This week in our blogosphere recap we’ll look at four blog posts from last week that discuss Google’s new Social Search upgrades, J.C. Penney getting caught running a paid link campaign, Facebook ad targeting and more! Below are some of the highlights from these articles:
- Google introduced two new feature upgrades to their Social Search last week, which will in some cases, boost the rankings of content created and shared by friends in your social networks.
- Google recently penalized J.C. Penney for black hat SEO techniques, after the New York Times conducted an investigation into the department store’s seemingly artificial Google rankings.
- Research findings show that targeted Facebook ads see much higher clickthrough rates compared to non-targeted ads.
- Last week Google launched a new Chrome extension that allows users to block content farms, and the search giant says they might look to this user feedback as a ranking signal in the future.
An Update to Google Social Search
Official Google Blog | Mike Cassidy & Matthew Kulick | 2-17-11
Google created a lot of noise last week with some major updates to their Social Search features, which they originally launched in October 2009. Now, users will start to see content created by people in their social circles anywhere on the search engine result page, along with a mention of the friend’s name and photo. Previously, these results only showed up on the bottom of the page. Secondly, users will now see links their social networks are sharing on Twitter, Google Reader, Quora, YouTube, Flickr and other social sites. Facebook’s still left off this list for now. These links will also include annotations of the friend who shared the result. In some cases, this social context will boost the rankings of those results higher on the SERP. Additionally, all of these social results will be baked into your normal search results, appearing just like other organic listings. This is just one more example of the convergence of social media and SEO.
Additional Info:
- Search results from your social circle are only visible to you and only when you’re logged into your Google Account.
- Google’s also added a new Google Account setting, which lets users (privately) add their social networking accounts to their Google Profile, so as to see the most relevant search results to them.
The Dirty Little Secrets of Search
New York Times | David Segal | 2-12-11
The New York Times recently led an investigation of J.C. Penney, based on the company’s seemingly unnatural Google rankings over the past few months for dozens of search terms. After concluding that JCP was running a paid links campaign, the NYT reported this violation to Google, who had not yet recognized the department store’s black hat SEO practices. Google quickly took “manual action” against JCP by dramatically lowering their search result rankings.
Main Takeaways:
- The New York Times recently reported J.C. Penney to Google for a paid link campaign they’ve been running over the past few months–a direct violation of Google “law.”
- A JCP spokesperson stated that the company had no knowledge that this was going on and have said that they’re in the process of taking those links down.
Targeting Boosts Low Facebook Click Rates
eMarketer | 2-17-11
Despite eMarketer’s predictions that marketers worldwide will spend $6 billion on social network advertising in 2011, networks like Facebook are reportedly seeing increasingly lower clickthrough rates, yet higher bid rates. According to a Webtrends study of global Facebook performance metrics, clickthrough rates declined from .063% in 2009 t0 .051% in 2010, yet cost-per-click rose from $0.27 in 2009 to $0.49 in 2010. BLiNQ Media reported findings that ad targeting can significantly impact performance metrics, in the case of Facebook. According to their research, targeted ads on Facebook saw 7.5 times higher clickthrough rates (from U.S. Facebook users) than non-targeted ads.
Main Takeaways:
- eMarketer forecasts global social network ad spend to rise to $6 billion in 2011.
- While cost-per-click is on the rise for Facebook advertising, clickthrough rates are on the decline. Research shows ad targeting can boost clickthrough rates dramatically compared to non-targeted ads.
User Feedback: The Next Google Ranking Signal?
WebProNews | Chris Crum | 2-16-11
Google has just released an extension to their Chrome browser that allows users to block content farms on a personalized basis from their search results. The search engine giant has been working for awhile now to find a way to weed out content farms and improve search engine quality, and according to Google’s Matt Cutts, their new Personal Blocklist Extension “also sends blocked site information to Google, and we [Google] will study the resulting feedback and explore using it as a potential ranking signal for our search results.”
Main Takeaways:
- In response to the growing issue around search engine quality and content farms, Google has launched an extension to their Chrome browser that lets users block content farms from their search results on a personalized basis.
- Google has said that this data is sent back to them and that they’re considering using it as a “potential ranking signal for our search results.”
Google’s Updated Social Search & Its Business Implications
We hope that you’ve enjoyed this weekly update and that you’ll share any feedback you might have with us. To get the weekly summary, or any other Optify updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or subscribe to our RSS feed. Here’s one question we’d like your feedback on:
As search gets more social, specifically with the announcement of Google’s newly upgraded Social Search, businesses will have a whole new kind of exponential reach across their followers’ and fans’ social networks, just from a simple RT, @mention or Google Buzz status update. With Google’s new social features, when people share your content it might show up in their friends’ search results—and, with a higher ranking than normal.
What kind of impact do you think this will have on businesses, their social media marketing and their online marketing strategies?
