Google has finally improved the information provided by the AdWords Traffic Estimate and Adwords Keyword tools. You can see in their blog post that they talk about the fact that they’ve improved the algorithm behind the estimates.

The change is actually pretty significant. To test I searched for “farm animal toys” which we just did some research on for a client.  (We use the Google AdWords Traffic Estimate tool for part of our phrase research.)  Less than a week ago we conducted some research to expand the list of phrases we promote for a client. One of the phrases we checked with the tool was “farm animal toys” wand it reported that there were 275 monthly searches for that phrase in Google. I checked the same phrase today and the tool reported 720 monthly searches! That is a SIGNIFICANT change especially when compared to the competition of the niche. We use a very basic ratio to represent competitiveness for phrases as an illustration for clients and the ratio was more than halved showing that the niche could be much more lucrative to peruse than we thought. (We use a very basic ratio to communicate the level of competition to our clients but we actually look at a lot of more “nerdy” stuff. The “nerdy” stuff tends to overwhelm our clients so we just go with one simple illustration)

Google updated their Traffic Estimator and Keyword Tools! (click for a larger view)

I think I see Google doing some testing.  In one browser I’m getting 1.19 billion results for “world video news” and in another browser I’m getting 586 million.  Both are logged in with the same account, both are getting facebook results pulled into the results, etc.  It’s not browser-specific though because when I open a new incognito window in Chrome and open facebook, I get the lower number of results.  I’m going to keep playing with it to see what I can come up with.

1.19 Billion Results in Chrome

586 million results in Firefox

Ever wonder how Google knows in real-time which roads have traffic jams and which roads are clear?  It may surprise you to learn that they get some of that information from YOU!

I’ve always kind of ignored Google’s real-time traffic reports thinking that they couldn’t possibly know what was going on and that they were just guessing or regurgitating data from those DOT traffic sensors embedded in the highway.

I started digging around one day to find out how Google was doing it after I visited Denver for a wedding last November.  I was on a side-street during a jam-up and decided to use my iPhone to try to find a way around.  Google somehow knew there was a traffic jam right where I was!  I looked around and could see no traffic cameras, no sensors in the road – nothing that would be reporting to Google.  Somehow they knew where the jam-up started and where it ended.  I was puzzled so I started looking around online to find out what was going on.  That’s when I found a Google blog post discussing how they collect the data.  Google collects  traffic data from smartphones running the Google Maps app! Google is sent small, anonymous bits of data telling them your gps coordinates.  From those coordinates Google determines your location, direction of travel, and average speed.    They combine that with data from other people on the same road and DOT sensors (if applicable) to come up with their real-time traffic maps.  The screenshot below is from Google Patent Application US 2010/0286899 A1 and is a funny illustration of what data is collected and delivered to an “information provider” which transmits the data to Google.

Illustration from Google Patent App showing traffic data collection from sensors. (click for a larger view)

Another amazing thing is that Google also provides predictive traffic data based on previous data they collected.  It’s a pretty sweet feature that is currently available at the bottom left side of the maps screen when traffic is enabled.  You can see in the screenshot below that Wednesdays are ok for traffic in the KC area.  They calculate their predictive traffic data based on past information they collected.

Google's Predictive Traffic at Work in Kansas City. (Click for a larger view)

I used Google’s Predictive Traffic when I was driving to Austin in March to speak at Pubcon. I checked the highest traffic times in Dallas and timed my trip to miss it. (I have to go through Dallas at nearly rush-hour on my way from KC) It worked out great and I avoided the biggest jams.

Google must be thrilled with the proliferation of smart phones and the fact that they currently have THE maps application.

-Update-

I’m remiss to have not pointed out the traffic data that you can get from Google Earth.  Thanks to my friend Kirby for pointing that out.  On Google Earth you can see a lot of little dots all over the roads.  If you click on a dot it tells you the vehicle’s live traffic speed.  It’s a VERY interesting thing to look at, and quite shocking to see how many phones Google can pull traffic from in real-time!

Live Traffic from Google Earth (click for a larger view)

Here are some of my favorite Google hoaxes from April Fool’s.   Click the picture to be taken to Google’s April Fool’s day hoax page.

Google Blimp Ads

A workout program for your fingers.

A job posting seeking someone to fill in auto-complete data in Google's search box

Voicealyzer stops you from drunk-dialing

Google Docs Motion lets you spell words with your body

Google Gmail Motion lets you control Gmail through gestures

Google Cow lets you see inside the cow

Google Friendship - QUICKLY slapped with an "april fool" stamp

The Chrome Light extension turns Chrome to a text-based browser

Did you know that you are required to notify your users that you are using Google Analytics via your privacy policy?  If not, you do now.  If you haven’t updated your privacy policy to reflect this, you are in violation of the Google Analytics Terms of Service!  According to paragraph seven in the Google Analytics Terms of Service;

“You must post a privacy policy and that policy must provide notice of your use of a cookie that collects anonymous traffic data.”

Well, what are you waiting for? Get to it!

