Patricio Robles

Does social media really deserve more love in the SERPs?

In my post earlier this week about Google Caffeine, I made the observation that certain Facebook Pages seemed to have received quite a rankings boost. I also noted some comments about Twitter pages receiving a boost as well.

As more and more people give Caffeine a whirl, the increased prominence of results from the social media sphere appears to be a widespread phenomenon.

by Patricio Robles 13 August 2009 09:34am 2 comments

How will your site rank with Google Caffeine?

When Google updates, SEOs around the world hold their breath. For websites that rely heavily on their Google SERPs for traffic, an algorithm change can sometimes mean the difference between profitability and the poorhouse.

Google's newest update, named Caffeine, is by all appearances more than just a regular update. Google describes it as a "next-generation architecture for Google's web search".

by Patricio Robles 11 August 2009 10:02am 8 comments

Facebook can't have Twitter, so it buys FriendFeed

By most accounts, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg really likes Twitter. And as the 20-something CEO of a company that has raised over $750m, it's only natural that he'd want it, literally. There's just one problem: when Facebook tried acquiring Twitter earlier in the year, it was turned down. The reason: Twitter didn't buy into the $15bn valuation Facebook was basing its share price on as part of the proposed deal.

So Facebook has finally done what many do when rejected: you settle for your second choice. And it this case, that means FriendFeed, which it acquired yesterday.

by Patricio Robles 11 August 2009 09:02am 6 comments

AdWords ads get closer to organic results

You may have noticed it: those trusty AdWords ads that appear to the right of your search results seem a little bit closer to them than they did before.

It's not an optical illusion. Others are seeing it too. I first saw myself the other day when I did a search and had to do a double-take.

by Patricio Robles 12 August 2009 09:02am 3 comments

AdWords ads get closer to organic results

You may have noticed it: those trusty AdWords ads that appear to the right of your search results seem a little bit closer to them than they did before.

It's not an optical illusion. Others are seeing it too. I first saw myself the other day when I did a search and had to do a double-take.

by Patricio Robles 17 August 2009 10:51am 2 comments

Scribd and SEO: live by the sword, die by the sword

Last Friday, TechCrunch reported that online document sharing service Scribd saw its traffic fall nearly 50% since June of this year. That's pretty much the SEO equivalent of a stock market crash.

According to Trip Adler, Scribd's CEO, the company knowingly made some changes that it expected to decrease traffic. One of them: "reducing the aggressiveness of our SEO".

by Patricio Robles 10 August 2009 09:47am 9 comments

Publicis Groupe pulls the trigger on Razorfish acquisition

As reported before, Microsoft has been looking to sell digital agency Razorfish, a business it acquired through its $6bn purchase of ad services holding company aQuantive in 2007.

Yesterday, it announced a deal: Publicis Groupe, the world's second largest media agency, will be buying Razorfish for $530m in cash and Publicis Groupe treasury shares.

by Patricio Robles 10 August 2009 09:16am 1 comment

Target going in-house for e-commerce

Target, the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, has announced that it will bring its e-commerce website, Target.com, in-house in time for the 2011 holiday season.

Since 2001, Target.com has been run in partnership with Amazon.com. The e-commerce giant's platform powers the Target.com website and Amazon.com handles much of the call center and fulfillment operations.

by Patricio Robles 10 August 2009 19:22pm 2 comments

The five biggest paid content myths

There's a lot of talk about paid content these days for obvious reasons and there's only going to be more of it now that Rupert Murdoch has announced plans for News Corp. to go all in.

One of the reasons there's so much debate over paid content is that there are a lot of misconceptions and myths about paid content. As someone who has run paid content websites for years, I thought I'd share the five biggest paid content myths I frequently hear mentioned in discussions about paid content.

by Patricio Robles 17 August 2009 10:08am 3 comments

Five must-use sales value propositions

I was having dinner the other night with a friend and the discussion turned to business. He told me about a product he was distributing and I got the subtle hint that he was trying to pique my interest as a potential customer. As he was talking, it occurred it me that he was selling a product, not a solution.

It's an experience you've probably had before too more times than you can remember: someone is trying to sell you something and all they talk about is the product. What it does, how it works, how it was conceived, who is using it, etc. What is left out: what it's doing for you.

by Patricio Robles 07 August 2009 09:16am 2 comments