Archive for the 'Google News' Category
So everyone can probably agree that Lady Gaga is overplayed but she still sounds pretty good? Or should I say, ‘he’ sounds pretty good. It seems that most searchers think that Lady Gaga should be renamed Lad Gaga!
This is my first time seeing this in action and I guess I like it, but only for news results. I wonder if it will be coming up for more regular type searches.
In a previous post you might have seen that we won a Google Knol; Top Pick Knol Award – just today I noticed that my Knol profile lists me as receiving a Top Viewed Author Award!
If your website was getting a lot of visitors searching for the weather or sports scores then, YES!
As Google attempts to become stickier how many websites will it hurt? Or does the fact that they are actually helping the searchers make it a wash because that is their core business? But they make money off the advertisers to the tune of 95% – so are they really biting the hand that feeds them. Will they sell the branding for these type of results?
Not Google!
As a parent for the past 13 years I can unequivocally state that children are truly a blessing but on the flip side being a parent can be extremely challenging! But judging by the Google search recommendations you should probably think twice (or more) before having those little bundles of joy!
There are some folks that just love animals and treat them just like their kids. I personally am a cat lover so I was a little shocked to see these results on Google
It seems Google can’t figure out how to please all the people all the time. The story centers around a racist picture where someone photo-shopped Michelle Obamans face blended with an apes. Google originally took the page out of it’s index siting possible ‘malicious content’ but it has resurfaced with a Google adsense type ad offering more information on offensive search results.
It seems Google will stick to the 1st amendment right of freedom of speech but at what cost? They currently have a huge monopoly over Internet search and with all their clever free add-on’s like Google Gmail, Voice, Wave, Docs and more it seems they will continue to chug ahead for the foreseeable future. But the person you probably don’t want to peeve off is the President of the United States of America.
Right now the image does not show up in the first few hundred results for Michelle Obama. “When the image was coming up on the term ‘Michelle Obama,’ it was coming up that way against an innocuous query,” Rubin said. “If the term you’re using is ‘Michelle Obama ape,’ one could argue that’s a relevant result, however offensive it may be.”
I was looking through the back-end of my Google gmail account today and was a little shocked to see them offering me some serious amounts of storage. For the life of me I can’t figure out what someone could possibly use it for but maybe I am just missing out on something? Ah, now I see that it also counts towards Picasa Web Albums but still 16 terabytes of data? $4,096.00 a year?
Let’s hear what you would use your 16TB’s of storage for? And will the often rumored about, mythical G-Drive be available soon?
It seems SEO’s are fairing well these-days, even in a bad economic environment – salaries for SEM/SEO related positions were up in 2008 and that just shows that decision makers are continuing to see the relative value we bring to the table.
2009 yearly salaries for an individual contributor with 1-3 years relevant experience range from $40,000 to $80,000; senior manager salaries range $70,000 to $120,000; and vice presidents with responsibilities for large SEM campaigns or a team of specialists earn from $160,000 to $250,000.
While the salary range for those with 1- years experience is quite wide I think that the majority of those getting the low range, $40k – $50k are in the 1-2 year experience range. Once you have 3 years plus under your belt I don’t think you would even consider a position for under $60k.
It seems the spending on SEM will continue into the distant future and that is sweet music to anyone that is involved in this industry!
Search engine optimization (SEO) has really taken corporate Canada by surprise or a better way of putting it would be bewilderment. Most decision makers in this country know that SEO is important but are not sure exactly what it is and how it can ultimately effect the bottom line of their companies. Because of this uncertainty Canada still lags behind the USA and the UK in terms of utilizing SEO to drive quality visitors to their websites and grow their business .
The secret that many large companies in the UK and the USA already know and that the more progressive Canadian companies are now just starting to find out is that having a ‘real’ professional SEO in-house is like having a “secret weapon” – and just to clarify, I am not exaggerating, blowing my own horn or using a poor analogy. This is the cold-hard truth and up until now a very well kept secret.
Here is an example in support of my above statement:
-In my last in-house position the basic numbers supported the true power of SEO as the ultimate ROI (return on investment) and secret weapon. When the company made conversions through more traditional marketing methods both online and off with banner ads, radio commercials, TV spots and print advertising the cost per acquisition was $49.00 When they made acquisitions through SEO the cost was $9.50 – considering SEO brought in almost 20 million dollars in revenue in 2008 I would say that not only was this an amazing ROI but it is really what kept this company afloat.
Having an in-house SEO allows a company to be very ‘light’ on their feet and take advantage of opportunities that would otherwise not be found or leveraged to their full potential. When you have an edge on your competition by using SEO to increase your website traffic, brand awareness and ultimately your companies profits it can open many doors for partnerships because everyone in your industry or complimentary industries wants to be part of a successful company.
When the boss/board of directors/owners/CEO or president wants to test market a new product or service they can jump in with both feet knowing the in-house SEO will support and find ways to promote and analyze the potential of the new endeavor. When someone comes knocking to sell them advertising or the newest greatest profitability scheme they can have the SEO sit in on these meetings and offer ‘real’ advice based on hard data. For example, we had the Yellow Pages folks in for a meeting last month and they were telling us of their newest and greatest ‘improvement’ coming down-the-pipes in which we would be able to bid on top placement in their online directory. The section they were recommending for us was one our SEO (me) knew only garnered us a few dozen hits a month even in spot 4 on Google – so it gave us the heads-up on what type of bid would be worthwhile (a low one) where-as another company in our market might get sucked into bidding very high for the same keyword because they did not know the actual value of it.
When a partner in the industry was refocusing their mission thereby leaving a website up for grabs the in-house SEO was able to see the value in this site and the company was able to acquire it before it went to public auction where it would have fetched 4 or 5 times the value we paid.
Really, I could go on and on….leveraging current market share, taking advantage of hot news trends, driving long-tail traffic to inner pages, raising the value of current affiliate and membership programs, developing good will with suppliers and friends, spotting red flags on the horizon and avoiding penalties. I can’t count the times I have sat in on a call with my boss and x supplier, x salesperson, x investor, x affiliate, x business proposal and had valuable input into what the offer might mean to us. Simply because as the in-house SEO you live and breathe the business and industry you work in – knowing the data and pitfalls from the inside out give you tremendous knowledge and insight.
Having an in-house SEO really is a secret weapons, sort of like having in-house council but it costs a lot less, for now!
