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Friday, January 28, 2005

Lets take a look at Google:
How does Google make money?
We make most of our money from the sale of advertising, which appears adjacent to our own search results and on sites maintained by a large network of publishers across the web who participate in our AdSense program. These ads, known as AdWords, are automatically matched to the content of the page on which they appear by our proprietary software. On Google properties, ads are always clearly identified as such and are physically separated from the algorithmically derived search results.

Google does not sell placement within our actual search results. We believe paid advertising can provide information as useful as search results, but that users should always be able to distinguish between the two.

When does Google's fiscal year end?

Our fiscal year ends with the calendar year. Our quarters end on March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31.

How many employees do you have?

As of September 30, we had 2668 employees located around the world, although most are at our Mountain View, California headquarters.

Investor Information

When was Google's initial public offering, and at what price?

Our IPO was August 18, 2004 at a price of $85 per share.

Where is Google traded?


Shares of our Class A common stock are listed on The NASDAQ National Market under the symbol GOOG. Our Class B stock is not publicly traded.
http://www.hipstercards.com

How can I invest in Google?

You can purchase stock in our company through a brokerage or stock purchase service of your choice.

What is a transfer agent? And who is yours? How do I contact them?

A transfer agent is a regulated organization that keeps track of stockholder records and information. Contact these folks for information about your shares.


Equiserve
150 Royal Street
Canton, MA 02021
(866) 298-8535
http://www.equiserve.com/


Does Google pay a cash dividend?

http://www.i5design.com

No, we have never declared or paid a cash dividend nor do we expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.
http://www.pharmadirections.com

When does Google report earnings?

We plan to report our earnings during the third week of the month following the close of each quarter, except at year end, when we will take an extra week. Our next earnings release will be on Tuesday, February 1, 2005. Click here to access an archived version of our 2004 Q3 earnings release
webcast. http://www.franchisegiant.com

When is the Google Annual Shareholder's Meeting?

We haven't scheduled one yet, but it is likely that we will hold our first stockholder meeting in the spring of 2005. We'll post more details as the time approaches.
http://www.sentrysafetysupply.com

Does Google have a direct purchase plan?

No, we don't. Shares of Google Class A common stock can be purchased through a broker or stock purchase service of your choice.
http://www.thehondapartsstore.com

Literature Requests

How can I receive financial literature from you? http://www.getappraisers.com

That's easy—just ask for it by filling out this form or by calling 1-866-INV-GOOG (866-468-4664).

My mail carrier will be pleased not to have to lug around your annual reports. Can I request that annual reports and proxy statements be sent to me electronically rather than through the mail?
http://www.tndui.com

Sure you can—we think saving trees is a good idea. Just let us know what information you would like and where we should send it. We will be happy to forward electronic copies of annual reports, proxy statements and proxy ballots to you as they become available. Please complete the form on the News & Events page to receive information via email.
http://www.paragonbankmortgage.com

Investor Relations Contact http://www.napcousa.com

Who can I contact about specific investor relations issues? http://www.sunseekervacations.com

If you can't find the information you're looking for on our website, email us here:

investors@google.com.

Or write to us here:
Investor Relations
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Friday, January 21, 2005

Pay Per Click Fraud - Paid Search Engine Marketing
PPC Click ManipulationCosts Companies Thousands

WebMasterWorld Post:Walked in this morning, had 6000 clicks before 12:30 eastern on a term that received 61 clicks yesterday.
I wanted to run down with everyone the steps we took to identify it, in case some people are curious as to how you catch it.
Steps for investigation that we took:
1. Observed a much higher than normal traffic volume (we're talking orders of magnitude higher)
2. Looked at my AdWords account, figured out these clicks were content and not search clicks.
3. Traced it to a specific keyword via our tracking system, then dumped all session information originating from that word and the AdWords source (we use a SQL based landing page system, so it's an easy 5 second query)
4. Compared offending IPs with known open proxies. No match, and the most clicks by a single IP was 7. So there was really no patterns within the IPs that were clicking.
5. Sorted by referrer in Excel, noticed that most clicks were originating from three main AdSense pages
6. Noticed that those AdSense pages had nothing on them but ads for this particular word. I assume they're getting the ads targetted to what they want via mediabot cloaking.
7. Phoned Google, talked to a helpful girl named Kate, who agreed that the clicks looked odd. She offered to pass the offending sites onto the AdSense team, and sent me a form to fill out for information.
Time to resolution: Approximately 15 minutes
The moral of this story is that you need to be measuring everything having to do with your AdWords account, especially considering Google does not break out content clicks within your account. It is quite easy to detect simple clickfraud on a large advertising campaign by tracking and observation. You don't need expensive products.

