Not an Yahoo moment for Yahoo as its millions of loyal fans are crying hoarse over its much speculated and much anticipated integration with Bing that is supposed to ring the death bell of a great search engine. This is pathetic reduction of a great search engine to an appendage of Bing. Yahoo which was once considered to be the arch rival of Google, has sold itself to Bing and it is no more a search engine. All its secrets that were developed painstakingly by some of the best developers of the world for years are in the hands of Bing, who is now revving up use this new arsenal to invade the territory of Google.

Yahoo Up For Sale
However, Yahoo is not going to acknowledge this fact. It still believes that it will be able to retain its position as a search engine in coming years. Shashi Seth, Senior Vice President, Yahoo! Search Products, in his latest post in YsearchBlog has proudly stated “Yahoo! Search will always be a Search Engine”. But the reality does not say so. It seems people are already shifting their attention from Yahoo search to Bing and we believe that Bing is relishing it.

Yahoo: The New Yes-man
The process of annihilation was started most probably on August 17, 2010 since in that day, Yahoo has posted three posts in its YSearchBlog for making people aware of the coming changes. As was to be expected, it tried its level best to convince the readers that this move is going to benefits the users by enhancing users experience but this is nothing more than just a façade. When the merger will be completed, we will like to have a new Yahoo, which will lack all its originality. It will just be a mere shadow of what it had once, it will be transformed into a yes-man of Bing.

Bing Is Better, Smarter
From now on, search listing on Yahoo! Search is likely to be powered by Bing. However, this change will come into effect in the US and Canada at the initial stage. It is likely to take 2 years more to complete the full transition in other parts of the world. Yahoo! Video, Image and Web search are now powered by Microsoft platform in Canadian and the US market.

Bing is visibly happy with the outcome. In its blog it has expressed its unbridled happiness for the successful completion of this task. Here are the excerpts:

Today I am happy to share that Bing is powering Yahoo!’s search results in the US and Canada (English only for now, the other languages will come in the weeks and months ahead).

What Should Webmasters Do?
Try to please Bing. This is all you can do since there is no need to please Yahoo anymore. If you can manage to get better ranking in Bing, we hope that you will be able to get better ranks in Yahoo as well. Try to keep a close eye on the latest developments and pray to God.

Has Google ultimately found its calling in shopping or is it becoming a shopalcoholic? This is probably the most debated question as of now, as Google has gulped down another popular website and this time it is none other than Like.com, which is one of the most favored destinations for a majority of online shoppers.

Google Loving it
You may like it or not but the fact is that Like.com has eventually been overtaken by Internet behemoth Google. Like.com, which was a having a good time with its loyal visitors, but as it seems, it could not resist the temptation of getting merged with Google. And as far as Google’s motif is concerned, what it is trying to do is to revive its long-forgotten product: Google Product search but this is just a wild guess since no one at Google is willing to spill the bean. There was no disclosure on financial term but the market is abuzz with the rumor that the takeover might cost Google a whopping $100 million. However, Google is keeping a mum on this issue.

Like.com will continue to operate separately as stated by Google and therefore, there is no reason to press the panic button yet if you are a regular visitor of Like.com. This website is specialized in a technology that is basically built on visual search. People used to visit this website for gathering information about latest fashion trend and for getting supercool shopping deals at a mind-blowing rate. Here, you can get almost anything for making a fashion statement that may range from handbags to hanky, from clothing to garments.

Like.Com Not A Loser:
Like.Com is not going to lose its identity as dictated by its owner in its home page. This deal in all its probability is like to supervise its vision and supercharge its passion and probably, it is going to create a fertile ground for Google so that it can develop new and revolutionary products. Like.com is visibly excited and ecstatic about this deal as evident from the remark of Riya chief executive Munjal Shah.

Doubts Creep In
But there are some serious doubts over this acquisition. Critics are not sure whether this deal would do any good to Google or not. Another disturbing fact is that for the last couple of months, Like.com was finding it difficult to increase its popularity and therefore, when Google approaches it, it agreed to its proposal.

However, this move is quite expected since Bing is turning the heat on Google in the search engine market by initiating the process of integrating its algo into Yahoo results.

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.