Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /algorithms/

Social networks Focus on the User

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:48:00 GMT

Fed up with being ignored by Google, engineers from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have joined forces to create a new tool that gleans search results from social networks other than Google+.

'Focus on the User' uses Google's algorithms to "determine what social content should appear in the areas where Google+ results are currently hardcoded."

By using the tool, users can see search results from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, along with LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursquare, Crunchbase, FriendFeed and several other social networking sites across the web. Instead of automatically being met with Google+ results, users can see the most relevant social media results on any given search.

"When you search for 'cooking' today, Google decides that renowned chef Jamie Oliver is a relevant social result," the website said.

"That makes sense. But rather than linking to Jamie's Twitter profile, which is updated daily, Google links to his Google+ profile, which was updated nearly two months ago."

The bookmarklet - dubbed 'Don't be Evil', after Google's own motto - runs in Chrome, Firefox or Safari and automatically checks for any social profiles associated with a given search term, replacing Google+ profiles.

According to its creators, Focus on the User "looks at the three places where Google only shows Google+ results and then automatically googles Google to see if Google finds a result more relevant than Google+."

Google's Search plus Your World update has come under fire since its launch, with critics arguing the search giant is acting in its own interests on its quest to become more social.

Dissidents of Search plus Your World have also called foul on Google, arguing Mountain View is not doing what's best for the user and is abusing its power by edging out other social networks from search results.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google+ phases out incoming stream

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:01:00 GMT

Google is set to axe its 'incoming stream' from Google+, in an effort to keep things simple for users.

Engineering Manager Dave Besbris quietly announced the changes in a Google+ post, stating: "The 'incoming' stream was a part of Google+ from the very start and it served an important purpose at the time to help discover others on Google+.

"Since then however we've added a suggested user list, What's Hot, the ability to share circles and in-product search with saved searches."

Through the incoming stream, users could see posts and activity of others who followed them but whom they didn't follow themselves - however, critics argued the feature was too confusing.

The move away from its 'incoming stream' comes in direct response to user frustration, and tweaks to Google+ have incorporated some of the features of the incoming stream to other aspects of the social networking site.

"We've also greatly improved our friend suggestion algorhithms. these changes all serve the same purpose that incoming originally did: connecting people," Besbris said.

"Based on your feedback and our user research, we learned that the "incoming" stream was a very confusing part of Google+. Not surprisingly, this feedback was reflected in very low usage of the "Incoming" stream compared to the rest of Google+, so we decided to remove it and simplify things."

The young social network has been constantly refining its services to make them more user-friendly since its initial launch - tweaking existing features and introducing new ones. And, with Google's latest Search plus Your World updates, activity on Google+ is now even more visible in search results - a move that will likely encourage users to engage with the social network even more.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google brings Your World to your search results

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:24:00 GMT

Seeking to deliver on CEO Larry Page's promise of a more social Google, the search seraph announced earlier today another new initiative to infuse social signals in search.

Your World marks the third major revamp tooled toward social search in the approximately nine months since Page ascended the search throne atop Mountain View.

"We're transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships," Google Fellow Amit Singhal explained on the Official Google Blog. "We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we're taking another big step in this direction."

Google's three major plays with the revamp include finding results catered to individuals, and integrating the profiles of those with similar interest or who may be close to your social circle in results and autocomplete features. Your World also places Google+ pages related to search terms within easy reach for users to visit.

Mountain View has continually assessed social metrics and feature enhance search, and this latest update is set to make most searches even more unique to each user.

However, some may be less than thrilled to see personal information listed alongside popular results for something like "beach holidays".

"Until now we have not had the mixture of our personal information with our Web search results, and that makes even me a bit nervous," said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land, who affirmed Your World is one of Google's most significant overhauls.

The move also marks a hard strike against social media's biggest player, Facebook, as Palo Alto's metrics don't feed into the results. Instead, Google could be seen as favouring its own offerings (Google+, +1) in the place of market competitors.

While just how Your World plays out remains to be seen, the service will be automatically rolled out for most English-language users in coming days. Users must choose to opt out should they not want personal results displayed.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google demotes itself after paid-blog fuss

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:13:00 GMT

Google has fallen on the proverbial sword - demoting itself in search rankings after a Chrome ad campaign violated the company's own policies.

Google has found itself in hot water following the revelation that a Google Chrome ad campaign did exactly what the company has specifically banned in the past - paying bloggers for links to pad out search results.

To add insult to injury, the posts were of such low quality that they embodied the kind of "thin" content that Google has been working to eliminate from its search results.

So, to make amends it appears the search giant will be turning to a little self-flagellation of the corporate kind.

"We've investigated and are taking manual action to demote www.google.com / chrome and lower the site's PageRank for a period of at least 60 days," the company said in a statement from Mountain View.

"We strive to enforce Google's webmaster guidelines consistently in order to provide better search results for users... we can find no remaining violations of our webmaster guidelines, we believe Google should be held to a higher standard, so we have taken stricter action than we would against a typical site."

