Spam and Google blog search

Jonathan Bowers, January 11th 2007, 11:03AM

All across the news today are reports about spam levels. Image spam is one of the biggest problems in everyone's inbox but it's not just email that delivers spam. Chris Richardson believes that search results spam is a frontier on which Google must improve this year, especially within its blog search.

I have also noticed through the various Google Alerts that I have set up, the amount of blog redirects that are appearing in the blog search rankings. These are manufactured blogs designed to forward you away from what you are looking for and on to a spammers website instead. To further compound Google's problem, Chris points out that the majority of these 'spam blogs' are actually set up in Google's own software, Blogger.

We've already looked at Google's dominance of the search market on the blog this year and the possibility that the only avenues for catching Google lie in emerging formats such as mobile search but this brings up an interesting point. If search engine spam grows at the rate email spam has done how quickly will we be looking for alternatives to the engines that we currently use if the problem is not fixed?

Tags: search, spam
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Browser wars continue

Jonathan Bowers, January 10th 2007, 11:33AM

Browser usage statistics for 2006, provided by Net Applications show that Mozilla has once again decreased the margin between IE and Firefox. Two years ago Microsoft was providing the web interface for 90 per cent of Internet users. Now more and more people are moving over to the world's second favourite browser with Firefox enjoying an increase in users of 50% this year giving it 14 per cent worldwide.

And Mozilla's Asa Dotzler has started the New Year by taking a tough line on browser's communications with customers as it is revealled that Opera has potentially put customers at risk by not disclosing security vulnerabilities. Dotzler even goes as far as saying that arch rival IE would be more forthcoming with information than Opera has been.

The impact of IE7 has yet to be determined but I suspect that 2007 will be another good year for Firefox, which in my mind remains the market leader when it comes to innovation and company transparency.

Tags: browsing, communication
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The 'Next' big thing

Jonathan Bowers, January 9th 2007, 3:01PM

One High Street PLC that has announced its trading figures for the latter part of 2006 is Next. An overall increase, period on period, of 2.8% is attributed to strong sales through Next Directory and www.next.co.uk.

I was therefore interested but not surprised to learn that, according to Hitwise, words related to the Next brand accounted for almost one fifth (19.55 per cent) of all Internet searches in the UK in December for the Lifestyle-Fashion industry. When you consider that the closest competing brand was River Island with just 3.42 per cent, that's a terrific lead.

So how has the clothing giant managed to influence Internet users so dramatically?

A very simple name obviously helps. The single word 'next' accounts for over 14 per cent of the search terms in the category. It's much easier to type 'next' than 'debenhams', so when you are browsing on spec it is likely to be a key choice.

Having a range of routes to market also helps. Next Directory is the seventh most used term. The directory delivers a captive audience that grows with the Next brand and builds the company profile. And brand building offline and on has to be the biggest factor in Next’s huge popularity.

It's a stark warning to all those businesses that think clever PPC and SEO can deliver the market share and a suggestion once again that the nations High Street brands could be taking precedence online in 2007.

Tags: search_terms
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Does e-commerce need to compliment the high street?

Jonathan Bowers, January 4th 2007, 12:19PM

Music Zone announced its file for administration this week and it's very telling that it never sold online to compliment a burgeoning high street presence? As a relatively new retailer in the entertainments sector it's hard to understand why e-commerce was never part of the strategy.

Music Zone was unlikely to sustain competition on a large scale in the mainstream with HMV, Virgin and of course Amazon, but would it have done better by moving in a niche direction?

MZ Direct was the seed that could have given them a USP. The idea that they could find for a customer obscure DVD's, CD's, even band merchandise. However, this would only have worked had they created a user friendly online interface that allowed the customer to feel as though they were processing and discovering their desired item. Using the internet they could have made the product tangible and accessible.

It's astonishing that such a young company within that sector did not anticipate the direction the market is going in. In 2007, I wonder how many more high street companies will finally activate e-commerce solutions.

Tags: e-commerce
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Awards that encourage competition

Jonathan Bowers, January 3rd 2007, 4:07PM

At UKFast we've been running awards for the businesses on our network for a number of years now and the last group really has set a standard.

Not only did we have 100% more entries in 2006 but the judges found it much harder to choose the final winners due to the quality of the applicants.

What is great about the awards is that companies of all sizes are pitted up against each other and they all have an equal chance of winning.

The winners are a pretty good representation of the network really. We have big business with Sainsbury's Contact Lenses and small business with VRM Swansea's great number plate site. We've also got regional development agency North West Jazz Works winning the Community Award and global gaming giant Square Enix taking a web design award.

Our other big winner is the 2006 Internet Innovator, awarded to a business or entrepreneur that has brought a new concept to the web in the last year. This award goes to www.envirofone.com, which is part of the Eazyfone Group. In just 9 months they have made recycling of mobile phones a national phenomenon and over the course of 2007 they'll be taking the scheme right across Europe and beyond!

I'm in a privileged position to be able to work with all these great online businesses and more. Our winners and many of those that entered this year are representative of the best of the UK online and long may it continue.

Tags: awards
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