On June 8th Google launched caffeine. When I first heard about this I thought that perhaps Google was attempting to take on Starbucks with some type of coffee delivery service where you ordered online. It seems that was completely wrong though and caffeine is actually the name of a new Google algorithm. It is not just any old algorithm because this promises to be faster and more comprehensive than anything else we have seen so far – sounds impressive doesn’t it.

This new Caffeine algorithm promises to improve our experience when searching on Google. Unlike the previous algorithm this will be constantly updating the index while analysing the web in small portions; the old system consisted of an index made up of different layers. The new system will be able to add 100,000 gigabytes of information to its database every single day. It is also thought that the new algorithm will continue Google’s efforts to ensure that their users get quality search results and not just SEO dross.

Many people who rely on SEO to promote their content may be worried by the arrival of a new algorithm. The fact is though that while Goggle Caffeine was only launched a couple of days ago it has probably been affecting web results for months already. It shouldn’t mean too much of a change to search engine results overnight. What it does mean is that there might be more of a push for quality with the new algorithm and some of the old SEO tricks might no longer work so well. Google seem determined to provide quality results for users and every change they make to the algorithm seems to reflect it. Quality always seems to win in the end so maybe the thing that Google Caffeine will achieve is to emphasise this.

We all know that entering keywords into the Google search engine does not always give you what you are looking for. In fact it is often the case that the results appearing on the screen are exactly what you don’t need. Google in the US now seems to be doing its bit to ensure that those people who are most in need get the information they need. Apparently these improvements have been introduced at the suggestion of a concerned mother.

When you key in the term ‘suicide’, or related keywords, each search will come with a banner at the top of the page containing the national US suicide prevention number. This is a good idea and one that would likely work well in the UK and elsewhere as well. In fact there is so much low quality material on the internet that it would be great if other worthwhile numbers were to appear on the front page in relation to certain other keywords. Maybe the NHS helpline could appear on the page when people are searching for health information or an alcoholic helpline could appear when people are searching keywords related to this.

Having seen the example of how this is used in the US it would make sense to extend the system to the rest of Google around the world. These useful numbers are not going to be part of the rankings and can just sit their unobtrusively on the page for when they are needed. Even if they only help one person it would certainly be worth the effort. It is good to see that Google is willing to go beyond their ‘do no evil’ mantra and possibly do a bit more good. This seems to be the type of idea that comes with no downside.

What’s the key to getting good rankings? There’s a lot of debate about this and if you talk to ten SEO professionals, you’re likely to get ten different answers. Word out of the SEO camp this week is that it’s possible to boost your engine rankings using two little known methods:

Searching By Brand Name:

The common convention is to have people search for a keyword or key phrase and if enough of them land on your page then this can increase your rankings. It makes sense from the search engine’s point of view. If a lot of people are going to your site then there must be something important there. The problem with that is competition. One strategy suggested to overcome this is naming a brand or domain at the end of an article etc. without linking to it. People would have to search directly in order to find it, thereby targeting the brand/domain.

Using Guest Blogging:

Unfortunately some in the SEO world tend to abuse this, but it is still a viable method for increasing traffic. Simply find some blogs within your niche that allow guest blogging, write an excellent post that contains a link to your site, and submit it to them. If your work is relevant and of a high quality, you get another incoming link and the blog gets great content. Everybody wins.

Does this work? Well many people seem to think that it does and, on the surface, it does seem plausible.

Why do people in the UK not like Microsoft very much? Why knows? Well to be fair, no one knows whether it’s an actual dislike of the multi-media giant, but the fact remains that Google holds roughly about 90% of the search market share there. Microsoft has thus far had to be content with a paltry 3%…thus far. Word is that Microsoft is planning a major push in order to increase the popularity of its own search engine, Bing.

The news was revealed by MediaGuardian.co.uk. Apparently Microsoft is set to pump a few million pounds into television ad campaigns. The problem though isn’t that people don’t know about Bing, not with the innumerable number of threads at various forums. They’re just not using it. Google has taken a lot of time to refine their search parameters and they’re always tweaking the system. Perhaps that’s what accounts for their huge lead in the market share.

Microsoft will definitely have their work cut out for them but, should they be able to make some inroads, it could be a good thing for search marketers. After all, competition drives companies to offer better things to their customers in order to keep their business. With this in mind, what could be expected should Google and Microsoft end up in a head to head battle? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Well the news is out. Apparently the much discussed search advertising deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft has been given the go ahead by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union. Many are heralding that decision as the end of the Yahoo! search market share, which is sad because that’s kind of what Yahoo! has become known for over the years. Sure Yahoo! has their Shopping, Mail and News categories but they’re most thought of as a search engine.

So what does this deal mean for Yahoo! Essentially their free search capabilities will be transferred over to Bing while a paid search platform will become known as adCenter. The justification for this was that the deal would increase the level of competition amongst advertisers. Well this is good news for the companies, but not so much for search engine advertisers since more competition for ad space will ultimately drive those prices up.

So what’s an advertiser to do? The most logical step is to disperse advertising resources across fewer high cost methods and look for effective low cost methods to invest in. One of these is social media, which is possibly the cheapest way to get access to a large number of people. Some SEO gurus are already predicting that 2010 will be the year of social networks, with more and more advertisers moving away from search campaigns. After all, there aren’t that many effective search engines left.

