Mediaboss Marketing

bY SANDRA GUY Business Reporter/sguy@suntimes.com March 22, 2012 3:22PM

The Internet contributed 4.7 percent of this countrys economic activity in 2010 more than the federal governments 4.3 percent, according to a study published Monday.

The study by Boston Consulting Group estimates the Internet, if viewed as its own industry, would generate $684 billion and be a bigger contributor to the U.S. economy than the federal government, which generated $625 billion in 2010.

The numbers reveal that the United States has the largest Internet economy in the world in absolute terms.

The fastest-growing Internet economies are in Argentina and India, the study showed.

The study considered the Internets use in e-commerce, consumer access payments, business investments and governments buildouts of web networks and infrastructure.

Since the day the first domain was registered in 1985, the Internet has not stopped growing, the report says. The scale and pace is still accelerating, and the nature of the Internet who uses it, how and for what is changing rapidly, too.

The study forecast that the Internet will grow 10 percent each year through 2016 in developed countries such as the United States and Europe.

The study also revealed that people in the United States would rather give up satellite navigation (84 percent), fast food (83 percent), chocolate (77 percent) and alcohol (73 percent) than forfeit their Internet user for a year. But a years worth of Internet access wouldnt be negotiable for giving up sex (21 percent would still trade it in favor of the Internet), their car (10 percent would give that up) and their morning or evening showers (7 percent), the study showed.

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Report: Internet contributes more than feds

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Internet AutoParts (IAP), the premier B2B eCommerce solution provider for the Automotive Aftermarket, today announced a long-term agreement with the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance (Alliance) that continues a more than 10-year partnership between IAP and Alliance members.

Internet AutoParts is an exceptional partner for Alliance members, according to John Washbish, Alliance President and CEO. Their commitment to service, performance and reliability is second to none. We are pleased to extend our relationship with IAP as a preferred partner and an option for all of our member companies.

IAPs products and services are tools participating Alliance members provide to Service Dealer customers to enable the Service Dealer to efficiently identify the parts needed to complete a repair and order that part. The Alliance network of stores and warehouses uses a combination of a distributor branded eStore and over 30 Shop Management Systems that integrate with IAP. This robust solution allows the Service Dealer to:

The IAP offering enhances operational efficiencies and overall shop management, providing Service Dealers with a sustainable competitive advantage.

We value our relationship with the Alliance and look forward to providing Alliance members with best-in-class solutions for their eCommerce needs for many years to come, said Scott Thompson, president and CEO of IAP. IAP is very pleased to be recognized as a preferred Alliance vendor and we are excited about the opportunity to continue our partnership into the future.

For additional information regarding IAP and their B2B eCommerce solutions, please contact IAP Sales at 512-527-8966, ext. 1, or email sales@iapshop.com.

About Internet AutoParts

Internet AutoParts is the premier B2B eCommerce company for the Automotive Aftermarket. IAP has been providing industry leading products and services to the Aftermarket for more than 10 years and currently serves over 148,000 registered Service Dealers and 19,000 Part Distribution locations. For more information, visit http://www.iapshop.com.

About the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance

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Internet AutoParts Recognized as Preferred Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Partner

Monday night Google posted an update on the Google Webmaster blog named Upcoming changes in Googles HTTP Referrer.

It read:

Very confusing - I thought, why would Google want to label organic search traffic as direct referrer traffic? Is that a privacy thing? Okay, don't pass keyword data, which you stopped doing since Google defaulted to SSL search. But now to take away the knowledge of the traffic coming from search vs a direct hit? Really?

You can read how confused I was about this on Google+.

Danny Sullivan reached out to Google for more details and got more information for his story named How A Google Change May Mistakenly Turn Search Traffic Into Referral Traffic.

(1) This only currently impacts browsers that can support the HTTP referer, which is only the latest version of Chrome.

(2) Google Analytics will automatically adjust to make sure this traffic is not labeled as direct traffic but rather search traffic.

(3) Google will communicate to other Analytics companies about the change in hope they adjust their software as well.

The issue here is, of my Google organic traffic, 33% of it is from Chrome users. And Google sends this site about 90% of it's search traffic overall. I am already missing 30%+ of my keyword data due to the (not provided) issue with SSL search.

Yea, Google has keyword data in Webmaster Tools, but it is not enough.

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Your Search Traffic Might Be Labeled As Referrer Traffic: Google HTTP Referer Change

Erin Everhart is the director of web and social media marketing at 352 Media Group, a digital marketing agency that also provides web and mobile app development. Connect with her on Twitter @erinever.

While the SEO game has changed drastically over the past months, one thing has remained fairly consistent: Its been driven by keywords -- keywords in your URL structure, your META tagging, your content, your links. Whatever way you slice it, keywords are everywhere in SEO.

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Even among Googles most recent algorithm updates -- Panda, Search Plus Your World and Venice, to name a few -- keywords remained relatively unscathed. But the upcoming update to move Google to semantic search technology, according to top Google Search executive Amit Singhal, is adding a whole new element to the game: the human element.

Semantic search uses artificial intelligence in order to understand the searchers intent and the meaning of the query rather than parsing through keywords like a dictionary. When you search now, Google gives you results based solely on the text and the keywords that you put in that search. Essentially, Google gives you its best guess.

When you use semantic search, Google will dive into the relationship between those words, how they work together, and attempt to understand what those words mean. Google will understand that their and theyre has two different meanings and when New and York are placed together, it changes the meaning.

Semantic search isnt a new concept. As early as 2008, search engines were popping up that focus on natural language over keywords. But were really only taking notice now because of Google. And Google is really only taking notice because of Siri and Googles response to Siri, Google Assistant, which will be out on Android devices later this year.

The support system of this semantic search will be Googles Knowledge Graph, a conglomerate of information aimed to answer possible queries that people will be searching for. Not only will Google understand what is being searched, Knowledge Graph will aim to give you more contextual information about it, not just a list of 10 other websites that could answer that question for you.

Keywords are easy to manipulate; intent, not so much. In order to rank well in semantic search, you dont just have to put your keywords in the right places, you have to figure out the actual meaning behind those keywords and create content around that specifically. That puts more emphasis on your keyword research.

Read the rest here:
How Google's Semantic Search Will Change SEO

Personally, I have been in the SEO game for 8 years. In my short time in this field I have come across very few people that inspire my SEO theory and challenge the way I practice. A little under 6 months ago I met Jeff at a Seattle SEO Network event. Quickly I understood that Jeff was this type of person. Jeff Sliger told us stories of a new SEO tool that his team was building, RankFixer.com.

When he was describing the tool kit he mentioned said, Think SEOmoz tools for the person just getting into SEO. The seo tool industry is dominated by players like SEOmoz, Raven Tools, and SEO Power suite (just to name a few). These tools require a robust understanding of the industry and have a steep learning curve.

Picture this. Lets say youre the marketing director at a small company with 15 employees. Your boss comes up to you and pronounces you the new director of SEO. Your thought is, Eh..SEO?Whats that. RankFixer supplies the needed information in an easy to understand format that will allow this person to exceed in their new role as the director of SEO.

Easy to understand analysis Once the tool produces results it also displays easy to understand descriptions of what the numbers mean:

Content Analysis The content analysis shows the on page elements that are critical to SEO. Each element is paired with educational copy regarding why the elements are critical to SEO.

Link Analysis: The link analysis section pulls data from the OpenSite explorer API (among other APIs) presents it in an easy to digest manner.

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RankFixer.com Enters the SEO Tools Market