Page Speed in Ranking Factor for SEO Now?

By Chris Longo, Natural Search Supervisor, Content Solutions

Matt Cutts (Google SEO demi-god) recently shared with the SEO community at Pubcon that page speed is going to be a ranking factor. It seemed like the entire industry was in an uproar with this development but in reality this is old news. Reducing page speed and loading has been an essential best practice for years. The engines love the aspect of usability for sites within their index. When a site loads quickly and contains relevant content, the respective site is providing the user with ‘ease’ of use.

With the upcoming Caffeine update, this will be even more of issue. The goal of the Caffeine update is to speed up search results and if a site lags these results one could come to the conclusion that this will not seen favorably by Google. There are several ways to identify if your site is lagging behind. Below are some suggestions to find out your sites page speed:

• Use a spider simulator that identifies code bloat - a general best practice is to keep html under 100k. By using a spider simulator you can see how the site matches up against this benchmark.
• Google Webmaster Tools site performance analyzer
• Page Speed for Mozilla – stated by Cutts during his address, you will need Firebug installed first.

Now that you have identified the speed of your site, what are the next steps? The first is link up with your technical team to identify the issue. Secondly, find out where you can “trim the fat” of the site, while still maintain the integrity of its architecture and aesthetics. Thirdly, moving forward develop fast and user-friendly sites by utilizing the above tools so that the site is properly complying to this latest algorithmic change.

The Jetson Like Era of TV is Approaching Fast

By Gillian Kriezelman, Search Strategist, Advertising Solutions

As our digital lives are converging into one easily accessible unit, when will TV join the trend?
TV viewership has been declining as consumers are moving towards digital video to consume their daily fix of entertainment. Total viewership on the top four most popular stations between 2009-2010 has decreased by about 42 %. Conversely, other digital video technologies are growing; by 2014, it is forecasted there will be a Digital Video Recording unit in nearly two-thirds of households.

Consumers are growing accustomed to products on demand tailored to their individualized needs. These consumers are multi-taskers and are yearning for ease of use. However, the current TV structure has not adhered to this shift in digital consumerism. It is just a matter of time until your TV remote control will get you to your Facebook profile with just a touch of a button, allowing you to see what your friends are watching so you can watch your favorite shows together through the comfort of your own individual homes.

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"Whether it be a monitor for video games, DVD players or even a laptop computer. ... The TV is functioning essentially as a giant window into the internet cloud," Phil Leigh, Inside Digital Media.

The question remains, who will take over this vast space with technology that can converge all these digital mediums into one unit? This company will be able to sell, not simply TV ads by TV viewership, but sell to a niche group of viewers who are interested in your specific product. Oprah Winfrey’s choice to create her own TV network is an example of how cable networks are changing to fit this trend. Advertisers will thus buy commercial space by specific niche viewership rather than by network buys.

In just a few years, you will be sitting on your couch watching TV and you see a product that you want to buy or learn more about--- you will be able to buy it from your TV (and not have to search for it on your computer). These consumption habits will be recorded to ensure that your future product engagements will be even more relevant based on your likes and dislikes.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the changes are fast approaching from the convenience of your living room!

Google Extends the Olive Branch

By David Gould, President

I just read Eric Schmidt’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal. It’s somewhat ironic considering the recent hubbub around the rumored News Corp/Microsoft deal, but kudos to the WSJ for portraying all sides of the story.

For those of you who haven’t followed the story, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (owner of the WSJ) has been rumored to be in talks with Microsoft to make News Corp’s content exclusively available through Bing; a deal clearly targeted at Google, the 800 pound gorilla of search that provides “free” access to other’s news content. Hopefully you were able to click through the above hyperlink to the WSJ without a subscription, because, shockingly, I didn’t see a link show up when I searched Google news for the article.

As Mr. Schmidt puts it, “With dwindling revenue and diminished resources, frustrated newspaper executives are looking for someone to blame. Much of their anger is currently directed at Google …” Schmidt contends the frustration is misguided and that the Newspaper industry should be looking in the mirror to find fault in declining revenues. In fact, he goes so far as to turn the tables and contend the publisher’s should be thanking him for sending large volumes of free traffic to their websites.

I’m not always in Google’s camp, but I am this time. Schmidt correctly identifies the newspaper publisher’s reluctance to change with the times. They are in the news gathering and dissemination business, not the newspaper business. The way people consume news has changed therefore the way news organizations deliver news needs to change appropriately. And that means more than just taking your content and placing it online while trying to survive under the same revenue model.

Schmidt extends an olive branch in his editorial and I think some people on the other side of the aisle should be grasping for it, “But just as there is no single cause of the industry's current problems, there is no single solution. We want to work with publishers to help them build bigger audiences, better engage readers, and make more money.”

One of his final comments is very telling, “I certainly don't believe that the Internet will mean the death of news.” … Notice he didn’t say newspapers.