Symetri

Google Officially Acquires DoubleClick

2008-03-13T13:11:00.003-04:00

After almost a year of awaiting regulatory approval, Google has announced in their blog that the acquisition of Double Click is complete and official:

I'm pleased to share the news that we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick today. Although it's been nearly a year since we announced our intention to acquire DoubleClick last April, we are no less excited today about the benefits that the combination of our two companies will bring to the online advertising market.
...
As the combination of Google and DoubleClick delivers better, more relevant display ads, we're also looking forward to delivering an improved online experience to users. Because user trust is paramount to the success of our business, users will continue to benefit from our commitment to protecting user privacy following this acquisition. And our scale and infrastructure mean that users will also be spending less time waiting for web pages to load. Ultimately, we believe that by combining our advertising network with DoubleClick's display ad serving products, and by investing resources in the display ad business, we will be able to help publishers and advertisers generate more revenue.

Also pending in court is Google's attempts to acquire the entire internet, planet Earth, and our arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, all in separate proceedings.

Microsoft Pounces on Yahoo?

2008-02-11T10:53:00.000-05:00

In May of 2007, Microsoft took a stab at Yahoo, trying to buy them up for what amounted to $50 Billion dollars after Google's acquisition of DoubleClick. Yahoo balked. Now, Yahoo's looking at dropping 1000 employees because of a poor 4th Quarter. Microsoft is taking another stab, this time at $45 Billion. Microsoft's impetus is trying to get a larger piece of Search Pie. But will it help them?

Microsoft has been floundering distantly behind Google for years now, and the new branding switch from MSN Search to Microsoft Live online environment amounted to a laughable attempt to be just like Google, like your little brother trying to copy your metal shop project with yarn and Scotch tape, only he's your much older brother and - that imagery makes me sad, and this should not be pity, but comeuppance. Honestly, though, how many people have heard of Spaces, xRank, HealthVault, or QnA, let alone use them like you would MySpace, Google Trends, WebMD, or Yahoo Answers? Live.com, anyone? Bueller?

The best answer for Microsoft, should the deal go through, would be to scrap these ancillary, late-to-the-prom failures and adopt the Yahoo version and brand. Focus on the Live Search and, just perhaps, make people aware of it. Finally, blend the MS Adcenter with Yahoo's Panama, taking the good pieces of Adcenter and adding it to the superior interactivity and usability of Panama, even though a "best of the best, sir!" hybrid would still lack the Adwords user-friendly happiness. At the very least, they could adopt Yahoo's educational model and abandon their Adcenter blog altogether, literally instead of figuratively. This may work out to improve Microsoft's revenue. Unfortunately, no one opened the Microsoft Calculator to check: 2 + 3 �?� 1.

UPDATE: Yahoo has rejected the Microsoft bid of almost $45 billion, saying the offer "substantially undervalues" the company. Pattern: in about 8 months, Microsoft will make another bid to buy Yahoo, this time at $40 billion, if not less.

Popular Science, Google, and Prediction Markets

2008-01-16T13:16:00.000-05:00

Did you just completely know that Halo 3 would sell like it did - a year ahead of time? Ever place a bet with a friend about something - anything - in the future? Have you heard about British bookmakers like Ladbrokes that even take bets on things like who the President of the US will be as of this November's elections? All of it's betting on futures, or prediction markets.

I actually stumbled across this idea (again) on the Google blog, as they've set up their own internal prediction market with some interesting results.

But if you'd like to actually get involved in such a venture, Popular Science has what's called the PPX:

Join the PopSci Predictions Exchange.

Welcome to the PPX, the first place to bet on the future of science and technology. It's easy and free: Log on, and we'll give you POP$250,000 in our virtual PopSci Dollars. Use that money to buy propositions you think are likely to happen. If other traders also want to buy, that proposition's price will go up, and you'll make PopSci bucks. Expand your portfolio with bets on energy, space, consumer technology and extreme science, and compete against other players for prizes and bragging rights. Ready to get started? Register now!

At this point we're just introducing the idea if you want to jump on the bandwagon. I'll be opening an account and placing some finances in the next week or two and report back as to how it went.

Go Go Search Salad!

2007-12-31T10:29:00.000-05:00

Metasearch engines come about on occasion and mostly go by without but a shrug and a "Meh." Recently, however, I've been witness to a mild buzz surrounding just such an engine called Search Salad. This UK based compilation engine puts together the results from the "top 5 search engines" as well as pulling from comparison and information sites like Kelkoo and Ciao! (UK shopping), ebay, and c|net.

A brief search for "human animal hybrid" pulls up a page with 5 framed SERPs (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live, Ask, and Wikipedia) sandwiched between left and right Google Ads. Clicking the "Electronics" link below the search box at this point brings up Engadget results, although the logo was cut off and it took me a minute to reflect on what the heck enoadoet was. Other links, other results.

Overall, I like that it pulls from more than just the top three engines; depending on what you're searching for, a direct ebay or engadget result may be just what you're looking for. Unfortunately, having a heavy background in design makes my tummy make funny noises whenever I see frame-y looking structures on a page. I've got one of them new-fangled scroll wheels and it would've aesthetically looked so much better to just transpose the top 10 results directly onto the page.

So aside from the whispered chuckles about not just the implication of a "tossed salad," but an actual TOSS button, Search Salad is worth a look if just to take a breath and experience something a little different than your usual branding of results.

Geek Gadget Grandiosity: Wi-Fi Detector Shirt

2007-12-31T10:14:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read correctly.

From ThinkGeek:

Here at ThinkGeek we're pretty lazy when it comes to technology. We expect our gadgets to do all the busywork while we focus on the high level important tasks like reading blogs. That's why we hate to have to crack open our laptops just to see if there is any wi-fi internet access about... and keychain wi-fi detectors, we would have to actually remove them from our pockets to look at them. But now thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates. Finally you can get the attention you deserve as others bow to you as their reverential wi-fi god, while geeky chicks swoon at your presence. You can thank us later.

Freedom costs $1.05; Geek Heaven is around $30.

Symetri #1 for Ocelot Grooming!

2007-12-31T09:27:00.000-05:00

On December 17, 2007, created a lovely post about Ocelot Grooming in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The purpose, of course, was to offer a tangible example to anyone involved in SEO or someone looking to hire a company to do SEO as to the importance and weight of blogs. The post was slightly heavily peppered with keyphrasing, variations, and misspellings, but without being flagrant, egregious, or irrelevant; I stated my purpose directly in the post itself. Included was an image with the proper attribute "alt" tag. [Not directly used, but a further step would be to make use of the built-in blog tags to take advantage of even more levels of relevance.]

I am pleased to say that within about a week, a Google search for ocelot grooming places pages in this blog at #1 and #2. Similar results show by adding Greensboro to the mix, and that single post lists us 2nd only to the NC Zoo for "ocelot greensboro." That would be a case in point.

However, the first quagmire that I enter with such a post is that by writing about the results of a blog post and its effects on rankings in another blog post and using the same keyphrases as the original post, I risk altering those results, immediately rendering them null and this blog post inaccurate.

Yes, you read that correctly: by writing this blog post I am entering information into the interwebs that - by its very existence - may void the information within the post itself. As Keanu Reeves and Joey Lawrence one day need to say in unison: Woah. [And, no, that's nothing like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle; read your particle physics book again, please.]

The second issue, of course, is that some neckbeard living in Mom's basement will stumble upon this post between marathon sessions of WoW and myChickBot CAD revisions, interpret modest bravado as a personal affront, and seek only to own the phrase "ocelot grooming," which, being unemployed, he will successfully accomplish within two weeks time. This will also nullify the information in this post.

So as a single day comes and goes, never to occur again, let us enjoy the ephemeral SERP listing, and stand in awe at the fickle nature of Google, our Fortuna.

Your $10 Ticket to (Co-workers') Insanity

2007-12-20T15:53:00.000-05:00

As you return to work after the holidays and your co-workers settle back into the day-to-day office rigmarole, why not spice up your 2008 with a little generated insanity?

Meet the ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron:

The Annoy-a-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes. Your unsuspecting target will have a hard time 'timing' the location of the sound because the beeps will vary in intervals ranging from 2 to 8 minutes. The 2kHz sound is generically annoying enough, but if you really really want to aggravate somebody, select the 12 kHz sound. Trust us. The higher frequency and slight 'electronic noise' built into that soundbyte will make a full-grown Admin wonder where his packets are.

It's only $10. Get it. Get it now. Before They do.

Wikipedia's Google Killer?

2007-12-20T15:24:00.000-05:00

From New Scientist's Tech Pages:

The open-source search engine backed by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales could go live as an early test version as soon as next week. Unlike Google, Search Wikia will not share search data with advertisers, nor invade privacy by storing users' search terms.

