If you have landed on this post, you have likely heard about the Google algorithm update.  It  has reportedly already impacted about 12% of all Google queries!  The change was largely focused on low quality, mass produced SEO content, and was aimed at ‘content farms’ which have been littering search results for quite some time. This change has been met with praise and dissent – but those on the wrong side of this coin should not be surprised.  The signs were there.

The demise of low quality content has actually been part of the Google plan for quite some time, but up until now only smaller sites not built to withstand algorithmic shifts had been feeling the impact.

Now Google is adjusting the algorithm to target the typical profiles of sites that are using dubious SEO tactics to try to get a competitive advantage in search results. Inbound Link buying schemes have been the focus over the last couple of years and recently two major sites where dinged for engaging in these activities – JCPenney.com and Overstock.com. Although Google does work to remain neutral, it is clear that they are observing specific behaviors and reacting to keep manipulators out of the index.

Most recently they are moving on to target content farms, many of whom have been immune to prior algorithm changes. Below is an explanation of the update from Matt Cutts of Google’s Anti Spam Team:

Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.

My take is that they are approaching this with two business objectives in mind:

So will this spell the end for content farms? In my point of view, yes – for those that remain pure content producers for the sake of mass. In fact, many have already seen a significant change to their online visibility as shown in seen in this Search Engine Land article by Danny Sullivan.

I do expect many who have significant financial backing to evolve and focus on quality content with social value or look to purchase premium web properties to supplement traffic loss. Demand Media’s recent IPO is likely to put them in a position to do just that.

Some companies have already been forced to react to the abrupt change in traffic – Mahalo, a human-powered search engine announced a layoff of 10% of its staff and temporarily halting freelance content production.

It appears that some content producers who do not necessarily match the ‘spammy set’ were also impacted. A recent FastCompany article discussed CultofMac.com, an Apple fan site which saw a significant downward shift in traffic coming from Google.  But they have since seemed to recover.   It is likely that the algorithm went through various corrective tweaks to induce the desired outcomes over the days after launch.

As it appears, content farms as we know it are officially dead. Those who will survive once the dust settles will be the sites that are able to evolve and produce unique, relevant content which has social value.  Search engines are using social queues more and more as a method of identifying value but this will likely fuel the next wave of SEO manipulation.

On November 10, 2010, DexOne announced the acquisition of Business.com and their plan to fully integrate Business.com into the DexOne business model.

It is still unclear what will happen to the Business.com brand and URL now that it is owned by DexOne. Yet, with the wide array of online B2B industries and growing need of advertising outlets, DexOne clearly has a unique opportunity to provide small businesses the means to both support the business as well as acquire new customers.
The question is, where will everyone go? While in the short term certain industries can rely on their respective niche vendors as well as the Hoovers of the world, trends are showing an increased focus on social media for 2011.

In October alone, almost half of Business.com’s advertising efforts were focused on “conversational media”*, showing that even a mostly search focused site recognizes the growing trend of social media in the B2B space. A clear indicator of this is LinkedIn. As Business.com traffic decreased in the past 12 months, LinkedIn’s traffic has almost doubled**.

Over the past year, visitors to Business.com have decreased by 59%* which may turn out to favor those players staying in until the end. Though it has been business as usual since the news of the DexOne acquisition broke in early November – in Q1 most advertisers will be turned over to a self service model and it will be interesting to see how many stay on.

Though there is no official end date released for Business.com, it is clear that DexOne is a separate audience for most B2B marketers. While Business.com has always served a wide array of industries, DexOne is focused specifically on serving local businesses – potentially cutting out strictly online businesses. If the key features and audiences of these two sites were to combine they may have the ability to holistically served small businesses.

OTOinsights’ recent efforts to measure the user impact of a new generation of search engine result pages which include multimedia elements such as images and videos has caught the eye of two prestigious upcoming conferences.  Both the Search Engine Strategies (SES) (Chicago, IL- December of 2009), and the Usability Professional’s Association (UPA) International Conference (Munich, Germany – May 2010) has asked OTOinsights to present their findings from its report titled “Implications of User Engagement with Search Result Pages“.

