So… a lot of people are asking lately, can Facebook unseat Google in search. At first, I laughed and laughed and laughed. And then I realized it was actually possible. Here are my reasons:
Google Analytics Not Provided vs Not Set Data
Web marketers that are trying to determine how visitors are reaching their site have an ever-increasing challenge. As we reported a year ago, Google has stopped passing the keyword data that is associated with the web search by visitors that are logged into their Google accounts when they perform a search. This results in the keyword data being lumped into a category called Not Provided.
Google Plus Update
Google Plus has had pretty slow uptake for the most part. We are there every day posting for ourselves and our clients and it is a very different place than Facebook to be sure. Facebook grew out of friends and families wanting to connect up so they could stay in touch more regularly. It cut through age and gender “issues” like butter. Google was late to the party as they had some fits and starts with the social world before settling into Plus. But Google may never really challenge Facebook. It’s your writers opinion that the LinkedIn network may be closer to where G+ is headed. If it does, it is going there on steroids.
Teens Aren’t Buying It
We have been reading, with interest, lately, about teens abandoning Facebook for other social media networks. Apparently, when Mom friends you, the place just isn’t cool anymore. Nor is it, when Fig Newtons want to know, what’s up!
This must be devastating for marketers looking to tap into that market. But for us and the majority of our clients, it’s quite all right! The market for our clients is adults who have money to spend. Our clients are the proverbial “needle in the haystack.” Every fan and follower gained could be our next customer, or at the very least, a new voice extolling our virtues!
Just Call It Marketing!
We have been providing internet marketing services since 1996, also known as the “dawn of time.” In the fifteen, plus years since then, someone in the industry regularly proclaims that “SEO is dead.” Every time there is a twist or a turn in the Google road, pundits tell us it’s the beginning of the end.
SEO is a funny term to begin with. But it has stuck as the acronym of the search engine optimization industry since way back when. So, I’m jumping in now and stating that SEO is in fact, dead. It actually died several years ago, when the practice of “optimizing” web sites required that other web sites call your web site an important resource. When the search algorithm calculates somewhere around 50/50 what you said on your page and what others said about you on their pages, the game changed entirely. This change happened several years ago. As soon as the herd figured out how to game it, the hammer came down hard in the form of a cute, foreign-named bear called Panda.
Google Standout Tag
Google has created a new attribute for website publishers called the Standout Tag. The Standout tag allows publishers to designate content as featured alerting Google that the content may be suitable for inclusion in Google News. The tag is placed in the HTML header of your webpage, article, or blog post.
To implement this tag simply insert the following HTML attribute into your page.
<link rel=”standout” href=”http://www.example.com/article-or-blog-post.html” />
A rel attribute defines the relationship between the current document and the linked document. These attributes are not used by web browsers, only search engines, to provide more information about the document or link.
To prevent spammers from overusing this tag Google has warned that [Read more...]