Google’s new content based algorithm (Content Farm) create a wave???
Most of us were in the assumption about Google’s new content farm algorithm would be an up-gradation of the algorithm for quality search but it was actually to block low quality content scraper sites and not content farms. We will have to wait and see… how well Google performs in the coming days with the ‘New Content Farm” .
Google, Bing and Blekko on a single platform talking about the recent ‘copying’ issue
Matt Cutts from Google, Harry Shum from Bing and Rich Skrenta of Blekko on a search panel open out their views. The debate frenzied between Harry and Matt, despite Matt being a calm natured person. Matt was very certain at Bing Copying Google’s result and clearly pointed to that whereas Harry’s response and answers were quite ambiguous. It is clear that both Google and Bing are using users data to influence rankings. The conversation then diverted to on ‘how’ both are getting their data, of course from the respective toolbar. Here again Matts puts a valid statement blaming that Bing creeped the toolbar onto users PC’s via IE where Harry had a fragile answer as that no one is bothered T&C’s so it does not value. And the discussion concluded with a note of pacifying messages.
Here is the gist of the debate/talk show/conversation
Bing uses user data on Google as a ranking signal – but that these keywords were outliers and that Bing does not just copy results.
Bing uses data from Google in their algorithm, Google denies using Bing data.
-Both Google and Bing are using user data in their algorithm
-Google have developed a chrome add on that will allow user to veto sites from their search results
Who is the ‘cheater’ and the ‘fraud’
The debate on the ‘copying’ issue must be known to everyone. Google blames Microsoft for copying the search results of the former, and Microsoft firmly denied giving some justifications. The growth of Bing over the past 8-9 months was beyond expectation and Google has reached to a point where it realized that BING is a good competitor and is afraid of losing the first rank. After this realization they are constantly observing the growth of Bing and the reasons that led to the same. Some terms they have used in this fiery debate is notable. Google started off saying that Bing has done ‘a cheap imitation’ and as a response Bing accused Google of trying a “spy-novelesque stunt”.
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Mehdi, Microsoft’s Senior VP of Online Services, published a strongly-worded denial of Google’s claims on the Bing Search blog which again would keep heating up the debate; It says – Google engaged in a “honeypot” attack to trick Bing. In simple terms, Google’s “experiment” was rigged to manipulate Bing search results through a type of attack also known as “click fraud.”
We could definitely wait for an apt response from Google for this 🙂
2011 Google Toolbar Page Rank Update
Google Toolbar Page Rank underwent minor updates in the past few months.However many webmasters were waiting for a major update for the past couple of months,as the last major update was on April 3,2010.There was only 1 main update in 2010,while the previous year 2009 witnessed 5 major updates.
At the beginning of this new year 2011, the first major update was seen on Jan 20,2011.
A list of all the recent updations can be viewed here
Some views on the importance of the Page Rank : http://www.seroundtable.com/pagerank-update-jan11-12832.html
The Performances of Google, Yahoo and MSN in 2010
The world of search engine technologies has been altering at an extraordinarily fast rate. Even from one year to the next, one can view major trends in how the search engines are faring.
Based on the report release by Hitwise, 2009 witnessed Google in the top spot, Yahoo Mail in second spot, the core Yahoo search in the fourth spot, Microsoft’s Live Mail in the sixth spot, the Yahoo search page in eighth spot, and MSN in ninth spot. This signifies that 6 of the top 10 sites belonged to one of the search engine giants.
Presently, in 2010, Facebook has reached the number one slot. The Yahoo properties remain chiefly unaffected; Yahoo Mail is now in third , the core Yahoo page is in fourth, and the Yahoo search page is in ninth. For the time being, Microsoft seems to be creeping up. MSN grabbed the number 6 slot, and while Live Mail dropped to position eight, Bing crept into the tenth slot.
Though it may look like Yahoo and MSN are closing the gap on Google, it should be noted that there’s a major gap between the second and third slots for 2010. While Google’s third place ranking is from having around seven percent of all online traffic, Yahoo Mail’s third place position depicts only about three percent.
The above study is based on pages that obtain visits most recurrently, and is based far more on repeat visits than it is on exclusive visitors.
Google Webmaster Tools Includes New Function
Google Webmaster Tools team has added an extra function to its offering, enabling users of the SEO service to view the precise details of queries that drive traffic to their page.
Titled “Top Pages”, users can also view the number of clicks and impressions made alongside each search term, and even display this information in the form of pie or bar charts to read the data more clearly. A trends analyst at Google Webmaster Tools, Jonathan Simon that throughout the past year they had made some significant changes to the search queries feature in Webmaster Tools. He also added that they had received lots of feedback about this enormously popular feature.
Additionally, he added that a usual request they heard was that people wanted to be able to view search queries data for their site’s individual pages. Understanding the importance of this feature, the same has been implemented by Google.
With the new function added, in the search queries feature, there exists a new tab titled ‘Top Pages’. Just as in the ‘Top Queries’ view, one can click on a definite query to view more detailed data, and assess how the query is performing across the whole site.
Using this functionality, users of Adwords should be able to recognize the most effective way to allocate their resources, in terms of achieving the best possible rankings. Results can be filtered by location, enabling users to see which areas need more keywords than others.
Conclusions Drawn From Google Zeitgeist 2010
Google’s yearly Zeitgeist, which delivers the top searches of the year, once more offers a remarkable look into what the world was thinking about,as well as interested in.
The results conclude that “Chatroulette” was the “fastest rising” search term around the world in 2010, overtaking Apple’s iPad and Justin Bieber, which took the second and third place spots, correspondingly.Twitter and Facebook also made a showing in the top 10 list, taking the No. 8 and 10 spots, respectively.
But just as rapidly as those search terms developed during the year, there were some queries that were cut down from the top spot.
Google revealed that “swine flu” was the “fastest falling” sort out term around the world this year, followed by “wamu” and “new moon.” Michael Jackson, who was last year’s top search query, obtained the ninth spot in Google’s list of declining queries.
Google also examined what topics were most well-liked in the consumer electronics space this year. And needless to say, Apple’s iPad and iPhone 4 took the top two spots. They were followed by the Nokia 5530, HTC Evo 4G, as well as the Nokia N900.
Google’s Zeitgeist findings are significantly different from those released recently by the company’s competitors.
Yahoo findings conclude that the BP oil spill was the most popular search term on its service in 2010, trailed by the World Cup and Miley Cyrus.
Google Trying to Gain Acquisition on Groupon
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
Rich Search Assist-New Search Feature From Yahoo
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 Launches New URL Shortening Website
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.