Archive for the 'Google Inc.' Category

Google Top Searches 2007 vs Yahoo Top Ten: iPhone and Britney Spears No. 1

Published on December 5, 2007 in Anna Nicole Smith, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Club Penguin, Facebook, Fantasy Football, Fergie, Google, Google Inc., Google Top 10, Heroes, hot, iPhone, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, MySpace, Naruto, Paris Hilton, Rune Scape, SEO, TMZ, top keywords, Top searches 2007, Transformer, Web 2.0, Web technology, web traffic, Webkinz, WWE, yahoo, Yahoo Top 10 and YouTube. 16 Comments

Hottest searches for 2007: Technology and entertainment. Britney Spears sure knows how to be in the news!

Check out the top search keywords for Google and Yahoo 2007.

Top Searches

Google fastest rising U.S. search terms for 2007:

1. iPhone: iPhone, the Apple mobile phone with music and video player and web browsing features tops the Google top searches 2007 list.
2. Webkinz: Webkinz is a stuffed animal that customers can register and play with online.
3. TMZ: A telepictures production and America Online joint venture that provides an inside look at the latest celebrity scandals.
4. Transformer toys: Transformers are highly flexible toys that shift shape, and became wildly popular from the 2007 hit movie transformers
5. YouTube: online video-sharing site
6. Club Penguin: Networking site for children
7. MySpace: Social networking site
8. Heroes: Heroes is an American science fiction serial drama television series created by Tim Kring on NBC.
9. Facebook: Social/business networking site
10. Anna Nicole Smith: Anna Nicole Smith was an American sex symbol, model, actress, celebrity, and spokeswoman.

Yahoo Top 10 Searches for 2007:

1. Britney Spears: An American pop music singer, songwriter, dancer actress and author.
2. WWE: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, Internet, and live events), and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales.
3. Paris Hilton: An American celebutante, businesswoman, singer, model, actress, author, and television personality.
4. Naruto: Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimotoanime adaptation. The main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in the village acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all.
5. Beyonce: An American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, actress, dancer, and fashion designer, the creative force and lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny’s Child, the world’s best-selling female group of all time.
6. Lindsay Lohan: An American actress and pop music singer.
7. Rune Scape: The massive online adventure game by Jagex Ltd
8. Fantasy Football: A fantasy sports game in which participants (called “owners”) are arranged into a league.
9. Fergie: An American pop, hip hop, and R&B singer, songwriter, and actress.
10. Jessica Alba: An American actress, whose TV and film credits include Dark Angel, Honey, Sin City, Fantastic Four, Into the Blue, Idle Hands and 2007′s Good Luck Chuck.

Orkut Ask Friends a Question

Published on November 2, 2007 in Ask Friends, Business networking, GOOG, Google, Google Inc., internet, Linkedin, Mobius, networking, Orkut, Questions, resources, social networking, tools and Yahoo Answers. 1 Comment

“Ask Friends a Question” in Orkut reminds me of “Yahoo Answers”. Supposedly the idea is derived from “LinkedIn answers”, and you can now ask questions to your friends on Orkut.

When you ask a question, Google automatically suggests relevant categories based on the keywords/text of your question. The code Mobius is used for this first application on Orkut platform.

For example: I asked “Anyone interested in guest blogging?”
And the suggestion I got was ” Blogging Resources and Services“.

Orkut Ask Friends

“Ask friends” for Orkut users would mean:
Relevant questions.
Relevant answers.
Common questions.
Common answers.
Trust and reliability.

“Ask Friends” for Orkut (or Google) would mean:
More searches
More ads

If you find this a cool feature, go to Edit Feeds, add Ask Friend’s application, navigate to Mobius and fire. You also have the choice to ask “Among Friends” or “Individual Friends you choose”.

OpenSocial: Google’s FaceBook

Published on October 30, 2007 in Business networking, Facebook, Friendster, Google, Google Inc., hi5, Linkedin, Open Social, OpenSocial, Orkut, Plaxo, Social graphs, social networking, Startup and XING. 1 Comment

 OpenSocial
OpenSocial, Google’s open challenge to Facebook will launch this Thursday. OpenSocial is a set of three common APIs, that will allow access to user data, graph for friends information, and Feeds to learn the latest activities. XING, Friendster, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Newsgator, hi5 and Ning would be be joining Google and Orkut. Developers from some key Facebook Companies such as Flikster, Rock You, Slide, and iLike to work would be behind the making of this new social/business networking site.

There is wide speculation that Google could win it’s way through this in a breeze, given that good partners are siding with Google and Google has both the resources and the experience to successfully streamline the network on all social networks from one control-center.

What this means for Google and users?

More power. If Google ends up becoming the leading networking site, it might become a one-stop platform for  users to associate with their online identity. More applications would increase searches and Google might also add ads to add to user interest, increasing ad searches as well.

Developers would jump to make one new site a day, but irrespective of whether this is a hype or not, increasing networking sites can take away a lot of time away from the average user, from adding a profile to actively networking… it’s a huge effort, only makes it worse when you have to redo the whole thing again and again. Tired of even thinking of yet another sign-up. Are you? After all the publicity, OpenSocial better be worth the noise!!

Does Google Penalize For Duplicate Content?

Published on April 26, 2007 in copy, copyscape, duplicate content, Google, Google Inc., page rank, SEO, SERP, similar page checker and sponsored posts. 6 Comments

duplicateGoogle likes fresh content, so do your readers. So why duplicate.

Duplication could be for some genuine reasons such as:
1. Replication to split traffic between two sites
2. Replication to monetize on traffic from different geographical locations
3. Distribution of content on multiple sites for a varied target audience or markets
4. Viral marketing or allowing republishing for a linkback
5. Distribution for multiple sites with different domain names – .com, .net, .org, .info, etc
6. Just for the sake of sharing data with partners, friends and family

In such a case, the best thing to do would be to format the text differently, instead of simply cutting and pasting the same on multiple sites. Use Similar Page Checker for tips to make your content unique. Google penalizes for substantially duplicate content which means you can have similar content, but try to avoid mirroring. To check if other sites have the same content as yours, use a popular internet tool called Copyscape.

If your content is duplicated on another site, the search engine filter would only display one copy of that content. Your site or page won’t be banned or penalized for minor similarities. But, substantial duplication could affect your Page Rank adversely or the site could altogether disappear from the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Too many articles published on a website in a very short span of time might appear to be fishy. If you ever publish sponsored posts, make sure you edit them, no matter what, in order to ensure that you do not have the same content floating on multiple sites. Ignorance may not mean bliss always!

“Claim Your Content”: Google’s New Filter for YouTube

Published on April 16, 2007 in Blogosphere, claim your content, copyrights, doubleclick, eric schmidt, ethics, fair competition, filter, Google, Google Inc., media, Microsoft, online videos, Web 2, Web 2.0, Web technology and YouTube. 0 Comments

copyrightsGoogle CEO, Eric Schmidt assures a new system called “Claim Your Content” which will automatically identify copyright material in an attempt to decrease the “massive intentional copyright infringement” allegations on the video-sharing site YouTube.

Microsoft recently asserted that Google’s pending acquisition of DoubleClick may be a threat to fair competition and Schmidt did not lose any opportunity to ridicule Microsoft and alleged that Microsoft made arguments only because it’s a competitor.

Are the ethical arguments by Microsoft made against Google justified or merely a fear of competition? Big or small, competition can be brutal.