by Albert Gouyet on January 16, 2012
Google rolled out its biggest update to search with ‘Search Plus Your World’. The new search results allow users to find public information and privately shared content through a single search. Results now include:
- Public web listings
- Public Google+ posts and photos, Picasa photos
- Private Google+ posts and photos, Picasa photos
We keep a close eye on changes in search and help you respond right away. The summary below describes how this update affects marketing and what you can do to capitalize on this update.
What this means for marketing
Social matters even more – Social’s impact on search has been discussed for a while, and the update reinforces it’s influence on rankings and brand. Google+ content such as posts, pages and photos will feature prominently in search results, and the importance of social as a ranking factor will continue to rise over time. For marketers, this is a powerful way to drive SEO performance and brand image.
SEO scope expands – SEO continues to expand – it is both more segmented and more integrated across digital channels. SEO success now requires a unified strategy that spans both websites as well as social media presence. This strategy requires integrated analytics, integrated content, and a unified user and search engine experience. SEOs must also begin to optimize social channels for search engines.
Impact varies across segments – While the impact will likely affect many segments over time, searches with heavy personality-driven keywords (entertainment, politics and sports) or strong customer facing brands (cars, consumer electronics and games) will see more Google+ content sooner.
Universal search evolves – Universal search has been present for some time, but the source of content displayed has changed. This may mean that previous content no longer displays in the same prominence as before – marketers will see competition from content within their users’ social networks.
How you can navigate these changes
Create or optimize your Google+ page – If you don’t have a Google+ page, please create one. If you have a Google+ page, optimize your site to reinforce your Google+ page and vice versa.
Unify site, search and social strategy – Make sure there is a coherent, integrated plan between the three different channels that includes integrated analytics and messaging. It’s also important to create a unified “search engine” experience—make sure that Google and other engines see and show the consistent messaging and content..
Manage site, search and social together – Understanding the relationship between the three channels in a changing market is critical. We recommend creating a single dashboard with visibility across channels; be sure to include universal, social and keywords specific to Search Plus Your World. Analyze your keywords to identify the value and importance from different channels, and prioritize.
Assess universal search results – Look at the universal search results and see if there are any major changes, positive or negative. Analyze keywords to determine their likelihood to be impacted by the change and build an improvement plan
by SG on December 2, 2011
1. “Minor” Google Panda Update On November 18th 
Google tweeted that they have pushed out a minor update to the Google Panda algorithm this past Friday afternoon.The update impacts less than one-percent of searches, which is why Google labelled this a “minor” update.
2. 10 New Google Analytics Features You Need to Start Using
Over the past eight months, Google has steadily released one revolutionary new feature after another. On March 17, the company announced a new version of Google Analytics. Up until this point, users could decide whether they preferred to stick with the old interface or switch to the new one. However, Google recently announced that the old version of GA will be turned off in January 2012.
3. 10 Stats to Justify SEO
Have you seen the potential of SEO but are struggling to convince your boss or colleagues? You are not alone. SEO can often be viewed as a difficult, techy oddity, and not something that every company needs. Small-scale businesses often think they won’t benefit from spending money on online marketing.
4. SEO Salary Guide For Top 20 U.S. Markets [INFOGRAPHIC]
ONWARDsearch released and infographic yesterday called SEO Salary Guide: For Top 20 U.S. Markets that shows you which U.S. markets offer the highest number of SEO-related jobs and what the salary ranges for those markets are.
5. Beyond SEO: Retaining the Visitor
During SES Chicago, there was definitely a resounding theme. You have to think more about your visitor than you have in the past. It isn’t always about a throng of visitors. As I’ve worked to create a better and more meaningful user experience for my clients’ site visitors, I noticed that time and time again, my clients keep making simple mistakes that detract from what I call visitor retention.
6. 5 Powerful New Features to Leverage in YouTube Analytics [INFOGRAPHIC]
Yesterday, YouTube replaced Insight with the brand new YouTube Analytics. The new analytics tool, which is more robust than YouTube Insight, will provide detailed data regarding the audience and how that audience interacts with the video.
7. Cyber Monday 2011 Marks Biggest U.S. Online Spending Day in History
Cyber Monday 2011 was the heaviest U.S. online spending day in history, with the holiday season as a whole up 15 percent YoY to $15 billion this season-to-date. Average order values increased 2.6 percent and mobile traffic to retail sites are up 3.9 percent over the biggest online shopping day a year earlier, according to just-released reports from IBM, comScore, PayPal, and others.
8. Top 5 Considerations For International SEO
Considering a global expansion in 2012? Extending your web presence internationally can be challenging, especially without local resources at your disposal. But, with the right preparations it can be done. Understanding the basic principles of International SEO will ready you to enter a new foreign market successfully. Here are five critical considerations to account for prior to embarking on global SEO.
9. Infographic: Black Friday As Seen Through Foursquare Check-Ins
Black Friday is only three days away, and some people are already camping out in front of stores. Judging from Foursquare check-ins from last year in the US, peak shopping will happen at 2pm, Target & Best Buy will be swamped and department stores will be busiest.
10. Google: Parked Domains, Scraper Sites Targeted Among New Search Changes 
In what’s now to be a monthly update on search changes, a new Google “Inside Search” blog post today tells us that life is getting tougher for those with parked domains, life may get better for those plagued by scraper sites and those hoping to “push down” negative listings may have a tougher challenge.
by SG on November 18, 2011
This week marketers get some advice from Siri, SES Chicago highlighted some exciting topics and the BrightEdge SocialShare looked into how brands are, or aren’t, adopting Google+ pages. Read on for more…
The days of traditional website authority building are long gone. So many innovative channels have become available today that on the surface can make the task seem much easier but require hard work, dedication, and a lot of strategy, too.
So today I am organizing a PPC account. This is an account that I took over from another agency. The account has four different Campaigns with around seven different AdGroups throughout all the four different Campaigns. In each of the AdGroups there are around 100 different keywords and keyword phrases.
Guilty, Hopeful, Clueless Marketers and the Need for Change – #SESCHI 2011 Keynote
I recently upgraded my phone to the iPhone 4S and, like everyone else, started playing around with the Siri feature. I noticed that as I used the feature and watched others use it, almost everyone was asking Siri questions.
At some point last week Google Analytics quietly released an apparently small change to its Landing Pages report (Content tab => Site Content => Landing Pages). This report was almost useless before this change and now it joins the list of the most useful reports on the tool. In a few words the change was simple: we can now link landing pages to goals, i.e. we can see the value of each landing page out of the box.
WordPress has made it very easy for small businesses to have a website that is easy to update and maintain, but do you know how to optimize your WordPress site so that it has the best chance of appearing at the top of your customers’ search results?
People love to feel connected to their friends without the burden of giving them their full attention. For example, my daughter has a Skype video call open with her best friend some nights while they both do their homework. Most of the time they don’t say anything to each other, and are simply doing their own thing. But, they are still there for each other. Connected, but their focus is on something else.
Twitter was recently successful in obtaining the domain name Twiter.com after filing a dispute with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and has apparently grown an appetite for more.
Unfortunately, there is this perception, almost bias, against automation in our space: a misbelief that there is nothing that we can set and forget
in SEO. Well, I am here today to free you from the reigns of some of your daily miseries of SEO, all for the incredible price of free.
10. Google+ Pages Launch Increases Traffic, But Brands Struggle to Find Followers
Google launched the first iteration of its new Google+ Business Pages on November 7. The new Pages feature allows brands, products, companies, businesses, and organizations to build their very own tailored Google+ presence. This is Google’s latest gambit aimed at recruiting legions of entrenched Facebookers to the fledgling social platform.
