John Lawlor: search engine marketing

Switchboard Rolls Out Paid Link Program

Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:17:27 GMT

Switchboard Rolls Out Paid Link Program [Internet.com]

Online yellow pages provider Switchboard (Quote, Company Info) announced the availability of new advertising options, offering businesses the chance to insert Web site links on their own listings or on non-commercial listings.

LocalClicks allows advertisers to purchase transactional links on their listings. For example, a local car dealership could pay for links to pages on its Web site that let people sign up for a test drive or see a new car model. The program also allows advertisers to buy links on non-commercial listings. A flower shop, for example, could buy a link on a hospital listing. Advertisers only pay when a user clicks on the links.

Search Players Agree on Industry Challenges

Mon, 23 Jun 2003 04:07:38 GMT

Search Players Agree on Industry Challenges. Search companies' hot topics include privacy, paid inclusion, relevance and geo-targeting. [internetnews.com: Internet Advertising Report]

Test Google's AdSense Results for Your Site

Mon, 23 Jun 2003 02:29:36 GMT

Try Before You Sell. Want to see what ads AdSense thinks are relevant to your page? Just enter its URL: [Google Weblog]

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) Cuts Into Yellow Page Advertising

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 19:57:11 GMT

SEM Cuts Into Yellow Page Advertising.

Will Search Marketing Cut into Yellow Page Ad Spend?

The old standby, Yellow Pages, is beginning to take a beating from search engines as more and more marketers realize the benefits of search engine marketing and shift more dollars into it.

A recent seurvey of small and medium sized businesses by the Kelsey Group and OneStat show 43% use web site marketing and 17% use search engine marketing. Most (77%) small businesses still use the Yellow Pages but indicate that more marketing dollars are likely to shift to the web. [MarketingFix]

Info Page for MSN Spider - MSNBot

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 00:42:25 GMT

Here's Microsoft's about page for MSNBot. [Scripting News]

Searching For The Truth in Search Engine Marketing

Wed, 28 May 2003 16:41:26 GMT

Searching For The Truth in Search Engine Marketing [Online Spin - MediaPost]

Search Engine Marketing works. Search continues to be one of the primary elements for any marketer, brand development or direct response, as it drives both awareness and acquisition.

If you are starting to utilize Search, you must first understand the fundamental (Primary) elements that go into an effective campaign. These elements are: <more>

Interview - Search Engine Guru Danny Sullivan

Mon, 26 May 2003 20:11:16 GMT

Interview With Search Engine Guru Danny Sullivan.

searchengineblog: Interview with Danny Sullivan :: Search engine blog:

Here's a good interview with the man who makes it his business to know everything there is to know about search engines. Here's a tidbit on how he sees search engine marketing:

Question: While online marketing trends come and go, search engine marketing appears to have been a constant. Where do you see SEO heading in the future? Does it have a future?

Answer: Absolutely, search engine marketing has a future. At a conference earlier this year, I likened search engines to being a "reverse broadcast network." People pay tons to be on television because you can get your message out in front of millions of people: broadcasting. With search engines, millions of people are telling you *their* messages: what they want to buy, purchase or get information about. You don't broadcast to them; instead, it's the reverse, they broadcast to you.

[MarketingFix]

Business Blogging, Free Seminar, NYC, June 12, 6:30pm

Fri, 23 May 2003 20:53:00 GMT

Business Blogging, Free Seminar, NYC, June 12, 6:30pm

eCommerceSIG: Intro to Business Blogs

If you're in the area, come on by and hear yours truly, along with Anil Dash (of Moveable Type), John Lawlor (of Blogs4Business), Elizabeth Spiers (of Gawker) and Aaron Bailey (of National Review Online) wax philosophical about how great blogs are as a publishing and business tool.

This comes right on the heels of ClickZ's Weblog Business Strategies conference, where John Lawlor and I will also be speaking.

Yahoo! Taking on Google with New Features

Tue, 08 Apr 2003 02:52:26 GMT

Yahoo! Taking on Google with New Features.

Reuters: Yahoo! goes for Google with revamp

Yahoo!'s goal for the new products remains the same as always -- to boost users and revenue from Internet queries -- and Weiner was quick to deny the changes are a direct assault on Google's market share.

The new setup, however, includes a number of Google-like features, including a more tightly integrated image search and small boxed text ads on the right side of the page.

