Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Yahoo Opens Search With "Search Monkey," Kind Of Like Google's Coop
Yahoo To Announce "Search Monkey" Enhanced, Annotated Results At SMX West from Search Engine Land explains it better than I can, so read it there. The Yahoo blog calls it the open approach to search. What is it? Basically, it gives publishers a way to tell Yahoo how to enhance their search results for free in Yahoo. It is basically works on the user end like the Google Coop Subscribed links, where a user needs - Possible Google PageRank Update?
After reviewing DigitalPoint Forums, I saw about 5 different threads discussing a PageRank update at Google. I am honestly not sure if this is a legit update but it doesn't really matter. A toolbar PageRank update has no immediate or direct impact on your rankings at Google.com. Having said that, there are a few threads at the forum on the update but this DigitalPoint Forums thread is the most active at the moment. Forum discussion - Update To Google AdWords "Automatic Matching"
Yesterday I posted Have Extra Money in Your Google AdWords Account? Google May Spend it With "Automatic Matching". I was fairly negative in my post, but I did explain both sides. First, Google sent me a statement: As part of our ongoing commitment to provide advertisers with innovative ways to reach users online, Google is currently testing a feature known as 'Automatic Matching.' This feature is currently in a limited beta with a small number - Google AdSense Updates Terms and Conditions For Gadget Ads & Privacy
Google has made changes to the Google AdSense Terms and Conditions policy last night. The Inside AdSense blog said the changes were to include "future products and feature," such as Gadget Ads and an update to the "privacy requirements." The major concern with AdSense publishers is this line: According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change
SMX West Conference Recap:
- Avoiding Keyword Pitfalls
When done right, pay-per-click (PPC) search ads can be a company's most valuable marketing channel. But there are common pitfalls that can mean the difference between a campaign that bombs and one that makes you the rock star of your marketing program. Fortunately, many of these are easy to fix, once you know what to look out for. This session will cover danger areas such as match types, content network ads, ego bidding, failure to - Is It Time For Search Marketing Standards?
Search Insights Track Is It Time For Search Marketing Standards? - Now that several groups and organizations are offering certifications in search marketing without massive online debate and uproar, does that mean the oft-discussed idea of agreeing to common search marketing standards of behavior could happen? Let the discussion -- and likely debate -- begin! This session explains the issues involved, with viewpoints all around. Moderator: Jeffrey K. Rohrs, Vice President, Agency & Search Marketing, - Online Retail & Blended Results
Moderator: Vanessa Fox, Features Editor, Search Engine Land Q&A Moderator: Mike McDonald, WebProNews Liana Evans, Director of Internet Marketing, KeyRelevance is first up. Blended results give you more opportunities in the search results. It creates an engagement opportunity. It creates traffic, links and buzz about your site. She then explains what blended results are, but I covered that like a billion times today. She shows a sample of bare Escentuals, which uses videos to demonstrate - Paid Search Fundamentals
Paid search allows you to generate traffic from search engines by purchasing ads, usually on a cost-per-click (CPC) / pay-per-click (PPC) basis. This session covers the basic of how to purchase placement from the major search engines, including best practices for success with your ads. Moderator: Detlev Johnson, CEO, SearchReturn Q&A Moderator: Anton Konikoff, Founder and CEO, Acronym Media Speaker: Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster Matt is talking about why he loves PPC. - Defending Your Paid Search Budget Against New Ad Fads
Session Summary You worked so hard over the years to build a respectable budget for paid search, and now the search engines themselves are pitching non-search ads at you or others are suggesting you try the latest ads on a social network. This session looks at when you want to stand up for search, with strategies on keeping your budget strong and arguing that new ads require new money, not a slice of paid search - The Economics of Search
The Economics Of Search - Economists working for the major search engines? Absolutely, and they try to predict where the search economy is going. This session looks at some of their work in predicting and modeling the space. Moderator: Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land Q&A Moderator: Mike McDonald, WebProNews Speakers: Peter A. Coles, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School Michael Schwarz, Marketplace Designer, Yahoo! Research Mark Mahaney, Director, Internet Research - - Local Search & Blended Results
