I have been a big fan of the SEM Rush project since it launched, and recently interviewed their CEO, Michael Goldfinch. We discussed their software projects, and how they got into the field of SEO.
You guys have had a strong string of hits in the SEO space with SEO Digger, Ads Spy, SEO Quake, and SEM Rush. How did you guys get involved in the SEO space? What do you attribute your string of successes to?
SeoQuake Team became active in the Internet at the end of 90s, when Spedia were alive. Since then we have developed a lot of web projects. In 2000 we started doing SEO. We did SEO for Altavista and NorthernLight. Happy times they were! I remember that we made pages with enough keywords and after entering captcha got top1 immediately. After that we worked for different companies (SEO and web-developing).
SeoQuake and SeoDigger are public products and they make a small share of our work. SeoQuake Team made them public to demonstrate its ability to develop such products. SeoQuake and SeoDigger are extremely popular for a reason: they are helpful, user-friendly, and affordable. They are innovative and developed with users’ needs in mind.
So you guys have created a pretty cool tool in SEM Rush. What made you guys decide to create it?
In summer of 2008, after the shy start of AdsSpy.com, we were playing with different ideas of AdWords keywords research, AdWords arbitrage and competitors’ keywords. And when we found out that Velocityscape plan to launch their new version of Spyfu we launched SEMRush. This was a nice joke, I suppose. When we saw PPC web spy – we just integrate SEMRush AdWords data into SeoQuake =)
When you guys created SEM Rush you closed down SEO Digger. Is there any reason you didn't do a 301 redirect during the transition? What made you feel that a new brand was needed after SEO Digger was already so well known amongst the SEO community?
SeoDigger has not been closed yet. API access for all registered users is still active :) We plan to close it after the integration with Market Samurai is finished. We gave a new name to the project to emphasize its novelty. Besides, the product value is more important for us, then its name.
How hard is it to crawl and update that much data from Google? Do you guys need a lot of beefy servers to grab all that data and serve it up?
It can be really difficult for anyone except Google, but we like this problem. With some relevant experience it becomes not so hard. Without going into details of the technology I have to say that a lot of developers do not bother with their codes and databases optimization, and therefore, they need large server farms. Instead of this we use a lot of C++. Also we use new technologies – SSD (solid-state drives) on servers and so on. Of course we have a number of servers in different data-centers to monitor Google and other search engines geo-targeted SERPs.
Recently Google tested showing AJAX search results to some searchers. If they roll out such a program will you guys still be able to gather all that great data?
We have not tested it yet. But I believe that SEMRush will be still working. Google can block all their analyzers, but why would they do that? Such tools help advertisers, SEOs, and other people working in the web. They make Google AdWords more popular. In addition, I suppose that Ajax-SERP is interesting for geeks, not for mass users.
One of the most interesting SEM Rush features (that I have not seen in any other competitive research tools) is the ability to cross compare the organic rankings for one site and the AdWords ads for another site. What gave you guys the idea to do that?
Our programmer far away in Siberia did this on his own without being asked. The team decided to leave it “as is” :) We like this feature and we plan to improve it.
SEM Rush does a break down of the value of each ranking. What statistics do you use to determine the difference between say a #3 and a #5 ranking?
SEMRush use open statistics about CTR dependence of URL’s position in SERP. in addition it uses statistics from our own sites.
You guys created a list of some of the most valuable and high traffic domains with great organic Google rankings. Have you guys thought about putting together a list of the most valuable keywords as well?
Now everybody sells “expensive” keywords, “huge” keywords databases, “profitable” keywords lists etc. SeoQuake Team is going to sell more valuable information – domains related to top adwords spenders! Full version of SEMRush rank will be available soon. You will be able to download lists of high organic traffic domains (with stats) and lists with high adwords traffic domains (with traffic and costs details). I think this info is really important to SEO firms and adwords professionals.
There is a version of SEM Rush for the German market and one for the Russian market. Are these both primarily based on Google rankings? Are there any other similar tools that serve these markets, or are you guys first to market in these markets? Have you guys considered making a French version and/or a UK version?
Yes. We made them to simplify google.de and google.ru analysis. As you know Keywordspy try to do this for German, and nobody do this for Russian version of Google. SEMRUsh.de (German version of SEMRush ) is still beta for today. There are some problems with keywords traffic estimation for local markets, because there are no accurate stats for German, Uk of French keywords. As you can see there is no enough geo-stats about these keywords at even Google Keyword Tool. And there is a problem in sorting keywords database: you can easily detect specific keywords, but what should you do with universal keywords like cnn? We try to make accurate keywords packs for local markets and we are open to cooperation with anyone who can give us this information.
What are some of the most interesting ways people have used SEM Rush to boost their business?
SEMrush users don’t report us about their success, because the silence is golden. I can only say that for last month our users performed 1.5 million different queries for Google AdWords and organic keywords reports for different sites.
Do you guys have any other new analytics tools or other SEO related tools in the works?
Our users keep giving us tons of great ideas and we generate a lot of them too. So we constantly develop different tools – quite simple ones and I’d rather not discuss them now, because they are not ready yet. When we launch them – you will notice it, my promise! One of them will be for brands analysis. This is not only SEO, but we believe this is interesting too.
Do you guys plan on adding support for subdomains (like seeing the subdomains as their own site)?
We recognize top-level domains using this list https://wiki.mozilla.org/TLD_List. SEMRush already supports reports for URLs and for domains. Correct recognition of subdomains is a problem. There are no rules about what is the subdomain – different site or just a site’s directory. Some other day we will solve this problem, not today.
Some media executives are bitching about Google ranking blogs and sites not controlled by the mainstream media. Of course Google has been tilting their algorithms in the direction of brands, and even includes trusted news partners directly in the search results for recent news items. But that is not enough to make bloated media companies profitable.
"The original source, and the source with real access, should somehow be recognized as the most important in the delivery of results."
Google subsidizes these media companies with additional exposure by
weighting domain authority
giving them first mover advantage in the search rankings (through direct inclusion of recent news results in the organic search results)
featuring their content (yet again) in their news search product
favoring informational content over commercial content
If a big business has "real access" and yet loses out to people rewriting the story, it means the original source did one (or more) of the following
did a pretty crummy job of reporting
did a pretty crummy job of SEO
erected barriers that made them not linkworthy
fought off niche brands with a generic brand that does not resonate as well with the market
Google could give these media companies almost 100% of the search traffic and many would still go bankrupt because their business models simply do not fit the web. Online ad rates are lower, most of the media infrastructure is unneeded bloat, and individuals and brands are starting to create their own media.
