WebProNews » Performics

LinkedIn #1 Social Network, Says Report

Abby Johnson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:14:29 +0000

A recent study from marketing agency Performics revealed that 59 percent of social networkers found LinkedIn to be their most important social network. The survey was conducted by ROI Research and looked at nearly 3,000 people that actively use social networks.

What is your most important social networking account? Let us know.

“The Impact of Social Media,” or “S-Net” as the report is being called, is part of a series of studies that Performics is doing to understand the importance and influence of social media. Daina Middleton, the CEO of the company, told us that the economic challenges added to this spike of activity on LinkedIn.

“Obviously, we have a lot of individuals out there looking for jobs, or they’re looking to change jobs; and they’re understanding that they need to embrace social networks like LinkedIn in order to help facilitate that search,” she said.

While Facebook and Twitter are extremely popular for both personal and professional reasons, the line between these purposes is becoming more and more blurred. Middleton pointed out that LinkedIn, on the other hand, is clearly professional, which has helped to make it vital during the tough economic times.

The study further proved the shift in power from brands to consumers. Previously, brands could send out a print or TV ad and, primarily, be in control of the message. Middleton said that there was a “hierarchy implied in terms of this message development.”

Today, however, this cycle has changed, largely due to social media. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow users to be equal. As a result, consumers have the ability to influence fellow consumers and brands in a way that is likely greater than a brand’s own influence.

The study found that 59 percent of active Twitter users are more apt to recommend a company they follow, and 58 percent would be more likely to buy a product from a company they follow. In addition, 53 percent use social networks to offer feedback about a brand or retailer. The study also found that 52 percent of those surveyed agreed that consumer opinions voiced on social networking sites influence business decisions.

Middleton believes the report demonstrates the power of social media and encourages brands to embrace this shift in power and communication. She said, “Brands need to understand that the goal here is to get others to participate with them on that equal status.”

Do you think brands are effectively encouraging equal participation?

Is Yahoo Looking to Offer SEO Services?

Chris Crum — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:31:10 +0000

A patent application filed by Yahoo is causing a bit of a stir within the SEO community. The patent is for an "Automated System to Improve Search Engine Optimization on Web Pages." The abstract for the patent reads as follows:

A system and method for automated search engine optimization (SEO) are disclosed. The automated SEO may analyze search query logs, or a search log database to determine popular concepts/units, which may be automatically utilized to optimize a site or page for search engine results. The site or page is edited based on the automated SEO. In particular, the search log database may provide a unit frequency list reflecting the popularity of various units. The more popular units that are related to the content of the page may be used in the automated SEO of the page. The unit frequency list may be compared with the existing units of a page, so that the more popular concepts within the page may be emphasized.

A search engine owning an SEO service is kind of a conflict of interest, no? Actually, that’s why Google sold off Performics when it acquired DoubleClick. "It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business," said Google’s Tom Phillips back when the company announced plans to sell Performics. "Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users."

It would seem that that concept is not so clear to Yahoo. Mihaela Lica does a fantastic job of writing up the "echoes" within the SEO community and looking at the ethics of such a system. I asked a few SEO experts over Twitter about their thoughts as well:

Jill Whalen of HighRankings says, "Similar software has existed for ages (see some scaped sites). The fact that it’s yahoo isn’t surprising. Their PI program was pretty spammy."

"It is not surprising that search engines know the value of SEO. The only thing I find surprising is them openly admitting it," Aaron Wall of SEOBook tells me. "Google always tries to shape, control, and minimize the scope of the field of SEO. And here Yahoo! is trying to expand it. Exciting stuff!"

"There’s a lot more to SEO than what can be automated," says Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing.

One part of the patent application that is a sore spot, talks about altering titles and URLs:

In one example, if you have a blog related to Chicago sports teams, then a title may be generic, such as "Chicago sports blog." However, after comparing the unit frequency list 306 and the existing page unit list 308, it may be determined that Chicago Cubs.RTM. are currently very popular. Accordingly, the search engine optimizer 104 may select that unit and edit the title 322 to be "Chicago Cubs blog." The popularity of the unit Chicago Cubs.RTM. may provide better search results than when the title 322 was "Chicago sports blog."

…The hyperlink 324 of the page 304 is an example of a feature that may be used for SEO. The hyperlink 324 includes the web address or domain of the page. In some cases the hyperlink 324 may be static and may not be easily changed. In one embodiment, a second hyperlink may be created that directs a user to the page associated with the original hyperlink 324. In the example discussed above, if the hyperlink for the Chicago sports blog page can be changed to reference the page as a Chicago Cubs.RTM. blog that may optimize the page in search results.

