For webmasters who were not very sure about the review process by Google spam team, Matt Cutts has come up with an explanation. The question was – ‘When Google does a manual review do you guys use a "set standard" when banning (removing from the index) sites or do you guys ban based on if it "looks bad" or even smells like spam?’
Interflora, now a known name in the SEO community, caused a stir few days ago for getting banned from Google for purchasing too many paid-link advertorials. Just three days later, its back in the news as Google has lifted the ban-penalty. No doubt, questions are going to be asked as to why Google has lifted the ban so soon after the penalty was imposed on InterFlora.
Millions of searches takes place on Google. Ever wondered how the Google search process actually works? Google launched a new website yesterday and appropriately named it “How Search Works”. This website offers an easy to understand 'behind-the-scene' view at the search process, from beginning till end.
You can now use Google search results to see upcoming events on your calendar. Google announced on Google+ the expansion of Gmail field trial into Google Calendar, allowing users who opt in to search the calendar for upcoming events and appointments.
The search works perfectly with specific appointments. For instance, if you’ve a staff meeting schedule, you may type ‘when am I meeting staff’.
In the latest help video published by Matt Cutts on Youtube he shares insights on location and ccTLDs. Specifically, he answers the following question asked by a user:
“We have a vanity domain (http://ran.ge) that unfortunately isn’t one of the generic TLDs, which means we can’t set our geographic target in Webmaster Tools. Is there any way to still target our proper location?”
Sistrix is a German SEO tools company. Recently, Sistrix, published a Google Update history page which gives a brief listings of all the Google updates in one single page.
Along with the date, Sistrix has provided with the name of the Google update that took place in a pictorial format. But this little bit of information is not what caught our attention. The most significant feature of this page is the tool that allows you to see how your website responded to every update.
Google has launched Google Business Photos program for businesses in India. This program is a part of Google Maps service, it allows businesses to post 360 degree interior photos of their restaurants, shops, showrooms and offices on Google Maps. As of now the program has been launched in eight different cities in India. Soon it will expand to twenty different cities by the end of the year. The Business Photos Program is already live and a running successfully in several countries such as United States, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland.
Couple of days ago, Google lowered the PageRank scores for several UK news sites. The known reason for such a dip in PageRank of these websites is that they indulged in mass selling of links.
The cloak of secrecy is slowly falling off Google Glass. They have now released Google Glass Official Promo that demonstrates UI in real world situations. The video provides glimpses of head-mounted, augmented realty Glass experience.
The Glass is now through the project phase and Google is ready to hand out the units to anyone who applies and pays the $1,500 price. The rider – you should be residing in the US. You’ll also need to pick up a session in New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco.
2012 Ecommerce Industry Report of CPC Strategy closely examines performance of Google Shopping against its main competitor Amazon Product Ads. Metrics factored in included CPC, traffic, revenue, conversion rate and cost of sale.
Cost-per-sale of advertisers on Google Shopping was 32.5% lower compare to Amazon Product Ads in Q3 and Q4. As for average cost-per-click, Google Shopping clocked $0.31 against $0.41 of Amazon, which translates into 32.5%. This can be attributed to lack of minimum CPC bid requirements and more sophisticated campaign management tools available in Google Shopping.
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