In what may be the biggest change ever to come to the search engine results page, under the cover of a Friday afternoon, Google announced that Personalized Search is now the default behavior even if you are not logged in to a Google account.

“Today we're helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide, and in more than forty languages.” – Google Blog

That’s a stunning statement that basically means every computer connecting to Google is now being personalized regardless if you have signed in or not. Every desktop, laptop, work computer, family computer, kiosk, Internet café – every computer that accesses Google is now being personalized.

The possible impact to all is staggering.

What is Personalized Search?

Personalized Search is when the search results are customized away from the default Google results to reflect historical queries done on the computer at hand. Google is saving all searches and the search results that were clicked on – in order to provide search results that are supposedly tailored to the interests and needs of the searcher.

If John searches for ‘widgets’ today and begins to use the top site regularly and then continues to research ‘widgets’ tomorrow, it is presumed that top site will weigh highly in his Personalized Search. This higher ranking will be for the original keyword phrase as well as other related keywords. If a new Web site pushes hard to reach the top spot John may never see it because his Personalized Search is still weighing very strong the site he used in the past.

Here are some pictures I’ve done for a search. To trigger the instance of Personalized Search while NOT signed in to Google I first searched on the keyword, ‘ Chicago’. Next, I searched for, ‘Internet marketing’. This triggered an explicit notification:

The red arrow points to a link titled, 'View Customizations'. This is where Google is telling me Personal Search is running and that based upon things they know about me personally, they have altered the search results. I can read more about it by clicking the link:

I highlighted the significant part in yellow. Google is saying that it used our search history to customize the search results.

What does this mean for Search Engine Marketing?

Before a user can be served personalized search results they must establish a pattern or historical search preference for different queries and the Web sites they visit most often. Remember, this is done by machine and without the need to be signed in to Google so everyone will see these results. Most people will likely not notice a difference unless they are unable to find what they are looking for.

This means it is much more important than ever to get users to click early in the purchase cycle, when they’re gathering information and inadvertently – building their history in Google for that market niche. It also means that it will be more difficult to rank well in Google than it has been previously- especially for new Web sites. The way it worked before your Web site was competing against other sites above and below your positions, but now you’re competing against the users as well.

Google’s search results may lock in sites that you or your customers have already interacted with. Are you currently ranking in the top 5 results on Google? On the first page? For how many of your best keywords?

What else does this mean?

• Ads on Google search will have more marketing value. If it becomes hard to consistently reach your audience through the natural search results, Google Adwords becomes a more attractive option.
• Ads on Google will have more value to the consumer. If the search results don’t change as dramatically as before, the Ads will be where you can see something different. Something interesting.
• Search Engine Optimization has changed. It’s a new game. Previously, do-it-yourselfers could do well in low to moderately competitive industries if they really applied themselves. Personalized Search has changed that.
• Yahoo.com, Bing.com and Ask.com have got to be excited about Google’s announcement. If they can turn a PR campaign against Google they can potentially attract many new users.
• Google will make more money. Many companies, especially small and mid-sized companies who will not hire professional SEO services, will lose natural search engine traffic. Many of them will simply purchase Google Ads, but since so many of them will be doing so the Ad prices will almost certainly rise.
• Building Web sites and pages with intrinsic value will be more important than ever. Web sites will spend more to focus on quality, valuable content and a positive user experience.
• Investing in Internet Marketing services will be undertaken by even more companies seeking a competitive edge.

What Should You Do?

If you currently have strong natural search results you will need to strengthen your efforts and possible make changes to what you are currently doing on your Web site concerning search marketing. Making sure that users not only click your listing in the search results, but that they also stay on your Web site has become very important to maintaining top listings in Google.

If your Web site is not ranking well the time to start is today, now. The longer you wait the more difficult it will be to climb out of the hole that is being dug for your site. It is not a matter of, “if we wait 4 months we are only 4 months behind”. Rather, waiting 4 months may set you back 1 year or longer because you will have to make up the search, clicking and visiting profile that the competition has built with Google.

We are proud to announce the launch of the newly redesigned StockYards.com Web site. The web site, which we originally designed about 4 years ago, has a new design and lots of new functionality. The site features easier navigation and more ways to find the perfect steaks for you or anyone on your holiday gift list. One of the new features we developed for the site is a new way to manage your volume corporate gift giving. Check it out and let us know what you think! www.StockYards.com

We just launched a new Web site for Cyl-Tec, a full line supplier of U.S.D.O.T.-approved compressed gas cylinders. The management team at Cyl-Tec wanted their site's visitors to experience a more vibrant and seamless view of Cyl-Tec's products and services along with intuitive navigation.

Cyl-Tec's President, Jim Bennett, said "Our website is up and running, and now looking back I am sure that the selection of liQuidprint was the right choice.  From the kick off process through the launch of the site, liQuidprint delivered what they promised. Their team approach was the key. They stayed within budget and delivered a Web site that we are very happy with, and proud to show off.  Our Web site is now the centerpiece of our marketing program, and we look forward to continuing to develop our internet marketing with liQuidprint." 

View Cyl-Tec's new Web site.

