Every day I get the question, "How can I get found on search engines" or "What can I do to improve my seo results?"  When you type in this question on Google search, you get over 9 MILLION results (most of which offer "guaranteed top of page one" for a mere $1,000/month!) I wish I had that secret formula, but the answer is not that simple. 

Now, Google has introduced 'Search plus your World', and now search results get even better by including photos, posts, and more from you and your friends. When signed in with Google+, you’ll find personal results and profiles of people you know or follow. You can even expand your world by discovering people related to your search.

Here is a great explanation of the difference in search results (whether you are logged into Google+ or not) by Lee Odden, CEO of @TopRank:

Logged out – Google search results when you or other users are not logged in are as close to “generic” as you’ll get, but they are still customized according to your geographic location and your click activity during the session.  The days of generic search results that can be predictably viewed by more than one person in different locations is gone. If you do search while logged out, you’ll get a more generic experience than logged in – so it’s worth noting the difference.

Logged in – Users of Google services who are logged in while searching will almost certainly be presented with unique search results.  Personalization can be influenced by a variety of factors, including the recent social signals integration of Google+ into Google search results – aka Google Search Plus Your World and especially from the universal Google product data sharing that will start March 1st 2012. Other influences include past search history, geographic location and your interaction with search results are factors for Google to adjust search results just for you. Keep in mind, logged in or out, there are over 20o signals used to sort search results.


Take a look at the video below, to learn more about the new way that search results work:

You may be a small business that has just ventured into the world of social media marketing. You also have a great product and service. Do you know that you can market your product via social media marketing -- by blogging? While traditional ways still work, blogging is cheap and easy to do.

Well all know about Google, and whatever is listed on top wins this contest for that day. What’s the big deal with Google? Well, it’s because being listed at the top is free. Listing at the tippy top of search engines also mean a higher profit margin for your product and better business for you.

Blogging and article writing is a cheap, cost effective way to put your product or service in front of customers. It takes nothing more than your time or the time of someone you may hire to help keep up with the content. The big advantage of blogging is that it’s “organic,” which simply means that your product marketing via the blog stays in the search engines. This gives you free traffic on a constant basis.

Getting to the top of Google is a feat that anyone can do whether they are the largest company in the world or a tiny home-based business. All it takes is consistency and of course some understanding of your product.  Blogging your product is a great alternative to traditional media, and if you get others to blog about your product, then you are really aiming for the top of the Google chart.

If you can imagine yourself thumbing through an old card catalog system at your local library, you'd find that there is a certain quality to the system. Every book is cataloged according to a numerical system called the Library of Congress cataloging system. And you see all the same basic information with every listing. It's designed that way on purpose.

While the Internet is certainly not your public library (and much of the information you find online is suspect), in terms of finding the information that you want to find, there is a quality system built into the search engines where people go to search for information.

Each search engine has its own quality guidelines, but the leading search engine - Google - sets the standard. You can learn more about Google's quality guidelines on its website.

Bing, the No. 2 search engine online, also has its quality guidelines. Note that they're not a great deal different than Google's.

While there are similarities to the quality guidelines, there are also subtle differences. That's why website owners will often find their web pages doing well in one search engine while not doing so well in others. But you also have to consider the level of competition. For almost any niche there is quite a bit more competition for Google search rankings than for search rankings at any other search engine - even at Bing.

So what should you make of this? As the owner of a business who is trying to get your web pages to rank for your key terms, it's important to know the search engine guidelines and to abide by them. There are penalties if you do certain things wrong. And the rewards for doing all the right things right include higher rankings, more targeted traffic to your website, and more revenues from good landing pages that close the sale.