We have been discussing semantic search online for some time now. Google Semantic Search kicked off the ‘conversation’ even before Google’s Hummingbird was a thing.

The abiding question when it comes to webmasters is: “What should I be doing, now?” Semantic search has made SEO harder by, paradoxically, making it easier. When the optimization of a website depended on understanding the impact of very specific technical things, all you had to do was find out what those ‘things’ were and apply them.

Semantic search has taken the dependence on technical SEO away. We now talk about ‘soft’ optimization vectors such as quality and the end-user experience and Trust, Authority and Expertise (those darned Google human raters’ guidelines again). 

So, how do you start? Exactly? Watch the video and the answers are there.  

The Social Media Today #SMTPowerTalk series has never failed to deliver valuable insights each time. This one was exceptional. Lee Smallwood founder of NOD3X.com and Ammon Johns of ammonjohns.com are both veteran marketers with a longtime experience of what works and what doesn’t.

The magic of Hangouts On Air is that each one is unique. It is the synthesis of the moment, circumstances, background, participants, the host (yours truly in this case) and the audience. The fact that this Hangout was also hosted through the Social Media Today pages was one more valuable variable thrown in the mix. Both Lee and Ammon gelled. The audience produced some invaluable questions and the insights started coming one after the other.

Watch the video below for the complete Hangout On Air.

Topic: Social Media Marketing Analytics

In what is the last of the ABCs of Google+ I had the pleasure of finally meeting Sandra Watson and Delilah Taylor and the always redoubtable Dennis N. Duce as we covered some of the questions regarding the value of Google+.

As always in a Hangout on Air (HOA) the real value comes not from the topic or the guest (though they help) but from the chemistry of the synthesis of guest, topic, hosts and audience. This makes each HOA unique and the spontaneity that each produces also brings out fresh insights and unique ideas.

Ben Fisher and Stephan Hovnavian have done some incredible work in branding and marketing right across the web.

In this Spotlight HOA we got to discuss G+ connectivity, the way content can be curated for greater ease and the way Google+ Hangouts link up to semantic search, Google’s voice recognition technology and YouTube.

Both Ben and Stephan are experienced marketers who have seen G+ evolve over the past eighteen months. This was an awesome Hangout amongst peers with some excellent, well-informed questions.

In the social network world it often is easier to be prescriptive and analytical than accepting and holistic. How we establish “safe zones” for contact in a social media network, how we create comfort zones and yet how we avoid growing stale, was the subject of an open on-air discussion with Eric Enge and Mark Traphagen, both of Stone Temple Consulting.

The amazing thing about this is that while we are all working within the relatively ‘hard’ concepts of search and metric-driven marketing and brand values, we also are all aware how the true impact and touchpoints are being generated by the softer, human attributes.

This was definitely a touchy-feely HOA and we covered some pretty interesting ground.

If you find this fascinating consider the fact that Paul also helps small businesses and professionals, like himself, understand what it is that they need to do in the age of semantic search and the semantic web.

While Paul focuses a lot on what those active in his profession should do the value of what we discussed transcends business verticals. In the semantic web we see transparency, connectivity and authenticity as key. Each of these changes what we do and how we do it and, in the process, it changes everything else.

Check out the video for some of the insights that came out as a result of the Q & A session.

The value of Hangouts on Air (HOAs) really shows itself when you get a HOA like this where Carlos Fernandes, Bill Slawski, Ammon Johns and yours truly got together to discuss semantic search.

What was different in this HOA is that we’re all living and breathing in this space and have been for a long time. Bill Slawski runs the SEO By The Sea website where he has exhaustively covered almost every Google patent there is to know about. Ammon Johns has been involved with search ever since there was search worth talking about and Carlos Fernandes is one of the founders of the ISOOSI research engine.

The traditional rule of thumb goes that when you have a lot of wattage in a room everyone tries to outshine everyone else so friction increases and the value of the insights correspondingly drops, unless, that is, you get something like this. Having never physically met each other before, being in different countries and timezones but having interacted with or come across each other’s posts in Google+ many times, the synch was such that the friction was zero. When that happens (and it’s unique to the Google+ culture in my experience) the value of the insights increase exponentially.

Whether we talked about branding and marketing and semantic search or Ammon John’s incredibly accurate assessment of Google’s vision and the direction it is taking the conversation veered seamlessly from practical and actionable to conceptual and strategic and back again.

Watch it. Enjoy.

Can Hangouts on Air (HOAs) help you increase your influence? Can they help you reach more influencers? Is influencer marketing something you should be pursuing? Is there really such a thing as an “influencer”? These are just some of the questions that we addressed as Christine DeGraff  and Ronnie Bincer took us through a lightening-fast, rapid-fire half-hour Hangout On Air.

The question of how influencers affect search, how they can be approached and how they fit in the overall relationship marketing that is in play now is far from solved, but this HOA definitely tackles the issues, heads on.

Legally Speaking is a regular Hangout on Air (HOA) hosted by Tina Willis and Stephan Futeral aimed at helping those in the legal profession get a better handle on search, marketing, search marketing and a whole lot of issues related to lawyers working online.

Search is now a constant in the life of every working professional who needs to be found through search. Although a lot of this HOA is focused on lawyers and the legal profession it is widely applicable and well worth catching.

Ryan Hanley is part of the new breed of content marketers who “get it”. He knows Google is changing. He has seen search change first hand. He knows content marketing and he sees the challenge that businesses face as they transition into the new web of semantic search.

Hangouts on Air are awesome because you never really know quite what you will be asked. This one was no exception. Ryan is a very focused, intelligent interviewer and many of his questions built upon previous interviews he has done which can be seen at his website RyanHanley.com.

True to form, in this HOA he asks some pretty tough questions as well as the a number of less unexpected ones. As always what makes a Hangout On Air is the participation of the audience and the energy they bring to the live event. This one was truly awesome. Check it out: