Google has launched a new campaign designed to help businesses optimise their websites for mobile devices, its called GetMo. Yet again showing the level of importance Google is placing on Mobile and how imperative it is for new sites to be Mobile accessible and discoverable.

The New Google initiative is based on a recent Google HowToGoMo U.S. Campaign, and features an online test environment, developer guides and resources and case studies to help webmasters and developers optimise their sites for mobile platforms.
By helping its users to improve mobile compatibility Google will be able to improve the quality and diversity of its mobile search results, providing its users with a higher quality service. This in turn will increase the advertising potential of mobile search and increase the Google’s Mobile Market Share.

“As the smart phone explosion continues, more consumers are looking to engage with brands by searching for them on their mobile phone,” said Ian Carrington, head of European mobile advertising at Google. “Yet the majority of businesses don’t have mobile sites or a mobile strategy for connecting with them.”

Google have acknowledged the importance of mobile search and has noted a 400 percent increase in the past two years. With over 84% of UK consumers claiming to have used there mobile device to research local information, the Mobile marketplace just cannot be ignored. With an increase in the quality of search results Google is set to dramatically improve the user experience, delivering more refined and trusted result, which will increase mobile usage on both tablet and handset.

Article by Creative SEO

For the very first time Google have released a short video showing an actual Search Quality meeting, a fascinating insight into how the search algorithm is adapted and improved by Google and the decision making process involved. It really humanises what appears from the outside to be a very mechanical process, its great to see the collaboration and internal discussion.

Google Announced yesterday that Encrypted or Secure search will be expanded to international Google Domains after a period of testing on Google.com. Is Google “Search Plus Your World” about to be rolled out internationally? Is SEO about to change and will social marketing become a key factor in SEO?

Encrypted Search will unfortunately result in a reduction in recorded search query data, this is all thanks to the SSL or Secure Socket Layer Google has enabled on all logged in searches, not carrying over search query data for organic search results. So how will this affect you?

Google will be introducing encryption to its local domains over the next few weeks, i.e. google.co.uk, google.fr etc. The move is to ensure greater levels of user privacy, allowing user search result pages to be displayed using HTTPs by default. This is obviously great for user privacy but there is a draw back, search query string data is not being transferred from the secure Google search session for a click on an organic listing. This is resulting in a huge increase in “not provided” search query string data within Analytics and third party tools. This is a big blow for Marketers, providing incomplete keyword performance monitoring data, unfortunately not allowing Marketers to accurately gauge keyword performance and influence for logged in Google users. The click will still be identified as coming from “Google” and from an “Organic” source, but the keyword will not be attributed to the click.

The move to Encrypted search is controversial enough, with a change to Google’s privacy policy, but Google has very kindly left a loophole in the policy allowing Google Advertisers to see the encrypted data. This has caused outrage within the SEO and Online Marketing communities raising a very important point. Google is happy to help protect its users privacy but only to a point where it does not effect Google advertising sales, allowing paying advertisers to access the data and thus protecting its own profitability and product marketability above its users privacy.

Encrypted search was rolled out on Google.com in October 2011, in January it became clear why this had happened, as Google launched “Search Plus Your World” which requires Encrypted search to protect personal user search data which is published directly into a logged in users search results. “Search Plus Your World” incorporates, by default, “Personal Results” from social interactions, which personalises your search based on user behaviour and social connections; this will include content shared with you through your Google+ Social network. Potentially making Google + an essential and influential marketing channel. So as an example if a user was searching for a restaurant in a city and if one or more of the users Google + friends had mentioned a restaurant in the area within their Google + Feed, the results would be incorporated into the users search results. Providing real and potentially trusted experiences from actual people and incorporating their opinions into a Google search. Powerful stuff if it actually works, but the success of this will rely on a proactive network of friends and as yet Google + does not have the reach of networks like Facebook or Twitter.

