November 29th, 2011
How Google Evolved: The Evolution of Search in Six Minutes
A search giant started out as a mere research project in the mid-90′s. Today, that search giant is known to all of us as Google. As Google broadens its horizons with launching new products like Google Wallet, Google Places, and Google+, we can only surmise what the world’s most-used search engine is cooking in its Google X lab that could bring more innovative tools for businesses and brands.
But before we get excited about what Google has in store for us soon. Let’s take a peek at Google’s latest blog post called “Evolution of Search in Six Minutes”. The blog post that has a timeline chart and a video explains how Google’s methodology is with ranking and evaluation. It also highlights important trends such as Universal Results, Quick Answers, and The Future of Search. “Our goal is to get you to the answer you’re looking for faster and faster, creating a nearly seamless connection between your questions and the information you seek.” Google’s Ben Gomes said.
Google’s updated algorithm, the Stand-Out tag for news organizations and journalists, and Google Panda are recent tools in Google’s effort to strive for original and relevant content for every user. Furthermore, Google’s Android platform coupled with its Voice Search will possible bring search engine marketing to the next level. “My dream has always been to build the Star Trek computer.” says Google’s Amit Singhal. People want instant answers to complex questions but what Google does best is giving instant answers without compromising the quality and relevance of content.
Check out the video below to watch Evolution of Search in Six Minutes:
November 5th, 2011
Google Tweaks Search Algorithm to Promote Fresher Results
Google gives its SERPs a minor nudge this week as it upgrades the ranking algorithm that’s responsible for showing a user the most relevant and latest results for a query. The recent upgrade aims to give users the latest results about recent trending news, ongoing events, and frequent updates for gadgets or apps.
The upgrade is actually part of Google’s Caffeine indexing system which enhances the search engine with more relevant and timely results for queries. While most Internet users tend to get news from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, people now have higher expectations when it comes to using search engines for relevant content. Thus, urging Google to launch content enhancing tools such as the “Standout” tag which webmasters can use to promote a news article in accordance to what is currently trending. The idea here is for Google to help news publishers to increase the exposure of their news articles while giving users relevant and instant news.
Google says that Caffeine was simply an infrastructure change so that spiders can index and return faster results for queries. But now, the minor tweak actually improves the “freshness” of results. Freshness will mean that Google will give you only the latest content about a recurring event or a trending news. For trending news, when you search for NBA news, I bet Google will most likely give returns about the current lockout instead of giving you the latest team standings. And if you searched for “Olympics” the search results should yield latest developments about the Olympics in London instead of Olympics in China that was held before.
The recent upgrade reminds of what Google is really cooking. A couple of weeks ago, Google announced that they’re about to launch Google Analytics Real-Time soon. Google has always been upgrading their algorithm every few months or so. The most recent major change was Google Panda that eliminated content farms and malicious duplicate sites. As Google improves Google Analytics, expect a repercussion to create more changes in the search algorithm.