Changing titles and URLs…really? As Lica notes, this "may interfere with navigation and usability, which can be upsetting for the visitors."

I tried contacting Yahoo to find out a little more about it, but their Manager of Corporate Communications told me they could not comment on it. It is still only a patent application at this point, so it might not be worth getting too worked up about yet, but the curiosity has certainly been sparked. For a full look at the patent application, you can find it here.

Google Sells Performics To Publicis

Doug Caverly — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:57:39 +0000

Four months ago, Google announced that it wanted to get rid of DoubleClick’s Performics arm; it just didn’t seem right for the search engine giant to run a search marketing business. Today, it turned out that Google’s good buddy Publicis Groupe will be the buyer.

Maurice Levy

CEOs Eric Schmidt and Maurice Levy met in January for informal discussions of a very vague nature. One thing that came of their get-together was the unusual decision to embed executives in each other’s companies, though, and now it’s hard not to wonder if they didn’t talk about acquisitions, as well.

"Performics will . . . bring widely-recognized talent and capabilities that can be embedded into the client teams inside Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia," Levy acknowledged in a statement this afternoon.

Unfortunately, he failed get into the details of any preexisting relationships, and didn’t mention what sort of price tag was associated with Performics’s talent and capabilities, either.

Ah, well. This development at least eliminates a conflict of interest within Google, and doesn’t seem to conclude the company’s dealings with Publicis. Schmidt stated, "We look forward to working with Performics as a partner."

Google To Sell DoubleClick’s Performics SEM Business

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:57:57 +0000

After further review, Google decided to split Performics into two businesses, with the search marketing side tagged with a “For Sale” sign.

The presence of Performics as a post-DoubleClick acquisition Google asset raised concerns in the search marketing industry. Right or wrong, some believed Performics would be able to use an incredible inside edge with Google to win clients.

Google decided the perception of issues required a fix. They announced on the official Google blog the decision to split up Performics and send off the SEM side:

It

Sullivan: Google Should Spinoff DoubleClick SEO Biz

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:33:10 +0000

Google’s approved acquisition of DoubleClick brings along an SEO asset, the Performics business that search maven Danny Sullivan needs to be divested immediately.

Owning a search engine optimization business, no matter what internal separation Google can claim will be in place, won’t be enough to keep people from seeing an inherent conflict of interest.

To avoid that, Sullivan said at Search Engine Land Google needs to do what it should have done as soon as the European Union approved the deal, and announced it would send Performics away:

Even if Performics is kept completely separate from the Google search team, there’s the impression that Performics might have some special “in” with Google’s non-paid search results. After all, Google owns it! It’s also not hard to imagine that despite all the best intentions, some new sales rep might pitch that Performics has some type of in. That a bad thing.

Google told Sullivan they weren’t in any particular hurry to move Performics, or anything else, out of their shiny new purchase:

We intend to spend the next several months assessing all of DoubleClick’s products and services including those offered by Performics. In the near term, we intend to operate Performics as a stand-alone business unit consistent with its past practices. Upon the completion of our integration planning with respect to Performics, we will be in a better position to announce our future plans for this business.

Sullivan incredulously commented that Google hasn’t figured out the conflict of interest exists. We are inclined to think Google understands well what they have purchased. As neither the FTC nor the EU imposed any conditions on their approval of the DoubleClick deal, we don’t see Google doing anything other than laying off redundant sales and marketing people over the next few months.

Google Changes Its Mind About Money-Back SEO

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:14:43 +0000

Business makes strange bedfellows. Just in time for the FTC to approve Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, and with it an SEO firm called Performics, the company has changed its tune a bit about how to deal with SEO companies.

For the longest time, Google advised webmasters to be wary of SEO companies, and put up this warning at the Webmaster Help Center:

"For your own safety, you should insist on a full and unconditional money-back guarantee. Don’t be afraid to request a refund if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, or if your SEO’s actions cause your domain to be removed from a search engine’s index."

Performics, it was pointed out by astute observers, didn’t offer such a guarantee. In light of that revelation (the blogosphere is crediting Matt Cutts with pushing the change), Google simplified the language and let itself off the hook a bit:

"Don’t be afraid to request a refund if you’re unsatisfied with your SEO’s performance. Make sure you have a contract in writing that includes pricing. The contract should also require the SEO to stay within the guidelines recommended by each search engine for site inclusion."

