Google Caffeine

The speed, accuracy and relevancy of Google search results are only getting better.

On the 8th June 2010, Google announced one of their largest ever search algorithm updates.

Built to make search more up-to-date, Caffeine will index new content within minutes of it being published with Google to “provide search results that are 50% fresher than their previous algorithm.

Google’s new indexing system called Caffeine will produce real-time search results that previously only covered breaking news articles, and will now include information from social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Google have commented on their blog: “Whether it’s a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now find links to relevant content much sooner after it is published than was possible ever before.

Some background for those of you who don’t build search engines for a living like us: when you search Google, you’re not searching the live web. Instead you’re searching Google’s index of the web which, like the list in the back of a book, helps you pinpoint exactly the information you need. (Here’s a good explanation of how it all works.)”

What impact will it have on a business? The considerations will both be:

1. Some businesses search engine rankings within Google may increase or vanish.Historically, large Google updates have seen some sites significantly affected both positively and negatively through the algorithmic updates. While for some the position change is marginal, other more significant movements have seen websites entirely vanish from view. However as always, Google’s focus is around keeping its search engines results fresh, accurate and up-to-date and so these regular updates are crucial in Google maintaining its position as a market leader in the search engine industry.
2. Real-time search resultsWebsites that have previously sat at the top of Google’s organic results will now find that their sites move down to make way for real-time results. While real-time results may only show temporarily, for sites that are currently getting top spot through a fixed could find a dramatic drop in website traffic even over a temporary drop. A company who has no social media strategy, (or not a strong one) will need to rethink their approach to web marketing to keep the Google as a viable source of traffic.
3. Real-time inclusion of social media updates within organic results may also see more widespread usage of social media platforms as it increases reach to search engine users. A study found 51% Facebook users and 67% Twitter followers were more likely to buy the brands they liked and followed on these sites. Social media gives a face to a brand and by engaging customers in sharing content that demonstrates their expertise, will help divert quality traffic to their website and hopefully into conversions.

If your company’s website has been affected by the recent changes, you may want to talk to your SEO expert to find out what can be done to help improve your site rankings and make it more robust for the future.

In the current economic environment, consumer confidence low and many businesses are feeling the pinch of poor sales. Retailers like Myers and David Jones are competing aggressively to stimulate sales in a down market, so what are you doing to improve your sales?

What strategies are you planning to entice new buyers? Perhaps discounting certain stock items may help cash-flow.

Once customers are attracted to your business, it’s much easier to cross or up sell on additional products or services. In this way it’s good to think about what items are easy to cross or up-sell. E.g. if you are a beauty salon owner, you might advertise waxing at a discounted price, and then once you have your customer through the door, up-sell them to laser hair removal or a skin care treatment.

It’s surprising how many businesses cut their marketing budgets in weaker economic conditions at a time when marketing is crucial to preserve existing clientele and attract new buyers to the business. Naturally costs and overheads are a factor for any business so the key is marketing your business smarter. If you currently use traditional marketing methods such as newspaper, magazines, radio and letter box drops why not consider web marketing. Web marketing by comparison to traditional marketing methods is quite low cost, and is often not only more effective but more measurable as well. This means you can better track the cost of obtaining a sale.

If you’re already utilising web marketing, take the time to work on developing and improving your web strategy. You should consider improving your current site from an information perspective and improving it for sales conversions. Increase or develop a social media presence, send out email newsletters, write blogs etc.

Whilst some of these strategies will drive sales immediately, other strategies will develop sales long term.

Not getting the best results from your website and not sure how to get them?
Call us today on 02 8904 0288 or complete our free website assessment here.

Are you getting the most out of your internet marketing? Often web marketing campaigns are put together on a shoe-string budget. With this in mind, often too much emphasis is placed on upfront cost rather than ROI, limiting the success of a campaign. For best results, an important first step is carefully choosing the right keywords, focussed on your end goals.

