Google has held the lion's share of search volume for years now and it continues to grow. July numbers from StatCounter put the volume in the range of 77%. Yahoo follows with 11% and Bing is up a percent to 9.4%.
It would appear that Microsoft's huge advertising blitz (and a much improved product) have given them an upward growth curve. They're up 1.4% at the expense of Yahoo, which is down a percent.
The share of search dollars spent is also shifting up for Google, according to J.P. Morgan stats. Google captured about 72% of search dollars in the 2nd quarter of 2009. That's up almost 2% compared to the same time in 2008 - and the change is almost entirely at Yahoo's expense.
Mobile Search
The most surprising numbers come in the area of mobile search where Yahoo is strong at 34% of the the search market in the U.S. Google holds about 63% of the market, according to ComScore data.
Display Advertising
Where does Yahoo still outperform the others? Display advertising.
Yahoo controls 13% of the display ad views on content-network sites. Microsoft and Google lag behind at 5.5% and 1.3% respectively.
We are a Minneapolis web design firm, providing professional web design, web site hosting and search engine optimization - SEO. Our blog posts address all sorts of website and technology topics.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Nick Passes Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ)
We are proud to announce that every member of our Minneapolis SEO team holds the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ). Nick Davis joins the ranks of Ken Kralick and Dan Epley among the holders of this prominent certification.
Google Analytics is the tool of choice for many beginning web analytics users but most quickly hit a glass ceiling of functionality without proper training. We strongly believe that the true power of Google Analytics can rival many of the expensive web analytics tools on the market if you have the know-how to unlock Segmentation, Filters, and Event tracking.
GAIQ Certification
The Google Analytics IQ certification is proof that an individual holds a proficiency in the Google Analytics advanced tool set. It provides solid assurance to a client that the the "analytics pro" actually holds training and experience in the tool.
Google Analytics is the tool of choice for many beginning web analytics users but most quickly hit a glass ceiling of functionality without proper training. We strongly believe that the true power of Google Analytics can rival many of the expensive web analytics tools on the market if you have the know-how to unlock Segmentation, Filters, and Event tracking.
GAIQ Certification
The Google Analytics IQ certification is proof that an individual holds a proficiency in the Google Analytics advanced tool set. It provides solid assurance to a client that the the "analytics pro" actually holds training and experience in the tool.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Ken Passes Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ)
We are proud to announce another certification to our SEO team! Ken Kralick has joined Dan Epley's rank among the rank and file with a Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ).
Google Analytics is intended to be a great tool for a new user but there are advanced functions buried inside the software. This advanced functionality in Segmentation, Filters, and Event tracking give the free analytics tool a power to rival the expensive web analytics tools on the market.
GAIQ Certification
The Google Analytics IQ certification is proof that an individual holds a proficiency in the Google Analytics advanced tool set. It provides solid assurance to a client that the the "analytics pro" actually holds training and experience in the tool.
Experience and Training make the difference
Wouldn't you like to know how Pay Per Click (PPC) visitors are interacting with your website? Do you think the PPC visitors do the same thing on your website as the organic search visitors? What about repeat visitors? Can you filter out internal company traffic? From all your branch offices?
All of this is simple to track in Google Analytics but you need the training and experience to make it work. The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) assures clients that we have that knowledge.
Many Certifications
Our SEO team holds certifications across the many facets of our services. We believe that industry certifications are important and they help us stand up in the crowd of competition. If nothing else, it proves that we are willing to put our money where our mouth is, pass the industry tests and keep the certifications current.
Google Analytics is intended to be a great tool for a new user but there are advanced functions buried inside the software. This advanced functionality in Segmentation, Filters, and Event tracking give the free analytics tool a power to rival the expensive web analytics tools on the market.
GAIQ Certification
The Google Analytics IQ certification is proof that an individual holds a proficiency in the Google Analytics advanced tool set. It provides solid assurance to a client that the the "analytics pro" actually holds training and experience in the tool.
Experience and Training make the difference
Wouldn't you like to know how Pay Per Click (PPC) visitors are interacting with your website? Do you think the PPC visitors do the same thing on your website as the organic search visitors? What about repeat visitors? Can you filter out internal company traffic? From all your branch offices?
All of this is simple to track in Google Analytics but you need the training and experience to make it work. The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) assures clients that we have that knowledge.
Many Certifications
Our SEO team holds certifications across the many facets of our services. We believe that industry certifications are important and they help us stand up in the crowd of competition. If nothing else, it proves that we are willing to put our money where our mouth is, pass the industry tests and keep the certifications current.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
New Google Chrome Beta is Faster
Our main complaint with the existing Google Chrome browser was the occasional (and unexplainable) lag during start up and while browsing. We found it to be enough of an irritation that everyone in the office returned to FireFox or Internet Explorer.
The new beta release may change those choices:
According to Google engineers, the latest "beta release shows over 30% improvement on both the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks over our current stable channel release."
It's hard to scoff at a measurable gain of 30%.
The new beta release may change those choices:
According to Google engineers, the latest "beta release shows over 30% improvement on both the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks over our current stable channel release."
It's hard to scoff at a measurable gain of 30%.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Flash vs. SEO
We've been testing Flash content in the search engines for more than 3 years. There's no surprise here - in our findings Google can read the content (sometimes) but HTML is best in all our tests.
So, the big question remains - how do you get that fancy font to appear in HTML?
You have 2 choices -
1) Place the image on the visible area of the page and tuck the text in a div layer. Either place the div layer under the image or shove it off the page with a -5000 x or z axis placement. If this sounds treacherous, it is. This is an old trick and Google can see right through it. You will be undoubtedly deemed suspicious and your SEO rankings may falter.
2) Word from the Google Webmaster Blog folks suggest using a script that calls Flash to alter the display of the content. This practice displays the same content to visitors and the Googlebot alike. A win-win as far as we're concerned.
From the blog:
"sIFR: Some websites use Flash to force the browser to display headers, pull quotes, or other textual elements in a font that the user may not have installed on their computer. A technique like sIFR still lets non-Flash readers read a page, since the content/navigation is actually in the HTML -- it's just displayed by an embedded Flash object."
We use sIFR on most of our marketing sites. The new First Scribe home page uses sIFR in the top navigation buttons. We present the proper typeface while also enabling optimized text links to the top-level pages.
So, the big question remains - how do you get that fancy font to appear in HTML?
You have 2 choices -
1) Place the image on the visible area of the page and tuck the text in a div layer. Either place the div layer under the image or shove it off the page with a -5000 x or z axis placement. If this sounds treacherous, it is. This is an old trick and Google can see right through it. You will be undoubtedly deemed suspicious and your SEO rankings may falter.
2) Word from the Google Webmaster Blog folks suggest using a script that calls Flash to alter the display of the content. This practice displays the same content to visitors and the Googlebot alike. A win-win as far as we're concerned.
From the blog:
"sIFR: Some websites use Flash to force the browser to display headers, pull quotes, or other textual elements in a font that the user may not have installed on their computer. A technique like sIFR still lets non-Flash readers read a page, since the content/navigation is actually in the HTML -- it's just displayed by an embedded Flash object."
We use sIFR on most of our marketing sites. The new First Scribe home page uses sIFR in the top navigation buttons. We present the proper typeface while also enabling optimized text links to the top-level pages.
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