Ever since Google+ released in late June, the amount of new users has been on an exponential uphill rise. With that kind of competition now in place, it’s no wonder Facebook had to do something to maintain their ‘top dog’ spot in the social media world.

One clear distinction between the two networking sites was how each managed to segment ones friends. Google+ allows the user to segment people into what they named, “Circles.” The user can create circles of relationships ranging from friends, family, or acquaintances. It was finally possible to share those “girls’ night out” pictures selectively, with whom you wanted to share them with, rather than your 500+ network of friends.  This new segmentation option posed as a definite pro to joining Google+, and therefore resulted in tens of millions of new users.

Facebook saw this as a clear advantage Google+ had on them, therefore they had to keep the ball rolling with its latest update, Smart Lists. Unlike Google+ Circles, Smart Lists will automatically segment your friends into three groups:

• Friends you attended school with
• Friends who live <50 miles from you
• Friends you work with

If these automated lists still aren’t privacy-effective enough, Facebook is promoting a feature that allows one to manually segment friends into the following three groups:

• Close Friends – People you want to hear from often
• Acquaintances – People you do not want featured prominently in your News Feed
• Restricted – People who you do not want to share information with

With these new Smart Lists in place, Facebook users can now easily share the content they want to share with a specified list of friends by using a filter on their news feed. So when comparing the new features of Smart Lists, Friends Lists, and updated privacy settings on Facebook versus Circles on Google+, who do you see as the social media networking leader?

Social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google +, have recently begun to affect what comes up in your search engine results. The problem is not that people don’t understand that social media affects SEO, but how it affects SEO. Google released Google Social Search tool back in October 2009 and made it available to all users in January 2010. This tool basically allows you to find articles written by people you know and trust, the same basic concept as following someone on Twitter. What people really want to know is; how much does social media news really affect search engine results?

Back in December of 2010 Google’s Matt Cutts stated, “I filmed a video back in May 2010 where I said that we didn’t use ‘social’ as a signal, and at the time, we did not use that as a signal, but now, we’re taping this in December 2010, and we are using that as a signal.” Social media has fit its way into SEO and has started to alter traditional organic search results. If you are logged into your Google + while searching for something on Google, your search results will be different than if you were not logged into a Google account. If one of your friends has a web content that is related to the topic you are searching for, then Google gives that web page higher placement on SERPs. Google and Bing have both admitted that they look at their users’ social authority when making search engine ranking decisions.

Social media can influence search results depending on the number of times an author’s content is shared on a social networking site. If you are not connected with any social media sites, do not fret because there are steps that you can take to change this. To get more traffic through social media, you first want to build a presence on a social media site and stay up to date with your followers. Optimize your website for social media sharing, for example if you are based in WordPress you can install the Sharebar plugin to enable sharing. Lastly, you are going to want to constantly encourage your followers/views to share your content through other social media tools. Just because social media is booming doesn’t mean that traditional SEO is irrelevant. There will always be that group of people that don’t prefer social media sites, so traffic for non-social media site users will not completely diminish, but realize that traditional SEO is beginning dwindle, so changing with the times is not a bad idea.

For more information on this topic visit:  Quicksprout.com

StumbleUpon drives more than 50 percent of traffic from all top social media sites. It has become the most dominant source of traffic and beats Facebook and Twitter. This search engine service helps discover Web pages based on the researcher’s interests. StumbleUpon has 15 million users and its site traffic is continuously rising. Their newest beta feature called StumbleUpon Explore Box. This allows you to search a specific interest in the explore toolbar and discover related websites that has already been evaluated by “Stumblers”. This search box is located at the sub-section of the website.

How StumpleUpon Works

• The service engine tries to recommend pages based on the number of similar users.
•  Stumblers begin to edit their interests so they can browse through one interest at a time. This allows the site to appeal to specifically defined audience rather than a broad and general audience.
• Websites can receive referrals. So StumbleUpon can play a significant role in a business’ social media strategy. It has durable value.

