Monday, November 30, 2015
It’s not too late: 12 ways to boost sales this holiday season
From hoverboards to adult onesies: the gifts we’re searching for this holiday
Drones are now toys: Drones are no longer expensive playthings for the tech-savvy. Search for “toy drone” and you’ll find countless inexpensive, easy-to-use devices available from department stores and toy stores. And they’re popular—nationwide, shopping searches for drones are up 80% over the past year, and they’re highest in California.
Hoverboards are real, and they’re trending: While we’re on the topic of electronic toys, hoverboards are so popular this year they’ve even overtaken searches for drones. They may not be exactly like the boards from Back to the Future or the Lexus commercial, but these two-wheeled boards have become a hot toy this season. Searches for “hoverboards” started trending in the summer and are up more than 500% since July.
Holiday onesies are the new “ugly Christmas sweaters”: Last year “ugly Christmas sweaters” were all the rage. This year we’re seeing holiday onesies are the new kitsch partywear of choice, as searches for “adult onesies” are trending even faster than searches for “ugly Christmas sweater.” (Hey—we don’t try to explain these trends. We just report them. -Ed.)
Your 90s wardrobe is BACK: Bomber jackets. Levi jeans. Adidas Superstars. Looking at this year’s top-trending apparel list you’ll be forgiven for thinking we’ve gone back to the 90s. Not only have we seen searches for these 90s fashion trends more than double over the past year, each city has their own 90s fashion item of choice—shoppers in Chicago are more interested in Levis while shoppers in New York are on the hunt for Adidas Superstar shoes.
“Smart” devices top electronics searches: With more models on the market than ever, both smart watches and smart TVs topped our list of trending electronics this year—with “smart watch” searches seeing a particularly phenomenal growth, up nearly 300% compared to last year. But as smart devices get more popular, retro electronics are also making a comeback: searches for instant cameras like “Polaroid Camera” and “Fujifilm Instax” have been rising steadily in popularity each holiday season.
So there you have it. Ready to start shopping? To help you search for these gifts quickly and easily while on-the-go, we recently redesigned Google Shopping on mobile. And for more insights behind this season’s trends, check out the Shopping Insights tool. Happy deal-hunting!
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Happy Thanksgiving from the Search Engine Watch team
Are Thanksgiving traditions a relic of the past? A Google Trends investigation
Small Business Saturday -- Just How Naive Are You?
Really? Are we that naïve? Do you really think that Small Business Saturday means anything to your customers? Do you really believe articles like this one that report that there were "88 million Small Business Saturday shoppers in 2014" and that they "spent $14.3 billion." Oh c'mon...where does this data come from? And how many of these shoppers would've been out shopping during that first unofficial weekend of the holiday season anyway? Do you think this was because of Small Business Saturday? Believe me...it's not. But don't tell that to some.
For example, Small Business Saturday means a lot to American Express. And good for them, because American Express is a good company and they hit solid gold here. Who was the PR guy who came up with this idea? He (or she's) a friggin' genius. That's because Small Business Saturday is nothing more than a PR stunt for big businesses.
The marketing minds at American Express thought this up a few years ago and the day has ballooned into a national event. Their logo is plastered everywhere. Their name is associated with news stories, contests and promotions. And other big companies are getting in on the action. Banks, retailers and corporations that cater to small businesses are jumping on the "Small Business Saturday" bandwagon to use that day and show how much they care about America's small companies too - offering their own deals and discounts and love for those 28 million potential customers of their products and services. But no, it doesn't stop there.
Now, politicians are getting involved. Look for President Obama to take a stroll on Saturday, most likely with his daughters and most likely to some locally owned bookstore like DC's Politics and Prose, to buy a few items with a credit card that will be discreetly handed to him by a helpful aide. Turn the channel and you'll likely see most of the dozens of Presidential candidates doing the same in their own local communities while making sure everyone is well aware of their passionate "support for small businesses" (which is kind of like saying you support cancer research or puppies because...you know...who doesn't support small businesses, right?). Congress is, of course, honoring the day with a special resolution. States and local governments across the country are issuing their own proclamations. You'll hear very similar sound bites about how small businesses "employ more than half of working Americans" and "how we're the backbone of this country." Yay for us!
But really, are you that naïve?
Are you naïve enough to think that your customers really give a crap about your business? That you deserve any more support than a charity for the homeless or a non-profit trying to eradicate multiple sclerosis? That, just because you have a little shop on Main Street selling crafts or coffee or whatever knickknacks people should spend their money with you just because they're "thinking small"? Especially if they can spend less money down the street at a Walmart or CVS? Exactly what does anyone owe to you, the small business owner? What's so special about you that there's a whole day on the calendar devoted towards drawing attention to your existence? So you're a small business. Big deal.
