Posts About ‘News’

Google Wallet Account Requested When Signing Up For A New Google Account

google_wallet_logo

Last week I attended Search Engine Strategies London (Full coverage by other State of Search Bloggers here) so I wasn’t directly able to post about this but I think it was remarkable enough to do it now.

We’ve seen before that  Google is pushing Google+ to new users by requiring them to sign up for the social network when signing up for a new Google account. Now spotted by Twitter user Robert Matei is a experiment where Google tries to push Google Wallet to new users. When registering for a new Google account Google will ask in the third and final step if you want to also sign up for or connect to Google Wallet. As you can see in the screenshot below you can enter your credit or debit card on the right but there is also an option to skip this step. (more…)

Google Tries A New Mobile Interface

google-mobile-experiment-intro

As you know Google recently made serveral changes to the interface. At first a revamped navigation was launched and rolled out last year but later Google decided to pull back the new interface. After giving it some thoughts earlier this month the company introduced a combination of the current black bar and the new interface launched in November last year. This new interface is here to stay (at least for now).

Mobile Interface

But where the new menu, which could be reached through the Google logo is not in the desktop versions of products anymore Google still tries to keep it, but then on the mobile version. In a new experiment a new interface was spotted for Google Mobile. In the screenshot you can see that the menu with links to several products is opened by hitting the Google logo. You can view more products by clicking the “More” link. (more…)

Google Changes The +1 Button So You Can Share Even Faster

publicly-share-plus-one

Google will soon slightly change the way the current +1 button works. Since last year August you can share pages on Google+ via the button embedded on a website.

Extra click

Ever since this was added you have to click on the button first to give the +1 after which you have to click again in to the share box to be able to share the post with your own circles on Google+. This is of course a unnecessary extra click to share a page and Google realized this to. Therefore the behavior of the button will be changed on short notice which means that you only have to click once to share an article.

After clicking the button a popup will appear immediately next or above the button where you can select the right circles and add a optional description. This way the button functions more like the buttons from Twitter and Facebook but you will always have the last step to select circles before you can share. Since we are part of a test group you can already see how this works on our site, just check the +1 button above (and compare that with other sites for example).

Currently the change is only available for people who signed up for this Google+ Platform Preview but the change will be live to all users soon.

FairSearch.org comes to Europe

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The American FairSearch.org organisation has been fighting to ‘foster and defend competition in online and mobile search’ for a wee while now. Since its inception in October 2010 by Microsoft and Foundem, many other businesses have joined the FairSearch cause, which is specifically aimed at Google and what FairSearch denounces as Google’s anti-competitive monopolist behaviour.

Now FairSearch has crossed the pond and has started a European-focused branch: FairSearchEurope.org. It has recognised that in Europe Google’s market position is even more dominant than in the USA, boasting market shares in excess of 90% in many European countries, and that there’s a strong case to be made for regulatory intervention to safeguard search neutrality. (more…)

Google Acquires The Remains Of Cuil

cuil-patent

Once they were the hope of many to become the “Google killer” they had been waiting for. Two years after their flying start in 2008 the site however already was taken down.

Now according to Bill Slawski Google has made a move on the remains of Cuil. He found that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) assignment database shows Google bought the pending patent applications. (more…)

Your Weekend Reading List for Search and Social – February 17

ipad-reading

One and a half weeks ago we re-introduced our ‘reading list’. Great articles from around the web which will help you improve your online marketing strategies.

Off course we have a lot of great content ourselves, which you can see by reading the site. To keep up you can off course register for our newsletter and our RSS Feed or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

But there is much more and that is what we provide you with just before the weekend. If you have any tips: tweet us or let us know! Enjoy! (more…)

Would You Give Google The Sites You Visited?

google_screenwise_logo

Google recently started a new program in collaboration with Knowledge Networks called Screenwise which lets people browse the web while getting payed for it. The idea behind Screenwise is that Google wants to learn more from internet users to improve their own products and services to make a better online experience for everyone.

People who already applied for the program and are part of it don’t have to do much. A few things are required in order to join. First, a participant will have to use Google Chrome as their default browser and in addition to that its required to install a special extension for the browser so Google can collect the data, like for example all the sites that are visited. You also must have a Google account (which makes sense) and you have to be at least 13 years old. (more…)

Great Articles You Missed Last Weeks in Search and Social – February 7

ipad-reading

A few months ago we started a series of weekly posts to help you figure out what you should be reading on the web. What did you miss? We at State of Search read a lot so we figured we would share that with you.

To keep up you can off course register for our newsletter and our RSS Feed or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

The series died a silent death, simply because it took too much time for one person to collect it all. But now the series is back. And with full force. This time the content is provided not by one blogger, but by our entire blogging team. This means you will get only the best! This time you will get the posts on the Tuesday, starting next week we will probably move it to the Friday to give you a ‘weekend reading list’. If you have any tips: tweet us! Enjoy! (more…)

Google Fined in France For Abusing Dominant Position

Bottin Cartographes, Rue Édouard Nieuport, Suresnes, France - Google Maps

Things are not really going Google’s way in the first weeks of January so it seems. At least, if you look at the outside perspective of things. From the inside they did some pretty nifty things with the launch of Search Plus Your World for example.

From the outside however we have seen complaints about privacy, complaints about abusing their own products to push their own products and many other little hick ups which led us to think Google might be trying to kill themselves.

In the series of ‘ouch that hurts a little’ Google can add another to the list. A ruling Tuesday in a Paris court found Google guilty of abusing the dominant position of Google Maps. (more…)

Google+ Now Available For Teenagers

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Bradley Horowitz, Vice President Product Management Google+, has announced that teenagers are now allowed to sign up for the network. This means that Google+ is now open to a whole new group of potential users because before this announcement you’ve had to be at least 18 in order to join.

In most countries you now have to be at least 13 to use the service. In some countries the minimum age is higher, in the Netherlands for example it’s 16 and in Spain and South Korea 14. These are now the same requirements Facebook has when it comes to age regulations. (more…)

Google Confirms Panda Update 3.2: A “Data Refresh”

panda-shower

SEO’s have been noticing fluctuations again over the past week or so, suggesting that another Panda Update might be around the corner. Today Google has confirmed to SearchEngineland they indeed have done a new ‘Panda Update’, which is numbered as being Panda Update 3.2.

Searchengineland says Google has confirmed that they have done a ‘data refresh’ about a week ago. This means that there were not made any algorithmic changes, just another run through by Google, a so called ‘minor update’.

The last Panda Update was from last November and that was also a minor update. Google did the last bigger update in October.

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