Life without Google is almost unthinkable these days. In fact, Google is everywhere. With it you can not only search and chat but also indulge in lots of other interesting stuffs, that too without paying a penny. In a nutshell, Google is here to make your life easy and comfortable. As Google launches new product or service almost every next day, you can easily have a collection of Google apps that will help ease up your workload. Here we have handpicked some of the best Google apps that you should not miss out at any cost:

Google Desktop: – With Google Desktop, you can search your computer as you search on web. You can even make a text search over your email, chats, photos, music, files and other things that you have viewed. Google Desktop puts everything within your reach, which means you would not have to spend your valuable time managing emails, bookmarks, files etc.

Google Toolbar: – It is a must-have toolbar for your Firefox browser. With it, you can share any webpage with your friends. As Google Sidewiki is preinstalled in this toolbar, contributions can be made easily and directly. It is also good at translating web pages instantaneously and automatically.

Google Health: – Google Health is a smart tool to monitor, organize and act on your health information. With this tool, you can have easy access to your own health information, anytime and anywhere. You can keep all your health and wellness information in one place and the good thing about Google Health is that you would not have pay for it.

Google Calendar: – Do you feel embarrass when you miss an important event? If yes, you need to have this tool – Google calendar where you can add details of important events. Moreover, you can access your calendar on the fly. Text message can be sent directly to your cell phone with Google calendar and that means you will never have to miss another event.

Google Reader: – Most of us find it hard to manage our favorite blogs and websites. As the number of bookmark sites increase, you will realize that you need to do something to make them searchable. Here is something that can relieve you from this tiresome job. Google Reader is here to declutter your virtual life. With its built-in public page, you can share interesting items with your friends and of course, it is free.

Google Docs: – Google Docs is a viable alternative of Microsoft Word. But unlike MS Word, you can access it anywhere, anytime. All you need to have is a PC with internet connection and nothing else. With this magnificent online tool, you can make presentation, conduct surveys and manage documents effortlessly.

Google Trends: – It is another powerful tool to check out the current trends of virtual world. All you have to do is put the keywords and hit the “enter” button and you will get all the info that you need.

mod_pagespeed: A Tool With Unlimited Opportunities
Google’s fascination with speed is not showing any signs of ebbing down anytime soon. In fact, Google has gone an extra mile by coming up with a tool that can make your website load faster than ever. It is a part of Google’s noble initiative to enhance web experience by making it faster and safer and thus releases a new tool “mod_pagespeed” that has little to do with the complexities that are quite common when you are dealing with CSS, JavaScript, HTML and other related server issues.

What mod_pagespeed is?
“mod_pagespeed” is basically a module for the Apache HTTP Server that is developed to perform different page speed optimization processes automatically. Though this tool is still in the development stage, it is powerful enough to redress some common optimization issues such as payload size, client-server round trips, cache and some other aspects of web performance. It has been observed that mod_pagespeed is powerful enough to reduce page-loading time by 50% and if it can be employed properly, it can do better than this.

Here are some tasks that can augur well for your website but it is painful to do so manually:

• Extending cache lifetime of the images and logo of a website without affecting updation of these images at the same time.
• Re-compressing Images
• Making small tweaks in the pages that are developed in CMS

These are quite complex issues and sometime may appear nerve wracking but with Google mod_pagespeed, you will be able to ride past them. Google has already teamed up with Go Daddy and they are optimistic about making the web faster that goes in line with the guidelines of Google. In addition to that, Google is also working with Cotendo for the same purpose.

You can download this revolutionary app here .

Google is showing its benevolence by offering a web clinic for the US webmasters so that they can get some good advice regarding the visibility of their website from none other than the search engine giant. This is definitely an ambitious move of Google, who is clearing targeting webmasters to make their websites more user-friendly and search engine friendly. However, this offer is available exclusively for the non-profit organizations and Google as it seems is not interested in extending this facility to other websites.

