Bing adds your friends’ “Likes” to search results February 25, 2011

Google also has made a similar move by adding with social “shares” from Twitter and other social media services.

Amplify’d from www.bing.com

A few months ago, we announced an exciting partnership with Facebook to make search more social. As part of that work, we introduced Liked Results, which promotes links your friends have publicly liked or shared via Facebook. Today we are extending Liked Results to annotate any of the URLs returned by our algorithmic search results to all users in the US.

If your friends have publicly liked or shared any of the algorithmic search results shown on Bing, we will now surface them right below the result.

For example, when I was planning a trip to Napa, I wanted to find a great bed and breakfast for my stay. A traditional search result showed me a long list of web links and captions, which would take up some time to parse through individually:

Fortunately, several of my friends that have been to Napa in the past have liked Churchill Manor. Using Liked Results, the Bed & Breakfast that my friends have liked gets highlighted with their pictures and names – making it easier for me to quickly refine my search and decide where I should stay.

You may not see Liked Results on every query, but when it does trigger it’s often a delightful experience. We are hoping that it will make searching on Bing more effortless and enjoyable. We are continuing to work with Facebook to make search more social and relevant, so please check back again for more updates! Read more at www.bing.com

 

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SEO Trends and Influences: Social Media January 21, 2011

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) trends and techniques seem to change with the tides. But the introduction and huge popularity of social networking has taken things to a whole new level that lets businesses get to know more about your customers and their needs than ever before.

The main focus of search engine optimization used to be having a properly optimized website including code, structure, proper concentration of keyword phrases related to your business, and some inbound links. The goal was to be listed for those incoming links in the top spots of the first page of search engines, particularly Google.

In 2010, Facebook became the most-visited website in the US. Between January and November last year, Facebook got 8.9% of all US traffic making it the most visited website on in the Internet. (Google.com was at 7.2%.) Google had been the top site in 2009 and 2008, while the most-visited website in 2007 was the former title-holder of most popular social network, MySpace.

A new wrinkle in the SEO game is social networking or social media marketing, which not only helps your company to be found, but also allows your business to interact directly with your potential customers. You can learn amazing things about them and about their purchasing habits. This helps you provide better customer service. It’s also been confirmed recently by both Google and Microsoft’s Bing search engine that certain social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter have a direct impact on search results.

Facebook currently holds the title as king of social media, so it’s very important for your business to have a presence there. Facebook is expected to have more than 1 billion users worldwide by the end of 2011. But new social media websites like Facebook are created all the time and they rise and fall in popularity. Website trends come and go, so it’s important too keep up with these trends to stay competitive in the online marketplace.

It’s estimated that social media will account for 10% of spending in marketing budgets in 2011. Online marketing tech blog Mashable estimates that marketing budgets spending for social media will increase by 34% by 2014.

Social Media Sites Your Business Should Consider

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube

Social Media Sites to Watch

StumbleUpon
A social bookmarking website, has less users than Facebook but currently sends more outbound traffic.

Quora.com
A Q&A experience sharing website rapidly gaining popularity with over 500,000 registered users.

Stack Exchange
Another Q&A experience sharing website exceeds 650,000 registered users.

Foursquare
A location-based social networking application where users “check in” to different places and businesses and receive tips about things to do and special promotions.

Tumblr
A microblogging website that allows you to post text, images, videos, and links (similar to Twitter).

Have thoughts or questions about this post? Other sites to check out for social media marketing? Please comment below!

Guest blogger Jenn Marcelais is owner of Soul Oyster Web Studios and provides Web design, graphic design, SEO search engine optimization and Internet marketing services. She also enjoys photography, particularly of old New England gravestones and is a history nerd.

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