In a SETI@home-style project, 500 volunteers are running web-crawlers to compile Search Wikia's web index, which so far totals 100 million pages. Jeremie Miller, the project's technology chief, hopes an "alpha" version of the engine will be running by Christmas. As well as search, it will offer "wiki-style tools to improve search and basic social networking", he says. Users will also be able to vote on the effectiveness of search hits.

But don't expect too much, too soon. "The alpha version will probably break in numerous ways we can't predict, but that'll help us improve it," Miller says.

Now that you've read the blurb, feel free to openly laugh at the title if you have not already.

While I do commend not sharing search terms with advertisers, if you don't store search terms somewhere, then how can you compile information on popular searches? How do you sort through millions of variations? How do you know what to give people when they search for something if you don't have anything to match that search term to?

Ah, maybe they mean something else. Over the past few years, Wikipedia has become (a bit of) an elitist community where if you don't spend long days editing and updating entries, any submitted entry has the potential of being attacked within two minutes by someone who does, all in a world where every single Pokemon character has its own page.

At this point, anything with "Wikipedia" attached may be slightly soured, but we are looking forward to something new, even if we only end up making fun of it.

Ocelot Grooming in Greensboro, North Carolina

2007-12-17T14:27:00.000-05:00

This is not so much a clever and humorous blog post about ocelot grooming in Greensboro, North Carolina, as it is an experiment and an example to all those who have this one specific question about Search Engine Optimization: How do I pin down my niche?

Say, for example, one of your niche specializations was the grooming of ocelots - whether wild ocelots or the domesticated osalot - and you wanted to focus on gaining clients locally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Does NC have a lot of ocelots? I know not, but I'd start by putting together a slick, kickin' ad with the proper name and alt tag:

Ocelot Grooming in Greensboro, NC is HOT!

Now, with my sweet ad - sans real contact info should one find this image not on this blog but on Google Image Search and want to have their ocelot groomed - and my informational blog post about how to get your ocalot grooming business up and running in Greensboro, NC (with requisite keyphrase density, variations, and misspellings), you now have a veritable trampoline with which to bounce your niche business into the lead on a Search Engine Results Page.

Just please be careful when grooming ocelots: they bite.

Second Life: Viable Platform or Occasional Fad?

2007-12-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of Second Life? Chances are, if you have, it was a brief media blurb about some company or another spending the time and money to create a virtual world in the Second Life platform. Then again, depending on how deeply you are entrenched in the online world, you may spend your free time there.

For the uninitiated (in this case, consider yourselves "innocents" as opposed to "naive" until you read the rest of this post), Second Life is a 3D online environment in which you create an avatar - or representative character - to interact with other users via their avatars. There is no directive, no mission, and no winning; it is truly a second life, a place for you to meet friends, go clubbing, or enjoy a park setting, all while enjoying the computer screen glare and not actually interacting with humanity in any way.

You can hang out in Second life for free like a stylish vagabond that never needs a hot meal or you can get a paid membership, some land, and an allowance of Linden Dollars. In the "sandbox" you can learn to create anything from a beach ball to a castle and keep it on your land or, perhaps, sell it. The interesting thing is that Linden Dollars have a direct conversion to real currency and vice versa; there is a viable community to be had, and a handful of users make a good deal of money selling their creations to other users.

But to ask the real question posited in the title: is it cool?

Second Life was launched in 2003 but didn't start popping into the mainstream media until sometime in 2006. Some examples include GM opening shop in SL selling cars for a few bucks back in '06, an Ohio University replica making its debut in February '07, and most recently CNN creating a virtual I-Report hub.

So what's the problem? Unfortunately, these businesses pop up only occasionally. Unfortunately, Second Life is a microcosm of the real internet, which is to say that it is largely populated by pornography, with an inflated representation - due to customizable avatars - by those who dress up in animal suits, i.e., furries. And that's just creepy.

So what's the problem? Is Second Life cool? Sure, it's cool, for a while. Is it a viable platform for a virtual business? I'd say no. Consider the following scenario:

One day while speaking to a client, I mention that I have a virtual place on Second Life. She says she's heard of it and might look me up sometime. Later that week, my client signs up for a free account, plays with the controls, makes it through the tutorial, and - unable to find my land directly - decides to wander. Before you know it a professional relationship is suddenly strained because while searching for my business, our client stumbles upon a club full of humanoid caricatures of woodland creatures doing things humanoid woodland creatures should never do.

