Disclaimer:  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real businesses, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Failure is a key part of success, or at least an important step on the road to becoming successful. When the still-young search industry witnesses a failure of any kind, it seems to revel in exploiting the collapse for personal gain, personal indulgence and the ability to say, "I told you so." Without getting into names and details that will only initiate more drama and, dare I say, schadenfreude, I've noticed an overabundance of loony behavi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Internet Marketing Industry | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

In the paid search world, ad rank and average cost per click (CPC) are determined by three factors: your own bid (max CPC), your competitors’ bids, and a numeric representation of ad relevance known as quality score. This quality score acts as a modifier, making it possible for an ad with higher “quality” to outrank a competitor’s ad at a lower bid. While the relationship between bids is straightforward to understand, quality score is much more opaque, being affected by many factors such as click-through rate (CTR), keyword and ad copy relevance, quality of landing page, etc. Man [...]

Related Topics: Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Google | Google: Search | Search Marketing

Now that Google Glass devices are making it out into the real world through Glass Explorers, the debate has started. Are these things just an expensive joke? A device like a Segway that seemed cool but never took off as some expected? I'd say no, and I'll draw from the TV series "Arrested Development" and movie "Wall Street" to help explain why. It's The Next Segway! If Mike Butcher of TechCrunch didn't originate the Segway comparison, he's sure had one of the best summaries of how Google Glass might go that way. Based on his limited experience in wearing them, he wrote: So Google Glass [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features & Analysis | Google: Glass | Search Marketing | Top News

Google's switch to an all-paid shopping search experience, featuring Product Listing Ads (PLAs), was the single largest change to the retail paid search landscape last year, and the offering continues to evolve as the official release of PLAs on smartphones was announced last month. PLAs are not only a new ad format but also a new marketplace, with auctions running independently of traditional text ads although they're often being served alongside them on search result pages. Now that the new market has had time to mature, we can take the opportunity to step back and review what we have lea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search | How To | Marketing Metrics | Search Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising

We all know the day of multi-device and cross-screen usage is here. The challenge for marketers is to understand how to communicate effectively with consumers as they engage with multiple devices simultaneously and sequentially throughout the day. A new study commissioned by Microsoft, titled Cross-Screen Engagement, aims to help marketers learn how users are engaging with multiple screens and to find opportunities to reach consumers "in their moment". In the two-phase study, Flamingo Research and Ipsos OTX interviewed consumers in five markets—Australia, Brazil, Canada, the UK and t [...]

Related Topics: Branding | Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Features & Analysis | Internet Marketing Industry: Stats | Microsoft | Mobile Marketing | Search Marketing | Social Media Marketing | Statistics | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising | Statistics: Online Behavior | Statistics: Popularity & Usage | Top News

Before getting into ad scheduling strategies for Google's Enhanced Campaigns, let's review Paid Search Trends for March. CPCs remained relatively flat month-over-month with little movement. Retail CPCs showed a slight decline for Google, showing relative softness compared to last year. It remains to be seen whether this is a temporary dip or a long-term indicator. Finance CPCs nudged up as the tax deadline approaches. Overall, Google CPCs are 1% up year-on-year, while Yahoo!-Bing is flat. March 2013 Cost-per-Click (CPC) Update, US Search MoM Change YoY Change [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google | Google: Search | How To | Marketing Metrics | Search Marketing

I recently began teaching a class in mobile content marketing for MarketingProfs University, taking over for the user experience expert and content strategy pioneer Karen McGrane.  At the time, her book, Content Strategy for Mobile, had not yet been released, so I relied on other resources when putting together material for the class. First I gathered what I knew about adaptive content from her online writings and presentations. Then I added some information gleaned from my own experience with content marketing to mobile users. My goal was to present a well-rounded overview of solutions t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Mobile Marketing Column | Search Marketing

Cost-Per-Clicks (CPC) fell across the board month-over-month, as is typical for February, resulting in a 5% lower CPC for Google and 3% lower for Yahoo!-Bing, compared to January. Year-over-year (YoY), retail CPCs are stronger on Google, partially due to rising CPCs on Product Listing Ads (PLAs), ending at a 5% YoY gain for Google and a slight 1% loss for Bing. February 2013 CPC Update, US Search MoM Change YoY Change Google Retail -3% 7% Finance -10% 2% Overall -5% 5% Yahoo!-Bing Retail [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search | Marketing Metrics | Search Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising

The latest movie in the "Fast & Furious" franchise is coming, Fast & Furious 6. It's getting a lot of attention because of its Super Bowl ad on Sunday and the debut of its extended trailer today. But, if you're trying to find the official website, Fast & Furious will send you on a chase that leaves the search marketing basics behind and exposes some Google & Bing failures, as well. Missing: The Official Site The official site is nowhere to be found in Google's search results, as this screenshot I took yesterday shows: Of course, there are several ways you could search for [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

This is the first installment of a regular column following cost-per-click (CPC) trends in search marketing. We will focus primarily on the US market, but we'll also take a regular look at international markets, as well as providing additional insights into segments that appear to be significant short-term trend drivers. Google’s CPC drop has finally bottomed out in January, our analysis finds, supported in part by increasing CPCs and click share on tablet devices.   January 2013 CPC Update, US Search MoM Change YoY Change Google Retail [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search | Marketing Metrics | Microsoft: Bing | Search Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising

Every few months, someone seems to attack search engine optimization. SEOs are often quick to rise in defense of their profession. I've done that plenty myself, in the past. But a barrage of recent cold-call SEO pitches in my inbox even has me hating SEO. Of course, I don't really hate SEO. That's because I know the difference between: SEO and search engine spam SEO and snake-oil promises SEO remains the act of gaining free traffic from search engines, and also to me, gaining that traffic in ways that don't put you at risk of being banned or penalized by those search engines. I [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

Well, it’s that time of year again: time to squeeze in every little bit of revenue before the 2012 books close; time to take every last day of vacation before they magically disappear at the stroke of midnight on December 31st; and, perhaps most importantly, it’s that time of year when a whole host of year-end roundup articles ranging from the "Top 10 Things We Learned" to articles detailing every well-intentioned, but rarely kept, resolution ever made. I never thought I would write a “Things We Learned” type article because of a dreadful fear that I only recently learned somethin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Features & Analysis | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

Many times after I’ve spoken on mobile search or mobile marketing, I’m approached by someone in B2B who is wondering if mobile search is just a B2C phenomenon, or if it’s something that B2B organizations can benefit from as well. My answer, always, is: yes, mobile search and mobile marketing are just as relevant to B2B marketers, if not more so. This is not intuitive, as mobile search is associated more with a need-it-now or local mindset, as Jon Miller explained a few years ago on Search Engine Land. However, when you consider the evidence, you might agree that mobile search a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Email Marketing | Email Marketing | Mobile Marketing | Mobile Marketing Column | Search Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing

A year ago, Google began going dark. Dark in terms of no longer sharing with publishers, in some cases, how people searched for and found those publishers through Google's search engine. The "single digit" percentage of withholding that Google predicted at the time has turned into more than 50%, in some cases. If Google's withholding were an eclipse, more than half the sun is being covered. "Dark Google" is upon us, and it will only grow darker. I'm drawing the term "Dark Google" as a play off the "Dark Social" concept that Alexis Madrigal wrote about recently in The Atlantic. Dark Socia [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Google: Privacy | Google: SEO | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

In all of my schooling, I only ever failed one class: Intro to Mathematics. As I write that sentence, a wave of embarrassment washes over me. Failing Math 101 is pretty hard to do (I mean it was an 8 a.m. class my freshman year in college, so perhaps that had something to do with it, but I digress).  Yes, it was disappointing to my parents, but was it surprising? No. I have never been good with numbers. My brain simply does not work that way and never has. I am a right-brained, creative type that prefers coming up with the ideas rather than figuring out the economics behind them. Tha [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

The road to Facebook's mid-term success is paved with search goodness, many believe. When the stock starts tanking, the top execs apparently believe a good thing to do at a shareholder's meeting is make an opaque reference to building a better search engine. "Build a better search" is an anthem many of us in the search business have been hearing for well in excess of a decade. Last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned (among other things) plans to create a better way to connect intent with social subject matter in a way that can be sold to the highest bidder. At least, that's what [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

Last month, Google’s famously streamlined white homepage was plastered with something different: an animated banner ad. Since Google has been credited as an ad-free (or, at least, display-ad-free) search engine, the animated banner ad for the Nexus 7 Android tablet came as a bit of a shock to both Google users and the wider industry. While this wasn’t the first time Google used its homepage to showcase products, was it a smart move by Google? In today’s shareholder-value-centric paradigm, companies are principally run by profitability. Whenever a company says that it will never d [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Display Advertising Column | Search Marketing

It could be the end of an era for one of blogging's institutions, not to mention one of search marketing's favorite ways to give and get links. The blogroll -- or Link Manager as it's currently known -- is on the chopping block for the upcoming release of WordPress 3.5. The folks at WPBeginner noticed a ticket in the WordPress 3.5 development system that discusses the possibility of removing the Link Manager from the core WordPress software. The way WordPress development works is that ideas are proposed and then discussed among the developer/user community; this idea has a few dozen [...]

Related Topics: Blogging | Channel: Search Marketing | Search Marketing

Old timers in the SEO world will remember the "Google Dance," if not fondly, at least with some nostalgia. It was when Google's rankings went through a change each month, sometimes dramatically, when a new algorithm was launched. The Google Dance eventually disappeared. Who'd have thought it would ever return? But it sure has, and we're likely to be dancing even more. The Days Of The Google Dance The Google Dance took its name from how the results at Google seemed to "dance" around when it unleashed a new search algorithm -- Google's recipe for ranking web pages -- on the world. A sear [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: SEO | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

When we gather to talk about search marketing, we don't just talk about search marketing anymore. In fact, the agenda is broader 100% of the time. Search keeps its cornerstone within the now much broader and more intricate scope of performance media and marketing. It's a foundational discipline and plays a critical role within the arsenal, but it's not the only important element. What else must that conversation and our scope of understanding include these days? The Fundamentals It doesn't make a lot of sense to uphold the pretense of "doing search" unless you are willing to keep your com [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column