Google Instant: Reading Your Mind

Google Instant

The latest update from Google attempting to literally read your mind! Wow!

On Sept 8, 2010, Google introduced Google Instant, a change to make search fast and interactive by showing you results instantly as you type.

This of course presented a challenge to Google developers and poses many new questions to professional SEO companies. Previously, results were returned after you selected the “search” button. Now, as long as your connection speed is sufficient, Google Instant will refresh the results panes AS YOU TYPE and before you complete each term.

Click this link for the full article on Google Instant.

We have not seen any significant changes in our overall client rankings due to this and we do not expect to based on the key word targeting that we do for you. However what we are looking out for is whether users will stop typing before they reach your originally intended search term phrase.

Our current opinion is that the final results will largely depend on the user. If a user is a proficient typist then they are already typing faster than (or as fast as) the results pane is likely to refresh. If however, the user is a pick and peck two-finger typist (of the slow variety), then they may very likely see results they like before typing out their full search phrase.  We’ll see how this goes and whether it will make any significant difference in our approach to keeping you ranked highly in the search results.

Google Instant Features:

• Dynamic Results – Google dynamically displays relevant search results as you type so you can quickly interact and click through to the web content you need.
• Predictions – One of the key technologies in Google Instant is that we predict the rest of your query (in light gray text) before you finish typing. See what you need? Stop typing, look down and find what you’re looking for.
• Scroll to search – Scroll through predictions and see results instantly for each as you arrow down.

Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy our updates.

Google Instant… a whole new world of search.

- Johnny Vargas

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Free Website Software

As people watch my video series I get a lot of questions about what software I use, whether I like it, and how much it costs. Usually it is followed by, “is there a free version?”

So, I have found a free website builder that you can use to build/edit/maintain your website. It isn’t the fanciest or the most robust with regard to features, but as a free option, it rocks!

FREE Website Builder Software

I will warn you, the link goes to a sales page. It will lead you through how you can purchase a graphics package of images you can add to your site. The bundle is actually pretty good but you do NOT need to buy this in order to get the free website builder software. This is an affiliate link so I will follow by saying if you do purchase the graphics package, I will earn a small commission on that sale. The FTC requires that I tell you that so there you go.

Here’s the link.. Enjoy!!

FREE Website Builder Software

To your success!

- Johnny Vargas

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Why Internet Ads Are Not Working

Research shows that web users focus most of their time and attention on the top and left of the search results page.

Are you advertising your business online with paid ads that appear on the right side of the web page? How is that ad working for you? Chances are it is not performing to your expectations. The reason why: Research shows that internet users ignore content on the right side of the page and spend more time looking at content along the left, where the natural listings are located.

Whether this is due to natural eye movement or learned behavior “to avoid ads” is a completely different study; in fact this is one perspective which I’m not sure has been studied. But back to the point, does it really matter why this is occurring? Well it might in the future, but frankly right now we aren’t so concerned in knowing why as we are in taking advantage of the fact that this is the resulting pattern of behavior. We know that based on Google’s current arrangement of ads and search results, users are spending most of their time on the top and left of the search results. What is located here? The natural “organic” listings.

Studies on this topic have been performed at major universities such as Cornell University, University of Hamburg, Oxford University and many others. While the individual results had some variations, for the most part they are in concurrence.

Take a look at this “heat map” to understand more about this phenomenon.

My advice? When investing in your business, spend considerable time and resources in trying to improve your natural rankings. Rising to Page 1 of the search results may take some time to achieve; however, the end results will be worth your effort.

To your success,

Johnny Vargas

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Search Engine Ranking Tip #7: Title Tags

One tiny piece of the puzzle which will help your website rank higher is to include your keywords in your web page title tags.

Chances are if you are new to marketing your business online, you only have your company name or some “catchy” phrase in your web page’s title tag. Why? Do you really think users are searching for “Henry’s Careful Clippers – Where Your Happiness Is Our Number 1 Priority” ??  Even worse are those pages with something generic such as “Home” or “Services” as their title tags.

Seriously, who do you think is searching for such terms and phrases? A more effective title would be “San Diego Hair Dresser” or if you must hold on to part of your ego, “San Diego Hair Dresser – Henry’s Careful Clippers” might be okay depending on market congestion.

