Facebook To Offer Web Search Functionality

Most people had anticipated this move, but Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has made it official, his company is going to move into the search market at some point, although he would not be drawn on precisely when this leap would be made.

Zuckerberg was interviewed by TechCrunch when he made a number of statements relating to the search intentions of Facebook, pointing out that the site is already handling around a billion queries every 24 hours, as its users search for friends, groups and other services linked into the site.

Of course at the moment you cannot search the entire internet with Facebook, although it certainly has the resources to make this a possibility at some point in the future. If this ever does happen, SEO experts will have a whole new set of rules to learn.

Zuckerberg spoke about search as concerning the process of answering questions posed by the user, which he believes is something that Facebook has a unique window into, given its privileged position as a gate keeper of huge amounts of personal user information.

There had been rumours of Facebook's search engine intentions, with its current engineering director stating, two months ago, that he is developing something exciting and specific for his employer. Because of his background at Google, many speculated that it might be search related, although no confirmation was given.

At the moment, Facebook and Google may not be competing over search, but they are already locked in battle in the social sphere as a result of Google+. The search giant is insistent that its own social service is Google+ not aimed at competing with Facebook, but whether or not it likes it, this certainly seems to be the current state of affairs.

It is worth pointing out that at the moment, it is possible to search the web from within Facebook, but that in this case, the results that are generated come from Microsoft's Bing, rather than any proprietary service, or indeed from market leader, Google.

Whether or not Facebook's relationship with Bing will extend to a deeper integration of search or not remains to be seen, although the ambition of Zuckerberg and his team, coupled with the spending power of his company, means that going at it alone is not completely out of the question.

Part of the problem for Google is that if Facebook makes web searches more closely integrated with its business, then it could easily end up losing market share to Zuckerberg's service. This is linked to the fact that people now access the internet from their mobile phones more than ever before, with many people using social networking sites and apps, to find links and perform searches, rather than harnessing a dedicated search engine site like Google.

Whether or not this will result in the gradual decline of Google, or the emergence of some meta-social system, in which people funnel all of their queries through Facebook, remains to be seen. But those involved in optimisation will be watching carefully to see where the industry heads.


About The Author: Abbas Hussain is a blogger who talks about SEO and Social Media for Integrity SEO Experts.

Did you like this article? Please let me know by leaving your valued comments below.


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Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google Plus One & Other News

The past week has been a busy week on the news front, what with the resignation of Apple CEO Steve Jobs for example. Here's a quick rundown of some of the topics that has hit the news recently...


Apple CEO Steve Jobs Resigns

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs resigned last Wednesday as chief executive of the technology giant and will be replaced by chief operating officer Tim Cook. Mr Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant following pancreatic cancer, said he could no longer meet his chief executive's duties and expectations.

The 56-year-old has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since January. In a short letter to the board of Apple, Mr Jobs wrote: "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's chief executive, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as chief executive of Apple."

He continued "I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role."

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in the 1970s with Steve Wozniak, and thanks to innovative and hugely popular products such as the iPod, the iPhone and more recently the iPad, Apple has become one of the most sought after brands in the world. His extraordinary vision and leadership has guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company.

Although no longer CEO, Steve Jobs will still play a vital role in Apple's future with Tim Cook at the helm.

Do you think Apple will be as successful without the former CEO? I would love to read your thoughts on this.


Google +1 Button New Features

Internet search giant Google have added two new features to the +1 button, including the ability to directly share a webpage to Google+.

In a recent post on the Official Google Blog, Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra announced: "Beginning today, we're making it easy for Google+ users to share webpages with their circles, directly from the +1 button. Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new 'Share on Google+' option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share."

The second new feature added to the button is the +snippets. The +snippets feature will automatically include a link, an image and a description of the webpage you've shared using the +1 button. These +snippets are a great way to jumpstart conversations with people in your circles.

To encourage more sharing of content on the Google+ social network, Google have made is easy for publishers to customise their +snippets. More details on this can be found on the Google Webmaster blog.

Since it's launch in June, the +1 button has gathered momentum and is now installed on more than 1 million websites with over 4 billion daily views, according to Google. These numbers are very impressive and only time will tell how successful the +1 button will become.

Note: If you're on Google+, you can add me to your circles by visiting my profile at: https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776

Do you like these new features? Please let me know.


Bing Webmaster Tools Now Includes Yahoo! Data

The Bing Webmaster team have recently announced on the Webmaster Central blog the integration of Yahoo! traffic data into Bing Webmaster Tools reports. Bing Webmaster Tools will now be showing integrated data from Yahoo! within certain areas and reports.

The areas you will notice the changes are on the Traffic Tab. The "Traffic Summary" and "Page Traffic" reports will be impacted with Impressions, Clicks and Click Through Rates (CTR) increasing based on combined data numbers across both search engines.

As a visual reminder that data is now combined, you will see both the Bing and Yahoo! logos directly above the graphs shown on these pages. At this time, the data will be combined and not selectable with September being the first full month of combined data. The data will also update in any market where Bing is powering Yahoo! search.


Facebook New Sharing Improvements

Facebook announced last week a bunch of new improvements that makes it easier to share posts, photos, tags and other content with exactly the people you want.

According to Facebook, the main change is moving most of your controls from a settings page to being inline, right next to the posts, photos and tags they affect. There are several other updates that will make it easier to understand who can see your content (or your friends') in any context.

Here's a quick rundown of the improvements (courtesy of AllFacebook.com):

• The privacy settings are moving toward individual post windows and profiles.
• Users are gaining the ability to approve tags of themselves in others' posts and photos.
• All tags will include an attribution of the person who did the tagging.
• Places no longer require physical check-ins, so people can add locations to posts, even from the desktop.
• You don't need to be friends with someone to tag them in a post or photo.
• You don't have to like a brand to tag it in a post or photo.
• Facebook has changed the word "everyone" to "public" in privacy settings, for clarity.
• You can customize privacy, or visibility of information, on a post-by-post basis.
• Users can edit the visibility of individual bits of content anytime after they post.
• The changes don't affect mobile users, at least not for now.