When I click the publish button, 10's of thousands of people will read this post. Its not your fault or my fault that big media was too lazy to create niche brands offering relevant regularly updated content.
Ironically, the quote from AdAge, begging for coverage of the original source, did not have a name on it. You can quote it, but there is no source. These clowns whine about something and are not willing to put their names behind their own words. Maybe that has something to do with why people would rather read elsewhere.
corporate seo is largely about trimming away the fats and leveraging the assets you already have. and perhaps limited link buying. ;)
The corporate SEO faces a number of challenges, many of which are to do with procedure and diplomacy. We'll take a look at these challenges and how to handle them. We'll also look at the specific technical aspects of SEO on corporate sites, and the strategic advantages particular to corporate sites.
Big Obstacles, Big Opportunities
The biggest obstacles in corporate SEO are political.
Corporate sites usually have a team of people working on them. There are a number of stakeholders. These stakeholders consist of managers, related divisions, designers, developers, content producers and writers. There will often be people who will be openly hostile to a change in the way they work. Many of these people may be unfamiliar with search engines and their requirements.
Into this environment walks the SEO.
No matter what, you're going to ruffle a few feathers! How do you deal with the myriad of demands and internal politics?
Get Management Buy In
The first step to achieving good SEO outcomes within an organizational structure is to get management buy-in. Think of internal managers as customers.
Given that management have probably already hired you, getting their buy in should be relatively straightforward. Management will want to see facts, figures and strategies that support the business case. Prepare presentations that demonstrate your proposed strategy, how it supports the business case, how long it will take to achieve, and what your measures of success will be.
What type of facts and figures will they want to see?
1. Show the benefit you provide above the cost of hiring you
If they've hired a full-time inhouse SEO, it's most likely they've already done this calculation, but it doesn't hurt to reinforce it.
For example, let's say they're paying you 50K per year. Overhead for employees is likely 50% of the wage figure again. Can you come up with a business case that shows how you'll provide more than $75K in value per year? You don't need to state this figure explicitly, merely place a ballpark value on your strategy.
Value can be difficult to assess, but you can look at what they're spending on PPC and compare. If they're not spending on PPC, examine the keyword bid prices in tools such as the Google Adwords Pricing calculator. Estimate the value of the keyword terms and traffic you're likely to receive for your SEO campaign.
Try to find out the business plan. What are the companies objectives? What are the objectives of the division? How are they measured? Businesses often have KPIs - which stands for Key Performance Indicators. Find out what these are, and fit your strategy to these metrics.
The very fact you're asking for these details will likely impress those who have hired you.
2. Show Where The Site Is Now, And Where They Can Be With Good SEO
Demonstrate the position they occupy now, and show where you can get them to *if* your strategy is followed. Prepare charts of current rankings, traffic levels, conversion rates, and overall market trends.
Here's an example business case template you can follow:
Background - why SEO is useful
The costs of SEO - the cost to the organization of not doing SEO
The benefits to the company of SEO - focus on the business benefits
Why the organization needs SEO - show competitive advantage potential, decreased advertising costs, increased exposure etc
General Principles of SEO - stay broad and high level, avoid technical minutiae
Recommended scope and objectives of your SEO strategy
Risks - outline the conditions that will prevent you from executing your strategy
Cost of your SEO strategy - include any external costs, such as directory submissions, paid placement etc
Projected cost/benefit analysis for the organization - compare with other advertising channels, such as PPC
Measurement, outcomes, milestones and evaluation - set your KPIs
Anticipated overall results- also include a timeframe
What pushes managements buttons? Is it traffic numbers? Is it seeing the company top of the search results? Is it increased sales? It might be a combination of these things. Nail - in writing - what it is they really want to see delivered, then figure out how to deliver it.
3. Show Them What Their Competitors Are Doing
Is there a competitor who is doing well with their SEO? Prepare facts and figures that show where your company is being outgunned. There is nothing managers, particularly marketing managers, like less than being outgunned by their competitors. If the competitors are using good SEO strategy, you can use this as justification for your strategy.
One objection you may hear is that the company is already running PPC. So why do they need SEO? Impress upon them that most people click on the main search results. SEO clicks are "free", especially over the long term.
Also, a study by IProspect showed that top search results can result in brand equity for the highly ranked sites:
Finally, it continues to be apparent that brand equity is conveyed upon companies whose
digital assets appear among the top search results by roughly a third of the search
engine users. In 2008, 39% of search engine users believe that the companies whose
websites are returned among the top search results are the leaders in their field. This
figure has grown from 36% in 2006, and 33% in 2002
Once your strategy is agreed to, you should have the backup you'll need to undertake the hard part.
Convincing The Minions
Various people within the web team need to buy into SEO in order for it to work.
Some companies locate their web team in their IT division, others place their web team in their marketing division. Often, these two business units share ownership of the strategy. It is important to determine which division has the most control, especially over aspects such as site structure, content production, and overall strategy. Get buy-in from the appropriate management team.
Look to establish rapport with, and train, the various people who occupy the following roles.
1. The Manager/Team Leader
You must have buy-in from the person with the most control over the business unit responsible for web strategy.
Managers tend to respond well to anything that helps them achieve departmental goals.Look for areas synergy exists. For example, marketing managers often have traffic goals, and similar visitor metric milestones. Show them how SEO will help meet those objectives.
This is why it is important to frame SEO in business terms, rather than purely a technical process.
2. The Designer
The designers are responsible for the look and feel of the site. They are probably also be responsible for site architecture. Architecture and design are two areas where you are likely to experience a lot of push-back.
There is good reason for this.
What is good for SEO may not be good for users or brand aesthetics. This area needs to be carefully balanced. If the designers think the SEO is compromising the look, feel and operation of the site, then you're not going to get very far, no matter how good your intentions are.
If your designers are familiar with usability, and good designers will be, you're in luck. There are a lot of usability integration points that work for users, designers and SEOs. For example, breadcrumb navigation can be great for usability and SEO, as it allows for the propagation of keywords, and provides strong internal link structure.
Are their disability access laws that the company must comply with? Depending on your legal jurisdiction, there may be disability discrimination laws in regards to access, and these can apply to websites. For example, Target were the subject of a legal case brought about by the National Federation Of The Blind.
The lawsuit alleged that Target had not made the minimum changes necessary to its Web site to make the site compatible with screen access technology and to allow blind users to access the site to purchase products, redeem gift cards, find Target stores, and perform other functions available to sighted customers.
