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Google and the Merging of Search and Social Media

January 12, 2012 By admin

In our last post prognosticating what lies ahead for search in 2012, we explained how search engine optimization was going to be increasingly tied in with social media.

It’s commonly known in the search marketing world that Bing has partnerships with Facebook and Twitter and integrates them into relevant search results.

Starting this week though, Google is rolling out a transformative switch that will integrate pictures and posts from Google+ in with search results. Those of us signed into Google will be able to simultaneously search the broader web and our own Google+ networks at the same time.

This latest update from Google is dubbed “Search Across your World.” Jack Menzel, Google’s product management director, explains that members will be able to “…search across information that is private and only shared to you, not just the public web.”

While they will be clearly noted, Google+ results will be blended in with traditional ‘authoritative results.’

Let’s say you’re researching your next vacation to the Grand Canyon and type that into a search. Besides sites showcasing the park, any tours and attractions, you will also see a post one of your friends wrote in Google+ about their trip. However, it will only appear if the post or picture has been shared with you or if it’s public (…in order to alleviate privacy concerns).

And that’s an important thing to remember – this new integration with Google+ and regular search will include images as well. Therefore, if you use Google Image search, pictures from your friends will appear alongside results from the broader web.

From Google’s perspective, this integration of personal, private, public and social will ensure you’re getting more relevant results because this is the information and the people you choose to connect with.

These new features will only work if you’re signed into Google though (…another move to allay privacy concerns). And to allow more flexibility, icons will appear at the top of the page – one allowing you to include social results and the other allowing you to strictly see standard, non-personalized results.

Amit Singhal, who oversees Google’s algorithms, comments that “The social search algorithm, and the personal search algorithm, and the personalized search algorithm are actually one algorithm now, and we are merging it in a way that is very pleasant and useful.”

Think of this is as another integration of different searches into one place. In the good ol’ days, you had to do separate searches for news, images and so forth. For a while now though, these results have been integrated with regular searches. Google is now simply including social in that mix as well.

How will this affect business’ search engine optimization efforts?

Only time will tell. One thing is absolutely certain though – we will report on these effects as they become available to us.

In the meantime, see this quick summary from Google below and take a look at these expert reviews from Mashable and Search Engine Land to learn more about these revolutionary changes.

Other Posts You May Be Interested In

Outlook for Search – Building High Rankings in 2012

Google+ Now Open for Businesses and Brands

Google+ – What is it and how will it integrate into your marketing strategy?

Getting Wisdom from the True Masters of Social Media

Filed Under: Online Marketing, SEO Technology, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Outlook for Search – Building High Rankings in 2012

January 5, 2012 By admin

Well, a New Year has passed and we bid farewell to 2011. It was certainly an exciting year, especially in search and online marketing which saw changes occur at warp speed.

Over the last few weeks of 2011, we took a break to assess the state of search engine optimization and where things were headed going into 2012. We do this in order to help our clients (…and readers of this blog) better understand where they should focus their online marketing efforts.

After reflecting on where we’ve been and where we’re going, we quickly realized that the lines between different types of search – namely organic, local, mobile and social – are now being blurred more than ever. Rather than web search strictly being the center of activity online, social is increasingly becoming the focus.

According to an exclusive web tutorial from Planet Ocean, web search was the sun and other types of search (…or planets) revolved around it. Now, instead of web search being the sun, social is quickly becoming the center of the universe with other types of search (…or planets) revolving around it.

As we’ve said here many times over the last year, being social is a critical strategy to being successful online – this will become even more critical in the coming year. A cursory review of search results for a variety of terms shows social mentions and engagement alongside traditional webpages.

Social is being aggressively integrated in Bing, who has partnerships with Facebook, Skype and Twitter. Google has basically bet the farm on its new social network Google +.

From these arrangements and others, we can ascertain that social sharing will increasingly integrate with web search. Going forward, social shares or votes will increasingly be the new links.

How many have liked, +1’d or otherwise made a comment regarding content on your site?

So how can I ensure my site continues to rank high in 2012?

Dominating your market online in the new year will require some tried and true methods mixed with some new ways of engaging your audience online.

Since the web has become increasingly social, it’s become increasingly democratized as well. Users will more and more be the driving force in determining which social networking platforms you ultimately adopt.

The key to all of this though is content – as in years past, successful online marketing will be driven by your ability to create reference grade content that helps the reader. In turn, this can lead to true engagement that builds trust and value.

Rather than a few pages earning links, success online will hinge more on how socially engaging your content is.

The more likes, +1s and buzz your content has, the better your business will do.

Besides content itself, freshness will also be a driving factor in maintaining and building high search rankings. It’s increasingly become clear that Google and others are placing a high value on ‘fresh’ content. Just in the last two months, we’ve seen Google make updates to its algorithms to reward sites with fresh content, especially in areas that are always changing.

This update though has sadly penalized some sites with great ‘evergreen’ content that’s been around awhile but still valuable. Repurposing this content will help you get around this ‘freshness’ problem, especially if you experienced a drop in rankings due to this latest update.

Also in 2012, expect to see more firms using social media tools for product development and testing as well as technical support.

