‘Google Analytics’

The average user of Google services such as Google Plus, the search engine, Gmail and Maps may not even be aware of the applications and services to be cut in the near future. For most, relatively little will change in their day to day lives, but for a few the cutting of Google services such as Knol, Bookmarks List, Wave and Friends Connect may come as something not planned for.

 

Why The Cutting Of Google Services?

The US based company is in a process of streamlining the services and products offered. As with any growing company, house cleanup may be needed every once in a while, and that is exactly what Google is doing. The idea is to offer more focused products and services and to put more emphasis in beating the social media giant Facebook with the new Google+ social network, which would have been better off, if named Google Circle.

Although the company has seen tremendous growth in Google Plus, usage of the service is still not on par with that of Facebook. Unless users migrate from Facebook to Google+, one should not expect the social network to overtake Facebook or even be a real threat to it in the near future.

Failing Products And Services To Get The Boot

The cutting of some of the Google services is aimed at products or services which have failed to get off the ground or achieve what the company has hoped such would. Some users have expressed concern that more services may be cut and they are thus a bit sceptical in signing on for new services.

The company wants to integrate such services and products with their successful products and thus ensure a more streamlined and easier to use Google. Users accordingly have nothing to fear, most of the useful services stay intact.

Which Products Will Be Cut?

The cutting of Wave as a Google product comes as no surprise. The service combined online collaboration and instant messaging. Development on it has already stopped a while ago and it is now recommended that users opt for the open source projects such as Apache to replace it if they still want to make use of the Wave technology.

Google Gears, the offline browser functionality delivered less than expected and users are no longer able to download it. Applications such as Gmail offline will be incorporated into Chrome allowing for access to it and other applications such as Google Docs through Chrome.

The next item on the list of Google services to be cut is the Search Timeline. Graphs of historical search trends can in future be found by means of the google.com/trends.  Friends Connect also gets the boot. It is a service that allows webmasters the ability to enrich the user experiences through the addition of social media type characteristics to the sites by means of snippet embedding. Webmasters are encouraged to promote Google+ instead.

Bookmarks List, allowing the sharing of bookmarks among friends is perhaps one of the services which will be least missed. Knol, launched as far back as 2007 never really took off. It was designed as a Google service allowing for collaboration amongst experts in the creation of articles. The company has, however,  indicated that Knol will still be working until the end of September 2012.  Google has also indicated the cutting of Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal known better as RE<C.  According to the company other companies are now better positioned to continue research in driving the price of renewable energy down. They have published their results to help other companies in their research.

 

Caution Regarding Announcements Of New Products

The company has also indicated that their future announcements of new services and products may not be so hyped up since expectations may be more than can be delivered. They will only announce a few projects every year following the example of rival firm Apple. Most people, however, speculate that Google is cutting services in order to put more resources into Google+ in order to beat Facebook.

New Products & Services Launched

While the cutting of Google services such as Knol, Friends Connect and RE<C may come as no surprise, the addition of services such as the online music store, at present only available in the USA, is expected to keep the company solidly in the run. Users with Android based devices will be able to purchase MP3 files from a library of more than 13 million music pieces. With Sony Music Entertainment, Universal, and EMI also supporting the library, it is expected to give Apple a run for their money. The music store is integrated with Google+ allowing for sharing of music pieces amongst Circles.

Google MAPS – Extending Views Indoors

The company has taken its technology indoors as well, allowing for indoor viewing of some museums and other places of interest. The project is operational in several cities such as Paris and London. Unfortunately, it is not yet available in South Africa. Places to be viewed will include restaurants, repair shops, gyms and shops. Businesses have been invited to join, but have been asked to warn their clients of the photo shoots before filming starts. Users will be able to get 360 degree fish eye views of the locations.

Large scale usage of the MAPS feature will be charged from January 2012. Travel agencies and booking firms making extensive use of the MAPS will have to cough up if their map hits are in excess of 25 000 hits in a given day.

Data Crunching

Another service announced not for cutting by Google, but as something new to help companies identify and analyse large data sets with tools available from the company is that of data crunching. The BigQuery is seen as revolutionary in the sense that it can process a tremendous amount of data within only a few seconds.

