Facebook: “Promote your Post” Just a Test
March 3, 2010
Update: I finally got word back from Facebook, who confirmed that the feature is indeed only a test. "The "Promote" feature is just a test and is unrelated to our Promotions Guidelines," the company says. They did not give any specifics about a possible full launch.
Original Article: Facebook appears to either be rolling out or testing a feature that lets Facebook Page owners promote specific posts. When you make an update, a link that says, "Promote" can be found by the links for "Comment" and "Like".
Once you click that Promote link, it brings up a dialogue box, which asks you to create an ad, with targeting descriptions, the ad duration, and the maximum price of "Up to $50.00 USD".
Editor's note: Feel free to become our fan on Facebook, by the way.
You can click on "Edit Ad" to go to the standard Facebook Advertising Page, or you can click "Create Ad" to go to this page:
Interestingly enough, this comes after talk last week about how you have to have promotions approved by a Facebook account representative, which would reportedly cost you about $10k. This would appear to eliminate that notion.
The feature appears to only be available for some admins of some pages. We're not sure if they're rolling out the feature or just testing it. I've contacted Facebook to learn more about the feature, and I'll update when I receive a response. Any other Facebook Page admins getting this feature? Talk to ArisYulianta and Friends....
Google Sets Record Straight on Page Speed as Ranking Factor
February 3, 2010
Late last year, in a conversation about the Caffeine update, Google's Matt Cutts told WebProNews that page speed could become a factor Google looks at for ranking search results. His comments received a lot of attention, because Google has never taken this into consideration for ranking websites in the past. The notion that they would do so riled a lot of people up, because a lot of site owners out there simply don't have incredibly fast sites. That could pose a big problem if it suddenly damages their search rankings.
Do you count speed among the priorities for your site? Comment here.
Despite the fact that Cutts never said that page speed would become any more important of a ranking factor than anything else, many around the web and Blogosphere jumped to conclusions. While many more have remained sensible about the concept, not expecting page speed to trump relevant content, Cutts has now provided a video setting the record straight. The video is a response to the following user-submitted question:
Since we're hearing a lot of talk about the implications of Page Speed, I wonder if Google still cares as much about relevancy? Or are recentness and page load time more important?
Matt's answer is simply, "No. Relevancy is the most important. If you have two sites that are equally relevant (same backlinks...everything else is the same), you'd probably prefer the one that's a little bit faster, so page speed can be an interesting theory to try out for a factor in scoring different websites. But absolutely, relevance is the primary component, and we have over 200 signals in our scoring to try to return the most relevant, the most useful, the most accurate search result that we can find. That's not going to change." (emphasis added)
"If you can speed your site up, it's really good for users, as well as potentially down the road, being good for search engines," he says. "So it's something that people within Google have thought about."
It is interesting that anyone would ever assume page speed would become more important than relevance to Google, just because Matt Cutts indicated that page speed may become one of the many factors Google uses. If it were more important than relevance, Google probably would have been placing emphasis on page speed for a long time.
That said, it is worth pondering just how big a factor page speed would play. If there are over 200 factors, where would page speed be placed within the ranking of ranking factors? On a scale of one to two hundred, where would Google rank the importance of page speed? That question might not be quite so easy to answer, particularly since Google isn't real keen on the idea of giving away its secrets, and frankly, that's probably in the best interest of the web.
Just as with any other SEO tactic, it is up to individuals and the industry at large to speculate, analyze, and test. It's no easy feat, but there are plenty of educated guesses out there about just what Google's "over 200 ranking factors" are. Once you get into how much weight each one carries, it gets even more difficult to speculate.
I think the real takeaway here is simply to make your site as fast and user-friendly as possible, within reason. If it means you have to spend less time producing relevant content that is likely to get you good search engine placement, then maybe it's not worth it. However, if it means providing a better user experience on top of relevant content, and it's within your means to do so, it will only have good implications for the future of your site.
Google offers webmasters a lot of different tools to help them make their sites faster. In fact, they have a list of such tools here, and it doesn't just contain Google tools. They also point to tools from third-party developers. It's all part of Google's initiative to "make the web faster."
On a scale of 1 to 200, where would you place the importance of page speed? Discuss here.
Have You Read This?
> Google: Page Speed May Become a Ranking Factor in 2010
> Google Tracks User Data to Monitor Load Times
> Google Introduces Page Speed Tool
> Things to Consider if Page Speed is to Become a Ranking Factor
> Google Provides Tool for Speeding Up Web Pages
> Google Launches Site Performance Feature
> Google Announces SPDY Application-Layer Protocol
Google Sets Record Straight on Page Speed as Ranking Factor
February 2, 2010
Late last year, in a conversation about the Caffeine update, Google's Matt Cutts told WebProNews that page speed could become a factor Google looks at for ranking search results. His comments received a lot of attention, because Google has never taken this into consideration for ranking websites in the past. The notion that they would do so riled a lot of people up, because a lot of site owners out there simply don't have incredibly fast sites. That could pose a big problem if it suddenly damages their search rankings.
Do you count speed among the priorities for your site? Comment here.
Despite the fact that Cutts never said that page speed would become any more important of a ranking factor than anything else, many around the web and Blogosphere jumped to conclusions. While many more have remained sensible about the concept, not expecting page speed to trump relevant content, Cutts has now provided a video setting the record straight. The video is a response to the following user-submitted question:
Since we're hearing a lot of talk about the implications of Page Speed, I wonder if Google still cares as much about relevancy? Or are recentness and page load time more important?
