1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

ThereWillBeChange,ButIt'sStillKeywordDriven CanTheFutureOfSearchReallyBeBasedOnA 63YearOldIdea? CrawlingThroughtheChaos. Links,ClicksandCliques. TheTenBlueLinksMustDie:FromSEOtoDigital AssetOptimization(DAO). CollectiveIntelligence. ConnectedMarketing:GenerationY,TheAlwaysOn MobileGeneration. Blah,Blah,Blah,VeryNiceMike.ButSoWhat?

Tocopy,republish,topostonserversortoredistribute,requirespriorspecificpermission. Copyright2008AcronymMedia,Inc.Allrightsreserved.

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ThereWillBeChange,ButIt'sStill KeywordDriven.
Ihavebeeninvolvedinmediaandmarketingmyentirecareer:tenyearsinbroadcast(radio andTV)andtherestinmarketing,bothAgencyandClientside.Buttoday,astheGlobal KDMOfficerofAcronymMedia,Iveneverbeenmoreexcitedaboutthefutureof marketing. Why?Theanswerliesinanotherquestion,onethatencapsulatestheevolvingsearch marketinglandscape:wheredoesSearchEngineMarketinggonext? Iwrotemyfirstguidetosearchengineoptimization(orpositioning,asitwasknownthen)in 2000.IfinditremarkablethattheadviceIgavethenonhowtomakeawebsitecrawler friendlyandhowtogetqualitylinksforbetterindexingandrankingremainsprettymuch thesame. Googleisfailinginitsmissiontomaketheworld'sinformationuniversallyaccessibleby crawlingtheweb.Thisisntbecausethere'sanythingwrongwithGoogle;instead,its becausecrawlingwasaperfectlyacceptablewaytofindandindexwebpagesbackinthe ninetieswhenonlymillionsexisted.Today,GoogleitselfisawareofatrillionURLs,butit standsnochanceofcrawlingandindexingtheminatimelyfashion.Whatsmore,those trillionURLsdontevenrepresenttheentirewebit'sjustwhatGooglehasdiscoveredso far. Therehastobeabetterway. Inthesecondeditionofmybook,Istudiedinformationretrieval(IR)techniquesandhow theyappliedtowebsearch.Idoveintonetworktheoryandbecameabsorbedwithhow things(suchaswebpages)areconnectedandhowcommunitiesarecreated. Now,asIburnthemidnightoilscribblingawayatmynextbook(dueSpring2009),Irealize justhowpowerfulsocialnetworkanalysisisforthefutureofmarketing.Thewebisno longerjustacollectionofHTMLpageslinkedtogether.Itisanetworkofnetworksofpeople whoaretotallyconnectedtoeachother.Ibelieveit'stheunderstandingofthese connectionsthatwillshapenotjustsearch,butallofmarketing.Thenewbookwillbuild uponthethoughts,conceptsandideasoutlinedinthispaper. Ihavebeenaccused,attimes,ofhavingatootheoreticalapproachtoSearchEngine Optimization.However,asapractitionerIhavehelpedmanyClientsachievemajorvictories simplybybetterunderstandingthescienceofinformationretrievalontheweb.IRis interdisciplinary,withrootsincomputerscience,mathematics,libraryscience,information science,informationarchitecture,cognitivepsychology,linguistics,statisticsandphysics.All ofthisunderpinsthefreshnessandrelevanceofsearchengineresults.

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Networktheoryinparticularhaslongbeenappliedtolinkagedataontheweb.Itsinfluence isstillsignificanttoday,asthewebevolvesandincreasingnumbersofalwaysconnected targetgroupsemerge.Caseinpoint:AlgorithmssuchasHITSandGooglesPageRankare alreadybeingappliedandtestedinsocialnetworkingsites.Newsignalsareemanatingfrom theenduseratsearchengines,suchasquerychains,clickthroughdataandusertrails. Therefore,tappingintothewisdomofcrowdswillsurelybeavitalcomponentinthefuture ofsearch. Iamnotamathspecialist.Aswithmypreviousbooksandpapers,mygoalistotranslate theunderlyingcomplexitiesandmathematicsof searchintoasimpler,nonmathlanguage,assessing therelevanceofparticularmodelsastheyapplyto onlinemarketing. "A5inchlongrectanglewithalonglistoftextresults Ibelievethenextmajoradvancesinsearchmustbe ofthebillionsuponbillionsofunorganizedbitsofdata intheareaoflearningmachinesandartificial intheworld." intelligence.Searchenginesstartedwiththebare SusanDumais.PrincipalResearcher,Adaptive basicsofcomputertechnology,crawling,indexing Systems&InteractionGroup,MicrosoftResearch. andrankingHTMLpagesbasedonanendusers query.Significantimprovementswerethenrealized withGooglesdistributedcomputingacrossagrid andimplementationofnetworktheoryinitsPageRankalgorithm.Nowitstimeforsmarter programsandlearningmachinesandevennewprotocols. However,thekeywordisstillthecoreofmarketing,notjustsearch.Myfriendand colleagueAntonKonikoff,theFounderandCEOofAcronymMedia,hasdevelopeda frameworkknownquitesimplyasKeywordDrivenMarketing.Itembracestheideaofa keywordasaproxyforacustomer.Thisnotionisofprimarysignificance,asunderstanding anddecodinguserintentremainsattheheartofonlinemarketing,regardlessofthe changestakingplace. Trynottothinkaboutthisdocumentasawhitepaper;instead,useitasajumpingoffpoint fordiscussion.Thisdocumentisbasedonavision.Itanswersquestions,butalsoposesnew ones.Thiskindofdialogueishealthyandvaluableaswetrytothinkofcreativewaysto improveourClients'visibilityatsearchenginesandtheiroverallmarketingobjectives. Searchmarketinghasbeenbasedaroundatwentyyearoldprotocolthatwasnever intendedtobeacommercialmedium.Forsure,thewebtechnologygiantsarenowlooking atnewersignalsfromendusers.Butnow,maybe,theyshouldevenbeconsideringnew Internetplatformsandprotocols.

beneathitdoesn'tdomuchtohelppeoplemakesense

Let'sexplore.

