Although recent reports indicate that the Microsoft-Yahoo Search Alliance is struggling, new updates from Microsoft’s adCenter hope to change this perception. The company announced that it was expanding its broad match and phrase match capabilities in order to help advertisers receive better results in their paid search campaigns.
David Pann, the General Manager of Search Networks at Microsoft, told us that these improvements hope to create a good consumer experience and also produce a greater ROI for advertisers. He said that advertisers could expect better targeting, better reporting capabilities, and an increase in quality traffic.
These improvements are expected to be rolled out in full over the next several months.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Aug 19th, 2011. 
Although it may be hard for some to believe, Yahoo was actually a big threat for Google, Microsoft, and other Internet companies not too many years ago. In addition to Yahoo Search, many of the company’s properties were looked to for inspiration.
However, as Sage Lewis of SageRock Digital Marketing Agency explained to WebProNews, this “doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.” According to him, successful Internet companies take risks, innovate, and are passionate about what they do.
Yahoo, on the other hand, has undergone a search deal with Microsoft, numerous management changes, layoffs, and has also closed many properties in recent years. Lewis believes that this series of events, among others, led to Yahoo no longer being a “courageous, frontier-leading company.”
Filed under Internet Marketing Reviews by on May 21st, 2011.
Internet Explorer 9 got off to a good start in terms of impressing reviewers, and it’s also doing rather well in terms of winning over users, according to new data from Microsoft. A Microsoft employee indicated this morning that IE9′s early adoption rate is putting IE8′s launch to shame.
Ryan Gavin, Senior Director of Internet Explorer Business and Marketing, wrote on the Exploring IE blog today, “The adoption rate of IE9 is about five times higher then what we saw for Internet Explorer 8 in the same time frame.”
That’s impressive for at least a couple reasons. First, Gavin pointed out, “As we mentioned on Tuesday, all of our early downloads (through March 27) were user-initiated with over 90% of the downloads coming from non-IE9 RC or Beta users, including over a quarter that came from Chrome and Firefox users.”
Then it’s necessary to remember that IE9 wasn’t even designed to be compatible with older versions of Windows, meaning the pool of potential users isn’t too huge.
Anyway, if you’re interested in another statistic or two, Net Applications determined that IE9 achieved a market share of 3.6 percent on Windows 7 in March. IE9 has won more than 1,000 partners, as well, including well-known organizations like Gilt, Groupon, and Slacker.
Then Gavin was sure to note that Microsoft’s own campaign to take down IE6 is working well, as that outdated version of its browser lost another 0.43 points of market share in March, landing at 11.58 percent for the month.
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Filed under Internet Marketing by on Apr 1st, 2011.
To be successful in paid search, marketers need to, obviously, have a presence on Google. As Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance points out, Google controls anywhere from 60-80 percent of the paid search engine market share, based on various reports.
She goes on to say that marketers also need to utilize the recently combined Yahoo and Microsoft adCenter. Operating as one, “Binghoo,” as Churchill calls it, has approximately 30 percent of the paid search market share. Although Google AdWords is established and has great tools, there is still value in “Binghoo.”
“Keep advertising on Google, but don’t give up on adCenter. I think that it will prove in the long-term to be a beneficial thing because it gives us another opportunity to get in front of potential customers,” she said.
For those marketers who still need to embrace adCenter, Churchill offers an easy tip. She suggests that marketers download their Google accounts into the AdWords Editor tool, which is free. Marketers can then export the information into an Excel spreadsheet. Although marketers will need to do some tweaking especially regarding negative keywords and geo-targeting, this step saves a lot of time when beginning an adCenter campaign.
In this interview with WebProNews, Churchill also discusses several basic, older tools that are still relevant today. For instance, Xenu’s Link Sleuth is still very effective for checking links.
In addition, she talks about recent changes to Google’s keyword tool. The search engine changed the data source from Google.com and its partner sites to just Google.com. Google is also looking at commercial words as opposed to informational words. Churchill personally believes this was a bad move on Google’s part since 80 percent of searches on the Web are informational.
“I think Google is doing a real disservice to users by doing that,” she adds.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Dec 13th, 2010.
The Ad Council has launched the “Internet Safety Coalition,” in an effort to educate teens about how to be smart about what they post and share online.
The Internet Safety Coalition members include big names such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, AOL, Comcast, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, MySpace and MTV Networks, among others.
Based on research and feedback from teens, the Ad Council and the Internet Safety Coalition members worked with Merkley + Partners to develop a program entitled “Beware What You Share,” which communicates to teens that posting information online isn’t private, and if they wouldn’t broadcast it in real life, then it’s not smart to share it online or digitally, where it can be passed on and will remain forever.
Creative materials, developed by GrapeVine Productions, have been tested with teens and feature the tagline, “If you wouldn’t wear it, don’t share it.” Materials include online videos, Web banners, logo visuals, brochure templates and social media messaging.
Members will integrate these messages into their marketing and communications efforts, such as online content and campaigns, advertising, social media channels, consumer promotions, and grassroots programs.
“By providing a range of organizations with research-based messages, this effort will encourage teens to be smart about what they post, which will ultimately help keep our children safer,” said Peggy Conlon, president & CEO of The Advertising Council.
Filed under Social Media by on Nov 7th, 2010.
