Thursday, August 7, 2008

Section 2: Around the Net in Search Marketing

, August 7, 2008 Subscribe | Back Issues | Reply to Editor | MediaPost Home

Make Sure You're Optimizing The Right Content For Your Target
TopRank Marketing Blog
Lee Odden poses the question of whether companies using SEO are thinking not just about how well their content is optimized for their target audience--but whether the content they're optimizing is the right content for said audience.

"It's an important distinction to make, optimizing the right content for the right audience, but many companies and their SEO consultants tend to focus on content that can convert directly into revenue," Odden says. "This is a reasonable expectation but there are other types of content, communications and audiences that affect the bottom line like increasing the likelihood of getting media coverage."

For example, if your target is a consumer/searcher then the content they'd be looking for would be tailored to your products features or benefits, and you'd need to include a call to action (buy it now!) to round out the optimization process. But in the case of researchers/news gatherers, they content they'd be searching for would likely include expert commentary or facts, and data to round it out. And your conversion action shifts from garnering a sale or lead, to getting news coverage or becoming a trusted source.

So if you'd optimized for the former target and hoped to snag the latter, your efforts would have been misguided at best, and at the worst--worthless. - Read the whole story...

Live Search Upgrades Webmaster Tools, Too
Live Search Webmaster Center Blog
Earlier this week, Microsoft upgraded the Live Search homepage and tweaked the user interface, and the software giant has also made changes to its suite of Webmaster Tools. It's the first major upgrade since the company released the suite last fall.

The additions include a "Crawl Issues" tab on the main page, which informs users of any problems that the Live Search bot encountered in trying to spider their site. Issues include 404 errors and unsupported content types, among others.

There is also more extensive backlink data, as well as new data-refining tools so that users can streamline their reports. "Webmasters are analytical and rarely work alone," says Jeremiah Andrick. "They often need to be able to grab as much data as they can, and take it offline into Excel or some type of database for analysis and collaboration with a client, marketing or engineering partner." - Read the whole story...

A Humorous Take On The Paid Links Debate
Ranked Hard
The latest cartoon from Big Oak illustrates what the real world would look like if there were "paid links" in our everyday conversations--and acknowledges that many companies need to purchase links, at least when trying to establish a Web presence.

"Link buying has certainly gotten a bad rap lately," says Brad Smart "But, you know, sometimes buying links is all the little guy can do to compete with larger more established sites. And while the credo of good content will draw links, it doesn't work that way in the real world much of the time. Small site owners are forced to buy links to gain better rankings." - Read the whole story...

Were You Hoping That Microhoo Went Through?
CNet News.com
While most of the media frenzy surrounding Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo has died down, the deal still had the potential to change the entire search and online advertising landscape--and as such, there's still fodder for discourse. For example, search execs at yesterday's RBC Capital conference were vocal about wishing the deal had gone through, if only to be left with a real alternative to Google.

"We always have a need for multiple sources of quality traffic and we don't see that need going away as Google's share increases," Will Margiloff, CEO and founder of Innovation Interactive," during a panel discussion. "Complexity is good, consolidation is bad."

Others said that though there was a perception that Yahoo was down and out, the Web giant still drew in a massively monetizable audience that spent lots of time on its network. - Read the whole story...

How GoDaddy And Montenegro Screwed Up The .Me Domain Rush
JunkClick.com
When ICANN changed the rules for top-level domain (TLD) names last month, Webmasters imagined an unlimited number of new possible Web site addresses. And the country of Montenegro was seemingly one of the first beneficiaries of the change, as it was granted .me as its official TLD.

Companies with visions of Web addresses like optimize.me in their heads salivated at the chance to buy a .me domain once they became available through GoDaddy, Montenegro's partner. But the experience quickly became a nightmare as thousands of people that tried to register .me domains were charged for domains that actually weren't available.

It seems that Montenegro was well aware of the high demand that its .me domains would spark, and so it registered them under a separate corporation and filed them away to be auctioned at a later date--and GoDaddy neglected to tell the thousands of potential registrars.

"GoDaddy marketed the .me domains and hyped them for months and successfully kept the list of withheld names under wraps," writes the Junk Clicks blogger. "If everyone knew that virtually all the desirable domain names were already taken, how much excitement and demand for .me would there be? Virtually none." - Read the whole story...



Search Insider - Around the Net for Thursday, August 7, 2008
http://publications.mediapost.com/?sfa=ed&t=44&d=2008-8-7

 

You are receiving this newsletter at brian.bobo@gmail.com as part of your membership with MediaPost.
If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like to begin receiving a copy of your own, please visit our site - www.mediapost.com - and become a complimentary member.
For advertising opportunities see our online media kit.
If you'd rather not receive this newsletter in the future click here.
email powered by eROIWe welcome and appreciate forwarding of our newsletters in their entirety or in part with proper attribution.
(c) 2008 MediaPost Communications, 1140 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001


No comments:

Blog Archive