Although cutting of Google services is thus eminent, new services are added and more streamlining is done. As such users can also expect more integration of existing services, whilst all the extras not delivering will be dropped.

It is time for someone to make a life size banner and hang it on the Union Buildings which says;”I Love You Google, Will You Marry Me? Why the excitement? Google Wallet is the extra mile to show that it is possible to bring the future to the present day.

Although South Africans will still have to wait since retailers hardly line up to get the required NFC readers locally, Google Wallet is now operational on a new level in the USA.

Google Wallet Explained

Most people by now are familiar with electronic purses such as PayPal and Monsterpay allowing you to request money from others, receive payments and to do financial transactions. You simply need to link the e-purses to an allowed bank account or card and the transaction can be done.

Android Application

Google Wallet, an Android application, works on the same principle, so that is not new, but the fact that it is a mobile application allowing for one’s phone to become a purse is exciting. All it does is to store a virtual record of your cards on your mobile phone as well as any offerings in terms of coupons and gift cards and any loyalty points. Simple enough one will think, but getting it so simple is where one has to tip the hat to Google. Instead of having all of those cards in your purse you will thus have virtual cards on your phone. This means the phone becomes the purse.

Use Your Phone To Pay

If you attempt to pay with your phone at just about any retailer, you may get thrown out simply because the retailer sees you as a bit crazy or perhaps another scammer. You can make payments where there are NFC readers. The wallet is not yet compatible with any phone, but the tap and pay app can be used with Nexus S 4G. So at this moment you will need a Nexus S 4G phone.

Payment Steps

Once you are at a reader simply tap your phone lightly against the reader – there is no need to hit the reader. Payment is rather simple. It would be wise to first look whether you see the PayPass logo to determine whether the retailer will accept contactless payment methods. The Google Wallet transmits the required payment details by means of wireless communication. You will receive the required confirmation on your phone that payment has been sent. Just wait for confirmation and your slip from the merchant and you are done.

No Network Connection Needed

The beauty of it all is that you don’t need a network connection although the phone must be on as well as the screen.

How To Get The Application

If your phone supports the Wallet, it will have it on when the software update is done. It is a free application and new users receive a start-up Prepaid Card when they activate their cards. Google Wallet is similar to Google Checkout and PayPal in the sense that you have an electronic means of payment, but differs in the sense that Checkout allows merchants to receive online payment, but Wallet allows for payment at normal offline centres.

Credit Cards Supported

At present Citi PayPass MasterCard credit cards are supported as well as the Google Prepaid Card although plans are to support all the main credit cards. With the Prepaid Card you can still use the Wallet if you don’t have an eligible credit card. Simply add funds to the card by means of a credit. Note that it is not a physical card, but a virtual one.

 

How Secure Is The Payment?

In a country where the possibility of cell phone theft is always there one can understand the concerns of users. If your phone is stolen it can mean wipe-out time. Google recommends that you then immediately contact the credit card company to stop your facility in addition to reporting the phone was stolen. Payment details are stored on a chip, which is separate from the main operating software and only allows authorised apps to access it for transactions. In addition, Google has also ensured that a PIN security is in place. Malicious apps will not be able to enter the Secure Element. You must first enter a PIN for any transaction to take place.

Records Of Purchases Are Not Complete Yet

At this stage one will not get a record of products bought using Google Wallet, but Google does keep record of the transaction time and the credentials used. You have the option for enabling recording of the location of the purchase as well as exactly when it took place.

Gift Cards & Loyalty Cards Can Be Loaded

You can also pay at merchants with gift cards stored on the Wallet. The same applies for loyalty cards at relevant merchants.

South African Situation

At this stage South Africans can still just read about the Google Wallet application although we can use Google Checkout for online payments. A few things need to kick in place before we can also reap the benefits of this highly advanced method of carrying money including getting the right phone, credit card to at least fund Google Prepaid, and then we have to find shops which support wireless payment. It has been rolled out in the USA, but retailers here will also have to catch on and our users will need to support the system by investing in the right handsets.