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CanTheFutureOfSearchReallyBeBasedOn A63YearOldIdea?
Mendel'sconceptofthelawsofgeneticswaslosttotheworldfora generationbecausehispublicationdidnotreachthefewwhowere capableofgraspingandextendingit;andthissortofcatastropheis undoubtedlybeingrepeatedallaboutus,astrulysignificantattainments becomelostinthemassoftheinconsequential. TheabovepassagecomesdirectlyfromAsWeMayThink,theseminal essaybyAmericanengineerandinventorVannevarBush.Oneof America'smostsuccessfulscientistsleadinguptotheSecondWorldWar, Bushisalsoknownasthemanbehindtheatomicbomb. BytheendofWorldWarII,Bushquestionedwhatscientistscoulddo collectivelyasafollowuptotheirjointwork[making]strange destructivegadgets.Inhisessay,hearguedthatashumansturnedfrom war,scientificeffortsshouldshiftfromincreasingphysicalabilitiesto makingallcollectedhumanknowledgemoreaccessible. Hisideasoundsfamiliar,doesntit? Google'smissionistoorganizetheworld'sinformationandmakeituniversallyaccessible anduseful. Bushmademanypredictionsaboutfuturetechnology,includingthefaxmachine,personal computers,theInternet,World WideWebandspeechrecognition allverystartlingashewaslight yearsaheadofhistime.Butitwasa systemhecalled"memex"that probablymakeshimtheearliest hypertextthinker. Considerafuturedevicefor individualuse,whichisasortof mechanizedprivatefileandlibrary. Itneedsaname,andtocoinoneat random,"memex"willdo.Amemexisadeviceinwhichanindividualstoresallhisbooks, records,andcommunications,andwhichismechanizedsothatitmaybeconsultedwith exceedingspeedandflexibility.Itisanenlargedintimatesupplementtohismemory.

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Asyoureadtheentirepaper,yourealizejusthowthoughtprovokingandinspirationalitis. Bushdidn'tactuallybelievethatmachineswouldeverbeabletoemulatehumanmemory, buthewasconvincedthatmemexcouldaugmentthebrainbysuggestingandrecording usefulassociations. Thehumanmind...operatesbyassociation.Withoneiteminitsgrasp,itsnapsinstantlyto thenextthatissuggestedbytheassociationofthoughts,inaccordancewithsomeintricate weboftrailscarriedbythecellsofthebrain.Ithasothercharacteristics,ofcourse;trails thatarenotfrequentlyfollowedarepronetofade,itemsarenotfullypermanent,memoryis transitory. AlthoughBushwasatotally outoftheboxthinkerforhis time,hedidn'tgetquiteasfar asthepotentialofanewdigital medium.Buthisinnovative thinkingandvisionsparkeda newbreedofhypertext thinkers.

"Searchasweknowittoday,isthatloudtwo strokeengine.Butsoonitwillbethefoundation formuchmoreefficientandproductiveservicesas itbecomesreinventedinamultitudeofways."

AndreiBroder,Yahoo!ResearchFellowandVice PresidentforComputationalAdvertising.

OneofthesethinkersisTed Nelson,anAmerican sociologist,philosopherand pioneerofinformation technology.Hecoinedtheterm"hypertext"in1963andpublisheditin1965.Hisworkhas mainlybeenbasedaroundmakingcomputerseasilyaccessibletoordinarypeople.Ashe says:

"Auserinterfaceshouldbesosimplethatabeginnerinanemergencycanunderstandit withintenseconds." NelsonfoundedProjectXanaduin1960withthegoalofcreatingacomputernetwork featuringasimpleuserinterface.Heclaimssomeaspectsofhisvisionarealreadybeing fulfilledbytheinventionoftheWorldWideWeb,butasawhole,hedislikesthewebwith allitsXMLandembeddedmarkup."HTMLispreciselywhatweweretryingtoprevent!"he oncefamouslysaid. Hypertext,andtheWorldWideWebasweknowit,hasitsrootsbackin1980.Butof course,somethingelsehadtohappenbeforeanyonecouldevenconceivetheideaofa WorldWideWeb:somebodyhadtoinventtheInternet. Yes,eventhoughthewordswebandInternetareusedinterchangeably,they'retwo entirelydifferentthings.You'reprobablythinking,welleveryoneknowsthat,"butyou'dbe surprised.

