Last August Adam Singer wrote this excellent post on how Social Media has become inextricably linked to SEO. Adam talks about the reinforcement that each gives the other, in a continuously, self-perpetuating cycle. In the last five months I've seen Adam's theory proven true time and time again, both on commercial endeavours and private websites and blogs. Very simply, the links between Social Media and SEO are undeniable.
The 10 key points that Adam laid out are:
Search Engines become more sophisticated and powerful
An active Social Media push of content builds ever stronger links
Regular, original content creates more opportunity to be found through search
Search Engines like very regularly updated sites
Social Media use drives increased successes
Social Media can be build on
Beyond links it's also about Digital PR
Social Media Communities help grow themselves
Content discovered through Social Media is more likely to be shared
Engaging, well thought out content is the best
Whether you have your own website or work on a website(s) as part of your job, I highly recommend going and reading Adam's full post.
There's been talk and speculation for quite some time now, and various blogs and news services have "leaked" information about Google's next 'big thing', Real Time Search. For those of you perched on the edges of your seat for the last year or so, good news, you can now sit back and relax. Not only is it solid news but it is coming straight from the horses mouth.
Google has launched Real Time Search integrated into its search results pages. Now you can use Google to see real-time updates of various things happening around the Web, including tweets, Yahoo Answers, news articles and Web pages. What's also pretty cool is that this will also work mobiles (well, iPhone and Android anyway).
For many, however, the real use of Real Time Search comes through in Social Media. Thankfully Google has confirmed that deals have been signed with Facebook and MySpace to allow Google to pull in live data. For Facebook this will be limited to public Facebook Pages (though that's still excellent news for businesses and brands using the platform). For MySpace it will cover any data stream that is publicly available.
All of this is of course on top of the partnership that Google went into in October with Twitter.
For an example of Google Real Time Search just click here. Alternatively Google have also created this video to show how it will all work.
Just last month, however, a new layar arrived the iPhone 3GS, from Ireland's leading property search site Daft.ie. The layar allows users to search through the site's entire suite of properties, for sale, to rent or to share, through a visual, location-based augmented reality interface. Pretty cool!
Basically, as you view your location through your iPhone's camera, properties within view, that are available, are indicated by blue dots on the screen. The size of the blue dot, with larger dots appearing close to you, indicate how near a property is. The dot at the the centre of your screen will show an image of the property, and give a summary of the property detail including; the address, the rental price, and a summary of the details e.g. “single bed, studio apartment".
If you then press the image you can see any photographs and directly contact the advertiser. The service utilises all Daft.ie sale, rental and shared properties listed on their site. With all new listings automatically updated as soon as they go live on the site.
I have a huge list of things that I want to write about but the simple truth is that there are not enough hours in the day to do all of them. So in going through this extremely long list I realised that at least three of the items fitted together into a nice three-in-one post. So here is a little snap shot of three of the most important changes that I feel have gone on in the media landscape in the last couple of weeks.
Google's Display Ad Exchange
After much speculation and talk following Google's purchase of DoubleClick (two years ago!), it has finally happened - the Google Display Ad Exchange has launched. Coupled with the usual over-exagerated boasts, Google tell us that the system "will change the way advertisers buy ad space". The move represents one of the most open challenges that Google have made against Yahoo! and Microsoft's display ad marketshares. Up until now Google had relied on its Display network to counter both YAhoo! and Microsoft's display offering, both of which were real 'display' networks.
Having said that, the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange is modelled directly on the AdSense and AdWords systems. Neal Mohan, vice president of product management at Google, said "the exchange is a real-time marketplace that will help publishers, ad networks and agencies buy and sell display space. We want to democratise access to display advertising and make it accessible and open, like search advertising. By bringing publishers and advertisers together in an open marketplace in which prices are set in a real-time auction, the Ad Exchange enables display ads and ad space to be allocated much more efficiently. This improves returns for advertisers and enables publishers to get the most value out of their online content."
Facebook's Beacon Is Gone
Folling the $9.5m settlement of a class-action lawsuit launched against Beacon, Facebook has finally confirmed it will completely shut down the advertising service. Although Facebook has been gradually phasing out the system, it has continued to be used by a number of websites up until very recently. The service, which was originally launched in late 2007, suffered from immediate controversy by utilising the browsing habits of its members while they were on other websites.
