#1 Search Plus is a Personalised Search Update and Only Applies to Logged-In Google Users

Well, for starters, the one most important thing to know is that the new search plus results would only affect logged-in users to a Google account and the impact would be felt more on the search results of Google+ account holders – which currently stands at 62 million users and to be honest has yet to garner mainstream usage traction. It is an update to Google’s personalised results and is geared to improving on the relevancy of Google results – so an electrician searching for ‘jumpers’ would more likely see the results for an electrical connector and a person shopping for clothes would more likely see knitted clothing in their results based on their Google+ shares and what people in their Google+ circles share.

Here are the search results for a key phrase I am quite familiar with (as I also run a property/real estate blog)

“investment property” on Google.com when I am logged into my Google+ account:

“investment property” on Google.com for a non-logged in:

#2 – How Many of Your Visitors Would See the Search Plus Results?

The simple answer would be to log into your Google Analytics account and check your current percentage of {not provided} Google traffic referrals. It should vary from 5% to as much as 30% (depending on your industry) of your Google referral traffic. All Google Search Plus results must be from secure (SSL) search result pages, which no longer pass-on keyword referral information to web analytics apps like Google Analytics. The long and short of it is that the new Search Plus results should affect between 5% – 30% of your traffic from Google.

#3 – What Social Networks are Featured in Google’s Search Plus’ Social Graph

Well the obvious answer is Google+ but also bear in mind that your Google shares/bookmarks, Google Reader feeds, blog posts on Google’s blogspot.com, content from Flickr, Friendfeed (owned by Facebook), and Quora are all featured in the new Search Plus results. The two major active social networks, Facebook & Twitter have yet to come to an agreement with Google on featuring their content on Google’s Search Plus results. Recall that back in October 2009, Google’s Realtime Search results predominantly featured realtime tweets from Twitter but after their agreement ended in July 2011, Google stopped displaying Tweets because Twitter did not renew their agreement. Stephen Foley of the Independent newspaper, makes some salient points about the need to preserve the open web and why Google and Twitter should come to some sort of agreement. I am not in the least optimistic that Facebook would sign up though.

#4 – The Real Potential Reach of Google Plus Search?

Google based the take-up of Google+ on the number of Google account holders, most of which are Gmail users. According to this report, Gmail had about 193 million users in November 2010 – this number should have grown by now – my guesstimate would border under 300 million users by now. Google+ account holders are now estimated to be about 62 million; whilst Facebook is geared to hit 1 billion users by August 2012.

#5 – Focus on not only ‘Great’ but ‘Sharable’ Content – ‘Shares’ are the new ‘Links’

Lets face it – it is easier to produce good content than it is to get an audience to share your content. Website or content owners not only now have to ensure that their content is ‘liked’ on Facebook and ‘tweeted’ on Twitter but also more crucially +1′d on Google+. Site and content owners now have to focus more on owning a Google+ brand page and more importantly maintaining an active member-base that interact with and share their content. The challenge for brand pages is to get as many influential people in their circles that would share and interact with their content. It is more likely that popular content shares on Facebook and Twitter are likely to appear on Google+, Success does indeed breed success – so focus on creating sharable content.

#6 Update Your Google+ Brand Page

As Google seems to be placing more emphasis on ranking it’s Google+ assets over other web properties especially for brand & personal name searches, it would be prudent for brands to start investing keyword rich (non-spammy) content to their Google+ Brand pages. Brands should have a content integration strategy that includes their Google+ Brand pages. Also start figuring out how you can use your Google+ brand pages to increase sales and generate more leads.

#7 Become an Influencer & Authority in your Industry

Every blog post and guest blog post or article, you write should always include the:

rel="author"

tag with a reference link back to you Google+ profile in order to send a clout signal to Google and a bid to establish yourself and brand as a social influencer or authority of sorts. Remember that all +1s are not deemed equal: +1s from Google+ users deemed as authorities (users that have a huge following) in relation to other less active people in their industry are a stronger ranking signal to Google. Also read this step by step rel-author guide.

What You Should be Aware of…

Start thinking beyond link building as it is set to become a lower ranking signal when users actually start using Google+ as a social networking site. SEO at this point hinges on the success of Google+ as a social network. It is paramount that all online marketers keep an eye on the progression of Google+ as a social network which at the moment it seems to be at an early adopter stage.

