We heard about it last year and now we’re finally seeing it action – partly, anyway.  As Amanda pointed out last week, up to 25% of  Yahoo’s organic search results in the U.S. are being powered by Bing and up to 3.5% may see paid listings from Microsoft adCenter.  The difference won’t be noticeable unless you’re one of the lucky searchers to see the “Powered by Bing” badge on the bottom of a results page (they’re currently testing this badge on just some of the results, but once it’s fully rolled out, it will be on the bottom of all the results pages).  I went to Yahoo to see if I could get a glimpse of a Bing-branded results page by performing a million (read: ten) searches but it was not to be.  Seriously, after 10 searches on Yahoo, I had to leave; I felt like a foreigner in a strange land (I’m a Googler).

When will it ALL be Bing?

Microsoft and Yahoo are currently doing tests for organic and paid results and if all goes well, the US and Canada will see all Bing-powered results in desktop and mobile searches as early as August (August/September is the current time frame).  The paid search platform transition to Microsoft adCenter will be undergoing a bit more testing, but is expected to be fully live by October.

Obviously, this is a pretty big transition, especially for those folks who currently use Yahoo Search Marketing for their PPC campaigns.  Yahoo is trying to make this as smooth of a transition as possible, and has a bunch of information regarding the change.  Not only do they have a complete site called the “Yahoo Transition Center” dedicated to it, there are also helpful posts on the Yahoo Search Marketing blog.

What about the rest of the world?

I haven’t read anything yet about when they plan to integrate the Bing-powered organic results internationally, but for PPC, international advertisers should see the move to Microsoft adCenter in early 2012.  Again, this will all be dependent on a successful roll out in the United States and Canada.

On the tail of this news, Yahoo Japan just announced that it plans to use Google’s search engine technology for their organic and paid search instead of Bing.  Although this may be a bit of a blow to Microsoft, Yahoo only holds a minority stake in Yahoo Japan and cannot stop them from using Google as an alternative.  This proves to be an interesting move, considering that comScore’s figures show that Japan has the third largest number of searches conducted as of December 2009 (behind the US and China).  A good portion of Japan’s searches could be Google-powered if everything goes as planned.

Are you excited about this change?  Are you mad because I dissed Yahoo?  Let me know!

Maybe.

Ranking Factors

Late last year, Matt Cutts (head of Google’s Webspam team) mentioned that there are over 200 variables used in Google’s algorithm to determine how a web page ranks in the search results pages.  We already know some of those variables, such as the quantity and quality of backlinks to the page, use of keywords in title tag and copy, and even how long it takes for the page to load.  For obvious reasons, we’ll never know all the ranking factors and Google changes its algorithm on a daily basis (yes, daily).  However, Google was just granted a patent on something new that could be incorporated into its algorithm: mouse movements.

Why Mouse Movements?

If you use your mouse to help keep you focused on the descriptions that you’re reading in the search engine results, your mouse may be hovering over some search results longer than others because you are more interested in that particular result.  Perhaps you’re even getting an answer to your question in the that text description of the web page, so there’s no need to click on it even though it gave you an answer to your search (when is Justin Bieber’s birthday?!?!).

Part of the patent’s abstract, which was actually filed for in 2005 but just granted last week, states: “Sometimes, a user may review multiple informational items responsive to a search query, moving a pointer over or near each of the informational items that the user reviews. These various pointer activities can provide another way to evaluate the user’s feedback with respect to a particular informational item.”  In a nutshell, the pointer (mouse) may be a tell-tale sign of which results the searcher values.

Is This Really a Good Ranking Signal?

When I first read about this, my reaction was “no way”.  I don’t think that someone moving their mouse along the page as they read is a good measurement of the quality of the results, or the intent of the searcher.  Google also indicates that “a typical user’s behavior is to move the mouse pointer (or any other pointing indicator) over or near a target informational item, keep the mouse pointer there for a period of time while the user reads the item’s information.”  For me, this is not typical behavior.  I keep my mouse to the side of the text and use my scroll wheel to move down the page as I read, and I’m sure that I’m not the only person who does this.  Granted, Google may have this patent and not even want to use it anymore, or maybe they will incorporate it into a more broad consortium of user behavior data they’re collecting.  There’s really no way of knowing how they plan to use this patent.

What do you think, is this a good indication of search result interest?  Do you use your mouse to follow along as you read?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Old Spice creates a stink on social media sites – Case study exhaustion beware! Every now and then a marketing initiative comes around and it takes everyone by storm. You watch it all happen and then for me, I hear a click in my head, ‘I am going to hear this case study for the next 5 years, over and over and over… damn’. This week Old Spice did something really interesting. They took the actor from their television campaign and had him make personalized video responses to social media power users. He responded to tweets, comments on YouTube videos and more. The funny responses were clever, came in rapid succession and were mostly targeted at higher profile social media users like Ashton Kutcher, Lucretia Pruitt, Guy Kawasaki, Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter) and even a flirty back and forth exchange with Alyssa Milano. To see all the responses you can check out the YouTube channel dedicated to the Old Spice Responses. The marketing effort was clever and won the Old Spice marketers some major pats on the back. Some are of course questioning the ROI of the campaign. No matter what the results, Old Spice had the online world’s attention for 48 hours.

Below is a video response from the Old Spice man to Jason Keath from Social Fresh about his request for an interview.

iPhone 4 press conference – As we have discussed before, the latest iPhone is having some serious problems. The technology darling, Apple, is under fire in a big way, which is new to them. Apple is known for being innovative and is held to a high standard. This debacle has highlighted that Apple and Steve Jobs don’t know what to do in a media crisis. Today, Apple is having a press conference to talk about the iPhone 4. It should be interesting to see what the company has to say and how they plan on fixing the faulty device. Another blow to the iPhone happened when Consumer Reports came out this week and said they could not recommend the new phone because of its known antenna issues. Video below.

Links I liked this week

Gmail allows rich text signatures
Google Tests Multiple Accounts Sign in
B2B Content Marketing Strategy and Practice Is Steaming Full-speed-ahead. Are You Onboard?
12 Favorite and Little Known Tips for LinkedIn

iPhone 4 announced – This week, as we expected, was the announcement of the next iPhone. The iPhone 4 will be available in the US on June 24th. Steve jobs announced the release at WWDC, the company’s annual conference for application developers. The new phone is a bit thinner, has more pixels, battery life is supposed to be better, better camera with zoom and flash, HD video recording and iMovie to edit video and you can move in between running applications. One of the biggest new features is a front and rear facing camera for better picture taking abilities and to utilize the new video chat functionality. It is also shinier, prettier and you probably need one. If you want to watch a video that may make some of you drool and/or cry here is the official Apple video.

Google Caffeine is brewed up and ready for the public – As Kasi told us a few months ago, Google has been working on a new platform for searches called Google Caffeine. The new indexing system is supposed to make searching faster, more relevant and be able to handle the demand for more real-time search queries. For more information about Google Caffeine you can read about it on the Official Google Blog.

Add your Flickr photos to Facebook – The photo sharing site Flickr has teamed up with the king of social networking sites, Facebook. Now you can automatically add your Flickr photos to your Facebook stream. I recently had a conversation with a client about automating your social media content. Some are violently opposed, others think it is the bee’s knees – I am in the middle. I think it can be done well and be done poorly. I understand all of us are very busy so why not focus on one or two social media sites or blogs and find relevant ways to automatically feed that content to other sites? This new feature is a good example. I know lots of businesses that use Flickr to capture events, conferences, semi-professional shots and more. Now you can have that streamline into your Facebook account. This could be beneficial to some people. A bigger undertone in this news bit is that Facebook and Yahoo (who own Flickr) are getting awfully chummy these days. Wonder what else we will see from this new couple?

Bluesky Factory stomps the yard integrating social media profiles with email marketing campaigns – I came into this career world as an email junky. My last job and starting this one, I was all about email marketing. I have added a few more things to my plate but I have always been interested in how email marketing paved the way for so much that is the norm on the social internet. The relationship between email and social media is a strong one and the guys and girls at Blue Sky Factory have always recognized that – calling email the “digital glue” of the internet. This week the email marketing company announced a new feature to its service, SocialSync, that integrates your most valued business contacts with the social networks THEY participate in. One of the most important parts of businesses participating in social media, is participating in the right networks where their customers already are. How cool is it that with your email marketing service you could instantly have that data available to you? Pretty cool if you ask me.

Google homepage designs caused quite a stir – As I told you last week, Google is now letting people customize their home search pages. The company decided to show off the new feature by adding their own custom designs by artists and photographers for a day. The change was quite unwelcomed and one of the most popular search terms was ‘how to remove Google background’. The background should be back to normal by now but the whole situation caused a bit of frustration with users who claimed to be distracted by the busy backgrounds.

