A Recap of the MNSearch Summit from the Spyder Trap Search Team

Written by Erin Greener, Chris Hamilton & Tom Sullivan

Online marketing leaders at the recent MNSearch Summit praised the new(ish) gospel of crafting handy, free thought leadership versus barely overt promos that savvy web users inoculated themselves against years ago. In other words, stop producing junk promotional content!

“Great content, in my opinion, wins hearts and minds — and it’s not trying to sell me some sh** in the first minute I’m reading it,” said Wil Reynolds, founder of Seer Interactive, and the afternoon keynote speaker for second-annual MNSearch event June 26 in St. Paul, Minn.

Still, he and other speakers said, many of us keep pumping out safe, but ultimately less-effective, content/advertising to mollify clients, hedge our bets and placate our fears over what many still consider risky, long-shot content strategies rather than the proven Best Practices they’ve become.

At least for now.

That was one recurring takeaway of many Spyder Trap’s Search Marketing team walked away with after industry experts shared their thoughts on where search marketing is today and what the future of search marketing will look like.

Speaker session topics ranged from high-level to granular strategies and tactics spread across Search disciplines, including SEO, PPC, social media, email, content strategy, video optimization and analytics.

Duane Forrester, senior product manager – Webmaster Outreach at Bing, kicked-off the conference by focusing on Millennials, another recurring theme in themselves for the all-day affair: Millennials and mobile.

They are the first generation that never experienced a time in their lives without the Internet, started entering the workforce during the recent financial crisis and in the next 10 to15 years will collectively control $7 trillion of the world’s wealth.

As a group, Millennials are massively important and have some interesting quirks that you need to understand if you want to succeed, Forrester said. Most importantly, “they value experiences over products,” he said.

They don’t want stuff, they want “offerings” that enhance their lives – and currently their lives are centered around their mobile devices.

Local = mobile = optimization

If you think mobile is still coming, you are already behind the curve, Forrester said. Mobile is here.

In order to gain real traction with Millennials, he explained, you need to focus on local search, mobile and optimization. Fail at one, you fail at all of them, he said.

“Usability will unlock the success for your business,” Forrester said. “Stop thinking about driving traffic — and start thinking about visitor task completion.”

One of the keys to optimization is marking up all of your content with schema, he said.

In this age of advanced machine learning technologies, use of schema increasingly allows search engines to deliver rich experiences by understanding the context for content (Context – and organization — for content was another driving Search future theme.), Forrester said.

Content markup will have more impact in the next 20 years than mobile, Forrester said. The primary driver behind this view is how machine learning employs the extra layer of contextual data with schema.

In essence, if you aren’t marking up all of your content now, get on it, he said.

Voice search = game changer

John Gagnon, Bing ads evangelist at Microsoft, shared his thoughts on how voice search is changing the search landscape.

Voice search is different from text search in that it’s more mobile, local and conversational.

Gagnon said that at Bing they are observing year-over-year growth for question-based voice search phrases that begin with words like “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and, perhaps most importantly, “how.”

More importantly, he said he doesn’t expect this trend to change.

Voice searches also are making search queries longer, with voice searches tending to be four-plus words, which should continue the emphasis on long-tail keywords or queries in search strategizing.

Gagnon said to adapt PPC for voice search you want to look at question phrases to determine intent and recognize the significant opportunity for these longer search terms.

Interestingly, voice searches also have shown a strong tendency to deliver clicks for brand names.

Gagnon recommended bidding on brand terms, even when you have a strong organic ranking, because in studies conducted by Bing, bidding on your own brand terms is a distinct competitive advantage for voice search. He said this tactic correlates to fewer clicks for your competitors.

PPC campaign managers should start thinking about how the ramifications of voice search can be leveraged in campaigns, so you can capitalize on this new opportunity to stay ahead of your competition, Gagnon said.

Query + useful content – forms = more leads

Another MNSearch Summit takeaway was that companies should offer valuable, useful content for visitor queries – free and without requiring form submissions.

While advertisers may initially balk at this, let’s look at the benefits and how to convert a user into a qualified lead.

While we as advertisers prefer our marketing efforts to return immediate ROI, there are gains to be had in offering free and ungated content. Ungated content promotes shareability, which in turn allows your brand to have further reach, at no cost to you.

Removing barriers will improve downloads while building trust in your brand.

Advertisers may ask, “How do we turn our visitors into lead generations, if we don’t require contact information?”

Retargeting visitors of your landing page will assist in nurturing prospective leads. By initially sharing only high-level, yet useful information, you allow your remarketing efforts to offer a landing page with additional, and applicable, but gated intelligence.