In order to comply, sites need to provide equal access for those with impairments. If a person is visually impaired, then compliance may mean that the site must be able to be read by a text-to-speech converter in order to be accessible. Of course, any site that can be used and navigated with a text browser will also be search engine friendly. This can be a good angle to use if the law in your jurisdiction supports it, and you are otherwise having problems convincing the designers - and managers - to make a site more search engine friendly.
Also be on the lookout for other areas that require little change and provide natural synergies.
The writers provide the words. The content producers may provide video, pictures, and other media. You'll probably be dealing mostly with the writers.
Writers, especially if they have been writing professionally for a long time, can be very set in their ways. Writers schooled in journalistic or copy writing techniques use methods that predate internet search engines, and often the internet itself. Old habits die hard.
The problem with such writing is that it may not incorporate keyword terms in the right places - particularly headings - or in the frequency you require. Communicating this concept can be difficult, especially with journalists, who like things presented in terms they can understand, usually within a sentence or two.
Avoid terminology. Talk in their terms, not yours. Look for similar concepts and use the journalists terminology to describe them. For example, both journalists and SEOs know the power of headlines. Go for clarity and be descriptive, as opposed to being generic. Both write in an inverted pyramid, top-down style i.e. the most important facts - and keywords - are likely to appear at the top of the article. Both quote sources i.e. an opportunity for keywords within a link. And so on.
Align their goals with yours. Show writers how much potential traffic there is out there and how keyword research can be used to suggest article topics and title ideas. Show them that by following a few SEO principles, they can get more readers reading their articles. Writers often have communications objectives i.e. to achieve wider reach and exposure, so there might be some obvious, natural synergies to be had. All writers have egos, and like to have their articles widely read.
Check out this tactic, used by Rudy De La Garza Jr at BankRate Inc to help convince writers to adopt SEO practices:
At Bankrate, Mr. De La Garza showed editorial employees that, for some articles, deciding on about 10 main keywords before writing could help increase their number of page views. Writers were already vying for bragging rights to the most popular articles. He told them: "You know what, guys? If we apply a few SEO tactics here, I can help you win the weekly battle," he says.
Writers need to research topics. I've often found writers to be very receptive to SEO data mining techniques i.e. the frequency of keyword searches. Show them how keyword research can be a good way to research topics for articles. They can ensure they are writing on popular themes, or can twist their copy a little in order to tap into search streams.
4. The Developer
The developers are responsible for the technical aspects of the website.
Developers are often located in IT, yet you rely on them to perform a marketing function. Developers tend to work on specific projects. This can cause a conflict with the SEO, whos job is very much a work in progress.
Try to embed SEO into the development process. Developers usually work to a brief or requirements document, so include SEO where appropriate. Look for any design specifications that will affect SEO and get these sorted out before the developer starts coding.
One area that is likely to present problems is the structure of URLs. A developer doesn't care if the URL is long and unwieldy. It's probably never been cited as a problem before. Ensure the document specifies a URL structure and site hierarchy that gels with SEO i.e. descriptive, unique file names and a clear, flat directory structure. If the site has already been built, look into rewriting existing URLs.
Some of the marketing advantages include:
The URLs look nicer and will likely get clicked on more often
The URLs will provide better anchor text if people use the URLs as the link anchor text
If you later change CMS programs having core clean URLs associated with content make it easier to mesh that content with the new CMS
The benefit Google espouses for dynamic URLs (Googlebot being able to stab more random search attempts into a search box) is only beneficial if your site structure is poor and/or you have way more pagerank than content (like a wikipedia or techcrunch)
Developers will be aware of the need for site response speed. They need to ensure the site is crawlable. This job has been made somewhat easier, of late, given the introduction of Google Site Maps.
There might be various coding practices that can be changed in order to enhance SEO. For example, try replacing JavaScript behaviors, particularly for menus, with CSS techniques. Are there other coding aspects that could be enhanced? It might provide an opportunity for the developer to train in new technologies. I've yet to meet a developer who didn't want to learn new ways of coding. It all adds to their CV.
5. Legal
In big companies, copy is usually run past legal before any changes are made. Lawyers, as a profession, are typically risk adverse. This can play havoc with SEO strategies, especially edgy, link baiting SEO designed to attract links!
The only way to deal with this is to look for clear guidelines from legal in advance of implementing content strategies. Legal will almost certainly take precedence over SEO as companies look to protect their downside risk. On the bright side, the content of a page - especially if one or two words are changed - isn't going to make or break an SEO strategy.
SEO Best Practices For Corporates
In any change process, there are a lot of retraining that needs to be done. SEO is no exception.
The more people who understand what you do, and how and why you're doing it, the easier your job will be. There is no one way of achieving this, other than to communicate as often as possible. Look at training others as being a big part of your job, and something that should be done on an ongoing basis.
Once you've got people onside, you need to start building procedures into the work-flow itself.
Get a copy of the web site life-cycle and all documents relating to procedure, process and specification. Amend all documents to include SEO requirements into the process. Highlight all areas that present a risk, and make notes about the consequences of not mitigating these risks. With any amendment to process, there will likely be meetings in which you'll need to justify these chances, so come prepared.
An example of a change of process might be:
When publishing new articles, writers should search for existing articles, and link to them in the related articles section
Look for ways that will make your changes easy to incorporate. For the example above, have the designers build a "Related Articles" section into the template, so the requirement of internal linking becomes a natural part of the article creation process.
Here are some broad requirements, listed beneath each job function:
Wider Strategy
Big, corporate sites have advantages that small sites do not. Let's look at a few aspects, and how you can leverage them.
Brand Awareness
Corporate sites often have established brand awareness.
Lets consider Coca-Cola.com. Internal politics aside, getting more search exposure for such a ubiquitous brand, with a PR8, would be a cakewalk. It would simply be a case of ensuring the site is crawlable, the directory structure was well organized, and that keyword rich content was added on a regular basis.
However, if we take a close look at the CocaCola site, we can see that if they use SEO at all, it is most likely losing out to internal politics. If we do a site query site:www.coca-cola.com, we can see that they don't have many pages indexed. Around 350, most of which are regional versions of the site.The title tagging is poor. There is a lot of uncrawlable flash, and the site architecture isn't conducive to SEO. Does any of this matter? Probably not. Coke will sell a lot of soft drink regardless. However, they are throwing away a cheap win in terms of internet marketing by not being more search focused. It would be a major failure for any corporate site that sells direct to the consumer, like an online retailer.
