Tuesday Tip: Save Search Time with Google Instant Previews

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Erin Meyer

If you do a lot of searching on Google, you may have noticed the recent addition of a small magnifying glass icon next to your search results. This Google feature, called Instant Preview, allows users to view a quick snapshot of a web page without having to follow a link to the actual website. While this feature has been appearing in organic search results since late last year, it only recently began showing up in the paid search results.

Typically Google users have a pretty good idea of what they are looking for when they do a search, and they can often tell at a glance if a particular webpage search result is going to have a good chance of containing what they want. This is where Google Instant Preview can be a real time saver. Instead of waiting for each page in a search result to load, searchers can click on a magnifying glass icon to activate Instant Preview. Once activated, Instant Preview will display a snapshot of all the results by simply hovering over each preview icon. This allows users easily view pages as they scroll through results. The Instant Preview includes a callout featuring a page excerpt containing the specified search terms entered by the user.Â If the constant barrage of previews becomes annoying, Instant Preview can be deactivated by clicking on a spot outside of the results area, such as the upper right or lower left corner of the search results page.

Instant Preview works the same way for paid search results as it does for organic. Searchers can click on the magnifying glass preview icon for a snapshot, without the advertiser being charged for a click. In this way, Instant Preview should be beneficial to advertisers as a way of qualifying pay per click leads.

Learn more about Instant Preview:

Ad Words & Instant Preview

Instant preview FAQ

Tuesday Tip: Get A FASTER Website

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Eric Frye

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Do you dream of a faster website for your business? A fast-loading website:

- Earns better rankings in Google (Announcement from Google)
- Earns better ad placement when using Google Adwords paid advertising
- Improves satisfaction in site visitors (They get the info they need faster!)
- Increases the number of pages one visitor views by 25% (They’re happy, so they stay on your site longer!)
- Increases conversion rates (Happy people email you more often and make online purchases!)

To achieve these benefits, you don’t need the world’s fastest-loading website. You just need to be in the “safe zone”. These tools let you know if your website’s speed is holding you back:

Page Speed, an add-on for the Internet browser Firefox that evaluates webpage performance and offers improvement suggestions.
YSlow, a free tool from Yahoo! that suggests ways to improve website speed.
WebPagetest shows your website’s load performance page by page.
Pingbrigade tests your website’s speed as experienced by site users worldwide

If your website performs poorly in these tests, contact a friendly SEO pro at Upright Communications. We can help speed you up! Or, if you’re feeling really tech-savvy and want to improve your website’s speed yourself, read instructions here: Distilled’s Site Speed for Dummies Part 2 – How To Do It.

Shoppers Are Going Mobile, Are You Going With Them?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Erin Meyer

As Smartphone technology advances, more shoppers are using mobile capability to research purchases and find products.Â But while users are keeping up with mobile innovation, it appears that this is not the case with online marketers. A recent Search Engine Land article reports that 79% of website marketers do not offer mobile-ready content, according to a recent Google survey.Â In light of statistics revealed in a separate Google report on mobile use, serious opportunities are being missed by those marketers.

According the Google mobile use findings, among local information seekers:

79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer
74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones
70% use their smartphones while in the store, reflecting varied purchase paths that often begin online or on their phones and bring consumers to the store

While mobile search is becoming more important to consumers, nearly 80% of marketers are missing mobile opportunities. Furthermore, the Google survey revealed that among 21% that have adopted mobile technology, most are only providing mobile-friendly pages through the home page. As the Search Engine Land article reports, this creates a problem in that most searches, ads, and social media links do not lead users to the home page, but rather, specific pages relating to the query. What happens when users try to connect the pages other than the home page? The article’s author reports that according to his own “Mobile IQ” study, among sites that were supposed to be mobile friendly:

Amazon: 95% of pages requested fail to connect iPhone and Android shoppers with mobile content. 22% of pages fail to connect Blackberry shoppers to mobile content.
Best Buy: 90% of pages requested fail to connect iPhone, Android, and Blackberry shoppers with mobile content.
Staples: 98% of pages requested fail to connect iPhone, Android, and Blackberry shoppers with mobile content.
Office Depot: 99% of pages requested fail to connect iPhone, Android, and Blackberry shoppers with mobile content.

If you are investing in website marketing, you will want to be sure that you are making the most of every opportunity, including rapidly expanding mobile opportunities. The World Wide Web Consortium has an online tool called W3C mobileOK Checker that can help you to analyze your website’s level of mobile friendliness. The mobileOK test results will reveal how effective your website is in several areas, and offer best practice suggestions for improvement.

Contact Upright to assist you in developing a plan for making the most of mobile search.

Google or Yellow Pages – How are customers looking for you?

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Erin Meyer

A recent article posted at www.site-reference.com reveals an interesting shift in the way people are searching for products and services. The article references a video study that compares the use of Google and Yellow Pages. While it is not necessarily surprising that many searchers indicated a preference for Google, it is striking that 92% of users prefer Google searches to using the Yellow Pages. Though for decades, a flip through Yellow Pages was the best way to locate something in the neighborhood, Google has recently done much to enhance its value as a local search tool with features such as Maps and Places.

Is it time for advertisers to close the book on Yellow Pages? Not necessarily. The Site Reference article points out Yellow Pages can create a new niche, becoming an online search resource with valuable features such as deals and coupons. The large database they’ve amassed puts them in a position to do some creative things to make Yellow Pages a valuable resource for customers and businesses alike.

As local search continues to evolve, a strong web presence remains essential for businesses. While most recognize the need for a quality website, many don’t realize that the website can only be effective as a marketing tool if it can be found and ranked well by search engines. The same Google and Yellow Pages comparison study provided proof of this in further findings:

46% of searchers choose the top search result on Google
30% of searchers never leave the top five listings
No one surveyed goes beyond the first page of search results

This means that search engine optimization is a crucial component in today’s marketing plan. Businesses must make a strong and consistent effort to stand out, get noticed by the search engines, and build ranking.