Big Google social search announcement
A big change was announced by Google on 1/10/12.
Google rolled out a seemingly small search engine 'tweak' that's going to fundamentally change the way we search.
How? The short explanation: They are more effectively integrating YouTube and Google+ into your search results provided you're signed into a Google Account.
What does it do? Google has now changed how they present search engine results to the average browser.
As Google says on their website:
"We're transforming Google into a search engine that
understands not only content, but also people and
relationships. We began this transformation with
Social Search, and today we're taking another big
step in this direction by introducing three new features:1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for
you, such as Google+ photos and posts--both your own and
those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to
see on your results page;2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which
enable you to immediately find people you're close to or might
be interested in following; and,3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and
Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest,
and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because
behind most every query is a community.Together, these features combine to create Search plus Your
World. Search is simply better with your world in it, and we're
just getting started."
Here's the full post on the Official Google Blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.
So what does this mean for your SEO efforts? Are backlinks dead?
Absolutely not!
Any change of this sort opens up new opportunities, and yes, there will be winners and losers.
But this should have little impact on most small-to-medium-sized businesses in the short term. In fact, this update will assist with integrating your existing social media into your 'regular' (non-social) search.
But it would be foolhardy to pass up the opportunity to develop your social media presence, especially on Google+ and Youtube, if you haven't already.
SEO is constantly changing. If you want to continue to rank well with Google, then you need to stay in front of that change.
So embrace the change and make the best of it by strengthening your social media presence, especially if you're in a business where there is a significant social aspect to your marketing.
Free tools let you record on-screen video
There are probably going to be times when you need to record your screen. (No, we're not talking about just a screen capture. To do that, all you have to do is press your 'Prt Scr' key to copy the screen to the Clipboard, then Paste it into a document or graphics program like Paint.) This allows you to record video and sound, if you like, just like someone is looking over your shoulder.
Clients have needed to share what is happening on their screens, for instance, and as they say, a picture is certainly worth a thousand words.
Fortunately, there are some free and easy-to-use tools out there for handling this. The one I use is called Jing and you'll find it here:
I like it but there's another tool that appears to be very similar and it comes highly recommended by others:
http://screencast-o-matic.com/
Of course each of them has a premium version, but you don't need it to do most anything discussed here. If you decide to upgrade though for the added features, it surely won't break the bank as they cost no more than $15/year.
What I recommend is to pick one, try it out and you'll be hooked. Then if you need a tool for recording what you're doing, you're good to go. You can use it for:
- tech support (to help others or to pass your info to others helping you)
- creating short tutorials to train employees or contractors how you want something handled
- marketing to promote your business