These well-known sites need to mainly focus on internal factors. The external factors are well established.
Some big brands don't have great linking. Perhaps no one has ever considered external linking to be important. Getting links for well known sites is relatively easy. Ask suppliers and customers for links. News media, particularly trade media and business media, will likely be interested in news releases from your company. If you have a PR division, make sure they are using optimized PR templates that include links back to your site. Leverage the extensive network of relationships that corporates usually have.
Make use of sales. Sales people typically have contacts throughout the industry, and these contacts can be useful when it comes to linking. Think of things you can give the customer, in order to help the sales people make a sale, or deepen the existing relationship they have with them. For example, can you profile customers on your site? A customer may welcome a case study that shows them in a good light, and they'll almost certainly link to it.
Get Offline Data Online
Big companies usually have a wealth of data stored on internal networks. Try to get as much of this as possible onto the web site. Obviously, data that is commercially sensitive can't be made public, but there is likely a lot of material that can be marked up and published.
Marketing departments often don't consider such data because they're thinking of the web site as a brochure. However, the more content you have, especially if your site is well linked, the more chances you'll get search engine visitors. If this type of content doesn't support the brand objectives, place it an area of the site that isn't visited by people who don't arrive via search engines. Perhaps create a general information section.
Sponsorship
Corporates often sponsor events. Make sure the organizations your company sponsors link back to you. Have your PR people write up search friendly press releases and leverage these events for all they're worth.
Wolfram Alpha is to launch in May as an answer engine. I predict that launch strategy will create branding issues (like not being able to outsource the blame for their poor algorithms onto spammers - like Google does) but if the tool is decent it might be a great tool to use when researching content generation ideas. The new CashKeywords toolbar also looks quite useful for researching content ideas.
Local search, meaning geographically defined searching, provides a wealth of cheap and effective marketing opportunities. Not only is it possible to segment audiences by location, the SEO competition in geographically constrained areas is lower than in generic searches. If you have a service or product with a strong local component, then adopting a local SEO strategy can pay off handsomely.
Whilst local search has been slow to catch on, things are changing quickly, especially with the advent of "location aware" devices, such as iPhones, and the new marketing opportunities they present.
In this document, we'll take a look at local SEO, and provide you with specific, geographic strategies to help enhance your visibility on a local level.
The Growing Importance Of Maps
In 2005, Google introduced a free local mapping service called "Google Maps". Yahoo also has a map product, as does MSN. Whilst there are numerous map providers, these online services took mapping one step further by integrating data in order to make maps more useful. No longer was a map a static page, it was now a personal, interactive navigation tool that can plot how you get from place to place, show you where the local restaurants are, tell what people thought of them, and more.
These interactive maps provide valuable opportunities for online marketing in the local space.
Firstly, these maps services provide businesses with the opportunity to claim a space on a map, and it is free to do so.
Secondly, Google is starting to integrate maps into the search result listings. It is now possible to be featured at the top of Google without even having a site. You simply have to list with the mapping services, and chances are you'll be featured in local search result listings.
The first two results are local directory pages. The third is a Google Map. The sites listed alongside the eye-catching map occupy lucrative screen real estate, and all they did to get there was claim their place.
In order to claim your place on a map, follow these steps:
Google Maps
1.Go to the Google Local Business Center and sign up
2. Fill out the forms
3. Validate your listing by phone, SMS, or mail.
Yahoo Local
1. Go to the Yahoo Local sign-in page.
2. Fill out the form.
3. Wait :)
These services also allow reviews, so ask your friends and colleges to write a review on you.
You can also use Getlisted.org to check your local visibility. This service will tell you if you're listed in various local search services, and prompt you to register for those services in which your site doesn't currently appear.
Local Strategies
Local SEO strategies are much the same as general SEO strategies, the obvious difference being the local component. You still need to cover the bases - produce on-topic content, be crawlable and well linked. Simply add some local flavor, and you will show up in local searches, too.
Local Business Listings, Hub, Chamber of Commerce
Make a list of all relevant local business hubs, chambers of commerce, and other organizations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a business federation representing millions of businesses, both large and small, and you can find your local branch by searching this site.
Look for members directories. For example, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce has a directory located here. Often, you only need be a signed-up member in order to qualify for a listing.
Yellow Page, CitySearch, SuperPages & Local Directories
Get listings in local business directories.
These types of sites usually have sufficient levels of authority to rank new pages quickly, meaning any listing you have on such a site will get you near-instant visibility in the search results. Some of these sites will will also pass link juice to your site. Ensure you submit in the local-specific categories, as opposed to the general categories.
A word of warning: unless you have sufficient link authority, the directory pages might outrank your own site, so if outranking your directory entries is a priority for you, it is a good idea to build up your own link authority first.
Local Identifiers
Include local identification data on your site, such as local phone numbers, addresses, and zip codes. Use standard nomenclature.
If possible, try to include this information in the footer of every page of your site. This will ensure each page you create has at least some local keywords, which will help catch local searches.
Ask Customers, Suppliers & Partners For Links
Customers, suppliers and partners can be a great source of links. It's even better if they have a local presence.
Appear In Local Media
Do you have a story with a local angle? Small, regional papers and websites are often short of local material, so will jump at stories handed to them on a plate. Make sure you ask for a link.
Also issue locally focused press releases using services, such as PRWeb. Use local keywords in your press release title, and spread liberally through your copy. Link back to your site.
Adwords For Local Searches Are Cheap
Google Adwords and other PPC services allow local targeting i.e. the ads only appear if the searcher is in the local region.
Google allows you to target by:
Any zip code, metropolitan area, state, or country
A radius near your business
A radius near a point on a Google Map
The defined coordinates of any polygon you enter
Any combination of the above
Google also offers a Local Ad Preview tool to show what ads will appear on search results in different areas.
You can also use it to get an idea of the size of your local market. Run a test campaign for a week or so and determine the number of local searches against a range of keyword terms. This information can flow through into your SEO campaign when you choose which keyword terms to focus on.
Google also offers the AdWords Local Plus Box. The Local PlusBox is a feature that displays more geographical information for a local business ad that appears in the top position above Google search results. When users see the Local PlusBox and click on it, the ad expands to include a map, address, driving instructions, and phone number, in addition to the location name that appears beneath the last line of ad.
By running both SEO and PPC campaigns side by side, you occupy more screen real estate, and have a higher likelihood of receiving a click.
