If you are looking for iGoogle, you may use Google to search for igoogle only to find out that Google has told us "iGoogle has been removed." If Google had a meta description tag that used the word iGoogle in it, chances are that the tag would have been used to make a nice, user-friendly description in the Google search results. Hat tip to Jonathan Hochman. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: iGoogle | Google: SEO

Google Tests 'Gadget Ads' from MediaPost reports Google has begun testing a new ad product named "Gadget Ads." In short, the Google Gadgets you see across the web and on your "iGoogle" (Google personalized) home page will begin to contain ads in them. Currently the ads are being testing in the auto industry but by summer time they expect the ads to hit all industries. It appears that Gadget Ads will be part of the AdSense network and will be priced based on a CPC or CPM model. It is not clear yet if this will be a unique product within AdSense, but we are told that Google Analytics will br [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Google: iGoogle

Yesterday was "Google Personalization Day" for me and a number of others who attended a meeting at Google with Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products & User Experience, as well as Google Personalization Technical Lead Sep Kamvar and iGoogle Product Manager Jessica Ewing. Barry has captured much of the factual information coming out of the meeting in his post yesterday afternoon. And Danny and Chris wrote about different aspects of Google's new personalization push earlier this year. To recap briefly, this is what was announced yesterday:The Google personalized homepage has officially been rena [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: iGoogle | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Personalized Search | Google: Web History & Search History

Today is Google Personalization Day at Google, where reporters and bloggers have been invited to learn more about Google's moves to personalize its services. Our own Greg Sterling is there and will be providing coverage out of the event later. However, some news is already flowing out now. For one, Google steps up personalized Web search push from Reuters covers how Google will be renaming the personalized Google services as "iGoogle." Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president, said Google is "working to bring all this [Google personalizes services] together" and will be "renaming the product [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: iGoogle

Philipp Lenssen reports that dozens if not hundreds of Google Personalized Home Page users have lost their personalized settings. As of now, I currently see my customized and tailored Google home page but literally hundreds of people are commenting at Google Blogoscoped, Digg.com and Google Groups about this exact issue. Postscript: This appears to now be resolved. Users began reporting their personalized settings showing up again at about 4:30am (EST) this morning. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: iGoogle

There's a flurry of activity in the newly invigorated personalized homepage category. Within the past two weeks all the major competitors have made announcements. First, AOL launched MyNetscape, followed by the release of "universal video widgets" on Pageflakes. Then the new MyYahoo launched. Yesterday Netvibes unveiled "Coriander," its next product release with new content modules. And tonight Google went public with "themes" (skins) for its personalized homepage (GPH). The designs are not yet live on the site so I'm unable to link to them (here's a screen capture from CNET). Google is ini [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: iGoogle | Yahoo: My Yahoo

There's been a bit of a panic among some SEOs that the ramp up of Google Personalized Search Results last month will mean the end of SEO. But aside from the impact personalized search will have on SEO, personalized search also impacts link building related activities. Some of that impact is major. Link spam will take a huge hit, becoming (hopefully) even less effective than it is now. Topical link building will become even more important, especially getting your links onto pages where they have significant relevance. These types of links also have a better chan [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: iGoogle | Link Building: General | Link Week

Google Reader has now announced that it is now providing subscriber counts, the number of people who read your blog through feeds at Google Reader or the Google Personalized Homepage. In addition a new Google Reader Publishers Guide has been posted with tips on how to get add to Google buttons and answers to frequently asked questions such as how to view the stats. Many will see them through tracking services like FeedBurner, which also mentions the change here. From a search marketing perspective, Google personalized search results are now being seen by many more Google users. These are po [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: iGoogle | Google: Reader | SEO: Blogs & Feeds

Google is stepping up the push into personalized search results. A new change announced today should cause many more people to take up the service. In turn, the growth of personalized search should have a dramatic impact on search marketers as the days of "same results, all around" eventually come to an end. For searchers, the change means needing to be more careful about when you sign-up to use a Google service, if you're concerned about having your search history recorded. More about both issues, in the story below. NOTE: See Google Now Personalizes Everyone’s Search Results for [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: iGoogle | Google: Personalized Search | Google: Web History & Search History | Legal: Privacy | Search Engines: Personalized Search Engines

Google Personalized Home Page Adds Expand & Collapse Per Post at the Search Engine Roundtable is where I discussed how Google has added RSS snippets to the Google personalized home page. Google has added these plus signs, next to each RSS title, if clicked, it will open up and show you a snippet of the summary from the post. This is a neat feature to help improve the usability of the RSS feature on the personalized home page. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: iGoogle