This week, Bruce and Virginia have spent their days in the Javits Center in New York City attending SMX East. In between liveblogging sessions, Virginia interviewed conference speakers to talk about their areas of expertise and the sessions they spoke on.

Starting off the show Virginia talks to John W. Ellis, a paid search specialist, about his suggestions for ad remarketing as well as some insights into a paid search platform that’s great for small businesses, Google AdWords Express.

Then Virginia speaks with local business specialist Mike Ramsey, also known as Nifty Marketing. Mike spoke on the session Hard Core Local SEO Tactics, part of the best of SMX Advanced track. Mike shares some of his tactics for integrated O-pack local optimization, including citation building, link building and reviews.

Then Jessica, Aaron and Virginia take a look at some of the most recent headlines in search. They examine Google’s acquisition of Zagat and what that means for local search, as well as Bing and Twitter’s renewed partnership and what that means for social search.

Today’s show starts with a conversation on infographics – their value to your organization, how to come up with ideas for them, and how to promote them online. Then we take a look at the demands of local businesses, from affordable solutions for creating a website to making sure you’re found where people are looking for you online.

Bruce Clay, Jessica Lee and Virginia Nussey first explore infographics following an article on the art and science of infographics by Bruce Clay Australia’s SEO manager, Kate Gamble. In large part, an infographic helped Bruce make a name for himself in 2000 when he published the first Search Engine Relationship Chart®. Search marketers welcomed the Bruce Clay, Inc. brand into their office life by printing out the chart and putting it by their desks. Sticky, visually graphic content has serious staying power and is inherently able to reach a relevant audience.

Then Mark Knowles, Pixelsilk CEO, talks to Virginia about how a customizable CMS is an invaluable resource for a local or small business interested in creating and maintaining a professional and competitive online presence. Localware is a new product from Bruce Clay, Inc. in partnership with Pixelsilk, that offers a local-focused Internet marketing and Web development package for the small business budget. Mark also explains how Pixelsilk’s unique “tokens” feature helps save time and resources when creating a website or multiple sites on the same theme, which is often useful in local business applications.

Wrapping up the show, Susan Esparza returns one last time before parting with the company to follow her dream of being a fiction writer. But she doesn’t leave before she imparts her experience of local search with listeners, encouraging businesses to care about the quality of their online reviews. It’s been found that people trust reviews from strangers more than reviews from people they know. And people searching for services or goods in a new place as well as a familiar neighborhood are both likely to turn to the Internet and review sites for recommendations. So when it comes to what’s required of businesses marketing today, the first steps are to cultivate an online presence of your own and on relevant online discovery channels.

Bruce, Susan and Virginia start off the show by analyzing recent search engine updates as they may affect the SEO industry. Microsoft Advertising recently conducted a study into the habits of multi-device or multi-screen users. Those who use multiple screens to access content find that the content is more useful, relevant and more engaging. Ask.com is also interested in adding engagement to the service through an enhanced question-and-answer search with a new community aspect. A new look and feel, technology, social integration and the largest index of Q&A pairs characterize the anticipated Ask.com refresh.

Andy Liu, co-founder of BuddyTV and an angel investor, then talks to Virginia at the BlueGlass LA conference. At the show, Andy spoke during the session When to raise money and when to bootstrap, sharing advice for entrepreneurs and investors about identifying a winning idea and building an engaged community. On his blog, Inspired Startup, Andy talks about leadership, investment and motivation, among other topics on making a business thrive. Passion and energy are two of the most important qualities of a successful endeavor. View the video below to watch the interview from BlueGlass LA!

An exact formula for success remains elusive because there are so many elements in the equation. The same is true of Internet marketing, however a strong online foundation remains important no matter the size of the company or its objectives. Best practices and search engine guidelines apply to nearly every business and act as the launching platform for ambitious and innovative offerings. So what is an SEO to do when a client scoffs at best practice recommendations? Daerick, Susan and Virginia consider the options.

To compete in the search space, Bing has been exercising a strategy of differentiation and progress. Bing now boasts a comprehensive social search vertical, aggregating data from Facebook and Twitter to display search results and analyze popular trends. The search engine is also planning to release a ground-up redesign of the Bing Webmaster Center this summer, including new visualization tools, additional data and a simplified user interface. As for the Bing-Yahoo! search partnership, Microsoft’s SVP of online audiences business, Yusuf Mehdi, explained during an interview at SMX Advanced that Bing will power Yahoo! by the end of the year.

