Although content marketing has always existed, it’s no longer produced and delivered as it was in the old days.

“Companies have long created white papers, articles, charts and graphs, videos, and reports to position their brands as thought leaders and industry experts deserving of loyalty, with the goal of generating leads and sales,” today’s report reads. “It’s the delivery model that has changed — mailboxes used to be chock full of ads of every type, from sales circulars to envelopes full of coupons, while newspapers and magazines consistently ran ads for consumer products, clothing, attorneys — you name it.”

That content is now delivered digitally via search engines, email, social networks, and corporate websites.

Based on the information presented, 90% of organizations now market with content. On average, marketers spend more than 35% of their budget on content marketing today.

To learn more, check out the infographic below.

The post Infographic: A Beginners Guide to Content Marketing appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to Matt McGee of Search Engine Land, “Bing’s slow growth in US search market share continues, and Microsoft’s two-and-a-half-year-old search engine is now practically neck-and-neck with Yahoo.”

Bing’s battle with Yahoo, however, strikes some as peculiar, particularly in light of the fact that Bing powers Yahoo search. And just last year, both companies struck a 10-year deal that will keep Bing in business with Yahoo on a number of fronts.

Still, despite Bing’s tremendous growth since its inception, Google remains the top dog of search engines by a wide margin, according to comScore data.

While both Yahoo and Bing now each control about 15 percent of the search engine market, 65 percent still belongs to Google alone – more than Yahoo and Bing put together.

“For comparison to last year,” McGee writes, “comScore measured Google’s market share at 66.2 percent in November 2010, while Yahoo was at 16.4 percent and Bing at 11.8 percent.”

The post Bing Matches Yahoo as Internet’s Second Top Search Engine appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Based on the projections contained in the report, search engine marketing spend will balloon some 16% this year, hitting an estimated $19.3 billion before the close of 2011.

Key findings of the study show that “the rise of the mobile internet is the trend which is regarded as having the most impact on search marketing, with more than three-quarters of companies (79%) deeming it as ‘highly significant’ or ‘significant.'”

Proving the emergent authority of social media platforms, the widespread use of Facebook, Twitter, and its social networking siblings also factored into the projected growth.

The percentage of company respondents who say they use Facebook for marketing now stands at 84%, up from 73% last year.

As a result, an escalating number of companies are outsourcing search and social media. According to the study, just 44% of companies are now carrying out search engine optimization in-house, compared to 51% last year. Only 55% are doing social media marketing in-house, compared to 62% a year ago.

As expected, when it comes to the biggest and baddest names in search engine marketing, Google remains the dominant force in the search universe. The overwhelming majority of companies (95%) that spend any advertising dollars online with search engine marketing, advertise on Google AdWords.

To read more about the findings and projections of “State of Search Marketing Report 2011,” click here.

The post 2011 Search Engine Marketing Spend Projected to Top $19 Billion appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Details beyond the basic concept, and the fact that Foursquare is indeed in talks with the major search players, is limited in terms of how and when Foursquare’s data could be included in search engines, but Crowley did say that “our data generates hugely interesting trends which would enrich search.”

“We can anonymise data and use it to show venues which are trending at that moment, Crowley explained.  “Twitter helped the world and the search engines know what people are talking about.  Foursquare would allow people to search for the types of place people are going to – and where is trending – not what.”

Crowley also said that “numerous” potential partners are interested in utilizing Foursquare’s data, and that this is an “exciting time for the company,” likely meaning these types of partnerships are the forefront of Foursquare’s future.  It’s a perfect move for the startup to gain a leg up on its competition, such as Gowalla, by being the first LBS content provider to include its content in search engines like Twitter does.  It could also open the door for future innovation and business models, which Foursquare has yet to nail down for the long-term.

The post Foursquare In Talks With Search Engines To Index Real-Time Places Data appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The study, conducted by Tamar, found that people over 55 were the least likely to trust paid search as a trusted source with just 3% choosing it over natural search results.  Younger people, however, are increasing their use of mobile to search- as 14% of both 18-24 year olds and 25-34 year-olds use mobile search every day.

“Consumers have decided that natural search is the route they trust more and this defines the strategic starting point for all brands, which need to focus on being highly visible ‘naturally’ through campaigns that reach effectively across a wide range of media and devices, especially mobile – a huge growth area for the search engines,” said Neil Jackson, search strategy director at Tamar.

While the results of this study don’t necessarily quantify the mainstream, it does give us a slight indication that paid real-time search-results don’t work like they do for traditional search- and even then, consumers are paying much less attention to them then they once did.  Mobile search is undoubtedly growing by leaps and bounds, but it presents far different opportunities for marketers over traditional search.

The post Study: Half Of 18-24 Year-Olds Use Real-Time Search, Nobody Cares About Paid Results appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Google is making huge strides to extend its reach into the mobile space, but it may be too little too soon.  What began as Google’s mass-market breakthrough into mobile search — being the default search engine on the iPhone — is coming to an end, and signaling a new kind of competition that Google isn’t used to.