[MarketingFix]

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Pricing Structure

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 01:59:53 GMT

A New Pricing Structure for SEO Companies. One professional SEO, Barry Lloyd, has experimented with pricing structures for several years, and he’s arrived at a plan that works extremely well for him. Paid performance. [Search Engine Guide]

FindWhat.com Launches ROI Tool

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 17:59:01 GMT

FindWhat.com Launches ROI Tool. AdAnalyzer helps marketers calculate post-click sales from paid-search programs. [internetnews.com: Internet Advertising Report]

Blogging As Alternative to Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 17:47:27 GMT

Some Marketers Report Discrepancy in Paid Click Reporting.

MarketingExperiments.com Reviews 25+ Web Metrics Solutions

How could three separate web metrics programs be given access to the exact same numbers (526 orders), and yet deliver a set of metrics that are 276 percent apart? (2) How can Google's Adword Select program report 7,706 more clicks than our actual log files report? (3) More importantly, how can a marketing team make effective decisions if they don't have accurate numbers?

Over the last six months, researchers at MarketingExperiments.Com have tracked more than 36,000 orders, studied 800 pages of advice, analyzed more than 10 GB of data, and reviewed 22 web metrics products.

MarketingExperiments asserts that "If someone (1) clicks on your link in Google Adwords, (2) visits your site, (3) returns to Google, and then (4) hits the back button, Google counts this as another billable click." Sounds fishy to me.

[MarketingFix]

Blogging is an alternative to pay-per-click and it is free!

Search Engine Optimization Basics Part 2 - Title Tags

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 17:01:52 GMT

Search Engine Optimization Basics Part 2 - Title Tags. Not only is the structure and content of the Title tag used by the search engines when calculating your webpage's relevance, but it is also displayed in most search engine results pages. It therefore needs to be carefully constructed in such a way that it influences your website's position in the SERP, but is also attractive enough to encourage a surfer to click on your link. [Search Engine Guide]

Keywords in Hyperlinks Improve Search Engine Ranking

Thu, 13 Mar 2003 17:47:31 GMT

Keywords in Hyperlinks Improve Search Engine Ranking. It's important to discuss why keywords in hyperlinks are helpful to the search engines. To do this, we have to do my favorite thing, which is to think like a search engine. [Search Engine Guide]

Search Engine Inbreeding

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 14:39:39 GMT

Search Engine Inbreeding

The search engine landscape has been changing at lightning speed this year. As I sat writing a case study on the launch of BlogAnswerMan.com, I realized that I needed to get up to date information in order to see "who’s on first," so to speak.

WebMasterWorld.com has what looks like a current (updated 2003-02-24) landscape of the search engine relationships as they impact today’s search results. <more>

It looks like the best way to get an overview of how your blogs are ranking with the least overlap is to evaluate Google (powered by Google), MSN (results from LookSmart and Inktomi) and AllTheWeb (results from Fast).

John Lawlor - Boca Raton - 2003-03-03

keywords: search engine optimization, Google, MSN, blog consulting, business blog strategy, blog optimization, weblog, b-blog, blog answer man, blog answerman.

A Good Product Yields a Strong Brand

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 19:36:10 GMT

A Good Product Yields a Strong Brand.

Forbes: The Making Of A $2 Billion Brand

Even more remarkable is the fact that Google has become a valuable household name without spending a dime on advertising to reach consumers. The search site has never placed a TV spot, a print ad or an online banner in search of users, according to Google VP of corporate marketing Cindy McCaffrey.

OK, so Google's all over the news these days but this article talks about the power of a strong product. Build something so powerful, so needed, so superior to everything else out there and it will succeed on it's own. It's the Purple Cow thing. [MarketingFix]

The Forbes article also stated that Google logged 16.1 million search hours in October 2002 -- that's 2.1 million MORE hours than Yahoo, MSN and Ask Jeeves combined!

Should businesses pay attention to business blogging?

Let's do the math. Google loves information that is fresh and updated frequently. Blogs exist on a diet of fresh content updated frequently. The more Google finds freshly updated content, the more often their little robots visit the blog...resulting in high Google search rankings of ALL of your blog-powered information.

Google bought a blogging pioneer, Blogger, last week and they say they don't even know how they are going to use the company! [NY Times - requires free subscription]

OK. Can you think of a reason why your business shouldn't start a business-blog (b-blog)?

Reasons why you might not want to blog:

you have no timely information to share with your customers or prospects
you are happy with the results and ROI from banner and email marketing
your current search engine optimization company has guaranteed you top positions in 3-6 months
you have heard that blogging is a fad and won't last

Before you adding to this tongue-in-cheek list, here is a list of a few business benefits of starting to blog immediately:

high search ranking on Google with no paid-submission (Google is one of the few engines that doesn't have a paid submission program)
Google's competitors will position you higher -- everyone watches the leader and most improve your search positions due to high Google PageRank
high ROI - pay-per-click is a great vehicle but no-cost marketing has infinite ROI
you are creating this visibility with information that you should be sharing with your customers and prospects anyway
new information appears on Google in days, not weeks
other bloggers point prospects towards you -- for free!

