by on May 8, 2013 Leave a Comment

Mobile Traffic to Local Sites Growing Faster Than Traditional PC Traffic

By Savannah McClelland

In the new Local Mobile Search report released by The Local Search Association recently, the trade organization found that mobile is gaining—particularly in local search—where PC traffic to search is flat. The Association used data from comScore to reach their conclusions, basing their report on the fourth quarter of 2012.

The argument made by the data is that PC traffic has plateaued, as indicated by the fact that in Q4 of 2011 and Q4 of 2012, there was only an increase of 1 million PC users accessing the internet—taken from a base figure of 220 million the previous year, the increase is less than 1%. During the same time period, however, mobile grew at an almost phenomenal rate—particularly for certain categories. On average, as of Q4, mobile traffic stood at 15 percent, more than doubling year-over-year.

In the case of local sites, the growth pattern of mobile is even greater—the average percentage of mobile traffic to local sites grew to 27% from the previous year, an increase of approximately 21%. Some sites have even noticed greater averages than those in the report; for example Zillow, a real estate site, reported in January that more than half of its visits came from mobile. Yelp also recently announced that 55% of its searches came from mobile, with 45% coming from apps.

One of the key differences highlighted by the report was that in calculating mobile traffic, a further division can be seen between access by apps and access through mobile browsers. For the most part, apps are used more often in the mobile space, according to the Local Search Association report; however, in some categories mobile browsers are more commonly used. The report also discussed trends in the use of mobile internet access for purchasing, broken down by app and browser. In the case of travel, for example, those that used mobile devices to purchase went through a particular app 85% of the time, rather than a mobile browser. On the other hand, those that purchased in the automotive category almost never used apps for the purpose, preferring the browser.

The report is yet more evidence that mobile is a channel that marketers and brands simply can’t ignore. Because the data are from the end of 2012, mobile traffic—including purchasing—is probably an even greater percentage now than the report shows. Considering the details of the report, locally-based businesses would benefit the most from the mobile space, though it’s definitely a good idea for all businesses to work on their mobile offerings.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,
by on May 1, 2013 Leave a Comment

Snickers’ Wining Typo Strategy

By Savannah McClelland

While most companies can agree with the wisdom of running an SEO campaign on keywords that pertain to brand or company, Snickers recently went for a strategy that was risky—but which apparently rewarded the offbeat company well. Snickers’ recent SEO campaign targeted users who misspelled words in Google searches.

The idea was born when Snickers realized that office-bound workers would likely not be able to reach the viral and social content they were also marketing with; most offices tend to block those types of sites in the name of productivity. The strategy became then to target those users through Google instead; the company bought approximately 25,000 misspelled search terms. The company worked with Google to sort through the most common misspellings of the most commonly searched words. When one of the misspellings was searched for, a paid ad would direct the user to youcantspellwhenyourehungry.com. The site features a Snickers bar with various misspellings of the company’s name flashing every few seconds, along with a branded message. It also invites page visitors to access the brand’s Facebook page “If your not shaking to mutch.”

According to Snickers and their UK agency AMV BBDO, they have reached somewhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 people in their target demographic with the clever search tactic. The campaign also makes sense in the larger context of the brand’s ongoing “You’re not you when you’re hungry” advertising message. The brilliant aspect of the strategy is that it goes about targeting not just people searching for the brand itself, but also a particular subset of people who might be interested in the brand without thinking of it. Overall, the campaign seems to be a successful one for the candy company, and is further evidence that particularly when it comes to marketing through the Web, ideas that can sound silly or risky can pay off in a big way for those brands that are willing to take the chance.

 

Filed Under: Digital Advertising, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
by on April 23, 2013 Leave a Comment

Twitter Enhances Keyword Targeting

By Savannah McClelland

While Twitter’s Sponsored Tweets and Promoted Tweets ad services have long featured keyword targeting in terms of search results—since late last year, in fact—the social media giant is has recently unveiled an expansion of the targeting that presents an even stronger value to advertisers: targeting keywords to user timelines.

