Maps Roundup: Google Avoids Waze Antitrust Fight, Scout Social Mapping, deCarta Route Patent

Google spent just over $1 billion to take Waze away from Facebook, Apple or Nokia and Microsoft. It equally sought the real-time driver feedback that Waze crowd-sourcing provides. Given the size of the transaction the US FTC got immediately involved to…

Google: Webmaster Tools Reporting To Return To Normal Within In Coming Days

Google’s Webmaster Tools search query reports are very delayed right now, but Google tells us that they “expect reporting to return to normal in the coming days.” This is a “bug” in how Google shows webmasters search queries that drive traffic a site. The reporting…

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New Google Antitrust Offer A “Significant Improvement” Says EU

After Google’s competitors loudly complained about the company’s antitrust settlement proposal, which displayed three “rival links” to alternative’ search results, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said it would take new “concessions” for…

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Google’s Matt Cutts: NoFollow Attributes On Internal Links Don’t Hurt But Generally Don’t Do It

In a video, Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts published today Matt answered the question, “Should I use rel=”nofollow” on internal links to a login page?” Matt Cutts basically said you shouldn’t but said it won’t hurt you if you did. Matt said,…

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Google Launches New Card-Based “Unified Design” Search Results For Mobile Devices

Google has just rolled out their new “more unified design” of displaying search results for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablet devices. As expected, Google said A new “more unified design” will offer “cleaner and simpler, optimized for touch, with results clustered…

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FAQ: All About The New Google “Hummingbird” Algorithm

Google has a new search algorithm, the system it uses to sort through all the information it has when you search and come back with answers. It’s called “Hummingbird” and below, what we know about it so far. What’s a “search algorithm?” That’s a technical…

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Google: SEO Problems, Solutions & Wishlists

When I was a little boy, my parents had an effective way of making me behave. They’d warned me that if I was rude, disobedient or messy, the bogeyman would come and get me. I never saw a bogeyman or even knew what one looked like — but my imagination ran wild over this terrifying…

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For Google’s 15th Birthday, Search “Google In 1998″ For A Flashback

Google turns 15 this week — celebrating its official birthday on Friday. But it already is gearing up for the celebrations with a special easter egg. Search for “google in 1998,” and you’ll see how Google used to look back then, in the year of its birth. The head of…

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Google’s Matt Cutts: Google Does Not Penalize For Broken HTML

In a video published today by Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts – Google confirmed that they do not penalize sites that have broken or invalid HTML. Matt Cutts said, “so Google does not penalize you if you have invalid HTML, because there would be a huge number of web pages…

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Google: BitTorrent Back In Auto Complete To Make Search “More Useful to People”

Yesterday we reported that after over two years of being missing, BitTorrent is back in Google’s auto completion results. That means, when you start typing the letters [bit] into Google’s search box, Google will offer an instant search suggestion of the term BitTorrent. Before…

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Google May Have Penalized Another Major Link Network: Ghost Rank 2.0

Google has significantly penalized another underground link network over the weekend and we believe that one of the link networks targeted by Google is named Ghost Rank 2.0. A few weeks ago, Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, tweeted “Thinking of ghost-related puns for a spam…

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Post-PRISM, Google Confirms Quietly Moving To Make All Searches Secure, Except For Ad Clicks

In the past month, Google quietly made a change aimed at encrypting all search activity — except for clicks on ads. Google says this has done to provide “extra protection” for searchers, and the company may be aiming to block NSA spying activity. Or possibly, it’s a move to…

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When It Comes To Google, Microsoft’s Ballmer Is Still Fighting Old Battles With Old Tactics

I’ve watched Microsoft fight Google in search for a very long time. Bing has come a long way, and I’ve been pleased to see a strong competitor emerge. But Microsoft hasn’t actually hurt Google’s share. It’s only robbed from its partner, Yahoo. So how’s Microsoft…

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Study: Google Reviews Determine Local Carousel Rankings

Since the the launch of the Google “Local Carousel” in June, SEOs and marketers have been trying to reverse engineer the ranking variables that elevate listings into that hallowed ground. Mike Blumenthal offered a good early roundup of stories and analysis. Now Digital Marketing Works…

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MPAA: 82 Percent Of Searches Leading To Pirated Content Come From Google

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) today accused Google and other search engines of playing “a significant role” in directing consumers to pirated movies and TV shows, with a special callout for the amount of Google searches that lead to infringing material. It’s the…

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