Halo 3, Facebook & Live Search – Is Microsoft Winning the PR Battle Against Google?

Posted by vern on September 27, 2007 at 04:54 PM

Is it just me or does it seem that business and tech news has been "all Microsoft, all the time" lately. The release of Halo 3 created a firestorm of press coverage. It’s being hailed as the biggest entertainment release in history, besting the debut of Spiderman 3. Add to that the stir created by the expected investment in Facebook and the just announced TV networking device for Windows Media Center.

Sure, the GM strike, especially here in Michigan, grabbed a few headlines. But, labor negotiations can’t compete with the juicy tech buzz that Microsoft has created. I almost feel sorry for Google having nothing more to announce this week than a piddly expansion of their European operations.

Microsoft also announced sweeping changes to their Live Search, stating that “this time we can claim we are as good as Google‎. For me, this is where the rubber meets the road. Paid search is what really matters to me and I’d love to see Microsoft give Google a run for its money.

Our paid search initiatives on Live have consistently delivered higher conversion rates than Google and Yahoo. Sadly, search traffic on Live has a long way to go to compete with Google, which owns four times the market share of Microsoft in search. The gang in Redmond claims to be the #2 most heavily trafficked web network in the U.S. Will the revamped Live Search entice enough traffic from that network to make a dent in Google? Time will tell. It’s certainly heartening to see Bill and Steve making a big push in search, but is it too late?

According to reports, Google will be adding several thousand engineers to their European presence. The aim is to grow the workforce there to the size of their U.S. operations. Could it be that Google feels they’ve already conquered the domestic market and are moving on to the next objective in their quest for world domination? On a macro-economic level, the growth potential in Europe is higher than in the U.S. Not to mention India, China and Asia. Google has consistently enjoyed a search market share north of 50% for what seems like forever here in the U.S. Let’s face it. They’ve won the battle of North America. Next stop Europe, then Asia. And didn’t I hear something about Google being the first search engine on the moon?

IX

Posted by on September 27, 2007 at 12:51 PM

It’s funny, a year ago to the date, I was composing some incendiary rant about something as foolish as the death of the comma when I realized that it was Google’s birthday.

This year, I’m embarrassed to say, I wasn’t any more prepared than I was last year.

Happy 9th Birthday Google.

For some of folks in the search world, this marks the one day of the year when heads are scratched in wonder over the search giant’s actual birth date. Search guru Danny Sullivan takes a couple stabs at it today on Search Engine Land.

The nebulous cloud around the "actual" date is a bit funny, it’s much like my good friend Craig who, each April, goes to great lengths to obfuscate the true year and date of his birth. Why DO people do that?

For practical purposes, I guess, the date doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that, in the highly competitive world of search, Google continues to be an innovator and a leader. Sure they have their faults - their SERP doesn’t contain any better results than any of the other major engines, and let’s face it "Universal Search" doesn’t hold a candle to the highly usable results page rolled out by Ask.com a few months ago.

I digress.

Today is their day to toast the year’s accomplishments; of which there are many. Among the new widgets rolled out this year are, of course, universal search results page, iGoogle, and their personalized search technology. On top of those, a whole host of AdWords technologies including the ability to bid & pay on a cost-per-click basis for site targeting ads, cost-per-action pricing, conversion and landing page optimization tools, ad serving on mobile devices, as well as print and radio placement through AdWords. Oh, and let’s not forget the acquisitions of YouTube and DoubleClick.

It’s been a busy year for the folks at Google, so here’s a pat on the back for a job well done, and a hearty thank-you for giving the blogosphere so much material.

Happy Birthday!

Searching for Positions: The Fall TV Season is Here

Posted by samantha on September 26, 2007 at 04:52 PM

It's that time of year again – the fall TV season, which brings with it the return of our favorite TV shows, along with the appearance of some new ones. Actors, writers, producers and networks are all hoping that their shows will achieve success.

I don't know about you, but I can certainly see some parallels with the fall TV season and the world of search. Let's embark on a journey to a parallel universe, where the fall TV lineup and search engine marketing share many similarities...

The Importance of Positions & Ratings

In the world of search and the world of TV, ratings and positions hold great importance. Whether or not a TV show will succeed and make it past a week or a month, depends largely on ratings. If a television show has bad ratings, the viewing audience won't return and money from advertisers will be lost.

So it is with search – if your site doesn't have the needed positions in the search engines, customers won't be able to find the site, and you'll miss out on valuable conversions.

The Need for Good Content

What drives good TV ratings? The same thing that drives good search engine positions: Good Content. In order for a television show to really take off, there must be quality content. (Although that doesn't explain the success of the vast amount of reality shows popping up everywhere.)

No matter how large your advertising budget is, if you aren't presenting your users or viewers with the quality content they're looking for, chances are they'll look elsewhere – whether it's another show on the particular time slot or another website that offers the same services you do.

