Viruses & Spyware Don't Taste Like Cookies

Posted by jak on February 28, 2006 at 10:10 AM

When I first started working with computers a little over ten years ago I had never heard about viruses. I could safely browse the internet without worrying about what might pop-up, or what the next site I visit may do to my computer.

Today, viruses and spyware have made many internet users skeptical of websites that add something to their computer. While it's important to be aware of these additions, user fears can make tracking site customer behavior much more difficult. Webmasters want to track as much information about their customers' habits as possible without invading privacy. This can be done with the use of HTTP cookies.

To date, setting user cookies is the most search engine friendly method for tracking user behavior without treading all over privacy. Cookies are neither a virus or spyware; they are simple pieces of data that are harmless to a user's computer system. However, public fears of computer viruses and spyware has led to misconceptions about cookies. As with anything, a little education can go a long way.

Most internet users today still don't realize the importance of using antivirus software or that it needs to be updated. In a past job, I spent at least 75% of my time removing spyware from my customers' computers. It started with annoying pop-up ads seemingly out of nowhere. Then it kept their computer from booting, made it run slow, or blocked them altogether from getting on the Internet. When they forked out cash to have their system cleaned up, they always acknowledged the fact that they should have had antivirus software installed.

Here's where the self-education comes in handy. Microsoft provides ongoing info about Windows security updates and PC Magazine offers comprehensive antivirus software reviews. So before you start deleting everything in your Temporary Internet Files folder, find a source you can trust for information about protecting yourself online.

I don't know of any, but maybe a listing of web sites known for producing spyware would also be helpful. Of course a third party would need to verify before a site was added to the list. But this could help remove the offending sites from search engine indexes, in effect making the sites harder to find.

Poor Positions Hurt in More Ways than One

Posted by keirsun on February 27, 2006 at 01:30 PM

While it may be a common after-lunch ritual to check your website positioning in Google for your company name, there's another online traffic source to keep an eye on - Web Browsers. Here's why: not everybody uses a search engine every time to find a company's website. It's just as easy to type a company name into your browser's address bar as it is an engine's search field.

Now let's take into account that the majority of people on the Internet use Microsoft's Internet Explorer as their daily web browser. So if someone types your company name into IE's address bar, it would be nice to assume that your company website is promptly delivered. However, that assumption would be wrong.

For awhile now, Microsoft has been sending these browser bar queries to an MSN Search results page. For example, if I enter "microsoft" into Internet Explorer's address bar I am served an MSN Search results page, just as if I had performed a keyword search for "microsoft". No big deal, right? Your website should be sitting in the #1 spot for a search on your company name, or at the very least somewhere on the first page. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.

Case in point: an episode of the TV show Globetrekker inspires me to search for more information on an exotic escape to Guatemala. Sidestepping a trip to my favorite search engine, I plug "globetrekker" into my browser's address bar. But even with the unique spelling of the show's name, I don't find the TV show's website in the first 10 results. A look on the 2nd page of results reveals the site halfway down the page. But how many searchers would have kept looking?

Normally, if I don't see a company positioned at or near the top for its own name, I conclude:

a. The company doesn't have a website (which is preposterous)
b. Some shady dealings have transpired and their site has been penalized or banned
or c. Their site is so new it has yet to be indexed by the search engines

Regardless of the reason, a lack of positioning equals lost visitors.

Even more interesting is how the Firefox web browser handles address bar searches. With Firefox reportedly grabbing more than 25% of the web browser market share last month, it's a no-brainer to make sure your site plays nice with this browser.

According to Firefox, "By default, if you enter a search term in the address field and press Enter, a Google 'I'm Feeling Lucky' search is performed, and you're taken to the first result of that search directly."

Therefore, using my previous example, when I enter "globetrekker" into the Firefox address bar, I am automatically served up Globetrekker.com, an online travel service that holds the first position in Google for a "globetrekker" keyword search. Since this is by no means what I was looking for, I could easily become a lost visitor.

So, the moral of the story is: Help guide your online trekkers (and potential customers) to their goal by taking the necessary steps to ensure your website holds strong positions in all search engines for your company (or TV show) name.

Don't Take Our Word for It - Take Google's

Posted by keirsun on February 23, 2006 at 11:01 AM

Maybe you've seen the TV ad. Maybe you haven't. Regardless, every time I see the GM commercial asking viewers to "Google Pontiac" I become more fascinated by its implications.

