A quick post regarding news from my native land - the majority of Americans do not like advertisements, discounts, and news tailored to their interests via online tracking, reports NYTimes.  The poll, backed by professors at UPenn and UC Berkley, is "the first independent, nationally representative telephone survey on behavioural advertising."



I wonder if it's this simple - that Americans dislike targeted media, or if the fear of privacy invasion what preoccupies their minds?  Either way, targeted advertising via tracking isn't going away so they better get used to it.  Looks like the youth are slightly more open minded to it.

I can't imagine not wanting things tailored to my interests. I'm not as bored when exposed to advertising, I dare suggest I'm even, on occasion, informed!  Except for that spotify advertisement about killing motorcyclists while I drive (complete with splat noise), b/c I don't even have a license.

What do you think? Are these Americans simply naivete to the benefits of target marketing which results from online tracking? Are they justified to be flipping out about privacy concerns - that marketers are "spying" on them when they visit the marketer's sites?  Let me know!

Looks like Google is trying out some new ways of displaying SERP URLs.  In this image (taken by @robhammond), Google is sharing the location of a results page within a site by including the page's breadcrumb string instead of just using the first 51 URL characters.




The Renault UK results page (#7) has matching breadcrumbs on the destination page:



Today, a search for mobility provides the same results with "normal" URLs:

So what does this mean?  Should we all style out our sites with Hansel and Gretel in mind?  Keeping Google's usability priorities in mind, I think bread crumbs should be a mainstay in any site anyways.  Also, I do believe this is a feasible full time change we may see some time in the future. 

Displaying breadcrumbs in SERPs clearly maps out for searchers what section of the site their query result is located within; this will enable searchers to better read those URLs and have a clearer idea of whether or not that result is appropriate for their query. Also, if this is a going to be a major SERPs change, it's important the breadcrumbs don't go too deep since as always, there is limited character space.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this alteration plays out - if you see any more examples shoot them to me @ChelseaBlacker or chelsea.blacker@baseonegroup.co.uk .

Base One Search has extended it's Search Team family with another talented Search "geek", welcome to Mathias Ahlgren!

Mathias is originally from Sweden (can you belive it? The Norwegian has hired a Swede, it's Eurovision all over again!), has lived in Australia for 3 1/2 years and came to the UK in August this year with his lovely Australian wife (yeah sorry girls he's taken). Mathias has a strong background in online marketing and developed a keen interest for search engine marketing through his big passion for domaining (parking/selling and buying domains). He is also super positive and excited about Search, which is a must in this industry.

Mathias Ahlgren - The SEO Swede



Although Mathias has only been with Base One for a week and a half, he is already contributing to the team and not only learning but also sharing his knowledge. In fact, you will see his first blogpost on B Search blog here very very soon!! (in about 10 min once I have posted this lol)

Again a very welcome to Mathias (pronounced mateeas), let's rock the SERPs!