Google is in a constant battle with spam in its index and the problem has seemed to be getting worse lately. The latest algorithm change is one of the largest in the last few years and targeted at “content farms.” Content farms are sites that produce a ton of web pages about many topics for the sole purpose of ranking well in search engines. Some content farms have even been accused of (and blatantly are) stealing content from other sites and publishing it on their sites. As content farms have grown, Google’s results have become less reliable and less helpful. A couple of content farms that have received the most attention lately are eHow.com, ezinarticles.com and Mahalo.com.
In response, Google released the latest update to get control of the content farms and raise more unique and helpful web pages to the top of the SERPs (search engine results pages). Google said that roughly 12% of all queries experienced a noticeable change in the latest updates.
Was pharma hit by the algorithmic change?
Read Full Entry
Apple’s iPad is, and will be, a huge catalyst for change in pharma marketing for 2011 and beyond. I’m not suggesting that Apple will rule the category, there are several other viable “tablet/slates” coming to market as Leigh mentioned in her recent blog entry. However, I want to point out the impact of Apple is having on an industry.
In the lab we talk about trending and futuring – I wouldn’t call my iPad prediction a true “futuring” derivative. I’d prefer to call it “Deja Viewing” —reviewing the past to determine if anything similar has happened. Lets go back to 2001 when Apple launched the iPod. By 2004, the iPod line dominated digital music player sales in the United States, with over 90% of the market for hard drive-based players. In 2008, 42% of Apple’s $1.5 billion first quarter revenue was iPod sales. Read Full Entry
Google has announced that it is updating Google Social Search to include social media postings in the organic results based on relevance. Before this latest update, social results were posted at the bottom of the organic results. Below is an example of the new results page. The example shows a result for Matt Cutts (Google Search Spam Leader) when he posted about his trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro (third organic result down).
Google will also show when your friends are sharing links on sites such as Twitter that are relevant to your search queries. And finally, more control on what you share publicly and privately.
What does this mean for pharma? Read Full Entry
While roaming the thousands of consumer electronic booths at CES, I stumbled across one booth that I thought at first had nothing to do with electronics. Amongst the flashy lights, hottest gadgets and newest gizmos sat Marion Somers, Ph.D., (Dr. Marion) America’s leading eldercare and caregiving expert. As a reality TV lover, I was attracted to Dr. Marion’s promotion of “Dr. Marion to the Rescue” a reality show for three generations. In the spirit of “Nanny 9-11″ and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Dr. Marion travels across the US, visiting families who are burdened by the difficulty of talking care of an elderly loved one, providing advice and guidance to improve their lifestyle. The show is an entertaining, educational and heartfelt look into real families and their struggles, conflicts and triumphs. Relying on her nearly 40 years of experience, Dr. Marion helps these families work through their discord and physical barriers.
Click here to watch a a trailer of “Dr. Marion to the Rescue”
Read Full Entry
That’s what I told a potential client earlier this week when we were talking about the capability of new sales tools. He loved the interface, but asked: Why iPad?
A year ago, I would have never dreamed of leading with a business argument. Sure, Apple has long been the darling of our personal lives (flush with iPods and then iPhones), but far from embraced by the enterprise. IT departments decried the clever devices as rife with security challenges, compatibility issues, functional training gaps, etc. These were seemingly immovable barriers that banned Apple from the enterprise. But two things changed: Apple got more business friendly with its new OS and the C-suite got tired of waiting. CEOs around the country demanded that the addictive little tools that powered their personal lives be accessible for work, too. Read Full Entry