Though Google Clinic is going to focus on the problems of non-profit organizations, government and business sites are likely to get benefited from it. Interested webmasters are invited to get registered and post information about their website. Google will then analyze those websites and will suggest how to improve the quality of the sites to improve its visibility. Analysis of the websites will be posted in the follow-up post.

Google has already outlined the guidelines for the participants that include:

• The website has to be associated with an officially registered non-profit organization.
• You need to verify the ownership of your website via Google Webmaster Tools. You can do it easily by signing into your Google Webmaster Tools account (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/)
• Before you get registered to Google Clinic, you need to make sure that your website meets all the webmaster quality guidelines, as Google will analyze your website against those guidelines later on.

So, are you ready to get registered? If yes, just furnish some basic details about your website here and there you go.

Interestingly, Google has never mentioned the term SEO in the entire post though the entire effort is geared at making sites for SEO friendly. So, wait few more days to get some good advice from Google and hopefully, they will give us some good inputs on how we can make our website more search engine friendly.

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.

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):

• Dial international number at a very reasonable rate.
• You can send those messages, which display your Google Voice Number.
• Read those messages that are being sent to your Google Voice number.
• You will be access the history of your phone call almost instantaneously.

Now the most vital question: where to download this app? Just visit: m.google.com/voice or just search with the term “Google Voice”. As Google Voice is only available in U.S., you need to apply for an invitation. So what are you waiting for? Just apply for an invitation from Google Almighty.

Nine months have been spent since the launch of Google Chrome. Much have been said and discussed in the last few months about the possibility of an imminent announcement of a new Operating System from Google. Ultimately, the wish has finally fulfilled with Google’s announcement of launching a web based OS which will bring a massive change in the traditional concept of an operating system. An open source version of Google Chrome will be available from the second half of 2010. As expected this announcement has created a furor in the online industry.

There is no doubt in the fact that Google has geared up for the next round of bout with its arch rival, which was initiated with the launched of much hyped decision search engine Bing. It matters a little whether Bing has helped Microsoft to regain its position or not, but it is crystal clear that it has incurred the wrath of Google. This announcement will definitely give Microsoft a run for its money.

Image Source – www.ff2d.com

Some Features of Google Chrome OS
Google Chrome OS is going to be designed for those who loves to live in the world of web and for those as well who use Internet in every now and then. Checking mail, getting latest updates or sending message to friend will not be cumbersome. No longer you will have to wait for your PC to boot, your browser to start up and to get things under control. Google aims at enabling computers to do these instantaneously by making its Chrome OS simple, light weight and secured. Though initially Google Chrome OS will target netbooks that performs some simple tasks similar to that of net surfing, later it will foray into other fields as well. It will have a minimalist look, which goes well with Google’s user-friendly approach. By using this web browser, users will be able to avoid the possible attacks of malware and virus.

Google has declared that it will work in collaboration with a number of netbook manufacturers for bringing a new series of netbooks in the market that will comply with Google Chrome OS. Users can use either ARM chips or x86 for running Google Chrome OS.

For more information visit Google Official Blog.

As more and more companies have started recruiting people irrespective of their race, religion, gender and nationality, they are bound to face some of the common problems associated with Multicultural Workforce. The concept of “Multicultural Workforce” is gaining currency in the US, as a large number of US business conglomerates is recruiting people of different nations for operating their worldwide business smoothly. In reality, multicultural workforce is associated with a number of advantages that have overshadowed some of its trivial disadvantages like cultural difference, personality conflict and communication problem. Some of the unique benefits of multicultural workforce are specified below:

• It gives a competitive edge.
• It inspires high level of creativity and promotes innovation in the workplace.
• Synchronization in workplace and high turn out.

Google has successfully incorporated the concept of multiculturalism in its work culture that has enabled it to promote innovation and to emulate its competitors in different fields. Half of the total Google’s employees at its Mountain View headquarter in the US are from overseas. Presently almost 2000 employees are working on temporary visas in Google out of a total number of 20000 employees and a large section of them have not born in the US. Google’s Mountain View office can be termed as a perfect showcase of international workforce and the rooms are named after some foreign cities to celebrate its multicultural workforce. Want to know more? Click here.