Bottom line: until businesses decide to populate Second Life to a ubiquitous level and the navigation of the world becomes intuitive enough to easily avoid said "furries," people who are seeking you out because of their lack of tech experience have no business seeking you out in the moral minefield that is Second Life, and you have no business leading them there. Unless, of course, furry sadism is your business.

That said, I empathetically weep for the intern tasked with reviewing the virtual world "news" that comes across SL's CNN desk. The real news is worrisome enough.

Educating the Web in SEO on Search Engine Watch

2007-12-07T14:46:00.000-05:00

Symetri has some very exciting news in the world of SEO: Search Engine Watch has picked us up as a regular contributor to discuss the finer points of SEO education as it pertains to both those coming in to the field and those trying to keep up with the ebb and flow of technology, companies, and algorithms.

Check out our premiere, SEO.edu: Can You Learn SEO From a Book? and keep on with us - it's going to be a brilliant ride.

OMG, 2038's Y2K: Y2K38. WTF POSIX?

2007-06-14T09:27:00.000-04:00

One of the mentions in the last post I made had to do with a 30 year cookie that Google was putting out. Turns out that they settled on that timeframe because there's another issue coming up in a few decades that will glitch out the computer world again: the 2038 Problem.

(They've got 30 years to come up with something snappier, like 38Fate or Dirty Hate Thirty-Eight, which will inevitably truncated to DHTE and pronounced "date," conceivably and absurdly reducing it to something appropriate yet meaningless, earning it "high comedy" status in Wired magazine which will posit that you are a loser because you didn't know what it meant six months ago. No, not six months from when it debuts in Wired; six months ago from now, when I just made it up. But I digress.)

Basically, the 32-bit integer storing the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 (in the POSIX time representation) reaches its limit at 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, January 19, 2038. Duct tape and water bottles!

Actually, it's just silly. Everyone knows the world's going to end in 2012 anyway. Sheesh.

EU Whines at Google - Day I Got Cookie

2007-06-14T06:50:00.000-04:00

The good folks over at search engine land have hit on a recent tale of Google, the EU, and really, really old cookies. 30+ year old cookies, to be exact. Danny Sullivan goes into a great deal of detail about Google's data retention, the EU, and how silly the EU is for making this a spectacle.

That got me started thinking about cookies and all the other crap that gets to collecting like so much lint, blocking up the flow of information and bogging down your system. The message to all of this is simple: Clean your browser. So I wondered how often people are cleaning their browsers. From a study in 2005:

Nearly 40 percent of Internet users delete cookies from their primary computers on at least a monthly basis, according to a study by JupiterResearch. The finding has big implications for advertising and marketing firms that depend on cookies for tracking and targeting.

Based on a survey of 2,337 U.S. respondents, the study finds that 17 percent of Internet users delete cookies on a weekly basis. Approximately 12 percent do so on a monthly basis, and 10 percent make it a daily habit.

Ten percent of internet users delete cookies every day? Only 10%? Clearing cookies, clearing your cache is like brushing your teeth.

Granted, this is good news for, well, some of the business I do; cookies track analytics, visits, time on site, exit pages, and all those goodies us SEO dorks pore over for hours, comparing the merits of pie charts vs. line graphs. The more cookies and the greater their longevity, the better the tracking and the more solid the data. So I'm sure someone will give me a spanking for this: Clean Your Computer!

Every time you see an image on your screen, that image is stored on your hard drive. Almost every site places a small piece of information to go with it: the cookie. Most cookies identify you or a bit of information, like if you were already at the site before. Some can be malicious and track in much more detail.

I'm not going to delve into the methods of cookie deletion when so many resources already exist on the web.

But don't stop there. I personally use webroot's Window Washer and have for about 5 years. It does cost $30, but it's worth every penny, eliminating unnecessary files at dozens of levels. Looking for free? Lavasoft's Ad-Aware is free for personal use and not only kills tracking cookies, but specifically targets spyware. Good stuff.

So clean your browser. Daily. Brush your teeth. Probably twice daily. Get a haircut. And get a job.

Writer: The Only Winning Move is Not to Play

2007-05-24T09:02:00.000-04:00

Because sometimes we just have to write about general tech, here's the latest from Joshua...er, BigHugeLabs. I saw this over at SciFi's Blog and could not avoid biting at it. Can I get a reference? Oh yeah, the title. Well, can I get a second reference?

