Into the Minds of Web Searchers

According to a research brief from the Center for Media Research, people searching on the Internet will modify and re-word their searches until they get what they really want. It basically breaks down like this: 89% modify their searches if the first go-round doesn't produce the results they had in mind, 79% will leave the search engine all together and try elsewhere, and about 50% will click on a result if it has a picture or the brand appears multiple times on the results page.
As no surprise, Google comes in as primary engine for 75% of users. Additionally, it seems people first embarking on the road of search choose to use Yahoo.
Some more highlights:
-1 of every 5 users is more likely to click a sponsored advertisement
-Google users are more faithful to their engine than users of Yahoo and Bing
-More than 75% of searchers use it to learn more about a product after seeing it first somewhere else
Read the full article and see the statistic breakdown here.

Foursquare Proves Its Power

April 16, 2010 was a pretty monumental day for McDonald's, the famous fast food giant. For that single day, the company rolled out a marketing incentive that managed to increase foot traffic to its locations by 33%. How, you ask? With the location-based social network known as Foursquare.

The contest was set up extremely user-friendly: as a member of Foursquare's online community (which is free to join), customers were asked to "check-in" at any McDonald's location. The budget for the marketing campaign was set at $1,000, which was divvied up into 100 gift cards which were offered to participants. This ingenious plan was great for profits because remember, the marketing platform that they utilized, Foursquare, is free.

McDonald's little social experiment back in April garnered positive results that exceed that day's financial gain. McDonald's also earned 50 blog/articles written about the event, an additional 600,000 fans and followers, and 99% positive feedback.

For a day's effort, those are some pretty impressive numbers.

Realtor's Should Not Care About SEO Anymore?

Whenever I read an article about SEO being dead or even dying, I think - Awesome! A few more competitors should drop out and leave that much desired natural search space open for the rest of us. This time, there was a very interesting article about EdgeRank. The gist is that Facebook may be more important than Search for Realtors, so it is time to brush up on the tactics. Read more about EdgeRank here.

SES NY Recap - SEO In House

I spent two days at SES NY this year. It was my first Search Engine Strategies conference since Danny Sullivan left. I was very impressed with how well the conference is run, the quality of the speakers, topics, expo hall, and attendees.

Most of my time was spent at the Pubcon booth and the University of San Francisco booth where they were playing some of video lectures (did I mention I am humble and it made me a little uneasy seeing myself on the screens?).

SES from my point of view had more of a marketing executive crowd of attendees versus the more hands on technical attendees that attend Pubcon. I think mixing the groups and cross marketing will be valuable to both shows.

I sat in on two sessions. Avanish's Keynote - great insights on Search, using Analytics for Search, and the challenges of keyword assists / conversion attribution models. I also sat in on Jim Boykin's sponsored session on organic link building - this is a full time job, can be successful with quality content and serious strategies.

Lastly, I spoke on SEO In House. Building SEO Departments was a focus of Tandem Interactive's four years ago. It seems this is a really hot topic right now. You can check out the SEO In House Presentation at Slideshare. I will be posting more on this topic in the near future. I see some core mistakes when building these departments that are easily preventable. I did like how the panel supported third party audits and advisory services working with the in house SEO departments.

Google Content Network University - March 2010

Tandem Interactive was invited to Google's Content Network University in their NY offices. At first I thought I knew everything there was to know about the content network and did not really need to be there. But then I figured it was worth my and Chris's time to head up there for the day to see what Google was teaching about.

I do not know anywhere near what I thought I knew about the content network. Google did a really nice job with the training. There was time spent on targeting clients, new functionality, display ads, placement targeting, search retargeting, video, Youtube advertising and more!

There were some of my key take-aways:

• On average, Adwords advertisers get 20% of their conversions from the Content Network
• Display advertising online is on the verge of a revolution
• Content can equate to Brand Lift
• Ad Planner has been expanded to research the Adsense Network and the Doubleclick Network (http://www.google.com/adplanner)
• Check out what Google thinks you like: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences
• "Point in Time Products" typically do not perform well in content
• Opt out of Mobile targeting if your site does not look well on mobile devices
• Use the "Google Wonderwheel" for Keyword Themes
• Split Text vs. Display Ads in content targeting
• Use ALL Display Ad sizes
• Video can create a marketplace
• Amazing Youtube / Video Ad targeting tool http://www.google.com/videotargeting
• Let Auto Optimization do the work for you with Conversion Optimizer
• Search Retargeting (Search Remarketing) is the NEXT BIG THING!

How Do You Combine SEO and Easter / Passover?

David Berkowitz of 360i has the answer... The Ten Plagues of Social Media. I was a little grossed out as I started reading the article, but then I realized it was genious! Very impressive creative writing there David.

SEO Wins and SEO Sins

I was interviewed about SEO by Search Engine Journal. They asked me about common SEO mistakes and other Search Marketing topics. Check out Joe Laratro's Interview.