The exact ad wording is, "Don't take our word for it. Google Pontiac and discover for yourself." It's simple. It's direct. It's, dare I say, genius. Why has no one else done this? (Forgive me if another company has; I haven't seen it.)

Simply put - I'm betting no other company to date has been willing to make this marketing leap. Why tell an audience to go to Google first, instead of just giving out the company's online address? I see two reasons. Credibility. Usability.

First, credibility. As Max Kalehoff points out in a recent article, "GM's campaign implies tremendous authority and trust in the Google brand. It's almost as if Google is moving into the territory of J.D. Power & Associates as the ubiquitous barometer of customer satisfaction."

Google is an internationally recognized name brand. As the leader of the search engine pack, people have taught themselves to trust Google as a source for qualified information. Therefore, GM seems to be saying, "See, Google trusts us. There's our Pontiac website right there at the top of Google's search results. It's even listed there twice (Adword). So if Google trusts us, you should trust us too."

Second, usability. I don't have the data to back it up, but I'm guessing there are literally millions of people who have set Google.com as their browser's homepage. A company that advertises their website is relying on viewers to remember that online address. But no matter how simple the URL, it's easily forgotten in the muddled memory stream of "Things I Saw on TV Last Night". By herding viewers to Google first, people only have to turn on the computer, open their browser to Google, and type the company name into the search box. And a company name or buzzword is almost always easier to remember than a URL.

Back to the ad itself. There's one very important visual that makes the ad click in viewers' minds. A 3-4 second screen shot of Google with the word "Pontiac" typed into the search field. Think about it. The advertiser, General Motors, is putting up a screen shot of someone else's website, Google's, on national television. That screen shot alone may pause the fast-forwarding-through-ads on more than a few Tivo machines.

As Tessa Wegert points out, telling potential customers to visit a third-party for more information, certainly comes with risks. But doesn't taking risks sometimes lead to great rewards? I only wonder if GM's ad firm spelled out these risks to their client. If so, I have more respect for GM. But still not enough to give up my Toyota.

Do B2B's and B2C's Collide in Search Marketing?

Posted by duncan on February 21, 2006 at 11:05 AM

I talk with marketers and IT folks all across the country about their web sites and their potential to use the search engines to drive traffic. Many point out that their company is business-to-business and they want to work with someone who specializes in that space. Still others are in the business-to-consumer space and are sure they need a specialist in that realm. Often I almost lose each group's attention when I say we specialize in both. They pause. The silence is defining. I try to get them back, "Both B2B and B2C's want to position well in the search results. We specialize in helping sites position well in the engines. Therefore we specialize in both business and consumer flavored sites."

I then let this sink in for a couple of seconds. If there is still a defining silence I can mention a client or two of ours that is B2B or B2C. This always seems to make the call more comfortable.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying or pretending that there aren't significant differences between the B2B and B2C spaces. I just want to make it clear that the framework of best practices for search engine optimization and marketing is sound for both areas.

Let's use a couple of examples to draw this out a bit. How about real estate? We all know what that is. In this case we are talking search engine results real estate. You want to have a visible listing on the search results page. This is the real estate you are working with. Whether it is in the natural or the paid listings, you need a solid best practices plan to keep visible at all. No difference between B2B and B2C here.

"Oh, but we aren't in this for just branding," is what you may say. Well, many sites both B2B and B2C are in this, at least partially, for branding. You may be a B2C that doesn't want branding. You just want sales. Talk to one of your B2C colleagues at another company and she may point out that branding is precisely what she needs. In this case the B2B vs. B2C argument is thrown out. Now it's B2C vs. B2C. You see how complicated it can get? (By the way, everyone should be aware of branding in the search results. But that's a blog post for another day.)

Do the search engines specialize in B2B and B2C results? The answer is yes and both. Last I checked, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask (yes I dropped the Jeeves part on purpose) did not have radio buttons to mark a search B2B or B2C. Nope. Any one search starts with the same little search box and button.

In the end it is all about doing the right things to earn a decent nod from the engines. Building relevant sites that people want to visit and link to is key. The engines are happy to see you listed near the top if you deserve it. Whether you B2B folks just want sales leads that convert over months, or you B2C folks want a sale a second, its all the same to the engines. You have to earn it and there are no short cuts or tricks that work, for the long-term anyway.

Much the same can be said for the paid search marketing space. B2B and B2C sites face essentially the same challenges. They both seek a decent return on ad spend, an acceptable cost per acquisition, a workable ROI index, and maybe some branding thrown in.

As you look for a vendor or partner to help with you search engine placement you should look for companies with a solid track record of successfully and safely positioning sites. That should come first. Whatever your goals, they should be able to help.

Haunted By A Super Bowl Ad

Posted by vern on February 20, 2006 at 01:57 PM

Yes, I admit it. I watch the Super Bowl for the ads. This year's crop of Madison Avenue's best was disappointing. Blame Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, corporate re-shuffling of marketing budgets or just plain lack of creativity. Most of the ads during the big game were truly forgettable. But there was one ad that scared me to death. I was stopped in mid nacho-crunching bite by an initially unassuming ad for the new ESPN mobile phone. "We got our sports scores the old fashioned way", the gray haired gentleman uttered, "on the internet."

The internet "old fashioned?" I'm an early-adopter - being one of the first in line to embrace the internet. ESPN calling the internet, the greatest gift Al Gore ever gave the nation, old-fashioned? Has that much time passed? It seems like just yesterday that Casey Cowell, co-founder of the innovative U.S. Robotics, was knocking on the doors of nearby Torch Lake, MI cottage owners to raise money for his new fangled invention called the modem.

The internet "old fashioned?" This earth shattering concept occupied my mind during the entire halftime show. (One could argue that was old-fashioned as well. Mick's comment that they could have played at Super Bowl I adds credence to that argument.)

The internet "old fashioned?" Don't you believe it for a minute! After downing a second helping of Swedish meatballs to clear my head, it hit me. The internet is alive and well but how we access the bounty of information and entertainment available on the net is evolving. I breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed a helping of shrimp cocktail. The internet is as fresh, interesting and vital as ever. It's just going mobile. The next question is: How will you take advantage of the new mobile internet? If you're involved in search engine marketing, and I suspect you are, Oneupweb can help. Check out our Mobile Marketing Services.

VeriSign Delivers One Key for the Internet

Posted by steve on February 15, 2006 at 01:11 PM

According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft affects roughly 10 million Americans each year. Cybercrooks are finding creative ways to circumvent spyware programs, and are now even joining forces to increase the spread of spam, viruses and other malware for profit. These online vandals cause millions of people around the country to vacillate before participating in e-commerce transactions. Financial institutions, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and e-merchants are currently faced with the challenge of implementing effective, cost-efficient and usable customer authentication programs. But VeriSign may have the answer.

VeriSign recently launched a new authentication program which uses one device to authenticate users at various network affiliates on the web. The VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) service gives you one device to use across Paypal, eBay, Yahoo, to log into your bank online, or even buy stock online. Nico Popp, vice president of authentication services at VeriSign, describes the new service as giving users "one key for the Internet." The VIP network, which allows users to authenticate themselves all over the Web with one device, is being strongly supported by Yahoo, PayPal and ebay, which are estimated to have 250 million active users. Not only is VIP giving these users one more tool to protect themselves from identity theft, it's providing a way for ISPs, financial institutions, and e-merchants to use existing solutions to implement customer authentication in a simple, cost-effective way.

The simplicity comes with outsourcing the complexity of an authentication program to VeriSign. With VIP, VeriSign will provide all the service required, including hardware and life cycle management, as well as consumer fulfillment and first line support. VeriSign's vision is to make VIP the most effective method to guarantee the growth of e-commerce by protecting users from malicious attacks. As this shared network expands to more and more members, e-commerce customers will likely expand along with it. Advanced customer authentication programs, such as VIP, will result in the emergence of millions of potential customers into the e-commerce industry. More than ever, being seen in search engine results will prove to be a crucial step toward maximizing attainable revenue as customers begin to feel more comfortable shopping online.

A Valentine for Google Click-to-Call

Posted by keirsun on February 14, 2006 at 11:02 AM

Dear Valentine,

I remember the day I first saw you. I was searching for 'new york hotels' and there you were, sitting quietly next to a Google Adwords link. Immediately, you had my attention. The subtle curves of your phone icon made me wonder who you were waiting to talk to, but somehow I knew it was me. Almost immediately, you asked for my phone number. I have to admit I was hesitant at first, even a little unsure of myself. I had questions about your background, call them FAQs about your motives. But you had all the right answers, so I took the plunge.

