New YouTube layout

YouTube rolled out their snazzy new layout last week. It’s just another in the long line of Google owned assets that have had a makeover, but we think it looks great.

More info

Link Spike Case Study

SEOWizz have provided a great case study on the affect link spikes have on rankings. It shows the real issue that rented links can cause and that there’s no substitute for real, manually or organically built links.

More info

E-commerce Logged In Statistic

There have been plenty of statistics and rumours about the effects banded around since Google have stopped providing data for signed in users, however TechCrunch have posted some shocking statistics from some recent Sociable Labs research.

More info

YouTube Analytics Launched

YouTube has at last launched Analytics for YouTube. As well as all the stuff you’d expect to see (overview, statistics on how people are consuming your video) it also provides insight into building and retaining audiences with a view to making money from your videos.

More info

Click-Through Rate Based on Description

Richard Baxter posted some great results from some recent research into how descriptions affect CTR, along with recommendations based on his findings. It’s interesting to see descriptions affecting CTR based on the objective of the page i.e. e-commerce or information.

More info

Old Spice Christmas Comeback

He’s back. Everybody’s favourite viral campaign has made a Christmas comeback (just in time to get some Old Spice in your stockings).

Gowalla Bought By Facebook

After a very lacklustre start to Facebook Places, Facebook has bitten the bullet and bought a location-sharing service that actually works. Gowalla will cease to be as a standalone service in January. It will be very interesting to see how this one works out.

More info

#NewTwitter

Twitter had a huge update last week with a new layout consisting of Home, Connect, Discover and Me. It also includes a new sleek design, all of which seems to have been received well by the majority of Twitter users.

More info

Introducing Google Currents

Google has released their own news aggregator app for iOS and Android devices – Google Currents.

More info

Brand Journalism

E-consultancy has posted a great article on the troubles of brand journalism. Well worth a read.

More info

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Twitter Activity Stream

Twitter has added activity stream to its homepage. This allows users to see who the people you are following have started to follow. Seemingly an attempt to up engagement rates, it remains to be seen if this is a feature that is used by the majority of Twitter users. Given the amount of users using 3rd party apps, I personally don’t think it will be much of a success.

More info

Qantas the Latest Global Company to get Social Media Wrong

As you may have seen, Qantas felt the wrath of Twitter last week when they ran a competition to win the grand prize of… pyjamas (among a few other lacklustre prizes). #QantasLuxury quickly became the source of ridicule and as well as a host of sarcastic tweets, a video was produced ridiculing the competition.

More info

Google Floor Plan

Google have announced yet another feature to their ever growing armoury of tools and apps. This time it’s an add on to Maps. Floor plans can now be added to buildings to help customers navigate their way internally as well as externally using Google Maps. Here’s how:

Bing Bans Holiday Websites

Bing had its very own clear out last week, getting rid of thin websites, with seemingly a focus on holiday deal websites.

More info

Spotify Opens Up 3rd Party Apps… At Last!

As Spotify continue to grow and clearly aims for global domination, a new chapter has be written – developers can now create 3rd party apps using the Spotify API.

More info

Are Google Trying to Kill Long-Tail?

One of the most interesting infographics that we’ve seen in a while; SEO Book have built an infographic detailing all the things that Google have done in recent times to reduce the amount of long-tail searches done by users.

More info

MIT Develop Traffic Light Algorithm

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have just finished a study that predicts whether a car is going to run a red light up to 2 seconds before it happens.

More info

The post SEO Weekly Round-Up #15 appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Does Google consider SEO to be spam?

Matt Cutt’s breaks it down for us in his video:
“SEO stands for Search engine optimisation and essentially just means trying to make sure your webpages are well represented within search engines”.

And consider the honest to goodness SEO measures (as Cutts does here) taken by righteous and idealistic optimisers – such as:
1. Making sure your pages are ‘crawlable’, or in other words, accessible to SEs.
2. Including the right search terms.
3. Improving usability through good design and internal linking structure.
One Youtube commenter had this to say:

And Matt’s final thoughts….
“There are many, many valid ways in which people can make the world better with SEO”
So the answer is no then. Cheers Matt.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS75vhGO-kk

Google real-time analytics beta:

A new addition to Google Analytics (beta) will allow you to see real-time traffic data for your site. These new metrics include number of users on your site right now, which pages they are reading and referrals. The behaviour of potential customers coming at you live. Knowledge like this could be put to good marketing use.

