Hello Everyone,
While i know this is counter productive to my career as an online marketing guru, i feel it is not right to willy nilly take people web history information. So if you want to protect yourself type in this url https://www.google.com/history/ and click on the button to Remove all Web History. This will clear your search history from being tracked and will not allow them to track your online movements.
Just think it's fair to let people know what Google is doing and what to do to protect your online privacy.
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Monday, July 18, 2011
Photovine: Weaving A Story In Pictures?
This recent addition from Google is a mobile photo sharing network that allows individuals to snap a picture and create a theme for it. Once this is posted others are able join in and add photos of their own along that same theme, weaving together a story in pictures.
Pretty nifty concept but will it stick? I think its time for me to buy a new phone so i can try out some of these nifty new mobile experiences. My Palm Pre + just isn't kicking it any longer.
Anyways take a look at this video that starts with a heart melting intro. Enjoy!
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Pretty nifty concept but will it stick? I think its time for me to buy a new phone so i can try out some of these nifty new mobile experiences. My Palm Pre + just isn't kicking it any longer.
Anyways take a look at this video that starts with a heart melting intro. Enjoy!
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Google Tweaks Show That The Smallest Changes Make a Big Difference
Google announced a slew of updates and enhancements to its Mobile and Desktop search platforms. The things that always surprise me the most are the simplest of changes (such as the Instant Pages feature) . This dandy feature pre-loads the first search results web page, enabling Kazaam like speed.
I am sure that Bing/Yahoo will follow suit as it should be fairly easy to implement and give users a more enjoyable search experience.
So much other stuff to talk about, yet so little time!
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
I am sure that Bing/Yahoo will follow suit as it should be fairly easy to implement and give users a more enjoyable search experience.
So much other stuff to talk about, yet so little time!
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Monday, April 18, 2011
Google Is Serious About Social
http://searchengineland.com/report-google-ceo-page-ties-bonuses-to-social-success-reorganizes-google-mgmt-team-72197
When Larry Page said he wanted to have a social layer applied to Google he wasn't kidding. Apparently he didn't like the direction the company was taking. Schmidt started focusing on developing software for enterprises to nip closer to the heels of Microsoft. This has only caused Microsoft to fire back with better more competitively priced alternatives that further entrench it as the exemplar for business software solutions. (sorry for the msft tangent).
This "social layer" is currently taking bits and pieces from current social network stars Facebook and Twitter (as in twitter and facebook have the opportunity to make your page rank higher in search. This is based on a combination of how many friends/followers an individual has and how many people retweet etc etc) but ultimately, Larry still wants Google to have a proprietary social network.
One of Larrys major change to the business regards employee compensation. Google is now basing internal bonuses on how "social" the work of its employees are. An employees bonus could either by 25% more or less depending on the metrics being used to gauge success.
In my previous blog post i go over the new Google +1 feature and how i feel it will ultimately fail as a social networking tool, but succeed because businesses want their online content/advertisements to rank higher by getting people with "Google Profiles" to "+1" their content. http://the-marketing-ninja.blogspot.com/2011/04/google-social-30-like-remixed.html.
Google Profiles allow you to tag your email address to a face. It gives you the opportunity to say a little bit about you, the work you have done, share pictures from Picasa and a few other limiting features. This oddly seems like how Myspace/Facebook started out? Honestly, do we need another profile page. I know most people who have made one just set it up...then forgot about it. What is the real value in something that you do not use?
I learned from a great professor that people who just say "we will just have to wait and see" will always be left in the dust. I already know that this will fail in a social sense, sure it is cool to get recommendations from my friends that have gmail accounts but that is making a broad assessment from Google. Most other people i know that have gmail accounts are not my friends but classmates i have had to collaborate with or other random people. Most of my friends that i would want to get recommendations from are not on gmail, but are on Facebook. I know that this is a pretty biased perspective but honestly not everyone has a gmail account and not everyone is going to go out, get a gmail account and create a Google profile just for this feature. I think it required too much effort from individuals when they can get a better experience from pre-existing social networks.
Side Note: I do not hate Google in anyway, i just like to give(take) objective constructive criticism. Without the multiple SEO guides, webmaster tools, analytics software, advertising and webmaster blogs that they provide for free i would not have as robust a knowledge of SEO/Search as i do now.