Targeted Advertising

If you've watched the TV lately, you surely have seen the large amounts of advertisements for the new fall TV lineup. New shows like ABC's Private Practice are being promoted several times per hour. These advertisements are targeted specifically for the type of viewers the show hopes to be popular with. This same concept applies in the world of search.

As most people familiar with search engine optimization know, having inbound links from relevant sites is important. Not only is it important for positioning in the search engines, it is also important in driving people to your site from other websites.

Additionally, in Pay Per Click advertising, the same targeted advertising concept applies – you can drive people to your site, but it's better to drive the people who are likely to become customers to your site.

The Perfect Balance

By dedicating time and effort to targeted advertising and quality content, your website can achieve strong ratings and make it to the “Must See‎ category. While people may not record your website on their DVR every Thursday at 9pm, if you give your visitors what they want, they are likely to become loyal viewers. If you need help, well, I know of a great SEO firm that is ready for the job.

Subscription-Based Web Content - A Dying Practice

Posted by steve on September 25, 2007 at 11:15 AM

Last week, The New York Times announced that it will no longer be charging visitors to access parts of its media site, NYTimes.com.

This previously-blocked content, published specifically for TimesSelect subscribers, is now open to all readers. This announcement comes exactly two years after the decision was made to create the TimesSelect program and make portions of the site's content subscription-based only.

Why the change? After all, the goals of TimesSelect were met. The program drew 227,000 subscribers and generated $10 million in revenue a year over the past two years. The problem, though, is that these goals were low and The Times significantly underestimated traffic levels from major search engines.

So they're getting more traffic than originally projected, how is that bad?

The issue faced by The Times by underestimating the amount traffic to the site from search engines like Google and Yahoo is that conversion rates were extremely low; in this case, conversions being paid subscriptions. Why would these visitors want to subscribe? The majority of traffic from the search engines was likely made up of first-time visitors unfamiliar with the quality of content on NYTimes.com; so why pay for it?

Essentially, The Times discovered that the lack of trust and brand loyalty from search engine traffic resulted in a lack of paying subscribers.

So now, after two years, The Times has concluded that the $10 million forfeited each year from the abandonment of the TimesSelect program will be far exceeded in the long run with an advertising-based model, which I have to agree with. According to Nielsen/Net Ratings, the site receives 13 million unique visits every month, and by opening up the entire site, it is safe to assume that this number's only going to go up in the future. While $10 million a year is no small change, with the amount of traffic NYTimes.com generates, an advertising-based revenue-generating model has the potential to far surpass their old subscription-based model.

With this announcement, The Wall Street Journal is now the only media site which charges subscription fees to readers, a fee that Robert Murdoch may be dropping sometime soon.

The subscription-based model of generating revenue is a dying practice. Not only have expectations not been met by The New York Times, but other sites in various industries are also generating less than ideal revenue from this practice, and the competition's taking notice.

Take SpiralFrog for example. SpiralFrog, a new ad-based music download service, is set to challenge the likes of subscription-based iTunes. Downloading music on SpiralFrog will be free of charge to users, and its revenue will be generated through banners and other online advertising.

We'll have to wait and see how users take to some of the requirements of utilizing SpiralFrog, such as monthly questionnaires, but by forgoing subscription fees, I foresee the development of a large user base in the coming months.

As The New York Times discovered, restricting parts of your site to search engines and non-subscribers limits your revenue-generating opportunities by inhibiting your overall user base. As we've seen from Google over the past several years, the real money is in an ad-based model, and to fully take advantage of this model, you need significant traffic.

Complete site access helps you to get this traffic. The more accessible content on the site, the stronger the appeal. The stronger the appeal, the wider the audience. The wider the audience, the more referrals and back links. The more back links, the better the search engine placement. The better the search engine placement, the more traffic. And the more traffic, the more revenue from site advertisements.

It's a nice little circle.

Powerset - A Worthy Adversary for Google?

Posted by luke on September 24, 2007 at 12:23 PM

Backed by an impressive roster of investors and a licensing relationship with Palo Alto Research Center, Powerset has ambitions to change the way we search online.

How exactly do the people behind Powerset plan to do this you ask? It's simple; by building a natural language search engine with the ability to read and understand every sentence on the web.

The truth is this will not be simple at all. Beyond the initial challenge of indexing the entire web, the Powerset search engine will require users to shift their search behavior away from the two to three keyword queries to using crafted natural-language queries or full phrases, sentences and questions.

No doubt there are skeptics of the natural-language search engine. Search expert Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, disputes the idea of asking a question rather than typing in a few words:

They aren't using 'keywordese' now because they somehow have been trained to do it. No one from Google sat the searchers down and said "only two words, and don't use conjunctions." People search however they want -- and right now, they use only a few words. If Powerset's going to change those habits, good luck.

Ultimately, this begs the question: why would users want to change the way they search? According to Powerset CEO, Barney Pell:

The limited query length puts fundamental limits on how much information is communicated to the search engine. This in turn limits what a search engine, however intelligent, could possibly do to improve the results (using more information about the searcher and the search context can help, and is the subject of much active research). Looking at this situation, it is easy to see why it seems like the search industry has matured and hit a plateau. Future innovation will come from extending search in various ways, but not from any fundamental changes in the core.

