Oh, How Google Has Changed…
There have been many visible and invisible changes to the Google search engine this year (2010). You may have already noticed some of the aesthetic changes in terms of the look and feel of the world’s most beloved search portal. However, there have also been some very important algorithmic changes in the back end as well. In this article we will look at how some of these changes may affect your Googling!
Interface
The new look and feel of Google bodes a more modern and powerful overall search engine. Apart from the obvious and well publicised logo update, Google have implemented a variety of new search tools and filters on the left which cater to the needs of the evolved, modern day search engine user. This has been dubbed “Universal Search”.
Users can now more easily filter and customise their searches based on the specific media or service they are looking for. Sure this has been available in a different form in the past but Google is now cementing these advanced search filters as one of the cornerstones of their search interface. The universal search toolbar now also provides a variety of extra search tools such as timeline and context specific searches to name a few.
But universal search has yet another trick up its sleeve. This is the ability of users to sort search results based on how often a website has been updated. This means users can now access the latest fresh content without the hassle of having to trawl through a list of outdated results. Basically, universal search has made it even easier for users to switch between filters and views of the same search query in order to retrieve search results that are more applicable to their needs.
Finally, another notable new addition to the Google tool belt is Google Squared. This fascinating tool allows users to search for a product, category, service or any other entity and compare the results in a detailed matrix of information (in real time!). It’s just another helpful innovation from the good people at Google. Try it out for yourself here: http://www.google.com/squared.
Algorithm
As most search engine optimisation specialists would be aware, Google’s new search algorithm ‘Caffeine’ has changed the way in which Google looks at your website content. Google is now able to crawl a huge range of internet content (including video, music, news and social media) – faster and more reliably than it ever has before. This has enabled Google to understand the content and deliver a rich experience to the users in an array of new types of relevant and up to date search results.
With Google’s intelligence ever increasing, it has now become more important than ever to use reliable, white hat SEO techniques in order to achieve great search engine rankings as Google is becoming more and more adept at differentiating between real content and spam/scam SEO work. For more information on how Google Caffeine may affect your business, read Andrew Knight’s article – What is Google Caffeine?
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Read MoreGen Y’s Place in the World of Digital Marketing
Self-absorbed, coddled, selfish, over-confident, arrogant, and accused of suffering from a deep epidemic of narcissism, Gen Y’s are constantly battered and bruised from those of earlier generations.
However, in the world of digital marketing it is Gen Y’s that are the cornerstone of our ever-expanding business; offering professional and cutting edge advice while showing our clients real results.
Here’s why:
- For starters, Gen Y’s are techy. Sure many Gen X’s and Baby Boomers are relatively active in the digital space, but Gen Y’s have shown older generations massive time-saving tech shortcuts that increase their productivity.
- Gen Y’s speak digital as their first language. They sleep with their iPhone under the pillow, are searching the net whilst watching TV, and are usually involved in 5-10 asynchronous conversations at any given time of the day. This convergence of media, technology and communication has unwittingly bred a generation of very capable multi-taskers and digital natives. They can take in huge amounts of information and filter out what is most useful to THEM. It’s no wonder that they are the most digitally targeted marketing segment. Which leads to my next point…
- They’re sponges. Some of us might see facebook, or just surfing the net as a mere pass time. However, these guys are communicating and absorbing a wide range of information from various sources. If your business is looking to delve into the murky waters of Social Media, do you know what social media channels and strategies are right for your business? We rely on the Gen Y’s in our office to provide extensive advice on how your company can capitalise on the social media boom through social media marketing and promotion.
- They’re natural Googlers. Gen Y’s have been using the internet for as long as they can remember. They rely on it for information and use it to source the most up-to-date products. They will rarely go beyond the first page of Google searches; therefore SEO & SEM is imperative when attempting to target them. And due to Gen Y emerging as the largest demographic in Australia (with 4.67million of them floating around), Reload Media understands your business is likely interested in a slice of the Gen Y pie! We have Gen Y SEO & SEM specialists who know how to effectively target Gen Y’s and take your online presence to the next level.
- They buzz! Gen Y’s are switched on and full of energy. They provide a company with that much needed positive momentum that uplifts everyone in the room. Is your business currently running on empty? Maybe you need a Gen Y to come in and add some spark.
- Opportunity drives them. Some of the biggest complaints people have about Gen Y’s are that:
- They don’t have the patience to stay at one job for long enough,
- They will inevitably leave and work overseas, and
- That they expect to reach the top immediately.
This simply isn’t true. However, we have found that, by simply offering Gen Y’s a Gen Y working environment and presenting them with actual responsibility and trust to grow your business, they will relish the opportunity and exceed your expectations.
- They’re not into 9-5. They’re more 24/7. Shoot a Gen Y an email at 11pm and I would bet my bottom dollar that you’ll get a quick reply. They are not phased about putting in extra time to get the job done. Our Gen Y staff members put endless hours in to ensure our clients get industry leading service.
- Finally, Gen Y’s are adaptable. They thrive on change and learning a plethora of new information. Just ask a Gen Y to learn something new and report the findings to you and they’ll enthusiastically jump on it.
So if you’re still unsure about Gen Y’s, then you should employ one and witness the momentum they can add to your business given the right mix of responsibility and opportunity. In digital marketing, we depend on their natural digital expertise in order to keep up to date with the latest trends and maximise our clients results. This is what makes us the leader in search optimisation and internet marketing that we are today.
As a business owner who employs Gen Y’s, I know firsthand how efficient they can be given the right motivation and working atmosphere.
As a matter of fact, a Gen Y is writing this article for me right now… Now that’s efficiency!
Popularity: 12%
Read MoreWhat is Google Caffeine?
