The Week in Review

Google Thrives as Bing-Yahoo Partnership Begins

The “early winner” of Bing and Yahoo’s search partnership is…Google? According to Efficient Frontier, Google’s share of paid search spending was 77.9 percent in the third quarter, up from 75.8 percent in the second quarter. Paid clicks at Google are up 9 percent year-over-year, while cost-per-click is up 14 percent and impressions are up 6 percent. Meanwhile, Bing’s spend share was 7.3 percent in the third quarter, up from 6.8 percent in the previous quarter. Yahoo’s share was 14.8 percent, down from 14.8 percent in the second quarter. (Search Engine Land)

3 Facebook ‘Like’ Case Studies

How are brands using Facebook ads to boost their “likes” and how much success are they having? Read about the ventures of Jim Beam, Baskin Robbins and Panda Express to see how they went about their campaigns and how much success they achieved. (ClickZ)

Using Google Blog Posts to Build Links

Building links is one of the most important aspects of SEO, and Google Blogs is one of the best ways to help that cause. Follow these three tips, along with three bonus tips, to get started on building links on fresh, relevant blog posts. (ZDNet)

3 Secrets About Google’s Quality Score

Google’s Quality Score is a big factor in determining how high your ad appears in Google search results. While Google has shared a good amount of information about its Quality Score algorithm, there are still some aspects it has kept quiet about: what “other relevance factors” are, the main purpose of Quality Score and that low Quality Score keywords aren’t always bad. (PPC Hero)

Internet Ad Revenues Exceed $12 Billion in First Half of 2010

According to the Internet Advertising Bureau and PwC, Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. were $12.1 billion in the first half of the year, setting a new first-half record and an increase of 11.3 percent from the same period last year. Search ads accounted for 47 percent of spending, followed by display-related ads with 36 percent, classifieds with 10 percent, referrals/lead generation with 5 percent and e-mail with 1 percent. (IAB)

YouTube is a Keyword-Research Tool

YouTube can be used as a very insightful keyword-research tool, and not just for video content. Google AdWords Keyword Tool is helpful, but it has its limitations. Go to a YouTube video, however, and you’ll find a wealth of information in the video’s related information and comments. (SEOmoz)

E-mail Marketing 101

Whether you’re a bona fide noob or someone who needs to get back to the basics, here’s a guide through the basic elements of e-mail marketing. The first phase involves getting permission and getting whitelisted. Then it’s on to managing (and setting) expectations, following up, pitching, creating a good newsletter and using an autoresponder. The last phase involves analytics, segmentation and the value of your list. (KISSmetrics)

Threshold of Facebook User Influence

According to a study from Oxford University, Facebook users influence each others’ application-installing habits, but only once the application has exceeded a certain threshold of popularity. If it doesn’t reach that level, social influence is insignificant. (VentureBeat)

Common Deliverability Challenges (and Solutions)

The vast majority of delivery issues are rooted in your sending reputation, which is based on your sending patterns and volumes, mailing infrastructure, list hygiene, and subscriber complaints. Here are five solutions to those common reputation problems. (MediaPost)

Mixed SEO Signals

It’s time for some speculation. This writer reviews some conventional thoughts on Google’s supposed ranking signals that smell a bit dubious. Among them are whether or not indexed pages pass PageRank, if NoFollow links are used as a signal or not and whether search engines follow a limited number of links per page. (Search Engine Land)

Mobile Ads Are Important to Consumers

Thirty-eight percent of consumers are “very comfortable” with mobile advertising, and say “they serve an important purpose.” Meanwhile, 25 percent are “somewhat comfortable” with mobile ads and are “getting used to seeing them.” Only 12 percent said they are “not comfortable” with mobile advertising and said “they are intrusive.” Meanwhile, receptivity to advertising may depend on the device being used, with iPad users exhibiting particular enjoyment of ads they see. (eMarketer)

The Value of Bit.ly Research

A simple “+” can tell you a lot about those bit.ly links you’re using. Appending a “+” to a bit.ly link will show you metrics about that link, including how many clicks it has received. Spend some time exploring those helpful pages. Though it’s not a panacea for online marketing, it does have its place in your toolbox. (ZDNet)

The Jury is Still Out About Social Media’s Value

According to a study from Econsultancy, 47 percent of companies around the world say they aren’t able to measure the value gained from investments in social media, or that the jury’s still out. Twenty percent say the return is similar to other marketing activities, while 17 percent say the investments have been less valuable than other marketing activities. Also, while e-mail marketing and SEO is being integrated well with social media activities, others are far behind. (eMarketer)

