I've been manically playing with Google Plus for about an hour now and, while there is disagreement here among the editorial team at Search Engine Land, I give it a qualified "thumbs up." At first glance many people will dismiss Google Plus as redundant and derivative of Twitter and Facebook, in particular. This was also true of the ill-fated Buzz. But this is a much better and more thoughtfully designed product than Buzz. Familiar UI but Takes Getting Used To Accordingly the interface is familiar and relatively intuitive but Google Plus still takes some "getting used to." Some have alre [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: +1 | Google: Google+ | Google: Social Search | Top News

Online authors are now being highlighted in Google's search results ... if they're using the recently announced rel=author markup language. Right now, Google says it's working with a small group of authors who have linked their Google Profiles to their online content. One of those authors is Search Engine Land's Editor-In-Chief, Danny Sullivan, and his content will be highlighted like this in Google's search results: The author's name and avatar comes from his/her Google Profile. Google says it will also show the authors' content on their Google Profiles, too. The rel=author ta [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Authorship | Google: Rich Snippets | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search

Biz Stone is following in Evan Williams' footsteps in stepping away from day-to-day operations at Twitter, joining with Williams and Jason Goldman, also a Blogger and Twitter veteran, to re-form The Obvious Corporation, the company that incubated Twitter. On his blog, Stone explained his departure: "...it has come to my attention that the Twitter crew and its leadership team have grown incredibly productive. I've decided that the most effective use of my time is to get out of the way until I'm called upon to be of some specific use. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has been very supportive in [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Twitter

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s Facebook Competitor, The Google+ Social Network, Finally ArrivesGoogle’s long expected second shot at taking on Facebook in the social networking space has arrived in the form of the Google+ Project. It has some interesting twists on the social networking model but is far from a Facebook-killer. That Name The terrible name is a bad start. Google+? Google+! I can’t even question or [...] Think Germans Are The Most Sensitive [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Searching for the right PPC software platform? This free guide and checklist will help you determine what you should be looking for in a software provider. After reading this guide, you'll be able to answer key questions like: Is PPC software worth the investment? How could the right platform help you increase ROI? What areas of your campaigns need extra help? What kinds of tools would address your specific needs? Download now! Sponsored by Wordstream [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Sponsor Messages

These days, local business owners are regularly faced with the question of where to advertise to attract new customers. While there’s basic knowledge that consumer media habits are transitioning, many businesses often lack an in-depth understanding of exactly what has changed and how they should be adjusting their marketing strategies to match current trends. This month, new data was released from the research firm Burke looking at habits of consumers searching for local business information across various local media.  The results verify common perceptions, but also clearly dispel so [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

My previous column, Key Problems With Current Social Link Graph Signals hit a nerve with a few people who felt I was too harsh in my critique of social signals as content quality indicators. See this post from bigmouthmedia for one of the more in-depth responses. It's not that I don't feel social signals have merit. They do. I used a wart removal/Yanni example as a way of making a point and elicit a laugh or two. I'll stand by my assessment of social signals impacting search results, which is that they are not ready for prime time, but there's a more pressing matter I think all of us li [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Week

Google's long expected second shot at taking on Facebook in the social networking space has arrived in the form of the Google+ Project. It has some interesting twists on the social networking model but is far from a Facebook-killer. That Name The terrible name is a bad start. Google+? Google+! I can't even question or exclaim about the bad name without it looking bad in writing. Pronounced "Google Plus," the product is officially written as Google+ -- making placing any punctuation after the name fairly awkward. Seriously, I'm cursing whoever made the final decision to go with Google+ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Google: +1 | Google: Google+ | Google: Social Search | Top News

Privacy is a much discussed topic and most focus seems to be privacy issues in Europe. But people have different attitudes to privacy throughout the globe with some having an intense fear of compromising their privacy or identify. How does this affect search? And where are the most privacy senstiive nations>

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

The mystery of how and where articles, information, graphics, and more are shared online has been something to plague both marketers and content creators alike. Catering your information towards your target audience and where they share it most is crucial to producing content that spreads like wildfire online. Linkbait tactics would be without effectiveness if it wasn’t for the social media networks that make it irresistible to share. Even though some linkbait-crafted content spreads fast without preference to a certain social network, it is a fairly common fact that different social [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social | StumbleUpon

