Health Search feature added by Google

A new feature health search results have been added to Google. Google will now list possibly related health conditions when searched for a symptom or multiple symptoms of an illness.

In it’s official blog,Google had announced the feature and also shown with an example [abdominal pain on my right side] to show how it will work. The results which appear over Google’s organic results are algorithimically generated and not written by doctors or medical experts.

A lot of people have started using the search engines for getting answers on medical questions. Out of 10 Internet users,eight people look for health related information online making it the third most popular activity.

The question which will arise is whether Google’s new suggestion will help people in need or just misguide them in a wrong direction. Your comments are invited about Google’s new search feature

TAGS: health search feature

Google pays people to use Screenwise

Screenwise, a new product from Google is paying the web users to make Google better.You need to search the web using Google web browser and share the data with Google.

The users need to install a black router on their home network to measure the internet usage.The black router acts as a screenwise data collector.People who will install this router will earn $100 for joining and $20 for each month of participation.

The project starts on March 1st and it is on the same day Google’s new privacy policy goes into effect. Google has created this program to learn how everyday people use the internet.You need to be atleast 13 years old,have a Google account and use Chrome web browser.

“As a panelist, you’ll add a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them. What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products and services and make a better online experience for everyone,” according to the website.

Google will be offering you a $5 amazon gift card to install the browser extension as an incentive for signing up. An additional $5 Amazon gift card will be offered every 3 months if particiapnts continue to participate in the Screenwise program.

Even though Amazon is not involved in the Screenwise program,Google has made it clear that they will be receiving Amazon gift cards.Knowledge Networks,an online research firm is the panel management partner for conducting analysis.

Google spokesperson said “Like many other web and media companies, we do panel research to help better serve our users by learning more about people’s media use, on the web and elsewhere,” according to a Google spokesperson.” People can stay long as they like and can leave at any time.

TAGS: screenwise

Google Panda Update Confirmed

The reports of a Panda update by Google has been confirmed and it may rolled out anytime this week. Google has also told that there won’t be any algorithm changes and the update is just a data refresh of Google Panda algorithm.

A lot of webmasters have commented about the loss in rankings and many sites regained their traffic to Pre Panda level.

Google Panda 3.2

A lot of people may ask why 3.2 and not 2.x?One of the Googler told that “one of the 2.x updates was labeled as “minor” update and should have likely named as major update”. The updates are not numbered by Google so it is not easy to keep track of the updates.

The current “data fresh” update is just a minor update so this update is referred as 3.2 update. The last update was done during November and there was a long gap between two updates because Google said there would not be any updates during holidays.

TAGS: panda 3.2, panda update

StartUp Company Dasient bought by Twitter

Security start up Dasient, an anti-malware vendor for for large enterprises was acquired by Twitter. Dasient has been involved in the financial services,media and online sectors providing anti malware. Dasient’s technology will be used by Twitter to identify malicious ads that are submitted in their ad platform before they go live.

The company in their blog post yesterday said “Over the last year, we have been very active in securing the ads and content of the some of the industry’s largest ad networks and web sites”. They also said “By joining Twitter, Dasient will be able to apply its technology and team to the world’s largest real-time information network.”

Dasient’s attention mainly will include the legions of phising attacks that target the users with direct messages that include “Is it really you” and “Are you in this pic”. The blog post also added that adding new customers has been stopped and it will be shutting down it’s business. The details of the deal were not disclosed.

TAGS: anti malware, phising

Average Search Position Metric Recalculated by Google

There has been changes made on how Google calculates average position metric.In an attempt to provide more accuracy to the rankings,the way of calculating average position in Google Webmaster Tools Top Search Queries and Google Analytics has undergone some changes.

This is a sample Google has put forward to understand about the changes it has made to average ranking position of pages in a site.

“Let’s say Adam searched for [blue berries] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 3, 6, and 12. Richard also searched for [blue berries] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 5 and 9. Previously, we would have averaged all these positions together and shown an Average Position of 7. Going forward, we’ll only average the highest position your site appeared in for each search (3 for Adam’s search and 5 for Richard’s search), for an Average Position of 4.” There won’t be any changes made to historical data.

