Google more popular than Yahoo!

Google overtook Yahoo as the second most popular Internet destination for Web surfers worldwide in November while Microsoft held on to the top spot, ComScore has reported. Slightly more than 736 million people around the world traveled the Internet last month, with 475,713 of them visiting Google websites and 475,262 going to Yahoo online properties, according to industry tracker ComScore.

Websites of Redmond, Washington-based software giant Microsoft were visited by 501,720 people, the rating tally revealed. Hot video-sharing website YouTube placed tenth in the ComScore Media Metrix rankings but showed the largest surge in visitors, with the number catapulting by more than 2,000 per cent to 107,944. Google's results did not include visits YouTube, which it bought in October.

The popularity of Google websites was up nine per cent from the same month a year earlier, while visits to Silicon Valley rival Yahoo grew by five per cent and to Microsoft by three per cent in the same comparison.

Online auction pioneer eBay was ranked in fourth place, with the number of visitors slipping by one per cent from November of 2005 to 250,848. Time Warner Network site visits also notched down one per cent, tallying 222,107.

The number of people going to the communally-edited Internet encyclopedia site Wikipedia more than doubled to 171,945 in November as compared to that month last year.

Source: Expressindia.com

Google's Matt Cutts talks about SEO traps

Google's Matt Cutts talks about search engine optimization traps

The head of Google's anti-spam team Matt Cutts publicly reviewed some web sites at the 2006 PubCon in Las Vegas. Some statements in these public reviews might help you to improve your rankings on Google and Yahoo.

Duplicate content can create problems

One of the web sites that Matt Cutts analyzed had a problem with duplicate content. The owner of the web site had more than 20 other web sites that offered overlapping content and overlapping pages on different URLs.

Search engines can find out which other web sites belong to you. For example, Alexa shows the different domains that a webmaster owns. In addition, the web site used the same meta description tag on dozens of pages. This can cause problems with search engines.

Matt Cutts suggests to vary the pages by adding user comments or reviews. He said that varying the duplicate pages by adding a few extra sentences or by scrambling a few words wouldn't work.

Very big sitemaps can cause problems

Another web site did fine in Google but it couldn't get high rankings on Yahoo. The site had a very large sitemap-type page that listed hundreds of articles on one page. This could trigger the filters of some search engines. Matt Cutts suggested to split the sitemap into smaller pages.

You should use the correct letter case in sitemap files

The same site might had problems with Yahoo because there was a mismatch between the uppercase URL titles on the live pages and the lowercase URL titles according to Yahoo's Site Explorer. That might trigger cloaking filters.

You should focus on quality back links

If inbound links are built too quickly, they don't have a positive effect on the link rankings of a web site. Reciprocal links should be from related sites that have something in common with your own web site. Reciprocal links with unrelated sites don't help.

Avoid session IDs if possible

Matt Cutts indicated that it makes sense not to use URLs with session IDs. Long URLs with many variables can cause problems with search engine spiders. This is also mentioned in the Google guidelines:

"If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a [simple] text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site."

Having too many web sites and private WHOIS might hurt your rankings

Matt Cutts indicated that it might hurt your rankings if you have too many sites and if you use these web sites just to display PPC ads:

"Having lots of sites isn’t automatically bad, and having PPC sites isn’t automatically bad, and having whois privacy turned on isn’t automatically bad, but once you get several of these factors all together, you’re often talking about a very different type of webmaster than the fellow who just has a single site or so."

If you try to cheat Google then it's likely that one of Google's filters will apply to your web site sooner or later.

Your web site should be useful and interesting to web surfers. If you have such a web site, make sure that there are no technical errors that prevent search engines from indexing your web pages. Make it as easy as possible for search engines to parse your web pages and get good inbound links to show search engines that your web site is important.

Coutesy: Axandra.com

Smart Answers Lead to Smart Voting!

Even if your only outside link to the world was your mailbox, by this time you'd still be awash in (mostly biased) election information: candidates, propositions, polling places and more. And of course there are all the latest scandals that just happen to drop just before the big day. Don't you wish you had one reliable source where you could find all the Election Day info you needed? Ahem.

Try this on for size:

Just type in "election" into Ask.com. You'll get a Smart Answer that points you to practically everything you need to know about this year's elections.

And see that pull-down menu labeled "Voter Info by State"?

That's your Smart Answer gateway to all the local voter resources you'll need.

Looking to delve even deeper into the issues? Our Director of Online Information Resources, Gary Price, has rounded up some sites where you can do some serious research.

So if you want to make the best-informed decision possible--or just figure out how to get there before the polls close--turn to Ask.com. We'll point you to the facts. After that it's up to you.

And if you're reading this on November 7, what are you doing sitting at your computer? Go out there and vote!