What Stumblers Can Look Forward To With The Explore Box

Even though StumbleUpon Explore has a search-like presentation, it doesn’t directly rank websites or goes through a full index of information. The service still caters to user’s interests that have already been added to their StumbleUpon profile. They are not technically introducing a search engine but expanding random information on topics of interest.

StumbleUpon is a growing influence in the social media world. It is making innovative moves and designing new features to make it appeal to businesses and individuals. Hopefully, in the near future, the Explore Box can be able to offer targeted advertising opportunities and can work out to the marketer’s advantage.

StumbleUpon is not like any other search engine. Browse through StumbleUpon and see if it accommodates your specific topics of interest.

You can now start a Google+ hangout directly from your favorite YouTube videos, according to the Official Google Blog. Upon clicking the share button underneath each video, you’ll find a link that reads, “Start a Google+ Hangout.” This will open up a new browser in seconds that allows you to add your Google+ Circles that you’d like to share the video with in a hangout. Once you’ve chosen whom you’d like to share the video with, click the “Hangout” button and begin your live video-chat.

According to Senior Vice President, Engineering, Vic Gundotra, “With Google+ we wanted to make on-screen gatherings fun, fluid and serendipitous, so we created Hangouts. By combining the casual meet up with live multi-person video, Hangouts lets you stop by when you’re free, and spend time with your Circles. Face-to-face-to-face.” Just like how someone walks into a pub to hang out with friends, you now have the option to do so right from your home computer:

So how does this benefit us as marketers? YouTube viewing and sharing has been on an uphill rise in the recent years. This was first noted in 2007 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project when they reported, “more than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them.”

If so many people are sharing videos by sending each other links, why not just watch the video together in a Google+ Hangout? This is definitely a significant development in the Google+ Project.

Google never stops expanding the web territory! Google has been shopping patents and businesses to enhance their social media and mobile applications. Your internet marketing experience will change greatly with their new quality services.

 According to the article, “Google Is Diversifying”, Google announced that they purchased several patents to improve search speed, Android or mobile applications, router, and software programming last Friday.

All of this actually came after July 1^st news when Google has lost the bid for over 6,000 Nortel patents to a consortium of investors. Those investors included Apple and Microsoft. Google didn’t expect that the consortium would intrude with $4.5 billion in cash when Google bade $900 million.

Just so you know, Google is not just buying patents. Google has bought at least 15 additional businesses so far this year. It seems like Google is investing heavily on social networking, mobile and localized search. Believe it or not, Google has already spent nearly $40 billion in cash.

These are the lists of patents and businesses Google has purchased this year. Most of the patents and business assist Google’s social networking services. With Google’s new technology, we can expect the further growth in Google+ as well as web services. If your business relies heavily on media commercialization, you probably want to watch out for Google’s further expansion.

Social Networking

The DealMap- Google just got The DealMap last week. The DealMap is a technology company that offers precise locations, coupons and great discounts on local basses.  These are already programmed in social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. They can also easily viewed on cellphone as well. Google Maps has integrated with the great features of The DealMap. Google Offers and Google Wallet mobile application offer more precise locations with discounts and coupons. With this upgrade, Google can expand their field into Groupons, Living Social and other coupon services sites.

Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition (PittPatt)- Google recently bought a new facial recognition system. Pittpatt is most likely to be integrated into Google+, and it will be easy for users to upload and tag pictures.

Fridge- Fridge is an application that Google just added. Fridge allows users to create a group to share with friends and family and coordinate events, parties, receptions and many more!

PostRank –Google bought this system a while ago, back in June 11^th.  PostRank is a date service that measures “social engagement” through a proprietary ranking algorithm. This service is specifically for bloggers and online publishers. With services, bloggers and online publishers are able to track how the audiences share their content. This is a great software program to find likable audiences and expand your market.

fflick- Although Google has not yet announced how they will implement fflick into their service, Google will come with something awesome for sure. fflick is a social networking service that provides movie recommendations based upon users’ Twitter feeds.

