A couple of weeks ago we saw the launch of Google+, the web giants latest attempt at cornering the Social Media market

There is a clamour being made about social media at the moment. You might think that is a bit of a redundant statement considering the noise it has been making throughout 2010.

It has been another busy year in the world of search and digital advertising.

It’s been a busy month for most of the men at home james and home marketing but the hard work certainly paid off with some noticeable results.

If we said the word instant to you at the start of September, what would come to mind? Instant coffee? Instant downloads? How that has all changed.

August figures from Experian Hitwise suggest little change in the search market share with Google still considerably dominating.

History is defined by anecdotes, quotes and phrases that shaped a nation, policy or regime but is this the latest iconic quote to go down in the annals of time?

Have you ever found yourself scratching your head whilst pondering an answer to a troublesome query?,/p>

There is a sort of transitional air about the search market at the moment with the Yahoo! and Bing alliance growing at pace and Bing itself eating into Google’s dominance.

One of the biggest stories in June was Facebook and Yahoo! strengthening their relationship with the announcement of a cross platform status update.

People who spend a lot of time on social networks like Facebook and Twitter are more likely to spend more money online than those that aren’t as in-tune with the social sphere.

It has been a week since SMX Advanced swept through London leaving behind a flurry of exhausted bloggers and square-eyed Twitter enthusiasts who no longer recognise a world outside of 140 characters.

Google are trying to get more local and as a result of this desire they have rebranded Google Local Business Centre and brought it in line with their Place Pages. The result is the rather hip sounding – Google Places.

So the dust has settled and the numbers are churning but what have we learnt from Google’s rather generous and surprising release of greater organic search information?

Last week the Library of Congress announced that they will archive every single public tweet made – yes every single one! Many have heralded this as an interesting study that could form a vital part of our recent history, particularly as we continue to develop an ever more digital world. However, for some, this might be a cringe-worthy announcement.

Google AdWords’ new feature, Search Funnels, will now allow you to map and record all the keywords used that lead up to a conversion; showing each keyword’s relevance.

Delays continue to stall Google Caffeine’s launch with the latest forecasts predicting months, not weeks, before it is rolled out on all data centres.

The week ending 13 March 2010 marked a historic day in the short life of Facebook and also hinted at a potential shift in power between the leading search engine and leading social media platform. Yet it seemingly crept under the radar.

Users’ online search habits are becoming increasingly savvy after Hitwise reported an 11% rise in 4+ keyword queries. The results measured against the same period 12 months earlier indicated that we are now looking for more specific results from our searches.

For the third successive month Bing has slowly increased their market share, which should please Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

It has been a year since Google, Yahoo! and Bing jointly announced the canonical tag but only last week did it emerge that Yahoo! and Bing were going to start supporting it.

Last month we asked the question and now it would appear that the results of Yahoo! and Bing’s...

It’s true you can now go anywhere you want at the swipe of your finger after Google Earth became available on Android 2.1. It also exemplifies the closing gap between what you can do on a desktop and what you can do on your phone.

Day-to-day account management in AdWords has just got slicker. The introduction of a new analysis toolbar in the Campaigns tab now gives you quicker access to existing data as well as making new data available. What’s more, all of this is now only a single click away!

hôme james is a well established search and social media marketing agency based in Leeds. Dealing with a number of blue chip clients in the UK, hômejames is well regarded as one of the leading search marketing agencies and its reputation is built on consistently achieving success in competitive sectors. We are looking for an experienced, dynamic and proactive person to join as an account manager within search marketing – 12 months minimum experience is required.

So by now you have set up your Twitter account, you’re tweeting away with friends and following people you’re interested in. But what is all this jargon being thrown at you? Re-tweet this, hashtag that, check out this meme! We have put together a list to help you.

In some ways Twitter is like a popularity contest but unlike Facebook you have to earn your followers. As you may or may not be aware, on Facebook, if you request someone as a friend and they accept, or vice-versa, you will immediately follow each other’s profile. It isn’t quite the same on Twitter!

If I had a pound for every blog post I have read about how to make the most of Twitter, I’d be able to retire. Yet for all the collective wisdom out there prescribing best practice lists, there are very few guides on how to understand Twitter. This got me thinking, are companies failing to make the most of the social network because they simply don’t understand it?

We’re not trying to flirt with conspiracy enthusiasts with this assertion, merely questioning the influence that Google is having on a rapidly changing social-driven Internet.