There's your answer; relevancy! Powerset plans to one-up Google by providing more meaningful results, which essentially leads to more value for advertisers.

A fundamental difference between Google and Powerset is that Google's system matches specific words within search queries with text in web pages, while Powerset will analyze the actual meaning of words and phrases that it indexes on the Web, analyzing the entire linguistic meaning of the query.

To address the critical challenge of modifying search behavior, Powerset has launched Powerset Labs, a community where users have the ability to provide feedback on the natural language search engine. Powerset invites users to compare results from its platform with those of others, namely Google. Content adjustments will be made based on user feedback. Rather than expecting users to go through an abrupt change in search behavior, Powerset Labs is providing a gradual transition based on a two-way flow of communication between the users and the 70 person team.

Despite my pending access to Powerset Labs, I certainly feel there is potential for Powerset to be a top player in the search world. Nonetheless, Google is a giant more than capable of taking swift advantage if the technology succeeds.

Notre Dame, Michigan State and Universal Search

Posted by maureen on September 21, 2007 at 11:27 AM

Hello. My name is Maureen and I married a Michigan State fan.

I'm not quite sure how it happened. My family brought me up the way any good, Irish Catholic family living near South Bend, Indiana would - with bedtime stories of Knute Rockne, the Gipper and the four horsemen.

Saturdays in the fall were reserved for family time, which was carried out in front of our television crying or cheering on Rocket Ismail, the Bettis and those lucky enough to be coached by the great Lou Holtz. Notre Dame was in our blood and, win or lose, we always stuck by our team.

So when I brought my new boyfriend home to meet the family, I understood the shock on their faces. He was wearing a green and white Michigan State hat. He drove a car with an MSU license plate. And now I've discovered Michigan State isn't all that bad.

Please Mom, don't cry.

I recently searched online for the Michigan State University student newspaper and found The State News holding the number one position in Google for MSU student newspaper.

Since I work in the Public Relations department of a search engine optimization and marketing company, this sort of impressed me. But it's what I found on the site that truly caused my change of heart.

There's been a lot of talk lately about Google's Universal Search and what it means for online marketing. To put it simply, Universal Search combines results from many of Google's vertical search options into a unified search engine results page (SERP). Through a new set of algorithms, Google's web search results may now include videos, maps, images, blogs and press releases.

It has never been more important to create and optimize searchable media. Which is just what The State News has done.

Podcasts, videos, blogs, images and RSS feeds. It's all there. And it's updated on a regular basis.

In a recent study entitled, Once Again There's Still Money on the Table: Internet Retailer Study 2007, Oneupweb found that many top online retailers are not optimizing their websites to the fullest extent - missing profitable opportunities and risking loss of market share. Left out of these sites are some of the very tools that a college newspaper is now utilizing.

While it probably kills my family to hear me say it, I'm impressed.

But no matter what MSU does online or on the football field this weekend, Notre Dame will always have a better fight song.

The Mobile Web & SUS Milestones

Posted by chip on September 20, 2007 at 10:28 AM

Well first of all I would like to mention that this is the 500th post for Straight Up Search!

It should go without saying, but I am truly honored to not only be able to contribute to this blog on an ongoing basis, but on such a momentous day to boot. Whether you've been reading our blog for a week, or you've been loyal through all 500 posts, we're very glad to have you.

Well that's about enough reminiscing, let's continue moving forward. And what better way to move a search engine marketing blog forward than by discussing new developments in the mobile web space. So let's just get right into it.

Google Stays in the Mobile News:
Well it seems I can't get through a single round of mobile updates without at least one mention of Google. Not that that's a bad thing, kudos to Google for continuing to take chances and striving to be innovative. As Andrew's less-than-enthusiastic post addressed, Google has rolled out mobile AdSense.

While this may not seem like the next great opportunity for online advertising right now, this could change dramatically as the mobile web matures - and Google is sure to be there if and when that happens.

Cheap(er) iPhones - Even Free iPhones!:
Speaking of a maturing of the mobile web user experience, Apple has lowered the price of the iPhone. At $399, it's still not the free-with-a-new-contract phone that I have, but the touch screen, full HTML mobile web experience is a great sign of what's to come.

And even if it is still a little too rich for your blood, you can always test your luck and try to win a free iPhone with Local.com's Apple a Day promotion.

Smarter Mobile Search Brought to You by Sprint & Microsoft:
As Sprint and Microsoft announced an extension of their relationship, they also announced a couple of very nice mobile search advancements including a GPS location-aware mobile search service and voice activated Live Search powered by Tellme technologies, which was recently acquired by Microsoft.

The New Fall Lineup on V-Cast:
That's right, V-Cast announced their fall lineup which includes several popular programs from many of the major network and cable television stations. The very fact that I can mention a "new fall lineup" for mobile broadcasts is significant in it of itself. Add to that the fact that over 10 brand new shows are set to debut on V-Cast at the same time they're scheduled to air on television sets across America, and it suddenly becomes even more significant.

