What’s new at Web Master Central?
November 3, 2007
Quite a lot as it happens:
- You can now associate website content by the country per-domain, per-subdomain, or per-directory level "“ very useful indeed. It will be interesting to see how useful this really is.
- View and block potential Google sitelinks. I have experience of this taking two weeks, very useful if you have out-of-date sitelinks
- You may like to submit multiple sitemaps to Google's Web Master Central, now you can.
Firefox more popular than I.E. 6
November 3, 2007
Slightly misleading as Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser, but Firefox is more commonly used than Internet Explorer 6, just!
Firefox is growing at by roughly 5% of the market share per year. This implies that 2010 could be the year that the fox out muscles Microsoft for the biggest market share of Internet users "“ go fox, go!
| 2007 |
IE7 |
IE6 |
IE5 |
Fx |
Moz |
S |
O |
|
September |
20.8% |
34.9% |
1.5% |
35.4% |
1.2% |
1.6% |
1.5% |
|
August |
20.5% |
35.7% |
1.5% |
34.9% |
1.3% |
1.5% |
1.7% |
|
July |
20.1% |
36.9% |
1.5% |
34.5% |
1.4% |
1.5% |
1.9% |
|
June |
19.7% |
37.3% |
1.5% |
34.0% |
1.4% |
1.5% |
1.8% |
|
May |
19.2% |
38.1% |
1.6% |
33.7% |
1.3% |
1.5% |
1.7% |
|
April |
19.1% |
38.4% |
1.7% |
32.9% |
1.3% |
1.5% |
1.6% |
|
March |
18.0% |
38.7% |
2.0% |
31.8% |
1.3% |
1.6% |
1.6% |
|
February |
16.4% |
39.8% |
2.5% |
31.2% |
1.4% |
1.7% |
1.5% |
|
January |
13.3% |
42.3% |
3.0% |
31.0% |
1.5% |
1.7% |
1.5% |
Search Marketing Standard Fall Magazine
September 11, 2007
As Jim Morison once drunkenly sang 'Summer's almost gone' and to confirm just that came the arrival of the Search Marketing Standard's Fall Magazine onto my doorstep. Nevertheless it is was packed full semy goodness and here's a quick overview as to what stood out for me:
Article 1) Search Engine Market Share "“ Google Still Stands Tall in the UK
Tall as in super-size tall, with a whooping 79.38% of the market share and leaving Yahoo in its shadows in second place at 7.72%. That makes Google nearly 10 times more popular than Yahoo and MSN trails in third at 5.28%, with Ask and all its offline marketing (UK) just behind in fourth with 4.87%
This is not really surprising, although I think it really does depend on the industry that you are in and the type of product or services that you offer. It is not unusual for Yahoo to be closer to 30 - 40% for certain queries or fewer than 1% for more technical ones, so it’s good to be aware!
Article 2) What do SEM Professionals keep in their Toolkits?
The 'What do busy SEM Professionals keep in their Toolkits' article is a pretty handy one, with lots cool SEM tools and the two that I found both new and useful "“ courtesy of Andy Beal are:
Article 3) Integrating SMM into SEM
Yes Cameron Olthuis has produced another great piece which is all about integrating your every day search engine marketing efforts into social media marketing.
For those new to SMM, you may want to checkout the social media marketing post I knocked up late last year. Essentially Cameron breaks down SMM into two distinct entities, linkbaiting and reputation management.
The Search Marketing Standard Magazine is a worthy read for any search marketer and if you are interested in subscribing, shoot over to their blog.
NMA's Search Agencies Guide 2007 (UK)
August 1, 2007
NMA has complied a top 35 Search Agencies Guide for 2007. The guide has been out for a couple of months and allows me the opportunity to introduce Netizen (8th place) as my new place of work as a senior search executive. This is my first week and so far I am very impressed with the setup - checkout the top 10 below:
Interesting SEM Posts You May Have Missed
June 16, 2007
I am feeling a little guilty of late as I haven’t made many posts for a while, so I thought I would post an arrangement of links that you may find useful and have recently found their way on my bookmark list (not all new):
- Stepping Stones of User Conversions.
- 6 Steps to Creating a Perfect Landing Page.
- 10 Tips for Product Landing Pages.
- If You Build it, Links will Come.
- SEO, Meets SMM.
- Web Broswer Stats - I.E. 6 is still top dog (just), although you will see F.F. is snapping at its heels.
- Web Developer’s Handbook - lots of cool tools.
- Google Hot Trends - only for the US at the moment - it is kind of a mashup of Google Zeitgeist and Google Trends.
