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	<title>Natural Search Blog &#187; brand names</title>
	<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com</link>
	<description>Thought leaders in search engine optimization weigh in with the latest SEO news and commentary</description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 12 May 2008 15:12:23 +0000</pubDate>
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		<itunes:summary>Thought leaders in search engine optimization weigh in with the latest SEO news and commentary</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author></itunes:author>
		<itunes:category text="Society &amp; Culture"/>
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			<itunes:name></itunes:name>
			<itunes:email>ssblog@netconcepts.com</itunes:email>
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			<title>Natural Search Blog</title>
			<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com</link>
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		<item>
		<title>Online Reputation Management Through Search at SMX West</title>
		<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2008/02/28/online-reputation-management-through-search-at-smx-west/</link>
		<comments>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2008/02/28/online-reputation-management-through-search-at-smx-west/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:41:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Silver Smith</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Conferences]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand names]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Online Reputation Management]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Reputation Monitoring]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[reputation-management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2008/02/28/online-reputation-management-through-search-at-smx-west/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was interested to hear the presentations in the Reputation Monitoring &#38; Management Through Search session at the SMX West Conference yesterday in Santa Clara, and the five presenters didn&#8217;t disappoint.

(click to enlarge)
First up was Andy Beal, who I was particularly interested in hearing since this presentation came just after he announced his new online [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was interested to hear the presentations in the Reputation Monitoring &amp; Management Through Search session at the SMX West Conference yesterday in Santa Clara, and the five presenters didn&#8217;t disappoint.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvery/2297723469/" title="Andy Beal by Si1very, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3180/2297723469_62576bcaa5_m.jpg" alt="Andy Beal" height="240" width="180" /><br />
(click to enlarge)</a></p>
<p>First up was Andy Beal, who I was particularly interested in hearing since this presentation came just after he announced his new online reputation management monitoring service, <a href="http://www.trackur.com/" title="Trackur">Trackur</a>, and he also announced he&#8217;d have a number of free copies of his book at a booth in the exhibit hall later.</p>
<p>Additional speakers included Chris Bennett, Veronica &#8220;Niki&#8221; Fielding, David Wallace, and Jonathan Ashton.</p>
<p> <a href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2008/02/28/online-reputation-management-through-search-at-smx-west/#more-528" class="more-link">(more&#8230;)</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Should you buy search ads for your brand keywords?</title>
		<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/08/24/should-you-buy-search-ads-for-your-brand-keywords/</link>
		<comments>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/08/24/should-you-buy-search-ads-for-your-brand-keywords/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:17:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Silver Smith</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Monetization of Search]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Paid Search]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand names]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Atlas-Study]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand-ppc]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand-search]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft-Ads]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[paid-vs-natural]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Pay-Per-Click]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[ppc]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/08/24/should-you-buy-search-ads-for-your-brand-keywords/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I confess, as a search engine optimizer, I used to think that buying ads for one&#8217;s own brand name was a complete waste of money. After all, all companies should rank in top slots for their own brand name(s), if they&#8217;re doing their SEO right, and if you&#8217;re ranking tops then people will be able [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I confess, as a search engine optimizer, I used to think that buying ads for one&#8217;s own brand name was a complete waste of money. After all, all companies should rank in top slots for their own brand name(s), if they&#8217;re doing their SEO right, and if you&#8217;re ranking tops then people will be able to find you if they&#8217;re looking for you. As such, I thought that buying ads for your own name was just paying for clicks that should rightly come to you anyway.</p>
<p>But over time, I&#8217;ve heard other experts stating that their research shows that having ad presence for brands along with natural search ranking appears to enhance overall click through rates in a synergistic manner.  And, with greater experience, I&#8217;ve seen a number of cases when companies really <strong>should be buying their own brand name keywords</strong> for ads!</p>
<p>I see that George Michie over at the Rimm-Kaufman Group <a href="http://www.rimmkaufman.com/rkgblog/2007/08/23/brand-ppc-a-waste-of-money/" title="Brand PPC: a Waste of Money?!?" target="_blank">criticized a recent Microsoft study</a> claiming that some advertisers are wasting money by buying their own brands in paid search ads &#8212; and I think George was right to criticize this. Read on and I&#8217;ll elaborate&#8230;</p>
<p> <a href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/08/24/should-you-buy-search-ads-for-your-brand-keywords/#more-296" class="more-link">(more&#8230;)</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Build It Wrong &#038; They Won&#8217;t Come: Coca-Cola&#8217;s Store</title>