Source: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/09/whats-happening-on-your-site-right-now.html

Useful Takeaways from Day 1 of the SearchLove 2011 conference:

Joost de Valk, Tom Critchlow and Rand Fishkin are just a handful of names from the list of SEO aristocracy who gave speeches at the conference.

Here are some of the best bits:
http://www.koozai.com/blog/events/135-takeaways-from-searchlove-day-1-searchlove/

Adwords ceases to support Internet Explorer 6 and introduces ‘bid-per-call’:

This is a notice to Google Adwords users who browse with IE6. Get yourself a new version by the end of the year.
In addition – Adwords is rolling out a phone call bidding scheme for its users.
Sources: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/10/retiring-support-for-internet-explorer_27.html and http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/10/introducing-bid-per-call-in-adwords.html

Broken link checker plugin for WordPress:

This new WordPress plugin will check all of the content on your site for broken links, redirects and missing images. It will then notify you on your dashboard or by email.
Site: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/broken-link-checker/

Google Maps allows you to see inside a shop!

Now, through the power Google, we can look inside a shop whilst exploring a Google map. The next generation of Street View. It just gets better and better.
I managed to get this far inside the comic store –

That shelf at the back looks a bit overloaded to me.

Site: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.742568,-117.820365&spn=0.004853,0.013561&sll=33.742814,-117.816672&layer=c&cid=7704649002191693046&panoid=qHPoNvOZOYBaFsE0vGCa5A&cbp=13,127.37,,0,11.85&gl=us&hq=comic+book+store+orange+county&t=h&vpsrc=0&cbll=33.742848,-117.816622&z=17

Insights into Google’s rating guidelines:

Dr. (SEOmoz) Pete lays down a few snippets of the recently leaked Google guidelines document; for those of you who missed it.
Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/16-insights-into-googles-rating-guidelines

And finally…

Many of you will have heard or seen ‘Take this Lollipop’. No more needs to be said – just go to the link here if you haven’t already and then check out this NY Times review (in that order).
Site: http://www.takethislollipop.com/

* A reference to the film – ‘Withnail and I‘

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‘Absolut Life’ Saver:

The purveyor of fine Swedish vodka, Absolut has come up with a startling drink driving awareness application for Facebook named ‘Absolut Life’ (not yet released).  The app will use data from your Facebook profile to then present you with images of your life ‘flashing before your eyes’.  Do check out the video in the link below.

Source: http://vimeo.com/30458663

‘Why Content for SEO?’ Infographic:

This infographic will remind you of the importance of applying high quality content in your SEO campaigns.  Matt Cutts says so, Duane Forrester says so and we all know this to be true, yet we so easily get bogged down with other things.  Sure enough, content backed by sound research and placed correctly with the right keywords to bolster it takes time; but the value it brings!

Website: http://www.brafton.com/blog/introducing-braftons-infographic-why-content-for-seo

New Gmail User Interface (sneak peek):

When Google accidentally posted a video to their YouTube channel showing the brand new look for Gmail, many were treated to a cheeky glimpse of the UI yet to come.  Buttons have been changed from text to little images (Android Honeycomb style) and the conversation view now resembles that of Facebook.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/20/gmail-gives-an-accidental-peek-at-its-upcoming-redesign/

MC Hammer announces his new search engine:

Who would have thunk it? Mr Hammer has been out there promoting his pre-beta phased search engine named WireDoo.  Apparently, WireDoo will serve as a provider of more direct information; a move away from Google’s use of contextual elements when yielding search results. Exciting eh?  I quote a good friend:

“I hope Hammer don’t hurt ‘em. I wonder if his magic talking shoes will help walk me through my search. Though it’s nice to know that Hammer does what he want to do, be who he want to be.”

Quote: Jim Morrow – Risk and Consequence

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/mc-hammer-is-starting-his-own-search-engine/2011/10/20/gIQA3ciH0L_blog.html

Nothing says you care more than a tin of Heinz soup:

For £1.99 you can order a personalised tin of Heinz cream of tomato (or chicken) to be delivered to the door of your poorly friend.  Your ‘Get Well Soon’ message adorned upon the tin will no doubt put a smile on the face of your ailing chum.  Takes 3-4 days for delivery, however, so they might already have recovered by the time it arrives.

Website: http://mashable.com/2011/10/20/heinz-get-well-soon-facebook-soup/

Google Rail View:

Google street car moves to the rail tracks and down as yet untravelled (by Google) trails on snowmobiles.  Soon we will be able to look at pictures of beautiful scenery from the Alps through Street View.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/10/20/know-the-google-street-view-car-say-hello-to-the-street-view-train-video/

That’s it for a short spell, readers.  Do come back soon for more cyber news and maybe a few views.

* OK, not quite ‘kicking off’.

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Facebook iPad App… At Last

Last week saw the release of the official Facebook iPad app. After all of the initial deliberation on whether or not Facebook were ever going to actually build an official app, followed by the long, drawn out wait in building and publishing the app itself; it was finally released last week.

YouTube Now Lets You Rent Movies

It was only a matter of time, but YouTube have at last started to offer film rentals as part of their repertoire. Users can now sign in using their Google accounts and pay around £3.49 to stream new releases.

Google+: Traffic Argument

As with any hugely anticipated release, Google+ has been under heavy scrutiny with people trying to determine either way if it has been a success thus far. Notably, Forbes and the Daily Mail both published a story stating that Google+’s traffic has fallen by some 60% since its release. This prompted a war of words with technology writer Mike Elgan who was quick to point out that to the contrary, traffic for the month is up 480%.

Google Pay Their Respects To Steve Jobs

Obviously the biggest news recently has been the passing of Steve Jobs. As many paid tribute to the man that gave so much to the digital and creative industries, Google paid their respects in their own special way by offering the most powerful link they’ve ever given – A direct link from Google.com to Apple’s homepage (see above).

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Raven Blog – Forecasting Traffic by Keyword Rank:

Do you ever feel buried under a mountain of metrics? Are you grabbing data here, there and everywhere in an attempt to wow clients that, most likely, do not appreciate the value of a beautiful looking bounce rate pie chart? And who can blame them?
The gumption-filled SEO team at Raven have come up with a useful approach to compiling reports which cuts out all but the ‘actionable analytics’ needed to expediently and efficiently run an online marketing campaign. Focusing on these three metrics: traffic, ranking and conversions – is sticking right to the point of a worthwhile SEO campaign. This is especially useful, or indeed, absolutely necessary for serving clients with smaller budgets or other time constraints.

Source: http://raventools.com/blog/how-to-forecast-traffic-by-keyword-rank/

And speaking of pie charts…..

Raven have done it again with an interesting post on how to rustle up an accessible backlink data chart. Charts and diagrams are created to enable the client (and us) to visualise certain sets of data. Without them we would have to resort to lengthy, continuous prose on the poor state of some client or others backlink profile. Raven’s backlink explorer tool allows you to classify backlinks by anchor text type (for example) which you can fashion into a useful and legible pie chart for use in the quest to prove the value, if not necessity, of SEO to your customer.

Source: http://raventools.com/blog/how-to-create-an-easy-to-understand-pie-chart-from-backlink-data/

Google’s rolling out changes to PPC quality score:

The new Google AdWords algorithm goes global this week which means quality scoring will change to factor landing page quality. Giving more weight to ads with landing pages most relevant to the search query will enhance the user’s experience as well as enabling PPC enjoyers to rank better for lower cost-per-click bids.

Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-tweaks-adwords-to-give-landing-page-quality-more-weight-95488

Google launches “trusted stores” program: 

Google’s new consumer championing scheme has launched this week and goes by the name of Google Trusted Stores.

Designed as an aid to online shoppers; reliable ecommerce sites with a history of timely shipping and good customer service will be furnished with a Trusted Stores badge for their site. Not only does this scheme highlight the trustworthiness of certain honoured vendors -  it offers protection against errors in billing, unfair or non-existent returns policy and slow shipping.

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2114053/Google-Trusted-Stores-Launches-with-Etailer-Grades-Free-Purchase-Protection

Export your social data:

With this tool you can export your tweets or other social media data.

It comes with the following claim: “Free your data! Sometimes social networks can go too far. Overzealous privacy policies and poorly thought out redesigns abound! You have an exit strategy!”

Not bad if you want to see what your Facebook status was from 2007 but it will definitely not liberate your data from the clutches of Mark Zuckerberg.

