Dec

3

Google introduces “Like It?” to search results.

Filed Under SEO News | Leave a Comment

From the Google Blog:

This experiment lets you influence your search experience by adding, moving, and removing search results. When you search for the same keywords again, you’ll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you’ve made. Note that this is an experimental feature and may be available for only a few weeks.

This is something that can bode for good or ill. I’d be surprised if this rolled out across the board without a serious review process related to its beta period. The possibility for search engine results to be gamed seems too massive to ignore, like a sumo wrestler crammed into a phonebooth.

Dec

3

Facebook’s Beacon gets scaled back.

Filed Under Search Marketing News | Leave a Comment

Beacon, the most controversial of Facebook’s new advertising models, has been scaled back significantly after a massive user protest.  With Beacon, users’ recent purchases on sites like Fandango and Overstock.com would be included in the online social network’s friend’s feeds.

This past Thursday, Facebook enacted a change that asks users to “opt in” before it publishes information to their friends, so your recent holiday-related purchase of the first season of Green Acres on DVD wouldn’t necessarily reflect badly on you.

Nov

27

Douglas Karr has money. Yahoo doesn’t want it.

Filed Under Search Marketing News | 1 Comment

Read the full story on how Yahoo’s expensive direct-mail campaign for their keyword-based advertising grabbed and then lost a customer.

Nov

25

Elliot Jay Stocks says: “Destroy the Web 2.0 Look”

Filed Under Web Design | Leave a Comment

In a visually arresting presentation at the Future of Web Design event in New York City, Elliot Jay Stocks dissassembles the Web2.0 “look” very effectively.  Stocks makes some very good points here - I’ve had to deal with clients who only understood the very superficial aspects of “Web 2.0.”  

Before talking about any other aspect of a site, it should be a basic understanding that a basic catalog on the web isn’t going to get more hits just because it’s shiny; it has to be built with search and end users in mind, something that a reflected logo and beveled edges aren’t going to do on their own.

Nov

22

Rob Garner talks Search Engine Copywriting

Filed Under General Advice | Leave a Comment

Rob Garner’s Search Insider column discusses search engine copywriting, offering up some common-sense advice for those who may be practicing search engine copywriting using the old methods:

Most of the professional search engine friendly copywriters have since backed off of the concept of practicing search engine friendly copywriting styles that incorporate excessive repetition of search engine friendly keywords, and are writing search engine friendly copy that is more easily read by humans, while still being “search engine friendly.” This is a good thing, because even though copy may be deemed “search engine friendly,” it doesn’t necessarily make it readable, or sound intelligent enough that someone might want to actual convert to a customer, no matter how “search engine friendly” the copywriting may be.

It’s a fine balance and not an easy one but we’ve discovered that a little practice can lead to more conversions from the greater number of hits you’re getting.


« go back — keep looking »