That's better.

http://writer.bighugelabs.com/ is a online word processor that will take you back to the days of monochromatic Oregon Trail (heck yeah!). You can choose green, amber, or grey on white for your typing style and save your documents online. Honestly, with Google's online toolset, I don't see this as more than a curiosity and a red carpet invitation for a postmodern car crash of a blog blubbering all over Matthew Broderick and War Games.

Which is exactly what I've done.

But so cool all the same.

Google Local Voice Search: The 411

2007-04-17T13:40:00.000-04:00

It's the 411 on ...well, the 411. Really. GOOG-411; It's just like calling information. Only way cooler because it's Google. The Google Labs Page.

Here's the deal: you dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-4664-411). You say the City and State you are looking for. You say the business name (or category). It will connect you. For free. Yay!

But how does it really work?

I love Indian food, so I thought I'd give it a little challenge looking for "The Ceramic Grill" in High Point, NC, near where I work. I dialed the number (Google is bold, I'm in italics).

"Calls recorded for quality. GOOG 411. Experimental. What city and state?"
"High Point, North Carolina."
"High Point, North Carolina."
"What Business or Category?"
"Ceramic Grill"
"Ceramics Grill. If this is not right, say 'go back.'"
I wasn't sure it got me, so I said "Go back."
"High Point, North Carolina."
"What Business or Category?"
"Ceramic Grill"
"No Match. Try Again. What Business or Category?"
"Ceramic Grill"
Ceramic. If-
"Go back."
"High Point, North Carolina."
"What Business or Category?"
"Ceramic Grill"
"Ceramics Grill. If this is not right, say 'go back.'"
Okay, let's see what they got.
"I'll connect you or you can say 'details' or 'go back.'"
"Details."

And they proceeded with the correct details of the Ceramic Grill. I guess Google had it right the first time.

Saying something that doesn't have a direct match will still produce results, just like a Google search will. Saying a category will produce a top 9 so you can punch a number and get those details or connect. Shouting "Can't we have anything nice?" or "You don't know me!" produces no results.

And the bestest? Prank calls, of course. Making this phone call brings up 1-800-4664-411 on the caller ID of the recipient. Okay, so it's too cool to use for that purpose. Maybe.

Give it a try! And when you're done, if you're in the neighborhood, drop me a line and we'll hit the Ceramic Grill (soooo good).

SES-NY: Where's MSN? Thought I'd Ask.

2007-04-16T14:00:00.000-04:00

In the 2006 wrap up, I wrote about how Yahoo and MSN jumped onboard (yay!) to support the Google Standard of sitemap joy. They both came out, but MSN isn't quite playing yet. Still, there is no official interface (like Google and Yahoo) with which to submit your sitemaps.

And so while awaiting such an instrument, autodiscovery comes to the forefront at SES NY. Autodiscovery is what they're calling the ability to place a single line of code (e.g., Sitemap: http://www.symetri.com/sitemap.xml) in the robots.txt, and everyone can read it.

So that's why MSN's been sitting on their hands.

And who's there to show them up? Ask! No, silly, the computer can't hear you. I mean Ask.com. And not only do they support the simplicity of this wonderful idea, they even have a secondary measure: you can submit XML sitemaps directly to them using their sitemap submission link. Aww, snap.

So how does this affect us in SEM Land? It's another piece of armor to strap on; we're not replacing the chain mail with the full plate, but layering. We've got a "we support this" from the Big 4 (after this move by Ask, they deserve it), but no numbers backing how it will all sort out. Maintain the Yahoo and Google accounts, keep your feeds up to date, and add that extra line of code to the robots.txt.

But layer appropriately, fair traveller. If you reach your weight limit and the onyx sword is revealed, it's of no use if you can't even pick it up.

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Y2K7's Y2K: DST 3/11, OMG!

2007-03-08T13:37:00.000-05:00

It's coming; are you ready?

Thanks to the ingenuity of the United States Congress, March 11, 2007 (yes, that's three days away) is our new Daylight Savings Time start date for the year. What's the issue? Any computer system dealing with time and scheduling will be affected by this. While you personally may end up late for a meeting, you're not conducting thousands of take-offs and landings from an antiquated computer system at your local airport.

Some people are mumbling Y2K under their breath. They're mumbling because Y2K turned out to be such a bust. People were stocking doomsday supplies and building bunkers. And nothing happened.