Mobile Contra
Television isn't the only thing debuting on mobile devices this fall. Konami games is bringing you a mobile version of the classic game... wait no, legendary game, Contra. That's right - start practicing your
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A Select Start
now - you're going to need it.

I know there is more, much more in fact, but I just can't cover everything, so as always, feel free to add you favorite mobile web updates in the comments.

Fantasy Football Injury Reports from Google

Posted by duncan on September 19, 2007 at 09:16 AM

The big fantasy football season is here, and all fantasy football players need to keep up with injury reports. Did you know you can use some of Google's advanced search tools to quickly dig out injury reports?

Each week I must choose which of my fantasy players will be in the starting lineup. This tells the computer scoring system which player stats will be used to create my score. Once I choose my players they are set for Sunday and Monday. I can't change players mid-game. For this reason it is important to have the latest news on which players are injured and may not play.

One of my fantasy football running backs is T.J. Duckett. I picked him figuring the Lion's restored and high power offense may use him often in goal-line situations. Clearly he has the potential to stack up 2-3 touchdowns a game. Those touchdowns add up to points in any fantasy football league. However, I would be silly to put T.J. Duckett in my lineup if he isn't going to play. I would get a big fat zero points for his output if he were injured. In the cutthroat world of fantasy football every point counts.

So here's how Google can help you find your injury reports:

Go to Google's Advanced Search and select a date range. Let's go with one week. We only want to see recent pages in our results.

Click Image to Enlarge

Now in the top search box titled "with all of the words" I entered this: site:detroitlions.com injury duckett

This search allows me to search only the DetroitLions.com website for any pages with the word injury and Duckett in them that showed up in the last week. Bam. There's an article on Duckett right there. I click the page and Coach Marinelli says Duckett is out. I definitely won't start him this week.

Click Image to Enlarge

Now let's go on to see if Drew Brees is hurt. (I refuse to infer that his poor stats thus far would suggest he's hurt) Back to the Google advanced search page. Set it to one week. This time type site:neworleanssaints.com injury brees. Nothing comes up.

As long as we trust that the Saints do a good job of updating their website quickly, and that the site is easily spidered by Google, we can assume Brees isn't hurt. Good. I will keep him in my lineup at least another week. I expect him to light it up against Tennessee in the Saints home opener on Monday night.

There are awesome fantasy football websites out there that can make it easy for anyone to keep up with the news. One example is a great site called The Huddle, which updates its subscribers with some of the most useful news possible in the fantasy football space.

Any hard core fantasy footballer would do well to join sites like The Huddle. They will surely get their money's worth. After all, true football fans love to get their hands on all the information available.

There will always be those folks that may have joined a fantasy football league on a lark. This group is not going to take too many steps to over-think this fanatic game. For these people, Google's date range search feature may suffice.

Feel free to comment on this blog and mention some of your fantasy football searching habits.

Oh, by the way, happy Talk Like a Pirate Day, matey.

Watered-Down AdSense for Mobile

Posted by on September 18, 2007 at 01:30 PM

Google AdSense for mobile officially rolled out this week. As a not-evil mega-corporation, Google has opted current AdWords advertisers into the mobile network for the next two months, free of charge.

That's very nice of Google, I'd say. It would be nicer, however, if AdSense for mobile weren't a waste of time.

The way I see it, there are four very basic components necessary to find success on the mobile web:

1. A potential customer - there are lots of those
2. A potential customer who uses his cell phone to access the internet - less of those
3. A mobile-enabled website for this potential customer to access - less of those
4. A potential customer willing to make a conversion on the mobile web - 20 of those? 200? 2,000?

Based on this, the potential customer base is probably fairly small. A successful mobile campaign would require a lot of effort for small potential reward. Kind of like running up an escalator. Or competing on Ninja Warrior.

Beyond that, mobile ad real estate is quite limited, to the point where only about 70 characters of ad text will be displayed. Not 35 characters for Line One, and 35 more for Line Two, plus a headline and a display URL. 70 total characters. This leaves space for, essentially, a headline and a display URL. Compelling calls-to-action need not apply.

Essentially, a small potential customer base, and limited capacity to communicate with it.

And very rapidly, of course, the mobile web is becoming obsolete. Anyone who is truly interested in using a cell phone to access the internet has long-since purchased an iPhone, whether they paid $600 or $400 for it, and whether they waited in line for three days or 30 minutes.

And, as Apple will very clearly tell you, the iPhone doesn't provide you with "some watered-down internet." It's the real internet. HTML, friends, not .wap.

The only way I can see AdSense for mobile ever actually being worth the effort of creating and managing a well-optimized campaign is if it's the only way to access a mobile web customer using the long-rumored gPhone. But Google's not evil, so they wouldn't act like a monopoly.

Right? Hmm.

