Search Engine Watch Blog

Sign Up for Chance to Win Extreme Site Makeover at SES San Jose

Greg Jarboe — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:17:51 -0500

You know you need it. So, what are you waiting for?

SES San Jose, which will take place at the McEnery Convention Center on August 10-14, 2009, is offering extreme makeovers for the sites of three contest winners. The drawing will be held prior to the event and entries must be received by this Friday, July 17.

Now, the winners will be featured at a session entitled, Extreme Makeover: Conversion Edition. Maybe that's why you are hesitant to enter. You are afraid people will see what you site looked like "before" it had an extreme makeover. But, image what people will see "after" the experts -- Bryan Eisenberg, the Co-Founder of Future Now, and Ethan Giffin, CEO of Groove Commerce -- have analyzed your metrics, usability, and persuasion ability.

If anyone laughs at the "before" pictures of your site, remember, living well is the best revenge.

The conversion experts will work with three companies pre-selected for the session to redesign a key page and then set up that redesign in an A/B test. Session attendees will learn how to identify the crucial barriers to success on the sites selected and how Eisenberg and Giffin would remedy them in less than 48 hours.

So, who will look "wicked smart" to be featured in one of these rags to riches stories? That's right, you will.

So, enter the drawing for a free site makeover by visiting the SES San Jose website and filling in the extreme makeover form by July 17. All paid conference attendees are eligible to become one of three lucky companies whose sites will be optimizing right there during the presentation. Winners of the drawing will be notified prior to the event.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition Interviews on Webmaster Radio

Greg Jarboe — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:48:42 -0500

Brandy Shapiro-Babin, the co-founder of Webmaster Radio, and Jorge Hermida (aka Brasco), the director of programming and production, asked me to cover the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) in Boston last month.

Now, I'm more comfortable with a video crew in tow behind me. But, once upon a time, I was a radio reporter and newscaster. So, I figured that I could figure out how to use the digital audio recorder that Brasco shipped me before the event. Wrong!

Nevertheless, with apologies for my tendency to blink at the dawn of the digital media era, the folks at WebmasterRadio.FM just posted my eight interviews from IRCE. You can check them out by clicking on Internet Retailer.

In you scroll to the bottom of the list, you'll find Keynote Overview Part 1 and Part 2. I interviewed Nacho Hernandez, CEO and Founder of iHispanic Marketing Group, to do color commentary and analysis of the keynote presentations. This included opening remarks by Kurt Peters, Editor in Chief of Internet Retailer, plus keynotes by Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, Gian Fulgoni, Executive Chairman and co-founder of comScore, as well as Jeff and Bobby Beaver, co-founders of Zazzle.

In Part 2, Nacho and I discuss Fulgoni's presentation, which included data that showed unemployment-related searches spiked in March 2009 compared to the same month in 2008. He added that consumers feel it will take more than a year before the unemployment rate will begin to show signs of improvement.

Fulgoni also presented data that showed older mid-to-upper income households are showing softness in online spending, presumably reflecting an increased savings rate. However, younger households continue to spend incrementally. This means internet retailers should segment their audience and target those 18-44 years old.

Finally, Fulgoni said search engines remain the most important sites when shopping, but online coupon sites and jumped into second place ahead of comparison shopping sites.

You will also hear my interview with Hernandez about MexGrocer.com at the end in Part 2. MexGrocer.com is the largest online grocery store for authentic Mexican food. Nacho, who is a regular speaker at Search Engine Strategies conferences, talks about the family business founded by his father.

But wait, there's more!

I interviewed Bizresearch President Laura Thieme, who discusses her new web-based search analytics platform called Bizwatch.

I asked Angela Nguyen of Microsoft to give a verbal demonstration for WebmasterRadio.fm listeners about the four things to "look for" in Bing.

Abe Mezrich, Communications Manager for Didit, discusses display search retargeting, why he recommends you do it, and how it works for considered purchases and/or impulse buys.

Stephan Spencer of NetConcepts, tells us about GravityStream 2.0, search engine optimization software for online retailers.

Matt Pace, managing director of retail and consumer products for Compete discusses the latest retail trends coming out of the IRCE 2009 conference.

And Michael Briggs, VP Search Strategy at @WebsitePublicity, discusses pay-per-click trends, and his background of PPC going back to the sale of Overture.

Now that I've listened to it, I did do as bad a job as I had feared. Who knows, maybe I "look good" on radio ... in my blue shirt. (Now, that's a funny story that I'll save for another time and another place.)

Google Product Search for Mobile Updated for More Languages and Devices, Adds Google Suggest

Nathania Johnson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:34:20 -0500

When Google Product Search for Mobile was launched, it was only for the iPhone and Android phones. Now, it's available for all internet-enabled devices in the US, UK, Germany and South Korea.

Additionally, Google Suggest, a query suggestion feature, has been added to Product Search for Mobile, but it is limited to iPhone, Android and Palm Pre phones in the U.S.

To use Product Search for Mobile, simply browse to google.com on your mobile phone and conduct a search. Then clcik on "Shopping results" to view products.

You an also access Product Search for mobile directly by browsing to www.google.com/m/products.

Bing Powers New Quick Add Feature for Hotmail

Nathania Johnson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:18:18 -0500

If you're a Hotmail user, you now have a new feature called Quick Add. The feature allows you to include a variety of goodies to your emails including restaurant reviews, movie times, images, videos, and maps. Quick Add is availalbe to users in Australia, Canada, China, India, US, and the UK.

To use the feature, begin a new email message. Then make a selection from the Quick Add, which you can find on the right pane. Search the Bing search box and then insert your result into the email.

What do you think of Quick Add? Any Hotmail users out there try it out yet? Let us know your experiences in the comments below.

Google Adds Images Next to Maps in Location-Based Universal Search Results

Nathania Johnson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:10:21 -0500

Google has updated the universal search results for location-based queries. Now, next to the map included at the top of the search results are images.

It doesn't work for all location-based searches, however. A search for Kota, India shows image results but they are further down and no map is included.

A search for Nassau, Bahamas returns a map but not images:

It's not a problem with international searches altogether because a search for Brasilia, Brazil returns the new results:

Still, if you're invested in travel or local search, you'll want to spend some time optimizing for image search, since they're now a big part of Google location-based results.

The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns

Greg Jarboe — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:47:52 -0500

One of the session that I plan to attend at SES San Jose is "The ByerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patters" on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, at 4:00 p.m.

The moderator of the session is Gord Hotchkiss, President & CEO, Enquiro. I started speaking on panels with Gord way back at SES New York 2004.

And I can't tell you how many search engine marketers -- including me -- have taken his eye tracking research and presented it to their clients over the years. Although I always give Enquiro credit for the findings, if Gord were getting residuals, he'd be rich.

At SES San Jose 2009, the speakers at Gord's session are:
-- Mark McMaster, Senior Planner of B2B and Technology Markets, Google
-- Ben Hanna, VP Marketing, Business.com
-- Chris Golec, Founder and CEO, Demandbase
-- Jon Miller, VP Marketing, Marketo
-- Dr. Matthias Blume, Chief Analytics Officer, Covario

All of them have just concluded a major B2B research initiative, which was conducted by Enquiro with input from Google, Business.com, Covario, Marketo and DemandBase. The so-called BuyerSphere Project showed that most marketers aren't effectively leveraging online assets to their best potential. Are you shocked, shocked by these findings?

Among other things, the notion of a strictly followed, traditional buying funnel is simply not accurate in many instances, risk dictates buying behavior, search is incredibly important as an integrator across online and offline channels and face-to-face persuasion is still necessary in many high risk, complex purchases. The BuyerSphere Project looks at how online strategies became artificially separated from traditional best practices, how they can be more effectively integrated and the part search plays as a major influencer. That's worth knowing, don't you think?

Now, this panel at SES San Jose will review the research from over 100 face-to-face interviews, hundreds of eye tracking sessions and over 3,000 survey responses in total. The project represents a major step forward in understanding B2B buyer patterns and the part online marketing can play in influencing them.

So, I couldn't wait get a "sneak preview" because, well, I'm a competitive kind of guy. And if Enquiro's research is worth borrowing, I mean, worth understanding, then it's worth finding out about ahead of time.

So, I was delighted when Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Gord Hotchkiss earlier this week and uploaded the video to SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Gord discussed Enquiro's three phase research project that incorporated interviews with more than 100 BtoB buyers before the survey was even put together. The goal was to discover how purchasing decisions get made within a company.

