expertSEM

What’s been happening in the exciting world of interactive marketing this week? Patents were handed out like wieners at a cocktail party, Yahoo! celebrated its 15th birthday, users get all stary-eyed over Google’s customizable search and education is a main focus with Transformation 2010 and SMX West. And tons more, of course.

SEARCH MARKETING/INDUSTRY GENERAL

Bid your desktop a fond farewell

Well, not quite yet, but soon. Google’s European director of online sales, John Herlihy, recently stated that desktops will be irrelevant in just three years; smartphones will be the dominant platform for accessing the internet. Three years doesn’t seem like a long time, but remember that Twitter barely existed in early 2007. A lot has changed since then and a lot could change by 2013. What does this mean for advertisers? At the risk of sounding like a broken record: if you haven’t already, you need to get started on mobile marketing now! Seriously. Contact us.

SEM semantics

I frequently run into search marketing nomenclature issues. Oftentimes people use the wrong initialisms to refer to different aspects of search. Mostly it’s people using “SEO” to describe both paid and organic search; however, these people typically aren’t in the industry, so I forgive them. Danny Sullivan laments another naming conventions gone wrong. He has noticed more and more people using “SEM” to describe just paid search, not the general term for referring to all types of marketing run on search engines. Who’s to blame for these naming confusions? Should we stick to the arbitrarily defined, prescriptivist meaning or should we adapt, much like the industry had done since the term was coined? What do you think? Is it obvious enough what I think?!

Ignite Global Week

I’ve recently taken a keen interested in Ignite events. Actually, I’ve become pretty obsessed and I’ve been trying to come up with a killer presentation of my own. I’ll be sure to post a video if I ever get up the courage. Anyway, if you haven’t been to an Ignite, I highly suggest you check it out. The idea is that everyone gets five minutes to run through a 20 slide presentation where the slides advance automatically every 15 seconds. Topics range far and wide, and humor and nerdiness are encourage. It’s a great place to learn something, network and have a fabulous time. Mashable put together a nice piece on why you should attend. If you visit the Ignite site, you can watch some videos from Global Ignite Week to get the idea, then find an Ignite near you.

AAAAs coverage

The AAAA’s annual conference, Transformation 2010, took place this week in San Francisco. Transformation brings together the top advertising and marketing professionals to discuss pressing issues, latest trends and industry challenges. Find coverage of this year’s conference at The Huffington Post.

SMX West coverage

SMX West also took place near the Bay Area this week. Naturally, the search marketing crowd was a bit more active online—there’s a great deal of coverage on blogs and Twitter. Peruse the list of coverage from Day One, Day Two and Day Three to find something that fits your fancy.

Yahoo! turns 15

Happy, happy birthday, Yahoo! The company was incorporated on March 1, 1995, making it 15 years old this week. The awkward teen years are almost over, you can make it! And then you can start dating at 16. I think Microsoft would be a good match! Check out a company timeline in their Flickr account.

Topeka, KS changes name to Google, KS

In an attempt to convince the search engine supergiant to build an experimental broadband network in their city, Topeka, Kansas temporarily changed their name to “Google, Kansas – the capital city of fiber optics.” The town will be named Google, KS for the entire month of March. Read the full story at Mashable.

Customize your Google results

Google announced the option to highlight certain results that you frequent or particularly like; on future searches, these results display in a special section at the top of your results. The option is being referred to as “stars” and is replacing SearchWiki. It will be rolled out globally over the next few days.

New GCN tools allows for better site placement

Google released a new tool for use with their Content Network. The tool allows you to ensure that your ads don’t show up below the fold on any given site. The tool takes into account browser, monitor size and screen resolution to predict where an ad will land. This is a neat tool that will be especially useful for those advertisers mostly concerned with branding.

SEO

The many benefits of Twitter

The good folks over at SEOmoz have a unique way of using Twitter—as a research tool for SEO programs. In his Whiteboard Friday video, Rand Fishkin explains how to pinpoint when a keyword reaches “Query Deserves Freshness” mark, allowing you to create timely and fresh content and gain a significant competitive edge. Watch the video here.

Leveraging your employee’s good name

Does your company have famous employees? Or at least talented, knowledgeable ones that others are interested in learning more about? Of course you do! If not, you may want to rethink their employment status! You can leverage your employees’ personal brands to rank higher. This article offers some easy tips for getting even more from your hardworking employees, such as creating a employee profile pages with bios, properly tagged photos, titles and H1s, unique phone numbers and links to their other online profiles and accounts. Read the full article to learn more.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Measuring social media with analytics

Everyone is doing or wants to do social media, but the big question still remains: How can you measure the value. This article offers ways to track social media efforts using web analytics. The major metric you should look for in your analytics platform is referrals from social media sites, and the user engagement from those referrals. Read the full article to learn other tips.

Facebook gets newsfeed patent

That’s right, Facebook has been awarded a patent to the newsfeed. But not just any news feed, the patent singles out a particular type of newsfeed: one in which the updates are associated with an individual user, linked to other news items and displayed in an assigned order. Furthermore, it is expected that Facebook will only cite the patent defensively, rather than enforcing against other newsfeed type sites. Gain a better understanding of this new patent at ReadWriteWeb.

Social spammer showcase

This Search Engine Journal article explains six types of social media spammers. Review the list, understand the different types and make sure you never become one.

MOBILE MARKETING

Everyone can use click to call ads

You no longer need a physical store address to benefit from Google’s click to call extension for mobile devices. The service, which was introduced in January, was originally limited to businesses that had a brick-and-mortar location with an actual street address. Now, any business can include a clickable phone number that routes to a call center. Learn more at Search Engine Land.

LOCAL SEARCH MARKETING

Google receives location-based marketing patent

Facebook’s patent news pales in comparison to Google’s. Naturally. This week, it was discovered that Google received a patent for location-based advertising, which includes the use of location for targeting purposes, setting minimum bid prices for ads, performance analytics offerings and ad content modification. It’s assumed that Google will only use the patent for defensive cases, rather than cracking down on other companies or requiring license fees. Google originally filed for the patent in April 2004. Talk about foresight! Just one of the many reasons Google is the powerhouse it is today. Learn more.