Google is big. Google is bigger, Google is huge, Google is massive! But how massive are they really? Let’s take a look.
State of Search
Geo-ranking: Do you know how your rankings differ per city?
One of the most important goals for Google is being as relevant as possible to the searcher. One of the main aspects in this lies in the area in which now former Googler Marissa Mayer has been working in for the past few years: local search. Here Google is trying hard to personalize the results based on where you are located. After all, if you are living in London and you do a search on ‘Carpenter’, what use would it be for you if a carpenter from Manchester would show up in the number one results. Or even closer, one on the other side of town, while there is a perfectly good one, just as well optimized, right down the block?
For many SEOs and webmasters this is a battle they have been fighting for a few years with all the tools they can find. Some SEOs or webmasters however might not even realize their website is ranking high in one town, but is a lot less findable in another. This issue we call “Geo-Ranking”.
SEO tool Linkdex, which has been expanding a lot in the last year, now comes out with a new feature which helps web masters understand this exact issue. Linkdex launched this last week and has released a whitepaper pointing out exactly this problem and the solution. (more…)
Friday Talk: Dark Patterns in User Interface Design
Wait, didn’t we see a presentation from Brighton SEO last week? Indeed you did, that was a panel discussion. This time its a presentation from a year earlier. Why again Brighton SEO? Because this is one talk I still remember and it is a really good one, everyone should see. User Interface designer Dr Harry Brignull of Clearleft Ltd, speaking about Dark Patterns in Web Design – User Interfaces that are designed to trick people. So enjoy!
Split Second Search
An infographic from Google (yes really!) about their search engine. It shows how a search on the site goes, from how a query travels 1,500 miles at nearly the speed of light to different data centers around the world, eventually to ranking its results.
Friday Talk: ‘Ask the Engines’ Discussion Panel at Brighton SEO
The next Brighton SEO was announced last week: September 14th 2012. A good place to be for every SEO in the industry. As a ‘warm up’ find below the discussion panel from the last Brighton SEO called “Ask the Engines”, a discussion between Pierre Far (Google), Dave Coplin (Bing), Martin MacDonald (Expedia EAN), Rishi Lakhani (Freelance) and Tony Goldstone (FreshEgg).
CEO’s and Social Media
Many CEO’s stay away from Social Media as far as they can. Some because they are afraid it might hurt them. Others because they have no idea where to start or finish. How CEO’s really use Social Media is not very clear though. But maybe this infographic by CEO.com might help.
Starting Today: Guest Post series: Looking From A Different Perspective
Every summer we try to do something ‘special’ here on State of Search. Last year we did a series of summer interviews (like this one with Chris Sherman) and we’ve done a guest post series as well (also at the end of last year). This year we are again treating you to some new and exciting guest post content from some of the industries finest.
The guest post series has a special character to it. We’ve asked every guest blogger to write us a story, but not just ‘any’ story, one with a different perspective than usual. We’ve asked them to take a subject and then look at it from the opposite perspective. Now I do this as a exercise at my training sessions, to get people to think from a client or visitor perspective instead of their own, and I can tell you: this is very difficult to do. Stepping away from your own views and looking at those of others seems easy, but isn’t. Maybe the posts you will read in the next few weeks will help.
In the next few weeks every day, except for the Fridays you will be treated to a guest post at 14.30 UK time, 15.30 European time. So keep your eyes, readers, twitter feeds and Facebook feeds open and enjoy the content! (more…)
What Should Marissa Mayer do at Yahoo?
Marissa Mayer’s move shocked a few people, made some eyebrows frown and made a lot of people think: what on earth is she doing? But what will she be doing is one of the big questions.
In the past few years new CEO’s have always given their views on what they believe they should focus on at Yahoo. No doubt Marissa Mayer will shortly come with a similar statement. What that will say we will have to wait and see, but in the meanwhile we can think about things she can do ourselves. So we’ve asked our blogging team and we’ve asked you on our Facebook page to tell us what you thought Marissa Mayer should do on her first day at Yahoo. Here are the answers: (more…)
Google Using Knowledge Graph on People Search
Knowledge Graph is slowly expanding its grip on the Google Search results. Where at the launch of this new Google feature it was mainly aimed at information which was interesting for the public, Google seems to be zooming in right now, even though not all the information is as up to date as it could be.
Now Google will show “Knowledge Graph” or “Direct Answers” information on peoples names, and not just the ‘famous people’, but you and me as well. The information, what else, is a link to the Google+ Profile of a person, giving you information on that person, their latest update and off course in the meanwhile pushing Google+ again. Funny enough it is becoming more and more what I said Google+ (then working title “Google Me”) should be. (more…)
Marissa Mayer’s Move: What the Experts Think
Yesterday Marissa Mayer made one of the most surprising moves in this young industry ever. Her move from Google to become CEO of Yahoo is unprecedented and it will be interesting to see what she will make of it over at the former search giant.
The sudden move also triggered a lot of questions: why did she move? Why did Google let her go so easily? What else is going on? And even the question of who is going to replace her when she is getting her first baby in October showed up.
We decided to ask some industry experts on their thoughts about Marissa Mayers move. Fresh into the news they responded: (more…)
Official: Marissa Mayer Named as New Yahoo CEO
It is coming as a shock on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ at the moment and when Barry Schwartz just tweeted it I first thought it was a joke but The New York Times just announced that Marissa Mayer is supposedly the new CEO of Yahoo. This is a stunning move from one of Google’s top names and oldest employees and food for a lot of discussion as well.
Ms Mayer will be appointed as the president and chief executive of Yahoo, making her one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley. Mayer moved from search to local in 2010 and has been very active in that area since, with the launch of Google+ Local recently as her high point.
Mayer has been very ‘quiet’ over the past few weeks, not tweeting or updating her Google Profile for two weeks. We now know why.
The move is a very surprising move from Mayers side with Yahoo not being in the best position possible at the moment and will feed rumors about the future of Yahoo as well. Apparently she resigned today and will be starting tomorrow. (more…)
Google+: RIP or…?
Compared to Facebook and Twitter Google+ seems to be the ‘losing’ Social Network if you look at the numbers. Off course Google+ is much more than just a Social Network, but could we say that looking specifically at that social part, that Google+ is ready for its “RIP”? What do you think? (more…)
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