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According to new research by Citigate Dewe Rogerson, 51.4% of marketers in the UK and Ireland use search engine optimization (SEO) tactics for public relations (PR) purposes. Brilliant!

And almost two-thirds of respondents suggesting that internet-based PR was important. Brilliant!

However, just over four in 10 marketers in the UK and Ireland said that they did not have the in-house digital skills to develop a sound online PR strategy, while 31.2% indicated that their organizations did not fully understand the business benefits of internet PR.

Well, to remedy that situation, all marketers need to do is attend Search Engine Strategies London, February 17-19, 2009. On the agenda are sessions like:

Universal & Blended Search -- Search result multiplicity is not a new phenomenon, but recent advancements guarantee that the world of search and marketing will be changing forever. Before you attend this week's optimization and best practices sessions, learn from industry gurus how the steps that follow the search are developing. Our ongoing series on universal search will include research data available only at SES.

Online Video Update: The Next Wave -- This session will provide tips on how to navigate the new wave of online video, as more people are watching, sharing, and finding videos online. It will cover the four contributing factors to the massive surge in popularity and predicted continued growth for online video, as well as the converging factors that have led to the next wave of online video search. The panelists will also discuss the issues with video search, and the industry's desire for standards on how to tag, organize, and find videos.

SEO Through Blogs & Feeds -- Not yet running a blog? Not syndicating your content through web feeds? Then you're missing out on an important area that can help your overall SEO efforts. Learn more about the unique advantages blogs and feeds offer to search engine optimization.

News Search SEO -- News search engines offer a great way to receive targeted traffic related to breaking topics or to help with a public relations launch. In this session, we look at how to make use of press releases and news content to tap into the power of news search.

Video & Podcast SEO -- New products make it easier to locate video content from across the web or to find "podcast" programs, on-demand radio-like shows people can listen to on MP3 players or their computers. This session will provide a look at various services and how to get your content visible and audible within them.

Brand & Reputation Management -- Can you use a competitor's trademark in your own search advertising? Or what if a competitor has an ad running on your trademarked brand name? Should you engage professional legal help or are there other options? What if bloggers are posting negative or false claims about your brands and these are spreading with viral speed through other blogs? Are there ways to get these damaging messages out of the search engines? This session will provide an exploration of these and other brand protection issues.

Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online -- Link building is crucial, but linkbait tactics that worked this year may not be as effective next year. This session focuses on the underlying quality as well as ingenuity needed to get other websites to link to you early and often. It will also explain how you should approach journalists, bloggers and other authoritative sources to enhance your company's online reputation, whether or not you get links.

And on Friday, February 20, 2008, there are half-day workshops, including:

Reaching Your Audience Through Blogs, taught by Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide.

Link and Reputation Workshop, taught by Dixon Jones of Receptional.

In other words, marketers can develop the in-house digital skills to develop a sound online PR strategy. And, if their organizations don't fully understand the business benefits of internet PR now, they will by the end of SES London 2009.

At SES London 2008, I interviewed Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, about some of the public relations oriented sessions at that conference.

Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing, at SES London 2008

And if you register for one of the SES conference packages before Dec. 22, 2008, you can save up to £300 with the Early Bird Rate. Brilliant!

I've just returned from the PRSA International Conference in Detroit, Michigan. The Public Relations Society of America is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals.

But there were a number of sessions on the agenda about search engine optimization. On Saturday, Oct. 25, Lee Odden taught a half-day workshop on "Optimizing Content for Optimum Search Results: Search Engine Optimization of News." Lee, as most of us in the search industry know, is the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing.

Bill Wagner, the CMO of Vocus, talked about "Uncovering the Potential of PR to Drive Sales." Lee Odden, Rob Key, the founder and CEO of Converseon, and David Bradfield, senior vice president and partner of FH Digital, discussed "The Changed PR Landscape: What Works, What Doesn't." And Laura Sturaitis, senior vice president of media and product services for Business Wire, and I spoke about "What's the ROI on Your Press Release?"

In other words, SEO and PR people are starting to "reach across the aisle" to build some pretty interesting alliances.

In February, I interviewed Lee Odden at SES London 2008, about news search engine optimization and related topics. And in December, Lee and Sally Falkow, the President of PRESSfeed, will be speaking about "SEO Through Blogs and Feeds" at SES Chicago 2008.

Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing, at SES London 2008

As Frank Watson noted earlier this morning, Lee and Jay Byrne, President of v-Fluence Interactive Public Relations, are holding a free PRWeb webinar entitled, "

And PRSA has asked me to teach a teleseminar on "The Secrets of Search Engine Optimization" on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m. Eastern.

What's all this mean to search engine marketers? Get the folks over in public relations to check out this topic. They may have missed it at the PRSA International Conference. But it is a subject that they'll want to understand as they prepare for 2009.

And getting your PR specialists on the same page with your SEO specialists could give you the best bang for your buck in a global recession. Consider this tip a "recession special" you won't want to pass up.

One last note: I hadn't been back to Detroit in a long, long time. Wow, is the Renaissance Center impressive. And the Detroit Riverwalk. And the GM Next Showroom. Now, I remember Detroit as Motor City and Motown. But it has experienced a renaissance while I wasn't looking. Cool. Very cool.

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One of the people that you will want to hear speak at SES San Jose is Liana Evans of KeyRelevance. Li is the director of Internet marketing at KeyRelevance and a member of the “Successful Tactics for Social Media Optimization (SMO)” panel on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, at 1 p.m.

I’m bummed out because I’ll be speaking at the “News Search SEO” session at the same time, so I won’t be able to hear what she has to say in San Jose.

So, through the magic of YouTube video, I’ve interviewed Li – so I won’t miss her keen insights entirely – although there is no substitute to hearing her first hand.

Li is a search marketing guru (literally), especially on topics like social media optimization (SMO). So, here’s a sneak preview of what she has to say.

Why Your Social Media Campaigns Should Socialize More

Liana is also famous for her Flickr photos from sessions, panels, exhibits, the night life, and everything in between at Search Engine Strategies conferences and she won one of the Flickr photo sharing awards for SES London 2008.

Li specializes in social media marketing, blog optimization, link building and viral marketing. I like to hang out with her at SES conferences because Li has a background in both public relations and information technology.

Li is the creator and main contributor to Search Marketing Gurus and has assembled a well rounded group of professional search marketing professionals to contribute to the blog. Oh, and she’s shared her secret for finding the best cheesesteak in Philly with me – not that this has influenced my favorable opinion of her at all.

Our panel at SES NYC yesterday was about how to get authoritative links and what that can do for your search ranking. The moderator was Sage Lewis, panelists were Lee Odden, Chris Boggs and me.

Chris took the more traditional approach and explained how to leverage directories, associations and sponsorships.

Lee and I spoke about the other PR - public relations. SEO-PR is a term that has been around for about 4 or 5 years now. When optimizing press releases first became an option the PR industry did not adopt the practice. SEO firms immediately saw the value, but they lacked the PR and 'newshound' skills needed to create a great news story.

Those who attended this session really got how using PR skills to create great content and then pitchi that news story to relevant online news sites and bloggers can have a huge influence on your search ranking.

When you understand that Google's PageRank and "links as votes" system is basically a PR model of third party endorsement and trust, this makes perfect sense.

What is an authoritative site?

* One with a large number of pages
* One that has themed content
* One that has links in and out to similarly themed content.
* One that has a high PageRank

News or media sites are authoritative sites. And as any PR person knows, mentions in the media carry a lot of weight as a third party endorsement..

So the trick is to find a news angle in some piece of content you already have, or some activity within your company. Here are a few examples:

A company that supplies business phone systems had a product that assists call centers to track who they call. When the Do Not Call list became an iaaue and the Supreme Court ruling came out they sent out a press release about how their software could keep a call center compliant with this new law. It got a lot of coverage and built them a ton of links.

