SearchBliss Technology and Webmaster News
Opera Browser Downloads Double
Opera reports that downloads of its web browser software have doubled since Microsoft introduced browser choice screen to Windows users on March 1, 2010.
Microsoft's browser choice screen offers users the chance to choose browsers has been rolling out ac...
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:49:00 +0000
Can You Strike Google Gold?
It's true that a few top quality backlinks can boost a site in Google's search engine result pages (SERPs) almost over night. Many webmasters try to accumulate as many backlinks as possible to achieve better Google rankings...but this can be a big mistake. It can infact hurt a website's rankings and even get your website banned.
The saying that "quality is bette...
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:26:00 +0000
AdSense: Google-certified ad networks now available to all publishers
Back in August, Google announced plans to give publishers the ability to allow multiple Google-certified ad networks to compete for display ad space on their site. While this feature was initially available only to AdSense publishers located in North America and Europe, Google is happy to announce that all AdSDense publishers will now have access to these participating ad ...
Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:41:00 +0000
Facebook Passed Google
Facebook Inc. edged past Google Inc. (GOOG) to become the most visited U.S. Web site for the week ended March 13, the first time the Internet giant has been topped since 2007, according to Hitwise.
The data provider said the privately held social-networking site's share was 7.07% for the week, compared with Google's 7.03%. The market share of visits to Facebook...
Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:41:00 +0000
Italy Investigates Google AdSense Payments
The Italian antitrust authority is investigating Google Adsense policies regarding the payments made to the publishers and the lack of transparency in how they're calculated.
After an initial review of Adsense Terms & Conditions, the authority outlined the following: (translation)
1. Google is not obliged to comunicate how the payments are calculated;...
Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:15:00 +0000
Google to Shut Down China Search, Google.cn
Google has drawn up detailed plans for the closure of its Chinese search engine and is very certain to go ahead and shut it down as talks over censorship with the Chinese authorities have reached an apparent impasse.
In a hardening of positions on both sides, the Chinese government also on Friday threw down a direct public challenge to the US search company, wi...
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:21:00 +0000
Microsoft's Bing Gains in U.S.
Microsoft Corp. gained a larger portion of the U.S. Internet search market in February, while rival Yahoo Inc.'s share remained flat and market leader Google Inc. lost a marginal amount of market share, according to data published Wednesday by Experian Hitwise.
Microsoft, which unveiled a new search engine (Bing) last year, gained 4% from the prior month to reac...
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:37:00 +0000
Microsoft IE6 and IE7 Warning
Microsoft has warned that hackers are already exploiting the flaw, which could allow them to remotely take control of a computer running Microsoft's Windows operating system. Computer users running Internet Explorer 5.01 or the latest release, Internet Explorer 8, are not affected by the vulnerability.
"At this time, we are aware of targeted attacks attempting ...
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:47:00 +0000
New Google Advertiser Feature Beta
Google's launching a new beta advertiser feature that enables brand advertisers to target their ads to ad units that are immediately visible when a page is loaded -- in other words, the portions of the page a user can see without needing to scroll down. The ads that are immediately visible are called 'above the fold'; those that require a user to scroll down in order to be...
Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:40:00 +0000
Microsoft Browser Choice Screen: Browser makers complain
Makers of small web browsers want their programs to be given more prominence on Microsoft's browser choice screen.
Six software firms have complained to the EU saying many do not realise their programs were on offer.
To see all 12 web browsers, users must scroll to the right when viewing Microsoft's ballot screen.
"The final choice scree...
Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:41:00 +0000
Google's SEO Needs Work
Google asked themselves:
How many of Google's web pages use a descriptive title tag? Do we use description meta tags? Heading tags? While we always try to focus on the user, could our products use an SEO tune up? These are just some of the questions we set out to answer with Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:16:00 +0000
Google Webmaster Tools adds multiple verified website ownership
Google's new addition to Webmaster Tools now allows you to "add a user" when a website has more than one owner.
"In the past, if more than one person needed to be a verified owner of a website, they each had to go through the meta tag or HTML file verification process. That works fine for some situations, but for others it can be challenging...
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:08:00 +0000
Google Patent For Location-Based Advertising Granted
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded the search giant a patent for using location in an advertising system last Tuesday, which is the emerging business model for most consumer-facing location startups today.
Filed six years ago, the patent is fairly broad. It covers using location for targeting, setting a minimum price bid for an ad, offering performanc...
Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:08:00 +0000
Twitter Plans Ads Like Google
Twitter plans to monetize it's popular micro blogging site by letting advertisers sign up to have their ads show up as tiny posts when users search through Twitter, similar to Google search ads.
The ads will only show up in search results, so users who don’t search for something won’t see them. The services will have the option of displaying the ads, and Twitter...
Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:48:00 +0000
Facebook News Feed Patent Granted
Facebook has been granted a patent on the Newsfeed, "displaying a news feed in a social network environment."
The patent appears to cover primarily implicit user activity updates (such as "person X changed their relationship status or became friends with person Y") and the dynamic ranking of those items when delivered in the context of a social network. In conte...
Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:31:00 +0000
How to turn off Microsoft browser choice
As you may know, Microsoft has been rolling out the "browser choice screen" in Europe as required by the European Commission. The process is expected to be complete by March 1st.
Already, many in Europe want to know how to turn off microsoft browser choic...
Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:29:00 +0000
Google Executives Convicted
An Italian court has convicted three Google executives in a trial over a video showing a teenager with Down's Syndrome being bullied.
The Google employees were accused of breaking Italian law by allowing the video to be posted online. Judge Oscar Magi absolved the three of defamation but convicted them of privacy violations.
Google has considered the ...
Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:33:00 +0000
Class-Action Suit Filed Against Google for Buzz
Law firms in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., Wednesday filed a class-action complaint in San Jose, Calif., federal court against Google, and its Buzz technology, on behalf of Eva Hibnick, a 24-year-old Harvard Law School student.
The suit, reported by ABC News, is the first reported suit filed against Google about Buzz, which unexpectedly exposed relationsh...
Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:25:00 +0000
Microsoft Browser Choice Screen Rolling Out in Europe
Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will begin offering a "Web browser choice screen" to Internet Explorer users in Europe, as required by the European Commission. Internal testing of the choice screen is underway now. We'll begin a limited roll-out externally next week, and expect that a full scale roll-out will begin around March 1, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Fi...
Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:51:00 +0000
Bing and Yahoo Search Deal Approved
The U.S. Justice Department and the European Union have approved a deal in which Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. would combine their Web search operations, the companies said Thursday.
Under the deal, Yahoo's website will use Microsoft's Bing search engine, and the two firms will share the revenues. In a joint statement, the two companies said they expect to comp...
Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:14:00 +0000
Google Aquires iPhone Search App reMail
Google on Wednesday acquired reMail, a popular iPhone application that provides "lightning fast" full-text search of your Gmail and IMAP e-mail accounts. Terms of the deal were not released. ReMail may not have been a household name, but the app received critical praise and had a small, but dedicated group of users. So what will Google do with this app, will it just kill t...
Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:25:00 +0000
Google Buzz Being Probed for Privacy Violations
The Electronic Privacy Information Center in Canada has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that Google Inc.'s new social networking service Buzz violates federal consumer protection law.
It is urging the FTC to open an investigation into the service because it "violated user expectations, diminished user privacy, contradicted Google's...
Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000
Adobe Warns of Flash and Reader Security Problems
Flash Player Security Issue:
A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Flash Player version 10.0.42.34 and earlier. This vulnerability (CVE-2010-0186) could subvert the domain sandbox and make unauthorized cross-domain requests.
Adobe recommends users of Adobe Flash Player 10.0.42.34 and earlier versions update to Adobe Flash P...
Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:22:00 +0000
More Registrars Lose ICANN Accreditation
ICANN terminated its accreditation agreement with two registrars ISPREG LTD and SBNames Ltd for failure to comply with the requirements of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), the contract between ICANN and registrars that governs the registration of domain names under generic top-level domains such as dot-com and dot-org.
To protect registrants, ICANN h...
Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:45:00 +0000
Opera 10.5 Beta Released
Opera 10.5 Main Features Include:
The fastest JavaScript engine ever
A completely new JavaScript engine makes Opera 10.50 run Web applications more smoothly. Up to 8x faster than its predecessor, the new Carakan engine speeds up even the most demanding Web sites.
New Vega graphics library
Everything in Opera...
Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:21:00 +0000