In New W3C website launched I mentioned that the W3C’s new site uses a bit of invalid CSS. A couple of readers have told me that the errors caused by vendor-specific extensions aren’t really errors, and that the CSS validator is wrong to report such property names as errors.

I wasn’t completely sure about whether or not this was true, so I did a bit of research. And, to the best of my understanding, vendor-specific extensions are invalid.

Correct grammar but still invalid

Here is the relevant part from CSS 2.1, currently in Candidate Recommendation status (emphasis mine):

A valid CSS 2.1 style sheet must be written according to the grammar of CSS 2.1. Furthermore, it must contain only at-rules, property names, and property values defined in this specification.

Vendor-specific extension (mostly) do adhere to the CSS 2.1 grammar, but since they are not defined in the CSS 2.1 specification, they are invalid. Hence the CSS validator is correct in reporting them as validation errors.

Invalid does not necessarily mean “do not use”

Invalid or not, vendor-specific extensions to CSS can be useful. And since the CSS specification requires that CSS parsers ignore declarations with an unknown property, they should also be safe to use.

The catch is that the CSS validator won’t help you catch typos or other errors in properties it knows nothing about.

An idea for the CSS validator

When using validation during QA, you have to manually filter out any errors caused by vendor-specific extensions. How much of a problem this is obviously depends on how much you use vendor-specific CSS, but there is no question that it takes longer than if you could be certain that all errors are “real” errors.

One way around this problem would be for the CSS validator to have an option to list errors caused by vendor-specific extensions in a section called “Vendor-specific”, “Experimental”, or something similar. The validator could then give you a message like this:

We found 10 errors, 10 of which are caused by vendor-specific extensions.

That way you’ll know right away if you need to take a closer look at the list of errors or not.

Just an idea.

Ever since the announcement that Bing and Yahoo! will fold into one search engine, there have been a lot of questions as to when exactly this will happen, what it means for advertisers, how it will affect users, and whether it will hurt Google.  I have spent some time trying to find answers to these questions, and thought I’d share what I found.

Most important to note is that the transition from Yahoo! to Bing will take anywhere from 12-24 months, starting in the US and then expanding to other regions. Therefore, advertisers’ and users need not worry about it just yet! When the transition is finally complete, here are some key points to know.

What exactly does the agreement entail?

• Yahoo! will adopt Bing’search engine.
• Yahoo! will take control of premium search advertising for both Yahoo! and Bing (Current Yahoo! premium advertisers have a dedicated sales team).
• Display advertising on other Microsoft and Yahoo! properties (such as Yahoo! finance) will not be affected – only search ads.

How will this affect search marketers?

• Advertisers will now use Microsoft’s AdCenter platform to manage both Bing and Yahoo! Search campaigns.
• Advertisers buying through AdCenter will have no control as to whether their ad appears on Bing or Yahoo! Search.
• Advertisers should benefit by only having to work with two search platforms versus three. 

How will this affect users?

• Users will benefit from being able to search a larger ad inventory. This means there will be chance of finding a relevant ad for a search, which will hopefully give users an overall better search experience.
• Users will still be able to search via Yahoo! or Bing. Yahoo! will keep its interface and functionality, as well as its “Yahoo! Search” brand, but it will have a “Powered by Bing” logo at the bottom of the page.

Yahoo! and Bing will probably never overtake search leader Google, who (along with its partners) currently owns about 73% of the market, according to ComScore.  However, the agreement may help Bing make a dent in Google’s market share, perhaps forcing Google to improve and innovate in order maintain or increase its share. 

Despite a few drawbacks (such as not being able to pick which search engine your ad appears on), I believe the agreement is a good thing. Not only will it make the lives of advertisers a little easier (managing two instead of three networks), but it also lays the foundation for a more competitive and innovative search landscape. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the search market once the transition is complete!    

Last year, after attending the Google Analytics Authorized Consultant's Summit, I blogged about wonders such as advanced segments, the API, and custom reporting. This year, there are some pretty cool additions once again, including:

• Multiple goals
• Engagement goals
• Mobile tracking and reporting
• Advanced analysis
• Multiple custom variables
• Analytics intelligence
• Custom alerts

Goal Improvements - Engagement Goals & 20 Goals / Profile

• Now you can define pages per visit and time on site as a conversion. 
• Additionally, remember that time you could only have four goals per Google Analytics profile? Those days are finally over! Now, 20 goals per profile are comprised of four goal sets each containing five goals. In other words, you can track up to five goals in one goal set, and see the total aggregated conversion rates for one set, as well as each individual conversation rate.

Mobile Tracking and Reporting

• You can now better measure mobile marketing efforts within Google Analytics with expanded mobile tracking. It supports PHP, Perl, JSP and ASPX in this release - and, of course, JavaScript. Here are some instructions.

Advanced Analysis - Advanced Table Filtering

• Previously in Google Analytics, you could only filter reports by text (pageview name, search keywords). However, you can now filter by metrics (bounce rate, time on site, etc.).

Multiple Custom Variables

• Finally!
• Custom variables allow you to segment users by naming their cookies with relevant information. For example, once someone logs in you would name them "member" and segment accordingly. Previously in Google Analytics, you could only store one variable per user/cookie using the setVar method. Now, however, you can track multiple variables per user/cookie! I'm really excited about this one.
• Some instructions and more details are here.

"Intelligence & Custom Alerts"

• I'll just let Google Analytics tell you:

We're launching the initial phase of an algorithmic driven Intelligence engine to Google Analytics. Analytics Intelligence will provide automatic alerts of significant changes in the data patterns of your site metrics and dimensions over daily, weekly and monthly periods. For instance, Intelligence could call out a 300% surge in visits from YouTube referrals last Tuesday or let you know bounce rates of visitors from Virginia dropped by 70% two weeks ago.

• Also, you can now set up daily, weekly, and monthly triggers. I'm not that excited about this one, but this will be a big deal for some users.

These are some really awesome improvements! As Google Analytics says, these new features are powerful, intelligent, and flexible. Any questions?

When thinking about local search listings most people think of the Yahoo!, Bing and of course, Google. Other well-known listings may also come to mind: Yellowpages or Superpages, but marketers should not discount the smaller players in the market.

Many of these smaller local search sites offer valuable resources that you may not find in some of the larger, such as reviews, recommendations, photos, and promotion features. Even more important, however, listing your business in all local search directories makes it easier for your customers to find information on your business, which is critical to not only driving more traffic to your web site, but also generating more phone calls and delivering more customers thru the door.

A few tips to note when working with local listings:

• Keep your listings updated – double check listings that are already in directories. It can be more harmful to your business to have wrong/incomplete contact information than no listing at all.
• Keep your listings consistent – customers often perform multiple searches when researching a product or service. Inconsistent information not only confuses customers, but also reduces credibility. 
• Include keywords in descriptions and categories – most searches on local listings directories are keyword based, so use effective keywords in your description to ensure that your listing shows up in search results.
• Remember that most local listings are free – by not listing your business you are missing out on free, targeted traffic in your area.

Here are some examples from the collection of smaller, local-search directories:

1. Merchant Circle: A great place to build out your full profile inclusive of maps, special offers, newsletters, blogs, and reviews



2. Insider Pages: A quickly growing player among local search listings, Insider Pages also allows you to add photos, coupons, and reviews



3. Yellow Page City: Yellowpages may be the primary go-to when searching for a business, but Yellow Page City also draws in a decent amount of traffic, offering your basic business listing.



4. Yelp: While several other local search sites offer the option to review a business, Yelp is probably your best bet for actually getting reviews. It is rapidly becoming one of top websites for business reviews.

Do you have any other websites, resources, or tips for improving your local search listings? If so, feel free to share them in a comment!