Yet Another Move by Google to Enhance Social Media's Role in Search

Friday, February 18, 2011

As we have written about before, Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) is creeping into the world of search.  It makes perfect sense, really.  A big part of Google's traditional algorithm is evaluating how many links come into a web site, and who those links are from.  Think of it as peer review.  

But in that scenario, the "peers" are other web sites, not people you know.  Ah, but the people I know are all on my social networks.  What if Google and the other search engines could know who my friends are and then cross reference what they like when giving me answers to my queries?

That is precisely what they are doing with the announcement of Social Search (see Google's blog post here). 

This isn't an entirely new product.  Previously, Google announced the incorporation of similar things in the SERPS, but this takes it to a new level. 

Conspicuously missing from Google's Social Search, however, is Facebook.   The two companies have not been playing nice lately (Facebook has been raiding Google's best employees, and recently Google stopped allowing Facebook to access its users Gmail accounts, etc), and I assume that is a factor in all of this.  But for Social Search to really have an impact, it is going to need to include Facebook eventually, and I am sure that it will.  (The other scenario, which is certainly possible, is that Facebook will finally add a SEARCH feature that only shows results from your connections). 

The bottom line is this:  search is changing, and it is obvious that it is moving towards a much more customizable and socially based system.  If your business isn't yet listed on the Social Sites, soon you might find yourself no longer listed on most people's search results either. 

MORE INFORMATION:

Why A Business Should Be On Facebook


A Video From Google About Their Social Search Update:

Posted by {Omnipresent SEO} Friday, February 18, 2011 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

What Will Google's Instant Previews Mean for Your Website?

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Google announced a new element of their flagship Search Engine yesterdaY called Google Instant Previews.

For people who use Firefox and some of the site preview plugins, this feature won't be anything ground-breaking.   That said, the number of people using those plugins probably totalled in the thousands.    With Google adopting this for all users, the feature - and its affect on search habits - will finally be demonstrated.

I think the feature can only help quality web sites.  Not because I think they'll show up higher on the results pages, but rather because your quality sites will stand out to prospective clients before they have even clicked on the link to visit your site.   Likewise, these prospective clients will be LESS likely to click on links when they can see that the destination is just some directory or a site that looks clunky and antiquated.

With this in mind, design becomes ever more important.

Your content might be what gets your site noticed by the Search Engines, and eventually converts prospects into clients, but it will be you design that gets prospects to commit to click to view your site. 

Here is what Google has to say about it.

Posted by {Omnipresent SEO} Wednesday, November 10, 2010 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

How Search Engines Work

Thursday, September 09, 2010

To understand why Search Engine Optimization is important, I think it is incredibly important to understand how Search Engines work. 

Rather than try to explain it to you myself, below is a video from Matt Cutts, the man at Google who is responsible for the algorithm that runs the almighty Google search process.

Posted by {Omnipresent SEO} Thursday, September 09, 2010 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink