Dark Seo

Speculation about Google’s new “Wallet” payment service has been reaching a fevered pitch, as bloggers and other Google-enthusiasts have been uncovering more and more hints that Google Wallet is real. A temporary “Google Payments” web page was found on the site, and although Google quickly removed it, a screen shot of the page is still available. Still more evidence came in the form of subdomain entries for payment.google.com and payments.google.com. On September 6, Google posted a job listing for a “fraud operations director, payment solutions.” When combined, all these tiny amounts of evidence appear to add up to a raging torrent of certainty.

Google’s official word on the subject is that the activity is not related to the imminent launch of a PayPal-type service. In a statement yesterday, a Google official said:

“We are testing the interface with existing Google Earth account holders who are upgrading or renewing (certain Google) licenses. This migration is one example of the work we are doing in payments.”

This statement appears to contradict an earlier statement made in June of this yearthat Google was intending to enter into the online payment market. In a company-issued statement, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company was not planning to offer what he called a “person-to-person stored-value payments system.” In other words, Google Wallet would not be a competitor to PayPal in any way.

However, as anyone who follows official statements by Steve Jobs knows, often the best way to find out what a company will do is to listen to official statements about what they definitely plan not to do. All-in-one flat panel iMacs and video iPods are two examples that immediately spring to mind. Speculation about a Google competitor to PayPal has been around for quite a while now, and Google has been engaged in a virtual flood of acquisitions and software announcements recently. It would not be surprising in the least to find that they plan to tackle PayPal head-on. In fact, it may be even more far-reaching than that. eBay bought out PayPal because an online payment system was an obvious complement to an online bidding system. If Google Wallet becomes a reality, can GoogleBay be far behind? And will the recent announcement that some states intend to push for mandatory seller’s licenses have any effect on Google’s plans?

Time Warner Inc.’s chief executive said on Thursday that news of a possible sale of a stake in its America Online (AOL) unit to Google Inc. and Comcast Corp. was “market rumor.” Richard Parsons, on a visit to Hong Kong, also said there were no plans for a tie-up with Microsoft’s search-engine technology. Two sources told Reuters that web search engine Google Inc. and cable company Comcast Corp. were in talks to buy a stake in AOL, in a deal reportedly worth up to $5 billion. “It’s market rumors, and I can’t curb market rumors,” Parsons said at a luncheon on Thursday, declining further comment. He said Time Warner had no plans for an alliance with Microsoft. The two companies were reported to be in talks on combining AOL’s content with Microsoft’s MSN technology, according to an Oct. 7 report in the Wall Street Journal.

Microsoft Corp. and RealNetworks Inc. on Tuesday announced a $760 million agreement that settled a longstanding antitrust suit and formed a partnership in which Microsoft will market RealNetworks’s music-subscription service on the MSN portal.

The third piece of the agreement also has MSN offering RealNetworks’s digital games through its MSN Games site and Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360.

Under the deal, which settled an antitrust suit filed by RealNetworks against Microsoft, the latter company agreed to pay the Seattle-based online media company $301 million in cash and provide services over 18 months in support of RealNetworks’s product development, distribution and promotional activities.

Microsoft would earn credits for each subscriber delivered through MSN to RealNetworks. The credits would be applied to the $301 million. In addition, RealNetworks would support MSN Search and would join Microsoft in promoting the use of the software maker’s Windows Media technologies with Rhapsody To Go, a service that enables subscribers to download tunes from the Rhapsody subscription service to a portable digital media player.

In settling the antitrust case, Microsoft agreed to pay $460 million in cash to take care of all damage claims, and agreed to a series of technology licenses that give RealNetworks long-term access to Windows Media technologies.

“Today we’re closing one chapter and opening a new one in our relationship with Microsoft,” Rob Glaser, founder and chief executive of RealNetworks, said in a statement. “The legal chapter is being closed with an appropriate and fair outcome that sets the stage for a very productive and collaborative relationship between our companies.”

For Redmond, Wash.-based, Microsoft, the deal introduces to MSN a music subscription service, which is currently offered by rival Yahoo Inc. Such services are growing in popularity, and are expected to surpass buy-to-own music on the Web by 2009, when revenues are expected to be $900 million and $800 million, respectively, according to JupiterResearch.

By 2009, music downloaded from the Internet, either through individual purchases or subscription, are expected to account for 12 percent of the $13.5 billion consumers are projected to spend on music.

“This agreement will provide MSN’s millions of customers with easier access to subscription services,” Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect, said in a statement.

Much of the marketing agreement involves the use of the MSN search engine. MSN Search will use RealNetworks’s music catalogue in finding results to queries and will feature Rhapsody links to music in search results. In addition, the two companies agreed to jointly develop an integration plan that would incorporate MSN Search with RealPlayer, which is RealNetworks’s multimedia software distributed on the Web and in mobile devices.

The two companies also agreed to integrate Rhapsody’s music catalogue in Microsoft’s instant-messaging service MSN Messenger, so subscribers could share and play music while chatting

In settling RealNetworks’s antitrust suit, which was filed nearly two years ago, Microsoft agreed to develop additional Windows media interfaces that would enable RealNetworks software to take advantage of a broader set of media functionalities within the operating system.

Micrososft also agree to provide a “simple and straightforward” way to let consumers choose their preferred settings for playing media files, and to design Windows Vista, the next version of the operating system, to redirect users to a web page that enables them to download RealNetworks software, when needed to play a RealNetworks media file.

In addition, the two companies would work together to improve interoperability between Microsoft’s Windows Media and RealNetworks’s Helix digital rights management systems.

Microsoft has also provided contractual assurances giving RealNetworks “broad access” to its distribution channel for PC original equipment manufacturers.

“This agreement ensures that Microsoft can innovate and that other media players can compete in a broad marketplace,” Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel at Microsoft, said in a statement. “We’ve resolved our disagreements from the past and put in place a foundation for collaboration in the future.”

Over at the WSJ, Kevin Delaney looks at how Google is quickly dominating new markets by offering products for free. By subsidising with AdWords, Google is able to wipe-out competition by offering products, such as wi-fi in San Francisco, for free.

Google’s announcements in recent weeks indicate that the company’s online advertising network could have a far-reaching impact on companies whose businesses are outside Google’s traditional turf. In effect, the tremendous revenue stream Google enjoys from ads subsidizes its entry into new lines of business, which in turn can generate more ad revenue. Some industry executives point to voice calling, cellphone service, console videogames, premium TV programming packages and digital music as areas where Google or its partners could supplant fee-based services with free, ad-supported ones.

It’s scary to think that Google could have ads on just about every communication or technology service in the near future. According to the search giant, it’s a planned strategy.

“There are times when advertising does a better job than traditional business models at monetizing” services, says Marissa Mayer, Google’s director of consumer Web products. She describes the simple calculation, which Google did early in its existence, as to whether a company can generate more revenue from advertising than it can from charging fees to its users. In Google’s original business, it estimated the potential revenue from ads far outweighed what consumers might be willing to pay annually for its Web search services. Now, Ms. Mayer says, Google is trying to help book publishers, video content owners and others tap online ad revenue and make similar calculations.

For me, I’ll certainly use a free service, if it is something I don’t rely on or use heavily each day, such as using Gmail when signing-up for a newsletter. I’d still rather pay for a premium service that has not been in beta for two years. I guess it’s a number game.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has changed considerably over the past ten years. When I first started, it was called Search Engine Submission. Then it became Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which was barely recognized as a marketing strategy.

At first, SEO was a simple webpage-tweaking service. It required due diligence in installing meta tags, sprinkling keywords in content (some would sprinkle more than others) and manually submitting to engines like WebCrawler, Yahoo!, Infoseek, Lycos, AltaVista and Excite. Looking back, it was a lot easier to achieve high rankings in those days compared to the complexity of organic SEO today.

By reverse-engineering the search algorithms, SEO techs discovered many different ways to quickly get high rankings. That began the white-hat / black-hat debate that continues to this day. One of my first clients, NASDAQ, required a strictly white-hat posture, and that early experience helped shape my philosophy on the ethical standards of SEO practice that I recommend to this day.

Back then, it was a cottage industry without certification, licensing or even a professional organization. We’ve come a long way since, as Search Engine Marketing has expanded its services to include paid inclusion and paid placement. Search marketing is now proven to be an accountable, cost-effective and multi-purpose advertising medium.

Many Flavors of SEM

As search engine marketing matured, it was found to be effective for branding, as well for direct response online sales and latent-action offline sales. SEM adoption has begun to reach critical mass as search engines develop new ways to tap additional inventory to meet advertiser demand. While search has become an authentic advertising medium, the industry is at a small pinnacle compared to where it will go in the future.

Concepts such as search personalization, vertical search engines, contextual search ads, and search behavioral targeting are just beginning to take hold. You need several crib sheets to distinguish between the many variations of search marketing and to select the best strategies that enhance your marketing ROI.

Personalization of Search

Search personalization can be promising for consumers and marketers alike. The premise is that by collecting user data such as frequently visited websites and past queries, a search engine can give users relevant results while delivering ads suited to their needs.

In order for personalization to be effective, user behavior has to be tracked over time, which may involve privacy and security risks. Thus, personalization technologies have some obstacles to overcome.

In a recent interview by Tom Saunders of vnunet.com, AskJeeves CEO Steve Berkowitz said, “the growth of identity theft and phishing scams could kill the promise of more personalized search technologies.”

Another problem is the lack of disclosure when behavioral data is collected online. Legislators would like to see more disclosure in data collection as well as an opt-out option. HR 29 (Safeguard Against Privacy Invasions Act), a Bill with such provisions, has passed the House and was recently referred to the Senate for Committee review.

