Google just announced that it has made an adjustment to the algorithm which it utilizes to provide traffic estimates in AdWords. The change; the company exclaims; must enhance stats for estimated clicks, cost, and as well as ad position.

This data can be noticed in places like traffic estimator and the AdWords keyword tool and as well as on the Keywords tab in your AdWords account.

While Google does not share much in the way of how the algorithm has been adjusted; Dan Friedman writes on Google’s Inside AdWords blog, “One of the most common uses of traffic estimates is to evaluate potential keywords and decide whether you should add them to your account. Traffic estimates are also useful in determining if your bids and budgets are appropriate for these new keywords.”

“In order to determine if you’re setting an appropriate target bid, try entering a few different values in the Max CPC field the next time you use the Traffic Estimator,” he adds. “Look at how these different bids affect your statistics, and then decide which bid gives you the best return on investment. You can use the same process for trying out new budgets.”

The change in the algorithm is currently live and it affects AdWords accounts all across the globe.

In other AdWords-related news; Google is adding novel targeting options which allow advertisers to target users of tablets beyond just the iPad. Be careful that you obtain the settings how you want them; because when this goes into effect; you may notice costs rise; due to the increase in tablets being targeted.

This is without a doubt yet another great move by Google.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

If you have been following tech news at all today then you will know that it is obviously been a very big day for Google. The company kicked off their annual Google I/O developer conference and has had no shortage of announcements, including an android update, movie rentals in the android market, Google music beta, Google TV enhancements, a project aimed at connecting android to more of your home appliances and electronics and new ad targeting options. That is to name a few.

In the middle of all of this; Google talked today about their plans for Google app engine – the platform as well; which allows developers to develop and as well as host applications on Google’s infrastructure. The company exclaims that it will be graduating from preview status later this year which must mean big things for businesses.

“When App Engine graduates from preview status, which we expect to do in the second half of this year, we’ll add additional enterprise-grade features that allow us to support many more business application scenarios,” elucidates App Engine Senior Product Manager Greg D’Alesandre. “Graduation from preview status also indicates a longer term commitment by Google to the product and provides a deprecation policy whereby we will support prior versions of product APIs for a guaranteed amount of time, allowing applications written to prior API specifications to continue to function.”

Google brought in Google app engine version 1.5.0 today; which includes the below noted features; as described by D’Alesandre:

• With Backends (for both Python and Java), App Engine can now support applications that require long running and high memory processes. This feature allows for new classes of applications such as report generation apps and custom search engines to be hosted on the platform.
  
• The improvements to Task Queues allow for applications to control how tasks are executed and easily share the work using the new REST-based APIs. This API access expands App Engine’s compatibility with other on-premise and cloud services, furthering our commitment to an open development platform.
  
• With 1.5.0 we are launching an experimental runtime for the Go Programming Language. Go is an open source, statically typed, compiled language with a dynamic and lightweight feel. It’s also an interesting new option for App Engine because Go apps will be compiled to native code, making Go a good choice for more CPU-intensive tasks. As of today, the App Engine SDK for Go is available for download, and we will soon enable deployment of Go apps into the App Engine infrastructure. If you’re interested in starting early, sign up to be first through the door when we open it up to early testers.

When app engine leaves preview status; Google exclaims that it will provide a 99.95% uptime service level agreement, new terms of service, offline billing, operational and developer support and a novel pricing plan; which can be reviewed here Google App Engine – Pricing and Features

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

CNET has now released certain data; as they compiled about 100,000 Google results; testing Google.com in March; and then last week; just after the novel update; the data reveals earlier reported data from SearchMetrics in terms of news websites benefiting and demand media’s eHow descending.

One interesting element which CNET’s data brings to the table; however; is that of Google’s localization and their relationship with the update.

“We also tested what happens if you connect to Google.com from an overseas Internet address. We picked one in London. We performed the same searches on the same day–the only variable that should have changed, in other words, was our location,” explains CNET chief political correspondent Declan McCullagh. “The results? Google engages in significant localization efforts, as you might imagine, with Yelp.com being the largest beneficiary by far.”

“In searches originating from the U.K., Yelp appeared only twice,” he adds. “In U.S. searches, by contrast, it was the ninth-most popular Web site, with both its topic and individual business pages weaved seamlessly into the main search results.”

SearchMetrics’ data did exhibit yelp.co.uk as having a 29.59% boost in visibility.

Yelp picked up 45 first-page appearances for generic searches like “cleaning,” “chocolate,” “lights,” “food,” “laundry,” “tv,” and “weddings,” from a California address; according to McCullagh, while Davidsbridal.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Walgreens.com benefited in U.S. from localization as well.

It is not all just big brands though. Local-based results won big as well; based on CNET’s testing; not only local locations for big brands or local businesses; but locally-themed results.

