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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Year-End Zeitgeist 2013 - Nelson Mandela, Paul Walker and iPhone 5s top Google Trends

Google has unveiled the results of Year-End Zeitgeist 2013, which illustrates the people, places, events and activities that captured the world's attention. Only a few have made to Google's trending list in its 13th edition of "the spirit of the times". Nelson Mandela, Paul Walker and iPhone 5s emerged as Top 3 global searches.




2013 Google Zeitgeist has presented more than 1000 top-ten lists from 72 countries with categories like Top Trending Searches, Trending People, Most Searched Events, Consumer Electronics and more. In something unique for this year, the Search Giant has combined its Zeitgeist with Google Trends. The late Cory Monteith, and the Harlem Shake rounded up the top five Trending Searches worldwide of 2013. The findings were revealed in a 2013 Zeitgeist post on Official Google Blog by Amit Singhal (+Amit Singhal), Senior Vice President and Google Fellow on 17 December 2013.



Google has made an interactive data visualization based 3D global map, displaying the top search trends of 2013 by day in cities worldwide, to enable people to parse through any major everyday popular searches. Users can readily rotate the globe, select a city and discover the subjects that made people to search on any day of the year, from international news to local sports. People take an international trip of the greatest instances from the last 12 months in their Year in Review video of 2013.


Saturday, December 14, 2013

KnowEm: Social Media Identity Protection & Online Brand Management

KnowEm provides Social Media Identity Protection and Online Brand Management services. People can search for user name availability on over 500 social networking sites, public domains, trademarks and the USPTO Signature data source to check if your company, brand, product, or login name is obtainable or consumed. This can help them in quickly securing their brand identity on the internet.

KnowEm was designed to help individuals, businesses and Fortune 500 companies to find out whether their names, brands, or copyrighted properties are available or taken on Social Networks. It also guides about how to make contact with each website in order to have the stolen user name released and handed over to the right person or enterprise. Since the start of operation, it has aided people or corporations to book over 600,000 profiles and reported their customers over 50,000 problems of squatting and misrepresentation of a brand, username or trademarked terms.


KnowEm currently tracks over 550 popular Social properties. Websites categories include Blogging, Bookmarking, Business, Community, Design, Entertainment, Health, Information, Micro-blogging, Music, News, Photo, Tech, Travel and Video. See the complete online websites list here. It offers the facilities of User Name Check, Social Profile Check, Domain Name Check and Trademark Availability Check.

KnowEm LLC was founded in April 2009 by Barry Wise, who is Principal / Chief Developer / Architect. Michael Streko is Co-Founder / Principal and Brian Solis is their Business Advisor. More details about the company and the staff can be found at their About page. People can interact with them freely though their Social properties: KnowEm @ Facebook & KnowEm @ Twitter.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Facebook updated News Feed Algorithm to display more High Quality Content like News Articles

Facebook has updated the News Feed algorithm to include links to more "high-quality" content like news articles in place of meme photos that redirect users to different sites. The move is to provide more relevant information to its users. Social Networking leader carried out intensive research before incorporating more "high-quality" articles into the News Feed area instead of latest memes. With this integration, users will more frequently see links to articles about current events, sports or politics.

Facebook engineering manager Varun Kacholia and software engineer Minwen Ji wrote in a post on the company's Newsroom on Monday, 2 December 2013:
We've noticed that people enjoy seeing articles on Facebook, and so we're now paying closer attention to what makes for high quality content, and how often articles are clicked on from News Feed on mobile.


The change will particularly be visible on mbile phones, as the company brings trending news on the go. This will easily provide users the knowledge of what's going on around the world and in their friends circle. Decision to reduce memes shouldn't have significant effect on users, as most people show interest in news articles over photos.

Facebook is also driving user engagement as the new algorithm change will sometimes bring few stories on top of the News Feed section, whenever new comments are added. This allows the users to keep the conversation going on.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Effects of Google Hummingbird Search Algorithm on Content

Google has revealed Hummingbird Search Algorithm, the latest algorithm update since 2010's Caffeine update. It can be called another search results overhaul. But it is just a small part of an overall evolution to bring better information to consumers for the moments that matter.


Google is putting an effort to practice what they advocate all the time. Google has its sights set on becoming as the ultimate source of information. This new update is a clear indicator that Google is making bold moves to become an increasingly integral part of the life of people. This is not limited to supplying information that people want. But also provides intelligence that people did not even know they needed. Google is becoming to information, what Apple is to devices, in old school SAT analogy.

Content should satisfy Intent

Two years back, a shift was seen in web search from "plain" keyword optimization to a more "intent" based channel. Search Engines tried to "best guess" the intent of a search user. They matched it to the relevant content that most probably provided best answer of the query of a user. "Context" has entered search strategy lexicon recently, which accounts for more personalized search tactics based on location, platform, device and/or hyper local factors.