These changes, according to Facebook, have already started to be rolled out across their system. Once your account has been updated, you'll see a prompt for a tour that walks you through these new features from your homepage. You can read more about these changes from the links that are available on the Facebook blog.

Do you like these new improvements? Do you think Facebook is copying Google+ by changing the word "everyone" to "public" in the privacy settings. I would love to read your thoughts on this.


Google Translate For Google+

Ever wanted to read posts and comments written in another language on Google+? Well now you can.

As of writing this post, Google have just released a Chrome Extension, Google Translate for Google+ that translates posts and comments into more than 50 languages.

In an update on Google+, Josh Estelle (Leading frontend and mobile development for Google Translate) writes "We've heard from a lot of Google+ users wanting an easier way to understand posts written in other languages. I'm an engineer on Google Translate and thought we could do something about that. That's why I'm happy to announce our Chrome extension, Google Translate for Google+, that using the power of Google Translate, can automatically translate any post or comment into more than 50 languages.

Once you've installed the extension, refresh Google+ and you'll see Translate links next to posts and comments. Click the links to instantly see translations."

Although still in the experimental stage, this is a very helpful extension and one that I'll be using quite regularly. You can get the extension by visiting:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jfppgkomfopklagggkjiaddgndkgopgl


HootSuite Adds Friendly Facebook Features

HootSuite (the popular social media management system) has today added new Facebook features to it's dashboard. The social media dashboard is now equipped with even fuller Facebook functionality which means you can do even more in the dashboard than ever before.

Now you can manage your Facebook Groups and Events, along with your Profiles and Pages from within HootSuite streams. You can also attach and upload photos directly to Facebook, search all public updates for brand mentions and even geo-locate your campaigns.

All these new features are now readily available the next time you login to HootSuite.


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Google Warns Users Of Malware Infections

After discovering unusual patterns of activity, Google is now using notices on its search engine results pages (SERPs) to warn users that their computers are infected with malware.

In a recent post on Google's Online Security Blog, Damian Menscher, a Google Security Engineer said: "Recently, we found some unusual search traffic while performing routine maintenance on one of our data centers. After collaborating with security engineers at several companies that were sending this modified traffic, we determined that the computers exhibiting this behaviour were infected with a particular strain of malicious software, or malware. As a result of this discovery, today some people will see a prominent notification at the top of their Google web search results."

Menscher stated that malware was causing infected computers to send traffic to Google through a small number of intermediary servers called "proxies". Anyone using an infected machine would receive prominent notification at the top of their Google web search results page, warning them of the fact. "We hope that by taking steps to notify users whose traffic is coming through these proxies, we can help them update their anti-virus software and remove the infections."

Although Google aren't aware of a common name for the malware, they have indicated that the malware appears to have gotten onto users' computers from one of roughly a hundred variants of fake antivirus, or "fake AV" software that has been in circulation for a while. They believe that there are approximately 2 million machines effected by this malware which is quite a serious issue, if these numbers are correct. However, since the prominent notification has been in effect, Google have indicated that they have already warned hundreds of thousands of users that their computer is infected.

Google hopes that the knowledge they have gathered will help assist as many people as possible. In case their notice doesn't reach everyone directly and if you're concerned that your computer maybe infected, they have advised that you run a system scan on your computer yourself by following the steps in their Help Center article.

Note: If for some reason you haven't got Antivirus/Antispyware software installed on your computer, may I suggest using either PC Tools or AVG. Both of these packages offer a wide range of powerful tools to protect your computer against online threats.

Have you been affected by malware? What's your thoughts on this new notification? Please let me know.

Related articles:
Google's New Malware Warning
Does Google Consider Your Site Safe?
Google Adds New Security Layer To SERPs


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Implications Of Microsoft's Acquisition Of Skype

As you've most probably heard, Microsoft is buying Skype for an astonishing $8.5 billion...it's biggest acquisition so far.

Given this news, here's an interesting article from Chris Crum, editor of WebProNews explaining the major implications and concerns that come with Microsoft's recent acquisition of Skype...


Can Skype Help Microsoft Beat Google?
Major Implications Come with Microsoft's Biggest Acquisition to Date.

You've probably heard by now that Microsoft is buying Skype (pending regulatory approval). This is Microsoft's biggest acquisition to date at $8.5 billion, and Skype's second acquisition (it's already been bought and sold by eBay). Since Skype's release from eBay, it has been quite busy adding features and functionalities, and even making some acquisitions of its own, such as that of live streaming video service Qik.

Skype has a reported 663 million registered users and 145 million average connected users. The company recently announced a record of 30 million users online at the same time.

The deal has enormous implications, not only for Microsoft's own offerings, but for the industry at large. There are also plenty of concerns. Let's get to those first.


Concerns

Clearly, Skype has a big user base, and users have the right to be worried about what is going to become of their beloved service in the hands of a giant like Microsoft. Especially considering Microsoft's track record of acquisitions (laid out its graphic nature here).

Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb brings up some reasonable fears, such as product neglect and malware issues. "Will Skype in 14 years look like Hotmail does today?" he asks. "Malware is already an issue for Skype and of course it's a well known part of the Microsoft landscape," he also notes.

How will it affect use across various platforms? Microsoft says it will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms. Still, this is a little vague, and considering how much head butting goes on between Microsoft and Google, it wouldn't be an enormous shock to see some issues raised in this area in the future.

On reassuring the continued support of other platforms, Steve Ballmer said at the press conference, "I said it and I mean it. We will continue to support non-Microsoft platforms."

