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SEO/web review 2008

Christmas approaches. 2008 is drawing to a close. Soon we'll be into a bright, shiny new year. So now is a good time to take stock and look at what hit the headlines in the world of SEO and the Internet over the last 12 months. Here are some of the big stories that caught our eye this year. In no particular order:

Go Compare Blacklisted

The comparison site Go Compare was blacklisted by Google – sinking down and out of Google almost overnight in January. Be afraid! Listen to your SEO people – bad practice has consequences.

Google Trademark Words Policy

On 5th May Google changed its AdWords policy to allow all-comers to bid on trademarked brand names. You can now set up AdWords that appear when someone types in a protected brand name such as Coca Cola or Adidas or Hoover. Great for search engine marketing.

Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Talks

This year was dominated by proposed partnerships and take-over bids by the major industry players. Yahoo! had talks with Microsoft and Google had talks with Yahoo! The only people not talking to each other were Microsoft & Google. And the only thing everyone agreed on was that Google is the winner!

No More Fake Reviews

On 26 May, ‘fake' reviews became illegal under UK law punishable by up to two years in jail. So don't even think about making up any customer reviews online or in print and get expert help with the wording for advertorials.

Microsoft Cashback on Live Search

In May Microsoft launched a cashback incentive scheme that gave US customers rebates on goods purchased from selected retailers via Live Search. Though it's experienced some glitches it has been a success so far.

Louis Vuitton Court Case

Louis Vuitton was not happy about Google's change to their trademarked words policy and promptly took them to court.

Flash Files Now SEO Friendly

In June, Google announced that Abode Flash files would now be crawled by the search engine. Everything contained within Flash files are now read and spidered in the same way as html text – great for SEO!

Google in Trouble over UK Street View

Street View, Google's map feature that allows you to ‘drive' at street level along the actual road, has already caused problems in the US over invasion of privacy. But in Europe there's bigger problems ahead as, because it's in essence a film of a journey, it contravenes the EU Data Protection Directive – oops!

The Great Domain Gold Rush

ICANN announced that from early next year we will all be able to invent our own top level domain names! Goodie!

Google Insight Launched

Google Insight was launched in August giving you the chance to look at detailed worldwide popularity stats for any given search term.

Microsoft Buys Ciao

Microsoft was busy buying e-commerce comparison site Ciao.

Google Separates Search Stats

In October Google added the option to allow AdWords users to view separate statistics for Google search and its Partner Network sites such as Aol.com and Ask.com. Prior to this, data was only listed for both networks combined.

Yahoo! ditches Kelkoo

Meanwhile Yahoo! was busy offloading their own comparison site, Kelkoo. 

Google Searches Scanned Docs

In October, Google also announced it could now 'read' scanned Adobe PDF documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – great for SEO!

Facebook in Top 5

In September, Facebook broke into the Top 5 most visited sites in the UK for the first time, knocking the BBC back to sixth place.

Google Chrome

Google launched its long awaited new browser – Chrome. Faster and more flexible it looks set to become the new standard.

Here at Edgeworks we work hard to keep you up to date with all the latest SEO, search engine marketing and Internet news. Keep an eye on Webfly and we'll make sure you're always the first to know.

Google Insights hits the streets…

Now here's an interesting development! Google launched a new service (yes, yes, another one) last week that could change the way we adapt SEO marketing strategies, certainly in terms of the Google Search Engine. But it has an added and unexpected bonus - it's fun!

Just like the first time you ever sat down in front of the Internet and started putting random search terms in - just for fun - Google Insights for Search gives you that same feeling of adventure!

Basically it shows you graphically:

• How popular your search term is
• How its popularity has varied over time
• How it competes with other terms on the same graph
• Where your searchers are based in the world and what cities

Which means you can get very curious about why Batman appears to be most popular in Turkey; why the French are more keen on Ikea than anyone else and why George Bush is more popular in Tanzania than he is the US…

How does it work? According to Google: ‘It analyses a portion of worldwide Google web searches from all Google domains to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you've entered, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. It then shows you a graph with the results, indicating interest over time, plotted on a scale from 0 to 100; the totals are indicated next to bars by the search terms.’

