Google Gadgets & SEO

What do you think of when you think of SEO in Seattle? Many people would think of SEOmoz.

Google doesn’t.

Let’s search for “seattle seo” in google…

Notice the local results above the normal ones? SEOmoz isn’t there.

This is bad in a couple of ways, but the worse part of it is something I haven’t heard many people speak about. If you are not in the local results for your keywords it does not only affect those searching for “city name + keyword”

It also will affect you in results personalized by Google for just “keyword”.

Time to wake up people.

Geo location and Google personalized results are intimately tied. If Google assumes someone is in Seattle, then it will return results for “seo seattle” or more to the point for this example,  it will not show SEOmoz.

We have probably all seen cases of Google personalized results by city, but if you haven’t you will soon. Think about it in the terms of countries where we already are used to getting an entirely different set of results for the same terms in Google and in Google UK for example.

It is Google’s goal to provide the most useful results for the search terms a user enters.

Google knows that Google UK users are likely in the UK thus it shows results relevant and useful for the UK.

It would be silly to think that the same is not true of cities. If Google knows someone is in Seattle, they will begin to provide Seattle results. Therefore, expect to see those local results  on top of alot of your future searches.

So to wrap up this point:

Local results are becoming more and more common in Google searches, and will continue to do so. Google has begun localizing their personalized search results. Part of that localization is the inclusion of local results. If you are not in local results, you need to be.

Rebecca Kelley recently wrote on the SEOmoz blog about the things she discovered about their local listings via GetListed.org and she discovered a couple things that are affecting them negatively.
The main thing she found out via GetListed is that there were three different SEOmoz entries in Google local…

This is a common thing, to have more than one listing. With SEOmoz this occurred because they have moved a couple of times (which highlights the challenge that Google faces with local listings).

To see how this looks in Google local let’s search for SEOmoz…

There are literally three “SEOmoz’s” (even though they only have one office)

This brings up another important reason Local SEO is important to Non-Local SEO.

If your local listings are not correct or they don’t exist you will not be found by widgets and mobile applications who use Google local data.

This might not have seemed to important a couple of years ago, but in the iPhone and Android world it is very important.

If you don’t believe me then try to get to SEOmoz’s office via your iPhone.

Virtually every mobile application uses local data from search engines or data providers. If you are not properly listed, or are not listed at all, then you will be invisible.

If your listing are inaccurate then you are going to be frustrating real people trying to go to your location.

Luckily for SEOmoz, Rebecca is on top of this and is currently cleaning their local listings up. In a few weeks, expect a very different set of results.

There are two quick and easy steps that I think every business, large or small, should take to ensure they are taking full advantage of the free local listings available to them.

1) Search for “your city + your key words” on Google and see if you show up in the local results.

2) Go to GetListed.org (free tool that examines your local listings on several platforms)

Rae Hoffman, Rhea Drysdale, and Lisa Barone founded a search marketing company named OutSpoken Media.

All three of the founders are well known in the search industry, and have all the skills needed to take over your SEM compaigns. They are also very well connected. I am a bit biased because I know all three of them, but having worked with both Lisa Barone and Rhea Drysdale I can tell you that these are professionals who know how to get things done.

The company is a full scale SEM provider. Their services include SEO, social media, content creation, online reputation management, affiliate marketing, training /speaking, and more. See their search engine marketing services page for more details.

Rhea Drysdale discusses OutSpoken Media services in videos on the site, I was really impressed with her video about social media in the business world…

Rhea and OutSpoken Media were also recently highlighted in the Wall Street Journal in an articled called “It’s a New Me (As Seen on Google)“.

Lisa Barone is currently covering SMX West for the OutSpoken Media blog, where she covered five sessions yesterday alone. Lisa Barone is a well known industry blogger and her conference coverage and her industry insights are delivered with a unique and observant voice that is admired by all. Make sure to subscribe to her blog.

Rae Hoffman is the CEO and she is a well known talent in the area of affiliate marketing. She is a sought after conference speaker and a great and passionate person. I have read and learned from her for years.

