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Showing posts from 2010

Google- No Longer the Most Popular Site

In the year 2010, Facebook pushed past, the king of search engines, Google, to become the most popular site on this highly competitive web arena, for the first time,in accordance to two Web tracking firms. It was a year of rapid ascent,for this social networking site gained more than 500 million users. Thus, its founder Mark Zuckerberg, was named by Time's magazine, as the Person of the Year. This prestigious title simple marks another milestone in this ongoing shift, that basically highlights the way in which Americans spend their time online. In other words, this is a social change that has profoundly altered the way in which people get their news and interact with each another. The word 'friend' has be redefined. From the very beginning, this service has evolved beyond a vehicle, that helps people to reconnect with high school classmates. Rather than basing their search results on complicated algorithms Facebook has added a personal touch to their results. The former ch

Google Vs Facebook - The Final Face-Off

Facebook has started challenging Google's current supremacy on the Internet, with the help of a radical new approach. This particular approach targets the way people live, play, work and search online. While Google's search engine results are based on a series of selected algorithms, Facebook boasts of a higher level of personalization that is based on one's own likes and dislikes. The founder of Facebook, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, said that, "I think what we've found is that when you can use products with your friends and your family and the people you care about, they tend to be more engaging," he further went on to say that, "It includes not only what you do and what you like but people you know and what they like and the companies you interact with." Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room six years ago and is now worth an estimated $US6.9 billion, refers to it as the "social graph." Furthermore, Facebook ha

Cleaning Up Your Google Results is Not Difficult Anymore!

Old blog posts and archives can sometimes get very embarrassing. At the same time, cleaning up and improving your search engine reputation can be really difficult. As we all know, Google will remove a particular search result from it results list only if it can be proved that the web page is being used for some kind of theft. Online reputation management services are offered by various companies. They aid you in detecting and downplaying the embarrassing search result pages by using a software algorithm used by all the major search engines. However, it becomes really difficult for private individuals to do the same. Unless you're able to prove that a web page is posing a threat to your personal security, removing search terms altogether is almost impossible. For established journalist types, it is easy to add bulk to their Google queues. It just gets difficult for those without media pillows. But, worry not! Here are a few tricks that can help you in manipulating the search engine

Next Music Application for Android has leaked

An early version of the next music application for Android has recently leaked, but it doesn’t show any of the important features that were demonstrated at the Google I/O conference that was held in May. By helping the music playback feature for Android, Google and all its Android partners can successfully compete against all Apple products. This music player is supposedly going to be shipped with the Android 3.0, or Honeycomb – that is a tablet-specific version of the platform that Motorola is already using for its upcoming Android tablet. This leak was first posted on the XDA Developer’s Forum and a user even posted a video on YouTube that this was the music application show at the I/O conference 2010. The application doesn’t however offer any sort of clues about Honeycomb and whether it will actually include a Google music store or an online music storage and sync service. Google has also approached a few record labels, hoping to sign off on a “music locker” service.

Article Marketing - Now an SEO Strategy

Website owners and, in particular, small business sectors online are now embracing article marketing on a regular basis. This is a tactic that is allowing them to clutch the kind of search engine rankings that used to be the sphere of large SEO companies only. With an array of services to choose from, even the most modest sites can afford to make advances, where once it would have been long hours of tedious work to achieve even the most nominal results. As the hunger for quality electronic content grows, the use of articles as a way to get the word out about a website or business of any size is proving to be one of the best ways to present consumers with new ideas, merchandise and services. According to the numbers let go in a variety of publications each year which cover the web, the human population online is growing at an exponential rate across the planet earth and that is not expected to drop off any time soon. That means that more and more browsers are now able to access the web.

Bring in the New Year with Google’s All New Christmassy Doodle

Google, the search engine giant, has always been on the lookout for new ways to mark a niche in people’s minds. The Google Doodles are one such way. Google always experiments with its doodles, in an attempt to grab more attention and be more unique. Upcoming events and incidents are very finely depicted through these doodles. But this time around, Google has taken creativity to a new level! With Christmas right around the corner and the New Year approaching soon, Google has surprised everyone with its innovative doodle that is a colorful combination of cultures from across the world. This new Google logo went live on the morning of Dec. 23 and will remain on Google’s homepage till Christmas day. This is probably one of the most innovative and ambitious doodles to ever come out of Google and it consists of 17 different images, each of which can be clicked on to launch a related search query. Each of these 17 images represents a compelling and unique picture of the holiday season. Clicki

Google Adding Hacked Site Notifications in Search Results

Google announced in its blog that they are adding a new notice service that would include a separate warning page. This move is designed to offer searchers the most relevant and the safest search results. This will be the company’s search trend next year. A variety of automated tools are used to detect hacked sites and a message will indicate security compromises, which will be included under the links to violated result pages. Searchers can choose to click marked results and opt to click warning labels to learn more about the suspected site. Google has also assured website masters that it will work to help them in case their sites are hacked. This will prevent them from losing traffic because of the notification. The company will contact the webmaster through the Webmaster Tools account or through the email addresses found on the web page. The notification on the search result will be removed once the problem is fixed. Google has stated that adding this feature is only an effort to ma

