The Latest SEO News from around the Web

Despite my apparent slacking off in writing a few posts on all things online marketing recently, this does not mean that there has been nothing to write about. There have been numerous mutterings and musings around the web discussing the latest trends of viral marketing, search engine updates and good old fashioned SEO practices. Therefore, rather than pick one in particular, I decided to give a very brief run down of three of the important trends that have got me thinking.

Firstly, good old Google decided to release yet another beta test of their ubiquitous search algorithm this time in the form of the oddly titled 'Caffine'. With the web developing more and more towards UGC and social media, the latest offering from Google was an attempt to harness the more social, 'real time news' aspects of search and provide better search results. It caused quite a stir and has certainly got the online marketing community motivated around the way websites are promoted. Read more about Google Caffine here.

Following on from the Google Caffine update is the power of Twitter from a business perspective. Twitter has grown and grown in popularity recently and is now a far cry from being the playground of Online Marketing professionals that it used to be. It has developed from a concept of taking the basic feature of FaceShite (you know I hate using that word) and turning it into a world influencing power. With people ranging from the Prime Minister to the Gov'ner of California telling us what they had for breakfast, the most influential aspect of it is the speed of which breaking news can be transmitted all over the world. Take the Iran election demonstrations or the death of a celebrity being broadcast before it is seen on national news. Twitter is big business. One of the latest developments is how businesses can use Twitter in a more direct marketing way to really interact with their customers. Watch this latest video about Twitter's plunge into the Business Services world with its Business Product.

Finally, an article that I've taken great interest in is regarding the most basic but prevalent of SEO principles - links. Also following on from the above trends, Google Caffine pays a good deal of attention to links from media sites, especially news websites (BBC, The Guardian etc). Therefore more people have been looking to get links from articles written on certain topics. Thus causing a new medium of advertisers taking money on news sites to place links and paid advertising. This of course going against the principles of Google of paid links. Quite a conundrum for the industry and something I will be watching with great interest. Read more about SEO links here.

Enjoy this and more to follow soon...