Archive for the ‘Search Engines’ Category

BP’s Buying Prime Search Engine Space

Monday, June 7th, 2010

So it has been about 50 days since the oil spill. Bp is trying to get some good pr out of a bad situation.  Bp bought the first search engine spot on the top three us search engines.  So if you go and type in anything related to the oil spill a BP site will pop up first.  BP is not saying how much they are paying for this, but it is estimated that they are paying thousands of dollars a day.  That is for each search engine.  Not only that Bp has been buying lot of advertising time on television stations to make their image better.

BP is trying to pull out all the stops.  Is it too late? It may be.  In my opinion BP should have started this a while ago, maybe a week after the leak started.  There are many things that are related to BP and I will not go into tall the details of this story.  I am sure all of you know what is going on … unless you have been locked in an area without any outside news or communication for the last month and a half.  I say boycott BP because this is going to take a while to clean up.  Or maybe we should all buy BP gas so that they can have enough money to clean up this mess without having to run up the us deficit.

Let me know what you think about this situation.  I am sure we all have our opinion.

-John Botch
john@laserburnmedia.com
www.LaserBurnMedia.com

Posted in Google, Microsoft, Search Engines, Yahoo | No Comments »

Google Search Results Now Show Hot Trends

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

google-trend

With Google’s massive share of the search engine market you think that they would have brought out this feature a lot faster than they did. This new feature to the Goliath of a search engine lets people know what America is currently searching for. I thought that Google would have came out with this feature a long time ago. Yahoo had their top ten searches and they also had a section that showed what other users where searching when you searched for a specific topic.

This new feature is called Google trends. There new hot trends feature also will graph the trend for that specific search over time.

With Google Trends being a destination site though, it doesn’t get much attention outside of those of us who track web trends. That’s changing though, because in a blog post today, Google () announced that it has integrated Google Trends in actual Google Search () results.

The integration is rather simple. Now when you search a hot trend, you will find the trend and its graph at the bottom of the search engine results page (SERP). For example, if you search for the “Tim Tebow concussion video” (the QB for the Florida Gators who was hurt in his game this past Saturday), you will find its hotness, how it ranks in the top 100 most popular searches, and the search volume graph:

pic 2

For Google to track all this data is amazing. They took an old feature from their arch-enemy Yahoo and a graphing feature and they also have a meter by the specific page that lists from the search. I have to commend Google because they have been adding many features over the last few months. Like I have posted in an early article for Google to compete with the Yahoo Portal they need to add features. Most of the recent features have not been geared towards the typical Google user, but Google will add these features in due time.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Administrative, Google, Microsoft, Search Engines, Yahoo | No Comments »

Yahoo buys Maktoob

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Maktoob logo

Yahoo just made the largest expansion by buying this Arabic portal Maktoob. Yahoo! will now be able to reach out to Maktoob’s 16.5 million users.

Once Yahoo! Figures out the translation barrier for their services for their new Arabic customers services will be translated.

“Initially, we’ll plan to introduce Arabic versions of Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Search, and our homepage and then eventually local versions of properties like Newsnews, Sports, and Finance. We’ll also focus on creating content and services tailored to the region. No other global company has made this kind of investment in local relevance for the Arab world.”

Yahoo! In my mind is going the right way by making progress on their portal. Google does not match Yahoo!’s portal. The new CEO of Yahoo definitely is shaking things up and working with their best assets. Below you will find the full press release that Yahoo! Put out about the deal. If you are looking for financial information about this deal, that is not going to happen. Yahoo! Did not release what they paid for it. If you have any ideas of what you want me to blog about don’t be afraid to send a topic to me.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Aug 25, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Maktoob.com, the leading online community in the Arab world, with more than 16.5 million unique users.

“This acquisition will accelerate Yahoo!’s strategy of expanding in high-growth emerging markets where we believe Yahoo! has unparalleled opportunity to become the destination of choice for consumers,” said Yahoo! chief executive officer Carol Bartz. “Access to information and communications tools can positively impact people’s lives in many ways, and with the acquisition of Maktoob.com and our investment in the region, the Arab world will soon get a Yahoo! experience in Arabic with relevant local language content, programming and services.”

Internet users in the region will benefit from the combination of Yahoo!’s popular products and services with Maktoob’s compelling local content, which today reaches one in three people online throughout the Arab world. This acquisition will extend Yahoo!’s current offerings by adding capabilities to deliver relevant Arabic-language content and services, as well as Arabic versions of Yahoo!’s popular Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Mail services. Maktoob.com is accessed by users in countries that include UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

“Yahoo! and Maktoob are natural partners and this combination should help energize the Internet market in the region as a whole. We are excited about Yahoo! building a stronger presence in the Middle East and bringing its compelling suite of services to Arab users in Arabic,” said Samih Toukan, Founder of Maktoob.

While Internet usage in the Middle East has grown more than tenfold since 2000, most markets are still in the early stages of adoption. According to the World Bank, there are more than 320 million Arabic speakers worldwide, while less than one per cent of all online content is in Arabic.

With Yahoo! and Maktoob.com’s combined audience and platform, advertisers will have access to the reach and sophisticated targeting capabilities they need to effectively engage with the region’s online consumers. Spending on online advertising is expected to grow by 35 – 40 percent this year in the region, according to Madar Research.

“Internet users in the Arab world will have access to Yahoo!’s vast content portfolio, as well as world-class communications products, which will be available in Arabic for the first time. In addition, advertisers will be able to leverage the vast reach of the newly combined audiences to effectively market to consumers across the region,” said Ahmed Nassef, general manager of Maktoob.com.

Maktoob.com was founded in 2000 by Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury as the world’s first free Arabic/English Web-based email service, and since then has grown to be the leading Arab online community in the region.

“Yahoo is acquiring Maktoob.com for the strong brand and audience it has built over the last nine years and the passionate team they have assembled, which we believe is the strongest in the region,” said Keith Nilsson, senior vice president, Emerging Markets, Yahoo! “We see great growth potential in both audience and advertising in the Arab world and combining with Maktoob.com will allow us to quickly build our presence there with high quality products. This is a big win for publishers, advertisers, and consumers in the region.”

This acquisition is part of Yahoo!’s larger strategy to grow its business throughout the world’s emerging markets by connecting consumers with the content and services that matter most to them in their local language. The company’s Emerging Markets business group, headquartered in Singapore, is responsible for Yahoo!’s fastest growing markets such as South East Asia, India, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Yahoo! has a strong track record of delivering great Internet experiences and helping fuel Internet adoption through partnerships with local developers and content providers.

Following the acquisition, Maktoob.com will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo!. Ahmed Nassef, the current general manager of Maktoob.com, will continue to lead the Maktoob.com teams and will report to Keith Nilsson. It is expected that the transaction will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Upon completion of the deal, the remaining Maktoob Group companies – including Souq.com, cashU.com, Araby.com, and Tahadi.com – will operate under a new entity called the Jabbar Internet Group, managed by Samih Toukan. Yahoo! and the Jabbar Internet Group will continue to have a strong commercial relationship going forward, which will include the promotion of Jabbar companies on the Maktoob.com portal.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global consumer brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is where millions of people go every day to see what is happening with the people and things that matter to them most. Yahoo! helps marketers reach that audience with its unique and compelling advertiser proposition. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit http://pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (http://yodel.yahoo.com).

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning the proposed transaction (including without limitation the statements contained in the quotations from management in this press release), as well as Yahoo!’s strategic and operational plans and expectations for market growth. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibility that the transaction will not close or that the closing may be delayed, the anticipated benefits to Yahoo! and its business customers, advertisers and publishers might not be realized; risks related to Yahoo!’s international operations; and risks related to the integration of international acquisitions. More information about potential factors that could affect Yahoo!’s business and financial results is included under the captions, “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, which are on file with the SEC and available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

About Jabbar Internet Group

Jabbar Internet Group (www.Jabbar.com) is a group of leading Internet companies in the Middle East region. The group includes Souq.com, the first and leading auction and marketplace website in the region; cashU.com, an online payments company; Tahadi.com, the Arab World’s first MMO online games destination; Araby.com, the first Arabic search engine and E-marketing, the region’s leading online advertising network. For more information please contact info@jabbar.com.

