Legal Search Marketing Blog

Who's Afraid Of Google? Everyone

Wired The December issue of Wired, takes a look at Google's many different ventures and reports on just who might be "scared" of them in the article and chart titled: Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone.

Bill Gates: MSN Search Will Soon "More than Match" Google in Terms of Relevance

Post from the Search Engine Watch Blog about Bill Gates predicting that MSN Search will pass Google in terms of relevance:

In an interview with Information Week, Bill Gates talks about Microsoft Research and speaks briefly about search and of course mentions a competitor that begins with the letter "G". Gates says that coming soon MSN will have "more than matched" Google in terms relevance. Here's the full passage:

Gates says:

Search is an amazing example where we relied somewhat on an outside company, Inktomi, which Yahoo bought, then decided to build our own search effort essentially from scratch. Now, in a very short period of time, we will actually have more than matched the kind of relevance that Google can deliver. The role of Microsoft Research in that has been phenomenal.

Online Service to Show Saddam Hussein Trial

Court TV's online service will offer full coverage of Saddam Hussein's trial when it resumes, perhaps as early as next Monday.

Court TV Extra said Tuesday it would show the trial on a 20-minute delay. It is scheduled to air from roughly 4 to 9 a.m. EST, with on-demand highlight clips also available.

Source: Law.com

Register Domain Names For Longer Periods

Go Daddy.com Encourages Longer Domain Name Registrations

I noticed today when I was registering a domain name at Godaddy.com, that they encouraged me to register for multiple years (see below), citing a portion of the recent Google patent application.  They are correct in that longer registrations would more likely indicate that its a legitimate web site, but it will take more then a multi year registration to get good organic search engine rankings!

Yet it does makes sense to register your domain names for multiple years, especially if you plan on keeping the web site and especially now that Google has made a reference to it. I would suggest a length of at least 5 years.

FROM GO DADDY:

As part of Google's recent patent application, Google made apparent its efforts to wipe out search engine spam, stating:

"Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith."

Domains registered for longer periods give the indication, true or not, that their owner is legitimate. Google uses a domain's length of registration when indexing and ranking a Web site for inclusion in their organic search results.

Search Marketing Conference in Las Vegas

I am currently in Las Vegas attending the Webmaster World search engine marketing conference. Its been a very good conference with many top name search engine experts speaking about natural search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, link building campaigns, legal issues involving domain names and much more.

Its amazing just how far Internet Marketing has become, you have people here from all over the world and people in every kind of business. When I first started going to these conferences back in 1998, nobody was there and nobody really seemed to think it was that important. Now everyone knows how important Internet Marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) is. 

Its still surprises me just how few law firms are actually doing any kind of SEO work. Its just a matter of time though before more lawyers get on-board because yellow page advertising isn't as effective as it used to be and most people just simply turn to the Internet when they are looking for something.

Problems With Yahoo Search Marketing / Overture

Ive had all kinds of problems with Overture / Yahoo Search Marketing, especially with them over charging my credit card. Then trying to get them to reverse the charges is a herculian effort, the customer service is not very good. It seems like many other people agree with me. Heather posts some rather damning criticism of YSM.

Ive talked with many other people who have basically cut back on Yahoo/Overture and put that money into Google adwords, thats a wise choice in my opinion. Not only does Google adwords produce more focused and qualified traffic, but you have more control, its easier to manage and Ive never had a problem with customer support. 

Top 10 Web Moments

The Webby Awards has a list of the top 10 web moments that changed the world.

Expert Legal Web Design Tips Article

Great article from Amanda Flatten of Law Office Computing about law firm web site design and search engine optimization for lawyers.

I contributed to the article and stressed the points that your law firm web site should be easy to navigate, full of useful content and be optimized for the search engines for keywords that are related to your law firms practice and geographic location. 

Its a good article with many useful tips from other legal web designers and marketers including Dale Tincher, Jay Jaffe, Larry Bodine, Peter Boyd & Swati Agrawal.

Verizon SuperPages.com Adds Features

From the Search Engine Watch Blog...

Verizon announced today that SuperPages.com now includes user reviews that lets searchers rate the more than 18 million local businesses, a new comparison shopping tool, and access to coupons and circulars from a particular local area.

Lance Armstrong wins cybersquatting case

Yahoo News reports about Lance Armstrong winning a cybersquatting case.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, a Texas-based charity set up by the American cycling champion to raise funds for cancer research, on Tuesday won the right to evict cybersquatters from websites selling LIVESTRONG bracelets.