Caffeine is Google’s new web indexing system which now provides 50 percent fresher results and includes more web content than ever before. This means, every time you search using Google, results are updated 50% quicker and web content such as videos, photos, news stories and tweets are included to help provide you the most relevant result to your search term, effectively improving your web searching experience.
Google’s Caffeine has actually been in effect for the past 6 months but wasn’t officially released until last month. You may have noticed minor changes to Google during this period such as videos from YouTube to regular updated news stories being included in the search results, though Caffeine was still being refined.
Before Caffeine, Google’s indexing system was based on layers. Some layers were refreshed faster than others while the main layer would be updated every couple of weeks. However, to refresh a layer of Google’s old index, Google would have to analyse the web in its entirety, which meant a significant delay between finding a page and making it appear within their index. With Caffeine, Google can now analyse the web in small portions and update their search index on a more constant basis, allowing new information and websites to be added into their index faster than ever.
Google has expressed Caffeine was built for both the near future and beyond, allowing it to scale with the addition of new information whilst delivering a whole wide range of websites, videos, tweets and much more quicker.
Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlImage: http://caffeineforums.com
Popularity: 12%
Read MoreThe Profit Maximising Approach to AdWords
Google AdWords and other search engine marketing (SEM) platforms afford advertisers a great degree of control over the cost of their media placements.
By being able to control the maximum cost-per-click for every keyword, this puts advertisers in a position where they are able to monitor the profitability of every keyword they are targeting.
Search engine ads are one of the most trackable marketing activities available, and if you’re running some sort of eCommerce environment then you have the potential to track the exact return on investment (ROI) each keyword is bringing.
However, this degree of reporting can lead to misinterpretation of what is a “good” keyword and what is a poor keyword.
At the basic level, a decent Analytics setup will allow you to determine that for every $1 you put into AdWords, you are getting $X back. Clever operators will have this set up for each individual keyword.
However, relying just on ROI can be a big mistake. Let’s take the following example.
Keyword #1 – “widgets brisbane”
- ROI = $4.50
- Monthly Spend = $300
Keyword #2 – “widgets sydney”
- ROI = $2.80
- Monthly Spend = $700
From the above example, we can see that “widgets brisbane” is a better performing keyword. Therefore, if you only had $1000 in total monthly budget, you would spend all of it on Brisbane (presuming of course there’s enough traffic to use that much). However, if your budgets are flexible and you can spend more if you want, then would you turn off the Sydney keyword?
The answer is no. ROI is just one factor you need to consider. The other is profit. The Brisbane keyword makes $1,050 profit per month (300 x 4.50 – 300) while the Sydney keyword makes $1,260 profit (700 x 2.8 – 700).
Turning off the Sydney keyword would make your business worse off. Obviously you should also consider the profit-margin on the actual widget itself when calculating these figures.
Now most people when faced with the above scenario, would obviously choose to leave both keywords turned on, but for some reason when this scenario is expanded to hundreds of keywords, rational profit-maximising thinking tends to go out the window.
Let’s say an AdWords’ advertiser is spending $1000 per month across hundreds of keywords, and is getting about $5000 back (a $5 ROI). Based on this good performance, the advertiser decides to increase their budget to $2000 per month, which in turn lifts the revenue to about $9000 (a $4.50 ROI).
Looking purely at the ROI figures would lead an advertiser to incorrectly assume the increase in budget has not worked, and they might drop it back. However, looking at the profit figure clearly shows monthly profit rising from $4000 to $7000.
One of the questions we are commonly asked is “why does my ROI drop when I increase my budget?”
The reason behind this is actually tied to the economic principle of the low-hanging-fruit. The low-hanging-fruit principle basically explains that in business, there are some sales that are easier to get than others, like the low hanging fruit on a fruit tree is easier to reach.
In an AdWords context, a low-hanging-fruit keyword would be something like “buy online widgets now.” If a user types this into Google, it’s likely that they already have their credit card out of their wallet and are ready to purchase. These longer, more specific keywords are also often cheaper to bid on than generic terms.
By contrast, a user searching “widgets” is not a low-hanging-fruit. This term is highly generic and it’s going to take a good salesperson (in this case a website) to convince this person that now is the right time to buy.
Essentially, this is why ROI drops when you increase your budget. The AdWords’ algorithm has a built in “low-hanging-fruit” factor that shows higher performing keywords more often, meaning when you increase your budget, you’re starting to reach for the fruit higher up on the tree.
The lesson here is that the way to assess how your AdWords’ campaigns are performing is to find the point (budget amount) where total profit is maximised, not where ROI is maximised. This simple mistake could be costing your business thousands in lost sales.
Popularity: 17%
Read MoreSEO for Local Businesses
Are you a local business that only operates within a specific region but think you could be doing more with the search engines? Would you like to have more traffic to your site, and in turn more customers? If the answer is yes for either of these questions you should consider the potential of SEO.
In this article we will look into how a local business can benefit from SEO and what steps you have to take in order to conquer the market and have the edge over your competitors.
The trend of potential users looking to the internet for a specific product or service is increasing rapidly, and therefore it’s important that local businesses ensure their website is optimised for search engine queries.
So how can you make your website important to the search engines and attract more traffic? Professional SEO services can be expensive, particularly if you’re a small business.
The answer is to optimise your site for geo-targeted keywords. A geo-targeted keyword is a keyword that only targets a specific location, eg: “hairdresser Toowong” or “Chinese restaurant Southbank.” The idea being that users who search these types of terms are more highly qualified leads and more likely to turn into paying customers.
By optimising in this way, you’re essentially allowing the search engines themselves to act as a filter whereby only high quality traffic is directed to your site.
Research into search trends is showing that this type of approach, particularly in industries where locality is important (eg: home services, dining, etc), is proving to be a very profitable way to cost-effectively drive more traffic from the search engines.
Popularity: 19%
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