Gord says it was previously thought that BtoB purchasing is based on rational decision making but this is not always the case. He says influences maybe online or offline but they all play a part in determining how purchasing decisions are made.

Gord also discusses the advance of a generational shift in behavior, described as the "digital natives" and the "digital immigrants." Online usage differs between the two segments. Hey, you might as well watch the video interview below to hear for yourself what he has to say.

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Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro, on the BuyerSphere Project in advance of SES San Jose 2009

And if you want even more details, the head over to the Enquiro site and click on New Research on B2B Buying: The BuyerSphere. You will find White Papers, webinars, and other information.

Why am I plugging this now when you could just attend the The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns at SES San Jose 2009? Let's just say that I -- like many, many other search engine marketers -- owe Gord big time for all the research we've borrowed from Enquiro to persuade a B2B client to rethink his or her assumptions.

Hey, a plug and a link is the least that I can do to "repay" Gord for his groundbreaking research on B2B buying and B2B marketing. And it's a lot more affordable than paying residuals.

Bing's Search Engine Share on the Rise, Has a Long Way to Go

Nathania Johnson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:05:56 -0500

Hitwise has released their search engine share data for the month of June 2009. This is significant because it's the first month that Microsoft's Bing.com has been around. Of course, it essentially took over for Live.com, so there are a few factors to look at.

Now, normally we wouldn't look (or even get) the week-by-week data. But that is quite possibly the most significant for this particular month. As you can see, Bing saw growth every week in the month of June.

But when you average the weeks together, Microsoft search engines still saw a slight loss year-over-year. This contrasts the data from the less authoritative Statcounter, which was released July 1.

Still, it's no doubt who's still sending traffic by way of search referrals: Google.

Perhaps overall search referrals would be higher if only searchers could really find what they're looking for. The keyword length is on the rise, possibly indicating that searchers really have to do a lot of work to find what they're truly searching for.

Google Adds My Location to Desktop Version of Maps

Nathania Johnson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:55:04 -0500

Google Maps for Mobile users have had access to a feature called My Location that does exactly what you would think: marks your current location. Now, the desktop version of Google Maps has access to that feature.

You've got to be using a compatible browser. So, if you haven't upgraded to Firefox 3.5 or Chrome 2.0 (or any browser installed with the current version of Google Gears), then it's time to get your download on.

Then when you load Google Maps, look for a teeny tiny new box between the zoom in/out bar and the compass circle. Click that box and you'll be prompted to give permission to share your location.

My Location seemed to figure out that I was in the greater metropolitan area of Raleigh, NC, but there was no indication via the famous blue circle that the feature had worked to find my general location. It certainly couldn't pinpoint the location of the public library whose Wifi I'm currently schlepping. Google uses nearby Wifi points to determine location, but the LatLong blog did say it may not be able to provide one every time. Though, I'm always flabbergasted when new tech like this doesn't work in such a high-tech area as the Raleigh-Durham area.

Were you able to get a more precise location detection from Google Maps? Do tell in the comments.

StumbleUpon's Su.pr is Now Available to All; Update SU, Twitter and Facebook Simultaneously

Nathania Johnson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:07:17 -0500

Last month, StumbleUpon unveiled Su.pr, a tool that shortens URLs but also enables the submission of links to StumbleUpon while also offering the option to simultaneous update Twitter and Facebook.

Now, Su.pr has been made available to anyone. To access it, you must become a registered user of StumbleUpon. You'll also need to authorize Twitter and Facebook to use the tool, if you plan to use the simultaneous updating. (And seriously, why wouldn't you?)

Like other URL shortening services, you can see how many times the link has been clicked on, which is highly valuable.

Especially useful is the bookmarklet that you can use to make the process of submitting to three different social networks at the same time even easier.

Now, all I need is for someone to make a Su.pr Greasemonkey script for Google Reader so I can reduce the step of clicking the links I want to share to open in a Firefox tab. Who's game?

Social Network Ad Spend to Dip in 2009, Pick Back Up in 2010

Nathania Johnson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:18:21 -0500

eMarketer has released projections showing social network ad spending taking a dip in 2009. They attribute the decline to difficulties over at MySpace, as they try to maintain a presence in a niche being taken over by Facebook and the yet-to-be monetized Twitter.

"The expected rebound in spending will come as more companies focus on creating and implementing an overall social marketing strategy," says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Social Network Ad Spending: A Brighter Outlook Next Year. "And it is a clear indication that the experimental phase of social network marketing is finally drawing to an end."

