townsend.bunksite.com

Category: News

Five for Friday – Google Does the World Cup, Pinterest as the Next Big Search Engine, and Facebook Playing Catch Up!
Google revamps its algorithm, and its Doodles. Businesses are finding their audience on Pinterest more than ever before. Meanwhile, Facebook finally finds a way to mimic Snapchat, but with a catch.

1. World Cup Google Doodles – Google

If you haven’t noticed Google’s Doodles this week, here is a recap of the clever, funny, and sometimes interactive animations created by to promote the FIFA World Cup and the many countries trying for the title. Each Doodle changes several times during the day depending on the countries currently matched up. If you click on the Doodle you will also be taken to a live scoreboard of the current game. GO USA!

2. PayDay Loan 3.0 Algorithm Update – Search Engine Land

In other Google news, Matt Cutts has announced the rollout of another update to the ever-changing search engine algorithm that determines website rankings on the results page. This update is primarily focused on “very spammy queries,” which is an extension of the PayDay 2.0 update released couple of weeks ago. The types of queries and links that will be affected are pornography, payday loans, casinos, Viagra, and other similar topics most usually associated with “spammy” links and queries. It’s another great move by Google, an effort to clean up their search results and provide users with only the most relevant, and non-spam websites to choose from.

3. Four Pinterest Statistic you Need to Know – Search Engine Watch

As for any business or marketer, you should always know both where your customers or potential customers are, and how they are interacting with you online. Pinterest, one of the fastest growing and most influential sharing sites currently on the web, could give your business just the right insight about their target audiences. You should understand the following statistics before starting a Pinterest campaign:
1. Women are the primary Pinterest users, and they out-pin men every day by far.
2. What are these women pinning?
  -DIY projects, home decor, weddings, recipes, beauty, fashion, travel, fitness, photography, and many other topics.
3. Who is your competition on Pinterest?
  -Etsy, Urban Outfitters, West Elm, Brides.com., and Poketo among hundreds of other businesses.
4. When are these women pinning?
  -Between 4p.m. and 10p.m.
4. Bing Attempts to Predict the World Cup – Search Engine Land

Using their prediction technology (a combination of team stats, weather forecasts, player line up, and homefield advantage among other things) Bing is attempting to predict the FFIA World Cup! Although it is not a perfect system by any means, Bing is getting a lot of attention for their prediction technology, which certainly is the end goal. If you search for something along the lines of “world cup predictions group b” you can see for yourself how Bing thinks your favorite team will fare.

5. Facebook Launches Slingshot App – ABC News

Facebook has launched the anticipated Slingshot app, which is very similar to the already widely popular SnapChat application. The biggest difference between the two image sharing apps is that there is a “pay to play” incentive to Slingshot. In order to the see the image that someone shared with you, you must first share an image back. The reason behind this feature is so that everyone becomes an active creator of content and images instead of just viewing from the sidelines. It is a clever attempt to force engagement of its users and incentivize overall creativity. As a direct challenger of SnapChat, it will be interesting to see how Slingshot fares in this highly competitive genre of apps.
June 20, 2014
5 for Friday – Twitter and Facebook Duke it Out, Social Signals’ Effect on SEO, and the Power of Nofollow Links

1. Mobile Site Call Conversions Now Available in AdWords – PPC Hero

It’s finally here! Adwords now tracks click-to-call conversions on mobile devices. This can easily be added to a specific landing page with a little bit of coding. This feature will allow you to track calls through the same venues as your other performance metrics and customize the value of the incoming call. This blog post has step-by-step instructions on how to implement this new feature on your site!

2. Google Wallet’s 2-Click Instant Buy Checkout Comes To iOS – Tech Crunch

This week Google Wallet released its Instant Buy API for iOS apps. This was first released for Android apps a year ago. This free service can be accessed with your Google+ login and stores your shipping and credit card information. Merchants can then use the information to complete the transaction. Google Wallet aims to eliminate the frustration of mobile device shopping and decrease shopping cart abandonment.

3. Facebook and Twitter Want You to Talk About the #WorldCup on Their Field – Marketing Land

Facebook and Twitter are engaged in a Battle Royal almost as intense as the World Cups itself. With yesterday’s commencement of the Fifa World Cup, these two social media powerhouses pull no stops to be become the No. 1 platform for Fifa fans to electronically engage.

Facebook’s campaign provides fan with a Trending World Cup Page. Here fans can access the latest scores, view highlights and interact with a global map to pick their favorite teams

Use #WorldCup and #WorldCup2014 to access Twitter’s World Cup landing page. Here you can create a Fifa-specific profile and choose a cover photo and profile picture to support your team. Don’t forget to include your HashFlag. Introduced during the last World Cup, these three-letter hashtags can be used by fans to unlock an image of a country’s flag.

