Real Time Search via Twitter… on Google?

Posted by @billsebald | Posted on 04-03-2009

Category : Google, SEO Basics, Social Media

Tags: , , , ,

Update: Since this post was written, many things have changed.  You don’t need this Greasemonkey script to see Tweets in Google’s search engine result pages.  It’s now baked in as a Google feature.  Here’s what Google’s Twitter powered real time search looks like.  Pretty smart move since Twitter is now the second largest search engine.

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Oh Twitter, I love thee more than bourbon for breakfast (what?!?!).  Thanks to a cool new Greasemonkey script, I love you even more.  What is Greasemonkey?  Only the coolest Firefox plugin ever built by human hands.

I always like talking about the value of vertical and social searches.  There’s also a concept of ‘real time search‘ that I really like.  Twitter is essentially that – information is available to find immediately after it’s been posted, and the usual Google delay is history.  Is Twitter going to show the same results as our trusted friend Google?  No, certainly not.  But with thousands and thousands of Tweeters out there, you’re sure to find something pretty cutting edge for many of your queries.

So this new script for Greasemonkey creates a block for Twitter results, and I couldn’t be happier.  Best of both worlds if you ask me.

Pick up the script at MT-Hacks.com.

Real Time Search via Twitter… on Google?

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Popularity: 1% [?]

What Eye Tracking Says About Blended Search

Posted by @billsebald | Posted on 16-02-2009

Category : Google, SEO Basics

When it comes to SERPs, and what users choose from the array of results, Google says, “Our User Experience Research team has found that people evaluate the search results page so quickly that they make most of their decisions unconsciously.” I could have told them that for a free Google mug. And maybe a Google Frisbee.

Search engines, like any object you use on a routine basis, becomes an extension of your senses. Are we really surprised that a thumbnail in universal search draws attention? No. It’s the contrast to a plain. It’s a key component to effective design, photography, and even magic tricks. But what Google determines from this study is that the thumbnails in the SERPs are also not a distraction if they don’t fit the kind of information a specific user seeking.

Behold – Eye Tracking Studies: More Than Meets The Eye

What Eye Tracking Says About Blended Search

Popularity: 1% [?]

Firefox Makes Googling (and SEO) Easier

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Posted by @billsebald | Posted on 06-01-2009

Category : Google, SEO, SEO Basics

Tags: , , ,

Update (12-10-2010) – So today I’m not the Firefox fanboy I used to be.  I’ve moved into Chrome.  Check out Chrome Extensions That Make SEO Easier.

The Firefox browser is an amazing, innovative browser.  It’s fun watching IE copy its features (well, as many as its architecture can allow, which isn’t many – MS doesn’t rebuild, so Firefox should be enjoying their notoriety for a long time to come).  I was an early adopter, but it’s pretty amazing how many people use this browser now – it’s not just advanced web surfers anymore.  I was helping my 60 year old mother install a webcam and saw the Firefox browser.  Impressed, I asked her how she heard about it.  She said, “well, I don’t want Spyware.”  Wow.

For those who still don’t use Firefox, here’s some reasons you should take the plunge.  If you’re a traditional IE user, believe me, learning this browser is a piece of cake.

  1. Download Manager makes controlling and revisiting your downloads easier
  2. Faster – uses less computer resources
  3. Smart Location Bar – this makes entering URLs easier
  4. Great privacy controls
  5. Security!!!!!!!!! <- reason enough to choose Firefox over IE
  6. Better webpage rendering
  7. Zoom in on text and images (cntrl +/-)
  8. HUGELY customizable

That last one is a big one (and the reason for this post).  With hundreds of homemade Firefox extensions on the web, you can customize your browser to make your internet life easier.  If you’re a web developer, there are extensions to help you locate and analyze code, view pages in cross-browser emulation, disable style codes or JavaScript, and a lot more.  If you are a social media fanatic, there are extensions that make your browser interact with your favorite sites more naturally.  It’s pretty addictive to search for these extensions, especially if you’re a tinkerer like me.  Here’s a bunch including ad blockers, tab controllers, image viewers, and cool ways to save pages for easier use later (I haven’t used my browsers bookmark function in a while thanks to some of these plugins).

