Posts on State of Search about ‘Google’

Sneak Preview of the New Google Maps

Last week it became clear that Google is working on a new Google Maps. Or should we say, has been working on a new Google Maps. They seem to be ready now and later today when Google I/O start the new Google Maps is expected to be presented. We are quite sure because one of the sessions is called “Google Maps: Into the Future”…

Some screens from the new Google Maps have already been sent out and some others have been leaked. The Google Operating System presented some imagery which showed the integration of Google+ into Google Maps (no surprise there). And now Droid Life has gotten their hands on some new imagery which seems to come from a sign up page for trying out the new maps which was temporarily released (too soon).

Find the images of the new Google Maps below (thanks to Droid Life) and notice the much prettier, much clearer and probably responsive design. (more…)

Google Penguin Evolved – Do we need to be concerned?

Do you feel lucky

It could be an interesting couple of weeks if recent tweets from Matt Cutts are anything to by. The first Penguin had a significant effect on many SERPs, and if early indications are anything to go by then this one could far exceed that

Talk of this update is not new. I was talking over in Barcelona back in late 2012, and Bronco’s David Naylor had mentioned that many of the engineers had expressed to him that there was a mass update in the offing, whose impact would significantly usurp that of previous Penguin and Panda updates. Rumour has it that this has been held back due to the potential impact of these updates -and the early rhetoric from Matt Cutts and indeed Google would tend to back this up.

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What Google’s EU Settlement Means For Search

Google vs Europe

Last week news leaked that Google is about to reach a settlement with the European Commission in the EU’s antitrust investigation against the search engine.

As Search Engine Land reported, terms of the settlement include clear labelling of Google’s own services in its European search results, prominent links to at least three rival alternative services, and more liberal AdSense policies to give publishers more freedom to sell advertising.

Supporters of the FairSearch.org lobby group, such as Microsoft and Foundem, immediately criticised the settlement offer, which seems very likely to be accepted by EU regulators. (more…)

Creating Content For Online Stores (when people don’t really read)

content

Last week I was lucky enough to attend BrightonSEO – and right from session one it became clear that content is a BIG topic for digital marketers in 2013 and the years to come. I’m pretty lucky since my job requires me to attend various search conferences and I have seen that even the exhibitor landscape has slightly changed since Google’s Panda and Penguin updates in 2012 – whereas you’ll now find numerous article writing services promising “services for unique and exclusively written content created to your specification”.

This slight conference exhibitor shift emphasises the surge in demand for content creators. Plenty of blog posts are advising us to think twice before hiring a new addition to our marketing team – we might want to consider hiring a writer rather than a career marketer – I am sure this is old news for you though. What triggered my curiosity though were the findings of a Nielsen study I came across a few weeks ago. (more…)

Ask the Ex-Googlers Anything – #brightonseo

Ask the ex Googlers Anything - BrightonSEO 2013

Welcome to State of Search’s coverage of the wildly popular BrightonSEO conference! We’ll be posting session write-ups throughout the day from our bloggers on the scene.

The first session of the day at BrightonSEO 2013 in Dome Concert Hall was ask the Ex-Googlers anything. With Ex Google employee speakers:

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New Google Places Dashboard Launched

google-places-for-business-dashboard

There’s no denying it, local is a major focus for the future of search. Local SEO has been high on the agenda over the last couple of years & has featured in many keynote presentations by top SEOs or on ‘things to look out for SEO in…’. There are a number of factors that have contributed to this rise, many of which are fairly obvious, some less so. What is true is that it certainly can’t be ignored, and if you’re ignoring it you’re probably missing out…

Last week Google announced the launch of a new Google Places Dashboard. But what does this mean?  Can this be interpreted at a move towards a greater focus on local from the search giant? Or is this just a greater integration of its products into the Google+ aesthetic? Below, I will explore some of the new features and amendments, its expected rollout, and just why local is so important for search engines. (more…)

Google Trends now Show Video Data from 2008

google-trends-video

This week Google have announced that Google Trends now holds YouTube Search Data going back to 2008.

You can limit search results to video only and explore traffic patterns for time and location as with normal trends, so the addition of YouTube search data means you can now look at the trends of videos online.

