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Friday, May 11th, 2012
Microsoft’s search offering, Bing, has undergone another revamp. And with a huge focus on social, Bing may have found a way to begin to oust Google from search dominance.
After joining a ‘search alliance’ with Yahoo!, the “New Bing” will try to usurp Google by offering things it currently can’t.
Of course, Bing will still return normal organic search results and paid ads, just like it used to.
But now its social annotations, scraped from public information across a variety of social networks, are being lumped into a special sidebar, giving you the chance to interact with social friends.
The sidebar will pull information from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare and even Google+.
Google has already fallen out with Twitter, and, to a lesser extent, with Facebook. It can’t return Twitter profiles in its search results, because the microblogging site has blocked their spiders.
Not so with Bing.
Whereas Google has faced accusations of throttling social results – leading Facebook and Twitter to publicly demand “Don’t be Evil” (a cheeky nod to Google’s original ethos) whilst falling out with the search giant – Bing isn’t discriminating.
Google isn’t going to be able to pull info from Twitter or public posts from Facebook until relations are mended. In the meantime, Bing has a big open deal which could allow it to steal a march on Google.
The ramifications of this social focus, on both search engine optimisation and pay per click campaigns, could be huge. It would see an integrated Internet marketing approach, where search marketing and advertising is combined with social media.
Friend recommendations could become key selling tools, for instance. Group discounts for social groups with similar interests could be offered. It’s still early days, but the potential to create more joined-up marketing campaigns certainly exists.
Bing has been quick to point out that in a blindfolded taste test – much like those undertaken during the 1980s cola wars between Coke and Pepsi – search users preferred Bing’s search results to Google’s.
“We regularly test unbranded results, removing any trace of Google and Bing branding,” they said. “When we did this study in January of last year, 34% preferred Bing, whilst 38% preferred Google.
“The same unbranded study now shows that Bing search results have a much wider lead over Google’s. When shown unbranded search results, 43% prefer Bing, whilst only 28% prefer Google results.”
Of course, internal market research is hard to qualify. And Bing still needs to convince people to leave the relative comfort zone of Google and try something new.
If that works, though, then Google could face a real fight to maintain its position.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: Bing, facebook, Google, LinkedIn, online marketing, optimisation, PPC, results, search, SEO, social, twitter, yahoo
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation
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Friday, March 2nd, 2012
Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, is reported to be testing variations of the local search results featured on the site’s SERP (search engine results page), according to an article published by Search Engine Land.
A search feature that has previously been adopted by Google, Bing’s new Local search results layout bears some resemblance in appearance to the results provided by the Sergey Brin founded search engine.
Previously Bing’s local search results displayed a “pack” of local business listings, as well as a map.
Now the results show a mix of local search results. Matt McGee, writing for SEL, has defined the new layouts.
He writes: “The ‘pack’ of listings may appear anywhere in the search results, not just at the top of the page. The map appears with the pack in this display.
“The ‘pack’ may be replaced by blended listings – organic listings with local data blended in as part of the search snippet. The map appears in the upper right of this display, but floats as the user scrolls down the page.”
Bing remains popular for search engine marketing campaigns – but the outcome of this work could change with the introduction of new Local listings.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: “We’re constantly updating and refining the Bing search experience, and before any changes are implemented they undergo intensive testing and experimentation to ensure the best possible user experience. We have nothing further to share at this time.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Tags: Bing, Google, local search results, search engine, Search Engine Marketing
Posted in Search Engine News
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Monday, February 27th, 2012
It is now a year since the first Panda update was rolled out and many sites have seen some alterations to the rankings as a result; for some, negative but for many others the Panda update provided a wake up call to update and add unique, quality content which has invariably improved ranking results post-Panda. There does also seem to have been the required cull of content farms and scrapers that were beginning to litter the SERPS and cost Google the reputation for relevance that it has built up over the years. However, in its wake comes the Search Plus Your World integration which many view as a less than positive advance.
Whilst it may seem logical for Google to integrate search with many of the other Google properties (G+, maps, etc) and personalise the results according to search history, known likes/dislikes, the social signals generated by others within your social network, and so on, the resultant SERPs when you are logged into your Google account are not to the liking of many.
For instance, a search may pull up discussion, opinion and social networking profiles rather than the original content, and there is an ongoing debate in the blogosphere about whether these ‘secondary’ layers of information are actually as relevant as the current emphasis on social signals in the SERPs would make out. After all, much of the commentary on a piece is often not as well researched or knowledgeable as the genuine article or the original information, particularly when the searcher is in ‘research mode’ rather than, say, shopping mode where reviews of products etc are of some value in the decision making process. It is this drop in the perceived quality of the returned results that appears to be taxing many in the SEO/SEM and search world.
One could also wonder whether it is forcing often reluctant businesses into the world of social at a time when resources to handle such an addition to any marketing campaign are often in short supply and there is only one thing worse than not doing social media marketing, and that is doing it badly. For the unknowledgeable, social media marketing can be a minefield, and even for those in the know, it is all too simple to make a PR faux pas in a mere 140 characters, or less. There are always going to be companies for whom social media is not a prerequisite to doing good business, but looking at the SERPs recently, it has become increasingly difficult to visualise that scenario as the social results start to take up more and more space, and Google becomes much more of a suggestion engine than a search engine.
