Google Shopping Will Soon Charge Merchants for Listings

Organic SEO, Search Engine News, , , , , , ,

google shoppingSoon, online retailers will have to pay in order to have their products displayed on Google Shopping. Currently, retailers can provide information to Google about their products and have them displayed on the site for free. However, Google has made the decision to begin charging for its product listings.

The listings will also be displayed differently after Google begins charging for the service. Currently, when someone searches for a certain product, such as “vacuum cleaner,” the top five most popular vacuum cleaners from the shopping page are displayed under a few organic listings on the results page. After the change, those links will begin to appear above the main search results with images of what Google thinks are the most relevant products on the Google Shopping site.

While some marketers are happy about the new Google Shopping site, others fear that it could be the beginning of the end of Google’s free business listings. Small retailers also worry that paid Google Shopping listings will make it difficult for them to compete with the large advertising budget of big online retailers.

What do you think about paid product listings in Google Shopping; is good thing or a bad thing?

Google’s New Approach to Local Search: Google+ Local

Last Updated On August 13th, 2014Local SEO, , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday, Google rolled out Google+ Local, Google’s integration of Google+ and Google Places. According to the Google and Your Business Blog, Google+ Local’s aim is to “improve the way people discover new businesses, rediscover places they love and share them with their friends across the Web.”

Google Places pages will soon be replaced by Google+ business pages with a new design and layout (see photo). In the new design, all of the basic business information is still present, however there is more emphasis put on photos and reviews. On many business listings, the user will be able to go a step further using the “street view” option on Google Maps and even venture inside the actual business location.

GooglePlusLocal

Now local businesses will be found across Google search, Maps, mobile and Google+ with just one listing. Customers will be able to share their experience with others through reviews and recommend businesses to friends. Google+ Local has integrated Zagat reviews in order to allow users to share exactly what makes a particular business stand out.

“This is a major upgrade in user interface and there are new features and capabilities as well there may be some lost or modified facets such as Google Posts and maybe Offers,” said Local Splash Founder and CTO, David Rodecker. “More details will be determined as Google evolves Google+ and adapts to user social patterns.”

Right now, business owners can still manage their business information in Google Places for Business. If your Places page is already ranked high in the search results the best way to ensure your rankings stay intact is to stay on top of the changes being made to your listing and create a Google+ page for your business if you haven’t already.

Local Splash clients have nothing to fear. Local Splash has the resources it takes to understand the impact of a change like this and determine what adaptations need to be taken to keep clients ranking well.

“We have anticipated a move like this for some time and we have positioned our clients quite well for the transition,” said Rodecker. “Currently, search results on the typical Google Everything search are unchanged and the Google Places algorithm runs strong in this user interface; something we already optimize for.”

Want more information on the Google+ Local release? Check out this round-up of articles on Google+ Local on Screenwerk.com.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Facebook

Social Media Marketing, , , , , ,

facebookThink you know everything there is to know about social media giant, Facebook? Check out these 10 fun pieces of Facebook trivia from Mashable.

  1. 96% of visitors to Facebook have returned within the past 30 days as of April 2012.
  2. The term “Facebook” has been the most searched term in the US for three years, starting the week ending on July 18, 2009.
  3. Facebook’s audience is 6% more female than male.
  4. Facebook become the top ranked website in the U.S. in 2010.
  5. American’s aren’t the only ones that love Facebook. It is the top overall site in Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.
  6. One in every five page views in the U.S. occurred on Facebook.
  7. Facebook brings 400 billion page views a year.
  8. Users spend an average of 20 minutes on Facebook each time they visit.
  9. Ten states account of 52% of visits to Facebook. These states are California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinoise, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina.
  10. New York City provides the largest volume of traffic to Facebook in the county.