It’s been a big week for Yahoo. Media, investors and tech bloggers are keeping a close eye on what’s happening to at the internet corporation, while at the same time struggling to remember the last time it was this relevant.

Since former CEO Carol Bartz was ousted in September, the company has moved quickly, trying to establish a clear direction and satisfy investors. The former search engine behemoth had floundered in recent years, and has become a shadow of its former self. Despite 2010 revenue exceeding $6billion (most of which stemmed from search engine marketing), Yahoo is not the company that it was. Google’s place as king of search is firmly established for now, and their revenue of over $29billion in 2010 proves their dominance over search rivals.

This week, Yahoo announced that they are withdrawing their interest in video streaming service Hulu. This could be a move to streamline their operations, or a reaction to their falling share price and reluctance to get involved in further acquisitions. The lowered share price has also prompted a hostile takeover bid from Microsoft. Those familiar with Yahoo’s history will be aware that this is not the first such instance of Microsoft attempting a buyout. And it’s certainly not the first time Yahoo has resisted.

Microsoft clearly sees a future for Yahoo, and founder and former CEO Jerry Yang seems to as well. Silicon Valley is buzzing with rumours that he has sought private equity finance to fund a bid for 40% of Yahoo, to take it off the stock market completely and return it to private control. Yang has been a familiar face at Yahoo’s First Avenue headquarters of late, and his renewed interest in the firm could be the key to a real comeback.

Micrositez: Search Engine Marketing

Google, microsoft, Private Equity, search engine marketing, Yahoo

When the first Panda update was launched, its aim was apparently to reduce the rankings for low quality website. Although Google claimed only 11.8% of US queries were affected, there were losses of up to 80% in organic traffic reported.

The second Panda update hit the UK quite severely with rankings dropping all over the place. That was in April and, just as the top UK SEO firms were getting to grips with it, Google launched the 2.4 update in May

As is synoptic with Google, it was and still is (and probably will be in future with algorithmic changes) all very cloak and dagger regarding the Panda updates. We are offered very little information on these algorithmic changes which to many, just seems like Google flexing its corporate muscle to shake things up. At Micrositez, we noted, that making your traffic more diverse, fixing usability issues, and writing high-quality content (which is what Google says the Panda update aims to reward), helped revive a lot of rankings. We have always believed “content is king” and all you have to do is look at the search results for most things to prove this. Wikipedia for example is either first or thereabouts in most queries – and how content rich is Wikipedia?

Search Engine Watch reported “Top Google Result Gets 36.4% of Clicks”, and Optify’s data showed that, on average, a site sitting in fourth position gets nearly 8 percent of clicks. Once you fall off Page 1, you’re looking at an average of 2.6 percent click-through rate at the top of Page 2, but any results beyond that quickly fall into irrelevance.

Google has rolled out more than a dozen additional tweaks since Panda was first rolled out. They left only one month between the Panda update last time, and now the whole SEO and Digital Marketing arena waits with bated breath for the introduction of the next Panda update.

Google, Google Analytics, SEO

Plans to create a global technology hub in the east end of London were boosted last night by the news that Google are planning to open a multimillion pound “technology community centre” in the development. This will no doubt help to dispel the disappointing news earlier this week that twitter had chosen to open a major international office in Dublin instead of the new development, which the Government hopes will be as synonymous with tech in the UK as Silicon Valley is in the USA.

Google’s new office acquisition will not mean a move for their operations, as the UK headquarters will remain at their current Victoria location. The new “Silicon Roundabout” property on Bonhill street will undergo refurbishment before opening in 2012. While Google will have a presence in the office, they hope to use the space for workshops (including programming “hackathons”) and training for new tech companies in the area. The space will also be available for other organisations to use, allowing them to work with Google to provide a launchpad for start-ups and developers in London.

As one of the original backers of the Tech City development, a four-mile stretch from London to Stratford, it’s not surprising that Google have further invested in the project. What’s encouraging to the Government and start-ups alike, is their enthusiasm to engage with up-and-coming tech companies in the UK. Support from the search giant could lead to real innovation and growth in the industry, which could be very exciting indeed for tech companies across the country.

Micrositez: SEO, Social Media

Google, London, Silicon Roundabout, Tech City

In a modest celebration, at what could be anyone’s home, six characters sit ready to blow out the candles out on a 13^th birthday cake. It’s easy to see why this isn’t your average celebration, because Google really isn’t your average 13-year-old.

