Think Google+ is useless? Think again. Google+ actually influences your business’ search rankings and posts made on Google+ actually index immediately. That’s right, Google+ is great for SEO! Check out the infographic from searchmojo below to see how else Google+ is helping businesses.
Did you know that there are 625,000 new users on Google+? Some may think Google+ doesn’t compete with the social media powerhouses (read: Twitter and Facebook). However, that stat alone says that the user base is growing and happy to try out a new social media platform. To learn more about how users actually utilize this growing platform, check out the following infographic from Wishpond.
Quick! Make a wish—it’s 12/12/12. Or is that for 11:11…? Whatever it is, we’re a bit superstitious and we want to take advantage of today’s date singularity and share with everyone our 12 favorite digital topics of 2012. Topics below are in no particular order.
Google’s Search Makeover
In March 2012, Google announced through the Wall Street Journal that its algorithm and search results will be undergoing a makeover using semantic search technology. It is the biggest change in the company’s history and could affect millions of websites over the next few years.
Semantic search refers to the process of understanding the actual meaning of words. It can help associate different words with one another. Right now, Google is like a librarian that doesn’t know how to read the language in books. By implementing semantic search technology, it will have the ability to make thousands of associations with a word the way the human brain does. For instance, “Jaguar” could mean an animal or a car. So when you type a search query, the results won’t just be a list of blue web links. More relevant facts, information, and direct answers will appear at the top of the search results page.
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In June, Google’s navigation bar got a new look as part of the release of their own social network called Google+, which is supposed to be an extension of Google. Hence, the plus sign and why the navigation bar appears in some of their other products.
Many articles have dubbed it as, “Google’s answer to Facebook” or even a “Facebook Killer.” According to comScore, Google+ already hit 20 million visitors, while Facebook and Twitter took 2 years to reach 10 million. The reason Google+ was able to reach this number rapidly was because of the credibility behind its name, the substantial amount of Gmail users they reached out to, and not to mention all the work Facebook and Twitter did to introduce social networking.
At this point, it’s too early to make any predictions of Google+ overtaking Facebook. However, it does have a lot of potential to be an alternative based on its features and plans for growth. Most importantly, Google has taken initiative to capitalize on the effect social has on search, which is a good reason to keep an eye on it as it improves.
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Let’s face it, these days everyone is “connected”, whether it be through our various social networks,cell phones, blogs or Twitter accounts. And the one common thread that all of these connectors have is the importance of SEO to get information out and drive traffic in.
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps to improve the volume and the overall quality of the traffic that is going to your site. This level of traffic is detected by organic search results and typically the higher your site ranks, the more people will visit your site; therefore increasing sales.
Seeing as there are so many sites competing with each other for that top spot on Google, as well as other search engines, it’s essential to know some basics about SEO. The following are some tips that will help you to effectively optimize your site and ensure that your site gets steady traffic:
Find the best keywords- Knowing what words need to be keyword optimized and implementing them will help searchers find your site faster
Research your competitors- By being aware of your company’s competitors and their marketing strategies you can gage your own SEO tactics
Optimize your website title- Including keywords in your website’s title will only help to increase traffic
Use headings- By using headings to address different topics on your site, and keyword optimizing your headings, your chances of driving more traffic will increase
Create a site map for your page- Creating a site map for you site will grant visitors easy accessibility to different parts and increase your clicks per page
Buy multiple domains for your site- Purchasing multiple domain names for your site, will help minimize your competition
Use bold text to highlight title, headlines and important information- Using bold text will draw more attention to the important aspects of your site
SEO as an Internet Marketing Strategy
SEO has been used by some of the top companies in the world as an internet marketing strategy since it considers how search engines work and what people are searching for on a day to day basis. When optimizing your website all you need to do is edit your content and HTML coding so its relevant to specific keywords. By making edits to your site you can also remove barriers that may stand in the way of the indexing activities of search engines.