Got questions about business blogging? Send your questions to questions@BlogAnswerman.com.

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 17:48:59 GMT

Are Your Search Engine Rankings At Risk?. While most search engines are becoming more and more adept at detecting 'spam' pages and penalizing or removing them, there is an unfortunate side effect to this efficiency - some companies that are innocent of intentional wrongdoing unknowingly have sites that fall into the 'spam' category. [Search Engine Guide]

Overture Acquires Alta Vista

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 02:32:30 GMT

Overture Acquires Alta Vista

Overture Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVER), the world's leading provider of Pay-For-Performance search to Web sites across the Internet, and AltaVista Company, a pioneer in Web search technology, and a majority owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq:CMGI), today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Overture will acquire AltaVista's business for $140 million in cash and stock.

Oh, what a dance this is becoming. Any bets on when Overture will enter the blogging arena?

J:L

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:38:49 GMT

Selecting and Evaluating Keyphrases for Search Engine Marketing. Keyphrases (those phrases that potential customers are using to find products or services on search engines) are the building block of any search engine marketing strategy. It is essential that they are chosen carefully, or else the remainder of the campaign, no matter how effective the implementation, will likely be in vain. [Search Engine Guide]

Sun, 16 Feb 2003 04:14:30 GMT

Where to Track Up-to-date Information About Google.

How do you find good quality information about Google? How do you make sense of everything that is floating around about the do's and the dont's of getting your website into Google? IN this article, Google Village provides you with a list of the best forums and locations with information about Google.

This list provides an overview of the places where Google is discussed. If you know of others, then please email Google Village with new links:

Google Fan Email, News and Links
A site with 18 members that provides a summary of Google News listed elsewhere, links across the web to sites talking or doing interesting things with Google.

I Help You Services
This site has 2,049 members at the time of writing. This community has a heavy dose of SEO population and many discussions are about how to get around the rules of Google. A good one to watch to hear what the average website owner is thinking. Many small websites who are not getting good results in Google represented here.

Cre8asite Forums
A new community started August 2002 and seems to be a well run community. There are 384 registered users and most seem quite active in discussions. Discussions range from Google to anything about creating websites.

Search Engine Forums (Jim World)
There are many people here in discussion. The site does not indicate how many people. A good number of topics mostly about getting better showing in Google by webmasters.

Webmaster World
Perhaps the most dignified of all the forums. A good number of members (although actual number undisclosed) who have generated 350,000 messages and more. Google section is highly acclaimed with an excellent knowledgebase on Google.

Google Groups
There are a number of discussion groups in the main Google Groups arena. The largest of these is google.public.support.general, and the others include: google.public.translators, google.public.web-apis, and all the lab discussion groups google.public.labs.webquotes, google.public.labs.google-viewer, google.public.labs.glossary, google.public.labs.sets, google.public.labs.voice-search, google.public.labs.keyboard-shortcuts, alt.internet.search-engines.

Spider Food Forums
Approximately 1,350 people subscribe to forums in this general group. There is a specific forum for Google that produces a good number of messages a day.

Search Engine Optimisation Forums
While this is not directly on Google, many messages do discuss Google from time to time. There are some interesting tips and tools in this forum, including Chris's Desktop Toolbar Google.

SitePoint Forums
SitePoint has 20,070 members with more than 4,500 messages discussing Google directly, while there are other messages related to search engines that equally apply to Google out of a total of 650,000 messages. This is worthwhile looking at from a Google perspective.

If following the forums is too much, then you may wish to read some of the weblogs that discuss Google. Some of these you can subscribe to daily newsfeeds:

Google Village
The daily newsfeed you are reading now. Subscribe here.

Smoogle
If you are an individual user of Google and must seek out new information online, then you might want to subscribe to this newsfeed. Especially interesting for librarians, teachers, students and researchers who must use the Internet to seek out new knowledge. Subcribe here.

Google Weblog (English)
This provides a summary of information about Google and points you to the latest with a little opinion from the writer.

Google Blog (French)
Want to read about Google in French, then this is a great site to start.

Google Blog (Spanish)
A Spanish weblog you should read if you cannot read English.

