To date, we’ve focused most of our communications to you on the paid search transition to adCenter. However, another key aspect of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is the transition of Yahoo! organic search results (those found on the main body of the page). Assuming our testing continues to yield high quality results, we anticipate that our organic search results will be powered by Bing beginning in the August/September timeframe.

If organic search results are an important source of referrals to your website, you’ll want to make sure that you’re prepared for this change:

Both Yahoo! Sites and Microsoft Sites have experienced gains due in part to the continued utilization of contextual search approaches that tie content and related search results together. [...]

Google Sites accounted for 10.3 billion searches (up 1 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 3.1 billion (up 7 percent), Microsoft Sites with 2.1 billion (up 8 percent), Ask Network with 584 million (up 1 percent), and AOL LLC with 368 million (up 2 percent).”

If your company doesn’t have a blog, you have even more motivation to start one right now. Hubspot states that businesses with corporate blogs generate 67 percent more leads than non-blog websites.

Why is this? Search Engine Optimization. The more content on your business site, the better chances of being found by people searching for your products or services. The quality of the blog posts are critical to the process. The use of keywords in titles and content, and generating back links to the company blog plays a significant role in search engine rankings.

Contact DoubleDome Web Technologies if you would like to set up a corporate blog or search engine optimization campaign.

To build a successful site map, use the following steps:

1. Make a list of each page on your your website and its URL.
2. Assign each of the pages a priority ranking, which is a number between zero and one.
3. Make a note of when each page was last updated.
4. Assign an update frequency for each page. This could be daily, weekly, etc.

Once you have this information for your site, you are prepared to put together the site map file for your website. If you have created your website using a content management system, there is probably a site map generator plug-in that you can use to automatically generate this file for you. If not, consider using a professional web design firm to assist you with this project.

Google is very clear about paid links. They don’t like them. Google even has an official form that enables webmasters to report paid links to Google:

“Google and most other search engines use links to determine reputation. A site’s ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it.

Link-based analysis is an extremely useful way of measuring a site’s value, and has greatly improved the quality of web search. Both the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of links count towards this rating.

However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.”

Google has released an official statement about poor inbound links

Last month, Google published an official statement about low quality links in their webmaster blog. Here are the main statements:

• Linking is a significant factor in Google’s ranking algorithm but it is just one of many factors. Other factors are the content of your web pages, the site structure and the appearance of a keyword in the different web page elements.
• If you have a high quality website and get links from spammy websites, try to contact the website owners and ask them to remove their links. Google will not help you with that.
• It the webmasters of the spammy website are not cooperative, don’t worry and focus on the links that are under your control.
• Google recommends to optimize the many factors than influence indexing and ranking. The top 10 optimizer in our website optimization tool has been designed for exactly that task.
• It analyzes dozens of factors that influence the position of your website in the search results and it shows you what exactly you have to change so that Google will list your website on the first result page.
• Google says that low-quality links rarely stand the test of time and that they may not be considered by Google’s ranking algorithm.
• If you want to make sure Google knows about the spammy links and is valuing them appropriately, you can report them to Google with their spam report or paid links report forms.

The effect of the Yahoo/Microsoft deal on your website

You’ve probably heard about the Yahoo/Microsoft deal. This will have a major impact on the search engine landscape and there definitely will be effects on your website rankings and the number of visitors that your website will get.

The basic facts

Yahoo is going to give up their own search technology and use Microsoft’s search technology instead. Bing.com will power the organic and the paid search results on Yahoo (except for premium ads on Yahoo). Self-serve advertising (i.e. the AdWords competitor) will be managed by Microsoft’s AdCenter. Microsoft will get access to Yahoo’s search technology and can use it to improve its own search technology.

What does this mean for your website?

1. You should optimize for Bing.com.??Yahoo/Bing will have a search market share of at least 15% (that’s the current market share of MSN and Yahoo combined – some statistics show a much higher market share).??If you do not optimize some of your website pages for Bing, you’ll lose a lot of visitors and sales. Fortunately, IBP’s top 10 optimizer already enables you to optimize your website for Bing.??The optimizer works with the US version of Bing as well as with many country versions. Recent research has shown that Bing’s traffic is more likely to convert.

2. Yahoo’s inbound link data will probably be lost.??Yahoo is the search engine that currently returns the most inbound link data. When Yahoo drops its index, that data will probably be lost. We recommend using IBP’s link manager if you want to get an overview of the websites that link to your website.??The link manager in IBP will retrieve all links that are returned by Yahoo, Bing, Google and other search engines.

