Resellers online , trademarks & Google

I-Search Digest
Understanding Internet Search Technology
2004-01-15| Issue #582
MarketingWonk: Archives (online marketing and advertising news sorted by date and category)

Google has informed me that the trademark owner has complained about
the improper use of their trademark in our listing:

----------------------------------------------
Campaign: 'New Drivewerks Campaign,' Ad Group: 'Ad Group 17'
----------------------------------------------

KEYWORD(S): LifeLine, LifeLine Safety Kits, LifeLine Safety Travel
Kits, Lifeline First Aide Kits

Action taken: Disapproved
Issue(s): Keyword trademark term
~~~~~~~~~

SUGGESTIONS:
-> Keywords: We have disapproved the trademark term "Lifeline" and/or
variations of this keyword in your Google AdWords campaign.


This indeed opens up a huge can of worms. Suppose that you sell
automotive parts for Fords. If you can't use the name "Ford" in the search
listing, then the applicability of your paid-search listings is nearly
worthless. It would appear that it would be only a matter of time
before Google starts receiving hundreds of letters from trademark owners who
want AdWords listings pulled from the Queue (let's eventually include
Overture in there as well). If this continues, it will indeed have a
profound impact on paid search results. For example, if you typed in
"Cisco Routers" into Google, 100% of the AdWords listed use the
trademarked name "Cisco."

Trouble is brewing, any comments anyone? I'm going to have my SEO firm
(BeyondInk.com) look into alternative ways around this problem...


One question becomes, is your issue with Google or with the trademark holder? In particular, there is a big problem of trademark-holder-reseller relations that may speak to an unhealthy relationship there more than it does to any issue with Google and how they handle issues (or to the law, for that matter). Interestingly, though, such issues have been around for quite awhile in SEM even where one is not paying for keywords. There is competition amongst, for example, whether a weight-loss-company franchisee will get traffic to their site on certain keywords ("Jenny Craig South Florida") or whether the parent company takes a stand and begins making all sorts of demands of its franchisees regarding their marketing methods (including content, page titles, meta tags, etc.). It's a messy business and very often not somethng Google is in a position to solve. To their credit, in asking for a ruling on the American Blind case, Google seems to have taken the initiative in wanting to establish some legal principles where there currently are few precedents. You're quite right, though, a seller of Ford parts needs the leeway to be able to advertise to buyers of these, and surely, it should be neither Ford's nor Google's decision whether they're allowed to do this. Google would probably rather allow it, but they need the sanction of a court ruling or two, presumably, to give them the confidence to resist large trademark holders' complaints. In your case, unfortunately it seems that you might have to actually pursue legal action to be reinstated on those terms. It would not be a terrible idea to contact Google directly first to state your case,

Google Fans Fill Web With Buzz Over IPO (TechNews.com)

Google Fans Fill Web With Buzz Over IPO (TechNews.com): "going public is not Brin's and Page's first choice. Both have indicated in past statements that they're in no hurry to do an IPO. But because of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations governing private companies of a certain size, Google would be forced to disclose its financials this spring even if it didn't go public. Since the company will soon lose a key benefit of staying private, most Google analysts consider it a near-certainty that the company will try to reap the rewards of going public. And the rewards could be enormous. "

Prospect Google IPO similar scenario to netscape...

People worth looking up....HSMAI names top marketing minds in hospitality

HSMAI names top marketing minds in hospitality: "HSMAI's 'Hot List' of 25 Most Extraordinary Sales & Marketing Minds in Hospitality & Travel

- Mickey Arison, CEO, Carnival Cruise Lines
- Jim Berra, Vice President, Loyalty Marketing, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
- Dan Collins, Vice President of Marketing, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
- Amy Curtis-McIntyre, Vice President of Marketing, JetBlue
- Mike Dimond, CHME, Senior Vice President of Marketing, The Broadmoor Resort
- Dorothy Dowling, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, ARAMARK, Sports & Entertainment
- Dan Hanrahan, Senior Vice President, Royal Caribbean
- Vicky Freed, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Carnival Cruise Lines
- Dave Hartvigsen, Senior Vice President of Lodging, Intrawest
- Priscilla Hurley, Director of Marketing Communications, Affinia Hospitality
- Dave Johnson, CEO, Aimbridge Hospitality
- Andrew Jordan, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing & CMO, Wyndham International
- Mike Leven, President & CEO, US Franchise Systems
- David Neeleman, CEO, JetBlue Airways
- Jill Noblett, Vice President of Loyalty and Direct Marketing, Cendant Corporation
- Betsy O'Rourke, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Travel Industry Association of America
- Steve Pinetti, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
- Spencer Rascoff, Vice President, Hotels and Packages, Hotwire.com
- Michael Reichartz, Vice President, Lodging, Expedia.com
- Barry S. Sternlicht, Executive Chairman, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
- Tom Storey, Executive Vice President, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- Jens Thraenhart, Director of Internet Strategy, Fair"

Google adds travel search tools

Google adds travel search tools: "Google has also added new travel-related tools, allowing users to check the status of U.S. flights by typing a flight number into the query bar, or check the weather at a particular airport by entering the airport's three-letter code and the word 'airport.' "

Mike Grehan - Yahoo v Google

