IS-online marketing

Making a John Q Public account on Google

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:43 GMT

One of the advantages of working at Google is that you get to see neat products and features before the rest of the world does. But that can also be a disadvantage. Sometimes I'd like to talk about a fun Gmail Lab or a new Calendar feature but I'm honestly not sure whether the outside world can see the new feature. I don't want to leak something that the outside world can't see, so I usually I play it safe and end up not talking about any Gmail Labs, for example. I'd enjoy giving more Gmail tips but I also don't want to show my actual email that might contain secret stuff.

I think I've figured out a way to solve this issue. I've created a new Gmail account, siliconvalleyuser (at) gmail.com. Let's say it belongs to John Q Public, a power user living in Silicon Valley. Feel free to send John non-Google-related emails about fictional events: “Hey John, want to come to the party on Saturday?” or “John, here are those pictures from the fireworks this past weekend.” or “Hey John, I saw in the newpaper that you won the California lottery--congratulations!” Then when I want to do a screencast or demo some power feature of a Google account, I'll have some realistic email to show.

Just one note: please don't email anything to John about Google. I get way too much email about Google already, and the purpose of this account is to show different features of Gmail or Calendar. To keep this email address completely separate, I created a filter that deletes any emails that mention Google or me:

Again, please don't email about Google-related stuff, but feel free to email John about interesting fictional things at siliconvalleyuser (at) gmail.com! I'm hoping that I can do some blog posts or videos with good tips.

Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: July 3, 2009

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:05 GMT

In this week's video recap, we discuss the July Google webmaster report, a lot has happened over the past 30 days. Google may have had a PageRank quirk. Google penalized the porn industry and then reversed it. Google is messing...

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 3, 2009

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00 GMT

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web....

Google Shrunk its Search Results Page

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:09 GMT

Honestly I didn't notice the difference until I read from Mashable that Google have changed the way it displays search results. As usual, I couldn't find any announcement about it at the Official Google Blog. So, I take it to mean that Google may still be ironing out some kinks related to this “enhancement.”

So, what are the changes? There are three “unnoticeable” things actually. First, which should have been quite obvious I were closely paying attention was the shrunk Google logo at the top of the page. Then there is also now a big space in between the search box and the first row of the search results page.

As to the search results itself, these are now indented but the most significant change was the removal of the page size indicator. This indicator gives you an idea of how long it will take for the page to load. Google also removed the word “pages” from the previous ”similar pages” link.

Was there any improvement in the loading speed? We have no way of telling now. But ii could be faster or slower. Perhaps if you're a keen observer whenever you use Google search, maybe you can easily tell whether there was any change in the speed of loading the search results or none at all.

So, any idea on why Google did these changes? Is it for aesthetic purposes? Revenue generation or what? Do you like the new look of Google search results page? Personally, I prefer the old one or maybe perhaps I could learn to like this new look once I get used to it.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Google Shrunk its Search Results Page

As Google Book Search Gets Better, Here Comes the Anti-Trust Regulators

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:39 GMT

So while U.S. Anti-Trust Regulators are planning to investigate Google's deal with book publishers to settle copyright issues amounting to $125m, Google continues to make Book Search a better and worthwhile service for their users.

If you've been following this issue which has been dragging on since perhaps the day Google Book Search's inception, you'd remember that Google has received so many criticisms because of this project. And so it is not surprising that Google would not bother the investigation that much.

So, anyway it's something that is yet to happen so we might as well talk about the new feature of Google Book Search that we mentioned.

If you would recall, during the early part of May Google introduced searching inside books wherein the context of search results can be viewed, sorted by relevancy as well as flipped through while users are viewing books.

The new feature adds a cool feature via a scrollbar that appears when users search inside a book. Hints will be displayed if you hover on the scrollbar located at the right side of the search results page. These hints will enable you to preview where in the book the search term is located. You can then click on this annotation go to that part of the book.

And basically that's it. Just a simple enhancement and yet a useful one. Now it's time to think about the anti-trust case.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

As Google Book Search Gets Better, Here Comes the Anti-Trust Regulators

July 2009 Google Webmaster Report

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:43 GMT

We are a few days into July and the WebmasterWorld thread that covers Google changes from month to month has been getting a lot of traction over the past couple weeks. The overall theme is that there is a lot...

Google's Recent PageRank "Technical Quirk"?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:31 GMT

It seems like there are several threads around the SEO forum space that have discussion on a recent PageRank update. Yes, even more recent then the June PageRank update. There is a WebmasterWorld thread, a few DigitalPoint Forum threads and...

How Important is DMOZ in Your SEO Process?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:24 GMT

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if DMOZ is still relevant in 2009? DMOZ is a legendary web directory and has a ton of history. But is it still a critical or what it ever a critical part of your overall SEO...

New Free SEO Guide By Hobo: July 4th Reading

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:16 GMT

Shaun, aka Hobo, has released a 157 page PDF guide on SEO. You can download the book over here. There are many SEO books out there, some free, some at a price. I would list some that I recommend, but...

When Google AdSense Is Banned In Your Country

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:09 GMT

There are some countries that simply do not like Google or they simply don't get along with Google. If you are in one of those countries and you try to access Google AdSense or possibly other properties, you may see...

US Justice Dept. Formally Confirms Google Books Inquiry

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:34 GMT

It's not really a surprise or even news that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed yesterday it was formally investigating the terms of the Google Book Search settlement. This was known as far back as April and essentially confirmed last month by various publications reporting that formal requests (called “civil investigative demands”) had been [...]

....

The 3 SEO/SEM Conference Personas

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:14 GMT

I recently returned from the successful SMX-Advanced search engine optimization and advertising conference, and I had an epiphany: as a speaker, usability principles are applicable to these conferences. Which usability principle, you might ask? Before usability professionals create an information architecture and corresponding interfaces, they must identify and address various personas or profiles. The primary persona [...]

....