Holistic Technology Enabled Internet Marketing Solutions

This is an entry in our daily Internet Marketing Advent Calendar series. Each day your favorite marketing elves will focus on a new topic to get your internet marketing in order before the start of the new year.

As in previous years, we like to reflect on what people searched for online over the course of a year. The stats have recently been released; some were aligned with my predictions and some I had never heard of before (HMU…?).

Here is how we searched in 2010 and the stuff we were talking about on Facebook and Twitter:

Google – Fastest Rising

1. Chatroulette
2. ipad
3. Justin Bieber
4. Nicki Minaj
5. Friv
6. Myxer
7. Katy Perry
8. Twitter
9. Gamezer
10. Facebook

Yahoo

1. BP Oil Spill
2. World Cup
3. Miley Cyrus
4. Kim Kardashian
5. Lady Gaga
6. iPhone
7. Megan Fox
8. Justin Bieber
9. American Idol
10. Britney Spears

Bing

1. Kim Kardashian
2. Sandra Bullock
3. Tiger Woods
4. Lady Gaga
5. Barack Obama
6. Hairstyles
7. Kate Gosselin
8. Walmart
9. Justin Bieber
10. Free

Facebook – Status Updates

1. HMU
2. World Cup
3. Movies (various)
4. iPad and iPhone 4
5. Haiti
6. Justin Bieber
7. Games on Facebook
8. Mineros/Miners
9. Airplanes
10. 2011

Twitter – Top Trends

1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

2010 is the year of “Bieber Fever”

I had predicted many of these would come up and it appears that, collectively, the above lists are made up of celebrities, technology, and current events. I noticed right away that Justin Bieber topped all search engines queries, Facebook statuses, Twitter trends, and was featured in YouTube’s #9 top videos of 2010 – not a big surprise there. Bing and Yahoo’s top searches were similarly mostly made up for celebrities (could this be due to their recent merger?)

Surprises! Chatroulette and HMU???

It’s very interesting to me that Chatroulette topped the Google search, especially for all the controversial content associated with it. Plus, I’d never heard of “HMU” prior to reading the Facebook list; maybe I’m not as hip as I thought I was. “HMU” was used quite frequently during the summer months on Facebook – meaning “hit me up” when people were trying to get together with friends. I’d also never heard of Friv, Myxer, or Gamezer; all which topped Google’s searches. This makes me wonder about the types of demographics that use the different search engines.

Tweeps are on the ball

Twitter, compared to the rest of the lists, shows that they’re a little more into current events – with only one celebrity topping the list.  What does it mean? (Said in my best Hungry Bear voice – YouTube’s #6 top video of 2010.) Man, I could analyze these lists all day! I always find it interesting to see what’s on the minds and it gets me thinking about what things will happen next year.

Check out this cool video that highlights how the world searched using Google’s 2010 Zeitgeist:

Read the rest of the Internet Marketing Advent Calendar

• Dec. 19 – Get Your Website Prepared for Holiday Events Early
• Dec. 18 – Use Foursquare to Get Discounts on Holiday Gifts
• Dec. 17 – Manage Your Website Like a Holiday Party
• Dec. 16 – Tips For A Happy Holiday And A Successful PPC Year
• Dec. 15 – Track Santa’s elves with Google Analytics E-Commerce tracking
• Dec. 14 – Keep Your Christmas Tree and Website Alive!
• Dec. 13 – Be Sure to Meet Your Website Visitors’ Expectations
• Dec. 12 – Segmenting your email – I mean – holiday card lists
• Dec. 11 – One Link Goes Out, They All Go Out
• Dec. 10 – Addressing Pain Points Means More Than Broad Smarty Pants Slogans
• Dec. 9 – Sneaking a Peek at Qwiki
• Dec. 8 – Fix Up Your “Charlie Brown” Website
• Dec. 7 – Don’t be a Scrooge with Your Content
• Dec. 6 – ‘Tis The Season for Generosity
• Dec. 5 – Have you been naughty or nice? Now we have online proof.
• Dec. 4 – Online Holiday Shopping
• Dec. 3 – Make a List and Check it Twice
• Dec. 2 – Unclutter Your Website for the Holidays
• Dec. 1 – Walking in a Winter Wonderland of Unique Content

There’s always something going on with Google, Yahoo, and Bing – the search landscape changes every day and it can be extremely hard to keep up! But don’t worry, I’ve highlighted a few of the most recent noteworthy events so you, too, can be “in the know”.  Here’s the latest scoop:

Google Instant Debuts

On September 8, Google unveiled their newest product: Google Instant.  If you didn’t think that searching Google was fast enough, they’ve eliminated the need to hit the “search” button after you’ve finished typing your query and added even more predictive capabilities into your search.  Watch it in action:

By the time you’re reading this, it’s probably been rolled out to you so you can try it for yourself (if not, you can get it here).  I think it will definitely make the search experience a lot faster and I like the seamlessness of being brought to the search results page as soon as I start typing.  For you search nerds out there (ahem, like myself), there’s already been a post stating that  Google Instant will Kill SEO.  Seriously.  Every month or two there is always someone claiming that SEO is dead, yet it always remains to be live and kicking.  The main point of Steve’s article seems to be that no two search results will be the same with Google Instant.  Unfortunately, they haven’t been the same for over two years due to Google’s personalization – so there’s really no difference here in my opinion.  Is SEO dead?  No.  Did Steve get some good linkbait for his site?  You betcha!