Perhaps sensing "blood in the water," a French company called 1plusV has sued Google in the Paris Commercial Court for the equivalent of $421 million. (The civil complaint was orginally filed on February 22, 2011.) An operator of vertical search sites, 1plusV is the corporate parent of legal search engine Ejustice.fr, one of three companies (including Foundem and Microsoft-owned Ciao) that filed formal antitrust complaints against Google with European Commission last year. Those complaints led directly to the EC's decision to pursue an antitrust action against Google, which is now in proces [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense | Google: Business Issues | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Top News

Google has launched a new service at wdyl.com, which stands for "What Do You Love" from Google, which allows users to search for anything and see what comes back from a variety of Google's many different search resources. Over the years, Google has continued to add new products, services, portals, and features to their portfolio. Keeping up on all that Google has to offer has been hard. There are pages that show Google products options, or new products and pages that have Google ad options and the list goes on and on. One single page of all of Google's services and products is hard [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: Custom Search Engine | Google: General | Google: Other

Google's +1 button is rolling out internationally. The company has announced that 1 buttons will start showing on a few select Google search engines at first: Google.co.uk Google.de Google.jp Google.fr The +1 button will be "expanding quickly to most other Google search sites" in the near future. Up until now, the +1 button has only been seen on Google.com's English-language search results. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: +1 | Top News

Google has added key pieces of information to its Government Requests Transparency report. The semi-annual release of data chronicles the search engine's interactions with government officials around the world, in which those officials request that information be removed from Google's index, or ask for data about its users. It also tracks user traffic from countries around the globe, highlighting cases in which it appears traffic was blocked to its servers. The company just released data that covers the period from July to December 2010. It first launched the report in 2010, covering data f [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: Censorship

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: New: Google Now Showing Local +1 CountsLast week we confirmed Google was showing raw +1 counts in the search results and now today, Google seems to be testing showing location based +1 counts. @tomcritchlow shared a screen shot with us showing Google only displaying the people in New York who +1′ed a page. Here is that screen shot: As you can [...] Twitter Launches ‘Twitter For Newsrooms’ (#TfN) As A Resource For The PressTwitter l [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Last week we confirmed Google was showing raw +1 counts in the search results and now today, Google seems to be testing showing location based +1 counts. @tomcritchlow shared a screen shot with us showing Google only displaying the people in New York who +1'ed a page. Here is that screen shot: As you can see, it shows 145 people in New York have +1'ed this page. If you are logged in, you would see your friends who have +1'ed the page. Here is a screen shot: If you are signed out, I personally just get all the +1 counts for this page. I am based in New York, not New York [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: +1

Twitter launched Twitter For Newsrooms, a detailed resource to help professionals in news, TV, sports and entertainment use Twitter effectively.   The guide is geared toward the novice to intermediate user and helps to standardize the use of Twitter.  Specific sections include: #Report #Engage #Publish #Extra The guide contains advice including: ways to properly brand yourself, recommended tools, Twitter Intents, examples of reporters correctly using Twitter, and more.  The resource is a great starting point for any new Twitter user, and should be an interes [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Twitter

Today, Oyster.com, a hotel review site and booking engine rolled out "Oyster Shots", a new search by hotel photos feature, following a similar trend of expanded image search capabilities by Google. All images are editorially tagged and categorized, and include underlying geocoded data signals, such as GPS camera data. In the challenging travel vertical, Oyster is hoping to add a fresh layer of editorial relevance, even if it means a slow, difficult process to appropriately tag (manually) and reference all images within its target markets. Eytan Seidman, co-founder of Oyster, and former B [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Engines: Travel Search Engines

On Friday Google confirmed that the FTC had launched a broad -- really broad -- investigation into its search and ads businesses seeking to determine whether the company was doing anything anti-competitive in the market. The news was immediately welcomed by some Google critics and competitors who believe the company is systematically abusing its power and position. The investigation was expected and comes as no surprise to anyone. It's important to remember that the FTC investigation is just that: an investigation and not a formal case. However the action is an unwelcome development for Goo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Features: Analysis | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Legal: General | Legal: Regulation | Top News

Search industry parents had their say last week on our sister site, Sphinn, as a discussion about teaching kids SEO, social media and online marketing was the most popular conversation piece. Our "Discussion of the Week" asked, How Much Do You Teach Your Kids About SEO/Social Media?, and we had a range of comments covering issues like privacy, computer literacy, blogging and more. Our favorite comment came from Sphinn member Stoney deGeyter of Pole Position Marketing, who talked about raising his three kids: I have not pushed what I do on them in any way, and probably never will. If they [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Features: General | Sphinn