ArticleSnatch Blog

You are browsing the archives of search rankings.

comScore today released its first report on the U.K. search market from its enhanced comScore qSearch 2.0 online search measurement tool. The service, which was first launched in the U.K. in September 2007, has been updated to include several local market properties where search activity occurs, such as Rightmove Sites and Bebo.com.

I discussed how this expanded definition of “search” changes the landscape in the U.S. back in March in an article entitled, “Introduction to Search Engine Marketing at SES New York 2008.”

In the U.K., Google Sites continued its reign as the leading search property in April with 74.2 percent of all searches. eBay ranked second with 6 percent, followed by Yahoo! Sites (4.3 percent) and Microsoft Sites (3.4 percent).

Two U.K. properties, Rightmove Sites (0.8 percent share) and Bebo.com (0.7 percent share), ranked amongst the top 10. Popular social networking property, Facebook.com, claimed a 1.8-percent market share in April.

Yes, people conduct searches at social networking sites. It’s not your father’s SEO.

Want a snapshot of the day’s search marketing news? Here we’ve collected today’s top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:
From the SEW Blog:

Microsoft Offers $1.2 Billion For Norwegian Search CompanyThey may not have Google’s market share but Microsoft does not seem to be stopping [...]

One of the big challenges to gaining search rankings and marketing yourself online is deciding “what’s next.” In today’s Little Biz column, “Small Business SEM New Year’s Resolutions,” Carrie Hill looks back at 2007 to provide a road map for your search marketing strategy in 2008.

More: continued here
sew experts small business sem new [...]

For business-to business search marketers, receiving better search rankings than the competition is important. However around two-thirds of B2B search marketers said that the competition they face has little to no impact on the size of their online marketing budgets, according to a new study by Business.com.

The survey found that 85 percent of respondents view [...]

In today’s Big Biz column, “Should You Worry About Site Speed?,” Aaron Shear explains that concerns about page load times are not a thing of the past. Optimizing your site and addressing site speed can make a big difference in your search rankings.

More: continued here
sew experts should you worry about site speedRate this: [...]

Algorithmic flux or selective penalization? Nobody’s sure and nobody that can answer is talking so far, but paid link directories have been plummeting in Google search results. Many are not ranking for their own business name, according to reports, even though webmasters have not received penalty notices.Editor’s Note: This article doesn’t address the robust discussion [...]

Four days of the search industry’s biggest gathering starts in San Jose, where attendees can learn the finer points about marketing effectively and ranking well with the drivers of search-related traffic.

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the WebProNews contingent making the rounds of the convention. Our video staff has their cameras and mikes [...]

In today’s Big Biz column, “Understanding the Search Landscape ,” Aaron Shear tells you how to answer the pesky questions about search rankings from upper management.

More: continued here
sew experts understanding the search landscapeRate this: 2.5

comScore has released its qSearch Internet Yellow Page (IYP) search rankings for the first quarter of 2007. Yellow Book Network was the fastest growing property with an 85 percent increase in searches over the first quarter of 2006.
Yahoo sites led the market, accounting for 22.4 percent of IYP searches. Growth of the overall IYP U.S. [...]

Often when a site loses its search rankings suddenly, a webmaster may not know the cause. It could be that the site has been penalized by Google for questionable linking practices or on-site tactics, or it could be increased competition. To guide webmasters through the process, Rand Fishkin at SEOmoz has created a flowchart describing [...]