Website: http://export.synack.me/

Daily Mail publishes pre-written “guilty” story for Amanda Knox:

A massive gaff from the Daily Mail who were all too keen to be the first getting news of Amanda Knox’s guilty verdict out there – they published:

“Amanda Knox looked stunned this evening after she dramatically lost her prison appeal against her murder conviction…”

Over-efficiency has not paid off this time for the newspaper as Knox was found not guilty of murder (on appeal) but guilty of slander. No doubt as soon as the reporter heard the judge say ‘guilty’ – he or she hit the publish button.

Source: http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/daily-mail-guuilt/

Linkstant – get notified when your site gets a new backlink:

Brought to us by Tom Critchlow and Rob Ousbey  – the Linkstant code, when placed on your site – will notify you as soon as your sites get any new backlinks. The advantage to using this code is the immediacy of getting live backlink information. This could have many useful applications from motivating your team of link builders  – or in running a reputation management project, as another aid in keeping an eye on reviews or other mentions (provided the critic has put a link to your site in there).  Indexing and crawling can take months, analytics can take several days. However, Linkstant is (probably almost) instant.

Website:  http://www.linkstant.com/

So that was the week that was. Happy online marketing and tune in again right soon for more SEO news, digital reviews and hi-tech tomfoolery.

The post SEO Weekly Round-Up #10 appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Google removes non-profits grants for churches

As you may or may not know, non-profit organisations are given a grant from Google to help with advertising costs. These organisations are given a PPC budget of £10k rising to £40k if they continually max out that budget. This provides a welcome boost of advertising spend for those that qualify, however, that list has just been cut with the removal of churches and religious groups. More info.

Windows 8 Unveiled

There have been various snippets released about Windows 8 over the last few months, but it had its grand unveiling last week. As those who had already seen the various snippets will know, it is optimised for tablets and touch-screen computers. It looks beautiful but many of us at PushON have already got concerns with how well it will operate on an ordinary desktop. We will just have to wait and see as more information is released, but for now, here’s an in depth look at the Windows 8 unveiling.

Google release flight search

Google are continuing to bring out tools that allow people to do most of their searching and shopping through Google with the release of flight search. Only available in the US at present, flight search allows users to search for flights, whilst also filtering by price and flight duration.

Bjork releases album by app

Never following the crowd, Bjork has once again stepped into the unknown by releasing her album, Biophilia, within an app. Each track is available and adds a whole new dimension to music. We love it, and for £1.45 it’s a steal (no we’re not on commission).

Google Search share in the US declines, while search phrases are getting longer

Search Engine Watch have noticed a slight decline in Google’s search share from July 11 to August 11. Although only a slight decline over a short amount of time, it is definitely one to keep track of.

Another interesting development pointed out in this post was the increase in longer phrases being used in search, a 3% increase in six, seven and eight worded searches.

You can now edit YouTube videos without the URL changing

As the title suggests, YouTube videos can now be edited without the URL changing. This is a welcome update for those used to losing views and comments.

Five ways to improve your Link Building approaches

Sick of getting spammy emails that feel impersonal and a complete waste of yours and the senders time? Ever get the feeling that you do the same when making approaches for link building purposes? Here’s a great post on five ways to improve your link building approaches.

And finally…

Last week, we were completely star-struck at PushON as one of our newest recruits was blessed with a reply from the one and only Mick Hucknall on Twitter. Yes, it really happened and he even brought Wyclef Jean to the party. Wowee. Here’s the screenshot to prove it:

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Foursquare business pages

Foursquare have finally opened business pages to the masses. Previously, only the biggest of brands seemed to be allowed a business page that had to be created by Foursquare’s in-house development team. This move however should help open the location-based network to the rest of the business world.

More information about Foursquare business pages from Mashable.

Bing Webmaster Tools Update

Often overlooked and overshadowed, Bing’s webmaster tools offering has been given an update recently. The new look toolset consists of the usual account dashboard offering an overall view of site performance, and 3 tabs that give in depth detail of Bing views your site; crawl, index and traffic tabs.

More information about Bing Webmaster Tools Update from Ineedhits.

WordStream AdWords performance tool

PPC campaigns can be complicated, confusing and extremely tiresome. Any tool that helps to alleviate this stress, and give you more time to focus on driving results cost effectively is a life saver.

Once such tool has just launched; WordStream’s Adwords Performance Grader. It allows you to check your quality score, use of land pages and wasted spending among other things.

More information on WordStream AdWords performance tool from bnet.

MozCon 2011

MozCon 2011 was at the end of last month and was a massive hit. Luckily for those of us who didn’t get the chance go, Ken Colborn compiled a list of the top 6 highlights from the Seattle event.