Unconcerned with kissing boys and watching Hollyoaks, Google has far loftier things to think about this year. Google wants to dominate social media when it grows up, and could be on their way with the Google+ rollout gaining pace. A Hitwise report showed a massive influx of traffic, over 15 million visitors in the USA alone, in the week ending 24 September.  In that one week, Google+ surged from the 54^th most visited social networking and forum site to the 8^th.

Now that a fuller picture of Google+ functionality is developing, even more users could be drawn to the site. The popular social gaming giant Zynga announced the addition of their most popular title, CityVille, to coincide with Google+ hitting the 50 million user watermark.

Things have changed considerably since Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed their search engine following a PhD research project. Did they consider how prominent their search algorithms would become in those infant years, when the project was still nicknamed “Backrub” (because of their use of backlinks to determine a site’s importance)? It’s highly doubtful they could have known that their misspelling of the word googol would become so universal that it would enter common vocabulary as a verb. Back in those tender years, social media hadn’t even entered the public consciousness, but now it could be the key to Google’s success over the next few years.

Can we expect fireworks, grand entrances and all the pomp and circumstance of a “super sweet sixteen” type party when Google’s teenage temperament really starts kick in? Or will they continue to celebrate their anniversaries modestly, letting their success speak for itself?

Micrositez: Social Media Agency, SEO Company.

Google, Google doodle, Social Media Agency

New Google site preview and +1 button location in SERPs

Today new tests on Google search result pages have emerged with a few differences present. The instant preview blue magnifying glass has been replaced with grey arrows which open a half page vertical split showing the landing page with highlighted areas identified by Google as being important. You can now preview additional pages listed in the search results as well, the example below shows the preview arrows next to the “contact us” page under the main listing where previously only the homepage would have had a magnifying glass next to it.

The actual preview itself isn’t much different from before, white text on grey background instead of black text on white, the highlight colour is red instead of orange and the serrated page break is a bit neater.

Another notable difference is the location of the +1 button which has shifted from the side of the page title/headline down to beside the url.

The preview also shows the same way for adwords adverts covering the right hand side ad slots. Presumably the testing phase will look at the impact on clicks for adverts which are covered by the preview when it expands, this could also have an effect on click through rate and therefore quality scores as well.

Here’s a look at the old/current preview method for comparison.

Micrositez: Pay Per Click Digital Marketing Agency

AdWords, Google, Google page preview, SERPs

Google’s chairman, Eric Schmidt will appear before America officials this week to defend the search engine giant against claims it is overpowering local businesses.

The search engine will face claims of placing favour on their own products rankings, pushing rivals out.

Google prides itself on putting users’ interest first, and is expected to defend itself through the rise in alternative information sources, such as Facebook, Twitter using their success as its claim, to offer fair opportunities for all.

As Google prepares to face the judiciary antitrust subcommittee, one of its members Senator Richard Blumenthal has been speaking to press praising Google as a success story, but made the following stories;

“Concerns have been raised by both regulators and competitors over whether Google has used its dominance of the online and smartphone search markets to impose extra costs on consumers, unfairly preference its own products, or disadvantage competitors through a variety of means, including its search and advertising systems.”

British search company Foundem, alongside such as Yelp and Nextag are expected to give evidence against the conglomerate on Wednesday.

Micrositez USA

Google, social media, social networking

Newzbin 2 tackle attempts to block access to their site

It’s certainly a day in which search engine and internet service provider censorship is taking center stage with a couple of stories relating to site visibility.

Brian Souter, often referred to as a transport tycoon due to his success in creating and developing the stagecoach brand, has been reported as being unimpressed with the disappearance of his personal website from Google’s SERPS when his name is searched for. It’s alleged that his sites visibility was first noticed to have decreased near the start of August and has only recently been found on Google’s search results pages.

Another big story making the rounds today concerns the newsgroup file indexing search site Newzbin 2. They are reportedly preparing to launch software which will prevent access to their site from being blocked by BT. It’s worth noting that the BT have been forced to take this action using their own technology, cleanfeed, which they developed to block users access to sites which contained child sex abuse images.

