Do you want to be confused about SEO?

It’s really easy. All you have to do is believe articles like the one I ran across on LinkedIn recently. It was given credence by appearing on the Ad Age website. It’s title proclaimed that it was about Google’s “Penguin” update and how it would lead to something the author referred to as “new SEO“. (SEO is the acronym for search engine optimization)

It’s important to first focus on the fact that the author can’t know very much about any of Google’s updates because all such information is a trade secret that is carefully guarded by Google. Despite his lack of actual knowledge about Google’s algorithms the author conflates his opinions to improperly and insultingly define SEO (search engine optimization) as doing something to “fool a crawler into indexing borderline junk content to get high rankings”. Doesn’t an article falsely claiming to know something about Google’s Penguin update quality as “junk content”? In fact, isn’t his practice an example of “link baiting” which is the creation of “borderline junk content” to lure sites into linking to the material? I think that “yes” is the correct answer to both these questions.

It’s no surprise, then, that this author, speaking as a content creator, extols the virtue of content creation and how it represents something he calls “new SEO“. Unfortunately for his argument content has always been an important part of search returns so he is saying nothing new but thinks it appropriate to bash SEO anyhow.

Google has succeeded by doing search better than the other search engines. We can count on Google to continue to improve their performance. Yes, content is important and there are more ways than ever to produce content with the increasing importance of social media. Since SEO is the art and science of making it clear what your business does it will adapt.  It must be forever new and a single update to Google’s algorithms is unlikely to cause catastrophic change as this author purports.

Google, Amazon and Apple – the new Big Three?

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago there were three American companies that were referred to collectively as The Big Three. GM, Ford and Chrysler were the biggest selling automakers in the world. Recently Toyota and Honda have staked claim to positions in this grouping.

The newest Big Three sell digital information and hardware to make use of it. Google has announced to fully join this group with the announcement of the Nexus 7 tablet shortly after launching Google Play which unified its sales of software, music and other media. Amazon still leads in sales of books and its Kindle players are well regarded. The newest Kindle is the Fire which is not quite an iPad killer but established the price point that Google is matching with far superior equipment in the Nexus 7. “iPad”, of course, references Apple – the king of the hill in digital music sales and the runaway leader in smartphones and tablets.

Google is the most successful search company which provides them the opportunity to market their other goods and services very effectively. The intensity of the competition can be seen in recent events like the patent wars between Google’s Motorola Mobility division v Apple, Apple dumping Google Maps on the iPhone and Samsung v Apple lawsuits.

What all this means to businesses is that mobile is increasingly important and looks to become even more important in the post-PC era that we are entering. All the more reason to make sure that your business website is mobile-friendly and that it is showing well in mobile searches.

Mobile is a part of what search optimization by sem[c] is all about. All you need to do is click to find out more.

Do you know what ZMOT means to you?

Do you go online to do some online research before you buy something? Would it surprise you that 70% of all Americans say that they do?
This is a new development in the purchasing sequence. This new things can be seen as a new moment of truth. The classical First Moment of Truth (FMOT) is when the consumer selects to purchase one brand over another. The second is when the brand either delivers… or doesn’t.
Jim Lecinski in his new book “ZMOT, Winning the Zero Moment of Truth” details what this predecessor to the FMOT looks like. It is online search, friends and family discussion, online comparisons, website info, online reviews and other sources that you have probably used. In fact, a study commissioned by Google said the average number of sources consulted per purchase just about doubled from 2010 to 2011. The study included purchases from very large to very small. The study also showed that the ZMOT was equally important in the purchasing decision to the older pieces of the buying sequence.
Wouldn’t a very good question be: Why was only 15% of media ad budget money spend online in 2010?
Contact us for additional information about you can use ZMOT to improve your business’ online performance.
Got questions? Call, click or Google… you’ll reach us.

Are you benefitting from the increase in mobile traffic?

We are seeing an ever-increasing amount of traffic to the websites that we monitor from iPhones, Droids, and Blackberries, and predict that there will be an increase in Windows 7 Mobile access.
We have also seen websites from clients, prospective clients,  and competitors that really don’t show up on mobile at all.  For example, it is very common that a website’s graphic designer will incorporate a Flash front page. We have seen that even if the page detects that Flash isn’t available, it will suggest that the visitor install Flash. If the visitor is using Mac’s mobile operating system iOS on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, it is impossible for them to install Flash, even though iOS is the most frequently-used mobile operating device that we are seeing in the statistics. This failure to properly configure the website will ensure that those visitors using mobile handset devices are much less likely to return.Both Google and Bing are aggressively wooing users of their competitor’s operating system and both are very present on iOS. Bing apps are being heavily promoted on iOS and Android. Google is built into Android OS and is the default search engine in iOS. Google just announced the capability on Windows 7 Mobile to replace the default search engine Bing.

Google also just announced big changes in the way that it displays search results for mobiles. Their mobile blog reports that they have:

 

“expanded the story space to make tapping on articles easier and more accurate. Tapping anywhere on an article headline or snippet opens it up, and clicking on a section heading opens up that topic section on your screen.

 

In addition, the default view of stories is now collapsed in order  to reduce scrolling time. You can ‘expand’ a story by tapping ‘More sources’, which brings you to related stories from other sources.”

 

In other words, it’s quicker and more convenient.

 

As the use of mobiles to access the web increases, your website’s ability to accomplish your business goals will need to work really well on handsets.

Feel free to contact us about any aspect of mobile marketing or SEM/SEO.

SEO update 2010

The state of SEO 2010

There’s been a lot of action in the search engine arena recently. Yahoo’s transition to using Bing’s search results has been largely completed in North America. This means the search results that you get on both Yahoo! and Bing should be very similar. As of the end of August, the total number of searches in the USA show Google with around a 70% market share and Bing/Yahoo! With 25%. Ask and AOL split the final 5% of market share according to Marketwire.

This represents the final month statistics before Google’s introduction of “Google Instant” which has a lot of potential. Google’s new approach is certainly compelling to watch as your results change as you type in your query. Google also showed an increase in paid results in both month-to-month and year-to-year numbers. This is further justification of our recommendation that AdWords is your most valuable pay-per-click resource.

This information is valuable to you not only for the quality clicks it produces but also as our research tool. In a project with our alliance partner, website developer Caxy, Inc., for Hair Professionals Beauty Schools we were able to identify the most commonly used keyword phrases by potential students looking for their options in pursuing their professional cosmetology licenses. This has quickly produced well-qualified visits to the website that could not have found their way there before we started.

We’ve found that we can help most B2C businesses and many B2B businesses. Please visit our website or call or email us to find out how we can make your website a more effective business tool. Our customers have found that the online marketing power we’ve brought to their websites has got them on track to increase sales.