However, the first thing a Bing user might notice will likely be the area between search results and the Sidebar where the feature called Snapshot will allow users to collect more information about a result without having to click into the link.  Snapshot, an open-web collection of relevant information pertaining to a link in the results, is the other significant piece of the update.  For example, a user looking for a place to eat could find reviews, a map, and even reserve a table or find other useful information in one integrated column.

The largest change to the search engine comes through the previously mentioned Sidebar, which differs from Google by taking the social content out of the main search pane and putting it into its own section.  It will appear minimized to the right to begin with, and anyone who wants to use it will simply need to click in order to begin interacting with the content.  The first section features an option to ask your friends on Facebook a question, include links from the results, and even add friends who may be knowledgeable on the topic to the question to get better quality answers.  The ‘People Who Know’ feature is another area to utilize to get search results.  This section features people who have posted content relevant to the search term on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and even blogs.  This has the opportunity to enable users to discover information from people ‘in the know’ on a particular topic to get better results.

The business implications for Bing’s social search could be substantial. If a user’s friends have interacted with a business page by liking, commenting on, or sharing content, this could be included in search results. Thus, business pages would gain heightened visibility through their fan base, thereby increasing reach and brand awareness through organic and social avenues.

Image Credit: Barrera Search Marketing

Google recently updated its Display Network settings within the AdWords interface to report performance information at the keyword level, rather than at the AdGroup level as it did previously. Performance information includes everything from the number of clicks and impressions a keyword receives to the number of conversions it generates, and at which display position it performs best. For advertisers, this means optimization for keyword-targeted Contextual campaigns will be far more granular.

In the past, placements where Contextually-targeted ads were eligible to appear were selected based on the collective relevance of the keywords in an AdGroup. This meant that keywords had to be extremely tightly grouped within an AdGroup in order for Google to recognize a theme among them and display ads according to how well that theme matched a website’s content. While we generally preach the importance of keeping AdGroups very thematic, the ability to only view performance metrics on the AdGroup level – rather than at the individual keyword level – made it difficult to understand which keywords within the AdGroup were affecting results.

A number of factors affect the quality of a keyword, including competition in the paid search space for that keyword; number of words within a keyphrase; and how closely the keyword matches the ad text and the landing page copy. Without being able to view information at a keyword level, performing even small optimization tasks like changing match types was made impossible to accurately gauge in terms of effectiveness.

This change will allow for Display campaigns to operate in a manner similar to Search campaigns and will allow for more direct and measurable management of campaign keywords. If an AdGroup is generating a large number of impressions and a low number of clicks, for instance, you’ll be able to view which keyword is driving that demand and optimize accordingly to ensure the traffic you’re garnering is quality. The ability to monitor a keyword’s quality will also create a more accurate picture of how Display placements are performing.

While we can’t give away the 90 “secret sauce” to managing Display campaigns, we can offer a few general optimization tips to utilize in light of Google’s changes! Check them out below and let us know any additional ideas or thoughts you have in the comments:

• Ensure ad text copy and landing page copy closely align with the keyword you’re bidding on.
• Monitor at which position your ads perform best, and bid accordingly.
• Evaluate the quality of your keywords often and make sure they accurately match the goals of your business.

1. Frequency is Key

If 3 team members spend 10 minutes per week pinning content, your pins will be more likely to been interacted with by your followers.

Similar to tweets on Twitter, pins can get buried in the constantly refreshing feed of content on Pinterest. Brands that log in once per month to pin will miss out on opportunities to get content in front of its desired audience. For a page to be successful, make sure someone has designated time each week to pin new content and interact with others on Pinterest. If necessary, make it a team effort!

2. Use Data to Help Create a Focused, Data-Driven Strategy

Success on Pinterest can be measured.  While there is currently no analytics feature available within the site, consider the following items to help guide your Pinterest strategy moving forward:

• The number of re-pins, likes and comments is available on all of your pins. This is valuable data for any new brand using Pinterest, as it can provide guidance into the types of pins that people are noticing and engaging with. Use this information to help you pin smarter.
• Your total number of followers doesn’t equal the number of followers on each of your boards. Take note of what boards have the most followers—this content is resonating well with Pinterest users, add more!
• Use Google analytics to monitor your referral traffic from Pinterest and what pins the traffic is coming from.

3. Utilize Pin Captions…

but don’t get too wordy! Include a relevant, key-word rich description to help users find your pins while searching.  A few lines of text are all you need. With Pinterest being so visual, no one wants to spend time reading a lengthy caption (see below example from the Travel Channel).

4. Engage Others

Like anything social, Pinterest is a community where sharing is especially important.

• If you want to increase your followers, start re-pinning others content and commenting on posts—you’ll find that before long, they’re doing the same back.
• Start following others! This is a great way to find content to re-pin.

5. Have Fun!

This is not the place to be boring! Be original, be spontaneous and keep pinning!

For more insight on image optimization on Pinterest, check out this article from Mashable.

Advantages of using a social media landing page is twofold: 1) it makes the content more accessible for fans (leading to higher brand loyalty) and 2) the Bruin’s corporate partners can reach the team’s fans (around 2.5 million unique fans per month) through a single source.

Companies with an expansive social and digital presence could see great benefits to employing a similar approach. The strategy could increase brand loyalty by simplifying the experience for customers with a one-stop-social-media-shop.

• Don’t let your keywords get lost in translation: Simply translating words from English to another language doesn’t cut it anymore.  Different languages emphasize different words and use alternate phrasing; one word in English may mean something completely different (and even offensive) in a foreign language.  Before you use another language in your advertising, consider consulting a fluent or native speaker of the language first.  If you continue to use English in foreign countries, be aware that the terms you are using may not translate with the same efficacy seen in English-speaking nations.
• Analyze where your ads are showing: Appearing in front of your international target customers can be challenging, so researching user behavior and competition can prove to be vital for improving click through rate (CTR) and return on investment (ROI) for paid search campaigns.
• Optimize for Google Places: While Google Places has taken off in the US, it is having an even more dramatic effect across the globe. The platform allows local businesses to appear for searches that are associated with a generic keyword or brand name that does not necessarily belong to them.  Make sure you are linked into Google Places to show alongside the local businesses operating in your space.
• Create trust through local symbols: Using the applicable currency abbreviations, credit card symbols, local office certifications (such as the Better Business Bureau equivalent), and trademarks can only enhance your ads’ credibility. This trust factor will likely lead to improved user engagement.
• Use local search engines: Google’s not the only player in the international search game; there are several opportunities to use locally known and trusted search engines in Russia, China, Turkey, Korea and the Czech Republic.  Test the waters, it can’t hurt!

Going international can sound daunting, but start slow and think smart.  By incorporating the above ideas into your strategy, you can enhance your PPC ad performance in the global space.  Remember, every country, and thus every market, is unique; research and test the markets you plan to target to discover the messaging, budgeting and approach that works best for your business.

Based on recent study results, RJMetrics reported that Pinterest’s traffic gains “aren’t hockey sticks – they’re rocket ships.” From its research, RJMetrics found that Pinterest’s visitor quality statistics are effectively doubling those of Twitter during comparable times in Twitter’s lifetime.

According to the study:

• Pinterest is retaining and engaging users 2-3 times more efficiently than Twitter was during the initial stages of its inception.
• Pins have the ability to stretch the web; while Etsy is Pinterest’s most popular source, Etsy still only accounts for 3% of pins.
• Pinterest’s viral content is not to be taken lightly. 80% of pins are re-pins; by contrast, Twitter was reporting 1.4% of its tweets as retweets during similar historical business periods.
• While many companies see user engagement decrease over time, Pinterest has seen the opposite. Based on a monthly cohort analysis, pins per user data indicates that, based on growth in numbers, either no one who signs up with Pinterest ever stops engaging or that the amount of engagement from certain users expands so exponentially over time that it makes up for any loss in activity from others (the latter is more likely).

