At the end of last week Google Adwords announced that they are changing the rules re: Top ad placement criteria.
This is to take effect in the next few weeks. The wording they have supplied to explain the change is pretty confusing: How the formula for ad placement is changing
It my quest to understand it further, making a note of where we currently are and where Google are taking us, plus my thoughts on the change.
At this present time the top position is determined via a combination of quality score relevance of ad text to page – (rule which was brought out about this time last year) and your ‘actual’ CPC.
The new formula takes into account the quality score (criteria I like as relates to relevancy and customer journies) and the maximum CPC.
Google imply that this is a positive change stating:
“Actual CPC is determined, in part, by the bidding behavior of the advertisers below you. This means that your ad’s chance of being promoted to a top spot could be constrained by a factor you cannot influence. By considering your ad’s maximum CPC, a value you set, you will have more control over achieving top ad placement”
However I am viewing this change (and could be wrong) that it gives the larger companies who have more funds assigned to Google PPC more chance of appearing at the top spot. (Big plus for the big players).
This was against Google’s grass routes, who originally said that their system allowed everyone with a chance for stardom in the top tables, even in paid.
I’m not overjoyed at this change, as believe larger companies will place in a larger budget and let ads ride (without tweaking ads).
It also stops current control over PPC activity by smaller companies within FMGCs categories.
There could be more chance for you appearing if you have a niche product ie: ECO bags.
But with larger firms diversifying all the time and being more up to date with consumer trends (with social network uptake and realtime consumer research) will their be any room in the top listing table for smaller players. I think not.
Possible impact of this is that the smaller players will now have to rely on recommendations in social networks, (this thought warrants another post).
Google originally were looking for quality and relevancy in paid search. Now they are looking for quality and ££££££££££.
As I am struggling to find a positive, I will be looking out for other peoples thoughts on the above and will post here.
I will also be viewing my Google accounts to see whether this has an impact, and looking at Yahoo which has always had a lower CPC, and as Yahoo is on a steady increase since 2006, could be one to watch.
Incidently this practice reminds me of Tescos - their large 24/7 store and then Tesco Express as your corner shop - I wonder if this off line activity will echo now in paid search and we will loose our local shops from Google paid forever !!
(Note to colleague: Thanks Julia for the Tesco thought)
Go to the Tesco Store Locator put in Bournemouth and you will see 14 Tescos in the area. Where are the local convenience stores ! there is no room....
Possibly Paid search will be a place for the larger brands and natural to give chance to the smaller niche brands.
Another thought is that people could go to Yahoo (more in touch with networking with answers) and find their smaller players in sponsored results there.
Time will tell......
Disgruntled with Google Sarah
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Exploring Yahoo Site Explorer
Yahoo Site Explorer
I never really saw any point submitting to Yahoo Site Explorer, as Yahoo spiders search the web and will find the site. However an old search colleague informs me that it is worth while tool to use and good way to manage website. Especially if one of the main aims is to increase in links to the site. Which for new sites, this is a must, and would be nice to have a tool, which has most authority to do the job.
So aim to test it.
Features include the normal list of ‘inlinks’ to the site, which are regularly cited as being a more accurate picture of your links in regards to the ones reporting by Google. (which from experience is well off the mark).
Lets you know last time the Yahoo spider visited / cached the page/site, so good for reporting impact of SEO changes.
Tells you all the subdomains it is aware of at the site.
Apparently gets websites indexed quicker !
Allows you to submit a feed – and finds your feeds quicker.
It also makes sure Yahoo knows the correct language of your site, not sure what the steps are though if states you are talking Double Dutch !
All you need to do is place a new Meta Tag with Y!Code on the sites home page.
Will watch out for impact with interest,
Sarah
Monday, 30 July 2007
Understanding Duplicate Penalties
Duplicate Penalties
Penalty in the search world means that search engines will punish a website for violations against the search engines terms of service. The punishment includes removal of the website from the search engine listings.
There is a ‘duplicate content penalty’ for content that is duplicated with little change on a single site. There is also a ‘mirror penalty’ for content that is more or less duplicating another single site.
Swings and Roundabouts
Should your content be reproduced on another site, you will not incur a penalty as Google look at a lot of other factors beyond just the content of the page, ie: links. however should that site have a higher page rank than your site, it is likely that link to the article on the other site, will be listed higher than our own website.
However by adding a link, you can increase your chances of receiving visits to your site by adding more entry points.
