posted by Nicolette Beard @ 8:00 AM
This is an algorithmic change in Google, looking for higher quality sites to surface for long tail queries. It went through vigorous testing and isn’t going to be rolled back.
Matt Cutts, Principal Engineer, Google
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4.29.2010
posted by Nicolette Beard @ 10:20 AM
A recent college graduate told us that many of her job interviews were asking for web experience, specifically about search engine optimization (SEO) and writing for the web. I recommended a couple of seasoned forums and vetted resources to get her started. But it will take thousands of hours, just like any other field, to become expert at SEO or interactive marketing.
To help those who are looking to add a marketing discipline which their newly minted college degree did not include or the marketing communications veteran needing to add a new skill set to his list of credentials, browsing the nominees in this web award round-up offers a great start.
For those folks who’ve been immersed in the commercial web, I encourage you to vote. Voting ends May 1, 2010. Winners will be announced May 3, 2010. Links to nominee sites are on the voting site and can be reached by clicking the link above or below. Here are the categories:
Best SEO Blog
Best PPC Blog
Best Search News Blog
Best Link Building Blog
Web Analytics Blog
Online Reputation Blog
Conversion Rate Optimization Blog
Blog About Twitter
Blog About Facebook
Best Copywriting Blog
Best Social Media Blog
Best Infographic of 2009-2010
Search Marketing Communities
I highly recommend starting with a couple of search marketing communities. Your head will be spinning soon enough, but there’s no time like the present. Just jump in; the web community is generous and forgiving.
Source: Search & Social Awards 2010
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4.28.2010
posted by Robin Tooms @ 8:45 AM
Have you ever wondered what other people see about you online? It’s actually practical to do a search engine query on your own name, or your company name, and see what comes up. This is not meant to be an exercise for your ego, but rather a prudent bit of research. There are three possibilities here:
- You find valuable links back to your online profiles and other areas of online content
- You find a mixture of information – content that may send a mixed message about you professionally
- You find almost nothing. It’s as if you don’t exist.
Back in February I gave a presentation to AMA San Antonio on using social networks to build your Personal Brand and thought maybe I should put a little follow-up information here (just in case you answered either two or three above).
Ready for tips on how to approach your personal brand strategically?
Think like a search engine
Are you an expert in a certain topic? Then make sure those keywords appear in your LinkedIn profile. You’ll be amazed at how high in the search engine results in Google LinkedIn profiles appear. It’s a missed opportunity to not put your keywords in here.
Share, share and share some more
All of these widgets on websites make it so easy now to share what you’ve found online. It’s just good karma to share. Don’t overdo it though. Sharing is more about dropping breadcrumbs on the way so that others can find where you’re going, but it shouldn”t be a constant stream. Just as people don’t want to know what you’re doing every minute of the day, they don’t want to know what you’re reading every minute either. Just post what you think is quality content.
What to talk about?
Anything that will start a conversation! On social networks, I often mention articles, videos or blogs that I find interesting. If you find them interesting too, then chances are, we have good reason to talk. The LAST thing to do is to talk about yourself. Networking, whether in person or online, is really about engaging others. This means that you need to give more than you get, and help others more than you ask for help yourself.
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4.16.2010
posted by Nicolette Beard @ 3:57 PM
Every business who invests in paid search advertising intends to drive traffic to its website. A secondary objective of search marketing, especially for household names or large brands is, well, branding. Research shows, however, that many well-known brands are failing to measure up when it comes to managing their online presence. A number of superbrands are relying too much on brand-led terms in search, according to Epiphany Solutions, a search marketing firm in the U.K.
Recently I conducted my own research in a super competitive vertical where the incumbents have a distinct advantage: household name, customer loyalty, embedded infrastructure, etc. My conclusions were similar. The #2 brand in the market was spending 3x that of its competitor, but 92% of their budget was spent on brand name terms (and that was for just one search engine). That leaves a lot of search space to be filled up by competitors who know which keywords to target and who measure conversions rather than clicks.
Not only are big brands cannibalizing their organic search traffic through poor keyword choices and campaign monitoring, they’re letting their competitors encroach on their territory without a fight.
Epiphany’s Director of Search, Andy Heaps, seems to agree:
It’s not necessarily that big brands are complacent when it comes to search – it’s more that the potential of search isn’t always understood, so it isn’t seen as a priority. Brands are also often blinkered by the comfort that comes from the brand traffic they receive, that they often neglect the fact that larger exposure is available through more generic search terms.
For me, the greater pity is knowing that they are throwing thousands of dollars away on paid search when applying strategic, on-page search engine optimization (SEO) would generate more traffic lowering their cost-per-acquisition.
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3.02.2010
posted by Nicolette Beard @ 4:57 PM
Bing will soon be powering Yahoo! search results, leaving advertisers with just two search networks from which to drive traffic. The European Union and the U.S. Department of Justice, by eliminating one of the Internet’s biggest search competitors, have ignored the costs this decision will impose on businesses as they continue to acquire new customers online.
On one hand, I suppose this is good news for search optimizers because now we have only two search engines for which to optimize. While the vast majority of B2B marketers use Google, driving more advertisers into fewer networks increases the price of traffic acquisition. Bidding wars over finite inventory were a complaint in the early years of paid search. I suspect we’ll hear howling soon.
It’s consumers and businesses, small business especially, who really lose. Consumers lose a unique Yahoo! search brand and point of view and the cost to market online can only increase over time.
The days of 10-cent clicks are long gone. To compete effectively online requires not only the internal fortitude to embrace the new, but also an understanding of the underpinnings of the Internet.
Links = Relationships
The rise of social media underscores the importance of developing relationships online. It’s no surprise that Google and Yahoo! have started indexing content from Facebook and Twitter. Those links to and from followers, bloggers and websites represent millions of conversations. I don’t think people will stop using search engines any time soon, but I do believe that with the Microhoo deal, we’ll see search market share decline and with it profits. When you take away choice, consumers can be fickle.
People, through their desire for connection, have provided an avenue for businesses to reach out like never before. Will the day come when companies will reach out to online communities directly and bypass the search engines?
We may have come full circle in our sales and marketing efforts. Every business is now a door-to-door salesman: engaging prospects, building rapport and following up.
Is your website up to the challenge?
Source: SEO Theory
UPDATE: Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft, states at SMX West that Microsoft does *not* now intend to “kill off” Yahoo! Search – he further stated that within the deal agreement, Yahoo! may increase their search share via a wide number of initiatives.
Thanks to Chris Smith for the counter argument.