SEM Link Love for Charities
June 5, 2007
Kevin Gibbons recently tagged me in sharing some link juice with a few worthy courses. Who can doubt the value of passing on a little link love to some great charities?
So without further ado, here are a few:
- Nature Charity - www.wildlifetrusts.org: Local wildlife trusts across the whole of the UK.
- Children's Charity - www.nspcc.org.uk: Stop cruelty to children.
- Cancer Research UK - www.cancerresearchuk.org: The UK’s leading cancer research charity.
- Sponsor a Child - www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk: The world’s largest orphan charity.
- International Wildlife Conservation Trust - www.worldlandtrust.org: Help save rainforests and other biologically important lands.
This is where I tag some fellow SEM bloggers "“ Karl Ribas, Keith Bond, Lisa Ditlefsen, Rob Kerry & Todd Malicoat. Hope you guys at SMX are having fun, all the pictures are great "“ keep 'em coming!
Google (Analytics) wakes up and smells the coffee
May 28, 2007
For me, the new facelift that GA 2.0 is colourfully parading is a very smart move. It has a simple and yet elegant web 2.0 look and feel - so be it a little belated!
It has been a little over a year since GA offered web analytics solutions for all, and although early adopters were keen to register and wait for its release "“ these adopters were often quite tech focused, or partial to a bit of geek activity.
For the not so geeky, a lot of newbies to web-mastering/analytics have been intimated by GA's interface and found it to be far too complex. In many cases this was true, as finding simple things often required rummaging around through data that was unnecessary for their needs.
The Second Wave of Google Analytics is Now
If you who have been hesitant or have colleagues that have been out of the analytics loop, now is a great time to step into the ring and flex your analytics biceps and discover just what you have been missing. It now really does has a nice homely feel.
The next wave of GA adopters are likely catch a second wind for the mighty 'G' and one that has the potential to be stronger than the first "“ unleashing Google further and deeper into the homes and offices of wanna be web marketers.
And what about the New Features?
The most useful features seem to be the customisable dashboards and the ability to email reports. Although I think the focus on this release, has been to make GA easier to use and less so on offering new features "“ a job well done!
If you are new to GA or want to see how some of the new visuals look in GA 2.0, a visit to mashable will land you with 27 jammed packed Google Analytics features . Avinash probes a little deeper and highlights 5 key areas you should spend some time on.
To finish off, Dave Cafferey suggests why perhaps you too should you use Google Analytics.
OneBox and Local Business Listings
February 28, 2007
February SEM Resource of the Month
The OneBoxer blog is this month's SEM resource of the month. Why? Well it's great a place to get practical advice in getting listed in Google's Golden OneBox.
And with Google's announcement last month to include Local Results in the Golden OneBox, I thought it was about time I delved in a little deeper to see what it’s all about.
This really is a truly awesome opportunity for local businesses to get super high listings in a (arguable) non-sweat 'location "“ trade/services' Google search.
Let's see an example for 'London Plumber':
You can see the OneBox results sits proudly mapped between the sponsored listings and natural results. Brian Mark, author of the OneBoxer, dishes out plenty of useful tips, mostly relating to Froogle and Google Base "“ although you will find much of which can also be applied for local businesses and OneBox results.
And the Sign-up Process?
Slow, but easy. You need to setup an account at Google's Local Business Center. You will then be sent a PIN in the post to verify your businesses location, which takes about 2 weeks.
Be sure that you enter all your optimised business details correctly first time, as alterations after verification require a new PIN to be re-sent and a further two weeks wait as I have recently discovered!!
The OneBox has a bright, bright future"¦
British Internet Marketing Blogs
February 15, 2007
My good friend Keith has recently put together a website for Internet Marketing Blogs based in the UK.
Britain, Britain, Britain, Land of diversity… But what of the people of Britain? What do they? Who is them? And why? Little Britain
It's nice to see what's going on in your backyard once in while, so thanks for the great resource Keith. Maybe a Google co-op search engine could be on the cards too?
This Blog has also found its way onto another SEO/SEM aggregator site in recent weeks - the Megite Top Tank Blog, where you can find some of the top guys in online marketing world.
With lots of talk about Yahoo Pipes and the various SEO/SEM aggregators popping up, it seems like quite a bit of fun, so I will have a rip over the weekend and see what I can up with "“ watch this space!
January SEM Resource of the Month
January 31, 2007
Following the success of the custom search engine for SEM blogs released earlier this month and sharing some handy ideas from the SEORoundtable, I thought that a worthy SEM resource of the month would be to have a custom search engine for the top SEM blogs and forums in one place.
Search SEORoundtable’s recommended Search Marketing Forums
As posted earlier in the month, here is the search engine for Lee Odden’s must read Search Marketing Blogs:
