Tag Archives: google

Has Google Gone Too Far With Instant Previews?



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


Has Google Gone Too Far With Instant Previews?




Google Spot!






Has Google Gone Too Far With Instant Previews?


If you’re a regular reader of this small newsletter, you will know
I keep my eyes peeled to what Google is doing. I do this mainly because
Google sends me the best quality traffic and Google accounts for 60%
to 80% of the traffic on most of my sites. And since I am heavily into
affiliate marketing and keyword targeting in free organic search,
anything affecting those searches directly affects my bottom line.

Now, I don’t want to sound like I am complaining, but this has been
the most disruptive year for online marketing in a long, long time.

This all comes back to the massive changes Google has made over the
last six months or so. Starting first with Google Caffeine which really
affected which keywords were ranking, then we had Google Instant Search
which affected HOW your keyword results were displayed. Instant Search
has and is playing havoc with “long-tail keyword” phrases because
searchers don’t get a chance to get to those lucrative keywords since
they are constantly being bombarded with instant results.



Just a few days ago, Google introduced Instant Previews.


Already, warning bells are ringing in my head, now don’t get me wrong –
there’s nothing wrong with these Instant Previews. Actually for the average
searcher this is a great innovation. And I believe it will prove very popular
with Google users.

However, from a webmaster and marketing perspective, these new previews could
potentially prove very troublesome. Why? Because if Google users find the
information on the SERPs or Google’s landing results pages – THEY WILL HAVE
NO NEED TO CLICK YOUR LINK.

If searchers find the information they need on these results landing pages,
they won’t click through to your site. Your site loses a visitor. What really
bothers me is how large these previews are. Thankfully, the small print can’t
be read but they do take up a lot of your browser’s space.




Google Instant Previews







































Click Here to check out – http://www.google.com/landing/instantpreviews

It’s just one more marketing hurdle, webmasters and marketers have to jump
through in order to get that quality traffic from Google. This could prove
very pragmatic for everyone, especially the small online marketer who now
has to not only compete with other webmasters’ listings/previews in order
to get the click, but they may just have to compete with Google itself.

What are you talking about? Google, how will I have to compete with Google?

Maybe I am jumping to some big conclusions here, but I have been following
Google religiously since they began, and recent changes within Google has me
very worried. With all these new changes, Google is keeping the searcher/visitor
on their Results Pages for as long as they can. If they keep these searchers
on the Google site, it greatly increases the chance that they will eventually
click an ad.

If you were a search engine like Google, it is in your own best interest to
decrease the importance of organic search and increase the emphasis on your
paid links. You have to do everything in your power to increase the chances
that those ad links are clicked. One obvious way is to increase the time spent
on your site.

Sound silly, not really.

If you look on Alexa, Google’s “Time Spent On Site” has increased from around
7 minutes in 2009 to around 14 minutes in 2010. That’s nearly a 100% increase,
double the time and double your chances of getting those ads clicked. No wonder
Google workers got that 10% raise, they really deserved it.




Alexa Google Facebook Comparison































Now, as I said before, there is nothing really wrong with this, Google visitors
don’t pay for those ads and if they can get a better search result by staying on
Google longer, they will still find what they’re looking for and come away happy.

However, if you’re a webmaster or marketer, you’re now competing with Google
for that searcher’s attention. And all the recent changes within Google has made
your job of getting that click through to your site much more difficult. You have
to compete with all the limitless resources of Google and everything they can
throw the searcher’s way.

So what can the small webmaster or marketer do to increase their chances of
getting those clicks. Well, I believe your site’s design and layout/look will
play a more IMPORTANT role in getting those all important clicks. Here’s what
I think will happen:

1. You really have to capture the searcher’s attention in those Instant Previews
so your graphics may become much more vital. So add a few eye-popping graphics
next to your important information.

2. Headlines will become more important. Place some great headlines in these
previews to grab the searcher’s attention, nothing works like a good bold
headline which can be read in Google’s Preview.

3. Bullet summaries or placing your important information in a nice summary
format could draw the searcher’s attention to your site. But webmasters can’t
give away all the information because the searcher will have no need to click
through to your site.

