Archive for Google

Google’s Like Button is +1

March 30, 2011 Google, Online Marketing, Paid Search

It was quite obvious judging from the popularity and success of the Facebook Like button that Google, its arch nemesis would come up with something to compete with or at least compare to the button. And sure enough today, the announcement of Googles own button has been made. Enter the +1 button.

The button, which will be rolled out on Google Search, allows people to recommend ads to their friends and contacts. According to Google, personalized annotations will help users know when Google ads are relevant to them, bringing more qualified traffic to Web sites running ads.

Google +1

According to Google, the +1 button will soon be available for users to add to Web sites too, enabling users to recommend your site to their friends. The button will provide users more chances to +1 content and help Web sites receive higher quality traffic.

Google also points to the fact that they’ve been using data from social services, Twitter and Flickr, as signals in organic search rankings, and say now that they will use the +1 as an additional signal in organic search to help users find recommendations from their friends and contacts.

Search Takeaway

Google just told us they are looking to Twitter and Flickr as signals in organic search rankings get on Twitter and Flickr!

When the +1 button is available for Web sites, put it on your site! Currently, Google will send you an email when the button is ready for your site, at sign up for an email update.

Watch Google’s video describing the product so you can update your clients on it, http://www.youtube.com.

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Google Reinforces the Importance of Social Media with Realtime Search

August 26, 2010 Google, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, SEO, Social Media

As you would assume from the name, Google Realtime Search provides search results in real-time with a dynamic stream of content from across the Web, live and automatically updating instantaneously.

What Realtime Search does is,

  • gather news stories,
  • blog posts,
  • updates from social networks
  • and it presents them in a constantly refreshing stream

How it Helps You:

  • Cut through the noise
  • Beat journalist to the breaking news before it hits major headlines with Google Alerts
  • See the entire conversation from initial comment to up-to-the second replies
  • Look back in time to see what people were saying about a specific topic
  • Refine a search to see what people in a specific area (town, state or country) are saying about a product, service, brand

 

Advantage for Businesses

If you are a business participating in social media, smile away, as Google is providing you another advantage over companies that are not. With the launch of real-time search, businesses that are active on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will have an advantage in getting found online because they will show up in real-time search.

Advantage for Marketers

Lucky us, we can now monitor online conversations about our clients FOR FREE! We can see how the press release we just distributed for our client was viewed by consumers and take a peak into the discussion surrounding our clients newest special offer.

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2 Search Engines that Count…ah-relief

August 24, 2010 Google, Local Search, Search Engine Marketing, SEO
Google, Bing, Yahoo!

2 Search Engines — Google and Bing

According to Bing this a.m. Today I am happy to share that Bing is powering Yahoo!’s search results in the US and Canada (English only for now, the other languages will come in the weeks and months ahead)

Bye bye Yahoo search, hello Bing. Note the Powered by Bing at the bottom of the Yahoo! search page. Bing notes the migration to adCenter and the great milestone this is for Yahoo and Bing. We as marketers could not agree more, hello two search engines!

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Another Tool for Getting in the Conversation

July 29, 2010 B2B Websites, Google, Social Media

Yesterday, Facebook rolled out a new product, Questions. Similar to LinkedIn Answers, users can ask a question and instantly get answers from the Facebook community, a 500 million+userbase, that is.

A beta product right now, Facebook Questions is only being tested by limited number of people to get the kinks out and perfect it for the FB community.

Why Questions will be applauded
Who asks a question and does not want the best, most accurate answer possible?
With 500 million users, you have a fair chance of getting an educated, relevant and spot-on response to your question. And, if someone else more educated on the topic feels differently about a previous response, they can come back with a more accurate answer.

Why Questions will have an impact on Google
Google does not label itself as a Question search engine but in essence, many people’s queries are in fact questions. The best boutique hotel near Central Park, the best seafood restaurant in New Orleans, the best honeymoon beach location. While users queries may not be phrased as questions they often, in fact, are.

