Over the last couple of years, social technologies and applications have emerged that allow interactive marketers to listen to what’s being said about their products and brand online. Smart marketers are now using this feedback to know when and where to engage with consumers on the social web. However, listening by itself is only half of the equation. Marketers must not only listen, converse and engage; but they must now act. By taking the collective knowledge and feedback from the community and using it as source of innovation and change, they will have the opportunity to create strong brand advocacy. I wrote this article last week for my company blog, Edelman Digital, that explores this topic in more detail. I would love your feedback! Thanks.
Microsoft’s Bing blog announced they will reduce the time frame they store search data, from 18 months to only 6 months. This is in response to the European Union’s request that search companies reduce the time they store such data. Microsoft Bing is the first major search engine to comply with those demands.
Bing said:
Specifically, we are reducing the amount of time we store IP addresses from searchers to 6 months. Currently we keep that information for 18 months before we delete it. Generally, when Bing receives search data we do a few things: first, we take steps to separate your account information (such as email or phone number) from other information (what the query was, for example). Then, after 18 months we take the additional step of deleting the IP address and any other cross session IDs associated with the query. Under the new policy, we will continue to take all the steps we applied previously – but now we will remove the IP address completely at 6 months, instead of 18 months. We think this gives us the right balance between making search better for consumers (we use the data to improve the service we offer) and providing greater protection for the privacy of our users.
Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land has additional history and insight into this change.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Microsoft’s Bing blog announced they will reduce the time frame they store search data, from 18 months to only 6 months. This is in response to the European Union’s request that search companies reduce the time they store such data. Microsoft Bing is the first major search engine to comply with those demands.
Bing said:
Specifically, we are reducing the amount of time we store IP addresses from searchers to 6 months. Currently we keep that information for 18 months before we delete it. Generally, when Bing receives search data we do a few things: first, we take steps to separate your account information (such as email or phone number) from other information (what the query was, for example). Then, after 18 months we take the additional step of deleting the IP address and any other cross session IDs associated with the query. Under the new policy, we will continue to take all the steps we applied previously – but now we will remove the IP address completely at 6 months, instead of 18 months. We think this gives us the right balance between making search better for consumers (we use the data to improve the service we offer) and providing greater protection for the privacy of our users.
Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land has additional history and insight into this change.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
We’d like to welcome Shashi Seth as Senior Vice President of the Yahoo! Search Products team. He’ll be joining us next week, leading all things Search. As we’ve mentioned before, we’re doing lots of things to continue making Yahoo! Search better and incorporate it into all of our wonderful Yahoo! products, and we’re sure Shashi [...]
We’d like to welcome Shashi Seth as Senior Vice President of the Yahoo! Search Products team. He’ll be joining us next week, leading all things Search. As we’ve mentioned before, we’re doing lots of things to continue making Yahoo! Search better and incorporate it into all of our wonderful Yahoo! products, and we’re sure Shashi will help us keep the ideas flowing.
Shashi knows how to bring great products to life for consumers, while enabling big opportunities for advertisers, so expect amazing stuff from him and all of us at Yahoo! Search in 2010.
The Yahoo! Search Team
We are one major step closer to Microsoft and Yahoo closing on their Micro-hoo search deal which started officially back in July. Yahoo announced on Friday that the details of the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft are final now.
Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corporation today announced that the companies have finalized and executed the definitive Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and License Agreement in accordance with the letter agreement announced in July.
The companies released the following joint statement:
“Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value, and more innovation.
“Yahoo! and Microsoft welcome the broad support the deal has received from key players in the advertising industry and remain hopeful that the closing of the transaction can occur in early 2010.”
Now, all they wait for is for approval from the various bodies of law in the U.S. and abroad.
A Bing powered Yahoo Search is just another step closer.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.
We are one major step closer to Microsoft and Yahoo closing on their Micro-hoo search deal which started officially back in July. Yahoo announced on Friday that the details of the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft are final now.
Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corporation today announced that the companies have finalized and executed the definitive Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and License Agreement in accordance with the letter agreement announced in July.
The companies released the following joint statement:
“Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value, and more innovation.
“Yahoo! and Microsoft welcome the broad support the deal has received from key players in the advertising industry and remain hopeful that the closing of the transaction can occur in early 2010.”
Now, all they wait for is for approval from the various bodies of law in the U.S. and abroad.
A Bing powered Yahoo Search is just another step closer.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.
Apparently, online retailers had a bang up Cyber Monday according to Retailer Daily.
If you’ve been waiting around for news on how e-tailers did this Cyber Monday, well, hold onto your hat. Sales in the online world were higher for this Cyber Monday than they were for last year.
Here are a few stats about [...]
Apparently, online retailers had a bang up Cyber Monday according to Retailer Daily.
If you’ve been waiting around for news on how e-tailers did this Cyber Monday, well, hold onto your hat. Sales in the online world were higher for this Cyber Monday than they were for last year.
Here are a few stats about this past Cyber Black Monday that I found extremely interesting:
* E-commerce sales were 13.7% higher on Cyber Monday this year than they were last year
* Average dollar amount spent by consumers per online order rose 38.2%, from $130.24 to $180.03
* Apparel retailers and jewelry retailers drove this increase with 26.4% and 14.3% jumps in average dollar amount spent per online order, respectively.
* Sporting goods segment, retailers reported a nearly 55% increase in new site visitors, but a 3.1% decline in average dollar amount spent per online order.
* Department store retailers reported a 33% increase in new site visitors, but a nearly 10% decrease in the average value of each online order.
* Per order, consumers purchased 30% more items this year than they did last year.
And if that isn’t enough, 79% of respondents to a survey said they were planning to use the Internet for shopping. There may be many reasons why people are shopping more online.
Some theories that I have are as follows:
Lower Cost - Major retailers can offer much better discounts and deals online since there is a much lower cost of acquisition costs (generally speaking).
Comfortable Consumers – Consumers these days are very comfortable about shopping online, let along holiday shopping.
No Lines or Waiting – I think people overall are starting to realize that time is money and they no longer have to get up at 4AM and camp outside a store the day after Thanksgiving, just to get a great deal on a holiday gift. The can do this from there home anytime…
Anyway, these are a few thoughts, that I think may be factors as to why consumers are spending more online this holiday season.
So what does all of this say to you for the search engine marketing and internet marketing world? To me it says there is job security for search engine optimization and online marketers who can achieve good results for their clients. It says that e-tailers and marketers who use the Internet to reach their respective markets can rely on SEO (and other forms of Internet marketing) to reach their target markets. Yes, SEO is a tool for online marketing. When done well it can connect those with something to sell with those who want something to buy. Christmas or not.
Phoenix-area hospitality numbers continue to lag as consumers stay close to home in this uncertain economy.
Phoenix-area hospitality numbers continue to lag as consumers stay close to home in this uncertain economy.
Rupert Murdoch is reported as saying that he plans to de-index his web properties from Google and go to an all-paid subscription format.
In case you never got a chance to see this interview, here it is:
Now, the talk is that Bing.com has had discussions with News Corp about offering exclusive content through its search [...]
Rupert Murdoch is reported as saying that he plans to de-index his web properties from Google and go to an all-paid subscription format.
In case you never got a chance to see this interview, here it is:
Now, the talk is that Bing.com has had discussions with News Corp about offering exclusive content through its search engine. According to a Financial Times article, Microsoft, the owner of Bing.com, has approached other publishers with a similar deal.
TechCrunch gives a little bit of insight into how this might play out in the long run and who is ultimately behind the coup that seems to be developing right before our very eyes.
The interesting thing I find about all of this is this: If Microsoft did strike a deal with News Corp – and with the top 5 other media publishers as Jason Calacanis suggests – then that would definitely take a bite size chunk out of Google’s search share. No doubt about it. But it would have to happen on a larger scale than what Rupert Murdoch is suggesting. He doing it alone would not work. He would have to get the other media companies to go in with him at the same time.
In other words, a paid indexing deal between Bing.com and News Corp would be like a rock ding on an old Pontiac. A small dent. Nothing more. But if the top 5 media companies at the same time struck the same deal then that would be more like a boulder smashing the top of the Pontiac and flattening it. Google would still be alive, but searchers looking for news content would have to – they’d have no choice – use Bing.com. Google’s search share would plummet within a year.
Another thing that would happen is a bidding war for content indexing. It’s possible that anyone who wants to be indexed at any search engine would then have to pay to be in the index. Once Google lost share it would have no choice but to approach other large publishers to offer an exclusive deal in order to give consumers a reason to use it instead. They could even offer better deals to News Corp and other publishers who were being bought by Microsoft. This would completely change the way webmasters perform search engine marketing. Instead of discouraging paid links, Google would then almost be forced to encourage paid links. The web as we know it today would disappear and the search engine marketing game would change completely.
Is this even possible? Are all these people dreaming or is there really a coup d’etat in the works involving the wealthy media elite and the third most popular search engine? And where is Yahoo! in this mix? Anyone?
A new nationwide survey from Deloitte LLP shows signs that the recession-battered travel sector may be stabilizing.
A new nationwide survey from Deloitte LLP shows signs that the recession-battered travel sector may be stabilizing.
Consumers are increasingly relying on smartphones and other mobile devices to select local businesses and brands. Consider these trends. …
Consumers are increasingly relying on smartphones and other mobile devices to select local businesses and brands. Consider these trends. …
The Federal Reserve finalized rules Thursday that will prohibit banks from charging overdraft fees without consumers’ consent.
The Federal Reserve finalized rules Thursday that will prohibit banks from charging overdraft fees without consumers’ consent.