Tag Archives: Searching

Google Analytics’ “International Space Station” April Fools

meToo Google Analytics International Space Station April Fools

Thanks to the vigilance of Phillip J Rhoades and his obsession with HowToPhil.com‘s traffic, we’ve sorted out the April Fools joke perpetrated by the Google Analytics team — go check out your Real Time: Overview, and you should see this:

real time 1024x413 Google Analytics International Space Station April FoolsAnd since it is, supposedly, the International Space Station‘s control room, it moves across your Real-Time screen as it orbits — very funny but I think that Google jumped the gun because you didn’t assume that Phillip was keeping his eyes peeled like he does — he’s hyper-vigilant!

issCR Google Analytics International Space Station April Fools

For your information, there are only 3 crew members of the ISS and not 41 — 4-1? April 1st done in the American style.  Most of the world is saying, “41? What’s 4-1?” Because they write today’s date as 1-4-2013 and not 4-1-2013. Oh well, it’s an excellent — maybe too easy — tell.

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Google Adsense rewards quick server page loads

Anemometre1 Google Adsense rewards quick server page loadsMaybe the reason why you can’t even quite get into the top-five or number-one spot on Google search is because you’re not spending enough time or money getting the best Web host and Web server you can afford and then optimizing how your serve your Web pages, especially when your modern CMS is backed by a database.

I have a theory that both where you end up on search results as well as how much money you can make advertising AdWords ads via AdSense depends not merely on SEO or surfing the right trends or even finding the long tail sweet spot, but also on how quick, responsive, reliable, and durable the server that hosts your blog or site is.  The faster the page loads, the better your site will rank on Google search, all other things being equal. Take it to the bank.

When my server was really under-powered and unoptimized, I was averaging $4/day, then after moving stuff around and optimized, it went up to a more reliable $11-25/day. Then, the site started getting more popular from better ranking and then the reliability decreased and the daily take returned to $4-6/day or so.

Now, with more physical RAM in the box and some cloud-based back-up to handle big popularity spikes, I am seeing quite a few $15-$25/day pay-outs.That’s only one person’s experience, but that’s all I got.

What I am going to tell you is not hard science. I might even be recognizing the wrong patterns. And, my sample size is one subject over a long period of time, my blog, Because the Medium is the Message, which is a very big, old, blog with 6,894 posts, 4,631 comments, 4,244 categories, and 14,092 tags — all back-ended by a MySQL database and fortified with WP Super Cache on a dedicated server.

My blog gets about 50,000 visits-a-month and once-in-a-while I will get a spike to 20,000 visits in a day — for example, when I surfed the Royal Wedding coverage.  I serve AdWord ads on the site and I have been noticing that all things being equal, whenever my system administrator adds RAM memory, is able to optimize the database, increase uptime, and add either bandwidth or resources to the box that in some way makes the site quicker to serve, especially when slashdotted or digg-dotted from popularity, then Google rewards me with more advertising revenue.

And this happens not only during the days when I am being crashed by being mentioned on Mashable or retweeted by Guy Kawasaki, adding hardware and software resources to my dedicated server that adds to the box’s durability, reliability, and especially quickness and responsiveness is what does it on a daily basis.

And, I understand why Google does this. Isn’t this obvious? They are looking to provide their visitor, their users, their searchers, with a seamless and splendid experience. So, amazing user interface and quality of research and content cannot be enjoyed from a site that has repeatedly shown that it is habitually slow or unresponsive.

I honestly believe that the time a page loads is an important variable in the algorithm that Google deploys when it is indexing and ranking resource sites. You might have your user interface, site architecture and content completely sorted out; you might have organic link-tos and a PR of 5 or above; but at the end of the say, Google won’t send its searchers to a site that won’t load fast.

Cheap, slow hosting is fine when you’re new, but when you get as big as the Chris Abraham blog, with almost seven-thousand active posts and an open-season on comments, you really need to make sure your hardware can match your traffic, your popularity, your spikes, and your database requirements–and exceed them–or Google might give you ranking demerits and you might lose the trust and faith that Google had in you, resulting in their needing to either rank you down a few or off the front page so as to prevent a negative user experience.

Don’t forget that this is especially important for someone who is using Google on a smart phone. These folks are searching for timely information, especially when they’re on the road having a mobile web experience. After suffering through EDGE or 3G bandwidth issues just to reach Google, getting a “database cannot connect” from your site or blog doesn’t make you look good nor does it make the search engine that referred you.

