Eddies Blog

It’s all about the content right? That’s what Google tells us at least…

We all know that relevant, current, keyword rich content has become Google’s favorite thing to index and provide in SERPs (search engine results pages). In the last year or so we have seen more and more elements of Google’s “universal search” within the main search results page. So much so, that clicking on a video or image result has become second nature to us.

So what does Google have up their sleeves next…? Try this one on for size:

Google is bringing us up to the minute coverage of all the content that’s being generated about our search topic, across every form of online interaction – including social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace!

Give it a shot! Do a normal Google search, then click on “show options” and then “latest”. For the last couple of days, I have become so infatuated with this nifty search tool that I can’t stop watching it!

The search engine game is changing – and quick… Just plain having a good website isn’t enough. You have to start generating new content on a more regular basis to stay in this game.

Here are some things you can do to help your company appear in this new Google search option:

• Start blogging! – We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again.
• Create a twitter account – Twitter has the power to make you a thought leader, use it.
• Build out a facebook page and keep it current – especially you B2C businesses out there.
• Engage with people online – Social media has made this very easy and efficient.

So what are your thoughts? Is this the future of Google, or will this remain a semi-hidden feature in the worlds most popular search engine?

We look at web analytic information all the time to measure a lot of things and certainly conversions and contacts are top of the list.  As advertising dollars continue to shift from offline to online methods and as Pay-Per-Click word costs continue to soar a lot more emphasis is being placed on measuring the return on the Internet marketing dollar.  Companies that rely upon online reporting methods alone to determine the value of their SEO, PPC, or Social Media efforts are probably only looking at 40% of the picture.  The folks at ThomasNet (112 year old industrial sourcing kingpins) did an interesting study a couple of years ago.  They ran a beta test of a 100 or so of their industrial B2B clients websites.  Called Mirror Site Imaging, they generated carbon copies of the beta sites and placed them on a different server.  The mirrored sites were invisible to the search engines so the only online traffic that could find its way there was from ThomasNet.com.  They placed a tagged phone number into the header of the beta sites and even recorded the calls that went to the participating clients businesses.  What they found was that just over 63% of the conversions took place offline!  I bet 99.9% of B2B companies do not have an accurate way to track offline conversions to Internet marketing dollars. There has to be a top down dedication to doing so.  It’s not an easy process and you cannot rely on the folks answering the phone to ask and track “how did you find out about us?”.  I recall a few years back reviewing a list of tracked calls with one of my clients in Upstate NY that we had put onto a service from Kall8. The way it words is a virtual phone number is placed into the header of the website pages and when called it rolls to the clients existing phone number.  Unless the caller is using a blocked or unlisted number online reports will show you who called you.  Anyways, I am reviewing this list of calls from the first 21 days with my client and it wasn’t a huge list.  Maybe 24 calls.  He’s moving down the list when his finger stops and starts to laugh.  He tells me that it’s a good thing we decided to track the phone calls to our Internet marketing efforts cause he just signed a 750K deal with a company on the call report.  We never would have gotten credit for the sale without this visibility.  Before I left that client asked me to come up with an increased scope of work.  Two weeks later he doubled his contract with us.

I’ve been reading a lot about ClickPath and they seem to have also covered the bases pretty well with offline conversion tracking.  Anyone have any experience with their product or others?

The social party just got bigger and the buzz is on Google!

Google’s new social network platform is the talk of the tech world these past few days.  It’s arguable how much of a threat Buzz will be to Twitter and Facebook, but there are some pretty cool advantages:

• It’s part of gmail.  Almost everyone has a personal gmail account.
• You can integrate Picassa, Flickr and Twitter (although you can’t update Twitter from Buzz)
• It’s easier to add/view images, video and content.  Unlike Twitter and Facebook it quickly pulls the information from the source and brings it on page.
• Coming soon, …..you can update it by voice!  How cool is that? Not only cool but a huge feature advantage cause you can do it anywhere while doing anything.

Have you been buzzed yet?  What are your thoughts and experiences?

Like every Super Bowl, the day-after water cooler conversation includes reviews of the game, but to a larger extent we’re all talking about the cool commercials that ran.  The buzz across the Internet is no different and I have come across a lot on the third quarter Google Ad.

I liked it.  Its a nice feel-good story cleverly told through a series of search queries. It moves quickly – which I thought was the perfect way to show the speed at which really important information spanning many different aspects of life can be found through Google.  The balance between conveying speed of information retrieval and being able to understand what was behind the story really worked for these reasons:

1. I got enough to understand what was behind the story
2. I liked the story, ….it was nice and made me want to watch it again
3. I liked the story but didn’t quite capture all of it because of the speed, ….so,
4. I jumped on YouTube and watched it again!!

What a brilliant strategy!

If you didn’t see it you can watch it here:

Every aspect of what Google search has perfected and become to us is conveyed in this ad – including speed of search, understanding misspellings and redirecting to the correct spelling, access to definitions, translations, directions, local business listings and even access to directions on how to assemble a crib.

Certainly there are a lot of other opinions and maybe I just love the technology aspect coupled with being a sap for a story like this.  But a good take-away for businesses is that we have become so reliant on search and social interaction on the web that if you are not taking advantage of Google local business listings, search engine optimization, social media participation and pay-per-click opportunities you have just created a long-distance relationship with your customers.

It goes without saying that great useful content that specifically serves your audience provides benefit certainly to them cause they found what they were looking for and it also provides great benefit to you by attracting qualified visitors, creating value and readership and hopefully business (assuming that is your goal). We believe that content on a business website needs to provide useful information and answer the top questions prospective customers would ask about your product or service or capability during a phone conversation. In Googles’ continued pursuit to provide relevant results “Answer Highlighting” is another strong move in that direction.

