AtomicPR Perspective: The SEO impact of Google's new Caffeine index on public relations
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Google recently announced a major overhaul of its search index which they've dubbed Caffeine. The new indexing system marks a major shift in Google's ability to index content in near real time - so fast in fact, that some sites report new content being available in Google's search index within minutes.
In the past Google (and all search engines for that matter) indexed content over time, processed it, and used that data to make periodical updates to their indexes. A few years ago one could expect minor updates monthly, with the occasional major shift a few times a year.
Over the past decade the search engines have gone more and more real-time, prioritizing some content over others. Sites such as news sites and higher profile blogs would be crawled and processed more quickly (usually multiple times a day) whereas other websites might only be crawled weekly or monthly. With the advent of truly real-time services like Twitter, Facebook, and others, even this crawling frequency was often inadequate.
Caffeine is a fundamental shift in the way Google indexes the web. Rather than have a layered index with different priority levels, the index is now designed to be instantly updatable.
Previously each layer of the index would have to be crawled in its entirety and then updated. With Caffeine Google now processes all content in smaller chunks and continually updates its index with the new content. In other words, when Google sees your content it goes live.
This has obvious PR implications. Now blog posts can ping Google and be live right away, providing for much richer near real-time content possibilities. Beyond blogging, all new content - be it on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, or anywhere else - can instantly surface on Google.
The implications of real-time search are like hashtags on steroids. Having an understanding of search and the factors influence rank now take on a much broader role, as all content can be instantly evaluated against Google's search algorithms.
AtomicPR has been weaving search principles into its practice for nearly a decade, with several of us having specific backgrounds in search, SEO, PPC, and content optimization. We view search as an intrinsic part of any PR / marketing campaign, not something to be bolted on after the fact. Read more about our approach to search here.
Atomic's "Hollywood sign" stunt for the Trust for Public Land. More coming...
Friday, 12 February 2010
Atomic LA and Atomic Digital Ops have had to keep mum about this project for some time, but now we're public with our efforts and the news is making headlines around the globe. So far we've seen hundreds of major press hits, broadcast pickups, and social media chatter (1,750+ Facebook fans in 36 hours, a Top 10 trending Twitter keyword in LA, etc).
We're helping the Trust for Public Land in their campaign to save Cahuenga Peak, the land surrounding the Hollywood Sign. Owned by private developers, the land is at risk of having a number of mansions built atop it, forever marring the iconic view of the Hollywood Sign and preventing the public access to the land which people have enjoyed for decades.
Much more to come soon - in the meantime check out our microsite for the latest updates, and feel free to share the widget below and encourage support!
Communicating with video (it's more than viral)
Monday, 07 December 2009
Producing video can do a lot for a brand. While going 'viral' is clearly one potential benefit, I think most of us are well aware of what that is and what it achieves. But beyond virality, how else can video be of value to a brand?
How about playing on the NASDAQ screen in Times Square? More in this in a minute...
Producing video can do several things. In some cases, it can make complex ideas simple and intuitive. For example, trying to communicate the benefits of a networked power grid can be a tough sell for people outside the utility industry. Knowing that, we worked with our client Echelon, a leading provider of smart grids and networked power solutions, to produce a series of videos highlighting the cost savings and environmental benefit of the technology. In addition to making the message accessible to consumers, these short videos also helped clarify their position to journalists and instantly illustrate what exactly they do.
In other cases, it can be helpful to introduce and build trust for new companies. When Mint.com launched in 2007, we produced a series of videos around the holidays centered on personal finance for 20-somethings, such as holiday budgeting (BTW, Mint was recently acquired by Intuit for $170MM). These videos served several purposes beyond the obvious consumer appeal. They also helped introduce the product to journalists and analysts, and they also served as a showreel for Mint.com CEO Aaron Patzer, ultimately leading to a screentest with CNBC to appear as a regular contributor on personal finance issues.
Video can also be used to raise awareness on macro issues. ArcSight, a leading security and compliance management company, helps companies from the private sector all the way up to the military and intelligence industries protect themselves against cyber threats. To help raise awareness on the issue, we produced an animated typographic video highlighting some disturbing statistics on cybercrime and major cyber incidents. The piece was so well received, it was used in the opening keynote of the Protect09 cyber security conference in Washington DC, and also played in Times Square when ArcSight rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ.
Lastly, video can provide a search benefit as well. With universal search, videos and other content sometimes appear in search results alongside the usual ten blue links. A strategically produced and optimized video may rank well for relevant searches (as it did for our client Ingres during their 'Vectorwise' product launch) which both supports client messaging while helping to defend the first page of results against competitors or off-message content.
Check out a short snippet of the ArcSight video in Times Square below. Questions? Feel free to send a note to our Digital Ops group at digops@atomicpr.com.
Search is more than just keywords and links
Friday, 28 August 2009
With eight years of professional involvement with search marketing on both the organic / algorithmic side and the paid side, it's surprising to see how, in many cases, the discussion tends to have a singular focus: drive traffic to my site.
Not that there's anything wrong with that - eCommerce and ad-supported sites really do need an ever-growing stream of traffic to sustain their business. But for most of us, there is a world of search beyond your domain that can sometimes be even more important than the traffic arriving at our site.
Enquiro, a research firm commissioned by Google, produced a study that outlines that effect. It confirmed an intuitive feeling I had long ago, that the search engines have an effect on brand. For example, ranking well for the term "running shoes" will indicate to most users that one is an authoritative brand/store/voice on the topic of "running shoes".
Nielsen Net//Ratings then released a study in April 2009 on how trustworthy various forms of advertising were, in which "recommendations from people known" and "consumer opinions posted online" ranked as #1 and #2 respectively, with #4 being "editorial content posted online". And the first one doesn't necessarily mean your best friend - "people known" can be anyone that someone trusts, in some cases even respected public figures or industry leaders with whom the user feels some type of connection with.
In other words, sometimes the best search results for a brand may not be that brand's website at all. And, even if the brand website is ranking well, having a multitude of other touchpoints out there definitely doesn't hurt (and it can help you defend that ever valuable first page).
Ensuring your brand (and not just your brand homepage) is well placed in this ecosystem is becoming ever more important. Be sure you consider the broader aspects of search, including how search can influence brand, the effect of 3rd party content on the results, and search outside of the major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
After all, search has evolved into one of the most critical pillars of the modern web ecosystem - search engines don't just send people to websites, they can make or break brands, influence opinion, and take the pulse of the world in real-time.
Clip of friends and clients: Animoto at SXSW 2009
Saturday, 28 March 2009
