Knowledge is the Foundation To Success  

Allegedly, Apple is in the works to replace Google as the default search engine on its iPhone with Microsoft’s Bing. If this proves true, it is further evidence of the intensifying power struggle between Google and Apple. Bloomberg reports that,”the talks have been under way for weeks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public. The negotiations may not be concluded quickly and might still fall apart, the people said.” Currently, Google is the default setting on Apple’s iPhone. If users want to search using Bing, they have to download an application and install it.

Nielsen’s latest data indicates that of those who use mobile search, 86% used Google compared to 11% for Bing. However, with iPhone’s dominance and potential switch to Bing, this soon may change. Apple could certainly breathe some new life into Bing, or someone.

Dare I suggest that Apple instead partner with or buy Yahoo? There had been speculation about this potential reality about a year back, prior to Yahoo negotiating a unique partnership with Microsoft. However, that deal does not necessarily prevent Apple from swooping in and taking over Yahoo. Apple could take Yahoo mobile and turn it into the mobile leader. Yahoo also offers an array of additional potential value to Apple. Now seems to be an ideal opportunity for Apple to make a move.

While Google is distracted in China and losing their search focus, they may be providing Apple a window of opportunity to get into search. Apple could then put Yahoo, or iYahoo, in position to potentially dominate the mobile market, which could carry back over to the wired world.

This clash of the titans is likely to yield some interesting results. Change is in the air as Apple and Google determine the technological fate of mankind. As the mobile market evolves, will Google and Apple co-share the entire future mega-mobile market? Will one emerge as the clear leader or will new technologies emerge to topple these seemingly invincible goliaths? Many a great company once dominated an industry, only to become complacent and fall to its doom. Google and Apple are anything but complacent, but the pace of change is rampant in the rapidly evolving online and mobile marketplaces.

Here’s a few interesting tidbits:

According to data gathered by HitWise, the leading global online intelligence service, searches of one word comprise 24.13% of all search queries. People are lazy searchers! This may be valuable information to consider for PPC Advertising.

Google is testing personalized search results by adding information from users’ “public social graph” and integrating it into the individual’s search results pages. Google is using everything they know from users’ profiles, social networks and more to provide a customized search experience. Along with real-time search, these developments certainly change the search engine optimization (SEO) landscape.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned.

Google AdWords recently notified advertisers that, beginning this week, all ads that lead to sites on hosted domains must have display URLs that match their destination URLs exactly.  This change only affects advertisers who use websites on hosted domains and does not impact those who have display URLs that go directly to a regular site.

For Example:  JumpFly would like to advertise their blog to bring in new readers.  Before this display URL policy change, JumpFly would have been able to use the display URL www.JumpFly.com/Blog (or something similar if desired).  However, after this policy change is implemented, the example display URL would need to be www.Blog.Jumpfly.com.

Going forward, ads that do not include the additional information in the display URLs will be disapproved during the AdWords ad review process.  Google AdWords advertisers will be notified via e-mail that their ads require editing before they can go live and a suggested display URL will be provided.  Google is also encouraging AdWords advertisers to proactively adjust all ads that might be affected by this change.

This Google AdWords display URL policy change is understandable and conducive to the smooth user experience that Google prides itself on providing.  Advertisers not currently utilizing the services of a PPC Account Management company will need to go through the campaigns in their AdWords accounts to make sure their ads are compliant with this new display URL policy change. 

The Google AdWords display URL is a potentially valuable tool that is unused or underused by many pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers. Don’t make the mistake of neglecting this valuable piece of online advertising real estate. It can partially act as an additional advertising line if used wisely.

Yahoo! announced they will launch their new Network Distribution on Tuesday, January 19^th, 2010.  This upgrade to Yahoo! Search Marketing will allow advertisers to optimize their marketing campaigns and bid separately on Y! Search and Y! Partners.  This is an exciting development in the Yahoo! Search Marketing platform because pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers will be able to see which arena works best for them so that they can adjust their campaigns accordingly.

After the launch, Yahoo! advertisers will have 3 targeting options for their campaigns:

1. Entire Network – includes Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Partners
2. Yahoo! Search – includes all Yahoo! owned and operated properties and co-branded sites
3. Yahoo! Partners – includes all Yahoo! Partner sites (similar to Google’s Content Network)

Advertisers will be able to premium or discount bid (by percentage only) on the Yahoo! Partner Network, but not the Yahoo! Search Network.  This will allow advertisers and PPC Management Companies to customize their Yahoo! Partner bids in order to maximize their ROI from potentially undesirable sites. This is something we at JumpFly are happy to see arrive as we have been hoping to see it for quite some time.

Also announced is the new Google AdWords Importing Tool that allows advertisers to easily take their exported Google AdWords campaigns and import them directly into their Yahoo! Search Marketing account.  This innovation is going to be a huge time saver for advertisers and Pay Per Click Marketing companies because it deletes the tedious step of having to convert third party changes prior to importing Google AdWords campaigns.  Hooray!  We love time saving tips and updates like this here at JumpFly.  These types of changes make us way more efficient and just plain happier to be working in the Yahoo! Search Marketing platform.

Nice work on the updates Yahoo! – Keep ‘em coming!