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Google did De-Index Digg, but by Mistake. Digg is back now

digg-no-index

Update:

Digg is now back in the search results after Google explained what happened. Matt Cutts from Google explains it had to do with a spammer attack:

“We were tackling a spammer and inadvertently took action on the root page of digg.com.”

He also stresses this has nothing to with Google Reader, which was suggested on Social Media since Digg announced it would build their own version of it.

He also said:

“we’ll be looking into what protections or process improvements would make this less likely to happen in the future.”

The official response from Google is:

“We’re sorry about the inconvenience this morning to people trying to search for Digg. In the process of removing a spammy link on Digg.com, we inadvertently applied the webspam action to the whole site. We’re correcting this, and the fix should be deployed shortly.”

Original story:

There was a time when Digg.com was the hottest site on the web. Even hotter than Google, believe it or not. Those times have passed and its founder, Kevin Rose, has actually jumped ship to Google.

But still Digg is a force to reckon with. Quantcast last year estimated Digg’s monthly U.S. unique visits at 3.8 million, and that is US only. And a lot of that traffic still comes through Google.

Today however Digg disappeared from Google from a short time. Matt Sawyer of Datadial tweeted out earlier today that the site seems to have disappeared from Google. And he seems to be right. It had  (more…)

St. Patrick’s Day 2013 celebrated with animated Google Doodle

stpats13

This Sunday St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in different countries including the UK and Canada, Australia, and the United States. Like in previous years Google will celebrate this day with a special doodle and this year for the first time Google will celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day with a simple animated doodle. In the logo you can see five kids, one boy and four girls who are dancing and jumping.

You cannot do anything with the doodle, it’s just the animation on the homepage of the search engine. Google is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day since 2000 which an exception in 2003 when no doodle was placed. In 2009 the winner of the Doodle 4 Google was used and in 2011 there were two doodles, the first logo celebrating the day was later replaced and reused in 2012. Also YouTube celebrated St. Patrick’s Day one time, this was in 2009 and Orkut celebrated the day in 2010. All the doodles used in the previous years by Google can be seen here.

A video of the doodle you can expect tomorrow below.

Top Alternatives for Google Reader: Desktop, Tablet or All Platform

testament-feeds-2

Yesterday Google announced the upcoming death of Google Reader. A shock went through the Tech World: how are we now going to keep up with all that is written in our industry? It even got as far as petitions being set up.

But before you jump to the petition board: there are enough alternatives. There is Social Media off course, but if you want to stick to RSS there are several options as well. Below I’ve highlighted three types of alternatives: the (mainly) desktop alternative, the all platform alternative and the pure tablet alternative. Each with their own advantages. (more…)

Google Launch Help for Hacked Sites

google-help-for-hacked-sites

Having your site hacked is one of the most difficult things for a website owner to face. If your site has been compromised you will know that it can take time and effort that you may not have to ‘clean up’.

Help is on it’s way however as Google yesterday launched their Help Center for Hacked Sites. The help centre is a dedicated informational resource and series of step by step instructional videos to help you deal with site insecurities, identify any vulnerability,  fix the problem and go through the review process. The help centre also offers advice on how not to get hacked in the first place. (more…)

Douglas Adams Google Doodle, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

douglas_adams_61st_birthday-1062005-hp

A new animated doodle globally on the homepage from Google to celebrate the birthday of Douglas Adams, a well-known British writer, humorist and dramatist. Douglas is best known the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which started on BBC radio in 1978. The first episode aired in 1978 on BBC Radio 4. The series originally consisted of six episodes and quickly managed to gather a huge fan base which lead that the series was repeated on the radio twice in 1978. In 1980, new episodes were made ​​and there was a Christmas special bringing the number of episodes at twelve.

Between 1979 and 1984, the story was released in a quite extended and edited version as a book series. In total there are five published books. The books are often described as a trilogy in five parts. This is because later, after the third book had been published, two additional books were published. Because of the popularity of the series on the radio a television series was created consisting of six episodes. The series was directed by Alan J. W. Bell and the first episode was aired in January 1981. There would come a second season but because of an argument  between Douglas Adams and the BBC this second season was never produced. (more…)

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