You don't need "Small Business Saturday" to succeed. In fact, if you're a successful small business owner you could very well be insulted by the idea. I am. You run a profitable business. Your customers buy from you because you simply give them a better product or service than the competition, large or small. You provide that extra level of attention that big companies can't deliver. You are involved in your community because it's the right thing to do. You pay your taxes. You hire. You fire. You know how to buy something for a dollar and sell it for three. There should be no national day that recognizes your profit-taking. This is just what you do and you do it well. There are other people more deserving of the country's attention - like our military, for example?
Pity the competitor who actually thinks that Small Business Saturday is going to benefit their business. And after you've pitied him on Saturday I know what you're going to do. You're going to go out and beat his ass on Monday. And his former customers will be all the recognition you'll need.
A version of this column previously appeared on Entrepreneur.com.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Google gobble: Thanksgiving trends on Search
The reason for the season
In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, people turn to Google to learn more about the origins of the holiday and its traditions, both new and old. Top questions include “Why did the pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving?” and “What president made Thanksgiving a national holiday?”
Gratitude may be in the name, but food is the centerpiece of Thanksgiving. For weeks now people have been searching for recipes to wow their relatives this Thursday, from classics like cranberry relish and mashed potatoes to turkey alternatives like lasagna and beef stew. Here’s a look at the top recipes that trend every November:
Even for people whose usual meal prep consists of shuffling through take-out menus, Thanksgiving is a time to roll up your sleeves and get to work in the kitchen. That—and the fact that a 20-lb poultry dish is a little harder to put on the table than, say, the ol’ blue box of mac and cheese—means it’s also a time when many turn to Google to brush up on some cooking tips. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, you’re asking all kinds of questions, from simple queries like “how to cook spaghetti squash“ and “how to boil eggs” to advanced topics like “what can I make ahead for thanksgiving?” and the very crucial, very daunting “How do you make turkey gravy?”
Let’s talk turkey
The top Thanksgiving recipe question, however, is focused on the main dish: “How to cook a turkey?” Related questions include “how much turkey do you cook per person?” (Answer: there’s math involved but the most important part is making enough for sandwiches for multiple days after), followed quickly by “How long to cook a turkey?” (answer: more math).
And though roasting is still the top trending technique method for cooking the big bird, enterprising (or efficiency-oriented) chefs across the U.S. are also searching for tips on how to smoke and deep-fry their turkeys. Proof that there’s more than one way to cook a turkey.
What Bruce, Duane & the BCI Gang Are Thankful For! #Thanksgiving
What Bruce, Duane & the BCI Gang Are Thankful For! #Thanksgiving was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.
From family to friends, travel to great jobs, babies to weddings, there's a lot to be grateful for this year. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and in honor of the holiday, some of us on the Bruce Clay, Inc. team shared what we're especially thankful for.
We are also particularly thankful for the new additions to our team: Duane Forrester, VP of Organic Search Operations, and David Szetela, VP of Search Marketing Operations. Bruce Clay said it best when he said: "I am thankful that the company was able to add key leaders to our roster. Along with myself and the BCI team, we form a powerful force in the SEO and PPC space."
Click through to read what Bruce and folks on our team are thankful for.
Strategy advice for designing and building a mobile-friendly site
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Will Google Start Reading Text in Images on the Web Soon?
Googlebot Doesn’t Read Pictures of Text During Web Crawls
When I was an Administrator at Cre8asiteforums (2002-2007), one of my favorite forums on the site was one called the Website Hospital. People would come with their sites and questions about how they could improve them. One problem that often appeared was people having problems being found in search results for their sites for geographically related queries. One symptom for many sites experiencing that problem was that the only time the address of their business appeared on the site was in pictures of text, rather than actual text. This can be a problem when it comes to Google indexing that information. Google tells us they like text, and can have troubles indexing content found within images:
Most search engines are text-based. If you use JavaScript, DHTML, images, or rich media such as Silverlight to create navigation and links, Googlebot and other spiders may have trouble crawling your site.
Google’s web crawler couldn’t read pictures of text, and Google wasn’t indexing that location information for their sites’ because of that. Site owners were often happy to find out that they just needed to include the address of their business in text, so that Google could crawl and index that information, and make it more likely that they could be found for their location.
Another place that people sometimes use images of text instead of actual text is in navigation links on their pages. Since Googlebot can’t read the text in those navigation links, those pages sometimes don’t have Site links appear for them in search results. Google doesn’t use alt text that might be associated with those images to generate a sitelinks for a site.