“For our U.S. tests, we used an Internet address near Palo Alto, Calif., which prompted Google to rank nearby businesses and municipal Web sites near the top of search results,” McCullagh explains. “The City of Palo Alto’s Web site appears in the first page of search results for terms including ‘adventures,’ ‘art,’ ‘business,’ ‘gas,’ and ‘jobs.’ PaloAltoOnline.com makes repeat appearances (‘budget cuts,’ ‘restaurants’), as do Stanford, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and Mike’s Bikes.”

It is no covert that Google has put a great deal more emphasis on local in recent time; but it is interesting to view how this is playing out in light of panda update; which was apparently unrelated. We noticed how news websites and video websites appeared to come out as big winners; but this research does appear to indicate even more wins for local.

The benefits to Yelp are without a doubt interesting; considering the tension there has been between Yelp and Google; regarding Google place pages and their use of Yelp reviews. Google’s own reviews system; Hotpot has now found its way into places and right into organic search results themselves.

Google is also finding out more ways to improve their local listings themselves. See the “open now” and local product listings; for instance. Oh, and by the way, Google just launched map maker for US; so users can add their “local knowledge” to the map. Interestingly enough; as Google concentrates more on local; the competition for local eyeballs is already heavily increasing. This is not just about search in the customary sense. You have to factor in entities like Facebook, LivingSocial, Foursquare, Groupon and others in these companies’ respective spaces.

The more ways people obtain the information related to local businesses from resources outside of Google; the less they will have to search for that information with Google.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

With Google looking more at social media nowadays; in terms of ranking signals; many webmasters continue to wonder how Google treats URL-shorteners in terms of search engine optimization.

This is not completely novel information but it yet appears to be a topic which continues to come up fairly regularly. Google’s Matt Cutts addressed this topic in a video posted to Google’s Webmaster Help YouTube channel.

“Custom URL shorteners are essentially just like any other redirects,” he explains. “If we try to crawl a page, and we see a 301 or permanent redirect, which pretty much all well-behaved URL shorteners (like bit.ly or goo.gl) will do, if we see that 301 then that will pass PageRank to the final destination.”

“So in general, there really shouldn’t be any harm to using custom URL shorteners in your SEO,” he continues. “The PageRank will flow through. The anchor text will flow through, and so I wouldn’t necessarily worry about that at all.”

“Now, just to let you know, if you look at, for example, Twitter’s web pages, many of those links have a nofollow link,” he adds. “So those links that are on the webpage, may not necessarily flow PageRank, but we might be able to find out about those links through some other way – maybe a data feed or something like that. But just URL shorteners, as far as how they relate to SEO, are not necessarily a problem at all.”

When we had a word with Gil Reich of Answers.com at SMX Advanced last summer; he recommended utilizing shorteners that allows you to get keywords in the URLs.

Google actually updated its own URL shortener, goo.gl, with certain novel features this past week which are copy to clipboard, spam reporting, improvements in pace and stability and remove from dashboard.

“Even as we add features, we continue to focus on making goo.gl one of the fastest and most reliable URL shorteners on the web,” said Google software engineer Devin Mullins. “We’ll continue working hard to ensure that we add minimal latency to the user experience and extend our track record of rock-solid reliability—we’ve had no service outages since we launched last September.”

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

Google has been running from pillar to post in order to make search more social but they continue to leave out your friends’ facebook content from their results. Certainly; you may find people from your social circle in the mix; but hundreds of millions of people utilize facebook and a number of them utilize it as their primary social network; the one where they communicate the most with their family and as well as closest friends.

Facebook data can enhance search for a number of reasons tied to that point. One reason is that of recommendations; even if they are unintentional. People avow positive and negative things about experiences they have with brands, movies, places, food, music, etc; this occurs naturally all the time. This information; based on people that you know can without a doubt offer a great deal of relevance to a query.

Yet another reason is photos. Just imagine how nice it would be to view photos from your friends turn up for pertinent queries. For instance you want to take a vacation in Maui. You could search for pictures of Maui on Google and find certain beautiful shots no doubt. How nice would it be to view your friends’ holiday pictures in the mix. You may not have even known that your friend went there; but if his/her photos appeared in your Google search then you would know and then you can discuss their experience with them.

Videos are another important reason. People nowadays are posting more and more videos on facebook; original and as well as links to interesting or entertaining things they have found on the internet. In pertinent cases; would it not be to view videos from your friends when they make sense. You can apply the Maui example here as well. Or for instance you are looking out for “TV on the Radio” videos; but not one particularly. Maybe you could view certain particular ones that your friends thought were cool.

But unfortunately Google does not include this type of personalized facebook data in their search results and there is nothing indicating that this is on the way either. Bing utilizes more personalized facebook data.