"We're one of the companies that has a track record of doing this," he added. Still, does that mean all platforms?

The fact that this is such a huge acquisition for Microsoft, however, should be an indication that the company will take it very seriously, as it has so much invested in Skype's future success.


Mobile

Skype, which has more users than Twitter, should help Microsoft on numerous strategic levels. Mobile would be a major one. Skype will support Windows Phone, of course, and while it remains to be seen what kinds of integrations we can expect, there's little doubt that it will be an integral part of the Microsoft mobile strategy as it tries to gain ground against Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

Also consider that Microsoft has recently made deals with Nokia and RIM that will see Microsoft services heavily integrated on these companies' mobile devices. It stands to reason that Skype will play a major role here as well.

It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that Microsoft would at some point create a Skype-branded phone.


The Living Room

The living room is one area where Microsoft already has a tremendous edge over competitors like Google and Apple. While the jury's still out on the future success of Google TV and Apple TV, it's been pretty well established that Microsoft's Xbox line is a smashing success. Kinect is doing pretty well too. Guess what will be integrated with both of these.

In its announcement, Microsoft points out its "long-standing focus and investment in real-time communications across its various platforms" including Xbox Live. It also says Skype will support Xbox and Kinect, and will connect Skype users with Xbox Live (in addition to Lync, Outlook and other communities).

PayPal is also coming to Xbox Live. That can't hurt either.


The Enterprise

Let's not forget about the implications for businesses. Microsoft says the acquisition will increase accessibility of real-time video and voice communications for enterprise users and generate "new business and revenue opportunities".

Plenty of businesses are already using Skype. How many are using Microsoft products? This could be a huge blow to Google, who is aggressively going after the enterprise market with Google Apps, and soon with Chrome OS. Skype may give businesses another reason to stick with MS. Of course it remains to be seen what kinds of integrations we'll see.


Competition and Google

There are plenty of areas where Microsoft and Google compete with one another, and Skype could go a long way in helping Microsoft with maybe all of them. That includes the areas we've already discussed - mobile, the living room, and the enterprise. It also includes the communication services Skype provides on its own.

Google has been doing more and more in this area, whether it be in the form of Google Voice or video chat via Google Talk and Gmail (email being another prime example of where Google and Microsoft already compete). How about live streaming video? Skype recently bought Qik for this, and YouTube recently announced its own YouTube Live (both a viewing destination and a platform for streaming live video).

YouTube is also doing plenty of other things to cement its position of being THE online video destination. This week, the company announced new partnerships with movie studios, the doubling of its catalog of movie offerings (including new releases), and increased investments in original content from partners. This comes back to the living room discussion, but I'm guessing we will continue to see overlap in the offerings from these two companies here.


Bing

And then there's Bing. What in the world could Skype possibly have to do with search? Well, everything we've talked about up until now is all about Microsoft expanding its presence and user base. The more people using Microsoft products (now including Skype), the more opportunities Microsoft has to push Bing on people. The more businesses using Microsoft products, the more opportunities for Bing integration. The more consumers using Microsoft in the living room (where Microsoft is already heavily pushing Bing via television commercials), the more opportunities for Microsoft to push Bing on users through products.

We've had the mobile conversation more than once - both when Microsoft announced its partnership with Nokia, and its partnership with RIM. They both equate to Bing search being the default search on more mobile devices, and getting Bing into more consumers' hands (literally). These things can only help Bing's continued growth.

Last week, we asked, "Will Bing catch Google?". The Skype acquisition can't hurt. Much of this is simply about opportunity. We don't know all of the details about Microsoft's plans for Skype, but there's no question that there is an incredible amount of possibilities that can help give the company some much-needed boosts.

Kirkpatrick brings up another good point about developer opportunities, making the case that "social graph and address books, presence, file sharing, Instant Messaging, (and) mobile" elements of Skype are all things developers salivate over, and that with Microsoft behind it, developers could get a great deal more access to build more useful applications and integrations on top of Skype.

The social element was played up in the press conference about the acquisition.


The Facebook Factor

As long as we're talking about how much of a strategic buy this could turn out to be for Microsoft, in its ongoing competition with Google, let's not leave out the implications for Facebook - another company that not only has a partnership with Microsoft, but increasingly competes with Google in numerous areas.

Om Malik brings up some good points about how the acquisition relates to Google's competition with Facebook, which he says could be the biggest winner of the deal.

"The Palo Alto-based social networking giant had little or no chance of buying Skype. Had it been public, it would have been a different story. With Microsoft, it gets the best of both worlds - it gets access to Skype assets (Microsoft is an investor in Facebook) and it gets to keep Skype away from Google," he says. "Facebook needs Skype badly. Among other things, it needs to use Skype's peer-to-peer network to offer video and voice services to the users of Facebook Chat. If the company had to use conventional methods and offer voice and video service to its 600 million plus customers, the cost and overhead of operating the infrastructure would be prohibitive."

"Facebook can also help Skype get more customers for its SkypeOut service, and it can have folks use Facebook Credits to pay for Skype minutes," he adds. "Skype and Facebook are working on a joint announcement and you can expect it shortly."

Also, while Google continues to struggle in social, Skype makes Microsoft more social by default, with or without Facebook (MUCH more so with any Facebook integration).

The New York Times says Microsoft analysts see the acquisition as a move to block Google from "gaining greater ground in Internet communications". Google was said to have been in talks with Skype about a potential partnership. It may or may not be the entire basis for the acquisition, but it's not hard to see this logic.

To put it simply, it's all about products that people use, and Microsoft just added another major one to its list.

Google is just kicking off its Google I/O developer event. It will be interesting to see what all news comes out of this, and how it might pertain to this discussion.

Do you think the acquisition will be good for Microsoft and for Skype? Let me know what you think.


