search engine
New Service Offered By Google To Track Usage
People who want to keep track of their activities in Google in its popular services can now get a monthly report from Google. The tool was unveiled on Wednesday that includes list of Gmail correspondences and search requests entered by the users while logged in. The summary also includes the list of operating systems and list of web browsers used during the logged in sessions.
The list of countries where log in activities have taken place is also contained in the report. Unauthorized account usage could be flagged with the help of these details. Those who sign up for it will receive the monthly report through mail. The change in privacy policy by Google helps it to link more data collected from various services.
New Display Interface in Google Adwords
Changes have been unveiled to Google adwords and the new design will be rolled out over the next few weeks. The new design has been designed to make it easier to buy and track display advertising on its network. Advertisers can now target and optimize display campaigns with the help of Display Network Tab.
Brad Bender,director of product management at Google says “AdWords was initially built for search advertising, and display capabilities were built on top of that platform. Display evolved with a whole range of formats available, including rich media, video and mobile, and also a number of ways of choosing where your ads will show. But the interface hadn’t changed”.
The contextual engine was enhanced that matches ads to pages based on keywords. The new changes will let marketers see the performance of display campaigns at the individual keyword level.Advertisers can now target higher performing keywords.
Changes would also benefit search marketers and search agencies as 99 percent of Google’s top 1000 search advertisers are also buying display through Google.Earlier clients can know how Google display ads are performing at the ad group level but the new features have provided variety of options now.
The new visualization tool lets the marketer to concentrate on targeting types such as placements, topics, interests and remarketing.
Panda Update To Be Rolled Out Soon
A novel approach has been taken by Google this time and they have announced the ongoing Panda Update through Twitter. Google’s Panda updates has been targeting low quality sites.
In the tweet,Google estimates 1.6 percent of the Search queries are affected by Panda refresh. We expect the current update to be rolled anytime this week and its primarily called Panda 3.4 update we don’t know the significance this update. The update may later even be named 3.5 or 4.0 depending upon the significance. Check out the Panda infographic.
New Social Reports Feature in Google Analytics
At SES NewYork Google announced the news of immediate and incremental launch of Social Reports which will help the marketers to know more about the value of social media.
Group Product Manager Phil Mui explained the new feature Social Reports will allow the marketers to measure both the last click and upper-funnel value of social.
Mui further explained ” The new social reports take into account the total number of conversions that happen to visitors that had touched a social media channel connected with
the account.”
The new feature will bridge the gap between social media and important business metrics.The conversion report present in Social Report shows the value of each conversion and allow the users to compare Assisted vs Last Interaction Conversion for comparison.The other metrics include Assisted Conversions, Last Interaction Conversion, Assisted Conversion Value, Last Interaction Conversion Value.
400 networks are being tracked around the world on the Visitor Flow Side which also includes Twitter, Facebook, Stumbleupon and LinkedIn. From the Data hub partners the actual conversions are pulled into Google Analytics and the integration of social data hub applies to public data only.
As part of Google Analytics,Social data will be available and users can easily export other programs and mash with other data. From yesterday onwards the new report is available and it will be available to all users over the next couple of weeks.
Google Expands Flight Search
Google flight search which was started for flight destinations in US alone has now been expanded to 500 cities outside the US. A comprehensive list of destination has not provided by Google but most Asian and European countries were available.
Presently we don’t know how the popularity of the flight search among the people as there are established travel sites and search engines which are more easier to use than flight Search. The PC version is more challenging when compared mobile and iPad versions of Google flight search.
The success of flight search will depend on two important variables namely UI(User Interface) and it’s features. It also depends on how Google promotes it’s flight search through it’s search results.
Searching for “SFO to LHR” does not return any information and clicking on the “blue airplane” does not take you into flight search results. Google will be cautions in promoting flight search as the product is in beta version.Both flight search and hotel finder from google has the potential in taking Google to next level but currently neither of them has reached the level.
GetMo Mobile Optimization launched by Google in UK
A new campaign will help UK businesses to optimize their sites for use with mobile devices.The campaign known as “GetMo initiative” was launched by Google recently.The new “GetMo Intiative” will help webmasters and tools for optimizing sites that will be accessed through mobile browsers. Testing materials, developer guides and case studies are designed based on Google’s HowToGoMo U.S. effort which help businesses to optimise their sites for mobile handsets.
The initiative will also provide an opportunity for third party developers in building more mobile sites in the coming months. UK was mainly chosen because 84 percent of UK users have looked up local information on their mobile phones. Google have found that mobile searches have grown over 400 percent over the past two years.
According to Google, a lot of business are unable to keep up with the demand and offer sites suited for mobile browsers. Due to increase in the sales of smartphones more consumers engage with the brands by searching for them on their mobile phone.
GetMo campaign also provides an opportunity for Google to boost it’s mobile browser market in UK. In both handset and tablet fields, Google’s android platform has been increasing its market share.
New Local Search Layout and SERP Design tested by Bing
New designs are being tested by Bing for their search engine results pages and local search listings. According to Liveside.net, a new Bing UI seems to have been rolled out for more users in the U.S. A lot of designs have been changed over the last few months,but this one represents the most substantial update.
The suggested searches appear below the search box and not in the side bar. User controls have become more prominent and navigational elements have become smaller.
Two new local search results layouts are tested by Bing and currently local search results are displayed in a box at the top of the page.Three to five results are listed as text links next to a Bing map and organic results are listed below it.
The new features currently are not available to all users and will disappear as Bing continues to test new layouts and designs.Bing has been trying to balance both local business and users trying to find information about them
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
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.
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.