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miercuri, 5 martie 2014

A Deep Dive into Google MyAnswers

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 03:15 PM PST

A few months ago I published here on Moz SEO in the Personalization Age, where I explained why, once and for all, SEOs need to be aware of the personalization of SERPs and the mechanisms by which Google customizes our search results. I also suggested some ways to convert what at first sight is just a complication into a competitive advantage.

This post is the ideal continuation of that one.

Here, however, I won't dig into SEO theories and patents, but I will try to put order in all of the existing information about the elements that compose MyAnswers, highlighting some clarification that many - wrongly - absent-mindedly forget, and suggesting actions that can mean the difference between winning or not the personalized SERPs.

You can call this post "Guide to MyAnswers" if you want, although I do not pretend to have written a real guide.

Finally, this post is also the result of conversations I had with Giorgio Taverniti, one of the leading experts on this topic and the creator of the most important Italian SEO Forum.

Personalized private search

When we speak about personalized search results, it would be more correct to use the term private search results.

It is not just semantics but how Google refers to them, and is also a result of the confrontation with the European Community.

Private is slightly different from Personalized, since it implies that a SERP is personalized only by our web history and only by the direct contacts on Google Plus and Gmail.

Keep in mind this detail, because it will explain a point I will affirm later in the post.

A classic example of Private Search is this:

Private Search consists of two elements:

Google Now, or our offline activities moved into our own online life;
Google Plus, or anything that I or people in my Circles share by G+.

Google Now

Right now you should be quite used to this feature offered by Google also in the desktop search.

Usually we refer to it for things like flight reminders, hotel and restaurant reservations, packages' deliveries, and for geo-targeted contextual suggestions.

Google Now generally operates in two eco-systems:

Mobile (and for that reason every example Google offers is mobile);
Vocal (you can create Google Now reminders with a voice command).

The fact that it is now also present in the classic desktop search is just a sign of the times (and of the shift from desktop search to "everywhere" search, thanks also to the instant synchronization of the Google account information in different devices).

As I wrote in SEO in the Personalization Age, everybody can ask to be integrated into Google Now. Be advised that it is not an immediate inclusion, as a nine-step process is needed to obtain the approval from Google).

The integration is possible using one of these Schema for Gmail:

RSVP actions for events;
Review action;
One-click action;
Go-to action;
Flight interactive cards.

This video from the last Google I/O explains well all these options:

Every Schema for Gmail is interesting, but the most immediately useful ones are:

Review action, which offers us the opportunity to ask and let our clients to write reviews of our product, hotel, or service (or simply to evaluate them with the classic starred system) directly from their inbox. As you can see, it can be a big help in obtaining more reviews, as it responds to the old classic "Don't make me think" principle;

One-click action, which can be especially useful for eCommerce sites. Imagine you have users subscribed to your coupon/offers newsletter. When they will receive the newsletter with the One-click action SaveAction Schema implemented, they will be able to save the coupon in their Google Offers account.

If you want to dig more into the integration with Google Now, you can check out these two great posts:

Google Plus

I must admit that I still see many SEOs confused about how Google Plus influences Private Search.

To be honest, the fact that Google presents both Google Plus and Knowledge Graph (and sometimes Answers cards) in the same positions, or even mixed (i.e.: Google Plus Profiles enriched with Knowledge Graph information) is not helping to dispell this confusion. This, among other things, reflects something that still not everybody understands: Google Plus is a multi-platform product, and not only a Social Network.

Google Plus directly influences Private Search in three different ways, each one depending on the visibility we give to the message we share on G+:

1. Only You (or "shared privately")

As you can see, the visibility in SERPs is practically immediate (10 seconds is the time I needed to switch accounts).

Privately shared Google Plus posts can be also images, as Giorgio pointed out to me:

Opportunities in sharing privately

Imagine you did a good job building an authoritative profile on Google Plus, so that you have been circled by influencers.

When you don't have a close relationship with those influencers and your outreach emails may very well bounce back or be ignored, then sharing a private post with a link to content you think they may may like and share is a great alternative.

Thanks to this sort of inception marketing, the influencers will quite surely find that post in the first page for those keywords you are targeting them for and about which you have created the content you want them to promote.

If you have wisely crafted the post in order to have a catchy tagline (the first words, which will compose the title of the search snippet) and a convincing description with a strong call to action just after, then your post has a strong opportunity for being clicked, discovered, and shared by that influencer.

2. Limited

There are two kinds of limited Google Plus posts in SERPs.

Posts that are shared with us because we are part of a Circle (not publicly shared), and we have the person/business page sharing it circled too;
Posts that are posted publicly by people/brands, who are not in the Knowledge Graph but whom we have circled

For instance, Rand is not a node in the Knowledge Graph (yet), so what I see in the right sidebar of the SERPs is his information taken from his Google Plus profile and his latest post there in a limited-labeled box.

Opportunities in limited sharing

Usually people tend to share posts only using the Public option. By doing so, they lose the opportunity to obtain more SERP real estate for branded searches.

3. Public

A posts is public when a user or a brand shares it with all the Google Plus users. These posts are presented as organic search results, and they can rank as if they were a normal web page and even reach the first positions and remain in the SERPs if they earn links.

They aren't tagged with Public as it was once, but they present authorship data, and we always see them in the first page if we have circled that user/brand.

Opportunities in sharing publicly

The opportunities are obvious in this case.

The more people who have circled your profile or your business page, the more they will see your publicly shared posts in a outstanding position in the SERPs, including for very competitive head tail keywords.

Follow those simple rules about Google Plus posts' search snippets, and you will be able to obtain important volumes of organic traffic to your G+ profile and, from there, to your site.

Be aware, though, that Public shares tend to suffer when the Freshness effect decays and, if the post is not reinforced with backlinks, it will tend to slip out of the first page and, ultimately, from the SERPs.

The difference between Search Plus Your World (SPYW) and MyAnswers

This snapshot above is an example of how SPYW was working.

As you can see, Google was declaring how many personalized results were pulled in, enhancing them with the styled person icon, and showing the photo and name of the person who socially shared the content. It even offered us a list of people and pages on Google+ related to the search we did.

Now, with MyAnswers, this is not so anymore:

No indication of how many search snippets are personalizing the SERP. No person icon.

Of note, there is also no sign of the name of the person who socially shared the content if he is not in our Circles. The SERP, then, is personalized just with those Google Plus posts that were shared by people we have in our Circles.

Finally, there's no sign of "Suggested people and pages" in the right column.

These differences show one extremely important difference between SPYW and MyAnswers:

In SPYW, if we shared something with a friend, it was seen in a preferred position in SERPs by his friends, as well. In MyAnswers it is not.

Giorgio and I did a very simple experiment, with me sharing a post with him and "Extended Circles." The result was that Giorgio could see my post in a SERP when logged in with his personal account, but not when logged in with a test G+ profile that didn't have me circled but did have his personal account circled.

What does this mean? That sharing something with "Extended Circles," as Google itself explains in a somewhat involute way, offers an opportunity to make the post visible to un-circled profiles only in Google Plus, but not in SERPs.

As I was saying in the very beginning of this post, this is why we should speak of Private Search and not of Personalized Search.

And, as we will see, there's just one way to show something shared on Plus to friends of friends: the Google +Post Ads.

The MyAnswers catalogue

The version of the catalogue I outline here must be considered just a snapshot in time of the actual situation. As Dr. Pete taught us with his #MozCast updates, Google is continuously experimenting with new formats and layouts.

MyAnswers elements are present in the SERPs both in the right-hand column and in the main body of the SERPs.

On the right we can find:

Personal profiles of users we have circled

Personal Gmail contact information

This is "Only You" information pushed into the SERP from our Gmail, and Google shows it if the contact we have in Gmail doesn't have a Google Plus profile. Note that if he/she has a Google Plus profile, this one with an "Add to circles" button will be shown instead:

Business pages

If the brand is not a node in the Knowledge Graph, the business page will be shown only if we have circled it.

If we haven't, that space on the right will be empty:

Please note that this particular example is quite strange, because Moz is present with a page in Wikipedia, so the absence of a Moz Knowledge Graph box, or of Knowledge Graph information in the Google Plus business box seems quite odd and is something we should investigate further.

