The Maine SEO Blog

The following is a recap from a session at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East. Follow the conference on Twitter.

The current State of Personalized Search

Speakers:
Jack Menzel, Google (@jackm)
Stefan Weitz, Bing (@stefanweitz)

Personalized Search – Jack Menzel presentation

SMX?  We think it’s easy for search engines right? Not. A bunch of other things that comes up other than the conference.

What is personalization?
Personalization can help fill in the gaps  (ex. If you are searching for bars and you are in NYC, a list of NYC bars pops up, instead of the best bar in the world)

Context:

-       geography
-       language
-       context from previous queries

Personalization

-       topicality
-       preference
-       pattern
-       social

This must be done in a privacy-sensitive way

-       transparency
-       control

Example  -  “bus schedules” – needs to be regionally relevant to you

Recent searches ( if you were recently looking for a camera, and it pops up as a recent search)
Interests
Preferred Sites
Social Endorsements

Filter Bubble:
Personalization is working!

Perfect personalization + Totally passive Users + myopic focus on clicks = Very bad dystopia

But, reality is – Personalization is far from perfect, users have active information needs, quality/relevance is more than just clicks.

Google is not only looking at clicks as relevance.

The moral of the story:

- Users maintain control over their data.
- Be transparent about how the data is used.
- There is no canonical result set for a query.

Search Pour Vous – Stefan Weitz Director, Bing

-  Stop thinking about it as just reorganization of results and predicting where you want to go. “not just re ranking results”

-  Look a lot at how you return the highest value of personalization for the lowest cost

-  5 W’s still apply when it comes to personalization

Often really a proxy for intent

-  “Selective Personalization”  If you do too much you actually see clicks going down

Personalized search is the new normal. It’s part of the overall experience.

Who: Interests |  what is it you actually care about
What: Behaviors | look at past searches, clicks, behaviors
When: What time is it?   A search for a bar at 9 am might be different than 6pm
Where: Carmen Sandiego
Why: So Meta |  Why do these sort of end this way?

Personalized Search – Just search, it’s just the way it is.

Social – should be able to search the real way like they do every day, asking people for advice etc.

-       presentation – what can we do differently with the results on the page

-       Context – what you’ve done previously

-       Dynamics – what’s been changing across the web and from before

Lots of social available through partnership with Facebook – look up more, but he used examples, of it will show you if one of your friends lives in an area you are searching and then you can grab rest recommendations, you can see a site that they like that you wouldn’t have known about, etc.

Personalized NAV

If they see you going back to a singular link over and over, it will become #1 on the SERP

Introducing Adaptive Search: Adaptive search is a new personalized search being released today

Looks at previous history and reranks to promote more relevant links higher

Go to Bing blog to learn more about it – go watch the post, to find out more…

Dynamic – will actually show you new content on site since your last query etc.

Presentation – different tailoring’s

What about the serendipity?

From e-rays to silly putty via Uranus: Serendipity and its role in web search
examine the affects that personalized search can have on web results

Queries that are very interesting buy not particularly relevant are potentially serendipitous, those that are really interesting and really relevant are helpful

Personal score:
Study on web – says we do actually sometimes crave the serendipitous, not relevant but very interesting

Is SEO dead? Because everyone is getting personalized results? No, it’s actually probably making it easier, you don’t need to be the best bus schedule site in the world, you only have to be very best for that particular audience.  However, it may make it harder to measure, but you can still look at organic traffic and gather info from there.

Social is becoming more and more important as personalization of search is being placed in use, because they are using it for search results, and it’s going to be harder to just rank the highest for a keyword.

Logged in vs. logged out: Previous queries for like 90 to 180 days.  So, contextual and geographical still into play, regardless of whether you are logged in or not.

Bing if you sign out all social turns off. Geo and all that still there.

Bing re-established relationship with Twitter: Crowdsourcing,  look into news on this

Focus on Content, social, links

Thanks to Mashable’s instructions on how to enable Facebook’s Timeline Profile now, I am officially switched over to the new version of Facebook. I know there has been a lot of skepticism about this new design and people are always reticent to accept change, however I think most of you will find that it’s easy to use, looks great and is a lot of fun. As of right now you will not be able to see others timeline profiles unless you are a developer or have one yourself. The Mashable instructions show you how to get around waiting for it to be released to everyone by making yourself a developer.

