Contextual advertising network Chitika has announced that their Premium Ads product has seen 200% growth in 2008. The ads are now being served on the sites of 34,000 publishers.

Chitika says the ads work best on sites that garner traffic from search engines. The ads on the publisher’s site target the keywords that the visitor came in on. The ad also offers the ability to search within the ad, never having to leave the page of the site they’re currently visiting.

Chitika calls it search-targeted advertising. Because of that, they’re comparing the program to search engine ads. And they’re saying they’ve surpassed Ask.com’s August 2008’s numbers of 364 million searches.

Related Reading:
Chitika Injects Video, Social to Ads
Chitika Launches Automatic-Merchandising Ads

Technorati Tags: Advertising Network, Automatic Merchandising, Chitika, Contextual, Premium Ads, Premium Network, Publisher, Publishers, Search Engine, search engine watch, Search Engines, Target, traffic

Walmart has sent a DMCA notice to TechCrunch and SearchAllDeals.com, a shopping search engine and deals aggregator. (Think of it as the Techmeme for deals on the web, with a Google custom search engine to boot.)

Both sites posted some information about “Black Friday” sales for discount giant Wal-mart. But Wal-mart is claiming copyright infringement. It’s also saying the info wasn’t supposed to be out before November 24th.

The problem is SearchAllDeals doesn’t host content. It simply links to it. This amounts to free advertising for Wal-mart.

And since TechCrunch also has the info, then Wal-mart has a leak problem, which is neither TechCrunch or SearchAllDeal’s problem.

If I were a competitor such as Target or K-mart, I’d be stepping up to the plate and making the most of this “controversy” by freely offering up my own deals.

h/t TechDirt

Related Reading:
Judge Throws Out Copyright Infringement Suit Against Online Video Site Veoh
Pro Intellectual Property Act Passes House
Google Talks On Its Approach To Content & Copyright

Technorati Tags: Black Friday Sales, Competitor, Controversy, Copyright Infringement, Custom Search Engine, Dmca Notice, Free Advertising, Giant, Google, Host Content, Infringement Suit, K Mart, Property Act, search engine watch, Searchalldeals, Target, Techcrunch, Techmeme, Video Site, Wal Mart, Walmart

AOL’s ad network, Platform-A, is going on tour. The 5-city event begins in New York City on November 17th at the American Museum of Natural History. The next stop will be Atlanta on November 20.

The tour will break for the holidays before hitting Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in 2009.

“AOL has one of the largest, most diverse and most engaged audiences on the Web, and combined with Platform-A’s industry-leading technologies, we can offer advertisers a unique combination of scale, integrated branding, and advanced targeting capabilities to enable them to deliver their branding messages in an effective, engaging and highly efficient way,” said Platform-A President Lynda Clarizio. “At a time when companies make sure that every penny spent on advertising counts, AOL delivers quality content and engaged consumers and Platform-A connects marketers to this audience to drive superior results.”

Related Reading:
AOL’s Platform-A Collaborates with T-mobile for 2 Day, Billion Impression Ad Blitz
AOL’s Platform-A Unveils Plans for Self-Service Ad Marketplace Exchange
AOL’s Platform-A Launches iPhone Advertising Solution

Technorati Tags: Ad Blitz, Advertisers, Advertising Solution, American Museum Of Natural History, Aol, Audience, Audiences, Capabilities, Consumers, Integrated Branding, Iphone, Leading Technologies, Marketers, Marketplace Exchange, Museum Of Natural History, Network Platform, New York City, Quality Content, search engine watch, Self Service, T Mobile

Some SEOs aren’t getting the message about Google’s personalization of search results. Many are not seeing the writing on the wall: 2009 will likely see the end of the ranking report in SEO. In today’s organic search engine optimization column, “The Future of Google’s Search Personalization,” Mark Jackson advises SEOs to acknowledge traffic, conversions, and ROI as the important metrics for any form of marketing or business.

» Full story

Technorati Tags: Conversions, Google, Google Search, Marketing Business, Metrics, Roi, Search Engine Optimization, search engine watch, Search Optimization, Search Results, Seo, Seos, traffic, Writing On The Wall

Yahoo! has announced that Jerry Yang will step down as CEO once his replacement has been found. Yang will remain on board as Chief Yahoo!

Yang became CEO in June 2007 at the request of the Board of Directors. Board Chairman Roy Bostock will lead the search for a new CEO. Here’s his official corporate-speak on the matter:

“Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues. Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board.”

Technorati Tags: Alignment, Board Chairman, Board Of Directors, Challenges, Chief Yahoo, Corporate Speak, Dialogue, Directors Board, Distractions, Jerry Yang, Member Of The Board, Next Level, Open Platform, Platform Model, Repositioning, Right Time, Roy Bostock, search engine watch, Succession, Transition, Yahoo Ceo

Fox Business is reporting that a civil complaint has been brought against Mark Cuban for insider trading regarding “The Mother of All Search Engines” Mamma.com, which is owned by Copernic (CNIC).

Cuban learned that the company would be issuing a PIPE: a public investment and private equity. In other words, they were about to issue an additional stock sale. When he learned about it, he sold his stake, about 600,000 shares before the public announcement. He avoided losses of $750,000.

If the charges Cuban will have to give back the money with interest.

