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Coming Today: A Facebook Phone?

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

Today is a day. Facebook might boom with success or fail dramatically. Everyone has been looking forward to finally hear what the social media giant has prepared for us. Few days ago, Facebook invited press to its event of the month “Come See Our New Home On Android” that would take place in its headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Photo By TechnoCruze

But what should we expect?

Some say it might be a modified version of the Android operating system with native Facebook functionality that would include Facebook search graph on the device’s homescreen. Others ensure that it might be a mystical “Facebook Phone” everyone was talking about for a long time now. However, the rumor says it is not going to be a full-on rewrite of Android, but rather an extra “flavor” with all sorts of Facebook functionality built in.

For the Internet marketing agency, a mobile device with built in Facebook functions might be a huge advantage, yet, a big challenge. First of all, it means more customer coverage. It would be easier to target people who have chosen this device, as they would use Facebook for everything – search, messaging, and making calls. However, with a Facebook phone in the market, Internet marketing agencies should seriously consider Facebook open search graph as a main Google search competitor. Therefore, a need for its optimization would emerge.

Facebook To Reveal “Home On Android” Sources Say Is A Modified OS On HTC At 4/4Event.

Tags: Digital Marketing, Facebook, google, smartphones
Posted in Amazon, Bing, Branding, Business Social Networking, Children, Facebook, Mobile, Mobile applications, advertising, android, apple, celebrities, digital agency, google | No Comments »

Google Links AdWords Express to Google+

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

A recent update has been noticed for Google’s AdWords Express. An advertisement now appears on Google+ to bring people into the circle of a brand. One of the features of the new advertising units is to promote a brand’s local Google page as the landing page. Besides the new integration with Google+ there are some other new features to AdWords Express.

Photo by methodshop.com

This is all an attempt to revamp AdWords express to appeal to brands new to advertising. It seems unlikely a digital marketing agency would consult this new advertising feature; in fact, it seems to be Google’s attempt to keep brands from consulting an agency for outside assistance. The digital marketing agency then needs to keep track on the program to better compete against it. The social media agency could counter the ease of the new service by bundling its services together and touting a service which creates a homepage and then uses as an advertising platform as a superior product to AdWords Express which does not require the advertiser to have a web page.

Google Promoting AdWords Express In Google+ As Way “To Get More Followers”

Tags: Branding, google, Google Adwords, ppc
Posted in Digital Marketing, advertising, google | No Comments »

Federal Trade Commission Lets Google Off the Hook

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

In a much-anticipated announcement the Federal Trade Commission has decided not to pursue action against Google. The FTC had brought on some high-powered names for the potential action. There were many signs that pointed to a complaint being filed which would have then forced Google to change its practices and how it serves advertising to users.

Photo Credit: Puatron

The FTC’s decision was made on the grounds of the difficulty of showing consumer harm. Even though publishers are increasingly upset about Google’s moves into publishing (the purchase of Zagat and combining it with Google Maps is the move that best exemplifies this move) showing harm on the consumer is where the FTC made its decision.

Whether or not this was the correct call will be the purview of history and policy makers. For now the digital marketing agency can breath a little easier as any FTC action would have resulted in some dampening of Google’s powerful resources for small businesses. The large brands would have recovered easily, but it is the small businesses that can use Google’s engine to help close the competitive gap.

As Google Evolves To Satisfy User Demands, Others are Necessarily Marginalized

Tags: Business Networking, FTC, google
Posted in Internet News, Technology, google | No Comments »

Google places Coming to Vehicles

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

Hyundai motor Company, who makes Hyundai and Kia brand vehicles, has announced that it will be using Google Maps and Places on its new smartcar features. Ford, Audi and BMW already allow smartphone users to send data to their cars on-board computers. This new change, however, will default to a platform running Google products for driving directions and recommendations.

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This is big news as Siri and Apple have been gaining momentum as the go to service for immediate mobile directions and recommendations. As more and more vehicles enlist in the Google suite, then it will be more and more important for search engine marketing services to tap into this suite. Not only will a presence need to be made, but it will need to be optimized for best no-hands access.

Google Maps And Places Are Coming To Hyundai’s And Kia’s Telematics Platforms

Tags: google, Mobile, SEO, smartphones
Posted in Mobile applications, advertising, google | No Comments »

Google’s FTC Case Going into 2013

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

For weeks there has been speculation that Google would be striking a deal with the Federal Trade Commission. The news coming out of the European Union is also about a settlement to the lawsuits. However, the FTC deal is now rumored to be on hold as the commission would like to take more time to look into Google’s practice and make a determination in 2013.

At issue is whether or not Google biases the results its own products within the search engine. Because they are supposed to be separate entities that sort of biasing would be seen as monopolistic behavior.

Despite this renewed sense of urgency to look into Google, this is probably good news for the education marketing company. There is still a tight timeline on the FTC’s part, which appears increasingly like it will not happen. One of the new commissioners looking to be a replacement for an outgoing commissioner has said he will recuse himself for two years because of his previous relationship with Google. Another commissioner, one of the more vocal anti-Google commissioners, has announced his desire to leave his position. Those two issues make it likely the FTC will settle for a smaller action against Google or that no action will make it through the political process.

Google Antitrust Decision by FTC Delayed Until Next Year

Tags: FTC, google, Internet News, Lawsuit
Posted in Internet News, digital agency, google | No Comments »

Desktop Search Volume Has Peaked

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Last week comScore released its November data for search market share. As far as the individual engines are concerned things have remained status quo. Google is steady and Bing is gaining some whereas Yahoo is taking the biggest losses. This will probably be the case for a long time. Only an entry by Facebook is seen as having a chance to shake things up.

The big news for the education marketing company is not about individual market shares, but about overall platforms. It appears that overall searching from personal computers has reached its peak. It still outperforms mobile searches, but it is no longer increasing. One potential caveat is about an overall drop in searching from October to November. This drop has been seen previously, however, so it may just be a seasonal variation.

The education marketing company needs to begin emphasizing mobile searching instead of treating it as just another possibility. More and more mobile searches will be conducted and they may someday eclipse PC searches as well.

November ComScore Data Suggest PC Search Volume May Have Peaked

Tags: Bing, Facebook, google, Metrics
Posted in Digital Marketing, Facebook, google | No Comments »

Bing Expands Its Snapshot Column

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

In a move that is another in a series of developments making it resemble Google’s search engine results page, Bing is adding more features to its Snapshot. Snapshot is the column between search results and the social sidebar. This column is made to resemble Google’s Knowledge Graph. Bing will now be expanding its Snapshot to include details about landmarks and people. Previously the Snapshot function was mainly limited to local businesses and events.

Because Google already has a similar service this move does not seem to tilt the market shares of the two search engines. If anything, it makes it harder for Bing to lose share to Google because Google offers the Knowledge Graph. What it does do is to help make the other features Bing brags about more attractive. If a person was attracted to those other features, then making the service more like the alternative keeps the user around for all her search needs. The educational marketing company can see this as a feather in Bing’s hat for future campaigns.

Bing Expands Its Snapshot To Include People & Landmarks

Tags: Bing, Digital Marketing, google, search
Posted in Bing, Digital Marketing, google | No Comments »

Bing’s Scroogled Campaign Falters

Monday, December 10th, 2012

Bing has been escalating its anti-Google tirade the past week. The campaign has been renamed to be Scroogled, and it seems to have refined its message to be that Google is not clear about which search results are ads and which are not. Regardless of speculation about the effectiveness of this campaign, the education marketing company needs to pay attention to how it is received by the public because that may move the needle on search engine market share.

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Danny Sullivan, the editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, has a new essay where he parses the Scroogled campaign and makes some predictions for the public at large. The crux of his findings are that Scroogled is correct and Google should be much more transparent about which of its search returns are paid for and which are organic. The real problem is Product Listing Ads (PLAs) which are all paid for but some tricky shading makes some of them seem organic.

Despite the accuracy of the Scroogled campaign’s claims, there is a reason why it will not make much difference. There is no clear alternative because Bing engages in similar behaviors. The campaign is also registering only among the crowd that already knows and watches for these things. Reaching out to SEO experts will not change the market share for search engines. The problem is ultimately how shopping searching is being done and nobody wins at that game.

Bing Shopping As A Poster Child For Consumer Confusion About Ads

Tags: Bing, google, Online Shopping, Scroogled
Posted in Digital Marketing, Online Shopping, SEO | No Comments »

Adwords Updates Its Interface

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

A problem with AdWords is the millions of available keywords available. Measuring the success of those keywords is a cumbersome task and that is assuming the ‘no referrer data’ problem did not exist. It does exist outside the Google ecosystem, so it is a benefit that AdWords has now updated its interface to allow advertisers better access to keyword success rates.

The new report, it is actually a new column within the reports, shows which keywords triggered the impression of the ad. It does not yet show which keywords triggered an ad that was not clicked on. It seems likely that AdWords will one day provide that data as well. For now though, this is a boon for the social media agency when it comes to finessing keywords and ad bidding processes.

Another update to AdWords’ interface is in impression share reporting. Search and display impressions are now shown separately and the advertiser is now able to segment the data into time of day, as well as other factors. This new data can then be directly applied into the rules governing ad groups.

Part of the reason paid searching is s productive as an investment is because of the increasing targeting ability. Google’s refinements only make that more likely. The value of social media notwithstanding, the social media agency needs to make sure it retains competency with paid search marketing.

Tags: advertising, Business Social Networking, google, Google Adwords
Posted in Business Social Networking, Internet Advertising, advertising | No Comments »

Google Now Changes How Mobile Searches

Monday, November 5th, 2012

Google Now is Google’s answer to Siri, but it does more than Siri. Google Now learns a user’s preferences such as which sports team the user follows, what types of food the person looks for at certain times of day as well as offering suggestions for when to leave for the airport based on traffic conditions. Once users adopt Google Now the need to do local searching will very nearly vanish.

This can be great for brands or it can be awful. BY delivering up a recommendation the brand can benefit from Google Now unless its competitor is receiving the recommendation. The social media agency needs to begin to develop a strategy to make sure its clients are the recommendation. It does seem the mechanisms are already in place though. The things the social media agency does to increase organic rankings will also help brands in this area. Asking customers to leave reviews will also help increase a brand’s authority according to Google. One neat feature that the agency should implement is to plant reminders onto the user’s calendar. These reminders are serviced by Google Now and will help it create traffic into a store.

“Google Now” Moving Well Beyond Search Becoming Mobile Assistant

Tags: android, google, Mobile, smartphones
Posted in Location based, Mobile, android, google | No Comments »

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