Targeted traffic
Allowing customers or people with a common interest to your proposition toplace blog feeds, or place your articles on their site, will increase the number of targeted visitors to your site. Also if the article is posted on a relevant to your proposition site, then the links from this will increase your search engine listing position.
Penalty in the search world means that search engines will punish a website for violations against the search engines terms of service. The punishment includes removal of the website from the search engine listings.
There is a ‘duplicate content penalty’ for content that is duplicated with little change on a single site. There is also a ‘mirror penalty’ for content that is more or less duplicating another single site.
Swings and Roundabouts
Should your content be reproduced on another site, you will not incur a penalty as Google look at a lot of other factors beyond just the content of the page, ie: links. however should that site have a higher page rank than your site, it is likely that link to the article on the other site, will be listed higher than our own website.
However by adding a link, you can increase your chances of receiving visits to your site by adding more entry points.
Targeted traffic
Allowing customers or people with a common interest to your proposition toplace blog feeds, or place your articles on their site, will increase the number of targeted visitors to your site. Also if the article is posted on a relevant to your proposition site, then the links from this will increase your search engine listing position.
Friday, 27 July 2007
Local Search coming to a neighbourhood near you
Your Local Search listing
An increased number of people now use local search engines to find businesses online.
Indicating that presence in a local search engine would be a positive move to increase your traffic and links to your site. Due to Google’s launch of Universal Search, which integrates vertical search networks into the results, there is an increasing need to build presence in local search.
Google Maps was launched in 2005 as a development off their local search service, which linked in with the Yellow pages listings.
It has recently been enhanced further as they now offer businesses with the opportunity to add more detailed information, such as: extra contact details, logos, images, business descriptions, payment mentions etc. You can also post promotions on the site which users can print out bring along to the shop (if you have one!).
The thought is that as local search marketing and the vertical networks grow in importance, and when mobile search services develop then the need to have placement in local listings will indeed increase.
Is this the end of the Yellow Pages?
Do you search locally? Hotel in Jersey, Flowers, Plants from Jersey, Cheap DVDs Jersey,
e-Marketing Agency Jersey. I am sure you do.
More and more people now turn to the internet to help with their local searches. As well as appearing in local search engines, forums, directories you should work at making your websites location friendly, so that it is responsive to search queries which have a location basis.
You can do this by letting people know where you are based within your content and title. Where possible you should also add your site to local directories, forums where people go to find your products.
Online submissions
The main local search engines with map technologies include:
Google Maps – Can add listings via local business centre
Yahoo Local! – Powered by Info Serve
MSN live search – will be made live with link from ThomsonDirectories / Thompson Local (see below)
You can also submit to:
Yellow Pages - £360 a year.
Info Serve - feeds Yahoo Local and City Visitor plus a range of local search engines
Thomson local - free, Live Search buy the data from Thompson Local and put on their site, there is no obligation on their part to add each and every listing ie: they are allowed to be selective. From submitting to Thompson Directories it takes 4 to 6 weeks for it then to be on Thompson Local, then around 2 months to appear on Live Search (who buy the data).
192 - costs start at £192
Local.co.uk - this also provides free entry onto Classifieds.co.uk - however currently only UK focus (Not the Channel Islands)
UK Top local listings - Local directory - costs min £8.99
The most local one for Jersey I can find is a Directory site with a Jersey section here:
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/Channel_Islands/Jersey/
NB: At this present date Google Maps service currently cover United States, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, the UK, China, and Japan. Jersey is indeed a part of the UK, however not all of our 12 parishes yet are listed, however I have a nudger at Google, and have you scratch my back and I’ll scratch your letters to get Jersey firmly on the map. My quest here continues.
An increased number of people now use local search engines to find businesses online.
Indicating that presence in a local search engine would be a positive move to increase your traffic and links to your site. Due to Google’s launch of Universal Search, which integrates vertical search networks into the results, there is an increasing need to build presence in local search.
Google Maps was launched in 2005 as a development off their local search service, which linked in with the Yellow pages listings.
It has recently been enhanced further as they now offer businesses with the opportunity to add more detailed information, such as: extra contact details, logos, images, business descriptions, payment mentions etc. You can also post promotions on the site which users can print out bring along to the shop (if you have one!).
The thought is that as local search marketing and the vertical networks grow in importance, and when mobile search services develop then the need to have placement in local listings will indeed increase.
Is this the end of the Yellow Pages?
