Monday, we will have featured 50 homepage images, 200 hotspots, and athletes from all over the globe. You can relive the past 7 images (including hotspots) using the image viewer. Just click the arrows in the lower right side of the image: If you want to see more, check out our Bing Photo...
Saintly Wins, Public Confessions, Olympian Ambitions: February 2010 Buzz
February 28, 2010, 10:59 amby Vera H-C Chan For a month adorned with hearts, the fighting spirit was at the forefront in February, what with Olympian amateurs, underdog Saints, wannabe "Idols," and purebred pups. There was news news as well - Hill combatants heralded its never-really-on-again, off-again relationship on the televised health care summit - but the event that...
Press Release Writing Ideas, Services, and SEO
February 28, 2010, 9:23 am
OK, let’s be honest right off the bat: most press releases received by most media organizations go right into the recycling bin. But that doesn’t mean yours will. For one thing, the good press releases have a few things in common, and for another, “media” now includes bloggers, ezines, streaming content producers, and...
Pandia Search Engine News Wrap-up Feb 28
February 28, 2010, 9:04 amAnother week has passed in the world of search engines, and there are no surprises: Google has again got most of the attention. It seems Europe has decided that Google has to be disciplined. Here are your headlines,
The Italian Google case is a threat to the social side of Web publishing
February 28, 2010, 9:03 amThis week an Italian court sentenced three Google executives to six months in prison for allowing users to post a video on YouTube. The video, which was uploaded in 2006, showed kids bullying a child with Down's syndrome. Sickening video Let there be no doubt about our position on publishing such videos online. It sickens us, and it must be...
Google adds Nearby search option for local search
February 28, 2010, 8:00 amGoogle has added a local search toll to its Search Option panel. The Nearby option only works for google.com searches in English. Here's what you do: Do a search in Google for let's say "Chinese restaurant". Normally you would have added your geographical location to the query: "Chinese restaurant Oslo". Instead click on the link to the Search...
Stats Put Android Ahead Of iPhone In Eight States
February 28, 2010, 6:56 amThere's encouraging news for Google in the Android vs. iPhone war. A company that's delivered more than one billion applications, games, ringtones, videos, and wallpapers to mobile users claims Android has topped the iPhone in terms of user concentration in eight states. As the map below shows, these eight states are Arizona, Maryland, Montana,...
State of Search: New site on search and search engine marketing
February 28, 2010, 6:39 amState of Search is a new blog covering the search engine scene, focusing on articles relevant to the industry, search engine marketing and social media. It is a well designed site with interesting news articles and comments. The man behind State of Search is Bas van den Beld, who used to write for the European search blog Searchcowboys. van den...
Technologies for Web Design: Ajax, Flash, and PHP
February 28, 2010, 5:17 am
Fortunately, to have a great website today you don’t have to be an HTML wizard or have mad programming skills. There are plenty of technologies for web design that let you have a dynamic or interactive interface on your web pages. Four of those technologies are Ajax, Flash, PHP, and ASP.
Ajax is short for asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It...
The True Cost of Quality Outsourced Link Development
February 27, 2010, 8:20 pm"WebmasterWorld members discuss the true cost of quality outsourced link development."
Nofollow: Twitter Now Distrusts Everything You Say
February 27, 2010, 5:37 pmTwitter and nofollow is the topic of this week's Twitter column: While even Google who has introduced, along with other search engines, the nofollow attribute to combat spam a few years ago does not propagate the use of it anymore, Twitter went nofollow big time just recently. What does this mean? Twitter distrusts everything you say. Not only...
Global Internet Use Not Yet Universal
February 27, 2010, 10:53 amGoing online in many countries, including developed ones is far from universal according to a new report by the World Internet Project (WIP). The report was carried out by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, it found only half of the 10 reporting countries had more than a majority of...
Track Tsunami Warnings Online with NOAA, Twitter & Search
February 27, 2010, 9:36 amEarlier in the morning a major 8.8 earthquake hit Concepcion, Chile (a major university city) which has set off a Tsunami warning in the Pacific which reaches from California to Hawaii. According to MSNBC news, at 11 am EST, Hawaiians will wake up to an early morning Tsunami warning and evacuations of seaside areas. The major news networks are all...
Cup of Joe: Kick It Up a Notch & Take It Offline!
February 27, 2010, 7:03 am
So you got your client on the front page of Digg. With your SEO skills you pushed them to the top of the rankings for all their key terms. You have optimized their PPC campaigns and have drastically improved their ROI.
You are a rock star and everyone knows it!
But the question now is, what’s left? Don’t get me wrong...
Does Google Buzz Deserve All the Criticism It's Gotten?
February 27, 2010, 7:01 amGoogle Buzz has been a magnet for skepticism, controversy, and criticism since it launched earlier this month. The skepticism is a result of past Google social media efforts not having the greatest track record. Much of the controversy and criticism has been the result of privacy, and more recently copyright concerns from users. Google Buzz...
David Meerman Scott updates The New Rules of Marketing and PR at SES New York 2010
February 27, 2010, 6:18 amDavid Meerman Scott, the author of "The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, 2nd Edition" will be giving the opening keynote at SES New York 2010.Click to read the rest of this post...
Talk About A-Plus
February 26, 2010, 8:20 pmYahoo! at San Francisco's 4A conference Did you ever see the 1950 classic " All About Eve ?" In it, Bette Davis plies the classic line, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" Well Sunday, Feb. 28 begins the 4A Conference at the Union Square Hilton in San Francisco . At this fab confab, advertising's best will appear and show off...
Does Google Punish Link Buyers or Just Link Sellers?
February 26, 2010, 8:10 pm"WebmasterWorld members discuss the issue of link buying and selling, and the impact on Google ranking."
CustomerID Now Available in AdCenter Web UI
February 26, 2010, 7:05 pmIt is now possible to view your CustomerID in the Microsoft adCenter web user interface. The CustomerID is an identifier that is used in some API calls. To view your CustomerID in the web UI, click on the Accounts & Billing tab after logging in. Then click on the Company Information sub-tab. You will then see a value for the Customer ID value....
Speedy, Ackbar, and a Hungry Mascot: Buzz Week in Review
February 26, 2010, 6:48 pmby Mike Krumboltz When was the last time you thought about Speedy Gonzales, or Admiral Ackbar of Star Wars? When you were 5? Well, the Gonzales-Ackbar drought is over. Searches surged on the fastest mouse in all of Mexico, after it was revealed that a "non-racist" movie was in the works. Elsewhere, the relatively minor character from "Return of...
Resuming local bank withdrawals to India
February 26, 2010, 6:48 pmHi. It is Farhad Irani again with a progress update. We have been diligently working with the RBI and our business partners to resume Indian bank withdrawals for the thousands of Indian businesses who use PayPal to sell their goods or services in the global marketplace. I'm pleased to tell you .
Carly Simon Says Who Is So Vain
February 26, 2010, 3:22 pmby Claudine Zap So singer-songwriter Carly Simon has finally let out her deep, dark, secret . Sort of. (More on that later.) According to a UK tabloid , the mysterious figure who is the center of her song " You're So Vain " is not ex-boyfriend Warren Beatty . Nor former flames (and, we assume vanity-hogs) Mick Jagger , Cat Stevens , or Kris...
Andrew Koenig's Batman Film
February 26, 2010, 3:22 pmby Mike Krumboltz On Thursday afternoon, the body of actor Andrew Koenig was discovered in a Vancouver park. Though best known for his work on '80s sitcom " Growing Pains ," Mr. Koenig also starred as the Joker in an unofficial Batman film from 2003 entitled " Batman: Dead End ." The film, which is available on YouTube, has exploded in the Search...
AP Extends Digital Strategy With Gateway Unit
February 26, 2010, 3:11 pmA news organization that was founded in 1846 is making another attempt to transition to the digital age. The Associated Press has announced the creation of a unit called AP Gateway, and with the unit, the agency intends to "facilitate development of fresh news consumer experiences for the Web as well as mobile phones, tablets and e-readers." This...
Leftovers: A Blizzard of Search News
February 26, 2010, 2:59 pm12 updates to read over a lazy weekend. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Testing a Revamp of the Search Results Page
February 26, 2010, 2:51 pmUpdate: Danny Sullivan reports that "slight variations" of this design are "live in the wild," and "still being shown to a randomly selected group of people," and that Google doesn't have an expected launch date for a complete roll-out.
Original Article (11/19): Google is testing a new user interface for...
More Google Legal Woes: Buzz Lawsuit and EU Regulation
February 26, 2010, 2:19 pmSmells like Microsoft spirit. Click to read the rest of this post.
Expedia Launches New iPhone App For Travelers
February 26, 2010, 2:08 pmExpedia has launched a new free iPhone application, TripAssist, that links to its mobile website to allow users to mange their travel itineraries. TripAssist allows users to research flights, destinations, hotels, cars and activities. Once they make a reservation, they can manage and update their itineraries, find an alternative flight, research...
New Alliance Heralds New Opportunities
February 26, 2010, 2:02 pmHow the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance works for advertisers Yahoo! and Microsoft have received U.S. and E.U. regulatory clearance for their search transaction. The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance will provide a competitive search platform that we believe will drive innovation in search and search advertising, offer a more engaging and...
Even Google Employees Get Delisted
February 26, 2010, 1:54 pm
We all know someone or seen someone who’s gotten kicked out of Google SERPs. It seems like a significant proportion of these people (or at least just the vocal ones) feel this exclusion is as personal as it was in seventh grade—Susan G. didn’t like you, so she wouldn’t let you hang out with their group, and...
eBay-PayPal Tie-Up Draws Complaints In Germany
February 26, 2010, 1:45 pmThis has not been a great week for American tech companies trying to do business in Europe. First, Google got in trouble over allegedly anticompetitive search practices and its policy on Street View data retention. Now, German antitrust authorities are looking at the way in which eBay has supported PayPal. John Oates explained earlier today,...
3 Quick Ways to Test Your Website Design in FireFox
February 26, 2010, 1:10 pmI am no web designer (I have neither time nor talent to learn web design), however for SEOs it is essential to know some basic tools and tips to test a website design when it is delivered. Thus this post is not intended to share some advanced tips for web developers: instead it lists three quick ways to test a web design in FireFox: 1.
Friday's with Stefan and his UK Friends
February 26, 2010, 12:42 pmStefan has been in the UK this week talking with the Bing UK team and he has sent us this weeks theme and video from across the water. The Bing UK team is doing some great work trying to raise money for Sport Relief, for more information and you are in the UK go to www.givewithbing.com for more information. So take a look and make sure you catch...
A Third of Journalists Still Not Using Social Media
February 26, 2010, 12:36 pm
The Society For New Communications Research has come out with a new study on journalists’ use of social media—and it’s not as optimistic (or maybe realistic) as another study published this month. In a survey of 300+ journalists, the second annual Middleberg/SNCR Survey of Media in the Wired World (PDF executive...
Best Practices and Tips for Launching March Madness Microsoft adCenter Campaigns
February 26, 2010, 12:19 pmWith March rapidly approaching, that means one thing for sports fans and retailers: March Madness is almost here! This event offers ticket sellers, retailers and fantasy sports sites, the chance to create search campaigns aimed at target demographics. This post offers tips and concepts to think about when building out your PPC campaigns. Note:...
Google Adds Location to Search Options Panel
February 26, 2010, 12:13 pmMove is latest in location-based features for the search giant. Click to read the rest of this post.
Gold Medal of Search: Who Has the Best Olympic Results?
February 26, 2010, 11:52 amTell us your favorite search engine for Olympic information.Click to read the rest of this post...
State Farm Launches iPhone App For Teen Drivers
February 26, 2010, 10:53 amState Farm has introduced a new free iPhone and iPod touch application aimed at helping young drivers stay safe on the road. The "Steer Clear" application is part of State Farm's safe drivers discount program. The app gives young drivers a way to complete the Steer Clear discount program and encourages supervised driver education.
Sharing Our Favorite Custom Segments
February 26, 2010, 10:47 amAnalysts often consider an aggregated view of their visitors when assessing reports in Google Analytics. Every visitor is assumed to be of the same type. But, looking at the information in an aggregated form is not nearly as useful as assessing the data for individual audience segments. Different types of visitors - whether new, returning,...
Google Lets Users Find Results Based on Location
February 26, 2010, 10:29 amGoogle has added the ability to search by location to its list of search options. The option is called "nearby".
"Location has become an important part of the way we search. If you're a foodie looking for restaurant details, food blogs or the closest farmer's market, location can be vital to helping you find the right...
Google Looking to Split Print Pages into Individual Web Articles?
February 26, 2010, 10:13 amBack in 2008, Google filed a patent , which was recently published for public viewing. The patent is called "Segmenting Printed Media Pages Into Articles," and appears to imply that the company wants to take individual articles from print publications and turn them into individual articles on the web. The abstract says: Methods and systems for...
Creative for Creative's Sake
February 26, 2010, 9:26 amI'm David Pugh-Jones, a Brand Strategist working in the Global Creative Solutions Team for Microsoft Advertising. Effectively I'm a digital architect and evangelist for creative solutions focusing on ideation, craft and concept right through to the delivery of integrated and immersive brand experiences. Following on from Mel's recent posting ,...
Baidu Receives $50 Million To Build Video Site
February 26, 2010, 9:09 amThe creation of the Chinese equivalent of Hulu is now officially underway. Providence Equity Partners, which invested $100 million in the original American video site, will give Baidu $50 million to create Qiyi.com. Qiyi should similarly offer premium content and rely on ad revenue.
Qiyi will indeed be a completely by-the-book...
Track How Effective Your Online Marketing Efforts are Offline
February 26, 2010, 8:58 amTracking offline conversions has been a challenge for businesses for years. As long as the Internet has been widely used to drive business, tracking online marketing efforts to offline purchases has been no easy feat, but while there is no silver bullet approach, rest assured, there are ways to make it easier.
For brick and mortar businesses,...
Google's 3 Ranking Principles
February 26, 2010, 8:53 amGoogle's search ranking philosophy has three main elements, Google's Amit Singhal explains in a blog post : 1. Algorithmically-generated results. 2. No query left behind. 3. Keep it simple. Algorithmic means that Google would rather optimize with software than manual work, which scales better. No query left behind means that once you find a bad...
EU Wants Google To Revise Street View Policies
February 26, 2010, 8:47 amThe European Union has asked Google to revise the way it stores images for its Maps and Street View services, due to privacy concerns. Google currently keeps all images on Street View for a year, but the EU's Article 29 Data Protection Working Party wants that time cut in half to no longer than six months.
Facebook Gets Patent On News Feeds
February 26, 2010, 8:29 amA number of social networks may be in a significant amount of trouble. Facebook has managed to patent the idea of "dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network." This is no rumor or joke; the paperwork is all in order. Facebook filed for what the United States Patent and Trademark Office has designated patent number...
Why Foundem is Lost in Google Complaint to FCC
February 26, 2010, 8:29 amAs horrifying as the precedent set by the Italian court that convicted 3 Google executives for privacy violations seemed, there is another frightening issue rearing its head against Google. Specifically, this could set a bad precedent for search. Have you ever heard of Foundem? Let me rephrase the question: had you ever heard of Foundem, which is...
The Mr. Rogers Guide to Blogging from the Heart
February 26, 2010, 8:11 amAs bloggers, we put a lot of effort into telling our readers how to do things. We believe that if we can just give them enough informative content that they'll subscribe to our blog and never leave. We try to become the best teacher we possibly can, instilling wisdom down into short, usable posts that our readers can put into action right away....
Google Buzz Draws New Content-Scraping Controversy
February 26, 2010, 8:06 amIf you were under the impression that the controversy surrounding Google Buzz was starting to die down, think again. So far, we've mostly heard about privacy issues , which Google has publicly addressed . They've also made changes based on user feedback. Now, we're hearing about possible copyright issues. Google appears to be republishing full...
China Says Google as Vital as Electricity…This Just In, Google Becomes Electric Utility
February 26, 2010, 7:50 am
Not since chocolate and peanut butter have two things ever meant to go together as much as these two stories.
First, we have researchers in China opining that they can’t conduct their research without Google:
“Research without Google would be like life without electricity,” says Xiong Zhenqin, an ecologist at...
5 Ways to Maximize Social Media Marketing Productivity in the Workplace
February 26, 2010, 7:26 amAs social media continues to grow at an exhilarating pace, it can become challenging for marketers to balance the time-consuming demands of today's social media marketing landscape with their career's core focus. Whether you're a full-time social media marketer whose main responsibility is to manage social media campaigns, a brand-side marketer...
Google Gets EU’s Attention Again for Street View Images
February 26, 2010, 7:22 am
If Google hasn’t gotten the message by now then they never will. The European Union has a bee in its bonnet about all things Google. It almost feels like there is an issue du jour as of late. The threat of anti-trust inquiries is the latest to surface out of the regulatory body and just to show that they are paying attention to...
You Don’t Have to be Gullible to Work at the BBC, but it Helps!
February 26, 2010, 7:15 am
The UK’s Guardian newspaper demonstrates that intelligence goes out the window, once someone gets drawn in to Twitter.
Apparently banks, politicians, and even journalists are falling for the "this you??" phishing scam. One unfortunate BBC correspondent is apparently blissfully unaware that he is a victim, as you...
Behavioral Targeting Might Become A Target Itself
February 26, 2010, 6:30 am
As marketers, the Holy Grail is to put the right message in front of the right person at the right time so that they will do what is right: buy something. It’s a simple enough idea and many feel that we are well on our way to getting to that point with the use of behavioral targeting (BT). While from the marketers’ point of...
12 Blockbuster #seofilms & #ppcfilms on Twitter
February 26, 2010, 5:59 amA new craze has been sweeping Twitter during the last couple of days, with hundreds of suggestions for #seofilms and #ppcfilms . This has been so popular it even managed to make it as a Twitter trending topic! I've picked out some of the best ones here: There's a few more funny ones picked out here too - so which one is your favourite? ©...
comScore Submits Proposal to Begin Auditing Process with CESP in France
February 26, 2010, 5:14 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced that it has submitted a proposal to the Centre d'Etude des Supports de Publicite (CESP) to begin the auditing of its audience measurement methodology in order to provide greater transparency to the digital media industry in France. The audit, which is similar...
5 Sure Fire Tactics to Promote a Business Blog
February 26, 2010, 5:08 amRelevant, Consistently Updated Content + Flawless Technical Functionality & User Experience = Perfect Blog Launch What's missing from the equation above? You guessed it: blog promotion. Creating a glitch-free blog with informative content means next to nothing without attracting readers. Start promoting your blog today with these five effective...
Becoming A Brand: The Experience Of Robin Good
February 26, 2010, 4:06 amHow do you build a personal brand around yourself? Can one really create a business online simply by sharing her knowledge online?
Photo credit: Robin Good
A couple months ago I was invited by Nokia to join, together with Teemu Arina, a discussion and review session with their online publishing and social media teams focusing on how to improve...
Google Makes Facebook Pages a Higher Priority for Businesses
February 26, 2010, 4:01 amGoogle announced via Twitter this week, that public status updates from Facebook are now included in the search engine's real-time search feature. That means the largest social network in the world is getting play in Google's real-time search alongside Twitter, MySpace, and others, and these real-time results are often featured prominently on the...
DiggAds Off to a Good Start
February 26, 2010, 1:30 amAfter severing ties with Microsoft on the ad front, the new in-house system appears to be paying off. Click to read the rest of this post.
Webtrends Adds Facebook Measurement Capabilities
February 26, 2010, 1:13 amAnalytics solution now gives even broader view of total online marketing strategy by including major social network. Click to read the rest of this post.
Whiteboard Friday - 5 Things You're Not Doing (But Should Be)
February 25, 2010, 11:35 pmPosted by great scott! This week, we've got a couple of newcomers to Whiteboard Studios! Our very own Jen Lopez and Danny Dover (whom you should know well thanks to Jen's Meet the Mozzers post) are pinch-hitting for our globe-trotting CEO. Let's all give them a big welcome. We did a PRO Site Review Webinar last week and noticed a few SEO issues...
February adCenter and adCenter Desktop Beta Updates
February 25, 2010, 10:50 pmJust a short post today to let you know about some updates to adCenter and the adCenter Desktop Beta. As we continue our efforts to improve ease of use and consistency in adCenter, today weve upgraded the appearance of graphs, navigation trees.
Bing Gets Serious About Link Building
February 25, 2010, 10:16 pmI think one of the best things I have ever heard a webmaster blog from a major search engine say is to build your website like a brand. Bing's exact words state: "Develop your site as a business brand and be consistent about that branding in your content" To many people out there get all antsy to have their internet marketing look like a recipe....
Missing Growing Pains Actor Andrew Koenig's Body Found
February 25, 2010, 9:10 pmUpdate: Tragically, Koenig's body was found in Stanley Park in Vancouver. His father Walter Koenig reportedly said in a press conference, "Our son took his own life. He was obviously in a lot of pain."
More here.
Original Article: Andrew Koenig, an actor best known for portraying Kirk Cameron's best friend "Boner" on the 80s...
Facebook Patent on News Feed Is Granted
February 25, 2010, 8:44 pm"If all algorithmic ranking and delivery of social activity updates to social network users falls under this patent Facebook applied for in August 2006 (one month before it launched its controversial Newsfeed) then there's going to be a whole lot of trouble for sites all over the web."
Google Warned by EU Over Street View Map Photos
February 25, 2010, 6:28 pm"European Union data privacy regulators are telling Google Inc. to warn people before it sends cameras out into cities to take pictures for its Street View maps, adding to the company's legal worries in Europe."
Study: Curvy Bods Are Brain Candy
February 25, 2010, 6:16 pmby Claudine Zap Listen up, people, it's science: A curvy woman's body isn't just eye candy, it apparently also works as candy for a man's brain. Hard-working scientists who have dedicated their very valuable time to this important subject (you're welcome) say that hourglass figures can feel like a " reward for the brain ," like taking drugs or...
A Moving Story Catches Searches
February 25, 2010, 5:42 pmby Mike Krumboltz Today's health care summit featured a little bit of everything. There was bickering, and there were promises of compromise. There was also a moment of genuine surprise, when Rep. Louise Slaughter , D-N.Y., told a heartbreaking story about an elderly American. In a room full of Republicans and Democrats, Rep. Slaughter took the...
Network with the Alexa Toolbar for FireFox!
February 25, 2010, 5:36 pmIf you use Twitter or Facebook , then we have something cool for you. I am happy to announce that we have released a new version of the Alexa Toolbar for Firefox . This new version supports an improved site stats button, and gives you direct access to both Twitter and Facebook while you browse. Getting the Buttons If you want to try the new...
Chasing the long tail with keyword research (SEM 101)
February 25, 2010, 5:20 pmWhen a key opens a lock, it typically provides the key's holder with a clear path to where he or she wants to go. Keywords and key phrases do the same for a website. They help direct searchers to content they wish to see on the Internet. But there is a key difference: whereas a lock key will typically match up with only one lock, keywords can lead...
Smart Robots.txt
February 25, 2010, 4:50 pm"Even bots that respect the REP can harm your search engine rankings, or reveal sensitive information to your competitors." Great stuff.
Cops, Crazies, and Hankies: Movie Critics' Roundup
February 25, 2010, 4:05 pmby Mike Krumboltz This weekend's new releases aren't for the highbrow theatergoer. One flick comes from the undisputed master of flatulence humor, Kevin Smith . The other's a zombie apocalypse thriller in which decapitation is the preferred method of execution. Award-winners? Probably not. But are they any good? Here are some thoughts from the...
More States Using Twitter To Communicate Travel Conditions
February 25, 2010, 3:31 pmA growing number of state transportation departments (DOTs) are communicating news and information to travelers using Twitter, Facebook and other social media. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' ( AASHTO ) survey of 32 state DOTs found 26 states or (82%) are now using Twitter to communicate with travelers when...
Google Trounces Yahoo, Bing In Mobile Search Report
February 25, 2010, 3:31 pmAlthough Google's undoubtedly best known for dominating the traditional search market, the company's no slouch when it comes to mobile. New stats from Opera indicate that Google has a huge lead over its closest rival, and that its other well-funded competitor barely enters the equation. According to the latest Opera State of the Mobile Report,...
9% of Mobile Web Page Views are Google Search
February 25, 2010, 3:14 pm
Mobile search, like the rest of the mobile web, is really in its infancy. While we are definitely making leaps and bounds all the time, a lot of the future of the mobile web is TBD—including which provider, if any, will dominate mobile search.
Or so we thought. Using browsing info from its popular mobile client, Opera Mini,...
PayPal supports Getting British Business Online
February 25, 2010, 2:56 pmHi, it's Cameron McLean here, general manager of PayPal UK Merchant Services. Online businesses are flourishing despite tough economic times, as consumers turn to the internet for bargains. But half of Britain's small businesses are missing out as they still don't have a website. A new initiative supported by PayPal aims .
Twellow Gets Twitter OAuth Support
February 25, 2010, 2:50 pmOur Twellow team has been working hard on getting Twellow set up to use Twitter's OAuth system, and that support is now available on Twellow.com . "The Twellow OAuth upgrade is a major improvement for Twellow users," Twellow's Lead Developer Matthew Daines says. "Not only is it much more secure, but it also increases the amount of interaction...
Just hire a content marketing strategist, already!
February 25, 2010, 2:27 pmSo, I turned down a SEO copywriting job today. No, the reason didn't have anything to do with what the client would pay (the money was pretty good, actually.) Nor did it have anything to do with what I'd be writing about (the content was fairly interesting.) The reason I turned down the gig was because there was no content strategy in place - and...
Texas Governor Coaxes Facebook To Open New Office
February 25, 2010, 2:27 pmAlthough it isn't quite a done deal, Texas Governor Rick Perry seems to have more or less ensured that Facebook will open a sales and operations office in Austin. Perry's offered the company $1.4 million as an incentive to establish the branch and create some jobs. Fittingly enough, Perry's office announced the development with a Facebook note . ...
Decoding Health Care Buzzwords
February 25, 2010, 2:16 pmby Mike Krumboltz President Obama 's historic health care summit, billed as a bipartisan working session, was marked by a series of heated exchanges . It was also studded by a slew of buzzwords. Mysterious phrases like " donut hole ," " undercover patients ," and " premium discrimination " have been bandied about by both sides. The terms may be...
Check out this preview of the Scribe SEO web-based application
February 25, 2010, 2:09 pmThis is a quick reminder that the Scribe introductory offer, where you get our most advanced plan for the Starter price, ends tomorrow, Friday, February 26, 2010, at 6:00 pm Central. But I also wanted to share a video with you. It was created for current Scribe customers to let them know what's coming next month, but I'm going to hook you up too....
Discovering the World with Bing
February 25, 2010, 2:03 pmWhere would we be if people like Columbus or Einstein hadnt taken a risk on an idea or notion or if people like Jane Goodall or even Dr. Bing hadnt followed their passions? As a global community, we have benefited from discoveries in science and technology, exploration and the arts in ways we dont always recognize day to day. But without these...
Developing Twitter and AdSense Opportunities
February 25, 2010, 1:58 pm"WebmasterWorld members relate their experiences with developing Twitter for AdSense earning potential."
ChaCha Taps Localeze for Local Biz Listings
February 25, 2010, 1:34 pmAnswers search service expands offering to create more comprehensive experience. Click to read the rest of this post.
Online Marketing Summit - Search Past and Present.
February 25, 2010, 1:10 pmIt's day 3 at the Online Marketing Summit here in Sunny San Diego and SES has joined the mix to put on the mornings keynote session. Here is a quick overview of this session.
A look back 10 years ago.
Google was hardly in the picture and was partnered with Yahoo!
Very few web programming technologies were being used to make rich web...
3 Ways to Blog from Your Email
February 25, 2010, 1:05 pmIf you travel much and still need to keep your blog active, you will definitely find these tips useful: they will show you how to post to your blogs from email (and thus from your mobile phone ). Of course, you won't be able to apply those to all types of blogs but generally this is very useful to know. Post from Email to Your Wordpress Blog...
Busey's Baby, Ripa's Tattoo, Octomom's Interview: What's the Buzz
February 25, 2010, 1:05 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Gary Busey (Searches increased by +3,519%). The actor's girlfriend had a baby . Kim Yu-Na (+2,881%). The South Korean skater is the favorite going into the figure skating competition at the winter games . Kelly Ripa (+1,998%). The TV host showed off a new wrist tattoo of her husband's...
10 Ways to Use Google Buzz for SEO & SMO
February 25, 2010, 12:53 pmWe've covered the importance of Google Buzz and we offered a list of Google Buzz tools and resources . The list also contained some ideas about the SEO impact of Google Buzz. This time I'd like to focus on that: Google Buzz SEO or more accurately on the actual ways to use Google Buzz for SEO & SMO . indexing - Nobody expected Google to ignore the...
Trackur Shakes Up the Social Media Monitoring Space with a Free Plan
February 25, 2010, 12:30 pm
I’m not sure if you know the back story of why I decided to launch social media monitoring tool Trackur.
After completing Radically Transparent, I felt like there was a huge void between those that had outgrown Google Alerts and the monitoring tools available at that time. You had Google Alerts (free) then you had services...
Census Bureau Launches Map Powered By Google
February 25, 2010, 12:23 pmThe U.S. Census Bureau said today it has launched a new online mapping tool detailing how well communities responded to the 2000 Census in an effort to raise awareness for the upcoming 2010 Census.
Visitors to the new Google-based map will be able to find the 2000 Census mail participation rates for states, counties and cities, as well as smaller...
Update on Digg Ads
February 25, 2010, 12:18 pmHi Everyone, Digg Ads have been live on the site for just over four months now, and I thought it would be a good time to explain them in a little more depth and update folks on how they're doing.
Consumer Demographics and Their Wireless Devices
February 25, 2010, 12:12 pmAs smartphone usage becomes more and more mainstream, businesses have to consider how their audiences are interacting with them online. For that reason, it can help to gain insight into how users of different devices interact with those devices.
AdMob released its monthly Mobile Metrics report today, which finds that Android and iPhone users...
SEO 101 - Part 10: Everything You Need to Know About Keyword Qualifiers
February 25, 2010, 12:07 pmby Stoney deGeyter The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or...
Trainer's Death Sparks Searches
February 25, 2010, 12:06 pmby Mike Krumboltz The horrifying accident at Orlando's SeaWorld , in which a veteran trainer was killed by a whale, has sparked a tremendous amount of interest on the Web. As the immediate shock of the accident begins to wear off, folks have sought out more facts on the accident. How did it happen? And was this the first time this particular whale...
Bookmarking the Accounts and Customers You Access Most Frequently in Microsoft adCenter
February 25, 2010, 11:49 amHave you ever wondered if there is an easy way to navigate directly to the customers or accounts you manage most frequently? The new bookmarking feature in adCenter can help you to just that. Customer Bookmarking This feature allows adCenter users to.
Google Adds Facebook Updates to Real-Time Results
February 25, 2010, 11:43 amFacebook joins Twitter and MySpace in Google's Social Update Search. Click to read the rest of this post.
MapQuest Expands 360 View
February 25, 2010, 11:43 amMore cities added to compete with Google's Street View and Bing's Streetside imagery. Click to read the rest of this post.
Fortune 100 (Slowly) Embracing Social Media
February 25, 2010, 11:38 am
Yes, it’s like a slow-mo hug: the 100 largest Fortune 500 companies are accepting and integrating social media into their marketing strategies. BUt for many of them, it’s a one-piece-at-a-time proposition. A study by Burson-Marsteller shows that many Fortune 100 companies are trying one or two popular social media...
Finding Links by Studying your Competitors
February 25, 2010, 10:44 amWhen looking at your competitors backlinks you will see what types of content people are linking to. You need to create a similar type of content if you don’t have it already. You can send a personal email if you find a site that links to content you already have.
Local Business Search as Q&A
February 25, 2010, 10:28 amHuman-driven Q&A search service ChaCha launched some new functionality this week for local businesses. Now users can access information about over 15 million businesses in the U.S., courtesy of partner Localeze.ChaCha spoke with WebProNews about why the company considers itself a legitimate contender in the ever-growing local search space. "Across...
eBay Buys World Of Good
February 25, 2010, 10:11 amWorld of Good is likely to get a lot bigger in the near future. The brand, which helps artists in developing countries connect with buyers, has been acquired by eBay, and expansion seems to be the first thing on both sides' "to do" list. Believe it or not, this isn't at all the random move it might appear to be. World of Good has been around for...
Cyber Attackers Pose as New York Times
February 25, 2010, 9:48 amSymantec's MessageLabs tells WebProNews there is a new targeted attack using emails pretending to be from the New York Times. MessageLabs Intelligence tracked the attack yesterday, which used emails pretending to come from the NYT's " Times Reader" software, hitting six different domains. One domain was a public sector domain, one was a law firm,...
BigMouthMedia merge with LBi
February 25, 2010, 9:31 amAndrew Girdwood from BigMouthMedia, a global Search Marketing agency borne out of the UK, announced a merger with LBi via Tumblr today. Click to read the rest of this post.
5 Steps to Launching a Mobile Search Campaign
February 25, 2010, 9:10 amAccording to eMarketer, mobile search spending will grow 81% over the next two years. So there’s no better time to get a jump start on your mobile search campaigns. Here are 5 key steps to launching a mobile search campaign in AdWords.
How Are The Olympics And Entrepreneurs Similar?
February 25, 2010, 9:07 amThe winter Olympics are off to an interesting start, as always. And while Ive only caught parts, I did manage to watch short track skating when Apolo Ohno miraculously won silver. From the qualifying heats to the final race he was pretty amazing to watch. While his competition in those qualifying races wasnt super stiff, you could still see the...
BigMouthMedia Merges with LBi
February 25, 2010, 8:46 amAndrew Girdwood from BigMouthMedia, a global Search Marketing agency borne out of the UK, blogged a merger with LBi via Tumblr today.Click to read the rest of this post...
Google Surfaces Facebook Pages in Real-time
February 25, 2010, 8:44 amGoogle tweeted Feb. 24 that public status updates posted to Facebook Pages are now part of Google's real-time search results. Facebook Pages are basically advertising tools for organizations, businesses, celebrities, and bands to blast out info and updates information to fans. The Pages are bonafide, meaning users don't have to spend time worrying...
Should Social Media Be Held Accountable for User Actions?
February 25, 2010, 8:30 amA judge in Milan, Italy has convicted three Google executives over a video uploaded to YouTube in a case, which could have serious implications for social media and ultimately, the web in general, at least in Italy. The video, uploaded back in 2006, featured a group of school kids bullying an autistic child. Google says it worked with Italian...
What Belly Dancing Taught Me about Personal Branding
February 25, 2010, 8:26 amI'm learning to belly dance. Okay, that's totally overstating it. I'm wiggling to music in what is labeled a belly dancing class. I've found that I enjoy the constant movement, manipulating my limbs and taking any excuse I can to be silly. But more fun than the belly dancing is the instructor. She loves this stuff. Her eyes light up when she...
Newspaper Websites Most Valued Local News Source
February 25, 2010, 8:21 amNewspaper websites are the most valued sites for people seeking credible and trustworthy local content, according to a new survey conducted by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). More than half (57%) of the 3,050 respondents cited local newspaper websites as the top online source for local information. That percentage...
Six More Features Graduate From Gmail Labs
February 25, 2010, 7:56 amIt looks like the people in charge of Gmail Labs have decided to do a little spring (or more accurately, late winter) cleaning. They've removed a full 11 experimental features from Labs, with six of the bunch becoming regular Gmail features and the other five failing to make the cut. Many of the "graduated" features are ones you're probably...
SEO Priorities – Task ROI
February 25, 2010, 7:48 amThis is a topic I talk to Dojo peeps a lot about and I thought it would make for a good convo for the rest of the space. Essentially we can't operate SEO programs in a void. Each activity must be weighted for value and potential benefit. Please do pass along your own thoughts/tips on it... Enjoy
7 Widely Believed Myths Of SEO
February 25, 2010, 7:30 amDebunking some myths that still stick like Velcro, and a bit of debate on one of the myths (which I don't think is a myth).
comScore Audience Advantage⢠for CPG Helps Improve Digital Advertising Effectiveness and Efficiency for Consumer Packaged Goods Advertisers
February 25, 2010, 7:27 amcomScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced that Microsoft Advertising will use the comScore Audience Advantage⢠platform to help consumer packaged goods (CPG) advertisers in the U.S., including Campbell Soup Company and Alberto Culver, reach their desired audiences across Microsoft's online properties,...
One Third of US Internet Still at Dialup Speed
February 25, 2010, 7:23 am"One-third of the country (or 93 million Americans) don't have high-speed Internet access at home..."
New Announcement - CPG Online Effect partners with comScore
February 25, 2010, 7:21 amWhen I was growing up, cutting coupons from the newspaper was a Sunday morning ritual. My mom cut coupons while drinking her morning coffee. There's a lot of news right now how coupon redemption is up for the first time in 14 years, but it's not through the newspaper, Moms are getting these coupons online. For kids today, that Sunday morning...
SEO Priorities â" Task ROI
February 25, 2010, 7:21 amI was going to sit down and write a post with my usual brand of geekiness. You know, some more eye-watering patent or IR paper analysis that the search world uses to get to sleep at night? Then I thought of something worth getting off my chest that seems not to get enough attention out there'Since this is a ' Search Biz ' article, right? You see,
Your Facebook Page is in Google's Real-Time Results Now
February 25, 2010, 7:16 amGoogle announced via Twitter , that public status updates from Facebook are now include in the search engine's real-time search feature. That means the largest social network in the world is getting play in Google's real-time search alongside Twitter, MySpace, and others. Apparently only updates from Facebook PAGES are indexed, and according to...
Google’s Real Time Search Now Shows Facebook Pages Status
February 25, 2010, 6:33 am
While everyone is concerned about just how Google will eventually take over the world and implant chips in everyone so they can search for your real time position at any time in real time for real information (do you get the sarcasm here?) there is one area where Google is not going to do as well as the competition (read: bing)....
What if You Were Convicted for User Comments on Your Blog?
February 25, 2010, 6:30 amA judge in Milan, Italy has convicted three Google executives over a video uploaded to YouTube in a case, which could have serious implications for social media and ultimately, the web in general, at least in Italy. The video, uploaded back in 2006, featured a group of school kids bullying an autistic child. Google says it worked with Italian...
69% of Companies Focus on Twitter; 61% Have No Clue of Its ROI
February 25, 2010, 6:28 am
The Value of Social Media Report has been released by Econsultancy and the Online Marketing Summit. I was offered a sneak peek at the study and provided my analysis for the report. It’s definitely worth the investment, and as a taster, here’s my analysis:
What struck me the most is that 61% of companies feel their...
Are Google’s European Union Troubles Driven by Microsoft?
February 25, 2010, 5:53 am
The news part of this story is that the European Commission (EC) has launched an anti-trust investigation against Google. I suspect that this is heard with little surprise considering the amount of chatter recently about Google’s dominance in the marketplace. I would think it is safe to say that Google has been preparing for...
5 Steps to Launching a Mobile Search Campaign
February 25, 2010, 5:38 amMobile search continues to explode. According to eMarketer , mobile search spending will grow 81% over the next two years. So there's no better time to get a jump start on your mobile search campaigns. Here are 5 key steps to launching a mobile search campaign in AdWords: 1. Measure your current mobile clicks How many of your current visitors are...
There is a lot more than English when it comes to Twitter
February 25, 2010, 5:26 amIf you think that by tweeting in English you will reach the entire world, you are wrong. Though English is by far the most 'spoken' language on Twitter, there are still many other languages on Twitter. French company Semiocast performed an analysis on 2.8 million tweets and found that half of the tweets are in English. Last year that was 75%....
SES London takeaways and top tips
February 25, 2010, 5:07 amI couldn't attend SES London but this mammoth post from Mark Nunney I didn't need to.
Just 50% of tweets are in English - Time to plan your international strategy?
February 25, 2010, 3:32 amA recent study of almost 3 million tweets has shown that only 50% of them are in English, 25% less than in early 2009. After the English, the second most popular language was Japanese, which isn't surprising give that Twitter has been active in Japan for several years. Other common languages were Portuguese, Malay and Spanish. While the study,...
Meet the Mozzers!
February 25, 2010, 2:40 amPosted by jennita Over the past few months, we've announced a number of exciting changes here at the mozPlex. Some of those include becoming focused on our software , new SEO tools and a cultural change with our TAGFEE Tenets . With that, we're committed to being transparent and authentic and feel we've done a great job keeping the SEOmoz...
Yelp Sued for Burying Bad Reviews for Advertisers
February 25, 2010, 12:34 amA California veterinary center has sued review site Yelp for allegedly promising to bury bad reviews in exchange for purchasing $3,600 worth of advertising on the site.
Branding as a Part of Google’s Algorithm
February 24, 2010, 11:24 pm
Just over a year ago, Google made some changes in their algorithm that appeared to be giving weight to “brands.” Now, “brand” is a short word that’s loaded with a lot of meaning. When this change took place, there were plenty of people running around in circles waving their arms in the air thinking that the big, rich...
Anti-Google Germans Close To Grabbing Pitchforks and Torches?
February 24, 2010, 10:29 pmA recent video of local Germans chasing a Google Street View car taking pictures of their neighborhood was almost like something out of an old monster movie, all they need were the pitchforks and torches. Has Google become the new cultural imperialist forcing American ideals throughout the world? Seems the attacks on Google from Europe and Asia...
3 Strategies To Increase Your Email Opt-In Rate From Your Website
February 24, 2010, 10:23 pm
It seems that practically every webmaster understands (or has at least heard) that email marketing is important. The problem is, too many webmasters just stick an email newsletter signup form on their website and figure that they’ve got email marketing taken care of. Nothing could be further from the truth.
An email marketing campaign needs...
Big Businesses Are Still Confused about SEO
February 24, 2010, 10:11 pmIt seems to me that it doesn't really matter the size of a business or how many clients they have the consensus across the board for many businesses is that they still have a real hard time understanding the concept of SEO or even its value to a business. This actually blows my mind that in today's market place you can take a rather large...
Google Starts Indexing Facebook Pages Updates
February 24, 2010, 7:04 pmAlthough both Facebook and Google has not yet announced this officially, some folks are reporting that status updates from Facebook pages will start showing up on Google search results today. Of course, this comes hot on the heels of Yahoo's announcement of their content-sharing deal with Twittter. And so the race to become a real-time search...
MDA's New Logo Causes a Stir
February 24, 2010, 5:31 pmby Mike Krumboltz Some conservative groups are claiming the newly unveiled logo for the Missile Defense Agency looks too much like President Obama's campaign logo. According to a blog from CBS News, others feel the logo is a bit too similar to the Islamic flag. Take a look here and judge for yourself.
OMS10 B2B Marketing Case Study: Marketo
February 24, 2010, 5:24 pmOur agency TopRank Marketing has been working with Marketo providing SEO, content and blog marketing consulting services for about 2 years. I finally had the opportunity to meet Marketing VP Jon Miller in person today prior to his presentation at Online Marketing Summit: Marketo's Secret Sauce for Demand Generation. Marketo is one of the fastest...
The difference between freedom and being responsible
February 24, 2010, 4:25 pmToday Google made top headlines once again as 3 Googlers were tried and found guilty because failing to comply with Italian privacy code. Google has labeled this a serious threat to the web in Italy . Google posts: " ' But we are deeply troubled by this conviction for another equally important reason. It attacks the very principles of freedom on...
Google Talk Improves Voice, Video Performance
February 24, 2010, 3:44 pmAs you might imagine, conversations tend to be more productive and enjoyable when theyre not interrupted and cut short all the time. Googles made a smart move, then, by upgrading Google Talk in several respects. The upgrades actually pertain to one of Google Talks most advanced features: the voice and video chat plug-in. As for what they do,...
Advocacy Group Asks DOJ To Probe Google Search Results
February 24, 2010, 3:44 pmConsumer Watchdog today called on the Justice Department to guarantee that its ongoing antitrust probe of Google's business practices include an investigation into if the company is manipulating its search results to favor its own products. The nonprofit advocacy group said it sent a letter to Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General for...
Microsoft Gets on Google's Government Cloud
February 24, 2010, 3:44 pmIt was only a matter of time before Microsoft followed Google in announcing a secure cloud collaboration suite targeted for U.S. federal government agencies, as my colleague Nick Kolakowski noted Feb. 24 . Business Productivity Online Suite Federal will include the customary hosted Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft...
Centralize Files with HP MediaSmart Server
February 24, 2010, 3:04 pmAt CES 2010 , WebProNews met with Steve Murtha from Intel to discuss the HP MediaSmart Server . With up to 17TBs of storage, this new server centralizes all files in one location. As Steve Murtha tells WebProNews , the server is based on the Microsoft Home Server OS and is about value propositions. The first essential aspect of the server is...
Financial Services in 2010: Insurance Trends, Seasonality and Bing User Demographics
February 24, 2010, 2:59 pmLike many sub-verticals in Financial Services, 2009 was a "reset" year. Traffic fell due to the economic recession and consumers looked at ways to save money by taking fewer risks. The insurance vertical saw many of the same trends, but unlike vertical such as credit cards and mortgages, assessing ones current insurance coverage opens an...
Setting Default Bid Values
February 24, 2010, 2:58 pmWe occasionally get questions around the new bid behavior introduced in API Version 6. Common questions include: How do I remove a match type? We updated a keyword bid to zero; we thought we would see a default bid value in the web UI? We never bid for Exact match, so why are we showing .05 cents as the bid in the web UI? An Exact bid doesnt show...
Most Businesses Still Only "Experiment" with Social Media
February 24, 2010, 2:40 pmSocial media use among businesses has grown significantly over the past year or two, but new research from E-Consultancy , in association with the Online Marketing Summit (where WebProNews is conducting exclusive interviews this week), indicates that most businesses are largely still in the experimental stage when it comes to their efforts. There...
Mascots Gone Wild
February 24, 2010, 2:29 pmby Mike Krumboltz Sports mascots aren't usually known for making news. But over the past several days, three different creatures have gone from sideline to headline. All hail Admiral Ackbar The University of Mississippi (or " Ole Miss " as it is more often known) is a school of great tradition. But its mascot, Colonel Reb, was retired a few years...
Chinese Scientists Cling To Google
February 24, 2010, 2:18 pmChina's standing in the scientific community might be damaged if Google leaves the country, according to the results of a new survey. This isn't a simple matter of reputation, either; a great many Chinese scientists instead acknowledged that they regard the search engine as a useful research tool. As reported by Reuters , the journal Nature...
How to Use Google Analytics on Your Facebook Fan Page
February 24, 2010, 1:37 pmLooking to integrate your analytical data and tracking across your site, blog and now even your Facebook Fanpages? It appears that the UK's WebDigi Dev team has figured out a pretty easy way to use Google Analytics on your Facebook Fan Page. With SEJ's Facebook Page having over 4,000 users and lots of cool comments and voting going on, adding...
Display Makes Searchers Buy Faster
February 24, 2010, 1:29 pm
Eyeblaster released a study yesterday showing that “display ads stimulate search by increasing the speed at which people searching enter the purchase funnel,” reports MediaPost. The study examined over 1300 search and display campaigns over a 15 month period.
They found that early one in five people who convert after...
Academics Endorse Social Media Marketing At OMS
February 24, 2010, 1:14 pmIt's an unfortunate fact that the speakers at some conferences can be self-serving; few people are going to go onstage and not promote their own company, never mind admit its faults. However, when it comes to social media, it's hard to accuse the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania of bias, and so an OMS keynote on the subject run by...
Idol Talk: A Commercial Break
February 24, 2010, 12:39 pmby Vera H-C Chan Tuesday night was the first live round, the first opportunity for the public to vote, the debut of 12 ladies into the live embrace of the television audience. Eh, but enough about that. Let's go to the commercial breaks, shall we? After all, the judges dripped tepid praise for most of the performances, with the heartiest...
Hannah Storm Controversy, Milky Way Discovery, Taxi Experiment: What's the Buzz
February 24, 2010, 11:58 amby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Hannah Storm (Searches increased by +76,170%). ESPN host Tony Kornheiser was suspended after his locker-room talk about the ESPN anchor's outfit made airtime . Milky Way Galaxy (+3,923%). Scientists have discovered that clusters of stars we thought came from here are actually alien...
SEO FAQ - Answers to Your SEO Questions
February 24, 2010, 11:50 amSEO question asked by Tad Chef and answered by our very favorite SEO writer (aka David Leonhardt)
Apple and Microsoft Teaming Up?
February 24, 2010, 11:05 am
Once up on a time, it seemed that Google and Apple were natural partners, as inseparable as . . . well, two boards of directors with the same guy on them. And then last August, Google CEO Eric Schmidt left the Apple board, citing “core business conflicts.” Those conflicts have become more apparent over the intervening...
GUILTY: Italian Judge Hands Down Ridiculous Ruling in Google Video Case
February 24, 2010, 10:54 amThe state of video sharing in Italy is now in jeopardy. Click to read the rest of this post.
Professional Online Video Views Climb In 2009
February 24, 2010, 10:42 amProfessionally produced online media and entertainment video views increased by 18 percent in 2009 to 49.1 billion, according to a new report by AccuStream Research. Internet brands (counting online entertainment destinations owned and operated by major media companies such as Comcast, CBS, Fox Broadcasting, NBC, ABC that include Fancast.com,...
France has 2 Belvezets, so does the adCenter API
February 24, 2010, 10:19 amA customer recently asked our API support team: Weve found two ambiguous targets in the MSDN library http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd797184.aspx : Belvezet Belvezet, Alès K FR Belvézet Belvézet, Alès K FR One with an accent and the other without. Are they duplicates? Not a technical question, of course, but an...
How to get the revenue or conversion values using adCenter API?
February 24, 2010, 10:19 amCustomers have asked for new reports that we currently do not provide via the API. These are excellent requests and this is the kind of feedback we welcome via the community and via support. This helps the product team set future direction for feature development. Currently, using the keyword performance report, you can retrieve the following:...
Zillow Updates iPhone App
February 24, 2010, 10:19 amThe popular real estate app gets a robust update with improved search and social sharing features. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Calls Off Android Event In Beijing
February 24, 2010, 10:19 amA little over a month ago, Google delayed the launch of two Android phones in China. Now, the company appears to have followed up that move by deciding to cancel an Android developer event in Beijing. We should note that Google's claimed no such event was ever planned; according to corporate representatives, gatherings in Hong Kong, Singapore,...
SES London blog coverage according to Bit.ly
February 24, 2010, 10:15 amIn my earlier post about the impact of a Twitter wall on SES London, which caused our SES London content to trend on Twitter, i looked at whether infographic data could be useful. In this post, I have a first stab at visualising the data to assess the value of hashtags when blogging an event.Click to read the rest of this post...
How Journalists Use Search & Social Media
February 24, 2010, 10:13 amTopRank ran a survey of journalists, reporters and editors on their use of search and social media in 2008. We found 91% use search engines like Google to do their job. 64% use social networks. Published in Jan 2010 , a George Washington University and Cision survey of journalists reports 89% use blogs and 65% use social networks to research...
Buzzzy shortcuts app development for Google Buzz
February 24, 2010, 10:01 amDevelopers take the initiative and launch a Buzz API before Google do. Now you can start building apps based on Google Buzz activity. Click to read the rest of this post.
Why Even Local Search is Becoming More Real-Time
February 24, 2010, 10:01 amAs the web quickly becomes becomes more mobile and social than ever, we see apps filling voids that were mostly left empty throughout the history of search and social media. People are increasingly sharing their locations with their friends, certain apps, certain sites, and even the world. While sharing one's location can present its own set of...
The Ultimate Formula for Success
February 24, 2010, 9:21 amMy last post here, How to do 500 Times Better than AdSense , got a lot of buzz and a lot of Tweets and generated my first real dose of reader hate. That's cool; if you're not stirring the pot a little bit, chances are you're not making an impact. Despite some blowback, I enjoyed reading all of the ensuing discussion in the comments. Good pros and...
Digital Advertising Case Studies from Asia
February 24, 2010, 9:03 amWeve been writing a few posts recently about creative campaign executions in the UK and US and wanted to highlight some from Asia. Below are three great examples of how display advertising can be engaging, have a wow factor and generate tangible results. Transformer TW case study Paramount Pictures, a major film distributor, wanted to promote its...
Does Google Think It’s Above the Law?
February 24, 2010, 8:30 am
Before I get into this post, let me state that I believe the ruling in Italy is absurd.
What am I talking about?
Well a case, which has been in the hands of an Italian court for over 3 years, has just come to a conclusion–and 3 Google executives have just been sentenced to 6 months of jail time for invasion of...
eBay Sellers Have New European Markets to Consider
February 24, 2010, 8:21 ameBay has expanded into six new European markets by adding new sites in Russia, Czech Republic, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Shoppers in these countries now have eBay sites that actually cater to their local needs. That accounts for about 180 million shoppers, according to the company.
