Google’s New Privacy Polices and Terms of Service Announcement

Posted: January 30, 2012 in Google

If you did not see the notification for Google’s new privacy policy on Friday or over the weekend I am sure you will see them in the near future. The new changes to the privacy policy will not take place until the first of March but Google wants to be sure to spread the word beforehand.

Aside from rewriting many of the policies to be structured in a more simplified and have less repetition. Google has also said that they plan on getting rid of 60 different privacy policies. The replacement policies will span across multiple Google products and are designed to be a more straightforward and readable for the users.

In regards to the changes in polices and terms of services themselves. Google’s quick summary of the changes reflect that they are trying to tailor the best search results generated for you on what you have looked and expressed interest in past search and browsing activity. These tailored results will only display when logged to your Google account. Users will still have some control in their account setting to control which results display and there will be a feature available to turn off the custom tailored results. The simple fact in the manor is that if you don’t want to see tailored results then you should probably conduct your searches while not signed into your Google account however incontinent that maybe.
Google Privacy Policy

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New Google Maps Feature – Public Alerts

Posted: January 25, 2012 in Google Maps

Today, Google announced it is launching a new feature on Google maps. Google labeled the feature as Google Public Alerts. This new system is meant to allow users to search and find emergency alerts on Google quickly and see the current location of the issue at hand. The Internet if becoming one of the first sources people turn to when looking for information on a current crisis. Google Public Alerts is an effort evolve a tool many people use on a daily basis into a resource that users could also us to find relevant information on an emergency quickly and efficiently.

By pulling alerts from major weather and emergency services like the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Nation Weather Service and other major weather and information sources. Public Alerts will give real time public safety alerts on everything from tornado warnings, flash floods and earthquakes to high wind alerts.

Not only will Public Alerts show where the area encompassed in the alert but also provide a “Message” feed providing the latest information and updates on the mater as well as the official source the alert is coming from (i.e. weather.gov).

Google Maps Feature

To see Public Alerts live you can visit www.google.org/publicalerts

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Websites Protest SOPA & PIPA Today

Posted: January 18, 2012 in Google

Today many websites are protesting in the hopes to increase awareness about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Big names such as Google, Twitter, Craigslist, Wikipedia and many more are protesting by either completely censoring their website or devoting large sections of their homepage to the protest by providing resources people can read to further educate themselves on what these acts actually would mean for the internet and how it is controlled.

Below are several examples of websites protesting SOPA and PIPA.

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The New YouTube Look & SEO

Posted: December 28, 2011 in Local Search Optimization, SEO, Social Media Optimization, YouTube

YouTube has laid out a “new homepage, Channel design and a fresh coat of digital paint”.

What’s the difference?
A simpler layout with a basic grey background, larger video thumbnails & a more streamlined watch page.

An easier navigation system on the homepage that you can personalize:

  • The left-hand sidebar (dark grey) allows you to view your subscribed channels.
  • The center content area displays videos in a list.
  • The right-hand sidebar displays recommended videos.

New customizable channel templates: “Creator,” “Blogger,” “Network,” or “Everything”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How this affects businesses: All about the SEO
The new layout encourages YouTube users to connect with other users.
You can connect and share your favorites with your Facebook and Google+ accounts.
The more social engagement there is around your video, the more results you will see in search results.
Optimizing the videos and inviting people to comment, respond, thumbs-up, etc. are great ways to help boost your business’ online presence.

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10 Tips on YouTube Video Optimization

Posted: December 12, 2011 in Social Media Optimization, Uncategorized, YouTube

Because so many people use YouTube to get their news and entertainment, it is important to make sure your business taps into this huge audience. Video optimization is key in order to get more viewers. Follow these tips to help enhance your businesses’ YouTube Channel and Videos:

1. Channel Tags: Add 5 keywords that will describe your channel and make sure they match your businesses’ profile so that you capture the right audience.

2. Modules: Make sure you include at least these three – Commenting, Subscriptions, and Friends.

3. Include your company name in the video and add the word “Video” to end of the video title.

4. Include your company website’s URL in the description and make sure to mention the whole name of your business after the URL. Also add the links to your company’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profile.

5. Tags: Create a few keywords that will describe the content of the video to help boost the search engine results

6. Thumbnail: Pick an appropriate and catching thumbnail to entice viewers.

7. Set the privacy setting to public so everyone can view your video and allow embedding so that they can share your video and increase your exposure.

8. Set your location to the company’s address.

9. Upload a caption file so boost search engine results. Transcribe the video to a .txt file and use periods and commas to signify breaks in the speech or use the annotations feature if there is no speech and include a call to action for your businesses’ website. Make sure the timing is set properly for the annotations to leave enough display time for the caption.

10. Further promote your videos by embedding them into your company’s blog, Facebook profile, Twitter profile, and upload it to TubeMogul.com.

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