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Discover What You DIDN'T
KNOW About Your Favorite Search Engine -- And How You Can Use This
Information
to Grow Your Business!
By Derek
Gehl
Less than seven years ago, a tiny company of 10 employees
launched a web search engine. Today, that search engine attracts more than 81.9
million different visitors each month! Of course, the search engine
I'm talking about is none other than Google.com.
Visitors can access Google's web site in over 100 different languages
(including Klingon, Pig Latin, and, a personal favorite, Elmer Fudd).
Search results are generated from over eight billion indexed web pages and
one billion images. And over 50% of the traffic to Google.com comes from
outside the US.
Google has some impressive financial numbers, too. In
mid-August 2004, they went public with their stock opening at $85; less
than one year later, it is trading at just under $300 a share. They have
been profitable month after month. In fact, in the first quarter of 2005,
they made over $1 billion.
Quarterly profits are not what motivate Google, though. Google
is very much focused on long-term development and will forego short term
revenue for it. In fact, it's widely reported that when Google first
launched one of their biggest search products, Google News, they forgot
to put advertising on it! They were more focused on developing a
high-quality product with the user's best interests in mind.
As you can imagine, it takes a lot more than 10 employees to
hold down the Google fort these days. As of the end of 2004, Google
employed over 3,000 people.
As the company has grown in numbers, it has also grown in
scope. While Google is staying true to its philosophy of "doing one
thing really, really well," it has expanded its reach in all kinds of
different directions. If you haven't looked beyond the clean, simple
interface of Google's main page, you are missing out on a LOT of great
services and tools that can help you enhance your own business.
Google has a huge variety of services, tools, labs, and
advertising avenues that every online entrepeneur should know about. Yet
many people are unaware that Google is so much more than "just" a
search engine. So let's look at some of the key resources you can use to
benefit your online business.
Enhance your business with Google services
The six most well-known services Google offers are easily
accessed from Google's main page. Beyond the main page, there is a wider
world of Google services that are less familiar to most people. The
"more" link on the main page will give you access to some of
them; for others, you'll have to dig a bit deeper...
We'll take a look at the "big six" from the main
page, explaining what they are and how you can use them in your business, and
then point you towards a few of the other services your business can
benefit from.
- Web Search: (www.google.com) When
people think of Google, web search is what comes to mind first. Google
has harnessed the power of many computers to index eight billion web
pages and then use a complex (and secret!) mathematical formula to
determine the relevance or importance of each page. When you enter a
"keyword" or search term into the search box, Google searches
for web pages containing those words and lists the pages in order of
importance.
As a web site owner, you need to
make sure that your own web site is optimized with keywords, high-quality
content, and inbound links so that Google ranks you above your competitors
in search results. (For more information on how to do this, go to Marketing Tips
and
click on newsletters and look for article dated July 04.
Use Google search to monitor
whether or not changes you make to your web site are helping you beat your
competition to the top of the search results list! But don't expect changes
to take effect immediately -- it may take days or even weeks for your
changes to make a difference to your ranking.
- Images: (http://images.google.com)
Google caches over one billion images that are searched in exactly the
same way web pages are. Typing your search term in the box and
clicking on "Search Images" gives you thumbnails of images
related to the keyword search term you used. Each of the thumbnail
images is linked back to its original page, where you can view the
larger size. This can save you tons of time in locating an image that
suits your purpose, since you don't need to sort through the standard
search results to find a web page that might contain the image you
need.
(NOTE: Make sure
the image is not protected by copyright before you download it. And, if one
of YOUR images is protected and you prefer that it does not come up in
Google's search results, you can request that it be removed at http://www.google.com/remove.html.)
- Groups: (http://groups-beta.google.com)
Within Google Groups, you can find communities of people discussing
all kinds of different topics. Any member can join or start a group.
This is a great way for you to discover what your potential customers
are interested in.
If, for example, your products
promote natural and holistic health, you might find some great ideas for
new products and markets by reading messages posted in the Natural Health
group. You'll read about problems people have, which might spark a great
idea for a way that you can solve that problem with a product of your own.
You can also get the word out about your products to the targeted audience
in the group.
- News: (http://news.google.com)
Google News is a terrific way for you to stay on top of events. You
can customize the news you get so that it comes from a specific region
or source. You can also trace a particular story's history to see how
it has developed over time. These can be really useful and time-saving
ways to do research in your area. Rather than wading through oceans of
news, tell Google to give you news on specific topics from your target
area.
Unfortunately, unless you are a
news organization yourself, you can't add your own news story as a way of
marketing your product. Press releases don't show up on Google News either.
