If you have not heard about Social Search, it is a product that GoogleLabs launched back in Oct-2009. For the past few months, you have had the opportunity to opt in to Social Search. If you have not opted in, oh well. It does not really matter because in a few days Google will begin displaying Social Search results for anyone who is logged into the Google account while they are performing searches on Google. How about that?!

But what exactly is Social Search?

As the internet has grown, our level of connectedness has grown, and today there is an unprecedented number of social networking sites. You probably have an account on a few of them. Personally, I love Facebook and Twitter. It’s just so fun to get real-time updates about my friends, family and colleagues. With social search, we will be able to see results from your social circle in the Google SERPs. That’s where this is heading.

Based on links and content from your Google profile, Google will be able to determine your social circle. And from that social circle, Google will find content to display in a section of the search results. In order to see social search results, follow these tips from Google:

You can create a rich social circle and start seeing social search results by following a few simple steps:

• Add new people to your social circle by adding them to the “Friends”, “Family” or “Coworkers” group in your Google contacts
• Create a Google profile and add links to services where your friends create content
• If you would like to see more content from your Google contacts, encourage them to create a Google profile and add links to their content there

You can find out more about the content for Social Search here. For now, check out this video from Google:

So there you have it: Google Social Search. What do you think about Social Search?

Ugg Boots for the 32-year-old woman?

It’s bad enough that I know I’m 32, but now you know too and are just throwing it in my face! All in the name of some sort of commerce?! Tacky.

I’m wondering if you can explain how my being 32 connects me to your product? I would think the fact that I’m 32 would automatically remove me from your horribly built list. I’m soooo over you. I thought you were kind of cool 8 years ago, but times have changed. I’ve moved on. My daughter likes you now; somehow, you don’t make her feet feel claustrophobic and sweaty like you do mine. Also, I’m a strong believer that moms’ and daughters’ fashion should not overlap, which means you’re now going against the grain of my good upbringing.

And let’s not forget your terrible use of a call to action. I saw this exact same offer yesterday and the day before that. Perhaps you live in an alternate universe where time means completely different things, but here on earth, within the hallowed halls of Facebook, 3 minutes means exactly 180 seconds. Otherwise, I’d still be 19 years old, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation!

I won’t belabor this, but simply put, your advertising has elicited the opposite reaction of what it intends. Targeting done right is great. This, done poorly to the point of pathetic, is counterproductive at best and offensive at worst.

Join the Range team, along with executive speakers from ClearSaleing, Google and Microsoft for an evening of idea-sharing and networking.

Cocktails begin at 6 p.m. with panel discussion and guest Q&A until 8 p.m. Just follow this link to register for Dallas on January 26.

Here is a sampling of the results:

Sprint Navigation for the BlackBerry Pearl 8130

I was desperate, so I decided to scroll through the results. Not one of the results on the page is for Sprint’s standard GPS navigation software, but it got me thinking of some of the ways that good search experiences have completely spoiled me:

• I constantly look for search kiosks in grocery stores.
• I get mad when I do a local search and it doesn’t bring up a OneBox result.
• I refuse to click next page if I don’t find what I want.
• I only type in a few letters to most search boxes and anxiously wait for suggestions.
• The first thing I look for on a complex page is a search box.
• I suffer anxiety at the thought of having to browse through a directory.
• I have become very, very bad at finding anything in the Yellow Pages.

I’m a little extreme, but I’m also part of a very valuable segment online for all kinds of businesses. There are a lot of us, and there is a lot of bad search. As a retailer, I’d want to know exactly how that segment felt about the experience I was providing, and optimize it as effectively as I could.

How much money do you think Sprint loses to bad search?

(I know, I know. Buy an iPhone. On it.)

Below is the current Google “site:” style search which returns the number of results found – in other words the page count for that site.

Current Google Site: Count

The new 3 column Google interface appears to drop the number of results found when conducting the same type of search.

The New 3-Column Google Interface Site: Count

However, conducting a normal search without the “site:” operator in the new layout, Google still displays the number of total results.

A normal search will still display the number of total results

I may have missed it, but I haven’t seen anyone mention this notable change. This has been a consistent pattern I’ve seen so far, but share your thoughts if you are or are not seeing the same thing.

I’d like to hear from Google on this, as I still consider this search feature useful even today in diagnosing site issues.

Update: Recently, I noticed that Google IS now listing site counts on the new look (although not before our article got a fair number of Sphinns). I’m not sure if this was a change of mind of simply a mistake on Google’s part.

