#Dallas #SEO #Blog

Official Google Blog: Unicode over 60 percent of the web

2012-02-03T14:33:00.000-06:00

Computers store every piece of text using a “character encoding,” which gives a number to each character. For example, the byte 61 stands for ‘a’ and 62 stands for ‘b’ in the ASCII encoding, which was launched in 1963. Before the web, computer systems were siloed, and there were hundreds of different encodings. Depending on the encoding, C1 could mean any of ¡, Ё, Ą, Ħ, ‘, ”, or parts of thousands of characters, from æ to 品. If you brought a file from one computer to another, it could come out as gobbledygook.

Official Google Blog: Unicode over 60 percent of the web:

FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

2012-02-02T10:36:00.000-06:00

For purposes of this part, an endorsement means any advertising message (including verbal

statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature, likeness or other identifying

personal characteristics of an individual or the name or seal of an organization) that consumer are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experiences of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser, even if the views expressed by that party are identical to those of the sponsoring advertiser. The party whose opinions, beliefs, findings, or experience the message appears to reflect will be called the endorser and may be an individual, group, or institution.

The Full PDF - FTC - Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Google Chrome: Angry Birds

2012-01-27T12:20:00.001-06:00

Google Apps - Angry Birds Developers.. As Angry Birds.

Google Privacy Principles

2012-01-27T11:52:00.002-06:00

At Google, we are keenly aware of the trust you place in us and our responsibility to protect your privacy. As part of this responsibility, we let you know what information we collect when you use our products and services, why we collect it and how we use it to improve your experience.

We have five privacy principles that describe how we approach privacy and user information across all of our products:

Use information to provide our users with valuable products and services.
Develop products that reflect strong privacy standards and practices.
Make the collection of personal information transparent.
Give users meaningful choices to protect their privacy.
Be a responsible steward of the information we hold.

Privacy principles – Policies & Principles

Twitter Censorship: Tweets still must flow (Thanks @ev and @biz)

2012-01-27T09:36:00.001-06:00

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.

Twitter Blog: Tweets still must flow <-- click for more info

- I personally and professionally commend Twitter on doing this, by enacting these types of measures, they allow Twitter to have a greater global reach and also remove some liability issues in a global marketplace where laws are different, compliance in the future with these governments is crucial to the future of innovation in the field of digital advertising where I have hung my shingle. - SLP

Google Public Policy Blog: Setting the record straight about our privacy policy changes

2012-01-26T17:04:00.001-06:00

So, here’s the real story:

You still have choice and control. You don’t need to log in to use many of our services, including Search, Maps and YouTube. If you are logged in, you can still edit or turn off your Search history, switch Gmail chat to “off the record,” control the way Google tailors ads to your interests, use Incognito mode on Chrome, or use any of the otherprivacy tools we offer.
We’re not collecting more data about you. Our new policy simply makes it clear that we use data to refine and improve your experience on Google — whichever products or services you use. This is something we have already been doing for a long time.
We’re making things simpler and we’re trying to be upfront about it. Period.
You can use as much or as little of Google as you want. For example, you can have a Google Account and choose to use Gmail, but not use Google+. Or you could keep your data separate with different accounts -- for example, one for YouTube and another for Gmail.

Google Public Policy Blog: Setting the record straight about our privacy policy changes

Google Plus Pages

2012-01-26T16:31:00.000-06:00

Google Privacy Policies & Principles

2012-01-26T09:19:00.002-06:00

We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.

This stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service now. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.

Policies & Principles

Rich Snippets: Notifying Google (Mobile App SEO)

2012-01-23T20:20:00.001-06:00

Rich Snippets testing tool. http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets

NOTE: Mobile APP, Android Market? Did you test the RICH SNIPPETS?

SEO Ranking reports

2012-01-23T20:02:00.001-06:00

Google Search, Ranking Reports, Conversion Rate Optimization, Content Optimization, SEO Best Practices Ranking Reports.

Inside Search: 30 search quality highlights (with codenames!): De...

2012-01-10T12:37:00.001-06:00

Codenames make changes easier to talk about and remember, and they can also be a lot of fun. You might remember “Panda” and “Caffeine,” but you probably don’t remember last month’s “Top result selection code rewrite.” That’s why many of the search quality improvements we make have internal codenames.

For full article - click link below.

