Eye-Tracking Study of Google

SEOmoz just released the results of a pretty cool eye-tracking study and a few of the results are surprising. Google’s different SERPs formats seem to have varying effects on users and those using video and local search listings will find these results promising.

A few of the results actually suggest that if you’re targeting a query with local connotations, you may be better off skipping those coveted top 3 organic spots and shooting for the local listings. To be clear, the study was small and examined just eight subjects shown five SERPs each. It would be very useful to see the results of a larger, broader study, given the promising outcome of this one for blended search results.

Source url : http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2115682/Google-Eye-Tracking-Study-Highlights-Impact-of-LocalPlaces-Results

All AdWords Phone Numbers made clickable by google on mobile

When AdWords advertisers place a phone number in their ad copy, the phone number will be clickable by default, Google has announced. Advertisers will be charged the same rate as their standard PPC when users call through the advertisement.

The Added Features

Google has been offering a click-to-call feature for AdWords since January 2010.

Previously, AdWords users who placed a phone number in their ad copy could only get a call if the searcher entered the number manually. Now, the phone numbers inside the creative are clickable by default.

Additionally, advertisers can view details on the performance of the clickable number by looking at the "click type" campaign segment of their campaign reporting.

Source url : http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2104995/Google-Makes-All-AdWords-Phone-Numbers-Clickable-for-Mobile

Offshore outsourcing cuts down facebook page costs

Should brands outsource their Facebook presence in part or full, to a company in another continent and hence become the brand’s eyes, ears and voice on social media?

Budgets for social media are growing at unprecedented rates and these numbers will come under scrutiny more often than not as companies optimize their social media spending. By outsourcing social media activities (in part or full), a brand can cut its social media spend by anywhere between 25 percent 60 percent and still achieve the same, if not better, results.

When we talk about social media outsourcing, I always tell brands that there are some things that are outsourcable and some that are not. About 60 percent 65 percent of all social media work done is outsourcable, and about 35 percent 40 percent is not.

Source url : http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-page-outsourcing-offshore-2011-07

Google+ had 2.85 mn unique visitors from India till now

According to data from Comscore, the number of unique Google+ visitors stood at 19.93 million between June 29 and July 19. Users from the US and India stood at 5.31 million and 2.85 million, respectively. The two countries also emerged as the top countries on Google+. Another 0.87 million users were from the UK, 0.71 million from Germany, and 0.5 million from France. The site is still in its beta phase and one needs to be invited to join it.

Video calls and group chat by Facebook

Facebook has announced the roll out of its video chat feature powered by internet telephony company Skype. Facebook has also introduced a group chat feature through which users can now create instant group chats if they want to quickly message a small group of their friends.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook now has 750 million users and they share 4 billion things such as photos, links and status updates on the site every day. The video calling feature is browser-based inside Facebook, and is currently only one-to-one video calling as Skype charges for group video chat.

Source url : http://www.alootechie.com/news/facebook-launches-video-calls-group-chat-features

Zuckerberg is No. 1 page on Google+

Any guesses as to who is the most popular person on Google(PLUS), the company's new social networking service? Ashton Kutcher , perhaps? Or Lady Gaga?

Actually, that title is currently held by Mark Zuckerberg , the founder and chief executive of Facebook - the very service that Google(PLUS) was meant to challenge.

As of Tuesday evening, Zuckerberg had nearly 35,000 people following his updates on the service, more than anyone else in a broad survey of Google(PLUS) profiles by Social Statistics, an outside service. His fan base exceeds that of Larry Page , one of the founders of Google and its recently appointed chief executive, who had only 24,000 people following him.

Source url : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/facebook-founder-mark-zuckerberg-is-no-1-page-on-googleplus/articleshow/9123905.cms

China's Baidu English results to be powered by Bing

China’s dominant search engine Baidu is trying to expand its reach beyond Chinese-language speakers. Reuters is reporting that Baidu and Microsoft have done a deal that will offer Bing powered English-language results for the Chinese search engine.

It’s not clear whether this is limited to China or will be used in other markets where English is spoken. We’ve asked Microsoft for some additional color and perspective.