Mix Keyword Text With Location Information
Include local keywords in your body copy, headings and title tags. Use the Google keyword tool to give you ideas as to what keywords Google associates with certain regions.
For example, if I type in Wisconsin into the Google Keyword Research Tool , and scroll down to "Additional keywords to consider", I get a list of related keyword terms sorted by relevance. Incorporate as many of these associated keywords as applicable. Google is likely to associate these terms with each other, so the more of these terms and variations that appear on your page, the more relevant you're likely to become in the eyes of Google.
Google Coupons
Google coupon feeds enable businesses to provide coupon listings that will be included in Google search results. You can create a Google coupon feed here.
These coupons will show alongside Google Map listings, and they are free. At the time of writing, the take-up of Google Coupons is quite low, possibly because it isn't well known yet, so grab this opportunity while it lasts.
Syndicate Your Content
Are there any local blogs or sites that may host your articles? Offer to make guest postings. Search Google for your chosen local keyword terms and see what sites come up. If you can get your content on to any of the top sites, you will get both the traffic and a highly desirable link.
In return, the well ranked site gets free, unique content. Win-win.
Linked In & Social Media
Get listed with LinkedIn and other business contacts services. It is free, and LinkedIn pages often rank well in the results listings. Leverage your contacts, engage with people, and ask them for links. Personal networking is a much more affective way to get links than anonymous approaches via email.
Also get a profile in FaceBook and any other social media site where your customers might hang out.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Wikipedia use a no-follow tag, so is unlikely to pass link juice, however Wikipedia pages do rank highly, which provides an easy opportunity to get seen.
Navigate to local pages and, if appropriate, add your link. You can even add body text if your business or service is relevant to the topic of the page.
A word of warning: Wikipedia users can be hostile to marketing and advertising. Given that anyone can change the content of Wikipedia, blatant marketing pitches won't last very long. Try a factual, informational angle instead. For example, write an article on local history or points of interest.
Email Signatures
Ensure your email signature and forum tag lines contain local address and contact data. Sometimes forum and blog posts will pass link juice, and that link will appear alongside local keywords.
Sponsor Local Events And Sites
Are there local events you could sponsor? How about local school sports teams or clubs? Often, small local events don't cost a lot to support, and the link value alone could be considerable.
Try To Include Specifics In Your Business Name
If you haven't decided on a business name, try and include a service description in the name itself. For example, a photography business called Elite could name themselves "Elite Wedding Photography" for the purposes of directory listings. If you can get the keyword in the link text, you increase your chances of ranking for that term.
Also, small businesses often don't have the brand recognition, so explicitly describing what you do can make your offering clearer to potential customers.
Optimizing for Multiple Locations
If you cover a number of regions, it can be a good idea to dedicate a section to each region, rather than trying to cover a multitude of regions on one page. Each page should be optimized for one, specific local query.
What are your most important referrals? Perhaps people who search on your local town end up becoming customers, where those who search on a state do not.
Try to figure out which group of searches result in the most business. Assign a value to the traffic, either by monitoring conversion rates, or counting the volume. Then focus your site on those visitors.
If you site was going broad - say, targeting a big region like California - you might want to hone in on your town instead, especially town search traffic turns out to be the most valuable. For example, a real estate agent who lives and works in San Clemente is probably better off focusing on keywords relating to San Clemente, as opposed to the whole of California, which she can't possibly service. It's also a lot easier to do in terms of SEO. A few links, some on-topic copy and a Google Map entry might be all that's required in order to get rankings and drive traffic.
Your home page is usually the most likely to rank, so ensure the title, content and tags target the specific local traffic that gives you the most bang for your buck. Move your most valuable content, in terms of visitor value, as close to the home page as possible - one click away, if possible.
If you target multiple areas, you could create a series of subdomains i.e by State, and each subdomain only contains information pertaining to that state.
John Andrews highlighted how the narcissistic "social" media platforms are in many ways replacing links
The players producing platforms are manipulating the currency that they see those platforms aggregate — which is mostly links. As you type type type your content into Twitter or Wordpress.com or Wikipedia you are fueling the coffers of an elite group of benefactors, and if they continue to manipulate the open web, we lose the “free” benefits of our world wide web. They used to encourage you to sign onto their systems, but now they need you. We’re not linking because our tools don’t make it easy enough to express our linking selves. Those who make the flexible tools today do so for personal gains, not the betterment of the web, and so they manage the linking. Greed is the new black.
If enough such platforms keep growing then Google will have to evolve their algorithms to look beyond links, placing significant weight on other factors and/or some nofollowed links.
A while ago I mentioned how Twitter was pulling blog links away from bloggers (lowering the ROI of blogging from super explosive to only explosive). This trend is not only spoke about in the SEO industry, but is starting to receive coverage in broader channels. Brian Solis recently mentioned this trend, noting that many of the top blogs are seeing lower link counts in Technorati. People would rather write about their status than spend the effort needed to digest and compile something deeper.
Since more links are occurring on networks like Twitter that will lead to a rise of tools like BackTweets. Until the search relevancy algorithms evolve more, we need to look for ways to encourage as much conversation as possible to happen on independent websites. How do we do that? I have a few ideas, but would love to read some of yours first. :)
One of the first books I read about the web which really helped me understand the culture of the web and the concept of the web as a social network was the Cluetrain Manifesto. In it, David Weinberger stated "hyperlinks subvert hierarchies," a concept that helps explain a lot of the chaos in the current world.
Our memories are extended by linking together recent events with the not-so-distant past, done by millions of reporters (and recorders) around the world. Seemingly unrelated pieces are stitched together by our shared experiences.
The financial industry collapsed quicker than experts expected. The mainstream media is collapsing quicker. And they can't help but out-gloom and doom each other. Job losses accelerate.
The staggering rate of change and seeing cracks in imperfect structures makes us more likely to question authority. Fear slows down economic activity but it also creates the conditions to help speed up change through creative destruction, as insolvent structures crumble and are replaced by thousands and millions of online experiments ran in parallel due to forced entrepreneurship. As Clay Shriky puts it:
That is what real revolutions are like. The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place.
Each link creates a new opportunity, which in turn creates new opportunities, giving our social nervous system many senses. And the web is just getting started. Watch this Tim Berners-Lee video and try to predict the future of the web. You can't do it.