In December 2007, very shortly after launch, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, issued a personal apology for what he called "lots of mistakes in the way the system was handled". In reality, the whole system was a complete PR disaster. The web virtually exploded with concerns over Facebook invading the privacy of its users without their prior consent or knowledge. The result was that Facebook introduced more controls and ultimately made the system opt-in for members.
The settlement itself, which is still pending approval, will also pay $9.5m to create a foundation to fund products that promote online privacy, safety and security. Facebook has said that "we look forward to the creation of the foundation and its work to educate Internet users on how best to control their privacy [and] engage in safe social networking practices."
Web Metrics Reinvented
When it comes to digital audience measurement there are only two options: comScore or Omniture. So the news that these two rivals are planning to launch a single, combined digital audience measurement system is absolutely huge. The companies have revealed that they hope to design a platform that will bring more clarity and confidence to the online advertising market. Essentailly, the system will give both websites and advertisers a unified source for measuring how many visitors hit their sites, how often they visit and exactly who the visitors are.
Specific details of system are as of yet unavailable, however industry experts predict that it will most likely combine Omniture analysis tools and comScore's internet user panels. The question remains however of how exactly they will gather their raw data set. In the past, the two companies have almost always shown different sets of data due to the fact that they have always set out to achieve relatively different goals. This is the main area that it is hoped will be addressed, and that the current disparity between the companies will be resolved.
Interestingly, last week also saw Omniture in the news as it was taken over by Adobe for $1.8 billion (£1bn). Adobe has said that the deal will ultimately help digital marketers increase their ROI through a more accurate measurement system. As any Digital Marketer will tell you, flash is fantastic for (pardon the pun) flashy "nova-style" microsites (short lived, hyped up and ultimately forgettable), but an absolute nightmare for longterm projects due to the inability of search engines to truely index the flash contents. A recent takeover may spell the end for this, however.
It may be tough to imagine Barack Obama not getting elected, but only 4 years ago he was virtually unknown both domestically and certainly internationally. So how did this unknown Junior Senator from Illinois get elected as the 44th President of the United States?
The folks behind Obama's Digital Marketing Strategy were Blue State Digital. They were responsible for designing and running all online marketing, and ultimately in charge of directing the technology and digital elements behind the campaign. Baring in mind, it was a campaign that generated record-breaking fund-raising and drove 13 million followers.
Here, Blue State Digital's Managing Partner, Thomas Gensemer, discusses the digital tactics behind the success of Obama's marketing campaign. All four clips come from Silicon Valley Insider as part of their Innovation video series, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.
How Was E-Mail The Most Successful Tool Of The Obama Campaign?
How Did The Obama Campaign's Marketing System Work?
What Were The Three Keys To Success In Marketing The Obama Campaign?
Are Republicans Catching Up With The Obama Campaign's Marketing Tactics?
Over a year ago, on the 28th July 2008, Cuil went live. Surrounded by a lot of 'Google-killer' hype at the time, for many, Cuil's launch passed by virtually unnoticed. The 'Google-killer' tag that many attached to it was in fact incorrect, and Cuil was never going to be a 'Google-killer'. The major advantage that Cuil brought to the table was that it was managed and developed by former Google employees, Anna Patterson and Russell Power, and their CEO and co-founder, Tom Costello, had worked for IBM among others. This couple with the fact that Cuil boasted a larger index than any other search engine with over 120 billion web pages.
So over 12 months on, what is Cuil doing to gain ground on its rivals?
In what may be the smartest move the company has made to date, Cuil has announced the released of a real-time search feature, finally pushing it as a threatening alternative to Google, Facebook and Twitter. The advantage of real-time search is that you can instantly access what people are saying/thinking about live events as they unfold.
Cuil's new feature will generate a toolbar, indicating real-time results found. Through the toolbar, users can then explore a sample of results from news and blogs,with an indicator on each result showing the ‘hotness' of the topic. The toolbar can also be opened as a pop up box to act as a monitor on an ongoing basis.
Real-time search has been thrown around as the next big thing for a number of months, as both Facebook and Twitter continue to grow in leaps and bounds. The massive user bases that both services now attract may be enough to give them the edge in the race to create a truly real-time search engine that allows moment-by-moment trend analysis, but for now everything is still up to play for.
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the Smirnoff 'Moscow Mule' Blogger Launch Event, which was loads of fun. Last night, however, was a whole other experience with the full Launch Party!
Fire Breathers, Stilt walkers, Jugglers, an amazing 'Hula Hoopist' and a great Ring Master - a really, really visually stimulating line-up of entertainers. Arveene Juthan and Dan Williams on the decks, and a special appearance from Jade Jagger - seriously good tunes too.
