The Search Engine Marketing Weblog http://sem.weblogsinc.com The Search Engine Marketing Weblog http://sem.weblogsinc.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Search Engine Marketing Weblog http://sem.weblogsinc.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[The SEM blog is retiring]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/08/02/the-sem-blog-is-retiring/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/08/02/the-sem-blog-is-retiring/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/08/02/the-sem-blog-is-retiring/#comments
Chris Gilmer, who has been posting here lately, is still with us! You can find Chris writing on Download Squad, our software and online services blog.

Although our editorial priorities have changed over the nearly three years of operation, we do not remove retired blogs. the SEM blog will remain available as an archive (and not a badly optimized one!). Thanks to everyone for reading.
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]]>2006-08-02T15:34:00+00:00<![CDATA[Yahoo! releases Slurp]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/yahoo-releases-slurp/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/yahoo-releases-slurp/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/yahoo-releases-slurp/#comments

Yahoo has released a new search crawler. Meet Slurp, a more efficient website visiting engine. Yahoo has estimated that website owners will see a 25% reduction in the number of requests coming from Yahoo servers, thus decreasing bandwidth.

Yahoo has said that some slight changes might occur with page shuffling, and ranking changes.

Yahoo does have a feedback form for any conerns that you might have with the new search crawler.

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]]>searchsearch crawlersearch enginesearch engine marketingsearch resultsSearchCrawlerSearchEngineSearchEngineMarketingSearchResultssemseoslurpyahoo2006-07-31T17:25:00+00:00<![CDATA[Finding Search related Jobs]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/finding-search-related-jobs/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/finding-search-related-jobs/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/finding-search-related-jobs/#comments

Jobs in Search is exactly what it says. Jobs in the search industry. If you are looking for a job at a Search Engine company, Search Engine Marketing firm, Search Engine Optimization company, New Media, Digital Media, and any company that provides services and products aimed at the search industry, this is a site to look into.

JobsInSearch.com has special sections for SEO and SEM resources, Events, Search News, and Industry experts.

[via Loren Baker]

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]]>digital mediaDigitalMediaeventsjobsinsearchnew mediaNewMediasearch engine optimizationsearch jobssearch marketingSearchEngineOptimizationSearchJobsSearchMarketingsemseo2006-07-31T15:45:00+00:00<![CDATA[Matt Cutts Answers some questions on Google Video]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/matt-cutts-answers-some-questions-on-google-video/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/matt-cutts-answers-some-questions-on-google-video/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/31/matt-cutts-answers-some-questions-on-google-video/#comments

Google's Matt Cutts answered some questions recently on Google Video. Check these videos out if you are really into search, Matt has some good thoughts down.

Cutts went over the Qualities of a good site, SEO myths, and Optimizing for Search Engines or for Users.

The videos were freshly shot this weekend, and are the personal views of Matt, and not necessarily of his famous employers. Excellent Read.

[via Philipp Lenssen]

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]]>googlegoogle videoGoogleVideomatt cuttsMattCuttssearchsearch engineSearchEngineseo2006-07-31T15:30:00+00:00<![CDATA[Community Powered Search]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/28/community-powered-search/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/28/community-powered-search/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/28/community-powered-search/#commentsswickiEurekster is a different kind of search engine. It is based on community decisions on what the top results should be.

What you would have to do to get inclusion into Eurekster is to create your own swicki. It would be tailored to your particular interests. The swicki will then scan all of the updated pages from your particular site. As people use your particular swicki, the system will learn behaviors of people, and rank your site accordingly.

In a basic approach, a Swicki is a search engine that learns from your users. Results are produced for relevancy, and a buzzcloud of searches are created based on only what users care about.
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]]>searchsearch engineSearchEnginesemswicki2006-07-28T16:01:00+00:00<![CDATA[Top Keyword Terms Companies are Buying]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/27/top-keyword-terms-companies-are-buying/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/27/top-keyword-terms-companies-are-buying/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/27/top-keyword-terms-companies-are-buying/#comments
Its a pretty interesting list that shows the top 3 keywords that are bought by some major companies.

Here is a sample of that list:
  • eBay - myspace, ebay, maps
  • NexTag.com - dell, airlines, ipod
  • Vonage - verizon+dsl, at&t, sprint
  • Time Warner - mapquest, dictionary, maps
  • Amazon.com - books, haunted+lighthouses, log+splitters
  • Microsoft - hotmail, mortgage+calculator, movies

I think by far, Amazon.com has the best list.

