Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Reading a book online – is it just me or do you prefer a real book?

Technology | Posted by Katie
Nov 16 2009

google bookIs it just me or is this rush to get books into digital format seeming a bit of a mad frenzy?  I would like to think I am fairly up to date with my technology, ok I have the odd moment of complete incomprehension but, the one thing other than my laptop that I love is books and lots of them.  Anyone who has visited our home/office will know that both of us have a passion for reading, and I am the first to admit that I don’t feel comfortable reading a book on my laptop, or on a handheld device or on any screen at all really.

Having said all of that, I ‘think’ I am in favour of what Google are in the process of doing and that is scanning out of print books so that they are available online.  I know there has been a huge backlash against this – BBC click reported on this and you can see the full article here- and I know that Google have gone and done their usual and plowed on without asking anyone’s permission least of all authors and publishers, no change there then for good ole Google!

So there I am in a quandary – will I ever get to the point where I am reading a complete book on a screen, or am I truly a dinosaur in the world of online books?  Answers on a bookmark too……

Popularity: 5% [?]

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Is it all angelic working in the Google cloud?

Technology | Posted by Katie
Oct 13 2009

Google-CloudThere are many ‘clouds’ out there, Yahoo, BT (though why anyone would entrust their data to BT is a mystery to me), hosted mail exchanges, photo sharing sites…. the list is endless.  Our cloud of choice is Google, mainly because we were used to the way it looked, we could link our email and most importantly the analytics packages for our customers. 

The cloud has been in existence for many moons now but it seems recently that more and more people are using it as part of their daily lives, we certainly do.  So what are the advantages?  Well for us we can log the work we do on customer’s websites or marketing campaigns and link their Google account to it and they can see exactly what we have done and when we have done it.  That means the customer is happy, we have a record of work undertaken and the best thing yet is that it is stored in the cloud and so isnt taking up space on our laptops – perfect! 

Or is it perfect?  This morning I was reading a blog post by Rory Cellan-Jones on the BBC dot.life forums all about the failings of the cloud, actually that makes it sound all very doom and gloom, its not as bad as that.  But it does give pause for thought.  What happens if the servers that our clouds are sitting on break down?  This is exactly what happened to one server now owned by Microsoft and it looks like some people have lost valuable data.  So what is the answer?  Well I think it is simple…. age old saying ‘dont put all your eggs in one basket’ comes to mind.  But actually I think it is simpler than that.  If your business would be in complete melt down if your data was lost within the cloud, then you clearly need it saved somewhere else as well.  Does this mean we carry on using our external hard drives and dvd’s?  Possibly, although I hope not as my quest for a paperless and cumbersome gadget free office still exists!

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Google Forum Search – important changes that will effect search rankings

SEO Scotland | Posted by Gavin
Aug 14 2009

Google’s recent ’show options’ addition to the SERP’s have provided additional search filters and I would like to continue this series of posts by looking at forums.

Online Forums and SEO

Online forums have been around for a number of years and were arguably the forerunner of social media and it’s many applications. Forums are basically online message boards, creating platforms for discussions around particular topics between people who share common interests – a place to connect with others online.

From an SEO point of view, forums represent relationship marketing opportunities as well as a chance to create and distribute valuable, topic specific content (and in some cases links).  Subject authority and online profile are additional benefits of forum participation and most market and interest categories are covered by the many that are widely used.

Google Forum Search Filter

It is not entirely clear as to what Google classifies as a forum within it’s SERP’s but indications are that not only large, specialised, dedicated forums that are listed but also forum pages that are included as part of a site, or are added as a sub domain or blog, associated with a site.

In any event, the development in the SERP’s indicate that many businesses and organisations should probably consider adding a forum in order to make full use of the this search filter option, especially ones that are particularly active in social media marketing.

As a direct result of this, posting to forums on other peoples sites is now even more important than ever.  While links within many forum posts may be subjected to the ‘nofollow’ attribute, the new filter makes the content of posts and thread more powerful and therefore a more effective traffic driver…

…What do you think?

Popularity: 31% [?]

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Google Video Search – important changes that will effect search rankings

SEO Scotland | Posted by Gavin
Aug 03 2009

Google video search filterGoogle’s recent ’show options’ addition to the SERP’s have provided additional search filters and I would like to continue this series of posts by looking at video.

Google Video Search Filter

We all know about YouTube, Google’s video sharing website, where users can upload and share video content.  Since Google aquired YouTube in Nov 2006, it has fast become an internet phenomina in it’s own right and I recent read that it is the second most used search resource.

Google’s video filter option reinforces the value Google places on the ‘improved user experience’ and highlights the power of video to inform as well as entertain – something that text based content cannot do.

By using the video filter link, video based results are listed that best match the search query, including mini screenshots in the search results. The user then has further options that allow the results to be filtered by length, most recently upload etc.

SEO Actions – Utilising Video Search

  • Create topical, market related video
  • Ensure videos are of appropriate length and meet other upload criteria
  • Ensure that videos are optimised for search
  • Post videos to YouTube and other video search sites 
  • Post regularly, include interesting new video content

Popularity: 31% [?]

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A Search Engine Match Made

Business News | Posted by Gavin
Aug 03 2009

Microsoft finally persuaded Yahoo to surrender control of the Internet’s second most popular search engine and join it in a daunting battle — taking on the overwhelming dominance of Google in the online advertising market – read the full story

Popularity: 20% [?]

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