Archive for the ‘SEO’ Category
Facebook search will go live later today at bing.com/social and will include the full Facebook firehose complete with non-Pages content.
Microsoft’s search engine will combine both Facebook and Twitter results into one search experience. Results will include Facebook Page updates, as well as popular shared links from Facebook in aggregate form.
Bing promises that the Facebook links that surface in search results are based on Facebook updates that are shared with “everyone.” The company is even going so far as to share only the link content, so Facebook users’ names and photos won’t be revealed.
The blog post on the news explains how the search engine handles links with this example (as seen above): “Searching for ‘World Cup’ will show what links Facebook users are sharing on the topic – with a caption that is extracted from the original article shown below the link.”
Bing will also be updating the homepage to surface trending topics based on Twitter and Facebook data.”
What do you think of the new search features? Are you interested in learning how to utilize this for your business? If so, please contact one of our SEO specialists today!
Tags: bing, facebook, search marketing
Posted Thursday, June 10th, 2010 in SEO, Search, Social Media | No Comments »
One of my clients asked me about the benefits of SlideShare and SEO. I decided to poke around online and see what I could find and how people are using this social media site that appears to be targeted to businesses (hence the presentation part).
I found this informative, introductory article for the new Slidesharers out there. It touches on relatively easy and basic SEO techniques for optimizing each presentation (tagging, titles, etc). SocialSEO also gave us some creative, out-side-of-the-box ideas on how to create more presentations:
- Explain a complex business process that could use a few visual aids
- Create “how to” tutorials
- Give a sales presentation
- Show off pictures from an event
- Breathe some life to case studies
- Bring existing presentations to the web
- Repurpose old articles by turning the main points into a presentation
Our Charlotte SEO company is working to help make our clients more visible online. Increasingly important, companies need to build their social community by engaging customers, becoming resilient to negative feedback and implementing the ’sharing’ factor. Sharing presentations ( like on SlideShare), coupons on Google Places, asking for feedback on Facebook and connecting Twitter followers with popular news is eminent in the realm of today’s social media marketing.
Tags: how to post powerpoint on blog, optimizing slideshare, SEO, slideshare, upload powerpoint to blog, upload powerpoint to internet, upload ppt to web, what is slideshare
Posted Thursday, April 29th, 2010 in Branding, Link Building, SEO, Social Media | No Comments »
“Foursquare is a location-based application that works on the iphone, android and blackberry smart phones. It brings a game aspect and some competition into the mix and you can use that to your benefit as a small business in regards to how you market yourself locally.
First and foremost, Foursquare promotes exploration around town and trying out new venues. You can open the app, see what is around your current location, if there are any specials nearby and what those are, and you can see if any of your friends are checked-in at any of those locations. You can see if a place is trending (quite a bit of check-ins in a short amount of time) and how many people are there. Think popularity. Foursquare has badges that one can “unlock” for certain accomplishments, say if they visit 5 different Starbuck’s they unlock the “Barista badge”.
People love playing the game, and less than 1% of businesses are seizing the opportunity to entice those users into their place of business. And you’re spending how much on print ads that hardly convert?
Some Stats about Foursquare
At the time of my talk, Foursquare had been around for just about 1-year. In one year, they’ve obtained almost 1 million users, have over 16 Million checkins, have over 1.4 Million venues in the database (all created by users mind you). That’s fairly impressive no? Out of the over 1.4 Million venues, only about 1200 venues have special offers. Can you say “Opportunity”?
What do badges and leaderboards mean to you as a business?
Ego. People have one. Competition. People like to win. This means that people are already playing this game and checking into your business whether you’re currently aware of it or not. This means that there is a game, external from your knowledge, that is essentially tracking and awarding your customers for frequenting your venue.
SEO Benefits of Foursquare
Google maps and now Bing maps are showcasing Foursquare venues when people search locally. Again all without you spending a penny. Google is starting to use the tips and shouts from Foursquare venues for citations about your business. If you haven’t heard, citations are used in the rank algorithm. This is why Yelp and Google Local reviews are so powerful and sought after.
Foursquare venue pages are ranking in search results. It has your business name, address and again links to your Foursquare venue page which also has your phone number.
