SEO Nonsense

A new study composed by Break Media and developers Panache confirms industry-wide numbers on a variety of video advertising formats.

“Completion rates for pre-roll video ads approached 90% and click-through rates averaged 10% in a new study of video ad units by Break Media and video ad technology provider Panache.

For overlay ads and non-overlay banners, about 78% viewed the ads for at least 15 seconds. Non-overlays had click-throughs of 0.08%, while overlays were higher at 0.65%–five times the industry average for standard display ads.”

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July’s numbers for July 2008 are out, and Google has finally broken the magic number.

Google now reports 70.77 percent of all U.S. searches.

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As many early testers have revealed, Google has begun adding more information about their personalization tactics to the results.

In the case of Pay Per Click Ads, the method of customization is added to a non-customizable bottom line of the ad. The description shows who this ad has been targeted at. In the example below, the ad has been “geo-targeted” to the Champaign & Springfield-Decatur, IL market by DMA.

On the same page, Google has also noted how personalized search has affected my Organic Results. More experienced searchers are fully aware that no two sets of results are ever the same. Organic results vary by over 200 factors, including web history, as noted by Google in this case, as well as geographic designations based on the searcher’s IP address.

The decision to begin adding these informative little tags are likely the result of two emphasis changes at the search company:

1. More transparency - One of the most common complaints with web folks has been the feeling of lack of information from the search giant. With more blog posts and chat sessions, the sense is that Google is trying to make users feel a little left out in the cold.
2. Ongoing moves to localize searches - In an effort to filter the onslaught of information that users experience, the search industry as a whole, not just Google, is moving rapidly towards this type of “localization” by both geographic and behavioral targeting.

The hope of both moves is to make each users individual search experience more enjoyable.

IMMI (Integrated Media Measurement Inc.) has provided new details on the latest figures for online programming.

The numbers are impressive enough to almost make me skeptical.

One interesting note: the data collection was targeted around major metropolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Denver, ignoring the broadband capabilities or interest of most of the country. That might have swung the numbers heavily.

Read Reuters Coverage

TechCruch note’s another new Google acquisition. This one could provide video editing capabilities to YouTube.

Read The Full Post

A March study conducted by Simmons/Experian Research and Coupons, Inc. concludes increased adoption of online coupons, and provides metrics.

“The number of American adults using online coupons rose by 39% to 36 million between 2005 and 2008,”

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Danny Sullivan posts about a new feature in Google Search that i somehow missed:

“Google is now showing “search customization” messages to inform searchers when their search results have been modified from “normal” due to a searcher’s geographic location, previous query or web surfing and search history. It’s a nice move to help searchers know what exactly is going on “under the hood” at Google”

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“Microsoft’s CEO defended the software maker’s decision to invest heavily in its unprofitable online business, but shed minimal light Thursday on specific steps it will take to challenge Google in the wake of the failed bid to buy Yahoo.”

The AP reports on renewed focus on the flailing search enterprise, this immediately on the heels of the announcement of a deal with Facebook.

Yep. Up next on my list.

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What a lifesaver this trick is!

“Google Maps do not display latitude and longitude values, but there is an easy trick to get these numbers. This technique will provide the latitude and longitude coordinates of the center of the map displayed by Google Maps.

Looking up an address in Google Maps will center the map on that address if it was found. Because this trick provides the latitude and longitude of the center of the map, moving the map around manually after that will change the center position and this technique will not work accurately.

When the location you want is in the center of the map, copy and paste this code into the location bar of your browser and press enter:

A little dialog box will pop up displaying the coordinates which can be copied and pasted for use elsewhere. This code can be bookmarked and then used in the future by selecting the bookmark.”

Great Google Maps tip from Tech-Recipes.com.

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Not that it’s much of a surprise, but the official word from Yahoo! on their abandoned Ambassador Program came to me in an email today:

RIP Yahoo! Ambassador Program.