Search Engine Marketing

Local Search Will Become the Golden Child in 2011

Local Search Directory Logos

There’s been a lot of talk about local search recently. A lot of SEO experts, including myself, feel local search is still in its infancy stage and as it matures, it will have a major impact on search engine optimization and internet marketing. Many of us feel 2011 is the year in which local search will come of age. Not only come of age, but also become an important part of the internet marketer’s bag of tricks. Remember when most people had no idea what social media was, what it meant, or why it mattered? Well that time has past and now social media’s little brother, local search, is Read more

CNN Polls Website Visitors On Their Search Engine

I have been visiting CNN's website for years.  Rarely do I pay much attention to their polls, but today their poll catch my eye.  The poll questions was "Which search engine do you use?" and the answer was Google.  No surprise there for many of us, although I was surprised by how low Bing really was on the usage chart. As of this posting, 198,584 people voted and their results are fairly close to what we see on other websites and analyst reports. Website Usage Results Search Engine      Percentage        Votes Google                    85%                 Read more

Google Officially Announces Meta Keywords Are Dead

Google, and in particular Internet guru Matt Cutts, formally end SEO consultant chatter and announce Google’s policy of keyword utilization by posting a video on Google’s Webmaster Blog. In the very direct posting, Matt said Google no longer uses meta based keywords for primary organic search, but quantified this statement by also stating Google does still use meta keywords for the search appliance. What does this mean? For some SEO consultants, it means meta keywords can be completely ignored. I consider this the lazy approach. For me, this means I will take note and simply not place Read more

July brings a Boohoo for Yahoo and Pal Bing

July 2009 Search Volume

Search volume inched up from June to July, but this change didn’t benefit everyone. Both Yahoo and Bing lost paid referral traffic in July, while Google rose slightly. After all the fanfare and money Microsoft threw on Bing’s arrival, the search engine gossip and hall chatter only lasted for a short time. The newness factor appears to be disappearing. This Internet marketer projected this, as I felt Bing was a complete bust. And while I do like Yahoo better than Bing, I still cannot see how either company is going to catch rival Google. I would like to say the pay-per-click Read more

Wise Businesses Watch Google Search Trends

Google-Trends

A very wise business owner I know frequently talks about search volume and search trends when discussing Internet marketing and in particular search engine optimization. He is a data guy, an entrepreneur, and a highly technical individual who always looks beyond simple numbers to peek behind them or even in front of them. He wants to see changes before they occur and wants to know the future so that he can react quickly. He is smart and has used this business practice to ride out storms and downturns. That being said, we Internet marketing consultants know that this request is not Read more

Bing, Bologna, or Just Bad?

Microsoft recently released a new search engine called Bing. This search engine is supposed to go head to head with Google, although in my opinion, this Bing vs. Google war is not much of a war at all. While Bing and Yahoo may be able to fight the good fight against each other, Bing is in no position to take on the well known behemoth Google. Google regularly amasses between 70-80% of search volume, which leaves little marketing and advertising dollars for those “other” search engines to vie for and actually obtain. Those who know Microsoft, know Microsoft has the funds and Read more