Local Results On Non-Local Queries

Google is now showing local search results including maps, business listings, and more even when searchers use generic terms that don’t include a local word.  Try typing ’plumbers’ in the search box and you should see a result like this:

Note that I didn’t give the city Toronto in my search phrase and yet I got the “10-pack” (A-J) of local results in the map. Google is rightly recognizing the unstated local intent in the search query. The results appear to be IP-based with your browsing location deciding what you get to see.

The Rise Of Local Search

This is great news for small and local businesses. They will now be getting more exposure for hundreds of generic prime keywords. Thus, as the above search result shows a ‘Toronto plumber’ can make his surprise entry to the search results when a local person does a ‘plumber’ broad level search. The change can also influence overall search behaviour. Users will be encouraged to cut short their long tail queries and use shorter generic ones instead and can still be assured an accurate search. Since the results are based on IP addresses, it will also matter who your Internet Service provider is.

Google Suggest Goes Local Too!

A related refinement is the localization of Google Suggest. The tool will now display search phrase suggestions taking into account various cultural and local factors while searching for results. Thus, as Google explains, a search for “liver” in the U.S. will fetch search suggestions about the body part, while in the UK, the suggestions will focus on Liverpool city.

Google has also expanded local news providing more regional content to searchers in UK, India and Canada. The service had been available in the US for a year now.

Grooming Local Search

Local search, enabling a person to pinpoint possible destinations within a specific area, is a key aspect of what a search engine can bring to users. Google realizes this more than anyone else. When people search they want to find information that is relevant to their query. Precise and unambiguous locations and these new steps by Google will greatly help in that improving the overall search experience..

Keep it going Google.

What is Social Search?

Wikipedia says, “Social search is a type of web search method that determines the relevance of search results by considering the interactions or contributions of users.” Just to make it simple, social search returns you personalized search results based on the user's social network. This user-based approach is in sharp contrast to the traditional machine-based approach. Social search has many influencers, from simple shared bookmarks or tagging of content with descriptive labels to more complex ones that combine human intelligence with computer algorithms.

Looking Back

Social search as a concept is not really new. Right from the early days of the internet, even before the emergence of the first search engines, it has been in existence. Those were the days when people relied on pages with links to their favorite sites. One of the first such pages was created by the inventor of World Wide Web, Tim Berners Lee. And then Yahoo, one of the first directory web sites, was created by a team of human editors who surfed the web and wrote up brief descriptions of the sites they found. Some other classic examples are The Open Directory Project, the Librarians' Index of the Internet  which were created by people and have been around since the early days of the web.

Social Search Engines

Today people are flocking to social networking and book marking websites. These sites are the ideal launching pad for social search. There is a growing interest in how social groups can influence and potentially enhance the ability of algorithms to find meaningful data for end users and it’s no surprise that companies have sprouted with their focus on ranking search results according to one's social graph on social networks. In 2008 start-ups like Mahalo, Wikia Search,Scour, Baynote, Delver and OneRiot have entered the social search space.

Social Search Pros

Social search engines have potential benefits deriving from the human input qualities of social search. Some of these include:

• Relatively free from link spam as there is less reliance on link structure of webpages
• More relevant search results as each result has been selected by users
• The user gets more current results
• The user gets his precise perspective reflected in the results
• The human judgment that social search uses is more accurate than computer’s ability to analyze a webpage

Social Search Cons

Despite the obvious benefits social search has some glaring defects too. As said earlier social search hinges heavily on human judgment. But the web today is growing at a pace which humans simply cannot match and this means there will be a lot of content that would remain unnoticed and hidden from the user. Also the tagging method through which the search works is not the ideal way of organizing web data. There is also the risk of spam because users have the freedom to directly add results to a social search engine which can be misused.  We all know the way some SEO's behave!

One final element that some people will have a problem with is the lack of privacy that social search includes.  In order to learn about your own habits, search engines need to learn about your likes and dislikes and follow the websites you visit.  My opinion?  So be it.  I seriously doubt Google, Yahoo! and MSN care about each individual enough for it to matter.  The key is the collective research gained.   It is much like the mistrust many had 10 years ago in purchasing products online.  It isn't really an issue now is it?

