Category: Google

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What’s Google Got In Store for 2014? Part Two

Screen shot showing new black review bar
Screen shot showing new black review bar

Continuing our post from Monday, here are some of the things Google is testing that appear to be in store for rollout in 2014 both on mobile and desktop. Make sure to read this excellent article by by Dr. Peter Myers for the Moz Blog in an article titled “Future SERP: a Glimpse at Google 2014“. This is a must read for all website owners.

4. Boxed design with expanded information for the top search result in the organic listings. Google is actively testing these results now.  See the image above, this was taken when I did a recent search for Sushi Bar Chicago. Although I did not see the box design as noted in the article, what I did see was a new black bar across the top with reviews from Google+ Local pages and Zagut (Google’s new review property) plus a large map on the right with points detailed in the search results. The black bar is an eye grabber. This is just another of the new layouts Google is testing that is not even mentioned in the article.

5. Google Now Cards. If you use search on your smartphone, you’ve already seen the Google cards. This is a button/boxed shaped section with personalized information that appears when you open Google mobile to do a search. You can customize these cards and Google also delivers location specific information in these spots based on your actual location. If you are using an Android phone, you’ve also seen that even if you turn WiFi off, Google is turning it back on to know your location at all times to deliver location related content.

Check back on Friday to see the last in this series of what to expect on Google in 2014.

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What’s Google Got In Store for 2014? Part One

Google Partner Badge
McCord Web Services is a Google Partner.

Getting or keeping search placement on Google is a fulltime job! In a wonderful and insightful review of what Google has in store for 2014 by Dr. Peter Myers for the Moz Blog in an article titled “Future SERP: a Glimpse at Google 2014” you’ll learn what he thinks Google has in store. I have to say I think that this is one of the very best articles I have read about what Google is doing.

Here are a few tidbits from the article interspersed with my own insights .

1. Google is focused on mobile. With smartphone use way up, Google’s got to find a way to monetize mobile to continue to build profits. As the mobile user reacts with search differently on their device than when using a desktop, Google is doing strong testing to identify what works and is relevant to mobile users. Expect to see the things that are being tested in mobile move to the desktop arena in the near future. For clients, this means location specificity in your content and on your website pages is very important as are location extension use in Google AdWords. Having a mobile responsive designed website is also becoming important.

2. Google is expanding the Knowledge Graph using more informational topical content from authoritative website in their organic search results to answer search questions. Questions about topics cover about 10% of all Google searches. This allows for wonderful opportunity for your own content to place in Google when you write a blog post or have content on your website that helps to education or answer a question.

3. Google is testing new ad formats that blur the line between organic and paid ads. If you’ve searched recently with your smartphone, you’ve seen some of these new formats. Some are colored the same as the organic results with a small goldenrod colored ad box in front, others are interspersed within the actual organic results. No longer are ads on mobile necessarily at the top of bottom of the page.  It is very important to know that this testing is mainly happening on mobile right now, but will move to the desktop when vetted. One of the big reasons for interspersing ads into the organic results, especially for mobile, is that there are only two ad slots using the old format for mobile – but there are more advertisers!

Visit our post on Wednesday November 20th for part two in this series.

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Google is Focused on Mobile Search Are You Making It Important?

What Google considers important, you’d better take seriously especially if you want to place in Google’s search results without having to pay to play. What Google is considering very important at this point in time is fully embracing mobile. And not just mobile advertising, but a whole range of mobile options:

  • Mobile advertising using Google AdWords
  • Responsive website design – smartphone viewing capability
  • Location specificity in your content
  • Pricing strategies to combat showrooming

To fully understand Google’s focus on the mobile space, make sure to review Google’s new Mobile Playbook.

Not only does Google consider the implementation of showing your AdWords ads in the mobile space important, but it considers having a mobile responsive website important to place organically. This brave new world of a multi platform dimension is a whole new mind set and a revolutionary way to integrate your users web experience across multiple devices.

As Google states “Mobile changes everything.”  The Mobile Playbook will help you to understand the value of mobile customers so that you can address your content strategy, in-store pricing strategies, and implement new advertising strategies as well as tips such as creating exclusive product lines to prevent price shopping. Google provides an excellent road map with case studies for the forward thinking executive’s review to help them understand that for Google, mobile is a game changer.