The wrap has been taken off from Bing, which is the brand new search engine launched by Microsoft. Formerly it was known as Kumo but it was rebranded and redesigned in an effort to replace Live Search. It was scheduled to be launched on 3rd June 2009 but it became live much before that which only indicates the sheer desperation of Microsoft to regain its lost ground. Speculation was rife that Bing will give Google a run for its money by exploiting its new features and advantages. Much has been said about the efficiency of Bing as a search engine. But here in this article, we will try to examine the authenticity of these claims for having a better understanding of Bing as a search engine.

Microsoft’s Claims
It has been claimed that Bing will not be another search engine rather; it will be a Decision Engine that will help the users to find accurate information faster than ever. It has been told that users will be able to make better decision while planning a trip, pinpointing local business, finding authentic information on health condition or making purchase. Besides that, it is claimed that Bing has all the unique features that are the hallmarks of a good search engine.

Checking the authenticity of these claims
It is the high time for us check the very base of these claims. Will it ever be able to give a tough competition to Google or it is just another example of Microsoft’s long tradition of delivering almost nothing after making promises to its users. Lets find out:

Interface
When you first view the interface of Bing, the very first thing that will seize your attention is its cool interface. Its interface is entirely covered neatly in wallpaper. Now, if you have ever visited Ask.com, it seems to you that this concept is not a novel one. Some people even consider it as an unnecessary addiction in search engine.

Web Search Result
When Bing was launched there was a widespread rumor that it is going to challenge the dominance of Google by introducing a revolution in this domain. But when we start checking it, we were amazed to find more or less the same search result, if not exactly the same, like Live Search. We have tried our best to find out some difference but failed utterly to track any. Generating more text options simultaneously with the search result is certainly a new addiction but it is very much similar to that of Google Search Options. So where is the difference?

Image and Video Search
This is the only field where Microsoft has succeeded in delivering something different. Its image or video search is undoubtedly different from its earlier version. A number of options such as length, screen size, resolutions, source etc have been included:

But these addictions are not unique. You can find these kinds of options in Yahoo or in Google image search as well.

Not User Friendly
Furthermore, its search result is not user friendly. The number of results in a page can be increased to 50 whereas in Google or Yahoo, users can see up to 100 results at a time. This is certainly not desired from a Decision Search Engine.

Irrelevant Search Result
This is one of those shortcomings of Bing that no one will ever expect from a Decision Search Engine. It is not at all expected from a so-called Decision Making website to offer poor and often irrelevant search result. What is even more amazing is that none other than its archrival Google’s Mattcuffs has pointed out its error. Previously it was offering outdated result if you had search with the term “mtv movie awards 2009”.

(Source – www.webpronews.com)

However, the developers at Bing have rectified it. Just go through what Mattcutts said about this fiasco:

Matt Cutts: Congrats to @bing on the launch! Sad to see this not-so-relevant result at #4 for [matt cutts] though: http://bit.ly/4a8Q1Y

Bing: @mattcutts anytime you want to give feedback to @bing, we’re here. I’m sitting with the devs at present. ^betsy

Betsy for Bing Bing: @mattcutts I know you are disappointed in ego search stuff tonight w/ @bing, but try ‘mtv movie awards 2009′ and see what you get. ^ba

Matt Cutts: Ouch. The #5 Bing result for [matt cutts] is spammy too: http://bit.ly/B2r5F It’s a YouTube->WordPress autogenerated blog.

Matt Cutts: @bing okay. First web result was from 2008 instead of 2009, even with 2009 in query: http://bit.ly/SToK1 . Google nails it.

Matt Cutts: @bing but doesn’t it bother you that [mtv movie awards] on Google gives great news results and 2009 url, but w/Bing I only see 2008, 2007, ?
Bing: @mattcutts Uh – the first answer folks see is the news answer, not what you circled. Apparently twilight won. ^ba

Matt Cutts: @bing by the way, Twilight did rock. I’m not ashamed to say it–glittery vampires rule!!

