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Category: News

Five for Friday: Survived Mobilegeddon? Check Out What Google’s Doing Next

1. Immediate Mobilegeddon Aftershocks – Moz

Following the much-anticipated release of Google’s mobile update, a.k.a. “Mobilegeddon,” SEO authority Moz has taken its first look at the immediate aftershocks since the rollout. MozCast Mobile tracked the performance of mobile SERPs across a 10k keyword set over 10 days, but since Google says it could take days or weeks for the update, accurate measurements remain difficult to obtain. Stay tuned, because as more page-one URLs show the “mobile-friendly” tag, better Mobilegeddon data could be right around the corner.

2. Google+ Launches Collections – Blumenthals

Interested in using Google+ for your business but unsure how to organize groups of posts? Google+ has a new feature—Collections—that has the potential to help local businesses get more first-page exposure by allowing the organization of posts by topic. It remains to be seen how much of an impact Collections will have, and it very well may depend on Google’s direct marketing and exposure of this new feature.

3. Hope For Mobile Ads – Marketing Land

As mobile traffic continues its upward climb, advertisers are finally jumping in and starting to focus on the user experience, particularly as more consumers are looking at content in-app and from social media rather than on the mobile web. Publishers are actively working to figure out how to profit from rapidly growing mobile traffic, while advertisers are grappling with creating ads that will work well on all screen sizes and moving away from trends like ads that are specifically placed to force the user to click on them.

4. Google Gets Personal – Marketing Land

Are you ready to optimize for personalized search results? Google is reportedly in talks with advertisers to gain access to their customers’ first-party data and incorporate it into more personalized search results based on enhanced user profiles. If you haven’t done so already, now may be the time to optimize your content by focusing on your product or service and specifically targeting searcher profiles rather than using broad keywords.

5. Google+ Shows Signs Of Life With Its First Tweet – Marketing Land

Google+ has faced ongoing rumors as of late over its future, and for the most part, the social network has remained relatively silent, leaving onlookers to wonder if it would quietly split into its separate products: the social network experience, photos, and Hangouts. Instead, the social network recently showcased its sense of humor by surprising everyone with the network’s very first tweet, signaling that it is still alive and well. Google+ did make sure to point out its longstanding feelings on Facebook by commenting, “Still not on Facebook.”

Image sources:

Google Collections

May 15, 2015
Eight Years of Influencing: The Amy Arnold Story

Amy Arnold, director of research & development at Search Influence, recently celebrated her eight-year anniversary with the company April 30. Amy, one of Search Influence’s original employees, is known for her extensive knowledge of the online marketing industry, and her contributions to our company’s progression are something to pay tribute to (and also because she has some wicked dance moves).

Amy’s Journey

Amy’s journey before Search Influence began in advertising. She started her career working for the original Internet—you know, the Yellow Pages—where she sold ads in a phone book, which was a great advertising tool that has lost its value today. Next, Amy moved onto online advertising for phonebooks and was introduced to a load of technical elements. Picking up bits and pieces about HTML and coding along the way, she was able to develop basic Internet knowledge, which brought her here, to Search Influence.

In the beginning, Amy recalls late nights and weekends (say what?), and she describes the first two years as “weird and wild.” The work in the beginning had to be accomplished extremely quickly, and it was both difficult and time consuming; Amy says she truly had so much fun during these years. One of her most memorable experiences during her early years here was when she would sit around her kitchen table with other employees and develop training and processes that our team still uses today.

During her time here, there have been crucial changes to Google that affected our business in totality. In 2013, there were a combination of Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird updates that Amy remembers as a defining moment in our culture: “That was the time to take a critical look at things we were doing.” The company changed many processes that year because of these updates. In that time, Amy was reassured that although much was changing, many of the tactics and processes in place were tried and true and weren’t going anywhere. Growth like this is something that propelled our company to what it is now.

The Future of Online Marketing

The future of our business and the Internet as a whole is unpredictable, but Amy has her guesses: “Apps are going to become more important.” They are quite influential now, of course, and apps have a specific purpose because they serve a specific need. “Google wants us to provide a need to customers,” Amy believes, and apps are designed specifically to do that. Also, data security is a hot topic right now for Internet users, and this is a tangible thing Google can track. Amy predicts this affecting Google trust for businesses in the future (you heard it here first, from Amy Arnold).

