Nielsen Redefines Site Performance for Web 2.0
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The debate over hits versus page views versus unique visitors has taken a new twist, thanks to measurement firm Nielsen//NetRatings, which is scrapping page views in favor of what it deems more accurate metrics.
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A recent ComScore study showed that in 2006 International usage of Google grew 13%, projecting it to the #2 spot in the Top Global Web Properties list, nudged between Microsoft and Yahoo, which each grew by 5%. The ranking were judged by Total Unique Visitors in 2006, not page views or usage, if so, we&#8217;d probably [...]
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Performance monitoring group WatchMouse tracked load time and error tallies for 104 social media sites, and has deemed Facebook the top culprit for poor performance. But it's just one survey, and results may be suspect.
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Company aims to ease server management headaches with PHP tool set. Also on tap: updated tools for Web developers.
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Nielsen//NetRatings has issued the findings of their December 2006 search share rankings, which shows increases in year-on-year growth rates for every major search engine in the US market except for MSN / Windows Live Search: Provider         (000)    Growth   Searches Google Search    [...]
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Details of a new Microsoft Web analytics tool are available online.
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Hosted CRM company introduces a new framework for linking analysis tools to its applications.Image: Salesforce dashboard
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(InfoWorld) - Web 2.0 has come to search engine optimization. Or rather, search engine optimizers have discovered Web 2.0. That's according to experts who spoke on Monday at the Search Marketing Expo in Seattle. "We all go to Google and Yahoo and MSN and Ask.com and make them work for us, that's our job," said Rand Fishkin, CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz, an SEO (search engine optimization) consulting company. "Our job is now extended into this new realm." Fishkin and others said that they're carefully using social networking sites to improve traffic to their customers' sites and build their brands. By attracting more traffic and links, sites can improve their search rankings. Some of the social networking sites Fishkin likes to use are YouTube, Wikipedia, Yelp, MySpace, Flickr, and Technorati. Other sites, such as Digg, Del.icio.us, TechCrunch, and Reddit, can also be used to boost brands and awareness through viral marketing, he said. "Social media marketing is about going out to Web 2.0-style sites and approaching them with the mentality of 'I'm going to contribute to this community,'" Fishkin said. That's an important distinction because marketers that use Web 2.0 sites in ways that counter the community's accepted use can run into trouble. "If you break these rules, users get nasty," said Neil Patel, author of the Pronet Advertising blog andÂ CTO at ACS, a search engine optimization company. "They'll keep pestering you and really ruin your life." For instance, a company that submits lots of its own content, creates multiple accounts in order to vote repeatedly, adds biased content, and asks friends for votes will run afoul of most communities, he said. But Patel also had advice for how marketers make the sites work for them. For instance, he recommends working hard to grow your "friends" list. If a marketer submits content and a lot of people vote on it, that marketer should add those people to their friends list. "Or, if you vote on stories and others vote on the same, they probably have similar interests" and could also be added as friends, he said. Also, becoming a top user on one site can translate onto others. Patel is well known on Digg, and when he goes onto Netscape, people there recognize him and then "show me love," he said. MySpace can also be a good outlet to build a brand and improve a company's online presence, said Cindy Krum, senior SEO analyst at Blue Moon Works. Companies can have MySpace profiles for different brands or products or even for specific people at the company who may be well known. Videos, coupons for free stuff, games, and podcasts are all good content for attracting people to MySpace pages, she said. "It's especially powerful because [social networking sites] allow users to publicly affiliate themselves with a brand in a way that is highly visible to their peer set," she said. While some companies may think that their target customer doesn't fit with the demographic of people using many of these social networking sites, the experts say participating in the sites is still worth it. "It's a jump-off point," said Todd Malicoat, an Internet marketing consultant at Stuntdubl, an SEO consulting company. "It may not be my audience at Digg, but if they like what I have to say, it will get to Techmeme, and then I'll get in front of the demographic I really want to go after." They all agreed that social networking sites can really improve a company's online reputation, but only if used carefully. Patel's ultimate words of wisdom: "Do what is ethical, don't jeopardize your brand, think long term."
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IAC's comparison shopping site Pronto gets a Web 2.0 makeover.
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Telecoms companies are failing to make the most of the growing  popularity of the online information-sharing services of "Web 2.0",  according to new research 'Web re-loaded:  Driving convergence in the real world.' by  global consultancy Arthur D. Little.
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Cal Evans has posted his notes from the (just passed) Web Builder 2.0 Conference that happened over in Las Vegas. PHP had its presence there through Cal's "PHP Powers Mashups" talk and others like Chris Shiflett.   There was plenty to see and do at the conference besides PHP and Cal highlights just a few:  AJAX Optimization talks  An overview of some Flickr Stats Google's mashup offerings An introduction to  and some talk of benchmarking Ajax  Check out the full post though - it's jam-packed with links and some great event information.
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Taking the pulse on hot topics and social media sites for SEO insight
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CSS, Ajax and Web 2.0Ã¢ÂÂmore than mere buzz words, these are advancing technologies that bring vast improvement in the design and usability of web sites. What about search engines? Do these new technologies help search visibility or hurt it?
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Based off of a previous article from Mike Willbanks, Stuart Herbert has posted some of his own thoughts on tuning and tweaking your applications for the best performance you can get out of them.   There's some good advice in there, and I thought it'd be a good idea to quickly add a bit more detail about the separate approaches that Mike raises.   He goes over the APC caching, memcache, the "gzip trick", the "Not Modified" header and optimized SQL statements.   He also mentions one thing that Mike didn't mention - a split between static files (no PHP needed) and their dynamic cousins. Having a more pure Apache (no PHP installed) can help give a minute jump in speed that, depending on the size of the site, could really add up from a user's perspective.
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(Source: Ipanema Technologies)  This paper looks at the three key reasons why some applications do not perform well over the WAN. It then describes a list of pitfalls and tips that any network manager should be aware of when designing a WAN acceleration strategy. Finally, it describes how Ipanema is tackling the application performance challenge with an integrated approach covering optimization, acceleration and visibility.
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Blog: Nielsen metrics changes benefit AOL over Google by looking at the amount of time users spend on a Web site instead of just unique visitors.
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The explosive growth of Web 2.0 and user-generated content is changing the way we use the Internet and interact with one another. So congratulations, Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2006 is you.