Tag Archives: Google

Google announces My Social Search in Results

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Well its been on the horizon for a while now and today Google announced the integration and launch (officially) of My Social Search and explained the effects and meaning of this new feature on the results pages and what you can expect to see.

Most of us in the industry knew this was coming and there was speculation as to the effect it will have on the results in both relevancy and of course with Search Engine Optimisation. Many people joined the initial google testing experiment that allowed them to gather data on social search and allowed us to see what the results where of doing various searches under different conditions, such as when your logged into your google account and when your not, different geographical locations and of course trying to account for your particular social network and the influence it will have on the results but from the information in the post I think Google have went even further. (I can see some SEO’s starting to scratch their heads right now).

Google Social Search

According to Google (and aside from suffering a minor baby boom in their offices) they have been enjoying the creation and integration of social search as they see it as a major way to increase the accuracy of results for individuals due to the trust factor involved with a social network.  For example, when you perform a search, traditionally you count on Google to return the most relevant results for that search but once that process is complete, you are basically at the “mercy” (for lack of a better way of putting it) of the resulting website, its information, content and brand.

Once you establish that the website is authentic, something we do very quickly if the brand is recognisable such as Amazon, E-Bay or similar, we continue the decision making process about the host site and whether we wish to continue the transaction, book the flight, make the enquiry or contact them by phone etc. and now social search brings a whole new aspect to this process.

Social Search Consequence

By including your own social network in the results, effectively Google are increasing the need for a good quality brand, integrity and high level of service from businesses as we can see references to the products, the recommendations, the complaints or the company name from a group of people that are on line, connected to you and whom you already know and consequently trust (to varying degrees of course) and the experiences that they have had with the subject you are searching for.

Having found someone who has already experienced something first hand, and whom you have a relationship with, you cna then gather feedback and information about the matter at hand directly and on a much more honest and reliable level.

Basically, companies (and indeed individuals) need to be on their toes now if they want to maintain standards in their every day business practices and this will mean offering much more personal, polite and direct customer service.  Not a bad thing in my opinion!

Social Search Setup

Their is no Opt in or opt out of social search it seems and Google have said that results will appear whether you are signed in with your Google account or not.  This in itself has annoyed some people as it means the standardisation of results, where the number 1 result for “Product A” is he same for both you and me, has effectively been disrupted (but not removed yet) as depending on the size of the searches social network and their activity, the social part of search will serve to produce different results for each and every individual and this cannot be managed or manipulated by any third parties in the same capacity as a website can be created and coded or grown to place for specific search terms in results.

This will in itself make for a very interesting year ahead and a very different view of search engines.

Anyway, have a watch at the video below to see what other features social search will include and if you feel like it, don’t be scared to pipe up and leave your opinions on social search and what it means in the comments below.  I would be very interested to hear another point of view.

Google icons, badges and buttons for Social Media

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Right, Your not getting a description of Google, theres no way im writing some stuff about the most recognised search engine on the planet to satisfy any misguided cravings for irrelevant (and common) information.

Google is a search engine, it searches for stuff.  Here are some nice buttons to link to your Google profile or anything else you think is appropriate and associated with Google itself.

Check out more Social Media Icons Badges and Buttons.

As usual, click any of the images to enlarge it then right click and select “save as” to download the icon to your computer.

Source: credits for the sites and artists who made these cool icons badges and buttons.

Ranking on Google with Search Engine Optimisation

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Search Engine Optimisation is at the forefront of many businesses minds when they are aiming to promote and generate sales and conversions for their business and inevitably they approach search engine companies to instigate a plan for maximising or optimising their site and products to reach their desired market.

While companies that perform search engine optimisation would know the rules and guidelines for SEO by simply reading and following the official google SEO handbook, this simply covers the technical aspects of approaching website optimisation according to Googles (and most other Search Engines) requirements.

Adopting the correct mentality

Most people I speak to are under the impression that with search engine optimisation there is some secret technique or method by which you can guarantee reaching that number 1 position on the search results and the benefits of traffic associated with it and they view this aim with a very selfish attitude, an attitude of “I deserve to be there because I have a great product/service/idea so I should have no problems making it work for me”.  This is absolutely and completely the wrong mentality to adopt.

Google’s perspective – its a business

Here are the facts.

Yes its true, Google is a business and a damn successful one. The majority of us however forget this and see it as something that’s free, and here to cater to our needs (search), and herein lies my point. Googles business is essentially as a service provider and its main focus is to provide results to searches, but not just any old result plucked out of thin air. Imagine you performed a search and the results did not satisfy.  Would you stick around and continue to use that service?

No, you wouldn’t, you would change and use a service that provides RESULTS that are relevant to you and the search you are performing. Google realise this, but businesses tend to forget this when they approach the market via search engine optimisation. Remember Google owes you nothing. It owes its users something very specific however and that is quality results.

Mental Shift towards Quality Content

Its time for businesses to make a mental shift when its comes to SEO.  Google will list you, and rank you for any given keyword or phrase at different levels but its all based around one thing.  Quality. There is absolutely no point in a business (or  individual) posting content and trying desperately to rank it when it simply cannot compete with other content of a higher quality.

What is quality content then?

This is the ultimate question.  Who or how is it  decided what is quality content and what makes information more valuable or of a higher quality than another? For me it is dictated by a specific set of factors but in reality it could be range of different aspects that are decided by YOU not by Google. Quality content cannot really be defined unless you are aware of who you are and what people want and the relationship between these two variables. I believe that Google are continually adapting to meet this need. The algorithm created by Google, at this time, relies heavily on backlinks to decide where and what quality content is.

Google looks at the amount of backlinks that a set of information has as a vote of confidence, a thumbs up or a recommendation from readers and visitors and ranks that information accordingly. They hate it when people pay for these recommendations and that means allowing money to influence decision makers and provide backlinks for financial gain as their point of view is that the backlink should be freely given due to the quality of the content or the level of satisfaction the viewer has gained from reading or watching the information provided.

Of course, people do pay for links and sites charge for giving them. My advice?  Dont, its simply not worth getting penalised or removed completely from the rankings for the “quick” method of generating backlinks with money.  You and your visitors are much better served by spending that same money, time, effort or expertise by creating strong content people will enjoy.

So what is the point of Search Engine optimisation then?

This doesn’t mean that search engine optimisation (SEO) is not without merit, its a matter of deciding the context and merit of focusing your efforts and achieving goals. SEO is continually taken out of context, at least in my experience, and people are continually under the expectation that by performing it then they are guaranteeing results.  Any SEO preformed is only as good as the website it is performed upon so what makes people think that slapping together a basic site with little valuable assets and then performing SEO will get them anywhere.  I’m afraid it simply doesn’t work like this.

Dont try and outsmart Google, work with it.

The whole point of SEO is to make your website match the criteria set out by Google and ensure your site is meeting these requirements to the maximum effect, that’s what optimisation means.  Basically you want to follow the rules as closely as possible so when you publish information Google is happy to list and rank it.  But that’s the first step in getting rankings, it wont necessarily produce these backlinks you need to help increase the importance of the information itself.  That can only be given by the people who want to read it and give value to it freely, and you cannot always influence that decision, unless your content is top quality. (Again that word quality).

The point is, don’t try and make Google make you number 1,  make Google want you to be number 1.

The more useful, helpful or quality your content is to your target audience the more it will rank, its really that simple and churning out repetative, meaningless information will not endear you to search egnines or users alike.  It is pretty obvious you cant beat it with under hand tricks or ways and means of rewriting the same old stuff again and again.  No one will want to read it, and why would they. Get creative, get relevent, get real.