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Archive for September, 2010

September

Google New is New News at Google

If you’ve been fearing news aggregators and the wrath of Google, here’s something that will make you laugh. Google just launched Google New, a news aggregator that collects information from Google blogs and sites to help you keep up on what’s cooking at Google.

Google New, which you’ll find at http://www.google.com/newproducts/, is a one-stop for new product and feature announcements. As they describe it, it’s the “one place to find everything new from Google.”

Google New Featured Video
The top of the homepage features a video of one of Google’s lastest products, as of now it’s Google Instant. Just below that are some filtering options. View news for all products, or narrow it down by a specific product or feature: AdSense, AdWords, Apps, Blogger, Books, Checkout, Chrome, Custom Search Engine, Docs, Earth and Maps, Enterprise, Finance, Gmail, Mobile, News, Orkut, Picasa, Reader, Search, SketchUp, Talk, Translate, Videos, Voice, Webmaster and YouTube.

Results can further be narrowed by area of interest: business, developers, education, entertainment, GEO and maps, mobile, non-profit and social.

By default, the home page shows you results for all products as shown below. As you click on a announcement of interest it opens to a page with the full news.

Google New

Google New is a quick way to keep up with what’s in and out of beta, which new tools are introduced, search updates, etc., without visiting multiple sites. A bit of self-promotion for the under promoted almost forgotten features at Google? Definitely, but a nice time-saving resource for Google information.

Tags: Google, Google New, Google updates
Posted in Google | 1 Comment »

September

Google Instant’s Effect on Page Impressions

By now you should be at least familiar with Google Instant, a new search feature on Google. As users type in search terms, Instant predicts what the user is searching and instantly refreshes the SERPs.

Google Instant and Webmaster Tools

You’ve probably noticed an increase in page impressions lately. It makes sense that Google Instant is going to impact your page impressions. During the course of one search, SERPs update multiple times. If your pages appear for multiple “predictions” there will be an increase in impressions.

How Google Instant Measures Page Impressions

Before Instant Search was offered, page impressions occurred when the user typed in a word/phrase and clicked the Search button. With Google Instant, SERPs are updated as a person types. When someone pauses on a new results page for three seconds, that counts as an impression.

According to Google Engineer, Ben Gnomes, the average search query is 20 letters long and since Instant is basically search by character, not by word, this could result in a very noticeable increase in page impressions. It all depends on how fast someone types and if they pause for three seconds.

Tags: Google Instant, Search Engine Update
Posted in Google | 3 Comments »

September

Google’s Predictive Search

Google Suggest has evolved. As you type in a search phrase, Google tries to predict what you’re searching and refreshes the results as you type. Results continue to change as you continue typing.

According to Google’s announcement about Instant Search:

Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

For example, take a look at the screenshot below. I typed in “F” which appears in a black font, then Google added “acebook” which appears in light gray. A SERP appeared with results based on a “Facebook” search. As I continued typing, Google continued making suggestions and the SERP updated immediately based on the new “predictions.” In addition to all that, the ever-familiar drop down menu of suggested search phrases appears too.

Example of Google’s Predictive Search

Does This Mean Your SEO is in the Toilet?

With every search change comes the question, “Is SEO dead?” If there came a day when only 10 websites existed and there was no need for a page two and beyond, or when making money online was no longer desirable, or when webmasters/companies didn’t care where they ranked, then sure, maybe that day SEO would be dead.

Until then, the answer is no, this does not mean that your site and existing optimization will go down the toilet. It does; however, mean you have some homework ahead of you. Part of Google’s intent with Instant Search is that users will be able to identify better search phrases “on the fly” or that Instant will help guide them to better results. This mean you definitely want to play around with the new Google Instant to see what terms searchers are presented with.

Type in words someone might use to find a site in your niche. Pay attention to what terms are suggested early on, near the top of the list and in longer phrases. Are these terms you should be optimizing for? Are these terms you’re already ranking well for? If so, you might need to tighten your optimization and gear up for more competition.

Google Instant Infomercial

According to the official Google Instant site, Google claims that the average searcher spends more than 9 seconds simply entering a search term. There were also instances of users taking a half of a minute to a minute and a half to refine their search phrases. With Instant, Google feels they can shave off 2-5 seconds per search.