SEOenthusiast

Hey all….we’ve been so wrapped up in various client matters that this morning I’d just like to catch up with many great items out there in the SEO world!

To begin, yes, Google has made a change in their own branded online review process which “used” to be the Google HotPot….but no longer, eh!

First, we pointed out this move by Google back last fall, here…and then reviewed same specifically on HotPot here…and then commented more on how Yelp was handling this foray into review/ratings here…

Official news on this change, whereby Google is “rolling” the HotPot process “into” Google Places can be found here…and they go on to say this –

“Rolling Hotpot into Google Places helps simplify the connection between the places that are rated and reviewed and the more than 50 million places that already have an online presence through Google Places—places that millions of people search for and find every day on Google…”

As you will be able to make the same “use” of the old HotPot process but now via the Google Places page, it’s really (so far at least) not that much of a change, but one that other SEO types have commented on too…Greg Sterling here and Mike Blumenthal here….and thanks to both for pointing out some real-world numbers and stats too, eh!

Majestic has a new item too, that is very much worth mention in this SEO roundup….and that’s the rollout of their brand new Site Explorer dashboard!

If you’re a Majestic user when it comes to using the biggest set of site stats around, then you’d already know that while the information is a MAJOR factor in planning SEO tactics, the format has always been somewhat “thick.” What I mean is that every time I’d login to see the latest Site Explorer stats, I’d have to work and work at assembling the data in a way that was of value to me and my clients. That’s gone now, as they’ve launched a new dashboard that makes the Majestic Site Explorer so much easier to fathom…and I’m a happy camper too on that update! Just watch the video and you’ll see what I mean! Well done Majestic!

The folks over at e-Marketer, have compliled a new 2011 Canada Retail ECommerce Forecast that has some surprising numbers and you’d be wise to pop over to that Exec Summary page to take a good read, eh!

It appears that our online e-commerce spending will double in the next 4 years to over $30 billion!

“Retail ecommerce in Canada is late blooming compared with the US. But over the next few years, it will start to realize its potential. In 2010, consumers in Canada spent CAD16.5 billion ($16.0 billion) on domestic and foreign sites for products and services (including travel). By 2015, online spending will nearly double, reaching CAD30.9 billion ($30.0 billion)…”

The Summary goes on to further inform about what we Canucks “buy” and also shows that aggressive US retailers are coming to Canada for new e-commerce opportunitys….I suppose they somehow “missed” the Zappos abandonment of Canada…but I sure didn’t! But it does appear that all the sources for this Forecast are the web’s top ones, eh…ie Forrester, Aegis, StatCan. Has made me think about e-commerce again and how we might talk to some of our retail clients about new opportunities within that channel, eh!