Last week, the Twitter advertising blog announced the expanded functionality, with Product Manager Nipoon Malhotra writing, “Until today, the content of Tweets has only been one factor among many in shaping the interest graph. Today, it becomes a first-class citizen.” Twitter hopes that the new ability to target keywords in users’ timelines will help advertisers capture interest at varying points in the sales path. Malhotra described the new function: “This new feature enables advertisers to reach users based on the keywords in their recent Tweets and the Tweets with which users recently engaged.” For example, the post says, imagine a user tweets about enjoying a new album. The band that recorded the album just happens to be playing a concert at a venue local to the user; the venue could run a targeted campaign based on the band’s name and other relevant keywords and promote a tweet to that user with a link to buy tickets.

The post also included an image of how the new function would look, as seen here:

Twitter was also careful in its announcement to assert that users won’t see more ads because of this expansion; rather, they said, the ads that users do see will be more targeted and relevant. Twitter’s announcement also made a point that these new Promoted Tweets, just like those that have existed before, can be dismissed by the user. Malhotra wrote, “In our tests with a small group of advertisers and agencies like Everything Everywhere, Microsoft Japan, and Walgreens, users were significantly more likely to engage with Promoted Tweets using keyword targeting in timeline than other forms of targeting in the timeline.” Malhotra’s post also highlighted GoPro as an exemplar of the new function; the company tested keyword targeting in timeline against four marketing campaigns and received almost two million impressions, with engagement rates as high as 11%.

The new targeting option is only available in the advanced interface, so companies using the older ad dashboard won’t be able to access it—a good reason for those companies to consider upgrading.

 

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,
by on March 27, 2013 Leave a Comment

Facebook Begins Testing Newsfeed Ads

Facebook Exchange

By Savannah McClelland

As an extension of Facebook Exchange (FBX), a service offered starting last fall, the social media giant has begun a “small alpha test” to introduce FBX ads in users’ News Feeds.  Facebook Exchange was conceptualized as “a way for businesses to show ads to people on Facebook based on their online browsing interests.”

The announcement of the alpha test came through Facebook’s blog yesterday. Facebook Exchange makes use of the browsing histories of Facebook users to target ads; for example, if a user does several searches about cats, Facebook might present the user with an ad from a pet store, or a pet supply retailer.

Recently, Facebook has allowed advertisers to use functionalities such as Promoted Posts, Sponsored Stories, and Page Post Link ads in the news feed, possibly testing the waters for this eventual capability. Up until this alpha test, ads proper were reserved for the right-side column—known as the Marketplace—and there they stayed. Facebook says of the changes, “Allowing advertisers to reach people in News Feed is important because people spend more time in News Feed than any other part of Facebook. We also believe that ads delivered through FBX will create more relevant ads for people.”

The company is working with a limited number of demand side platforms (DSPs): TellApart, MediaMath, and Nanigans are named in the announcement; further, Facebook says that it will be making these ad opportunities available to additional advertisers and DSPs in the coming weeks.

The move is somewhat controversial, in light of a recent study by Pew Research Center, which found that 68% of internet users disapprove of search engines and websites tracking their behavior in order to target advertising; 28% of those surveyed said that they are okay with targeting advertising because it means they get information about products and services they are actually interested in. Other studies have also showed that, in theory at least, internet users are in favor of advertising being made more relevant.

While users may not like targeted advertising based on their browsing habits, the Network Advertising Initiative has found that targeted advertising secured 2.7 times more revenue per ad on average, versus non-targeted advertising. It will be interesting to see how Facebook keeps the balance between offering a more targeted advertising service for marketers and keeping the users the ads are targeted to happy.

 

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,
by on March 26, 2013 Leave a Comment

Google Gives Advertisers New Tool to Calculate Mobile ROI

By Savannah McClelland

After several hints, Google has unveiled a new tool that will allow advertisers to measure their return on investment for mobile ad spending. The tool, called the Full Value of Mobile Calculator, allows marketers to keep track of sales leads generated by calls, apps, in-store sales, mobile site visits, and even cross-device activity.

Google says that in a period of approximately 30 minutes, businesses can upload data from AdWords and their mobile websites in order to “make some key assumptions” to create an estimate of their Full Value of Mobile metrics. The estimate breaks down into total value, value per click and ROI. In the process of the exercise, businesses can see those metrics not just for the mobile website, but through all mobile customer paths; the idea being that this method will provide an easier answer for how cost-effective mobile cost-per-actions are.