Inside Search: 30 search quality highlights (with codenames!):

Here’s the list for December:

Image Search landing page quality signals. [launch codename “simple”] This is an improvement that analyzes various landing page signals for Image Search. We want to make sure that not only are we showing you the most relevant images, but we are also linking to the highest quality source pages.
More relevant sitelinks. [launch codename “concepts”, project codename “Megasitelinks”] We improved our algorithm for picking sitelinks. The result is more relevant sitelinks; for example, we may show sitelinks specific to your metropolitan region, which you can control with your location setting.
Soft 404 Detection. Web servers generally return the 404 status code when someone requests a page that doesn’t exist. However, some sites are configured to return otherstatus codes, even though the page content might explain that the page was not found. We call these soft 404s (or “crypto” 404s) and they can be problematic for search engines because we aren’t sure if we should ignore the pages. This change is an improvement to how we detect soft 404s, especially in Russian, German and Spanish. For all you webmasters out there, the best practice is still to always use the correct response code.
More accurate country-restricted searches. [launch codename “greencr”] On domains other than .com, users have the option to see only results from their particular country. This is a new algorithm that uses several signals to better determine where web documents are from, improving the accuracy of this feature.
More rich snippets. We improved our process for detecting sites that qualify for shopping, recipe and review rich snippets. As a result, you should start seeing more sites with rich snippets in search results.
Better infrastructure for autocomplete. This is an infrastructure change to improve how our autocomplete algorithm handles spelling corrections for query prefixes (the beginning part of a search).
Better spam detection in Image Search. [launch codename “leaf”] This change improves our spam detection in Image Search by extending algorithms we already use for our main search results.
Google Instant enhancements for Japanese. For languages that use non-Latin characters, many users use a special IME (Input Method Editor) to enter queries. This change works with browsers that are IME-aware to better handle Japanese queries in Google Instant.
More accurate byline dates. [launch codename “foby”] We made a few improvements to how we determine what date to associate with a document. As a result, you’ll see more accurate dates annotating search results.
Live results for NFL and college football. [project codename “Live Results”] We’ve added new live results for NFL.com and ESPN’s NCAA Football results. These results now provide the latest scores, schedules and standings for your favorite football teams.
Improved dataset for related queries. We are now using an improved dataset on term relationships to find related queries. We sometimes include results for queries that are related to your original search, and this improvement leads to results from more relevant related queries.
Related query improvements. [launch codename “lyndsy”] Sometimes we fetch results for queries that are related to the original query but have fewer words. We made several changes to our algorithms to make them more conservative and less likely to introduce results without query words.
Better lyrics results. [launch codename “baschi”, project codename “Contra”] This change improves our result quality for lyrics searches.
Tweak to +1 button on results page. As part of our continued effort to deliver a beautifully simple user experience across Google products, we’ve made a subtle tweak to how the +1 button appears on the results page. Now the +1 button will only appear when you hover over a result or when the result has already been +1’d.
Better spell correction in Vietnamese. [project codename “Pho Viet”] We launched a new Vietnamese spelling model. This will help give more accurate spelling predictions for Vietnamese queries.
Upcoming events at venues. We've improved the recently released places panel for event venues. For major venues, we now show up to three upcoming events on the right of the page. Try it for [staples center los angeles] or [paradise rock club boston].
Improvements to image size signal. [launch codename “matter”] This is an improvement to how we use the size of images as a ranking signal in Image Search. With this change, you’ll tend to see images with larger full-size versions.
Improved Hebrew synonyms. [launch codename “SweatNovember”, project codename “Synonyms”] This update refines how we handle Hebrew synonyms across multiple languages. Context matters a lot for translation, so this change prevents us from using translated synonyms that are not actually relevant to the query context.
Safer searching. [launch codename “Hoengg”, project codename "SafeSearch"] We updated our SafeSearch tool to provide better filtering for certain queries when strict SafeSearch is enabled.
Encrypted search available on new regional domains. Google now offers encrypted search by default on google.com for signed-in users, but it’s not the default on our other regional domains (eg: google.fr for France). Now users in the UK, Germany and France can opt in to encrypted search by navigating directly to an SSL version of Google Search on their respective regional domains: https://www.google.co.uk, https://www.google.de andhttps://www.google.fr.
Faster mobile browsing. [launch codename “old possum”, project codename “Skip Redirect”] Many websites redirect smartphone users to another page that is optimized for smartphone browsers. This change uses the final smartphone destination url in our mobile search results, so you can bypass all the redirects and load the target page faster.

Search, plus Your World

2012-01-10T09:10:00.004-06:00

Google Search has always been about finding the best results for you. Sometimes that means results from the public web, but sometimes it means your personal content or things shared with you by people you care about. These wonderful people and this rich personal content is currently missing from your search experience. Search is still limited to a universe of webpages created publicly, mostly by people you’ve never met. Today, we’re changing that by bringing your world, rich with people and information, into search.

Search is pretty amazing at finding that one needle in a haystack of billions of webpages, images, videos, news and much more. But clearly, that isn’t enough. You should also be able to find your own stuff on the web, the people you know and things they’ve shared with you, as well as the people you don’t know but might want to... all from one search box.