Clickz has some other charts from the report that show the Advertising Breakdown by Industry, Advertising Breakdown by Ad Unit Types, and Top 25 Companies by Sponsored Link Impressions.

[via ZDnet ]
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]]>amazonebaykeywordsmicrosoftnextagsponsored linkSponsoredLinktime warnerTimeWarnervonage2006-07-27T13:57:00+00:00<![CDATA[Become helps you search a little closer]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/become-helps-you-search-a-little-closer/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/become-helps-you-search-a-little-closer/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/become-helps-you-search-a-little-closer/#commentsBecome.com's search is now a little more tailored to your exact expectations when it comes to results. Their results are filtered by Product Reviews, Buying Guides, Discussion Forums, and Product Details.

Your first search results give you a look at all of the results together. However, Become has added in sub searches that categorize and filters the results based on the 4 research topics of Product Reviews, Buying Guides, Discussion Forums, and Product Details. Searches also dump recommended products with images to the right of the results, based on what you have searched for. It's like a little shop built right into your search results. From there you can also customize the shopping by process or brand.

Become makes for a much more targeted and fun approach to search. Would I use it as my main search engine? No. I still prefer Google for their high quality lists of results.
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]]>becomemarketingsearchsearch enginesearch resultsSearchEngineSearchResultssem2006-07-24T18:30:00+00:00<![CDATA[Tracking a package through MSN Search]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/tracking-a-package-through-msn-search/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/tracking-a-package-through-msn-search/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/tracking-a-package-through-msn-search/#commentsjust announced that you can track packages through its MSN Search portal.

To track packages with MSN Search, simply head to search.msn.com, and enter your FedEx, DHL, UPS, or USPS tracking number.

MSN package tracker is one of the MSN Instant Answer search tools. Its great that search engines are providing all of these additional features to make our lives even more easier. But as the features grow, so does the competition and battle for the top search engine.

Who knew that search could be this exciting?
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]]>dhlfedexinstant answerInstantAnswermsn searchMsnSearchsearchsearch enginesearch engine marketingSearchEngineSearchEngineMarketingsemtrack packageTrackPackageupsusps2006-07-24T17:30:00+00:00<![CDATA[Make Money by Domain Parking]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/make-money-by-domain-parking/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/make-money-by-domain-parking/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/make-money-by-domain-parking/#commentsGoDaddy has set up a new service whereby webmasters can earn a profit based on clicks to their parked domains.

The program is targeted at owners of small amounts of domains in their portfolio. GoDaddy serves ads that are based on the domain name, and the analysis of what people click on and search for in the site.

This new service, CashParking, not only helps webmasters make a few extra dollars, but provides another means by which websites and companies can get search related traffic through links on unique domain names that are not as yet built out.
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]]>adsdomaindomain parkingDomainParkinggodaddysearchsearch adssearch engineSearchAdsSearchEnginesem2006-07-24T16:21:00+00:00<![CDATA[MSN Revenues Decline]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/msn-revenues-decline/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/msn-revenues-decline/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/24/msn-revenues-decline/#commentsClickZ has reported that last year MSN hit $598 million, and this year at the same time they are at $580 million in revenue.

This is supposedly mostly due to to the large amounts MSN has been dumping into the Live.com search property, adCenter, and MSN search in general.

MSN has stated that it is transitioning into home grown ads with MSN's adCenter as opposed to its previous sponsored ads. Microsofts CFO said in a conference call with investors that they are aiming at having 100% of their business targeted on adCenter. Thus Microsoft is planning on spending over $500 million in developing its online services portion of their business. Including Live.com, and Search.

MSN does not expect to be profitable in 2007 due to these spends on investments.
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]]>adcenterlivemicrosoftmsnsearchsearch engine marketingSearchEngineMarketingsem2006-07-24T16:14:00+00:00<![CDATA[Yahoo Ads in eBay]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/yahoo-ads-in-ebay/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/yahoo-ads-in-ebay/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/yahoo-ads-in-ebay/#commentsyahoo ebay adsAs a result of eBay and Yahoo's partnership, Yahoo has begun to display ads on eBay auction search results pages. The terms of the deal also include Paypal integration into Yahoo Channels and Yahoo Search.

