Official Google Blog: At a loss for words?

Official Google Blog: At a loss for words?

Yahoo introduced suggestion with Ajax a while back and now its turn for Google to follow suit.

Google announced on its blog about Google Suggest a search feature that provides real-time suggestions while you search. Google Suggest had been in labs for a while, but very soon, it would be available to everyone as a default option. Just like Yahoo, you would have option to toggle and switch the feature ON & OFF as you like it!

As stated in Google Blog,
Over the next week, we'll be rolling this out so that more and more of you will start seeing a list of query suggestions when you start typing into the search box.
We find that by providing suggestions upfront, we can help people search more efficiently and conveniently.

Below are some great ways Google Suggest can help simplify your searching.
Help formulate queries: The autocomplete option actually helps you to forumlate your query well, and in the process help you to get a result faster. So if you intend to search for a particular songs but only know the starting word, chances are that you get the complete line, thanks to suggestion tool!
Save you from Typos! A great help to those always challenged with idiosyncracies of the language - suggest tool has a "Did you mean" feature to eliminate any typo error. Saves you a few clicks and gets more accurate result in the first attempt. Don't you think this would spell doom for domain typosqatters?
Save Time : Why would you like to type the full text when just a few keystrokes would give you suggestions and narrow down your choices based on the few keystrokes you made. So when I search for a city - suggestions would pour in for hotels, key tourist areas, shops and everything else and thus save great deal of time for me.
How is Google Suggest different from Yahoo? - Well, not only you get to see suggestions, the suggestion box also displays number of results for the text you are going to search for, and you may choose if you want to see 1m link keyword or 100 links keyword search results. It won't be long though that Yahoo too introduces this in their search!

Haven't tried Google Suggest as yet? Visit Google.com and Give it a try!

Cheers,
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Text Gets Attention! Not Flash & Images

Effective SEO Is Based On Text

I have often come across Internet users who want a website to be done. They are small startup company, just setting up their shop & store, have no clue about internet traffic, search engines and the likes, but sure they do have a list of what they want:

The most common requirements are

1. Lots of Images
2. Fancy Flash to Attract Potential Buyers
3. Little General Information
4. Good traffic
5. Copy of somesite (sometimes...)
6. Search Engine Optimized
   

I am sure you would say that most of the above requirements are fine. I too agree that these requirements are general requirements of any website, however, I do not like point 1 and 2 in the list at all.
Balthaser.com has been a great site to visit if you want to look at what all you can do in animation and flash. Their core business is to design and create animations and it is perfectly OK to have a site in pure flash, since most of the users visit their site by typing in the URL directly. I don't search for balthaser.com(since 2000) - and those who ever visit the site, remember the name to type it. Thus Balthaser doesn't depend upon search engine, now or in the past. But why would someone who is selling cosmetices or modular kitchen components insist on a flash only site? :) Cuz their friend has suggested that is the only way to go.
If you have such friends, my humble suggestion - please do not pay heed to what your friends say, they no nothing about internet and at times, just to have a wonderful site with 2 -3 visits to site is not what they or you ever anticipated.

Similarly they want a lot many pictures. Avoid text, let pictures convey the message. Haven't you heard that a picture is worth thousand words! I couldn't agree with you less, however, poor search engine doesn't have eyes to decipher the pictures. At the most the name you have for the picture may be registered but a bot doesn't care if your pic contains a nude or a child. Only it's name can get indexed -- Sad isn't it!!!

What most of the time majority fail to understand is that the purpose of any website is to serve humans - not bots, and if you create a site or a blog that caters to humans, trust me, bots would follow and so would your visitors.

We make avoidable SEO errors and end up losing visitor loyalty and revenue earning potential because we didn't get things done as they should be, but because someone suggested this and that, and someone else has done good with pictures and flash. You don't take a pill when your friend does, no reason your site should be like your friends or what is suggested by your friends. Follow your instincts and believe me you would succeed with the right focus and attention.

Cheers,
pubdomains.com - Domain Registration & Web Hosting Services

Gmail for IE6 - Google Releases New Code Base

Another New Google First: New Gmail code base now for IE6 too

Last October Google launched a rewritten code base for the Gmail user interface to Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 users. Since then, they have added support for Safari 3 and Firefox 3 and improved performance in other browsers.

This new code base included major performance improvements and provided us with a solid foundation for launching new features such as colored labels, group chat and rich emoticons, invisible mode, AIM integration, Gmail Labs, an updated contact manager, and remote sign out.

