Posts About ‘Google’

Sneak Preview of the New Google Maps

Last week it became clear that Google is working on a new Google Maps. Or should we say, has been working on a new Google Maps. They seem to be ready now and later today when Google I/O start the new Google Maps is expected to be presented. We are quite sure because one of the sessions is called “Google Maps: Into the Future”…

Some screens from the new Google Maps have already been sent out and some others have been leaked. The Google Operating System presented some imagery which showed the integration of Google+ into Google Maps (no surprise there). And now Droid Life has gotten their hands on some new imagery which seems to come from a sign up page for trying out the new maps which was temporarily released (too soon).

Find the images of the new Google Maps below (thanks to Droid Life) and notice the much prettier, much clearer and probably responsive design. (more…)

Going Beyond Rankings With Google Analytics

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Imagine a world without search engine ranking data.

Imagine a world without keyword data.

With the introduction of personalised and localised search as well as the dreaded (not provided) data in Google Analytics, this is where I think we will be in the very near future. I don’t know about you but I am finding ranking data and keyword data more and more unreliable as the weeks go on, which is what has led me to writing this post.

We need to open our eyes to other measurement metrics so we can start to re-educate clients and CEOs to other ways of tracking performance that does not include rankings. I am going to focus on showing you different reports from within Google Analytics to help you achieve this.

(more…)

So How Does The Google Glass Work?

Last night I listened in on Google’s first quarter 2013 earnings talk with amongst others Larry Page. Page also talked about Google Glass and how it would be a pricey and thus a luxury product. It didn’t change my mind: I still want one. No matter how expensive or privacy sensitive it is.

But how does the Glass really work you ask? Well maybe this will shine some light on it: (more…)

What Google’s EU Settlement Means For Search

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Last week news leaked that Google is about to reach a settlement with the European Commission in the EU’s antitrust investigation against the search engine.

As Search Engine Land reported, terms of the settlement include clear labelling of Google’s own services in its European search results, prominent links to at least three rival alternative services, and more liberal AdSense policies to give publishers more freedom to sell advertising.

Supporters of the FairSearch.org lobby group, such as Microsoft and Foundem, immediately criticised the settlement offer, which seems very likely to be accepted by EU regulators. (more…)

Creating Content For Online Stores (when people don’t really read)

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Last week I was lucky enough to attend BrightonSEO – and right from session one it became clear that content is a BIG topic for digital marketers in 2013 and the years to come. I’m pretty lucky since my job requires me to attend various search conferences and I have seen that even the exhibitor landscape has slightly changed since Google’s Panda and Penguin updates in 2012 – whereas you’ll now find numerous article writing services promising “services for unique and exclusively written content created to your specification”.

This slight conference exhibitor shift emphasises the surge in demand for content creators. Plenty of blog posts are advising us to think twice before hiring a new addition to our marketing team – we might want to consider hiring a writer rather than a career marketer – I am sure this is old news for you though. What triggered my curiosity though were the findings of a Nielsen study I came across a few weeks ago. (more…)

The Mysterious Retirement of Salesforce for Google Adwords

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This is a guest post by Yousef Sekander, Director at Rocketmill.

On May 1st, Salesforce will pull the plug on Salesforce for Google Adwords, and thousands of companies who use it will ask two questions. Why did Salesforce do this, and What do I do next?

We’ll make a few educated guesses at why, and also point you towards some solutions that can replace Salesforce for Google Adwords.

Salesforce for Google Adwords is different from every other app, in that it was the only app installed by default with Salesforce. With close to two thousand apps on the app exchange, only Salesforce for Google Adwords came pre-installed. Amazingly, even a few months after new customers were blocked from using it, it was still there for new salesforce instances (though completely unusable).

So why did Salesforce go from pushing this app on every single customer to suddenly retiring it? Their press release certainly doesn’t help, with this vague statement:

“Unmatched pace of innovation is one of the hallmark benefits to salesforce.com customers, and in order to continue to deliver more breakthroughs around Google AdWords, we’re turning to our vibrant ecosystem of partners. We’re focusing our innovation efforts around making the Salesforce CRM you love even better which is why we have decided to retire SFGA. Our AppExchange partners will provide similar offerings with additional capabilities so you can continue to realize success with Google AdWords.”

Why did this happen?

Theory number 1: It wasn’t worth the support / internal resources. According to Salesforce product managers, only one to two thousand companies were actively using Salesforce for Google Adwords. Considering it was installed by default for everyone, that’s a low, low uptake of +around 1% for active use.

Theory number 2: Salesforce got in a pissing match with Google about something and this was a casualty. Salesforce certainly had a lot more focus on integration with Google Apps in 2008, but this relationship since has cooled, with minimal development to bring the two companies, and their products, together.

Where do I go from here?

There are a lot of solutions out there, ranging from a home-brew DIY solution using open source software, to Marketing Automation companies owned by Oracle. We’ll go through our favourite three at different price points.

Solution for around $100 a month – Daddy Analytics

We’ve taken a look at the solutions that have popped trying to offer a replacement for SFGA. All manage to replace the features of SFGA, and all of them cost somewhere between $50 and $200, depending on your volume of leads or number of users.

The outright winner on features in this price range is Daddy Analytics. As well as replacing Google Adwords, it offers some nifty services based around the IP address, including telling you what company or ISP the Lead came from, what device they were on (can you price your wares higher to Mac users then PC users?), and even their estimated GeoLocation. We were also shown a sneak peak at their beta features coming out shortly, and this one really impressed us – per page tracking for Leads. So you’ll know which pages your prospect went to before and after submitting your web form, and how long they spent on each page. If they spent 3 minutes on the pricing page and then submitted their info, this likely a more qualified prospect.

Solution for around $1000 a month – Hubspot

HubSpot is the winner here, seems to have the highest ‘cool’ factor. Have you seen their Alanis Moriset spoof video? Not only is it funny, it shows the power of inbound marketing, and already has over a hundred thousand views. When that went viral, HubSpot’s incoming leads shot up. HubSpot is not designed as a replacement for SFGA, they are so much more – a marketing automation system that increases your prospects engagement while focusing on your marketing ROI. And HubSpot seems to really ‘get it’, showing a personality that is at once trendy and edgy, while also being focused and professional. Their features are almost too long to list, and their integration with Salesforce leads is robust, as Hubspot use both Salesforce and Hubspot in-house. Salesforce even owns a significant stake in them.

Solution for over $1000 a month – Marketo

Marketo is the market leader, and offers even deeper integration with Salesforce, and more of a full featured offering. You pay for that power, though, with pricing in the range of $2000 to $8000 a month (their pricing can be even higher or lower). Marketo, for example, has far more features around it’s email campaigns, with arguably better better drip-marketing, deliverability reports, and list management.

But the challenge of comparing Marketo to Hubspot is that we quickly move into subjective opinion, rather than a more objective comparison. It’s a bit like Oracle vs Salesforce, or Windows vs Mac. At the end of the day it comes down to what suits you, from the user interface to the company approach. When you’re spending the big bucks for Marketo or Hubspot, you’re going to have to evaluate them and determine yourself, as only you know your exact needs.

What would your solution be?

State of Search News Update: What happened in week 14

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After a few weeks without a wrap up of the most important news in search and social it is time

In this post we will bring the top stories of what happened last week with links to articles around the web. So you will know what you’ve missed.  

Here’s what happened last week

Facebook launches ‘Home’ to take over Android

The biggest news last week of course was Facebook launching ‘home’. It wasn’t the expected Facebook phone, but a take over of Android, which will be rolling out shortly.

Related stories online: Inside Facebook, TechCrunch,Businessweek, AllThingsD, Business Insider, The Next Web 

LinkedIn rolling linked mentions of people and companies in status updates

Linkedin wants to be more like Facebook so it seems. It has started to roll out a new feature which is very Facebook like: mentions of people and companies in status updates which will trigger the recipient.

Related stories online: Official LinkedIn Blog, Mashable, WebProNews.  

Mobile advertising growing to 7.3 billion dollars with Google and Facebook taking most

Mobile advertising will reach $7.29 billion in 2013, and Google will take home more than half of it, Facebook follows after.

Related stories online: Marketing Pilgrim, Forbes, CNET

Google Places Dashboard gets Google+ Local Integration

Google has begun a staged upgrade of its Google Places Dashboard making it more integrated with Google+.

Related stories online: Searchengineland, Search Engine Roundtable, Google Plus Daily, 9to5Google, Marketing Pilgrim

iTunes URLs Losing Rank In Google Search

Less and less iOS applications were showing up in Google search for searches by app name, for example. Google acknowledged there are issues, but not a plot.

Related stories online: The Next Web, AppleInsider, Searchengineland, The Verge, Guardian 

Baidu Working on Google Glass-Like ‘Baidu Eye’

Rumours are Baidu is copying Google, but not in search, but in their Google Glasses project. Baidu seems to be working on a ‘Baidu Eye’.

Related stories online: CHINAdaily,  VentureBeat, Investor’s Business Daily 

Google’s Privacy Director Stepping Down

One of the toughest and most important roles within Google is becoming vacant. Privacy Director Alma Whitten is said to be stepping down from her job.

Related stories online: CNET, Engadget, Marketing Land, TechCrunch, AllThingsD

Fake Twitter Followers a Multimillion-Dollar Business

Everyone already knew Twitter followers can be bought. And we also knew there was a lot of money to be made there. It now actually turns out to be a multimillion-dollar business.

Related stories online: New York Times, Business Insider

Anonymous take over  North Korea’s Twitter and Flickr accounts

A remarkable ‘hack’ last week in North Korea where Anonymous hackers took over Twitter and Flickr accounts showing politically sensitive content.

Related stories online: Business Insider, SiliconANGLE, Mashable, ReadWrite

 

Google Keep – Handy Scrapbook or Evernote Contender?

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Google Keep is a new app/tool from Google that appears to be reviving the old Google Notebook, but the ‘buzz‘ appears to be regarding whether Google is taking on ‘Evernote’ and Microsoft ‘One Note’ and whether it has succeeded.

I personally favour the trusty ‘spreadsheet of doom’ combined with calendar reminders for deadlines and work based tasks. However, as a fan of traditional lists, mind maps and calendars to manage things, I thought I would have a look at the (not) much talked about Google Keep and see just how handy it may be as a tool.

I also downloaded the free version of Evernote so I could compare some of the features. This post is not intended as a direct Evernote vs Google Keep post as it is clear that at the moment Evernote is the more powerful tool due to additional note capability and share features. However, similarities suggest that this is a step towards Google moving in on the Productivity Tools space. (more…)

Friday Talk: Google Glasses Presentation by Sergey Brin

We are getting closer to actually getting Google Glasses in the street, but that also frightens people, what will this mean for privacy? Let’s take a step back and look at the ‘fun stuff’ first, that what Sergey Brin presented at Google I/O in June last year.

RIMC 2013: Tools of the Trade #RIMC13

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There are a number of tools out there to help marketers gain success. These are tools that should help you get more out of your marketing efforts. In this session, the speakers will talk about the problems marketers face in a growing competitive environment, and what tools can do to help gain the edge needed to take things a little further than the competition and to understand your efforts better. This will be shown through case studies and examples (more…)

Google did De-Index Digg, but by Mistake. Digg is back now

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Update:

Digg is now back in the search results after Google explained what happened. Matt Cutts from Google explains it had to do with a spammer attack:

“We were tackling a spammer and inadvertently took action on the root page of digg.com.”

He also stresses this has nothing to with Google Reader, which was suggested on Social Media since Digg announced it would build their own version of it.

He also said:

“we’ll be looking into what protections or process improvements would make this less likely to happen in the future.”

The official response from Google is:

“We’re sorry about the inconvenience this morning to people trying to search for Digg. In the process of removing a spammy link on Digg.com, we inadvertently applied the webspam action to the whole site. We’re correcting this, and the fix should be deployed shortly.”

Original story:

There was a time when Digg.com was the hottest site on the web. Even hotter than Google, believe it or not. Those times have passed and its founder, Kevin Rose, has actually jumped ship to Google.

But still Digg is a force to reckon with. Quantcast last year estimated Digg’s monthly U.S. unique visits at 3.8 million, and that is US only. And a lot of that traffic still comes through Google.

Today however Digg disappeared from Google from a short time. Matt Sawyer of Datadial tweeted out earlier today that the site seems to have disappeared from Google. And he seems to be right. It had  (more…)

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