3. A big PPC provider will be gone, an even bigger provider will appear.??Microsoft will provide the search ads for Yahoo and Bing. Yahoo will close its own paid search offerings. That means that you will be able to manage your ads for both Yahoo and Bing in one user interface. It probably also means rising bid prices on Yahoo and Bing.

4. Yahoo might close some of their websites.??Yahoo might put its Internet directory into question as well as their alternative search applications SearchMonkey and SearchBOSS. Applications such as Yahoo Maps might also be reconsidered because Bing offers similar services.

5. There will be two independent search result pages.??Yahoo will have full control over the user interface of their search form. The ordering of the results, the layout and the whole search focus can be different from Bing. That means that you still might have to optimize your website for both search engines.

2. The overall industry average click fraud rate in Q2 was 12.7%. That’s down from 13.8% for Q1 2009 and from the 16.2% rate reported for Q2 2008. (source: ClickForensics)Click fraud is a type of Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad’s link.

3. The paid clicks in Q2/2009 were up 15 percent year-over-year, but down 2 percent from the first quarter. (source: Google Q2/2009 earnings summary)

read more

We are busy working on our improved crawler and plan to ramp up its workload as we move toward the goal of putting it into full production. As a result, webmasters may begin seeing an increased amount of traffic from the new bot on their sites.

Google specifies the position of a website in its search results by on-page factors and off-page factors. On-page factors are all factors that can be found on your web pages:

Did you optimize the web page for the targeted keyword?
Can search engines find all pages of your website through the links on your website?
Is the HTML code of your web pages error free so that search engine spiders can easily parse your pages?
Does your robots.txt file allow search engine spiders to visit your web pages?
Are your web pages free of all spam elements (no hidden text, no sneaky redirects, no keyword stuffing, cloaking, etc.?
Off-page factors are the factors that cannot be found on your web pages:

How many websites link to your site?
Are these links from related high quality pages?
Do social bookmark websites link to your site?
Do the links to your website include the keywords for which you want to be ranked highly?

82% of search engine users will re-launch their search using the same search engine as they used for their initial search, but add more keywords to refine their subsequent search.

This finding also points to the wish of marketers to not only target a few short, broad terms with their search engine optimization campaigns, but also an abundance of longer, more specific keyword phrases being queried when users are dissatisfied with the results of their initial searches.

These keywords often produce more qualified traffic and higher conversion rates.

This multitude of ultra-specific keywords that generate little traffic and few conversions each, but significant numbers of both collectively, is often referred to as the long tail. (source: iProspect)

• Bing shows a preview of the web pages in the search results when you hover your mouse pointer at the right side of the search results.
• Bing displays fewer results if it is certain that it has understood your intent. The search for “Facebook”, for example, brings up just one result linking to the site itself.
• Some search results are divided into categories. For example, if you search for the popular musician “Justin Timberlake”, you’ll get results in the categories news, songs, movies, biography, wallpaper and downloads. In addition, the search results show images, videos and the popularity of the musician.
• Wikipedia searches can be displayed inline in the search results without leaving the Bing site by clicking the “Enhanced view” link.
• Bing features a different background image every day. The image contains special hidden hotspots that lead you to more information (soon advertising?) about the image.
• Despite the background image, Bing’s homepage loads very quickly in your web browser because the search box and logo load first. You can turn off the background image.
• Bing’s video search lets you watch videos without leaving the search engine.
• Bing offers specific health, shopping and travel search engines, as well as instant answers to travel searches. For instance, the search “Vegas hotels” displays a selection of hotels in Las Vegas, including hotel stars and prices.
• Bing’s search history lets you return to your most recent searches of the last two days. This feature can be turned off to protect your privacy.
• Some of Google’s features are missing, for example, Bing doesn’t seem to recognize misspellings and returns no results in these cases.

Integrated marketing is an approach that relies on consistency and systematic strategy.? It is important to establish consistent images, content, and tone as you create and deliver marketing messages and materials.? A brand can generate greater sustainability over time by doing this.? Establishing consistency between various media and points of distribution will really pay off in the long run.? Aside from a company’s web design and presence on the internet, there are also other media outlets to address.? Print, radio, and television campaigns are very effective for marketing.? However, the effectiveness of all these campaigns depends largely on the integration of each element.

