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Posts Tagged ‘Google’

March

Jonesing for Something Open

How many times have you needed to find a store, bank, post office, restaurant, dry cleaners, hair salon, coffee shop, taco stand, etc. that was open NOW? We’ve all been in that position either on holidays, weekends, during road or business trips, and later in the evening when places start to close.

Google’s mobile search has a new feature called Open Now. It allows iPhone and Android users to filter search results by establishments that are presently open. Users can also search by distance and review rating.

Source: Google Mobile Blog

How does Google know your business hours? You tell them–via your Google Places page. If you have a brick and mortar store, or your clients do, be sure this information is up-to-date.

Tags: Google, mobile, Search
Posted in Google | No Comments »

February

When Did JCPenney Grow Cojones

If you haven’t read it, here is a link to the JcPenney “links gate” article.

The Dirty Little Secrets of Search

To give you a recap of the article, no doubt during some unauthorized web shopping at work, a New York Times reporter found that JCPenney was consistently #1 in Google for keywords like “casual dresses,” “home decor,” “skinny jeans,” “comforter sets,” etc. As stated in the article, the reporter felt it was odd that JCP outranked cooler (albeit more expensive) stores like J.Crew and Crate & Barrel and so an investigation ensued (aka they asked an SEO firm to explain what was going on).

What they found was that JCP had allegedly purchased or placed links on spam blogs and double gasp, those links were placed on pages related to what JCP was selling (dresses, rugs, jeans). The result was that JCP owned rank during the holiday season. The New York Times reporter felt that JCP cheated their way to the top and set up a meeting with Matt Cutts. But all Cutts did was irritate them with his, I-should-be-the-poster-child-for-the-calming-affects-of-medicinal-marijuana laid back attitude.

In the end, JCPenney.com received penalties across the board (from #1 to #70ish) for violating Google’s guidelines despite JCP’s claims that they had no knowledge of and were not involved with the links. Their SEO firm, SearchDex, got the axe. Matt Cutts got a vanity slap from the New York Times, and the NYT basically let the world know they’re in the dark ages. Whether you agree with the tactics or not, as an SEO you have to admit that JCP just shed its outdated image for something more…renegade…cowboy…defiant. Yeah, that won’t do anything to boost sales. Are they cool enough for you now NYT?

What are your thoughts? Do you admire JCP’s ambition? Think their SEO firm was totally irresponsible?

Tags: Google, JCP, JCPenney, links, New York Times
Posted in Google | 3 Comments »

February

I Do–Not Really Like This

As I was reading through Google’s “to doings” for the week, I had a “which one of these is not like the others” moment.

A stable version of Google Instant for Chrome was made available.
A voice activated translation application was announced.
Satellite/terrain maps are reachable via the results page, should the search warrant it.
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)s are returned in Image searches, and you can now use Advanced Search to find only SVGs.
Information about a pretty cool Google Doodle to celebrate science fiction author, Jules Verne’s birthday.
Google teamed up with wedding designer Michelle Rago to create Google.com/weddings, a one-stop for wedding websites, announcements and save the date cards created with Google services.

(more…)

Tags: Google, niche, weddings
Posted in Google | 2 Comments »

February

Webmaster Tools Even Less Accurate

In an effort to make analyzing stats fair for everyone, Google has made Webmaster Tools less accurate. Starting February 3, 2011, page impressions listed under Search Queries will be reported differently. Previously, impressions were rounded up two or three numbers, for example 12,100. Now they will only be rounded up one or two numbers, for example, 12,100 becomes 12,000.

According to Google, the way impressions are calculated has not changed, but the way they are presented for you has. The change was announced by Pierre Far and Gary Illyes of the Webmaster Trends Analyst team as something requested by webmasters which will be, “a nicer representation for a better, less confusing experience.” Pierre Far further stated the change will allow webmasters to see long-term trends without being bogged down by daily fluctuations.

Suggestion: why not report numbers both ways?

Tags: Google, page impressions, Webmaster Tools
Posted in Google | No Comments »

January

Google’s Hiring Frenzy

While Yahoo plans on laying off 1% of its staff, Google’s Alan Eustace, SVP Engineering and Research announced the company hopes to hire 6,000 people in 2011. The announcement came January 25, 2011 via Google’s blog.