Best Regards,
Antonio Esposito
When Larry Page said he wanted to have a social layer applied to Google he wasn't kidding. Apparently he didn't like the direction the company was taking. Schmidt started focusing on developing software for enterprises to nip closer to the heels of Microsoft. This has only caused Microsoft to fire back with better more competitively priced alternatives that further entrench it as the exemplar for business software solutions. (sorry for the msft tangent).
This "social layer" is currently taking bits and pieces from current social network stars Facebook and Twitter (as in twitter and facebook have the opportunity to make your page rank higher in search. This is based on a combination of how many friends/followers an individual has and how many people retweet etc etc) but ultimately, Larry still wants Google to have a proprietary social network.
One of Larrys major change to the business regards employee compensation. Google is now basing internal bonuses on how "social" the work of its employees are. An employees bonus could either by 25% more or less depending on the metrics being used to gauge success.
In my previous blog post i go over the new Google +1 feature and how i feel it will ultimately fail as a social networking tool, but succeed because businesses want their online content/advertisements to rank higher by getting people with "Google Profiles" to "+1" their content. http://the-marketing-ninja.blogspot.com/2011/04/google-social-30-like-remixed.html.
Google Profiles allow you to tag your email address to a face. It gives you the opportunity to say a little bit about you, the work you have done, share pictures from Picasa and a few other limiting features. This oddly seems like how Myspace/Facebook started out? Honestly, do we need another profile page. I know most people who have made one just set it up...then forgot about it. What is the real value in something that you do not use?
I learned from a great professor that people who just say "we will just have to wait and see" will always be left in the dust. I already know that this will fail in a social sense, sure it is cool to get recommendations from my friends that have gmail accounts but that is making a broad assessment from Google. Most other people i know that have gmail accounts are not my friends but classmates i have had to collaborate with or other random people. Most of my friends that i would want to get recommendations from are not on gmail, but are on Facebook. I know that this is a pretty biased perspective but honestly not everyone has a gmail account and not everyone is going to go out, get a gmail account and create a Google profile just for this feature. I think it required too much effort from individuals when they can get a better experience from pre-existing social networks.
Side Note: I do not hate Google in anyway, i just like to give(take) objective constructive criticism. Without the multiple SEO guides, webmaster tools, analytics software, advertising and webmaster blogs that they provide for free i would not have as robust a knowledge of SEO/Search as i do now.
Best Regards,
Antonio Esposito
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Google Social 3.0: "Like" Remixed
(apologies outright for any spelling/grammatical errors. Blogger has been giving me issues lately)
Lets take a look at Google's attempts to enter into the US Social Networking industry. Google likes to first attempt and acquire companies in new business areas that it wants to break into. If that fails then they attempt to create a competing product. With regards to US Social Networking, this strategy is a bust.
2003: After the failed takeover bid for one of the original Social Networking companies Friendster, Google sets it eyes to create its own service to compete in the market. Okrut was born, but so far has only performed will in India and Brazil and did not see much success within the US.
2010: Google Buzz was supposed to change the way that people lived and collaborated with each other. The initial announcement of this product made many social networks nervous as it was going to be run out of Gmail accounts and would launch with millions of users worldwide.The beta had some promising features but the overall usability was extremely cumbersome and not intuitive. This is coming from someone who beta tested the product and knew right away that it wasn't going to take off.
One of the main issues with Buzz was that when it was released it was done so to all Gmail account members, without their knowledge and immediately began sharing information. The public outrage at such an outright violation of privacy has put a ten year long SEC privacy audit on Google that could hinder the future performance and creativity of the company.
2011: It is one year later and Google has released individual profile pages for users. Take a look at mine https://profiles.google.com/AEsposito88/about. Could this be the precursor to Googles new, simplified approach at building their own social network?
Googles Facebook Like
Googles +1 and its affect on PPC
This article on the new Google +1 feature almost solidifies my assumption. The +1 feature is going to be the google version of a like/retweet and it will require users to have a Google Profile in order to +1 an advertisement/webpage. Google has stated that the amount of +1 and how many of your Gmail "contacts" that +1 a Google search result will affect its search ranking.
Do i think this will be successful? Yes and no.
Yes, I strongly believe that it will be successful for Big Brands and SEO companies as they would not only get the most value out of this feature, but they would have a large fan base and/or employees to gain +1's from. Some companies could even make it an initiative that all employees create a profile and +1 the webpage/advertisements. (unless this would be against +1 guidelines) The main advantage of this would hopefully be higher search standings and higher CTR for advertisements.