Should we expect this kind of error from a Decision Search engine? Certainly not.

In conclusion, we can only say that Bing is far from being a perfect search engine. It is obviously better than its previous version but it is not a “Google Killer” that has been anticipated by most of us. However, it will be too early to make a conclusion about Bing. We need wait few more days for having a better understanding about its varied aspects.

Sorting out relevant result has always been topped in the priority list of the major search engines. Google has somewhat succeeded in generating relevant result by analyzing the content of websites and by updating its algo on regular basis. However, there was still something missing as a large number of users were facing a number of problems while finding out relevant information. Google has been listening to it and has offered a sound solution at last.

No more irrelevant result because Google has rolled out a complete new set of search options that will definitely change the way we use to surf before. This feature, if it becomes popular, will give other search engines a run for their money. Thanks to this latest improvement, now users will be able to specify their query while searching in Google by selecting any of the available options. In reality, integration of these options is nothing but an attempt by Google to shift its attention from other things to what the users want. As this update is going to have a long lasting impact on the domain of search engine marketing, everyone should remain aware of the ins and outs of these options as far as possible.

Here in this article we will take a close look at these new features to find out their immanent impact and how they are going to help you to weed out irrelevant result.

Videos
The top most option is video. This simply means that you have to optimize a video for securing top ranking in this option. The popularity of video has increased rapidly in the past few years, which might have encouraged Google to put this option right on the top. You can utilize YouTube, if you want to reap the benefits of this search option. Users can enjoy a number of sub potions that will definitely help a user to specify his query by selecting the duration of the video such as long, medium or short.

Forums
Forum is the next option. If you really want to exploit this search option of Google, you need to join in different forums and to participate in diverse types of discussions. A forum is above and all an online platform where you can promote your website. As this option will sort out result from different forums, you have to employ your marketing tactics in it as far as possible.

However, you should not join in a forum and started spamming it. It will be a gross violation of the set rules and regulations. You can participate in various discussions related to your business which will give you enough scope to promote your website or business organization without transgressing the rules of the forums. If you can manage to abide by these rules, you will definitely be able to rank well in this search option.

Reviews
Review is another important option that that should be adequate attention. Try to get your products or services reviewed as much as possible. You can review the product or service of other websites or organization as well that will help your website to show up in the search result. Do not make a halfhearted attempt while writing reviews of others otherwise it can have a disastrous result. Try to incorporate facts and information while writing reviews, which will definitely help you in the long run.

However, it will be better if you can manage to encourage people to write reviews about your service or products. Apart from searching reviews, users can further specify the search result by sorting them by year, week, hour etc. However, it will not be possible for you to secure high rank in all these options but you should discard it altogether. While writing a review, you have to ensure the fact that the pages where the review will be published has the word “review” either in the content or in the tag.

Images from the Page
This option will allow images to appear simultaneously with the search result. One interesting thing is that this option generates different search result as compared to web search or image seach.

More Text
You can have this option under the option “Images from the Text”. Basically, this option generates the same result like the regular search but with a difference. A long snippet is associated with the search result, which is the only difference.

(source – www.webpronews.com)

Related Searches
Content makes the difference in the option “Sort by option”. You will get a number of related search options, which you could term as suggestions. Basically, there is no difference between the web search and the related searches save the users will get more suggestions as “related searches” as compared to web search.

(source – www.webpronews.com)

Wonder Wheel
This option is more or less similar to that of related searches. The only difference is that here the options will be presented through a diagram like format. Just click any of the options of the wonder wheel and it will generate a series of hyper linked search phrases in the similar pattern. This search option will allow users to make quick decision.

(source – www.webpronews.com)

TimeLine

By using this option, you will be able to scan result pages in reference to the dates mentioned in the text of those pages. Apart from that, it will render a graphical presentation of the volume of pages that will agree with the timeline. The good thing about this search option is that, user will be able to view old content without making a diligent search. You can narrow down search result further by specifying it further. It will be interesting to see how some terms have undergone a rapid transformation in the past few years. Just search with the term apple and you will discover something really interesting.

