I’m no lawyer, but has Google’s venture into the mobile handset space finally gone a bridge too far? It’s a question worth pondering with Google’s release of the Nexus One cell phone as the search giant now has the ability to develop a mobile phone primed to take advantage of its software innovations and its globally dominant search platform – a huge advantage on other handset makers.

The argument could (and likely will) be made that Google built up its business and the Nexus One is simply an extension of those efforts. But that’s where I get the sense government regulators could disagree…

Google – Extending its Dominance Into Hardware

Google’s search dominance is overwhelming. In most developed countries it is the search platform of choice. In Australia, we’re talking a 90% market share. It is so dominant, the number one keyword query on Yahoo 7 Australia (now Bing Australia) is ‘Google’ (or at least it was according to Bill Tancer from Hitwise in 2009 SMX Sydney presentation). Clearly we’re dealing wih juggernaut that has embedded itself into people’s everyday lives and modified behaviours to become the overwhelming ‘default search platform’. It’s a phenomenal success and the good folks at Google should be commended for it.

Google’s Smartphone – A Competition Killer?

Where this gets tricky is when Google starts creating hardware. Suddenly you could have a phone that auto-updates to the latest Google software innovations. Imagine a phone that not only works seamlessly with the world’s preferred search engine, but has first mover advantage whenever Google rolls out a new update? Heck, why stop at phones? Imagine a TV, computer, fridge, or car that is fully integrated.

What is the competition to do? Develop a new search engine and try to beat Google at its own game? Yeah right. We’re talking ingrained behaviour here and one heck of a technological mountain to climb. That’s easier said than done. Just as the good folks at Microsoft’s Bing.

Antitrust Lessons from Days Gone By

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for innovation, competition and reaping the rewards of your hard work. But there comes a point where customers like you and me are ill served when a monopoly uses its strength in one area to dominate in other sectors. Recall how back in the day (1934 to be precise), the US government broke up United Aircraft (now United Technologies) – a holding company comprising among other things, a collection of airlines known as United Airline, an engine maker, Pratt & Whitney and a little aircraft manufacturer… known as Boeing. United Aircraft was deemed anti-competitive, because you simply couldn’t have an airline getting sweet deals from its own aircraft manufacturer and engine maker.

Now view Google’s foray into cell phones in this light, add the new ‘regulatory environment’ we find ourselves in, sprinkle a few competitors with an axe to grind (and with a penchant for litigation) and maybe… just maybe, Google’s finally pushed its luck into antitrust territory.

Is there a lawyer in the room?

Some time ago Google announced that Adwords advertisers can now import Google Analytics (GA) goals to their Adwords account. This feature allows advertisers to use Adwords Conversion Optimizer even if they are only tracking conversions through GA goals. Secondly, if you don’t already have Adwords conversion tracking, you can now start to measure your SEM performance more effectively with conversion rate and CPA (cost-per-acquisition) data available in the Adwords interface. I recently set this up for a client and it started to collect and display conversion data on Adwords after a few days. It took me less than 5 minutes! Here’s how:

1. Link your Google Adwords & Analytics Accounts

You’ll have to link your Google Adwords and Analytics accounts before anything else, and also have at least one active goal in GA that is already tracking conversions through PPC. This is important – if your active goals haven’t tracked any conversions or transactions yet, the option to import your GA goals in the Adwords interface won’t appear in the account.

2. Link your Google Analytics Goals & Transactions

In the Conversion Tracking section of your Adwords account, you should now see a message saying “Google Analytics Goals and Transactions are now available”.

Eureka! Link your goals, and proceed to the next step.

3. Specify Action Name and Tracking Purpose

Think of a relevant and descriptive action name for each of the Analytics goals that you want to track.

As the goals I wanted to track involve downloading a programme or emailing the client, I used action names like ‘Software Download XYZ’ and ‘Email XYZ’ to describe each goal. Next, specify the tracking purpose of each goal.

It is vital that the correct tracking purposes are assigned to each goal, as this will appear when conversion reports are created in the Adwords Report Centre. For a website tracking multiple goals/actions, this can help advertisers see where each transaction type achieves the best performance at the campaign, adgroup and keyword level.

With the action name and tracking purpose correctly assigned, all you have to do now is link the goals!

4. Accrue Conversion Data & Start Testing

You should then be sent back to the main Conversion Tracking page, with your new goals successfully linked! You now have better measurable data to optimise your Adwords account in line with targets and sales goals.

Google says it takes about 24 hours before conversions start appearing in your Adwords account. But do not stress if conversions still are not showing after this time, even if Google Analytics says otherwise.  I waited 48-72 hours before any goal conversions from GA started showing in the Adwords interface. I cannot figure out the reason for this other than to assume that it takes a while for data to be sent through from Analytics to Adwords.

Good Luck!

For those around who still care about the other search engines, Microsoft launched their highly anticipated new search engine called Bing. Touted as the Decision Engine, Microsoft has high hopes for Bing in challenging the Google juggernaut from increasing its market share.

At first glance, Bing provides offers up a simple search interface (a lot like Google). The search results display is clean (like Google) and of course the name is catchy (much like Google).

But what about relevancy?

Like most things in life, if you can’t give people what they want, they’ll go elsewhere or at the very least stay where they are.

From the few hundred searches we’ve done so far, the relevancy appears to be slightly better than the old Live results. However, Bing, like Live, places a lot of weight on the domain name, especially for generic terms. The end result: You get a lot more websites like www.car-rental-sydney.com showing up for queries like ‘Sydney car hire’ (see the second organic listing in the example below). On other words, many websites with keyword optimised URLs gain more awareness than they deserve, largely based on the domain name.

Can Bing win market share from Google?

