Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Do Google Previews for Paid Search Really Mean Anything?” plus 4 more

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Do Google Previews for Paid Search Really Mean Anything?
Content Farm Discontent at Yahoo Too
Where 2.0: Context is Everything
Fun with Social Media Marketing
Klout’s Twitter Metrics Get More Clout

Do Google Previews for Paid Search Really Mean Anything?

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 05:10 AM PDT

I have to admit that I am Google's worst nightmare. I am the searcher who rarely if ever clicks on a paid search ad. I am a total Google freeloader. I doubt I am alone but I also doubt I am in any majority considering the gobs of profit that Google generates each quarter. In other words, they aren't being hurt by my search habits.

So not being a paid search user I was intrigued by the introduction of instant previews for paid ads that Google announced earlier this week. Instant previews for organic results have been around for several months now but the paid side is a new and curious development.

Initially I wondered why in the world Google would do that since it takes a lot of the impulse out of clicking on an ad thus potentially reducing the amount of clicks and possibly hurting revenue. You might think that advertisers might celebrate because now searchers will click only because they have been impressed by the preview of the page they will be going to and thus more prepared to convert.

In the end, though, I don't think it will change much about how people behave with regard to paid ads and here's why. Most searchers are extremely unsophisticated and many still don't even know that paid ads are actually what they are. They just see it as a result. They just click because they are interested in fulfilling their search need and the tech side of any of this is of literally no interest. I am willing to bet that much of Google's paid search revenue hinges on the unsophisticated user.

By adding this feature they are actually addressing people like myself who may actually use the preview feature and explore paid search more. You see, the feature isn't a true mouse over function so the 'instant' description is a bit misleading. Unless you click on the little magnifying glass icon next to the ad or in the organic results you're never going to even see a preview. SO much for it being instant, huh? Those who activate the preview function are being intentional because they want more information while those who click it by accident are probably going to find it intrusive and getting in the way of their impulsive clicking nature.

If Google REALLY wanted the masses to use the function they would have put the words “Click to Preview Site” or something instead of a non-desrcript icon that many will ignore or simply not know what it is thus never clicking on it. People who are not tech inclined mean more direction to take an action and an icon is literally no direction at all.

So while marketers are likely to start wringing their hands about landing page quality in the age of the "instant" preview, I doubt there is much to worry about at least until the general population becomes as tech savvy as the tech set. That's a ways off if you really think about it so getting in a tizzy today about something that is more of an experiment and PR move is maybe not the best use of a marketer's efforts.

What are your impressions of Google's “instant” preview for paid search? Is it some altruistic move to truly improve the quality of the search experience or is it a lot more safe because Google can say that people have the options to delve deeper while knowing full well that most won't because they don't want to be bothered?

Or how about this one you conspiracy theorists among MP readers. What if Google is putting all of this “stuff” in the search results to keep the government regulators at bay? Now they can say “Hey, we give our users every chance to make a good decision (if they even know the option exists! wink, wink, nod, nod)”

What's your take?

Content Farm Discontent at Yahoo Too

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 04:05 AM PDT

In the content farm news as of late the focus has been squarely on Demand Media. The most likely reason is that it is now a public company who has had a very public battle as its Google traffic and stock price have had their challenges.

Well, long before the financial coming out party of the content world's dirty little secret (that secret being that content and quality often never danced together but still benefited from great search rankings) there was Demand Media's partner in content crime, Associated Content that was bought by Yahoo. Rather than go public they took $100 million from the Internet's once bright star Yahoo last May.

Seems as if that deal was a springboard for many but not to success within the ranks of Yahoo. In fact, it is rumored that Associated Content suffered a similar fate in the SERPs as a result of the Google Panda update. No, instead the purchase appears to have been more of a platform for everyone at Yahoo who was involved in the purchase to leave Yahoo for greener pastures.

The Business Insider summarized it for us

M&A guy Greg Mrva left before the deal was made.

EVP Hilary Schneider got the boot.

Yahoo media boss Jimmy Pitaro left for Disney.

The M&A chief who closed the deal, Andrew Siegel, is now at Condé.

Yahoo Local boss Matt Idema – who, you may recall, did “did 95% of all the heavy-lifting” to get the deal done – just quit for a job at Facebook.
Associated Content CEO Patrick Keane never went to Yahoo at all.

That's quite a track record. It appears as if the lone survivor is Luke Beatty who was AC's founder and president but now has a laundry list of responsibilities that includes Yahoo Local, Groups, Answers and Flickr. Quite the full plate indeed.

The speculation is that Beatty is hanging around for retention bonus money. I had a brief "run in" with him back in 2009 as I referred to his company's content efforts along with those of Aol and coined the term 'craptent'. The e-mail he sent me was less cordial than the comment he had on that post as he claimed I had some 'issues'. Oh well, guess he knew me better than he thought!

Well, looks now like the whole content farm idea is running into a search engine buzzsaw. No worries for someone like Beatty who will have to just suffer through some discomfort and walk away with some decent coin (I am speculating here since I have literally no idea what his deal is like with Yahoo).

In the end, it looks like the whole content farm dust-up has nothing to do with quality after all. It's just about money. No surprise there. All of the content farms and mills are being exposed as producers of low grade, keyword driven posts and articles that generated cash and little else. I guess you can't fault these guys for exploiting a flaw in the system for financial gain. They are not the first to do so and definitely won't be the last.

Where 2.0: Context is Everything

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 01:12 PM PDT

Last week, folks who work in the area of geo-location gathered in Santa Clarita to talk about the future of the biz. When they were done, they left behind a long list of video and slide presentations that you can access simply by visiting the Where 2.0 website.

