Tag Archives: google

Consumers Now Have the Ability to Block Your GoogleAds

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Google announced yesterday via its blog, that it had instituted a feature in Google search and GMail ad transparency. This change will give consumers the ability to see why ads are being delivered (ie. what previous searches triggered the ads) as well as the ability to block ads from a particular company/advertiser. This option is available for all Google Ads delivered to a consumer.

Is it a cause for concern? Probably not as I believe a low percentage of people will actually utilize this feature, but it is certainly something you need to be aware of. I would equate this to “hiding” a company from your News Feed on Facebook, in a sense.

Below is an example of what a consumer would see should they choose to go into the “Ads Preferences Manager”.

Do you think this will have any impact on your ability to target consumers or is this a non-factor?

Google Unveils “Hotspot” – its own Location-Based Service

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Well, we may have just found out why Google reviews and place pages have been acting crazy for the last few months (reviews disappearing and re-appearing, etc.)

Mashable announced that Google unwrapped it’s own new location-based service named “Hotspot” tonight.

“With Hotspot, users will be encouraged to rate and review businesses directly from their Google-linked profile. Users’ ratings and reviews are tracked with a counter at the top of each profile, and likes and dislikes are remembered and used in Google’s recommendation engine.”

I have yet to play with it but from the description – easy to use, simplistic, easy to write reviews – it seems like something non-techy people might get into or, at the very least, utilize when researching businesses – need a place to eat? – while on the go.

Whether the “average” person leaves a bunch of reviews is moot, in my opinion. Reviews will be left in the same manner that they have been on Google. The only difference will be that there will be one more venue with which to leave a review.

The fact that Google is still the dominant way in which most consumers start a business search leans heavily in their favor. Even with Facebook Places’ shadow ever present, in this arena – reviews- Google definitely has the edge.

This development also should encourage business owners to shift reviews back towards Google Place pages, especially if “likes”, “dislikes” and number of reviews left are weighted factors in Google search results as seems to be indicated by this article.

This story is definitely still developing so it’s way too early to foresee any definitive ramifications from this. I can definitely tell you that you should stay tuned, I will be.

Oh, and if anyone has an Android phone, supposedly this is accessible immediately. If you want to check it out and comment back, that would be appreciated!

Originally published on DrivingSales.com 

 

Google Announces ‘Instant Previews’ Search Feature

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I blogged about this here on DrivingSales on Oct 6th, and according to this article from ABC News, Google is now rolling out the “Instant Previews” search feature over the next couple of days.

This is the quote from this article that stands out and reinforces my views on this game-changing Google feature that I blogged about:

“The “Instant Previews” feature announced Tuesday is meant to help people bypass websites that are either irrelevant or simply too visually cluttered for their tastes. It works for Google Web searches, as well as searches for news, video and local businesses.”

All I can say is that you better know what people are seeing in the preview of your website very quickly after this feature goes live. Now, instead of bouncing from your website, they’ll just never have to go there.

I’m still unsure how flash-based websites will translate into a “preview”. It “could” be that it just shows as black IF it is a live preview (versus an image).

SEO on Google has just added a new dimension to your search results. Now not only do you have to worry about WHERE you show up in search results but also HOW your website appears in the Instant Preview.

I’m sure you don’t want people “bypass(ing)” your website.

I, personally, think this is a HUGE game-changer. Websites that have relevant, “preview-able” content are going to get more traffic.

What are your thoughts?

Originally published on DrivingSales.com

Google Search Is About To Make You Re-think Your Website

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According to this article , Google is testing out full-page website previews within search. This will have HUGE ramifications for dealer’s website traffic when considering non-branded search traffic.

Why?
Well, right now, a consumer has to click on your organic link and go to your website to see if what they are actually looking for is there. These clicks obviously represent traffic on your website.
If and when this full-page preview function of Google search goes live, the consumer will no longer have to actually go onto your website to see if the content they are looking for is present.  
Here’s an example screenshot:

That’s huge. What would a consumer see if they could preview your website before actually visiting it? 
Would what they see actually make them want to visit your website?
How will flash-based items and/or videos appear?
I don’t think it will effect GoogleAds. My guess is they will NOT have this preview function. Why? Because it will reduce the number of  ’clicks’ an ad would get therefore cutting into Google’s wallet. Bad move on their part.
Dealers REALLY need to stay up on this and KNOW what people are seeing within this preview of their home page. Dealers with inventory hosting that has inventory specific URLs with dealerships name, make, model, year, etc could have an edge in the sense that if their vehicle shows up on a Google Search and the ‘preview’ shows an actual vehicle (vs just your home page or general inventory search page), a visitor/customer would probably be more likely to click on it.
This is definitely a must-watch feature and could have huge ramifications on your website and its traffic.
Here’s another image:
Stay tuned!