Digital Marketing in Social Media

 

As human behavior continues to shift in a digital world, so does the way we interact with brands and each other. Included in this shift of behavior is the notion that our connectedness and reliance on each other has increased in social settings. We trust what our friends buy, we yearn to be a part of the cool crowd by buying what the influencers buy, and we follow the brands we know and love. It is no surprise, then, that Snapchat, in an effort to draw marketers to their platform, has introduced a new proprietary tool called 'Snapchat Trends'. 

Snapchat Trends primarily serves as a way to uncover trends, fads and other noteworthy happenings in the social space by allowing users - including Marketers - to find the most searched for elements on the platform. As users search for the latest pumpkin-themed creations, various keywords will bubble to the top that'll allow users to compare various stats related to the fall phenomenon. Understanding what's trending among the users of Snapchat would be especially viable information as companies today are doing everything in their power to understand Gen Z. By building this tool, Snapchat has positioned itself to be a valuable social platform for more companies and has formed a viable complement to other keyword search tools. It'll be interesting to see if other platforms follow suit but in the mean time, get ready for more pumpkin themed products in your feed! 

Source and more info: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2021/08/snapchat-introduces-new-tool-trends.html

Do you want to rely more on content-based marketing? So does everybody else.

A recent study by backlinko.com and BuzzSumo shows that 94% of content gets no external links and only 2.2% draws external links from multiple sites. External links are critical to improving the content's search ranking and for enabling readers to organically locate the content. 

So, why is it so hard to get backlinks? There has been a dramatic rise in the amount content that is being created as content-based marketing continues to rise in popularity. As the amount of content has risen, it has become harder to get your content noticed. The good news is that despite the intense competition for readers and links if you can stand out from the crowd succeed it is possible to win big. For example, the study found that 1.3% of articles get 75% of the social shares.

So, what should you do about it? Before you dive in an assume that content market will be the solution to all your digital marketing woes it is critical to consider the baseline success rate. Given the low baseline rate, creating content without a distribution strategy is not likely to lead to the desired results. Additionally, should follow best practices to ensure that your content has the best chances of success. 

Other interesting findings:

• Favor long-form content: Long-form content gets on average 77.2% more links than short articles
• Write longer titles: 76.7% of the social shares came from headlines that are 14-17 words in length
• Adding a question mark to the headline had 23.3% more social shares than headlines without
• “Why” and “What” posts got 25.8% more links than “How to” posts 

The Future Of SEO

For many years unpaid search results have been a great driver for websites and online shops, a massive service industry around it has evolved. Updated algorithms and decreasing space for organic search results have led to a discussion about the relevance of SEO today.

A recent interview on the German tech news platform "Gründerszene" dealt with that topic as well. "Customer Relationship Marketing is the new SEO", Florian Heinemann, a successful entrepreneur from Berlin says there without going into the details of this statement. Furthermore, he points at the fact that Google's rank algorithms and link analysis are not completely transparent and fully in the control of the company. Therefore he argues, the risk-return relation of SEO investments are getting worse for companies in the long run.

Another aspect that might have an impact on the future relevance of SEO is the rise of content marketing. The interview touches the idea that content marketing is being seen as the cure-all in online marketing as valuable content can be leveraged in social media, SEO and other channels.

I think, SEO will remain highly relevant. What changes is the way brand are telling their stories and building their identity. More and more, valuable brand content has to enrich the life of the audience in order to build loyalty. Marketeers have to understand how to leverage the content they create for their content marketing and make it work in the context of SEO. From a business perspective Heinemann certainly wanted to emphasize that SEO just is not enough anymore to stay competitive. In todays online marketing landscape (especially in e-commerce), cost cutting measures become increasingly relevant and new marketing channels have risen. While SEO has to be a sustainable and efficiently managed tool, CRM can help to cut marketing expenditures and outperform the competition. Therefore, only the relative relevance of SEO' in the marketing mix decreases.

Content is Key - 3 Key Content Marketing Trends of 2015

At the end of the day, any good SEO strategy revolves around providing high quality and engaging content to your users. As such, it is no surprise that Content Marketing is bigger than ever; content creation and publication is at an all-time high, and traditional marketing budgets are being reallocated to content marketing efforts.