(source – www.webpronews.com)

By unveiling these search options, Google once again tries to give topmost priority to the user friendly feature of a website. The only thing you have to remember is that you have to optimize a website not just for the search engines but for the users as well. You have to strike the right cord by making a perfect balance between search engine optimization and user friendliness. If you manage can do it, you will definitely be able to make a difference in coming years.

Google’s new favicon has become the talk of the town. It seems that it has become a habit of Google to hog the limelight of the technology industry by launching new features in every now and then. Google has introduced a number of new features such as Knol, Gmail theme, SearchWiki and of course Favicon in a trot. It is assumed that Google wants to concertize its position further in this online industry by making extensive experiment on its appearance and tools. The newest addiction to it is Google new Favicon which has already created a ripple through out the world. The main reason behind the launch of this new favicon, according to some sources, is to improve its appearance in some new platform such as iPhone or other types of mobile devices.

Now, before analyzing its possible impacts, all we need to have a fair concept about the term “favicon”. “Favicon”, also known as “bookmark icons”, “url icons”, “shortcut icons”, “website icons” etc, is nothing more than a small image that appears simultaneously with the url of a website in a browser. A multi-resolution image is used for creating a favicon and it is usually displayed either in the favorite menu or on the Address line.

Making a paradigm shift from its famous “G” favicon, Google this time goes further by using four different colors ( red, blue, yellow and green) in its newest favicon. Google has once again reverted to its stylized small “g” for making a powerful impact on its millions of users through out the world. Though Marissa Mayer, the Vice President of Search Products & User Experience, confirms the fact that this favicon is definitely not the final output. In point of fact, Mayer asserts that Google will further its experiment with its favicon as Google is famous for its unending pursuit to better its functionality. Here we are sharing some of the unique favicons created by Google which were never implemented:

Finding out the source of “Not Found” errors or “404 Error” is considered as the most difficult task by a large number of webmasters. Before the launched of this feature, webmasters could not identify location of a 404 Error page from the available “Web Crawl Error” section of Google’s Webmaster Tools. The release of this new feature – “Linked Form” will now enable a webmaster to pinpoint the source of 404 error without making a diligent search. Therefore, it is going to facilitate the process of rectifying this error.

(Image Source : Google.com)

A new page will be added in the “Linked Form” for every “Not Found” error. Clicking on that page link will open a separate dialogue box, where the location details of a 404 error will be specified. A option “Download this table” is also included in that dialogue box that will help a webmaster to download all the data in .cvs format.

Have you ever dreamt of customizing search result in Google? If you nod your head in approval than it can be said that your long cherished dream to personalize the search result of Google is going to be true. Google is virtually making a revolution by introducing this new tool SearchWiki. By virtue of this tool, a user can almost do anything, from reshuffling the search result to to commenting on a site, from adding a site to deleting a site. It is something similar to bookmarking up the search result of Google. However, the entire thing is now in experimental stage (beta version). You just have to log in to your Google account for experiencing this new feature.

A Novel Experience For A User
Google has literary become invincible by constantly updating itself, incorporating new features and by experimenting incessantly for making search result more effective, more accurate and obviously more user friendly. Now, it adds a new feather in its cap by introducing “SearchWiki”, which will enable a user to personalize the search result for making it more easier for him to find out a website or delete a worthless website from the ranking result.

Apart from personalizing the search result, Google is going to give more power to user to influence the search result (assumed by some people). It can be said that in remote future, Google might consider the feedback of the users and this might bring a radical change in the search result.

(Image Source :http://www.enfotainer.com/)

The Benefits of SearchWiki
By launching this tool- SearchWiki, Google is offering more liberty to the users so that a user can manipulate or modify the search result by moving up his favorite website or deleting it completely from the ranking report. If this is not enough, there are other features too.

