Posted by admin on January 22, 2013 under Bing, Google, Keyword Research, Search Engines, SEO, Yahoo! | 
As the browser wars continue, Google Chrome begins to take more of a share away from Internet Explorer, but the latest announcement that Google searches done via Chrome would utilize SSL layers has many SEO pundits up in arms.
According to the Chromium Blog, this change will hit with Chrome 25 which is currently in development and it will occur with both users who are signed in to Google and now with users who are not signed in to Google. To be fair, all browsers have implemented this action and most have been utilizing it for over a year now. The change protects users from information being seen by anyone malicious who might be trying to intercept their queries and use them accordingly. Once the newest version of Chrome hits the market, it’s affect on keyword research could take a nasty hit.
The problem that this creates is that it hides the keyword the person used from analytics programs, so instead of being able to see what the person is searching for, the keyword is shown as simply “not set” or “keyword not provided” since the data is hidden and not passed on after the click. Since a majority of searches are done via Google, this will make it increasingly difficult to analyze what keywords are working and which aren’t.
It’s said that Google Analytics shouldn’t take too much of a hit, but we found completely otherwise in our research with “not provided” showing up more than any others and increasing every month. Some report double digit increases every quarter. As for external programs such as IBP, Webtrends, SAS and others will become less dominant in that field making any keyword research data culled from Google searches useless. And what choice do the other search providers like Yahoo! and Bing have but to also follow the same trend or be seen as “not secure” and for the most part, they have already followed suit.
It’s hard to argue against user security, but it will make the task of keyword research even more difficult to pinpoint when trying to assess what works and what doesn’t. How are you planning to accommodate for this change in your keyword research strategy or will this even affect you at all?
Posted by admin on November 30, 2012 under Bing, Google, PPC, Search Engines, SEO |
by Chris Horton
Bing turned up the heat on Google with their new advertising campaign telling customers that if they buy ads on Google Adwords network that they’re getting “Scroogled“.
Scroogled – verb
1. The Google practice of selling their shopping search results to a high bidder; known to produce intense anger in online shoppers who might miss out on the best price or the highest quality items.
2. Because Google Shopping only includes results from advertisers who pay them, some of the world’s largest retailers aren’t included.
3. The loss of money associated with a bad Google Shopping search result. Side effects of not getting the best price when you thought you were include sadness, frustration and overall indignation.
See also: bamboozled; befuddled; duped; flimflammed; hoodwinked; hornswoggled
Sample sentence: “These jeans were a top pick on Google but I found a better price–I’ve been Scroogled!”
The campaign which is housed at http://scroogled.com takes several swipes at Google Adwords by using multiple quotes from Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page culled from past interviews to show how advertising is skewed and “not good for the consumers”. The Brin and Page quotes included in the Scroogled campaign include;
- “For this type of reason and historical experience with other media, we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers.”
- “But we believe the issue of advertising causes enough mixed incentives that it is crucial to have a competitive search engine that is transparent and in the academic realm.”
- “In general, it could be argued from the consumer point of view that the better the search engine is, the fewer advertisements will be needed for the consumer to find what they want.”
The Scroogled campaign then takes quotes from The New York Times including these;
- “The relationship between Google and Web sites, publishers and advertisers often seems lopsided, if not unfair.”
- “But Google is walking a tricky line, which antitrust regulators are watching closely.”
And to add insult to injury in order to avoid the accusations of taking quotes out of context, Bing then pulled statements from Google‘s IPO letters, SEC filings and disclosures including;
- Founders IPO Letter: “we do not accept payment for [search results] or for inclusion or more frequent updating.”
- Google’s 2004 SEC Filing: “Our search results will be objective and we will not accept payment for inclusion or ranking in them.”
- Google’s 2012 SEC Disclosure: “After all, ads are just more answers to users’ queries.”
They then top it off with a “How Google Does It” PDF and the cherry on top, a Scroogled video;
It’s should be obvious to anyone that Bing is ready to play hard ball (as they have been for years now) and that they now feel that there is enough negative press currently to support this “Scroogled” effort. Bing does a lot to show how badly Google is handling paid advertising, but doesn’t do that thorough of a job proving how they do it better.
The truth is that there are always going to be complaints no matter what system you use. You either don’t have enough money to compete in highly competitive arenas or you have to spend an inordinate amount of time building up your site’s relevancy in order to perform well under the mysterious umbrella of Google’s Quality Score. And if you do the latter well enough, you’ll start appearing organically anyway which then negates a major part of the reason why people opt for Adwords in the first place (unless they’re shooting for the “trifecta”). Bing needs to shift focus and show their advantages instead of spending so much time focusing on Google‘s disadvantages.
But while most of the campaign focuses on Google Adwords, the true battle continues to rage on as to which is truly the better search engine. Independent blind studies continue to show that people actually prefer Bing‘s search results over Google‘s. Bing has tried arduously to prove this with their “Bing It On” comparison tool where people can do random searches side by side and see just how many times they choose Bing over Google SERPs. Bing continually wins the studies, but still no one listens.
My own study had Bing as the winner 3 out of 5 times and I also randomly asked 4 others to try it and achieved the same result. Google didn’t win any of the contests. The same results also occurred from a study by Dave Davies on Search Engine Watch, where he too, ended up handing Bing the gold medal.
Even amid some of the “Bing is copying Google” scandals and Bing’s adamant denial of the situation, Bing continues to prove that their results are not only better than Google‘s, but that people also agree in blind tests.
All being said, Bing seems to have a winning formula for search results that work (and are proven) and paid advertising that they feel is more “fair and balanced”. Now the trick is figuring how just how far they need to go to get people to actually listen.
What are your thoughts on Bing versus Google?
Tags: Adwords, Bing, bing advertising, bing versus google, Google, google adwords, google versus Bing, paid advertising, paid avertising, PPC, scroogled, search engine wars, search engines