As Google+ continues to grow in popularity, it would become more and more of a challenge for marketers to determine their fixed organic rankings because Google plus personalised results would take more prominence over other web properties. I predict a variable organic ranking metric would have to emerge as a result of the hugely varied results searchers see.

The landscape would blissfully change if Twitter and Google were to come to some sort of agreement to integrating tweets into Google’s new search plus personalised results.

Google Search Plus: 7 Things You Need to Know for Your SEO is a post from: Fuzz One Media

“We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships.”

I am not quite sure where to take off with this post – I was initially going to write about the high volatility of the organic search space in Google and that for businesses that heavily rely on search marketing as a core marketing channel for their sales funnel, more focus should be placed on paid search marketing; but Google seems to have pressed the button for me with their recent “Search plus your world‘ announcement.

It all started when most of us began to notice the infiltration of two or three additional Google+ powered entries in the organic results of some searches on Google late last year. Even, Dr.Pete from SEOMoz attempted to decipher Google’s ever changing Search Result Pages (SERPs) in this post and still got us wondering what the set structure of Google’s search result pages are in this day and age.

There is no doubt at all that Google is aggressively taking it’s search results personalised in order to make Google+ a success – this is worryingly up to the level that it is going to start displaying privately shared Google+ posts in its search result pages. This is really interesting because, Facebook’s core value proposition to it 800 million ‘citizens’ is that it is can be as closed and as private as its users would like it to be – I mean, there are privacy settings on Facebook that disable your profile from come up on it’s search results even when your name has been searched for on Facebook. On the other side of the court, Google+ is forcing a more open social experience on its users. Take this statement from their blog for instance (their words – not mine):

Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and,

People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community

Apparently, Google search is now becoming a people finder of sorts and also a match maker connecting searcher to communities…I much preferred when Google fetched for plain old publicly available web pages and not pages from its Google web properties; as is more and more the case these days. It’s not too obvious who is going to win this Social war but my guess is that the odds are heavily on Facebook’s side.

Have a look at how Google’s search results are to transform in 2012:

Creepy, searching for my name, not only auto-predicts it, but can reveal my full address (if I added it to my Google profile) – huge privacy issues:

Swap between personal and public results

These truly are dark times – the search marketplace truly needs a viable contender.

SSL and {not provided} – All Starting to Come Together Now

Remember the {not provided}, Google going SSL saga back in November that got the SEO community crying their bellies out?

Well Google is justifying that if it is going to reveal so much private conversation on it search result pages from your private Google+ network, then a way to justify the display of ‘private’ (yes private) information is by using SSL protocol to ‘protect’ your search…right. They went on further to explain that SSL is the same protocol used for gmail accounts. So searching for stuff online should not be likened to checking your email…wow. Good going…

When mainstream media rip Google+ and the new Google ‘Social’ Search in pieces, let see how many more users Google+ would attract.

Here are a couple of articles already:

• Could Google’s attempt to ‘Plus Your World’ be a monopoly move straight into the hands of anti-trust politicians? [Daily Mail]
• Twitter unhappy about Google’s social search changes [BBC]
• Google search changes set off uproar [USA Today]
• Google likely to face FTC complaint over ‘Search Plus Your World’ [LA Times]
• Twitter Slams Google: Social Search Changes Are ‘Bad for People’ [Mashable]
• Who Loses in the War Between Google and Twitter? Users [Business Week]
• Google’s disastrous decision to muck up its search results with stuff from your social network. [Slate]
• Twitter: Google search changes are ‘bad for the internet’ [Metro]
• Google search tweak spooks privacy advocates, rivals [CBS]

Any reputation management specialist would sense the heavily skewed negative sentiments flowing around the web about Google at the moment, largely thanks to the outlash from Twitter’s lead lawyer, Alex Macgillivray and strangely no comments so far from Facebook.

Google – sort out you s**t – you are polluting your SERPs, not improving them!

Note to SEOs

Google is a technology company – arguably the most innovative tech company in history. What keeps Google’s innovation going is change and this change inevitably always has an effect on its organic search results (this includes local listings, maps, shopping results, etc). It’s in Google’s interest to make the AdWords space a more stable environment for advertisers as it is its core revenue generator (like advertising is to newspapers).