• Now a user can add a comment to a website or can add a website (that you have found extremely useful or informative) which fail to rank top.
• Just a single click is enough to bring a radical change in your personalize ranking report.
• Besides personalizing ranking report, you can also share your views with others or can view others opinions and comments on a website by clicking on the link “See all notes for this SearchWiki”.

You just have to sign in to Google account for availing this unique service and enjoy a happy googling. Google has published a video in its blog for clarifying its every aspect so that every user can get the hang of it without much fuss:

Is it Going to redefine the SEO concept?
This is the question whose answer every SEO expert is seeking desperately. As a matter of fact, everyone is keeping his finger crossed at this juncture of time. Will this new feature bring a radical change in online marketing? Will it going to change the way SEO expert used to optimize a website in past? These are some of the burning questions in the online industry. But, we do believe that there is no reason to press the panic button. This new feature is now in a state of experiment and lots of changes will inevitably take place to make it more effective and more powerful.

Furthermore, user feedback is an important part. If the users don’t response to it enthusiastically, the entire effort might end up in a complete debacle. So, let wait and watch. This is the only thing an SEO expert can do now. Improvise new plans and create a blue print for tackling this new trend.

In Conclusion
Drawing a conclusion is certainly a difficult task specially in this kind of topic because no one is certain what will happen or when it will happen. Assumptions, suppositions, guesses etc become the common words for figuring out the possible effects. But one thing can be said about this new feature of Google – “You may love this new tool or hate it but you can never ignore it. ”

When we first look at the words ‘Page Rank’, we can clearly understand that it is all about ranking of a page. Well, whether it is about printed-paper or a web page is a great question to a layman.

To be more precise, ‘Page Rank’ is basically concerned with web pages of a website. Every page in a website are valued differently.

It is a very intricate task, to give a detailed mathematical explanation about ‘Google’s Page Rank’ as it may land in confusing the web visitors. It will be easier to explain in simple terms the concept of ‘Google’s Page Rank’ and make it more comprehensible to our large web community.

What is Google’s Page Rank?
In easy terms, Google’s Page Rank is an important tool to decide the significance of web pages. Some web pages have more page rank than other web pages in a single website.

The page rank is one of the most significant factors that contribute in determining the ranking of a website in the search engine results page (SERPs). It is more likely that website with high page rank (PR) will rank better than its competitors with less page rank (PR) value.

Google attaches great importance to page rank (PR) among its host of tools. The following excerpt clearly demonstrates the fact. ‘The heart of our software is PageRank™, a system for ranking web pages developed by our founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. And while we have dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of Google on a daily basis, PageRank continues to play a central role in many of our web search tools’
(Source- http://www.google.com/technology/).

There are numerous definitions on page rank (PR). According to wikipedia.org, ‘PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set’.

Simple Explanation of Google’s Page Rank
Here, an easy explanation is provided about Google’s Page Rank so that common men can easily comprehend it. Google considers the link structure of a website as the primary factor to decide the importance of a web page.

It is important to note that all websites are granted little amount of page rank. As votes or links pour in, the page rank either rises or decreases. The more the number of relevant links the more is the page rank. In fact, the web pages get page rank from every inbound links.

Suppose, there are five fashion web pages such as A, B, C, D and E. Both A and B are new web pages. The other web pages i.e., C, D and E are already established pages on the web. The web page D has more importance than web pages C and E due to its content, link structure and design. Now, A has valuable content and so it gets an inbound link from the web page D. Similarly, the web pages C and E give an outbound links to web page B. Here, the search engine king interprets that if a web page links to other pages than it actually votes for it. Following the example, the web page D votes for the web page A. Again, web pages C and E also votes for the web page B.

Google attaches more importance to web pages that gets a natural inbound link from significant web pages. The page rank of the web page A is high due to single inbound link from the important web page D. Meanwhile, the web page B does not get good page rank despite being voted by two web pages. This is because, the web pages C and E are less important than the web page D.

A simple equation below will help you to know more how page rank is calculated.

