Google – Page 11 – The Web Authority

January 27, 2016January 22, 2016

As Search Shrinks, Social Grows

Man having an idea! — Mobile has shaken the world of search.

As a void is created in search by the changes that the mobile web has brought about, social media is filling the gap by becoming the “go to” location for reviews and personal recommendation.

“Is Search (As We Know It) Dying” is an excellent point of view and a great read for today. As the author notes, social media icons like Facebook are deep into development for the next generation of search and mobile use. One of the biggest pushes are for artificial intelligence and personalized assistants; keeping users tied in and connected.

Take into account activity on social networks, where queries like “I am visiting London, England next week, what have you done or loved that I should make sure to put on my to do list?” are commonplace and readily answered by friends, family and acquaintances.

Although users have loved, then hated, and now appear to love again social sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, I am seeing more businesses and consultants feel that it is now time to get serious about establishing and keeping a presence on these social media sites.

Courtney Danyel (the author of the aforementioned article) puts it all succinctly in this ending comment, “In the long run, brands and businesses focusing the majority of their energy on optimizing for search will face the inevitability of stunted reach and growth.” I could not agree more.

January 25, 2016January 22, 2016

Mobile Spells the Death of Google

I read an article with interest this last week that laid out a very compelling case for the death of search engines. You can read the full article called “Is Search, As We Know It, Dying?”

The key takeaway that I have seen on my own is that the increased used of mobile devices is turning the regular world of search upside down. Consider on Google AdWords – activity in mobile means increased website traffic, more clicks, but does not translate into more conversions.

As mobile activity has increased in Google AdWords, computer activity has decreased and with it conversions, time on page, and the bounce rate has increased.

Google and Bing continue to scramble to make search meaningful for smartphone users by introducing interactive maps with ads but users are looking for other resources via apps to get the information they want.

Just consider how searches for hotels, venues, and restaurants has changed. Trip Advisor is a great example of how a mobile app is replacing traditional search for smartphone users.

Just yesterday I needed a round tablecloth, I did not search on Google, but rather started my search directly on Amazon.com.

With Google and Bing getting pressure to keep their search audience and websites like Amazon and mobile apps like Trip Advisor stepping in to provide targeted quality search results, we may be seeing the demise of traditional search engines in the next three to five years and maybe even sooner.

For more about me, Nancy McCord, and McCord Web Services, please visit our website at www.McCordWeb.com.

December 14, 2015December 10, 2015

Images in Social Media Using HootSuite – Lessons Learned

Learn From Our Mistakes How to Add Images Fast to Social Media — Learn From Our Experience How to Add Images Fast to Social Media.

Our clients are asking for images in their social media posts. Sounds easy right, but not so fast. Here’s what I’ve learned and wanted to share it with you.

For HootSuite users it is easy to add an image to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+. You just open the writing panel, click the paperclip and then browse to the image you want to save. But what about when you are doing bulk loading and scheduling using a spreadsheet or when you are wanting images in Twitter?

Bulk Loading
You cannot add an image using the bulk load spreadsheet method in HootSuite. So if you want images, you will have to bulk load your updates and then manually go to each social media account and edit your post manually and add your image. Not so simple, but not so hard either.

Twitter
For Twitter, your content will need to be only about 10 to 15 words and if you have a link to shrink, know that the link will take up character space and so will the image. We are trying to stick with about 10 words or so.

You still have to do the manual upload of images and may need to rewrite or edit your post to have it once the image is in to be within character count.

Notes
All images you add to Facebook have to be under 5 mb. A good rule of thumb is that an image compressed for the web and no bigger than 600 pixels wide with a resolution of 175 dpi will meet this 5 mb criteria.

November 11, 2015November 6, 2015

Easy Collaboration with Google Drive.

Written instructions to match our Try It Friday video on Google Drive collaboration.

To get started you’ll want to have a Google account and download Google Drive. https://www.google.com/drive/download/. Then follow the steps to install Google Drive. On installation, Google will add a link to Google Drive in your File Tree accessed through Windows Explorer.

You can also visit and view all Google Drive files online as well.

To start collaboration, load a file or photos into a folder in your Google Drive on your desktop that you want to share. Then go to your Google Drive account online.

Right click on the folder or file and then add an email address (must also be a Google account) to share the file. Give this new person rights to edit or just view the files.

The person you are sharing with will receive and email invitation. If they have Google Drive, this new file will now appear in their shared folder in Google Drive. If they do not have Google Drive, they will want to download the application as well unless they only want online access.

Once they accept to view the file for you to see any change they make and for them to see the file on their desktop offline, they need to drag the shared folder or file into their own “My Drive” folder in Google Drive.

Once that important step is done, any change they make you will be able to see. Plus by adding it to their own My Drive folder, now the file is downloaded to their own file tree and into the Google Drive folder on their desktop.

It’s super fast and easy to collaborate on files.

What could you do with Google Drive collaboration?

Collaborate with teams.
Share photos with college students away from home.
Share files and folders with family members.
Share files, photos, and folders with friends.
Plan your next family reunion and keep everyone in the loop.

Watch the video: http://www.mccordweb.com/video/index.php