Google and Revenue
April 13, 2012
The real news publications and the poobahs have been covering the Google quarterly report like termites in my walls here in rural Kentucky. I found one comment in “Google Earnings: Lower Cost per Click Does Not Reflect Health of Our Business” really fascinating—the headline.
Here’s the passage I noted for my quote file:
Amid an otherwise strong earnings report, Google for the second consecutive quarter announced CPC prices were down, by 12 percent year over year for the quarter.
Are there implications? Absolutely. Think those free ride, SEO manipulations for organic search will work as well tomorrow as they do today? Well, you may want to think again and start to get with the AdWords program.
Just our opinion, of course.
Stephen E Arnold, April 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google Is Your Friend
April 13, 2012
Search Engine Watch recently reported on more search engine optimization paranoia in the article, “SEO & Google: The Ugly Truth.”
The article argues that we’re all paranoid that Google is trying to use its substantial search engine optimization power to screw us over, when in reality, the search giant could care less about us little guys.
The article states:
“Then of course there is the whole problem of the SEO inferiority complex; the need to be special. Maybe it’s because we have been marketing whipping posts. Could have been an accident when it was a child. I’m unsure. I do know that each time Google shuffles to scratch its backside my brethren far and wide start to pronounce how it was somehow just to combat, mislead or piss them off.”
This article did an excellent job of making my search efforts even less important than I thought they were. The SEO experts are trying to find a way to keep their revenues soaring at a time when Google appears to be making an effort to improve its relevance.
Jasmine Ashton, April 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SEO: Heading for a Change
April 12, 2012
This year is likely to bring about consolidation in the search engine optimization industry, according to the article, “Search Marketers Should Brace For Industry Consolidation.”
Modern corporations want functionality without the inconvenience of dealing with multiple providers. This is a common complaint in the business world. In most cases companies must utilize more than one provider in order to meet all their needs.
A good example is BoostCTR which is a performance driven and optimization firm. They offered an enterprise business that will focus on improving click through rates and return investments for an anonymous search engine that can control the algorithms around search results. However they cannot monitor the profit rate and would have to depend on another provider to do so.
According to IgnitionOne’s president Roger Barnette:
“The stakes are high right now, Marketers are suffering. They are trying to sell stuff, and there are too many different companies offering services and industry jargon to get the job done correctly. You have 15 different companies. Enterprises want companies that can support all their needs.”
There is an old saying ‘One for all, and all for one.’ That is an ideal phrase that covers the current desires of today’s entrepreneur. Thus, in order to cater to modern businesses, the search engine optimization industry is likely to undergo some significant change. Long time coming to the outfits who undermined relevance for free Web search.
Jennifer Shockley, April 12, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
We Are Not Surprised: AdWords Work
April 8, 2012
Google Study Says it Pays to Use AdWords
SEO is one hot buzzword, but more and more people are starting to realize that, what they thought was a web traffic miracle, is really just a quick fix that fails to deliver lasting results. In the recent Search Engine Land article, “Google Research: Even With a #1 Organic Ranking, Paid Ads Provide 50% Incremental Clicks,” one of the poobahs of SEO points out that now that SEO does not work as advertised, if you have a Web site, you have to buy AdWords.
According to the report, Google’s research on paid versus organic found that cutting out paid ads would result in an 89 percent drop in clicks, regardless of whether or not your site is the number one search result.
The article asserts:
“Surprisingly, even when advertisers show up in the number one organic search result position, 50% of clicks they get on ads are not replaced by clicks on organic search results when the ads don’t appear. The study found that 82% of ad clicks are incremental when the associated organic result is ranked between 2 and 4, and 96% of clicks are incremental when the brand’s organic result was 5 or below.”
Gee, what a surprise that Google finds that paying them boosts search rankings. Now search engine optimization experts have an opportunity to explain how their services have helped their clients again.
Jasmine Ashton, April 8, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
An Innovation for the SEO Industry
April 6, 2012
Short honk: Navigate to “We Got Hacked for SEO, As Did Other Major Technology Sites.” If accurate, the story is that quasi SEO folks gained access to certain “major” information services and put in “juicy links and an occasional canonical tag.” The idea is to generate traffic for a site unknown to the operators of the “major” sites. SEO has broken new ground. Fascinating. Is there a conference for this yet? Another question I am considering is, “If a major technology site is vulnerable, how secure are these “major” outfits’ Web sites?”
Stephen E Arnold, April 6, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SEO Mavens at Ontoprise Win a Prize
April 6, 2012
Germany’s Ontoprise GmbH, maker of SemanticGuide, is a Cyber Champion, Wachstumsphase reveals in “CyberChampions Award 2008 Preisträger ontoprise (CyberForum).” Ontoprise was granted the prestigious award from The Hightech.Unternehmer.Netzwerk Cyber ??Forum in 2008. Plus, there’s a movie embedded in this article. Get popcorn from a vendor without hepatitis, please.
