Posts on State of Search about ‘News’

No More Subscriber Stats, Robots.txt and Site Performance in Webmaster Tools

Ever since Larry Page re-took possession of the CEO position at Google we have seen more products and features being killed than developed at Google.

Under the name of “Spring Cleaning” Google announced another few features to be dismissed, this time in the Google Webmaster Tools. In the next two weeks we will be saying goodbye to features like Subscriber Stats, Robots.txt and Site Performance.

The features are mostly features which are not very much used by experienced SEOs. Setting up a robots.txt is basic 101 for most SEOs and they won’t need Google’s help for that. So taking that down makes sense. (more…)

“Zip Open” Google Today in Honor of Gideon Sundback

We usually don’t pay that much attention to the Google Doodles here on State of Search. There is nothing much to learn from them after all ;) . But in some cases you have to make an exception because they are simply that brilliant. Today is one of those days.

Google today is celebrating the the birthday of the zip’s inventor Gideon Sundback. If you go to Google you can ‘zip open’ the Google homepage which will then show results for the search on Gideon Sundback. You can let the zipper run down the centre of the page with your mouse. Once you let go the page opens. (more…)

Saw A Rank Drop This Week? It Could Be Google’s Fault Says Matt Cutts

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If you keep a close eye on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ when it comes to developments around Google and SEO you might have noticed this week that there was a lot of talk about rankings and updates. People were suggesting there was another Panda Update coming up or even taking place at that specific moment or that this was the effect of the “over optimization” penalties that have been discussed a lot lately.

They came to that conclusion based on the sudden drop in rankings they saw for their websites. The “Is there a Panda Update going on?” type of tweets therefore were quite massive the past few days. It turns out that there was no Panda Update, no ”over optimization” Update or anything in that matter. It turns out Google made a mistake: some sites were marked as parked when they were not. (more…)

Google Does Take Manual Action On Webspam

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Maybe you already follow the webmaster videos from Googles Matt Cutts in which he answers questions from webmasters. Matt is doing this for several years now and which I think is a good thing. There are a few hundred videos now and he even answered one of my questions once :-) .

In his latest video Matt answers a question from himself. “Does Google take manual action on webspam? Does manual action result in a removal or can it also be a demotion? Are there other situations where Google will remove content from its search results?” (more…)

Google Consumer Surveys Could Be Worthwile To Try

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On the 29th of March Google introduced a new product called Consumer Surveys. A new product aimed on both large and small companies who would like to do market research in an easy way in order to make certain decisions. These online surveys can be about everything, for example how many hours users watch TV or which kind of packaging they prefer for a certain product. (more…)

Facebook Slowly Rolling Out Facebook Offers, Watch Out Groupon

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It seems as if Facebook has started to slowly roll out Facebook offers. It seems as if they are contacting advertising clients who now are the only ones who can use it.

Facebook also published the video below on their YouTube channel explaining what Facebook offers is. Facebook has been testing offers for a while and has had different types of services just like this, but this time the Social giant seems serious. Rolled out like this Facebook Offers could mean a huge competitor for Groupon. (more…)

Google+ Making Major Changes to Design

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Google just announced a major redesign for Google+. The Google+ pages now look a lot more like for example Facebook.

There is a major focus on the new navigation which is much more focussed on ease for the user. Google says:

One of the first things you’ll notice is a new way to get around the stream. Instead of static icons at the top, there’s a dynamic ribbon of applications on the left. This approach comes with lots of perks, but some of our favorites include:

- You can drag apps up or down to create the order you want
- You can hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions
- You can show or hide apps by moving them in and out of “More” (more…)

Yahoo To Be Operating in Three Groups Says CEO

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After the 2,000 lay offs last week at Yahoo it was just a matter of time before more clearness would come regarding the future of Yahoo!. Today Kara Swisher got hold of an internal e-mail sent by Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson which explains where Yahoo is going: three primary divisions.

The memo was sent today to all Yahoo employees and shows that Yahoo is not being sold to any company but is simply restructuring and refocussing. The memo also makes clear that search is not a focus on Yahoo anymore, but that is nothing new. (more…)

Google Analytics To Be Used For Measuring Google+ Pages

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On the Dutch website Dutchcowboys Arvid Bux spotted a photograph of a presentation from Google with information about measuring Google+ Pages. The photograph shows that actually quite logical Google Analytics will be used for measuring activity on Google+ Pages.

I was able to find the original presentation (Google Confidential) from Google with some more information about connecting Analytics and a Google+ Page.

To measure a page you only have to make a new profile in Analytics and then paste the unique tracking ID in the settings from the Google+ page, this is the same way you can currently measure Picasa Web Albums. Also there is a button to make a new Analytics profile directly from within the page. By measuring a page this way the statistics are separately from a existing profile so you can’t combine it with a existing profile from your own company website. (more…)

Email and PDF Google Analytics For All Users In New Interface

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It has taken a long time for Google to integrate this but the company finally announced that sharing reports by email and export rapports to PDF is now available for all users of the new interface. The new options were announced last month but as usual the roll out goes in phases. Also the beta label is still on it because Google is still working on some finishing touches.

If you are currently using the option to schedule a report to send to clients then this is the time to slowly start migrating these reports to the new interface. All scheduled emails in the old interface are not automatically available in the new interface because Google practically build the new system from the ground up.

This means you have to set all scheduled rapports again if you still want to send them. It will be a while before the old interface will sunset and by that time Google of course will send you a notification but if you have a lot of clients it might be good to start early.

On the other hand this also has a advantage (look at the bright side): you now have a moment to clean up all your scheduled rapports because maybe some mails can be dropped :-)

New Options

With the new system you also have some new options. First you can now decide which day to sent the rapports and you can set an end time under the advanced options (don’t know why this is advanced), for example you can set that you want to stop sending emails after six months.

Bing Desktop Puts Bing On Your Desktop

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In a surprising move, at least to me, Microsoft made Bing Desktop, a little piece of software (1.4 MB) to add the search engine to your desktop. After downloading and installing the software there will be a small search field at the center of your desktop. After typing a query and hitting enter the browser will open with the results in a new tab.

The search field is designed to give quicker access to the search engine but I wonder if users who have a browser window opened most of the time will actually use the software. It does also remind me off the Windows Gadgets which are not developed or supported actively anymore.

By default the search field is placed in the middle of the screen but in the settings there is an option to place the field at the top of your screen. In that case you can simply move your mouse to the top and the search field becomes visible. Also you can drag the field to the left of right.

Everyday a new Wallpaper

Next to search the software has another feature where it can be used for: wallpapers. If you use Bing you will see a different background-image everyday on the homepage. Bing Desktop lets you connect to these pictures. By activating this feature in the settings the picture used on the homepage of the search engine will also be set automaticly as your wallpaper and this will also change every day.

Bing Desktop can be download here and is only available for Windows 7 users. Would you use Bing Desktop to search? Or would you use the software for the wallpapers?.

Official: Google Affiliate Network Launches in UK

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Following a 4 year wait since Google Affiliate Network (formely DoubleClick) was established, today sees the offical UK launch of Google Affiliate Network, launching exclusively with our friends over at A4u. Following rapid growth in the US Google will be bringing its Affiliate Network across Europe soon, but initially the UK will be the base for activity as it starts the important step of understanding the unique needs of the local markets before expansion is continued.

You can look forward to the integration of many Performance technologies including Coull’s Video Advertising Network, Ring Revenue’s call tracking system, plus a host of data insights. Other Google technologies such as Google+, analytics and adsense will be key integrations, likely to make a very attractive offer to affiliates as Google battles for network market share. (more…)

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