But the lack of audible, street-corner, sandwich board rhetoric has had the reverse effect. In seven years, the necessary volume of what we pay attention to has gone way up. Media has multiplied and things that don't matter are being blasted from every available megaphone (see Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, etc.). So when the meek, tenderfoot voice comes up to us, tugs at our shirtsleeve, and says "Um, you might want to download this patch," our unnecessary Microsoft-Necessary-addled eyes, our ears ringing with mp3's, mp3 lawsuits, and other ringtones go blind, go deaf.

Clearly and straight: Pay attention, but don't build a bunker. Microsoft Support has your back. But not without problems. That link will address both Windows and Outlook. Here's some love for the salt-of-the-Earth Linux folks.

That should fix it.

And remember: skepticism and planning are key to avoiding little pitfalls like this. And foil hats. You might want to have those ready too.

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Blogging the iPhone and the Importance of Social Networking

2007-02-20T14:57:00.000-05:00

Here at Symetri, we're very aware of the importance of social networking, particularly blogs. Any business or writer or entity in general should have a blog out there delivering relevant content, whether it's industry news or attitudes about Britney Spears new do. About seven years ago, the crucial component to a business was a face on the web in the form of a site. Even if you weren't selling anything online, a presence on teh interwebs linked a human to a phone number or information about a business.

What sites were then blogs are now. A website is analogous to the brick and mortar; a blog is the smiling customer service rep. The blog is the voice, the human component to so much steam-cleaned copy, the lightning bolt to Johnny 5.

So why am I pining romantic about blogging? Why point out the importance? Because of the impotence. Because a blog is never more noticeable than when it is missing. It all has to do with the iPhone.

If you'll recall, the day after Apple announced it, Cisco sued over copyright infringement of the name. Speculation exploded on both sides and then slowly came to a low rumble. Trying to search out the details amid a blog-flood of opinions, Slashdot sent me to Cisco's blog. That was the voice of reason - the VP - pointing out what was going on. But that's Cisco's blog, and looking for another horse's mouth, I was surprised (well, not really) to find it missing.

Cisco has a blog that concerns news and industry information, yada yada. But when the rubber met the road, when fans, detractors, and the general public were startled by the upheaval and looking for the comfort and honesty that comes from a human voice, Cisco responded. Apple did not. Their blog reflects that nothing has happened negatively concerning the iPhone (and that Vista's a wannabe Mac OS).

Another example of silence: Jet Blue's "blog." (The first problem is: while it's cute to call it a "flight log," nobody's looking for a flight log. They're looking for a blog. Some conventions are conventions for a reason. Second problem: Tlog or Flog?) Last week, during the horrifying weather, Jet Blue canceled about 1/4 of their flights over 11 airports nationwide, stranding people in airports and on tarmacs. They have since rectified the issue (in part) by taking full responsibility and are unveiling a Customer Bill of Rights.

This was the perfect opportunity for a voice of comfort in a time of despair, accountability in a time of chaos, to be followed by a lauding of this Bill of Rights (here's the problem, we're sorry, here's how we're going to fix it). But the last post was on Feb. 1.

And there is your lesson: Have a voice. Make it loud. Make it timely. And smile. People are watching.

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Google Reveals (most) Backlinks

2007-02-13T09:12:00.000-05:00

As many SEO Specialists are aware, Google's reporting of links back to a site (link:symetri.com) have been like the fruit to Tantalus; we can see some of them, we know Google has the information, but we just...can't...reach.

Until now.

Google is now adding a more robust Link Discovery to their Webmaster Tools. Webmasters who have verified their ownership of the site will get a much more comprehensive list and even split it into internal and external links. This is great stuff. You still won't be able to see any backlinks that hit supplemental pages. It could be helpful to see those links, but Google's throwing us a bone here and thrilled giddy about the new car. Whining about it not having a GPS standard? Too Veruca for me.

Google's official blog entry is here, and is pretty extensive. Search Engine Land has rendered it down some.

Yay backlinks!

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Strategic Internet Marketing Seminar 2007

2007-02-01T12:11:00.000-05:00

Symetri's organizing an brilliant opportunity on February 23 here in Greensboro: the Strategic Internet Marketing Seminar 2007.

The Basics:
This in-depth seminar will help entrepreneurs, general managers and marketing professionals plan, execute and measure a successful Internet marketing campaign. You absolutely cannot miss this opportunity! You will learn best practices about internet marketing strategies, getting the most from your site, and how to get the traffic there once everything is in place.