Twitter had a tough week – Twitter was down for a good chunk of the week. Lots of people had no idea what to do with themselves. Twitter has become a large part of how many people go about their day and how they do business. Services like Twitter will only get better with time but this was a friendly reminder to not put all your marketing eggs in one basket. If Twitter does go down, do you have a backup plan? If you ever need information about Twitter possibly being down you can check status.twitter.com for the latest updates.

Office makes web apps – As what seems to be a direct hit at Google Docs, Microsoft Office is rolling our a series of web applications for their products. It was a move that was bound to happen. Now with the updated 2010 Office package users can create, store and share Office documents online. More and more businesses are going to not only want but need more cloud services. As a culture we are getting less and less tied to our desktops and more utilizing documents and the internet on the go.

Bing to search Facebook and Twitter – Bing announced this week that they are now searching Facebook and Twitter updates. The new search section will search only public tweets and Facebook statuses that marked as ‘Share for Everyone’. Now might be a really good time for you to review your Facebook privacy settings to see what exactly you are putting out there to not only your Facebook friends but now to general people searching for keywords and phrases.

That does it for my list this week! As always, let me know if there is anything interesting you are seeing that you want to talk more about!

Kinda reminds you of that early 80’s song “Somebody’s Watching Me”, no?

How Do They Know?

OK so it doesn’t exactly watch you (which would be way too weird), but let’s say you’re in the market for a purple widget and you visit a site that is advertising with retargeting.  When you land on the Purple Widgets ‘R Us website, a cookie (small piece of code) is automatically downloaded to your browser.  If you then visit one (or more) of the million ad-supported websites that are out there, the cookie registers and you will see ads for Purple Widgets ‘R Us.

Cool or Creepy?

Would you be more apt to click on an ad for a website you’ve previously visited? The idea behind this strategy stems from the fact that many web visitors don’t convert on their first visit to a website (or at all).  If you can get in front of those visitors again with an ad coupled with a sale or other offer while they are on a different website, they may be likely to click on it.  This will bring them back to your website where they will hopefully make a purchase (or whatever the conversion may be).

Retargeted ads are definitely working for the travel clothing company Scottevest out of Ketchum, Idaho.  In just three months, owner Scott Jordan attributed $38,000 in sales to the $12,000 he spent on retargeted ads – you do the math.  Another benefit of this type of advertising has been the fact that the company seems “larger” than it is, due to the fact that site visitors see their ads on multiple websites.  This can be a positive perception for some would-be buyers.

Of course, I can’t talk about retargeting without bringing up the issue of privacy which has been getting a lot of attention lately.  Some surfers feel as though it’s too invasive, however there are ways to opt out of being shown retargeted ads by either setting your internet browser to block cookies or opting out with the ad company serving up the ads.  Deleting your browser’s cookies will also have the same effect, but you’d have to do that each time you visit a site that participates in retargeting.

Most folks don’t bother configuring their browsers to block cookies or even know that it’s an option.

If Google’s Doing It…

There are quite a few companies out there offering retargeting services: FetchBack, ReTargeter, AdRoll, and mediaFORGE to name a few.  Google has also recently started offering the service for their content network, which may bring retargeting more mainstream as companies decide to include it in their internet marketing strategies.

With a well-rounded online campaign including SEO, PPC, and a solid website, retargeting could be a welcome addition in a conversion-driven world.  How do you feel about this kind of advertising – cool or creepy?  Let me know what you think.

This week I have been thinking a lot about doing things better with the tools you already have. As I was compiling my list for this week, I feel as though I am not alone. Many businesses are honing in on what they do best and applying it in new ways or adding features to make sure they are keeping up with their competition. I think that is very important in business. Stick to what you do best and really own that space.

So here are the major newsworthy items of the interwebs this week:

eMarketer says Social Media is Number 1 for Lead Generation – This week eMarketer published a post claiming that social media is emerging as a powerful force in lead generation. This post gave lots of social media fans a reason to celebrate this week and many refurbished the article for their own blogs as validation that their hard work is paying off. The article is worth a read and I like how the second part questions the quality of leads, which we should always consider.