Official Google Blog: Search, plus Your World

Google+ Webmaster - Google Plus for SEOs

2012-01-09T14:33:00.002-06:00

Google+ Webmaster FAQ
(links will work after you click over to Google Page at bottom or post)
Google Profiles
What's the difference between a Profile and a Page?
Google+ updates
How can I keep up to date with Google+ changes?
Google+ search
How can I make sure my content is eligible to appear in Google+ search and in Sparks?

The +1 button and search results
How does +1 affect search results?

Does +1 affect my site's performance in search?

Does +1 affect how Google crawls my site?

How will the +1 button affect my traffic?

How can I track traffic from Google+?

Will +1's from my site show up in search results?

How does the +1 button affect my ads?

Who sees +1?
Who can see the +1 button in Google Search?

What's an annotation?

Who can see annotations from +1 buttons?

Are +1's public?

Adding the +1 button to a site
How do I add the +1 button to my site?

Where should I put the +1 button on my pages?

Can I place multiple buttons on a single page that all +1 different URLs?

Can I change the size of the +1 button?

What languages is the +1 button available in?

How often will Google crawl my +1'd pages?

How does +1 work with Buzz? Do we still need the Google Buzz button?

Some of my users get a security warning when they view pages with the +1 button. How do I get rid of this?

Browser support
What browsers does Google+ support?

Does the +1 button appear when my site is viewed in mobile browsers?

Does the +1 button appear in search results on mobile browsers?

I can't see inline annotations on my mobile browser. What up?

Do +1's on my mobile site count towards the total +1's on a site or are they counted separately?

Google+ Webmaster FAQ

Google's Rules - NYTimes.com

2012-01-09T09:25:00.000-06:00

Google's Rules - NYTimes.com

Google Webmaster Guidelines - SEO Law

2012-01-09T09:20:00.000-06:00

Google Webmaster Guidelines

Quality guidelines - basic principles

Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as "cloaking."

Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"

Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.

Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

Quality guidelines - specific guidelines

Avoid hidden text or hidden links.

Don't use cloaking or sneaky redirects.

Don't send automated queries to Google.

Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords.

Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.

Don't create pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware.

Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.

If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

If you determine that your site doesn't meet these guidelines, you can modify your site so that it does and then submit your site for reconsideration.

Steve Plunkett of Rockfish: Search & Pubcon Las Vegas Highlights

2012-01-09T08:04:00.000-06:00

Steve Plunkett of Rockfish talks Google+ , social media and search engine optimization

Analyzing Data - Is the data normalized?

2011-12-28T09:45:00.000-06:00

Is the data normalized?

Yes. All the results in Google Insights for Search are normalized, which means that we've divided the sets of data by a common variable to cancel out the variable's effect on the data. Doing so allows the underlying characteristics of the data sets to be compared. If we didn't normalize the results and displayed the absolute rankings instead, data from regions generating the most search volume would always be ranked high.

Analyzing Data - Is the data normalized?

Overview - Update to Vertical Taxonomy

2011-12-28T08:51:00.000-06:00

During December 2011, the categorization taxonomy of Trends and Insights-For-Search has been updated. The change provides a richer taxonomy for restricting the scope of the searches while improving the accuracy of the search classifications.

Overview - Update to Vertical Taxonomy

How to effectively use Google+ (google plus) for best results

2011-12-21T12:33:00.000-06:00

Google Plus Pages Tips

Google+ Update: Making Improvements to Pages

2011-12-19T09:16:00.000-06:00

Google + Allows Managers setting for Brand Pages.

Improvements to Google+ Pages
Google+ Pages have already provided brands and businesses a new means of connecting to and deeply engaging with consumers. In the weeks since launching pages, we’ve been listening to your feedback and we’re pleased to make some of the most oft-requested features available.

You can now delegate up to 50 named managers as administrators for a page.
A new notification flow will ensure that these managers stay in the loop on all the activity that takes place on a page, giving managers the ability to stay involved in page conversations.
We’ll now show an aggregated count of users that have engaged with your page, either by +1’ing it or by adding it to a circle. This way, both you and your page’s visitors can get an at-a-glance summary of who is interacting with your page.

Google+ Update: Adjust the Volume of Circles in Your Stream

2011-12-19T09:12:00.000-06:00

Google + 4 Business Update

If I buy AdWords, will that cause my algorithmic search rankings to rise?

2011-12-12T16:41:00.001-06:00

Adwords affect organic rankings, PPC boost to organic

Following Brands on Twitter Increases Purchase Intent [STUDY]

2011-12-09T09:53:00.001-06:00

When it comes to a consumer’s decision to follow brands on Twitter, exclusivity and access to promotions reign. Here are the top five reasons given by respondents:

64%: I am a customer of the company
61%: To be the first to know information about the brand
48%: To receive discounts and promotions
36%: To gain access to exclusive content
28%: To receive content/information to retweet and share with others

Following Brands on Twitter Increases Purchase Intent [STUDY]

Steve Plunkett of Rockfish: Search & Pubcon Las Vegas Highlights | PubCon

2011-12-01T12:47:00.001-06:00

Steve Plunkett of Rockfish: Search & Pubcon Las Vegas Highlights | PubCon

Meta tags - Webmaster Tools Help

2011-11-29T14:34:00.001-06:00

Meta tags

Meta tags are a great way for webmasters to provide search engines with information about their sites. Meta tags can be used to provide information to all sorts of clients, and each system processes only the meta tags they understand and ignores the rest. Meta tags are added to the section of your HTML page and generally look like this:

Meta tags - Webmaster Tools Help

The Official Google TV Blog: YouTube and Photos Updates for Your Google TV

2011-11-29T11:26:00.001-06:00

The new Google TV YouTube experience introduces playlists to your living room. You can now easily watch your YouTube subscriptions on your HDTV and quickly access your other playlists like Watch Later and Favorites. If you have your own channel, you can now add videos to it from your Google TV. So whether you’re a newshound wanting a constant stream of world events or you’re a curator in search of an even more endless summer of content, you can sit back on your comfy couch and enjoy YouTube’s thousands of options in the High Definition brilliance of your Google TV.

The Official Google TV Blog: YouTube and Photos Updates for Your Google TV

The Evolution of Google Search

2011-11-28T11:13:00.001-06:00

How Google Search Works, Google Search Algorithm, Google Personalized Search

Social Media for Gaming Consoles - Call of Duty Elite - The Legend of Karl

2011-11-22T00:56:00.002-06:00

Social Media, Social Gaming, Console Gaming Social Media

Google Analytics Blog: Site Speed, now even easier to access

2011-11-18T16:52:00.001-06:00

Speed matters. Faster loading pages mean more visitors land on your site instead of waiting in frustration or leaving. The Google Analytics Site Speed report will help you learn which of your pages are underperforming, so you can address this potential barrier to your conversions.

The Site Speed report was launched a few months ago, but it required site owners to add an additional Google Analytics tracking code to see data in this report. Based on increasing user requests we are now making this feature available to all Google Analytics users and removing the requirement to modify your Google Analytics tracking code. As of today all Google Analytics accounts will automatically have the Site Speed report available with no extra work required from you.

Google Analytics Blog: Site Speed, now even easier to access

Some SEO myths

2011-11-17T21:42:00.000-06:00

Cloaking in Google

2011-11-17T21:39:00.000-06:00

seo cloaking

Black Friday Deals - American Signature Furniture

2011-11-17T13:34:00.002-06:00

iAmErika Blog: The Deep Web - invisible

2011-11-15T17:27:00.001-06:00

The Deep Web or Invisible Web are untapped resources that are not typically indexed by search engines. Elements of the invisible web are:

unindexed pages
electronic books
product catalogs
library catalogs
online newsletters
government records and
other databases

iAmErika Blog: The Deep Web

Google Analytics Blog: Optimize Engagement using AddThis and ShareThis with Analytics

2011-11-15T15:15:00.000-06:00

Increasingly users are discovering great content, products and links through social referrals such as +1 button endorsements, comments, likes, and shares. Earlier this year we introduced Social Plugin Analytics to help you analyze how users engage with any social plugin installed on your site - after all, what can be measured can also be improved and optimized!

MilkADeal started using Google Analytics earlier this year. It is a company in Malaysia that has benefited greatly from using Social Plugin Analytics. By using these new reports, they are able to uncover insights and create significant business process improvements. As reported in the New Straits Times, "In particular, the newly introduced social interaction tracking tool...We've been using it only in the last couple of weeks but we have seen an increase of almost 60% in social interaction visitors to our site," said Wilson Quah, founder of MilkADeal."

Google Analytics Blog: Optimize Engagement using AddThis and ShareThis with Analytics

Search using your terms, verbatim - Inside Search

2011-11-15T12:37:00.000-06:00

Behind the simplicity of Google search is a complex set of algorithms that expands and improves the query you’ve typed to find the best results. Automatic spelling correction ([vynal] to “vinyl”) and substituting synonyms (matching [pictures] to “photos”) are just two examples of the improvements we make.

In most cases, Google’s algorithms make things better for our users - but in some rare cases, we don’t find what you were looking for. In the past, we provided users with the “+” operator to help you search for specific terms. However, we found that users typed the “+” operator in less than half a percent of all searches, and two thirds of the time, it was used incorrectly. A couple of weeks ago we removed the “+” operator, encouraging the use of the double quotes, which are more likely to be used correctly.

Search using your terms, verbatim - Inside Search

Ten recent algorithm changes - Inside Search

2011-11-14T12:58:00.000-06:00

Today we’re continuing our long-standing series of blog posts to share the methodology and process behind our search ranking, evaluation and algorithmic changes. This summer we published a video that gives a glimpse into our overall process, and today we want to give you a flavor of specific algorithm changes by publishing a highlight list of many of the improvements we’ve made over the past couple weeks.