Features: "Unless you've been living in Saddam Hussein's last known address for the past month or so, then you may not be aware that Google is being ousted from Yahoo! And in its place comes Inktomi. Hence Yahootomi"

Search Engine Wars - Innovate To Survive in 2004

Search Engine Wars - Innovate To Survive in 2004: "Search Engine Wars - Innovate To Survive in 2004"

Google special searches

Just a reminder:
Free Pint - Helping you use the Web for your work: "TIP OF THE MONTH: Some Hidden Google Tools

I know, I know... you're already an expert Google searcher, and you've been using Google since you were in short pants (now, that's an expression that dates me, isn't it?). But I'm still going to toss out a few tools and resources that you might not have found already.

* If you want all of Google's tools and options conveniently displayed on a single screen, try FaganFinder (http://www.faganfinder.com/google.html). I like it because I am reminded of all the choices I have and settings I can tweak, including toggling the Duplicates Filter on or off, using the file format search, and setting the number of results per page. It even has handy links for typing non-English letters.

* Right now, the only search engines that support the 'NEAR' operator (search for this word within X words of that word) are Alta Vista and MSN. But there's a nifty Google hack called Google API Proximity Search (GAPS) that lets you look for two words within one, two or three words of each other. Head over to http://www.staggernation.com/cgi-bin/gaps.cgi and try it out.

* Google has a synonym feature that lets you search for not only the word you type in the search box but also for some common synonyms of the word. The syntax is ~word, so, for example, if you type ~food in the search box, you will also retrieve web pages that have the word cooking, nutrition, recipe or restaurant. Sometimes that's a nifty tool, but it has its drawbacks. I tried ~aluminum and it not only retrieved pages with the British equivalent, aluminium, and words with the atomic symbol AL, but also pages that mentioned Weird Al Yankovic, Al Jazeera, Al-Anon, and the official page for the state of Alabama. Use thi"

google duplicates - ie resellers, affiliates etc

ResourceShelf: "See Also: 'Challenges in Web Search Engines'
This twelve-page paper was written by Dr. Monika Henzinger (Research Director, Google), Dr. Rajeev Motwani (Professor at Stanford) and Dr. Craig Silverstein (Director of Technology, Google). From the abstract, '...article presents a high-level discussion of some of the problems with information retrieval that are unique to web search engines. The goal is to raise awareness and stimulate research in these areas.' Content quality, spam, cloaking, duplicate hosts, and vaguely structured data are some of the topics discussed."

More on Google's Upcoming (We Think) IPO
The article quotes Peter Norvig, Google's director of search quality saying, "Google is all about providing access to information, not being a venue for ads." The article continues, "Norvig said that although the company offers paid search results, they're always clearly marked and never get in the way of the objective results that remain the company's focus."

And while we're on the Google beat a couple of comments about this quote and other matters.


A comment or two.
1) All of the major web engines are doing a good job of labeling paid content. The problem is that many people have no idea what the differences is vs. non-paid content.

2) One problem that Google runs into is how much of their database is duplicate or near duplicate content, something that the traditional research database tries to avoid. Expect more on this soon (much more study is needed) but a few examples right now

SEO Chat - Google - Google PageRank Primer

Neatly put:
SEO Chat - Google - Google PageRank Primer: "Be sure to always keep in mind that PageRank is not the same thing as your site�s ranking on the search engine results pages (SERPs). They are entirely separate items. PR is the relative importance of a page on the web, expressed as a number. The SERPs are where your site appears on a search for your keywords.

PageRank is not a series of equal steps; it is logarithmic in its calculation. In the same way that the earthquake Richter scale is exponential in calculation, so too is the mathematics behind Google PageRank. It takes one step to from a PR0 to a PR1. It takes a few more steps to PR2 and PR3. Now, it takes even more steps to PR4, many more steps again to PR5, and so on. Each level is progressively harder to reach."

Yahoo! News - Google Fans Fill Web With Buzz Over IPO

Yahoo! News - Google Fans Fill Web With Buzz Over IPO: "Jeremy C. Wright, a self-described 'Business and Tech type person' who asserts on his blog that the Google IPO 'is evil.'
The hype surrounding the offering, he writes, is 'creating a bubble-type mentality' that can end only one way -- with a bust.
He compares the Google IPO to another famous IPO, the Netscape offering in 1995 that is credited with helping set off the first round of Internet mania.
'Hopefully Google fares better than Netscape did,' he writes.
Most Silicon Valley insiders think it will, but no one can know for sure.
'What they've accomplished in five years is nothing short of remarkable,' said Think Equity's Moe. 'The question is whether they have what it takes to create the next act.'
Not even a Google search can answer that."

Brand Erosion, or How Not to Market Your Hotel on the Web / Critical Online Distribution Issues Revisited a Year Later / Max Starkov / June 2003

Brand Erosion, or How Not to Market Your Hotel on the Web / Critical Online Distribution Issues Revisited a Year Later / Max Starkov / June 2003: "Surveys show that overwhelming majority of customers will not stay at a hotel with a poorly done website that does not reflect well the hotel product and the destination. It is becoming a common belief now that if your hotel website is not up to par there is something wrong with the hotel itself.

Conclusion first but loads of meat here for selling totaltravel to small businesses...