HTML 5 gains momentum – Even though Apple and Adobe have ‘had a long relationship’ it is no secret that they don’t exactly seem to get along. Apple products (iPhone, iPad) do not support Adobe Flash and they have no interest in doing so. The work around? HTML 5 – the newest web standard that lets you create advanced graphics and animations. We will talk a lot more about this next week but for now… I bet Adobe isn’t very happy about all this.

Google lets you customize your search page – Google likes to play around with personalization with everything from your search results to your gmail background. Now you can also personalize your Google home page with your favorite photo, company logo etc. This new feature has a few people raising an eyebrow that this is very ‘Bing-like’ of them. I think it is a fun change and perhaps it took a page out of Bing’s book but they did it better.

Mark Zuckerberg faces the music on security – At All Things Digital, this week Mark Zuckerberg had to pay the piper on Facebook’s privacy issues and changes. The video is quite uncomfortable and Mark needs a towel for his brow. The newest privacy changes were explained on their blog but many are uncomfortable with the state (and lack of transparency) of Facebook’s privacy policy. I also enjoyed this post last week explaining in plain English some of the newer features of Facebook privacy.

In other Facebook news, George Bush got a Facebook page this week… apparently this is breaking national news.

Location based apps still fighting it out – It seems location based applications are the wave of the future but no one seems to quite have a grasp on why and how. Each of the big players are adding updates and new features every day. This week Loopt, one of the very first location based services, took a shot at Foursquare by making Loopt Star which is more game-like and tries to add the value of a loyalty card from your phone. The other kicker is they got some big companies behind them quickly like Gap and Starbucks.

LinkedIn lets you find your professional Twitterers – LinkedIn, the popular business social networking site, now lets you find your LinkedIn connections on Twitter. I found value in this quite awhile ago and had a longer solution. Now just by adding the Twitter Application you can quickly find your LinkedIn connections on Twitter. Great way to add quality people to your Twitter stream!

Google mobile search includes apps – More and more people are accessing the internet from their mobile phones. Their is a noticeable difference with what a mobile searcher wants versus what a desktop searcher wants. The platforms they are using to search and their location play a major part in what they want for a search engine result. Google has now accounted for that by adding applications to mobile search results so users can download an app that will potentially help them with what they are looking for.

AT&T drops unlimited data plan – iPod and iPad users flipped when they heard the news that AT&T retired their unlimited data plan. Wired had a nice low down on what the change actually means for users.

IE6 goes the way of the Dodo bird (phew) – Web Developers all over the world rejoiced when they heard what they have been dreaming of for too long, IE6 is becoming extinct. IE6 has troubled developers with its countless bugs and work-arounds for those bugs. The trouble with IE6 is responsible for the massive jump from Internet Explorer to Firefox in recent years. If you ARE still using IE6 we highly recommend upgrading to IE8 or switching to Mozilla Firefox.

I hope you found some of this news helpful and as always feel free to send me any questions or updates you want us to talk about more!

These are QR (Quick Response) codes. Popular in Japan, they are quickly making an impression in the United States. With your smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry etc.) you can download an application and scan the box and receive more information about a topic or article. Each box brings you to either a website URL, phone number or text. QR codes are not only ‘way super cool’ but they are a neat way to integrate more of your marketing efforts.

How do you scan or read them?

You will need a smartphone with a camera or scanner or a webcam, internet access and a QR code reading software or program. I am currently using the i-nigma app for my iPhone but there are plenty of others like ScanLife, Kaywa and many more. Once you have the reader installed you can just scan the QR code by taking a picture with your camera or scanning app on your smartphone. Once you have scanned it you will be brought right to the text or website included in the code.

What people are using them for

People are using QR codes for lots of marketing efforts. They are easy to create with sites like QR – Generator, Create QR code, QReate and Track and many more.

Here is a list of a few things businesses are using QR codes for:

