Thursday, February 10, 2011

This Week in Google and Around the Web

I have so much to cover this week because I have been allowing these links to accumulate and they got really out of hand on me. Please bookmark and come back and red this stuff if it interests you like it does me. Man, there is simply too much knowledge to be had and only so much time to go around.

Before I get into this, I wanted to point y'all to my "Resources" page that I have started over at the PMA blog. This is certainly a Work in Progress, but I think that I have gotten a pretty good jump-start on a good mainly free resource page.

The big news this week on the webbynet is that Google busted Bing for piggybacking their SERPs. The data is really somewhat telling, too. Matt Cutts at Google has the video of a discussion panel on the topic, as well as a link to Stephen Colbert comments.

Also, Google tweaked the algorithm a tad and Cutts has something to say about that, too. Really, I think that Google is going to start to devalue backlinks in the near future because of so much misuse. I do not think that they will ever completely kill backlinks entirely, unless there is some better replacement, but traffic is certainly more wonky lately.

Also, in BIG Google news, Larry Page has now taken the helm with Sergey and Eric moving into different roles as well. I am pretty sure this is nothing but good news. The stock sales are becoming somewhat commonplace, too.

Also, the final blocks of IPv4 were assigned last week. Get ready, IPv6, here we come! This change is going to make room for 340 TRILLION web addresses. That number blows my mind, it is like what Obama spends for a weekend vacation!

A Periodic Table for Google APIs. That is just too cool.

Webmaster Tools is getting into some rounding.

Chrome 9 has now synced with Google Docs to create a web clipboard.

The new You Tube homepage is now available to all users. Also, The Official Google Blog has all the week's highlights on You Tube.

Search

The Link Medic has a bit on the Keyword Eye Keyword Tool. We can always use another tool like that.

Here is a tool from Google on Reading Level search. This comes in really handy if I want to finds links that Democrats would understand, I just put Kindergarten in the level and it spits out stuff written with a big pencil on a Big Chief tablet.

Here's LAST week in Google Search. Includes deatils on "Instant" in "Shopping View."

Linking Analytics to Webmaster Tools. I have pretty much linked all of my Google stuff to my profile. Of course, Your MoM got hacked, too, so they had access to everything for about five minutes. Super FUN!

Google Tee-Vee

Check out a quick tour of Google Tee-Vee. It is going to allow News from any Source, so you need to Optimize your site for Google Tee-Vee.

While we are covering television, Basil has some gripes about Hulu Plus.


Search Engine Optimization

SEOmoz has thirty-two SEO tactics to avoid in 2011. By the way, SEOmoz is running a special this month with a thirty day free trial and the first ten thousand people to sign up, get a chance at winning free service for life!

Here is an Social Media Marketers SEO Checklist.

Here's a guide to using Google's Webmaster Tools for SEO. (Video)

Here's how to set up SEOQuake...



Blogging

Blogger in Draft now has a web fonts tool. Yes, Comic Sans is included.

How to get 250k page views a month. Oddly, the tactics are NOT just post bikini chicks each day, every day. Weird.

Basil also has a Blogger v. the Two WordPresses comparison. I think that since college footbaw ended, he is becoming a tech blogger.

Here is an introduction to Blogger's Android app. I have not used it yet, but plan to very soon, I'll let y'all know what I think.

Wordpress has a podcast on How to Grow Blog Engagement.

David Risley has 7 Colossal Mistakes that Bloggers Make. The dark background thing does bother me somewhat. When I go from the normal white background to a black one, it take a second for my eyes to adjust. It's weird. I'm old.

Google Mobile

You can now port your existing mobile number to Google Voice. (Video)

Google Boost has FINALLY made it to mobile. Check it out.

Google Latitude is their brand of check-in service. This is going to go the way of Wave. I am sure of it.

The Android Market website is live.

Honeycomb supports Scalable Vector Graphics.

AdSense

AdSense Goals and Ecommerce tracking.

Longer headlines for select ads.

Location extensions for your brick and mortar business.

The new Interface has still MORE features. They are updating this every Wednesday, now. So, I shall probably push the Google Dump back to Thursday. HEY! LOOK! It's Thursday!

Docs

Docs has added Preview Pane, Music Player, and a Collections feature.

They have also added Quick Starring, Justify, and improved sharing. The improved sharing is eventually going to allow you to add gif images to Blogger. I can already do it, but it is a damned pain in the butt.

Also, the new List Refresh is cool as all get out.

Gmail

Priority inbox is now on Mobile. Unless you have an iPhone.

Google has now added advanced sign-in for Gmail which is really good.

Print from your phone. Who would have ever imagined that twenty years ago?

The Reader link has already been re-added to the menu. It was gone a whole day. But, if you notice, every Google Feed pumped out a test pattern for JS-Blogger-Client. Wonder if that has anything to do with JS-Kit Comments?

Also, this week we got a notification pop-up that calls are free again in 2011. Good deal.

Labs now has Instant Search, too. We didn't need that two years ago when all we could do was play Snake. Today it's different.

And, you'll notice that there is now an unread message icon available in Gmail Labs, too. Shown in the image as "Count!!!"

Desktop notifications for Gmail work okay. I guess I have just gotten used to keeping mine open though and now with the Count showing up on the bar, I know when I have mail.

In case you were looking for some storage, you think 16tB is enough? Only 4k a year from Google. 20gB is only five bucks a year. I am guessing that your data would be pretty safe, too.

Google Enterprise has Gaining Altitude: A New Way to Think About Your Inbox.

By the way, HOTMAIL has started offering aliases for your e-mail. Read, this is awesome.

I am going to have to break this into two posts, it is already WAY too damned long. Don't forget to check out my Resources Page. I am going to link it Your MoM's header, too.

Stay tuned, we are about halfway through this week's links.

Please take the time to comment.

3 comments:

The Mayor said...

Horey Claaaap. Some great stuff in there, TD.

Would you be willing to post-up on readers' suggestions about specific SEO and related topics?

For instance, if we wanted to know more about keywords and how they affect page ranking, and stuff like that?

Just curious.

Paul Mitchell said...

Mayor, you should feel free to ask me any question about anything under the moon. If I do not know the answer, I'll find it for you, sir.

paul mitchell said...

Mayor, you should feel free to ask me any question about anything under the moon. If I do not know the answer, I'll find it for you, sir.