The basic formula is the following, where A is the page we wish to find the PR for and pages T1 to Tn are the pages linking to page A:

PR (A) = (1-d) + d (PR (T1)/C (T1) + PR (T2)/C (T2) + … + PR (Tn)/C (Tn))

Where:
1) PR (A) means the PR of page A. Subsequently, PR (T1) means the PR of page T1
2) C (T1) is the number (count) of links going out of page T1.
3) PR (T1)/C (T1) – it follows from 1) and 2) that this is the page rank of the page T1 divided by the number of outgoing links from page T1. In other words, PR (T1)/C (T1) expresses the part of the vote of page T1 that is awarded to page A.
4) d is a damping factor, which is probably set to around 0.80 to 0.85. We will not look into details as to why this factor is needed, but just state here that it has to do with probability distribution.

You may want to make a few examples and you’ll see how it works out.

Further, it is essential to consider the content of a web page. Suppose, a web page gets significant link, but it comes from a web page that is not related with it. In this case, this link is of no value. Hence, links or votes from the same industry type and content have great value.

Here it important to note about the sharing of page rank among various web pages. As cited earlier, every inbound link helps to raise the page rank of the linked web page. According to the original PageRank formula, link weight is equally divided among the number of links on a page. However, it is a great question whether this process is still followed today. In fact, many
changes have taken place since the implementation of the original page rank formula.

The importance of page rank did increase all the more. Despite various speculations with regard to the importance of page rank in modern times, it still remains a key factor in determining the relevance of a web page.

We welcome ideas from our web visitors to add up more to this post.

Great News! Search Engine King moves ahead of its competitors. According to the official Google Blog , Google search engine robots can easily index flash files.

Until few days ago, it was a very difficult to optimize a flash based website or other flash elements like flash intros, flash banners in a website. Although, the demand of flash websites increased in modern times but only a handful of them could reach the target audience. Web designers made beautiful flash web designs but that did not help in inviting the website traffic. Wonderful flash works were not search engine friendly. Hence, the flash website were usually ranked low in the search engines.

Problem of the past:

Search engine robots usually found the flash designs too much complicated. The flash files could not be indexed properly like simple files. The search engine robots could only index the names of the files. It failed to index the content embedded in the flash works.

Various techniques were employed in order to optimize flash websites and other flash elements. This included Off Page optimization, use of keywords in the right place, use of Macromedia Software Developer and use of proper tags.

Giant leap: Google improves its technology:

Google has taken a big step with its most update technology, which has enhanced its indexing power. Now, the search engine robots can index the content embedded in flash files without difficulty.

It has initiated a new Flash-indexing algorithm of its own. Google has used Adobe’s Flash Player technology and increased its performance. Web designers can take a sigh of relief and build wonderful flash websites.

How does Abobe Flash Player help Google?

The technology of flash reader of Adobe has enabled the search engines to effectively read Flash files, extract text and links. It has enhanced Google to index content in SWF files. Now, Google is able to perceive the textual content in websites that appears to the web visitors.

The new algorithm helps to read flash files like a human. It works in the same method as human being acts like clicking buttons and so on.

The search robots index textual content in flash files and words that become visible in flash files. It also tries to find out URLs that appears in flash files.

However, it must be observed that the search engine king is presently noticing and indexing textual content only.

Present Limitations

No doubt, the new technology has largely improved the workings of the search engine king yet there are certain limitations. There are mainly three drawbacks, which are mentioned below:

1. In certain cases, Google robots fail to index some kinds of JavaScript. In case, the flash file of a web page is loaded using those JavaScript then it will not be indexed.
2. Google search robots cannot index bi-directional languages like Arabic and Hebrew languages as the text is written in a form i.e., right-to-left (RTL).
3. Suppose, a flash file loads different files like HTML file, SWF file etc. The search robots will index all the files separately and never be regarded as a part of the textual content of the site.
4. Google search robots are unable able to index text embedded in the images in the flash files.

It is indeed a big step in the web arena. Now more and more websites can hope to reach the audience through good ranking in the search engine. Google is already working to make things more search engine friendly and enhance the process to rank websites in a better way.