OutSpoken Media is a combination of these three people and weaves together their skill sets.

Expect big things from them.

If you do search engine marketing then you likely have some form of business. There are several rewarding and profitable ways to engage with your community. Not the online community of SEOs but the offline community of where you live.

David Mihm was recently at his local Chamber of Commerce presenting to small business owners on the subject of SEO. In doing so, not only was David helping out the business owners in attendance but he was also becoming a trusted resource in his community with the very people who are likely to need his services in the first place.

There are many rewards to involving yourself with your local community.

Exposure. Trust. Media references. Helping others. Networking. etc.

Reaching out to your community helps you and it helps your community.

There are several ways to get involved with your community if you wish to do so. You may be surprised at the options available.

Carolyn Shelby of Cshel is here presenting to her Chicago community, she has received many benefits because of such community interaction and you can too.

If you want to get involved with your community, here are few suggestions:

Chamber of Commerce - your community has a chamber of commerce and they very likely offer classes. You can contact your local chamber of commerce and ask them what classes they are offering and how to become involved with teaching. They will probably appreciate it. Their goal is to help local businesses and the internet is a big part of what a business needs to know and understand.

SCORE: Is a non-profit organization that connect business owners with mentors. It is a fabulous resource for all involved. There are local chapters of SCORE just about everywhere and they offer classes as well. Contact your local SCORE office and ask them how you can help. http://www.score.org/

Community leaders: Is your business located in a neighborhood? Like a China Town or a Little Italy? If so you would be impressed by how appreciative the neighborhood association would be if you were to reach out to them and ask if you can help the businesses in the area.

Libraries: The local library is the pillar of local learning and many offer business classes and are seeking volunteers to help teach such classes.

Universities: Stroll onto a campus and vist you local schools or universities and chat with them. Ask them if there is any need for business case studies or classes. Offer to create a class for them. Don’t forget the greeks! Franternities and Sorority Associations are strong networks to be part of.

There are many ways to get involved with your community and the bottom line is it is a great way to become a more valid and trusted source as an SEO or SEM professional.

Clearspring has long been one of the big three of widget viral installers (along with Widgetbox and Gigya)

They recently announced that the new version of their widget installer called Launchpad triples the amount of widget “grabs”.

I take that with a grain of salt, but I will say that the simplification of the interface certainly is quite impressive.

To see the the new installer in action use the widget below.

I like this widget. It is from Penguin books and displays a book every week. They have “identified 52 books that will make you ‘healthy, wealthy, and wise in 2009′ and put them into a widget. ”

In any case the new installer (launchpad) is definitely worth a look. It is the first installer that gives simple resizing options which is a seriously big thing. To check it out just click the “Get and Share” bar at the bottom of this widget.

One common question among businesses considering Google gadgets or other widgets is basically this…

“Why should I encourage people to use the functionality of my web site without actually visiting my website?”

This question makes sense if someone for example is monetizing their site via adsense. If they display their content elsewhere like iGoogle or Facebook they “lose” the money making part of their website.

The real questions that people should probably be thinking is “Why isn’t my content working for me where ever it is displayed?”

If your goal is branding for example, you can immediately jump into the gadget world and achieve your goals. If your goal is helping your customers then you can jump immediately into gadgets.

To make something available via gadgets, you should ensure that your portable content is accomplishing your goals. If you are not receiving value from your content when it is portable, you may want to start designing content that will.

To illustrate this, let’s look at the Getlisted Google gadget…

This gadget uses the canvas view of iGoogle to display all the information availible about your business, as though you were at the website itself. The entire functionality is there, including the ability to sign in and use your own personal dashboard.

Since the entire functionality is availible via this gadget, there may seem to be no reason whatsoever for a user to ever even visit the GetListed.org web site.

I am okay with that.

GetListed was designed as an absolutely portable being. Wherever and however this content is displayed is fine with me. If a user is using it on Facebook, iGoogle or other widget platforms, it still does it’s job and still provides value to the users and also provides value to to me, it’s creator.