What’s Next?

Social search, the way it's evolving integrates both automated software as well as human judgment regarding the nature of web content. In the future, it's likely that a combination of algorithmic search and the various types of social search systems will work in tandem to satisfy a wide variety of information. And with support coming from giants and minnows alike in the webscape the future looks all rosy for social search.  Remember – all search engines want to do is offer the user the most relevant search to their own personal preferences.  Given this – social search and personalization are here to stay.

A Better Browser

Since its launch, Chrome has seen a number of improvements that have made it more stable and perform well overall. Some of the improvements include audio and video bug fixes, a bookmark manager, faster V8 JavaScript engine and more accessible privacy settings. Thanks to the Google development team who has been working hard and the feedback from users, Chrome is today a better browser then it was when it first came out.

Google in a Hurry?

The short beta stage that Chrome had is interesting. Especially when you go to Gmail and see the “beta” tag still stamped on the top left corner. Why was Google in a hurry with Chrome while they continue to test the mail service? Maybe there was a business need for Google to get over the beta testing stage quickly with a client software application that Chrome certainly is. Delaying the testing period would have meant making it untouchable to many potential customers like Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). On the other hand, applications like Gmail which are “cloud-based” can remain in the beta stage till Google feels that there are major features that should be added.

More to Come

Google says there is more on the horizon. Chrome would soon have features like form autofill and RSS support. Mac and Linux versions are in the pipeline and an extensions platform (similar to add-ons in Firefox) is also being developed.

Way to Go

Chrome today has become a choice for surfers the world over. Its market share has steadily risen and it is now up to 4^th place among browsers. It is above Opera and if the current trend is any indication it will soon be in the top 3. Who knows – maybe it will even topple FireFox and Explorer one day!  Anything is possible.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is any page on a website where traffic is directed to prompt a certain action from the user (referred to as the prospect). To borrow an excellent analogy, imagine a golf course; the landing page then is the putting green that you drive the ball (the prospect) to. And just as the goal is to get the ball into the hole on the green, the goal of the copy and design of a landing page is to get the prospect to take your desired action. A landing page is usually a page isolated from the rest of your site that is specifically crafted for Pay Per Click campaigns.

Landing Page Types

There are two main types, the Reference Landing Page and the Transactional Landing Page. Reference pages deliver information relevant to the visitor in the form of text, pictures, links or other elements that does not require interaction. Transactional pages on the other hand are interactive asking visitors to complete a transaction such as an ad click, fill out a form or file download with the aim of actually converting that prospect to a sale.

Landing Page and PPC

Landing pages are primarily used for PPC campaigns and play a prominent role in the execution of a successful campaign. This is the page where visitors arrive at after they click on a PPC ad, and thus has a substantial say in the performance of the ad. Usually landing pages are closely customized to the PPC ad purely because they are vital in “closing the sale” and effecting conversions from users. Landing pages also directly impact the Quality Score used by Google Adwords in determining the final price you will pay for every click through to your website.

Landing Page Optimization

Obviously it goes without saying that the landing page needs to be optimized. In fact, landing page optimization should be among the first steps taken when considering PPC marketing. Optimization for conversions includes the addition of the relevant keywords, as well as various other optimization techniques. Creating targeted landing pages that directly relate to the search phrase and reassures the user that he is in the right place can greatly enrich your ROI and bolster your PPC ranking as well. Some useful things to be kept in mind for landing page design are:

• Design it simple
• Have less navigation links for easier navigation
• Include reassuring elements like compelling imagery, speaking slogans and call-to-action elements that effect conversions
• Give information like privacy policy that wins visitor trust and ensures you get reliable information back.

Look at the image in this PPC blog itself and you will see a landing page we built for our  Toronto area internet marketing client.  You will see all the elements mentioned in this article!

A well optimized landing page rewards you with excellent conversion rates and also helps you to benefit from the targeted visitors that your PPC ad can send to a page. It’s crucial that businesses are alive to this critical component in website optimization and profit from it – that is unless you like wasting money. 