When I asked her about some of her more memorable moments here, she mentioned how Will and his wife, COO and Co-Founder Angie Scott, decided to grow a local team here in New Orleans. She described it as an early stepping stone for the company’s maturity into what it is now. Even though Amy is utterly irreplaceable here at Search Influence, she had this to say about her time here: “Will and Angie had the vision and courage to make a pretty bold decision, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

I used to live by this saying: “I’ve always dreamed of growing up to be Amy Poehler.” – Amy Poehler. Now I’ll be amending that to my new favorite Amy, Amy Arnold.

Image source:

Amy Poehler gif

May 14, 2015
Five For Friday: Death to G+, Facebook Video Calling, A Tech Movie Rec & More

1. Schema Marks Up Gmail – Moz

Not too long ago, thanks to a pair of excellent blog posts from David and Ian, we learned all about schema—what it is, what it does, and how it can dramatically help a client’s online marketing strategy.

After that wealth of knowledge was handed down, it should come as no surprise that schema.org markup can improve your email, too. It aids in allowing people to take action on Gmail quickly and simply. The Moz blog gives a comprehensive introduction explaining who should be using schema markup in their emails and why.

2. Is Google Plus on its Deathbed? – Marketing Land

Mark Traphagen, a columnist for Marketing Land, addresses the persistent rumors that Google Plus is going to dismantle the network and its social media component because of its perceived lack of popularity. To counter, he offers several key points that show why these Google+ detractors are misguided.

3. Why Video is a Marketer’s Best Friend – Marketing Land

Search Influence has been using videos for online marketing purposes for as long as I can remember (i.e. the year I have worked here). As the Video Coordinator (<—- a fancy, self-given title) over on the Production Team, I have learned why and how videos are so important. For those who may not know, Marketing Land breaks down why video is the perfect medium to enhance all online marketing strategies.

4. Facebook Announces Video Calling – Search Engine Journal

Facebook announced on its blog two new updates to its messenger services: video calling and a new app called “Hello,” which functions as a caller id, call blocker and search tool.

5. SI Movie Recommendation: New Sci-Fi Thriller Ex Machina – The Independent

In the new sci-fi film Ex Machina, a tech genius and CEO of Bluebook (a fictional Google-Facebook hybrid) has managed to successfully create a robot with artificial intelligence using the data collected by his worldwide, all-knowing search engine. The film touches on some really intriguing themes, such as consciousness, voyeurism, technology and human-machine “singularity.” It is a really interesting and exciting film that, as an employee at a tech company, really resonates—and it’s getting rave reviews across the board!

The film is rated R for language, nudity, and some violence. It stars Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander. It is written and directed by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine and The Beach).

Image sources:

Missy Elliot Gif

Ex Machina

May 8, 2015
Five for Friday: Twitter Trends, #Mobilegeddon, the State of Moz, and More!

1. Twitter Is Rolling Out Trends with Descriptions on the Web – Marketing Land

In an effort to improve engagement with its more casual users, Twitter has made multiple changes to its platform. The most recent has just rolled out on mobile and web, offering descriptions and metrics on trending topics. Now, you can see what a trending topic means and how many other users have shared it.

2. Moz’s 2014 Annual Report – Moz

SEO authority Moz has just released their annual report for 2014, showing “many ups and downs.” Despite a few challenges this year, CEO Sarah Bird still proudly showcases the decrease in cost-of-revenue, increase in workplace diversity, and interesting work perks like charity donation totals and paid vacation. In this bid for transparency, we see another interesting example of tech company work culture.

3. Mobilegeddon Is Here: Google’s Mobile-Friendly Algorithm Is Live! – Search Engine Journal

Wondering what all the hubbub is about with Google’s new update? Normally, Google doesn’t give much warning ahead of its changes, but this one has been on the SEO world’s radar since last October. Google’s major mobile-friendly push will affect more sites than either Penguin or Panda. But don’t worry: if your site is already mobile-friendly, your ranking won’t be affected. If not, Google’s Webmaster Tools feature will tell you how to fix it.

4. How Mobilegeddon Impacts Paid Search – PPC Hero

Speaking of #Mobilegeddon, it’s very likely Google’s Ad Rank formula will be affected by the new mobile criteria. With the changes leading up to the algorithm rollout, we saw both organic search results and AdWords ads labelled with the “mobile-friendly” tag. So it’s not a stretch that AdWords ads will also be affected by how mobile-friendly a website is, both as a factor in the ranking formula and as it affects ad extensions and formatting.

5. Game of Angels Maps Tech Influence Networks – Tech Crunch

Developer Pierre-Jean Camillieri is trying to answer the question “who influences the influencers” with his new tool, Game of Angels. Though the program is in its early stages, it could help entrepreneurs connect with industry leaders who have the most online clout.

