Last Week in Search – Part 5
Facebook’s new ‘People Talking About This’ page metric
Facebook launched changes to their Pages metrics system early in the week, introducing a new ‘People Talking About This’ metric that shows how many people are talking about your page or brand at any given time. It’s a very vague measurement, but according to Search Engine Land the new metric is derived from interactions that have occurred on Facebook over the last 7 days. Whether it’s someone liking your page, posting to your wall, mentioning you in a post or checking in at your location, ‘People Talking About This’ will give you a better idea of how people are using your page and how best to engage them. Pages have seen the rollout of the new metric, but at this stage you’ll need the new Insights on your page to access deeper analysis of the new metric. We’ll be taking a look at Facebook’s new Insights analytics tools later this week.
Mobile & Local search
Lots of talk this week centered on the rise and rise of mobile search. In a post to the official Google blog, the search giant revealed that while local searches made up 20% of all searches on desktops, mobile devices had a whopping 40% of searches on a local level. If you’re not on Google places or other industry specific local discovery services, you’ll have trouble capitalising on the influx of new local searches coming from mobile searches as the general uptake of smart phones increases.
It’s one thing to be found in mobile searches, but what are people finding when they get to your site? Do you have a mobile optimised site? Is your website heavy on mobile unfriendly flash content? Is your site easy to navigate on a mobile device? Do some investigating in Analytics to determine what operating systems and browsers mobile visitors are using. Think about your target customers. What devices would they use to find your site? With local the fastest growing segment in mobile search, the opportunities for local businesses to expand their online reach is staggering.
We’ll take a look later in the week at how to set up a local online strategy that will drive customers to your business.
Eye tracking Google’s different SERPs
SEOmoz ran some interesting eye tracking tests on Google Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) exploring where people eyes looked to on different types of results pages. With search queries related to Pizza phrased in ways to trigger different styles of SERPs, the test provides a fascinating insight into user behavior.
As Google begins to move away from the strict 10 results per page model and integrates local and multimedia results more prominently in its SERPs, the study shows searchers behavior shifting accordingly. Places pages dominated the battle for eyeballs in local searches, video thumbnails got the tick for more instructional searches and product searches saw a mix of organic and image prominence. What does this mean for your business? Sort out your local listings, get ranking organically and start creating optimised multimedia content on your blog to take advantage of Google’s SERPs changes.
Apple’s new iPhone 4S
Apple revealed the iPhone 4S earlier this week after months of rumor and speculation on the future of Apple’s flagship phone. While many were disappointed with the absence of an iPhone 5, the iPhone 4S adds a serious performance punch to the popular iPhone 4 design with a dual-core A5 processor, improved antennas and a new and improved camera. On the software side the iPhone 4S really shines, with Apple debuting it’s voice-activated personal assistant Siri and showing off the many features the iPhone 4S will have access to with the combination of iOS 5 and iCloud. Voice-activated personal assistant app Siri in particular is very impressive and may have future implications for mobile search that we’ll explore later in the week.
The death of Steve Jobs
The hype about the iPhone 4S was overshadowed with the sad news of Steve Jobs’ death the following day. Succumbing to his long fight with pancreatic cancer, Steve’s death sent a wave of mourning across not only the tech industry, but across the world. The work we do at Stew Art Media simply wouldn’t be possible without Steve Jobs and the technology he created.
On a more personal level, I can say without a doubt that Steve Jobs changed my life. During my time working for Apple I learned things from the culture he created at the company that changed my perspective on how I wanted to live the rest of my life. Before my time at Apple I was an out of work journalism graduate jaded on the prospects of my chosen profession. Apple gave me the tools I needed to dig myself out of that hole and less than a year later I have the job I’ve wanted all my life. Leaving Apple was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but one I felt I needed to do to stay true to everything I learnt during my time there. Apple taught me to follow my dreams. Now I’m living them.
Our hearts go out to the Jobs family in this difficult time. Steve’s incredible vision, passion for life and amazing inventions will be sorely missed.
That’s last week in search for today. Send us your own articles on Twitter @StewArtMedia and we’ll take a look at including it next week!
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