BT are not keen to comment on the issue indicating they do not feel it is a matter they should be expected to monitor or control. There is also significant scope for lost custom of users for whom newzbin provide legal file sharing services. The court order resulting from the MPA (Motion Picture Association) is undoubtedly a landmark case which threatens the free speech nature on which the internet operates.

Micrositez: PPC Agency

BT, Google, MPA, Newzbin, Stagecoach

Google opens their doors to help 15,000 UK businesses, build and maximise their website potential.  The search giant has agreed to play their part in a testing sample of a new scheme, which could be rolled out across the rest of the country if deemed successful.

Google’s managing director; Matt Brittin had this to say about Google’s involvement, “What we’re trying to do now is go a bit deeper, to try to understand what businesses are doing and how best to aid their growth. We’re coming to spend a significant amount of time working with people in a community and helping people make the most of the internet.”

He told the telegraph, businesses with an online presence are growing four times faster than those without a website, and that the main reason for businesses not having a website was down to lack of understanding, or knowledge on how to go about it.

This new scheme will work to combat those challenges, giving them the chance to sit down on a one-to-one basis and glean advice from the one of the most successful web companies in the world.

This is the first time the conglomerate has done anything like this, and some say it is a flirtatious move by the company to fend off monopoly claims.

Micrositez: SEO Companies, Web Design

Google, search engine, website design

Another international investigation on antitrust with Google has seen its Seoul offices raided by South Korean regulators.

The investigation follows complaints by South Korean based search engines, NHN and Baum and is believed to be concerned with alleged attempts by Google to block access to alternative search engines through android.

The news about the latest antitrust case against Google is likely to be more damaging than the potential financial penalties if any wrong doing is adjudged to have occurred. Foreign antitrust cases in South Korea rarely result in anything other than a minor relative fine.

With the ever increasing controversy attached to Google’s adventures into the OS world, there’s a feeling of de ja vu, especially in this particular case which focuses on Google’s search engine being set as default, requiring users to make a conscious decision to switch instead of providing options. There was a landmark case against Microsoft in Europe in which large fines where issued for providing operating systems with a default internet browser made by Microsoft, internet explorer, instead of having competitor browsers available.

Micrositez: Digital Marketing Agency

android, Antitrust, Google

The search conglomerate announced the birthday of its open source web browser through its blog channel earlier this morning.

A trial version of the browser was released on Windows back in September 2008 across 100 countries, which later lead to a worldwide release by December of that year.

Google have made HTML 5 based interactive info graph illustrating the evolution of the web and various web browsers including Netscape, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Chrome itself.  

The Chrome team are the only ones on the graph that have maintained their appearance in those three years, enabling them to focus more on improving the efficiency and speed of the browser.

Since the beginning of Google Chrome, various additions such as Chrome Instant, Instant Pages, Sandbox PDF Viewer, Print Preview, and 3D CSS have been developed. 

Micrositez: PPC Management, PPC Company

Google, Google Chrome, search engine optimisation

Google+ in search of identity

Speaking at the media guardian international festival in Edinburgh, the Google chairman Eric Schmidt discussed the topic of identity which he claims to have been pondering for 20 years.

Schmidt looked at social network users who exploit fake avatars saying, “there are people who do really evil and wrong things on the Internet” echoing the informal slogan of google, “Don’t be evil”, or perhaps looking to reintroduce/reinforce that message at a key time in the  search giants expansion into social networking.

Using language cautiously, Schmidt went on to illustrate his idea of ranking profiles, sounding very similar to the foundations of Googles search ranking implementation. He went on to say “if we knew their identity was accurate, we could rank them. Think of them like an identity rank”.

Finishing off with an apparent jibe at totalitarian rule, presumably referencing issues Google have had with account hacking within certain regimes, Schmidt referenced the need to be realistic for countries where citizens are prohibited from publicly airing their views.

Micrositez: PPC Company, Social Media Marketing Agency

Digital Marketing, Don't do evil, Eric Schmidt, Google, pay per click, PPC, Social Media Marketing

Google data found to be false

The 1 trillion page views reported by Google’s Ad Planner for social networking site Facebook is far from accurate according to several leading online data analysts.

Google Ad Planner is a tool used for effectively targeting audiences with relevant adverts for pay per click marketing.

Comscore however offered the slightly less incredible statistic of 467 million monthly page views. While not exactly a miniscule amount, it still raises questions about the effectiveness of Ad Planner as a resource for PPC services.

Micrositez: SEO UK

ad planner, Google, ppc services

The ability for any brand to introduce an element of gameplay to the methods of interaction with it’s target market is not necessarily a new thing. Foursquare have managed this in an almost subversive manner to increase brand loyalty/usage, for Facebook it’s all about the money, but for Google+ it’s all about getting people to spend more time on site.

Sean Ryan Joined Facebook earlier this year after a long campaign to draw him into a position left open with the title director of gaming partnerships. There was no secret that the position was his as an when he deemed the time right to leave news corp. Having made his mark on Facebook he has been quick to question the quality of Google+ as a suitable social network for game development but that could have something to do with the rapid announcement by Google that it has enticed some massive gaming phenomenon’s such as angry birds to promote their products on Google+. Facebook take 30% game developers proceeds with Google only taking 5%, Mr Ryan is fairly confident that their rates will not impact on new releases going forward as he believes Facebook are in the process of improving their support for developers to give them the upper hand.

Online interaction in gaming actually predates any recognisable form of social network but the explosion of social network use has presented game developers with the perfect opportunity to pitch their products at a largely captive market.

Micrositez: Digital Marketing Agency

facebook, Google, SEO, social media, social networking

Ambitious is a word which one day may become synonymous with Google. Never content with simply testing the water when moving sideways, the recently agreed acquisition of Motorola mobility is yet another leap into the future for the search giant.

It’s certainly not a surprise though, with Google making a move on every trend of late, there really doesn’t seem to be any limit for just how far they will go in attempting to spearhead the worlds technological progress.

Looking at the mobile/tablet market, hardware manufacturers know only too well that it can be tricky to persuade mobile users to switch operating systems, although in the past couple of years, the majority of mobile users have been shown that the only two mobile operating systems which will be of importance when they make their next purchase are maintained by Apple and Google.

The manufacturers which have supported Google may be rightly annoyed with Googles acquisition, but they have also benefited enormously from being able to compete with apple for a share of the spoils in recent times.

Micrositez: SEO Company

Android phone, blackberry, Google, Ice Cream Sandwich OS, Nexus Prime, Samsung, tablets

Randi Zuckerberg opens the book on a new career

Randi, Mark Zuckerbergs sister and former marketing director at Facebook is leaving the social media site to focus her attention on establishing a company with close ties to her previous role.

It would appear that Randi has seen an opportunity to use her experiences at Facebook to establish a consultancy firm which aims to steer companies in the right direction in terms of being more social online.

The website Randi will be spearheading is believed to go by the name of RtoZ media . There can be no denying that in partnering with Randi’s new venture, any business looking for publicity will certainly gain a lot of mentions.

This news comes as Google+ signups top 25 million and have thoroughly obliterated the time elapsed in reaching that figure of any previous social network.

On another day of relentless social media related news, with reports that Google’s real time results could make a comeback using recent posts on Google+ related to events trending online and in the news, Randi could hardly have picked a better time to leave Facebook and state her intention to establish a revolutionary service of her own.

Micrositez: Digital Agency, SEO

facebook, Google, plus, SEO, social media

Google Hotel Finder Experiment

Even if you’re not trying to find a hotel in the US at the moment, it’s worth having a look at Googles new hotel finder experiment as yet more evidence that no online service is safe from the ambitious outreach on display from the search engine giant.

Google’s social strategy seems to involve encompassing whatever its users may need to do, within a comfortable platform to reaffirm the importance of intelligent search results in providing you with the very thing you’re looking for without having to waste your precious time while looking for it.

Now it is fairly obvious that Hotel Finder has been designed to slip neatly into the Google family of products, Google Maps, Google AdWords, Google+ and Google Offers alongside Google Places to name a few.  Google have just bought the deal map in a move which must be seen as a statement of intent to dominate the location based promotions market. The potential ability to offer room rates to users within the vicinity of a hotel must be good news for the consumer looking for a discount as well as the hotel operator seeking full occupancy and you would imagine that Google are well placed to provide the best service in that regard.

You can certainly see why this particular offering will be of great assistance in expanding the social realm of Google’s services while helping its ever increasing advertising network.