Google Blog (Korean)
Specialist site in Korean. Covers some of the issues to do with searching when English is not your preferred language.

Google Blog (Japanese)
Japanese love Google. Read about it in Japanese.

TRUCOSDEGOOGLE (Spanish)
An alternative Spanish weblog.

Now if you are still seeking for more information about Google, you may wish to go to GooFresh and enter the word -- Google -- into the GooFresh search field and find anything added to the Google database about Google today!++

[Elwyn Jenkins: Google™ Village]

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 03:17:45 GMT

Importance of Search Engines Waning.

Technology marketing" More Web Surfers Go Directly to Sites

The majority of Internet sites worldwide are reached through direct navigation -- typing a URL in the address bar or using a bookmark -- says a study released today.

Web analytics firm WebSideStory reports that over 64 percent of web users get to sites by direct navigation rather than using search engines or web links, compared to 53 percent a year ago.

New data accentuates the importance of web site branding campaigns, says Geoff Johnston, vp of product marketing for StatMarket, WebSideStory's division that tracks global Internet user trends.

[MarketingFix]

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 04:01:42 GMT

Google PageRank Explained.

Searchengine Blog: Interview with Chris Ridings

One of the reasons that PageRank is so hard to explain and understand is because it is analogous to something we all do all the time without thinking about it. Consider I want to buy a new DVD player, I might ask a group of friends what the best DVD player to buy is. Now some of them are going to give me names of DVD players, but some of them are going to say "I don't know, Tim knows a lot about DVD players". When I talk to Tim, I have a greater respect for his advice because everybody said he knows this stuff. Now if Tim says "Ask Harry too, he knows a lot about DVD players", then despite the fact that nobody else has told me to ask Harry I can assume that Harry probably does know more than the rest (although probably not more than Tim).

PageRank is the same mechanism. Instead of trying to find out who knows most about DVDs, it tries to find out what pages are the most "important". It's hard to actually "ask" a page something, and talking to a computer monitor is not the best way to impress your colleagues, so they make a general assumption. That assumption is "If a page links to another page then it thinks that page is important". There are lots of things wrong with this assumption, but you said "briefly" so I'll leave people to research more if they want to. Just like Tim's advice to "ask Harry also" is given greater weighting because most people told me to ask Tim, if a page has lots of "important" links, when it says another page is important then PageRank gives that more merit.

[MarketingFix]

Googuide.com - a resource for things Google

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 04:38:06 GMT

The gooGuide is "the first website dedicated to all things Google. Topics include website optimization, adwords select strategies, the latest Google news, resources and tools, and even how you can have a little fun with Google." Enjoy!

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 16:49:30 GMT

Search Engine Visibility. Search engine marketing expert Shari Thurow has had a busy month. Starting the month with the publication of her new search engine optimization and marketing book, Search Engine Visibility, Thurow has since followed up with a companion Web site, SearchEnginesBook.com. [Search Engine Guide]

Wed, 22 Jan 2003 03:22:35 GMT

SEM in 2003.

Search Engine Blog: The State Of Search Engine Marketing, 2003. Google rules the roost

A nice discussion of the issues facing SEM in 2003. This year should certainly be interesting, with the Google, Overture, Yahoo, MSN, and AlltheWeb all likely to be involved in some serious wheeling dealing.

Two trends that many interviewees acknowledged, besides the potential and popularity of this marketing channel, were that search engine optimization is in the process of "growing up", moving beyond pure placement and firmly into the realm of marketing. ROI, conversions, reporting and tracking are becoming increasingly important. The old-school technical exercise of attaining high rankings is perhaps becoming increasingly marginalized. If rankings do not translate into sales, then what good are they? It's no longer enough just to be seen, web sites must put search engine traffic to work.

[MarketingFix]

Tue, 21 Jan 2003 19:52:48 GMT

Google in BusinessWeek. Two BusinessWeek articles (via gooGuide): Google's Gaggle of Problems. 'sources say Yahoo has grown tired of Google.com's popularity and may soon cut its tie to the company. "The portals have started to get fed up. Over the last three years, Google has stolen 40% of the search market directly at the expense of AOL, MSN, and Yahoo," says Jason Kellerman, CEO of search-technology company LookSmart, which has a deal with MSN.' 'measurements by Web traffic tracker Nielsen NetRatings, AOL [which uses Google's results and ads] and Google.com together get six times the search traffic of Yahoo, the closest competitor.' Will Froogle Be a Google for Shoppers? "As a Google fanatic -- my wife claims I sometimes murmur Google in my sleep -- I was too excited to wait for the final release [of Froogle]. Alas, after some unscientific research and lots of experimenting with the beta version, I have to report that Froogle definitely isn't the best way to find bargains on the Net."... [Google Weblog]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 15:58:29 GMT

Get Ready for Google and You are Ready for All.