SEOptimise’s Marcus Taylor suggests in this blog post that the direction of SEO/Google Search Plus in 2012 might be geared towards Google attempting to create a ‘social’ map similar to Facebook’s Open Graph that connects searchers with content providers (i.e. through rel=”author” & rel=”publisher” tags) in a bid to establish niche communities/eco-systems in which authorities would emerge.

Another interesting perspective about the Google Search Plus development is that of Jon Henshaw from the Raven blog; Jon draws on two new developments – first is the prominence of the new Google Bar on the top area of the browsers of millions of gmail/google account holders, which he likens to be Google’s key magnet to its freshly designed eco-system (with G+ at the core of course); the second development is Google’s new reincarnation of PageRank; G+’s Google Profile Authority (GPA), which would be more focused on quality rather than quantity and would be a core Google ranking factor, going forward.

Inevitably, the name of the SEO game is adaptation to Google’s continuously changing persona – with some core fundamentals remaining same i.e. like creating *great* content & promoting the content. For instance I don’t think a site like: dpreview.com would ever do badly on the SERPs for photography related search terms, no matter how many times Google changes because it has *great* sharable photography content. It would in fact be detrimental to the results of Google to exclude such as site as they more than justify the positions on Google’s result pages.

The long and short of it all is that: as an SEO you would always need to adapt and evolve your skillset with Google’s new rules (kind of like a surfer taming the waves).

Google Search ‘Plus’ Your Private Messages is a post from: Fuzz One Media

SEO is a lot more complex than most people give it credit for. Many regard it as something akin to voodoo or alchemy. But SEO can be incredibly powerful and lucrative if you have the right tools for the job. That doesn’t mean you have to splurge on every piece of software you come across. Having prowled through the interwebs, trial and premium tested a number of tools out there, I have come up with this selection of MUST HAVE Paid SEO tools you should grab your wallets to purchase when the need arises.

1 – SEM Rush Pro

for advanced keyword research – from $79.95/month

website: www.semrush.com

The heart of Search Engine Optimisation is and always has been keyword research. There are free tools available online such as Google’s External Keyword Tool, but those programs aren’t always entirely accurate and are often lacking in features. In SEO, every possible advantage counts and can add up big time in the long run. You want the best information available when it comes to keywords, even if you have to pay for it. SEM Rush is the best way to locate lucrative niches and the keywords that will give you control over them.

SEM Rush provides query information for 40 million keywords, delivering results from at least 20 million domain names. You can easily rank specific keywords and phrases based on how high the competition is for any give term, or by any number of different criteria. Employing sophisticated algorithms to deliver up-to-date information on any keyword, SEM Rush is arguably the best keyword tool on the market today. While they offer a stripped-down free version, the paid version is well worth the extra cost. Recent improvements include a new database with suggestions for users in the UK, focused specifically on UK English.

2 – SEOMoz Pro

for on-page SEO analysis & SEO campaign management – from $99/month
website: www.seomoz.org

In the “everything but the kitchen sink” department, SEOMoz Pro is the ultimate all-inclusive website performance analysis machine. SEOMoz Pro is an on-page Optimisation powerhouse, giving users data on practically every aspect of their chosen websites. One great feature is Crawl Diagnostics, which serves up automatic reports on server errors, client errors, and redirect errors. It also delivers traffic statistics, relevant bounce and click-through rates, and link analysis. SEOMoz is one of the best ways to gather information on relative and absolute website health and performance without having to rely on a grab bag of separate tools.

Once you’ve gotten used to using SEOMoz Pro’s My PRO Dashboard, which can be a bit intimidating, you’ll be able to compile performance reports quicker than you thought. The extensive graphical presentation capabilities of SEOMoz Pro allow you to fire up charts and visual representations of information on the fly for quick comparisons. SEOMoz Pro has more features than you can shake a stick at, or fully describe in a paragraph or two. Fortunately, they offer a 30 day free trial so that you can experience everything it has to offer before deciding whether or not it’s overkill for your needs.

3 – Majestic SEO

for advanced link development & competitor link research – from £29.99/month
website: www.majesticseo.com

Alongside keyword research, link building is another one of the obvious cornerstones of proper SEO. Majestic SEO brands itself as a “link intelligence tool”, otherwise known as an analytics program. But it would be a mistake to label Majestic as just another web analytics software tool. Majestic has a number of handy features that make it a worthy addition to your marketing war chest. Capable of tracking referrals, analysing the click-through rates of differing anchor text, and organising data on backlink effectiveness, Majestic puts you on the right track towards maximising your conversion rate.

Majestic is particularly well suited to tracking referrals from specific websites, giving you more pertinent information on who is giving you link karma. Once you’ve added a page to track to their servers, Majestic will crawl it every few hours to give you the most up-to-date information on how well-connected your website is at the moment. In addition to its many backlink analysis capabilities, Majestic offers a number of convenient ways to export your data for further study. One such feature is a handy export-to-CSV function that makes creating spreadsheets and charts a snap. When it comes to tracking backlinks, Majestic SEO one of the best options available.

4 – Advanced Web Rankings (enterprise edition)

for ranking monitoring & reporting – purchase price $399 
website: www.advancedwebranking.com

Like it or not, the Search Engine Results Pages still play a huge part in how successful your SEO efforts are. Much as Facebook would love to supplant Google with its own “social search”, most people still hit up search engines for information rather than relying on the likes and dislikes of strangers. Advanced Web Rankings uses proxy servers to gauge the relative strength of your websites, delivering results in real time. More specifically, AWR allows you to see how well your sites rank for hundreds if not thousands of specific keywords and search terms.

Tracking the everyday changes of your standings in the results pages is a lot easier with Advanced Web Rankings, thanks to its intuitive user interface and manageable functionality. It features automatic alerts or “triggers”, decent graphing capabilities to make sense of your data, and a clean and simple layout. In other words, the learning curve with AWR is shallow enough for you to be up and running in under an hour. If you manage many websites, either for yourself or as an agency, it’s just the ticket and scales up to handle an almost unlimited volume of keywords.

5 – Raven SEO Tools

for end to end SEO campaign management and reporting – from $99/month
website: raventools.com

Any SEO consultant worth his or her salt uses a master management program to oversee their various campaigns. Juggling all of your promotional efforts without a dedicated SEO management suite is difficult at best. That’s why it makes sense to automate some of the more tedious tasks with something like Raven SEO Tools. Raven makes it easy to organise your campaigns and plan ahead, thanks to a bevy of helpful analytics and tracking tools. If there’s an equal to Majestic SEO in terms of overall power and bang for your buck, Raven SEO Tools might just be it.

Raven SEO Tools stands apart from the crowd with its Quality Analyser. The Quality Analyser allows you to enter a domain name and get a torrent of information relating to its overall performance based on a number of different metrics. It spits out Google PageRank, Alexa statistics, DMOZ standings, how many pages are indexed in Google and Yahoo, and more. In addition, Raven integrates Google’s Keyword Tool backend for keyword research and analysis. With its built-in Link Manager, Content Manager, and comprehensive analytics tools, Raven is the complete package in terms of SEO management.

6 – UserTesting.com

for usability testing & web design – from $29.99 per user
website: www.usertesting.com

Split testing, also known as A/B testing or multivariate testing, is a surefire way to determine which of your web designs are working out. Even better than split testing is direct feedback from real people. Numerous studies have shown that usability is just as important as page load times when it comes to reducing bounce rates and increasing click-through rates – two rankings factors introduced with the Google Panda update. First impressions are important, so it helps to try out a few different landing page layouts to see which ones your visitors react to most favourably. That’s where UserTesting.com comes into the equation.

It’s a helpful online usability service that pays testers to interact with your website, rank it based on various usability parameters, and give feedback as to how you can improve your design. UserTesting.com is an effective way to field test various web layouts before you put them into production mode. You can log into your account and see people accessing your site in real time, read their reviews, and use their feedback to rejigger your designs to improve conversions. While their own user interface could use a little work, it’s one of the best ways to get constructive criticism on your web pages when you need the information most.

7 – Hootsuite

for Social Media Management - $5.99/month
website: hootsuite.com

Whether you like is or not, social media is now part of SEO. Even if social media platforms may have become a bit over-hyped in today’s 24 hour news cycle, they’re still highly effective ways to increase your audience and raise your profile. Managing your numerous social media profiles can become a seriously taxing endeavour. Compounding the confusion is the proliferation of third-party management tools for Twitter, Facebook, now Google+ and many other social media platforms. It makes more sense to have one unified tool to manage tweets, wall posts, and other forms of social media communication. Hootsuite can manage your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Myspace, and WordPress accounts from one location.

Hootsuite is a full-featured command centre that ingrates with Ping.fm, Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and other services to streamline your social media interaction. You can pull in RSS feeds, post to your blog, and chat with others using a wide variety of services in real time. Better yet, Hootsuite has impressive tracking and analytics tools to keep abreast of the response your posts receive. While it offers a limited free version, their paid version is only $5.99 a month and allows you to add unlimited accounts and removes all sponsored advertisements. If social media is a big part of your SEO efforts, and it should be, Hootsuite is a wise investment.

Final Thoughts

It may sound cliché, but you often need to spend money to make money. There’s a difference between non-productive spending and investments, however. The above SEO tools are an investment in your future SEO success. If you want to make SEO work for you and boost your revenue, these programs produce immediate results.

Image Credits: Jody via Flickr

7 Premium SEO Tools Worth Paying For is a post from: Fuzz One Media

First Google Toolbar PageRank Update in 2011 Taking Place Now…. is a post from: Fuzz One Media

Have you noticed the new blue arrow on Google SERPs yet? It apparently is a new accessibility feature for keyboard navigation from Google Instant search results.

So the moment you hit enter after you type your search on Google search, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate within the SERPs – just press enter to go to the site.

It’s quite a nifty feature as it enables quicker navigation through the SERPs if you are more biased to using your keyboard as against your mouse when searching.

The only drawback I foresee would be a much higher CTR on No.1 universal search results – which would be PPC No.1 results most of the time.

This would spike at the start and then level out when searcher become savvy about this feature.

Here is the official Google video:

What is the Blue Arrow on Google Search Results: Keyboard Nav is a post from: Fuzz One Media

As you may know already, Google unveiled a huge change to its search user interface called Google Instant on the 8th September.  Google Instant aims to speed up a users search experience by loading search results as users type their queries. Google instant is certainly a game changer in the SEM world and so every SEO and PPC expert has an opinion on its long term effect in the search marketing scene. Here are 10 articles (each) for and against the impact Google Instant would have on not only SEO but PPC…

10 Reasons Against…

1. Google Instant Makes SEO Irrelevant by Steve Rubel

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.

2. Google Instant AdWords Trouble by David Iwanow [via Search Engine Journal]

It seems that a number of sites that has typically benefited from either buying cheap long tail traffic or mistyped search queries via AdWords have the most to lose with the recent update.

3. Google Instant filters put gay and lesbian on a par with rape, racism and paedophilia by Malcolm Coles

So it would appear that Google Instant is filtering on the term itself, not the results. Which means it genuinely thinks that the terms gay and lesbian count as one of “pornography, violence and hate speech”.

4. Will Google Instant Kill The Long Tail? by John Ellis [via Search Engine Land]

The status of the long-tail query is my biggest concern in the paid search world. For years, I have been eliminating broad and short keywords. Although the volume was there, the conversions were not. As many marketers have learned, the real “value” in AdWords is in the longer-tailed, specific keywords.

5. Google Just Killed The “I’m Feeling Lucky Button” by Nicholas Carlson [via Business Insider]

Users no longer have a chance to click the “I’m Feeling Lucky Button” before they begin seeing search results. Yes, the button is still there on Google.com – but essentially, the feature is dead.

6. Why is Google so condescending? by Mike Elgan [via IT World]

Come to think of it, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt often comes across as arrogant and condescending. He recently asserted that Google users actually “want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.”

7. Bing exec: Google Instant may be fast, but Bing results are smarter by Byron Acohido [via USA Today]

They’re actually seeing the same thing we see when it comes to consumers’ search behavior. Speed is very important. But the question is: the speed of what? All instant search really does is simply return the same results you would have seen by typing the query and clicking the search button, only a bit faster; you don’t have to click the button.

8. Will “Google Instant” Distract From Google Ads? That’s What Eye-Tracker Data Shows…by Tom Foremski [Silicon Valley Watcher]

The eye tracker did not show any activity on the right side of the page where Google text ads are placed. These Google Adwords text links provide about two-thirds of Google’s revenue and the majority of its profits.

9. Google Instant redefines search but is world ready? by Surojit Chatterjee [via IBT]

The new search feature blacklists/filters out real-time search results of words related to violence, hate and pornography, though results on such keywords are delivered in old school fashion when you hit the search button.

10. Google Instant is trying to kill me by Charlie Brooker [via The Guardian]

My attention span was never great, but modern technology has halved it, and halved it again, and again and again, down to an atomic level, and now there’s nothing discernible left.

10 Reasons For…

1. How Google Instant Changes the SEO Landscape via SEO Book

If anything, Google instant only increases the value of a well thought out SEO strategy.

2. 7 Reasons Why Google Instant Makes SEO Dead-on Relevant by Jonathan Allen [via Search Engine Watch]

It is more likely that predicted search suggestions will increase volume on the mid-tail and longtail, because Google can effectively monetize by increasing competition on AdWords. Suggested search terms are likely to increase the amount of traffic on all of the ‘predicted’ search term

3. Google Instant. Dear Mainstream Media – Please Remove Foot From Mouth by Rae Hoffman [via Outspoken Media]

Sites do not need to optimize for letter combinations, because Google Instant is not providing search results for letter combinations.
They are merely guessing what you are typing in and showing the results for the FULL KEYWORD they believe you are eventually going to enter.

4. Google Instant: the ‘Marmite’ of Search by Doug Platts [via iCrossing]

I believe that as people get used to Google Instant there will be an artificial increase in head terms as people test out this new way of searching. But as they get used to it we would expect to see an increase in tail term traffic as people begin to further explore Google’s index.

5. How Google Instantly Made the Long Tail More Important for SEOs by Any Beal [via Marketing Pilgrim]

With Google Instant, searchers don’t have to commit to any search query. They can, you know, live a little. As they start typing “san francisco hotels” they’ll not only see suggestions, but they’ll see their search results change as they type. As they expand their search query into the long tail.

6. Google’s Plan to Slam You with Ads by Thomas E Weber [via The Daily Beast]

Our tests of Google Instant…the time savings comes with a price: lots and lots of ads. In the spirit of Google’s math, we decided to multiply those numbers out for our hypothetical user doing 25 queries a day. Based on our informal test, the ad total for Google Instant over 10 years comes to more than 1.2 million ads shown—or 1 million more than in the traditional Google approach.

7. SEO Is Here To Stay, It Will Never Die by Danny Sullivan [via Search Engine Land]

Google Instant is simply people searching at warp speed. Rather than getting their search results during a search session that might take several minutes, now they might get their answers within a minute. But they’re still searching. They’re still getting results. And those results can be influenced by SEO, just as they always have.

8. Matt Cutts’ Thoughts on Google Instant [what did you expect]

A key insight behind Google Instant is that if we want to get people answers and solve their problems faster, we can help with that by improving our UI to help you formulate queries more quickly (and then doing a bunch of hard work under the hood to answer that query too).

9. AdWords: Google Instant wouldn’t affect advertisers CTRs thanks to David Szetela [via PPC Blog]

Basically, those fly-by impressions as your ad flickers across the screen aren’t going to destroy your CTR.  Looks like they (fortunately) gave this some thought ahead of time:

10. Google Instant will change – not kill – SEO by Meghan Keane [via Econsultancy]

Google, however, knows better than to kill off its cash cow with a new consumer friendly feature. Rumors of Google Instant killing the art of SEO are greatly exaggerated.

Sitting on the Fence… [bonus]

1. Google Instant And The Power Of Suggestion by Craig Danuloff [via Search Engine Journal]

The change Google has made isn’t just to the user interface. They’ve changed how search works by dramatically increasing the power of Google Suggestions. And most importantly they’ve changed the search experience which will undoubtedly change the way people behave and react to the results they get from Google.

2. Google Instant: Potential Implications for the Advertiser by Dr. Siddharth Shah [via Efficient Frontier]

More control to Google: Google now controls the popularity of words more than ever before. With auto complete surfers were predisposed to complete queries on Google recommended terms. Now, with Google returning search results real time

Further Reading

1. About Google Instant – FAQs from Google
2. Google Instant Alphabet - a list of the first suggestions you get when you type a single alphabet [via David Naylor]
3. How AdWords impression are calculated with Google Instant [Official AdWords Help]
4. More On Instant Search by Alden DeSoto [via the Google Analytics Blog]

Conclusions

As you can see from the links above, there are endless opinions for the impact of Google Instant and as with any major Google update, stirs controversy in the SEM industry.

