Top Ranking Reads

By Brooke Nichols

A week of Search Marketing news offers so many topics to choose from – articles relaying the key components of successful PPC campaigns, press releases on mergers, acquisitions, unsolicited bids, speculations of a possible recession, and so on… It’s tough to decide which ones to include in the weekly wrap-up. That said, I hope you find the ones below both as educating and entertaining as I did.

Why Digg's Worth $200 Mllion or More to Google
Digg would be an extension of Google's search engine empire: Digg votes may become one more signal in the Google natural and paid search algorithms. Diggers voting for YouTube. A link is a vote in PageRank. Why wouldn't a Digg vote be one too?

Load Time Confirmed As AdWords Quality Score & New Category Exclusion Feature
Google has confirmed that they will be adding page load time as a quality score metric in the near future. The feature will go live in the "next few weeks" but it won't impact your quality score right away. Google also enhanced the site exclusion feature in AdWords by breaking out a way to also exclude by category.

Save Money to Make Money : Paid Search Auditing & Quality Control
In an environment where many businesses measure their profit margins in single digits, every penny saved is truly a penny earned. The trick is, knowing where to spend and where to save…

Microsoft Announces New Reporting Standard for Digital Campaign Performance: Engagement Mapping
Microsoft Corp. recently introduced Engagement Mapping, a new approach to managing and measuring the effectiveness of online campaigns that goes beyond the current “last ad clicked” standard. Engagement Mapping takes into account for the first time all the various online touchpoints and interactions a consumer experiences before an eventual sale.

Search Illustrated: Building Trust through SEM
Search marketers know it's important to optimize company websites in order to be found on search engines. But, customers' trust can be grown through so many additional avenues. Today's infographic demonstrates how various SEM tactics—in addition to just SEO—allow buyers to find out about products, not only on companies' websites, but also on other popular sites throughout the web.