All Entries in the "Google" Category
Google’s Undetected Click Fraud Rate Less Than 2%
In an interview with Andy Beal, Google’s business product manager for trust and safety, Shuman Ghosemajumder, has clarified that Google’s click fraud rate is less than 2% of all “invalid clicks”, which means the actual number is more likely just a fraction of one percent! This in contrast to the 20% or so that most click fraud agencies report. Andy was able to gain inside access to information never before seen outside of the walls of the Googleplex. Whether that was intention or not, it proves that the click fraud rate discovered by most AdWords advertisers is on average less than 2% of all clicks through Google’s system.
Can’t We All Just Get Along? Apparently Google, Microsoft and Yahoo Can!
Announced at PubCon in Las Vegas, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to come together and accept a standard protocol for submitting web pages to their crawlers via site maps. Google was the first to develop a site maps program where one could submit a feed to the Google index and not only ensure their pages are crawled but identify any potential problems. Now MSN and Yahoo follow suit. A new site (Sitemaps.org) has been launched that will contain more information on the subject.
AdWords Landing Page Quality Update
The Inside AdWords Blog makes an announcement today that another update is coming in relation to the quality of advertiser’s landing pages. Two changes will take place in how AdWords evaluates landing page quality. The first involves incorporating landing page quality into the Quality Score for your contextually-targeted ads, using the same evaluation process as they do for ads showing on Google and the search network. The second involves improving the algorithm for evaluating landing page quality and incorporating landing page content retrieved by the AdWords system.
Google Now 3rd Largest Technology Company in the World
This is probably not a surprising headline for most of us who feel that Google is taking over the world. The Raw Story has the details on how Google has just surpassed IBM as the third largest technology company in the world worth a whopping $145 billion. Compare that to IBM’s $139.5 billion valuation and you can see that they have a good lead on them and are now biting at the heels of Cisco and Microsoft who still holds the #1 spot.
Create Your Own Custom Search Engine Powered By Google
Google has released its own Custom Search Engine product which allows users to create their own search engines that reflects their knowledge and interests. What makes this offering different from others such as Rollyo, Eurekster and Yahoo Search Builder? AdSense! Not only can you create a custom engine that searches the URLs you add to it, you can earn money by running AdSense within the search results.
AdWords Advertisers Can Now Preview Ads By Location
Do you target specific geographical regions with your AdWords account? Have you wished for a way to test to see if those ads are actually showing for the regions you are targeting? Well now you can preview your ads related to specific regions and localities. Inside AdWords, the official source for information about AdWords, announces the ability to preview your ads no matter where they’re targeted.
AdSense for Search Within Your Own Site
Google announced today that you can now display AdSense for search results within your own site. In this manner, you have the freedom to offer users web search while still maintaining the look and feel of your site. You can keep elements like the header, footer, and site navigation panel the same for the search results page you create.
Current State of Who Powers Who in Search
Before I write anything, let me preface this post by saying that this information will probably change not too long after it is written. I am referring to who powers who in the realm of search engines. There are currently four major search engines – Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves). While many other search engines and meta crawlers exist, most of them are powered by one of these “major” engines. Here is a quick rundown of who powers who.
Opt Out of DMOZ Descriptions at Google
Are you tired of seeing your Open Directory descriptions show up in the Google SERPs? Well now you have a choice. Google has finally added support for the NOODP tag. MSN was the first to recognize this tag as I wrote about in May. Now Google follows suit.
Google AdWords Adjusts Landing Page Quality Scores
Google has updated their landing page quality scoring system for AdWords in order to provide a better user experience for those who actually click the ads. This change will target advertisers whose ads lead to a poor user experience. The result is that their minimum bids will increase. What constitutes a poor user experience? Mostly landing pages that consist of nothing but ads or have very little content along with a bunch of ads.
AdWords Dayparting Now Live
Google has release another feature into their AdWords controls – dayparting. You can now choose not only the days but the times that your campaigns run. Want to turn ads off on the weekend? No problem. Do you only want to serve ads a certain time of the day? No problem
Why Google May be Crawling Fewer Pages
Many webmasters have noticed that since the full implementation of the Big Daddy software update to the Google algorithm, that fewer and fewer of their pages have been finding their way into the index. What could be causing this? Is Google finally cleaning up the quality factor of their index, riding it of pages and even sites that don’t meet new quality standards? Aaron Wall of SEOBook has written a lengthy and excellent article on the subject entitled, “The Google Crawling Sandbox.”
