SEM News
Incorporating Multivariate and A/B Website Testing | Best Practices
Every day when webmasters step back and take a good look at their website, does their idea of an optimal user experience actually parallel the ideas of the end consumers? Although you may think your website is as good is its going to get, take some time and consider that you yourself are not your target market, or even a source of traffic for that matter (*hopefully). Although no website will ever be perfect, behold; another leap in the pursuit.
In a recent post on the official Google Blog, Webmaster Trends Analyst, Susan Moskwa officially mentions that Google welcomes and approves of the use of various techniques of Website Testing – while staying within best practices guidelines of course.
A Staple in SEM : Mobile Marketing
It was July, 2007, with sheer anticipation I opened the box on my first iPhone. Amazement is the only word I can use to describe holding it in my palm. At that moment, I knew mobile marketing would one day be a major focus amongst search marketing practitioners. continue reading »
Elevate SEM adopts Agile Methodology
I was recently scolded by my wife for hoarding large quantities of sneakers. Okay, maybe it’s a little excessive to dedicate an entire closet to my sneaker collection, but for me, my sneaker collection is a reminder of change and progress. Every time I pick up my fresh pair of mint condition, gold Air Force Ones, I think of the days I used to wear them proudly. That being said, its apparent that much has changed in the last decade. continue reading »
Bing’s New Webmaster Weapon; Codename “Phoenix”
On June 6, 2012, Bing and Yahoo unveiled their new [free] SEO webmaster super-weapon, dubbed the “Phoenix” Update. So why is it that Microsoft decided to name this update the Phoenix? We at Elevate believe the nickname is directly related to the rise and reinvention of Yahoo’s old Webmaster Tool, named Yahoo Site Explorer. After Yahoo discontinued their Site Explorer tool back on November 21, 2011, there has been a lack of webmaster tools that have the capabilities to match. So if Yahoo had such a powerhouse of Webmaster tools, why did they decide to discontinue them?
Google Shopping transition from Free to Paid Inclusion
For those of you familiar with Google’s Product Search (Google’s online shopping network), originally developed as Froogle in 2002, big things are on the horizon for later this year – and you may or may not be too excited to hear about it.
Google has recently announced that they will be taking their free and oh-so-popular Product Search and converting the entire platform to a new shopping search engine called Google Shopping. So what does this mean for consumers, you may be asking yourself? This question is best answered by understanding the effects that the transition will have on the actual merchants listing their products on the platform.
Elevate SEM Preventing SEO Scams and Rip-offs
It’s not uncommon to hear about horror stories about business owners and organizations paying large sums for web design, eCommerce, SEO or search engine marketing and being scammed or flat out ripped-off. I sat down with a group of marketing executives for a well known ice cream organization and one of the questions that was brought up was “how do we determine who to trust before making a commitment with a search engine marketing company?” I asked myself “it must be the shirt I’m wearing…” Finding the right provider can be challenging but there are some things that you can do to evaluate them and prevent yourself from being taken from a snake-oil salesman selling crappy SEO or linking or any other search engine marketing service.
Google Venice Update – Local SEO Changes
February 2012 was a record breaking month for search giant Google, releasing more algorithm updates in one month than any other month in the company’s history. Posted in their official blog, Google outlines forty changes made to their safe-search, autocomplete, Youtube, and more. The most important updates that we noticed regarding SEO, were in fact the ones having to do with updates to the Panda system (as discussed in our previous article Google Panda Effect Impact on SEO) and furthermore to the Local search results. continue reading »