A professional web design company can help in this regard.? You see, it is all about getting the lion’s share while dealing with fewer metrics on performance and lowering overall costs.? Most companies have limited budgets, and that means there is a need to focus on the expenditure of dollars and other resources.? When you create an integrated marketing campaign, the results multiply.? It is possible to set up an outreach strategy that benefits from past messages and builds on that momentum for new marketing messages.

Once of the most prominent examples of this concept is logo design.? Think about some of the most powerful and lasting logos out there.? McDonald’s and Pepsi come to mind as iconic logos that have stood the test of time.? Consistency and long term application is important for a brand logo.? Skillful design sets the foundation.? A web design firm can work to integrate logos for all forms of media.? Developing a sleek logo that can be used in various marketing settings is crucial.? The same is true for other design details.? Marketing materials must flow together across different types of media.? You get better results when you project the same tone and message in your web, print, radio, and TV campaigns.? This is how you build brand recognition and establish a positive image.

Technorati Profile

1. Google has increased the snippet length.

Google now shows an extended snippet for queries that consist of three or more keywords. The idea behind this change is that these multi-word queries are very targeted and complex. The usual short snippet might not contain enough information.

2. Google now shows more related searches at the bottom of the results

When you search for a keyword, Google will display related searches at the bottom (and sometimes at the top) of the search results.

For example, if you search for the keyword “principles of physics”, Google will suggest “angular momentum,” “special relativity,” “big bang” and “quantum mechanic” as related terms that could help you find what you need.

3. Google now shows local results based on IP addresses

Search Google for the keyword “pizza” and you’ll see local results in the middle of the search results. These local results are delivered based on the IP address of the searcher. That means that you will get different results than people in another city.

Google Similar Images changes that. With this feature, after entering in what one is looking for, the results all have a link below them that will find other images like that one. It uses image recognition technology to read the image and match it to others.

Can Microsoft market its way out of the search basement? Probably not, but it’s going to try, entrusting roster agency JWT to craft a campaign for its new search engine, alternately dubbed Kumo or Project Kiev or Live Search, depending on who’s talking about it.

Several screenshots of the interface have been circulating in the blogosphere, and an internal memo about the changes from Microsoft search chief Satya Nadella was posted by AllThingsD. The service is being tested and is expected to make its debut in the summer.

Industry executives expect JWT, part of WPP, to unveil an estimated $80 million to $100 million push for the new search engine in June, with online, TV, print and radio executions. Microsoft spent $361 million on U.S. measured media in 2008, the bulk of it devoted to brand advertising and smaller chunks to other Microsoft brands such as Xbox and MSN, according to TNS Media Intelligence data.

Regardless, the marketing will be an uphill battle. Microsoft’s search engine has languished in third place and has seen its share of the category drop in the past year. Its declined almost 15% from February 2008 to February 2009, when it captured 8.2% of all consumer searches. During the same period, Google grew its share 7% to 63.3%, and Yahoo was up 5% to 20.6% share, according to ComScore.

The losses in share occurred despite Microsoft’s trying some interesting tactics intended to goose usage. Last year, for example, it launched Live Search CashBack, which essentially offered consumers cash discounts when they bought products they had searched for using Live Search.

MySpace has struck a deal with IAC/InterActiveCorp’s Citysearch to collaborate on a local-business project, as it tries to tap into the relatively fast-growing local online-advertising market.

The project, MySpace Local, will feature Citysearch’s database of local business profiles on its site. Users will be able to rate, review and comment on businesses and share those opinions with their friends on the network.

MySpace executives say they hope the initiative will open up a new revenue stream for the social networking site. Citysearch charges advertisers a fee when consumers take certain actions, such as downloading a menu for a restaurant. The two companies plan to split revenues when MySpace users access Citysearch content via MySpace Local. MySpace also is selling sponsorship of the local initiative to national marketers, with Outback Steakhouse and Coors as the initial sponsors.

While MySpace is great for kids and musicians, I’m not aware of anyone else using it. It doesn’t mean they aren’t. Just an observation on the people we work with every day.

Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. remain strong, topping $23 billion, according to the 2008 Internet Advertising Revenue Report, released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). Despite a difficult U.S. economy, interactive advertising?s continued growth, albeit at a slower pace, confirms marketers’ increased recognition of the medium?s value in reaching consumers online where they are spending more and more of their time.