Instead of typing these questions/queries into Google, users may now rely on Facebook for answers. And, due to the rating system on Facebook Questions (answers are rated by whether they’re helpful or not, so ideally, the best content rises to the top and spam becomes inconsequential) they may in essence receive a response more appealing than a link they would see on Google.

Again, a product that shows the value of communication
Not that Facebook didn’t already prove that people are looking to mingle with their peers and brands online, but Facebook now hammers that point even more with Facebook Questions. And the real benefit in my opinion of Facebook Questions is the value this product can bring to companies. The way for companies to get in with consumers is to contribute value to the communities they are a part of. Lao Tzu said, If you want to lead the people you must learn how to follow them. Companies can and will get value from Facebook Questions if they utilize it correctly monitor what people are asking, gather insight and data into what the conversations/questions are about and keep track of how people are responding, and by darn get in the conversation and answer questions credibly.

Yes, Google will always be a source for answers, but it’s about time companies/brands start interacting with their potential customers and clients start providing fresh, on-demand responses to their questions and hopefully, they will come!

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Brand protection in the form of a simple e-mail

July 26, 2007 Google, Reputation Management

Have you ever had a moment of narcissism and Googled yourself? You might be surprised at what you’ll find. It’s amazing how fast your words can get picked up, twisted and turned around and BAM…you’ve got bad press, leaving you to sit there, saying, “wait, I had press?”

Because information is no longer sacred and because privacy seems to be a thing of the past, you and your good name may be a target for malicious burglary. That’s right, I said it, there are name burglars out there. And not only can they take YOUR name, but your company’s as well. Good news? There is a great solution to this criminal problem.
» Read more..

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Google’s at it Again!

July 18, 2007 Google

A new Google Apps tool has been released that is designed for small- to medium-sized businesses, and now you can have a Google search box on your website that allows visitors to access search results from the website, or websites, that you choose. It is called Google Custom Search Business Edition, and it provides an alternative between the “already existing Custom Search Engine, a free, ad-supported service, and Google Appliance, a hardware device selling for prices starting around $2,000 which customers manages on themselves”. Since your website does NOT have to be running Google ads to use the Business Edition application, you have the ability to turn off the ads produced by the Custom Search Engine service, and you can also customize what your visitors are looking at, similar to Google Appliance.
» Read more..

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May 23, 2007 Google, SEO

I recently found a great study on the latest analysis of the Google algorithm. It gave some pretty deep insight into how the search engine giant evaluates and ranks websites, so I started to blog about the study and the findings…

Then it occurred to me that our knowledge and expertise is the one thing that differentiates our Atlanta search engine marketing firm from other agencies. Why would I want to publish this great research? The answer is – I wouldn’t.

I subscribe to almost 40 search engine marketing blogs, not to mention the other blogs I read on affiliate marketing, link building and so on. Why would I put out the best stuff I learn for all to see (including my competitors)? I wouldn’t.

Instead, I put the study’s findings in our client only Intranet site. That way, our clients benefit, and everyone else just has to learn on their own.

Here is the free advice everyone gives about Google:

  • Google ranks sites based on your site’s link popularity
  • Page titles are very important
  • Description tags are important
  • Keyword density and good content help too

Everyone in our business knows this and now you do too!

What everyone doesn’t know is that there are little nuances that make a big difference in how your site ranks. For example, most SEO gurus will tell you that H1 tags are important. We have actually found that Google is afraid of sites that have been over optimized, so they like H2 tags and bolded text better than H1 tags. There you go – some really good, free advice.

The bad news is, this will change in six months and no longer be valid. So what happens to the average search engine marketing ‘wanna be’? They read a lot of articles and studies, but much of it is out dated and no longer valid. They can get you on the bottom of page one (which doesn’t get you much traffic), but they can’t figure out how to get you to position one (not that we do this every time either). The good news is, these changes in the industry keep our Atlanta search engine optimization firm in business! Today, social networking sites like Digg help you rank well; tomorrow – not so much. We get paid to stay on top of things.

When most SEO gurus blog or speak on panels, they keep the really good stuff that separates the experts from the ‘wanna bes’ to themselves.

Count me in that group too. :)

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