We’ve published hundreds of blog posts about search over the years on this blog, our Official Google Blog, and even on my personal blog. But we’re always looking for ways to give you even deeper insight into the over 500 changes we make to search in a given year. In that spirit, here’s a list of ten improvements from the past couple weeks:

Ten recent algorithm changes - Inside Search

#pubcon Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal Answer Questions and Offer Advice | Search Engine Journal

2011-11-12T18:26:00.000-06:00

Cutts: Google is listening. Unfortunately, the changes take time to implement. They use the aggregated reports to try to improve the algorithm. The algorithm is under active development and they want to get it right.

When we search for appliances, why do we only get Sears and other major stores?

Cutts: The web is one of the only places where the small business can move faster than the big guys. The big companies are often big for reason and as a result they can outrank other pages. However, the search engine does give the small business a chance Google Webmaster Tools is somewhat of an equalizer though and small businesses should use this – i.e. big businesses are more likely to use text in images/flash and small businesses will know better. Also, small businesses should concentrate on the small niche.

#pubcon Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal Answer Questions and Offer Advice | Search Engine Journal

PubCon Paradise and Las Vegas 2011

2011-11-12T18:10:00.001-06:00

I’ve heard stories of late night brainstorms that led to agency collaborations, new tools, revolutionary ideas and philosophical shifts in how we approach the industry we have all jumped into whole-heartedly.

PubCon & All of Us…A Story | Joanna Lord

How does Google determine page speed?

2011-11-12T18:01:00.002-06:00

Google Page Speed, Google webmaster Tools

Official Google Blog: Google+ Pages: connect with all the things you care about

2011-11-07T14:34:00.001-06:00

In life we connect with all kinds of people, places and things. There’s friends and family, of course, but there’s also the sports teams we root for, the coffee shops we’re loyal to, and the TV shows we can’t stop watching (to name a few).

So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.

Official Google Blog: Google+ Pages: connect with all the things you care about

Google Changes Search Algorithm | Adweek

2011-11-04T09:34:00.001-05:00

Google has introduced a new ‘freshness algorithm’ to make search results more timely. The changes will affect around 35 percent of all searches.

Google will now place websites with new information higher than results that don’t feature recent updates. Previously, Google balanced its results between popular websites and recent news in user searches, according to the Toronto Star.

Google Changes Search Algorithm | Adweek

Aim to Please with KBO, not SEO

2011-11-02T16:29:00.004-05:00

Knowledge-base Optimization (KBO, not SEO)
While live chat, 800 numbers, email/forms are obviously in use by a majority of sites, providing a knowledge base may be the most viable/effective way and is something that should be explored by every business on the Web. The result will not only be happier customers but happier search engines as well.

What is a knowledge base? That may be the entire problem. There are software solutions available that help Web workers manage the customer-facing knowledge they want to share, but it is in effect nothing more than a strategy – one that requires a destination (be it weblog or forum) and a commitment.

Aim to Please with KBO, not SEO - Website Magazine

Rip Rowan - Google+ - Stevey's Google Platforms Rant - BOO

2011-11-01T16:57:00.002-05:00

#transparency is one thing, being an idiot is another..
I stopped reading at the first F-bomb.
Work email with F-Bombs, no bueno, EVER.

While at first I applauded the C-levels at Google, @sergeybrin @larrypage and @ericschmidt and still do.

It's one thing to hit reply all, but to drop f-bombs and over-reaching assumptions (he's the one that doesn't get platforms), meh.. nuke him. liked the transparency for letting him keep it up, then i read it and wish i hadn't.

--- the post..

IThis post has received a lot of attention. For anyone here who arrived from The Greater Internet - I stand ready to remove this post if asked. As I mentioned before, I was given permission to keep it up.

Google's openness to allow us to keep this message posted on its own social network is, in my opinion, a far greater asset than any SaS platform. In the end, a company's greatest asset is its culture, and here, Google is one of the strongest companies on the planet.

Rip Rowan - Google+ - Stevey's Google Platforms Rant I was at Amazon for about…

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Best practices when moving your site

2011-10-31T13:07:00.003-05:00

Planning on moving your site to a new domain? Lots of webmasters find this a scary process. How do you do it without hurting your site's performance in Google search results?