When Not to Blog

Posted by on September 17, 2007 at 04:36 PM

By now, you've surely heard the call to arms about blogging:

It puts a voice to your company! It lets you create a dialog with consumers! It lets you participate in discussions that are important to your industry!

Yes. All of those things are true. And all of those things offer a considerable amount of opportunity. Emerging companies can reach out more easily. Established companies can continue to reinforce their position of trust in the industry. The flipside to all of this opportunity, however, is that it comes with a certain degree of responsibility. And sometimes, knowing when not to blog is just as important as knowing when to be the first to blog about a subject.

Because your blog is a direct reflection of your company, and ideally a more personal and approachable communication channel than most of your other communications, you can really screw things up if you are not careful. While you can't always control what people will say in comments, you can take preventive measures that avoid providing fodder for detractors.

Here, then, are some instances when it may be better to avoid posting to your organization's blog.

When Not to Blog #1: Never Blog in Anger

It is inevitable, especially in competitive industries, that events can unfold that will make you frustrated or angry. And that frustration and anger is okay; it shows you have a vested interest in your company and you take it very seriously. Don't, however, take that moment to tell the whole world just how angry you are or why.

Sleep on it. Think about the situation for a little while. And when you are calm, by all means write a thoughtful post about the situation. Odds are the situation will raise ire in others who share your opinions. By showing rationality and reserve in the face of a tense situation, however, you continue to establish respect for yourself, your company, and in some cases, your industry.

When Not to Blog #2: Never Blog in a Hurry

When is the best time not to blog? How about 4:50 p.m. on a Friday? When you write in haste, you are setting yourself up for a subpar post. Sometimes, you get typos and misspellings. Those can make you look stupid. Sometimes, it's a lack of clarity in your post that is usually avoided when you take a few minutes to collect your thoughts and arrange them in a sensible way. Those can make you look obtuse. And sometimes, it can result in the omission of information that would be valuable in addressing the full scope of your post topic. Those can make you look unprepared.

If you don't want to run the risk of appearing stupid, obtuse, or unprepared, don't blog when you are in a hurry.

When Not to Blog #3: Never Blog Before You Do Your Homework

If you really want to use your blog as a way to establish respect and authority, make sure you have done your homework on a subject before you post about it. Even if you don't use everything you have gathered in your post, you will be well-prepared to engage in discussions that follow in the comments or, in some cases, talk with interested journalists if they come looking for your opinion on the matter.

Sure, you can always man up and apologize for oversights in a post, but would you ever want to admit to a mistake? No. When you do your homework first, you greatly reduce the risk of making the mistake in the first place.

Blog Responsibly

We are all human. We have emotions. We have temptations. We also have a desire to be helpful. When you blog in anger, haste, or when unprepared, you run the risk of letting those emotions and temptations undermine your organization. Is that the voice you were hoping for when you decided to start your blog?

Compassion For The Knowledge Gapped: A Call To Action

Posted by on September 14, 2007 at 01:29 PM

I am knowledge-gapped. I was telling my son, Cam about the recent news that MySpace was allowing profiles to be delivered in search results. His mock look of interest and "Hmm...Wow...Really?...No!" as he "participated" in the conversation made me finally blurt out:

"Hey! I think I know a thing or two about the internet! I work for a search engine marketing firm, after all!"

"Well," he calmly countered, "maybe it's the way you constantly mix up 'MySpace' with 'Facebook' that bugs me." He then launched into a perfect parody of me, trying to "casually mention" the recent Facebook change. He knows I am not on Facebook. He, of all people, knows where I am knowledge-gapped.

It was this conversation that got me thinking. Plenty of people are hobbled by their knowledge gaps. Reluctant to expose their lack of knowledge, they keep falling further behind and the knowledge gaps get bigger. They feel overwhelmed by the task of learning "Internet as a Second Language". Venturing into conversation means risking their pride. It means making clumsy mistakes like interchanging MySpace & Facebook.

Those whose native tongue is internet can't be blamed for having a laugh at the expense of these newcomers. It's funny to hear someone with a thick accent try to navigate their new tongue. The risk the knowledge-gapped take just might result in the mocking they fear.

But, as Ricky Bobby so eloquently explains, risks need to be taken or we will miss out on fantastic new things.

So here's a call to action to all the knowledge-gapped: Let your pride go. The colonists know things. They know how to navigate the landscape. You aren't diminished by their knowledge. We all have knowledge gaps. In the last few years, it was easy to lag behind. Don't despair.

And if you're an internet townie here's your call to action: start treating the knowledge-gapped like unpolished "country mouse" cousins, immigrants longing for the motherland of rotary dial land phones and easy remote controls; embrace them and help them learn the ropes of your favorite gathering places online. Tolerate their thick accents and halting speech.

In fact, why not start today? Become a mentor. Write a blog for your mother. Give your dad the URL to your favorite site (and explain to him that it's okay to sign-up, his identity will not be stolen).