New information suggests personalization might work with a young demographic (age 13-24). A study conducted by Yahoo! and OMD Worldwide examined the needs expressed by members of the My Media Generation. Results show this demographic is attracted to interactivity and personalization, evidenced by their adoption of individual play lists for music, ringtones and wallpapers for phones, and avatar customization on instant messaging. This can be interpreted as evidence of a demand for personalization options as younger generations use the Internet and numerous self-programmable electronic devices.

Usefulness of Vertical Search

Vertical search engines are specialized search engines that contain only the content that is gathered from a select niche of the web. The thesis is that results will be more relevant to certain users because the context is narrowly defined. Organic SEO analysts should carefully select appropriate vertical search engines for submission, and these engines would also be a good source for targeted B2B paid search ads.

For instance, the science search engine Scirus is configured to only search science-specific content. Scirus searches over 200 million science-specific web pages, filtering out anything that is not science related. Users can quickly pinpoint information they are looking for and will likely be receptive to branding messages in the listings viewed.

Another vertical search engine, KnowIT, provides information for business and technology professionals. It filters out any content that is unrelated to the technology sector. The KnowIT index includes the following types of content: commercial, educational, news, analyst/research, blog, forum, industry association, government, and reviews/opinions. This allows specialized professionals to conduct deeper and more useful Internet searches for technology content, products and services. KnowIT hopes to change the way niche searchers use search engines by providing the ultimate search platform for the technology community.

Ubiquity of Contextual Search Ads

Contextual search ads (CSAs) appear on publisher site networks created through Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network (beta). MSN has a contextual ad network, MSN Keywords (beta), scheduled to launch in October. Ask Jeeves also recently launched its own advertising network.

CSAs are displayed on publisher content pages across the web rather than on the Search Engine Results Pages. The text ad contains a link to the advertiser’s landing page and is displayed in a banner or skyscraper ad module. Google automatically selects the number of ads to list in an ad block, depending on which ads produce the most revenue. The ads rotate, so sometimes you’ll see a single ad in the banner space; other times there might be four text ads or a graphic ad.

Both Google and Yahoo! have distribution networks consisting of pre-approved publisher sites that agree to display ads and share revenue. Recently, CSA networks have been extended to include smaller, qualified publishers. Advertisers can select sites for ad display. Many publishers are happy campers because it’s a great way to earn more ad revenue. Advertisers can be successful as well by requesting distribution to sites that deliver their target audience.

Feasibility of Behavioral Targeting

The search industry is exploring ways to combine behavioral targeting with search technology to meet user needs and client advertising objectives. Claria is developing RelevancyRank, a search technology that ranks sites based on behavioral indicators gathered by Claria adware. These indicators might be repeat visits, time spent on the site and user click rates.

Google could also measure these indicators through its personalization feature, but to my knowledge, Google does not currently include behavioral data in its algorithm. Claria claims that Google and the major search engines do not show the most relevant sites in their top results because of this lack of behavioral influence in the algorithms.

However, privacy issues are a concern as search engines continue to accumulate more personal information on individuals. With the wide range of personal services offered, including free email accounts, free desktop search and instant messaging, users are beginning to lose anonymity. It is well known that search engines use tracking cookies to serve more relevant ads to users, claiming that no personal information is tracked. But consumers are getting leery.

Do online users object to constant pitches and privacy invasion? Yes and no. We already mentioned the objections of consumers and legislators under Personalization of Search. But consumers have consistently indicated in focus groups that they don’t mind seeing online ads for products that are relevant to the content they are viewing. And it’s a fact that consumers will agree to view ads in exchange for a free product or service. A recent Forrester Research study reported that consumers are willing to give up some privacy when offered adequate value in exchange. The role of personalization and behavioral targeting in search marketing remains to be tested.

A New Search Landscape

The integration of search with huge depositories of commercial data is in its infancy, as only a fraction of the existing online content is actually searchable online from search sites. For instance, the current issues and archives of news sites cannot be searched from Yahoo! or Google, nor can those of many other publications. You can search from the publication’s site but not directly from the search engines. That’s because search engines don’t own the rights to copyright-protected content. It will take a lot of negotiating before agreements can be made between search engines and publishers housing copyrighted material.

What will the new search landscape look like? If you ask Bill Gates, he’ll tell you that search engines will be extinct once he comes out with future versions of Windows and Office. Enjoy this quote from the Fortune article by Fred Vogelstein:

“Gates says that when Microsoft is done integrating search into future versions of Windows and Office, the world will look back at the way we are now “Googling” for stuff on the Internet and laugh. “The idea that you type in these words [in the search box] that aren’t sentences and you don’t get any answers—you just get back all these things you have to click on—that is so antiquated,” he says, later adding, “We need to take search way beyond how people think of it today and just have it be naturally available, based on the task they want to do.” For example, if you wanted to look up a factoid while you were writing a document, you might search for it without ever leaving Word.”

Perhaps, Mr. Gates. In any event, I believe that search will change dramatically in ways that will give us more and better data to be accessed quickly and easily. Tomorrow’s search systems will probably make today’s search engines look as outdated as the search/find function on Windows.