While Pinterest, by all accounts, is effective for companies who have the right product or service offering, it’s important to evaluate whether to create a presence for your brand on Pinterest. As with other social platforms, this requires evaluating your audience and business goals to determine the value of the network in relation to your objectives.

Our advice is to ensure you have the time to dedicate to the effort, as pinning over time and engaging with other users (by re-pinning content, commenting on pins, etc.) is the primary means of boosting your effectiveness. Additionally, be sure your business is in line with Pinterest’s value proposition. While travel companies, wedding planners and food bloggers typically see great results, Pinterest may not be the most effective for businesses offering construction equipment – though, as with all things social media, this may change. Given the rate at which Pinterest is growing and the way its target market is expanding, only time will tell what new market niches will develop on the platform.

Have you started a Pinterest account, either personal or business? We’d love to hear your impressions of the social media site in the comments below!

With the aid of MA, companies are better able to manage lead generation and nurturing efforts, and accurately track performance metrics. However, high costs and training time can be daunting obstacles to smaller businesses that lack the expansive resources of large corporations. To waylay these concerns and create perspective on MA adoption, Sam outlined four key pieces of advice:

• Realize that in the long run, an inefficient system is more costly than an efficient one with high start-up costs.
• Don’t let the hurdle of expensive training deter you when there is significant potential for gaining a competitive edge.
• Recognize that the time spent is an investment in a more efficient future.
• Base the decision to implement MA technology on the individual characteristics of the firm, such as its goals, capacity and personnel.

At 90octane, we are dedicated to remaining at the forefront of the MA movement; thus, we created a Marketing Technologist position in 2011 and solutions expert Sam Oh joined the team. When asked his opinions on the challenges facing SMEs, he identified the necessity of a marketing plan: “A good number of companies purchase an MA tool and assume it is as simple as flipping a switch.  Two thirds of a good lead nurturing program is the marketing strategy and MA is the remaining quarter for executing on the strategy.” Armed with these insights into MA, we have been able to begin implementing the technology in a strategic manner to suit the individual and specific needs of our partners.

To gain more valuable insights from industry leaders in the areas of email marketing, online marketing, social media marketing, testing and optimization, and for general marketing advice, download the 2012 MarketingSherpa Wisdom Report. You can find 90octane’s contribution on pages 13 and 14 in the Online Marketing section.

Google’s Search Plus Your World was the first platform to combine the two mediums into a single interface.  Google integrated its original search platform with the social graph created by Google+ users.  When signed into your Google account while searching on the engine, you will be fed information from the original algorithm in addition to information gleaned from your social network.  For example, if you search for information on “ski reports,” you will receive the normal organic and paid search results, as well as results from what your friends have said, done, plus 1’d, shared etc.

Facebook is hot on Google’s tail, however. The social mammoth supposedly hired a team of over 20 engineers to create its own search engine.  Facebook is aiming to create an engine that can incorporate the vast amounts of data already stored about the network’s vast number of users.  Through likes, shares, status updates, friends, timelines and other avenues, Facebook controls significant data about a user’s specific behavior, interests and desires. This new type of social searching falls under the umbrella of the “semantic web,” where data is provided in a more complex and distinct way.  You can learn more about semantic search in an earlier 90blog post.

If Facebook does get into the “search” game, it could do what it has long denied attempting: become a Google competitor.  However, it could also be a big help to Google in the legal realm.  Google has been under examination by antitrust authorities lately due to privacy issues with Search Plus Your World.  If Facebook launches its own search engine, it could demonstrate that Google is not the only player in the game and, thus, is not violating laws about monopolizing markets.

While only time will tell whether Facebook Search is just a rumor, this highly anticipated product could change the way we think of and approach search engine optimization.  Google has been the front runner in SEO and paid search tactics for a long time with Google AdWords and Analytics; if Facebook launches its own search engine, the possibilities for change could be endless. Paid ads, image ads, and new approaches to SEO could be but the tip of the iceberg.