Answer Highlighting provides quick answers to fact based question oriented queries by boldng the answer within the search snippet.  Because the search snippets are generally only 2 lines in length answer highlighting works where the answers are short and sweet.  Think back to those common questions prospective customers ask and need to know before deciding if you provide what they are looking for.  Take a critical evaluation of your website page content.  Do you provide those answers?  I bet there are lots of opportunities to provide valuable information to your audience and have a better opportunity to place better in results for targeted searches.

It looks to me like there is real opportunity to help Google find and deliver social content through the establishment of a “Google Public Profile.”

As Google is now delivering relevant content through their social search, establishing a public profile seems to be the equivalent of submitting a site-map in the Google Webmaster Tools. Only this time, you’re submitting a “site-map” of yourself! In essence, when you create a “Google Public Profile” you are presenting Google with a centralized place to find and consider information within your social circle.

Matt Cutts gives a great explanation of the philosphy behind the public profile and the opportunity to make good content available through social search.

So why bother doing this?

• Google will likely give preferential treatment to the content you put at its doorstep.
• It’s yet another page of personal content to help you build credibility (assuming you are a thoughtful social media participant).
• It’s a way to bring all of your social media elements together with your “old school” contact info.

Are you ready to create your Google Public Profile…? Here’s the link to get you started www.google.com/s2/profiles/me.

by Matt Hamm

Like the rest of the world, we have really thrown ourselves into social media over the past 2 years.  Even to the point that we used Twitter to submit employee of the month nominations at yesterdays company meeting.

We began including social media optimization services both in best practice consultations and internally promoting our clients businesses through Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other channels.  We’ve seen good results on two fronts, for our clients, and by gaining new business for ourselves.

I hear a lot of opinions that social media is moving at such a quick pace that search engine optimization is going to be less necessary and therefore less focussed on.  At least here at Site-Seeker, I have not seen a drop in contracts including SEO nor in the result of SEO to our clients websites.  I came across a pretty cool and related post that uses Google Trends to measure level of interest in social media versus search engine optimization.  SEO or Social Media: Is SEO Needed Now That Social Media Has Arrived.

The author uncovers some curious data about the trends of search activity versus the push of news references for both SEO and social media. Specifically:

• the number of people searching for seo as compared to social media has been narrowing although SEO is still searched for more frequently
• while news references for SEO have remained consistent the references for social media are more frequent and that trend is continuing.

It’s a quick read and pretty interesting.

A client asked me the other day if Twitter links pass pagerank.   Here is what Matt Cutts has to say about how Google considers links from various social media sites in general, and Facebook and Twitter specifically. 

Here are the top three points Matt makes:

1. If Google can crawl and index a  page, it treats the links on that page just like any other link.
2. In the world of links there is follow and nofollow. Wikipedia defines nofollow links in this way: “nofollow is an HTML attribute value used to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target’s ranking in the search engines index.”
3. Matt says, that ‘links are links and the value of a link is based upon the PageRank and trust that the link possesses.’  He then goes on to say that Google does not differentiate between .com, .edu, .gov,  and .whatever links.

We all know Google has started to include Twitter pages in its search results. The SEO world is waiting to find out how Google will react to the popularity of a brand within social media sites despite the fact that many of the links from these sites include the nofollow attribute.

What are your thoughts? Do you feel there is a point that has been conveniently left out of this interview?

Last Thursday Site-Seeker, Inc. hosted the first of many-to-come FuZion Marketing Seminars in Windsor, CT.  FuZion Marketing Seminars focus on bringing together best practices of conventional marketing and public relations with successful Internet and Social Media Marketing.  Our guest speakers for this seminar was LSHD Advertising from Chicopee, MA.

FuZion Internet Marketing Seminars (and Webinars) and held through New York (NY), Massachusetts (MA), Connecticut (CT), and Ontario Canada. Next webinar is 7 October.

These folks did a terrific job talking about the history and evolution of conventional marketing, public relations and branding initiatives over-time, and how these same principles apply today even though the delivery vehicle has changed.  Site-Seeker (Kathy Hokunson and Dan Salamone) and LSHD had very active participation from the twenty New England businesses who represented a mix of B2B and B2C organizations.

It was interesting to see how the participation and interest raised as the conversation moved along the path of how word of mouth, once considered to be a great source of marketing and brand building, has evolved to word of mouse!  Great information was shared that will allow these businesses to place their products and message in front of qualified prospective customers through implementation of Internet marketing strategies including Search Engine Optimization, Pay-Per-Click program management, Web Analytic analysis and by engaging in Social Media marketing through Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and blog posts.

FuZion Marketing Seminars are planned for the upcoming months and throughout 2010 in MA; CT; Albany, NY; Central NY; Rochester, NY; Buffalo, NY; and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  For a schedule of Fuzion Marketing Seminars and Webinars visit www.fuzionseminars.com.

A good friend of mine and very accomplished Marcom professional, Rick Short, just turned me onto something that I have run up against more times than I wish to recall.  Specifically, he referenced a post by Jennifer Laycock, Editor of Search Engine Guide.   Jennifer’s post speaks so very well about her frustrations with businesses that jump into a website development project without giving prior thought to the importance of SEO.  She makes a great correlation to the public service announcements advising homeowners to call before you dig to avoid planting your shovel into underground electrical lines or other hazards and creating a costly mess in the process.  Businesses that hook up with web designers and developers without the inclusion of an Internet marketing firm or SEO strategist to lead the effort are throwing their money away.  I am bewildered to think that this is not exceedingly evident, a no brainer.  Yet, in my travels throughout New England, Upstate, Central and Western NY, I still see owners and business leaders making this very critical mistake.  The end result is either a site that is found only by people who already know who you are, or a costly rebuild to put into place what should have been from the start!