Source url : http://searchengineland.com/report-bing-to-power-baidu-english-results-84164

Apps For PC, iPhone & Android by Yahoo

Shashi Seth, SVP of Search & Marketplaces at Yahoo believes that mobile apps are like websites in the early days of the internet and will only continue to multiply just as websites have done — seemingly exponentially. Regardless of whether the analogy is 100 percent accurate everyone agrees that app discovery has become a big problem. Among other things, it has given rise to an Amazon app store and several independent app-discovery sites like Chomp.

Mobile (and increasingly desktop) apps are are an important new content category that Seth believes must be addressed by search. Accordingly, this evening Yahoo is launching app search for the PC and a mobile app-search app, called AppSpot, for iPhone and Android. Eventually Yahoo wants to index RIM and Windows Phone apps, Seth told me.

Source url : http://searchengineland.com/yahoo-builds-app-search-for-pc-appspot-for-iphone-android-81947

Investigation by FBI against the hacking of google accounts

The FBI was investigating allegations by Internet giant Google that Chinese hackers were behind the hacking of hundreds of Gmail accounts, including those of senior US officials, the White House said.

"US President Barack Obama is aware of it and is being updated on regularly," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily news conference.

"Threats to information and communications infrastructure pose a serious economic and national security challenge for the US and our partners, which is why the president has made cyber security one of his top priorities," he said.

Source url : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/fbi-investigating-chinese-hand-in-gmail-account-hacking-us/articleshow/8711488.cms

$17.94mn online advertising revenues by Rediff in 2011

Nasdaq listed Rediff.com has said that for the fiscal ended March 31, 2011, the company’s India online advertising revenues grew to $17.94 million from $14.69 million reported on fiscal ending March 31, 2010. Rediff’s total revenues, which includes fee-based and online advertising and US publishing revenues, for the same period rose to $21.79 million in fiscal 2011 from $18.84 million reported in fiscal 2010. The company’s India online advertising revenues for the quarter ended March, 31, 2011 rose to $4.84 million from $4.03 million reported in the same quarter last year and total revenues in the same period grew to $5.64 million compared to $4.96 million for the quarter ended March, 31, 2010.

The company’s cash balance stood at $36.92 million, as of March 31, 2011, which provides sufficient working capital to meet its liquidity needs and to execute on its strategy, including investments in product development and marketing initiatives. Similar with past periods, Rediff expects to continue to invest $1.0 - $1.5 million per quarter throughout the fiscal year.

Source url : http://www.alootechie.com/news/rediff-reports-1794mn-online-advertising-revenues-india-fiscal-2011-total-revenues-2179mn

Bing's deal with Conduit

Bing’s traffic acquisition deal with Conduit, the toolbar company that claims to work with 260,000 publishers and 200 million users, appears to be paying off, according to analysis from Rimm Kaufman Group (RKG).

Senior research analyst Mark Ballard looked at traffic from Conduit to Rimm Kaufman Group clients from before the toolbar company switched to Bing from Google at the beginning of 2011. Toward the end of 2010, when Conduit was still with Google, Ballard writes, Conduit sent RKG clients paid search click traffic that was equivalent to 10 to 11% of total Bing.com paid search traffic. Currently, using referrer data, Ballard sees around 5% of Bing’s paid search traffic coming from Conduit, and he estimates an additional 5-6% likely comes from additional searches after people are delivered to Bing.com.

Source url : http://searchengineland.com/researcher-conduit-toolbar-deal-boosting-bings-paid-clicks-by-10-78411

Google Insights – SEO For 2011

Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion

Over the past week there were rumors that Google and Facebook were both interested in buying Skype. Then Om Malik reported that Microsoft was really the one interested and the Wall Street Journal confirmed yesterday that Microsoft would be paying a remarkable $8.5 billion for the company, making it Microsoft’s largest acquisition to date:

At a value close to $8 billion, the Skype deal would rank as the biggest acquisition in the 36-year history of Microsoft, a company that traditionally has shied away from large deals. In 2007, Microsoft paid approximately $6 billion to acquire online advertising firm aQuantive Inc. Many current and former Microsoft executives believe Microsoft significantly overpaid for that deal. But they are also relieved that Microsoft gave up on an unsolicited $48 billion offer for Yahoo Inc. nearly three years ago. Yahoo is valued at half that sum today.

