Hot on the heels of Steve Jobs’ famous announcement back at the 2010 WWDC and in amongst the furore surrounding the iPhone 4 antenna, Apple is scheduled to launch its new iAd Advertising Network in the USA later on today.

The iAd network is designed to give advertisers access to the millions of individuals around the world who own an iPhone or an iPod Touch and is said to combine “the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of internet advertising” by allowing in-app, interactive adverts to be displayed on devices.

This will of course pitch Apple squarely against Google in the mobile advertising sphere and specifically create something of a high-noon standoff between Quattro Wireless, the mobile ad network Apple bought a few months ago and AdMob, the mobile advertising network Google acquired for an eye-watering $750m.

In a further complication, Apple recently changed their terms of service to prohibit any application developer from using an ad network associated with a company that distributes mobile operating systems, a rather roundabout way of saying “you won’t be using AdMob thank you very much”.

Apple claims to have $60m of media booked already, which they say represents almost 50% of the total mobile advertising spend in the US for the second half of 2010. Let the battle commence!

We’ve heard that Google have been testing new background colours for AdWords for a little while now and today we were treated to a delightful pink-coloured background, complementing the green, yellow and blue we’ve already seen. Here’s a screenshot:

Although they’ve been criticised for it in the past, one of the most fascinating things about Google is that they can and do rely on the data and the facts and in this case it will be interesting to see the outcome of the experiment. There are a whole host of factors at play here and obviously their aim is to maximise the number of clicks on the ads, thereby maximising their revenue. Unfortunately us picky humans are in the way of that and suffer from all sorts of ailments like advert fatigue, varying sensitivity to colour, varying monitor settings and so on.

What do you think of the new colours? Have you noticed? Do you prefer any of them over the others? Let us know in the comments below!

The last few months have been particularly busy for us here at Mackerel Media and one of the exciting projects that has been keeping us occupied is a search engine marketing campaign for Edinburgh Edge, a new partnership venture between Dalmahoy, Maximillion Events and the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA). It’s particularly fitting that we were approached by the team at IfLooksCouldKill to partner up on the project. Read more →

It’s official – Google is now using Site Speed as a factor in determining where to rank pages in its organic search engine results pages, following on from speculation that arose in November 2009 after a now infamous Matt Cutts hint.

Google has been using site speed as a ranking factor in its AdWords model for some time, but speed is now one of the 200 or so factors taken into account when ranking a page in organic listings, marking a fairly fundamental change and making it ever more challenging for web developers, web masters and search engine optimisers to achieve strong, high ranking positions. The knock-on effects will also be felt at hosting companies (particularly those who rely on the high-volume, low-service model) as more pressure is put on them to deliver web pages quickly, which itself can be largely dependent on the quality of code produced by programmers but also on the hardware provided, internal infrastructure, bandwidth available and connections. Suffice to say, those who invest in high-quality infrastructure and fast connections will feel the benefit as clients migrate towards them, as will developers who take the time to produce efficient, clean code that doesn’t get in the way of the user experience.

The team at Google are keen to stress that the impact is likely to be minimal, saying:

While site speed is a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal in our implementation and the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point. We launched this change a few weeks back after rigorous testing. If you haven’t seen much change to your site rankings, then this site speed change possibly did not impact your site.

Speed has long been of interest to Google as they have carried out extensive testing on the impact of speed on how users interact with their search tools. In short, a speedier site means better click-through rates, higher levels of engagement and a generally higher degree of satisfaction.

The Paid Search world was alight with debate last week in anticipation of the European Court’s impending ruling on Google’s allowing bidding on trademark keywords, a matter brought to a head by a dispute with LVMH, Viaticum and Eurochallenges, all of whom took action against the search engine.

The crux of the case was that anyone is allowed to bid on trademarked keywords via the AdWords system and have their ads appear alongside search results, however, only the trademark owner may use the trademarked term in their ads (this is something lots of people outside the PPC industry are unaware of). The brand owners were concerned that ads directing users to counterfeit products were being shown, thereby violating their rights.

Very few people in the business expected anything other than a ruling in Google’s favour and the court obliged by saying:

“Google has not infringed trademark law by allowing advertisers to purchase keywords corresponding to their competitors’ trademarks”

Google’s Litigation Counsel responded in an official blog post with:

Trade marks are part of our daily life and culture, helping us to identify the products and services that we may be looking for. They are key for companies to market and advertise their products and services. But trade mark rights are not absolute.

We believe that user interest is best served by maximizing the choice of keywords, ensuring relevant and informative advertising for a wide variety of different contexts. For instance, if a user is searching for information about a particular car, he or she will want more than just that car’s website. They might be looking for different dealers that sell that car, second hand cars, reviews about the car or looking for information about other cars in the same category.

Why Was Quality Score Ignored?

I haven’t seen anyone mention the AdWords Quality Score mechanism and I do wonder why as it provides a certain degree of economic control in favour of brand owners in situations like this.

Speaking simply, if I decided to start bidding against an LVMH Trademarked term, my Quality Score would probably be much lower than LVMH’s as 1) my adverts wouldn’t use the trademarked term (so the click through rate would probably be low) and 2) I wouldn’t be sending someone to a site that was heavily associated with the trademark. The resulting low QS would mean higher click costs for me compared to the price LVMH would pay, possibly making my bidding grossly uneconomical.