In fact, the way your content is displayed is becoming less up to you and more up to what users want.

The GetListed functionality can be placed on any website by just using an iframe for example.

Here is the same functionality on another website via an iframe at feedthebot.com…

Content portability is fast becoming a web reality.

Is your content ready?

Getlisted Google gadget code is here

Iframe example on Feedthebot is here

Related post to portability is here

Rhea, Lisa and myself have decided to leave We Build Pages.

All three of us will be working on private projects that we plan to announce to the world very soon. We’re also open to hearing about new opportunities, so if you’ve been secretly waiting to work with us, now’s a very good time to reach out and catch up.

We heart Jim Boykin and we wish him and We Build Pages the best of luck in their future ventures. That said, Rhea, Lisa and myself are now open for business opportunities independently.

Rhea Drysdale: rhea.drysdale@gmail.com

Lisa Barone: lmbarone@gmail.com

Patrick Sexton: guidelineguy@gmail.com

David Mihm and I have created a new resource for local business owners and those who have local businesses as clients.

GetListed.org

It is a tool designed to help simplify the process a small business owner must take in order to effectively list their business in the free resources available on the web. It has many features which will be very useful for those businesses who are responsible for more than one location (or client) as well.

A quick run through of what this tool does…

First we ask for the business name and the zip code of the business.

We then display information is available for that business listing….

The information we display here show a user several things about how their business is listed in the major free local search engines…

1) Is their business listed?

If a business is not listed then obviously a great step to take is to get listed. These are all free listings, why not?

2)Is their business claimed?

Many business owners have not “claimed” their business listings. By claiming their listings they can make sure that their info is displayed correctly and have the capacity to enhance the way their business is represented by adding photos, vidoes, etc.

3) We display a “score” which give a business owner how well they are listed.

The listing score is a numerical representation of well the business is listed in the free resources like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and BOTW.

4) We display their business info, and their website, as reported by the search engines.

By ensuring their business information is displayed correctly, the owner can rest a bit easier as they are being represented online well. They also can learn things. A example of this would be the screenshot above. The business owner has their own website, however the local listing is actually pointing to another website that is an affiliate site. This type of mistake can literally cost a business tens of thousands of dollars.

The above info is shown on the initial page which we call their “listing snapshot”.

Let’s look at what else we display in the other tabs…

The Overview Tab

The overview page displays the info available on each search engine about that business in a table format.

It covers: Is business claimed? How many citations are recorded? How many reviews? How many photos/videos are there?

The To Do List Tab

We generate a list of steps that the business can take to more efectively list themselves. This list is tailored to each business entered and tells the business owner what they have or have not done.

The Details Tab

This tab displays search engine specific details about the business listing. This can be used to ensure that all information is correct on each platform.

The Reviews Tab

The review tab displays the most recent reviews of a business found on each platform. This put together in one place the reviews of each platform which allows a business owner a convienent way to track reviews.

The DashBoard Tab

The dashboard allows you to save and compare several listings at once. In the above screen shot there are three listings saved. This allows a a business owner to determine how well they are listed compared to their competition.

The dashboard is also very handy for those responsible for several locations or clients.

Website - Getlisted.org

I have never seen this before. Maybe someone else has?

For a search of “kneesockz” on Google I received this…

Several indents for one web page?

Let me know if anyone has seen this before please.

Update: Lisa Barone covers the Affiliate Summit on Sugarrae.com

How does one make an affiliate website than doesn’t suck?
This is a fabulous question, and the answer can be provided via Lisa Barone’s knee socks.

Lisa Barone is our blogger extraordinaire at We Build Pages.

She is also ga ga crazy in love with knee socks, in fact if you follow her on twitter, you will see that every day before she goes to work she posts a new photo of that days knee socks. How many knee socks does she own? Don’t ask. She is really into them and we love her anyway. The point however is that she loves knee socks and when she was deciding on what her first affiliate site would be, the answer wasn’t too tough.

I helped her out on this site, and we started brainstorming. We started buying knee socks. Hundreds of dollars worths of knee socks. Why did we buy them?

The answer to that is in essence what this whole blog post is about.

How To Make an Affiliate Marketing Site That Doesn’t Suck

1) Create a site on a subject you love and enjoy.

Lisa chose knee socks. Thumbs up.

If you do not love or are not pleasured by what you are doing, you likely won’t take the extra steps that are required to make a real go at it. You also are not likely to know your subject very well.

2) Do something useful.

One of the most common opportunities in affiliate marketing is niche sites. Have you ever wondered why that is true? Some answers may seem obvious, but I want to discuss what affiliate websites do that is actually useful. They often create useful resources in fragmented industries.

Knee socks are a great example of this. As we did our research I realized (Lisa already knew) how hard it is to actually look for knee socks. You might find one here, two over there, or one or two great sites, but there was not one place where you could find, for example a selection of socks of a certain color or pattern. For example if you search for “black knee socks” or “striped knee socks” you will find typically results that offer one sock at a time, not a selection. The search term is pretty self explanatory. A user searching for “striped knee socks” probably would like to see a selection of knee socks that are striped. As such we made a striped knee socks page. Our page actually shows a selection of knee socks with stripes from various manufacturers and stores.

My point is this. If you have a hard time finding something online, then that means there is an opportunity. If you know you can create a better resource then what exists then you are golden.

3) Identify problems with the current resources in your field and solve them

We noticed that many of the knee socks were displayed in their packaging or just laid on on the floor flat. Lisa mentioned she liked to see knee socks on actual people, and it helped her make a decision on what those knee socks might really look like.

This is why we bought all those socks.

Lisa put on like twenty million outfits, and we started taking photos of her in the knee socks. Providing different angles and showing them on a real person is very useful to someone wondering which knee socks would be best for them.

We also noticed that the socks were often described minimally, I don’t know about you but does a description like this seem helpful or useful? (the answer is no)…

Cushioned bottom. 75% acrylic. 25% span

dex. Wash cold. Dry low. Imported.

We decided that we could really do well to describe the socks individually, and with real language. So that is what she started to do.

Each pair of socks will have their own page filled with photos and text that are useful. We will eventually have all custom photos too. This is a nice addition to world of knee sock shopping!

4) Interact with others who love that subject too

Lisa invited her friends that she knew liked knee socks and invited them to help her. Lisa would give free knee socks to people in exchange for photos and descriptions. She got a great response from people in our industry (to see a list of who is helping out go to her blog post introducing the site to the world). We hope to have many people involved, but if you are interested just ask Lisa

Once we have great descriptions and photos we will look to other ways to interact with the community of people who love knee socks by offering ways to interact or post photos, or whatever. (Can’t get into details on that yet)

5) Make a real blog about the subject

Anyone who knows Lisa knows that she is a talented blogger, and in addition to that, she is writing about a subject she loves. A great blog is the quickest and easiest way to interact with a community and/or become a resource for that industry. But it has to be real.

The site is KneeSockz.com and make sure to check out her new knee socks blog.

This post will describe the best practices of how to promote a Google gadget, but most of the things I mention are equally useful for any kind of widget promotion.

Google Gadget Promotion 101

Let’s get right to a couple of obvious things first so that we don’t waste any time…

Usefulness:

If your Google gadget is not useful to anyone, it will not do well no matter how well you promote it. It is better to begin again with a new useful gadget than to promote one that is not useful to anyone. What makes a Google gadget useful? It must somehow pleasure someone. It must make them laugh, make their day easier, provide information that is not available elsewhere, entertain them, or be fun to interact with. Ask anyone other than you to try it and tell you what they think. A useful gadget is amazingly easy to promote. The first step in Google gadget promotion is to determine honestly if your gadget is worth promoting.

Is it useful?

If yes start promoting.

If not, start over, make a new gadget. Promoting your gadget won’t help.

Know your audience:

The audience of a Google gadget is in large part iGoogle users. iGoogle is a personalized homepage. This means that only the owner of that page can see your gadget. I want to say that again. Only the owner of the iGoogle page can see that iGoogle page. It is not a public profile that others can see. Think about that when designing and creating your gadget. A great example of this would be the use of viral installers (those little buttons under gadgets that say “get this widget”).

If there is only one person at a time seeing your gadget, then there is no reason to have a “get this widget” button because they already have it.

These buttons or viral installers are not appropriate for Google gadgets the vast majority of time. It is not useful and it takes up space. Space is what you have the least of in your widget so use it wisely to be useful and pleasant to the users of the widget.

Does your Google gadget have a viral installer?

If yes, get rid of it and make a iGoogle gadget specific version of your widget that does not include the “get this widget” button.

If no, continue.

Simplicity:

The Google gadgets that are the most popular are also the Google gadgets that are the most simple. Bells and whistles are not often appropriate for a Google gadget. They can have bells and whistles by visiting your site if they want. Gadget users want the basic  functionality of your website on their homepage, they do not want your website on their homepage. A simple search box is virtually always more universally used than a fancier type of gadget. There are millions of users of the Wikipedia search gadget. This gadget is just a searchbox that redirects to Wikipedia… Notice the lack of any dancing elves or branding overkill? You should also notice that it is small and simple. The overall reason this widget is used by millions is that is provides a simple and useful interface to information that is used by alot of people. It doesn’t need flashy design elements. It does it’s job. It is useful.

Okay, let’s get to the promotion guide…

Google Gadget Promotion

The most important part of gadget promotion is usefulness and functionality, but what is the next important thing?

Representation in the Google gadget directory:

The way that most users find gadgets is the Google gadget directory. The single largest mistake that I have seen people make is to not submit their gadget to the directory. If you are not in the Google gadget directory, users will not find you there. To be more clear, if you are not in the Google gadget directory then your gadget is not represented in the single most used place that users find gadgets. There is a hundred million or so users using the Google gadget directory. I can name dozens of Fortune 1000 companies who do not understand this. If somebody goes to the Google gadget directory and searches for your exact brand name they will not find you unless you have submitted your gadget to the directory. The reason so many people (and particularly large brands) are not represented in the Google gadget directory is because they trust their widget spread to media companies who use viral installers.

It is important to know that just because a user has the capacity to install your gadget on iGoogle does not mean that your gadget is represented in the Google gadget directory.

Search for your gadget or your brand name in the Google gadget directory

If it is there continue.

If it is not there, submit it to the directory

Presentation:

How your gadget or widget is presented to people is the number one factor in if they will even try it out. Let’s look in detail at what presentation options we have on the Google gadget platform.

Description: What you say about your gadget in your description is very important and should be concise and describe the gadget and it’s usefulness quickly and simply. But people won’t even read or bother to see your description unless they like the…

Thumbnail: Each Google gadget has a thumbnail. This is a small image that represents your gadget. This is one of the most important pieces of promotion you have. It has to get a point across and it has to stand out from the other thumbnails users are presented with. The first step to having an effective thumbnail is to actually have a thumbnail. Tens of thousands of gadget do not even have a thumbnail image! When a gadget does not have a thumbnail then Google displays a default thumbnail (image on left). If your gadget is based on a feed then it also shows a default image (shown on right). If there is no distinction between you and other gadgets, there is a less likelihood that a user will even click to your gadget description page. To illustrate this point, let’s search for “SEO” in the Google gadget directory… Of the first 5 results, only one has a thumbnail. See how the others just sort of blend together and seem sorta “blah”? When someone searches for anything in the Google gadget directory the only visual indication they will get of your gadget is the thumbnail.

They have to click again before they see the other visual indication of your gadget (the screen shot which will will speak of in a moment). This means that the first visual indication of your gadget a user receives is the thumbnail image. The thumbnail is important.

To have a thumbnail in your gadget requires only one line of code… thumbnail=”urlofyourimage”

The specs of what a thumbnail should be are provided by Google as…

Thumbnails are used in the content directory to give users a preview of a gadget. They should capture the main functionality of your gadget without showing it in its entirety. The value for this attribute is a string that gives the URL for a gadget thumbnail. This must be a well-formed URL, not a relative URL. This image must be on a public web site that is not blocked by robots.txt. PNG is the preferred format, though GIF and JPG are also acceptable. Thumbnails should be 120×60 pixels. They should not include title bars.

Does your gadget have a thumbnail?

If yes continue

If no, add a thumbnail. The directions of how to do so are provided by Google here.If that page seems confusing, you may want to start with my Google gadget tutorial.

Screen Shot: The screen shot of a Google gadget is displayed to a potential user when they are asked if they want to install a gadget and it is also displayed in the Google gadget directory description page for that gadget. The screenshot should show visually what the gadget will look like on the users homepage. Here is what Google says about the screenshot in their documentation….

This is a string that gives the URL for a gadget screenshot. This must be a well-formed URL, not a relative URL. This image must be on a public web site that is not blocked by robots.txt. PNG is the preferred format, though GIF and JPG are also acceptable. Gadget screenshots should be 280 pixels wide. The height of the screenshot should be the “natural” height of the gadget when it’s in use. This helps users understand how much space a gadget will consume on their screen before they add it to their page. The screenshot should not have any whitespace above the gadget’s blue header bar. Screenshots should show your full gadget, including its title bar, but nothing else. Alternatively, you can screenshot the gadget with the edit window open. Screenshots should not be resized or cropped. For quality and consistency, Google may take its own screenshots of a given gadget.

Let’s take a look at a screenshot on a Google gadget description page…

This is a Google gadget from Google itself. The image is the screenshot image. It shows a potential user what the gadget will look like on their homepage. It is always worth looking at official Google gadgets to see what they are doing. They are well aware of what works and what does not. Often by just looking at how a gadget built by Google is listed can tell you alot.

Does your gadget have a screenshot?

If yes, continue

If no, add a screenshot that follow the guidelines I quoted above.

Other directories that list Google gadgets:

Your gadget should be in as many directories as possible. Here is a list of places to submit your Google gadget.

Display your gadget on your website

The best way to introduce your gadget to the world is through your own website, or through already existing interactions between yourself and your customers or users. There are different ways to accomplish this.

One way is to simply have a page dedicated to different ways that a user can interact with your website.
A great example of this is the website Sphinn, where they have a specific page that highlights different ways users can interact with their site. It is important not only to have page like this, but to make that page prominent. Sphinn accomplishes this by listing this page in their top navigation.

This is smart for a couple of reasons, one so that people can find it, and two, because gadgets, like webpages are listed in relevance in the Google gadget directory. The same algorithm that also ranks gadgets (I will speak more on this later).

Another way is to use existing  interactions between your website and your users to promote your gadget.

An example of this would be a commerce website that takes payments. If you take payments, then you also give receipts. Consider mentioning your gadget on your receipts or “thank you for your purchase” page. Even better, give them a reason to use it. Consider saying something like “save 20 percent on items bought through our Google gadget”.

Yet another way to use your website is to actually display information through a Google gadget. Look at your sidebar, what are you showing?  Using Sphinn.com as an example again, they are displaying the “Top 10 most Sphunn in What’s New” which is an ever changing list of what stories have been voted on the most that are not yet promoted to the front page. That information could be shown in a gadget that people can grab.

The popular news site Digg is a great example of how to do this. They have the very same type of scenario. The have information to show their users in a sidebar. They are showing that information inside a widget.

This tactic is very successful.

Is your gadget mentioned on your website?

If yes continue

If no, put it on your website.

The best place to get information about Google is Google itself, here is what they have to say about promoting your gadget.

Here is another Google page about what users like to see in their gadgets.