For more information on Facebook Search and Search Plus Your World, please see these articles from Mashable:

• How Facebook Search Could Be a Gift to Google
• Facebook is Building a Search Engine
• Google Merges Search and Google+ Into Social Media Juggernaut

Earlier this year, Google began allowing users to become “panelists” on its Screenwise program by downloading a Chrome browser extension to track their web usage. This program enables Google to gather information about users that is not available through its own browser or services. According to Google, it hopes to learn more about peoples’ web usage, including “what time of day people browse, how long they stay on websites and what types of sites are popular (or not).” The ultimate goal of Screenwise is to provide valuable insight that will help Google better its products and improve the overall web experience.

Now to the important part: the reward for becoming a panelist. After downloading the browser extension, every panelist receives their choice of a modest gift card for retailers such as Barnes & Noble or travel providers like Expedia. In addition to the initial reward, panelists receive an additional gift card every three months to thank them for their continued participation.

Matt McGee, Executive News Editor at Search Engine Land, claims the program comes at an unusual time, “considering the backlash that Google has faced over the upcoming changes to its privacy policy.” Even though Google is not actively inviting users to join Screenwise (it is 100% opt-in), McGee speculates that critics will question the reasoning behind the search giant’s need to access additional user data.

What are your thoughts on Google Screenwise? Do you think it’s necessary for Google’s need to obtain information about web activity outside of using its search browser? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The overall goal of the refresh will be to provide users with direct answers to a search query by understanding the actual meaning of the words, which is generated through an understanding of the association between words used. Amit Singhal, a top Google search executive, said the update will allow Google search to more closely replicate “how humans understand the world.”

This is nothing entirely new, as Google has performed similar updates in the past. Google’s primary goal seems to be to maintain their lead ahead of Bing and catch up to Apple’s Siri voice-activated mobile search. Singhal said, “Let me just say that every day, we’re improving our ability to give you the best answers to your questions as quickly as possible, so stay tuned for updates on what will continue to be a long road ahead.”

Semantic Search Details
A semantic search engine is designed to give results based on context as opposed to just keywords. For example, a search for the word “election” in a semantic search engine would return results containing “vote”, “campaign”, and “ballot” even if “election” is not present.

The 2009 search engine, WolframAlpha, was anticipated to challenge Google but has only gained traction in research and academic communities. Its ability to provide answers to queries is what set it apart; the goal of WolframAplpha isn’t to index the web and return results. It is designed to make computations based on a database of historical knowledge. When a user queries a location, the engine retrieves details of population, maps, time, weather, and more. The Google update is expected to do the same according to Amir Efrati, “results will be provided above other search listings and act like an answer in an encyclopedic fashion.”

Google will be attempting to provide an answer to a user’s query based on the intent of the keywords they entered into the search box, rather than providing lists of sites containing the same keywords as the query. They are going to achieve this by utilizing all the data they have been gathering in the Google Knowledge Graph. This graph of information started in 2010 when Google purchased Freebase, a community-built knowledge base with approximately 12 million entries, which Google has grown into 200 million entries to date.

Staying SEO Compliant
Up to now, SEO strategy has been centered on keywords and key phrases; with the update, optimizing for the intent of keywords and phrases will also be vital. Because Google will provide answers instead of results, companies will be competing against each other for visibility in addition to the Google answer being provided above all results.

So how can you stay competitive? As always, following SEO best practices and staying away from any black hat techniques, like keyword stuffing, is the first step. Google implements algorithm updates to combat those techniques and ensure they are providing relevant results for every query.

Another tactic is optimizing sites with semantic markup code. According to an article from Blue Anvil, this is the act of descriptively coding sites to represent the information contained in elements. It puts emphasis on areas of importance to help crawlers understand the meaning of the content by understanding relevance and importance.

Conclusion
Due to its potential influence on search structure, it’s important to keep an eye on the semantic search update as it takes effect. Once there are more official announcements from Google, more specific areas of optimization can be identified. Until then it is important to be aware of potential changes and stay updated on solutions and additional implications, including the potential impact on Google paid search. Stay tuned to 90blog for additional updates as semantic search rolls out.