Teaching an Anthill to Fetch RSS

This blog is an exploration of the concept and application of : Collaborative Intelligence. ‘CQ’ as I call it.I am the author of 'Teaching an Anthill to Fetch: Developing Collaborative Intelligence @ Work'.

Ants, and all other insects that live in colonies, appear to be hardwired to serve. By doing so, they ensure their survival. An anthill can survive and feed itself in some of the most hostile environments.

No single ant knows how it all works — nor does it need to. Individually, ants are not that smart, but together they are very intelligent. The ant serves the anthill, which in turn serves the ant. The community the ants create and work to support is well equipped to cope with the challenge of change. In other words, the ant and the colony it belongs to is a good example of high levels of collaborative intelligence (CQ).

Collaborative Intelligence (CQ) is defined as the capacity to harness the intelligence in networks of relationships.

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Themezoom guys talk about local search changes at Google

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Google’s Place Search launched recently rocking the search mash-up results and causing much conversation in the SEO community.  It is more than appropriate that we cover the topic for Theme Zoom members, since several of you have asked us to put the topic in the context of “swallowing your market whole” for clients as well as your own online businesses.

No two industries are exactly the same, so it is impossible to generalize the usefulness and ease with which you can optimize and dominate local search.

As a rule of thumb, if you are in highly competitive market with several locations around the country, it can be more difficult (but not impossible) to dominate all the local areas of your choice using your Google Places free listing.

If you are in a less competitive market, it can be a matter of only a couple minor optimization tasks that can give you the edge.

Listing your business with Google Places is the first step to getting on the results pages for Google Place Search, which is the new local search results format technology designed to allow users to zoom in on interesting locations. If you are planing to list your local business via Google Places, it is helpful to know how the new format effects the Universal Search results.

From the perspective of the search engine optimization professional this is both a blessing and a curse, requiring new ways of thinking about things. For example, the old 7-pack and 10-pack road block created by local listings is on its way out if it is not gone completely already. The same goes for some of the various Google One boxes. The new Search Engine Land article on Place Search covers the topic very well on before and after images.

  1. Do not launch a Google Places free listing if you are going to do it half way.
  1. Consider the local listing as part of your public relations campaign, even if you are merely a hair dresser and not a corporation!
  1. Consider a local listing when you have any type of business or service that could be searched for on a local level.
  1. Consider talking to your customers about how to use Yelp or Google Hot Pot in order to leave you positive ratings. If people are raving fans of your business, and you make it easy for them, they will be happy to do this. Remember, word of mouth marketing (WOM) has always been hard to account for, and in today’s “like-driven” economy, it is worth every second of your time.
  1. Learn how to blend your like-building with your link-building by reading our upcoming report on how to systematically think about this issue. This will be helpful if you are an SEO professional, a Public Relations expert, or a business owner.
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  1. anthill posted this