The write up’s description of the award states that it is:
“. . .aimed at young and growing companies from the advanced technology region of Karlsruhe. The focus is on the degree of innovation, market opportunity and the entrepreneurial personality. CyberChampions is not a traditional business plan competition. The challenge here is to convince the jurors with a three-to four-sided questionnaire. Categories: Newcomers (foundation or new product – about 1 to 2 years) with high potential (growth – more than 2 years).”
We wonder, were there extra points for search engine optimization?
Founded in 1715, Karlsruh, Germany is a comparatively new city which styles itself as “a vibrant center of intellectual life.” It also happens to host the country’s high courts of law.
Ontoprise is, as implied by the award, headquartered in Karlsruhe. Founded in 1999, the company insists it is a leader in semantic technologies. We know the outfit can wrangle a top listing when one searches for one of our blogs. We are impressed with the SEO skills. With semantics, our jury is still out in the marsh with the dogs. The headlines do stop our spelling checker too.
Cynthia Murrell, April 6, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Alleged Google Plus Search Bias, Illustrated
April 4, 2012
It seems that the SEO experts now realize that relevance is sort of an issue. Wow, great insight. Search Engine Land details “Real-Life Examples of How Google’s ‘Search Plus’ Pushes Google+ Over Relevancy.”
Writer Danny Sullivan uses a few Google searches, complete with screenshots, to illustrate how Google+ is unfairly favored over Facebook and other sites. He even Googled “Mark Zuckerman” with intriguing results. Sullivan’s explanation is detailed and well thought out, and is a good read for anyone following the Google+ Search affair.
The article asserts:
Those results are supposed to be showing what are the most relevant things for searchers out there. That’s how Google wins. That’s how Google sticks it to competitors, by not trying to play favorites in those results, nor by trying to punish people through them. The Google+ suggestions are indeed search results, to me. Right now, they’re search results on who to follow on Google+. I think they could be better search results if they were who to follow on any social network, anywhere.
Good point, but . . . it is kind of rich, considering the source. Is it now time for a conference session titled, “How SEO Killed Web Search Relevance”?
Cynthia Murrell, April 4, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
No Joke: SEO and Panda
April 1, 2012
Another lesson for the SEO mavens. Search Engine Journal presents “The One Question Google Panda has Taught Us to Ask Ourselves.” The question suggested by the article: “am I adding value?” Hmm, that’s actually a very good query, and one that could render the whole SEO field moot. Perhaps the Panda is working as designed; could it be?
Writer Eric Siu seems to think so, and that this is a good thing. He emphasizes:
The time wasted trying to figure out how to manipulate the system would probably be better spent on creating something remarkable for users. Besides, who doesn’t like the added benefit of engagement and new relationships from great content? From becoming a better writer to establishing your brand on other Web sites, the benefits are countless.
What a novel concept.
I wonder, though, how many search engine optimization professionals will take Siu’s advice. They have built their careers on gaming search engines with such tools (ploys) as keywords, anchor text, and link networks.
As Upton Sinclair famously declared, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
Cynthia Murrell, April 1, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Another Poobah Insight: Marketing Is an Opportunity
March 21, 2012
Please, read the entire write up “Marketing Is the Next Big Money Sector in Technology.” When you read it, you will want to forget the following factoids:
- Google has been generating significant revenue from online ad services for about a decade
- Facebook is working to monetize with a range of marketing services every single one of the 800 million plus Facebook users
- Start ups in and around marketing are flourishing as the scrub brush search engine optimizers of yore bite the dust. A good example is the list of exhibitors at this conference.
The hook for the story is a quote from an azure chip consultancy. The idea is that as traditional marketing methods flame out, crash, and burn, digital marketing is the future. So the direct mail of the past will become spam email of the future I predict. Imagine.
Marketing will chew up an organization’s information technology budget. The way this works is that since “everyone” will have a mobile device, the digital pitches will know who, what, where, why, and how a prospect thinks, feels, and expects. The revolution is on its way, and there’s no one happier than a Madison Avenue executive who contemplates the riches from the intersection of technology, hapless prospects, and good old fashioned hucksterism. The future looks like a digital PT Barnum I predict.
BrightEdge: Confusing Search and SEO
March 17, 2012
Little wonder that there is massive confusion about search and retrieval. I noted “BrightEdge Raises $12.6 Million to Fund Market and Company Extension.” The cash alone deserves attention. What threw me for a loop was this passage:
BrightEdge, the leading site, search and social management platform for global enterprises…
I checked my Overflight file which monitors search and content processing companies and there was no information about BrightEdge as a vendor of search and retrieval. I looked at the company’s Web site and learned that the firm is a search engine optimization outfit. I don’t have reservations about the upside potential of helping outfits get traffic from Bing, Google, or Yandex. I do think that the use of the word search is darned confusing.
As an side note, Google’s public announcements that the company will alter its search system is likely to give some of the search engine optimization experts either a new lease on life or a reason to look for a job as a WalMart greeter.
SEO, in my opinion, erodes relevance. Precision and recall to an SEO expert who has a degree in home economics means traffic to a Web site. But does a searcher today know or care? Nah, it’s the Goldman Sachs-type excitement that matters.
Stephen E Arnold, March 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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