• Update! Dec. 8: 5 new features for Google Analytics
  If you are an analytics junkie, check this out. Google Analytics is supercharged.
• Dec. 7: Google launches real-time search
  Check out the scrolling bar in the SERPs for this result
• Dec. 4: Google announces personalized search results for anyone who uses Google
  Apparently, Google will set a 180-day cookie on your computer and serve you personalized results – whether you are signed in or not! Wow.
• Dec. 3: Google switches to fading homepage
  Cool. I guess.
• Dec. 2: Google releases PageSpeed report in WebmasterCentral
  This feature is actually very helpful, and my clients love it. Also, it finally gives us proof that Google cares about page speed just as much as users do.
• Dec. 1: Google adds supersized images to universal search results
  Rather than one row of images, Google displays a big image on the left and two rows of smaller images.
• Dec. 1: Google adds geography data to search results (in the URL/breadcrumb area)
  I have not seen this one very often, but in the SERPs, it tells you what country the website is hosted in. I think.
• Nov. 30: Google Caffeine goes live on one data center
  And here it is: http://209.85.225.103/. But it only returns Caffeine results about 50% of the time.
• Nov. 23: Google Product Search rolls out 3 new features
  You’ve probably noticed the new “One Boxes,” but here’s a link that should show you what I mean.
• Nov. 18: Google SERPs: Breadcrumbs instead of URLs
  I think these will be an SEO game changer. It gives your search result more chances for a clickthru.
• Nov. 12: At WebCon, Matt Cutts announces site speed will be a new organic ranking factor
  We have always been concerned with this factor for usability, but it looks like it will soon be a ranking factor, too.
• Nov. 10: Matt Cutts says Google Caffeine will go live after the holidays
  I’m glad they chose to wait until after the holiday season. Don’t mess with stuff during the holidays!

Oh and also, today Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, joined Twitter (@ericschmidt). How about that?

In conclusion, Google has been very busy this holiday season. The good news is that every one of these items has an impact on SEO. It looks like 2010 is going to be an awesome year , chock-full of new stuff to do! Thanks, Google!

It’s not easy explaining redirects without losing your audience, as header status codes and redirects are not the most compelling subjects. To avoid those terrible scenarios, most SEOs simply tell their clients, “301 redirects are good, and 302 redirects are bad.” 99.99% of the time, that’s all that anyone needs to know. And regardless of whether or not anyone really knows the reasoning behind that claim, the fact is that everything almost always works better for SEO by using 301 redirects.

But I say we can’t stop there. Why restrict the boring nature of a redirects to verbal conversations only? I say we must take this exhausting topic to the blog! We need to have it down in writing! We must dive deeper into the topic of redirects! That’s what I say. So without any further ado, I’d like to get started on this long-awaited, long-winded topic: HTTP Status Codes, specifically the 3xx series. Here is a brief summary of the 8 HTTP status codes from the 3xx series:

• 300 Multiple Choices
  Indicates multiple options for the resource that the client may follow. It, for instance, could be used to present different format options for video, list files with different extensions, or word sense disambiguation.

• 301 Moved Permanently
  This and all future requests should be directed to the given URI.

• 302 Found (aka Object Moved aka Moved Temporarily)
  This is the most popular redirect code, but also an example of industrial practice contradicting the standard. HTTP/1.0 specification (RFC 1945 ) required the client to perform a temporary redirect (the original describing phrase was “Moved Temporarily”), but popular browsers implemented it as a 303 See Other. Therefore, HTTP/1.1 added status codes 303 and 307 to disambiguate between the two behaviors. However, the majority of Web applications and frameworks still use the 302 status code as if it were the 303.

• 303 See Other
  The response to the request can be found under another URI using a GET method. When received in response to a PUT, it should be assumed that the server has received the data and the redirect should be issued with a separate GET message.

• 304 Not Modified
  Indicates the resource has not been modified since last requested. Typically, the HTTP client provides a header like the If-Modified-Since header to provide a time against which to compare. Utilizing this saves bandwidth and reprocessing on both the server and client, as only the header data must be sent and received in comparison to the entirety of the page being re-processed by the server, then resent using more bandwidth of the server and client.

• 305 Use Proxy
  Many HTTP clients (such as Mozilla[4] and Internet Explorer) do not correctly handle responses with this status code, primarily for security reasons.

• 306 Switch Proxy
  No longer used.

• 307 Temporary Redirect
  In this occasion, the request should be repeated with another URI, but future requests can still use the original URI. In contrast to 303, the request method should not be changed when reissuing the original request. For instance, a POST request must be repeated using another POST request.

How about that? I bet you didn’t know that there were actually eight unique status codes for redirects. If you read through that list, you may have noticed that, technically, the 307 is the Temporary Redirect. The 302 is actually listed as Found or Moved. Furthermore, they had to create the 303 and 307 responses after various browsers were interpreting the 302 differently. Fascinating, right? I wonder how many SEO’s actually know about the subtle differences between a 302 and a 307.

But let’s not stop there. Apparently, it looks like the 303 is actually what most SEOs talk about when they speak of a 302 temporary redirect. Ian McAnerin describes it very well on his blog, so I borrowed this next part from him:

In reality, a 302 just means “Object Moved”, or “Found”, which, if accompanied by a target URL, browsers and servers interpret as a redirect. But with no target URL, they will happily stay there, and it’s not an error.

In reality, a 303 is what most SEO’s think a 302 is. A 303 means “See Other”. A 307 is the actual Temporary Redirect. It really means temporary, as in the very next request should also be made to the old URL, and the new one should not even be cached. This is usually only used for emergency redirects (like when a primary server is down) and the like.

A302 doesn’t dictate a redirect, it just says that what you were looking for moved, and it’s been found there. You are usually redirected only as a courtesy and for usability purposes. Technically, you should use a 303, which really does the job properly.

How about that? Can you believe it? Have you even heard of a 303 redirect? It’s crazy, huh?

If you’re still with me, I know this information is probably news to you. Or your eyes have glazed over with the inspirational information in this post. I mean, this stuff is obviously rocket science. At any rate, the good news is that you don’t really need to have an in-depth knowledge of these redirects (well, unless you run into someone who might dismiss you because you don’t know this stuff) because it’s true that 301 redirects do take care of everything 99.99% of the time. The other good news is that now you know about all of the redirect status codes. Now go forth and 303. Er, uh, I mean 301. Or was it 307? :)

• DMOZ 2.0 is on the way in 2010. I don’t know who this blog belongs to, but it seems to have a lot of inside information about the forthcoming, upgraded version DMOZ (aka DMOZ 2.0).
• Malcolm Coles has a great write-up on the new Google layout. From the look of things, Local SEO will be crucial for all websites when this layout rolls out to all Google data centers.
• Black Friday boasts $595M in U.S. online holiday spending; Up 11% versus a year ago (via comScore)
• Some 19% of Americans will use their mobile devices for shopping this holiday season, according to a Deloitte survey.
• Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday showed a strong surge in online shopping searches, with searches for “Black Friday” up by more than 20%, year over year.

Enjoy!

Thanks to Barry Schwartz for the update on Caffeine.

SEO Game Changers: Breadcrumbs in the Google SERPs

I did a search in Google for things to do london, and that is the result I saw. I was simply scrolling through the results, and the Yahoo! Travel result jumped out at me. It was the #8 result in the SERPs. To be clear, I knew Google was testing a new feature that added a breadcrumb structure to the URL section of each search result. A lot of people were noticing Google’s tests earlier this year, and the breadcrumbs in these test were taking many forms. However, last week, Google made an official announcement about this new feature being launched. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it until I saw it for myself. (Oh, great. Now I sound like some guy who never believed in UFOs until he saw one for himself. But I digest.)

Because I’m an SEO, I have several questions about this new search results feature from Google:

• What factors cause Google to show breadcrumbs for certain sites?
• Can I do anything on my site(s) to influence Google to create breadcrumbs for my listings in the SERPs?
• Do I want breadcrumbs in my site’s listing in the SERPs?
• Does it help or hurt clickthrough rates?
• Will this feature eventually replace the URLs in all search results?
• Can I track visits from these breadcrumbs?

I must admit that I really like these breadcrumbs in the SERPs. Google refers to the breadcrumbs as an improvement, so I can’t imagine they would hurt clickthrough. Also, with more links in my site’s listing, I will have more opportunities for clicks. That’s always nice! Like Google SiteLinks, these breadcrumbs are obviously driven by the Google algorithms. Right now, we have no direct control of them, but I do believe we can optimize our sites with the SERPs breadcrumb in mind. And that’s why this is an SEO game changer: SEOs will soon be adding this to their list of strategies for SEO campaigns.

In reality, SEO will still be SEO, but this new feature brings into focus the hierarchy of a site and the optimization of internal linking. It also makes me wonder about need for semantic URLs. If my URL is not going to be displayed, does it really matter if it contains several relevant keywords? In fact, if Google displays these breadcrumbs for several listings in the SERPs, does it really matter what my URLs look like at all? Of course it does! We still have to keep doing SEO like we have been doing SEO, but now we have to consider the on-site factors that may be contributing to these breadcrumbs.

Website owners can no longer ignore internal linking strategies or URL structures. Furthermore, all SEOs will need to consider the keywords used for internal linking within their websites. We also need to consider the clickthrough rate of keywords in these breadcrumbs. It’s actually a lot to think about. In my opinion, that’s the main reason that this development changes the SEO game. It forces everyone to consider site architecture, hierarchy and internal linking strategies. It also proves the need for an internal breadcrumb for every website. In the end, there is an opportunity for a higher clickthrough rates with these breadcrumbs, and no one can ignore that!

PS. I would not be a true SEO if I neglected to mention that there is the possibility that Google could mess this up for some sites. Some site owners may not like or agree with the hierarchy breadcrumbs that Google displays in their respective listings. Should there be the opportunity to opt out of this feature in Webmaster Central? I’m sure someone will ask for that. Or someone will be yelling about it on Twitter. [Note: I love the SEOs who get mad at Google for taking too many liberties with other peoples' websites and incomes.]

Update: I have been thinking about this one point from Google’s blog post:

Often, however, URLs are too long, too short, or too obscure to add useful information…The new text (breadcrumb) provides useful information about the page. [Google]

If we want Google to give you a breadcrumb in the SERPs, should we create ‘bad’ URLs? These ‘bad’ URLs could be too long, too short or too obscure. Would that not increase the chance that Google gives us a breadcrumb in our search listings? Just saying is all…