Posted in Google, Microsoft, Search Engines, Yahoo | No Comments »

Questions about the new Google Adwords Interface

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

For the last week Google had webinars on their new interface and how it works. Last week I blogged about the new quality score as one of the changes. People that have been attending these webinars seem to ask a lot of the same questions.

Today we held the last in the series of new interface webinars. Each week we get lots of great questions from attendees about the new interface. Today on New Interface Thursdays we’re going to highlight some of the top questions and answer them.

How do I delete keywords?
To delete a keyword, select the checkbox next to it and then click on the Change status menu at the top of the table. There, you’ll find the option to delete.

My ad is pending review. What does that mean?
An ad with a pending review status can run on Google search pages, but it won’t run on our search partners or on content network placements until we review and approve it. Every time you submit new ads or make changes to existing ads, they are automatically submitted for review. (We review ads in the order they’re submitted).

In the previous interface, ads were reviewed and approved in the same way, but this information wasn’t visible. With the new interface, we chose to start showing more detailed approval status information to give you a better of idea of where your ads are eligible to show.

Where do I find spreadsheet editing?
Spreadsheet editing is only available at the ad group level. To enter spreadsheet mode, navigate to the Keywords tab of any ad group, then select Spreadsheet edit under the More actions menu.

What is the difference between 1 per click and many per click conversions?
The metric formerly called conversions in the previous AdWords interface is now relabeled 1-per-click conversions in the new interface. This metric measures the number of unique clicks on your ads that lead to conversion events. For example, if you’re measuring sales and one ad click leads to three different transactions, only one 1-per-click conversion is counted.

In contrast, many-per-click conversions count each conversion that occurs after a click on your ad. So in the example above, since three different transactions occurred after the initial click on your ad, three many-per-click conversions are counted.

You can learn more about the difference between 1-per-click and many-per-click conversions here.

How do I view Destination URLs for keywords?
You can easily view the destination URLs for your keywords by customizing your columns. From the Keywords tab, click Filters and views and select Customize columns. From there you can turn on the column for Destination URL as well as other metrics for your keywords.

adwords picture

Where are settings for ad scheduling, frequency capping, ad rotations, etc?
On the Campaign Settings tab, there are a few sections labeled Advanced. For example, below your selected bid type and budget, you’ll find an advanced section for position preferences and delivery method. At the very bottom of the page, you’ll find some additional advanced settings like ad scheduling, ad rotation settings, and frequency capping. We organized the settings page in this way to make sure it was easy for you to scan through the fundamentals of your campaign while still giving you the option to explore more advanced configurations.

Those are the general questions that have been asked over the last week. I know that there are many more questions that people have. Some people might not like how the interface has changed. Everything changes and no one likes it but you have to get used to it. Different features will be changed and moved. Google is trying to make this system better and we just need to stay up with it and help them through their progress. They want to make it better for the Adwords specialist’s, and that is exactly what they are doing.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Google, Online Marketing, Search Engines | No Comments »

Short url’s

Friday, August 14th, 2009

tinyurl

What is behind these short url’s that social media site Twitter is using? There is a new company out there now that specializes in URL mapping. They will redirect the short url to website that you post.

With a vested interest in making sure that people can use short URLs confidently, many of the leading short URL providers have signed up for 301works, an independent URL mapping directory service (you can think of it like archive.org but for URL mapping). The venture will be managed by GNIP, Inc. The announcement reads:

Leading Internet software companies have joined together to launch an independent URL mapping directory service. The new service will allow all participating short URL providers the ability to make their mappings available as regular updates or as a historical archive through the directory. The service is planned to launch in the next few weeks after participating companies individually inform their respective user communities of their planned participation. Once launched the service will be available at 301works.org and will be managed and run by Gnip, Inc. while the participating companies work to identify an appropriate non-profit organization to manage the directory long-term.

