Google

Oh, How Google Has Changed…

Posted by Vinnie Palihakkara on Jul 27, 2010 in Google, Search Engine Optimisation | 4 comments

There have been many visible and invisible changes to the Google search engine this year (2010). You may have already noticed some of the aesthetic changes in terms of the look and feel of the world’s most beloved search portal. However, there have also been some very important algorithmic changes in the back end as well. In this article we will look at how some of these changes may affect your Googling!

Interface

The new look and feel of Google bodes a more modern and powerful overall search engine. Apart from the obvious and well publicised logo update, Google have implemented a variety of new search tools and filters on the left which cater to the needs of the evolved, modern day search engine user.  This has been dubbed “Universal Search”.

Users can now more easily filter and customise their searches based on the specific media or service they are looking for. Sure this has been available in a different form in the past but Google is now cementing these advanced search filters as one of the cornerstones of their search interface. The universal search toolbar now also provides a variety of extra search tools such as timeline and context specific searches to name a few.

But universal search has yet another trick up its sleeve. This is the ability of users to sort search results based on how often a website has been updated. This means users can now access the latest fresh content without the hassle of having to trawl through a list of outdated  results. Basically, universal search has made it even easier for users to switch between filters and views of the same search query in order to retrieve search results that are more applicable to their needs.

Finally, another notable new addition to the Google tool belt is Google Squared. This fascinating tool allows users to search for a product, category, service or any other entity and compare the results in a detailed matrix of information (in real time!). It’s just another helpful innovation from the good people at Google. Try it out for yourself here: http://www.google.com/squared.

Algorithm

As most search engine optimisation specialists would be aware, Google’s new search algorithm ‘Caffeine’ has changed the way in which Google looks at your website content. Google is now able to crawl a huge range of internet content (including video, music, news and social media) – faster and more reliably than it ever has before. This has enabled Google to understand the content and deliver a rich experience to the users in an array of new types of relevant and up to date search results.

With Google’s intelligence ever increasing, it has now become more important than ever to use reliable, white hat SEO techniques in order to achieve great search engine rankings as Google is  becoming more and more adept at differentiating between real content and spam/scam SEO work. For more information on how Google Caffeine may affect your business, read Andrew Knight’s article – What is Google Caffeine?

Popularity: 9%

What is Google Caffeine?

Posted by Andrew Knight on Jul 21, 2010 in Google | 6 comments

Caffeine is Google’s new web indexing system which now provides 50 percent fresher results and includes more web content than ever before. This means, every time you search using Google, results are updated 50% quicker and web content such as videos, photos, news stories and tweets are included to help provide you the most relevant result to your search term, effectively improving your web searching experience.

Google’s Caffeine has actually been in effect for the past 6 months but wasn’t officially released until last month. You may have noticed minor changes to Google during this period such as videos from YouTube to regular updated news stories being included in the search results, though Caffeine was still being refined.

Before Caffeine, Google’s indexing system was based on layers. Some layers were refreshed faster than others while the main layer would be updated every couple of weeks. However, to refresh a layer of Google’s old index, Google would have to analyse the web in its entirety, which meant a significant delay between finding a page and making it appear within their index. With Caffeine, Google can now analyse the web in small portions and update their search index on a more constant basis, allowing new information and websites to be added into their index faster than ever.

Google has expressed Caffeine was built for both the near future and beyond, allowing it to scale with the addition of new information whilst delivering a whole wide range of websites, videos, tweets and much more quicker.

Popularity: 12%

Google TV: A New Frontier in Television Advertising?

Posted by Paul Goldston on May 24, 2010 in Google | 57 comments

A couple of days ago at the 2010 Google I/O conference, Google announced the impending launch of Google TV. This (possibly) game changing platform will work to bring the web and traditional TV closer together than they have ever been before.

Google TV – Watch The Overview

There are a multitude of topics and issues that could be discussed in relation to the announcement of Google TV.  As a keen Google advertiser myself, however, I would like to concentrate on just one – the shift in thinking that may occur amongst advertisers if Google’s ambition to combine the internet with traditional television is successful.

Although many other companies have attempted to marry these two beasts in the past (Apple TV, Boxee, TiVo etc), none have yet achieved the ‘Holy Grail’ result – widespread adoption of and acceptance of tv/internet integration. Although to most advertisers, this integration has always been the obvious next step in television advertising, until now, there hasn’t really been a platform on offer that smoothly integrates the television and internet into one, seamless media experience.

Enter Google into the equation and the traditional television advertising landscape begins to look a little different. Google, who already have a wildly successful online advertising platform in Google AdWords, will no doubt be looking at integrating their AdWords system into Google TV. Even at this point in time, Google already have a Google TV interface within their AdWords console which allows advertisers to upload TV ads to be viewed by current Google TV owners.

Google TV + AdWords

But consider some other future possibilities for a moment…

If Google TV is a success, we may see a new generation of direct response advertising in traditional TV ads.

Imagine a Domino’s TV ad which allows you to click on an AdWords coupon that then takes you to a HD ordering page designed specifically for TVs.

Or an ad for a new song or movie that takes the user directly to a website where they can buy and download that media onto their television.

What is most exciting about this fundamental shift in the way television advertising may soon be provided is that it will now allow a once passive medium to become an extremely active, engaging and (even more) powerful advertising tool.

Only time will tell if Google’s new television platform will gain widespread acceptance but, for now, as a Google Advertiser, I can only sit and think giddily about the future possibilities for online advertising through television.

What do you think about Google TV and the future of TV advertising? Feel free to comment and discuss!

Popularity: 37%

Google Eyes World Domination

Posted by Kara Richards on Mar 11, 2010 in Google | 19 comments

There’s no doubt that Google has changed the way the world’s online information is gathered and stored. Google state that their mission is to make the web’s aggregated information “universally accessible and useful.”