Why is it good? Well, now you have the data to back up your decisions on what terms to use where and that's just for starters. You can also drill down in preset categories such as home and garden; industries and health and look at seasonal variations too. Take a look and have a play here.

Edgeworks White Paper: Bidding on Brand Names

Now the dust has settled on Google’s Trademark changes, it’s time to look seriously at how bidding on brands and brand names could help you drive traffic to your website.

So, to fill in the gaps and help you make sense of the outrageous amount of info out there, we’ve put together a comprehensive White Paper on how best to add bidding on brands to your SEO strategy.

The White Paper covers:

• What is – and what isn’t - a brand name
• Why people bid on brand names
• How does bidding work
• Google Trademark Policy Change
• Why should I bid on brand names
• What names and words should I bid on

Plus it’s free – so go and listen to it, watch it or and download the hard copy right now! Yes….NOW!!!

Microsoft Live Search Cashback

Last week Microsoft launched a cashback incentive scheme that gives US customers rebates on goods purchased from selected retailers on their own search engine, Live Search. The money is not knocked off the goods at the time of payment but paid into a personal Cashback Account – a bit like PayPal - set up by the customer. Microsoft say 700 retailers have signed up, offering more than 10 million products.

For Microsoft the benefits are obvious. They need to attract people to their Live Search engine and people like to save money. Simple. Some are calling it down right bribery, but hey, that’s business! But what does it mean for the future of pay-per-click and search engine marketing? Well, right now, very little. It’s not really a new idea as such; it’s an affiliate programme in all but name. However, if it catches on, increases Microsoft’s share of the search engine market then it could be taken up by Google etc. and become the template for SEO in the future.

But a word of warning before everyone gets too excited. Microsoft is not taking a cut of the cut, so to speak. The entire discount, 100%, is rebated to the customer. Some are suggesting that what may happen, once the system is bedded in, is that Microsoft will find the lure of the cash too much to resist and might start keeping some of the cashback for themselves. In which case it begs the question as to why a retailer would want to be hit twice on the same transaction… Interesting times…

Google TV ads service

No. Google has not set up its own TV station. Though I wouldn’t rule it out (ummm…wonder what odds I could get at Paddy Power….). No, this is another in the huge and ever escalating list of new services introduced by Google that help you (or in this case Americans) get their ads onto the TV.

My first thought was – why on earth should I want Google’s help with that? Surely I’d do the sensible thing and employ an agency to create and place my ad. Ah, yes. But this is America. Well, it isn’t but you know what I mean! In America you get more TV commercials per square inch than you do actual TV programmes. Anyone who has ever visited America and inadvertently turned on the telly will know that after about 20 minutes you begin to reassess your relationship with the BBC and start to consider hermit status as a valid and reasonable lifestyle choice. 

But – back to the job in hand. Google TV ad service. Basically, you have an ad made by an agency and then via the Google service, which looks and operates very much like AdWords, you choose a time slot on a national TV network, pick a programme, choose your budget and off you go. As with all Google services, it does satisfy a real need. It’s simple to use, cost effective and will put a few ad agency noses out of joint. But most importantly it gives you total control and you can instantly target your audience or demographic – say, men over 65 – by using Google’s target audience suggestions tool. So you can be sure you’re getting to the people you really need to watch your ad.

Watch out for its arrival in the UK. We predict interesting times ahead!!    

Google’s new Trademarked Words bid policy

You might not know this but up until now – or 5th May to be precise – you couldn’t add a competitor’s trademarked word, usually their brand name, into your list of keywords in your Google Adwords. If you don’t believe me try doing a search on Coca-Cola….see….There are no Adwords on the right are there? (Unless you’re trying this after 5th May in which case somebody will  be bidding!) This is because Coca-Cola is a trademarked word. In fact, it’s probably even a slight problem for us to write the word here…but if this post disappears then you’ll know why!

Now then. From 5 May Google is changing (where have I heard that before?!). You will be able to use your competitors brand name in your Adwords. BUT, before you get too excited, they’ll be able to use yours too AND it’s not quite that simple. Before you rush to bid on millions of new keywords the advice is clear: Check with your IT people or agency. It’s a complex set of new rules and the word on the streets is that there could even be legal challenges to it popping up all over the place, so beware, take advice first. Call me and I can help you make the most of the new rules….    