Challenges

Google even faces the challenge of educating the public and getting the readers at as many outlets as possible. Considering that many South Africans are still too afraid to make online payments, one can imagine how concerned they will be with the possibility of their phones being stolen and used. Fortunately the PIN is in place and with all the levels of security embedded, Google Wallet should be one of the safest and most convenient means for paying for goods.

 

Now up until now you might have been spending a lot of time, energy and money on your marketing efforts, but for some reason your conversion rates, or ROI, is still in the low ranges between 2 – 4%. You are at your wits’ end as to how you can improve your performance, especially if you consider the ton of data you will need to work your way through.

Enter the bounce rate!

The day Google Analytics (GA) was first introduced in 2005, online marketers around the world put their hands together in celebration. For the first time they were able to get detailed statistics about the visitors to their clients’ websites, and one of the main factors included in this free enterprise-class web analytics solution was the bounce rate.

Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate

A lot of people confuse bounce rate with exit rate – and understandably so too – but let’s quickly put the differences between the two in layman’s terms:

• Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of visitors who land on a website, take one look at it, say “yuck” to themselves, and then “bounce” away to a different website instead of clicking through to other pages on the website.
• Exit Rate: This percentage is calculated according to the number of visitors to your website who click away from your website to another site, but only after they’ve gone to other pages of your site. Thus, the page that they exit from is the one used to calculate the exit rate.

The great thing about the bounce rate is that it is a very clear-cut way to measure the quality of traffic coming to your website; simple to understand and accessible in any web analytics tool. This makes it easier to hone in on where and why visitors leave your site without making that call or purchasing your product. Of course the bounce rate is and will be affected by the type of website you have – blogs, for instance, will have a much higher bounce rate than an e-commerce site. The reason for this is because readers of blogs tend to read only the latest postings which are all available on the home page. With an e-commerce site the visitor should preferably be looking through the products and information, thus moving around on the website.

Your Goals

The first thing you have to do when beginning a new online marketing campaign is set out the goals which you plan to achieve for a higher ROI. This can be anything from getting a visitor to phone you directly, fill in a form or purchasing a product.

So when is the bounce rate important?

• If the sales process requires the visitor to follow through a number of pages in order for you to achieve higher conversion rates, i.e. making the sale.
• When you are trying to get new visitors to become loyal readers and/or followers of your brand.
• If you are the owner of a retail site that necessitates visitors to shop around to make that sale.
• Lastly, if your homepage does not urge visitors to click through to other pages, especially if it includes blog excerpts or what we refer to as “teaser” content.

Reasons for a high bounce rate may be that:

• The keywords used and the content found on the site are a mismatch and not what the visitor was looking for.
• It’s not obvious enough to the visitor what their next step should be in your goal process. For instance, you want them to call you or click through to your contact page.
• Your site’s navigation is confusing, making it difficult for the visitor to find what they are looking for.
• The way you are presenting your product or service is not compelling enough.
• Technical problems with the site – such as broken images or links – will definitely affect the bounce rate negatively.

One thing people tend to assume though is that a low bounce rate is good and a high bounce rate is bad, but this may not necessarily be the case. The fact of the matter is that it all depends on what type of website you have and the goals you set out to achieve, because a bounce rate means different things to different websites. Another factor to bear in mind is to not look at the bounce rate in isolation, but the overall picture. This will give you comprehensive insight into the trends of your site, problem areas that needs addressing, where you are wasting money, and what content requires a little boost.

At the end of the day your bounce rate will be able to help you change that ‘yuck’ to ‘yes!’. If you are serious, however, about your website working for you and your company, it will be the smarter choice to call upon the Google experts. At iLeadOnline our day-to-day experience with all things Google ensures that you our clients are always at the top of the YES list!

Google announced its Google Instant feature on September 8, 2010. It has certainly rocked the SEO world with hundreds of bloggers and web marketers speculating about the possible outcomes for SEO. Some have said that Google Instant will kill SEO, while others commented that it would certainly change search behaviour, and thus keyword selection for both organic searches and AdWords. To fully understand the possible implications for SEO and web marketing, one must also review how the user is affected by the new feature and why Google has introduced it.