Bottom line, you need to use terms in your title tag that match what users are searching for in the search engines.

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Keeping It Fresh: Google Caffeine

Google Caffeine Announced

In a recent announcement Google made public its new search index, Google Caffeine. Click the image below for the full story.  As a professional marketer, my interest is in keeping up with changes like this in order to ensure that activity on my client accounts is kept up to date. 

In my personal opinion Google Caffeine is a welcomed update.

So, bottom line what does this mean? As a quick summary it means that with Google Caffeine, users will receive the freshest, most relevant content available on the web. One of my techniques for keeping client sites well ranked is to keep their content fresh. So, from my perspective this change is a great change and keeps my clients ahead of the competition.  As each day passes, Google is making it clear that new, fresh, relevant, dynamic sites are what will rank well in their overall search results and Google Caffeine is a bold confirmation of that idea. One prime example of dynamic sites are social media sites where content is updated literally on a second by second basis.

Google Caffeine

If you are not maintaining a dynamic website with changing content, user updates, posted feedback and comments, etc… well you might want to start packing your office up because your competitors that keep up with changes in the search engines like those in Google Caffeine will quickly outrank you even if you’ve enjoyed riding page 1 now for sometime. 

Google Caffeine is changing the site ranking game.

Read the full Google Caffeine article by clicking the image above, it’s pretty fascinating to hear these updates as they are released!

To your online success!
- Johnny Vargas

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Online Marketing For Non Techy Business Owners

As a business owner, you already know that traditional advertising and marketing techniques are NO LONGER WORKING!  With the continuous growth of the internet, if you truly want your business to thrive, you MUST implement an online marketing strategy.

To your online success!

Johnny Vargas

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Page 1 On Google For Under $500?

How much are you currently paying for your monthly marketing and advertising? How much of this is on-line versus off-line? When was the last time you actually opened the phone book to find a local provider for a service that you needed?

As each day passes, more and more people are turning to the web to search for local providers. In fact, greater than 60% of online users use local search and greater than 50% of online users have searched for a local provider in the last 90 days. However, if you are new to online marketing this shift to promoting your business online can seem difficult and overwhelming.

What is your ultimate goal? Are you happy with the amount of new business you are gaining each month? Have you lost any business due to the recession? Would you benefit from 5 more clients a month? What about 10 or 20 new clients? In fact, what would just 1 new client each month mean for your business?

If you are ready to move toward marketing your business online and want to maximize your results while minimizing your expense and effort, I’d like to help you. I’ve been promoting products and services online for many years and now I’m bringing this service to you to help you get visibility on Page 1 of Google!

Whether you use my services or try this alone, I’d like to help you get started by giving you a free report showing you recent search traffic for your keywords and phrases. This report will provide you with enough information to get started online. In fact this is the same report I will use to begin your marketing if you choose to use my services. Of course, once I get started I’ll dig in deeper than what my free report offers, but it’s definitely enough to get you going.

So, how do you get the free report? Simply contact me using the form below and I will reply back with your customized report within 3 days. Along with your report I’ll also include a proposal for my services. If you like what I have to offer, simply return the signed proposal along with a $425 retainer fee and I’ll get busy on your marketing campaign immediately. If you do not like what I have to offer, the report is still yours to use for your own benefit.

Request Free Local Search Report

NOTICE: For obvious reasons, I will only accept 1 client per market per city. For example, if you are a landscape company in Austin, TX, I will only accept 1 landscape company in Austin. Each week I will be sending promotional information to different markets and the first to respond will be my chosen client for that area. As Napoleon Hill once stated (the author of “Think and Grow Rich”), “Successful people are decisive in nature.”

Be decisive, and welcome to the land of online marketing.

Johnny Vargas

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Social Media Impact on Google Search Results

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The Truth About Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing… What’s the buzz, what’s the hype, and more importantly what’s the truth? Does it work? How effective is it?

2010: Up and to the Right

Bottom line, yes it works. However, the better question you should consider is how well it works. As a quick analysis, if I were to give you $1 for every 50 cents you gave me, would that be worth it? Of course it would be, you would be doubling your money with each investment. What if I gave you $1 for ever 60 cents, or 70 cents? What would be your limit?

The modern hype would have you believe that Social Media Marketing can make you soar to new heights overnight; and for some people it has been exactly that. However, most people that use Social Media Marketing in their business will see steady, incremental growth over time. The great thing is that it is growth they would not have experienced using only traditional marketing methods. And if you do the math or view the diagram… steady, incremental growth adds up and makes a huge difference.

Now, why is that? Well, the answer is quite simple. People are attracted to Social Media sites right now and many businesses are using this traffic stream to promote their products and services. Those that use these methods effectively gain more traffic and as a result gain more business. And, more and more people are using these sites. So here again… this is not rocket science. It’s a matter of being at the right place at the right time.

However, there is an art to using Social Media for your business. The key therefore is to use Social Media Marketing, but in a manner that brings you the right type of additional traffic: targeted traffic. Using the right blend of SEO techniques and Web 2.0 tactics you can effectively attract new visitors that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. This is where you make your new money; new visitors that you wouldn’t have reached through your traditional marketing methods.

Now, will you double your sales? Triple? Or perhaps only increase sales by 5%.  As long as your cost is below your gain, any additional sales through Social Media Marketing easily justify your investment.

The world has not fully transitioned to online marketing; therefore, you should not consider Social Media Marketing as a replacement but rather a supplement to your current marketing efforts. Over time, as you see more and more gains with your online marketing, you can then begin to decrease your offline marketing. As the world transitions, so will you. However, I’m not at all convinced that offline marketing will ever go away completely, so keep it up! By combining and coordinating the online and offline efforts, you will continue to build your business while keeping ahead of the pack.

To your success,

Johnny Vargas

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The Death of Traditional SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and as the name suggests, it is the process of improving a web site’s standing in search engines by “optimizing” the website. However, traditional SEO methods are quickly dying and unless you understand why, your business may suffer in 2010 and beyond.

The Death of Traditional SEO

The idea of course is that the more optimized a site is, the higher it ranks in search engines and therefore receives more traffic. Optimizing a site includes modifying the site’s content as well as its design so that it not only maintains its keyword relevance, but also is able to be indexed easily by the various search engines.

Search engines use many different methods and algorithms in an attempt to ensure that search results are relevant. This of course is done to filter out unrelated listings and return desired search results to end users. However, this creates major problems for the search engines and creates a steady stream of work and constant changes in the algorithms used. The internet is constantly evolving and therefore what is considered “relevant” also changes as end-user habits change.

In December 2009, Google published several posts on its official blog which describe major changes with how Google will now display search results. These stories included “Personalized Search for everyone” (12/04/09) and “Relevance meets the real-time web” (12/07/09).

In “Personalized Search…” Google highlights the fact that when you search using Google, they will attempt to provide you relevant results based on you as an individual and your search history “based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser.”  This is different than in the past when personalized search was limited to users logged into their Google account.

In “Relevance…” Google highlights that they will begin using “a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web.”  The idea is that Google will search live updates from popular sites across the web.  If the search finds relevant information, those sites will be ranked highly in your search results. In other words, what users make popular, Google will consider relevant.

Why is this a problem for traditional SEO consultants? Because SEO consultants typically spend a considerable amount of time attempting to improve a site’s SEO score by “optimizing” the individual website. They’ve proven themselves in the past based on this type of work and they’ve gained the trust of many clients along the way. These clients have been trained to accept that this work takes months or even years to complete. Sadly, this approach alone will not work in 2010 and beyond in order to maintain high relevance within Google and other search engines.

As people flock toward social media sites, the search engines also recognize that the fresh content people talk about online has relevance and may very well be what others are hoping to find in their search results. Traditional SEO practices do not consider this shift in how search engines function.

If you want to expand your internet marketing and improve your search engine ranking, it is important that you understand what search engines consider and how you can maximize your marketing investment.  If you have content that is relevant to the keywords being used by end-users, it may be more important for you to place your content into these social media streams than to solely work on website optimization. Doing so will increase your chances that the search engines are able to make the connection between what end-users want and those sites that offer related and relevant content.

To your success!

Johnny Vargas

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