Your aim is to make the transition invisible and seamless to the user, and to make sure that Google knows that your new pages should get the same quality signals as the pages on your own site. When you're moving your site, pesky 404 (File Not Found) errors can harm the user experience and negatively impact your site's performance in Google search results.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Best practices when moving your site

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Raising awareness of cross-domain URL selections

2011-10-31T12:53:00.002-05:00

Webmaster level: Advanced

A piece of content can often be reached via several URLs, not all of which may be on the same domain. A common example we’ve talked about over the years is having the same content available on more than one URL, an issue known as duplicate content. When we discover a group of pages with duplicate content, Google uses algorithms to select one representative URL for that content. A group of pages may contain URLs from the same site or from different sites. When the representative URL is selected from a group with different sites the selection is called a cross-domain URL selection. To take a simple example, if the group of URLs contains one URL from a.com and one URL from b.com and our algorithms select the URL from b.com, the a.com URL may no longer be shown in our search results and may see a drop in search-referred traffic.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Raising awareness of cross-domain URL selections

Google Plus for Business - Google+ 4 Biz

2011-10-27T12:25:00.002-05:00

Google+

Overview

Enabling Google+

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Updates

2011-10-27T11:31:00.000-05:00

Security and safety are at the core of Facebook. We have entire teams dedicated to building tools that give people even more control over their account and specifically the way they access their information. In fact, many of our most talented engineers are working exclusively on creating a secure environment on Facebook. This October, as part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we are working with others in the community to help educate people about techniques and tools for securing your devices and networks. Additionally, we thought this would be a great opportunity to tell you about some of the systems working behind the scenes to keep you and your data safe.

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Updates

3 Ways for Marketers to Handle Disputes on Wikipedia

2011-10-26T08:29:00.001-05:00

As an editor with a Conflict of Interest, you’re a guest on Wikipedia.

Not only do you not have control over the Wiki of your own company, but Wikipedia’s community policies urge editors with a Conflict of Interest to let others make edits. If the community is using advert tags (to signal a post is too close to an ad) or setting up roadblocks, they’re probably right.

Many of the admins on Wikipedia have spent much of their waking life on Wikipedia for years, and you just made a username the other day. Think about it. Try to address their complaints and work with the community instead of fighting them.

3 Ways for Marketers to Handle Disputes on Wikipedia

Content Removal Requests – Google Transparency Report

2011-10-25T13:20:00.001-05:00

Like other technology and communications companies, Google regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to remove content from our services and hand over user data. Our Government Requests tool discloses the number of requests we receive from each government in six-month reporting periods with certain limitations.

Governments ask companies to remove content for many different reasons. For example, some content removals are requested due to allegations of defamation, while others are due to allegations that the content violates local laws prohibiting hate speech or pornography. Laws surrounding these issues vary by country, and the requests reflect the legal context of a given jurisdiction. We hope this tool will be helpful in discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests.

Content Removal Requests – Google Transparency Report

Does Google consider SEO to be spam?

2011-10-25T10:18:00.001-05:00

SEO Google Spam Search engine optimization professionals

Google Removes The + Search Command

2011-10-24T15:57:00.002-05:00

Google has quietly removed one of the older search operators, the + search operator. Now if you try adding a + sign in your query, Google will ignore it.

hmm.. they removed Google +? think about it..

Google Removes The + Search Command

Next Week You May Not Have As Much Klout As You Thought | Social Media Today

2011-10-22T23:31:00.001-05:00

In a post on the Klout corporate blog yesterday, founder and CEO of Klout, Joe Fernandez, announced a new algorithm for Klout will be released next week: "I am incredibly proud of the work the team has done and I am excited to announce the biggest improvement to the Klout Score in our history is launching next week."

He went over 4 main criteria: Amplification, Network Impact, Accuracy and Transparency and Ability to Drive Action

Next Week You May Not Have As Much Klout As You Thought | Social Media Today

Is there a limit to how many 301 (Permanent) redirects I can do on a site?

2011-10-22T23:01:00.002-05:00

301-Redirects are Permanent - You use them when you are moving a page online permanently. 302 redirects are TEMPORARY. You use them when you need to temporarily move a page.

Google Analytics Gains "Napoleon's March" Flow Visualization Charts

2011-10-19T12:49:00.002-05:00

Google Analytics announced a new set of reports that should help marketers and website owners to understand how users behave on their websites. The feature was presented this morning during Web 2.0 Summit, on a keynote delivered by Susan Wojcicki (SVP of Google, Advertising) & Phil Mui (Group Product Manager, Google Analytics). This feature is an interesting solution to an old problem: analyzing paths throughout a website in a scalable way.

Path analysis has historically been a feature that provided little insights on user behavior, mainly because visitors behave in such non linear ways that it is hard to learn something from their paths, even when looking at aggregated data. The best option to path analysis has been to analyze micro conversions, i.e. looking at each page and trying to learn if the page has fulfilled its objective. However, the visualizations below bring some interesting approaches that will be very helpful for web analysts.

Google Analytics Gains "Napoleon's March" Flow Visualization Charts

Online safety alert for children

2011-10-16T14:44:00.001-05:00

Organized Cyber-Crime Network May Be Stealing Your Child's Identity - Security - News & Reviews - eWeek.com - eWeek Mobile

Top 10 Hackers

2011-10-12T09:50:00.000-05:00

hackers

YouTube Space Lab

2011-10-11T14:54:00.000-05:00

YouTube Blog: Coming to a universe near you: YouTube Space Lab: Cross posted from the Official Google Blog . Can plants survive beyond Earth? Can proteins observed in space reveal the mysteries of life?...

