:::SEM360:::

SEO can make your online store a powerhouse for the holidays - First of several holiday-focused SEO articles by Jacquelien Dooley.

 

: Yahoo Searching Gets Social - 

The Holy Grail for search engines is to return the most relevant results. Because of the nature of the English (and some other) languages, though, two or more people searching on the same word will want different results; "bass" means one thing to a fisherman and another thing to a musician. Yahoo thinks it has found a way around that -- by harnessing the power of community to deliver more relevant, personalized search results.

: Yahoo!'s Long-term Strategy: Diversify

: Yahoo! Audio Search, a music pioneer?

: Next Generation of Yahoo! Local - From Yahoo! Search Blog

: Yahoo! Local Freshly Updated

Yahoo! released its updated user interface and and feature set for Yahoo! Local. John Battelle has a very nice write up on it with inside information from Paul Levine, head of Yahoo Local Search. Danny Sullivan gives a write up of feature sets. Let's not forget to add Jeff Weiner's thoughts on local search and the changing face of media.

Forum discussion on this topic at WebmasterWorld.

Update: Moderator, Chicago's thoughts on this new Yahoo! Local:

- A deeper more broad definition of "local search"
- Fostering a sense of community
- Movement from business lookup to an augmentation of local behavior patterns
- The realization that local search includes events, activities, and other time-based local actions
- Personalization and leveraging user data
- Deeper content integration from disparate local based content within the Y network in a local destination
- Drill down: From city to neighborhood
- Freshness
- Destination: City portal characteristics
- Further emphasis on user generated content
- One step closer to the integration of social networking

Interview on paid-search with Nick Jones of Overture - As Category Services Director, Nick Jones is responsible for developing all vertical categories across Overture in the UK, including Travel, Retail, Automotive, IT & Telecoms, Property, Finance and Recruitment. Nick is also directly responsible for the Travel sector. Nick has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars, including Internet World and travel industry events.

Prior to joining Overture, Nick obtained some early e-commerce experience at Corbis, the stock photography company. He holds a Masters degree in Modern History from Glasgow University.

1. How has search marketing evolved over the past five years?

Paid search now accounts for 40% of online ad spend in the UK - given the fact that the model didn't even exist in Europe five years ago, you can see that search marketing has been a growth phenomenon...

Compared to the start of search marketing five years ago, there are now many different sponsored search products to help advertisers, for example contextual advertising, mobile search and local search.

In addition, tracking tools have become more and more sophisticated by default - advertisers are now wiser to the fact that they need to track their clicks through to conversion if they are to get the most from their sponsored search campaigns.

Increasingly, search marketers are looking at the use of search marketing for branding purposes and to drive purchases offline - marketers now appear to be taking a more holistic view of search.       

Generating site traffic

10 Ways to generate site traffic

#10: Use viral marketing strategies to "infect" people with the desire to learn more about your product.

#9: Employ online business networking communities to hook up with other entrepreneurs for link swaps and joint marketing ventures.

#8: Become a recognized name in your niche market by participating in newsgroups, discussion forums or blogging networks.

#7: Get your visitors to tell their friends about you.

#6: Encourage repeat visits with interactive traffic generators.

#5: Increase your site's exposure by swapping links with other sites.

#4: Get the message out about your site by giving away free content.

#3: Be one of the first sites people see listed when they search for your keywords in the free search engines.

#2: Use e-mail promotions to present your visitors with offers they can't refuse.

#1: Build an army of affiliates to drive traffic to your site for you.

Adaptive Path Case Study - Creative Commons

Adaptive Path Case Study: Creative Commons:

Creative Commons is a non-profit website that lets users create custom copyright and usage licenses for varied media. They came to Adaptive Path because they wanted to widen their audience beyond tech savvy users, and reach the larger creative community.

Adaptive Path redesigned Creative Commons's homepage, simplified their licensing process, and made recommendations on how to improve their search engine.

Start up firms to target click fraud

From CMO Magazine:

As advertisers sue search engines for charging them for fraudulently generated click-throughs, a rash of new companies promise to help advertisers distinguish real clicks from fakes. The Wall Street Journal reports that entrepreneurs with names such as Click Defense, ClickDetective and WhosClickingWho have built up a cottage industry to capitalize on search-advertiser discontent.  The story reports that Yahoo and Google each has its own complex system to spot click fraud before an advertiser is charged, but, citing privacy issues and a desire not to alert fraudsters to the surveillance techniques, the search engines generally won’t provide advertisers with details about how they handle specific suspect clicks. Read more.

What comes next after SEM?

Rob Middleton on what comes next after search? - Contextual Marketing, RSS Feeds, Behavioral Targeting, Mobile Marketing and "Consumer-created" websites.

Contextual Marketing
This vehicle is a proven success after several years of tinkering. Two newer models have emerged that are also promising: Contextual vertical networks and image contextual networks. The vertical approach was pioneered by Kanoodle and involves targeting contextual ads to vertical content sites within a broader network. Success rates have been promising, and this model – which is familiar to advertisers – will certainly spread.

Image ads in a contextual medium have strong promise – as some product offerings really need a visual queue to communicate the benefit. Google has rolled out Image Ads with two pricing models to date, and is still refining the product to allow more concise targeting based on initial marketer feedback.

 

RSS Feeds
Real Simple Syndication (RSS) is receiving significant buzz in the marketplace for a number of reasons. First, it provides consumers with a new level of control over the web-based content they consume. For example, users can add RSS links to their current Yahoo! or MSN home pages, or can create their own website containing frequently updated content to their preference. Second, the industry has taken a strong interest in the potential of RSS. Search engines believe that

 

Behavioral Targeting
...behavioral targeting focuses on altering the media targeting approach, regardless of the media property being used, to target the consumer instead. It is an extension of the contextual model – but one that is based on user habits and presenting relevant ads based upon those habits. The main difference with today’s approach is that there are more opportunities for consumer reach and the improved technology behind the endeavor is creating a promising new advertising space.

Choosing a search engine optimization firm

Choosing a Search Engine Optimization Firm - Marketing Sherpa has released the 4th edition of its Buyer's Guide to Search Engine Optimization Firms, a comprehensive look at the players in the industry.

 

Search Engine Marketing

The goal of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is to bring traffic from a search engine to a website, by increasing the levels of high-quality, targeted traffic to a website. Basically there are two disciples of SEM:

• Organic  SEM or Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – The function of SEO is to improve a websites position within the organic search results for specific search terms and to increase the overall traffic the site garners from crawler based search engines. This is accomplished through a combination of on-page content and off-page promotion (such as site  optimization, directory submissions, link building).
• Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) – PPC involves the management of keyword-targeted advertising campaigns through one or more PPC service providers such as Google’s AdWords or Overture from Yahoo! The advertiser’s goal is to profitably increase the amount of targeted traffic that his or her website receives from search portals.

 This blog will aim to cover both the disciples as well as other interesting tidbits.