What do you think? What are your experiences? Via Biznology

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Why your business should have a Google+ brand page

Google Plus Logo 150x150 Why your business should have a Google+ brand pageWith so many social networking sites out there, it’s nearly impossible to keep up, especially with the release of Google+ brand pages about a month ago. At this point, it may be hard to make yourself create and maintain another social media site for your business. Well, this one may be worth it because lets face it, it’s Google, and like we expected they’re integrating brand pages into organic search results in more ways than one.

Option A: Organic Search Results for Brand Page Updates

Choose your keywords carefully when posting updates to your brand pages because they’re popping up in organic search results. Make sure you’re optimizing your status updates to get the best SEO results. By using well thought-out key words, your brand page posts will increase in the Google ranking system, increasing your Google+ presence, and ultimately increasing traffic to your site.

Option B: Organic Search Results for Personal Pages

Now when people talk about your brand on their personal Google+ pages, it will show up as an organic search result. So make sure you’re always keeping an eye out for what other people are saying about your brand on Google+, because what they say may show up on the first page of a Google search for your brand. Create valuable and interesting posts that are share worthy to your Google+ viewers. Enticing people to share your post will get the right search results on the Google search page you want.

Thanks for the insight HubSpot Blog.

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Why your business should have a Google+ brand page

Google+ Introduces Community Guides for Organizations

What’s new in Google+?

Google just recently launched a series of community guides to help organizations, including nonprofits and companies to celebrities and athletes, to fully utilize the platform and effectively interact with other users.

google+ community guides1 300x284 Google+ Introduces Community Guides for OrganizationsOn the Google+ Community website here, Google organizes the communities into six main groups:

Each section breaks down the unique features of Google+ and its capabilities piece-by-piece, specifically tailored to the type of community user. For instance, the Google+ for Media section explains how target audiences can be managed with Circles or how users can share links to news articles that will show up on people’s streams.

Did you know that you can even claim authorship on Google search by adding an author tag to your content?

You’ll find case studies, strategies, and additional links on how to optimize Google+ for your personal or professional brand.

It can’t get any simpler than this. Google is really reaching out to the diverse group of Internet users and social networkers in an effort to build its community growth online.

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How this blog is ranked by Blog Rank in different verticals

How this blog is ranked by Blog Rank in different verticals How this blog is ranked by Blog Rank in different verticals How this blog is ranked by Blog Rank in different verticals How this blog is ranked by Blog Rank in different verticals
Factors Value
RSS membership 606
Number of incoming links 11,014
Unique monthly visitors 8,204
Number of pages posted on the blog 7
Number of links to pages ratio 1,573
Google Page Rank 5
Compete Ranking 198,331
Google Indexed Pages 0
Alexa Site Rank 337,787
How this blog is ranked by Blog Rank in different verticals

Reservation for Google plus one, please

Well, it’s official. There is a new social network out there, taking the world by stage, and our favorite search engine is heading it. Google Plus comes with several unique stimulating features, becoming a hybrid between our beloved Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and PhotoFish: a plethora of personal projection. Humans are creatures of habit, so most users of Google or Facebook won’t change their social routines anytime soon simply because a new tool is out there (Ha!). But if you’re looking for a way to organize your numerous friends, co-workers, or widespread relatives, then Google Plus will be your new Go-Go-Gadget, to quote our favorite animated Inspector.Inspector Gadget Reservation for Google plus one, please

Now, I know that the Internet, an ever-changing addictive buzz off which we thrive, can be overwhelming when it comes down to the amount of connections, social, work-related or otherwise, in constant need of updates. I don’t blame you for feeling a bit lost in the deep well that is the Web. At 21 years old, I feel confident enough to be called technologically savvy yet the prospect that some people consider cyber etiquette to involve updating your status every 10 minutes blows my mind. A couple of people, including several renowned news stations such as FOX, CNN, and KTLA 5, have commented that because of this attitude and the growing means of social association, the current generation will come to naturally expect immediate gratification in regards to friendship, degrading the importance of long-term human connection. However, despite this increasing possibility, tools like Google Plus enable businesses, friendships, even relationships to be conducted over long distances, or short distances if you are feeling particularly lazy.

Due to the art of social networking, our world has become incredibly small, even smaller if you’re using this new Google Plus. plusone2 Reservation for Google plus one, pleaseThe ‘Hangout’ feature in particular on this site has to be the most innovative mode of communication I’ve ever seen, something beyond Skype or any other video chat connection. So innovative in fact, that I’m having flashbacks to “2001: Space Odyssey” (The stars are only one step away). According to an articlHangingOut Reservation for Google plus one, pleasee by James Brandon of the Digital Photography School, this ‘Hangout’ quality allows the user to create a space in which people with similar tastes or preferences can video chat together, disclosing websites, photography, literature, or any other common thought. To think that we’ve gone from lazying about in our living rooms with our friends to doing it without any physical contact. It is a great social platform to launch websites, gain organized social circles, and pursue future clientele or simply common associates. Those of a more artistic nature will find themselves drawn to this new system of sharing, over which they can broadcast opinions or critique personal works, face to face. Such an interesting and original way of communicating will certainly draw attention. Like its predecessors MySpace and Facebook, Google Plus will take its time to hop on board the social fad train but with all of these new features, it definitely won’t take long to come around the Web. Choo-choo!