Over the next couple of weeks (possibly months), the SEM industry would just have re-learn the ropes of the new change and adapt to these changes by implementing new strategies that work with searcher new search habits.

Keyword bidding for head term and mid-tail keywords in the PPC scene would be more definitive because ‘popular keywords’ would be even more established and treated like commodities.

As for SEO, the mid-to-long tail has never been so important – users would be given suggestions by Google as they type and would be able to refine their search till they find the exact results they are after. Google is also providing SEOs with an invaluable source of keyword research at our fingertips. My guess is that the suggestions provided by Google would be refined on a regular basis based on search trends and search history from actual searches. This would inevitably mean that SEO campaigns might need more readjustments to adapt to the constantly changing search scenery.

Google Instant is still in it’s early day s but as Doug Platts from iCrossing brilliantly put it; Google instant has the potential to be “the ‘Marmite‘ of search – with ‘power-searches’ loving the extra 5 seconds saved per search, but the constantly changing results putting off other users who prefer a more sedate pace of searching.”

Only time would really tell…

Some Videos

Marissa Mayer On Google Instant, SEO, Ad Sales & Power Steer…

Introducing Google Instant

Google Instant with Bob Dylan

Google Instant Launch Event

Photo credits: Niall Kennedy via Flickr

Does Google Instant Render SEO Dead? – 10 Reasons For and Against is a post from: Fuzz One Media

SEO Hierarchy of Needs is a post from: Fuzz One Media

How to Use Thesaurus.com and AdWords Keyword Tool

Type in your keyword in Thesaurus.com (in this example I typed in “architect”) – it should generate a list of results

This not only helps you leverage two very powerful keyword tools at the same time but also ensures that no stones are left unturned over the course of your keyword research.

How to Use the Thesaurus to Kick Start Your Keyword Research is a post from: Fuzz One Media

Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we’ll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.

Google real-time search does exactly what it says on the can by returning some really impressive real time results from a variety of news sites, blogs and social media sites like Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, MySpace and Identi.ca (although Facebook and MySpace updates are yet to implemented). 

Apart from its highly accurate real time relevancy, the real appeal of Google’s real time search results to me is the natural flowing integration it has with Google’s other static search results.

How Can You Access Google Real Time Search?

At this moment Google’s real time search cannot be accessed directly on google.com or google.co.uk. It can however be accessed by using this URL:

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&esrch=RTSearch

Here is an awesome video showing real-time search in action:

Real Time Search Looks Impressive is a post from: Fuzz One Media

Achieving a ‘decent’ PageRank is still part of most SEO campaigns for newly launched websites. ‘Decent’ in my opinion could be termed as a PageRank of 3 and above. I have to say I’ve seen websites with PRs of 1-3 rank No.1 for highly competitive key phrases.

So if you are a PageRank junkie or just an SEO whose client requires a decent PR as a key performance indicator (KPI) for their project, here is a nice PageRank Calculator table that guides you on approximately how many links you would need to acquire to get your desired PageRank

So to get a PR5 for a newly setup website, you would need only 1 PR7 link or 101 PR4 links. And to get a site up to PR6, you would need 19 PR6 links or 4 PR7 links or a massive 555 PR4 links.

The moral of the story here is if you are into getting a high PR for your site, you are probably better off spending your time acquiring fewer higher PR links than trying to acquire hundreds and in some cases thousands of low PR links – imagine, you would need about 3,055 PR4 links for get a PR7 and only 4 PR8 links to get your website to a PageRank of 7. Some sites get the best of both worlds i.e. massive amounts of low PR links and high PR links via link baiting.

A Point of Warning!

The above calculations are based on the assumption that the webpage in each scenario has only one to three outbound links (which in reality is hard to come by). As an example, the value of link from a PR7 webpage with 50 outbound links on it already is sure to pass a PR6 or less to the sites it links to but a PR7 webpage with a single link on it would pass the full PR7 value to that single link. If you have a reasonable understanding of calculus, you can read the original Google paper – The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine and this Wikipedia article on PageRank.

How to Calculate Your PageRank is a post from: Fuzz One Media