Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
- Google Launches Page Speed Analyzer In Labs
Google’s fixation on page speed continues with today’s addition of Page Speed, a new analysis tool in Google Labs. The tool analyzes any URL, gives it a grade (on a score of 0-100) and then offers a potentially long list of ways to make the page faster. The suggestions are divided into High, Medium and […]
- Google +1 Button Spotted … And It Works [Er, Worked]
Even though Google’s +1 button isn’t supposed to be ready for webmasters for a few months, they’ve already been spotted in the wild — and they appear to work. Yvo Schaap points to Fanity.com, where a +1 button has been embedded in a social widget next to Facebook and Twitter buttons. (See image at right.) […]
- Google Not Planning To Release Mobile Face Recognition: Update
Contrary to what I reported earlier based on a seemingly very credible CNN report, Google is not planning to release a version of its mobile app Goggles with face recognition technology. Google has had the capability for several years but so far refrained from putting it out in the world other than on Picasa. I […]
- When Pandas Attack: Online Retailers Need To React
We interrupt our regularly scheduled RETAIL SMARTS column for this special update on extremely rare, but deadly Panda attacks in the retail community… So this week, I was supposed to share the results from that 300% sales increase of that leather dog collar with nameplate example from last column, but this is a little more important. […]
- Microsoft Comes Out Of Shadows With EU Antitrust Complaint Against Google
In the past Microsoft has been accused of orchestrating third party legal complaints against Google like some behind-the-scenes Cardinal Richelieu or puppet master. But now Redmond has come out of the shadows and joined the list of companies that have filed formal complaints against Google in Europe. “Microsoft is filing a formal complaint with the […]
- Search Marketers Intrigued By Google’s +1
It’s difficult to gauge the potential impact of Google’s new +1 initiative on marketers because of one somewhat mysterious factor: consumer behavior. When compared to Facebook, with its “Like” button, Google likely has relatively few users who’ve bothered to set up profiles. And, if a consumer doesn’t have a profile, using +1 isn’t an option […]
- Google’s Bunsen Burner Logo: Robert Bunsen 200th Birthday
Today on the Google home page you will see a special logo for Robert Bunsen’s 200th birthday. The Google logo is an interactive chemical lab set with a Bunsen burner. Robert Bunsen was the co-inventor of the Bunsen burner. You can use the logo by placing your mouse over the burner or other areas of […]
- 29 Ways To Speed Up Your Website
There are so many reasons to make your website faster: Higher conversion rates, lower bandwidth costs and yes, higher rankings in organic search. Frankly, I’m stunned how often web teams resist doing it. Here’s a list from easy to not-so-easy, of 29 ways you can get things running faster on your website: Put your images on […]
- Google’s +1 A Potential Boon To Paid Search Marketers
For an in-depth overview of Google’s new +1 extension of social search, see Danny Sullivan’s Meet +1: Google’s Answer To The Facebook Like Button. In addition, Matt McGee has written How To Get Google +1 Buttons For Your Website for publishers interested in adding the new button. Danny’s article briefly discusses how +1 will be […]
- How To Get Google +1 Buttons For Your Website
The long-rumored Google +1 social layer is now reality, but one of the oddities of today’s announcement is that website owners can’t put +1 voting buttons on their websites or blogs yet. In case it was lost in the flurry of today’s news and discussion about Google +1, you can put in a request to […]
- Google Selects Kansas City For Superfast Broadband Network
A little more than a year after announcing its plans to build a superfast, experimental broadband network somewhere in the U.S., Google has announced where that’s going to happen: Kansas City, Kansas. In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and […]
Search News From Around The Web:
Applications & Portal Features
- 38 more languages and minimize toolbar added to Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, Google Docs Blog
- Announcing the HTTP Archive, High Performance Web Sites
- Fresh new perspectives for your blog, Official Google Blog
- Google Canada’s Free Website and Domain Name: Read the Fine Print, sebprovencher.com
- Introducing Page Speed Online, with mobile support, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
Business Issues
- Google Payment VP/Former PayPal Exec Osama Bedier On eCommerce: Major Change Is Coming, TechCrunch
- Google to testify on piracy before House subcommittee, CNET News
- China report claims Google-linked companies broke tax rules, Reuters
- Google Losing Ground in China, a Year After Move of Search Services, Wall Street Journal
Local, Maps & Mobile
- New imagery of Japan after the earthquake, Official Google Blog
- Google Joins NFC Forum To Advance Near Field Communication Technology, TechCrunch
- Stay connected to the market, wherever you are, Official Google Mobile Blog
Paid Search & Contextual
- Concurrency Management in the AdWords API, AdWords API Blog
- Microsoft adCenter Maintenance Tonight: Minor Upgrades Coming, Search Engine Roundtable
Searching
- DuckDuckGo search engine users get Twitter lists (shows Twitter needs to refocus on them), Scobleizer
- Google First Major Online Portal to Provide Search in Kurdish, thenextweb.com
- More Google Social Search Results, Google Operating System
- Two new Google domains: Iraq and Tunisia, Official Google Blog
SEO & SEM
- Mo’ better to also detect “mobile” user-agent, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
- Does the Buying Funnel Apply to Online Search?, Certified Knowledge
- Meta Description Tags and CTR – The New Way That Meta Tags Affect Rankings, dailyseotip.com
Social Media
- Facebook Now Allows Personal Profiles To Be Converted Into Business Pages, Inside Facebook
- Web Intents, dev.twitter.com
- Facebook vs Twitter Which is More Valuable, Michael Gray
- Twitter Kills The #Dickbar, TechCrunch
Video, Music & Image Search
- Google SafeSearch Filters Based On Images & Not Site Theme, Search Engine Roundtable
Web Analytics
- The New Google Analytics: Quick insights with Plot Rows, Conversion Room
Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:
- 6 Non-Content Must Haves For Business Blogs – Hey, by now you know that your blog needs great content to survive in the blogosphere’s dog-eat-dog world. And if you didn’t know that, well, thenPanda-Farmer just came to smack you upside the head a little. Google says you’re welcome. But great content isn’t…
- The 4 Words That Will Get Your Email Opened – In two and a half years of sending all kinds of emails to all kinds of lists, the simple phrase “You Are Not Alone” is the most-opened subject line I’ve ever seen — by far.
- Google + 1 = Fail | Why Google +1 will End Up Next To Google Buzz – Two Reasons that +1 Will End Up Next to Buzz in the Google Social Media Graveyard
- The Rules of Social Media Engagement – 75 percent of employers say their business has no formal policy instructing employees on the appropriate use of social networking sites on the job.
- Weed Out Your Lowest Performing Pages [Panda Strategies] – This morning I set myself a challenge. Using some inspiration from recent excellent ideas, strategies and articles about the Panda update, I decided to see if I could cobble together a quick strategy to weed out pages that might be deemed as “low quality” in the eyes of Google's most recent major algorithm update.