Google Introduces Google Trends Email Alerts Delivered To Your Inbox

Google announced that they will be rolling out the capability for users to have popular topics from Google Trends and Hot Searches delivered via email.

This new feature will work in a very similar way to how Google Alerts currently works. You will be able to subscribe to a meticulous topic and receive a notification if there is an increase in search volume around that topic.

Currently, Google allows you to give to to any search topic, Hot Searches for any country, or any U.S. monthly Top Chart.

You will also be able to subscribe to notifications about trending topics by location. For example, if you want to stay up to date about trends and trendy searches in your local area, you can set up an email notification to tell you about the “hottest” Hot Searches in the location of your option and get occasional emails about major local trends.

To set up an email subscription, simply visit the Subscriptions section within Google Trends and click on Add subscription.

From there, select the topic and country of your option and indicate how often you would like to receive notifications. Then click the Subscribe button.

That’s all it takes to go on your finger on the pulse of trending topics and popular search terms. This is an extremely useful feature for all the busy professionals out there who don’t have time to manually sift through blogs and websites every day to stay current. Now the information can be sent directly to you.

Google announced today they will be rolling out the skill for users to have popular topics from Google Trends and Hot Searches delivered via email.

This new feature will work in a very similar way to how Google Alerts now works. You will be able to subscribe to a exacting topic and receive a notification if there is an increase in search volume around that topic.

Currently, Google allows you to subscribe to any search topic, Hot Searches for any country, or any U.S. monthly Top Chart.

You will also be able to subscribe to notifications about trending topics by location. For example, if you want to stay up to date about trends and popular searches in your local area, you can set up an email notification to tell you about the “hottest” Hot Searches in the location of your choice and get irregular emails about major local trends.

To set up an email subscription, simply visit the Subscriptions section within Google Trends and click on Add subscription.

From there, select the topic and country of your choice and specify how often you would like to receive notifications. Then click the Subscribe button.

That’s all it takes to keep your finger on the pulse of trending topics and accepted search terms. This is an very useful feature for all the busy professionals out there who don’t have time to physically sift through blogs and websites every day to stay current. Now the information can be sent directly to you.

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Google Expands worldwide Targeting in AdWords

Google has tweaked how location targeting works for international searches. It’s a alteration that allows ads to be seen across countries, not just within countries, when the search inquiry has local intent.

According to this announcement, advertisers that use either the “default” or “location of interest” location will be able to target their ads based on

•    the location that people are search for, and
•    the location that people are searching from 

Here’s how Google explains it:

For example, let’s say you own a hotel, and you are currently targeting Paris with the keyword “Paris hotels.” Previously, only people searching on Google.fr or Google.com from France could see your ad. Starting the week of November 11, your ads will be eligible to show to people searching for “Paris hotels” from anywhere in the world — for example, someone who lives in New York City who is booking a vacation in Paris.

In other words, ads may start to show to searchers in places where your ads weren’t showing before. Google says this may result in an increase in imitation, and advertisers that want to narrow their location settings can still do so using advanced location options and/or by excluding geographic locations.

Google Moves completely to safe Search

The day many SEO professionals hoped would never approach but feared finally would, apparently has arrived today. It appears that Google has cut off keyword data altogether.

Almost two years after making one of the biggest changes to secure search that resulted in a steady rise in "(not provided)" data, Google has switched all searches over to encrypted searches using HTTPS. This means no more keyword data will be approved to site owners.

Encrypted Google searches don't pass the keyword data through to websites, thereby eliminating the capability to track users by their keyword searches. The biggest impact for many site owners has been not being able to section users by keywords within their web analytics software.

To publish any purpose of Google's motives for this move would be pure the
ory. Not wanting to feed the rumor mill or feed any false theory, Search Engine Watch has reached out to Google for a comment.

When encrypted search initially launched in May 2010, Google to begin with had encrypted search on a separate URL. A year soon, in late 2011, Google started redirecting all U.S. users who were signed into their Google Accounts to the encrypted version at https://google.com. This led to the now-infamous "(not provided)" row in keywords data in Google Analytics and other web traffic software packages.

When questioned, Cutts was quick to answer that it was estimated that the amount of "(not provided)" visits "even at full roll-out ... would still be in the single-digit percentages of all Google searchers on Google.com."

As time rolled on, the conversion to encrypted search extended globally to all signed-in users then even further to include default searching in Firefox

Just last month, BrightEdge released a study fining the proportion of "(not provided)" data was over 50% for some industries.

There are methods around determining "(not provided)" data via Webmaster Tools. While the method isn't foolproof, it can be useful to determine trends.

At this point, it seems even when you aren't logged in, using private browsing (or incognito mode) and by force type HTTP://www.google.com, you are being redirected to the HTTPS version, thereby encrypting your search and no doubt leading to a total removal of keyword data – at slightest from Google search visitors. Remember, keyword data from other search engines – like Bing, for example – still send keyword data through.

If you're a practitioner, how will you be adjusting your strategies and practices? How will you begin the chat with your clients? Sound off in the comments. We'll have reactions and more reporting as this story develops.

Google Accounts for almost 25% of All U.S. Internet Traffic

Google has set a latest Internet record. Twenty-five percent of all Internet traffic in the U.S. on average involves Google, according to a new study by Deepfield published this week. This is upbeat from 6 percent in 2010 when a similar study was conducted.

Deepfield cites the use of thousands of Google servers as the most significant change since 2010. Google Global Cache, a content delivery stand reaching more than 100 countries, now has servers in the mass of U.S. Internet providers, according to Deepfield.

Deepfield's findings show 60 percent of all Internet end devices and users exchange traffic with Google servers during the course of an average day, with "computers and mobile device as well as hundreds of varieties game consoles, home media appliances and other embedded devices."

Deepfield noted that Google's device share is truly much larger when focused solely on computers and mobile devices.
The study showed Google was rivaled in bandwidth by only one: Netflix. "But Netflix peaks last only for a few hours each evening during prime time hours and during Netflix cache update period in the early morning," Deepfield said.

What's more, Deepfield stated that Google Analytics, hosting and advertising played some kind of role "in over half of all large web services or sites today."

Deepfield said its ongoing study is unlike than "web bug-based" measurements like Alexa and comScore because it uses core Internet infrastructure like routers and includes traffic from browsers and devices like Apple TV, Roku, Xbox 360, mobile apps and so on.

Google Now: Taking the Search Out of Search

In a world where we're distracted by some 30,000+ brand messages per day, effortlessness in the user experience is becoming a highly attractive quality. Crafty Google, in realization of this, has been working overtime on the most effortless experience possible.

Released as a standalone app for Android and as an integrated update to the Google App for iOS, Google Now assesses the behavior of a user logged into his or her Google account, and, over time, develops an understanding of what that user wants and needs.

As engagement with the app progresses, customized content begins to filter into the UI in the form of categorical “cards” – weather alerts, breaking news, calendar reminders and so forth – all compiled based on past behavior, current context, and ongoing communication.

The more you search and use other Google tools like Gmail and Google Calendar, the more Google learns until your require to actually expend any effort whatsoever – talking, tapping, or otherwise – dissipates altogether:

Wondering what the weather will be like today? Just open now and the weather card will automatically display the forecast for your current location.

Bad at remembering special occasions? Now will pop up reminder cards from your Google Calendar for birthdays.

Running late on your commute home? Now will automatically create a card with info on the next train or bus to your destination.

Essentially, Google Now takes the search out of search.

 Google Now Cards

The app launched with 15 preset categories including such essentials as Gmail, Places, sports, travel, and news, but the early iteration was just the beginning.

At the recent Google I/O conference, several new categories were announced, including music, video games, books, TV episodes, public transportation, and research cards – a custom category based on specific niche topics you've shown interest in by virtue of search or other behaviors. It's everything you would have searched for, served up proactively before you even think to search for it.

Though the tools for actually performing a search are pretty impressive as well. As of last count, there are 60+ known commands, which, when typed or spoken will produce results cards.

For example, ask for a stock quote, the definition of a word, the square root of pi, who directed "Gone with the Wind" – and you'll get results served up neatly in card format. As an added bonus, Android users enjoy additional features that put together deeply into other applications, enabling them to use commands to verbally compose an email or text message, make a note, and set a reminder or alarm.

A Glimpse of the Future of Predictive Search

Call it what you like – predictive, unified, aggregated – Google Now is a glimpse at the seamlessly personalized, contextually complex, nascent future of search.

Picture a business traveler in a foreign city for work with Google Now installed on her smartphone – or, even more likely, her Google Glasses.

The viewfinder of her glasses with built-in Now functionality will guide her seamlessly throughout her day in a unfamiliar locale, presenting visual maps and directions to her calendared meetings, flashing safety alerts, translating price tags into more familiar currency and presenting her with real-time tips on local business etiquette – all without her having to do more than blink.

She'll be able to text, email, and post to Google+ simply by speaking and gazing at her surroundings as she goes about her day, more efficiently than if she had a real human assistant in tow.

This is a blue skies vision of what's likely to come but it's fair to say that now is truly the first essential personal assistant worthy of the title.

Still, there are the Requisite Drawbacks

As with Siri, the voice activated functions have a way to go in terms of usability, though this is bound to get better with time. And, in order for a user to truly enjoy the full benefits, one needs to be using Gmail and Google Calendar not to mention an Android device (it is a Google service, after all)

Like all things Google, advertising based on your data is predictable. Google has already announced that brands will be able to insert markup into their email campaigns that will join together seamlessly with Now, triggering special content cards and alerts when a user receives an email to their Gmail address.

It's already possible for airline boarding passes to be automatically added to the Now interface from a Gmail message (an improvement on the Passbook model that requires proactive user input) and it's likely that offers and incentives won't be too far behind.

As Now catches on, it's very potential that we'll see more users migrating to Gmail and other Google tools in an effort to get the best possible Now experience.

Brands Will Make the Most of Google Now

It's also very likely that we'll see more and more brands asking their search agencies to build up a Now strategy that aligns with their SEM and SEO planning. With Google dominating mobile search and free Google tools like Gmail continuing to increase in popularity, it's a given that Now will become status quo for users and consequently, for marketers as well.

Of course, it's too early in the game to know what the rules for optimization, both usual and paid will be. At present, a limited number of partner brands have been built-in the beta, allowing them to tag their email content with elements that will be flagged by Now and allow for translation to cards.

But there's little doubt that tools for brands will be rolling out in short order. The inherent effortless of it – what we referred to earlier as “taking the search out of search” is really what will cinch uptake for end users and brands alike. The congestion of data in our always-on, real-time world is making us crave simplicity – the more wired we get, the lazier we become.

'Technology Should Do the Hard Work'

As Google CEO Larry Page himself said at Google I/O last month that “Technology should do the hard work so that people can get on with doing the things that make them happiest in life."

The brands that are tuned in to that simple fact, like Google, are the ones that will win out in the future not just of search but of marketing overall.