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Excessive Complexity & Unintended Consequences
Sergey Brin recently said:
You have to play by their rules, which are really restrictive. The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the web was so open. Once you get too many rules, that will stifle innovation.
He was talking about Facebook, but those words are far more applicable to Google…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
Yahoo’s product teams are officially on notice. Shortly after announcing Q1 earnings yesterday, new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson dropped a bomb during the analysts’ call when he said the company will be “shutting down or transitioning roughly 50 properties that don’t contribute meaningfully to engagement or revenue…
If you live outside of the ivory walls of the Fortune 500, it can sometimes seem like Google gives big brands all the breaks. This isn’t just sour grapes – some examples are very public. When JC Penney and Overstock got a slap on the wrist for widespread and intentional link manipulation, it was hard not to feel slighted.
There’s been a lot of debate about how Google, both manually and algorithmically, may favor big brands, but I think the debate misses something more fundamental…
In the 1950s, major brand marketers, like movie studios and consumer goods companies, embraced television, helping spark a multi-billion dollar industry—and the beginning of TV’s golden age.
One reason these brands invested in TV was the emergence of new measurement tools, like TV ratings and market research, that helped show which ads were reaching the right audiences and having a positive impact…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
A short while ago Yahoo released Q1 earnings, which exceeded financial analysts’ consensus estimates. Total revenue was $1.22 billion, up 1 percent year-over-year (YoY). Net earnings were $286 million, representing 28 percent YoY growth…
Consider these three exact and phrase match keywords in AdWords.
[waterproof sunblock] “bollard cover” [single serving coffee maker]
Now have a look at these two rows of search queries.
1. waterproof sunblock buy bollard cover single serving coffee maker
2. waterpoof sunblock buy bollard covers single serve coffee maker
Today, only the search queries in the upper row (1) are considered a match and allowed to trigger an ad that can appear in the results…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
It’s April 16th … otherwise known in some circles as Foursquare Day. (Get it? 16 is four squared. And April is the fourth month of the year.) In honor of its own unofficial holiday, Foursquare has confirmed the latest numbers related to its continuing growth: more than two billion check-ins more than 20 million users […
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.
From Google’s Panda, Search Plus Your World and Venice updates, in the last year alone the SEO landscape has changed. And while that means your SEO strategy will change, too, there is one thing that remains the same…keywords…
Back in November we announced the Google Photography Prize 2012, a competition offering student photographers a chance to share their best photographs with the world.
Groundbreaking photographer Ansel Adams once said, “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs,” so we left the themes for submission suitably broad, with 10 categories that combined classic photography genres with online photography trends including “Night,” “Travel,” “Sound/Silence” and “Me…
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.
When I started to work as an SEO for an Australian-based SEO agency in early 2010, I never knew anything about the work (optimizing websites and building links to them) and definitely unsure of most of the things that I have worked on during that time…
Google's relationship with links has changed over the last 15 years – it started out as a love affair but nowadays the Facebook status would probably read: "It's Complicated". I think Google are beginning to suffer from trust issues, brought about by well over a decade of the SEO community manipulating the link graph. In this post I'm going to lay out how I think Authorship, and Google+ are one of the ways that Google are trying to remedy this situation…
For the following study, we asked “Does this search result have ads on it? ” to 1,000 searchers, per search results. Due to these surveys requiring a smaller image (to fit the ad unit size) we chose search results that generally had more ads on them (typically 3 or 4) so that the background had a significant portion of real estate devoted to ads, in spite of its small size. The one exception here was DuckDuckGo, as it only displays one ad at most even on highly commercial keywords like credit cards…
Which do you trust most as a source of advice on important issues?
People tend to trust friends & family and the mainstream media far more than they trust websites & search engines.
Vote
All (1204)
friends & family
37.1% (+3.0 / -2.9)
newspapers
32.5% (+3.0 / -2.8)
search engines
19.3% (+2.6 / -2.4)
social media websites
6.7% (+2.0 / -1.6)
weblogs
4.4% (+1.9 / -1…
When you search, how did you pick your primary search engine?
Most people use the search engine which they believe has the best relevancy, whatever their computer came with, or what a friend recommended.
Vote
All (1190)
it has superior relevancy
30.4% (+3.0 / -2.9)
the computer had a default selected
26.8% (+2.9 / -2.7)
a friend told me about it
23.1% (+2.9 / -2.7)
I saw it on a TV ad
10…
If you use a search engine but don’t find what you are looking for, which are you more likely to do?
People are more likely to search again with a new keyword than they are to click onto the second page of search results.
Vote
All (1189)
search again with a different word
55.7% (+3.2 / -3.3)
go to the second page of the results
44.3% (+3.3 / -3.2)
The split is fairly consistent among men and women…
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.