Since that day, I have never looked back. When I see you on my desktop or on my mobile, my searcher's heart shines. Your simple features quickly connect me to the information I need, and you never ask for anything in return, except my phone number of course. You even pick up the tab before I ever see the bill. Now other people are talking about you, but I don't mind. I'm not the jealous type; I know others will share in my admiration.

I only have one question Valentine, when will I see you again?

One-Stop Shopping

Posted by on February 13, 2006 at 04:08 PM

I’m not much of a shopper. I don’t try on jeans before I buy them. And yes, inevitably I end up returning them because they don’t fit, only to try on the next size to make sure they are the ones. I buy groceries based on when I’m ready to eat and the mood I’m in. I can’t “shop‎ for groceries because I don’t know if I’m going to feel like Shake ‘N Bake this week. I buy gas when my tank gets low, and I never pay attention to the station I choose and the price they are charging. I admit it; I am a terrible shopper.

So when the weekend comes around and my better half insists we visit Target, I have to remind myself not to collapse onto the floor kicking, flailing and screaming, “I don’t want to go shopping!‎ No, I finally grew out of that stage. (My poor mom and our dreaded trips to K-Mart to buy me fake Air Jordans.)

Truthfully, I don’t mind Target. It’s a one-stop shop. They have a diverse product mix. The lines are short. In and out. Convenient. That’s my kind of shopping.

As a member of the sales team, it’s exciting to be a part of Oneupweb’s natural evolution into a fully integrated online marketing company. Our Search Marketing services and Thought Leadership have propelled us to become an industry leader with a roster of successful clients. And now, we offer a new roster of services to continue to meet the needs of our current clients and the growing needs of new clients.

Yes, Oneupweb clients now have the luxury of a one-stop online marketing partner. No more shopping around to find an email partner. No more trying on various Usability experts. No more, one vendor for this and another vendor for that. No more multiple vendors not on the same page. With the addition of Usability, E-Mail Marketing, Mobile Search, Online Advertising Services, and Marketing Research, Oneupweb has evolved into a convenient shopping experience.

So whether you need toothpaste and a new universal remote for the TV, or online marketing for your business, a one-stop shopping experience makes a Saturday afternoon salvageable and online branding and sales manageable.

Creating Loyal Searchers or Just A Bunch of Yahoopla?

Posted by chip on February 10, 2006 at 04:30 PM

In recent news, Yahoo! has invited a test group to participate in a new search incentive program. The basic premise of the program is to offer incentives to people who use Yahoo! Search as their primary search engine, over the course of a month. Now we are not talking about huge, Ed McMahon-style cash prizes or anything, but perks nonetheless. Elinor Mills of C|Net has reported that Yahoo!'s perks may include:

- Advertisment-Free Yahoo! Mail
- Unlimited Yahoo! Mail storage
- Free music downloads
- Donations to the charity of your choice
- Netflix discounts
- Frequent flyer miles
- and more

This idea is not unique to Yahoo!; Bill Gates has talked about sharing advertising revenues with MSN Search users in one way or another as well. According to one report, Gates says that users are the very reason that the engines are able to make money from advertising, so why not share the wealth?

It seems fairly straight-forward that user incentive programs are designed to create search engine loyalty and ultimately increase the engine's share of the search market. Maybe Yahoo! isn't settling for the # 2 spot after all? While offering incentives is the latest strategy for attracting the masses, it is not the first. You may remember the battle of the indices that Yahoo! and Google participated in not that long ago. It seemed that every week one was touting a larger index than the other in an attempt to claim that their datacenters were more comprehensive.

The questions that come to my mind are these: What exactly are the determining factors in selecting a search engine? What is ultimately going to decide which engines remain as leaders in their field and which fade to the background? Will the world of search be reduced to who is offering the best incentives, paying the largest commissions, and/or offering the largest index? Or will relevant results play the trump card? I guess only time will tell, but I think the future of the internet will be better off if users focus on results and not gimmicky promotions. After all, isn't the reason we search in the first place to find what we are looking for?

