Posts on State of Search about ‘News’

Almost 1 in 2 Europeans Visit Newspaper Sites

The Internet is supposed to be the ‘death’ of the newspapers. Who will buy one in a few years, once it gets printed it is after all, not news anymore.

Newspapers are looking to find different ways to get their business back on track and the Internet is the best place to do that. Comscore numbers show that newspapers are still popular, but then mostly online. Half of Europe’s internet population visits newspaper websites.

The numbers from Comscore show that people still trust newspapers as an’authority’. They might see news on social media first, but they still go to newspaper websites to read more about the specific topics. (more…)

What’s This “SOPA” All About?

So you’ve been hearing a lot about SOPA, is the interweb turning black today? And why? And what does that mean for me? A lot of questions if you have no idea. And since going to Wikipedia is not an option today, because they did turn black you have no clue.

That is why we decided to publish not one but two infographics. In one post, don’t worry you infographic-haters out there . One will give you a quick overview of what SOPA is, the other one looks at the implications of SOPA when it comes to business. (more…)

Participating in the SOPA Black Out? Don’t Forget to SEO

This Wednesday many sites around the web will turn black. This as a protest to plans in the US called the Stop Online Piracy Act. Even though the White House is said not to support SOPA this bill might just become a law, which would be disastrous for the online industry. It is supposed to protect the intellectual properties online, but it can also be seen as possible Internet censorship. Therefore some of the big players, like Wikipedia and Reddit, on the web will turn black on Wednesday, to make a statement.

Maybe you are making that same statement. If so, you need to think of a few things. What many sites don’t realize is that “blacking out your site” might just harm your rankings in Google. Google after all doesn’t stop crawling and if they can’t find your site or do find it but won’t find anything ‘but black’ just when you are joining in on the protest, you might just lose your rankings.

Luckily Google has Pierre Far. This Googler, who is speaking at the next Thinkvisibility by the way, is not only a nice guy if you meet him in person, he thinks along with webmasters. So he decided to post some helpful tips for webmasters who plan to participate in the blackout on his Google+ Profile. (more…)

New Allegations: Is Google Trying to Kill Themselves?

Back in 2009 I was on a panel at SMX London. At the end of the session, during the Q&A we were asked the question who we believed would be the ‘Google Killer’. My answer back then was “The only one who can kill Google, is Google itself”. If you look at the start of 2012 you might think Google is doing just that.

Within two weeks time Google has been hit a few times, which Barry describes nicely on his personal blog. After Manipulating +1 Upvotes, link buying for Chrome and last weeks allegations in Kenya Google now again faces allegations. This time they are accused of ‘vandalizing Open Street Map’. (more…)

TopSEOs: Kill The Hypocrisy, It’s Time To Take a Stand

Disclaimer: Just to make sure there’s no confusion, the opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of State of Search or any of its affiliates, etc etc.

Now, with that out of the way, cue the rage.

Yesterday a press release, uncritically regurgitated by The Drum, made the rounds on various social media platforms. It concerned a company’s “number one UK SEO company” ranking, as awarded by none other than TopSEOs.

Aside from the editorial blunder of publishing this drivel, there are massive levels of fail in evidence here. Anyone in the SEO industry who can rub more than two braincells together knows that TopSEOs is a scam (as should be evident from the links provided later in this post). (more…)

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…)

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…)

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