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If you register today to attend Search Engine Strategies Chicago, which will be held Dec. 8-12, 2008, you can save up to $200 with the Early Bird Rate.

So, why would you want to attend the only major Search Marketing Conference and Expo in the Midwest?

Let me give you 4 reasons to go to SES Chicago.

1. You’ll want to attend as many of the 74 keynote speeches, strategic development workshops, Orion panels, conference sessions, and SEM training workshops as you can. If you look over the agenda, you’ll see lots of topics that weren’t discussed at Search Engine Strategies Chicago a year ago. In fact, you’ll see new content that wasn’t covered at SES San Jose back in August. Heading into 2009 using old strategies and tactics makes about as much sense as optimizing your website for AltaVista. Things change in the search industry and savvy SEOs and SEMs understand the competitive advantage of staying up-to-date.

2. If you look over the list of sponsors and exhibitors for SES Chicago, you’ll see familiar names like Acronym Media, DoubleClick, iProspect, PrintPlace.com and TMP Directional Marketing as well as new names like AdBuyer.com, ideaLaunch, Rosetta, The Search Agency and SEO Samba. So, whether this is your first Search Engine Strategies Chicago or you’ve attended every one held since 2003, there will be plenty of products and services to check out on the show floor.

3. Next, you’ll want to take advantage of the special events and networking opportunities. On Tuesday, Dec. 9, DoubleClick will be holding a networking lunch from noon to 12:45 p.m. It will be presenting a case study on multi-channel tracking that will address how to de-duplicate search conversions when using numerous online channels. Later that afternoon, Google will hold a sponsored session entitled, “Google Site Search: Fast, Relevant, Customized Search Results for Your Website.” Google’s Nitin Mangtani will be discussing how customers are using Google Site Search to grow their businesses and how you can do the same for yours. And here’s a hot tip for first time attendees of SES Chicago: If you hang out at Kitty O’Sheas, the authentic Irish pub on the ground floor of the Hilton Chicago, you can network with fellow marketers and search engine industry professionals after hours. Plus, I recommend the shepard’s pie and Bailey’s cheese cake.

4. Now, this fourth reason will only make sense if Big 10 football is more important to you than search engine reputation management. As those of us who grew up in the Midwest already know, there’s a big football game tomorrow: Ohio State vs Michigan. Now, I’m a Wolverine. But I’ve made some friendly bets with others in the search industry who are Buckeyes. And as you can see from the photo in this post, if we lose the big game, I have to wear a Buckeye shirt to the next Search Engine Strategies conference — again. And, we’ve lost a lot over the past few years. So, depending on whether you are a graduate of the University of Michigan or The Ohio State University, I encourage you to come to Chicago in December to see who is wearing which sweatshirt this year.

In summary, there are three good reasons to go to SES Chicago no matter what happens tomorrow. And there’s a 4th good reason if Michigan upsets Ohio State, like we did in 1993.

Go Blue!

Blip.tv CEO “Mike Hudack revealed that his company has found a way to dynamically insert ads from DoubleClick into video downloads on iTunes and elsewhere,” the Washington Post reported.

Given the huge use of the tube sites such as YouTube and the increasing popularity of downloading ITune videos this new technology should prove a good revenue source for Google - owner of DoubleClick.

“For the past six months or so, blip.tv has been experimenting with placing pre-roll, post-roll, and overlay ads in some iTunes videos. These ads are served by DoubleClick and have hyperlinks that make it easy to track when somebody clicks on an ad,” the Washington post noted. Videos downloaded to Ipods and other offline players will not be tracked at this stage - though given the synching technology this could be adapted to soon.

Yahoo has announced that it will be offering an opt-out function for customized advertising to searchers by the end of the month.

The announcement comes as Yahoo has responded to a Congressional letter seeking information about data collecting and online advertising practices. You can read Yahoo’s full response here.

Google has also responded to the letter with features expected to be rolled out in the future. One feature is ad capping, which allows advertisers to limit the number of times a user sees a targeted ad. Ad capping is a DoubleClick feature that Google will be integrating to their Content Network. They say this will benefit users, since they won’t be seeing the same ad over and over again. You can read the full context of Google’s response here (pdf).

