Weekly Search Round Up In a week that has been dominated by the widespread controversy in the release of Google, Plus Your World, we have also seen project codenamed Megasitelinks revealed, as well as December web figures that highlight the importance of mobile and a growing sales figures YoY… Hitwise December Released – Google & YouTube Growth 11 JAN 2011 – Google continue to dominate in December increasing their share to 91.75%, as 43% of all site visits came from search in 2011. YouTube meanwhile have seen a considerable 45% growth in website visits YoY with 606m visits in December 2011 compared to just 417m in December 2010. econsultancy.com/us/blog/8655-youtube-accounts-for-25-of-visits-to-social-sites-indecember POV: While Google’s dominance is no longer a surprise as the primary search engine by UK based users, the growth YouTube should be seen as an opportunity for brand’s to gain more exposure and attract more customers as more and more time is being spent on this platform. In a recent interview this week at CES 2012, Sir Martin Sorrel highlighted the need to push digital between 25-30% of budgets into digital and the great potential mobile will play in the future as users currently spend upto 7% of their time on mobile in one form or another – Kevin Ting Mobile Search Explosion 11 JAN 2011 – Reports from Marin Software and IgnitionOne highlight the growing trend of mobile search with 269% YoY ad spend growth and 317% impression increases, with significantly higher CTRs… searchengineland.com/reports-mobile-search-impressions-explode-ctrs-beat-pc-107582 A Reason to Invest In Display 11 JAN 2011 – Online display advertising is set enter a new era as real time bidding, dramatically changing the way display is purchased with a more precise targeting, reach an transparency being made available… searchengineland.com/the-new-era-of-display-5-reasons-search-marketers-should-care106937 E-Commerce at Christmas 2011 06 JAN 2011 – Christmas 2011 was a great year for online retailers with December sales up 30% YoY with Boxing Day being the busiest ever day for online sales according to Experian Hitwise data… econsultancy.com/uk/blog/8615-christmas-2011-e-commerce-stats-round-up POV: Important figures for search from these Christmas e-commerce statistical release concern the mobile and tablet sectors, where it is claimed 6.8M iOS and android devices were activated on Christmas Day alone. This is a substantial increase in mobile uptake compared to just 2.5M on the same day in 2010. It emphasises the urgency which Brands should be creating and optimising specific campaigns for tablet and mobile, as 2012 looks set to continue the mobile revolution where 2011 left off.
Retailers such as Tesco and Debenhams are already heavily involved in utilising mobile in marketing strategies with augmented reality and location based targeting to improve consumer experience. Google - Megasitelinks Arrive 05 JAN 2011 – In the latest monthly recap of Google developments, they have included an interesting new project codenamed “Megasitelinks” which “may show sitelinks specific to your metropolitan region, which you can control with your location settings”… insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/01/30-search-quality-highlights-with.html POV: Google have made a number of improvements to their sitelinks in the past year and this project is just another indication of their commitment to utilise location targeting in their search results. An emphasis on location targeting will become even more important this year with mobile and tablet usage expected to continue growing. The Year of the Panda In February 2011 Google released their first Panda update (named after the engineer Navneet Panda) which documented changes to their search results ranking algorithm. The Panda algorithm aimed to penalise low quality sites with a large amount of advertising. Since then there have been numerous updates on how Panda was affecting the search results in Google. farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6648794343_6df46ac469_o.jpg POV: This exciting infographic outlines exactly how the Panda update rolled out throughout 2011. The intricacy of the way in which it works is mainly thanks to interaction with humans rather than computers, at one point Google publicly requested data points to help locate scrapers. Additionally rankings improved for news websites and social networking sites. – Hannah Struve
Google have just announced the launch of a deeper integration of Google+ with their search results that will further personalise search engine results pages. Google will harvest resources from user‟s Google+ account and stored personal data to generate personal search results, more tailored and specific to what Google deems a user would like to see. Although it is not the 1st time social in search has been attempted (Google integrated social in search results with Twitter while Microsoft have created a partnership with Facebook), neither have done it to same level by producing privately shared content from Google+ into search. googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/search-plus-your-world.html
