Local Search Articles by SEO Speedwagon
September 28, 2007
The Emergence of Universal Search Engine Optimization 
In May of this year, Google announced its new Universal Search System which blended traditional search results with news, video, music, images, local and book search engine portals, as well as Blogs on a single page to help users find information with greater ease. Universal Search, a new platform which represents a major shift in information display and retrieval, is causing search engine optimization companies to rethink how they conduct service offerings. So what does this mean for SEO professionals?
For those who conduct Search Engine Optimization services for clients, “Universal Search” is yet another marketing opportunity worth considering. Our industry is already known for dealing with extreme change on a monthly basis, and as a result of being able to adapt to this ever-changing market, this has enabled us to thrive in the industry. With these changes, we must re-invent or enhance our offering to meet the growing changes presented by Google in order to stay ahead of the curve. The emergence of Google’s Universal Search now forces SEO professionals to look outside the box for providing their customers with bleeding edge Internet marketing solutions.
To be able to help our clients rank in the top Google search results, we now have to look towards creating effective SEO strategies that involve RSS, news, videos, audio files, images, local and book search engine portals, and Blogs. With so many new things being displayed in Google’s search results it will be much harder to attain a top ten search engine listings for clients. However, this doesn’t mean that the world is coming to an end for SEO’ers. Nevertheless, it means that we must look towards existing Google search platforms and integrate them into a new strategy called “Universal Search Engine Optimization.”
Universal Search Engine Optimization encompasses traditional SEO (on-site & off-site) methodologies as well as combines Web 2.0 marketing tactics, i.e., RSS, Online Optimized Press Releases, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Social News sites, Image and Book listing optimization, as well as Local Search, that aids clients in gaining a greater market share within Google’s Universal Search results.
The following Internet marketing activities make up a large part of Universal SEO:
"Definitions in parenthesis taken from Wikipedia"
RSS -- “RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts.”
Online Optimized Press Releases -- Tailoring a company’s news in such a manner to gain greater visibility online through optimizing elements within the press release.
Podcasts -- “A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers.”
Vodcasts -- "Video podcast (sometimes shortened to vidcast or vodcast) is a term used for the online delivery of video on demand or video clip content via Atom or RSS enclosures.”
Blogs -- “Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.”
Social Bookmarking -- “A way for Internet users to store, organize, share, and search bookmarks of web pages. In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share.”
Social News Sites -- News aggregation (social network) sites that gain stories from community members online.
Image Optimization -- Effectively optimizing image file names, alternate text, and the utilization of photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, etc.
Book Listing Optimization -- Optimize Book company Web site pages to enhance placement in search engines for the titles of books for sale.
Local Search Listings -- Create local business listings and optimize Web sites to better perform amongst local search engine (Google Local, Yahoo Local, etc) listings.
To stay competitive in the ever-changing SEO industry, we need to create strategies for our clients that focus on all aspects of Universal Search. I believe this new form of search results presented by Google will open many doors for companies seeking to embrace the evolution of search.
The Emergence of Universal Search Engine Optimization
Posted by brett at 03:57 PM
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September 17, 2007
PPC vs. Yellow Pages vs. Direct Mail CPA 
Via Chris Zaharias via MediaPost via Piper Jaffray, we get this stark contrast:
Search advertising has proven to be fertile ground for customer acquisition. A recent study by Piper Jaffray & Co. entitled, “The New eCommerce Decade: The Age of Micro Targeting,” indicated that the average CPA for search was $8.50, considerably lower than the CPA for the Yellow Pages ($20), online display ads ($50) and direct mail ($70).
Could you imagine how low the Organic CPA would have been in comparison, had they found a way to incorporate that into the study?
PPC vs. Yellow Pages vs. Direct Mail CPA
Posted by john at 04:03 PM
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December 18, 2006
Google Gobbles Up The Globe
We've noticed the Google juggernaut gobbling up more and more international marketshare from our SEO perch here over the years, especially with many of our clients wanting to know what engines matter most as we move across the globe results-wise. Still, this blurb from The International Herald Tribune is quite staggering:
For Europe as a whole, as in much of the world, Google leads in Internet search. Of all those who visited search and navigation sites in Europe this October, 86 percent went to Google at least once, compared with 30 percent for Microsoft's search sites and 21 percent for Yahoo, according to comScore, an online market research firm.
Using this as a plank from which to dive into explaining how the sea is ripe for European competition against the Big G, though, I have to find fault with the article's assumed assessment throughout that the results are basically the same across countries. We have noticed quite the opposite, with a local bias quite evident.
To take a look at this phenomenon yourself, try your favorite search phrase at the .com version of Google and then, in your address bar, change the domain extension to the the country extension of your choice, like http://www.google.jp, and then give that same phrase a spin.
Google Gobbles Up The Globe
Posted by john at 11:24 PM
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October 30, 2006
The Pied (Jaffray) Piper of LOCAL Search?
Almost a year to the date later, as the small business flies its marketing flag, we finally see something it might be able to mast itself to for support. Long-term riders of The Wagon will recall my carping back then concerning the crux of the LOCAL small business conundrum:
Many of these companies have as their only budgeted marketing item an annual ad in the (local) yellow pages. They've not only been doing it that way since the birth of their business but also cannot afford any external marketing on top of that.
I've always contended LOCAL was thusly an ultimate issue of replacement rather than augmentation of budget, and so the switch from trusted to unkown would require a really, really good, and easily understandable, REASON. Piper Jaffray may have delivered this first gift of the business holiday season, as reported by Marketing VOX:
The cost per acquisition for search is on average $8.50, according to the report, "The New eCommerce Decade: The Age of Micro Targeting," released earlier this month, reports Internet Retailer. Yellow Pages was the second-most efficient channel at $20 per customer acquisition, followed by online display ads at $50, email at $60, and direct mail at $70.
One doesn't need to be able to deconstruct a Mike Grehan article to understand 'tis a far, far better spend one makes than one had been making before if one switches to paying $8.50 per customer rather than $20. That's a business expanding difference.
Now it's up to the heralds to successfully sound the message of the Piper (Jaffray) LOCALLY.
The Pied (Jaffray) Piper of LOCAL Search?
Posted by john at 09:12 PM
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May 30, 2006
Former Intrapromote Client Openlist Sold for $13M 
Over the years I've watched industry titan Alan Meckler tout vertical search again and again and again. So it was entirely appropriate that a former Jupiter analyst would co-found a vertical search engine that now serves as a model for next-generation search platforms.
Openlist, a former client of Intrapromote, was just purchased by Marchex for $13 million in cash and stock. (See the Marchex press release for details.) The Openlist site itself helps users select hotels, restaurants, and local attractions using content aggregation technology that narrows down search results to the most granular level imaginable, completely redefining the concepts of relevance and user satisfaction. But the real story is that Openlist technology is widely transferable and scalable, which is what will ultimately benefit many of Marchex's 250,000 sites. (You read that number correctly.)
I had the opportunity to work closely with Openlist founders Matthew Berk and Bejul Somaia and can honestly say that Marchex would be getting a bargain at many times the $13 million price.
Former Intrapromote Client Openlist Sold for $13M
Posted by erik at 11:47 PM
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March 13, 2006
The Fog of Local Search Reportage
Now, perhaps the reporting standards will not reach the zenith of the run-up to the war, but there sure is a similar fog--or perhaps even Nielsen-like nimbostratus--clouding the collective judgement of the Local Search Reportage Posse. I had always imagined, as the crocus is the herald of spring, that somehow these stories were planted, even payola'd, yet last Friday I found evidence of a much less sinister conspiracy- pathological extrapolation:
To analyze the current state of local search advertising, Borrell researchers examined more than 2,100 paid links to appear on Google and Yahoo queries for city-related keywords--such as, for example, "Des Moines real estate." About 36 percent of such pay-per-click links were from local advertisers--up from 5.6 percent 18 months ago.
Bam! With hard-nosed research like that, how can we doubt Borrell's assertion that Local Search will peak at $4 Billion by 2010 (quadrupling during that period, mind you)? When my little sister was 3 years old she was 3 feet tall. I worried what we would do when she turned 9 and could no longer fit beneath our 8 foot high ceilings.
The Fog of Local Search Reportage
Posted by john at 08:29 AM
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January 03, 2006
How Strong is Your Keyword Torso?
As tired as I am of 2005 retrospectives and 2006 prognostications, I feel obligated to name 2006 the "Year of the Keyword Torso." Yes, I am sober.
Your industry has a "curve" of keywords. At the head of the curve are the most frequently searched-for terms. If you're in the insurance game, a few of your head terms are "insurance," "insurance quote," and "health insurance."
We often call these types of terms "trophy searches" because they're great for the ego, but in most cases, the effort in achieving them is much greater than the payoff. If you sell property and casualty insurance in West Virginia, how many of the "insurance quote" searchers are looking for your product?
At the other end of the curve is the "long tail." From a web analytics perspective, the tail gained a lot of exposure in 2005, even though people like Jill Whalen have been pushing it for years.
The tail of insurance keywords might include something like "nevada minimum collision coverage amount." Generally, people who bother to narrow a query so specifically are more likely to "act," which, depending on the industry, means make a purchase, download a file, click to read more information, and so on.
But between the ill-informed search for the head and the rough, ongoing (but worthwhile) search for the tail, don't forget the torso. (Note: Some people call it the "body" of the curve, but I consider the entire curve the "body," not just the middle section.) Torso searches are characterized by a query length somewhere between the head and tail, and by people looking for resources on a particular topic. They probably aren't ready to make a purchase today; instead, they're looking for an authoritative resource. If you satisfy their needs, they'll come back, eventually with credit card in hand.
Your industry knowledge - and your ability to communicate it - will make or break your chances for targeting the torso.
A torso term for insurance would be something like "child health insurance" or "what is whole life insurance." People searching for those phrases have no doubts that they'll be able to buy online. But for now, they probably want information and don't want a hard sell. Does your content show them what they're looking for? Do you have enough articles, fact sheets, and hard-to-find information that they will consider you a credible industry resource? If not, don't expect them to come back when they're ready to purchase.
To sum it up, success in capturing the keyword torso assumes three major things about you and your site:
- You are creating original, helpful content regularly and often.
- You are creating original, helpful content regularly and often.
- You are creating original, helpful content regularly and often.
Smart bloggers have already figured this out. They're hitting the torso with their blog category pages. The number of articles in the category archive of a prolific blog is constantly fresh, constantly growing, and laser-targeted to a people with particular interests. And that, in 2006, is going to be important.
How Strong is Your Keyword Torso?
Posted by erik at 11:48 PM
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