Google and Fast (AllTheWeb):

I've noticed that once a website is 'Googled' optimized, the site also score high in AlltheWeb, so no double work or contradicting parameter changes. -- [Webmasterworld] [Elwyn Jenkins: googlology]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 15:23:34 GMT

Taking Time for Search Engine Optimization: Is it Worth Delaying Your Site's Launch?. If a new website project was placed before you, and it was your decision whether or not to launch the site before it had been properly optimized for the search engines, what would your decision be? Would you launch the site, or would you wait? [Search Engine Guide]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 15:20:01 GMT

SEO Predictions for 2003. Here are a few thoughts about where SEO is heading in the new year. Some may be wishful thinking, and some may take more than one year to happen, but these are the trends I'm currently seeing. [Search Engine Guide]

Differentiation Can Be Brutal in the Web Search Business

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:43:06 GMT

Differentiation Can Be Brutal in the Web Search Business [Search Engine Guide]

"Search engine positioning" is no easy feat - even if you *are* a search engine, it seems. So how are the engines positioning *themselves*?

As usual, Andrew Goodman hits the mark with his research and commentary. J:L

Importance of Targeted Search Engine Traffic

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:38:41 GMT

Targeted Search Engine Traffic Is More Important Than Ever -By John Alexander - January 19, 2003

[Search Engine Guide]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:29:46 GMT

Content is the Key to Good Page Rank.

Weblogs have proven it, and it has been demonstrated on many good websites that content is King. We are reminded again how this works:

One of the most important aspects of ranking for Google and other search engines is good content. Google wants their search engine users to find what they are looking for, a successful search experience for their users. The keywords included in your site are important; after all, those are the terms your potential visitors are searching for. Now not only do you have your catalog pages and ordering information, but you also have a more in-depth treatment of the topics you have addressed in your articles, book reviews, and other materials. More keywords in more places means you have a better chance of matching a potential visitor's search.

So how can you "rise above" the other online gardening bookstores out there in the search engine listings? Link popularity can be the next important piece that allows you to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack. All other things being equal, search engines that pay attention to link popularity will list your site higher in their results if you have more links coming back from other sites which have a focus related to yours. In other words, if your gardening bookstore has a number of backlinks pointing to it from the websites of gardening clubs, nurseries, and so forth, your site will be seen as more authoritative. The more authoritative a website looks to Google through link popularity, the higher that site will rank. After all, if all these other gardening- related sites point to your site, they are demonstrating that you have something important to say. That is another reason why it is important to have your material published on other websites.
Conclusion
Maintaining good content is a stepping-stone for your visitors to delve in deeper to your website. Taking the time to build your content and provide for your audience will pay off in good search engine ranking and returning visitors.

-- [Search Engine Guide]

[Elwyn Jenkins: googlology]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:18:03 GMT

Search Engine Optimizers Not Appreciated by Google Management.

Google managers not happy with Search Engine Optimizers. This is the feeling I have sensed all along, that SEOs are not really needed. They form a barrier between Google and the websites. I am not surprised by this reactions listed here in this article:

Search engine optimisers have always had a tenuous relationship with search engines. This year a Wired article featuring Sergey Brin, Google's "conscience and head policymaker", claimed "the way Brin sees it, the optimizers are co-opting Google's bond of trust with its users. He regards optimizers the way a mother grizzly might regard a hunter jabbing at her cub with a stick". However, Brin is probably not unhappy with those SEO's/SEM's who have reportedly poured large sums of cash into the Google coffers via AdWords and other paid placement programs.

-- [Search Engine Blog]

[Elwyn Jenkins: googlology]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:57:37 GMT

Search Engine Optimizers Not Appreciated by Google Management (Wired).

Search Engine Optimizer Attitude of Google Management. The way I see it is that SEOs are not really working on the right stuff, and in fact they do themselves out of a job if they do their stuff properly. It is not about building links, doorway pages and all that stuff, it is about building good solid knowledge filled sites that attract attention of people. If you have the right stuff, choose a gap in the keyword market, you get good results.

The anti-Google might also be more amenable to the growing business of "optimization," the altering of Web sites so that they rank higher in search engine results. For a fee, there's help for a Dallas plumber who's unhappy that his site is on the 17th page of results when someone types "Dallas plumber" into Google. An optimizer will tweak the site in such a way that boosts it to, say, the 3rd page of results.

