Search Engine Optimization Help

Today at the TED conference in Southern California, Microsoft’s Blaise Aguera y Arcas demonstrated a new crowdsourced-version Bing Maps that integrates photos and even live video that is shared by others. Microsoft will also soon launch what we’ve dubbed “Bing Sky,” the ability to use Bing to look up in the sky and see what’s [...]

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The financial analysts and investment banks publish the comScore monthly search data ahead of its public release, generally by about 24 hours. We’ll probably see comScore’s January numbers, accordingly, later today. However the numbers hit the web almost immediately because many writers/analysts/bloggers are on the investment bank mailing lists. So here, with all the usual [...]

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Instant Answers and Visual Search galleries are given the winter games treatment.

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Super Bowl XLIV is two days away, and even though it’s always one of the most-watched TV events of the year, the major search engines are also ready for anyone searching for the latest news and information. All three already have Super Bowl shortcuts/oneboxes in place.
Google

Yahoo

Bing

No doubt each search engine will keep those updated all [...]

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The Bing Search Blog announced Microsoft has extended their search deal with Facebook. In addition to extending the search deal, as expected, Facebook will drop Microsoft on the display ad side of the deal.
The extended search deal includes a more robust Bing search experience on Facebook. This includes “richer answers combined with tools [...]

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Bing is helping you stay out of the doghouse on February 14.

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Team Manning and Team Brees, eat your hearts out. It’s Team Romo that won the search bowl - at least on Bing.

That’s right, the Dallas Cowboys were the most searched NFL team on Bing this season. They beat out both teams that will play in the Superbowl this coming Sunday - the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. If you’re wondering why I keep writing Colts before Saints (I know you’re not but humor me) - it’s because this Sunday I’m a Colts fan. (Hey, the Panthers and the Giants didn’t make it, ok?)

But I’ll throw you a bone, Saints fans - New Orleans was the 5th most searched NFL team on Bing. The Colts came in a paltry 15th place. Ouch!

By the way, if you want to keep up with the Big Game’s stats and scores this Sunday, Bing’s Instant Answers will be fired up and ready to keep you informed. Type the key terms ‘Super Bowl XLIV’ or ‘Super Bowl 2010′ directly into the Bing search box.

In the meantime, query those terms and get links to pre-game analysis as well as recipes for your Superbowl party.

And be sure to head to Bing/Twitter to catch real-time reaction from the Twittersphere about the game and, of course, those all-important Superbowl ads.

Microsoft had a “blow out” quarter in which it saw $19.02 billion in revenue, a 14 percent increase from $16.63 billion in the same fiscal quarter a year ago. This was largely about the success of PC OS Windows 7. That’s the story: people like it and are buying PCs. Everything else is a bit [...]

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Microsoft has reported its Q2 2009 earnings (Q4 for many other companies) and the news is mixed for their online services division. Revenues improved over the previous quarter, but came in at a 5% loss year-over-year.

Specifically, online revenues for Q2 came in at $581 million, compared to $609 million the year prior. Q2 losses came in at $466 million compared with $320 million in Q2 2008.

The loss was blamed on a decrease in overall online advertising revenues. However, the silver lining was that Bing brought a growth in search revenues for Microsoft.

If Bing continues to grow, then Microsoft will do well to capitalize on its strengths to build a stronger online services division. Of course, the deal with Yahoo! should help as well.

Bing has announced a new “Stocks and Funds page” that offers in-depth information for users following or doing research related to stocks and finances. A sample page looks like this one for Apple:

Searching on Bing for a company’s or fund’s ticker symbol prompts a new link called “Investor Data” on Bing’s main search results page. [...]

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Bing is making it easier for you to keep up with your portfolio and the U.S. stock market. Their new stocks and funds pages offer in-depth data on most U.S. stocks. The pages include an Instant Answer snapshot of what’s going on for a stock at the time you search.

Let’s see how Apple’s stock is doing a day after the iPad was unveiled. Type in the stock code AAPL and you’ll get the Instant Answer in the main search results:

Click on the main link and you get access to the new stocks and funds page for Apple on Bing. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Image by SESConferenceSeries via Flickr

As SES Chicago 2009, I asked Matt Van Wagner of Lobster.com to share some of his tastiest search engine marketing tips. (Pun intended.)

I should disclose that I was born in California and raised in Michigan. So, when I moved to Massachusetts, I had to learn how to pronounce “lobster” correctly. It’s “lobstah.” If you don’t pronounce it correctly, then the native New Englanders will know you’re a “blow in.”

Van Wagner, who is also the president and founder of Find Me Faster, is based in New Hampshire. But he gets around. He’s been seen helping small and medium-sized companies as far away as Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Van Wagner shared a couple of SEM tips, including a new one I hadn’t heard before about Bing.

So, put on your lobster bib and enjoy.

Search engine marketing tips with Matt Van Wagner, Find Me Faster and Lobster.com

Disclaimer: No lobsters were harmed in the making of this video. But, when I’m on the Cape this summer, I plan to remedy the situation.

Since 2005, Microsoft has partnered with Localeze to provide local business information in search results. Now, that relationship is being expanded with the renewal of the pair’s partnership. Localeze will provide Bing Local and Bing 411 with its Enhanced Business Registry which includes more than 14 million listings.

“Helping consumers make better buying decisions locally, our renewed relationship with Bing brings two leading search companies together to offer the best of the best in premium business listings,” said Jeff Beard, president, Localeze.

Localeze already provides with basic contact info for local businesses such as name, address and phone number. Now, Localeze will also provide additional data including operating hours, products/services offered, and whether/which credit cards are accepted. Results pulling from the data in Bing will now be attributed to Localeze, as well.

“Localeze’s rich, business-verified and enhanced local content will help Bing’s business profiles deliver more relevant and accurate results, which online shoppers need to make local purchasing decisions,” concluded Beard.

Foodies, get excited. Bing has added a new recipe search to its repertoire. Pulling from popular recipe sites such as delish.com, epicurious, and MyRecipes.com, Bing is able to supply you with a bunch of options for various dishes you wish to create.

Ratings and a quick look at nutritional information accompany the results. Take a look at the screenshots for searches for “green bean casserole recipe” and “strawberry shortcake recipe.” Hungry yet?

At a conference in Houston on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke critically of Google’s recent decision to stop censoring its search results in China. Paraphrasing some of Ballmer’s statements, Forbes says Ballmer called it an “irrational business decision” on Google’s part.
Ballmer suggested that Google’s decision to no longer filter out internet searches objectionable to [...]

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Microsoft wants people to download (or update Sliverlight) so they can use the new and improved Bing Maps. To create that incentive, as well as to get people to explore the new Bing Maps, Microsoft is offering chance to win a $100 gift card as part of the “Bing Maps Challenge.”

The challenge game takes users [...]

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Way back when, in the dying weeks of 2009, I asked the question, “Where does search go from here?” It seems that everyone agrees we’ve barely scratched the potential that is web search, but what might that scratch reveal? What will our searching look like in two years? In five years, or even in ten [...]

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Bing is now giving special placement to recipes in response to some food-related searches:
Bing pulls from a number of popular recipe websites (delish.com, MyRecipes.com, epicurious.com.com, etc.) to bring you correlating recipes that you can sift through by holiday, meals, ratings, and my personal favorite, convenience (with a 10 month old at home, quick is key) [...]

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