• Seven Lessons From Steve Jobs For Search Marketers
    I just finished Walter Isaacson's epic Steve Jobs biography. Beyond being a captivating (and surprisingly quick, considering its 571 pages) read about the life and times of one of the most influential and controversial people in technology, the book imparts some important lessons for search marketers.
  • Activating Social Extensions For Google AdWords
    Not long after Google enabled Google+ Pages for Business earlier this month, it also enabled a new Google AdWords ad extension type: social extensions. Like other types of ad extensions, social extensions provide a way for marketers to add additional information to their ads, making them larger and more visible, helping an individual one to stand out in a sea of ads on the page. Social extensions are free and fairly simple to add to your advertisements.
  • Google Ads Popping Up In Maps
    Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Google has been quietly adding new ad placements in some of its most popular search destinations throughout the fall: maps. Spend time walking around New York's Fifth Avenue, Chicago's Magnificent Mile or San Francisco's Union Square and it's easy to see the growing dependence on Google maps, especially as people stop abruptly in front of you to consider the search results on their smartphones.
  • Platform Positioning As A New Communications Norm
    I've been thinking a lot about platforms lately -- and it seems as though the Web's largest technology firms have been thinking a lot about them too.Platforms are brand ecosystems: hardware that works best with complementary pieces from the same manufacturer; distributed software that inter-operate with one another, but not across competing platforms. Platforms represent a very popular, emerging positioning strategy that sits neatly at the intersection of branding and demand generation. Successful platforms are able to drive more revenue and instill greater brand affinity. And when a consumer first embraces a platform, it becomes much easier for that person …
  • Google Gives Us Something To Be Thankful For: Javascript Indexing
    A few weeks ago, Google made what seemed to be a quiet change that may have huge implications for the SEO world: it started indexing Facebook comments. While this may seem like a small update, it may mean much more for SEO, because Facebook comments are contained in Javascript -- and, since its inception, Google hasn't been able to index content or links contained within Javascript code.
  • Pushing Black Friday Into Thanksgiving Thursday
    It's Thanksgiving on Thursday. Friday is Black Friday. And all the maneuvering for competitive advantage during the opening salvo of the holiday shopping season has been well under way for weeks.
  • Why Siri Is The Most Exciting, And Terrifying, Evolution Of Search
    The technology world has been buzzing about the recent introduction of the iPhone 4S. As a device and platform, it’s sleek, smart, intuitive and accessible to users of all ages. It turns the most complex of tasks into a very elegant and satisfying experience. A central feature of iOS5 (Apple’s new mobile operating system) on the iPhone 4S is Siri. Siri is voice recognition software, which has been built to function as a digital personal assistant. Ask Siri a question, and “she’ll” answer. Ask Siri to send an email -- done. Ask Siri what the weather’s like, and she’ll return …
  • Walmart Vs. Amazon: A Regime Shift In Motion
    Financial analysts are not predicting a rosy short-term future for Amazon's stock price. Recent blunders with the rollout of new Kindle devices and earnings under increasing pressure have these analysts predicting a shorting of Amazon stock. In all likelihood, Amazon's share price will tumble.So why is Walmart so worried about Amazon?
  • The Perfect Search Engine
    Captivating. Confounding. Mesmerizing. Maddening. Alluring. Alliterative. Call me Ishmael. No, call me Ahab. I'm obsessed. I've been searching for the perfect search engine (and whale of a pun!) for years and, every time I think I've found it, the darn thing slips out of my grasp.
  • Tips From Pubcon Las Vegas: Online Reputation Management In Search
    Like Rob Garner, I was out at Pubcon Las Vegas last week. Some of my favorite sessions to attend are those covering online reputation management (ORM). As an SEO, I find myself being contacted more every day by those looking to clean up their reputation in search results, so I thought I'd share some of the best tips I heard during several sessions last week on how to protect and manage reputation in the search channel. Even if you don't have a reputation management issue today, however, it's important that you begin doing all you can to protect your brand …
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