“The social search algorithm, and the personal search algorithm, and the personalized search algorithm are actually one algorithm now, and we are merging it in a way that is very pleasant and useful,” said Amit Singhal from Google, who oversees Google’s ranking Algorithm in a talk with Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land.

To find out more about “Search Plus Your World” please check out this great article from Danny Sullivan Click Here.

It’s clear to see the influence and importance social content will have as a ranking signal in Google in the future. Google is open to adding social content to the Google “Search Plus Your World” results from Facebook, Twitter and perhaps even more networks. This does potentially mean a complete change to the way search results are served, promoting the opinions of friends from social networks as influencing factors when a user researches a topic. The impact of this on SEO has yet to be fully assessed but it’s clear to see that Social and SEO are now one in the same. Google acknowledges that existing social interactions are monitored and used as a ranking signal within its algorithm, is this the end of SEO as we know it, are we seeing the mainstream birth of Social SEO?

What is assured is a greater focus on Social, SEO, Local, Mobile and multi channel marketing. This will result in marketers needing to demonstrate more effectively campaign success, measuring engagement, interaction, amplification and applause of online marketing campaigns. Understanding the interactions between search and social and utilising SEO to leverage organic ranking.

Gauging Social Search success, conversion and ROI will be the next big challenge for SEO. The growing complexity of a users interaction with a brand or product and the complex multi channel journey a user now takes when interacting with a website will need to be monitored and quantified by marketers. It will be essential to fully understand the interactions of users across multiple channels in order to quantify campaign success and how visitors convert to sales or enquiries.

Encrypted search is just the start, “Search Plus Your World” is coming and potentially marks the dawn of a new search age, providing intuitive and personalised search results where actual friend experiences influence your decision making process. The importance of Mobile and Local search cannot be ignored and their influence will continue to grow as a greater emphasis is placed on more refined and personalised search results. Is this taking search one-step to far, would users rather research to find new information outside of their social circles? Is this a first step towards Serendipitous Search? Only time will tell.

Article by Matt Blay at Creative SEO
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Steve Jobs’ final words to his family have been revealed by his Sister a month after the 56 year old tragically died on October 5, 2011, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

His final moments have been shared by his sister, Mona Simpson, in The New York Times, a copy of the eulogy from Steve Jobs memorial service on 16th October has also been published. Below is an extract from the New York Times.

“His breathing changed. It became severe, deliberate, purposeful. I could feel him counting his steps again, pushing farther than before.
This is what I learned: he was working at this, too. Death didn’t happen to Steve, he achieved it.
He told me, when he was saying goodbye and telling me he was sorry, so sorry we wouldn’t be able to be old together as we’d always planned, that he was going to a better place.

Dr. Fischer gave him a 50/50 chance of making it through the night.

He made it through the night, Laurene next to him on the bed sometimes jerked up when there was a longer pause between his breaths. She and I looked at each other, then he would heave a deep breath and begin again.

This had to be done. Even now, he had a stern, still handsome profile, the profile of an absolutist, a romantic. His breath indicated an arduous journey, some steep path, altitude.

He seemed to be climbing.

But with that will, that work ethic, that strength, there was also sweet Steve’s capacity for wonderment, the artist’s belief in the ideal, the still more beautiful later.

Steve’s final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times.”

Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them.

Steve’s final words were: ‘Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.’

You have to wonder at the enormity and simplicity of his final words, a fitting exit from a great man.

To read the full article click here

SEO or search engine optimisation has for a long time been tarnished with a negative undertone. As with all industries there are good and bad search engine optimisation professional, some following every rule by the book and others manipulating and using black hat techniques to gain a search engine ranking advantage. Well implemented SEO not only improves a sites search engine visibility but also improves usability and is focused on return on investment and natural organic growth.

Matt Cutts, a spokes person for Google, has publicly acknowledged the worth of well implemented SEO and finally has acknowledged that SEO is not spam. Below is the original video from Matt Cutts, it would be great to get your feedback on this, it’s great to finally have an acknowledgement of the worth of SEO.

By creative seo