Earlier this month Giselle and I headed to New York City for the SMX East conference. We both learned a lot and met some great people in the industry. The sessions that I attended were informative and all of the speakers shared valuable knowledge.

One particular session that I want to discussed Google Instant and its impact on both SEO and users. The speakers at the session included Othar Hansson, Google Senior Staff Software Engineer, Ian Everdell, a usability consultant from Enquiro Search Solutions, and Eli Feldblum the CTO & co-founder at RankAbove.

According to Othar, the main focus of Instant is to make search faster than ever before. Here are some key facts that Othar presented:

• The average query in English takes 9 seconds to enter and 15 seconds to scan the SERP’s.
• Impression is counted when there is a 3 second pause on the SERP – impressions will increase, but clicks remain the same.
• The results shown are for the predicted query, not what you have typed.
• Instant is present in the US and 6 European countries, but will be global soon.
• Users are still searching for good content – that has not changed.

As a usability consultant, Ian Everdell from Enquiro was able to offer a unique perspective of Instant and how it affects users:

• Instant saves 2-5 seconds per search.
• Users are now looking further down the SERP’s than ever before.
• Majority of users surveyed think Instant is ‘ok’ ( > 25%).
• About 65% of users surveyed do not think that Instant changed how they search.
• 83% of users surveyed say the length of their queries has not changed.

Eli Fledblum from RankAbove offered a few interesting points:

• Instant’s predictions have pushed more results below the fold.
• Despite the change in location, results 5-10 have experienced the most growth.
• Video results are up 28% across the board (use rich media to attract users).
• It is important to investigate how your site traffic has changed, if at all.

Google Instant has been live for 45 days (as of 10/21/10) and those in the SEO industry are still unsure about how it will affect the way they work. I am glad that I was able to attend this session as each speaker brought up great points about Google Instant and SEO. Hopefully, those in the industry will feel better after reading what was said at SMX. I found it comforting to know that Instant is NOT the end of SEO!

In case you haven’t heard, Google Instant has made a quite an impact on the world of search since its launch last week. It has lit the SEO world on fire with questions such as:

•    How will this impact my rankings?
•    Will Adwords count impressions the same way?
•    What if users no longer look past page 2 of SERP’s?

Of course, the biggest question last week, and the one on everyone’s minds, is: Will Google Instant kill SEO?

In simple terms: No, no, and NO! SEO is not going anywhere.

The fact that Google Instant completes a search before a user has finished typing his/her query does not harm SEO at all. Above all else, search engine marketers need to consider who the audience is and how they search. Yes, this new interface may change the way that users search, and as search engine marketers, we need to evolve with them. There is no set list of tactics that we need to implement right now. There are SEO tactics that continue to hold true such as on page optimization, article distribution, link development, etc.

Many have argued that SEO is now irrelevant because Google Instant supplies highly personal results but Google has been giving users personalized results since 2005, so that is nothing new. Google Instant is actually going to be a great tool for SEO. It provides valuable information on what users are searching for such as local weather, super brands (i.e. Best Buy), etc.

As search engine marketers we still influence the results users get for their queries. As we learn more about Instant and what it has to offer, people see ways that Instant showcases good SEO tactics and fundamentals.

What are your thoughts on SEO and Instant?

Google’s Press Event

Today, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Google held a press event. For those of us who weren’t lucky enough to be at MOMA, Google broadcasted the event live over their YouTube channel. The event announced a brand new aspect of Google’s user-side interface.

Leading up to the event, Google changed its homepage logo. Yesterday, the logo consisted of flying colored balls that eventually formed “Google.” Before the press event, Google’s logo was blank – until you began to type. The theme of these logo changes? “Fun, fast, and interactive.”

So what was the “fun, fast, and interactive” change to Google that was announced at the event? The one that would, in the future, save 350 million hours of users’ time?

Google Instant

Google Instant was introduced as Google knowing “searches before you type.” Google claimed that Instant would predict what you’re likely to search and the bring results to you in real time. Google Instant was created using AJAX. AJAX is a programming language that basically allows a web page to provide new information without reloading the entire page. It’s quick. It’s simple. It’s… just plain neat.

The folks at Google said that there are three parts to Instant: Predictions, Instant Results, and Scroll to Search. When Instant is live, the engine is going to predict what you want to search, give you the results as soon as you begin to type, and let you scroll through the provided results.

Google Instant is live in Chrome, FireFox, Safari, and Internet Explorer 8 in the U.S.. In the next few months, other countries will see it as well. You will be able to turn Google Instant off. However, there is one caveat – you must be signed in to Google.

