Archive for the ‘Google’ Category

December
20

Adding Your Tweets to Google Realtime

There is no substitute for a converting landing page on page one of Google; however, I wanted to share an easy method for getting your Tweets listed in Google Reatime.

If you’re not too familiar with Google Reatime results, you’ll find a link to it in the left side menu of Google Search. Once a search is performed, a menu appears to the left. Click the “Everything” link. This reveals the different Universal Search options available, such as searching only blogs and blogs posts, images, or videos. For this article, we’re interested in the “Realtime” link (which may appears as “Updates” in your area). Realtime was created to list the “latest” information and breaking news on the web from sources like Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, FriendFeed and MySpace, but right now it’s basically a search for indexed Tweets.

November
11

Google Adds Visual Search to SERPs

It’s called Google Instant Previews and it’s a way for searchers to preview an image of your site before clicking through the SERPs. What does this mean for SEOs? It means that page layout and design can now play a roll in getting the click through.

Let’s take a look at how this works by searching “sweet potato recipes” in Google.

Activating Instant Previews

October
6

Exciting Changes in Webmaster Tools

In May 2010 Google greatly improved Webmaster Tools by updating Search Queries to show how often your page appeared in SERPs for specific keywords along with clicks, clickthrough rate and average position. Welcomed changes! They’ve updated Search Queries once again. Let’s take a look at what’s new.

To access Search Queries, log into Webmaster Tools, click Your Site on the Web –> Search Queries, from the left-side menu. You’ll see a screen similar to what’s below.

New Statistics in Webmaster Tools

New Statistics in Webmaster Tools

September
27

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.”

September
26

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.

September
2

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.

August
30

Google Updates: Blogs, Realtime, Places

On August 27, 2010 Google announced improvements to a few services which you’ll want to take advantage of. Changes were made to:

  • Blog Search
  • Realtime Results
  • Google Places

EXPANDED BLOG SEARCH

Google Blog Search

When you perform a search, i.e. Apple TV, look to the left-side under “Everything” and click the “Blogs” link.

Still in the left-side menu, you’ll see an option for “Posts” and “Homepages.” Clicking Homepages allows searches to find individual blogs that focus on topics of interest, not just individual posts from blogs of all categories. It’s another opportunity for people to find your blog, so you want to make sure you’re listed.

July
15

How To Report a “Google Adwords Professional”

This seems to be getting worse and worse … without an end in site. People either claiming to be Google AdWords professionals or they really have the title and they do shoddy work for their clients. Just as “SEOs” charge outrageous fees upfront with little or no real guarantees for their work, “AdWords Professionals” are doing the same thing and it is causing a lot of frustration for business owners out there.

Most of the problems lie in “education” or “perception” or what I like to call miss-perception. Why? Well, in the interviews I conducted, nearly all the business owners who feel they were cheated thought the “AdWords Professional” was a Google employee, which isn’t the case. They have merely passed a test issued by Google.

June
25

What is your Google Penalty Plan?

Getting nailed and penalized by Google just sucks. It is a webmasters worse nightmare.

Google Penalty

Google Penalty

Getting hit with a Google penalty is hands down one of the greatest threats to a website’s existence online. Most of the time they are given when a site breaks Google’s Terms of Use, but sometimes they happen for no reason at all … and innocent webmasters are sent reeling.

June
9

Google Webmaster Tools: Impressions/Clicks Dropped

By now some readers may be noticing a dip, if not a complete cliff dive, in the impressions shown in Google Webmaster Tools. This drop in impressions would have started June 2, 2010 and continued from there.

webmastertoolsbug

Here is what webmasters are reporting and what we’ve seen on some sites:

  • A significant drop in impressions showing in Google Webmaster Tools.
  • A noticeable decrease in the number of clicks being reported in GWT.
  • No confirmation of this drop showing in other stats programs, including Google Analytics.
May
25

Google Releases Revenue Share

If you’re an AdSense publisher, you’ve no doubt speculated how much Google is paid and pays you, per click. On May 24th, “in the spirit of greater transparency,” Neal Mohan, Vice President, Product Management announced what those percentages are.

Google pays AdSense for content publishers 68% worldwide of the amount advertisers pay. For clarification, AdSense for content allows publishers to place ads alongside content. According to Google, the 68% has been unchanged since 2003 and is not an average, but the amount each publisher is paid. AdSense for search publishers are paid 51% worldwide. You can read the official Google post here.

May
21

Webmaster Tools Verification

More Ways to Verify Site Ownership

For all you Webmasters who like to shake up your verification options, Google has added a third method to Webmaster Tools: DNS verification. One advantage this option has is that it allows you to verify all sites on a domain at once. For example, if your URL is www.mywebsite.com and you also have the following sites: blog.mywebsite.com and books.mywebsite.com, the DNS option allows you to verify all sites at once. If you verified these sites with the HTML or Meta tag option, you’d have to go through the process for each individual site.

To use this new option, log into Webmaster Tools and click the “Add a Site” button. Enter a URL.

Add a Site in Webmaster Tools