Utilizing targeted display ads that includes text pertaining to your relevant content entices users to come back to your site in search of a greater solution for their needs. Here is when you capture contact information among otherwise leery potential customers and get the visitor further into your lead cycle or sales funnel.

When you use forms, “put some real content upfront, so people can actually see what they are going to get,” Reynolds said.

Great content + context + organization + social targeting = rankings

Worthwhile content isn’t free or one-off, said Reynolds, who also discussed the concept of patient, quality “native advertising.”

“’Free’ traffic is a farce,” he said. “It takes talent and experience (to create). I don’t think that stuff is easy.”

When we do our job well, people are finding what they are looking for – when they need it – and we are not purely focused on great rankings. The traffic and rankings will come, he said.

“So when the dude next to you says, ‘Hey, I rank No.1 for my porn.’ Ask, ‘But is it good porn?’” Reynolds said in his bring-the-house-down presentation.

Oh, and link buying is passé, too, he said.

“I’ll take loyalty over links any day,” said Reynolds, who has 15 years experience as a Search leader and runs the “lab” at Seer.

Another takeaway: Look at what older content of yours is still ranking and who is sharing it, then update it and target those amplifiers on social networks using influencer tools such as BuzzSumo.

Why is that piece of content from 2013 still ranking, Reynolds asked. Because people still are sharing it, so let’s capitalize on that fact by giving them more of what we know they want and continue to build on those relationships.

Reynolds said to think of finding and executing great queries and keywords for your content as an opportunity, not just a goal.

Also in the vein of semantic search, or “optimizing for humans,” Cyrus Shepard, Moz Content Marketing team head, implored online marketers to go beyond keyword research.

Today, it’s about predicting what people will need next by applying Best Practices that provide extra context and is well organized.

“SEO success is answering questions that people haven’t asked yet,” Shepard said.

For more information on 2015 MNSearch Summit speaker presentations, many of them are available on SlideShare, @mnsummit or through individual profiles.

The post Future of Search: Open Content, Context, Mobile + Millennials appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

If you’re as tech-savvy as we are you’ve probably already heard, but this little news nugget is not to be treaded on lightly: On April 21 Google is going to be implementing a change to what mobile users see in their search results. Starting on what some are calling “that dreaded Tuesday,” ranking preference will be given to those sites that are deemed “mobile-friendly.”

Some have even gone as far to mark April 21 as a mopocalypse for websites without a mobile focus! The message? Make changes now, or never be seen again in search. That’s the fear, at least.

On the other hand, the reality is that nobody is 100% sure how significantly Google’s update will affect mobile search rankings. The only thing we do know is that having a mobile-friendly site is important to Google, and that the mobile trend is likely to continue. What does this mean for you and your website? It’s time to start thinking mobile, if you’re not doing it already.

What does mobile-friendly mean (especially to Google)?

In the simplest terms, a mobile-friendly site is one that’s easy to use on a mobile device. It’s a site that a mobile user can read, click, and watch without much hassle. More specifically, Google looks for a page that:

• Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
• Uses text that is readable without zooming
• Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
• Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped

Not sure if that describes your site? Google in their infinite wisdom anticipated this and developed a handy test to let you know: mobile-friendly test.

What’s the best way to optimize for mobile search?

For those who didn’t pass the “test,” there’s still hope. There are a few different ways to get your website optimized for mobile. You can create a separate mobile site or redesign your current site to be adaptive or responsive. While each has its merit, Spyder Trap recommends responsive website design (RWD) in most instances to achieve a website that’s future-proof.

With an adaptive site, you have to worry about new devices entering the market. With a separate mobile site, you have to worry about code for two properties. With responsive, you have one set of code that adjusts to any screen size, any time, anywhere. We have a lot of experience creating value for clients using RWD, and believe it can help your website today, on April 21 and in the future.

Google on April 21 is a starting point

Search rankings should always be a focus for your business, not just during algorithm updates at Google. The truth is, if you haven’t started yet, it’s probably too late to get your website fully optimized for mobile by April 21. That’s ok because your focus should be on long-term success. This isn’t a time to panic and start throwing Band-Aids on your mobile wounds, hoping for a quick fix. It’s time to consider a future-proof strategy.

CONTACT US TO GET STARTED

The post Google’s April 21 Mobile-Friendly Search Update: Should You Panic? appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

From a user standpoint, not all online experiences are created equal. But a bad experience can taint a business and hinder ROI. Every day, we’re contacted by potential clients who are looking for answers to one question: Why aren’t our online tactics making us money?

The good news for these businesses is that they know there’s a problem, and that Spyder Trap can provide a solution. Sometimes, unless customers are actively complaining, it can take a little bit more examination to figure out the shortcomings of a digital strategy. Here are four signs we look for that tell us it’s time for a strategy update.

