This week, marketers flocked to ad:tech New York 2010, and geosocial developments, SEO and content marketing strategies dominated the conversations. Similarly, new local, mobile and social search developments were dominating headlines on the web. Here's a look at the week's internet marketing news that generated major buzz on the web.
The week started out with the launch of a new search engine – Blekko, called the "Google Killer" by some. The search engine rewards sites that offer quality content, letting users filter spam out of their search results, as Brafton reported. Though it remains to be seen whether users will readily adopt Blekko's slashtags, the search channel points to the rising importance of content marketing and effective SEO.
Content was one of the top discussion points at ad:tech New York this week, and a number of experts bespoke the value of optimized, relevant online copy. Brafton reported that Local.com officials went as far as to say that "good content is the heart of any site."
Local.com also made headlines as an emerging search channel this week after releasing its Q3 2010 revenue report, revealing that it increased revenue by 48 percent over the same quarter last year, reaching $22.5 million. The success of the search channel speaks volumes about the rise of local searching. This was another leading discussion point at ad:tech New York, which Brafton reported this week – and local search was put on marketers' radar in large part due to Facebook's interest in it.
On Wednesday, Facebook announced two new features that position the social network in the geosocial and mobile markets. The company announced that it has more than 200 million active mobile users, and it is making major upgrades to Facebook applications for Android and iPhone users that local marketers may like. Places and Groups are included in the launch of the new Android devices, and iPhone users get the newly developed Facebook Deals. Facebook Deals makes it easy for on-the-go consumers to find coupons for nearby businesses listed in Facebook Places. The story has been all over the web, with Google Realtime results for Facebook Places showing that minute-by-minute mobile check-ins are occurring and Andriod users are eager to get started, and Facebook Deals continues to generate social buzz, as well.
Facebook also made headlines this week when Bing announced that results powered by the social network are now available to users. Brafton reported on Tuesday that U.S. users can now search for friends' profiles to see which Facebook connections "like" web content when they conduct queries.
Not to be outdone by Facebook, Twitter made a big announcement this week about the expansion of Promoted Tweets, covered by Brafton on Wednesday. Starting with HootSuite users, Promoted Tweets will now appear in timelines – but Twitter emphasizes that only quality tweets that are relevant to users will appear among organic tweets in timelines.
Foursquare also announced developments in the works that may help local businesses be found among its growing userbase. As Brafton reported, foursquare cofounder Crowley spoke at ad:tech New York about new recommendation features marketers on the foursquare map might like.
Another brand visibility tool made marketers with branded apps rejoice this week. StumbleUpon launched an App Discovery tool for Google's Android users. The feature makes recommendations based on similarity to apps users have previously downloaded, which apps their friends use and more.
Speaking of Google and mobile, Google this week announced the launch of Google Instant for mobile web users. As Brafton reported, iPhone and Android users can now see predicted results as they search the web on the go.
Other top news from Google this week include new capabilities for marketers to measure the calls they get from Google AdWords, a new AdWords editor and the inclusion of rich snippets in Google shopping results – complete with product availability and product reviews. These developments come just in time for the holiday shopping season.
Next week, marketers should be on the lookout for more insight on online purchasing behavior as holiday shopping gets into full swing. It will also be interesting to news about the early reception of this week's geosocial and mobile developments. Marketers, stay tuned.