Below are a few key themes that have arisen throughout 2015:

1. Publication is only the first small step; real value comes from distribution - Strategic distribution of content is what will set businesses apart. Optimizing for search, and specifically mobile, building relationships with branded publications, and reaching out to influencers in your field are just a few ways to make sure your content actually reaches your target market.

2. Content marketing is becoming inextricably inked with social media marketing - Businesses have realized that social media is an amplifier for content. While the majority of firms already know the importance of social media in their marketing, in 2015, we have seen businesses more fully realize its role as the capstone of any distribution model.

3. Companies who embrace content marketing achieve higher search engine rankings - SEO and content marketing now go hand-in-hand; better, more frequent content attracts likes, shares, and stimulates other brand building signals that boost search rankings. SEO will continue to be an important part of the marketing mix, but it will increasingly become about technical aspects like keyword research, indexing issues, meta tags and penalty recovery. Content marketing, on the other hand, may soon become the key marginal driver of search rankings.

If you'd like to know more, check out the below link for a more thorough list of Content Marketing trends expected in 2015.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/12/01/the-top-7-content-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2015/

SEO Best Practices and Trends for 2015

What SEO Best Practices will be HOT in 2015?

The Internet is a huge factor in how marketing is performed nowadays, and keeping up with the latest SEO trends is important to keeping your marketing edge. This is because traditional push marketing is being replaced by more cost-effective inbound marketing strategies like search engine optimization (SEO), that drives targeted audiences to you as apposed to out bound marketing where you are marketing to the masses and hoping you reach the right people. Make sure to bookmark this page as your SEO best practices checklist and don’t let up! Here are the top 8 SEO trends to watch for in 2015.

1. Content is King. Google’s latest search engine algorithms focuses more and more on content, which means there is less focus on keyword saturation and more focus on whether or not the content is actually relevant to the keywords. You should continue to generate high-quality content that uses appropriate, relevant keywords and synonyms for those keywords, but focus more on the content than the words themselves.

2. Social Signals Will Be Even More Important. Changes within the search engine algorithms have not just placed greater importance on the content, but they’ve also begun to rely more upon social signals to elevate results up the ladder in search ranking importance. Eventually, we expect to see content and social signals integrated, with content of higher quality getting more social shares and thus rising higher in the search engine results.

3. Online Security Will Become More Important in Rankings. If your website deals with online payments and sensitive customer information, you need to make sure you are using proper security measures to safeguard that information. For example, using security certificates and https instead of http will help your website grow in search engine rankings in 2015. 

4. Mobile-Friendly SEO will grow. The mobile user experience is rumored to be another important ranking factor in Google’s search engine algorithm, since the mobile Internet has surpassed the desktop Internet and will continue to grow in 20125. Estimates say that in 2015, there will be as many as 50 billion local searches using mobile devices—wouldn’t you want to be found in those searches?

5. Increased focus on conversations instead of keywords. Semantic search became a big deal in 2013, with Google’s Hummingbird update. Search engines are now using context, meaning, and intent of the words in a search query, instead of just focusing on matching up keywords. This means long-tail, or more “conversational,” keyword phrases will grow in importance for SEO, and you should begin to tailor some of your SEO efforts towards engaging in a conversation with search engine users.

6. Link Building Will Focus on Brand Mentions. In 2015, proper link building will continue to be important. What’s changed, though, is how the search engines will interpret those backlinks coming to and from a website. The content will get more of the focus, so you need to think about relevance and social popularity. Brand mentions, relevant information the source website is discussing about your brand or website, might not require a hyperlink but will still factor into SEO.

7. There Will Be More Visual-Based SEO. High quality, original content featuring visual media elements like graphics, images, and video are becoming high performing assets for the top-ranked web pages in 2014, and this is expected to continue throughout 2015. Rich text with visual elements gets priority in SERPs over web pages with just text, and video marketing on YouTube can generate a huge amount of link and social sharing traffic for your site. Here is an example below:

8. Say So Long to Keyword Rankings, and Hello to Return on Investment. The primary focus in 2015 will switch from keyword rankings to more important elements that would impact your ROI. If your top-ranked web page doesn’t generate conversions and sales, that top ranking doesn’t matter. You will need to apply new SEO strategies that focus beyond link building and keywords, and account for how your content engages with your audience and convinces them to convert into leads or sales.