Google notoriously dislikes companies trying to game search results by paying other sites to link to them, and is partly blaming the advertising companies it partnered with for the fracas.

"Google never agreed to anything more than online ads," said the company. "We have consistently avoided paid sponsorships, including paying bloggers to promote our products, because these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users. We are now looking into what changes we need to make to ensure this never happens again."

Searching for the keyword "browser" on Google will no longer bring up the Google Chrome home page anywhere in the top results, with it reportedly currently ranked in position 50.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google home page gets a makeover

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:48:00 GMT

A new year, a new look for Google's home page.

In a bid to simplify the page and improve user experience, the titans of search are rolling out one of the biggest home page changes to date.

The revamp takes away the black bar that currently runs horizontally across the top of the Google home page and replaces it with a grey logo.

When a user clicks or highlights the new logo, a drop-down menu appears offering seven alternative services to the site's search page, such as Gmail and YouTube.

Experts are speculating the change was designed to promote more of Google's businesses while still maintaining its preferred uncluttered and plain minimalist front page.

A spokesperson for Google said that the roll-out was also designed to improve user-experience.

"Constant revision and improvement is part of our overarching philosophy," he said. "If you compare the original Google home page to today's version, you will see that the makeover every so often can certainly be refreshing."

Additionally, analysts have noted that the home page change now requires two clicks to enter services, such as Images and News, which only previously required one. Though, this may be to the site's financial advantage.

According to Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group, "For years we've all be extolling the virtues of minimising the number of clicks and it would appear to be a retrograde step.

"But for the sake of clarity it's better having the extra click. What it also means is that, for most people, their first route into the Google universe will be back through the search bar again, which helps the firm expose more people to advertising."

As such, Google is also facing scrutiny for the way its services appear in its search results.

Last month, two U.S. Senators called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Google was using its market power to steer users towards its own products. And, the European Trade Commission has examined claims that Google deliberately downgrades rival websites.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google starts graphing

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:13:00 GMT

Students and math lovers alike need search no further than Google next time the battery in their graphing calculator dies.

The search seraph has rolled out its newest feature - graphing functionality - to help share the "magical feeling" of seeing a mathematical function in a graph.

"Now you can plot mathematical functions right on the search result page - just type in a function and you'll see an interactive graph on the top of the search results page," Google Engineer Adi Avidor wrote on the Google blog.

Inside the search engine, users can do everything from convert currency and measurements to translate words, search movie times, check arrival and departure times, or get directions. And with the addition of Google+, Google Music, and graphing functionality, there are few things a user can't do with Google.

While a simple calculator has been available inside the Google browser for some time, the graphing functionality takes the next - and more complicated - step forward in helping users solve complex math problems without ever sharpening a pencil.

"You can zoom in and out and pan across the plant to explore the function in more detail. You can also draw multiple functions by separating them with commas," Avidor wrote.

"This feature covers an extensive range of single variable functions including trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic and their compositions, and is available in modern browsers."

"I hope students and math lovers from around the world find this experience as magical as I found the graphing calculator so long ago."

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Peer-to-peer search engine to take on Google

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:48:00 GMT

Free software activists are set to take on the search heavyweights with their own peer-to-peer search engine.

YaCy, - a free search engine - are hoping to usurp the likes of Bing, Google and Yahoo with a 'new approach' to search.

Instead of using a central server like conventional search engines, YaCy gets results from a network of independent 'peers' - users who have downloaded YaCy software.

The decentralisation idea behind the new search engine is that no single entity decides on the search results or the order in which results appear, but rather, results are generated from a network of private companies and contributing peer operators.

"Most of what we do on the Internet involves search. It's the vital link between us and the information we're looking for," YaCy's project leader Michael Christen said.

"For such an essential function, we cannot rely on a few large companies and compromise our privacy in the process."

The project is supported by activist group Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) who are concerned with how information is currently selected by existing search engines and work to promote free software and 'freedom in the emerging digital society'.

"That company will also know what you're currently interested in. The search terms used tell others a lot about what you're up to. Targeted advertising is only the most benign use of this data," FSFE president Karsten Gerloff said.

"We are moving away from the idea that services need to be centrally controlled. Instead, we are realizing how important it is to be independent, and to create infrastructure that doesn't have a single point of failure."

Currently, YaCy has around 600 peers in its network contributing to search results - each peer creates individual searches indexes and rankings, with the aim that results get better at matching what users are looking for over time.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google+ welcomes business with open arms

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Newcomer Google+ has invited businesses onto its social networking site, giving brands a new opportunity to 'build relationships' online.

Product Management Director for Google+ Pages Dennis Troper wrote in a blog post : "Since the initial launch of Google+ just a few months ago, we've welcomed over 40 million people and introduced more than 100 new features. For all these people, one important part is still missing - your business."

While corporate profiles have become an important fabric in other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, until now Google+ has restricted access for business, focusing its attention on developing its social network as a consumer service.

