Google may drop screen scraping of TripAdvisor and Yelp content to get government off its back

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may end its antitrust investigation of Google’s search business by letting the company make voluntary changes, “such as limiting use of restaurant and travel reviews from other websites,” according to sources who spoke with Politico and Bloomberg News.

The official decision is expected to be made public as soon as this week, according to the New York Times Bits blog.

Bye-bye, screen scraping

Two sources told Politico that the company had agreed to abstain from screen scraping synopses of reviews from other sites, such as TripAdvisor and Yelp, and stop incorporating them in its search results. (The company has already made some concessions. Last year, it scaled back using “snippets” of text from other sites in its results related to local businesses.)

Google would also commit to simplify the process for advertisers to port their rates and bidding data to rival advertising networks, such as Microsoft’s Bing. That means the company will make it easier for users of Google AdWords “to compare data from ad campaigns with their performance on other Internet search engines,” says Bloomberg.

The company will apparently also stop signing exclusive agreements with sites to use and promote Google’s search service.

A potential big win for Google

The probe is going Google’s way, if he reports of voluntary concessions are true. The company will have dodged a consent decree—a judge-approved deal that would have empowered the FTC to supervise specific Google search practices for a set period.

On the other hand, the deal could translate into a major concession by Google to content companies, such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. For years, Google has insisted that it has the right to copy and paste summaries from other sites, such as ratings and review excerpts.

Critics say the company uses these summaries in its search results to tip the scales in favor of its own products, an issue that’s become of more concern with Google having purchased and begun displaying travel content from ITA Software, Frommers, Zagat and other companies.

Apparently federal investigators are afraid they can’t prove that consumers are harmed by how the company ranks its search engine result pages (SERPs), according to an earlier report by Bloomberg. The company seems to be effective in its argument that the cost for consumers to switch to rival sources of information, such as Expedia or TripAdvisor is nothing.

Critics, including Fairsearch.org, had complained that that Google puts its own reviews, maps and services at the top of its results pages, a prime spot that draws most of users’ clicks.

There’s also apparently a lack of damning e-mails or other evidence that Google executives are deliberately trying to use its leverage to harm competitors. This may be the more crucial point. In the words of The New York Times, “the legal issue is the tactics the dominant company employs to expand its empire.”

As Tnooz has noted, Google hired 13 communications and lobbying firms to help fend off antitrust challenges. Critics insist there have been irregularities in how the FTC has handled its probe.

Source:http://tripadvisordatascraping.blogspot.in/2013/04/google-may-drop-screen-scraping-of.html

Using Yelp to Promote Your Business

If you have a business and you want to increase your exposure, then a great way in which to do so is with Yelp. Yelp is an online directory where people go when they are trying to decide what they want to do, where they want to go, or what business they want to use for whatever.

Because the world that now exists is an 'on the move' world, Yelp is great to use in conjunction with your business as more and more people are looking for what they need on the fly with their smartphones. Look at it this way, people are going to select somewhere to buy what they are after so you might as well throw your hat in the ring.

What makes Yelp unique in promoting your business is the fact that it is driven by customer reviews. So, the better your services are, the better your reviews will be and the more people will come to trust you as an authority in your niche market.

Best of all, Yelp is free to register with and only take a little bit of time in order to do so. Here are some pointers you can use when you are utilizing Yelp to promote your business:

• Be Thorough: Be sure you fill out all the available data so that you have the best chance of snagging potential customers. If you fail to fill out all your admin pages in full, your Yelp ad will look bad and potential customers are likely to go on to your competition. Use current information and be sure it is kept up to date.

• Advertise Offers and Specials: A great feature with Yelp is the ability to advertise discounts and specials to potential customers. Using this will have your offers show up in the 'Announcements and Offers' directory giving you an instant advantage over your completion that is not using Yelp.

• Address Problems: Should you get a negative comment on Yelp, they allow you the ability to respond. Do so in a professional manner and stick to the facts so you can still come out of a negative comment smelling like roses and show others your ability to solve potential problems.

• Use Badges: Yelp also allows you to add badges to your website or your blog sites. Use these badges everywhere you can think of online as they will be linked to your Yelp page and will allow potential customers to click and view what others are saying about you on Yelp. As long as you are running your business ship-shape, then this type of activity can only help you.

Using Yelp is a great way to get a leg up on your completion. While Yelp is not such a secret anymore, you can still take advantage of what they have to offer by making sure you please your customers every time. By doing so, you will grow your positive comments and this will set you apart from those who either have no Yelp account or have one, but do not groom it in the same manner as you do.

