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Showing posts from January, 2011

Search Engine Algorithm for Google changed to Favor Web Sites with Original Content

A senior engineer from Google has confirmed that the search engine giant has altered its search engine algorithm in a way that it favors original content over content that has been copied with the view of increasing search engine rankings. The principal engineer at Google, Matt Cutts, confirmed last week that the search engine has indeed implemented a targeted change in its search algorithm. This algorithm has been designed in a way that will re rank those sites that have copied content from other web sites and also those sites that have considerably “low levels of original content”. Although many users will not notice this change, the change I algorithm will affect over 2 per cent of the search queries. Cutts says, “The net effect is that searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site's content”. This change has apparently come in response to the questions challenging the quality of Google'

Optimizing Your Website for Local Search

Local search engine optimization can be equally time-consuming as regular search engine optimization. However, the same rules apply to both. Quality links and excellent content are a must. Only the tactics are a little different. Small businesses especially require local search engine optimization. The proportion of Google result pages that show a map is one is to thirteen. Then, Google changed its Local Business Center to Google Places. This enables companies to communicate with customers and supplement their profile information including product offerings, coupons, etc. At present, Google is assumed to serve maps more than 1 billion times a month. All you need to do is get your business listed in Google Places. This utility is absolutely free of cost. Although everybody focuses on Google, do not forget to register with Yahoo! Local and Bing Local. Then search for your brand name on the Internet. Include the city and the locality you are supposed to be listed in. if you are not listed

Facebook Paving its Way to Becoming the Strongest Business Platform in the World

Facebook is now no longer only a web service with more than 500 million users and neither is it going to make money by advertising against those users. It is that one platform on which thousands of online businesses are now going to take shape. Eventually, Facebook will earn lots from each one of those businesses. The social networking giant had never hidden its platform ambitions. It has been talked about as a platform by Mark Zuckerburg and other Facebookers for a couple of years now. A big step in that direction was the release of the OpenGraph API, which allows any website to become a colony of Facebook. On Monday, Facebook made an announcement that it would begin requiring credits for all the in game purchases of the virtual goods. The site would be taking a 30 percent cut from every sale. This was another indication of which direction the company is heading towards. However, the emerging power of Facebook was clearly visible at the second Inside Social Apps conference that was he

Optimize Your Website with these Effective SEO Techniques

With more and more people connected to the Internet, Google receives more than 500 million search requests every day. As of now, there are around 110 million unique websites in operation and more than 1 trillion URLs. Big and small businesses alike face a challenge in being found in this haystack of websites. But the solution is simple. Search engine optimization is what helps websites to enhance their visibility on the World Wide Web. An effective SEO campaign can most assuredly place a website at the top of search engine results and make sure that it is seen and visited by a wide audience. Go through these tips and allow your online business to stand out and get noticed by customers: Keywords related to your online business should be used. This point should be kept in mind especially when the title tags have to be created. Although readers don't notice them, they are extremely important for the search engine spiders. Encourage back links from other websites. If you have good rela

The Google Nexus S is now coming up with the Android 2.3 Update

The latest news to hit the Google market is that the Google Nexus S is now coming out with an Android 2.3 Update. For those of you who don’t know, Google Nexus S is the latest mobile and it is now coming out with the Android 2.3 Operating System. This Android 2.3 Update contains the latest User Interface, NFC technology and copy/paste features, and it also provides better performance with better power consumption. This Android Update also has the ability to solve various problems that may occur while sending out SMS’. It is also available on different network providers. With such good looks, Google Nexus S is also very easy to operate. This particular update also comes with improved security features. The Android 2.3 update is the latest version of Operating System that contains all the best and most upgraded features. It has specifications for the 4 inch WVGA Super AMOLED touch screen, LED Flash, 5 megapixel camera auto focus, WiFi connectivity, geo-tagging, EDGE, VGA camera, GPRS, Bl

Web Owners In for a Pleasant Surprise as Google Updates its Page Rank

All of us know how important Page Ranks are. Especially, since Page Rank is the number one tool used by Google for establishing a site's importance and visibility. Now, Google has updated the Page Rank on their popular toolbar. This step has resulted in much delight of web owners all over the world. Page Rank is a great indicator of the search engine optimization of a website. It tells web masters how their optimization techniques are faring for their website. This is done by checking the Google “score” for each and every page of the website. Many landing pages of websites seem to rank higher since Google's Page Rank has been updated. The Page Rank score assigned to many of these landing pages ranges from zero to ten. What is puzzling is that Google has taken almost a year to update its Page Rank algorithm. However, at least the hard work and efforts put in by countless SEO services agencies all over the world for their clients' websites finally looks like it is paying off.

Google to Include New Features in Google Docs Redesign

The latest feature to hit Google Docs is a preview pane that will help by facilitating users to get additional information on a file or find out what is inside without really having to open the document, drawing, spreadsheet, etc. This feature is extremely functional for the file manager, as users can now upload several files at a time. Users will now be able to play back audio files that are hosted on Google Docs and can do this directly from the preview pane. What’s more, the Google Docs media competence goes beyond all of this! Users can now even generate playlists as well! Google has also added the capability of viewing videos that are uploaded to Google Docs by means of the YouTube player. The player supports all resolutions and formats, but Google Docs is not really intended as a video hosting service. Nevertheless, with Chrome’s OS making its debut appearance soon, the ability to store and manage files has become even more important since there won’t be any similar competence

The Do's and Don’ts you Should Follow for Making the Most out of Google

Search engine optimization is important for every online business. The right kind of search engine optimization practices will help you rank well on all the major search engines, especially Google. On the other hand, the wrong kind of practices can spell doom for your website. Here is a list of do's and don’ts that you should follow if you want to make the most of Google and SEO. Do's: Always practice safe search engine optimization practices. Avoid cheap SEO providers because they are most likely to engage in black hat SEO practices. Techniques like content masking, doorway pages and link spamming can get your website banned from Google. Carefully plan a good strategy. See which keywords you want to rank for and have your website content contain these. Blogging is a good way of striking a conversation between a human reader and Google. Make sure your blog is regularly updated. Use free tools like Google Analytics to track down your online success. Don’ts: Fall for false promis

Meta Keywords Tag Might Not be as Useless as We Thought it to be

Almost all sear ch engine optimization experts would agree that the Meta Keywords tag was on e of the most overrated and useless search engine optimization tactic of the last decade. This tag has continued to remain an absolutely useless memento of a bygone era in search engine optimization when over stuffing of keywords was the followed standard. Nowadays, people do not even include it in their pages anymore, and for good reason. Meta Keywords tag has proven itself useless, time and again. However, there is new evidence that suggests that Google may not be ignoring this element completely, as most of us believed. A recent forum thread on High Ranking Forum has discovered Google using the keywords in the Meta Keywords tag for filling out internal site search boxes. As per Jill Whalen, she has caught Google filling out her internal forum site search boxes with keyword phrases that were contained in the Meta Keywords tag. According to what she describes, Google “pulled the entire strin

Google and Bing have seen a Steady Growth in December, while Yahoo! has fallen in popularity

The latest reports have shown that Google and Bing have gained a bigger share of the search market in the United States in the month of December last year. Yahoo! On the other hand, has reportedly taken a backseat! Google has reportedly accounted for nearly two thirds of all searches or nearly 67% percent of searched in the month of December, which is a slight increase from the 62% that it boasted of in November. Yahoo! On the other hand, has dropped from a 16.4% in November to a mere 16% in December. Just like Google, even Bing has seen a small rise in share. Its share on the US market in December was 12% from a 11.8% in November. As far as the other search engines are concerned, the ASK market has reportedly dropped to a mere 3.5% from a 3.6% in November and AOL also fell from a 2% to a miniscule 1.9%.