It’s speculated that Apple will tap Bing to become the default search provider for the iPhone, iPod Touch and most likely the iPad as well.  With Google losing its stronghold on arguably the most sought-after mobile devices on the market, it sends a clear message that mobile search is still anyone’s game.

Apple’s partnership with Microsoft to provide Bing-enabled search on its devices will undoubtedly show the world that Bing means business- and for good reason.  Microsoft has done an exceptional job so far in developing their search engine, and in many cases, providing features that Google doesn’t offer.  Becoming the de-facto search engine on devices that everyone wants, puts Microsoft in the driver’s seat for the first time in ages.  Whether they’ll build on this momentum is the question that remains to be answered.

Focusing on mobile search, and doing it right, will be the hurdle Microsoft has to overcome to continue its insurgence into the market.  Strengthening Windows Mobile, which is a tall order in the new-age mobile landscape ushered in by Apple, will be another step Microsoft needs to focus on to keep its momentum strong.  Forging partnerships with other device and OS makers to continue to put Bing in front of users is another step forward Microsoft will have to make.

While everyone thought that Google was determined to become dominant in mobile search, Bing came from behind and seems stronger in many regards than Google to become a dominant player.  While it’s still anyone’s game, it will sure be fun to watch the inevitable war between the top players.

The post Mobile Search Remains An Open Book appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

I came across an excellent article over at Search Engine Watch that outlines what it means to your paid search campaigns when more and more users are searching from their phones instead of the desktop.  Beyond simply getting more search volume, the article suggests it also means that;

1. Mobile search queries are shorter in nature from mobile devices.  While many reports state that the number of keywords in a user’s search query is growing, it’s actually the opposite on a mobile phone whereby the user is much more likely to type a shorter query due to the keyboard, nature of the user and other various mobile limitations.
2. Mobile search queries are more local in nature.  It’s estimated that 15 percent of mobile search queries have a local modifier, according to a survey by the Kelsey Group.
3. Mobile users are consumers that you want your message in front of, but e-commerce sales are far and few between.  Data shows approximately 0.6 percent of clicks actually turn into sales.  However, more than 30 percent of clicks are looking for a local office/store, which has benefits of its own.

If you’ve long been a user of paid search campaigns, you’ve likely grown accustom to how to target your traditional search volume.  Adding mobile search users to the mix however, can change the results of your campaign dramatically if you haven’t taken the necessary steps to optimize your campaign for both traditional and mobile search traffic combined.

Google’s AdWords and other search-based ad-networks are starting to offer targeting capabilities within the platform that allow you to separate high-end mobile devices, for example, much like you would for search traffic opposed to content-based traffic within the same campaign.  Without optimizing settings like this, you could find yourself doing well with traditional search and content traffic, but poorly with mobile traffic and vice versa.

The article at Search Engine Watch outlined some interesting data points they’ve noticed from using mobile device targeting within paid search campaigns to optimize their outcome.  They discovered that:

• High-end mobile device search volume was up 60 percent, and clicks were up 84 percent in November when compared to October.  This is primarily due to the seasonal lift, but is indicative of user behavior during the season and using their phones while out shopping.
• High-end mobile search volume typically mimics desktop search volume by day with the exception of Saturday.  On Saturday, search volume is 40 percent higher than the indexed amount.  These may seem obvious, but it’s important to note, especially if your campaigns aren’t broken out, and you’re noticing a dip in conversion rates.
• Desktop search volume peaks at 10 a.m., and begins to decrease by 3 p.m., while high-end device traffic doesn’t reach its peak until 4 p.m.

Utilizing metrics like these can have a profound effect on your paid search campaigns, and proves how mobile search and mobile marketing & advertising in general are effecting other forms of marketing.  Marketers who continue to deny the rise of mobile marketing and advertising will be left in dust when thinking that mobile could never effect the marketing channel they’re using.

Sooner or later mobile will effect almost all forms of marketing, and those who have taken the necessary steps to identify the impacts and optimize for the future will have the upper hand over those who continue to deny the immense impact mobile will have.

The post Optimizing For An Influx Of Mobile Search appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

There’s a misconception regarding what it takes to get your mobile sites indexed in mobile search engines.  Most people think just because their sites are indexed and ranked in Google’s traditional search engine, that their mobile sites will be equally indexed and ranked via Google’s mobile search as well- when in reality the two search engines differ slightly.  If your mobile site shows up in traditional searches, don’t always assume  your mobile site shows up in mobile search as well.

