Archive for 2009

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Google Webmaster Tools Sitemaps

October 3, 2009

I purchased domain mapping from WordPress.com to move posts from this blog’s original address @ cohn.wordpress.com to my SearchMarketingCommunications.com domain.

After I bought the domain mapping service, my blog went from having a Page Rank of 5 to a Page Rank of 0.

To add insult to injury, my WordPress blog then effectively lost most of its several hundred visitors a day traffic.

To keep up with the carnage, I added Google Webmaster Tools to the site as suggested.

Although I have been able to get some of my pages back into Google’s index, my site’s Page Rank has not returned nor has my traffic.

I recently resubmitted my WordPress sitemap after Google Webmaster tools said it discovered errors.

Google Webmaster Tools Sitemaps

Google Webmaster Tools Sitemaps

I am waiting to see whetherthe WordPress. com sitemaps.xml file I have submitted will be error free or not.

Sitemaps Resubmitted

Sitemaps Resubmitted

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Posted in Domain Mapping, Google Webmaster Tools Sitemaps, Wordpress.com | Leave a Comment »

Adwords Interface Total All Campaigns Columns Mismatched

October 2, 2009

Google Adwords recently added a view-through conversion column to display a new level of content network ad performance data in the Adwords interface.

While studying the September performance of one of my accounts, I noticed the “Total – all campaigns” horizontal table at the bottom of my account was askew relative to their vertical table category counterparts.

The addition of the new “view through conversions” table appears to have not yet been integrated into or matched with the total all campaigns fields.

In the screen shot below, I paused all of my campaigns to illustrate how the column categories at the top don’t match up with the total all campaigns data at the bottom.

Adwords Interface Display Columns

Adwords Interface Display Columns

I thought I might possibly be getting mismatched data because I hadn’t scheduled any content network advertising.

Without content network advertising enabled, the account won’t be receiving any view-through conversion data.

Nope.

I went to one of my accounts where content advertising is scheduled and although I have yet to receive any view-through conversion data – this account too has mismatched total all campaigns columns and data.

Content Network Enabled Interface Display

Content Network Enabled Interface Display

As you can see in both accounts with and without content advertising enabled, the Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Avg. CPC, Cost, Avg. Pos., Conv. (1-per-click), Cost / conv. (1-per-click), Conv. rate (1-per-click) and View-through Conv. are instead positioned and aligned over the
Budget, Status, Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Avg. CPC, Cost, Avg. Pos., Conv. (1-per-click) and Cost / conv. (1-per-click) columns.

I am not a programmer, but it appears the Adwords team needs to add the Budget and Status columns to get all of the totals columns aligned properly.

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Posted in Adwords Interface Total All Campaigns Columns Mismatched, Content Network, View Through Conversion | 1 Comment »

Yahoo Sponsored Search Ads Now Reach iPhones and Androids

October 1, 2009

The Yahoo Search Marketing blog has announced Yahoo sponsored search ads now reach the mobile audience.

From the Yahoo search team:

You’ve probably noticed that for a lot of consumers, surfing the Web increasingly doesn’t depend upon the PC. That’s why, as of today, we’ve tweaked our Yahoo! Sponsored Search system to serve your ads to iPhone (all models, including iTouch) and Android mobile phones.

The coolest part is you don’t have to do anything to expand the reach of your ads. We’ve done it for you. As of today, your ads should begin appearing immediately on these devices for relevant searches, if they have not already.

With this tweak, standard Sponsored Search ads (40-character header, 70-character description, the host URL—you know the drill) will appear on these mobile devices, giving your ads wider appeal and more relevancy to people on the go—potential customers searching for your offerings, whether you’re offering dry cleaning or a dry martini.

Yahoo advertisers will be able to target the mobile audience exclusively with Yahoo Mobile Sponsored Search when it become available.

Yahoo Mobile Sponsored Search Registration

Yahoo Mobile Sponsored Search Registration

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Posted in Android, iPhone, Yahoo Mobile Sponsored Search, Yahoo Sponsored Search Ads | Leave a Comment »

Google Local Search Results Lotto

September 30, 2009

Mike Blumenthal recently reported several instances of Google delivering authoritative OneBox results for general search phrases.

His “Big Boobs Bounce Back to Top of Google Maps” details how aggressive optimization has been used to produce multiple listing results for the same business yet under different but related general keyword phrases.

As Blumenthal points out. the new spammy results probably weren’t the type Google had intended to produce when they instituted changes to their local search results recently.

Whether Google’s local search results tweak was intended to produce the results it has or not, their changes have introduced a variety of new and different results types for local searches across several different business categories.

Businesses who have received an authoritative Onebox as a result of these recent Google changes might feel they have won something akin to the Google Local Search Lotto.

For those businesses on the other side of an authoritative Onebox result and the now non-existent “more results near” link who have seen their local search presence and traffic disappear the feeling most certainly isn’t mutual.

I came across one such category – luxury apartments – where Google’s new local search results are uneven at best.

Searching for luxury apartments in New York – surely the largest luxury apartment market in America – produces an authoritative OneBox result for a single property.

Luxury Apartments New York

Luxury Apartments New York

The same search in Boston for luxury apartments also produces a single authoritative OneBox result.

In both these examples, the most disconcerting aspect of their OneBox result is that Google has also removed the “more results near…” link to additional listings which are otherwise offered in location specific general category searches.

Luxury Apartments Boston

Luxury Apartments Boston

The same category search for luxury apartments in San Francisco produces not an authoritative Onebox result for a single luxury apartment building but three luxury apartment listings.

Luxury Apartmetns San Francisco

Luxury Apartmetns San Francisco

Same search phrase, different city, different number of results.