The last patent I’ve seen about site links was How Google May Choose Sitelinks in Search Results Based upon Visual or Functional Significance (Updated) I noted in my post that the patent says that it might use OCR to read text in images, but that I had checked a number of sites, and wasn’t seeing Google do that. Here are the site links that show up on a search for “SEO by the Sea”
I had some hope over the years that Google might get better at indexing text that appeared within links, watching some things like the following happen:
(1) Google acquired Facial and object recognition company Nevenvision in 2006, and a few other companies that can recognize images.
(2) In 2007, Google was granted a patent that used OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to check upon the postal addresses on business listings, to verify those businesses in Google Maps.
(3) Google was granted a similar patent in 2012 that read signs in buildings in Street Views images.
(4) In 2011, Google published a patent application that used a range of recognition features (object, facial, barcodes, landmarks, text, products, named entities) focusing upon searching for and understanding visual queries, which looks like it may have turned into the application for Google Goggles, which came out in September of 2010 – the visual queries patent was filed by Google in August, 2010, the nearness in time with the filing of the patent and the introduction of Google Goggles reinforces the idea that they are related.
But, Googlebot still doesn’t seem to be able to read text in images for purposes of indexing addresses, or to read images of text used in navigation. I added the text “Google Test” to the following image, and then ran it through a reverse image search at Google. The images returned were similar looking, but none of them had anything to do with the text I added to the image.
We know now that Google had been working upon a Query Image Search and has offered a Reverse Image Search since the summer of 2011. Here’s a flow chart from that patent:
The Future of Search is in Visual and Spoken Queries
So I’ve been asking myself when Google might start looking at the text on images, and in navigation, and reading that text and indexing it. Google has taken some other interesting steps involving visual queries and image recognition, and it appears that they have some competition.
A couple of months ago, I read a Fast Company article that shows how important it might be for Google to get better at indexing and retrieving images, in Inside Baidu’s Plan To Beat Google By Taking Search Out of the Text Era. I thought about how Google was doing in searches for images.
I found the following patents and thought they were worth sharing:
Method and apparatus for automatically annotating images – This one does a search for similar images, and when it finds them, it may then use text associated with those similar images to create an annotation for the image originally searched upon.
Clustering Queries For Image Search – An image search may be performed to find similar images; the results of that search may be pre-grouped or classified based upon visual and semantic similarity and clustered together into clusters. Each of the clusters may be associated with search terms that might be associated with them to use as an annotation.
Even more impressive was this whitepaper from Google, which showed them making gains they had never quite reached before in recognizing different types of faces:
Building High-level Features Using Large Scale Unsupervised Learning (pdf)
I am hoping for some changes at Google, after seeing a patent that says that Google is aiming at being able to perform searches of images of documents, and return matching results, where the text on the document being queried goes through OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and the words from the document are searched for to find matching documents on the Web (images of documents), which would mean that Google would start indexing images of text on the Web.
If it does that, Google might also start using images of addresses as the locations of the businesses that those appear upon as text. It also might start understanding text in images in navigation, and creating site links where it wouldn’t before.
The patent is:
Identifying matching canonical documents in response to a visual query
Invented by: David Petrou, Ashok C. Popat, and Matthew R. Casey
Assigned to: Google
US Patent 9,183,224
Granted November 10, 2015
Filed: August 6, 2010
Abstract
A server system receives a visual query from a client system. The visual query is an image containing text such as a picture of a document.
At the receiving server or another server, optical character recognition (OCR) is performed on the visual query to produce text recognition data representing textual characters. Each character in a contiguous region of the visual query is individually scored according to its quality.
The quality score of a respective character is influenced by the quality scores of neighboring or nearby characters.
Using the scores, one or more high quality strings of characters are identified. Each high quality string has a plurality of high quality characters. A canonical document containing the one or more high quality textual strings is retrieved. At least a portion of the canonical document is sent to the client system.
Take-Aways
The claims section of this patent focus primarily upon matching text from an image of a document with text on pictures of that document across the web. The description section of the patent provides a broader reading of it, where a document might also contain images of object, of people’s faces, of entities and other things that it may try to match up between a visual query and a document on the Web.
The description of this visual queries patent shows a search system that might contain a lot of different visual recognition approaches, like the one I mentioned above that was possibly used for Google Goggles.