The Disease of Arrogance

Posted by tim on February 09, 2006 at 08:35 AM

Sometimes I wonder if a company reaches a certain size and suddenly, almost like magic, they wake up one day and figure the normal boundaries of reality don't apply to them anymore.

Events of late seem to suggest maybe this phenomenon is real. Big brands somehow figure that they don't have to follow the same published guidelines for operating on the web that other sites do, just because they are a household name. Never mind that computer programs, spiders, robots, or algorithms don't shop, or watch commercials, or get hung up in brands as a status symbol. The prevailing attitude seems to be that, "Those rules are for mere commoners. We've been around for years, long before the world wide web was important. We'll make the rules and they'll just let us play."

Funny thing about that. It doesn't seem to work quite as well as they might hope. That's the thing about the cold analytical 'mind' of a computer, it doesn't much care who you are. If you don't play by the rules as they understand them, you get flagged.

Of course, you can bend the rules a little bit, once you can get the right people involved. Some chuckles and hearty slaps on the back, a little bit of, "Hey sorry big search engine, we didn't realize that was bad" <nod, nod, wink, wink> "We'll behave, honest we will."

Here's the million dollar question though (really). How much time, money, and effort were wasted to try a marginal trick to game the search engines, only to have to redo all the work anyway? Maybe big brands have that kind of money to burn. Maybe the grass is so green in their world they need to find a way to unload revenue to reduce taxes.

Maybe. There's some folks down in Detroit who might have some opinions on that these days.

This doesn't really just stop at search engine tricks either. That's the world we dabble in most, but there are plenty of other transgressions. There's poor customer service. Ignoring an existing and potentially huge client base you've already won at some point. Producing second rate product with the idea that simply slapping a name badge on it is enough. And on, and on...

When you make an investment in your company, for anything, from R&D to marketing to production, keep an eye on the long term. A quick fix leads to a slow bleed. There are no solutions as wonderful as the fine people at Ronco might have us believe. Set it and forget it works for a rotisserie pork roast, but not for a company strategy.

*Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is meant to suggest that Ronco is guilty of any of the aforementioned transgressions. In fact, I have nothing but admiration for the empire that Mr. Popeil has created. Hat's off and keep those fantastic commercials coming.

Google Slams the Brakes on Big Name Spam

Posted by dave on February 07, 2006 at 05:04 PM

For a long time there has been speculation about Google playing favorites in their search engine results pages (SERPs). An example of which would be a big-name brick and mortar company appearing in seemingly impossible positions with little or no content to justify those positions. However, a few days ago senior Google engineer Matt Cutts laid much of this speculation to rest. On his blog, Cutts gave big-name spam the boot in the form of BMW.de. If there were a font that embodied glee and jubilance with a hint of "I told you so", his entire post would have been crafted in it.

For those of you that have not been following this development, BMW's German website was employing a JavaScript redirect tactic where it displayed different information to users than the content it served up to the search engines. This "cloaking" technique has long been on the violation list provided by Google in its webmaster guidelines section.

This development has caused both applause and fear within the search engine marketing industry. But what does this really mean? Will Google "dropping the hammer" on BMW really have a significant impact on the overall industry landscape? Unfortunately, no. Those that are willing to employ these tactics will still do so, accepting (or ignoring) the risks associated with it.

Although this slap on the wrists may hurt the pride of the BMW company, I really don't see this having a huge impact on their bottom line. However, Google's BMW ban may be the warning shot that some companies need to start spending a little more time looking into the history and tactics of their online initiatives. No one wants to end up in a situation where they have spent years and a considerable amount of money building a brand name to be suddenly invisible to their online users.

Whether or not this development does change how companies choose a search engine marketing vendor, I would like to applaud Google for the stance they took on this issue. I know that with the huge target they have on their back, everyone, myself included, likes to cast a stone now and again, but what they did showed integrity and conviction. So, no stone casting today.

Lemon-Aid Anyone?

Posted by anne on February 06, 2006 at 11:38 AM

As a newcomer to the industry of Search Engine Marketing, I found myself paralleling this form of marketing to a more simple time of my life. Lemonade stands were a "big thing" in my neighborhood and each year I would take an inventory, defining my competition in my neck of the woods. Each year my strategy changed; each year the timing of this big event solely depended on the weather, the perfect intersection and of course, customers' needs.

