Search News

Blogging with Duplicate Content Proves to be Counterproductive

If you’re thinking of using duplicate content for your blog posts, you might want to rethink this strategy if your goal is to create the most effective blog possible. Duplicate content is created when people visit different places on the Internet, such as Wikipedia or Ezinearticles.com, copy an article and paste it on their blog, pretending they wrote the text.

The problem develops when the search engine spiders try to index this duplicated post you have published. The spiders will recognize that the information reads verbatim to that of another source or multiple sources, depending on how many other webmasters have already copied this information. (more…)

10 Nations Worried About Google Privacy

Leaders of data protection from 10 nations – Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom – have written a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt expressing their concern about some of the privacy issues connected with a few of Google’s services, specifically Google Buzz and Google Street View.

“We were disturbed by your recent rollout of the Google Buzz social networking application, which betrayed a disappointing disregard for fundamental privacy norms and laws,” the letter stated. “In essence, you took Google Mail (Gmail), a private, one-to-one web-based e-mail service and converted it into a social networking service, raising concern among users that their personal information was being disclosed.” (more…)

Murdoch Strikes At Google Again…

It’s been awhile since we first heard Rupert Murdoch that he would block News Corp. websites off the search engines, particularly Google.  And since nothing has happened within the past 5 months, Murdoch warned the world again over the weekend that his sites will no longer be available to the search engines.   .

“We are going to stop people like Google or Microsoft or whoever from taking stories for nothing . . . there is a law of copyright and they recognise it,” Murdoch said according to Paul Harris who attended the National Press Club. (more…)

Site Speed Now Factors Google Ranking

You may recall back in November, we shared with you in a news brief that Google was talking about making page speed part of it’s ranking system.  Now that has become the reality.  Googled confirmed in a blog post late last week, that site speed with now factor in where you show up in Google’s ranking. 

“Speeding up websites is important – not just to site owners, but to all Internet users,” said Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal, both from Google.  “Faster sites create happy users and we’ve seen in our internal studies that when a site responds slowly, visitors spend less time there.  But faster sites don’t just improve user experience; recent data shows that improving site speed also reduces operating costs.” (more…)

Mobile Google Unlocked In China

In a bit of a extremely quiet week in the social media and search worlds, finally a bit of news.  Small and new developments coming from the China-Google saga.

For the past week, Google has reported on their “Mainland China service availability” page that mobile searches were partially blocked, however as of late last night, Google is entirely available on mobile devices. 

Doug Cavely of WebProNews said, “Assuming the yellow wrench doesn’t reappear tomorrow, this development may represent a significant breakthrough.  Even a sort of victory for Google, if the Chinese government has decided not to follow through on some rather harsh statements about lawbreakers being ‘unfriendly, irresponsible,’ and having ‘to pay the consequences.'” (more…)

Is Google Done In China?

Signs that Google is dead in China are on the rise.  Reports out this morning from all over the country say that users are only getting error messages when they conduct searches.  Typically only controversial searches like “Tienanmen Square massacre” are blocked, but simple searches like “the” and “happy” are blocked as well. 

The Wall Street Journal said, “Internet users reported new disruptions to Google Inc. Internet search services in China on Tuesday afternoon, with many saying they are unable to search for any term on the Google site.”  (more…)

A New Bump For Google In China

Just as we thought things were getting better between China and Google, we learn they aren’t.  Yesterday, Google surprisingly announced they were not going to leave China, but would redirect Google.cn, China’s main Google network, to Google.com.hk, Hong Kong’s Google.

According to the New York Times this morning, the Chinese government has started blocking some search results and a number of features within Google Search.  “Beijing officials were clearly angered by Google’s decision, which focused global attention on the government’s censorship policies, and there were signs of possible escalation in the dispute,” said the article. (more…)

Google Not Pulling Out Of China

After speculation last week of Google leaving China sometime next month, the search engine company says they have found a legal way to keep Google in China without having to leave the country.  In a blog post on the company’s website, Google said that internet users visiting Google.cn will now be redirected to Google’s Hong Kong site, google.com.hk. (more…)

The China Google Battle Ending Soon?

While things for the most part have been quiet for awhile between Google and China, Google’s business partners in China are loosing patience with Google, wanting to know if the company will stay in China or it will go.

27 Chineses companies, all whom are advertisers on Google.cn, wrote what is described as an “emotional letter.”   The businesses say the no longer wish to be kept in the dark on Google’s plans.  (more…)

Google No Longer Most Visited Site On The Web

For as long as many us can remember, Google has been the most visited site on the web.  You may recall, that during Christmas & New Years Day, Facebook was the most visited site for the day, but Google quickly took that spot back.

However, HitWise said during March 7 and March 13 Facebook surpassed Google as the most visited site in the US, and the trend looks like it will continue.  For the past year, Facebook’s popularity has continued to grow, while Google’s ranking has remained on a stable path.  (more…)