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April 11, 2008 by MB

Yahoo to host Google Ads

In yet another twist in the seemingly never ending Yahoo Vs Microsoft take-over wrangle, Yahoo has announced that they will be ‘trialling’ Google’s AdSense for search service. This two week proposed trial will see Yahoo.com search results displaying Google ads alongside its own ads in the US.

The timing of this announcement couldn’t be more crucial as Microsoft looks to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to increase their financial leverage as they prepare to approach Yahoo’s shareholders directly if their £22.4 bn takeover bid isn’t accepted in the next three weeks.

The fact is this Yahoo trial with Google could be a clever way of proving that Microsoft have seriously undervalued the company by showing what kind of revenue Yahoo could potentially generate if they were to form a business relationship with Google.

Oh and in one final piece of what is becoming an ever more increasingly complicated puzzle Yahoo is also understood to be in talks with AOL in a deal which would involve AOL investing in Yahoo so enabling Yahoo to buy back some of its own stock!

For more info on this story try visiting The Machinist

April 9, 2008 by AS

Great trends reports

If you have missed these, they are well worth a look.

Great inspiration and in an insight into consumer behaviour.

www.trendwatching.com/trends/statusstories.htm

by AS

Research from eMarketer

From Crowdstorm blog:

New research out from eMarketer again, argues that shoppers are increasingly trusting each other when it comes to finding credible information advice about products or companies:

Online Shoppers Trust Each Other

The fact is that knowledgeable and trusted peers provide valuable advice and insight to people trying to find the right products to buy and gain the advice and information they need. In fact, JupiterResearch reckons that online social network users were three time more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions:

Social Networks trusted more

So, what does this really mean… Well, I think that people are actually getting more savvy in how they find and absorb information and that people are now looking to credible expert sources and trusted peers compared to just lists and lists of anonymous or not-related reviews. Ultimately no-one wants to be fooled by advertising or biased reviews, and having trusted sources from experts, opinion leaders, peers, and friends - can really help people feel more confident in their product research.

Social Graph + Research + Shopping -> 2008 is the year..

by AS

More from Sony?

Latest Sony ad… 4th installment (?) on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijbWlOd5kB0

What do we think?

March 26, 2008 by NB

Japanese URLs are out…

Awesome blog entry from the Co-Founder of Panic Inc, detailing how Japan is shifting from using URLs on adverts, to showing people the search terms they should use in their favourite search engines.

Japenese poster showing search terms

It makes sense, right? All the good domain names are gone. Getting people to a specific page in a big site is difficult (who’s going to write down anything after the first slash?). And, most tellingly, I see increasingly more users already inadvertently put complete domain names like “gmail” and “netflix” into the Search box of their browsers out of habit — and it doesn’t even register that Google pops up and they have to click to get to their destination.

See the full post here

March 20, 2008 by JP

Search within a search within a search

Recently I was searching for certain big brands on Google and I started finding a new feature in the results, which Google has quietly slipped in there. It’s a search box that site beneath the site links in some brand name searches. I first saw it on results for Virgin Holidays (One of Pod1’s favourite clients), but there seem to be a few other sites, such as Audi which also have this box.

 

The search box apparently allows you to search the site without needing to go to it first. This saved a fair bit of time, especially with graphics heavy sites that take forever to load. I managed to get to the page I wanted in about half the usual amount of time.

The first question I heard when I asked other people about it was ‘How do I get that for my site?’ The answer, of course, was ‘I don’t know,’ a very common problem when it comes to Google and natural search. The inevitable next question is ‘ Will it affect natural search rankings?’, however I don’t think this will be the case.

As far as I can see the main factor in whether a site is ‘blessed’ with one of these boxes seems to be the amount of searches that take place on a site. Unfortunately, this is not a good reflection on site structure and navigation. While I wish all my clients had a search box like Virgin Holidays, I can help feeling proud that visitors don’t have to use the search box to find the page they want.

As the search box becomes as standard as site links have become now, the benefits and drawbacks of it will become more apparent. For the moment though it’s just something cool to play with, a sign that Google is still trying to be innovative on some level.

March 13, 2008 by MB

London SES 2008 – Everything you ever wanted to know about search but were too afraid to ask.

As a complete newbie to the SES events I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but I was hoping this would be an informative day out. I guess I was looking for a combination of some ‘top tips’ and some ‘myth busting’.

Let just say I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve read a few other posts about the event, some more positive than others, and if you were expecting a trade show and exhibition you’d be disappointed but if you were looking for a top notch informative seminar then this would be right up your street.

I started the day with the keynote presentation “The Changing Search World”, which was as good a place to start a day of SEOism as any.

The first problem arose trying to decide which of the presentations to attend, so after much deliberation I chose the following sessions;

News Search & SEO - This was a very useful session for me and I picked up lots of tips as well as reinforcing what I already new with good presentations from Greg Jarboe, Lee Odden and Tim Gibbon.

Blog & Feed Search SEO - This wasn’t quite as relevant for my clients but triggered a couple of good ideas we can use like a Widget for e-shop clients that notifies users of the item of the day, new stock & sales items.

Podcasts & Video SEO - Some interesting stuff here like Google only indexes videos if they have been posted on sites like You Tube, Metacafe etc. letting user do the hard work for them by applying the tags & descriptions.

Balancing Organic & Paid Listings - Paid V’s Natural Search, the age old question PPC or SEO (well not that old as neither have been around for long). The answer DO BOTH;-)

Linking Strategies – This was tricky how do you turn down the opportunity to listen and hopefully learn from some of the industries big dogs but it did clash with the new kid on the block Social Search Overview. In the end the allure of the perfect linking strategy won me over, and on reflection it was the right choice as the nice people at SES have put all the presentations online (including all the ones I missed) http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/london/presentations.html.

So in summary a great day out informative and well worth a look, I’ll definitely be there again next year.

by SN

A night at the Media Momentum Top 50 Fastest Growing Agencies Awards

Countown Image   Pod1 were chosen as the featured agency for GP Bullhound (Media Momentum) to create the visual installation the awards.

The event yesterday was at Sketch restaurant in the West End, so we took full advanatage of the fantastic venue by using bold liquid-effect animation that covered all four walls of the Gallery. That, combined with some classic tunes made the night a memorable one for everyone!
S x

March 7, 2008 by MA

Wisdom of words

From Martin Firrell who has a way with projecting words. His next project can be seen on St Paul’s Cathedral in November 2008. More information on his site www.martinfirrell.com

podblog_image_031.jpg

March 6, 2008 by MA

A Benchmark idea

benchmarkDesigned by Sungwoo Park. A bit worrying though if you are a poor homeless person trying to get some kip!

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