The ads have just been starting to show up in the results pages, and I personally have yet to come across them in any pf my searches, however Loren Baker suggested searching for a misspelling "burberry rain boats" to get results. Through this search I was able to see the nicely integrated ads, offering the corrected spelling products.
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]]>adsebayebay adsEbayAdsonline adsOnlineAdsyahooyahoo adsYahooAds2006-07-20T13:45:00+00:00<![CDATA[Yahoo and Zillow Home Valuation]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/yahoo-and-zillow-home-valuation/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/yahoo-and-zillow-home-valuation/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/yahoo-and-zillow-home-valuation/#commentsyahoo zillow home price mapYahoo has teamed up with Zillow to create a home valuation search on Yahoo real estate.

The value of homes can easily be searched for free, and users can find an instant home value estimation based on homes in the general area of your search.

When you search for a residence, a map with your area is put together with 10 other comparable properties in the area are drawn out. Yahoo has also integrated a trend graph to show price trends historically for the area in question.
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]]>home pricehome valuationHomePricehomesHomeValuationmapspropertiesreal estateRealEstatesearchyahoozillow2006-07-20T11:59:00+00:00<![CDATA[LookSmart Publisher platform]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/looksmart-publisher-platform/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/looksmart-publisher-platform/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/20/looksmart-publisher-platform/#commentslooksmart adsLooksmart has released its new publisher platform. The new publisher ad platform works much like other search engine publisher platforms, whereas ads are easily displayed on sites, and generate revenue per click.

Through LookSmarts AdCenter you can sell online ads directly on your site to advertisers, and actually determine your own CPC's. This approach helps publishers grow direct relationships with advertisers.

LookSmart allows you the opportunity to white label AdCenter solutions. The hosting, sales, and service are fully hosted through LookSmart, and pricing is fully determined by you.
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]]>adcenteradscpclooksmartonline adsOnlineAdspublishersearch enginesearch engine marketingSearchEngineSearchEngineMarketingsem2006-07-20T11:45:00+00:00<![CDATA[YouTube leads the video search marketplace]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/17/youtube-leads-the-video-search-marketplace/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/17/youtube-leads-the-video-search-marketplace/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/17/youtube-leads-the-video-search-marketplace/#comments
YouTube hosts any video it seems. From full length feature pirated movies, to news stories, video blog entries, a ton of just plain personal videos of the dog running around, to just plain hilarious videos of senior citizens dancing helping add to the 20 million visitors per month.

Hitwise just released some stats on YouTube, and their amazing 60% share of all videos watched online in the US. Compare that with Yahoo, MSN, and Google's share of only 3-5%, and you can see why YouTube is a video traffic genius. The company gets around 100 million video's viewed per day, and YouTube has said that they had 2.5 billion videos watched per day last month.

If you think there is nothing to see in the video search marketplace, look again, it's hotter then ever, and YouTube is steaming up the web.
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]]>googlemsnsearchsearch engine marketingSearchEngineMarketingsemvideovideo searchVideoSearchyahooyoutube2006-07-17T09:09:00+00:00<![CDATA[Google will not take enterprise search away from us - Microsoft]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/14/google-will-not-take-enterprise-search-away-from-us-microsoft/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/14/google-will-not-take-enterprise-search-away-from-us-microsoft/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/14/google-will-not-take-enterprise-search-away-from-us-microsoft/#comments

microsofts old logoMicrosoft thinks that enterprise search belongs to them. Even though Google has been in the game since the early 2000's.

Recently that's what Microsoft wants to believe. Their COO Kevin Turner supposedly told The Register, that enterprise search is their business, and Google isn't going to take it from them.

Microsoft looks like they are again, getting a little intimidated about the step ahead that Google has in the search industry at large. Google has been in this sector a while, if anything, maybe its Microsoft that is trying to do a little market stealing here.

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]]>enterprise searchEnterpriseSearchgooglegoogle newsGoogleNewsKevin TurnerKevinTurnermicrosoftsearch enginesearch engine marketingSearchEngineSearchEngineMarketingsem2006-07-14T15:09:00+00:00<![CDATA[Kayak's New Ad Campaign]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/kayaks-new-ad-campaign/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/kayaks-new-ad-campaign/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/kayaks-new-ad-campaign/#commentsKayak.com the travel site, by the creators Expedia, have launched a brand new ad campaign that had a price tag of $10 million.

Kayak is a travel search engine, not a travel agency, design to give customers the best deal possible, and help finding travel related products and supplies.

Kayak gets paid through clickage on ads that are displayed on their system, for anything from hotels, airlines, and rental cars. Kayak's whole deal is that they are not trying to sell their visitors anything, they are just providing the best information for them to make their own decisions.