HerRoom.com a leading online retailer of lingerie, had a series of videos on their site that show how effective various makes of sports bras are at reducing breast movement while exercising. A bit of PR digging to find the news angle in this content turned up the fact that Dr. Joanna Scurr, a professor at the University of Portsmouth in the UK, has been doing scientific research in this field and some large media sites covered the story.

HerRoom contacted Dr Scurr and hosted a live interview with her about her research. She spoke about breast movement during exercise and the probl;em of breast pian. She also shared results from a medical study in the Uk that found that the best way to deal with breast pain is with a good sports bra.

HerRoom tied in their Bounce Test Videos as a service to women. Now they can see which bras offer the best support, reducing movement and breast pain.

A good press release with the links, podcast and video gor picked up in some major media sites. Bloggers wrote about it. - mommy bloggers, exercise bloggers and health bloggers..Women recommended it.

The podast was registered at podcast sites.

The result in terms of SEO? That page on their site has moved from not in the first 100 a month ago to #14 on page two. And it is still climbing. We have a few big media sites and influential blogs we expect to run the story in the next few weeks. Those links should push it onto page one.

The moral of ths story? Next time you hire an intern look for one who has a PR background, a nose for news and can write great content. You can teach her the SEO part.

The cold hard truth is, if kids want to find it, they’ll find a way to find it. They can’t be completely sheltered without locking them in their rooms, which probably does more damage than letting them see what they wanted to see in the first place.

It’s not really the search engine’s responsibility to block it, nor the government’s to regulate it or outlaw it, but maybe it’s not too much to expect that I’m not BS’ed about it.

Vint Cerf’s post at the Google Blog smells of public relations. Nothing against Mr. Cerf; he helped developed the greatest human invention since the printing press. But his post, "Google’s (and parents’) role in keeping kids safe online," just plain stinks.

It’s the same stink that emits from unconstitutional legislation proposed in the name of protecting children – because nobody’ll vote against protecting the kids.

The post is an affirmation of everything Google’s done in this regard, including (laudable) partnerships with CommonSense Media, i-Safe, iKeepSafe, NetFamilyNews, the Family Online Safety Institute, and the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children.

That alone would have made me pat them on the back and move on, deferentially ignoring that it smelled of PR, or maybe even an attempt to bolster a case against some kind of impending regulation or controversy.

But it was these two paragraphs that set my BS detectors on alert:

"We’ve invested in developing family safety tools that empower parents to limit what online content their children can discover. Our SafeSearch filter, which users can adjust to block explicit content from their search results, is an example of this type of technology.

On YouTube, where we host user-generated content, we aim to offer a community for free expression that is suitable for children and protects them from exploitation. Our work to keep YouTube safe for children includes clear policies about what is and is not acceptable on the site; robust mechanisms to enforce these policies, such as easy tools for users to police the content by flagging inappropriate videos; innovative product features that enable safe behavior; and YouTube safety tips."

And this is where I ask, "Who’s he kidding?" A chimp could turn off the SafeSearch filter, and search at will (if he could spell). And on YouTube, it’s not much different. Anything that approaches inappropriate is at most protected by an age confirmation button and a warning that the video may not be suitable for minors.

Are you over this 18? A simple "yes I am" is all that’s needed. An honor system for anonymous young hornballs. And their mechanisms may be "robust," but they’re not always speedy. It’s unclear whether the hardcore porn I found without looking was taken down because I reported it here, or if users or YouTube found it first.  

Really, I’m okay with the SafeSearch filter. I think it’s a good thing. And I think it’s good YouTube at least makes an effort to police inappropriate content. But pretending that Google’s robust mechanisms are air-tight and that kids don’t circumvent their filters on a regular basis is not just silly, it’s insulting. 

YouTubeVint CerfGoogle

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A new survey from the Arketi Group finds that 84 percent of journalists say they would or already have used blogs as a main source or secondary source for articles.

Of those surveyed 100 percent said they depend on the Internet to get their job done. Twenty-five percent of journalists said blogs make their jobs easier and 18 percent said instant messaging makes their job easier.

