Google's Ad Auction from Google's Chief Economist (Quality Score)

This is an excellent video from Google about the Adwords ad auction and how some of the variables like bid, click through rate, and quality score affect the price of the click.

Google Adds Small Dots to Map Results

I always encourage my clients to learn about about SEO and stay up on the latest trends and information. Larry from Hallandale Law came by my office today and pointed out a relatively new feature in Google Maps. He was searching for Hallandale Realtors and stumbled upon more information on the map. Now there are "little" dots. You can double click the little dots, see information about the listing and even see the source where Google Maps is getting the info. Pretty cool!

Local SEO Todos:
Check the map for your geocentric search terms.
Make sure you are showing up.
Poke around and make sure your site is listed on any / all of the sites where Google Maps is pulling data from.

Recovery.gov - Cool

We are in the midst of very historic times. President Obama just mentioned a Web site in his speech for the US public to visit to see where the money is going. I wonder if that is the first time a president has done something like that? (direct traffic to a Web site, I mean).

http://www.recovery.gov

The site works! I thought it would have crashed from the traffic. It was better thought out than the Simpsonize Me campaign. :)

Speaking At The MIT Forum On Social Media Marketing at UM This Evening

http://mitforumfl.org/

I will present a very short educational few slides on the types of Social Media sites that exist today and a little about using them for link building and reputation management. This should be a very interesting topic at my Alma Madder, the University of Miami!

A Little Salute For My Pal, Adam Ura In Iraq

Adam is one of my dearest friends since High School. He just sent me this link from Iraq. http://www.iaff.org/comm/spotlight/iraq.html

He is the bald one crouched down. We are all proud of him and wish him a safe trip home!

Thank you for serving your country.

Google Correctly Counting Links With Tracking Information

A major SEO rule has a cool solution thanks to Google. I am not sure how public this is, but I have not heard anyone talking about it. Tracking URLs cause problems when it comes to passing link value (part of all the major Search Engine’s algorithms today). Sometimes these tracking URLs use a third party redirect. Sometimes they just put a variety of variable strings at the end of the URL (www.domain.com/?ref=52&site=linkingdomain.com). With the help of Time For Learning, a Homeschool Curriculum Provider, we found that inbound links using standard Google Analytics tracking are being counted correctly as backlinks. This was verified through Google Webmaster Tools.

Historically, a tracking code like “?ref=52&site=linkingdomain.com” may be for tracking, but it could also be part of a dynamic Web site. That code may be a query string that helps populate the page with content.

Google Analytics tracking uses very defined variables in their tracking URLs. It makes perfect sense that Google could correctly recognize those variables and appropriately pass “link juice” to the root link.

I Love Disney World's Marketing!

When I first heard about the Disney World promotion about getting in free on your birthday, I was in complete awe! Imagine the amazing data the collect at probably $0 expense. If you come on your birthday to take advantage of the deal, you are probably not coming alone. You may be staying on property. You will definitely be eating in the park and buying keepsakes. That $75 waived fee probably equals $500 in profit! (or more)

Today I received an email about my 2009 Laratro Family Vacation (that was the title...). It was very well put together and even requests joining their SMS for a promotion "texting MAGIC to DISNEY (347639)". Again, I love it! I already get emails from them, now I may start getting text messages. I am a Disney nut. My 2 year old has already been too many times to mention. It is nice to escape to the happiest place on earth once in a while, probably in more so right now when the world around us is a bit gloomy.

Back to the free entry on your birthday... Imagine getting a personal email from Disney every year inviting you back (free or not). Very cool.

Now if they could just get a Web based system for ride time updates via your mobile device (I did hear this was coming).