Facebook and Google – Diving Deeper
Written by alexey.lyakh on July 4, 2011
Together these two are the largest and most used Iinnternet companies in the world. Google with 150 million monthly users and Facebook hot on Google’s heels with 140, add Youtube to the equation which is also owned by Google with 125 million and you’re nearing a half a billion of monthly users. No doubt that these three websites are where the majority of us spend our free time on line. But although you might be used to thinking of these as simply a search engine or a social network you might not be fully aware of the things that go on behind the scenes of your computer screen…
What Google and Facebook are Hiding
Though the above video is quite eye opening it looks at these two giants from the perspective of an average user who isn’t getting the full picture as a result of algorithmic adjustments catered specifically to what they assume you are looking for or are interested in.
However it is important to remember that there could be other uses for the information these companies gather about you. Your entire identity is up on Facebook and Google memorizes your search habits. What are the potential uses for such a vast amount of personal information and who else could possibly have access to it?
We know that Google and Facebook use this information for making money. 97% of income of these companies comes from advertisements. Advertisements catered specifically to you based on your likes and interests derived from the vast amount information that you have wittingly or unwittingly shared with these two companies. Try paying attention to the ads you see in your gmail account. Do they change according to the content of your emails or their recipients? Privacy concerns are a disturbing issue on the Internet. We have become so accustomed to these companies and have learned to trust them so completely that we no longer question the security of our information on line. Watch the videos below and keep in mind that as positive and helpful as these sites are, it is a leap of faith on your part to fully trust in their noblest intentions.
Google Trying Not to Be Evil
The Truth About Facebook
Google Plus, Panda and Social Integration
Written by alexey.lyakh on June 30, 2011
If you’ve used google to search something this week then chances are you’ve noticed some minor cosmetic differences they have implemented, such as the black toolbar at the top and the options on the left of your search results. As an average user this might be all that you have seen and not taken much notice, but the reality is that this is just the tip of the iceberg of an entire suite of new products and changes that Google is rolling out this summer. Changes that will affect what you use Google for, how your search results are delivered to you, what makes certain websites rank higher than others, and your overall activity on the web.
Google Becoming Social
Google Plus is an entire suite of social products that in a way integrate the functionality and features of Facebook, Twitter, Skype and then some. All under one roof with one account. Here is a short video overview of the platform:
The three main elements of google plus are circles, sparks and hangouts. These three features are the social elements that are going to rival companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype as the platform picks up momentum. And considering that Google is the largest internet company in the world traffic and exposure shouldn’t be a problem. The coolest element of Google plus has to be hangouts. Imagine if Facebook chat was done via video and you could talk to 10 people at once. Google hangouts:
Will Google Plus Succeed?
This isn’t the first time Google has made attempts to break into the social space. Google Wave and Google Buzz were million dollar projects that were launched before with similar intentions that have made practically zero impact on how we use Google. The Google +1 button has been around for months now but it is still not clear what purpose it actually serves. It is essentially Googles version of the Facebook Like button but unlike the latter it doesn’t share anything or have any residual value, it is just a button that you click that seems to have no impact on your immediate experience. Only time will tell, but the amount of commitment and back end changes involved with Google’s venture into the social element of the web it is a good guess to say that the large social media companies now have another heavyweight competitor to share it’s user base with.
Down the Rabbit Hole…
As an ordinary user the new layout or the new social products don’t really impact your life in any way other than giving you the ability to do even more cool stuff on the internet that you weren’t able to do before. But as a business owner or somebody who utilizes the internet to some degree to generate revenue or leads this leap into the social space brings with it a heap of new problems and opportunities.
Google has been focusing on location based search over the last few years and has succeeded in delivering relevant results to users based on their geographic locations. By doing this it has also succeeded in practically putting all phone book companies out of business. It has diminished local newspaper advertising revenues and taken on an entirely new type of media. The leap into the social space has brought with it the time and relationship factors. Bing has tied in Facebook search a while ago where if you are logged into Facebook any searches you type into Bing will return Facebook related results specific to your social network. Google has been giving you Twitter results for certain topics for a while now as well.
The sidebar on the left of your search results now lets you choose a date range for your search results. So if you are looking for the latest sports scores you can search your teams name and filter by 24 hours thus getting the latest updates on the topic.
If you use Google analytics you can now set it up to track your social media efforts as well as your website interactions:
The implementation of social elements into analytics tracking and webmaster tools is much more than a set of new features, along with Google+ and other new social products it’s a clear statement of the direction in which the company is headed. It is also an outrageously blunt hint as to what factors are being looked at by the new search algorithms updates when ranking certain sites above others in search results.
Google Algorithm Update “Panda” 2.2
If you have noticed that your search engine rankings are all over the map these last few weeks, going up and down twice daily or if your website has disappeared from Google’s results completely then you are experiencing the full wrath of Google’s Panda 2.2 algorithm update.
Google is about relevance and user experience. The main objective is to give the user the most relevant high quality result for their search query. SEO or search engine optimization is nothing more than at attempt at telling Google that your site is more relevant than the other sites about your specific subject. Link building and and keyword placement on the site have been proven factors in ranking your site higher in organic search results since the very beginning. However, people have learned through trial and error what elements the Google algorithm looks at when deciding which sites rank highest and have begun to take advantage of their knowledge by concentrating primarily on black hat techniques that work exceptionally well in raising their rankings. However once this became the focus the content quality has began to decline. People would rank mediocre or poor content sites at the top for high search volume key words in order to make an extra buck. This in turn makes Google look bad as the quality of the results it delivers to it’s users suffers as well. The answer – Google Panda.
SEO Practices are Changing…
Google panda focuses on filtering out those sites that have thousands of poor quality spam links and those with duplicate or poor quality content out of it’s search results. Unfortunately it isn’t possible for Google to make an algorithm that will de-list all the websites that use these bad practices because that would give spammers a weapon against good quality sites that they could sabotage via the same methods. So what’s the answer? Avoid the whole situation all together, rather than punishing sites with poor practices they will reward sites that have good practices. And with all of the new social media features and directions that Google is taking you can bet that your social media efforts are now of direct relevance to your keyword rankings on Google. As noble as the attempt and idea is, it has millions of website owners around the world pissed off as they watch their rankings disappear completely for 2 hours and come back better than ever 2 hours later only to drop again to the bottom of the pile the next day. If you have a web store or a business that relies on the internet to generate leads or income you will definitely feel uneasy while these changes are happening. The ripple effect from the panda update and the social media direction can be felt most by those websites who have relied on link building more than content and social media before. This is likely to go on for the next few weeks as the dust begins to settle and your rankings begin to solidify again.
So what will work now? The same concepts apply: quality content, quality link building, quality website, etc. Everything works just as it did before but with more emphasis on one thing: quality. However there is now a social layer added to the equation. If you are up against a website with a bigger social media presence and activity in your industry, you can bet that they will be ahead of you in the search results as well.
Using Ad ReTargeting In Google Adwords
Written by Martin Wong on August 27, 2010
An example of Ad Retargeting code in Google Adwords.
When Google launched Adsense in 2003, it revolutionized online advertising by contextually matching content with relevant ads. This made online pay-per-click and cost-per-impression ad campaigns extremely cost-effective for businesses and led to a significant overall increase in click-through rates for online ads.
In 2010, the online advertising industry is again being revolutionized by a new ad-matching technology called Ad Retargeting.
What Is Ad Retargeting?
Ad Retargeting is a way to re-engage people who have previously visited your website. Let’s say someone clicks on one of your online ads, visits your website for a few minutes to browse your product and then leaves without making a purchase. In most cases, this potential customer will not return to make purchase and you will have lost a potential sale. What ad retargeting allows you to do is direct ads specifically at potential customers who have already shown interest in your products by browsing your website.
As you can imagine,the possibilities for re-engaging these people and gaining their business with ad retargeting is huge. You can target them with ads specifically tailored to the products they were viewing or you can coax them with a special offer to return and finally make a purchase. They see these ads while they are surfing the web, searching on Google or browsing another website.
The result is that ad retargeting is hugely effective at increasing conversion while minimizing your cost-per-click. It is already proving to be one of the biggest advances in online advertising since contextual advertising went mainstream earlier in the decade.
Ad Retargeting With Google Adwords
To make it easy for online advertisers to take advantage of the possibilities of ad retargeting, Google is now offering it as part of its Adwords platform (although Google calls in remarketing). I highly recommend that all online advertisers include ad retargeting in their marketing strategy.
To get started with Adwords Retargeting, you need to embed remarketing tags (a small snippet of code) on your homepage and important product pages. Google Adwords then adds this information to the browser-based “cookie” of your Adwords visitors, allowing you to retarget messages specifically to people who have visited the individually tagged pages on your site. To attach an audience to each remarketing tag, open the Audience tab in Google Adwords and there you can segment your different audiences and ads for your retargeting campaign.
Now, when these potential customers visit a website that has Google Ads from the Google Content Network – which are everywhere since it is the largest display ad network online – you can target them with another ad or a special deals to give them an incentive to return and make that purchase. It’s as simple as that, but remarkably most online marketers don’t include this under-utilized technique in their marketing strategy.
Marketing studies have shown that it results in up to 500% increases in click-through rates on your retargeted ads and a significant reduction in your overall cost-per-conversion. Try it out for yourself and the results from ad retargeting will speak for themselves.