Sign #1: Your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns aren’t converting

You’ve been spending money each month with Google AdWords, trying to convert sales. Each month you spend and each month is a disappointment. Something’s clearly gone wrong. There are two sides to look at to find the problem: the PPC campaign itself and the page the campaign sends users to.

PPC campaigns can be very easy to jump into without planning, but Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is all in the details. Are you targeting the right audience? Are you spending enough? Are you tracking the results? With even one part of this process missing, you could be leaving money on the table.

Even with the perfect strategy, a PPC campaign won’t succeed without pointing users to a quality landing page. All the clicks in the world can’t translate into sales if the landing page isn’t optimized for conversions. Effective calls to action and intuitive web design will make conversions a much easier task to accomplish. Take a look at both sides of your PPC efforts and see which areas might need some help.

Sign #2: Your mobile presence isn’t a priority

Mobile is everywhere. In fact the odds are good that you’re reading this on a mobile device right now. If a mobile user doesn’t get a good experience from your site, that user will leave. No business wants users leaving—not until a purchase is made at least. If losing users who actually find your site isn’t enough to encourage you to become mobile friendly, maybe this will: Google will start giving ranking preference to mobile-friendly sites in April. It will become harder and harder to attract potential customers to your business without optimizing for mobile. A good responsive website will solve these problems with just one set of code. Picture this: your website optimized for every device, every time. Looks good, doesn’t it?

 Sign #3: Your search engine rank is unknown

Not having a mobile friendly site isn’t the only way to lose out when it comes to search engine rankings. If you’re not ranking high in searches, it might be time to adjust for search engine optimization (SEO). Don’t just go online and Google SEO “tricks.” There are plenty of them out there, but almost all of them lack substance. Effective SEO requires extensive research of keywords, competition, and website structure. Building quality links takes time and effort making connections with real people. Easy SEO is ineffective SEO, and possibly even harmful. With so many customers starting the purchasing process with search engines, an investment in quality SEO can really pay off.

Sign #4: You have no digital strategy—or it’s been awhile

The last sign that you might need to update your digital strategy is also the simplest. If you don’t have a strategy, it’s time to get one! Without a goal and a roadmap to reach that goal, your efforts are going to fail. Maybe you do have a strategy, but you haven’t revisited it in some time. Same rules apply. The digital space moves much too fast to have a “set it and forget it” attitude for strategies. Digital trends in 2015 already look different than in 2014, and are unrecognizable compared to in 2010. If your strategy is more than a year old, it’s time to get back to the drawing board. Maintaining an up-to-date strategy will help your business keep its competitive advantage. Ignoring it will just open things up for your competitors and slow down growth.

The good news is that Spyder Trap can help in any of the areas in which your business might fall short. Connect with us to start putting your business back on track for growth.

Contact Us

The post Top Four Signs Your Digital Strategy Needs an Update appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

What is “semantic search” and why does it matter? “Semantic search” and “semantic SEO” are getting a lot of press lately, but these terms are unfortunately still poorly defined. In truth, the term “semantic SEO” is a misnomer. Semantic is about defining relationships between entities, and the signifiers that act as flags for those relationships. So, we’re technically not optimizing search engines. Rather, we’re slowly optimizing the web itself for semantic. This helps search engines more accurately identify topics, ideas and entities that are both relevant and related to specific pages.

With that brief distinction aside, let’s explore what  the “semantic web” truly means and the widespread impact it will hold for search marketers. The Semantic Web Wiki defines it in the following terms:

The “semantic web” by definition is an extension of the World Wide Web. It breaks down boundaries by defining entities instead of apps or websites.  Search is simply a byproduct, a cog, a spoke in the wheel. As it applies to search, we simply create associations of known entities through the “structured data” within the page markup. Do not mistake this statement as a proclamation that there is no search benefit within the semantic web.

Structured data is another buzzword we’re hearing more and more, but is often misused. The definition reads:

Plenty of search opportunities are emerging from the semantic web in both ranking prominence and the new SERP landscape. Rest assured, many more will arise. What’s most exciting is the fact that the semantic web is still in its infancy. The full potential of semantic still up in the air. Search marketers have an enormous opportunity to define the semantic’s web place in search history.

For now, it’s clearly a search-powered technology. Seeing as they are leading the way in defining much of the language, Google will obviously reap most of the benefits. But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s explore a few structured data and search-related opportunities that are currently being optimized by the semantic web.

The semantic web already has a standard for describing things. This “description framework” enables us to link increasing amounts of data in a format that computers can readily interpret and relate to other complex entities. The format, reference language and structure enable brand new relationships between datasets that previously didn’t exist. This is exactly what we are referring to when we say semantic web and structured data.