Joan's New Profile

But, once you follow their steps and you get in, here is what to expect | The Facebook Timelines Tour

1. Cover

Your cover is the large image banner at the top of your profile. You can use any photo you want and you can change it as often as you like.  When you hover over the cover the ‘Change Cover’ editor button appears in the bottom right hand corner of the image.  From there you have the option to choose a photo from your already uploaded images, upload a photo, remove your cover photo, or you can reposition your cover image by simply dragging the image in the box to where it fits/looks best.  I think the new cover almost looks like a website banner and definitely is a way to share a larger photo that you like and expresses yourself with your Facebook friends.

2. View and View As

The views tab is where your name will appear, your ‘About’ info, an image box with the number of friends you have under it, photos, maps, and pages you like.  You can update your info from here very easily.  Also, you can ‘view activity’, meaning you can click on this button and see a log of sorts that is just a timeline of your most recent activity.  You can switch the date, month etc or just simply view your day’s activity.  You may also, click the down arrow next to the ‘view activity’ button, to view your profile as a particular friend would see your profile. See the View As photo below…

View

View As Option

3. Activity Log

Your activity log is essentially exactly like it’s name, it just shows you your recent activity.  You will be able to change any privacy settings on individuals stories, photos etc, right from this area as well.

4. Stories

This is essentially what your wall used to be, but now it’s called your timeline.  This is where people will see all the activity you’ve been up to, photos you’ve posted, updates, apps used, maps, check ins, pages you’ve liked, comments you’ve made etc.  However, what’s majorly different from the wall isn’t only the design, it’s the ability to see the past.  You can add more about yourself into the past section, like pictures from when you were born, and you can post major life events, and it will still have all the posts that you’ve done in the past.  This will create a thorough timeline of your whole life, rather than just the past few years you may have been of Facebook.

Timeline Dates

5. 5 Star or Hidden – Highlights

6. Getting Started

When you first finish the tour for the new Facebook Timeline profile it will give you a few tips of how to get started. But, the best way to really get to know how to use this new platform is by trial and error and exploring and poking around.  It might be a bit confusing at first, but some of the features are really cool. One of the best things to start out doing is to fill in your timeline and start hiding and highlighting stories to be sure your stories are showing how you would like them to.

To sum it all up:

Your Home page will still look fairly the same except for the new features Facebook released a couple weeks ago, like larger images.

Also, you will still be able to use your new Smart Lists that Facebook created by going to your homepage and grabbing the lists on the right hand column or by simply using the update feature and choosing which list to share with.

Also, business pages at this point still look the same, with a few additions like recommendations when you like something.

So, get on there and start trying it out and then share with us what you think.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Changing with the “Timelines”

Technology is a wonderful thing, and it becomes especially apparent when it comes to telecommuting. Since I’ve started working from home full time, I’ve come to love and appreciate tools like Skype that much more. However, as we head toward fall and some of my favorite workshops and conferences, it becomes clear: just because I can’t be at them, doesn’t mean that I can’t “go” to them.

About two weeks ago, Rich and Joan attended SMX East, one of my favorite search geek conferences. Then, last week, a local conference in Portland, Maine – Social Media FTW – was put on by a great team (Rich, Chrystie, and Jaica). I couldn’t attend either conference, but I could still learn from them, thanks to technology. Here are just a few ways to telecommute to a conference far from you.

Live video feed

SMX doesn’t offer live video feeds, but FTW did. A local news station covered the event live from their website. Even though I was limited to seeing only certain sessions, they were all great and I was glad to have been able to watch live.

Most conferences will give public notifications as to whether they are offering these types of feeds, so just do your homework in advance and watch just like you were there!

Twitter

Most conferences, particularly “geeky” ones, will most certainly be talked about on Twitter. Not only that, but they’ll also often have their own hashtag. Your assignment? Figure out what that hashtag is…and follow it.

Typically, folks that are attending the conference will tweet golden nuggets of information that you’ll be able to digest, as well as join in and participate in the conference.

Live blogging

In recent years, many bloggers have taken to live blogging events – it’s great for them and great for those of us tuning in from home. Amongst the more popular live bloggers at the SMX event included:

• Search Engine Land
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Outspoken Media
• Bruce Clay

To find out who’s blogging about your event, simply try a Google search: “[Your event] live blog” or “[Your event] recap”.

Public slides

Last, but certainly not least, many presenters offer their presentations on Slideshare or a similar site (like Rich did here for his FTW YouTube presentation). You’ll be able to view or even download their presentation and review it for yourself. If the presenter is more photo than text heavy in their PowerPoints, this may not be quite as helpful. But you never know, perhaps there is audio/video as well!

Have more ways to tune into conferences and workshops from afar? Go ahead and add them below in the comments section!

Nicki Hicks
Telecommuting, FTW

Now when you like someone on Facebook, a box pops up asking you if you would like to recommend this page to your friends.  We recently put together a custom welcome tab for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, see the screenshot below to see how the recommend option appears when you go to like the page.

All you have to do is enter in a recommendation like so…

And, make sure that you have the post set to public, so that anyone that is subscribed to your news feed can see it, as well as anyone who visits the page that you are liking.

After that if you go to the page wall, you will see that there is a recommendations section in the right column where your recommendation will show up.

This reminds me a bit of giving a recommendation on LinkedIn.  It’s a way to show your support for a business that you think is doing great or that you have had a superb experience with.  Also, by having it in the right hand column it allows for anyone to see it no matter when they go to the page, unlike a general comment, which after time gets pushed down the feed.

Also, it’s a great way to spread the word to your friends that they should like the page, because it will show up on your wall and your friends news feed that you just recommended a page.

For more info on the Recommendations Plugin visit Recommendations On Facebook.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Find Us On Facebook

Facebook News Feed Update – You may have noticed a few changes this morning when you signed into Facebook. There is a layout change for one, but the major change is the Facebook News Feed.    You’ll notice that you now have Top Stories, which are marked by a blue corner, and then your most recent stories just below.

So, what is a top story exactly?  Facebook is pulling stories into your news feed that they think you will find interesting or that have been posted since you last signed in.

The news feed updates got me thinking about what the affect on the Facebook EdgeRank score would be, if it would change, or if it even mattered anymore since you would just get most recent updates.  However, according to Facebook, “We determine whether something is a top story based on lots of factors, including your relationship to the person who posted the story, how many comments and likes it got, what type of story it is, etc. For example, a friend’s status update that might not normally be a top story may become a top story after many other friends comment on it.”  So, my guess is that the Facebook EdgeRank score is still VERY important when it comes to showing up in someone’s top news feed.

If Facebook is pointing out something to you in your News Feed that you don’t think is interesting, they have made it very simple to hide or “unmark a top story”.   Also, you will have more control over what you see in your news feed by creating Facebook Smart Lists. 

The Facebook Real Time Ticker:  The ticker will show real time friend activity as it happens to the right of your screen just above your chat list.   This feature allows you to hover over an item to see the full story and also gives you an option to click in and join the conversation or comment. 

Larger Images:  Facebook has made the images that show up in your news feed larger.  And, who doesn’t love that??!!

Subscribe Feeds: Facebook has added a subscribe feature to personal profiles.  What this means is that you can allow people to subscribe to your updates.  This is very much like a twitter follow.  Like within Twitter you can follow someone without them following you back.  Same thing when you follow or subscribe to a Facebook personal feed.  It’s important to note that you will only be sharing information with subscribers that you post as a public update.  This is probably one of the tweaks that Facebook has added that most closely resembles Google+.

View Shares:  Lastly, Facebook has updated Facebook Pages by adding a ‘View Shares’ link on all posts.  So, you can now see who has shared content from your page with others.

The battle rages on between Facebook and Google+.  Who is going to have the better platform?  Who is going to lose or gain users? Which platform will be more important from a business standpoint to have a profile on?  My guess is that there is room for both and the battle will continue, which is a good thing for the end user.  The more they try to one up each other the better product we have to use at the end of the day.

What are your thoughts on the new Facebook updates?

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Enjoying the Battle

Find Me on Facebook
Find Me on Google+

While Facebook has had lists for quite some time, they haven’t always been easy to use for the basic Facebook user.  So, when Google+ launched Circles it was refreshing to see how easily you can segment your lists and update different friends with different things.  However, last week I was in New York City all week at the SMX East 2011 conference and so I missed the big unveiling of Facebook Smart Lists.  This is a game changer.

First of all, Facebook has one upped Google + in the fact that it will suggest people for your lists.  For example everyone will start out with a few different lists that Facebook has gathered.  Coworkers, People who went to the same school as you and who are in the same area as you for instance will automatically be added to a list.   Family is another smart list that Facebook will automatically add people to and make suggestions based on your profile for you to add to it. However lists like, Close Friends and Acquaintances will be left for you to add whom you would like to those categories.  Once you have added a few people it will then come up with suggestions for others.

Once your lists are created you can make status updates and determine what list/lists you would like that update to be shown to.  Also, someone who is put in the acquaintances list you will only get important updates like marriage updates and job changes etc., but you won’t have their posts showing up in your news feed on a daily basis.

One of the biggest draws to Google + was the ability to share what you want with who you want, and while Facebook has had this ability it was mostly used by power users as it was hard to get to, now that they have made it easier, I’m sure it will be used across the board.

One thing is for sure, the battle of who can one up who, will be provide us with a better user experience.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Fan of the Chronic One Upper

The following is a recap from a session at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East. Follow the conference on Twitter. Follow the presenter – @mathewguiver

Google +still in infancy.

As the community grows the usage of +1 votes will increase.

Google+ is on a trajectory to surpass Twitter, LinkedIn and Myspace being second only to Facebook.

Google + and +1’s are intertwined.

Prediction 1: +1’s to Have More Impact on Average Position Than Quality Score

When you search for something and you are not logged into a Google account your search results will be different than when you are logged in.  For example if you search for Britney Spears products the results page shows the one he would choose as the 3rd result.  But, once logged in, since he has #1′d the result, it shows up number one.  This also works if a friend has #1′d the search result.

When click on it, while logged in, you will see a friend of yours that has recommended that page, Google has done research saying you are more likely to click on that page – lifting personalized results, could apply across the board and to sponsored results.

Prediction 2: The Value of a +1

If a +1 decreases your CPA, then it also increases your ROI.

When money talks, the big bosses listen.

Assign value to a +1 vote, because you get more click throughs when it is referred, which also has a higher conversion rate, more likely to take action.

Say one +1 vote increased CTR, and then it reduces your CPA, which gives you a higher return on Investment

Google +1 will be a great way to leverage paid search

Prediction 3: The End of The PPC Landing Page As We Know It

+1’s are shared between organic and sponsored listings…
start to see advertisers using pages that are designed for SEO and page search

Usually we create lots of pages, uncrawlable, because you don’t want to get knocked for dup pages, so that you can use landing pages for these PPC campaigns, instead, you can recommend within the ad, and then all related search results will always give you the page you shared, or had a +1 from a friend, in top results

So, now you are not paying again for a click, because the organic search will keep coming up,

Prediction 4: Bridging The Gap Between PPC and Social

Should see more overlap

Say you create an Ad for the term “Landing page Optimization”.  Then you create a landing page for the ad to send the person who clicks on the ad to.  It stops with that.  Instead, you should be creating Ads that send them to shareable content, like a blog post on “Landing Page Optimization” where they can +1 the blog post.  Now, that the post has a +1, it is going to show up as a top result on their SERP and potentially there friends SERP,  which leads to more clicks, traffic, possibly more +1′s and hopefully will also help it to start performing better in the organic results.

You will want to be driving traffic to Google plus profiles once businesses are on there.  Because then when anyone searches for that company their page is going to get that lift if you add them to a circle.

Prediction 5: Promoted +1’s
Google to monetize Google+ and +1’s

Google real time search used to incorporate promoted messages from twitter

Even confirmed splitting revenue with twitter

Google will do more outside the box, type ads for money, so Promoted +1s may make sense
Google+ to remain ad free?  Maybe companies offer incentive to +1 them

Prediction 6: Demographic Bidding for Sponsored Search Ads

In the future:
-  Race sex orientation
-  Religion
-  Interests
-  Income levels
-  Activity on profiles, who you block etc.

Prediction 7: Prediction Targeting

Google related, toolbar launched in august

Toolbar suggests sites to visit, based on social activity

Say you search something like a plane ticket, then the PPC that pops up, based on past behavior it might be a ticket sales item for a Britney spears concert in that place you are searching for on Google for tickets.

