As reported on Firefox’s blog:

“Twitter is now included as a search option in Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux. Twitter search in Firefox makes it easier to discover new topics, #hashtags and @usernames. Twitter search is currently available in English, Portuguese, Slovenian and Japanese versions of Firefox, with more languages to come in future releases.”

The social addition is a part of an upgrade cycle that the popular web browser kicked off this past summer. Firefox’s Twitter tie-in may be one of the most visible, if not the only visible, upgrade to even the most avid Firefox users during the period of continuous upgrades. Firefox 8 is currently available for download here.

How will the Twitter integration impact search and social? Here is what our search and social executives had to say about the partnership:

“Firefox making a move to become a more social browser is nice, but it’s clearly just step one. I would expect in a year we’ll look back and see how the browser’s primary role changed from a single- pane shell to multi-pane curation tool.”

 - Chris Copeland, Chief Executive Officer, GroupM Search

“The inclusion of Twitter in Firefox 8’s search bar speaks to the changing role of social media in how people connect with the things that matter to them. The buzz happening on Twitter gives users a sense of what’s happening at that moment, and is a unique and valuable source of information when compared to the other search engines included in the browser.”

- Tim Fogarty, Lead Strategist, M80

The Twitter-friendly browser promises to be faster than the previous versions, with improved support for HTML5. The feature is available now; come December 20, per Firefox, users can expect to see the next installment of their browser upgrade.

What are your thoughts on Firefox 8’s built-in search functionality? How do you think the social inclusion will impact the search experience?

100 days after kicking off brands who jumped on the Google+ bandwagon at launch, Google has rolled out Google+ Pages, re-opening the door for businesses to move onto their social network platform. At first glance, Google+ may appear to some as just another social network.  However, Google+ represents a different type of social platform and carries greater meaning for a brand’s potential across the entire Google network. It has been placed at the center of all Google initiatives and, as such, the strategy necessary for success is unique – but critical – for brands.

In recent months, GroupM Search CEO Chris Copeland sat down with Google’s product and social execs, including Vic Gundotra, Bradley Horowitz and Christian Oestlien, to discuss the company’s vision for Google+. Drawing from these conversations and identifying the significance and potential for brands long-term via Google+ Pages, Copeland has developed keen perspective on the platform itself, why strategy is critical for brands, and important actions brands and marketers can take today to set course for success on Google+ and across the Google network.

Read more about these insights in the GroupM white paper shared below. If you want to chat more about it with Chris, follow him on Twitter at @SearchBoss.

Google Launches Google+ Pages for Businesses: Insight from GroupM Into Why A Google +Pages Strategy Is Crit…

I am personally excited because I have my sights set on not just being #1 for me, Chris Copeland, in the engines, but am now turning my focus toward the self-gratification that comes with having the most Twitter followers that hang on my every self-serving and validating 140 burst of brilliance from my @SearchBoss handle.

Actually, the paragraphs above have almost not a word of truth in them, but they do make a point – one that seems to have been lost in the gold rush surrounding the latest digital trend. You see, if you asked me to describe my personal philosophy, it would be more “Act like you have been there” than “I’m a Golden God.” But, apparently somewhere in the last few years, that philosophy came to mean that I wasn’t old-school, just old — at least in our industry.

My job is not about building the brand of Me first. If the adage is true that you can’t take it with you, I have to believe that goes beyond the material possessions to the immaterial of the social sphere. I only need a retweet from St. Peter at the pearly gates when the time comes — not from 1,000 of spambots before I leave this world.

I’m not a rocket scientist or doing brain surgery every day, but what we do in advertising does have a purpose and a meaning. If you care about this business, then you approach your job with a hearty desire to impact the masses – not with your self-fulfilling messages, but rather by connecting consumers with brands and being relevant. It’s not Don Draper sexy 99.44% of the time, but it has its moments.

People in the business of search and social have confused promotion of ideas and material performance with promotion of self. They are measuring their impact by follower counts and printed and spoken self-references. Let’s be clear that this problem is not an epidemic, but more prevalent than ever before.

Some people have “the goods,” and earn respect by the way they handle their business and their unflinching willingness to do the right thing to ensure success. And then there are so-called experts who now advise others on how to construct programs to maximize follower counts and enhance rankings through the superficial and timely with a kind of excess that would make a Kardashian weep with jealousy.

Years ago, I used to joke that people would attend a search conference for four days and suddenly become qualified to hang out a shingle and go into business as a consultant. The acceleration of technology has been such, that in the social media space you can seemingly skip the conference, hit a couple of websites, gorge your Twitter account with meaningless followers chasing keyword-laden tweets, and bypass doing any work.

If Chris Copeland ends up #1 on Google or Bing as a result of an article that celebrates Chris Copeland, written by Chris Copeland, then so be it. That’s the way the game is played today, and I can handle that. But, while others are worried about being experts in self, the Zen of Me, the tao of I, I’m worried about next. And next isn’t about me; it’s about a platform in a garage or dorm room — and it’s certainly not being developed by someone tweeting how friggin’ cool it’s going to be when finished.

Look at the great digital successes of the past decade, and you see companies that have reached the top by doing the work first — not by talking about it. Someday Chris Copeland will walk away from advertising – and, like a majority of the folks in this industry, there will be no highlight reel on the work I did for me. The people, the work, the recognition from others will speak for me far better than anything I can say about me, Chris Copeland.

This article was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in MediaPost’s Search Insider, Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Follow Chris on Twitter – @SearchBoss

This news broke hours before Matt Cutts, a Google engineer and head of Google’s Webspam team, was to take the stage alongside Bing at a Bing-sponsored event to discuss the future of the space. Suffice it to say that the news of the day was a more pressing topic than where the space was going in the conversation that took place. What followed this event was a search engine Twitter fight between Mr. Cutts and counterparts at Bing that can be seen relived via TechCrunch.

Avoiding the morals of the story, there appears to be three unspoken, to date, points for advertisers to keep in mind when determining future plans:

Google is THE measuring stick

For the better part of the last decade, search starts and ends with Google. The public transformation of Google to a verb and the governmental exploration of a monopoly are both founded off the basis that Google is the defining entity in the search space. It would stand to reason that when measuring evolution, any search vendor will analyze their results against those of Google. A former engineer with the search engine Ask once recounted how they used to run internal evaluations of their search results against Google. Over time, Google started to serve up dummy results to prevent this kind of benchmarking – similar to what was done in this current “sting” operation with Bing. Using clean IPs they were able to do field surveys of satisfaction and found that the single biggest determinant of satisfaction was the Google logo on the page. When the logo was removed, the results swung to neutral or favored Ask. When the logo moved to the Ask page the satisfaction went way up.

That said, it should come as no surprise that Bing is using Google as a factor in rankings. The primary basis for the Yahoo deal from Microsoft’s side was to gain the market share in order to own more data and provide better performance. In absence of that data, using consumer information from Google results would have been a logical reference point.

Text search results are just table stakes

Google’s contention, that in six or seven of 100 examples they found Bing’s results to be stale copies, is meaningful – if you believe that the future of search is flat, blue linked pages. GroupM Search, in recently-completed research with comScore, found that brand infidelity is a growing challenge for search engines. Google today has nearly 70 percent market share; yet in the research we conducted, the user percentage (not query share) was less than 50 percent with Yahoo and Bing much higher than their typical market shares by query volume. When studying the young male audience, a segment who does more of everything online, these trends were further amplified.

The reality in this whole dust-up is that no one, be it Bing, Blekko or any other engine, is going to win on table stakes. Users switch engines when they are dissatisfied with what they are finding on their primary engine. More people use Google for multiple queries then bounce to Yahoo or Bing when they want a different opinion. This was the pitch to advertisers when Bing launched, and little has changed in consumer behavior. This reality is important because if all of this is to mean that “Bing is now Google,” as Mr. Sullivan joked, then consumers would have little reason to switch. What hasn’t been manifested in any of the sting data is a keyword that likely draws more than 10 queries annually. The reason, most likely, is that Bing is differentiating via Facebook and other implementations to stand out on the items that matter to their user base.

If you don’t like the conversation, change it

Every major search engine states they have hundreds of ranking signals. Google has built their entire business on the black box that is the Page Rank algorithm. Last week, Google went to the press to state they would be cracking down on duplicate content and the farms that cultivate them. This was not so subtlety timed for the day after online media company Demand Media had a highly successful first day on Wall Street. Demand Media has been called into question for deriving much of its revenue from its strategic approach to content development and inclusion in the Google rankings. And now, Google follows that with this presentation of copying, cheating and stealing, directed at Bing.

Not surprisingly, no one has spent the week engaged in the conversation that dominated the last two months in the search space – is Google slipping? Columns, like this one from Coding Horror, flooded the web in late December and into January about the continued decline of the Google results. Similar conversations are not happening today as a result of the offensive position being played by Google. While this may be a smart PR move, it does not represent innovation and differentiation.

Also of note, as an upstart (and Bing falls into this category), despite Microsoft’s deep pockets, one of the true signs of competition is when the leader starts fighting with you instead of you picking the fight. Steve Ballmer and Microsoft have been very aggressive in their declarations of war against Google in the search space and beyond. To see Google publicly fight over this and keep picking at the issue via Twitter and blogs is a bit startling and very unlike the Mountain View giant. It could be read as Google acknowledging Bing more so than ever before and trying to take them out at the knees.

So, what is the advertiser impact?

Search is a consumer first business. In the case of content farms, the motivations of Google are to improve the consumer experience. In the case of bringing to light the potential unlawful duplication, the motivation, it seems, is to shift perception and get consumers thinking that if Bing is just a copy, then why bother. Historically, that has meant little to consumers as they still go between Bing and Yahoo, and those results are now copies, by and large. What matters to consumers is the rapid evolution going on in search results that include multiple media formats, personal social graphs and a richer overall experience that delivers better outcomes and easier decision making. This “one copying another” dust up is not about any of that.

For advertisers, the impact of this dust up is minimal in the short term. Questions could be raised about Bing having enough engineering resources to truly compete, but the areas of focus have been on bigger opportunities than random character combinations as described by Google in this situation. The real impact could happen if Bing saw public perception change and a drop in market share. However, that is highly doubtful as this feud will likely not get so high profile that it reaches the general public’s consciousness.

In the end, we have a renewed shouting match between two of the industry’s leading influencers. If it leads to better innovation and development around experience and ad formats, then everyone will root for more of it. Otherwise, it is Cold War posturing, which makes for a great Tom Clancy-like thriller, but little else of substance.

This article was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in Instant Insights on ClickZ, Thursday, February 3, 2011. Follow Chris on Twitter – @SearchBoss

Previous Post from 2/3/2011:

A note from the editor:

Google and Bing, two titans in the digital world, engaged in a public war of words this week, with Google accusing Bing of copying search results. As Bing increases its market share and Google strives to maintain its dominance in the space, advertisers are wondering what this all means to them. Chris Copeland, CEO of GroupM Search, gives his perspective on the event of the week and boils down the impact for advertisers. You can read Chris’ post at ClickZ.

Tonight, you and millions of others will likely turn on your television and enjoy some form of entertainment. In exchange for this you will be provided with a series of advertisements for products that may or may not be relevant to your current or future state. The determination of that probable connection is based on how many people like you are watching the same program. What happens next is what starts to form the basis for the importance of words beyond pictures in today’s new advertising equation.

Nearly 70% of all searches are prompted by some kind of offline media influence. In the not-too-distant past, it was commonplace to believe that digital, especially search, was going to have a lasting negative impact on more traditional forms of advertising. The data we see daily suggests that the best influencers for more query volume reside in the offline world. But the keywords speak to us. As a single signal, these words have limited impact. Some words are clear and precise comments on the state of the consumer. They tell us what consumers want, when they want it and how they want to receive it. Others are far less descriptive and give us little insight whatsoever.

But something curious happens if you start to catalog the words that may at first seem completely ambiguous. What you begin to uncover are patterns of users. Much like the television audience tuning in for “CSI” or “American Idol,” we have groups of common consumers in transit toward an end outcome. The words they are using signify a check-in along the way — and our job is to provide a navigational compass which takes them due north, toward our brands.

Over the past few years, many companies have tried to sell advertisers the notion that a true value of branding was possible via search and other forms of digital advertising as a proper response to these undefined consumers and their generic queries. More and more I’m dubious of the framing that has gone on in that regard. To suggest that search can create brand awareness and consideration is not entirely wrong, but it limits the ultimate potential of up-funnel engagement.

If our desire in that buying is exposure for the purpose of embedding in the subconscious of a consumer, then we would not measure clicks and conversion actions — yet, we do many times. The logic behind this is sound, since it’s part of a search program and search is about moving goods or facilitating services. However, the real objective in this area should be to get consumers from Point A to B or C on their journey to the end point.

With that as our stated mission, a few things change in the interaction between brand and consumers. First, we re-evaluate the objective. No longer is it about lift in brand or conversion rates, but rather it is measured in frequency of engagement, the next query, and movement down the funnel. In this way, clients start to message and create site experiences designed to move customers down an engagement path, not a purchase path.

The end outcome of such a path is still action in the desired manner — but the benefit is, more people are kept inside the boundaries with our brand, and our investment is understood to be about linking the obscure with the desired.

There’s another old saying: Actions speak louder than words. But when actions are indicated via words and in turn met with responses of value, the outcome for advertisers is more desired actions at a better ROI. And that picture is worth a great deal more for most brands.

This article was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in MediaPost’s Search Insider, Friday, January 7, 2011. Follow Chris on Twitter – @SearchBoss

She has been armed with following:

• Smartphone
• Credit Card
• Warehouse (gift storage)
• iPad & Laptop
• Cargo Van

Kristina was welcomed to the U.S. by reporters upon arriving at JFK from the North Pole.  She made a brief statement:

“I am happy to be in the States and hope I can find all the gifts in time for my dad’s arrival.  Wunorse the Elf was kind enough to teach me how to work my gadgets which he thinks will help me find stores and purchase products. I’m still a bit nervous.  There is a lot of work to do here; I’ll accept any and all help.  Merry Christmas!”

Day One
Kristina started out by setting up shop at the warehouse, organizing and updating the gift list on the iPad and planning shopping routes.  She then went to bed feeling better about the days ahead, but still feeling the weight on her shoulders.

Day Two
Kristina hit the streets in search of gifts!

Miss Kringle had much success at the first two stores and was able to mark off a significant amount of items.  She rewarded herself with an early lunch.  At lunch she realized her handwritten note from the night before was lost.  She called the elves in panic and they assured her the iPad and smartphone could be used to find stores.  She took a deep breath and pulled up the shopping list.

The “nices” and gifts up next on her list were:

• Wii Fit for Samantha B.
• Laptop for Jimmy J.
• Women’s Skinny Jeans for Jessica D.
• New Watch for Tony S.
• UGG Boots for Liz A.

She did a search for Wii Fit in Google and noticed a shopping section in the results. There, it told her where the closest stores in town had what she was looking for.

Best Buy filled up the results page, so she decided to go there – plus the laptop for Jimmy could be purchased there too.

Upon arriving at the store, she saw the Wii Fits stacked high in the game section. She grabbed one and headed to the computer section only to find the laptop was not in stock!  Kristina had forgotten to check the status of the laptop.  She them remembered what Wunorse the Elf taught her – some stores and brands have made sites to easily view on smartphones – or “elf computers” as Kristina called them.

Kristina pulled out her smartphone and did a search for Best Buy. She was directed to a mobile site.  Although she was only looking for another location to head to purchase what she needed, she noticed that the laptop could be purchased from the phone. Problem solved!

