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Welcome to the ineedhits Search Engine Marketing blog, where we share the latest search engine and online marketing news, releases, industry trends and great DIY tips and advice.

We encourage you to get involved in our blog community - so share your opinions and experiences by leaving comments on our posts.

If you're looking for help with promoting your website - check out our range of affordable search engine marketing services.

Monday, April 24

FAQ: Non-English Keyword Research

We sometimes tend to forget that there's a whole huge non-English speaking world out there. So where can you go if you'd like to create non-English website content that is optimized for relevant keywords?

For a start, make sure that a native speaker of the foreign language writes the content for your Web page. A native speaker won't only write much better copy than someone who only learned the foreign language at school, he/she will also have a naturally stronger feel for relevant keywords and search terms that should be used.
If you are looking for free tools, Yahoo! Search Marketing offers free keyword research tools in several languages. Here are just a few of them.

Yahoo!'s French keyword tool is here;
Yahoo!'s Spanish keyword tool is here;
Yahoo!'s German keyword tool is here;
Yahoo!'s Japanese keyword tool is here.
And finally, it's always helpful to look at your competitors' sites. Review their copy and see what words they have used or optimized their pages for â€“ that should give you plenty of inspiration!

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U.S Online Advertising up 30%

For the third consecutive year, Internet advertising revenues in the U.S have reached record highs with a total of $12.5 billion spent in 2005, jumping 30 percent from 2004 ($9.6 billion), according to recent figures released by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

$3.6 billion was spent in the fourth quarter alone, exceeding year-on-year figures by nearly 34 percent ($9.6 billion). Internet advertising as a whole accounted for approximately 5 percent of total U.S advertising, up from nearly 3.7 percent in 2004.

Search continues to dominate Internet Ad revenues, accounting for 41 percent ($5.1 billion) of total adspend in 2005, followed closely by display related advertising which attracted 34 percent of total revenues.

Internet Ad Revenues by Advertising Format

Online Ad Format	2004 Revenues	2005 Revenues
Search	39%	41%
Display Related	38%	34%
Classifieds	18%	17%
Lead Generation/Referrals	3%	6%
Email	2%	2%

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers, April 2006

Pete Petrusky, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers is confident that this trend will continue, "The Internet delivers the right audience at the right time - a winning combination for all types of marketers. We expect to see continued growth in Internet advertising spend."

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Google's Secret Sections - Uncovered

It's always exciting when you un-cover some secret pages or unreleased sections on the internet, and even more so when they belong to Google. After visiting Threadwatch last week, I discovered a bunch of unseen parts/pages to the Google puzzle thanks to Chris (aka Expertu).

While the use and purpose of some of these pages is still unclear, feel free to explore some of Google's undiscovered sections below:

Useful Pages:
1. See how your website would look on a mobile device.

2. Help Google to translate their services in languages that are not available yet.

3. Remove yourself from Google's phonebook

4. Change the default URL "not-found" redirect, of Internet Explorer, to a Google search rather than MSN.

5. Get the Blogger Web Comments for Firefox, and view what bloggers have to say about the page you are visiting.

6. Post to your Blogger blog directly from MS Word.

7. Report unauthorised use of your trademark in Adwords or Adsense.

8. View a description of all Google's programs.

Weird and Random:
Want to be a part of Google's secret Indian lab?

Something for the romantics?

Links with no clear purpose: List of yet to be explained pages

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Will eBay Tie The Knot with Google, Yahoo!, or MSN?

Will eBay be happy ever after with Yahoo!, Google or MSN?

The U.K. based publications "The Times" and "Financial Times" have reported that eBay has been in talks with all three of the major search engines - Google, Yahoo! and MSN - about a closer relationship that could ultimately lead to an equity investment of one of the search engine companies in eBay.

At the core of the talks lies eBay's untapped advertising potential. Currently, eBay does not display any paid search advertising on its website. But search advertising on eBay would be highly sought after - most visitors come to eBay with the clear intent of buying something, eBay's pages a very sticky, and eBay collects a broad range of purchase history information that could be used to better target ads.