Do you search locally? Hotel in Jersey, Flowers, Plants from Jersey, Cheap DVDs Jersey,
e-Marketing Agency Jersey. I am sure you do.
More and more people now turn to the internet to help with their local searches. As well as appearing in local search engines, forums, directories you should work at making your websites location friendly, so that it is responsive to search queries which have a location basis.
You can do this by letting people know where you are based within your content and title. Where possible you should also add your site to local directories, forums where people go to find your products.
Online submissions
The main local search engines with map technologies include:
Google Maps – Can add listings via local business centre
Yahoo Local! – Powered by Info Serve
MSN live search – will be made live with link from ThomsonDirectories / Thompson Local (see below)
You can also submit to:
Yellow Pages - £360 a year.
Info Serve - feeds Yahoo Local and City Visitor plus a range of local search engines
Thomson local - free, Live Search buy the data from Thompson Local and put on their site, there is no obligation on their part to add each and every listing ie: they are allowed to be selective. From submitting to Thompson Directories it takes 4 to 6 weeks for it then to be on Thompson Local, then around 2 months to appear on Live Search (who buy the data).
192 - costs start at £192
Local.co.uk - this also provides free entry onto Classifieds.co.uk - however currently only UK focus (Not the Channel Islands)
UK Top local listings - Local directory - costs min £8.99
The most local one for Jersey I can find is a Directory site with a Jersey section here:
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/Channel_Islands/Jersey/
NB: At this present date Google Maps service currently cover United States, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, the UK, China, and Japan. Jersey is indeed a part of the UK, however not all of our 12 parishes yet are listed, however I have a nudger at Google, and have you scratch my back and I’ll scratch your letters to get Jersey firmly on the map. My quest here continues.
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Word of Web Marketing – is the new Word of Mouth Marketing
The Word on the Web
Building networks, contacting people in a similar mind/social set is what social networks are all about. There are trends indicating that people are moving away from distracting media sources and embracing those which embrace user generated content.
The challenge for companies is to know how to strategically place your company in the social network arena for commercial gain.
As User Generated Content grows, we can predict that more people will aim to find out about the product creator before purchase. Q: How many people have you Googled? Before a meeting?
Upon finding you in a social network, the consumer feels that they have more direct contact, and if you set the tone right, builds familiarity and trust with your brand/s.
Along with the offer of customised features & page design, MySpace offers a multitude of ways to contact/attract your potential consumers via: groups, forums, messages, events, blogs, videos, and classified advertising
Your profile should focus on the most remarkable aspect of your brand/proposition. Make sure your story is a persuasive one, which will not only appeal to your target market but that will compel them to find out more and support you by buying your products.
Focus should be given to tone of page, images, message, and your profile header. You can send your viewers/friends Bulletins on your new offers, invite/encourage them to tell others about you by including something for your readers to pass on, funny videos, unique pictures etc. (Remember word of web)
Recent statistics from analysts at comScore Media Metrix found that the most dramatic growth in the use of social networking sites was occurring among 25- to 34-year-olds, and the number of users aged 35 and older had grown by 98 per cent between May 2006 and May 2007.
Due to the above we are in direct contact with the social media giants as we continue our personal quest to discover their full potential.
For more statisitcs on social networks see the links from this story at the Independent:
"The Big Question: What is the point of sites such as Facebook, and should you join up?"
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2802586.ece
Plus below articles:
AdAge: Would You Let These People Friend You?
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=119841
Adweek: Facebook Spawns Ad Networks
http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003625255
Newsweek: Facebook Grows Up
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227872/site/newsweek
Building networks, contacting people in a similar mind/social set is what social networks are all about. There are trends indicating that people are moving away from distracting media sources and embracing those which embrace user generated content.
The challenge for companies is to know how to strategically place your company in the social network arena for commercial gain.
As User Generated Content grows, we can predict that more people will aim to find out about the product creator before purchase. Q: How many people have you Googled? Before a meeting?
Upon finding you in a social network, the consumer feels that they have more direct contact, and if you set the tone right, builds familiarity and trust with your brand/s.
Along with the offer of customised features & page design, MySpace offers a multitude of ways to contact/attract your potential consumers via: groups, forums, messages, events, blogs, videos, and classified advertising
Your profile should focus on the most remarkable aspect of your brand/proposition. Make sure your story is a persuasive one, which will not only appeal to your target market but that will compel them to find out more and support you by buying your products.