Santa’s daughter left the store and jumped in the cargo van to visit the next shop on the list.  Suddenly she hit traffic with no place to go.  Time was running out in the day and gifts needed to be purchased.  She pulled out her iPad to see what could be ordered online.  She went to a couple sites with no luck. They either told her something from Adobe was needed in order to view or other sites took way too long to load.  Then a text from Wunorse the Elf came through with a link to Amazon and a message that read, “A lot of purchases have been made here on elf computers.”  Kristina quickly realized there was good reason for the all the purchases via mobile devices because with ease she was able to order most of everything else needed on that day’s list while sitting in traffic. (Of course, we all know that only elves, not people,  use their phones while driving!)  Her crunch for Christmas got a little easier as she later finished the next day’s list over dinner via the Amazon app on the iPad.

With Gifts Still To Purchase, The Search Continues
Unfortunately, Christmas has gotten closer and Kristina cannot not order any more products online and guarantee their arrival in time for wrapping/sorting. So now, her search continues on foot.

Miss Kringle is still searching for gifts to mark off the list and millions of people – including some in your hometown – have volunteered to help make sure gifts are under the tree as usual.  Their gifts will be purchased across from coast to coast, and brands that understand behavior of the mobile users in this crow and make their experience delightful while fulfilling needs could be the winner of the sale regardless of brand loyalty.

Fortunately, many gift buyers in the U.S. are equipped with the same tools as Kristina, keeping them at their fingertips to ease their holiday bustle. Have you helped them by taking control of your brand’s mobile experience?  Will they be able to find you in their search?

One thing’s for certain as she heads back north – Ms. Kringle has her list and is checking it twice, sure to remember who made the shopping experience naughty or nice.

She has been armed with following:

• Smartphone
• Credit Card
• Warehouse (gift storage)
• iPad & Laptop
• Cargo Van

Kristina was welcomed to the U.S. by reporters upon arriving at JFK from the North Pole.  She made a brief statement:

“I am happy to be in the States and hope I can find all the gifts in time for my dad’s arrival.  Wunorse the Elf was kind enough to teach me how to work my gadgets which he thinks will help me find stores and purchase products. I’m still a bit nervous.  There is a lot of work to do here; I’ll accept any and all help.  Merry Christmas!”

Day One
Kristina started out by setting up shop at the warehouse, organizing and updating the gift list on the iPad and planning shopping routes.  She then went to bed feeling better about the days ahead, but still feeling the weight on her shoulders.

Day Two
Kristina hit the streets in search of gifts!

Miss Kringle had much success at the first two stores and was able to mark off a significant amount of items.  She rewarded herself with an early lunch.  At lunch she realized her handwritten note from the night before was lost.  She called the elves in panic and they assured her the iPad and smartphone could be used to find stores.  She took a deep breath and pulled up the shopping list.

The “nices” and gifts up next on her list were:

• Wii Fit for Samantha B.
• Laptop for Jimmy J.
• Women’s Skinny Jeans for Jessica D.
• New Watch for Tony S.
• UGG Boots for Liz A.

She did a search for Wii Fit in Google and noticed a shopping section in the results. There, it told her where the closest stores in town had what she was looking for.

Best Buy filled up the results page, so she decided to go there – plus the laptop for Jimmy could be purchased there too.

Upon arriving at the store, she saw the Wii Fits stacked high in the game section. She grabbed one and headed to the computer section only to find the laptop was not in stock!  Kristina had forgotten to check the status of the laptop.  She them remembered what Wunorse the Elf taught her – some stores and brands have made sites to easily view on smartphones – or “elf computers” as Kristina called them.

Kristina pulled out her smartphone and did a search for Best Buy. She was directed to a mobile site.  Although she was only looking for another location to head to purchase what she needed, she noticed that the laptop could be purchased from the phone. Problem solved!