However, the downturn isn't expected to become a trend. Instead, it will be a blip on an otherwise steadily increasing interest in social network advertising. Should Twitter introduce advertising, social network ads will probably take on a life of their own.

"Facebook, once a distant second to MySpace, has outperformed its rival in nearly every measure of usage--and is on track to surpass MySpace in ad spending by 2011," says Ms. Williamson.

SES San Jose Offers Sessions for Veteran Search Engine Marketers

Greg Jarboe — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:58:19 -0500

Last week, I said "SES San Jose Offers Conference Sessions for First Time Attendees." This year's Search Engine Strategies conference offers lots of sessions for veteran search engine marketers, too.

SES San Jose 2009 can cover both ends of the spectrum because it has five concurrent tracks. So, whether this will be your first show or the fourth SES event that you've attended in 2009, you'll find tons of new content worth learning.

For example, sessions oriented toward advanced marketers include:
• Search: Where to Next sums up what the future holds for the search industry with a veteran panel of industry insiders.
• The Next Wave for Online Video presents the importance of optimizing for video search and looks into tactics for copywriting, keyword research and more.
• Don't Call it a Comeback: Semantic Technology and Search focuses on the reality of true semantic technology and the recent application of the "Web 3.0" tag.
• Beyond Googling: Where Will Your Customers Be Searching in Five Years? presents a long-view look at weak signals and trends that appear to point in new directions.
• Launching a Global Website presents key issues critical to successfully developing, optimizing, and launching the global websites that meet next generation marketing goals.
• Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues explores the potential problems and pitfalls of running mirror sites and offers solutions.
• Landing Page Testing and Tuning discusses how to twist and tweak your landing page to covert site visitors into buyers.
• Real World Multivariate Testing helps attendees understand how landing page optimization, through multivariate testing, can quickly affect the success of any online acquisition campaign, and how simple changes to a landing pages can dramatically increase online sales.
• Ads in a Quality Score World looks at quality factors and studies how to increase the perceived relevancy of your campaigns.
• Follow the Carrot: Cool Mobile Apps examines the effect of mobile applications, their usefulness from a business point of view, and where they may be going in the future.
• Images & Search Engines: Getting the Full Picture explores image searching along with image-links, geo tags and other considerations for capturing targeted traffic.
• Search Becomes the Display OS includes a discussion and case studies focusing on the idea that the only thing that can save display advertising is making it more like search.

Although I should disclose that SES is a client, I'm not the only one who thinks that there is lots of sessions for veteran search engine marketers at SES conferences. For example, Lee Odden, an SES Advisory Board member and CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, says, "Search Engine Strategies in San Jose is the epicenter of what's current and useful in the search marketing industry when it comes to advancing internet marketing knowledge. I've attended SES events for years as a delegate, speaker, moderator, and now as an Advisory Board Member. That continued investment for me and my agency staff has resulted in bottom line growth of our digital marketing consulting business by staying current with search strategies and tactics, attracting new clients and talented staff. We've gained tremendous value from SES San Jose as a source of content for our top rated blog and of course, priceless networking with search engine employees, vendors and other smart internet marketers."

And earlier in the year, Odden did an escalator pitch -- which is like an elevator pitch, only faster -- at SES New York. Check out what he had to say at SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube or by watching the video below.

Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, on the benefits of attending SES New York 2009

Okay, so Odden was talking about SES New York in his escalator pitch, but he could have said the same things about SES San Jose.

For more information about the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, go to the SES San Jose 2009 website. Register through July 24 to save up to $200 with the early bird rate.

Is YouTube's Lack of Profitability a Myth? (And If So, Does Google Perpetuate It?)

Nathania Johnson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:05:10 -0500

The idea that YouTube makes no money for Google is widely held by many. Even yours truly falls for it entirely too often considering I know better.

Last year, at a local interactive meetup, Google employees informed attendees of how advertisers get those specialized YouTube channels. They have to fork over $200,000 in advertising on the Google content network.

Ok, so that doesn't monetize YouTube directly, but Google is likely looking at the big picture of profitability instead of the limited scope of siloed revenues.

Of course, that hasn't stopped Google from traipsing down the yellow brick road of direct monetization. They enjoy contracts with the big music companies and recently launched video ads, which is essentially the Sponsored Links of YouTube.

