Tag: Google

Events Can Help Your Google Rankings

You did it. You just pulled off the best event you’ve ever had. There was a ton of buzz in the room, everyone left happy, and now you wish you could share your success with the world. If only there was a way …

Well there is, and it’s simple! You can ask your attendees to give your business and/or event an online review.

It’s becoming more and more evident that online reviews are playing an increasing factor in search results. The art of getting your business to the top of a Google search is known as SEO (search engine optimization). The benefits of SEO are pretty simple: When you get to the top of a search engine result page (also known as a SERP), it means more eyeballs on your brand, which leads to more business. [Read more...]

Google and Twitter Get in a Catfight, and This Week’s Other Hot Stories

What a week. Just as everyone was finally settled back from their holiday time off, Google went and woke people up when it announced it’d be integrating its struggling social network, Google+, more actively into its search engine. Not surprisingly, this sent a ripple through the social media world. Suffice it to say, some folks (particularly those at Twitter) were less than pleased, and a war of words began.

But not everyone was fighting. (Phew!) Love was in the air elsewhere as more proof was revealed that social media and mobile go together, and two big players in the email space came together.

Read on to learn about these stories and more in our weekly news roundup. [Read more...]

Google Blurs the Lines Between Social and Search

Guest blog post by Steve Abramowitz, senior digital marketing manager

If you haven’t already heard, this week, Google announced plans to incorporate results from its upstart social network, Google+, into search results.

Why is Google making this move, and what impact will it have on users — and most importantly, why should small businesses and organizations take notice?

How does it work?

In Google’s ongoing quest to personalize search results for higher relevancy, it will soon be folding in personal social content into your search results. In addition, Google’s algorithm will now rely more on social signals (specifically, +1′s) to influence how and where websites, blogs, photos, videos, and other digital assets rank in search results. For example, check out this screen shot:

When you perform a search on Google, such as the one above, if you’re signed into a Google+ account, then you’ll see the standard universal search results you’re accustomed to and ones from your Google+ account (such as photos and videos). The personal results will be identified by an icon resembling a person’s head. Only you will see your own personalized search results, but content you’ve shared within your Google Circles could populate in other people’s results. You can also opt out of having your shared content included in search results. [Read more...]

A Lawsuit, Google+, and Social Campaigns Walk Into a Bar, and Other Hot Topics

A varied list of stories this week offered stats on big increases in the use of email marketing this past holiday season, new “users” added to Google+, and the long-term boost to the metrics of social campaigns.

Oh, and someone is getting sued over his 17,000 Twitter followers. Just another week in social media!

Check out our picks for the week’s top stories. [Read more...]

Step Away from the Mobile Phone, and Other Hot Topics

This week in the round up, word of mouth still rules the day, a manufacturer of contact lenses gets its wrist slapped, more changes to Facebook and Google, and why you need to stop sleeping with your mobile phone. [Read more...]

It’s Time to Go Mobile, and Other Hot Topics

Halloween wasn’t the only thing people were buzzing about this week.

Google garnered attention for two reasons: It finally gave access to Google+ business pages — but only to some of its users — and made some significant changes to its search algorithm.

Elsewhere, a new study released by Nielsen showed that a majority of U.S. consumers under the age of 45 carry a smartphone.

What do these and other hot topics mean for marketers like you? Read on to learn our take on some of the week’s big stories. [Read more...]

The iPhone 4S Is Here, and Other Hot Topics

What were the hot stories this week in the marketing world?

Well, while people waited to pick up their brand-new iPhones, they were learning about new enhancements to LinkedIn and Google that could affect their efforts to reach and communicate with customers, clients, supporters, and prospects.

Check out this roundup of the week’s big news to learn about these developments, new stats that may encourage you to take your marketing on the go, and more. [Read more...]

Long Live Email, and Other Hot Topics

What marketing news items deserve your attention this week?

For starters we found more proof that email marketing is alive and kicking, there’s a new study that shows chain restaurants may have received a death blow from Yelp, and more marketers are finally coming around to the fact there’s something to this social media stuff.

Take a closer look at this week’s hot topics below. [Read more...]