Posts on State of Search about ‘Business’

Page’s first days in office: Product chief Jonathan Rosenberg resigns

jonathan-rosenberg

Starting this week things at Google are different. We’ve known for a few months now that Eric Schmidt would be stepping down as CEO and Larry Page would be taking over. This week that change is being made. No more quotes from Schmidt but we won’t be bored with Page’s renewed reign if signals are right. In his first week we see in the upcoming departure of product chief Jonathan Rosenberg.

Let’s make one thing clear: Page did not fire Rosenberg. Jonathan Rosenberg was asked, together with the other executives, to long-term, multiyear commitment plan about their future at the company. Rosenberg stated that he had always planned to step down in 2013 because then his daughter would go to college. He didn’t feel planning ahead would then make sense. (more…)

5 ways for a Local Businesses to grow their Twitter Followers and Business

twitter-work

Similar to Twitter’s little blue bird, time flies. It was this time a year ago that I wrote my most successful post on State of Search – 10 ways to grow your twitter followers and 10 essential tools to do it I must admit, I was surprised at how well it was received, to this date it has received 39 comments, over 400 re-tweets, 20,000 page views and nearly 13,000 visitors via search engines.

Today I want to revisit the Twittersphere but look specifically at how small local businesses can utilise Twitter to grow their followers, but most importantly their business. One thing I have noticed about Twitter is that some people are too caught up in the numbers game and try to artificially increase their followers.  Local businesses really benefit from interacting, engaging and developing relationships with users who are local, so quick fixes such the search queries below won’t help much. (more…)

Tips For Graduates Applying For SEO Roles

job-interview

This is a guest post by Dan Taylor, an “SEO in Manchester” and active blogger on his own and companies blog. Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily State of Search. Like this post? Let us know!

Or so you graduated…now what?

I have recently been interviewing for a graduate SEO role at Just Search, where I am SEO Manager. I have had some success – we employed an excellent candidate (who ironically didn’t have a university degree) but enough of the same issues kept on coming up that I would share my tips on getting your first job in SEO. (more…)

Why Media Businesses Can Learn More From Buskers Than Murdochs’s The Daily Experiment

daily

I wear two very different hats in my day job, part of my time I spend working as a internet marketing consultant on SEO projects but a significant proportion on of my time is spent producing the iTunes most popular marketing podcast and it associated premium subscription service.

I have spent a little time in the consumer publishing world prior to getting into internet marketing but I’ve learnt more about online publishing while setting up our own paywall, and I think if I were to start again I’d be looking for inspiration from buskers rather than Murdoch and Co’s experiments with The Daily or The Times Paywall.

(more…)

Eric Schmidt steps down as CEO of Google

eric-schmidt-google

Pretty hot news coming from the Google headquarters in Silicon Valley: Eric Schmidt will be stepping down as CEO of Google to become “Executive Chairman,” with Google, whatever that role may mean. His position as CEO will be taken by Founder Larry Page.

I don’t have the time at the moment to write up an analysis of what and why but a quick overview of the facts:

Schmidt announced on the Google blog that he is stepping down as of April 4th. Day to day business will then be taken over by Larry Page. Sergey Brin will be working on strategy. Schmidt will be focussing on deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership. (more…)

Yandex sees huge growth: 43% revenue increase in a year

yandex

It’s that time of the year again! We are seeing numbers from all the major companies world wide, including the search engines. This Thursday Google will announce their numbers. But they might have a hard time beating the growth numbers which Yandex has produced. The Russian giants sees a growth of no less than 43% on a year to year basis.

I guess when Barry wrote about the alternative for Google last week, he was right when it comes to money. The company’s ruble revenue grew to 12.5 billion rubles ($410 million). Compared to 2009 that is an increase of 43%. They mainly make that money via contextual advertising. (more…)

Lessons Link Builders Can Learn From England’s Bungled World Cup 2018 Bid

russia-blatter-bid

Despite the best lobbying efforts of our biggest sporting star, a newly engaged king-to-be and our Prime Minister England failed miserably in their attempts to gain the right to host the 2018 World Cup, I’ll leave the discussion on they whys and the wherefores to the better qualified; what interested me was how convinced everyone seemed to be of the success of the bid despite its impending failure. I don’t think this was naive wishful thinking but the kind of self deceit that often affects un-successful link builders.

So what can we learn from the disastrous bid to help us become better link builders.

(more…)

Search Ad Spending rises 23 percent in last Quarter

dollar-bills

It feels like the year has only just started, and in fact the first Quarter is only a few weeks old, but the first signs of how we are doing in the New Year are already here, at least, if we look at what went on in 2010. In the last Quarter of 2010. compared to how we did the year before, Ad Spending in Search is up no less than 23%.

The latest report from Efficient Frontier (download here) shows us that search is rising in all sectors they track. All of them show a huge gain over at least 10% in spending. (more…)

Facebook $50 Billion Valuation Means No IPO Anytime Soon

Goldman-Sachs-facebook

For the second year running “Facebook” was the number one search term on the web. In 2010, a movie “The Social Network” was released, documenting the origins and rise to international domination (save for parts of Asia) of Facebook, as the social network of choice. Late Sunday night the New York Times’ DealB%k , broke a story about Goldman Sachs offering their clients the chance to invest in Facebook, in a deal that values the company at $50 Billion.

According to the DealB%k article… “the email sent to Goldman clients warns recipients who trade in secondary markets where private firms like Facebook trade may want to steer clear of participating because if they opt-in they may receive material non-public information on the unnamed company that will restrict future trading.”

Essentially, private investment in a non-public company gives the investor access to company information, and secondary market information that would exclude the investor from trading in the company are they to go public. Whilst Goldman decline to comment, DealB%k reference a source stating that investors “would be prohibited from selling their shares until 2013”. (more…)

Guestpost: Optimising Online in 2011 – by Sri Sharma (@srisharma)

re-targeting

This is a guestpost by Sri Sharma (@srisharma), managing director at Net Media Planet, in this post he provides his advice on the key developments in search to watch in 2011.

2010 was undoubtedly a year where return on investment (ROI) and added value reigned supreme – nowhere was this more true than online. With no let up in the opportunities that the internet and ecommerce provides, a comprehensive search strategy will be crucial to success in 2011.

Social media and new innovations have been in vogue over the past year but with a 40 percent share of online adspend, paid search is where brands are seeing the best returns. To unlock opportunities from paid search, and generate increased results, Sri Sharma, managing director at dedicated PPC specialist Net Media Planet, provides his advice on what to watch in the months ahead. Here are his top tips for marketers looking to maximise opportunities and add value to their brands. (more…)

How to make friends and influence people in SEO

It seems we have gone conference mad here at State of Search, and with some great conferences about – potential attendees are spoilt for choice – as Bas’ poll would probably suggest. As a conference organiser (I organise the Sascon conference in Manchester UK), I have been on both sides of the fence, as both attendee, speaker and organiser.

One of the things which came out of some recent events within the SEO community are just how many relationships are developed from sources such as Twitter, which then develop onto other social platforms such as Facebook/Skype and often then become ‘real life’ through meeting at conferences whether this be at the conference itself or indirectly via the various social forums which are often associated with these events such as Manchester SEO or London SEO.

So how do you make sure you get ahead in the game of SEO, and make the most of these opportunities …. (more…)

Yahoo to cut another 700 jobs

It seems as if it’s about time that Yahoo really reconsidered their business model. And by the looks of it they really are. Search is shifting to Bing with more migration to be expected in 2011, but more is happening at Yahoo at the moment.

News is now out that Yahoo, with Christmas being around the corner, is playing Scrooge to a potential part of their staff. Apparently 5% of Yahoo’s current staff will not be having a very good Christmas. After weeks of speculation apparently about 700 people will today hear they will soon be out of a job. (more…)

Page 2 of 3123