Search Marketing Smile

Let me just start this with a statement: the risk of doing Search Marketing is actually not doing it. According to Philippe Le Roux, President of Montreal-based Online Marketing agency VDL2 in an article published today in La Presse, talks about how we have reached a critical point where it shows how the Internet has won its battle against traditional media & how we assist at the beginning of a great media revolution. Many other search marketing specialists around the globe concur with his position, where traditional medias are on the verge to extinction. According to Le Roux, the revolution has officially begun and we can already see that the popularity & usage of the Internet is happening at the expense of advertising revenues for print media, TV and radio. Still, Philippe Le Roux is adamant that traditional media resist with all the energy they have left to preserve their advertising revenues. Conservatism and other factors contribute to accelerate the rate of change. The article also shows that profound changes are happening in the way people seek information and how their comfort level with the Internet and Search Engines increase exponentially. 

What’s in it for you?
Le Roux provides all the examples you need so you understand where to put your advertising dollars from now on and why. (Hint: Some of it is called Search Engine Marketing or SEM)

That is a great article sent by my dad, Carl Brabant, who has always been part of battles that were worth fighting for. Thanks Dad! if you want to read the full article, feel free to send me an email and I will send you the PDF. I can’t seem to locate the link to the article online.

Here are a few excerpts from the article: (en français)

Personne ne sera étonné d’entendre, en 2008, que le phénomène Internet bat son plein et que la Grande Toile est devenu le principal média des Canadiens de moins de 35 ans. Et personne ne sourcillera en apprenant que cette révolution se fait au détriment des journaux quotidiens, de la télévision conventionnelle et de la radio. C’était écrit dans le ciel, dira-t-on. Pourtant, les grands médias s’accrochent, résistent, cherchent des voies de préservation pour leur assiette publicitaire. Hier c’était TQS. Qui sera le prochain ? Pour comprendre davantage la situation, j’ai rencontré Philippe Le Roux, président de la firme montréalaise de marketing interactif VDL2, qui, en janvier dernier, annonçait dans le bilan de ses tendances 2006-2010, qu’Internet avait gagné et que les médias ne seraient plus jamais les mêmes.

“Aux États-Unis, affirme-t-il, les recettes publicitaires des quotidiens ont chuté de 8,7 % en 2007 et celles de la télévision et de la radio ont diminué de près de 2 %. Mais en même temps, elles continuent de croître du côté Internet à un taux annuel de 15 à 30 % suivant les marchés. À un point tel qu’en Grande Bretagne, elles devraient dépasser celles de la télévision dès l’an prochain.”

Malgré la distribution grandissante d’exemplaires gratuits ou vendus à fort rabais, la chute de la diffusion des quotidiens continue à se faire sentir. Paradoxalement, alors que “cette uniformisation en cours va à contre-courant de la société de l’information dans laquelle les nouvelles technologies nous plongent, les grands médias ne veulent voir que la relative croissance à court terme du trafic de leur site web”, soutient-il. Le cri du tyrannosaure ? À terme, “cet état de fait risque que de provoquer une rupture radicale entre ces médias et la population”.

Or voilà que cette utilisation croissante du Triple W s’accompagne de facteurs de renforcement qui ne font qu’ajouter au mouvement d’accélération. Une commodité en appelle une autre; plus on en utilise, plus on en utilise ! Un bel exemple est le phénomène communautaire, avec, en fond de scène, une effervescence de gens de plus en plus présents sur le Net pour chercher leur information, confiants de la trouver.

Peut-on parler d’une tendance lourde ? “ Lourde, documentée et inéluctable ! Nous sommes au coeur de la révolution médiatique, celle qui se prépare depuis des années. Les mois à venir vont être riches en rebondissements, réorganisations, remises en question. Cela, quoi qu’en disent, quoi qu’en fassent les grands médias qui, présentement, s’accrochent, résistent et cherchent des voies de sauvegarde pour leur assiette publicitaire. Le mouvement s’accélère et le conservatisme peut être dangereux.”

Tout un programme en perspective!

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Cossette Communications Group and Cossette Media Vancouver announced recently that Omar Al-Hajjar has joined the company as director of search marketing for the Vancouver (BC) Canada office. His responsibilities will include managing and developing search marketing campaigns for national and BC-based clients while “evangelizing” search marketing throughout the Cossette group of companies.

With a strong track record in search engine optimization (SEO), Al-Hajjar’s background includes helping companies in the financial, entertainment and software industries deliver successful pay-per-click marketing campaigns. His most recent position was director of online operations and marketing at MogoMoney.com, where he was responsible for a $3.5-million annual internet lending portfolio that achieved double-digit growth in under a year.

“This was a very difficult position to fill,” says Tim Monaghan, VP Media Director for Cossette Media. “We wanted to ensure that the successful candidate had the expertise demanded by our clients, and matched the values and culture of Cossette Media.”

