Graham Charlton

Graham Charlton is Editor of the Econsultancy blog, covering e-commerce, SEO, and more. He also contributes to our Best Practice Guides and other reports. You can contact him at graham.charlton@econsultancy.com.

Microsoft research finds sources of search engine spam

Microsoft researchers have been looking into the problem of junk web pages, and have found that most of this 'search engine spam' comes from just two web hosting firms.

Microsoft's research, entitled Spam Double-Funnel: Connecting Web Spammers with Advertisers, looked primarily into redirection spam and reveals that the links to spam web pages are generated by a small number of people, with some major advertisers, hosting services and ad syndicators turning a blind eye.

by Graham Charlton 19 March 2007 16:29pm 3 comments

ONS report reveals digital divide

The latest Focus on the Digital Age report from the Office for National Statistics reveals that, while internet use is well established and growing fast, the 'digital divide' remains a problem.

According to the report, one in twelve UK households (8%) have no access to the internet, digital TV, or mobile phones.

by Graham Charlton 19 March 2007 14:23pm 0 comments

Site redesign tips from Jakob Nielsen

Jakob Nielsen's latest article looks at site redesign tips which will lead to increased sales and improved customer loyalty.

Nielsen has 10 redesign recommendations that are the most likely to increase return on investment for your website, most of which should be relatively simple to implement.

by Graham Charlton 16 March 2007 14:16pm 0 comments

Lovefilm launches 'download to burn' service

Lovefilm.com, the online DVD rental company, has announced the launch of the UK's first legal movie download service, which will allow customers to burn downloaded movies onto blank DVDs.

The move is prompted by Lovefilm's research into its customer's preferences, which found that 57% wanted the opportunity to create their own discs from their downloads.

by Graham Charlton 16 March 2007 13:11pm 0 comments

Returning online purchases is too much hassle - survey

A survey by shopping comparison site PriceRunner has shown that while customers love the convenience of shopping online, etailers' return processes leave much to be desired.

PriceRunner surveyed 400 online shoppers, all of whom have been shopping online for up to five years. Almost 40% were unhappy with the processes for returning goods bought online.

by Graham Charlton 15 March 2007 14:18pm 1 comment

Online banking fraud on the rise

Online fraud figures released yesterday by APACS, the UK payments association, show a 44% rise in online banking fraud last year.

Offline credit card fraud at UK retailers fell by 47% to a total of £72.1m, from 2005's figure of £135.9m, thanks largely to the introduction of chip and pin.

by Graham Charlton 15 March 2007 11:00am 1 comment

Slacker launches web radio service

A new web radio service called Slacker has launched in beta today. When it unveils its associated music player later this year, it will aim to make internet radio portable and even compete with the mighty iPod.

Slacker has bagged $13.5m (£7m) in funding from Sevin Rosen, Austin Ventures and Mission Ventures, and its team includes Dennis Mudd, who was previously CEO at Musicmatch.

by Graham Charlton 14 March 2007 17:03pm 0 comments

Viacom sues Google for $1bn

Viacom has sued Google for $1bn (£517m) over what it claims is "massive intentional copyright infringement" on YouTube and has asked for an injunction to stop any more of its videos being uploaded to the site.

This is the first major lawsuit to be filed against Google since its acquisition of YouTube, although it was not entirely unexpected.

by Graham Charlton 14 March 2007 08:49am 0 comments

Panama - early results show promise

Yahoo!'s new Panama advertising platform is showing some early signs of improved click-through rates, according to figures from SearchIgnite.

The search company reported that CTR had improved since the launch of the system, while cost per click had remained constant. Since Q406, average CTR on Yahoo! has risen from 2% to 2.5% among SearchIgnite's clients.

by Graham Charlton 08 March 2007 16:08pm 0 comments

Online ad revenue 'to surpass £40bn by 2011'

Growing internet usage will boost global internet advertising revenue to $81.1bn (£41.9bn) by 2011, according to new research from Piper Jaffray & Co.

The figure is more optimistic than a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers last year, which predicted that internet ad revenue would reach $51.6bn in 2010, based on an annual growth rate of 18.1%. Piper Jaffray's report predicts growth of 21%.

by Graham Charlton 08 March 2007 14:25pm 0 comments