Google has said in the past that it has no intention of selling off Performics, but that could change too as more and more conflicts of interest emerge. It’s already awkward that Google will have to change some policy wording (with regard to not having relationships with SEOs or SEOs not speaking on behalf of Google) and that Performics sells links, but as Danny Sullivan notes in a Sphinn comment section, if Google keeps the company the two will have to watch either like hawks:

"Google’s going to have to worry about everything Performics does; Performics will have to be hypersensitive that they don’t somehow violate a Google guideline."

Google’s Gray Areas Get Shadier

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:33:14 +0000

Google has projected an image of corporate spotlessness over the years that is becoming increasingly, well, spotted. The company has grown up, you could say, and has lost much of its innocence down the pockets of shareholders, while its idealistic founders pursue more amusing things than evil, or its lesser cousins.

Google’s Gray Areas Get Shadier

Gray areas are where Google seems to prefer these days rather than the messy business of tiptoeing black and white ethical lines. Our first great disillusionment came when Google bent its philosophy just enough – when evil became suddenly a more "fluid" concept – to accept China’s demands to censor search results.

Of course we saw that coming because there was sufficient grayness for Google to frolic in; some search is better than no search. And we also had a feeling that as share prices went up, more often the weight of certain values would go down. It seems the natural process of things.

Not that the company has done anything especially nasty, and quite a bit of good has been done along the way to even out any karmic concerns. And we can hope at least that continues.

But when Google bought DoubleClick, there was something largely overlooked. With DoubleClick also came a company called Performics, a search engine optimization company. The astute ones of course did notice and posed their questions. Google responded to them in turn, saying they had no plans to shake loose the potential conflict of interest.

And no one’s accused them of ill-doing in relation to Performics – just some hypocrisy. Earlier this week, Scott Buresh at Search Engine Guide highlights how Google doesn’t back its own corporate talking points.

Google’s Webmaster Central doesn’t define "relationships" other than to say the company doesn’t have any with SEOs, and advises that if webmasters choose to have such relationships, they should be wary of crooks. If "unsatisfied for any reason" with an SEO, Google advises that webmasters "should insist on a full and unconditional money-back guarantee."

Which is something Performics doesn’t offer, notes Buresh. "Let’s be charitable and assume that in the heat of the acquisition Google has forgotten to update the page of advice that it has created for website owners."

But wait, the gray gets darker. Buresh points us to an earlier article where he claims the biggest Google advertisers have direct access to Google engineers as a "perk":

"It has long been rumored that Google will offer technical assistance in achieving better organic search engine placement to those who spend more for paid search results. I know for certain that these rumors are true in at least two instances. In fact, I actually have the minutes from one of these technical assistance meetings after the company met with Google engineers. While the identity of these two companies is irrelevant, suffice to say that they are companies that you have almost certainly heard of and that they spend millions of dollars on paid search words each year."

To sum up, Google owns an SEO company and its engineers allegedly give SEO advice to the company’s biggest clients. So gray it’s murky, wouldn’t you say?

Google did not return request for comment in time for publication.

SES Chicago: Sitemaps Discussed

Doug Caverly — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:08:14 +0000

Webmasters can face a number of issues, and may hope that sitemaps can cure the bulk of them.

So a panel at SES Chicago weighed sitemaps’ pros and cons.

SES Chicago returns, and WebProNews is on hand to bring you reports and videos from the Windy City. Enjoy our coverage this week.

To start things off, Searching for Profit’s Amanda Watlington stated that there are too many people who believe creating a sitemap will solve all their indexing problems. No one exactly leaped up to contradict her.

Instead, Vivek Pathak of Ask.com stressed that sitemaps do not act as reverse links.

They may improve crawl efficiency and completeness, but thus far have been used more by low-quality sites than anything else.

Jeremy Clem believes in submitting sitemaps anyway, though.

Clem, who works at DoubleClick Performics, has also seen improved crawl frequency and indexation, and said that sitemaps allow webmasters to get a more intelligent crawl and lead to increased tracking and reporting.

Google’s Trevor Foucher continued the conversation by saying that “it’s a complicated answer” on the subject of whether or not sitemaps will help someone rank better.

But he agreed that they can help get sites noticed, and pointed out that they will definitely not hurt anything.

Finally, Danny Sullivan, the session’s moderator, asked, “When will we get to trusted sitemaps?”

Sitemaps are, after all, heavily used by spammers.

Google’s Foucher answered, “That sounds like a difficult thing to do. But it would be nice.”

WebProNews Internet reporter/anchor Kara Ratliff contributed to this article.