In addition, eBay is one of the most popular websites on the entire Internet, attracting over 70 million unique visitors during March 2006 in the United States alone and a boasting a growing user base of 75.4 million active users (that is users who bought, listed or bid for an item on eBay) for the twelve months to March 2006. Advertisers would sell their grandmothers for this kind of exposure!

Advertising exposure on www.ebay.com is only one of the issues being discussed; eBay is said to be keen to discuss options for more prominent display of eBay search results or ads within search engine results.

"The Times" goes a step further to report that eBay's talks have concentrated on Yahoo! and MSN in order to break Google's dominance and reduce its competitive threat to eBay. Over the past year, Google has moved to invade eBay's turf with its launch of Google Base, its foray into classifieds sites, the launch of an online payment service comparable to eBay's PayPal and the integration of Google Talk, which competes with Skype (owned by eBay), into the Gmail email service.

At this stage, eBay has declined to comment on the speculations.

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MSN "Live Drive" vs Google "GDrive"

The search engine titans are at war again, but this time the battlefield is not about the quality of their results or the size of their databases, but rather, free storage space for their users.

We reported recently on Google's plans with GDrive, which in its simplest form is a virtual hard drive with unlimited storage space for users, hosted on Google servers. Now Microsoft has entered the arena with suggestions of "Live Drive", GDrive's arch nemesis.

So why are the search engines so keen to provide storage space for their users?

It all comes down to providing an all-in-one online solution. Considering the significant amount of effort being placed on developing online software and services outside of their search engines (e.g. Google Pack and Microsoft's array of online services), storage is the logical next step in completing the package.

From a user's point of view, the ideal scenario would be having access to all your necessary productivity tools online and centrally available. The future of business according to Microsoft would probably involve users having a mobile phone or portable PC and their office would be the internet, with everything from word processors and spreadsheet software to email and storage all hosted online and available from anywhere.

"Microsoft is planning to use its server farms to offer anyone huge amounts of online storage of digital data...With Live Drive, all your information-movies, music, tax information, a high-definition videoconference you had with your grandmother, whatever-could be accessible from anywhere, on any device." said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer in Fortune Magazine.

Considering both Google and MSN have more than enough excess storage capacity, this war won't be a case of whose is biggest, but rather who is quicker to provide the complete online solution, and considering they're rapidly approaching the finishing line...stay tuned to find out who wins.

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Friday, April 21

Which Google Spider Is Crawling Your Site?

Google's spiders constantly crawl the World Wide Web

At a recent lunch during the PubCon search engine marketing conference, unofficial Google spokesman Matt Cutts confirmed that there are two types Google spiders crawling the Web looking for indexable content for Google's search index.

Firstly, there's GoogleBot, the Google spider everyone knows about. Secondly, there's MediaBot - the spider connected to Google's AdSense program. There have long been rumours that having Google AdSense ads on your site helps improve your site ranking. According to Matt Cutt's statements, that is most definitely NOT true - but it might help your site getting indexed in Google faster.

He also mentioned one thing that can get you into trouble real fast - if you serve different content to the two spiders (which could be done using a form of search engine spamming called cloaking). If GoogleBot is served different content to MediaBot, you run the risk of losing your listing altogether.

According to Matt, the reason for using both GoogleBot and MediaBot is the resulting savings in bandwidth costs for Google.

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Tuesday, April 18

Blog Search Engine IceRocket Sold

The blog search engine IceRocket has been bought by marketing company Think Partnership. The deal is aimed at providing Think Partnership with advertising access to the booming blogosphere.

According to Technorati's David Sifry, 75,000 new blogs are created every day, meaning that the blogosphere doubles in size every six months - that's a lot of potential advertising space! At the same time, spam blogging is also on the rise, and specialized blog search engines like IceRocket claim to be better at distinguishing legitimate blog content from spam than conventional search engines like Google, Yahoo! or MSN.

IceRocket's CEO, Blake Rhodes, stated: "I am thrilled that IceRocket is uniting with Think Partnership, enabling us to connect the huge and growing blogging community to the business opportunities and network provided by Think Partnership, especially Litmus Media's Valid Click network and PrimaryAds' affiliate marketing network."

The acquisition is subject to the completion of due diligence procedures and several other conditions.

Why You Should be on Top!

Search engine users are increasingly abandoning their search queries after the first page, and the importance of attaining top search results within the search engines is becoming more apparent, according to the "iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study".

Only 12 percent of U.S search engine users surveyed is searching beyond the first three pages of search results, with 62 percent guaranteed to click on the first page, compared with 48 percent in 2002.

Number of search results U.S users viewed prior to clicking on one
(% of users surveyed)

Response	2002	2004	2006
Only a few	16%	24%	23%
The first page	32%	36%	39%
The first 2 pages	23%	20%	19%
The first 3 pages	10%	8%	9%
More than 3 pages	19%	13%	10%

Source: iProspect, April 2006

The study also shows that 41 percent of users who do not find what they are looking for on the first page change their search terms or search engines, with 88 percent following suit if failing to find results after the third page.

82 percent of users will re-launch an unsuccessful search using the same search engine but add more keywords, suggesting the need for search engine marketers to also consider using longer and more precise keyword phrases to target users that are trying to improve results from their initial search.

What U.S users are likely to do if they do not find what they are looking for on a search engine. (% of users surveyed)

Response	2002	2006
Enter a few more words to better target the search	68%	82%
Switch search engines and try same keywords from initial search	27%	13%
Give up	3%	3%
Switch search engines and try different keywords from initial search	2%	2%

Source: iProspect, April 2006
Interestingly, the belief that companies whose websites feature at the top of the search results are leaders in their industry is slowly increasing, with 36 percent of search engine users agreeing, compared with 33 percent in 2002.

Banned on Google for Using ODP Clones?

The ODP (Open Directory Project, also often called DMOZ), is an open content directory that is edited and maintained by approximately 10,000 active volunteer editors. The ODP feeds the directories of Google, AOL Search, AltaVista and other major search engines, and an inclusion in the ODP has long been seen as a good way to secure a Google listing.

The Open Directory Project content is freely available for use on third party websites as long as certain license and attribution requirements are met. In practice, ODP data can also be used to boost a website's content about a certain topic and artificially inflate a site's ranking - in other words, it could be used as part of search engine spamming activities.

A recent thread at WebmasterWorld has unveiled that sites using cloned ODP data are apparently actively being banned by search engines. The survey quoted on WebmasterWorld indicated that around 50% of published sites using data cloned from the ODP are not listed in at least one of the three major search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN). According to the survey, Google banned around 37% of sites known to use ODP data.

There is no information about the scientific approach and validity of the survey available, but these findings are supported by the fact that search engines are known to penalize the unacceptable use of duplicate content. While there might have been other factors impacting on these sites getting banned, duplicating content (from the ODP or any other source) to try and improve rankings is risky and not recommended.

Google Calendar - Gets Hot Beta Release

After speculation late last year about its imminent release, Google have finally released their beta Calendar offering. Google Calendar allows users to access, manage, and share their appointments in one place.

Whilst the online calendar offering is not a new concept, as Yahoo! and MSN have supplied calendars with their accounts for some time, the provision of a calendar that addresses the needs of modern users has been a long time coming. So is Google Calendar the answer? It sure is a giant leap in the right direction.

Here are some of the features that Google Calendar offers:

Calendar Sharing: Google calendar allows you to set up calendars with contents that can be shared with specific people or be totally open access. This is great for people whom have schedules that influence their businesses ie. Doctors, trades people etc.

Invitations: Similar to the Outlook Meeting function, users can set up events and send invites out to attendees. Attendees can respond even if they don't use Google Calendar.

Quick Add: As Google Calendar embraces the improved usability of Web 2.0 through AJAX technology (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), it allows users to easily add events and appointments to the calendar/schedule without the timely delays, traditional static calendars incurred.

Gmail Integration: As with all good calendar offerings, Google calendar integrates with Gmail accounts. Whilst the integration at this stage is very limited, just a link button within Gmail, speculation that integration will be enhanced should see this as a valuable feature.

Search: For all those people with busy schedules, there is the obligatory search function so that appointments and events can be easily located.

Mobile Access: Google Calendar offers mobile alerts and reminders so you never forget an appointment whilst on the road.

Event Publishing: For businesses that run events and workshops, Google Calendar, through some simple HTML allows you to add a button to your website, allowing users to easily add events to their own Google Calendars.

After first trials of the new calendar, I was suitably impressed. The simple and intuitive interface complimented with the features mentioned above, does leave the competition trailing.

And if you are a current Outlook or iCal user, and think moving over to Google Calendar will be too difficult, worry not, as Google set up the new calendar to accept appointment imports from these offerings. Being organized online has never been easier...

DIY Tip: Google Page Rank Monitoring Tool

Google's infamous Page Rank (PR) measurement (located in the Google Toolbar) is the source of much pain for many a website owner. The little green bar (and associated score) are thought to heavily influence a web pages' ranking within the Google search results.

While the definitive impact of the Page Rank on Google's results is still an unknown quantity, there is no doubting that it has some level of impact on how Google perceives a web page's importance.

And while a shroud of mystery prevails over the measurement, website owners will continue to be mesmerized by web pages' Page Rank movements. Now for all of you who do monitor the PR of your pages, this little tool that I stumbled across, should help you monitor several pages' PR scores more easily.

Webmastereyes allows you to enter a pages' URL and viola, your web page appears with live Page Rank scores adjacent to all the links. I find it extremely useful on your sitemap page, as you can see at a glance all the pages of your site and their respective PR scores.

Now as much as this makes monitoring your PR's easier, don't get too caught up in the whole Page Rank obsession, as there are more valuable ways to spend your time than staring at a little green bar...but every now and then, it's always good to check what Google thinks of your pages.

Tuesday, April 11

Google's Spider of Death

In one case, Google's spider 'killed' an entire website.

Do you really want Google's spider of death to visit your website?

For most website owners, many of their search engine optimization efforts are aimed at getting Google's spider to visit their website on a regular basis. It's assumed that the more regularly the GoogleBot visits, the more up-to-date your search engine listings will be. And generally, regular visits by Google's spider are a sign that your website is viewed quite highly by the search engine.

In a case of "be careful what you wish for", a website owner experienced the full wraith of the GoogleBot recently. After engaging a web development firm to implement a content management system for their existing website, a month of painstaking development was swiftly undone when Google's spider essentially killed the newly re-developed web site.

While the disastrous impact GoogleBot's visit is alarming, it can't be held totally to blame. It is fair warning for anyone with a poorly programmed site.

The spider is designed to follow each hyperlink on a page, including those with "Delete Page" in the title. The net result; GoogleBot systematically went through the site and deleted everything. Not all was lost, as the prudent back-up of the previous site was soon re-published to fill the void in the spider's wake.

So if you don't wish for GoogleBot to make a disappearing trick of your web pages, especially if you have a content management system controlling your website, then it might be timely to check your page links and ensure you're not leaving your website open to the destructive power of Google's spider.

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Getting Personal - Meet the Contributors

Well, by now you should all be well acquainted with Nancy Hackett, ineedhits' busy as a beaver marketing manager, from our first Meet the Contributors articles.

So the challenge for us was to decide whom next to reveal to the ineedhits newsletter audience - and I got the vote. Rene LeMerle is the name, and digging up the latest news and gossip from the trenches of search engine and internet marketing is my game. Well it's one of many marketing and communication hats that I wear here at ineedhits, but one that provides me untold satisfaction.

Why you ask?

Growing up, I was probably one of the last age groups to be labeled as Generation X and accordingly displayed all the associated disparate youth behavior that one must at that age. (I laugh now in hindsight)...and suddenly here I sit with a significant age milestone looming (I'll keep you guessing on what it is) and I have just realized that I am probably one of the oldest members of "Generation G". Oh how things change.

That's "Generation Google" for all of you who are wondering.