This patent does tell us how it might use named entity recognition as part of its process:
In some embodiments, named entity recognition occurs as a post process of the OCR search system, wherein the text result of the OCR is analyzed for famous people, locations, objects and the like, and then the terms identified as being named entities are searched in the term query server system (118, FIG. 1). In other embodiments, images of famous landmarks, logos, people, album covers, trademarks, etc. are recognized by an image-to-terms search system. In other embodiments, a distinct named entity query-by-image process separate from the image-to-terms search system is utilized.
The object-or-object category recognition system recognizes generic result types like “car.” In some embodiments, this system also recognizes product brands, particular product models, and the like, and provides more specific descriptions, like “Porsche.” Some of the search systems could be special user specific search systems. For example, particular versions of color recognition and facial recognition could be a special search systems used by the blind.
Matching a visual query with a named entity could mean that search results could be returned quicker to searchers, since if they are identified, they could be associated with an identifier, where other documents with the same named entity have already been marked with that identifier See: Google Gets Smarter With Named Entities: Acquires MetaWeb.
I’m hoping that Google solves the “text as images” problem for addresses and site navigation. They are problems that have hurt a lot of sites.
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What are the busiest times for stores on Black Friday?
The Best Advice for Small Business Owners This Thanksgiving
You don't have to look hard to find the list of grievances small business owners face today. Taxes, health insurance costs, regulations - there is a laundry list of things that frustrates small business owners that the nightly news cycle and political pundits love to flame. I openly share many of those grievances. But, like most business owners, while I carry a list of grievances in one pocket, the other is full of gratitude for the opportunities I'm presented with every day I walk into my office.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I'm faced with a recurring paradox -- genuine excitement at the prospect of me and my team spending time with our families but disappointment at what my P&L is going to show me next week after closing the office for two and a half days while bills continue to come in.
Years ago, I received great advice from a respected mentor who encouraged me in weeks like Thanksgiving to listen to my heart -- not my spreadsheets. I'd be lying if I said it's easy. But what I will say is that it's a skill that takes practice, and I've gotten better at it than I was at the beginning of my career. So let me pass along the best business advice you'll receive this Thanksgiving...
Before the office closes up and you unplug to go enjoy your turkey and loved ones, take some time to reflect as a business owner on what makes life amazing. In the spirit of the holiday, I'd like to offer a few reasons to be thankful that I think we can all agree on.
You walk into work every day with a team who chooses to come work with you and do remarkable things. You have built an extended family with whom you will spend as much (if not more) time than your traditional family. And it's not just client presentations and happy hours that you'll share with these folks, but it's incredible personal milestones -- weddings, funerals and births. That's an amazing gift when you really think about it.
You have a family that supports your lifestyle as a business owner. Whether it's a spouse, children, parents, grandparents or the closest of friends, family support (in even the widest definition) is a fundamental driver of anyone's journey through entrepreneurship. Hug your loved ones harder than ever before this Thanksgiving.
You get to grow relationships and make a difference within your local community. Whether it's the mailman, the paper supply company, or the local coffee shop for your daily caffeine fuel, your business and the dollars you spend are an active participant in the betterment of your surrounding community. Now, more than ever, local communities need help from within.
You get to share in a business ecosystem where you can bypass the impossible. Everyday you go to work, you have a chance to make a difference for your employees, your family, your community and yourself through your business--no matter the annoying tax or regulation that appears. The freedom of possibility is what makes this country great.
So, thank you Thanksgiving. P&L be damned (for this week at least), you continue to give me a much-needed nudge that reminds me just how great life is at my company.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Discover Jordan’s past and present in Google Maps
What a great day for Jordan and Jordanians! Thanks to Google Street View, we can now share the rich, proud and varied history of our country with anyone who has an Internet connection. With more than 30 historical sites available to explore virtually, people all over the world now have a window into our beautiful Kingdom in the heart of the Middle East.
Throughout the ages, ancient civilizations have left their footprints in Jordan. Reminders of the Silk Road which linked the regions of the world in commerce. Ancient cities, such as the Romans’ Jerash and the Nabateans’ Petra. Significant religious sites, like Mount Nebo and the River Jordan. And, to this day, we continue to discover such footprints.
With Google Street View, would-be visitors, or those just curious to learn more about our ancient lands, can explore Jordan’s unique historical heritage online. That’s one of the reasons I love this technology. Not only does it connect millions of people from all corners of the world, it provides a lens on the past. And when we understand more about each other’s stories and cultures and histories, we realize that we are more alike than we are different. That’s why we must preserve these treasures for future generations. They’re a doorway to our shared narrative.