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It'snotnecessarytodiscusshoworwhytheInternetcameabout.Butitisimportantto understandthattheWorldWideWebismoreorlessanapplicationthatisdeliveredviathe Internet. Tobeclear,theInternetisaglobalsystemofinterconnectedcomputernetworksthat interchangedatabypacketswitchingusingthestandardizedInternetProtocolSuite (TCP/IP).Itisa"networkofnetworks." Itcarriesvariousinformationresourcesandservicessuchasemail,filesharingandonline gaming,amongotherthingsaswellastheinterlinkedhypertextdocumentsandother resourcesknownastheWorldWideWeb. Andwhosthe"fatheroftheInternet"?ThatdbeAmericancomputerscientistVintCerf. YoucanfindtonsofstuffabouthimontheWorldWideWeb.Andso,forthepurposeof movingforwardinthispaper,theInternethasnowbeeninvented. Let'snowskipforwardto1980andintroduce,forachange,an Englishcomputerscientist,TimBernersLee.NowSirTimBerners Lee(corankedfirstinthelistof100GreatestLivingGeniusesby TheDailyTelegraph)expandedupontheideasofearlierhypertext thinkersandproposedaprojectbasedonthesharingand updatingofinformationamongresearchers. BernersLeewasalsoafellowwithCERN(EuropeanOrganization forNuclearResearch).By1989hebecameawarethatCERNwas thelargestInternetnodeinEuropeandsawanopportunitytojoin hypertextwiththeInternet. "Ijusthadtotakethehypertextideaandconnectittothe TransmissionControlProtocolanddomainnamesystemideasand tada!theWorldWideWeb." Yes,that'showsimplyhedescribesaninventionthathasprofoundlyimpactedtheentire planet. ThefirstWebsitewasbuiltatCERNon6August1991.Itprovidedanexplanationabout whattheWorldWideWebwas,howonecouldownabrowserandhowtosetupaWeb server.Itwasalsotheworld'sfirstWebdirectory,asBernersLeemaintainedalistofother Websitesapartfromhisown.Andthat,perhaps,alsomakeshimthefounderofweb search. Butyouknowwhat?Thewebandwhatpeopleexpectfromithascomeaverylongway sincethen.

So,isthefutureofsearchreallystillbasedona63yearoldidea?

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CrawlingThroughtheChaos.
ThereisaprevailingassumptionaboutGoogle,thebeliefthatithasaccesstoallthe contentontheentireweb.Butthisnotionisnotcorrect. Tomanyendusers,Googleistheweb.Yet,mightyasitis,Googlecanonlyreturnresults fromthefractionofthewebithasmanagedtocrawl. Crawler,spider,botthey'reallinterchangeable termsforwhatsearchenginesusetofind,download andindexwebpages.That'swhattheywereinvented for:todownloadHTMLpages. However,they'realmostblindtonontextcontent. Andthevastamountofusergeneratedcontent,such asvideo,images,audioandotherfiletypes,arenot soeasilyhandledorindexed.Nevertheless,wekeep plugginginallkindsofalientothebrowserapps (Flash,forinstance),tryingtoturnbrowsersinto somethingtheywerenevermeanttobe.Asaresult, wevemadeitharderforsearchenginecrawlersto find,classifyandindexourstuff. Thesearchenginecrawleristhe"textbookSEO" favorite,butitfacesmanyimitations.Therearestrongfreshnessrequirementsandmultiple timescales.Tryingtodiscovertherelevanceofexistingpagesintheindexwhiledealingwith therapidarrivalrateofnewwebcontentisn'taneasytask,either. Theoverhead(averagenumberoffetchesrequiredtodiscoveronenewpage)needstobe kepttoaminimum.Bandwidthisalsoanissue:Itwouldn'tbepracticaltoattemptto downloadtheentirewebeveryday(andprobablynotevenpossible).Somesitesareso largethattheysimplycan'tbecrawledfrombeginningtoend,eveninthespaceofaweek. Infact,nocrawleriseverlikelytocrawltheentirereachableweb.Analmostinfinite numberofURLs,spidertraps,spamandallkindsofotherissuespreventit. Moreover,therewillalwaysbeatradeoffbetweenrecrawlingexistingpagesandcrawling anewpage.Afterall,inaconnectedworldwherebreakingnewsisofglobalconcern, searchenginesmustbeabletoprovidesuchinformationinnearrealtimetoavoidenduser dissonance. Newpagesareprimarilydiscoveredwhencreatedandlinkedtofromexistingindexed pages.Ofcourse,thisisalsowheretheFilthyLinkingRichdilemmaIwroteaboutsome yearsagocomesintoplay:websiteswithalargenumberoflinkscontinuallyattractmore

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linksthanthosewithonlyafew.Asaresult,moreoftheircontentisindexedandlinkedto, perhapsgivingthemanedgewhenitcomestoranking. There'salsothecaseofsearchenginesknowingaboutcertainwebpages,butnothaving yetcrawledthem.Afterall,billionsoflinksareextractedfrombillionsofpagesbyGoogle, meaningtheremustbesomeorderandpriorityastowhichgetcrawledfirst.Recently, GoogleannouncedthattheirlinkprocessingsystemshadhitthetrillionURLmark(but knowingURLsexistdoesn'tnecessarilymeantheywillgetcrawled).Plus,Googleestimates thatthenumberoflinksisgrowingbyseveralbillioneachday. Inaddition,theinvisibleWebstillexists.Millionsof pagesarelockedindatabasesorbehindpassword protectedareasthatcrawlersareblockedfrom.So whilesearchenginecrawlersarecertainlymuch smarternowthaninthewebsearlydays,theymay neverbeabletoprovideacompleteandtimely discoveryofwebcontent. Sowhatrealusewillthecrawlerserveinthe future?Maybeitllbeabackfillforothermethods ofinformationretrievalontheInternet?

"Ascontentbecomesmorediverse,morecomplex, biggerandmorefragmented...Gettingitthrough HTTPandHTMLmaynotbetherightmodel anymore."

AndrewTomkins.VicePresident,SearchResearch,Yahoo!