As the web grows (and grows smarter) two of the biggest risks are machines learning too much about us (through spying on our browsing habits) and proprietary databases that lock away pieces of our culture while surfacing other favorable pieces (the divisions could be nationalistic, idealistic, or commercially driven - like "brands" that we are apparently "hard wired" to). For both of those reasons, Google's market dominance scares me.
On the above video by Tim Berners-Lee, Ralph Tegtmeier wrote the following
As long as we don't seriously do something about protecting people from the very abuse of their personal data (more often than not linked without their express acquiescence), we're merrily lighting the fuse to a humungous collective powder keg. (And it's really not helpful at all shrugging such concerns off with pejorative epitheta such as "tin foil hat", "conspiracy theories" etc. as is so common across the board.
Let's never forget that all the major atrocities committed in "civilized" countries ever since the 19th century, ranging from genocide to mass destruction, ethnic cleansings, wars, the holocaust etc. were only as scalable as they eventually proved to be because of just that: "linked data" ruthlessly leveraged and deployed by those who could get their hands on it.
Think about how distributed (and targeted) ad based business models work in a republic / quasi-democracy. Buy ads that change the opinion of couple percent of people and you change the course of a country, and perhaps the course of civilization. Think about how well Google intends to know your flaws, and sell them off to the highest bidder in any medium they can:
users that spend a long time bartering instead of stealing in a game may suggests that they are interested in the best deals rather than the flashiest items so the system may show ads reflecting value. As another example, users that spend a lot of time exploring suggest that they maybe interested in vacations, so the system may show ads for vacations. As another example, users that spend a lot of time chatting instead of fighting or performing other activities in online games suggest that they like to chat, so the system may show ads for cell phones, ads for long distance plans, chat messengers, etc.
...
The dialogue could indicate that the player is aggressive, profane, polite, literate, illiterate, influenced by current culture or subculture, etc. Also decisions made by the players may provide more information such as whether the player is a risk taker, risk averse, aggressive, passive, intelligent, follower, leader, etc. This information may be used and analyzed in order to help select and deliver more relevant ads to users.
And while we are being profiled, pieces of our culture are being locked up via anti-competitive agreements. Richard Sarnoff, the chairman of the Association of American Publishers, noted how they were hoodwinked in a deal with the devil:
Sarnoff also speculated that … [l]egal hurdles may make it infeasible for any other firms to build a search engine comparable to Google Book Search.
Many power structures that are being killed off by the web are the walking wounded, making deals that are rational only when paired against death. And we are stuck living with the consequences of those decisions.
With Google being so profit driven they are leaving room for a pure search play, if only someone that got branding, marketing, and the web would step up. I hope Rich Skrenta (or anyone) provides real competition to Google soon, before spying is seen as respectable and too much of our culture gets locked up in exclusive deals.
Affiliate marketing is a business model whereby the marketer is paid a commission based on the products or services they help to sell.
Typically, a merchant provides the billing, the stock, the handling, and the customer service function, whereas the affiliate finds the buyers, and directs them to the merchant's site.
This business model is a natural fit for search marketers. The search marketer need only get the traffic by way of search rankings or PPC, and the profits come flooding in.
That's the theory, anyway.
The reality is that most affiliate marketers aren't making much, if anything. You'll find thousands of e-books promising instant riches by way of affiliate marketing, however the people making the money tend to be the people selling the books!
In this guide, we'll show you how affiliate marketing really works. We'll look at the nature of the game, the obstacles, and the SEO techniques and strategies you can use to create profitable and defensible revenue streams.
History Of Affiliate Marketing
Commission selling and revenue sharing is nothing new. It pre-dates the internet. However, unlike off-line equivalents, the internet version requires little active selling effort on the part of the affiliate, other than placing internet-based advertising. Needless to say, affiliate marketing on the internet took off quickly.
According to Wikipedia,
"The consensus of marketers and adult industry insiders is that Cybererotica was either the first or among the early innovators in affiliate marketing with a cost per click program.[2] During November 1994, CDNOW launched its BuyWeb program. With this program CDNOW was the first non-adult website to introduce the concept of an affiliate or associate program with its idea of click-through purchasing. CDNOW had the idea that music-oriented websites could review or list albums on their pages that their visitors may be interested in purchasing. These websites could also offer a link that would take the visitor directly to CDNOW to purchase the albums."
How Affiliate Programs Work
Most affiliate programs work like this:
A visitor arrives at a site run by an affiliate
visitor clicks on a link that leads to the merchants site
the lead is identified as belonging to the affiliate by way of a tracking code, a cookie, or URL referral
if the visitor then buys a product or service, the affiliate receives a commission
Another common model involves capturing sales leads, and then selling them on to a merchant i.e. mortgage applications.
The benefit to the merchant is a low-risk sales channel. The merchant only has to pay the affiliate if a visitor buys something, or qualifies as a genuine lead.
Therefore, most of the risk in affiliate marketing lies with the affiliate. The affiliate must buy or earn the traffic, but will only make any money if the traffic actually converts into a buyer or a lead.
How To Become An Affiliate
Becoming an affiliate is, in most cases, easy. You fill out a form and you're good to go.
Incidentally, we have one of our own :)
The hard part is getting high quality visitor traffic. A lot of people are fighting for that same traffic, which means it is going to require time, effort and cost to acquire. In order to make a successful business out of being an affiliate, you need to get traffic at a lower cost than you can "sell" it.
Let's take a look at a PPC approach to illustrate the affiliate business model:
You sign up for an affiliate program
You choose a product to market
You place PPC ads on Google Adwords for $.50 cents per click
These PPC ads lead to your landing page
The landing page contains your affiliate link, leading to the merchant site
If the visitor buys, you make a commission of $100.00
If you bought one hundred clicks at .50 cents, your cost of advertising was $50. Your affiliate payment is $100. Therefore, your profit is $50. If you can repeat this automated feat a few hundred times per day, you'll soon be driving that new Ferrari.
The problem is, of course, that many other affiliates, and the merchants themselves, are doing likewise. This drives up the cost of the clicks and reduces the margin available to the affiliate. Typically, affiliates have little or no control over the margins they can attach to the products or services of the merchant.
The PPC marketers tend to work on slim margins and high volumes. Those who can do high volumes tend to have more leverage with their merchants in terms of margin. Another barrier for the new entrant is that PPC accounts, like Adwords, build up a credibility history, which can give high volume players lower prices.
SEO Tactics And Techniques
Unlike PPC, SEO doesn't involve a cost per click charge. Therefore, if an SEO can rank pages, s/he stands to make significant margins. The SEO still has competition from other SEOs chasing the same rankings, but it is harder for new entrants to unseat the SEOs positions, as often happens in PPC.