		<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/07/16/build-it-wrong-they-wont-come-coca-colas-store/</link>
		<comments>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/07/16/build-it-wrong-they-wont-come-coca-colas-store/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:01:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Silver Smith</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Worst Practices]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand names]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Coca-Cola]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Coke]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Etail-Optimization]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Online-Catalog-Optimization]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Online-Store-Optimization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/07/16/build-it-wrong-they-wont-come-coca-colas-store/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just wrote an article comparing Coke&#8217;s and Pepsi&#8217;s homepage redirection, concluding that Pepsi actually does a better job, though both of them did ultimately nonoptimal setup for the purposes of search optimization. Clunky homepage redirection isn&#8217;t the only search marketing sin that Coca-Cola has done &#8212; their online product shopping catalog is very badly [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font size="2">I just wrote an article <a href="http://searchengineland.com/070716-122159.php" title="The Coke vs. Pepsi Challenge: Who Redirects Better?" target="_blank">comparing Coke&#8217;s and Pepsi&#8217;s homepage redirection</a>, concluding that Pepsi actually does a better job, though both of them did ultimately nonoptimal setup</font><font size="2"> for the purposes of search optimization. Clunky homepage redirection isn&#8217;t the only search marketing sin that Coca-Cola has done &#8212; their online product shopping catalog is very badly designed for SEO as well, and I&#8217;ll outline a number of reasons why.</font></p>
<p align="center"><font size="2"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1012/825878502_d68497a6cb_o.jpg" alt="Coca-Cola Store" height="75" width="300" /></font></p>
<p><font size="2">In this article and in the redirection article, I&#8217;m criticising Coca-Cola&#8217;s technical design quite a bit, but I&#8217;m not trying to embarrass them &#8212; like any good American boy, I love Coca-Cola (particularly Coke Classic and Cherry Coke). In fact, this could ultimately benefit them, if they take my free assessment and use it as a guide for improving their site. I&#8217;m doing this because Coca-Cola is the top most-recognized brand worldwide, and the sorts of errors they&#8217;re making in their natural search channel are all too common in ecommerce sites. I chose Coca-Cola&#8217;s e-store because they make such a great example of the sorts of things that online marketers need to focus upon. If such a juggernaut of a company, with huge advertising and marketing budgets makes these sorts of mistakes, you could be making them, too.</font></p>
<p><font size="2"></font> <a href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/07/16/build-it-wrong-they-wont-come-coca-colas-store/#more-272" class="more-link">(more&#8230;)</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Coming Soon to NYC: The Googleheim Museum</title>
		<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/04/01/coming-soon-to-nyc-the-googleheim-museum/</link>
		<comments>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/04/01/coming-soon-to-nyc-the-googleheim-museum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Apr 2007 16:11:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Silver Smith</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand names]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Art-News]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Google-Sketchup]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Googleheim]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Guggenheim]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Margaret-Withers]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Museums]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/04/01/coming-soon-to-nyc-the-googleheim-museum/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[Source: SEO-AP] Due to budget cuts of the NEA and gross mismanagement by the Guggenheim Foundation board of directors, one of America&#8217;s top museums has been in danger of closing down in bankruptcy and selling off priceless artworks in order to repay debtors. However, Google [NYSE: GOOG] company has apparently made a unique sponsorship offer [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[Source: SEO-AP] Due to budget cuts of the NEA and gross mismanagement by the Guggenheim Foundation board of directors, one of America&#8217;s top museums has been in danger of closing down in bankruptcy and selling off priceless artworks in order to repay debtors. However, Google [NYSE: <a target="_blank" href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=GOOG" title="GOOG Stock Quote">GOOG</a>] company has apparently made a unique sponsorship offer to the Solomon R. Guggenheim, and the deal is apparently set to initiate on June 1.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvery/442129365/" title="Google Sketchup of Googleheim"><img border="0" width="240" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/442129365_9dcf5c1573_m.jpg" alt="Secret image of Googleheim - Google internal documents" height="126" /></a><font size="-1"><br />
Source: Google internal documents outed earlier today on Natural Search Blog.</font></p>
<p>Information related to the deal was discovered by this reporter while browsing through 3D images of buildings created with Google Sketchup (while researching an <a href="http://searchengineland.com/070326-120057.php" title="Google Sketchup Contest">article on Sketchupâ€™s University Contest</a>). Apparently, Google personnel had generated a new faÃ§ade of the building in the application in order to use the images in a proposal to bail out the museum. Due to a temporary glitch, links to the confidential building diagrams showing a new exterior could be found for a short while in the applicationâ€™s online data warehouse. These images showed a new logo reading â€œGoogleheimâ€?, apparently a cross between the well-known Google brand name and the Guggenheim name.</p>
