Cli.gs, (Cligs) a URL shortening/forwarding service has been hacked where several users have been reporting their older created forwarders were all going to 1 single location. Below is a screenshot within the Cligs user interface displaying some older saved forwarded URLs in my own Cligs account.
All of which were now going to: (more…)
I first saw Danny Sullivan’s Tweet talking about Barry Schwartz’ post on Google Chrome usage.
First posted by Michael Arrington on TechCrunch, stating that Google Analytics will not detect Google Chrome right away, and once it did, TechCrunch posted their Analytics user browser’s data. RustyBrick followed with their post on SearchEngineLand and was inviting the public to post theirs.
Only 0.25%, less than 1% of BusinessOnLine’s visitors use Chrome. I am even quite surprised Firefox is higher than IE. Does this mean there are more competitors looking at our site than potential corporate clients? :p Hehe
Over the long weekend, Tweets from SEO Tweeters have been passed left and right all about Google Chrome. When I checked my emails, mailing groups are talking about it too, not only SEO email groups but also blogging, web design and other groups I am a member of. Although this is a Google product, this is not just about search.
After seeing all the tweets, I searched Google Chrome to download and give it a spin. The top results were Google books comic strip and also a blog post by GoogleBlogoscope, the unofficial Google blog. And I just bypassed all information, did not read it right away and just kept searching for the download link and install. I’ll just figure out what Google Chrome does after I install it without reading the numerous blog post, features & benefits of the browser. Knowing Google, everything should be intuitive and easy to use, easy to figure out things.
Good points I noticed right away after I installed Chrome: (more…)
Fresh from Google’s Blog, Google has just launched a new search application (app) for the Iphone.
Once again Google continues to push the competition in search. This is definately a must try. Not only do you get Google search features for the Web, but it also works for your contacts! Enjoy.
Just when I think I have seen the best that Google has to offer, they come up with something new. And today they did it again with Google Friend Connect. Check out the video and see how this new Google toolset can add social media functionality to your Web site in a matter of minutes (once its out of beta), requires almost no coding and immediately helps your site become more viral. The ability of your friends to publish their activities on your site through (more…)
ASK.com today decided to do their best Homer Simpson impersonation (DOh!) by celebrating “Cinco do Mayo” (c’mon fellas, let’s do some proof reading):
Google announced today that they have started to experiment with filling out forms to get access to data that they currently can’t see. Unfortunately there are still a lot of potential variables that can prevent your content from being indexed but it is a step in the right direction. Don’t skip the noscript tags for your drop down menus just yet though. This experiment is so far confined to a limited number of trustworthy sites, and, remember that the no script tag is still good for accessibility for users without Java script. So while this is good news for searchers in general, I don’t think it really changes much of the optimization process. Especially if you want to have a consistent pattern of indexing. One interesting note is the confirmation that Google does scan Java script and Flash for links, although again, to ensure that Google sees what we want it to see, existing optimization techniques should still continue to be used.
Good thing Sarah Bird was paying some attention to pending filed trademarks at the US Patent and Trademark Office and found someone named Jason Gambert trying to file a trademark for the word: SEO. The trademark is actually near it’s final stages of getting approved and Sarah blogged about it on SEOMoz.
SEO, the acronym for Search Engine Optimization is so widely used just like saying you are a consultant and you offer consulting services. You can’t just trademark “consulting” since it is not something that originally belongs to you to identify your product or service as part of it’s brand. Although SEO may not be a dictionary word, it is still an acronym that is commonly used since the late 90’s for Search Engine Optimization. It is a generic service that is almost like a verb in some ways.
Now some dude, named Jason Gambert attempts to register SEO as his trademark with his main premise as SEO is his process and it is not a service. After several declined statements from the US Patent and Trademark Office, he still shoots back and somehow convinces the trademark office to reached near the final stage. Right now it is openly published for opposition.
We can’t tell the future but what he can do is file a cease and desist order to every company that uses the word SEO and say they cannot use it because he owns the trademark. So far this battle is led by (more…)
Today I decided to visit some SEO blogs that I hadn’t really had the opportunity to read for a while. One of my forgotten favorites is the SEO by the Sea blog written by Bill Slawski. Bill wrote a great article on a new Yahoo patent that attempts to measure a page’s usability and use that measurement in the overall ranking of Web sites. Without trying to say I told you so (even though I did..lol 
, I did say in my first post of the year that, “I really think that 2008 is going to be the year that you see the study of Web site Usability move to the forefront of Search Engine Optimization.” And I believe that this is another important step that moves us in that direction.
If you read this patent, it really is all about determining whether or not the page is “cluttered” and how that might affect usability. Certainly the study of usability encompasses much more than just how cluttered a page is. But I believe more and more of these types of mathematical models that quantify known relationships between (more…)
OK so maybe not history, but if you read this article about ASK changing their business model to appeal to married women, it’s pretty clear that they have raised the white flag and given up competing with Google. It’s actually a smart move as they are focusing more on their core user group. But it now makes the MSN / YAHOO deal all that much more interesting. Personally, as much as I love Google, I don’t believe that this news, or a potential MSN/Yahoo deal is good for SEO professionals. What Google needs is (more…)
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Ray "Catfish" Comstock has spent over 9 years in the search engine optimization field and has successfully ranked numerous companies in the top-10 of all major search engines for ultra competitive markets such as travel, real estate, computer software, retail, broadband internet and various manufacturing sectors.
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