According to comScore, Microsoft sites saw their share of searches increase 0.4 percentage points to 9.3 percent in August. Meanwhile, Google saw its share of the market dip slightly with a 0.1 point drop to 64.6 percent.

Read more from Brafton.com.

Do you want your site to be found at the top of Bing search results. High Search Ranking, a division of CINIVA Systems, can help you. Contact us today at 757-499-1990 to learn more.

ShareThis

For novices in the PPC game, there are several Web sites available for detailed instructions on launching an eye-catching campaign. Ultimately, though, most advise on good paid marketing boils down to these five important tips to ensure you get the most out of your money.

Maintain focus on Google’s search network – To attract the people you know are searching for your relevant keywords, you want to be sure you place your ads where the search happens. Buying space through Adsense, where ads are placed on similar Web sites, can increase visibility and awareness of your brand, but ultimately the bulk of your referrals are going to come from where people are actively searching for information. Concentrate on the search network to build your audience.

Know your target audiences and how to sell to them – Think about your business: do you cater mainly to the people in your immediate geographic area, or do you serve a broader base that extends throughout the country? If the latter, more than likely you create different ads for print campaign to attract different demographics. The same practice should apply to your PPC ads. Campaigns for local, regional, and national audiences should be created separately because you will use different keywords to attract customers and clients.

Separate Ad Groups for maximum performance – If your business deals in multiple services, for example a restaurant that also caters events and retails food products, you will want to separate each facet of your company into its own ad group on Adwords. Each group should focus on one aspect, and perhaps further split the available services – a group for dining in, a group for catering weddings, a group for catering reunions, and so forth – to better draw in traffic from paid search. Be sure, too, to have a proper landing page prepared for each group to increase the quality of your ads.

Generate keywords! As you prepare your campaigns, you may have a specific number in mind. Here is where you can have some fun and take advantage of Google’s keyword tool to help you generate multitudes of probable searches. Don’t limit yourself when you make your bids, for even the most obvious search phrases may not bring in the traffic you’d expect. The more keywords you use for an ad group, the better you can test what works and what doesn’t for your advertising.

Test different ads for effective marketing – You wouldn’t use the same ad over and again for different print campaigns, so the same rings true for Adwords. Create at least two different ads per group and study their performances, tweaking as necessary to build click-throughs.

Take note of these tips as you begin your PPC advertising, and make good use of the free tools available through Google Adwords to help with your success. You just may find online advertising will quickly pay for itself.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on local PPC advertising and professional SEO writing services.

ShareThis

There can be only one? Well, as time told the three chains survived and you still see them all over the place. Of course, now they have to contend with the Taco Bells and Subways, adjusting their menus for healthier options as we suddenly realize our obesity caused in part by eating at these places.

What does this have to do with SEO? If you think about it, the competition between Google and Yahoo and MSN isn’t that much different. Three large companies, vying for your attention, and making adjustments where necessary to keep you coming back. Who delivers the most beef here? Many will argue Google – it’s name has become synonymous with search. In conversation people will mention if they want something on the Internet they’ll “Google” for it. Nobody ever “Yahoos” anything. Over the years Google has acquired major innovations in web technology, including Blogger, Youtube, and Feedburner, and perhaps may add a Twitter feather to its cap. Internet users can send e-mail with Google Mail, write papers with Google Docs, hunt down an address on Google Maps, and research with Google Book Search.

Yahoo, hardly a slouch in the industry, provides users with a useful portal for news, weather, classifieds and site search. You’ll find a similar setup at MSN, which makes me wonder why MSN continues with the plan to launch a search engine.

Is another major search engine necessary now? True, the competition gives users more options, but one who knows his Internet history understands that the Microsoft Network hasn’t been able to knock the two big dogs off the porch. Will Kumo make a dent in Google’s usership? Preview articles suggest a blended search model, which would be beneficial for sites optimized to attract users through audio and video in addition to static site content. We will truly see for ourselves in the next month or so when Kumo launches, and those of us in the SEO business will look to see how to optimize for it search. After all, a referral is a referral and the more the better. But as to whether Kumo will deliver the beef remains to be seen.

ShareThis

Source: SearchNewz.com

ShareThis

A patent application filed by Yahoo is causing a bit of a stir within the SEO community. The patent is for an “Automated System to Improve Search Engine Optimization on Web Pages.” The abstract for the patent reads as follows:

A system and method for automated search engine optimization (SEO) are disclosed. The automated SEO may analyze search query logs, or a search log database to determine popular concepts/units, which may be automatically utilized to optimize a site or page for search engine results. The site or page is edited based on the automated SEO. In particular, the search log database may provide a unit frequency list reflecting the popularity of various units. The more popular units that are related to the content of the page may be used in the automated SEO of the page. The unit frequency list may be compared with the existing units of a page, so that the more popular concepts within the page may be emphasized. (more)

Source: WebProNews

SEO Fiascoes: The Trouble with Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) has turned into a big business, and from what I can tell it’s the modern version of snake oil. The unproven nonsense spewed by so-called “SEO experts” simply doesn’t work. And worse, it’s screwing up the elegance of the Web.

With the new long URL you get the date and the headline of the post. In some instances with a long headline it’s ridiculous. Besides, the second URL is cumbersome, long-winded, and impossible to type by hand. It is supposed to be search-engine friendly and more likely to get the attention of Google. Check out the fact that 90 percent of the blogs and major Web sites all use this supposed trick to get attention. (more)

Source: PCMag.com

ShareThis

Although Google’s search engine holds a commanding lead over its rivals, it could still face serious competition because of a lack of user loyalty, according to a survey by Forrester Research. The poll of more than 4,800 U.S. users found that more than half use different engines for search, with 20% saying they only use Google, 8% only use Yahoo!, 3% AOL and 1% MSN. Adweek (02/04)

Source: SmartBrief

Yahoo Bets On New Search Pad Organizer

Yahoo’s new service organizes information found from Web site searches on Yahoo Search Pad and adds notes, all stored in one location. Users can edit, delete, reorder, print and e-mail notes about topics that they’ve searched. Notes can also be saved and accessed later when a user logs on to Yahoo using his or her Yahoo ID.

Source: ChannelWeb

ShareThis