MediaPost | Around the Net in Search Marketing

Cannes Going Branded Content

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:49:00 -0400

Will search marketers head to Cannes Lions next year? That's the first thing I thought after reading this post from The Hollywood Reporter. "Once strictly an advertising festival, the 60-year-old Cannes Lions has emerged as a dynamic new player in the convergence of entertainment, branded-content creation and the building of digital buzz and engaging users and fans ... ." It's part of the digital evolution, not revolution. YouTube head of global content Robert Kyncl will talk about trends, creating branded content -- and perhaps, the five production studios the company plans to launch this year.

Good vs. Bad Organic Traffic

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:48:00 -0400

Mark Jackson tells us about an unnamed client that wants to increase what he calls "'good' organic search traffic" without focusing on "'head' keywords." Long-tail keywords tend to drive this very large site. He tells us how to report on organic search gains after filtering bad traffic. Jackson takes us through the steps to analyze Web site shopping patterns, prove SEO success, and distinguish good from bad traffic. Read the article here.

How Google Promotes An Entrepreneurial Culture

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:15:50 -0400

Google has created its own YouTube "intern" series where viewers can follow five real interns during their first week. The video look inside Google's Mountain View, California campus to see what they do this summer and learn how they will have an impact on the world. The play-work ground with scooters and bikes to get around the campuses, free food and places to rest your head are only the tip. In another post, CBS reports that Google received about 40,000 applications this year for applicants to intern at Google.

Search Marketing Campaigns Change With TIme

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:14:09 -0400

Test and measure campaigns frequently. What didn't work a year ago may work today. Ashley Hanania provides three barriers to test planning: the legacy barrier, the false confidence barrier, and the historical barrier. She takes us through each to explain why marketers should avoid them. For instance, don't automatically think a change that occurred one year ago hasn't changed again. That's why she recommends going back to retest processes or keywords that may have produced undesirable results last time. Read the article here.

The Stuff In Google Glass

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:51:49 -0400

A hardware teardown reveals the components and technology in Google Glass, a head-mounted voice-controlled Android computer that lets you access the Internet and snap pictures. The step-by-step teardown takes us through opening the case, revealing the side touchpad and CPU board, as well as the pocket behind the ear module. Read the article here.

Twitter Metrics For All

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:04:42 -0400

Metrics help marketers get to the heart of campaigns to confirm success, even in social. Twitter recently opened its analytics package to all users. It provides specific stats about the impact of specific Twitter tweets, such as the number of times a tweet has been deemed as a favorite, the number of retweets, and how many replied to a tweet received. Read the article here.

Tips On Optimizing Landing Pages

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:03:20 -0400

Keep title pages short and sharp, be sure that main keywords appear in the first 65 URL characters, and provide relevant links in the body copy. These are only three of the many optimization tips Andrew Smith provides to reduce bounce rates and increase conversions. Improved conversion rates depend on the landing page. He provides isights on optimizing pages. Read the article here.

Paid-Search Tips For Small Businesses

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:01:26 -0400

Most small businesses have budgetary challenges, Web sites are not optimized for traffic, and many lack a general understanding of how Google AdWords works, according to Andrew Lolk. He suggests starting at the most elementary level, knowing the phrases and terms that consumers use to search for products and services. Lolk gives us six reasons that small businesses often fail with AdWords and provides tips on how to improve results. Read the article here.

Financial Services Paid-Search Ad Words Generating Revenue

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:20:55 -0400

A study of paid-search ads running on Bing in the financial sector reveals the words most likely to make an impact. For example, ad headlines with the word "Safe" had a positive impact, while in the body copy the words "Fast" and "Savings" lifted click-through rates. The ads ran in January on the Yahoo-Bing Network. John G shares the results. Read the article here.

How To Smarten-Up The Dump Content

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:19:48 -0400

Russ Mann explains how to turn content from a "dumb box of rocks to smarter SEO and discovery marketing." He believes there has been too much emphasis on trying to figure out the "banner or search ads, on what publishing platforms, and in what sequence convinced the consumer or business buyer to take action" -- and not enough on creating smarter content. Mann provides a different approach. Read the article here.