No, i believe it will fail for the individual user and as a type of social network. I have doubts that most people will go out of their way to create a Google profile just to +1 an advertisement or webpage. I hate to say this but we will just have to wait and see what happens. You can bet yourself that i will be keeping an eye on the implementation and success/failure of the Google +1.
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Lets take a look at Google's attempts to enter into the US Social Networking industry. Google likes to first attempt and acquire companies in new business areas that it wants to break into. If that fails then they attempt to create a competing product. With regards to US Social Networking, this strategy is a bust.
2003: After the failed takeover bid for one of the original Social Networking companies Friendster, Google sets it eyes to create its own service to compete in the market. Okrut was born, but so far has only performed will in India and Brazil and did not see much success within the US.
2010: Google Buzz was supposed to change the way that people lived and collaborated with each other. The initial announcement of this product made many social networks nervous as it was going to be run out of Gmail accounts and would launch with millions of users worldwide.The beta had some promising features but the overall usability was extremely cumbersome and not intuitive. This is coming from someone who beta tested the product and knew right away that it wasn't going to take off.
One of the main issues with Buzz was that when it was released it was done so to all Gmail account members, without their knowledge and immediately began sharing information. The public outrage at such an outright violation of privacy has put a ten year long SEC privacy audit on Google that could hinder the future performance and creativity of the company.
2011: It is one year later and Google has released individual profile pages for users. Take a look at mine https://profiles.google.com/AEsposito88/about. Could this be the precursor to Googles new, simplified approach at building their own social network?
Googles Facebook Like
Googles +1 and its affect on PPC
This article on the new Google +1 feature almost solidifies my assumption. The +1 feature is going to be the google version of a like/retweet and it will require users to have a Google Profile in order to +1 an advertisement/webpage. Google has stated that the amount of +1 and how many of your Gmail "contacts" that +1 a Google search result will affect its search ranking.
Do i think this will be successful? Yes and no.
Yes, I strongly believe that it will be successful for Big Brands and SEO companies as they would not only get the most value out of this feature, but they would have a large fan base and/or employees to gain +1's from. Some companies could even make it an initiative that all employees create a profile and +1 the webpage/advertisements. (unless this would be against +1 guidelines) The main advantage of this would hopefully be higher search standings and higher CTR for advertisements.
No, i believe it will fail for the individual user and as a type of social network. I have doubts that most people will go out of their way to create a Google profile just to +1 an advertisement or webpage. I hate to say this but we will just have to wait and see what happens. You can bet yourself that i will be keeping an eye on the implementation and success/failure of the Google +1.
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Again, Why it is important for Social Media/PR/Search to be Cross functional.
http://searchengineland.com/googles-action-against-link-schemes-continues-overstock-com-and-forbes-com-latest-casualities-conductor-exits-business-65926
Google has again clamped down on two more companies (Forbes.com and Overstock) for violating their search engine terms of agreement. Just recently this had happened to JCPenny and i am sure many companies are wondering "Why are these companies being punished and how do i ensure that this will not happen to my company?".
Google makes it fairly clear that any "paid" links that manipulate PageRank (this is the basic algorithm that returns your search query with "meaningful" results) violate their terms of agreement. This payment for links can come for additional discounts or money directly to the party that you are getting that link from. The types of links you will not get punished for are those involved in editorial content.
This of course makes obvious sense from a SEO perspective. If a trusted site, editor, or blogger is referring a site/content that they find valuable, then the page rank for that trusted site, editor, or blogger will be transferred as well. It's all about bringing people the content that most accurately meets their search query and that they will find the most value in.
All of this reinforces proper SEO best practices being reinforced in Social Media/PR (popular keywords, HTML alt attributes, etc) to make sure that your valuable content is ultra-search friendly. Valuable back links can come from respected online circles of influence. It is up to Social Media/PR and search to cross functionally work together to make sure that this is taken advantage of. What good does great content do if no one can find it?
While this will not immediately affect search standings like a link farm or paid links will, it is the proper way and most cost efficient way to build search standing. Initiating best practices will double the value of your content and not dilute the value of your site/brand with penalties from search engines by paying for links.
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Google has again clamped down on two more companies (Forbes.com and Overstock) for violating their search engine terms of agreement. Just recently this had happened to JCPenny and i am sure many companies are wondering "Why are these companies being punished and how do i ensure that this will not happen to my company?".
Google makes it fairly clear that any "paid" links that manipulate PageRank (this is the basic algorithm that returns your search query with "meaningful" results) violate their terms of agreement. This payment for links can come for additional discounts or money directly to the party that you are getting that link from. The types of links you will not get punished for are those involved in editorial content.
This of course makes obvious sense from a SEO perspective. If a trusted site, editor, or blogger is referring a site/content that they find valuable, then the page rank for that trusted site, editor, or blogger will be transferred as well. It's all about bringing people the content that most accurately meets their search query and that they will find the most value in.
All of this reinforces proper SEO best practices being reinforced in Social Media/PR (popular keywords, HTML alt attributes, etc) to make sure that your valuable content is ultra-search friendly. Valuable back links can come from respected online circles of influence. It is up to Social Media/PR and search to cross functionally work together to make sure that this is taken advantage of. What good does great content do if no one can find it?
While this will not immediately affect search standings like a link farm or paid links will, it is the proper way and most cost efficient way to build search standing. Initiating best practices will double the value of your content and not dilute the value of your site/brand with penalties from search engines by paying for links.
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Monday, February 7, 2011
Google Spam Filters and Blekko Banning Content Farms
Update: AOL just made a surprise move and acquired the Huffington Post for $315 Million. This is possibly the best thing that could have happened for the sinking web portal company. Now AOL will have exclusive advertising privileges to the millions of visitors to the Huffington post and the editorial smarts of one of the most popular news content providers online.
Google Spam Filters and Blekko Banning Content Farms
There has been an uprising in internet user complaints about too much spam showing up in Google search results. People are receiving junk content that does not have any value to them and they are not happy about it. This past week Google has announced a new spam filter to help bring more relevant results to users. Only time will tell if the new algorithm changes will work or how effective it will be.
Blekko, the SlashTag search engine has gone so far as to completely ban some content farms from its search results. What is a content farm? My definition is: A website that creates a lot of web data for the sole purpose of increased search standings with sacrifice of overall quality of content. Websites such as ehow (A major source of revenue for Demand Media) will no longer show up in Blekko.
Will Google make the same change in fear of people switching over to Blekko.com?
They have publicly stated that they are not going to block “content farms” and that overall results from those sites should remain unaffected. Most users of Google have no idea what Blekko is and a larger proportion have no idea how to use slashtags. As long as Google can correctly address recent issues with bad search results in organic search queries with their most recent change they should see little to no defection of users to Blekko.
Taking an overall look at the industry, what does this say to sites like Demand Media and AOL (The AOL Way). Specifically I will focus on AOL.
They have just initiated a new overarching strategic business model. Focusing on volume of content (5-10 articles produced per day, per employee) and the body of the content being focused on search ability/profitability. What is the problem here? This is exactly the type of content that Google is trying to circumvent and Blekko is starting to block. Content created to make money, not give value to users.
If there is a flood of mediocre content (Demand Media and AOL) that does not give sufficient value to Google search users, more and more people could begin to look at other search engines (Blekko) for certain types of search queries (Obviously this would not help in finding movie times or comparing prices for the cheapest blu ray player).
Update: With respect to the acquisition by AOL, it will be interesting to see how they choose to utilize The Huffington Post, its loyal audience, and the human capital gained.
Who knows, maybe I will start to post search results of Google and Blekko to compare the quality of content. All that I know for sure is that people want more quality results from their search provider.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Did Google Just Get Caught Blatantly Copying Bing Search Results?
Bing search results showing up in Google
My previous blog posting on this situation.
Now it seems that Google is being quite the hypocrite.
Except in this situation there is no use of a dedicated downloadable toolbar to track individual user data for personal optimization (as was the case in the 9% success rate of the Bing Sting operation). These results are coming straight from Google itself and happen 100% of the time. Specifically, Google is tracking pages that Bing has indexed. These pages are not gibberish and they are not made up specifically for a sting operation. These pages are for live and relevant search results.
I wonder how Matt Cutts and Google will respond to these new allegations? My first guess is that they are going to try and ignore it and hope it goes away. I will make sure to keep everyone posted on the situation.
My previous blog posting on this situation.
Now it seems that Google is being quite the hypocrite.
