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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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Google’s New Local Search Results Format

Posted: November 3, 2011 in Google, Google Places, Local Search Optimization

Google has introduced its new format of displaying Google Places or “local business” results on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The first and most noticeable change is the trademark red pin is now grey. The pin drop only displays the classic red if the users cursor is located over the designated business. Other changes include the map displaying the local results has decreased in size and has been pushed up into the top left corner of the results. The local results themselves are broken down into two columns. The first column displays the business name, website and total number of Google reviews. The second column displays the ranking, address and phone number.

New 7 Pack

Here is an example of Google’s new local search results format for a 7- Pack of business results.
Google Places Rankings

(click image to enhance)

New 1 Pack

If Google determines the user is looking for a specific company Google will generate a SERP format which devotes the majority of the results page to the desired business’s information. The Business Places information fills the entire left sidebar where PayPer-Click adds typically generate.

New Google Search Results

(click image to enhance)

Impact of the change:

This is the second major format change Google has made to the way local results are displayed this year. The changes seem to be based on Google desire to provide users with the most relevant and largest amount of information. Although the information that generates for each business in the local results is completely dependent how much information the given business has shared with online resources and directories. Further showing the value of local search optimization for both small and large businesses.

What does the future hold?

Google Places is continually going through algorithm updates and format changes to stay up to date and ahead of the competition. However, it will be interesting to see if these most recent changes will somehow be linked to Google + in the future we are not sure but the changes are keep everyone on their toe.

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Google’s Hotpot: new location-based recommendation search engine

Posted: November 17, 2010 in Local Search Optimization

Google has just unveiled Hotpot, an early release of a location-based recommendation engine. As the owner of an online marketing company that helps many local businesses, this announcement is particularly newsworthy for us and our clients.

Local search and location based services is a fast growing segment and one that is particularly pertinent to our clients. To capitalize on this fast growing segment and stay ahead of the competition, Google has recently released several improvements in this area including those to Places, Images, Latitude and other services with location features. Hotpot is its latest entrant into the world of location-based services.

Hotpot takes all of Google Places’ ratings and reviews features and adds a more personal touch. Currently, Place Pages mostly aggregate review data from sources such as Yelp. With Hotpot, users can rate and review businesses directly from their Google-linked profile. Your ratings and reviews are tracked with a counter at the top of each profile, and likes and dislikes are remembered and used in Google’s recommendation engine.

Hotpot has an easy to use user interface geared towards the average consumer. It presents star ratings and images for each place in a grid format and doesn’t get bogged down with too many details.

Hotpot is also designed to capitalize on another big trend – social. Users can create a profile nickname to separate their Hotpot account from their general Google profiles. Google uses Gmail accounts and linked Google profiles to help users find their friends. Friends’ reviews and ratings will be visible, and users will get recommendations based on what their friends like.

When you search for specific places, such as “Italian Encinitas,” in Hotpot, you can filter your search results to see businesses or other places you haven’t rated before; you can also choose to see only places that have been rated by your Hotpot friends.

If you haven’t already set up your Google Places page, now would be a great time to do so. You want to make sure that your business shows up in local searches and that you give customers the opportunity to tell their friends how great your product or service is. Additionally, Hotpot should open even more location-based advertising doors for businesses.

Although Facebook is going after this segment with their recently released Places feature, it is likely, at least in the short term that most consumers will start their local business searches on Google.

If you have any questions about Hotpot or location-based search, contact us at OrganikSEO.com

Hotpot

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Local Search Optimization For Mobile Devices

Posted: July 15, 2010 in Local Search Optimization

Hi All,

Just a quick post about mobile search optimization and how it applies to local search engine optimization. One of our clients (Barton Custom Painting) is a house painter in Vista (north San Diego County). Over the course of our campaign (going on 3 months) we have been able to rank them all over North County San Diego (Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach….) for relevant keywords. Knowing that we have them ranking in the #1 spot for local search results on Google for the keyword “house painter rancho santa fe” I used my iPhone while I was driving (as a passenger) through Rancho Santa Fe and searched “House painter”…. Sure enough Barton Custom Painting was the fist pin to drop on the map and populated information even though other pins dropped closer to my physical location. Below is a screen shot so you can see exactly what I mean. This is a great example of how Google maps applies to mobile marketing.

iphone google maps search optimization

For more information on how we can do the same for your business please visit our details page that outlines our local search engine optimization services.

Julien Brandt: CEO "Cultivator of Excellence Online"

Julien Brandt: CEO "Cultivator of Excellence Online"

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