Google Plus local pages

There are three cases, and in all of them the box is visible whether or not you're signed in. The biggest difference is that we won't see whether our circled friends have reviewed a local business if we are signed out.

1) A non-verified G+ local page, as in the case of the Osteria Satyricon in Bolonia (click and you will see how the "verified business" icon is absent).

2) A verified but not circled page, as in the case of the restaurant of a friend of mine in Valencia:

3) A verified and circled page:

Another possibility: A Knowledge Graph and Google Plus page/business page:

The box, as can be easily seen, is a composition of Knowledge Graph information (extract from Wikipedia and "People also search for") and Google Plus (number of followers and recent posts).

This box is also visible if you're not logged in.

Pay attention, though, that it doesn't seem working in international Google searches, such as the Spanish or Italian ones. At least, though, in the majority of cases on Google.com it does.

Knowledge Graph, Google Plus, and Google Now

Substantially similar to the previous case, but with the "Keep me updated" button, which functions to push posts by the followed profile in our Google Now Cards.

It seems it is only shown if the person is a node in the Knowledge Graph and it is not available for Business Pages (at least I wasn't able to find any).

Google Plus Hashtags Search

Since last September it has been possible to search for hashtags in Google.

That means that if you tag a post on Plus with a hashtag, your content may have the opportunity to be shown in Google searches to people who have not circled you and are not signed in.

It would be worth an independent analysis of how Google chooses which public posts to show for a given hashtag, but what it is quite clear is that freshness is an important factor, as the posts shown tend to be the ones most recently shared.

Also pay attention to the hashtags you decide to use, as it seems that the hashtag must have at least a minimum of usage in order to be shown in Google search. For instance, I tried to search #MozCast and this was the result:

Opportunities

The only way to be always visible with a box in the right-hand column of the SERPs when people are not logged in and/or have not circled us is being present in the Knowledge Graph and having a Profile/Business Page on Plus, or having a verified Google Plus Local Page.

In the first case:

If we already are a node in the Knowledge Graph, then we must have an active page on Google Plus. There are tons of Brands that doesn't know this and are missing a wonderful opportunity to lend visibility to their content.
If we are not present in the Knowledge Graph but have an active Google Plus profile/business page, we can try to earn/force inclusion in the sources that the Knowledge Graph uses: Wikipedia and Freebase.

If you have a Google Plus Local Page, then you simply should start posting updates.

In the main body of a SERP we can find:

Shared Google Plus posts

As I mentioned previously, the Google Plus posts are visible both to people who are signed in and to those who are signed out if the posts are public, but they only easily rank in a top position for head-tail keywords for people who have circled us.

And, keep in mind that freshness has a key role.

URLs shared on Google Plus

If someone we have circled shares a URL in Google Plus, the web document shared will be shown on the first page in our private searches even if it isn't in a neutral search or in a more prominent position that actually is ranking:

Note that only one person needs to share the URL, which obviously means that if we were able to earn followers on Google Plus, the simple act of sharing the URL with them will make that page stand out in their SERPs, even for very competitive keywords.

URLs that have earned +1s

If someone we have circled +1s a web document, we will see that same page excel in the SERPs for all the keywords that page may rank for:

Google Plus local reviews

This represents a great opportunity for local businesses. If a business has been circled by an influencer, it should have to try being reviewed by him on Google Plus Local (Remember: You can do it using the Schema for Gmail, too).

If he agrees, all his followers will see your search snippet enhanced by his annotation, and if that is 4 or 5 stars...

YouTube

We should not forget that Google Plus and private search are also influencing our YouTube experience when signed in.

If we click on the Social link in the left menu, we will see all the YouTube videos people we have circled have shared on Google Plus:

Also remember that if someone we have circled not only shares a YouTube video but also comments about it on Google Plus, then we will see his comment in the YouTube page of that video too. Just check the latest Matt Cutts video about Paid Links, and you will see a good example of this. Note, though, that that same Matt Cutts video doesn't show any "Google Plus activity" in the SERPs.

+Post ads

Last December Google launched the Beta of +Post Ads.

+Post Ads may be defined as the Google version of the old (and now dismissed) Facebook Promoted Posts.

For Google they also are:

A way of selling ads on Plus without publishing them on Plus;
A brilliant idea, because it is a way to bring more people into Google Plus but making them pay to advertise.

