There is a new update to Google’s algorithm that will display the latest most up to date news on the search engine results pages (SERPS). For the sake of giving people what they want in searches Google will be placing social media at the top of the lists which means blogs, tweets, news, etc.

For example if their is a natural disaster recently and you Google for info on it you will more than likely get blogs, latest news, peoples opinions, etc on it. Even though the top ratings may be short lived it is important for your site.

So what can you do?

Keep your blog up to date and keep current events that relate to your website in mind, use Google trends to give you ideas on what people are currently searching for. I also recommend using Google trends to help with your keyword research as well. Add a ‘add to social network’ button to your site to help promote your site in the eyes of social media, display an RSS feed on your website that automatically updates itself with the latest news specific to your field, etc.

Google is already using this from evidence of an earthquake that struck in California just before new years. People did a search for the earthquake on Google and Google promptly returned the latest news, tweets, and blog comments on the event.

Michael

I just found out about this today. If you wanted the simplicity of using PayPal on your website, but was concerned about the image it would give your website using a 3rd party merchant account or if you disliked having your e-customers being routed to a PayPal page then you will want to look into this one!

It seems that PayPal has just started something called PayPal Website Pro that does the processing of the credit/debit card in the background so that your customer never leaves your site and your web developer can set it up so that it doesn’t look like that you use PayPal.

This version of PayPal is not free however and has a monthly fee. I’m willing to bet that compared to a regular merchant account that its fees are very competitive.

One thing that comes to mind is when the customer receives the receipt does it show it was processed by PayPal? Since the transaction is done and over with does it really matter? I will enter PayPal live chat to find out now.

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Oops, they are unavailable. If anyone has used this and knows the answer please let us know. I know a lot of customers do not choose PayPal because they feel it devalues the site, but are hesitant of the cost of their own merchant account. This may be the answer that they are looking for.