Microsoft is still working on their response, and it will be largely based on Mike Hintze’s testimony before congress last month.

Search Engine Strategies today named 43 search engine marketers as finalists for the SEM conference’s first annual SES Awards.

The 16 winners will be announced throughout SES San Jose during Orion and keynote panels, which are being held August 18-21 at the San Jose Convention Center.

The SES Award Finalists in the following categories are:

Best Search Engine Ad Platform
Call Genie’s CG Advantage
LookSmart AdCenter
SendTec - SearchFactz

Search Engine with Most Relevant Search Results
Expert System’s Cogito Focus (Shift Communications)
Local.com (Madison Alexander)
Yahoo!

Most Innovative New Search Engine
YellowBot (Young & Associates)
Expert System’s Cogito Focus (Shift Communications)

Technology Platform Search Marketers Can’t Live Without
Enquisite (Maven.com)
Covario, Inc. (JHG Townsend)
Kenshoo Search - SEM Platform (Kenshoo Ltd)

Best SEM Technology Platform for SMBs
LocalLaunch
Enquisite (Maven.com)
Marchex

Most Innovative Use of Search Engine Optimization
NikeStore (Range Online Media)
DoubleClick Performics
Where 2 Get It Search Locator

Most Innovative Paid Search Campaign
SearchAdNetwork
Building Blocks for LEGO’s Paid Search Media (iCrossing)
Four Seasons Hotels and Resort (Acronym Media)

Best Social Media Marketing Campaign
Alberto-Culver Nexxus (iProspect)
SEO-PR
Beaches of South Walton (USDM.net)

Best Business-to-Business Search Marketing Campaign
Microsoft Small Business Center (iProspect)
SEO-PR
Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc.

Best Multi-National Search Marketing Campaign
WebCertain
iCrossing Integrates Global Search Campaign for iCrossing
Acronym Media/SAP

Best Use of Local Search
The Container Store (Range Online Media)
Storage West Self Storage (Young & Associates)
US Small Business Administration-Business Gateway Initiative

Best Integration of Search with Other Media
SEO-PR
The Tudors/Showtime (Outrider)
Jaguar XF Oscars (MEC Interaction)

Most Effective Use of Web Analytics
World Travel Holdings - CruisesOnly.com (iProspect)
iCrossing Measures Results with Mazda Analytics (iCrossing)
Four Seasons Hotels and Resort (Acronym Media)

Best Web Analytics Platform
Omniture
Coremetrics (Lewis PR)

Most Advertiser-Friendly Search Engine
Call Genie Interact Voice
7Search.com
Matchpoint.com

Editor’s Choice
(The Editor’s Choice award winner will be selected
exclusively by the SES Awards editorial staff.)

Leading mobile advertising provider AdMob has announced brand spanking new advertising solutions designed specifically for the iPhone. Advertising options will be made available for both branding and performance and function in both browser and native applications.

Have an app you want to promote? AdMob is giving away a total of $1 million in advertising to iPhone developers wanting to market their applications.

“AdMob has seen enormous growth in both our iPhone traffic and advertiser interest. This new class of device, led by the iPhone, is pivotal to the future of mobile browsing and of mobile media business models,” said Omar Hamoui, CEO and Founder of AdMob. “We are excited to leverage our platform to take advantage of the uniquely mobile connected experiences that the iPhone makes possible.”

AdMob recently forged a partnership with DoubleClick to integrate their ads into their mobile ad network. DoubleClick was recently acquired by Google.

Google revenues topped $5.37 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, an increase of 39 percent compared to the second quarter of 2007. That’s also an increase of 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008.

But those numbers still disappointed investors who basked in the glow of Google’s growth and perhaps lingered a little too long in the sun.

The big news? Weakness in key sectors such as real estate, where paid search has proven resilient in the face of the recession. As SEW readers know, Auto finance average CPC was down in June; as was the total Finance category.

Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. In the second quarter of 2008, TAC totaled $1.47 billion, or 28 percent of advertising revenues.

