Google announced today a shift in its algorithm that is going to affect about 12% of its search results.

Google says

This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.
At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.

The change, in the beginning would affect US results only but would be rolled out elsewhere over time.

If you are using softwares that grabs content from other people, it is time to make a change.

Google claims that Bing if copying its search results. In fact it had devised a sting operation to get an evidence.
Read the full article here

Bing has added a new feature to its search results. In a collaboration with Facebook , Bing has made the search more social.

If your search results show something that happens to be liked by someone in your network, the link will be highlighted as ‘Liked’ within Bing.

This speaks volumes about influence social media is gaining over the search. It seems a good option too. If I find that someone likes the thing I am searching for, naturally, I am influenced to check that out.

So if you have not started your journey, its the time.

Get more of your content liked by people and you get more weightage in searcher’s mind.

[I see an industry developing on that]

If you scroll to the bottom of the images on the page, there is a new button that reads, “Switch to basic version.”

If you click on that it takes you to old interface

You can switch back by pressing “Switch to standard version.”

There is a new feature from Google that has been rolled out in few domains and would be coming soon to others. It is called Google Instant and it shows the search results as you type.

The enhancement is based on the observation by Google that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds to glance at another part of the page.

This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

With Google Instant you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.”

By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

More about Google Instant Here

It seems that Yahoo and Microsoft search alliance has begun. Yahoo has begun testing organic and paid search listings from Microsoft. It is showing up 25% of its search traffic organic listing and up to 3.5% may see paid listings from Microsoft.

In coming months mobile organic and paid listing would be integrated.

The new guidelines for the advertisers are here

It is an old age mantra that link building is about relationship building. But how to approach relationship building that would translate into more links?

Jeremy Bencken Search Engine Watch has come with a timely advice that tells people what to do actually for building relations.

Here is the complete article.

This is a follow up post on my tryst with Wordtracker. I always believed that I was good in keyword research. But I need to learn a lot. I was surprised after I joined Wordtracker how much I was overlooking.

Wordtracker allows you to create projects. I have included this website, Bone And Spine and Med Care Tips for improvements and optimization.

The best part that I liked was to research before making a blog post. I used to do this sparingly before and most of the times wrote on basis of what crossed my mind.

That kind of approach can take you up to certain level only which I think I had reached.

To get beyond, I need to  work smartly. While I would still write what I like, the content would be guided by my research.

I look forward to the improved and relevant blog posts. tags and titles.

I am liking Wordtracker for keyword research. Its interface is simple and intuitive.

Moreover their video tutorials are very helpful.

Microsoft has released a free tool kit that would help you optimize your website for SEO benefit.The free toolkit essentially works like a search engine would.

It processes your site in a similar manner and provides a report of the items and potential solutions to optimize a sites organic search results.

Using this tool you would get tons of suggestions about what you should do to maximize click-through, says the Microsoft.

And the best part is - it is free

The benefits as suggested by Microsoft are

• Increase website traffic and revenue
• Influence and update search engines
• Improve customer experience

Download The Toolkit From Here

Did you wish that no body else sees the information when  you search Google next time. Well! You are not alone.

As people spend more time on the Internet, they do not like being accessed.

We are already aware of  information encryption being used by  banking and ecommerce sites. It is usually recognized by a web address starting with “https” or a browser lock icon.

Gmail users would be aware of encryption it has.

The Google is gradually securing https://www.google.com too.

This secured channel helps protect your search terms and your search results pages from being intercepted by a third party on your network. The service includes a modified logo to help indicate that you’re searching using SSL.

The service is still in beta.

Image Search and Maps are not covered by this feature as of now.

Sincece SSL connections require additional time to set up the encryption between your browser and the remote web server, it may take more time when searching a query.

What does this mean?

This means third parties would not have access to the search data. However, your data still lies with Google as usual.

This ignites many thoughts in my mind. There are many services based  on the information on Google.

What would happen to those?