The month long standoff between Google and China is now experiencing an unexpected thaw with the China’s announcement to renew Google’s license. However, it is not a one-side victory for Google since it has already stopped redirecting its visitors to Google.com.hk. Therefore, it is a win-win situation for both the belligerent parties. China has taken a soft stance in this issue to uplift its global image whereas what Google is trying to do is to regain its lost position in China.

Google has already made an announcement that it is pleased with the decision taken by the Government of China and it is looking forward to continue its operation in China. However, Google has already made it clear that it is not willing to cooperate on the sensitive issue of imposing censorship and it is going to show uncensored results in google.com.hk. Jessica Powell, Tokyo-based Google spokeswoman has cleared that they have asked the Chinese government to renew license on those products that do not come under the purview of any censorship.

This news has already bought fortune for Google. Price of Google’s share rose 4% in pre-market trading whereas share price of Google’s main rival Baidu has taken a sharp nosedive by falling as much as 7%. This is a clear indication of the return of Google’s fortune.

The search giant has already stopped Chinese users from getting automatically redirected to its Hong Kong search engine, instead it is offering an option for the users. However, as it seems that this move has not pleased the Chinese government.

Though not all is good for Google in China, still at it has managed to get a much-needed lifeline to keep its hope alive.

As virtual platform is getting crammed with millions of websites and blogs all churning out thousands of web-pages and articles each day, it is becoming increasing tough for Google and other search engines to determine which website deserves to be on the top of a particular search query. However, there is no apparent reason to demystify the importance of link juice, content, website design and website relevancy as of now, but the importance of page speed as it is dictated by Google itself is sure to play a decisive role in determining the ranking of a website in Google.

In a latest announcement, Google made it clear that it is trying out incorporate the value of page speed in its algo. Though it will have minimal impacts on the current rankings in Google, it has already sent shockwaves around the world and sparked wild and widespread rumor. But there is no need to press the panic button yet, as this incorporation will not initiate any drastic change in the current ranking.

Page Speed depends on a website’s response to a user’s query. As Google always tries to deliver relevant results to its users to improve users’ experience, it is trying to take page speed into account while considering ranking of a website. Now, how on earth you will be able to evaluate the current page speed of your website. Here are some simple tools that you can try out:

Webmaster Tool: – Just log in to your Webmaster Tool Account, then go to Labs > Site Performance. It will show your site’s speed as experienced by the users.
WebPagetest:- It is another useful tool that allows website owners to analyze the load performance of their website.
Yslow:- It is superb tool from Yahoo that will give valuable inputs to enhance the page speed of your website.
Page Speed: It is fabulous open source Firefox/Firebug add-on with myriads of features that will definitely help you to make proper analysis.

At the initial stage, the impacts of page speed can only be felt in Google.com. Rankings in other country specific results such as Google.co.in or Google.com.au will remain unchanged for the time being. Do you want to more about page speed, just get in touch with us. We will definitely help you out in every possible way.

The long tussle between China and Google has ultimately snowballed into an unprecedented crisis. Google has finally announced that it is not interested to continue its operation in Mainland China, and has finally redirected Google.Cn to Google.Com.Hk, where users will be able to view uncensored version of Google search result.

Google is aware of the fact that Chinese Government may ban its people from accessing Google.Com.Uk anytime soon, but still it refuses to budge under any pressure. Google’s strong stance against the Chinese hegemony is clear indication of its unwillingness to kowtow to Chinese authority or to make a compromise with its core policy. Though both the parties have made it clear that this development will have no impact on Sino-USA relationship, but things may take an ugly turn if Chinese government takes any stern action against this leading search engine company in near future.

So far, Chinese Authorities have taken draconian actions against Google by censoring its search result. So, Google did not have any other alternative to hit back to it by discontinuing its web search in China.

Has the time come to bid adieu to our old friend Facebook or our new found love for twitting? Still wondering why? Simple, Google is once again in the headline with the launch of Google Buzz, which is all set to give Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites a run for their money. Well we are neither devoted worshippers of Google, as you are taking it to be, nor are we adamant to sort out the flaws in its newly launched social networking sites forcefully. What we are trying to do is to conduct a reality check here in this article.

Is it something groundbreaking, is something awe-inspiring or is it the repetition of another failure project of Google. Well, Time has the answer but for the time being, we will try to decipher what is missing out there in Google Buzz or what is most amazing about it.

Buzz is Here to Stay: This is the probably the most encouraging five words that you can use to predict the future of Google Buzz. Buzz may or may not be touted as a brilliant example of Google’s marketing blitzkrieg in future, but one thing is dead certain that you cannot overlook it completely. The massive marketing campaign initiated by Google is sure to tempt you to get into it sooner or later. Here lies the success of Google Buzz.

Is It Full Baked? : Most of us tired of using Google’s beta service which makes us believe that Google’s love for beta will never end but thankfully it seems that Google has ultimately managed to shed its infatuation for the beta tag. Google Buzz is a complete package; a fully backed product with delightful features. We have logged in our Google Buzz accounts (to be precise Gmail accounts) and it seems that everything is working perfectly and smoothly.

Following Footsteps of Twitter: Sound too harsh. Just give us some time to explain it. Just ask yourself what is new about Google Buzz? You will scratch your head until you reach the conclusion that there is nothing new or innovative about Google Buzz save its Gmail like interface. But this is not something unique, is it? It is more or less similar to that of Twitter and the only difference is that there is no word limit, but this is hardly anything novel.

Fuss or Buzz: Does Google Buzz really worth the buzz that is keep humming even after realizing the fact that there is nothing interesting about it? You cannot call it micro blogging site, because there is no word limit and what’s more, you cannot call it blog simply because Google does not reckon it to be. Then what the heck is all about it?

Not In My Inbox Again: You are bound to shriek with terror when you will see that the thread that will create in your Google Buzz account is getting stored in your inbox. Weird concept. Now why on earth we need them in our inboxes when most of us are struggling to keep our inboxes clean? We have not found solve this mystery. If anyone of you knows the reason please let us know about it. We will be glad to know it.

Now, the dust has finally started to settle down. Users are giving their feedbacks. But it will take some more days to decipher whether Google Buzz will survive in already crammed networking world or not. Let’s hope for the best.

The war of words has just taken a whole new dimension; as both Google and China are crossing their swords over a controversial issue that can trigger untimely exist of Google from China’s emerging Internet market. The issue came into light when officials at Google confirmed that an attack of an unprecedented level was plotted against it corporate infrastructure located at China to unearth information on some Chinese human right activists. Though cyber attack on Google is anything but new, the magnitude and the purpose of this recent attack, (as Google presents it) originated from China, is something to be noted carefully.

Google has taken a tough stance on this issue and has officially announced that it will no longer abide by the guidelines set the Chinese government that go against its core values and policy. It even went on further by stating that it is ready to withdraw its service from China altogether if Chinese government refuses to budge. This move, if taken at all, can dent China’s global image but on the other hand, Google will have to bid adieu to an emerging market consists of 300 millions users. Can Google bear with this huge lose? Will it take back the gauntlet that it has thrown down to China? Will Google be able to crumble the Great Wall of China? These are some of the questions that have kept the world guessing.

If you are too absorbed and obsessed with the latest announcement of Microsoft joining hand with Yahoo and its immanent impacts in the search engine industry, just take a short break because it is not the end rather; it just the beginning. Google has just joined in the fray by announcing that it is trying make its search result more accurate and precise by introducing some changes in its algorithm. In a post in the Webmaster Central Blog, Google has revealed that it has been engaged in a secret project for the last couples of months for appropriating its search result by improving its accuracy and indexing speed.

Though this technology is now being treated separately under the name of “Caffeine”, it will be streamlined with the main Google search within few days after making necessary changes based on the feedbacks of the users. Though it is not novel on the part of Google to introduce change in its algo, what makes this announcement important and something to worry about is that all the three major search engines are almost pushing and shoving each other by unveiling new projects one by one. It is almost inevitable that these changes will introduce radical changes in the domain of search engine industry but what is ever more amazing is that Google is assuring its users that the changes will be minor.

Matt Cutts, the leading engineer at Google, has discussed some of the crucial issues pertained to Google’s Caffeine update that has left many SEO experts feeling jittery. Lets see what he has to say about it:

What Matt Cutts wants to say is that he and other engineers at Google are trying to transform Google into an accurate search engine by increasing its accuracy and by promoting its user-friendly as far as possible. Though a number of changes have been introduced before by Google, not an update of this magnitude has ever been done since 2006.

If you can’t wait any longer, just visit: http://www2.sandbox.google.com/.

It is virtually impossible to gauge the impact of this Caffeine update unless it is being integrated with the main Google search. Till then, we will have to wait patiently and have to continue our SEO work following all the guidelines of Google, if we do not want to experience a disastrous result, which the search engine industry had experienced after the Florida update.

The long drama has finally ended and the climax has become evident at last. It takes more than four long months to seal an agreement between two former belligerent parties, Yahoo and Microsoft, to tie a knot of mutual understanding for ensuring better future and to give a tough competition to their main rival – the Big G. Rumor is abuzz that the hegemony of Google has come to end. Even some over enthusiastic people are crying in joy that this deal has put the first nail on the dominance of Google in search engine industry but what I think is just the opposite. The pack, which I believe has done in a hurry without caring a fig of its future implication, vindicates the sheer hapless condition of both Microsoft and Yahoo, who hitherto have become weary of building up futile resistance against the ubiquitous presence of Google.

The ground truth is that Microsoft has experienced an unbelievable setback even after launching its so-called decision search engine: The Bing, which failed miserably. On the other hand, Yahoo has virtually become invisible during this period when Google and Bing were engaged in blood curdling online battle. Ultimately Bing was humiliated in the hands of Google and Microsoft has got the worst shock when Google announced that it would offer Chrome based OS in coming year. Therefore, it is clear that this deal is just a continuation of this series of incidents. Now, lets us check out what the deal is all about:

In simple English, this revolutionary deal is aimed at improving the web search experience altogether for both the advertisers and the users. Yahoo Search will now be powered by Microsoft and Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both Microsoft and Yahoo. Report has it that this deal will pave the way for new innovation and better web experience, as the developers of both Microsoft and Yahoo will work in collaboration. Users will be able to exploit the power and the strength of both search engines. Check out more form here.

The excitement has not been subsided yet since Google has announced its much-hyped free Internet service – Google Voice. But it seems that Google is in no mood to give its competitors a slightest chance to make a foray into its bastion. Though Google Voice is now in experimental stage and cannot be accessed without getting invitation save in US, Google has cleared its intention by adding another jaw dropping feature in this service, which has not been launched in full fledged form yet! Google has introduced a change in Google voice, which will facilitate the task of making outgoing calls from ones Google Voice number. A brand new Google Voice application for Android and Blackberry has released by Google, which will enable the users to send SMSs and make outgoing calls with their respective Google Voice numbers without using Quick Call button or dialing their Google Voice number. This new mobile application is designed in such a way that it will act as an integral part of your mobile phone and thereby helping you to get rid of those nagging problems. So from now, users will be able to dial a number directly from their mobile sets through Google Voice.

It is remarkable that Google has introduced this change based on the feedbacks of those lucky few that have managed to grab the much-coveted invitation from Google Voice. Here are some of the cool things that you will be able to do with Google Voice (obviously if you were lucky enough to get invitation from Google Voice): Continue reading ‘Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android’ »