Google and Microsoft are jostling to capture the online search market in the US. The later lags behind considerably the market leader and is taking steps to bridge the gap. For example, the company announced a fresh tie-up with Facebook earlier this month for integrating tips from the top social network into results of Bing. Users get to see a sidebar that identifies ‘friends’ so as to help answer topical queries of their choice and those they had ‘liked’ or those they had posted photos about. Read the rest of this entry »

Can Google search be treated as an intermediary just like the phone company that simply connects people with bits of information they seek? Or is it a publisher akin to a newspaper, providing only the information it deems fit and is fully protected by the First Amendment? Apparently, there are enough reasons for the search major to want to be viewed as a mere connector; like any other Internet company, it can do away with responsibility for the material being transmitted by its worldwide users – a useful idea for rebutting copyright infringement or libel claims. Read the rest of this entry »

Even as Microsoft  is trying to become ‘more social’ with Bing by opting for integration with all your Facebook friends, you cannot expect Google to remain behind in this quest to ‘socialize’. Its search engine is getting sharper and smarter. The company has just introduced a dynamic new feature known as ‘Knowledge Graph’. Read the rest of this entry »

Keen to enhance the quality of its page ranking algorithm in an endeavor to provide more quality and informative websites to users cutting across domains and geographies. The search engine giant has been bringing about a series of changes to shore up its page ranking attributes, indexing methods, and a host of other features. We’ve already checked some of the search quality updates initiated by Google in the recent times, including country identification for pages; more domain diversity; local navigational search improvements; more local websites from organizations, and smoother ranking changes for fresh search results, among others. We review other changes that form part of the most recent enhancements: Read the rest of this entry »

Instead of simply surfacing a list of ubiquitous blue web links, the all new Google search, will also give more facts and direct answers to queries right at the top of the relevant results page. By using ‘semantic search technology’, it intends to bring about the biggest makeover as yet. The idea on part of the world’s most popular search engine is to stay well ahead of the curve and keep its top spot in the online world. Read the rest of this entry »

Any smaller or major changes to Google algorithms are done only after thorough quality evaluation. A typical change of such nature takes off as a basic idea from one of its versatile search scientists who develop better ways for evaluating the search results quality. Read the rest of this entry »