Be part of the future and stay ahead of the crowd.

Dear Florida SEO,

I just launched a new website two weeks ago and haven’t seen it show up in the search results yet. It’s been optimized for all of the keywords my customers are searching for. How long will it take to see the results (excuse the pun) from SEO?

- Frustrated in Fairbanks

Dear Frustrated, it’s possible that it will take a while for a brand new website to be found. In fact, there are some things you can do and check to make sure your website is as visible as possible to the search engines.

That said, I’ve seen search engine optimization start to work in as little as one week and as long as three months. To be safe, allow your website to take up to three months to show more visibility from SEO. For existing websites that have been optimized after (and even long after) launch, we’ve even seen dips in statistics (both rankings and traffic) for up to three months due to all the changes made, before there is an increase – and benefit – from SEO.

What takes Google so long to recognize my changes?

Think about it. You just made a major change to the Interwebs: you either just launched a new website or you drastically changed a lot on your current website. Google and the other search engines now have to take a moment to reevaluate the changes and re-rank you accordingly. Unfortunately, that takes time.

Tried and true methods will help get your site to the top of those search results in no time and faster than if you didn’t do them; here are just a few:

• Gain more incoming links
• Blog, blog, and blog some more
• Acquire directory listings
• Incorporate a sitemap
• Sign up for and install Google Webmaster Tools

If you’ve ever been interested in what your Facebook statuses of the past were, or just wondering what you were doing today last year, Facebook is now giving you a little glimpse.

Okay, so we all know that not all posts are created equal.  Some updates on Facebook are brilliant jewels of wisdom and others, well, they can be kinda dumb.  And, to remind us of that fact, Facebook has started displaying “On this Day in 2010″ on the right hand column of your Facebook profile.  It’s not there constantly, it just pops up every once in a while.  And apparently, on this day last year, my Facebook update was this…

While not incredibly helpful or brilliant, it did however make me laugh.  And, since it’s Friday I thought I’d share it with you.

If you have any gems that pop up on your profile share them with us here or on the flyte Facebook page!

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Suffering from a 2010 Hangover

I recently discovered the Top 100 Most Popular Facebook Pages and took a look at the top few – 5, to be exact – and saw both variations and similarities in their strategies. Let’s take a closer look at the pages and what we can learn from them.

1. Facebook

Likes: 52,227,065

Custom landing page: No

Cool Wall Details Worth Mentioning:

• Links to Facebook Live events
• Featured stories on how Facebookers have used Facebook (e.g. to find a job)
• Updates from their blog
• Information about new products and links for more information on them
• Photos of new innovations (e.g. grouping similar stories in news feed)

2. Texas Hold’Em Poker

Likes: 49,833,957

Custom landing page: Yes, with quick link to play Poker via their Facebook App (see right)

Cool Wall Details Worth Mentioning:

• Custom profile photo with a player of the week. (In order to become the player of the week, players must participate in the site’s forums.)
• Poker chip giveaways and other gamer awards
• Mentioning top players by name
• Photo albums that link to new games
• Mentioning VIP club, where players will receive additional perks and deals

3. Eminem

Likes: 46,644,195

Custom landing page: Yes, complete with embedded video (see right)

Cool Wall Details Worth Mentioning:

• Links to official Eminem videos
• Specials and deals for concerts
• Photos with promotions for concerts and albums
• Links to albums and songs in iTunes, Facebook App, website

4. YouTube

Likes: 44,777,937

Custom landing page: No

Cool Wall Details Worth Mentioning:

• Links to articles that mention YouTube
• Popular YouTube videos
• Links and videos to the YouTube blog
• Asking questions that require answers via video

5. Lady Gaga

Likes: 43,312,927

Custom landing page: Yes, complete with embedded video (see right)

Cool Wall Details Worth Mentioning:

• Posts to fans, seemingly from Gaga herself; some imported from Twitter
• Photos of Lady Gaga in the press
• Links promoting fellow celebrities
• Links to music videos

What can we learn from them?

The way I see it, all of these pages have a few major things in common, that can be summarized in just a few steps:

• Define your audience.
• What would your audience want to know about?
• How can you provide that in bite size pieces?

What have you learned from the more popular pages out there?

Nicki Hicks
Learn from those doing it the right way