The tool gives a visual map of influencers and their major connections based on the number of interactions they have. However, it’s currently limited to those Camillieri himself deems major influencers and industry leaders.

Image Sources:

Twitter Trends

Influence Map

May 1, 2015
Optimize Your Commute: Influencers Caught Ridin’ Sweaty

At Search Influence, biking to work is not a passing fad (and that’s not just because this is how our CEO Will Scott gets to work). Search Influence riders braved rainy weather conditions last week to ride in support of the 2015 NOLA Bike to Work Week, finishing among the top businesses citywide along the way.

Bike Easy’s 2015 Nola Bike to Work Week included a total of 35 New Orleans businesses participating, with more than 1,015 trips logged over the course of the eight-day challenge, according to Bike Easy.

Out of the 35 participating workplaces, Search Influence placed in the top five for two of the three pillars of the challenge. Though the team was small, we came in third place for the total number of trips our riders logged as well as fourth for the most new riders (first-time participants in NOLA Bike to Work Week).

For many members of the SI family, biking extends far beyond just one week a year—it is the way they commute to work daily. Some ride from Mid City, Central City, and Treme, while others come from as far as the Ninth Ward to get to the CBD. Influencer Mattie Kenny said her favorite part about biking to work is “connecting with my environment while I have ‘me time.’”

NOLA Bike to Work Week is one of many events throughout the year put on by Bike Easy, whose mission is to “make bicycle riding in New Orleans easy, safe, and fun.” To find out more about what Bike Easy is and how to get involved, you can check out its website here.

April 30, 2015
New Influencers Put a Spring in our Step

Recently, we were lucky enough to welcome a few new faces to the team here at Search Influence. Say hello to our three newest Influencers!

Kiersten Kampschroeder – Junior Internet Marketing Associate

Kiersten has been enjoying the laid-back New Orleans lifestyle for almost two years, having previously worked in IT and social media from home. Originally from Northern Virginia, she went to school in New York for anthropology and has since put her degree to great use observing cafe culture around the city. She’s a serial dabbler and uses her free time to try every hobby known to man (the current obsession is gardening/landscaping).

Mallory Richardson – Account Associate

Originally from Mandeville, La., Mallory graduated from Louisiana State University in May 2014, earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communication with a concentration in public relations. She served as the Publications Editor in Chief on the 2013-2014 Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) National Committee during her senior year, leading more than 11,500 pre-professional public relations students nationwide. After graduating, she moved to her birthplace of Chicago to begin her career in social media marketing, serving as an account manager at Blueye. While Mallory loved her time in the Windy City, she knew that Louisiana was too special of a place to leave for long (plus she really hated the Chicago winter). In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing soccer and planning trips to faraway places.

Brennan Schexnaydre – Junior Account Assistant

Brennan is a sophomore at the University of New Orleans working toward a bachelor’s in marketing and a minor in hotel, restaurant, tourism. She is a member of Sigma Kappa Epsilon Beta sorority and worked at Pier One Imports for three years before coming to Search Influence. She is originally from Destrehan, but moved to the Westbank in fifth grade. She cries over television shows and sometimes can’t finish watching a show if there is too much conflict (reality shows on Bravo that overwhelm her). She loves watching random documentaries on Netflix.

We’re always excited to welcome new energy and talent to our growing team. Will you be next to jump on board? Visit our careers page and apply! We look forward to hearing from you.

April 29, 2015
Five for Friday: Go Natural, Rock Your SEO, Navigate Apple Maps, and More

1. How Your Band Can Rock SEO – Moz

Most people don’t discover new music by Googling “indie rock bands.” Folks are more likely to discover a band through other means and then turn to the Internet to search for tour dates, song lyrics, etc. If you’re a musician, this presents a unique opportunity for optimizing your band for search engines. Learn how to reach a wider online audience with these tips for improving your band’s search engine optimization.

2. Want to Transfer Your YouTube Account to the Proper Google+ Page? – Search Engine Roundtable

Does this YouTube predicament ring a bell? Say you’ve been uploading industry-related videos to your YouTube account, which is connected to your personal Google+ page. You’ve finally gotten around to creating a Google My Business account for your company, and you want to transfer your industry-focused YouTube account over to your business page. Now you can! The only catch is that this move can’t be undone, so make sure it’s really what you want to do.

3. Apple’s Maps App Gets Reviewed – Blumenthals

Apple’s Maps app, which has heretofore only partnered with Yelp for integrated customer reviews of businesses, has now expanded to incorporate reviews from TripAdvisor and Booking.com. It’s still pending an announcement from Apple, and it’s unknown whether this change is still in its testing stage, but you will likely begin seeing reviews from a wider audience across multiple platforms.

4. Beat the Competition with Natural Content – Marketing Land

Google’s algorithm updates are all focused on one thing: improving online content. Search engines have gotten smarter, and so have people. If your business is just providing “common sense” information with keywords stuffed in, you are not likely to convert a lot of searchers to customers or clients. Optimize your content for intent by providing natural, factual, quality information that tells your company’s unique story!

5. Facebook Dominates Ad Spending – Marketing Land

Where have businesses been focusing their advertising efforts? The numbers are in! In 2014, social media advertising grew 41 percent, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Facebook pulled in 75 percent of total advertising spending on social networks globally, accounting for $11.4 billion of the total $15.3 billion spent.

Image sources:

Act natural

April 10, 2015
Five for Friday: Social Media Ad Wars, De-Spam Yourself, Text for Food, & More!
1. Google Fiber Launches New Product! – Google Fiber

This week, Google Fiber introduced its newest Web connectivity feature, Fiber Dial-Up, to help us all get back some of the time that’s constantly being consumed by ever-present technology. The folks at Google were able to recognize that many of us can’t seem to find enough time during our busy days to get back to the little things, like “texting your mom, hugging your child, running to the restroom …” This is where the dial-up mode idea started, and now Google has found a way to give us our time back so we can go back to enjoying the little things in life. Check it out here and get ready to meditate to the relaxing and nostalgic sounds of dial-up. What will you do with your time?

Thanks, Google! (April Fools!)

2. E-Commerce and Text: Two Sides of the Same Coin – Tech Crunch

Two important messaging announcements hit the tech world recently:
1. 600 million users of Facebook Messenger will soon be able to order food, buy products, and text directly with businesses.
2. Magic messaging company is raising an astonishing $12 million from Sequoia to allow you to order any on-demand service simply by sending a text message.
In short, this means that mobile messaging is now a commerce platform in which the user can seamlessly go from text messaging to ordering food, products, and direct business communication. This is the beginning of the “conversational commerce” revolution—a term coined by Chris Messina—that will open up much more opportunity for companies to join the texting revolution and ditch their countless applications. This will absolutely simplify companies’ paths to their consumers by eliminating the need for apps and non-compatible services and allowing marketing messages to reach users directly through their texting service. Put more simply: we all text more than ever, so why not expand texting’s potential to sending payments, buying products, ordering on-demand services, paying bills, and more? What do you think about this development—will the ability to text a business or make online purchases via text increase your participation in e-commerce?

3. Twitter and Facebook vs. Google and Yahoo – Marketing Land

Last week, online research firm eMarketer released data predicting that Twitter and Facebook are poised to surpass both Yahoo and Google in terms of display advertising revenue in the United States. Additionally, Yahoo and Google are both predicted to see a share decrease in online display ad revenue in 2015.

The financial success in ad space for both Facebook and Twitter is attributed in large part to marketers allocating more of their budgets to mobile display advertising. This goes to show that advertising on social media outlets is paying off for both marketers and social advertising platforms. How do you think these trends will play out over the course of the year? Will Google and Yahoo hold their own against these competitors, or is social media the wave of the future for online advertising?

4. Moz Releases New Spam Score Feature – Moz

Over the past year or so, Moz has been developing a metric that can determine whether or not a site may trigger a negative reaction from Google. Utilizing 17 different factors, the folks at Moz have compiled an algorithm that calculates the “spamminess” of a given website in order to predict any penalties or bans that Google might graciously bestow upon that site. This calculation will assign a site with a “Spam Score” of either “Looks Good,” “On The Borderline,” or “Trouble’s Lurking.” For now, this tool only operates on the subdomain level, but it will soon launch on a larger scale to be able to grade full pages or root domains. Subscribe to Moz.com or start a free trial to learn more about this feature and access your Spam Score now!

5. Dive Into Your Content With Analytics – Moz

When such a large part of our business has to do with content marketing, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest creative trends and most successful channels. However, sometimes the best information is in your Google Analytics data. Last week, Jeff Sauer from Moz published a thorough analysis showing how reviewing performance metrics in Google Analytics can inform your content strategy, thereby validating your content marketing efforts and producing greater traffic and revenue results.

Sauer dives into Google Analytics and provides examples of how we can explore content groupings, specific dimensions, and even coding features to highlight common content topics, adjust our definitions, and monitor the effectiveness of our content. These practices can be extremely helpful for advertisers who are looking to get the most out of their marketing and really optimize their content to its fullest potential. Check out Sauer’s article here for his full analysis, along with some helpful tips!

Image Sources:

Gotcha!

This Means War

I Don’t Like Spam
April 3, 2015
Search Influence launches Mobile SEO truck helping businesses with mobile-friendly websites

Internet marketing company launches Web truck, not food truck, in time for ‘Mobile Apocalypse’

SEARCH INFLUENCE PRESS RELEASE – APRIL 1, 2015

New Orleans-based online marketing company Search Influence launched a new twist on the food truck—the Mobile SEO truck to help businesses become more mobile friendly in advance of Google’s “Mobile Apocalypse” or “Mobilegeddon” deadline Tuesday, April 21. Google’s new focus means businesses with websites that are not mobile friendly may suffer in mobile search results. The Search Influence Mobile SEO truck offers targeted, hands-on services convenient for America’s small- and medium-sized businesses.

The Mobile SEO truck functions similar to a food truck, but instead of the latest in trendy food, it offers affordable search engine optimization services designed to kick-start a heightened mobile online presence for businesses. The Mobile SEO truck will begin its tour in New Orleans, La., April 1–4. Other cities in the tour include Birmingham, Ala., April 5–8; Atlanta, Ga., April 9–12; Nashville, Tenn., April 1–16; and Washington, D.C., April 17–20.

The Mobile SEO truck is staffed with Search Influence SEO experts and website designers, and is also equipped with several hands-on stations, including an interactive Responsive Website Booth, an Automatic Click-to-Call Website Button Generator and Driving Directions Optimizer Portal to help companies attract new business from the near majority of customers who search for products and services via smartphones.

“A mobile-friendly online presence is no longer optional—no matter the size of your business. Our Mobile SEO truck is the perfect solution for any business struggling with Google’s new mobile-friendly algorithm,” said Search Influence CEO Will Scott. “To reach business owners in their own backyard, we’ve given new life to a defunct New Orleans food truck, so we can take these priority services on the road.”

Early this year, Search Influence purchased an out-of-commission food truck in New Orleans and retrofitted it with the latest hands-on website technology. What was originally a $6,000 fixer-upper was morphed into a $750,000 state-of-the-art online marketing machine.

“As a business owner, I appreciate the kind of hands-on online marketing help that literally drives to my office. For the best website strategies, you can’t beat the Mobile SEO truck,” said David Scheuermann of PayrollRx. “If they only served food along with the technology, it would be perfect!”

For media interviews or high-resolution photos, please contact Mikel Pak, PR/marketing manager at Search Influence. Please note, this is an April Fools’ Day joke. We hope you enjoyed the humor. Remember, mobile-friendly websites are key to a successful local business.

April 1, 2015
Champions in the Field: SI Finishes Strong at its Spring Team-Building Event

Three-legged race. Water balloon toss. Potato sack race. Search Influence. What do all of these have in common? The first ever Search Influence Field Day!

This quarter’s team-building event was planned by the Partner Accounts Department, and they did not disappoint. Taking it back to our school days, Influencers were divided into teams and competed against each other in various events. Field Day was held at the beautiful City Park on Friday, March 20.

The Events

There were a total of seven events that the teams had to participate in.

To start off the relay, the first event was the shoe switch race. People participating in this event had to take their shoes off and put them in a pile with the other teams’ shoes. At the start of the race, participants had to run to the pile, put on and tie their shoes, and then run back to the start to tag the next person.

The next event was the three-legged race. Influencers partnered up, were tied together at the knee, and raced to the finish line to then tag the next person to move on to the next event.

The third, and “coolest” (pun intended) event was the water balloon toss. No one could move on from this event before completing five tosses of water balloons with their partner, getting farther and farther away from each other.

Afterward, the teams could move on to the spoon balance. Eggs were put on a spoon, placed in the team member’s mouth, and balanced as they walked to the finish line of this event. If your egg fell, you had to start over!

Next was trivia. Team captains asked their team members questions about the company, SEO, and even Will Scott himself! Once the team answered 15 questions correctly, they could move on to the final event!

This event was for every member of the team. After lining up, they had to pass a beach ball over and under each person. The team that finished first won the Search Influence Field Day!

The Aftermath

After a long and hard fight, the gold team took the win. Search Influence Field Day, of course, ended with great food, drinks, and team-building fun.

Photo credit:
Mary Silva Photography

March 31, 2015