It's time the knowledge-gapped step up to the plate and risk some pride. The only way to fill your gaps is to show your ignorance. Your questions will be dumb. Your speech will be clumsy. Brace yourselves for some good humored mocking. Who can resist a good laugh? It's at the core of America's greatness.

Definition:
Knowledge-Gapped: possessing bits and pieces of knowledge along with an inability (or reluctance) to articulate said knowledge due to mistake laden, heavily accented, and/or clumsy speech.

CSE Optimization: 5 Steps for Success with Comparison Shoppers

Posted by adam on September 13, 2007 at 02:11 PM

CSE Intro
If you’ve been searching the net for tips and tricks on how to attain success on the major CSEs (Comparison Shopping Engines) I’m sure you haven’t found much advice. In this post I hope to provide some simple tips and suggestions to get you on the right path. Please feel free to post comments and feedback about your experience with CSEs, as well as ranking strategies.

Feed File Formatting
To get started with CSE submissions, you have to export your product catalog from your shopping cart into spreadsheet format (should be very easy). The problem is transitioning between the default shopping cart export format to the format expected by each engine. Since every CSE uses a different header row and are expecting different attributes, producing a correctly formatted feed file can be labor intensive if done manually. Thankfully each CSE provides a guide for setting up your feed file’s format, specifically for the types of products on your site.

Be prepared to provide most of the following attributes in your feed, and possibly more:

• Product Name
• Product Description
• Manufacturer
• Product URL
• Image URL
• Stock Status
• Quantity Available
• Shipping Weight
• Shipping Cost
• Product Category
• SKU
• Manufacturer Part Number
• Retail Price
• Sale Price
• Product Classification
• Condition (New, Used, Refurbished)

Truly, the list goes on and on. Some of the more simple engines require 10 or less attributes, but some of the more elaborate engines require 15+. Once you’ve completed your product feed with all the required attributes, you’re ready for submission.

Descriptive Titles & Descriptions
Just wait a minute though. Even though ‘technically’ your file now can be submitted, it doesn’t mean you are “ready‎ for submission. The product titles and descriptions that are listed in your shopping cart are most likely different from how you would want your customer to see them. Before anxiously submitting your product file, make sure to review each product to make sure your titles and descriptions are descriptively written and include some of the most important keywords searchers would use to find each product.

The following product listings are for the same Apple MacBook.

Bad Example: This listing does little to describe any feature, advantage or benefit. Most likely this title is still in the format that was exported from the shopping cart, hopefully.

Better Example: This listing is descriptive, but redundant. Most of the hardware information provided in the description is already highlighted in the title. Character space is valuable, no need to be repetitive.

Best Example: This listing does a great job of listing the tech specs any potential purchaser would be looking for in the title (features), the uses the remaining description space to explain why this Mac is superior (advantages & benefits).

Product Categorization
CSEs differ from traditional search engines in that users can navigate to products through categories without using keywords. If your products aren’t correctly listed in the category your target audience would use to find your product, chances are you won’t get any traffic and surely you will not sell any product. As with feed formats, each CSE categorizes products in a different manner, some simple, some complex. Generally an extra column will be required in the product feed file for category, but can be left blank in-case some of your products don’t fit into the pre-established categories. Each engine should also have a guide for formatting this data, and it will be different for each. I’ve listed some of the popular formats below.

• Home > Computers & Software > Laptop Computers (bread crumb)
• Laptop Computers (keyword category)
• 63943156877 (Numeric code established by the engine)
• Or, categorized by an algorithm using keywords in your titles & descriptions

DO NOT LEAVE IT BLANK. If you leave the category blank, most likely your products will end up in the miscellaneous category. Most shoppers will not navigate into the ‘MISC’ category to sort through thousands of unrelated products.

Search Results
The second way shoppers can find your products is through the engine’s search function. If you come from a SEO or SEM background you should be familiar with copy writing strategies to incorporate high priority keywords. Similar strategies can improve the ranking of your products on these CSEs as well. It’s important to note that not all shopping engines search the entire site when the search bar is used. So it’s still very important to make sure your listings are correctly categorized, even if your titles & descriptions are well optimized.

Examples on Shopping.com

Keyword: “macbook‎ Returns about 1,200 product results.

Keyword: “apple macbook‎ Returns about 120 product results.

You’ll notice that with a more specific query, Shopping.com search function searches in a more specific category. If your product isn’t listed in this category, you’ll have no chance of being considered.

Tracking
Tracking is absolutely necessary for performing and evaluating successful tests. If you’re blindly listing your product catalog without knowing the return, there’s plenty of optimization that can be done, no doubt. Tracking will allow you to measure tests done on titles & descriptions, category changes, promotional offers, bid adjustments, etc. Testing will be the only way to know if you’re getting the most from your budget.

Corporate Communications 2.0: In Praise of Listening

Posted by Christopher on September 12, 2007 at 10:50 AM

Is the "new" social landscape the great leveler? An exercise in true democracy? A litmus test? Truth serum? The chance for the proletariat to not only make its voice heard, but to bring down kings?

