Friday, October 31, 2008

Section 2: Around the Net in Search Marketing

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Creative SEM Strategies Deserve Recognition
ClickZ
Kevin Lee wants SEM to get a little creative recognition. After all, the Effie Awards, Clio Awards, ADDY Awards and Cannes Lions all pay tribute to creativity, but none recognize the long hours spent thinking through campaigns to develop sound strategies for PPC search, creative keywords, landing pages, and integration.

While no one's handing you a flashy award or physically patting you on the back, don't forget you develop great content for the tons of readers who continually visit your site for information. Lee provides tips and tricks on several creative options. "There are lots of ways that creativity can help drive results," he writes. "There's an extra level of satisfaction that comes with moving beyond the analytics and beyond the endless tasks associated with PPC search and doing something creative." - Read the whole story...

Marketing On Facebook
SEOmozBlog
Facebook engineers Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, creator of News Feed, and David Fetterman, lead engineer for the Facebook Development Platform, sat down with Danny Dover to talk about everything from search and news feeds, to the advertising platform.

One of the more interesting points from the interview details a search function that supports "a lesser known feature." It has the ability to "drive traffic outside of the site," Dover writes. "When a user types in a query that doesn't match anything in their social graph the search bar provides the ability to search Microsoft's Live search index."

Marketers also can use Facebook features to raise references for their brand in major search engines SERPs. The pages are publicly indexed and quickly rise to the top of many search queries, according to Dover. - Read the whole story...

SMEs Adopt SEM
Brand Republic
Small to medium-size enterprises, or SMEs, should embrace SEM. Jane Simms serves up several examples of small businesses that have embraced search engine marketing. For instance, Foneshop, a UK online retailer of mobile phones and accessories, initially "struggled, scraping in only about 10 orders a day - but in 2005 it embarked on a search marketing strategy through Google AdWords," she writes. "Within a year, its orders had soared by 56%, the average value of each order had risen by 54% and its conversion costs had fallen by 29%."

Simms steps through some techniques, from geo-targeting, to developing keywords, which can help you understand SEM options for SMEs. They include establishing a simple linking strategy, setting up an account, picking the correct keywords, and knowing the target market. - Read the whole story...

Improving Quality Scores And Search Results
Google AdWords
Google will soon introduce two changes designed to improve how the search engine calculates quality scores and ranks ads. While the first change aims to better evaluate the precise quality of the ad, regardless of its position on the page, the second improves how ads are positioned above search results. Since ads in high positions typically earn better click-through rates, calculating the most accurate quality scores becomes critical.

To improve quality scores, Google plans to update the portion of the quality score algorithm that accounts for ad position. This should ensure that ads compete fairly for position based on quality and bid, the company says. Google also will improve the way it determines what ads appear in the yellow region above the search results. Previously, not even ads with the highest ad ranks that didn't meet a predetermined quality threshold showed -- but that will change with this update. - Read the whole story...

Free SEO For 30-Day Trial
Daily Blog Tips
RankSense will let you subscribe to its SEO software for a 90-day free trial. However, the company bills after 30 days, so you might want to set a reminder if you don't think the package fits your needs. Daniel Scocco walks you through the 12 integrated tools in the package, all focused on optimizing most aspects of your blog or Web site. He also provides a little background on Hamlet Batista, the creator of the software.

Features found in the software include advanced keyword research tools, analysis, a Web site SEO check, and more. "The interesting thing about the RankSense software is that their approach is toward simplicity and time saving," he writes, after giving the package a spin. "Some SEO tools are really complex and have steep learning curves. RankSense, on the other hand, was developed to be as user friendly as possibly, so even beginners can work on their SEO efficiently." - Read the whole story...



Search Insider - Around the Net for Friday, October 31, 2008
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?sfa=ed&t=44&d=2008-10-31

 

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