- Froogle: (http://froogle.google.com)
Froogle is a search engine that looks only for products that are for
sale online. It helps buyers find a web site that sells the things
they want to purchase. The search results are completely
"organic"; in other words, online sellers can't
"buy" a higher ranking in the search results by paying Google
more money than a competitor.
If your web site isn't already
listed in Froogle's search results, you'll want to make sure it gets listed
because the people who search through Froogle are there to buy something!
You can submit your site at https://www.google.com/froogle/merchants/welcome.
You can then use Froogle's "Product Feed" to automatically update
your listing every time you make a change to your site. You can -- and
should -- submit your product feed regularly so that Froogle always has the
most current information about the products you are selling.
- Local: (http://local.google.com)
Google Local is a quick way of limiting your search results to a
specific region. When you click on the "Local" link on the
Google main page, you get two search boxes labelled "What"
and "Where." You can quickly and easily search for things
like local suppliers and potential business contacts. In April of this
year, Google integrated Local Search with Keyhole, a 3D mapping
technology that gives a local business a "flag" on the map
that accompanies search results.
The businesses that are included in
search results are ones that are already indexed by Google or that exist in
one of the databases that Google accesses, like YellowPages. If your
business is not showing up in search results, you can submit it to Google
here: https://www.google.com/local/add/login.
Now, let's move beyond Google's
homepage to the wider world of Google tools and resources.
- Gmail: (http://gmail.google.com)
Gmail is Google's free web-based e-mail service. It offers 2GB of storage
space and the ability to send image files up to 10MB in size, which is
much more than any of the other free webmail services offer. Gmail
also offers new ways of storing, organizing, and archiving e-mail
files.
But the really unique thing about
Gmail is that it "reads" each e-mail message it receives and
matches ads to keywords it finds in the message. These ads are then
displayed alongside the message. This is a great system for advertisers, of
course, because their ads are being shown to a highly targeted group.
Google's Privacy Policy and sensitivity filters assure Gmail users that
their e-mail messages are secure and that the ads placed beside them will
not be in poor taste. However, Google cannot guarantee that your
competitors' ads won't show up on an e-mail you send to your customers.
Gmail is still in beta, though, and
it is likely that the number of people on your e-mail list who use it is
very small.
- Maps: (http://local.google.com)
As mentioned above, Google Maps works in tandem with Google Local,
adding an interactive element to searches by location. You can toggle
between street and satellite views of an area, and you can get
directions simply by choosing "Directions" and typing an
address in the search box.
Your customers will easily find
your brick-and-mortar business or the directions to an event you're
sponsoring with a link to your own Google map right on your web site. All
you have to do is navigate within Google Maps to the view you want your
customers to see and click "Link to This Page." You'll get a URL
that you can add to your web site's HTML. You also have the option to embed
the map itself on your site. To do this, you'll need to sign up first: http://www.google.com/apis/maps/.
You can then add functionality and interest to the map on your site by
overlaying information boxes and directional lines.
- Zeitgeist: (www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html)
Google Zeitgeist is a way of keeping on top of patterns, trends, and
surprises in how people search on Google. It gives you a one-page
snapshot of the top-ranked search terms over the past week and month,
with links to the search results pages. "Zeitgeist Around the
World" gives you similar tidbits organized by country.
If you are interested in tracking
keyword use related to the hottest trends online, this is a useful page for
you to bookmark. And there are archives that go back to January 2001, too!
- PLUS MORE... (www.google.com/intl/en/options/)
There are a lot more Google services to explore! Just for starters,
have a look at Google Print to search the complete text of books,
Google Mobile to search with your cell phone, and University Search to
find links to the web sites of educational institutions.
Save time
-- and money! -- with Google's free tools
In addition to its many valuable services, Google offers you
several really useful -- and free! -- tools. You might be using some of
them already, but you might not have considered how to really make them
work to enhance your business.
1.
Toolbar: (http://toolbar.google.com)
Google's free toolbar is a great way of adding functionality to your web
browser. It can be a real time-saver as it spellchecks your URLs as you
type them, autolinks addresses to maps, and jumps to searched words on a
page. It also, of course, puts a handy Google search box right at your
disposal, no matter where you are on the Web!
- PageRank: If you're
familiar with the Google Toolbar, then you know that PageRank is the
green bar and number that give you an instant sense of a web site's
importance (ranked from 0 to 10). Google determines the
"importance" of your site by monitoring how many other sites
link to you and how "important" they are. PageRank is just
one of the indicators (along with relevant links and high-quality
content) that Google uses to place your web pages in search results.
By monitoring your PageRank -- and that of your competitors -- you can
get a general sense of how well-optimized your pages are for search.
PageRank can also indicate the quality of a site you're checking out
as a potential link partner.
- Blogger: (www.blogger.com)
Google's free blogging tool is an excellent opportunity for you to
develop a web presence with dynamic content and an RSS feed. The
growing importance of RSS will change how new pages are optimized --
news goes out to readers rather than readers coming to look for news.
According to a recent issue of Planet Ocean's "Search Engine Watch,"
in the not-so-distant future, it will become more important to have
large numbers of sites pulling your RSS feed than it will to have a
high rank in search results. Blogger is an easy way to get the jump on
your competition!
Google, itself, uses Blogger for its
own blogs -- have a look at
4.
Code: (http://code.google.com) If
you're a bit of a techie, then you'll appreciate Google Code! This is a
site that Google has for external developers who want to try their hand at
improving Google's products. There are currently several projects that are
being featured, all related to different aspects of projects that are
actively being developed at Google. Google's engineers decide which ones to
release as open source for public development and welcome knowledgeable
input.
5.
Desktop Search: (http://desktop.google.com/)
Desktop Search is a free tool that you can use to search your own computer.
You can locate files, previously visited web pages, e-mail, and more by
installing Google's search bar on your desktop. If your business is growing
and you want to be able to search several computers, you can use the free
Enterprise edition of the Desktop Search box.
6.
Google Earth: (http://earth.google.com)
For pure fun, you HAVE to take a look at Google Earth. It lets you swoop
around the Grand Canyon, zip over to your old neighborhood, and have a look
at the area around that resort you booked online. You can zoom in and out
and rotate the view. While you won't be able to see your dog wagging its
tail in your backyard, it will give you a great sense of terrain,
architecture, and landmarks.
PLUS MORE... (www.google.com/intl/en/options/)
Google offers a number of other tools like Hello, which is an instant
messaging system with images, and Translate, which lets you view web pages
in other languages.
Get a jump
on your competition in Google Labs
Google devotes about 70% of its efforts to developing its web
search and targeted ads, which are the core of its business, and about 10%
on developing products -- like Blogger -- that are fun, interesting, and
useful, but only peripherally related to web search. The remaining 20% of
their time and energy is where a lot of Google's most innovative
development comes from. The company requires its engineers to
spend one-fifth of their time developing their own projects -- things that
interest them apart from their regular jobs -- and this has led to products
like Google's desktop search engine, "search by location," and
Gmail.
Unlike many companies, Google is not afraid to let people
"look under its skirt." In other words, you can get a good idea
of what Google is working on and what direction they might take with the
services and tools they offer. Take a look at Google Labs (http://labs.google.com)
for some current examples.
This is where Google showcases what its engineers have been up
to in their "personal project" time. It is also where Google asks
you for your input. You can try out tools while they are still in the
development stage and give your feedback on how you think they could be
improved or developed -- tools like...
Site Flavored Search Box: (www.google.com/services/siteflavored.html)
You can put a Google search box on your web site that will tailor your
visitors' searches according to a profile you have predefined. You provide
Google with information about yourself, your business, etc., and when your
visitors use the search box, Google flags certain results as likely to be
more relevant. You have the ability to veto sites from being presented in
the search results, too.
Personalized Search: (www.google.com/psearch)
Personalized Search orders your search results based on what you have
searched for before. This can be a real time-saver for a small business
owner who is trying to do market research. You can store and retrieve
previous searches, and as your search history grows, so will the efficiency
of your searches.
PLUS MORE... (http://labs.google.com) Visit
Google Labs to see what else is in the pipeline (or "recently
graduated"). There is a ton of useful stuff, and by getting to know
how Google plans to make things better for you -- and your customers --
tomorrow, you can be better prepared than your competition to take
advantage of all of those tools and services.
Promote
your business by advertising with Google
If you're not already advertising with Google, it's time to
get cracking! Because of the massive number of visitors to Google each day,
it is a HUGE source of potential traffic for you.
- Web Search: Just
showing up in your potential customers' search results is the easiest
way to use Google for free advertising. You'll need to optimize your
web site to achieve the highest ranking possible. You may already be
aware that you need to spend some time getting the right keywords on
your web site and increasing your "link popularity."
You might not have known that
Google looks at the first block of text it encounters on your web page and
uses that for the few lines displayed about your site on search result
pages. So if you want to get listed and also catch the eye of your
customers, make your first paragraph of text count: It should be roughly
300 words with about 8% of them being keywords to be most effective.
- Sitemaps: (www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps)
Google's spiders constantly index web pages, and it is impossible to predict
accurately when they will visit your site. If you have paid attention
to optimization for search, then they WILL crawl your pages. However,
you cannot be sure that they have indexed ALL of your web pages --
they might index just part of your site on one visit. And since they
start at the top of a page and work down, they might not even index
the entire page before moving on!
One thing you can do to increase
the likelihood of your entire site being searchable is to submit your site
to Google Sitemaps. (There are several ways to do this; for an overview go
to:
www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/docs/en/overview.html.)
When you do this, Google creates and stores an XML file that allows for
instant updates and indexing whenever your site's content changes. This is
like having your own data cable running from your computer directly to
Google!
- AdSense: (www.google.com/adsense)
AdSense is one of the two kinds of advertising avenues Google offers.
The ads generated through AdSense are third-party ads that sit on your
web site. The program is free for you to use AND you make money each
time someone clicks on an ad to move off of your web site. In other
words, these ads entice your visitors away from your site (bad thing),
but you are compensated each time that happens (good thing).
Google matches the ads to your site
by finding similarities in the keywords of each. You can set a filter to
prevent your competitors' ads from appearing on your web site, and you can
customize the appearance of the ads so that their background color is the
same as your site's, making them look more like informative content than
sales pitches.
Try testing Google AdSense on your
site to see if it negatively affects your traffic and sales. If it doesn't,
then you've just found a new revenue stream! How much will you earn? That
depends partly on how much the advertisers are paying Google for the
keywords and partly on how many people click through the ads on your site.
You could earn anywhere between $0.03 and $15.00 per click and up to
several hundred dollars a day if you have a well-optimized site that draws
lots of targeted traffic.
- AdWords: (www.google.com/adwords)
The second of Google's advertising opportunities is AdWords. These are
ads that you create to promote your business and that Google places on
other sites for you. There are three main places that you will see
AdWord ads --
- On the
right side of the page next to Google's "organic" search
results
- On other
sites as AdSense ads
- Alongside
your e-mail messages in Gmail
When you create your AdWord ads,
you are in control of how much they cost. You decide how much you are
willing to pay for specific keywords in your ads, and each time your ad is
clicked you pay that amount. The amount ranges from a minimum of $0.05 to a
maximum of $100, and you can set a daily budget that will not be exceeded.
Google uses the keywords you chose
to place your ads on sites that have content relevant to yours, so you can
be assured that the traffic you are paying for is highly targeted. AdWords
reach 80% of Internet users AND you can define their target region and
language. If you're wary about using AdWords because of the possibility of
your ads appearing on sites that do not convert to sales for you, you can
apply a "negative filter" when creating your ad to exclude
specific sites.
As with AdSense ads, it's always a
good idea to test whether your advertising investment is making money for
you. If the click-through traffic is not converting to sales, if your
traffic drops off, or if a particular keyword is not drawing the traffic --
and sales -- you had hoped for, it is time to rework your ads.
Monitor Google -- and
your site's Google ranking -- with other tools
We shouldn't always take a company's word for it about when it
comes to what they offer. It's always wise to get a second opinion or look
to the experts to see what the buzz is about a company's products. Using
Google is no different, and there are a large number of ways that you can
discover who is saying what about Google's plans and products. There are
also a lot of people who provide tools and services that supplement
Google's, and these, too, are worth knowing about.
Let's look at a few examples...
- GoogleAdvisor.org: (http://GoogleAdvisor.org)
This is a blog that focuses on AdSense, AdWords, and PageRank
strategies. For information, tips, tricks, and strategies related to
Google, this site is a good first stop.
- Check your Google rank: (www.GoogleRankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php) This
site gives you a free tool for checking your keywords. You can enter
your site's URL and get a report about your keyword density. You can
then check how highly Google ranks your site for each of the keywords.
- GoogleGuide.com: (www.GoogleGuide.com)
This site offers guides for both novice and experienced users.
Experienced users can find out about creating a web site, including
tips on PageRank, getting listed, and advertising revenue.
In addition, don't forget to "google" for blogs,
resources, and news about Google. That's always a sure way of coming up
with great ideas!
Final
thoughts
You know you've really made it when your company name is
turned into a verb. "Let me google that" is part of our everyday
speech -- and the verb "to google" has even been added to the
Webster's dictionary! From tiny beginnings not that long ago, Google has
had a huge impact, not only on how we search the Web, but also on how we
talk about it. Google has become synonymous with online information.
And there is much more to Google! In fact, we're barely
scratching the surface of some of Google's most recent advancements here --
not to mention the complexities of improving your ranking in Google's
search results...
There is a ton more information on search engine optimization
with Google in our "Insider Secrets" course. Just go to: http://www.SecretsToTheirSuccess.com
Be sure to check out the sections on AdWords, AdSense, and
tips for optimizing your site for Google in particular. We'll walk you
through the tricky bits and point out the hidden gems that you can use to
ensure you are coming out ahead of your competitors.
Above all, remember Google's philosophy: "Focus on the
user, and all else will follow." Every step of your business should be
about solving a problem for your customer. Google's services and tools will
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