What’s Fresh?

This is my favorite thing in my inbox at the moment.

*Excerpts from MediaPost Publications’s Search insider, July 23 by Aaron Goldman

I’m Snoozing, I’m Snoring

In the style of It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

I’m snoozing, I’m snoring,

Your search results are boring.

Your market share

is barely there.

Will Cashback get you roaring?

Bostock and Yang Went to Great Pains

In the style of Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill

Bostock and Yang

Went to great pains

To avoid an outright acquisition.

They played tough,

$44 billion wasn’t enough.

Then they retreated their position.

Yankee Google

In the style of Yankee Doodle

Yankee Google took over the town,

It’s PR spin smooth as a zamboni.

Stuck creative in its cap,

Scaring Mad Ave cronies.

Yankee Google keep it up,

Automating media, that’s dandy.

And now finally some transparency,

Now this is really handy.

On Monday, Google announced that Googlebot can better index Flash files. But don’t go too crazy - Googlebot still has significant limitations when crawling Flash files. For example, if your website loads a Flash movie using JavaScript, you’re out of luck because, in the words of Google programmers, “Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript.”

Photographers, architects, and designers are particularly fond of all-Flash sites - and are often dismayed when SEO folks caution that the content of all-Flash sites is invisible to search engines. At Geary, we often recommend that clients build an HTML mirror of all content contained in the Flash - both for search engine spiders and for Web users who are blind or don’t have Flash enabled in their browsers.

However, this innovation - despite its significant limitations - could diminish the importance of building an HTML version of Flash sites or using other coding tricks to make Flash files readable to search engine spiders. It’s good news for those who love the slick, cinematic quality of Flash.

A joint press conference is set between the top two search firms and speculation about the announcement is abuzz around the net. An insider at one of the companies is saying that they will be announcing an official search partnership and the departure of a top Yahoo! executive. The partnership will have Yahoo! outsourcing possible all of its search marketing (and maybe search) to Google.

What does this mean for the internet as we know it? Does Google really need control?

Any thoughts?

UPDATE: 3:26  Yahoo!  announces a non-exclusive online advertising agreement with Google

Of course, there’s been a lot of discussion of Microsoft’s ‘cash rebate’ plan for search ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24760487/) over here at GearyI. A few comments in Kim’s innovation session down here in San Diego today made me ponder it’s wider implications. We were briefly discussing marketing cultures of scarcity vs. abundance. (i.e., the scarcity model says “there are (x) many customers, and we MUST COMPLETE LIKE CRAZY for them.” Abundance model says “customers come to great ideas – and the entire customer pie grows beyond expectation when we create a good ecosystem to attract them. We do not focus as much on competition as we do on creating great ideas that attract customers.”)

Now if that doesn’t sound like Microsoft and Google going at it, I’m not sure what does.

One interesting post in the blogsphere commenting on all this: machinist blog on salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/tech/machinist/blog/2008/05/23/microsoft_books_search/index.html

It’s an excellent example of the scarcity model (Microsoft) vs the abundance model (Google) at work. As Farhad points out – some monetary effects are less obvious than others. To paraphrase: “If you were a programmer, do you want to work for the visionary company . . . or the one who’s stated focus is their revenue goals?”

If markets are ecosystems, so are companies. And having goals that keep employees inspired – and attract ones with inspiration – is a competitive advantage. Believing that advantage translates to revenue? Well, that’s the whole abundance model, isn’t it? It goes a little outside the spreadsheet.

Sarah

With our announcement yesterday about our acquisition of Fathom Online, we at Geary Interactive thought we would share the top five reasons why excited about joining forces. 

1. Search engine marketing is growing part of the online marketing mix, and Fathom has industry-leading expertise in this field.

2. Fathom has well-established relationships with all the biggies:  Google, Yahoo! and MSN.  Additionally, they have developed proprietary tools to help track and forecast market trends (Fathom Analytics and Keyword Price Index).

3. With this merger we are undeniably one of the few indepedent, integrated digital advertising agencies.

4.  We now have an full-service office in San Francisco which expands our national reach.

5. Fathom Online is as equally excited as Geary Interactive to capitalize on the projected growth of the interactive industry.

To put it lightly, we are ecstatic about this new partnership, and we cannot wait to move forward and utilize our combined industry know-how to maximize our clients’ campaigns.

By Andreas Roell 

Are your videos optimized for search engines? Now that search engines crawl for video content, the same rules that apply to optimizing Web site text now apply to video content. Key words, tags, and content are all a part of the equation that search engines will use to rank your video.

The importance of SEO for video can be summed up in one word: revenue. Most online video advertisements don’t generate direct revenue on their own like pay-per-view, pay-to-own, or subscription video services. Their purpose is to be “propagated across as many services and viewers as possible,” and to do that, videos must be search-engine friendly, according to video search engine Blinkx.

Marketers also need to keep close tabs on how and where their videos are posted. When a video is picked up by an aggregator, the file name, descriptions, tags, and titles should be monitored, and possibly changed, to ensure that every site displaying your video content will drive the most traffic and business to your Web site.

MORE

Article published by ClickZ on February 5, 2008

Exciting news this morning. Microsoft bids $45000000000.00 for Yahoo!

…however, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet. People are shorting Yahoo stock thinking they will say no to the unsolicited offer. It will be fun to follow how it pans out. It seems like a very complex deal, with a mix of cash and stock, and it will need to get approved by the FCC and EU.

On the bright side for Google, it may speed up and guarantee the EU’s approval of the DoubleClick Google buyout.

Ars Technica did a great review of Google’s “Alternate Views Search Results” experiment. To take some of the new features for a first hand test run visit this page. On a similar note, Yahoo has been testing the integration of delicious social bookmarking into their search results pages.

So what does this mean for searchers?

A few weeks back Ars Technica did another posting title “The ‘Google Generation’ not so hot at Googling, after all” after review of a report published by the British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee. The short version of the report is that even the generation that has grown up Googling everything and unaware of a world without Google still isn’t very good at formatting their search queries. Current search engine results pages on the top three engines are fairly straight forward and simple. They got a bit more complex with the introduction of universal search, however they are still a basic and static page. If searchers are having trouble finding what they want now, how will searchers be able to handle dealing with more complex search results with timelines and maps thrown into the mix? Maybe it will create a completely new industry in which you will need to hire search professionals that are highly skilled at sorting through the information via the search engines. Maybe training classes that teach people how to maximize the value of search and search engines will run along side Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop courses. Either way it is going to require every searcher young and old to learn how to use the more sophisticated searches to find the answers they are looking for.

So what does this mean for the search industry?

My first thought is that this will extend the long tail of search phrases. Search marketers will need to start thinking about more complex queries with dates and locations. Also, dependent on how the suggested searches are displayed (logically it would be by highest search count to lowest?) it will likely drive up the traffic on the suggested terms that are shown first. Secondly, whomever came up with the “SEO is dead”theory, I think the morphing of search results will give new challenges and opportunities to our industry. Lastly, it will force search marketers to focus even more on creating high quality websites with multiple types of content to stay competitive with their search engine visibility.

Last month, Google announced the rollout of a new community-based Web tool called Google Knol. “Knol” stands for unit of knowledge, and the project aims to get Web users to contribute authoritative articles on subjects they know extremely well.

Knol hasn’t been opened to the unwashed Internet masses yet; still, it’s significant because it marks the first time that Google has ventured into the content space.

Like the highly trafficked Yahoo Answers, Google Knol is likely to become popular because it highlights authors and invites people to make unique contributions to a larger base of knowledge. It appeals to Web users’ egos while giving them an orderly, standardized way to empty the contents of their brains. In addition, Google’s ability to categorize and rank Web content will help ensure that Web searchers find relevant Knols when they are seeking information about a certain subject.

Though Google Knol will be, in a way, a competitor of Wikipedia, it differs from Wikipedia in a few key ways. First, Google Knol promises to highlight individuals and honor their unique contributions; Wikipedia, despite its populist mission, is controlled by a small group of editors and folds individuals’ contributions into communal articles. And because Google Knol puts authors’ names front and center, authors will also act as editors, and authors can make money from their contributions through ads placed on their Knols, the tool is likely to yield high-quality content, discussions and comments.

Google Knol has the potential to blend all the best traits of Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers. As the tool becomes open to everyone, it will be interesting to see how well it catches on.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching CNN while I am unintentionally sniffing gas fumes but the days of CNN gas pump broadcasting may be numbered as a new type of gas station entertainment is jumping on stage. Starting this December, Google will install Google Maps on some 3,500 gas pumps around the United States that will allow motorists to search for local spots and print out directions from the pump itself.

In my opinion, this is an amazing idea. Google Maps and gas station pumps fit together as well as peanut butter and jelly. Next time you are lost on a road trip or looking for a good place to eat, you no longer need to walk into the gas station and ask the attendant, who the majority of the time seems like they hate any form of human communication, for directions or recommendations of good places for you to eat. Just go to the pump, do a search on Google, and print out your directions.