Archives for the month of: September, 2008
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MSN adds fourth PPC listing to Live Search

September 16, 2008 //
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MSN has reportedly added a fourth PPC listing to the top box on Live search in the US. I say reportedly as I cannot see it myself when I search.

In a press release reported on Search Engine Watch MSN rather honestly admitted this was done in response to requests from their advertisers for more clicks. It is interesting to hear MSN provide this reasoning ad it goes against the usual lines used by the search engines. In most case the search engines do things, or report to do things, for the benefit of their users and to enhance user experience rather than for their advertisers (who incidentally are the ones who pay them!).

MSN’s problem to date in the battle for search supremacy has been the sheer lack of search volume produced and this is an interesting way to produce it. The more logical approach would be to attempt to increase their user base but maybe they have decided this isn’t going to happen any time soon.

They have to be careful though as satisfying advertisers is one thing, but you need to make sure you aren’t doing it at the expense of your users. I don’t think the addition of a fourth PPC listing at the top of the results is going to seriously offend people in anyway so Im not suggesting that this will be he case but a balance needs to be struck between ad revenue and user experience. MSN’s problem remains search volume so they cant afford to be putting any of their existing user base off!

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Categories PPC

The new iGoogle is less user friendly

September 15, 2008 //
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I have decided I don’t like the new iGoogle homepage.  Well, to be specific, one feature of the the new iGoogle homepage.  I like the way you can expand your widgets and make them full screen, that’s pretty useful.  But what I hate is the way it automatically displays an excerpt from the feed articles without giving me the ability to minimise them.  In the old version you just viewed the title and had the option to expand it to see an excerpt, which was good.  But by enforcing the excerpt I can no longer easily see a snapshot of feed headlines without scrolling and concentrating far harder than I would like!  Do me a favour Google, change it back!

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Categories Google

Is it time Miva gave up the ghost?

September 12, 2008 //
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Having been in search for quite a while, I remember when Miva, or e-spotting as it was at the time.  Was actually a valid addition to a paid search campaign.  Taking up 20-40% of click budget for some campaigns and a viable traffic stream so long as you could filter out the fraudulent clicks.

Right now, approximately 0% of click budget in general would go through a PPC campaign managed by me and it would take something pretty special to convince me to do otherwise.  They tried to rescue it as the slide began, with offerings such as pay per call and their precision network of verticalised search, but to no avail.

Today they have announced they are launching a new online advertising platform but I am starting to think they should just give up the ghost and shut up shop.  They surely cant be profitable in the UK, although I hear they don’t have many staff left!  And there is no way they have the funds, the standing or the money to realistically compete with the likes of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.  Their only hope is that they come up with something so innovative and mind blowing, that no-one else can copy, that it completely revolutionises the market.  Pretty unlikely if you ask me.  Is it time for Miva to give up the ghost and shut up shop?

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Categories Search Engine Marketing

Is the UK too small for Google?

September 12, 2008 //
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The announcement of Google’s geographic reporting for your campaign is good news for international search advertisers, the ability to accurately (?) measure where your paid search clicks are coming from by city and region should make for a far more efficient and accurate pay per click campaign.  Not to mention the ramifications for businesses in knowing where their products work best online allowing them to focus their whole model on a particular region if necessary.

But the problem with this sort of technology had always been that although it works well in the large open spaces of the US, it is simply not accurate enough in the relatively confined spaces of the UK.  Case in point below, I tested this theory using the Google gears demo application that tells you where Google thinks you are.  I ran the application whilst at work in Warrington and low and behold, Google was out, picking me up as being in Lambeth, Greater London, a full 204 miles away!

Which brings me to my question, is geographic targeting ever going to be accurate enough to make it useful in the UK?  I am yet to see an example where it works effectively and consistently in this country, or are we just too small fry for it?

is google location targeting ever going to work in the UK?

is google location targeting ever going to work in the UK?

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Categories Google

Google makes changes to iGoogle

September 7, 2008 //
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Google has today launched some changes to iGoogle homepage to some of its users (exact figures unknown).  The changes, according to the google support page take 3 major forms.

1. left navigation introduction – the introduction of a left navigation which will show all your gadgets and widgets as well as you favourite links.

2. full page gadgets viewing – if you want to see more information from one of your gadgets you just click it from the left navigation and it becomes full screen on your homepage allowing you more room for expanded text and information.

3. instant messenger functionality – this is the big one, instant messenger functionality allowing you to chat to all your friends who are also using iGoogle.

On tp of these it is also clear to see that Google has changed the format slightly so that there is no longer the need to click the plus sign to see a snapshot of an article, it is automatically displayed in the feed.

So what are the purposes of these changes? Easy, stickiness.  in the old format to see a full article you had to leave Google, not anymore, you can see all you need to without leaving Google.  Why is that so importnant I hear you ask?  Well if your within Google, you going to use Google, the search box is ever present at the top and so if you need to perform a search and you spend all your time on iGoogle who are you going to use?  In case you forgot, Google is a search engine and this is where they make their money, just in case you forgot.

The more a portal can keep a user within their realms, to more money they make from them.  On top of this Google can all the time gather information on the users and serve them ads and results based on their needs, again making them want to come back for more.

With Chrome, 85% search market share, and now the expansion of iGoogle, Google will be hoping that there will come a day when users are using Google for everything they do online, complete market dominance.

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Categories Google
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