How does Firefox help Googling?

Greasemonkey is a Firefox Extension that allows for sub-extensions (called scripts, also found by Googling ‘greasemonkey scripts’ or something similiar).  Search Engine Journal just posted 14 Essential Greasemonkey Scripts for Google Searching, and had a few I didn’t know about.  Some of these scripts are useful to the average searcher.  They do a great job of summarizing each script, so take a look.

To use these scripts, you just have to install the Greasmonkey extension first, then go to the script pages and click INSTALL.  That couldn’t be easier.

How does Firefox help SEO?

There are plenty of Firefox extensions for search engine optimization, allowing for quick site audits, spider emulation, NoFollow checkers, user-agent switchers (view a site as Google), and code viewers.

Again, these sites do a great job describing and sending you to the tools.  Tackle these after lunch for an hour, and I guarantee the web will look a lot better.  Enjoy -

http://seo2.0.onreact.com/top-10-firefox-extensions-for-search-website-optimization-and-seo-i-use

http://tips.webdesign10.com/firefox-seo-extensions

http://www.automaticable.com/2008-04-29/the-top-12-seo-firefox-extensions/

Popularity: 1% [?]

SERPs Customized for Philadelphia Metro Area? Thanks, I guess.

Posted by @billsebald | Posted on 06-08-2008

Category : Google

Tags: , ,

Screenshot of Customized Google search
note: image was altered to fit the width of my blog

“Customized for the metro Philly area”, eh?  Interesting, except my actual location this time was outside of Philadelphia, in Reading, Pennsylvania – Berks County, not Philadelphia.  I’m not exactly sure how the geo-tracking works in this case (I’ll have to look into that), but when I checked my IP path, I’m not running through Philly.  Why not choose Harrisburg then?  I’m equally close.

SEO and IP aside, I just started to wonder about whether this was a good idea at all.

I wasn’t logged in.  I wasn’t asking for personalized search.  What if I didn’t want an art program in the Philadelphia area, but rather an art program like Photoshop?  Why would I want a customized “local” search?  Or, what if I was open to any location?  Granted, these results really didn’t seem that customized to Philly this time around, but how far can Google take this?

I’d prefer some parametric buttons that would let me choose customized results to my location, instead of just having it be “on”.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Future of Image Search?

Posted by @billsebald | Posted on 07-06-2008

Category : Google, SEO

I use image search often, mainly with Google. I use it to find inspiration in design or better clipart for this SEO blog, but occasionally as a content searching feature. If I’m looking to find info about a new guitar, I might use the image search, then once located, continue on to the content around that picture.

If you use image search, you probably already realized that it fails compared to text search. The first handful of results are often in the ballpark, but it quickly goes extremely south from there. Unlike text search, where a few content-rich sites can often suffice (depending on specifics of your search), in image search a much larger set of like-results is usually desired. I can almost guarantee, though, that without the ‘adult content’ filter on, you’re going to get some kind of completely unrelated adult picture a third of the time. When using image search at work, be careful that nobody is standing behind you. Those pictures can be freaky!

Obviously, it’s hard to favor image search and really back it if it’s so wonky.

But the future of image search always sounded interesting. The idea of engines using apps to map the parts of a picture even better, determining the shapes (i.e., faces), and using it more confidently as part of the algorithm sounds pretty darn groovy to me. Imagine – no matter what the image file was named, or the content around the image file on websites, by image searching for “Frank Zappa”, the maestro might show up consistently, instead of unrelated R-rated images.

Or what about giving an engine a picture and asking it to return similar pictures? This technology is being used commercially with Like.com (like that red shirt on your friend’s myspace page? Just show it to Like.com and they’ll present similar items you can buy). In my opinion, this would really improve search for the better. Describing things in the present state doesn’t typically fine tune the search the way it should, in part because of blended search; ultimately, I find it making the search process longer. But if I could show the engine what I was looking for, well, that would be swell.

Google can read. Google can listen (1-800-GOOG411). So why not see?

Update: Good article over at Google’s blog – New Search By Style Feature.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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