The Knowledge Graph – Semantic Web

Think of a database of the world’s information. The 2010 Google acquisition of Metaweb was  big eye opener on Google’s intent to utilize and construct the knowledge graph. Data comes from many sources; Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook, and Freebase. As of 2012, the semantic network contained over 570 million entities and 18 billion facts about relationships between entities. Think, TV shows, celebrities, businesses, events, locations, prices, times and so much more all connected together.

Overview of Resource Description Framework and the Semantic Web

Open graphs enable a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across boundaries and syntaxes. Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs), which are internationalized cross-language versions of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), can be divided into URLs and URNs. To clarify before going much further, not all URIs are IRIs, and not all URLs are URIs. The URN is the name of a resource on the web, and the URL is the location.

Building a Resource Description Framework (RDF) as a standardized method for modeling resources and the information contained within web resources allows data to be more re-usable and accessible for different purposes or to describe different entities. For example, a large descriptive data set can have subsets of different pieces of data queried in order to describe different resources that are searched for via an IRI. Essentially, this could mean that in the future instead of having individual databases for each resource in the web, there could be fewer, larger databases (or even one massive database) that could be utilized to provide data for web resources.

In order to accommodate this, there are various proposed and implemented ontological languages such as RDF Schema (RDFS) and Web Ontology Language (OWL), and one front-runner as an RDF query language that can store, retrieve, and manipulate data in the Resource Description Framework: SPARQL. SPARQL is not indexed and allows for data to be queried from a wider variety of sources than relational databases.

The future seems to be moving toward larger databases that hold data objects as opposed to tables of data. Properties of these data objects will be accessed to pull together new data objects and unique parcels of information, created from disparate sources.

Properly structured data will be the web of the future. For machines to be able to ‘understand’ and reference the information on the web, it will need to conform to the rules of the Resource Description Framework. This could be accomplished via the proposed Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL), which tries to provide explicit logical assertions about classes, individuals, and properties on the web.

For example:

Property and Data Assertions about the Object/Individual “Scott”

Class: Person
Individual: Scott
An Object Property assertion: Scott hasChild Bianca (shows an object to object assertion)
A Data Property assertion: Scott hasMobilePhone “6468201666”^^string

SWRL Syntax would be used to state the relation of an individual (or object) of a class to either data or another individual (or object).

What does this mean?

To sum it up, this means that the future of the web will built on a framework that ‘understands’ the data contained within it in a deeper way. It will use logic and a crude form of reasoning to pull data and serve information to clients/browsers and apps. This also pushes us to adopt these rules and practices in order to be sure that we are a part of the reasoning matrix being developed deep within the inner sanctum of the web.

Defining the New Standard and Applying to  Search Accuracy with the Semantic Web

Google has always been a leader in providing answers. Now, tapping into the semantic web, they are able to do much more than provide answers from third party sites. Entity relationships and user behavior allows prediction models which tell you what you need before you do. The end goal is complete transparency in data both online and off, coupled with location and empowering users to tap into this with mobile devices. This is where Google will become much more of a personal assistant than a traditional search engine.

All search query types are relevant to connections between entities. Take for example, the predefined set of queries:

• Navigational – queries attempting to find a particular website or web page. 
• Informational – a broad set of keywords attempting to find information on specific topics.
• Transactional – queries powered with buyer’s intent to purchase.

Take, for example, asking Google an informational query:

Prior to the Knowledge Graph introduction to results pages, we would have seen something similar to this:

This would be largely organic search results, powered by traditional search engine optimization tactics: link building, on-site optimization, site size, keyword saturation and the rest. Now, let’s look at the new search engine results page layout:

We have a clear answer. This is great for voice search. No hands, no time for surfing. Siri knows what you need. Google does too.

Located on the right side of the screen, everything Google deems relevant to your person-query is populated from multiple sources. Movies, songs, basic life facts and even the ability to subscribe for new updates about Wildford Brimley, the entity, and the data that compiles surrounding his digital entity.

User Intent Across All Devices Coupled with the Semantic Web

Machine learning, query predictions, the mobile revolution and voice search has allowed insights into the evolution of how we will and currently utilize the web. As more entity-relationships are defined and more sites adopt schema/structure data, the more functionality grows and adapts as well.

The last known number (at least this author could find) on usage of Schema.org on websites was 5 million. That means well over 5 million websites are already communicating to search engines just what entities’ pages contain.

Google’s Hummingbird update showed it’s no longer a pipe dream, but something that algorithms updates are gearing towards.

In the recent Searchmetrics study, “Schema.org in Google search results” nearly 40% of search queries returned Schema.org data.

