Google has launched (and is now rolling out) a new social addition to its search results a Plus 1 Button, the button will allow users to recommend sites and share these recommendations with their friends.

Similar to Facebook’s “like” functionality it looks like we will start to see more and more reliance on the personal preferences of an individual surfer (and their friends) in the search engine results.

The recommendation will (where appropriate) influence the ranking within the organic search results.  The impact will be seen within the context of similar / relevant searches, even then the results are unlikely to catapult a site from zero to hero so no need to panic.  In short the likely impact will be to make certain sites more visible.

The company has used social clues from the likes of Twitter and Flikr to impact the results for over a year so this is part of a trend.

The feature will be extended to websites in due course.

I wonder how long it will be before someone link baits “Google Plus 1 Button the Death of SEO”.

What are your thoughts; obviously the button puts another tool into the arsenal of the search spammer.

Please note this post is completely incorrect, I wish it was near April so that I could at least it was an attempt at a bad joke.  What it does do is remind me of how easy it is to attribute the wrong cause to a given occurrence in the search engines, which provoke comments like “My rankings have dropped why is Google punishing me?”

I am afraid I too have fallen into the trap of adding 1 plus 1 to come up with 5.

I noted in the post that the images were shown in Firefox with “Search Preview” turned on it is in fact this very add-on that adds these adverts. As stated in the following detail “For some search terms, this version will insert sponsored links into the Google search results (labelled as ‘SearchPreview Sponsored Links’).”

Source: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/189/

It’s an excellent add-on BTW great for establishing if a given site is worth looking at before you visit it.

Other cringe worthy points are:

“I have not seen this before and I cannot find any reference to this in the Adwords help”

[JM] And why would it be.

“It doesn’t appear in my other browser so am assuming that this is a test.”

[JM] No you dunce it’s an add-on Firefox not IE.

Searching on Google today I noticed the following when I typed in “Bristol web design” Google are now showing a “SearchPreview Sponsored Link” below the main PPC results, obviously this is a development leading on from the implementation of “Google Instant”.

SearchPreview Sponsored Link Bristol Web Design Full Screen

And here’s a close up:

SearchPreview Sponsored Link Bristol Web Design Close Up

NB: Images shown in Firefox with “Search Preview” turned on.

I have not seen this before and I cannot find any reference to this in the adwords help https://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/search.py?hl=en-uk&query=searchpreview&ctx=en-uk:searchbox

It doesn’t appear in my other browser so am assuming that this is a test.

Google recently launched “Google Instant” a new enhancement to Google search that shows results as a user types in a search query.  The new functionality allows the user to see content much faster than before; the user will be shown results before they have finished typing in their search term and before they have even pressed the “search” button.  Google argues that this functionality will enhance the user experience as it allows users to modify their results on the fly, formulating adapted search terms influenced by the search results and predictions that appear as they type their search terms into Google.   

The most important part of the new functionality (if you are interested in SEO) is the smart predictions functionality, as Google puts it: “Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.”

SOURCE: http://www.google.com/instant/

Rather importantly the search results that Google Instant shows depends on individual personalisation settings (http://www.justinmarch.com/blog/google-search-engine-results-influenced-personalisation/) and where Google thinks a user is physically located.   

Rather predictably this has led many to make (er) predictions about the future of SEO including Steve Rubel, Director of Insights for Edelman Digital who argues that “Here’s what this means: no two people will see the same web. Once a single search would do the trick – and everyone saw the same results. That’s what made search engine optimization work. Now, with this, everyone is going to start tweaking their searches in real-time. The reason this is a game changer is feedback. When you get feedback, you change your behaviors.“ he goes onto state that “Google Instant means no one will see the same web anymore, making optimizing it virtually impossible. Real-time feedback will change and personalize people’s search behaviors.”

SOURCE: http://www.steverubel.com/google-instant-makes-seo-irrelevant

I agree with some of what Steve is saying here, I think that how people use Google will inevitably change as a result of Google Instant, however I don’t see the change as being negative to either the user or to good SEO’s.

Google Instant will affect SEO (but it won’t kill it)
It’s important to understand that good SEO is about improving more than the ranking for a given keyword it’s about improving the level of targeted traffic across the board for a range of phrase, along with increasing onsite conversion rates.  The fact is that good SEO starts with keyword research and that will never change the fact that the keywords themselves get more or less diverse is somewhat immaterial.  It maybe that that searchers will tweak their queries in real time but they aren’t going to completely switch focus mid search and end up purchasing a holiday in Mexico having started with the intention of sourcing a carpet fitter in Bristol. 

