Tired of adverts getting in your way? Ad breaks in your favourite series, ads in the middle of the magazine article you’re reading, ads popping up in the middle of your favourite freeware game and even ads on signposts blocking your view of the road? Well, it seems that Google agrees.

Technology today allows us to fast-forward through the ads on TV, so why should we still have to scroll through them to get to the info we are looking for on a website. Google has decided to change their algorithm that is used to rank websites. Websites with too many adverts on the top of the page, thus causing users to scroll down in order to get to actual content, will be penalised in their rankings.

Google states:

“We understand that placing ads above-the-fold is quite common for many websites; these ads often perform well and help publishers monetize online content. This algorithmic change does not affect sites who place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree, but affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page. This new algorithmic improvement tends to impact sites where there is only a small amount of visible content above-the-fold or relevant content is persistently pushed down by large blocks of ads.

This algorithmic change noticeably affects less than 1% of searches globally.”  Read the post here.

This has resulted in many people questioning whether or not Google will penalise themselves as their results pages have so many ads. Seriously?! Google’s ads are not really ads in the traditional sense. When you use Google, you are looking for links to sites with relevant information; Google’s ads are mostly links to relevant information. People are so worried about what is fair; wonder if while they sit writing or reading these blogs on their iPad or laptop they consider the children in underdeveloped countries who can’t even get a book to read. Such a fuss made over a possible 1% of searches that may be affected. I say go for it Google!

Couple of Saturdays back, my wife dragged me to the shops, Eastgate of all places, the mecca of the crowded passages. As you can see I am not really a fan of the shopping mall.

Anyway, one of the things I absolute DREAD about the shopping malls, are the “promotion” stands. Eager beavers who have a handful of pamphlets, whom you avoid making eye contact with, and pick up the pace to try and get through the “kill” zone unscathed. Sometimes you do and other times you try and politely extricate yourself from the conversation, “No not right now”, “Let me talk to my wife about it”, etc, etc.

Well on this particular Saturday I came across something a little different…

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“It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people… In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.” (Econsultancy Blog)

“Around 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week during campaigns, with 39% using it for 10 or more hours per week” (Econsultancy Blog)

In 2009, we saw many companies stepping into the field of social media marketing & finding that it is a favourable alternative to traditional marketing – being powerful, influential, far-reaching & inexpensive.
2010 predicts a significant move away from the traditional forms of marketing, with many more companies testing the waters of social media marketing.

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