Interested students are invited to come up with an idea for a science experiment that can be conducted in space and upload a video explaining it to YouTube by December 7, 2011. The YouTube community and a panel of distinguished scientists, astronauts and expert judges, including Professor Stephen Hawking, will pick the best ones. If your video is selected, it will be performed aboard the ISS and live streamed on YouTube to the world in 2012.

Dallas Spa and Skin Care Gifts from Evanesque

2011-10-11T14:33:00.003-05:00

Update on the Perfect Peel
(by Barbara Radar @evanesque on twitter)

I just wanted to send out a quick message to update you on my experience with the Perfect Peel. Wow! My skin tone is brighter and lots of the brown pigment was broken up and removed. The texture of my skin is smoother and it feels firmer.

I did the peel on a Thursday. That night I washed it off and applied the towelett provided containing Retin A and CoQ10. On Friday, my skin was tight and felt wind burned. Friday night, I again wiped my face with a 2nd towelett. On Saturday, the shedding began! All Saturday and Sunday I was shedding like a snake and applying the moisturizer provided. By Monday peeling continued but manageable enough to go back to work without any embarrassment. The amazing thing about this peel is after five days, I thought I was pretty much done. But a light shedding continued and it was as if I could see the brown pigment still breaking up. After two weeks, I love the way my skin looks!

This is the perfect answer to the damage that occurred over the long hot summer. You will love the way it gets your face "Holiday Ready".
Please call me if you have further questions or would like to make an appointment. We have blocked out some time over the next few Thursdays but these appointments will fill quickly. Read below for further details.....

Barbara Rader
EVANESQUE

THE PERFECT PEEL will:

Greatly reduce skin conditions such as acne and melasma

Rejuvenate and produce younger, healthier looking skin

Reverse signs of aging and sun damage

Reduce acne scarring and blemishes

Lighten and brighten your skin

Slow down the skin aging process

Reduce pore size and soften fine lines

Stimulate Collagen Production resulting in firmer skin

Improve overall tone and texture

The Details ...

Day 1 Peel is applied. Client leaves and keeps on for 8 hours

Day 1 - 2 Tightening occurs, possible itching; Apply Post Peel

kit treatment

Day 3 -5 Peeling begins - Kit Moisturizer applied along with

sunscreen.

Day 6-7 Beautiful skin starts to be revealed. Return to normal

skincare regime

Introductory Price: $250 (Regularly $350)

$100 Off ~ Expires 11/15/11

Call Evanesque today to make your appointment.

214.575.5252

EVANESQUE Spa Gifts and SERVICES

Laser Hair Removal

Oxygen Enriched Microdermabrasion

Anti-Aging Facials

Hydrating Facials

The Perfect Peel

Teeth Whitening

Spray Tans

BOTOX

Fillers

Pixel Laser Resurfacing

Elastin Infused Microcurrent

Massage

Hair Styling

How To Brew Coffee - National Coffee Association

2011-10-06T14:39:00.000-05:00

There are many methods for brewing a fine cup of coffee -- no single technique is right for everyone. The method you choose for brewing your coffee should be based on your needs and your unique coffee preferences. Do you want a hearty mug of coffee for breakfast? An afternoon cappucino? Or a dessert espresso? Do you prefer a milder coffee or a more robust coffee flavor?
The quality and flavor of your coffee is not only determined by the brewing process you prefer but also by the type of coffee you select. For example, what country is the coffee from, what region and what variety of coffee tree? Or is it a blend from several countries, regions or varieties? Do you favor a dark roast coffee, a light blend or something in between? What kind of grind have you selected? Remember to be creative -- you can choose a dark espresso roast coffee and still have it ground to be brewed in a drip system.
But no matter how you choose to brew your coffee, there are guidelines to follow which will give you the best cup of coffee possible. To optimize the quality of every cup of coffee you prepare, fine-tune your brewing routine by incorporating these suggestions.

How To Brew Coffee - National Coffee Association

Google Webmaster Tools Search Queries data is now available in Google Analytics

2011-10-06T14:36:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year we announced a limited pilot for Search Engine Optimization reports in Google Analytics, based on Search queries data from Webmaster Tools. Thanks to valuable feedback from our pilot users, we’ve made several improvements and are pleased to announce that the following reports are now publicly available in the Traffic Sources section of Google Analytics.