It is with these shared goals for improved permanence and transparency that Adjix, awe.sm, betaworks, bit.ly, Cligs, Gnip, URLizer, and urlShort have joined to launch this new organization.

In plain English: the URL shorteners want to establish some sense of permanence to the mappings they provide, making users more confident that their links won’t just break at some point in the future. It’s a good first step towards addressing concerns about the dangers of short URLs.

So if this non-profit that they want to come up with might give users more certainty that their short link will be redirected or even stolen. Twitter uses these short urls for their users. More companies are on board to use short url’s. It looks like short url’s will start becoming a thing of the future. The one thing that I really want to know is why Twitter uses these short url’s? Is it because they didn’t want people to keep on tweeting about their business? Is it because they want people to see as many tweets as they can fit on a page?

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Facebook, Online Marketing, Search Engines, Social Marketing Strategy, Social Media in Society, Twitter | No Comments »

Google’s new search quality score

Friday, August 14th, 2009

logo_Google_Adwords

The adwords team has made some changes made in the way that Google formulates their quality score. They have been adding new components since 2005.  Those new features are adding landing page load times, offering score diagnosis on the keyword analysis page, and displaying first page bid estimates. This will help advertisers get a better hold of how their advertisements are performing for them and maybe even their customers. Since there where changes and most people will have questions about the changes listed above. The Adwords team has released a Search Ads Quality Getting Started Guide

You’re probably already familiar with the concept of Quality Score and know that it plays a major role in the way that Google decides when to show your ads and how to rank them. But, even seasoned AdWords veterans still have questions about ads quality, which is why we’ve put together the Search Ads Quality Getting Started Guide. (http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=23572)

The new Search Ads Quality Getting Started Guide is a resource for how you can get the most out of your search advertising on Google. While we’re not making any changes to the way Quality Score works, the guide is organized to help you understand some of the most important concepts around quality, such as: how quality score affects your ranking and how quality score affects how much you pay.

The new guide also offers useful tips on how to improve your ad quality and addresses some of your most common questions.

Whether you’ve been advertising with AdWords for years, or you just created your first campaign, we believe that the Getting Started Guide will be a useful resource for you to learn more about a topic that is at the core of advertising on AdWords.

This has been put in place to help the Adwords specialist get some hard facts on the advertisements that they are running. The hard part might be explaining it to your customers. In theory it is a great idea because of the added effects. There is also an advantage that it shows you the first time advertisement bid.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Google, Online Marketing, Search Engines | No Comments »

Yahoo! teaming up with Microsoft round two.

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Yahoo

Since there has been a lot of backlash on the deal, I decided to take a second look at the deal. I also saw an interview with the CEO of Yahoo! Mrs. Bartz. I know that there is a lot of backlash on the deal with investors. Mike even commented on Yahoo!’s stock price the last time that Dan and I posted about the deal. Lets just face it most investors and industry experts do not believe that the deal is a good one, at least in the short run.

Bartz is spending this week in Hawaii, on vacation and recovering from the July 8 surgery, as well as from the eviscerating reaction to the Microsoft partnership, which was announced July 29. (Yahoo stock has dropped from $17 to below $15 since then.)

“You have to go back to the center–why it was important,” she says about the deal and Wall Street’s displeasure. “It’s important for the long-term health of Yahoo. It’s important to grow audience.” Essentially, she’s slicing off a piece of Yahoo, search technology and engineering, and giving it to Microsoft so that Yahoo can focus on selling on-line advertising and developing on-line content.

