May 7
Google’s updated their design for search results quite nicely, taking a bit of what I like about Bing’s left-side menubar and making it more minimal and friendly. I found myself looking at the descriptions under the titles a bit more in this iteration, but that’s what an attorney would call purely anecdotal evidence, I’m sure.
Better go make sure your retail operation’s information is up to date in Google, because Google Maps is now including local businesses in their maps’ Street Views. It looks to be a very dynamic system and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we saw it integrating Yelp! and the ever-popular-on-Twitter Foursquare. Check it out on the Google Maps blog!
Sometimes, they go and talk to Google’s Matt Cutts about some SEO basics.
Huh.
Jan 2
This article from last September is a fantastic primer to making search marketing work for your business. From using adwords to user privacy, this is a perfect checklist to make sure you’re being ethical and intelligent with marketing for search.
The New York Times has a great piece on how blogging can help a business gain more traction with new and existing customers. I’ve spoken to several clients about the importance of blogging in their business (particularly if it involves a learning curve or is interactive in some way) and how it not only provides Google with fresh content on your site, but one-click RSS subscriptions means that you have customers that volunteer to hear more about your business.