YouTube and Search Engine Optimization is a Good Combination

There are more than 21 million pages on the World Wide Web. Therefore, the competition to rank the highest in the online industry is, undoubtedly, immense. Of course, there are many different techniques that, when combined together, significantly improve the results you derive from search engine optimization. Social networking sites have now gained immense popularity when it comes to online marketing. Facebook and Twitter are the leading ones amongst these sites. The new tool that is rapidly developing its efficiency in this industry is YouTube. With YouTube, you can be rest assured that your web site will be at the top of the search engine result pages of Google. If the videos are correctly optimized within the YouTube site itself, they can be shown in the search results of Google. This will help you claim another top position in the search engine results. The only thing you have to keep in mind is the proper entry of the relevant keywords, meta-tags and meta-descriptions while you ar

The Best and Worst Products of Google in 2010

Google had a lot of fun in 2010 with new products being churned out from their company. We saw many interesting products and features that were amazingly great while some really didn’t make it. With 40 acquisitions, they tried to gain a stronghold in key markets. This was seen by some as a challenge to other companies. Let’s see some of the best products and features of Google in 2010: 1.Google Buzz: Apparently it came out with a bang to overthrow Facebook. But it got overthrown itself. It was launched with great fanfare but was quickly overshadowed by major privacy concerns. Now, no one seems to bother whether it existed or not. Even Google is trying to abandon it in the next year and merge it with the upcoming Google +1 social layers. 2.Google Instant: This is one of the best features to ever have come out of Google! This feature streams out the results as we type in the search engines. This helps by saving our time and everyone loves it! Google Instant is definitely here to stay! 3.

Online Organizations to Increase their SEO Marketing Budgets

In accordance with the recent statistics published by the Search Engine Benchmark, nearly 60% of online organizations have planned to increase their virtual marketing budgets. In today's web era, success is defined by 'presence'. This very term can determine the survival or disintegration of a company. Did you know that about two billion searches are performed every single day on Google alone? Simply put, when people look at an advertisement on the television or a new gadget on print, they immediately get online and 'Search' for more information about that service or product. From science to religion, politics and fashion, the people out there want to know it all. We simply tend to search for anything and everything. But the process of 'searching' on the Internet is based on a slightly different algorithm. The formula in question consists of a combination of key words and key phrases. However, the result can have only two alternatives. The searcher can eithe

Google Voice Search Gets a Boost

Google Voice Search was released initially with a structure intended to work right and work fast. There are broad settings with the input recognition that allowed the program to work instantly for any user. It covered numerous paces of accents, speaking, tones of voice and lots more. Now, Google has a new feature in their Voice Search service adding personalized recognition which will be only available for Android platform smartphones. This personalized technology allows Google to learn how users pronounce words and further compensate the exact way users speak. It will also allow cell phone devices to understand the search query better making use of the new vocal mechanism. Google has also clarified that this is just an experimental program so it’s not compulsory for all to participate and users can disconnect the attribution at any time. This improvement in their Voice search doesn’t affect or slow down the voice searches. It rather speeds them up. Already the feature is lightweight a

Google Part of yet another Argument

There has always been a tenuous relationship between Google, the search engine giant and the tens of thousands of websites that try to gain and attract Google's coveted search engine traffic. However, there is a sense of merit to both sides of the argument and the debates that are conducted are completely understandable. For starters, Google has always claimed that it works on behalf of the web searcher and not on behalf of the website. But, the long list of web owners and various SEO professionals say that Google should do more for the websites, since it is the website's that create their listings and bring in the profits. The latest debate basically brings Google's anti-trust authority into question. The web owners have started questioning Google's placement search results, such as Google Image search, Google news and Google local. This is yet another tricky debate where in both parties seem to be right. But have these recent updates, in Google's search engine alg

Google makes Android more Personal, with the latest Voice Recognition updates

What with technology advancing as quickly as it is, most companies are now concentrating on voice recognition. A bold move, to say the least! It takes a lot of thought and effort to make your phone actually understand what you are saying and then come up with results that make sense for what you are trying to do. However, there are plenty of hurdles that stand in the way of this procedure, and some of them include a number of variables like no one really sounds the same as another person. If you take into consideration many other factors like male or female, varying accents, etc, you’ll find that the hurdles are plenty. But with Google you never know what can happen next! Google has been trying to tackle these obstacles by focusing on the personal aspects of voice recognition and have been using the latest update, which is the Android Voice Recognition Platform. This update now consists of a tool that users can access at anytime and literally train the Google Voice Recognition platform