There are a number of different ways to approach SEO affiliate marketing, from building a site consisting of a merchants product inventory, to building a comparison shopping site, a review site, or simply creating a collection of on-topic landing pages.
In choosing your approach, it pays to keep one thing in mind:
Google doesn't like you
Google's Quality Rater Guidelines
A few years ago, search engines weren't very good at spotting duplicate pages.
If you performed a search in any of the competitive P.P.C areas - in affiliate marketing, PPC also means "Pills, Porn & Casinos" - you'd likely see thousands of near identical sites. The search results "street" was chock full of pimps, and the law was pretty much powerless to stop them. Take out a few pimps, and there would be tens of thousands stepping up to take their place.
These days, Google does a better job of weeding out duplicate content, and what it deems "low value" pages. This has led to significant changes in the way affiliates approach affiliate marketing.
To understand the approach you'll need to take, let's firstly look at how Google classifies affiliate sites.
The Google Quality Rater Guidelines, a document which is reportedly a training course for Google's army of human spam police, was leaked to the internet in 2007.
This document provides valuable insights into how Google classifies spam. Anyone interested in SEO will find this document essential reading, but it is of particular interest to affiliates. The document singles out affiliates for special mention on a number of occasions. Those mentions are usually followed closely by the word "spam"
State your reason for assigning “Spam”, “Maybe Spam”, and “Malicious” flags. For example, Sneaky redirect to eBay....Amazon thin affiliate
Major cosmopolitan cities are preferred targets for spammers, especially hotel affiliates. Such results should be labeled as Spam, even if they have relevance to the query
Thin Affiliates: Spammers make money when a transaction is made after the user has clicked through to the merchant’s site
Types Of Spam - A thin affiliate is a page that exists to deliver a visitor to a page on another domain with a different owner.
Keywords deliver visitors to the affiliate page, and links on the affiliate page deliver visitors to the second page,
which is owned by a real merchant.
Not great news for the budding SEO affiliate.
However, Google does make a distinction:
Thin affiliates are bad
Other types of affiliates are not
What is a Thin Affiliate?
Google defines a thin affiliate as:
...a page that exists to deliver a visitor to a page on another domain with a different owner. The thin affiliate site contains text and perhaps images copied from the merchant site. It offers no (or very little) value-added service while earning its commission"
Google also states the types of affiliate pages it deems to be acceptable.
"If a page offers some value in addition to its links to the merchant, then it is not a thin affiliate. For example, if the affiliate offers price comparison functionality, or displays product reviews, recipes, lyrics, etc., it is not a thin affiliate, and, therefore, not Spam"
Google gives examples such as www.shopping.com, www.pricegrabber.com, and Kelkoo.co.uk. These sites are deemed acceptable because they provide extra value.
So, if you want to fly under Google's spam radar, you should aim to become a "fat" affiliate*. In order to do this, you should look to add value of an informational nature.
*Note: you can still be a thin affiliate and make money. There are plenty of these sites in the index. However, they are engaged in an arms race with Google, and it is a race that Google will likely win. Most of the hardcore thin affiliates effort goes into staying one step of Google, which can be a lot more work than simply building more valuable content.
Create Valuable Content
The Search Quality document also tells us what type of content Google finds valuable.
Google have a content rating scale which consists of five grades: Vital, Useful, Relevant, Not Relevant, or Off-Topic. In order to escape Google's spam filters and hand edits, you must fit into the first three grades.
The Search Quality document goes into great detail in terms of defining these grades, but the most important point to remember is that a page is rated based on the match to the *concept* of the query, not the presence or absence of the query term on the page. What this means is that it isn't good enough for a page simply to mention a keyword term, a page must "answer" the visitors query. This blows away a lot of conventional theory on SEO - relevance isn't just about adding keywords.
Google doesn't treat all search queries the same. Google separates queries out into three categories: navigational, informational, or transactional.
A navigational query is a query intended to locate a specific web page. For example, "yahoo mail". The searcher clearly wants to find the Yahoo Mail service, not information about Yahoo Mail, or where to buy mail services.
An informational query seeks information on a topic. For example, "tsunami". A Wikipedia article providing information about a tsunami would be a relevant result.
A transactional query seeks to complete a transaction on the Web – for money or free – of a product or service. For example, "Beatles poster". A relevant result would be a page on which to purchase poster.
Affiliates often focus on transactional queries. These queries indicate a person is some way along the sales funnel as is ready to buy, which suits the affiliate just fine.
However, the danger is that if you focus solely on transaction queries, you may well be labeled a thin affiliate, especially if your next step is to link to a merchant's site. Google will look to differentiate the affiliate sites from the merchant site, leave the merchant site in the results, and flush the thin affiliates. After all, the thin affiliates are adding no value to the transactional sales process.
Create Added Value
A good approach, and one used by many super affiliates, is to create hybrid sites.
A hybrid site covers both informational and transactional queries. There are a number of reasons why doing this is a good idea.
Firstly, Google is more likely to identify your pages as "useful" if you add value to the sales process. For example, rather than just having a transactional landing page that repeats the same offer the merchant is making, you might create a page that compares the relative merits of various products.
Secondly, Google's algorithms are constantly changing in favor of high quality, authoritative content. Not only does the content need to be authoritative, but it needs to appear on an authoritative domain in order to rank well. In order to be perceived as a quality domain, you'll need high quality linkage data. Consider how difficult these links are going to be to obtain for a purely commercial site, let alone a purely commercial affiliate site.
If you provide genuinely useful information, you'll achieve three things. One, it will be easier to get links. Two, you will build some brand equity that can be used for other purposes if the merchant doesn't work out i.e. Adsense. Lastly, it will be less likely you'll be taken out by Google. Google wants genuinely useful information it their index.
The downside is that useful information can take a long time to build. The alternative, however, is engaging in an arms race of cat and mouse with Google, which can also be time consuming.
Check out this useful tool from Microsoft AdCenter Labs: http://adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx
Even a shopping oriented site, such as shopping.com, is predicted to have visitor traffic intent that is 23% transactional, and 77% informational. If this fat affiliate site didn't provide a high level of information, it would miss out on a lot of traffic.
Tips & Tricks
Disguise Your Shopping Cart
One spam flag is a transaction occurring on a different site i.e. the merchants site
Look for affiliate programs that will let you host the shopping cart on your own site. You can pass the information to the merchant at the very last stage of the transaction, thus hiding it from all but the most determined quality rater.