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This Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Cartoons Quiz is funnier that the first one I posted last week. It is not as serious but just as difficult. There are only 15 questions. Try it. It only takes 1 minute to complete.

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And here again another cool introduction video from Lee Lefever from Common craft. This one is a Google Docs tutorial, what it is and why you should use it to manage your documents. Just like the other tutorial tech videos he made, this one is really well done and is worth sharing around. If you don’t know much about Google Docs, you should absolutely view this:

Click To Play

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When I started to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in the year 2000, it took between 3 to 4 months before the index (index definition) was updated and the changes were visible in search results. That was considered very good at the time. A few years later, we saw the introduction of what is now known as the Google Dance (not the party that’s happening this week at Search Engine Strategies San Jose, the actual update of the index). Just in case you did not know, the Google Dance is an informal term that was created to explain the phenomenon of frequent shifts in rankings while Google updates its database. Over the years, some Google Dances were more popular than others, but the good news is that these days are gone with the new real time indexing.

So, 2 weeks ago, I stumble upon one of my own blog posts by accident, trying different search query combinations on the same theme. Just messing around with the Google index really. I could not believe I could see it in search results only a few minutes after I posted it. A few days later, I did it on purpose to show you this example:

A few days prior to Barcamp Vancouver 2007 last week, a lot of Vancouver bloggers were posting info to make sure everybody knows the details about the event. There were also a few housekeeping items we needed to pass around to participants. Check this out, I took a snapshot to show how long ago they have been posted:

For a Search Marketer, this is big news. We can blog about something that’s happening tomorrow and we know for sure our stuff will be live before the event. As you can imagine, this is especially important for timely information. Therefore, real time indexing reinforces the need for companies to build better sites with fresh content. Stale sites will quickly end up in what is called the invisible web. Google has never deviated from its general guidelines for fresh content. Googlers just gave us another good reason to do so.

If you want to know more about Google real time indexing, please read Google Matt Cutts’s blog on Minty Fresh Indexing.

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Dana Todd, President of SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization and also Co-Founder of Sitelab, was interviewed recently by OnTarget, a Vcast series published by The San Diego Ad Club. I find this introduction to SEMPO and to Search Marketing very articulated. I thought you might like it as well. If you want to join SEMPO (and by the same token SEMPO Canada), you can simply get in touch with me and I will give you the lowdown of our Search Marketing actions locally.

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I have never expected that kind of comparison but according to the author of this article, which compares the 2 Giants side by side on their respective motto, mission statements and the like, they actually appear to have more in common that we might think.

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With all kinds of funny stories circulating around in the area of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it could have been expected that someone, somewhere decides to launch an SEO Cartoon blog. These stories who most often come from challenging client relationships originate from the fair bit of misunderstanding & miscommunication that arise in any new field. Search Marketing is no different. As such, Chris Genge from 1st on the list Search Marketing in Abbotsford BC just launch the SEO Cartoon blog with the help of one of his employees Tony Hutchcroft, who happens to be very creative.

“We are happy to have on staff a very gifted writer and cartoonist: Tony Hutchcroft. The team here at 1st on the List Promotion Inc. realized just how funny and ironic the SEO industry really is and decided to share some ideas and experiences we feel others can relate to. We will be releasing these comics regularly, so feel free to view, register and comment on the posted comics. Can you relate to any of these comics?”

My favorite is this one.

If you have an SEO comic story you would like them to post, feel free to submit it by email: contact{at}1stonthelist{dot}ca

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I was browsing around the Search Marketing news today and I found this: SPENDING ON INTERNET ADVERTISING WILL reach $61.98 billion, and will surpass newspapers to become the nation’s leading ad medium in 2011, projects private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson in its 21st Communications Industry Forecast released today.

“We are in the midst of a major shift in the media landscape that is being fueled by changes in technology, end-user behaviors and the response by brand marketers and communications companies,” says James Rutherford, executive vice president and managing director at VSS.

According to the study, Search Advertising based on keywords (PPC or Pay per Click) will be the main driver of this shift and will maintain its first position in Internet Advertising spending in 2011. Please note the gap in this research between Paid Search and Banner Advertising. Whereas, it is more or less 50-50 today, the proportion towards Paid Search Advertising will outgrow banner ads in the next few years. Check it out:

If you are not yet engaged in a Paid Search Advertising program (PPC), now is a good time to start. Tomorrow, it will only cost you more. PPC average click cost has been rising at a steady 10-25% year over year, which erodes your profit margins over time.

Read the full press release here.

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It feels like a déjà vu. Whoever is interested to convert traditional marketing folks to Search Marketing, hopefully in its real sense with a user centricity philosophy, it looks like a major local ad agency is looking for a Director of Search Marketing. No luck with having a full job description there, but feel free to contact The Goodstaff Personnel Department at 604-685-3530 or email your resume to for more information.