Maybe that's going too far, but regardless, it's certainly presenting a vibrant playing field.

Early adopters are reaping the benefits of having the foresight to, for example, establish a corporate blog; they've weathered that dialog's first tentative stumblings, they've learned how to respond gracefully to the inevitable negative comments, they've established a routine that includes regular posts and regularly monitoring comments.

Especially savvy folks are regularly monitoring online buzz and have internal procedures in place that allow for positive response, a maintenance of the dialog, the hum of the web.

Late adopters are scrambling to catch up. In worst cases they're frantically trying to respond to online criticism. Maybe a well-respected consumer advice (or even consumer complaint) blog that, due to an unflattering post describing the shortcomings of a product or service, and the ensuing thread of comments from people who also weren't terribly happy, daily ranks higher and higher on their company's name.

So when someone, say the CEO, does a vanity search it's eventually the second listing under the corporate site.

What's the answer?

Well, you could send out a squadron of PR bloggers to counteract the negative commentary; be careful, however. While the desire to remain undercover in such an endeavor is natural, "rah-rah" bloggers will be met with suspicion, and even scorn, compounding the issue. Recent outings of corporate stooges, even "undercover" CEOs, illustrate the fact that online subterfuge is at once relatively easy to uncover and deadly to public relations. Not a good strategy.

Or you could address consumer issues rationally, calmly. While there's always a loudmouthed crackpot who exists simply to make noise--we all know the cliche "the customer is always right" doesn't survive serious scrutiny, and, further, objective reality is bunk--a series of consumer complaints could provide useful guidance when developing the product's next iteration.

This presents a crucial time to insert your corporation in the conversation, not simply as a dissenter but as an entity who cares for its consumers. A company that really listens. Keep the conversation professional and adult. Thank them for using your products/services and for being invested enough to write about them. Invite them to visit your blog to get updates of your progress toward resolving relevant issues.

It's become, and will continue to become, far easier for anyone to have a voice, and have their voice heard. Indeed, some online pundits have already declared obsolete anything "2.0." Don't get comfortable, lest you become complacent; Web 3.0, 4.0, etc. ad infinitum will heedlessly march around and over you (onward toward The Singularity) regardless of whether you're taking part.

The Content Network: A Poor Man's Portal to Social Networks

Posted by on September 11, 2007 at 01:39 PM

My mother always told me, "When I was your age, we didn't have 100 channels on our television or Super Nintendos to play Tecmo Bowl all night instead of doing your homework. Stop playing Marble Madness on the Tandy 1000 and let's watch In Living Color."

Where have the good ol' days gone, you ask? We have consumed them.

We indulge ourselves in the newest music, movies, websites and technologies at a dizzying rate and then discard all of it for what is even newer; the newest of these crazes being social networks.

Every day, there are new articles depicting how "(insert company name) is finally ready to appear on a social network and establish their presence to millions of users," which, behind the scenes, is more like a four-year-old being reluctantly dragged to his first day of school. Much success has been built, however, by companies willing to wade into the sea of teenage angst and middle-aged reunions.

Content ads on social networks are the easiest and most inexpensive opportunity available for companies to enter the Web 2.0 machine. As a Paid Search Marketer, I have seen many high-quality conversions and sales come from the Google Content Network's existence on MySpace. With such a wide demographic and topical reach, it's simple for most advertisements to find relevant positions on that website.

Having a presence on social websites, even just through the content network, is integral in maintaining a coherent and active online marketing campaign. Google connects you to MySpace, MSN is partnered with Facebook, and Yahoo positions you on Bebo. Where else will your product be matched with relevant subject matter and displayed to a befitting audience cheaply?

Of course there are hazards. That's marketing. Social networks are a low click-through, low converting effort; this is a well-known fact. It is also important to test your ROI potential before diving chum first into the shark tank. But when done correctly, the advertisements become an extensive branding vehicle that creates an open door for a brand new demographic.

MySpace is still the most visited social network, but with Facebook and Bebo hot on its trail, as well as numerous up-and-coming niche communities, there is no reason not to stay on the cutting edge of the Web 2.0 wave and reap some benefits.

We consume new products quickly because we all want to say that we discovered something, that we were there in the beginning when it was cool, not later when everybody else is using it. Let your customers see you where cool is now, residing confidently on a social network.

Now that I am an antiquated Generation X'er, I look forward to telling my children, "When I was your age, we didn't have 900 channels on the TV or personal laptop computers to watch YouTube videos of skateboarding dogs. Log off of Facebook so that we can download the newest Jim Carrey movie."

Coming Full Circle

Posted by denise on September 10, 2007 at 01:53 PM

I worked 25 years as an Assembly Production Supervisor and thought I would retire doing so. Then one day, out of the blue, we were told the company was closing its doors. 500 people were to find jobs. What a shock to all to have our lives turned upside down, and have no say, no discussion. It was a done deal.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do. All I knew was I wanted to work in a safe place with real people that wouldn't just up and leave.