TAGS: analytics, search metrics

Google Launches One Privacy Policy for All

A new master privacy policy and terms of service was announced by Google in it’s official blog.The users will be notified about the new changes in the coming days.The new terms of service and privacy policy will take effect on March 1.

Instead of 70 privacy documents,Google has created one privacy document to govern all it’s products.Google can pull information from one service and deliver it to you through other Google product you use.

Individual search has become more customized and this has brought a wonderful opportunity for the advertisers to reach their targeted audience.

Check out this video on Google’s Privacy Policy Update

These new changes from Google aslo helps them to make more revenue. It will result in better search results and ads. Google made sure that it will never sell user information and it still promotes data liberation. Google received a fare share of criticism for the changes in in it’s privacy policy in previous years.

TAGS: google privacy policy

Punctuation Marks and Symbols in Google Search Results

Another update from Google on it’s search results and now you can see results for punctuation marks and symbols.Searching for the symbol equivalent of a percent sign,comma,carat and more symbols will return search results but the results are not exactly relevant.

Wikipedia page ranks as the top link for for the following punctuation marks.

• ^ (caret)
• ( ) { } [ ] (bracket) – parentheses, brackets and curly brackets are all combined into the same search result
• ~ (tilde)
• | (vertical bar)
• “ (quotation marks)
• < (less-than sign) > (greater-than sign)
• $ (dollar sign)
• . (full stop/period)
• , (comma)
• : (colon) – however, the colon that is a piece of the large intestine currently outranks the punctuation mark of the same name
• ; (semicolon)
• # (number sign)
• % (percent sign)
• @ (at sign)

These punctuation marks in Yahoo and Bing diplays “No results found” to the user.

TAGS: Rankings, serp

Facebook IPO likely to be launched in May

Come this May,you could be witnessing Initial Public Offering from Facebook according to the report from “All Things Digital”. Facebook would be going public mostly during the third week of May.

It’s been a long term plan for Facebook which was planning for an IPO. Facebook in November said it is targeting the second quarter of 2012 for it’s stock offering. The recent evaluation of Facebook touched nearly $100 billion and Initial Public Offering from Facebook would be the largest from technology company

A prominent analyst from Enderle Group told “An IPO from Faceebook will shape the future of the Industry and as many company’s will base their own IPO decisions on the outcome of a Facebook offering”. Social networking site LinkedIn’s shares prices doubled within minutes of trading on New York Stock Exchange last year.A lot has also been expected from Facebook IPO during May this year

Ability to Block Search Results Will Return

When Search Plus Your World was launched by Google a few days back it also marked the exit of ability to block web sites from search results. Google says the feature will return back but the timing was not disclosed.

How Blocking Worked

Previously the results contain a “Block All” link that appeared below them. Selecting this option will not display pages in the search results of the site you blocked. This option no longer appears.

Return of Blocking Will Take “Some Time”

The feature has been dropped earlier this week and Google told they are working on a fix.Search Plus Your World is still in the process of being rolled out. It’s only a short term problem and and it might take some time.

Response to Relevancy Complaints

The blocking site feature was released last February that allowed users to block sites only if they used Google Chrome. A lot of criticisms were made on Google that their relevancy had decreased to a great extent. Google have also addressed regarding this issue in their official blog.The ability to block sites, along with Google’s Panda Update, were part of that response.

TAGS: search plus your world

Twitter criticizes Google On the Update

Google has received criticism from Twitter on it’s major search update that was unveiled on Tuesday. Twitter claimed that it’s totally “bad” for web users as the update has made it harder for the users to find information.

The recent update Search Plus Your World allows Google to show results in SERP from it’s social networking platform in order to offer a personalized search experience for the users.

Twitter in a statement told that latest enhancements will not help the search engine giant when it comes to providing real time personalized information within its search results.

The statement said “Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant (search) results,” .”We’re concerned that, as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.”

Alex Macgillivray tweeted that ” the update from Google is a bad day for internet”.Both Google and Twitter are battling for dominance in the social market which is currently headed by Facebook.

TAGS: Twitter