WHAT IT MEANS: GOOGLE'S LATEST SEARCH ENGINE ALGORITHM CHANGES

Google has confirmed to Search Engine Land that on Thursday, September 27th, they released a Panda algorithm update. People who are into Search Engine stuff will quickly know that Panda is Google's Search Engine algorithm. This is Google's 20th Panda update and that is the reason it has been called Panda 20. As per the search engine specialists Panda 20 is a major update that impacts 2.4% of English search queries on the Google Search Engine. The exact impact and the type of queries or websites impacted are yet to monitored. Let's see what it brings up in few days.

Panda updates are mostly run by Google to better the quality of its search results. Only a couple of days before rolling the Panda 20, Google dropped the "Low Quality" exact match domains from search results. What it means is- earlier if people would search "let's go and buy bananas", the domain names similar to that of the search query would appear in the top results despite their content quality. For instance in this ("let's go and buy bananas") example: "www.gobuybananas.com" appeared in top results. So, you see basically those domains were tricking you on to their sites on the basis of your search queries by first fooling the Google Search Engine and then of course you. Google confirmed that new exact-match domain (EMD) algorithm affected 0.6% of English-US queries to a noticeable degree and was unrelated to Panda update.

Another important update on the Google Search Engine is- nowadays you will be noticing Google showing 7 (organic) search results on the first page for many searches, instead of the usual 10. So, where are those 3 more search results? Well, instead of those 3 search results, Google is showing sponsored or ads related to keywords links. For example, search for "making money" which will show you just 7 (organic) search results and 3 sponsored ads related links on the first page of the Google Search Engine. If you do the match it's equal to approximately 30% reduction of organics search results. So again, what does it really means?

Many will feel that- Google is chipping away at organic search results to drive buyers to paid listings, and soon, the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will become irrelevant, but the reality is showing 10 to 7 organic responses on the home page isn't exactly eating up the organic results. 

Let dig deep- Google still shows the paid searches very distinguishably such as in the form of "ads related to the keyword"(highlighted in a different color), rest all the response (in this case 7 of them) are still organic. People are smart enough or let me say Google is letting people know what are paid results and what are organic results. Till the time Google doesn't confuses a user between the paid vs the organic searches it's fair and square. A Search Engine survey showed that most people ignore ads once they understand the meaning of it...all they look for is organic responses!! Hence, having 7 results out of 10 on the first page isn't that bad when u know now that on the next page u have the next best organic responses.

From a Search Engine Optimization companies' perspective showing 7 organic results is a really dull move by Google. Let's say if you are trying to rank for a certain keyword on the search engine, there are now 30% less chances of landing on the first page, and as per the current trends we know that users rarely click through to page 2 or 3. Hence, the only other way to land on the first page will be is to buy an ad.

Having said that if Google tends to focus more on paid ads and less on organic searches, we will soon monitor the shift in users' behavior, which could be in the form of improvement of click through to page 2 from 1....Things are evolving, and these changes may put businesses in an iffy-giffy frame of mind for at least the limited period of time till the users understand the meaning of what has been brought by the search engine on their screens. Still, the bottom line is- Google or for that matter any search engine company have to align itself to the customer behavior than vice-versa. Hence, it will be wise to have your content or SEO strategy more aligned towards the user behavior than the Search Engine Algorithmic changes, yes there will be always slight alterations, but nothing can stop a business if it has unique original content along with high traffic on the website.  

HOW BIG COMPANIES ARE MISSING THE BASIC TRICK OF CREATING THE SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ

WHAT IS ALL THE BUZZ ABOUT ?

A great question, if you are consumer or a business partner this is exactly what you are going to ask when you see another company's event- What's all that buzz about ? Things have changed in these past years, and if you haven't made enough noise about it, the chances are you will fail in your goal of getting the maximum consumer and business attention of the world. Yes, in short you want people to ask this question.You want to evoke this curiosity about the event you are hosting or the product launch you are going to do. Why would you want this- the answer is simple you want more customers, you want more businesses to interact with you and you want that golden opportunity to convert those conversations into the sales. Until you get the platform where you have the attention, you wont be able to make an impact, hence no sale, no money !

