We all know there’s a line that separates acceptable SEO techniques from those that are unacceptable. One might consider this to be an ethical issue, but the reality, in fact, is much more black and white. When a search engine algorithm or human reviewer analyzes your SEO technique, there are only two potential outcomes: acceptable or unacceptable.  The consequences of using unacceptable SEO techniques range from a mild slap on the wrist, such as lower ranking in the search results, to a full ban from the search engines and removal of all your pages.  Therefore, the fundamental ethical issue pertaining to SEO is if your SEO marketing company knows that a technique is unacceptable but decides to implement it anyway in the hope that it will go unnoticed or will achieve short term gain.

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In Korea, Naver is by far the largest and most widely used search engine, currently taking 75% of the search market, with Daum (14%) and Yahoo (4%) trailing behind. Two weeks ago, Naver went beyond its borders and relaunched its web portal in the Japanese market, for a second time. On January 31st, 2005 Naver officially stopped its service in Japan. It wasn`t mentioned as to why it pulled out, but the industry assumption was that it just wasn`t able to make a name for itself in the fiercely-competitive Japanese market, with Yahoo and Google combined accounting for over 85% of the search share.

What`s Unique About Naver in Japan?

Naver in Japan has been operating a closed beta version of its portal since June 15th, recruiting a group of around 5,000 local Japanese internet users to evaluate and test out the new service, which has received positive feedback to-date. Naver’s Japanese portal certainly has a much cleaner UI (user interface) than its Korean version. On the front page, hot search queries are placed prominently using flash showing current search themes. The use of flash is also carried through onto the search results pages mimicking a Windows Vista type style, which adds some nice visual impact. Key services from its top page are the usual web, image, video and blog search services, as well as a question-and-answer message board, and matome, (meaning “arranging” in Japanese), allowing users to edit their search results as well as create new pages dedicated to a certain topic, enabling users to add a variety of content, links, images, etc., which will then be exposed as search results. Kind of a blend of Wikipedia and search. Continue reading »

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In November of last year, I wrote a post about the changes coming to Microsoft’s search engine. In this post I highlighted some of the plans for upgrades and the new branding push of 2009. Now that we have seen these upgrades and the launch of Bing.com, I thought it’d be a great time to revisit Microsoft.

So, Bing is finally here. I won’t go into all the details of Bing.com, but if you’d like to read more on the GroupM Search POV, you can find it in this SearchFuel post.

It feels like we’ve anticipated its birth forever. Last Friday marked Bing’s ripe old age of one month. What have we seen in the first month? Well, from my perspective, it’s been mixed. We had a ton of hype at the beginning…and then news changed newer topics as it always does.

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Are the days of blue links gone? Are the days of traditional SERP pages history? These are the first two questions that I asked myself when I entered my first search query into Searchme. Immediately, I was presented a blend of multimedia search results that consisted of full size web pages that I could flip through, similar to flipping through a magazine. Searchme is the first search engine that allows searchers to see what they are searching for by providing images of actual web pages, which helps consumers know what they are getting before they click on an ad; searchers get to try before they buy. Another great feature about Searchme is their one-click Twitter button and the ability to post search results on Facebook, as well as other social networks, which makes sharing your search results with your friends that much easier.

What does this mean for search marketers? The Searchme Ad Platform allows key-word based ads to be placed within search results. This means that ads are presented as visual views. For search marketers, it allows the inclusion of more design concepts into their campaigns. What does this mean for search marketers? First, it means more qualified clicks, as searchers are able to see the web page before clicking on it. Secondly, it means that there is an increased chance of a conversion.

You can learn more about Searchme and hear what GroupM Search’s, Chris Westmeyer, has to say about the search engine in Search Engine Watch’s article here.

Stay tuned, as Chris will be sharing a Searchme Q&A session that he had with Searchme CEO and Founder, Randy Adams.

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I am at a cocktail party and Sally asks the inevitable question, “What do you do?”   I cringe because most likely, she will say the two words that I hate most when it comes to descriptions about what I do.  So I say to my imbibing interviewer, I am a Director of Search Engine Marketing.  Sally offers back, “Oh yeah, I know, Search Engine Marketing is made up of two areas, PPC and SEO, isn’t it?”  So my usual dilemma presents itself yet again: Do I launch into an educational rant explaining what I feel are the proper names for the two components of SEM, or drop it?  Slurry Sally seems interested, so I launch.

“Sally, I think you have the gist of what I do in that there are two main areas, but they are called Paid & Organic SEM.  Please let me explain.  On the Paid side of things, we are talking about ‘Paid Search Engine Marketing’ or marketing to the ‘Paid’ or ‘Sponsored’ listings.   When you do a search from, say your laptop or mobile device, using Google, Yahoo, MSN, or even Facebook, the paid or sponsored listings are usually located at the top and to the right of the Organic listings.  A marketer can expect to market to roughly 20-30% of the search engine results when they employ Paid SEM.  When you said PPC, or pay per click, this is a type of ad that is utilized in Paid Search Engine Marketing.  Paid Inclusion is another.”

Sally’s eyes haven’t glazed over yet, so I continue.

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