Green Parrot Pictures – Green Parrot Pictures specializes in the manipulation of films and videos. Their application is used worldwide in many other film industries. Google bought Green Parrot Pictures earlier this year to improve the online video experience.

 Next New Networks- Next New Networks provides original entertainment programing online. Next New Networks gets the most views and already has 10 webby’s. This program is most likely to be implemented with YouTube.

Mobile Applications

 Punchd – Google purchased Punchd back in July. Punch is a smartphone-based llyalty card business and the geo-targeted deals to support Google Wallet.

TalkBin- Google bought this cool application in April, which allows your customers to send feedbacks, suggestions, and questions in real time and respond them right away.

SayNow- Saynow is an innovative mobile service that connect you with your favorite celebrities though voice messages or text messages. Google also purchased this patent last January.

PushLife- PushLife provides mobile wallpapers, music, videos, ring tones and other accessories on your mobile phone. Google also bought this patent though they have not announced how they implement their service yet.

Others

Sparkbuy- Sparkguy provides easy access and search to find electronic items. Google bought this service earlier this year to improve Google Product Search.

 BeatThatQuote.com- Google bought this patent for $61.5 million, hoping to expand Google Shopping search for personal finance industry – loans, insurance, legal services, utilities and other financial products.

AdMeld- Admeld provides real-time bidding and ad optimization platform. Google bought this patent in June as it helps publishers to negotiate the best prices from a variety of advertisement networks.

eBook Technologies – Google acquired eBook Technologies earlier this year to enhance hardware and software distribution of e-books.

SageTV-  With this service, Google users have options to create and control your media from multiple devices.

Zynamics- Google bought this security application that looks for mal-ware re-engineered code last March.

It will be exciting to see how the acquisition of all these services will be integrated with Google’s current offering.  I am all for it if it makes my web experience better!

Mark Zuckerberg watch out- Google+ is not going anywhere. It has been open for a little over a month now and everyone’s been asking whether the new social networking site is here to stay, and YouGov took matters into their own hands to find the answer. They conducted a survey for 1,003 adults in the US regarding Google+ usage, future use, and usage of other social media websites (like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter). Their results bode well for Google, which they summarize here.

There are already 25 million Google+ accounts, which is 13% of the US population. While Facebook has penetration of 71%, Facebook has a considerable head start. YouGov predicts that over the next year, there will be an additional 9% of the population acquiring a Google+ account. According to their survey it looks like 30% of Facebook users, that also have Google accounts, are planning to cut down on time spent on Facebook.

When compared to the Facebook demographic, there are some stark differences that YouGov points out:

• 3 men on Google+ to 1 woman
• 59% of Google+ people have a college degree while Facebook has 37%
• 48% are single, while Facebookers are 33% single. In my own experience with Facebook though, many relationships are jokes between friends. In my opinion, the count on “real” relationships reported on Facebook cannot be determined by Facebook relationship status.

Google has a different target market than Facebook, which appeals mostly to college students while Google+ aims for college educated young men

In fact, Google+ is predicted to become the #2 site behind Facebook in the next year with 22% penetration while LinkedIn, Twitter, and Myspace all have under 20%. With the next push for Google+ accounts over the next 12 months, the social media industry is going to have a run for its money… well, whatever part of it isn’t owned by Google already.

Twitter has just announced that they have acquired Bagcheck, a new fun way to talk about and share what’s inside our “bags” with our Twitter followers. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a warm welcome is put out to Sam Pullara to the Twitter engineering team! Mr. Pullara is the CTO and co-founder of Bagcheck.

Bagcheck is an innovative way to share and discover what’s inside your “bag.” Now you may be wondering what exactly characterizes a bag. In a broad sense, the startup refers to any sort of curated list or collection as a bag. As you can see to the right, people can post bags of backpacking essentials or coffee-making gear to what their favorite apps and accessories are.

The brains behind Bagcheck found their inspiration by simply wanting to expand their discussion of the products they love to use with the rest of the social networking world. It provides people with a place to share their “bags” of items they feel most passionate about with others who may share the same interests – whether it’s photography, cooking, computing, or sports.

Bagcheck still remains in service online for all those who already have accounts. Therefore, the content already created in current users bags will still remain with the same URLs. However, soon enough things may change so Bagcheck has made it quick and simple for current users to export your bags anywhere you like.  Your bags will be wrapped into a set of HTML and JSON files that you may then save or post to other social networking platforms.

On behalf of Bagcheck, they’d like to take the opportunity to show appreciation for all the people involved in creating bags and sharing their passions with others throughout the site thus far. They hope you’ll continue to do so. Happy Bagging!

Google has recently bought three new start up companies to add versatility to its Google+ social networking site.

Members of Fridge and Just Spotted recently found notices of the website closure that warn users to download all of their profiles content or else it will disappear when the website finally shuts down.  The website’s legacies will live on within Googles future programing.

Just Spotted is a networking site which offers user’s shared information into grouped categories so as not to mix your bachelor party stories with your shared project at work.  Just as an individual would want to share items like family photos only with one’s family in the physical world, Google+ now implements the idea of “groups” in order to make your cyber profile as synonymous with your personal lifestyle as possible.  Just Spotted was purchased for an undisclosed amount.

Angstro offers products that can search the internet for news about your friends on social networking sites and then export information from these social sites.  The founder, Rohit Khare, seems to be a key acquisition in the deal as well since he has an outstanding reputation as an entrepreneur and internet researcher; just the kind of person Goolge likes on their team.

Just Spotted was the number one website for finding out where your favorite celebrities were most recently seen.  Now it has been bought by Google, but has yet to be implemented effectively into Google+.  The founders of Just Spotted are also making their way into Google in attempts to get more celebrities Google+ accounts.

All of these acquisitions and improvements are in attempts to make Google+ the next social media giant, implementing new ideas and efficient programming to take the relatively untouched Facebook head on.

References:

LA Times Blog

LA Times Blog – Google Buys Angstro…

Just Spotted

You Tube

More and more Facebook users have found a new home in Google+, but have been stumped by a single problem: where did all my pictures go? On Facebook, the amount of photos that people have been tagged in usually outweighs the amount of photos that someone has uploaded himself or herself. For the person that relies on getting most of their pictures from other friend’s albums, this poses a problem.

Recently there have been multiple methods on how to transport your Facebook pictures to Google+ that have proved to make this moving processed a little bit easier. Out of all of the methods that I tested, the easiest and most efficient one I discovered was posted on moveyourphotos.com. For this process all you have to do is download either the Google Chrome or Firefox add-ons that I have placed below and follow the guided instructions on how to transfer you Facebook pictures.

Download Photo Importer for Google+ (Firefox)

- Download Photo Importer for Google+ (Chrome)

Instructions:

1. Download and install the add-on from the link above (simply drag the file onto the Firefox window to install)
2. Navigate to within a Facebook photo album which you would like to transfer to your Google+ account
3. Enter a name for the album in the text box on your brand spanking new photo-importer toolbar.

   

4. Click ‘make album’
5. At this point, you may repeat the last 3 steps with as many different Facebook albums as you want
6. When you have recorded the information of all the albums you wish to import to Google+, click ‘submit all albums’
7. You will be brought back to moveyouralbums.com and given a link to login to your Google account
8. Once you have logged in to Google we will begin processing your photos, upon completion we will give you a link to your new albums on Google
9. AND YOU’RE DONE!!! Don’t you just feel all warm inside now?

SEOmoz has collected dozens of the world’s best search marketers to get their opinion on search engine ranking factors. This year, for the first time, SEOmoz presented correlation-based analysis with comments from this 132-person panel.  We also attended the webinar of these findings presented by Jamie Steven, and Matthew Peters, PhD of Applied Math.

