Search Engines
SMX West – San Jose
I attended Search Marketing Expo (SMX) today in San Jose, attending the search engine marketing sessions to stay informed of industry updates. My breakout session with adCenter was especially helpful.
I learned about the new Bing Webmaster Tools API from some Microsoft reps at their booth. The adCenter update includes a markup validation tool, a keyword research tool, and a Bing Webmaster Tools API.
After hearing hours of presentations today, I stumbled upon the following 9 minute video of Steve Jobs introducing the iPod for the first time.
iPod. Job’s Beethoven 5.
MC Hammer’s New Search Engine
MC Hammer launches a new search engine named WireDoo.com. The page begs for your name and email at the moment. Is this Hammer’s way of gather user info to pleasure us all with spam email? My advice: Don’t sign up for the beta.
Will the search engine succeed? Not a chance. I bet the top misspell of the URL, wiredo.com, will gather some business though. It’s the first place I landed.
Perhaps the recent publicity will boost some sales for Hammer on iTunes. I admit I almost downloaded the “Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em” album today after watching the following YouTube video. However, I decided to spend my money on a digital version of “The Dark Knight” for my iPhone instead.
Blekko – A New Search Engine
The new search engine Blekko launched today. Blekko claims they can eliminate spam across their search results by using its original “slashtag technology.” By creating a profile, you can then login and start to slashtag results. In Blekko’s words, “Blekko is a better way to search the web by using slashtags. Slashtags search only the sites you want and cut out the spam sites. Slash the web.”
Surprisingly enough, I couldn’t find any official Youtube videos explaining or advertising Blekko. However, I did find a video interview with the CEO explaining his reasoning behind the business model.
I am very hopeful that someone else enters the search game to give Google and Microsoft/Yahoo competition. I’m concerned that the name Blekko isn’t memorable and is hard to spell. Also, they don’t own the popular misspell “Bleko.com.” I also question if users will want to be involved in slashing through search results. Isn’t that the technologies job?
Microsoft + Yahoo = Opportunity for Google
The Wall Street Journal speculates that the recent deal between Yahoo and Microsoft gives Google an opportunity to “…refine its technology and craft a counter strategy….”
I absolutely agree.
Google works at the speed of light. Considering that both Yahoo and Microsoft have proven to struggle with fast roll-outs and technology updates, Google will have two solid years to progress and gain market share before Microhoo launches. The partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo will slow down the company’s research and development as their main focus will be on the partnership. Fusing the Microsoft and Yahoo technologies will be quite the project over the next two years.
I expect that the already well oiled Google machine will leave the others so far behind that they will never be able to catch up.
Do I want this to happen? Of course not. While I love Google, I do think competition in the market place is better for consumers and shareholders. I worry that Microsoft + Yahoo will turn into one of the largest messes we’ve seen thus far in the dot com world. I hope instead that the companies work well together and create solid competition for Google.
-Luke Hubbard
Which Search Engine First?
If you are new to search engine marketing (SEM), you may be asking “Which Search Engine should I launch first?” or “Which search engine will have the best ROI?”
If you’re a relatively small advertiser, meaning you’re not working with an advertising agency, then set-up your accounts in this order: Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com. If you are working with an advertising agency, they’ll probably launch all 4 at once and you have nothing to worry about.
Google Adwords
First, sign-up for Google Adwords as it has the easiest system to use. Search engine marketing is extremely complex, but Google has done the best job so far in making it easy for small advertisers to get an account up and running. Adwords has the largest market share of all the search engines and also has the most refined algorithm.
Because Google is the friendliest system to use, and because it has the largest market share, there is more competition for high rankings and possibly higher Cost-per-Clicks (CPCs) for your ads. All in all, don’t let this hinder you from signing up as Google does an excellent job at showing ads to a relevant audience. Some of your keyword CPCs may be slightly higher on Google, but they’ll be to a targeted audience and hopefully provide a solid ROI.
The last reason to launch with Google first is Google’s free Analytics tool and tracking capabilities. For all you numbers geeks out there, you’ll absolutely love drowning yourself in data. Google gives you as little or as much data as you want so have fun digging deep into the numbers for hours on end.
Note that by signing up on Google and staying opted in to their partner search listings, your ads will automatically show on AOL and Ask.com.
Yahoo Search Marketing
Second, launch on Yahoo as it provides solid results and has a user friendly system named “Panama.” Yahoo is second to Google in market share and has also done an excellent job at refining their algorithm to show relevant advertising results. An optimized Yahoo campaign will provide fantastic marketing for your company.
MSN Microsoft Adcenter
You’d think that Microsoft would have dominated the search marketing space by now, but unfortunately their market share has consistently lagged behind Google and Yahoo. MSN will provide you will far less volume that Google and Yahoo, but will usually provide a stronger ROI. The reason is simple; there is less competition on MSN and lower CPCs. Keep in mind that MSN’s system isn’t quite as easy to use as Google or Yahoo. Also, don’t expect to get massive results from this engine as the search volume simply isn’t there.
Ask Sponsored Listings
The last engine to launch is Ask.com. The main reason is simply because if you launch on Google and opt into their partner network, you’ll automatically show on Ask.com. Ask provides a solid experience for consumers, but their advertising platform is not uniform to the other three search engines. A beginner will find the system more difficult to use. Also, the ROI results are often strong, but come in last place compared to the other search engines in general.
On a final note, keep in mind that SEM in general will be your most efficient advertising medium. If you are a small company with limited dollars to spend in advertising, I say go first to SEM.
Search Engine Submission Links
Wondering where to go to submit your website to the search engines?
To have your website crawled by the search engine spiders, so that it begins to show up in search engine results, simply go to each of the links below. Each link will ask you to submit your site URL such as http://www.lukehubbard.com
Note that the following three search engines make up over 90% of all search engine traffic. Do NOT get ripped off and pay someone to submit your site to all the thousands of small search engines. If your site is well optimized and offers value, it will begin to show up in those search engines anyway. In fact, if you have a fantastic site, you don’t even need to submit it to the links below as chances are that the search engines will find you anyway. However, if you’re a new site and want to ensure that you’ll get found by the search engine crawlers, then go to each of the links below.
Link Building
Here’s a great article on link building opportunities that I found on Search Engine Watch.
Don’t Overlook These Link Building Opportunities – Search Engine Watch (SEW).
In Summary, the article basically says that you shouldn’t scoff at any link building opportunities including links from new sites, sites with low page rank, or temporary pages. Basically, all links have a value and can help your overall site traffic goal.
