MediaPost Publications - Retailers Search Report: Use a 'Portfolio' of Search Tactics - 09/26/2008

Indeed, just 12% of searchers that converted into buyers had clicked on both branded and non-branded terms. The majority (51%) of conversions stemmed from branded terms alone, while 37% came from non-branded terms. "Most companies pick one or the other," said John McAteer, Google's industry director, retail. "Very few are spending accurately on both their branded terms and the category terms, and I think this info should be surprising to them."

MediaPost Publications - Retailers Search Report: Use a 'Portfolio' of Search Tactics - 09/26/2008

Search is the primordial ooze of advertising's future. Google clearly knows that all TV advertising will be placed dynamically to every household based on contextual and behavioral criteria. The digital changeover will enable the technological underpinnings to be built. That's why the practice of placing ad units based on consumer input is the future of all media planning and buying.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Want top search results? Tread carefully | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Earlier this year, Matthew Inman had achieved the notable distinction of vaulting a Web site called JustSayHi high into the results for a search on "online dating." But after he expanded his effort to new areas, Google obliterated the site from its search results.

Inman had used an aggressive technique called widget bait to get good search results, but had to scrap a site that had been used for years and start from scratch. He was caught in a gray area in a sometimes-shady industry called search engine optimization (SEO) where it can be tough to distinguish a clever trick from a dirty trick.

Want top search results? Tread carefully | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Quote of the Day

Generally speaking, the ad agencies continue to demonstrate an unconscionable level of ignorance toward the power of search. Yes, there are a few brave souls championing search as the linchpin of tomorrow’s marketing successes (several write for MediaPost), but they’re lonely voices in a wilderness whose inhabitants still speak in the outdated acronyms of Gross Rating Points and think that online advertising means banners that nobody clicks on.

Search Insider » Blog Archive » No Time For Gloom Or Doom!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Google Tests Using Your Search Data to Tailor Ads to You - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Google acknowledges that it is now testing ways to use some of the data it has been gathering to better aim search ads at Web surfers, although it won’t say how.

This small change in Google’s behavior was first discovered by Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, who earlier this year started a series of tests looking at which ads were displayed in a series of queries on Google’s search engine. He found that the ads you see on one search may be influenced by what you searched for a few minutes ago. Search for “Baltimore dining,” then something else, and then “T-shirt” and sometimes you will get ads for T-shirts from Baltimore restaurants.

This is important because it marks the first time Google is using the store of data it collects about people to target its advertising.Google is upfront that it places a cookie on the browser of all of its users. And it records the number of the cookie, along with what the user searches for and some other information.

Google Tests Using Your Search Data to Tailor Ads to You - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Search Engine Marketing | Austin, Texas | Apogee Search

Apogee Search uses proven techniques, powerful Web analytics tools, and a deep expertise in statistical evaluation to generate solid, measurable results at every stage of the search engine marketing process.

Search Engine Marketing | Austin, Texas | Apogee Search

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Brand Monitoring - Yet Another New Marketing Practice
Online Reputation Management Basics | WebProNews: "Companies that want to protect their brand visibility on the web would do well to make optimizing their brand content a best practice. Optimizing all digital communications including: PR, marketing, SEO, HR, investor relations and related electronic content that is publicly available on the web as well as social media: text, images, audio, video will produce more branded content in the SERPs. Doing so doesn’t necessarily put the brand in control, but it’s a much better situation than scrambling after the fact."

My top list of Brand Monitoring service providers -

• MotiveQuest
• Nielsen BuzzMetrics
• Cymfony (TNS)
  
• New Media Strategies