Google recently published a few tips aimed at mobile Website owners to help make sure their sites are properly included in Google mobile search;

1. Create a mobile sitemap and submit it to Google so Google knows it exists. This can be done using Google Webmaster Tools, just like with a regular sitemap.
2. To make sure Googlebot-Mobile can access your site, allow any User-agent to access it.  “You should also be aware that Google may change its User-agent information at any time without notice, so it is not recommended that you check if the User-agent exactly matches ‘Googlebot-Mobile’ (which is the string used at present),” says Jun Mukai, a software engineer on Google’s mobile search team. “Instead, check whether the User-agent header contains the string ‘Googlebot-Mobile’. You can also use DNS Lookups to verify Googlebot.”
3. Check that your mobile-friendly URLs’ DTD (Doc Type Definition) declaration is in an appropriate mobile format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML.  If you run both a regular site and a mobile version of it, there is a possibility that the wrong version will show up in the wrong search results.

Another problem you might run into is the fact that if you run both a regular site and a mobile version of it, there’s a possibility that the wrong version will show up in the wrong search results.  Luckily, there’s ways to prevent this.  “When a mobile user or crawler (like Googlebot-Mobile) accesses the desktop version of a URL, you can redirect them to the corresponding mobile version of the same page,” explains Mukai. “Google notices the relationship between the two versions of the URL and displays the standard version for searches from desktops and the mobile version for mobile searches.”

In the end, it takes a few simple steps to ensure your mobile site is available to the masses.  Mobile search engines, and especially Google’s mobile search, is a primary means for consumers to find and access mobile content.  User’s want your mobile content, just make sure it’s easy for them to find.

The post SEO For Mobile Sites, Making Sure You’re Indexed appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

I wrote a while back on the subject that Baidu is very much winning the battle for Chinese search supremacy, and what steps Google is taking to narrow the margin- especially in terms of mobile search.  Baidu however, landed a huge blow against Google yesterday with its announcement that it has secured yet another mobile partnership with China Unicom, one of the larger Chinese mobile carriers, to pre-install not only its mobile search services, but many other mobile-centric services and solutions on all its upcoming 3G handsets.

Baidu and Google share almost every search performed in China, with Baidu performing 3 out of 4 searches in total.  Now that the focus has been turned to mobile search, it’s a race to secure partnerships with any of the three national carriers.  Chinese mobile users performed over 270 million Web searches on their phones in the second quarter this year, more than twice as much as in the same period a year earlier, according to local research company Analysys International. Google and Baidu each took about 26 percent of the mobile searches- so there’s still room for improvement for both companies, with nearly 50 percent of the mobile search market still untapped by both players.

When the iPhone hits China on China Unicom, it’s still unclear whether Baidu will be the default search provider, or if Google will remain the pre-installed search provider given China Unicom’s deal with Baidu to provide all of its mobile search capabilities.  Which ever way it goes, it will have dealt another major blow to the other provider given the future impact the iPhone will have on the Chinese smartphone market.

While Google maintains overwhelming dominance in the U.S. and in many other parts of the world, it’s nice to see areas where competition is still present for the search giant.  China’s mobile market is estimated to be one of the top in the world in the near future, and both Baidu and Google still have a long way to go to oust the other as the reigning search king.

The post Google’s Mobile Strategy Still Struggling…In China appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The idea is simple;  to let Skype users who search for businesses anywhere on the Web, be able to instantly call that business using a simple “Free Call” button placed next to the search result.  The business itself would then pick up the tab for that call, in return for the lead.

A call that is funded by a business will be highlighted with a blue “Free Call” button that appears anywhere online where a phone number is displayed, including search engines, Internet yellow pages or local search sites.  This automatic phone number recognition allows Skype’s more than 480 million registered users to call a participating business for free.  Calls that are not funded by a business can still be connected via Skype, but at a low cost charged to the Skype user.

The new service is being rolled out first in Europe, where Skype has struck a deal with European Directories, a company who delivers leads to advertisers through local search services delivered via print, online, mobile, search engine marketing, affiliate marketing and RFP / RFQ services.

The initial partnership with European Directories will offer consumers free calls to up to 700,000 businesses across Europe.  Participating European Directories advertisers will have the opportunity to be highlighted with Skype’s blue “Free Call” button anywhere their number appears on the Internet.

“This partnership is a great example of our evolution from a print centric company to one truly focused on lead generation.  By working with Skype, European Directories can now offer its advertisers leads from yet another source in addition to existing channels such as mobile applications, print publications, our own online search sites and those of our partners.  The new Skype ’Free Call’ button will turn search for businesses into calls and leads for businesses.  It will make our advertisers stand out from competition everywhere on the Internet, including in search engines” said Cornel Riklin, CEO of European Directories.

While the new service is being launched in Europe, it will undoubtedly be launched in other parts of the world, including the US, in the near future- based on the effectiveness it provides for businesses who use it.  Linking online content to other forms of user-input is nothing new, but it’s great to see Skype reaching out and using it’s technological niche for something useful.

The post Skype Debuts Business-Funded Click-To-Call Service appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.