Today on Webmasterworld there was a discussion about Google showing fewer than 10 organic results for certain searches.  I did some checking and was able to see that in fact Google is showing fewer than ten results.  It looks like Google is experimenting with displaying other resources they think people may be interested in for certain searches.  At the time I checked, most “commercial” terms were unaffected.  However, if you were the number 10, or in some cases the number 9 result in the organic listings you may see your site dropped to page two which would have a huge impact on your traffic.  Numbers 9 and 10 don’t get a lot of traffic, but page two gets next to none.  If you had enough listings at the bottom of the first page that got dropped, you’d see a significant drop in traffic.  Every time I’ve seen Google experiment with adding things to the results, it eventually sticks.

Page 1 just got more competitive!

A search for the band "The Killers" produces 9 organic results. (click the image for a larger view)

A search for the band called The Shins produces 8 organic results. (click the image for a larger view)

As you are all aware, Google has implemented website previews in the results.  The previews show a screenshot of a site and will call out any text on the page related to your search query.  This makes onpage SEO even more important than before and also presents some unique challenges for websites with flash.

Google’s preview bot doesn’t obey the rules like Google’s normal bot.  The preview bot ignores robots.txt rules and disregards alternate flash displaying big blank chunks instead.   I am running a Google Preview test right now to show that a website can still have something show up in place of their flash piece even though Google won’t display the alternate content you define in SWFObject.  As soon as the page is cached and has a preview I will publish a post with the findings, the code that works, and the reason you cannot afford to ignore this “glitch” in Google’s Preview bot no matter how temporary it might be.

Another facet of Google’s algorithm is being polished.  Google is now taking into account merchant reviews to determine whether or not a website deserves a good ranking.  They are looking at this metric because of an article published in the New York Times about a company that was being intentionally abusive to their customers because the bad reviews the customers were writing were generating links to the company and inflating their ranking.  This appalled Google so they did something about it.

Google considered several options to solve the problem.  One option discussed was using “sentiment analysis” to identify negative remarks in posts and make those posts count as negative votes for a company.  The problem with that, Google said, was that it would be extremely difficult to find political candidates because of all the dissenters.  Another option Google is considering is displaying merchant ratings alongside their results.  You can already see some of this happening in PPC ads, but they are talking about implementing it in the organic results.

What was Google’s solution?  Well, at this point it’s not exactly clear.  They understandably weren’t very forthcoming in their article about this problem.  Google rarely gives much insight in to exactly what is going on with their algorithm.

If you’re wondering how this applies to you, just think of the power this gives to your competitors.  If they are smart enough to launch a negative campaign – and do it in such a way that even the almighty Google can’t trace the source, then you’re in for a big hit in the rankings.  Very scary stuff especially when it’s first implemented and is open to gaming.  I don’t really see how anyone who is smart could be stopped no matter how sophisticated the algorithm gets.

What’s your company’s best bet?  Hire an expert SEO with a deep understanding of online reputation management and pay the RM “insurance.”  It can take three to four YEARS to recover after bad press and cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Google announced in it’s blog that they are launching a fashion boutique website aimed at delivering results catered to your tastes.  You curate your own online boutique by adding clothing and items to it that you like, and based on a visual matching algorithm developed by Like.com (acquired by Google) the system will make recommendations to you that match your “style.” As Google says in their blog post, the system “uses computer vision and machine learning technology to visually analyze your taste and match it to items you would like.”

Google started by partnering with a selection of what they call “taste-makers” – people who determine what looks good and what does not.  They chose some designers and some celebrities to help with the project.  The taste-makers told Google what styles, colors, brands and silhouettes they liked, and what they did not like.  The taste-makers also took a visual quiz to teach the site to understand style genres.  One of the features I think people will find helpful is the “complete the look” feature that pairs fashion accessories with outfits.

Google is not selling the items, nor is there an ecommerce interface with the system – yet.  The system simply adds to your boutique based on your interests and lets you go to their third party website to make your purchases.

As an SEO this raises three questions for me.  My first question is how will Google determine the items that will be displayed to you?  I suspect it will be based on the amount the third party fashion site is willing to pay for a lead or product placement.  My second question is will Google’s new website be “competing” in the results for fashion related traffic?  If so I don’t see how that’s fair.  How could any boutique outrank property owned by Google?  So far there’s nothing really to worry about with ranking because everything is noindexed and nofollowed.  Third, isn’t this just a thin affiliate site?  Google hates thin affiliates.

Boutiques.com is a very interesting site and I think it will have a big impact on how the web works.

Boutiques.com Launched by Google

Google has settled with a class action suit against it’s Buzz social networking program that is integrated into Gmail.  If you opted into Buzz, your privacy was at risk.  The suit said that Google violated their user’s privacy by automatically adding Buzz to Gmail without asking for a user if they wanted it or not.  Google has settled the suit by putting $8.5 million into a fund to help raise awareness of privacy issues.  That’s a pretty lame settlement.  Below is the email I got on the subject.