2015 is on us, so start paying attention to these trends and best practices now and you’ll be ahead of the game all year.

Reference: http://www.business2community.com/seo/seo-best-practices-trends-2015-01142021#OvszRpfzOx7J0vk5.99

Search Engine Rankings and Presidential Elections

Many already know that digital marketing has played an important role in presidential campaigns. But still people are not taking advantage of improving their SEO ranking and it seems very important based on the Psmag article.

 

"A new study has found that undecided voters are more likely to say they'll choose a political candidate after they see websites about that candidate appear among the first hits in a list of search-engine results.

 

In experiments with a hypothetical election, the effect was large, causing 36 percent or more of undecided voters to switch votes after seeing one candidate or another appear in top results. In a real-world election, where most of the study volunteers were already aware of the candidates, the effect was smaller, but still significant: about 11 percent."

Looking into US past elections, "SEO Vote 2012 indicate that Barrack Obama’s website has 8,676 rankings, while Mitt Romney’s website only has 2,836". Guess who won? For next elections, maybe we can predict who is going to win based on SEO rankings before actually the elections occur.

Optimized content can help candidates win. So, relevant content should be posted on candidates webpage. Also, people not only search keywords such as "Presidential Elections in USA" or "Obama", they search for relevant issues such as: war, economy, abortion, death penalty... Candidates should understand through Google Trends and Google Analytics which are the topics that have more search and be the source of information by adding on their webpage specific content about the issues and on third party webpages with appropriate links pointing to the candidate's website.

Sources: http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/search-engines-affect-elections
http://www.inc.com/jeremy-dearringer/how-seo-can-shape-the-presidential-race.html
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012-PresidentialElection/SEO-Vote-Internet-Trends/prweb10094330.htm

 

 

The future of SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is still young, because it appeared in the wave of digital marketing and after the popularity of Internet.  But does “young” exactly equals to up-to-date when new things boost everyday in the information era, and APPs on mobile phones develop so fast?

The traditional approach to SEO is simply having the right keywords placed carefully in web pages, to get on the first page of Google when others do a Google keyword search. But how fast things have changed in the past few years. Just like NKG co-founder RJ Bathia pointed out that clients are requiring more fresh thinking than ever before these days. Another problem is that no more shortcuts can be taken when search engine becomes more user-friendly and gets better at recognizing great content.

Under the background that mobile phones are getting more and more popular, it is quite important to adapt SEO to mobile-friendly websites.  Meanwhile, over 20% of the Internet time used in America today is used in surfing social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Therefore both strong social media presence and a modern website optimized for SEO are needed. Last but not least, to drive more traffic, links back to the company website should be provided on social media site.

http://www.business2community.com/seo/is-seo-taking-a-backseat-to-social-media-01312559
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/09/03/traditional-agency-practices-are-holding-back-understanding-seo-says-nkg-chief-exec

Future of Search

I came across this article written today on the future of Google and SEO/SEM given the increasing use of mobile and mobile apps. As more people buy things on Amazon, select restaurants on Yelp and book cabs on Uber, they won't need Google to be an intermediate. Facebook's new Virtual Assistant will also be able to help with some of these tasks.

With this all in mind, Google has worked hard to optimize it's search functionality and display for mobile as well as integrate its search capabilities within many major applications. They also launched Google Now which is a sign of how search may evolve, focusing more on anticipating information the user needs and feeding it to them (vs. them searching for it) when and where they need it. From knowing the weather before they start their day, to planning the best route to work to avoid traffic, to checking a favorite team’s score while they’re playing, to offering up suggestions for restaurants in the area, Google Now will give users the information they want, when they need it. Ultimately, it seems that SEO/SEM in some form will continue being an important part of marketing strategies for the foreseeable future and will likely evolve as search may become less important.

http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2424750/will-the-rise-of-mobile-apps-kill-seo-and-sem

https://www.google.com/landing/now/#whatisit

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/facebook-launches-m-new-kind-virtual-assistant/

Why Modern SEO Requires Almost No Technical Expertise

This article speaks about some of the topics we discussed in class around what makes a good SEO strategy. However, it brings up the provocative concept that we really have no understanding of SEO from a code level. Digital marketers and coders don't have access to Google's algorithm, which determines the articles that soar to the top and those that get lost on page 2. For that reason, digital marketers are basically flying blind when they pull together a basic SEO strategy as they have no technical understanding of how this strategy will play out.