Companies that are addressing pay-per-click fraud and have used the techniques above to reduce PPC expenditures: www.i5design.com, www.gameinstinct.com, www.pharmadirections.com, www.lucasandassociates.com, www.sentrysafetysupply.com, www.paragonbankmortgage.com.

Breaking News: Phone calls from 2 high level google editors confirm that a french court has found google guilty of trademark infringements relating to the google adwords ppc system being used in France. More details on this story will be posted as soon as we have legal clearance from our attorneys.

For more information about PPC fraud and a leading ppc fraud law firm click here:
http://www.peakpositions.com/

Carol Jacobsen
Database Optimization Administrator
Peak Positions, LLC

Monday, January 17, 2005

The demand for Natural Website Optimization is at an all-time high. As Pay Per Click rates continue to increase, PPC traffic conversions on a decline, and questionable ppc management invoices arriving daily, paid search marketing budgets are evaporating more rapidly than ever before and the pendulum has definitely swung back to favor organic SEO consulting services.
"In recent months, demand for our firm's core organic/natural website optimization services has increased substantially", reports Jack Roberts, Vice President, Director of Client Services at Peak Positions, LLC a leading organic/natural website optimization company based in Traverse City, Michigan. Many leading Fortune 500 B2B companies and major online shopping portals have decided that securing and maintaining premium keyword positions in the organic search results is a critical component of their online marketing strategy.
After months of combing log files and analyzing site traffic reports seeking to stop the PPC bleeding and establish tighter PPC cost controls, upper management teams now realize that new users being delivered to their company site by the organic search results are far more valuable. Site traffic from the organic search engine referrals tend to be more qualified and in-market and thereby much more likely to convert versus the often curious, fickle, price conscious, and costly PPC referrals.
Organic keyword searchers are naturally motivated to click through and discover more about the web sites and/or companies that are ranking high in the organic search results. Searchers are quickly persuaded by the web sites holding peak keyword positions in the organic search results.
If Google, Yahoo, or MSN are finding a site content relevant and worthy of premium keyword rankings, thereby endorsing the site and its content(s), their keyword searchers tend to follow the search engine's organic results lead and click through. Also PPC click traps and bait & switch paid search advertising gimmicks have been in place for years. Many internet keyword searchers have been fooled by mislabeled PPC ads in the past and are not interested in possibly experiencing further frustration with misleading PPC sponsored ads.
Internet focus groups are showing that nearly 30% of all keyword searchers are ignoring the paid search listings entirely. Roberts added that, "these new keyword search industry studies are completely in sync with recent Pew Internet Research studies reporting that organic keyword search click throughs volumes are outpacing PPC sponsored ads by a 6 to 1 margin, and if the keyword query is B2B related, top 20 organic rankings are outpacing the PPC sponsored ads at nearly an 8 to 1 clip".
B2B keyword searchers tend to be more search engine savvy and content-focused seeking to interact with high ranking sites in the non-partial and objective, editorial search results vs. sites from companies that are forced to buy their limited search engine results page exposure. The new line of thinking by many searchers is that: "if Google TRUSTS the site...then I can too".
Larger companies are realizing that top organic search positions help establish confidence with in-market internet keyword searchers, and that the implied search engine database endorsement creates a positive brand impression that helps condition searchers preceding their arrival to the site. New website arrivals delivered by the organic keyword search results are in a better mindset upon arrival to the site, making them more accepting of the product(s) and content offerings and much easier to convert.
All of these internet marketing and website usability factors are increasing demand for organic website optimization specialists, especially those firms with strong performance track records, high client retention rates, and proven organic SEO capabilities.

Donald Bice
Senior Project Engineer
Peak Positions, LLC
www.peakpositions.com