In a little bit less “flashy” news…

It’s Official: Bing Powers Yahoo

Remember when I mentioned at the end of July that Microsoft was testing out Bing results in Yahoo?  Well, it’s now fully live and integrated into every Yahoo search in the US and Canada (other countries will continue to be rolled out).  Have you guys noticed any differences?  If you scroll down the the bottom of your Yahoo results page, you’ll see a very small “Powered by Bing” statement in the footer.  If you’re a Yahoo power searcher, you may notice a difference in the type/quality of the results you get, for better or worse.  Otherwise, everything looks completely the same.  The biggest change is that Bing is now the 2nd most widely used search engine, behind the almighty Google.

Google Changes Their Algorithm (Yawn)

Honestly, this isn’t news at all, since we know that Google changed their algorithm at least once per day in 2009.  One of the latest updates they implemented is a bit interesting, however, since it now shows more pages from from a single domain for certain queries.  Let’s take a search for “Apple iPod” for example.  The Apple domain (both apple.com and store.apple.com) gets 7 out of the 10 organic listings on the first page.  If you’re a big enough brand, you can get 5-7 of those coveted top slots by searches containing “brand name + keyword” or just “brand name”.  But don’t get too excited for your business: searches just for your company name isn’t likely to garner 5-7 of the search results unless you’re a large national brand.  Unfortunately, this move reaffirms the theory that Google is biased towards those big brands.

Those search engines definitely keep me on my toes!  Stick with me, kid, and I’ll keep you updated on the important stuff.  What does everyone think about Google Instant?  Love it or leave it?  Let me know what you think!  Happy (Instant) Googling!

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!

This is an entry in our daily Internet Marketing Advent Calendar series. Each day your favorite marketing elves Kasi and Amanda will focus on a new topic to get your internet marketing in order before the start of the new year.

Back when I was a kid, the internet wasn’t around. I mean, it had been developed and all that, but it wasn’t accessible to us “regular” folks yet. So, aside from a newscast here or there about his whereabouts, I just had to believe that he would make it to my house that night. I couldn’t obsessively see where he had already visited and track his path.

Kids today are so lucky! Now, just by doing a simple search, they can find tons of Santa Trackers at their disposal! When I typed “Santa Claus” into Bing and Google, it actually suggested “Santa Claus tracker”. Check out some of these cool sites and enjoy!

Santa Update

NORAD Tracks Santa

Santa Radar

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Thank you so much for tuning in this month to our Internet Marketing Advent Calendar.

Read the rest of the Internet Marketing Advent Calendar

• Dec. 23 – Is Blogging and Social Media New or Retro?
• Dec. 22 – This is NOT My Predictions Post
• Dec. 21 – Santa’s Helper Keyword Quick Tip # 2: Google’s Wonder Wheel
• Dec 20 – The Top 10 Searches of 2009
• Dec. 19 – It is OK to be a Person, Especially When Blogging
• Dec. 18 – New Toy from Google
• Dec. 17 – 2010 SEO Predictions
• Dec. 16 – Bing Shows Love to iPhone Users With Free App
• Dec. 15 – Your Charlie Brown Social Media Strategy
• Dec. 14 – A gift to you from Seth Godin
• Dec. 13 – Is Google Real Time Search Naughty or Nice?
• Dec. 12 – Santa’s Little Helper Quick Tip: Finding Long Tail Keywords
• Dec. 11 – LinkedIn, the Velveteen Rabbit of Social Media Websites
• Dec. 10 – Protecting Your Content
• Dec. 9 – Don’t Forget the Milk & Cookies (Good Content)
• Dec. 8 – Google Makes it (Even More) Personal
• Dec. 7 – Customer Service and Marketing
• Dec. 6 – Social Media Didn’t Invent Criticism
• Dec. 5 – Email is the frosting to your gingerbread house
• Dec. 4 – Is Google Caffeine on Your Holiday Wish List?
• Dec. 3 – Don’t Forget to Make Your Title Tags and Check ‘Em Twice
• Dec. 2 – Your Mobile Website
• Dec. 1 – Your Holiday Card List (Your Network)