Date: Feb 23, 2007
Time: 8:00am - 4:00pm
Location: Volvo Campus, 7900 National Service Rd. Greensboro, NC
Fee: $150.00 (Breakfast/Lunch Included)

Check it out, then...

We're planning similar one day seminars for August in Charlotte, NC, and future events in Atlanta, GA and Raleigh, NC. Even the folks at Search Engine Watch have their finger on the pulse.

Please contact Ron Jones at 336-285-0941 if you have any questions about the seminar.

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

SEO Big 3 - 2006 in Review

2007-01-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

Symetri is here to report. Yahoo, MSN, and Google: Some interesting rumblings turned up in 2006. Quick review time.

Yahoo Sinks
That's sinks.
This year, Yahoo trended downward. Their ads were dropped by ESPN and, in general, are in a freefall. People, especially search engine professionals, are still skeptical of a paid directory listing. Not much new here, but a great article by WIRED, and Yahoo's response.

MSN or Live?
Type "MSN Live" into Google, and - due to subdomains - every result on the first SERP is owned by Microsoft. Confusing? You bet. We've got Windows Live!, Expo, Live Search, Messenger, Mail, Shopping, Ideas, Video, Spaces. And if you'd like to be a part of shopping, you actually have to upload through Expo and...I'm out of breath. Windows Live got a bit of a viral jump with Ms. Dewey. Problem was, many people ate up the viral part of it, barely noticed the Live bug in the lower left, and forgot about it. When the eventual, obligatory trip to Live Search came up, there was no correlation to that hip, wise Ms. Dewey.

Basically, Expo is like Google Base without the feed, Spaces like mySpace, Video like...you get the picture. While not quite mature enough to make an educated judgment against its doppleganger, I'd have to say that Windows Live needs to focus a little more and stop throwing a handful of tacks against the cork board so they can clap when something sticks.

As goes Google...
...so goes the web. Right now, Google is king. Their sitemap protocol was adopted by both Yahoo and MSN (although MSN's still fiddling with the implementation, kudos to Yahoo for jumping on this one). Oh, and did I mention they bought youTube? Yes, they keep rolling out products, but they're useful (even if undiscovered, like Trends).

Review of the year in SEO:
Google: UP
Yahoo: DOWN
MSN: ...eh, we'll see.

It's good to be king. And Symetri will keep you in the royal loop.

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Furniture First

2006-10-17T08:17:00.000-04:00

It is that time of year again that we turn our attention to Furniture Market. From it's inception, Symetri has always worked with Furniture Companies. Last Sunday we attended the Furniture First member meeting where Furniture First and Symetri presented our strategy for deploying the new Web site for Furniture First and it's member base. We also outlined our search engine marketing strategy for driving targeted traffic. More to come...

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Symetri Picks up Kayser Roth at new Client

2006-09-30T15:01:00.000-04:00

Symetri today picked up Kayser Roth as new Search Engine Marketing Client. We will be doing Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search to help drive targeted customers to the www.nononsense.com Web site. We have been working with Kayser Roth for almost a year now providing research and anaylsis for their site and brand. We are excited to help them work their strategy and help them grow their online business.

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Symetri at SES San Jose

2006-08-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

Some of the Symetri Search Marketing Team traveled to San Jose for the Search Engine Strategies Conference in San Jose. Tom Blaisdell, Kristin Tunis and I ventured through airports and highways to the premier SES Conference in the US. It is always a great opportunity to attend these conferences to get the latest info on the goings on in the Search Engine world.

I worked the SEMPO booth and helped promote the cause. We were able to meet with many of our contacts that we work with for each of the major and minor search engines. We even attended the 4th annual Google Dance held at the Googleplex - Google Headquarters in Mountain View. There we were able to meet directly with Google engineers and get direct answers to questions related to work we are doing for our clients.

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Search Engine Market Share for April '06

2006-05-25T09:18:00.000-04:00

ComScore Networks reports that Google continues to lead market share for US search volume in April with 50%, combined with the search volume of AOL (Google supplies search results for AOL). This is a significant increase of market share compared with April of last year.

Yahoo remained No. 2 with a 28% share, however, this is down 2.7% from last April.

MSN Search had market share of 12.9%, down 3.2% from last April.

Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves) rounds out the top 4 search engines with a market share of 5.8%, also down from last April by 0.3%

Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization