AxROI - New Conversion Tracking Tool -

I posted information about AxROI at WebMetricsGuru

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO � Confirming a penalty

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO � Confirming a penalty: "I'd like to address those two points. I can confirm that Google has removed traffic-power.com and domains promoted by Traffic Power from our index because of search engine optimization techniques that violated our webmaster guidelines at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html. If you are a client or former client of Traffic Power and your site is not in Google, please see my previous advice on requesting reinclusion into Google's index to learn what steps to take if you would like to be reincluded in Google's index.

Note: I'm turning off comments for this post. There are other places that are more appropriate places for discussing this issue. "

I'm glad that Google announced, via Matt Cutts, that it banned Traffic Power. At least now people know - they don't have to wonder about it.

Seth's Blog: Hearing, part II

Seth's Blog: Hearing, part II: "Hearing, part II
So, of course, the Eata Pita parable below is part of a bigger story.
How many organizations don't hear?
I don't mean the counterpeople and the customer service reps. I mean, how many organizations are organized to actually allow customers and prospects to share their insights and feedback?
Second, how many of those organizations have management that bother to listen to the feedback? Or employees that are empowered to do something with it?
And finally, once an organization listens, does it actually do something about what it comes across?
Insert [political party, relgious order, non-profit, for profit, teacher, school board, insurance company] here. Do they Hear, Listen and then Act?"

The funny part is that I passed Eat A Pita the other day on my way to work when I went to GCT - I imagine I could have bumped into Seth trying to order something there. The place looks seedy....I'd not order anything from there - it's no surprise the workers don't listen - they're apathetic.

Agree with the rest of this post though - most businesses are not set up for feedback or taking action on it.

WebMetricsGuru: Top Search Engine Search Numbers - just posted

WebMetricsGuru: Top Search Engine Search Numbers - just posted: "Search Engine Traffic share for US searches were just posted yesterday by Nielson//NetRatings. According to ClickZ
'The number of U.S. searches grew 55 percent in December 2005 over December 2004, according to data released by Nielsen//NetRatings. '

Top Three U.S. Search Share Rankings by Percentage Points, December 2004 and 2005
Search EngineDecember 2004 Search Share (%)December 2005 Search Share (%)Change (Percentage Points)
Google43.148.85.7
Yahoo!21.721.4-0.3
MSN14.010.9-3.1
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, February 2006

Most of the sites who i do both Web Analytics and SEO/SEM for show a much greater increase in Search Traffic from Google than the numbers above suggest. In fact, one of my house plans clients had a 300%+ increase in thier Google Search Referral Traffic from Dec 04 to Dec 05.
The data above is actually not the whole story - "

I posted this information in my new blog...www.webmetricsguru.com - where you can read the rest of my post (the formatting also looks better on my other site).

Loyalty Programs for Search (by Jeremy Zawodny)

Loyalty Programs for Search (by Jeremy Zawodny): "You might not think that web search is a commodity service, but I've seen public and private data that suggests we're headed that way. It was only a matter of time, right?"

Loyality as measured for return visitors via Search would be something interesting to compile for clients.

Greg Boser Says Big Companies Should Spam Search Engines (by Jeremy Zawodny)

Greg Boser Says Big Companies Should Spam Search Engines (by Jeremy Zawodny): "It's not the first time I've heard this logic, but Greg's done a better job than most by putting it in simple terms:
We'll be allowed to take cuts because search engines want our sites to show up. They want them to show up because their users expect to see them. And those users don't give a shit about what's contained in the source code. All they care about is whether or not they land on a page that matches their search.
Until that fact changes, there will be virtually no risk associated with aggressive SEO for big brands. And as long as the risks are low, managers of big brands would be foolish not to explore potential strategies that will ultimately improve the visibility of their brands simply because a search engine has said they disapprove.
Is he right? Are the big brands (IBM, BMW, Apple, Toyota, Playboy, etc.) so important to search engines (or their users), that they should 'optimize' first and worry about being discovered later?
Put another way, what if every one of the Fortune 500 decided to follow BMW's lead and spam Google? Who win?
Sure, it's an extreme case. But most fun thought experiments are. :-)"

Since I work for IBM and I met Greg Bozer a couple of times at WebMasterWorld Conferences (shady fellow) I found this post of interest to me.