Online distribution is here to stay. The Internet has changed the way travel is being negotiated, managed and purchased. By 2005 over 20% of all hotel bookings will be completed on the Internet. This year alone 13%-14% of all hotel bookings will come from the Web and 53% of them will be direct-to-consumer. How does your hotel company compare to these national averages and where are your competitors? If you do not fare better than the national average, you are already behind your proactive competitors.

It’s not just about selling over the Internet at any cost. You have to know that the Web can be either your best ally or your worst enemy. If your online distribution is skewed toward the online discounters, this can permanently damage your brand and price integrity. The direct-to-consumer model should become the foundation, the centerpiece of any hotel company's online distribution strategy. It provides the hotel with long-term competitive advantages and lessens dependence on intermediaries, discounters and traditional channels about to become obsolete.

There has never been a better time to embrace the Internet and Direct Online Distribution in particular. An experienced eBusiness hospitality consultancy can help you navigate and utilize the Internet to its fullest potential.


On the Search Engines:
Search engines are considered major brand builders on the Web. Hotel listings or paid advertising on Search Engines, Directories and Portals (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN) contribute directly to the brand building of the hotel itself. Due to the nature of these services and their perceived impartiality, the branding interaction is exclusively between the Internet visitor and the hotel. A natural (algorithmic) listing of the hotel website, paid hotel banner ad or pay-per-click sponsored listing directly contributes to the brand building of the hotel, not of the search engines.

Hotel listings and paid banner ads on the Online Intermediaries:
Some hoteliers claim that by positioning their hotels on the online discounters like Hotels.com, Travelocity or Expedia.com they are �branding� their hotels. We believe that this is a very na�ve justification for a very unhealthy Internet distribution strategy. And here is why.
When the Internet user lands on an Expedia.com page, due to the nature of this service as an online intermediary, the branding interaction is exclusively between the Internet visitor and Expedia, and not with the hotel-advertiser on Expedia. In this sense if an Internet user sees a merchant hotel listing or a paid hotel advertising banner on Expedia, the visitor considers this as a positive branding experience benefiting Expedia (“Wow, these guys even have the Waldorf Astoria! Good for them! I made the right choice to visit Expedia!”). Website users tend to view hotel listings and banners in the same manner as pop-up ads and promotional features such as “Featured Hotels” or “Hotel of the Week” and treat them as yet another marketing gimmick employed by the online intermediary to sell them more stuff.

The direct-to-consumer distribution model should become the foundation, the centerpiece of any hotel company’s online distribution strategy. Why? First of all, The Internet is the ultimate “Direct Distribution Medium”. Why direct distribution is so important? It provides the hotel with long-term competitive advantages and lessens dependence on intermediaries, discounters or traditional channels that are about to become obsolete.

Direct-to-consumer online distribution has the following benefits:

Puts the hotel in control of its Internet presence and exposure
Prevents brand and price erosion
Lessens dependence on online discounters and intermediaries
Is the shortest path to establishing interactive relationships with customers
Provides long-term opportunities to benefit from the lifetime customer value
Is the least expensive way to distribute hotel inventory--direct to consumer!
Direct online distribution is not just a theoretical, “ideal scenario” approach. Many surveys show that online customers prefer dealing directly with the travel suppliers, including hotels, when purchasing travel online.

Though some of the major brands have done a good job with their global websites, none of them fares particularly well on the local search engine level. For example, in order to be picked up by the search engines, a local Hilton property has to implement relevant copy and destination content with specific target keywords, description tags and meta tags that are completely different from the global Hilton.com website. It has to achieve link popularity on its own. Hence, the need a local branded hotel to pursue its own website and search engine strategy...

Online Lookers vs. Online Bookers

Another interesting phenomenon is the purchasing habits of online travelers. Jupiter Media Metrix estimates that nearly 60% of the online population in North America (192 million in 2002) uses the Internet to research travel. 50% of those researching travel information online (online lookers) actually make their purchases online (i.e. become online bookers). The other 50% look online, but book offline, due to privacy issues, security concerns, purchasing habits, or need to speak with a live agent to finalize the travel booking, etc.

PhoCusWright also reports that 50% of US Online Travelers looked online, but booked offline in 2001 (52% in 2000).

Simply put, if 100 people book on your website, at least another 100 will be influenced by your website to book your hotel, but will make the booking offline (via phone, walk-ins, etc). This underlines further the critical importance of your hotel Direct Online Distribution Strategy and your hotel website visibility to the bottom line.

Search by Location

Search by Location: "Search by Location FAQ" Google has very recently added structured Yellow Pages data (business names and phone numbers) to its Search by Location beta test. Formerly, search results were based exclusively on Google's algorithm. However, the inclusion of the new structured data, together with some additional enhancements, have tremendously improved the usability of the application.