Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team, keynoted the 2nd day of PubCon in Las Vegas, and spoke on a wide range of topics. According to a report by Jennifer Slegg for SearchEngineWatch, Cutts discussed things that include Hummingbird, Panda, Penguin, Authorship and the future of Google Search.
TNMOC Rescues Last Operating ICT 1301 Mainframe Computer
The National Museum of Computing in the United Kingdom has just gotten its hands on the last operating ICT 1301 mainframe computer (not the one pictured), which endured decades of being treated as scrap before its last private owner and a group of enthusiasts restored it to working condition. David Szondy has more on the story for GizMag.
35 Habits of Truly Productive People
We all want to be more productive than we already are, but many among us tend to get a bit too overwhelmed that we sometimes have no idea how to go about it. To help make it easier for us to boost our productivity, the guys over at FundersAndFounders posted a really awesome infographic that details 35 key habits of truly productive people.
Predicting the Top Online Marketing Trends of 2014
As the last quarter of 2013 begins, a lot of online marketers are already looking forward to what’s in store for them in 2014. In an article for Forbes, Jayson DeMers enumerates what he predicts will be the top online marketing trends of 2014.
Filters and Comparisons Improve Google Knowledge Graph
Since Google added the Knowledge Graph display to its search engine in May 2012, users have been getting more structured and detailed information about any topic they search about. Now the Knowledge Graph search results have become even smarter with the recent addition of filters and a way to compare items side by side. Danny Goodwin talks about the newest Google Knowledge Graph innovations some more in an article for SearchEngineWatch.
Goodwin says a search for, say, “Impressionist artists”, using the new Google Knowledge Graph filter now yields a virtual gallery of artists associated with the 19th century art movement. A new results page then appears when you click on the pictures of any of these artists. Even more interesting is the fact that you can now make Knowledge Graph comparisons between things. Search for the difference between olive oil and butter, for example, and you’ll be presented with relevant facts placed side-by-side in card form.
Now if they could only make comparison charts between comic book superheroes, and we’ll have an idea who’ll win a fight between, say, Superman and The Hulk…
To read the article, click here.
Compelling Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Facebook
In a world where social media holds a very important place in every Internet user’s life, the question above shouldn’t even be asked. There are more than a billion reasons why your business should use Facebook. To be more accurate, those reasons number about 1.15 billion—the number of total Facebook users in the world, and still counting. In an article for SearchEngineJournal, David Wallace presents an infographic from GroSocial that lists even more compelling reasons why your business should use Facebook.
700 million daily users
Of its total number of users, 700 million people use Facebook every single day. The number of Friend connections between Facebook users is even more staggering at 150 billion. The most stunning figure of all comes from the fact that at an average of 40 likes per FB user, there are now a total of 1.13 trillion Likes on Facebook. Imagine if your business had a solid social media presence through Facebook and had even just a fraction of those likes.
The infographic further drives home the point that Facebook makes sense for business by indicating that there are more than two billion connections between local businesses and people. On average, local business Facebook pages get 645 million views every week. That’s a huge audience for promoting your brand using Facebook.
Influence of Facebook on buyers
If conversion is what you’re concerned about, consider this: About half of all social media users aged 35 and under are influenced by the product and service recommendations of their friends online. The influence of Facebook on business is also apparent on the younger generation. According to the infographic, 33% of millennial consumers are more likely to spend on products or services from a company that has a Facebook page. Most importantly of all, a company whose CEO and senior leadership have a solid social media presence is trusted by 82% of buyers.
If you have a business and you still aren’t promoting your brand using Facebook, let these statistics sink in and you’ll see what you have been missing the entire time you don’t have a solid social media presence via Facebook.
Click here to read the original article.
Beware of Scams When Engaging SEO Services
The Internet is full of scams, and the world of search engine optimization or SEO is no exception. There are thousands of SEO companies out there who offer a lot of things that border on the ridiculous, but entrepreneurs who have very little knowledge about how SEO works might believe.
In an article for SearchEngineJournal, Jaydeep Dosi writes about a few of these SEO scams and how to spot them. Let me summarise and add to it.
Say Hello to the Android KitKat
Google has decided to name the newest version (4.4) of its Android operating system after a popular chocolate bar brand, according to a report for SearchEngineWatch by Dan Worth.
Mozilla to Block Cookies With New Browser
Search engine optimisation professionals and website owners are up in arms with the impending move of Mozilla to block cookies from users’ browsers. Gabriel Gervelis talks more about how detrimental this decision by Mozilla would be in an article for SearchEngineJournal.
Facebook Hashtags Not Really Working For Brands
Brands started using hashtags on Facebook since June in the hopes of gaining additional exposure. That, however, isn’t happening according to an article written by Jessica Lee for SearchEngineWatch.
Citing surveys conducted by Simply Measured and EdgeRank Checker, Lee says the results aren’t looking good. She showed graphs from EdgeRank Checker indicating that of the 500+ pages it studied, viral reach and engagement were down on posts with hashtags compared to posts without them.
When they compared the Facebook hashtags with those on Twitter using 50 Twitter accounts from Fortune 500 brands, about 70% of the brands saw their retweets rise when using Twitter hashtags versus not using them.
Click here to read the full article.