"The good news for sellers is that these buyers...
Yahoo and Twitter Announce Partnership
February 24, 2010, 8:17 am
Better late than never is what they say right? Everyone else and their brother have made their deal with Twitter so Yahoo doing so only makes sense. What is interesting is that while this kind of announcement should be a big deal it comes off as sounding a little “after the fact” which, unfortunately, seems to be how Yahoo is...
Yahoo Gets Deep With Twitter
February 24, 2010, 8:02 amYahoo said early Wednesday it has entered into a partnership with Twitter that will integrate real-time tweets across the Yahoo network.
Users will be able to access their personal Twitter feeds on the Yahoo homepage, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Sports, and other areas. Yahoo users will also be able to update their Twitter status from Yahoo and share...
Why Buzz Beats Twitter, Facebook, and Friendfeed
February 24, 2010, 8:00 amBuzz is a breath of fresh air in an increasingly noisy social media world. Why do I think it's superior to Twitter, Facebook, and Friendfeed? Let's take the easiest comparison first: Buzz vs. Friendfeed Right now, Buzz basically is Friendfeed but with immediately greater penetration. Real conversations with more people.
6 Ways to Extract All Links from the Current Page
February 24, 2010, 8:00 amSeeing what a web page links out to is one of the major steps of SEO diagnostics process. This way you can see which internal pages are given more emphasis to, which anchor texts are used for both internal and external links; you can identify some red flags of possibly paid links, research the site "neighborhood", etc.
Online Ad Optimization And The Real-Time Bidding (RTB) Opportunity
February 24, 2010, 7:58 amWhat is real-time online ad bidding? Is this really an additional opportunity for web publishers to better monetize their ad inventory?
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European Commission Turns Magnifying Glass On Google
February 24, 2010, 7:54 amGoogle may soon find it necessary to send another plane full of lawyers across the Atlantic. European regulators have decided to take a closer look at the company's business practices in response to three separate antitrust complaints. Foundem, a price comparison site based in the UK, and eJustice, a French legal search engine, claim Google's hit...
Bizarre Ruling in Italy Threatens Social Media
February 24, 2010, 7:54 amA judge in Milan, Italy has convicted three Google executives over a video uploaded to YouTube in a case, which could have serious implications for social media. The video, uploaded back in 2006, featured a group of school kids bullying an autistic child. Google says it worked with Italian authorities to help ID the person responsible for...
Surf the web anonymously with Startpage.com
February 24, 2010, 7:37 amStartpage and its EU brand Ixquick has long been among the search engine industry's leaders when it comes to protecting your privacy. These services do not record the IP addresses of legitimate users and abolished the use of Unique ID cookies already in 2006. They now take privacy one step further and offer anonymous browsing of your search...
3 Reasons NOT to Use Twitter for Your Business
February 24, 2010, 7:22 amIt seems like any time we talk about Twitter, we focus on the reasons to use it. Conversations are always about the benefits, never about potential drawbacks or reasons not to use Twitter. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m definitely a firm believer that Twitter can be a powerful tool for increasing brand awareness, driving web traffic,...
Short Sentences Sell: How to Make a Big Bang with Little Words
February 24, 2010, 7:14 amWhen was the last time you read your own copy and set about cutting out any words larger than three syllables? It sounds like a drastic measure, but these days, even corporations are starting to see the light: words like synergy , sustainable and assessment are being sliced out in favor of more direct, simplified language. What's the deal here?...
DIY Blog Post Graphics For The Non-Designer
February 24, 2010, 6:56 amAdding pictures and graphics to your blog posts is an easy way to enhance your message. Using a Creative Commons picture or stock photo is common, but creating a custom graphic is unique. Not only do custom graphics help you craft the perfect complement to your text and improve "linkability," but you'll never get caught in that group of "...
Will Twitter Ads Be 140 Characters or Less?
February 24, 2010, 6:37 am
Well folks it looks like the days of advertising free tweeting may finally be coming to an end. The rumors are flying around regarding the ad platform that Twitter has in the works and is testing. Everyone is “atwitter” with this change and for good reason. Of course, until there is more than what has already been released by...
Spam Free Search?
February 24, 2010, 5:24 amJust for fun.
Serious threat to the web in Italy
February 24, 2010, 3:23 amIn late 2006, students at a school in Turin, Italy filmed and then uploaded a video to Google Video that showed them bullying an autistic schoolmate. The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police. We also worked with the local police to help identify the person responsible for...
Yahoo Adds Twitter Feeds
February 24, 2010, 2:31 am"The integration is part of Yahoo!'s commitment to provide personally relevant information to people, from sources across the Web."
Yahoo! and Twitter Strike Formal Partnership
February 24, 2010, 1:18 amYou'll be able to Tweet directly from the Yahoo! homepage.Click to read the rest of this post...
Yahoo and Twitter Go the Distance
February 23, 2010, 11:58 pmIt is all over the airwaves, er 'netwaves'' Yahoo has signed a deal with Twitter to create a relationship that rivals any other search engine's connection to the tweeting platform. I am short on time so here are some excerpts from the very unpunny Yahoo release titled " @yahoo + @twitter Sitting in a Tree'T.W.E.E.T.I.N.G. ": SUNNYVALE, Calif.,...
SEO Chrome Extension - Comprehensive View of Page and Domain Data
February 23, 2010, 11:47 pmPosted by neopunisher This post was originally in YOUmoz , and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc. After Nick announced the free Linkscape API , I decided to write a SEO extension for chrome. I...
Google Execs Convicted of Privacy Violations in Italy
February 23, 2010, 10:34 pmIn a case that could have major implications for Internet freedom, three Google executives were convicted of privacy violations after a video of an autistic boy being abused was posted online.
A Little Bird Just Told Us About a Yahoo! and Twitter Partnership
February 23, 2010, 10:09 pmThe little bird is right. Yahoo! is partnering with Twitter, making it possible to integrate real-time content into social experiences on Yahoo! Starting today, you'll be able to see more fascinating and news-worthy tweets when you search on Yahoo! Last year we integrated Twitter results in the Yahoo! News Shortcut and for other buzzing topics ....
Create Better Product Pages and Get Tips on Using Buzz
February 23, 2010, 9:52 pmI am in the midst of a project at the moment and I got distracted by a couple of interesting articles from Google that, I expect, are well worth the read for many of you: ?25 Google Website Optimizer Tips for Better Product Pages Segmentation with Google Website Optimizer = Testing on Steroids! Not all customers are created equal, nor should you...
Google Giving Small Businesses a Cheap Advertising Option
February 23, 2010, 9:41 pmby Sage Lewis Google is doing a test in the Houston market that is allowing small businesses to affordably stand out from their competition. Watch this video to learn how you could benefit from this. Be sure and visit our small business news site.
Getting Started on Twitter with a Realistic Timeline
February 23, 2010, 9:28 pmby Jennifer Laycock
While millions of people and tens of thousands of businesses have flocked to Twitter over the past few years, many companies are still standing in the doorway wondering if they should step inside. Their biggest concern? How much time will they spend and how much benefit will they reap.
After all, if you talk to anyone who...
Fortune 500 Can't Do Search Engine Optimization
February 23, 2010, 9:24 pmby Sage Lewis Marketing Pilgrim reported on a Conductor study that basically said that most Fortune 500 companies are not ranking in the natural search results. I talk about why that is and why this is a huge opportunity for you. Be sure and visit our small business news site.
Proof! Facebook Fan Pages Work
February 23, 2010, 9:24 pmby Sage Lewis Marketing Pilgrim reported on a study dealing with the effectiveness of Facebook fan pages. The study makes a pretty strong case for the power of Facebook. Be sure and visit our small business news site.
Matt Cutts Speaks About Cross Linking Your Websites
February 23, 2010, 9:18 pmIn this video Matt Cutts discusses how important it is to understand the value of interlinking your websites properly if you have multiple websites on your server. Here is the video that Google's Matt Cutts talks about the cross linking question: Often times people think that just because they have a few websites that placing links on all of them...
Sports Site Traffic in India Reaches New Heights as Nation Readies for Third Season of India Premier League Cricket Competition
February 23, 2010, 9:01 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on traffic to Sports sites in India as the country prepares for the India Premier League's (IPL) third season. The study found that more than 10 million Internet users at home and work locations in India visited a sports site in January 2010, nearly...
Become a Team Player with Bing and Raise Money for Sport Relief
February 23, 2010, 8:20 pmLike most sports it's infinitely more fun to form a team to play or work together to reach a common goal. That's why Bing is proud to be teaming up with Sport Relief to help raise money for vulnerable and disadvantaged people both in the UK and in some of the world's poorest countries. So How Can You Rise to the Sport Relief Challenge? Between...
Yahoo, Twitter Agree On Content Sharing Deal
February 23, 2010, 8:02 pmTwitter seems to be getting on every search engines lately. It has already struck deals with both Microsoft and Google whereby Twitter streams will be integrated into search result pages. And now, it just agreed on a content sharing deal with Yahoo. According to Jim Stoneham, VP of communities for Yahoo via a report by LATimes , the deal will...
3 Good Link Bait Tips, 3 Bad Link Bait Tips
February 23, 2010, 8:01 pmOf all methods for doing solid search engine optimization, link bait is one of the most alluring (yet mysterious) methods. Good link bait will grab attention and gather links from various pages across the web, but bad link bait won’t grab much attention and will not have the SEO effects desired. Keep in mind that bad link bait and bad...
Olbermann and the Tea Party
February 23, 2010, 7:46 pmby Mike Krumboltz Oh, boy, here we go. After MSNBC's Keith Olbermann insinuated that the Dallas Tea Party , a politically conservative group scheduled to meet this weekend, was made up exclusively of white people, the Tea Party fired back with a response. And what a response it was. Look up more on Tea Parties . A Web video produced by the Dallas...
Searching for Andrew Koenig
February 23, 2010, 4:59 pmby Claudine Zap Amidst all the stories coming out of Vancouver this week, this one almost got lost: " Growing Pains " actor Andrew Koenig is missing. Apparently the TV star was visiting friends in West Vancouver when he disappeared . He was last seen on February 14 at a bakery in the Stanley Park area. Koenig played a kid during his recurring role...
Are Google going all Bing?
February 23, 2010, 4:36 pmIt would appear that Google would appear to be launching a revised search results page into the while, removing a number of traditional Google elements in the process including the blue bar amongst others - and it seems to be spreading.
Google Rejects German Street View Concerns
February 23, 2010, 3:49 pmGerman objections to Street View date back at least a year and a half, and by all accounts, Google still hasn't come close to convincing the German government that the program is harmless. Just the same, Google's announced its intention to move forward with Street View in Germany within the next 10 months. Google almost seems to have given up on...
New Legislation Aims To Regulate Internet Gambling
February 23, 2010, 3:49 pmThe Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, an advocacy group, said today it supports the introduction of legislation by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) that includes provisions to legalize and regulate Internet gambling under the "Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010. "With so much media focus on the...
Making the Best of It
February 23, 2010, 3:43 pmby Mike Krumboltz A little while back, when the Snowpocalypse hit the Eastern United States, a traveler was stuck overnight at the Pittsburgh airport. Rather than twiddle her thumbs or play Tetris on her phone, she decided to make a movie. As far as we know, it's untitled, but we like to call it "Making the Best of a Bad Situation." Check it out...
Google, Bing Battle For Better Disambiguation, AI
February 23, 2010, 3:26 pmTwo fine articles on search engine technology landed in our laps to noodle over this week. One piece focuses on Google and the other Microsoft's Bing platform. Both deal with the artful but dodgy practice of disambiguation, or tuning search algorithms to parse semantics. Folks, I mean the difference between Apple, the company and apple, the fruit....
Microsoft adCenter API Top 10 Viewed Topics for January 2010
February 23, 2010, 2:44 pmHello, Here are the most viewed adCenter API topics on MSDN for January 2010. Microsoft adCenter API Microsoft adCenter API Programming Reference Microsoft adCenter Web Service Addresses Cashback Rebate Program Introducing Microsoft adCenter API WSDL Overview What's New in the SDK for the Microsoft adCenter API Developing with the Microsoft...
Moving Forward With Email Marketing
February 23, 2010, 2:21 pmAs reliable and useful a marketing tool as email's proven to be in the past, it'll be better than ever in the future, according to one expert. The Director of eMarketing Education at ExactTarget explained during a session at OMS how things are changing and how marketers can continue to use email to their advantage. (Coverage of the Online...
15 Social Media Answers From OMS10
February 23, 2010, 2:15 pmOnline Marketing Summit 2010 in San Diego is host to a smorgasboard of internet marketing topics and this afternoon I am priveledged to participate on a panel about Social Media. Panelists include: Chris Baggott, CEO, Compendium Blogware Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing Michael Senger, CEO & Founder, StoneMass Caitlin McCabe, Founder,...
Use Zhuyin in Search Suggestions in Yahoo! Taiwan
February 23, 2010, 2:09 pmWe've just added a new search suggestion feature in Web search for Yahoo! Taiwan (Yahoo! Kimo). This feature helps users easily enter queries in traditional Chinese in the search box using the Zhuyin (Bopomofo) system. Zhuyin is a phonetic system widely used in Taiwan. When Taiwan users type their queries, they often need to switch the language...
How Will Twitter Show Users Ads?
February 23, 2010, 2:03 pmTwitter is testing an ad platform, which is expected to be released next month, possibly at the South By Southwest event in Austin. Though the timing of the release has not been confirmed, Twitter's head of product management and monetization, Anamitra Banerji, told MediaPost that they "are working on an ad platform, but it's only in the test...
Google Integrates Panoramio, Picasa
February 23, 2010, 1:40 pmGoogle Earth, Google Maps, and regular Google search results may sport some more geographically relevant photos in the future. Today, Google announced that it's linked Panoramio and Picasa in order to make it easier for people to share pictures. Panoramio is the geolocation-centric photo-sharing site that Google acquired in 2007. Picasa is the...
Alert: EU Opens Antitrust Investigation Into Google
February 23, 2010, 1:24 pm"The European Commission has launched an anti-trust investigation against Google after three online companies alleged that the internet giants search functions were penalising their businesses."
Enter the Share the Love Photocard Contest
February 23, 2010, 1:15 pm Hi all, I'm Doug Filak with PayPal's consumer credit marketing team and I wanted to share with you a new contest with a chance to win up to $5,000. Until Sunday, February 28th you can enter the Share the Love Photocard Contest where you can be rewarded just for customizing .
How to Get the Most Out of Your SEO
February 23, 2010, 1:15 pmPosted by willcritchlow The good news is that tomorrow (Wednesday 24th Feb), at 8.30am PST (11.30am EST / 4.30pm GMT), I am going to be joined on the next Distilled conference call by Richard Baxter as we discuss "how to get the most from your SEO". The even better news is that it is totally free (as long as you register in time). If you would...
Google Rolls Out New Buzz Features: But Why These?
February 23, 2010, 12:57 pm
Yesterday, Google announced five little tweaks to Buzz. While they’re certain to please active users, they do little to address some of the issues Buzz has faced.
To be fair, Google has tried to address the major privacy concerns after Buzz’s initial (rushed) launch. Probably most important is the note that buried in...
What would you ask Steve Ballmer? SMX host is asking.
February 23, 2010, 12:40 pmDanny Sullivan will be interviewing Steve Ballmer on stage at SMX West , and has started a conversation on his blog at Search Engine Land , inviting you to suggest questions that youd like him to ask. Great questions and conversations on the threads.
Branding Sometimes Means Being Human
February 23, 2010, 12:27 pmFor years now, online marketing professionals have stressed the importance of the human element, particularly in social media. The point was elaborated on in a keynote at the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego today, where an audience of B2B and B2C marketers listened to Federated Media CEO John Battelle and special guest Anne Holland, who runs...
Stephen Colbert, Abbie Cornish, Rolling Stone: What's the Buzz
February 23, 2010, 12:11 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Abbie Cornish (Searches increased by +16,748%). The actress ended her relationship with Ryan Phillippe reportedly over his partying and " wandering eye ." Betty White (+1,902%). The octogenarian is said to be close to hosting "Saturday Night Live," possibly alongside younger funny...
How to Really Build Backlinks and Dominate Google
February 23, 2010, 11:57 amGlen continues to impress me with his unrelenting quest to write truly useful posts. No high-level, water-downed tips here. He actually goes out of his way to explain some very "diamond in the rough" techniques and websites.
AdWords Comparison Ads - Credit Card Test in the UK
February 23, 2010, 11:47 amYou may recall that towards the end of 2009, we began testing a new feature called AdWords Comparison Ads . This feature lets users compare multiple relevant offers with ease, and it provides advertisers with a new sophisticated and flexible cost per lead format. Speed is of the essence for many users, so we've made sure that Comparison Ads shows...
Nearly 15 Percent of Chile Online Population Visited Servel.cl, Official Election Website in December
February 23, 2010, 11:30 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on Chileans' use of the Web during the December 2009 presidential election. The study showed that the election services website, Servel.cl, attracted nearly 1 million unique visitors from home and work locations in December as Chileans prepared for the...
The Role of Digital in Telecoms Marketing
February 23, 2010, 11:12 amLife would be a lot easier for marketers if there were an answer to the question, "Exactly what media mix should I use to optimise my return on investment?" While we don't have the definitive answer, a recent study we commissioned looked at how ROI is affected by varying the media mix, and therefore provides some valuable insights. Themes covered...
Nearly 15 Percent of Chile's Online Population Visited Servel.cl, Official Election Website in December
February 23, 2010, 10:49 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on Chileans' use of the Web during the December 2009 presidential election. The study showed that the election services website, Servel.cl, attracted nearly 1 million unique visitors from home and work locations in December as Chileans prepared for the...
FTC Makes "Free" Credit Report Sites More Transparent
February 23, 2010, 10:49 amThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said today starting April 1, advertising for "free credit reports" online will require new disclosures to help consumers avoid confusing "free" offers which often require them to spend money on credit monitoring or other products and services. The FTC's Free Credit Reports Rule will require new prominent...
comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top-Growing Properties and Site Categories for January 2010
February 23, 2010, 10:32 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. Web activity at the top-growing properties and site categories for January 2010 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. January marked the start of tax season, prompting millions of Americans to visit Tax sites as they...
FTC Makes “Free” Credit Report Sites More Transparent
February 23, 2010, 10:18 amThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said today starting April 1, advertising for "free credit reports" online will require new disclosures to help consumers avoid confusing "free" offers which often require them to spend money on credit monitoring or other products and services.
The FTC's Free Credit Reports Rule will require...
Trending tweets at SES London 2010
February 23, 2010, 10:14 amAt SES London 2010, we launched a grand experiment in which we projected a customised Twitter feed of all the tweets originating directly from the conference onto the wall . Did it have any impact on the conference? Click to read the rest of this post.
Xerox Sues Google, Yahoo
February 23, 2010, 10:02 amGoogle and Yahoo get sued on a regular basis, often by tiny outfits with no chance of winning. But now, the two companies are facing a much more serious lawsuit, as Xerox, which has a market cap of almost $8 billion and a genuine legal team, is taking them to court. Xerox claims that Google and Yahoo have infringed on two patents it holds. Susan...
Google: An Elephant Dancing Ballet
February 23, 2010, 9:46 am
What really goes on inside Google? Wired magazine’s Stephen Levy takes a peek inside the world’s most popular search engine. While most of what he saw will come as no surprise to people who’ve been in search at least a year or two, we do get a glimpse of some of the mechanisms the company uses to keep ahead of...
Social Media Makes National Pancake Day Huge for IHOP
February 23, 2010, 9:45 amIHOP (otherwise known as the International House of Pancakes) is showing off today a great example of harnessing the power of social media for a tremendous marketing opportunity. Today is National Pancake Day according to IHOP (although apparently any day until March 9 is eligible to be called such, depending on where you live and if you celebrate...
Weekly Search & Social News: 02/23/2010
February 23, 2010, 9:27 amWelcome to another edition of ' 7 Days of Search and Social ' - it was a fairly quiet week out on the trails last week and there reall were no real 'zinger' stories that got the search world in a tizzy (who knew? woulda' been a great week for some link bait). Heck, even Google was quiet. It seems like they're announcing something or another on...
American Red Cross Launches Social, "Go-To" Blood Site
February 23, 2010, 9:21 amThe American Red Cross has partnered with BusinessOnline to launch a new site for the American Red Cross at redcrossblood.org , aimed at ramping up blood donations across the country. The organization hopes the site along with some social interaction will do just that. "One social media element of the new Red Cross blood donor site is the 'Blood...
How to Leverage Traffic Besides Using Organic Search
February 23, 2010, 9:08 amThis has some great tips for gaining traffic without organic rankings - something all of us struggle with when taking on new sites or projects. Sometimes you have to work without that google ranking - this is a great primer on how you can leverage other mediums to get traffic to those sites.
14 Uber Cool Reasons to Attend SAScon UK (+Discount for SEJ Readers!)
February 23, 2010, 9:03 amWithout a doubt, one of the best things happening in the UK search and social industry for 2010 is the launch of SAScon 'even if, as one of the organisers, I do say so myself! Organised by a not-for-profit co-op of search and social folk in the UK, SAScon is a conference that really encapsulates what the UK industry is all about â" advocating...
14 Uber Cool Reasons to Attend SAScon UK Conference
February 23, 2010, 9:02 amWithout a doubt, one of the best things happening in the UK search and social industry for 2010 is the launch of SAScon. Ben McKay (one of the organisers) gives a rundown of the speakers and a special treat for readers!
Scent of Information at the International Search Summit
February 23, 2010, 8:17 amGlobal SEO and Usability expert Shari Thurow will be speaking on SEO and the Scent of Information at the International Search Summit on 13th May in London. The scent of information exists on a website to guide the user and help them easily navigate their way through the site, understanding where on the site they are and the value each link or call...
SEO 101 - Part 9: Everything You Need to Know About Keyword Core Terms
February 23, 2010, 8:17 amby Stoney deGeyter The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or...
Zillow Adds Facebook And Twitter To iPhone App
February 23, 2010, 8:17 amReal estate website Zillow.com told WebProNews today it has updated its free iPhone App with new features to allow users to share property details via Facebook and Twitter. Zillow also said it has added listings for homes for rent to its iPhone App. House hunters can set search filters by home price or monthly payment, and at the same time find...
Is Apple Displaying a "Puritan" Double Standard?
February 23, 2010, 8:17 amApple has dominated tech headlines this week, as the company has created quite an uproar by unexpectedly removing over 5,000 apps from its App Store. The apps removed have been deemed "too sexy", but much of said uproar has been more about Apple's definition of sexy, and its double standard. Apps containing women in bikinis and even workout...
Google May Not Be Evil, But It is Naughty By Nature!
February 23, 2010, 8:14 amGoogle is re-branding both its DART for Publishers and Google Ad Manager products–and it’s all because of some surfing web site that can’t get a grip on its online advertising!
Sheesh!
Well, actually Google just uses a surfing site as an example of just how complicated it can be for publishers to manage their ads without the...
How to Leverage Traffic Besides Using Organic Search
February 23, 2010, 8:00 amToo many SEO's and marketers worry about getting that #1 ranking in Google for their primary keyword/phrase. Of course, if that query is being highly searched and you rank first, you are going to receive some good traffic. However, it may take an enormous amount of effort to achieve those rankings. It may be worth your time to try and gain...
Twitter Celebrates 50 Million Tweets Per Day Milestone
February 23, 2010, 7:54 amThanks to the Olympics, hockey sticks are easy to see this time of year, showing up during the actual games, on morning shows, and on talk shows. One's sort of shown up in a graph of Twitter's growth, too, as the number of tweets per day has been increasing at an impressive rate. Kevin Weil, a member of the Twitter analytics team, explained late...
Super Bowl Ad Searches Less Brand Specific
February 23, 2010, 7:46 amOne of the hopes of anyone who paid the money to advertise on this year’s Super Bowl (or any year for that matter) is to generate sales and web traffic. In addition, it would be nice result if the number of searches for your brand went up as well. Based on some research by Hitwise, I suspect that the retention rate for Bud Light commercials run...
Why Using Google Means You’re Just Plain Lazy
February 23, 2010, 7:36 amDo you use any of Google’s products?
Search? Gmail? Reader? Docs?
Then you’re probably one of the laziest people on the internet. Look at you, pathetic!
Now, before you scroll down to the comments section to complain–which I know you will do anyway–let me add this: I’m lazier than all of you!
I started thinking about...
Double talk: do search engines understand your web pages?
February 23, 2010, 7:36 amGoogle does not list your web pages although you have a great site? This week's article lists 5 reasons why search engines won't list your website (solutions included).
5 Guaranteed Ways to Hate Your Own Writing
February 23, 2010, 7:24 amIf you're like the majority of writers out there, you're a self-doubting bundle of neuroses, determined to believe that your writing will never be good enough. That's the life of the tortured, misunderstood writer, right? What's that? You think you're pretty good at writing and actually like some of your own work? Don't worry, it's just a blip.
Small Businesses Must Choose Partners Carefully
February 23, 2010, 7:23 amby Mike Moran
Image via CrunchBase
As a small business, you probably pride yourself on being customer friendly. Even though you might work with large companies as your suppliers and partners, you go the extra mile for your customers when something goes wrong. You make your site search friendly. You put the information on it that customers...
SEJ Tools: Analyze On-Page Keywords with Keyword Analyzer
February 23, 2010, 7:18 amPreviously, I have already shared some tools that can extract key words and phrases from a web page and analyze its prominence. SEJ tools have a somewhat improved version of such a utility that can analyze the page copy, identify most prominent phrases, analyze how relevant they are to the page content and define the type of each one. Let's...
Writing for Attention: Ammunition for Personalised Search
February 23, 2010, 7:18 amPersonalised search is Google's latest tactic of boosting rankings for domains that users have shown they are more likely to visit based upon their search history. It can be disabled, but when it's on by default, search (and click-through) history is stored in a 180 day cookie meaning personalised search comes into play only on that browser and...
Becoming a Mom Changes Media Patterns Significantly
February 23, 2010, 6:56 amIf there was ever a market segment that gets attention in big chunks (whether deserved or not) it’s the moms of the world. There are mommy bloggers who have held sway over brands and made brands bend to their will at times. The Motrin incident (sounds like social media’s answer to The Bourne Ultimatum doesn’t it?) was evidence of how this...
11 Characteristics of Highly Influential Blog(ger)s
February 23, 2010, 6:43 amA few weeks ago, I posted about the seven characteristics of highly effective online video . Taking this theme a little further, I decided to branch out into the blogosphere, but using the number seven this time around was a tad too limiting. There are at least ten characteristics off the top of my head that make blogs and bloggers successful....
Xerox Files Patent Suit Against Google, Yahoo
February 23, 2010, 5:52 am"The company claims that its automatic query and information integration patents are being violated."
Small Business Tips For Reporting Web Metrics
February 23, 2010, 5:16 am[Last week, we shared some web analytics basics for small businesses or web site owners new to tracking website visitor data. Building on that, this post explores what you should do next to report that data.] It's an exciting time to be a small business owner or communications professional. Why? We've never had more data and metrics at our...
Org Domains Sold For 1 Million Dollars and Almost $300k
February 23, 2010, 4:20 am"$1 million and $300K .Org domain sales shows that the .Org gTLD isn't detrimental to domain value, development desirability and projected profitability."
SEO for Startups: Top 7 Lessons + A Trip to YCombinator
February 23, 2010, 1:36 amPosted by randfish Last week, while in London, I received an email from Paul Graham , whom I've long admired, possibly even idolized a bit. He asked if I was available to come speak at a YCombinator SEO event in Mountain View. Tonight, I presented at that evented and thought I'd share my experiences, recommendations and yes, my presentation. Not...
Enhancing Your Search Results With Multimedia
February 23, 2010, 1:15 am
Education specialists will tell you that some of us learn more readily from reading, some from hearing, some from video, and some from doing. It only makes sense that when you conduct an internet search, you avail yourself of all the options when it comes to the information out there on the subject you’re interested in. That’s one...
Google Earth Now Available for Android
February 23, 2010, 1:13 amMobile release limited to latest version of Android platform. Click to read the rest of this post.
Rentbits.com Revamps Search in Site Relaunch
February 23, 2010, 1:13 amThe site, founded by ex-Googlers, gets a cosmetic and functional update. Click to read the rest of this post.
Footage.net Adds Getty Images Database
February 23, 2010, 1:13 amAccess to hundreds of thousands of motion content clips now available in the search platform. Click to read the rest of this post.
Talks to Resume â" Google is Trying to Stay in China
February 23, 2010, 1:07 amAccording to breaking news from the Wall Street Journal, Google will be resuming talks with China after the Chinese New Year holiday over the future of the company's search engine in the heavily censored country. Why is Google Considering Leaving? A Basic Timeline of Events If you have missed the boat on this story then here is an timeline...
Twitter Stats Indicate 50 Million Tweets Per Day
February 22, 2010, 11:54 pm"...that's an average of 600 tweets per second."
Frustrated with Google Buzz? Google is Listening
February 22, 2010, 11:40 pmOn February 14th, Danny Sullivan posted a frustrated Buzz about Google Buzz that lured me into making a few comments. Well, low and behold, but a man by the name of Josh Wills who is involved behind the scenes in Google Buzz jumped into the fray and listened. Yes, listened! I was so impressed, I thought I would share with you the conversation. To...
Reply.com Files for IPO
February 22, 2010, 11:01 pmClick to read the rest of this post.
Do Not Worry About PageRank
February 22, 2010, 10:04 pmFor years people have always made an effort to really focus on increasing their Google pagerank as much as possible. I always ask people, what is it about Google pagerank that makes you want to increase it so badly? Many times they really didn't know how to answer the question or at least answer it correctly. For many years Google pagerank was the...
How to Avoid Launching a Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Social Engagement Campaign
February 22, 2010, 8:33 pmThis post is te collection of video interviews our guest contributor Neal Rodriguez interview top Internet marketing experts on tracking and managing social media campaigns, social media reputation management, Tweitter marketing, etc:
"Law and Order" Theme Song: For the Dogs
February 22, 2010, 8:02 pmby Claudine Zap You can always find an episode of " Law and Order " on TV. Seriously. The syndicated shows alone run on some cable networks six times a day. If you have eyes and a TV, you already know this. But what you may not know is that there seems to be an unsung fan base out there: the dogs. You heard right. Videos of pooches howling to the...
Local Search APIs For Fun & Profit
February 22, 2010, 7:29 pmAndrew Shotland (serious local geek) has some pretty good resources here - didn't see much chatter about this post....thought it worth sharing. Handy stuff
Google Launches DoubleClick for Publishers
February 22, 2010, 5:56 pmGoogle has just announced its new ad serving technology which is geared for both large and small scale online publishers - DoubleClick for Publishers. This is actually a result of combining Google Ad Manager and DoubleClick Ad Exchange which Google purchase in 2008. DoubleClick for Publishers, the main service will be available for large online...
Google Launches DoubleClick for Publishers
February 22, 2010, 4:45 pmNew platform to replace DART for Publishers and Google Ad Manager.Click to read the rest of this post...
Twitter Shows Off Hockey Stick Growth
February 22, 2010, 3:55 pmIt's a bird. It's a plane. It's Twitter! Click to read the rest of this post.
Avinash Kaushik shows HMV & M&S How "They Came, They Puked, They Left!"
February 22, 2010, 3:55 pmLast week, Avinash Kaushik opened SES London with a superb keynote presentation about web analytics - see this video interview if you missed it. There's some good writeups following this, but one of the parts I found interesting was the examples of how brands perform using search. Marks & Spencer One of Avinahs's examples included an M&S paid...
Tufts Brings YouTube Into The Admissions Process
February 22, 2010, 3:49 pmYouTube's a site that's been used by nonprofit organizations to address serious human rights issues. It's also a site that's been used to exhibit children kicking adults in the crotch. Now, in a move that sort of bridges the gap, Tufts University has started allowing applicants to post clips featuring themselves. "Lee Coffin, Tufts' dean of...
Affluent shoppers increase during holidays
February 22, 2010, 3:44 pmLast week, during our Holiday Recap webinar, we examined how the demographic profiles of the visitors to the Retail 500 shifted in 2009 as compared to the previous year. When looking at the household income of visitors during the peak weeks of the holiday seasons, there was an increase in those earning $100k and over. Visitors that earned over...
Catch the Microsoft Lineup at SMX West March 2-4
February 22, 2010, 3:32 pmYou might already know that Steve Ballmer is opening the show at SMX West in a little more than a week in California. But wait... there's more. Raj Kapoor , global director of product planning and marketing for Mobile Advertising, will be speaking in a session Tuesday morning: Mobile Paid Search Ads: Real Opportunities. "Mobile ad spend will...
Amazon.com Tops In Brand Trust In U.S.
February 22, 2010, 3:26 pmAmazon.com is the top performing brand in the U.S. based on "trust" and "recommendation," according to a new report from Milward Brown. The report titled "Beyond Trust: Engaging Consumers in the Post-Recession World" was conducted in partnership with The Futures Company and introduces "TrustR," a new metric for understanding the relationship...
50 Million Tweets Per Day? We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat!
February 22, 2010, 3:16 pmIt appears Twitter is finally had enough of third-party analytics companies getting all of the publicity over tweet counts–so it’s spilling the official beans.
Folks were tweeting 5,000 times a day in 2007. By 2008, that number was 300,000, and by 2009 it had grown to 2.5 million per day. Tweets grew 1,400% last year to 35 million...
Amazon.com Tops In Brand Trust In U.S.
February 22, 2010, 3:14 pmAmazon.com is the top performing brand in the U.S. based on "trust" and "recommendation," according to a new report from Milward Brown.
The report titled "Beyond Trust: Engaging Consumers in the Post-Recession World" was conducted in partnership with The Futures Company and introduces "TrustR," a new metric...
Google Writes the Buzz Handbook 5 Tips at a Time
February 22, 2010, 3:09 pmSince the launch of Google Buzz, there has been a seemingly endless amount of chatter about the things that are wrong with it. Privacy concerns and other gripes have kind of taken center stage, even though Buzz usage was impressive pretty much right out of the box. Still, to truly get to mainstream usage, people are going to have to understand it...
How to Avoid Launching a Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Social Engagement Campaign
February 22, 2010, 3:09 pm[Intro by Ann] With social media marketing, engagement is the most important but it is still should be done right. This post is te collection of video interviews our guest contributor Neal Rodriguez interview top Internet marketing experts on tracking and managing social media campaigns, social media reputation management, Tweitter marketing,
Searching for Apolo's Mom
February 22, 2010, 3:04 pmby Mike Krumboltz NBC loves panning its cameras to the Olympic athletes' families as they watch their loved ones compete. At the Vancouver Games, Apolo Anton Ohno 's father, Yuki , has been shown numerous times, cheering on his son. However, Ohno's mother has been notably absent. This hasn't gone unnoticed by viewers. Web searches on " apolo anton...
CustomerID is mandatory for campaign level targeting in adCenter API
February 22, 2010, 3:03 pmAnother tip, or FAQ, from our support engineering team: Since the release of adCenter API v6, we've gotten some questions about the use of CustomerID in getting and setting campaign level targeting. "Why is CustomerID mandatory for this API and not for the others?" In the version 6 release, targeting was enabled at the campaign-level, and using...
Tip: Spaces around credentials cause adCenter API errors
February 22, 2010, 2:46 pmIm continuing with our posts on some of the tips shared by our support engineers. These are overlooked steps or easy-to-correct errors that sometimes prompt support questions. As always, if you have followup questions, let us know and Ill research it with the engineering team and report back. Be sure to remove the spaces around the credentials in...
Second Life Attempts To Make Rebound
February 22, 2010, 2:46 pmYou probably have forgotten about Second Life (the virtual world from Linden Labs), right? Remember, thats that virtual world that got a TON of hype back in 2005/6. It was on the cover of magazines. On CNN and other TV shows. It looked like it was going to be THE new thing of the decade. What happened? Well, a few things. 1. Corporations...
Chinese President Hu Jintao Joins Twitter Equivalent
February 22, 2010, 2:23 pmAlthough not directly related, a new development has added a layer of complexity (and perhaps humor) to the Google/China/censorship mess. Chinese President Hu Jintao has signed up for an account on what appears to be the state-run equivalent of Twitter. The relationship is not quite a direct one. The People's Daily is the official newspaper of...
3 Steps for Optimizing Content for Long Tail Keywords
February 22, 2010, 2:17 pmThe following is a guest post from Tom Demers. One of the most pivotal aspects of driving large volumes of search traffic in most verticals is effectively targeting long tail keywords. While ranking for competitive phrases and developing link authority are certainly crucial aspects of SEO, much of ranking on long tail keywords is properly...
Idol Talk: Lone Star-Struck
February 22, 2010, 1:54 pmby Vera H-C Chan The pants have been picked off the ground, the rejects have gone home, and host Ryan Seacrest is shifting the melodrama into overdrive. " American Idol ," which ended up with the Nielsen silver against the Olympics in its Hollywood Round, should be gunning for the gold this week with its first live show of Season 9. And for a show...
MySpace: Expect More Discovery Products
February 22, 2010, 1:23 pmThere has been a bit of dicussion throughout the blogosphere that MySpace is changing its direction, trying to differentiate itself from other social networks like Facebook. They reportedly have a new product strategy called "Discover and be Discovered", which would include a feature simply called "Discovery."
Not many...
comScore Launches Platform To Help Publishers Optimize Ads
February 22, 2010, 1:18 pmcomScore said today it has launched comScore Audience Advantage, described as a "digital audience optimization platform" that allows publishers to provide advertisers and media planners with the ability to reach their most valuable audiences. comScore Audience Advantage uses proprietary audience scoring algorithms to determine optimal audiences...
Privacy Snafus Threaten to Make Google Buzz Beacon 2
February 22, 2010, 1:12 pmOodles are being written about Google Buzz being a privacy train wreck that Google, with all of its wise engineering talent, could not foresee . And perhaps that's the problem. Googlers excel at logic-based algorithms, engineering challenges and cool coding. Now Google is being undermined by its apparent inability to see outside the Googleplex...
NY Times to Put Blogs Behind Paywall
February 22, 2010, 1:11 pmAfter years of debate and experimentation, the New York Times announced its decision of a pay-meter system last month. Although the switch isn’t due for more than a year, we’ve all had our questions. Last week, executives of the Times took the opportunity at the paidContent conference to answer those questions.
Unfortunately, it looks...
Is Your Twitter Audience Listening?
February 22, 2010, 1:08 pmYou've just reached 5,000 followers on Twitter. Congratulations. Now you have 5,000 people listening to you, right? Wrong!
Bing is Going Big in Dallas
February 22, 2010, 1:01 pmOKso maybe it is a bit of an overstatement but isnt everything bigger in Texas? Im packing my bags today to join some members of the Bing team in Dallas where well talk to some local bloggers, SEO experts and local media to get feedback, suggestions and to just find out how Bing can be better for them. We really value your feedback and are always...
Betty White Fever
February 22, 2010, 12:56 pmby Mike Krumboltz For weeks, fans have been petitioning "Saturday Night Live" to bring in Betty White for hosting duties. Now, it appears the fans may get their wish. With a twist. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Ms. White is close to a stint as host on SNL. Or perhaps "co-host" is the correct term. According to EW, "SNL" is putting...
Running a Promotion on Your Facebook Page May Cost You $10K
February 22, 2010, 12:50 pmA Facebook Page can be a great way to build your fan-base, inspire engagement with customers/readers, and generally build upon your brand. However, if you want to do a promo on one, that'll cost you.
Facebook's policy dictates that one must get written approval from a Facebook account representative. In order to get one of those, you have to...
Twitter Arranges for Free SMS Tweets in Haiti
February 22, 2010, 12:37 pmTwitter is offering free SMS tweets for Digicel Haiti customers. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone credits Director of Mobile Business Development Kevin Thau and the Twitter mobile team for arranging this service. "If you have been following the events in Haiti since the devastating quake last month, then you know of the initial bursts of compassion,"...
Google Earth Comes to Android
February 22, 2010, 12:37 pmGoogle has launched Google Earth for Android, which is currently only available for the Nexus One (which runs Android 2.1). Google calls it the fastest mobile version of Google Earth yet. Along with the release, comes the Roads layer, which has been popular on the desktop version of Google Earth. The layer is meant to give users a better sense of...
Weekend Box Office Winner, Missing Andrew Koenig, Dragster Crash: What's the Buzz
February 22, 2010, 12:02 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Andrew Koenig (Searches increased by +11,057%). The recurring guest star of the '80s hit "Growing Pains" disappeared in Vancouver, worrying family and friends . USA vs Canada (+1,003%). The U.S. beat Canada at its own game. Really didn't see that coming . BAFTA Awards (+679%). "The...
Which Multivariate Testing Software is Best?
February 22, 2010, 11:27 amMy buddies from Conversion Rate Experts have put together a review site for multivariate software called Which Multivariate . Surprisingly old school in the modern affiliate link filled web, they have made the site vendor neutral and are not planning on ever taking affiliate commissions in an attempt to gather honest reviews. Check it out. Its...
Interview with Link Building Expert Arnie Kuenn
February 22, 2010, 11:22 amArnie Kuenn, president and founder of Vertical Measures, shares his link building expertise in this Q&A;, answering questions such as how much time SEOs should spend on link building and offering link building tool recommendations.
People You Know Influential, Social Media Isn’t, in Purchase Decisions
February 22, 2010, 11:18 amPeople may be more honest on Facebook these days, but we still don’t trust them. MediaPost reports that an ARAnet study shows social media and search engine recommendations coming out tied among the general population—but search engine recommendations leap out in front among affluent (>$75,000/yr—49%) and younger adults...
Wish You Were Here? UK Travel Trends in 2010
February 22, 2010, 11:10 amAs mentioned in Simone's blog about spring trends , below is a more in depth look at what is occurring in the travel market. When planning your Microsoft adCenter campaigns, take some time to think about: 1) emerging trends in the market and 2) seasonality.
7 Ways To Beat The Challenges Of SEO For Ecommerce
February 22, 2010, 11:10 amIf "Content is King" and "Links are Queen" when it comes to SEO, ecommerce sites must be like America - no king and no queen (but there is opportunity)! To put it another way, the typical medium or large e-commerce website faces substantial challenges to SEO - both from a content and a link perspective. Allow me to explain' The Inherent...
Spam vs Mahalo: Matt Cutts Explains the Difference
February 22, 2010, 11:04 amWhen the internal Google remote quality rater guidelines leaked online there was a core quote inside it that defined the essence of spam: Final Notes on Spam When trying to decide if a page is Spam, it is helpful to ask yourself this question: if I remove the scraped (copied) content, the ads, and the links to other pages, is there anything of...
Introducing the new DoubleClick for Publishers
February 22, 2010, 10:28 amYou may have read previous posts on this blog about Google's ad serving platforms for publishers, such as Google Ad Manager. Publisher ad serving helps website owners better manage and deliver ad campaigns that they've sold directly to advertisers. Ad serving platforms are also used to better manage how unsold ads are allocated to third parties,...
Google's DoubleClick Gets a New Look
February 22, 2010, 10:28 amGoogle has announced a new release of DoubleClick for publishers , available in two versions (for large and small publishers). Along with the new release, Google has given the DoubleClick logo a makeover. "To reflect our continued investment in DoubleClick's products, as well as the central role of DoubleClick's technology products within Google's...
Facebook Investor To Put $1B Into Social Media
February 22, 2010, 10:28 amThe Russian investment firm that's contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Facebook's bank accounts is not even close to ending its involvement with social media. According to Yuri Milner, who's the CEO and founding partner of Digital Sky Technologies, his organization is interested in doling out another $1 billion. Obviously, that's a...
Family of Missing Growing Pains Actor Andrew Koenig Turns to Web
February 22, 2010, 10:28 amAndrew Koenig, an actor best known for portraying Kirk Cameron's best friend "Boner" on the 80s sitcom Growing Pains has gone missing, and his family is using the web to try and find him. The family's efforts begin at Andrew's father's website at WalterKoneigSite.com , which details Andrew's last known whereabouts and the efforts the family is...
comScore Launches Audience Advantage⢠Predictive Modeling Platform to Help Publishers Optimize Audiences for Digital Ad Campaigns
February 22, 2010, 10:22 amcomScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the launch of comScore Audience Advantageâ¢, a digital audience optimization platform that enables publishers to provide advertisers and media planners with the ability to accurately reach their most valuable audiences. Using anonymized data from its proprietary...
Twitter Crowdsourcing Da Capo: Best of SEO FAQ Thievery
February 22, 2010, 9:41 amWelcome back to our weekly Twitter column. Last week I hailed Twitter crowdsourcing and suggested some ideas on how to motivate your peers to participate in your blog postings. It worked very well in my case, the SEO FAQ I asked you to steal . Many readers and Twitter followers have taken part in the whole process. I credited those who added their...
Google Upgrades Ad-Serving Product for Publishers
February 22, 2010, 9:41 amGoogle has just announced a new DoubleClick for Publishers , a service it refers to as "the next generation of ad serving technology for publishers." "For the past few years, we've been investing in a suite of solutions AdSense, ad-serving technology and the DoubleClick Ad Exchange to help online publishers make the most money possible from...
The next generation of ad serving for online publishers
February 22, 2010, 9:23 amToday, we're announcing the next generation of ad serving technology for online publishers â" DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) . For the past few years, we've been investing in a suite of solutions â" AdSense, ad-serving technology and the DoubleClick Ad Exchange â" to help online publishers make the most money possible from their...
Solving Site Architecture Issues: 'Vertical PageRank Siloing'
February 22, 2010, 9:20 amRichard Baxter of SEOgadget with a detailed (illustrated) writeup of a presentation he gave at last week's SES London 2010: when dealing with multi tiered sites (eg in the travel industry), how do you go about making sure internal link juice is distributed to those 'low power' pages. Short answer: Recognise, identify and set up intelligent...
How to create, optimize, and promote video on YouTube
February 22, 2010, 8:58 amYesterday, I mentioned that I'm speaking on the morning roundtable at SES San Diego 2010. Later in the afternoon, I'm also speaking at the "YouTube & Video Optimization" session.Click to read the rest of this post...
How Smart Freelance Writers Handle Their #1 Hassle
February 22, 2010, 8:48 amThe life of a freelance writer is pretty sweet. It's interesting, challenging work. You meet great people. You have a lot of freedom to organize your work life the way you want it. The pay can be excellent, and you get to make a living doing something you love. But there are aspects of the profession that aren't much fun. As a freelance...
Will Bing Powering Yahoo Make SEO Easier?
February 22, 2010, 8:37 amThere is an interesting discussion going on in our WebProWorld forum about search engine optimization post Microsoft-Yahoo deal. For those unfamiliar with the topic, Microsoft and Yahoo recently gained regulatory approval on a search and advertising deal announced last year, which will see Yahoo using Bing's algorithm in its search results.
Scribe SEO Introductory Offer Extended
February 22, 2010, 8:25 amJust a quick note to let you know we've extended the Scribe introductory offer â" where you get the Advanced Plan for the Starter price â" until this coming Friday, February 26. So you still have time to take Scribe on a free test drive and take advantage of a great deal. Take the Scribe tour Frequently Asked Questions Take Scribe on a Free...
In Amazon We Trust While Toyota Is A TBD
February 22, 2010, 8:02 amSome more Monday morning research for you to consider while getting back into work mode. A report from Millward Brown takes a look at the top trusted brands in the US based on trust and recommendation. These factors are combined into what the researchers call “TrustR” which is a new metric for understanding and strengthening the bond between...
Context Optional Launches Facebook Brand Management Suite
February 22, 2010, 7:56 amSocial marketing company Context Optional has launched Social Marketing Suite (SMS), a customizable platform for brands to manage and build their presence on Facebook. "Brands that have taken social seriously need to find more efficient ways to stay involved in consumer conversations while keeping pages interesting and free of profanity," said...
Google Distances Buzz From Facebook, Twitter
February 22, 2010, 7:56 amThe idea that Google Buzz poses no threat to Facebook and Twitter is perhaps a popular one; Buzz, of course, got off to a very shaky start due to some privacy missteps. Interestingly, though, a Google exec claims to agree with the idea, stating that Buzz is supposed to serve a different purpose. Cynics might argue that Google's only refrained...
A roundup of the 15 best multivariate testing (MVT) apps (includes Google Website Optimizer)
February 22, 2010, 7:31 amMultivariate testing software can greatly increase your website’s profits. This site lets you compare testing platforms, including the free Google Website Optimizer.
Brandividualism: Dilema or Opportunity?
February 22, 2010, 7:16 amMany business owners and managers are perplexed by the social web. The effect of customer participation with social media on brands is undeniable. The effect of employee participation with social media can be a bit of a quandary. The range of acceptance for social web activity runs the gamut from IT blocking all internet connections to sites...
Local Advertising to Make Gradual Comeback With Digital Leading the Way
February 22, 2010, 7:09 amAdvertising in general has had a soul crushing last couple of years. That’s not a surprise. Combine the rapid changes to how everyone communicates with the worst economy in quite some time and you have the perfect storm for advertising woes. The ones who have the greatest difficulty in these times are the local advertisers because they have...
Why I Think Guest Posting Is the Least Vulnerable (Marketing) Tactic
February 22, 2010, 6:52 amLast week or so I was approached by Danny Wong asking me to publish his post on why he thinks link building via guest posting is a bad strategy. I replied to him saying that this largely depends on each person's approach to guest blogging. I did agree to publish the post (because I think we should discuss various points of view here) but promised...
Another Piece of Chinese Google Attack Puzzle Falls into Place
February 22, 2010, 6:41 amUpdate: The Financial Times is reporting that the writer of the code used in the infamous attacks on Google and other companies has allegedly been identified. The publication's Joseph Menn writes:
A freelance security consultant in his 30s wrote the part of the program that used a previously unknown security hole in the Internet Explorer web...
Research Suggests We Don’t Lie On Facebook Anymore
February 22, 2010, 6:26 amIt appears as though the concept of being “radically transparent” is reaching the huddled masses on social networks.
Back in 2007, 31% of social network users admitted that they had falsified some of their profile details. Today, a new study suggests that we’re all actually quite honest about how we portray ourselves–at...
Google DoubleClick Ad Serving For Publishers (DFP)
February 22, 2010, 4:16 am"The new DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) from Google is a platform that helps you more effectively sell, manage, deliver and track both directly and indirectly sold advertising campaigns across your website."
How To Create, Design And Deliver Your Email Newsletter
February 22, 2010, 4:04 amAlthough many web publishers consider email newsletters an old-fashioned way to update their readers and customers, in my opinion, email messages remain THE most familiar, intimate, direct and effective way to communicate with anyone you know. As such they represent one of the most powerful means to create and share value online and one of the few...
Westhost Hosting Outage
February 22, 2010, 3:07 am"Due to the nature of this interruption we will be experiencing extended outages."
Google Adds MySpace to Real-Time Search
February 22, 2010, 2:31 am"These updates are all ranked to reflect the most relevant, freshest results, many of which are just seconds old...."
Google Tests Enhanced Ads Directly in Local Search Results
February 22, 2010, 1:05 amSponsored features are included with local biz listings. Click to read the rest of this post.
Olympic Viewers Turn to Facebook During Games
February 21, 2010, 11:11 pmVancouver 2010 has people tuning into the tube and updating their networks at the same time. Click to read the rest of this post.
Applying Atul Gawande's Checklist Manifesto to SEO
February 21, 2010, 11:00 pmPosted by Tom_C This post was inspired by Rand. If I'm honest, I'm not sure how many of my posts aren't inspired by Rand... Specifically however it was this tweet which set the wheels in motion (if ever so slowly): The link that Rand twittered was this one to the Financial Times . It's a story about checklists. Yeah, *yawn* right? Well not quite -...
How to Put Together a Link Building Strategy
February 21, 2010, 10:19 pmMost of you understand that marketing a business or website is important and with that comes the need for some sort of plan to get the job done. Don't just try to store the plan in your head. Write it down and visualize it so you can better understand what it is that you are up against. Pull up a fresh excel worksheet and let's get started. Start...
15 Effective Link Building Methods
February 21, 2010, 10:03 pm
Link building is still one of the most important factors in your search engine results page (SERP) rankings and in your Google PageRank and will be from the foreseeable future. Links are still the fundamental connectors on the web, and legitimate links are still a great way to judge importance of a site and just how trustworthy a site is....
Class-Action Suit Filed Against Google, and Buzz
February 21, 2010, 5:12 pm"Law firms in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., Wednesday filed a class-action complaint in San Jose, Calif., federal court against Google, and its Buzz technology...The suit, reported by ABC News, is the first reported suit filed against Google about Buzz, which unexpectedly exposed relationships users had with others when Google turned on the...