Which social media platform will reign supreme? Only trending numbers will tell. Let the games begin!

4. Social Signals and SEO – Blind Five Year Old

While the power of social media seems encompassing, Google is currently not using social signals, even from Google+, in its algorithm to calculate search results. You might be asking yourself why you’re putting so much effort into social now. Fear not! Maximizing the potential of a Google+ listing and other social outlets does have benefits. The Blind Five Year Old breaks down social media activity to explain that its not necessarily the activity itself, but the result of that activity that matters.

5. The Hidden Power of Nofollow Links – Moz Blog

Link building is an integral part of all SEO campaigns. They can help build your company’s brand, build public awareness, increase profit and, of course, lead to more links. Links can also help build your site’s authority in the eyes of search engines. But what about nofollow links? While they seem unfathomably dreadful, this blog posts offers a silver lining and techniques to utilize those nofollow links.

June 13, 2014
5 For Friday – Bing Turns 5, Google+ Pages Merge, & MySpace Misses You!

1. At Five Years Old, Bing Has Come Far Yet Has More To Grow – Search Engine Land

Can you believe the little guy is already 5 years old?! Microsoft’s search engine has made some solid strides over the last five years, gaining more of the search market share, and taking Yahoo’s 2nd place rank. While Google continues to dominate, Bing has been challenging users to make the switch, but it looks like the only share they’re gaining is from Yahoo.

Although they will probably never match Google, Bing’s success as credible search platform has lead to partnerships outside of Microsoft, putting search into services and apps, including third-party apps. With the progress they’ve made so far, it’ll be interesting to see where they’ll be in 5 more years.

2. Google Now Allows Brand Pages to Become Google+ Local Pages – Local U

Google has released an update to Google+ that will finally make it possible to merge a Google+ Local page with a Brand page. After Google Places began integrating Google+, many businesses were confused and frustrated when realizing that they were unable to integrate their existing Google+ Brand pages with their verifiedLocal page.

The problem has been solved with this recent update, and businesses are now able to merge all of their local data with their Brand page. This will allow for all of the local features to also be integrated, which include reviews, business information, and the map. This article give specifics about the changes to your pages when making the switch.

Google+ still has a several other kinks that they need to address, but this is a step in the right direction and will bring some much needed relief to many business owners (and marketers!). Happy merging!

3. Press Release Rankings: Slammed by the Panda? – SEER Interactive

Since the release of Panda 4.0, press release agencies have seen a severe drop in traffic, which has everyone questioning the value of using them for SEO marketing efforts.

The algorithm update has primarily affected the press release sites’ rankings in search results, specifically when used to manipulate the search results with irrelevant content. This means that the press releases most affected are spammy and were being used as a way to game search results while not providing any useful information for the searcher.

The good news is that press releases are still a very valuable marketing tool, when used for the right reasons (to announce timely and newsworthy information). This particular impact of the Panda update on press release sites is just another way that Google is cleaning up search results, proving just how important it is to always produce the most relevant and useful content for your business.

4. How to Grow Your Google+ Fan Base to 1,000 Followers & Beyond – Search Engine Watch

It’s pretty clear that Google loves their products and wants you to use them. All of them. And the more active you are, the better. For Google+, not only is it important to be active, it’s important that you engage and build up your fanbase—follow and be followed. This article shares some great tips and tricks to get started on building your fanbase and to create and maintain engaging content for your followers.

5. Myspace Is Embarrassing Users With Old Photos to Win Them Back – Mashable

Remember that old Myspace page you had 10 years ago? Neither do we. If you’re one of the lucky people that has access to or even uses that old email account, Myspace wants to remind you by sending you old embarrassing photos. While these admirable marketing efforts probably won’t make you go back, it will, at the very least, drive more traffic to their site so that you can laugh at those photos…and then delete your account.

Image sources:

“5th Birthday Cake” by Andy Eick

“Giant Panda” by Chen Wu from Shanghai, China

“Myspace Ruined My Life” by Bill Alldredge

June 6, 2014
5 for Friday – Google Changes Its Logo, Apple Buys Beats, Internet Trends Report and More!
1.Google Made the Slightest Change to Its Logo and Users Still Noticed – Mashable

Google changed its logo and chances are, you probably didn’t even notice. The nerds did, though. Here’s a GIF of the logo, before and after.

