search engine
Google Expands Flight Search
Google flight search which was started for flight destinations in US alone has now been expanded to 500 cities outside the US. A comprehensive list of destination has not provided by Google but most Asian and European countries were available.
Presently we don’t know how the popularity of the flight search among the people as there are established travel sites and search engines which are more easier to use than flight Search. The PC version is more challenging when compared mobile and iPad versions of Google flight search.
The success of flight search will depend on two important variables namely UI(User Interface) and it’s features. It also depends on how Google promotes it’s flight search through it’s search results.
Searching for “SFO to LHR” does not return any information and clicking on the “blue airplane” does not take you into flight search results. Google will be cautions in promoting flight search as the product is in beta version.Both flight search and hotel finder from google has the potential in taking Google to next level but currently neither of them has reached the level.
GetMo Mobile Optimization launched by Google in UK
A new campaign will help UK businesses to optimize their sites for use with mobile devices.The campaign known as “GetMo initiative” was launched by Google recently.The new “GetMo Intiative” will help webmasters and tools for optimizing sites that will be accessed through mobile browsers. Testing materials, developer guides and case studies are designed based on Google’s HowToGoMo U.S. effort which help businesses to optimise their sites for mobile handsets.
The initiative will also provide an opportunity for third party developers in building more mobile sites in the coming months. UK was mainly chosen because 84 percent of UK users have looked up local information on their mobile phones. Google have found that mobile searches have grown over 400 percent over the past two years.
According to Google, a lot of business are unable to keep up with the demand and offer sites suited for mobile browsers. Due to increase in the sales of smartphones more consumers engage with the brands by searching for them on their mobile phone.
GetMo campaign also provides an opportunity for Google to boost it’s mobile browser market in UK. In both handset and tablet fields, Google’s android platform has been increasing its market share.
New Local Search Layout and SERP Design tested by Bing
New designs are being tested by Bing for their search engine results pages and local search listings. According to Liveside.net, a new Bing UI seems to have been rolled out for more users in the U.S. A lot of designs have been changed over the last few months,but this one represents the most substantial update.
The suggested searches appear below the search box and not in the side bar. User controls have become more prominent and navigational elements have become smaller.
Two new local search results layouts are tested by Bing and currently local search results are displayed in a box at the top of the page.Three to five results are listed as text links next to a Bing map and organic results are listed below it.
The new features currently are not available to all users and will disappear as Bing continues to test new layouts and designs.Bing has been trying to balance both local business and users trying to find information about them
Health Search feature added by Google
A new feature health search results have been added to Google. Google will now list possibly related health conditions when searched for a symptom or multiple symptoms of an illness.
In it’s official blog,Google had announced the feature and also shown with an example [abdominal pain on my right side] to show how it will work. The results which appear over Google’s organic results are algorithimically generated and not written by doctors or medical experts.
A lot of people have started using the search engines for getting answers on medical questions. Out of 10 Internet users,eight people look for health related information online making it the third most popular activity.
The question which will arise is whether Google’s new suggestion will help people in need or just misguide them in a wrong direction. Your comments are invited about Google’s new search feature
Google pays people to use Screenwise
Screenwise, a new product from Google is paying the web users to make Google better.You need to search the web using Google web browser and share the data with Google.
The users need to install a black router on their home network to measure the internet usage.The black router acts as a screenwise data collector.People who will install this router will earn $100 for joining and $20 for each month of participation.
The project starts on March 1st and it is on the same day Google’s new privacy policy goes into effect. Google has created this program to learn how everyday people use the internet.You need to be atleast 13 years old,have a Google account and use Chrome web browser.
“As a panelist, you’ll add a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them. What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products and services and make a better online experience for everyone,” according to the website.
Google will be offering you a $5 amazon gift card to install the browser extension as an incentive for signing up. An additional $5 Amazon gift card will be offered every 3 months if particiapnts continue to participate in the Screenwise program.
Even though Amazon is not involved in the Screenwise program,Google has made it clear that they will be receiving Amazon gift cards.Knowledge Networks,an online research firm is the panel management partner for conducting analysis.
Google spokesperson said “Like many other web and media companies, we do panel research to help better serve our users by learning more about people’s media use, on the web and elsewhere,” according to a Google spokesperson.” People can stay long as they like and can leave at any time.
Google Panda Update Confirmed
The reports of a Panda update by Google has been confirmed and it may rolled out anytime this week. Google has also told that there won’t be any algorithm changes and the update is just a data refresh of Google Panda algorithm.
A lot of webmasters have commented about the loss in rankings and many sites regained their traffic to Pre Panda level.
Google Panda 3.2
A lot of people may ask why 3.2 and not 2.x?One of the Googler told that “one of the 2.x updates was labeled as “minor” update and should have likely named as major update”. The updates are not numbered by Google so it is not easy to keep track of the updates.
The current “data fresh” update is just a minor update so this update is referred as 3.2 update. The last update was done during November and there was a long gap between two updates because Google said there would not be any updates during holidays.
Average Search Position Metric Recalculated by Google
There has been changes made on how Google calculates average position metric.In an attempt to provide more accuracy to the rankings,the way of calculating average position in Google Webmaster Tools Top Search Queries and Google Analytics has undergone some changes.
This is a sample Google has put forward to understand about the changes it has made to average ranking position of pages in a site.
“Let’s say Adam searched for [blue berries] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 3, 6, and 12. Richard also searched for [blue berries] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 5 and 9. Previously, we would have averaged all these positions together and shown an Average Position of 7. Going forward, we’ll only average the highest position your site appeared in for each search (3 for Adam’s search and 5 for Richard’s search), for an Average Position of 4.” There won’t be any changes made to historical data.
Google Launches One Privacy Policy for All
A new master privacy policy and terms of service was announced by Google in it’s official blog.The users will be notified about the new changes in the coming days.The new terms of service and privacy policy will take effect on March 1.
Instead of 70 privacy documents,Google has created one privacy document to govern all it’s products.Google can pull information from one service and deliver it to you through other Google product you use.
Individual search has become more customized and this has brought a wonderful opportunity for the advertisers to reach their targeted audience.
Check out this video on Google’s Privacy Policy Update
These new changes from Google aslo helps them to make more revenue. It will result in better search results and ads. Google made sure that it will never sell user information and it still promotes data liberation. Google received a fare share of criticism for the changes in in it’s privacy policy in previous years.
Punctuation Marks and Symbols in Google Search Results
Another update from Google on it’s search results and now you can see results for punctuation marks and symbols.Searching for the symbol equivalent of a percent sign,comma,carat and more symbols will return search results but the results are not exactly relevant.
Wikipedia page ranks as the top link for for the following punctuation marks.
- ^ (caret)
- ( ) { } [ ] (bracket) – parentheses, brackets and curly brackets are all combined into the same search result
- ~ (tilde)
- | (vertical bar)
- “ (quotation marks)
- < (less-than sign) > (greater-than sign)
- $ (dollar sign)
- . (full stop/period)
- , (comma)
- : (colon) – however, the colon that is a piece of the large intestine currently outranks the punctuation mark of the same name
- ; (semicolon)
- # (number sign)
- % (percent sign)
- @ (at sign)
These punctuation marks in Yahoo and Bing diplays “No results found” to the user.
Ability to Block Search Results Will Return
When Search Plus Your World was launched by Google a few days back it also marked the exit of ability to block web sites from search results. Google says the feature will return back but the timing was not disclosed.
How Blocking Worked
Previously the results contain a “Block All” link that appeared below them. Selecting this option will not display pages in the search results of the site you blocked. This option no longer appears.
Return of Blocking Will Take “Some Time”
The feature has been dropped earlier this week and Google told they are working on a fix.Search Plus Your World is still in the process of being rolled out. It’s only a short term problem and and it might take some time.
Response to Relevancy Complaints
The blocking site feature was released last February that allowed users to block sites only if they used Google Chrome. A lot of criticisms were made on Google that their relevancy had decreased to a great extent. Google have also addressed regarding this issue in their official blog.The ability to block sites, along with Google’s Panda Update, were part of that response.