Why just one result in New York and Boston, but three in San Francisco?

To complicate matters further, the same search for luxury apartments in Dallas produces a list of ten results.

Luxury Apartments Dallas

Luxury Apartments Dallas

In both the San Francisco and Dallas examples, Google provides links to additional results while in the New York and Boston examples Google doesn’t.

Why do some market category search results produce clear Google Local Search winners while other markets do not?

Have the odds of a finding a business under its respective category in a location specific Google web search grown as long and as remote as winning the lotto?

Or has the presence of authoritative Onebox search results created a new class of local business winners and losers?

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Posted in Authoritative OneBox, Google Local Search Lotto, Google Maps, Google Search | 2 Comments »

Innovative Conversion Technique

September 29, 2009

I went to the Twitter account of a CMO I follow today and followed the url link to his company’s web site.

Once there I found what I think is an innovative incentivized squeeze conversion banner box (I know its a mouthful but I don’t know what else to call it)

Notice the pink box at the bottom of the home page?

What do you think – do you think it works?

Innovative Squeeze Banner Conversion Box

Innovative Squeeze Banner Conversion Box

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Posted in CMO, Innovative Conversion Technique, Squeeze Banner Box | Leave a Comment »

Google Adwords Service Ads with Icons

September 28, 2009

Today I noticed for the first time on Google Maps ads with service icons embedded in the sponsored links results.

Google Maps Adwords Services Images

Google Maps Adwords Services Images

It looks like these types of ads fall under the purview of Google Advertising policies for ads with ad extensions.

Searching within Adwords help, I found the following explanation on how to add an icon to a location extension.

Icon Location Extensions in Google Maps

Icon Location Extensions in Google Maps

I then found more information about Google’s requirements for uploading Business Images or Icons:

Google Adwords Business Image or Icon

Google Adwords Business Image or Icon

I have yet to try this out for myself or any of my clients but will give it a try when and where it becomes appropriate.

I wonder what percentage of Google’s 1+ million advertisers will ultimately embrace and adopt business image or icon use within their Google advertising campaigns?

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Posted in Business Image Icons, Google Adwords Ad Extensions, Google Adwords Service Ads, Google Maps, Google Maps Advertising, Sponsored Links | 1 Comment »

Twitter Tweets Per Day Spike

September 27, 2009

This past week, Twitter announced they were receiving a $100 million investment from both existing investors and some new ones.

Hitwise analyst Bill Tancer wrote a post suggesting Twitter’s traffic may have already peaked and leveled out.

Indeed, several online audience measurement services have suggested for a month or longer that Twitter new visitor traffic and existing traffic retention may have already peaked.

However, last week Twitter announced a new partnership with AOL’s AIM instant messaging service that may have impacted Twitter’s daily Tweet volume which appears to more than doubled at least according to GigaTweet.

Tweets Per Day

Tweets Per Day

I commented on the Hitwise blog about the apparent spike in traffic and Hitwise has chosen not to add my comments.

This isn’t the first time analyst Tancer hasn’t posted my comments.

The last time was when MySpace downstream referrals indicated they would be an attractive take over target – which they became when News Corp. bought them.

Regardless of whether a commenter is right or wrong, Hitwise’s Bill Tancer is the only blogger who’s blog I have commented on who won’t post an opionion contrary to his own.

I wonder why?

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Posted in AIM, AOL, Hitwise, Tweets, Twitter | Leave a Comment »

Google Adwords Keyword Tool Beta

September 26, 2009

Google Adwords has added a Keyword Tool Beta to help Adword’s advertisers reach a larger share of Google’s search audience.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool Beta

Google Adwords Keyword Tool Beta

Clicking on Keyword Tool under the Opportunities tab in an Adwords account takes advertisers to an internal page with a Check out the new Keyword Tool (Beta) link.

New Keyword Tool Interface

New Keyword Tool Interface

Advertisers can then enter keywords or a website to generate a list of keywords to evaluate and explore further.

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Posted in Search Audience | Leave a Comment »

Google Sidewiki

September 25, 2009

Google has launched a new product called Sidewiki.

From the Official Google blog:

What if everyone, from a local expert to a renowned doctor, had an easy way of sharing their insights with you about any page on the web? What if you could add your own insights for others who are passing through?

Now you can. Today, we’re launching Google Sidewiki, which allows you to contribute helpful information next to any webpage. Google Sidewiki appears as a browser sidebar, where you can read and write entries along the side of the page.

We’re releasing Google Sidewiki as a feature of Google Toolbar (for Firefox and Internet Explorer) and we’re working on making it available in Google Chrome and elsewhere too. We also have the first version of our API available today to let anyone work freely with the content that’s created in Sidewiki.

Start exploring the web with Google Sidewiki by visiting google.com/sidewiki to download the Google Toolbar with Sidewiki and begin contributing your own entries alongside pages on the web.

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Posted in Google Sidewiki | Leave a Comment »

Google Blog Search Related Blogs Results

September 24, 2009

This blog’s WordPress search engine referrals data often reports “marketing comunications” as a keyword source.

However, this site isn’t in the top 100 results for  “marketing communications” in either Google or Yahoo.

Search Engine Rank

Search Engine Rank

Although SearchMarketingCommunications.com doesn’t rank in the top 100 results in Google’s or Yahoo’s web index for marketing communications, I have discovered it appears to rank first for related blogs in Google Blog Search.

Google Blog Search

Google Blog Search

Google Blog Search must be the referral source for the “marketing communications” search engine queries.

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Posted in Google Blog Search Related Blogs, Marketing Communications, Search Marketing Communications, Search Referrals, Wordpress | Leave a Comment »

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