Here is a powerful video on YouTube which shows the blinding growth of social media and it states, without a doubt, social media is here to stay while providing glimpses of the future where social media will dictate everything we see online:
Link to original video
Some great takeaway stats: Read more…
In the course of my day at StepForth I come across a ton of interesting stuff which I Tweet, Facebook, Stumble etc. on a regular basis. That said, the following are two pieces of media which I simply could not pass up sharing with you.
This video was created by Maxime Léure and it is so brilliant I think it deserves Emmy consideration. What do you think?
Here is a direct link to “A Life on Facebook” Read more…
The writing has been in the sand for a while now but today Google rolled out a truly game-changing format for local search results. By totally eliminating the Onebox and removing most non-Google maps results from the first page, Google has made it more important than ever before to have a strong Google Places profile.
Onebox – Huh?: In case you are unfamiliar with all this hoopla you should know what local search results looked like before the transition. In this older Google search results screenshot you can see the Onebox in it’s original glory with 10 local business listings aligned directly next to a Google map of the related area. When the original Onebox was released it caused a major stir because it pushed down organic search results which would have normally been the first results seen on the page; a lucrative spot which was now gone due to this changeover. The next major change came when Google reduced the local results to 7 instead of 10, made each listing double-lined, and allowed business owners to purchase a Google Places Tag which enhanced listings in search results for $25 per month. Up until this point the local search results were considered a lucrative place to be for local-targeting businesses but no where near as lucrative as it will be as of today. Read more…
In my preparation for a search engine optimization (SEO) course I am teaching at a local college (Camosun College) I came across this awesome video by Google’s Matt Cutts. This video does the best job I have seen yet of explaining how Google works and, I think, it may even displace some misconceptions I run into every day when talking to prospective clients. So, if you are curious about search engine optimization or you just want to see your BFF, Matt Cutts, in a very slick video you can watch it below!
Source: How Search Works by Matt Cutts
I found this on the Google Corporate Information Page where other great videos are as well.
My pet peeves related to the SEO industry change on a regular basis but right now it is definitely the “SEO is Dead” headline… it is overused, totally unimaginative, and always wrong. Yet here I have to use it… at least it is to spurn it defiantly!! Sure, search engine optimization (SEO) changes, there is no doubt about that, but it is not dead and won’t be for a very very long time. If you think it is, I would love to hear an argument for why your website no longer needs to provide a clear picture of keyword relevance to search engines.
First, for the sake of choosing a neutral starting point let’s look at the parts of Wikipedia’s definition of SEO that relates to this discussion:
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a web site or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. … Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.
Based on that definition, what has changed? No matter what happens, every website owner who values search engine traffic will yearn to be more visible. Read more…
{Update: The local results are live as of October 27th, 2010. For more information read “Google’s New Local Results – How to Adapt“} The original article now begins…
Chris Boudreaux and Adam Edwards over at Blog.Converseon.com stumbled across Google search results for a highly local term that spells trouble for anyone who has not spent time focusing on Local SEO.
What do I mean? After all, what could Google possibly do to make local such a big deal? How about removing ALL organic search results in favor of local results! In this case the local search utilized was highly localized which is the only way this sort of result should ever be triggered. The search was for “car rental nyc” and the results were jaw-dropping… nothing but local listings were in the results where the organic rankings used to be. Here is a link to the full-size screenshot that Chris and Adam used to document this event (I copied it to my server in case theirs got overburdened).
What does this mean for you?
First of all it is important to understand that Read more…
Tune in to Monday the 16th of August’s episode of SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.FM where I (Ross Dunn) and my co-host John Carcutt interview Jon Henshaw and Taylor Pratt of Raven Internet Marketing Tools (affiliate link – this article is, however, a legit preliminary review).
In short, Raven Tools can help you with the following:
Website analytics, managing link building campaigns and tracking their success, search engine optimization, social media reputation and campaign tracking, keyword research, and… see more farther on as I outlined the list of features.
The August 16th show will delve into some of the unique (and very cool) reporting options and tracking functionality that Raven has integrated over the years. From discussing how Raven IM Tools has uniquely layered link building reports and ranking reports over top of your overall site analytics (powerful combination!) to learning more about their integration of bit.ly, social mention and other popular metrics providers, this show is well worth a listen. That said, here is a little more about the show and my experience with Raven Tools since we recorded the program. Read more…
Today Google announced it is finally embracing the two way conversation for business place reviews on its Google Places platform. As a result, business owners can reply to both negative and positive reviews for their businesses which were left on their Google Places profile.
This is Very Good News
Having dealt with some reputation management issues in the past for clients it used to drive me to distraction that the client could not respond to negative reviews on many of the review websites online. As a result, unfortunate situations where a miscommunication or simple mistake had occurred would quickly bloom out of control because the business owner had less options to respond as publicly as their unhappy patron. Fortunately, over the years IYP platforms that allow reviews such as Yelp and TripAdvisor finally opened the doors to allow business owners to give their side of the story and today Google took the same leap. Read more…
I will cover this in greater detail later but for now, I figure it is worthwhile to provide a little info around Bing’s announcement today that their freshly redesigned Bing Webmaster Tools is now online.
Here is a core snippet from their announcement explaining what is included in the new version: Read more…
Becoming a sensation on YouTube is a lot of work but it is a passion for many and the how-to’s are plentiful in that open community. Today, however, I came across a series of videos that are incredibly inspiring and do a great job of showing how truly achievable it is to become a YouTube sensation. If you want to see what it takes for an everyday person to go from a YouTube noobie to superstar then read on! Read more…