Marketing agency, Latitude, this week went into administration before being bought out in a “pre-pack” deal led by its management and Vitruvian, their private equity agency.

The rumours were true after all, although there wasn’t much doubting it. Google’s Nexus One has officially launched (although it is only available in the U.S. at the moment). It ushers in a new dawn, which they have proclaimed as the ‘super phone’ that will shape our online and mobile habits in the future.

If 2010 is the year that mobile presence emerges with just as much clout as SEO and SMO then the expected launch of the Nexus One, the first Google-branded phone, on January 5 will ensure that the year starts with a bang.

In part two of, the 12 Rules of SMO, we continue our look at some of the key factors that you should consider when approaching an SMO campaign. Part one focussed on planning your strategy and ensuring your content is clear and offers value to visitors. These last six festive offerings will hopefully also add some value to your SMO campaign.

Okay, so this isn’t a definitive guide or Holy Grail of Social Media Optimisation (SMO) best practice. Instead, think of it as a timely look at some of the key things you should consider for an SMO campaign this Christmas and into the New Year.

Has the future of SEO been irrevocably altered to the detriment of its potential use in Google? This kind of question has been slowly infiltrating search forums this week following Google’s personalised search announcement on Friday (04/12/09).

Traditionally the golden rule of writing content for your site or your blog was to be niche – one narrow vertical. However, going horizontal could be the new vertical for some.

Good Social Media Optimisation (SMO) should be about personalised content and meaningful interaction.

The net of opportunities for mobile advertising looks set to grow after Google bought AdMob, one of the leading mobile advert companies.

We all know that online ad spend has recently outstripped TV for the first time but where’s it all going?Before I answer that, here are some of the stats.

Over the past couple of weeks Google have conducted some studies with major international brands, Heineken and Levi’s, to investigate the value of paid for search to branding. The findings of both studies returned positive results that indicate paid for search can considerably boost brand awareness as well as increasing sales.

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is the new buzz topic in the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) field and companies considering a campaign utilising this shouldn’t stop at just using Twitter and Facebook.

The advent of social media marketing through Facebook and Twitter has cast a lifeline to many small businesses trying to stay afloat in the turbulent recession waters.

Almost a year earlier than forecasted, online advertising spend has superseded television expenditure in the UK with paid-for search leading the way. This is the key finding of a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The second installment of our new series of blog posts from home james  - the most important stories in search and SEO for the last month, all in one easy to digest post. This month - August 2009.

Today, home james was unveiled as a RAR Recommended Agency and joined the elite few on its register.

Presenting the most important stories in search and SEO for the last month, all in one easy to digest post.

Search is one of the most important ways that users find their way around web sites.

Google Site Search now features up to date search results following a recent upgrade to this service.

Google Site Search is a popular choice for web sites which do not already have a search facility.  It allows webmasters to quickly and easily set up a Google powered search engine specifically for their site.

As the old adage goes, it costs five times more to recruit a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. As a result, now seems like as good a time as any for us all to look inwards at how effectively we manage our existing customer relationships.

The need to do this will vary by sector and business. Supermarkets, Travel Companies, Mobile Networks, Car Dealerships and so on, each have an incentive to maintain a relationship with their clients; by understanding them better, they can drive increased revenues from their lifetime value.

There’s a recession looming, in case you didn’t know, it’s changing how we think and hitwise have been sharing some of their insights with us.

Fast moving search terms for September include Hadron Collider, HBoS, Sarah Palin, Sex on Fire, Elbow, Ryder Cup & Google Chrome, amongst others.

Interestingly, the rate of growth in the Social Networking & Forums category has slowed quite a bit, whilst blogs & personal websites have seen a decrease in popularity year on year – this could be our last post!

Yesterday, Google announced it would open up its paid search platform for gambling related terms in the UK!

If this floats your boat, you’re probably in the industry and, therefore, this is a seismic u-turn of notable proportions.

If it doesn’t, it’s probably just another piece of online twoddle, it’s likely to be jargon-riddled and mean very little to the common man.

Following our recent post ‘Fannie Mae Get Help, But Will the Crunch Affect Online’, it seems marketing folk are making the shift to online in readiness for what may be a more difficult year ahead.

Acronyms are there to improve your quality of life, to bring a little happiness to the otherwise sad, to breathe soul into the soulless, or perhaps just to ease your way through a jargon-filled conversation.

Where do you turn to then when one of the most used acronyms in your industry adds a light year to a conversation?