SEO Articles Have Confused the Search Goose
July 17, 2012
SEO and search go together like a goose and water, but two recent articles had this goose swimming in an oil spill. Let me tell you, getting oil outta feathers is a task.
Have some degreaser nearby if you are taking a swim through Search Engine Journal’s recent article, “Local SEO with Google+.” During the initial paragraph, one rejoices at the possibility of SEO enlightenment for the Google changes. However, disappointment soon follows as repetitive statements lead to the same conclusion, bogging this goose in techie sludge.
That conclusion was:
“These modifications have had a few, subtle impacts on Local SEO. As the integrations between Google+ Pages and Google+ Local pages begin to roll out, we’ll undoubtedly see more changes in terms of the best practices small businesses need to undertake in order to maximize their local SEO.”
Search Engine Watch’s article “The New Mobile SEO Strategy” leads geese to believe Google came out and supported a mobile strategy with specific SEO friendly recommendations, fee free. The article promises three simple steps to serve mobile content to users with recommendations.
The article explains:
“Google supports three ways of serving mobile specific content to users and have provided distinct recommendations for each. Using the starting point of a mobile user requesting a desktop URL, here are some details for the three options listed above.”
Both these reads start out simple, but end up as clumsy as a goose stuck swimming in oil. If you understand these articles, you are smarter than the geese who work at Beyond Search. All I could do was honk at the puddle…
Jennifer Shockley, July 17, 2012
Android Director on Voice Search Jelly Bean and More
July 15, 2012
Suddenly Google’s Voice Search is better than Siri, and now more natural. That’s one of several things Hugo Barra, product management director for Android, told Wired in a recent interview, as reported in “Android Director: ‘We Have the Most Accurate, Conversational, Synthesized Voice in the World.'” The interview is a couple of pages, but worth the read for anyone interested in Google and/or the future of mobile computing.
The first question pertains to Google Now for mobile devices, an effort to streamline search results. Where a query has just one or a few very specific answers, the app presents those results on a simplified, easily accessible “information card.” Google Now can also be formatted to serve up certain information with one swipe, good for checking the weather before heading off to work, for example.
The interview then moves on to Voice Search. Notably, the tool does not make jokes; the team feels this makes their voice more impartial, and has no plans to program in a sense of humor. The voice is derived from that of a real woman, carefully chosen from a wealth of applicants to be the voice of Google. The results, according to interviewer Nathan Olivarez-Giles, does sound more like a natural voice than the competition.
Next, Olivarez-Giles turns to Jelly Bean and the Nexus 7. This device looks very different from existing Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich tablets. Barra states that much of what the team did with that OS represents their ideas of where the mobile industry should head. He details two of these features:
“One is the home screen experience. We did this with Android with the first generation of widgets — this notion of having an application space of your own where stuff appears and actions can be invoked, without having to dive into an application. People want that, people need that.
“The second thing is task switching. There are all these awesome, specialized applications that exist today. I think there’s a specialization trend, by the way, in mobile. You use a lot more applications a lot more often, often for very simple tasks, so put those in the notification shade. Something as simple as calling back should not be three clicks away. It should be one click away. Bringing the application action value to the surface, when it’s needed, where it’s needed.”
Barra likes that the Nexus 7 is powerful yet small enough to fit in a small purse or a pocket; that is certainly a selling point for me. Still, Nexus 10 may be on the way.
Those are the tidbits from the interview that stood out for me. Check it out for more Googley information.
Cynthia Murrell, July 15, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Google and Android Focus on Consumer Electronics
July 13, 2012
Reporter Galen Gruman suspects the youngsters at Google just want to be entertained. That’s one speculation he puts forth in InfoWorld’s “After I/O: Google Tries to be Sony, Hobbles Android’s Business Case.” The renaming of Android Marketplace to Google Play should have been our first clue that the company is veering toward the fun stuff, he says.
The article notes that, back in the day, Sony was a consumer-electronics powerhouse; the Walkman cassette player was as significant in its time as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad have been over the past few years. (Will I seem like a dinosaur if I admit I used to own one?) That pioneering company is the Sony of Gruman’s title, the example Google now seems to be reaching for.
Gruman provides several examples of both Google’s current consumer-electronics focus and ways in which the company is neglecting business applications; see the article for his logic and evidence. Search functionality, I suspect, falls into this apparently diminishing category. The article observes:
“That entertainment focus may be the right move for Google — there’s a lot of money in the space, and Apple is proving hard to beat in the business market even as Android does well in the consumer smartphone market. Furthermore, Google’s business is based on advertising, and having a play-oriented platform that collects data about where people spend their time and discretionary dollars — made possible in the new Google Now service in Android 4.1 ‘Jelly Bean’ — could reap Google billions as it sells individuals’ behavior profiles to consumer goods and services companies.”