Related Reading:
Cuban’s IceRocket Sold To Think Partnership
Yahoo Confirms Icahn Proxy Fight

Technorati Tags: Civil Complaint, Cnic, Copernic, Fox, Insider Trading, Losses, Mamma, Mark Cuban, Money, Mother Of All Search Engines, Partnership, Private Equity, Proxy Fight, Public Announcement, Public Investment, search engine watch, Stake, Stock, Yahoo

Last week, Google introduced Sponsored Videos to YouTube and also recently started testing ads on Image Search. Today, text ads come to Google Finance and soon, Google News will be getting some ad testing.

The ad testing on Google News will be a bit different. The ads will appear on the results for “search refinements.” Google gave the example of conducting a search on the “regular” Google for an iPod. Clicking on the news search link from the results would be a refinement. That’s where you would see the ads, should you be graced with the testing.

What do you think of the expansion of ads to other Google Properties? Let us know in the comments.

Technorati Tags: Finance News, Google, Google News, Google Web, Image Search, Ipod, News Search, Refinement, search engine watch, Search Google, Search Text, Text Ads, Videos, Web Properties

Many major companies continue to make mistakes with their Web sites that hurt their search engine rankings. They target pages in the wrong way, or don’t craft their pages in a way to prevent searchers from leaving their site after the first page. In today’s enterprise search marketing column, “SEO Dreams are Made of This,” Aaron Shear says it’s time for some SEO dreaming.

» Full story

Technorati Tags: Dreams, Enterprise Search, Marketing, Search Engine Rankings, search engine watch, Searchers, Seo, Wrong Way

During Search Engine Strategies San Jose back in August, I did a video interview with Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team. It will be uploaded to the SESConferenceExpo’s Channel on YouTube tomorrow.

Why the wait?

As Maury Sline explained to The Blues Brothers, “A gig like that, you gotta prepare the proper exploitation.”

So, here’s a taste of what you can look forward to seeing and hearing in tomorrow’s video interview: Matt talks about his job interview at Google before he joined the company as a software engineer in January 2000. He takes a look at trends in the industry, including mobile search. He praises an iPhone App developed by Barry Schwartz, President of RustyBrick. And he discusses the Cuttlets, the people who crowd around him at every search conference.

And what can you do today to ensure that you don’t miss the Matt Cutts video interview tomorrow? I’m glad you asked.

First, go to the SESConferenceExpo’s Channel and take a quick look around. You’ll find there are now 184 videos from SES London, SES New York, SES Toronto, and SES San Jose 2008.

According to YouTube Insight, these 184 videos currently have more than 45,000 combined views. That’s about three times more views than the number of people who attended these four conferences and expos this year.

And there will be more video interviews added during and after Search Engine Strategies Chicago, which will be held Dec. 8-12, 2008. That’s a lot of content — and a lot of insights from top search experts and the search engines themselves.

Now, some of these video interviews are uploaded to YouTube during each SES conference. But others are uploaded in the weeks and months following a show.

So, if you want to be alerted when the Matt Cutts video interview has been posted, all you need to do is hit the orange “Subscribe” button in the upper left hand corner of the SESConferenceExpo’s Channel, which already has 142 subscribers.

To embed one of these video interviews, just copy the code from the “Embed” box — which you can find in the “About This Video” box when you’re watching the video. Once you’ve copied the code, just paste it into your website or blog to embed it.

And if you want to embed several of these video interviews, use the Search Engine Strategies video widget. It will let you customize a SES Video Player Widget for the audience on your website or blog.

For example, in the header options, I selected the standard link and said I’m blogging at SES Chicago. For my playlist content, I selected videos of everyone, picked two thumbnails with a maximum of 25 results. And for my format option, I selected a vertical orientation. And the SES Video Player Widget generated the code for me to past into this blog post.

Now, I could have selected a customized header. And after going through an authentication process, I could have customized my playlist — and display only videos of my company. Or I could display videos of everyone, but with videos of my company first. You can see an example of this on the SEO-PR website.

Or, you can see an example of a more bi-partisan approach on the Search Engine Strategies Chicago home page — just below the fold. (By the way, if you register by Friday, Nov. 21, you can save up to $200 with the Early Bird rate.)

Now, I don’t need to explain the benefits of adding video to your blog. Search engine marketers and popular bloggers understand that already. But consider the benefits of adding relevant content from the latest SES conference and expo — quality content that can be customized for your audience. And, don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself. It is useful content that your website’s visitors will find beneficial or your blog readers will find valuable.

What’s the catch?

Well, if you select videos of everyone, then you might end up with a Matt Cutts video interview on your website or blog. And if anyone watches it, that would give the SESConferenceExpo’s Channel on YouTube more views.

Or, as Elwood told Maury Sline, “I know all about that stuff. I have been exploited all my life.”

Technorati Tags: Barry Schwartz, Blues Brothers, Google, Interview Tomorrow, Iphone, Job Interview, Left Hand Corner, Matt Cutts, Mobile Search, Proper Exploitation, Rustybrick, Search Conference, Search Engine Strategies, search engine watch, Search Engines, Search Experts, Ses San Jose, Sline, Software Engineer, Upper Left Hand Corner, Video Interview

In the same way JFK benefitted from the emerging medium of television, Barack Obama was helped into the White House by the increasing popularity of social media. In today’s building brand equity column, “President 2.0,” Erik Qualman explains that his appeal to younger audiences, and need to get exposure in a primary race against an established opponent led Obama to develop his online strategy. Businesses can learn from his campaign.

» Full story

Technorati Tags: Audiences, Barack Obama, Benefitted, Brand Equity, Erik Qualman, Jfk, Opponent, Popularity, search engine watch, Television, White House