On location at SMX West in Santa Clara, Virginia interviews three prominent personalities in the search world: Ian Lurie, Marshall Simmonds and Scott Garell.

Ian Lurie, president of Portent Interactive and co-author of Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, kicks off the show. Ian is a presenter during the session Analytics Action Plans for SEO & PPC, and he explains how to predict and pick what terms and pages to optimize for based on analytics data. He also talks about how his agency establishes trust and introduces his services to clients with his 10things small business program.

Then Marshall Simmonds, chief search strategist at the New York Times and co-founder of Define Search Strategies, then talks to Virginia about the topic of his Ignite SMX West presentation, where he muses on how history would have been different if major figures had the Internet at their disposal. He also shares a preview of his presentation on the Industrial Strength SEO panel and the challenges of enterprise search.


Finally, Scott Garell, president of Ask Networks, joins the show. As the number one brand charged with answering questions on the Web, Scott explains that Ask.com is a strong platform for advertisers. He also hints at the Q&A social community that Ask.com will be launching in the second quarter of the year. The community aims to connect experts with searchers, pointing to the abundance of information that hasn’t been published on the Web. Combining innovative technology and connections between people is Ask.com’s strategy.

At the beginning of December, personalized search was rolled out to all Google users, not just those signed in to their Google accounts. Now Web history is being gleaned through an anonymous cookie, and search activity of non-signed in users will be stored for 180 days, thereby having an effect on search results. Bruce Clay, Susan Esparza and Virginia Nussey consider how personalized search results affect the job of an SEO and shape users’ expectations of search results. Bruce gives his recommendations for search engine optimization in a world of personalization and intent-based targeting.


David Harry, blogger and founder of the community forum and discussion hub, SEO Dojo, has performed three rounds of research to gather data on result ranking flux due to personalization. Dave shares his analysis of the latest round of testing, and among his observations he notes the difference of results for informational and transactional searches. He also explains how SEOs might go about optimization in light of personalization. Finally, Dave puts the personalized search piece of the puzzle into a broader point of view, including the way a more powerful infrastructure like Caffeine allows broad customization of search results to occur.

Then Susan, Virginia and Michael Terry look at another recent Google implementation — real-time search results. The question of spam and low-quality information is raised, as is the shift in information gathering and consumption. Some seasoned search marketers expect real-time search results to disappear from Google in the coming months, while others see real-time search as a valuable tool for mining data online.

Ask.com is pursuing the real-time and Q&A segments of search with a new strategy and contagious excitement. In a post titled The Next Frontier in Search: Questions & Answers, Ask.com U.S. president Doug Leeds announced that the company was developing technology to better extract existing answers on the Web as well as to better find and index the source of answers not yet published. The latter will be achieved by identifying human subject matter experts that can be called upon to answer questions when they arise. Bruce Clay expresses concern over how Ask.com identifies an expert. What qualifications must be met by experts? How can webmasters and SEOs optimize their odds of being considered expert?


Doug Leeds then joins the program to answer those very questions and to explore the need for evolving technology in the question and answer space. Doug looks at the shortcomings of search in delivering answers and the different ways people approach search when looking for an answer and when researching a topic. He explains what people can do to prepare their site for Q&A search and for being considered a subject matter expert by Ask.com. Real-time question and answer capabilities through human editorial and participation is part of the strategy Ask.com is taking to evolve their search results.

While Ask.com will seek to extract answers from Web pages as they are today, Susan Esparza, Michael Terry and Virginia Nussey consider whether or not microformats could help the process. Microformats are conventions used to indicate common types of content on a Web page, such as info on events, companies, products or reviews. If a standard could be agreed upon for Q&A pairs, would search quality be improved? They consider the solution in theory but are aware that the standardization and technical requirements of new microformats aren’t a quick or nimble fix.

The third quarter of 2009 is over and many companies have released their quarterly results. Bruce Clay, Susan Esparza and Virginia Nussey examine the results reported by Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and IAC for a measurement of the health of the search engines and a reflection on consumer behavior. Google reported revenues of $5.94 billion for the third quarter, an increase of 7% compared to the third quarter of 2008. Yahoo!’s net income nearly tripled to $187 million in the third quarter. Microsoft Corp.’s stock fell 14% to $12.9 billion, topping analysts’ forecasts of $12.3 billion. IAC, which owns Ask.com, reported a year-over-year revenue growth of -9%.


Topher Kohan, SEO Coordinator at CNN, then talks to Virginia about the news organization’s newly redesigned Web site. One of the most notable enhancements to the design is the prominence of video, and Topher shares his thoughts on why video is such an important site element today. He also gives his tips on how to involve SEO in online initiatives from the ground up as well as how he has been able to evangelize on behalf of SEO within the large media organization.

While CNN is one of the first to focus on video integration on the site, they aren’t the only one that has prioritized videos online. TurnHere, an online video advertising and production company, recently conducted a survey on trends in online video among brands and marketing agencies. Susan doesn’t take the survey at face value because TurnHere provides online video marketing services. However, useful lessons are contained in the insights about top reasons brands develop online video and what prohibits some companies from creating online videos.

At SMX East this month, one of the keynotes was called What’s Next in Search: the Bigwig Crystal Ball Panel. Moderator Chris Sherman asked a panel of search experts for their insights into a series of forward-looking questions. Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza add their two cents to the conversation, answering questions like: Where’s the search industry today? Does “traditional” marketing still exist? And what’s the place of social media going forward?

Then Bruce and Susan consider the rest of the questions asked of the SMX East panel, including: With Internet users expressing disapproval of behavioral ad targeting, are marekters able to take advantage of these sophisticated technologies? If Bing and Yahoo! search merge, how will having two players instead of three change the space? And, what will the search marketing industry be buzzing about in five years? Bruce and the team are interested in your answers, too. We’re hoping you’ll join the discussion and add your comments to the blog.

The hosts take the conversation back to the present by discussing a potential challenge facing Internet marketers — making sure client expectations are in line with the different goals and opportunities of PPC and SEO. Bruce Clay, Inc. account manager Dærick Gröss wrote about how marketers can appropriately set SEO and PPC expectations in his article SEO Success Means Letting Go of PPC Expectations.

Information services company Experian Hitwise released a study this month reporting that long-tail searches and Google’s market share both rose in September. The shifting search market was further shaken up by news that Yahoo! would be discontinuing its paid inclusion program, Search Submit, at the end of the year. Bruce Clay, Susan Esparza and Virginia Nussey discuss the implications of increasing long-tail queries and potential strategies of Yahoo! following these announcements.


Gregg Poulin, general manager at Compete.com, then talks to Virginia about data coming out of the online research company. The Web intelligence gleaned by Compete’s 2 million + opt-in Internet users reveal trends in searcher behavior — a valuable resource for marketers trying to reach their audience online. This data is available through the competitive Web intelligence of freshly upgraded Compete PRO. Gregg tells Virginia about Compete’s findings regarding users’ paid search and natural search preferences as well as predictions for the e-commerce holiday season based on both early indicators and last year’s performance.


With all the time and resources required of marketers to understand the changing technologies and guidelines of the engines, wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to freeze time, be in two places at once, or decipher vague search engine announcements? Maybe something long the lines of super powers? Search marketer, industry reporter and research evangelist David Harry (alter ego: The Gypsy) introduced an incredible new team to the search marketing community, the League of Awesome Optimizers! The League welcomes the superheroes of the SEO community to join forces and fight the evils of the Web. SEM Synergy hosts Susan, Michael Terry and Dærick Gröss pick their own SEO superhero powers in hopes of joining the righteous crew.

As summer lingers in its final days, the holiday season is fast approaching. The holidays are a critical time for most retailers, and planning must be done in advance to prepare marketing and advertising campaigns aimed at reeling in holiday shoppers. Virginia and PPC analyst Jim Stratton start the show by reviewing some of his tips for seasonal PPC campaign planning. Internal historical data, buzz generation, special offers and campaign structure are examined.


Then David Szetela, CEO of Clix Marketing and host of WebmasterRadio’s PPC Rockstars, talks to Virginia about his recommendations for PPC management leading up to the holidays. Landing page development, incentives, weighing CPC against ROI, and the effect of a Microsoft-Yahoo! search partnership are topics of focus. David also explains why the partnership is advantageous for search engine marketers.


Undoubtedly, the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal signals changes for PPC professionals, so Jim and Virginia look at what aspects of search engine marketing could see the biggest change. According to Jim’s research, Microsoft’s ad platform will replace Yahoo!’s, while Yahoo! will take over ad sales for both search engines. Search engine representatives will likely shuffle around and, perhaps most significantly, advertisers may be more enticed to invest in ads on search engines other than Google.

At SES San Jose last week, Bruce, Virginia and Robert stayed busy in the expo hall and conference sessions. Opening the show, they recall the takeaways and stand-out moments of the event. Bruce explains some of what was discussed at the Advanced SEO Roundtable. Virginia considers some of the most popular live blog posts on the Bruce Clay blog, including The Death of Last Click Attribution.


Then Aaron Landerkin, Bruce Clay, Inc.’s IT Manager and lead developer of the SEOToolSet, talks to Virginia about the new SEOToolSet tools that were demonstrated at the show. The company has been in development of a new version of the SEOToolSet, and the first three tools — the Check Server Tool, the Ranking Monitor and the Single Page Analyzer — will soon be available for beta testing. Aaron and Virginia also talk about the intermingling of technology and people in the SEO profession, and how technophiles like Aaron maintain the balance.

Then Bruce, Robert and Virginia discuss Google Caffeine, one of the biggest stories coming out last week. They first look at the differences between the current Google engine and Caffeine. The hosts explain that they’re not surprised at the convenient timing of the announcement. They also consider why Google might be accepting and benefiting from developer feedback.

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.