The newest version of Gmail pushes modern browser technology to the limit!!!
Initially they weren't able to make it available to those who use IE6. Because it was released way back in 2001, IE6 wasn't able to handle the complexity of the new code in a way that met Google (Gmail) performance and stability goals.

Over the last few months, Team Google / Gmail had been working with the IE engineers at Microsoft to address these issues: they released a critical update to their JavaScript implementation that fixed a performance problem with how the script engine allocates and frees memory. Google made small simplifications to the UI when it runs in IE6 to improve stability. For example, Google/Gmail has now removed the drop shadow from contact pop-ups and the rounded corners from chat moles, both of which tended to cause problems in IE6.

This week, Google has started to roll out Gmail's new code base to IE6 users.
If you use IE6 and have the latest IE6 updates from Microsoft installed (or the specific patch that's required), you'll start seeing the features listed above.

cheers,
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Flash & SEO - Does it matter?

Flash and SEO: Like Oil and Water
We often deal with clients that are planning to "revamp" their sites with Flash, with SEO having already generated tremendous gains in their sales. The thing that we most dread to hear is that they've hired an experienced "Flash ...
Search Engine Guide : Small Business... - http://www.searchengineguide.com/

SEO Explained
By David
Search Engine Optimization, the art to achieving organic listings through the balance of on and off page programming. iDo SEO understands what this balance is by research and development of search engine trends and market competition. ...
SEO Charlotte NC - http://www.toprankinternet.com/

SEO Wars - Empire Googletron
Far far away in cyber space....the Jedi's (white hat SEOs) and Siths (black hat SEOs) are fighting for the best rankings in the mighty Googletrons results pages. In the first series of SEO Wars we see the mighty Darth CloakMaster ...
Sphinn - http://sphinn.com

Sitemap for Index page
By Magic
Hi all, I have Vbadvanced as my home page, and the forums in a folder of the the root ( root/forums ) The site map, as far as i can tell, is working, but how can i also include the main vbadvanced content in a sitemap? ...
vBulletin SEO Forums - http://www.vbseo.com

How Many of You Meet with SEO Clients?
By barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
In a High Rankings Forums thread, forum members discuss whether they meet with their SEO clients or not. It must depend on how the business is structured (and if the client is local), but in the latter case, if the...
Search Engine Roundtable - http://www.seroundtable.com/

Cuil to Challenge Google Search

Latest from the press all around the globe and comments have started to pour in about new competitor to Google Search Engine. Ladies and Gentleman - Cuil is being officially launched today that boasts of 121,617,892,992 web pages indexed for it's search engine.

A first look at Cuil and it's interface is decent, plain and simple much like what Google represents with uncluttered home page. However the primary difference is in the way search results are presented. Instead of typical top to bottom list, Cuil presents search results in 2 / 3 columns. You can change the preferences if you prefer 2 columns or 3 columns display.

As of now, didn't find Ads sticking out on any search page, thus difficult to say how is the site going to generate revenue. Having said that, a big advantage if you are focussed on results and not on ads while you search.

Since no ads and only results, Cuil has done a good job to include pictures / logo as and where available or possible. This gives an even balance to text and image ratio on display and thus visually more pleasing in a way ...

How would it rate as compared to Google? Well difficult to say at this stage, there have been competitors in the past and Live and Yahoo are still trying to catch up with technology to give a decent challenge to Google, not sure if Cuil could change my view on this front.

What is Cuil?
Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil.

Got more inputs on Cuil, feel free to post your views !!!
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PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

GoogleCashCow Milks Your Money

I feel sorry for a friend of mine who fell for amazing returns advertised by GoogleCashCow, and I am sure there are many more on the internet who are sincerely looking for a way to earn some extra money to fulfill whatever requirements they have, and websites like GoogleCashCow earn their money by fooling most of the folks with catchy captions and lines to earn money with proven methods. Here is how the website starts to motivate you to buy their product

Thousands Of People Are Earning Thousands Of Rupees Per Month On The Internet In Their Spare Time Using GOOGLE. You Can Too!

Learn Now, To Take YOUR Share Of CASH From The INTERNET Using The Successfully Tried And Tested Platform "GOOGLE CASH"!

If you read further -- it appears as if Google itself is running the program (wonder why Google has never objected to the domain name itself for violation of patent / copywright on Google..)

The line below (notice the miniature font size) proclaims the program run by Google.com which is true because Google Adsense is an authentic method for sites to earn cash by displaying ads.

First, you need to understand something about this part time internet job. What we are talking about here is a program run by GOOGLE.COM!

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Ad : Your OwnHost Web Directory -- List your Website Today and increase traffic to your site

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What is not right about this page is that it Sells FREE READYMADE MONEY-MAKING WEBSITE (Ironical huh!! Free for $29.99!!!)

Anyways, my friend went ahead to buy this package to make money on the web, he has a computer, knows how to browse websites and program did appear rather lucrative (that is what advertisers want -- unsuspecting in need individuals) So he makes a purchase and comes to me asking how to start his site as per advice from GCC manual (oh... he is yet to receive his CD, he only got a password protected zip file)

One look at the content of free website and quick check on copyscape reveals at least 50 + sites with identical content on the internet (so at least 50 folks have been fooled in my humble opinion) So much so for uniqueness. Next stage that is not mentioned is to have a domain name and web hosting space for this website to exist (and by the way, you really don't need a computer for this program to work -- it is supposed to work on the internet, and you don't, rather you shouldn't click on your ads yourself) -- The expense for buying a domain name and web space from any decent place would cost you approximately $40 to $50 which is NOT MENTIONED in the user guide.

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Ad: Pubwebhost.com -- Free Web Hosting with PHP5 & MySQL5

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Google didn't find the site unique and my friend hasn't got his unique pub-xxxxxxxxxxxx id, so now he is left with a program that is useless and What we are talking about here is a program run by GOOGLE.COM! has been used to sell a product which has NO affiliation with Google at all.

Request for refund (within 90 days) has not got any response ... but I hope this post may help all those who visit GCC with heart full of hopes and pocket full of dreams to make a lot of money on the internet by the easy way. Please don't fall prey to such programs. I can give you free web sites and the information -- and I am not affiliated to Google and I don't know how much money you would make by the web site, all I can do for you is of course to let you save your hard earned money and still give you information on how to use adsense, in case you find it difficult to follow the guidelines provided by Google themself.

Good Luck and stay away from GoogleCashCow. Please
pubdomains.com -- Domain Registrar, Web host & Secure Certificates Seller

Are you part of 78%?

Latest report indicates that 78% of internet population is using -- Google as primary search engine while Yahoo ranks at 11.6%

I am sure that most of you would have your own statistics tracking codes and mechanism to filter out where do your users come from, however this report is good to know what search engine should you really look for when it comes to driving traffic to your website.

At this stage, Google is a clear winner with a substantial lead, and it would be wise to design and optimize your site for Google. If you get more than 60% of your traffic from direct / unique hits or from other medium like forums, comments, banners or links on other site -- you really need not bother about this report, however if you get more than 60% of traffic on your web site from search engines like Yahoo, MSN Live or Google review your search engine optimization techniques and invest your time to ensure you get the share from the 78% population that Google is generating.

Good luck and good wishes,
pubdomains.com - Domain Registrar, Web Host, Secure Certificates provider. I write about any thing that concerns me, my business of domain registration & web hosting. You may also read my (technical) articles on pubdomains.wordpress.com and visit our site pubdomains.com to purchase a domain name for your blog or your business.

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Google changes - google

Small Change & Big Impact in space of 16 x 16px !!!

With one small change -- Google has once again captured the imagination of masses, and triggered a debate on Google Core Values especially “Think and act like an underdog”. How a change in "Favicon.ico" leads to debate or discussion on the internet about core values is beyond my comprehension, but the fact is that there are folks trying to figure out if Google is going through a re branding exercise.

I had first look at new "Favicon.ico" from Google a few days back, if you haven't cleared your browser cache for a while and haven't yet seen how does the tiny small ico image shows up, the new "Favicon.ico" would demonstrate the new logo. The old icon used a square with red, green and blue edges, wrapping an upper-case “G”. The new logo is an open space, showing just the lower-case blue “g” from the Google logo, without borders, and a bit of shadow.

From my point of view, the small g is more geared towards the philosophy of underdog contrary to general perception on the net. You use capital letters in chat when you wish to demonstrate anger or you wish to shout, so with that netiquette in mind the new change is more like a decent, yet powerful statement from Google that they do “Think and act like an underdog” !!!

Cheers
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Google Ranking Guidelines for Design and Content

Everyone wants their site to be listed in top results on Google search. You would be an exception if that is not important to you, however for majority, the wish -- remains a wish only if concrete actions are not implemented for optimizing their site to suit search engines.

Let's first see how does your site appear to a web crawler also know as spider or automatic bot that visits your site looking for keywords & to index content on your web pages.

Design and Content

Key to success in search engine ranking comes from excellent design and content on your web pages. I am aware that everyone talks about good design and content, but what exactly is required in this area to be done? Follow the points mentioned below and your site would get a A+ rating by Google on any given day --

Design and Content Guidelines

• Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
• I hope you are familiar with the proverb "Well Begun is Half Done". Though we all know that to perform any action every person has to do the customary homework, alas not many really pay attention to a good beginning. We all want our sites to be out there on the Internet as early as possible. How long is your checklist for setting up a new project? Have you actually ensured that you don't have to add last minute links and pages or create something at the eleventh hour? If you have done your home work well, your site would definitely have a clear hierarchy and text links. Google loves such sites and you would be the lucky one to get indexed in search engines way ahead of your competitors. In case you haven't done your homework, now you should know why your competitor always stays ahead of the game, perhaps he is a better student in this field and takes his / her homework more seriously than you do!!! Is it end of the road for you? -- Nah, good thing is that Google really doesn't wait till the end of year to give you score, the bots are very obedient and sincere programs, and they would revisit your site soon, so you have time until the next visit to make correction and demonstrate that you too are a worthy student willing to please the teachers err Google I mean.
  
  
  
• Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.
• It is often talked about, but not regularly followed. Your site must have a valid site map with links that connect a user to pages he / she wants to visit rather than going through a maze of clicks. The sooner it is for me to visit your site and jump to the page I am interested in, the better it is going to be for Google to index your pages and visit them and display them when required!!! Just like you and I want to get to the right information in shortest possible time, so does a search engine, and hence you should have a clear site map, especially highlighting important pages of your site in the site map.
  
  
  
• Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
• Ah, you already know all about content and information rich. Have you ever done a copyscape search to find out that your content is actually available on 100x sites on the internet, and the content is not as unique as you thought it should be. Well, you did modify the content when you took inspiration from different web sites so content you created is definitely unique -- I know, but sad part is majority of the folks on the planet have almost similar thinking patterns and replacing words with synonyms may not actually provide unique content. Paraphrasing is OK till a certain point, however if the gist or synopsis of the content is identical on 100 odd sites, odds are not in your favour to get a better ranking in search engines. Think out of the box -- write your OWN content, check with copyscape and modify until you are satisfied that you are not one in million providing the same information that other major players have already been providing for some good decades.
  
  
• Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.
• I generally search Google a few times before I write my blog posts. It gives me idea on what is already available, what is available but requires more information and perhaps what is not at all available. The last one is rare though with Wikis floating all over the world in all languages and someone has already thought about most of the things that I think. A day back I noticed that my blog on wordpress has got few hits via search engine for the string flush domain resolution even today it gets listed on position 4 (as of now) and I thought let me see what change would come if I modify the keywords used for search. So search with flush domain came up on 12th spot and of course I don't appear anywhere with flush keyword. Not surprising but gives me idea with related words shown by Google, so flush dns may be the right keyword to write about next on my wordpress blog
  
  
• Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
• Does that require any explanation. If you have Angelina Jolie's picture on your web site, make sure that you also mention her name in the text (instead of writing actor photo on the left, it would be wise to write Angelina Jolie with Brad Pitt with Tom Dick and Harry from left to right)
  
  
  
• Make sure that your TITLE tags and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.
• If you don't know what I mean, right click on any web page to read the source. Then do a search on Title and Alt and read what is written (if any) and whatever is written is relevant to the content or not. An image with Alt text helps Google or Yahoo to index and associate image with text. No Alt - No help in your endeavor to get good search engine ranking.
  
  
• Check for broken links and correct HTML.
• I hate 404 errors, I am sure you too don't like it when you click a link on web site. Ensure that your site doesn't have broken links, and your HTML code is proper.
  
  
• If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.
• If you are using a good script, chances are they are already taking care of dynamic page content. Most of CMS scripts come with SEO Friendly URL concept making use of mod_rewrite feature to convert dynamic pages to show up as static pages. In case you have your own script, see if you could get it converted to SEO friendly URL format or at least try to reduce the parameters to a reasonable limit.
  
  
• Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).
• Avoid hyper linking too many words in text. As a rule, keep the total number of links on any web page less then 100. Search engine bots don't like to spend an hour just indexing your site, and too many links may put them off ... something you wouldn't like for your web site. So give them enough just to keep them interested in content on your site, rather then trying to hit bulls eye from just one page. Spread the links on different pages, instead of ALL in One approach.

I often check Google Webmaster Guidelines to know what is latest and what are suggestions from the King of Search engine. I suggest you too should book mark and read the resources from time to time and be aware of what is the latest trend, do and don't tip for your web site. If you have any feedback or suggestion, please feel free to comment on this article. I would love to hear from you.

Cheers
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