Source url : http://searchengineland.com/microsoft-buys-skype-for-8-5-billion-now-what-76452

Indian service providers in UK

The UK government's announcement that it will slash the amount spent by central government on large IT projects has made many suppliers anxious, while the economic climate is also causing companies to tighten their belts. So are we finally seeing a slow-down in the Indian outsourcing boom?

Emphatically not, says Anthony Miller, co-founder and managing partner of analyst TechMarketView: "If you look at the top six or seven India-based players that operate in the UK market, last year they grew their UK revenues by 16 or 17 per cent.

Offshore outsourcing is still growing, and the India-based players are growing the fastest in the UK."

Source url : http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/analysis/2046516/indian-services-providers-adjust-market-conditions

Google expanded the Panda/Farmer update to all English language searches

It’s only been 48 hours since Google expanded the Panda/Farmer update to all English language searches outside the US, and we’re already seeing reports about who the early winners and losers are.

In some cases, the names are familiar if you followed the original reports when the algorithm change first hit in the US in late February.

But there are also some new names, including a notable one that was missing the first time around.

Source url : http://searchengineland.com/winners-losers-panda-goes-global-ehow-bings-ciao-more-72895

Internet connectivity can be blocked during national emergencies

The Indian Government has incorporated a provision under the IT Act of 2008, giving itself or any of its officers a special authority to block internet connectivity across the country during times of national emergencies. The shutdown can happen in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence and security of its states, friendly relations with foreign states or for public order. Failure to comply with this order will result in imprisonment of up to seven years.

Source : http://www.alootechie.com/content/government-india-can-block-internet-connectivity-during-national-emergencies

Bing with instant search

Google's been serving up "instant" search results for awhile and saving people seconds any time they need to search for something. Time for Bing to do the same.

Fast Company reports that Microsoft is introducing an instant search feature as "part of a bigger make-over for Bing that'll maximize its use of HTML 5's "next gen" browser technology." This feature will be similar to Google's and suggest search queries as you type yours. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

Basically, with instant search, top search results will pour in as you type your query, and odds are that you'll spot what you're looking for before you're even done typing. In other words, you'll feel like the search engine is trying to read your mind.

Source url : http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/07/6210771-bing-to-imitate-googles-instant-search-feature

New Navigation Bar for Google

A week ago, we reported on a new top navigation bar Google began testing. It appears that Google seems to be rolling out this new top navigation bar out globally. I even see the new navigation bar.

The new navigation bar allows the Google page and search results move up slightly, since the bar is slightly shorter than the previous bar. It also adds a bit of a more colorful and graphical interface. The top bar has a light dark and light blue bar across the top. Plus, there is a little gear like icon at the far right that gives you additional options for your account and preferences.

Source url : http://searchengineland.com/yes-more-are-seeing-google%E2%80%99s-new-navigation-bar-65236

Egypt oversold being a top offshoring spot?

Before Egypt turned off the Internet, the country had received increasingly high marks from leading analysis firms as a promising offshore outsourcing destination, despite the nation's political risk.

When it comes to outsourcing, there are some things that analysis firms can no doubt do well. They can assess the labor pool, the educational system, and cost of business -- anything that can be measured and quantified. But as Egypt's political turmoil demonstrates, it's very difficult to predict the sweep of history.

Management consulting firm A.T. Kearney released an annual index this week that measures the attractiveness of offshoring locations, and it put Egypt fourth on the list after India, China and Malaysia.

Source url : http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9207680/Was_Egypt_oversold_as_top_offshoring_spot_

Indian continue to be on top in offshore outsourcing

India has been the world's favorite destination for offshore outsourcing but its service competitiveness and cost efficiency is being challenged by many other countries like Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, according to a latest research.

It is already the most successful country among the offshore locations and continues to score very well across all the 10 criterion was said by IT consultancy firm Gartner in its latest report.

However, the rapid growth of the business in neighboring China is posing tough competition, according to the report that also revealed the debut of eight new countries in the list of Top 30.

Though the attractive cost structures of Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia create tough competition for India, while China remains the most prominent challenger in terms of scale, but India maintains it's position.