So it is with great exuberance that I report on the trials and tribulations of search engine and internet marketing with unconscious Generation X undertones...for your weekly enjoyment and enlightenment.

Now I won't bore you with my favorite color, or food or experience, but I will leave you with my quotable quote:

"The seeds of learning are bitter, but the fruits are sweet - so growing your own fruit is the key" (some credit owed to Aristotle)

Google Continues its Web Search Domination

Google continues to remain on top as the leader in search share competition in the U.S, accounting for nearly half of all online searches conducted in February 2006, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

Amongst the top five search providers, Google accounted for 48.5 percent of all searches performed, followed by Yahoo! with 22.5 percent and MSN with 10.7 percent of total search share.

Compared to January, search share has remained fairly consistent across all search providers, but the number of searches carried out in February 2006 compared with February 2005 has dramatically grown from 3.8 billion to 5.3 billion - an increase of 38 percent.

Search Share by Top 5 Search Providers - February 2006 (U.S)

Search Provider	Jan-06 Search Share	Feb-06 Search Share	Feb Searches YOY Growth
Google Searches	48.2%	48.5%	46%
Yahoo! Search	22.2%	22.5%	49%
MSN Search	11.0%	10.7%	4%
AOL Search	6.5%	6.6%	NA*
My Way Search	2.7%	2.7%	145%

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2006
*Note: Year over year growth in searches for AOL not available as a result of a methodology change.

In addition, February has seen an explosive 91 percent growth in image searches over the past year, with Google also leading the way and accounting for 71.9 percent of the search share.

Search Share by Top 5 Image Search Providers - February 2006 (U.S)

Search Provider	Feb-05 Search Share	Feb-06 Search Share
Google Image Search	76.3%	71.9%
Yahoo! Image Search	13.9%	19.1%
Ask.com Image Search	1.5%	3.5%
MSN Image Search	2.3%	2.3%
AOL Image Search	1.0%	1.4%
Total Image Searches (000)	189,249,	362,299

Source: Neilsen//NetRatings, March 2006
Michael Lanz, Vice President of Search Industry Solutions, Neilsen//Netratings suggests that the increase in broadband penetration and the rise in popularity of social networking sites have been the key factors to the increase in image searches.

"Increasing broadband penetration, which allows users to download large image files easily and efficiently, and the rising popularity of social networking sites have contributed to the increase in image searches. In the upcoming year, we can expect to see an increase in video searches as video clips become as commonplace on the Internet as still images," said Mr Lanz.

FAQ: Does PHP Hurt Search Engine Ranking?

PHP stands for "PHP Hypertext Preprocessor", and is an open source scripting language used to create database-driven, dynamic Web content. PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language, and therefore can be inserted into the HTML of a Web page. In functionality, PHP is similar to ASP (active server page technology).

As such, the search engine optimization techniques regarding optimization of dynamic pages apply to PHP pages. While most search engines have become quite good at finding and indexing dynamic pages, not all search engines support dynamic pages to the extent you would wish for - they might have trouble reading multiple query strings within the URL. So while it generally should make no difference to your search engine ranking whether your page is in HTML or PHP, you might want to use HTML if you want to be on the safe side. Alternatively, try and ensure that your dynamic pages use as few dynamic parameters as possible and try and keep them as short as possible.

For example, instead of

http://www.yoursite.com/products/overview.php?color=123345&?size=XL?&style=345?&fabric=suede556

the URL

http://www.yoursite.com/products/overview.php?item=brown-suede-jacket&size=XL

should be easier to crawl for search engine spiders. A detailed HTML sitemap should also help prevent any crawling problems.

Another option is to use a "mod_rewrite" to convert a dynamically generated URL into a search engine friendly static HTML version. Consult your favorite PHP site on how to do this.

Many webmasters use an include file to propagate meta data (i.e. the meta tags for title, keywords and description) throughout all pages generated from a database. This is not ideal as meta data should be unique and relevant to an individual page. While it does require additional effort and code to store the meta tags within the database, in most cases it is worth the effort.