Mrs. Bade was one of my biggest customers who liked tart pink lemonade with lots of ice. To accommodate her taste buds, I always made it a point to concoct a biting brew just for her. Each year, she walked away with sheer delight, or at least she made me feel that it was special. Of course, having a lemonade stand in the middle of a snowy winter didn't make good sense to anyone; but once in awhile my instincts told me that I should be ready to lead off the pack of lemonade stands each Spring by being the first on my street to lure in the thirsty customers. Of course, positioning was a huge step in my calculated plan. To strategically place my lemonade stand directly on my front lawn was not a wise choice; my house was on a cul-de-sac where traffic flow was minimal. Nor did I follow my parents' advice to erect my stand within eyesight and only two houses down. My quest was to find the perfect corner, perfect timeframe and perfect "stand front" banner to catch the eye of my potential customers.

The big day finally arrived and I was ready to command my post. My lemonade stand was sprayed with streamers and balloons of all shapes and colors. It didn't consist of the normal one-table stand; no mine was a three-tabled display offering a variety of lemonade flavors and sizes. Making sure my stomach did not interfere with the selling side of my big day, my mother insisted that we start off the day with a stack of pancakes and of course, a glass of my fine brew. Now, recruiting reasonable helpers was another matter as friends usually insisted on sampling my concoctions and daily profits. The recruitment side of my business was to include the right mix of personalities. Not just anyone would do. I sought out two friends who, if needed, could persuade consumption of the finest cut of meat to die-hard vegetarians - Wanda and Wendy Wachendorfer. Their parents owned the local meat market, "Buffa's Deli". Everyone in town knew who the Wachendorfers were, so if the lemonade itself didn't make the sale, their presence would – simply out of sheer empathy.

With everything in place for the big day --- position, employees, flyers distributed on every storefront and a variety of lemonade flavors that included peach nectar, mango and orange, the day was sure to be a huge success. Every year brought about new changes and new flavors to my lemonade stand – from knowing my favorite customer picks to the importance of positioning my stand in just the right place; that was the BIG picture.

So when I began my human resources job last month in an industry I knew nothing about, search engine marketing, I reflected on a time in my young life when I realized it was all about positioning. Positioning the customer in a place on the internet where they wanted to be. In my case, it was the corner of Burgess Street and Fleming Road. On the internet, each customer maintains a slightly different place or position for their business; it may not be number one in the search engine listings, number two may work just fine for them, but it's up to the search marketing company to aid and assist the customer in defining needs, business strategy and marketing challenges, to determine what corner of the internet works for them.

It really is all about the relationship. Whether it lasts one year or several years, the relationship becomes an integral part of the partnership between the search marketing company and the client. My lemonade customers from one year were my returning customers the following year. Each year the relationship was more fruitful allowing me to understand whether pink lemonade was desirable or whether the plain lemonade was their style. It was really up to me to offer the varietals of lemonade; it was simply all about choices. Search marketing offers a number of choices from organic optimization to pay-per-click advertising campaigns. Choosing the service(s) that impact your company will help a business succeed – again, having the choices.

In addition and conclusion, search marketing really focuses on aiding the customer. So let me conclude my story by asking, "Lemon-Aid Anyone?"

The Whole Weird Wireless World - Mobile Search's Future Is Now

Posted by Christopher on February 03, 2006 at 08:06 AM

More and more, "sometime in the future" is yesterday, and the ubiquitous "New Year's Tech Predictions" lists find themselves rendered obsolete by mid-January. In the news, for real: The Korean Times reports that South Korea's developing a line of security robots that, by their 2010 launch, should be able to make night watch rounds and, if necessary, chase criminals. "OK, officer, I give up. Please don't fry my head with your laser." Oh, also, they're kicking around the idea of dog or horse-shaped combat robots for military use. Can I just surrender now? Inexpensive private-sector robots intended for house cleaning and child care(!!!), some of whom can recharge themselves automatically, should debut later this year.

Yikes.