Suorce:http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Yelp-to-Promote-Your-Business&id=6051442

Collecting Data With Web Scrapers

There is a large amount of data available only through websites. However, as many people have found out, trying to copy data into a usable database or spreadsheet directly out of a website can be a tiring process. Data entry from internet sources can quickly become cost prohibitive as the required hours add up. Clearly, an automated method for collating information from HTML-based sites can offer huge management cost savings.

Web scrapers are programs that are able to aggregate information from the internet. They are capable of navigating the web, assessing the contents of a site, and then pulling data points and placing them into a structured, working database or spreadsheet. Many companies and services will use programs to web scrape, such as comparing prices, performing online research, or tracking changes to online content.

Let's take a look at how web scrapers can aid data collection and management for a variety of purposes.

Improving On Manual Entry Methods

Using a computer's copy and paste function or simply typing text from a site is extremely inefficient and costly. Web scrapers are able to navigate through a series of websites, make decisions on what is important data, and then copy the info into a structured database, spreadsheet, or other program. Software packages include the ability to record macros by having a user perform a routine once and then have the computer remember and automate those actions. Every user can effectively act as their own programmer to expand the capabilities to process websites. These applications can also interface with databases in order to automatically manage information as it is pulled from a website.

Aggregating Information

There are a number of instances where material stored in websites can be manipulated and stored. For example, a clothing company that is looking to bring their line of apparel to retailers can go online for the contact information of retailers in their area and then present that information to sales personnel to generate leads. Many businesses can perform market research on prices and product availability by analyzing online catalogues.

Data Management

Managing figures and numbers is best done through spreadsheets and databases; however, information on a website formatted with HTML is not readily accessible for such purposes. While websites are excellent for displaying facts and figures, they fall short when they need to be analyzed, sorted, or otherwise manipulated. Ultimately, web scrapers are able to take the output that is intended for display to a person and change it to numbers that can be used by a computer. Furthermore, by automating this process with software applications and macros, entry costs are severely reduced.

This type of data management is also effective at merging different information sources. If a company were to purchase research or statistical information, it could be scraped in order to format the information into a database. This is also highly effective at taking a legacy system's contents and incorporating them into today's systems.

Overall, a web scraper is a cost effective user tool for data manipulation and management.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Collecting-Data-With-Web-Scrapers&id=4223877

Scraper Pro Gold - The Secret to ENDLESS Leads!

There are a number of reasons that home-based businesses fail today but the primary reason is insufficient lead generation. If you asked the average home-based business owner if they would benefit from having an unlimited source of sales leads available with just the click of their mouse, they would answer with a resounding "YES!" Fortunately, there is an answer to the dilemma where sales lead generation is concerned. It's called Scraper Pro Gold and it is one of the most unique yet effective sales lead generation systems on the market today.

The software enables you to harvest sales leads from the internet by using different targeted keywords. As an example of how this works, you can type in the keywords "home-based business" the Scraper Pro Gold system will pull in dozens of leads from a number of directories and search engines that relates to the keywords you entered. Additionally, you can use the names of different MLM products as keywords in order to obtain a list of their distributors which opens up more sales avenues for you.

Click Here to watch the Scraper Pro Gold video that we have posted there. Once you implement the system, you will be amazed at how quickly you will obtain hundreds of FREE sales leads which oftentimes include e-mail addresses, fax numbers, and phone numbers. You basically start contacting these leads asking them the question "Would your business be more successful if you had an unlimited source of FREE sales leads for life?" You can also contact home-based business owners as well.

Naturally, they are going to tell you "YES" which will give you an opportunity to discuss how the Scraper Pro Gold system works. This is by far the easiest software that you can use and operate. You simply type in the keywords, then choose the directories and search engines (as well as the states) that you want to target. After that, just let the system run and see how you will never have to purchase any sales leads again. It's just that simple.

You're probably wondering "if the system is so great, why do you want to share it with others?" The main reason is that the company that created and developed the Scraper Pro Gold software system has created an outstanding referral program that you will quickly benefit from, along with the multitude of leads! If you visit the scraper pro gold website here, you can learn more about this amazing system and get started generating unlimited FREE sales leads TODAY!

Best of all, there is only a one-time fee for marketing this program and starting to generate hundreds, if not thousands, of ongoing sales leads. You can create revenue in one of two ways with the Scraper Pro Gold system. You can either contact your leads and start telling them about the primary program, or you can sell the program to others if you want. One way or the other, you're going to generate an unlimited amount of leads and start benefiting from the system immediately!

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Scraper-Pro-Gold---The-Secret-to-ENDLESS-Leads!&id=5106877

Corporate Website Development Marketing Tips

Corporate website development is much more than just creating your website and putting it online. When developing your site you must consider marketing as a foundation to the development of your online presence. Businesses who fail to approach development from a marketing mind often find themselves dissatisfied with results of their site.

