Recently I have again noticed the “related searches” when I have Googled terms such as “running shoe” or “road bike” (getting ready for triathlon season again!). I noticed that Google is suggesting certain “brands”, “stores”, or “types” of the phrase I am searching. There is not much information about this I can find on the web, so I would like to offer my input as to what is going on here and how to show up in these “related searches” –please chime in if anyone has more input.
This past Sunday, an investigation by the New York Times revealed that JCPenney has been using blackhat tactics to game Google’s search results. According to “The Dirty Little Secrets of Search” by the New York Times, JCPenney has been ranking in the top spot for just about every product they sell. Search Engine Land has a good followup on the subject, but since we’ve been getting so many questions from our customers and partners about it, we figured we’d throw in our two cents.
There are a lot of moral and ethical questions about using blackhat techniques to trick Google’s algorithms into thinking your website is more popular than it is. We don’t use blackhat techniques and we don’t recommend them, but we’re also not your moral compass, so we want to focus on one thing: did it work? Read On
There have been a fair number of posts lately floating around talking about how Google can’t innovate or how they are missing a cohesive product strategy. There’s a lot of worry that Google is just too big to innovate quickly and it’s causing some Googlers to jump ship to Facebook.
Here’s the thing, though: Google doesn’t have an innovation problem. They’ve created an environment where products roll out every day and amaze everyone. Take just this week. It’s only Wednesday and Google has already done tons of great stuff. Read On
Google Hotpot just launched yesterday and I got to tell you, it’s pretty cool. You can very quickly rate all your favorite restaurants and businesses. Even better, you can friend all your Google contacts and then compete to see who rates the most businsses. If you have an Android phone with location based services enabled it even suggests places you’ve already been.
But seriously, Hotpot? Here are 5 better names for Google’s latest project, Hotpot. Read On
This week, Google announced some new changes to improve local search and promote Maps listings. Well, that sits just perfectly with us. Here at OrangeSoda, we’ve been offering organic search optimization for four years and local optimization for nearly two years. Google Places marks an important change that will bring those two things together and—just in time—we’re announcing CitrusBlast, the best of both worlds. Read On
The Google Instant feature has been around since late August, but near the beginning of this month, a new element has emerged along with it: the blue arrow. It has already been written about by other people, so I don’t want to focus on the novelty or functionality, but rather on how this can affect the way people search.
In case you haven’t read about the blue arrow yet, here is a quick rundown:
For the past few years there have been huge advances in moving the internet from your desktop to your pocket. Right now there is a big battle to dominate the mobile space–the hottest players are Google and Apple. This battle ensures a bright future for mobile advertising and Apple, Inc. wants a piece of the pie. On July 1st, Apple will bring a new kind of advertising exclusively to their devices. They call them iAds.
You might be wondering why Apple would want to enter the mobile advertising business. Well, it turns out that Apple has a ginormous portion of the mobile smartphone market and it wants to leverage that market share to make tons of money.
Read On
Google recently announced a significant change to their search index nicknamed “Caffeine.” The idea of Caffeine was introduced to the world about 10 months ago and there has been no shortage of speculation and concern from the search marketing world since then. Read On
An awesome announcement today from the fellas at Topeka has just broken. You can now store ANYTHING in Google docs! What does that mean for the layman? Here are some ideas to get your cogs going:
There are hundreds of uses, but you have to ask yourself, “What’s the catch?”
This sort of service doesn’t come cheap. Topeka is committing highway robbery with this service, charging a whopping $.10 per kilogram.
If you uploaded everything in your home, you’d likely end up spending close to $30. Seriously, who has $30 in this economy?
Topekans Topekanites, if you’re reading this, please price your service for the masses! I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the convenience of having everything I own at my fingertips whenever I’m online is not worth a one-time payment of $30.
I guess this is one more technology that will be reserved for the super rich. Topeka – you’ve let me down.
It looks like Google is rolling testing out a new layout for their search page. This one includes easier navigation on a persistent sidebar. The sidebar features quick links to different Google search engines. As of this writing there are six 10 sections with an optional more button. Read On