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Google+ For Business: What You Need to Know Now

(Guest Blogger Blake Sanders is a writer of high speed internet news and information at broadband comparison site BroadbandExpert.com. He also specializes in internet providers, cell phones, and other technical news. He’s offered to share his Google+ expertise with us)

google2 Google+ For Business: What You Need to Know NowIn a very short time and despite being in its testing phase, Google+ has already amassed more than 25 million users. This is a strong sign that Facebook is in for some serious competition in the social network market. No group is happier about this than businesses – both large and small – that use social networks. High speed internet has leveled the playing field for all businesses that use it for marketing. Unfortunately, Google has made it very clear that Google+ for business is not to be ready for prime time until the latter part of 2011.

No Jumping the Gun
Already mentioned in several publications is the fact that businesses who hope to create an individual account now (before Google+ is ready for businesses) and transfer their friends and connections to a business profile at a later date will be in for some problems. These early adaptors will not be able to “move” their personal accounts to a business profile and Google has stated that it’s not building a migration tool. This will require that these individuals manually transfer these contacts and this could take more time and effort than merely waiting until the social network site is officially open for business.

Google+ vs. Facebook
Once it’s ready, however, Google+ should be a great resource for just about any business. Businesses should be aware of several important differences between Google+ and Facebook. To start with, there’s a huge difference in the number of users of the two sites. Facebook has approximately 500 million users and Google+ currently has about 25 million users. This will change when Google+ finishes its testing phase.

There are many other differences in the companies. With its dominant position in the search industry and its popular Gmail service, Google is already a part of most business plans. It’s certain that it will leverage these dominant positions with Google+.

New Features
Google+ will also capitalize on the widespread use of high speed internet and introduce new features to the social marketplace. Sections such as Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, Huddle, and Mobile will allow members to better manage that which their friends and families learn about on Google+. This Circles feature is different from the “everyone sees everything” approach of Facebook. There will be a quicker, less onerous photo upload feature. Sparks allow for instant posting of likes and dislikes with a feature that allows for businesses to immediately send incentives for these likes. Hangouts is a more secure location-based check-in feature and Huddle is a much-improved chat feature.

Leveraging the Power of Google
When businesses finally get access to Google+, there will be many improvements over Facebook. Since Google pioneered measurement and analytics on the web through Google Analytics, these two critical functions for business will be included in Google+. There will also be more emphasis on sharing information and conversations on Google+, unlike the Facebook news stream, and this will be an excellent marketing tool for savvy businesses. Plus, the click-through rate for ads on Google+ will likely be higher, making for lower costs per click.

In spite of Google’s admonition against businesses getting a jump on the official launch of the service, there is a small loophole that allows individuals to learn about the service by participating in the testing phase. While additional tweaking will likely continue with Google+, there’s no doubt about the culture of the company. The success of Google has been based on exemplary technology and products, and odds are good that this will continue with its Google+.

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6 tools for SEO Specialists

When it comes to marketing, you want your company Website the top of the page on the first page of a Google Search.

SEOphoto 300x231 6 tools for SEO SpecialistsSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) companies work to make this happen. According to webfroze they do so by understanding the significance of keyword research.

There are many tools out there to help SEO specialists; here are a few of the good ones based off of a recent Crunchyblogger article.

1. Google Analytics
Google Analytics gives you insight into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. It helps you track your sales and conversions, while helping to measure your site engagement. It can track email campaigns, banner ads and offline ads, as well as identify your best revenue source.

2.  Google Website Optimizer
Google Website Optimizer helps you listen to your visitors by receiving direct feedback from them. It makes it easy to increase your site effectiveness and visitor satisfaction, which leads to higher conversion rates and a higher return on investment. You will also receive a clear report that helps eliminate guesswork, and will help you find out what leads to the most conversions.

3. MailChimp
MailChimp makes email newsletters easy. It can help you design e-newsletters, share them on social networks, integrate them with services you already use and track your results. Using Mailchimp through social sharing allows you to increase the impact of your message.

4. Google Webmaster
Google Webmaster helps to increase trafficking to your site. It allows you to find out how Google crawls, indexes and ranks your site. It can analyze your search data, showing how many people see your site compared with how many people click on it. Google Webmaster can also send you email alerts to tell you if your site has malware or generates errors.

5. Mediafeedia
Your company can use Mediafeedia for its facebook profile and pages. It allows users to manage multiple accounts at once, receive email notifications from users’ fan pages and allows easy reply through email, as well as the ability to schedule posts with pictures and links. Mediafeedia makes managing multiple facebook accounts easy.

6. Cotweet
Similar to Media Feedia, Cotweet helps you manage your twitter accounts. Although Cotweet can be used for both Facebook and Twitter, you’ll most likely have a different social media strategy for facebook than you will for twitter. Therefore, by using Cotweet for Twitter and Media Feedia for facebook, you are able to easily differentiate between these two platforms to make sure each are reaching your target audience effectively.

SEO Specialists don’t have easy jobs-they have to thoroughly understand search engines and how to get businesses on the first page of a Google Search while at the same time maintaining their ethics. However, with the help of these six tools their job can be just a little bit easier.

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6 tools for SEO Specialists

The Google+ Real Name Conspiracy

googleplus 300x270 The Google+ Real Name ConspiracyThe Google real-name conspiracy is not a conspiracy. Just to clear that up.

The issue at hand- everyone’s freaking out about the brand pages of NGOs, nonprofits and brands being deleted by Google at an alarming rate. Google has cracked down on users utilizing false names or replacing their proper names with the names of their brands or organization. After all of this mass deletion, the debate over whether the real-name policy should exist not only continues to ensue but is exploding and folks are generally assuming the worst.

With regards to brands, it’s very simple: Google is testing out its new brand pages, similar to those brand pages on Facebook, starting with the Ford Motor Company test account.  When the beta complete, brand pages will be open and available to brands, companies, NGOs, and nonprofits. That doesn’t refund the hundreds and thousands of hours that organizations have spent breaking Facebook’s “real individuals and real names only” Terms of Service by creating make-shift brand pages and all that work and then getting summarily executed is not only not cool but is really turning large groups of powerful and influencial altruits against the same Google that has been spending huge time and treasure seducing them in the form of Google for Nonprofits — whoops!

And then there’s the issue of the real name versus false names, pseudonyms, and noms de plume. Google’s Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra compares the decision to “…when a restaurant doesn’t allow people who aren’t wearing shirts to enter.” At first Google went on a rampage of deleting accounts which violated its real-name policy. When the online community responded in outrage, Google drafted a new and improved mechanism to enforce real names. Bloggers equate this decision to being the catalyst for a nicer, more personal community.

My Name Is Me is a project intended to point out that self-chosen names are not necessarily “fake names,” and that self-chosen names are not harmful to the longevity of an online service. User Violet Blue points out how many literary geniuses have used alternative names.

“It is my belief that if writers could not express their work freely within the safety of pseudonyms, we would not have some of the greatest literary works, most groundbreaking writing, or necessary cultural evolutionary leaps through investigative journalism we benefit from today as a society – if it were not for the ability of a writer to use a pseudonym.”

My Name Is Me and bloggers like Dreamwidth‘s Denise Paolucci are opposed to real-name policies because they believe that these policies don’t work. Facebook supposedly has a real-name policy and look how consistently that’s enforced. Don’t worry, they took down Chinese activist Michael Anti‘s page. Don’t worry, they left Zuckerberg‘s dog’s page up. Their abuse staff is probably larger than their programming staff. Which is saying a lot.

One good point is that if a real-name policy is put into effect, it will force users to examine their behavior because they’ll be held more accountable. Devil’s advocate? Real names are not the perfect identifier. Unfortunately, (I know) there’s more than one Jenna Levy in the world.

Paolucci also points out that we’re surfing the Web in troubled times. Real-name policies force the vulnerability of users and leave them available to those who have less than savory intentions. I wish it wasn’t the case, but it is. Marcel Rosenbach at Speigel shares the example of iShareGossip, a German site where students could bash each other. ”Of course, those who unloaded their vicious remarks on the site remained anonymous, while the victims of their abusive language were clearly identified.”

There’s a lot of back and forth here but bottom line, I’m a fan of the real-name policy. Although pseudonyms have been helpful in a variety of outlets, Google+ is not one of them. The circle feature is optimal for filtering who you’re sharing information with. Non profits should hold off creating pages until the platform has matured. Currently they’re violating Google+’s TOS. The terms are clear, real people and real corporations only. This rule benefits everyone. It makes Google+ a more trustworthy platform, easier to navigate and more helpful for business.

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The Google+ Real Name Conspiracy