I found this to be a very interesting concept as more and more technologically advanced codes and algorithms are introduced for companies to take advantage of. At the end of the day, a digital marketer at a company might be in charge of many ways that the company reaches out to consumers and interacts with them in their daily lives. However, they have no idea how they are reaching them-- they are heavily relying on the strength of the algorithm they have decided to put their marketing dollars behind. Unlike with TV, Print, or Radio, digital is still considered an ambiguous space to many marketers. Rather than invest the time to understand as much as they can in terms of the inner workings of the code behind their successful digital strategy, many marketers just take the results at face value. If the campaign does well, they invest more in that medium like a Google or Buzzfeed. If the campaign does poorly, they move on without any true understanding of the algorithm behind the performance. Overall, I found this to be both interesting and a little scary!


Article Link: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248266

Mobile SEO: More than a Smaller Screen

Google 'Mobile SEO best practice', and you would see experts and enthusiasts giving countless bullet points on how to succeed over a handheld device.

Some top results have given explicit details on 'make your website mobile friendly', 'content optimization plus mobile ads' as well as other definitely 'do's for website managers and business owners. I attach two useful links in case you would like some background information. Optimizing for Mobile - Moz Best Practices for Mobile SEO | Mobile Marketing

However, it takes a lot more than that to adapt to the emerging mobile market. A recent report claimed that in holiday season 2014, mobile device drove 39% of paid traffic in 2014 Q4, and the share is still growing. Besides adding a mobile url to your website or calling up the mobile ads sales rep, there are a few trends to take into account for both marketers and search engine operators (Baidu I'm talking to you!).

1. Shorter key words

Mobile searchers often type in shorter phrases - especially with non-Roman languages. Who wants to tap out a long sentence on a touchscreen keyboard? Longer phrases such as 'what's the best pizza in Upper West' could be shortened as 'pizza upper west' or even 'pizza UWS', and the basket of keywords would be optimized if more typos are considered. 

2. Geographic information

Phones go wherever users go, while desktops stay still in homes and offices. For the local business who hesitated to build up a website and start a campaign, now it is the time. Either it is a pastry shop or a food truck, start with small and attract those nearby.

3. Search on the go (and in the bed)

Mobile searchers move fast, act fast, and expect the results to appear in the first screen. More impatient than traditional searchers, they are also more interested in actionables. Those considering promoting sleep remedy or instant in-store coupon might find mobile ad a worthier investment.

5. Revised algorithm

Type 'Bose' in regular Google you get a handful of ads. Type the same keyword via phone and you get one - sometimes, none. The search engine giants are more cautious with what to place in front of their users - quality score, especially measured by websites' mobile device performance, take a larger portion compared to bidding price.

6. Bye search hi apps

Search engine got all the users flow on desktops. But this is no more the situation with mobile users. Yelp, Accuweather, Chase and other apps are giving users shortcuts avoiding search engines. Can't rule Google? Go for Yelp, or your own app to promote your business.

3 Billion Internet Users and Growing - 2015 SEO Strategy Must

According to Internet Live Stats, an international team of developers, researchers, and analysts making statistics available live, around 40% of the world population has an internet connection today. In 1995, it was less than 1%. The number of internet users has increased tenfold from 1999 to 2013. The first billion was reached in 2005. The second billion in 2010. The third billion in 2014.
The chart and table below show the number of global internet users per year since 1993:

Google predicts that there will be more than 3 billion more internet users by 2020. We are heading from a world of 3 billion connected to the internet in 2014 to at least 6 billion by 2020. Between Facebook's drone technology and Google's stratospheric balloons (called Project Loon), there is to the potential to take that number up to 8 billion by 2020.

This could possibly be one reason why Google Executive Eric Schmidt made a bold and confident announcement that "by the end of the decade, everyone on earth will be connected to the internet." This represents trillions of dollars of economic buying power. This is a HUGE opportunity which is why it is more important than ever to focus and master these five SEO strategies for 2015.