To this day, after too many trips to count, Jordan’s ancient archeological site, the Rose-Red city of Petra, still fills me with awe. Concealed in majestic mountain gorges, visitors can wander through the entire city of Petra, imagining what life was like in the thriving trading center and capital of the Nabataean kingdom. Carved by hand into vibrant red, white and pink sandstone cliffs, it has, miraculously, survived earthquakes to withstand the test of time. Film buffs might recognize it from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Harrison Ford and Sean Connery joined forces in their quest to find the Holy Grail. Now, you can step back in time and take a narrated tour of this hidden gem, exploring the tombs, sites and amphitheater that span an area the size of lower Manhattan.
Jerash is the second most visited site outside Petra. It’s considered one of the best preserved examples of Roman architecture outside Italy. With one click, you can stroll through its ruins, walk its streets, sing in its theaters and contemplate life in its baths and temples. Before you leave, remember to send a message through the city’s ancient whispering columns!
Mount Nebo, located 10 km west of the Roman Byzantine town of Madaba, is one of the most revered holy sites in Jordan. While you’re close to Madaba, step into its historic church to view the Madaba Mosaic Map, the oldest known geographic floor mosaic in art history.
The Madaba Mosaic Map in church of Saint George - Madaba, Jordan
What could be more relaxing than a float in the world’s saltiest waters? A visit to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, is known to be a very therapeutic experience, thanks to its oxygen-rich water and mineral-mud.
Jordan remains a haven of peace and moderation in the Middle East. So, please, come and visit us. Meet and talk with our warm and hospitable people. Taste our cuisine. Learn some Arabic. Relax in the therapeutic waters of the Dead Sea and the Ma'in Springs. Marvel at the rich colors of Wadi Rum, the spectacular desert backdrop to "The Martian." Walk in the footsteps of our forebears. There’s so much to see and experience.
There’s something for everyone in Jordan. And I couldn’t be happier that now, thanks to Google Maps, we can share our rich cultural heritage with the world. Visit g.co/Jordanhighlights to start your tour. As we say to all our visitors: ahlan wa sahlan. Hello and welcome.
Paid search and PPC: a super accessible beginner’s guide
For Star Wars fans, old and new
It probably isn't a surprise that there are tons of Star Wars fans like me here at Google. You can regularly spot Darth Vaders, dogs dressed like Yoda, and even the occasional stormtrooper, roaming the halls of our data centers (probably still looking for those droids). So when we first heard about Episode VII, we started thinking about what a Google tribute to these epic stories might look like: “Wouldn't it be cool if there was some sort of Star Wars thingy in Search? The Millennium Falcon in Cardboard would be sweet! What if Google Translate could decipher galactic languages?"... and on, and on, and on. As this list of ideas grew, so too did the band of passionate engineers and product folks who wanted to build them.
We reached out to our friends at Lucasfilm and Disney, and since then we’ve been working together on building google.com/starwars. It's a place for fans, by fans, and starting today you can choose the light or the dark side, and then watch your favorite Google apps like Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome and many more transform to reflect your path. And that's just the beginning. We've got more coming between now and opening night—the Millennium Falcon in all its (virtual reality) glory included, so stay tuned. And we've hidden a few easter eggs, too. So awaken the Force within, and be on the lookout for things from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
See you in line at the theater in December. I'll be there with my dad.
Twitter kills share counts, hands end of dirty stick to distributors
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Six of the most interesting SEM stories of the week
Get ahead this Thanksgiving with Google Maps
Tuesday: No travel day leading up to the holiday is going to be a breeze, but if you can, start driving Tuesday rather than Wednesday. Yes, it’s still the second-worst travel day of the week, but according to Google Maps searches, for the last three years Wednesday has been the worst travel day—with the exceptions of Boston (Tuesday), and Honolulu, Providence and San Francisco (all Saturday).
Wednesday: Americans are pretty predictable when it comes to the holidays: for the third year in a row, “ham shop” was the #1 trending destination search on Google Maps the day before Thanksgiving. Whether you’re running out to a ham shop, pie shop (#2), or liquor store (#3), make sure you don’t head all the way there just to find it closed. This year Google Maps and Google Search have added holiday hours, so when you search for a business, you’ll see its updated holiday schedule.
Thanksgiving Day: Maybe folks were put off by the trauma of last year’s burnt turkey? Nationwide, “buffet restaurants” were the #1 trending Google Maps term on Thanksgiving Day. But locally, folks were heading in other directions. In Houston, “doughnut shops” were trending on Thanksgiving. It was “bars” in Chicago— maybe people needed a break from their families. And Miami residents were interested in looking their holiday best—”beauty salons” were among the trending searches by the South Beach crowd.