Queries: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily queries
Landing Pages: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily landing pages
Geographical Summary: impressions, clicks, and CTR by country

All of these Search Engine Optimization reports offer Google Analytics’ advanced filtering and visualization capabilities for deeper data analysis. With the secondary dimensions, you can view your site’s data in ways that aren’t available in Webmaster Tools.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Webmaster Tools Search Queries data is now available in Google Analytics

Better Brewing with Dr. Brew - Coffee is Worth the Wait

2011-10-06T10:20:00.000-05:00

coffee, coffee brewing, how to brew the best cup of coffee, coffee breweing tips

How to become a hacker

2011-10-03T16:53:00.000-05:00

You’ve read about the exploits of groups such as LulzSec, Anonymous and AntiSec. You’ve read the Kevin Mitnick interview with great interest. You’ve followed such famous programmers as Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, Marc Andreesen and Dennis Ritchie. And, now you want to become a hacker. But, how does one become a hacker? Is there some secret society with blood rites that tests your willingness to exploit and deliver malicious payloads to unsuspecting computer users? Or, do you have to sell your soul and pledge allegiance to an organized crime boss to break into this mysterious field?

How to become a hacker | ZDNet

Google Webmaster Tools - Work smarter, not harder, with site health

2011-10-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

We consistently hear from webmasters that they have to prioritize their time. Some manage dozens or hundreds of clients’ sites; others run their own business and may only have an hour to spend on website maintenance in between managing finances and inventory. To help you prioritize your efforts, Webmaster Tools is introducing the idea of “site health,” and we’ve redesigned the Webmaster Tools home page to highlight your sites with health problems. This should allow you to easily see what needs your attention the most, without having to click through all of the reports in Webmaster Tools for every site you manage.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Work smarter, not harder, with site health

Black Eyed Peas hanging out on Google+

2011-09-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

Black Eyed Peas ON Google + Hangout

Rockfish Brand Ventures invests in location analytics platform, MomentFeed

2011-09-21T15:41:00.003-05:00

Rockfish Brand Ventures, the venture capital arm of Rockfish, announced today that it has invested in MomentFeed, a platform that centralizes access to analytics and campaign management tools for Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla. The service is especially effective for brick-and-mortar retailers with more than 20 locations, as it tracks each store’s location-based engagements – check-ins, likes, tips, tweets, pictures, and more – individually, together with insights about a brand’s most valuable customers at the local level. The investment signifies a strategic partnership, as Rockfish will work with MomentFeed to help brands translate location-based engagement data into useful marketing insights.

“Our investment in MomentFeed is what Rockfish Brand Ventures is all about.” Said Kenny Tomlin, CEO of Rockfish. “One of our core strengths is using digital to transform the retail experience, so finding a startup that fits in that niche is a perfect match. We’ve seen the emergence of location-based services and recognize the need for a platform that can help brands navigate all the new data that’s now available. We believe that MomentFeed brings a smart solution to this unique problem, so investing in them made sense for both our business and our clients”.

"A strategic partnership with Rockfish Interactive means we can tap the knowledge and resources of one of the leading digital agencies in the world”, says Rob Reed, CEO and Founder of MomentFeed. “With MomentFeed, we want to evolve location-based marketing from its nascent stage, where we are today, to full maturity by combining the best practices of retail, restaurant, and shopper marketing with the technologies of social media, location, and mobile. These are areas where Rockfish has demonstrated leadership and innovation, specifically with Fortune 500 brands.”

MomentFeed is the second investment this year for Rockfish Brand Ventures. It joins Tap.Me, a Chicago-based mobile advertising platform that allows game developers to directly connect gameplay with branded rewards and achievements from any advertiser. Rockfish joins previous investors in MomentFeed, including distinguished venture capital firms DFJ JAIC and DFJ Frontier.

About Rockfish
Rockfish is a Digital Innovation Partner for brands such as Walmart, Sam's Club, Cisco, and Tyson Foods. Through a company purpose of “building a better world through the power of digital innovation,” Rockfish helps clients find solutions that are meaningful to their customers and measurable to their business. Rockfish has been recognized as the OMMA 2010 Agency of the Year for Web Design & Development, ranked third on the 2009 Ad Age Agency A-List that recognizes the ten best agencies in the world, and has earned a place on the Inc. 500/5000 Fastest Growing Companies the past two years. Rockfish is headquartered in Rogers, AR, with offices in Dallas, TX, Cincinnati, OH and Little Rock, AR. Rockfish Brand Ventures is the venture capital arm of Rockfish.

About MomentFeed
MomentFeed is a location-based analytics and campaign management service (SaaS) for companies with 20+ locations to manage. The MomentFeed platform enables companies to monitor consumer engagement activity; launch, measure, and optimize campaigns; and maintain customer relationships via Foursquare, Facebook Places, Gowalla, and Twitter Places across hundreds or thousands of locations through an integrated, Web-based solution. MomentFeed is available globally. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif.

Rockfish Brand Ventures invests in location analytics platform, MomentFeed

#Dallas #SEO #Blog

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