Google StreetView coming to Newbury

Here's some interesting news for the people of Newbury. Google have now been given permission to launch their StreetView here in the UK. This means that you will soon be able to use Google to get a street side view of every road and street in Newbury.

As you can imagine, there has been a fierce debate about whether Google should be allowed to do this. Traditionally here in the UK, we are quite protective of our privacy; especially when it comes to our homes and security. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on the side of the fence you sit) the Information Commissioner's Office has our interests at heart by saying:

"adequate safeguards to avoid any risk to the privacy or safety of individuals"

In practice this means that people's faces will be blurred out and car registration numbers will not be shown.

A spokesman for the Internet giant went on to say: “We welcome the comments from the ICO. Street View is a valuable tool for people who wish to better understand a location and find information about the places they live and visit.

"We've always said we will not launch in UK until we are comfortable Street View complies with local law and that we will use technology, like face-blurring, licence plate blurring and operational controls, such as image removal tools, so Street View remains useful and in keeping with local norms wherever it is available”

So, people of Newbury. What is your view on this? Is it a useful tool, will you use it? Or are you worried that in the age of cyber crime, this is just one more way for people to find out about an address?

The Google challenger, is Cuil good for Newbury?

It is not always the best technology that wins the hearts and minds, sometimes it is the company with the deepest marketing budget, or the first to market or the company that executes their sales strategy perfectly. Think VHS v Beta max, Laser disk v DVD, Blue Ray v HDDVD, it's not always the best technology that wins.

I was thinking about this because I have received a number of emails this week that mention the new search engine Cuil (pronounced Cool), which was launched on the back of claims it is better than Google and world domination beckons. With the kind of media coverage they were being given (was it a slow week?), I was really looking forward to giving it a test drive.

And it is a good job I am a patient man; since for the first 24 hours the site would not even load for me. I'm not joking, talk about a massive PR gaff. This is a site that is supposed to rival the most popular search engine on the planet and it could not cope with their own launch party.

Anyway, I wanted to give it a fair shot. In my humble opinion, I really do believe that the search engine war has been fought, casualties are long buried. Yes, sure there will be a need for other search engines, however the core user groups outside of the tech savvy community will stick with Google, it's what they know. Even if some bright spark invented a new system, Google's pockets are so deep that they will bury a disruptive competitor before the mainstream have even heard of them. So if Cuil were coming along to try and rival Google, then they must have some jam hot product to whack us around the ears with?

Since this site is about Newbury SEO, I thought I would test the top 5 most popular Newbury search results using a Cuil search and a Google search. The winner will be the search engine that offers the most helpful results, I know it is not very scientific but we SEOs need to remember sometimes that the huge majority of Internet users are just that, users. They have no special knowledge of how search engines work or desire to.

For for clarity purposes, I am using google.co.uk and cuil.com

1. newbury hotels

The Google result provided local business results which listed 10 Newbury based hotels, there was also a number of other Newbury based hotels listed. The rest of the SERPs were made up of "hotel deal" type sites.

The Cuil result did not provide any Newbury based hotels. The SERPs provided sites that were click through agency type sites, I clicked on a couple of these and they did not even show Newbury hotels, more search refining was needed.

Google wins this one hands down.

2. newbury racecourse

The Cuil results for Newbury Racecourse were not bad here, as well as the main Newbury Racecourse site, they offered up the Wiki and some ticketing information.

The Google result again took advantage of their local presence by offering a map. Their sponsored links provided details of local hotels to stay at and the SERPs had details of rail times and even managed to provide details of the golf course at the racecourse.

This was a little bit tighter, however I would have to opt with Google as it provided more useful information on the first search.

3. newbury college

Both sites offering up very similar information here. Google provided a map and contact details and Cuil offered Wikipedia as a source for additional information. Both answered query adequately.

Point each this time.

4. newbury weekly news

Another point each side, the main vehicle for the Newbury Weekly News is newburytoday.co.uk which was top on both search results. There were a couple of spam style results on the Cuil SERPs, however both gave adequate information.

5. newbury show

The Newbury Show has been superseded by the Royal County of Berkshire show, however a lot of locals still know it as Newbury Show. Both search engines had the main site top of their results, however Cuil had a lot of non relevant information, some as old as 2001. Google offered up lots of news coverage and related sites.

Google win this one.

So in summary and based on the strict criteria of my opinion, Google are providing more relevant search results for terms that relate to Newbury. This may change in the future, however for now there is nothing that Cuil are doing for the people looking for Newbury based information that is better than Google. So I can only imagine that they must have a huge trick up their sleeve if they are serious about disrupting Google as the number one search engine.

Hotels are most popular searches in Newbury

It's not really surprising that search terms that relate to obtaining information about hotels is top of the list in Newbury. Do a similar search for other towns and cities and it is likely to be at the top for each one. That said, Newbury does have some uniques. The racecourse, the Newbury floods last August are still being searched for, Newbury bypass the list goes on.