Gearing up for Holiday Sales

Joe Whyte — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:54:07 +0000

Have you heard of “Cyber Monday”? Boomers are a driving force in comparison shopping engines.

Why is this important? How is social media marketing an essential tool behind holiday gift buying? What type of revenue increase are e-commerce engines estimating within the holiday season? Some interesting questions not to say the least and valuable information for any e commerce owner. I have put together some interesting marketing charts and trend analysis for your viewing pleasure.

First up is our Black Friday and Cyber Monday trends. Black Friday is a term used to describe the highest day in spending for brick and mortar retailers. This day brings in more revenue for their businesses than any other day of the year. Cyber Monday is a term used for the Monday following Black Friday for online retailers. Stuart Larkins from DoubleClick had this to say in a recent research guide from their Performics center:

The National Retail Federation originally coined the term Cyber Monday for the Monday following Thanksgiving,” said Stuart Larkins, vice president of search for DoubleClick Performics. “This helped the industry understand that, while Black Friday is the biggest offline shopping day of the year, the following Monday brought much greater online sales volume, but they only scratched the surface with this finding. It’s more than just one Monday; it’s a Cyber Monday phenomenon, and the Monday following Thanksgiving tends to pale in comparison to the others that follow.”

Their research went on to say:

70 percent of respondents said they search before making any online purchase; 57 percent do so before making any offline purchase

64 percent use search engines to find out where to purchase products offline

Black Friday continues to grow. See graph below:

This is very interesting from a marketing point of view because this helps us drill down to the nano level on where to concentrate our marketing efforts. Obviously heavily front loaded for the weeks to precede Black Friday and Cyber Monday along with shifting budgets and shifting ad displays and focus through the following weeks. As the traffic lowers so can the ad budgeting.

Boomers are the driving force within the comparison shopping engines. The reason this is important is that boomers are the leading online spenders. This demographic is surprisingly educated with online shopping. Generation Jones obviously is lumped into this demographic more often then not and typically the Generation Jones demo is more affluent with online activities. However, the more boomers and gen Jones’ go online the more popular Cyber Monday will become and the more important online marketing will become during this time period for all e-commerce businesses.

According to BDO.com Cyber Monday and Black Friday are crucial days within the fiscal year for any retail business. Keeping this in mind, it would be worth hiring an online firm to market your business during these crucial days. Also this season is looking to have a much longer spending time frame then previous seasons, says advertising.com. Hitwise put together some great information worth reading. They talk about the growth rate in e commerce activity over the years and the importance baby boomers have played in this growth.

Social media is an essential tool for holiday marketing! I’m not just saying this because my company specializes in it. When it comes to holiday shopping it’s all about getting the right people in front of the right advertisement. Of course this seems obvious, but how do you do this cost-effectively and efficiently? I recommend social media marketing. According to marketingcharts.com, here is how social media is being leveraged in order to produce higher results for their clients. See the chart below.

Social media marketing is not just getting you on top of digg.com or putting you on stumbleupon.com. It is also leveraging social sites, like the ones listed above, in many ways, from media buying, brand building and promotions, video marketing, blogging and podcasting. If you are an online OR offline store and you are looking to increase your sales this holiday season be sure to find a company that can implement a hybrid approach for your campaign that involves using social media marketing and you will be sure to find success and a much higher ROI.

Consumers Look Online For Auto Purchase

Mike Sachoff — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:24:22 +0000

In the final decision making process of buying an automobile, over half of consumers (53%) use the Internet as their main source for finding information about a vehicle they will purchase according to a DoubleClick Performics survey.

"Whether shoppers are gathering information three months in advance or narrowing their search three days before a purchase, the Internet is an ‘always on’ medium accessed by the majority of automotive consumers," said Nick Beil, vice president of sales and account management, DoubleClick Performics.

"More than ever, local dealers can benefit by using the Web not only as an educational tool, but to bring consumers into their virtual and brick and mortar showrooms."

When performing their automobile search, around half of consumers said they would visit a wide variety of Web sites such as consumer review sites, comparison sites, dealership sites, search engines and automobile company Web sites.

The most common search terms entered into a search engine query were brand name and model at 73 percent followed by automobile functions, such as speed or safety at 61 percent. Other popular search terms were state, city, zip code and dealership name.

"By implementing local search marketing strategies, there is opportunity for dealers to increase their contact with consumers," said Beil.

"While the automotive industry’s online advertising spend continues to rise, dealers utilizing search will improve their ability to impact consumers at every step in the purchase process."