Except in this situation there is no use of a dedicated downloadable toolbar to track individual user data for personal optimization (as was the case in the 9% success rate of the Bing Sting operation). These results are coming straight from Google itself and happen 100% of the time. Specifically, Google is tracking pages that Bing has indexed. These pages are not gibberish and they are not made up specifically for a sting operation. These pages are for live and relevant search results.
I wonder how Matt Cutts and Google will respond to these new allegations? My first guess is that they are going to try and ignore it and hope it goes away. I will make sure to keep everyone posted on the situation.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Google Admits Defeat To Yahoo In Battle For Real Estate Search Superiority
zillow-and-yahoo-bolster-online-realestate-search
google-will-drop-real-estate-search-listings-from-maps
Google, under the reigns of Larry Page, has cut support for Real Estate Search and Listings from its Maps application. It seemed that very few people used the feature and it could not compete with other advanced options available online.
A few days later, Zillow.com (One of the leading online Real Estate companies that just raised $87 million in funding and got 15.7 million visitors last month) and Yahoo.com finalized a new partnership. Now Zillow can advertise listings/have them appear on Yahoo Real Estate.
It is a shame for Google to step out of this search race for not being able to compete in the industry. Online search is a huge component in the home buying process and it is surprising for a company with such a large brand presence in the search industry (Google) to drop out of the business.
Guess they are reorganizing internal resources to fight other future battles. Maybe they needed the extra people to finish up their much needed response to a failed buyout of Groupon (Google Deals).
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
google-will-drop-real-estate-search-listings-from-maps
Google, under the reigns of Larry Page, has cut support for Real Estate Search and Listings from its Maps application. It seemed that very few people used the feature and it could not compete with other advanced options available online.
A few days later, Zillow.com (One of the leading online Real Estate companies that just raised $87 million in funding and got 15.7 million visitors last month) and Yahoo.com finalized a new partnership. Now Zillow can advertise listings/have them appear on Yahoo Real Estate.
It is a shame for Google to step out of this search race for not being able to compete in the industry. Online search is a huge component in the home buying process and it is surprising for a company with such a large brand presence in the search industry (Google) to drop out of the business.
Guess they are reorganizing internal resources to fight other future battles. Maybe they needed the extra people to finish up their much needed response to a failed buyout of Groupon (Google Deals).
Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
Monday, January 31, 2011
Google shows us how to optimize websites using Google Webmaster Tools
Good Monday Everyone,
This wont be a full blown post. Just saw a super cool article on the Google Webmaster Blog about Using Webmaster Tools like an SEO. It's a great 10 minute presentation that pretty much goes over what i do on a Bi-Weekly basis for Royalfences.com.
Of course to utilize this you are going to need to preferably have the password and access to a website and a nifty FTP client such as http://filezilla-project.org/.
Will post something a bit more legitimate once i get back from picking up my brother at the airport. Good times...Good times..
Until Then,
Best Regards,
(Can i do that twice??)
-The Marketing Ninja
This wont be a full blown post. Just saw a super cool article on the Google Webmaster Blog about Using Webmaster Tools like an SEO. It's a great 10 minute presentation that pretty much goes over what i do on a Bi-Weekly basis for Royalfences.com.
Of course to utilize this you are going to need to preferably have the password and access to a website and a nifty FTP client such as http://filezilla-project.org/.
Will post something a bit more legitimate once i get back from picking up my brother at the airport. Good times...Good times..
Until Then,
Best Regards,
(Can i do that twice??)
-The Marketing Ninja
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Google...Such a spiteful lover...
What does Google do when a courtship goes awry? They anted up a rumored $6 Billion for this digital based group discount start-up and were straight-up turned down. Apparently there is alot of spite from Google in the failed takeover bid and public humiliation for Groupon.
I just read this CNET article GoogleGroupon? on the soon to be released Google Offers (basically Google's version of Groupon). When it releases we shall see if Google can get back at Groupon and show the many other group discount sites online that it can play ball. Maybe the discontent from a failed takeover will fuel Google to take this concept in a new and interesting direction.
Gotta love the constantly evolving digital marketplace.
Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
I just read this CNET article GoogleGroupon? on the soon to be released Google Offers (basically Google's version of Groupon). When it releases we shall see if Google can get back at Groupon and show the many other group discount sites online that it can play ball. Maybe the discontent from a failed takeover will fuel Google to take this concept in a new and interesting direction.
Gotta love the constantly evolving digital marketplace.
Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja
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