Black Friday: The top Black Friday Google Maps trends nationwide were predictably of the “electronics store” and “outlet mall” variety—with “Christmas tree farms” not far behind as people looked ahead. Digging into local trends, however, things get more surprising. New Yorkers were on the hunt for tattoo shops, among other things, Angelenos for hookah bars, and people in Detroit spent their Black Friday on the lookout for hamburgers. Whether you’re in the market for a Christmas tree tat or shopping deals, here’s a tip: use the Explore feature on Google Maps to discover the stores, restaurants and local entertainment around you.
The weekend: Traffic patterns show that you’re better off driving home from a long weekend on Sunday rather than Saturday—traffic can be up to 40% worse on Saturday. And Google Maps will be with you all the way home, helping you check out gas prices and add detours to your route, without having to exit out of navigation.
Google’s five key success factors for effective teams
Friday, November 20, 2015
Nine useful mobile stats from ClickZ Live: Chicago 2015
ClickZ Live Chicago recap: Scott Shamberg on mobile payments and multichannel retail
What is app indexing and why is it important?
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Updating Our Search Quality Rating Guidelines
Developing algorithmic changes to search involves a process of experimentation. Part of that experimentation is having evaluators—people who assess the quality of Google’s search results—give us feedback on our experiments. Ratings from evaluators do not determine individual site rankings, but are used help us understand our experiments. The evaluators base their ratings on guidelines we give them; the guidelines reflect what Google thinks search users want.
In 2013, we published our human rating guidelines to provide transparency on how Google works and to help webmasters understand what Google looks for in web pages. Since that time, a lot has changed: notably, more people have smartphones than ever before and more searches are done on mobile devices today than on computers.
We often make changes to the guidelines as our understanding of what users wants evolves, but we haven’t shared an update publicly since then. However, we recently completed a major revision of our rater guidelines to adapt to this mobile world, recognizing that people use search differently when they carry internet-connected devices with them all the time. You can find that update here (PDF).
This is not the final version of our rater guidelines. The guidelines will continue to evolve as search, and how people use it, changes. We won’t be updating the public document with every change, but we will try to publish big changes to the guidelines periodically.
We expect our phones and other devices to do a lot, and we want Google to continue giving users the answers they're looking for—fast!
When Data Just Isn't Enough: The Hidden Context that's Key to Content Loyalty
Posted by ronell-smith
(Image source)
When the client asked to "go mute" during our monthly client call, there was no reason to sound the alarm. After all, being able to talk through what they've heard as a team, in private, was normal. But when the always-skeptical global marketing director said the COO (who has been in the room for the 10 minutes of analytics discussion) wants to take the discussion offline for a bit, but wants you to hold on, I knew things had likely gone off the rails.
"Thanks for holding, you guys," says the head of marketing upon taking the phone off mute after what seemed like an eternity. "Tim was just in here, and he had some questions about the data. He expressed concern that it appears [the team] is simply regurgitating a bunch of numbers."
After it was explained that the numbers actually exceeded everyone's expectations for how the site would perform after the redesign, the link detox and having new content in place, she made things crystal clear.
"Let me cut to the chase," she said. "The numbers are great. We're happy with the numbers. But this the same thing our last agency provided us: great data. What we're looking for is someone to share what the data is telling us about what to do in the future, so we can focus only on those areas that are likely to benefit the brand. We'd like to know what will help us attain success in the future, not what [your team] thinks will lead to success in the future."
What this client needed was the Oracle of Delphi, not someone to analyze their data.
But she was right. They were looking for all-important insight, insight that could not be gleaned from data alone. However, this agency and all the others she'd worked with had led her to believe the data is gospel. Follow it to the Promised Land.
She knew better.
Data alone is never enough.
Though many in online marketing prefer to see data as the be-all and end-all, at best data alone tells us what's likely to be effective in the future. It does not provide the "if this, then that" clarity we crave.
The more we share "according-to-the-data" insight, the more we walk a tightrope that never ends. Data tells us what happened, can yield great insight into what's likely to happen, and is at its best when used to discern what is happening.
However, in the real world, things change constantly and often without warning, a fact that cannot be accounted for via data alone.
"[Data] is an abstract description of reality," writes Jim Harris on his blog, Obsessive-Compulsive Data Quality. ''...The inconvenient truth is that the real world is not the same thing as these abstract descriptions of it—not even when we believe that data perfection is possible (or have managed to convince ourselves that our data is perfect)."
To be sure, data is integral to attaining success in the information-rich online marketing arena. Everything from our websites to our campaigns to conversions depends on it. In fact, data is a large part of what sets online marketing apart from traditional marketing, which can, at times, feel like so much guesswork.