So the best part (baring in mind I'm a total geek)?
I love the creative behind all of this.
The outdoor went live - non-branded, slick looking creatives with a cryptic (non) call to action. The ad/visual fits in perfectly too (you'll have to wait for that - though I should have it very soon). Everything revolves around the idea of the 'extraordinary'. The guys behind this have done a great job of integrating the message across all platforms and really bringing it to life. For a drink that is so old it has been given a new lease of life, and it's a fun one!
So until I get the visual from the girls and can show you what I mean, check out this...
For those who haven't seen it, I also thought it'd be worth sharing Damien's video of Marty ('THE' Smirnoff Mule bartender - total legend btw) making a Smirnoff Mule...
When I first heard the news that Bing was incorporating Twitter into its search results (in real-time) I wasn't sure I thought there was much to talk about. Sure I find Twitter Search useful, but I use it in a completely different context to how I use normal search services. It wasn't until I considered what it meant for searches performed on specific people.
The convenience of being able to see a real-time feed of results for name mentions and comments, along side actual web results gives a more accurate and complete view of how someone is seen online.
Microsoft revealed that it has started indexing tweets from popular Twitter users in real-time on Bing. Furthermore, while they have started by only indexing the tweets of a few thousand people (based on follower count and tweet volume), the service would ultimately be expanded.
Bing displays these results sepperately from the main body of search results, but only when the search phrase includes "Twitter", "tweet" or the "@" with the name of the person they are searching.
Last Wednesday Google announced that Adsense was expanding to the iPhone and other mobile application platforms. A trial program has been in place with a small group of publishers such as Sega, Shazam, and Urbanspoon since April, to test and trouble shoot the new service. While the current offering will still be in beta, Google says that they see this as a way for developers to be rewarded for their work, and also to extend their contextual ad network.
Of course for advertisers, this means that the opportunity is now available to expand existing Adwords campaigns into various mobile applications. Some of the benefits that are offered are targeting traffic from specific applications and locations, and of course, targeting by specific keywords and categories.
The following is a testimonial from Howard Steinberg, Business Development Director at UrbanSpoon:
Without doubt, one of the largest growing areas within the Search Industry is Real-Time Search. That is the ability to search resources (usually User Generated Content and Web2.0 self-publicising platforms) that has just been created/uploaded. The best example of this is Twitter Search, which allows users to search through Tweets within real-time. This contrasts against traditional Search Engines that need to index and catalogue webpages before they become available through the engine.
A recent article on Revolution discussed how Google will integrate itself into this new area of search. The article quotes the unofficial Google System blog as saying that a real-time search service from Google would most likely deliver results sorted by relevancy that could integrate into Google's main results page. According to Revolution, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt has made it clear that Google is interested in the growth and potential of live search.
At the recent Zeitgeist Europe, Google co-founder Larry Page said, "People really want to do stuff in real-time and they [Twitter] have done a great job about it. We will do a good job of things now we have these examples."
In an update to their article Revolution also had the following statement from Google:
"At Google we strive to connect people to all the world's information, and this includes information that's frequently updated such as news sites, blogs and real-time sources. While we don't have anything to announce today, real-time information is important, and we're looking at different ways to use this information to make Google more useful to our users."
According to a Brand Republic article, a new Search Engine is about to launch specifically aimed at orthodox Jews. The Search Engine, named Koogle, will allow orthodox Jews to search the net without breaking any Torah commandments. The site has been designed to meet guidelines provided by orthodox rabbis and will ensure that no sexually explicit material is shown.
The site will be Hebrew language based, offer a filter for ultra-orthodox Jews (so cannot have things such as TVs in their homes), and will not allow any activity on the Sabbath.
The name 'Koogle' comes from Google and the traditional Jewish dish 'kugel'.
I wrote on Monday about various happenings in the world of search. The biggest bits of news were around Yahoo! and Microsoft's new search offerings, both set for release shortly. In an update, following a very in-depth article on AdAge yesterday, there are several really interesting bits of information to share about Microsoft's Kumo and the massive advertising campaign rumoured to be behind it. For starters, Kumo is no more. Kumo, as it turns out, was just the in-house operations name that Microsoft were using for their new engine during trials. Bing is the name of Google's newest rival.
