Over the last couple of years, social technologies and applications have emerged that allow interactive marketers to listen to what’s being said about their products and brand online. Smart marketers are now using this feedback to know when and where to engage with consumers on the social web. However, listening by itself is only half of the equation. Marketers must not only listen, converse and engage; but they must now act. By taking the collective knowledge and feedback from the community and using it as source of innovation and change, they will have the opportunity to create strong brand advocacy. I wrote this article last week for my company blog, Edelman Digital, that explores this topic in more detail. I would love your feedback! Thanks.
This week, Google added personalization to help you find your “favorite locations faster.” The issue is, it slows you down in finding your most favorite location – your home!
A Google Maps Help thread has complaints from people who have saved locations labeled as “home.” Whenever they wanted directions, they typed in “home” or “my home” and bingo, it came up. Now it does not and it requires them to enter in their address, which in turn, slows them down.
The searcher said:
It appears the Google Maps team has replaced the “saved locations” feature with the “personalized search results”. The problem is, when I created my “saved locations” I included some additional information in the names of those entries so they could be easily found by personal names. For instance, if my friend Steve lived at a particular address, I’d save his address into “saved locations” and include the name “Steve” or “Steve’s home”. Then, I was able to start typing “Steve” and it would automatically bring up this saved location.
This is no longer the case. His address is still flagged in my web history and it autocompletes if I start typing in his address… but I can no longer start typing “Steve” to bring up his location.
Any chance we can still get to our “saved locations” data to at least backup the data before you nuke it all for good?
The thread seems to be heating up with angry Google Maps users. The thing is, Google is listening, so it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, they make based on this feedback. Google Maps Linda said:
This is great feedback guys. I’ll be sure to share this with the team. I don’t have an answer right now, but hopefully I will be able to share more later.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
This week, Google added personalization to help you find your “favorite locations faster.” The issue is, it slows you down in finding your most favorite location – your home!
A Google Maps Help thread has complaints from people who have saved locations labeled as “home.” Whenever they wanted directions, they typed in “home” or “my home” and bingo, it came up. Now it does not and it requires them to enter in their address, which in turn, slows them down.
The searcher said:
It appears the Google Maps team has replaced the “saved locations” feature with the “personalized search results”. The problem is, when I created my “saved locations” I included some additional information in the names of those entries so they could be easily found by personal names. For instance, if my friend Steve lived at a particular address, I’d save his address into “saved locations” and include the name “Steve” or “Steve’s home”. Then, I was able to start typing “Steve” and it would automatically bring up this saved location.
This is no longer the case. His address is still flagged in my web history and it autocompletes if I start typing in his address… but I can no longer start typing “Steve” to bring up his location.
Any chance we can still get to our “saved locations” data to at least backup the data before you nuke it all for good?
The thread seems to be heating up with angry Google Maps users. The thing is, Google is listening, so it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, they make based on this feedback. Google Maps Linda said:
This is great feedback guys. I’ll be sure to share this with the team. I don’t have an answer right now, but hopefully I will be able to share more later.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
Imagine you have been in business, operating on the web for years now. Your name is unique and it ranks number one in the Google results, since it is unique. But then imagine a new site pops up that is similar to your name. Then soon after, Google decided that your name is really not what people want, instead, they want the other name.
In other words, they type in your business name and Google say – no no, you spelled it wrong, you want a competitor or another web site. Google then hides your web site and shows the competitor. How would you feel?
That is the story of a Google Webmaster Help thread. The owner of BrandFreek no longer comes up for a search on [brandfreek], instead, Google shows a result for BrandFreak and shows BrandFreak.com in the first spot. Here is a picture:
This can be pretty upsetting to the owner of the company and also hurt them financially. Google knows this. JohnMu at Google replied to the thread saying:
Thanks for posting! I’ll pass your feedback on to the team to review.
I am not sure if Google will change the behavior of this search in the future, but I think they should.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
Imagine you have been in business, operating on the web for years now. Your name is unique and it ranks number one in the Google results, since it is unique. But then imagine a new site pops up that is similar to your name. Then soon after, Google decided that your name is really not what people want, instead, they want the other name.
In other words, they type in your business name and Google say – no no, you spelled it wrong, you want a competitor or another web site. Google then hides your web site and shows the competitor. How would you feel?
That is the story of a Google Webmaster Help thread. The owner of BrandFreek no longer comes up for a search on [brandfreek], instead, Google shows a result for BrandFreak and shows BrandFreak.com in the first spot. Here is a picture:
This can be pretty upsetting to the owner of the company and also hurt them financially. Google knows this. JohnMu at Google replied to the thread saying:
Thanks for posting! I’ll pass your feedback on to the team to review.
I am not sure if Google will change the behavior of this search in the future, but I think they should.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
Last night I received an email from Google about a new feature available in my AdSense account, as a beta. The feature basically allows me to search for ads that are targeted towards my site. Searching for ads makes it a bit easier to find and block or allow these ads from being shown on my pages.
Here is a picture of the new feature:
Here is a copy of the email:
Subject: Announcing Search in the AdSense Ad Review Center
Hello,
As a beta tester of the new AdSense interface, you’ll soon be able to use the Ad Review Center to search for ads that are targeted to your site. This new search functionality is designed to improve your efficiency when finding ads to review, based on feedback we’ve received from publishers.
To start searching for ads, sign in to your AdSense account. If you’re presented with the previous interface, click the “Try new AdSense” link in the upper right-hand corner. Then, visit the “Allow & block ads” tab. You’ll find the “Search ads” link in the left-hand navigation bar, where you can search by keyword text or ad URL. Learn more about search in our Help Center at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/as/bin/answer.py?answer=167309.
We invite you to provide us with your feedback about this new beta feature, using the ‘Provide feedback’ link in the upper right-hand corner of your account. Thanks in advance for your input, and we look forward to incorporating your suggestions into this new feature.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
The feature doesn’t seem to work fully for me yet, but I suspect it to be very useful for many publishers once it goes fully live.
Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.
Last night I received an email from Google about a new feature available in my AdSense account, as a beta. The feature basically allows me to search for ads that are targeted towards my site. Searching for ads makes it a bit easier to find and block or allow these ads from being shown on my pages.
Here is a picture of the new feature:
Here is a copy of the email:
Subject: Announcing Search in the AdSense Ad Review Center
Hello,
As a beta tester of the new AdSense interface, you’ll soon be able to use the Ad Review Center to search for ads that are targeted to your site. This new search functionality is designed to improve your efficiency when finding ads to review, based on feedback we’ve received from publishers.
To start searching for ads, sign in to your AdSense account. If you’re presented with the previous interface, click the “Try new AdSense” link in the upper right-hand corner. Then, visit the “Allow & block ads” tab. You’ll find the “Search ads” link in the left-hand navigation bar, where you can search by keyword text or ad URL. Learn more about search in our Help Center at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/as/bin/answer.py?answer=167309.
We invite you to provide us with your feedback about this new beta feature, using the ‘Provide feedback’ link in the upper right-hand corner of your account. Thanks in advance for your input, and we look forward to incorporating your suggestions into this new feature.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
The feature doesn’t seem to work fully for me yet, but I suspect it to be very useful for many publishers once it goes fully live.
Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.
Are you frustrated with Google AdSense? Do you love them? Do you have ideas that you think would improve the product or service? If so, Google is now asking for feedback on Google AdSense. Do not submit the ideas here, you have to go to a Google Moderator area and submit your ideas there.
AdSense Pro Jennifer said in a Google AdSense Help thread:
I just wanted to let you know that we’ve launched an AdSense Product Ideas page on Google Moderator. It’s a great way to get your ideas heard, vote on other publishers’ suggestions, and share your thoughts on AdSense product updates. As the blog announcement says, “While we aren’t able to guarantee that all the ideas on this page will be implemented, we can guarantee that we’ll take the top ideas (as voted by you), and bring them to the AdSense Product Management team for review. By submitting an idea, you agree that Google may use the idea to develop and enhance Google’s products and services.”
Again, if you have ideas for Google on AdSense, don’t comment here, go to the Google Moderator area and submit your ideas or vote on ideas.
Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.
Are you frustrated with Google AdSense? Do you love them? Do you have ideas that you think would improve the product or service? If so, Google is now asking for feedback on Google AdSense. Do not submit the ideas here, you have to go to a Google Moderator area and submit your ideas there.
AdSense Pro Jennifer said in a Google AdSense Help thread:
I just wanted to let you know that we’ve launched an AdSense Product Ideas page on Google Moderator. It’s a great way to get your ideas heard, vote on other publishers’ suggestions, and share your thoughts on AdSense product updates. As the blog announcement says, “While we aren’t able to guarantee that all the ideas on this page will be implemented, we can guarantee that we’ll take the top ideas (as voted by you), and bring them to the AdSense Product Management team for review. By submitting an idea, you agree that Google may use the idea to develop and enhance Google’s products and services.”
Again, if you have ideas for Google on AdSense, don’t comment here, go to the Google Moderator area and submit your ideas or vote on ideas.
Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.