TheintroductionofGoogle'sUniversalSearchsupportsthisassumptionandprovesthat methodsbeyondthecrawlarerequiredtoretrieverelevantinformationfromtheemerging structureoftheweb. Butcanthismethodofdatacapturewhichhasitsrootsbasedonatechnologythatcanbe tracedbackto1945beanywherenearasefficientasitwasintheearlydaysoftheweb? Usergeneratedcontentanalysis.Crosscontentanalysis.Communityanalysis.Aggregate analysis.Allofthesemustbetakenintoaccounttoprovidethemostrelevantresultsand richestenduserexperience. ThewebgrewtoobigfortheoriginalhumanpoweredYahoo!indextoscalewith.In response,theyadoptedthecrawling/rankingalgorithmseenatmostsearchenginesnow. Atthetime,itseemedliketheobviouswaytogo.Buttoday,asusergeneratedcontent rangingfromsocialnetworkingtoblogs,photosharingtovideositesgrowsexponentially, thecrawlerisslowlybeingdefeated. Isittimetoexplorenewwaysforsearchenginestobringtogethertheworld'sinformation? Absolutely. Howaboutnewprotocolsfordifferenttypesofsearchenginefeeds?Andwhatabout developingspecialrelationshipswithpublishersofusergeneratedcontent?

Changeiscoming.
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Links,ClicksandCliques.
There'sananecdoteItellatconferenceswhenI'mspeakingon linkageandconnectivitydata.It'sthestoryofhowforemost computerscientistJonKleinbergdiscoveredtheflawinsearch enginestryingtorankwebpagesbasedonthetextonthepage: Backin1997,whenAltaVistawasthedominantsearchengine, Kleinbergdidasearchforsearchengine.Hewastotally surprisedtolearnthatAltaVistadidn'tappearinitsownresults. HethentriedaninformationalqueryforJapaneseautomotive manufacturer.Hewasevenmoreastonishedtoobservethat manufacturerssuchasNissan,ToyotaandHondadidn'tappearat thetopoftheresults. KleinbergthenwentbacktotheAltaVistahomepageandrealized thewordssearchenginedidn'tappearanywhereonthepage.Similarly,tripstothe Nissan,ToyotaandHondahomepagesturnedupnosignofthephraseJapanese automotivemanufacturer. KleinbergsresearchandworkarethoroughlydiscussedinthefascinatingbookSixDegrees: TheScienceofaConnectedAge,writtenbyworldrenownedphysicistDuncanWatts.Watts andKleinbergcollaboratedondeterminingthenewscienceofaconnectedage,eventually leadingKleinbergtodevelopingthealgorithmknownasHITS,whichisbasedon connectivitydataandranksdocumentsonwhatareknownashubandauthorityscores(this occurredaroundthesametimeLarryPageandSergeyBrinweredevelopingGoogle's PageRankalgorithm). Inanutshell,Kleinberghelpedimprovethequalityofwebsearchbyapplyingsocialnetwork analysistothe rankingmechanism. Insteadofjudging pagequalitybythe textonthepage, focuswasshiftedto theoverallquality ofthepageslinking toit. Thisiswhythere hasbeensomuch emphasisonlink Page|10

buildingintheSEOcommunity.Butconsiderthis:Ifalinkisakindofvotefromoneweb pageauthortoanother(asGooglereferstoit),howdopeoplewithoutwebpagesvote(i.e. thehavesvs.thehavenots)? Afterall,it'snotreallydemocratictoinstantlyalienateafewhundredmillionWebusers (backthen)justbecausetheydidn'thavelinkstovotewith. It'sinterestingbecauseaboutfouryearsagoIspoketoawellknowninformationretrieval scientistabouthumanevaluationbeingfoldedintothealgorithm.WetalkedaboutYahoo's earlyrecognitionthatitcouldneverscaleitshumanpoweredindextomatchthe exponentialgrowthoftheweb. Imentionedthattherehadtobeaddedvalueknowingthataneditorhadactuallyviewed yourwebpagesandindexedthem.HerespondedthatKleinbergshubsandauthorities algorithmdidjustthat,withthehubsitesfunctioningaseditors,pickingoutauthoritysites andessentiallyimprovingtheindexinamutuallyreinforcingway. Inasimilarmanner,thewisdomofcrowdsandthevoiceoftheenduserarenowsending hugesignalstosearchengines.Asbookmarking,taggingandratinggainpopularityand scalesup,sowillitsinfluenceonwhatappearsinthesearchengineresultspages(SERPs). Thestrongestsignalsarenow comingfromtheubiquitous searchenginetoolbar.Mining thesearchtrailsofsurfing crowdsandlookingatend useractivitydataprovides searchengineswithunique insightsthathelpidentifythe mostrelevantwebsites.

"Intermsofsignals,thetoolbaristhebigone.Being abletofollowenduserstrailstofigureouthowthey connectwiththecontentthey'relookingfor."

AndrewTomkins,VicePresidentofSearchResearch, Yahoo!

Infact,whereassearchhas traditionallybeenbasedaroundsignalsfromcontentcreators(text,linksetc.),itisnowvery muchbasedaroundmodelinguserbehavior.Searcherssubmitqueries,reformulatethem (querychains),clickonresultsandthennavigateawayfromthesearchengine. Thesearchresulttheyclickon,though,isnotalwaysthedestinationpage.Usersgenerally browsefarfromthesearchresults(anywhereuptofiveclicks)andvisitarangeofdomains duringtheirinformationsearch. Searchengineshavealwayshadaccesstoqueryandclickthroughlogsforimplicitenduser feedbackforrerankingdocuments.Butit'spostsearchbrowsingbehaviorwhichprovides valuableinformationondestinationsthataretrulyrelevanttotheusersinformationgoals. Endusersprovidehugeamountsofinformationabouttheresultstheypreferforagiven searchbyclickingononeresultandchoosingnottoclickonothers.Searchenginescanuse