In this first new ad campaign of Kayak's, they take a satirical campaign that supposedly isnt at a location where others would go. The campaign uses a provocative approach to humor.

All of Kayak's new ads can be seen on their corporate website.
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]]>adscommercialskayaksearchsearch enginesearch engine marketingSearchEngineSearchEngineMarketingsemtraveltravel searchTravelSearch2006-07-12T17:10:00+00:00<![CDATA[Microsoft Live's new markets]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/microsoft-lives-new-markets/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/microsoft-lives-new-markets/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/microsoft-lives-new-markets/#commentsThe Microsoft Live team has just launched the Live search service into 34 new markets.

The new markets include:

China - Simplified Chinese
Netherlands - Dutch
Belgium - French
Belgium - Dutch
Brazil - Brazilian Portuguese
Denmark - Danish
India - English
Russia - Russian
Sweden - Swedish
Taiwan - Traditional Chinese
Arabia - English
Argentina - Spanish
Austria - German
Chile - Spanish
Finland - Finnish
Greece - Greek
Hong Kong SAR - Traditional Chinese
Hungary - Hungarian
Indonesia - English
Ireland - English
Malaysia - English
New Zealand - English
Philippines - English
Poland - Polish
Portugal - Brazilian Portuguese
Singapore - English
South Africa - English
Switzerland - German
Switzerland - French
Turkey - Turkish
Czech Republic - Czech
Slovakia - Slovak
Slovenia - Slovenian
Latin America - Spanish

Microsoft is on the run, trying to launch into as many markets as it can in an effort, im sure, to stay side by side with its main competition in the search world, Google.
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]]>live searchLiveSearchmicrosoftmsnmsn liveMsnLivesearchsearch engine marketingSearchEngineMarketingsem2006-07-12T16:53:00+00:00<![CDATA[Superpages now uses Microsofts Maps]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/superpages-now-uses-microsofts-maps/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/superpages-now-uses-microsofts-maps/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/12/superpages-now-uses-microsofts-maps/#commentsApparently the Superpages.com directory has made the change into using Microsofts Live Local virtual earth maps. Not sure when this change occurred, but Greg Sterling has recently noticed this update.

It's a nice new feature for Superpages to ad to their local directory. It adds a nice touch for local searchers. The current version of the maps embedded into the Superpages directory has three views, standard, aerial, and birds eye.

As recently reported, Superpages.com is rumored to be up for sale from Verizon.
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]]>local searchLocalSearchsearchsearch engine marketingSearchEngineMarketingsemsuperpages2006-07-12T16:40:00+00:00<![CDATA[Search Engine bid management]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/10/search-engine-bid-management/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/10/search-engine-bid-management/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/10/search-engine-bid-management/#commentsnew tool on the market for automated search engine bid management. It has been developed by Efficient Frontier and Enlighten.

The tool will help in making the bid managements process more scientific and more efficient when dealing with the most complex paid search campaigns.

Efficient Frontier is focused on delivering advanced technology for search engine marketing performance. With that ability teamed up with Enlightens ebusiness knowledge, it might be something to add to your arsenal.

The search engine bid management tool is currently only available to customers of Enlighten. If anyone has any experience with it, or more info on it, please feel free to post your insight in the comments.
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]]>bid managementBidManagementpaid searchPaidSearchsearchsearch advertisingsearch campaignssearch engineSearchAdvertisingSearchCampaignsSearchEngine2006-07-10T14:01:00+00:00<![CDATA[Searching Google for Girls]]>http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/10/searching-google-for-girls/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/10/searching-google-for-girls/http://sem.weblogsinc.com/2006/07/10/searching-google-for-girls/#comments
Are you a girl? A girl that loves searching? Better yet, a girl that loves searching on Google? Why not try Girgle?

There is really nothing new as far as search technology goes here. Girgle is really just a pretty landing page for the AdSense search tool. Pretty might not even be the word. Its landing page is a little malformed with its heart shape thingy. The developer might have something, but they might want to spend a bit more time making it at least appear a little prettier.

Thanks to Nathan for spotting this site!

UPDATE: Girgle has changed their site to a "million dollar pixel homepage". Thanks for the notification Orang
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]]>adsenseadsense searchAdsenseSearchgirglegirl searchGirlSearchgooglegoogle newsgoogle searchGoogleNewsGoogleSearch2006-07-10T10:29:00+00:00