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Google Adds Site-Filtering Feature To Search

Ever wish you could keep certain sites from showing up in your Google search results? Thanks to a new feature being rolled out right now, you can.

Google announced the debut of a site-blocking search tool via its official company blog on Thursday. The tool is simple to use: When you click on a site in a Google search and then go back to Google -- presumably because you weren't satisfied with what you found -- you'll see a new option on the results page to block the site from future searches. All you have to do is click it, and the site will never show up for you again.

Your search site-blocking preferences are saved in your Google account, so you'll have to be logged in for the feature to work.

And don't worry: Your search-blocking changes aren't set in stone. Anytime a site is omitted from a search because of your blocking, Google will display a small message letting you know something's been removed. You'll have an option to unmask the hidden results, if you're so inclined. You can also manage your virtual blacklist via your Google search settings.

The Google search-blocking feature will become available to everyone over the next few days. As of now, it'll function only in English and only for users on Chrome 9 or higher, Internet Explorer 8 or higher, and Firefox 3.5 or higher.


Google Search Filtering: The Bigger Picture

If this whole thing has you feeling a sense of deja vu, don't worry: You aren't losing your mind. Google announced a similar search-filtering feature about a month ago in the form of an extension for the Chrome browser. The extension did almost the same exact thing as this new feature, except for the fact that it worked on the browser-level instead of on Google's own servers.

It's all part of Google's steady efforts to combat the presence of search spam -- a fancy term for low-quality entries that show up in search results. Google has increasingly come under fire for search spam in recent weeks, with some bloggers and pundits saying the company's level of search-result junk is spiraling out of control. The concerns revolve largely around so-called "content farms," or sites that generate lots of pages with little real value. Many of these sites monitor popular search queries and create pages for the sole purpose of attracting traffic, even though they have no original or relevant content to offer.

Google also recently adjusted its search algorithm to try to keep those sites from cluttering up results. The change, announced in late February, is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites and give higher rankings to sites with more original and in-depth material.

Related Articles:
Google's New Content Farm Algorithm In Action


Many thanks to JR Raphael of PCWorld for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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9 Questions To Ask After A Site Links To You

Inbound links increase the value of your website in the eyes of Google and the other search engines. And, they help more people find your website and all you have to offer. Each inbound link is like your website just got another vote of confidence.

So, once the link has been set up, your job is done. Or is it?

Getting links to point to your site is one of the most challenging parts of search engine optimization, but link building doesn't end once a link has been set up.

In fact, getting that link should only be the first step in a long-term link building strategy.

Let's talk about this for a minute. Someone received your link request, and went to the trouble of responding. Or, they heard about you, researched you, and maybe even purchased something from you, and then decided to link to you. However it started, he thought it was a good idea to create a link to your site and took the time to make it happen.

Do you just congratulate yourself and move on?

No! The person who helped you deserves a little bit more of your time and attention.

Not only should you send them a thank you for the link, you should treat this like the opportunity it really is. By establishing a relationship with them, you could not only boost your search engine rankings, you could be opening the door to rich collaboration and business opportunities.

Consider these nine important questions for sites that already link to you.


1. How popular is their site?

The more popular the site, the more beneficial it can be for you. Start by checking out the number of inbound links the site is getting, they are a good measure of the popularity of the site. Then you can sort in order of priority and start with the most popular.


2. Which of the sites that link to you are bringing you real traffic?

Review your log files or investigate Google Analytics to find out which of your links are actually bringing you traffic. When sites bring you traffic, it can be for a combination of reasons, for example:

- You share the same target market and their visitors are interested in what you provide

- They've talked warmly about your products and given you a good review

- They've placed your link in a prominent spot on their site

- They get high traffic themselves

For whatever reason, getting traffic is only part of what you need. The next part is...


3. Does the traffic from the sites convert to sales?

As important as it is to get traffic to your site, if none of the visitors DO anything when they arrive, you aren't really too far ahead. The critical question is 'does the traffic they bring convert for my benefit?' Set up Google Analytics to help you find out the answer. And, if you find out that they link to you, they bring you traffic and the traffic they bring converts, then stop reading this article IMMEDIATELY and get in touch with them.

Start by thanking them, and then initiate a dialogue to explore what else you can do together.


4. Have you done them a favor in return?

No? Do so, right away.

Yes? Do so again.

It's very easy to do a favor for someone and being helpful and willing is a great way to build relationships - and relationships are at the heart of successful link building. It might be as simple as sending them an email thank you and asking them to keep in touch.


5. Do you know how the link got to be there and can you put a name to the person behind the site?

It's really important to remember that it's people who make links, not websites. Visualize a network of people linking to you, not just a network of websites linking to you.

Do a bit of research to find out who they are and what they do. What do you have in common? Why did they link to you in the first place? Is there more business you could be doing together? And, as we talked about in question four, what favor could you be doing for them?


6. What social media sites are they active on and have you linked up with them?

With the escalating popularity of social networking, contact through social media is critical today. Because these people have linked to your website, they're relevant to you - and they bring with them a network of friends and followers who are also likely to be interested in what you have to offer.

Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or whatever, and respond to their posts, re-tweets or comments. Do that and just watch your network - and your inbound links - grow.


7. Can you say at least one thing that is great about their site?

Make sure you do.

Write a complimentary blog post, add a kudos when you re-tweet, make a positive comment, agree with them, elaborate on their ideas. You'll be getting yourself an even bigger fan.

We all love a bit of flattery and it can be a powerful tool when you are building relationships. Dale Carnegie put it very well when he said, "Flattery is telling the other person precisely what he thinks about himself".


8. What linking text do they use when they link to you?

The linking text that people use when creating the inbound link to you is very important for your search engine rankings. Therefore, you need to know if they are using a really basic 'click here' or if they incorporate more keyword-rich text in the link. If necessary, it is worth the time to make a quick approach to them and suggest they use one of your important keywords or phrases in the linking text. It will strengthen the value of the inbound link for you.