Blended search results are becoming a more prominent part of the search experience across all the top-tier engines. While the topic of Universal search strategy is often discussed, few professional optimizers have taken action by integrating blended search opportunities into their SEO campaigns. David Harry talks to Virginia about the need to develop a blended search strategy that examines the types of blended results — news, blog, video, social and more — that are displayed in your targeted query spaces. He offers up a tool that can report the blended search types that are displayed for target keywords and the frequency that blended results are displayed for those queries. In the near future, he plans to conduct research into what triggers blended search results and the effect of personalization on Universal search.

Then Paula, Susan and Virginia discuss tactics for website management in the era of Google Caffeine and the fastest index yet. Many of the duties of the website optimization, development and maintenance team are constant and ongoing. Various webmaster tools must be used to diagnose site issues regularly. A schedule for interval keyword research is helpful. And cross-department communication is key. Review Beyond Position Bias: Examining Result Attractiveness as a Source of Presentation Bias in Clickthrough Data (PDF), a research paper by Google employees, for insight into the importance of content displayed in search results. Use this information and data collected from site analytics and server logs to continually test and evolve your website for increased conversions and rankings.

Sounding the distress signal, some webmasters are reporting a loss of significant long-tail traffic referred by Google and have dubbed the issue the Mayday Update. Some theories are circulating, attempting to figure out what change Google made that affected long-tail traffic. Bruce suspects the Caffeine infrastructure may have something to do with the change, and expects to see further shifts due to Caffeine in the future.


Tony Adam, senior manager of online marketing at MySpace, then talks to Virginia about enterprise and in-house SEO and his presentation at Search & Social Spring Summit. He explains the value of creating a road map and setting goals, the importance of conversion and optimization and testing, and the opportunity of social media. Social media and search engine optimization can be used together for optimal online marketing effect, and he shares points from his SXSW presentation on social media marketing for business.

Then Susan, Maryann and Virginia discuss search engine marketing for retail businesses. A survey by Internet Retailer reveals that retailers are attributing a large portion of online sales to search engine referrals. One interesting point is that more than 43 percent of respondents expect to increase their paid search advertising budget for Bing in the coming year. Of that group, more than 17 percent plan to shift money from the Google advertising budget to Bing. The battle of the search engines and search traffic continues.

It’s iPad mania in the tech world these days. The touch-pad tablet computing from Apple has been flying off the shelves since it became available in April. Some technology analysts expect to see the iPad user base reach critical mass within months, so it might be worth an SEO’s time to consider optimizing their content for the device. Safari, the default browser for the iPad, has released a readiness checklist for the iPad for developers. Google explains how to deliver ads to the iPad and other mobile devices. Keep in mind that Flash doesn’t render on the iPad and that the device switches between landscape and portrait layout.

Alan Bleiweiss, an SEO consultant at HeyDudeWheresMySite.com, then talks to Virginia about the challenge of setting client expectations up front and how an SEO site audit establishes a foundation of understanding and communication so important for any project. He outlines obstacles that keep site owners for realistic expectations, and ways to manage them. He also shares his technique for dealing with ignored recommendations. And based on years of experience, he gives his advice for establishing mutual respect and trust by avoiding the pressure of providing free services.

Then the co-hosts take a high-level view of the marketing big picture. The rivalry between different Internet marketing channels is a disservice to businesses looking for improved online visibility. Rather than pointing to a one-dimensional solution for an optimized Web presence — be it SEO, PPC, conversion rate optimization, social media marketing, or more — channels work together for optimal effect. Vanessa Fox lays it out well in her post Should Restaurants Care About Local Search? Think “and” and not “or.”

This month, world news has intersected with the search engine marketing industry more than usual. Bruce Clay, Susan and Virginia start off the show by reviewing recent search headlines with far-reaching implications for Internet marketers. A devastating earthquake in Haiti last week catalyzed a global effort to provide relief and rescue to the rubble-stacked nation. Relief organizations were able to raise funds with unprecedented success by allowing people to make donations through text messages and by spreading the word through social media channels. In other news, Google and the Chinese government have been publically at odds this week after Google announced it had been attacked and robbed of intellectual property, with the Chinese government being the primary suspect. Google has said that it will pull its services from the country if it can not come to an agreement about censorship.


