BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 10/28

This week we announced a great update the S3 platform to make it even better!  Twitter updates its timeline, find out why you should make sure you have a site with excellent tablet functionality and why Facebook “likes” their fan pages so much.

1.  Should SEOs Prepare for the End of Google as We Know It?

Is Google’s master plan to abolish the natural algorithm, which is what made it so popular in the first place? If so, this would be a big problem for search marketers in the future and if Google is willing to let big companies pay their way to the top of all listings this could be the death of organic search as we know it. It’s their search engine and it’s the biggest one out there, but will they move to an entirely paid model?

2.  Matt Cutts Answers “Does Google consider SEO to be spam?”

Matt Cutts of Google sits down to discuss the ways in which Search engine optimization can be a valid way to help people find what they are looking for via search engines.

3.  Twitter reveals new timeline features

This week twitter announced a look to their interface and timeline, it seems Twitter may be streamlining the look of its stream.

4. Google Transparency Report Now Shows User Data Requests

The Google Transparency Report has been updated to include data on Government requests for user information. The U.S. made requests for over 11,000 accounts in the first half of 2011 alone, making them the leader in user data requests. In terms of user data requests, the U.S. is a real leader; there were 5,950 U.S. user data requests in the first half of 2011 alone. Those requests covered 11,057 total accounts. Google complied, in whole or in part, with 93% of those requests.

5.  The secret behind Facebook’s obsession with fan pages

A study found that a Facebook page that is a branded fan pags with updates that users see — are vastly more successful than other ways of advertising on Facebook. To be more exact, Facebook Pages convert people into customers at a far higher rate than other forms of advertising. The conversion rate is four times higher than ordinary display ads and more than six times higher than traditional Facebook ads.

6. Google Hides Search Referral Data with New SSL Implementation

On Tuesday, Google announced that signed-in users will, by default, be routed to the SSL version of Google Before Tuesday, most users used non-SSL Google for their searches. Now, according to Google, “…a web site accessed through organic search results on http://www.google.com (non-SSL) can see both that the user came from google.com and their search query… However, for organic search results on SSL search, a web site will only know that the user came from google.com.” The effects were obvious immediately. Here’s a screenshot of our GA account showing the quantity of “(not provided)” keywords going up from Sunday to today.

7. PROOF You Should Make Sure Your Website Works on Tablets

Journalism.org released an infographic based on a study that found that people who use tablets are better educated, spend more time consuming news and have a higher average household income. This IG is focused on news, but we all know that people are using tablets to look at everything. Take away: take the time and money to invest in a site that works.

8.  How to Effectively Battle the Panda Update

Sure it may be convenient to blame your current ranking decrease on panda, but the first thing you should ask is if your problem really was panda related or if there is a deeper underlying issue with your SEO tactics. Even if it is a panda issue, focus your energy toward fixing the underlying cause. Not every negative change is panda’s fault. It is quite possible that some other issue is hurting your site and it is best to use your time to fix that problem then to use the Panda update as your scape goat.

9.  Tech Talk Podcast: Search Engines for Phones

How do people use search engines on mobile devices compared to those on computers? On this Bits: Tech Talk podcast, Claire Cain Miller, a Times technology reporter in Silicon Valley, discusses how behavior differs. She also explains how advertisers are adapting to search-on-the-go, and how Google came to its early dominance of the mobile-search market.

10.  Should you care how high your Klout score is?

Some argue that Klout scores are effectively meaningless, since no one really knows how the score is calculated. While these criticisms may be well-founded, however, there is no question that measuring online influence is a huge potential market, and Klout is far from the only one doing it; Google, Twitter and Facebook clearly have their eyes on that prize as well. While it may be true that those affected by Klout scores are primarily social-media consultants, there’s no question that the goal of measuring influence online is one that some major players also have their sights on.