• Integrating Marketing Efforts – To get a measurable return from print advertising, companies are including QR codes in their print ad to go to specific landing pages on their website to get more information about the products and offers in that particular ad.
• As Business Cards – At a recent conference I attended each attendee had a unique QR code on their conference badge. Instead of swapping business cards you could scan attendees badges and have all of their information at your fingertips.
• Private links to more information – Print magazines, blogs and websites are using QR codes as private links to very targeted entries with more information. If you are reading an article about eating healthy there could be a QR code for 100 items to add to your shopping list for better eating. QR codes are making print more interactive.
• “Secret Messages” – Like in a Christmas Story when Ralphie uses his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring, businesses can use their QR codes for secret planted messages and teasers. In the Lost Finale (in select markets) during a commercial for True Blood, a QR code flashed across the screen. It happened so quickly that only those who had DVRed the show would be able to scan it. The QR code brought you to a secret preview of the next season. This was perfect targeting for these two unique audiences who love solving puzzles.
• To send traffic to their Google Local Listing – As you may or may not know, every business that registers with Google has the option to have a free Google Places listing. In that listing you can add photos of your business, more information and even select online coupons. Google and business are using QR codes to direct traffic to those free listings. Google is sending businesses QR codes to put in their windows and promote the Google Places listing.
• Discounts and Coupons – Businesses can easily add links to coupons and discounts in a QR code.
• Real Estate Listings – See a house or office space you want more information on? Scan the QR code on the For Lease sign or handout and be brought right to the online listing for that piece of property.
• Payment and Event Entry – Companies like Starbucks have been using QR codes as payment, an alternative to swiping customers Starbucks cards. Live Nation has experimented with using QR codes instead of paper tickets to various shows and events.

That is a list of just a few things I have seen QR codes used for. As you can imagine, more ways to incorporate them are being created each day. They are interesting and I enjoy seeing how people are finding a use for them. If you have any interesting examples you would like to share, please do!

As SMBs we are very busy and the thought of not only participating in multiple social media sites but also keeping up with the changes from day to day are overwhelming. I have mentioned before about having social media travel agents to follow and keep you in the know. This past week while we were away, I felt the way many of you told me you feel. I wasn’t in front of my computer all day and news was happening, things were changing and I didn’t have time to read about it or react to it.

With that, I want to try to do a better job at keeping our blogging audience ‘in the know’ of big things that are happening in this online space. Each week I will add to our blog schedule a short post on improvements, changes, shortcuts, fun stuff and news that will help us in the B2B and SMB space be more efficient and successful with our use of social media.

This new post series will start right now (but generally I will try to add this list every Friday):

Twitter just says no to sponsored ads by third parties – Twitter finally made the call on sponsored tweets from third parties and they said ‘no thank you’. People have been trying to figure out to make money from Twitter since its inception and it looks like this is not their easy fix. In the shortest way possible, Twitter doesn’t want to take away from the users experience by having it crowded by sponsored (commercial) tweets. This came as tough news to many startups and third-party developers who invested in capitalizing on sponsoring tweets but twitterers themselves seem pretty happy about the decision. If you want to know more Twitter talks about it directly on their blog.

Google Pac Man logo wastes thousands of hours – To celebrate Pac Man’s 30th birthday Google made their logo a playable Pac Man game with all 200+ levels. Analysts are saying this fun distraction caused millions of hours of lost productivity and cost the economy billions (bah humbug). Nonetheless it was fun and if you missed it last weekend the game is still live at www.google.com/pacman.

Facebook still tries to explain privacy issues – Facebook is still dealing with the backlash on its ever changing privacy policy, including making the cover of Time Magazine. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has promised to simplify the privacy setting and it looks like that will happen this week. If you haven’t already, you should carefully review your privacy settings in Facebook. Make sure you know what you are publishing publicly and what only your Facebook connections can see.

Google makes a more private search option – As you may know, if you look in the URL (web address) of any website you are on you can tell if the site is completely secure or not. A secure site will not scrape or save any information you enter in it. This is very important for a site like your bank, or a shopping site where you plan on entering your billing and credit card information. If the website address starts with HTTPS:// that last S stands for secure. Google is trying to give us a safer way to search by adding a SSL offering in Google search. If you do a Google search on httpS://www.google.com you can protect your search terms and search results from third parties.

Google TV – We all know it is going to happen… we are going to get less dependent on our televisions for entertainment and rely more heavily on our computers (if we haven’t already). Sites like Hulu try to give you the best of both worlds but the experience of watching television on your home entertainment system is still easier and more pleasant than watching a computer screen. Google thinks they have an answer. Last week Google introduced Google TV so you can use your television as a computer. I do not think this will be the wave of the future but it shows how people are trying to develop technology to be more user-centric. Short video below explaining Google TV.

Small Business Week – Lastly, this week is Small Business Week. Are there any special events in your area or online that you should be checking out?

That is my quick list for this week. Next Friday I will have a new list of important things that have changed online. If you see something you want me to include in this list please contact me and I will try to share it.