Also keep in mind Google's guidelines for recognizing true merchants:
A “view your shopping cart” link that stays on the same site and updates when you add items to it
A return policy with a physical address
A shipping charge calculator
A “wish list” link, or a link to postpone purchase of an item until later
A way to track FedEx orders
A user forum,the ability to register or login, a gift registry
An invitation to become an affiliate of that site
If you're handling transactional queries, the more of these signals you can include, the more likely you are to stay beneath Google's radar.
Redirects
If you do redirect to a merchant, try to cloak your redirects in scripts. It is less likely Google will follow these links to the merchant site. It also helps protect you from unscrupulous operators who may steal affiliate referrals.
This is by no means full-proof, however, and unlikely to pass human review.
When you feel unsure if a page is spam, ask yourself the following question: If I remove the copied content,
scraped news feeds, fake forums and blogs, thin affiliate links, parked/expired domain links, and all that is left
are PPC ads and sponsored links, the page is probably spam
Think reviews, comparisons, context, sales questions and answers, buying advice, trends, statistics, social elements, discussion, competitions, awards, etc.
Target The Regions
The algorithms used on some regional variations of Google can be more forgiving of thin affiliate sites than Google.com. This is because the depth of content in the regions can be shallow, so in order to show enough results, Google often lets past content they wouldn't in deeper markets, like .com.
If you're having trouble competing in the US space, try out some regional affiliate programs. Not only is the algorithm more forgiving, but the competition is decreased. The downside is the lower traffic numbers overall.
Coupons
Offering coupons can be a great strategy, as it helps differentiate your offering from other affiliates, and everyone loves a bargain.
Here's an example Aaron is using to promote AdCenter.
Load Up On Relevant Keywords
Look at how many keywords are integrated into this page.
Keywords include:
2008
pubcon
webmasterworld
webmaster world
coupon
coupons
code
discount
promo
promotional
las vegas
november
conference
brett tabke
That page contains low volume, but high value keywords, including coupon keywords. Yet, the page doesn't look spammy.
The demographics of MSN and Yahoo are different to Google.
It is fair to characterize most MSN users as less technically savvy than users of the other two engines. There is also anecdotal evidence to suggest they are more interested in shopping than in research. Yahoo lies somewhere between the two points. The users of these engines may not care so much about advertising, so don't overlook these valuable channels.
They also don't appear to be as good as Google at filtering out thin affiliates.
Brand Terms
If you can, try and target brand related terms.
Brand terms tend to be transactional, especially if you directly target such terms. For example, "discounts on Toshiba televisions".
It can be difficult for PPC marketers to bid on brand terms because of legal issues, but not for SEOs. The main obstacle you'll come across is Google's new brand-oriented search algorithm.
Down Market
The current economic crisis might be good news for affiliates. People with less disposable income tend to be more interested in value. Consumers have an ingrained perception that the best prices can be found online.
So, in your copy, emphasize convenience, savings and communicate the value proposition. Price comparison affiliate approaches should do well in the current market.
Program Selection
While outside the scope of this document, here are a few tips on how to select a merchant.
Avoid saturated affiliate areas
If you can, by-pass affiliate programs altogether and approach merchants directly. This can be more work, but it can pay off handsomely if you have the niche largely to yourself.
Don't pay any attention to anyone waving around an oversized check as proof of their earnings
What they're not telling you is how much they spent. If their check is for $1M and they spent $2M, all they are saying is "I lost $1M dollars and - hey - you can too!"
Don't listen to anyone who tells you what specific area to get into, either in a free forum or for $97
Why would any affiliate give away a treasure map? The answer is they don't. You'll usually see this type of information long after a niche has become heavily saturated. Most affiliates work a niche, then move on once the area becomes too well known to others.
Do research niches
Approach affiliate marketing like you would any other business, and ask the same questions. Is this niche crowded? How will I differentiate my offering? What can I do that my competitors don't do? Is there a market for this product or service?
A major key to success in affiliate marketing is niche selection, so study up on this area. You'll be head and shoulders above the rest :)
Some larger online publishers are facing declining display ads with a bold strategy: bigger, louder, and more obnoxious ad units. AdWeek reports:
The fixed panel, a 336-by-860-pixel banner that is wider than the standard skyscraper and follows users as they scroll down the page.
The XXL box, a 468-by-648-pixel unit that can expand with video.
The pushdown, a 970-by-418-pixel placement that takes up over half of the page before rolling up.
We recently added a slideup and a popup to the site here, but you should be able to click them once and not see them again (at least until you clear cookies), and at least they are marketing our own site.
But the idea of making larger and more obnoxious ad units some sort of standard for cross-selling seems to be against what is working. Most of Google's ad revenues come from tiny text ads that are relevant to user demand. One of the best ways to have relevant ads is to create what users want and sell it. If they are going to spend that many pixels on the ads, rather than making bigger ad units the publishers should use the content area to sell and add premium services to their sites and start selling content.
Phorm, a UK company that partnered with BT to run secret trials to target ads based on usage data, was roasted by the media with article titles like Phorm’s All-Seeing Parasite Cookie.
Google will use data it collects about what Web sites users visit and what it knows about the content of those sites to sort its massive audience of users into groups such as hockey fans or travel enthusiasts. The data won't be drawn from users' search queries, but from text files known as cookies that Google installs on the Web browsers of users who visit pages where it serves ads.
DoubleClick, AdSense, Google Toolbar, Gmail, Youtube, Blogger, Google Groups, Google Checkout, Google Chrome, Google Analytics...there are lots of ways to track you, even if you do not want to be tracked. Google will allow users to opt out of such targeting, with yet another cookie, but if you clear cookies then you are back in the matrix again.
And while Google claims they are not using search queries in their current behavioral targing, Danny Sullivan wrote:
Google confirmed in a session I moderated at the Omniture Summit last month that they have tested behaviorial targeted ads using past search history data. Again, that doesn’t seem to be part of this release, but it could come in the future.
"People use the web in a crisis, when wondering whether they have a sexually transmitted disease, or cancer, when wondering if they are homosexual and whether to talk about it … to discuss political views."
...
"The power of this information is so great that the commercial incentive for companies or individuals to misuse it will be huge," he said. "It is absolutely essential to have absolute clarity that it is illegal."
If Google continues down this path unquestioned, then in due time you may not be able to get health insurance because of a web page you viewed or a keyword you trusted Google enough to search for. Better luck next life!