Jason Spero, head of global mobile sales and strategy at Google, says that the tool is applicable for businesses of all sizes, adding, “From the smallest to the biggest, it’s as relevant for a Fortune 500 company as for a small business.”

Google’s calculator is launching, interestingly enough, on the same day that Yelp is releasing its own tool for small businesses to measure the impact Yelp’s service has on their businesses. Google has previously made efforts to extend AdWords analytics into mobile, but Johanna Werther, head of Mobile Ads Marketing, points out that most marketers have only been accounting for sales happening on a mobile site, as opposed to overall activity.

As part of the roll-out, Google is offering a free webinar on the subject, scheduled for March 28 at 1pm EDT.  Interested parties can also visit the Full Value of Mobile website, which provides some additional details of the benefits and capabilities of the tool, as well as providing access to a video demonstrating the process.

 

Filed Under: Mobile Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,
by on February 22, 2013 Leave a Comment

Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO

By Savannah McClelland

As with any service you buy, it’s important to know what you’re getting when you hire a company to help you optimize your website. There are a number of different practices associated with search engine optimization; some of these practices fall under the category of “Black Hat” SEO—that is, they are techniques that get higher search rankings in an unethical manner. “White Hat” SEO techniques conform to search engine standards and guidelines, and involve no deception.

Black Hat techniques have one possible advantage: they generally get results quickly. I call this a possible advantage because the result may be that your website is de-indexed. Some of the practices involved in Black Hat SEO include:

  1. Hidden text. Fairly straightforward, hidden text is content which your visitors can’t see, but which is still readable by search engines. There are a couple of ways this is done; putting content into comment tags and <noscript> tags, which are visible to search engines, but not to the user. Some unscrupulous individuals even put in content that is the same color as the background, making it “real” content, but effectively invisible. Any of these tactics will result in your website being punished or even banned if search engines detect them.
  2. Meta Keyword Stuffing. Keyword stuffing is essentially when a webpage is loaded with keywords in meta tags or in content. Meta tags absolutely exist for keywords and descriptions—and that is how they should be used. But the description for example should be used to describe the content of your page honestly and concisely and be one or two sentences (maybe, at most, three). In the case of keywords, they should be a short list, and stick to the main focus of the page. Meta keywords have been so misused in the past that search engines have de-emphasized them in their algorithms.
  3. Link Farming. A link farm is a group of websites that link to every other site in the group. Most are created through automated programs. The issue with these is that they are a free-for-all; the only purpose of the site is to list links of unrelated websites. They won’t provide you with quality traffic, and you run the risk of having your site banned for participating. This has become such a well-known Black Hat practice that some companies will engage in sabotage by linking competitor’s sites on link farms to hurt their rankings. Bing has a tool that allows webmasters to disavow these bad links, but Google does not.
  4. Doorway Pages and Cloaking. Doorway pages are web pages that are created specifically to spam the index of a search engine by inserting results for particular phrases. They are essentially fake pages that are highly optimized and stuffed with content for one or two keywords. The end use never sees these pages because they are automatically redirected to the target page. Cloaking is a slightly different activity, but with the same intent; the content presented to a search engine spider and the content presented to the user’s browser are totally different—this is accomplished by delivering content based on IP addresses or the User-Agent HTTP header of the user requesting the page.

White Hat SEO practices are ones that adhere to the guidelines and intent of search engine algorithms, instead of exploiting the weaknesses. These techniques are not always as fast, but they’re much better for long-term websites, and they also do not result in your website being de-indexed.

  1. Quality Content. Content is King. Content is everything. The most valuable thing you can do for your website is to offer unique, well-written content. This serves more than one purpose: a search engine will rank a website with quality content higher to begin with, and quality content is more likely to be shared, which results in natural backlinks to your website.
  2. Keyword Research and Effective Keyword Use. When your website is being created, have specific phrases and words in mind. Research the terms that you think people might use to find your site. Single words are not always the most effective target; in many cases, single words will result in a large number of people finding you while looking for something else entirely. “long tail” keywords, or multi-word phrases that are more specific, are better. You’ll target users that are much more likely to want your product or service. Use the keywords throughout your website in the proper places.
  3. Guest Blogging. Writing posts for someone else’s blog or website gives you an opportunity to drive users to your site, as well as providing a chance for a natural backlink, which will enhance your ranking. Along with this goes:
  4. Quality Inbound Links. It’s important for your website to be in a “good neighborhood,” virtually speaking. If your website is linked from another site that has a good reputation, as far as the search engines are concerned, then it improves ranking. While a large number of quality links is great, be sure that you focus on the quality and not the quantity. Source links to relevant websites that are highly regarded.
  5. Site Optimization. This goes with Keyword research and content; everything about your site should be optimized for search engines to crawl it. The architecture of your site should be solid, with good titles and meta data, and well-developed content.