Chrome Users are the Latest Victims in Google’s battle with Apple

Google announced this week that it would be removing support from its H.264 video codec in its popular Chrome browser. If web developers specifically use the latest HTML5 video tag, they will no longer be able to point to the video encoded in the H.264 (AVC) standard format that is used by Chrome users. All the Android users will not be left far behind. The reason is to allow Google to devote more resources in supporting open codec technologies like Theora and WebM. It has also been suggested that this move will help Google save more money by not encoding and storing YouTube videos in this H.264 format. However, this is not really the case, as the H.264 is only format that is allowed on Apple devices like the iPad and iPhone. If YouTube should become incompatible with any of these devices, then it would probably be replaced by other competitors that are more flexible. Also, H.264 is a superior format in terms of user experiences as well as technically. There are fewer hitchers, less bl

Can SEO and Social Bookmarking Compliment Each Other

SEO or Search engine optimization online marketing campaigns and social bookmarking may not initially seem like powerful strategies which can work well and complement each other. However, some Internet experts do suggest that, ”combining the two can hold a range of benefits”. BlueGlass's Jordan Kasteler, a search engine optimization expert, commented that, "combining real-time social sharing with search engine optimization tactics can give websites the indexing or popularity boost that it needs". Furthermore, he went on to say that, “SEO or search engine optimization strategies should be kept simple”. He even recommended, “sticking to best practice guidelines for writing, as well as using locally-relevant keywords to boost search engine rankings”. He also highlighted the fact that, “organic rankings will last longer than popular stories on Digg”. He suggested that, “by creating content that ticks both boxes, businesses can enjoy the best of both worlds”. Mr. Jordan Kaste

Google Finally Taking Steps to Stop Unscrupulous Methods of SEO

Google's New Year Resolution to come down heavily on Black Hat SEO techniques is finally taking shape. Google has reportedly been sending emails to site owners confirming that their website has been blacklisted due to “unscrupulous link building or cloaking”. The web masters have been told to remove all the offending linking and coding so that they can be considered for re-indexing on Google's Search Engine Result Pages. Of course, Google has been doing this since a long time, often dumping websites that actively participated in the dark arts of search engine optimization. However, it is rare that they would contact a web master directly to explain why they have been dumped. Although Google is taking steps to eradicate Black Hat techniques, it does not mean that it has become more vigilant. There are many more spam sites battling with search engine algorithms - and winning. This attempt of Google by informing web owners and removing their site for 30 days is more or less going

Get on Google Front Page is the New Book on the SEO Shelf

Get on Google Front Page is a new book that reveals all the latest search engine optimization tips. Written by Jason Matthews, this book will be a guide for websites to rise to the first page of the search results of Google. The book covers everything from organic and White Hat methods of search engine optimization to keyword research, link building, meta-description, blogging and more. It has been written for both beginners and advanced users. This book is nothing but a 20 step manual that details all the various methods that can be adopted for improving search engine results. Matthews says that his book will help people save a lot of time, efforts and money while trying to get their websites as well as blogs to the first ranking page of the search engine giant. The book explains how everything begins and depends on proper keyword research and how this can be carried out by Google's Keyword Tool External program. According to the author, keywords are important for web design as we

What New with Google and Caffeine

Recently, Google has just released its latest update to its immensely popular search engine – a web indexing system that engineers and software developers call Caffeine. When Caffeine was still in its testing phase, Google said that it would be stepping up on its efforts to provide faster speeds, more accuracy and better understandability of each of the search results. Martin McNulty, who is an SEM specialist at TrafficBroker has said that the upgrade comes as a direct threat to Microsoft’s Bing and has the potential of stealing its limelight. He has also said that “Google have let Caffeine quietly slip out. It talked about vertical specific searches while quietly doubling the speed and starts introducing real-time results and news feeds.” Bing was first launched with a massive media budget and still presents itself as an alternative to what users are still satisfied with. However, despite Microsoft’s marketing efforts with Bing, the Google search still has a major share of the search

Google Reveals Facts about Android 3.0 Honeycomb

The latest Android version from Google, the 3.0 Honeycomb, has finally hit the markets. What most of us always thought was that the Honeycomb would specifically be for tablets and have just a few upgrades for SmartPhones. What we really didn’t was just how refined and jammed with features it would be! The Android 3.0 Honeycomb consists of a completely new email client that serves messages in landscape mode and brings many competitive messaging features to the Android tabs. Also, Google has added new tools to the Android browser and has packed it with many minimalist controls to make the most of the big screens found on the Honeycomb tablets. What’s more, the Honeycomb also comes replete with full 3D mapping for Google maps. This way, you’ll be able to vie beautiful satellite imagery that shows 3D rendered buildings as well. However, Google didn’t just stop here. YouTube also received a major makeover. The new interface shows video results as a grid along with neat 3D effects. So, now y

2011 - The Year of Mobile SEO

A very happy new year everyone, and welcome to the year of mobile search engine optimization! I’ll pause for a moment to let my mobile colleagues stop laughing, for the year of mobile SEO has basically been an industry joke since the year 2005. Do you know that Mr. O’Reilly declared 2005 as the “year of local mobile search”? Well, almost six years have passed, but the reality is that mobile search is still growing at a rate faster than PC search. But the problem is that no one seems to know how to take advantage of this rapid growth. On the other hand, Mr. Rand Fishkin has predicted that the local mobile search will have an almost negligible effect on SEO in 2011. Nevertheless, here are two vital tactics that can primarily help you get more qualified and relevant mobile traffic: 1.First and foremost, never ever ignore mobile keywords and key phrases: The fact is that if you are currently not incorporating these keywords in your SEO online marketing campaigns, you are basically ignoring

Google May Come Down Strongly on Black Hat SEO Practices this Year

One of the Twitter posts from Matt Cutts says Google is going to come down strongly on all those websites that use negative SEO practices. However, Google has not yet come up with any official statement regarding how it is going to respond to such practices. According to Matt Cutts' Twitter post, Google will start looking into black hat practices like cloaking in the first quarter of the New Year. Now is the time for web masters to look into their sites and the search engine optimization practices used! They should make sure that their website does not make use of any unethical optimization practice. The Twitter post from Matt Cutts says, “Not just page content matters; avoid different headers/redirects to Googlebot instead of users”. The black hat practices may not just be limited to cloaking. Google will be looking closely into the other manipulative search engine optimization practices as well. It may even purge the websites with negative techniques. Though we don't know whe

Google Chrome’s Market Share Nears 10 Percent

Google’s Chrome browser has reportedly neared 10 percent in market shares towards the end of December, 2010. This is a significant increase from a market share of 4.6 just a year ago. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on the other hand, dropped to nearly 57 percent, from a staggering 62 percent just a year ago. However, there’s no stopping Microsoft with the IE9. Apple’s Safari could show steady growth, what with the success of the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Google is definitely pleased with Chrome’s success and have been making genuine marketing efforts in the past one and a half years. The efforts are obviously paying off. The results speak for themselves. On the mobile side of the OS market, Google’s Android platform that runs on any Android-based SmartPhone and other similar devices has reportedly shown a growth rate of 29 percent each month – the fastest pace being in December. With such staggering success in 2010, let’s wish Google all the best for the New Year!

Bing Determines Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions Using SEO Tactics

Recently, Bing made some decent updates in the world of SEO. For instance, new tools have been added to make the web browser's life much easier. One of these tools even lets you monitor your link building performance, on a regular basis. Furthermore, Microsoft has also managed to take some of the online search market share away from its primary opponents, thus making it a force to be reckoned with. More importantly, they will even be releasing regular blog posts that basically aim to give some insight into the things that online users usually search for. In this particular case, Bing has currently put together a post that highlights what they believe were last year’s most popular New Year’s resolutions. Some of them are mentioned below: 1.Weight Loss: This won't come as a surprise, but weight loss was the leading topic. Twice as many web users searched for related keywords, especially “calorie counters”, “calories” and “Body Mass Index (BMI)”. 2.Fitness and Education: The secon