This paper, which may be downloaded for free on OTOinsights website, was most recently presented at the UPA Boston Conference held at Bentley University on May 26th, 2009.  That presentation is provided below:

Aspects of the above presentation will be discussed on a panel titled “Eye Tracking Research Update” at 4pm December 9th, 2009 at the SES Conference and Expo in Chicago, IL. 

Probably even more exciting to us is the opportunity to present our findings at next year’s UPA International Conference in Munich, Germany.  For the first time in its history, the UPA conference will travel to the heart of Europe. Their key theme will focus on how UX professionals can create great user experiences across different cultures, meeting the challenges of delivering to diverse audiences. This prestigious event includes a rigorous process to review both general presentations and peer reviewed papers.  To that end, we  received very high marks for Dan Berlin’s excellent submission.  Indeed, the conference reviewers expressed their excitement about the inclusion of new Neuromarketing research at the event.  

Screen shot of the detailed reviewer scores and comments below:

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I urge everyone to stay tuned as we are about to publish the second installment to our Search Engine research, titled “User Engagement with Yahoo! Rich Ads in Search”.  We also plan to incorporate this new research into our upcoming presentations.

While this is smart technology, it caused some difficulties for agencies that wanted to confirm their ads were running correctly.

Luckily, last week Bing introduced an Ad Preview Tool. It is available within the adCenter UI and complete instructions are available at the adCenter blog. The tool still requires some updates, as it does not currently support geo-targeting. The ads are also currently not clickable, and only available to users signed into the accounts within adCenter.

Google has an Ad Preview Tool, which has been out for a while and does include geo-targeting capabilities. It is also available to anyone, even outside of an account.

Based on the adCenter blog, it sounds like they are continuing to enhance the tool to include geo-targeting. This is a great example of search engines incorporating advertiser feedback, and we look forward to seeing refinements in future editions.

So it is official, our once beloved Yahoo! has cried uncle and submitted to the looming M&A noogie we have faithfully followed for the past few months.  It is truly a day of reflection for those of us who have been around long enough to remember setting GoToast to ‘Jam’ competitors through Bid Rules created specifically for Overture.  Ah, those were the days – when budget size meant more than quality.  We will miss you a lot and I will cherish my piles of purple swag and keep it in my garage to visit at times when I grow weary of my blossoming Google relationship.

So what does this mean to advertisers with insatiable appetites for search clicks? Well, here are the questions I can answer now:

1. Who is zoomin’ who?

Microsoft Bing will replace the Yahoo! Search technology for both PPC and Organic (Natural) Search results. Yahoo! will now be the sales force across both properties.

2. What advertising platform will we be using?

The AdCenter platform will become the core platform for paid search campaign management. This should all be complete within the next 18 months (pending regulatory approval of course). So expect minimal changes to the Yahoo! Advertising platform, while we can be sure MSN will be adding in significant enhancements.

3. Is this also the demise of Paid Inclusion (SSP)?

Unfortunately, there is no information on this currently.  But we do know that no changes will occur until Q2 2010 so you can count on it being around at least through the Q4 shopping season.  My take is that this is a huge revenue opportunity for Bing/Yahoo! and they will likely find a place for it. We will just have to see.

4. When will this all happen?

The plan is for regulatory approval in early 2010 with no changes until this occurs.  Following approval, Yahoo! will begin to display Bing results through organic search within 3 – 6 months, while Paid Search is expected within 12 (United States).  The complete Global roll-out may take up to 24 months.

How this impacts the advertising landscape remains to be seen, but despite the world view that less competition equals less innovation – I do not expect Google to rest on its heels and let things fall where they may, that is just not how they work.

For more information on this deal:

* It’s Finally Official, Microsoft & Yahoo Make A Deal, Yahoo Gives Up On Search
* MicroHoo Seals the Deal Everyone Expected