What search marketers should know about early vs. late December

The sweet spot in effective search engine spending will change as the holiday shopping season progresses, and search engine marketers can squeeze the most out of their budgets by the following the trend if conversion is the primary goal, says Stuart Larkins, vice president of search for DoubleClick Inc.’s Performics performance marketing division.

Full article on InternetRetailer.com

Sidenote: it makes sense to cut off or reduce spending towards the end of December, but depending on what you're selling, sales could hold steady or even increase towards the end of the year. For example, I've done a lot with calendars, which do very well in December, but really start to take off at the end of December.

The Power of a #1 Search Engine Result

Usability guru Jacob Nielsen reports on a recent Cornell University study that touched on which links users click on in a SERP. The study found that 42% of users clicked on the top result, while only 8% clicked on the second. The numbers are pretty powerful, but not too surprising based on other studies, etc. A very interesting finding, however, was that when they manipulated the search results to swap the order of the two first listings, the top entry (which was really the 2nd best) was still clicked on 34% of the time, and the second was clicked 12% of the time. This is a telling study, and for all of us search marketers, it should serve as some powerful evidence of the importance of getting that top spot.

Also important to note, although the top result was still clicked on a majority of the time compared to the second when swapped, there is a significant difference between 42% and 34%, so it tells me that at least some searchers are actually reading the titles and descriptions they're clicking on to determine which best meets their needs (as opposed to blindly trusting that the #1 result is the best). Aside from gunning for that top spot, we should remember to make the titles compelling and relevant so we can maximize the number of clicks on our listing regardless of which position the link shows up in.

Microsoft Hush Hush About Declining MSN Search Relevance

Apparently MS didn't like the results of a search relevance study by Keynote, and they're trying to keep the results under wrap. They say it's because they don't agree with the methodology, but I think it's more a case of them not liking the results (or the cold hard facts they represent) -- that say MSN has dropped from 3rd to 5th best search engine in terms of relevance.

The numbers didn't look good for the home team in Redmond, the Wall Street Journal reported, and that may have led Microsoft to request the suppression of a search engine study. In the study, MSN Search fell to 5th from 3rd among 2,000 users surveyed in the second quarter of 2005.

From Webpronews

I personally think MSN's results are great. Maybe that's because my sites are showing up at the top right now. I hope they don't make any drastic changes that make my sites submarine in the rankings.

The Butler Didn't Do It for Diller

Ask Jeeves will soon be know as only Ask, or possibly Ask.com. According to a report on Searchenginewatch.

I have to agree with Diller on this one. The butler just didn't do it for me. Now if they could have something cool like a gecko as their mascot, that would be sweet..oh, my sources tell me the gecko idea is already taken, hmm...any other ideas.

Local Search To Reach $4.07 Billion By 2010

There's been a lot of hype about the growth of local search lately. A new report by Borrell Associates, Inc. says:

The local online ad spend will climb to $4.78 billion next year--up from an estimated $3.73 billion this year, predicts Borrell Associates Inc. But paid local search will nearly triple, climbing to a predicted $907 million next year from $347 million this year, according to the report, "2006 Outlook: Local Online Growth Continues--for Some."

Google confirms it's testing wireless service

Google, the online search leader, confirmed Tuesday it has begun a limited test of a free wireless Internet service, called Google WiFi.

From an MSNBC report

Google to unleash wifi service

Speculation about Google offering a WiFi service appear to be true according to a Reuters report citing various pages on Google's website that offer WiFi software downloads and an FAQ.

Details are sketchy right now, and if you type in wifi.google.com, it redirects to the Google homepage.

Apparently it won't be available nationwide, at least not initially. According to the FAQ page:

Google Secure Access is a new product that is only available at certain locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are constantly working to improve this product.

No official word about the release of the WiFi product from Google or the Google Blog, yet.

Google invites 400 to 'off the record' event

CNet reports on an event scheduled for the end of October that has been dubbed "Zeitgeist '05: The Google Partner Forum". Apparently they're having some big-name speakers and inviting members of the press, bloggers, etc, but they say it's supposed to be "off the record" - no press coverage or blogging allowed. I wonder if they invited anyone from CNet?