2.Apple Confirms It Will Buy Beats for $3 Billion – Mashable

Apple confirmed the largest acquisition in company history – they will buy Beats Electronics and Beats Music for a cool $3 billion. No big deal, really.

3. Lawyers Sue SEO Firm For Violating Google Guidelines – Search Engine Land

A Michigan law firm is suing its former SEO company for allegedly using “spammy” techniques violating Google’s guidelines. I’ve been with Search Influence since October 2013 and have already seen changes in industry best practices, so it’ll be interesting to see what this means for SEO companies moving forward.

4. The Most Important Insights From Mary Meeker’s 2014 Internet Trends Report – TechCrunch

TechCrunch breaks down Meeker’s 164 slide report into 52 more digestible nuggets. Here are the 5 I found most interesting:
- Mobile now accounts for 25% of all web usage
- Internet advertising grew 16% this year
- Music streaming is up, sales are down – sales fell in 2013, while streaming grew 32%
- Photo sharing up 50% over 2013 in just the first half of 2014
- 84% of mobile owners use their devices while watching TV
5. 7 Essential LinkedIn Marketing Stats: When to Post, What to Post and How to Improve – Search Engine Journal

An interesting read about the third-fastest-growing social network. Don’t believe me? LinkedIn sends nearly four times more people to your homepage than Twitter and Facebook. Combined.
May 30, 2014
April Showers Bring May Influencers!

Search Influence continues to grow! This month, we are happy to welcome seven new faces to our team.

Breanna Gussoni (Part-Time Administrative & Accounting Assistant):

Breanna was born and raised in New Orleans. She is currently attending Herzing University where she is pursuing a B.S. in Accounting. This is Breanna’s first job in business and marketing. She looks forward to learning all she can from working with Search Influence.

Chris Henson (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Originally from Covington, LA, Chris moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane University, where he majored in History and Film. After graduating, he went on to receive his Master’s Degree in History from Southeastern Louisiana. Chris is very involved in the ever-growing New Orleans film industry as a reporter, critic, promoter, and producer. He is fascinated by the never-ending possibilities of social media.

Jessica DeBold (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Jessica was born in New York City and raised in Greenwich, CT. She graduated from Loyola University in early May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy Pre-Law and Mass Communications with a focus in Journalism. Before joining the Search Influence team, Jess was the Editorial intern for Uptown Messenger and the Editorial Editor for Loyola’s weekly newspaper. She is a fourth-degree black belt in Isshin-ryū karate, she plays the cello, and she spent her most recent summer in Cairo, Egypt working on an international women’s rights project with German University and UN Women.

Marina Brazhnikova (Operations Associate):

Marina is originally from Russia, although she has lived in the US for the past 12 years. After 7 years of managing operations at a successful art gallery, she decided to go back to graduate school, which brought her to New Orleans, the city she now considers home. Marina recently graduated from Tulane University with an MBA. At Search Influence, she concentrates on special projects with a focus on process improvement and optimization.

Patrick Kolstad (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Patrick is originally from the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He has lived in New Orleans for four years and recently graduated from Loyola University with a B.A. in English Literature. Patrick is excited to navigate the post-collegiate world while continuing to explore the city of New Orleans.

Sabrina Mohsenin (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Originally from Nashville, TN, Sabrina moved down to New Orleans to attend Tulane University, where she graduated this May with a double major in Communications and Psychology. Before Search Influence, she worked as a Junior Content Creator at a local PR and Marketing Agency, Hero|Farm, and as a PR Intern for The Office of James Carville.

Siobhan Lidon (Junior Internet Marketing Associate):

Born and raised in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, Siobhan is now working towards her Management and Spanish degrees at Tulane University. Prior to Search Influence, Siobhan was a marketing intern at Be Well Nutrition, Inc., in New Orleans. After having fallen head over heels for the music, culture, and food the city has to offer, Siobhan plans to stay in New Orleans after college.

Welcome to SI, Breanna, Siobhan, Jessica, Patrick, Sabrina, Chris, and Marina. We’re excited to see all the great things you will accomplish!

May 27, 2014
5 For Friday – Facebook Privacy, Google With Your Voice, and Yelp Videos!

1. Facebook Defaults Posts From “Public” to “Friends” & Introduces Comprehensive Privacy Checkup
– Marketing Land

Facebook has finally launched a major change that may have an impact on their real-time efforts. With the privacy updates, users’ posts will now default to only be visible by friends, and all users will be encouraged to check on their privacy settings if they have not been updated recently. Greg Finn says he expects that this update may cause hashtags and real-time conversations to continue on their decline.

