The Week in Review

Facebook and Twitter’s Influence on Google’s Search Rankings

What signals are Google and Bing taking into account? How much influence do social signals have on search results? Here are some findings from analyzing the top 30 ranking results for 10,217 searches performed on Google in late March. Among the key takeaways are that social metrics are well-correlated with higher rankings, shares might be more valuable than likes and Twitter’s power may be overrated. (SEOmoz)

How Easy is it to Click on a Google Ad by Mistake?

It’s in Google’s best interests to make people click on the ads it serves, which is why AdWords ads might look quite organic (depending on the screen you’re looking at). (Econsultancy)

You Are the Ultimate Link-Building Tool

You’re a tool – a link-building tool, that is. “Personality, humanity, and the ability to analyze a situation are still the strongest link building tools in the world.” While link-building tools can help give you important information and save lots of time, they can’t do the job themselves. (Search Engine Watch)

Writing Copy for People and Search Engines

This writer’s personal flow for attaining approachability with both people and search engines is as follows: 1) write for people, 2) read as a person, 3) read as a search engine, 4) keyword replacement, and 5) finalizing your piece. (ZDNet)

70% of Marketers Plan to Significantly Increase Social Media Budgets

According to a poll from Effie Worldwide and Mashable, 70 percent of marketers plan to increase their social media budgets by more than 10 percent in 2011. “The poll, given to a group of ad agency executives and marketers from firms such as Bank of America, Colgate-Palmolive and Mini USA, among others in February, also found that the primary social media goal is to increase Facebook ‘Likes.’” (Mashable)

Retailers Adjusting to Accommodate Mobile Shoppers

Many retailers’ sites and apps aren’t exactly friendly when it comes to the shopping experience. "As a result, retailers report that only about 2 percent of their sales are coming from mobile devices, a number well below the expectations of many e-commerce analysts." Retailers are now pressured to implement features that compensate for a phone’s limitations in order to grease the wheels of the mobile-purchasing process. (NYTimes.com)

Marketing Budgets Shrank by 5.1% in the First Quarter

A survey of about 300 companies found that respondents downgraded their marketing budgets by 5.1 percent in the first quarter of 2011, which follows a 5.4 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2010. Economic uncertainty drove much of this trimming. (Brand Republic)

Dynamic Keyword Research

Keyword research is static — "You get a number and you compare it to other numbers at a single point in time." Staying ahead of the competition requires dynamic keyword research. (Search Engine Guide)

Developing a Pay-Per-Click Strategy

This post goes beyond the do’s and don’ts of PPC and steps back to look at the bigger picture. It discusses the differences between goals, strategies and tactics, and offers an outline to guide you through the process of devising a strong PPC strategy. (PPC Hero)

Analytical Measurement and SEO

Quickly finding potential problems with your SEO program from an analytical perspective will help to save all that time you don’t have. "Surface level analytical review is quite pointless and doesn’t lend itself well to understanding the direction of where your SEO efforts should lie. Digging deep in analytics is where good SEOs stand apart from the rest of the pack." (Search Engine Watch)

Multi-Funnels and Assists for Google Analytics

Google Analytics is set to unveil a set of reports that will be helpful for marketers. Cross-Channel Mix, Assisted Conversions, Assist Interactions and Time Lag are among these new reports. (Search Engine Land)

The Missing Unified Theory and Method for Measurement and Analysis

“Digital analytical evolution over the last several years should no longer support a focus only on the linear flow of acquisition to conversion to loyalty.” The multichannel ideal requires bringing together the data from many sources and analyzing it all in a way that answers complex business questions to generate revenue or reduce cost. “Marketing campaigns like email and paid and organic search integrate fairly easily with site behavioral data. But it is more challenging to bring effectively together behavioral analytics with online advertising.” This challenge presents a huge opportunity for anyone who can solve the multichannel question. (MediaPost)

Facebook’s True vs. Unique CTR

Click-through rate is defined as clicks divided by impressions – it reveals the number of times an ad was clicked versus the number of times it was viewed. For Facebook, this concept is a bit different since a user can see the same ad multiple times per day. This helps to see trends and brings up the question of how long it takes for ad fatigue on Facebook to kick in. (Efficient Frontier)

When Past SEO Efforts Hurt Today’s Traffic

SEO tactics continue to live on or link to a website until they’re physically removed, which is a bit different from the nature of print advertising or email marketing. Search engine bots never forget, and that’s a problem if you have forgotten about content that’s dragging down your traffic. Here’s what you can do to weed out those forgotten, hurtful pages. (Practical eCommerce)