"In an era exploding with user-generated content, social media, and Web 2.0, it’s important for those in business-to-business communications to understand how journalists are using technology when it comes to reporting news," said Mike Neumeier, principal of Arketi Group.

Ninety-seven percent of journalists said they like using new technologies. Thirty percent said they use some type of instant messenger for professional communication.

Sixty percent of journalists spend more than 20 hours a week on the Internet. Journalists use the Internet in the following ways:

98 percent say reading news
97 percent say emailing
93 percent say finding news sources
89 percent say finding story ideas
72 percent say reading blogs
67 percent say watching webinars or webcasts

"Clearly this survey shows that business journalists are embracing user-generated content like blogs, webinars and podcasts as useful in their day-to-day reporting," said Dr. Kaye Sweetser, APR, assistant professor of public relations at the University of Georgia’s Grady College.

"Savvy companies know this and are looking for ways to legitimately increase their participation in creating and growing online content using Web 2.0 methods."

Ninety percent of journalists look to industry sources for story ideas, 90 percent also get story ideas from news releases and 89 percent use public relations contacts.

79% of journalists report finding story ideas on newswires
74% say from Web sites
72% say from other media outlets
54% report blogs spark story ideas
When it comes to working with unknown sources:
98% of journalists surveyed say they prefer emails
80% say phone contact with an unknown source is acceptable
93% of business journalists say they prefer to receive news releases via email from companies they don’t know, but are in industries they cover

Other sources of credible online information include:

International organizations (89 percent)
Government agencies (85 percent)
Corporate websites (85 percent)
PR professionals (77 percent)
Activist websites (41 percent)
Blogs (41 percent)
Politicians (35 percent)
Chat, message boards (18 percent)

Journalists find the most useful information on a corporate Web site to be contact information (97 percent), search capabilities (95 percent), press room/press kits (92 percent), company backgrounders (89 percent) and publication quality graphics or photos (66 percent).

JournalistsInternetBlogs

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Anyone who’s seen Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” has realized that lots of little creatures can constitute an extremely dangerous force.  And as Halloween approaches, we have to ask: does Google, with its many competitors, have anything to be worried about?

If we’re to continue our analogy to “The Birds,” it’s obvious that Google is no Melanie Daniels – the search giant is more like Mitch Daniels, who strides around regardless of whether or not he’s dripping with blood.  Actually, since Google doesn’t seem to bleed, perhaps it’s Mitch Daniels in a nice suit of armor.

Still, there are a lot of birds/search engines out there.  Richard MacManus notes, “Charles Knight tracks more than 1,000 search contenders, mostly U.S.-based, for AltSearchEngines.”  Also, “[I]n 2005 and 2006, VC firms pumped $350 million into 79 search-related start-ups.”

Sooner or later, it seems that some company would happen upon a good combination of search results and public relations.  There’s no telling when this could occur – Google itself seemed to come out of nowhere, and I don’t believe “The Birds” ever explained why those little beasties attacked Bodega Bay – but the search giant might do well to keep its eyes open.

Tags: Google, Search Engines, The Birds

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At first glance, this looks bad: New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram has subpoenaed Facebook and asked that the social network identify registered sex offenders who have become members.  Depending on what happens, “bad” could become an understatement.

Remember that Facebook may be trying to prove it’s worth $10 to $15 billion; a legal battle in which the company appeared to be defending sex offenders wouldn’t do it a lot of good.

Neither would cooperating with the AG, though, if it turned out that a bunch of unsavory individuals were hanging about.  AllFacebook’s Nick O’Neill recalls, “Everyone remembers all the buzz surrounding MySpace and sexual predators.  It looks like Facebook is now the new site to receive the same negative buzz.”

Facebook’s (potentially) facing a no-win situation.  It has until October 12th to react to the subpoena, so whatever its decision, the social network will have to move quickly.  The best response, in terms of public relations, might be some sort of proactive sweep.  But this solution would require even faster work.

Facebook did not immediately return a call requesting comment, but it’s fair to guess that the company is taking the subpoena seriously.

Tags: Facebook, New Jersey, Sex Offenders, Subpoena

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