More information on MozCon 2011 from Blastam.

SEO plugins for Excel

Continuing in the same vein, here is a site filled with great SEO plugins for Excel, ranging from one that finds available domain names to one that find duplicate content within spread sheets.

More information on SEO plugins for Excel from Niels Bosma.

SEOMoz image optimisation

Although an important part of on-site optimisation, image optimisation isn’t usually treated as such. However, Kasy Allen’s great post on SEOMoz showed the real importance of image optimisation, especially in food/recipe related images.

As well as showing the importance of image optimisation, she also explores the most important ranking factors for Google’s Image search.

More information on SEOMoz image optimisation.

Analytics reports

Everyone loves a useful tool, don’t they? Well here are 3 awesome tools to help reporting become more efficient, simple and focussed. There is one focussed on page efficiency analysis, one for visitor acquisition efficiency and one for paid search performance analysis.

More information on Analytics reports from Kaushik.

The post SEO Weekly Roundup #8 appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Yahoo! Site Explorer is Dead (nearly)…Long Live Bing (?) -

The much prized and incredibly useful SEO tool Yahoo! Site Explorer is on its way to the great Infobahn in the sky. The transition to Microsoft platforms has rendered this much loved competitive analysis link gizmo superfluous and (according to Barry Schwartz) there is very little hope of Microsoft creating an equivalent to site explorer for its webmaster tools. Once market osmosis has occurred later on this year, Yahoo! Site Explorer will be no more.
Source: http://www.seroundtable.com/yahoo-site-explorer-offline-13687.html

Google Directory Shut Down – 

Google’s efforts to rationalise its services and expend more energy on the small but effective components has resulted in the closure of the cumbersome and less useful Google Directory. Google’s support for it has dwindled into nothingness over the past couple of years. With search predominating in our navigation of the web the DMOZ powered directory was something Google did not need. Another ‘death’ on the obituary of internet services but, unlike Yahoo! Site Explorer, it won’t really be missed.
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2096661/Google-Directory-Has-Been-Shut-Down

Video extensions for AdWords –

Video ad extensions give the AdWords customer a chance to turn their text ads into a multimedia experience. The word is out, albeit spreading rather slowly, about the huge potential of Youtube for businesses with the will to make a video about their products or services and get it out there to their target audience. These videos will work in much the same way as other ad extensions, running only when the ‘+’ button is hit. This is a much cheaper alternative to TV advertisement campaigns which smaller companies could take advantage of.
Website: http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/videoextensions.html

AdWords Express is Launched –

AdWords Express is made with the small businessperson in mind. This product can be accessed by business owners who aren’t AdWords users and this is the group Google had in mind when they designed AdWords Express. Simplicity and functionality are important features of the system. An advert, a few company details and five minutes of your time are all that’s needed to launch a localised campaign.
Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/making-local-online-advertising-easy.html

Photovine Launches –

A social media application for sharing photographs which goes by the name of Photovine is here. It’s from Google’s recent acquisition Slide but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the product website. The ’Photovine’ is created by users uploading pictures of themselves or their interests which are then thematically linked up with those of other, as of yet unknown, users – and this is how the ‘vine’ grows. A bit of prudence is recommended here as these images can be viewed by absolutely anyone. On a lighter note, maybe there is a marketing opportunity here.
Source: http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/07/12/googles-mysterious-photovine-website-is-live-and-it-looks-like-a-social-photo-sharing-service/

Targeting Tablets with AdWords –

Now AdWords advertisers can aim their ads specifically at tablet users with full browser functions. The problem of a campaign which turns out to be ineffective for mobile devices but a hit on tablets can be remedied by selecting to targets tablets specifically in the AdWords settings.

Source: http://www.ppchero.com/tablet-targeting-now-available-in-google-adwords/

SEO Tips for Travel Bloggers –

SeoMoz blogger ‘Randfish’ expresses his astonishment at the popularity for a SEO training session at a travel writing conference. Evidently there is a real enthusiasm out there amongst bloggers for optimising their sites for search engines and it is to this end that the ‘SEO 101 for Travel Bloggers’ has been created. The segment entitled ‘I Don’t Want to Write for SEO; I Want to Write Great Stories’ also rings true for online marketers. We don’t want to put content out there that looks like it’s SEOed to the Nth degree. There is a certain satisfaction in the dissemination of good, wholesome, quality copy. And it works, ask Google.
Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-101-for-travel-bloggers