Google PageRank: Myths and Facts

“PageRank is what made Google what it is today: a heuristic analysis of the web’s link graph, or, in simpler terms, a concrete, mathematical way to ascribe importance to a web page based on the links that point to it from other web pages.” Does PageRank act like a vote for one page by another? Does PageRank relate directly to traffic? Is PageRank Google’s only link-related algorithm? This post separates the myths from the facts. (Search Engine Watch)

Fewer Than 1% of Website Visits Come From Social Media URLs

According to a report from ForeSee Results, fewer than 1 percent of website visits came directly from a social media URL. "Their report also says that 18% of site visitors reported being influenced by social media, which would mean that 17% of those folks visited the site in some way other than clicking on a social media link. This plays into the idea that social media is best used for brand awareness, but still, 18% isn’t that great." This further highlights: 1) the demand for a way to measure social media ROI, and 2) that you can’t just blindly dive into social media without defining success. (Marketing Pilgrim)

Increased Competition for Online Search Budgets is Good for SMBs

Google and Bing-Yahoo are continually trying to outduel each other with their ad products. While they might not always exactly step on each others’ toes, they do seem to have one shared target: small businesses, "which have become the grand prize in the ongoing duel for search dominance." Small businesses, the pretty girl being fought for, have a simple question to ask themselves: Why not take a chance on all the free services being offered by Google, Bing-Yahoo and Facebook? (InformationWeek)

Google Testing Double-Column Sitelinks?

Double-column Google search results are caught in this screenshot. To be precise, the screenshot "seems to be of double column (and double spaced) Google sitelinks for a branded search." If implemented, this could be bad news for many webmasters. (Search Engine Watch)

Ads in Mobile Apps Have a Bright Future

"As social media continues to infiltrate our daily lives, many more advertisers are beginning to understand the merits of advertising within these channels. Yet the irony is that the majority of my updates from my Twitter stream and Facebook wall feed are through mobile devices, like my smartphone." Advertisers are missing out on a big opportunity for better engagement if they’re not aware of this. With the proliferation of apps, in-app ads could outshine browser-based ads "in both the amount of advertising that can be delivered, and the value to the end consumer, shown by the depth of engagement metrics." (AdAge.com)

The Real-Time Benefits of Personal-Data Collection

Understanding our personal data is crucial for everyone — not just geeks. This writer recently made a list of personal-data-collection apps she uses religiously and those she’s abandoned. She concluded that there are three main real-time benefits of gathering her own data: utility, serendipity and self-expression. "In order to incentivize the continued use of any personal data collection application, you either have to really excel in one of these areas or cover all three." (O’Reilly Radar)

4 Ways Keyword-Level Analytics Can Help Your Revenue

Being in the dark doesn’t exactly help you manage your outcomes. Without knowing the full picture, a marketer can’t know whether a keyword generated real dollars or just a lead, which could lead to wasting thousands of dollars on unqualified leads. The four ways keyword-level tracking and analytics can help are: strategic bidding, keyword expansion, better testing and boosted efficiency of other channels besides paid search. (Search Engine Land)

How to Build Links Without Fancy Toys

Link building doesn’t require the use of fancy tools. Armed with an email program, spreadsheet and Google, an SEO has all they need to embark on the learning journey. Use Google to find your link targets, find contact details and record them in your spreadsheet, and email the link target straightaway. Those are the first simple steps to take to build links manually. (SEOmoz)

An Effective Facebook Campaign for Just $5

Microtargeting a campaign on Facebook is powerful and cheap. An example of this cost just $5.67 to reach a specific niche of nearly 3,000 Facebook users. While the clicks (just nine) weren’t impressive, this was a very effective way to raise awareness without dropping a pretty dime. Another way to spend $5 on Facebook is to create a specialty video with a customized message on your landing page. The moral of the story: "with some ingenuity and $5 in your pocket, you can make some serious waves on Facebook." (Socialmedia.biz)

Where to Get Photos for Your Site

From premium stock images, to standard stock images, to free stock images, to other sources — there are many ways to legally get photos to enrich your site. If possible, start off with the paid services, then head down the list toward the free ones. (Graywolf’s SEO Blog)

Internet Ad Revenues in 2010: $26 Billion

According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, total Internet advertising revenues were $26 billion in 2010, up 15 percent from 2009. Search was the most popular ad format, with 46 percent of revenue. Sponsorships grew 88 percent year-over-year. The IAB also debuted its estimated mobile ad revenue for 2010, which was pegged at $550 million to $650 million. (IAB)