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Google Testing Out “Sesame Open”, But Working On Something Better

Do you not trust public computers with your passwords, because maybe, just maybe a keylogger might be installed which records your password? Well help might be under way. Google is testing a new way of login: QR Codes. But that is just the start. Google says they are already working on ‘something better’.

If you go to Google’s special page on this: https://accounts.google.com/sesame you will see a QR Code. You can scan this barcode with your phone which will then take you to a website using your mobile browser. Google will then prompt you to type in your password and will ask for confirmation you do want to login. Once confirmed, your desktop browser will receive notice from Google that you are good to go and open a Gmail session for you. (more…)

What Would Google Bot Do?

When building or optimizing a website you have to keep in mind you need to do things so the website can be found in search engines pretty well. Therefore you have to ‘obey’ to the rules of Google. And since Google sends its bots around to find what site is relevant it might be a good idea to consider ‘what would the Google Bot do?’ when optimizing a site. (more…)

How To Become That Suggested User on Google

Thats the thing with Google. Suddenly, overnight, things seem to change with the search giant. All of a sudden an SEO, or nowadays even the SMO, the Social Media Optimizer, has to change their strategy because of the change Google made. Right? Well not always, in many cases if you understand the way Google thinks and works your basic strategy can stay the same, you just have to change some of your tactics. Make some minor adjustments and you continue to do well in the SERPS.

Google’s latest integration of Google+ into the SERPS might indicate there are more changes we have to make to our strategy to stay visible in Google. After all, we now have the ‘suggested users’ more prominent appearing in the results. And the results are mixed with social elements coming from Google products. How to make sure we are visible there? And how to become one of those suggested users? That last one I want to focus on here: I want to be one of the suggested users as much as possible. But how? Let’s analyze. (more…)

Privacy Watchdog EPIC Requests FTC to Investigate Search Plus Your World

Is the web closing around Google or is Google closing the web? You can ask that question based on the developments around “Search Plus Your World” the past few days. Many are unhappy with the changes Google has made. Most of who are unhappy however seem to be competitors although users also have stated their concerns.

Now a new group has been added to those disapproving of Google’s new way of showing the search results. Privacy Watchdog EPIC, who before successfully put down a claim against Google Buzz, have now urged the FTC in an official letter to “review Google’s recent decision to integrate its Social Network, Google+, into search results“. EPIC has two things it feels are not in order: Google favoring their own products, and potential privacy hazards. (more…)

@State_ofsearch is now @Stateofsearch: How To Get That Twitter Account You Always Wanted

Ever since the start of the website about two years ago we have had one thing which was a bit annoying: we didn’t ‘have’ the @stateofsearch Twitter account. That account was taken by an Italian artist who lived in Dublin. We tried contacting her in different ways to try and take the Twitter account of her hands. After all, she had not used the Twitter account since she claimed it in 2009. There was only one tweet on it. We never got in touch with her and were therefor “forced” to use the Twitter account @state_ofsearch, so with the underscore.

We have ‘lived’ like that for two years. Until today. As of today we now own the Twitter account @stateofsearch. All followers of @state_ofsearch have been ‘moved’ to @stateofsearch, so if you were following us already: don’t worry, you will still see the same updates, you only have to keep an eye on the @replies you do towards us, but we’ll keep monitoring that, also because we also own @state_ofsearch. And if you are not following us: what? Do it right now!

The process of getting the Twitter account seems long, in fact it turned out to be quite easy. Within 10 days everything was fixed. Let me explain how I got the account, without actually getting in touch with the account owner. (more…)

Search Plus Your World the Expert Views – part 2

Yesterday we saw some experts shine their lights on “Search Plus Your World”. Opinions differ and today we see even more blogposts and opinions around the web. Like yesterday we gathered some more thoughts on the matter.

In the meanwhile, make sure you let us know how you feel about the quarrel between Google and Twitter. Who is right and who is wrong? (more…)

Google Suggested Connections in the SERPS: It’s About Your Social Circle

In case you didn’t notice, there is a big discussion going on whether or not Google is pushing their own properties too much. And with the new “Search Plus Your World” that discussion focusses mainly on Google+. And with reason, because the suggested users in the right pane are all Google+ users.

You would expect those users to be, to say the least, active on Google+. But as pointed out before on other blogs, people like Mark Zuckerberg still are suggested even though they don’t actually use the service. This however is not a real big surprise, because it is about relevance and Mark Zuckerberg is relevant to the search term “Facebook” so it kind of makes sense. They should however maybe also show his Facebook account, but that is the discussion and I don’t want to focus on that here.

There is something else. Suggested connections do not only turn up in the right pane, they also show up underneath ‘regular’ search results. And it seems the connection doesn’t have to be relevant or because of Google+. (more…)

Who Do You Think Is Right? Google or Twitter?

There has been a lot of rumor around the web on how Google is ‘pushing’ their own Google+ profiles in the SERPS. This was originally triggered by Twitter’s first response to Google’s “Search Plus Your World”. Is Google ‘pushing the limits’ or is Twitter overreacting?

We’ve heard some of the experts shed their light on the developments and we will hear more of them tomorrow morning, but we also really want to know how you feel. So let us know your thoughts: who is right here, Google, or Twitter? (more…)

What the Industry Thinks of “Search Plus Your World”

Yesterday Google announced their newest step towards a completely socialized web. The integration of Google+ into the SERPS didn’t come as a surprise to most people in the search and social industry. It was after all ‘just a matter of time’.

The responses on the web differed from ‘a great development’ to ‘a terrible idea’. Luckily we didn’t see that many “SEO is dead” posts (haven’t seen one myself, have you?). But there were a lot of opinions. Below you will find some opinions from experts, but also an overview of some of the posts about “Search Plus Your World” and some Social Media activity as well. (more…)

Google and Affiliates: A Love – Hate Relationship

Google and affiliates, they will probably never be friends, even though in a way you could claim that Google is an affiliate themselves and has affiliates themselves. Still, it will be an ever love-hate relationship. This infographic from SEOBook gives a nice inside into the relationship. (more…)

Eric Schmidt: “Google Not Favoring Plus”

One of the main first responses to Google’s launch of ”Search Plus Your World” yesterday was that Google was favoring themselves over other Social Networks, an accusation which is in the line of many accusations in the past year: is Google favoring themselves in the search results? It never seemed more clear than this time that Google indeed is favoring themselves over others. Even Twitter responded to the launch with a statement which hinted in that direction, but more about that later.

At CES 2012 Danny Sullivan stepped up to Eric Schmidt to confront him with that issue. Schmidt was crystal clear in his comments: he feels Google is not favoring their own product, they would love to add both Facebook and Twitter to this feature, but hey, they don’t want to give Google their data. He clearly points at the ‘others’ in this part. (more…)

Sir Martin Sorrell: Mobile is the Area Where we see The Most Potential

At CES 2012 Microsoft’s Mel Carson talked to WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell about where advertisers should be spending their money online. He puts a lot of focus on mobile devices as one of the growing contexts marketers should be looking to target consumers. Sorrel is not a ‘fan’ of reporters, but Mel did everything here to show he was not a ‘real reporter’ while still doing a great interview.