How To Estimate Missing iOS 6 Data

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:18:18 -0400

The number of devices running iOS continues to grow. Along with the growth comes the inability to track back the data. Ben Goodsell tell us why it has become even more difficult to estimate the percentage of missing iOS 6 organic search data and what marketers can do to compensate. Read the article here.

Bing Upgrades Maps

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:16:00 -0400

Microsoft has upgraded Bing Maps with terabytes of "Birds Eye" images. The latest enhances maps further by offering viewers more views from above. The famous locations worldwide add to the company's 1,452,958 sq km, or half a petabyte of data. There are more than 4,700 Venue Maps in more than 59 countries that allow viewers to search malls, airports, amusement parks and more. Read the article here.

Google Wants To Disclose FISA Requests In Transparency Report

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:36:44 -0400

Google chief legal officer David Drummond claims there is a serious misconception about the company's cooperation with the National Security Agency's PRISM program. The Google exec wrote in a blog post about the company's request to publish in its Transparency Report the "aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures--in terms of both the number we receive and their scope." He points to the "untrue" reported press assertions regarding the company's compliance with requests. Read the article here.

8 Tips For Choosing An Analytics Package

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:36:16 -0400

Janice Smithers asks eight questions that should provide the fodder to determine the best analytics package for the job. Tools can become complex. So she suggests that marketers ask and answer questions such as whether support for the tools becomes an additional cost, or whether it comes with the package deal -- and if the company already uses an analytics package, whether it will cost more to migrate to the new tools. Read the article here.

Bing Gains Market Share, According To comScore

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:32:00 -0400

Microsoft's Bing search engine took a 17.4% piece of the U.S. search engine market in May, according to the latest comScore data provided by Macquarie Capital in an investors note. Google's May market share rose 0.20 points from April to 66.7%. The stats do not include mobile searches, which comScore believes account for between 25% and 30%. The company will release the stats to the public on Wednesday. Read the article here.

How Much Will Marketers Spend On Mobile, Desktop Ads?

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:44:51 -0400

eMarketer estimates U.S. digital ad spending will rise 14% to $41.9 billion in 2013 -- and that $7.7 billion of that total will go toward mobile ads. The research group also estimates marketers' desktop ad spending will peak at $35.39 billion next year, up from the projected $34.29 billion in 2013. By 2015, desktop spending will drop slightly to $35.26 billion, and will decrease further in 2016 and 2017, when it's expected to total $32.51 billion.

Voice Search's Underlying Technology

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:26:04 -0400

Will Critchlow, who previously mocked voice search technology, finally came around. Admitting that he has been wrong in a post, he finally sees voice search "as part of the future," and tells us how. He also provides tips to marketers that provide insight into the underlying technology. Amen. Read the article here.

Google Acquires Waze

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:24:31 -0400

Google has acquired the mapping company Waze. For now, its product development team will remain in Israel and will operate separately. A community of drivers share real-time traffic and road alerts and actively report events, hands-free, giving drivers the fastest route and reroutes during traffic snarls or detours.

Attribution Models Identify Awareness

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:23:27 -0400

Impulse buying -- a marketer's dream -- doesn't happen often enough for many brands. As James Tipton explains, while a consumer's first exposure to a brand may occur through a display ad impression, he/she may take zero action, but it does create awareness. The next time the consumer sees a banner or a text ad they will likely recognize the brand and perhaps consider making a purchase. Marketers won't know unless they use attribution modeling. Tipton explains how in this article.

Anki Launches

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:22:30 -0400

Marc Andreessen, co-founder and partner at Andreessen Horowitz, funded a robotics startup called Anki that Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced Monday at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference. Anki uses the iOS devices and platform to bridge the gap between artificial intelligence and robotics. "Keeping my mouth shut about this company for 16 months has been one of the hardest things I have had to do since we started our firm," he wrote in a blog post.

How To Rethink Business Directories

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:06:00 -0400

David Mihm serves up insights on the way Google creates business listings and how marketers should fix the information when incorrect. Government and information across the Web, including Map Maker, create the listings, but it's the job of the business owner to make sure the information remains correct. This will help businesses move past the Yellow Pages to rethink the Web. Read the article here.

How To Right Penguin Wrongs Before Using Google Disavow Tools

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:05:32 -0400

Since the most recent rollout of Google Penguin 2.0, marketers are turning toward the engine's Disavow Links tool to "bail" them out. The tools tells Google what backlinks to ignore. Sadly, the tool doesn't work, according to Chuck Price, who offers another solution. Before using the Disavow Tools, Price suggests conducting a link audit, analyzing the link data, documentation, and link removal through email outreach. He takes us through the process. Read the article here.

Google Scientist Co-Developer Of Content-Lens Displays

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:02:00 -0400

Search the Internet through content lenses. University of Washington professor and Google Glass project founder Babak Parviz wants to build content lenses with all the functions of a wearable computer. He wants to make a wearable contact-lens display that can do all the things Google Glass can do. To make it work, they needed a flexible, yet transparent, highly conductive material. Rather than get into the details, read the article here.

How Many Characters Does It Take To Get A 'Like'?

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:59:52 -0400

Photos and questions get more "likes" on Facebook, according to a KISSmetrics infographic. In fact, photos get 53% more, 104 more comments, and 84% more click-throughs. One study found that readers tend to like more posts with photos. The infographic also tells us the number of characters that tend to attract more readers, the time of day that is optimal to post, and how many posts per day. Read the article here.

The Art Of Shopping Engines, Product Feeds

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:58:00 -0400

Christina Hall gives us the lowdown on comparison shopping engines and why search marketers should care. Sites like Amazon, Google Shopping, Bing Shopping and Shopping.com collect product and pricing information from different retailers, and displaying this information on one results page, according to a consumer's search query. There are new sites like shopittome.com surfacing daily. Hall tells marketers how to begin working with the sites and set up product feeds, and outlines the ways to determine the best strategy for a specific product line. Some product lines may work better on some sites than others. Read the article here.

Steps To Optimize Paid-Search Campaigns

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:57:00 -0400

With Google's Enhanced Campaign migration deadline looming, there is no better time for some spring campaign cleaning. Kevin Lee serves up some spring cleaning tips to get campaigns in top running order for Bing and Google -- even for Google AdWords campaigns already moved to Enhanced. Lee starts with finding the 404 errors and duplicates, and moves on to optimizing non-standard or missing tracking codes, poor landing pages, and smartphone-specific campaigns. He provides insights to clean up and optimize campaigns in each one of these steps. Read the article here.

Insights From Google Stockholders Meeting

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:56:00 -0400

Eric Schmidt wonders in a hundred years whether people will look back and "marvel that we allowed humans to drive cars." At Google's annual stockholder meeting this week, it became obvious that geolocation services and Google Maps make driverless cars possible, which is why the platform has become an important technology for the company. The new Google Maps will allow each person to have maps built for them that include friends' recommendations and places they have seen, complete with 3D modeling of places like Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Other insights also emerged, such as privacy concerns related to cameras and Google Glass, Google Voice becoming a key part of the way technology will evolve, and more.

10 Steps To Profitable AdWords Campaigns

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:09:53 -0400

Gaining profitability through AdWords campaigns requires skill and knowledge, so Phil Frost takes us through the process for Google AdWords, beginning with a checklist that includes verifying customer demand for the product or the service. He also tells marketers it's important to understand basic math to calculate maximum cost per click and estimate conversion rates, as well as understanding the nuances of creating compelling ad copy. Frost points to tools that will help determine the demand for products in search queries. Obviously, consumers only search for products if there is demand. He also reminds marketers not to make the Web site's home page an ad landing page. The two require different strategies. Read the article here.

Former AdMob Ad Op Guy Takes COO Role At Interactive TV Co

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:06:34 -0400

Flingo, an interactive TV company, named former Google AdMob exec Jackson Huynh to chief operating officer. Huynh will take responsibility for expanding Flingo's Samba TV platform services, which today enable advertisers to build a direct relationship with viewers by synchronizing media on TV, as well as on second-screen devices like tablets or smartphones. The data allows advertisers and content providers to make available and match related content for consumers.

Google Launches Content Experiments API

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:02:47 -0400

Google introduced a Content Experiments API Tuesday that integrates with Google Analytics. The tool allows developers to test content on their site with programmatic optimization tools. The API makes Google Analytics a "full-blown A/B testing platform where developers of all types can leverage the power of Google Analytics to run their experiments." Developers can test changes to content without redirects, server-side items like database queries, as well as test in non-Web environments and with the developer's own variation selection logic.