There is a definite time and place for social results in the SERPS, but it is still difficult to see where a link to a G+ profile where a discussion is taking place about a link to an article or infographic elsewhere should take precedence over the original item. Social is where the buzz is at present, but should social results be included when you are logged in to the detriment of other, possibly more pertinent, results?
The personalisation of results is also causing problems for some in understanding their ranking from others’ point of view. For instance, if you regularly visit your own site whilst logged in to Google, this will automatically bump it up the SERPs for you. Ditto if you have an active social circle, whose own searches, likes, +1s etc will affect what results appear for you. However, someone who has never visited your site and has a different social circle will not see the same results as you, making it hard for SMEs and businesses with little understanding of the search engines to understand what their marketing budget is achieving unless they know to log out of Google (and preferably use another browser altogether to compare results).
It all comes down to quality and relevance and freshness, and yet it is hard to see how the latest changes within the Google search engine will continue to stick to these benchmarks. Are you seeing an increase in social results in your searches? How do they affect your SEO decisions? Do you feel that the results are of lower quality than previously or on other engines eg Bing and Yippy.com? Would you prefer a social option, or a research button, or some way of indicating to Google more precisely what you are searching for? Should there be an Unlike or -1 button for Google results to show them how many were not relevant, fresh or of good quality? We’d be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments…….
Tags: Bing, freshness, Google, panda update, quality, relevance, search engine results, serps, yippy
Posted in Blog, Google, SEO, Social Media
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Monday, February 27th, 2012
Blekko, a recently founded search engine, has started testing search ads on its SERPs (search engine results page), according to an article published by Search Engine Watch.
Launched by Rick Skrenta in November 2010, Blekko has the backing of Russian search engine, Yandex, as well as a number of venture capitalists.
The site is currently working with a number of large brands via Google and Bing feeds, but according to SEW “doesn’t have direct relationships with any confirmed brands as of right now.”
The ongoing tests are currently small-scale, rendering the likelihood of PPC marketing campaigns being conducted on the site in the near future highly unlikely.
Skrenta stated that some of the ads are provided in searches linked to slashtags, adding: “We’re still ironing out the kinks.”
He also stated that Blekko would measure its success based on RPMs – revenue per mille (thousand), estimating that search traffic would be worth between $50 and $100 CPMs (cost per impression).
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: Bing, Blekko, Google, PPC, PPC marketing, Rick Skrenta, search engine
Posted in Pay Per Click Marketing
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Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
The long-awaited migration of Yahoo! search marketing accounts into Microsoft’s adCenter is set to begin today, as part of the search alliance originally formed by the two in 2010, according to an article published by New Media Age.
Search traffic for Yahoo! will also be powered by Microsoft’s Bing search engine as a result of the migration – which has already launched in America, Canada and India.
Scheduled for completion at the end of April, the migration will allow search engine marketing professionals to purchase ads for both Yahoo! and Bing via adCenter.
Microsoft’s UK marketing manager, Cedric Chambaz, commented on the launch of the alliance.
He said: “Starting around 19 March, we expect to progressively start serving adCenter ads to Yahoo! searchers. The entire Yahoo! paid search volume is expected to be transitioned to adCenter within approximately two weeks from that date.”
More about the transition can be found on the Microsoft adCenter blog.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Tags: adCenter, advertising, Bing, Microsoft, Search Alliance, search engine, Search Engine Marketing, yahoo
Posted in Search Engine News
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Monday, February 13th, 2012
A popular platform for search engine marketing initiatives, Bing has consolidated its position as the second most used search engine in America during January, according to comScore data, cited in an article published by Search Engine Watch.
Having overtaken Yahoo! in December, the Microsoft search engine saw its share of the search engine market increase by .1 per cent – rising from 15.1 to 15.2 per cent.
Yahoo! suffered further decline, with their share of the market falling from 14.5 per cent to 14.1 per cent.
Google, meanwhile, saw their share of the market grow by .3 per cent from 65.9 per cent to 66.2 per cent – their highest market share since December 2010.
The amount of searches conducted was down by 2 per cent from December, with 17.8 billion searches made overall.
Google conducted 11.8 billion searches, while Bing carried out 2.7 billion searches; both saw the amount of searches they conducted down by 2 per cent when compared to December’s figures; the amount of searches conducted by Yahoo! was also down – this time by 5 per cent.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Tags: Bing, ComScore, Google, January 2012, market share, search engine market, Search Engine Marketing, statistics, yahoo
Posted in Search Engine News
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Friday, January 20th, 2012
Since the Google Search Plus changes recently, there appears to have been a backlash from players such as Twitter, as well as the SEO industry and users.
Google has led the way in search since its appearance on the market, replacing such well-loved engines as Altavista as well as the meta search engines – Dogpile etc. Microsoft created Bing in a long delayed response to Google as a ‘decision engine’, and there are computational knowledge engines (Wolfram Alpha), as well as new and novel engines such as DuckDuckGo.