There are also some techniques that are considered “grey hat,” which are not entirely unethical, but which have some risks associated with them; these include buying expired domains with good reputations to link back to your own website, and three-way link exchanges. The important thing is to know what kind of SEO practices are being applied to your website, and making sure that you’re getting the results you want.

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
by on February 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

Local SEO Explained

By Savannah McClelland

Local search engine marketing or local SEO is a geographically-targeted approach to enhancing your website. Where global SEO gives your business the ability to reach any searcher, local optimizations help your business to access people looking for products and services in a particular area. If your business is in an actual location, as opposed to being operated through the web, local SEO is a vital step to take in improving your marketing.

One of the main benefits of local SEO is that by its very nature it brings you more targeted traffic—while global SEO will increase your traffic overall, local SEO will help your site to rank in listings for people looking for a particular business in a particular area. So if you are, for example, a pediatrician in Fort Worth, Texas, local SEO will help you rank higher for users searching for “Fort Worth pediatrician,” or search terms derived from it.

According to multiple online surveys, approximately 58% of users trust local search results and 61% overall consider the local results relevant. 49% of local searches are performed without a certain business or brand in mind—meaning that searchers are looking for types of products and services, rather than a particular company.

There are some basic steps that every business can and should take to optimize their ranking in local searches. The first is to sign up on Google Places, and then claim the listing, which will allow you to add additional information. Claiming the listing also makes your business look more legitimate. Once you claim your business, maintaining the page with address, contact info, products and services, hours and types of payment you accept, are the next steps. The more complete your profile, the better.

Another important step is to get reviews. Reviews on Google are the most important, but reviews on other websites, such as Yelp will also help. One of the metrics that Google looks at in terms of ranking local pages is the quantity and quality of the reviews a business gets. Also, ensure that your business has a social media presence which features your address, phone number, and other contact information—these count in Google as citations, which help the search engine to rank your website.

Make sure that you also have your on-site optimizations in order as well; at least some of the links you build should contain your city and state, or your zip code, as an anchor. As important as what you should do are the things you absolutely shouldn’t: Do not buy reviews. It seems tempting, and there are examples of clearly bought reviews that can be seen anywhere, but it ends in disaster; Google doesn’t always catch fake reviews initially, but they are constantly improving their system. Other sites, like Yelp, lean on the side of caution and banish even legitimate overly positive reviews; too many potentially faked reviews can lead to a lot of problems for the business on the different sites.

While some of the optimizations are things that businesses can do for themselves, for an overall campaign it is best to get the services of an experienced professional, who can take control of all aspects of the project at once. Instead of trying to play catch-up with the different threads of your campaign, a professional can see the entire picture, and they have the dedication it takes to build and maintain the campaign to get the results you want.

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
by on February 7, 2013 Leave a Comment

Google Buys Channel Intelligence for $125 Million

As part of an ongoing effort to improve the Google Shopping experience, the search engine acquired Channel Intelligence on Wednesday for $125 million.

Channel Intelligence announced the acquisition on its blog, saying, “For over 10 years, we have focused on making it easy for consumers to find and buy products online and help our clients grow their business.” Channel Intelligence was one of the original launch partners for Google Shopping; the data service, part of ICG Group, helps brands and retailers (for example Target, Neiman Marcus) boost e-commerce sales. The company reports that it is responsible for $2 billion in online sales per year. Among other services, Channel Intelligence helps retailers manage their product listing feeds on comparison shopping sites, including Google. By working solely with Google, CI could help Google with giving sellers better tools to market and manage their products across the web.

Late last year, Google began charging retailers to show their products on Google Shopping, which the search engine said would improve the quality of listings. While some retailers’ sales increased as a result, and new ads contributed to Google’s fourth quarter revenue, the change has also had some downsides. For small retailers, for example, it is sometimes prohibitively complicated to manage another ad campaign. The acquisition of Channel Intelligence is Google’s latest effort to take on Amazon.com; Channel Intelligence could help retailers improve their product feeds and big for advertising space on the search engine.

