Posted by: Chelsea Maxwell, Marketing Coordinator

Mobile marketing is a strategy that we often hear talked about and the bottom line is mobile marketing is here to stay. As such, you need to make sure that you are creating and optimizing your website to be mobile-friendly.

The first way to ensure your website is compatible with most mobile browsers is to confirm your site is entirely W3C XHTML validated. Mobile browsers are not nearly as forgiving of XHTML errors as standard browsers. Additionally, when you adhere to XHTML accessibility guidelines, any images that do not show up on a mobile browser will appear in a text format.

When you are building mobile versions of your website remember that Flash, AJAX and Javascript don’t always translate across mobile browsers and should therefore be used sparingly in development. This will not only contribute to a better overall user experience, but will also help you gain better positioning within mobile search results.

If your company is already using mobile marketing be sure to test as you would the rest of your search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.

Learn more about mobile optimization at Search Insider.

Posted by: Nikki Johnson, Marketing Coordinator

Yahoo and Microsoft recently received regulatory approval for a search and advertising partnership that may simplify the world of search engine optimization (SEO). Per the agreement, Yahoo will soon begin using Microsoft Bing’s search algorithm to return its search results. Some SEO gurus are speculating that this new union will streamline optimization so that marketers will only have to optimize for two search engines (Google and Bing) instead of three (Google, Yahoo and Bing).

That being said, Bing returns far fewer search results than Google, and it is more difficult to be deemed “relevant” within Bing listings than within Google listings. This could have a few implications for SEO marketers as they try to optimize for Bing’s slimmed-down version of the search results page.

Although Bing will be the driver behind the wheel of Yahoo searches, Yahoo claims it will still have a strong influence on the Yahoo.com user experience. Last year it revamped its homepage offering users a number of applications for page customization. The company has also incorporated a number of innovative features within its search interface. Yahoo is finding new ways to get in front of its users and is not expected to fade behind the spotlight that’s currently focused on Bing.

Learn more at WebProNews.

Posted by: Lauren Klostermann, Project Manager

Since Google Buzz launched on February 9, 2010, it has had a far-reaching trickle effect across the web. Buzz, the fully Google-integrated platform for real-time sharing speculated to rival Twitter, has several implications for traditional search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.

The first is that Buzz is facilitating an influx of new content that is highly likely to be indexed in Google’s search engine. Buzz also allows all links posted to be read by the search engine. Based on Google’s search engine algorithm, more links to your site, even those via Buzz, will signify that your site is more important and should be listed higher in search results. Finally, Google Buzz has an easy-to-use integration on mobile phones to help provide your business with local information and reviews.

If your company already has a social marketing presence on Facebook and Twitter, Buzz is the next obvious place to begin a conversation, which will in turn also help your SEO visibility.

Learn more:
Site-Reference
Marketing Professor

The BBC recently constructed a visual map of the top 100 websites (based on unique users in January 2010) broken down into categories such as search/portal, retail and social networks.

Highlights include:

• Facebook is dominating other social networking sites by a large margin.
• While eBay and Amazon receive over 1/3 of shopping traffic, brick-and-mortar stores such as Walmart and Target are also heavily visited.
• Search/portal sites such as Google have the highest volume of traffic.

The data was collected by the Nielsen Company and covers nine countries including the U.K., U.S., France and Germany.

Learn more at Fast Company.

Posted by: Rosemary Dempsey, Senior Storyteller

Quality Score. Everybody knows it’s an important part of paid search programs run through Google AdWords and the content network. But how does Google calculate these scores, and why are they so important to our pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns?

According to Google, “A Quality Score is calculated every time your keyword matches a search query - that is, every time your keyword has the potential to trigger an ad.” It’s important because it influences your keywords’ actual cost-per-clicks, determines if your keyword is a potential result for a user’s search query and even affects how high your ad ranks.

What’s the best way to improve your quality scores? Optimize your account! As Google recommends, your ad groups should have descriptive ad text relevant to each keyword in the group.

Visit Google’s AdWords Help section for more information about quality score and tips for optimizing your paid search programs.

Posted by: Kelly Hall, Account Manager

“Optimization” has many meanings in today’s marketing world. What might come to mind first is search engine optimization — or improving your rankings in search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. And while that should be an important part of your overall marketing plan, optimization has a place in many other tactics you use to build brand awareness, attract your audience, and of course, create conversions.

To read the full article and learn more about measurable optimization tactics subscribe to 90news and view the February 2010 issue in the archives.