Moderator: Vanessa Fox, Features Editor, Search Engine Land Q&A Moderator: Matt McGee, SEO Manager, Marchex Found a hot spot for power and to comfortably blog a session. Plugged in and blogging in live mode. Chris Smith, Lead Search Strategist, NetConcepts is first up. Common search phrases that invoke local include location name like city names. The most common combination is a business name / category, biz name, category with location, biz name / category in - SMX Boot Camp: Copywriting for Search Success
Moderated by Dana Todd, who is heavily involved with both Sitelab and their new venture, Newsforce. Congratulations are also due to Dana who just was reelected to the Board of Directors of SEMPO. The “SMX Boot Camp†series of sessions seems to be primarily focused towards beginners. There are not too many better speakers than Heather Lloyd Martin and Jill Whalen to teach attendees about copywriting for SEO. Without further ado, let’s kick it off! - Search Marketing & Persona Models
Session Summary This session looks at how personas can be a powerful tool for improving paid search performance, covering how to create them and case studies on their use in PPC. Personas are a way to model the basic types of visitors you expect to come to your site and tailor the arrival experience to them. Moderator / Speakers Gord Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro, is moderating this session along with Anton Konikoff, Founder - Searchscape: Latest Stats About The Search Engines
Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land Q&A Moderator: Fionn Downhill, CEO and President, Elixir Systems Gregg Poulin, General Manager, Compete.com, Compete Inc. is up first. He starts off about the long tail and search is the quintessential long tail. 8 billion search queries on the web and only 5.2 billion search referrals. Everyone is chasing Google for the share. Yahoo lost 25% market share over the last year. Google is for men, Ask and - Video, Images & Blended Results
Video, Images & Blended Results - This session looks at how video and image content is being blended into the main results at major search engines and provides tips on increasing the odds that your content makes the cut for the first page of results. Moderator: Vanessa Fox, Features Editor, Search Engine Land Q&A Moderator: Rob Kerry, Editor, Sphinn.com Speakers: Benu Aggarwal, CEO, Milestone Internet Marketing Eric Enge, President, Stone Temple Consulting Todd Friesen, Vice - Legally Speaking: Recent Legal News about Search
Jeff Rohrs from Exact Target is moderating. He introduces the new format of being able to ask questions online, during the course of the session, which will be compiled by Rob Kerry and presented to Jeff for the QA section. Clarke Walton, a self confirmed “lawyer and a spammer†from his firm, the Walton Law Firm. He will talk through some recent trademark usage laws and disputes. He will start with reviewing the current trademark - Decrypting Quality Scores
Paid Search Track Decrypting Quality Scores - Life used to be so easy. You paid more than your competitor, and you ranked tops as a result. Now the perceived "quality" of your ads can make a dramatic difference in how much you pay and are positioned. Unfortunately, since the exact formula of calculating quality scores isn't revealed by the major search ad networks, marketers have some deciphering to do. This session looks at ways to - The Blended Search Revolution
Moderator: Vanessa Fox, Features Editor, Search Engine Land Q&A Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land You and ask questions online via a special web page as the speakers give their presentations. Then in Q&A, the questions will be answered. Vanessa is modding up this panel. Ask was unable to come last minute, but Vanessa showed off the Ask.com user interface. David Bailey, Senior Staff Software Engineer, Google is up first. Universal search is all - Keynote Conversation: Search 3.0, Search 4.0 & Beyond
Search 3.0, Search 4.0 & Beyond - Search Engine Land editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan has been covering the search space for 12 years. In this keynote address, he explains how search has recently left behind the Search 1.0 and Search 2.0-eras to reach Search 3.0 today: blended search. He also covers the growth of Search 4.0: personalized and social search, with some further looks at what's to come. Speaker: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land Hi
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Chat Back With Google Talk, WebmasterWorld
- Google And Partners To Build Undersea Cable For Internet Growth, WebmasterWorld
- Some Sobering Realities About AdSense, WebmasterWorld
- What to do When Google Kicks You in the Goolies., Sphinn