Google declined to say how it would integrate Channel Intelligence into the company, but issued a statement confirming the acquisition, saying, “We want to help consumers save time and money by improving the online shopping experience. We think Channel Intelligence will help create a better shopping experience for users and help merchants increase sales across the web.” Google declined to say how it would integrate Channel Intelligence into the company

Filed Under: Mobile Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,
by on February 1, 2013 Leave a Comment

Who Needs Online Reputation Management?

Online Reputation Management refers to a variety of methods and practices that companies and even individuals use to influence their reputation online. Reputation management includes monitoring the Internet reputation of the brand, addressing contents which are damaging, and using customer feedback to develop products or as an early warning signal of reputation problems developing. Most of reputation management is focused on suppressing the visibility of negative search engine results; depending on the source of the negative comments, businesses can ask that the information be removed (if it’s inaccurate or incorrect, for example), and they can proactively publish useful, positive information about themselves.

Some tactics used in reputation management include improving the tagging and search engine optimization of company-published materials, submitting online press releases to authoritative websites in order to promote brand presence, getting mentions of the business in third-party sites that rank highly in Google, and proactively responding to public criticism, or offering free products to prominent reviewers.

Many businesses can benefit a number of ways from Online Reputation Management; if the company already has a good reputation online, then engaging in reputation management brings feedback to the company’s attention and serves to let the company know about possible worrying trends in time to correct them, before damage is done. If the company’s reputation has already been damaged, then reputation management is absolutely essential; as more and more of the world looks online and through social media for opinions on a company before deciding to purchase goods and services, a negative online reputation can do real harm. For individuals, as well, reputation management is an important tool.  According to a study in 2010 by Microsoft and Cross-Tab Market Research, 70% of companies have rejected job candidates based on their online reputation. Any company can benefit from practices that ensure that the best possible image of the company is presented.

Ultimately, not everyone will have positive things to say about any given company. Occasional bad experiences are bound to happen; misunderstandings, mistakes, and other issues are unavoidable. The longer a company has been in business, the more of these isolated events can happen, and over time, the reputation a company has can be compromised. Therefore, companies that have existed for several years can benefit strongly from Reputation Management. But companies that are not on the reputation radar can also benefit by proactively finding outlets to get information out about their brand, and make sure that no problems develop. Companies that have an established online reputation that is positive may not need to work as hard on their reputation, though keeping track of comments and reviews is still a good idea, to insure that the good impression is maintained. Some of the methods of reputation management are things a company can do in-house, and some of them are better suited to advertising companies who can devote the time and resources, and most importantly, who know the best strategies. It’s important to note that some less-ethical methods of reputation management can actually result in a rebound of increased negative response to the company, so it is important to be careful with the ways in which you manage your online reputation, or contract with a knowledgeable professional.

 

Filed Under: Reputation Management, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,
by on January 30, 2013 Leave a Comment

Google’s Big Year

2012 was a landmark year for Google, who hit $50 billion in annual revenue for the first time, due in part to the strength of its fourth quarter earnings.

Google generated over $14.4 billion in the December quarter, representing an increase of 26% from the same time in 2011. Not everything in the report was positive, however; Google’s cost-per-clicks went down 6% from the same period a year ago, with mobile ads on the increase.

The search giant beat Wall Street’s estimates of $12.36 billion in revenue for the quarter. “We ended 2012 with a strong quarter,” said Larry Page, Google’s CEO. “Revenues were up 36% year-on-year, and 8% quarter-on-quarter. And we hit $50 billion in revenues for the first time last year – not a bad achievement in just a decade and a half.” This increase in spite of last year’s controversy about Google’s search results practices and investigations from the EU and the United States FTC.

Investors were a little concerned about the earnings report after Google’s chief accountant advised analysts to re-think their estimates, in order to account for the sale of Motorola’s set top box business. The report went better than the previous quarter, when Google’s filing agency leaked the earnings report early on accident, during trade hours. That incident sent Google stock down below $700 a share. In contrast, with this earnings report, Google’s stock was up more than 4% in afterhours trading.

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: , , , , ,
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