Your website may be useless.. In a previous article you might recall me referencing a big change in the way Google works with their introduction of Google Places. Places means that Google is changing the way people search, rather than finding someone simply because they have certain keywords on their page, they’re now focusing on how geographically close you are to that web page. In a nutshell, I’ve heard it described as “Google making it really easy for you to advertise with them” because essentially, people may find it difficult to find your business unless you’re in the paid advertising area of Google.

Annoyingly clever.

If you’re in business and you rely on new sales leads, you need to pay attention to Google – that’s a fact. They own 95% of the search market and if you’re not listed [...]

Google rePlaces Search Last week Google made a significant change to the way they index websites – so much so that few, if any small businesses won’t be affected by the change.

The introduction of Google Places means Google ‘guesses’ when somebody is searching for a local business and serves up those businesses in their search results. For many who have invested in their search engine optimization strategies (SEM or SEO) this will mean a rethink as millions of businesses scramble around to set up their localisation within Google. For example, in the past a search for Accountants may have served up those websites who had relevant content and those who had invested in Google Ads and search engine marketing – but not necessarily from your local area. With Google Places, the engine will likely guess that you’re looking for a local business and serve up those in closest proximity to your search location (yes, Google can tell which suburb your search originated from).

You can read more on Google’s blog here about the why

Google Cars If that wasn’t enough to keep the world on its toes, did you hear that Google has been secretly driving cars around Los Angeles well.. Without drivers? [...]