Google Clearing Its Stand

Recently, many websites were found to accuse Google of showing favoritism to other sites and unfairly generating search results favoring its own Google Place feature. Some of the accusers include notable companies such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Citysearch and WebMD. These websites feel that they are purposefully being edged out. Google responded to their allegations by saying that the whole concept of Google is for the ‘users’ and not for the ‘websites’. Google also went on to explain how their search engine works and that they provide usual web results which links to great sites. They organize the search results around places to make it quicker to find what users are looking for. However, some websites believe that these actions are putting their sites at a disadvantage. Google is competing for the same web traffic as well as the same advertising money. One of the sites mentioned above feel that Google seems to constantly be chasing them. A great amount of traffic comes directly from Goog

Successful Search Engine Optimization Campaigns - It's All About Finding the Right Information

The truth is that every web owner needs to know how to navigate through this global online platform. However, this is only possible when they have a better understanding of a concept that is commonly known as SEO or search engine optimization. A project specialist and a web guru, Mr. Jordan Kovats, recently said that, “There is a lot of information out there when it comes to search engine optimization. The hardest part is finding the right information.” Kovats himself struggled with SEO at the beginning of his profession. But this all changed when he met Brad Gosse. Mr. Kovats went on to say that, “After meeting Brad, I was able to get the correct information”. After his initial struggles, Kovats has never looked back. More so, over the years he has managed to develop an impressive track record, with regards to implementing any SEO strategies and techniques. Search engine optimization or SEO is most definitely not a new marketing technique. Since the dawn of search engines, such as Yah

Google Turning Psychic

When Google does something new, they do it with a bang, but this time they are going to do something unexpected. Google has stated that they are trying to give users search results before they even know what they want. How is this even remotely possible? Are they turning psychic? Marissa Mayer, vice president of location services said that the company is working on providing its users with results without having to search. The idea, as she said, was to push information to people. With the location in context, they can look at where users have been going on the web, with the help of the browser and a toolbar. This is a huge UI challenge that they strive to achieve. While on a PC, the search results might come up on the browser’s panel, which complements the user’s own Web browsing. For mobiles, the information provided would be based on the user’s location. The search results would be entirely based on the location of where the user is right then. They will figure out where the next mos

Don't Forget About Your SEO Campaigns This Holiday Season

Web owners are currently being urged not to forget their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing campaigns over this festive period. The main reason for this is that businesses often tend to relax and slow down their operations during the holiday season. Kevin Gibbons, an SEO expert has said that, “organizations can sometimes let their search engine marketing (SEM) strategies fall by the wayside over the Christmas period, when in fact it is essential that regular content, blogs and news articles are posted to attract new business and retain existing visitors”. Present below is a list that highlights some important pieces of advice, provided by Mr. Gibbons himself, for this holiday season: 1.“A regular, original copy is essential for your organic optimization”. Furthermore, “your website should be putting out regular content, so that the robots know to keep checking it out.” 2.“You need to be ready to react swiftly to news and a changing market.” 3.“Ask one of your team members to ke

Google Alters its Search Algorithm to discourage unethical SEO practices

The online business firms are divided into two groups. The first group makes use of ethical B2B search engine optimization to boost their site's ranking, while the second does the same in rather unscrupulous ways. To better deal with this second group, Google, has altered its search engine algorithm. The search engine giant made this change after inspiration from an online retailer who humiliated his customers until they felt compelled to post links to his web site on all the famous complaint forums and sites. This immoral technique helped him achieve high rankings for his web site. Although the company's spokespeople were very vague about what exactly was going to be altered, they hinted that the search algorithm would definitely be modified for preventing such situations in the future. Google will be using a strategy that will detect the merchant from the Times article and all the other merchants along with it that provide very poor user experience. Also, it will help them pe

Google Doodles Now On Mobile

Google’s doodles have always been intriguing to look at. We can say it’s an art in itself and now you will be able to see them in your mobiles. Though this news has been in for quite some time, but we as a Google Doodle lover thought it would be a good post for our blog and of course the doodles are newsworthy in their own right. We have always admired the ideas and art behind Google’s doodles. They do have some of the most amazing presentation of current events and how to portray them at their home page. One of our favorite is the doodle featuring dozens of colored balls back in September. That did sparked an online speculation. Since it’s inception in 1998, Google Doodle has never failed to impress Google users, well at least not us. Now, Google has confirmed that they are making majority of the desktop doodles to be available to anyone running Android 2.0 and up on the mobiles. Well, we would be able to see them now or sooner on our mobile screens. The artwork that Google puts on th

Google Has Successfully Plugged another Horrific SEO Tactic

Recently, Google, the world's largest search engine giant, plugged a really offensive SEO tactic that was adopted by web sellers in order, to help them boost their page ranking results. This unscrupulous strategy basically targeted negative reviews, as a means of increasing targeted traffic. This in turn would help reach the top pages of Google's search engine results. Google had started adjusting their algorithms when an article was published that stated that Clarabelle Rodriguez had an extremely traumatic experience with a website that was known as, 'DecorMyEyes'. For starters, she was unhappy with her purchase, so she asked for a refund. This action, almost immediately triggered an avalanche of hate mail. One email even said that, “I am watching you.” The owner of the website was Mr. Borker. He was arrested last October after Ms. Rodriguez went to the police to file a formal complaint. His website once had a space in the coveted top ten listings. But now his page is

Google Will Boot Websites to Check Pirated Content From AdSense

Google has stated that they will be taking a rigid step to boot AdSense partners who use their sites to post duplicate content. As the web has grown so fast, they are facing an increasing number of issues that relate to infringing content. This stricter stance against piracy on its own website as well as the sites of their partners is the latest step taken by Google. While monitoring AdSense sites closely for pirated materials like audio files, Google also announced that they would be focusing on the following: Increase the response time to 24 hours or even less when complaints are made by content owners about pirated materials appearing at the Google sites. Make sure Autocomplete is not filled with words that are closely similar to searches for pirated content. They will also venture to make authorized content more easily available at the search results. Though it is not a sudden outburst that Google is making about pirated content showing up on AdSence or Google, but, since they are

Experts Say that SEO is Much More Important than Online Advertising

Stephon "Phon" Rudd, a marketing expert and company spokesman will be hosting a special 'Webinar', featuring advertising Specialist Tony Rocha and SEO Strategist Matt Stine. There is no doubt that more than 97% of the people who create web sites for search engine optimization purposes follow largely the wrong techniques during their marketing and web designing projects. The end result usually spells disaster, as new websites might not get indexed, and if they do, these same people run an enormous risk of having their indexes entirely removed from the Google search results page. In accordance with Stephen, "The bottom line is advertising is supposed to be the last step," he goes on to say that, "It's supposed to be the last weapon in your marketing playbook. Advertising mostly builds awareness and brand. But if you want to sell, nothing sells better than having a Google or a Bing or a Yahoo find you worthy enough to be on page one. And your site visi

Google's SEO Practices to be Investigated by the European Commission

The European Commission has started an anti-trust investigation alleging that Google has abused its dominant position in online search market. However, only starting these proceedings does not prove the wrongdoing of this search giant. A thorough investigation will be carried out to verify whether Google has really abused its market position. Google has also allegedly lowered the Quality Score for sponsored links of vertical search services. The Commission will be looking into these allegations too. Quality Score is one of the major factors that determine the price paid by advertisers to Google. But there are always certain web sites that are unhappy with their ranking positions in search engines. At the end of it all, the allegations made by Foundem.com.uk and ejustice.fr were soundless and unfounded. Adam Kovacevich Google spokesperson said that content plays a major role while ranking web sites. Content that is original and high in quality will help a site rank high. Whereas more th

Google’s Facebook-Killer not until next Spring

When Google announced that they will be launching a supposed “Facebook killer” social networking site, we all had one thing in mind. Is it just another one of their inventions that will go to waste like their other so called social networking sites? Google has been trying in vain to dethrone Facebook from the social networking world, but the harder they try the further they fall. Till now, we have been reading about so many projects coming up and going down the drain. The latest we heard is the new Facebook killer site “Google Me”. Google was trying to launch this Facebook killer this year but they have announced that they are delaying the launch until next year. Well, as they said it is a big project and to kill Facebook, they might take some time to do it right. No matter how long the project takes, this time Google cannot fail or they might have to chuck the whole idea of dethroning Facebook or even entering the social networking world, and instead focus on their search engines. Fro

Google Will Be Launching the Chrome OS Net Books

Apparently, Google still has big ambitions in the hardware arena. This global search engine and online advertising giant is reportedly going to launch the Chrome OS net books, within the next few weeks. The launch will most likely be a product bearing the Google brand, made by a third party manufacturer. Previously, Google launched a branded smart phone, the Nexus One that failed to start a buzz after some wireless carriers unanimously elected not to heavily promote the device, which competed with other smart phone offerings in their stables. Currently, Google is ready to have another go at it, but this time it is going to do so in a fragmented market, not tethered to any specific wireless or data networks. The final goal of Google is to put its Chrome operating system (OS) in as many places in the computing ecosystem as possible, including desktops, laptops, tablets and net books. This strategy is very similar to what Google has done with Android, which is one of the fastest growing s

Google Chrome OS’ Debut Most Likely to Happen Next Year

Chrome OS, the most anticipated new operating system from Google may not get launched until next year. Although the consumer launch is most likely to happen next year, Google yet has to bring out their branded ‘Speedbooks’ running the new system. Google has been planning for this launch for two years making it quite uncomfortable for both Apple and Microsoft. The Chrome OS was positioned initially to capitalize on the network revolution. However, it seems to be overtaken by events. Apple on the other hand hasn’t been manufacturing enough since the time they launched iPad and they see these devices as a future frontier for media consumption. Now, why is Google aiming for two mobile operating systems? It has emerged that Google has joined hands with the US telecom leader Verizon as an effort to launch their own iPad killer device which will be based on the Android operating system. Still, we are confused as to why would Google want to have two ultra portable operating systems for tablets

SEO - To Be Dead or Not to Be

The Internet has been filled with rumors stating that SEO or search engine optimization is dead. Web owners and other online business entrepreneurs get apprehensive and anxious when they read titles that emphasize that “SEO is dead”. So is all this hoopla true? Well, for starters, stop spending sleepless nights over such baseless rumors. The fact of the matter is that every SEO professional out there is not scared because SEO is dead, but because it has been functioning like a zombie! For instance, every time people claim that this concept is dead, it often seems to come back with a vengeance. So, we can say that every time SEO comes back from the dead, it becomes more complex and more difficult to master and tackle. It is somehow strange to think that the more the people highlight these bizarre claims, the more SEO seems to boom by numbers and I mean money not just traffic. So what is the real truth? The truth is that the concept of SEO may not be dead, as of yet. But the viral nature

Marketers Should Optimize Sites for Yahoo and Bing

Recent reports suggest that marketers are not carrying out search engine optimization for maximizing traffic from Yahoo and Bing users. Both Microsoft and Yahoo have offered notice on the need of optimizing sites for the above mentioned search engines. The search engine alliance of both Microsoft and Yahoo has been going in full swing for almost a month now. Nearly 47 per cent of publishers do not receive as much traffic from Yahoo and Bing as they should. Only a mere 23.58 per cent of search traffic from Bing is seen on an average. These figures indicate a lot of missed opportunities. Microsoft and Yahoo together form only one third of the search engine market that is around 30.6 per cent. If sites start getting optimized for Bing, the online traffic would increase by around 9.40 per cent on an average. This could mean a great deal of improvement in the search market. Around 46.55 per cent, that is almost half of the marketers do not optimize their site for Yahoo and Bing. Some publis

Make Facebook Your Default Homepage

When it comes to getting on Google’s nerve, no one does it better than Facebook. Now, the latter is moving their competition to a new level by asking their users to make the social network their default homepage. This move could boost Facebook’s traffic tremendously. The battle for homepage status has been a long battle between search giants like Google, Yahoo and Bing as it keeps people coming back day after day, driving in traffic and boosting the advertisement rates. Facebook’s move to make its site the Internet starting point of choice will only take the rivalry with search leader, Google, to new heights. We do love the battle between Google and Facebook. Their rivalry of making their services a gateway for all communication needs keeps on coming up with new innovative ideas. Now, you will see a bar at the top of your Facebook page prompting you to set the site as your homepage. Though this has been valid for few of the Facebook users, they do have plans to roll out to their 500 mi

Google Offers Search Algorithm with an Eye for Fashion

Though it may be meant only for the US browsers so far but Google has unleashed a new website – Boutiques.com which went live yesterday. This site will let you search for clothes based on category and will allow you to buy online. Shopping for clothes online has always been challenging for shoppers around the world. But this new site from Google will make it all easier. ‘Boutiques’ makes use of a blend of cutting edge search technology and professional opinion which will enable apparel shoppers to shop easily. Not only does it help users find and choose fashion apparel, but it also creates personalized boutique services to perfect the look. You can now get the right look you want or you emulate all your fashion favorites or celebrities at specialty stores. A good number of big retailers are on board for this launch that got an exclusive coverage in The New York Times. But, it’s still unclear whether this will turn out to be yet another Google fad just like their forays into cars to mon

Black Hat SEO Techniques Growing at an Alarming Rate

SEO or search engine optimization is a very big money earner for cyber criminals. And day by day, they just seem to be getting better at it. From refining their techniques, to blending attacks, they will try almost anything to trick Internet users onto personal or malware-ridden ID-harvesting Websites. One can't deny the fact that SEO forms the basis of Internet browsing and is an integral part of any online marketing campaign. Unfortunately, over time, several fraudsters have grown wise and have started mastering the way by which SEO works. They have constantly tried to hijack these techniques in order to make the world of search engine optimization work and benefit their own selfish purposes. A simple example of SEO poisoning is where unsuspecting online browsers are sent to a site that sells fake anti malware software that offers free health scans that in turn compromise the user’s PC with malicious coding. Some of the latest SEO Black hat threats are a blend of exploit kits suc