Here at liQuidprint we are big believers in the power of Google Analytics to help you get a handle on what's happening with your Web site. It's a powerful analytics solution that continues to add features and functionality for more advanced site intelligence.

A lot of what we look at with our clients revolves around setting goals for the site. It's important to know if your site is delivering. Here's a quick rundown for setting goals on your site.

First, Goals must correspond to a measurable action performed by your website's visitors, for example, a visit to a "thank you" page. This combination of a business objective and a measurable action make up a Goal. If your site is about lead generation then you would want to set up your goal for people that complete your 'Contact Us' form or similar form that let's people inquiry about your products or services.

To create a Goal, follow these simple steps:

Step 1) Define your Funnel

Go to your site and move through the pages required to complete your Goal. As you do so, write down the URLs for each of the pages in sequence. If your flow has only one step then you don't need to define a funnel -- just the page where the visitor ends up. 

Step 2) Configure your Goal Settings

Goals aren't part of the report themselves. They have to be created as part of the Profile inside GA. First, log in to your Google Analytics account and then click "Edit" beside your profile. 

Go to Conversion Goals and Funnel and click "Edit"

Set "Active Goal" to "On"

Chances are  your "Match Type" is going to be "Exact Match". So choose that and enter in the URL for page that the user gets when they have completed the goal. For example the URL might be "contact_form_thankyou.html". 

One thing that a lot of people get stuck on is the dollar value. It's easy to figure out the dollar value if you sell something on your site. But if you don't, what's the lead worth to you? A quick and dirty way to guesstimate it is to take your Average Sale * Your Gross Profit Margin * Your Close Rate (in percentages). So if you are able to close 1 in 10 leads that you get and your average proposal value is $10,000 with a GPM of 30% then your value for a lead is $300 (10,000 * 10% * 30%).  

 

Step 3) Define Your Goal Funnel

If you have more than one page that makes up the flow of visitors through your conversion process then you would enter the URL and a name for each step in your funnel. Again, if you only have one step (the Goal) than you don't need to complete this section.

Step 4) Wait for your data to come in

Unfortunately, Goals only work from the moment you put them in. So you need to wait for the data to appear in  your reports. Once it i, go to the Goals section of your Report and open the Funnel Visualization Report.

Now you can see how well the site is performing for your goals.

Need help with GA? Give us a call and we'll see if we can solve all of your analytics problems.

We're really proud to announce that we are officially a Google Apps Authorized Reseller.

Since we began offering email hosting many years ago, the way that people utilize the Internet and their email has changed. Email has become a critical business application. Today applications on the Internet have become centered around collaboration with email and your Inbox being at the core. In order to ensure that our clients have the most robust and powerful solution, we decided to team up with Google to deploy Google Apps - Google's web-based platform for communication and collaboration.

Google's platform provides the ultimate level of reliability and redundancy with best in class spam and virus filtering. This coupled with increase mailbox storage sizes and the new Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentation and website creation tools that our clients will be able to take advantage of made the decision to partner with Google a no brainer. We are confident that our clients will love it.

The holiday season is quickly approaching. It's the end of September and there are already less than 90 shopping days left!

If you run a B2C e-commerce site you need to have your plans in place for your PPC, SEO and Online Marketing efforts. In a couple of weeks we'll have some fresh data from Google on their findings for Holiday Intentions for 2009. But it doesn't hurt to revisit some of the information that was presented this time last year:

(from the Google 2008 Holiday Intentions Survey)

...in thinking about the 2008 winter holiday season, here's what we know: Both research and shopping will start early this year:
31% of consumers plan to start holiday shopping and research before Halloween and a majority (57%) will start before Thanksgiving.1

Therefore, the shopping has already begun...is your marketing strategy ensuring that your brand is top of mind throughout the entire research-purchase process and making it into the consideration set early on?

Consumers will spend more time looking for deals: 43% of consumers say they plan to spend more time this year shopping around for gifts because of the current state of the economy.1

Consumers are taking the time to research the right purchase...Brands will need to focus on having a strong presence and clearly expressing their value proposition to guarantee inclusion in the consideration set.

There are 5 fewer shopping days this year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, than last year: This is when the peak of conversions happen; therefore, retailers need to be wary of the tightened timeline and put strategies in place to lessen the crunch, by urging consumers to start purchasing before Thanksgiving!

1.OTX/ Google 2008 Holiday Shopping Intentions Survey, 9/16-9/24 2008, n=10,039



I'll post the 2009 Survey results as soon as they come out. Check back in about 10 days.

In the meantime if you think you need help getting your plans together or putting a plan in action give me a call.

Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. The action of social media is simply people having conversations online. These conversations do not need happen in real time to create a social bond. It is the ebb and flow of ideas and the opportunity to share our voice that gives power to the term, "social media".

Reach an article on social media and your business

 

View our video...

We recently helped the American Library Association (www.ALA.org) with some critical updates they needed on their Job List Web site. David Connolly, the ALA's Classified Advertising Coordinator, said "They had some great design and technical suggestions..."

Larry Stone is the founder of Safety Matters, a 19-year old child-proofing consulting business. In a video interview, Larry discusses how his business grew after implementing our recommendations to his Web site. View the video here