According to AdAge and other sources, Bing's $100m advertising campaign, through JWT, will target the web, TV, print and radio. However, although some stories circulating the web have suggested that Microsoft plan a full-on attack campaign (similar to the 'I'm a PC' that targeted Apple directly), it has no been reported that their will not be specific mention of any competitor, Google, Yahoo! or otherwise, and the campaign will instead concentrate on getting users to rethink how they search, questioning if the "other" search engines actually deliver what they want.
The main thinking behind the campaign follows a series of research initiatives by Microsoft to determine how and why users search the web, and how they treat the results they are given. Their research concluded that 42% of searches needed additional input following a users first attemp, 25% of clicks are the back button, and only 65% of users are satisfied with the search engine they currently use. Oddly this data may be seen to be villified by Google's recent Search Options, which added several ways for users to refine their searches, following an initial attemp.
Beyond this, an extremely interesting analysis that has come to light is the breakdown of advertising spends by Google and Microsoft last year. According to TNS Media Intelligence, Google spent just over $25 million on all its advertising. Microsoft, on the other hand, spent $361 million.
I posted on Thursday about Google's new Options for Search. Google produced a nice video about the new features, and hopefully you all watched it, so I didn't go into a great deal of detail. However, having had a good play around with the new features, I thought that the new Wonder Wheel function deserved a bit of elaboration.
Wonder Wheel is one of the new tools allowing you to refine your search and find alternative keywords. Once you've performed a search, click on the new 'show options' link in the top left hand side of the results window. Towards the bottom of the list is Wonder Wheel. Clicking on the link will reveal a keyword cloud. In the below example I searched for 'Marketing'.
The main reason I thought that Wonder Wheel deserved a bit more attention is because I realised it's a great tool for developing SEO and PPC keyword alternatives, through Google's own suggestions. Obviously you can pop into your AdWords account and use the kyword tool but this is a fast and simple way to generate keyword lists in seconds. Definitely worth keeping in mind, especially when preparing initial proposals.
Following Google's recent Searchology event, where the search giant unveiled a number of new search features, both Yahoo! and Microsoft have revealed their plans to change the way we search the web.
Following much speculation and chatter on the web, Microsoft confirmed it is ready to launch its newest search engine, code named Kumo, this week. Microsoft is expected to launch Kumo during the Wall Street Journal 'D: All Things Digital Conference'. The name Kumo which literally translates to “cloud” or “spider” was among a host of names which have been mentioned in relations to a possible rebranding of Live Search. Yahoo! on the other hand has announced that they want to restructure its offering to actually change how we search. Sources at both Microsoft and JWT have confirmed that the launch will be driven by a major advertising campaign created by JWT.
Yahoo! described their new approach as "a distinct move away from the '10 blue links', or the standardised text-heavy search results page," instead they [Yahoo!] "envision the web as a series of 'objects' as opposed to 'pages', making for a more engaging user experience." Essentially they think that the results they deliver should be a collection of relevant information i.e. searching for a restaurant would deliver reviews, opening hours, menus, contact information etc.
Although Yahoo! never describes it as such, this is clearly a move towards a Semantic Web. This is great news. Instead of simply delivering a collection links that have been determined by a search algorithm working on text, users would receive information that is determined through its actual meaning. Yahoo! has referred to this as an arrangement of "about-ness".
Yahoo! gave the example that a search for Beyonce would display the singer's home page, but also a list of her albums and links to tracks hosted on its music site Rhapsody.
The overall project is not new however. Officially referred to as the 'Search Monkey project', it is now over a year old and still under rigorous testing. The major downside (imho) is that the system is based on companies sending Yahoo! the data they want included in their search results. This is a system based on control. Where does UGC content fit in? Where do the bad reviews end up? To me this seems very much like a 'big brother' defined index of 'good' information - you get to see what you are allowed to see.
Regardless of how each companies search 'improvements' turnout, it's not surprising that they are each trying to improve, innovate and extend their offerings. Recent ComScore data (April this year) showed that Google has gained half a point to 64.2% of US search market share, while Microsoft (8.2%) and Yahoo! (20.4%) have both fallen.
On the Google front, there is also the up-coming release of their newest offering Google Squared (due end of May). Although many details remain a mystery, Google have described the new service as providing search results in a spreadsheet format rather than a typical links page, emphasising pure information instead of just related content. This sounds very much like a Google knowledge engine, perhaps similar to WolframAlpha. As such, this is probably the most exciting search news here.
Seems google has come to my attention on several fronts in the last week, so rather then write about them too much, I'm going to give an overview of the three developments that I think are most interesting.
