Once upon a time search engine optimization (SEO) wasn’t even a term and the main search-related challenge for a web developer to reach the top spot was simply wording websites with the desired keyword phrases and maybe sneaking some colored text on a matching colored background. However, as internet growth surged and new search engines flooded the landscape, being search savvy became a thing and discussions about being at the top of the search results became a brass-ring challenge.
Becca Field, Strategic Account Manager at Republic Media, attends AZIMA events to learn more about SEO! She was especially excited about the October event featuring Danny Sullivan.
Do you have an interesting AZIMA story you’d like to chair? Find me at the next event! I’ll be the one holding a flip camera 😉
Read, as we summarize the most recent AZIMA social event held October 12th. Danny Sullivan, Editor-In-Chief of SearchEngineLand.com, shares his experiences with search engine marketing, and explains the trends in search today.
Google Strength
In the first part of his presentation, Danny reiterated what many of us already know: Google is the dominating search engine. But what I found interesting was how he also spent a large time discussing Bing and Yahoo. Bing is constantly increasing their market share, but largely at the expense of Yahoo. Bing’s marketing message has been, “Bing is your alternative to Google”, whereas with Yahoo….their marketing is inconsistent. Did you know that Yahoo recently turned off their own search engine, and are now using Bing? Yahoo was one of the oldest search engines, but with declining numbers it’s no surprise. Yahoo admits that they will always be a search engine, but they know that Bing works better. So why not use it instead? Something else interesting about Yahoo: their accordion view. I’ll admit, I haven’t heard of this yet, but Danny mentioned it in his presentation. This is one of the new ways Yahoo is attempting to stay in the game.
It’s Danny’s opinion that Bing will continue to take market share from Yahoo, but noted: how much will Bing be willing to spend to gain that market share? They’ve been featured on The Colbert Report and Gossip Girls, are trying to coin the term “Bing’d It”, but how successful will they be after the ads stop? It will be interesting to see how this shapes up in the months and years to come.
Vertical Search
It’s not just web pages and ads anymore. More and more content is shown in search engine results pages: news, images, video, real time results, etc…. It’s important to have your website displayed in these areas, and allows even the smallest of sites to be featured on the first page of Google. Danny discussed real time search a bit more in depth, and gives a great example as to how you can utilize real time search to your advantage: answer questions. Using “anyone knows” type search phrases in Twitter search will yield results that are exactly targeted to your specific demographic (depending on the keyword you attach to the search phrase). Play around with it. He’s found that many people are actually responsive and thankful when you provide them answers, even if you’re uninvited to the conversation.
Is Facebook a search engine, a Google killer, changing the way we search? Danny suggests that the answer to these questions is no. Facebook is not meant to be a search engine, and shouldn’t be confused as such. Nor is Facebook a Google killer. He eluded to the possible partnership between Facebook and Bing, and sure enough yesterday it was announced. Read his blog post from yesterday to get a bit more information about this amazing addition to Bing search results.
With the new ‘Like’ button popping up all over the place, some have suggested that Facebook will change the way we search. Danny points out that what many fail to acknowledge is that Google already has the information that the ‘Like’ button might be collecting. Google knows what you search, where you go on the web, and how you do it. They collect their information in their own way and utilize it, they’ll “get it by hook or by crook” as Danny puts it.
Next up Danny discusses mobile search, and it’s increasing popularity online. Many say that users don’t utilize mobile search because they use apps, but Danny points out that what is an app but mobile search? Mobile search is here to stay, that’s for sure.
Google Instant
Is this the death of SEO? No. And in all reality, SEO seems to have been impacted very little. What it has done however is exemplify that as search marketers we should be more conscious of suggested searches, and surprisingly: below the fold is doing better than expected. As far as PPC goes, alright: Google instant might affect it. Overall, we’re in a watch and see mode.
I’m sure you are as excited as we are to see what happens in the future of search marketing.
What were your major take-away’s from Danny’s presentation? Share in the comments below.
At last night’s AZIMA social event, attendees had the pleasure of hearing a presentation from Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief at Search Engine Land. Sullivan is considered a “search guru” by many and has been in the business for more than a decade. In this short video interview, I cut right to the chase: what is the future of search?
For those of you who missed the event, a full wrap-up of Danny’s presentation is coming soon, so be on the look out!
Did you hear the buzz around the valley? Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief at Search Engine Land and founder of Sphinn, will be presenting at the Tuesday October 12th AZIMA event. Be sure to register soon, tickets are going fast!
At the Tuesday event, we’ll be accepting canned food donations in a joint effort with Gangplank to support the Chandler Foodbank. Help end hunger in our state, and show your support for the residents of the greater Chandler area.
But that’s not all folks: Donate your canned food or nonperishable items and receive a raffle ticket to win a brand new iPad donated by our sponsor Incentive Logic, based in Scottsdale. Each canned food item or nonperishable item equals one raffle ticket, so attendees have multiple chances to win.
This is the mother of all food drives, and with no limit on the number of raffle tickets you better be sure to bring TONS of donations for more chances to win! One catch: you must be present to win. We’ll announce the winner after Danny’s presentation, so make sure you don’t leave early.
Empty out your cupboards and help feed the hungry while learning about search from one of the industry’s top SEO-ers. See you Tuesday, I’ll be at the reg desk waiting for your donations!
This week I’d like you to meet… Heather Lynn Herr from Terralever! As a professional in the Internet marketing realm, Heather said she loves to come to AZIMA each month to keep up with all her friends in the industry. Also, she loves learning from her peers and AZIMA events are perfect for that!
We had some laughs before the interview, as you’ll see.
Great to meet you, Heather!
So, who is excited for AZIMA’s next event on Oct. 12 with Danny Sullivan? I know I am. We’ll be discussing search marketing with an SEO great, and you won’t want to miss it. If you haven’t registered yet, be sure to do so ASAP, because this event will sell out! See you there, Flip cam in hand!