The Week in Review

How the New Profile Pages Will Affect Facebook Monetization

The profile page redesign from Facebook has implications for monetization. For instance, Pages are no longer seen on the primary view of a user’s profile, making them harder to discover. They are, however, displayed in a more informational fashion once you get to the relevant tab. Also, advertisers may find more to go on from the main tab of profile pages. (Inside Facebook)

Internet Explorer 9 Getting Tracking Protection

Add Microsoft to the list of companies responding positively to consumers’ concerns about having their browsing history tracked via their browsers. IE9 will feature an option that lets users keep sites from tracking their activity across browsing sessions. (CNET)

November Paid Search: CPCs Rise

Cost-per-click for the automotive, finance and retail categories saw month-over-month increases in November. All four categories have experienced considerable year-over-year changes. (ClickZ)

Link-Building Tactics

Building links is still significant. One key aspect of this is to get your site mentioned in wrap-up posts, but how do you get into them? Read some experts’ takes on this, and implement the takeaway points. (State of Search)

How E-mail Marketing Will Change in 2011

Plain text in multipart e-mails will become more important thanks to Facebook Messages; e-mail design will be more influence by iPhones, iPads and Android devices; and the industry will continue to be torn on permission. These are among the five ways in which e-mail marketing will evolve next year. (MediaPost)

E-mail Marketers Should Pay Attention to Gmail Priority Inbox

Google is reporting that Priority Inbox users are spending 43 percent more time reading important messages compared to unimportant ones, and they’re spending 15 percent less time reading e-mail overall. With Facebook Messages on the verge of making a splash in the e-mail realm, marketers should be paying attention. Authenticity is now more important than ever. (WebProNews)

4 Research-Based Tips to Get More Blog Comments

If you’re looking for tips on getting more comments on your blog that are based on facts, look no further. After analyzing data on more than 150,000 blog posts, this writer has shared some insights with you. Among the findings are that Saturdays are the most popular day for comments, 8-9 a.m. is the most popular time for comments, and that “giveaway” is the word that draws the most comments. (Copyblogger)

Last-Minute Holiday SEO Tactics

It’s not too late to get your holiday SEO strategies in place. Go on and get some blog links, make necessary title and content changes on key pages on your site, get rid of duplicate content problems, and look at 404 error reports in Webmaster Tools to reclaim invalid links. (Search Engine Land)

Facebook Has a New Look

The new-look Facebook profile pages have gotten a lot of buzz during the past day or so, thanks in part to “60 Minutes,” which gave the change some unnecessary attention. The changes are mostly aesthetic and are already getting negative feedback from users. (Wired.com, paidContent.org)

9 Tips for Link Builders

Link building remains one of the most effective ways to boost your site’s rankings. Among the best tips this author can offer are to hid behind the cover of content-based tactics, be approachable and use paid links. (SEOmoz)

When is the Best Time to Publish Blog Posts?

When seen through the lens of retweets, the best time of day to publish your blog posts are in the late afternoon on a Friday. When seen through the lens of Facebook sharing, the best time might be in the morning and late afternoon on Saturdays. Most people say they read blogs in the morning. (ProBlogger)

Holistic SEO and Usability

The relationship between website usability, Web page SEO and Internet marketing has been a hot topic of discussion this past year. This helpful walkthrough covers what is needed to make a website that welcomes users. Holistic design requires crawlable and accessible global navigation and top-level navigation links, and appealing navigation link labels, among other things. (Search Engine Land)

E-mail Trends for 2011

The four “uber-trends” that will drive changes in e-mail marketing in 2011 are: 1) social media/network adoption, 2) mobile, 3) social inbox and 4) location/local marketing. Among the eight implications are that e-mail’s role in the marketing mix will become clearer, social and mobile will become key sources of opt-ins for e-mail programs, and retention and engagement will be huge focuses. (MediaPost)

Firefox’s New Tactic: Cuteness

Forget all the tech stuff: Firefox is whipping out the big guns in the intense battle for browser market share. It’s going cute. Mozilla has launched its new arsenal in Firefox LIVE, which streams live feeds of fox cubs. The site also has a download button that has a meter asking visitors to download Firefox to give the cubs their next treat. (Currently, that next treat is a jungle gym.) (ReadWriteWeb)

Facebook-Powered Shopping

Big and fast-growing retailers are notching big victories via Facebook this holiday season. Recent stats indicate that more than 86 percent of U.S. retailers have a Facebook Page. Users are warming up to the idea of shopping on Facebook, and storefronts like Payvment reduce the friction in the process. “By making integration lucrative to retailers, Facebook is ingraining itself in the shopping industry.” (Inside Facebook)

Are Data-Miners Ready to Go Transparent?

A group of online tracking rivals is building the Open Data Partnership, which will allow consumers to edit the interests, demographics and other profile information collected about them. It will also enable them to opt to not be tracked at all. It will launch in January, and will involve eight data and tracking firms, including BlueKai and eXelate. (WSJ.com)

Is the Google-Groupon Deal Dead?

According to reports, Groupon is set to turn its back on Google’s $6 billion offer and contemplate whether or not to go public next year. (paidContent.org)

In Defense of Google’s Acquisition of Groupon

There has been quite a bit written lately about why Google’s potential acquisition of Groupon is a bad idea. This post argues otherwise, based on the notions that the valuation of $6 billion is spot-on, and that the search giant won’t be buying Groupon as a standalone business. (Seeking Alpha)

Display Ad FAQ for Paid-Search Marketers

What is online display advertising? Is it just a bunch of banner ads? What’s rich media? What’s an ad network? What’s the right way to do display advertising? These are among the many questions this post answers to help paid-search marketers better understand the realm of display ads. (Search Engine Land)

Reputation Takes Center Stage in SEO

Google’s recent algorithm tweak penalizes sites that have customer complaints in online forums. There are many questions about this approach, and there might be many loopholes in the logic it’s based on. One thing’s for sure: monitoring your online reputation just got more important. (Econsultancy)

10 Must-Have SEO Extensions for Google Chrome

Google Chrome’s library of extensions are riddled with garbage, but there are helpful tools to be had. MozBar, Note AnyWhere, Firebug and Google Reader are among the top 10 SEO extensions you should have if you use Chrome. (SEOmoz)

Targeting Long-Tail Keywords in Your Affiliate SEO Campaigns

Leveraging long-tail keywords can be a boon for your traffic and sales, so how do you target them? For starters, don’t target them one at a time, use social media in your research and examine your competitors. (5 Star Affiliate Blogs)

Yahoo Begins to Monetize Organic Search Results

Yahoo has begun testing their organic search results in the U.S. This spells bad news for sites that rank No. 2 but fall below the fold because ads are pushing them down there. (SEO Book)

FTC Recommends ‘Do Not Track’ Web Policy

In a preliminary report titled, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change,” the FTC mentions a proposed “Do Not Track” setting for every Web browser, which would prevent outside parties from tracking your browsing activity and serving personalized ads and other goodies. (ReadWriteWeb)

US Mobile Ad Revenues: $3 Billion by 2014

A new report from BIA/Kelsey forecasts that mobile advertising revenues in the U.S. will surge to $2.9 billion in 2014, with $2.0 billion coming from mobile local ad revenues. The study expects mobile ad revenues to be $1.2 billion in 2011. (TechCrunch)

Retargeting: What it Means for Marketers

How does retargeting work, why should online retailers adopt the tactic and how should they deal with concerns about privacy? This post shares some insights into these topics from some prominent figures in the online marketing realm. (Econsultancy)

Google and Groupon: A Bad Idea

Google’s $6 billion bid for Groupon is opening eyes and garnering tons of buzz, and while it may be an exciting possibility to some, others aren’t so keen on the idea. Google’s investors are concerned because of the large price tag. Also, Groupon isn’t an invincible entity – it has tons of competitors, the business model doesn’t draw the ideal customer and the market size is smaller than it seems. (NYTimes.com, paidContent.org)

4 Ways to Build Links Without Anchor Text

You don’t need anchor text to build links, even if your client demands it. This list offers four rebuttals to the notion that anchor text is necessary for building links: 1) build links for traffic, 2) build links for branding, 3) build links for alternative keyword phrases, and 4) build links for internal pages. (Search Engine Watch)