‘Actively discussed on Google+’ feature integrated into Google’s SERPs
News on Social Marketing, according to Brafton News, when a particular link or topic generating substantial buzz on the social network appears in results, an “Actively discussed on Google+” feature will pop-up on Google SERPs. With the continued growth of the network within other Google products, this move shows the importance of social media marketing with Google+.
Appearing below a link’s description on the SERP is the actively discussed information and users can see the conversation surrounding the link or website directly on the SERP with a “Show” button. Likewise, to then minimize the content, a “Hide” button can also be clicked.
With the launch of Google+ in June 2011, aggressive integration between search and the company’s social platform have been anticipated by marketers. These “Actively discussed on Google+” feature comes shortly after a Share feature was rolled out which allows Google users to post links they see on their SERPs directly to their Google+ accounts.
The American Consumer Satisfaction Index reported that Google+ users were happier than account holders for any other social network with a satisfaction score of 78. The study demonstrates that while Google continues to search for new ways to attract users to Google+, it also kept those using the site happy. Facebook users have a 62 satisfaction rate.
Read more at Google integrates ‘Actively discussed on Google+’ into SERPs to promote popular content
Google’s new search algorithm to target webspam
News on Social Marketing, according to Brafton News, when Brafton highlighted a comment from Google’s Matt Cutts last month that cautioned marketers that SEO was headed for a key change, marketers have been waiting for an update ever since.
Now, a new search algorithm that fights webspam was introduced by Google. These algorithm targets two types of webspam techniques specifically keyword stuffing and link schemes. Almost 3.1 percent of English search queries will be affected and it referenced Panda’s impact on 12 percent of queries as context, Cutts predicted.
Cutts featured content from a website that offered a keyword-dense article but the key terms used had little importance to the overall content. This website is trying to influence search rankings by stuffing keywords into a blog post which is not relevant to the subject matter.
To drive search engine optimization, keywords have become a very important component of a business’s content marketing campaign. However, companies will have to be more discipline and strategic in their use of key terms as too much keyword use will be punished moving forward.
This algorithmic update can help companies with a relevant, user-friendly website content, to move up search rankings and achieve the SERP standing they long for. With more Google algorithm updates, Cutts sees to “level the playing field” in the future.
Read more at Google updates search, urges marketers ‘to focus on creating high-quality site’
Latest Google search to help users find quality content easily
News on Social Marketing, according to Brafton News, over the years, different industries continue their battle against piracy on the web. Now, Google announced the roll out of a new ranking signal that factors any Digital Millennium Copyright Act requests that a site has received into its search standing. “The move will help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily,” according to Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice president of engineering. This Google update will make it more important that original content is needed for SEO as finding unlicensed and pirated content on the web will be much more difficult to find.
Unless marketers are usually hit with copyright infringement notices, this update will have a limited impact on their SEO. With this update, sites with regular DMCA violations will drop or be removed from results altogether thus, helping other sites improve on their search standing. Singhal reported that copyright infringement notices and removal requests are quickly increasing with Google currently receiving more copyright removal notices in a single day compared to the whole of 2009. In the last month, more than 4.3 million URLs have been the subject of these complaints.
A site can file the usual reconsideration request or use the “counter-notice tools” if they feel that they were improperly penalized and the company will continue to supply data related to the sites that have been removed for the DMCA violations.
Read more at Original content for SEO: Latest Google search update targets sites with frequent DMCA removal requests
Other Social Marketing Articles of Interest
Social Media Stunts Do More Harm Than Good
5 Insights on Facebook vs Pinterest in Driving Sales – Infographic