July 20,
2005
In This Issue:
1. MSN Search - Six Months Later
2. In the News - Yahoo update, AdWords changes,
Keyword tools
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - Domain name problems
5. Wrapping It Up
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MSN Search - Six Months Later
It was just about six months ago that the mighty
Microsoft formally launched its own search engine,
after years of using Yahoo (and others) as the
engine underneath its hood. If you were with us
back then, you'll remember a little bit of wonder
and excitement about how MSN Search might impact
the overall search landscape. Will it eat into
Google's big lead? Will it surpass Yahoo as the
No. 2 search engine?
Six months later, the answer to both those questions
is a resounding "no." According to some
recent measurement estimates, MSN's share of searches
is exactly where it was on Day One, at about 16%
of the market. And this is despite what MSN called
its biggest advertising campaign ever -- an 8-week
blitz across TV, print, web, and even outdoor
billboards.
But what about the sites that matter? Yours. Mine.
Ours. I spent some time this week comparing search
referrals on OWTweb.com and four other client
sites. The results are not as bad as those earlier
stats suggest, but they're not great either.
Of the five sites I looked at, three are getting
noticeably more MSN traffic today than in January,
when MSN was still using Yahoo SERPs. One is getting
less MSN traffic, and one is exactly the same.
But here's a problem: of the three getting more
traffic, all are getting less traffic now than
in March when that 8-week ad campaign was at full
throttle. That's not a good sign at all.
(Readers: if you're willing to share numbers,
or even just trends as I have here, I'm curious
to know if MSN Search has had any impact for you
over the past 6 months.)
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In The News
Another Yahoo update
Yahoo says another update is underway and changes
will continue to be seen in rankings for the "next
week or two."
Third
Weather Report
Google changes AdWords
If you're an AdWords advertiser, pay attention
to the changes that are being rolled out soon.
In a nutshell, if you have keywords that are deemed
low quality by the system, it will cost more to
continue having those keywords trigger ads. Also,
the current system of labeling keywords as "normal",
"in trial", "on hold", and
"disabled" is being simplified to just
"active" or "inactive." Makes
sense to me. SearchEngineWatch.com has a good
overview of the changes.
SEW: Google
Simplifies & Loosens Requirements for AdWords
Aaron's Keyword Tools
Speaking of keywords.... Aaron Walls has posted
a list and review of a whole bunch of keyword
tools -- you know, things like WordTracker and
such that you use either for SEO purposes or PPC
campaigns when you want to find out what related
keywords you could be targeting with your efforts.
Worth a bookmark before you start on your next
keyword research project.
SEOBook: Comparing
Keyword Tools
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More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
New
movers turn to local search
July 19, 2005 - ClickZ.com
A Yahoo!/Harris Interactive study reports most
new movers -- a group coveted by marketers --
find solace in local Web searching.
How
effective is your site content?
July 14, 2005 - ClickZ.com
A mountain of research and articles focuses on
optimizing landing pages and testing calls to
action along visitor paths, but there's surprisingly
little information about understanding a site's
non-campaign-related content.
Saving
Your Business from an Algorithm Shift - Part 1:
Press Releases
July 14, 2005 - Search Engine Guide
A well written press release is a great way to
get some incoming links to your site because there
are so many places that pick them up and run them.
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
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This Week's Q&A
Hello Matt,
We're in a bit of a bind here. Our company is
changing its focus a bit, and when we're done
the transition our domain name won't be as accurate
in describing what we do, nor will it match the
company name anymore. We think we need to get
a new name, but all of the names we've come up
with are gone. The only names close to what we
want are those .biz and .info names. How much
does it matter if we have a .com versus one of
those others?
John
Hi John,
We still recommend to our clients that they try
to get a .com if at all possible, though admittedly
we're not as adamant as we were 4-5 years ago
about that. I think .com is still what a lot of
web users think of first, so if they have to guess
your URL that's probably where they'll end up.
But there are so many .net names in use that we
don't think that's such a bad 2nd option anymore.
In your case, I'm not sure I'd suggest going with
a .biz or .info, simply because they would probably
be about the 4th or 5th choices a user would guess.
If they don't find you at .com or .net, chances
are they're done typing. They'll either give up
looking for your site, or if you're lucky maybe
they'll try a search engine. The only situation
where it might not matter if you get one of those
less-common extensions is if you plan a very large
ad campaign to drill the domain name into people's
brains. If money is no issue, your domain name
extension wouldn't be as much of an issue, either.
But I'd still suggest you divert some of those
ad dollars into buying someone else's .com if
you can!
(Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
Today's the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission
which landed on the moon in 1969, and Google honors
the occasion with a new site: Google Moon. It's
just like Google Maps, only showing the moon's
surface instead. And be sure to zoom in all the
way to see the surface details!
http://moon.google.com/
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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