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Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Sep
09
General
Google Instant: Smarter & Faster
by Diane Walter, Digital Strategist. Caped Avenger.

In the old days, users typed a search query and clicked a button (or hit enter) to generate their search results. Today, the game has changed. With Google Instant, search results are displayed in real-time as the user enters their query, predicting results based on your locality and past search history.

For this user, this means less clicking around to find the results they’re looking for. Google claims that Instant reduces the average search by 2-5 seconds. (In the pre-Instant world, the average search took about 25 seconds.)

But what about SEO? For publishers and advertisers, things get a little trickier. Instant search results include paid search listings, which has led to a change in the way Google defines a paid search impression:

“With Google Instant, an impression is counted if a user takes an action to choose a query (for example, presses the Enter key or clicks the Search button), clicks a link on the results page, or stops typing for three or more seconds.

It’s possible that this feature may increase or decrease your overall impression levels. However, Google Instant may ultimately improve the quality of your clicks since it helps users type queries that more directly connect them with the answers they need.”

Source: Google Inside AdWords http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-instant-more-innovative-approach.html

If you already focus your SEO efforts on natural search strategies (think quality content & links), Google Instant won’t rock your world. But the length of the average search query is likely to shorten, so focusing on your core keyword ranking becomes more important than ever. As always, the most relevant results will still be the ones that rise to the top.

As for how to use those extra 2-5 seconds? The possibilities are endless.

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Mar
12
South by Southwest 2010
The Great South by Southwest Local Food Experiment.
by Brunner, Ideas for a Smarter, Faster World

Twitter 2, Google 0

I’m curious, Austin… Where can I get faster and better quality local food recommendations: From google or through twitter? Or by some new mind reading technology yet to be revealed at a SXSW Keynote?

This morning I spent several minutes googling ‘local food in austin’, ‘eating local in austin’ and a few others so I could start making a good list. I got a few articles, some decent directory websites and several sites that pointed me to other directory websites which in the end felt like a wild goose chase. I gave up quickly because I wasn’t finding what I was looking for. I also wasn’t in the mood to sift through Yelp reviews or anything like that, I just wanted someone to tell me what wanted to know. And right now with very little effort.

While I was sitting here thinking of other clever ways to reword ‘where to eat local food in austin’ the little annoying black twitter box caught my eye and I thought: aha! That’s what I rely on for good Pittsburgh info: The Tweet Deck. While I don’t care so much what twitter-ers are doing every 5 minutes (sorry) I have found some of the best Pittsburgh restaurant reco’s, events, and resources through twitter and actually find the app less of a fad and more of a legitimate way to connect people to the information they want, faster. I can ask people (who’s opinion I might trust based on the links they provide through twitter) to give me recommendations instantaneously. If I tag the right words I might snag some random person who can just answer my question. Or I might stumble upon someone with a great blog whose google entry would be on page 27 had I done a google search for ‘local austin food’.

For me, as a user, blogger and digital art director, this question is bigger than ‘where it the best locally sourced vegetarian burrito’ but more about understanding how to get people legitimate, quality information in a non-time wasting fashion. And trust me, I HATE wasting time so that one counts a lot. And just as a blogger (and I suppose as user as well) its incredibly frustrating to see the layers of dead blogs, mis-informed directories, and just crummy content float to the top on a typical google search, especially if you think you might have something better to offer but can’t reach the searchers.

So now I’m just curious. Which is it? Can google read my mind or will Twitter present me with a better information path to the best locally sourced vegetarian burrito. Inquiring minds, man. Inquiring minds want to know.

Here’s my tally so far. I’m keeping one during my stay.

Twitter 2, Google 0

DM me at @meganmally  if you have any fantastic suggestions and you found this through twitter.

Email me: mmally@brunnerworks.com if you found this through a site search.

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Nov
06
Creative, General, Social Media
Damn, that robot can optimize!
by Shaun Quigley, VP, Digital Practice Director

“If You Can Type, You Can Make Movies”

Such is the promise from a new service called xtra normal, which allows any bloke who can type make an interesting animated movie. Short form, long form, public, private and shareable.

We played around a bit—it couldn’t be easier to use—and thought one usage could be a more entertaining thought leadership platform. 

Content remains king. And as the content experience becomes more competitive (the written page evolved to podcast evolved to video blog), everyone needs a better way to break through.

So what’s next?  Watch epidsode 1:  Search Engine Optimization

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