Search Engine Lessons

Searching is one of the top activities online. In April 2010, 15 billion online searches were done in the United States alone. Google and Google websites like Youtube, accounted for 60 percent of the searches. Now more than ever, users are expecting their search experience to be more rich and relevant. So how do we [...]

Google Moves Toward Social Shopping

Last month, Google introduced seller ratings to its ad extensions. Now, in addition to titles, prices, and thumbnail images, users are able to view the customer satisfaction ratings of a merchant, graded on a 1 to 5 scale. Google has developed ad extensions as an incentive for advertisers to educate themselves and follow Google’s best [...]

Google News Premieres Major Redesign

On June 30, 2010, Google News announced its first major redesign since its launch in 2002. The default “section” view is now replaced by a “news stream” view of stories. It is easier to create a personalized collection of stories and share them through email, Twitter, Facebook or Google Buzz. The Old Google News: The [...]

Google Recognizes Social, Tests New Ad Format for Boosting Twitter Followers

After Google and Twitter formed a partnership in October 2009, many wondered who would benefit the most. Google has benefited in that users can still use the search engine, even if it was to find tweets. Now, Google is testing a new ad format that can help users on Twitter boost their followers. Mashable reports [...]

AdWords Introduces new Ad Extensions Tab

Google AdWords’ ad extensions are getting a new feature—an extension tab. Ad extensions expand a user’s standard text ad with one or more lines of additional information such as an address and phone number, more page links and product images. What will the new extensions tab do? Google AdWords’ blog writes, “from the Ad Extensions [...]

Click-to-Call phone numbers come to Local ads for Mobile

Google AdWords announced the addition of a location-specific business phone number in ads that appear on mobile devices with full internet browsers. Google wrote that users can click the number to call you just as easily as clicking to visit your website. And, since ads can be served based on user location, a potential customer [...]

Google Unveils Social Search Beta

Last year, Google announced it would be incorporating the social web into search. Users can incorporate their social connections into search. For instance, if you wanted to search a product review within social search, you could find your friend’s latest review of that product, as well as what experts are saying. The result of having [...]

Google Analytics Introduces New API Features

Google recently introduced new features to its Analytics’ API. Some of the biggest changes are happening for advanced segments and custom variables. With advanced segmentation, users can delve deeper into your site’s traffic. For instance, the average time on site for all site visits could be two minutes, but when you segment by country, you [...]

Google to Launch Real Time Search

Real-time search results are becoming more prominent with platforms like Twitter giving instant results on current topics. Although Google’s search capabilities continued to shatter its competition, one hurdle has been real-time search—until now. Google announced that it will be launching real-time search in the coming days. “Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see [...]

Google Introduces Mobile Coupons Through Local Search

The mobile web and local search are two trends growing in the Internet space. It comes as no surprise then that Google announces the joining of the two. As Google’s emphasis on local search continues to grow, so does the need for businesses to focus on all things local. Because of this Google announced that [...]

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