Santa’s daughter left the store and jumped in the cargo van to visit the next shop on the list.  Suddenly she hit traffic with no place to go.  Time was running out in the day and gifts needed to be purchased.  She pulled out her iPad to see what could be ordered online.  She went to a couple sites with no luck. They either told her something from Adobe was needed in order to view or other sites took way too long to load.  Then a text from Wunorse the Elf came through with a link to Amazon and a message that read, “A lot of purchases have been made here on elf computers.”  Kristina quickly realized there was good reason for the all the purchases via mobile devices because with ease she was able to order most of everything else needed on that day’s list while sitting in traffic. (Of course, we all know that only elves, not people,  use their phones while driving!)  Her crunch for Christmas got a little easier as she later finished the next day’s list over dinner via the Amazon app on the iPad.

With Gifts Still To Purchase, The Search Continues
Unfortunately, Christmas has gotten closer and Kristina cannot not order any more products online and guarantee their arrival in time for wrapping/sorting. So now, her search continues on foot.

Miss Kringle is still searching for gifts to mark off the list and millions of people – including some in your hometown – have volunteered to help make sure gifts are under the tree as usual.  Their gifts will be purchased across from coast to coast, and brands that understand behavior of the mobile users in this crow and make their experience delightful while fulfilling needs could be the winner of the sale regardless of brand loyalty.

Fortunately, many gift buyers in the U.S. are equipped with the same tools as Kristina, keeping them at their fingertips to ease their holiday bustle. Have you helped them by taking control of your brand’s mobile experience?  Will they be able to find you in their search?

One thing’s for certain as she heads back north – Ms. Kringle has her list and is checking it twice, sure to remember who made the shopping experience naughty or nice.

But this year, that dearest of traditions for me started to evolve. I took my shopping from the streets of St. Louis to the results of Google and Bing. Not all of it, now. Let’s say 20% or so. I like being creative when it comes to gift giving, and the possibilities for originality and utility online seem endless. It’s not that I’m just getting older and lazier… perhaps I’m in denial as I did just reach a depressing birthday milestone. I just want to find the best presents I can this year. And if it means saving a few pennies here and there, well, I guess I’ll take that too.

As I sat at my computer on Thanksgiving, staring at Amazon.com, my experience was seemingly on par with the norm. I quickly got distracted shopping for myself, and started drawing blanks as my mature siblings are only getting harder to impress with gifts. The holiday energy wasn’t quite there, as I wasn’t dodging wandering children in the aisles and didn’t see any lines ahead that I’ll have to waste time in. I suppose the holiday theme I saw at the top of the screen helped – a nice graphic of snowflakes, horns, bells and ornaments, though it would have been nicer if, perhaps, I heard some Bing Crosby as I browsed their merchandise. Amazon’s wish list feature was pretty cool, letting me create my Christmas list with a single click and allowing it to be public so other Amazon users can access it. (And buy me exactly what I want this year!) There was also a universal wish list option that allows you to add items from any site you browse, not just Amazon. Just install the button and start shopping! Very cool. The search option, as we’re well aware, is quite helpful, and any purchase over $25 has free standard shipping, 5-8 days. With nearly a month on hand, why, this new online shopping tradition was just perfect.

My next online stop was Target.com to see what was happening over there. Very festive, with large ornaments traveling up and down both margins of the screen, almost to the point of annoying as they soon absorbed my focus. Red and green décor, with promotion covering the 2-day Extended Black Friday Sale. And free shipping was offered for a purchase of $50 or more. All in all, this was more like it, as I was nearly convinced that it’s Christmas time. At this point, I realized I just had to stream KEZK online and would be humming holiday favorites in no time.

And what would the holidays be without a short trip over to Best Buy? A nice display ad of a chipmunk Best Buy employee covered a good portion of their homepage, touting the Thanksgiving weekend sale, and it quickly became obvious that an order placed will have free and fast shipping. The environment was much cleaner with basic white background, and the advertising was less intrusive. Best Buy had some attractive online only offers, and offered the same wish list feature as Amazon. Nice. Looking at the Kindle, I saw that it apparently was not available through the site – only at Best Buy retail stores or a hop back over to the Amazon site I’m sure. But heck, that was a gift for me anyway.