1. Build and optimize for mobile traffic

In 2014, mobile Internet use finally surpassed desktop Internet use. This marked a fundamental change in consumer behavior with major implications on search and search engine optimization. The ability for a brand to deliver speed to market high-quality mobile experiences for consumers will certainly gain a competitive advantage.

2. Increase focus on social media and engagement

Social media is now a marketing channel as well as a customer-service channel. Your social audience expects your brand to engage with them on a more personal level. The two must go hand-in-hand.

3. Inbound links are gold

In the same manner word of mouth, referrals and customer feedback are for real interactions; inbound links are indicators of value, authority, and trust to search engines. Earning a single link on a high-quality relevant website is valuable for multiple reasons including SEO, attracting referral traffic, leads, sales and branding exposure.

4. Expand beyond Google

With the growth of mobile, online service providers and software applications are developing internal search functions to better serve their own audiences which means search is growing beyond engines on Web browsers. In 2015, consider shifting greater focus to optimizing brand presence for search across platforms beyond Google like Amazon, Wikipedia, Yelp, and mobile applications.

5. Patience with long-tail search will reap rewards

Long-tail search, less costly than one or two word key phrases, is more promising but requires patience. Long-tail keyword queries tend to be more relevant and convert at higher rates as a result of greater specificity, and ultimately, purchase intent. Brands that can command the power and influence of long-tail queries will see positive results.

Develop and implement these five SEO strategies for a successful 2015.

Google and the opacity of its organic search algorithm

The algorithm employed by Google on its organic search is a well-kept secret that it is constantly evolving. Although the main factors affecting the position of a page on a given search are widely known (quality links, keywords, etc.), many claim that the opacity behind the composition of the ranking in the search results is used by Google as a way to favor some businesses.

A few countries, like Germany, are already demanding Google to reveal its algorithm for the sake of transparency and in the interest of customer protection. With 90% of the web searches in Europe and 68% in America, the case is seen as an antitrust issue.

The interesting article “Does Google REALLY Discriminate Against Some Businesses?” describes how Google gives a special treatment to webs that use specific tactics, and analyzes the reasons behind why many businesses fail to rank high in the organic search despite its good SEO practices.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-filters-transition-rank-linkspam-google-really-discriminate-businesses/117146/

Where do people look on webpages?

Surfing randomly on the internet, maybe on Facebook or maybe reading the news, I came across an article that covers an interesting topic we covered in class: where do people actually look when they look at advertisements or webpages?

Interesting findings were obtained through the use of heatmaps: researchers found out not only where people look, but also some of the factors that influence their visualization, as well as differences based on gender. I will here focus on webpages, which are closer to the focus of our course.

Researchers found out that most users are affected by "ad blindness". I thus found out that this disease, which I know I am affected by (with a certain satisfaction), is more widespread than I initially thought.
Users "filter" what they see, automatically excluding what appears in the spots traditionally reserved to ads (e.g. right and top side of the page). This principle holds true for both websites and search results. Moreover, users' eyes focus on the center-top part of the page. In other words, whatever does not appear on top is progressively non-existent.

 

 

Experiments have been run also on mobile webpages, with slightly different results. Unlike "normal" webpages, on mobile platforms users' attention tends to be attracted by images and text boxes, while large sections of words tend to be ignored. Users seem to "screen" the page searching for something interesting and then, once they found something worth their attention, they focus on the text.

As a "bonus", I want to give something that can be interesting for those looking for a job. Researchers conducted also experiments to understand where recruiters look when they read your CV or resume.
In the six seconds they spend reading your resume, they will focus most of their time reading about your education and, secondly, what you did last. They will also have a glance at your interests.

So, my advice is: don't spend too much time detailing those older jobs and mention at least one interest that makes you sound interesting.
And of course, make sure that Columbia Business School appears well visible. It is probably worth it.

For those interested, here is the link to the full article:
http://www.businessinsider.com/eye-tracking-heatmaps-2014-7?utm_content=buffer94ca3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Yahoo Directory-Once The Google Of Its Time-Is To Close

 

Yahoo Directory-Once The Google Of Its Time-Is To Close

From Yahoo's post on September 26, 2014:  

Yahoo was started nearly 20 years ago as a directory of websites that helped users explore the Internet. While we are still committed to connecting users with the information they’re passionate about, our business has evolved and at the end of 2014 (December 31), we will retire the Yahoo Directory. Advertisers will be upgraded to a new service; more details to be communicated directly.