What Is Google Instant?

It is a new improved search feature allowing for the displaying of results as a user enters the search into the search box. The idea behind the technology is to improve search relevancy and decrease search time. Google claims that the Google Instant feature can reduce search time with up to five seconds on each search. For the busy user, it will most certainly ensure better time management, but will the results be better?

Doing a few searches on terms, it has become obvious that in most cases the dynamic nature of the enhancement does allow for more relevant search results. Google argues that people read quicker than they can type. With that in mind, possible searches are immediately listed allowing for the user to select one of the suggestions or to complete the key phrase. As such a user will be able to ignore the suggestions. With the dynamic nature of the search facility, Google Instant picks up on the search behaviour of the individual and will adapt suggestions to be more relevant as it learns.

Users no longer need to complete the search phrase and enter before they get an idea of what is available. Google displays the possible search phrases as the user types. If the search phrase is close enough to what the user had in mind, the likelihood for someone typing the whole phrase before entering diminishes. The user can adapt search strategies on the go and will not need to first glance at a page for results before adapting the search. By quickly glancing at possible phrases or keywords, immediate, and more relevant searches, can be applied.

Benefits Of Google Instant For The User

- Quicker searching and thus time savings.
- Suggestions based on AI predictions provide search guidance.
-The most relevant suggestion is visible in light grey directly in the search box allowing the user to stop typing and simply entering for display of results.
- While typing results will appear, allowing for more time savings.
-The user can immediately identify whether the search results will be relevant.
- Since the user still has the choice of turning the feature off, the more conventional static search facility is still available.
- The user can still filter results with the Safe Search facility to protect against offensive language and sites. User control is thus still intact.
- Search as you type allows for glancing at the results as a user types. Since a person can still glance and take in information while typing, the results will be better.
- None of the functions of the Google search page are lost.
- Higher level of interactivity for the user.
- The less sophisticated user will be able to get better results while the advanced searcher will be able to use the predictions for quickly narrowing in on results.

The benefits of Google Instant for the user are obvious. One may ask why Google has decided to change the way searching is done when clearly everyone was used to the static searches. The answer is obviously for better results, but really thinking about it, it all boils down to staying ahead of the pack. Google needs to ensure highly relevant search results and will thus need to constantly change the interface for improvement of such. Since most website owners have begun to optimize, the web now consists of billions of well optimized pages competing for the same keywords. One may consider whether search results are that relevant with static searches at the end of the day. The feature is thus a welcoming change allowing for natural query language combined with settings of predicted keyword phrases.

Implications For Paid Searching (AdWords)

Advertisers paying for the total page impressions may in future find that their click through rates will be affected while the amount spent on Adwords increase. Such advertisers may want to consider changing their payment to that of payment for click through rate rather than page impressions. The Quality Score may thus be affected by the increase in impressions. The safety net according to Google however, is that for an action to count as an impression the user must click, enter or search the advert or must at least pause for viewing of the associated SERP. This pause period must be at least three seconds which should thus balance out the possibility of Quality Score being affected. Theoretically then, impressions should decrease rather than increase. Unfortunately advertisers will have to give it time to see the real impact of Google Instant on their page impression rates.

The two word key string may still keep its popularity amongst users and the advertisers. Users refine their two word key string (mid tail) searches as they type even when Google provides predictions until they see the phrase that they want. In this instance, not much change is expected in the sponsored clicks and web marketers are expected to keep the same strategy in keyword selection when it comes to Google Instant as they have used with the classic Google approach.

Long or Short Tail?

Since prediction suggestions may appear after the user has typed the first word in a keyword string, websites optimized for single keywords rather than phrases may be pushed up in the search results of organic searches. The sponsored ads appearing on the search results page may thus refer to the first keyword in a string and as such advertisers will have to make sure that they select single keywords for their AdWords campaigns as well. The advertiser thus must make sure that the user sees the advert earlier rather than later. This however, could also cost the advertiser more than for a longer keyword string. The cost per click may increase for the advertiser focussing on this type of strategy. AdWords campaign managers will have to monitor the process over a period to assess whether shorter and thus broader terms bring better results for them than the longer, but more specific key strings. Weighing the costs will thus be a major consideration in selecting the shorter and broader terms or going for less traffic, but more targeted and perhaps also cheaper traffic by means of the long tail method.