The TV Revolution and What it Means

The Web/TV revolution being driven by Google and Apple means that online video is fast becoming an even more important medium for companies looking to get exposure. The Web on TV means there will be an unlimited number of channels, and marketing will be easier as a result. (WebProNews)

Mobile Internet Stats

Here’s a roundup of the latest mobile Internet stats. Among the findings are that Europeans are the biggest users of SMS, mobile marketing budgets rose 26 percent in 2009 and Facebook is popular in the U.S. and Europe but not in Japan. (Econsultancy)

Mobile Behavior is Cultural

With the latest numbers from comScore, it’s clear that mobile behaviors are very much based on cultural values, habits and traditions. While the Japanese market is “ahead of the game” to some extent, when it comes to accessing online retail, all major markets have much room for growth, making this one area to watch closely. (MediaPost)

6 Technical SEO Tips for Better Traffic and Rankings

Here are six ideas for technical SEO strategies to enhance your site: 1) leverage UGC beyond the product page, 2) use “other users found this document for,” 3) consider delivering search engine-friendly URLs in your internal site search results, 4) be creative with Microformats, 5) work hard to resolve errors and boost site speed, and 6) watch your homepage title in Google’s SERPs. (SEOmoz)

How to Use Facebook’s Applications Settings Dashboard

Facebook recently introduced its new Applications Settings dashboard, which enables users to better control how their Facebook apps, games, etc., use their data. That’s neat and all, but how do you use it? This post has you covered. The increased visibility offered by the dashboard will help keep app developers accountable and will encourage them to access data in a responsible fashion. (Inside Facebook)

Will Portals Be Relevant in the Mobile Realm?

Yes, apps are all the rage these days, but the mobile Web is still going strong. After all, more mobile users are using their Web browsers than downloaded apps. Yahoo, AOL and MSN are making nice strides with their mobile-friendly portals. While portals should be very relevant to the mobile platform, it’s still worthwhile to wonder whether or not portals will be entryways to mobile media. (MediaPost)

10 Reasons to Choose the Web Over Apps

Apps are getting a lot of love from retailers, but the future might lie with mobile websites. Among the 10 reasons to opt for the mobile Web as a first step are its greater reach, the growth of Android, findability and links. (Econsultancy)

An Intro to Content Targeting

“One of the more successful non-search triggered products that the engines offer is content targeting.” Though paid search is pretty darn good at being a form of advertising that handles targeting well, content targeting is a good idea because of its scalability, and high levels of transparency and measurability, among other things. (Search Engine Land)

Yahoo Gets More Visual

Yahoo’s search results just got prettier. The search engine is including a box at the top of search results when users search for common terms. These boxes will feature things like a breakdown of recent ratings for a film, for example. Also, some image search queries will turn up slideshows. These upgrades appear to be the result of the promise made by the company’s chief product officer Blake Irving, who said Yahoo would be rolling out more upgrades, more frequently. Click through to watch a brief video about these changes. (paidContent.org)

SEO, SEM – Now What?

There’s much to do beyond SEO and SEM. Start with aiming to improve your ROI with the budget you have and increasing your referrals from sources other than search portals. (Search Engine Journal)

The Right SEO Tools

Rankings don’t mean SEO success anymore. The goals of search engines are always changing, which means it’s more important than ever to use the right tools. SEOToolSet and SEMToolbar can help, but the best tool of all is knowing what you’re doing. SEO professionals still need to know what to do with the information they find. (Visibility Magazine)

Google Testing Page Previews in Search Results

It doesn’t look like Google is ready to give anyone a breather after unveiling Instant. The search giant is now tinkering with a page-preview tool, akin to what Ask.com and Bing have offered in the past. (CNET)

Facebook Allows You to Download Your Information

At Facebook’s event on Wednesday, the social networking giant introduced a feature that allows users to port their data from Facebook in a .zip file, giving them the power to “take stuff with them.” (TechCrunch)

Troubleshooting Conversion-Tracking Issues

Your PPC success depends on accurate numbers. When things aren’t tracking correctly, try submitting a test to make sure your form is working correctly, check the page code, make sure conversion tracking is activated for your campaigns and check URLs to make sure tracking parameters are correct. Some patience will be required. (PPC Hero)

Retargeting is Cool

Retargeting is all the rage, as your inbox might tell you. But how do you discern whether or not it will be worth your while, and how can you pick the best partner? First, understand what retargeting is – “leveraging the visitor audience a site already receives to market more aggressively to that qualified audience.” Then consider the technical work involved, and shop around. (Search Engine Land)