So why was my holiday online shopping trip worth sharing? Because I’ve joined the masses and have become a statistic that advertisers should be paying attention to. Online shopping is here – and with the help of the media and “new holidays” such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s only going to grow with new adopters each year. A June, 2010 Nielsen report about global trends in online shopping stated that just 18% of respondents said they do not plan to make an online purchase in the next 6 months. Consistent with 2009, books and clothing top the list for planned online purchases, and intent to make travel arrangements, specifically hotel and tour reservations, increased 7% and 9% respectively. The report also revealed online reviews are proving more and more important to the shopper. 40% of respondents said they would not buy consumer electronics without consulting online reviews first. And 38% said the same about buying a car.

Marry that data in your mental back pocket with the report from VentureBeat that Cyber Monday sales crushed Black Friday sales $1 billion in sales.

So not only are consumers and marketers realizing the practicality and efficiency of shopping online, but also the necessity to make use of easily attainable information to make an informed decision.

As for me, I ended up finding a couple of cool things online. eBay came through with a huge Hershey’s pillow for my six-year-old niece, and I found a rare, old-school hip hop DVD for my brother at Amazon. These would be unavailable at brick and mortar retailers, at least in St. Louis, and so far I’m on pace to save overall from what I’d normally spend, shipping included.

The time and hassle saved finding my gifts was immense. I’ll be continuing my online holiday shopping adventure for sure, and who knows, online spending may account for 30% of my 2011 holiday shopping budget. I’m not ready to forgo my tradition completely.

Tim Donovan is a Search Specialist at Maxus, a GroupM and WPP company.

On Nov 26, the New York Times ran a story by David Segal about DecorMyEyes and the questionable business practices of its founder and owner, Vitaly Borker. The story detailed how Mr. Borker was able to benefit through improved positioning on Google and other search engines from largely negative reviews of his business and its practices. As part of the story, the apparent inability of a search engine, specifically Google, to differentiate between positive commentary and negative reviews was highlighted. For a brief time the NYT had brought forward an obvious gap in the “Do No Evil” king’s prized algorithm – the inability to weight based on good and bad versus simply crediting for scale of commentary and links.

At any given time Google has hundreds of ranking factors at work to determine the best blend of results for a user. The basis for search engine optimization (SEO) was built more than a decade ago by aspiring companies focusing on on-page factors such as keyword density and behind-page tags, as well as off-page association via linking. The evolution of the algo has been vast with Yandex claiming to index 2,000 different criteria earlier this Fall. With so many more criteria, it is safe to say that Google and others have been indexing the opinions of the people, but like the determination of what to do with tweets and other new content types, the application of such been the delay to market.

It seems that the exposure in the NYT did not go unnoticed in Mountain View. Within days Google posted its response, making it clear that they continue to place utmost value on the type of experience they connect users with and have weighted it so in their algo. Of note was this piece on the official Google Blog:

“In the last few days we developed an algorithmic solution which detects the merchant from the Times article along with hundreds of other merchants that, in our opinion, provide an extremely poor user experience. The algorithm we incorporated into our search rankings represents an initial solution to this issue, and Google users are now getting a better experience as a result.”

Google also pointed out that they were less inclined to start weighing in on penalizing sites for negative comments because in some cases the court of public opinion against certain elected officials might mean an inability to find data whatsoever. As such there is no sentiment engine in the search algo today. Which raises the question of which signal in the Google ranking pool is being used? Search Engine Land editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan, in reading between the lines of the Google post, said that it “seems likely that Google is now using these (merchant) reviews as part of its ranking algorithm, though it never explicitly says this.”

And in this we reach the point of the proceedings where brands on trial must act. In any court proceeding, whether legal or that of public opinion, there comes a phase of discovery. Both sides have the opportunity to present and review the evidence at hand that will be woven into the case for or against their side. In the case of search we are now seeing more and more examples where consumers are not only reviewing the materials but creating the content that will be used to judge a brand.