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artificialneuralnetworkstochangetheorderingofthesearchresultstobetterreflectwhat usershaveactuallyclickedoninthepast. Whyaneuralnetworkasopposedtojustrememberingaqueryandthencountinghow manytimesaresultwasclicked?Thebeautyofaneuralnetworkisthatitcanmake reasonableguessesaboutresultsforqueriesithasneverseenbefore(basedontheir similaritytootherqueries).Thisissignificantasupto25%ofallqueriestosearchengines eachdayhaveneverbeenseenbefore. Thecollectiveintelligencewhichhaspreviouslybeenappliedtolinkagedataforranking documentscanalsobeappliedtoclicksandsearchtrails.Movingawayfromthelimitation ofsystemsthatfocuspurelyonqueriesanddocumentsismostcertainlyamajorshiftin informationretrievalonline.Therelationshipsbetweenqueriesanddocumentsandthe relationshipsbetweendocumentshavebeeneasyforsearchenginestocapture,modeland compute.Buttoolbardataallowssearchenginestocapturerelationshipsbetweenqueries, documentsandauser'struesearchcontext.Ofcourse,searchengineshavealwaysbeen abletodeterminethequalityofapagebyenduserbehaviorbeforethetoolbaridea. Detectingthousandsofclicksonthebrowserbackbuttonsendsaclearenoughsignalthat thepageisoflowquality. Sosearchenginesnowhaveaverypowerfulcombinationofsignals.Iponderedrecently whattheresultsofapurelyhumanpoweredsearchenginewouldbelikethesedays.And thenitoccurredtomethat,basedonlearningsfromorganiclistings,that'sexactlywhat Google'sAdWordsadvertisingprogramiscenteredaround:implicitfeedbackfromtheend user.

TheTenBlueLinksMustDie:FromSEOto DigitalAssetOptimization(DAO).
I'mnotabigfanofthetermWeb2.0.Forme,it's allaboutalwaysonbroadband.Idon'tthinkthe webchangedthatmuchwhenwestartedadopting muchfaster,alwaysonconnections,butoursurfing habitscertainlydid. Longgonearethedaysofwaitingforagraphicto download,onlytothenlookatastaticwebpage debatingwhethertoreadthetextornot.Endusers expectamuchricherexperiencethesedays.Thisis whyYouTubeisnowaspopular(ifnotmore)than Googleitself.

"whenyouaretryingtorememberthestepstothe Charleston,atextualwebpageisntgoingtobenearly ashelpfulasavideo.Themediaoftheresults matters."

MarissaMayer,VP,SearchProducts&UserExperience,Google.

It'sanaturalprogression,then,forsearchenginestotapintoeverysourceofinformation possiblebeforeweavingitalltogetherontheresultspage.Ofcourse,thisalsochangesthe Page|12

wayweapproachsearchmarketing.ItcannolongerbeaboutgettingClientsintothetop tenbluelinksonaresultspage.Insteaditsallaboutsearchenginepositioning:Where, abovethefold,canyoumakeyourClientsmorevisible?Whatfiletypesormethodsdoyou havetoutilizetoachievethis? I'vealwaysbelievedthatrankingreportsprovidelittleornovalue.Thisisespeciallytruein todayseraofUniversalSearch,whererankingreportsprovidesuboptimaldata.Your searchmarketingfirmmighttellyouthatyou'reinthetoptenforXnumberofkeywordsat Google,butdoestranslateintoactualvisibility? Forexample,atthetimeofwriting,asearchforbedandbreakfastnewyorkbringsback thisresultatGoogle:

Ignorethepaidsearchresultsforamoment.Whichoftheaboveresultsisnumberonefor thesearch?Obviously,it'sthefirstofGoogle'slocallistings.Therestoftheorganicresults havebeenpusheddownbelowthefold.Andjustlookattherichdatathatcomeswith thoselocalresults:maps,telephonenumbers,linkstowebsitesandcustomerreviews. Arankingreportforthisquerymighttellyouyou'reinthetoptenorganiclistings,butin actuality,youwouldhavehadtobeennumberoneortwojusttobeseenabovethefold.

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Takealookatthisresultforthequeryironmanfromearly2008.

Asyoucansee,theonlywayforanyonesellingIronManmerchandisetosurviveistoswitch toapaidsearchcampaignunlessyouhavethepowertouseaverticalcreepapproachand pushtheofficialIronMansitebelowthefold. Sowhatdoesthismean?Essentially,theoldstrategyofpushingbluelinksupthechartsfor visibilitymaynotbeassuccessfulaspushingcompetitorsdownbelowthefold. UniversalSearchoffersmanynewmethodsofincreasingvisibilityatsearchengines. Understandingthesemethods,andcombiningitwithknowledgeofenduserbehaviorat thesearchengineinterface,canbeextremelypowerful. Afterall,studieshaveshownthatendusersrarelyclickthroughtothesecondpageof results(mostdon'tevenbotherscrolling).Instead,usersactinaccordancetowhatare knownasquerychains.Followinganinitialquery,mostusersscanthepageabovethefold. Iftheydon'tseearesultthatlookspromising,theysimplyreformulatethequery.Thiscan happennumeroustimes.Onceasearchenginespotsthesequerychains,itcanthen preemptthesearchersactualdestinationpage. Forexample,someonesearchingforrarecollectionsmaythenfollowitwithspecial editionsandthenfinallylimitededitionbooks.Ifthisisobservedmany,manytimes, thenitwouldbesafetoassumethattheresultsforthelastquerywouldalsobegoodfor thefirst. Page|14

