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When it comes to evaluating website quality, we usually think in terms of robots. We talk about spiders and algorithms and so on. We know that Google has plenty of secrets about its search results that it won’t reveal to anyone. But there are reports that the 120+ page training manual for Google human search quality raters was recently leaked! 

 

How Google uses the input from its search quality rating team is unclear but surely, it has some impact on search results. Maybe Google does this only to find and eliminate some of those websites that use less than ethical tactics to get page one results. (In other words, they don't belong on page one but have found a way to game the system.) Or, the data could be a big factor in search results. Only Google knows for sure. 

 

Based on what we’ve read, it seems that the search quality raters evaluate 30-60 sites per hour. So that reinforces what we already know about designing a website and landing pages: you must make a good first impression, and quickly. Besides looking for a website’s relevance in relation to the search query, they’re also looking at page titles and snippets on the search results page. Keep that in mind when you’re working on your onsite SEO. 

Pay-per-click advertising spend increased 20% in the US this year. Google controls the vast majority of the clicks and spend (estimated to be about 68%). Google is still on top and may be gaining ground—reportedly, it has taken back some of the market share that was lost to the Yahoo/Bing alliance. 

 

Google has made strides in the past year to help advertisers attract only qualified traffic. Keyword settings and other tools have been improved and ads are unlikely to be triggered unless they are relevant to the search query. Consequently, Google is seeing an improvement in overall click-through-rate. A well structured campaign that uses the proper keyword settings can be a very efficient lead source. 

 

Even with the improvements to the keywords settings and tools, it’s still very easy to make critical and costly mistakes. If you’re thinking of taking the do-it-yourself approach, we suggest you have an experienced PPC manager set up and launch the campaign. We’ll be happy to do that for you! Just give us a call. 

 

Expect to see an IPO from Facebook in the very near future, probably by the spring of 2012. Reportedly, Facebook Inc. is considering raising about $10 billion in an initial public offering that would value the social-networking site at more than $100 billion. This is a strong signal that social media is only going to get bigger and more powerful and cannot be ignored by online marketers. Avoid it at your own peril! Ask us if you want to know how social media can tie in to your marketing plans. 

 

Facebook recently got into trouble for violating privacy standards. In late November, Facebook and the US Federal Trade Commission announced a formal privacy settlement. Essentially, the proposed settlement “bars Facebook from making any further deceptive privacy claims, requires that the company get consumers’ approval before it changes the way it shares their data, and requires that it obtain periodic assessments of its privacy practices by independent, third-party auditors for the next 20 years.” 

 

Facebook will likely put more energy into search marketing, including placement of ads in its mobile apps, now that it has to be more mindful of privacy issues.