Focus should be given to tone of page, images, message, and your profile header. You can send your viewers/friends Bulletins on your new offers, invite/encourage them to tell others about you by including something for your readers to pass on, funny videos, unique pictures etc. (Remember word of web)
Recent statistics from analysts at comScore Media Metrix found that the most dramatic growth in the use of social networking sites was occurring among 25- to 34-year-olds, and the number of users aged 35 and older had grown by 98 per cent between May 2006 and May 2007.
Due to the above we are in direct contact with the social media giants as we continue our personal quest to discover their full potential.
For more statisitcs on social networks see the links from this story at the Independent:
"The Big Question: What is the point of sites such as Facebook, and should you join up?"
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2802586.ece
Plus below articles:
AdAge: Would You Let These People Friend You?
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=119841
Adweek: Facebook Spawns Ad Networks
http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003625255
Newsweek: Facebook Grows Up
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227872/site/newsweek
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Search Timeline
History of search
1995 - AOL got people on the Internet
1999 - Yahoo Organised it
2003 - Google made it searchable
2007 - Facebook made it socialable
e-Scape Interactive envisage that the future of search will be focused around the power of the new social networks, with consumer decisions based on other peoples opinions/recommendations. We envisage that search engines of the future will display information based on: Personalisation (Vertical search & social book-marking) and intent (to buy/order/rent etc). It’s just a thought, and builds of the martini effect, anytime, anyplace, anywhere – by adding what do you want it for, what do you want to do with it. We would be interested to hear your thoughts on where you believe the future of search will be and what your ideal search engine would look like, so if you are passing by, feel free to comment:
Google / Facebook / MySpace / Someplace else ?
1995 - AOL got people on the Internet
1999 - Yahoo Organised it
2003 - Google made it searchable
2007 - Facebook made it socialable
e-Scape Interactive envisage that the future of search will be focused around the power of the new social networks, with consumer decisions based on other peoples opinions/recommendations. We envisage that search engines of the future will display information based on: Personalisation (Vertical search & social book-marking) and intent (to buy/order/rent etc). It’s just a thought, and builds of the martini effect, anytime, anyplace, anywhere – by adding what do you want it for, what do you want to do with it. We would be interested to hear your thoughts on where you believe the future of search will be and what your ideal search engine would look like, so if you are passing by, feel free to comment:
Google / Facebook / MySpace / Someplace else ?
Writing articles is a great way to drive traffic to a website
Why article submission
As well as being a good source of PR, I heard on the grape/webvine that article submission is a quicker way to build links, in comparison to contacting directory editors submission times.
Article sites generally make the article live with the company link straight away, as they are keen to get fresh new content on their pages.
It makes sense.
Another advantage of article submission is having them republished in some other persons blog (in theory this should related to your proposition). This will help increase visitors to your site, create new links, which in turn will assist your placement in the natural search engine results pages.
You can stumble across a few issues with article submission as several of the article publishers don’t follow the same rules:
As well as being a good source of PR, I heard on the grape/webvine that article submission is a quicker way to build links, in comparison to contacting directory editors submission times.
Article sites generally make the article live with the company link straight away, as they are keen to get fresh new content on their pages.
It makes sense.
Another advantage of article submission is having them republished in some other persons blog (in theory this should related to your proposition). This will help increase visitors to your site, create new links, which in turn will assist your placement in the natural search engine results pages.
You can stumble across a few issues with article submission as several of the article publishers don’t follow the same rules:
- Some won’t add links (wasted effort for SEO, good for PR)
- Some sites need HTML coding – although don’t state that (unfortunately sometimes find out after submission, when link is shown as not a live one)
- Some offer article templates which are great for bulk submissions as you can copy and paste some sections ie: Category & Author.
Tips: Place article in Dream weaver the view source and copy and paste the code. or add the code yourself and place in own tags
ie:Bold anything you want in bold should go between 'b' tags
italic anything you want in italic should go between 'i' tags
and you can create a Href link to your site with name of choice. YourWebSite
More tags can be found here:
http://www.web-source.net/html_codes_chart.htm
A lot of the article sites, state that you are free to republish the articles as long as the links to article site and the author/site stay with the article. I am currently collating a list of Article submission sites, and struggling to find those UK focused article submission sites, should you be reading this and have any links, happy to receive.
Tip: When writing articles – provide an introduction filled with unique keywords, and finish off the article with some keyword filled comments.
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