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search engine results

While at a recent mobile marketing and advertising event in Vegas, Diana Pouliot, the Director of Mobile Advertising at Google, made a few interesting comments. According to Pouliot, one third of all Google searches via the mobile web pertain to some aspect of the searcher’s local environment.

In addition, Google Mobile Ads Group Product Manager Paul Feng reportedly said, “We think of location as a hugely important signal.”

So just how important of a signal is location to Google? Feng may have been talking about ad relevance specifically, but we know it plays some role in organic search. Otherwise, people would not get different search results based on where they are, which has been the case for some time. Perhaps the real question is whether location will start carrying more weight as searchers increasingly turn to their mobile devices for a greater percentage of their queries.

Location is already playing a significant role in the way people are searching on their mobile devices, and not just with search engines. WebProNews had an interesting discussion with RateItAll President Lawrence Coburn at the Online Marketing Summit last month about how consumers sharing their location has in essence become a new way of sending out a generic query, one that is becoming more prevalent with the growing popularity of location-sharing services like Gowalla and Foursquare.

“The thing about Foursquare and Gowalla, and these check-in apps, is like, a single tap of your phone is a powerful piece of data. It creates a connection with the merchant (with a bar or a restaurant) that you’re at,” explains Coburn. “It tells your friends where you are, and then in the aggregate, it tells the services like Foursquare and Gowalla what places are hot. And then you can imagine, like a local coupon or a local ad network overlaid on top, where a business is having a slow Tuesday, and they can blast out to everybody in their neighborhood, and say ‘hey, we’re doing half off beers in our place RIGHT NOW,’ and they can decide that on the fly, and reach a community that’s right around them.”

Despite apps like these, Twitter now has location features, and Facebook is expected to have some very soon. That has to be considered a whole new ballgame, not only because of the popularity of these social networks, but their relationships with the search engines. The social networks are already becoming more integrated into search results through real-time search, as well as social search (not to mention the web in general through Facebook Connect, APIs, etc.). Given Google’s fondness for delivering relevant results and an increased rate of user location sharing, it’s hard not to imagine location becoming more of a factor in search than ever.

To read this article in its entirety, click here.

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Press releases are a great tool to use to promote your business and web site online. SiteProNews has recently published an article that further explains three good reasons why companies should try to create and distribute at least one press release each month.

1. Press Release Distribution is Good For Organic Search Engine Rankings
One of the most important components to getting ranked high on the Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., search page results – is the number of external web sites that link to your web site.

Your news release appearing on an online or industry news site, a social networking site, a newswire such as BusinessWire or PR NewsWire, or even on a directory of press releases, helps improve your web site’s overall organic search engine rankings. In addition, many other sites and blogs may pick up your release and print it on their pages, further increasing the search engine results for your web site and business.

Did you know that a good news announcement could show up on hundreds or thousands of different sites?!

Most major news sites only keep their press releases online for about a month or so, you need to keep posting new press releases and news announcements every month to maintain your SEO rating and web page search results positions. By optimizing your press releases and embedding hotlinks, you can further increase how high up your web site will appear in the search results.

You should also make sure to post your press releases on your own web site.  By posting your press releases on your site, you increase the amount and quality of content on your site. For most search engines, the two of the most important factors towards getting a high search page result are the amount of quality links pointing to your web site and the amount of quality content you have on your site. News announcements can fulfill both.

2. Press Releases Inform Potential Customers About Your Company & Products
Most people and businesses now rely on a web search as an integral part of their search for products, and services. Seeing your news announcements all over the web – at the magazines they read, at various blogs, and as a result of web searches, can greatly help boost your company’s brand and product awareness in their mind. It is also useful to have news announcements that inform current and past customers of what is new and that you are still successfully in business.

3. Distributing Press Releases May Increase Company Press
Press outlets that come across your press releases may be interested in your news and want to include it as a standalone announcement or as part of a trend article or column. They may be doing an industry overview or product round up. It is also useful to occasionally inform press that you are an expert in your industry and are available for comment as needed. If they don’t see press releases from your company on a regular basis, you may drop off their radar screen. You need to show ongoing, consistent news and growth or the press will forget about you.

To read this article in its entirety, click here.

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A recent article found in Advertising Age titled ‘Friendsoucing’: Search Gone Social explains why marketers today should care about social network users’ friends’ interests.

The article explains how in its purest state, Google’s page rank algorithm serves up the ideal result for everyone, but it is the same ideal result for everyone. How does Google know which articles are right for each individual searcher?

But we may be on the edge of something big in the search world.

Throughout the past year there was a flurry of activity from the major search engines. Bing announced deals with Facebook and Twitter. Next Google unveiled its social search product. Google has also begun integrating real-time, public conversations with hot, trending keyword searches. Marketers have only started to scratch the surface of what these partnerships mean for them and their clients. At the very leas, there are three paradigm shifts to deal with in the future:

  • What brands say and do in social media has an increasingly direct effect on how they will appear in the search engines.
  • The more friends in a user’s social circle that talk about a brand, the more likely it is that another user will see your brand and become another voice.
  • Social media is not just a silo in the marketing mix anymore and the lines will become more increasingly blurred with mass media, CRM, SEO/SEM and other marketing channels.

It is never too late for marketers to launch a social media campaign for their brand. Social media is not just an Internet fad that will disappear as the years pass. It has changed the way marketers promote their brand and reach their audiences. Although social media may evolve throughout the years, it is a marketing channel that is here to stay.

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Meta descriptions were once an important ranking factor when it came to organic search, until Google announced that they were no longer going to use meta descriptions in their search algorithms. However; recent developments in Google’s search algorithm have once again decided to take web sites’ meta descriptions as a ranking factor.

Now, your web site’s meta description can significantly affect your organic search rankings. Here is how:

In December 2009, Google announced that they would be tailoring search results based on a users search history, even when users are not signed into Google.

How does this work? All of the searches that a user runs, whether on Google or not,  are stored in their browser cookies. This data is referred to as ‘Web History’ and Google uses it to customize your search results.

To learn more, click here to read the article recently published on Site Reference.

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Google has announced that they are introducing new features that will bring Google Search users results with a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web. Now, immediately after performing an online search a users can see live updates from people on popular sites such as Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before the search was conducted. When relevant, Google will rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search engine results page.

Google Search Results

This real-time search will enable users to discover breaking news as it’s happening, even if it is not the popular news of the day.

To read more details on the new Google search feature, click here.

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