Well I feel like I fell into a pot of gold. It is such a joy to wake up every day, excited to get to work. Everyone is friendly, happy to be here, open to hear new thoughts and ideas and very supportive. I never thought I would take part in a company meeting that is held at the township park on the bay. Or play volleyball during break. It is so incredible to work for a business that cares for its employees first.

And then we try to give everything we can back to the company. It's a full circle. It doesn't feel like work. It feels like a family that is growing. We all help each other and learn and grow together. I tell people how they should be jealous of me.

When you work for a company that treats you so well, makes you feel comfortable in your surroundings, and ensures you have all the tools that you may need, it reflects in your customer relationships. Our customers get a sense of our enthusiasm and expertise when they talk with our staff. Real people that listen to their clients' needs and work with them to achieve their goals.

It's no wonder that Oneupweb is an award winning SEO/SEM company. What goes around comes around. Full circle.

Money, Money, Money - Controversy over Paid Links

Posted by on September 07, 2007 at 11:26 AM

Unless you've been hiding under a rock these past few months, anyone who keeps up in the world of SEO will know that there is a huge debate going on about paid links.

What is Google's Threat?

Buying links in order to improve a site's ranking is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results.

Google's threat is that unless Webmasters take steps to properly identify their paid links, their site could be penalized.

Let me get this straight: the quote above seems to insinuate that it is the link SELLER, not the BUYER, who could be negatively impacted. My personal interpretation is that the link seller may lose their ability to pass relevance to other pages they link out to.

It is generally accepted that Google is unlikely to penalize your site because of who links to you. The downside for site owners instead is that they could end up paying for some very expensive links, only to eventually have them get discounted by Google when discovered.

But who am I to say that Google might not take action against the buyers one day as well? By engaging in a practice Google deems against Webmaster guidelines, everyone is scared that someday it might catch up to them.

Why is Everybody so Mad?

Google's campaign is about creating fear and uncertainty and doubt. They're trying to convince you that by buying or selling paid links you are breaking the law or being unethical. Google is not the government. They can not change your ethics.

- Comments from Michael Gray at the "Are Paid Links Evil" Session at SES San Jose 2007

• It should be Google's job to fine-tune their algorithm, not ours. Why is it our fault that Google isn't smart enough to identify paid links? Now, because of their flawed algorithm, they demand that everyone else around them adapt.
• No best practices are defined. The problem here is that Google seems to define a "paid" link interchangeably with a "link you procure so as to position better" with "a highly relevant link that okay, maybe I happened to pay for or procure in some way". Does actual money have to exchange hands? And how can Google think that a link from a sleazy mortgage broker site deserves to be discounted on the same scale as a link that I pay for from a highly relevant site related to my industry?
• Google rewards irrelevant link bait but then says paid links are bad? How are paid links different from other practices such as creating huge influxes of links to your site with link bait? (Google would argue that one creates content that, like it or not, people independently deem as relevant and link to of their own free will, while the other is a pure commercial transaction.)

What Are Google's Arguments in Favor of This?

• Paid links corrupt the fair and natural voting process of Google's algorithm. Google is the most popular search engine today because users depend upon the relevance of its search results, which take into account who links to who, and how. But how is this supposed to work when money comes into play, and a vote isn't a real vote anymore?
• Both users - and machines - deserve full disclosure. Google has also (controversially) noted that the FTC has said that you must disclose whether you are being paid to market, so paid advertising links similarly should be clearly delineated.
• It's Google's algorithm and search engine after all, isn't it? Google may not be the government, but taking action against paid links is no different than penalizing keyword stuffing and other spammy practices, except in this case, Google is also asking for your proactive assistance.

So What do I Think?

I detest link buying schemes that cull huge influxes of links from unrelated sites. I think Google is right to crack down on practices such as these. However, I disagree that Google is right to penalize either a link buyer or a link seller from exchanging links if it's highly relevant to both. Google should first and foremost concentrate on relevance, not whether or not the link was obtained through either a request or a monetary amount. The web is commercial, and there is nothing Google can do to make that go away.

My personal stance on the matter is that I advise clients to glean links - both paid and otherwise - only if they are relevant to their site and industry. And if you don't know what I mean by relevant, then that is a subject for another article.

Apple Announces 125,000 Podcasts & iTunes Goes Wi-Fi

Posted by keirsun on September 06, 2007 at 10:20 AM

In addition to Steve Jobs's numerous announcements yesterday relating to all things iPhone and iPod, the Apple CEO also dropped a couple numbers on the San Francisco crowd.

125,000 - The number of podcasts now available through iTunes.

25,000+ - The number of video podcasts available through iTunes.

"This is amazing material," said Jobs during his announcement. That it is.

Podcast content creators have the freedom to express their creativity while flexing their marketing muscles. And businesses have the opportunity to showcase their products and services in a unique environment to a targeted audience. (Learn more about the business benefits of podcasting.)

It helps that Apple's iTunes has blazed the trail in creating an easy-to-use inte