Best Way to Get Started with Structure Data

A good way to begin is to define and outline all known entities within sites or web applications. Look for books, movies, events, objects, organizations, people, places, products, offerings, reviews and more. For a complete list, visit schema.org’s complete Type Hierarchy.

By adding these additional tags to the HTML, you can help search engines and other applications better understand your content and display it in a useful, relevant way. Coupled with recent performance actions, no doubt CMS support and plugins will soon be on their way to make your life easier. For larger sites, entity extraction tools and API’s can help expedite the job.

1. Identify all entities within web properties.
2. Utilize the widely adopted Schema.org standards for markup.
3. Be sure to use Authorship markup, as this could be an influencer for rankings in the future.
4. Identify your consumers intent within websites. Providing more concise, properly marked up content.
5. Utilize Structured Data Testing Tools, like Google and Yandex both offer. Ensure everything is set up properly.
6. Be sure to cover bases with multiple pages with synonyms referring to the same underlying thing is exactly the wrong approach.

Semantic Web, Structured Data and the Future

Ten years ago, machines would consider keyword occurrences as indicators of a page’s content. Today, they are able to use massive connected datasets (such as DBPedia or Freebase) filled with data as well as semantic markup directly implemented by developers, and combine it to their own language processing abilities to serve results that are much more relevant and useful.

Today, the device usage powering search means people on the go, Google Now wanting to be our personal assistant, focus on authority, expertise and reputation (integration with G+) and be proactive in the adoption. As we see the usage of mobile, voice search and wearable technology increasing, we will find ourselves with answers to informational queries before we know we need to ask. Transactional queries may run as we view items at the store, with price comparisons and navigational-related answers with vendor reviews happening right before our very eyes.

In closing thoughts, let’s stop calling it “Semantic SEO.” Let’s stop calling it that. This is what the pioneers of the world wide web envisioned. Google and aggressive ad models have revolutionized the digital marketplace through algorithms that are incomprehensibly efficient. SEO has changed folks. Next stop for us is “Entity Optimization.”  It’s clearer as to what we are attempting to accomplish.

Whether it’s launching a Wiki page or adding Schema.org performance actions to events on a site, we’re not bound by search on this strategy, nor one specific search engine.

Entity Optimization. Are you ready?

The post Semantic “SEO”: You’ve Had It Wrong All Along appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

AdWords recently announced the most significant changes to the system since Enhanced Campaigns, and NO, despite what you heard, it had nothing to do with removing keyword data.

To set the stage, VP’s from AdWords promised the new ideas would present advertisers with innovative ads, insightful reporting and intelligent tools. Google announced these three things:

1) App Ads and App Deep Linking

AdWords is moving beyond simple app ad extensions and will launch new ad types to tie several platforms together right in the standard interface. The ad types are meant to push heavy app downloads — according to Google, everyone and their mom has an app — and then increase actual engagement with those apps. They’re doing this because the stat they shard of 80% of all apps are only used once and that the market is ripe for crazy amounts of new revenue. My first thought is, “well, that’s only from apps in Google Play!”

The new ad types also allow what they are calling App Deep Linking, which is supposed to drive high conversions with great users experiences. Basically, instead of the standard app experience of being brought to the app’s home/main page, the experience will take you to the page where you would expect to be taken. In other words, they are introducing real destination urls to apps. Read more about it here.

To me, Google really disappointed general advertisers by announcing this because it’s such a niche idea. I have clients that want to promote apps, but most are iOS focused and this idea is being fought by Apple’s platform being pushed to all advertisers.

2) “Better” Measurement & Offline Conversions

Continuing the conversation around Estimated Total Conversions and Universal Analytics data, AdWords said advertisers will soon see the full picture of their ad’s impact, including phone calls, conversions across multiple devices, and in-person conversions/sales. Even though they cited a case study with Express showing a 102% increase for in-store sales, they didn’t go into detail on HOW this is accomplished. Sure, we can see correlation — we could already do that! — but we still cannot point 1-to-1 for AdWords ads pushing in-store sales (some exceptions obviously apply).

3) New Interface Tools

This is by far the biggest segment of the announcement, the most exciting and it has the most potential to line their pockets with our cash. Within this section, they announced several new ideas:

• Bulk Actions: this is essentially pulling the AdWords Editor right into the interface, allowing changes like adjusting campaign settings for location, ad rotation, etc across campaigns.

• Automated Bidding: queue part one of the scheme to remove third party tools, AdWords is now giving advertisers more advanced rules & algorithms to automate bidding. Some of us PPC’ers are very skeptical about whether this will actually benefit our clients or just give Google a larger pool of money to dive into throughout the day. Sure, set a ROAS or CPA rule and then go on autopilot… we’ll see.”