But over the course of the last two years, through interviews with more than 300 folks in the content marketing/inbound marketing space, I've come to realize that many wonder if data (insofar as how it's used to make decisions) isn't as much a curse as it is a blessing.
(Image source)
In conversation after conversation, I've heard CEOs, SEOs, CMOs, PPC nerds, and content folks say the same things, which is summed up nicely by these comments from a director-level SEO at one of the most successful agencies in the US: "Even in those cases where we deliver to clients data that far exceeds their expectations, they often fire us. Heck, especially when we deliver those amazing results, they fire us."
I think this occurs for one of two reasons:
- They realize data doesn't yield the solution they'd hoped for, or
- They falsely believe data highlights the end-game, meaning they can now thrive on autopilot.
As any of us working in online marketing can attest, nothing could be further from the truth.
Data is an important part of a large picture, one that is as nuanced and as varied as it is ever-changing.
Because of that, we need context.
"Data doesn't come with context," says Tim Gillman, an analytics nerd at Portent Interactive in Seattle. "For example: measuring content. If your data says people spend ~15 mins reading your post, there's always the chance that they simply left their computer for awhile. You don't know for certain they were loving your content."
I struggled with this reality for months, wondering what, if anything, could be done to bridge this gap, which would allow us to (a) be given the time to do quality work for our clients and (b) have clients realize the efficacy of our efforts.
I read big data and data science books, started following the words and works of big data nerds active on social media, in addition to listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, and talking to as many people as I could to discern how we, as online marketers, can be successful.
Training ourselves to think about data differently
In the end, it was the sage words from Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen that helped me gain some clarity.
Data, at best, can only tell us about the past, he writes. It cannot help us see into the future.
For that, he adds, we need a theory for helping to explain what's likely to happen. Taken together, both data and theory, serve to provide us with the building blocks of what can become the framework for success we crave.
To make this work, he says, we must go "dumpster diving" — hanging out in the real world, observing and noticing how things occur in real life — which will lead us to more effectively posit the hows (things really work) and whys (they work as they do).
Then, once we have the data, we use it to empirically assess the observed behavior, devoid of emotion.
The framework looks a lot like this:
- Observe – Dumpster-diving in the real world
- Theorize – Posit the how and the why
- Test – Assess and compile data
- Construct – Develop a framework for future efforts
With this model, we're training ourselves to think about data in a different, but no less valuable, way. In the above scenario, data is an important part of the equation; it is not treated as the equation in its entirety.
This, to my mind, gets us closer to seeing data in the proper context. That is a part of the solution. But changing how we think about data won't allow us to keep clients any better, won't immediately make us better marketers and cannot, by itself, lead to better overall decisions being made.
For that to occur, we have to change two things: the data we act upon, and how we choose to act upon it.
A framework for finding your data goalposts
(Image source)
Without knowing it, Matthew Brown at MozCon 2015 provided us with the veritable playbook for how to use data to improve our content marketing efforts. During his talk, which was one of the best of the entire event, he highlighted the key to content marketing success: content loyalty.
The more loyal our audiences, the better able we are to sustain our content marketing efforts. (A loyal audience comprises the folks who most frequently visit your site.)
The key, Brown said during the talk, is to find the goalpost that helps you determine content loyalty for your brand, then optimize for that metric. So, instead of chasing Likes, shares, or links to your content, you're focused on creating loyal visitors to your site.
This is important because one of the reasons content marketers end up getting lost down the data rabbit hole is we too often chase the wrong metrics (e.g., they highlight activity but don't lead to conversions) or we attempt to track too many metrics, most of which don't lead to the goal we, or our clients, are hoping for.
Here's how such an effort could work for your brand, using the OTTC framework borrowed from Christensen's work:
- Observe
Determine what comprises "loyal visitors" for your brand. It could be visits per day, per week, or per month. This is the crucial first step. Get this wrong and nothing else matters. What you're looking for is the metric that correlates with visitors becoming loyal to your site. Put simply, you're looking for the gotcha that says "These folks are now loyal visitors." - Theorize
Gather the team and spend some time thinking through what it is about your site and/or content that likely leads to these audience members becoming loyal fans and followers. Is it the length of the content? The number of images? The author? The amount of content above the fold? The number of ads? - Test
Use the information gleaned from that meeting with the team to begin testing the various on-page elements until you have a good idea of what it is that leads folks to become loyal. This is the fun part. To make it even more rewarding, you can rest assured that many of your competitors won't be following suit, as many of them are content to guess at what works, then throw more of the same at the wall. - Construct
Develop a process by which you continue to optimize for content loyalty, in large part by creating the types and formats of content that you've uncovered as leading to content loyalty. Keep in mind, however, that this process is not static, as your audience's needs are likely to change with time. But by analyzing the data, dumpster diving by interacting with the audience via emails, polls, Q&A, and sundry other methods of staying connected, your brand will be in great shape to continue putting the ball through the uprights.
Summation
This is a post I thought long and hard about writing. During this quest to better understand data and shine a light on how to make it work for us and not against us, I've developed a deep, sincere fascination for big data and the role it can play in answering some of our biggest questions.
I'm in no way anti-data. Hardly. What I'm against is the "data-tells-us-all-we-need-to-know" mindset I so often encounter.
I'm hopeful that, in the future, more and more of us are willing to be honest with ourselves and our clients, acknowledging what we know to be true: the data alone won't save us.
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Three B2B landing pages and how they were improved
4 Tips for Women Looking for Small-Business Grants
By Teddy Nykiel
Saddled with student debt and less-than-perfect credit, Ayla Bystrom-Williams is hesitant to take on small-business loans to finance her kombucha beer company, HoneyMoon Brewery. The Santa Fe, New Mexico-based entrepreneur is relying on a less expensive but more time-consuming financing method: a small-business grant.
"We're really trying to not get into any sort of debt or give away any equity at this stage of the business," Bystrom-Williams says.
Although free cash to start or grow a business sounds like the dream solution, small-business grants are difficult to obtain because there just aren't many available. But if you're determined to try for a grant, there are some earmarked for women entrepreneurs.
Below, to mark Women Entrepreneurs Day, are four tips to maximize your chances of getting small-business grants for women.
1. Apply widely.
Getting grants to fund your small business is a numbers game: You have to apply to many in hopes of actually getting a few. Bystrom-Williams says she has spent up to 30 hours a week researching grant opportunities and attending networking events she hopes will lead to grant money.
"It was definitely like a part-time job," she says.
It took persistence before her work paid off. Bystrom-Williams got denied for a large local grant, but the sponsoring organization told her about possible funding through Los Alamos National Laboratory near Santa Fe. She got a $25,000 grant through the lab's technical assistance program, which paid a lab researcher to help her develop her kombucha beer. In August, Bystrom-Williams won a $500 Amber Grant from WomensNet, an organization that awards that amount to a different business each month.
2. Look locally.
Finding a small-business grant is perhaps the most challenging aspect of securing one. The federal government doesn't offer small-business grants, but state and local governments do. You can search for them using the U.S. Small Business Administration's Loans and Grants Search Tool.
Get to know business advisors in your area who can point you in the right direction. There are hundreds of SBA-sponsored Small Business Development Centers and Score chapters around the country, both offering free business consulting. (Find your local SBDC here and your local Score chapter here.)
3. Research the organizations.
Once you identify a grant you're interested in, spend time researching the organization, says Cathy Kellon, founder of Portland, Oregon-based Ivalieu, which makes "modern pettipants" for women to wear underneath skirts and dresses. She suggests building relationships with the people who work at the organization funding the grant.
"Some foundations will not respond to general inquiries," she says. "So you have to [know] someone."
Kellon, who won the $500 Amber Grant in September, also suggests looking at businesses that have won the grant in the past to learn about what types of ventures the organization is looking to fund.
4. Pursue non-cash prizes.
Participate in business plan or pitch competitions that offer business services, office space and other non-cash resources as prizes.
Bystrom-Williams was a finalist in BizMIX, a business plan competition in Santa Fe. For making it to the last round, she won time with an accountant, bookkeeper and a lawyer -- expenses that would have come out of her budget otherwise.
Additionally, Bystrom-Williams "didn't see a dime" of the $25,000 from Los Alamos National Laboratory, which instead paid the researcher she worked with in the lab. But that was OK with her.
"Sometimes grants that target specific aspects of your business can be way more valuable than actual capital," she says.
Can't get a grant? Consider small-business loans.
If you can't get your hands on a small-business grant, you might have better luck with loans. For alternatives to grants, check out our small-business loans for women page, where you can compare seven different loan options based on your needs.
It's not free money; you'll have to pay fees and interest, which can be high. Traditional bank loans are your best bet if you can qualify for them. Otherwise, online small-business loan annual percentage rates range from 7% to 113%. But there are more small-business loans available than grants, so you're more likely to succeed at getting funding.
Photo credit: iStock
Teddy Nykiel is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website.
Email: teddy@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @teddynykiel
To get more information about funding options and compare them for your small business, visit NerdWallet's small-business loans page.
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