• The Underappreciated, Unrecognized Value Of Non-Brand Search Campaigns
    This fall I will watch a ton of football, which means I will see a ton of advertisements for trucks and beer. What if the success of those ads was measured on the number of visits to BudLight.com or the number of phone calls to a Ford dealer in the minutes following a commercial? This would clearly be a disaster for television ad executives. That's because employing such metrics would miss the whole point of a TV ad, which is to stoke consumer demand and influence brand perceptions. When it comes to search engine advertising, marketers tend to take the …
  • The ADA's Effect On SEO
    Accessibility is set to have a big impact on website design in 2014. Among other market forces, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it plans to update the Americans Disability Act (ADA) to add Web accessibility standards. Those changes, expected in 2014, are going to propel search marketers in a new, improved, direction.
  • Be Prepared For Changes In Google Tools
    So the other shoe has finally dropped. Google recently announced that paid search has been made secure. Since marketers have also dealt with the move to secure organic search, this news might strike fear in their heart. And rightfully so; the disruption to SEO was a significant one. But let's all take a deep breath. The impacts on paid secure search are not nearly as significant. The primary reason is that while the query data is being removed from the referral URL, it is still available in AdWords. There are some results of this change, the most important of which …
  • Top SEM Campaign Management Tools Reviewed, Via Haikus
    It's often difficult to differentiate SEM ad technology. I could write or edit massive reports on the topic (and I have!). But not today. Today, I'll try to limit my analysis to exactly 17 syllables per company. Why? Well, partly because I thought it'd be fun, but on a more serious note, I thought that a constraining writing style like a haiku would force me to distill the differences between SEM tools down to their essence.
  • 10 Search Marketing Lessons From The Kentucky Derby
    Saturday was the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby, and my first time at Churchill Downs. When I wasn't horsing around with my friends at the track, I was seeking inspiration for my Search Insider column. Here are 10 search marketing lessons from the greatest two minutes in sports:
  • The Era Of Amplification
    MediaPost's Online Spin columnist Joseph Jaffe wrote a great piece Tuesday on "The Death of Anonymity." He shows how anonymity in the era of digital has become both a blessing and a curse, leading to an explosion of cowardly, bone-headed comments and cyber-bullying. This reinforces something I've said repeated: Technology doesn't change human behavior; it just enables it in new ways. Heroes will find new ways to be heroes, and idiots will find new ways to be idiots.
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