Until recently, none of these engines appeared to threaten Google’s position as the world’s best search engine because Google did one thing better than any other – relevance. However, the latest inclusions of social results and the seeming preference given to Google properties before, for example, original content rather than a discussion about said content, has caused an upset. Whilst the social results can be switched off, many users find the fact that an ‘opt out’ is required an additional niggle to the already heated discussions about Google properties listing above seemingly more relevant non-Google properties. In addition, Google’s removal of Boolean operators (which Bing permits) feels like an unnecessary dumbing down of the search process.
There are many pieces in the blogosphere detailing Google vs Bing vs other search engines, giving examples of where Google has failed to produce the relevant results, compared to the other engines. As Google have always said, the user is only one click away from using any other engine and it seems there are now many changing teh default search engine in their browser to Bing and other options. However, there is a percentage of Internet users who seem entirely unaware that there are other search engines, particularly since many began to use the Net after “Google it” became the replacement term for “search the Internet”.
For internet marketers, the process of SEO has always been a constantly shifting set of sands; however, this latest change to Google’s search results may result in users, especially the more savvy folk, seeking alternatives to Google. For a marketer, this presents a further challenge, particularly if new search engines continue to appear which return to Google’s initial USP – relevance – which Bing appears to be achieving after a shaky start.
It is unlikely, in the short term at least, that Google’s dominance of the market will plunge dramatically. But for those who are seeking to shop or conduct research, the prevalence of social and Google results above independent sources may be irksome enough to prompt a move away from Google to other search resources. And for those whose product set and content is not specifically enhanced by social results or is directly hampered by social SERPs above theirs which lead to less relevant content, it may be time to consider paying less budget and less attention to high Google SERPs.
After all, if your target audience include those who are dissatisfied with Google and who will only hear of you elsewhere, then you will need to increase your marketing efforts across those properties to capture their attention. Are you optimising specifically for other search engines or are you simply increasing social media marketing to stay/regain top SERPS on Google?
Let us know.
Tags: altavista, Bing, dogpile, duckduckgo, Google, relevance, search engine results, serps
Posted in Blog, Google, SEM Industry, SEO
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Monday, January 16th, 2012
New figures have shown that Yahoo! has finally been overtaken by Bing in the US search engine marketing, according to an article published by Search Engine Watch.
Having launched just over two and a half years ago, Bing now has a 15.1 per cent share of the search engine market – compared to the 8.4 per cent on its launch.
The figures, released by comScore, saw Yahoo! slip into third position during 2011. Its share of the market fell from 15.1 per cent to 14.5 per cent.
Google – a site popular for search engine marketing initiatives – built on its lions share of the market, with 65.9 per cent of searches made in the US conducted via the site – representing an increase of 0.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, 18.2 billion searches were made during December – an increase of two per cent compared to November’s figures.
Google conducted 12 billion of those searches; Bing 2.7 billion with Yahoo! coming in just behind with around 2.6 billion searches.
Ask and AOL conducted 531 million and 287 million searches respectively.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Tags: Bing, ComScore, December, Google, market share, search engine market, yahoo
Posted in Search Engine News
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Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Although it is impossible to know exactly what is going to happen within the world of SEO, Sujan Patel, writing for Search Engine Journal, has stated that there are five facts that everyone in the industry should be aware of.
He states that these five facts will play a huge role in SEO for years to come and those that take note will succeed in the long run.
Here are just three of those five aforementioned facts in a summarised form:
Fact 1 – Content will remain vital: Despite the introduction of Google’s Panda algorithm earlier in the year – which saw SERPs (search engine results pages) cleared of the content produced by content farms, Patel argues that content remains king.
He finishes by stating that webmasters focused on providing quality content will succeed in the long run – as opposed to those that focus on cheap, spammy articles, which search engines are looking to ‘weed out’.
Fact 2 – SEO for various platforms will increase in importance: Smart phones and tablet devices are increasingly becoming a platform of choice for users when browsing the web; as a result it is important to ensure that your site is optimised for each of these various platforms.
Face 3 – Personalised searches will become widespread: Bing has already launched a personalised search function; this element of search is expected to become a common feature on other search engines in the future too – providing users with results based on their previous search queries.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: Bing, Google, mobile SEO, personalised search, Search Engine Journal, SEO, SERP, Sujan Patel
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation
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Friday, December 9th, 2011
Yahoo! has announced an update to its image search results. An idea previously implemented by rival Google and search partner Bing, Yahoo! search now features an infinite scroll, according to an article published by Search Engine Results.
Users will also be able to share any image that catches their attention via both Facebook and Twitter, as part of the update.
Infinite scrolling has become a common feature in image searching but has not yet made the transition to standard search results – though it has been rumoured and could have a potentially massive impact on SEO.
Rather than featuring pages of results, infinite scrolling – as it suggests – simply allows users to scroll down the page.
Yahoo! has also revealed that other features in image search will remain as they are when the users is scrolling down the page.
Although a positive move by Yahoo!, the move has widely been considered as being implemented too late.
Bing have had the feature in place since 2009, whilst Google implemented the feature into their own image search function last year.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: Bing, Google, infinite scroll, SEO, yahoo
Posted in Search Engine News