 
Yahoo was founded in 1994  by Jerry Yang and David Filo  as a directory of websites that helped users explore Internet. Very rapidly, it became the most popular search engine on the web worldwide. Yahoo was perceived so powerful at the time, that there was even talk of whether the company should be regulated ,just as some talk about Google today.   

What contributed to Yahoo Directory end?

 Yahoo's  directory relied on humans to review websites and organize them with short descriptions into  categories. Yahoo's system was very effective at the beginning because they weren't as many web pages as there are today. Besides, the human classification gave the directory a high search relevance in comparison with the current competitors at the time: InfoSeek and Excite. However, this strategy had an evident weakness: difficulty on achieving scale because of the human dependent input of information.
 

SEO has been and will always be an industry of economies of scale, in which the companies would beneficiate from network externalities. Also, share of market is by itself a strong barrier to entry and therefore the leaders can create a value loop in which scale is constantly creating additional value. However, in the technology industry  change is a constant factor in the competitive context and breakthrough innovation can effectively revolutionize a market. This is what happened in 1998 when Google quickly proved that search results could be generated by automation, rather than through human effort, having better relevancy. The rise of Google was the beginning of the end for Yahoo.

Google's Future

The biggest question nowadays is if Google would be able to remain its leadership position in the SEO market, or if it will become the Yahoo Directory of the future. In my perspective, Google's position-based competitive advantages deter the entry of new competitors to the market. Also, the company's technology resources gives them the solid foundation to successfully continue innovating and creating more effective search solutions. As long as Google reinforces its competitive advantages of scale with superior products offering, I think it is possible to continue having Google as the king of SEO for decades.

Read complete article: The Yahoo Directory — Once The Internet’s Most Important Search Engine — Is To Close
Source:  Danny Sullivan. The Yahoo Directory — Once The Internet’s Most Important Search Engine — Is To Close. Sep 26, 2014.

How high Google ranking can lead to a lawsuit

Usually, a high google ranking is desirable. However, a French blogger had to pay a total of €2500 because her scathing restaurant review was too prominent in Google search results.

In a blog post, which has now been deleted, the blogger complained of poor service and what she said was a poor attitude on the part of the owner during a visit in August 2013.

The blogger commented on the judge's decision: "This decision creates a new crime of 'being too highly ranked [on a search engine]', or of having too great an influence".

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28331598

SEO Quake for FF

Just a quick note--I've been doing a lot of pagerank research at my internship and SEO Quake, a plugin for your browser is fabulously good for this. And they finally released it for Firefox (in our lecture notes it's only for Internet Explorer).

It takes a little tweaking but you can rig this up in preferences so that a page of Google search results will list Pagerank and a whole lot of other metrics next to each URL. Extremely handy when you need to do a quick survey of a keyword/phrase.

Happy SEOing.

Not all votes are considered equal?

I was directed to a very good article on Search Engine Optimization entitled “Selling SEO to CEOs”, which raised some interesting points on the value SEO brings and how best to describe its service offering to a non-technical audience. The analogy that the author uses is a comparing SEO to a candidate that is running for president and the importance of “optimizing” the stages of the campaign.

In the first part of the campaign, the candidate needs to put out their message telling the audience what they are looking to achieve; it needs to be clear, focused and unambiguous. The message needs to contain buzzwords or key topics that the public is listening out for, that relate directly to the voter’s needs. This part of the campaign is what the author refers to as onsite SEO, and translates directly to the layout and design of a website. It shows you how your website should be compiled so that it is readable to the right audience, has the right keywords and that it stands out from the crowd.

The second part of the part of the campaign is actually getting elected and that involves getting the votes from outside (offsite SEO). In order to get those votes, you need share your message with others, get it published by credible sources and have them quote and reference you which would generate a following and get you a vote. Taking this back to the web world, those votes or links into your site hold value and this is one of the ways the search engines determine the popularity of your page. However, it is not only the number of links that these search engines look at, but the quality of the link as another determinate of the rank of your page in its organic search. This shows that having better quality links can push you further up those rankings, showing the importance of being endorsed by the right people and also showing that not all votes in this game are considered equal.