Understanding buyer behaviour and making sure you capture consumers at the right stage of the buying cycle is crucial to keyword research and obtaining the best ROI from your marketing campaign. While some keywords may drive large volumes of traffic, due to their broad and competitive nature they require more work to reach the top of the search engines and have much lower conversion rates, thereby providing a poor ROI.

Worse yet, large volumes of traffic reaching a site could result in a high volume of unsuitable enquiries and increasing staffing/administration costs.

When deciding on the investment you want to place into your web marketing campaign, don’t focus on the monthly upfront costs as the defining factor in your decision, look at the ROI that investment will bring.

Make sure you keep up-to-date by regularly visiting our web marketing blog for ideas to improve your business through the web.

Over the past two  years, the business landscape in Australian has changed significantly in its awareness of search engines, and the benefits and importance of an effective website.

Two or three years ago, Pay-Per-Click services such as Google AdWords were more widely known and utilised, whereas focusing on developing and improving organic search results (natural listings) was mostly under utilised . Historically businesses invested less in organic search engine campaigns in favour of Pay-Per-Click.

Today, changes in market awareness and the need to become more innovative has brought about considerably more competition in the organic search space.

Like any effective marketing method, news spreads quickly both through the consumer market, as well as the number of people offering search engine services. Unfortunately as a result of so many trying to jump on the bandwagon, the search engines services industry also has grown to a point where a high number of businesses offering search engine services, have staff who have very little true knowledge of this ever changing industry and end up delivering mediocre results, or worse yet, result in websites being banned from the search engines altogether due to inappropriate application of search engine service techniques.

So how do you know who the right search engine services company is to work on your website for the best result for your budget?

Firstly, stay away from any search engine services firm whose only focus is on increasing your website traffic. I know that increased website traffic sounds really attractive when being pitched to you, but what if that website traffic brings you very little new business, or even worse, none at all? The number one focus of any campaign should be increasing the goals of the website. I.e. Is your number one goal to increase sales, newsletter signups, or promoting a service?

Here are some of the most important considerations when choosing the right web marketing company.

• They understand without prompting, that your business needs are not just about being able to rank highly on keywords, but what will convert new business for you.
• What their methodology is for selecting keywords. I.e. Will they choose a keyword that will meet/exceed your website goals.
• Do they have a business background and understanding the effects of marketing for a business
• Understanding of the buying cycle – this is important, to adequately capture the right consumers, at the right time, based on your offering.
• Ability to interpret web analytics results – No marketing is an exact science. Testing and measuring results is important, and to do so, the right analysis of web analytics plays a critical role.
• Understand buyer behaviour – Why do consumers act the way they do when they are on your website, viewing your product or service? What can be done to make the user experience better, and so increase the chance they will buy from your company.
• With such constant change, the ability to adapt and change quickly is important – How are they keeping up-to-date?
• Do they understand how Social Media best fits in with your business?

These are important elements to consider, otherwise you face throwing your marketing budget away, on poor results.

Looking to market your business across the web? Whether you have an existing website, need a new website, we can tailor a web marketing package that will suit your business. Contact us today.

For those wondering about the value of social networking and how much exposure it can really provide a business, stats for week ending 13/03/2010 from Hitwise may change your mind. Facebook was the 2nd most visited site in Australia, coming in quite close behind Google Australia.

While it is much less likely Social Networking advertising/marketing will bring instantaneous sales, setup correctly, sites such as Facebook can be very useful tools for Branding your business.

Many small to medium businesses completely overlook the importance of branding, as they focus on the sales they need today. But longevity in business means having an important part of your overall marketing strategy focused on branding, as this is what will play an important part in the long term success of a business.

Social Networking not currently part of your Marketing plan? Call us today to get started.

Top Websites – All Categories

The following report shows websites for the industry ‘All Categories‘, ranked by Visits for the week ending 13/03/2010.

Source: Hitwise Top Websites and Search Engine Analysis