Google Takes A Tough Stance On The Purchase Of Links
Flower Sellers Penalised By Google
Google have made it quite clear that they will not tolerate the mass purchase of links as a means of boosting search engine rankings. However, such warnings were ignored by the flower sellers at Interflora. They paid for a number of advertorials featuring all important do-follow links to be published on the websites of regional and national newspapers. It wasn’t long before they dropped in the rankings for keywords such as ‘interflora.co.uk’, ‘flower delivery’ and ‘florist’.
The newspapers that chose to publish the Interflora editorials were also hit with significant Google penalties. The Independent website went from having a page rank of 8 to 4. SEO expert David Naylor said, ‘This in itself is a problem, as there are commercial agreements in place … Interflora has made a mess for newspapers and anybody using advertorial to advertise a product.’
Bing Becomes Faster And More Intuitive
Users of Bing may have noticed the integration of a new auto-suggest feature in recent days. The Microsoft search engine team are referring to this add-on as ‘ghosting’. They claim that it takes account of previous user behaviour and the most popular search terms. This basically means that users who begin to enter certain phrases will see a list of suggestions from Bing.
Apparently people who’ve used the ‘ghosting’ feature have noticed a significant productivity increase. A Microsoft representative said, ‘The design challenge was to focus on simplicity and intuitiveness. The interaction should feel natural and instinctive when you need it, and easy to work around when you don’t want it.’
Google Expected To Develop Music Streaming Service
It has become increasingly clear in recent times that Google’s vision stretches far beyond the realms of online search. They have developed products and services such as Gmail, Google Goggles and the Nexus mobile which blend nicely into people’s lives. Apparently the next move will be to build a music streaming service, similar to Spotify and Deezer.
The music utility would undoubtedly be integrated into the Google Nexus and Chromebook so that users could enjoy a musical experience while on the go. There is even speculation that Google will offer similar pricing plans to the more established musical streaming platforms. Francis Keeling of the Universal Music Group said, ‘Clearly if we could get consumers into a legal funnel through that route and encourage them to subscription, that would have a very positive impact on the business.’
