In case you missed it, the PR world agrees to disagree with ZDNet’s click bait freakout headline “Did Google just kill PR agencies?”

OK, so what did the big guys’ changes to webmaster rules on links and keywords do? They forced PR pros to change their SEO press release strategies—and this is not a bad thing.

See, Google really doesn’t like what they call “link manipulation schemes” which provide “unnatural boost[s] to the popularity of a piece of content” via tactics like the dubious repetition of certain hyperlinked keywords/phrases which all go back to the same client’s address as well as the placement of press releases on numerous sites to improve search placement and “game [Google’s] algorithm.” According to ZDNet’s Tom Foremski, Google sees these PR practices as the equivalent of the “keyword stuffing” tricks that they hate so very much.

Their warning to publicists pushing clients’ content: If you continue doing this, your client company may well be penalized or even blacklisted.

Bad news, right? Not really…

Read more

Yesterday we shared some of the many third-party predictions and analyses of the Publicis/Omnicom merger and what it will mean to the future of the advertising and marketing industries. To recap: On the financial front, industry revenue totals will probably stay steady—but the organization of the game will undoubtedly change.

The next question: what role will PR firms and professionals play in this new arrangement?

Richard Edelman believes that PR will act as “part of the supporting cast” in this ongoing soap opera in order to back up the newest and biggest players, Digital and Data. In other words (via The New York Times), it’s all about the mega-agencies chasing Google to reach more targeted users via Big Data number crunching.

Yet, despite this hyper-focus on math nerds, Edelman writes that individual “thought leader” voices within the PR industry will grow even more valuable as they bring crucial “small data” research and insights to the table that no Google analytics study can provide. Jack Marshall of Digiday even argues that the role of Big Data has been overstated because the numbers ultimately belong to clients, not agencies (and that the whole thing is really an accounting issue).

Back to our main query: how dramatic will the change be for PR?

Read more

We’ve all heard enough about this weekend’s Publicis/Omnicom merger to know that it’s too big for our limited minds to even fathom, much less evaluate.

So many questions followed: will it lead to mass layoffs or protracted battles over antitrust laws? Will it doom boutique agencies that don’t get picked up by major “holding company” conglomerates? Will it change our jobs in profound and permanent ways?

These are all valid, fascinating issues that must be considered—and for now we’ll let other people do the thinking for us, starting with those smartasses at The Onion.

Surprisingly accurate! That headline stings a bit, though we finally understand why they didn’t hire us for the grad school internship we wanted so badly (should’ve learned to code in high school, dammit). On a more serious note, Richard Edelman is skeptical of this supposed sea change, writing:

Bigger does not mean better. My 84-year-old mother’s first reaction yesterday was that this reminds her of AOL’s* merger with Time Warner. “They were all screwed up for years,” she said.

In other words, don’t freak out…at least not yet. But there will be blood.

Read more

Want to increase the visibility of your press release? Once you hit “publish,” your news release is searchable on the Web. Boosting your Google search ranking and getting journalists to write about your news is a crucial skill for PR professionals.

Join Jason Chupick, VP of editorial news operations at MWW and founding editor of our very own PR Newser, for a one-hour webcast discussion on how to optimize your press releases. He’ll discuss simple hacks and strategies that will ensure that your news gets read. Learn how to choose the right keywords to bring your release to the top of search results, how to get the best quotes and how to use social media to amplify your voice. You’ll also have the opportunity to get answers to all your PR questions with Jason in this interactive webcast.

This session is scheduled for Wednesday, July 24 from 4-5pm ET. Sign up now to reserve your spot!

Google is being criticized by the attorneys general of Oklahoma and Nebraska for allegedly profiting from ads associated with YouTube videos that promote illicit activities.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt sent a letter (PDF) to Google general counsel Kent Walker, asking him how much money the company generates from ads related to illegal sales of prescription drugs and counterfeit merchandise, and requesting detailed information as to the steps it is taking to curb the practice.

The letter reads in part: “As we understand the process, video producers are asked prior to posting whether they will allow YouTube to host advertising with the video and, for those who consent, the advertising revenue is shared between the producer and Google. While this practice itself is not troubling, we were disappointed to learn that many such monetized videos posted to YouTube depict or even promote dangerous or illegal activities.”

Specific examples given in the letter include ads for “pharmacies” that promote the illegal sale of drugs like oxycontin and percocet without a prescription, videos providing how-to guidelines for the forging of drivers licenses and passports, and videos promoting the sale of counterfeit merchandise.