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This is funny. I have been telling people that it is important that you Google yourself every now and then in order to have an understanding of your online public record. Every time you leave your name, email, web address is another opportunity to build your online reputation. It is good not only from a link building perspective but also for your reputation as a whole. It shows in which neighborhood you have been hanging out and it gives Google an understanding of who you are. So keep doing it.

As I was Googling myself this morning and my name appears on a list of winners as the best SEO and SEM expert in Canada. It is very flattering as only one person was chosen from each country. The only part that bugs me is that I still have not got the cheque, ribbon or trophy. As such, I am wondering what an SEM trophy would look like. In any case, I figure I must have missed the ceremony at a Tim Horton somewhere. Check out the list of SEO-SEM winners. 

Do you want to work with a (shameless) award winning search marketing expert? Feel free to Contact us.

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Here is a little video that I found on Google Universal Search when it was introduced last month during Google Searchology event in California. It presents Google Universal Search, Google Experimental and Interface Enhancements to its search results interface. Jim Louderback spent the day with Google and has the deets!

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This is one of the new Google changes you have to be aware of: it is called “Universal search” and it will have a dramatic impact on your current organic positions (hint: on the way down). For those who have not heard about Google Universal Search yet, the concept is very simple. From now on, instead of having the regular search results you are familiar with, we could see any of the following on any given page of a Google SERPs (Search Engine Result pages):

* images
* video
* news
* maps / local results
* blogs
* books
* products
* groups
* patents
* scholarly works

Because of these new entrants, the concept of having “top search engine rankings” changes dramatically. On one hand a first page ranking is much more difficult to achieve, and on the other, there are now more ways in which to achieve a first page ranking. The end result is obvious. It will be an even more crowded space and it gets even more difficult for any search marketer to promise a page 1 in SERPs. Yahoo!

So what are the consequences of this major change in search results? I don’t know if you are like me and found that there are already too many websites to compete against in search results. Like I said a long time ago when I was envisioning the search road for the future: some form of coopetition between similar organizations targeting the same customers might be needed anytime soon. This is so simply because traffic matters and there are only a handful amount of positions in SERPs that actually get the job done. This is one of the potential solutions to overcome this challenge. It is either that, or you invest more in your Search Marketing plan. Over the years, it has become a common understanding that any market creates a lot of losers in organic search rankings who end up in the invisible web (page 2 and beyond). This latest change is no different than what Google has always been doing to increase relevancy in search results and thus make it harder for any company (and search marketer) to reach the top. Making it hard(er) every year to reach the top has always been around. This is one step further in the same direction and it was expected. More is coming. Depending on how long you have been doing search marketing and your level of awareness of you own search marketing strategy and the one of your competitors, this means you will not only have to work harder to reach a top 5 position, you will have to keep working very hard in order to stay there. Everybody wants to be in the top 5 and there are 100 other companies that want the same thing you do.

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And here comes another research that proves that consumers who research their purchase through search are spending more than those who don’t. Here are the results of the study.

According to new research from Yahoo! and ChannelForce, consumers who search online for televisions and digital cameras spend ten percent more when making their purchase in-store than those who did not use a search engine. The survey also found that a vast majority research products online prior to making in-store purchases, and that online research is helping consumers make key purchasing decisions before they enter a store.

Key findings include:

-Seventy five percent who researched their purchases before visiting a retail location used the Internet as their primary source of information. The leading online resources were retail Web sites (73 percent), manufacturer websites (68 percent) and search engines (49 percent).
-Those who search spend an average of $31 more on digital cameras and $46 more on digital camera packages; and an average of $139 more on TVs and $190 on TV packages.
-More than 80 percent of consumers who research before making a purchase end up buying a brand from their original consideration set.  The remaining 20 percent said the in-store sales person was highly influential in their decision.
-About 75 percent of people did not know the model they wanted when they walked into a retail store.

David Rubinstein, senior director, Yahoo! Search Marketing, says “This study confirms and quantifies that a more informed consumer is a more valuable consumer… “

Kurt Higgins, president, ChannelForce, noted “… the brand experience begins well before the shopper walks into the store, and this study confirms how critical the in-store experience is to the consumer’s decision...”

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I just love this kind of story.

“The burglary at Bigg City, formerly Mr. Bigg’s Family Fun Center, turned into a comedy of errors early June 10. The burglars tried to disable a security camera by repeatedly spraying it with WD-40—it only cleaned the lens—and spent an hour and 15 minutes trying to open three safes—apparently unaware that some types require the dial to be turned two or three times around.”

They finally did a Google search for “how to open a safe” and “how to crack a safe” on a computer in the next room.

“They’re not professional safe people,” said Colorado Springs police detective Chuck Ackerman. “No, they’re not.”

On the other hand, the Google query apparently worked; they haven’t been caught, and they did get about $12,000. 

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