Tag archive: google search

While we’ve known for quite some time that Google likes to take account of our activity across its products for personalization purposes, consumer concern has been heightened by its new singular privacy policy system. There are benefits to the upgrade, but some are worried about getting too much customization in with your search queries. If you generally want to keep your Google applications free of personalization, here are a few ways to… Read More

The Facebook vs. Google war has been brewing for quite some time—its origins can likely be traced back to Facebook’s launch, when Google was put on notice that it needed to jump on social and soon. Things have only escalated since, with both companies chopping at the bit to control as much consumer data as possible and taking measures to keep the other from doing exactly that. So it’s no surprise that Facebook–and others–are fighting… Read More

Twitter has acquired social reader Summify, and will likely work in the site’s content summary technology into its own application. “Our long-term vision at Summify has always been to connect people with the most relevant news for them, in the most efficient manner. As hundreds of millions of people worldwide are signing up and consuming Twitter, we realized it’s the best platform to execute our vision at a truly global scheme,” the startup… Read More

Announced during the Consumer Electronics Show this week, the new version of Mbrace developed by Mercedes-Benz will support several new Web applications including Facebook profiles, Google search and Street View, Morningstar Finance, Panoramio and popular review site Yelp. Many of the applications tie into the car's navigation system and update the car's route when redirecting to a nearby Facebook friend or a well-reviewed… Read More

Google recently announced changes to its formula which push Google+ and Picasa content to the forefront of search results. Twitter soon expressed its dislike for the search changes in an official statement. Unofficially, Twitter's general counsel and former Google employee, Alex Macgillivray, criticized Google's move in a tweet earlier today, saying it was a “bad day for the Internet.” He also remarked that there was probably… Read More

After being accused of violating its own sponsored content policy, Google is pointing the finger at a marketing company behind its Chrome browser campaign, Unruly Media. The company, which Google hired, will have to take the blame for the blatant self-promotion. SEO Book first discovered that the phrase “This post is sponsored by Google” returned 400 pages advertising the company. In at least one case, a post failed to follow the “nofollow”… Read More

Google has begun testing a new design for its famously minimalist home page, reducing its recently-added grey menu along the top of the page to a grey logo at the upper left. When users click the logo, a fly-out menu reveals Google's usual space of seven top services (Google+, Search, Images, Maps, YouTube, News, Gmail, and Documents) and a “More” option that flys out an hierarchical submenu with access to things like Reader,… Read More

Noticed on a wider scale today, Google has begun integrating Google+ updates from official brand pages within search results. The brand page updates are tied to the official URL of the company and up to two recent entries from the brand page appear within the results. Users viewing the search results can add the page to their circles if they have a Google+ profile. They can also click on the Google+ updates to reach the brand page in addition… Read More

Businesses the size of Google tend to attract all manner of litigation, and Google has felt the sting of legal battle. The company is already facing its share of high-profile cases, including an major infringement suit with Oracle — and a looming mano-a-mano with Apple — over its Android operating system. Now, the Internet giant faces another patent infringement battle, and this one is from across the pond. British Telecommunications has filed… Read More

Siri, the breakout technology made famous via the iPhone 4S, has inspired everything from talk of the next step in artificial intelligence to an entirely new Internet meme. But Apple’s been cagey on introducing the feature to its other devices, and at the moment it remains something of an exclusive application. If you have Siri-envy, there is a solution beyond caving and buying the expensive smartphone. A new take on the search engine called… Read More

Google recently issued another significant alteration to its search algorithm. As we know, and as Google has told us many times before, it is constantly working to adapt and evolve search, and while little tweaks don’t warrant announcements, the latest efforts to increase the timing relevance of search results does. To provide the freshest results possible, Google says some 35 percent of search results will be affected. And now, some four days… Read More

Yesterday Google announced it would begin offering writers a new way to promote their work on the Web. Now, in Google News, writers have the option of having their identity given some spotlight alongside their stories. Given the obvious effect Google rankings can have on a site’s performance, this is inarguably an important tool. But there’s always a hitch, and this time it’s the fact that you aren’t linking in your Internet profile of choice.… Read More

When searching for something online nothing is more annoying than finding old information instead of the latest and freshest news. Today Google announced some updates to its search engine that will help you receive the freshest results possible. Of course all search results will still go through all the normal filtering, but Google will also pass the results through an additional algorithm to show more recent entries higher in the results when… Read More

Back in November, Google launched Boutiques.com as part of its growing Product Search efforts. The site prompted you to fill out a questionnaire to determine your style, and using algorithms created based on your answers, would present you with options. The site bared no obvious connection to Google and was praised for its slick layout, but nonetheless it will be shutting its doors. In lieu of this closure, Google is overhauling its Product… Read More

Google chairman Eric Schmidt is currently in Washington defending his company in antitrust hearings that are investigating whether or not abuses have been made. Basically, the Senate Judiciary Committee is questioning whether or not Google is simply meeting consumer needs or if it’s purposefully trying to eliminate competition. Here are some of the more revealing question and answer segments from today’s hearing. On cooking search results… Read More