4. Take a multi-layered approach to your Google marketing. Just don’t aim for
free organic search (which I believe is becoming a dead duck for extremely
lucrative keywords, especially within Google) but try video listings, news listings,
image listings… to get those all-important clicks from Google.

5. Lastly, no one wants to hear this, but paid listings with Google Adwords
may soon be your only option to get on the first page of Google. As major
companies pour unlimited resources into SEO and Keyword Link Buying, organic
search is not really free or available to everyone anymore. In the not so
future, paid listings may be the only way to get that Google click.

On a brighter note, these Instant Previews may also decrease the importance
of your rankings on the first page. Getting the top or number one ranking will
not be so important, if searchers spend more time checking out ALL of the top 10
listings on the page. A nice preview could help you get the click, regardless
of position.

Of course, how all these recent changes within Google plays out, makes all
this online marketing stuff very interesting. Will searchers even use Google’s
Instant search and these previews? Or will they be turned off by all these
improvements? More importantly, has Google just become every webmaster’s
and marketer’s most daunting competitor? Enquiring marketing minds want to know!




Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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Google at Warp Speed – Does Google Instant Change SEO or Online Marketing?



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


Google at Warp Speed – Does Google Instant Change SEO or Online Marketing?





Does the introduction of Google Instant Search
really change how one markets online…


The introduction of Google Instant took me by complete surprise, even
though I knew they were playing around with the logo in some very strange ways, I
still didn’t expect such a novel change to how they displayed their SERPs.

The speed was truly blinding, not to mention somewhat confusing at
first until you quickly got used to it. Experiencing Instant Search
for the first time sent shivers down my spine and probably not for the
reasons you’re thinking.

As a full-time online marketer, Google directly or indirectly, accounts
for around 80% of my online income.

Any changes within Google, even small ones, can sometimes have devastating
effects on that income. Such a major change as Google Instant may have long-lasting effects and may even be a total game-changer in regards to SEO and
online marketing.

At least that was my first gut reaction, but calmer heads do prevail after
the initial shock of this warp speed search wore off. For me, it is all about
the numbers – traffic numbers, subscriptions, page impression numbers, click-thru
numbers and of course, the most vital of all – sales numbers.

Throughout yesterday and today, I kept monitoring those numbers as if my livelihood
depended upon it, which it does. Thankfully, what I saw and am seeing does not
cause me to be alarmed – it’s business as usual. There is not much difference,
actually my subscription, traffic and sales numbers are up slightly since Google Instant
has gone live.

Of course, Google Live is only available in some countries yet so the full impact
can’t really be judged, but first impressions have me a little relieved. From
those first impressions, I don’t believe Google Instant will drastically change
SEO or even online marketing.

Sitepronews has a very good discussion of this question on their site, it might
be worth your while to get second opinions on this issue.

Does Google Instant Mark The End of SEO?


There are even some people saying it will kill SEO, which is totally ridiculous
in my opinion, any webmaster can still optimize his site/content to rank at the
top of Google. How and at what speed Google chooses to display those top listings
doesn’t really stop the flow of targeted traffic to your site – it actually speeds
up that flow of traffic.

Which can be very good news for those who have those top rankings in Google,
your listings will instantly appear, even before the searcher has finished
typing your targeted keyword phrase. More power to Google and to you!

Some observers are saying Google is displaying too many top brands in their
results – or they are favoring the top brands. I have seen this happen in many
of my own keyword phrases but to be fair, these top brands have not completely
dominated Google’s listings. If they did, I and a lot of other small-time
online marketers would have been driven out of business years ago.

Google seems to have found a balance or perhaps they’re just displaying
the true rankings which come to them from their many different ranking
systems and countless rules… stranger things have happened. These brand
names are becoming more important in Google, but in the back of my mind,
I am figuring this is because large multi-national companies are finally
seeing the true benefits of SEO and are putting more of their resources
into getting those top spots in Google.

As for Google Instant, it will benefit sites and marketers who have
those top listings in Google. It will display their listings much faster
and bring those visitors much quicker. Or at least those are my first impressions
but it will take days, even weeks before the full ramifications of Google
Instant will have on web surfers and how they do their searching.

I am such there will have to minor tweaking to your SEO and some adjustments
to your online marketing, but for now it seems like business as usual and
it’s all keywords on deck, or rather at the top of Google.

To read more on my first impressions of Google Instant go here:


Google Instant Search – Faster Than The Speed Of Type




Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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Increase Traffic & Sales by Using Sitemaps, Breadcrumbs and Keyword Clouds



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


Increase Traffic & Sales by Using Sitemaps, Breadcrumbs and Keyword Clouds


This week I thought I would give you some basic site design tips
which will make your site more visible to your visitors and the
search engines. Over the years, using these design features have
produced more traffic and sales for me. These may also prove useful
to your site or sites.





Google Sitemaps





Some years back, there was a lot of fuss made about placing a Google Sitemaps
on your site. Such a sitemap would let the search engines quickly find your
content and index it. It was also a way for you as a webmaster to let the
search engines know which content you wanted to be featured most from your site.
This was an XML file which updated automatically on your server as you
added new content.

If you want to know more about Google Sitemaps – try this article I wrote
which also have links to some good sitemaps generators.


http://www.bizwaremagic.com/Google_Sitemaps_Explained.htm




General HTML Sitemap




You don’t hear as much about sitemaps these days but just common sense
says you should have a sitemap – listing all your web pages and major
content – featured on all the pages of your site.

This will make navigation of your site much easier for your site’s
visitors. Personally I can’t count the number of times I have used a sitemap
to find what I am looking for on a site. Next to an onsite search box,
a sitemap is a very important element of good site design.

Most of my sites are very simple HTML sites with very simple and easy site
navigation. I try to place a link back to my homepage on every page on my site,
never leave your visitors stranded. Another practice that I have always done,
is to place a sitemap link on every page.

For SEO reasons most experts suggest you keep all links on your site no more than
three clicks away from your homepage. I usually design my index page with my main
keywords listed and then break these keywords up into sub-topics.

Usually, this follows a simple pattern – these keywords are usually made up of one
or two words, then the sub-topics are usually longer three or four keyword phrases.

For example, you could have a site or domain entitled “CheapVacationsDeals” and
on your index (main homepage) you could have links entitled “honeymoon vacations”
“disney vacations”… then these would have further sub-topics or links going
to “niagara falls honeymoon vacations”, “orlando disney vacations” and so on.

If you’re running an affiliate site it is extremely important to create
content/web pages based upon the keyword phrases surfers are using in the
search engines to find what they’re looking for on the web. Obviously this
will increase your traffic and sales.




Breadcrumbs





On this subject there is another related topic which should be discussed
and that is the use of breadcrumbs in your site design. This is a simple
way of letting your visitors know what topics and sub-topics they’re
using on your site and how they can get back to the home page.

For like in the Hansel and Gretel story, using breadcrumbs is one method
to find your way home. Here it’s using a linking structure on your site
to help your visitors find what they’re looking for.

Searching different levels of any site can be confusing for your visitors
so providing some direction can be helpful.

home > computers > laptops > gaming laptops

If you want to know more about breadcrumbs and how to use them, here are
a couple of good links:

/www.devlounge.net/code/css-breadcrumbs-in-5-minutes




Keyword Cloud





And if you’re running a blog related to your site, a common practice is to include
a “keyword cloud” which tells your visitors which keywords are most prominent on
your blog. This is a visual presentation of the keywords on your site and is also
know as a “tag cloud”.

Here’s a nice page which will show you how to use/put a “keyword cloud” on
your WordPress Blog.

www.staygolinks.com/easy-wordpress-tag-cloud-page.htm

Hope this email has you thinking about sitemaps, breadcrumbs and
keyword clouds… all ways to make your site more useful and easier
to use. It will also help those all-important search engines to
find and index your content faster.




Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

Did you find the above information helpful? If so, why not
help spread the word – recommend this content by using
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