Corporate Marketing Tips

These are a few things to consider when developing your site that you want to make sure you communicate with your developer. Remember, often times people who develop or build websites are good at the technical aspect of the process but have minimal knowledge as to the successful marketing implementation.

1.Prominent and focused call to action - this is the process of leading your visitor down a path that is predefined by you. Most websites fail to guide the visitor down a specific path, which results in a site that does not perform as it should. An example of this could be a video that invites the visitor to put in their information to receive something of value. Additionally, it could be as simple as direct verticals that is has clear navigation and specific action.
   
2.Social media integration - the online world has drastically changed with social media being a driving force effecting the way we communicate and validate as a culture. This corporate website development marketing tip is critical if you want to engage your visitor. Social media integration can drastically increase your marketing results as other people share and approve of your content.
   
3.Blog Integration - this is a must for any new corporate development. This concept is foreign to most businesses as they don't understand the value in having a blog integrated on their corporate site. There are many reasons why a blog should be included. A few main reasons include, adding value to the visitor, giving people a reason to come back to your site, creating relevance in the search engine and increasing website authority.
   
4.Niche Keyword Research - this is a major downfall of most online development companies. They are able to make a nice looking site, however, they fail to understand the importance of developing the corporate website around the keyword research. Think of keyword research as the foundation, just as if you were to build a sky scraper, the strength of that structure begins with laying the proper foundation.

These are just a few of the important marketing tips to consider when developing your corporate website. Focusing on these will position your site ahead of those in your market who don't understand successful online asset development.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Corporate-Website-Development-Marketing-Tips&id=6087459

Promoting Your Website Through Writing Articles

One of the most popular methods of helping your website is through the writing of articles and then publishing them on websites / ezines who allow articles to be submitted. There are several things to bear in mind for the successful use of articles.

1. For articles to have the best effect they should not be duplicated on your site. If you submit articles already on your site, you will lose the unique content from your site. Unfortunately this approach does mean hard work. If you write a good article it seems a shame not to have it your own site as well. One approach I would suggest is that if you wanted to promote "yoga exercises" I would first create good pages and articles about "yoga exercises". I would put these on my own site. (Before promoting a site you should make sure there is something worthwhile promoting). Then I would write an article specifically for the purpose of promoting this site with appropriate links. This means no matter how many times the article gets copied you will not get any duplicated content issues and not be associated with "scraper sites"

2. Of course there are no hard and fast rules, some people have said they have reproduced their own articles without any adverse consequences. Also it may depend on your goals of writing articles. If it is really good article publishing it in more than one place may give you the benefit of having many people reading it. However I would be careful about doing this too much, especially since Google is likely to be working to devalue this SEO technique.

3. If you want to promote a site on "yoga exercises" make sure you write articles on a related theme. This might be general articles on yoga, meditation, personal well being e.t.c. Links will only be valued when they come from sites and articles with the keywords you want to promote.

4. Related to the above point is developments from Google. Google is working hard to stop "google bombing". Remember the days when "miserable failure" used to return a page on an American President? Now it is no longer does, Google is increasingly suspicious of links from unrelated pages. Thus if you link to your yoga site from an article on "Varieties of English Cheeses during the late medieval period of 1600-1700". Google will probably view your yoga links as "link spam". It is not inconceivable your site may get a bad reputation with Google if you do this too much.

5. Correct linking from your article. Usually ezines allow 1 or 2 links in your article to your own site. To get the most benefit from link I would suggest this:

a) link anchor text of a keyword you wish to promote "yoga exercises" or "guide to yoga"

b) It is also useful to have one link as the site URL make it a live link. This means even if other sites strip out html you will still have a link.

c) Vary links. Don't always use the same resource box. Google likes natural links. Change the anchor link text, link to different pages. Don't just link to the homepage. The key is variety.

d) Putting links in the main body of the article will reduce the chance of it being copied by other sites. However for some articles I will still add a link in middle of text because these are more valuable than links at bottom.

6. The key to success is to write an article that other website will want to copy this will give you the widest exposure and maximum number of links. Good articles are informative, simple and easy to read. They are not ego driven. Also don't make a blatant sales pitch in your article. As Christopher Knight of  says "You are aiming to promote your article not your site"

7. Make sure your title has good keywords. It should be at least 3-4 words and be descriptive of your article. If the keywords are good it will improve your chance of getting good Google ranking for the article. In turn this will increase the chance of it getting copied by other sites.

8. Do try to have a good quality article so that it gets copied by good quality websites. There is little if any benefit from it being copied by many of the scrapper sites. (sites which offer no unique content but just copy others and then add Google adsense)

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Promoting-Your-Website-Through-Writing-Articles&id=434948