The +Post Ads are included in the Google GDN, therefore we can easily target the right audience and do really targeted inbound marketing with practically every kind of content we can create on Google Plus:

Images+text
Videos
Hangouts on air (pre, during, and post-HOA)

Users can interact with the +Post Ad directly in the site where it is published without the need to visit our Google Plus page. Obviously, they need to have a Google Profile.

From an SEO point of view, +Post Ads are a great opportunity. In fact, the more people who share and +1 the ad (and comment on it if it is a video), the more all the people in their Circles will start seeing our post standing out in SERPs (and YouTube) even for the most competitive keywords.

Conclusion

Private Search, with its combination of Google Now and Social Search (aka: Google Plus) represent a big percentage of the SERPs users see, and its majority in case of mobile search users on Android devices.

Google Plus, then, due to its cross-product platform nature, influences the search experience also of the users not using it as a Social Network.

For these reasons we must understand how Private Search works, recognize its elements in the SERPs and take advantage of the opportunities it offers to us..

Maybe it's time to start optimizing our Google Plus content, don't you think?

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Broad Match Modifier – One Of The Four Match Types In The Mix!

Posted: 05 Mar 2014 02:46 AM PST

In this blog post I'm going to highlight the reasons why Broad Match Modifier (BMM) should be given some attention! It may not be appropriate for your campaign, or particular areas within your campaign, but you should be aware of its distinction from Broad Match, the benefits it can encompass, and some useful tips for using it.

The diagram below segments keyword targeting in terms of match type and displays Broad Match Modifier's position within the match type spectrum. You can see from this that Broad Match modifier sits in the middle of Phrase and Broad. Therefore, it reaches a larger audience than Phrase match but has more control than Broad Match.

The Difference Between Broad Match And Broad Match Modifier

Let's look at the difference between the two in more depth:

Match Type

Special Symbol

Example Keywords

Ads may show on searches that

Example searches

Broad Match

None

women's bags

meerkat

Include misspellings, synonyms, related searches and other relevant variations

buy ladies bags

a mongoose-like viverrine of South Africa

Broad Match Modifier

+{keyword}

+women's +bags

+meerkat

Contain the modified term (or close variant, but not synonyms) in any order

bags for women

meerkat costumes

Broad Match Modifier allows a high level of reach, while maintaining a level of control in terms of relevancy. The word proceeding the + sign must appear (or a close variant such as a misspelling, singular/plural, abbreviation, acronym or stemming) in the search query. In comparison to Broad match, synonyms and related searches will not cause the ad to show. So, like Phrase and Exact Match types, Broad Match Modifier requires the keyword to be present in the search term for the ad to show, whereas Broad Match doesn't. For Broad Match, a synonym or related keyword can cause the ad to show.

Why You Should Use BMM

It will generate more traffic, but traffic with high relevance, so there is greater potential for conversions (compared to Broad Match). If you want to maximise your traffic whilst ensuring your traffic is high-quality, BMM is for you.

It will increase brand exposure and awareness, but at the same time it will keep a level of control over relevancy.

If you have long-tail keywords (which is where a lot of search queries are moving towards) you can just modify some of your more specific words that you already know convert well and are highly relevant. For example, with the term 'women's quilted leather bags' you could modify the keyword term like this '+women's quilted leather +bags'. This will ensure that the ad shows when 'women's' and 'bags' appear as they are. However, 'quilted' and 'leather' don't have to appear in the search term for the ad to show. Additionally, a synonym or related word to quilted or leather can cause the ad to show.

A less extensive list of negative keywords is required. Unlike Broad Match keywords, synonyms and related searches are excluded, so less time is wasted with negative keyword research. Negative keyword research is still very important, but it is not as necessary as it is for Broad Match keywords.

When moving from Broad Match to BMM, Broad Match Modifier has been seen to exert a positive effect on quality score. This may be due to increased relevancy and therefore an increased CTR.

It is extremely easy to use. In AdWords Editor just use the 'Replace Text' function, where you can find a 'keyword' and replace it with '+keyword'. There can be some formatting issues in Excel when using '+', so take advantage of Editor. Here are some additional tools which you may find useful:

Keywords Toaster: http://keywordstoaster.worldofsolomon.com/

PPC Keyword Concatenation Tool: http://www.found.co.uk/ppc-keyword-tool/

How To Utilise BMM Effectively

Use BMM as an opportunity to find new keywords. By using BMM rather than Phrase Match, you can explore Search Query Reports more granularly and obtain more insightful data. You can then add these keywords to your campaigns. Additionally, this can give you the opportunity to find negative keywords that you can add to your campaigns.

Take advantage of the flexibility that BMM permits. You can use the '+' on some of the words within the keyword term to ensure that the word with the '+' definitely appears. Words without the '+' will have more flexibility (acting as a broad match) and can be matched to synonyms or related terms. For example, 'women's +bags' holds the premise that the word 'women's' can match to synonyms or related terms such as 'ladies', but the word 'bag' has to appear how it is. It will not be matched to any variant or synonyms, such as 'tote' or 'purse'.

If this information has convinced you that BMM is worth a go and you would like to change your Broad Match keywords to Broad Match Modifier, you should be prepared to lose some traffic. As synonyms and related searches will be excluded, you will lose impression volume, but it is likely that the impression volume lost will be of little value to your campaign. It is also likely that using BMM over Broad Match will have a positive influence on cost.

One thing to note is that you can't have a negative broad match modifier.

If you want to be extra cautious, make sure that you take advantage of the AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE) tool, which allows you to accurately test and monitor changes to your keywords, bids, ad groups, ads, placements and more. You can run your experimental campaign alongside your original campaign, allowing a real-time representation and thus a realistic set of results that you can then choose to implement or discard.

If you are using Excel and want to type in a keyword with a + put a ‘ in front of it:

+keyword will give you an error, as Excel sees the + first and tries to read it as a formula.

‘+keyword will show as +keyword (as the apostrophe tells Excel you're entering text).

Also, if you're using AdWords Editor and you want to add BMM to all of the words in your keywords, first click 'Append Text' and add '+' in front of all keywords. Then click 'Replace Text' and replace ' ' (a space) with ' +' (a space followed by a plus).

To do the same in Excel, use the formula:

=”+”&SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(A1),” “,” +”)

(Just replace A1 with the cell your keyword is in)

So, there are my thoughts on BMM and why I think it deserves its place in the match type spectrum. What are your thoughts? Do you prefer to use Broad Match? Or do you think that Phrase Match offers something BMM doesn't? Please let me know in the comments below or via twitter @hollymartin__. Thank you for reading!

The post Broad Match Modifier – One Of The Four Match Types In The Mix! appeared first on White Noise.

Seth's Blog : Girl Scout cookies

Girl Scout cookies

Teaching young people to sell is a priceless gift. The confidence and clarity that comes from being able to engage and to cause a transaction is a trait that can pay off for a lifetime.

I thought I'd share a simple sales approach that in my experience consistently doubles the sales rate for Girl Scouts, at the same time it permits a more natural, humanistic engagement. Most Scouts are taught to memorize a fairly complicated spiel, one that involves introducing themselves, talking in detail about the good work that the Scouts do, and finishing with how the money raised goes for this and for that.

This is difficult work even for a professional, but for a kid talking to an adult, it's frightening and unlikely to lead to a positive experience. The alternative?

"What's your favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie?"

In less than ten words, all the Proustian memories of previous cookie experiences are summoned up. In one simple question, the power in the transaction shifts, with the Scout going from supplicant to valued supplier.

(And that's the universal lesson here: A question that avoids a 'no', a question that starts a conversation, a question that opens the door to emotion... those are the questions that build careers and create value.)

The cookie-buying experience isn't about making some sort of charitable contribution. Buying cookies is an incredibly inefficient way to support anything but a cookie company. No, the experience from the buyer's point of view is an emotional connection to something that's been in their life since they were a kid (there's a reason they don't change the flavors) as well as a positive interaction with a young person learning to speak up.

PS If you're busy selling your kid's cookies at work in a misguided attempt to raise money for the troop, please don't! It undermines the very point of the exercise, and you'd probably raise more money if you did some freelance work instead. Access to cookies isn't the point, teaching the Scouts to be confident salespeople is.