To pull this off with Google, an optimizer needs to understand how the company's search mechanism works. Google uses 100 or so closely guarded algorithms to determine its search results. The best known of the lot is called PageRank, which allocates relevancy to a page according to the number and importance of pages linked to it, the number and importance of pages linked to each of those pages, and so on. One ploy is to create "link farms," in which an optimizer gets clients to link to one another, racking up relevancy points. In general, optimizers make a living by guessing what Google regards as important. The way Brin sees it, the optimizers are co-opting Google's bond of trust with its users. He regards optimizers the way a mother grizzly might regard a hunter jabbing at her cub with a stick.

Every month, when Google updates its index and its mix of algorithms, it rakes a disruptive claw across the optimizers' systems. In the industry, the monthly shuffle is known as the Google Dance, and Brin doesn't mind letting on that if Google ends up dancing all over the optimizers, so much the better. "When we change and improve our technology, things get shuffled around," Brin says, "and sometimes it has a disproportionate effect on optimization sites."

Consider the case of Bob Massa, a former solid oak dining room furniture salesman who lives in Oklahoma City and runs SearchKing, an optimization company he started in 1997. Last summer, Massa received a rare gift from Google in the form of the Google Toolbar, a software program that lets users perform searches without going to Google.com. More important for Massa, the Toolbar shows the approximate PageRank, on a scale of one to ten, of whatever page a user is visiting. It was the first time since Brin and Page were in grad school that they'd shared so much technical information. After years of watching Google's every move like an Etruscan high priest trying to augur divine intent from cloud formations, Massa had a piece of the goods. On August 9, Massa started selling optimization based on PageRank.

After the Google Dance of September 20, most of Massa's customers suddenly found themselves in a heap at the very bottom of Google's 3 billion site index. It seems that the improvements Google had made included a severe downgrade of sites with links to SearchKing. Massa's customers, needless to say, were very, very unhappy. "Everyone thinks I'm the biggest idiot in the world for making Google mad," Massa said in October.

He filed suit a few weeks later, charging that Google downgraded his customers' scores in a deliberate attempt to put him out of business. The suit asks for an injunction forcing Google to restore the scores to pre-Dance levels, and seeks $75,000 in damages. "It's a classic good versus evil thing," says Massa, turning Brin's framework back on Google itself. "I knew they wouldn't like it. I didn't think they'd go so far as to wipe out all these little people."

The day Massa's suit was filed, the reaction from the Slashdot crowd and most other forums was predictably vociferous, with posters stumbling over themselves to craft metaphors painting Massa as a criminal suing his victim. But gradually, a surprising number of people, while careful not to look as though they were defending Massa, began tagging the search engine as a Google-opoly. It's hard to sympathize with a David as parasitic as Massa, but Slashdotters tend to be uneasy with Goliaths of any stripe, especially when their methods are kept secret.

And the real problem with Massa is that he's simply the termite Brin is able to see. There are thousands more behind the wall, invisibly boring away at the very structure of Google's house. "It's easy to become overly obsessed with those kinds of things," Brin admits.

It would make things a lot easier for Brin if the world's webmasters would just act as though his site didn't matter, but that's not human nature. There's no way around it - as long as Google remains the search engine of choice, the arms race between Google coders and the hordes of optimizers will go on.

-- [Wired]

[Elwyn Jenkins: googlology]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 03:09:14 GMT

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Mon, 20 Jan 2003 01:04:05 GMT

The State Of Search Engine Marketing, 2003. Google rules the roost [searchengineblog.com]

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 00:22:45 GMT

Getting to Top of an Internet Search. Internet companies have given online merchants the chance to go to the top of a Web search. Now job seekers are being offered similar ways to raise their Web profiles for a fee. By Susan Stellin. [New York Times: Business] <Requires NY Times Online Free subscription>

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 03:28:54 GMT

Evaluating 25 E-Commerce Search Engines. Find out how 25 top online retailers handle misspellings, synonyms, hyphenation, plurals, and other real-world search queries... [xBlog: The visual thinking weblog | XPLANE]

Wed, 15 Jan 2003 17:39:19 GMT

Espotting Signs Two Part Deal with FAST.

Press Release: FAST and Espotting Media Strike European Search Distribution Agreement

FAST, a leading developer of search and real-time alert technologies, and Espotting Media, Europe's largest pay-per-click advertising network, today announced a two-part European agreement where Espotting will offer FAST web search results with its paid listings, as well as provide paid listings on AlltheWeb™, FAST's showcase site.