With Google’s growing market dominance there are plenty of people who’d like to see a more equitable split between Microsoft, Yahoo and Google, especially in Australia where we have more than enough de facto monopolies. More competition would be a win for all of us, even Google as it would help keep them honest and their egos from getting too big.

Unfortunately, Bing’s results are not ground breaking enough to supplant Google. In fact, I’d argue Microsoft still has a lot of work to do improve relevancy. We found a number of irrelevant results that left us scratching our heads.

A search in Australia for ‘amplify’ returns old pages no longer live on our site! Clearly an updated index is badly needed. Searches on ‘health insurance’ and ‘travel’ in Australia returns positively bizarre results. Try it for yourself and see how Bing’s results compare to Google’s. Like us you’ll likely agree Microsoft has a lot of work on its plate to challenge Google.

Even if Bing improves the relevancy of their search results though, one has to wonder whether it will be enough to make people switch. We are, after all, creatures of habit. If it’s not broken, there’s very little chance Bing will make much of a dent, even with the expected marketing weight of Microsoft behind it.

What does Bing mean for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

The short answer is not much… at least not today. While, I’m certain the Microsoft engineers will be tweaking the algorithm to improve relevancy over the coming weeks, the pessimist in me doesn’t believe it will be much help. Google isn’t broken and unless you have something better – and better out of the gate when you’ve got max visibility –  it’s just not going to be enough to make us Bing.

However, if Bing does manage to wrestle some of Google’s search market share away, the entire search marketing industry may have to invent a new service called Decision Engine Optimisation (DEO)! We can only hope…

The next big thing? How will it effect email and internet messaging?

Check out the latest creation from Lars (Google Maps) and the boys and girls at Google Sydney… Due out later this year!

Google Wave Demo

Small businesses face an uphill battle online. Creating a website optimised for search engines that could eventually rank on Google for significant keywords can be daunting. Here are some tips to help SMEs get their site optimised.

1. Free SEO Tools Are Your Friend

Build a Site on the Cheap with WordPress

For small businesses that don’t already have a website, WordPress provides a great platform to build a search-friendly website quickly and on the cheap. It’s not something you’d use to sell online (for eCommerce, you’ll want something more substantial), but if you’re looking to disseminate information and get calls, then WordPress might just be for you. (FYI: Amplify’s Blog runs on WordPress and provides us with a cost-effective, search friendly blogging platform…)

Open a Google Webmaster Tools Account

Once you’ve built you’re website, a nifty SEO tool to keep tabs and enhance your website for search engines is Google Webmaster Tools. Among its many features, Webmaster Tools can give you a Google search bot’s view of your website – a quick and easy way to spot trouble and stay on top of your SEO game.

Oh! And the best thing about WordPress and Google Webmaster Tools – they’re free!

2. Do Keyword Research First

Now, before you leave this blog post and run off to build your WordPress website, think about the keywords you want your business to rank for. What words do you use to describe what you sell and (more importantly) what words do your customers use? Using those words as a base, it’s time to find out what words potential online customers are using. It’s time to start your keyword research using some free keyword tools like:

• Google Adwords External Keyword Tool
• Google Trends
• Wordtracker Free Keyword Suggestion Tool
• Microsoft adCenter Labs Keyword Forecast

Keyword Research – A Great Way to Better Understand Your Business

From your keyword research you may learn that the keywords you want to rank for aren’t being searched by your customers, while other keywords are extremely popular.

A classic example is ‘health insurance’ vs. ‘health cover’. Insurers often refer to their product offering as ‘health cover’, but many more Australians search for ‘health insurance’ according to Google Trends.

To Rank, Be Relevant

To improve your website’s ranking on search engines like Google, incorporate the most relevant keywords into your site’s copy. Remember, it’s always easier and cheaper to build a website based on keyword research than to change an existing un-optimised website.

3. Now, Build Your SEO Friendly Website

With the keyword research out of the way, now you you’re free to create your optimised WordPress portal. Create a well structured website with a few categories formed around some of your top keywords. Add keyword-optimised content sprinkled with keyword heavy page headings and subheadings and you’ll be well on your way to developing a user-friendly website built to rank on search engines.

4. Quick Keyword Optimised Content

If you think the easiest way for websites to rank highly on Google is to repeat the same keyword phrases again and again, you’d be wrong. Sure that might have worked back in the day when search engines weren’t as sophisticated, but nowadays, Google considers this practice ‘spammy’ and will likely penalise your site if it finds out.

Optimise Content – But Don’t Over-Optimise

The key to SEO is to use the words your audience is using, but not to overdo it! Rather, include important keywords throughout your content and make use of keyword optimised <H1> heading tags. Keywords should also be included in your website’s main category names, Meta data and even in your URLs. But again… don’t overdo it. If you’re in a pretty competitive online space for certain keywords, build specific pages (and back up subpages) around those keywords. It’s radical, but you may just have to go there!

Optimise Your Page Titles

An example of a simple keyword optimised Meta title for Brand X’s family health insurance page might be:

<title>Family Health Insurance Quotes – Brand X Family Insurance</title>

This title tells the search engine what your page is about with the inclusion of keywords. Common mistakes include having a Meta title that only contains the brand name across the entire website or an over-optimised Meta title which includes every variation of a keyword.

Note: Remember to lead with important keywords and to save your brand name for the end of the page title.

Things to Keep in Mind

These are just a few tips that can help your small business get a website up and running for search engines. Naturally, there are other factors that will help boost your your site’s Google ranking and no doubt you’ll encounter some hurdles along the way. But to get started quickly, we trust these quick tips will help your small business get a foothold online without breaking the bank.

Do you have any other SEO tips for SMEs to get a site up quick and on the cheap? Please feel free to share them below!