It would appear that this is quite a simple mission statement for a company that already dominates over 85% of the planet’s search market share and has 620 million daily visitors to Google.com.

But Google are taking the ‘usefulness’ and functionality of online information so much further.

Google owns mobile phone software that works like a computer, communication platforms that allow you to contact everyone you do (or don’t yet) know and apps that can answer every question or situation you may face.

Here’s a sugarcoated overview of Google’s most impressive acquisitions and projects:

Google Chrome – OS

Google Chrome is an open source Operating System that has been designed to work exclusively with web applications. Google Chrome integrates application and standard web pages into a single tab and “is aimed at users that spend most of their computer time on the internet.” Google’s Chrome OS has an expected release for the second half of 2010 and is free to the public.

Google Chrome – Web Browser

Google Chrome has been designed to work with Web Applications and aims to improve ‘security, speed and stability’ when surfing the net, through its Application performance and JavaScript processing speed. Google Chrome currently holds 5.61% of the web browser market share, a big feat since its release in September 2009.

Google Wave – Personal Communication Software

Google Wave will be the new Facebook. Big call, I know but this web-based service creates a unified personal communication platform via voice, text, photos, videos, maps, and other digital tools. The aim is for multiple users to set up a collaborative environment known as a “wave” and then edit the content and add replies, just like a wiki.

Android – Mobile Software

Bought by Google in 2005 and announced in November 2007, Android is a open-source mobile phone operating system that will have enough apps to run your life, nearly. There are over 20,000 android phone applications available and over 60,000 new android phones are shipped daily.

Google Goggles – Android App

Google Goggles is an android application that allows phone users to search Google via pictures they take on their mobile phones. Google use various image recognition back ends such as object recognition then returns relevant search results. See the following video:

YouTube – Video Sharing

Google bought YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion; not a bad deal for a garage project! If you didn’t already know how massive YouTube is, this video sharing platform dominates nearly 40% of the online video market share in the USA. With 20 hours of video uploaded every minute, YouTube will have no problems broadcasting the Indian Premier League this month.

So how did Lord Google gain its Googlopoly? They simplified accessing the web, built trust with users’ and managed to release technologies at the right pace for the market and society. Not to mention that most Google products are free; a surefire way to increase popularity.

With 45% of Google’s products still in Beta, I’m pretty sure that Google’s world domination is just getting started. Just Google it.

Popularity: 30%

Intelligent Design: Google Analytics is about to Get Smarter

Posted by Paul Goldston on Oct 22, 2009 in Google | 0 comments

As most online marketers and web designers would already know, Google Analytics can be an absolute treasure trove of invaluable information or a time sucking black hole of dead ends and dirty data.

Although many of us have a little bag of tricks for finding the data we need (a bag filled with custom reports, metrics comparisons and other analytics best practices), Google is preparing to make all of our lives just a little bit easier.

As reported in Adweek on October 20, Google is looking to add a bit of A.I into their next analytics update; Analytics Intelligence that is.

The new Google Analytics ‘Intelligence Engine’ will automatically work to find insights within your web traffic data that may have been overlooked. The new tool will have a couple of nifty built-in features but the real beauty in this beast is the fact that you can create customised alerts for each of the analytics accounts that you manage. The primary purpose of Google’s Intelligence Engine is to automatically unearth insights for web markers and designers. Sounds pretty exciting huh?

As you can see from the screenshot below (courtesy of flickr.com), Google have once again excelled in their penchant for creating slick, effective and efficient user interfaces. The design is in harmony with the current analytics interface and allows search engine marketers a quick snapshot of any pertinent analytical insights or pre-determined custom alerts.

But what does all of this mean?

It means that, in the not too distant future, when you open your analytics account you may be greeted with some juicy, perceptive and extremely relevant data to get your head into an analytical frame of mind. This is just another gift from Google. All you need to do in return is use the information provided in order to optimise your Google advertising campaigns.  It’s a win-win for you and for Google.

But don’t be fooled by all the new bells and whistles coming soon to an Analytics account near you, automation can only ever get you so far. When it comes to data mining and online marketing, the real value of this upgrade will come from the statistical marketer behind the mouse. It is his/her job it is to decipher which insights are relevant to the client’s cause and which are just irrelevant, albeit interesting tidbits of information.

Popularity: 13%

Google Sidewiki: A New Sensation?

Posted by Brijesh Shah on Sep 24, 2009 in Google | 0 comments

Google has introduced a new feature, ‘Google Sidewiki’, that allows anyone to comment on any website or web page. It’s a great idea, as it allows people to get an overall idea of the credibility of the site.

It works just like eBay, where users can check the credibility of the buyer or seller. But, at the same time it also makes it really easy for people to leave malicious and/or untrue comments about your site or business, and there’s not a lot you can do about it.

However, the tool is fantastic for obtaining general information about a site, finding out if a company is credible or reading a comment that corrects errors from an article.

The main challenge for Google will be to ensure appropriate comments are posted and ranked accordingly. Sidewiki uses an algorithm to verify the quality of comments and ranks them accordingly, just like regular Google listings.

The algorithm takes into account feedback from users, previous entries made by the same author and many other signals, according to the Google Blog.

It’s an easy way to share your knowledge and insights about any page on the web. However, it also presents a challenge for website owners as they have to deal with reputation management on a routine basis. This added functionality has the potential to change web users’ surfing and online shopping patterns, and Google is way ahead of its competitors in terms of providing these kinds of innovative new services to its users.

It represents exciting times for online businesses who believe in providing quality services and products to their clients.

Popularity: 16%