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Google Adjusts How Average Search Position Is Calculated

posted on January 26, 2012

Google continues to make changes in different areas of their business. Apparently, how that business is defined is causing pains for Wall Street types which is rather amusing, but I digress.

The latest adjustment comes in how average search position is calculate. From the Google Webmaster Central blog we get an example of just how this is being done.

Let’s say Nick searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 3, 6, and 12. Jane also searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 5 and 9. Previously, we would have averaged all these positions together and shown an Average Position of 7. Going forward, we’ll only average the highest position your site appeared in for each search (3 for Nick’s search and 5 for Jane’s search), for an Average Position of 4.

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The Social Media Super Bowl

posted on January 25, 2012

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the Super Bowl will be the biggest, one-day, social media event of the year.

Last year, during the final minutes of the game, fans posted 4,064 Tweets per second. This broke the sporting record which had been held by the World Cup, but it didn’t break the all-time record of 6,939 TPS. That happened the moment Japan welcomed in the new year.

Still, I believe that this year’s Super Bowl will trump all because the powers that be have a plan. Of course they have an official Twitter and Facebook and plenty of supporting accounts on both. They have a website full of bells and whistles and mobile apps so you can keep up with all the game info while on the go.

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Yahoo Ad Sales Still on the Decline

posted on January 25, 2012

It’s ironic that the top story on Yahoo’s front page is about how J. C. Penney is reinventing the brand. Perhaps the higher ups at Yahoo should read their own article, then maybe sit down with the retailer for a round of commiseration and cheering up.

The once powerful Yahoo, just reported a decline in net income of 5% for Q4. Recently, Yahoo invested a lot of money and effort into raising the quality of its content. That gave them the title of the “most trafficked news site on the web,” but apparently that didn’t help their bottom line.

A large part of the problem is the drop in their display advertising business. This used to be the jewel in the crown for Yahoo, but now they’re down 4% quarter over quarter.

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Google Maps Gets Public Alerts

posted on January 25, 2012

If you can step back for enough time to see some of the other things that Google does you would maybe see less of the evil, greedy Google that seems to be the popular point of view these days and see places where they actually help people. They do this even without taking your data and “forcing” you to use their Google+ service which is simply their front for world domination.

Take the new Public Alerts feature in Google Maps. It’s pretty cool and it makes good sense. Whether you are traveling into an area where an alert might be in effect or you have concerns right near your home you can now check a map to get the information you want.

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EU Plans to Fund Recovery Through Data Protection Fines

posted on January 25, 2012

Ok, it may be that I took a liberty or two with the headline. However, when you read what the EU (European Union) is “allowing” itself to do if a company violates their first update to their data protection laws in 17 years and then look at the state of THEIR union its not a very far jump to get to my conclusion.

From Bloomberg

Companies face fines as high as 2 percent of yearly global sales for losing personal data under an overhaul of European Union privacy rules.

Data protection agencies in the EU’s 27 countries would gain the power to sanction companies that violate requirements for handling personal information proposed by the European Commission today. The measures, which also target online- advertising and social networking sites, update the EU’s 17- year-old data protection policies.

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Getting More Clicks On Twitter (Infographic)

posted on January 25, 2012

We all want more clicks. We all want a magic formula to get clicks. We also all know (at least those who are firmly planted in reality) that there is no such beast.

There is, however, research that is being done all the time to help give some guidance regarding how to best navigate the emerging social media marketing landscape. One person who does a lot of this research, especially around Twitter, is HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella. His latest look into the world of Twitter and how you might be able to optimize your efforts on the social network looks at some of the variables that go into generating more clicks on Twitter.

Take a look at this infographic that examines insights gleaned from Zarrella’s research. Have you found similar experiences in using Twitter? Do you have your own “secret sauce”? Care to share?

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The Importance of Social Media – Part Two

posted on January 25, 2012

This post was written by our Social Media channel sponsor Full Sail University.

In a previous post here on Marketing Pilgrim, I wrote about personal branding from the perspective of how social media can help (or hurt) in finding a job. That article focused on the basic tactics like setting up professional profiles and who to follow. In this post I’d like to get into the strategy behind personal branding a little more.

The basic tenet behind developing a strong personal brand – or any brand, for that matter – is providing your audience with something of value to them. Online, that’s largely about content, and just as businesses should have a solid content strategy, so should you as an individual.

Developing a Personal Brand Content Strategy