Deep linking in Action

To deep link to the exact spot you want in a YouTube video, specify the spot by appending a tag to the end of the video link.

The tag has the syntax: “#t=AmBs” where ‘A’ stands for minutes and ‘B’ for seconds. The numbers before the A and B can be changed to edit the minutes and seconds, respectively.

Thus if I want to view a particular part of one of my favorite speeches (just kidding here, of course I want to see all of it, that’s why it’s a favorite you know!) I just add the following tag at the end of the URL: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc#t=10m45s

Typing this link in the address bar of a browser will take me directly to the 10m45s spot in the video. And if I see the above appended link on a webpage and chance to click on it the result will be the same.

Pretty handy, right?

It Even Works for Comments!

The feature works in a comment to a YouTube video too, in fact it’s easier. When posting a comment on a video you need to append just A:Y. You don’t need the video URL since you are already on the video page. Thus had the above time spot came in a comment it would have taken the form 10:45. Also this will become a hyperlink which viewers can simply click on and jump to the 10m45s spot. Quite cool an idea, you might think. But take care not to include any punctuation or anything except a space right after the Y, else it won’t work.

Embedding Deep Linked Videos

Deep linked YouTube videos can be embedded in blogs and other web pages without much trouble. WordPress, the blog publishing software has the Smart YouTube plugin which supports deep linking. The Youtube embed video code uses different syntax to start a video at desired time by using ‘&start=’ parameter accepting value in seconds. To illustrate, this code in your post using Smart Youtube starts the video at 50 second mark: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc&start=50

The Latest a Bit Late?

Online opinion is that this latest feature from YouTube is a bit late to see the light of the day. It’s really a mystery as to why they took this much time in adding the deep linking arrow to their armoury. Google Video introduced the same feature over two years ago. Til now YouTube users had no other options but to rely on third party services like Splicd to do the deep linking. But with competitors like Hulu hot on their heels stealing viewers, it was always a question of when and not if for YouTube. A long overdue step maybe, anyways better late than never. YouTube is popular and for sure this is going to make it more popular. Let’s enjoy the show!

What is an Image Search?

An Image Search is query results, accompanied by thumbnail graphics and contextual information, that best match users’ search queries. Such information can be generated and submitted by the image creator, by the owner of the site containing the image, or by third party reviewers. Most of the search engines have a dedicated image searching option and the BIG ones even integrate images into some contextual search results.

The Need for Image Optimization

If you are not optimizing your images then you are missing out. Image search is the fastest growing vertical in the search arena today growing at 90% every year with over 360,000,000 searches per month across the top search engines. Besides, optimizing images offers the following advantages:

• Free product promotion
• More optimization opportunities than regular search alone. Photo sharing and social image sharing sites have more contextual clues that search engines can use for their ranking criteria.
• Less competition. Image search is a widely underused area for retailers.

Tips for Image Optimization

• Always use original images. This allows you as the retailer to present the product in the best possible way that will convert with your own audience, and also to present the features in a different way than other competitors.
  
• Start off with good quality pictures, and make necessary resolution adjustments between your full size images and your thumbnails. Pictures with good contrast tend to attract more people clicking and linking to them.
• Saving images as JPGs and GIFs provides better opportunity to get your images spidered.
• The image names should match what is actually represented in the file.  Search engines will read that name and use this information.
• The ALT text should be there with a good description. Ensure it has relevant keywords in the description, and dont list too much text or it will lack weight. 
• Image search is not just for retailers directly reaching customers, so be broad in the subject matter to get an expanded audience.
• Optimize the page with the image. Match your ALT tag with the content that surrounds your photo so that they work together to inform the search engines of the content of the photo
• Create an image folder in your site’s hosting environment that’s accessible to the search engines for proper file organization.

When writing content for websites there is a vital question that needs to be paid proper attention. A question that can prove decisive for your website and your online business. Finding the right answer can win you the world, but getting it wrong can also spell doom.

The question

To whom should the content, or the copy to be exact, be aimed at? Is it for the search engines who scour the web after a search query or is it for the user who types those queries in the engines? Should the copy be heaped with keywords or should it be styled in natural reading language?

Keywords, the key? 

It is common knowledge that the search engines drive traffic to your site. And for search engines to take note of your site there needs to be ample keywords spread in the copy. The keywords tell the search engines what you do and engines rank your site accordingly for a particular search query. Now if your site gains a high ranking in the search results for a user query because of the keyword-rich copy it’s a good job done you might think. But wait.

Picture this! 

There is of course, reason for you to rejoice but not celebrate yet. There is still some way to go, some clicks to be made before you can do that. What if the user comes to your site only to wave a sudden good bye because you didn’t have what he had in his mind? What if the copy on your site is so dull that it drives the user miles away or maybe to the competitor next door on the web? Now that can be a real scary scenario, right?

Readability matters! 

The point here is that readability matters and it matters a lot. Remember, it’s the visitors who buy your product or service, not search engines. To convert a visitor to a customer it needs meaningful content which makes sense to the reader. SEO content/copy writing is, actually a re-writing process of creatively written copy. It just won’t make sense if one inserts several disjointed keywords just to make it rank high in search engines. And then there is the danger of your site being marked as spam by the honorable search engines themselves. 

The answer 

To answer the question then, your website needs copy written for humans that interests them.  But before you begin getting your copy written, make sure to visit a keyword suggestion site like the one created by Google itself and get a list of relevant search terms.  Once you have this list let your content writer integrate these keywords within naturally flowing, interesting website copy that your visitors will enjoy. Readability is what interests the user and it should never be compromised. Writing for the humans with one hand while optimizing for the engines with the other , that’s the balancing act you need to perform. It can be tough but it’s worth doing it for sure.

Yes, it’s official now. Google has launched its very own browser Chrome. The beta version has been released across the globe in over a hundred countries. You can read the Google take on the Chrome here . And in this Chrome Comic , Google comes clean as to why it thought the world needed a new browser.

Similar to the buzz that surrounds most tools from the Google stable, this one is no different. The release of Chrome had been widely anticipated and already it has caused ripples if the hot discussions around the blogosphere are anything to go by. Reportedly, Google has been working on Chrome for at least 4 years now. It should be worth the wait as ‘Chrome’ promises to be a browser that treads off the beaten track as far as surfing experience goes.

Let’s have a look at some ‘Chrome’ features now:

• Fully open source based on Webkit architecture
• Multi-threaded with each process having its own memory and copy of global data structures
• A OS-like process manager gives you a tab-by-tab view of which web apps are hogging your CPU and bandwidth
• Built-in JavaScript virtual machine called V8
• Gears come pre-loaded
• Tabs are above the address bar and each tab has its own controls
• Built-in privacy mode and phishing protection
• Web apps can be launched in their own toolbar-less browser window

Feature-rich is the phrase that comes to mind after reading all that, right? Wonder what it will feel like when one actually gets going in the internet using the application. For sure it’s going to be a different experience. 

It’s interesting to look at the implications that ‘Chrome’ will have on other browsers. Microsoft IE and Mozilla Firefox, being the nearest competitors would, of course be wary of the new kid on the block. Google, for its part, says the new kid will only help older browsers by building a solid foundation for modern web applications. Chrome, they say is a browser that is more stable, faster, and secure, with a clean, simple, and efficient user interface. (just like most Google applications!)  There is a lot that others can learn from its design and replicate. But many are of the opinion that Google is flexing its muscles a bit too much and this is just another attempt to take over the internet completely.

I recently came across a fantastic blog by Google’s own, Matt Cutts.  He describes the possible objections about ‘Chrome’ and gives his own FAQ session.  Check out the article here.

Anyway, if there is someone who is not complaining at all, it’s the surfer. He will be having the last laugh no matter who releases what. For him it’s the surfing experience that matters and if all this helps to make the internet a better place to spend time — all the better! 

Design and development companies – get ready for yet another web browser to do cross compatibility testing with.

Web surfers – welcome to yet another option for improved usability!  This can’t hurt!

Happy days ahead surfers!