Brands are on a roller coaster ride from feeling in control to being told to let go, to now seeing the perceptions of their customers shaping the outcome of future transactions. What happens next is where brands have a real opportunity to shape and influence public opinion. Whether it is the most recent Google change or the Bing and Facebook announcement, there is growing importance for brands to connect at a deep level with consumers. This goes beyond “like” and “friend” and extends to commitment to products and experiences with the brand.

On almost every receipt a customer receives in a department store or restaurant there is a phone survey attached designed to reward for feedback. These surveys serve a valuable purpose in the feedback loop, but they are no longer adequate in addressing the meaningful way consumers give feedback to other potential customers inside and out of their social graph. The new model for feedback has to be tied to immediate response, appropriate reward for doing so and facilitated in a method that can benefit the brand. Be it in store kiosks or on-table iPad surveys, there is a new model needed.

The intersection of intent and content in a relevant manner remains at the core of the search experience, and Google is attempting to ensure that it is done in a way that brings to valuable partners together. For brands this is a challenge – and opportunity – at one time. In America, anyone put on trial is guaranteed a proper defense. For brands in today’s digital age the criteria by which you will be judged is constantly shifting. To ensure a positive verdict, the time to evolve is now.

This article was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published on MediaBizBloggers, Tuesday, Decemnber 7, 2010. Follow Chris on Twitter – @SearchBoss.

It’s a near certainty that every young person has heard someone of a previous generation describe the hardships they experienced when they were of similar age. Often, these conversations center around what the youth of the day have that the previous generation went without – be it technology, opportunity or roads leading to and from schools that went any direction but uphill.

It is also the basis by which every generation criticizes its descendants as being material and wanting instant gratification. The way the adults of today look at their own children and think the same things is the crux of a great challenge of understanding relevancy.

Google has built a multi-billion dollar business on the back of enabling relevant connections between consumers through their expression of intent, and advertisers’ response in content. This began as text-to-text, keywords-to-websites and ads associated with those sites.

Now it is a myriad of responses including video, images, news and product SKUs (stock-keeping units), as well as websites. But the fact that there is a direct and immediate response does not mean that the gratification is fulfilled solely in that moment.

The changing nature of relevancy

Relevancy is not exclusive to a current state. My needs at this moment are highly relevant, but they are no more important as my wishes and desires. Anyone who has ever engaged in long-term financial planning knows that there is an aspirational relevance to the process. Retirement is based on a desired future state where the ability to stop working and live a specific lifestyle enters the equation. So, while my aspiration may be to live in a retirement community off the fourth fairway of a golf Loading… issues golf course, until then it does not mean that certain things are not relevant to me.

In fact, in moments of frustration with work or spare time in planning my upcoming vacation, those items may become more relevant than short-term needs. In these cases, marketers must consider how to appropriately balance immediate with future in their investment strategies.

On the way home from school with my six-year-old last week, she asked me about a billboard she sees every day. It’s a beer ad which shows three runners as the primary focus. She asked me what it was and if I had ever bought the product they were selling. The topic soon turns to a billboard for McDonald’s and how seeing it might influence future actions. She suggested I might see it and start to tell her and her brother about it without realizing they weren’t even in the car.
I’m unclear if she believes I’m that forgetful as to start conversations over Happy Meals without either of them present, but I do know that he McDonald’s billboard would have little impact on me without them being present. Put us in the car, however, and factor in the moments we are considering where to stop while driving to visit family out of state, those billboards have an immediate relevancy – they have established a framework of relevance for stopping.

Our digital models, especially in search, do a poor job of accounting for the long-term aspirations of the consumer. We are focused on the immediate response, occasionally allowing latency to factor in, but our efforts from measurement to modelling do little to set the stage for what may come, months and even years down the road.

As we get better targeting data it will be interesting to see if search programs can become viable for advertisers to set the stage for moments and phases of life which we have yet to realize. Because while reality may not have hit home quite yet, it is certainly true that we have a relevant connection to be made, if advertisers are willing to make them with us.

This article was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in TheMediaBriefing (11/30/10), an online real-time news and information resource for the media industry. Follow Chris on Twitter – @SearchBoss