“Not only are the activities depicted or promoted in the above-described videos illegal in and of themselves, but in the case of document forgery,” the letter states, “the how-to guide could be instrumental in the commission of other crimes ranging from under-age drinking to acts of terrorism.”

The letter asks that Google respond within 30 days with detailed information about the monetization of such ads, and warns that although both attorneys general hope to work collaboratively with the web giant to find a mutually agreeable solution, they “take these issues very seriously, and are prepared to take appropriate action to safeguard [their] citizens.” Read more

Happy 37th birthday, Breakout. You’ve come a long way. You helped develop the first generation of kids with the best hand-eye coordination the world had seen (up until that point). You were the biggest deal in childhood until Star Wars was released a year later and changed the world forever. You were the son of Pong, the father of Pac-Man and the future DNA of Halo. You were technology at its most innocent, before it became associated with porn and violence. You, Breakout, helped millions of children break out of their realities at a time when divorce was skyrocketing and our parents began cooking our meals in microwaves.

Once again, Google makes an excellent PR move by celebrating a milestone in our culture that everyone else would have overlooked. And to recognize Atari Breakout’s birthday with a coveted Google Easter Egg is just perfect considering it’s a gesture from one storied technology entity to another. (To see it yourself visit Google Images and type in “Atari Breakout.”)

Happy Birthday Breakout!

It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday, but you already know that. We know that you know because you, like us, realize how important moms are to everything that is good in life.

In fact, Mother’s Day is so respected by our society that it’s one of the few holidays we haven’t savagely and unconscionably pimped out like a Las Vegas billboard. Do brands capitalize on Mother’s Day and leverage their marketing assets? Of course they do, and who can blame them. But let’s face it: Valentine’s Day is an abomination, Christmas is even worse—it’s an entire season of superficial marketing efforts—and you can’t even get through a President’s Day without someone trying to sell you a used car or mattress.

The public knows better than to reward brands that crassly attempt to exploit Mother’s Day. We don’t like it. There is something about using Mother’s Day to turn a profit that doesn’t sit well with the public. (Ok, Hallmark, you get a pass on this one.) Mother’s Day is a holiday we take personally. So that means any brands that dare to come near Mother’s Day must do so with reverence and a deft touch. Some do this better than others. We like the video above made by Google to honor moms across the globe. It’s touching and tactful. Well played, Google.

Any PR folks out there encounter outreach from brands that nailed it or were complete failures? Let us know.

And Happy Mother’s Day!

Public relations is a wonderful industry because it encompasses so many compelling aspects of human beings. One of those, of course, is our appreciation for aesthetics, and legendary American graphic designer and filmmaker Saul Bass brought plenty of beauty into our lives. From logos to movie posters to films Saul Bass was part of our lives whether we knew it or not. And Google is scoring its own PR victory by paying tribute to a creative force that deserves recognition. Applause all around.

In case you missed it, those dumb “Bing challenge” ads aren’t the only front in Microsoft‘s ongoing war with Google. Over the holiday season the company started the “Scroogled” campaign taking its big competitor to task for…we don’t know, failing to protect customers’ privacy or offer “unbiased search results.”

We thought Microsoft had put the series to bed earlier, but they brought it back to life this week with a couple of spots attacking the Android phone for providing Google with an unfair advantage and, again, collecting users’ private information without their knowledge or consent. It’s all a bit more complicated than that, but the message is clear: Google is evil, because Microsoft would never in a million years use customer data in underhanded ways.

This is more about branding and reputation management than technology or the business practices of tech companies. The campaign is obviously working in some way or the company wouldn’t keep pumping out these ads. But Microsoft casting itself as David to Google’s Goliath? We don’t see that message as a long-term winner. It all makes the runner-up look more than a little desperate.

Google has long discouraged the inclusion of paid links and advertorials in publishers’ “news” sections. In the past they’ve done so by threatening to punish those who post and promote such content without calling it by its proper name by pushing them lower down in the Google search rankings. Certain interested parties (ahem) adapted by pitching sponsored content that is somehow “guaranteed to beat” Google’s famous PageRank algorithm (we assume these guys know some code). In February the company punished a UK paper for doing just that, and last week Google’s senior director of news and social wrote a blog post warning publishers who want their content to rank in the Google News feed to separate the “paid” stuff from editorial.

Google redirects concerned parties to this page that helps them separate their content in order to make the bots’ jobs easier. Yes, it’s a few seconds of extra work for each piece — but this is the price of the “pay to play” model.

What does this mean for PR people? Probably not a whole lot. We may, however, need to start reminding clients that sponsored content and editorial are not, and will never be, the same thing (no matter how much they want the opposite to be true).