Eustance stated, “it will be our biggest hiring year in company history.” Google hired 4,500 people in 2010 and 6,000 in 2007. The hiring frenzy is needed to find bright minds to work on the many projects and initiatives in the hopper.

Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/help-wanted-google-hiring-in-2011.html

Tags: Google, help wanted, jobs
Posted in Google | No Comments »

January

October

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

Right off the bat you’re going to notice the four new columns (highlighted above) which detail how well your rank, impressions, and click throughs have been for the month. Just by glancing at the page, you can see how well your keywords are doing and which need attention. It’s also serves as good feedback for how recent SEO changes are impacting your site. Drastic changes are red flags you’ll want to look into. (Is a new competitor on the scene and you were bumped, was there a penalty, does the site need an update, more links, etc.).

To sort results by greatest to smallest change, click the Change tab. Keep in mind, these are not real-time stats and by default cover the last month ending about three days prior. (For example, I checked these stats on October 6, but wasn’t able to see stats past October 3). To change the date range, click the drop down calendar as shown below.

Traffic Charts in Search Queries

As you can see, this is extremely helpful in reviewing the movement of your keyword phrases at a glance.

New Statistics in Search Queries

Another excellent feature by Google that is going to make reviewing impressions and keywords faster and easier.

Also Read:

Google Webmaster Tools Update

Tags: Google, Webmaster Tools
Posted in Google | 2 Comments »

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 »

June

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.
No loss of traffic or revenue which would be expected with such a crash in numbers.

I’ll keep an eye on it, but this appears to be a glitch within Google Webmaster Tools.

If you are noticing a drop in impressions or clicks in GWT, check other stats programs, or your raw log files to confirm the numbers are inline with what you’d expect.

Tags: Google, Webmaster Tools
Posted in Google | 2 Comments »

March

Google Launches Social Search

Well it’s about time…finally a smart personalized search option thanks to Google.

Hitwise reported that Facebook outranked Google as the most visited US website for the week ending March 13, 2010. (Let’s not get too deep into this statistic, since a lot of variables are unknown). One thing is not debatable. Web users are interested in what their family members, co-workers, and friends are saying online and are seeking a more personalized web experience. That is what Google hopes to offer with the launch of Social Search.

What is Google Social Search?

People post a lot of information online and make it publicly available. These include blog posts, Tweets, pictures, etc. With Google Social Search, when you perform a keyword search the results will show what your friends, family, and anyone else you designate have posted on certain sites regarding that topic. For example, if you search “universal healthcare coverage,” you’ll see what your contacts are posting via images, videos, Tweets, RSS feeds, and blogs. This information appears towards the bottom of the page after the regularly indexed sites. According to Matt Cutts, these results only appear when the Google algorithm determines it will improve your search experience. So, with one search you can see what information is available on the wider web and among your social circle.

How do You Sign up for Google Social Search?

To get started, you’ll need a Gmail account. Contacts added to your Gmail chat list or in your Friends, Family, and Coworkers contacts automatically become part of your social circle. If you have a Google Talk account, that chat list is also thrown in the mix. Anyone you follow or subscribe to on certain social sites also become part of your circle. As contacts are added, the circle will expand by association (friends of friends, followers of followers on Twitter, etc.). From there, all you need to do is login to Google and search. Results will appear towards the bottom of the page. (It can take a few weeks before a contact’s content appears in your results).

Social Search and SEO

Become part of someone’s social circle and your blog posts, images, and Tweets will appear in their search results. I’m sure you can see the possibilities there. As mentioned above, to get started, sign up for a Gmail account, create a Google Profile and then add your social media links. If you haven’t already, sign up at social sites like Twitter, Flickr, and FriendFeed and then add those links to your profile.

When someone in your social circle performs a search, Google pulls publicly available content from your Profile links (blogs, Flickr, Twitter, etc.) and that is what appears in the search results for your contacts. So, it’s very important to include those links in your profile and to regularly post quality and optimized content. From there you want to build contacts and increase social subscribers/followers. Get creative with your email newsletters too, since Gmail is part of the social circle.

Of course there will be tweaks and technical issues while Social Search is perfected, but you have an opportunity to get a jump on the competition by building your profile and connections. Check it out today! You can read more about it in Google’s article about
Social Search.

Tags: Google, seo, Social Search, Twitter
Posted in Google, SEM/SEO | 3 Comments »