If Bing is the newest and best search engine then it will have been a great deal for Yahoo!. The new Yahoo! Is looking to the long term. Yahoo! brought out project Panama to market about a year ago. Evidently, Yahoo! did not see a benefit from their new technology. In the article Bartz says that they want to focus more time and energy on providing other services to their users. This deal like every other deal will take time. As long as Microsoft, and Yahoo! believe that Bing is the search engine that is the best, Yahoo! and Microsoft will be teamed together for search. Everyone is so quick to criticize Microsoft’s newest technology that has not had time to prove itself. I know that Microsoft has made many mistakes in the past, but you have to give them a chance and some time for them to prove themselves.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Microsoft, Search Engines, Yahoo | No Comments »

Thoughts About the Yahoo / Microsoft Deal

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Yes, by now it’s old news.  Yahoo and Microsoft have announced a partnership that is meant to help both companies become more competitive in the online Search and Advertising industries.  The deal, in which Microsoft will utilize Yahoo’s advertising sales force and technology and Yahoo will take advantage of Microsoft’s Bing search technology, has been in the works for a long time now.  And while most analysts seem to think that the partnership will help make both Yahoo and Microsoft more competitive, Google remains, by far, the most dominant player in both the Search and Online Advertising worlds.

What’s interesting about this deal, I think, is how it has affected Yahoo’s stock price.  While both Yahoo and Microsoft have said that this deal will help both companies become stronger players in the Search and Advertising industries, Yahoo’s stock price has dropped like a rock since the deal was announced.  Things got so bad that Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has has come out trying to talk up Yahoo and try to stop the blood loss.  At a gathering of financial analysts and reporters, hosted at Microsoft’s headquarters yesterday, Ballmer tried to reassure everyone that this deal will make Yahoo a stronger company.  As reported by the New York Times…

“Nobody gets it,” Mr. Ballmer said Thursday to a gathering of financial and industry analysts at Microsoft’s headquarters.

Yahoo’s shares have plunged since the deal was announced. The stock fell 12 percent on Wednesday and another 3.57 percent on Thursday, closing at $14.60. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s share price has held steady, reflecting the perception of investors that Microsoft got the better end of the bargain.

“I was myself kind of surprised by the market reaction,” Mr. Ballmer said at the analyst meeting. “It’s a win-win deal.”

Mr. Ballmer went to great lengths to explain how beneficial the deal is for Yahoo. For example, Yahoo will receive 88 percent of the revenue that comes from search ads sold on its sites. “We will not make much,” he said.

Mr. Ballmer’s comments, which came during market trading Thursday, did little to stem the slide in Yahoo’s shares.”

It’s clear that this deal is not at all what many Yahoo shareholders were looking for.  That being said, this deal is a pretty level headed, win-win partnership.  It will allow Microsoft to focus on building and strengthening its Bing.com search technology and allow Yahoo to focus on selling online advertising.  What this means for Online Marketing professionals is that 1.) Search Engine Optimization efforts must now pay more attention to Bing and how it determines a website’s rellevence and 2.) Be prepared to pay a little bit more, probably not much more, for placing ads with Yahoo.  Overall, though, this deal doesn’t appear to be much of a world changing event.  Additionally, many of the finer points of this deal have yet to be hammered out.

And while this deal will probably undergo some sort of Government scrutiny to determine if it running afowl of US Anti-Trust laws, most experts beleive that it will be allowed to go through.  The fact of the matter is that Google dominates both the Search and Online Advertising industries, owning more than half of the market share in each of those industries.  It’s hard to imagine how either Yahoo or Microsoft could ever hope to take on Google without some sort of partnership.  If anything, this deal puts more competitive pressure on Google, which, in the end, will probably mean that the deal will go through.

Obviously, Laser Burn Media is keeping a close eye on this situation and will continue to monitor it to try and better understand how it will affect the Online Marketing and Online Search industries.  As more details of this deal are released, and as new developments take shape, we will be sure to keep all of you up to speed.  All for now.

-Dan Cheek and John Botch
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
Dan@laserburnmedia.com or John@laserburnmedia.com

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Posted in Google, Microsoft, Search Engines, Yahoo | 2 Comments »