Search results

Bing has made a lot of changes recently, one of them being the removal of tabs from search results. There is also a larger search box (which I like). Has anyone tried the new markup validation tool?

You have probably starting encountering these, and Google is claiming that there is a 25 to 30 % higher click through rate for these. It is a brilliant idea, but I must confess it is a full time job keeping up with all of these changes.

It has finally happened. Google announced that they will consolidate their privacy policy and make it easily understood for the masses. I guess more transparency is a good thing, but I am still leary of a moving target.

Everyone initially panicked and thought this was taking over. I think for key demographics it already has, but for older users they simply cannot read the smartphones. That being said, mobile web usage is up 7 percent in the United States.

Everyone knows that you shouldn’t exceed the 500kb because the Googlebots will not read anything over that limit, but what strategies can you take to mitigate this? Make the files smaller or make multiples?

Wondering if anyone understands how Google is calculating top search query data in the new Webmaster Tools. I have read that they will take top positions from each query and average them out. Not clear to me how this is beneficial.

The internet is buzzing about the latest algo change, and I am wondering how many people are testing this. Google is once again targeting ad heavy sites and penalizing their rankings.

I am probably preaching to the choir, but I think it is imperative to be on top of Google+, especially when it comes to brand protection and quality control.

All content is supposedly secured by SSL encryption, but I am starting to get a little suspicious. How easy is the opt out?

One of the 3 major components of Google plus your world is people and pages, which allows you to easy connect to those who commonly discuss the topics you are searching for (and are reputable sources).

I am seeing a lot of agreement that we should avoid using long footers with repetitive content and disclaimers as the serps are punishing these sites. Any conflicting information out there?

I am wondering how long it takes Google to use the +1 recommendations for images, and include it as a ranking metric for searches. What impact will this have outside of your social network for searches?

Google recently removed one of their image ranking signals. They no longer care how many sites an image is embedded on. This would explain why it’s okay to host images on a distribution network.

What are your thoughts regarding a recipe for image search ranking? I think keyword in domain name or file name is critical, as well as pixel size and evidence of related keywords in page title.

I think there is a consensus that Google’s image search is superior to Bing’s.  Of prime importance is the fact that Bing relies too heavily on HTML title tag contents.  What does everyone think Bing’s order of importance for image ranking is?