Brands To Get More Exposure in Paid Ads

Brands, related to a specific industry, may experience more impressions and thus higher click through rates. This may influence the quality score and they may pay for it. To prevent brands from suffering under the new search system, the quality score assessment done by Google will have to be adapted in future. Some believe that indeed, brand bias exists with the new system, providing some brands preference related to a specific industry over others. A brand with the industry name included in the brand name from the start of the word will thus get more untargeted traffic while others related to the same industry without the industry name in the brand name right at the beginning of the name, will experience less traffic. It is thus a two edged sword. Either a brand gets high volume traffic, but not targeted or gets less traffic, but also less exposure.

Brands Thus Have More Preference With Google Than Generic Terms

If a campaign manager has hoped to make the most of generic terms, the bad news is that there is a bias towards brand names when it comes to brand versus generic terms. Both will have to be targeted, but some brands will definitely lose as explained earlier.

Paid Ads Will Experience Visitor Traffic Differences

As explained, several shifts in keyword traffic can be expected for paid ads. Google for instance, may show ads for related companies near a specific location when a user types in such a search. A search for Johannesburg may lead to Google showing guesthouses near Johannesburg. As such Johannesburg guesthouses may get more impressions and the term guesthouses may experience a reduction in impressions. Time will tell.

Ads Displayed While A Search Is Typed

In the past Google has displayed public ads and other ads when there were no relevant ads to a search or particular website content. The feature is now to display ads as the user types. The paid ads campaign manager will want to get in on the displayed ads and as such research will have to be done. The idea should be to have one’s ad displayed while the user is still typing the search. Keyword research for organic searches must thus be done as well as for the possible suggestions by Google. The marketers will have to assess which types of ads will be displayed while the user types the search and make sure their ads are also displayed during the period. It means a lot of hard work ahead for most.

How Does Google Instant Change SEO?

With searching behaviour changed, SEO has to be adapted. Companies able to change their optimization of web pages quickly enough to reflect such will thus get the top rankings first. It is generally accepted that the single website owner doing optimization will at the end of the day see a decline in traffic. The larger website owners making use of SEO companies and specialists will thus definitely have an advantage. The secret will be to change optimization and keyword selection over the next couple of months to reflect the new searching behaviour of users.

The good news for SEO companies is that organic searches will not fall away. The users will be able to view more search results in one session. The predictions and streaming make it possible to quickly change a search to be more relevant to the intended query. Google thus leads the users in searches. We may even see users become more sophisticated in their search techniques based on the displaying of predictions by Google.

Users will still however, use Google organic searches for information retrieval. This means that just as in the past, when the majority of people used the organic search facility of Google and a tenth of the users clicked on sponsored ads that the same will apply for future searches. The pages on the web will not change, and all that will happen is that for some websites the traffic may decrease and for others it will increase. A well ranked site in the classic Google environment will also rank well in future whether or not Google Instant is applied.

Searching Behaviour Of Users Will Influence Key Strings

The head and long traffic may decrease while the fat tail traffic increase may become more. This will be the case as Google Instant provides predictions which may lead a user to be more specific. If someone for instance, types in Seychelles, predictions such as Seychelles holidays or Seychelles diving may prompt them to be a bit more specific. The users applying a specific approach such as typing Seychelles romantic holidays may be prompted to be less specific through predictions such as Seychelles holidays.
With the interactivity gained with Google Instant, the user may become less willing to scroll down to the bottom of the page or to the second page for more results. As such, the top five search results will get more traffic than before. Generic pages which are also well ranked, may in future far out perform the more specialised, but lower ranked pages. The trend may be caused by the predictions which are supplied by Google when the first three letters of the keyword is typed in.

How Does Google Instant Affect Natural Searches?

