• Debunking Landing-Page Myths
    A landing page is one page only. "Flash on landing pages is evil." Multivariate testing is better than A/B testing. Scott Brinker attempts to debunk these three landing-page myths, reminding us to think paths rather than pages.. When it comes to testing myths, he provides key reasons to adopt A/B testing. For instance, it requires less traffic to achieve statistical significance, it's easy for marketers to visualize each test variation for approval, and multipage paths of varying length can be tested against each other.
  • DoubleClick Dart DFP Changes
    A video outlines features that become available as part of the standard DFP UI beginning May 30. The demonstration walks you through how to traffic an ad through DFP and use the new interface to upload and assign image, flash banner and third-party creatives. Buttons have been moved and features enhanced, integrated more tightly into the application. A new assignment box provides the ability to see all the content in one location. Steps have been condensed to reduce the time it takes to upload and assign a creative.
  • Display Search Targeting Wish List
    Behavioral targeting, particularly solutions from search engines, leaves a lot of room for improvement, according to Kevin Lee. Not surprising, he writes, given the evolution of display-ad targeting and evolution of search advertising platforms. So, in the best interest of the industry, he's beginning a wish list to help design the next version of behavioral targeting. For starters, he's looking for a self-service version. Allow some advertisers without a display ad already to bid on a per-click or even a CPM basis directly within the search interface, he writes.
  • Google Unveils Quick-Message Platform: Twitter Competition In A Browser?
    Google Wave, a new real-time open-source tool that operates in the browser, could provide instant competition for Twitter. Lars Rasmussen and his brother developed the application -- the same two who developed Google Maps. The plan is to release the communications and collaboration tool later this year. Google unveiled the Wave at the I/O conference. The tool allows people to communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. One person creates the Google Wave and others add to it by inserting a reply or edit. People can concurrently add rich-text, and nearly instantly, …
  • Can Physical Addresses On Web Sites Boost Rankings?
    Michael Gray looks at how a real-world address can have some impact on your site's organic listings. As an example, he builds a matrix to look at national chain/franchise auto repair shops. Do the shops have the corporate address in the footer or on the site? Can search engines crawl and index the location directory? Gray makes the point to think of the physical address as part of a Web site's overall trust score. Having a private registration, no address or non-matching addresses may not strike a negative blow to the Web site, but having matching on-site addresses …
  • Search Taxonomy: Key SEO Strategy
    Peter Da Vanzo begins by defining search taxonomy as a focus on classifying keywords into three distinct classes, according to type of search: navigational, informational and transactional. With stats from surveys and eye-tracking studies, Da Vanzo steps through the process of integrating this knowledge into your search strategy. Know your audience to estimate intent, a bit of advice from Da Vanzo that shouldn't come as a big surprise. He describes a variety of tools that can help you understand a site's demographics and the keywords searched on. Through Google AdWords, you can determine what gets the clicks. He …
  • Minimizing Yahoo's Flukes
    Joe of PPC Hero doesn't have a whole lot of positive feedback on Yahoo's search marketing platform. "Let's face it: their interface isn't as easy-to-use, transparent, or streamlined as Google Adwords' interface," he writes. Still, since he believes in diversifying search campaigns -- and Yahoo is no. 2 -- he provides a list of ways to more efficiently manage a Yahoo campaign, minimizing the platform's shortcomings. For example: The "Yahoo content network sucks," Joe writes. In fact, it's been more of a "bane than a boon for my campaigns." The reason: there can be spikes in clicks without …
  • TV Networks Must Tap SEM/SEO
    TV networks should embrace search engine optimization (SEO) as more shows find a home on the Internet. Brafton encapsulates an article in which Greg Kahn, SVP of strategic insights at Optimedia, says networks need to do more to make hit shows available outside their normal airing schedules by putting them online and promoting them with SEO techniques as ways to drive traffic to the show's Web site. Brafton also calls attention to a piece that ran earlier this year in Search Engine Land that suggests SEO might become a good way to "save the sagging television industry." Search …
  • Still Searching For The Right Links?
    ""Get more links' is not an effective goal, even if it's the directive you've received from clients or management," writes Garrett French. Instead, French provides 10 broader goals. For example: Deepen organic keyword portfolios. By building deep links to existing pages using longer tail anchor text, you can increase long tail organic search engine rankings and revenue/conversions from targeted search engine rankings, he writes.
  • Web Navigation, SEO Hotkeys
    Ann Smarty offers tips on speeding up SEO tasks with Firefox shortcuts. She follows up with hotkeys that provide faster navigation through the Web. The list of keys include the ability to open bookmarks with a drop-down menu, activate the search box, and add "www." to the beginning and ".com" to the end of the text in the location bar. Smarty also provides instructions on implementing SiteLauncher, a Firefox add-on that lets you assign keys to launch favorite Web sites.
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