Announcement of Google Hummingbird update, which is incorporated for search ranking from last month, is a right step in this direction. Google is more emphasizing the importance of user intent over pure keyword based interpretation. This new update now better acknowledges context, timeliness, conversational search location cues, Knowledge Graph data and understanding of complex queries.

Content should be Rich

How marketing experts should concentrate on their content to fulfill complicated customer intent? Content is required to be unique, rich, in depth and explanatory, to be considered the most appropriate type of information for almost any search term. Websites which are presently creating rich content that try to response more extensive questions, instead of keywords or phrases, will improve their possibilities of positioning better with the new update. Although sites have to depend greatly on rich content, they also should continue to be properly-developed, which cause it to simpler for Google bots to discover that quality material.

Authorship markup by Google is Important

Because content seems to be the biggest emphasis for this update, it also likely means that authorship will become an even more important factor in optimization. It's interesting that this update is coming right on the heels of several recent notable changes. The first being the complete integration of secure search, which eliminated keyword data from analytics, and the second being Google+ rolling out a change to authorship, which will make it easier on Google to attribute content back to the author. So, while you start thinking about you content program, and whether or not it supports the new algorithm update, don’t forget to take authority into account. Make sure profiles are created, updated, and attributed for all pieces of content.

What will be the Future of Google Search after Hummingbird update?

It is difficult to estimate accurately what the future will be, because Google is obviously unforeseen, but it is easy to state that this upgrade is a obvious shift in the direction of far more Semantic Web, which targets obtaining improved realization of "aboutness" – not only from markup of entities, but in the capability to draw out message from the composition of a phrase – hence there may be possibly on its way in future. Probably the reply is within much more "implicit" search.

Regardless of whether Hummingbird basically alters search in future, its launch passed rather un-observed as just a minor enhancement in search results. Although Google mentioned that the update handles almost 90% of queries around the world, it will seem step-by-step improvement from user viewpoint. Nevertheless, the Marketers must be careful because since the enhancement delivers significant effects from both functional and technical perspectives. Google keeps on moving to a world in which "Content is King" and realizing end user search intent is the objective. Perhaps eventually it will be capable to solve our questions prior to we even inquire about them.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Google Unveiled Hummingbird Search Algorithm & Other Changes At 15th Birthday

Google announced a new "Hummingbird" search algorithm being live and especially designed to handle complex queries, celebrating the company's 15th birthday in the garage it was born. Big G also revealed a new design for tablets and phones, richer direct answers with comparison, a new song exploration feature and notifications of Google Now information for iOS 7. Hummingbird is especially useful for longer and more complex queries. It affects about 90% of Google searches worldwide. It is the first major upgrade for three years and has already been in use for about a month.


Hummingbird Search Algorithm replaced Caffeine

Amit Singhal, Senior Vice President of Search at Google said:
It took a long time to get results back then. More often than not, you forget what you were searching for in the first place. Now you can speak for searches and with Google Now get the right information at the right time. You should not be spending your time searching. You should be spending your time living.

We just changed Google's engines mid-flight again. Hummingbird is the company's most significant algorithm change since it switched to "Caffeine" in 2009.
Caffeine emphasized at better indexing of websites while focusing on speed and integrating social network results into search. Unlike its predecessor, Hummingbird is more focused on ranking information based on a more intelligent understanding of search requests.


Google stressed that a new algorithm is important as users expect more natural and conversational interactions with a search engine. They are using their voice to speak requests into mobile phones, smart watches and other wearable technology.

Hummingbird allows Google to more quickly parse full questions (as opposed to parsing searches word-by-word), and to identify and rank answers to those questions from the content they have indexed. It is more capable of understanding concepts and the relationships between them rather than simply words, which leads to more fluid interactions. In that sense, it is an extension of Google's "Knowledge Graph" concept introduced last year aimed at making interactions more human.

How the Hummingbird search algorithm affect Search Results?

Hummingbird algorithm is incorporated by Google for search positioning from about a month already. If any huge jumps or drops in your search engine placement have not been noticed, probably there would not be in near future also. If rankings did change, it could be due to Hummingbird. But it could also be due to some of the other parts of the Google search algorithm, which are always being changed and improved.

Google improved Voice Search

Google also showed off more advanced voice queries, in which your computer or tablet will answer back to you. Users can ask Google to compare two items, generate a list of songs from a particular artist, or pull statistics about the Eiffel Tower and receive a voice response. In the case of the Eiffel Tower, a user would need to say "Eiffel Tower" only once in a series of questions, and search will remember the context. Amit Singhal explained voice search further: "Voice will be fundamental to building future interactions with the devices [we use]".

Google disclosed Updated Version of Google Search app on iOS soon

Google also announced an updated version of the Google Search app on iOS, which is coming soon, according to Tamar Yehoshua, VP of Search for Google. The new app will allow users to more clearly see their calendar or events cards from the app's home screen, and reminders will now carry over between iOS and Android devices.

Happy Birthday Google

Search giant Google has turned 15. Huge progress and enormous developments have been made so far on coarse of turning Silicon Valley garage startup into the Search Engine leader. Timeline of Google presentrs a broad peak at the lifecycle of the brain child of co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Facebook testing Trending Topics section in News Feed

Facebook is testing a Trending Topics section in its News Feed. The social network is checking new ways to make Hashtags useful. The section is similar to "Trends Box" of rival Twitter and showcases topics, including Hash-tags, currently popular on the site.

Facebook testing Trending Topics

A spokeswoman from Facebook confirmed the test with The Wall Street Journal on Friday, 30 August 2013. She is quoted to have said the following in a WSJ Blog post about Trending:
"We are running a small test of a unit on News Feed that displays topics currently trending on Facebook. Right now it's only available to a small percentage of US users and it is still in the early stages of development. We will share more details down the line if we decide to roll it out more widely."

Facebook launched searchable Hashtags in June 2013, to make it easy for people to see related conversations around a single topic. At that time, the Social Networking company said it would be "rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people, and topics". Earlier this month, it started showing trending topics to some mobile web users.

Trend based navigation is a natural outgrowth of adding Hashtags. Facebook is taking a while to go to the next phase. Public-private dynamics work quite differently on Facebook than on Twitter, where the hashtag / Trending Topics idea was popularized. Facebook is using tests to make sure this approach makes sense with its more private model. Let's see if Hashtag.org incorporates Facebook hashtags tracking in future.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Winners of eCities of America in 2013

Scott Levitan, Director of Small Business Engagement, a division of Google, congratulated eCities of America in 2013. Google eCity Awards recognize the digital capitals of each state; whose businesses are using the worldwide web to find new customers, connect with existing customers and fuel their local economies. Across the USA, the online businesses expect to grow 40% faster.

Following is the detailed post which he wrote about 2013 US Digital Capitals on Google Official Blog:

I love to discover local gems that help make a community unique. Sometimes those gems can be around the corner—like Cafe Borrone, my favorite for Sunday brunch with my family; the food is great and even the dog is welcome on their patio. Sometimes I find those great places when I am on the road—places like Frank in Austin, Texas with their epic sausages or Boulevard Coffee in Ashland, Ore. which has great coffee and friendly people. Some of the best things I discover without even leaving home—like Casa Kids, which designs original children’s furniture from their studio in Brooklyn, N.Y., or Sticks in West Des Moines, Iowa, which sells hand-carved and hand-painted treasures.


The web helps people everywhere discover the best of what’s around the world or around the corner. Ninety-seven percent of Americans who use the Internet—pretty much all of us—look online for local products and services. So it should come as no surprise that the impact on businesses of being online is huge. According to a McKinsey study, small businesses that make use of the web are growing twice as fast as those that aren't on the web. Just as businesses that embrace the web grow faster, communities whose businesses embrace the web grow faster as well.

Given the importance of the web in growing our local businesses and our local economies, we worked with independent research firm IPSOS to analyze the online strength of local businesses in cities and towns across America. Businesses in these communities are embracing the power of the web to find new customers, connect with existing ones and fuel their local economies. Today we’re introducing the eCity Award winners for 2013—the strongest online business communities in each state.

2013 US eCities Winners


AL - Madison
AK - Homer
AZ - Scottsdale
AR - Bella Vista
CA - Carlsbad
CO - Boulder
CT - Glastonbury
DE - Bear
FL - Santa Rosa Beach
GA - Atlanta
HI - Kailua Kona
ID - Sandpoint
IL - Oak Brook
IN - Zionsville
IA - West Des Moines
KS - Lenexa
KY - Lexington

LA - Mandeville
ME - Scarborough
MD - Ocean City
MA - Westborough
MI - Walled Lake
MN - Minnetonka
MS - Ridgeland
MO - Maryland Heights
MT - Whitefish
NE - Lincoln
NV - Carson City
NH - Amherst
NJ - Princeton
NM - Albuquerque
NY - New York
NC - Cary
ND - Fargo

OH - Solon
OK - Edmond
OR - Ashland
PA - Exton
RI - Middletown
SC - N. Myrtle Beach
SD - Sioux Falls
TN - Hendersonville
TX - Austin
UT - Park City
VT - South Burlington
VA - Chantilly
WA - Bainbridge Island
WV - Charleston
WI - Pewaukee
WY - Casper

We hope these "digital capitals" are an inspiration to cities and businesses everywhere of what can be accomplished by embracing the web to grow. Congratulations to the 2013 eCities of America.

Source(s):
2013 eCities of America - Google Economic Impact
2013 eCities of America Award Winners