Source: blog.ask.com

Google Beats Yahoo For Best Search Engine According To ChristiaNet Poll

ChristiaNet.com (http://www.christianet.com), the world’s largest Christian portal with twelve million monthly page loads, asked reader’s to participate in a survey to determine the most popular search engine. Respondents commented on what they thought was the best search engine out of the most popular three, Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The poll shows that many users are looking for one that is simple, fast, and has accurate information. One participate stated, "I have more success finding information with Google." (http://www.christianet.com/searchengines/)

Out of 266 participants polled, the majority of 125 felt that Google was the best search engine. Users felt that it was superior over Yahoo and MSN but several commented that they frequently used all 3. Participants emphasized that they don’t like to be bothered with pop-ups and having searches pull up sites that contain spam but instead appreciate accessing quality Internet sites. Another attribute that is important to users is that the site be visually appealing and not too busy.

Thirty-three respondents preferred using MSN over the others. Many of these participants commented that they use it because they are familiar with it, since it came installed on their computer. Some people have a specific reason they like one over the other. One reader wrote, "I love chatting with my friends." Instant messaging options are gaining in popularity and make it easy to communicate instantly with family and friends. Setting up a homepage provides access to daily stock quotes, news and entertainment information. There are many other popular features that provide users with options right at their fingertips.

Yahoo is also very popular with participants since 108 of the 266 polled think it is the best search engine. The capability of using email and setting up a homepage attracts many people to a particular program. Offering free email gets attention along with the capability of customizing a homepage by changing layout columns, and colors. For some users, old habits are hard to break. People often will go to the one program they know how to use over trying a new one, especially if it has performed well for them in the past. Several users couldn’t quite articulate why they use a specific engine, except to say, "I just like it." For more information, visit: http://www.christianet.com/articles/

Source : prleap.com

Google Custom Search Engines Open Worlds of Potential

The development of the Internet, and later search engines, has put a wider (and sometimes deeper) range of information at more users’ fingertips than ever before. What’s more, it has empowered users to find exactly what they’re looking for – the ultimate in “personal media,” if you will. But large general search engines have their faults. What if you could build a search engine that focused specifically on your own interests?

That’s exactly the service that Google unveiled with its Custom Search Engine. Now you don’t need to be a programmer to create a search engine; what’s more, the search engine you create will be vertical, based on the topics and web sites you choose. Do it right, and users of your custom search engine (including you, of course) will benefit from results that are far more relevant to their needs than what they can find at Google itself.

As we’ve often seen, Google isn’t the first company to enter this arena. Other companies that offer customized search include Rollyo, PSI, and Yahoo. But Google is throwing its brand, coolness factor, and – let’s face it – almost intuitive grasp of what should and should not be part of a user-friendly interface into this project. As an outgrowth of Google Co-op, this move throws Google right into the midst of the social search and web 2.0 world, a field in which the search engine giant had actually been lagging behind Yahoo.

Read Google Custom Search Engines Open Worlds of Potential

Barnett Takes 2nd Turn vs. Google

Jim Barnett knows the perils of competing with Google. He saw firsthand how the company's mastery of search vanquished early leaders like AltaVista (where he was CEO) and Excite.

Now, he's striving to take on Google in the online advertising realm, where the Big G boasts the Internet's largest ad network via AdSense, a system that puts links and banner ads on thousands of Web sites.

Despite AdSense's success, Barnett believes the system has plenty of flaws, and he's betting his new venture, Turn, will be able to take advantage of those weaknesses.

"It's exhilarating," Barnett said of the upcoming fight against Google. "They're very good competition."

San Mateo, Calif.-based Turn in recent months has attracted $18 million in venture backing from Norwest Venture Partners, Trident Capital and Shasta Ventures. Turn has about 1,000 advertisers in its system, which displays ads on approximately 30 sites.

Unlike Google, which charges advertisers on a per-click basis, Turn relies on a cost-per-action scheme. It charges advertisers only if users take desired actions, such as filling out registration forms or closing on sales. (A marketer such as Starwood, for example, could bid $20 for each hotel night booked, $3 for every e-mail sign-up and 75 cents for each site visit.)

Turn hopes to appeal to advertisers unhappy with poor conversion rates from their contextual campaigns and frustrated by the complexity of compiling keyword lists.

Turn has another key point of differentiation: It analyzes 60 factors to decide which ads to show users, weighing variables such as past behavior, publisher demographics, copy contents and brand quality. The system shows either text listings or display ads, choosing the option likely to yield the most revenue, Barnett said.

Source: adweek.com

Google faces YouTube dilemma

Google's acquisition of YouTube provides a "tantalizing opportunity" for the search giant to boost its advertising model, but the success of the partnership is far from certain, according to Gartner.

Analysts at the research firm said Google could struggle to maintain YouTube's loyal following and attract advertisers, highlighting the copyright concerns faced by the video-sharing site.

"Brand advertisers, in the main, are unwilling to place their marketing messages alongside (or in some cases inside) stolen or controversial material," said Gartner. "YouTube claims to be poised to deploy technology that roots out copyrighted material. But such efforts have been largely unsuccessful."

Gartner said YouTube's efforts to stamp out copyright infringement on its network had been marred by both false positives -- where legitimate content is deemed to by copyrighted -- and "significant violations that slip through the cracks".

That means the companies face "the burden of proving to advertisers that they will be able to resolve this issue without alienating their audience," the research firm added.

Google announced its US$1.6 billion acquisition of YouTube last week, but partners such as News Corp and content owners including Time Warner have already expressed their concern about the implications of the deal.