Advanced searchers may continue searching with the Boolean Operator style and sophisticated methods, but they are in the minority. Since most searchers make use of natural language queries, SEO specialists may have to reconsider their optimization strategies. Whereas a long phrase would have been used in the past directly, the user now gets predictions even before the first and second words are completed. As such users may often opt for mid tail predictions. Since natural language is so dynamic, it may take a long time before users typing in the whole long string will be able to find exactly what they want through the long tail method. Google has to adapt and predict more. So for now, it will still be the shorter phrases that will steal the limelight.

How Important Will Rankings Be?

Top rankings will become even more important than before. The top five results will become the focus point as the SERP has to be moved down to show the search suggestions. The user thus will always be able to see the top ranked results and in most likelihood will select from the first five more often than before.

Has Google Regained Control Over Keywords?

The answer must be yes. SEM and SEO specialists have tried their best to keep up with the many index algorithms of Google and many have succeeded. This of course, also compromised the search results as more manipulation of search results could take place by skilled SEM and SEO specialists. Google has taken an important step in regaining control over the search results by now recommending the most likely and relevant phrases to the user.

What Should the SEO Do To Make The Most of Head Terms?

Considering that the head terms will play an extremely important role in keyword searches and traffic to a site, the SEO may have to focus more on the one word head term to drive as much as possible natural search traffic to a website. The SEO must do several searches, and exceptional keyword research to find out which natural language phrases are used most and optimize for that. This inevitably means more work on the part of the SEO to find out which suggestions or predictions are offered by Google at every stage of a keystroke for a particular keyword and keyword string search. Top five ranking must be gained for the particular suggestions to ensure that the users click on a particular site. The rest of the sites will get the breadcrumbs, and although such may still be high, a drop in traffic can be expected if the SEO and SEM do not adapt their optimization and marketing strategies.

With the expectation being that more people will do fewer searches or never finish their intended searches before clicking on an ad or organic search result because of a suggestion or display of ads made by Google, the SEO and SEM will have to be adapted to such. You will thus focus on head terms, brand terms and of course, ensure top five ranking.

Some Other Considerations When It Comes to Google Instant

People have raised concerns about possible slowing down of their Internet because of Google Instant. Google has indicated that it would not happen and when compared to other web services including video, the connectivity will be fast. Google also said that they tried to minimize the data sent versus data receive ratio during each search. Some users still have slower connections, and they are the ones that will be negatively affected, but then can turn the feature off. The feature requires Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3, Google Chrome 5 or 6 and Safari 5 for Mac. Many users may still make use of older browser versions and may thus not be able to utilize the full potential of the system. The classic way of searching will thus not completely fall away, and as such the SEO and SEM must decide whether or not they will still optimize for the old way of doing things as well.

In summary one has to look at:
• Browser capabilities of the user.
• User preferences – such as still wanting to use the classic search methods.
• Internet connectivity speed.
• Natural language versus Boolean search usage.
• Possible Google predictions for every keystroke.
• Brand names and generic terms.
• Traffic shifting.
• Top five ranking.
• Head terms, middle tail and long tail searches.

With the roll-out of Google Instant, a new playing field has opened. It will be up to SEO and SEM marketing teams to make the most of the feature. Those who fail to adapt their optimization and paid ad strategies will be pushed to the edges. For a site on the Internet competing for the top five positions, such a push could mean the end of the site or the ad campaign.

Smaller sites or companies with less capital and resources to spend on such will suffer while the big guns will get bigger. The secret to survival will thus be to get a top SEO or SEM team or company to be on the job of getting your site in the top five rankings for every head, middle and long tail search. In addition, you must ensure that your site ads are also displayed while the user types. Adapt or die will be the phrase for future SEO. The king of the Internet – content, is certainly not dead. The SEO and SEM will just have to make sure that the user gets to see that content, and once at a landing page, the user must not have reason to leave without subscribing, coming back, recommending or buying.

Making the most of Google Instant is the focus of iLeadOnline. We welcome the initiatives of Google and closely monitor the influence of its features on search behaviour, and thus optimization, for paid ads and organic searches. Contact us today to help you get to the top five rankings.

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