What about mobile-based search? Will it continue to grow in 2012?

An emphatic yes!! It’s projected that by 2015, more users in the U.S. will access the Internet through their smartphones or tablets than a regular computer.

Mobile search is deeply tied into local search with over 40% of searches on a mobile device being for something local like a restaurant, doctor’s office or brick and mortar store. According to Google, 44% of searches from a mobile device in the 2011 holiday shopping season were for store locations and last-minute gifts.

With mobile devices, users can seamlessly float between mobile, local and product search as well as their social media activities.

In 2012, it’s imperative that local business establish their presence on places like Bing Local, Google Places, Foursquare and others. Don’t be hesitant to allow reviews – customer reviews give you an opportunity to address grievances and open yourself up to new ways of engaging customers.

So there you have it – things will continue to move at wharp speed in this new year – social and mobile is most certainly revolutionizing how people interact and find things they need.

Stay tuned to our search engine optimization blog as we slice and dice the trends and developments in the search marketing world. Most of all relax and have fun with the possibilities the online sphere will bring in 2012.

Other Posts You May Be Interested In

7 Strategies for Maintaining ‘Fresh’ Content

Preparing for the Mobile Revolution – Part I

Preparing for the Mobile Revolution – Part II

3 Ways Social Media, SEO and Content Marketing Work Together

Reputation Management – Maintaining & Enhancing your Company’s Good Name

Filed Under: Online Marketing, SEO Technology, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Google + Now Open for Businesses and Brands

November 14, 2011 By admin

In the last few months, we’ve been anxiously watching the rollout of Google +, the search giant’s latest foray into the social networking world. Over the summer, it was unveiled to personal users but in the last week, it’s been made available to businesses and brands.

This is just the latest in a round of intros from the search giant, the first being its +1 button unveiled over the summer. Many websites have now added this latest ‘share’ button to their pages.

The new Google + brand pages look very similar to personal profiles with the exception of a little square icon that sets it apart from an individual’s page. Individuals with Google + profiles can connect to their favorite brands on the new network.

Fox News, CNN, Angry Birds, Muppets and Pepsi are just a few of the names who’ve been ahead of the curve. In fact, many brands were so eager to get into Google + that they setup pages as personal profiles much to company’s dismay. This in turn prompted Google to rollout brand pages much sooner than they otherwise would have.

Our friends at Sprout Content have been proactive in building their Google + page (…we’re still working on ours though).

Google VP Vic Gondrata commented in a blog post “So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.”

If you’re setting up a Google + page for your business or brand, you have to choose one of five categories, which include:

1.     Local Business or Place – for hotels, restaurants, brick & mortar stores – any type of business that serves a local area

2.     Products or Brands – for those who specialize in certain items (i.e. clothing, electronics, vehicles, financial services)

3.     Company, Institution or Organization – for companies, institutions, organizations and non-profits

4. Arts, Entertainment and Sports – for bands, books, movies, sports teams, etc.

5.     Other – for any who don’t fit into the first 3 categories

Of course with all of this news coming out about Google’s new social network, Facebook has made some major changes to its platform (…some of which mimic Google Plus’ circles feature and so forth). For brand pages though, there’s not a whole lot of difference between Facebook and Google + for now.

Facebook has more experience in this realm though so you can expect Google to be continuously rolling out new features.

Are you considering a Google + profile for your brand? Or are you going to wait and see how it all works out before jumping in?

 

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Facebook Announces Revolutionary Changes – What Are They and How Will They Affect Businesses’ Marketing?

October 4, 2011 By admin

Since Facebook now has over 800 million users, the news of the company’s announcement of major format changes blanketed the airwaves – both off and online.

While some of these changes are relatively minor (i.e. different organization of news feeds), there are a few that will completely revolutionize how members use the social network and how they interact with their friends. Many of these changes have been dubbed by many as Facebook’s response to Google+, with some changes mirroring prominent features on that social network.

Changes to Facebook’s platform were announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the f8 Conference in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. Some of the following changes have already rolled out but others are yet to come. When the transition is complete, your experience on Facebook will be much different (…as will the strategy you employ to market your business online).

So what are the big changes?

The first big feature is the “Subscribe” button, which allows users to subscribe to a person or business without having to be friends with them. Similar features can be found on Google+ and Twitter. Adding a feature like this does raise privacy concerns among many users. Facebook however is addressing that by giving users a lot of control over the ‘Subscribe’ feature.

You can only allow friends to subscribe to your page or you can completely disable the subscription feature – it’s up to you. If you do allow people to subscribe, you can control what they see right down to a single picture.

Users can also have more control over which friends see what, which leads us into Facebook’s next big change….

Smart Lists are another new feature that’s considered by many to be a direct response to Google+’s Circles feature. This feature essentially allows you to divide friends into Restricted, Acquaintances and Close Friends. From there, you will be able to separate who sees what on your Facebook profile. Conversely, your friends will be able to filter what they see about you.

Timelines are perhaps the biggest change to come out of Facebook. The timeline is essentially a visual history and highlight of a person’s past.  This feature will help users map out their life for friends and allows people with the proper permissions to see a sort of life history through pictures, video and more.

Facebook describes the personal timelines as “All your Stories, All your Apps, a new way to express who you are.”

Personal timelines though, when they’re implemented, will radically change how the interface looks. But due to a lawsuit by Timelines.com claiming the new feature threatens their business, Facebook has delayed implementation.


 

How will Facebook’s changes affect social marketing?

Now for what you’ve been waiting for…how will all of these changes affect my business?

Of course, much of that remains to be seen but from a preliminary view, these changes are sure to have a big impact.

First is the ‘Subscribe’ feature and how it will affect the current ‘Like’ button. In the new regimen, the ‘Like’ button will have a reduced role. In essence, Facebook will now be about branding actions rather than getting people to ‘like’ your brand. Meaning, it’s now about “…getting people to take social actions enabled by your brand” according to David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media and innovation for 360i.

One example from Berkowitz – say you’re a runner and post that you’ve just went for a three mile run. This is a prime opportunity for Nike, even if you wear Adidas since Nike has now become a part of your story. Adidas will have to find out something else ‘social’ to become part of your story.

With the added user controls, Facebook will automatically edit feeds based on users’ actions. Brands with boring or irrelevant updates will now have lower visibility. Your brand has to essentially capture someone’s attention and motivate them to interact. If they don’t, your updates will never appear in their news feeds.

McCann Digital VP Nir Refuah says with Facebook’s redesign, “…consumers will be creating a ‘digital autobiography’ in which brands will have to integrate themselves.”

All of this re-design by Facebook extends the metaphor of “…thinking of marketing as storytelling” to a whole other level. Marketers will now have to work that much harder to earn spot in users’ News Feeds.

As these changes rollout, the impact they will have on marketing your brand will become more apparent. One thing is for sure – Facebook’s changes will require new thinking, especially for those whose goal has been simply to accumulate as many fans and ‘Likes’ as possible.

What do you think of these new changes? Have you thought about how you will integrate your social media marketing strategy?

If so, leave us a comment and tell us more about what you’re thinking.

Related Posts

Google + – What is it and how will it integrate into your marketing strategy?

Getting Wisdom from the True Masters of Social Media

Which Social Media Channel is Right for my Business?

4 Components of the Marketing Funnel and how they relate to Social Media Channels

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Google + – What is it and how will it integrate into your marketing strategy?

September 9, 2011 By admin

Over the last couple of months, we’ve been tracking the rollout of Google’s new social network, known as Google +.  Considered by many to be Google’s response to Facebook, the new network has grown to over 20 million users in just the first few months of its existence.

Even though Google + has already grown to this many users, many of us are just starting to figure out how to integrate it into our social media marketing strategies. While there of course naysayers out there, much of the buzz surrounding Google + is pretty positive with many marketers saying it will eventually develop into the ultimate content sharing and marketing platform…more on that below.

But first off – how does Google + work and what makes it different from Facebook?

Google + is essentially the search engines latest foray into the social networking world. According to the company’s official blog:

“Today, the connections between people increasingly happen online. Yet the subtlety and substance of real-world interactions are lost in the rigidness of our online tools. In this basic, human way, online sharing is awkward. Even broken. And we aim to fix it.”

Google’s basic idea is to make all of their existing products (search, Maps, Gmail and more) socially compatible. Doing so, they hope, will challenge Facebook as the leading social network.

Each profile will center on the ‘stream,’ which is essentially the equivalent of Facebook’s news feed. This stream though will be joined by four other core elements – Circles, Hangouts (video chat), Huddles (instant message) and Sparks (things you may be interested in).

One key difference and advantage Google + has over Facebook – users, through Circles, have better control over who sees the information they post. On Facebook, all of your friends see what you put online, be it they’re your friends, family, co-workers, business contacts and so on.

With Google +, you will be able to have one circle for your friends, another for family members and another for business colleagues

We all communicate differently with various people in our lives. You don’t communicate with a business prospect the same way you communicate with your mother. Google+ reflects this reality.

And that’s one distinct advantage of Google+ when sharing your content online – it allows you to target your marketing messages to the people who matter most.

Will Google+ eventually become the ultimate content sharing platform?

That remains to be seen of course but Google+ has already solved many of the inherent privacy and ‘over-sharing’ issues that make Facebook problematic. Google+ also provides a rich multimedia and discussion environment that Twitter cannot match. According to Brian Clark at Copyblogger, Google+ has been put together in a way that “…encourages, rewards and protects content sharing.”

And one more biggie – Google+ will certainly be tied into search rankings, unlike Facebook. When it comes to better search rankings, building an audience on Google+ may be the best thing you can do.

At the end of the day, Google+ is taking many of the positive attributes about Facebook and Twitter and making them better. Google has had the luxury of watching what Facebook and Twitter did wrong and making it better.

Google being very careful in its pursuit though since their first two attempts at social networking (Buzz and Wave) failed to catch on. This latest social network attempt by Google hasn’t been released to the general public just yet – it’s being dubbed as a ‘project’ and is by invitation only.

We’ll keep on the lookout for how this latest innovation from Google can play into your social media marketing strategy. In the meantime, check out a demo and see how it works for yourself!

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,
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