"So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about - from local businesses to global brands - so today we're rolling out Google + Pages worldwide," Troper said.

Businesses will now be able to share information about themselves with other G+ users, and make use of features such as circles and hangouts to interact with customers.

More notably, Google will incorporate Google+ Pages into search results, and businesses will also have the opportunity to link their Google+ Page with their AdWords campaign - a feature that will make Google+ Pages an attractive option to businesses looking to raise their visibility online.

"Consumers will be able to see all the recommendations your business has received, whether they are looking at an ad, a search result on your page, meaning your +1's will reach not only the 40 million users of Google+, but all the people who come to Google every day."

Google also announced a new feature - Direct Connect - that, once in operation, will let users find Google+ pages quickly and easily through a search, adding a "+" in front of their query.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google update keeps things fresh

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 07:48:00 GMT

Following on from last year's Caffeine web indexing system, Google have rolled out a 'significant' change to the way search results are ranked.

The change - which will effect approximately 35 per cent of searches - reflects the incredibly fast pace at which information moves on the internet, and has configured the ranking algorithm to tell whether a result is the latest on a subject or not.

However, the new changes are not solely designed to serve up only the latest relevant results; it is also designed to decide when it should give users the most up-to-date findings.

Amit Singhal took to the Google Blog, saying: "Building upon the momentum from Caffeine, today we're making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts roughly 35 per cent of searches and better determines when to give you more up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness."

Google have identified three areas of searches that will benefit from the latest results: Recent events or hot topics; regularly recurring events and frequent updates. Google cited 'occupy Oakland protest' as an example of a recent event or trending topic, explaining users searching these terms will now be returned with the most recent, quality content.

Regularly occurring events - a General Election, for example - will now give results concerning the most recent running of the event when searched. Searches for sport results will also treated similarly by the algorithm.

The final area that the algorithm change will affect is for information that changes often, but cannot be classed as a trending topic or important event. A good example of this type of search would be users looking to buy a new iPhone, who will expect up-to-date information on the latest model. A search for the product will now return the latest details and opinions on the model.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

MC Hammer unveils new search venture

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:01:00 GMT

MC Hammer, once known for baggy trousers and rap music, is these days a web entrepreneur, who demonstrated his new search engine - WIREDoo - at the Web 2.0 Summit.

WIREDoo technology combines what he calls 'Deep Search' and 'Relationship Search' to produce relevant results for users.

"Hammer, cognizant of the presence of Google co-founder Sergay Brin in the audience, said that the technology isn't meant to replace existing search, but to add value. Specifically, search queries add the notion of data relationships to results," Information Week's Fritz Nelson reported.

Examples of this 'added value' were given during the presentation. A search for 'car' with WIREDoo revealed information on costs, specifications, insurance and mileage. A search for a postcode would show on a single screen the homes, schools, shops and even the crime rate of the relevant area. Digging further, searching for schools in that area displayed school quality ratings, examination scores and truancy rates.

The technology appears to be aimed at those looking for useful related information to their subject with the added ability to dig deeper with each search.

Nelson said that even searching a company symbol can dredge up all types of related information, as Hammer demonstrated: "A search on the Apple stock symbol brought back results that showed related stock data, related news, mutual fund ownership, and each of these showed even deeper, rich[er] data, like all of the funds invested in Apple and the share volume and changes in that volume."

WIREDoo is currently in pre-beta mode and is looking for people to sign up to test it.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google launches 'dynamic' ads to match searches

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:00:00 GMT

Operating one of the largest platforms for advertising anywhere, Google has revamped its offerings yet again in an effort to benefit user experience and, potentially, sales generated by its pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

Writing for the AdWords blog, Director of Product Management Baris Gultekin addressed the business benefits of the new offering by saying: "Dynamic Search Ads complement your existing keyword-targeted ads to help you sell more with less effort."

However, those with AdWords experience will know some degree of automation has been present in the platform for many years. And as the product's still in limited beta, the full scope of benefits and drawbacks of the new form may have yet to be seen.

The key of Google's new initiative would see the search seraph keeping tabs on a business's inventory, then automatically generating a PPC ad once a user enters a relevant query. Google algorithms would set to work and present a headline based on the search term as well as the ad copy that usually follows.

"When users see ads and landing pages that deliver exactly what they're searching for, they're more likely to click and convert," Gultekin said. "So it's not surprising that we've seen solid performance in limited testing so far.

But, as the process will be automated, PPC professionals would be remiss to count out the potential of misleading or incorrect advertisements being displayed, or the chance the new system could spew out gobbledygook on any given query.

The post went on to explain that businesses would have ultimate control over what types of searches Google would generate ads for.

"You can choose to target your whole site, specific categories of products on your site, pages containing certain words, or pages containing certain strings in your URL," Gultekin said.

Reporting and analytics of the Dynamic Search Ads will be familiar to those with AdWords experience, and will be supported by multiple third-party trackers as well, the post explained.

The new ads are currently in limited beta in all countries and languages.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia