SEL: 08.2004

Copernic Officially Launches Desktop Search Tool

We gave you a sneak peak of Copernic's new desktop search tool, a few weeks ago. The great little application has been sitting in my taskbar for a number of weeks and has often helped me find that elusive file on my hard drive.

Today, Copernic makes the launch official. You can download it for free at their web site.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Microsoft Confirms No Desktop Search for Longhorn

According to DMNews, Microsoft has confirmed that its long-awaited update to its Windows operating system in 2006, will be launched without advanced file search capability.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

The Background on Blinkx

Interesting story on the person behind Blinkx, that new search engineveryone is talking about (did that just sound like one of those annoying spam emails that pumps a penny stock?)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Why It's OK to Blabble

MarketingVOX points to an article at InternetRetailer about a blog search engine called Blabble. What does it do?

Blabble doesn’t crawl the web in response to a search, instead drawing from its own searchable database that aggregates content from what are currently more than 2 million blog authors. To fill and grow its database, it secures lists of blogs and also draws from companies that provide consumers with software and platforms for creating blogs. Blabble gets a direct feed from such companies so every change or addition to a posted blog is captured, which keeps its database current.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Engine Marketers Grow Up

According to Gord Hotchkiss, us SEM's are learning new vocabulary to help us reach more traditional marketers.

We're beginning to talk about customer profiling, identifying attitudes, the nature of the buying cycles, and the role of brand awareness. It's a new way of speaking aimed at marketers, not Webmasters.

Via John.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Buy Google Stuff

In case you don't have enough free Google "stuff" head over to their redesigned store. This update brought to you by the Google Blog. How they manage to keep up their fast pace blogging, is beyond me! ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

What Next for Google?

Matt Krantz manages to answer and not-answer a USA Today reader's question about the future of Google.

P.S. Oh yeah, I'm back!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Sexy Tech

Larry and Sergey's interview in Playboy revealed Google's "thin" management ranks. Less managers equals less time spent managing and the employees decide what to work on for themselves. Engineers can put themselves on different projects if they choose, apparently.

I've got to pick up that issue...

In other news NYTimes writer Randall Stross questions "sexy tech" in light of Google's recent IPO. Genworth Financial, a financial and insurance services company, raised 2.8 billion in May - a cool billion and change more than Google.

Would Genworth Financial become sexier by renaming themselves the Genworth Financial Engine? Why is tech so sexy?

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

The Google Channel

I've been having what-will-Google-do-with-all-that-money conversations since the IPO rumors got loud, and definitely foresee more Google desktop apps (browser? operating system?).

As the IPO dust settles, the Fool's David Meier, in his refutation of another analyst's thinking, says Google shouldn't diversify its revenue base.

While I agree that they should stay in the advertising business, I think an over reliance on ppc could be unhealthy for the long term.

As Google insinuates its text ads across websites, blogs, and even newsletters, I'm wondering how long it will be before we see Google-served print ads, or a Google TV search engine that allows you to search for and watch shows and receive ads targetted specifically to those ads.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Blog Related Search Engines On The Rise

As the popularity of blogs continues to skyrocket, so will the number of sites aggregating their feeds. Here's a good list of blog search engines currently in existence. I'm not sure I have any others to add to the list.

Do you?

Jason Dowdell | permalink | +marktd |

Recap of SES "Future of Search" Session by Andrew Goodman

Andrew did a good job of breaking down what the experts had to say about the future of search during the latest Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose earlier this month.

Here's a snippet...

"Few in the search industry today disagree that personalization is going to be a key driver of change. Assumptions about how to display search results pages to users are undergoing a steady transformation. Gerry Campbell of AOL search came at the issue from several different angles. First, the online experience in general should be structured to allow more recall of information that users need for basic workday and lifestyle management, from favorite stocks and birthdays to Internet connection speed. Search itself could be self-learning so that it would calculate the probability that a given user typing "eagles" meant a football team, and should offer much more by way of regional listings. Ordering a pizza from a local establishment should, Campbell argued, start with something as ambiguous a typed search query for 'pizza.'"

Jason Dowdell | permalink | +marktd |

Search Engine Personalization Simplified

Not being able to see the forrest for the trees is a sympton many developers and analysts fall into. Search engine personalization is one such area. I think everyone would like to personalize their results (to some extent): that's a no-brainer. But at the same time, everyone knows there will always be a way to manipulate every search ranking algorithm the SEO Gods come up with. So what's the common thread of search personalization?

Finding relevant content, which translated into it's simplest definition means, getting rid of the garbage that fills much of our search results.

Being the well-rounded educated marketers and business types you are, you've probably seen your Google results fill up with sites that do nothing but scrape the results for the exact query you're executing, and create a static page with the search term in the url. Then, Bam! Nothing but crap!~

What if Google puts a checkbox next to each url that excludes that site or url from all your future searches? Then the data is stored in your Google preferences, and you won't be bothered by domains or urls that are full of meaningless content.

Why worry about social networks and determining what the user likes and doesn't like based on traffic patterns? That's all convoluted and too easily manipulated based on bots. This preference would be user specific. It's just like the ability to make your default search results 20 instead of the standard 10. Sometimes the best solution is the simplest and this is just a thought and not gospel by any means.

Jason Dowdell | permalink | +marktd |

Taking a Break

In this day and age, celebrating 5-years of marriage is a significant achievement. Mrs. Beal has put up with me being out of town a lot this year, so I'm taking her off to celebrate in the Canadian Rockies!

As such, I'm not taking a computer and won't be updating the blog until Tuesday. But don't fear, Garrett, Ben and Jason will be filling-in and keeping you updated with the latest news (they even have permission to be a little controversial).

Later!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

The Search Engine Belt Buckle

Next time you're "shakin your thang" do it in style by wearing Engadget's Search Engine Belt Buckle. This do-it-yourself fashion accessory will show streaming search engine queries on your belt. We kid you not!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Stock Likely to be Very Volatile

According to Standard and Poor's, Google's stock will be "very volatile" and with an expected 12-month target price of $118.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Michael Wong Wants a Word with Atlas OnePoint

Atlas OnePoint doesn't need any additional bashing right now, but Michael Wong claims he is simply not getting paid. Any other affiliates able to back-up his claims?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

UK Newspapers Favor Overture's Content Match

According to Silicon.com, The Financial Times, Guardian Newspapers and Independent News and Media have signed deals with Overture to use its Content Match product.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Interchange Improves Local Search Platform

ClickZ looks at the improvements a local search provider is making to their offering.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Can Quigo Change Contextual Ads?

John Battelle chatted with Michael Yavonditte, the CEO of Quigo and asked him about their new contextual ad technology.

Yavonditte's secret sauce is vertical categorization. He's come up with a handful of major categories - Travel, Health, etc. - that advertisers self select into. Then he applies his contextual algorithm within that category, yielding what he claims are major improvements in CTR and PPC.

Yavonditte doesn't see Google as potential threat, but he should. Google shareholders are going to be looking to squeeze maximum returns out of the search engine. If Quigo has found something new, they'll be all over it. Then again, maybe they'd be happy to be bought-out by Google.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Challengers Must Have Strong Branding

Naseem Javed suggests that the next challengers to Google could come from some existing well-known brands.

AltaVista, Excite, Hotbot, DogPile, Inktomi and MetaCrawler. These name identities appear almost prehistoric, but if we follow the rules and laws of business naming, once again these icons might end up challenging Google on Wall Street.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Stock Declines

Shock! Horror! Surely not!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo!'s Overture Services, Inc. Designates WebSourced as its First Performance Marketing Certified Ambassador

WebSourced, the global leader in search engine marketing - today announced it has been designated a Performance Marketing Certified Ambassador by Overture Services, Inc.

WebSourced is the first company to receive the Performance Marketing Certified Ambassador designation. To achieve the certification, WebSourced exceeded the criteria outlined by Overture in the use of its Performance Marketing Console, which is a marketing tool that measures the effectiveness of an online marketing campaign including pay-per-click search, email, banner, paid inclusion and affiliate programs.

"We are delighted to have achieved certification from Overture. This recognition reinforces WebSourced's commitment to maintaining its position as the world's most successful search engine marketing company," said Andy Beal, vice president of search marketing at WebSourced. "Our goal is to work closely with the search engines to ensure we maintain the highest level of service for our clients."

WebSourced's Vice President of Interactive Advertising, Tom Dwyer, added, "We have seen fantastic demand for our pay-per-click management (PPCM) services and are already managing more than $500,000 per month in client spending."

WebSourced's KeywordRanking.com division helps clients increase their visibility on leading search engines through search engine optimization and paid placement services. Its more than 1,300 clients include market leaders such as Motorola, NBC and Lowe's Home Improvement.

"Our search engine marketing services continue to see strong demand and this certification will allow us to maintain our momentum as we head toward the end of the third quarter," stated Pat Martin, CEO and president.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

The Playboy Article That Wouldn't Go Away

So Playboy is back again. This time with previously unpublished parts of their interview with Google's Page and Brin.

Google refuses to say anything or take action to prevent Playboy from releasing the new snippets. Kinda reminds me of his original stance on this.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

RSS Search Engine Technorati Gets VC Funding

Reported by Om Malik, link via Greg.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

New Search Engine Promises $5m Giveaway

When you send out a press release to announce your new search engine, it always helps to throw in an incentive. Tygo.com, takes that to the extreme with the promise to giveaway $5,000,000 in free clicks.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Ask Jeeves is Turning Japanese (I really think so)

Ask Jeeves waited for the Google IPO frenzy to hit the road before announcing their plans to launch a Ask Jeeves Japan. The site is being launched with Tokyo-based software company Transcosmos.

"We feel good coming in later than Google and Yahoo, because there's a lack of consumer choice. Right off the bat, we'll have a strong market position, coupled with distribution with our Transcosmos partnership and others," said Jim Lanzone, senior vice president of search products at Ask Jeeves.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Paid Search Accounts for 40% of UK's Online Ad Spend

AlwaysOn links to a report that claims paid search accounts for 40% of online ad spending in the UK.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

In Google for the Long Haul? Read this.

Allan Sloan of The Washington Post eats some humble pie and admits that he got it wrong with his Google IPO predictions. However, he's able to give clarity as to why the IPO was a success.

Instead of a true Dutch auction, which would probably have produced an IPO price of $95 to $100, Google sold at $85 and gave successful bidders only about 74 percent of the shares they sought. This created pent-up demand -- clearly what started the price running.

Sloan still stands by his remarks that Google is way over-priced.

At Monday's closing price, the stock market is valuing Google at almost $30 billion, or almost 87 times the $1.26 per-share profit it reported for the 12 months ended June 30. Google earned $7 million on $86 million in revenue in 2001, its first profitable year, and $191 million on revenue of $2.26 billion in the 12 months ended June 30. But the company's not a small start-up anymore. To keep up this growth rate, Google will have to earn $5 billion on revenue of $60 billion in 2006. That's clearly not going to happen.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo's Blog Update

I'm sure that Yahoo's new blog will ultimately be a great source of Yahoo Search news. However, the second post is a little lacking...

"To be honest...we never really blow a big horn about a lot of the things we have", is the line that precedes a whole lot of "horn blowing".

You'll also find some interesting shortcuts.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

The Next Big Search Engine?

CNN/Money outlines some of the challengers to Google's crown.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's at the Bottom of the Corporate Governance Class

According to the Financial Times, Google has the worst corporate governance ranking of any S&P 500 company. The report cites a number of problems with Google's governance.

These flaws, it said, include a dual-class capital structure that gives effective control to insiders, too few outside directors, a lack of stock ownership guidelines for executives and independent directors, a compensation plan that lets the company reprice stock options if the stock price falls, and loans to company insiders.

The proxy adviser assigned Google, the world’s leading Web search engine, a corporate governance quotient of 0.2 out of a possible 100, the newspaper said.

I'm hearing unofficial reports that Google plans to use some "black hat" optimization techniques to try and improve their corporate governance ranking. ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Investment Bankers Cash-in on Google

What a nice option to have; watch how the IPO does then exercise an option to buy 2.94 million Google shares for the IPO price of $85. Sell the shares on the open market for $112+ and make a quick profit. According to the San Fran Chronicle, that's exactly what Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse did.

This so-called over-allotment option increases the size of Google's IPO, largely completed earlier this week, by $250 million, to $1.92 billion.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

The Google IPO Winners and Losers

If you have a WSJ subscription, be sure to check out this story. It outlines a story of two former Google contractors who were offered stock options in lieu of cash. One took the options, one took the cash.

Five years ago, Ms. Cikovsky took cash instead of Google stock. She and an associate moonlighted for Google, preparing PowerPoint slides and speaking notes that co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page used to announce their first venture-capital funding. They were willing to pay her in stock options, she says. Instead, she sent them a bill for about $4,000.

Her associate, Abbe Patterson, did take Google stock options for this and related public-relations tasks. Forgoing a $5,000 fee, she took options for 4,000 shares. After two stock splits, she has 16,000 shares. They're now worth $1.7 million.

Ms. Cikovsky can't remember what she spent her $4,000 on. When the Google founders were willing to let her take options, "I should have followed up on that more," she now muses.

I could almost cry for Ms. Cikovsky, I pray that she doesn't let that decision haunt her.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Watching the Google IPO Lock-ups

Reuters predicts that as much as 250 million new Google shares could hit the market as employees exit lock-ups over the next 6 months.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Can Offers Network Take on Google and CitySearch?

You know you have a good PR team when you get called by a Seattle Business Journal to discuss a local search company out of Washington. That and being #2 on Google for "search engine experts". ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Analysts Start Rating Google

According to CBS MarketWatch, analysts have started providing recommendations on GOOG. Looks like most believe either "hold" or "buy" with a target price of no more than $120.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

US Buys into Online Shopping

More consumers are buying products online, according to data at eMarketer.

Interestingly, about 60% of respondents said that their opinions of brands have changed as a result of online research.

Doesn't say if their opinion changed positively or not, but it still shows the power of the internet. And what source do most consumers use for their research? Oh yes, a little thing called "search".

Thanks Katy!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo Search to Power Australia's OptusNet

According to The Age, Australia's second largest telco, Optus, says Yahoo Search would from now on power search requests from OptusNet users.

Optus said that under an agreement signed with Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand, Yahoo! Search Technology would power web search results on the OptusNet dialup and broadband portals.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Annual Summer Picnic

We're making an effort to not report the same old Google IPO news that you can find EVERYWHERE. So today you'll only find Google news that you may have missed, like this little snippet...

The first purchase [using IPO money] will be hotdogs and hamburgers for the company's annual summer picnic today. It promises to be a happy event, especially since around 1,000 of the company's 2,300 employees are now millionaires.

Caviar hotdogs anyone?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

24/7 Real Media Buys Search Tech Firm

More consolidation in the search engine marketing industry as 24/7 Real Media acquires Decide Interactive.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Fraud Stalks Google and Overture Advertising

Brian Livingston explains exactly how PPC fraud could harm the paid search industry.

Somewhere around 10 percent of the billings charged to pay-per-click advertisers by Google.com and Overture (a subsidiary of Yahoo.com) are based on fraudulent activity, according to some advertising experts

Would love to know the source of this statistic, anyone?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Opening NASDAQ Today

Thanks to Gary for helping me find a photo of Page et al opening the market this morning.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Finishes Up 18%

Can we all go home now? Perhaps we'll get back to some sense of normality. Anyway, reaction to Google's first day?

The message boards.

Thoughts from fund managers.

Closing price and volume.

Volume started with a bang, then fizzled.

What about those crazy sales before trading started? Anyone know if they'll stand or be voided? UPDATE: According to the Washington Post, the trades were cancelled.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google, Yahoo and Jupitermedia Targets of Gambling Ads Lawsuit

Danny Sullivan reports on a recent Californian lawsuit which name Google, Yahoo, Jupiter and other sites, saying they carry online gambling ads in violation of California law.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Up to $135?

CNBC is reporting wild fluctuations in the Google price with the system showing bids as high as $135. No one can confirm if the stock has been taken of "hold" or not. Weird!!

UPDATE: NASDAQ confirms that 2 trades should not have gone thru and that trading has not started yet.

UPDATE 2: After a false start, we are now trading GOOG. Up to about $100 in about 2 mins and 2 million shares traded.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

New HTTP Proxy Search Engine AnomicHTTPProxy

What I love about working with 115 people is the opportunity to work with someone smarter than me, including Jason Dowdell. The very fact that Jason understands what is going on at AnomicHTTPProxy makes me glad he works for us and not our competitors!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Employees Will Be Rich, Just Not Yet.

If you own Google shares, mark your calendars for 30 and 90 days from today's date. Why? That's when many of Google's employee shareholders will be able to sell their stock. Depending on how many sell and who, you could see a dip in Google's stock price. So be warned.

CNet looks at what these nouveau riche will do with their money and a financial manager gives some words of advice.

"One fundamental thing is that wealth creates a false illusion of, 'If I have this money, I'll be content and I'll be happy,'" said George Hester, chief executive of Navitas financial managers.

"We have a saying in the South that pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered," he added. "You have to come to the point where you're looking at wealth and make a decision of how much is right for you and how much is right for your children. You don't have to try to hit the home runs."

UPDATE: Analyst Jack Ciesielski, speaking on CNBC, states that many Google employees were given stock options in Q2 priced at $100. It looks like Google was trying to keep the IPO price above that.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo Launches Search Blog

Yahoo has launched their own search engine blog. They have us listed as an industry source, so they're "ok" by us!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Management Under the Microscope

Ben Elgin of BusinessWeek looks at the management style of Google and asks "who exactly is in charge?"

Make no mistake: It's a founder-driven company, with Brin and Page wielding veto power over every key decision at the company. Seasoned execs like CEO Schmidt and board members John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins and Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital play a supporting role to the two youngsters. And, while the end result seemingly worked well for years, it has not aced its transformation to a public company.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Watch GOOG til Your Heart's Content!

We could give you a regular update of Google's stock price today, but it's easier just to let you check it yourself.

BTW, Page and Brin rang the opening bell of the NASDAQ this morning but their stock will not trade right away. "GOOG" will not be traded until sometime between 10am and noon.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

More Photos from SES Conference 2004

LookSmart shares photo's from its conference party.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Sets IPO Price at $85

I'm hearing word that Google's initial stock price is now set at $85, a move the signals they're looking to ensure a bump on the first day of trading.

UPDATE: It's official.

Thanks Scot!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

SEC Clears Google for Pricing

The SEC has declared Google's IPO effective as of this afternoon, according to The Street.

Thursday is going to be a fun day. Good luck to all of you who bought Google!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Is Still Strong

eMarketer shares some interesting information on search engine use, courtesy of Pew Internet.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Shareholders Will Sell Less Shares Due to New Lower Price

CBS Marketwatch has more info on the reduced Google IPO share price. Looks like existing shareholders are not as willing to sell at the new lower range of $85-$95 per share.

In a statement on its Web site overnight, Google said it expects to sell 14.14 million shares in the offering as originally filed, but that the selling shareholders are reducing the shares they expect to dispose of to approximately 5.5 million shares "in view of this new price range."

The change represents a decrease of 6.1 million shares. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will now sell nearly 500,000 shares each, down from about 1 million each.

CEO Eric Schmidt will sell 369,000 shares, down from 738,000.

Venture firms Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital trimmed their share of the IPO to zero, from about 2 million shares each.

I guess it's a sign of faith that two of the VC companies are now not selling any of their Google holdings. They must think the stock is underpriced at the new range. Does that mean they will buy more?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

JupiterMedia Not Happy with SES Spam

It seems like Jeremy Zawodny has caused quite a stir with his recent complaint of being spammed by an SES exhibitor. Looks like JupiterMedia is taking it seriously, sending out this email:

Dear Exhibitor,

Please note that the information contained in the e-mail and the attachment that I sent you last week are the property of Jupitermedia. The attachment contains information intended to demonstrate the quality of the SES audience. Use of the information for any other purpose, including sending postal or electronic mail, is not permitted.

Sincerely,

Jupiterevents

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Lowers IPO Price and Number of Shares

It looks like the negative Google publicity and a softer tech market have had an impact on Google's IPO after all.

According to USA Today, they have announced a new price range of $85-$95 and halfed the number of shares being sold by existing holders (down to 5.5m from 11.6m).

The lower pricing affects the size of the offering. Instead of raising up to $3.6 billion, it will generate $1.86 billion if the IPO price is set at the new high-end of $95. And Google's market capitalization at $95 a share will be less than $26 billion, down from $36 billion.

I've always maintained that an investor should not bid more than $100, seems like the masses agree.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

MSN's Search Going Back to the Drawing Board

MSN Search has finished their first beta test and taken down the site. They've posted this message:

Thank you for sending your comments on MSN's new algorithm. The complete shame and embarrassment has finally gotten to us, so we've decided to go back to the drawing board. We promise we won't come back until we are at least 1/10th as good as Google or Yahoo.

Thanks
MSN Search Team

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Refuses to Run Ad from Christian Group

Google is refusing to run an ad that speaks out on homosexuality, claiming that it violates their policy against "hate" ads, according to Jennifer Laycock.

The group running the ads has fired back that Google is not playing on a level field.

Stand to Reason representatives claim that it is actually Google that is being intolerant by allowing ads to run that favor issues like same-sex marriage, but by banning ads that oppose the issue. "If you deem the issue itself off limits, then consistency would require you to suspend all searches of the issue," stated Melinda Penner, director of operations for Stand to Reason.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

SEC Latches on to Google's Boob

It's getting so tough coming up with new titles for all of these Google stories, so the one above is a small act of rebellion.

Anyway, the SEC wants to look more closely at Google's failure to register some of its stock options, according to USA Today.

Google disclosed that the SEC has opened an informal inquiry into its failure to properly register the shares issued to employees and contractors.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Feedster Preps Paid RSS Links as Ads Expand

Feedster's selling out and including Kanoodle ads in their RSS feeds. Can't blame them, you gotta make money somewhere.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Off topic

Wired News is taking a stance on the capitalization of certain web related words.

Wired News' copy-editing chief in a proclamation on the site's new style policy. "Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the 'I' in internet," Tony Long writes. "At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net. Why? The simple answer is because there is no earthly reason to capitalize any of these words. Actually, there never was."

Bravo! I've never understood why internet should have a capital "I".

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google IPO Trading Imminent

CNet is pretty convinced that the Google IPO will open Thursday.

"All indications are: The auction will close late tomorrow afternoon or early evening," said one source familiar with the auction. "Things are on track."

Pricing of the shares, however, is not likely to occur until sometime after the market closes on Wednesday, with the shares trading on the following day, the source said.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Does Google IPO Have Enough Wind in its Sails?

Bambi Francisco of CBS MarketWatch reports that Google's IPO may barely make it across the finish line.

It's not even that investors aren't bidding the proposed price of between $108 and $135, but that Google isn't getting enough bids at all, according to the banker, who asked not to be identified.

However, Bambi notes that the tech market is starting to show signs of life again and that Google's timing may be right, after all.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Playboy Boob; Great PR or Just Plain Lucky?

The Washington Post asks if the recent Google Playboy story was just bad judgement on Google's part or a calculated risk.

Whether the timing was coincidental or intentional, the company is not saying. The founders sat down for the interview in April, a week before Google filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission that outlined plans to go public.

The story ended up pushing the legal limits of securities laws far enough to heighten interest in the fate of the deal without derailing it. The SEC forced the company to correct inaccuracies in the article, but it did not call a halt to the IPO process. The agency’s involvement drew even more media attention to the article, especially after it required Google to post a copy in its public filings.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Provides Lowest Cost Per Lead

Blatently stolen from John Battelle, but I'm sure he won't mind.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Girafa Providing Thumbnail Images to America Online

Girafa announced today that the CompuServe, Netscape, AIM and ICQ properties of America Online, Inc have signed an agreement to use its thumbnail search images.

According to their press release:

Using Girafa's thumbnail search service, search users can view thumbnail sized images of web pages alongside the standard textual search results. The visual representation of textual URLs offered by the thumbnails, increases users' success rate and efficiency, as they utilize visual recollection to identify relevant links, familiar Web sites, as well as eliminate redundant entries to unwanted Web sites. Under the agreement, Girafa's thumbnail service will be available to tens of millions of Netscape, CompuServe, AIM and ICQ users and will be used to enhance the search experience offered on those properties.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google IPO Likely Wednesday

Google has asked the SEC to approve it's registration statement so that it can start its IPO as early as Wednesday.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Share Your Opinions on the Future of Search.

Sid Yadev wants your thoughts! Specifically he wants you to take his search engine survey, running from now until November 13th. The survey takes less than 5 minutes and should yield some interesting results come November.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Low Interest for "Google IPO"

CurrentOfferings.com shares their AdWords data on the bid "Google IPO". Doesn't look too good, does it?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

LookSmart Adds Budget and CPC Performance Reporting to LookListings

LookSmart is adding new features for LookListings advertisers, according to their email.

Dear LookListings Advertiser:

We're pleased to introduce a new report to help you monitor and manage your LookListings campaigns: the Budget and CPC Performance Report.

This new report will give you an at-a-glance view of how the Budgets and CPCs you've set for your keyword-targeted listings impact their performance, and what specific steps you can take to make them work even better.

The Budget and CPC Performance Report will be emailed to you automatically once a month in the middle of your billing period. If you maintain multiple LookListings accounts, you will receive a separate report for each account.

What's in the Budget and CPC Performance Report?
1. Position scorecard: Find out what position your listings are appearing in. Learn whether you need to raise or lower your CPCs to get the positions you want for your keywords. If you've set the CPC for a keyword below the minimum bid (resulting in little or no traffic), this feature will show you that as well.
2. Budget forecast: Will your campaign run out of budget too early in the month, causing your listings to be pulled down prematurely and costing you valuable traffic? Or will a portion of your budget go unspent this month? This feature will help you determine the right level of funding for your campaign to meet your traffic goals.

Keep an eye out. You will begin receiving the Budget and CPC Performance Report at the next mid-point of your account's billing period. If you'd prefer not to receive this report, you have the option to turn off all account-related emails. To do so, log in to view your email preferences and deselect the "Account" checkbox.

Thanks for your continued business,

Your LookListings Team

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Celebrates Opening of Olympic Games

Thanks Dan!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Local Search Not Living-Up to Claims

Jupiter analyst Nate Elliott takes a look at local search results and explains why this area of search has a lot of growing-up to do.

Neither Google Local nor Yahoo Local can find more than one bike shop within a mile of my house. I know for a fact there are at least four.

If local search doesn't work that well, why's it getting so much attention from search engines? Because they know search advertising is starting to mature, and the huge growth we've seen for several years is starting to slow down.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Engine Users Happy With Search

Netimperative reports that 87% of search engine users say they find the information they want most of the time when they use search engines.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Will Google lose right to Gmail name?

Silicon.com reports that Google has many trademarks, including Gmail, that are not yet registered.

Google has mentioned the possibility of losing trademarked names for various products in its IPO prospectus under "risk factors".

"We have also been notified by third parties that they believe features of certain of our products, including Google WebSearch, Google News and Google Image Search, violate their copyrights," according to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. "Our unregistered trademarks include: AdSense, AdWords, Blogger, Froogle, Gmail, I'm Feeling Lucky and PageRank."

I'll bet between $108 and $135 that they'll be given the rights to all of these. Unless Dirty Harry tries to claim trademark infringement for "I'm Feeling Lucky". ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

The BBC Talks Blinkx and Copernic Search

The BBC wants us all to understand that getting 1 million results for our search request, does not make a good search engine. They point out that Google relies on keywords when determining the SERP to show you. Blinkx and Copernic have other ideas.

As well as Blinkx, firms such as Copernic, X1, Enfish and others produce software that lurks in the background while you work on your PC and dynamically suggests links to web pages, locally-held documents and online news by working out what you are really interested in.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Sick of Google? Cast Your Vote!

While watching CNBC this morning, my attention was grabbed by today's SquawkBack poll..."Sick of Google". So far, 88% of people are tired of hearing about Google.

Cast your vote!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Bid or Bet on Google's Stock?

With Google's stock price likely to be anywhere from $70-$140 are you really buying Google stock or simply taking a gamble on it? The NY Times discusses.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Desktop Search is Coming

The San Francisco Chronicle looks at the future prospects of desktop search.

"I always thought that this was a natural extension of search," said Gary Price, an editor for SearchEngineWatch, an online newsletter about the search industry. "It's always a challenge to get to the documents on your desktop.

"This will give the major search players an opportunity to sell more ads and get more eyeballs on those ads," he added.

Search Engine Lowdown gets it's first offline media mention too!

But Andy Beal, vice president of search marketing for WebSourced, a search marketing firm, and editor of the online newsletter Search Engine Lowdown, said that many of desktop search engines have downsides, such as confusing designs or limited Web search indexes.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Want Top Ranking For GOOG?

Aaron Wall wants the top ranking for Google's new ticker GOOG. Not sure why he wants to get traffic for those searching for "GOOG" but I'm happy to help him out with a link.

All yours Aaron! GOOG

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

MSN Search Ready by December 13th

Looks like MSN's new search engine will be ready by December 13th. "Why December 13th, Andy?", I hear you say. Well, because they've signed up to join us as the top sponsor for the Search Engine Strategies show in Chicago (which starts Dec 13th).

Why sponsor if you don't have something to offer?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

SEC Won't Delay Google IPO

Well, it would have been crazy if they had!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Web 2.0 Conference

It's rare for me to find the time to attend a conference unless I'm asked to be a speaker (I'm usually too busy). However, after looking at the line-up for Web 2.0, and knowing it's being put together by John Battelle, I just have to go.

Let's hope there's wi-fi access so I can blog the event.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Why Playboy Article Should Not Delay Google's IPO

The Washington Post tells us that Google will fight any SEC action to delay its IPO.

But let's look at this situation shall we? Find me just one piece of positive feedback that has come out of the Playboy article! With all of the negative speculation surrounding the impact of this article, it's hardly "pumping" the Google stock.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Dance 2004 - The Photos

Google has published the official photos from this years' Google Dance.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Ticker Now Live

The financial sites are all set for the new Google ticker, GOOG.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Microsoft's New Algorithm for Link Analysis

Jason Dowdell has information on Microsoft's new linking algorithm.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Your Google IPO Questions Answered

Bambi Francisco answers readers' questions on the Google IPO.

My favorite?

Adam Ferrary: I will be bidding on Google shares at the reasonable price of $65 because that's what I figure it's worth. When in God's name did people start buying things at whatever ridiculous price people asked? Where's the sanity -- much less the common sense? If everyone ignored this incredibly arrogant circa 1999 valuation and just bid $65, guess what? The price would be $65. I ain't buyin' a can of Coke for $9 when there's a can of Pepsi right next to it for $2.

A. And, does anyone really ever complain that they get Pepsi instead of Coke? I love ginger ale, but always end up being served Sprite.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

When it Rains, It Pours!

Google filed a rather ominous warning with the SEC, according to Reuters.

Google Inc. on Friday said an article featuring Google in the latest issue of Playboy magazine may have violated U.S. securities rules governing its pending $3.3 billion initial public offering.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Google said it could be required to buy back the securities sold in its IPO.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

What Should You Bid for Google Stock?

The San Fran Chronicle has some last minute analyst advice on what Google's stock is worth.

"Google can say what it thinks it can get, but it's really the market that decides," said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst for Janco Partners, which advises institutional investors. "Maybe it won't be a manic auction and that's probably better for everyone all around."

Want my 2 cents? $100 per share, no more.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Pushes Ahead With IPO

The Washington Post has coverage of Google's IPO, with today being the first day you can bid.

We all know that I'll toot my own horn, whenever I get quoted, but this time round I must have become possessed by the spirit of a smart person...

"The average investor will have a hard time separating the risks associated with the business and the feel-good factor of using Google as a search engine," Beal said. "It is one thing to have a great search engine that everybody loves using. The average investor may think that makes the whole company great. But that search engine is not what is making money for Google. It is advertising and what goes on behind it. Google is a risky stock, not only because of being a pioneer in a new industry but also because of limitations they have in the number of products that are generating revenue."

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Cre8asiteForums Celebrates its Two Year Anniversary.

We were going to wait until the actual anniversary before sending our best wishes, but the party seems to have started early (a month long party, I should have thought of that).

Congratulations to Kim and everyone involved in making Cre8asiteForums such a huge success!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Bidding Starts Friday 13th

According to an announcement at Etrade.com...

August 12, 2004

Please be advised that Google and its underwriters expect to open the auction for the shares of Google’s Class A common stock at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on Friday, August 13, 2004. You must have obtained a bidder ID from ipo.google.com if you intend to submit a bid in the auction for Google’s Class A common stock.

Google and its underwriters expect to announce the initial public offering price for Google’s Class A common stock during the week of August 16, 2004.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Extract from Google's Playboy Interview

Playboy has an extract from the September issue interview with Google's Page and Brin, on their website. This link will take you to the extract, complete with adult content. Alternatively, we've pasted it below.

PLAYBOY: What does Google do that early search engines didn't?

BRIN: Before Google, I don't think people put much effort into the ordering of results. You might get a couple thousand results for a query. We saw that a thousand results weren't necessarily as useful as 10 good ones. We developed a system that determines the best and most useful websites. We also understood that the problem of finding useful information was expanding as the web expanded. In 1993 and 1994, when Mosaic, the predecessor of Netscape, was launched, a "What's New" page listed new websites for the month and then, when more began appearing, for the week. At the time, search engineers had to deal with a relative handful of sites, first thousands and then tens of thousands. By the time we deployed our initial commercial version of Google in late 1998, we had 25 million or 30 million pages in our index. Today we have billions -- more than 4 billion, in fact. That volume requires a different approach to search technology.

UPDATE: Someone at CNet went out and bought Playboy. They have more excerpts.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Boob?

Could an interview with Playboy magazine really violate the SEC's rules on hyping an IPO stock. I would've guest not, considering the interview took place before the IPO announcement, but a new report suggests otherwise. Did Google Booble?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

SEM Firm Told to Refund Clients

An "SEM firm" (although I use the term loosely) is in trouble for promising clients top search engine positions and then not delivering. It would be interesting to know the exact details of what they were promised.

It shows there are still a lot of business owners needing educating. What did they think they would get for $90 a month?

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

No New Fees from Yahoo's Overture

After we published rumors that Overture might be introducing some new fees, we contacted the "horses mouth", so to speak, to get their official word.

Hey Andy,

No worries... just business as usual. Overture regularly surveys its customers to obtain their feedback on various product and service ideas. The subscription fee and category reports mentioned on the message boards are only two of the many programs we have proposed in our surveys in an effort to better understand our advertisers' needs and opinions.

Hope that helps.

[we'll keep him anonymous for now]

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Stock Predictions

Some interesting speculation from person-to-person trading exchange, iBetX (groups of people who "bet" on a stock's performance).

They asked their users to make predictions on the movement of Google's stock.

* First day up or down - market shows Google will be down on first day of trading

* Over/under opening price - what will be the opening share price on the first day of trading - 65% of trading shows the share price to be below $125

* Opening price - What will be the opening share price of Google on its first day of trading? With four choices ranging from 90 or above to 130 and above - $90 to $100 is the favorite

* Percentage change - what will be the opening percentage change on first day of trading, from -30 to + 30 the market data shows the percentage change to be between -1 and -10

They did also warn that Google could fall at the first turn and sadly have to be "put out of its misery".

Update: Betting on stocks is a common thing according to the San Fran Chronicle.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

JupiterResearch's Predicts Paid Search Future

Some interesting information contained in JupiterResearch's recently released "Paid Search Through 2009".

"Paid search will continue to grow faster than any other sector of online advertising, increasing from $2.6 billion in 2004 to $5.5 billion in 2009. A sharp increase in the average cost-per-click is the primary driver of this market, with incremental growth in the number of searches also driving spending. With a majority of search marketers using unsophisticated bid strategies, improved measurement and increased efficiency will be necessary to maintain an effective return on investment."

"The average cost of a click from paid search is rising dramatically, from $0.29 per click in 2003 to $0.36 per click in 2004. Because marketers can’t improve conversions at the same rate, the return on investment (ROI) from search marketing will go from “great” to "good." Marketers that measure results properly will be able to adapt to these high prices by improving efficiency and restoring their ROI."

"The majority of search marketers bid for keywords with no regard to the effectiveness of those keywords or historical ROI data. Twenty-one percent have no bidding strategy at all. Many of these marketers don’t even track the metrics that would allow them to bid intelligently."

"Fewer than half of marketers track immediate online sales from paid search, and only one-quarter track the generation of leads."

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

British Government Pays for Search Ads

The BBC reports the UK government has started using PPC in an effort to get more visitors to their website.

Directgov, the government's flagship website, was launched in March but has not attracted the numbers hoped for.

The government is teaming up with paid-for listing providers, Google, Overture and Espotting, to draw attention to the site.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Presentation Lifts the Curtain

You can always count on Gary Price to find the unique stuff. Today he digs up a presentation given by Amit Singhal, a Senior Research Scientist at Google. I would have loved to have heard the presentation that went with the slides, but interesting nonetheless.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Mamma.com Shows Q2 Profit

Mamma.com swung to a second-quarter profit from a loss a year earlier on an 88 percent revenue increase.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

National Post

The National Post takes a sensible look at the recent Google news. Everyone needs to remember that Google is still the same company, nothing has changed. We are now simply being told all of the information that used to be kept from us. As the NP puts it...

Google has unfortunately discovered being publicly traded means everyone gets to open the hood and inspect the engine. As a result, the company has to show everyone how it is doing and talk about nitty-gritty financial issues rather than how wonderful it is having its employees' meals cooked by the former chef to the Grateful Dead.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Getting Google Stock Not a Sure Thing

Interesting AP report shows how some people may not "qualify" for Google's IPO. While not being stopped by Google, some potential investors may face a road block thrown up by their broker.

Google's executives had their hearts in the right place. But the individual underwriters have to protect themselves, and their customers, from highly speculative investments. The SEC has rules against selling unsuitable investments to brokerage customers, and more than a few disgruntled investors have sued their brokers, claiming they didn't understand the risks involved.

Consequently, some potential investors (those with low liquidity or lack trading experience) will not find it easy to locate a broker who will work with them.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Quiet-Period Paranoia

So Forbes has a piece on how paranoid Google has been about keeping to its "quite period". Some interesting stuff. They did try asking Google why it is keeping so quiet. Their response?

A Google spokesman declined to comment on why it doesn't use its Web site to hock its IPO, citing the quiet period.

You can't make this stuff up!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

ClickZ Announces Award Winners

ClickZ announces the winners of its 2004 ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards today. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

The SEMPO Scandal that Wouldn't Die

So, did you attend the SEMPO meeting in San Jose? Did you get the answers you needed? Did you think Mike Grehan had been placated? As Mike would say..."not on your nelly!"

Mike Grehan is back with a follow-up piece to his original SEMPO article (see "Who Needs SEMPO"). This time Mike takes off the gloves and pulls no punches (yes, it's more critical than the first expose).

I encourage everyone to read it and form your own opinions on what SEMPO should do (if anything). As for me? Restating my opinions would look like a personal vendetta, so I am staying out of this one!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

New Natural Language Search Engine: Kozoru

According to ResearchBuzz, we should all keep our eyes on a new search engine Kozoru as they just received $3m in funding.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Just How Much Will Online Advertising Grow?

eMarketer has an interesting release today. They compare their projection of online ad growth for 2004, with other research companies.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

More Troubles Ahead for Google

It's tough to keep reporting all of these negative stories on Google. I love the company and they are my search engine of choice. However, now that they are about to become a public company, they are, for the first time, having to air their dirty laundry in public. They're still the same Google, just now we get to peak at the man behind the curtain.

In a report out today by David Vise of the Washington Post, he looks at a number of issues that Google is facing. In particular, a lawsuit that has been filed...

In a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AskJeeves Inc., a business partner of Google's, disclosed that both companies are defendants in a class-action lawsuit filed Aug. 3 that seeks to recover online gambling losses incurred by California residents during the past four years.

Google was included in the suit because it once profited by distributing casino ads enticing people to gamble. In April the company announced it was stopping the practice, but some gambling sites have managed to take advantage of the search engine's automated systems to continue to air their ads, in defiance of Google's new policy, experts said.

Interestingly, it was Ask Jeeves that made this public. Do you think they're trying to disrupt their competitor?

He also looks at the potential for click fraud and how Google may have to refund large sums of revenue, if it becomes an issue. Personally, I don't think it will become anything that will bring down the company.

"Click fraud is going to happen on some scale," said Andy Beal, vice president of KeywordRanking.com, an online marketing firm. "I don't think it will become a huge issue."

Google can either spend money to prevent click fraud or accept that AdWords advertisers may see a lower conversion rate (as some clicks will be fraudulent) and therefore will lower some of their bids to reflect this. It's kind of like the shrinkage (shoplifting) that bricks and morter stores face.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Engine Users Make Better Customers

Need another reason to use search engine marketing? According to Internet Retailer, customers who arrive at a site via a search engine, tend to be a better customer who make fewer returns.

Shoppers who arrive at a site via specific keywords are shoppers who know just what they want – at least that’s the experience of Shoes.com

“Someone looking for the Cole Haan Pinch Penney loafer, for example, knows exactly what they want, and probably has worn it before.”

Thanks to MarketingVOX.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo Wants to Index the World

John Battelle has lunch at Yahoo and comes away impressed by their plans for search.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo To Keep Paid Inclusion

According to Web Pro News, Yahoo has every intention of keeping Site Match, its paid inclusion service.

I'll still bet one Google share that they'll drop the "per click" fee by the end of the year!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's Page and Brin Interviewed for Playboy

According to Jon Ann Steinmetz of the Mercury News, Google's founders will appear in an upcoming issue of Playboy magazine...

I would've pegged them as more Vanity Fare or Esquire material, but Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are featured in an interview in September's Playboy magazine, a chat apparently given before the IPO quiet period went into effect.

We haven't seen the pictures (we're sure they're very tasteful), but here's the, um, teaser from Playboy's Web site: ``On the eve of America's hottest IPO, meet the men who started Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The country's newest billionaires discuss the site's early days, how Googling became an international pastime, the controversies surrounding its search results and why Google -- unlike many once-hot dot-coms -- is here to stay.''

Do you think my wife will let me buy the issue? For business reasons, of course! ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Overture Getting Ready to Add New Fees?

Webmasterworld forums users are discussing the prospect of new fees at Overture. We'll give Overture a ping and let you know if they tell us anything.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Has Google turned investors off?

Bambi Francisco outlines some reasons why investors are cooling-off with the Google IPO. One her biggest reasons?

There will be more supply of shares down the road from insiders selling. Many potential investors expect Google shares to trade lower in the coming months due to supply pressures from the additional shares. At the offering, insiders are already selling out, which suggests that their interest in a return on investment outweighs their commitment to seeing Google prosper.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google/Yahoo Deal Good for the IPO

The Washington Post has a great round-up of recent Google news and explains why the Yahoo settlement is a "absolutely a monkey off Google's back."

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Will Close IPO Bidding on August 12th.

If you've not already joined the biggest IPO of the century, you have until August 12th, according to Reuters.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Adding New Features to AdWords

According to the folks at WebmasterWorld, you can expect a new bulk keyword upload tool.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Offering A Contextual AdWords Rebate

Search Engine Journal has a copy of an email Google sent to its AdWords advertisers. Apparently, the lure of contextual ads is not enough on its own so Google is offering up to $1500 in rebates.

Maybe the trend will catch-on and Yahoo will offer me a rebate for using their toolbar!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's New Millionaires Could Hinder Productivity

How often do you day-dream about winning the lotto? Well, that kind of thinking is about to spread its way through a bunch of Google employees as they realize they are now millionaires.

The BBC asks...

Will they all continue to work diligently, or will they instead rush out and buy Ferraris and other sports cars to spend more time racing around the north Californian hills?

And they should probably ban the use of any stock ticker...

"Even people who are hard workers and dedicated employees will suddenly spend all hours of their life looking at the stock ticker, seeing where the stock price is."

What they won't be able to do is prevent some of their current employees from bailing out.

In addition to those employees who may see their work rate lessen, Google could also see some staff decide to quit. Both those that want to swap for a life of leisure, and those that want to set up their own companies and potential future rivals.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google Stock Buying, Step-by-Step

Scott Kessler provides Business Week readers with a detailed outline of the Google IPO and its dutch auction process.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Underwriters Not Following Spirit of the Google IPO

While Google may be holding on to its "do no evil" mantra. the underwriters selected for its IPO are not quite playing along. Some of the 28 selected are not agreeing to the minimum level of shares set by Google, according to Reuters.

For instance, Google has set a minimum bid of at least five shares. But investors using HARRISdirect will need to submit a bid for at least 100 shares.

Google also said that most of its underwriters will permit potential investors to submit an unlimited number of bids.

But UBS Securities, Charles Schwab & Co. and Fidelity Capital Markets will permit bidders to submit only one bid per account; HARRISdirect will permit bidders to submit up to three bids per account; and Ameritrade will permit bidders to submit up to 30 bids per account.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Why SEM is Better than this!

The only reason I decided to link to this MarketingSherpa report from SES San Jose, is so I can get your feedback.

Is it just me, or is this article biased towards just about every negative comment made at the show? Now, don't get me wrong, I'm known for a little bias here and there (tongue firmly in cheek), but this report makes me want to go home and cry.

If you read this article, you would never know that SEM is a thriving, growing industry that has moved out of the "cottage industry" shadow.

This link brought to you by Gary and the letter "S".

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google to Post a 3rd Quarter Loss

The average Google investor may run a mile when they see the results of Google's settlement with Yahoo.

As a result of the settlement, Google said it will post a net loss in the current quarter to September, due to a noncash charge of between $260 million and $290 million.

It's just a one-time charge, but it will still scare those "newbies" tempted to invest in their first stock.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Paid Search Growth Continues but Slows

According to Jupitermedia (via AlwaysOn), paid search will continue to grow, although at a slower pace.

Paid search will continue to grow faster than any other sector of online advertising, increasing from $2.6 billion in 2004 to $5.5 billion in 2009, according to Nate Elliott and Niki Scevak, lead analysts on the research firm's new report.

That growth, however, is likely to be spurred by price increases. "A sharp increase in the average cost-per-click is the primary driver of this market, with incremental growth in the number of searches also driving spending," the report said.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

According to MarketingSherpa, SEM's Rock!

Lots of interesting data can be found in the MarketingSherpa 2004 Search Marketing Survey results. Over 3000 marketers revealed their search engine marketing habits and it looks like us SEMs do add value after all (someone tell Seth Godin).

Agencies get significantly higher average click rates (3.4% versus 2.8%) and higher conversion rates for paid search (6.8% versus 5.4%). When it comes to organic, agencies get slightly lower conversion rates (6.1% versus 5.8%) which makes sense because they control link depth but not site design.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google and Yahoo Settle Patent Dispute

It looks like Google has managed to sweep Overture's PPC interface patent claims under the rug. A license agreement and some Google stock appear to have appeased the Yahoo division.

Let's hope Google remembers to register the stock this time! ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

What Does Google Censor on AdWords?

MarketingVOX reveals some of the topics you can't bid on at Google AdWords.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Jeremy Zawodny's Take on SES

Legendary blogger and Yahoo employee, Jeremy Zawodny suggests that us SEM's are finally getting the hang of blogging and RSS feeds.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Alan Meckler Happy With Search Engine Strategies

It looks like Jupitermedia scored another hit with this years San Jose show.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Bambi and Danny Talk Google

If you follow the search engine industry, you'll know Danny Sullivan and Bambi Francisco. They had a chance to chat at the SES show and you can see Bambi's thoughts and Danny's interview.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo buys travel company

Yahoo has quietly purchased FareChase, a small online travel company, to help broaden its Web search capabilities, according to CNet.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

CNBC Wraps-up Google IPO Week

So is it a good thing to be on CNBC talking about your company, even when the journalist casts a shadow with his own comments? I'm still debating, Cory Johnson's segment this morning that included footage of an interview I did with him last week.

Here's an excerpt of the transcript...

That's where Andy Beal and North Carolina-based Websourced come in.

"Websourced helps our clients get to the top of Google and Yahoo! and the search engines," Beal says.

It has made a business out of essentially hacking the Google search engine, figuring out how to trick it into putting a company at the top of the Google search-results list.

"We couldn't possibly make a site that's selling desktop computers appear for the search term Britney Spears," he says. "But if someone's searching for desktop computers, we can absolutely help a company selling computer products to do better in the search results for those search phrases."

I know Cory's week long series has been looking at the negatives of a Google IPO, but in our conversation the terms "hacking" and "tricking" never came up once. In fact, since when has anyone been able to "hack" Google's index? I guess I should be glad that my comments demonstrated that we don't actually "trick" anyone and don't try to fool Google in any way.

Oh well, I guess sensationalism brings in the viewers.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Is FyberSearch the Google-Killer?

Cory Johnson at CNBC has been taking a look at the hurdles Google faces, if it is to remain an industry leader.

Earlier this week, he ran a TV story on our friend Nathan Enns and the little search engine he built, FyberSearch.

...the latest threat to Google is in a little working class home in Burien, Wash. It's there that 18-year-old Nathan Enns invented Fyberware, a search engine he runs from his bedroom at his mother's house.

He designed it by accident. "I knew what a search engine was," Enns says. "I didn't know the program I was writing was actually a search engine, though." Check out your options.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

More Google IPO Delay News

It's interesting how fast news is spreading that Google is "delaying" its IPO. They hadn't officially announced a date for the IPO, so it's hardly a delay.

BTW...San Jose airport is very boring at 4:30 am.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Latest Search Engine Ratings

Yeah, I know, I'm a little late getting to the latest search engine stats, but it's been a busy few weeks. I need a vacation!

NetRatings Audience Reach

qSearch Share of Searches

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google IPO Delayed, Auction "Logistics" Blamed

John Battelle reports that the Google IPO might be delayed for a week. The reason given by insiders?

The delay isn't being caused by a technological problem or a lack of bidders, the person stressed. Rather, the process of registering bidders for the auction-style IPO is taking longer than anticipated, the person said.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Wrapping Up SES San Jose

I could talk about the presentation I gave in San Jose today, but no need, Barry has a great recap of the entire Advanced Search Term Research session.

My favorite session of the entire conference was the Blog and RSS Feed panel. Barry has info on that too (that guy is on fire) but misses my favorite statistic (from Amanda). 50.3% of blog readers like reading blogs for their blatently biased opinions. Yeeha! By a margin of 0.3%, I get to continue being obnoxious and opinionated!

BTW, met Jeremy Zawodny and gave him a hard time for always challenging my comments on his blog (oh wait, forgot about the 50.3% stat). Anyway, Jeremy appears to be a great guy with his finger on the pulse of the blog world.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Exclusive Yahoo Sunnyvale Campus Tour

Today I went on an exclusive tour of Yahoo's Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale) campus guided by our Overture account rep and accompanied by another coworker. It was actually pretty amazing, especially if you compare it to Google's campus. The Yahoo! campus must be at least 4 times larger than Google's. It really reminded me of the fact that Yahoo has been around the block for a while and Google is still the new kid.

The buildings are all less than 4 years old and look like they were just finished being built. The grass in between the main buildings is the most lush I've ever seen and there's a big red star (painted grass I assume) that must be at least 25 ft. across in the middle of the lawn. I was taken to the entrance where the receptionist has a nice area full of every type of gum and mint imaginable. There are several cafe's inside that resemble a Starbuck's. The good part is that you don't have to pay for any of the food or drink they serve: if you're a Yahoo! employee.

Their workout facility resembles that of a top-notch gym you'd pay a lot of money to join. They have video games in nearly every building I went in and most worked well. I did enjoy a game of table tennis with an Overture employee, he kicked my butt easily, next time he's all mine.
We had lunch at their cafeteria and were amazed at not only the varieties of food offered but also the sheer number of people eating there. There must've been 2,000 people. Since there was nowhere to sit down we joined a man who was eating by himself. Come to find out he's the facilities manager and was originally an Inktomi employee. He rattled off every big name at Yahoo and how the acquisition of Inktomi ended up in every employee being let go except for the search engineers. He said Inktomi didn't focus enough on search and thought it's other business areas were where it would make it's money, search was just the red-headed step child. Then it was the search folks who were the diamonds in the rough and had the last laugh.

We also went to the Yahoo! store which is full of really cool stuff like Yahoo! dog collars and leashes and other goofy stuff like volleyballs and baby bibs. They have every imaginable type of furniture with their logo on it and in purple and yellow. It's not really apparent that their main colors are purple and yellow until you visit the campus and realize that everything is in those two colors, even the cubicles. The only people that weren't in cubicles were the NOC employees. NOC is the group that monitor the Yahoo! network and all it's servers. It's honestly like mission control at NASA. They have 12 ft. glass walls and specially designed chairs to ease fatigue and a huge screen on the wall displaying Yahoo!'s vital signs like a patient in the intensive care unit.

All in all I must say I was impressed with what Yahoo! has done and what they've become in 10 short years. You can't fully appreciate what they're doing without visiting headquarters and seeing the real people that run the show behind the scenes. It's truly an unforgetable experience.

click to enlarge

Jason Dowdell | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo Looking At Meta Tags

John Glick confirmed that yes, Yahoo currently looks at meta tags to determine relevance. Separate your keywords with commas. Multiple instances of the same word - as long as it's in a phrase - are acceptible. No stuffing though folks.

Panelists disagreed on including meta tags, one detractor mentioning that they could slow load time. That would have to be one freaking huge meta tag. Yahoo's use of meta tags alone convinces me they should stay a part of every well balanced SEM campaign.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Buy Cycle Marketing

In Karen Breen Vogel's presentation on B2B search (poorly attended considering the price per acquisition B2B companies are willing to pay) she examined one aspect of the often lengthy and complex B2B buy cycle. There exist, she said, two primary parties within a company that determine whether or not to buy your product - influencers and decision makers.

Influencers are those who are "closest to the pain." They start the buying cycle with research.

In SEM terms, they conduct problem-centered searches. They don't know who the vendors are and they may not even be familiar enough with the solution to search for it by name. B2B SEMs must be familiar with the specific language their target audience uses to describe their particular problem.

Decision makers, once the influencers have presented them with the problem, do later stage research, though often with more product specific searches. Often, said Karen, decision makers conduct these searches looking for validation for a decision they're about to make.

How did she find this crucial, campaign-driving data? Well, she worked at IBM, first in sales and later in marketing, where she learned by doing.

If you had IBM B2B marketing duties and no knowledge of their buy cycle then you'd have to begin with questioning their clients. Your questions first must track the flow of solution information through the company and second pinpoint the brand touchpoints.

In addition to their clients it's vital to talk with the current sales force, who likely have an intuitive sense of the buy cycle and may also be able to share some annecdotal evidence gleaned from client interaction.

Map this buy cycle behavior and you have the engine for your upcoming marketing campaigns.

SEMs may consider branching outside of strict optimization techniques as buy cycle analysis is likely to uncover other brand touch points that may deliver low hanging fruit.

Karen also indicated during q&a that it's vital for B2B companies rank in the top ten for their search terms.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Danny Sullivan's Requests To Search Engines

During his keynote Danny had some great requests for SEs that would be a great help to SEMs.

1) an algorithm weather report (great for predicting ranking hurricanes)
2) express spam reporting
3) a paid support program (1 900 where's-my-listing?)
4) search query stats (yummy!)
5) protection from SEs direct selling advertising
6) SEM certification

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

SES Search Engine Marketing Awards

Danny mentioned that he and his team are mulling over search marketing awards. He didn't give any details other than they may have the awards together by December.

I'm glad that Dark Blue will finally have some competition.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Accurate Back Link Counting

For a more accurate glimpse of how many links you actually have in Google's index, try this search suggested by Bruce Clay.

When he's investigating back links he performs a ".sitename. - site: www.sitename.com". Minus the quotes of course.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Grow Your Industry, Build Links

During the link building session it struck me that many of the link building methods presented by Mr. Boser involved creating resources. The more involved you get with providing news (press releases, RSS feeds, blogging), free tools (either with powered-by links for tools on others' websites or tools on your own site), contests, and, of course, useful information, the more links you get.

You have to get creative and come up with resources that will benefit your industry.

Tying all this into the buy cycle is critical as well and will insure that you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to all your resource development. Analyzing the cycle for your client may help uncover information or web-tool opportunities.

When you launch your tool, blog, contest or newsletter (and archive past issues - also use your buy-cycle specific keywords in your articles) be sure to do a press release. Let your industry know where to link for great resources.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo Dropping Site Match PPC?

Rumor has it that Site Match isn't selling as well as Overture would like. I didn't hear any time frame, only that paying for Yahoo search clicks may be removed from their pfi.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban Invests in IceRocket Search Engine

It looks like Mark Cuban has found a new search engine to invest in.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Did Google Illegally Sell Shares to Employees?

According to AP news, Google says it neglected to register 23.2 million shares of common stock and 5.6 million outstanding stock options with securities regulators. The oversights might have broken federal and state laws, according to a filing on Wednesday. The affected common stock is owned by 1,105 current and former employees, as well as company consultants.

They are offering to buy back the affected shares and outstanding stock options for a total of $25.9 million, including interest payments.

No news yet on the impact of this stunning revelation on the upcoming IPO.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

SES Day 1: Why Investors are Afraid of SEM

Sometimes we link to an article because it includes mention of us, most times we do because of the great news or excellent info. This recap of Gerry Jacobs views on the SEM industry, does both!

Gerry is CEO of our parent company, CGI Holding Corporation.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

X1 Updates Desktop Search Client

Matt Hicks of eWeek has news on X1's desktop search update.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Online Purchases Continue to Boom

According to InternetRetailer.com, online search and purchases are out-pacing offline mediums.

114.1 million adults searched for product information on the web last year, and that 98.9 million of this group went on to make purchases either online or offline. By comparison, 106.7 million adults made purchases through catalogs, direct-mail and telemarketing, it added.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Ask Jeeves Goes Local, Partners with IAC's CitySearch

You have got to admire Ask Jeeves. Really, the company is slowly building a huge network of partnerships that could ultimately propel them towards the top of the search engine pile.

Today they announce a deal to integrate content from CitySearch, including more than two million editorial and user reviews and ratings of local businesses, directly into a Smart Search result box at the top of a search result page.

My only concern is that while Google and Yahoo are bringing the technology under their own roof, Ask appears to be heading in a completely opposite direction and choosing instead to form partnerships. Time will tell which strategy wins, but at this stage, I'd invest in Ask Jeeves before I invested in Google. They simply seem to have a lower risk and a more diversified revenue stream.

And I wouldn't be concerned about the news that shareholders, of one of the recently acquired companies, are selling either. Ask acquired the websites, brands and tools and they'll stay no matter what the officers decide to do.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Engine Executives Discuss Technology Developments

We know there are lot of people blogging the SES conference and some are doing a fine job with in-depth coverage. Rather than hit you with a 2000 word summary, we'd rather get the key points to you faster, so here goes.

This morning's Executive Roundtable included:

Gerry Campbell - AOL
Paul Gardi - Ask Jeeves
Christopher Payne - MSN (yes, they showed up)
Jeff Weiner - Yahoo

Each were give a chance to outline their key strengths.

AOL - Focus not on web search; "we don't want to throw money down the hole". Suggesting that maybe AOL doesn't have the money to enter the search arena. However they do have one billion searches per month and 35 million uniques.

Yahoo - Their goal to understand the intention of the user. Most important to Yahoo is to develop personalization which they can do by sampling their 150 million registered users. Yahoo wants to demonstrate the intention of the user (weather, travel etc), but never at the exclusion of full content.

Yahoo Tip! Add an exclamation at the end of your keyword to go to any of the Yahoo properties. E.g. "shopping!" to go directly to Yahoo Shopping.

Ask Jeeves - Understands that "People access information in different ways" and that search is "not about one size fits all".

In 1 year Ask has grown from the #32 in Internet traffic to #7 and reaches 25% of domestic internet users (although that doesn't mean they have 25% of searchers, they just reach them; probably via other means).

MSN - They admit they have only "scratched the surface of search" and at Microsoft "they consider it to be day one in search". The "strategic decision to invest in search" made 18 months ago and they hope to release new technologies over the next 12 months.

Launching later this year will be desktop search. They also highlighted changes they had made to their search engine recently including:

* "The fastest results in the business"
* Eliminated paid inclusion (at which they got some applause)
* Launched of newsbot, first attempt of personalization from MSFT. Newbots serves articles that of interest to you. "If you know what news someone reads, you learn a lot about them."

They also admitted that their "sandbox" search was "not better than Yahoo or Google", but it is their beginning. A "roadmap to build foundation to build on".

The panel were then asked some questions, which they had previously had a chance to see and formulate their answers.

"How do you bring searchers to your property for the first time?"

MSN - They offer a better search engine with a unique proposition. Word of mouth is important. Huge overlap between audiences (using multiple search engines). MSN believes that "searchers are willing to experiment".

AOL - Their challenge is to deliver quality results every time. Search engine companies need to "decide what they want to be best at". Broadband is now a part of peoples lives and the "industry has officially moved from 'give me the best 10 results'". They also face the challenge of identifying a searchers intention and deliver results.

Yahoo - At Yahoo, they want to "get the search box in front of them at the time they decide to make a search". They have been working on creating toolbar that has enough value that users will download and use. They also discussed the official launch of anti-spy feature on Yahoo's toolbar.

Yahoo wants to "create the WOW experience" and get searchers to stay with them.

They were also asked a very topical question, "Are search engine marketers the enemy?" Sorry to disappoint those of you hoping for some scandal, but the search engines love us (yes, they really do, see below).

Ask Jeeves - "Marketers help to make ads more relevant". Ask Jeeves "really support" the good side of SEO and are in support of optimizing as long as it is for the right reasons, i.e. no spam.

Yahoo - SEOs are "content providers"; "bad, irrelevant results are the enemy". Good SEO is "welcomed" as it provides relevant results for Yahoo users.

AOL - Had a great endorsement: SEM is "one of the best things ever to happen to the industry" as we now know who pays who (the SE's can finally figure out how to make money because of us).

MSN - Spam degrades the user experiences and devalues the SEM industry. That is not good for anyone involved in search engine marketing. Bravo!

RANDOM STUFF:

MSN is excited about the purchase of Lookout for Outlook search. They initially disabled the download after the acquisition, but demand forced them to put it back online.

Yahoo - Why did they acquire Overture? To let them "leverage and cross pollinate" and "control the user experience across all search results".

MSN - On how paid search revenues will grow: "get more users doing more queries, more often", also "bid prices will continue to go up over the next year".

Yahoo - their view? "Increasing the user experience will increase click thrus." which will in-turn increase revenue from search.

ASK - On the same topic, they believe that we are "at the point of starting to reach critical mass", but not yet at critical mass. They are seeing a "shift in advertising landscape" but admit that "search is still a fraction" of the hundreds billions spent in advertising.

Yahoo - On the Google IPO; They "welcome them to the realm of being a public company" and all the headaches that go with it!

Yahoo - What surprises you about searchers? The "number of people who use the search box to navigate the internet instead of their browser". Yahoo also highlighted that perhaps Google is popular because of brand not because of actual results. Yahoo suggests there is a "gap between perception and reality", strip the brands from the search and you'd be surprised at what you see, they said.

Lastly, each panel member was asked to match their search engine to a character.

Yahoo - Will Hunting from the movie "Good Will Hunting" - they are smart but with a personality.

AOL - Cal Ripken - may not have the same respect, but he showed up and delivered, every time!

Ask Jeeves - Of course, they had to go with the reliable English butler. Alternatively, "Data: from Star Trek, as he always had the answer.

MSN - Surprisingly, they could not come up with a persona. Maybe this is an indicator of where MSN search is at this time. They haven't quite figured out who they want to be. ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Google's IPO could be next week

Looks like August 10th is the magic IPO date for Google, although according to Reuters, many fund managers won't be jumping in.

The funds are concerned that Google shares might fall soon after the IPO, or that some Google executives, employees and early investors might begin to unload some shares as soon as 15 days after trading begins, an unusually brief IPO "lockup" period.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Engine Roundtable's SES San Jose Coverage

I met Barry Schwartz of SE Roundtable for the first time this week, nice guy. He's here on a press pass and doing a great job of reporting from the event.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Top Individuals of the Past Decade

The UK's E-consultancy is getting ready to to recognize the contribution of 100 individuals for their input and influence on the development and growth of e-commerce and the internet in the UK over the last 10 years.

A little birdie tells me that SEO's own Mike Grehan is on that list. Congrats to Mike. What's next? Sir Mike Grehan? ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Robert Scoble on Search

So we celebrated our birthday a couple of weeks ago and posted some views on the search industry from some of our friends. We thought we were done, but we'll make an exception for Robert Scoble. ;-)

Q1. What search engine industry development/announcement has surprised
you the most in the past 12 months?

Seeing Microsoft buy Lookout was suprising. But, most interesting over the past 12 months is how fast the new search engines like PubSub.com, Technorati.com, and Feedster.com have changed my search expectations. They opened up a new search category: syndicated searches. You search on them, just like you do on Google, Yahoo, or MSN, but one difference: you can subscribe to the search results. I wish all the search engines had that feature.

The fact that these guys only watch the blogosphere makes them useful for marketing reasons too.

Q2. What do you think will be the most significant development over the next 12 months?

I think desktop searching is going to be more important. Tools like Lookout, X1, and systems like Longhorn's WinFS will change our search expectations quite a bit.

The RSS industry is still trying to figure out how to put advertising into feeds as well without turning off subscribers. I'm looking for someone to show us out of the forest on that one.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Exclusive Video from the Google Dance

Camera phones now come with video, which makes them great for covering the Google Dance. Excuse the poor quality, but hopefully you'll get the picture that this year's Google Dance was bigger than ever. A live rap/rock band (with a few expletives and suggestions to Google staff to loosen up and shake their booties), video games, "dunk the Google Guy", glow-in-the-dark glasses, lots of food, but not enough beer (they ran out early) and a lot of very tight-lipped Google staff.

Here are the videos...

Google Dance Video 1
Google Dance Video 2
Google Dance Video 3

Movies require Quicktime 6.5

Some Google Dance snaps...

Glow-in-the-dark cups

Google Dance in full swing

Add your head, create a Google logo!

Hit the target, dunk the Google Guy

(click images to enlarge)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

SEMPO Holds Annual Meeting, Addresses Concerns

Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide, has the first report on the recently held SEMPO meeting.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Still No Word From SEMPO

I didn't attend the SEMPO meeting yesterday (I'm still not a member) and so I only heard what happened from people that did attend.

So what did happen? Actually, nothing, nothing at all. I spoke to a few members who attended and they said that the issues, raised in Mike Grehan's article, where not addressed in any way. Mike attended too and he tells me that the entire meeting was carefully staged to ensure the topic was not discussed. So much for explaining to the members.

For those of you who are curious, I did email Barbara Coll and offered her the opportunity to use SEL to provide SEMPO's stance. I also spoke with Christine Churchill yesterday and let her know that should SEMPO wish to respond, I would give them the real estate here with a sensational headline in their favor. I guess, they feel they have nothing to defend and they're likely mad at us for being the messenger. ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Yahoo Targets Google, Yellow Pages with New Local Search

Chris Sherman has the info on the newly launched Yahoo Local.

Yahoo estimates that 20-25% of all search queries have a local component, either stated explicitly (Home Depot; Washington acupuncturist) or implicitly (flowers, doctors). Yahoo hopes not only to provide relevant results for its current volume of local search queries, but take share away from other providers of local information and content, regardless of whether they're online or not.

"Local content represents a $100 billion offline market," said Paul Levine, General Manager, Yahoo Local. This includes things like yellow pages, direct mail, local television and radio and so on. Of that, the yellow pages market represents $14 billion in annual revenue, all of which is addressable by search, Levine believes.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Are Your Searching for Me?

Glad to see that I am among 39% of the population that has searched for my own name (I'm still sad, but now I have company). Thanks to Battelle.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

How Easily Can You Buy Google Stock?

So the Google IPO is designed to help the "little guy" get a piece of the action, right? Whoa, not so fast there my Google-eyed friend, you need to see the latest article by the Associated Press.

As they highlight, buying shares in Google is not a easy as you may think.

My next move was to the Web site of Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the deal. I was able to quickly find a list of individual investment options at the firm's Web site, The Morgan Stanley Choice account looked good: online trades, free research, low fees.

It required a $50,000 minimum investment.

That's a lot of Google shares! Don't fear, Ameritrade and E-Trade are among the list of 28 brokers.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Conversionitis

You're making yourself sick - stop obsessing about conversions and look at some of the data you capture everytime a search engine delivers a visitor to your site.

Ron Belanger, who dropped his freshly-minted term "conversionitis" today, suggests you track for more than conversions. Track search terms for which searchers abandon you too - these could reveal that your segment doesn't find you appropriate or relevant for items you actually do sell.

He mentioned LL Bean and flower pots. Apparently searchers didn't think that LL Bean sold such domestic items. If they'd simply focused on the keywords that converted they would have missed out on educating potential flowerpot buyers of their edenic side.

Examine your sales funnel rather than abandoning keywords. In the case of LL Bean they could create gardening info pages in the interest of exposing gardeners to the LL Bean line of gardening supplies (if these even exist - I'm just running with what Ron said).

Ron's also linked search terms with opt-in email campaigns, delivering highly targeted emails to visitors who arrived at a given site using specific keywords.

He also highlighted analyzing which search terms searchers associate with your brand. What adjectives do searchers use to find you?

Finally, tie the specific keywords into specific actions on your site. Don't assume abandonment is the end of a visitor's association with your brand.

Cookies anyone?

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

WebTrends Launches WebPosition Gold 3

WPG 3 is now officially launched.

I had a chance to view the new version a week ago and the interface is a definite improvement on the old one. There is also seemless integration with WebTrends data. Still no improvements on the reliability of the ranking report data and they still have that annoying timeout problem with Yahoo.

That being said, WPG3 is a step in the right direction. Let's hope WPG 4 doesn't take too long to surface. ;-)

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Cracking The Search Refinement Process

Searches proceed, according to Gord Hotchkiss, in a complex and circular fashion. Many SEMs, he contends, believe that searchers simply type in a term, click a result, land on a page, and buy or don't buy. According to Gord's research, searchers change their search terms as they proceed, sometimes based on results from the serps, in a gradual refinement towards the completion of their task.

Often searchers back up, add a word or two to their previous searches and move on from there. (Marissa Mayer confirmed that this happened when asked if searchers are more likely to type in a whole new search upon backing up or just add a word to their previous search. She didn't answer the question however.)

Marissa noted that they experimented with clustering at one point, but it didn't serve the natural process of user search refinement.

It's likely that your market segment has a general process it follows to refine its search. Consider testing them. Find their process. Build pages for the major points along the search refinement process. Rake in the money.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Google Valuation Spreadsheet

If you caught Cory Johnson's CNBC segment on Google this morning, you'll recall his mention of a spreadsheet he planned to upload to John Battelle's site. The doc is now up!

CNBC continues its coverage of the Google IPO all this week at 10am EST or 7am PST.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Daum buys Lycos for $95 million

The sale of Lycos.com is official.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

SEM Company Advice from Barbara Coll

Webmama.com's Barbara Coll shared an interesting turning-point in her company's life. After spending years in a vitual office environment, Barbara finally changed to a physical office and increased staff. Why? Her clients were telling her that they wanted to work with a company that looked and feeled like a normal company.

Since that decision, she has seen some great growth with her business. This suggests that to seriously compete as an SEM, you have to act seriously.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Marketleap Shares Insights

Noel McMichael of Marketleap (recently acquired by Digital Impact) was asked what keeps him up at night. Now a public company employee, Noel simple showed a slide listing a typical "safe harbor" statement. For those of you who work for a public company, I'm sure you share Noel's pain.

Noel also suggested that everyone get a copy of the book "Momentum" by Ron Ricci. He later retract his statement, worrying that he had given away his hottest secret for success. Suffice to say, I will be buying the book!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

What Wall Street Thinks of Search Engine Marketing

Some interesting thoughts from SES, San Jose. CBS MarketWatch analyst, Bambi Francisco gave her views on the Google IPO.

She suggested that if you want to get involved with the Google IPO, you should consider a price of around $100 per share. She admitted that this would be a discount, based upon Yahoo's multiple, and would likely fall outside of Google's estimated range of $108 to $135. However, that is the price that she felt safe enough to risk buying Google at the outset.

She suggested that she would wait until around November to see where the Google stock price heads. She said that it is better to "pay up for more certainty" indicating that she would rather buy at a higher price, if that higher price was due to a more stable Google.

P.S. Yes, I did get to meet Ms. Francisco, finally and yes, I acted like a kid meeting a movie star. I love her work and her insight, and it was a great opportunity for me to meet her.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Peeking Into Google's Mind

Marissa Mayer, Google's Director of Consumer Web Products, spoke today in the "Inside the Searcher's Mind" session and revealed the exact keyword density that delivers first page results. OK not really, but she did drop some interesting Google annecdotes I hadn't heard, as well as a tip or two for you SEMs out there.

Annecdote 1: In early tests Google site visitors waited to begin typing their queries, sometimes for as long as half a minute. When questioned, they said they were waiting for the page to load. And this is why the copyright appears at the bottom - it serves as a page-loaded indicator to those who are used to more garish, cluttered, ad smeared portals.

Annecdote 2: When questioned, many Google site testers don't know what the "I'm feeling lucky" button does. Marissa didn't release any numbers, but she made it clear that the button doesn't get much attention. So why keep it? Though site testers don't know what function it serves they tell Google they like the flavor of the button's text, they think it's comforting, exciting, and adds to Google's "personality."

Annecdote 3: Google designed their site for the "expert searcher." An expert searcher is one who understands how to refine his search. Google trusts that one can become an expert searcher in a month or so, and that the process is intuitive.

SEM Tip 1: Image search, according to Marissa, remains their second most used property. Yowza! Optimize those images folks. Yes, I've said this for a while, but never heard such a strong reason for optimizing image tags and text around images.

SEM Tip 2: Get your butt into Froogle and Google News. I didn't get the impression that they're booming the way Google web search booms, but results from both properties appear, when relevant, at the top of the web results page. I've personally seen traffic-doubling results for a news site that found its way into the Google news feed.

So how do you get into Google news? Press releases, articles about your company on sites that have a Google news feed, or your own news site with a Google news feed.

Much more to come.

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

Roll-up, Roll-up; Get Your Google IPO Bidder ID

You can now get your Google bidder ID as the IPO site is now live.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

CNBC on the Google IPO

Tune in to Cory Johnson of CNBC this week as he takes a look at the Google IPO. The segments will air 10 am (Eastern) / 7 am (Pacific).

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Just How Big is SES San Jose?

If the sign hanging from the conference center is any indication, it's going to be BIG!

Click to enlarge

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Is Google a Sure Thing?

Diane Hess of the New York Post looks at whether investing in Google will be a sure thing. As always, if a reporter asks me for my opinion, I'm not afraid to give it.

"Google has been successful with one product," added Andy Beal, vice president of WebSourced, a search engine marketing company. "They need to diversify."

"They shouldn't rest on their laurels and think, like Netscape did in the 1990s, that they are going to be the market leader forever," Beal said.

"Google is not a sure thing," Beal said, adding that among things to watch are search-engine announcements from Yahoo! and Microsoft, as well as the six-month anniversary of the offering, when employees will be able to sell stock.

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

Search Engine Strategies San Jose - August 2-5, 2004

I've just arrived in San Jose and wanted to remind everyone that Search Engine Lowdown will be providing extensive coverage of Search Engine Strategies. We've got Ben Wills, Jason Dowdell, Garret French and myself geared-up to provide daily updates.

We're going to be experimenting with photos and video for the event too! Be sure to check back each day for the latest news and the hottest announcements!

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

...the search industry queries new media