Then Bryan Eisenberg, best-selling author of several books on Internet marketing and number five on Invesp.net’s list of the most influential online marketers of 2009, talks to Virginia about his recommendations for Internet marketing in the new year. Bryan shares his prediction for the marketing skills that will be crucial in the coming year, as well as his observations of the increasing mainstream recognition of conversion optimization. If you like what you hear from Bryan, be sure to check out his new conversion optimization certification program with Market Motive as well as his keynote presentation at SES London next month, 21 Secrets of Top Converting Web Sites.

As Bryan sees it, the copywriter is going to be an irreplaceable part of any marketing team over the next decade. Susan, Virginia and SEO analyst Maryann Robbins take a look at ways to brainstorm new content ideas as well as ways to identify content holes on a site. Maryann suggests repurposing correspondence with customers when answering frequently asked questions. Virginia likes to expand upon the company story in order to convey personality and connect with the audience. Susan recommends including basic or introductory content that helps researchers and those new to the product or service.

Bruce Clay’s annual SEO preview features impressively accurate predictions for the year ahead. Bruce’s predictions for Internet marketing in 2010 will be published in the January edition of the SEOToolSet Newsletter. On today’s episode of SEM Synergy, Bruce gives a sneak peak of his 2010 predictions. Bruce expects to see the online sector leading the way to economic recovery in March.

Update: Bruce’s predictions for SEO in 2010 are now available.

Then Paula Allen, Susan Esparza and Virginia Nussey look at the 2010 digital marketing trends compiled by Last Exit. Some trends excite the hosts, while others terrify them. Will social media come to replace e-mail? Will social media become integrated around the Web? Are info graphics the big thing in 2010? Time will tell.

The co-hosts wrap up the show with advice on fighting for and setting an SEO budget for the new year. One of the first steps is getting executive-level buy-in. By doing showing the potential for return on investment and by pulling in as much data as is available, the need for a company to invest in SEO can be made clear and compelling. Company data about the benefit of current PPC marketing can also help to demonstrate the advantages of search engine marketing.

There are a number of programs unique to each search engine — each offering their own advantages to marketers. At Yahoo!, Search Submit gives search marketers a paid inclusion method with many benefits. Paid inclusion and submission is the topic of the show, and Bruce, Susan and Virginia start off by looking at why marketers will appreciate the advantages of Search Submit Basic and Search Submit Pro with Yahoo! The high level of control in listings, the guaranteed findability of pages and the built-in analytics reporting are just a few of those unique benefits.

Amy Figliuolo, vice president of sales at search marketing firm Position Technologies, talks to Virginia about the Search Submit programs. Amy previously worked at Yahoo! Search Marketing as well as Overture, so she has an experienced view of the way SSP can be leveraged for best effect. Her company is also the only marketing firm to offer Search Submit Pro Self Serve. Amy explains to Virginia what marketers can expect from the program, what kinds of companies should consider each program, as well as the limitations of SSP.

Closing out the show, Susan, Virginia and Michael consider Web site submission at locations across the Web. Best of the Web and the Open Directory Project are two common Internet directories to consider. Local listing services require the authentication of submitted sites, and are among the most important submission opportunities available to small and local businesses.

Real-time search is a buzzword that’s been getting a lot of action in the search industry lately. Bruce, Susan and Virginia discuss what real-time search is, how it can be used as a tool, and whether or not a real-time search optimization strategy exists. They also look at real-time search in the spectrum of search engines and whether or not Web search might be influenced by real-time search.

SEO and social media marketer Dana Lookadoo then talks to Virginia about how to use real-time search as a marketing advantage. She explains the value of real-time search for individual users as well as businesses and gives her tips on how to optimize content for real-time search. Dana has also written about the usefulness of lifestreams on her blog. In a similar way, a lifestream is a window into the interests of an audience and can also help businesses attract engagement.

Along with real-time search making the news of late, some other headlines have also made a search splash. The FTC is modifying its guidelines to require bloggers to disclose any payment received. Yahoo’s new product Search Pad lets users take notes, save and share searches. And the announcement that several Google Apps were coming out of beta was the source of a few chuckles.