The Democratization of the TED Conference
February 21, 2010, 4:15 pmDespite my best efforts, there was no way that I was going to actually manage to blog while I was still at the TED conference this year. I don't know how anyone can do it. I suppose that is why there was such an explosion of tweeting at TED - you can do it on the fly. But if you want to sit down and write anything vaguely coherent, it takes time....
Google Video Compression Developer Acquisition Complete
February 21, 2010, 3:29 pmUpdate: Late Friday, Google announced that it closed the On2 Technologies acquisition, valued at about $124.6 million, after On2's shareholders voted to approve the transaction.
"We're excited to welcome the On2 team to Google and to continue to enhance the video experience for users on the web," said Sundar Pichai, Vice President...
Sneak previews of Online Marketing Summit 2010 and SES San Diego
February 21, 2010, 9:53 amOnline Marketing Summit 2010 gets underway in San Diego this week. And Day 3 of the event features a Search Engine Strategies Forum also known as SES San Diego 2010 . Here are some sneak previews. Click to read the rest of this post.
Pandia Search Engine News Wrap-up Feb 21
February 21, 2010, 8:09 amHere are some of the search engine related articles we have found interesting this week: Google Buzz Facing Lawsuit from 31 Million Users? A Florida woman has filed a class action complaint in San Jose federal court alleging that Google Buzz shared personal data without consent. (Marketing Pilgrim Feb 18 2010) 11 handy Google Buzz tips Bend it,...
Yahoo! switches to Bing search results
February 21, 2010, 7:52 amThis week Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) announced that they have received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission. This means that Yahoo! will close down its own search engine and start using Bing search results instead, probably as early as...
Google Wave Finds Fans At Clear Channel
February 21, 2010, 6:59 amLove it or hate it, Clear Channel Radio is pretty much inescapable; the organization claims to have a weekly audience of 110 million listeners, which represents about one-third of America's population. It could be quite important, then, that some people who work for the omnipresent radio entity have taken a liking to Google Wave. Dennis Elliott,...
Experts trace Google hackers to Chinese schools
February 21, 2010, 6:24 amThe Google/China controversy has got a new chapter. The cyber attacks have been traced back to two Chinese schools. As we reported in January Google practically declared war on the Chinese government after they discovered serious cyber attacks at their own servers. It seems the hackers were after both business information and information on...
A Social Media Marketing How-to Guide
February 21, 2010, 12:39 am
And you thought the web would allow you to hide in your mom’s basement and run a business to fund your beer and gamer laptop obsession without having to experience direct sunlight or interact with others. Silly you. Being sociable on the web isn’t just neighborly, it’s downright required for running your website or e-business...
Bringing SEO to Small Business in Scotland
February 20, 2010, 7:37 pmPosted by randfish Last week I spent a day with small business owners in Glasgow (pronounced glaz-go), Scotland teaching the basics of online marketing and SEO. It was a remarkable experience to be faced with such a different crowd than what I'm used to. As a comparison, the week prior, I'd been in Mountain View presenting to the Silicon Valley...
How To Say MySQL
February 20, 2010, 7:35 pm"WebmasterWorld members chew over the correct pronunciation of MySQL."
Black Hat versus White Hat or New Hat versus Old Hat?
February 20, 2010, 10:15 amAt SES London 2010, there was an unconventional session held at the bar of the Hilton London Islington Hotel entitled "Black Hat/White Hat Unconferenced." As you can see from the photo below, more than 200 people crammed into a space that could comfortably accommodate about 20.Click to read the rest of this post...
Google Expands Maps Into Much More of Africa
February 20, 2010, 6:45 amGoogle is expanding Google Maps into 30 African countries where it was not previously available. "One of the things we spend a lot of time thinking about at Google is how we can make the world's information more accessible and useful to people all over the globe," Google says . "This includes providing rich local geographic data because, after...
Cup of Joe: Bonnie Raitt Knows the Secret to Social Media Marketing
February 20, 2010, 5:11 am
The other day I was on Twitter and saw a tweet that really summed up social media marketing. OK, so I know that James is talking more about SEO here, but truthfully, giving your audience something to talk about is at the heart of social media marketing. Bonnie Raitt knew this secret in 1991–way before our modern conception of social media...
Funny Dilbert SEO Comic Strip Cartoon by Scott Adams
February 20, 2010, 4:50 amAnd all this, only to find out there was a missing ingredient the whole time ;) Of course, if Dilbert had a text version of the cartoon and perhaps a more relevant alt tag in his embed code that would help too.
Google Enhanced Local Listings
February 20, 2010, 12:45 am
Depending on who’s doing the talking, Google’s new Enhanced Local Listings (currently available only in Houston, Texas and San Jose, California) are either a boon to small businesses with small advertising budgets or the end of organic search as we know it. Here is what all the heated discussion is about.
The Google Lat Long Blog...
Chinese Net Memes
February 19, 2010, 11:28 pmHere are some Chinese internet memes, as presented by More Suzhou magazine (February/ March 2010 issue): What, brother, is smoking, is not a cigarette, but loneliness! (...) gÄ" chMu de bú shì yn, shì jì mò In July of 2009, someone posted a picture of a guy eating a bowl of noodles on a Baidu forum, and titled it, "What, brother, is eating,...
Government Grants Google Power to Sell Power Like A Utility
February 19, 2010, 10:14 pmFebruary has been quite the month for Google Creep, that slow, steady spread of Google's sphere of influence across all business sectors that directly or indirectly touch on the Web. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted Google the right to buy and resell electricity, fulfilling Google's December request. At a general level, Google...
Winning Dogs, Escaped Zebras, and Cat Food: Buzz Week in Review
February 19, 2010, 7:23 pmby Mike Krumboltz A couple of animals inspired big searches this past week. At the annual Westminster Dog Show , a Scottish terrier named Sadie won the coveted "Best in Show" award, but not before her moment of glory was interrupted by protesters. Meanwhile, down in Atlanta, an escaped zebra named Lima took an extended tour of town before being...
Learn About Yahoo! Key Scientific Challenges Program
February 19, 2010, 6:02 pmWhat can search data tell you about people? How can you use search data to project the commercial success of movies, video games, and other products? These are just a few of the challenges from the microeconomics and social systems area of the 2010 Key Scientific Challenges Program that we announced on Jan. 27 this year. The Key Scientific...
Wii Curling Fever: Catch It
February 19, 2010, 5:33 pmby Claudine Zap Thanks to the magic of video games, even if you are the furthest thing from a rock star, a golf pro, or, say, an Olympian, you can still play one from the comfort of your living room. And while catching air on the halfpipe or racing on downhill skiis may grab the more adventurous types, the newly cool sport of curling has caught...
PayPal at Gravity Summit for social good panel
February 19, 2010, 5:22 pmJudy Chang Hi all, this is Judy Chang from PayPal's nonprofit team. This Monday, I will be participating in a great panel at the anniversary event for Gravity Summit. Held on the UCLA campus, the panel "Social Media Meets Social Good" will discuss how social media has helped impact awareness and .
The Many Faiths of Tiger Woods
February 19, 2010, 4:54 pmby Vera H-C Chan The last time Tiger Woods issued his regrets, the statement was a lot shorter and more defensive: "Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions." Yet unrelenting coverage did finally result in a press conference. While the " wisdom " of the move is under...
Burrrr it's cold outside'win a free t-shirt
February 19, 2010, 3:10 pmIts that time againits Friday which means we have to listen to Stefan again and get a chance to win a free Bing t-shirt. So, make sure you watch the video for this weeks theme and tweet us back your answer at @bing with #FTF in your tweet for a chance to win a Free t-shirt. This is a great example of a winning tweet from a few weeks back: ...
Experts Agree The Internet Will Make Us Smarter
February 19, 2010, 3:04 pmThe Pew Internet & American Life Project and the Internet Center at Elon University teamed up to survey 895 experts about the future of the Internet and its affect on human intelligence. "Three out of four experts said our use of the Internet enhances and augments human intelligence, and two-thirds said use of the Internet has improved reading,...
Intel Connects Laptops to HDTVs With WiDi
February 19, 2010, 3:04 pmDuring CES 2010 , WebProNews was introduced to Intel's new Wireless Display technology , also known as the WiDi. This new device makes connecting laptops to HDTVs much simpler and convenient. Many other laptop to TV connectors require bulky cables and cords, where as the WiDi allows for a wireless connection. Intel's WiDi requirements: laptop PC...
PPC VS SEO metrics from SES London escape into Tweetspace
February 19, 2010, 2:59 pmHere are 10 thweet tips on Paid Search (PPC) and some metrics versus SEO from SES London 2010. Click to read the rest of this post.
Romney vs. Sky Blu
February 19, 2010, 2:47 pmby Mike Krumboltz Rapper Sky Blu who was escorted off a plane earlier this week after allegedly getting into an altercation with former presidential candidate Mitt Romney . It sounds too bizarre to be true - a presidential candidate and a rapper getting physical aboard an airplane? According to Sky Blu, it's all true. Various blogs across the Web...
Twitterverse beats Blogosphere for link building tips at SES London
February 19, 2010, 2:24 pmHere are 10 thweet tips on linkbuilding from SES London 2010. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Reader Gets (More) Personal with Recommendations
February 19, 2010, 2:12 pmLast October, Google Reader added magic, popular items and recommendations. (Seriously on the magic—they’ll sort your items by newest, oldest or “magic.”) Now they’re revamping those choices, losing the popular items in favor of more personalized recommendations.
Google doesn’t even hint at how they’re making...
Lima, the Zebra Escape Artist
February 19, 2010, 12:57 pmby Vera H-C Chan Hold that Tiger story â"we've got a zebra on the loose. That brief but adrenaline-pumping scenario in downtown Atlanta Thursday afternoon sparked a seeming random query, " zebra in atlanta ," in searches on Yahoo!. The circus had come to town, and Lima the Zebra , an escape artist with a history, decided to see what the...
Coming Soon to a Mountain View Near You: Googletopia
February 19, 2010, 12:31 pmIt sounds like a cross between Tomorrowland and a college dorm: Google wants on- (or near-) campus housing for their employees. Yes, the free on-campus laundry, free on-campus eateries, on-campus childcare (I’m just assuming that’s not free, but you never know) and free on-campus exercise facilities (making them 75% more free than...
SES London 2010: Blog Post Round Up
February 19, 2010, 12:23 pmNow that SES London has wrapped up, below you'll find a list of all the blog posts written by our colleagues in the UK over the course of the event: · Paid Search, Content Networks and Display - Panel Discussion SES London 2010 · Search Advertising Tools.
Helena Bonham Carter, McTwist, Abbey Road Studios: What's the Buzz
February 19, 2010, 12:22 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Helena Bonham Carter (Searches increased by +14,134%). The 43-year-old "Alice in Wonderland" actress says she's glad to be at the age where she no longer plays the "corset sex symbol." McTwist (+5,488%). Snowboarder Shaun White's signature move got him halfpipe gold . J.K. Rowling...
5 Twitter Management Tools You Can't Live Without
February 19, 2010, 12:22 pmWithout a doubt, one of the most popular shiny new objects of many social media marketing programs is Twitter. There are Twitter books, Twitter conferences, Twitter blogs and numerous articles devoted to Twitter marketing . Unfortunately, there's not enough time left over after reading all the promises of marketing nirvana from using Twitter to...
The liability of loathsome, link-level web spam (SEM 101)
February 19, 2010, 12:05 pmWhen I was a kid in high school, I used to go to the public library and do initial research in the Encyclopedia Britannica (yes, the bound book editions. I also remember black & white television with vacuum tubes and rotary telephones! Sheesh, I'm getting old!). I would pick up the index volume that contained the keyword I wanted to look up to...
Google Dashboard Adds Buzz
February 19, 2010, 12:04 pmClick to read the rest of this post...
US Gov't Approves Google Analytics for Fed Websites
February 19, 2010, 11:59 amThe move encourages federal websites to utilize cloud-based apps. Click to read the rest of this post.
New Analysis Toolbar in AdWords Campaigns Tab
February 19, 2010, 11:59 amThe new toolbar aids with viewing data. Click to read the rest of this post.
Olympics Bring Gold Medal Traffic to Google and Yahoo!
February 19, 2010, 11:59 amWant to know if Apolo Ohno has a girlfriend? There's a search for that. Click to read the rest of this post.
Links Not Always the Best Indicator of Relevance
February 19, 2010, 11:52 amIn a recent video uploaded to Google's Webmaster Central YouTube channel, Matt Cutts talks about creating tags and categories on blogs for SEO purposes. Rather, he discusses how there's not much point in creating them for this reason.
On average, how many tags do you include with your articles/blog posts? Let us know.
"Google is...
Federal Reserve Launches Consumer Credit Card Site
February 19, 2010, 11:07 amThe Federal Reserve has launched a new website aimed at helping consumers better understand the new credit card protections that will go into effect on February 22. These rules ban a number of harmful practices and require more transparency in the disclosure of the terms and conditions of credit card accounts. The site summarizes the main points...
A Wiki-Linked Painting of Famous People
February 19, 2010, 10:20 amDavid sent in this giant painting ... click on a person to find out more about them at Wikipedia. [Thanks David!
On the Road with Facebook Friends
February 19, 2010, 10:08 amThe following is part of our "Your Stories" series on different ways Facebook is used across the world. If you have a story you'd like to share with us, please submit it here . Many people dream of dropping everything and setting out on the open road, but few actually make this dream a reality. Looking for a fresh start, Lindol French of Menlo...
Microsoft Presents European Web Browser Choice Screen
February 19, 2010, 10:02 amStarting sometime around the first of March, Microsoft is going to give Europeans an obvious chance to pick something other than Internet Explorer as their Web browser. And starting today, Microsoft's given the whole world a chance to see what its "Web browser choice screen" looks like. This ballot screen has been in the works for a long time. ...
Federal Commission Greenlights Google Energy
February 19, 2010, 9:20 amThe U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is okay with the idea of Google dealing in energy. Yesterday, it granted "market-based rate authorization" to Google Energy and designated the entity a Category 1 seller in all regions. Google may well view this development as a bit of a victory. More than a few people became uneasy when it first...
Google Launches Shopping App for Android
February 19, 2010, 9:13 amUse the phone's camera to get product information.Click to read the rest of this post...
Viral Marketing: How To Trasform Content Into A Meme That Spreads Like A Virus Online
February 19, 2010, 9:08 amViral media is a flawed way to think about distributing content through informal or "ad hoc" networks of consumers and the harsh reality is that advertisers completely fail to understand the process whereby a content is redistributed over the web. Thus, and in sharp contrast with what they claim, advertisers are completely clueless about how to...
Yahoo And NBC Benefit From Winter Olympics
February 19, 2010, 8:56 amYahoo Sports said today traffic to its site during the Winter Olympics has soared, beating out both NBCOlympics.com and ESPN.com. According to comScore, Yahoo's Winter Games coverage attracted 9.3 million unique visitors, more than NBC's Olympics site (7.6 million unique visitors) and ESPN (8.4 million unique visitors). Yahoo Sports attracted over...
Lessons 6-10 from One of the World's Highest-Paid Copywriters
February 19, 2010, 8:39 amThis is part two of a three-part series on how to profitably translate advice from old-school marketing guru Dan Kennedy to a new online environment. Last week we looked at the first 5 steps in Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Marketing Plan , and how you can translate those old-school ideas into an online marketing strategy. This week we've got five more...
Catch the Revenue Wave
February 19, 2010, 8:21 amEcosystem 2.0 conference explores profiting from interactivity All the big names in online advertising are surfing to Southern California for Ecosystem 2.0 , which this year is focused on the theme of "Revenue: The Next Wave." The annual conference brings together the smartest and most influential of online advertising's kahunas, so naturally...
Google Shopper App Launches, Seems Like Google Goggles
February 19, 2010, 8:15 amGoogle's Mobile Labs crew Feb. 18 launched Google Shopper , which lets users comparison shop for merchandise with their Android phones. People use Shopper by calling up the app on their Android phone and pointing their phone's camera at books, CDs, DVDs, and video games, along with most barcodes to get search results about those items on Google....
YouTube Streams Tiger Woods Press Conference Live
February 19, 2010, 8:08 amMost people I know are pretty tired of hearing about Tiger Woods, but the world is sill apparently eager to hear what he has to say at his press conference today. Currently, "what time is tiger woods press conference" is listed on Google Trends, and "Tiger Woods" is a trending topic on Twitter.
Clearly a lot of people still...
Google Shopper Android App Launches
February 19, 2010, 7:51 amAndroid phone owners should now be able to become smarter consumers. A free app called Google Shopper has been released, and with it, users are supposed to find it easier than ever to look up product specs, check out reviews, and compare prices. Google Shopper doesn't quite represent some breakthrough. Instead, it combines the image recognition...
5 Examples Of Affiliate Program Scams And What To Learn From Them
February 19, 2010, 7:49 amThere are many online scams; this is a sad fact that you can't afford to neglect. With plenty of smart scamming schemes, you have to be very careful to keep your privacy and money safe. Here are some signs to look out for when searching for an affiliate marketing program.
Google Attacks Traced to Chinese Schools, More Questions Arise
February 19, 2010, 7:29 amThe recent online attacks on Google (and other companies) that were widely publicized last month have now reportedly been traced to computers at two schools in China. In addition, investigators are now saying the attacks could have begun all the way back in April. The attacks of course led to Google threatening to pull its business out of China,...
3 Gmail Search Tips You Will Be Thankful For
February 19, 2010, 7:15 amThere's hardly a person I know who is not using Gmail today. Finding an available Gmail username is no easier than finding a new .com domain. No matter how popular Gmail is, not everyone is still aware of what he can do with it. Search option is one of the most awesome features of the service which (together with some external utilities) is a...
A Chat with Shashi Seth, Our New SVP of Yahoo! Search Products
February 19, 2010, 7:15 amIt has been a busy month since Shashi Seth joined Yahoo! as our new Senior Vice President of Yahoo! Search Products. Shashi brings with him a wealth of experience from Google, eBay, Cooliris, and AOL. As the head of Search, Shashi has emphasized his commitment to Yahoo!'s stake in the search market. In this video, he talks about his first month...
FireLinkReport: Research On-Page Links (FireFox)
February 19, 2010, 6:48 amI've looked at a few tools allowing you to research on-page links like this post on extracting links from a page based on their placement and exporting links from a page to Excel . Today I am reviewing one more tool to analyze on-page links (both external and internal). FireLinkReport is a Firebug extension that allows to see and analyze all links...
Google Releases Shopper App for Android
February 19, 2010, 6:29 amGoogle has just released a new mobile app for Android phones - called Google Shopper . It's a pretty cool and robust app that lets you search product information quickly using your Android phone's camera. The app recognizes cover art of books, CDs, DVDs, video games as well as product barcodes. In addition to image recognition, the Google...
School Kids Brought Google to Its Knees
February 19, 2010, 6:20 amComputer security experts and the National Security Agency have been hard at work, trying to figure out where in China recent attacks on Google originated.
It turns out that Google did not suffer at the hands of the Chinese government, but, wait for it, school kids.
Tracing the attacks further back, to an elite Chinese university and a vocational...
Social Media Worst Practices
February 19, 2010, 6:05 amI bet your one of those people thinking about implementing a social media marketing strategy for your company right? Well here some sure fire ways to end any and all efforts your thinking about pursuing. Stop any and all effort right now Listen to the skeptics who are touting social media as a useless medium to gain publicity in addition to poor...
Title Tag Change That Makes a Local Difference
February 19, 2010, 5:23 amIt doesn't matter how large or small your business is targeting your local audience is always very important. Your surrounding communities can often times be some of your best customers and clients. Many times businesses will search for a vendor that is local just because they would rather give the business to someone locally rather than some...
Google News Prototype?
February 19, 2010, 5:17 amEric sent in above screenshot of what Google News looked to him (compare to current page ) ... perhaps this is a design prototype. [Thanks Eric and Ionut !] [By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google News Prototype?
Microsoft Browser Choice Screen For Europe Starts To Roll Out
February 19, 2010, 5:17 am"Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will begin offering a 'Web browser choice screen' to Internet Explorer users in Europe, as required by the European Commission."
30+ Google Buzz How tos, Tools and other Resources
February 19, 2010, 4:10 amBusy Bee Colony by No Minds Vision Earlier this week I wrote about how we can't ignore Google Buzz even if we'd like to. Also I complained about the huge onslaught of Google Buzz news and resources. To deal with both I decided to compile a list of 30+ Google Buzz how tos, tools and other resources . Here you'll find out how to disable Google Buzz...
An Interesting Google Health Info Box...
February 19, 2010, 3:15 am... which seems to display by default when you log in . [Thanks JEC!] [By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: An Interesting Google Health Info Box.
Microsoft Yahoo Search Deal Passes Regulatory Hurdle
February 19, 2010, 2:28 amWell, it’s official. The partnership which will lead to the blending of the “other search engines” Yahoo and bing, has been given the government seal of approval by both the US Department of Justice and the European Commission.
The integration of the two engines will be started immediately and it will take until 2011 before the advertising...
AOL Wants To Be Your Local Reporter
February 19, 2010, 1:49 amAOL has gotten some heat about their plan to overrun the Internet and in effect, the search engines, with waves of content. Many people are not keen on this plan hatched by Tim Armstrong and company to generate content at break neck speed. While it may not be popular that’s not going to stop it from happening.
Now, AOL has another content that...
Whiteboard Friday - The Renewed Value of Branding
February 19, 2010, 12:17 amPosted by great scott! This week we take a look at how shifts in the engines over the last year have made it more important than ever to really pay attention to brand-based marketing. A year or so ago, the engines started giving more weight to established brands, but things have become more interesting: With enhanced attention to personalized...
WordPress Outage 18 Feb: Unscheduled Core Router Change
February 18, 2010, 11:36 pm"We need to dig deeper and find out exactly what happened, why, and how to recover more gracefully next time and isolate problems like this so they dont affect our other locations."
Is Page Load Time Going To Be More Important?
February 18, 2010, 10:13 pmEvery few years Google will go through a rather large and drastic algorithm tweak that leaves everyone in the industry running around and scrambling to try to fix any rankings their websites or their client's websites might lose. There is a great deal of chatter in the industry lately that website load time is going to be a large factor for...
Paid Search Versus Search Engine Optimization
February 18, 2010, 10:01 pm
2004 Google Chief Engineer Craig Neville-Manning insisted that Google maintained a strict separation between the search index part of Google and the paid advertising part. Sometimes this separation was referred to as a “Chinese Wall” between organic search engine results and paid search engine results, but this terminology fell out of...
Shopping Smarter with Google Shopper
February 18, 2010, 9:50 pm(Cross posted from the Google Mobile Blog ) We're happy to announce a new Android application called Google Shopper . Shopper lets you find product information quickly by using your phone's camera. It can recognize cover art of books, CDs, DVDs, and video games, along with most barcodes. You can also speak the name of the product you're looking...
The Search for How to Wear Your Hair
February 18, 2010, 4:40 pmby Claudine Zap Fashion Week in New York City may be all about what to wear. But on the Web, it's about how to wear your hair. And the outlandish looks of Lady Gaga ( hair phone , anyone?) are topping our charts. Think that 'do is more of a "don't"? No worries, there are plenty of other hairstyles to choose from based on Yahoo! top searches. If...
Shutter Island and Ghost Writer: Critics Roundup
February 18, 2010, 4:22 pmby Mike Krumboltz Who says February is Hollywood's dumping ground? Two of history's greatest filmmakers have new releases opening in theaters this weekend. Martin Scorsese , the director behind " Gangs of New York ," " The Aviator ," and " The Departed ," unleashes the psychological thriller "Shutter Island," his fourth collaboration with Leonardo...
Sending Aardvark Off to Google U.
February 18, 2010, 4:10 pmAfter a bunch of early speculation , it was announced last week that Google has acquired Aardvark . It didn't surprise me one bit that Google wanted to own Aardvark. Aardvark is completely awesome. And I am going to miss lending a hand in building this amazing company. About a year and a half ago I first met with Max Ventilla , founder and CEO of...
Facebook Users Set Up Fan Group(s) for Suicide Pilot
February 18, 2010, 3:40 pmUpdate: Ok, make that multiple Facebook groups ...(via Business Insider ) Original Article: By now, you've probably heard the news that Joseph Andrew Stack intentionally flew a plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. He appeared to have left a rant at EmbeddedArt.com before he did it, but the site has since been taken offline,
Yahoo Opens Data Center, Call Center In Nebraska
February 18, 2010, 3:40 pmYahoo's been busy in Nebraska. This week, the company announced the opening of both a data center and a call center in the state, and apparently the celebration was a big deal, with Jerry Yang and several high(-ish) ranking politicians all showing up. Indeed, according to a post on Yodel Anecdotal , Jerry Yang, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, La...
Which Smartphones Emit The Most Radiation?
February 18, 2010, 3:40 pmMotorola Droid, BlackBerry Bold 9700, LG Chocolate Touch and HTC Nexus One are pushing the limits of radiofrequency radiation safety limits set by the Federal Communications Commission, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The EWG says the ads and good ratings for those smartphones do not reveal they are some of...
Paid Search, Content Networks and Display - Panel Discussion SES London 2010
February 18, 2010, 2:29 pmSES London has brought together a tantalizing panel of 5 digital media experts, including Julie Warburton, Client Service Director at Microsoft Advertising (UK) , to debate the changes in the digital marketing space. Moderator: Jon Myers, SES Advisory Board & Head of Search/Associate Director, Mediavest Speakers: Ciaran Norris, Lead, Global...
Regen's New Light Powered Products
February 18, 2010, 2:21 pmLiving 'green' seems to be a growing theme to help make our planet become a more eco-friendly environment.
While at CES 2010, WebProNews discovered a new device that can lead us in that direction. A sun powered charging product by Regen called the ReNu tablet.
Regen produces personal and home electronics that make creating your own power possible,...
Sony Ericsson CEO Admits Nexus One Snub
February 18, 2010, 2:17 pmAs interesting alternate timelines go, the idea of a cell phone having been built by a different company doesn't exactly rank up there with JFK surviving his trip to Dallas. Still, the CEO of Sony Ericsson raised more than a few eyebrows by admitting that his company declined the opportunity to manufacture the Nexus One.
If you speak...
DOJ, EU Approve the Yahoo-Microsoft Search Deal
February 18, 2010, 1:58 pmSo finally, Yahoo and Microsoft got the clearance to implement terms and conditions of their search ad deal. Both the European Commission and U.S. Dept. of Justice have approved the deal which has been on the table for quite some time now. Both companies can now start implementing some of the terms and conditions of the deal, which would probably...
Yahoo on Search and Advertising Post Microsoft Deal
February 18, 2010, 1:52 pmNow that Yahoo and Microsoft have received DoJ and EU approval on their search and advertising deal, Yahoo is doing plenty of talking about what the deal will mean for its search engine and its advertisers. The two companies have a Search Alliance page set up that gives some insight about what to expect, such as: When the Yahoo! and Microsoft...
Mount Vernon Pranksters
February 18, 2010, 1:47 pmby Mike Krumboltz The Mount Vernon Statement , a document dedicated to the idea of a limited government, is causing a slew of Web searches and drawing thousands of signatures. Unfortunately for the statement's conservative supporters, not all the signatures are real. Backed by political conservatives, the Mount Vernon Statement was intended to...
Use multi-threading to pause more than 100 campaigns
February 18, 2010, 1:41 pmAnother tips that comes from our support team: The current adCenter API includes a limit on the number of campaigns that can be paused or unpaused at any one time. If this limit is exceeded, it will return the error: 1119 The list of campaign Ids exceeds the limit. If youre pausing more than 100 campaigns at one time,
Buy Facebook Credits And Ads Using PayPal
February 18, 2010, 1:28 pmFacebook said today it will allow advertisers to pay for ads on its network using PayPal. The two companies have entered into a strategic relationship that will allow advertisers worldwide to use PayPal to pay for Facebook Ads through the company's online advertising tool. The option to use PayPal makes it easier for advertisers, particularly...
adCenter API match type designated by appended letter: e=exact, b=broad, and so forth
February 18, 2010, 1:23 pmI've been working with our support engineers to gather some of the questions that come in via our suppport alias. These are usually points of confusion about the API or questions that have a ready answer. I'll be posting several of these tips here in the blog on the coming days and cross post them to the forums. If you have follow up questions,...
Facebook Fan Pages May Actually Be Effective Marketing (For Facebook Users)
February 18, 2010, 1:00 pmLast month, Facebook announced a conversion tracker tool to help marketers determine the value of their efforts on the world’s most popular social network. The tool would help marketers track conversions (obviously) and determine the value of brand fans. And now researchers at Rice University have examined the real-world value of Facebook...
Microsoft/Yahoo! Deal Passes Regulatory Hurdles, Now Turns to Implementation
February 18, 2010, 12:59 pmA new day in search: It's so on. Click to read the rest of this post.
Open Letter to Blog Comment Spammers
February 18, 2010, 12:58 pmPhoto credit: freezelight Dear "SEO Consulting Services New York" and you too "Starting A Home Business", I have an admission to make: I don't like comment spam. You are comment spammers. Our readers don't like you. I don't like you. You're not welcome here. Our Akismet filter has been doing a good job of filtering out spam and our commenting...
Ewan McGregor, Scottish terrier, Mossad: What's the Buzz
February 18, 2010, 12:27 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Ewan McGregor (Searches increased by +719%). The star of Roman Polanski's newest movie, "The Ghost Writer," praised the fugitive director as a "legendary filmmaker." Scottish terrier (+741%). The jet-black shorty named Sadie is the new top dog of the Westminster dog show. Mossad...
Policy adjustment for display URLs
February 18, 2010, 12:15 pmThe display URL (the URL that appears within the ad itself) shows potential visitors to a site where they'll land when they click on an ad. For sites that sit on shared or hosted domains (such as blogspot.com ), we're adjusting our display URL policy to make this more clear. Beginning this week, all ads leading to sites on hosted domains will need...
Why Bing May Be on the Road to Incredible Growth
February 18, 2010, 12:08 pmMicrosoft has spent a lot of money promoting Bing since its launch, and Bing's usage has grown by millions of people since then, but it still has a long way to go to reach the top of the search market share mountain. Google is still sitting comfortably atop that mountain of course, but Google doesn't really have to lose for Bing to win. Microsoft...
adCenter API users: Microsoft, Yahoo! Search Agreement Cleared
February 18, 2010, 11:25 amRead the update from Carolyn on the adCenter Blog and read Microsoft VP Darren Huston's Thoughts on the Microsoft and Yahoo! Search Alliance . Visit the Search Alliance site at www.searchalliance.com for answers to FAQs and additional detail. Thank you for using the community,
PayPal is Now a Way to Pay For Facebook Ads and Facebook Credits
February 18, 2010, 11:13 amHi all, Osama from the Platform team here with some big news PayPal is being introduced as a way to pay in two important areas of Facebook: Facebook Ads and Facebook Credits. Advertisers around the world will soon be able to pay for Facebook Ads with PayPal. This agreement makes it .
FoxSports.com To Launch Animated Golf Series
February 18, 2010, 10:55 amFoxSports.com has partnered with Skadaddle Media on a new animated online golf series called "Of Course." "Of Course" is set to debut on FoxSports.com on March 1, 2010. The series was written and produced by Skadaddle Media co-founders Todd Lieman and Jon Wank. The Flash-based series of five-minute webisodes offers a humorous look into what four...
Holy 1999: MySpace in Google Search (Oh, with Real Time)
February 18, 2010, 10:47 amBuzzy buzz buzz. Google would really like to keep us from thinking about PAY NO ATTENTION Buzz TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN, and old pal MySpace is here to help: the real time search deal the two discussed in December is now live. Oh boy, oh boy, real time updates from that cutting edge social MySpace right in Google!
Hm? What’s that? Is...
Thoughts on the Microsoft and Yahoo! Search Alliance
February 18, 2010, 10:16 amToday, the US Department of Justice and the European Commission have both cleared the Microsoft - Yahoo! Search Agreement, a deal weve been working on for some while. If theres one thing I heard over and over again from advertisers during my 18+ months as head of Consumer & Online, its that when it comes to digital, they cant get enough. We...
Jim Sterne tackles social media metrics at SES London 2010
February 18, 2010, 10:08 amJim Sterne, who has written six books on Internet advertising, marketing, and customer service, tackled the complex world of social media metrics in his morning keynote at SES London 2010. Sterne, who is also chairman of the Web Analytics Association and founder of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, revealed some findings from his...
Microsoft, Yahoo! Search Agreement Cleared
February 18, 2010, 10:08 amThe US Department of Justice and the European Commission have cleared the Microsoft|Yahoo! Search Agreement. This global search agreement is a major initiative between our companies to create a competitive choice in search advertising for advertisers.
Speaking of Search
February 18, 2010, 9:55 amYahoo! media event spotlights search innovation Because we're constantly working to make the search experience more relevant, we also want the world to understand what we're up to in the search business . That's why today we hosted a media event, SearchSpeak 2010, to help the media know what's going on. The event, at our Sunnyvale, Calif....
The Olympics Impact on Google Search Results
February 18, 2010, 9:50 amA very interesting read about the impact that the Olympics are having on the Google search reults. Worth a read for sure!
Google Rumored to Be Eyeing Possible iTunes Competitor
February 18, 2010, 9:43 amRumor has it that Google is eyeing Beverly Hills-based CatchMedia as another possibility in a string of acquisitions. CatchMedia is a company that is focused on creating a "Play Anywhere" system, which lets consumers use their music/media content collection and services wherever they want, regardless of the device they're using. The rumor comes at...
Close-Up with Samsung's New Line-Up
February 18, 2010, 9:24 amOne of the most discussed displays at CES 2010 was Samsung 's exhibit. WebProNews and many other event attendees were amazed by the collection of TVs, 3D innovations, and a new category of e-readers Samsung had to offer at the conference. LCDs , Plasmas and LEDs were among the list of TVs presented at CES. With a range of 19-65-inch TVs, Samsung...
DOJ Approves MSFT-Yahoo Deal
February 18, 2010, 8:53 amUPDATE: As stated in a press release a Microsoft representative emailed to WebProNews, "Microsoft (Nasdaq 'MSFT') and Yahoo! (Nasdaq 'YHOO') announced today that they have received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission, and will now turn their...
The Sex and the City Guide to Blogging
February 18, 2010, 8:52 amI've always been of the opinion that if Carrie Bradshaw had popped onto our television screens in 2010 instead of 1998, she would have been a blogger. But alas, she didn't, so she wrote a (gasp!) print column for the fictional New York Star newspaper. Yes, before there were blogs, there were newspaper columns - where readers couldn't talk back or...
News about our Search Alliance with Microsoft
February 18, 2010, 8:52 amToday we issued a press release announcing that we've received clearance from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission for our search agreement with Microsoft. Now that we're full steam ahead, I'd like to share what we at Yahoo! see as an exciting opportunity to focus on creating new ways for people to search online. Today's...
Google Earns $500M in Typo-Squatting Ads…Says Researcher With No Bias Whatsoever!
February 18, 2010, 8:20 amDespite criticism, Google’s AdSense for Domains program still exists, and now we know why.
It’s earning close to $500 million a year for the search engine!
According to New Scientist, two researchers at Harvard University have conducted some simple calculations to come up with the estimate:
Moore and Edelman…estimate that each of...
DOJ Approval Of MSFT-Yahoo Deal Said To Be Forthcoming
February 18, 2010, 7:57 amMicrosoft and Yahoo may, at long last, be allowed to move forward with their search and advertising partnership. A new report claims that the United States Department of Justice is more or less on the verge of approving the deal. Josh Kosman and Holly Sanders Ware spoke to "a person familiar with the matter," and this source said, "There's...
Amazon Rolls Out Kindle App For BlackBerry
February 18, 2010, 7:57 amAmazon.com has launched "Kindle for BlackBerry," a new free application that can be downloaded from the retailer's website. Kindle for BlackBerry offers access to over 420,000 books and is available on variety of BlackBerry devices. Kindle for BlackBerry allows users to save and synch bookmarks on their Kindle devices, iPhone, iPod touch, PC and...
Google Buzz Facing Lawsuit from 31 Million Users?
February 18, 2010, 7:47 amThis took a little longer than I thought, but a Florida woman has filed a class action complaint in San Jose federal court alleging that Google Buzz shared personal data without consent.
The legal complaint accuses Google of breaking various electronic communications laws, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The plaintiff is seeking...
Google Takes Popular Email App from iPhone For Itself
February 18, 2010, 7:39 amThe competition between Google and Apple appears to be getting fiercer by the day. Google has now acquired popular iPhone app reMail, and has discontinued it in Apple's App Store, and most likely offer it in the Android Market (although this has not been confirmed). reMail was created by a former Google employee, who used to work as a software...
An Extremely Nifty Guide to Reviews and Local Search
February 18, 2010, 7:21 amThere is one area within the "Local Search Sphere" that brings a wide amount of debate when it comes to ranking impacts, importance, and ethical dilemmas. That area is reviews. Dah dah daahhhhhh. ß Scary Movie Sound So, in an attempt to put light on a fairly clouded subject,
Have Fun Comparing Google Suggest Results with Web Seer
February 18, 2010, 7:21 amGoogle suggest can be both helpful and fun . It may save your time and give you an idea what other people are looking for when searching for similar words as you are. Last week I discovered one fun web application that allows to compare Google Suggest results for two search queries: Web Seer The tool allows to enter two search phrases and will...
Affiliate Program Comparison Made Easy
February 18, 2010, 6:55 amAffiliate marketing is huge; there are thousands of various products, different types of offers and terms, etc. It is almost impossible for a newbie to decide how to compare the affiliate programs to decide which program to give a try first. Luckily there's some good material to help online.
Search Advertising Tools - SES London 2010
February 18, 2010, 6:49 amThere is no denying that the competition is fierce in PPC today. From small in-house accounts to ones with millions of keywords, it's the new advances in SEM technology that might just make the difference between success and failure. Are there tools you could be using right now to help double your conversions, lower your costs, or save your team...
How We Got a Link from the New York Times
February 18, 2010, 6:21 amThis is an in-depth case study detailing how we got a link from the New York Times and other authoritative sites to the WordStream.com Blog.
Mobile Laws Coming Through the Mobile World Congress
February 18, 2010, 6:13 amThe Mobile World Congress has convened in Barcelona Spain and it looks like some of the news coming out could signal some upcoming laws for Internet Marketers. If this year's MWC could be summed up it may be something like " Looking through Windows to an army of Androids ". The two main takeaways was first an impressive early demo of Windows Phone...
Continuing Its Anti-Apple Crusade, Google Buys reMail
February 18, 2010, 5:57 amWho says you can’t go home again? Just ask Gabor Cselle, the founder of the successful iPhone application reMail. Cselle started as an engineering intern at Google way back in ’04 (I’m trying to make it sound like a long time ago) but since moved on and in the process founded reMail. Now, Google has come along and said that the door remains...
Judgment Day For Google Book Search
February 18, 2010, 5:49 amToday, Feb. 18 may be Judgment Day for Google's Book Search settlement , which has been more than five years in the making. Google, authors, publishers are expected to hear Denny Chin, a judge for the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, hold a fairness hearing for the deal, which calls for Google to scan and sell access to...
Facebook Offers More Control Over Information Shared Through Apps
February 18, 2010, 5:31 amIt’s been just recently that Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Eric Schmidt of Google both gave their own versions of how the idea of privacy on the Internet was so 20th century. Facebook has faced the music of some serious backlash to their “everything is public stance and just in the past week there has been a considerable amount of...
Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal Approved By Regulators
February 18, 2010, 4:35 am"Microsoft's plans to buy Yahoo's internet search and search advertising businesses have been cleared by both European and US regulators."
Distilled are hiring, are you our next sociable geek?
February 18, 2010, 4:31 amIts only been a couple of weeks since we announced that we were opening an office in Seattle. The last couple of weeks have been a hive of activity and there is a definite buzz in the air at Distilled HQ.
Over the next week or so I’ll be posting a handful of new jobs at Distilled. If you have always wanted to work with us, then now is a...
Bing Spidering and Updating SERPs Much Faster
February 18, 2010, 4:10 am"WebmasterWorld members are reporting Bing's spidering and SERPs updates are now much faster."
Quoting Jim Sterne at SES London 2010
February 18, 2010, 3:25 amI never tire of hearing Jim Sterne speak at conferences. Known as the Godfather of online marketing, hes president of the Web Analytics Association , a prolific author of books on web metrics and hes even found time to blog for us ! Today he was delving into Social Media Metrics, something we talk about in our white paper . A bloggers dream...
Risks In Social Networking: PleaseRobMe While I'm Out
February 18, 2010, 3:15 am"The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person's location in the real world."
ChaCha Launches Three APIs
February 18, 2010, 3:08 amDevelopers get access to substantial database of answers and search content. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Acquires Mobile Email Search App
February 18, 2010, 2:49 amThe iPhone/iPod Touch application is the latest in a buying spree. Click to read the rest of this post.
Developing Great Content - SES London 2010
February 18, 2010, 1:54 amWhile Mel Carson moderates 'Social Media and the Marketing Mix' in the auditorium next door, I attend the last session of the day, Developing Great Content, moderated by Matthew Bailey (SES Advisory Board & President, Site Logic Marketing). This panels' session of speakers includes: Jonathan Allen , Director, SearchEngineWatch Heather...
Peer Review: SEO Best Practices for HTTP Status Codes
February 18, 2010, 1:30 amPosted by Danny Dover This post is part of an ongoing series where my co-workers and I are working to build a freely available resource center of up-to-date SEO best practices. As we write this content, we are submitting them for peer review so that everyone on the Internet can benefit from collective intelligence. You can read more about the SEO...
Ride the Visitor Wave When it Happens
February 17, 2010, 10:04 pmThe SEO industry is still in its infancy stage whether you want to admit it or not. The search engines are very young and sites like Google are just starting to get things right in the sense of really understanding how to catalog and display search data for users. Some websites come and go in short burst of energy and some stick around for the...
Viral Marketing on FaceBook – 7 Points You Just Cannot Neglect
February 17, 2010, 8:53 pmFaceBook has over 400 million active users. Around 200 million of them log on to Facebook in any given day. An average of over 71 million pieces of content, which include links, images, videos, notes etc., are shared among them everyday. To say I find it difficult to fathom the enormity of viral possibilities on Facebook would be an...
comScore Announces Availability of Media Metrix 360 Reporting Methodology for Markets in Asia-Pacific Region
February 17, 2010, 7:44 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the introduction of the Media Metrix 360 unified digital audience measurement solution in the Asia-Pacific region. The new service combines comScore's proprietary Internet user panel, which measures people's online behavior from home and work computers,
Did Google Buy reMail or Hired its Creator?
February 17, 2010, 5:44 pmMobile application reMail has just been acquired by Google, and so its owner claims via a post on his blog. According to reMail founder Gabor Cselle , Google acquired reMail and that he will be joining Google as a Product Manager on the Gmail team. Actually, it's more of "rejoining", since Cselle was previously a Google employee. Anyway, Cselle...
Powerful, Flexible, Secure and now approved by the US Federal Government
February 17, 2010, 5:08 pmThis week, the US federal General Services Administration (GSA) has approved listing Google Analytics in its apps.gov web site, which is a place for government agencies and services to find approved cloud computing applications. It's goal is to drive innovation and adoption of cloud-based apps in the government, and Google and the GSA have worked...
Keeping you in the know for the Olympic Games
February 17, 2010, 4:01 pmDid you catch the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics last Friday to kick off the games? To access that and all the latest videos from the games and for a snap shot into all the Olympic excitement visit www.msn.com to view the Winter Olympics module at the top of the page. There has been a lot of buzz in the hallways about favorite events...
Google's Annual Rev. From Typosquatting Put At $497m
February 17, 2010, 3:48 pmMost people regard typos as nuisances, just inconsequential mistakes that cause them to lose a second of time hitting the backspace key. But for Google, typos may equal big business, as Benjamin Edelman and Tyler Moore have estimated that they make the search giant $497 million per year. Edelman and Moore, who both call Harvard their home,...
PleaseRobMe Hits Foursquare Users with a Dose of Reality
February 17, 2010, 3:48 pmYesterday at about 2pm PleaseRobMe went live. PleaseRobMe is a site set up by a few developers who want to spread awareness about how easy it would be for people to rob your home if you share too much information about yourself online, specifically your locationeven more specifically through Foursquare. The site displays a list of messages asking...
Yapta Taps Kayak For Flight Search
February 17, 2010, 3:24 pmAirfare tracking service Yapta said today it is partnering with travel search site Kayak to power its flight search engine. "By introducing Kayak's best-in-class flight search engine, Yapta members now have greater access to flight data and are able to track prices for virtually any flight in the world," said Tom Romary, president and CEO of Yapta...
Google Goggles Getting Found in Translation
February 17, 2010, 3:24 pmYesterday, the blogosphere was abuzz with Google CEO Eric Schmidt's Mobile World Congress demo of translation capabilities in the Google Goggles visual search application. Hartmut Neven, the man who assisted Schmidt with the demo at MWC in Barcelona also released a YouTube demo clip of this feature: This integration connects an Android...
First Touch Tracking in Google Analytics
February 17, 2010, 3:24 pmPosted by willcritchlow It's time for a quick mid-week geek-out - I wanted to collect together a bunch of resources I have written on first touch tracking in Google Analytics including (for the first time that I'm aware of),
Facebook is now the Second Most Popular Website in the U.S.
February 17, 2010, 3:11 pmWell, we knew this was going to happen. With a high user engagement and a massive userbase build up, Facebook has just slipped pass through Yahoo to become the no.2 most popular website in the U.S. Latest data from Compete.com shows that Facebook is not only raking up userbase but user engagement as well as it had 133 million unique visitors...
LinkedIn Can Be One of Your Most Valuable Traffic Sources
February 17, 2010, 2:19 pmLinkedIn is often discussed as a powerful social networking tool, particularly for business professionals, employers, and jobseekers. What is not discussed as frequently is the site's ability to simply drive traffic to your site. We talked to entrepreneur Lewis Howes (who claims that LinkedIn is one of the top traffic sources to his blogs) about...
Firefox Mobile For Android Due Out This Year
February 17, 2010, 2:19 pmA new way for Android users to get around the Web should debut this year. Jay Sullivan, Vice President of Mobile at Mozilla, has indicated that Firefox Mobile for Android will land sometime in 2010. The nonexistence of this product might have troubled some fans of Mozilla and Google. It's no secret that the two companies have been growing apart...
Bird Video Sparks Buzz
February 17, 2010, 2:18 pmby Claudine Zap Let's be clear. Live TV plus wild animals plus clueless host equals a recipe for disaster. But on the Web it's a winning combination. We want to assure you that no TV hosts were seriously harmed in the making of these videos that have gone viral. The psychological damage is harder to gauge.
Red Hot Mittens in Vancouver
February 17, 2010, 2:18 pmby Mike Krumboltz You've seen 'em during NBC's coverage of the Olympics. Whenever anybody waves to the camera, they're impossible to miss. Unfortunately, they're also impossible to find. They're the bright red Olympic mittens, and it seems like everybody wants them. Since the games began last week, online lookups on " olympic mittens " have been...
HBO Launches Video Service For Verizon FiOS Customers
February 17, 2010, 2:00 pmVerizon FiOS customers who subscribe to HBO will be able to watch the cable television's programming online for free, starting tomorrow. Customers must subscribe to both FiOS TV and FiOS Internet to gain free access to the online video site HBO Go. HBO Go will support Verizon subaccounts and allow up to three users in the same house access content.
Wrapsol's New Scratch-Free Film Protector
February 17, 2010, 12:54 pmToday, protecting our cellphones, ipods, and other electronic devices is important to us due to their worth. At CES 2010, WebProNews came across Wrapsol's unique film creation that protects our mobile and other electronic devices that we love so much.
Althought many keep some sort of protective case on...
Canada Cracking Down on Google Buzz
February 17, 2010, 12:54 pmGoogle Buzz has had one heck of a first week. After not fully testing the product, Google launched Buzz and forced all Gmail users into it without a way to opt out. Then we realized they were automatically sharing the list of people we chatted with and emailed most frequently. Finally, Google backed off many of these “features,” and...
All-in-One Keyboard, Mouse and Remote Control
February 17, 2010, 12:53 pm"Simple is better" seems to be the way of thinking with much of the new technology that is approaching us all so quickly. At CES 2010 , WebProNews took a look at the all-in-one device that Cideko is offering. Combining the keyboard, mouse and remote control the new Air Keyboard has an 80 key mini keyboard that includes function keys along with...
Bryan Eisenberg shares 21 secrets of top converting websites at SES London 2010
February 17, 2010, 12:46 pmSo, what is a New York Yankees fan doing at SES London 2010? Well, if you are a marketing speaker like Bryan Eisenberg, you're sharing "21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites" during your opening keynote. Click to read the rest of this post.
HSTi Wireless Media Stick Allows Streaming Media
February 17, 2010, 12:35 pmDuring CES 2010, WebProNews discovered an interesting product for media streaming. The HSTi Wireless Media Stick allow users to stream media files from any computer connected to a wireless network to any USB enabled device (TV, gaming console, or stereo).
Setup:
Plug in the WirelessMediaStick tm to the USB port to a computer/laptop
The...
Monitoring Your Reputation with Google Buzz
February 17, 2010, 12:28 pmGoogle Buzz is the new kid on the social media block, but like networks that have been around for a while (your Facebooks, your Twitters, etc.), it is critical to reputation management. WebProNews discussed monitoring using Google Buzz with Google's Rick Klau, who used to run the publihser team at Feedburner, and is currently the Business Product...
Christina Hendricks, Curling Rules, H + M: What's the Buzz
February 17, 2010, 12:08 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Curling rules (Searches increased by +2,833%). You think knowing the rules of curling will help? It won't . Marfan syndrome (+2,470%). DNA tests revealed another affliction suffered by King Tut . Christina Hendricks (+1,367%). The "Mad Men" actress complains that she receives more...
Target Paying Keywords to Maximize Your Online Sales
February 17, 2010, 11:55 amPaying keywords are simply keywords that people type into a search engine when they’re looking to buy something. Here is a tool tohelp find those keywords (with video).
How Google is Becoming a Startup Incubator
February 17, 2010, 11:48 amName a Web company that can have its employees leave, create new products, and then the company buys them out when they realize those employees were on to something. Google, that's who! Just look at Google's last two acquisitions of Aardvark and AppJet, which have more in common than starting with the letter 'A'. Aardvark, which Google grabbed...
Conductor Taps Matthew Baird as VP of Engineering
February 17, 2010, 11:24 amConductor is the next stop in a very experienced career. Click to read the rest of this post.
Ron Burkle to Quit Yahoo! Board
February 17, 2010, 11:05 amBurkle will leave after nearly a decade of service. Click to read the rest of this post.
Facebook Corners 44% of Social Sharing
February 17, 2010, 10:59 amTechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld talked to sharing-widget producer Gigya recently to find out what site people tended to share content on the most. Gigya’s widget power social sharing from sites such as ABC.com, Reuters and Answers.com (and 5000 more). When people shared content, where did they tend to post it? Facebook was the #1 choice...
How to do First Touch Tracking in Google Analytics
February 17, 2010, 10:49 amRecently, I have found myself talking quite a lot about tracking whole visitor paths in Google Analytics. Rand and I discussed the issue in a Whiteboard Friday kill the head or chase the tail and I covered how to get past last click attribution in a subsequent post. These have tended to cover the why and the (broad-brush) why. If you’re...
My speaking plans for 2010
February 17, 2010, 10:41 amLast year I tried to limit my travel but still ended up making about ten (!) trips in 2009. This year I've resolved to travel less for work. Right now, here's my current speaking/travel plans for 2010: March 2-4 , 2010: SMX West , Santa Clara, CA. I'm doing a " Ask the Search Engines " panel. May 19-20 , 2010: Google I/O conference in San...
Google Open Sources Living Stories; Donates to Wikimedia
February 17, 2010, 10:41 amExperimental news platform opens to wider audience while Google tests ethical boundaries with Wikimedia donation. Click to read the rest of this post.
Indeed.com Adds Six Countries
February 17, 2010, 10:41 amJob search aggregator now reaches 6 continents and 10 languages. Click to read the rest of this post.
Blockbuster Partners With T-Mobile On Movie Download Service
February 17, 2010, 10:41 amBlockbuster is trying to make some gains in the mobile space by being the exclusive movie download service for T-Mobile's upcoming HTC HD2 smartphone. "Available exclusively from T-Mobile, the HTC HD2 is like putting Blockbuster in your pocket," said Kevin Lewis, senior vice president of digital entertainment at Blockbuster. "T-Mobile and HTC have...
75 Million Visitors to Twitter in January
February 17, 2010, 10:19 amYup, this measurement from comScore of 75 million people visiting Twitter in January of this year does not take into account those accessing the service through third party apps. Isn’t it nice to get that out of the way right from the start?
Fresh off the news that in January Twitter served over 1.2 billion tweets there is little surprise in a...
Twitter Reaches 140-Employee Milestone
February 17, 2010, 10:16 amTwitter's long been associated with the number 140; it is, of course, this number that defines how the site's users communicate with each other. And the number now represents the size of the company's payroll, too, as Twitter's hired its 140th employee. Biz Stone announced the milestone late yesterday by simply tweet ing, "Today we are...
Google Gives Life to the Online News Story
February 17, 2010, 9:40 amUpdate: Google has now open sourced Living Stories, giving all developers the code to build their own living stories pages. This means anyone can participate now.
"Since we launched this proof-of-concept test on Google Labs in December, 75% of people who sent us feedback said they preferred the Living Stories format to the traditional...
Microsoft’s Outlook As a Social Hub?
February 17, 2010, 9:38 amMany folks like to talk about how anything labeled a Microsoft web strategy is an oxymoron considering the company’s less than stellar track record in the online world. That doesn’t mean that they will stop trying though. In an apparent attempt to ensure that they are seen as relevant in the social space the software giant is bringing some new...
Consumers Getting More Comfortable with Mobile Shopping
February 17, 2010, 9:13 amAs you know, smartphone usage is on the rise, and that means more opportunities for businesses to sell to customers via their mobile devices. We often hear about how important mobile is to the marketing strategy and especially future strategies, but how much are consumers really into shopping from their phones?
Retrevo shared some findings with...
Social Media 101 with Lisa Myers - SES London 2010
February 17, 2010, 8:58 amWe kick off the second session of the day with Lisa Myers, a 10-year veteran of SEO and PPC and CEO of Verve Search , talking about the fundamentals of Social Media and how to approach this as a first-timer, how to drive a compelling campaign and how to avoid the Facebook page graveyard! (Not strictly adCenter-related, but we thought we'd host the...
Basic Tips on Web Analytics
February 17, 2010, 8:57 amJust about every business with a web site does something to market and promote it. When those companies are asked about web analytics, it's surprising how many look back with a blank stare. This isn't the case with mature online marketers but it does happen a lot with new business web sites and blogs. For many companies that are new to web...
Fortune 500 Spending $1.2 Billion on Paid Search, Because They Can’t Rank Naturally!
February 17, 2010, 8:30 amApparently Fortune 500 companies have money to burn on search marketing.
According to a new study from Conductor, only 25% of the Fortune 500’s combined targeted paid keywords–97,555 keywords, totaling a daily spend of $3.4M–ranked in the top 50 natural search results.
Think about that. These companies are collective spending $1.2...
Google Getting Wrong Kind Of Buzz
February 17, 2010, 8:26 amThe Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that Google's new social networking service Buzz violates federal consumer protection law. The EPIC complaint calls on the Trade Commission to require Google to make the Buzz service fully opt-in, to stop using Gmail users'...
10 Types of Landing Page Goals for PPC Campaigns
February 17, 2010, 8:21 amTo take your PPC campaigns to the next level in 2010, you must go beyond measuring traditional conversions (lead, transaction) and start measuring (and achieving!) new goals – from social media engagement, to RSS subscribers, to inbounds
Google Gives $2 Million To Wikimedia Foundation
February 17, 2010, 8:07 amCourtesy of Google, the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation has received a significant gift. Google donated $2 million to the organization, which is responsible for keeping Wikipedia up and running. Mitch Kapor, who's on the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation, announced the contribution late yesterday on Twitter. Jimmy Wales followed up soon...
New Boxee Beta Resolves Over 500 Issues
February 17, 2010, 7:53 amUpdate: Boxee has just announced it has released an updated version of the Boxee Beta, after making over 500 adjustments to it. On the Boxee Blog, Avner Ronen writes:
Since releasing the Beta we have seen significant uptake in usage. Some stats:
150,000 new users joined Boxee
3 million Boxee apps launched
1.5 million TV episodes...
Google Shows How it "Gets Inside" the Olympic Games
February 17, 2010, 7:41 amUpdate: Google has posted its entire press conference from British Columbia so anybody can see it. In it, Google shows off the different ways it is involved in the Olympics experience:
If you don't want to watch the entire thing, but would rather see the gist...
2 Million Reasons Why Wikipedia Pages Will Continue to Outrank Yours on Google
February 17, 2010, 7:35 amHere’s a tweet that will likely ruffle the feathers of many in the SEO community:
Yes, Google has apparently donated $2 million to the group that ensures a Wikipedia page shows up in Google for just about anything you search.
Now, let me ask you this. If Google handed one of your competitors $2 million, while said competitor’s web...
Social Media and Email Continue to Get Cozy
February 17, 2010, 7:26 amEmail and social media continue to get closer together in a variety of ways. Google launched Google Buzz in Gmail, Mozilla has Raindrop, and Facebook is said to be working on its own web mail service. MySpace already created one. These are a few examples.Today, LinkedIn announced a partnership with Microsoft that will put LinkedIn user...
Five "Old School" Tactics That Could Ruin Your Sales Page
February 17, 2010, 7:25 amDespise long sales letters, yellow highlighters and blood-red, hype-laden headlines? These tried and true copywriting tactics are proven winners at converting "cold" traffic into paying customers - and $10,000-a-page copywriters use them without hesitation because they appeal to the baser instincts of the easily swayed. They may be embarrassing to...
Anatomy of A (Successful) Tweet
February 17, 2010, 7:25 amEver wondered what makes a good tweet? Let's break it down. But first'.there are many different reasons to tweet, therefore there are many different kinds of tweets. Twitter can serve many purposes so before you get started you want to consider all the ways you can use Twitter and determine which ones you want to use now. Let's do a quick...
WordStream Announces Affiliate Program
February 17, 2010, 7:25 amWe've mentioned Wordstream quite a few times on SEJ because we do find it useful and unique tools: they have an advanced keyword management toolset and several really handy and useful free keyword research and keyword grouping tools . And yesterday they came up with some awesome news: they have announced their an affiliate program . This means you...
3 SEO-Friendly WP Plugins to Display Featured Posts
February 17, 2010, 7:00 amGiving your selected content more exposure via featuring it is a good idea because this way: (1) You attract more attention to your best articles (or those that you need more attention for); (2) You allow your best and most important posts to be easier accessed by search engine bots.
10 Types of Landing Page Goals for PPC Campaigns
February 17, 2010, 6:39 amConversions are king. But to take your PPC campaigns to the next level in 2010, you must go beyond measuring traditional conversions (lead, transaction) and start measuring (and achieving!) new goals â" from social media engagement, to RSS subscribers, to inbounds. Here are 10 different types of landing page goals to measure in 2010 : 1....
Preventing A Site Being Served In Selected Countries
February 17, 2010, 5:25 am"WebmasterWorld members discuss the topic of page delivery serving via Google into certain countries, including Geolocation IP identification, Google Webmaster Tools, htaccess, GeoIP Database, etc."
SES London Global SEO:Domains, Hosting and Geo-targeting #SES
February 17, 2010, 3:59 amWhenever the topic of 'international SEO' is discussed - one of the very first subjects people want to learn and talk about is which domains to use and how to structure a website at the very top level. In other words, whether to use local domains (ccTLDs), global domains especially the dot com OR sub-domains.
Top 10 SES London Day One Tips from Twitter!
February 17, 2010, 3:30 amHaving attended SES London yesterday, there were lots of great tips and facts from the sessions as always. This time rather than relying on my own notes, the coverage on Twitter has been fantastic so I thought I'd try something different to show the best tweets from day one. There's also some amazing coverage from the the blogging machine Jaamit...
21 Secrets from Bryan Eisenberg's Keynote â" SES London 2010
February 17, 2010, 3:10 amWere at a search conference, but search has no point if customers come to your site and cant find what theyre looking for. If your site is badly constructed or not designed with conversion in mind, you might as well give up. Traffic means little if youre not working to have your visitors take an action place an order, sign up for a news letter,...
Canadian Privacy Office Questions Google Buzz
February 17, 2010, 2:15 amAs expected from a controversial web service that inflicts privacy invasion, Google Buzz just received a new "friend" in the Canadian Office of the Privacy Commissioner. A spokesperson for the said Canadian government office said that they are now investigating whether Google Buzz is indeed violating or may have violated Canadian privacy laws...
Where Did You Watch the Super Bowl Ads?
February 17, 2010, 1:45 amThe continual chatter on my blog post featuring Nick Utton from eTrade (not a lot of fans of the new babies) got me thinking about how we watch Super Bowl ads. Do you mind anymore if someone is chatting during the break or do you realize youre just going online to watch them later anyway? Lets face it a GREAT ad can get more views online in the...
Search Engine Strategies 2010 â" Day 1
February 17, 2010, 1:32 amHundreds of people braved the wet and cold weather yesterday to attend day 1 at Search Engine Strategies in North London. Any one who came in from the freezing elements would have had their cockles warmed by the keynote from Avianash Kaushik, who wowed.
Google's Server Side Clipboard
February 17, 2010, 12:16 amGoogle is implementing or testing a server side clip board for Google Docs. I don't see this rolled out yet, but there's a help entry available. It's like a Ctrl+C shortcut, but the clipboard contents will actually be saved to Google's servers for 30 days, ready to be pasted into another document. Who knows, we might see this clipboard be...
Google Gives $2 Million to Wikimedia
February 16, 2010, 11:58 pmWikipedia founder Jimmy Wales says that Google has donated $2 million to the Wikimedia Foundation, TechCrunch reports (can't connect to the source, Twitter, at the moment). The official statement is supposedly be made today, Wednesday. [Thanks David!
What Makes a Great Text Link: Domain Age, Domain Authority, Relevance, Traffic, Clicks
February 16, 2010, 11:24 pm
Ideally, building up great text links should be a long term process. You may have heard the joke about the American tourist in England asking how they get their lawns so beautiful. The Englishman answers, “It’s quite a straightforward process. Just plant it, cut it, roll it, and water it for 400 years.” Links tended to in a long...
Why Content on a Website is So Important
February 16, 2010, 10:13 pmI'm sure you have heard it everywhere you go on how important content is in this industry and how it is the driving force to any successful search engine marketing campaign, but why? It is important to understand exactly how the search engines work. I know many people like to keep their websites clean and clutter less but the search engines are...
Is Google Getting Too Personal?
February 16, 2010, 9:48 pmPosted by Dr. Pete Late last year, Google announced that they would be rolling out personalized search even for visitors who weren't logged into a Google account. There's been a lot of talk in the SEO community about how this affects the already dubious future of rankings, but it seems to boil down to one simple fear: does my client (or boss) see...
Four Free Analytics Tools
February 16, 2010, 9:46 pm
Whether you have a blog or a full-fledged e-commerce site, you probably are curious about how many people visit your site, which pages are most popular, how many page views you get, and how long visitors stay around. Fortunately, there are several free analytics programs you can get right online to help you dig into the numbers your website is...
Matt Cutt's View on Changing Your Hosting
February 16, 2010, 9:12 pmFor all of those businesses large and small who might be worried their rankings will simply tank just from changing their hosting company can now sleep at night. Coming from Matt Cutt's mouth he claims that changing your hosting company will not affect your SEO in any sort of way. This is assuming that you are moving to a quality hosting company...
Site Monetization: Aggression Or Persistence Leads To Success
February 16, 2010, 8:22 pm"Some people say adsense is better for them on many of their websites than affiliate programs. I'm wondering if the main difference between these kind of people is that some people are persistent but in a 'lazy way', whereas others are persistent in an 'aggressive way'."
Dance Freak Out
February 16, 2010, 6:34 pmby Claudine Zap The war between schools and dancers would seem to be lopsided. If history, or at least movies, can be our guide, everyone ends up dancing with the outsider kid (" Footloose ") or showing off their moves with the outsider dance instructor (" Dirty Dancing "). That's maybe how the teens of Brighton, Michigan can console themselves...
A Photoshopped Google Future
February 16, 2010, 4:26 pmFor a photoshop contest , Gizmodo asked readers to "come up with more derivative services Google had in its pipeline." Included are Google Room View, Google Marijuana, and a Google Lightsaber.
1,500 attendees watch Avinash Kaushik, Google Analytics Evangelist, kick off SES London 2010
February 16, 2010, 4:12 pmSearch Engine Strategies London 2010 kicked off this morning - literally. The opening keynote speaker, Avinash Kaushik, author, blogger and Analytics Evangelist at Google, challenged the 1,500 attendees to "forget everything you know about analytics - it's a new decade and there are new rules." Click to read the rest of this post.
Aaron Wall Interview with Hugo Guzman on Comparing SEO Business Models and More
February 16, 2010, 4:09 pmSuperb interview with Hugo Guzman about his diverse range of SEO experience with his own sites, as a private SEO consultant, as an in-house SEO as well as his current role within an interactive agency.
Google Integrates MySpace to Search, But Not Proud of it
February 16, 2010, 3:28 pmGoogle seemed to have quietly implemented MySpace Real-Time Search API just now. The announcement was actually made by MySpace so I checked out the Official Google Blog if there was any update about this but didn't find any. Probably because it's too early or maybe Google just don't want to make a big fuzz about this? Anyway, the MySpace folks...
ChaCha Introduces New Facebook App
February 16, 2010, 3:28 pmMobile answers service ChaCha has introduced a new Facebook application that allows users to access answers from both ChaCha and their Facebook friends. The ChaCha Facebook app allows users to ask a question to any of their friends on Facebook and the question is also automatically submitted to ChaCha. ChaCha says it will return an answer from its...
Comparing SEO Business Models
February 16, 2010, 3:21 pmOne of the great things about SEO is that it allows you to see many lenses on business that you can't normally see with most other professions (outside of perhaps something in high finance or management consulting anyhow). One day you are building a bootstrapped business from scratch wondering when it will make its first Dollar, and the next day...
Killer Google AdWords Guide for Affiliates
February 16, 2010, 3:21 pmMy wife used to tell me that I would give too much away...and then she pens something like this AdWords affiliate guide .
What if Facebook Added a "Blog" Tab?
February 16, 2010, 3:17 pmFacebook wants to keep users on Facebook. So far, they are doing a pretty good job of that. More and more people are spending more of their online time on Facebook, not to mention, spending more time connected to the web in general (at least partially due to rising use of smartphones).
Facebook recently made it a point to show users how to use...
Don't Count Out Facebook as a Competitor to Google
February 16, 2010, 3:01 pmIn case you were wondering, Facebook is pretty popular. Google is of course the undisputed king of search market share, but Facebook has the edge in some areas. Social media is the obvious area. While Google is hoping to make some serious headway here with Buzz, Facebook is far and away the dominant being in the world of social networks. Compete...
Avatar and Xbox: Movie Advertising Enters a New Dimension
February 16, 2010, 2:48 pmLike millions of people around the world, I recently donned my retro-cool 3D glasses and immersed myself in the experience that is Avatar , James Cameron's groundbreaking 3D film. And while I watched Avatar as a movie fan, I also found myself thinking about it within the larger context of entertainment, technology and advertising-and how those...
Ultimate Guide to PPC Affiliate Marketing
February 16, 2010, 2:28 pmGreat stuff"You may have come across get-rich-quick books telling you how you can make a fortune in affiliate marketing. Hand over $97, and you’ll get “the secrets”.
We’ve decided to give you “the secrets”, and charge you $0 instead. We’re good like that
This article is aimed at those who are new to affiliate marketing with PPC."
comScore to Speak at the 12th Annual Credit Suisse Global Services Conference
February 16, 2010, 2:17 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced that Ken Tarpey, chief financial officer, will present at the 12th Annual Credit Suisse Global Services Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am MT (11:00 am ET) on Monday, February 22, 2010.
Google Adds Real-Time Results From MySpace
February 16, 2010, 2:17 pmGoogle and MySpace have taken the real-time plunge. This afternoon, Google implemented the MySpace Real-Time Search API, meaning that searchers can now find all sorts of content moments after it's created on the social network. A MySpace representative wrote in an email to WebProNews, "Beginning today, when users perform a search on Google,...
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Probing Google Buzz
February 16, 2010, 2:09 pm"...Buzz is being investigated to see whether it violates Canadian privacy laws."
Intel and Cineform Create 3D Video
February 16, 2010, 1:57 pm3D video is a growing interest among many individuals today. Intel and Cineform have come together to make it possible to make your own 3D video.
WebProNews caught up with an Intel representative at CES 2010 to discover more on Intel and Cineform's new 3D video.
Although the 3D process would seem to be very complex and involved, Intel insists it...
Interview with Debra Mastaler, Link Building Expert
February 16, 2010, 1:52 pmDebra brings an air of class, dignity and professionalism to her trade that is worthy to be commended. She also gets results- thus I wanted to pick her brain.
The Freshest Linkscape Data Ever
February 16, 2010, 1:51 pmPosted by Nick Gerner Since the launch of Open Site Explorer and our API update , Chas , Ben and I have invested a lot of time and energy into improving the freshness and completeness of Linkscape's data. I'm pleased to announce that we've updated the Linkcape index with crawl data that's between two and five weeks oldthe freshest it's ever been....
Consumers More Likely To Pay For Professional Online Content
February 16, 2010, 1:27 pmNot surprisingly, the majority (85%) of online consumers prefer free content, but some categories they would be willing to consider paying for access, according to a new survey from Nielsen. Nielsen asked more than 27,000 consumers across 52 countries about what types of online content they would be willing to pay for. The survey found consumers...
Checking Out the OtterBox Tandem Series
February 16, 2010, 1:25 pmOtterBox introduced the new Tandem Series of products at CES 2010. WebProNews talked with Kristin Golliher of OtterBox, and she explained what the new products had to offer.
The products include a two-part impact-resistant polycarbonate case with rubber over-molding, which provides a solid protection....
SeeSaw Stealing Hulu’s Lunch in the UK
February 16, 2010, 1:20 pmAh, Hulu. How we made fun of thee. How we love thee now. Unless, of course, we live outside the United States—then we kind of hate thee for not letting us watch your shows. Although they planned to launch to the British Isles in September 2009, that has been delayed until 2010—and naturally, that vacuum is being filled. Competitor...
Polaroid Aims to Recapture Tradition in the Digital Age
February 16, 2010, 12:58 pmJon Pollock, Polaroid's Chief Marketing Officer, spoke with WebProNews about the new addition to their Polaroid collection during CES 2010 in Las Vegas. In 2008 Polaroid ended its line of Instant Film cameras, but the company has decided to bring back its traditional Polaroid OneStep camera. Althought the Polaroid camera will contain many of...
Google Checkout Gift Messaging Gets Some Changes
February 16, 2010, 12:14 pmGoogle Checkout's Advanced Buyer Messaging (gift messaging) feature has been taken out of beta. This feature, which was released over a year ago lets Google Checkout customers add gift messages, add additional instructions, and request gift receipts. The new beta-less version of the feature comes with a few changes. Google explains , "Based on...
Is Google Gunning for E-Commerce Giants Amazon, EBay?
February 16, 2010, 12:13 pmIs Google gunning for Amazon and eBay? New York Times report that Google has hired a former eBay executive as vice president of commerce. Stephanie Tilenius has been tapped for the new position, about which next to nothing appears to be known. Miguel Helft wrote: People close to Google said Ms. Tilenius would oversee Google Checkout, the company's...
Norwegian Buhund, My Sharona, Bode Miller: What's the Buzz
February 16, 2010, 12:06 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Norwegian Buhund (Searches increased by +2,274%). Say hello, or should we say, "woof," to one of the new breeds introduced at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. My Sharona (+2,230%). Doug Fieger, the co-writer and singer of the new wave hit, has died . Bode Miller (+631%). The...
Yahoo! Search on the Airwaves
February 16, 2010, 11:59 amBy now you've seen our global ad campaign that shows how Yahoo! is focused on YOU like never before. And at Yahoo! Search, we continue to deliver what you need in just one search. We've launched a new national ad campaign covering radio and the Web. Our new campaign looks directly at the Yahoo! Search experience, where we continue to bring you all...
Former FCC Chair Endorses Google Broadband
February 16, 2010, 11:58 amLast week, Google announced they would soon begin building high-speed broadband networks. They’re currently taking requests to select the markets where they’ll begin—but it’s still not too soon for at least one former FCC chair to endorse the idea.
Former FCC chairman Michael K. Powell, blogging for Broadband for America,...
Introduction to SEO - Tips from SES London 2010
February 16, 2010, 11:13 amNext up on the Search Engine Strategies London 2010 agenda for me was seeing Matt Bailey of SiteLogic give us a really top-to-bottom overview on the basics of Search Engine Optimisation. His clarity and amount of presentation energy is quite something! As a relative newbie to SEO myself, it became a mind-gym exercise to take it all in....
Google, Yahoo Protest Australian Internet Filter
February 16, 2010, 10:31 amGoogle and Yahoo have stepped up their opposition to a proposed Internet filter meant to protect children in Australia. Together, the two companies joined the Australian Library and Information Association and the Inspire Foundation, and set out some "Core Principles for Effective Action for a Safer Internet." All four organizations are concerned...
Verizon Adds Skype Calls To Smartphones
February 16, 2010, 10:31 amVerizon Wireless has partnered with Skype on a Skype mobile application that will launch on smartphones in March. The move makes Verizon the first major U.S. carrier to offer Skype to its mobile users. The Skype mobile app is for smartphone users who have a data plan with Verizon. Initially, Skype mobile will be available on smartphones with data...
10 Pathways to Inspired Writing
February 16, 2010, 10:12 amAs writers, inspiration is one of the most important out of the criteria for success. Without it, well, our writing ends up pretty lame. A huge percentage of blogs see their demise before the six month milestone. Why? Because people don't know what to write about â" writing becomes a chore and when that happens, you might as well seal it in....
Google Gives SMB Market Something to Look Forward To
February 16, 2010, 9:49 amWhether it is here or on some of the other places that I write about SMB Internet marketing, I talk a lot about the plight of the SMB (small and medium business) with regard to online marketing. Despite the size of the market that the SMB represents it has always been under served.
There are a few basic reasons for this. Most SMB owners don’t...
How I Chose My Masters Certification Program
February 16, 2010, 9:49 amA search on "internet marketing training" brings up over 1.6 million listings. A lot of marketers are used to being online the majority of the day but are hesitant to take an online course although the search results will tell you plenty of people are curious. What all does it entail? How are classes paced? Will I fall behind and if so, will it be...
How Facebook Could Help Itself and the Blogosphere
February 16, 2010, 9:17 amFacebook wants to keep users on Facebook. So far, they are doing a pretty good job of that. More and more people are spending more of their online time on Facebook, not to mention, spending more time connected to the web in general (at least partially due to rising use of smartphones).
Facebook recently made it a point to show users how to use...
Beyond Ten Blue Links - Bing at SES London 2010
February 16, 2010, 9:12 amGiven the recent progress made with the development of Bing in the UK, it's only fair that we spent some time taking the product for a spin and reminding folks about the opportunity we see in the Search space here at Search Engine Strategies London 2010 . Peter Maxmin, the Director for Online and Bing Search in EMEA for Microsoft,
Google Bypassed Internal Testing to Rush Buzz Out the Door?
February 16, 2010, 9:10 amFor all of you complaining about the way Google Buzz invaded your privacy, the search engine has a perfectly simply explanation for you:
It didn’t really care!
OK, so Google hasn’t actually come out and made that statement, but it doesn’t take a genius to read between the lines:
The BBC understands that Buzz was only tested...
Weekly Search & Social News: 02/16/2010
February 16, 2010, 9:05 amWelcome to another edition of ' 7 Days of Search and Social ' - I was thinking, we really should have started the 'SEO Olympics' or something. Being a Canadian it's pretty much consuming things up here. It would be fun to have an SEO version' heehee' Ok, fine,
Sally Sells You Stuff (comics)
February 16, 2010, 9:05 amMy neighbor and I have been creating these comics for you! Feedback as always welcome, and thanks for early reading to Niniane , Tony and Aaron !
Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines Are Not A Good Fit
February 16, 2010, 8:49 amYou have probably heard or are somewhat aware of the Kevin Smith / Southwest Airlines dust up over the past few days. If you haven’t then you are missing an online reputation monitoring and management real life case study unfold right before your eyes.
The main player is screenwriter, film producer, and director Kevin Smith. Smith is famous for...
89% of Journalists Source Stories From Social Media, Yet Only 15% Admit Its Importance
February 16, 2010, 8:48 amNow this looks familiar.
A new survey by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University, suggests that 89% of journalists source their stories from blogs, 65% from social networks such as Facebook, and 52% from Twitter.
That’s no surprise.
Yet despite this admission, journalists continue to downplay the importance of social media...
Netflix Scores High In Customer Satisfaction
February 16, 2010, 8:40 amCustomer satisfaction with ecommerce websites has rebounded a year after experiencing its first decline since 2004, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The e-commerce sector gained 1.8% to 81.4 on ACSI's 100-point scale, nearly matching its all-time high of 81.6 set in 2007. The increase in the overall ecommerce sector...
3 Reasons PR & Communications Need to Know SEO
February 16, 2010, 8:11 amThe PR industry is in a state of flux with increasing importance on getting into the content and social web business. Consumers are spending more time with digital and social media. Advertising dollars are following. That means less budget to staff newsrooms and reporters, journalists and editors to pitch. Understanding the needs of their...
Google Admits Flaws in Testing Buzz Prior to Release
February 16, 2010, 8:05 amBBC is running a report about Google admitting to them that Google Buzz is sort of a half-baked product since it did not go through massive testing prior to release. The report was quite surprising not really because of the testing flaws but because of Google admitting it. Anyway, according to the report,
Vodafone CEO Warns Of Google Dominance
February 16, 2010, 7:59 amThe world's second largest mobile operator is not pleased with Google's dominance in the search and advertising market. In fact, Vodafone's CEO implied in a recent speech that regulators might want to act sooner rather than later to prevent an irreversible monopoly from forming. According to Michelle Donegan , Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao showed...
Affiliate Marketing Review Report Card {infographic}
February 16, 2010, 7:43 amAffiliate Marketing is filled with affiliate programs selling everything from teeth whitening to health insurance but with so many programs out there we have put together a sort-able report card the top networks.
Bury Negative Publicity With New Pages on the Same Domain
February 16, 2010, 7:42 amBrett Borders gives marketers a few tips on how to bury negative publicity with new pages on the same sub domain.
Does your content piss people off?
February 16, 2010, 7:41 amA few days ago, my husband and I were watching an ad for ProFlowers.com. It was your typical Valentine's Day ad - a woman received flowers at work - but they were brown and wilted. She was obviously disappointed. The lesson: If you don't purchase your flowers from ProFlowers, the love of your life may question how much you really care. The ad made...
Bing about web spam - Is your website considered spam?
February 16, 2010, 7:36 amAll major search engines have special teams that try to eliminate web spam from their search result pages. Bing has just published an article about web spam. Is your website spam and are your rankings at risk?
Engineering Viral Success
February 16, 2010, 7:23 amGoing viral doesn't just happen! And if it does, it's the exception to the rule. Almost always, viral content explodes because of careful maneuvering by content creators or community influencers' that includes seemingly organic pieces like Tay Zonday and Star Wars Kid.
Why You Should Have a Secondary Twitter Account
February 16, 2010, 7:06 amAs we know, Twitter is an incredibly powerful platform and enables businesses and individuals to build strong relationships with customers and peers. I, too, find that Twitter has been incredibly powerful for me to connect with real life colleagues, readers of Techipedia, family, and everyone in between. I consider my current @tamar network,...
SEJ Tools: Keyword and Competitor Research with SEM Rush
February 16, 2010, 7:05 amPreviously I have shared why it is so handy when one SEO toolset combines several powerful services and utilities allowing you to run solid SEO research from one dashboard. SEJ toolset has Wordtracker and Google Adwords keyword tools integrated. But that is not it. Another powerful keyword and competitor research tool you can use from SEJ tools is...
Spammers Naturally Quick to Exploit Google Buzz
February 16, 2010, 7:02 amLast week, Google launched the much talked about Google Buzz, its new social media product that ties into users' Gmail accounts (among other things). Privacy issues have been widely discussed (and addressed accordingly by Google), but Security firm Websense tells us that spammers are already exploiting the service as well.
"With all the...
Google Admits Flaws in Buzz Network Testing
February 16, 2010, 6:56 amGoogle has admitted to BBC News that testing of its controversial social network Buzz was insufficient
Analytics Geeks Ahoy! - SES London 2010
February 16, 2010, 6:54 amWe've just been in the Introduction to Analytics session here at Search Engine Strategies London 2010 . This jumped out of the agenda for me and is a subject area which is very dear to my team's heart at Microsoft! Very soon after we launched adCenter in the UK in 2006, we saw that data was everywhere and unless we created clean and reliable data...
WordStream Launches Affiliate Marketing Program
February 16, 2010, 6:54 amIt's free to join and affiliates get paid for leads and sales. Click to read the rest of this post.
Learning Social Media Marketing From Zappos
February 16, 2010, 6:30 amZappos is one of those companies that gets thrown around whenever social media case studies come up. If you have followed the industry over the last 2 years you have undoubtedly seen them come up in PowerPoint presentations and various speeches on the topic of ‘who’s doing it right’ in social media. And, for good reason....
Lose the Jargon, Talk Street and Gain Visitors
February 16, 2010, 6:22 amThere are advantages and disadvantages to being an in-house SEO. One I consider both is knowing the intimate details of the business you are promoting online. While this gives you knowledge that freelance SEO's will probably never have about a business, it may also be a handicap to what you really want, more visitors to your web sites. The Top...
Creative Confidential â" Microsoft Advertising's European Tour
February 16, 2010, 4:19 amRather like the very British notion of tea and biscuits, when it comes to truly successful digital campaign executions, technology and creativity make a much more delicious double-act when paired together. Technology on its own needs creativity to push its boundaries. Creativity needs technology to deliver those dreams.
ChaCha Launches Facebook App with Aardvark-Esque Feature
February 16, 2010, 12:51 amApp harnesses crowd-sourcing, a departure from their text-based service. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Buzz Kills Auto-Follow on Privacy Concerns
February 16, 2010, 12:15 amAs it turns out, people don't like their info being shared automatically. Click to read the rest of this post.
What We Believe and Why: SEOmoz's TAGFEE Tenets
February 15, 2010, 11:28 pmPosted by randfish Warning: This post isn't about SEO or online marketing. The focus is on our growth as a startup and our adoption of company values and how we represent those internally and externally. Since transparency remains one of our guiding principles, we felt it only appropriate to share our work in this area - hopefully you can take...
Before You Seek Links Get Your Website Right
February 15, 2010, 10:10 pmYou wouldn't believe how many people I speak with who want to dive in and start an aggressive link building campaign and I look at their website and it is still so far behind in the optimization category it is not even funny. You need to make sure your website is 100% efficient before you even try to start a link building marketing campaign....
Grading Google's Marketing Practices Based On Google's Standards?
February 15, 2010, 6:45 pmThe following is a guest post by Slaven Radic. The Google Buzz team has had quite a week. Their new product quickly lived up to its name, though mostly for the wrong reasons, generating buzz about its own privacy issues. Calling the original Google Buzz privacy settings lax would be a gross understatement. It created a storm of complaints, best...
10 Reasons You Can't Ignore Google Buzz as an SEO
February 15, 2010, 4:42 pmUsually I try most new Google services shortly after their release. I did with Google Buzz as well and I didn't like it because it didn't even show up for 24h while the call to action "Try Google Buzz in Gmail" was already in place. Thus I decided to abandon Google Buzz for good like I did with Google Wave. Also I almost never use Google...
Google Again Linked To Australian Data Center Plans
February 15, 2010, 3:26 pmThe rumor that Google might build a data center in Australia has been circulating for some time; our first report on the subject was written in October of 2008. Now, although construction crews haven't exactly been mobilized, there's at least been a sign that Google hasn't given up on the idea.
Deepak Ramanathan, the head of Google's...
US Speedskating Taps Facebook And Twitter
February 15, 2010, 3:20 pmUnited States Speedskating is turning to social media to connect with fans and build on publicity generated by the recent sponsorship of Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Nation.
"US Speedskating is taking a leadership position by embracing opportunities to connect with fans on social networks," said Libby Issendorf, a social media...
Use QR Code to Increase Traffic and Sales
February 15, 2010, 3:15 pmQR (or Quick Response) code is not a new technology. Actually it's been around for sixteen years or so, but the ever-increasing popularity of smartphones and their support of QR-code-reading apps is making use of the codes more popular than ever. It's a very easy way to attract the attention of a potential customer with a scannable (often...
Versatile Bug Labs Embraces Android
February 15, 2010, 2:09 pmIt's been no secret that the Android operating system will wind up on all sorts of devices; last year, for example, we talked about home phones and set-top boxes that were in development. Now, however, it may almost literally wind up on "all sorts of devices," as the BUG 2.0 platform has introduced support for Android. Bug Labs is an interesting...
How Profiles Help Us Moderate Sphinn
February 15, 2010, 1:31 pmVariety is important when building links, the experts say — links from different sources, links with different anchor text, etc. The same idea applies in social media, and it's important here on Sphinn. What does your Sphinn profile say about you?
Facebook And Google Get Most Visits During Super Bowl
February 15, 2010, 1:27 pmThe number of people who went online while watching the Super Bowl increased 2 percent this year to 14 percent, according to Nielsen. Time spent online for those multitaskers was up from 24 minutes last year to 29 minutes with much of that time spent on social networks. Overall, Google and Facebook were the most visited sites while watching the...
Will Windows Phone 7 Help Bing Market Share?
February 15, 2010, 1:03 pmMicrosoft has unveiled its Windows Phone 7 Series, a new mobile platform. The phones will bring Microsoft's XBox Live service and its Zune music and video experience together on phones. Perhaps more interesting, at least to enthusiasts of the search industry, is that Windows Phone 7 devices will come with "a dedicated hardware button for Bing."...
2010 Automotive: Microsoft adCenter Campaign Management Tips and Best Practices
February 15, 2010, 12:57 pmThe automotive industry has seen its ups and downs in recent months. While the Cash for Clunkers promotion was successful for many automotive advertisers, advertisers faced an uphill battle to sell vehicles during the fall as consumer spending declined. With the economy trending upwards, many families receiving tax returns and new car models...
comScore Releases Top Online Classifieds Sites in Brazil for January 2010
February 15, 2010, 12:28 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on the top online classifieds sites in Brazil for January 2010. The data showed that OnLine eXchange (OLX) led this fast-growing category, which now reaches more than 30 percent of Brazilian Internet users in a given month.
Human-powered Search Gets More Humans: ChaCha Hooks up with Facebook
February 15, 2010, 12:26 pmHuman-powered search engine ChaCha has hung on (let’s face it) longer than anyone thought possible. Although it abandoned guided web-based search almost two years ago, ChaCha is still thriving in the mobile Q&A market. Back in December, they raised $7M in funding—and it looks like the ultimate result of that cash was an API and a...
Microsoft Unveils Smartphones with Dedicated Bing Hardware Button
February 15, 2010, 11:58 amPhones are due out by the 2010 holiday season. Click to read the rest of this post.
The Sky Is Falling! (And So Is Google’s Market Share)
February 15, 2010, 11:08 amNeilsen has reported their search market share numbers for January—and Google seems to have forgotten which way is up. While the search giant is still #1 and in no danger, they lost a percentage point of the search query market from December, falling from 67.3% to 66.3% of all queries.
If Google’s, losing, who’s gaining? Just...
Could ChatRoulette Become the Next Social Hit?
February 15, 2010, 10:59 amChatRoulette is a site that is getting a lot of attention. Some think it could be the "next big thing" on the web. The concept is simple. You chat via a webcam or keyboard with random strangers. If you don't like the one you're currently connected to, just click a button (or hit F9), and you're on to the next one. Maybe at some point you can find...
Google Apps Maybe Going To Yale
February 15, 2010, 10:35 amOne of America's oldest universities is going to turn to Google for a lot of new software, according to a new report. Indeed, Yale is supposed to get the whole Google Apps for Education shebang, including email, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. Google's promoted Apps for Education as a cutting-edge and yet user-friendly solution for quite some...
FaceBook Passes Google As Driver of Search Traffic
February 15, 2010, 9:57 am"Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and is among the leaders for other types of sites."
What happens to London SEOs when you remix their drinks?
February 15, 2010, 9:51 amLast year we posted Jonathan Allen's excellent video from SES London 2009 " what should we do with the Black Hats? ". Now Jon has released a new remixed version, featuring footage from last year's LondonSEO party into a teaser for the first ever Black Hat / White hat Unconference at this week's Search Engine Strategies conference in London. It...
Tips for Using the adCenter API Documentation on MSDN
February 15, 2010, 9:51 amIn 2009, there were well over 200,000 page views in the adCenter API Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) documentation. We thought you might appreciate a few tips about the adCenter API documentation. All of the advertising API documentation is located in the MSDN library under Microsoft Advertising Services . Currently, documentation is available...
Introducing Scribe: SEO Copywriting Made Simple
February 15, 2010, 9:44 amYou may have noticed I've been writing a lot about SEO copywriting lately. More than that, I've been working on a content optimization software solution for the last 6 months with a team of very smart people. It's called Scribe, and it makes SEO copywriting simple. Creating search optimized web pages, blog posts, and press releases used to be time...
ALERT : Google Sells Out! - Puts AdWords in Organic SERP's
February 15, 2010, 9:39 am"... stores pay $25/month to appear directly in the organic search results (not an ad on the side)."
One in Ten Americans Visited a Health Insurance Site in Q4 2009
February 15, 2010, 9:27 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of online health insurance activity in 2009. The study found that nearly 24 million Americans visited a health insurance site in Q4 2009, representing 10 percent of the total U.S. online population. The study findings will be presented in greater detail...
Study Reveals Google, Yahoo & Bing Users Perceive Your Brand Differently
February 15, 2010, 9:23 amPrevious blind-test studies have shown that results across different search engines are pretty much considered equal–once you remove the logo from such results.
Now, a new study from Wunderman, BrandAsset® Consulting, ZAAZ and Compete goes one step further and demonstrates how the search engine used, influences the perception of the...
Google Views Apple Relationship As Valuable
February 15, 2010, 9:15 amGoogle said today it views its relationship with Apple as valuable and does not see any reason for that to change, even with the rumors Microsoft's Bing may replace Google search on the iPhone.
"Apple is a very close and valuable partner and we're very excited about the relationship we have with them today. We have no reason to believe...
Is it Becoming Less Critical For Businesses to Have Websites?
February 15, 2010, 9:09 amI don't think there's any question that you need a web presence to survive in today's business climate. But do you still need a traditional website, or has the web moved on in that regard?
Do you still need a website to be succesful online? Share your thoughts.
First off, let me be perfectly clear in that I'm not advising anybody not to...
Your Gmail Buzz Wishlist?
February 15, 2010, 9:07 amMZaza in the forum started a wishlist for Gmail Buzz. I'd like to forward this here: What would you like to see added to Buzz (or changed, for that matter)? [Thanks MZaza!] [By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Your Gmail Buzz Wishlist?
Helping Your Niche Site Swim in the Mainstream
February 15, 2010, 8:36 amFor link building purposes, some clients are just more desirable than others. There are some sites that are exciting, because the minute you land on the homepage you can immediately think of 100 angles to attack from. The content ideas start gushing like a loose fire hose; resource lists, articles, widgets, games, quizzes, contests, you're soaked...
Microsoft Research Search Results Indexed
February 15, 2010, 8:24 amLooks like someone forgot to disallow search spiders from indexing their search results (I'm currently seeing 324,000 pages indexed on entitycube.research.microsoft.com; for reference, Matt Cutts once talked about search results in search results .). [Thanks Zoran!
The Google Image Search China Homepage, and More
February 15, 2010, 8:24 amAbove you can see a screenshot of the Google Image Search homepage for China , less minimalist than its .com counterpart. The content, like the thumbnails, changes throughout the day. A translation of the page shows that it collects top photos, top searches, and fastest rising search queries (perhaps among other things, I'm not sure what all the...
Is Darth Wader the most infamous Black Hat SEO on the whole of the web?
February 15, 2010, 8:20 amIt is the year 2010... So get yourself down to Search Engine Strategies for the, all new, Black Hat Vs White Hat Unconferenced & London SEO party. Click to read the rest of this post...
Carl Icahn Cuts Yahoo Stake By 80 Percent
February 15, 2010, 8:11 amFor better or for worse, it looks like Carl Icahn has cut some ties to Yahoo. The activist investor, who once bought a great many shares as part of an effort to force out Jerry Yang and Yahoo's board of directors, reduced his stake by about 80.2 percent during the last six months. SEC filings reveal that Icahn owned a whopping 60,452,099 shares...
Mobile Subscriptions To Hit 5 Billion Globally In 2010
February 15, 2010, 8:11 amThe number of mobile phone subscribers is on track to increase from 4.6 billion to five billion globally by the end of 2010, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU says the increase is driven by advanced services and handsets in developed countries and growing adoption of mobile health services and mobile banking in...
Google Buzz Caving to So Many Demands, May Soon Rename to Google Bleh
February 15, 2010, 8:06 amGoogle is learning a harsh lesson about social networking, thanks to its new Buzz launch.
Knowing someone and being their friend are often two different things.
After the initial “buzz” Google Buzz has pretty much been a buzzkill. The service has outraged many that believe it revealed too much about their private interactions, while...
YouTube Video Makes FDIC Blink
February 15, 2010, 8:00 amWatching video clips is a very popular pastime in the US and the rest of the world. Hey, it sure beats getting outside and taking a walk in that nasty fresh air. As a result of our obsession with this media there is some opportunity to do some real harm to a reputation if a group decided to do so. One such instance has made the F.D.I.C (Federal...
Ten Must Read Tips to Start a Small Business Blog
February 15, 2010, 7:56 amA friend of mine who is an experienced corporate marketer started a new business. The store just opened and being the good pal that I am, I was able to provide some advice regarding marketing on the web - specifically regarding blog marketing. This is a new small business, so considerations for what to do about a web site included: cost,...
How to Measure Twitter Marketing Effectiveness
February 15, 2010, 7:51 amAs more and more companies decide that investing in a Twitter account is appropriate for their marketing campaign, one thing that traditionally gets lost in the discussion is how they will measure success. A Twitter account, just like any form of marketing, requires a set of concrete goals that you hope to achieve through marketing in that...
10 Questions to Learn Your Niche
February 15, 2010, 7:26 amIf you truly understand your niche, you can better find relevant linking partners. If you don't, you're going to waste loads of time pursuing targets that don't work out, and you're going to end up with potential links that may give you better rankings, but don't do a thing for traffic. There are 10 key questions to consider when sussing out your...
Google Continues to Adjust Buzz to Ease Concerns
February 15, 2010, 7:20 amGoogle has been rigorously responding to user feedback about its recently launched Buzz social media product, and adjusting the service as it sees fit. There has been a lot of criticism about user privacy associated with Buzz, and after making a few adjustments late last week, over the weekend, Google announced some more. Google is switching to an...
All in One SEO Pack and Headspace2 WP Plugins: Head-to-Head Comparison
February 15, 2010, 7:03 amTwo most popular and widely discussed SEO plugins for Wordpress are All in One SEO Pack and Headspace2 . Both are smart, free and usable. For my own blogs I may use either; I haven't really thought much how different they are. However many of my clients and friends often ask which one I recommend and why. There's no article I was able to find...
Nielsen Grants Bing Small Win Against Google
February 15, 2010, 6:58 amWe heard earlier this week from comScore and Hitwise, and today, still more evidence that Bing performed well in January arrived. Nielsen has released its monthly report regarding the U.S. search market, and according to the firm, Bing managed to increase its market share by exactly 1.0 percent. In December, Bing's market share was a slightly...
Mobile Phone Operators Create Wholesale Applications Community
February 15, 2010, 6:02 am"Twenty-four of the largest phone operators have banded together to challenge the dominance of mobile app stores, such as that operated by Apple."
Microsoft Launches Windows phone 7 Series for Mobile
February 15, 2010, 5:49 am"The software has a redesigned user interface and incorporates many Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music service."
Apps Are in the AIR
February 15, 2010, 5:40 amThe battle rages on as to who may one day be the dominant player in the mobile world. Apple has jumped out to the early lead for sure with the iPhone, its App store and the mystique that is around the company and its products. But this is not a sprint by any means. This looks to be a marathon and the competition may make this closer than anyone...
Report:Facebook Driving More Online Users To Major Portals Than Google
February 15, 2010, 3:28 am"This trend is shifting the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps to move into the social-media world."
Shopping Site Scraping Without Permission, But May Bring Traffic
February 15, 2010, 2:51 am"Webmasterworld Members discuss the issue of a shopping-style site scraping content without permission, but providing a link back to the original site. Is it good or bad?"
Our B2B Social Media White Paper â" Learn & Earn
February 15, 2010, 2:32 amThe Microsoft Advertising Community Team is over 4 years old and has been engaged in social media marketing since the launch of adCenter in 2006. We often get asked about how our team came about, how we have evolved and what our approach is to interacting with advertisers online and at industry events. Originally set up as a support mechanism, our...
Email Distribution And Commercial Newsletter Mailing Services: Guide To The Best Paid Online Solutions
February 15, 2010, 2:22 amEmail distribution and newsletter mailing services are among the best and most utilized email marketing tools available out there. They allow you to get in touch with your audience in a direct and intimate way trough autoresponders, direct messages, and any type of newsletter format that can be used to market your ideas, or your online product or...
Google Buzz
February 15, 2010, 1:33 am
If you’ve checked your gmail account in the past few days, then you’ve probably gone straight to a screen asking if you want to set up Google Buzz. If you’re worried about a complex set-up procedure, then stop worrying. It’s extraordinarily easy to set up because you’re walked through every step and it’s all...
Win an Online Olympic Gold Medal
February 15, 2010, 1:15 amHaving a successful online search engine optimization campaign is a lot like trying to win an Olympic gold medal. Nobody wakes up one day and says that they want to join the Olympics and it happens by the end of the week. SEO works the same way in the sense that things take time to build and grow and patience and good hard work is what it takes to...
Running Giveaway Competitions for Links and SEO
February 15, 2010, 1:15 amPosted by RobOusbey There are very few tactics which can guarantee success in linkbuilding. Executed correctly, giving something away is one that gets close to fulfilling that promise. This post covers competitions and giveaways; I'll share techniques and tactics you can use, and will include links to some interesting competitions seen online...
Bing Maps Adds 1 Million Sq KM of New Imagery in Feb 2010 Release
February 15, 2010, 1:09 amImproved imagery for Haiti and Vancouver included. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Loses 1% Share in Nielsen January 2010 Rankings
February 15, 2010, 1:09 amThe loss comes at the advantage to several smaller players. Click to read the rest of this post.
An Open Letter from Farhad Irani on the Situation in India
February 15, 2010, 1:09 amHi. My name is Farhad Irani and I lead the PayPal business in Asia Pacific. As the leader of PayPal's business in the region and as a fellow Indian, I want you to know that we are sparing no effort in ensuring that the present day inconvenience in not being .
Google Apps Sync For Microsoft Outlook Found Wanting
February 15, 2010, 1:09 amIn June 2009, Google moved to mimic the look and feel of Microsoft Outlook, which some 500 million business workers are comfortable with (or just forced to use by their employers). This effort took shape in the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook plug-in, which lets these users access their Google Apps e-mail, contacts and calendars through...
How To Start A Web Business And Survive
February 15, 2010, 1:09 amAn SEOBook reader, Josephbm91 , outlined a problem many of us have faced: when you're starting out, it's easy for clients to walk all over you. So let's take a look at strategies for those starting out, be it in SEO, web design, or other small, web-based businesses. Those of you who have established web businesses, it would be great if you could...
Acceptable Page Loading Times for Usability
February 14, 2010, 9:35 pm"WebmasterWorld Members discuss page loading from a usability perspective."
Adobe Warns of New Reader and Flash Security Problems
February 14, 2010, 8:35 pm"A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Flash Player version 10.0.42.34 and earlier."
O Valentine, to be daring on Youtube or not to be?
February 14, 2010, 2:26 pmYoutube have adapted their logo for valentine's day. With minimal design it's suddenly made their tagline really cute! See what i mean? Leave a comment if it inspires any daring acts of romance.
Webinars - out with the old, in with the new
February 14, 2010, 2:25 pmThis year, the AdSense team has brought you a series of live webinars covering a range of topics, and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended. We hope that you're already profiting from implementing the tips featured in our webinars. Your feedback to date has been very helpful, and we'll spend the coming weeks developing...
YouTube & the Online Video Revolution
February 14, 2010, 1:08 pmWhen we registered the YouTube domain on February 14, 2005, we set out to create a place where anyone with a video camera and an Internet connection could share a story with the world. Five years into it, we're as committed as ever to the core beliefs and principles that guided YouTube's creation: Video gives people a voice â" From classrooms...
Pandia's all-in-one search tool collection has been updated
February 14, 2010, 8:50 amWe have gone through the Pandia Powersearch all-in-one list of search engines and directories. We have added new search tools and deleted links to those that have passed away. There are separate categories for tools for web search, directories, local search, social search, microblogs, reference and dictionaries, online books, music, radios, rss...
On Google Buzz and Other Search Engine News
February 14, 2010, 8:27 amIt is time for our weekly search engine news wrap-up, and this time we provide you with several articles about the controversial new Google Buzz service. Google Buzz is a new feature of Gmail that lets you broadcast comments, photos and other types of content to your network of friends. Yes, it is very much a Twitter, Facebook kind of thing, and...
Quantcast Finds Chrome, Firefox Have Trouble At Home
February 14, 2010, 6:38 amHere are a couple odd facts for you: compared to people everywhere else, folks in North America dislike Chrome. And individuals who live in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada are unusually big fans of Internet Explorer. That's what new Quantcast data implies, anyway. Quantcast , which measures and profiles audiences all over the world for advertisers,...
The Search Marketing Expo West in California March 2-4
February 14, 2010, 4:10 amThere is still time to sign up for the SMX West search engine marketing conference in California on March 2 to 4. Danny Sullivan and Steve Ballmer SMX is run by the highly knowledgeable search engine industry experts Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman of Search Engine Land fame. This year's scoop is the keynote speaker: CEO Steve Ballmer of...
A Google Translator Phone In Some Years?
February 14, 2010, 3:11 amTimes Online writes : [Google] is developing software for the first phone capable of translating foreign languages almost instantly - like the Babel Fish in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. By building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation, Google hopes to have a basic system ready within a couple of years....
Google Maps Labs Looks to Test New Zoom, Aerial Views
February 14, 2010, 2:21 amGoogle one day is going to have Labs for everything it does. Well, maybe not, but the company Feb. 12 formally introduced Google Maps Labs. Like the other Google Labs before it, Maps Labs is an experiment devoted to building new features that let users view Google Maps in different ways and augment them with different tools. Click on the green...
Google Personalized Search – Optimization Nightmare or Opportunity
February 14, 2010, 1:55 am
In December 2009 Google rolled out Personalized Search for users who were not signed in, and in over 40 languages. Personalized search has been around for awhile for signed in users who have web history enabled. This allows Google to fine-tune your search results based on past searches and on the sites you’ve clicked on in the past. This...
After Privacy Concerns, More Gmail Buzz Changes Coming
February 14, 2010, 12:57 amGoogle announced a couple of further changes to Gmail Buzz, in relation to the privacy concerns people voiced in the past days. Following people will now require a more explicit, not so easy to miss opt-in action. Furthermore, Google Reader and Picasa sites won't be auto-connected to your Buzz account now (even though they're public). Third, Gmail...
Google Answers Some Buzz Kills that We Buzzed Out
February 13, 2010, 9:25 pmThe Google Buzz folks must have heard or read all the noise about Buzz kills that they are now answering some of these. So Google a nnounced three tweaks that it hopes to address some of the major concerns of the millions of Gmail users who jumped into the buzz hype. First of these tweaks is about auto-following. So instead of making you...
Link Building and Development Case Study
February 13, 2010, 8:10 pm"I've just launched a new website and am going to back it up with a link building campaign."
500 Videos from Davos Now With Captions
February 13, 2010, 10:12 amYou may have recently seen all of the videos uploaded for the 2010 YouTube Davos Debates . Because the audience for these videos is truly global, we want to make them accessible and available to as many people as possible. We've now added captions for over 500 videos from The Davos Debates. Try a Google search for captioned video on...