Google Raises Questions

Even though Google Instant is incredibly cool (and an amazing distraction), how is it going to affect us? What issues should be addressed in the future? After this streaming event was over, these were my primary concerns:

• How will this change SEO? Even if the fundamentals of optimization for search engines will remain the same, how will the users interact with Google moving forward? Will they abandon checking past page 1, if they can instantly change their query? Why would they want to spend more time on one search, when they can complete multiple in nearly the same amount of time?
• Since Big Brother Google will require users to be logged in to use Instant, will these cause any privacy concerns? If they are “predicting” our searches, how much more information are they going to collect from their users?
• For those who are still stuck with 256mb of RAM (if that’s even possible), will this slow down their machines? For the uneducated user, this could pose a problem.
• If you use Google Adwords, will the way impressions are counted be changed? With the dynamic of the search changed, I imagine there will be additional changes to these policies in the near future.

In summary – Google Instant is “fun, fast, and interactive.” But it will also pose a challenge for search engine marketers who are trying to adapt and stay ahead of the curve.

TKG’s Breakfast Bootcamps are back for 2010-2011! These hour and a half SEM training sessions dive into one topic at a time and provide an atmosphere with one-on-one interaction and plenty of opportunity for Q&A.

The lineup starts in October:

October 7, 2010 – Website Must-Haves
November 11, 2010 – Landing Pages
December 9, 2010 – Social Media for Newbies
January 13, 2011 – Beyond Twitter and Facebook
February 10, 2011 – Online Lead Generation
March 10, 2011 – Reputation Management

These bootcamps are completely free and space is extremely limited. Learn more about each session, location, times, etc and sign up.
As an added bonus, if you attend all 6 sessions, you’ll receive an “I Survived TKG’s Breakfast Bootcamp” t-shirt!

Guest blogger: Megan Jeffery

The SEM community has been really generous in sharing it’s knowledge and expertise. There are many places where you can find viable tips and information to point you in the right direction. It can be a little overwhelming, as there is so much information out there, so I have complied a list a some of the sites, articles and blog posts that might be of help.

1.    Anita Campbell is the founder of Small Business Trends, and a great friend of TKG. She often speaks at TKG’s  Search Made Simple seminars. One of her recent blog posts included a “reading list” as it were. A compilation of a number of blog posts that are a great read for anyone using SEO to promote their site. This reading list was compiled by a panel of SEOs that presented a webinar for the Verizon Small Business Center on SEO  strategies for small business.

2.    Mashable.com promotes itself as “ The Social Media Guide”.  Several sections are devoted to “How To’s” and guidebooks for Facebook and Twitter. If you need help getting started in this area, this is a great place to find a tutorial on just about any social media application.

3.    SEOmoz.org has a remarkable number of tutorials and tools for anyone trying to increase the rankings for their site. The daily SEO blog and free tools make this site a regular stop in my daily browsing.

4.    The SEO Book of course has many tools and posts that you will find quite valuable in your efforts. The Link Building guide is very helpful, and  one of my favorite posts from this site is a link building article called 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity. It’s a bit on the older side, but still has a lot of really pertinent ideas.

5.    Any good SEO campaign starts with a great keyword list. But, perfecting that list can be daunting. Search Engine Land has a great blog post with every keyword generation tool you could ever want  – sweet! So hopefully you’ll end up with the appropriate phrases for each page you’re optimizing.

As always, TKG is here to answer any SEM questions you might have, so if you haven’t gotten quite what you were looking for in this list, drop us a line – we’d love to be your go-to resource!

If you are interested in growing your Northeast Ohio business via the web, this workshop is for you! GetListed.org is bringing in some of the nation’s leading online marketing experts, including representatives from Bing, Google and TKG’s very own Geoff Karcher!

When you attend the workshop, you will get an intense 4-hour crash course on internet marketing and also learn some Search Engine Optimization tips along the way!

Here are some additional details:

Place: Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County

Date: June 30th, 2010

Time: There will be 2 half day sessions (8am – Noon & 1pm – 5pm)

Price: $129, but enter ‘karcher’ at check-out and receive a discount

Capacity is limited to 200 attendees per session, so register today!

The past week has been pretty eventful in the SEO community. An entrepreneur named Charles Preston tried to launch a service for the SEO community. This service was going to help both consumers and SEO’s alike. Basically, to be a “verified SEO” you would have to pay his company a monthly $99.00 fee. In addition to that, you would also send the company a list of your clients so that they could contact them and verify the services you were offering.

It was all started over at Sphinn.com by Edward Lewis:

Charles Preston. An SEO out of Austin, Texas have decided that he along with other Industry Veterans are going to start a Verified SEO service. You the SEO will pay them $99.00 per month, it was $199.00 when first launched, to give them most of your client information. They in turn will do who knows what with that information and then give you a dynamic Verified Pro SEO Badge for your website.

I’ve been pinging this young man on Twitter for a few days now to find out who the Industry Veterans are behind this new organization. He has not answered. Most of you know I’ve had my ear to the ground in this industry for quite some time, why have I not heard of Charles Preston? And, who are the Industry Veterans behind Verified SEO?

Before the service could even take off the ground, the SEO community banded together and posed some very tough questions and as a result, Mr. Preston closed the site.

After the SEO community shut one service down, they’ve now banded together to take on another: TOPSEO’s. This time Alan Bleiweiss and Edward Lewis are compiling more data in an effort to expose TOPSEO’s service and those willing to pay for it. TOPSEO’s offers a very similar service, but instead charges even more money per month and offers awards on a monthly basis. As pointed out by Edward Lewis, their estimated monthly “service” nets them $55,000!!!!

So before you choose a company to help you with SEO and your Internet marketing efforts, do your research on the SEO company. Ask for case studies and testimonials. Ignore the TOPSEO badges and “awards.” Any company displaying those badges and even worse, the awards, paid for them. Chances are they didn’t earn them.

I will be joining Anita Campbell, editor-in-chief of Small Business Trends for a free one-hour webinar: 10 Quick Tips to Give a Boost to Your Website & Online Marketing Efforts.  It’s presented by the Verizon Small Business Center.

Details:
Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Time: 2:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time
Cost: FREE!
Registration: https://verizonevents.webex.com/verizonevents/onstage/g.php?d=665731581&t=a

As the year comes to an end, everyone begins to prepare for a new start in 2010 but we can’t do that without looking back and reflecting on 2009. One trend that I think deserves some attention is the upward shift in comparison search tools. These tools allow users to compare rankings from two or more search engines, which can be very useful to SEO’s.

Comparison search tools enable users to run a query in multiple search engines at one time. This allows me, as a Search Engine marketer to quickly glance at the results to see what sites are ranking for a phrase I’m targeting for a client. Comparison tools enable me to be more efficient and more easily provide results for our SEO clients. Knowing who is already ranking for a phrase in multiple search engines and what SEO tactics (if any) they are implementing on their site will help me create effective strategies as well as successfully track my strategies.

Search Engine Land has a great blog post about some of the best comparison tools of 2009. Learn more about these comparison search tools.

Ever since I started in the internet marketing industry, one of the factors to the success of a campaign is the client’s involvement. Ultimately from an agency standpoint we deal with multiple clients that are in multiple industries. We spend a lot of time researching and learning the client’s industry to be able to put together better strategies but ultimately the client is going to know more about their products, services, and/or industry than we could. I don’t think I’m totally off base. We, as the SEM firm, spend 1 to 4+ years with a client lets say. The client has been in their industry forever(exaggerating, but 10-15 years or more compared to 1-4 years is a big difference).

Jill Whalen wrote a post over at Search Engine Land this morning called “Most of SEO Is Just A Boondoggle“. At the end of her post she says the following about a client’s role in SEO:

Client involvement is key

Don’t get me wrong, this is not an SEO is dead article. SEO is alive and well if you focus on the things that matter. Part of the problem is that the things that matter are often a lot of hard work that need client involvement, whereas the boondoggles can often be done strictly through the SEO company. Most clients are too busy to get involved, which is why they’re outsourcing their SEO in the first place. But a professional SEO company cannot get long-lasting, needle-moving results for a client that isn’t willing to help.

I think she hits the nail on the head with that. Long lasting results need a good relationship between the search marketer and the client. There are a lot of positive things that SEM/SEO marketers can do for clients without a lot of input from a client but to keep the results moving in a positive direction there needs to be that interaction.

When clients are involved in their SEO campaigns, it opens a lot of doors. From an on-page stand point we are able to build out a site faster and with better content. As I mentioned above, we can research and try to learn a client’s business and industry inside and out but at the end of the day, the client will still know more. They know what changes are happening in the industry, what competitors are doing, new products or breakthroughs. All of that information could be turned into content or used to help build out a site. From a link building standpoint, clients know what the major industry publications are, their partners or distributors, trade organizations, etc. These things can be used to build quality and relevant links.

Search engine marketing takes work and time, both from the client and the marketing firm. A big key to success is a good solid partnership between the SEM/SEO firm and the client, end of story.