SearchDay | Is it Too Late for Holiday Search Traffic?

Today’s Top Story:

Mark Jackson

Is it Too Late for Holiday Search Traffic? AU NATURAL Holiday phrases like “Christmas” show up in Google’s universal search results, so there still may be an opportunity to show up. For other competitive keyword phrases, you’d be better off targeting New Year’s, or even Valentine’s Day. » Full story » Print version

Search Engine Watch Experts Columns

Tim Ash	Assembling Your Landing Page Optimization Dream Team, Part 3 BY THE NUMBERS We’ve already described some key roles necessary for a successful landing page optimization program. Today, we’ll examine three more roles: the copywriter, marketing manager, and user experience expert. » Full story » Print version
Carrie Hill	PPC & SEO — Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together LITTLE BIZ Put peanut butter and chocolate together and you get something that transcends each of the individual ingredients. The same effect can be had when you combine paid search advertising with search engine optimization efforts. » Full story » Print version
Ron Jones	Keyword Discovery 101, Part 1 SEM 101 Developing proficiency for identifying and refining your keywords crosses many disciplines. It’s important to think about a strategy for your campaign and what goals you wish to accomplish before you begin. » Full story » Print version

News from the Search Engine Watch Blog

Please Take the Search Engine Watch Readership Survey Posted by Kevin Newcomb Dec 9, 2008 Search Engine Watch continues to grow by adding new users every month. But weâ””re always looking for ways to improve the site, and would like to ask for your help. Please give us your feedback in our Search Engine Watch Readership Survey. To learn more about you and your information needs … » Continue reading

Top 10 stories from SES Chicago 2008 on Day 2
Posted by Greg Jarboe Dec 10, 2008
Things are really rolling now at SES Chicago 2008. Here are the top 10 stories from Day 2: Fighting IP Extremism with Online Video â”” The Lawrence Lessig Interview Grant Crowell of ReelSEO writes, â””We caught up with Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of Standford Law schoolâ””s Center for Internet and Society, …
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AdGooroo Report Shows Times Not So Tough for Search
Posted by Kevin Newcomb Dec 9, 2008
The economic downturn may not be affecting search advertising, according to the latest Mid-Quarter Search Engine Update from AdGooroo. The report shows that first-page advertising activity on all three search engines was up sharply during the first two months of Q4. Google active advertiser counts were up about 54.9%, Yahoo …
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How Low Performing Banner Ads Can Actually Increase Conversions
Posted by Nathania Johnson Dec 9, 2008
So you stopped your banner ad campaigns a long time ago because the click through rate sucks and the conversion rate was even worse? The problem is – you might be leaving money on the table. In a couple sessions at SES, I’ve been hearing about how banner ads can drive people …
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YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008
Posted by Greg Jarboe Dec 10, 2008
The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC discusses some under reported “Holy Mackerel” stories each evening. Well, I’d like to share a “Holy Mackerel” story from SES Chicago 2008. I’m one of the speakers at the Video Search Engine Optimization session on Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. …
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Google Book Search Adds Magazines
Posted by Nathania Johnson Dec 9, 2008
In the wake of news that Google has struck a deal with publishers for its book search, and that they’ve acquired millions of digital newspaper archives, comes news that Google is pursuing magazine archives. Today, they announced the new initiative, with new partnerships to digitize periodical archives including New York Magazine, …
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Ten Top Stories from SES Chicago 2008 for Day 1
Posted by Greg Jarboe Dec 9, 2008
It takes a little effort to spot the ten top stories from the first day of SES Chicago 2008. Thatâ””s because some of them appear in Google News or Yahoo! News, some in Google Blog Search or Technorati, and some on YouTube. And I didnâ””t even try to …
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News from the World of Search Outside SES
Posted by Nathania Johnson Dec 9, 2008
I don’t have as much time to blog about each story this week, being at SES Chicago, but I’ve been keeping an eye on the news for you. So here are links to news that’s happening in the world of search this week: Microsoft Live Search A call for industry standards for …
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Search Engine Watch Forum Discussions

Are sub-domains considered internal or external links Dec 9, 2008 I have 2 questions: 1) Are sub-domains considered internal or external links? 2) I have a lot of sub-domains (over 1000) with a link back to the main site. Google has finally recognized these backlinks & my backlink count in google has increased. But i read somewhere that google doesn’t like too … » Join the discussion

Performance based payment for running Adwords Campaigns Dec 9, 2008 I was just wondering whether anyone’s doing this? Recently ran some wildly successful campaigns with minimum budgets and it hurts to see all the money clients are making without us being able to ‘share’ in that joy… Do you: 1. Charge a commission on sale percentage? 2. Charge a percentage of ad budget … » Join the discussion

AdWords – Going Down the Tubes? Dec 9, 2008 OK folks. Let’s get to the nitty gritty. According what we hear the worldwide economy is going down the tubes. But, has this changed your AdWords advertising yet? Please tell us. Be truthful. » Join the discussion