Source: SEO Moz

Correlation and Causation Significance in Ranking Factor Analysis

To understand what the difference is between correlation and causation as the SEO Moz study presents see our examples below:

 Correlation and Causation Example:

• In summer, there is an increase in people at the beach and there is also an increase in shark attacks.

There is a correlation here because both items increase and the correlation is directly proportional.  The causation exists because the shark attacks increase since more people are in the water.

Correlation only example:

• In summer, beer sales increase. In summer, ice cream sales also increase. But beer sales do not increase ice cream sales so though there is a correlation between them there is no causation.

Thus, these factors mentioned in the SEO Moz study might be correlated to each other, but there is no proven direct cause between ranking improvement and one of these factors.

SEO Moz Ranking Factors Findings

This research shows several segments of the search-ranking algorithm such as page specific, link level features, and domain-level, keyword features.  Their Search Engine Ranking Factors study demonstrates the power of statistical analysis in SEO. This survey and statistical analysis provides us with a good idea of what the majority of internet marketers believe affects website rankings.

Since search engines do not disclose completely how their algorithm works, SEO professionals rely on each other for the best tips in ranking well. Now, with so much information out there, these tips and conclusions are subject to different interpretations.

One of the items in the study showed that websites that rank higher on search engines generally have a high volume of links or other unique features. This does not necessarily mean that those links are the reason these sites are ranked higher. Rather, it is because higher rankings and links are related or correlated.  Listed below are some other important factors that you should keep in mind when you are marketing on the internet.

Domain Level – Keywords

One of the most successful search engine marketing and optimization factors that you should remember is the inclusion of keywords throughout your website content and structure.  When your domain matches a search term exactly, this increases your chances of having a user click on your website in the results pages.  It’s important to remember, however, the more unrelated characters, especially punctuations, that are included in the domain search, the less chance the users will find your site.

The length of the domain name, the numeric characters, and the number of hyphens included the domain name all could negatively impact rankings. Try to have a domain name that includes keywords without punctuation or numbers, and no more than 3 hyphens.

 Branding

 Branding is also another important element to search engines. It’s essential that many users recognize your site. Having your brand mentioned in nonaffiliated sites, such as social media sites like Facebook or Twitter will increase your search volume. The more you spread your brand in various places on the internet, the more users will visit your website. So, get your brand out there and create your trend.

 Page Level – Keywords

 In the same way as the domain level, keywords are extremely important. When users select specific words and search for something, they will look for those specific words in the result. It’s important to have the correct set of keywords present in title tags and content on your site.  As long as your site contains the information and relevant content, which users are looking for, your site will most likely to be viewed based on the popularity of their keywords. It’s always better to have keyword rich, descriptive tags so that users can easily make out what your website is about and decided if they want to click or not.  Remember users like to read interesting, valuable, unique content.

 Page Level – Social Media

Social media is often correlated with website rankings. Indeed, social media is a great candidate for best website advertising. For example, sharing the domain on Facebook, or having Facebook comments or likes are all influential factors in spreading your brand. Twitter also helps with circulating your brand, products or services. When someone tweets about your brand, it increases varieties of the audience and authority for your brand.  Also, tweet connections attract specific individuals based on their interest and needs. Additionally, when reputable or authoritative users in the social sphere make multiple references about your site through Facebook or Twitter, your site becomes more credible and preferable among the broad audience.

Page Level – Links

Links are also extremely important especially on an individual page level. The quantity of links definitely employs the keyword as part of the anchor text. Those links must be unique and contextual. The overall page authority is of course a necessity in boosting traffic, but root domains, partial match in keywords, and unique linking naturally back up your traffic volume.

In conclusion, just because there is a connection between ranking improvements and for example Facebook likes to a page, doesn’t mean the Facebook likes caused the ranking improvement.  Instead, it could mean the content was good in itself, which contributed to it being deemed valuable to users by search engines and that is why it was ranked higher. Your best bet is to do all of these items well, but always keep the user in mind.