Facebook Updates the ‘Invite Friends’ Recommendation Function -

Businesses with a nice, trendy page on Facebook will benefit from the latest change to the way users can recommend things to their friends. ‘Inviting friends’ will send out a notification via email to the recipient of the invitation – who can then click through directly from their email message. If they haven’t changed their settings to stop these sort of emails, that is.
Source: http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/07/19/facebook-introduces-new-invite-friends-marketing-tool-to-pages/

Interesting Google+ Statistics –

This is a fascinating collection of the ten most astounding Google+ stats brought to us by the Experian ‘Hitwise’ blog. According to analysts, the biggest concentration of Google+ users reside in East London.  Will we see a mass migration of disheartened Facebook users onto the new social network?

A must-read for all scholars of Google’s new social network and fans of statistics in general.
Source: http://weblogs.hitwise.com/jamesmurray/2011/07/10_things_you_need_to_know_abo.html

Yoast’s new XML sitemap PHP script –

Joost de Valk’s has cleverly spawned a new XML sitemap PHP script that draws together all static files such as PDFs or PHP on your website – indexing them within the sitemap and saving the bother of having to update this manually. Most importantly, a sitemap lets Google know that the static files are there.
Source: http://yoast.com/xml-sitemap-php-script/

Bing Testing Ads Within Organic Results –

Bing is experimenting with their search engine by sneaking a few adverts within organic results. Possibly the only success to be had by this method is when the SE user accidently clicks on the advertisement link, mistaking it for a desired result of their search. Microsoft’s Director of Search Stefan Weitz assures that they are not paid ads nor will it be something Bing keeps if it turns out to be a flop
Source: http://www.seroundtable.com/bing-ads-mixed-results-13755.html

Bing quality scores -

Now for some PPC news from the SeoMoz team: Microsoft Adcenter have introduced a quality scoring system for keywords selected for campaigns. Gone are the days of setting a keyword to broad-match and letting it go ballistic in the hope of some cheeky extra traffic. ‘Dr Pete’ from the Moz gang ran a little test to see what would happen if he tweaked his campaigns – changing keywords from broad-match to phrase-match. Read the blog post below to find out the results.
Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/bing-quality-scores-match-types-magic-wands

Twitter Button Analysis –

Adding this new Tweet gauging button to your site will enable you to monitor who is tweeting about you or your products. Identifying your top tweeters and rewarding them could be an effective marketing manoeuvre.
Website: http://www.wil.lt/

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Google Panda update hits the UK

The algorithmic update that was launched in the US in February was now been activated in the UK. This change is aimed at providing “higher quality” results to searching users, so low quality (ie. thin content) sites have been punished, with their search engine visibility greatly reduced. When it hit the US, big article directories like Ezine were hit hard (up to 50% traffic loss I believe), but it hasn’t affected things so much over here.

Here’s Google’s official announcement:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/04/high-quality-sites-algorithm-goes.html

Early “winners and losers” by Pete Young:

http://www.holisticsearch.co.uk/2011/04/12/google-panda/

Some more info on Search Engine Watch:

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/110412-084500

Bing Launch Google Places Alternative

Bing have launched “Bing Business Portal” which is their alternative to Google Local/Places. They’ve taken things one step further than Google by incorporating the ability to add deals to listings, to promote any offers your business may have. Another good thing about this, is that social media has been incorporated, with the ability to add your business Twitter and Facebook accounts to the listings.

Link to Bing’s Business Portal:

http://www.bing.com/businessportal

Summary of the functionality by Marketing Pilgrim:

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/04/bing-announces-new-business-portal-beta.html

Google to Launch Multi-Channel Funnels in Analytics

Now this is just awesome. Goal funnels currently exist in Analytics to help you visualise the path a visitor took before making a conversion on your website (ie. a sale or download), but this only works for people who complete the conversion during a current visit. What the multi-channel funnels allow you to do, is to see the conversion path a user took for “up to a month or more” – meaning you can see if they visited previously via an email newsletter, referral, etc, before returning to complete the conversion at a later date.

You can read more about this here:

http://www.google.com/analytics/analytics-funnels.html

I would highly encourage you to watch the YouTube video that explains it:

Distilled have also now a nice summary explaining the benefits:

http://www.distilled.co.uk/blog/reputation-monitor/google-analytics-is-the-cats-pyjamas-announces-multi-channel-funnels/

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