Search and Future Think
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
Where are the growth opportunities in search? Who should be accountable for search? What do the search engines want you to think? What should you really believe?
As I’m no stranger to ad:tech (having been on the advisory board for many years), I headed off to San Francisco this week to find out what marketers are thinking about the future of search. Maybe I’m just a bit nostalgic or maybe I just wanted to see what Kodak, AMD, Google, SEMPO, Microsoft, and Clickable had to say on the subject.
Whatever the motivation, Tuesday afternoon’s session, Futuresearch, presented by SEMPO, offered interesting discussions and attempted to shed some light on the biggest challenges and growth opportunities in search.
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Paid Click Growth Slows, Declines in Q1 2008
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
Paid Click Growth Slows, Declines in Q1 2008
Following a less-than-luster February, paid clicks were weak across the board in the first quarter of 2008, according to published reports of a report by comScore.
Google’s paid clicks slowed to a growth of just 1.8% in the first quarter. While March’s growth was still a year-over-year increase of 2.7%, these numbers are nothing close to the double digit growth that we’ve seen from Google in the past.
The news was not better for Google’s competitors.
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eBay to End Live Auctions
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
Source: Reuters eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is pulling out of “live auctions,” where members join in real-world auction-house bidding, in the latest in a series of moves to restructure its online auctions business, the company said on Tuesday. The online auction leaders said it plans to shut down the eBay Live Auctions business as of Dec. 31, 2008. The format represents a little-known, tiny piece of eBay’s auction businesses — most of which connect buyers and sellers online. Live Auctions represent a throwback to traditional open outcry auctions by linking eBay users remotely to auctions moderated by live auctioneers, both in physical locations or online. (Read the full post about ‘eBay to End Live Auctions’…)
Landing Page Neglect: Are You Losing Money?
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
In the online marketing world, a lot of time and resources are spent buying media, tracking pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, driving organic traffic via search engine optimization (SEO), and installing and customizing Web analytics software to properly track all online marketing activities.
Dedicated in-house or agency staff craft keyword lists, write ad copy, and manage keyword bidding to achieve the proper profitability, cost per action (CPA), and return on investment (ROI). Copywriters adjust our sales copy to improve clickthrough rates (CTR).
But we’ve almost completely ignored our Web site and landing page. Sure, we occasionally do facelifts, or even wholesale redesigns of our sites.
(Read the full post about ‘Landing Page Neglect: Are You Losing Money?’…)
Online Ads Find Their Way Into The Offline World
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
SAN FRANCISCO — Being in the right place at the right time can power up the impact of an advertising message.
Startups demonstrated innovative ways to ensure that happens by reaching consumers when they’re out and about — and ideally, receptive to marketing — here at this year’s ad:tech San Francisco interactive marketing conference.
Radio frequency identification technology, or RFID, uses tiny transponders to signal receivers at short distances. MTI Interactive has adapted this technology, now being used by retailers to track inventory, to provide information on digital screens that’s related to an item a shopper picks up.
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comScore Releases March 2008 Search Engine Rankings
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
comScore Releases March 2008 Search Engine Rankings
comScore’s March 2008 Search Engine Rankings are in and it will surprise no one that Google continues to dominate the search market. The search engine giant extended its lead by .6% from February 2008. Here’s the raw data.
In month-over-month numbers, Google increased from 59.2% to 59.8%, while Yahoo saw a dip from 21.6% to 21.3%. Microsoft also declined from 9.6% to 9.4%, and AOL dropped from 4.9% to 4.8%. Ask was the only other of the top-five search engines to see an increase, from 4.6% to 4.7%.
Americans conducted 10.8 billion searches in the month of March.
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Does ‘Unlimited Potential’ Have Limits?
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
A senior Microsoft executive who played a key part in the development of Windows Vista plans to retire this fall and in the meantime is taking on a new job, the company has confirmed.
Will Poole – a 12-year Microsoft veteran – is currently corporate vice president of the Unlimited Potential Group (UPG). As such, he co-leads the group, along with senior vice president Orlando Ayala.
The UPG “is tasked with creating new business models and technology solutions tailored specifically for the needs of customers in underserved communities” around the world, according to Poole’s Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) biography online.
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From Print Magazines to Online Communities
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
NEW YORK — It’s become a familiar story: New media trumps old; print gives way to the Web, while flat-footed publishers are left scratching their heads as their more nimble competitors take to the Web with grace and ease.
Or so the narrative often seems to go — but what’s true for radio and newspapers doesn’t apply so neatly to magazines.
Here at the minday Digital Media Summit, a group of media buyers told an audience of magazine publishers that they are uniquely positioned to monetize their content as they expand their Web presence. For starters, magazines are generally blessed with a highly engaged, targeted audience whose passions converge on a single, easily identified topic.
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Zvents blends local search with current events
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
Zvents blends local search with current events
One of the companies exhibiting at Ad:Tech San Francisco this week is Zvents, a local search engine company that specializes in things to do in big cities big and small towns. According to Paul O’Brien, VP of Marketing for Zvents, his local search engine is helping businesses draw foot traffic to their stores, restaurants and events all across the county.
That’s a bold claim — so I asked to see a demo for Boston events. My bad. It turns out Boston.com is one of the publisher partners for Zvents, along with the San Jose Mercury News, LA.com, and the Detroit News, to name a few.
So, then I asked to see upcoming events for Nevada City, CA.
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YouTube Videos Now Part of Google Maps Search Mix
Autor admin | 16.04.2008 | Category SEO
YouTube Videos Now Part of Google Maps Search Mix
If you’ve been wondering if your local business should utilize online video, wonder no more. Google Maps is adding embedded YouTube videos in the maps. The videos can viewed under the “Photos and Videos” tab.
On the Google LatLong blog, an example of a bakery in San Francisco is given. The video showcases the amazing artistry of the cakes at I Dream of Cake.
Here’s what you need to know in order to get your video embedded with Google Maps.
1. Upload the video to YouTube. Make sure the “embed” option is selected.
2.
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