Matt's answer is simply, "No. Relevancy is the most important. If you have two sites that are equally relevant (same backlinks...everything else is the same), you'd probably prefer the one that's a little bit faster, so page speed can be an interesting theory to try out for a factor in scoring different websites. But absolutely, relevance is the primary component, and we have over 200 signals in our scoring to try to return the most relevant, the most useful, the most accurate search result that we can find. That's not going to change." (emphasis added)
"If you can speed your site up, it's really good for users, as well as potentially down the road, being good for search engines," he says. "So it's something that people within Google have thought about."
It is interesting that anyone would ever assume page speed would become more important than relevance to Google, just because Matt Cutts indicated that page speed may become one of the many factors Google uses. If it were more important than relevance, Google probably would have been placing emphasis on page speed for a long time.
That said, it is worth pondering just how big a factor page speed would play. If there are over 200 factors, where would page speed be placed within the ranking of ranking factors? On a scale of one to two hundred, where would Google rank the importance of page speed? That question might not be quite so easy to answer, particularly since Google isn't real keen on the idea of giving away its secrets, and frankly, that's probably in the best interest of the web.
Just as with any other SEO tactic, it is up to individuals and the industry at large to speculate, analyze, and test. It's no easy feat, but there are plenty of educated guesses out there about just what Google's "over 200 ranking factors" are. Once you get into how much weight each one carries, it gets even more difficult to speculate.
I think the real takeaway here is simply to make your site as fast and user-friendly as possible, within reason. If it means you have to spend less time producing relevant content that is likely to get you good search engine placement, then maybe it's not worth it. However, if it means providing a better user experience on top of relevant content, and it's within your means to do so, it will only have good implications for the future of your site.
Google offers webmasters a lot of different tools to help them make their sites faster. In fact, they have a list of such tools here, and it doesn't just contain Google tools. They also point to tools from third-party developers. It's all part of Google's initiative to "make the web faster."
On a scale of 1 to 200, where would you place the importance of page speed? Discuss here.
Have You Read This?
> Google: Page Speed May Become a Ranking Factor in 2010
> Google Tracks User Data to Monitor Load Times
> Google Introduces Page Speed Tool
> Things to Consider if Page Speed is to Become a Ranking Factor
> Google Provides Tool for Speeding Up Web Pages
> Google Launches Site Performance Feature
> Google Announces SPDY Application-Layer Protocol
eBay to Make Changes to Seller Fees
February 2, 2010
eBay announced that starting March 30, it will be "lowering the cost of selling for sellers of all sizes," a notion that is heavily disputed. The company claims it will introduce its lowest insertion fees ever, and that may be true for the lowest-priced auctions, but many are claiming prices are higher. Just read through the comments of this article to get a feel for what is being discussed.
Note: Some edits have been made to this article, but it has always said that the price change represents an increase for some sellers (now bolded below).
Here are the new options for sellers, as described in eBay's announcement:
Option 1: "eBay Everyday" Standard Rates
- List up to 100 items a month Auction-style free—no Insertion Fees—when you start your Auction-style listing under $1.
- Get new, lower Insertion Fees for all other start prices.
- Either way, pay one easy Final Value Fee of 9% of the winning bid—and never more than $50—pay only if your item sells.
- List in Fixed Price for 50¢ with Final Value Fees mostly the same as today
Option 2: eBay Stores Subscription Packages
- List in Fixed Price with full search exposure for as low as 3¢ Insertion Fees with Final Value Fees for the most part the same as today
- Get FREE pictures
- Get deeply discounted fees on Auction-style listings
eBay says option one is ideal for those who sell occasionally, while option two is better for most sellers with 50 or more listings a month.
eBay's price change does represent a price increase for sellers who don't have a store. This is brought up in an interview (though supplied by eBay itself) with eBay VP of Buyer and Seller Experience Dinesh Lathi. His response is below (there is more to the interview, which can be viewed here):
When asked about why eBay will now only offer zero insertion fees for auctions starting under $1, as opposed to 5 item listings for free at any start price, Lathi says it is because eBay feels like the under $1 price is where the auction format works best.
Not everything from eBay's announcement is targeted at sellers. For buyers, the company is launching a new buyer protection program, which they see as a way to bring in more buyers and keep them on eBay. There is another series of videos discussing this aspect of the announcement with eBay Senior Director of Resolutions Lynda Talgo here. When asked whether or not the program could be perceived as eBay favoring the buyer over the seller, she says:
Another key component of eBay's announcement is what the company refers to as a boost to seller efficiency. For example, sellers of auto parts will be able to create a single listing with a complete list of compatible vehicles, which will save the seller on insertion fees and time. Sellers will be able to list multiple variations of a product in one fixed price listing in "many more" categories.
More details that reflect upcoming eBay changes can be found in this interview, this interview, the 2010 Spring Seller Update overview, and this announcement itself. In addition, there will be a webinar Thursday, and more details announced on the announcement board.
What do you think of eBay's upcoming changes? Discuss here.
Have You Read This?
> eBay Declares Mobile Success For Holiday Season
> eBay Fined $2.6 Million Over LVMH Sales