Google Supports Newspapers In a recent letter to the Office of Fair Trading (in the UK), Google has called for a relaxation of the rules governing newspaper mergers. Quoted as saying, "the present laws do not reflect the increased competition publishers face from search engines and internet companies". The letter went on to say that Google would be completely supportive of publishers such as Trinity Mirror or Johnston Press, were they to investigate merging their operations with local or regional newspapers.
Google's call has been seconded by senior executives at the Local Media Alliance, who are also asking for a relaxation of merger rules. Their own opinion being that present laws do not take account the large impact the internet has had on newspapers. Ultimately, they have said, a relaxation of the merger rules would allow newspapers to diversify their offering, increase their reach, enhance their content and reduce their overall costs.
Google's stance is understandable considering that it currently provides one of the largest news services in the world, through search listings, that it pays nothing for and receives advertising revenue (in the form of PPC ads appearing alongside the listings). Only a month ago Rupert Murdoch publicly asked, "Should we be allowing Google to steal all our copyrights?". In an extremely harsher statement, Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson recently said, "Google devalues everything it touches" and "it divides content quantitatively rather than qualitatively".
The Office of Fair Trading currently has these rules under review as part of the Digital Britain report. An announcement is expected in June.
Google Search Options Google recently announced the addition of search options to your Google search results. This is their way of allowing users to refine their search results through an easy to use interface, without any knowledge of the standard Google search definitions. Google describe the new options as "a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier. Search Options helps solve a problem that can be vexing: what query should I ask?"
The easiest way to understand what Google Options has added is with this nice video:
For the general public I think these are great additions, but beyond the novice user I'm not sure they've add anything that I haven't already been able to do. Though I do like to write my blog posts directly in HTML so maybe this was never aimed at me.
As reported by The Guardian, it looks as if Microsoft and Yahoo have been talking again about the possibilities for a commercial relationship. At the moment this appears to be strictly in relation to an advertising deal as opposed to any sort of acquisition attempts. Apparently the new Yahoo! CEO, Carol Bartz, has renewed last years negotiations, and held a number of meetings with Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, last week.
In the curent market, with Google's grip and reach expanding on a week to week basis, there must be a lot of pressure on the two companies to extend their own business activities. One option put out by The Guardian would see Yahoo taking over Microsoft's display advertising while Microsoft took control of all search advertising. Of course neither company has made any official comments on how they would do business with each other.
However, it's important to remember that it was only in February that Ballmer made a statement to Wall Street saying, "The fact of the matter is, these two guys [Microsoft and Yahoo] should somehow figure out how to get together and create more competition for this guy [Google]. And I'm hoping perhaps that that's a reasonable conversation to have with new management at Yahoo as Carol comes onboard."
Last August Google launched its Suggest function. Since then, as you type a search query into the Google search box, you are offered suggestions as to what it is you may be looking for. On Tuesday the service received it's first major update, with a full country-by-country localisation.
For example, if in the UK as soon as 'liver' is typed you are shown possible searches around Liverpool football club, however if you were in the US you would be offered possible searches on Liver Disease.
In India, as the mobile phone market is exploding, as soon as you type 'no' you are shown a multitude of possible Nokia searches.
The Google Blog gives a full account of the feature and loads of examples.
Be warned, if you don't like stereotypes it'd be best to overlook the Irish example they give!
I spotted this over on MarketingVox and was seriously surprised. It would appear that Google is testing a feature that allows users to hide unwanted ads in their search results. By using a standard X button in the upper righthand corner, users can kill unwanted sponsored ads. Currently only available as part of Google SearchWiki and only available to certain users, it lets users boost the organic listings up that are most relevant to their query.
Crazy. I'm not sure I get it, except that an interesting point is raised - it's a clear line to user governed Quality Score. Interesting times ahead.
Digitology is primarily a dissection of digital culture. Here you'll find everything from the latest digital marketing news to information on new and innovative digital products. Although based in Dublin, the blog draws on the entire cyber collective, with insights into both domestic and international developments. However, you may also find posts on some of the other things I love in life like food, art, events etc.
Please note that all opinions, views, ideas, and congratulations and criticisms, expressed in this blog, are my own and no one elses. They do not in any way reflect the opinions or views of my employer. If you have any issue with what I say or write, please feel free to contact me personally (christianhughes [at] gmail.com) and I will be more then happy to discuss the merit of those comments.
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