Joshua Hay is a Search Engine Marketing expert who helps clients maximise their online exposure on search engines through natural rankings and paid campaigns. Along with a degree in Information Technology majoring in Web Development, he has extensive experience in Online Marketing and is currently our Operations Manager here at E-Web Marketing. He also runs a collection of successful web-based side projects in what little spare time he manages to find!
In an effort in increases the connect ability of contacts in Outlook, Microsoft has declared that they are going to have integration of LinkedIn (a social networking system aimed at professionals) built into Outlook 2010.
This new feature will allow people to track the activites of their LinkedIn connections, email them, expand the list through invitations and examining their LinkedIn status.
LinkedIn has a subscriber base of more than 52 million members, so this seems like an interesting strategy that has potential to continue to cement Outlook’s position as the premier communication tool for commercial uses.
One potential issue we could see arising from this is the separation of work and social communicating. Although LinkedIn is primarily for business connections, it isn’t the only use. Perhaps people don’t want their LinkedIn profile being used more actively, and as always privacy becomes an issue.
Continuing their habit of excellence through innovation, Google are not resting on their UI laurels, rather making further changes to help people get the specific information they are after. The latest change is in site hierarchy displayed in the search results.
At the moment, when you search for a term, and the results are displayed, there is a small green URL telling you where you will be heading. An example is shown below- all we did was search for SEO, and this was the first result that came up.
At the moment, if there is a long URL, the user can’t get too much information about what section of the site they are going to- all they can get is the main URL, and possibly some idea based on URL structure. Google is now displaying results similar to breadcrumbs (used on many sites) so the user can determine which section the displayed page belongs in, so they can see where they are going, or possibly realise that you are after something more general, or looking for the category level. An example from Google’s Official Blog can be seen below:
If there are a number of different sub levels, the new hierarchy will display a truncated version of the results, hiding the intermediate levels. An example can be seen below, in that the results in the middle have been cut out.
Google’s goal from this is to help users find exactly what they want, not what Google wants them to see. As always Google holds some sway into what you see, but this will allow users to gain some level of freedom. These new changes put more stress on webmasters to ensure that each of the levels of the website features better content , and also that internal linking structure is setup in a way to best attract the search engines.
As we have mentioned in the past, Google will be looking at releasing their new version of the Google Algorithm (known as Caffeine) some time soon, and it seems that the time will be coming sooner rather than later. Previously you could test the Caffeine code here, but that has been replaced with the following message:
We appreciate all the feedback from people who searched on our Caffeine sandbox.
Based on the success we’ve seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given.
As opposed to previous launches of algorithm updates, Google has decided to wait until after the Christmas holiday period for the release. Their rationale behind this is that they don’t want to stress online retailers out during what can be their busiest period.
Although nobody outside of Google can be sure of the impact that Caffeine will have, we are confident that solid SEO strategies will continue to yield positive results. The only webmasters that need to worry are those using dodgy SEO tactics.
As opposed to some other search engines, Microsoft (and their baby, Bing) is not just trying to copy Google, and hope to one day catch up through some miraculous event (voodoo magic perhaps?), but is actually attempting innovation to beat Google. We have looked at somestartups that have challenged Google in the past, however this isn’t some backyard brain trust attempting to beat Google, but Microsoft.
Bing has never tried to stand up to Google, and attempt to beat it on its own terms. Instead, by focussing on image results, comparative searches and other variations on the standard search, Bing is trying to carve out a niche of people who don’t get what they want from standard searches, or are more visual people.
Microsoft believes that people are craving a more visual search experience, and are setting up Bing to deliver this. Although only time will tell whether this is an effective method, at least they are tying to offer something different, as opposed to just a primitive version of Google’s results.
To expand on the visual element, Bing is experimenting with the use of logos in the paid ads. At the moment, paid ads are served with a heading, and two lines of text. These icons will supposedly make the ads stand out more, and encourage both advertisers to allocate budget to Bing, and consumers to click the ads.
According to James Colborn, the director of Microsoft Advertising, Bing has seen a 40% increase in click-through rates. Colborn is not shy in saying what they want:
“If you had to sit advertisers down and asked them what they wanted from Live Search, many would have said ‘more searches’”… “We’ve seen momentum in consumer activity on Bing, which should ultimately increase ad budgets.”