Thedynamicbetweenenduseractivityandthewaythatsearchenginespresentthesenew typesofdata,then,isthekeytodevelopingnewsearchmarketingstrategies.Plus,when executedcorrectly,DAOoffersauniqueopportunitytoachievemaximumvisibilityina minimumamountoftime. Forexample,earlierthisyearI madeashortvideopromoting theSearchEngineStrategies "Marketersneedtoembraceuniversal ConferenceinLondon(Im searchbyintegratingvideo,images,books,etc. honoredtobetheChairofthe AsfarasGoogletrendsgofor2009,they show).Icompressedit, willaffectSEOsaswell." uploadedittoGoogleVideo, Matt Cutts, Google Engineer and Head of YouTube,MetacafeandAOL Web Spam Team. Video.Afterthat,Itaggedand bookmarkeditatvarioussocial mediasites,suchasDelicious andStumbleUpon. Ithensentoutanemailtellingeveryoneonmycontactslistthatitwasavailableat YouTube.Afterithadbeenplayedover100timesandtaggedmorethantentimesaround varioussocialmediasites,itturnedupasthenumberonesearchresultforsesLondon (yes,it'swhatyouwouldcallalongtailsearch)Andithappenedinhoursnotdaysor weeks!. Evenmorenoteworthy,asearch todayformikegrehansesstill bringstwovideostothetopofthe pileevenafterallthesemonths! Nowthat'sthepowerofthesocial webandUniversalSearch.

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CollectiveIntelligence.
Perhapsthebiggestchangeinsearchistheshifttowardinformationseekingonsocial networkingsites.Theknowledgepossessedbyyourfriendsandpeopleyouknowactsasa supplementtotheweb'shugeamountofother,lessverifiableinformation.Thisknowledge canprovideextremelyqualifiedanswerstospecificqueriesthroughaprocessdefinedas informationseekingviaachainoftrust. Onlinecommunitiesarebecominganincreasingly importantareaofresearchbecauseoftherichsignals theysendtosearchengines.Webpagesarenolonger "Theresalotofexpertise, purelystatic.Realtimechattakesplaceconstantlyon knowledge,andcontextin theWeb.Taggingandfolksonomydataarrangement, userssocialgraphs,so alongwithratingandreputationsystems,areushering puttingtoolsinplacetomake searchintoawholenewera. friendaugmented"search easycouldmakesearchmore Muchresearchisalsotakingplaceintocombiningdata efficientandmorerelevant." fromsocialnetworksanddocumentreference
MarissaMayer,VP,Search Products&UserExperience, Google.

networkslikePageRanktocreateaduallayeroftrust enhanced(orsociallyenhanced)searchresultranking. Itsacaseofanalgorithmmindmeldwiththewisdom ofcrowds,ifyouwill.

JonKleinberghimselfhasshiftedhisresearchfocusfromasearchengine'scentralizedindex tothesocialstructureoflargeonlinecommunities. Similarly,GooglehaslaunchedanewAPItographsocial networksacrosstheweb.Thisintensiveresearchbymajor searchenginesintotheweb'ssocialfabricclearlyindicatesthat we'removingintoanewformofinformationretrieval,oneof networksoftrust. Butofcourse,whilethetermsocialmediamaybenew,the ideaofusergeneratedcontentisnot.Afterall,bulletinboards, discussiongroupsandforumshavebeenaroundsincethewebs earlydays.Butwhatisnewistheformat.Inthepast,user generatedcontentwasstrictlytextbased,buttodayit encompassesalltypesofelectroniccontent:movies,images, tags,rankings,ratings...thelistgoesonandon. Whatevertheterm,thepowerofusergeneratedcontentcannot bedenied.Socialmediahasbecomeindispensabletomillionsof users.Communityquestionansweringnetworksinparticular havebecomeapopulardestinationforpeoplelookingforhelp.

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Infact,insomecountriesthistypeofsearchhasbecomemorepopularthansearchengine resultsthemselves.Forexample,anaverageof16millionpeoplevisitSouthKoreansearch portalNavereachday,keyingin110millionqueries.Naversusersalsopostanaverageof 44,000questionsadayonKnowledgeiN,aninteractivequestionandanswerdatabase. Thesereceiveabout110,000answers,whichrangefromonesentencerepliestoacademic essayscompletewithfootnotes.Suchwidespreadinvolvementshowsthattheinfluenceof socialmediaandconnectedmarketingisstrongerthanever. Stillnotconvinced?ThenconsidertheDeweyDecimalsystem,whichhaslongbeenthe backboneoflibrarycataloguingsystemsacrosstheUnitedStates.Now,theDeweyDecimal systemmightseemalittleoutofplacewhendiscussingsocialmedia,butbearwithme. Asanexercise,tryvisitingtheDanburyLibrarysonlinecatalogue.AsGeneSmithnotesin hisnewbookTagging,whatyoullfindissomethingmostunlikeatypicallibrary. Forexample,asearchforTheCatcherInTheRyebringsupalistofrelatedbooksandtags, notjustacallnumber.Thesetagscontainkeywordssuchas20thcenturyadolescenceand angst.Clickonthetagmarkedangstandyou'llfindalistofangstriddledtitles,suchas TheBellJarandTheVirginSuicides.Inessence,eachtaglinkstoanewsetofbooksand ideas. Whyisthissignificant?Well,its becausethesetagsaren'ttheworkof diligentlibrariansintheDanbury Library.Instead,theyretheresultof LibraryThing,awebsitewheremore than200,000userstrackandtagtheir personallibraries. Infact,LibraryThing'smembershave addednearly20milliontagsto15 millionbooks,makingitthesecond largestlibraryinNorthAmerica.Its undeniable:Peoplepoweredmeta dataforthesocialwebisbecoming hugelypopular. Thatswhyitsimplycannotbeignored bysearchengines.Buthowdothey dealwiththisdataandfolditin?

