Posts Tagged ‘Search Results’

Google Social Circle Search Results Examples

October 30, 2009

Today while logged into one of my Google accounts, I was searching for a keyword phrase and noticed my own blog (gleaned from another Google account) appearing in the search results.

Google Social Circle Search Results

Google Social Circle Search Results

I then ran several other searches for subjects I had written about recently.

Although I couldn’t find any more of my own posts, I was able to find results for Barry Schwartz’s Twitter account from within a search page as well.

Google Social Search Results Twitter Bing

Google Social Search Results Twitter Bing

Each search result from within a Google Social Circle experiment begins with the link: “Results from people within your social circle for…” and is preceded by a nondescript silhouette.

Each of my Google account’s have avatars available, so I am not sure why silhouettes are generated in lieu of avatars.

It remains to be seen whether this Google trial will be adopted much further than beyond the borders of the search engine marketing community.

The Google social circle search product reminds to some degree of the previous Google product: “subscribed links”.

Although they take different approaches to providing Google search account holders trusted content, I believe both provide the same outcome – results links embedded within search pages from known and thus trusted sources.

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Posted in Google Social Circle Search Results, Search Engine Marketing, Search Results, Subscribed Links, Twitter Google Results | 1 Comment »

Why Aren’t Google Blog Search Categories Available via RSS?

November 21, 2008

Google recently made some changes in how it displayed blog search results.

Google Blog Search Beta now offers 12 categories of blog types to choose from.

The blog categories are: Top Stories, Politics, US, World, Business, Technology, Video Games, Science, Entertainment, Movies, Television and Sports.

Google Blog Search Technology

Google Blog Search Technology

By drilling down into blog categories further, searchers can now find specific topic coverage by different blogs from within each category.

A topic and its position within the Google Blog Search page results along with the featured blog source are indiscriminately selected according to Google.

From the Google Blog Search Beta site: “The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program.”

As luck would have it, yesterday I noticed a large number of referrals coming from Google Blog Search which prompted my visiting their site.

I was surprised to find this blog – “Search Marketing Communications” listed atop the list of Google Technology Blogs sources.

My blog remained atop their list along with the topic for a short while before then being displaced by an ongoing stream of technology related stories and other blogs.

Google Blog Search Beta

Google Blog Search BetaGoogle Blog Search Coverage

Upon clicking on the “all 37 blogs” link, I then found my blog still displayed in the “More Coverage” list of all the blogs Google had scanned that had recently written about the same subject.

Google Blog Search Beta’s grouping blogs by subject and then offering them via blog search results should give both bloggers and Google greater reach.

Google Blog Search More Coverage

Google Blog Search More Coverage

To extend both bloggers and Google Blog Search reach further why doesn’t Google offer RSS feeds of their Blog Search categories via iGoogle and Google Reader?

Google Blog Search RSS

Google Blog Search RSS

If Google did offer Google Blog Search Beta categories via RSS, I would subscribe to several categories.

Surely others would too.

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Posted in Google, Google Blog Search, Google Reader, iGoogle, RSS Feeds | Leave a Comment »

Submarining Local Business Listings in Google Maps with User Content

November 2, 2008

After reading Danny Sullivan’s post about his and Mike Blumenthal’s continued frustration with Google’s Local Business Center and its shortcomings, I went to check the status of my recent attempts to further manage my business listing and its details in Google’s Local Business Center.

I was surprised to learn my listing edits were disapproved for reasons which weren’t fully explained other than through a pop up which said: “This listing does not comply with our policy of allowed terms.”

Policy of Allowed Terms

Policy of Allowed Terms

I haven’t yet been able to locate their policy of allowed terms.

Fortunately and because the Google Local Business Center still has room for improvement – my business listing can be found in a Google or Google Maps search for Advanced Marketing Consultants Nichols Hills, OK.

Google Local Business Center Overview

Google Local Business Center Overview

However, so can my competitor’s “listings”.

I was even more surprised to find information other than data directly related to my business inserted into both the Overview and User Content sections of my business listing by a “consultants directory” which effectively submarines my listing – not once but three times – all with the same “information” from the same “consultants directory”.

Marketing Consultants

Marketing Consultants

I am not sure these are the type of search results Google wanted to see occur when they opened up and allowed “user generated content” within Google Maps – yet these types of results are now appearing there.

How long will it take before every business category gets submarined by directories who spam Google Maps with their “Placemarks” on “Untitled Maps” under the auspices of “user content”?

Placemarks Untitled Maps

Placemarks Untitled Maps

I don’t know exactly how Google can stop spammers from generating “Placemarks” on “Untitled Maps” which in turn get published under unsuspecting business owner’s business listings.

Surely though since Google created the “User Content” system – they can also fix it.

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Posted in Google Local Business Center, Google Maps, Google Search Results, Local Business Listings, Placemarks, Untitled Maps, User Content | Leave a Comment »

Targeting iPhone Users with Google Adwords

October 9, 2008

Adweek reports Google has had discussions with ad agencies regarding advertisers targeting their ads to iPhone users specifically via Google Adwords.

While in Utah yesterday, my fly fishing guide Justin Harding and I noticed when using Google search from his iPhone Google Adwords advertising was sparse.

Initially, I thought it was because of the type of search we had ran.

However, after further investigative searches under highly competitive and advertised keywords, we weren’t ever able to see Adwords sponsored links on the right rail – only above the first search result.

Can a iPhone Google search display more than two Adwords advertisers ads as is now?

We weren’t able to generate any.

How is Google parsing iPhone search ads results for display? If they are, is Google distributing advertising to the iPhone with the same formula they use for displaying search results elsewhere?

Are iPhone screen real estate limitations the reason why we could only get two ads?

Even when we rotated the search results screen for horizontal viewing – under a Google search term that would typically have had up to ten sponsored links ( both above the search results and running down the right rail ) we were only able to generate two Adwords advertisers ads.

Will Google Adwords advertisers soon be able to select “iPhone” as a search distribution option along with “Google Search” and “Search Partners” within their campaigns Networks and bidding settings?

With 10 million iPhones in use and Apple’s iPhone supplying Google with its largest source of mobile search traffic, adding iPhone distribution to Google advertising campaigns will give Google Adwords advertisers another way to target and reach an increasingly mobile search audience.

Google Network Options

Google Network Options

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Posted in Advertisers, Advertising, Google, Google Adwords, Google Search, iPhone, Mobile Search, Mobile Search Traffic, Search Audience, Search Distribution, Search Network, Search Results | 1 Comment »

WordPress.com Search Results

September 29, 2008

A search today for “Bailout Bill Text” produces a list of WordPress blogs which have purportedly written about the US government bailout of the mortgage industry.

Search

Search

Instead, the top four search results WordPress provides searchers who have clicked through to its site are from the same splog.

Splogs About

Splogs About

Clicking through to any of the results produces stolen content the splog has scraped into their post combined with an embedded and totally unrelated video.

Splog

Splog

I realize it may be difficult for WordPress to stop the proliferation of splogs and their ilk.

However, can’t WordPress at least identify and then filter Splogs from displaying their scraped content within their own search results?

Not doing so does both its publishers and the search audience a disservice.

Here is a copy of the Bailout Bill Text.

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Posted in Wordpress.com | Leave a Comment »