Instant Pages - Google new Search Tool

There is no doubt that Google is a Search Engine leader and the reason is simple. Innovation and Wisdom of Crowd. Google introduced a new idea of instant pages that means they will start caching the web results locally instead of sending it to the final destination. The core reason to come up with this idea is to compete with other search engines by offering optimized search speed. It will save searchers 3 to 5 seconds of download time that in computer processing time matters a lot.








This new tool sounds interesting for searchers but what about the companies who own the sites. Will Google face legal issues because of this move? Possible as I remember archive.org also known as way back machine had many legal campaigns for not only copy right violations but also for keeping the records/old versions of web sites.



I have raised this question in our last class "Is this possible to develop a real time live search engine?". I think this instant page is one step ahead of same direction. Wouldn't that be great if we get what we expect live from the web sites. Well the only think that makes it hard is the processing time and a powerful multiprocessor architecture. May be by using quantum computing it will soon no longer be a myth.



This article was originally posted on Search Engine Land that was re-posted on my personal blog at Web Technologist.

Can Social Media be more effective than SEO for startups?

While doing a search on Search Engine Optimization(SEO), which I figured could have been like “googling” Google, and was worried about some sort of implosion, I came across an interesting blog post on SEO for startups. The article “SEO is no longer a viable marketing strategy for startups”, was written earlier this year and takes the view that SEO is very 2008 and that using it as your single marketing strategy is not effective enough in getting users to your site.

I agree that using SEO as the only marketing strategy will generally not be very effective but the process and use of the tools to make sure your site is optimized is now more of a cost of entry into the market than something that is going to get you in front of the competition. Although many of the search engine algorithms are kept secretive, it is still important for these websites to have the correct labeling, inserts, links, captions and keywords to make sure that their site gets indexed. That way, if the spiders are only looking for those items, then at least your site should appear somewhere in the results. It would be expected now days, that any website that is a major player in the market is using these tools and therefore you would be even further behind if you decided not to use SEO for your site.

Looking further at the costs of entry and as part of setting up your site, it would seem to be more important to register your own Facebook page, Twitter account and Blog linked to your site. Building on that, working on creating more social buzz, by blogging, tweeting and posting on Facebook to get fans, followers and readers, can be a more effective tool for getting users. Getting others to repost, retweet and link into your articles and effectively market your side for you could be the better, more value play. After all, external linking into your webpage is supposed to get you higher ranking on the list for search engines. So rather than hire one of the many SEO experts, it might offer more value to hire a more rare social media expert.

Does this mean that the SEO of 2008 is now the social media of today and leveraging those tools are the better more viable startup strategies?

Content is King in Brand Awareness

Despite all of the focus on keywords and catchphrases, the single best way to optimize your copy for search is to have great content with motivation and substance.

It can be hard to convince a company to put money behind content they are giving away for free. But the days of people coming to visit a website or a facebook page just because they're there are over (if they ever existed at all). Users have to see more than just marketing blather on a page to want to visit a site more than once. Meaningful content also acts as 'link bait', improving SEO for the company not just because keywords appear, but because people find it valuable enough to share.

Of course there are mechanics that can be learned to help with SEO, but the core values for creating a great brand awareness promotion are no different than they are for 'traditional' media. Create a branded promotional item that is useful, and people will remember your company's name. Think of the recipe for Rice Krispie treats that made the cereal both a breakfast and a desert food. The Maxwell House Haggadah continues to make the coffee brand a must-have at seders, and a product to remember throughout the year. The Betty Crocker cookbook has cemented the brand as a go-to cooking resource.

There are sites that are doing this very well. One of my favorites is King Arthur Flour, which offers a wealth of recipes that serve a variety of needs -- including a whole section on gluten-free baking -- plus a baking blog that updates regularly. Stride Rite offers a section on keeping your child's feet healthy, as well as a downloadable sizing chart. On the non-profit front, the NRDC has a treasure trove of link bait, including sections on 'Smarter Living' and 'Smarter Business' that offer practical tips and suggestions for improving health and environmental well-being in the lives of people.

The idea of offering free value to build brand awareness isn't new. But it is more powerful than ever. Online distribution is cheap and allows for previously unheard of viral spread of useful material. Keywords are important, but even more important: create a promotion that people want and need.