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Google Use Data From Google Toolbar To Rank Related Websites?
This is actually something I noticed a long time ago. I'd assumed it would already be widely known but a quick google suggested otherwise, so here goes:
In working on a client's site I frequently needed a second site -- that was totally irrelevant in terms of theme, but, relevant to to the work I was doing -- for reference, and would often switch between these two sites.
Several weeks later, I noticed the irrelevant site listed in a Google search for related:www.client-site.com (note though, that the reverse was not true). Given the total irrelevance of these two sites I can only conclude that Google uses data from Google Toolbar users' visiting habits as part of their algorithm for deciding related sites -- actually I was using a Firefox PageRank extension, but since this sends the same data about URLs you visit back to Google, it's incidental.
It may seem strange that my browsing alone could have such influence, but consider the fact that the client's site had very low traffic and the majority of it was me, and that I have dynamic IP. That meant from Google's perspective it would have appeared that the majority of unique visitors to the client site, had also visited the irrelevant site within a close time frame.
What can be gained from this knowledge from an SEO perspective? Probably very little at face value, as I don't think many users actually use related: queries. But, if this is only the tip of the iceberg, and Google use similar data for the main ranking algorithm, it could mean a lot more.
Of course, my support for this theory is extremely anecdotal. I'd invite anyone with the inclination to investigate further and provide a more controlled study to do so.
Top 100 Misspelled Keywords
Possibly of interest to SEOs, SEMs, and type-in domain squatters who target keyword misspellings: Your Dictionary has published The Top 100 Most Often Mispelled [sic] Words In English, or at least the top 100 according to their sources.
List of Google Hacks
Hack a day has a neat list of Google hacks -- mostly time wasters, but a few have practical uses such as Goose search, a command-line interface for Google.
Google Adds Delete Result Facility
Matt Cutts of Google reports on his blog, the added ability to remove spam or any unwanted URLs from your personal search results. The removals only affects individual Google accounts, and not universal SERPs, so no concerns about your competitors maliciously de-indexing you.
AOL BETA Leaves BETA, Find Out Why It Sucks!
AOL's new home has left BETA, way to early in my opinion. See my AOL screenshot with piece by piece narrative of the serious design/usability problems (in my opinion) that probably should have been addressed before launch. There are actually a few more issues that I noticed, but I lacked time/space to fit them in.
mail.start.com
Start.com continues to innovate with mail.start.com now online:
Since Mail Beta is being built from the ground up with new technology, we encourage you to use all the features. Tell us what you like as well as what you think is missing or needs improvement. Please don’t hold back. We need and value your input. Thank you for your participation!
At the moment there is no way to register from the page, and at time of writing logging in with a regular MSN Hotmail account simple brought up the classic hotmail interface.
Thanks to ThreadWatch, for this find.
GoogleTV Job Posting Disappears
Yesterday we noted the GoogleTV job posting. Today, Gary Price at SearchEngineWatch notes the job posting has been removed, with no references to it anywhere on Google's site.
From that I can only guess the post has either been filled, or that the posting and subsequent swift removal was primarily for sake of generating buzz.
Blogger Integrates Google AdSense
Blogger -- a blog service owned by Google -- announces new tight AdSense integration for their users:
We've just made it a lot easier for Blogger users to make money using their blogs.
Our new integration with AdSense lets you signup from within Blogger. And we've added a tool for inserting the ads in your blog (so you don't have to mess around with the HTML).
Read the full announcement on their blog.
Google's Firefox Toolbar Out of Beta
Google announce on their blog, that their Firefox toolbar -- released two months ago -- has already left Beta status. The new release also adds some new features, most notable is the inclusion of Google Suggestion functionality in the toolbar's searchbox.
Opera Gains One Million Users in Two Days
We reported a few days ago Opera dropping ads from their browser, since then the free browser has been downloaded over 1 million times according to a recent press release from Opera. More interestingly perhaps, is the fact the majority of downloads are reported to be from Internet Explorer users.