2.Yelp Will Allow 12-Second Video Reviews Starting Next Month
– Marketing Land

Beginning in June, “Elite” users will be allowed to share their review of local businesses via a short video. These videos will first appear inline with the photos, but will eventually also appear along with the reviews like photos currently do.

3.Google+ Introduces New Features That Automatically Generate Movies and Travelogues
– Search Engine Journal

Google+ launches Stories and Movies that will bring together your photos and videos to highlight your favorite moments from your travel or an event. Google’s Story will arrive within 24 hours after you return from your vacation. After you receive your story, you will be able to customize it and share it. Google+ Movies will include related photos and videos along with a soundtrack and special effects.

4. Google Adds “Okay Google” Voice Search For All Chrome Users
– Tech Crunch

Users will first need to give Chrome permission to use the mic on their computer. Then you can simply go to Google.com and say “Okay Google” to trigger the voice search followed by your search request.

5. Google Paid “Dealers Nearby” Appears To Have Gone Live
– Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal noticed that Google’s new paid ads (now appearing within the knowledge graph) are live. This seems to be only the case in the US according to the comments thread on Dr. Pete’s tweet regarding this update. Mike Blumenthal suggests that we may one day see Google selling competitors space in branded knowledge panels.

May 23, 2014
May The Nola Festivals Be With You

As all New Orleanians know, this great city is known for it’s colorful and sometimes wild festivals. If you have spent any time at all here you will know that there is a festival almost every weekend of the year and for almost any occasion you can think of! These festivals can range anywhere from highbrow to downright weird.

However, May holds a special place in our hearts. It is the perfect combination of festival fun without the feeling of melting into a sweaty puddle. Check out what we have going on in the city this month and join the festivities before it gets too hot!

New Orleans Wine and Food Experience

Thousands of foodies flock to this event to eat their way through one of the best festivals of the year. You can be sure to experience every type food imaginable paired with more wine than you could possibly drink (don’t even attempt to try it all)! Taking place in the French Quarter and with restaurants all over the city participating, this festival is perfect for visitors who are looking for the best that this city has to offer while wandering the historic streets.

Greek Fest

Located at one of the oldest Greek Orthodox churches in the United States, this massive mediterranean festival celebrates food, family, music, and fun. Taste traditional cuisine, enjoy Hellenic dancers, and rock your toga (or your bedsheets). Grab a souvlaki and learn the Zorba with 20,000 of your closest friends!

New Orleans Oyster Fest

The last weekend of the May is, in my opinion, the best weekend of the year! The oyster eating contest, the shucking competition, and the largest oyster contest are just a few events that take place during this weekend event. Paired with local music and libations, the oysters are in peak seasons and couldn’t be tastier! There is no wrong way to enjoy your bucket of oysters – raw, grilled, or on a cracker. Bring your friends, your appetite, and shuck on!

May 20, 2014
5 For Friday – Backlinks, Knowledge Graph, And Privacy!

1. Matt Cutts: Google Won’t Devalue Links Anytime Soon

-Search Engine Watch

Well, you’d certainly hope this is the case with the way Google is initiating hundreds of thousands of manual actions every month…But in Matt Cutt’s recent video, he explains the value of those quality links while Google continues to better understand and define what determines quality content. As it stands, Cutts sees the value of quality links to be a relevant ranking factor for the time being. So fear not, if you are working to improve the quality of your content along with improving and diversifying that backlink profile with authoritative links, you’re certainly protecting yourself from future menacing Penguin updates.

2. Google’s Knowledge Graph Expands into Google Maps

-Search Engine Land

Google’s knowledge graph is expanding from organic search results into their map results. Much like the results from regular search queries on google.com, the knowledge graph will now pull information cards with quick facts about certain places searched in Google maps results. But hey, don’t just take Search Engine Land’s and my word for it, run a maps.google.com search for New Orleans’ own St. Louis Cathedral and check it out for yourself!

3. European Court Requires Google to Delete Personal Info

-Search Engine Roundtable

Hey SEOs! Reputation management just got easier! If you live in Europe that is. In a recent ruling, a bill so cleverly titled “the right to be forgotten” requires that search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing must remove links from search results for a person’s name if that person requests to have that result removed.

4. How to Dramatically Improve Your Google Authorship

-KISS Metrics

This article provides some great tips for improving your Google authorship. As with any authorship improvement tip article, though, do keep in mind that excessive guest blogging is a definite no no. Keep the list of sites you contribute to condensed and featuring only those important and authoritative sites you write for. Guest blogging, if done incorrectly, can be seen as a spammy link-building tactic. A definite highlight of the tips provided in this article was “feature your most flattering picture…you don’t have to be good looking. You just have to…’put your best face forward.’” So no worries—you don’t have to be Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, or Jon Hamm. You just want to ensure your thumbnail image is clear.