How Businesses get Involved with Foursquare
Simply put – go to Foursquare.com, and Search for your business. If you’re in there make sure your information is correct. There should be a little pencil icon under the info (once you have an account). This is like any site, you need to make sure your information is correct and that you’re represented properly.” ~ Source: RYNOweb.com
r the info (once you have an account). This is like any site, you need to make sure your information is correct and that you’re represented prop
For more information, please contact one of our SEO specialists.
Tags: effects of fourquare.com and seo, foursquare and seo, foursquare.com, how foursquare benefits seo, internet marketing
Posted Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 in SEO, Search, Social Media | No Comments »
Method 1 - Respect Your Audience
We’ve covered the power of individuality on the Web. While it is true the Web offers exceptional degrees of anonymity and collective activity, at the end of the day every user has his/her own judgments to make, and will make those judgments known via clicks and comments. There are websites solely devoted to expounding on peoples’ bad experiences, such as the popular Not Always Right. Rest assured that if you stick to sales pitches and infomercials, your work will be forgotten or derided quite quickly.
Method 2 - Identify and Use Your Keywords
Keyword usage requires research. It isn’t a matter of simply plugging in all the buzzwords in every awkward conversation - this is a good way to get sites to blacklist or penalize you in their rankings. Take the time to really examine what key roles your business works toward, and then research the keyword usage of related activities. Pick out those keywords that seem most relevant, and then work them into your site as naturally as you can.
Method 3 - Remember Reciprocity
The interesting thing about your Facebook page is that your company website doesn’t host it - Facebook does. This puts your content in two distinct places on the Web, potentially doubling the coverage you can receive during Web searches. Take advantage of that by remembering to provide links from each site to the other. Your company homepage should be linked from your Facebook profile, and vice-versa. This will improve traffic to each site by bringing in visitors from the sister sites, and takes less than a minute to implement.
Method 4 - Harness Multiple Media
Given the social nature of Facebook, it’s an appropriate page to include ‘related’ content to your venture that isn’t strictly relevant in the normal sense. Consider a site focused on pet care and related products. Rather than tying in a sales video, post the latest adorable kitten video from one of the many cat websites on the Internet. Tag it with keywords related to your focus by all means, but the key here is to give people additional reasons to visit your site and help drive your numbers.
Method 5 - Learn From the Best
A writer once commented that every good story has already been written - what remains is for the good writer to borrow judiciously. If there is one thing the Internet is good for, it is copious amounts of free information. Take a look at popular Facebook sites and take notes on what they’re doing. You do not exist in a bubble, but rather a network of ideas and interactions. Consider adopting different approaches that others are making work, or putting your spin on them for even more success. Creativity drives much of the Web, so feel free to experiment. ” ~ Enzo Cesario, Sitepro News
For more tips on search engine optimization, contact ebasedEVOLUTION today!
Tags: facebook, facebook for business, search engine optimization, SEO
Posted Monday, March 22nd, 2010 in SEO, Social Media | No Comments »
“Today we’re helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide, and in more than forty languages. Now when you search using Google, we will be able to better provide you with the most relevant results possible. For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes. Other times, when I’m looking for news about Cornell University’s sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on www.cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others.
Previously, we only offered Personalized Search for signed-in users, and only when they had Web History enabled on their Google Accounts. What we’re doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. This addition enables us to customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser. It’s completely separate from your Google Account and Web History (which are only available to signed-in users). You’ll know when we customize results because a “View customizations” link will appear on the top right of the search results page. Clicking the link will let you see how we’ve customized your results and also let you turn off this type of customization.” ~ Source: Googleblog.Blogspot.com
To watch a video on Google Personal Search, click here!
For more internet marketing news, please contact one of our analysts.
Tags: Google, google search results, personal search, SEO
Posted Thursday, March 18th, 2010 in SEO, Search | No Comments »
Google entered the Social Media realm today with Google Buzz. It’s a new way to share updates, photos, videos and more, and start conversations with your friends. Already a fan of G-chatting, Gmailing, sharing Picasa pics and sharing articles on Google Reader? If so, you’re pretty much ready to create some buzz.
Not only am I already following 12 people already on my personal account, Google is already suggesting that I follow other contacts.
Questions to Ponder
- Will the reach be as broad as Facebook and Twitter?
- How will Google effect Facebook, Twitter’s traffic?
- Will Buzz effect SEO rankings?
From Technology News’ article, “From a marketing perspective, one factor to consider is that if there are any SEO benefits from Google Buzz, people will use it more, Havens said. “Likely, there will be [SEO benefits], since it’s Google. Since tweets can raise your SEO — using appropriate keywords — likely Google’s new social networking app will as well.”
Like Tech News said is this a Killer Buzz or a Buzzkill?
For more information on social media and the new Google Buzz, contact our Charlotte SEO team.
Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 in Browsers, SEO, Social Media | No Comments »
This week, I stumbled across an interesting article in Realtor.org regarding search engine optimization for real estate companies. Given that ebasedEVOLUTION has a couple real estate clients across the country, this would be of interest to our audience.
It provides 6 tips for improving rankings on your site:
1) Write Better Page Titles: Make title tags very specific, as search engines scan this data when indexing websites
2) Broadcast your Links: Develop a campaign to get other web sites linking to yours
3) Use keywords Generously: Incorporate the top phrases you want associated with your site onto the pages in your site.
4) Reword Outgoing Links: The hyperlink text should be specific and include phrases tha search engines can index. Ideally a “No-Follow” tag would be great to put on these links, to keep value in your site.
5) Develop a Site Map: Site maps are now a major component for search engine indexing.
6) Tweet About It: “Now that tweets are indexed in Google, Twitter has become an important part of SEO strategy”
Does this information sound familiar? This is essentially a brief overview of the services ebasedEVOLUTION can provide your company. Contact us today to see how we can help grow your business!
Tags: internet marketing for real estate, real estate, seo for real estate
Posted Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 in SEO | No Comments »
Within the last few days Google announced on “The Official Google Blog” that personalized search has been released to everyone! So what does this actually mean?
For starters, personalized search is now working on every search for every user, not just if you are signed in. This means results can very from location to location based on what you search for and based on your past search history. Based on how I search, where I search from and what I click on more often, the results could vary slightly to favor what I am looking for.
Of course the big question is, how does this effect SEO and internet marketing. Well of course things will change a little, but change is pretty much the only thing constant with SEO. As an internet marketing company the first thing to do is stay the course with regards to the basics. Increased content, increased relevant linking, crawlable websites - all play a very important role in having a well ranking website. These things will not change.
A very good point was made the last few days because of all this buzz. The same amount of people will be searching, the only difference is paying closer attention to your target audience. Long tail keywords will become more important than before and companies might diversify into more paid advertising.
Posted Friday, December 11th, 2009 in SEO, Search | No Comments »
If you haven’t heard about Google Caffeine yet, just know that it is a new system in which Google will be indexing pages. With the vast popularity of social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, Google has decided to place more emphasis on these sites in their search results. Don’t worry, it will not be officially implemented until after the holiday season, so you do have time to prepare.
Matt Cutts (Google Mastermind Employee) recently discussed some of the new features you will notice (and may not notice) with the revised search engine…
To begin, if you are a business, and are looking to boost rankings in Google, you have got to have presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Google will start listing these sites at the top of search results. Even live ‘tweets’ will be included in the search results! Sounds crazy, but that’s the direction the search world is heading.
Google will also be rewarding those sites that load extremely fast. For those individuals who have visited a site, only to sit and wait a couple moments for the page to load will no longer have to worry about this issue.
For those companies who are thinking “well, how do I know how fast my page is loading”, I have a tool to help you out… Please go to: www.code.google.com/speed and insert your URL. The results will speak for themselves.
For more tips and news related to search internet marketing, please contact one of our analysts.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Tags: google caffeine, search engines, SEO
Posted Friday, November 20th, 2009 in Branding, Browsers, General, Link Building, SEO, Website Design | No Comments »
Our previous post was about Google introducing Twitter into their organic search results. Well since then, Bing has decided to jump on board also. On October 21, Qi Lu, President of Microsoft’s Online Services Group announced
“Bing will now incorporate Twitter updates in search engine results with Facebook soon to follow. It’s cumbersome: to search “tweets”, you must access a segmented part of the site at bing.com/twitter, but combined with Bing’s xRank featuring top ranked celebrities, musicians, politicians, and bloggers of the minute, it’s like a real time scan of People magazine headlines”
Posted Thursday, November 5th, 2009 in General, SEO, Social Media | No Comments »
