From the category archives:

Local

Facebook’s Graph Search: The True Arrival of Social Search?

by Tim on January 15, 2013

in Facebook,Google,Local,Search,Social Media,social strategy,Strategy

In what is undoubtedly a shot across Google’s bow, Facebook announced its new “Graph Search” today, allowing consumers to search Facebook in some fairly sophisticated ways. Since I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, I’m going to reserve comment for the moment. But here’s what some other folks are saying about the tool:

Search Engine Land covers the announcement in full, noting that Graph Search will challenge Google, Yelp, Foursquare & others.
Mashable suggests Facebook Graph Search could be the company’s greatest innovation.
TechCrunch believes Graph Search ads could be a goldmine for Facebook.
Danny Sullivan does a deep dive and explains what it’s like to spend time up close with Facebook Graph Search.
Business Insider looks at the benefit of Facebook Graph Search for advertisers and what it means to the company’s bottom line.
And, finally, Matt McGee of Search Engine Land looks at SEO For Facebook Graph Search along with Facebook’s tips. Good stuff.

Again, I don’t have a clear perspective on Graph Search yet—though I do think it’s a stupid name (while I know where it comes from, I doubt many of its users will).

But, What Yelp and Facebook do very well already—and what Google’s trying to do with Google+—is connect people with the most relevant information. Your location/local area represent one clear source of relevance (I’m looking at you, Yelp), your friends, family, fans, and followers another. There’s no question that with Google’s recent FTC settlement, the growth of Yelp in local search (more on this in the coming days), and now Graph Search, the search market is more interesting than it’s been in some time. This is going to be fun to watch.

If you can help those dealing with the after-effects of Hurricane Sandy, please visit the American Red Cross.

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Technorati Tags: 2013 trends, e-commerce, e-marketing, ecommerce, email marketing, Facebook, Google, Google Plus, Google+, Google+ Pages, m-commerce, marketing, marketing best practices, mobile, search, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, social, social commerce, social marketing, social media, social search, social strategy, strategy, success, yelp

Tagged as: Facebook, facebook graph search, Google, google search, Search, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search marketing, search strategy, yelp

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A Social, Local Roundup (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest)

by Tim on October 19, 2012

in del.icio.us links,Local,Social Media,social strategy

Well, Google’s had a crappy week, huh?

Their quarterly earnings were released early due to “human error,” (surprising all of us who’d come to believe Google didn’t allow errors — or humans, for that matter). Plus, those earnings weren’t so hot, at least by Wall Street’s standards (they’d be astonishing for many other companies).

Meanwhile, France is looking at legislation Google says threatens their very existence.

Oh and Reuters reports the FTC is close to hitting Google with an antitrust suit.

Now, I’ve been following Google’s antitrust woes over the last few years in posts like “What every small business needs to know about Google’s antitrust investigation,” “Should Google’s antitrust woes worry you?”
“What Google vs. FairSearch.org and the US Senate Means to You” and “Google, ITA and the coming antitrust war,” so I’m not too surprised by this.

So, just for fun, let’s pretend there’s a world without Google and see what else you can do to grow your business without ‘em:

Search Engine Watch shows how brands use Instagram for visual marketing.
Social Media Today climbs on the Instagram bandwagon with a look at 4 brands using Instagram really well.
Search Engine Land looks at how Yelp outed 8 businesses it caught trying to buy reviews.
PageLever has data showing 1 out of 5 new Facebook fans now comes from mobile–a 280% increase from May to August.
BazaarVoice says Twitter volume reflects stock price plus a whole lot more
And, finally, TechCrunch outlines Google promotions launch on Google Shopping and how it enables distribution to Google Offers & Maps on Android, too. OK, I know I said there would be no Google. But, is that even possible to imagine?

Have a great weekend, Big Thinkers. We’ll see you back here next week.

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Technorati Tags: social, social commerce, social marketing, social media predictions, social search, social strategy, strategy

Tagged as: Local, local business, local marketing, local search, local web, social, social business, social commerce, social e-commerce, social ecommerce, social is people, social marker, social marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, social network marketing, social strategy

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Where Are You? Map Searches Increasingly Shifting to Mobile

by Tim on October 9, 2012

in Local,Mobile,Search,SEO,Strategy

Search Engine Watch has an amazing look at how desktop map searches increasingly shifting to mobile noting:

“Searches with a mapping/navigation intent on the Big 5 Engines (Google/Bing/Yahoo/Ask/AOL) are down 34 percent over the past 15 months, going from 74.8 million to 49.5 million in August. Search clicks to map/navigation sites show an even steeper decline, down 41 percent to just 55.2 million in August.”

Does that mean that no one’s looking at maps any longer?

Of course not.

Where are those searches happening then? The article continues:

“As desktop-based searches with mapping intent and search clicks to map websites both show declines, it’s clear that search as a discovery process for navigation on desktops is eroding. This trend signals a significant shift in intent, as consumers who once relied on being at a computer to search for directions before going somewhere are now happy to rely on those handy little computers in their pockets.” [Emphasis mine]

Mapping, and map-based search, may be the killer app for mobile. And mobile is here. Now. Today. if your business relies on a physical location, you must appear in map search results. And that means your marketing must work in a mobile environment. Any questions?

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Technorati Tags: mobile, search, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, strategy