Matt Cutts' statement in March 2012 that Google would be rolling out an update against “overoptimised” websites, caused great turmoil within the SEO community…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
April 15th marks the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and there will be no shortage of news coverage (or hype) commemorating the event this weekend. The good news is that if you want even more information, facts, images and history, you can take a deep dive on the web to get to […
For years, we’ve been counseling our clients to practice what we call “the fundamentals non-gratuitous social media behavior.” Lovely conduct that endears users to other community members and earns respect is actually quite easy. Still, even some professionals present terribly irritating habits. You may or may not agree, but brace yourself for this stored up rant featuring aggravating tactics employed by social media players who (IMHO) just don’t get how things work in the sandbox…
Under normal linkbait circumstances you find something that appeals to as many as possible within your sector (or within the sector you'll publish toward).
For this technique what I propose is that you custom tailor the linkbait to one recipient, virtually guaranteeing a link.
Linkbait Process For One Specific Target
I was soooo tempted to post another Pinterest infographic. But I spare you.
Instead, have a look at the rise of Draw Something, a little app from a company called OMGPOP that OMG, popped. Big time. 50 million downloads in as many days, without a second of downtime and sub-second latency to keep users smiling.
Click to enlarge
Without social media, could a game have had such a quick rise to the top? Without mobile, would this have been a popular desktop game? You gotta love the age we live in…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
Big news for genealogists, historians and even for people just curious about their own families: the 1940 U.S. Census is now available on the web. Unfortunately, at this point at least, it takes a bit of skill and determination to navigate through the data, though there are many efforts underway to make this incredibly valuable […
So what are we calling it today? Link building, link prospecting, content marketing, linkbait, socialbait, PR ? Whatever it is and whatever sub-definitions exist for the process of finding quality, related websites to link back to yours is difficult and time-consuming work.
As with most processes associated with SEO campaigns, or website marketing campaigns in general, enterprising folks have built tools to make our lives a little easier and our time more fruitful and productive…
You may have noticed that some members of our AdWords Community are true AdWords experts. Not only do they participate actively in discussions, but they’re eager to help other members, which provides a huge benefit to the community. That’s why we’ve created the AdWords Top Contributors Program to reward them for their efforts.Members who qualify for the program receive the title of Top Contributor in the Community, which helps show the world that they’re truly AdWords experts…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
By all accounts, paid search spending rose in Q1 2012 as compared to the previous year, but by how much depends on the source, and the sector…
Introduction
Handling expired content can be an overwhelming experience for any SEO in charge of a dynamic website, whether it be an e-commerce, a classified (example: job search, real estate listings), or a seasonal/promotional (example: New York Fashion Week) site. Even something as fundamental as glancing at the Google Webmaster Tools account for the site can evoke gut-wrenching emotions, especially if the site has amassed tens of thousands of 404 errors…
Which of the following have you heard of?
More people have heard of paid search / AdWords than have SEO / link building. One of the big issues with this question is that since it had numerous check boxes it had a lower response rate (roughly 10% vs an average of closer to 16% to 18%) & took longer for the answers to come in. In the future I can see Google adding quality score styled factors to quizes where pricing is in part based on response rate & they charge premiums for quicker responses…
The day Google+ opened up brand pages, I anxiously refreshed my Gmail inbox all day long until I finally got the email inviting me to create a company page. I knew that by creating the page under my personal account that I’d be the only one able to manage it for the near future. But I really didn’t care; I was just so giddy to get the page set up.
Remember that feeling? I bet you ran out and did the same thing, right? But then what happened? Are you still as excited about it as you were back then, or do you now dread having to go in there? I mean not only do you have to keep up with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora, HackerNews, and [insert social platform here], but you have to have a strategy for Google+ as well…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
Is there a battle brewing in the area of searchable local content and reviews? Foursquare has been making some interesting moves in this area, and today Yelp has announced two new search filters that it says will let users more easily find the right local business…
In the below poll we didn’t make any distinction between AdWords & organic SEO investments. If we did I am not sure how it would have impacted the voting.
How do you feel about people paying for placement in search engines?
Nearly 2 in 3 people dislike money manipulating search results.
response
All (1201)
I think it is deceptive
65.4% (+3.3 / -3.5)
It is good if it is relevant
34…
You're looking at my set of tools. The custom search engine helps me find the answers to questions more quickly. The RSS aggregator keeps me updated with industry news that matters. And, in the near future, I plan on documenting the major steps and considerations used in SEM as a check list (although it will also work well as a list of tutorials).
While I built (and am improving) the above tools for myself, it seemed like a waste to keep them to myself. After all, good will breeds good will, and perhaps you'll even help me find more great blogs to follow.
In the name of good karma, all my outgoing links on this site are followed. Treat others as you wish to be treated, right? Besides, I think the authors who we read daily deserve all the thanks (links) we can give.
I hope you find the SEM News feed and the free SEO search tool helpful.
- Brett at SEMNewsDaily.com