Since location-based marketing is such a big trend right now, I wanted to introduce you to Genevieve Bell from Intel. She’s a cultural anthropologist and her specialty is human interaction. The speech she gave at Where 2.0 was called “Context is Everything” and it’s all about the concept of “where” and how it differs depending on who you’re talking to.

As Bell points out, many of us (myself included) think like Americans. Which is fine most of the time, but when you’re talking about technology and the internet, it’s easy to forget that not everyone in the world has broadband and a cell phone. In order to get people thinking more globally, she presented a series of anecdotal stories that I can’t do justice to here in this blog. I will give you the broader points and I hope that at the end, you’ll watch her video because it’s both informative and amusing.

Location Isn’t Just About Directions

Bell tells a story about how London cabbies must pass a rigorous test that includes not only how to get to places, but what establishments line those streets and the history behind them. Here, “location isn’t just about directions, it’s actually about the stories of London.” Where equals knowledge, it’s something that’s learned.

Location Can Be Relational

There’s a car commercial running right now where a driver refers to an “old GPS” which is an elderly man in the backseat telling him when to turn. Bell had this experience in real life when she visited Malaysia. Her companion made reference to picking up her “GPS,” which turned out to be her mother-in-law, a woman who had lived in the city all her life. She needed to do this because, in Malaysia, directions aren’t about street names. They’re about events and buildings, even buildings that aren’t there anymore. “Turn right at the corner where the fishmarket used to be, then left where Auntie had her tooth pulled.” So here, location isn’t enough, you have to understand how these places relate to people in order to get where you’re going.

Where You Are Going Can be as Important as Where You Are

As part of her cultural studies, Bell likes to photograph the contents of cars. These bits and bobs are very revealing and each one tells a story. In this case, she chose a car from Singapore which, among other things, had a collection of Ang Pao, red envelopes that are used to give money as a gift. When asked why he had them in his car, the man said it was in case of an “emergency wedding.”

We here in the US, don’t usually carry around emergency gifting supplies, but we might carry sneakers in case we find a good place to run, or a camera in case of a beautiful sunset. Location needs to be about where people are going, not just where they are now.

Location is About Identity

Says Bell,

“We lie about where we are, about who we’re with and where we haven’t been. More than half of Brits, when recently surveyed, said they lied about there location in text messaging and if half of them said they were lying, I’m willing to bet more of them were actually lying than that.”

Why lie? Because location equals identity and sometimes we want to be better than we really are. We want to be a person who eats at Sprouts not McDonalds or goes to the concert instead of watching the live stream from home.

What Does This All Mean to You?

Right now, your customers are somewhere and chances are they’ll be going somewhere else later on. Can you work with that? Sure you can. Reward them for location knowledge, give them an upgrade so they can be the person they wish they were and make the experience so great they won’t want to lie.

Location isn’t really about spots on a map. It’s about people and that’s what you need to remember when you work geo-location into your marketing plan.

If you have 16 minutes, watch Genvieve Bell’s full presentation.

Fun with Social Media Marketing

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 11:07 AM PDT

To get noticed in this world, you have to do something creative. Here are two brands that are making a fun, new, social media statement.

**Conan O’Brien F*Cards**

Funnyman Conan O’Brien is bringing his sharp sense of humor to your Facebook page with his new F*Cards. The “cards” are actually short videos that you can use to update your status. Each one features Conan telling your followers how you really feel about a variety of Facebook subjects.

My favorite is the one where Conan explains how I’d rather have hot bacon grease poured into a cut under my eye rather than see another one of your Farmville updates. Other choices include, “Stop photo-tagging me,” “FYI – I just ate some delicious food,” and “Dear High School / College Buddy.” As Conan says, why bother trying to compose something clever when he can do it for you.

Pepsi Social Vending

Pepsi is connecting the real world to the virtual world with their new social vending machine. Mashable got the scoop on the machine which was unveiled at a recent trade show and even though I’m a Diet Coke gal, I have to say, this is pretty cool.

The machine has a place to key in your friend’s email address and it even allows you to record a short video message. The message is sent along with a code that the recipient can redeem at any Pepsi Social Vending machine. There’s even an option to send a soda to a random stranger. Perfect if you’re in need of some extra karma points.

We’ve seen evidence that social media isn’t the golden ticket to marketing happiness, but maybe it’s not the method so much as the lack of madness.

Have you seen an example of creative social media marketing? Inspire us, in the comment space below.

Klout’s Twitter Metrics Get More Clout

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 08:26 AM PDT

One of my favorite tools for Twitter is Trackur..sorry, old habit…Klout!

The service measures your influence across Twitter (and Facebook) and provide you with metrics and a handy-dandy score–out of one hundred. (We actually use Klout scores in the Trackur dashboard).

Anyhow, Klout has announced some impressive updates today:

1. Everyone has Klout: the all-new profile design provides better insight into your Klout score and persona

2. Compare Your Klout: compare your Klout profile to more than 75 million other profiles we've scored.

3. Understand Your Klout: our improved analysis shows more relevant topic and influencer data and a clearer view of how your Klout is changing over time. We analyze more than 3 billion relationships and 250 million pieces of content every day to accomplish this!

4. Use Your Klout: your Klout should work for you. We have a brand-new showcase of Perks and you'll be seeing a lot more in the future.

5. Own Your Klout: your influence should be in your hands. We're giving you control over the display of your influencers and who you influence, and you can expect even bigger features like these in the near future.

I’m particularly interested in using the new influence metrics to chart my progress as I take over the world.