Smart Keywords

According to Reuters, the Norweigan software company Opera will use the Google search engine in its mobile browser applications as well as at its home page.
Got to love the quiet moves Google makes… much less noise than AOL move.

Jason Lee Miller does it again with some insights into the gender usages of our two popular search engines.

Obviously we have to take this figures at face value but they make for interesting reading and gets one thinking about this. There has to be some gender preferences.

“While both sexes equally appreciate the efficiency and convenience of email, women are more likely than men to value the medium for its positive effects on improving relationships, expanding networks, and encouraging teamwork at the office.”

He gathered his numbers from a report by PEW Internet and was written by Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow – sounds impressive.

The 54-page report can be seen here.

Doing the usual channel surfing tonight I came across an interesting Charlie Rose with the founder of NetFlicks, David McInnis, and the technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Walter S. Mossberg.

Forces of Freedom and Forces of Control were the 2 elements McInnis saw the world developing under. The web is part of the Freedom Force – chaotic and rapid innovation – mentioning the changes developing for his business and the internet and the communication companies. Cheap access through lower cost laptops and increased bandwidth is part of Web 2.0 while when access reaches 10 mgs plus there will be Web 3.0 starting in other countries and then coming to the US. He sees his business having a longer shelf life with the addition of High Definition DVDs – which will not roll out across all cable and broadcast television. Though the forces of control such as cable networks and broadcast tel;evision do not move fast and are slow adapting innovation.

MsInnis worked for Public education as California School Board Director from 2001-2003, and has worked since 1997 to date helping with public school reform.

In five years he sees high definition developing to a higher level and DVD releases getting closer to theater releases though going to cable and other television later as this represents a lower part of the income movie companies derive their revenues from.

Mossberg saw the AOL and Google partnership as a possible false step for Google if the introduction of banners associated with the search engine results will change the dynamic and branding Google is known for. He also saw the valuation of AOL as not being accurate from a straight business value. To Google the value was higher as it was a significant portion of Google’s ad revenues, thus the 5 percent equals a billion dollars means the whole company is worth $20 billion is not accurate – which I tend to support.

He also saw the adaption of Intel processors in Apple computers to be something worth tracking. Mossberg also saw the wireless industry as needing to lower it rates while improving its reach to help with its growth.
Covering all the search bases, Mossberg praised Yahoo! for its email and search, as he considered the evolution of Microsoft into the search industry as a major move by the most successful innovator of the internet age.

The show was insightful and gave me some new angles to view our industry.

I started a thread about this at Search Engine Watch. I wanted to make sure this was not just me… and to start a discussion on the impact of this.

So if you are reading this here add some comments at either place.

Basically I submitted a bulk list and had a bunch of my keywords turned down because the keyword was not inserted in the creatives. I know it improves CTR but sometimes you are trying a different approach – guess you no longer have control of that yourself… Yahoo! determines which are allowed to not have the insert.

Jason Lee Miller over at WebProNews got my attention about Ookles.com.

Scott JOhnson’s blog shows his talent as a writer. His work has shown his skills with technology. This marketing approach (though used very successfully before for companies like the IT – independent transport – later known as the segue) shows a sense of style.

Hope this is something really fun and interesting. I could use a new plaything next year!!!

Good Luck Scott and Mike… though with an Aussie involved you should be okay!

Joe Siegrist, head of technology at Estara, the online communications specialists, shared his insights into the Click to Call or Pay Per Call market online.

From the time the company started playing with VOIP in 1999, Estara has been pushing the envelop of online telephony and basic online communications. People like Siegrist have become advocates for this next turn in the internet marketing methodology.

Estara was working with computer microsphones when MSN started touting “Talk to Your Computer” and the crosssover to developing a Pay Per Call solution for search or any internet marketing was a natural progression. “We developed the first PC to phone e-commerce application,” Siegrist said.

ROI is always part of the equation in online marketing and Estara found that phone contacts converted better. “You don’t get the same closure rates with chat that you can with phones,” Siegrist noted.