There are plenty of similar services which are possibly more comprehensive than the initial experiment of hotel finder. However, there can be no denying that this will be of great interest to businesses of premium service but without the budget of the most established hotels in their class.

Watch for Googles Hotel Finder to be introduced in more countries in the near future, and don’t be surprised to see some nervous competition improving their hotel search services.

Micrositez: Digital Agency, SEO

Google, SEO, social media

AdWords Express, Google’s budget answer to Adwords has now been released after months of testing under the name Google Boost. The service, primarily aimed at smaller business will give local businesses owners access to a much more streamline, and cost effective version of the original.

As well as being faster and simpler, the Express version will enable users to search ad space and blue pins on Google Maps, but for many the highlight will be automatic management of campaign.   

Companies can now set up ads in a matter of minutes, and link back to your places page, or even your own website.

It seems Google have finally found the feature they were looking for that will take them into the display advertising arena, and further more into the local market.

Micrositez: Display Advertising

AdWords, display ads, Google

They once said they were far from interested in facial recognition technology. It now appears, Google have changed of mind, as today’s technology news informs us that the tech giant have acquired themselves a pattern recognition team from in Pittsburgh called, PittPatt.

PittPatt, a seven year old company, considers itself as a developer of ‘reliable face recognition software for images and video.’

“At Google, computer vision technology is already at the core of many existing products (such as Image Search, YouTube, Picasa, and Goggles), so it’s a natural fit to join Google and bring the benefits of our research and technology to a wider audience,” says the Pittpatt team on the company website.

“We will continue to tap the potential of computer vision in applications that range from simple photo organization to complex video and mobile applications.”

Google’s Former CEO, Eric Schmidt squashed rumours last year stating it ‘unlikely’ that Google would get involved with facial recognition; which can detect your face in someone else’s photo can also track and locate motion in video.

The feature has provoked a huge response by many unsettled internet users who are concerned the software invades their privacy.

Micrositez: Search Engine Marketing

Google, social network, technology

As Google+ makes a splash amongst the world of social media, an app developer gets his knuckles wrapped by Facebook for placing a ‘violating’ ad on the social networking site.

American Michael Lee Johnson, placed the ad on Facebook to appeal for more people to add him to their Google+ account; much to the ‘dislike’ of Facebook who suspended his account, and banned the ad from the site.

Facebook explained their actions to Mr Johnson in the following message, which he then re-posted to his Google+ account;

“Your account has been disabled. All of your adverts have been stopped and should not be run again on the site under any circumstances. Generally, we disable an account if too many of its adverts violate our Terms of Use or Advertising guidelines. Unfortunately we cannot provide you with the specific violations that have been deemed abusive. Please review our Terms of Use and Advertising guidelines if you have any further questions.”

Mr Johnson appears to be unfazed by events as his experience gained him an extra 1000 followers, 412 comments and 1166 users who should support through hitting the sites +1 button.

It is clear that the search giant is Facebook’s main competitor at the moment, for the first time in six years. Over 10,000 users have flocked to join the pre-run of Google’s all new singing, and dancing social networking site Google+, which launched on 28^th June.

Micrositez: SEO Lake Mary, SEO Orlando

display advertising, facebook, Google

Google drops realtime search from its search product as agreement with social Networking site Twitter is terminated.

The agreement, which expired this month allows Google to produce faster results through a pool of sources, which included Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Quora, Gowolla, FriendFeed, Plixi and Me2day.

The search giant relied heavily on access to Twitter, as its main source of data, which it’s thought to have paid around $20 million for. Although reason for the breakdown remains unknown many speculate the move is all part of Google’s plans; to incorporate the feature into Google+.

Gabriel Stricker, Director of Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google touched on the subject in a recent statement stating; “The Company envisions include Google+ information along with other Realtime data from a variety of sources.”

Whilst a spokesperson for camp Twitter confirmed to tech blog Searchengineland that the contract between itself and Google had come to an end they said; “We continue to provide this type of access to Microsoft, Yahoo! and dozens of other smaller developers. And we work with Google in many other ways.”

Whilst both camps maintain tight lipped on the matter, it is worthwhile noting that Twitter will not be completely invisible from Google search. Any information that is publicly available will be picked up by Google crawlers, and be searchable by users on Google’s site.

Micrositez : Search Engine Marketing

Google, search engine, social networks, twitter