The long anticipated Google SearchWiki has launched. Google calls it “a way for you to customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results.” Now you can move pages that you like to the top of the page, or even add a new site. You can add your own notes and delete results that you don’t feel are relevant. This is only available if you have a Google account and are signed-in.
What is really interesting is that the changes you make are stored in your Google account so that your preference info is visible to Google. And, you can see what others have said about search results as well.
Personalized search is the next step in the dynamic and exciting world of search. How does this affect website owners? It is more important than ever to make sure that your site is well optimized and managed all the time. Titles and meta tags are once again important. And…everything needs to be kept up to date.
I would love to hear comments: will you use it? what effect if any will it have on you as a user? as a business owner?
If you pay attention (or even if you are not paying attention) images of soup kitchens and men in suits and top coats selling pencils on the sidewalk dance around in your head (instead of sugar plums this year). And, as a business person, you may be tempted to hold your breath and hyperventilate your way into 2009.
However, my clients and colleagues seem to be really positive about their businesses in spite of all the doom and gloom. I would like to think it’s because Web marketing is such a cost effective way to advertise and that’s what we talk about. Flexibility and “trackibility” allow us to breathe and know that we can make changes and adjustments in our advertising programs to weather the ups and downs of the market.
So, don’t hold your breath…keep on top of your web marketing and always remember that you can react to whatever is going on out there. Just Breathe.
Our good friends and colleagues at Dragon Search Marketing are moving into new offices. Congrats on their new digs!
The beauty of paid search is that it can be adjusted so fast and so easily that I can help my clients respond to whatever is happening in their business. Here is an example of why it is so important to “Be There” when people are looking for your business’s services on the web.
I received an email from one of my clients two weeks ago asking to shut off his paid search campaign for a while. He said that his company was looking to cut-back on some of their expenses and felt that they had more business than they could handle for the time being. (A classic example of my having done my job too well!) After some discussion, we agreed that it wasn’t a good idea to shut his program off completely, so we lowered the budget by 1/2 and eliminated some business categories.
Yesterday, I received an email from him with the subject line: “Help!”. Turns out that his call volume has gone down significantly. We agreed to move the budget back up to the original level and re-launch in the ad groups we had eliminated.
My client has discovered that “Being There” is important, even when business is booming. His intelligently run and managed paid search program enables me to keep him there and keeps his phone ringing.