Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category

Google abandons “Instant” search feature

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Google abandons “Instant” search feature

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Google AdWords Mailer – $150 Coupon

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Google AdWords Mailer – $150 Coupon

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Google Analytics Summit – Marketers Want More Data

Google Analytics

As a marketer (and we all are) more information is better.  Google’s event will have folks from all over the country getting together to plan how to get more – and better – information from our shopping habits.

As they have for years, Google Analytics Certified Partners, Premium customers and developers will once again join us in the Bay Area for our annual summit this week. We are constantly working to improve our products based on feedback from our most dedicated users and this event lets us hear directly from our community. We wanted to share an overview of some of the tools and features we’ll discuss at the 2014 summit so that even if you aren’t able to attend, you can about hear what’s next. Enhanced Ecommerce  – Google Analytics Ecommerce data traditionally focused on details about the purchase – transaction details, product details, and others. But, marketers today want to understand the entire customer journey.

Credits: Google Analytics Summit 2014: What’s Next And On The Horizon For Analytics

Do you watch your analytics?  Do you think Google collects too much information already, or should they track more?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!
 

Google Analytics Summit – Marketers Want More Data

Google Analytics

As a marketer (and we all are) more information is better.  Google’s event will have folks from all over the country getting together to plan how to get more – and better – information from our shopping habits.

As they have for years, Google Analytics Certified Partners, Premium customers and developers will once again join us in the Bay Area for our annual summit this week. We are constantly working to improve our products based on feedback from our most dedicated users and this event lets us hear directly from our community. We wanted to share an overview of some of the tools and features we’ll discuss at the 2014 summit so that even if you aren’t able to attend, you can about hear what’s next. Enhanced Ecommerce  – Google Analytics Ecommerce data traditionally focused on details about the purchase – transaction details, product details, and others. But, marketers today want to understand the entire customer journey.

Credits: Google Analytics Summit 2014: What’s Next And On The Horizon For Analytics

Do you watch your analytics?  Do you think Google collects too much information already, or should they track more?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!
 

Google Authorship Purposely Limited

You know those cool author pictures you sometimes see in Google’s search results?  They may be slowly going away, in a move Google’s Matt Cutts says will increase the quality of search results.  Authorship – Googles way to attribute something you write online to your profile, has been found to increase the likelihood of getting clicks in search results pages, and that’s why you’ll often see multiple pictures on the first page for a popular search term – everybody wants the click.

authorship rich snippet

At this time, the SEO geeks haven’t determined exactly why people are getting cut, but it’s suspected that quality and authority of the website plays an important role.   We’ll keep our eye on this.  In the meantime, learn more at:

http://www.virante.org/blog/2013/12/19/authorshippocalypse-google-authorship-penguin-finally-appeared/

Google Authorship Purposely Limited

You know those cool author pictures you sometimes see in Google’s search results?  They may be slowly going away, in a move Google’s Matt Cutts says will increase the quality of search results.  Authorship – Googles way to attribute something you write online to your profile, has been found to increase the likelihood of getting clicks in search results pages, and that’s why you’ll often see multiple pictures on the first page for a popular search term – everybody wants the click.

authorship rich snippet

At this time, the SEO geeks haven’t determined exactly why people are getting cut, but it’s suspected that quality and authority of the website plays an important role.   We’ll keep our eye on this.  In the meantime, learn more at:

http://www.virante.org/blog/2013/12/19/authorshippocalypse-google-authorship-penguin-finally-appeared/

Google’s Hummingbird Update

Affected by the recent “Hummingbird” update?  I’ve collected some great material on Google’s latest algorithm change.  Clients of mine will be largely unaffected, but I’m keeping my eye on the big “G” as they shift focus from link popularity to social signals, conversational search and great on-page SEO.

Originally from : http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816

Why is it called Hummingbird?

Google told us the name come from being “precise and fast.”

When did Hummingbird start? Today?

Google started using Hummingbird about a month ago, it said. Google only announced the change today.

What does it mean that Hummingbird is now being used?

Think of a car built in the 1950s. It might have a great engine, but it might also be an engine that lacks things like fuel injection or be unable to use unleaded fuel. When Google switched to Hummingbird, it’s as if it dropped the old engine out of a car and put in a new one. It also did this so quickly that no one really noticed the switch.

When’s the last time Google replaced its algorithm this way?

Google struggled to recall when any type of major change like this last happened. In 2010, the “Caffeine Update” was a huge change. But that was also a change mostly meant to help Google better gather information (indexing) rather than sorting through the information. Google search chief Amit Singhal told me that perhaps 2001, when he first joined the company, was the last time the algorithm was so dramatically rewritten.