<p>The proposed exterior showed the newly Google-ized logo broadly splashed across the museum, replacing the much smaller signature letters of the current museum name. Other information regarding the deal was leaked by a few unnamed sources within the company, and the deal was subsequently confirmed to by Google spokesperson, Erin Fors.</p>
<p align="center">
<p> <a href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/04/01/coming-soon-to-nyc-the-googleheim-museum/#more-222" class="more-link">(more&#8230;)</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Ultimate Local SEO Tactics</title>
		<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/03/01/ultimate-local-seo-tactics/</link>
		<comments>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/03/01/ultimate-local-seo-tactics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:45:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Silver Smith</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Local Search Optimization]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand names]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[city-names]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Google-Maps]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[local-SEO]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Mapvertising]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/03/01/ultimate-local-seo-tactics/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After I earlier wrote some Extreme Local Search Optimization Tactics, one of my SEOÂ coworkers, Steven Spaulding, &#8220;out-extremed&#8221; me by joking that one could go even further by getting a custom city name made from beneficial keywords! For example, one could end up with a street address like:
257 Viagra Drive, Cialis, Texas

(Ugh!Â I&#8217;m probably going toÂ regret using [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>After I earlier wrote some <a title="Extreme Local Search Optimization Tactics" href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/01/11/extreme-local-search-optimization-tactics/" target="_blank">Extreme Local Search Optimization Tactics</a>, one of my SEOÂ coworkers, Steven Spaulding, &#8220;out-extremed&#8221; me by joking that one could go even further by getting a custom city name made from beneficial keywords! For example, one could end up with a street address like:</p>
<p align="center"><strong>257 Viagra Drive, Cialis, Texas</strong></p>
<p align="center"><a title="Ultimate Local SEO" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvery/406573480/"><img height="238" alt="Map Illustration for Ultimate Local Search Optimization" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/406573480_b16016186d_o.jpg" width="251" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>(Ugh!Â I&#8217;m probably going toÂ regret using those keywords in my blog posting!)</p>
<p>Until Steven joked about this, it just hadn&#8217;t occured to me to even consider using a city name for keyword optimization purposes. It&#8217;s undoubtedly far-fetched, but I began to wonder, is it within the realm of possibility? Actually, I think it is. So here&#8217;s this post - an addendum of sorts on my previous article. Here&#8217;s two more local search optimizationÂ strategies which are so extreme, so over-the-top, that I&#8217;ll label them &#8220;Ultimate Local Search Optimization Tactics&#8221;. Someone with enough money and desire might be able to pull one of these off!</p>
<p>So, read on if you&#8217;re morbidly curious, and don&#8217;t worry, <a title="Dave Naffziger" href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/02/05/tempest-in-a-local-teacup/">Dave Naffziger</a>, these are so extreme that they&#8217;re unlikely to cause you to lose any sleep!</p>
<p> <a href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/03/01/ultimate-local-seo-tactics/#more-207" class="more-link">(more&#8230;)</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Pork Board Thwacks Mom to Safeguard their Money-Laundering Scheme</title>
		<link>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/02/05/pork-board-thwacks-mom-to-safeguard-their-money-laundering-scheme/</link>
		<comments>http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/02/05/pork-board-thwacks-mom-to-safeguard-their-money-laundering-scheme/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Feb 2007 09:57:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Silver Smith</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[brand names]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[national-pork-board]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[slogans]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[trademark-infringement]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[trademarks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/02/05/pork-board-thwacks-mom-to-safeguard-their-money-laundering-scheme/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So, the blogosphere was full up last weekÂ with postings about Jennifer Laycock, the well-liked search marketer who put up a website to support a breastfeeding nonprofit group. I heard her speak on Linkbaiting last year at SES San Jose, and she was fantastic! I&#8217;d even spammed some of our staff at my company with a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So, the blogosphere was full up last weekÂ with postings about Jennifer Laycock, the well-liked search marketer who put up a website to support a breastfeeding nonprofit group. I heard her speak on Linkbaiting last year at SES San Jose, and she was fantastic! I&#8217;d even spammed some of our staff at my company with a note mentioning that session.</p>
<p>Well, one of her fundraising methods is to sell t-shirts with humorous phrases on them referring to milk and breastfeeding, and the one bearing the slogan, &#8220;The Other White Milk&#8221; attracted the ire of the National Pork Board who own the trademark &#8220;The Other White Meat&#8221;. Laycock blogged about the <a title="National Pork Board stomps on breastfeeders" href="http://thelactivist.blogspot.com/2007/02/overzealous-big-pork-stomps-on.html">National Pork Board</a>&#8217;s demands, and many other bloggers jumped to her defense in a small blogstorm.</p>
<p>Most folx mentioning this failed to mention what use the National Pork Board has put &#8220;The Other White Meat&#8221; slogan to: avoiding controls on how they spend money. Read on and I&#8217;ll elaborate. <a href="http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/02/05/pork-board-thwacks-mom-to-safeguard-their-money-laundering-scheme/#more-198" class="more-link">(more&#8230;)</a></p>
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