Another New Google Service

Late last week Google launched a new service. What, another one?! Yep! This one is called Google Ad Manager and it is, to quote Google: "a hosted ad management solution that can help you sell, schedule, deliver, and measure all of your directly-sold and network-based inventory."

OK. So what does it do? Basically, if you have advertising on your website – blocks of space that you sell to other companies on a regular, say monthly or weekly, set basis – then your sales team can use Google Ad Manager as a tool to manage the workflow. One blogger likens it to a dashboard. Plus if you can't sell all your space that week or month then you can fill it with AdSense without leaving the Ad Manager interface.

Google Ad Manager features include:

• Inventory management
• Yield optimisation
• Ad targeting
• Trafficking, ad delivery and order booking
• Creatives and rich media management
• Reporting
• User interface navigation
• Account administration

Is it great? It certainly is for Google. The jury is still out as to whether it's great for everyone else... watch this space!

And The Award Goes To - Tamar Weinberg (Yeeeeaaahhhh!)

Who??

OK. So this isn't the Oscars or BAFTAs or the Sundance Film Festival or even Cannes – damn! But the best blog post of 2007 has to go to a wee girl from New York called Tamar Weinberg. Who, and this is no mean feat, has put together a list of more than 250 of the best, most useful, most brilliant and most timeless blog posts of 2007.

Now then. There are lots of great blog posts out there: The art of polystyrene cement; Total & complete plastering; Traffic Jams: The quantum mechanics; Kit homes in 20 minutes; Your First Spacewalk - a beginner's guide; Caravanning for cool people; Hot tips for septic tanks; Flat fish - the future... The list is endless.

But Tamara's list, unlike the one above, is a carefully researched series of business critical blog posts that impart useful, practical, professional information you can use in real life covering subjects including internet marketing, viral strategies, reputation management, search engine optimisation, web development and pay per click.

So go to her blog now: Techipedia. You won’t be disappointed!

Video Ads come to Google Search Results

Now then. You know Web 2.0? The Universal Search? Well it’s starting to get serious. Web 2 likes interactivity, so no one was particularly shocked when Google launched its advertising programme in the US called AdSense for Video – ad videos confined to websites themselves - back in October last year.

And no one should be surprised that the New York Times now tells us Google has rolled this out into the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) either! So what’s the story? The real story is that this is an excellent example of how fast technology is moving right now - plus the integration of streaming video will, eventually, have a big impact on what your customers actually see on the SERP.

Basically instead of what they see now: a list of websites, a few images at the top maybe and text ads at the right hand side, they will see your competition’s pay-per-click moving video images. Not yet, not now – at the moment, in the US, they will see a plus sign to click to see the video but in time there will be streaming images on the results page. A whole new world of search engine marketing - yippee I hear you cry!

There are no examples of what these search result videos will look like yet, but for some very cute examples of Google’s AdSense videos with horribly addictive music see:  Cute Video!

So what should you do? First talk to us at Edgeworks and we can help you start planning how to make the most of the future….

For more information on Web 2.0 & Universal Search - the start of the future of Google - click here to request our White Paper.

The Google Blacklist Nightmare!

Everyone’s worst nightmare came to call on GoCompare.com recently when they suddenly sank without trace after breaking Google’s infamous, largely secret and ever-changing ‘rules’. Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise gives us some nice graphics which make the blood run cold! Kind of like watching a disaster movie from the 1970s – all’s well, people are laughing and happy and then someone sees smoke coming out of the air vent on the 250th floor….

What happened was that GoCompare was riding high on the search term ‘car insurance’ until one fine day on or around 26 January when it plummeted faster than the stock exchange on Black Monday. The reason for GoCompare’s ‘delisting’ is a matter of debate across the net. No one can be absolutely sure why and it’s probably not fair to speculate – though I’m pretty sure I know why – but suffice to say it’s a salutary lesson for everyone to listen to their SEO people, keep up to date and don’t try to do anything you think is clever! Because it probably won’t be!