9. Are there any ways you can collaborate, either in content or in business?

If there's really a good business fit between you and a site that links to you, then they're likely to respond positively to any business proposition you may make. Time to start brainstorming. Is there more you could be doing to help each other or generate more business?

In summary, don't view getting an inbound link as the end of the story. If you see links as simply a way to boost your search engine rankings, then you'll miss out on some tremendous opportunities.

Instead, remember that link building is really about building relationships with people and generating opportunity. It is about being part of community, providing useful content to your readers and the people who link to you. Who knows where it could all lead you?

What is the most important element of link building to you? Let us know in the comments section below.


Many thanks to Ken McGaffin, CMO at Wordtracker.com for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509 and on Facebook at:
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Have a wonderful weekend!

Has Google Seen Your Website?

Sometimes you may be wondering "Is Google even taking notice of my website?" or "Can Google see any of the links I build to my website?" or maybe you just don't know how Google and the search engine works and feel confused about how to get noticed.

Well, here's an easy way to check if Google can see a specific page on your website. Let's say for example, I want to find out if Google has found this page:

http://www.derekjones.co/p/contact.html

To find out, I just type the following into the Google search box:

info:http://www.derekjones.co/p/contact.html

If Google can see my page, this search will return my page as the only result. If Google cannot see my page, I will see a message that says:

Sorry, no information is available for the URL
www.derekjones.co/p/contact.html

That's it, Google will tell you up front if they know about a page or not.

Hint: If Google cannot find a specific page on your website, make sure you place a link to it on your main page. The next time Google crawls your site, it will be able to find the page by following this link. You can also create a Sitemap with all your pages and submit it to Google using Webmaster Tools.


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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To your SEO success!

Google's New Malware Warning

When you're in the business of directing people to websites, not taking them to sites riddled with harmful malware is a priority. As the world's most popular search engine and with a very important reputation at stake, Google is focusing on keeping its search results clean, or at least letting its users know when search results are suspicious and potentially dangerous.

Google now displays a warning for search results that appear to have been hacked or compromised. Specifically, on search results pages, the notification sits below each suspicious website's title as a hyperlink that says, "This site may be compromised."

Google started warning users of malware-laden sites years ago. Since 2006, Google has been prompting users with the warning, "this website might harm your computer," when they try to visit sites that are suspected of distributing malware. With infected search results continuing to deceive unsuspecting web surfers, Google has decided to add an extra warning.

On a support page dedicated to explaining the new warning, Google clarifies the distinction between the older warning and the new one. The older one (i.e. "this website might harm your computer") shows when Google's malware detection system determines that a site is "potentially hosting malware." Google displays the new warning: "this site may be compromised" when it suspects that a site has been hacked or compromised while not detecting any malware.

Hackers typically compromise a site with a couple of goals in mind. Their intention could be phishing, which consists of tricking users into sharing personal details like credit card information. It could also be spamming, a practice that violates search engine quality guidelines in order to fraudulently achieve a higher page rank.

Google is working closely with webmasters who believe their websites have unjustly been classified as hacked or compromised. Such a label could be devastating for a business. On the other hand, as an individual, it's better to err on the side of caution. Update your Antivirus/Antispyware software and watch out for hacked websites!

Note: If for some reason you have not got Antivirus/Antispyware software installed on your computer, may I suggest using either PC Tools or AVG. Both of these packages offer a wide range of powerful tools to protect your computer against online threats.

Related articles:
Does Google Consider Your Site Safe?
Google Adds New Security Layer To SERPs


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Be safe online!

Bing Searches More Accurate Than Google's, Study Finds

Microsoft's search engine Bing, and even Yahoo, are providing users with more accurate searches than their rival Google, according to a report out this week.

Bing and Yahoo, which is now using Microsoft's Bing search technology, had the highest search success rates last month, reported Experian Hitwise, an Internet monitoring firm. More than 81% of searches on their sites led users to visit a Web site.

However, Google, the dominant player in the search market, wasn't as successful with its January searches. According to Experian Hitwise, Google had a 65% success rate.

"In my business and personal searching, I feel like I'm seeing less on-point results and more garbage, even on pretty specific queries," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "Search success is a big deal for both advertisers and users. This same study also pointed out a significant increase in multi-word, more complex searches. To me, this means that users are looking for more specific results."

Olds said the search engine that delivers the most accurate results will win over users in the long run. That's good news for Microsoft, which has been chasing Google from a long distance ever since Bing was released. Even if Google's results haven't been as accurate, it's still the highly dominant search engine in the market.

Experian Hitwise also reported that Google accounted for 67.95% of all U.S. searches in January. Bing-powered searches, which encompasses Bing and Yahoo, accounted for 27.44%. Yahoo alone came in at 14.62%, while Bing had 12.81%.

"If the inaccurate searches are a trend and not an isolated result, then this does point to the need for Google to improve on its search success," Olds said. "In the short term, it gives Microsoft a great angle they can use to tout Bing vs. Google to advertisers."


Many thanks to Sharon Gaudin of Computerworld for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Bing Accuses Google Of Click Fraud

Without a doubt, the biggest storyline in search this week has been Google accusing Bing of cheating and stealing its results, Bing semi-denying this, and the back and forth that's gone on between the two dominant search engines.

The whole thing came to light when Danny Sullivan posted an article detailing Google's "sting operation," which Bing would later call "spy novelesque" and even "click fraud". Essentially, Google rigged up some forced search results to test Bing, and found that Bing was indeed displaying the results in question.

Just hours after Sullivan's article came out, Google's Matt Cutts and Bing's Harry Shum took to the stage at the Farsight search event to publicly argue about what Bing had done and the ethics of it. Bing also put up an official blog post showcasing its position on the matter. "We use over 1,000 different signals and features in our ranking algorithm. A small piece of that is clickstream data we get from some of our customers, who opt-in to sharing anonymous data as they navigate the web in order to help us improve the experience for all users," wrote Shum. "To be clear, we learn from all of our customers. What we saw in today's story was a spy-novelesque stunt to generate extreme outliers in tail query ranking. It was a creative tactic by a competitor, and we'll take it as a back-handed compliment. But it doesn't accurately portray how we use opt-in customer data as one of many inputs to help improve our user experience."

"The history of the web and the improvement of a broad array of consumer and business experiences is actually the story of collective intelligence, from sharing HTML documents to hypertext links to click data and beyond. Many companies across the Internet use this collective intelligence to make their products better every day," Shum continued. "We all learn from our collective customers, and we all should...We never set out to build another version of an existing search engine."

It didn't take long for Google to offer up its own official blog post, rehashing the tactics described in Sullivan's article, with added commentary from Google Fellow Amit Singhal, who said, "As we see it, this experiment confirms our suspicion that Bing is using some combination of: Internet Explorer 8, which can send data to Microsoft via its Suggested Sites feature, the Bing Toolbar, which can send data via Microsoft's Customer Experience Improvement Program, or possibly some other means to send data to Bing on what people search for on Google and the Google search results they click. Those results from Google are then more likely to show up on Bing. Put another way, some Bing results increasingly look like an incomplete, stale version of Google results-a cheap imitation."

"At Google we strongly believe in innovation and are proud of our search quality," he added. "We've invested thousands of person-years into developing our search algorithms because we want our users to get the right answer every time they search, and that's not easy. We look forward to competing with genuinely new search algorithms out there-algorithms built on core innovation, and not on recycled search results from a competitor. So to all the users out there looking for the most authentic, relevant search results, we encourage you to come directly to Google. And to those who have asked what we want out of all this, the answer is simple: we'd like for this practice to stop."

Google did not get the last word in the war with Bing (at least not yet...I'm sure we haven't seen the last word at this point). Bing took to its blog again, this time with some words from VP of the company's online services division, Yusuf Mehdi. "We do not copy results from any of our competitors. Period. Full stop. We have some of the best minds in the world at work on search quality and relevance, and for a competitor to accuse any one of these people of such activity is just insulting," he said. "We do look at anonymous click stream data as one of more than a thousand inputs into our ranking algorithm. We learn from our customers as they traverse the web, a common practice in helping to improve a wide array of online services. We have been clear about this for a couple of years (see Directions on Microsoft report, June 15, 2009)." No link is provided unfortunately.

"Google engaged in a 'honeypot' attack to trick Bing," he added. "In simple terms, Google's 'experiment' was rigged to manipulate Bing search results through a type of attack also known as 'click fraud.' That's right, the same type of attack employed by spammers on the web to trick consumers and produce bogus search results. What does all this cloak and dagger click fraud prove? Nothing anyone in the industry doesn't already know. As we have said before and again in this post, we use click stream optionally provided by consumers in an anonymous fashion as one of 1,000 signals to try and determine whether a site might make sense to be in our index."

He also mentions some design elements Google has employed since Bing's launch that are rather Bing-esque, which we've also pointed out in previous articles. "At the same time, we have been making steady, quiet progress on core search relevance," he said. "In October 2010 we released a series of big, noticeable improvements to Bing’s relevance. So big and noticeable that we are told Google took notice and began to worry. Then a short time later, here come the honeypot attacks. Is the timing purely coincidence? Are industry discussions about search quality to be ignored? Is this simply a response to the fact that some people in the industry are beginning to ask whether Bing is as good or in some cases better than Google on core web relevance?"

Search quality certainly has been in question lately, particularly with regards to content farms, but Bing doesn't appear to be doing anything much differently in that regard so far. Blekko is the only one that has really clamped down on those at this point, though Matt Cutts did finally acknowledge that the recent Google algorithm change is not the search engine's answer to content farms, and that they still have some projects they are working on in that department. He said they want to do it all algorithmically, as opposed to in a human-edited fashion like Blekko. Meanwhile, it looks like we might have a whole new kind of content farm emerging that doesn't even use humans to create the content.

Another side note in all of the Google/Bing drama is that Microsoft has now released a Chrome extension for support for the H.264 video codec, which Google recently announced would no longer be supported by Chrome. As WebProNews mentioned in a previous article on the subject, Microsoft has offered similar plug-ins for other browsers, so to say that this is in any way related to the search dispute is a bit of a stretch, but the timing is interesting.

While Bing and Google continue to duke it out, there is no clear winner in who is right and who is wrong. User opinions are widely varied.

What do you think of the whole situation? Has Bing done anything wrong in its practices? Was Google wrong to set up its "sting operation"? Share your thoughts.


Many thanks to Chris Crum, editor of WebProNews for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Until my next post, have a wonderful weekend!

Google's New Content Farm Algorithm In Action

Google had announced earlier last month that it will Focus on Content Farms in 2011. In regards to the same they have launched two major algorithmic changes focused on content farms and low-quality sites or spammy sites that are noticed in Google search results. Well, the algorithmic changes were approved, launched and in action now.

Matt Cutts, Google's Principal Engineer, confirms it in his personal blog post. In the post, Matt updated the news by saying, "My post mentioned that "we're evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others' content and sites with low levels of original content." That change was approved at our weekly quality launch meeting last Thursday and launched earlier this week."

He also added that "This was a pretty targeted launch: slightly over 2% of queries change in some way, but less than half a percent of search results change enough that someone might really notice. The net effect is that searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site's content."

