For anyone that works in digital marketing this article is crucial reading but for SEO specific professionals it is particularly pertinent.

Google has been busily modifiying its algorithm throughout 2011 and early 2012 due to increased competition from Facebook and Twitter in its mission to provide users with the best search results on the web. And the reason for this mission? To get more clicks on their ads - don't forget, they are a business not a charitable organisation.

Their next swathe of changes involve bringing more information directly into the search engine results pages using what they term as a database of "entities". These entities aim to provide the searcher with as much information around a search query as possible meaning if you type in in "Thai Green Curry" you will see information such as recipe ingredients, thai chefs and other useful information.

Sounds pretty cool for users but how does this affect digital marketers?

From my understanding, if Google is answering questions within its results pages then why would a user click through to a web page that provides the same answer?

Also Google are looking at ways to monetize this new way of showing results so it makes sense that they will insert their ads next to answers. This makes me think that if a user types a question, gets an answer then sees the link to buy (an adwords ad) then the information site is literally cut out of the equation and the Google adwords customer gets the click.

This raises the worrying suggestion that building websites out with great informative content might only be good for Google and not for the site owner that provides the content since Google will be using your content to answer questions then shipping your prospects to their customers (which of course could be you).

I can't gauge much more than that and I'm sure that there will be opportunities but it is all looking a bit vague right now for anyone trying to put a strategy together for dominating Google (with SEO at least!)

Time for a bit of light relief - SEO and all that can get so samey! As a Star Wars geek I love the 501st Legion's design.

To be fair though these should be set up properly and i haven't bothered myself which is pretty pathetic. Users like them as they help to orientate and like the above demonstrates, can inject a bit of personality into your brand.

I'll get my thinking and design head on then :0)

Well the table on this site reveals lots of suprises doesn't it?!

To be fair it is just a useful list to use for looking for inspiring social media campaigns.

I recommend a quick dig around the Facebook page for Porsche as it's a great example.

How to Build the Perfect Branded App

Many conversations that I have with both brands and advertising agencies start with the dreaded words 'we want an iphone app'. Why dreaded? After all as a mobile agency we just love to build apps. Unfortunately, any conversation that starts with those words shows that they have not thought about meeting their brand objectives, or their customers, let alone a great creative idea...

This article (link above) is absolutely spot on and very timely since the potential of mobile is just beginnig to gain some traction with more mainstream client types.

I see similarities with the early days of the web when clients would say "let's get a website, everyone else is!" without taking into consideration what the objectives are from both a business or end user persepective.

Check this graphic out. Personally I'm not exactly enlightened but I impressed that a simple graphic can be used to generate so much action on social media and I expect generate a lot of links for the owners - nice work ;0)

I absolutely love this type of stuff - no not Sunsilk - conversion rate optimisation tactics. Bryan Eisenberg, author of Call to Action a CRO bible has his finger right on the pulse and his article about how to get the best from a corporate photographer is very useful.

The critical point to remember is not that the model should always be pretty or good looking as a given but that they should be looking at the content you want the user to engage with.

Simple stuff isn't it but combined with other insider CRO tricks your conversion rate can go through the roof.

Search Tools

Top 10 U.K. Search Terms by Category, April 2010

By Jack Marshall, ClickZ, May 14, 2010

April's top 10 search terms by search volume from Hitwise.

Top 10 U.K. Search Terms by Category, March 2010 (%)
IT and Internet		Automotive Manufacturers
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
paypal	12.78	audi	2.32
broadband speed test	2.12	bmw	2.06
paypal uk	1.92	ford	1.48
anagram solver	1.10	audi uk	1.36
paypal login	0.82	vauxhall	1.28
pay pal	0.52	mercedes benz	1.19
yougov	0.38	bmw uk	1.16
speed test	0.31	renault	1.07
paypal.co.uk	0.30	vw	0.99
auctiva	0.29	hyundai	0.96
Movies		Social Networking and Forums
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
cineworld	3.50	facebook	19.64
imdb	2.11	youtube	6.08
odeon	1.90	facebook login	5.44
vue	1.38	you tube	1.12
vue cinema	1.35	bebo	1.10
lovefilm	1.22	fb	0.76
odeon cinema	0.60	twitter	0.41
blockbuster	0.56	utube	0.39
showcase cinemas	0.48	club penguin	0.38
love film	0.47	facebook.com	0.34
Food and Beverage Brands and Manufacturers		Pharmaceutical and Medical Products
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
dominos	5.15	boots	22.17
pizza hut	4.50	boots uk	4.73
mcdonalds	4.15	holland and barrett	3.98
dominos pizza menu	1.84	lloyds phramacy	1.35
kfc	1.40	boots the chemist	0.77
dominoes	1.32	boots.com	0.64
makro	1.19	healthspan	0.64
domino's pizza	1.02	boots chemist	0.40
starbucks	0.87	holland and barret	0.33
costa coffee	0.81	simply supplements	0.30
Blogs and Personal Websites		Broadcast Media
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
bbc news	0.50	sky news	2.81
tumblr	0.38	bbc news	2.69
perez hilton	0.33	bbc	2.15
iphone 4g	0.32	bbc weather	1.89
facebook	0.31	daily mail	1.31
blogger	0.29	the sun	1.03
kotaku	0.26	bbc sport	0.83
gizmodo	0.26	weather	0.54
youtube	0.24	met office	0.45
just jared	0.23	facebook	0.36
Shopping Rewards and Directories		Travel Destinations and Accommodations
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
hotukdeals	0.65	travelodge	1.24
quido	0.63	trip advisor	1.00
tesco clubcard	0.52	premier inn	0.79
voucher codes	0.42	laterooms	0.48
envirophone	0.35	thorpe park	0.40
hot uk deals	0.29	alton towers	0.40
kelkoo	0.29	tripadvisor	0.32
pricerunner	0.27	tripadvisor uk	0.32
tesco clubcard deals	0.27	national trust	0.28
which	0.26	travel lodge	0.27

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Some insights -

Paypal featuring highlights the continued rise of ecommerce. When faced with the option to pay via Paypal so often joining becomes a no brainer. It also could be indicative of people preferring to make transactions through sites with Paypal rather than the proprietary or untrustworthy looking third party carts that many online stores still provide.

No surprise to see Facebook perched at the summit for social but interesting to see Walt Disney's Club Penguin making an appearance. A Disney affiliate site could be the order of the day! Also the spelling of utube could be a nice in for any keyword hijackers.

Lovefilm is increasingly popular and dominos features heavily demonstrating a trend towards staying at home and saving the old cash in these hard times - although I have never understood how they get away with selling bread, red coloured water and chopped stuff for £10 quid a pop.

Sky out performing BBC is interesting. You's thin BBC would out optimise Sky so maybe it's there proliferation of branding building online ads that is driving search? Nice to see the Daily Mail, a paper that speaks it mind, doing well besides all of the far left slurs it has to deal with.

I loved this little drawing. It can help you to finally pin down your company value proposition by finding the "three legs of the stool".

I'll let the article and the pictures do the talking, just click through the link above.

Hmm, no surprises then. The reality is that most businesses don't have the first clue where to engage or how to engage with social media. I've been doing a bit of training recently covering setting up campaigns, which tools to use for distribution, interaction and very important - tracking.

Tracking what is going on is the real gem and there are some cool and 'free' tools out there that you can get started with today.

The bottom line is that it's just about taking that initial dive in. Yeah, sure, you'll flap about a bit just like your first time in a swimming pool and you'll take the odd gulp down the wrong hole but in time your business will find it's niche and your prospects will find you.

In 5 years time you'll wonder what all of the fuss was about.

For some quick and easy training that you'll enjoy check out my fastrack social media training packages

This new update from Google in the webmaster tools is awesome. Selecting keywords for fine tuning and weeding out keywords that are not worth pursuing never got any easier!

Check out this post by the Chaffmeister.