Posts About ‘Google’

Google takes on Apple with Google One Pass

Google-One-Pass

Where Apple is testing the patience and willingness of publishers by asking, no demanding, a big cut of the subscription fees for iPad apps, Google is taking the opposite direction. The service which Google today announced, Google One Pass, is in fact trying to give publishers everything they want.

At the Humboldt University in Berlin Eric Schmidt today announced the launch of this service. The way the new service is promoted by Google is a clear signal towards Apple: “Our goal is to provide an open and flexible platform that furthers our commitment to support publishers, journalism and access to quality content.” (more…)

Dave Naylor about how search (not) sucks, Google and Bing

This weekend TechCrunch posted an article about how Search still sucks based on a story which came out through the New York Times last week in which a company was ‘caught’ buying links in Google. Arrington responded to this and Google’s attack on Bing last week by saying that search still sucks. It looked like linkbait from Arrington to me to be honest.

But there is a lot you can say about this, and a lot which will be said. We decided we would go to one of the experts on the matter to see how he feels about it. In the State of Search expert opinion we asked Dave Naylor about his views on the matter. He addressed Arrington’s article, but also the ‘battle’ between Bing and Google.

Google is taking political steps towards EU regulators

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We’ve said it before, we will be missing Eric Schmidt when he finally steps down as CEO of Google in a few months. But he is still here. And he doesn’t seem to feel any need at all to stop adding quotes to his already impressive list.

This weekend he apparently told the UK Newspaper The Sunday Telegraph that Google might be willing to make changes to their algorithm methodology. This time it is not a ‘scary’ quote, but to say the least an interesting statement. It is another sign of Google getting more and more political with their moves.

The original article doesn’t literally quote Schmidt saying they would be willing to, but the indication is there. Google told Searchengineland that even though Schmidt didn’t literally say it like that it is not unthinkable, after all, Google already changes their algorithm often. And in some cases because of complaints. It is therefore possible that Google might make changes based on concerns from the EU. Still, if Google does make those changes, it would be very interesting since it would be changes made because of regulations-complaints, not complaints from a business. Whether or not Google really will make any changes remains to be seen. For now the fact that they are hinting at it may be enough. (more…)

Eric Schmidt speaking at DLD

Last week Eric Schmidt made a presence at the DLD conference in Munich. The Germans were very excited to have the almost ex-CEO of Google on stage. It is there that he announced that Google is expanding in Europe. And not just in London, they are also growing in Germany.

In his talk he adresses the next decade. And you have to admit: he is a good speaker. He had a nice quote again, children are either asleep or online..

Looking for a job in London? Try Google, you’ll get some nice space

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It could be a job you never want to have, it could also be your dream job: working for Google. If you are based in London working for Google might not be such a bad idea. The search giant is still expanding their services and is looking for some staff. And when you do get the job, you are lucky enough to be working in an environment which many will be jealous of.

Google just opened its new offices in London. The setting is designed by Scott Brownrigg Interior Design. As we are used to by Google it is a stunning place again. Take a look. (more…)

SEO 101: the ranking of “site:website.com” results

site_www.stateofsearch

One thing which many SEO’s tend to do is a search on site:website.com (for example on this site) within Google to see which pages are indexed by Google. It can give you a nice insight in how many pages are indexed and if there are any pages indexed you wouldn’t want to be there. Combined with a keyword you can also see which pages are ranking for that specific keyword. It can also help with determining if your titles and descriptions are right (as you can see I have some work to do).

If you do that search, you will get a list of pages indexed by Google. But how are those pages ranked? Why are they placed in that order? This was the question sent in to Google Webmasterhelp and answered by Matt Cutts. It turns out there are several reasons for why a page is placed in the rankings: (more…)

Google censoring torrent sites like BitTorrent and Rapidshare

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It’s a fine line between freedom on the web and piracy when it comes to torrents. The little files help exchange movies, music, software and much more. Sometimes it is a bit shady whether or not this is right or wrong, sometimes its obvious.

Google is now, starting today, actively censoring torrent terms. This is also aimed on sites and terms like BitTorrent, utorrent, RapidShare and Megaupload. (more…)

Don’t want personal ads? Google lets you opt-out

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There has been a lot of discussion over the past few months about cookies. Yes, the cookies on the computer. Those that register what you do online. And those that provide you with content which is much more personal then it was in the past.

But not everybody likes that. In fact, it has been the debate in the European Union for the past year whether or not we should all be opting in for the cookies, meaning we would be accepting (or not) cookies by clicking on an acceptance button every time we visit a webpage. This debate ran not only in Europe, but also in the US where the FTC looked into a mechanism that could help to easily opt out of the cookies.

One of the biggest ‘targets’ in the discussion has been Google. The search giant has been aimed at by privacy commissioners all over the world. And now that company announces a new extension on Google Chrome which does exactly what the FTC wants: opt out of ad tracking cookies. They launch the “Keep My Opt-Outs” extension. (more…)

Google: C+ – Still room for improvement….

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Google has come in for a lot of criticism over the last year or so, some of it justified, some of it not so. Whilst it is unrealistic to expect and assume that Google is and potentially can be a perfect entity, I for one would certainly suggest there is some room for improvement within the current resultset both in terms of quality of results and support for existing products.

Sometimes struggles to focus
There isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t see something new in our search index, whether that change be algorithmic or increasingly structural within the search index. From the addition of comparison ads to new layout to cater for local searches to the integration of local – 2010 was certainly a bumper year for changes. (more…)

We’re tired of Google, it’s time for a change

Google-toilet-paper

Let’s face it: Google rules search. With a market share in most European countries of well over 90%, Google is as close to a search engine monopoly as you can get.

When it comes to potential threats of Google’s dominance, everyone seems to be looking towards Bing. This seems perfectly logical, as Bing is a product of one of the world’s biggest and most experienced technology companies. If anyone can threaten the dominance of Google, surely it’s the financial and technological might of Microsoft?

Maybe so. But I don’t agree with that. Sure, Bing has some great search properties. Their image search is very solid, their maps are great, and I quite fancy their Visual Search system. (more…)

Google letting you check available rooms in Maps?

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It seems as if Google is making some more changes to Google Maps at the moment. Either that or I haven’t been paying attention lately ;) .

I noticed two different things in the past two days. First I noticed Android continuing my Google Maps query where I left it at my computer and then this morning I noticed the checkin / check out options on Google Maps.

This morning I was looking on Google Maps for the Parking I had to go to for my meeting a bit later on. I then noticed that on top of the results there was the possibility to fill in check in and check out dates. Not for the Parking off course, but for the hotels nearby to the Parking. A quick check on Twitter and with some friends learned me they hadn’t seen it before either. So it might be something new, or we have looked over it.
(more…)

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