Future of SEO with Google Semantic Search?
If you read the WSJ Article yesterday on the Semantic shift of Google Search, you will know that Google intends to keep pushing the envelope of "relevance". Semantic search is nothing new in terms of the Google algorithm - perhaps other than the term itself. However, it really signals a few things for me as an SEO.
1. Google wants its to have it all ways - social/personalization AND semantic AND literal all defined as "relevant" wrapped up in a little bow. Personally, I think we all fell in love with Google over a decade ago with literal search - it's ease, simplicity and trust. I could search any term and 'wow', everything on the Internet was at my fingertips. Now, they are trying to get further in the minds of users to interpret 'relevance'. Do we want this? Need this? Perhaps there is a market for this type of search but it is a far cry from why we fell in love with Google in the first place.
2. SEO will need to transform - where Google historically weighted links as authoritative signals, its weight is shifting to more relevant content and contextual association. For an SEO, skills migrate from analytical and technical to editorial and IA-based.
3. PPC will become more in demand. Can I search for "shoes" and not find shoe stores unless I search on "buy shoes"? Interpretive search could lead to "how to tie a show" or "how shoes are made" as more relevant. Brands will require more time to develop a content libary as they get pushed down in SERPS along their strategic keywords. As a result, a higher investment in PPC will be required - as well as higher positions on Short tail keywords (and more revenue to Google)
Google seems to be trying to make their product a "one-size" fits all...but, perhaps, this will open the door for nice search engines or social search ventures? To be continued..
SEO 3.0: Become an Octopus
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. They have soft outer bodies that allow them to be nimble and fit through tight cracks. Google Guidlines for SEO are now changing faster than you can execute a strategy. One day you are white hat and the next day black as Google tweaks its algorithm. With SEO 3.0, you need to become an Octopus. That is, develop multiple extensions of your brand that remain connected to the primary positioning statement. If you sell widgets then think about how you can position widgets by demograpic, pyschographic, geographic and more. Utilize keyword subfolders and deep linking tentacles. Like "suction cups", these brand extensions will allow you to also link out via both branded term and exact/broad match anchor links. Use these eight arms to reach out to more qualified links with branded programs. Become and Octopus and advance your SERPS.
Great Article Post on Link Building
It was a great post that I noted regarding link blending and Stage 2 link building that is worth passing along. At times, we get so caught up in 'getting more links' that you need to consider how to best maximize the ones you already have worked to hard to get.
Home Security Online Marketing
At LifeShield Home Security, we continue to make strides with successful online marketing initiatives. Our advancements in SEO and Paid Search have come a long way in such a short period of time. We are happy to now announce a successful partnership with a LifeShield authorized dealer Superior Home Security and its 29 local web sites. Distribution is a key to growth in any category and Superior Home Security provides a great way to present our products online to customers in new ways. The home alarm system category has grown tremendously over the past several years with online marketing and the emergence of new marketing web sites. They have the following sites:
Superior Home Security Atlanta
Superior Home Security Charlotte
Superior Home Security California
Superior Home Security Chicago
Superior Home Security Detroit
Superior Home Security Florida
Superior Home Security Georgia
Superior Home Security Houston
Superior Home Security Illinois
Superior Home Security Los Angeles
Superior Home Security Massachusetts
Superior Home Security Memphis
Superior Home Security Michigan
Superior Home Security New Orleans
Superior Home Security New Jersey
Superior Home Security New York
Superior Home Security New York City
Superior Home Security North Carolina
Superior Home Security Pennsylvania
Superior Home Security Philadelphia
Superior Home Security Seattle
Superior Home Security Phoenix
Superior Home Security Washington DC
Page 1 Marketing - Really?
Just spent some time searching online for SEO Services to see if any new and interesting services were being offered. What I find revealing is that months after the first Google Panda update and years after major advancements in SEO, I still find many SEO "package" services that guarantee you page 1 Google. There are multiple service offerings with packs of backlinks, social bookmarking, article services and more. I guess there is a strong appeal to many who want to try to win a race without putting in the hard work. The answer is that there are no shortcuts and I have not seen a service yet that provides much benefit to advance any major SEO ranking.
The SEO landscape today is complex with a collision of organic tactics and social signals. Much of the game is now about getting more invested with your users and socialization of your brand. This effect can not happen overnight and does not come in a box with bow. I just wanted to create this post to warn those out there looking for SEO services to do your homework. You get what you pay for and it is hard work! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Google Plus - Switching Costs Challenged
I find it interesting that a few years back when Facebook emerged as the popular social network, the lure was about 'first mover' to most. Those who started with MySpace and others were early adopters ultimately became some of the last to switch to Facebook. Now, as Google is on the verge of launching Google Plus and becomes a locomotive heading straight at Twitter and Facebook, how many will jump ship and onto the Google train? With twitter, many have now so much invested in accumulating followers and an audience. With Facebook, users are now at a tipping point with 'habit' as the average frequency of photos and posts is more than 1x/day/user. However, Google Plus offers some great features that cuts right between both Twitter and Facebook. Google Plus lets you eavesdrop on conversations a la Twitter with no reciprocity. Unlike Facebook, Google Plus makes it very simple to manage your friends into segments (circles) and filter messages appropriately to groups. It is almost like Google Plus has taken the "best of" FB and TW and made it more appealing. Yet, as I spoke of in the past, Google has one secret weapon - GMAIL! With millions of gmail accounts and users who mostly rely on Gmail for personal use, will Google Plus adoption become very simple and VERY FAST? Google, with broader natural web distribution than Facebook given that it extends itself to most search can use its +1 button to more successfully integrate into Plus. Will this new locomotive crash or will it hit TW and FB and blow right by it? The ultimate question will not now come down to user experience but rather 'switching costs'. How invested are users/customers in FB and TW brands to remain loyal, keep their assets (friends and followers) and watch the locomotive pass by? We will soon see.
Today's Targeted Online Ads - George Orwell could have written an Internet sequel to 1984
If you are not following one of today's hottest topics in digital media, you should try to get 'in the know' whether you represent a digital professional or even online consumer. Today, publishers and advertisers can know way more about you than you realize. The offline world took a long time to evolve direct marketing standards and practices and even products to protect such items as an individual's credit or security. Now, today's online advertising is moving faster and faster to knowing who you are at anytime on any web site - it is scary. Data mining companies are providing data based on piggy back techniques that are often deemed controversial to the point that advertisers know that I am a 38 year old male with two kids who frequently shops online as well as my income and geography when I visit an ecommerce web site. Even more, they may even know my 'likes and dislikes' such as popular brands or recent purchases. With data like this, ad rates may begin to surge and conversion rates could sore (maybe?). Last year, Zappos.com got in a bit of trouble using some of these stronger techniques and has pulled back a bit. Yet, behavioral targeted online ads are still expected to be over $4B in 2012 and nearly 25% of online display ad spending.
So all this sounds great but the controversy comes in a few ways - privacy and data rights management. First, the privacy of individuals is a controversial topic online. In Congress right now is a bill up for vote called the "Digital Bill of Rights" to which consumers will be able to opt out of their 'digital footprint'. Next, data rights management is an issue facing many online publishers. Many ad networks and advertisers piggy back on cookies and tags from browsers. From this Piggy Back, advertisers use data that may be considered rights of publishers (customer data) to sell and serve targeted advertising. Publishers need to become more aware of their rights to their customers data and position themselvers to protect it. On May 25th, a friend of mine and famous online marketer, Mike Sands of Bright Tag (former CMO of Orbitz) will be coming to Atlanta to speak to at to the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (a must see - selfish plug). It is important to keep up with this issue as we evolve with behavioral targeted ads online and understand the landscape and how to use it to your advantage.
Bearish on F-Commerce when Painting on their Canvas
No one more than me, even as recent as a few months ago, was bullish on Facebook Commerce. I had been looking for more ways to integrate my products and UX into the Facebook tab as and end-to-end commerce solution for our customers. From a product relationship to their social circle through commerce within Facebook, the end game was apparent. However, as I learned more and more how to paint on the Facebook Canvas (the real estate within their tab), I realized that in order to create a 'sticky' UX, it takes a stable platform partnership with Facebook. I really don't feel we have that today. Let me explain.
Just a year ago, we had 760 pixels of width on the Facebook canvas. Last summer, this width shrunk to 520 pixels. With that one change, modifications to usability were at a frenzy for all deployed Facebook apps and solutions. More recently, Facebook moved their tabs from the top to the side. In addition, they have gradually migrated from FBML to HTML support along with iFrame supported solutions. My team created a widget and I produced the widget as an i-frame code snipet with 3-columns of products to display. Trust me when I say, it was not as a simple as "pasting the code" into the new Facebook tab. In order to make it better fit, I found a cool Facebook app that allows you to better manage i-Frame code snipets on Facebook. From this, the lightbulb went off, I really don't want to be held hostage to the Facebook product roadmap. Who really knows the Facebook master product plan to optimize ad revenue. Whatever I build to optimize F-Commerce on my end could get shut off overnight with one feature decision on their end.
As such, my bearish stance now on f-commerce relates to the above need to build an integrated experience. To me, the better F-apps will be derived from the marketing side of the business. Start with a UX design that matches your core business and reflects how fans may want to relate to your product. If you think more broadly this way, you will not be trapped by the technology platform. For example, instead of saying, let's figure out how to sell our products on Facebook so people can buy them and post their sale on their Faceobook wall, think more about why people would engage with your brand on Facebook and market to them an experience based on that desired outcome. If I were BestBuy, for example, instead of trying to replicate ecommerce, perhaps you can engage fans by product group so they can tell you what they are interested in. As a carat, you can re-market to them based on their opt-in affinities. It is my belief, that careful designs of Marketing Programs can be more successfully deployed within your Facebook canvas then using it to integrate commerce. I will be continuing to write more about this in the coming months.
Your iPad strategy - Apps or cross-platform development?
As you think about how to address the growing tablet market, especially with the iPad (and you should!), consider the new plug-ins available to manage cross-platform strategies. Up to now, many considered "apps" as the entry to mobile content distribution. However, I wanted to share an article I read that shows how platforms like Wordpress are now deploying cross-platfrom uses of its software.
iPad WordPress Plugin Makes Sites Tablet-Friendly