• Advanced Reporting: part 2 of their scheme to remove third parties is advanced reporting. Outside of bid management, advertisers pay 2-5% of their ad spend to vendors for fancy, visual reports. AdWords demoed a new in-interface tool allowing regular advertisers to dynamically create reports in a drag-and-drop style with live data. For small agencies and clients, this is going to be a huge benefit that AdWords can boast. One participant of #PPCchat posted a video about what many of us were thinking, “Meanwhile at Kenshoo and Marin… http://t.co/G8zYrAmFw1.” The tools of course promise nothing but great results, but we’ll see if their many smaller client stick around or not.

• Drafts & Experiments: this could be fun. There will now be a Demo/Lab mode you can turn on and test a series, or mass, of changes to your account, see the predicted results and THEN decide whether or not to push the changes live. Doesn’t this already exist? Yes. Kind of. Sorta, but not exactly. This is essentially a better experience of AdWords Campaign Experiments and something third parties have been using for a while now.

While some of the changes may or may not groundbreaking, One thing is for certain, they will get a lot of people excited. Google ended the show of announcements abruptly and did not announce dates for when all of these new idea will actually be available.

The post AdWords Gets Serious with Third Parties: Making Sense of Recent Adwords Announcements appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

Search Marketing & Online Marketing Goodness

MnSearch has earned a reputation for putting on valuable monthly events and last night was no exception.  Exploring video optimization and marketing, Noah Turner of FRWD, Manny Rivas of aimclear and Carie Otto of Three Deep Marketing gave solid presentations, tips, tools and answers to the attendees.

MnSearch has proven to bring in top local and national online experts over the past few years and last night they even gave notice that a one day search summit with some big names in the industry will happen in 2014.  My advice is to become a member, attend events, meet great people and learn a ton!

A Great Minneapolis Event Space

Last night was something that our CEO Mike Rynchek, our CFO Barb Vanags and myself envisioned when we took over the space at 1625 Hennepin Avenue just about 14 months ago.  Our main level was built to be open, collaborative and able to host various events.

During the work day you’ll find a few large tables, couches, chairs, stage/steps, bean bags and a standing work station.  Anywhere from 2 to 30 of our amazing team members use the space in different ways at one time and we are very fortunate to have this space.

While we have had about six events already at Spyder Trap, last night’s had a different energy with industry peers and enthusiasts in the building and it was awesome.  We are looking forward to 2014 with MnSearch and we welcome you to attend a future event.

Additional Photos From Last Nights Event

You’ll find more photos from last night’s MnSearch event on our Facebook page as well as a few below.

The post MnSearch Events Move To Spyder Trap For 2014 appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

1) The World’s Coolest Tiny Offices

Check out this collection of cubicles and small workspaces across the world. Is your office this awesome? Click here to view.

2) Leaked Pitch Deck Reveals Facebook’s Plans To Steal YouTube and TV Ad Dollars

A deck was recently leaked outlining Facebook’s goals surrounding video ads. The deck was sent to Preferred Marketing Developer partners and explained how best to sell Facebook video ads to their clients. The deck outlined how Facebook can offer superior reach and specific targeting. It’s interesting to see Facebook wade so deeply into the video ad space. Read more here.

3) Google Currently Testing Ads in Knowledge Graph

Google’s been testing and optimizing ads within Knowledge Graph. If you are unaware, Knowledge Graph is the box populated with topic-based content that shows up to the right of the search query field. It’ll be interesting to see how this gets rolled out. Check out the post for more details.

4) Microsoft & Apple Using “Ancient” Patents To Sue Time Warner & Cisco

The patent war continues! As you might already know,  the Supreme Court is soon to rule on whether specific types of software and code are, or aren’t legally patentable. It appears Microsoft and Apple are trying to squeeze as much money out of the patent wars as possible, before this happens. Read more here.

5) New Data Reveals Majority Of Retweets Happening After Work Hours

Social media marketers know all too well that Twitter activity is highest at midday during the week. A recent report has turned this fact on its head, revealing that most re-tweets happen after work hours and on Sundays. How will this impact your social strategy? Read more here.

6) A Smartphone Game You Can Smell

Pop Secret has released a game that emits the scent of buttered popcorn as users play the game. Useful? No. Is there a potential market in scented smartphone applications? Definitely. I sense a travel app that offers destination smells on the horizon. Read more about the Pop Secret game here.  

7) Top 5 Health Innovations of the Week

At Spyder Trap, we have great respect for innovation in the healthcare industry (we might just have a few clients in this space). Check out the following link for some awesome stuff: Glasses that allow nurses to see veins through the skin, fitness apparel that tracks health, personality-responsive rooms at work, bracelets that turn sign language into spoken work and bees that can smell cancer. Pretty amazing stuff.  Read more.