How Google Instant Preview is going to Affect SEO

With the launch of Instant Preview, Google allows its users to have a quick preview of a web site before they even visit it. It has taken a screen shot of every web page and added in its index, so that users can see it just by rolling over or clicking on a magnifying glass icon. This icon is located at the right of every search result. This new improvement in technology is obviously going to change the face of SEO drastically. However, the change is not going to be in terms of search engine rankings or the way a web site has been optimized. What it is going to change is the user's decision to visit your web site. The decision, as we can all see, is going to hugely depend on the first impression a user has of a web site. This means that now web designers will have to concentrate more on the design of the web site, where initially, design was sometimes sacrificed for the sake of packing in rich content, now design is going to rule. Some flash web sites may suffer negative effects of

Email Is Dead Claims Facebook

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has made a serious claim that might shake Google. He has recently launched a new messaging service. He has said that email has become too slow and informal. The claim was made as he launched the social networking site’s new messaging service that integrates the entire web and text based communications and works instantly. The new service is a direct blow to Google’s Gmail and marks a new level in the ongoing and bittersweet battle between Google and Facebook to gain the loyalties of web users. Zuckerberg also revealed that the 500 million people signed up for Facebook will have access to a Facebook.com email address. In this new service, the whole conversation histories dating back years will be saved into the users’ account and Spam will be completely filtered out. According to him, people should be able to communicate in whatever way they want, whether it’s text, email or Facebook message. Speculations are rising up that this new service would be a Gm

SEO and Clout - Shrouded by a Veil of Secrecy

If you are a law student and on your first day of college you were asked the question, “What is first degree murder?” You could simply pop open a book and learn that it consists of 3 essential elements: deliberation, intent and premeditation. Unfortunately, when it comes to the algorithms that control the functioning of the Internet marketing world, we are often shrouded by a 'veil of secrecy' that murder himself would be proud of. But the truth is that SEO can get you only so far. In order to be a true Internet marketing professional in 2010 and beyond, one ought to have SEO expertise and Clout, or at least working knowledge of such complex algorithms. The difficulty arises from the fact that Google nor clout is willing to spill the beans on the ingenious algorithms that they have been perfecting for several years now. Remember that the ultimate aim is not to be an expert or a web guru in every single thing you do, instead it is to be a focused, well-rounded individual that dr

Employee Offered $3.5 Million by Google Not to Join Facebook

We all know the love-hate war between Google and Facebook. The latter is trying to steal talent from the former and Google is trying hard to fight back. How? In a serious attempt to resist the dominating Facebook, Google is providing big bonuses to its employees. One senior engineer was offered a sweeping amount of $3.5 million in stock not to leave and jump. That’s quite a big amount to resist, so to say. When there are no other means to retain their employees from leaving the ship, Google is trying to tempt them through large bonuses. And it is actually working. Google has been offering cash bonuses to its employees in hopes to keep them happy. But rather than keeping their employees happy, this attempt is directed towards Facebook, who is on a constant hunt for talented professionals, who specially dwell in the Silicon Valley. Now, the best job is not working in Google or Facebook, but rather at Google after getting a job at Facebook. May be the Google employees should thank Faceboo

Google Update - Homepage Screen shot Previews

All you online business owners out there, this is a warning, “change your SEO strategies today or be prepared to dwindle away into oblivion”. Once again Google has launched another update, with regards to its search engine policies. This update will basically allow online users to get a quick preview screen shot of every site that is listed. So why is this update different from the rest? Well, webmasters have stated that this particular change, could in fact, alter how business ventures approach online search rankings. This update has been introduced shortly after Google introduced the Google Place and Instant updates. Sean Fishlock, marketing director of Datalink said that, "For a lot of Web 2.0 companies, their image is a part of their brand and so this could be an important change for them." In accordance to Google, this update will most definitely make it easier and faster for users to find what they want. The company went on to argue that, "Instant Previews provides

Will the New Google Launch affect the SEO strategies of Online Businesses

With its new launch of Instant Preview, Google is forcing online businesses to change their SEO strategies once again. Now, users will be able to see a screenshot of the web site before actually clicking on it. A very good feature, since it allows you to preview your search result within Google itself. This new change in Google will totally alter the way businesses work towards achieving online search rankings. It has been introduced for the sole purpose of packing in as much information as possible in the web site's home page itself. Sean Fishlock, the marketing director of Datalink says, “For a lot of Web 2.0 companies, their image is a part of their brand, so this could be an important change for them”. Now, the web site design will play an important role in making sure that click through rates remain the same. Also AdWord users will also be affected. The update will start rolling out to all the users around the world in the next few days. Google believes that it will make the s

