Recently Microsoft announced that they’re taking initiatives to guarantee user privacy with a new “Do Not Track” option in Internet Explorer 9. The pronouncement comes on the heels of an extremely disputed recommendation from the FTC (Federal Track Commission) that would make tracking an opt-in only scenario.

However experts have complained that asking web users to turn on the facility to track them would be upsetting for small business owners who hugely rely on tracking to tightly target ads. Others have conveyed that such a move would be impossible to regulate due to the wide variety of  browsers and ad delivery systems.

Internet Explorer 9, which is due to be released early on next year, will come equipped with “Tracking Protection.” By utilizing this feature, customers will be able to click on an ad and prohibit the 3rd party providing the ad from tracking them in the future. These 3rd parties are included in the  “Tracking Protection List” which is saved in the browser settings.

From a marketing perspective, Microsoft’s solution is the best one. This way, consumers who worry about tracking can opt out, but those who are not aware of it or don’t care won’t be affected.

Google is close to a deal to get hold of Groupon, the ground-breaking online discounter, for as much as $6 billion, people with direct knowledge of the matter stated recently. A deal, in the $5 billion to $6 billion range, could be struck during this week, these people stated, cautioning that the talks still could take a different direction.

At that value, Groupon would be the major attainment ever for Google. The deal would make Google the market leader in the fast developing arena of locally customized discounts. The acquirement would also be Google’s major invasion into local business advertising online, a large and untapped market it has been trying to get into, most recently. Over the last decade, Google has acquired dozens of companies, with an expenditure of billions for the online advertiser DoubleClick and the video site YouTube.

Groupon was founded in 2008 by its chief executive, Andrew Mason and it has become the fastest-growing Internet company ever.

The name Groupon is a combination of the words coupon and group and it is a group-buying site with a local focus. Subscribers obtain a deal each day, customized to the users’ location and profile, and though Groupon will proffer smaller side deals, the objective is to emphasize one discount for each user. A typical deal is 50 to 90 % off retail goods and services, sky diving lessons, restaurant certificates, dance classes and spa services. It’s a modus operandi that has taken off, turning Groupon into a cash machine with more than millions of registered users and an annual revenue of above $350 million.

Google however has refused to comment on the report .

If your eager to know what this acquisition means for search marketing,refer http://www.seobook.com/what-google-buying-groupon-means-search-marketing

Yahoo has commenced testing a new search feature that displays answers and results as you type based on search suggestions. Though there are big similarities between Google Instant and the fresh “Rich Search Assist“,the feature is surprisingly not named as “Yahoo Instant”.

Ethan Batraski,Group Product Manager at Yahoo Search,stated that at Yahoo, it is known that sometimes search is just about doing things at a faster pace.Whether one is looking for the latest game score, dietary facts about any breakfast, or a favorite TV show – one needs to be able to obtain answers with little to no effort. Presently,Yahoo Search is testing a beta version of a more sharp and content-rich Search Assist (a technology that Yahoo! pioneered) with a fraction of searchers.

The novel Rich Search Assist replaces the accessible Search Assistant. In the past, users would see connected searches and suggestions. In future, along with the suggestions, they will get direct links and answers based on the type of search.

Yahoo is merely testing the new feature with about 5 percent of users for now, but will roll it out further ultimately. There is no ultimate version yet, so several users may get different variations of the feature until Yahoo settles on the best one.

Wonder what strategies “Bing” would roll out in future !

Google,the search engine giant has introduced the mobile version of its predictive search tool, Google Instant, for Apple iPhone and for a number of Android models.

Google software engineer Steve Kanefsky stated that with Google Instant on mobile, they were pushing the limits of mobile browsers and wireless networks. The mobile users would probably notice a huge improvement in speed while searching. This has been made possible with the help of new AJAX and HTML5 implementation for mobile that dynamically updates the page with fresh results and eliminates the need to load a new page for each query .

For enabling Google Instant on mobile devices, users have to tap the ‘turn on’ link on Google’s site on mobile phone.Also,users can disable it by clicking the ‘turn off’ button.

People with phones running Android 2.2 and iPhones and iPods running iOS 4 can enable Google Instant.

Google by introducing its very own URL shortening website http://goo.gl/ has added another service to its swiftly escalating range.With its new goo.gl site, Google joins the likes of bit.ly and tinyurl.com in enabling internet users to shorten long web addresses into more manageable, bite-size links.

The demand for link shortening services has increased considerably in recent years, as users of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook look to discover ways of sharing links as rapidly and in brief as possible.

Google’s new URL shortening tool transforms long links into the much shorter http://goo.gl/, followed by a unique mixture made up of four letters as well as numbers.

Whilst the popularity of goo.gl remains to be seen, the service could have a constructive effect on search engine optimisation. Social networking and SEO are becoming more and more intertwined, so any service that enables quicker and easier link sharing via social platforms is likely to benefit SEO campaigns.

Goo.gl presently consists of just a text box and a click button marked ‘Shorten’.Google software engineer Muthu Muthusrinivasan stated that the beauty of the service lies in its very simplicity.He also added that Google didnt plan to overload goo.gl with features, but that they wanted  it to be the stablest, most protected, and quickest URL shortner on the web.

News that Google is building a Facebook competitor have become more believable due to Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt confirming the launch of the social application ‘Google Me‘ into their products including email, online search, videos and maps.