What about all these Penguin, Panda and other “updates” — haven’t those been changes to the algorithm?

PandaPenguin and other updates were changes to parts of the old algorithm, but not an entire replacement of the whole. Think of it again like an engine. Those things were as if the engine received a new oil filter or had an improved pump put in. Hummingbird is a brand new engine, though it continues to use some of the same parts of the old, like Penguin and Panda

The new engine is using old parts?

Yes. And no. Some of the parts are perfectly good, so there was no reason to toss them out. Other parts are constantly being replaced. In general, Hummingbird — Google says — is a new engine built on both existing and new parts, organized in a way to especially serve the search demands of today, rather than one created for the needs of ten years ago, with the technologies back then.

What type of “new” search activity does Hummingbird help?

Conversational search” is one of the biggest examples Google gave. People, when speaking searches, may find it more useful to have a conversation.

“What’s the closest place to buy the iPhone 5s to my home?” A traditional search engine might focus on finding matches for words — finding a page that says “buy” and “iPhone 5s,” for example.

Hummingbird should better focus on the meaning behind the words. It may better understand the actual location of your home, if you’ve shared that with Google. It might understand that “place” means you want a brick-and-mortar store. It might get that “iPhone 5s” is a particular type of electronic device carried by certain stores. Knowing all these meanings may help Google go beyond just finding pages with matching words.

In particular, Google said that Hummingbird is paying more attention to each word in a query, ensuring that the whole query — the whole sentence or conversation or meaning — is taken into account, rather than particular words. The goal is that pages matching the meaning do better, rather than pages matching just a few words.

Google’s Hummingbird Update

Affected by the recent “Hummingbird” update?  I’ve collected some great material on Google’s latest algorithm change.  Clients of mine will be largely unaffected, but I’m keeping my eye on the big “G” as they shift focus from link popularity to social signals, conversational search and great on-page SEO.

Originally from : http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816

Why is it called Hummingbird?

Google told us the name come from being “precise and fast.”

When did Hummingbird start? Today?

Google started using Hummingbird about a month ago, it said. Google only announced the change today.

What does it mean that Hummingbird is now being used?

Think of a car built in the 1950s. It might have a great engine, but it might also be an engine that lacks things like fuel injection or be unable to use unleaded fuel. When Google switched to Hummingbird, it’s as if it dropped the old engine out of a car and put in a new one. It also did this so quickly that no one really noticed the switch.

When’s the last time Google replaced its algorithm this way?

Google struggled to recall when any type of major change like this last happened. In 2010, the “Caffeine Update” was a huge change. But that was also a change mostly meant to help Google better gather information (indexing) rather than sorting through the information. Google search chief Amit Singhal told me that perhaps 2001, when he first joined the company, was the last time the algorithm was so dramatically rewritten.

What about all these Penguin, Panda and other “updates” — haven’t those been changes to the algorithm?

PandaPenguin and other updates were changes to parts of the old algorithm, but not an entire replacement of the whole. Think of it again like an engine. Those things were as if the engine received a new oil filter or had an improved pump put in. Hummingbird is a brand new engine, though it continues to use some of the same parts of the old, like Penguin and Panda

The new engine is using old parts?

Yes. And no. Some of the parts are perfectly good, so there was no reason to toss them out. Other parts are constantly being replaced. In general, Hummingbird — Google says — is a new engine built on both existing and new parts, organized in a way to especially serve the search demands of today, rather than one created for the needs of ten years ago, with the technologies back then.

What type of “new” search activity does Hummingbird help?

Conversational search” is one of the biggest examples Google gave. People, when speaking searches, may find it more useful to have a conversation.

“What’s the closest place to buy the iPhone 5s to my home?” A traditional search engine might focus on finding matches for words — finding a page that says “buy” and “iPhone 5s,” for example.

Hummingbird should better focus on the meaning behind the words. It may better understand the actual location of your home, if you’ve shared that with Google. It might understand that “place” means you want a brick-and-mortar store. It might get that “iPhone 5s” is a particular type of electronic device carried by certain stores. Knowing all these meanings may help Google go beyond just finding pages with matching words.

In particular, Google said that Hummingbird is paying more attention to each word in a query, ensuring that the whole query — the whole sentence or conversation or meaning — is taken into account, rather than particular words. The goal is that pages matching the meaning do better, rather than pages matching just a few words.

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