JupiterResearch did a study that found phones converted 73% better than text chat. Siegrist sees the technology being mainstream by 2009. Right now Estara has Verizon SuperPages, A9, the Amazon engine, Yahoo! UK and Ireland and also Sensis – the Australian search engine, are using their technology. Verizon has been using it since 2003.

They integrate the technology seamlessly. “We add a few steps into the initial sign up (for advertisers) and we use category pricing, listings via geolocation. Estara takes over and assigns the numbers and sets up the contact,” Siegrist explained.

Costs start at $2 per call.

Estara sees their “Click to Call” marketing being a great tool for local advertisers on the web. The technology allows for much more sophisicated modeling and techniques, Siegrist said. “You will start seeing it come into focus (as a more used method) when local businesses are more active online,” he said. It is being forecast as a $4 billion market in 2009.

Estara combines the technology with leading ROI technology with easy proof of value. Right now they can assign local numbers in the United States, UK, France and Australia, Siegrist said.

Apart from pizza makers and taxis, Siegrist sees Click to Call as being a central feature that will promote local marketing for many small businesses.

The local plumber will be able to have the calls directed straight to his cellphone with contact information being backed up at Estara. Estara is looking to make sure all paths to the potential customer are covered, Siegrist stated.

“It scales great for small local businesses that don’t have people sitting by the computer.” As more and more people use the web over Yellow Pages this technology will become more popular as well.

Seems Google is getting serious about AOL. They are now set up to have AIM and Google Talk interoperable according to a report from BigBlueBall.com.

Let the marriage be consumated.

I was looking at the Google search results for the NYC transit strike in comparison to the SERPs for the Saddam Hussein trial.

The comparison shows what the news sites consider more important as well as how the engines change how they list an event the older it gets.

For the strike you have MSNBC, Yahoo! news, the governemnt, CNN, CBS, the MTA and USA Today – high end sites for an event that is all of two days old… five if you start from Friday when the first risk of strike started.

Now Saddam Hussein is old news…. he was hunted, caught and now is on trial – but it has been running for quite some time and the immediacy of the news sites coverage has been replaced by more broadbased sites… Human Rights Watch tops the list…. a couple of edu blogs and CNN is there, along with the Washington Post and the BBC.

When a story first breaks it seems the news portals grab the front of the SERPs, but as the story is pushed into the archives other sites take the front.
This would suggest that the engines read news sites a little differently. Timely gets to the top but once archived the spot is dropped.

I received this email as I am sure many others did today:

A new look is coming to the Yahoo! search results pages that will translate into more clicks for your listings. On January 18th, 2006 Yahoo! will debut a streamlined design that will make the search results displayed on Yahoo! even easier for consumers to read. Our research has shown that by improving the search experience in this way, advertisers can generally expect to see an increase in clicks, while maintaining their conversion rates.

How this change impacts your listings:

• Yahoo! will display shorter descriptions for Sponsored Search listings
• You don’t have to make any changes to your listings; they’ll be automatically shortened for you when displayed on Yahoo!
• If you’d like to optimize your listings for Yahoo!, begin your description with one short sentence that includes your keyword and focuses on your most important information in the first 70 characters
• Over time, we will fine tune the exact character count that we believe works best for advertisers and search users
• Most of our partners, including MSN, CNN, ESPN and Infospace, will still display longer descriptions for your Sponsored Search listings, though the exact length may vary from partner to partner

Yahoo! is taking this step to improve the search experience for its users. By continuously focusing on delivering highly relevant search results in a user-friendly format, Yahoo! also gives you the best possible platform for reaching customers interested in what your business provides.

Should create some interesting results in the New Year. New things to test are always fun…. thanks for the Christmas present Yahoo!

John Battelle’s SearchBlog, Battellemedia.com, captures many of the interesting elements of the AOL, Google and newly pushed aside MSN situation.

He discxusses the actual worth of the transaction at current numbers, as well as some of the implications of various statements being made in the past couple of weeks.

If you need to catch up on this media event it is a must read.

Though I did notice you do not have ThreadWatch or for that matter my blog in your Search Resources…..