Posted by Andrew Nicholson in Google, Social Networking | 3 Comments

What’s the big deal about Google’s search plus your world?

For the first time since they pulled out of China, Google really got down and dirty yesterday with the launch of Search plus your world.  SPYW (or Search+ as I’ve started referring to it as) is Google’s way of driving new users to their ailing social media site Google+ in a desperate attempt to usurp Facebook’s mantle.  The concept is really rather simple.  Rather that feeding you results based on the open web, Google are including results from your contacts on Google+ (only when you’re logged in mind).  This is optional at present (but it’s pretty much a sure thing that the default will be ‘on’) and will result in a search for ‘Bali’ (for example) bringing up friend’s pictures of their holiday in Bali, status updates mentioning Bali and such like.  Within minutes of Google going live with search+ in the US the blogs lit up (you can see my own to and fro’ing in the comments section of http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/8643-google-adds-social-content-from-google-into-search-results) as assorted techie types cried foul.  But why is this?  In short:

Posted by Andrew Nicholson in Google, Pay per click | 0 Comments

How qualified is a quality score?

For those in the PPC world a good quality score is something to be cherished and loved.  A quality score, for those not in the know, is applied by Google to every key word or phrase you bid on, with the score relating back to the page the advert links through to.  In the words of Google almighty “A keyword’s Quality Score for ad position is based on its clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, the relevance of the ad and keyword to the search query, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors.”

Why do we love quality scores?  Simple really.  The higher the quality score, the less we have to pay for a click though; and the higher a position we gain in the paid for results.  The holy grail of quality score is obtained when it’s high enough to catapult your advert into the above organic (as opposed to side, and as of this week, below organic) search results.  Normally this only happens when you’re deep linking the advert into a specific key term geared page, or on brand name bidding.  In short.  Quality score x bid price = position.  And if you’re quality score is low, there’s just now way you’re going to be hitting the top spots on your paid for listings.

But just the other day this all came crashing down for me!

Posted by Andrew Nicholson in Brand, Google | 3 Comments

If you love your brand, set it free

Clicking on today’s Google doodle has just brought a huge smile to my face.  Today would have been Freddie Mercury’s 65 birthday (hard to believe, isn’t it?) and Google have celebrated this milestone in their own irrepressible fashion by creating an over the top, tiger roaring, space man shooting extravaganza of an animation, set to the tune of ‘Don’t stop me now’.

Posted by Andrew Nicholson in Google, Tech Talk | 0 Comments

Word of warning for Google adword users about the Google Display Network

I’m a big fan of Google adwords.  No other marketing channel can compare for speed of delivery, trackability and reach.  From the smallest start up to the largest multi-national corporation it can deliver a touch point with potential customers at the right place, and the right time.  I’m not a whole-hearted evangelist though – there are flaws in the system and it’s worth highlighting one of the biggest ones.  Google adwords comes bundled with the Google Ad Network.  Let me explain what this means.  

Posted by Andrew Nicholson in Google, Social Networking | 1 Comment

Social wars – Google plus Vs Facebook

For those of you who are a little bit puzzled about the almost fanatical attention Google plus is getting in the tech press at the moment, I thought it would be worth elaborating on the fresh perspective that Google is bringing to the social networking table.  As most of you will know, plus is Google’s long overdue attempt at creating a viable social network.  Invitations to this network have been rarer than a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket, and I’ve even seen them up for sale on Ebay.

Now, from the offset, I have to say that plus isn’t necessarily better than Facebook.  Different, yes.  But that’s as far as it goes for now.  Different is good.  Different is how evolution works, and different is how species survive.  But of course, for one species to thrive, competitor species must fail, and so Facebook have their hackles up and are circling plus looking for signs of weakness.  Will they find any?  It’s too early to say, but for now, a quick comparison of the two services will suffice.

Posted by Andrew Nicholson in Google | 1 Comment

Google drop’s their wallet

Aren’t I the lucky one, I gloatingly thought to myself, as Google announced yesterday their launch of Google Wallet.

You see, I’m one of the few members of the population that carries in their pocket Google’s latest and greatest attempt to conquer the smart phone market  – the Nexus S.  “Why is the Nexus S so special?”, I hear you ask.   Well, it contains  Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that does all sorts of wonderful things.  Or at least it will, because whilst the Nexus S is ground breaking, the ground it’s breaking is more scorched desert than fertile grassland.