Posts from — June 2009
Decisions… Decisions… Conversions?
The phrase “Decision Engine” seems to be a bit of a buzzword these days. With Bing, Hunch and Wolfram|Alpha recently released, it seems like there’s a push to differentiate from industry leader Google by going beyond just showing search results to offering decisions based on the results. As a marketer however, should we be concerned that these “decision engines” represent the beginning of a movement that keeps traffic on the SERP and ultimately results in lower on-site conversions?
Google’s Chinese Ambitions Paused for Now
Google’s ongoing struggle to win over China’s 298 million Internet users suffered a devastating blow last week when China’s government accused Google of promoting pornographic content and said it would be required to turn off its “automated search” feature (essentially autocomplete for search terms, especially important in China with the particularities of the Chinese-language script and keyboard).
Getting to the Bottom of Facebook Click Fraud
Facebook has been in the news recently due to allegations of click fraud from a large contingent of advertisers. Reportedly, the social networking behemoth (about to surpass MySpace according to SOURCE) is charging advertisers for clicks that never actually make it to their sites.
Image Isn’t Everything. Yahoo Favicons Drive No Change in Search Behavior
Yahoo is doing a beta on Favicons. What is a Favicon? A Favicon is a corporate or product logo that is placed next to a branded paid search advertisement (see diagram below). Google is talking about allowing the same concept. The hope of marketers is that Favicons will improve brand awareness online and allow search to be used more effectively as a branding media.
Paid Search Spending Continues to Decline
Recently we did a mid-quarter update to our ongoing analysis series about how our high tech customers are managing their paid search programs. These findings are a continuation of what we were seeing in Q1 (this data is current through May 20th).
Here are the highlights:
Spending continues to contract, with spend from Q1 to Q2 shrinking [...]
Covario CEO, Russ Mann, Profiled in Inc. Magazine
Ever wonder what successful CEOs do in their “spare” time? The most recent issue Inc. magazine includes a great profile of Russ Mann, Covario’s CEO. Check out the online edition or pick up the print version for some fabulous shots of Russ and his border collie, Cross, at work on Russ’ ranch.
Congratulations Russ [and Cross] on your recent win and some great coverage!
Bing – Decision Engine, Search Portal or Search Engine with Benefits?
Bing is calling itself a Decision Engine that provides a faster way to make more informed choices. But it is also being called a Search Portal. To me, Bing is a Search Engine with additional tools and an useful preview function.
Google Does It Again – More Trademark Policy Changes
As you may have read, Google released another change to their trademark policy for the US . This change follows their previous announcement (see Google Relaxes Trademark Bidding Policy). This latest change has the potential to have a greater impact on your paid search marketing campaigns, which is why advertisers are taking notice.
Maximize Incremental ROI with Google’s Bid Simulator
A few days ago, Google rolled out a beta version of its new bid simulator tool to additional accounts. I am excited about this because it facilitates new bid management approaches, enables marketers to improve the efficiency and return of their paid search campaigns, and may shake up the industry a bit.
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