New ‘Social’ Web Browser Launched by RocketMelt

RocketMelt, a new upstart browser service, now aims to provide an enhanced user experience for their users with built in social media integration tools. This is a challenge to Google, Apple, Mozilla and Microsoft. They claim that they are redefining the Internet browsing as a social experience. For that they have integrated a wide range of social media tools and synchronized them to user accounts. Their main objective is to make the web users’ experience on the web easier, everything from searches, images, news and lot more with their social circle and that too without leaving the main screen or the need to open up a separate browser. RocketMelt has given users a turnabout in their browser with a massive change to user behavior, which will drive the web over the future. This new innovation is a fresh take on browsing, ever since browsers were created. This is the first browser, which users, when they log into, will unlock their web experience with Facebook friends, feeds, favorite serv

Mobile SEO - Be a part of the Changing Trends

The mobile marketplace is a booming commercial and business platform. Hence, the question that's got many webmasters asking is, how important is mobile search engine optimization (SEO)? Whereas, others are still wondering whether traditional SEO practices differ from mobile SEO? In a recent post, Michael Martin wrote that mobile search engine optimization is basically a combination of creating and developing websites that can appear in mobile search engines as well as different hand held devices. He further noted that location based results are also making a big impact on mobile search engine results. Present below is a list that highlights some of the most significant points that Mr. Michael Martin touched upon: 1."Mobile Search Engine Optimization should be a matter of increasing visibility of your site, not only in mobile search engines but on the actual mobile and often touch-enabled devices themselves”. 2."Mobile Search Engine Optimization is a combination of tailori

Blekko Could Consume a Slice of the Google Pie

A new search engine has finally been launched in beta that has created quite a stir in the online arena. Supposedly, it has got a special feature that filters out poor quality sites and other spam sites. Well, it is about time, let me introduce you to 'Blekko', a service that promises full transparency with its search ranking data and is currently being backed by millions in the venture capital. Rich Skrenta, Blekko's chief executive, said that, "When we started this company our goal was to build a search engine that not only let you do your usual searches but also lets you do searches that you just can't do anywhere else." Blekko's search filtering is based on a "slashtag" technology, which is basically a tool that is comprised of recommended websites submitted by users. Thus, searches can be refined, through this slashtag filtering system. This system can save web searchers a lot of time, for they need not hunt through all the highways and shif

Change of Google Algorithm will affect Local Search

As everybody has already noticed, Google has made yet another change in its search algorithm over the weekend. This major change made by the search giant has affected both, local as well as geographical search results. This means, for instance, if you are looking up some service in your area, what you will get is a list of all the local businesses in Google Places that are positioned right at the top. Previously, what used to happen was that the Google Places were displayed differently in a map. This separated the local results from the rest of the organic listings on the Search Engine Results Pages. With the new algorithm, all the search engine results will be listed as organic listings on the result page. When Google Places was called Google Business Center, you were supposed to have a physical address at the desired location so that you could add your business. Therefore, if you wanted to rank for different locations, you would have to register with different physical addresses. Wit

Why You Should Take the New Search Engine ‘Blekko’ Seriously

There is a new search engine in town. Well, this is a rough business and this attempt to challenge Google is something which only few dare to think. Cuil and Wolfram Alpha tried and it is not only about Google that Blekko has to face. Bing and Yahoo are also in the scenario. However, there is something about this new search engine that is worth paying attention to. Though, it is taking a long shot to compete with Google and Microsoft but it doesn’t need to beat either of them as it has just come in third place. Blekko has a big advantage over other Google competitors. One of the differentiators is that it is slashtag, which essentially filters for search results. The core slashtags are maintained by “a la Wikipedia’ and it consists of a serious of domains considered to be authoritative on issues in those categories. In its launch, it has announced a new feature which is the autofiring of slashtags. It starts with seven key search categories like finance, lyrics, health and so on. This

Google's New and Improved “Place Search Mode”

Google's new “Place Search” has dramatically redrawn the search engine landscape. It is more critical than ever, for businesses to implement an online review, a local search and an SEO strategy, in order to achieve some sort of prominent visibility, in the results that Google displays for location specific searches. The king of search engines, Google has officially stated that its entire algorithm has been refined and improved for Place search. Google further went on to state that "One of the great things about our approach is that it makes it easier to find a comprehensive view of each place.” President of SIM Partners, Jon Schepke, had this to say about the changes on Search Engine Watch, "Place Search demonstrates Google's ongoing commitment to provide relevant results for local search queries." In a final statement he did mention that "Companies that have had both strong organic and local rankings will enjoy a competitive advantage in capitalizing on Goo

SEO - The Beginning of the End

Over the past 5 years, web publishing was heavily dominated by SEO or search engine optimization. So much so that keywords became far more important than a site's actual content or audience. But this movement towards SEO seemed to be quiet dangerous, for web owners deviated from their most important goal of creating great content, to false goals, such as paid links, keywords and hacks that the audience primarily doesn't even care about. Furthermore, even venerable publishers like Forbes, completely traded in their leadership legacy, in order to chase the Huffington Post pufferfish strategy of filling up Google’s database with more posts, more low-cost content and more frequency. While, stalwarts like Time Inc. seem to be chasing SEO basics. However, the recent announcement of the Bing and Facebook partnership, which will integrate social and search results, clearly marks the beginning of the end of SEO, and some of the smartest digital publishers will soon be dropping everythin

Google to Offer Free SEO Reviews and Tips for Your Website

The Google staff has always provided advice on how to organize and manage your web site in the best way possible. This further assists you in increasing your Google ranks. After all, Google would want the best of the web sites up there. All this happened only at live site clinics and conferences up till now. This time, however, Google has started issuing a call via the Webmasters Central blog that it owns. This site invites people to submit their web site and get a brush up on their SEO tactics, absolutely free of cost. Google will use its SEO advice scrubbing brush on the registered sites and dish out a few handy tips or so. Of course, there are certain rules that apply to this whole arrangement. Only a non-profit or a government site can be submitted to the Google Webmaster blog. Also, all the analysis and advice will be posted with the screen shots of the web site. This will be done so that all can benefit from it. Likewise, this offer is exclusively aimed at beginners. So, it might

Optimizing for Google TV

Google TV is finally in the market and what’s so special about it? Well, it has got a browser in it. Can you believe that! Of course with Google, anything can happen. So, if you have video content as a part of your marketing campaign, you might want to optimize it for larger audiences and screens. Google has also published some optimizing tips which you can follow. In their blog post, they have suggested an optimization tip for the 10 ft user interface and instead of a mouse you will have to use a remote like they have done in YouTube videos with YouTube Leanback. The text will be viewable from a short distance and the navigation can be controlled with the arrows of the remote. The Google TV site optimization guide also provides tips on how you can implement the 10 ft UI in practice and offers site architecture as well as URL structure recommendations. If you are designing for mobile devices, first decide whether you will be using a device specific style sheet with a one piece content

Google's Privacy Debacle Reaches its Peak

Recently, Google seems to be getting quite a bit of rekindled heat, over some private data it collected without the necessary permissions, in more than thirty nations. The British Information Commissioner's Office has been asked to take a closer look at the evidence that Google made available this year, after the company admitted that cars carrying Internet eavesdropping gear were sent to take photos, for its Street View mapping service. Along with U.K, Canada also seems to believe the fact that Google may have indeed collected a large amount of sensitive information and not just "fragmentary data," as the company had earlier indicated. Canada's Commissioner of Privacy, Jennifer Stoddart, said that "Some of the captured information was very sensitive, such as a list that provided the names of people suffering from certain medical conditions, along with their telephone numbers and addresses," she went on to say that, "It is likely thousands of Canadians

ValueTrack Tool Updated for PPC Marketing

ValueTrack is a tool that has been designed for advertisers that use third party software’s for their campaigns. It has also been structured for those advertisers who have total access to web logs. Recently, Google announced the current updates for ValueTrack. Jason Shafton, writing on Inside AdWords, says that the changes made will help a lot. They will make things easy for the users of the Pay per Click services of any company. With the help of the updated tool, they will be able to separately monitor the clicks on search and content ads. He added, “With the additional ValueTrack enhancements available today, you can track even more detail including the keyword matching option for your ad clicks”. The keyword matching option for the ad clicks is achieved by an extra network parameter and match type to the destination URLs. All this can be explained with the help of an example. Say, someone clicks on an advertisement from a search partner. This advertisement must be triggered by a bro

Google Testing its Ultra High Speed Internet Network

Google is trying to launch a 1 Gbps broadband network for 850 faculty and staff homes at Stanford University campus in 2011. Currently they will install it for an experimental test drive. Google has struck a deal with the University of Stanford to build a broadband network that will fuel the Internet speed to 1 gigabit per second. The experiment will start early next year. This is Google’s latest effort to test how the ultra high speed broadband access works in homes. This could mean the current residential online connections would be 100 times faster. The search engine depends on fast speed broadband connections and they have ensured its applications that they would serve their consumer effectively. They also proposed to test such networks in American communities that serve 50,000 to 500,000 people. They will announce the selected community or communities by the end of this year hopefully. The network for now will be installed at the Stanford University’s residential subdivision on th

Google Instant is Important for SEO

When Google Instant was launched, everyone thought that nothing new could ever be innovated in the realm of SEO. That Google had finally reached a dead end. But, have you ever tried to analyze the importance of SEO in terms of this new innovation? Google Instant promises a new search experience for the users. Not only that but it is on a mission to bring down the influence of unethical SEO methods on search ranking. Google Instant is a major development in the search technology as it is saving us time and at the same time filters the search before we even hit the search or enter key. When you type in the keywords, you don’t have to hit the search button or push the enter button. With each letter that you type, Google will predict the result and you can see them at the page bottom as you type. When you see your search result, you can just stop typing or continue typing till you get it. This way Google Instant saves time significantly by eliminating the need to click on the search or the