When a site is whacked by the Google's algorithmic update, the affected webmaster tries to get answers from Google, but is often unable to get a detailed response, that too…

12th of October, 2011 and the Google home page is displaying a charming doodle. Hovering the mouse over it will tell you that this captivating animation is dedicated to the…

Webmasters can now analyze mobile users data in a much better and accurate manner. Google has rolled out a new data and analysis tool – Our Mobile Planet, that will provide access to anyone to the data and research on smartphone usage.

How The Tool Works?

What makes this site special is, that it has an interactive tool that lets people create custom data analysis charts from Google’s “Global Mobile Research: The Smartphone User & The Mobile Marketer” report, that came out early in 2011. This new tool lets webmasters do extensive research on consumer behavior with regard to search, video, social and more.

The tool will let you sample data based on-

• Penetration of consumer adaption of smartphones (The reach)
• The reason for which people are using these devices (The Why?)
• In what way are consumers are using these devices (The How?)
• What activities are people taking up on their smartphones. (The Activities)
• What is the purchasing patterns on smartphones (The Commerce)
• How are people responding to promotions (The Advertising)

Panda Weather Reports have been issued by Google. But not in any official manner, its just that Google's Matt Cutts Tweeted about an upcoming Panda tweaks. Webmasters around the world have welcomed this move by Google.

The Tweet That Made The Difference:

A Panda Weather Report about an upcoming algorithmic tweak has been tweeted by Google's Matt Cutts. This is what he said-

“Weather report: expect some Panda-related flux in the next few weeks, but will have less impact than previous updates (~2%).”

In case you are not clear what this means, is that there will be a minor Panda update 2.6, in the next few weeks. Panda is an algorithm, that is not constant in ranking factors, but is a special algorithm that Google uses periodically. This Tweet by Cutts means that soon after the Panda 2.5, which is a major update, webmasters can expect another update in the coming weeks. Google keeps bringing in these updates quite regularly, since the first one.

Google is of the view that they do want to give advance notices (weather reports) wherever they deem necessary. It is not possible to do it every time as they tweak the algorithm more than 500 times in a year.

A survey conducted by About.com has identified the following three reasons behind why people do online searching-

1. They want answers
2. They want to be educated
3. They want to be inspired.

Tracy Raiser, senior vice president for sales, About.com, explained the findings in the following way –

“These findings offer advertisers and marketers a better understanding and valuable insight into the way consumers search online. The Three Mindsets of Search study aims to improve the understanding of how consumers search. It’s a real opportunity for marketers to think about campaigns in a whole new light.”

A key significance of these findings is that they can provide a clue to marketers on how to connect more effectively with people doing Internet searching.