Courtesy: computerworld.com.au

Sales Without Search Engines

Imagine one day you flip on your PC, log on to the Internet and go to google.com. The browser alerts you and says that there is no website found at that address. No problem you think, as you head on over to Yahoo.com. Same thing. No website found at that url. Now something seems fishy, go to MSN.com because you know Microsoft will never run out of money, and their search engine will be up. Nope, instead you get another alert box telling you that there is no website found at that url.

Imagine that!

Yes, imagine an Internet world where no search engines exist, and anyone trying to make a living online selling a product or service has to be found.

Where would you start? Where would you list your site(s)? How would you get your site found by your potential customers?

This is the mentality you should always take when promoting your website. Sure, it'd be great to have top rankings in the search engines, and get all of that free targeted traffic coming to your site. But just as easily as you achieve that ranking, you could lose it overnight - with a simple filter change in the algorithm.

You've heard of the "Florida" update that caused many site owners panic attacks as their previously highly ranked sites fell off the face of the Internet. They lost sales, traffic and dreams of Internet riches.

Why? As someone famous once say: "Don't place all your eggs in one basket" - yet too many website owners do. They are obsessed with a top ranking in Google instead of building a brand name people will recognize and trust. Top rankings in the search engines should be part of your Internet marketing strategy, but dedicate only a portion of your efforts to that. You should equally spend your time pursuing partnerships with other non-competitive sectors of the Internet.

You've seen a web-ring. To refresh, they are a group of related sites that link to each other. Internet marketing is the same concept, but on a much grander showcase. You can advertise your site in the costly Pay-Per-Click Arena, and if you have the budget to do so, by all means, that is the quickest way to get found. But keeping in mind that search engines don't exist, what would you do to get the word out?

1. Press Releases - While they should be reserved for newsworthy purposes (new product/service, acquisition, attending Trade Show or Convention, etc.), they are a great way to get people to visit your site when they are looking for information relating to your product or service. It's also a great way to build your brand name and to become known as an authority of information in your field.

2. Directory Listings - Quite simply, this is the easiest way to get your site indexed by search engines. There are many free directories that you can get your site listed in, and there are many fee-based directories that are worth the price of adding your site. The added value is that since your site is listed categorically, it helps to re-enforce what your site offers, since it will be found with similar sites.

3. Articles - Expose your expertise! While article writing is not easy, it is an extremely valuable asset to your site. By writing, you are creating unique content found nowhere else and we all know how much search engines love that! It also gives you another way of explaining a product or service without coming off as a sales pitch. Another added benefit of writing articles is that it's a great way to naturally grow the size of your site in an organic way, and will in turn, make your site become a "hub" of relevant information in regards to your industry.

4. Newlsetters - This should be your site's bread and butter. The people who have signed up for your newsletter already feel that your site was worth their time to give you their email address, so these people have already place some trust and value into what you have to say. The newsletter is where you can promote new products and services to interested users without risking any intrusiveness factors. This is the best place to make a sales pitch to your perspective readers!

5. Blogs/RSS Feeds - While to some people this is already old-hat, there are many users out there (think AOL users) who have no idea about how to customize the content they want to read. There are many areas to get your blog listed, and it gives an inside point-of-view into the inner workings of your company or personality, thus giving yet another way for a user to identify with you or your site.

It's safe to say that the search engines will always be around, but to focus entirely on them and ignoring the other resources could be a costly business mistake.

Just remember to keep your eye on the prize of online success, and customers coming from various outlets, not just the search engines.

Paul Bliss
SEOforGoogle.com

SEO Masters India Known as Dedicated SEO India launched New Website

Did you know that 90% of unique internet traffic to a website originates from a search engine. So you can not ignore search engine optimization or search engine marketing!

SEO trend in India is fast catching up. Many SEO companies in India have set up their services. These SEO firms in India have become successful in a short period of time as the service that they provide is needed by everyone who wishes to achieve success in web marketing.

SEO Masters India doesn’t stand different but are different is all aspects of their service. For them what stands more important is their worldwide clients who made their site worth visiting in such a vast IT industry. SEO Masters India strongly believes in them, know capabilities and limitations and work accordingly on any given project. SEO Masters India makes sure that whatever they do is client and quality centric.

Their team consists of experienced SEO / Internet Marketing Experts who can offer expertise in the areas like Web Promotion, Internet Marketing, PPC Campaign and Top Search Engine Positioning. With focused nature to place our client's website prominently in the search engines and further retain the search engine rank positions, their professional and expert SEO team has developed successful and ethical web marketing and Natural SEO techniques over the years and have a proven track record of excellent results and a plethora of satisfied clients.

SEO Masters India has a budget for every type of business and with affordable options to suit your marketing goals; they will certainly increase your online presence!

Feel free to circulate and share out this press release as you wish - if you can post it on your own site or email it to your friends then please do. It’s real time to reproduce the word far and wide amongst the all community across the world.

SEO MASTERS INDIA is truly a MASTER of these elements.

SEO MASTERS INDIA
Email: seomastersindia@gmail.com
http://www.seomastersindia.com