Meanwhile; third-parties are busy finding resolutions to problems like this. Greplin and Wajam are two examples. Granted; neither of them offer the perfect resolution to craft the type of rich search experience I am talking about but they are making strides where the top search engines are dawdling to adapt to user needs. There is a good chance that you do not in fact care about the opinion of everybody you are friends with on Facebook. Just because you knew a person in High School does not intend that you care about their opinions on Italian food. However; your friend who offers an amazing cuisine every time you go to his/her home for a dinner party may carry more weight.

Alternatively; you never know what you are going to be looking out for down the road and whose words may have certain hidden and unexpected relevance. Maybe you are friends with a person who has the complete opposite taste in movies as you.

The point is that facebook content has the potential to make search better when included in interesting and pertinent ways. This is one reason why facebook itself could be a perilous match for Google; if they ever decided to begin taking search more seriously.

To few people; the notion may look odd but it did not take long for a novel search engine called Bing to gain considerable ground in the search market. And Facebook’s user-base is huge. A concrete marketing budget can definitely go a long way as Microsoft proved with Bing and then of course there is that entire Bing-Facebook partnership thing. Bing powers Facebook’s web results and Bing will definitely locate novel ways to integrate facebook into their own experience.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

After about a year of testing; Google has taken a decision to get rid of their tag advertising program for Google places.

This program brought in by Google permitted advertisers to highlight their organic listings with yellow tags displaying offers, videos, photos, reservations, menus, etc. by paying out a monthly fee.

“Tags make your organic business listings stand out on the Google and Google Maps search results page with a bright yellow marker that highlights specific attributes such as offers, videos or photos,” said Google Places Senior Strategist Brianna Brekke said in December, noting that it did not affect the organic ranking of a business listing on Google or Google Maps.

“Since that experiment began, tens of thousands of businesses have used Tags to help potential customers make easier, more informed decisions when searching,” said product manager Shalini Agarwal in a Google blog post. “Throughout this period, we monitored Tags closely to learn more about our users’ business needs and how they used the product.”

“We’ve made a decision to shift our efforts toward other present and future product offerings for local businesses, and will be discontinuing this trial,” added Agarwal. “We’ve learned a lot from our Tags trial and will take that knowledge into account as we continue to find the best ways to serve users and local businesses alike.”

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert Team for more updates.

Demand Media’s eHow’ which escaped wrath of U.S. version of Google’s panda update; to actually get search visibility; appears to have been nailed out as the update rolled out globally and Google made further updates in U.S.

Google has avowed that it is utilizing signals from their domain-blocking features in “high confidence” conditions. Given that eHow is often the topic of complaints from people concerned with search quality; it appears fairly credible that it was a commonly blocked website particularly when you consider how high it has ranked on a number of queries.

SearchMetrics and Sistrix data released this week; looking at UK and Europe has eHow and as well as eHow.co.uk among the top losers of the global panda launch.

Today; demand media’s stock is down -1.36 to 20.17 a share; at the time of this writing.

Tim Chen; a former hedge fund analyst and chief executive officer of NerdWallet; write downs in a Seeking Alpha article; “Demand Media disclosed in their recent 10-K that 25% of 2010 annual revenues ($241 million) were from eHow and that 65% of eHow’s page view traffic came from Google searches…To add a wrinkle to the equation, it also turns out that the average that implies ~$41 million of revenue is at risk, or a $16.4 million revenue impact, assuming a 40% decline in Google search traffic.”

Today; demand media declared that they will be reporting their first quarter 2011 financial results on May 5. We have yet to get comment from demand media on the topic of Google’s algorithm update.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

A Google representative told us; “We’ve just streamlined it — we unified the data into one set to make it easier for users to understand what’s hot in Google web searches.”

U.S. hot topics section of Google trends appeared to be wedged on the akin ten for many days. As of Monday; the top ten hot topics were kelly clarkson, radio, beck, shutdown, boehner, shooting, masters, garcia, kyrie irving and anonymous.

Generally; these change frequently all through the day and as we noted, it appeared like “shutdown” would have been gone from the list; considering the government shutdown had already been avoided.

It almost immediately became clear that we were not the only ones who were considering a lack of updating here. We reached out to Google for comment. A representative told us that they would look into this for us; but we have yet to get an explanation. Earlier today; it appeared to be fixed as a novel set of keywords were being displayed related to timely events. However; now it appears to just be gone completely. Instead of top ten hot topics in the left column and the top ten hot searches in the right; there are just top five hot searches in the left column and six through ten on the right.

The search box for searching hot topics is not there as well. It is indistinct whether this is how Google trends will be from now on or if this is only temporary; on a semi-related note; twitter trends are now available in 70 novel locations.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.