Thus, despite the threat of lawsuits and general opprobrium, there is also a serious and possibly terminal financial disincentive inherent in the AdWords system that actively discourages bidding against any brand term that isn’t your own. They didn’t talk about that, did they?

Here at Mackerel Towers we’ve been rather remiss in keeping the blog up-to-date, a problem that anyone in the industry will be familiar with. The truth is clients have been keeping us fully occupied, clients like James Morrow Home Entertainment Systems, with whom we’ve been working for the past few months on an organic search engine optimisation campaign.

James Morrow are one of the country’s leading hi fi and home entertainment systems retailers, with an amazing shop in Edinburgh at Tollcross and a dedicated Bose shop in Glasgow. Putting the emphasis firmly on service and advice, the company offers customers a huge range of equipment and a bespoke installation service to customers around Scotland. Brands the company carries include Sonos, Linn, Creek Audio and Cyrus amongst many others. Incidentally, if you haven’t heard a Cyrus separates system in full flow, get down there and have a listen – you’ll be amazed!

Our work covers organic optimisation of the James Morrow site, along with a healthy dose of link-building and promotion, with a particular focus on the local Edinburgh, Glasgow and Scottish markets. Already, results are looking good, with across-the-board ranking improvements for target keywords, including a number of coveted position 1 placements on Google.

Being a digital marketing company, the vast majority of the work we do involves helping our clients market themselves more effectively on the web, managing search engine optimisation campaigns and pay-per-click accounts. However, we’re extremely pleased to announce that were recently appointed by the Scottish Tartans Authority to help plan and develop a business model and strategy for the online advertising opportunities they offer to their members.

This is something of a poacher-turned-gamekeeper role for us and one we believe we can bring significant value to through our experience of working with advertisers and understanding exactly what they’re looking for in an advertising product and by working closely with the STA to help them bring their offer completely up-to-date and make the most of the thousands of visitors they attract every month.

Focusing primarily on display advertising, we’ve worked with the Authority to develop a business model, ensure their new site (still under wraps unfortunately) has the capability to accommodate the adverts and select, set up and manage a suitably robust ad-serving platform.

After a detailed assessment of a range of systems, we selected the tremendously powerful OpenX system and we’re very excited to be working with them using their Community Hosted product, which is a perfect match for the Authority.

Speaking of the appointment, Brian Wilton, Director of the STA said:

“Mackerel Media was highly recommended to us and I have to say that Nick Craig’s patience in explaining (more than once!) the complexities of online advertising is above and beyond the call of duty. It’s very reassuring for technical trogladytes such as to have such expert advice on tap.”

If you are a publisher looking for advice on improving your product, or if you’re an advertiser looking to get the most out of your online activity, please don’t hesitate to contact us -we’d be delighted to help you out too.

Following on from a seminar conducted a few months ago, I’m delivering a day-long training course on SEO at Netresources in Edinburgh.

The course is designed for attendees who are new to SEO and will give them a grounding in a variety of principles and techniques that can be used to improve and optimise a web site. Some of the topics being covered are:

• Semantic HTML
• Web Development Techniques for SEO
• Researching & Planning SEO
• Writing effective, optimised content
• Building Links
• Techniques to Avoid

The course takes place on Thursday the 3rd of December, runs from 10am to 4pm, includes lunch and costs £300 + VAT per person. Note that the course is ILA approved.

For more details on the day and to book a place, head over to the Netresources site or call them on 0131 477 7127.

There are just 8 places available so if you’re interested you’d best book your place as soon as you can.

Hope to see you there!

- Nick

Following on from the SEO campaign we’ve been running for Glengoyne over the last year, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of their completely overhauled and revamped Online Whisky Shop.

Designed and developed by the chaps at The Weather, the new shop builds on the tremendous success and popularity of the previous incarnation, focusing in particular on sales of the Distillery’s excellent Personalised Whisky Bottles that are despatched daily to customers around the world. The new shop is powered by the very flexible Magento ecommerce software, replacing a bespoke system developed a number of years ago.

Our role was to ensure the new shop is as well-optimised for search-engines as possible and to ensure that  - from a search perspective – the migration from old shop to new went as smoothly as possible. We’re also carrying out a link-building campaign to get the shop in front of as many prospective customers as possible.

With the nights drawing in and Christmas fast approaching, there’s nothing quite like settling down in front of the fire with a good book and a dram of beautiful whisky. And where better to buy that whisky than direct from the distillery? Get on over there!

The word ‘integrated’ is used a huge amount these days by anyone and everyone in the marketing industry and a lot of the time it doesn’t really mean much at all. However, I saw a superb banner ad for Seasick Steve’s new album this morning and realised firstly how good banners can be and secondly, how good a real integrated campaign can be.

For those of you who have been under a rock (or a rusty ol’ combine) for the past few years, Seasick Steve is a blues guitarist and singer who made his first major public appearance on the Jools Holland show back in 2006. Since then his ‘authentic’ and pared-down music has found favour with a massive audience around the world. I saw him in Hyde Park earlier in the year and was hugely entertained by his sliding, twanging and hollerin’.

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