In 2007, Google released figures stating that 73% of all online search activity was related to local content; i.e. somebody searching for “restaurants in York” or “cinemas in Leeds” as opposed to “restaurants” or “cinema”.
More recently American consumer research firm Kelsey Group in association with ConStat found that up to 97% of offline consumers now use research online to source products locally. (more…)
Google, Google Webmaster Central
A 404 server response status code means “page not found” and the 410 server response simply means “gone”.
For as long as I can remember, search engines have treated both these codes in the same way, with them both meaning that nothing is returned on a certain URL.
But reading a Google webmaster help thread from yesterday, Google employee John Mu stated that this is no longer the case and that Google is now treating these codes slightly differently. (more…)
Google, Google Chrome, Microsoft, Windows 7
This seems to be the title everyone is using since Google announced the launch of its lightweight operating system, Google Chrome OS, but it could be argued that there isn’t much meat in this headline.
Granted Windows 7 is supposed to be a modular operating system that could potentially be deployed in lightweight systems such as web books (the target for Chrome OS) but I believe windows XP will stay the preferred choice for a low cost Windows solution in a web book. (more…)
Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, Industry News, SEO
6 months after everybody’s favourite high street pick and mix retailer closed down, the Shop Direct Group has decided to resurrect Woolworths as an online retailer. I strongly believe that using the Woolworths brand online is a wise move by the Shop Direct Group as there is a lot of love and affection throughout the UK for the established Woolworths brand.
Over the last 3 weeks I have been using the site since its re-launch, but the more I visit the more disappointed I am by how our beloved former high street brand has been launched online. (more…)
Digital Marketing, SEO, Usability
Eye-tracking studies are great for understanding how the public view webpages, but it can often be hard to translate the results of these studies into real web design implementations. Recently I have been reading over studies such as Eyetrack 3, which was a study performed in 2003 by Steve Outing and Laura Ruel, as they observed 46 people view various mock information sites for an hour.
After reading over the study I decided to pick out a few nuggets of information that web designers can often overlook.
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