The proclamation of this launch (in fall this year) comes at a very significant time. With Facebook having suffered badly from recent privacy issues, chances are that Google Me could become an immense concern for Facebook.

Google desires that ‘Google Me’ should  not be just another accumulation to the product catalogue but will target at combining all their previous ‘not so winning’ social networking attempts like Orkut, Buzz and Profiles into a victorious social network.

Google CEO,Eric Schmidt recently stated at the Google Zeitgeist Conference held at Scottsdale, Arizona that “We’re trying to take Google’s core products and add a social component.” He also added “If you think about it, it’s obvious. With your permission, knowing more about who your friends are, we can provide more tailored recommendations. Search quality can get better.”

Well, we also need to wait and watch as to how Google can get such huge Facebook devotees to abandon Facebook and turn towards Google Me instead !

Google displays its role as the leader of search engines by relentlessly pushing technology to its limits, with the launch of Google ‘Instant’.The new feature ‘Google Instant’ that was launched yesterday, is a huge enhancement to its search platform as it displays result as the user types ,without even clicking on the search button.

Within the next couple days, Google will be launching a new enhancement to its search platform with its newest addition of Google Instant.  Google Instant is a new feature that shows results to the user as the user types, without even touching the search button. Infact every letter the user inputs, updates the search results in view of that. It was really exciting to watch this major transformation today created by Google.

Google has always been an supporter of simplicity, Google estimates the latest improvement can save around 2-5 seconds for every search. The new system also enhanced on the prediction feature that’s been utilized by Google and many of the other search engines like Yahoo, MSN, and Bing. The smarter prediction will help guide users through their searches, making it simple even if you’re not precisely sure what your  searching for.

The following corresponding output was obtained while typing in each of the  letters a s m in the search:

Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of Search Products stated that the user benefits of Google Instant are numerous but the primary one is time saved. Mayer announced the novel feature at the company’s launch event in San Francisco yesterday.

Google Instant is presently only available for desktop searches, but the company announced that it is at this time also working on the mobile version, which will be released soon.

With Google being the present leader in the search engine kingdom, other competitors confront a massive mountain to climb if they need to emerge as the winner. Research firm comScore reported that in July, Google claimed an enormous 66 percent of the total search traffic within the United States. Much behind were Yahoo with 17 percent and Microsoft’s Bing with 11 percent .Rather than uniting with Google or being absorbed by them, Bing and Yahoo decided to be united in their quest for preeminence in the search engine market.Within the last couple months, Bing and Yahoo announced that they would become partners in order to unite their efforts to take up the number two spot in search engine market share and take direct aim at Google’s top spot.

The amalgamation is a great move for Yahoo, for whom the market share dropped over the last year. For the moment, Bing, which began in 2009, has seen its share steadily climb. While Yahoo brings abundant search engine experience to the table, Bing can bring can launch a fresh start to the partnership.

Presently, Bing is powering Yahoo’s search results in English within the United States as well as Canada. People who visit Yahoo’s search will notice “Powered by Bing™” at the bottom of each page to officially indicate the partnership between the two services.

In future, other languages are expected to be added for more of an global flair. In addition to the standard search engine services, Bing and Yahoo will also merge their advertising services. Yahoo and MSN are working on a total shift over to Microsoft’s adCenter, which is the company’s advertising service that provides pay-per-click advertisements to those involved. They hope to complete the shift this fall, appropriate for the holiday season. Bing and Yahoo will divide advertising revenue once everything is finished.

It would be interesting to notice how search engine technologies develop as competition increases, and what type of response Google will have in this search engine race.

Yahoo has launched a new search-powered module for their News Section(news.yahoo.com),driven by their search algorithm. SEO friendly content which would obtain increased visibility would be the end result of this algorithm.

One of the major highlights was the inclusion of images,videos as well as slideshows.Its also visible that unlike google news, yahoo news tries hard to be more editorially managed in its choice of stories from online news providers rather than algorithmically delivered.

Presently being tested by a few Yahoo users, the fresh feature appears as a subsection on the Yahoo! News page as well as in the ‘Today’ module on the main portal. It’s complemented by the fresh ‘Trending Now’ lists, noticeable on the Yahoo home page. When a visitor clicks on any of the terms on the Trending Now list,she/he will can get hold of the most recent information about a hot topic and determine related content from Yahoo! search.

Lately Yahoo stated that the click through rates on its Trending Now lists have doubled from the time the firm implemented the fresh content optimisation technology that powers the Today Module of the Yahoo! Homepage.

Bruce Clay,international Internet Marketing Guru is on his first visit to India to carry out an exclusive 3 day SEO Training Seminar from 3rd to 5th of August 2010 in Gurgaon,India.

The 3 day Bruce Clay SEO Training Program will reveal how to develop rankings of a website in search engines as well as increase traffic to the same. This program is efficiently intended for Online Marketers & Advertisers, Entrepreneurs,Webmasters, IT Managers, SEO Analysts, as well as people working within the Search Engine Optimization and Marketing Industries. The Training Program is based on over 10 years of search engine research and includes SEO basics to advanced concepts and methodologies.

Bruce Clay has been conducting SEO training for over 8 years with courses now held in United States, Italy, Japan, South Africa as well as Australia.

This exclusive 2010 SEO Training Program comprises of rising trends & practical strategies for Social Media. It also includes popular topics like receiving high rankings in search engines and escalating click through rates from searches.