“Strong international growth as well as sustained traffic increases on Google’s web properties propelled us to another strong quarter, despite a more challenging economic environment,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, in a statement. “As we continue to focus on innovating in our core business of search, ads and apps, we also look forward to enhancing the experience of our users and expanding the reach of our advertisers and partners with new technologies and formats, particularly as our integration of DoubleClick gains momentum and creates new opportunities in display advertising and elsewhere.”

Highlights of the 2nd Quarter:

Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.53 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. This represents a 42% increase over second quarter 2007 revenues of $2.49 billion and a 4% increase over first quarter 2008 revenues of $3.40 billion.

Google Network Revenues - Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.66 billion, or 31% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. This represents a 22% increase over network revenues of $1.35 billion generated in the second quarter of 2007 and a 2% decrease over first quarter 2008 revenues of $1.69 billion.

International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.80 billion, representing 52% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 48% in the second quarter of 2007 and 51% in the first quarter of 2008. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the first quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2008, our revenues in the second quarter of 2008 would have been $88 million lower. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2007 through the second quarter of 2008, our revenues in the second quarter of 2008 would have been $249 million lower.

Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $774 million, representing 14% of revenue in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 15% in the second quarter of 2007 and 15% in the first quarter of 2008.

Paid Clicks - Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 19% over the second quarter of 2007 and decreased approximately 1% over the first quarter of 2008.

The growth of paid clicks year-over-year is good news, showing the strength of the paid search marketplace. As Google has stated previously, the company has made an effort to improve the quality of clicks rather than increasing click volume. AdWords and AdSense were down sequentially, due to quality control and seasonality.

Google acknowledged the weakness of key sectors (Autos, Finance, Real Estate) that have wreaked havoc with display advertising. Real estate sector for paid search and contextual ads is down year-over-year. Auto ad spend is up year-over-year, but not consumer financing.

Ad Sense partners may have felt the squeeze too. Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC), the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, decreased to $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008. This compares to TAC of $1.49 billion in the first quarter of 2008. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 28% in the second quarter, compared to 29% in the first quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC expense is related to amounts ultimately paid to Google’s AdSense partners, which totaled $1.32 billion in the second quarter of 2008. (TAC is also related to amounts ultimately paid to certain Google distribution partners and others who direct traffic to Google’s website, which totaled $154 million in the second quarter of 2008.)

Currently being tested by over 20 companies, DoubleClick has an electronic propsal exchange platform in the works. In a 2007 survey, 70% of DoubleClick’s ad agency clients said that a publisher’s use of an automated proposal tool would have a positively impact on their decision to send that publisher an RFP (Request for Proposal).

The new tool would automate the RFP process and integrate with DoubleClick’s existing DART® Sales Manager (DSM) for publishers and DART® for Advertisers’ (DFA) MediaVisor planning tool.

“DoubleClick’s vision is to help digital advertising scale by developing platforms that bring advertisers and publishers together,” said Group Product Manager Jonathan Bellack. “Our new proposal exchange platform reduces operational friction by eliminating error-prone manual data entry. In addition, our tight integration with Salesforce.com continues to develop DART Sales Manager’s mission to enable an integrated quote to cash solution for publisher sales teams.”

Related Reading:
Google + DoubleClick = 69% of Online Advertising Market
DoubleClick Mobile Integrates with Mobile Ad Networks
Google Nixes AdSense Referrals, AdWords PPA; Rebrands DoubleClick Performics

Ex-Googler Kate Burns has been tapped by social networking site Bebo to head up their European operations, according to the Guardian. Burns previously was Google’s managing director for the UK. She also helped launch DoubleClick and AltaVista in the UK.

Bebo was recently acquired by AOL for $850 million. The site boasts 40 million members worldwide. AOL’s Platform-A recently announced a guaranteed CPM for Bebo developers. Platform-A was the largest ad network in March.

Also in March, Microsoft announced a data portability with 5 social networks, including Bebo. However, AOL joined Google’s OpenSocial initiative in May.

Google owns a 5% stake in AOL, and was recently given permission to unload the stock, though it has yet to do so.

Meanwhile, rumor of a possible Yahoo-AOL merger have reared its (ugly?) head again, but today reports are suggesting any deal would not be completed in July. Yahoo’s shareholder meeting is August 1.

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