Why Are Their Search Engine Ratings Different?

Garret French wrote an interesting post about the differences in search engine numbers from Nielsen and HitWise. I've always wondered exactly how these companies' numbers are compiled. It seems like there have been significant differences in those types of stats as far back as I remember. They give some information about where they get their numbers, but they don't give all the details about how they choose their sample, etc. I don't claim to have answers, but I have my own theories about why there are such large discrepancies between them. I would like to see the large players like Hitwise and Nielsen get together to discuss their methodologies and work to find a compromise that gives the most accurate numbers possible. I doubt that will happen, since neither company wants to admit that their own numbers might be inaccurate.

Google Launches Blog Search

Article on Clickz about Google's blog search.

My initial analysis is, wow this thing is really up to the minute! I did a search for the post I wrote earlier today about Bill Gates and sure enough, it's already showing up. I imagine it helps that I'm using Blogger since it's owned by Google, they have access to know when a blog is updated.

Here's Chris Sherman's commentary on the new blog search.

Gates Talks Trash About Google

I just read a Bill Gates interview on CNet where he talks some serious trash about Google. The Google-related questions are just a few of the first ones of a three-page interview, but it's interesting to hear Gates say things like, "Our search API is way better than their search API. Clearly, they are working in that area." and, "They haven't done as much on the server piece. They had a Google server, but it was very bad at corporate search. That did not work well at all." -- you've got to love that. I'm not a developer, so I can't really say one way or the other, but I can just imagine the blood vessels popping out on Bill's head as he's asked about Google for the umpteenth time. Then he grits his teeth and calmly says, "Who, oh, Google, yeah, we're not worried about them, our stuff is WAY better."

I'm sure Bill Gates has had more than a few nightmares about Google kicking him off his spot at the top of the computing world, but I love how he doesn't let anyone see him sweat. He just keeps "on message" and goes on with his mantra. That attitude is what got Gates and Microsoft to where they are. They're fighters, and you have to admire that.

Chasing Search Engine Algorithms: Wisdom or Folly?

Search Engine Watch's report on a good session from last month's SES in San Jose.

Online advertisers turning to pay-per-call

A USATODAY article cites advertisers who are very happy with pay per call advertising services.

I personally haven't tried it yet, but I can see the value, especially for certain types of businesses that require more interaction to close a sale.

Ingenio's chief marketing officer, Marc Barach, said the approach is ideal for small service businesses — florists, lawyers, contractors — whose customers ask lots of questions.

"They do their business by phone. They probably don't have a Web site, or if they do it's not transactional," Barach said. "And customers who call them ... are really demonstrating their intent to buy. They're not just browsing."

Linking Policies Suck

Andy Hagans wrote a rather interesting and amusing post on ThreadWatch about linking policies. I agree that linking policies are ludicrous. It goes against everything the web is all about to think you can control how other sites link to yours. It's impossible to control on a technical level, and probably just as unenforceable in the legal arena. He obviously has some strong opinions on the matter, but he also has some good facts to back up his rant. He gives some good examples of stupid linking policies.

Google's Plan to Take Over the World

Yes, it's true--Google will destroy any information it can't index...well it's as true as anything else you read on The Onion.

Google Goes Offline

Apparently Google is testing an offline version of its adwords in print magazines. Here's the report from USA Today:

Advertisements powered by Google Inc.'s online search engine are already all over the Internet. Now, the company wants to expand its advertising empire offline, too.

In its first significant expansion beyond the Internet, Google has bought advertising in a handful of technology-industry magazines and resold chunks of the space to merchants already participating in its booming Internet marketing network.


They conclude by saying:

Ironically, Google doesn't advertise to promote its own brand and services.

Which isn't necessarily true because I see Google ads in almost all the magazines that I read trying to recruit new advertisers. I guess they're referring to advertising to consumers to promote their search engine and other products. I guess when you've got that kind of word of mouth, why advertise?

It will be interesting to see how this print advertising progresses. It could simply be a smart way to get Google's advertisers to pay for some Google branding. I'm sure everyone will remember the "Ads By Google" they saw in PC Magazine, but chances are they'll forget who the actual ads were for. Smart move by Google if you ask me.