Gruman speculates that Apple will move in to fill the business gap Android seems to be leaving. He also supposes that, as the median age of Google employees goes up, the company may return to a more business-oriented space. Perhaps.
Cynthia Murrell, July 13, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
JackBe Quick Stratagem
July 8, 2012
Some professionals make spur of the moment decisions so easily it appears an invisible adviser is whispering solutions. Others may struggle with indecision when put on the spot both in and out of business. Those awkward moments of confusion may be getting easier with some new tools, according to Fast Company’s article, “2 Tools To Help You Make Smarter, Faster Decisions On The Fly.”
Now if you are caught off guard by a sudden concern, fear not… JackBe will swiftly do comparisons and find a solution. To put it simply:
“JackBe allows your people to assemble a set of iPhone-like apps that mash together information from disparate sources in real-time. Think of a highly customized mobile Bloomberg terminal that might show on one screen sales figures pulled from SAP, customer complaints on Twitter, and shipment statuses from UPS. By assembling all of these into one screen, you can more easily and quickly spot trouble and opportunity.”
The second tool highlighted in the article seemed more like a ploy to draw attention to the author’s book. Stratagem does not respond quickly but instead offers a time consuming process. The user asks a question, to which the app responds with 4 more questions. Depending on user response, the app than calculates 10 strategic patterns to apply to your original question.
Overall JackBe provides a useful tool that could actually be beneficial in a crunch. The Stratagem is a good concept, but the process is lengthy and could prove to be a time consumer.
Jennifer Shockley, July 8, 2012
Microsoft and Mobile Device Optimization
July 2, 2012
The word of today is optimize, and Microsoft is once again scoring at the top of the technology class. The article, ‘Microsearch Announces Mobile Device Optimization Features for its Hosted Search and Retrieval Services’ at Scotnetwork.com explains how Microsoft’s new mobile device optimization can benefit online publishers of electronic documents that want to take their classes from home, so to speak.
Microsoft just created a cover all cheat sheet to pass any test:
“As most mobile device users know, some mobile devices simply will not accept long documents when the device is in wireless mode. And when they do, download times can feel long for the user, and bandwidth use can be expensive. Our new Publishers Services are totally optimized for mobile device users, saving time and money.”
“Our new document search & retrieval optimizations are compatible with all contemporary wireless devices, as well as wired computers. Users can set their own device download preferences on the go.”
Even taking notes is easier. Microsoft offers a sticky note feature which allows researchers to add page content on their screen that will remain when they return to the pages. Locating and viewing information in long documents will now be faster, easier and cheaper for mobile device users. Owners of online content will be able to score higher by appealing to wireless scholars using laptops, tablets and other mobile devices. Microsoft’s mobile device optimization just won the title of class Valedictorian.
Jennifer Shockley, July 2, 2012
Is Mobile Passing thorugh a Meteor Field?
June 26, 2012
The demand for mobile devices is on the rise and right now the force is strong with Android. Device sales and activations are moving at light speed according to the article Google: 900K Android Activations a Day:
“Apple used WWDC to reveal that through March, it had sold 365 million iOS devices. An impressive figure, but at over 25 million activations per month according to Rubin’s math, the Android ecosystem is proving to be an able competitor.”
“Android and its app ecosystem are in good shape in Google’s eyes, but that they are also big pillars in the company’s strategy to compete against Apple and Microsoft in the mobile space. That includes catering to the “bring your own device” BYOD trend that has gripped enterprise IT departments.”
The WWDC 2012 officially unveiled the iOS 6 and brought developers up to speed on the latest innovations being launched into the company’s mobile operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. However, Microsoft is hasn’t been left adrift, as their going to utilize Windows 8 to support desktop and tablet views from all form factors to compete with Apple and Android.
If all this is true, than the big ships are flying on a collision course. With the increasing Android, iPhone and Microsoft sales, pretty soon the mobile industry space will be as oversaturated as a meteor field. This could cause everyone to have trouble maneuvering.
Jennifer Shockley, June 26, 2012
Numbers Do Not Lie: Big Things, Small Packages
June 21, 2012
Big things come in small packages, and that is the challenge desktop internet is currently facing when compared to mobile devices. The mismatched growth in mobile usage and monetization now casts a shadow that looms over the internet industry according to Mary Meeker Explains the Mobile Monetization Challenge. Mobile usage hit 10% of the total global Internet traffic as of May 2012. That may not sound like much, but it was only five percent at that time last year.
According to Meeker, cost and ecommerce are playing a big role as:
“There are lots of places to find evidence of the mobile monetization gap. Effective desktop CPMs are five times the price of mobile Internet CPMs in the U.S.: $3.50 versus $0.75. And companies like Pandora, Tencent and Zynga currently report that average revenue per user is as much as five times lower on mobile.”
“Mobile e-commerce is 8 percent of the total e-commerce market in the U.S. Today, payments for and within applications account for 71 percent of revenue versus 29 percent for mobile advertising”
Right now there are over 1.1 billion global mobile 3G subscribers as compared to the 2.3 billion global internet users. The mobile device offers desktop accessibility with the added convenience of portability at a reasonable price. When you consider all the details, it isn’t surprising the hard number results favor the smaller package.
Jennifer Shockley, June 21, 2012
Sprylogics Tech Update
June 11, 2012
In an effort to make the most of their innovations, Sprylogics is focusing on four particular areas of further development. Canada Newswire lets us in on the “Sprylogics Technology Update.” The write up informs us:
“The Sprylogics Technology Team is focused on leveraging and enhancing the existing patent pending technology base to build mobile search solutions that interpret what people are saying online and on their mobile phones in order to:
a) Better understand what they are looking for (query intent);
b) Better understand trends and patterns in people’s behavior and opinions in aggregate (improve quality and relevancy of search results).
“This is accomplished through the use of semantic technologies and natural language processing techniques like entity extraction, semantic graph creation, disambiguation, matching and clustering to process massive volumes of unstructured data in order to extract key sentiments, facts, opinions, user interests and intents. “
Sprylogics’ solutions have been updated in the following areas: expanded natural language processing; improved machine learning; a beefed up knowledge base; and advances in mobile development and API’s. See the article for details on each. We wonder how much of this progress is linked to the company’s financing boost earlier this year.
Sprylogics, Based in Ontario and was formed in 2011, styles itself the “semantic search engine.” Cluuz is the catchy name of the company’s search platform, while their Analyst and Evidens analyzes workflow. Sprylogics is awaiting a patent on their unique semantic graph visual display.
Cynthia Murrell, June 11, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Google to Change Android Tactics
June 7, 2012
We thought Google had its Android carnival under tight management, but we guess changes are needed since, according to ZDNet, “Google to Centralize Android Development and Sales.” There are several reasons the move is a good idea, but fragmentation and a loss of control to vendors are probably foremost; the hardware vendors Google partners with tend to impose non-removable skins on top of Android that can hamper or, worse, change functionality. Now is that any way for partners to treat each other? Furthermore, these altered versions are often based on an outdated Android version, which further confuses and frustrates customers.
So, just how is the company planning to reign in its wayward offspring? Not all details are in, but the article informs us:
“Wall Street Journal reporter, Amir Efrati reports that ‘Google plans to give multiple mobile-device makers early access to new releases of Android and to sell those devices directly to consumers, said people familiar with the matter.’ In the past, Google would pick a single vendor to introduce major Android updates in lead devices, and then all the other vendors would follow. These devices were then, as now, sold to end-users through wireless carriers or retail outlets.
“By the holiday season though, there were be as many as five manufacturers creating a portfolio of ‘Nexus’ lead devices that include smartphones and tablets. While the old sales channels will still be there, Google will sell the gadgets directly to consumers in the U.S., Europe and Asia via its website. These will run on be running Google’s next version of Android, Jelly Bean.”
As a consumer, I’m in favor of this plan. We don’t yet know just who these “multiple” manufacturers are, though writer Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols suspects Motorola (of course), ASUS, HTC, Samsung, and Sony will make the list. He also posits that the consolidation may be, in part, an effort to present a united front against Apple’s intellectual property hullabaloo.
Cynthia Murrell, June 7, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Does Its Open Source Nature Weaken Android for Google?
June 4, 2012
Though Dan Graziano still feels the open source choice helped Android get where it is, he suspects open source may soon be the death of the operating system. Specifically, all the manufacturer add-ons and inconsistencies between versions leave users with a sour taste. The writer shares his views in BGR’s “Being Open Could Close the Door on Android.” He asserts:
“I understand that vendors need to distinguish their devices from the competition, but forcing customers to use a clunky, battery-wasting skin is not the answer. I wouldn’t be so against Android skins if the manufacturers allowed the average user to remove them completely, and I mean without the need to root a device.”
Yeah, me too. While he’s at it, Graziano notes that carriers are not helping the situation:
“Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint — they all do it, some more than others — pre-install apps on their devices. This ‘bloatware’ often cannot be uninstalled and is found on just about every Android device, including my ‘pure Google’ Galaxy Nexus. To make matters worse, carriers and vendors sometimes enter into exclusive partnerships to offer services on certain devices.”
The most egregious exclusive services deal, according to the write up, was Verizon swapping out the default option for a number of Google services to Microsoft‘s Bing. That just adds insult to injury.
I won’t mention here the pun Graziano uses for cheap knockoff tablets; see the piece if curious. His point, though, is that closing Android would knock those useless things off the shelves.
Since Google seems determined to plow ahead with its Motorola Mobility acquisition despite China’s insistence that Android remain open for at least another five years, it would seem the OS will not become closed and licensed for some time. Can Android survive five more years of manufacturer and carrier tampering?
Cynthia Murrell, June 4, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
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