About a month ago, webmasters began noticing abnormal changes to Google SERPs. More specifically, long-established rankings had fallen from a number one or two position down to a six. Reports say this penalty seemed to be more search term specific, than site specific, meaning that off-page SEO efforts were more than likely the cause.
Yahoo has reported that they are releasing updates to their crawling, indexing, and ranking algorithms. They did not state how long the rollout will take, but they did say it will be “completed soon.” Keep an eye out for changes in the coming weeks.
There have been rumblings about impending Yahoo layoffs and what this could mean for Yahoo as a company, search in general, Yahoo’s stock, etc. Many people believe that announcements will be made when quarterly earnings are reported tomorrow (Tuesday, January 29th). Yahoo has not confirmed that layoffs are coming, nor have they given any indication of how extensive these layoffs will be.
With that said, there is a nice recap of the situation provided by Market Watch that is worth a read.
You may also want to check out Silicon Alley Insider’s take on the situation and the potential affect of layoffs on Yahoo’s operating profit.
Google is taking direct aim at the Wikipedia model with their new product offering dubbed ‘Knol’. One of the big differences in the sites is anonymity. The author of the content will be a central focus of the content posted for Google’s new product. After submission, the community will have the opportunity to provide feedback, ratings and feedback which the author can decide to accept or reject. I anticipate this to be another distribution channel for Google’s ads, although Google seems to be downplaying that aspect of the product.
The importance of reviews and ratings – positive and negative — can’t be overstated in local search. In terms of consumer motivation, it’s all about informing others or rewarding a business for its excellent product/service.
Once feedback is submitted, though, the review or rating can live online for an eternity. How you react and interact with the online version of word-of-mouth referrals can have important implications for your business.
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It seems like marketers in general are always looking for a way to infiltrate new, directed forms of advertising to achieve the best ROI possible. Well my friends, let me tell you that it’s getting a little more personal starting this January.
According to many reports and blogs, there are now new options for advertising called “in-call” advertising, or “ad-sponsored” advertising. A great article about what this entails, was written by Stephanie Mehta at Fortune Magazine, but to sum it up, when a consumer goes to place a call (with a telephony provider) such as JAJAH or Jangl, they will either have to listen to a sponsored ad (possibly having to do with what sort of call they’re making…if it’s a product or service) for 10-15 seconds, or they will have the option of opting in to hear a sponsored ad, but in doing so they will get credits towards their phone bill. (more…)
Time Warner has announced plans to test a new tiered pricing structure of their internet service based on how much data customers download per month. Currently, the US’ second largest cable provider charges a flat monthly fee for its internet service. The tiered pricing structure would not only put caps on usage but would also charge more should you go over your allotted amount of bandwidth for the month. Presently, Time Warner claims five percent of its customers take up 50 percent of its bandwidth. This test would only apply to new customers signing up for services in the Beaumont, Texas market.
Such a change could have a domino effect on the industry. By breaking our pricing structures, Time Warner would be decreasing the demand on certain web services; iTunes , Netfilx )and YouTube come to mind immediately. Sadly though, it’s the consumer that would be the biggest loser. A slippery slope indeed…