“The emergence of a social search platform that seamlessly integrates personal social data within search result pages is not a surprising development, but such integration will no doubt raise a few eyebrows and create a lot of stir within the search world. It does not, as Google state, require a heavy engagement with Google+ to function as it will draw from personal information stored on profiles, as well as activity and connections developed on Google+. In many people’s eyes it will be deemed as a searcher’s dream, with access to not only published public results but also photos and posts from a user’s social network. By also placing Google+ profiles into search it will allow the user to interact with individuals and communities that relate to that specific search query like never before. Google have emphasised a high focus on the security they place on personal data by ensuring SSL encryption is set as default for signed-in users, while also giving users full control and transparency over what is shared in search and how it is viewed. Competitors such as Twitter & Facebook will definitely have a lot to say about privacy issues related to the opt-out of personalised search results but the lack of an opt out of having your information shared through others search results available.– Kevin Ting
“These changes are also likely to have a knock-on effect across other aspects of Google‟s business channels. The presence of the Your World results at the top of the page is likely to shake things up in the SEM arena. SEO will undoubtedly be affected, with organic results inevitably being pushed towards or even below the fold. On the flip-side, brands with low ranking in natural search could leap-frog their competitors by using a good Google+ Page to get above the fold of Page 1..... These changes are likely to shift toward brands establishing a presence on Google+ that is relevant and useful to their customers is now stronger than ever. This shift will not be limited to simply having a Google+ presence, but will push brands towards creating relevant and up to date content such as articles, reviews, videos and photos; the Google strategy is no longer just an SEM strategy, but will need to be a holistic approach to the growing, personalised ecosystem Google has created. As well as uniting your SEO and PPC plans, it is now crucial to bring your „Social‟ Google+ plans into the mix to ensure that when people search you are not pushed off the page.” – Chris Camacho “Google want to encourage people to use Google Plus in order for them to gain market share within the social media market. They also want to improve quality of results provided through personalization. This is backed by a recent study by Neilson shows that whilst 42% of people trust search engine results, 90% trust recommendations from friends. Google have already rolled this out and signed in users will start seeing different results appearing over the coming days which will include a combination of web results and friends recommendations. Whilst it seems that Google think they are giving users what they want, they have come under fire already for a number of reasons. People are worried about the privacy issues involved and Google unwillingly sharing more than people intended, even if it is to friends. Naturally, it’s not all about the users - Google also want to push their own social media platform (as well as other Google products) which they have been trying to do since its launch and have been called out on this, claiming this is unfair as they are trying to get rid of their competitors like Facebook and Twitter. For the time being, it will take a lot more than just this to gain that share of users, but we could see an increase in Google Plus activity due to this roll out. It's hard to say at the moment what impact this will have on SEO; it depends how Google balance out the weighting of social:links but it will definitely cause an impact and continues to show the importance of integrating your SEO and Social media campaigns. – Jimisha Lakhani
Further Reactions Google Plus Your World - Potential FTC Complaint Primed 11 JAN 2011 – EPIC, Electronic Privacy Information Center are reportedly ready to make a formal FTC complaint against Google based primarily on the basis user cannot opt out of having their information found through Google search… www.webpronews.com/google-search-plus-your-world-may-draw-ftc-complaint-2012-01 Google Plus Your World - Bad Day for the Internet? 11 JAN 2011 – Twitter respond to recent Google‟s Search Plus Your World announcement by claiming it is “bad” for web users and will make it harder for users to find real time information… searchenginewatch.com/article/2136873/Twitter-Google-Search-Plus-Your-World-Bad-forWeb-Users Google Plus Your World – High Time to Prioritise Social? 11 JAN 2011 – These changes represent a challenge for Brands and agency as they will require a greater knowledge and skill set to integrate Google+ and social networking into the day to day SEO jobs, to focus on developing a deeper presence within personalised search results… www.nma.co.uk/news/googles-latest-social-media-move-is-a-wake-up-call-sayagencies/3033202.article Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles" TED Talks – An interesting talk about the potential perils that lie before us in the wake of recent Google update. This may trap us in a „filter bubble‟ with a lack of access to new information and material, rather than improving the search experience, it will narrow it even further... www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html
Sources www.stateofsearch.com insidesearch.blogspot.com searchenginewatch.com searchengineland.com googleblog.blogspot.com www.webpronews.com www.nma.co.uk econsultancy.com www.ted.com farm8.staticflickr.com
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Follow Us on Twitter @EmergingSpaces @SMGSearchUK @SearchLately Publisher Kevin Ting Contributors Chris Camacho Hannah Struve Jimisha Lakhani