Blogger Archive

By Matt Kluemper
There were quite a few updates in search in the past month – especially with Google. If it seems like I write about Google a lot, well, I do! But I guess there’s a reason for that, which brings me to some of the ever-changing search updates.

According to a HitWise study, Google search market share increased to nearly 66 percent of all searches in January. This just goes to show that Google is going nowhere, and – with updates to some of the Universal Search items, they are getting better. Yahoo! (21 percent) and MSN (7 percent) are still coming up short by a large margin.

Of course, Microsoft put the offer on the table to purchase Yahoo! (which would combine them into a 30 percent market share) earlier this year, but was not able to get the deal done. I highly doubt this is the last we’ll hear of a Yahoo! buyout, however…

Google also rolled out a cool edition to their Google Maps feature with the ‘street view’ – very neat (Feel free to mess around with the street view of PlattForm below!).

View Larger Map

Apparently they pay people to drive around and take pictures - Sounds like fun to me!

But it wasn’t all about Google – Ask.com also had some updates – just not as fun as Google’s. Besides laying off 8 percent of their staff, it looks like they are going to change their search strategy to “focus to better answering search queries posed as questions.” (Sounds familiar, right AskJeeves?)

Keep tabs on all of the search updates for the rest of the year – 2008 is sure to be a good one! I know there’s been way more updates in the past two months – have you seen any updates that sparked your interest?

By Matt Kluemper
A little over a year ago, Google made a deal with the Associated Press that allowed them to index its articles, making it possible for the powerful search engine to have a presence in history’s number one informer: the news.

Google takes a traditional news medium and strays from typical news conformity, as there are no news editors placing the news stories. Google sticks with what it is known for, having a computer-based algorithm decide how often and where a story will appear within Google News.

What does this mean for anyone that wants to have an online presence? News isn’t dying, but it is changing, and you need to pay attention to it. They are indexing news stories and articles from different sources all over the world, whether it is the LA Times, CNN, Reuters or ABC News.

Here are the recent results for Joe Torre. The number 1, 2, and 3 results are all news stories:

Google News has even jumped on board of the Facebook application creation craze, creating an application that allows users to constantly be connected to Google News while on Facebook.

What does all of this mean? Anyone involved in any type of marketing or public relations needs to have an optimized online news presence. Many companies will create press releases for a number of different reasons, but fail to even think of getting them into the online atmosphere to increase the marketability of their company.

This is becoming a necessity.

Press releases, news videos and articles should be placed not only on your web site, but using different press-release sites, as well. Some of the sites, such as PRWeb, can even syndicate that press release to other web sites and news organizations (such as the Associated Press, which just so happens to have a deal with Google).

How do you implement traditional news techniques into new technology? Do you have an online news presence?

by Matt Kluemper
The Online Search market is the epitome of the saying “stay ahead of the game.” In the recent past, Google has been the trend setter - coming out with personalized search, blog search, map and image search, even a 1-800 number and text messaging service (Goog 411 ) to stay one step (or more) ahead of its competitors.

And Google is at it again. This time, the impact is going to shake the foundation of the search market, and it is already an extremely popular topic amongst everyone who is anyone involved in Search Engine Marketing, including the SEO Team at PlattForm.

The keyword?
Universal Search.

Behind the scenes, Google has been working endlessly to continue their domination of the search engine market. Sometime within the next few months (roughly November), Google plans to exclusively implement their bright and shiny “Universal Search” feature. Google’s Universal Search includes many different facets of search technology rolled into one search engine results page.

You may have already seen Universal Search in some of the Google search results. Videos, maps, images and even news stories have been showing up randomly in the Google search results since about May of 2007.

For example, when searching for olathe, KS, a map from Google Local of Olathe, Kansas comes up as the first result:

Or, when searching for snl iphone, a Saturday Night Live Weekend Update skit on YouTube (which happens to be owned by Google) shows up in the search results:

Are these better results? Google thinks so, and will be rolling it out very soon.

Whether it makes the search results better or not, Universal Search is going to have an impact on the way everyone in Search Engine Marketing strives for successful results.

The PlattForm SEO Team is here to explain the basis of the major sections and how Universal Search will impact different businesses in the search results, because – like Google – we like to stay at least one step ahead.

Over the next month, the SEO Team is going to explain the most important sections of Google’s Universal Search. Expect the following topics about Universal Search:

Part 2: Video and Universal Search
Part 3: Maps and Universal Search
Part 4: Images and Universal Search
Part 5: Products, Books and Universal Search
Part 6: News, Google Scholar and Universal Search

So, tune back in soon to learn more details about the impact of Video in Universal Search. Because before long, Universal Search will happen to you…

by Matt Kluemper
If it seems like Google is taking over the world, well, that is because it is well on its way.

Search and Google – now a worldwide powerhouse – is evolving into the telephone, providing users with search results even if they are miles away from a computer.

Can’t find the movie theater? Craving late-night pizza? Who ya gonna call? Call 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411 for you lazy folks). This new service with Google is only in the experimental phases, but it looks like it could be propelled into everyday use for confused travelers and more.

It’s pretty simple – all you do is call the number, tell the nice voice recording on the phone what city and state you are looking for, then the name of the business. Can’t remember the name of the business? All you have to do is tell the recording what type of establishment you are looking for.

Example of a simulated phone call I had with Google on Sunday:
Matt: [Dials number] Hi, Google!
Google: Please say your city and state.
Matt: Olathe, Kansas.
Google: OlAAAthe, Kansas. Please say the name of the business or category of the business you are looking for.
Matt: Movies.
Google: [Subtle noises that sound like dial-up Internet – eee errrr kssh gong gong] Top search result for movies in Olathe, Kansas.

Google proceeded to tell me the top eight search results for movies in Olathe, Kansas. Once I decided on the closest movie theater to me, Google even directly connected me to the theater so I could get the movie time for Transformers! (I know, that movie is soo last week). The point is, I didn’t even have to get up to get to my computer to find out where the movie was – I just called them.

Too socially inept to talk to even a voice recording? Well, Google has that covered, too. Just text Google what you want. This is a little more difficult (involves remembering commands like “map 500 n. rogers rd olathe ks” to get a map of PlattForm’s location), and requires a cheat sheet provided by Google.

However, in a matter of seconds, you can get the map to the movie theater, pizza place or anywhere else that floats your boat. (You can get lakes, too.