THE CORPORATE EVENTS ARE GETTING BIGGER AND BETTER

The world is changing, we are truly into the era of information and social media age. Companies are no longer just focusing on non-digital marketing and advertising, and even if there are any, they sure are struggling to drive their businesses. Eventually, the most profound impact of both digital and non-digital marketing is: corporate events are getting bigger and better ! I'm going to take Software and Technology sector for a reference, many large tech firms are tightening their belts. Not much of a surprise that San Francisco is the hub of all the tech events and conferences every single day.

Salesforce.com Inc., for example,  recently held the Dreamforce conference week. The event was attended by almost 70,000 people. Microsoft took a unique approach of its own and set the Guinness World Record for the Globe's largest ever app development marathon.A total of 2,567 developers participated in the marathon. VMware attracted almost 21,000 people to VMworld—a conference that attempts to set the annual agenda for users trying to modernize their computer rooms. Oracle's years ago milestone event OpenWorld is a big hit. It's considered the No. 1 gathering for a Tech conference in San Francisco, despite all its participants pay an admission fee around $2,395 while Dreamforce was a free session. This year Oracle expects 50,000 people at the event and over 100,000 watching the event online through various digital and social media channels. It's quiet evident that corporate events are getting massive than ever before.   

WHAT BIG COMPANIES ARE MISSING WHEN IT COMES TO SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ ?

One of the problem that succumbs a big organization is when it stops thinking like a start-up. Yes, you will notice a lot of big firms getting into a status quo mode, and starts rejecting few basic business strategies just because they seem start-up like. Let's dig it deep. For example, I'm a big tech firm with a global workforce of over 100,000 with 1000+ offices across all the continents of the world. I hold a big tech event such as Salesforce.com Inc.'s Dreamforce every year. I setup a team for the event, I allocate a big hefty sum for it and I do ample of marketing in order to gain the lime light. Mind you, a start-up firm will struggle in almost all three things mentioned, the reason is simple they do not have the resources, they have limited budgets and they can't spend too much on marketing. In short, if you are a big company you have a big advantage, but big companies miss a big trick, even though a basic one, that is "Employee Engagement".

Just Imagine if you are a start-up what will be your first step if you are planning for a big tech conference. You will seek out to your co-workers, isn't it? Common sense! Yes, you get together, you distribute tasks and responsibilities, and together you plan your online marketing and social media activities for the big event. Next, you will see everyone in the start-up company talking about the event online- blogs, social media, guest posts etc. This is where big companies make big blunders, they market and advertise about the event a lot to the outside world but keep on forgetting their huge workforce. Big companies have to spread the awareness about its big events not just to the outside world but also to its employees. They should first create a positive environment and buzz about the event within the organization and then to the outside world. Make it a big thing inside your company campuses, get every employee interested in it and what this event can bring to the company. Almost, each and every employee in the company uses one or more social media channel, just imagine if you can get your employees talking about your event online. For no cost, you will create a massive social media buzz about the event that you are soon going to host.

HOW BIG COMPANIES CAN LEVERAGE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT FOR CREATING A SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ

One of the biggest advantages of big companies is their big workforce. Employees take pride in spreading the good word about the company they are working for, and if as an employer you can engage them in company events, you can very easily motivate them to promote the company events online. Another advantage of big companies spread across vast geographies is that they can together create a lot of buzz across the world at the same time. Engage employees in various contests and activities in your remote offices spread across other nations and continents. Invite employees to the big events who can cover the event online even before the actual event starts. Take employees who either run web-logs or photo-blogs for the events. Motivate employees to talk about their experiences at the event with fellow co-workers, this will motivate other employees to be part of it, a win win situation for both the employer and the employee.

In the end, you have to realize that company's employees are the people who are actually building the products or the services and they are the one who can best understand the customer problems or expectations. Company events will give employees the opportunity if not direct customer interaction but at least understand what customer needs are and what are customers reaction to the new products. In the end, as a big company you will end up not only saving some good money that you would have spent on marketing and advertising of the event, but also seeing a content, happy and satisfied workforce where people want to work for you.