April 19,
2006
In This Issue:
1. Google Base Growing
2. In the News - SEO in 2006, Yahoo Local, Brochures
3. More News Headlines
4. Wrapping It Up
_________________
Google Base Growing
Have you given any thought to using Google Base
to help market your products or services? Depending
on what you sell, it might be a good idea. Information
and "pages" from Google Base are slowly
being integrated into Google's main search index.
Try this: do a search for [seattle
real estate]. Right above the regular listings,
you should see a small text box and drop-down
menu, and a button that reads "Search housing."
When you click that, you're in Google Base. And
at that point, Google Base is functioning the
same as most real estate web site search functions
do -- in fact, it's even better thanks to the
pinpointing of addresses into a Google Map. By
putting this functionality above the main SERPs,
Google is guaranteeing a substantial percentage
of searchers will end up in the Google base system
rather than clicking to one of the real estate
sites listed below.
And it's not just in real estate -- do a search
for [spokane jobs] and you'll see similar functionality,
with Google Base operating as a big jobs database.
Granted, the Tri-Cities is too small for Google
Base to come into play, so if your business is
only local, this isn't such a big deal. But we
have more readers outside the Tri-Cities than
inside, so I trust this is something many of you
will want to investigate a little more. Here's
a link to a recent ClickZ article talking about
the growth of Google Base, and how real estate
agencies, job sites, and car dealers are trying
it out.
ClickZ: As
Google Base Builds, Local Advertisers and Vertical
Sites Get on Board
_________________
In The News
SEO in 2006, Part Two
Part two of the "SEO in 2006" article
that I've mentioned in past Net Gains is now available
on OWTweb.com. It's been a couple weeks since
part one was published, so as a refresher, this
series is an overview of the current playing field
for search engine optimization and, more accurately,
search engine marketing. In fact, the main point
of the article/series is that SEO/SEM is now just
one piece of the bigger online marketing puzzle.
Part two talks about the major changes search
engines (Google, in particular) have made in recent
years to how they rank web pages.
SEO in 2006, Part 2: Search
Engines Fight Back
Yahoo Local upgrades
Yahoo Local has upgraded its maps and satellite
imagery offerings to put it on par with what Google
and MSN offer in those areas. And that just serves
to make what I think is already the best Local
Search service even better.
Yahoo Local
(beta)
Godin on brochures
Pardon me while we get out of the online marketing
arena and plug a recent post from Seth Godin about
brochures. I'm hoping enough of you who own businesses
have had to create brochures, or have at least
thought about doing so. And I'm hoping you find
some value.
Seth Godin: Q:
What do you think of my brochure
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
Does
textbook SEO really work anymore?
April 17, 2006 - ClickZ.com
Or does decent ranking depend more on links and
end-user behavior?
Building
good web buzz
April 17, 2006 - Business Week
Google
offers free Web calendar service
April 13, 2006 - Reuters
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
Wrapping it Up
You may have noticed that we haven't had a Q&A
section in Net Gains for a couple weeks now. It's
not because that idea is dead; it's because there
haven't been any questions to answer. So for the
new readers, and the veterans, feel free to send
any questions about web development, search engines,
online marketing, etc., to questions@owtweb.com,
and we'll see if we can provide an answer in an
upcoming newsletter.
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
The OWT Newsletter is a weekly service
offered free to anyone interested in learning
more about web development, search engine optimization/marketing,
and just about anything else related to running
a business web site. You don't need to be an OWT
client to subscribe to our newsletter!
Subscribing and unsubscribing can
be done online at OWTweb.com. You may share this
newsletter with others as long as the newsletter
is shared in its entirety.
Private replies to emails will
be written if we have time, but we don't provide
web site critiques or consulting services for
free. You can learn more about our web development
and search engine marketing services online at
www.owtweb.com. |
