Google Free Europe

Google has landed in hot water in France after offering its Google Maps product for free in the country. America is known as the land of the free, and we all know big businesses get to do pretty much whatever they want. The idea of a government stepping in to say a business can’t give away a service for free strikes me as particularly French.

But while this move may not slow down the Google machine, it could open the door to similar lawsuits as Google sets its sights on new markets in previously un(Google)mapped countries. Could this be the beginning of a real life game of Risk that Google might not want to lose?

[eBook] Google Plus for Business

Take Seven Steps to Social Media Heaven today! 90 million users can’t be wrong: Google+ is the newest and fastest-growing social network, recently opening its doors to small businesses. The multifaceted integration with search, social discussion and sharing, and the rise of a platform for authority has made Google+ a must for any business.

Using Google Plus for Business

Want to know how to leverage Google Plus for Business? Download our free eBook now!

We’ll walk you through:

• Setting up your Google+ page
• Designing a compelling targeted profile
• Sharing meaningful content and interacting with your users

Interview with Cracked Columnist John Cheese

Cracked columnist and longtime internet comedy writer John Cheese put out a call for interviews recently, and I jumped at the chance to talk to him. Out of all the writers on Cracked, a site I have been fairly addicted to since about 2007, John Cheese has probably spent the most time eloquently weaving his own life experiences into his always funny and often moving columns.

John ended up really driving home a rather simple yet all-encompassing idea that we have adopted as a mantra at Search Influence: fresh content is king. It really doesn’t matter whether you are advertising a novel, a list-based comedy site, or a small business anywhere in the world – if you can produce quality content that people find interesting on a regular basis, everything else will fall into place. It doesn’t hurt if you are as insightful, funny, and talented as John is either.

Take a look at the results of my email interview with John Cheese:

Google's "Search Plus Your World" Combines Social, Personal, and Personalized Algorithms

Google search results have been getting more and more personalized since the introduction of personal results in 2005, but the search engine giant’s newest feature takes on your entire world.

The new “Search Plus Your World” feature effectively erases the lines between standard search results, hits from social sites like Google+, search results that have been shaped by your personal search history, and results that are targeted at you personally.

Google+ Opens For Businesses — Potential And How To Get Your Face In The SERPs

The new kid on the block has opened itself to businesses in two principal ways. Unlike Facebook, which focuses on admin-managed pages, and Twitter, which couldn’t care less if a person, place, or animal is represented in a feed, Google initially maintained its focus on people in its business-level implementation of its social network, not announcing any kind of branded pages. Then Monday’s announcement of Facebook-style business pages opened a new avenue for marketers, if only those in selected niches. Both new tools allow for the implementation of the “authority” metrics hinted at in numerous Google quality documents.

Can Bing Ever Compete with Google?

If you keep up with what’s in the news in the world of search engines, you know that there’s been a bitter little rivalry between Bing and Google for some time. In early February, Bing accused Google of stealing their search results. It didn’t help Bing’s case that they didn’t deny the claim either, instead saying, “…we use multiple signals and approaches when we think about ranking, but like the rest of the players in this industry, we’re not going to go deep and detailed in how we do it.”

Pittpatt Puts Google Acquisitions To 100

Thursday, Google acquired Carnegie-Mellon University spinoff project PittPatt, which specialized in facial recognition software for businesses like GE. We’ll be a bit naïve here and take Google at their word when they claim they won’t implement full facial recognition software without “strong privacy protections” and intentionally excluded the feature from Google Goggles. It seems clear that Google will use the technology to enhance video quality and would otherwise be caught in crass doublespeak during a time to play it straight.

It is striking that Google seems utterly unfazed by two government commissions investigating it for its aggressive vertical integration into niche search and social media.

Google Antitrust Case - Google+ Defiant in the Shadow of Harvey Birdman

Over the past few years, Google has been investigated by the FTC over most aspects of their business, largely circling around their aggressive acquisition of properties to vertically integrate other services into their core search. As Google has added features such as Products, Maps, and Video searches and integrated them into the main search results, competitors have seen their traffic decrease as users stay on Google-owned sites.

Making good on a somewhat threatening letter from the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights two weeks earlier, on June 23, the FTC continued their impression of Harvey Birdman. Issuing a subpoena “relating to a review… of Google’s business practices, including search and advertising,” the FTC has opened an investigation to “address fundamental questions of business operations.” These questions, though immediately unclear to Google (if their admission and response on their blog isn’t just rhetoric), have been speculated on rather endlessly by pundits.

Results Pagination in Google Places View

For a while now, Google has been showing “Related Places” AKA “The Competition in places view.

While looking at the results for one of our clients who has recently opened a new office for his law practice in a New Orleans LA suburb I came across this.

Clearly Google is trying to offer some alternative results for “Metairie Divorce” than our guy Will Beaumont at 3814 Veterans Memorial Blvd #302, Metairie, LA 70002 – (504) 834-1117.

You’ll have to click through as I can’t figure out how to link directly.

Quora: More Than the Average Q&A Site

I first discovered Quora just a few months ago, and quickly grew addicted. When searching for opinions, recent history, or even anything involving the tech world, Quora becomes my first stop. The site’s main strength lies in the quality of its users who also create quality questions and answers. Many of these users are Silicon Valley insiders, and for a while, Quora was the next big thing. Whether that is still the case can be debated, but Quora has a lot of collected knowledge that is easily accessible.