What I am interested in looking into for this post is whether it is better for a hotel to optimise for the term (or related) "Newbury hotels" or to market their own name and brand. As you can see from our first list below, Newbury Manor Hotel is in the top 10. They are the only named hotel to show in the top 10, why is this? It's possible that one of the reasons is that they have branded themselves very well. People are away of them and know their name.

This is a great position to be in, if you are searching for a hotel and use the name of that hotel to search; as a visitor you are much more highly targeted. If the same visitor searches for "Newbury Hotels" then your hotel is in a list with 10 others. Indeed, more than 10 because in Google they have local search results.

Interestingly, they have also benefited because of their name and I guess their own SEO efforts. Their title tags are "Newbury Manor Hotel Discover a hidden treasure", this helps them for both "Newbury Hotel" and "Newbury Manor Hotel" searches, two of the most popular search terms that relate to Newbury.

If you compare this with their sister hotel, The Crab which is based 5 miles up the road in Chieveley their title is "The Crab at Chieveley award winning UK seafood restaurant". They are missing out on any hotel in Newbury type traffic. Yes, I know this is an exclusive restaurant first and foremost, however none of us would give away free search traffic on purpose. I'm just saying that they're missing out on some free traffic.

In summary, I think hotels in Newbury should have a two pronged attack. Certainly, they should be trying to optimise for all of the phrases that relate to "hotels Newbury" type searches. They should also be trying to build their online brand and trying to encourage their customers and potential customers to search for their hotel brand directly. This can be achieved through traditional marketing techniques. The next step (Which the Crab do very well at) is to incorporate the most popular searches with the next most popular searches "Newbury Races".

If a Newbury based hotel was to optimise for both of these phrases, they will be widening the net even further. Especially if they are creating special offers for those weary race fans to stay.

Popular Newbury Search Terms

This is my first post about the popular keywords that relate to my hometown of Newbury. Over time, I hope to establish some trends. Find out what is hot and what is not and generally get a picture of how people view Newbury and what they look for from us.

Check the date for this post, this is when this test was ran. I have not included the search numbers and for the sake of clarity I have merged similar terms such as; newbury hotels and hotels in newbury.

So as of July 31st 2008, these are the most popular terms. It's likely that this list may become a top 20 or a top 50, for now it is what it is.

The Top Ten Most Popular Search Terms Relating to Newbury

1. newbury hotels
2. newbury racecourse
3. newbury college
4. newbury weekly news
5. newbury show
6. newbury building society
7. newbury rugby
8. estate agents newbury
9. newbury manor
10. corn exchange newbury

The rest

newbury buses
newbury cricket
newbury showground
jobs in newbury
watermill theatre newbury
newbury council
weather newbury
liquid newbury
newbury library
theatre newbury
newbury map
chequers hotel newbury
newbury retail park
newbury bypass
vineyard newbury
newbury hospital
rainforest newbury
newbury comedy festival
newbury train station
trinity school newbury
regency park hotel newbury
newbury massage
shops in newbury
newbury police
cannons newbury
restaurant newbury
battle of newbury
audi newbury
newbury business park
living rainforest newbury
newbury golf
newbury cricket bats
the vineyard newbury
park house school newbury
queens hotel newbury
newbury spring festival
van hire newbury
newbury triathlon
highclere castle newbury
pro bike newbury
newbury postcode
travel lodge newbury
newbury festival
gowrings newbury
st barts newbury
newbury flood
gym newbury
hotels near newbury
newbury floods
bed and breakfast newbury
newbury show 2007
newbury electronics
dreweatt neate newbury
newbury travel
afc newbury
camp hopson newbury
newbury town centre
bayer newbury
pubs in newbury
honda newbury
newbury and crookham
donnington valley hotel newbury
newbury bats
car hire newbury
la fitness newbury
hsbc newbury
taxi newbury
solicitors newbury
schools in newbury
spa newbury
dentist newbury
mercedes newbury

What's this all about

Hello, thanks for popping over. I am the Newbury SEO Nerd and the creation of this blog is something that I have wanted to do for a while now. My only objective is to provide information about search engine results that relate to my home town of Newbury, in Berkshire, UK.

I have a fascination with the search results and could quite easily spend all of my time looking into the various trends, the phrases people use and generally how people use the search engines to find information that is relevant to them. My day job involves a lot of SEO work, I help clients with their Internet marketing strategies, these days a good marketing plan has to include some form of SEO or search marketing.

I think my interest in search and particularly the analytics of it actually help to make me a better SEO, I think my experience and knowledge helps when talking with clients. Anyway, this site is not about my day job, it is about how the good town of Newbury is searched for on the Internet.