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ConnectedMarketing:GenerationY,The AlwaysOnMobileGeneration.
Perhapsthemostdramaticchange,though,willcomewithalways connected,3Gmobilephones.Forexample,theiPhoneisalreadythe leaderinthenumberofmobile/localsearchesatGoogle.Sucha devicewhichcansendandreceiveemailonthemove,notto mentionsurftheweb,receiveRSSfeeds,instantmessage,Twitter anddialogueatsocialnetworkingsitesindicatesthatthistrulyisthe ageofconnectedmarketing. Infact,connectedmarketingmaybeamuchmorerealisticand descriptivetermthansocialmedia.Inordertohavesocialmedia,one needstohavesocialnetworks.Inanetworkoftrustyoucantapinto thewisdomofcrowds.Andsocialsearchprovidesmuchmore validatedandverifiedanswersthanthatofasearchenginealgorithm. Anewphenomenonofdigitallyconnectedcommunitiesareemerging asaforcetocounterbalancethepowerofthebigbrandsandadvertising. Modernconsumersareformingcommunitiesandpeergroupstopooltheirpower, resultinginadramaticrevolutionofhowbusinessesinteractwiththeircustomers.Weneed tothinkaboutinteractiveengagementmarketingandcommunitybasedcommunications. Newmarketingstrategieswillbebuiltaroundthis. Traditionalmarketingmethodsarebecomingincreasinglyineffectiveandevencounter productive.Thepowerofthebrandsandtheabusesbymarketinghavecreatedavacuum foracounterbalance,anddigitallyconnected communitiesareemergingasthecounterforceto redressthebalance. Everythingisinterconnected:Thephysicalworld,social systems,yourinnermostthoughts,theunrelentinglogicof Thewayabusinesscanandmustinteractwiththe thecomputereverythingformsoneimmense, powerfulnewcommunitiesisthroughengagement interconnectedsystemofreality.Nothingexistsin marketing,byenticingthecommunitiestointeract isolation;everythingispartofthesystemandpartofa withthebrands. largercontext.

AndyHunt,ProgrammerandAuthor.

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Blah,Blah,Blah,VeryNiceMike. ButSoWhat?
It'sathoughtpaper,so

Thinkaboutsearchyesterday. LongbeforeGoogle,evenbeforetheWorldWideWeb,thereweresearchengines.In1994, BrianPinkertonlaunchedWebCrawler,arguablytheWeb'sfirstfulltextretrievalsearch engine.IspokewithPinkertonafewtimesmanyyearsagowhenresearchingthesecond editionofmybook.HeexplainedtomehowhehadappliedCornellUniversitycomputer scienceprofessorGerardSalton'svectorspacemodelfortheextractionandanalysisoftext forrankingdocuments.Atthattime,SEOwasallaboutmanipulatingrankingsthroughon pagefactors. Alittlecottageindustryofsearchengineoptimizersstartedtogrow.Moreandmorepeople becameawareofthetacticsandtechniquestheycouldemploytomessaroundwithWeb pagesandoutsmartcompetitors. ThenGooglearrivedandintroducedahyperlinkbasedalgorithmcalledPageRank.This wasntacompletelynovelidea:beforeGoogle,foremostcomputerscientistJonKleinberg hadwrittenaboutincorporatingnetworktheoryandcitationanalysisintoaranking algorithm. Buttenyearsago,theemphasisinSEOswitchedfrombasicpagetweakingtothequestfor inboundlinks.Theindustryhadtochangewithit.Unfortunately,toparaphraseThomas Edison,PageRankcamedressedinoverallsandlookedlikework.

Thinkabout
SearchToday. Discoveringknowledgefromhypertextdatasuchastextandlinkanalysisisstillalargepart ofarapidlydevelopingscienceunderthebannerofinformationretrieval.Thesesignals havebeenverystronginhelpingsearchenginesdeterminerelevancyandrankaccordingto authority.YeteventhoughindustryleadersacknowledgethatSEOismuchmoreofa marketingprocessthanatechnicaleffort,muchattentionisstillgiventocrawleractivity andindexing. Overtime,crawlershavegottensmarterandCMSdevelopershavebecomemoreawareof sites'needtobemorecrawlerfriendly.Butevenafter10yearsofresearchand

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development,inherentproblemsfromprocessesrelatedtosearchengineinformation retrievalstillremain. ButGoogle'srolloutofUniversalSearchlastyearcompletelychangedtheplayingfield.All oftheothermajorsearchengineshavefollowedGoogle'sleadandarediscoveringnew methodsofuncoveringpatternsindifferenttypesofwebcontent,structureandenduser data. Signalsfromenduserswhopreviouslycouldn'tvoteforcontentvialinksfromwebpages arenowabletovoteforcontentwiththeirclicks,bookmarks,tagsandratings.Theseare verystrongsignalstosearchengines,andbestofall,theydon'trelyontheelitismofone websiteownerlinkingtoanotherortheoftenmediocrecrawlofadumbbot.

Sowhatabout
SearchTomorrow. InNovember2003theindustrywasrockedwithGoogle'sFloridaupdate.Google'srolloutof UniversalSearchlastyearcaughteveryonebysurprise.Andnow,withGoogle'slaunchof Wiki,youcansayfarewelltotheoldfashionedrankingreport. TheguysatGoogledon'tgiveanyadvancewarningaboutfairlydramaticchangesthat affecttheentireSEOindustry,soweneedtobebetterpreparedandunderstandwhere searchisgoing. IsyourSEOvendor(oryourinhouseSEOteam)fullyawareofthenewsignalsandableto developnewformsofoptimizationandstrategy?Afterall,SEOwillgivewaytoanewform ofDigitalAssetManagementandOptimizationforasearchengineaudienceexpectinga muchricherexperience.ThisnewtypeofSEOwillplaceamuchlargeremphasison optimizingarangeoffiletypes,fromPDFstoimagestoaudio/visualcontent. Moreeffortwillbeplacedonfeedstosearchengines.ThiswontbejustXMLfeedsinto paidinclusionandshoppingcomparison,butwillalsoincorporatefeedswithothertypesof information,suchaslocal,financial,newsandotherverticals.Mobilewillbecomemuch morepopularandsearchwillgraduallybecomemoreofapersonalizedexperience. PersonalizationandDigitalAssetOptimizationwillend1999stylerankingreports,assearch resultswillbebasedonblendedresultsfromenduserspecifics,suchasgeographic location,timeofday,previoussearchinghistoryandpeergrouppreference. Online,monitoringofthecustomersvoicewillbecomemuchmoreimportantthanpushing abrandmessage.Monitoringsearchresultsfordifferentfiletypeswillbecomeincreasingly importantasendusers(evencompetitors)uploadcontentthatmayberelatedtoyour brand/product/service.Reputationmanagementwillbehighlyvaluedasmarketing continuesitsreversalfromabroadcastmediumtoalisteningmedium.Marketinginto networkswillseehugegrowth,andsocialsearchwillgrowwithit.

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KeywordDrivenMarketing(KDM)isattheverycoreoftheseemergingnewtechniquesand practices.Understandingthelanguageoftheendusertobettershapemarketingmessages fordeliveryintonetworksisthevitalcomponentforsuccess. Google'smissionistoorganizetheworld'sinformationandmakeituniversally accessibleanduseful. I'mreturningtothismissionstatementfromGoogle.Iquoteditatthebeginningofthis document.Havinggatheredtogethersomeofthefactsrelatingtothefutureofinformation retrievalontheweb,IfirmlybelievethatGoogleisfailinginitsmission.Thatsaid,it'snot becauseanythingiswrongwithGoogle.It'sbecausethewholeapproachtoawalled gardenenvironmentwhereeverythingiskeptin ordermaynotbefeasibleanymore.Iftheweb(and crawlingtheweb)reallywastheanswertothe "Ihad(andstillhave)adreamthattheWorldWide futureofinformationretrieval,thenitmightbe Webcouldbelessofatelevisionchannelandmoreof possible.Butwithsomuchcontentoutsidethe crawlandendusersnowrequiringamuchricher aninteractiveseaofsharedknowledge." experiencethanafewtextbaseddocuments,itmay SirTimBernersLee,InventoroftheWorldwideWeb. betimetorethinkthewholething. We'reessentiallytryingtoforceelephantsinto browsersthatdon'twantthem.ThebrowserthatSirTimBernersLeeinvented,alongwith HTMLandtheHTTPprotocol,wasintendedtorendertextandgraphicsonapagedelivered toyourcomputerviaadialupmodem,nottowatchmovieslikewedotoday.Search enginecrawlersweredevelopedtocapturetextfromHTMLpagesandanalyzelinks betweenpages,butwithsomuchinformationoutsidethecrawl,isittherightmethodfor analwayson,everdemandingaudienceofselfproducers? It'sclearthat"Web2.0"hascreatedafundamentaltransformationofthewebintoatrue collaborativeandsocialplatform.Intherealmofthesocialweb,technologyisbeing developedtoaugment"socialcognition"thatis,theabilityofagroupofpeopleto rememberthinkandreason. Inthe1975sciencefictionmovieRollerball,alloftheworld'sinformationisstoredon computers.Somehow,thecomputersmanagetolosetheentire13thcentury.Perhapsthe movieisright:acentralizedrepositoryisnotthewaytogowhentryingtoorganizethe world'sinformationandmakeituniversallyaccessibleanduseful. "IjusthadtotakethehypertextideaandconnectittotheTransmissionControlProtocol anddomainnamesystemideasandtada!theWorldWideWeb." It'sthisstatementwhichissointriguing,though.SirTimBernersLeeinventedtheWorld WideWebinnotimeatall.Hesimplyusedhispreviousknowledgeofhypertextthinking andappliedaprotocoltoamediumthatalreadyexisted.

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Sowhataboutthepossibilityofdevelopingnewplatformsorevennewprotocols? ManyyearsagoyourgrandparentssatinfrontofabrownwoodenboxlisteningtoFranklin DRoosevelt.Whoknows,maybelastweekyouboughtanewHDreadyTV.Guesswhat? Sameairwaves,differentprotocol.

Interestingthought!

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Toreceivemorebreakthroughthoughtpapers,orforhelpwithyoursearchmarketing campaigns,emailAcronymMediaatnewsignals@acronym.com,visitwww.acronym.comor call+1(212)6917051). AndcomingsoonmorerevolutionaryinsightfrombestsellingauthorMikeGrehan! FollowingtheinternationallyacclaimedSearchEngineMarketing:TheEssentialBest PracticeGuidecomesanewbook,simplytitledSearchMarketing,tobepublishedinSpring 2009.SearchMarketingwillexpandonthebreakthroughconceptsexploredinNew Signalsandexplorenewandemergingtechniquesandtrendsinbothorganicandpaid search. TofutureproofyoursearchmarketingandreceiveupdatesonMikesnewbook,email AcronymMediaatnewsignals@acronym.com,visitwww.acronym.comorcall+1(212)691 7051). AcronymMediaGlobalHQ AcronymMedia EmpireStateBuilding 350FifthAvenue,Suite5501 NewYork,NewYork USA

CopyrightAcronymMedia,Inc.Allrightsreserved.AcronymMedia,theAcronymMedialogo, KeywordDrivenMarketingandKDMareregisteredtrademarksofAcronymMedia,Inc.

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