Jessica Shieh, Digital Strategist

How Will Google Instant Change the SEO Game?

As of right now, the launch of Google Instant does not change search rankings dramatically. So in the narrow sense of SEO being about staying on top of the search result list, it does not have a significant impact.

However, if you define SEO in the broader sense, as Avichal Garg put it “capturing user attention for your site/brand as the user is in the information/search/buying flow,” then yes, this is a game changing technology. Some potential effects may include:

• The top rankings will get even more valuable since the query result changes as users type, they are less likely to scroll down unless they identify content of interest; also, lower ranking content will have even less visibility.
• Pages titles are more important because that will be the first place users look for information as they type in the search terms.
• Understanding user search behavior becomes essential. As users adapt to the search suggestion, they may start to type in only part of a query to fish for suggestions. As a result, sites and domains that mirror how users construct queries will benefit most from Google Instant.

Jessica Shieh, Digital Strategist

When Google announced Google Instant in early September, tech blogs, forums and social media channels exploded with buzz about this change to the popular search engine.

If you’re looking for a basic primer, Matt McGee provides a great overview on the Search Engine Land blog, but in this two-part blog series, I’m going to skip over the basics and talk about Google Instant’s potential impact on user behavior and consequently, how it changes the SEO game.

Welcome to a belated Top Tweets! TT went on hiatus for the holiday but makes its triumphant return today. Here are the posts our followers enjoyed the most as summer unofficially came to a close.

1. Content Strategy: Harness Emotion, Authenticity with Your Words
by Marisa Peacock on CMSWire

This article speaks to a fundamental marketing truth – no matter how good you are at what you do, there is no substitute for making an emotional connection with your customers. When you’re crafting content, it’s important to remember how much words truly matter in persuading customers to buy, donate, or take any form of action in favor of your cause or brand.

Takeaway: In the B2B world, particularly on the tech services side, it’s easy to forget the importance of emotional connection in favor of trying to appeal to consumers’ common sense. While common sense certainly has its place in the decision making process, it’s important to infuse your website and social media content with personality and emotion. You do have real people working for your company right? Make sure that shines through in the way you market your product or service.