All through saying this, Bing is realistic in where they stand, and where they need to be. As of August, Google has a 64% market share, which has increased. Compare this to Bing’s 10%, and you can see that Bing has a long way to go. To try and close that gap, another initiative has been launched: paying users to use the search function.
By the use of cash back incentives, Bing has paired up with retailers to drive clicks through their sites. Although not expecting to completely revolutionise the search patterns of users, Microsoft has noticed a higher click through rate for the cash back program, which they presume will increase conversion rate.
Although there is a long way to go before they can deem any system to be a success, we applaud Bing’s attempts to diversify what is offered to users.
Imagine you were an Internet user in a country that does not use the Roman Character set to compose words in your language, such as China. How does a web user type in your address if their keyboard does not support Roman characters?
Well soon it will become much easier for these users, as The Age Technology section reported this afternoon that a concept called ” Internationalisation of Domain Names (IDNs)” has been suggested and in discussion.
What does this mean for web users across the world? Well, it enables businesses - especially local businesses communicate with their market in a much more effective channel. It allows for respect of local customs and culture, as well as allowing them to reach a much larger section of their market.
But it works in a larger way for businesses that are trying to expand globally, as a business in Australia can create a much more effective communication medium to generate business in China for example.
So not only would this be a win for businesses all over the world, but also a win for everyone that uses the Internet in making it so much more accessible. A great initiative that I hope will succeed.
Rachel Searles and Brian White, two of the leaders from Google’s Reconsideration team - which is part of Search Quality section of the company, have released a video on the Google Webmaster Central blog giving tips and advice on submitting a successful request for reconsideration after recieving a penalty on your site in Google.
A post on the Inside AdSense blog has announced the latest in what truly is becoming a “list” of initiatives by the search giant’s various arms, legs and appendages to be axed.
As you may know, we frequently review our products and features to ensure their effectiveness. After reviewing our AdSense video units feature, which allows you to show YouTube content and ads on your pages, we’ve found that it hasn’t had the impact we had hoped for. As a result, we’ve decided to retire this feature at the end of April so we can focus our resources on other opportunities to help publishers earn from their sites.
I.e. “We are not making enough money, so those few of you that ARE making money from it… well… too bad.” However, as this refers only to the placement of video units in your pages, rather than the display of video ads through AdSense image ad units, or AdSense for video that is available to video content creators, the impact should be quite minimal. I myself know that I’ve not made squat from this after trialling it on a couple of sites - however comments left on the Inside AdSense post would indicate that some users were indeed making some cash and will miss it.
One commentor had this to say;
failure of the video units happened because of googles lack of guidance on how to use them..and for the few who figured it out on there own like me did make some money
Figures released in the Online Advertising Expenditure report from IAB Australia illustrate that online advertising continues strong growth trends, despite the economic slow down. The yearly spend figure for 2008 was a whopping $1.7 billion which is a 27 percent increase of $364.25 million over 2007 figures.
Fourth-quarter spend totalled $462 million, representing a 22 percent increase of $83.25 million on Q4 2007, and 2.4% growth of $10.75 million from Q3 2008.
“The results demonstrate the growing confidence advertisers and agencies have in online advertising.”, Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB Australia said. The report also states that growth in Search Advertising is outperforming directories.
One week into her new job as CEO of Yahoo!, Carol Bartz has put a freeze on all salries at the company, Computerworld Reports.
“Based on the current economic environment and our focus on keeping costs in line with revenues, we have decided that providing annual salary increases would not be in the best interests of the company or our shareholders,” said Kim Rubey, a Yahoo spokesman in an email to Computerworld . “This decision is consistent with our broader focus on strategically reducing Yahoo’s costs, an effort that has been underway for some time now.”
This is just one of many challenging decisions Bartz is going to have to make to bring Yahoo! back on track.
After an 11 percent drop in second-quater profits and a 12% drop in share prices, Microsoft has announced that it will slash 5000 jobs as a cost cutting measure. They have also declined to issue forecasts for profit for the rest of the year.
“We’re certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions,” Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said during a conference call. With less access to credit, businesses and consumers are spending less and stretching the life span of their existing computers.
This article on theage.com.au goes into more detail about the move, which is the first of it’s magnitude in the company’s 34 year history.