Search remains the main driver of revenue growth according to the report, showing a 19.8% increase over 2007. Digital video, though still a small overall contributor, more than doubled its revenue with an increase to $734 million from $324 million in 2007, demonstrating how both marketers and consumers are embracing this dynamic platform.

As in 2007, retail, financial services, computing and automotive remained the four largest verticals among Internet advertisers in 2008. Consumer packaged goods, an industry vertical historically slow to embrace interactive advertising, notably increased its share of total Internet ad revenues by 60 percent over 2007. The Internet is now the third largest ad-supported medium, marking its increasing significance to marketers and consumers.

Conducted by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the Internet Advertising Revenue Report was launched in 1996 by the IAB, and aggregates data from all companies that report meaningful online advertising revenues. The results are considered the most accurate measurement of interactive advertising revenues with the data compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from Web sites, commercial online services, ad networks, free e-mail providers, and all other companies selling online advertising. First and third quarter revenue reports are estimates, with the actual figures being released along with second and fourth quarter data respectively. PwC does not audit the information and provides no opinion or other form of assurance with respect to the information.

Great news for any firm in the web design industry. Even better news for full service interactive marketing firms like DoubleDome.

Not so long ago, a report on Hispanic Americans’ Internet usage would likely have been focusing on a “digital divide,” with Hispanic and other minorities lagging far behind the general population in online access and activity. The title of a Scarborough Research report released today, “The Power of the Hispanic Consumer Online,” gives a quick hint at how times have changed. The report finds Hispanic Internet users to be “avid downloaders of digital content,” thanks in part to a broadband adoption rate mirroring that of the nation’s overall online population.

Scarborough says 54 percent of Hispanic adults are online, vs. 69 percent of total U.S. adults. (If anything, the gap is likely to be narrower now, as the national data for the report were gathered between February 2007 and March 2008.) Among Hispanics who are online, 68 percent have a broadband connection in their household, as do 71 percent of U.S. Internet users in general.

In Scarborough’s polling, 42 percent of Hispanic Internet users (vs. 35 percent of Internet users in general) reported downloading some sort of digital content in the 30 days before being questioned. And what have they been downloading? As with the total online population, Hispanic Internet users are most likely to be latching onto music. Thirty-two percent of wired Hispanics reported having done so in the previous 30 days, vs. 24 percent of Internet users in general. Seventeen percent of online Hispanics (and 14 percent of all wired respondents) reported downloading something in the catchall “other video” category within that period.

Fewer Hispanic respondents said they’d downloaded audio clips (11 percent), movies (9 percent), TV programs (8 percent), video games (6 percent) or podcasts (3 percent) within that 30-day period. Aside from podcasts, the incidence of downloading in each category was slightly lower among Internet users in general than it was for the study’s Hispanic respondents. Scarborough (a joint venture between Arbitron and AdweekMedia parent The Nielsen Co.) notes that younger Hispanic adults were, as you’d expect, more likely than their elders to have downloaded digital content in the previous 30 days, with 51 percent of the 18-34-year-olds saying they’d done so.

Another section of the report notes that mobile devices are “an important point of Internet entry” for Hispanic adults. Among Hispanic cell-phone subscribers, 55 percent use it for text messaging, 28 percent for picture messaging, 22 percent for instant messaging, 15 percent for downloading video games, 15 percent for e-mail and 11 percent for “other” Internet usage. Here again, the polling finds Hispanic respondents more likely than cell-phone users in general to use the device in these ways.

When it comes to buying online, Scarborough found Hispanic Internet users lagging behind the total online population — but not by much. Sixty-two percent of online Hispanic adults reported having made at least one online purchase in the previous 12 months, vs. 70 percent of Internet users in general. Among those who did make such purchases, the average spent in the previous 12 months was $762 for Hispanic respondents and $861 for Internet users generally.

The report also took a look at some metro areas that have disproportionate numbers of Hispanic adults. Among the findings about these markets: The incidence of broadband access among online Hispanics was particularly high in Miami (76 percent), San Francisco (75 percent) and New York (72 percent). The incidence of past-30-day downloading among Hispanic Internet users was highest in Phoenix (60 percent). The average amount of online spending, among Hispanics who’d made any online purchase in the prior 12 months, was highest in New York (at $883), San Francisco ($879) and Phoenix ($831).

The same goes for photos: On countless sites, product images are too small, fuzzy, or they’re simply shot from a bad angle, making the product hard to see.

Attention to details for both will help generate leads from new site visitors, and keep existing site visitors.