Analyse This! - Google Buys Urchin

Google has purchased San Diego based web analytics firm Urchin for an undisclosed amount of cash and/or stock. Urchin is a web site analysis tool that allows users to study the habits of site visitors in order to get a better view of what they are doing when they visit a particular site. Understanding the experiences of site visitors allows webmasters to track the performance of their websites and better optimize content to meet the wants and needs of those visitors. Currently, Urchin tools are available as hosted services (run from Urchin.com), software packages (run from user's computer), or as the default site-stat service offered by many larger ISPs.

Google plans to make Urchin stats available to website publishers and AdWords advertisers. "We want to provide web site owners and marketers with the information they need to optimize their users' experience and generate a higher return-on-investment from their advertising spending," said Jonathan Rosenberg, vice president of product management, Google. "This technology will be a valuable addition to Google's suite of advertising and publishing products."

As a feature for AdWords advertisers, Urchin analytics will let search engine marketers know exactly how viewers react to specific landing pages. For example, if sales are bad but visits are very high, perhaps a minor redesign of the page will help convert sales.

Similarly, organic placement advertisers can track how a site visitor moves from the Home page (the most likely to achieve numerous placements) through the website. This information might make all the difference between a commercially successful business site and one that produces the income of a part-time job.

If Google opens Urchin up for both AdWords and Organic placement advertisers, chances are it will become a standard tool for measuring and analysing user behaviours, at least for SEO and SEM practitioners.

CGI Holdings Growing Rapidly, Now Think Partnership Inc.

Mirroring last year's rounds of conglomeration in the search engine industry, the search engine marketing (SEM) sector is seeing a round of mergers, acquisitions and newly minted partnerships.

Leading the way is Illinois-based Think Partnership Inc. (TPI), formerly known as CGI Holdings. CGI was already the biggest player in the search marketing world, owning the world's largest SEM corporation WebSourced, which in turn operates Andy Beal's KeywordRankings.Com, SEO firm Global Promoter, online shopping mall World Mall, and low-cost ISP CostEffective Holdings.

TPI recently purchased UK-based SEO Mike Grehan's Smart Interactive giving them a toehold in the rapidly growing British and European search markets. Before the name change, which was announced in February, CGI picked up the highly respected search engine optimizer and site copywriter, Heather Lloyd Martin as its new director of search strategies.

In December 2004, CGI merged with PPC Marketing firm Proceed Interactive, an announcement that was shortly followed by a January merger with full-service ad agency MarketSmart. To round out its series of services, TPI acquired two independent affiliate marketing firms, KowaBunga! Marketing and PrimaryAds earlier this month.

The growth of TPI marks a huge leap for the search-marketing sector and sets them as one of the primary drivers within the industry. SEOs and SEMs should watch to see how they mix and match service lines, at least as they relate to search engines. Industry watchers will be looking to see how services are offered, if an economy of such scale can produce savings for advertisers, and how the concept of Think Partnership might affect the rest of the industry.

Regardless of the effects, a huge note of congratulations should go out to the players who made this massive series of mergers, acquisitions and partnerships possible.

Sometimes one has to be cruel to be truly kind. Unfortunately, that's not the case in this week's Net Reality, which is brought to you by the letters P-L-A-G-I-A-R-I-S, and M.

What do you get when you mix a comedian visiting his parents, a desperate student with a 12-hour deadline, and AOL's instant-messaging tool? If you're name is Laura K., and you are a college student attending Lewis University it might mean expulsion. For Nate Kushner, it was a lesson in the massive power of words on the 'net.

Comedian Nate Kushner runs a blog for his comedy troupe called "A Week of Kindness". Several years ago, Kushner's entered, "Eating Hindu Sculpture", as one of his hobbies in his AOL profile. He forgot about that until a Laura K. IM'ed him asking him to write an essay that was due the next day. Kushner played her along and eventually wrote a mildly profanity-laced essay made up of stuff he clipped from the web and augmented with his own comments. His intention was to teach her a lesson about how terrible plagiarism is. As it turns out, the Internet has a way of making a short exchange between strangers into a public blood sport.

Here are links to three Blog entries made by Kuchner. The first was on Sunday March 27, a day before his story reached the public realm. Yesterday, he started to get freaked out. Today, Kuchner has learned how terribly out of control a practical joke can get as read in his posting late last night.

Note: Some Blog entries may contain strong language

March 27 - " Laura K. Krishna is a Plagiarist."

March 29 (early) - Laura K. Krishna is a Ghost.

March 29 (late) - This saga is over.