Articles about the death of SEO misunderstand what search engines actually are in that a search engine by its nature will always want to discover the most relevant results possible; otherwise it will become of little use to its users and will soon start losing market share. 

Fundamentally if user behaviour becomes impossible to predict this will not only destroy SEO but it will also make the Google Adwords system unworkable.  Since Adwords is itself based on predicting what users type in (and since this is the way in which Google monetorise itself) I just don’t see them continuing with a system that effectively flushes their company down the toilet.   

I think that Matt Cutts (Google’s anti-spam and SEO spokesman) put it best when he wrote: “The best SEOs recognize, adapt, and even flourish when changes happen.”
SOURCE: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-google-instant/

So what else can we expect from Google Instant:

Google Instant will continue to predict search (just as badly as Google did in the past)
None of the search engines have ever been that good at determining user intent and this seems set to continue see: http://mashable.com/2009/08/11/funniest-google-suggest-results/

Google Instant won’t disrupt Google Rankings
Google Instant won’t disrupt Rankings, just to clarify this for all the SEO fraidy cats, as Google themselves put it “No, this change does not impact the ranking of search results.”
SOURCE:  http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-on-instant-search.html

Google Instant may lead to shorter search terms
Over the years there has been a steady increase in the number of words used within a search query, it seems likely that Google Instant may halt or reverse this trend and lead to an increase in the lower number 2-4 term searches.   Potentially searchers may find that less is more settling on the results provided by the 2-4 word searches rather than continuing to type in a long tail search term.

Google Instant may annoy users (or it may just be ignored)
Aside from the inaccurate predictions it would be interesting to know how many people will actively use Google Instant.  Google Instant will not appear when people search via iGoogle, use the Google toolbar or search via a browser’s search box.  It also occurs that many people are not trained typists and stare at their keyboards when they are typing, making the new functionality rather redundant in this instance.  Upon surfing the web it also seems to me that many users are actually annoyed by Google Instant, will this make a significant number of people turn it off or move over to BING, only time will tell?

Google Instant will disrupt Google Impressions (and may alienate Google Adwords Users)
Impressions are the number of times an advert has been displayed to web users, as Google Instant displays the results on the fly as the user types them in, there has been some concern that each change in results will count as an impression.  The reason why this is important is that the cost and performance of a Google Adwords Account is partly based on the Click Thru Rate (CTR) the higher the CTR the better.  

Google has clarified how Google Instance judges when an impression has occurred: 

“When someone searches using Google Instant, ad impressions are counted in these situations:
    * The user begins to type a query on Google and clicks anywhere on the page (a search result, an ad, a spell correction, a related search).
    * The user chooses a particular query by clicking the Search button, pressing Enter, or selecting one of the predicted queries.
    * The user stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of three seconds.”
SOURCE:  http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-on-instant-search.html

It does look like the number of impressions is set to increase which will be of particular concern to those inexperienced users using the Adwords system.

Google Instant will not lead to partial phrases appearing in Google Analytics

To clarify the most concerning point in terms of where users simply have to pause for 3 seconds for an impression to occur:

“The keyword analytics sends is not the partial one but the predicted query. If a user was typing “web metrics” but got the search result she wanted at “web met” with the predicted term being “web metrics”, then you will see “web metrics” in your Google Analytics reports.”
SOURCE:  http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-on-instant-search.html

Google Instant may boost Google’s profits (and alienate Google Adwords users)
As well as skewing impression data, it would seem that more generic searches containing fewer words are more likely.  Adwords accounts have become harder and harder to set up and I can well imagine the costs associated with generic broad match phrases in particular spiralling out of control for the inexperienced Adwords user.

It’s been ages since I last wrote a post, have been a bit ill and am about to go on hols, so thought it would be a good time to write a short post on DMOZ (ODP – Open Directory Project).  I am still seeing lots of comments in forums claiming that a DMOZ listing is the be all and end all of link building and a must have link.

DMOZ is a Submit & Forget
Essentially Dmoz is and has been for a long while a submit and forget site, sure it’s still on my list of places to submit too but once I have submitted I move on.  I don’t go back and check if the link is present yet I just move on and get on with my life.

This from a post I responded to on the Sitepoint forum:

“Submit to Dmoz and forget it, move on, do other things, play with yer kids, get a life, many more fish in the link building sea.

This is the third post (on different forum) that I have made today alone about Dmoz, will stop eventually and let people obsess in their own little groups.

Speaking as an EX Dmoz editor and person who despite Dmoz listing still achieves good SEO results.”

Source: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4397972

DMOZ has been going through some difficult patches for a while now see: The Life and Near Death of DMOZ so the submit and forget advice is perhaps more relevant than ever before.

The need to keep updating your business site, and participate in the on-line community grows as Goggle launches a major new update to its main search page today.

Here is Googles’ official line:

A lot of these options have been present (but somewhat hidden from view) up until now:

The new design really pushes the options making the Google SERPS look similar in style to Yahoo or Bing.

One of the most notable additions is that Google are now pushing the so called social search and real-time search results (see the screenshot below) which details a search for Gordon Brown (the morning after the night before) and shows the relevant Twitter updates.

New Google search for Gordon Brown shows Twitter updates

What this means for businesses:

• Businesses will have to update their sites and offsite content so that they appear under as many filters (options) as is reasonably possible including blogs, videos etc.
• Businesses will have to participate in the online community; it’s getting harder and harder to ignore Twitter by the day.

The Search Engine Results in Google are becoming more and more influenced by efforts to personalise the results for the searcher. This is nothing new but I thought that the video below contained some interesting detail that many would be unaware of.

In a recent interview with Webpro news Matt Cutts suggests that site load speed will have an effect on how a site is ranked, rewarding the faster sites over those that are less fast or just downright slow.

See: http://videos.webpronews.com/2009/11/13/matt-cutts-interview/

The good news is that the Google Caffeine launch will not take place early in 2010 to keep Webmasters happy over the holidays.

It seems to me that Barry Schwartz from searchengineland.com has hit the nail on the head in this article: http://searchengineland.com/site-speed-googles-next-ranking-factor-29793

Conclusions
This change is likely to be a very small part of the Google algorithm and unless your site is really slow and surrounded by other competing sites that load very quickly I don’t believe that most people will see a change in how their website is ranked.  The message is if it isn’t broke don’t fix it.

If you do want to improve your site load speed, check out the following sites:

http://www.webpagetest.org/

http://code.google.com/speed/ or http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/

The following video explains how to improve your website performance with Page Speed:

Google Caffine (a major rewrite of a large chunk of how Google index web pages) looks set to launch, the sandbox that was set up by Google has now been retired http://www2.sandbox.google.com/

Google state that “Based on the success we’ve seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given.”

So what is going to be different:

• It looks like the results will be returned much faster
• It may change the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP’s) but supposedly not by much
• Google will get better and better at prioritising Breaking News
• Mashable think it means a tough time for SEO’s (see link below)

While the sandbox was active Mashable reviewed it here: http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/google-caffeine/

This is What Matt Cutts had to say back in August 2009:

The latest video offering from Matt Cutts in which he talks about the importance of optimising your site images for Google Image Search.

This type of optimisation can be particularly important when imagery is integral to your business offering, for example if you are a photographer, designer or artist.

How to Optimise Images
Ann Smarty has written an excellent post on how to optimise images for people, Social Media and the Search Engines, see: http://www.seosmarty.com/image-seo/

Another Thought
If you really want to get your images out to a wider audience sites such as Flikr.com can also be a great way of posting your images and putting them in front of a large audience of image enthusiasts.

Google are Beta testing Social Search, a facility that shows relevant results from your friend’s social media pages including the likes of Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc.

Essentially Google are trying to present us with the most relevant information, our friends and connections are like us, so it follows that we are interested to hear what they say about the places, products and services that we are interested in.

To make social search work a user must have and be signed into their Google Profile (http://www.google.com/profiles) they must also connect that profile to at least one social networking site so that Google can start to identify their “Social Circle”.  When a user searches with their Google Profile enabled Google will find relevant public content from their friends and contacts and highlight it within the search results.

Google have been gravitating towards a more personalised search experience for some time http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/personally-speaking.html and have also been bumping up new content in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP’s) for a while.

Essentially then Google continue to strive to provide the most relevant results to it’s users, it will be interesting to see how this develops, my initial thoughts are:

• It will be interesting to see how many people actually know about the Google Profile
• It is unclear how many people provide useful info on places, products and services when they use Twitter, Facebook etc.

To find out more see: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-google-social-search-i.html