8) Cart Abandonment: How Much Money Did Retailers Lose Out On in 2013?

$1.79 Trillion dollars – This is the estimated dollar amount lost due to shopping cart abandonment this year alone. 67% of total user abandonments come from all devices, including desktops. The number of abandonment for mobile is estimated to be much higher, at 97%. Look for tips, tricks and best practices for closing the gap on total number of cart abandonments in this handy-dandy infograph.

The post Weekly Web Picks – Vol. 5 appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

Peril: Competition Goes Beyond Geography

The bottom line is that larger, media-dominant countries of a particular language have a huge advantage over smaller countries of the same tongue when it comes to global SEO ranking.

Take Portuguese, for example. It’s the official language of ten countries, but Brazil alone has a larger population than the other nine combined (shown in the map above). As Jonathan points out, “Brazilian websites naturally beat out any Portuguese websites; it’s the nature of the beast. These huge countries dominate because there’s more media in those countries that competes with everything.” A simple metric that demonstrates this fact is total web properties by country. Brazil has 525,981 registered domain names while the runner up Portugal, only has 83,812 (see www.webhosting.info).

What does this mean for SEO marketers?

Competition is about more than geography. Portugal must compete with Brazil, just as The United Kingdom is forced to compete with the US, due to shared language. To demonstrate, I ran a simple search query from https://www.google.co.uk/ that I thought would have no bearing in one country versus the other; “Chinese Crested” and “Dinosaurs.” The results support my theory. Seven of the twelve organic results show up with a US domain for “Dinosaurs” and six of ten organic results are a US domain for “Chinese Crested.” For SEO professionals in the UK or any other English speaking country who are struggling to rank against US domains, I would suggest they target long-tail keywords that are as specific as possible and unique to their own dialect.

Opportunity: Targeting Less Competitive Markets

Since the US is the primary controller of English language media and SEO competition is so fierce, it often makes more sense for American search marketers to start elsewhere. By targeting your less competitive English language markets, such as Australia or even Russia, you lower the barrier of entry in organic search results. Again, Jonathan points out, “In smaller international search markets you can get noticed easier and that can have a snowball effect, which gives you a really positive impact in the States.”

After you gain momentum with search queries in less competitive markets, it’s much easier to piggyback off of this success and re-target in the US. In addition to Ads and organic search tactics, you can supplement your strategy by targeting your audience via social media with messages at specific intervals, relevant to users’ time zones.

Peril: Fragmentation and Relative Market Size

US search marketers face less of a challenge when expanding into European markets, than vice versa. Why? In the United States, marketers can focus on one language and arguably one culture across a broader population. European companies on the other hand, are forced to regionalize along cultural and linguistic lines. This requires higher technological and strategic investment upfront.

Jonathan says, “If Europe and the States were equivalent in population size – the difference is that in the US everyone speaks English or Spanish whereas in Europe it’s Polish, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Flemish, German, Etc. And the technology cost is more or less the same to regionalize [each time]. The relative market size of each of these regions is incomparable [to the United States].”

Peril & Opportunity: Device Fragmentation

Jonathan notes that, “Fragmentation is huge from a desktop point of view, but it’s going to get worse and worse from a mobile point of view.” In a world where multiple devices, with multiple operating systems and versions exist, fragmentation among mobile and tablet users are at an all-time high. This has serious implications for SEO marketers trying to reach a specific consumer subset, especially when device variance occurs at a local and global level.

As Jonathan points out, “If you design stuff to work well on an iPad you’re probably going to be targeting middle class across the board. If you’re designing for iOS7 you’re probably only getting a small fraction of the global audience.” This can be both a peril and an opportunity depending on the way that you look at it. On one hand, marketers have the ability to target narrowly based on device usage. On the other hand, hardware and software are continuously evolving. What works one day could very well be obsolete the next. If you know how to build or optimize a responsive site, you can win big in this space.

Key takeaways:

1) Your search competition is beyond your geographic boundaries.

2) Know your relative market size and the problems inherent with regionalizing in diverse markets.

3) By targeting less competitive markets of the same tongue you lower the barrier of entry.

4) Device can be used to target by socioeconomic status, but be careful because what works today may not work tomorrow.

Leave a comment to keep the conversation going. What are your thoughts, challenges, or predictions for the future of global SEO?

Learn more about Spyder Trap’s Search capabilities here.

The post The Global SEO Landscape: An Interview With Jonathan Allen appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

Check back for weekly news on all things digital, and by all means tweet us @Spyder_Trap to share what you’re excited about in the world of digital marketing and technology. Enjoy!

1) Longform YouTube Takeover

YouTube announced Tuesday that more than one-third of YouTube viewership comes from users watching longform content. It turns out online viewers do have attention spans, after all. This is interesting, considering YouTube didn’t allow videos over ten minutes in length just a few years ago. Why should search marketers care? Well, we can at least agree that branded long-form content has a seat at the digital marketing table. And don’t forget, YouTube is a powerful search engine. The implications cover content strategy to search marketing.

2) In-App Google Search For Android Has Arrived

Google has stepped up its game once again to transform the Android ecosystem. You’ll soon get in-app search results when using Google search. This opens up a variety of search opportunities for advertisers and will change the rules of search marketing, as we know it. We’re excited to see how this rolls out. Click here to learn more.

Learn more about search marketing at Spyder Trap here >>

3) Yahoo! To Sell Hundreds of Unused Domain Names

(What will you do with crackers.com?)

Yahoo has announced it will sell hundreds of unused domain names in an effort to spur innovation. This domainapalooza is running for a week and offers up high buck URLs like jockeys.com, sled.com, crackers.com as well as a treasure trove of others. Put in your bids!

View the full list here.

4) Is “Hyperemployment” Real?

The Atlantic recently posted an interesting piece on the woes of all things digital. They argue that email, chat, texts, Facebook, twitter and the proliferation of data are essentially overwhelming the digital workforce to the point of exhaustion. As digital marketing enthusiasts, we happen to enjoy making the most of these tools for our clients. What are your thoughts?

5) Big Brother, Where Art Thou?

Google’s Transparency Report recently cited that government requests for user data have more than doubled over the past three years. Whether you like it or not, data will change the way we govern our country.

6) Link Building In Comment Fields; Good or Bad?

We’ve all seen it happen on blogs, YouTube and elsewhere: The ubiquitous spam comments with links to complete trash. So, is it possible to do proper link building in comment fields? Yes. The following video summarizes how to best use comment fields for link building, from a Google Webmaster perspective. Very helpful stuff.

7) The US Air Force: Protectors Of The Internet

The Air Force released a video of the Mees Solar Observatory earlier this week. Why should digital marketing professionals care? Every year more and more satellites and debris surround the earth, threatening to crash into each other and kill our precious satellite communications. These fine folks are preventing us from losing our internet. Thanks, guys.

8) Space, The Final GaGa-tier…

Lady GaGa recently announced she’ll be performing from space. God knows why. We’ll definitely be tuning in, mainly because spaceships are cool.

The post Weekly Web Picks – Vol. 1 appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.

Bloggers, speakers and tweeters alike have been heralding the changes, how to prepare, and what to expect in the post-apocalyptic world. Like many sign holders and the beginning of every Plants Vs. Zombies game, everyone shouted, “They’re coming!”

“You will need axes, call extensions, water purifiers, mobile bid adjustments, a field guide of edible plants, ad group-level site links, and really comfortable running shoes.”

The dreaded launch day of Enhanced Campaigns, dubbed E-Day by some, recently came and went. Gruesome self-contradicting monsters are rampant with half a face showing higher CPCs and the other half, looking like Google, saying CPCs are going down. What? Attack that thing with a chainsaw and move on; one person’s experience may be very different from another’s.

Enhanced Campaigns Didn’t Change Your Goals

Every PPC manager is results-oriented and — argue this all you want, but check this out — the “new” changes still allow you to be results-oriented. Best practices are still best practices. Targeting still matters a hell of a lot, mobile is on your radar when it should have been already, and you are still free to find efficiency that allows you to scale.

Sure, some of my clients have seen CPCs go up, yet others have seen them go down. You know what’s consistent? Results. I made sure every client was bitten by, or at least exposed to, Enhanced Campaigns well before E-Day. I’ve seen them struggle with the internal changes, yet the results for both my clients and me have been positive.

If you run PPC or have simply read about Enhanced Campaigns, you know the changes, how to implement them and what people are telling you to expect. I hope to God you have actively adjusted everything to fit your clients’ needs and are not being ship wrecked. Of course, if you are, contact Spyder Trap and we will help you out.

If there is one thing I hope we can all agree upon now that E-Day has past, I hope it’s this: they are only called campaigns, no longer Enhanced Campaigns. Stop referring to anything campaign as Enhanced; the campaign structure and settings are commonplace and standardized. Knock it off.

After all of the hype, now that the dust has settled, the conclusion I’ve made is that the Enhanced Campaigns zombie apocalypse was about as climactic as Y2K. If you have other thoughts on the transition, let me know in the comments!

The post AdWords Enhanced Campaigns: Zombie Apocalypse appeared first on Spyder Trap Online Marketing Blog.