Over at TechDirt, Michael Masnick is contemplating the idea that Google enjoys the myth that YouTube doesn't make any money. It helps them get bigger contracts and avoid bigger copyright issues (than it already has).

Indeed, with the recent joining of YouTube accounts to Google accounts, it appears that Google doesn't necessarily need YouTube to be a huge cash generator. The integration of Google products across the board is done so slowly, it irritates early adapters, but it quite possibly means a greater number of adapters over time.

All of this is pure speculation for industry observers. Only Google knows. Actually, probably only select Googlers know. But it's fun to speculate.

What are your speculations? Do share in the comments, won't you? (Bats eyes, says "Pretty please."

North Korea Using Cyberattacks Against US, South Korea

Frank Watson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:40:03 -0500

Since last weekend some government websites in the US and South Korea have been cyberattacked, the New York Times reported. While the NYT has not concluded who is responsible beyond they "appear to have been launched by a hostile group or government", "the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the spy agency had implicated North Korea or pro-North Korea groups," NYT noted.

"The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week, The A.P. reported, citing officials inside and outside the American government. The fact that the government Web sites were still being affected after three days signaled an unusually lengthy and sophisticated attack, the news agency reported, citing anonymous American officials."

Running these attacks during the 4th of July weekend and the Michael Jackson memorial is almost like the Vietnamese Tet offensive - a push during New Year;s celebrations.

The attacks were made through infected computers - seems that malware can really cause problems when aimed at certain targets.

Travel Search Sites Offer Competing Deals

Nathania Johnson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:18:53 -0500

There's been a flurry of updates in the travel search world and they all have to do with finding great deals. Whether you're a travel provider, advertiser, or just plain need great airfare tix to SES San Jose in August, here's what you need to know:

Mobissimo has added student and youth travel fares to their site. Students can now compare those special fares to normal fares. Hey, you never know when a low-priced carrier might even beat out a student fare on a "bigger" airline. So, definitely check that out.

DealBase.com is all about hotel deals and now offers a personalized newsletter. Get emails that pertain only to the destinations, hotel star ratings, and price range that you select.

Last but not least, Tripeedo.com is a new site entering the competitive travel search niche. Tripeedo is kind of the Dogpile.com of travel search. It searches the search sites, as well as the individual airline sites, hotel sites, etc. However, most of the search sites already offer price comparisons on competing sites. And most of the time, all of the sites have the same prices. What would have sold me on Tripeedo is if they didn't open the search results in different windows. That's, again, what all of the other sites do, but that just clutters up my browser and desktop.

Having said that, Tripeedo's interface is very nice and makes it one of the easiest travel search sites to use. If they ever get the results to load on one page instead of multiple tabs or windows, they might just become my default travel search engine.

Tripeedo has their work cut out for them. In a normal economy, you would see sites compete in this manner, but there's a certain urgency seen in these updates perhaps related to the current not-so-normal economy. It's not just about beating the competition these days, it's about suriviving.

Google Goes After Real Estate, But Has a Long Way to Go

Nathania Johnson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:51:13 -0500

I don't know what's up with Google lately, but there have been a couple of big launches that aren't quite ready for prime time. Google Squared was released, pretty much as an answer to Wolfram Alpha, but it needs a ton of work.

Now, they've launched real estate search in Google Maps, but it's mostly a big dud. Realtor.com, Zillow.com, and Trulia.com are still way better and I absolutely wouldn't recommend ditching them to make Google your primary real estate search.

Of course, we can't discount Google either. They obviously rock the house on so many other products. But I guess because of this I expect a lot more from them.

I entered the search just the way they said you should: "homes for sale in Columbus, OH."

When the results come up, you have to click again to get the real estate search. That should come up right away. Kill the extra click.

Notice that when I refine my search, I see no searches from any of the top 5 real estate sites. According to Hitwise, they are:

Realtor.com

Zillow

Yahoo! Real Estate

Zip Realty

Trulia

Also, for Google's real estate search, I'd like to see the option of displaying more than 10 results before having to click to the next page of results. I think when it comes to real estate search, possibly more than other searches, users are going to be considering many more options because the investment is so large and the factors to consider in the purchase decision are so many.

But hey, that's just my opinion. Disagree? Think Google real estate search rocks? Leave a comment and tell me how it is.