Google Voice Vs. Skype, Social Gaming Ads, And Meta Descriptors

Google Voice Arises To Give Skype A Run For Its Money

If you have a Gmail account, you’ve probably already noticed the new live call feature provided to you for free from Google. Calls can be made from a simple click on one of your contacts’ phone numbers or by entering the number manually, and are free at least until the end of the year in the U.S. and Canada.

Garnering over one million calls by the 24 hour mark of its debut, this new Google feature is a direct challenger to Skype and has cheaper rates than its counterpart in most countries, although Skype offers an unlimited international dialing plan.

The bigger questions here revolve around how/if Google will be able to collect usable data from these calls, and can Gmail show ads based on this information, given the fact that Google Voice has a higher quality translator tool than most of its competitors.

Social Network Gamers Could Earn Virtual Currency By Watching Ads

Are you strapped for FarmVille coins, but in dire need of land expansion to house your ever-growing corn fields? Watching a Butterfinger ad or signing up for Netflix may just be your ticket to FarmVille gold.

With Americans now spending a third of their time on social network sites, advertisers are looking to tap into the social game world by offering virtual currency in exchange for watching a short ad and sharing it with their Facebook friends.

While companies like SupersonicAds are optimistic that social gamers will have no problem watching a four minute video if they are able to purchase more chickens or cows afterward, Gartner analyst Andrew Frank is a little more skeptical of people’s tolerance.

“You wonder whether this kind of behavior crosses the line from friendly promotion to where you are manufacturing interest, because people aren’t really interested in your product. They are interested in playing the games,” Frank said. “How annoying is it if my friends start spamming me with brand promotions I’m not interested in? I would certainly consider unfriending people for that kind of behavior.”

Meta Descriptors Can Greatly Impact Click Through

SEO consultant Dynamical.biz translated a new eye tracking study done in Spanish (PDF here) of how searchers look at the search results on a search results page.

Basically, what the chart below analyzes is how long the subject’s eyes track on different portions of the search result:

The term “fixations” is used to determine which areas of a search result receive the most views. More time was spent fixating on the snippet, or Meta description, than anything else. Across many different search queries, the Meta description is fixated on more than the other parts of the search result, including more than the big blue hyperlink and more than the URL.

By Jake McCormick

Rocket Clicks Staff

Sources:

Wall Street Journal blog – Google Adds Calls to Gmail, Challenges Skype

San Jose Mercury News – Now You Can Earn Virtual Currency From Watching Ads

Dynamical.biz – How User’s Intentions Influence Behavior in Search Results