The impact of the algorithmic changes seems to be evident as well. A Webmasterworld Google SEO News and Discussion Forum, has various SEOs and webmasters reporting traffic drop from Google. A webmaster commented that "Something really BIG changed yesterday about midday. We are still in triage mode here covering our basics. We saw a huge 10-20 drop in almost all positions for our biggest and oldest site.," another said, "We have lost 40-60% traffic in several sites, all same time yesterday. Very frustrating and to see server idle now."

Most of the complaints hint that the traffic upset set in on 26 or 27 January. Affected site's webmasters are most unimpressed at Google's latest changes. Who will be? When you are watching your site's traffic from going great to a sudden death like transition. More updates and reports can be expected from both Google and webmasters in the days to come.


Many thanks to Navneet Kaushal of PageTraffic for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Google: Search Engine Spam On The Rise

If you've noticed lately that Google's search results are a bit spammy, you're not alone.

In a blog post, Google Principal Engineer Matt Cutts acknowledged that "we have seen a slight uptick of spam in recent months," and that tech watchers are growing critical. Cutts then outlined a few new initiatives to improve the quality of Google's search results.

Among them: Google has a new "document-level classifier" that's better at detecting the hallmarks of spam, such as oft-repeated keywords; Google is improving its ability to detect hacked sites, which were a big source of spam last year; and the company is evaluating other changes, including a crackdown on Websites that primarily copy other sites' content.

But on the issue of "content farms," Cutts didn't have all the answers. If you're not familiar with the term, you've probably stumbled upon some content from purveyors. For example, many in the media call sites Demand Media and AssociatedContent content farms. Rich in search keywords and produced on the cheap, content from these sites appears prominently in search results but seem geared solely towards appeasing search algorithms.

Although Google tweaked its algorithms last year to give content mills less prominence, the problem hasn't gone away, and Cutts' blog post offered no further solutions. "The fact is that we're not perfect, and combined with users' skyrocketing expectations of Google, these imperfections get magnified in perception," he wrote. "However, we can and should do better."

Cutts reiterated that Websites don't get preferential treatment by purchasing or displaying Google ads. Their rankings don't improve and they're just as likely to be punished for violating Google's quality guidelines.

I suppose it's comforting to hear Google address issues of search quality, especially as criticism grows louder. Notably, new search competitor Blekko has created a spam clock to count how many spam pages have been created since the start of the year. Google says its results have half the spam they did five years ago, but that count is meaningless if low-quality content mills are able to game the system and get high page rankings.

With Google co-founder Larry Page stepping up to chief executive, the pressure's on to improve search while cultivating newer ventures such as software and social networking. Hopefully Cutts' blog post is just the beginning.


Many thanks to Jared Newman, contributing editor of PCWorld for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Until my next post, have a great week!

Yahoo! Japan & Google Form Partnership

In the United States, Yahoos partnership with Bing has created a powerful force (often dubbed Bingahoo) that may just be able to hold its ground against Google. However, overseas, the reverse is happening thanks to a partnership between Yahoo! Japan and Google.

The partnership has been a while in coming, but was only recently able to get past an evaluation from Japans Fair Trade Commission, the group which ensures that no monopolies or unfair trades happen in the country. While Yahoo! Japan had verified that it was in line with the law as far back as July of 2010, there were some groups who were either critical or skeptical of the legality of the merger. Theres little doubt as to why there were initial concerns: After Google U.S. supplies the search technology for Yahoo! Japan, they will be supplying for nine-tenths Japans search volume.

Both Microsoft and Yahoo U.S. have raised some questions about the fairness of this partnership. The U.S. competitors werent the only groups upset, either. Rakuten Inc, a web-based domestic retailer in Japan, also raised concerns. However, with the approval of Japans FTC, little can be done to prevent the deal. Yahoo U.S., which owns only a third of Yahoo! Japan, is unable to put up a red light.

The stamp of approval is not permanent, however. Acknowledging the possibility for unfair competition down the line, Japans FTC has stated that they will continue to monitor the new Google/Yahoo entity, its behavior, and any monopolistic tendencies that arise.

While the decision may be controversial, its not unexpected. Analysts have been predicting this decision for quite some time. What is somewhat surprising, however, is the choice of Google over Microsoft. For Yahoo! Japan, the explanation was easy. Microsoft may work well for Yahoo! U.S., but they lack some important capabilities, such as language search, that are crucial in the Japanese market.


Many thanks to Jen Williams, guest author for Pronet Advertising for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at:
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Enjoy the rest of the week!

Does Google Consider Your Site Safe?

Recently, Google introduced a new security layer to it's search engine results pages (SERPs) which informs users if a site has been compromised through hacking (see post: Google Adds New Security Layer To SERPs).

Although this new security layer is good at protecting users and their computers from sites that have been hacked, what you may not know is that Google maybe warning users not to visit your site, because of your outbound links.

Last Friday, I received a message from John Gilbert of The Blog Farm informing me that my blog was unsafe to visit because it had a link to a site that has malware. After doing some checks on Google, Webmaster Tools and even on Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic Page, there was no indication any said links existed on my blog and that my site was safe.

John then provided a screenshot of the message he was receiving from Google when trying to access my blog. Here's a copy of that screenshot (Site omitted due to legal reasons. Click image to enlarge):

Initially, I was shocked because I'm very careful who I link to on my blog. Furthermore, I could not understand why Google's SERPs, Webmaster Tools and the Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic Page were not picking this up.

After further investigation, it was found that John was using Google Chrome whereas I was using Internet Explorer. It was also found that the said link was actually a comment from a reader on one of my blog posts. The link that this reader had posted was actually to a respected site. However, because it had recently been hacked and malware left on the site, that site plus my blog was now considered harmful by Google. If it wasn't for John, I wouldn't of been aware of the problem, costing me crucial visitors.

So the moral of the story is this:

If you run a blog, discussion board or any site that allows visitors to post messages and links, be warned. You may be careful in ensuring that your site is safe, but it only takes one outbound link to a site that has been compromised to cost you visitors, money and maybe your reputation.

Also, don't fully rely on Google SERPs, Webmaster Tools or Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic Page to pick anything out of the ordinary. These might indicate everything if fine but as you can see from my case, it wasn't.

My suggestion is check your outbound links often using Google Chrome to access your site on a regular basis. That way, you can be sure your site is considered safe and not being blocked by the major search engine.


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To Your Success!

Google Adds New Security Layer To SERPs

About 1.2 million sites have been compromised by hacker attacks that integrate malware into the sites source code. The strong majority of these sites were just typical spots on the web, intending to give customers some useful features or information - not steal their identity or sell their contact information.

However, security issues with coding (and more specifically with PHP and Javascript elements that are improperly structured) can let hackers tap into the site and bend it to serve their own purposes.

That's why Google has added an additional layer of security to its search engine results page. When Google finds a site that seems to be hacked, it displays the message "This site may have been compromised" below the standard link. Additionally, just in case this warning is missed, users who click directly on the link will be taken to a confirmation page from Google with a repeat warning before they're redirected.

Users who click on the warning itself will be taken to an informational page where they're told about how issues like this occur and the risks they present for visitors. These risks include the loss of private data, having login information captured by third parties, having contact information sold, or even having spyware or malware downloaded unintentionally to your computer.

Google has stated that they will try to get in touch with anyone running a site that seems to have been compromised, informing them of what's happened, how it happened, how to fix it, and how to have the warning label that essentially serves as a "keep out" sign removed.

Google may have learned some of these lessons about vulnerable code the hard way. Their own Website Optimizer Tool, a prominent part of their Webmaster utility belt, had a fracture that let previously vulnerable sites be re-accessed through Google's code.


Published by Jen Williams, guest author for Pronet Advertising

UPDATE 3/1/2011: After posting the above, Jen has published another article on the subject which may be of interest.


Site Hacking Alerts Added to Google Searches

To make your Google search results more productive for your needs, a new feature has recently been added by the search engine industry leader that promises to make users more confident while searching and visiting sites.

Google recently introduced a new feature that will alert users to potential hacking activity from their online searches. Google's goal is to help users avoid these malicious sites and any fallout that could result from visiting them. Google promises to also go as far as notifying the site's webmaster through their main account or via any email addresses available of any suspicious hacking activity.

Just how will the alert work?

According to one of the associate product managers at Google, Gideon Wald explained that there will be several automated tools that Google will have in place to detect the common signs of a site that has been hacked. The automated tools will then add a notification to the search results to warn users that the suspicion of hacker activity exists on the site. If the user chooses to proceed despite the notification, it is at their own risk.

While this new Google feature will not eliminate malware and hackers, it will give users the choices they need to make decisions that will likely affect their PC and its productivity. With this information, users will be able to enjoy their searches with slightly more confidence in the material that's given to them.

The attempt to reduce malware and spamming activity has been one that webmasters and the industry as a whole has worked to reduce for quite a while. Hackers and spammers are very clever, and new ways of launching vicious computer viruses are always surfacing. Google hopes to counteract the back end of that activity by at least notifying users that possible activity of that sort may be present on certain sites that are returned on their search engine queries.


Published by Jen Williams, guest author for Pronet Advertising

How Google Handles Social Links

WebProNews recently looked at how Google and Bing use links on Twitter and Facebook for organic ranking, following an informative piece from Danny Sullivan on the matter. Google's Matt Cutts has now addressed the subject a bit more in a new video uploaded to Googles' Webmaster Help Channel.

"We do use Twitter and Facebook links in ranking as we always have in our web search rankings, but in addition we're also trying to figure out a little bit about the reputation of an author or creator on Twitter or Facebook," says Cutts. "I filmed a video back in May 2010 where I said that we didn't use that as a signal, and at the time, we did not use that as a signal, but now, we're taping this in December 2010, and we are using that as a signal."

Now, this doesn't mean that suddenly Twitter and Facebook links are the main ranking factor determining where your content is showing up in organic searches. If anything, Google seems to be tiptoeing into the waters in this area.

"The web search quality team has a lot of different groups in a lot of different offices, so people including the original Blog Search team, people who worked on Realtime Search...have been working on using these sorts of things as a signal," explains Cutts. "So primarily, it has been used a little bit more in the realtime sort of search, where you might see individual tweets or other links showing up, and streaming up on the page. We're studying how much sense it makes to use it a little more widely within our web search rankings."

To reiterate, you'll still see this playing more of a role in realtime search, but Google is "looking at it more broadly within web search as well," according to Cutts.

"Now, there's a few things to remember," Cutts warns. "Number one is: if we can't crawl a page (if we can't see a page), then we can't really assign PageRank to it, and it doesn't really count. So if we're able to obtain the data, then we can use it, but if for some reason a page is forbidden for us to crawl or if we're not able to obtain it somehow, then we wouldn't be able to use it within our rankings."

This would appear to mean that links within Facebook will not mean a whole lot when the user isn't sharing their updates with everyone. Many Facebook users have their privacy settings adjusted to only share with their friends. While Facebook may have far more users than Twitter, privacy settings will greatly reduce that number in terms of links that will potentially help your search rankings.

"This is something that is used relatively lightly for now, and we'll see how much we use it over time depending on how useful it is and how robust it ends up being," says Cutts. "The one thing I would caution people about is don't necessarily say to yourself, 'Ha. Now I'm going to go out and get reciprocal follows, and I'm gonna get a ton of followers,' just like people used to get a ton of links. In the same way that PageRank depends on not just the number of links, but the quality of those links, you have to think about what are the followers who mean quality. Who are the people who actually are not just bots or some software program or things like that."


Many thanks to Chris Crum, editor of WebProNews for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar) or subscribe to our feed at:
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Enjoy the rest of the week!