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The Interface of Intent

by ~ June 25th, 2010

“The user interface on Google has changed very little since its inception,
and I think it’s their core vulnerability.”
- Irwin Gotlieb, Global CEO, GroupM

Irwin Gotlieb was quoted in an article for India’s The Economic Times discussing the future competition that would challenge Google’s dominance. Gotlieb suggested that the challenge was likely to come from an unknown in a garage somewhere; he doubted the it be on the algorithm front but rather the user-experience side.

The timing of this article had a fabulous intersection for what was one of the most memorable sporting days in U.S.-England history. Simultaneously, the USA and England soccer (futbol, if prefer) teams were playing for their lives in the World Cup. England carried through with a 1-0 win over Slovenia only to see their pesky afterthought competitors from the U.S. score a stoppage time goal from Landon Donovan to win the Group over England.

As remarkable as the U.S. outcome was, it was not even close to the most amazing U.S.-England sports outcome of the day – and an interesting example of how the commentary about Google’s blind spot could eventually be exposed.

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What's Your Brand’s Share of Expressed Intention?

by ~ June 22nd, 2010

This article was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published on MediaBizBloggers, Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Follow Chris on Twitter – @SearchBoss.

In preparation for this column, I asked the head of my research team at GroupM Search to find a few data points about the difference between true search engines and places where people can search, in addition to other things. The subject line for his reply was “Top ‘Search’ Properties.” His reply provided some of the data I’ll cover in this column, but it also highlighted a major challenge we are now facing in the search space.

Consumers express their intention throughout the digital graph, and our ability to position brands as a proper response is the key to success for advertisers. Today we focus on how much share of voice we can buy in traditional search locations. Every year, studies come out showing the lack of success major brands have in the SEO realm. This bodes ill if they are to take the premise of this column forward into their business. Because whether you consider YouTube or Facebook a “search” property or not, the reality is consumers’ expression of intent is being facilitated through searching and selection on every major site from FourSquare to Twitter to Digg.

The brand opportunity is no longer determining how a brand lives and is found through the sole volume of Google or the full search engine landscape. Rather, the opportunity for brands exists in a broader, more complex group of sites with vastly different approaches to optimization and exposure. Take a look at the chart below from comScore for top “search” properties, noting the volume on sites beyond the Big Three engines:

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What’s Your Brand’s Share of Expressed Intention?

by ~ June 22nd, 2010

This article was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published on MediaBizBloggers, Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Follow Chris on Twitter – @SearchBoss.

In preparation for this column, I asked the head of my research team at GroupM Search to find a few data points about the difference between true search engines and places where people can search, in addition to other things. The subject line for his reply was “Top ‘Search’ Properties.” His reply provided some of the data I’ll cover in this column, but it also highlighted a major challenge we are now facing in the search space.

Consumers express their intention throughout the digital graph, and our ability to position brands as a proper response is the key to success for advertisers. Today we focus on how much share of voice we can buy in traditional search locations. Every year, studies come out showing the lack of success major brands have in the SEO realm. This bodes ill if they are to take the premise of this column forward into their business. Because whether you consider YouTube or Facebook a “search” property or not, the reality is consumers’ expression of intent is being facilitated through searching and selection on every major site from FourSquare to Twitter to Digg.

The brand opportunity is no longer determining how a brand lives and is found through the sole volume of Google or the full search engine landscape. Rather, the opportunity for brands exists in a broader, more complex group of sites with vastly different approaches to optimization and exposure. Take a look at the chart below from comScore for top “search” properties, noting the volume on sites beyond the Big Three engines:

Continue reading >>

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SEO Tips from the Experts: Video SEO Basics

by ~ June 12th, 2010

You have videos on your website and want them to show up in Google’s blended (universal) search results, but have not had much luck.  Learn some basics about how to accomplish this in this video blog.

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Microsoft's End to Bing Cashback Takes Differentiation With It

by ~ June 4th, 2010

Almost a year after launching Bing and revitalizing their Cashback program, Microsoft is bringing an end to their Bing Cashback Shopping and Bing Cashback Search rewards programs, effective July 30. Cited reasons include less than desired profitability and lack of adoption. Microsoft hoped the program would change user behavior of Bing usage by getting users to use Cashback habitually to incent purchases. The official announcement is available on Bing’s Search Blog.

This news is disappointing in terms of the opportunities Cashback presents for advertisers and the needed differentiation a program like Cashback brings for an engine to be competitive in the marketplace. On the heels of Yahoo’s end of the Paid Inclusion program at the start of 2010, this is now two key variants in the marketplace gone from challengers to Google.

Cashback was introduced as a differentiator for Bing when it launched and took significant work on the part of their advertisers and agency partners to implement. Advertisers who invested in IT developments to support site integration for Cashback’s premium program will surely feel a sense of wasted long-term opportunity. Ultimately, this program felt partial baked upon launch, and with significant changes to the Bing focus and leadership, it is safe to say it never released its full potential and thus went the way of many “differentiating” products brought to the search market. Continue reading >>

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