Twitter Crowdsourcing How to
February 13, 2010, 9:41 amCrowd by victoriapeckham . Welcome back to the weekly Twitter column. Ever since I'm on Twitter I've tried to get as many people to participate spontaneously in writing my posts or rather compiling my lists. I always seek contributions for my "30 something" flagship posts. The appropriate term for these kind of participation is crowdsourcing ....
Internet Plays Vital Role For Auto Dealers
February 13, 2010, 8:54 amAuto dealers say the Internet has provided them with the highest return on investment (ROI) over the last five years, according to a new survey from Autobytel. The majority (96%) of dealers predict the Internet will play a larger role in their marketing in the next five years. Internet leads continue to play a critical role, with 93 percent of...
Cup of Joe: I Am a Heartless B@st@rd on Twitter
February 13, 2010, 5:12 amIf you are following me on Twitter or a friend on Facebook you might already be aware that I am a heartless b@st@rd. OK so maybe that’s a bit extreme but the truth is, I think a lot of what mainstream social media users take part in is a waste of time. For example I don’t thank people for retweets, I don’t participate in follow...
Using the Google Charts API for Valentine's Day
February 13, 2010, 1:56 amGoogle employee Neil shows you how to use/ abuse the Google Charts API to create a heart shape , ready for Valentine's Day. [Thanks Neil!] [By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Using the Google Charts API for Valentine's D .
Opera 10.5 Beta Released - Scores 99 of 100 on Acid Test 3
February 13, 2010, 1:02 amNew Javascript/AJAX engine and graphics library. "...Opera 10.5 pre-alpha renders, crunches, and expedites content 17.7 times faster than IE8...with a two-point gap over Chrome 5, Opera can actually afford to take it down a notch..."
Google Quality Scores in Adwords
February 13, 2010, 12:44 am
Adwords calculates a Quality Score for every one of your keywords. The Quality Score is a measure of how relevant the keyword is to the text in your ad and users’ search queries. It is determined by a variety of factors. The Quality Score for a given keyword updates frequently to reflect its performance. Generally speaking, the higher the...
People Searching for "Cancel Google" End Up on Wrong Page, Add Comments
February 13, 2010, 12:18 amApparently, a completely unrelated page was a top search result for the query cancel google ... and it now received tons of comments by people who want to just that, cancel Google. Like the following (I'm not actually sure which ones are troll comments!): please take it off my computer i dont need it any more thank you and have a nice day or... i...
If Advertising Is a Bubble, Then So Is Google
February 13, 2010, 12:18 amDoc Searls in an article at Linux Journal writes: Advertising is a bubble. If that's a true statement, Google is a bubble too. And if that's true, many of the goods we take for granted on the Web are at risk. Let's run down some evidence ... Google has more than a million servers ... Google's data centers are already public utilities on the scale...
Two More Registrars Lose ICANN Accreditation
February 13, 2010, 12:13 am"ICANN terminated its accreditation agreement with two registrars ISPREG LTD and SBNames Ltd for failure to comply with the requirements of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA)..."
Some Of Your Privacy Concerns With Gmail Buzz
February 13, 2010, 12:01 amI wanted to highlight some of the concerns voices in comments to the last privacy related post about Gmail Buzz: Reid says: "The basic reason that the Buzz privacy is still a problem is that I don't have control over where I show up. I can't decide whether I show up in a list of followers on someone else's public profile: I have to rely on that...
Google Dumps Aardvark in Google Labs But to What End?
February 12, 2010, 10:16 pmGoogle confirmed Feb. 11 that it had indeed acquired social search engine Aardvark , a rare departure from the stock "we have nothing to share at this time" rejoinder to requests for information. But Google refused to offer other details. Until today. Google and Aardvark CEO Max Ventilla wrote blog posts discussing the move, which includes...
A Celebration of the Arts on YouTube
February 12, 2010, 8:26 pmAs a prelude to the Grammys tomorrow, we're highlighting the importance of the arts in society on the homepage today, with top user-created videos about arts organizations that make an impact. Many of you accepted Dr. Phil's Video Volunteers challenge to demonstrate how arts nonprofits are changing your community for the better, and you sang ,...
Ecommerce: Dealing with Manufacturers' Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policies
February 12, 2010, 8:20 pm"WebmasterWorld members discuss how best to handle manufacturers' minimum advertised pricing."
Palin, Dubya, and Clinton: Buzz Week in Review
February 12, 2010, 8:09 pmby Mike Krumboltz Just because a politician is out of public office, that doesn't mean he or she is out of the public eye. This past week, ex-Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin made big news at a Tea Party event in Tennessee, where she was spotted with some curious crib notes. Meanwhile, up in Minnesota, an odd billboard featuring former President George W....
Google Buzz's Rocky Start May Lead to Gmail-Free Version
February 12, 2010, 7:04 pmThere's no question that Google Buzz has been the topic of the week . Google took the tech and social media industries by storm as it launched its new social media product. Already, Buzz has shown a great deal of potential , but it has also created more than a few problems and concerns. Privacy has been the key concern.
Year of the Tiger: A Fortune Forecast
February 12, 2010, 6:53 pmby Vera H-C Chan Year of the Tiger may fall on Valentine's Day, but don't expect a lovefest. In the U.S., an alignment of Eastern and Western calendars has made for a packed three-day weekend. Both Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day may call for a dual celebration in shades of red and pink, but searchers on the prowl for " chinese new year...
Aardvark Already Part of Google, Answers will Show Up in Search
February 12, 2010, 6:41 pmYesterday, news broke that Google was acquiring social Q&A site Aardvark for about $50 million. Aardvark sent its users an email today saying: Dear friends, Aardvark has just been acquired by Google! Aardvark will remain fully operational and completely free, providing quick, helpful answers to all of your questions. For more information about...
Gmail-Free Version of Buzz Being Considered
February 12, 2010, 6:27 pmUpdate: In case there is any confusion, Google will not be taking Buzz out of Gmail. The company issued this statement after some confusion in the blogosphere:
No, we're not planning to remove Buzz from Gmail. Among some of the features we're considering is building a standalone Buzz experience in addition to the one in Gmail at some point...
The Origin of Presidents' Day
February 12, 2010, 4:38 pmby Mike Krumboltz For working stiffs across the country, Mondays are usually the roughest, most depressing day of the week. This Monday is an exception, because â" hallelujah! â" it's Presidents' Day . Not everybody is lucky enough to get the day off, but a lot of folks are interested in the origins of the holiday. Web lookups on both "...
Socialize Your Publication
February 12, 2010, 3:45 pmNew Huffington Post YAP app shows the value of Yahoo! OpenID When it comes to online news innovation, you've got to love the "HuffPost," as the influential news and commentary site's followers like to call it. The HuffPost (a.k.a., The Huffington Post ) just introduced a new app that lets users read top HuffPo articles without having to leave...
Friday Fun with The Muppets
February 12, 2010, 3:14 pmIf you’re going to send me a media pitch, this is how you do it:
Click to Play
Happy Friday!
The Buzz on Mardi Gras
February 12, 2010, 3:05 pmby Claudine Zap Some would argue that every day is a party in New Orleans. But the Mardi Gras season stands alone as the carnival-street party-revelry that goes pretty much unrivaled â" until Ash Wednesday , that is. The celebration got an early start this year when the New Orleans Saints pulled off their first Super Bowl win. Ever. But...
Robin Hood Tax â" Can Bill Nighy & a Social Media Campaign Influence the UK Government?
February 12, 2010, 1:36 pmA trending topic on Twitter today is Robin Hood Tax - with plenty of support for RobinHoodTax.org.uk's excellent video featuring Bill Nighy: The idea behind this is that "A tiny tax on bankers that would give billions to tackle poverty and climate change, here and abroad" . So far, this very well-thought out social media campaign has generated:...
Google Blinks on Buzz—But Still Could Be Better
February 12, 2010, 1:30 pmWe’ve seen it happen a hundred times: popular website launches new feature, people either hate change or see it as an invasion of privacy, popular website blinks. Usually it’s Facebook (*cough*Beacon*cough*privacy changes*cough*), but this week it’s Google. Launched on Tuesday, Google Buzz became an opt-out feature in all Gmail...
Search Innovation in Five Minutes
February 12, 2010, 1:19 pmSearchSpeak 2010 video spolights Yahoo! search initiatives Earlier this week we blogged about SearchSpeak 2010 , an event that took place at our Sunnyvale campus. At SearchSpeak, some of the smartest and savviest Big Cheeses at Yahoo! took folks through the search and search marketing innovations we've introduced over the past six months, and some...
Report: EU To Approve Microsoft-Yahoo Deal
February 12, 2010, 1:11 pmThe proposed Microsoft-Yahoo search partnership may soon be approved by one set of regulators, at least. A new report indicates that the European Commission will give it a green light one week from today.
We should note that this isn't a sure thing; according to Reuters, an unnamed person who's "familiar with the situation" just...
Thomas Cook & MSN UK Travel â" Spin the Globe
February 12, 2010, 12:33 pmCaroline Mastoras, our Travel category Development Manager in the UK, has been hard at work helping Thomas Cook create a vibrant and engaging solution for holiday goers to use when choosing where to go on vacation. Built in Silverlight , you use your mouse to spin the virtual map and choose a destination to see video promos, detailed information...
Website Translation or International SEO? 92% of Website Translators Ignore SEO?
February 12, 2010, 12:26 pmIt is interesting to note that, according to Google, there are monthly 12,100 searches for the phrase "Website Translation" and only 1,000 for "International SEO". Of course, there are other phrases of importance such as "multilingual SEO" but that's even small and actually there are a great many more varieties of website translation phrase than...
Driving Traffic with MapQuest and its New Search Engine
February 12, 2010, 12:14 pmLocal business search is becoming more of an area of great focus by search providers as time goes on. Google, especially, has been working overtime on providing new features that can help users find local businesses of interest. AOL's MapQuest has been working on improving its own business search functionality, which we talked to the company a...
YouTube Feels the Need . . . the Need for Speed
February 12, 2010, 12:13 pmAnd thus concludes probably the only time in my life I’ll intentionally quote Top Gun.
Yesterday, YouTube released a Speed Dashboard to clock how fast your video downloads are coming through. In addition to displaying your Internet speed, the dashboard also offers comparative data. For example:
The comparative data comes from not only other...
Facebook Mobile: 100 Million and Growing
February 12, 2010, 11:57 amWe want as many people as possible to be able to access Facebook all the time, regardless of where they live or what device they carry. Today, we hit another milestone toward that goal, with more than 100 million people actively using Facebook from their mobile devices every month. This usage happens on almost every carrier in the world and comes...
Highlights from Yahoo! SearchSpeak
February 12, 2010, 10:53 amThis week we showed you some of our hard work from the past six months . Yesterday we held "Yahoo! SearchSpeak," an event for media at our headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., to share Yahoo!'s focus on and commitment to creating an amazing search experience. Our new Senior Vice President of Search Products, Shashi Seth, joined Prabhakar Raghavan,...
Leftovers: 9 Google Updates Including, Yes, Already a Buzz Update
February 12, 2010, 10:47 amSo many Google updates. So little time. Click to read the rest of this post.
Apple Holds iTunes Contest Marking 10 Billionth Download
February 12, 2010, 10:47 amApple is holding a contest on iTunes called "Countdown to 10 Billion Song Downloads." The user who downloads the 10 billionth song from iTunes will receive a $10,000 gift card from Apple. " iTunes changed the way you buy music, making songs and albums available for download, day or night," Apple said. "Seven years later, we're about to celebrate...
The Importance of Thinking Before You Post
February 12, 2010, 10:07 amToday is Safer Internet Day in the European Union, a day that promotes safe and responsible use of the Internet and mobile technologies among young people. We asked Childnet International , a member of Facebook's Safety Advisory Board , and its CEO Will Gardner to share more about this year's theme and how the organization is working with young...
Six Years of Making Connections
February 12, 2010, 10:07 amToday we're celebrating our sixth birthday, and this week there will be 400 million people on Facebook. Just one year ago we served less than half as many people, and thanks to you we've made great progress over the last year towards making the world more open and connected. Facebook began six years ago today as a product that my roommates and I...
Some Ways to Enjoy the 2010 Winter Olympics Online
February 12, 2010, 10:07 amAs the Olympics get underway, fans have a lot of options to engage online. Many popular sites on the web are involved in a variety of ways. Google Google allows you to take a virtual tour of the Olympics in 3D . They recently released updates in Google Earth's 3D Buildings layer, which showcase Olympic venues (54 buildings). Models range from...
Microsoft adCenter Credit Card Management: Add a Card, Associate a Card with an Account, Remove a Card, Bill Me Now
February 12, 2010, 9:33 amWhen it comes to managing your credit card in adCenter, there are four basic processes you need to know- how to add, how to associate, how to remove, and how to bill your card now. Below is your step by step guide to keep your credit card information current and your ads serving. How to Add a New Credit Card Add a new credit card if your current...
Is Your Business Getting Enough Love?
February 12, 2010, 9:09 amLike everyone else on the social web, I just read Seth Godin's new book Linchpin . It's a big book, not so much in number of pages, but in number of ideas. One core theme is the idea of emotional labor " bringing more human feeling and connection to your work, some essential part of yourself that can't be automated or outsourced. It strikes me...
YouTube shares tips for global video marketing at International Search Summit
February 12, 2010, 9:04 amOver 13 billion videos were watched on YouTube in December 2009 in the US alone, and the video sharing site is undoubtedly the global market leader. After the US, YouTube is most popular in Japan, Germany, India and Italy, with Mexico, the UK, Brazil and France following close behind. Almost 25% of the global internet population visit the site...
Hitwise Ventures Outside English With France Launch. Oh la la!
February 12, 2010, 9:04 amEveryone in the online world depends on having good data in some way or other. Until ComScore rolled out qSearch in 150 countries, there was very little comparable data available to compare activities in different countries. Frequently, people would ask me what I thought of Hitwise and mostly I had to reply that I had very little to do with it...
Video Site Veoh Files For Bankruptcy
February 12, 2010, 8:17 amOnline video website Veoh has announced it will be shutting down and filing for bankruptcy. Veoh launched in 2005 and its backers included Shelter Capital, Spark Capital, Michael Eisner's Tornante Company, Goldman Sachs, Time Warner, Intel Capital, Adobe, Gordon Crawford, Firefly3 and Jonnathan Dolgen. Those backers supported Veoh with $70 million...
LinkedIn Greets 60 Millionth Member
February 12, 2010, 8:17 amLinkedIn is getting rather large. Yesterday evening, the network's vice president of marketing announced on Twitter that it had hit a milestone in terms of users, attracting its 60 millionth member. LinkedIn had just 55 million members as of December 17th, so this new declaration means it's grown by a little more than nine percent in less than...
Google: "Buzz Will Be Just Another Node"
February 12, 2010, 8:07 amWhen Google announced Google Buzz earlier this week, the company made it abundantly clear that it was interested in Buzz being as open as possible. Looking at the Google Buzz API page, you'll see that support for Activity Streams, AtomPub, OAuth, PubSubHubbub, Salmon and WebFinger are things that are "coming soon."
What all of this...
Is Link Building Worth Your Time?
February 12, 2010, 8:00 amYou have proposals to write, meetings to attend, strategies to devise and posts to blog â" where does building links work into your daily routine? I want to know. If your work week is anything like mine, you probably don't spend time building relationships with PR execs, journalists, bloggers, and webmasters across a mind boggling range of...
Bing Maps Announces Awesome Flickr Intergration in JUST 1300 Words!
February 12, 2010, 8:00 amBing has a lot to learn about sharing big news on its blog.
Take this post for example: spatial search: the next frontier
Cute title, but doesn’t tell me anything about the announcement.
Or take the actual post. 1300+ words and you have to read 628 of them, before you get to the announcment. Talk about burying the lead!
Fortunately, I have a...
5 Reasons Why Link Building through Guest Posts is Bad Strategy
February 12, 2010, 7:42 amGuest posts are a popular way many SEOs build 'valuable' links to their website. But this strategy may not be as valuable as you think. Since Google is such a logical monster, those links you're building might not be as valuable as you think for the following reasons: Expertise vs. True Relevance - those links prove that you have thought...
Bing, Google, and Yahoo All Making Maps More Interesting
February 12, 2010, 7:36 amAt TED, Microsoft unveiled some new features for Bing Maps. "This work builds on the idea of spatial search that Microsoft discussed in December when the company launched its new version of Bing Maps," a representative for Microsoft tells WebProNews. Some of the new features are available today, but some you will have to wait on a little bit....
Google Pays $50M for an Anteater
February 12, 2010, 7:27 amRemember when I asked if social search engine Aardvark might suffer from "participation fatigue" as its members grow tired of answering the questions of others.
Yeah, you can forget about that, because Aardvark was just acquired by Google for a cool $50 million.
< I can hear CEO Max Ventilla now: "I’ve got your...
Ad Spend on Social Networks Gains a Whopping Half Point in Share
February 12, 2010, 7:08 amApparently, ads on social networks aren’t working out too well.
While this is not anything we didn’t already know, it must be disheartening for Facebook, MySpace et al, to learn that pinning their revenue growth on display ads may be a tough row to hoe.
It’s not a completely ugly picture, according to eMarketer, ads on social...
Search Soliloquy
February 12, 2010, 6:59 am" It's time to go inward time to be still If I don't do it now I don't believe I ever will My mind is like a chatterbox whose noise pollutes the pathways to my soul."'Rodney Crowell For the last few months, I have to say that I've been in a slump when it's come to thinking up ideas to write about. Post such as this and this were built on...
Google Maps Labs Open for Business
February 12, 2010, 6:45 amGoogle continues to move forward with its work to improve the Google Maps experience as everything gets pushed further and further down to the local level in search. By opening the Google Maps Lab and allowing you to slap a beta logo on it if you please (a little humor from the Googlers, huh?) there is a look at what they are cooking up for the...
How to maximize profits by becoming an analysis ninja
February 12, 2010, 6:24 amWeb analytics guru, Avinash Kaushik, can teach you how to use data analysis to change the way you make decisions about your website.
Apple Will Take Google’s Money But Still Thinks They Are BS
February 12, 2010, 6:13 amThere have apparently been some rumors (yes, there are rumor mongers in the Internet space which is SO hard to believe) that have been talking about Apple entering the search game with their own search engine. This whole game of Google v. Apple has lately been fueled by the rumor mill and comments like those made by Steve Jobs in giving his take...
Google Buzz Privacy Settings Updated
February 12, 2010, 6:04 am"... we heard from people that the checkbox for choosing not to display this information was too hard to find, and based on this feedback, we've changed the notice to make it very clear,"
Spatial Search from Bing Maps
February 12, 2010, 5:45 am Sometimes by job is made really easy by other people. Today that person is Blaise Aguera y Arcas who is a Bing Maps Architect. I first met Blaise back in 2007, when he took me through some of the cooler stuff to demo on Photosynth and Seadragon.
4 FireFox Addons to Give You Website Statistic at a Glance
February 12, 2010, 5:34 amSometimes we just don't need anything fancy: we only want to be able to evaluate the web site power quickly, as we browse. Here are 3 FireFox addons that will help you to: just have them installed and active and see each page / domain SEO stats while you open the pages: 1.
Top 10 Google Buzz Kills : Privacy, Noise & Clutter
February 12, 2010, 5:34 amAs of this minute, Google said that there has been more than 9 million buzz created two days after Google Buzz was launched. This could probably has grown to more than that figure by now. Interestingly, the sudden surge of users happened even with the prophecy of doom coming from critics and analysts. Google Buzz is a buzz kill, too noisy, too...
Google Chrome For Mac Beta Gets Bookmark Sync, Extensions
February 12, 2010, 5:04 amGoogle fans who are Mac users got a treat Feb. 11 when Google launched a fresh beta of its Chrome browser for Mac with extensions and bookmark sync. Existing Chrome for Mac users should be automatically updated to the new beta - officially version 5.0.307 - within a day. Google first launched Chrome for Windows in September 2008. After hearing...
Google Gets Into The SEO Consulting Business
February 12, 2010, 3:01 amTwitter went wild today on rumors that Google decided to actually begin offering SEO consulting services. There's even a couple articles out that make this ridiculously dumb claim in their titles, and yet it's all due to a post on a Norwegian AdWords blog , which does NOT say that Google is getting into the business of SEO Consulting, nor as one...
Google Maps Gets the Labs Love
February 12, 2010, 3:01 amTipped off by a reader to Philipp of Google Blog0scoped is a new Google Maps feature that we are all familiar with - Google Maps Lab. If you check out Google Maps right now, you can see the familiar New Labs Icon. Clicking that icon will bring up the Google Maps Lab currently containing 9 experimental features. Like Gmail Lab, features in Google...
What Were the Top 100 Websites in 1999?
February 12, 2010, 3:01 amAndy Baio dug up a list of the top 100 websites of 1999 . It's a subjective selection but it's nonetheless very interesting, with sites including Tripod, Third Voice, Salon, and - ranked at #93 - Google. "Remember your basic 'search engine'?", the description goes, "Here's one that really works, scouring billions of links for junk-free matches -...
What Everybody Ought to Know About Twitter Backgrounds
February 12, 2010, 2:57 amWhat is your Twitter background? A random photograph strangely filling only a quarter of the screen? Or perhaps a slightly pixelated company logo in the top left hand corner?
Or maybe you’re a minimalist… just a plain colour background for you?
We have been doing something fun with our Twitter Backgrounds, read on to find out...
The Audience Play - Sharing Some Numbers
February 12, 2010, 2:49 amLet's play it simple. Historically, advertisers and agencies have bought display in two different ways: contextual placements and straight performance. Contextual placement buys are a fantastic proxy for reaching your targeted audience in that users are coming to a premium site for content consumption that is highly correlated to an advertiser's...
Online Ad Pricing And Advertising Trends: The PubMatic AdPrice Index - 2009
February 12, 2010, 2:46 amOnline ad pricing and advertising trends for 2009 showed an encouraging recovery from the economic downturn that hit publishers in 2008. Throughout 2009 ad pricing had been steadily growing till reaching the top in December 2009, where ad prices were even higher than pre-recession.
Photo credit: Pablo631
The PubMatic Ad Price Index 2009 states...
Using Twitter to Improve your SERP Standings
February 12, 2010, 1:14 am
This post assumes that you know what Twitter is (a place where you can post 140-character microblog posts) and how to get an account (Just go to Twitter.com and it will tell you how). Twitter is becoming a more important in the world of SEO because now Google is showing “real time” search results from there, as you can see in the...
Facebook Login Fiasco Demonstrates Challenge in Competing with Google
February 12, 2010, 12:59 amYou can't make this stuff up. Click to read the rest of this post.
Whiteboard Friday - How Search is Changing
February 12, 2010, 12:06 amPosted by great scott! This week Rand discusses recent changes that seem to signal the coming of another big shift in how the engines determine results. With the incorporation of social networks into results, increased personalized search, and even Google Buzz , the social graph is clearly becoming a more and more important factor for the engines....
New: Google Maps Labs
February 11, 2010, 11:55 pmWhen Google wants to test new features, they call them Lab experiments, and make them opt-in. Now, following many other services, Google Maps received a Lab icon. Click the green flask at the top of Google Maps and you get a chance to enable features like the following: Drag 'n' Zoom: Click the Drag-and-Zoom button, then draw a box on the map to...
More Olympic Mania: Yahoo!, Facebook, and MapQuest
February 11, 2010, 11:43 pmClick to read the rest of this post.
5 Reasons Why Gmail Buzz Privacy Isn't All That Bad
February 11, 2010, 11:14 pmGoogle released Buzz for Gmail and there are issues if you're not careful with your settings as well as possibly unwanted group overlaps (I wouldn't be too surprised if in the future, a less tech savvy family member posts a meant-to-be-private reply to a public buzz message of yours, because after all Google did integrate something very public...
New Bing Maps App Turns to Flickr for Streetside Photos
February 11, 2010, 11:03 pmClick to read the rest of this post.
Google Acquires Q&A Site Aardvark
February 11, 2010, 10:57 pmAs TechCrunch reported, Google acquired social question and answer site Aardvark ( vark.com ). TechCrunch says the acquisition price was "around $50 million". At Vark.com, you can sign up, specify your location and three required topics of your expertise, to then be able to ask questions and answer questions related to your expertise. The site was...
Viral Marketing is Great for SEO
February 11, 2010, 10:05 pmAnything that can connect you or your business to something that is surrounded by a great deal of industry chatter will always be great for your search engine optimization efforts. Viral marketing attempts when done correctly can lead to a great deal of bloggers writing, people chatting and links building.
5 B2B Social Media Winners
February 11, 2010, 9:30 pmTake a moment to think about, and count, the number of B2C social media success stories that pop into your head. I'll venture to guess that you could immediately name five to 10, if not many more. From Ford to Sharpie to Zappos to Best Buy, B2C social media winners â" those organizations that caught on early and created a cult following of...
Google To Acquire Social Search Service, Aardvark
February 11, 2010, 8:51 pm"We have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aardvark, but we don't have any additional details to share right now,"
Massive Privacy Hole in Google Buzz Found
February 11, 2010, 8:51 pm"My privacy concerns are not trite. They are linked to my actual physical safety, and I will now have to spend the next few days maintaining that safety by continually knocking down followers as they pop up..."
How the Googlebot Sees and Ranks Different File Formats
February 11, 2010, 8:38 pm
Something that can be very helpful when you are designing and refining your website is knowing what it “looks like” to the bots that crawl the web and index your pages. If your site doesn’t have the information that the bots need to know what your content and graphics are all about, then they can’t do a very good job...
Top 5 Cross-Channel Lessons Learned from the Super Bowl
February 11, 2010, 8:20 pmOn Monday morning, we released our 6th Annual Search Marketing Scorecard on the Super Bowl . Unlike the USAToday AdMeter , YouTube's AdBlitz or most other Super Bowl ad rankings, we focus on just about everything relating to a marketer's campaign OTHER than the quality of their creative. Instead, our Scorecard ranks Super Bowl advertisers based on...
Google Quickly Refines GBuzz as Millions Start Buzzing
February 11, 2010, 8:20 pmMuch as I don't want to get excited about this, I'm afraid that my initial impressions of Google Buzz may have been confirmed. According to the Gmail Blog , more than 9 million posts and comments have been created as millions started to jump into the latest social craze two days after it was launched. Looks like Google made a hit with Google Buzz....
Wolfman, Valentine's Day, Lightning Thief: Critics Roundup
February 11, 2010, 5:09 pmby Mike Krumboltz Love Valentine's Day? There's a movie for you. If you'd rather howl at the moon, Hollywood has you covered, too. And if you're one of those people who can't get enough of "Harry Potter" wannabes...well, there's something for you as well. This weekend, three new releases hit theaters: "Valentine's Day" (a romantic comedy), "The...
Spatial Search: The Next Frontier
February 11, 2010, 4:51 pmHave you ever thought about all the content and media out there on the Web? Information that we use daily to help make decisions, like reviews of the best restaurant for chicken parmesan or the t-shirt shop perfect for a vintage G&R t-shirt? We all know that you can find nearly anything on the web in the form of blogs, websites, user reviews,...
The Search for Valentine Rhymes
February 11, 2010, 4:51 pmby Claudine Zap Roses are red, violets are blue â" quick, we need something that rhymes with "I love you." Turns out, Valentine's Day (the day, not the movie ) brings out the Shakespeare in us. Budding romantics have taken to the Web to search for just the right way to say how we feel. What says love better than a rhyme? (Don't answer that.)...
New Chrome For Mac Beta Boasts Extensions
February 11, 2010, 3:58 pmIt doesn't really help anyone that Chrome for Mac isn't on a level with the regular version of Chrome; Mac fans must feel neglected, and Google's missing out on a lot of potential users. The gap between versions narrowed today, though, as a new Chrome for Mac beta with extensions and a few other upgrades was released. Bookmark sync is one of the...
Americans conducted 15.2 core searches in January 2010
February 11, 2010, 3:35 pmcomScore has just announced its monthly qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. In January 2010, Americans conducted 15.2 billion core searches. Click to read the rest of this post.
Consumers Favor Companies Engaged With Social Media
February 11, 2010, 3:35 pmA majority of consumers react positively when companies respond to postings on social media sites, indicating the value of the channel as way to engage people in a dialogue while building a company's image, reputation and brand, according to a new study by The Center for Client Retention. The study found 55 percent of consumers felt positively...
Ask Says it Has a Head Start as Google Acquires Q&A Site
February 11, 2010, 3:17 pmGoogle has reportedly acquired Aardvark, which operates at Vark.com , for around $50 million. Aardvark is a Q&A site. This is a space Ask.com says it is the number one brand for. Ask sees this move by Google as a direct challenge. "Bottom line, this move validates the space we have been #1 in for years," the company says. "It's Google coming after...
The pernicious perfidy of page-level web spam (SEM 101)
February 11, 2010, 2:54 pmIn the exciting world of today's Internet, where the world's information is literally at your fingertips, where you can endlessly communicate, shop, research, and be entertained, spam is a big downer. The unwanted email spam that fills our inboxes also consumes huge portions of the available bandwidth of our routers and trunk lines. But email is...
Bo Knows Snow
February 11, 2010, 2:42 pmby Mike Krumboltz The blizzard on the East Coast was sort of fun at first. Now it's just getting old. Traffic is a mess, power lines are down, and flights are being cancelled by the dozen. It's the pits. Unless you're an excitable pup, like Bo Obama . For young Bo, the snow is still a doggone good time. The president's best friend made some tracks...
comScore Releases January 2010 U.S. Search Engine Rankings
February 11, 2010, 2:13 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. In January 2010, Americans conducted 15.2 billion core searches, with Google Sites accounting for 65.4 percent search market share. Microsoft Sites grabbed 11.3 percent market share, up 0.6...
Google Buys Social Search Engine Aardvark
February 11, 2010, 2:13 pmGoogle just put a dot to its desire to become part of the social sphere with its latest acquisition - the social search engine founded by some ex-Googlers called Aardvark . Although both companies have not yet issued an official statement about the deal, the buyout was confirmed through an email sent by Aardvark CEO Max Ventilla to TechCrunch...
Microsoft Continues Fast Paced Search Innovation
February 11, 2010, 2:11 pm"...weve made a number of updates to the Bing Maps platform to bring this idea to life through high resolution imagery from outer space all the way down to the front door of the bakery."
YouTube Advertises Presence Of New Iran Protest Clips
February 11, 2010, 2:05 pmYesterday, Iranian authorities enacted a ban on Gmail, saying they'd introduce a government-sponsored (and presumably government-monitored) email service to replace it. Now, as YouTube's seeing an influx of protest videos, Google's taken a moment to mark the Iranian government's lack of control.
To be clear: these videos are not all...
eBay Loses Court Case To Louis Vuitton
February 11, 2010, 1:49 pmThe Paris District Court ruled today that eBay is liable for harming the reputation of luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton through its use of trademarks, company name and domain name. The Paris court has ordered eBay to stop using keywords which harm the reputation of the Louis Vuitton brand to promote its sites and will impose penalties of $1,372...
Google Reconnects With/Acquires Aardvark
February 11, 2010, 1:26 pmAardvark has, in a sense, returned to its roots. Or in other words: Two of the four men who created the social search engine are former Googlers, and now, it's been confirmed that the search giant's acquired Aardvark. Details regarding timeframes and the fate of Aardvark's technology and employees are sadly lacking at this point. "[A] source...
hakia Serves Up Comprehensive Universal Search in New Design
February 11, 2010, 1:26 pmSemantic results are organized by category. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Deletes Blogger Posts
February 11, 2010, 1:08 pmUpdate: This article is nearly a year old, but pretty much the same thing is happening again (or still). A number of popular music blogs have been removed from Blogger, some are saying without warning. When we covered this before, Blogger Product Manager Rick Klau left us the following comment (as seen in the comments section): Hi - I'm a product...
Speed Matters: Introducing the YouTube Video Speed Dashboard
February 11, 2010, 1:03 pmYour YouTube video speed can mean the difference between a fast and fun video viewing experience, or a slow and frustrating one. That's why, today, we're launching a YouTube video speed dashboard to make the speed information available to you. YouTube video speed depends on many different factors some of which are the speed of your Internet...
Google Buzz Publishes Who You Email
February 11, 2010, 12:50 pmAh, Google Buzz. At last we see the chinks in your armor (well, aside from the fact that it looks a little useless)—the opt-out feature appears to automatically publish your contact list, which is compiled from the people you email and chat with the most.
As if it wasn’t annoying enough to be told you have dozens of new...
YouTube Safety Mode Goes Beyond Human Review
February 11, 2010, 12:45 pmThis week, YouTube launched Safety Mode, an opt-in setting that helps users screen out potentially objectionable videos. We asked YouTube how it works. For example, is there human intervention involved? "Safety Mode goes above and beyond the flagging system and manual review to use community signals to filter out content that may be...
CitySquares Enables Twitter Feed in Business Profiles
February 11, 2010, 12:28 pmClick to read the rest of this post.
Google Acquires Ardvark
February 11, 2010, 12:28 pmThe move continues Google's pursuit of social search. Click to read the rest of this post.
The Latest in Google's Effort to Make the Web Faster
February 11, 2010, 12:21 pmYouTube has just launched a " Speed Dashboard ", which makes speed information about videos available to users. YouTube's Chris Dale tells us it "offers granular insight into what your YouTube video speed looks like." "We think it's pretty cool and all part of our goal to make the web a faster place," he adds. Factors which affect your YouTube...
Google Acquires Aardvark
February 11, 2010, 11:49 amThe move continues Google's pursuit of social search.Click to read the rest of this post...
Troubleshooting adCenter API error: Setting Editorial Status is not allowed.
February 11, 2010, 11:46 amDevelopers working with our API sometimes run into errors when executing Update operations in which they try to update an entity's status. During operations like UpdateCampaigns(), UpdateAdGroups(), UpdateKeywords(), etc, the status of adCenter objects cannot be modified. In addition, editorial status cannot be modified by the user, and is...
PayPal to Introduce Easy Way for Developers to Accept Payments in their iPhone Apps
February 11, 2010, 11:40 amHi all â" Osama Bedier here with some exciting news that we first told you about at PayPal X Innovate 2009. Today we're announcing a limited beta version of our Mobile Payments library â" an important element of the PayPal X global payments platform. Basically, the Mobile Payments Library is .
Financial Services in 2010: Tax Season - Trends and Seasonality
February 11, 2010, 11:35 am2010 has arrived and that means Tax season is in full swing. In 2010 tax filers using online e-filing will continue to grow and tax filing will occur earlier in the season. These shifts in the industry are similar to trends of 2009, but due to the economic factors and the availability of online e-file tools we expect these trends to grow ever more...
Evangeline Lilly, Charlie Wilson, Rielle Hunter: What's the Buzz
February 11, 2010, 11:34 amby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Evangeline Lilly (Searches increased by +4,937%). The "Lost" star says that after the series ends she wants to take a break from acting before "deciding what's next." Charlie Wilson (+4,171%). The Texas Congressman who inspired a book and a movie, has died . Valentine's Day recipes...
Google Super Bowl Ad = True Love and Traffic!
February 11, 2010, 11:17 amSuper Bowl 2010 will be forever remembered for a few things: New Orleans winning their first championship, Peyton Mannings locker room walk-of-shame and Google running their first Super Bowl commercial . Editors Note: WebProNews interviewed the first company featured in Google's commercial (there were 15+ featured). Even though they were only seen...
Social Media: Is Google Buzz More Than Just Hype?
February 11, 2010, 11:00 amGoogle has been known to launch products (hello Wave) that get a lot of initial hype but end up being curiosities at best in the hands of users. This is not to diminish the areas in which Google still holds strong - search and e-mail. So the unveiling of their new Buzz tool for Gmail users is being met with skepticism in some quarters even as it...
Google Kills Blogs Legally Posting Copyrighted Content
February 11, 2010, 10:57 amI know it all sounds crazy, but there are legal ways to post copyrighted content on the Internet—id est when you have permission from the copyright owner. But apparently that wasn’t enough for at least one of several blogspot-hosted music blogs pulled from Google’s Blogger for allegedly violating copyright. paidContent...
Real-Time Search Engine Adds New Features
February 11, 2010, 10:16 amReal-time search engine Wowd, has introduced a real-time tag cloud and a real-time streaming feature to its search service.
The real-time tag cloud is based on hot topics customized to an individual's search query. Wowd's "Hot Topics" tag cloud offers a slice of the most popular topics online, including blogs, news, and the most...
Google Uses Hours of Search History to Serve Ads
February 11, 2010, 10:13 amGoogle has made some adjustments to how it uses referral URLs for contextual matching of AdSense ads. Google has started expanding the use of query words in referral URLs to a few hours. Basically what this means is that Google is using user's search history to determine what ads to show on sites using AdSense. If a user arrives at one AdSense...
Twitter Puts Pixar's CFO On Payroll
February 11, 2010, 10:13 amTwitter's at last found someone to be its chief financial officer, and the man appears to be more than qualified for the position. Ali Rowghani actually comes to Twitter from Pixar, where he also held the title of CFO. Pixar is, of course, the popular animation studio responsible for movies like Toy Story, The Incredibles, and WALL-E. Disney...
Google Buzz Is Off As Bing Bites
February 11, 2010, 10:08 amChinese war guru, Sun Tzu, who wrote the "Art of War" would have been shaking his head in dismay at the launch of Google Buzz earlier this week. Whilst Wall Street was rubbing its hands in glee at the prospect of a ComScore announcement showing that Bing had gained market share, Google was launching 'Buzz' - but not exactly in a fully polished and...
Google.Chrome.Mac.Gets.Extensions!
February 11, 2010, 9:24 amIt’s finally here!
Google Chrome…
On the Mac…
With support for extensions!
Maybe I’m the only one that’s excited that this day has finally arrived, but I’ve been itching to make the switch from Firefox to Google Chrome. What was holding me back was the lack of support for extensions. I use a number of extensions...
Do you think Adwords content ads need an update?
February 11, 2010, 9:04 amMarketers have started a petition on Facebook requesting Google AdWords to accept AS3 flash banners. Click to read the rest of this post.
14 Lessons Learned from One of the World's Highest-Paid Copywriters
February 11, 2010, 8:34 amThis is part one of a three-part series on how to profitably translate advice from old-school marketing guru Dan Kennedy to a new online environment. Dan Kennedy is the Sovereign of Sales Letters. (Or maybe that's the Duke of Direct Response.) He knows exactly how to deliver a marketing message with maximum clarity and zero confusion. As he'll...
Monitoring Your Local Business In Real Time
February 11, 2010, 8:29 amI noticed a simple tweet the other day that prompted me to write this post. (Although, this subject has been on my mind for sometime now.) The timing is perfect, when you consider the fact that Yelp is also pushing out some new features on their iPhone App. So, what in the world is this post about? I'll get there. Bear with me. If you are like me,...
UCLA Turns To Social Media To Improve Teen Health
February 11, 2010, 8:23 amWith the average teen spending nine hours a week on social networking sites, the UCLA School of Public Health has partnered with Health Net of California to develop a health literacy program using social media in an effort to encourage teens from 13 to 17 to take better care of their health. "Over 90 percent of teens today use social networking...
What Google Looks for in a Town for its Broadband Project
February 11, 2010, 8:23 amAs previously reported, Google is planning to build and test "ultra high-speed" broadband networks in select communities around the U.S. We contacted Google to try and find out a bit more about what criteria Google is looking for to make its selections for these trial locations. "Above all, we're interested in deploying our network efficiently and...
Monitoring Your Local Business In Real Time
February 11, 2010, 8:19 amMatt gives information for business owners looking to promote on Yelp and FourSquare.How to gain new business opportunities and monitoring your Local Business in real time search
MySpace's CEO Out
February 11, 2010, 8:05 amOwen Van Natta, who only joined MySpace in April of last year, will no longer serve as its CEO. Reports indicate that he's in fact been fired, and MySpace has at least confirmed that Jason Hirschhorn and Mike Jones, who reported to Van Natta, are becoming co-presidents. This series of developments comes as a big surprise. Just one week ago,...
Where Does Yahoo Fit Into Your Search Strategy?
February 11, 2010, 8:05 amIn search, a lot of what Yahoo has done has been overshadowed by what Google and Bing have done, simply because Google controls such a huge piece of the search pie, and Bing is still a relatively fresh entity. All eyes are still on Bing as it grows. That leaves Yahoo somewhere in the middle, where it technically sits in terms of market share. How...
Listen to Your Customers to Adjust Your Keywords
February 11, 2010, 8:00 amby Mike Moran
Image by ~~Jo~~ via Flickr
You probably use many sources to brainstorm your search keywords, but how do you know if your customers are starting to change the way they search for your products? Have you listened to what your customers are saying? Time was that listening to customers demanded expensive focus groups and surveys,...
Back to the Search Marketing Basics
February 11, 2010, 7:47 amI'm currently preparing a presentation for the local advertising association's lunch that I'll be speaking at this week. As I've gone through the presentation and asked others for their opinion, it has occurred to me as search marketing experts, we may expect that our clients and users know more than they actually do. In fact, I've also noticed...
4 Ways to Track Most Dugg Images
February 11, 2010, 7:47 amLike Tweeted images , most "Dugg" images have been a constant stream of link baiting and viral inspiration to me. 1. DiggTop DiggTop is my favorite way to keep track of Digg stories in any category. It's an Adobe Air desktop app that is easy and fun to use.
Gmail Buzz: Mixing Real Life And Your Preferred Discussion Group In All the Wrong Ways?
February 11, 2010, 7:41 amIf I would talk to you about my family life, I think you wouldn't understand the one half, and you wouldn't care about the other half. Conversely, if I would talk to my family about the latest tech topics, perhaps they wouldn't be interested on any detailed level, nor understand half of what I'm saying. Enter Google Buzz. After one day of using it...
This is No TOY STORY, Twitter’s Prospects on the Way UP with Pixar CFO Hire
February 11, 2010, 7:37 am<Somewhere in Twitter HQ>
“So, Ev, if I understand you correctly, there isn’t actually any revenue to count at the moment?”
“No, Ali, we hired you because we were hoping you’d bring your collection of Pixar dvds in for us to watch when the Fail Whale appears.”
If it’s not Ali Rowghani’s movie...
In Other News…Van Natta Out as MySpace CEO
February 11, 2010, 6:59 amQuestion: How long does it take for a new CEO of a social media falling star to get his walking papers these days?
Answer: If you are Owen Van Natta of MySpace it takes just about 9 months.
Wow, I wonder if the time went quickly? It seems like just yesterday that the announcement of the former Facebook executive’s hiring was the start of a new...
SEO 101 - Part 8: Everything You Need to Know About Keywords
February 11, 2010, 6:58 amby Stoney deGeyter The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or...
Social Pop iPhone App: Social News and Sharing Simplified
February 11, 2010, 6:21 amOne of the great treasures that comes along with the internet and having the ability to be constantly connected is also the ability to save and share great content. Websites such as Digg and Reddit have provided innovative ways to allow users to dictate what should be the top stories and let's them share with friends and strangers alike.
And Iran, Iran from Gmail
February 11, 2010, 6:04 amIn case you are wondering about the title of this post, you need to do two things. Stop thinking about Google Buzz for a minute (please!) and also try to remember a song from way back when called “I Ran (So Far Away)” by Flock of Seagulls. Now sing the chorus using the title of the post and you’ll get it. See? Clever, right?
Anyway, it...
7 Answers to News SEO Questions You Should Know
February 11, 2010, 5:19 amRecently I was invited to give a basics webinar on optimizing news content for search. The intersection of search and PR/communications are obviously something quite familiar and while I've done several such presentations with our client PRWeb , I had not done one with Search Engine Watch before. The outcome exceeded all expectations thanks to...
On Potential Privacy Problems With Gmail Buzz Exposing Email Contacts
February 11, 2010, 2:06 amNicholas Carlson of Business Insider calls Gmail Buzz's (default settings) exposure of some of those you are in contact with - by auto-suggesting people to follow, and displaying that list on your public profile - a "huge privacy flaw": In my profession - where anonymous sourcing is a crucial tool - the implications of this flaw are terrifying....
Google Doesn't Want to Voluntarily Follow New Australian Censorship Rules for YouTube
February 11, 2010, 1:43 amThe Age writes : Google says it will not "voluntarily" comply with the government's request [in Australia] that it censor YouTube videos in accordance with broad "refused classification" (RC) content rules. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy referred to Google's censorship on behalf of the Chinese and Thai governments in making his case for...
A Step by Step 15 Minute SEO Audit (A Sample from SEO Secrets)
February 11, 2010, 1:36 amPosted by Danny Dover About seven months ago, I was asked by Wiley Publishing if I wanted to write a book about advanced SEO. Assuming they had accidentally contacted the wrong person, (You know Rand is spelled with an 'R' right?) I eventually accepted and found out they had indeed wanted me. Shortly after, I wrote a blog post asking what all of...
Google to Build Experimental Broadband Network
February 11, 2010, 12:19 amMove is in line with lobbying for National Broadband Plan. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Broadband Move is Latest Case of Google Creep
February 10, 2010, 11:49 pmGoogle Feb. 11 said it will build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in some locations across the U.S., hurtling Internet data at speeds of 1 gigabit per second, or more than 100 times faster than most residential broadband connections. Google will offer this service to anywhere from 50,000 people to 500,000 people. Why would a search...
Yahoo: "Will Continue To Be In Search"
February 10, 2010, 11:07 pm"That is the stake we have put in the ground. We will continue to show innovation and drive lots of great features and products into the marketplace and wow our users,"
Google to Experiment With Building Fiber Networks in Some Cities
February 10, 2010, 10:51 pmGoogle says you should imagine "downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes", and announces: We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have...
Social Media Marketing Should Mesh
February 10, 2010, 10:09 pmSocial media marketing should not be looked at any longer as a white elephant. Social media marketing is happening right now and all businesses need to understand the value and importance to incorporate it into their daily search engine marketing routine. You might think it sounds extremely difficult to slide in those efforts now but you might be...
Moving Servers: How May That Affect SERPs Rankings
February 10, 2010, 10:04 pm"Is there a possibility my rankings in Google might slide due to me moving to a new ip."
Indian Central Bank Tells PayPal to Halt Some Services
February 10, 2010, 9:01 pm"The regulators recently let PayPal know about revised licensing rules that we are now actively engaged in securing. Personal payments to and from India will be suspended for at least a few months until we fully resolve the questions from the Indian regulators."
Checking Out Gmail Buzz
February 10, 2010, 8:58 pmJust got Buzz rolled out to my Gmail account. The first step was to pick who to follow, which feeds to connect to your account, and to check who follows you. From the 150+ people suggested to me to auto-follow I unchecked quite a few, for one thing, I don't want my public profile to show this social network (if I understood Google's wording right,...
Oh-no you didn't! UCC Coffee spilt over Twitter
February 10, 2010, 6:25 pmEarlier this month, UCC coffee, one of the popular coffee manufactures in Japan, made a big mess on Twitter in a matter of days. Here's what happened. They have been running "Good Coffee Smile Campaign" since 1999 using mas-media. This year, they decided to use Twitter in addition to ads on TV, newspaper and magazines. On Feb 5, they set up 11 bot...
Novel Idea: Cell-Phone Books
February 10, 2010, 5:56 pmby Claudine Zap Apologies to Tolstoy , but one of the biggest novelists these days is a 15-year-old in Japan who wrote a book from her cell phone using her thumbs. Really. The new type of storytelling is called "keitai" â" cell-phone novels . Aimed squarely at those who can't be parted from their mobiles, teens â" mostly young...
Webmaster Center FAQ updated
February 10, 2010, 5:13 pmJust a quick note for today. While we've been busy working on the new series of web spam blog articles, we were also busy working on updating the recently compiled Webmaster Center FAQ (as described in the blog announcement New Webmaster Center FAQ available ) with even more content. While some might call it new and improved, I just claim that...
Google Buzz coming soon for businesses and schools
February 10, 2010, 5:07 pmToday the Gmail team introduced Google Buzz , a new feature that lets individuals share links, photos, and other updates with their network of contacts â" or with the whole world â" right within Gmail. Google Buzz helps people kick off conversations around information that people find mutually interesting. Within a few months, we also plan...
DC and Marvel Do Battle
February 10, 2010, 4:56 pmby Mike Krumboltz Holy blockbuster, Batman! A buzzy article from the New York Times revealed that director Christopher Nolan is hard at work on another flick. Of course, it's not like this is a huge surprise. There was no way Hollywood wasn't going to make a sequel to the " The Dark Knight ," the third-highest-grossing movie of all time . Still,...
How to Install the TweetMeme Retweet Button… WITHOUT Hurting Your Page Speed
February 10, 2010, 4:26 pmIf you have the TweetMeme Retweet Button installed on your WordPress blog or website, chances are it's been [deleted] your page speed and forcing your readers to wait 9 years for your page to load. This happens because the installation methods that TweetMeme offers will result in a retweet button that prevents your page from loading until it is...
Mobile Phone Buyers Prefer Touchscreen Interface
February 10, 2010, 3:38 pmWhile text messaging continues to be the top motivating feature for mobile phone buyers, American consumers are increasingly purchasing handsets with touch screens or QWERTY keyboards, according to the latest report from The NPD Group. The report found all 10 of the top-selling mobile phones purchased in the fourth quarter of 2009 came with a...
BBC Journalists Commanded To Use Social Media
February 10, 2010, 3:38 pmJournalists who work for one of the most respected news organizations in the world will be making greater use of social media from now on. Peter Horrocks, the BBC's director of global news, has more or less ordered his reporters to become comfortable with sites like Twitter. As reported by Mercedes Bunz , Horrocks stated in an internal BBC...
Facebook Fixes News Feed, Still Irritates Users
February 10, 2010, 3:14 pmFacebook has responded to a news feed issue that users have been experiencing and bellyaching about. On its Facebook Page, the company posted: "We've heard from many of you who are seeing a delay in your News Feed posts. We've fixed this issue and you should see your News Feeds gradually return to normal. Thanks for your feedback." While at the...
comScore Announces Acquisition of ARSgroup, Advertising Research Company that Enables the World's Great Brands to Optimize Advertising Messages
February 10, 2010, 2:38 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the ARSgroup, a leading communications research agency specializing in the measurement of advertising persuasion for TV and multi-media campaigns and helping many of the world's largest brands in the consumer...
comScore Reports Record Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Results
February 10, 2010, 2:38 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2009.
Google to Offer 1Gbps Broadband Internet Speed
February 10, 2010, 2:14 pmGoogle is at it again. Dreaming the impossible dream and planning to achieve something no matter what that cost may be, or even perhaps whether it is going to be a boom or fail. Believe it or not, Google wants to become one of the world's provider of the fastest broadband internet service which it plans to accomplish through fiber networks....
3D Printer Can Make You Anything
February 10, 2010, 1:50 pmWhen WebProNews hit Vegas for the CES 2010 conference, we came across a number of new and interesting gadgets. The MakerBot's CupCake CNC is a 3D printer/fabricator that can make just about anything you want. As long as the object you desire can be made out of ABS plastic and stays in a size range of 4x4x6". Once the design is input using 3D...
Age Differences Between MySpace and Facebook Users
February 10, 2010, 1:50 pmcomScore's recent digital year in review reveals that the MySpace demographic has gotten younger over the last year whereas Facebook's 24 & under crowd decreased and its 25-34 year segment increased. An analysis of demographic composition of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter users revealed important differences that reflect their appeal to various...
Google Analytics Tracking Code Basics and Time Saving Plugins
February 10, 2010, 1:49 pmPosted by Sam Niccolls The analytics ninja is not dead, but with Avinash talking more about SEO analytics and SEOs like Rand talking more about web analytics, 2010 has brought with it increased cross-pollination between analytics experts and SEOs. This blog post is for the analytics driven, SEO savvy, search samurai looking to implement tracking...
Bing And Ask Increase Search Share In January
February 10, 2010, 1:26 pmBing saw the number of U.S. searches on its site increase 5 percent in January from December to 9.37 percent of the search market, according to a new report from Hitwise. Ask also had a 4 percent increase in the number of searches from December to account for 2.64 percent of the search market. Google still dominated with 71.49 percent of the...
Facebook Mobile Count Hits, Passes 100 Million
February 10, 2010, 1:26 pmFacebook recently updated its official "Statistics" page to reflect the fact that it attracts about 400 million users on a monthly basis. Today, Facebook announced another interesting piece of data: over 100 million folks can be counted upon to access the site from their mobile phones in the same timeframe. Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's vice...
Google Building Broadband Networks–Sign Up Now!
February 10, 2010, 1:26 pmWe’ve all seen it coming for a long time: whether Google was buying dark fiber, or bidding on the wireless spectrum, or hiring former telephone execs, we all love a rumor about Google setting up Internet infrastructure. But this time it’s no rumor: Google admits they’re building high speed broadband networks in select markets....
Google Gains Smartphone Market Share Even without Nexus One
February 10, 2010, 1:08 pmSince I'm currently so into the Nexus One right now, exploring the nifty features of Google Buzz for mobile, let me follow up my previous post with another piece about Google's mobile phone undertakings. This time, lets look into the recently released comScore report showing that trend in the smartphone industry from October-Deember 2009....
My iPad or Your Nook? An e-reader dilemma
February 10, 2010, 1:08 pmby Vera H-C Chan Two months overdue, the Nook is supposed to land in Barnes & Noble in time for Valentine's Day. So far the supplies seem scarce for its heralded Wednesday debut ...but has iPad mania dampened the romance with the e-reader anyhow? Despite announcements of its replenished supplies by midweek, random calls to stores in San...
Facebook Chat Now Available Everywhere
February 10, 2010, 12:50 pmWe believe you should be able to connect with your Facebook friends everywhere. We're happy to announce that now you can with Facebook Chat . Starting today, the more than two billion chat messages sent on the site every day can be sent from your favorite desktop instant messaging client. By integrating Facebook Chat with your preferred instant...
Michelle Obama, Bonnaroo, Captain Phil Harris: What's the Buzz
February 10, 2010, 12:45 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Honda recall (Searches increased by 920%). On top of the Toyota recall news, Honda has now pulled 440,000 cars due to faulty airbags . Bonnaroo (+716%). The music festival announced a diverse lineup that includes Dave Matthews Band, Jay-Z, and Norah Jones. Michelle Obama (+508%). Watch...
Google to Enhance Broadband for Some Communities
February 10, 2010, 12:44 pmGoogle announced today that is planning to build and test "ultra high-speed" broadband networks in a small number of trial locations around the U.S. This means Google will deliver Internet speeds of 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to now, according to the company. Google says it has the following things in mind: Next...
Follow the Winter Olympic Games Coverage on Yahoo! Search
February 10, 2010, 12:26 pmThis year has been a lot of fun for a new sports fan like me. I endured many sleepless nights watching the Australian Open and loved every minute of the Super Bowl. I've mentioned before that I'm a huge fan of the Boston Celtics, and I can't tell you how many hours I'll probably spend in front of the TV this winter hoping they will make it to the...
Bing News: Microsoft's Qi Lu Shares His Thoughts on Innovation and User Intent Focus
February 10, 2010, 12:14 pmTackling challenges is nothing new for Bing's mastermind Qi Lu. In an article published in the Economist , the Director of Microsoft's Online Services Division shared his perspective on the keys for success in the intricate search game: innovation and user intent. With a PhD from Carnegie Mellon and years of driving technology at Yahoo! under his...
AOL and Facebook “In a Relationship”
February 10, 2010, 12:08 pmMaybe AOL decided their Q4 news wasn’t enough to keep them in the headlines this week—but they’re back again. Of course, it’s hard to stay out of the headlines when you’re making a deal with the most popular social network in the world.
That’s right, Facebook and AOL are hooking up—and in a fairly literal...
Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search: What Should Your Philosophy Be?
February 10, 2010, 12:03 pmby Scott Buresh As a search engine marketing company, we are often asked by clients and prospects if there's a basic philosophy when it comes to organic search engine optimization and paid search advertising. "Is one tactic more favorable than another? How do I know which channel to pursue? Should I do both?" Without a hard look at your company's...
Google: "Buzz" Is Not a Trademarked Term
February 10, 2010, 11:57 amYesterday Google launched its new product called Google Buzz. The name immediately brought to mind a similarly titled product from another major search player - one of Google's oldest rival's - Yahoo. Yahoo has Yahoo Buzz , which isn't exactly he same kind of product as Google Buzz, but it was still worth questioning why Google would choose "Buzz"...
Google's Schmidt Outlines Ways To Fix America
February 10, 2010, 11:57 amIf any organization knows how to innovate, it's Google; this week alone, the company discussed phones that would translate languages in real time, unveiled a Street View snowmobile, and announced its intention to test ultra high-speed broadband networks. It may make sense, then, that CEO Eric Schmidt has tried to address America's "innovation...
McTweets: Over 1 Billion Served
February 10, 2010, 11:08 amSo what’s the deal? Is Twitter slowing down or speeding up? Reports of slowing of growth in visitors and accounts of Twitter has created a stir for some. Unfortunately for Twitter that is the price of a ‘hockey stick’ growth pattern which is associated with rapid mass appeal. It’s every business’ dream but goes up must come down at least...
Social Media Training and Education
February 10, 2010, 11:01 amby Sage Lewis This is an interesting study that says the #2 reason people don't do social media is because they don't have the staff. This is a huge opportunity for many people. Watch this video to find out why. Be sure and visit our small business news site.
Will Google Buzz Change the Social Media Game?
February 10, 2010, 11:00 amGoogle held a press event to announce the most "buzzed" topic of the week - Google Buzz. This is Google's new product, which is being compared to social networks like Twitter and Facebook. It is integrated with Gmail and other Google products, and appears to be one of the missing links in tying Google together as a social...
Who's Got The Buzz: Yahoo or Google?
February 10, 2010, 11:00 amUPDATE: Google's Victoria Katsarou tells WebProNews...
"We chose the name Buzz because of the word's connotations of activity, conversations, sharing of information... Buzz' is not a trademarked term."
For further details, read the full article: Google: "Buzz" Is Not a Trademarked Term
ORIGINIAL ARTICLE: Recently,...
Easily Create Search Engine Optimized Websites with Eden Platform (CMS Review)
February 10, 2010, 10:54 amI sometimes try and review various content management systems because I need to be in the loop of what types of tools I can recommend various people with different backgrounds. To me, the main advantages of using a CMS are: (!) The ability to manage many websites from one dashboard; (!) The ability to effectively distribute tasks between many...
February Tweets Forecast: 1.4 Billion
February 10, 2010, 10:25 amIt'd be a big understatement to say that 140-character messages are becoming more common online. Tweet-related data has been released (and analyzed), proving that rapid growth is taking place, and one prediction even puts the number of tweets that'll be transmitted this month at 1.4 billion. Believe it or not, Pingdom's forecast is really quite...
Good News for Google Buzz - Social and Email Top Mobile Priorities
February 10, 2010, 10:25 amAn interesting study has been released by PR firm Ruder Finn , which finds that 91% of mobile phone users go online to socialize, compared to only 79% of traditional desktop users. Meanwhile, Americans are spending an average of 2.7 hours on the mobile Internet. "Mobile phones have become the way people organize their livesmanaging finances,...
Experian Hitwise: Bing and Ask searches increase in January 2010
February 10, 2010, 10:14 amAccording to Experian Hitwise data released today, searches on Bing increased 5 percent and search on Ask increased 4 percent in January 2010, while searches on Google decreased 1 percent and searches on Yahoo! decreased 2 percent.Click to read the rest of this post...
Dailymotion Partners With EMI On Music Videos
February 10, 2010, 10:14 amDailymotion has reached a deal with EMI Music to offer the record label's library of music videos on its website, mobile site, iPhone app and the Dailymotion channel on Internet connected TVs.
Beginning in April, Dailymotion users will be able to view EMI music videos from artists including Coldplay, Katy Perry, Robbie Williams, David Guetta and...
3 Ways to Display Related Posts in Wordpress Blog
February 10, 2010, 9:26 amDisplaying links to previously published related posts in the bottom of each article has numerous benefits: (!) Dramatically increase click-through (people who are very interested in the topic are most likely to want to read more on this); (!) Increase the crawl depth by introducing additional inter-linking; (!) Leverage your old content (you are...
PPC Magic for Keyword Research
February 10, 2010, 9:26 amWow your website is now indexed and everything seems to be going well with Google. You have your articles written out, and each page is getting indexed within the hour of posting it. You worked really hard on the landing page, and you're constantly receiving quality links. Everyday you're religiously checking your rankings to see if you had an...
Microsoft and Yahoo Displeased With Google Buzz
February 10, 2010, 9:26 amYesterday Google released Buzz , an integration of new social features for Gmail that connect users with each other. If you read my article I had mentioned something about finding it a little strange the name "Buzz" was used, seeing as Yahoo! Buzz has existed for quite some time now. Evidently I'm not the only one who has taken notice of this-...
SEM Intermediate Series: Troubleshooting Low Traffic From Your Microsoft adCenter Campaigns
February 10, 2010, 9:21 amThis is the 3 rd post in the SEM Intermediate Series , a collection of posts intended for search engine marketing professionals looking for guidance in monitoring and adjusting the key performance indicators (KPIs) that determine the success of a PPC.
YouTube Safety Mode (block "graphic violence such as a political protest or war coverage")
February 10, 2010, 8:51 amYouTube says: That's why we're announcing Safety Mode, an opt-in setting that helps screen out potentially objectionable content that you may prefer not to see or don't want others in your family to stumble across while enjoying YouTube. An example of this type of content might be a newsworthy video that contains graphic violence such as a...
Calling All Valentine's Day Procrastinators
February 10, 2010, 8:21 amIf you havent bought your gift yet, whether for a relative, your favorite pet or your significant other you might be classified as a Valentines Procrastinator. Not to fear you are not out of time yet. Today is the day (Feb. 10) to shop with Bing cashback to take advantage of some of the last minute insane savings (as long as the shipping is fast...
AOL Adds Facebook To AIM
February 10, 2010, 8:16 amAOL has partnered with Facebook to allow its Instant Messenger users to chat with their Facebook friends directly from AIM. AOL said in a blog post it is adding its Lifestream application to AIM allowing users to receive updates from social networking sites including Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. AOL is betting its latest move will...
Opera: Mini Will Save iPhone Users Money and Time
February 10, 2010, 8:15 amOpera is set to unveil its Opera Mini browser at a press event during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We contacted Opera to get some details. When asked what Opera Mini will be able to offer iPhone users that they havent been able to get elsewhere, Opera's Katrin Jackson tells WebProNews that Opera Mini will provide speed, cost-savings,...
Bing Makes Inroads Against Google, Yahoo In January
February 10, 2010, 7:58 amA few teasing emails may be on their way from Redmond to Mountain View and Sunnyvale this morning. New comScore statistics shows that Bing managed to increase its share of the search market in January, while Google and Yahoo both lost ground. Bing's share hit 11.3 percent in January, up 0.6 percent from its December standing of 10.7 percent,...
Google Street View: Now With More Polar Bears!
February 10, 2010, 7:30 amJust when you though the Google tricycle was the most absurd thing you’d heard of, Google announces its plans to map the snowier parts of the world using snowmobiles.
Apparently the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver was the impetus for taking Google Street Views off road, but I think it was just an excuse to spend some time on the...
Is SEO Dead? Nope, It Has Just Come Full Circle!
February 10, 2010, 7:29 amShort term strategies for site "optimization" are just that - short term. Better to focus on long term aspects, and adapt those as needed.
Blogging Etiquette in the Face of a PR Pitch: What Miss Blogging Manners Would Do
February 10, 2010, 7:17 amAs a blogger, I'm sure you receive a fair number of emails pitching you with products. As someone who does public relations for companies, I'm sure you carefully pick your bloggers for the pitch. We both have difficult jobs. Bloggers have to weed out the crap and PR pros need to find the right people for the job. The job of someone who does...
Getting Personal with Your Copy
February 10, 2010, 7:16 amIt's a well known fact that people buy based on emotion. But more often than not, the kind of copy you read on web pages today talks more about how the company "has helped thousands of satisfied customers" or how the product "saves you hours of time and pays for itself in just one use". Statements like these are bland, overused and about as...
Looking Back at Six Months of Yahoo! Search
February 10, 2010, 7:16 amThe last six months have gone by in the blink of an eye for the Yahoo! Search team. Since the summer of 2009, we've launched an amazing amount of new improvements in Yahoo! Search to deliver a more personally relevant search experience. Now it's even easier to find and explore what matters most to you. Here are some of the highlights: All-new...
Google and AP Together Again
February 10, 2010, 7:09 amAfter a seven-week-long hiatus, Google is now hosting content from the Associated Press again. The two have had a deal in place in the past, but AP content quietly went missing from Google, and that very fact became a topic of wide discussion last week. Now the deal appears to be renewed to some uncertain extent.
The statement Google has...
Is Reading Blog Posts Worth Your Time?
February 10, 2010, 7:04 amIf you're a regular Copyblogger reader, you get good advice about five times a week. Excellent advice, really. Stellar. Especially on days when I'm posting. (Preens.) Wait, what was I saying again? Oh, right. You get really good advice, for free, five times a week. Very frequently, this advice would cost you upwards of $150 an hour for a...
5 Signs You’re Following Too Many People on Twitter
February 10, 2010, 7:03 amHere are 5 common signs you're following too many people on Twitter (and what to do about that).
These fellows were spotted walking around on Google Street View...
February 10, 2010, 6:35 am... and I have to admit I have no clue what they're doing. [Via Reddit .] [By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: These fellows were spotted walking around on .
Google Nexus One Skins
February 10, 2010, 6:35 amIf you own an Nexus One phone but don't like its shelf, GelaSkins offers a couple of wrapper designs , and you can also create your own skin based on an uploaded photo. [Thanks Kiersten!
Paul Buchheit: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good
February 10, 2010, 6:35 amGmail/ Friendfeed/ AdSense co-inventor Paul Buchheit in an essay argues the right approach to new products is to "Pick three key attributes or features, get those things very, very right, and then forget about everything else. Those three attributes define the fundamental essence and value of the product - the rest is noise." [By Philipp Lenssen |...
Google’s Smartphone Gains Should Create Some Buzz
February 10, 2010, 6:16 amAll the online world is buzzing about the introduction of Google’s Buzz yesterday. The competitor (or death knell) to FriendFeed has everyone wondering just how much of the social media market can Google ‘control’ by playing the intermediary. Considering how far reaching their other services are I think it looks more and more like Google...
Get Smarter at Online Marketing Summit
February 10, 2010, 5:17 amI know I did an upcoming events roundup last week but the upcoming Online Marketing Summit in San Diego is certainly worth a post of it's own. Besides, I get to announce that one of our clients from Zoomerang (MarketTools), won a free conference pass! Congratulations to Amy Lindahl! Last year OMS came through Minneapolis and I had an opportunity...
Google Getting Into The ISP Business
February 10, 2010, 4:56 am"We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States."
Why Be Fair
February 10, 2010, 3:44 amWe've discussed in the past about how our brand is "everything we do". As an SEO provider, business owner, or service provider, your brand is more than your logo, website and advertising. It's also what you say, what you do, how you act, and how you treat people. Today, let's look at the benefits of using fairness as a way to add value to your...
How Online Journalists Can Improve Their Website Design, Usability And SEO Skills
February 10, 2010, 3:25 amHow can online journalists improve their design, usability and content creation skills? In this MasterNewMedia report journalist Eric Ulken shares some valuable insights on what online journalists can learn from web interaction designers to improve the way they create, layout and distribute their content.
Photo credit: Taketorise...
Does Your Website Have Multiple Entry Points?
February 10, 2010, 3:20 amThis is a double question - does your website have multiple entry points in that there is more than one page that visitors frequently land on; and two, a wide variety of external sources of targeted and relevant sources of visitors, of course including your search engine optimization generated visitors. They are both very different yet they are...
Baidu Reports Solid Revenues, Profit in Q4 2009
February 10, 2010, 3:15 amMost revenues were related to online advertising. Click to read the rest of this post.
Search Olympics: Google and Bing Battle It Out Despite NBC Withholding Content
February 10, 2010, 2:21 amOnly 2 out of 300 events will stream live on the Internet. Click to read the rest of this post.
AdWords Updates Pharmacy Policy for U.S. and Canada
February 10, 2010, 2:21 amNew restrictions go into place at the end of the month. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Buzz Demo Videos You Need to See Before Using It
February 10, 2010, 12:28 amAs a frontal assault on the social Web castles of Facebook and Twitter, Google Buzz lets users post status updates, pictures, links, videos and other content in Gmail and share them with users, or the entire Web. I wrote about it after viewing the launch event Webcast. I also logged into Gmail to find Buzz turned on. It's a snap to use; if you...
Microsoft's Atlas to Be Preferred Ad-Server for IPG
February 10, 2010, 12:06 amSpecial Atlas pricing to be extended to IPG clients. Click to read the rest of this post.
Any reports of the death of blogging are premature
February 9, 2010, 10:23 pm
It isn’t hard to find people in the mainstream media (which, for good or ill, really is dying) to say that the so-called Long Tail is bunk, and blogging was a fad. Sure, a few years ago, everyone was starting blogs all over the place, and as a result, there are abandoned blog carcasses littering the internet. I know this because some of...
Google Buzz Released (Think Friendfeed In Gmail)
February 9, 2010, 9:28 pmRecently we mentioned here how the word "buzz" turns out to be a reserved label in Gmail. Now, Gmail is rolling out a service by that name - Buzz - announced by Google some hours ago via video , blog post and help page . Buzz is meant to let you send messages and share status updates, photos, links and so on - think Friendfeed, Twitter or...
Google Street View Finland, Ski Slopes
February 9, 2010, 9:10 pmGoogle Street View is now available for Finland , as well as a couple of ski slopes . First cars and trikes, now snowmobiles - if cam-equipped walking robots are next, maybe the word "street" will disappear from the service and it'll simply be Google View. [Thanks Juha-Matti Laurio and David Hetfield!] [By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Street...
First Impressions on Google Buzz for Mobile
February 9, 2010, 5:47 pmWhile waiting for Google to activate Google Buzz on my Gmail account, I decided to check out Google Buzz for Mobile on my Nexus One. I would have to say that Google did a pretty fast job of activating the mobile version rather than the web version of Google Buzz. So, the first thing I checked was the mobile web app at buzz.google.com and there...
Myths Busted: Feb. 9, 2010
February 9, 2010, 5:07 pmIt's little wonder people are paid big sums of money to remind the layperson of what seems really obvious to the people who work in a specialized field every day... how helpful are you? Here's a test. 1. Newbies to AdWords are taught that "Quality Score is made up of a whole range of factors these days, including landing pages! Yep, those landing...
Boom Boom, Baby
February 9, 2010, 4:38 pmby Claudine Zap It's not enough you have to endure your parents' music as a kid. These days, parents-to-be are piping in their top-40 favorites straight to the womb, using various products that amplify the music loud enough for the fetus to hear. This is not music to doctors ears, who say the extra loud tunes can interrupt the pre-born's sleep...
Google Buzz Adds Social Enhancements to Gmail
February 9, 2010, 4:26 pmJust a few hours ago Google announced an enhancement to Gmail called Google Buzz that will be rolled out over the next couple of days. What is Google Buzz? Essentially, it is the incorporation of an important part of what made Google Wave so sexy for many people (me included) - the ability to manage conversations on other platforms (like Twitter)...
SEOmoz Coming To a City Near You (Kinda)
February 9, 2010, 4:21 pmPosted by jennita The holidays are long over, 2010 is well underway, we've already launched a new product , made a big announcement ... and it's barely February! While our amazing development and product teams are busily building new tools as I type (and I'm not even kidding, those guys work a lot), some of us are hitting the road. For the next...
MySpace Tests Audio Ads With TargetSpot
February 9, 2010, 3:58 pmFor most people, listening to music online is terribly convenient, and the occasional audio ad shouldn't represent a deal breaker. MySpace may be making a smart move, then, as it's begun testing 30-second ads with help from an Internet radio advertising company called TargetSpot. The end result isn't too different from what fans of Yahoo Music or...
Meet Google Buzz, Not the Same as Yahoo! Buzz
February 9, 2010, 3:23 pmWill Google's version give Facebook and Twitter a run for their money? Click to read the rest of this post.
Looking at Different Functionalities of Google Buzz
February 9, 2010, 3:22 pmThis day will go down in history as the day of Google Buzz. After Google's press event (which we live-blogged and discussed here) Google put up several posts explaining more about the "buzzworthy" new product.
"Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting," says Gmail and Google Buzz...
Online Retail Spending Reaches $39 Billion In Q4
February 9, 2010, 3:09 pmOnline retail spending in the U.S. in the fourth quarter reached $39 billion, a 3 percent increase compared to a year ago, according to the latest report from comScore.
Total retail ecommerce spending reached $129.8 billion in 2009, slightly lower than the previous year's total of $130.1 billion.
"The fourth quarter, with a 3 percent...
What Is The Best Way To Learn Internet Marketing?
February 9, 2010, 3:08 pmMat Siltala writes: "If you want to learn how to make a site rank, then you need to create one that you can test the crap out of. You need to spend time on SEO forums and blogs (I will share my favorite later) attend a search marketing conference or two. Get on Twitter and follow some amazing Internet minds. Just don’t follow, talk to...
Google Takes Street View to Vancouver and Whistler
February 9, 2010, 2:54 pmWith the games in Vancouver and Whistler right around the corner, many wonder about the extraordinary view the world's best skiers and snowboarders experience during the event. Well to no one's surprise, Google Maps can now take you there. That's right, hold on to your helmets, because during February 12-28 anyone around the world can adventure...
Anatomy of a Hands-on SEO Site Audit – Part 1
February 9, 2010, 2:48 pmAlan puts down some good suggestions for things you want to think about doing SEO Audits
MSFT, Google Prepare For Mobile Future In China
February 9, 2010, 2:31 pmMore evidence that Google and Microsoft remain very interested in China has surfaced. Both companies have struck deals with MediaTek, a semiconductor company that specializes in wireless communications, and said deals should help them make headway in China's mobile market. Dan Nystedt reported earlier today, "MediaTek has already developed a...
30 Link Builders Discuss Backlink Analysis For Campaign Design – Part 1
February 9, 2010, 1:48 pmGarrett French asked 30 link building experts 9 questions about backlink analysis… and got 20,000 words of response. Part 1 covers question 1-3.
Why Many Successful People Become Jerks
February 9, 2010, 1:33 pmWhy Popular People May Seem Negative to Some I was chatting with a friend today about one of our projects and he mentioned how he stopped liking a few other internet marketers recently due to their negativity. Him stating that gave me a bit of internal reflection, and I think it comes down to a few things... When people get from a certain level of...
eBay Testing New Search Features
February 9, 2010, 1:27 pmeBay said today it is launching a new offering called "Garden by eBay," an area on the site that will allow members to test new features and provide feedback for improvements and changes. Garden by eBay is an opt-in initiative with a concept that is similar to Google Labs where users can test and experiment with different features before they are...
Whose Got The Buzz: Yahoo or Google?
February 9, 2010, 1:13 pmToday Google officially announced their latest product, Google Buzz, during a live press event. If you’re not familiar with Google Buzz, it’s a way to share updates, photos, videos, and more. (You can read an extensive writeup of Google Buzz here).
Wait a minute; doesn't the name Buzz sound familiar? Well, there’s a good reason...
Yahoo Tech Slated For March Shutdown
February 9, 2010, 1:10 pmAs Yahoo continues to reconsider exactly which properties are core to the company, Yahoo Tech has failed to make the cut. The site has been given an end-of-life date, and everything of value (including visitors) will just be used to provide another Yahoo asset a lift.
An announcement that Nick Saint spotted today reads, "As of March...
8 Ways Google Can Become a Social Hub Overnight
February 9, 2010, 1:09 pmIf you can't tell from my recent posts, I think Google is quite revolutionary. With the implementation of Gtalk with video chat capabilities, Google Wave with the ability to have real-time collaboration, Google Docs & Calendar making document and schedule sharing between colleagues or friends and simply the ability to social share in search...
Introducing Google Buzz! GMail Social Sharing
February 9, 2010, 1:09 pmLadies and gentlemen- Google Buzz has now been announced! It looks like Google inadvertently answered my " social hub " prayers today with everything that Buzz has to offer. First thing I noticed: does Buzz sound familiar? That's right, Y! Buzz already exists. It seems like Google is going to be direct competition to good old Yahoo. Unfortunately...
Almost like being there
February 9, 2010, 12:58 pmI first started working on the homepage during the Summer Olympics in Beijing. We had just launched the image on the homepage and 10 days later jumped to updating the picture twice a day. It was a chaotic time, but truly some of the most fun I've ever had at a job! With the Vancouver Olympics fast approaching, the homepage team decided to change...
Google Buzz Launches 150+ Million User Social Network
February 9, 2010, 12:39 pmHow would you like to launch a social network and instantly amass more than 150 million monthly users?
Well, Google just launched Google Buzz and it’s going to be tied into its existing Gmail user base–all 150+ million of them!
How smart is that?
Google has failed to gain traction with any of its previous social networking efforts. How...
Putting a Dollar Value on Buzz
February 9, 2010, 12:20 pmGenerating buzz—getting people talking about our products or even advertising on their own—is the goal of many ad campaigns today, even television commercials. (Case in point: the Super Bowl.) Online, buzz seems to be the Holy Grail: going viral, getting evangelists, having people talking/Tweeting/friending/following you. But assigning...
Hands Off Megan Fox's Thumb
February 9, 2010, 12:18 pmby Claudine Zap It's probably true that Megan Fox is known more for her stunning looks than her screen roles (" Transformers ," anyone?). But even though the actress made her Super Bowl ad debut for Motorola lounging in a bathtub wearing nothing but bubbles, all eyes were not on the obvious: her thumb. The actress â" who is basically perfect in...
Google Buzz Could Open Up Big Possibilities
February 9, 2010, 12:09 pmToday Google held a press event to announce the most "buzzed" topic of the week - Google Buzz. This is Google's new product, which is being compared to social networks like Twitter and Facebook. It is integrated with Gmail and other Google products, and appears to be one of the missing links in tying Google together as a social...
Update on PayPal situation in India
February 9, 2010, 11:37 amIt's Anuj from the comms team here again. Following on from my blog post on Saturday, I've received a number of questions about the situation in India and I thought it'd be best to simply answer the questions in a blog post. Here are answers to the top questions I've received: 1. Why .
comScore Reports U.S. E-Commerce Spending in Q4 2009 Reached $39 Billion, Up 3 Percent vs. Year Ago
February 9, 2010, 11:37 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q4 2009 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $39 billion, up 3 percent versus year ago. Total retail e-commerce spending reached $129.8 billion for the full year 2009, marginally below the previous year's...
Going for the Gold: Digg Dialogg with US Olympic skier Julia Mancuso
February 9, 2010, 11:20 amHey everyone - With the 2010 Winter Olympics just days away, we couldn't think of a more timely Dialogg than chatting with one of America's top Olympians. So we're heading to the slopes and taking your questions to Gold Medal Alpine Skier Julia Mancuso before she again goes for the Gold.
Vancouver forecast: light winds, unlimited visibility
February 9, 2010, 11:14 amThe view from Whistler Mountain is something everyone should see: a range of rugged mountains, trails of snow, fir trees and placid lakes below. It's changed since I lived there some years back â" there are many more houses, and far better chairlifts â" but what remains is the rare feeling of being free, in nature, about to tear into peak...
Google Maps VP Explains New Nearby Places Feature
February 9, 2010, 10:55 amMike Blumenthal did a rather nice Q&A with Carter Maslan, Google's vice president of product development for Google Maps, about Nearby Place You Might Like, a new feature that surfaces similar stores when you search for a business on Google Maps. I wrote about my issues with this feature Feb. 7, noting that it showed too many competing businesses...
Viral Marketing Ideas and Infographics for Valentines Day
February 9, 2010, 10:50 amWe have had tremendous success over the last couple years in creating and marketing viral articles and especially infographics for our clients. There is always a unique opportunity to do something viral when a holiday or major event is approaching and currently we don't have any clients that would fit the bill of Valentines Day. So I wanted to...
Share Well With Others: How To Get Social Content To Go Viral
February 9, 2010, 10:40 amPromoting content in social media is only half the battle. Once it is in the face of thousands of visitors, there needs to be some sort of emotional and psychological drive to get them to share that content with others. This is key in creating a “snowball effect” that will build perpetual motion to reach a much more pervasive audience.
The Fathers of the Venture Capital Industry
February 9, 2010, 10:33 amWhat we think of as Venture Capital today is a pretty young profession. "Modern" VC firms first came into existence in the 1960s, started by the likes of Bill Draper, Pitch Johnson and Reid Dennis. These visionaries shaped the technology industry, and lay the groundwork for everything that we VCs do today. My friend Paul Holland and the folks at...
Search Engines Impact Perception Of Brands
February 9, 2010, 10:32 amThe search engine consumers use to find a brand's website impacts both their perception of that brand and the decisions they make while on the site, according to new research by Wunderman, ZAAZ, and Compete. "Search begins with the choice of search engine," said David Sable, vice chairman and COO of Wunderman . "What this means if you are managing...
UK's Department Of Health Reveals $4.25m AdWords Tab
February 9, 2010, 10:14 amGoogle users in the UK may be unusually well-informed with regards to their government's healthcare policies. The Department of Health revealed this week that it spent about 2.72 million (or $4.25 million at the current exchange rate) on AdWords over the past year. To be exact: the department spent 2,720,457.11 between February 1 of last year and...
How Over 400 Million People Use Facebook
February 9, 2010, 10:14 amLast week, as Facebook celebrated its sixth birthday , the company announced that it was surpassing the 400 million-user milestone. That's one good reason why it pays for businesses to have Facebook Pages. That's not the only impressive number though. Facebook has released a whole slew of statistics about how the site is used by those people.
Want to be a SEO copywriter? Check out these FAQs.
February 9, 2010, 9:56 amEver since I launched my SEO Copywriting Certificate Program , I've heard from a number of people who want to dip their toes into the SEO copywriting waters - but they're not sure if it's the right career choice for them. If you're looking at SEO copywriting as a career choice, here are the 10 most frequent questions I hear'and the answers I...
Ask/IAC Q4: Bleeding Money, But Hey, Online Ads are Doing Good!
February 9, 2010, 9:49 amAsk’s parent company IAC posted $1B in losses largely because it wrote down the value of its search business. But, says the AP, this is actually good news for the online ad market (and not because a competitor is about to get out of the market)—because IAC didn’t do as badly as expected.
No, because it beat estimates by 2¢...
Does Writing for People Work for SEO?
February 9, 2010, 9:39 amHang around web writing circles for any length of time, and the inevitable "write for search engines or write for people" debate comes up. It's a bit strange, really. Last time I checked, it's people who use search engines, not some other life form. So you're always writing for people. Obviously, the debate stems from the fact that search engines...
Weekly Search & Social News: 02/09/2010
February 9, 2010, 9:38 amWelcome to another edition of ' 7 Days of Search and Social ' - I hope this edition finds you well and 2k10 is rocking so far (busy, but fun over here). Last week was the kind of week a geek like me dies for. There were a ton of great blog posts, plenty of humour, lots of geeky IR stuff (including an IR post with profanity.. wicked cool!) and even...
Speed Up Spring with PPC: UK Insights for Finance, Travel, Entertainment, Motoring and Retail
February 9, 2010, 9:32 amAccording to Cliff Arnalls, a part-time tutor at Cardiff University, the 24 th of January was the most depressing day of the year . He even came up with a formula forecasting this day of misery which included elements like 'foul weather', 'debt', 'lack of money' and 'days since Christmas'. While it may have been a dark and dreary day for some, for...
IAC Earnings: Search Revenues Up, But $1 Billion Impairment Charges
February 9, 2010, 9:27 amDespite loss, they beat the Street. Click to read the rest of this post.
Google's Facebook/Twitter Competitor Could Open Up Big Possibilities
February 9, 2010, 9:12 amOne of the hottest topics in the social media industry right now is the rumored launch of a new social feature for Google's Gmail. The company is expected to announce a status timeline feature similar to Facebook and Twitter today that would be accessible through Gmail.
Do you think Google could make an impact on social media with this release?...
Who to Watch at SES London - Besides Bryan and Jim!
February 9, 2010, 8:57 amNext week is the Search Engine Strategies London conference and expo which I'll be participating in for roughly the fifth or sixth time - in fact I can't quite remember which one was the first I attended or even the first I spoke at. Attending conferences is something of an acquired art. You can tell those who've had plenty of practice because...
comScore Releases "The 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review"
February 9, 2010, 8:45 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released The comScore 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review. The complimentary report recaps key trends in U.S. digital media landscape, including e-commerce, search, online video, online advertising and mobile, with an emphasis on how digital marketers can capitalize on...
Anatomy of a Hands-on SEO Site Audit â" Part 1
February 9, 2010, 8:33 amWelcome to part one in a series of articles on the anatomy of a hands-on SEO site audit! This was originally just going to be one article. But then my book-length article nature came up squarely against the awareness that true site audits can be extremely complex. And as much as everyone just loves those cute little 9 steps to blah-de-blah, we...
EU Calls For More Privacy On Social Networks
February 9, 2010, 8:27 amThe European Commission is reminding teenagers to "Think before you post!" on social networking sites as Europe marks Safer Internet Day. The Commission said 50 percent of European teenagers give out personal information on the web, which can remain online forever and be seen by anybody. At last year's Safer Internet Day , 20 companies signed the...
How much HTML does an SEO need to know?
February 9, 2010, 8:23 amSeveral SEO specialists weigh in on the question of whether an SEO needs to know HTML...and if so, how much?
Apple’s Store Is Back Up, Aperture 3 Added
February 9, 2010, 8:09 amUPDATE: The Apple store is finally back online and it looks like the only thing added was the recently announced photography software package, Aperture 3.
To say people aren't pleased with Apple would be an understatment... as many were hoping for the new Core i5 and i7 MacBooks.
Are you let down that nothing else was added to the Apple Store?...
Yahoo Music Gets Former Universal Exec As New Chief
February 9, 2010, 8:04 amThe music industry is a big business; there must be hundreds of thousands of performers and managers in the world. But there are just four major labels - Warner, EMI, Sony, and Universal - and so Yahoo seems to have made a rather significant hire by securing a former Universal exec as the head of Yahoo Music. Jeff Bronikowski worked at Universal...
The Ultimate Guide to Keyword Competition: Tips from 35 Search Marketing Experts
February 9, 2010, 8:03 amWe talked with 35 Search Marketing Gurus (including Aaron Wall, Rand Fishkin, Ann Smarty, Michael Gray, Todd Malicoat, David Harry, Gab Goldenberg, Ian Lurie, Patrick Altoft, Jill Whalen, Michael Martinez, Dana Lookadoo, Garrett French, Marty Weintraub and many more) about the best ways of determining the competitiveness of a keyword. This post...
Apple's Store Goes Down, Twitterers Speculate
February 9, 2010, 7:43 amSometimes when the Apple store goes down its nothing, while other times new products are added once the store finally comes back online. One good sign that it could be a new product is that the Apple Store is down globally . What do you think Apple will unveil when the store comes back? Tell us . Were not sure what to expect once the store does...
Google AdWords: how to lower your costs while selling more
February 9, 2010, 7:36 amIf you advertise your website on Google AdWords, chances are that you found out that you can spent a lot of money on AdWords without getting a lot in return. The reason why many people spend much more than they have to for their Google AdWords ads is that they use the wrong settings in their campaigns.
A Resource For Information Visualisation & Infographics
February 9, 2010, 7:32 amRecently there has been an influx of infographics being used online to gain traffic and links. I love infographics. Therefore I’ve compiled this post to explain what they are and give you some inspiration for creating your own infographics and information visualisation.
Why Do You Care About Infographics?
Information visualisation is...
Please Email This Article; Researchers Say You’ll Feel Better
February 9, 2010, 7:12 amIf fear, scandal, sex, and humor sell newspapers, it stands to reason that those topics would make for the most popular articles on news sites and blogs. Right?
Wrong!
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have intensively studied the New York Times list of most-e-mailed articles and discovered that it was an entirely unexpected emotion...
Domain Strategy â" Why It's A Critical Component to SEO Technical Audits
February 9, 2010, 7:02 amWhen it comes helping clients with natural search, I'm a firm believer that SEO technical audits are an incredibly important first step for most engagements. I've already written about the power of technical audits and how they often can provide the most SEO bang for your buck. The reason is simple. In SEO, without a clean and crawlable...
Google Asking for Permission to Access Location Information
February 9, 2010, 6:48 amI am getting the following message in the SERP: "Google would like to have access to your location. The Google Toolbar will periodically use the network to keep your location up to date." To the right of this, they have the buttons "Share My Information and Don't Share."
Pros and Cons of In-House SEO
February 9, 2010, 6:20 amI'm just coming up to the end of my first year of being an In House SEO, and it was clear in the first few months how much more beneficial it was to be on the client side rather thank the agency side. I have now decided to weigh up some pro's and con's of being an In House SEO. Pro's If like me your company only runs one website you get to...
SEJ Tools: Enhanced Keyword Research via Wordtracker
February 9, 2010, 6:20 amIn the last week's post I shared how you can do keyword research using Google Adwords tool right within your SEJ tools dashboard. I also shared why it is actually so helpful to have third-party keyword research tool integrated within the advanced toolkit. This way you can manage your lists more efficiently and easier add keywords to the tracker to...
Google to Make Its Move on Facebook and Twitter?
February 9, 2010, 6:11 amThe buzz around the Internet marketing and social media circles is humming with the news (or the rumor, call it what you want) that Google is getting set to introduce a new feature to Gmail. No, it has nothing to do with your e-mail but rather your ‘experience’ with Gmail and in particular your social experience. Looks like Google is...
SEO 101 - Part 7: Everything You Need to Know About Site Architecture and Internal Linking
February 9, 2010, 6:02 amby Stoney deGeyter The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or...
Google Launches Buzz
February 9, 2010, 5:55 am"You will automatically follow the people you e-mail and chat with on a regular basis."
Study Shows Facebook’s Retail Appeal
February 9, 2010, 5:09 amEveryone in the world of marketing whether you are online or offline (or hopefully the right combination of the two) wants to better define social media and its uses. Different sectors or verticals see how the various social media tools impact their particular type of business and no two seem to act alike. Much of that has to do with having too...
Should SEOs care about Real Time Social Search?
February 9, 2010, 5:04 amAre you trying to sort out SEO programs for real time and social search? Well, hold on just one second as it may not be wise from a 'task ROI' perspective. We look at some of the recent changes, words from the engines and a perspective moving foreward.
How to Increase the Potential of Your Article
February 9, 2010, 3:05 amMany people after they write an article sometimes assume to just fire it off through a distribution service and call it a day. The truth is that there are still many ways you can leverage and promote an article so that it can help deliver much more exposure than just pushing it through a distribution system. Here are some other ways you can market...
30 SEO Bookmarklets to Save You Time
February 9, 2010, 2:17 amPosted by randfish We all work hard at the SEO process - analyzing sites, gathering data, researching potential problems and identifying the solutions. Today's post is on how to work smarter and faster using bookmarklets for SEO. No matter your browser, these plug-and-play links will let you get your job done faster and easier, and look like a pro...
My 10th TED Conference
February 9, 2010, 1:55 amI've just arrived in Long Beach for the annual TED conference . When I first started going to TED, it was a relatively small, relatively unknown gathering in Monterey, California. But don't confuse relatively small and relatively unknown for relatively uninteresting. Since its inception, the TED conference has been an amazing gathering of people...
Twelve bloggers blogging about SES London 2010
February 9, 2010, 1:31 amThere are a lot more than "12 bloggers blogging" about SES London 2010 . If you want to see a comprehensive list, go to the Search Engine Strategies blog . Click to read the rest of this post.
It's the Audience, Stupid. Why Advertisers just want to Target and Go
February 9, 2010, 12:33 amIn this post I'm going to explore in more detail a theme I've touched on a couple of times before in Facts Are Stubborn Things and Games Advertising Takes Center Stage . And at the risk of sounding insulting - my apologies in advance! - I'm also going to continue paraphrasing past Presidents by saying games advertising is no different to any other...
AdWords Offers Free Online Training
February 9, 2010, 12:16 amClick to read the rest of this post.
Justice Department Opposes Revised Google Books Settlement
February 8, 2010, 11:54 pmLast week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief expressing concerns over a revised Google book settlement. The current revision was submitted to the court on November 16, 2009. The original settlement experienced antitrust scrutiny from the DOJ as well as criticism from a wide range of groups.
When the September 2009 hearing court date...
Report: Google To Make Gmail More Social
February 8, 2010, 10:57 pm"The change adds a module to the Gmail screen that will display a stream of updates from individuals a user chooses to connect with, said one of these people."
Chrome support for Greasemonkey
February 8, 2010, 10:43 pmBack in December, I happened to click on a Greasemonkey script in Chrome and was shocked that it just worked. At the time, I wrote a note within Google that said Whoa. I just clicked on a Greasemonkey script in the latest dev version of Chrome (4.0.266.0 on Linux). Chrome offered to install the GM script, so I said okay. The script ran perfectly...
Google Maps Used to Track Down Street View Car
February 8, 2010, 7:14 pmDo you hate the Google Street View car for its supposed invasion of your privacy? Looks like this is what drove members of the group Free Art & Technology (FAT) when they've attached a GPS device to the Street View car containing Google's camera used for photographing streets in Berlin. So, now with the use of Google Maps, the group were able to...
Google Lowers Nexus One's Early Termination Fee to $150
February 8, 2010, 6:56 pmWell, what do you know? After the FCC formally sent letters to various mobile operators including Google about the high early termination fees that they are charging consumers, Google seemed to be the first to heed FCC's call. So, if you got you're Nexus One with the T-Mobile contract you can now cancel the deal earlier than the 24-months...
Sweethearts Candy Gets an Upgrade
February 8, 2010, 6:39 pmby Claudine Zap Ah, Valentine's Day . Best celebrated elementary-school style with Sweethearts : the Necco heart-shaped candies with the sweet sayings â" like "be mine." Or at least, that's how it was, back in 2009. The candy company has decided that the sugary treats needed an upgrade. If you scoop up a bunch of the multi-colored candies this...
The Upside and Downside of Using Absolute Or Relative Links On a Site
February 8, 2010, 6:20 pm"WebmasterWorld members evalaute the positive and negative aspects of using absolute or relative links."
Google to Break the Language Barrier With Android Translator
February 8, 2010, 6:09 pmGoogle has (possibly) done it again! Word on the street says that Google engineers are working on a translator for the Android smart phone that will translate one language to another- almost completely in real time. Now, there's a few problems in the past that have appeared when trying to do anything involving voice translation. First off, the...
Is Google’s One Trick Pony About To Be Euthanized by Microsoft
February 8, 2010, 4:58 pmExcellent post and foresight by Jeremy about what is coming for Google!
Online Video Views are Not "Lost" on ABC.com
February 8, 2010, 4:01 pmLast Tuesday, the season premiere of the hit television show "Lost" aired, and not only was it watched by over 12 million people, but it drove record online viewing at ABC.com the next day, with over 580,000 episode starts on the site. That's over 34% more than last season's premiere. ABC shared some details with us. When asked why they think this...
TuneWiki Lands Investment From Motorola
February 8, 2010, 3:38 pmSocial media music player TuneWiki has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Motorola Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Motorola. Other new investors of TuneWiki include Intellect Capital Ventures, a venture fund initiative of TeliaSonera, HillsVen Capital, and Novel TMT. TuneWiki's previous venture capital investor, Benchmark...
Spanish Telecom May Seek To Charge Search Engines
February 8, 2010, 3:38 pmThe CEO of Spanish telecom company Telefonica might soon try to obtain some money from Google and its rivals. Cesar Alierta said today that search engines' popularity creates something of a burden for his organization, and that he'd like Telefonica to share in their profits. As reported by John W. Daly , Alierta told Spanish newspaper El Pais,...
Reasons to Have a Facebook Page and Ways to Make it Better
February 8, 2010, 3:14 pmI don't have to tell you that Facebook can be a tremendous source of web traffic . There's a good chance that most of the people you know are on it, and the ones who aren't may be eventually. The social network is consuming more and more of people's time, and thanks to mobile devices, it is always accessible. If you don't have a Facebook Page, you...
Google Going Social'Again? Gmail to Add Streaming Updates
February 8, 2010, 3:02 pmGoogle is know for being highly innovative and keeping on top of the technology train. Android brought the opening of the Google online store . Gmail has an on-going experiment that goes by the name of "Gmail Labs", which you can find hiding in it's parent, " Google Labs ". You can try out various things for size,
Which Brands Scored an Integrated Touchdown at Super Bowl 44?
February 8, 2010, 2:20 pmThis morning, Reprise Media released our 6th annual Search Marketing Scorecard on the Super Bowl , which ranks Super Bowl advertisers based on the level of integration between their television commercials and presence in search and social media â"measuring how prepared each brand was to capture the demand created by their Super Bowl advertising...
Want to Overthrow the Government? That'll be $5
February 8, 2010, 2:15 pmby Mike Krumboltz There are troublemakers and then there are troublemakers. The first group rolls through stop signs. The second type spends their spare time planning to overthrow the government. Should you fall into the second category and happen to live in South Carolina, you'll find you'll have to register with the very government you plan to...
Is Google Launching a Competitor for Facebook/Twitter?
February 8, 2010, 2:14 pmGoogle is rumored to be working on a Facebook/Twitter-like feature for Gmail. According to the Wall Street Journal , who cites "people familiar with the matter", the feature, which would "make it easier and faster" to share status updates may launch as soon as this week. As I've written about a number of times, Google is really one big social...
Facebook Version Of "Madden" Game In The Works
February 8, 2010, 2:08 pmThe most popular video game franchise of all time is heading to Facebook. The end result probably won't boast the lifelike graphics and complicated controls to which longtime fans have become accustomed, but Peter Moore, the president of EA Sports, has promised that some sort of "Madden NFL" tie-in will occur.
"You'll see us...
China Shuts Down Hacker Training Site
February 8, 2010, 1:57 pmAction contrasts rhetoric since Google ultimatum. Click to read the rest of this post.
Can Kindle Resist Apple’s Attempt to Douse It?
February 8, 2010, 1:55 pmSince its unveiling last month, the iPad has been labeled a Kindle killer. The parallels are obvious—the largest (and newest) Kindle has the same size screen, both have Internet connectivity, and both can be used to read books. But that just about sums up the Kindle’s selling points, and the iPad’s features list continues on out...
Bing Launches Winter Olympics Search Features
February 8, 2010, 1:45 pmInstant Answers and Visual Search galleries are given the winter games treatment.Click to read the rest of this post...
Android's Market Share Growing By Leaps And Bounds
February 8, 2010, 1:27 pmIn many ways, the last traces of the 2009 holiday season have disappeared - you won't find many decorations up, presents out, or leftovers refrigerated (we hope). comScore's just released a report concerning the mobile market, though, and the stats are well worth examining. comScore's report covers the changes that occurred between September and...
Kick-ass keynotes at SES London 2010
February 8, 2010, 1:24 pm(This is a long post and the author accepts no responsibility for any damage caused to your scrolling finger.)
The largest search marketing show in Europe is heading back to London 15 - 19 February. And it's jam packed with a mixture of classic sessions, new sessions, top rated speakers, and new talent.
As a parent, I know it's never fair to say...
Report: GMail to Add Twitter-esque Feature
February 8, 2010, 1:21 pmAfter failing to acquire Twitter, will Google now compete? Click to read the rest of this post.
Palin's Palm Holds the Answers
February 8, 2010, 1:21 pmby Mike Krumboltz Remember those quizzes you had on the state capitals back in junior high? Oh, the pressure! The temptation to write "Pierre, Olympia, Dover, Albany" on the inside of your hand was overwhelming, wasn't it? But you resisted. Maybe Sarah Palin should have done the same. The former vice presidential candidate seems to have been...
Android Market Share Growing By Leaps And Bounds
February 8, 2010, 1:14 pmIn many ways, the last traces of the 2009 holiday season have disappeared - you won't find many decorations up, presents out, or leftovers refrigerated (we hope). comScore's just released a report concerning the mobile market, though, and the stats are well worth examining.
comScore's report covers the changes that occurred between...
Abort Your Blog -- 5 Signs It's Time to Drop Your Blog
February 8, 2010, 1:08 pmI decided to share it with Sphinn community because it is hilariously written, funny and gives some food for thought. I don't necessarily agree with all the points (some need "it depends" factor) but I love it.
comScore Reports December 2009 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share
February 8, 2010, 12:51 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry over the three month period between September and December 2009. The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating...
Facebook Changes: Navigation, Photo Uploads and Bing
February 8, 2010, 12:22 pmGet ready for the "Bring Back the Old Facebook" groups. Click to read the rest of this post.
Kim Kardashian, Sarah Palin, Weekend Box Office: What's the Buzz
February 8, 2010, 12:22 pmby Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Bourbon Street cam (Searches increased by +3,137%). If you can't be in New Orleans to celebrate the Super Bowl victory in person, you can always watch from afar. Kim Kardashian (+761%). The reality star said that watching her running back beau Reggie Bush win the Super Bowl was like...
Social Media Better than a Super Bowl TV Ad Spot?
February 8, 2010, 12:09 pmIs social media better than a 60-second ad spot that costs around $3 million. Pepsi thinks so which is why they chose to launch a viral campaign at RefreshEverything.com instead of advertising in the Super Bowl this year. Pepsi plans to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in various categories. People can go there now to submit...
Super Bowl Ad Tweets Determine Brand Effectiveness
February 8, 2010, 11:41 amAs WebProNews reported , Mullen and Radian6 partnered to launch BrandBowl2010 , a Twitter/Super Bowl event that allowed users to see near real-time ratings of the Super Bowls commercials. The two companies have now released the results. They determined that Doritos was the most effective brand to advertise during the Super Bowl, and that Budweiser...
Steal this SEO FAQ: 30+ SEO Questions You Always Wanted an Answer to
February 8, 2010, 11:06 amRecently I've read one of those awfully misguided anti-SEO posts. It linked to another blog post called SEO FAQ . It wasn't an actual SEO FAQ though. It was just another awfully misguided blog post from a guy I have never heard of before and who only reveled in the attention he got from displaying his ignorance. People got angry as usual in such...
Bing and MSN your Olympics Hub
February 8, 2010, 11:06 amWere T-4.5 days from the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics Games. Who are you excited to see flying down the mens downhill course or dancing across the ice? Will you be rooting for your homeland or just your favorite event? Do you know anyone crazy enough to get on one of those luge sleds? Making the trip to Canada or are you planning...
People Don’t Trust People Like You Anymore
February 8, 2010, 11:01 amEdelman’s annual Trust Barometer survey shows that traditional media is trending downward among “informed publics aged 25-64 in 20 countries”—and so is their trust in “a person like yourself” (although much less dramatically).
The executive summary shows traditional media trust is diving, with TV news down 20%,...
7 Awesome Ideas to Use Gmail Filters For SEO Tasks
February 8, 2010, 10:45 amGreat tips from Ann Smarty about optimizing SEO process using email filtering to a achieve higher productivity.
7 Awesome Ideas to Use Gmail Filters For SEO Tasks
February 8, 2010, 10:42 amOver the past weeks, I've come across a few highly valuable and inspiring articles on using Gmail filters as well Outlook rules for better productivity. This actually goes about organizing your email more effectively in order to do your job better and faster. This prompted me to optimize my SEO process using email filtering to a achieve higher...
Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Up 72%
February 8, 2010, 10:23 amWorldwide mobile data bandwidth usage increased by 72 percent in the second half of 2009, according to a new report by Allot Communications.
Applications such as YouTube and Skype are driving this continued momentum in mobile broadband growth. APAC leads the growth with 86%; EMEA posted 70% growth and the Americas 59%.
The report found video to...
New ways to optimize Content Network campaigns
February 8, 2010, 10:18 amWe're often asked, "How can I maximize the ROI from Content Network campaigns?" As part of our new Optimization University initiative, we've developed a Getting Started Guide and a series of 6 videos to help answer this question for you. The guide and videos provide a conceptual walk-through and demo of the major steps involved in executing a...
2010: The Year of the Display Ad for Google?
February 8, 2010, 10:18 amThis could be the year of the display ad. That's not to say that display ads aren't prevalent every year, but Google has only been involved with that for a little while, and if analysts' projections are accurate, this will be the year that Google's display ad business tops $1 billion in sales. Last summer, Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggested that...
Optimizing Your Microsoft adCenter Campaigns for Improved Health Results on Bing
February 8, 2010, 10:12 amBing recently announced an improvement to certain health queries, meaning users are seeing updated organic listings for searches on topics like health conditions (try obesity or dry skin ), medicines (try ibuprofen ), and diseases (try diabetes ). For health advertisers, now it's even more important to focus on keywords in the top of the search...
Google May Invest In Chinese Media/Ad Firm
February 8, 2010, 10:04 amA little less than a month ago, Google announced that it might shut down Google.cn and its offices in China. The search giant may not be giving up on the country entirely, however, as a new report has indicated that it's part of a group attempting to invest in a large Chinese media and advertising company.
According to George Chen and...
How to Get Banned on Social Media Networks
February 8, 2010, 10:01 amYou've lost your account'it's gone. You can't log in. All your activity has been erased. You didn't get an email, not even a warning. You've emailed the site a number of times, and nobody will tell you why you're now a blacklisted member of your favorite social media network. This is a common tale' all too common , in fact. Some social sites are...
How to Get Banned on Social Media Networks
February 8, 2010, 9:58 amYou’ve lost your account…it’s gone. You can’t log in. All your activity has been erased. You didn’t get an email, not even a warning. You’ve emailed the site a number of times, and nobody will tell you why you’re now a blacklisted member of your favorite social media network.
Guest Post: Forrester Wants More Analysts Using Social Tools
February 8, 2010, 9:32 amNote: This post is from Cliff Condon, Forrester's VP in charge of our social media efforts, and represents the company's official position on the topic of analyst blogging. Wow. There are a lot of comments flying around about Forrester's yet-to-be released blog platform and associated policy â" some accurate, some not. The blog posts from...
[WATCH] Super Bowl 2010 Commercials
February 8, 2010, 9:32 amSuper Bowl XLIV had numerous memorable moments: the onside kick, the missed field goal, the Garçon drop, and the truly horrendous half-time show to name a few. But, for many viewers Super Bowl commercials leave the same lasting impact as the game itself, as they should with a price tag of $3.01 million per 30 seconds. This year we saw a plethora...
The World Does Not Begin and End With SEO
February 8, 2010, 9:20 amby Jennifer Laycock Ever notice how when someone finds a solution to a problem they're having, it suddenly becomes the solution to everyone else's problem as well? People who love their chiropractor tell you how much seeing one would help your sore back/sinus problem/shin splints/etc. People who have lost and kept weight off with a specific diet...
Google Working On Translator Phone
February 8, 2010, 9:18 amHoly language gap, Batman! Google looks to be creating some pretty cool futuristic gadgets for its utility belt. Now, when Eric Schmidt puts out the Goog signal he can feel confident that ex-Google employees in all parts of the world will understand the signal without have to spend time changing out the filter on his light signal. (I had to use...
The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion
February 8, 2010, 9:02 amI've found it just doesn't pay to crow too much about what I've accomplished. Sure, I celebrate when things go well. But I've found that talking too much about my achievements leads not only to criticism, but to disappointment. There's always going to be someone who's done more or worked harder. And until they carve my name into the side of the...
Dockers free pants Super Bowl ad tops Hot Searches on Google Trends
February 8, 2010, 8:52 amIf you look at Hot Searches in Google Trends for Feb. 7, 2010, "dockers free pants" ranks #1, "dockers.com/freepants" ranks #2, "dockers super bowl ad" ranks #10, and "www.dockers.com/freepants" ranks #14. Click to read the rest of this post.
SEO standards, accreditation, qualifications and expectations
February 8, 2010, 8:52 amJudith Lewis discusses the need to establish standards in the Search Engine Optimization industry if it is to be taken seriously as a profession, and how that might be achieved. Sphinn seems like the right place for this piece.
Google Display Ad Business Poised for $1 B in 2010
February 8, 2010, 8:47 amWell, since Google’s Super Bowl ad has signaled that it is in trouble by sending some kind of message that there is fear in the air (c’mon people relax it’s not the big deal you may think it is), what does a company that is obviously reeling on its heels look to do? Find other ways to make money of course.
Now I do not believe that...
Google Sets Target For Real-Time Translator Phones
February 8, 2010, 8:28 amIf you think about it, it'd be slightly inaccurate to say that phones let people all over the world communicate with each other; current tech just transmits sounds, not their significance. But Google's looking to knock down language barriers with devices that will perform translations on the fly. This isn't some poorly sourced rumor or random...
eBay Launches Series of Seller Events
February 8, 2010, 8:28 ameBay is starting a new series of events to help small businesses and part-time eBay sellers "accelerate their businesses" on eBay, which has 90 million active users. The series is called eBay: On Location , and has dates set for Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and San Jose. "eBay sellers are creative entrepreneurs who understand that eBays global reach...
Google Superbowl Ad Spreads Parisian Love, Bing Misses Out
February 8, 2010, 8:28 amSearch expert John Battelle called it . Google aired its Parisian Love ad, a 52-second YouTube clip with toward the end of the third quarter of the NFL Super Bowl Feb. 7 between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. The Saints won the contest in Miami, 31-17. Oh, and here's the ad in case you were rooting around in your fridge for...
5 Powerful Ways to Use Google Reader’s Feed Creation Tool for SEO
February 8, 2010, 8:18 amYou may have noticed that two weeks ago Google announced a new feature for Google Reader: the ability to create/track RSS feeds for pages that don’t provide them.There’s a lot of potential here in just about every aspect of web use – personal and professional.Like most tools, the functionality can be used to many ends. The limits are only...
Google Talking Out of Both Sides of Its Mouth on China?
February 8, 2010, 8:16 amWhen Google announced that it would no longer play nicely with China, some suggested that this was a just a ploy to pull out of a country that it was struggling to dominate.
Of course, Google’s official stance was that it was just too much of a compromise to operate any business in China:
We have decided we are no longer willing to continue...
Barnes & Noble Nook Now In Stock Online
February 8, 2010, 8:10 amBarnes & Noble said today its nook e-reader is now in stock online and will be rolling out in the majority of its stores by mid-week. Barnes & Noble sold out of nook stock online over the holidays due to high demand, which exceeded the bookseller's expectations. Since then the company has ramped up production and is shipping stock to most of its...
Online TV Shows May Get More Ad-Heavy
February 8, 2010, 7:46 amFor the most part, online video has been much less ad-heavy than television programming. It is this very fact that has likely been a large part of the medium's popularity. Things may be changing, however. According to Advertising Age, Nielsen is planning on making data available about the viewing of commercials that run in particular shows ,...
5 Powerful Ways to Use Google Reader's Feed Creation Tool for SEO
February 8, 2010, 7:28 amYou may have noticed that two weeks ago Google announced a new feature for Google Reader : the ability to create/track RSS feeds for pages that don't provide them. There's a lot of potential here in just about every aspect of web use - personal and professional. Like most tools, the functionality can be used to many ends. The limits are only...
Link Building Strategies: Checklist
February 8, 2010, 6:45 amWhat are your Link Building Strategies? Do you have any? If you do have any, are you following them? Do you have a link building checklist to follow? These are some questions that you must ask yourself if you want to build quality and quantity links to a website or webpage. With Google using around 200 data points to size up your website, we all...
Link Building Strategies: Checklist
February 8, 2010, 6:36 amWhat are your Link Building Strategies? Do you have any? If you do have any, are you following them? Do you have a link building checklist to follow? These are some questions that you must ask yourself if you want to build quality and quantity links to a website or webpage. With Google using around 200 data points to size up your website, we all...
Two Biggest Advantages of Small Businesses SEO
February 8, 2010, 5:24 amWith search engine optimization , small businesses have two advantages larger competitors often can't match: creativity and agility. By embracing these two philosophies as part of their digital marketing DNA, small businesses can carve out a search marketing strategy that runs circles around larger competitors. Today, we'll briefly explore why...
The Google Webmaster Quiz
February 8, 2010, 4:34 amby Sage Lewis
These are the answers to the quiz that Google put out. Reviewing this is a handy way to see what Google suggests are the appropriate ways of handling the architecture of your site.
Be sure and visit our small business news site.
Hacker Training Site Shut Down In China
February 8, 2010, 4:05 am"Basically students were told how to steal accounts and use trojan programs. Sometimes trainers show us how to write programs,"
What Happened In My Birth Year
February 8, 2010, 4:01 amWhat Happened In My Birth Year is a new site I've been working on. Feedback to this project very welcome, bug reports too! [Thanks Tony , Niniane and Aaron for early testing!
Personalization of Google Results Creates a Huge Advertising Opportunity
February 8, 2010, 3:25 amPosted by randfish Like 150 million or so other folks, I spent today watching the Superbowl. As a marketer, it's hard not to pay close attention to the advertisements, and this year featured a heavy focus on sending viewers to the web . However, I was a bit surprised that we didn't see anything like 2007's Pontiac advertisement : At the end of the...
SEO 101 Rules to Follow NOW!
February 8, 2010, 3:14 amIf you are one of those people that feel like you need to go at lightning speed when you start anything you will want to try to slow things down when you start your search engine optimization efforts. You want to make sure you have the basics down right before you do anything else. The basics will follow you through your entire search engine...
Email Newsletter Distribution And Mailing Services: Guide To The Best Free Online Solutions
February 8, 2010, 1:52 amCommunicating via email in a direct, intimate and informal way remains one of the best ways to market and promote your content, services and products online. This is why the most effective online businesses still rely on crafting quality newsletters and email updates to keep their fans and customers updated, entertained and happy. In this...
Google Maps Makes Nearby Places Recommendations
February 8, 2010, 1:17 amSuggestions run the gamut from competitors to simply next-door establishments. Click to read the rest of this post.
Superbowl of Search Results: Who Scored Big?
February 8, 2010, 1:00 amTell us which search results you prefer for professional football's biggest day. Click to read the rest of this post.
The Elements of an HTML Link
February 7, 2010, 11:09 pmPosted by RobOusbey Links. We often talk about why we want them and how to get them, but today I'd like to go back to basics and look at the constituent parts of the HTML code behind them. This is definitely a post for the new SEO, or web-developer looking to expand their experience, but even experienced search marketers may want to comment the...
The Super Bowl's Buzziest Ads
February 7, 2010, 9:37 pmby Mike Krumboltz Watching the Super Bowl ads is as much a tradition as the game itself. During this year's contest, a few interesting trends emerged. There were commercials focusing on what it means to "be a man" as well as a couple of ads with too many tighty-whiteys (don't worry, we'll explain). A slew of big names like Coca-Cola , Budweiser ,...
Mark Apsolon Viral Video Tips
February 7, 2010, 9:08 pmWhen you start to market your business online depending on how much of a saturation point you reach you will slowly start to reach an exhaustion point and the act of thinking outside the box will be extremely important to keep things moving forward for your business. You can only get so far only doing the same efforts over and over and a viral...
Google Runs First Super Bowl Commercial
February 7, 2010, 7:41 pmWith millions watching, Google ran their first Super Bowl Commercial entitled " Parisian Love ". If it looks familiar, that's because it's one of their "Search Stories" ads which was uploaded to YouTube back in November. You can check it out below... What did you think of the commercial? Tell us . Did you think you'd ever see a Google Super Bowl...
Super Bowl Ads 2010 Face-Off: Google vs KGB
February 7, 2010, 7:31 pmThere were lots of entertaining Super Bowl ads this year, but as an internet marketer, two interested me the most: Google’s first ever TV ad, and the new upstart, KGB.
Forget the fact that Google–the ambassador for new, measurable ads–ran an old-school TV ad, which do you think was the best of the two?
Google Super Bowl Commercial : Parisian Love
February 7, 2010, 7:23 pmWow, Google has really jumped the shark! Tonight marks the first Super Bowl commercial by search engine giant Google which highly showcased its local search offerings, Google Onebox and Direct Answers. If you missed the Google Super Bowl "Parisian Love" commercial, here it is : Watch more Super Bowl Commercials Online Like This Post? You'll LOVE...
Google Superbowl ad: Parisian Love
February 7, 2010, 7:17 pmThe Google Superbowl ad ran in the third quarter of the big game. As CEO Eric Schmidt said in a tweet yesterday, "Hell has indeed frozen over."
Click to read the rest of this post...
Love and the Super Bowl
February 7, 2010, 7:00 pmIf you watched the Super Bowl this evening you'll have seen a video from Google called " Parisian Love ". In fact you might have watched it before, because it's been on YouTube for over three months. We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products...
Watch Super Bowl Commercials Online on YouTube & Bing
February 7, 2010, 5:56 pmIt looks like the Saints finally have a drive going against Indianapolis, and Super Bowl XLIV is looking like it's going to end up being a pretty good game. On top of the game itself, I know a lot of people are not just watching the pigskin, but watching out for the Super Bowl Commercials that will be aired during the game.
Watch SuperBowl Online
February 7, 2010, 4:30 pmIt's a few minutes before the official kick-off of Super Bowl XLIV. If you're not at the Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida and prefer to watch the game at home, here are some of the ways you can watch the Super Bowl online pre-game coverages. National Football League's Official Super Bowl XLIV Website Here's where you can find every bits...
An Extremely Brief History of Superbowl Commercials vs. Random Football Facts!
February 7, 2010, 3:26 pmIn abount an hour, you'll get a chance to vote for your favorite Super Bowl 2010 commercials at YouTube's AdBlitz Channel . But you can vote for the best pre-game YouTube videos now. Click to read the rest of this post.
Facebook search to be powered by Bing.
February 7, 2010, 1:43 pmMicrosoft gets to power the search box in Facebook
View Twitter Reaction Of Super Bowl Ads
February 7, 2010, 1:17 pmMullen and Radian6 have partnered to launch BrandBowl2010, a Twitter/Super Bowl event that combines tweeting, ad reviews and a number of rankings that will allow users to see near real-time ratings of the TV commercials airing during the game. Users can log on to BrandBowl2010 using their Twitter ID, tweet directly from the page, view tweets using...
Why our analysts blog at forrester.com
February 7, 2010, 12:54 pmby Josh Bernoff I'm not a corporate spokesperson for Forrester. But as a prominent social media analyst here, I wanted to comment on the recent discussion regarding our policy on analysts and blogs. Forrester is and has always been a leader with analyst blogging. Charlene Li started this blog you're reading in 2004. We love blogging. And many of...
What Guest Blogging Is NOT: Don't be a douche
February 7, 2010, 12:09 pmI know I have emphasized link building benefits of guest posting quite a few times: but if link building aspect is the first in your list of reasons why you start guest blogging, you are getting it WRONG from the very start.
Connect with Marketing Pilgrim on Facebook
February 7, 2010, 11:24 amWe finally have a Marketing Pilgrim fan page on Facebook!
I know, I know, it’s about time! But hear me out.
You see, I always figured that having a fan page on Facebook wouldn’t be of interest to Marketing Pilgrims. I thought a fan page was just an ugly expression of vanity–did I really feel like people loved this site enough to...
Will Google run a Super Bowl commercial in the third quarter?
February 7, 2010, 11:19 amAccording to a variety of sources, Google plans to run a Super Bowl commercial in the third quarter to today's big game. Click to read the rest of this post.
SES London 2010 â" Microsoft Speaker Line Up
February 7, 2010, 11:01 amWith just over a week to go till Search Engine Strategies in London, our team have been putting their finishing touches to their presentations. Peters session on Bing on the 1st day is really one thats not to be missed. From the conference.
Google to Air Super Bowl Ad?
February 7, 2010, 6:32 amOn their way to become a more normal company, Google went from No Ads to Mostly Good Ads. Two examples are the "story" videos for for Google search and one for the Nexus One phone. Some speculations are that Google will now air an ad in the Super Bowl due in some hours. Wikipedia explains: The Super Bowl has been the championship game of the...
Super Bowl Viewers Spend Game Time on the Web
February 7, 2010, 6:20 amLast year, 12% of Super Bowl viewers used the Internet while watching the game according to data from Nielsen. Those that used the web spent an average of 24 minutes online during the game. It would not be at all surprising if those numbers increased significnatly this year. "Nielsen found that simultaneous users were most engaged in general...
Google to Air Search Stories Ad During Super Bowl
February 7, 2010, 5:02 amIt's a few hours before the Super Bowl XLIV kicks-off but aside from the game later, fans are also looking forward to the commercials that will be aired during the extravaganza. After all, it takes a lot of money just to get a 30 second slot from the prestigious event. And major brands have competed just to air their commercials and brand...
Google CEO Eric Schmidt Tweets Of Google Super Bowl Ad
February 7, 2010, 3:30 amGoogle CEO Eric Schmidt rarely tweets on Twitter - he has posted 15 messages since Dec. 7 2009 - but one he posted Feb. 6 struck like a lightning bolt. The search engine will apparently air an ad during the third quarter of today's NFL Superbowl, which can cost $3 million for just 3 minutes of air time. See Schmidt's tweet : Google has to do...
Domain Level Penalty, Part II
February 7, 2010, 12:23 am
In Part I, we talked about how to determine if your site has been banned or penalized by Google and what to do about it. This part delves more into Google penalty folklore, and how the search engine is constantly changing and evolving to counter nefarious work-arounds that people develop to game the search engine world.
In August and September...
Google Maps Nearby Places Are Too Similar to Be Truly Useful
February 6, 2010, 11:08 pmThe Google Maps team added a new feature that pits competing businesses against one another in a block of local links on Place Pages. Normally I praise the endless rollout of Maps features, but I'm torn about this feature, dubbed "Nearby Place You Might Like." I did a search on Borders Bookstore and picked this entry for Wilton, Ct. It listed nine...
Google Updates and SERP Changes - February 2010
February 6, 2010, 7:48 pm"WebmasterWorld Members discuss the latest changes to Google's SERPs."
YouTube was born five years ago and now it's the fifth largest website in the world
February 6, 2010, 3:57 pmFive years ago in February 2005, according to legend, the idea of YouTube was born after Chad Hurley and Steve Chen experienced difficulty sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party at Chen's apartment in San Francisco. Click to read the rest of this post.
The 'Information' Age
February 6, 2010, 2:45 pmRelevancy is a good thing. It makes search and the world more efficient. Many attempts at relevancy, like search is getting more social , may just create more noise. But computers are getting better at understanding language is a good thing "our measurements show that synonyms affect 70 percent of user searches across the more than 100 languages...
Personal Payments and local bank transfers in India
February 6, 2010, 2:27 pmHi blog readers, it's Anuj from the communications team here. I'm writing to let you know that personal payments to and from India and transfers to local banks in India have been suspended while we work with our business partners and other stakeholders to address questions they have about the service. During .
Cambodia Lambastes Google Over Border Portrayal
February 6, 2010, 1:57 pmThe governments of France, Germany, and Italy are all arguably annoyed with Google. China's not thrilled with the search giant, either. And now, because of the way in which Google's portrayed a disputed border, Cambodia's quite mad at it. According to Reuters , Svay Sitha, the secretary of state of Cambodia's Council of Ministers, wrote a letter...
VodafoneUK NOT to Hunt Beavers!
February 6, 2010, 11:46 amImage: Happy Beaver by stevehdc . Welcome back to the weekly Twitter column. Yesterday many people on Twitter cried out in outrage about a misled tweet from @vodafoneuk - in it some apparently tweeting under the influence employee made a badly spelled comment about the hygiene of homosexuals. Then the person also threatened to hunt for beavers!...
comScore 2010 Super Bowl Pre-Game Survey Reveals Fan Predictions and Importance of Internet on Game Day
February 6, 2010, 11:34 amcomScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results of its annual Super Bowl pre-game survey. The survey of 1,065 U.S. Internet users conducted from February 2-4, 2010 revealed several interesting insights into Americans' opinions and expectations for Super Bowl XLIV, featuring the Indianapolis Colts and...
Pandia Search Engine News Wrap-up Feb 6
February 6, 2010, 8:14 amHere are some of the search engine oriented articles we have found interesting this week. Lost that users manual? You can find it on the Web There are search engines to target manuals (About Feb 4 2010) Microsoft's Bing 'will make money' Bing, which has struggled to make headway against Google,
Frequency of Strip Versions of Various Games (xkcd)
February 6, 2010, 6:23 am[Cartoon from Xkcd by Randall Munroe, ( cc ) free to share but not to sell] [By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Frequency of Strip Versions of Various Games .
Cup of Joe: It’s All About The Benjamins
February 6, 2010, 5:38 amSo, a few days ago I was on Twitter and a friend of mine asked her followers how much she should pay a designer for a new logo. My response was, “well, pay them what ever they invoice you for.” She then explained that this designer didn’t know how to price his logos and needed help. I remember when I first started my business I...
Online News Content And Distribution Strategies: Content Curation And User Syndication Are Next
February 6, 2010, 4:56 amWhat future and opportunities for online news? "After more than five years of Wikipedia building both its content and its brand as a "go-to" source for freshly updated topic-oriented content that dominates search engine results, it dawns on some folks in the news business that perhaps there is a business model in there somewhere."
Photo credit:...
Google Chrome PageRank Checker
February 6, 2010, 2:50 amI was just trying to find out the PageRank of a couple of sites using Internet Explorer's Google Toolbar, but something was broken. Google Chrome has a nice PageRank extension , though. As you can see in the screenshot, it's helpful by immediately showing the actual value instead of just a green bar. A couple of times it reverted to zero after...
Google celebrates Sami national day
February 6, 2010, 2:33 amIn Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland Google is celebrating the Sami national day with a special logo today. The Sami people, one of the largest indigenous groups in Europe, lives in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Their traditional languages are the Sami languages, which are members of the Finno-Lappic group of the Uralic language family....
Position Yourself As An Expert With Guest Blogging
February 5, 2010, 9:22 pmWhenever we talk about guest blogging, the conversation usually focuses on the link building benefits of guest blogging. And while this is certainly one of the best reasons to guest post, I’ve personally found that the increased exposure and the ability to position yourself as an expert in your niche are the most profitable effects of guest...
The Benefits of Self Referencing Links
February 5, 2010, 9:15 pm"I put up a paragraph on the homepage talking about say 'red widgets in oklahoma'. Then I link those words (red widgets in oklahoma) right back to the homepage. In other words, my homepage links to itself, with some nice juicy text."
This week in search 2/5/10
February 5, 2010, 7:33 pmThis is part of a regular series of posts on search experience updates that runs weekly. Look for the label This week in search and subscribe to the series. - Ed. In addition to language improvements this week, we released several other new features: Haitian Creole translation We've now added Haitian Creole (kreyòl ayisyen) translation to Google...
Giant Squids, Giant Pandas, and Creepy Sheep: Buzz Week in Review
February 5, 2010, 7:21 pmby Mike Krumboltz Few things inspire Web searches quite like cute or mysterious animals. This week we had both. Off the coast of California, hundreds of giant squids stormed the beaches, much to the delight of fisherman. And on the East Coast, a couple of adorable pandas boarded a flight bound for their native China. Check out those stories, as...
Quitting the Day Job and Going it Alone
February 5, 2010, 6:16 pm"WebmasterWorld members discuss the many benefits and pitfalls of going it alone."
Microsoft, Facebook Expands Search Cooperation
February 5, 2010, 5:15 pmMicrosoft and Facebook are expanding their mutual cooperation some more as announced on the Bing Search blog . Specifically Microsoft will continue to provide Facebook users full access to Bing features through the Microsoft-powered Facebook search facility. So, soon instead of just giving set of links, Facebook will now provide richer answers...
Faster, Simpler Photo Uploads
February 5, 2010, 4:11 pmFacebook is the largest photo-sharing site with over 2.5 billion photos uploaded to Facebook each month. In order to make sharing photos even easier, today we are announcing a new and improved photo uploader. Recently we've received feedback that people struggle with our current photo uploader due to various technical issues, while others are...
178 million Americans watched 33 billion videos in December
February 5, 2010, 3:47 pmNearly 178 million U.S. Internet users watched 33.2 billion online videos during December 2009, according to the latest data from comScore Vedio Metrix . Click to read the rest of this post.
Google Suggests Competitors for Local Business Searches
February 5, 2010, 3:41 pmGoogle is offering suggestions for "nearby places you might like" on Google Maps when you look up a place that you do like. So if you like a particular bakery, you might be presented with other places within the same vicinity that Google thinks you might also be interested in trying. "When you live in New York City, everyone has an opinion on...
Yahoo Mobile Blog Launches
February 5, 2010, 3:41 pmYahoo may be doing a lot more in terms of mobile before long. Or at least telling us more about its current cell phone-related efforts. Either way, it launched the Yahoo Mobile Blog this week for the sake of keeping everyone up to date. Irv Henderson , who's Yahoo's Vice President of Global Mobile Products, wrote the introductory blog post, and...
Testing How Crawl Priority Works
February 5, 2010, 2:59 pmPosted by mgalecki This post was originally in YOUmoz , and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc. A SHORT INTRODUCTION... We all know that the search engine robots more frequently visit popular pages,...
178 Million Americans Watched 33 Billion Online Videos in a Month
February 5, 2010, 2:37 pmResearch firm comScore has just released data about the U.S. online video market from December. Americans reportedly watched 33.2 billion videos online during that month. 178 million users watched video online. Google sites ranked at the top of the list by a significant margin, just like usual. Hulu was next in line with about a 12 million video...
Green Police & eTrade Up Super Bowl Ante w/ Social Media
February 5, 2010, 2:19 pmSuper Bowl. It's that special time of year where long lost friends and family members are drawn together to eat wings and pizza, while jumping out of their chairs cheering for each touchdown their team makes and giggling over this year's outrageous commercials. It's also the time for companies to participate in the Super Bowl's competitive...
Facebook Sends More News Traffic than Google News
February 5, 2010, 2:00 pmLast week, Facebook posted instructions on how to make FB your “personalized news channel” and minimize nonnewsworthy clutter on their blog. Inspired, Hitwise looked at the numbers, and it looks like Facebook is already well on its way as a news starting point.
Hitwise’s stats show that Facebook is well ahead of some other news...
Forget the spread this weekend'Free T-Shirts
February 5, 2010, 1:56 pmLast week we had you tune in to Jason Calacanis ' web show TWIST to watch Stefan announce the Free T-shirt Friday theme. I was worried no one would catch his #FTF plug to win a free t-shirt or the copy of Brian Soliss book Putting the Public Back into Public Relations but alas, there were a few of you loyal #FTF players that came through. The...
Google Apps highlights â" 2/5/2010
February 5, 2010, 1:44 pmThis is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label " Google Apps highlights " and subscribe to the series. - Ed. Developments over the last couple weeks really showcase how Google's other innovation focus areas â" including Search, Mobile and Chrome â" help make Google Apps even...
AT&T Launches FamilyMap For iPhone
February 5, 2010, 1:32 pmAT&T has introduced its FamilyMap App for the iPhone, which allows users to track the location of family members. Users can download the FamilyMap the App Store on iPhone or at iTunes. Users can track tow phones on an account for $9.99 a month or up to five phone for $14.99 per month. The FamilyMap App can also be used on most other AT&T...
What Dat? Super Bowl on Yahoo! Search
February 5, 2010, 1:19 pmIf you've tuned into any kind of news in the past few weeks, you know Super Bowl 44 is coming this Sunday, when the Indianapolis Colts play the New Orleans Saints . As excitement builds before kickoff, we've seen search spikes by people looking for information on key Colts Peyton Manning and Dwight Freeney , Super Bowl predictions and picks,...
Why Google and Apple Should Take a Look at Siri
February 5, 2010, 1:13 pmThe battle for the mobile Web is getting more interesting, with Apple filing location-based patents that compete with Google's Latitude location feature for Google Maps and both Google ( AdMob ) and Apple ( Quattro ) bidding for ad networks to monetize the mobile Web. Out of Stanford University's research arm comes Siri,
The 8 Elements of a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Campaign
February 5, 2010, 1:02 pmIn order to successfully complete all tasks required in a comprehensive SEO campaign, it is helpful to organize those various tasks and tactics into relevant categories. This allows us to have an organized approach to consistently addressing all elements of an SEO engagement. It also allows us to describe SEO in a way that people can understand...
Eggs, bacon, spam, spam, and spam (SEM 101)
February 5, 2010, 12:56 pmWhat is spam? One could argue that spam is a multi-faceted thing. The word itself has many definitions. For example, it can be defined as a processed spiced ham and pork slathered with a gelatinous glaze food product found in a tin (it's apparently very popular in Hawai'i, don't you know?). However,
Bing & Facebook Expand Search Agreement
February 5, 2010, 12:56 pmTwo years ago, Microsoft purchased a 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240M—and with the agreement that Bing would be providing web search on the world’s most popular social network. That deal is now expanding, according to the Bing blog—to not only take in an expanded, enhanced search but also more countries around the world. Most...
Microsoft and Facebook Adjust Their Partnership
February 5, 2010, 12:50 pmMicrosoft and Facebook have "enhanced" their partnership with each other. The two companies will soon be providing Facebook users with what Microsoft refers to as a "more complete search experience". They will be providing full access to Bing features in Facebook. In addition, the Bing and Facebook connection will be extended globally. Facebook...
U.S. Online Video Market Continues Ascent as Americans Watch 33 Billion Videos in December
February 5, 2010, 12:32 pmcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released December 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that nearly 178 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month. Online video viewing continued to reach record levels in December, with 33.2 billion videos viewed during the...
Pandas Landing, Sumo Retiring, Bronze Man Walking: What's the Buzz
February 5, 2010, 12:03 pmby Vera H-C Chan Our picks from the day's hottest searches. How to Adopt Haiti Orphans (+1,550). Searchesâ"especially from Iowa, Louisiana and Kentuckyâ"show many are willing to go through the process , after the January earthquake increased the orphan population from 380,00 to perhaps a million. Giant panda (+1,194%). Tai Shan and Mei Lan...
Four Square Fatigue and the Evolution of Privacy
February 5, 2010, 11:32 amOver the last few weeks I've started to suffer from Four Square fatigue. After all, Four Square is a lot of work. To get the benefits of Four Square, you need to proactively check in wherever you go. And, while each checkin requires a relatively small amount of work, in the aggregate, it takes real effort to make the most of the Four Square...
Vote For Your Favorite Super Bowl Ads Online
February 5, 2010, 11:03 amBrand consulting and advertising firm Hanon McKendry is holding it second annual online Super Bowl ad poll. Viewers of the game will be able to visit superadbowl.com at the end of the first quarter to cast their vote for their favorite commercial. As votes are casts, the results will be compiled immediately and posted so fans will be able to see...
The Facebook Doppelganger Explosion
February 5, 2010, 10:45 amLast night I was exhausted after being in a meeting at work all day. I had to start studying for an online test I was taking for a class at USF. I was procrastinating and wishing Starbucks delivered. I found myself browsing my Facebook account as people often do when they should be doing more important things. I quickly caught myself clicking on...
Ways to Get Fresh Links to Old Content for Better Search Rankings
February 5, 2010, 10:40 amYou may have gotten some good links in the past, but don't count on them helping you forever. Old links go stale in the eyes of Google. Do you still get links to old content? Tell us why you think that is . Google's Matt Cutts responded to a user-submitted question asking if Google removes PageRank coming from links on pages that no longer exist...
GSMA and comScore Announce UK Launch of Mobile Media Metrics
February 5, 2010, 10:39 amThe GSMA and comScore, Inc., in partnership with operators O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and 3UK, today announced the official UK launch of the GSMA Mobile Media Metrics (MMM) product, a pioneering census-level solution for mobile media reporting. Taking irreversibly anonymised mobile Internet usage data from all five UK mobile operators, the...
From the Bing Blog: Enhanced Cooperation with Facebook on Search
February 5, 2010, 10:28 amThe Bing Blog has the latest on Facebook and Microsoft . From their post: Facebook has been a close and valued partner of Microsoft for a number of years. We have worked together on several fronts all designed to create great experiences and services.
Enhanced Cooperation with Facebook on Search
February 5, 2010, 10:22 amFacebook has been a close and valued partner of Microsoft for a number of years. We have worked together on several fronts all designed to create great experiences and services for our users. As we begin 2010, we are stepping up that collaboration yet again. Here is a sense for what we are up to: First, we have deepened our joint work together on...
Apple: No Location-Based Ads Allowed in Apps
February 5, 2010, 10:22 amCupertino-based company rumored to be launching mobile ad network. Click to read the rest of this post.
Five Areas to Focus On for Effective SEO Copywriting
February 5, 2010, 10:15 amWhen I first started Copyblogger in 2006, I was almost militantly against on-page search optimization. Seems strange, since I'd been a successful student of SEO since 2000. It was because I saw all these people fretting over keywords like it's 1999, and yet they had no links. Their content was weak. Their sites weren't trusted. You can't optimize...
SEMPO Seeking Participants for Annual State of the Market Survey
February 5, 2010, 10:04 amIt's that time again. Click to read the rest of this post.
Facebook Learns from Google : Centers Search Box on Redesign
February 5, 2010, 9:40 amFacebook has come out with a new page redesign which in my opinion, more and more simulated the web browsing experience moreso than just the social mapping experience. The only problem is, with Facebook constantly referring its users to Facebook fanpages and other controlled content within the walls of Facebook, the overall findability quotient...
Special Event: Digg Dialogg LIVE with Toyota's US President
February 5, 2010, 9:28 amHi everyone - Let's make some news! In light of the recent controversy around the Toyota vehicle recall, Digg is hosting an exclusive Digg Dialogg LIVE event just days before the car maker testifies before Congress. We know there are a lot of open questions about how Toyota is dealing with this situation, and we're giving Toyota's top US...
Justice Department Objects To Google Books Settlement
February 5, 2010, 9:16 amThe amended Google Books settlement agreement (ASA) has not impressed the U.S. Department of Justice. A statement the organization issued late yesterday praised the idea of making rare books widely available, but also maintained that there are a number of problems with the proposed deal. The DOJ said, "Under the ASA as proposed,
Google Experiments with Different Google News Design
February 5, 2010, 9:16 amSome people have spotted a new design for Google News, which is part of a limited test experiment Google is running. A Google employee posted the following message in the Google News Help Forum : At Google, we run anywhere from 50 to 200 experiments at any given time on our websites all over the world. Right now, we are running a small test of a...
Google Lets AdSense Publishers Donate Earnings to Haiti Relief
February 5, 2010, 8:53 amGoogle has launched an AdSense feature that lets AdSense publishers donate their earnings to Haiti earthquake relief efforts. "We're currently accepting donations from AdSense publishers with an unpaid account balance through January 31, 2010," says Google's Elizabeth Ferdon. "To see what your unpaid account balance is, please visit the 'Payment...
Google Gets the Department of Justice’s Seal of Non-Approval
February 5, 2010, 8:18 amI can hear it now. We normal folks won’t be able to hear this signal (kind like a dog whistle) but this is being sounded across the US to Washington, DC from Mountain View, CA as we speak.
“Calling all ex-Google employees in DC! Calling all ex-Google employees in DC! (Especially if you still have stock) I repeat – Calling all ex-Google...
Industry Insiders â" Interview with Michelle Robbins
February 5, 2010, 8:17 amWelcome to the kick-off interview of Industry Insiders! As much as I'm getting to know more people through Twitter, I've found that because we all have our own lives and only communicate in 140 character tweets, or when possible, at conferences, that there's really so much yet to learn. So it's my hope that through these interviews, I, and you, my...
More Than Just a Redesign Going on with Facebook This Week
February 5, 2010, 8:11 amIt's been a pretty big week for Facebook. Not only is there a lot of talk about Facebook's potential for becoming the top news source on the web, but the company celebrated its sixth birthday, is passing the 400 million user mark, and began rolling out some new design changes. In addition, the company is said to be rewriting its messaging feature...
NASA Connects Twitter Users To Space Shuttle Crew
February 5, 2010, 8:11 amNASA is inviting the public to send questions for its astronauts via Twitter during the space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Astronaut Mike Massimino will take questions for the crew from the public via his Twitter account until Thursday, February 11. Massimino will be a spacecraft communicator, at NASA's...
MySpace, Chief Product Officer May Part Ways
February 5, 2010, 8:11 amA high-ranking MySpace executive might be ready to depart, according to a new report. Rumor has it that Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn, who's been with the company for less than a year, is making his way towards the exit. This story appears to deserve some heavy disclaimers; since it began to spread, Hirschhorn wrote on his MySpace page ,...
The 3 Biggest Risks You Take With Social Networking Profiles
February 5, 2010, 8:10 amOnline reputation management isn’t always about big corporate brands. In fact, half of my book Radically Transparent is dedicated to building and managing personal reputations.
Just in case you’re not convinced that you need to worry about your personal reputation online, you might want to check out the interview I did with WCCO...
See More Information on Linked Pages with MashLogic
February 5, 2010, 7:54 amWe've seen quite a few FireFox addons aimed at showing you more information while you browse with no or little effort from your part. There are addons that help you predict the linked page content , there is also a way to add a sidebar to Google SERPs containing additional information on search terms or ranked pages. Today's featured addon aims at...
Understanding Google Insights: You Can't Estimate Traffic with It
February 5, 2010, 7:54 amGoogle Insights is an awesome tool for tracking and comparing trends. Most of us use it on a regular basis. However the common misconception of the tool is that it's a regular keyword research and traffic estimation utility. Well, to put it simply, this is not true: 1.
Facebook Slow Rolls New Home Page Design and More
February 5, 2010, 7:08 amFacebook has begun introducing a new home page redesign to about 20% of the total 400 million ‘users’ of the social media platform. It appears as if the gist of the changes are just moving certain elements to different parts of the page so they can get more attention from users. More usage of the functionality means more stickiness means more...
5 Ways to Show Digital Assets a Little Respect
February 5, 2010, 6:13 amDon't ignore digital assets in your optimization efforts Don't fight it: Blended search results, and hence digital asset optimization , are here (at least for now). Text content may be your SEO poster child, but with images, video and audio content often appearing in standard search results, digital assets can no longer be treated as the ugly...
Google Book Plan Runs Into Resistance From US Department of Justice
February 5, 2010, 5:54 am"The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity," the DOJ said."
Google People Hopper
February 5, 2010, 4:14 amGoogle's social network site Orkut has a new application that lets you morph one face into another. Called People Hopper , it was broken yesterday but is working now. I've created a profile for this purpose (I deleted my real one a while ago) and morphed the first picture, Mr. John Cleese, into Tony Ruscoe below: The interesting part here is that...
6 Personas that Google Analytics can't Track
February 5, 2010, 3:10 amThis blog post is a bit of fun that might give you some idea of the sorts of thing that cannot be tracked by your web analytics system' 1. Odysseus Off-Site Image from Litmuse on Flickr This intrepid traveller ranges far and wide across the internet but has so far resisted the siren call of your site.
Microsoft Security Update To Patch DOS Bug, and 25 Other Holes
February 5, 2010, 1:59 am"A 17-year-old bug in Windows will be patched by Microsoft in its latest security update."
Whiteboard Friday - Choosing an SEO Consultant
February 5, 2010, 12:20 amPosted by great scott! Will Critchlow of Distilled (now the preferred consulting partner of SEOmoz ) is back in Whiteboard studios to help Rand discuss how to Choose an SEO consultant-or any consultant for that matter. Whether you're a consultant yourself, you frequently work with consultants, or you're thinking of outsourcing some work for the...
Don't SEO your Business to Death
February 4, 2010, 10:18 pmHave you ever been to a website where there is so much going on you almost start convulsing? There is a thin line between having good on site search engine optimziation and way too much. I often times visit websites where the footer has hundreds of links mashed in between content followed up with even more links. Whoever decided that this was a...
Viewpoints on Privacy for the Digital Age
February 4, 2010, 6:44 pmToday is Data Privacy Day , an international collaboration by governments, privacy professionals, academic institutions, businesses and nonprofits to raise awareness about data privacy and the protection of personal information. For Facebook, privacy is a core component of the products and features we build every day. It is critical that we give...
Social network impact for retailers
February 4, 2010, 5:35 pmSocial networking has become the most popular activity online and visits to the category represented 13% of all US Internet visits in December. As the social networking audience continues to grow, the category has become a major source of traffic for retailers, surpassing categories such as Rewards and Directories, comprised of comparison shopping...
BIGLIST Update: SEM Blog Reviews Snarky Edition 020410
February 4, 2010, 5:23 pmWelcome to the newest BIGLIST review of Search Marketing Blogs . We have a little bit of everything today ranging from Chinese focused PPC to the World's Greatest SEO to a steaming pile of SEO Bull$#*t. Enjoy! If you think your blog deserves to be included, then write a compelling and maybe humorous comment below. We'll almost certainly ignore...
Copyright Infringement Case Clears ISP Of Responsibility
February 4, 2010, 4:59 pm"In the first case of its kind, an Australian court has ruled that an internet service provider cannot be responsible for illegal downloading."
Interview with Andrew Shotland
February 4, 2010, 4:43 pmToday I get to interview one of my favorite reads in the SEO blogoshpere, Andrew Shotland. Andrew runs the Local SEO Guide blog and has graciously taken some of his time to share with us his thoughts on Local SEO. 1. You have an enjoyable, albeit unique, writing style. Lots of people write about things worth reading but much of what they write, or...
'From Paris With Love' and 'Dear John': Critic Roundup
February 4, 2010, 4:32 pmby Mike Krumboltz Another week, another pair of sacrificial lambs for "Avatar" to trounce. This week, two flicks aim for box-office glory, and they couldn't be more different. One is an over-the-top action adventure starring a shorn John Travolta. The other, a weepy love story from the author of "The Notebook." Are critics impressed with either...
Cannes Lions Creative Contest Leads to World Premiere!
February 4, 2010, 4:14 pmWhat began as a contest for young creatives at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival has resulted in a world premiere video on World Cancer Day ! Last June, we gathered some of the best young creative minds in the industry at our Games Advertising Workshop at Cannes. During the session we challenged 3 teams to come up with their...
Domain Level Penalty Part I
February 4, 2010, 3:32 pm
Has your website’s search engine ranking dropped drastically for no apparent reason? It is possible that your site has been hit by a domain level penalty from Google’s web spam team. A domain level penalty means your whole site has been demoted drastically in the search engine rankings – not just certain pages of it. The bad...
House Passes Cybersecurity Bill
February 4, 2010, 3:27 pmThe U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act by a vote of 422 to 5. The bill is aimed at improving cybersecurity within the federal government as well as the public and private sectors by helping to develop a skilled cybersecurity workforce along with coordinating and prioritizing federal research and...
Online TV Still Few People's First Choice
February 4, 2010, 3:27 pmThis week's big TV event was unquestionably the season premiere of "Lost"; lots of people have, over the course of the previous five or so years, become huge fans of the show. But new stats imply that very few of them sat in front of computer monitors on Wednesday, rather than televisions on Tuesday, in order to watch the two-hour episode....
Google Launches Log Search for the Cloud
February 4, 2010, 2:46 pmGoogle just introduced message log search for Postini, its group of cloud security and archiving services. "When messages pass through the Postini service, header and transaction data about these messages is stored in a log," explains Gopal Shah of Google Postini team Previously, admins only had access to this data through customer support. With...
Peeping Broker Spurs a Web Campaign
February 4, 2010, 2:22 pmby Vera H-C Chan With investment banks viewed about as kindly as leech colonies these days, it's important for the poor beleaguered wealthy banker to have a cause. And in Australia, a campaign is advocating for a man's right to be a discreet pervert in the workplace. Here's the awkward back story: An adviser from Macquarie Bank â" AKA the...
AOL Vet Returns from Google to Lead Media/Studios Division
February 4, 2010, 2:05 pmAOL has named David Eun as its new President of AOL Media and Studios. Until 2006, Eun was Vice President, Operations for the Media & Communications Group at Time Warner, where he helped oversee AOL. During that time, he contributed to providing operational oversight and development of new businesses in digital distribution and broadband content....
AOL’s Q4: When Failure = Success
February 4, 2010, 1:44 pmAnd not in the positive “I now know 999 ways not to make a light bulb” way.
AOL’s Q4—their first earnings report since spinning off from Time Warner—numbers have all kinds of red ink and negative signs in front of them: display advertising revenue down 3% total YOY, international display down 22%, search and...
Laughs at the National Prayer Breakfast
February 4, 2010, 1:24 pmby Mike Krumboltz Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much these days. But folks from both sides of the aisle were able to share a few laughs at this morning's National Prayer Breakfast . Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch from Utah stood up to lead the assembled leaders in a prayer. To his side sat the big guy, President Barack Obama . This was no...
"Google Store Views" To Complement Street View?
February 4, 2010, 1:18 pmThe main goal of a typical retailer is to draw people inside and sell stuff, not have folks stare at the store's exterior. It makes a degree of sense, then, that a new report claims something called Google Store Views will continue the tradition of Google Street View within shops. We'll admit: this is an odd, or even silly, concept at first...
Nearly 20% Of Marketing Emails Fail To Arrive
February 4, 2010, 1:18 pmNearly twenty percent (19.9%) of commercial, permissioned emails never reached consumers inboxes in the United States and Canada in the second half of 2009, according to a new report from Return Path. Permissioned email reached only 80.1 percent of consumer inboxes in the United States and Canada during the second half of 2009, a .8 percent...
29% of Companies Have a Social Media Policy
February 4, 2010, 12:32 pmDoes your company have a formal policy on employee social media usage during the work day (or after)? If not, you’re not alone: a report from employment services firm Manpower shows that only 29% of companies have a formal social media policy in place.
Obviously, far more companies block popular social media sites—another study in...
Searchlight on Haiti Relief
February 4, 2010, 12:19 pmAs aid workers in Haiti settle into the anything-but-routine work of helping care for a devastated country, people continue to come to Yahoo! Search to find out how to help victims of the earthquake. Just this week, Haiti-related search spikes turned to " tents for Haiti ," which had 1,000 percent more searches than the previous week. The plight...
Google, Microsoft Meet in The Lobby on Capitol Hill
February 4, 2010, 12:13 pmGoogle and Microsoft compete in search, cloud computing and Web services, but their battles extend from boardroom bargaining with customers to the nation's capitol. Google spent $4 million on lobbying in 2009, up from $2.84 million in 2008 and almost three times the $1.52 million it spent in 2007, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Senate....
Boy Wizards, Designing Kids, Tea Partyers: What's the Buzz
February 4, 2010, 12:07 pmby Vera H-C Chan Our picks from the day's hottest searches. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (breakout). The Super Bowl ad about the Universal Orlando park gets a Web preview. Coconut Water (+4,224%). The latest rediscovered elixir gets even bigger, especially after a Madonna investment . Architectural Digest (+1,326%). The upscale magazine...
Game Day: What do you have cooking?
February 4, 2010, 11:50 amThe office pool, big screen TVs, great commercials, the half time show, friends and family. These are all things that remind me of super bowl Sunday. However no game day is ever complete without a monumental spread of food. Now that weve shared some tips and trick to help prepare for the big game , time for the menu. I know in my house Nachos and...
Bringing log search to the cloud: Introducing Message Log Search for Postini
February 4, 2010, 11:26 amToday, we're introducing a new feature for Google Postini Services: Message Log Search. This feature delivers the search and analysis capabilities normally available with on-premise solutions, but without the associated complexity or maintenance. When messages pass through the Postini service, header and transaction data about these messages is...
comScore Announces Appointment of Chris Nicotra as Chief Technology Officer
February 4, 2010, 11:26 amcomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world today announced that Chris Nicotra is joining the comScore management team as Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Nicotra will be responsible for overseeing comScore's software engineering, data application engineering, and infrastructure technology teams, assuming the role recently...
Facebook hiring in Brazil
February 4, 2010, 11:15 amSocial Networks are very popular in Brazil and Facebook decided to take advantage of that. Looking to expand its user base and searching for brand awareness opportunities, Facebook is hiring a Growth Manager. The opening is posted on FB´s website and it is a 6-12 months engagement, so we cannot say if they will have a full staff soon. But it is a...
Wireless Users With Additional Plans Happiest
February 4, 2010, 11:14 amCustomer care performance scores are higher among wireless customers with additional plan features, according to a new report by J.D. Power and Associates. Customer care performance score were higher among customers with additional plan features, such as extended handset warranties (770 on a 1,000 point scale, on average) and unlimited calling to...
Is Google Bad at Social Media or Really, Really Good at it?
February 4, 2010, 10:50 amGoogle often takes a lot of flack for not being incredibly successful with its social media efforts. Most recently, Caroline McCarthy and Tom Krazit tackled this subject in a CNET article claiming that "Google struggles with social skills." I would not go so far as to say that I completely disagree with them. They make plenty of factual points...
Toyota’s Recall Antics Spread Virally
February 4, 2010, 10:33 amOver the past few weeks I have been watching the Toyota recall fiasco out of the corner of my eye. It began as a news story (which is different than its actual start date) and it has not gone away. Well, you know the online “you know what” has hit the fan when you can go to Comedy Central’s site and see this
Now, it appears that Toyota has...
62 steps to the definitive link building campaign
February 4, 2010, 10:04 amMark racks up yet another link building post that should be on the radar of all you link builders out there. An especially great read if you're just starting out a large campaign.
Contacting Microsoft adCenter Support: Email, Phone, Forums and Help Files
February 4, 2010, 9:57 amQuestions about how to get in touch with adCenter support are among those most frequently asked by our advertisers. You can access support through scrolling to the bottom of the page on both the adCenter site' ' and here on the Microsoft Advertising Community.
Aggregate Your Social Media Life with FlavorsMe
February 4, 2010, 8:47 amMost of us have accounts at dozens of social networking sites and are active at minimum 3 of them. Therefore aggregating this activity is such a good idea: you want to keep your friends updated on all news and stories you share. There are quite a few tools that unite several social networks for you and today I am sharing a new-comer: Flavors.me is...
Twitter.com Users Get New Hovercards Feature
February 4, 2010, 8:42 amTwitter has introduced a new feature for Twitter.com called Hovercards. These are simply little windows that pop up when you hover over any name on your timeline. It's important to note that a lot of people use Twitter through different applications and never even see Twitter's actual site. It is nice to see that Twitter recognizes that people do...
Will Publishers Let Facebook Become the Web's Biggest News Source?
February 4, 2010, 8:31 amI have a question for you. Where do you get the majority of your online news? Is it from a feed reader? Is it from Twitter? Is it from Google News? Yahoo News? Do you spend your time simply checking specific news publications? There is talk that Facebook could become the number one place online for people to get their news.
Here's one for...
Super Bowl 2010 commercials featured (again) on YouTube AdBlitz
February 4, 2010, 8:24 amWould marketers be smarter to take the money they'll spend on Super Bowl 2010 commercials and use it to by YouTube ads instead? Click to read the rest of this post.
Mexico May Crack Down On Twitter
February 4, 2010, 8:18 amIn what might be record time, Twitter has made some enemies in Mexico. The site became available in Spanish only three months ago, and now, certain authorities are looking to regulate it because delinquents and criminals have become heavy users. Michael E. Miller reports that Mexico City officials were originally interested in prosecuting Twitter...
New Text Campaign Aims To Inform Pregnant Women
February 4, 2010, 8:18 amExpectant mothers now have a new resource for health information with the launch of text4baby. The new free mobile health service offers timely and expert health information through text messages to pregnant women and new moms through their babies' first year. The text4baby initiative is a partnership between the U.S. government and a number of...
Twitter Breaks Tweet Count? Or Another Attack?
February 4, 2010, 8:16 amI just noticed that my number of tweets just skyrocketed, according to Twitter.
Apparently, I tweeted 34,000 tweets overnight!
Here’s Google’s cache from last night:
And here’s what’s showing right now:
I’m not the only one to see this. My wife’s just jumped around 10,000 too.
Anyone else seeing this?
...
Mark Cuban Updates His Stance on Google
February 4, 2010, 8:13 amUpdate: Cuban has now posted a lengthy explanation of his stance on Google. Essentially, he appears to view Google as helpful if not necesary for lesser known brands, but as a bad business decision for big names in the news industry.
Oriinal Article: The always outspoken Mark Cuban has contributed his thoughts on the whole news...
Landing Page Makeovers 2007-2009: Where Are They Now?
February 4, 2010, 8:12 amThis is another addition to our ongoing series of tutorials and case studies on landing pages that work. It occurred to me late last year, as I was readying yet another Landing Page Makeover, that the end of one year and the beginning of the next was a good time to do a "Where are they now?" post. So first things first, I went back and contacted...
Google Partners with the NSA? The Same Agency That Tapped Our Phones Illegally?
February 4, 2010, 7:55 amIf you’re a government conspiracy theorist, you probably shouldn’t read this post. You won’t sleep for weeks.
The National Security Agency is rumored to be working with Google in light of the cyber attacks that reportedly came from China.
Think about that for a second. Big Brother just partnered with big brother, to try and fight...
Will Facebook Be the Biggest News Source on the Web?
February 4, 2010, 7:37 amI have a question for you. Where do you get the majority of your online news? Is it from a feed reader? Is it from Twitter? Is it from Google News? Yahoo News? Do you spend your time simply checking specific news publications? There is talk that Facebook could become the number one place online for people to get their news. Here's one for...
C Suite Resignation Via Twitter
February 4, 2010, 7:35 amWhen people in the industry or anywhere else for that matter look to C-level participation in social media Sun’s CEO, Jonathan Schwartz, is viewed as a pioneer. He was the first Fortune 500 CEO to blog. Well, now he has broken some new ground by being the first CEO of his stature (or maybe any for that matter) to tweet his resignation. Yup,...
What NOT to Do When You're Hired'
February 4, 2010, 7:20 amWhile it's obviously not true that a company is only as good as its search engine optimization, it is true to say that even if he/she is quite knowledgeable, a gung-ho SEO person can do a lot more harm than good without a well-thought-out plan to start with . Initially it's more than likely that you're going to have to do some evangelizing within...
7 Tips for Local SEO and PPC Success
February 4, 2010, 7:19 amI count my lucky stars that my fortunes don't rely on SEO and PPC alone. I'm happy to be part of a couple of agencies with a full range of interactive and traditional marketing solutions. That means I don't have to pretend like SEO and PPC always are the best choice for clients. They're not.
70% of Companies Plan to Spend More on Twitter & Facebook Marketing
February 4, 2010, 7:10 amAccording to a new study by Econsultancy and ExactTarget, marketers face a conundrum when it comes to increasing their online marketing budgets in 2010.
They want to do it, but 40% of those surveyed simply don’t have the budget to spend more on marketing this year.
What to do; what to do?
I know, let us reduce our spending on print ads...
SEO 101 - Part 6: Everything You Need to Know About Search Engine Friendly URLs & Broken Links
February 4, 2010, 5:59 amby Stoney deGeyter
The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products...
Nokia to Share Global SEM Tips at International Search Summit
February 4, 2010, 5:15 amNokia's Digital Strategy Manager Steve Capone will be speaking on "How to run a global SEM business" at the International Search Summit on 13th May in London. The session will consider various models for managing international search campaigns, from the perspective of a major global brand with multiple websites in multiple languages. Early Bird...
Google + NSA?
February 4, 2010, 4:28 amThe Washington Post writes: The world's largest Internet search company and the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity. Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said...
Google AdSense Issuing Payment Emails Causes Concern Over Phishing or Spam
February 4, 2010, 4:01 am"...everything looks in order in the headers. Its even to the correct email address..."
Google Teams with NSA to Help Ward Off Cyberattacks
February 4, 2010, 2:57 am"Google and the NSA declined to comment on the partnership. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google's policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans' online communications.
Monster to Acquire HotJobs from Yahoo
February 4, 2010, 2:16 am"Yahoo said it will continue to provide search and display advertising, content distribution and its APT ad platform to its newspaper partners."
Getting Started Publishing on Google News
February 4, 2010, 2:13 amPosted by Sam Niccolls The New York Times, CNN, and Yahoo News each get more traffic than Google News, but in a given month Google News sends almost a billion clicks to publishers worldwide, which makes it an incredibly compelling syndication platform for sites with newsworthy content. But how do you get articles indexed and ranking in Google...
Covario Unveils Display Ad Management Software
February 4, 2010, 12:10 amThe San Diego-based company builds on connection between search and display. Click to read the rest of this post.
Job Search Shakeup: Monster to Buy HotJobs for $225 Million
February 3, 2010, 11:13 pmYahoo! sells off job search site and strikes new ad deal. Click to read the rest of this post.
The Weirdest Thing You'll See This Week
February 3, 2010, 10:38 pmby Mike Krumboltz Political ads are never subtle. And that's by design. After all, there's no time to be delicate when there's an election on the line. Still, even by the lofty standards of past campaign ads designed to terrify voters ( Willie Horton , anyone?), the recent spot for senatorial hopeful Carly Fiorina is a whole new kind of bizarre....
Online Personal Branding Tips to Build Now
February 3, 2010, 10:03 pmOnline personal branding and marketing helps not only your company search engine optimization, but also your own personal search engine optimization efforts. Whether you are trying to find a job or marketing your company, the bottom line is you should strive to build your name as a leader in your industry. The following are some low cost personal...
Vote for Yahoo! Search on About.com's Reader's Choice Awards
February 3, 2010, 4:42 pmYou use Yahoo! Search to look for information on the Web, Yahoo! mail to keep up with friends, and Flickr to show off your pics. Show your love for your favorite tools by casting your vote for the Yahoo! products nominated for this year's About.com Reader's Choice Awards . Yahoo! has been received 15 nominations in 13 different categories,...
Stop Offering SEO Services You Bloody Dimwits!
February 3, 2010, 4:04 pmRishi is our second columnist on SEO Bullshit.com - SNIPPET - Seriously peeps, think about what you are doing and offering. If your strengths as an agency aren’t in SEO (i.e you don’t have someone who has ninja skills) then forget offering it. Seriously. That way I wont have to come and clean up your mess and actually do stuff that I enjoy.
Monster Announces HotJobs Acquisition
February 3, 2010, 3:56 pmYesterday and this morning, reports indicated that Yahoo wasn't having much luck selling its small business unit and HotJobs. HotJobs has, however, found a new home. This afternoon, Monster announced that it's agreed to acquire the property for $225 million, and Monster's reached a traffic agreement with Yahoo, too. The agreement will see...
Yahoo Finds a Buyer for HotJobs, Which Property is Next?
February 3, 2010, 3:38 pmYahoo and Monster Worldwide has just announced that Yahoo HotJobs will be acquired by Monster for a $225 million buy-out. Yahoo has been looking to sell the Yahoo Hotjobs for quite some time now and finally somebody is willing to take it in and pay Yahoo for it. In case you're interested to know, Yahoo HotJobs is not really part of Yahoo's main...
Nothing Like a Tan to Feel Like a Man
February 3, 2010, 3:32 pmby Vera H-C Chan Not in the mood? Blame your pasty complexion. A new study says hiding from the sun like a bridge troll may keep the libido at bay. Curious researchers from the Medical University of Graz , Austria, decided to follow some 2,299 men and measure their male sex hormone levels. They found a corresponding dip in vitamin D and...
Doodle 4 Google Contest Kicks Off
February 3, 2010, 3:16 pmGoogle said today it is holding its third annual Doodle 4 Google contest that allows K-12 students in the U.S. to create their own logo for the Google homepage.
The theme this year is "If I Could Do Anything, I Would." Google says along with the winners Doodle appearing on the homepage on May 27, 2010, they will also receive a $15,000...
How Many Spiders Does Google Have?
February 3, 2010, 3:13 pmGoogle has posted a short but interesting video to its Webmaster Central YouTube channel. A user asked the question, "How many bots/spiders does Google currently have crawling the web?" and Google's Matt Cutts gave his answer.
"It's important to realize that it's not really actual robots or actual spiders out there...instead, it's...
Content Ain't King Without Self Promotion
February 3, 2010, 2:46 pmLisa Barone looks at the importance of self promotion for your content. If you don't talk about it yourself, it might not do well.
A New Sega Console?
February 3, 2010, 2:40 pmby Mike Krumboltz Sega has been out of the videogame hardware business ever since they pulled the plug on the Dreamcast console back in 2002. Now, it appears they're re-entering the fray. Well, kind of. Look up classic Dreamcast games . According to gaming blog Joystiq , Sega will release something called "Zone Sega" this summer in the UK. The...
How Important are Comments to the News?
February 3, 2010, 2:29 pmComments have become part of the news. In the old days, publishers released articles and any reader comments would be addressed on the publisher's own time. In a newspaper or magazine, it may have been in the form of letters to the editor. Sometimes news radio programs would read audience feedback on the air. These things allowed the publishers a...
Microsoft Exec Talks Bing Success/Profitability
February 3, 2010, 2:29 pmHere are a couple of simple facts: Microsoft's online services business lost $466 million during the last financial quarter, and most research firms put Google's share of the search market at least 45 percentage points above Yahoo's. Still, Microsoft believes Bing can be competitive and profitable. Yusuf Mehdi, the senior vice president of...
Google to Compete Against Apple Again?
February 3, 2010, 1:54 pmIs Google preparing to launch its tablet PC that would go up against the Apple iPad ? I mean isn't it enough for Google to have released it own smartphone? Because from the looks of it, Google may actually be testing a new product - a tablet PC to be exact. Recently, photos of a concept tablet PC were spotted at the Chromium Projects website ....
GTmetrix - A New Tool For Google's Speed Factor
February 3, 2010, 1:19 pmby Robert Clough Much has been written about the load time of pages as a ranking factor in Google. If you aren't already up to speed on the topic, these articles are a good place to start: Site Speed, Google's Next Ranking Factor - Search Engine Land Google: Page Speed May Become a Ranking Factor in 2010 - WebProNews So, will Page Speed be more...
SMX West 2010 â" Interview with Danny Sullivan
February 3, 2010, 1:13 pmWith the search engine marketing conference season well under way on both sides of the pond , I caught up with Danny Sullivan editor in chief at Search Engine Land to chat about his team's upcoming event in March in Santa Clara. What.
Get Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Your Honey and Save Some Money at Bing
February 3, 2010, 1:13 pmBing is helping you stay out of the doghouse on February 14. Click to read the rest of this post.
Third Annual Doodle 4 Google Contest Underway
February 3, 2010, 1:09 pmKids show off their artistic chops.Click to read the rest of this post...
Majority Of E-Reader Owners Have No Complaints
February 3, 2010, 1:00 pmOwners of e-readers such as the Kindle report they are happy with their devices according to a new study by The NPD Group.
The majority (93%) of owners said they were "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their device. Only 2 percent indicated any level of dissatisfaction.
Features are important to e-reader owners....
Nexus One Updated with Multi-touch Functionality
February 3, 2010, 12:56 pmGoogle is competing with Apple head on by adding "pinch-to-zoom" functionality to its new Nexus One phone . One of the biggest complaints after launching the device was that it lacked multitouch but a new software update answers that complaint. Other updates included in the software refresh: Google Goggles : Allows image search using the camera on...
Yahoo Patent: Geotagging + Social = Augmented Reality
February 3, 2010, 12:37 pmWhen you think about geotagging, what do you think of? GPS coordinates appended to a Tweet? Picking the location you took a photo on Flickr?
How about notes from your friends? As customary, the US Patent Office recently published a patent filed by Yahoo in July 2008, and in that patent, geotagging takes on a whole new meaning. Instead of assigning...
Report Details Hacks Targeting Google, Others
February 3, 2010, 12:35 pm"There [are] not 50 companies compromised. There are thousands of companies compromised. Actively, right now."
Despite Ad Declines, AOL Posts Profit in First Report Since Spin-Off
February 3, 2010, 12:21 pmAOL posted its first quarterly earnings since being spun-off from Time Warner late last year. Total revenue came in at $809.7 million, down from $974.2 million in Q4 2008, a 17% drop. "We have made significant progress in support of the long-term vision we see in the future of AOL, but today's results continue to reflect the need for our focus and...
Mark Cuban Takes Murdoch-esque Stance on Google
February 3, 2010, 12:21 pmThe always outspoken Mark Cuban has contributed his thoughts on the whole news aggregation/Google News/publisher debate, one that is most often credited to Rupert Murdoch . It appears that Cuban has a similar opinion on the matter. Cuban spoke at a keynote address this week at the AlwaysOn OnMedia NYC 2010 Conference, and is quoted by numerous...
Yahoo's Business Garage Sale Not Going Well
February 3, 2010, 12:21 pmGo to the Yahoo Small Business homepage, and you'll be informed that "PC Magazine named us 'Editors' Choice.'" It seems that not many other entities are interested in either Yahoo's small business unit or HotJobs, however, as plans to sell both may have fallen through. More than six months ago, report s indicated that Yahoo was trying to get rid...
Repurposed Autos, Sperm Whale, Behavioral Therapy: What's the Buzz
February 3, 2010, 12:04 pmby Vera H-C Chan Our picks from the day's hottest searches. Illinois Primary (+634). A hot contest for Obama's old Senate seat has emerged between Democrat Alexi Giannoulias (+361%) and Republican Mark Kirk (+229%) Car Crazy Desks (+401%). At last, a way to preserve your first car forever, and not annoy your wife. Too much. Capt Phil Harris...
Newspaper Sites Attracted 37% Of All Internet Users
February 3, 2010, 10:55 amNewspaper websites attracted an average monthly unique audience of 72 million visitors in the fourth quarter of 2009, representing 37 percent Internet users. The figures come from a custom analysis by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America. Newspaper websites users generated more than 3.2 billion page views during the quarter,...
2010 MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Guide
February 3, 2010, 10:43 amOne of the most trusted sources of marketing research and information is MarketingSherpa. I've been a subscriber for many years and always look forward to the reports on Search Marketing, Email Marketing and B2B Marketing. Last year MarketingSherpa started conducting research and publishing a Benchmark Report on social media marketing.
Google Wave Gets Project Management Via Wrike.com
February 3, 2010, 10:37 amGoogle Wave has been in the wild for months, and Google has confirmed to me that more than 1 million people are actively using it. But enterprise adoption of Wave may well be predicated on how many extensions are built for the open source Wave platform that will help knowledge workers better collaborate. Wrike.com , which makes a well-regarded...
YouTube Nets $10Grand from Video Rentals
February 3, 2010, 10:01 amYouTube conducted its first test of a video rental service last month with five independent films from Sundance Film Festival. In the ten days of the test, the rentals received a total of 2684 views, according to the New York Times. At $3.99 a pop, YouTube brought in $10,709.16.
If YouTube could sustain both of those rates on rentals at large,...
You May Be the Biggest Threat to Your Twitter Account
February 3, 2010, 9:51 amTwitter initiated a password reset to a bunch of user accounts who were suddenly following a couple of suspicious accounts. These accounts were determined to be involved in phishing scams related to torrent sites. "It appears that for a number of years,
Does SEO Copywriting Still Matter?
February 3, 2010, 9:45 amIf there's any one thing that can be said about SEO with certainty, it's that it manages to cause a lot of confusion. For example, it seems like many people's idea of SEO was formed 10 years ago, and hasn't bothered to change with the times. Even an online veteran like Robert Scoble is completely clueless about modern best practices for search...
Spend less, love more
February 3, 2010, 9:16 amI have a confession to make: Im a Valentines Day scrooge. Despite that, Valentines Day still sneaks up on me every year and while I might consider saying Bah humbug to Cupid, I just cant. Duty calls, and because I have some very special family and friends in my life, I feel obligated to do a bit more than a drugstore greeting card and a box of...
More Marketing Dollars Shifting from Offline to Online
February 3, 2010, 9:10 amEconsultancy and Exact Target have released a report based on joint research, polling over 1,000 marketers about their brand reputation strategies. The research found that marketers are slashing their budgets for radio, TV, and print, while looking online to build their brand reputation. The firms say the research indicates there will be a 17%...
How to Hire Great Talent and Keep Them Happy!
February 3, 2010, 8:53 amIn my ten years of designing and developing websites for clients, I can count on one hand how many I had a truly great experience working with. Being a web designer can be tough at times. Many people don't take the profession seriously. We strive to maintain our creative/artistic side but long to be seen as professionals. It's a battle that seems...
Heavy Internet Use Linked To Depression
February 3, 2010, 8:47 amPeople who spend large amounts of time on the Internet are more likely to show signs of depression, according to a new study by psychologists from the University of Leeds. The study found "striking" evidence that some users have developed a compulsive Internet habit in which they replace real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and...
My Experience with Outbrain "Good Advertising"
February 3, 2010, 8:12 amOutbrain "Good Advertising" which is meant to achieve a great aim " Reader Trust First, Revenue Second " is all basically about the following: (1) Bloggers grab their widget that allows readers to rate the bloggers' articles. (2) Advertisers then pay for placing their "Sponsored" links in that widgets ($10 per month per each link); (3) If the...
Difficulties in Starting an MCC Account
February 3, 2010, 8:12 amOne of the most popular posts I have written here on Search Engine Journal is " Start a Google AdWords My Client Center in 2 Easy Steps ." Now, I say popular not based on the number of comments, rather on the number of emails I get from people trying to set up their MCC account, and failing to get it work. The hardest part of starting an affiliate...
Yahoo Loses Patent Infringement Case, $12.4 Million
February 3, 2010, 8:06 amIMVironments - the little background themes for Yahoo Messenger - have gotten Yahoo in a lot of trouble. The company's lost a patent infringement case that concerns them, and as a result, is supposed to pay a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation $12.4 million. With no offense intended to Yahoo's lawyers, it's safe to say that the odds never...
AOL Shares Financial Results of the Transition Period
February 3, 2010, 8:06 amAOL has announced it Q4 earnings, which show how the company performed during its final days as part of Time Warner, as well as the beginning of its transition to the current incarnation. "We have made significant progress in support of the long-term vision we see in the future of AOL, but today's results continue to reflect the need for our focus...
Using the Same Login Across Multiple Sites? You’re Not Welcomed at Twitter!
February 3, 2010, 7:52 amDo you use the same username and password across multiple web sites?
Then you’re not welcomed at Twitter!
That may sound like an exaggeration, but read this statement from Twitter, then you tell me if I’m exaggerating:
The takeaway from this is that people are continuing to use the same email address and password (or a variant) on...
The Third Tribe is Live (and on the move . . . )
February 3, 2010, 7:20 amThose of you who subscribe to the Internet Marketing for Smart People email newsletter found out on Monday what Brian and I have been up to for the past few months. We knew it would be cool, because, well, we designed it to be cool. We wanted to build something people would really get value from. But still, when we saw what people were doing...
Mark Cuban's Mahalo Wants Your Blood (And Gets it TOO!)
February 3, 2010, 7:14 amMark Cuban recently talked about how search engines and content aggregators are vampires. There is no reason to be indexed in Google. ... You haven't gotten anything back But he failed to disclose how his Mahalo investment loots content. If Google is a vampire (while sending away billions of Dollars of traffic for free) then what does that make...
This week in search 1/31/10
February 3, 2010, 7:09 amThis is part of a regular series of posts on search experience updates that runs weekly. Look for the label This week in search and subscribe to the series. - Ed. From Google Squared enhancements to search becoming more social, this week brought a slew of exciting and (we hope) useful search feature releases: Social Search Sometimes, there might...
SEO Toxin: Directory-like URI Structures
February 3, 2010, 6:33 amWell gang...we went and did it. A few of us (Sebastian and SEOmofo) were joking about starting a site for ranting and while fnuny, it also seemed a good idea. So we did it. This first offering is from Sebastian and the comments are open... Let the fun begin!! You can expect a fairly steady stream as we have other authors already joining the fray....
Upcoming TopRank Social SEO & PR Events
February 3, 2010, 5:24 amOur team works hard to stay on top of current best practices and as a result, we're asked to speak at a variety of conferences, workshops and webinars. One of the goals at TopRank Online Marketing is to help companies better understand the current landscape of the digital marketing & PR environment. That includes strategies that can be executed...
Things to consider when adding Linkbaiting to your Online Marketing strategy
February 3, 2010, 5:00 amLinkbait is a technique not a strategy, it involves creating web content for the specific, primary purpose of getting links pointed to your website. There are of course other areas where linkbait can be useful, but ultimately it’s about links.
Using the hReview Microformat for your Review Pages
February 3, 2010, 4:29 amNice writeup on how to markup your review content so that it gets shown as a rich snippet in Google, along with links to useful resources, and examples of websites already marked up with rich snippets displayed in Google
The Brain-Computer Interface X Prize
February 3, 2010, 4:16 amH+ Magazine writes : Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites recently rolled out SpaceShipTwo, a commercial passenger spaceship designed after the winning ship that captured the $10M Ansari X PRIZE for spaceflight in 2004. (...) The latest X PRIZE, however, has nothing to do with the commercialization of outer space. The Brain-Computer Interface...
SEO Industry Advice - Understand Your Client!
February 3, 2010, 3:11 amDuring tough economic times it is very easy to want to take on every client possible in order to keep things moving. If you want your business to be profitable you must really understand your client's needs and goals ahead of time. You really have to understand their needs along with their expectations before you take them on as a client. Make...
Twitter Identifies File Sharing Username and Password Scam
February 3, 2010, 1:34 am"We strongly suggest that you use different passwords for each service you sign up for."
Google Chrome OS Tablet Design Exploration
February 3, 2010, 12:54 amGoogle's Chromium.org site contains some pictures "of how a Chrome OS tablet UI might look in hardware" . Design studies for other hardware are available too. [Pics CC-licensed by Google.
Google Wants to Suck Your Blood!
February 3, 2010, 12:38 amIt looks like more people want to join the anti-Google chorus because it is the cool thing to do. Of course, if you want to be unique you can’t just use regular old curse words because Steve Jobs took that one. Rupert Murdoch doesn’t really call Google names but he does think that their business is taking advantage of his hard work. So what to...
Google Searches Follow To Your Mobile Life – If It’s An Android
February 2, 2010, 11:29 pmGoogle continues to bring more and more functionality to the Google experience and in a huge coincidence the latest improvements only run on Android phones. Hmmm……wonder why they would do that?
In a nutshell, Android devices can now access searches made on your computer or other devices. If you do a search query on your desktop then hit the...
Senior Marketers Need Greater Accountability
February 2, 2010, 11:16 pmPosted by randfish I ran across this survey data eMarketer released last week and my heart sank: This first chart looks innocent enough. It's when you look at the next one (from the same report) that things get ugly: As a CEO, an SEO, a web marketer and a participant in social media, this drives me absolutely crazy. The very last item on the...
SEM Intermediate Series: Strategies for Improving Ad Position in Microsoft adCenter
February 2, 2010, 10:25 pmThis is the 2 nd post in the SEM Intermediate Series , a collection of posts intended for search engine marketing professionals looking for guidance in monitoring and adjusting the key performance indicators (KPIs) that determine the success of a PPC.
Reuters Retracts
February 2, 2010, 8:02 pmby Mike Krumboltz On Monday, Reuters posted an article entitled "Backdoor taxes to hit middle class." As one can imagine, the article was critical of President Obama's budget. Shortly after the article went live, the White House contacted Reuters and asked that the story be removed. The reasoning: the article was wrong, plain and simple. Reuters...
Did YouTube Block Marijuana Questions in Obama Interview?
February 2, 2010, 8:02 pmGoogle's YouTube allowed viewers to submit a question for US president Obama. Over 11,000 questions were asked and over 667,000 votes were cast, YouTube writes, saying they "collected the top questions". Now, Toke of the Town however writes that "YouTube Censors Marijuana Question In Obama Interview": Yes, questions about marijuana were the most...
Upcoming SEO Courses from Victoria SEO at Camosun College
February 2, 2010, 6:30 pmVictoria SEO specialist, Ross Dunn ( CEO of StepForth Web Marketing Inc. ) will be teaching two web marketing courses at Victoria's Camosun College Interurban campus this February and March. The first course in February is focused on teaching business owners how to improve their search engine rankings under local search results.
Ecommerce Web Site Fonts And Sizes That Work Best
February 2, 2010, 6:18 pm"WebmasterWorld members discuss the best fonts and sizes for an ecommerce site"
An App Store for Google Docs, Gmail?
February 2, 2010, 6:13 pmThe Wall Street Journal writes: Google Inc. is preparing to launch a store selling online business software that integrates with its Web services, according to people briefed by the company, enlisting software developers in its battle against Microsoft Corp. These people said the store will sell business software designed by outside developers to...
Finding Out a Visitor's Name by Checking Their Social Network Browser History
February 2, 2010, 5:50 pmIn A Practical Attack to De-Anonymize Social Network Users , the authors write: In this paper, we introduce a novel de-anonymization attack against users of social networking sites. In particular, we show that information about the group memberships of a user (i.e., the groups of a social network to which a user belongs) is often sufficient to...
Introducing a new Rich Snippets format: Events
February 2, 2010, 5:50 pmWebmaster Level: All Last year we introduced Rich Snippets , a new feature that makes it possible to surface structured data from your pages on Google's search results. So far, user reaction to Rich Snippets has been enthusiastic - after all, Rich Snippets help people make more informed clicks and find what they need even faster. We originally...
The Past Wives of James Cameron
February 2, 2010, 4:58 pmby Vera H-C Chan The way Hollywood watchers are telling it, the Oscar showdown between directors Kathryn Bigelow (" The Hurt Locker ") and James Cameron (" Avatar ") is a UFC grudge match of the century. Ten movies and five directors are competing, respectively, for Best Picture and best director, but the gossips have their sites locked on these...
Dallas Cowboys Beat Colts, Saints for Most Searched NFL Team on Bing
February 2, 2010, 4:18 pmTeam Manning and Team Brees, eat your hearts out. It's Team Romo that won the search bowl - at least on Bing. That's right, the Dallas Cowboys were the most searched NFL team on Bing this season. They beat out both teams that will play in the Superbowl this coming Sunday - the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. If you're wondering why...
Google Introduces Multi-Touch To Nexus One
February 2, 2010, 3:49 pmWhen the Nexus One was released, comparisons to the iPhone were unavoidable, and a respect in which the Android device came up short was multi-touch. Now, though, an over-the-air software update should allow Nexus One users to pinch and zoom to their hearts' content. Pinch-to-zoom functionality's will work when people are fiddling with the...
Google Adds Personalized Suggestions to Maps for Nexus One
February 2, 2010, 3:32 pmSee? Here's one of the many reasons why the Nexus One phone could become a better Google-centric smartphone than the iPhone. Being a Google property, it will always gets the first-hand at various Google mobile services. Take the case of the Google Maps for Mobile for Nexus One which just got a nifty feature - personalized suggestion and...
Ad Networks See Increased Adoption
February 2, 2010, 3:26 pmThe majority (69%) of media planners and agencies now use online advertising networks as part of their digital ad buys, representing a 24 percent increase in the past 18 months, according to a new study by Adify Media. "Especially in light of the Dynamic Logic study that found that creative quality is 50 to 75 percent responsible for campaign...
Google Launches 2 New Mobile Features for Maps
February 2, 2010, 3:26 pmLast week, Google introduced personalized suggestions for Google Maps. This lets signed in users who have web history enabled find places faster as Google suggests places based on past searches. Now they have launched the feature for Google Maps for Mobile on Android. "If you often use both a computer and a mobile phone in your daily routine, it...
Why Everything You Were Told SEO Was About Is Now Wrong
February 2, 2010, 3:21 pmOver the last few years (in-fact year after year), website owners with traditional businesses have always felt that there must be "free" web traffic out there. Most have heard of the phrase "Search engine optimisation" (SEO) and probably even more fell into one or more of the snake-oil companies promising the earth. It is well worth the non-SEO...
Google Chrome OS Team Answers Apple iPad With Tablet UI
February 2, 2010, 3:08 pmFresh pictures of Google's Chrome Operating System running on a tablet computer are dominating high-tech talk today. Here's a glimpse: People are anxious to see what Chrome OS can do. Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google, said Chrome OS is slated to appear on netbooks first in the November-December 2010 timeframe. There's...
LinkedIn Allows Users To Edit Profile Layouts
February 2, 2010, 2:28 pmIt's no secret that most people like having a measure of control, and today, LinkedIn gave it to them. Members of the professional network can now rearrange their profiles' sections in order to highlight whatever parts of their resumes make them proudest. Aaron Bronzan, an associate product manager, explained the change on the LinkedIn Blog . He...
Improving Arabic searches and talking more about ranking
February 2, 2010, 2:10 pmMoustafa Hammad and Mohamed Elhawary, a couple engineers in our search quality group, just did a nice post about improving Arabic language searches : Our algorithm employs rules of Arabic spelling and grammar along with signals from historical search data to decide when to leave out spaces between words or when to remove unnecessarily repeated...
Colts and Saints Can't Mess with Texas
February 2, 2010, 2:10 pmThe Saints and the Colts may be our super star teams this year, but neither team takes home the title of most searched for on Bing. In fact, the most popular team on Bing didnt even make it to the Conference Championship game this year. But their hunky quarterback drew enough attention for his actions off the field to make this team super popular...
Social Media Case Study: Piper Aircraft Launches PiperSport Light Sport Aircraft on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
February 2, 2010, 2:05 pmCan you use social media to sell a $140,000 product? Click to read the rest of this post.
Best of Digg: January Comments
February 2, 2010, 2:05 pmWe all know that Digg is a fantastic resource for discovering the most interesting content the Web has to offer. But just as entertaining as the submissions are the conversations the Digg community builds around the news stories, funny images and quirky videos that hit the homepage. Author: T.J.
Social Network Traffic to Retail Grows
February 2, 2010, 1:43 pmWe’ve seen the trend for a long time: social networks are sending more and more downstream traffic to retail sites. Hitwise has the numbers from December—and the downstream traffic from social networks is up 37%.
The change doesn’t look super significant, I know, but it’s the biggest percentage increase for any category....
NY AG Calls On Kids Websites To Add More Protections
February 2, 2010, 1:22 pmNew York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said today he is calling on social networking sites at aimed at children to provide more protections against the threat of sexual predators.
Cuomo said that the Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) law he authored has now resulted in the removal of accounts associated with at...
So Long ClickZ News Blog
February 2, 2010, 1:01 pmA quick note, readers, to let you know that this blog will soon be shuttered and its content merged with ClickZ's regular news and features coverage. The news and commentary you're used to seeing here will soon begin to appear over in ClickZ's regular news section . To subscribe to all our news content, please see our e-mail newsletter and RSS...
Wordpress Blogging from Android Devices
February 2, 2010, 1:00 pmWordpress has announced the launch of Wordpress for Android (1.0). It is currently available in the Android Market. A lot of what we do on the web is now done from mobile devices, so it only makes sense that this would include blog management.
While it may not be the most convenient way to write a new post, users may find it particularly helpful...
Coke Clobbering Pepsi on Facebook, But Not on Twitter
February 2, 2010, 12:44 pmOne has to credit Pepsi's commitment to charitable programs in its "Refresh Project," which will ultimately donate $20 million to local community projects. For more than a month, the soft drinks maker has been hammering the PR message that it's going to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media entities to promote the initiative.
Why some SEO firms don't employ copywriters
February 2, 2010, 12:39 pmLast week, I heard from a very frustrated prospect. This nice man had been working with a SEO firm for a few months. The firm had been doing all the back-end stuff that needed to be done: Cleaning the code, creating new Titles, building links and generally sprucing up the site. In general, the company did an OK job making the site more visible to...
Stealth Fighters, Wiccan Beliefs, "Lost" Worship: What's the Buzz
February 2, 2010, 12:33 pmby Vera H-C Chan Our picks from the day's hottest searches. Sukhoi T-50 (+2,579). The Russian stealth fighter took its " maiden flight " late December, but the rah-rah reporting of its awesomeness is unrolling now. Joe Mauer (+523%). Any day now, the American League's MVP should extend his Minnesota Twins contract another decade. Reserve America...
Google Rumored to Be Working on Apps Store
February 2, 2010, 12:26 pmAccording to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, Google plans to launch a store where it will sell online business software for use with its own Google Apps products. The Times cites "a person familiar with the project" and the Journal cites "people briefed by the company."
"These...
Stanford Endorses Google Books Settlement
February 2, 2010, 12:11 pmThe last few months were probably long and hard ones for members of the Google Books team; it had started to seem like the whole world objected to their proposed scanning and sharing settlement. But it turns out that Stanford is on Google's side, as a new deal was announced this afternoon.
Stanford and Google first sealed a book-related...
And the Best Search Engine for Oscar Nominees Goes to.....
February 2, 2010, 12:09 pmWhich search engine is the best for info on Oscar nominations? Click to read the rest of this post.
20 PR Blogs You Should Be Reading
February 2, 2010, 12:00 pmLet’s be honest: PR Fuel isn’t the only PR blog out there. And while I like to think we do a good job of providing useful information here, the truth is there are some other truly great PR blogs. So, if you want a well-rounded education...
Gmail Search Becomes More Like Google Search
February 2, 2010, 11:32 amLast year, Google released a Gmail Labs feature that added a search box for regular Google Search within Gmail. The lab is simply called Google search. However, it didn't provide all of the features that the real Google search does. They have now taken steps to improve the feature's capabilities in the following areas:
- Dictionary definitions
-...
AP & Yahoo Reach Deal; AP & Google Next?
February 2, 2010, 11:25 amThe Associated Press has long had a rocky relationship with the Internet. Two years ago, they were suing people for linking to their stories. Then they sent C&Ds to people using short quotes. After much deliberation, they decided that you could quote them for free—if you used less than five words. After that, prices started at...
Digging Deeper Into Ask.com's New 'Question of the Day' Feature
February 2, 2010, 11:11 amYesterday, I had the opportunity to chat with Ask.com U.S. President Doug Leeds about the new "Question of the Day" feature that debuted this week. Leeds championed the new feature internally at Ask.com and is quite passionate about how it reflects the brand's larger search strategy. Leeds informed me that the Question of the Day feature first...
Tripping Link Filters
February 2, 2010, 10:31 amThis is an exact question I am asked a lot by people, so I felt it was worth a Sphinn.
Clicker Partners With UCLA On Online Video Site
February 2, 2010, 10:20 amOnline video guide Clicker said today it has partnered with UCLA on a new service bringing online entertainment and university video content to students via the school's Web portal, MyUCLA.
The partnership between Clicker and UCLA will give students access to content from sites and networks like ABC, MTV, PBS, Hulu and YouTube. The content will...
Why Search Engine Optimization Isn’t Snake Oil (Even If Dave Sifry Says It Is)
February 2, 2010, 10:18 amSimon Abramovitch 'Defender of SEO' says "Last fall, I attended the Oxford Social Media Convention 2009, where Technorati founder Dave Sifry proudly announced that “SEO is snake oil, and that if anyone in the audience was approached by someone offering SEO, they should run.” The audience chuckled and moved on. I think I must have been the only...
Local.com Reports Q4 2009 Earnings
February 2, 2010, 10:13 amLocal search site Local.com reported their Q4 2009 earnings today. Revenues of $16.4 million an increase of 8% over the Q3 2009 revenue of $15.1 million. Adjusted Net Income was $2.0 million, an increase of 49% over Q3 which came in at $1.3 million.
Traffic for owned and operated sites in Q4 was 45 million uniques per month, up 4% from Q3 2009...
Old Version of AdWords API Nears Expiration Date
February 2, 2010, 9:49 amUpdate: Google is reminding users of the AdWords API that on April 22, most of the services related to v13 will be turned off.
Google is telling users to switch to v200909 as soon as possible to avoid any complications.
Original Article: Google has launched the newest version of the AdWords API v2009 beta. That would be version...
Microsoft Makes Mobile Ad Targeting Easier
February 2, 2010, 9:14 amMicrosoft has launched full HTML device targeting for advertisers, so that they can easily target mobile display ads to all handsets that can render full HTML sites (including sites developed for the PC Web). Such devices include iPhone, Android, and full HTML browser Windows phones and Blackberry devices.
"Targeting full HTML mobile devices...
Google Sets Record Straight on Page Speed as Ranking Factor
February 2, 2010, 8:52 amLate last year, in a conversation about the Caffeine update, Google's Matt Cutts told WebProNews that page speed could become a factor Google looks at for ranking search results. His comments received a lot of attention, because Google has never taken this into consideration for ranking websites in the past. The notion that they would do so riled...
Beware of Google Agent 007
February 2, 2010, 8:42 amGoogle is so good at what it does that it actually uncovers illegal acts and helps bring perpetrators to justice. Well that may be a bit of a stretch but in the “is that really news department” is an incident where the roving Google camera caught a Canadian tree-killer in the act. As a result, the parties that were committing “treeicide”...
Blogify Your Static Website for Google
February 2, 2010, 8:33 amThe problem with the “static” websites is that Google eventually realizes that the websites are not being frequently updated, and so it makes a point of not crawling these websites as often as it would blogs that are updated regularly. This can result in a huge time lag between the time content is added to a webpage and a Googlebot returns to...
Google Luring More Account Users with New News Feature?
February 2, 2010, 8:23 amGoogle News continues to become a much more personalized experience for users. Back in November, the company launched the Custom Sections Directory feature, which lets users set up sections on topics of interest, which they can share with other users.
Now Google has added the ability to star story clusters that are of interest to each user. You...
Is Real Time Search Good For Brand Marketing?
February 2, 2010, 8:04 amLast week, I wrote a guest post on the Social Media Examiner about real time search and it’s affect on businesses. Now that Google and other search engines are displaying real time feeds from Twitter and Facebook in the search results, brands need to understand the implications. I would suggest reading the full article; but here is a quick...
Yield Launches Free SEO Product, Updates Premium SEO Solution
February 2, 2010, 8:00 amYield Software has launched a new FREE product called SEO Analyzer. To use the tool, simply go directly to YieldSoftware.com and look for SEO Analyzer. Type in the URL you wish to analyze and your email, then click Submit.
First impression? SEO Analyzer tool works fast. Many free tools are slow and you can practically write a thesis while it...
Google Offers $5.7 Million In Research Funding
February 2, 2010, 7:56 amGoogle said today it is increasing its funding for 12 university projects to further advance research in areas the company is interested in developing.
Google Focused Research Awards, totaling $5.7 million, include four categories: machine learning, the use of mobile phones as data collection devices for public health and environment monitoring,...
Google News Enables Starring
February 2, 2010, 7:48 amYou can star an email in GMail. And you can star an item in Google Reader. Now, starring has come to Google News.
To use the feature, simply click on the star next to a news item.
When you want to look at all of your starred items, look for the link in the left sidebar:
A page will load with all of your starred items:
Why Aardvark’s Social Search Engine Might Suffer from “Participation Fatigue”
February 2, 2010, 7:46 amLet me ask you something, are you happy with the search results you receive from Google?
If you were to guess how often Google gives you exactly the result you were searching for–on your first search query–what would that look like? 40% of the time? 60%? 90%?
I’d say that for me, Google gives me precisely what I was looking for,...
Facebook Set To Unveil "Hyper PHP"
February 2, 2010, 7:46 amA PHP project that's been underway for about two years is finally going to bear fruit for Facebook. Reports indicate that the company is set to announce the creation of "Hyper PHP" (or HPHP) today, and that Facebook will see speed improvements of around 80 percent as a result.
This trick relates to Web development, and more...
Google to Open Online Software Sales Effort
February 2, 2010, 7:42 amGoogle continues to reach into the application side of the web wholeheartedly while dabbling in the device area as well. It is likely that Google is smart enough to see what happened to the PC industry when it was finally realized that “It’s the application, stupid!”. As a result it looks like Google is readying another opportunity to get...
How to get your breadcrumbs on Google's result pages
February 2, 2010, 7:36 amWebmasters continue to see breadcrumbs on Google's result pages. What are breadcrumbs, for which websites does Google display them and how can you get Google to display breadcrumbs for your own website?
Did Apple Brainwash Us with Its Subliminal Messaging for iPad
February 2, 2010, 7:18 amIs Apple’s Steve Jobs the king of subliminal marketing?
You decide:
Wow!
(via)
SEO 101 - Part 5: Everything You Need to Know Domain Names
February 2, 2010, 6:32 amby Stoney deGeyter
The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L'Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products...
How to Write a Blog Post
February 2, 2010, 5:34 amBlog posts begin with a little preamble. This part sets the tone of the article, and helps the reader establish what they’re going to find out over the next 500 words, even though they’ll probably only just read the section headings. This part typically segues quite quickly to a controversial statement or question – designed to...
Google Voice Simplifies SMS to Multiple Recipients
February 2, 2010, 5:08 amGoogle has taken steps to make sending text messages to multiple recipients a little bit easier with Google Voice. In the past, users had to copy and paste the message for each person on the list.
Google is now letting users send the message to multiple people at once. Users now just need to click on the SMS button at the top of their Google...
Are You Undervaluing Your Web Site?
February 2, 2010, 1:21 amby Mike Moran
Image by liewcf via Flickr
When I see the same issue coming up for so many clients, it makes me think that something more is at work. My latest issue that seems to crop up with nearly every client is tracking offline sales back to Web activity. I mean, I know it isn't easy, but it's amazing how rarely I run into a client who...
New Google Image Search Interface Seen in Asia
February 1, 2010, 11:17 pm"This changes everything! - before - a well placed image would bring in traffic - and a enough revenue to cover costs - etc."
Windows Azure Platform Goes Live
February 1, 2010, 10:57 pm"Starting today, customers and partners in countries across the globe will be able to launch their Windows Azure and SQL Azure production applications and services with the support of the full Service Level Agreements (SLAs)."
Report: Google Planning "Aggressive" Pursuit Of AOL Deal
February 1, 2010, 3:26 pmLast month, we learned that AOL's CEO, ex-Googler Tim Armstrong, doesn't intend to blindly renew AOL's search deal with Google when it expires in December. Google doesn't appear ready to stand back and let Microsoft or some other company take its place, however.
Nicholas Carlson spoke to an unnamed source "close to Mountain View's...
Google Chrome Extensions Not Limited to Gallery
February 1, 2010, 3:16 pmGoogle recently launched its extensions Gallery for Chrome, but today the company is reminding users of the browser (which continues to gain popularity) that there are a lot more things you can do with it beyond just what's in the gallery. Google Chrome 4 supports Greasemonkey user scripts.
Chrome users can use Greasemonkey, which is a Firefox...
Why is my SEO guy obsessed with 301 redirects? I can do JavaScript and a Meta Refresh Tag
February 1, 2010, 2:31 pm301 Re-Directs
Baidu's Stock Rises On Analysts' Comments
February 1, 2010, 2:08 pmThe odds of Google leaving China appear to have been raised today. Two financial experts made positive comments about Baidu, and while neither issued any carved-in-stone predictions about its competitor departing, investors are now buying more shares of the Chinese company's stock.
For what it's worth, Credit Suisse analyst Wallace Cheung...
First-Hand Look at Kia's Microsoft Embedded UVO Technology
February 1, 2010, 2:01 pmWe recently looked at Ford's office-in-your-truck 2011 Super Duty, which was on display at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. That featured Windows Embedded Auto software from Microsoft, but Ford's not the only auto maker using this.
We also got an up-close look at tKia's new UVO (Your Voice) system, which utilizes Windows...
What are Twitter Followers Worth? <1¢
February 1, 2010, 1:56 pmBasically since Twitter became popular, there have been companies offering “pay for followers” services. Back in August, for example, we talked about one company offering 1000 followers for $87. But it turns out those followers are way overpriced—the going rate on eBay is less than 1¢ per follower, as TechCrunch reports.
Some...
35% More Facebook Users Engaged with Privacy
February 1, 2010, 1:44 pmIn case you missed it, Facebook updated its privacy settings in December. The resulting debacle resulted in complaints to the FTC (even though Facebook consulted with the commission before the change).
But, as it turns out, the new privacy changes—where a message prompted users to update their privacy settings—have (surprise,...
'Question of the Day' Appears on Ask.com Homepage
February 1, 2010, 1:04 pmOver at Ask.com today, there's a "Question of the Day" box over the main search box. Apparently, today's question is "How many women have received the Medal of Honor?" We haven't seen this on Ask.com before, though we have seen hints of it with specific ad campaigns, such as the one for the Night at the Museum sequel last spring.
Click on the...
TurboTax Taps Twitter To Offer Tax Help
February 1, 2010, 12:56 pmTurboTax said today taxpayers on Twitter can tweet questions to @TeamTurboTax and get free answers from a team of tax, tech and product experts to help make tax time easier.
TurboTax said it created @TurboTax in response to the growing use of Twitter by its customers.
@TeamTurboTax will cover everything from tax matters to product questions and...
As Companies Relax on Social Media, Threats Increase
February 1, 2010, 12:42 pmEven as social media has grown to be a much more widely accepted form of communication among businesses over the years, there is still plenty of data out there depicting the flaws and setbacks that can occur when social networks are used in the business environment. Just as with email or web surfing in general, there are security concerns, and a...
MakeMeTop Acquired
February 1, 2010, 12:11 pm"Long time and well known SEO firm, MakeMeTop was just acquired by Unica"
Google Analytics, Chromium Receive Language Upgrades
February 1, 2010, 12:01 pmThe folks in charge of science fiction movies that are currently in development may, for the sake of accuracy, want to feature Google's name on any universal translators. The company's continued to move forward in its work with languages by tweaking Google Analytics and a build of Chromium.
Let's first talk about what might be viewed as a...
Monster.com's 6Sense Technology Fuels Innovation in Job Search
February 1, 2010, 11:52 amOnline job searching can be a daunting task. Keyword queries often return irrelevant results in with desired listings. On the recruiting side, sifting through hundreds or even thousands of candidates is not practical.
But Monster.com is working hard to make job search easier. They've been introducing some new innovations for job search - both...
Businesses Benefit as Customers Share Current Locations
February 1, 2010, 11:43 amIs the world really ready for geo-location? That's a question that a lot of companies are answering with a resounding "yes." The rise of smartphones has led to a variety of businesses looking to cash in on your whereabouts. Smartphone users have their devices on them all day long, wherever they go. Naturally, these companies can find...
Monster Talks Up its New Search Technology
February 1, 2010, 11:35 amPopular jobs site Monster.com has introduced a new semantic search technology called 6Sense, which it says delivers "precision matches" for job seekers and employers. The technology powers Monster's Power Resume Search, Candidate Spotlight and Seeker Job Search.
The technology was developed through Monster's acquisition of Trovix back...
Webtrends and Acronym Media Team Up to Provide Search Marketing Tools
February 1, 2010, 11:32 amIt must be partnership announcement day in the search industry. Earlier this morning Jonathan Allen reported on the new deal between Distilled and SEOMoz. Now, we're getting word of a new partnership between Webtrends and Acronym Media. The two have paired up to provide software solutions to aid search marketers in managing and executing their...
Sohu Revenues Up 12% in Q4 2009
February 1, 2010, 11:10 amSohu reported its Q4 2009 earnings this morning and the news is good for the Chinese Internet portal. (Sohu is basically China's Yahoo!) Revenues came in at $135.8 million and were up 12% compared to Q4 2008.
Specifically, brand advertising revenues were up 2%, coming in at $45.9 million. While Sohu tried to paint the picture as being on target...
Google Going Transparent with AdSense Revenue Share; Planning an iPad Challenge?
February 1, 2010, 10:47 amJeff "Dell Hell" Jarvis sat down recently with an impressive line-up of Google executives, including CEO Eric Schmidt, President of sales Nikesh Arora, search boss Marissa Mayer, YouTube founder Chad Hurley, and counsel David Drummond.
During that meeting, a lot of interesting topics were covered, including a potential new level of...
Vevo Launches Grammy Channel
February 1, 2010, 10:02 amRecently launched online music video site Vevo has partnered with The Recording Academy and CBS to launch "The Grammys" channel.
The new channel will feature noteworthy footage from 52 years of Grammy performances and related programming available for free, on-demand viewing across the Vevo Network in the U.S. The new channel marks the...
Link Building Gems from User Behavior Patterns
February 1, 2010, 9:51 amThis is a guest post on the Trail from Jennifer Van Iderstyne : SNIP : I want to share a story of an experience that really stuck with me. From a time when looking through a site’s back links led me to a discovery. A revelation which taught me about predicting what could work in the future, based on something that was already happening.
YouTube Launches its Univision Channel
February 1, 2010, 9:39 amIn November, YouTube announced that it had struck a partnership with one of the top Spanish-language broadcast networks in America, Univision. The partnership would see YouTube providing both short clips and full shows from the network. YouTube has now announced the official launch of the Univision channel.
The channel contains content from...
Google: The King of Disruptive Technology
February 1, 2010, 8:59 amA great post from my pal Terry VanHorne - SNIP - I discovered the term "disruptive technology" while dabbling in day trading. Basically it's a technology or business that enters a space and disrupts the current sales and business model -- these days, almost always using technology as a catalyst. I actually did some trading in these stocks, and...
Number of New Twitterers Increases Significantly
February 1, 2010, 8:59 amEvery month, WebProNews has been looking at Twitter's growth in terms of new user registration and number of Tweets. In January, we looked at December's numbers which showed an increase in tweeting frequency, as Twitter surpassed a billion tweets in a month.
In January, total tweets sent were the largest on record. However, they increased at...
Customers Are Willing to Share Their Location with Your Business
February 1, 2010, 7:59 amIs the world really ready for geo-location? That's a question that a lot of companies are answering with a resounding "yes." The rise of smartphones has led to a variety of businesses looking to cash in on your whereabouts. Smartphone users have their devices on them all day long, wherever they go. Naturally, these companies can find...
Steve Jobs On Google: An Evil Antagonist?
February 1, 2010, 7:51 amTwo important tech corporations that used to be friends may now officially be at war. Although an exact quote's proven difficult to come by, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying that Google's an aggressor, and even implying that the company is in the habit of doing evil things.
An Apple employee apparently talked to John C. Abell...
Keyword Research with Google Only: No Other Tools Needed
February 1, 2010, 7:51 amDamn straight skippy!! That's how we roll. I've often lamented not only SEOs addiction to tools, but also how many of the tools out there pull data from sources that don't mean jack to me. You know, not from Google. Anyway, Ann does a great job of using Google to get you KW research together. Nice one!
Google AdSense Suggestion of Revshare Transparency with Publishers
February 1, 2010, 7:30 am"...the company was considering more transparency."
Netflix Reaches Deal With Indie Film Distributors
February 1, 2010, 7:28 amNetflix said today it has reached deals with a number of distributors of independent film that will give its members the option to instantly watch hundred of new indie titles.
Netflix said it has reached non-exclusive licensing agreements to stream films from distributors The Criterion Collection, Gravitas Ventures, Kino Lorber, Music Box Films,...
How I Really Built a Blog with 6,500 Subscribers
February 1, 2010, 7:08 amAs I announced last week, I have sold my biggest blog: PluginID. The site was around 19 months old, had 6,600 subscribers and according to a tool that monitors different niches online, was the 10th biggest personal development blog in the world.
Distillation of consulting business is a win for SEOmoz & Distilled
February 1, 2010, 7:07 amDistilled, a U.K. based SEO and digital marketing firm, has struck a partnership with SEOmoz in which Distilled will take over the SEO consulting practice. Striking up a formal partnership with SEOmoz, worth an anticipated $1m in the first year, Distilled will be joining SEOmoz in Seattle in its first US based office. Distilled claimed the new...
The American Dream: Distilled in the US
February 1, 2010, 6:59 amThe message in the length of a tweet: Distilled is opening an office in Seattle and taking over SEOmoz’s consulting business.
This might be the single biggest step we have ever taken. In some ways, it’s bigger than when Duncan and I first started the company. When we started, we had very little – no contacts, few assets, no...
175 Million Users Per Day Log Into Facebook
February 1, 2010, 6:57 amWell, that’s a mighty big number isn’t it? While I hate to admit it I am one of those people doing just that because it has become a bit of a habit. I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook. In fact, my technique is to see what my friends have said, maybe say something I feel that there may be ANY interest whatsoever, rarely if ever talk...
ICANN Says Adoption Of IPv6 Is Essential
February 1, 2010, 6:06 am"Quite simply, it comes down to the simple fact that IPv6 is the future of the Internet,"
Firefox Finally Goes Mobile
February 1, 2010, 5:08 amMozilla has launched the first mobile version of the Firefox web browser. This is now available for the Nokia N900 device, supported on Nokia's Maemo 5 platform.
Features of Firefox for mobile include:
Awesome Bar – Go to your favorite sites in just a couple of keystrokes with intelligent and personalized searching
Weave...
Google Reader - Follow Changes To Any Site
February 1, 2010, 5:06 amby Sage Lewis
Google Reader now lets you create a custom feed to track changes on pages that don't have their own feed. This is a really handy feature to keep an eye on pages when there is a change. This has all sorts of ramifications. Check out how you can use it.
Be sure and visit our small business news site.
...
Lizard Brain Seth Godin Update
February 1, 2010, 4:56 amby Sage Lewis
Seth did an interesting article on the Lizard Brain (something I've been talking about here.) This is an important topic that everyone should understand so they can overcome it.
Be sure and visit our small business news site.
WordPress Comments Slow Down Page Speed
February 1, 2010, 4:55 amEnabling comments and custom Gravatars on your WordPress blog can definitely encourage your visitors to participate and join the conversation, but on the other hand, the Gravatar system has some inherent flaws that negatively impact your page speed.
Jobs Call Bull$&%# on Google
February 1, 2010, 4:44 amI hope it doesn’t get much worse but the war of devices between Apple and Google is quickly deteriorating into a war of words. This type of war never ends well when it is played out in the public forum. Steve Jobs has set a very low bar with regard to standards by some of his words following the iPad announcement. Considering how he sounded...
Live Event Promotion, Management And Marketing: Guide To The Best Web-Based Tools And Services
February 1, 2010, 4:16 amTo organize, coordinate, promote and manage live events, whether physical or online, there is a new emerging set of web-based event management tools that can truly help and augment your communication and marketing efforts. But how do you choose among all these services which one is best for you? In this MasterNewMedia guide you will find out which...
It's "courses for horses" at SES London 2010
February 1, 2010, 12:31 amImage by SESConferenceSeries via FlickrLast year, I posted an item to the Search Engine Watch blog entitled, "It's 'Horses for Courses' at SES London 2009." I said business professionals may want to bring a team to Search Engine Strategies London - because there will be three concurrent conference tracks and no business professional will be able...