Read on for the release in full.

[MarketingFix]

Wed, 15 Jan 2003 04:54:20 GMT

Lessons Learnt in 2002.

Anne Holland sent out an email a few weeks back asking MarketingSherpa readers to contribute to a "lessons learnt" report for 2002. Astonishingly she ended up receiving best practice feedback from over 600 marketers.

The report, covering 26 sub-topics, is available free of charge here . I've yet to read it in full, but can confirm with absolute confidence that it is a gem.

[MarketingFix]

Tue, 14 Jan 2003 05:05:27 GMT

Overture Announces First Wave of Accredited Companies.

Press Release: MakeMeTop becomes an Accredited Overture Search Engine Marketing Company

Kicking off in the UK Overture have started an accredidation scheme:

designed to indicate those SEMs who fully adhere to Overture’s list of best practices. Accredited companies are allowed to show an accreditation logo on their websites which are linked to a page on Overture to confirm accreditation.

To qualify companies must pledge to follow Overture's Best PPC Practice Guidelines:

1) Ensure our clients are made aware of the dynamic nature of the PPC marketplace.
2) Supply the broadest possible spread of relevant keywords for our clients' campaigns to help engineer consistent return on their PPC investment.
3) Not submit search listings leading to sites which: are still 'in construction', have disabled back buttons or unrelated content or are in any way in breach of Overture's Editorial Guidelines.
4) Always ensure that bidded search terms are reflected in titles and description, and that urls are 'deep-linked' where possible.
5) Mark-up our client's spend only to a level that can reasonably be demonstrated to still offer that client 'value for money'.
6) Assist Overture and other Accredited Search Engine Marketers by proactively participating in the accreditation program and any related initiatives.

[MarketingFix]

Tue, 24 Dec 2002 20:57:20 GMT

Top 10 Google Myths Revealed. SitePoint: "Does Google use meta tags? Does it penalize sites that use popups? And what's the real meaning of PageRank?...

Tue, 24 Dec 2002 18:53:43 GMT

Yahoo Buying Inktomi For $235 Million. Information Week - Yahoo Inc. said Monday it will buy online search-engine pioneer Inktomi Corp. for $1.65 a share in cash, or about $235 million, representing a premium of about 41 percent from Inktomi's ...
Online Search Engine Shake-Up? CBS News
Yahoo Buys Inktomi Search Firm For $235 Million InternetWeek.com
DM News - The Globe and Mail - San Jose Mercury News - Smart Money - and 135 related » [Google Business News]

Fri, 20 Dec 2002 17:06:36 GMT

Seach Engine Community Responses to Google's Advice on Choosing SEO Companies.

FantomNews: Google's "SEO" Information - More Of the Usual Boo-Boo

Earlier this month we reported that Google had released some general advice on how best to choose a search engine optimisation company.

In certain areas of the community this went down well. However the editors at FantomNews, a leading hardcore SEO publication, are far from impressed.

To top it all, Google even makes bold to assume an authoritative stance on SEO industry business practices by actually advising its readers: "For your own safety, you should insist on a full and unconditional money-back guarantee." Ah yes, and no matter the costs of site development on clients' behalf, the hours spent on in-depth keyword research, the resources devoted to advising clients on how to style and layout their pages, to name but a few standard services offered by present day SEOs?

[marketingfix]

Mon, 16 Dec 2002 14:51:07 GMT

Inside Google's Conscience.

Wired: Google vs. Evil

This is an interesting interview piece with Sergey Brin discussing Google's struggle to remain true to its core beliefs.

Google has succeeded by adhering to one, pure principle: Do good by users. Now, for the first time in its history, Google is facing rifts between what's good for users and what's good for Google. And Sergey Brin is finding that purity just doesn't scale.

[marketingfix]

Mon, 16 Dec 2002 14:49:51 GMT

Interview With Inktomi's Ken Norton.

searchengineblog: Interview with Kenneth Norton of Inktomi

Following on the debate last week here as to whether Google's Froogle is heading in the right direction, this interview with Ken Norton of Inktomi sheds some light on the whole issue of paid placement versus paid inclusion.

In order for marketers to tap into the remaining 70 percent of Internet searches for more specific items, such as particular book titles or product models, it is more efficient and cost-effective to turn to paid inclusion. With paid inclusion, subscribers do not bid on keywords for preferential placement within a results set, but instead feed their most current, deep Web site content directly to the search engine for consideration in a search. Since paid inclusion ranking is driven by relevance, the marketer's pages returned to users truly meet their needs and translate into higher conversion rates than paid placement. Not surprisingly, someone searching for a very specific product is more likely to complete a transaction than someone searching for a general phrase.

Watch this space for an in depth analysis of the workings behind Google's new Froogle.

[marketingfix]

Fri, 15 Nov 2002 04:05:08 GMT

Search Tools News

Search Engine Usage Ranks High

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 22:32:58 GMT

Search Engine Usage Ranks High. Internet users who still haven't found what they're looking for may need to go beyond the first couple of pages of results. [CyberAtlas]

Tue, 12 Nov 2002 22:05:43 GMT

AltaVista Makes a Comeback. UPDATE: The former search luminary re-launches, looking to lure back users and advertisers with new search capabilities and targeted ads. [internetnews.com: Internet Advertising Report]

Google's Gift to E-mail Marketers

Tue, 12 Nov 2002 18:55:11 GMT

Google's Gift to E-mail Marketers – Rapid Copy Testing By John Lawlor

The mantra of direct and e-mail marketing has long been “test, test, test.” But testing takes planning, time and money. While testing may not be as costly as running a campaign using an opt-in rental list that draws a low response, it is still costly. As e-mail response rates decline, the importance of testing increases. <more> ...

Thu, 07 Nov 2002 14:28:18 GMT

Shelf consciousness.

Scott Loftesness: Perhaps we should start a new "movement": the Weblog Search Services Protocol — WSSP? Let's face reality: in the weblog community, search is much more important than identity.

I think a new protocol is a good idea. I should add that when I called for building out the Net's directory, I wasn't just thinking about Weblogs. I was thinking about the absence of more complete directory services for the Net itself. Bigger issue.

Scott also says Google needs to add a Weblogs tab (with up to the minute results) to the newly introduced Google News service. I have mixed feelings about that. Blogs are journals, but I'm not sure they're news sources in the conventional sense that Google seems to be assuming with its service. I recently suggested to Google that they add an online publication to their list of 4000+ sources. A human wrote back with a polite but negative response that suggested that the system wouldn't work if it assumed too wide a definition of what a news outlet is. Maybe that definition excludes anything with an inlet as well as an outlet, or that produces continuous unfinished work.

The human/non-human side of the question was visited by Steve Outing of the Poynter Institute and Rex Hammock back in September, when Google News was still new.

I think blogs are too personal, too conversational, too interactive — too human — to be considered "outlets" for anything. The journals we call "blogs" and the journals we call "publications" are very different in kind. Blogs are totally native to the world of ends we call the Web. Publications are native to the physical world. They are adapted to the Web, but not native to it. One way they don't adapt is in the permanent nature of their output. Once published, it's done. Unlike publications, blogs are subject to subsequent editing and re-editing. They also welcome edits by others. The are alive in the sense that they are, like their authors, unfinished.

That said, blogs still belong on the library shelves of the Net's directory, and of the readers guides provided by the likes of Google.
[The Doc Searls Weblog]

Wed, 23 Oct 2002 04:22:18 GMT

Search Engine Marketer, Ad Network Sues Google. SearchKing charges that the search giant is playing favorites with Page Rank, though questions linger over its own methods. [internetnews.com: Internet Advertising Report]

Google's Gift to Email Marketers by John Lawlor

Fri, 18 Oct 2002 20:08:47 GMT

Google's Gift to Email Marketers by John Lawlor

Fri, 18 Oct 2002 15:56:15 GMT

16 October 2002
Google keeps on growing [Internet Magazine]

1. Google 55.1% +1.9%
2. Yahoo 20.6% +0.2
3. MSN Search 9.4% +0.3
4. AOL Search 3.5% +0.6%
5. Terra Lycos 3.0% -0.7%
6. Altavista 2.4% -0.4%
7. Ixquick 1.7% -0.5%

Anatomy of a #1 Search Result

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 18:44:34 GMT

Anatomy of a #1 Search Result
By Andrew Goodman - 10/11/2002

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to optimize for search engines to achieve #1 rankings.

Interview with Google Product Manager Marissa Mayer

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 18:40:04 GMT

Interview with Google Product Manager Marissa Mayer

Google.com has been a leader in online experience for some time. A recent phone interview with Marissa Mayer, Google product manager, to learn how Google creates and improves its customer experience.

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 16:45:00 GMT

Don't Edit Your Search Engine Success

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 16:44:38 GMT

Six Secrets to Search Engine Writing Success

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 16:44:14 GMT

How to Write a Keyword-Rich Home Page the Search Engines Will Love!