It looks as thought Google are applying a fresh new image to their site. As you can see from the screenshots below I think it looks a lot better. The image, video, news, maps, are now readily avaliable on the left bar by default. The sidebar also includes a list of similar search queries and an option to filter the results based on the date Google sniffed out the website.

There is still no timeframe as to when and if this will be implemented, but there is a way to see the new design thanks to blogoscope .Paste the following into the address bar of your browser when you are on Google.com and hit return

javascript:void(document.cookie=”PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com”);

What do you think of it?

When I have been surfing the internet for the latest SEO news, I came across this unique list on how to rank in Twitter for a keyword entitled “5 Steps to Ranking #1 on Twitter“. But I’m wondering what does the author mean for ranking #1. Rank where? The Twitter directory? The search engine? or the top Twitter user list?

The author of the said article indicated five ways on how to ‘increase the ranking’ of a person. He cited the name, username, bio, account activity and number of followers. I agree with him that to be able to achieve maximum potential in Twitter, one must optimize a keyword in all these areas. But what he failed to point out is the different forms of search on Twitter.

Search on Twitter is not one-dimensional. It is not as direct as search engines. Twitter can be searched in various areas such as trends, hash tags, and directories. I think the author failed to point out in the area on which his tips will be more useful.

I also tried the effectiveness of Twitter in ranking in search engines. I have found out how personalities such as Britney Spears, TechCrunch and Kevin Rose have their Twitter profiles in the top 10 rankings when their name is searched.

I have also tried it on myself and yielded the same rankings.

With this, we can say that Twitter can contribute to ranking for certain brands. But how about keywords? I think this can be effective if you put keywords in your username or bio. With hashtag search, you will be associated with a particular term and you may build your credibility on a certain topic based on Twitter conversations. However, I have only tested the search engines on brand search and not on direct keyword search. As for directories, people can control the niche they are associated with because they can freely choose which categories should they belong to.

We have been continuously tackling branding here at SEO tops. And we did for good reason. Even if we tried to deny it, branding is now evolving and may become the next ‘big thing’ in the upcoming years. We have seen Twitter expand and how brands have utilized social media for marketing. We have seen Google update its algorithm with the new focus on branding. We have also heard news from major networks that online television and radio advertising will take its toll in the next months. But what is branding anyway?

Branding is not the name nor is it the logo. It is the very essence of the company’s products and services. It stirs emotions, perceptions and impressions. It creates a perspective and triggers the imagination of its target audience. It is way more than having the right domain name or the right image. It is the shared meanings and associations people create with the brand.

As Martin Lindstrom, the author of “Buyology:The Truth and Lies about Why We Buy” said.

Effective branding leverages emotion, interaction, experience, desire, ritual, faith, and our senses (the more the better). The brain scan results from study after study showed that subjects’ brains reacted to strong brands the same way they react to emotional or even spiritual experiences.

So branding is so much more. It is not enough that you get your name out there. You must tell the people what your company stands for and how your products and services will affect their lives. Of course, since you are not perfect, you will not be able to please all. But if you instilled in their minds that you can please them, they will be convinced by that and believe it.

But what does branding have to do with search? As Lance Loveday said in his post in Search Engine Land entitled “Search:Too Boring for Branding“, search is just way too different from branding. He illustrated this through a commercial of Starburst which he saw on television.

It was easy to imagine being the funny-looking guy, chewing the candy yourself (touch), savoring the flavor (taste) and inhaling the aroma (smell) with your llama-esque nose.

But on search, everything is different. All one gets is this advertisement written in plain text. No emotions, no images. Although search have been proven by some people to contribute to the power of branding, it merely strengthens and does not establish the brand. The brand is only established after the click. As Lance Loveday puts it,

It’s what you do “after the click” that really counts

Every internet user has concerns in one way or the other in disclosing the identity over the internet. They are otherwise scared about whether the search engines or the Internet service providers can actually track their identity by analysing internet habits, the sites they visit regularly etc. This is partially true, as a search engine could potentially identify the IP address of each computer machine and some other details. It is always a worry for everyone whether a dedicated computer savvy hacker can combine all these bits and pieces about your identity to actually identify you as a person.

Ixquick claims to be different from others. The search engine ixquick claim that they have developed mechanisms to protect the privacy of the browsers to some extent. It is sure that they are wisely playing on the concerns of all internet users, but they are doing it very well as well. If this venture of ixquick get clicked, it would prove to be a strong competitor with Google, and yes, competitions played n the concerns of common internet users will turn out to be good for the users. It is expected that ixquick will have different security mechanisms for different kinds of browsing purposes.

The very latest news from the giant search engine Yahoo is that it is going to shut off its online storage facility very soon. All yahoo users have been asked to clear and remove the files stored in Yahoo’s online store box on or before March 10th. Well, having said that, the majority of users do not find it a great difference in this move of yahoo, since it is hard to find a few who use this facility this time around.

The main drawback of Yahoo online briefcase was that they never bothered expanding or enhancing the facilities of storage. It was the old 30MB storage and there are much better facilities available. Yahoo initiated this storage stuff around 10 years back, and they have not simply adapted to the changes happening in the online media. In fact, people do not find this news surprising.

The official statement of reason by Yahoo says that this facility has been over looked by the users and Yahoo do not find any point in continuing this. They admit that the service is incredibly low, and it gives clear implications of the fact that, they cannot afford continuing this in these trying times. The news that had to be read in conjunction with this is, Google is all set to go for its own online storage media.