Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land:
Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:
Search News From Around The Web:
The post SearchCap: Google local news, voice search usage & Facebook content appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2Bwfh2v
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According to new survey-based data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Google Home has gained some ground on Amazon’s Alexa device universe. The firm says that Google Home accounted for about 40 percent of the units sold in the US during the holiday period. CIRP’s analysis argues that the current smart speaker market share in the US breaks out like this:
US installed base (figures in millions of units) The firm said that the holiday quarter saw the market grow by 18 million units, for a total of just under 45 million at the end of December. An earlier NPR survey suggested there were about 40 million units in the US market, with Alexa devices leading with roughly two-thirds to one-third for Google Home. The new CIRP survey indicates that Google Home has gained ground on Amazon. The new survey also suggests that Google Home can potentially close the gap further, despite Amazon’s considerable distribution advantage. Apple’s smart speaker HomePod is scheduled for release on February 9. It will have an uphill climb given its higher price ($349) and late entry. Microsoft, Samsung and Facebook will also compete with new devices coming this year. The post Analyst firm: Google Home gains ground on Amazon Echo, now 44M total devices sold appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2GhtXpE People are less inhibited about using voice search and talking to their phones in public than they were just a year ago. That’s according to a new consumer survey from Stone Temple Consulting, which is a follow-up to a similar survey published last year by the firm. The chart below compares 2017 and 2018 results for the question, “Where do people use voice search?” Voice search is down “at home alone” and up in all other situations. This fundamentally suggests people are less self-conscious about speaking to their phones in public places or in front of others. The survey discussion then goes on to segment these results by age, income, education, marital status and geography. The short version of those findings is that college-educated, married men, 25 to 44 years old, making between $50 and $99K and living on the West Coast are the most likely to use voice search and voice commands on their smartphones. Survey respondents’ first entry point for voice search was the mobile browser. The discussion didn’t expose or segment results by Android vs. iPhone users. It’s interesting that people are not using the Google search app more often. However, search app was the second choice after browser when people were asked to name their top three choices. Another interesting finding is that a meaningful percentage of people were using texting to friends as an alternative to search, as a way to get questions answered. Members of the under-24 age group were the ones most inclined to do this. Texting was also the top use case for voice. The discussion points out that more men than women were voice users in every category except texting (59 percent to 53 percent). The top reasons that people liked using voice (vs. the keyboard) were the following:
People also had a relatively positive assessment of how well virtual assistants understood them. Most of the responses were positive, as indicated in the graphic below. The most striking finding of last year’s survey was that 60 percent of respondents wanted more direct answers and fewer search results. The answers were framed somewhat differently this year, but “more direct answers” was again the leading feature that people wanted more of in the future. The discussion points out that this was less true for Android users than iPhone owners: “48 percent of [iOS] users want this, but on Android, only 38 percent of them do.” Smart speakers are helping condition people to be more comfortable with and use voice commands more across the board. The Stone Temple survey did not distinguish between smart speakers and smartphones, however. The post Survey: People becoming less inhibited about using voice search in public appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2DD2xcd There have been a lot of discussions recently regarding the importance of ranking factors and whether we as SEOs should focus on them. Since Search Engine Land has been crazy enough to give me a voice, I’d like to weigh in on the subject. In my opinion, 99 percent of the market shouldn’t worry about the idiosyncrasies of ranking factors… yet. I don’t say this because they’re not important; but instead, because they aren’t the most important things for most marketers to focus on. Instead, it’s time that we focus on the following: Basic #1: DesignYou can drive all the traffic in the world to a site, but if it’s not designed or developed properly, you will not capture its full potential. And yes, sites like Craigslist exist. But you’re not Craigslist, and people most definitely judge the quality of your product or service by the quality of your site. If you are reading this and thinking, “Duh,” I agree. This is a “duh” piece of advice (that website design is important). But daily I audit websites and wonder why the actual design assets of the site are so poor. At first, I thought it was because people can’t afford a great site. But that’s simply not true. The real issue is how people design and develop sites. I’d like to take a moment to present a new and better way for 99 percent of the market to develop their websites. It saves you money, too! It’s simple: Keep design, content and development separate. First, find an amazing freelance designer who has a portfolio you love. Have them design you a full brand guide and website in Sketch. You can now get the design of the site perfect and exactly how you want. Second, hire a copywriter to craft all your new language and messaging. Lastly, find a WordPress developer on Codeable. Have them build you the exact site you designed into WordPress. Pretty simple, and with this approach you can save tens of thousands of dollars. Basic #2: Audience researchKeyword research comes after audience research and is part of a bigger marketing basic: understanding how your specific market researches and buys the product or service you sell. While it seems basic, most SEOs can sufficiently perform keyword research but neglect SERP research. In other words, they put a keyword or term into Moz or SEMrush but forget to do that search themselves to identify what’s actually ranking for that term. To remedy this, simply put yourself in the position of your audience. Do searches for what you offer, review what the SERP is showing, and ask yourself a few simple questions:
By asking question one, you can test your biases and your own knowledge of your industry. Often, we take for granted things we know about our industry and assume everyone else does as well. For question two, if you understand how people modify their queries to get the best results, you can modify your title tags and on-page SEO accordingly. For question three, if there are other sites in the top five results that mention your competitors, it’s critical that you reach out to the editor or advertise on these sites. If not, you are missing a massive lead generation opportunity. For our portfolio, third-party sites drive sales-qualified leads at about half the cost of AdWords and Bing. For the fourth question, maybe you’re not able to get on the list or get hold of an editor. Could you instead simply take out ads on the page via Google’s Display Network or natively? If yes, do it. It’s critical that your brand is consistently prevalent during the buying journey of your target market. SEOs, your own website isn’t the only site people look at when they buy. Basic #3: ContentOK, you rank for a term, and it’s driving traffic. Great! Now, ask yourself, “Is this content good enough that I would actually stop my research process and explore the solution we offer?” If not, rewrite and improve that content until it starts generating leads, comments and shares. The last thing 2018 needs is more content. Instead, we need to do less content and focus on quality. The archnemesis of quality content is volume. For 99 percent of the market, as you increase the “scale” of your content velocity, you decrease its quality. If you truly can’t write four exceptional posts a month… just don’t. Slow down, write one exceptional post, and take extra time (if there is any) to actually promote that post like crazy. My own greatest problem with my content marketing is that I spend 90 percent of my time creating content and 10 percent of my time promoting it. By slowing down the volume of content I produce, I can actually monetize the time. You will be exponentially better off flipping that ratio around so that you spend 10 percent of your time creating exceptional content and 90 percent of your time promoting it. If a blog post goes “live” and no one reads it… did it really go “live?” Basic #4: AttributionWe can do all the tactics and campaigns in the world, but if we as marketers cannot prove the value of them to executives, we will constantly be underfunded and undervalued. It’s 2018, and if you’re not able to track a lead to a sale, then you’re missing a key part of the equation. At our company, we’ve built a tool that allows us to measure the success of a campaign in any channel. By directly tying our efforts to sales, we’re able to not only prove our worth but also recommend increases or allocation of spend with confidence. Now, we can increase qualified lead volume and allow the customer to grow. Without the proper tools in place to do full-cycle attribution, we wouldn’t be able to grow our clients to their fullest potential. If you’re looking for an internal software to do this, check out options like BrightFunnel or Bizible. You’ll need a tool like Salesforce in place, but you’ll instantly be able to demonstrate your value as a marketer and properly allocate time and resources. While much of this comes from a B2B SEO perspective, if you’re able to have the best design in your industry, understand your audience’s buying journey, craft the best content and attribute success, you will grow in 2018. If you have these basics down, go ahead and discuss ranking factors, test, and adjust your focus and campaigns accordingly. If not, let’s get back to the basics. The post Back to the basics: Beyond ranking factors appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2nd34LK Wilder Penfield Google doodle spotlights neurosurgeon once considered the Greatest Living Canadian1/26/2018
Once named the “Greatest Living Canadian,” Penfield’s brain-mapping research led to groundbreaking advancements in the treatment of epilepsy. He was Montreal’s first neurosurgeon, and in 1934, he founded the Montreal Neurological Institute. Google’s doodle honoring the surgeon includes an illustration of Penfield and highlights his research on how smells could impact memory-recall. From the Google Doodle blog:
The doodle leads to a search for “Wilder Penfield” and includes a sharing icon so that you can post the animated image on social pages and send via email. Google says Penfield studied medicine because it was, “… the best way to make the world a better place.” Later in his career, the neurosurgeon penned a number of books covering his research on brain mechanisms and epilepsy treatments. In 1977, he wrote his memoir, “No Man Alone: A Neurosurgeon’s Life.” He was also inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and was awarded the Lister Medal for surgical science in 1960. The post Wilder Penfield Google doodle spotlights neurosurgeon once considered the ‘Greatest Living Canadian’ appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2FhOpVW
Now Facebook is updating its branded content policy to prohibit publishers and creators from being paid to post content that they were not involved in creating, the company announced on Thursday. [Read the full article on Marketing Land.] The post Facebook updates branded content policy to clarify what qualifies as content appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2DDHVQS In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more. Meet the Google bison:
Game controller tables at Google office:
Google Chrome chair:
Bowling balls at Google:
Large bed size hammock at Google:
The post Search in Pics: Google bison, bowling balls & game controller tables appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2DCiJKL Everyone has a story and you have no idea what it is. Cindy Wright shows us that you need to get over yourself. This business is about serving others and helping improve other people’s lives. Also, you have to fall in love with the products of your company and make a decision to make it work. Who is Cindy Wright?Cindy Wright has been in Network Marketing for over 28 years. Currently, she’s a top 5 income earner in her company and was also chosen to be on the advisory council for John C. Maxwell. Cindy and her husband Kirby Wright have been married for over 35 years. Recently in January 2016, Cindy gave back by founding the “Women Empowering Women” group, which is a group that is dedicated to helping women become what God created them for by helping them overcome their past struggles, fears, and disappointments. Favorite Quote“If you work this business easy, it will be the hardest thing you have ever done, if you work this business hard, it will end up being the easiest thing you have ever done” Must Read BookTwelve Pillars by Jim Rohn and Chris Widener Recommended Online AppRecommended Prospecting ToolVideo/Company App Contact InfoFacebook What Did You Learn?Thanks for joining me on the show. So what did you learn? If you enjoyed this episode please share it on social media and send it to someone that needs extra motivation in their MLM business. Do you have any thoughts or comments? Please take 60 seconds to leave an HONEST review for the MLM Nation Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely important for me to make this show better. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes so that you get updates and new episodes downloaded to your phone automatically. Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes Click here to Subscribe via Stitcher Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) The post 444: Why Giving Back Will Be Your Greatest Joy While Building a Business in this Profession by Cindy Wright appeared first on MLM Nation: Network Marketing Training | Prospecting | Lead Generation | Leadership | Duplication | Motivation. via MLM Nation: Network Marketing Training | Prospecting | Lead Generation | Leadership | Duplication | Motivation http://ift.tt/2GhMKRN Paid search spending increased by just over 10 percent year over year in Q4 2017 across Marin Software’s customer base. CPC growth doubled that of overall spend with an increase of roughly 20 percent year over year. Mobile CPCs increased 25 percent year over year, accounting for 53 percent of total spend. Google took 89 percent of search spend share, with 11 percent going to Bing. The findings are part of Marin’s Q4 2017 Digital Benchmarks Report highlighting some of the key metrics realized across the accounts running campaigns through the platform. Click volume was off roughly 7.5 percent from Q4 2016, while click-through rates increased from roughly 1.75 percent to more than 2.5 percent. Given the holiday season, it’s not surprising to see investment and activity in Shopping ads increase. Marin saw Google Shopping ad click share increase by 31 percent from Q3 to Q4 2017. Looking more closely at CPCs by industry, education continues to stand out, with average CPCs of $3.80. However, that’s actually a decline of 2 percent from Q3. Two other points of interest from the report:
The full report is available for download (registration required). The post Marin: Search CPCs outpaced spend growth in Q4 2017 appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2BtKhjF Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land:
Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:
Search News From Around The Web:
The post SearchCap: The Virginia Woolf Google doodle, Google Q&A & remarketing ads appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land http://ift.tt/2DOZVLK |
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