Google Goes Universal
Last week Google made the most significant change to its search results in years. I have devoted increased space to this change so you can be informed about what is changing, why it is important, and what you can do about it!
What is changing?
Google actually has multiple search engines for blogs, news, products (formerly known as “Froogle”), books, and more. In the past you would see a small area under the search box highlighting results from other Google search engines. If you search for terms about John Grisham’s “The Broker,” you might see Google Book Search results above the normal results. Now, Google is incorporating search results from some of their other engines into the normal results….hence the moniker “Google Universal.”
Many in the SEO community are calling this search “predictive.” Google is trying to predict based on the actions of other searchers what kind of information you are looking for.
Here are some examples of how this predictive search works:
- David Beckham is easily the most recognized athlete in the world. He is known for his golden foot..and also his golden looks! He is a consistent favorite of photographers and tabloid writers. Notice a search for his name returns image results in the #1 position, and news at #2!
- Search for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and you will find Video results in the 3 and 4 positions. Also, you will see Google suggesting “thriller lyrics” as a relevant search, and including results from that keyword phrase! Talk about predictive…
- Other notes:
- While Google is becoming more “universal” in its results, notice the tabs which allow you to switch to other Google search engines entirely (Images, News, etc). Tabs that are visible vary with each search as Google tries to predict what kind of information you are seeking.
- Blog, news, image results and more can appear in any position in Google’s search results.
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Why is this important?
- First of all, Google is the search engine market leader and expanding its dominance. Anything they do matters!
- Secondly, this means that effective websites will leverage content in a variety of media. Focusing only on textual content may get you bumped to a lower page as blog, news, or video results take the higher positions.
What can you do about it?
How can I optimize my site for the “New Google?”
- Leverage your content through a variety of media. Do you have a series of white papers you could turn into a blog? How about images from your last industry conference, with seo optimized file names? Commercials can be turned into YouTube videos, and press releases can be sent to free press release websites.
- Contact us today about how to optimize your site to take advantage of these media.
Want more information?
This video, from Barry Schwartz at SEORoundtable.com, provides an excellent walk through of the changes.
Web 2.0…am I missing something?
Clients will ask me from time to time, with trepidation on their face: “What is web 2.0?” The underlying question is: “Am I missing something?”
Web 2.0 “refers to a perceived second-generation of Web based communities and hosted services such as social networking sites, wikis and folksonomies that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users” (Wikipedia). Sharing…collaboration…communities….are these really new? As this Wikipedia article attests, the term becomes a bit meaningless when you consider that these capabilities have all existed since the beginning of the web.
It is most helpful to think of web 2.0 as an increased emphasis on participatory websites. Think dialogue…not monologue. Have you considered how effectively your website is engaging visitors? Statistics software like Google Analytics can help you analyze which pages are most popular on your website, and which pages visitors remain on the longest.
To enhance the “stickiness” of your site and increase your return traffic, take advantage of the many community tools available today
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Wikis
Also, many corporations and organizations are effectively using websites like MySpace and Facebook to raise awareness about their services and products.
Are you missing anything with web 2.0? Only if you ignore the opportunity to engage your visitors by deploying today’s community website tools.
Speaking of collaboration…click on “Leave a comment” below and tell us what you think!
eye9 Design is a Denver web development company providing web site development to clients around the globe.
Marketing drives effective Web and Graphic Design
Advances in web design technologies have expanded the tool-set available to designers at a dizzying rate. However, effective web and graphic design pieces are still driven by solid marketing principles.
When we begin a website, logo, or graphic design project, we have our clients fill out a questionnaire that asks questions like:
- How would you describe your company, its personality, attitude and image, using adjectives?
- What is your company’s objective or mission statement?
- Describe your services and/or products, and the benefit to the customer?
- Who are your biggest competitors?
By starting with this understanding of your company, we can highlight your unique benefits to your clients.
As you consider your next design project, or evaluate your current design pieces, ask yourself if your marketing message is front and center. No one knows your services and/or products better than you, and we work together with you to make sure that knowledge is transmitted with clarity in all your marketing media.
eye9 Design is a Colorado graphic design and web design company, providing Denver web page design and Denver Colorado graphic design services.
Content is king for SEO Optimization
Search engines operate based on algorithms that are highly guarded secrets. These algorithms decide your value and relevance based on certain factors both on your website (”on-page” factors) and how the rest of the web treats your website (”off-page” factors). SEO experts will approximate the weighting of the different factors. However, since these algorithms are secret, and are always being optimized themselves to deliver better content, we cannot be sure of the exact numbers.
That being said, this much is certain: the two most important factors are content, and inbound links. And what is the best way to obtain inbound links (besides a bunch of money)? Good content. Thus, helping clients write content that is informative, actionable, and optimized for the search engines becomes the most significant task of the SEO consultant.
The halls of SEO higher learning echo with whispers of rumors and speculation. Some optimizers engage in endless tweaking and trickery in order to achieve better results. However, search engine companies such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.com have hired the best minds in the world in order to defeat these search engine spammers, and deliver relevant and authoritative content. All it takes is an adjustment of the algorithm, and all the trickery adds up to nothing but wasted time.
Good content is always a good idea. Your clients will thank you for it, and the search engines will rank you for it.
eye9 Design is a Colorado SEO company specializing in SEO optimization for Denver, Colorado.