5. 5 New and Improved Twitter Features Marketers Should Use

-Search Engine Watch

This article is a fantastic overview of those new Twitter features and how they translate into tactics marketers can utilize. A particularly interesting, stand out feature is that Twitter now allows for engaging tweets to appear larger than others. Now “all” you have to do is make sure your tweets are always relevant, engaging, and interesting to your audience.

May 16, 2014
5 for Friday – New YouTube Feature, Ads on Reddit and more!

1. Advertising on Reddit is easy with this guide -Moz

For those of you unfamiliar with the site, Reddit.com is a social site composed of user submitted images, text posts, links, news stories and more. Reddit is a huge community with roughly 115 million unique visitors. This site offers low cost ads with high potential to engage users and even go viral. Advertising on Reddit requires different tactics than on other sites, though. Ads are treated like any other content, meaning “Redditors” have the ability to vote your ad up or down, affecting its visibility. Your voice and overall strategy on Reddit must be handled differently than on other sites. This handy guide gives a lot of great advice to help get your business started.

2. Google Bulk upgraded to allow multiple administrators -Blumenthals

Google+ is finally getting a much-needed multi-admin feature! Corporate Google accounts can now create listings for all of their locations and then authorize separate Google accounts as admins. The bulk upload tool hasn’t been embraced in the past, but demand from SEO companies and business owners finally convinced Google to update their bulk upload backend as well. With an upgraded account, a single corporate account can manage up to 10,000 locations with full control. This is going to make social media management much easier for business with multiple locations!

3. When is best time to make your social media post? -Hubspot

Scheduling your social media posts well can actually make a big difference in how many people see them. Web traffic to these sites change greatly depending on the day of the week and time of day. There is no set calendar that is best for all social media sites; people use them all differently. Facebook yields high results during weekday afternoons while Pinterest has increased traffic on the weekend. Check out this handy infographic for details on the best and worst times to reach out on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Tumblr and Google+.

4. Youtube allows users to add 3-second intros to their videos -Mashable

This post is short and sweet because the subject is pretty simple. Youtube has a new feature allowing users to add a 3-second intro to all of the videos on their channel. This feature is valuable for creating a distinctly branded channel. Viewers can begin to identify your videos easily based on the consistent intro. Currently the only limitation on these intros is that they may not be used for advertising or sponsorship purposes.

5. Foursquare moves their check-in feature to new app: Swarm -Search Engine Land

Foursquare, in a bold move, is removing their key feature, “check-ins.” Checking in will now be done on their new app, Swarm. Swarm will focus on the social aspects: checking into locations, finding friends, and even being able to chat to people you know nearby. Foursquare will continue to exist with a focus on discovering local businesses and serving as a competitor to Yelp. The success or failure of this division could determine the future for this company.

May 2, 2014
5 For Friday – Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, Oh My!

1) Twitter Profile Redesign is now available to everyone!

-Twitter

Do you have the new Twitter layout for your profile? If not, you may be behind the times. Twitter recently updated their profiles with a new, user friendly look. This design is pretty similar to what many people are used to seeing on Google+ and Facebook. They are in the process of rolling out the profile redesign to all Twitter users.

2) Are Your Fans Interacting with Your Brand on Social Media?

– Mashable

The look of your graphics and images supporting your social media updates carry a lot of weight. If they’re not appealing to your followers, they will fall flat when it comes to engagement. Mashable shares some insight on the various types of images that can boost interaction amongst your fans.

3) Google Offers New Ways to Market Apps in Search, Display, and YouTube

– Marketing Land

Many app creators struggle to get their product noticed, downloaded, and used by consumers. Google is now offering various unique ways to market them in AdWords via search, display, and YouTube. Read this article to learn details about all of the exciting new features available to app marketers.

4) Facebook Mobile is Killing it! Is your brand on Facebook Yet?

– Bloomberg

If your brand is not spending at least some of its marketing dollars on the social media giant, you are probably missing out on a major consumer base. This article from Bloomberg tells us that nearly half of the world’s internet population is logging into their profiles, at least, once a month. This mean almost a billion people a month are logging into the mobile app alone!

5) Pinterest Announces the Launch of a Visual Search Engine

– Buzzfeed

Pinterest is launching a new “Guided Search” for its mobile users. It takes user’s broad search and prompts them to narrow it down with pictures in related sub categories. This very informative article from Buzzfeed explains, in detail, the specifics of Pinterest’s new guided search.

April 25, 2014