Less weird by a couple of degrees, but still weird, is this:

As reported this week (2/1/06) in Search Engine Journal, local mobile search in Japan just got a whole lot more precise. Aided by GPS, compass navigation, and cellular photo technology, Mapion Local Search (developed by Tokyo's Mapion and San Francisco's GeoVector Corporation) provides a little deeper level of functionality than your standard mobile search service. Have you ever visited an unfamiliar city and tried to find, say, a particular restaurant? You looked it up, you got directions, you followed them. You know you're in the right place, but where is it? All the @#&%@#!!! buildings look the same, and would it hurt them to have a sign you could actually see? You don't want to ask someone and look like a gol durn hayseed, but what other options do you have? Hey, I have an idea. Just point your cell phone at the nearest building, and it'll tell you what it is. VFW Administration. OK, what's next door? Eureka! Thus, the power of Mapion Local Search. In the GeoVector press release, president John Ellenby states "Soon users will be pointing their mobile phones at restaurants and getting reviews, pointing at billboards and going to the advertiser's mobile site for shopping, pointing at a movie poster and buying a ticket, playing a game by pointing at [their] friends, the potential is enormous."

The potential is enormous. It's the WikiPedia of real life. And what's this mean for SEO/M? Well, here's a scenario: someone hungry, someone in need of a restaurant, just pointed their cell phone at your establishment and got a review. Who wrote it? What's it say? You're probably hoping his/her teeny screen says "a sublime eating experience...not to be missed!" You're probably hoping his/her teeny screen doesn't say "go ahead, eat there. Just put '911' on voice-dial first." If you weren't worried about your online reputation before, well, now you are. More questions: how user-friendly is your mobile site for shopping? How easily can the increasingly fickle Average Search User navigate your site? Are you ready for this?

My Probably-Already-Obsolete Tech Prediction for 2006: you better be.

Flash and SEO Sitting in a Tree...

Posted by on February 01, 2006 at 03:04 PM

With the online Flash movement just about done with, we're left with a ton of visual enhancements that do little more than animate or entertain. We can all agree that some Flash files still have some place somewhere in some websites to convey some information about something — but wouldn't it be nice if that bit of animated binary could lend a hand in your SEO efforts?

You know what I'm about to say: it can! The search engines are slowly growing their abilities to spider Flash files and extract the content. It's all a matter of setting up your Flash files to be SEO friendly.

What follows is a list of findings from working with Macromedia's Flash Search SDK. These results cannot be guaranteed to spill over into all Flash search implementations, since most of the major engines prefer to do things their own way. This can be used as a general guideline for Flash best practices concerning SEO and search engine spidering of Flash files.

• Flash search won't read traced text (using the trace() function) or text that has been broken apart in Flash (thus making each letter a shape, instead of a character). It will also ignore dynamically loaded text. That includes text pulled from an external file, or text dynamically assigned using myText.text = "hello world"; syntax. The one exception to this would be htmlText — any URLs assigned using this function will be pulled while the rest of the content will not. If the URL is contained within an anchor tag ( ie. <a href="http://www.mysite.com">http://www.mysite.com</a>) and dynamically set using htmlText it WILL be ignored. Thus, bare URLs are a good idea with htmlText (confusing, eh?).
• Flash search will read text of any font size, and text contained on frames locked by ActionScript from being shown to the user (ie. Frame 2 has content, Frame 1 has a _root.stop() that keeps the playhead from ever reaching Frame 2).


• Flash search will convert special characters (<, >, &, ", etc.) to their character reference (&lt; &gt; &amp; &quot;, etc.).


• Flash search will find and extract all URLs stored within getURL().

And I have to stop there. Without getting too detailed (we have to keep SOME secrets), I can say that in order for your Flash files to be SEO-friendly, all you need to worry about is keeping your text together. Don't convert it to shapes! This increases file size (more shapes to store) and acts as a wall between your Flash file content and the Flash-aware engines. Your best bet is to embed the font you're using into the library (you can find tutorials with a quick Google search).

So now you've made it! Your Flash is optimized! But now what? The next step is to ensure that when someone finds your file in a search engine (and is directly linked to the SWF, not the markup that contains it) they are NOT able to view the file on its own. You can either setup your webserver to disallow direct-linking of SWFs, or you can insert the following into your Flash file:

_root.onLoad = function() {
     getURL("http://www.asdf.com");
}

This way if someone follows a search engine results listing of your SWF, your movie will actually kick them to the proper URL. Of course this is not supported by most browsers (for good reason) so you'll probably have to setup your server accordingly.