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There was a time not so long ago when a company such as Google would need to have tons of people doing manual, often rote tasks. Of course, the entire nature of search engines is that they rely heavily on the ever-growing power of computers. With a computer, rote work becomes a lot less frequent and far fewer people are needed. However, such an approach may have the flaw of a lack of the human touch about it.

Google has had a long lasting problem with websites and their often mediocre or worse content. Simply put, a lot of sites were “optimized” for a particular keyword and ended up having little more than tons of the keyword placed throughout the page with little genuine content holding it together. Far too often, this led to bad quality websites being at or near the top of the search queue, while better sites lagged behind.

A website is really only as good as its content, so perhaps it would be best if companies like Google stepped backward in time and hired people specifically to review website quality for websites vying to get onto the critical first two pages of search results. While this could easily employ a team of hundreds of people full-time, it might end up producing better quality search results. In the end, this could end up putting better quality information and better-produced sites at the top of the search results, where they belong in the first place.

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The content of search engine approved websites has long been considered to be of subpar quality. While Google has declared war on bad content, a lot of people have figured out that the algorhythms have a long way to go in order to remove all of the bad content from the Internet’s most used search engine.

While this search engine is depended on by most people whenever they want to search for anything, its content has always relied on things like keywords. This reliance on keywords ultimately resulted in website owners and content producers stuffing huge amounts of keywords into their content. This tended to result in badly written content that bordered on being gibberish and has contributed to lessening the online world’s trust of most content. However, the quality level that a website uses for itself can vary tremendously between one site and another.

Website quality is a bizarre thing. High quality sites tend to attract more links than any other kinds of sites do, and in some cases large numbers of links still found their way onto sites of dubious quality. To date, for all of Google’s tough talk about being all about separating the wheat from the chaff, they have done very little to curb second rate quality. Culling the worst of the work from their roster has been a very slow process for the major search engines and has seemed almost impossible. Checking for quality is still a ways off from a software perspective.

The internet is a vast world of information and details. You can find answers on anything under the sun and get both amateur and expert opinions on it. No matter whether you are a student, a professional or even just passing your time reading through the articles on the internet, you can be assured that you will get information which would be interesting.
There are techniques which can help you to search better and get more results. People who are not that familiar with the internet find it quite difficult to get accurate results. This may because their search term is very inaccurate or that the search engine has not got the idea what you are implying to say, or on what topic you are trying to search on.

The latter reasons are very unlikely to happen, especially with search engine giants like Google, Yahoo and similar such sites. They are the best among the best of the search engine sites with advanced techniques to search and track down the information and articles relating to the words you had searched. Also, you can be assured that you would get the best results with such sites.

To get the best answers you must carefully phrase your search. For example, suppose you want to search on the Bermuda Triangle mystery. In this case if you just search on Bermuda Triangle it would show each and every result, while adding the word mystery to it would give searches relating to it. This would give you what you wanted.
With a little care and choice of clever words you can get the best results. Not only that, you can also find other interesting information regarding other things related to the keywords you searched for. You can turn a boring task into something very interesting and captivating with good choice of keywords to search.

Even though it may sound like it, micro search engines aren’t teeny-tiny search engines. Rather, they can be better described as search engines within search engines, sometimes called online directories.

Take Google, for example. This is a search engine that takes you to different websites. Within these websites may be even more websites. One of these websites lists nothing but links to other websites. These are micro search engines or online directories, if you prefer.

Micro search engines let you search for specific topics. These can range from recipes, sites for online degrees, job information sites, and many others.

By utilizing online directories, you have access to links that have been gathered and put in one place. You don’t have to enter keywords such as online degrees, and then enter other keywords to narrow the search down more. The online directories that deal with this subject will have them listed in different ways so that you can find the one you need.

Online directories can save you a lot of time and frustration. Because they get very specific, they let you get to the business of accessing information faster. You don’t waste time searching and searching some more for the information you need.

In the case of online degrees, for example, you may be interested in the field of Computer Science. Rather than have to plow your way through websites that offer information on all the online degrees that are available however, you can use micro search engines to go directly to online directories that show links to this subject.

Of course, you’ll have to use Google or another main search engine to get started, so don’t worry about that search engine page feeling like you’ve abandoned it. You haven’t, because you couldn’t have gotten to online degrees websites without it.

Google isn’t just a place to research a project. There are many other search features that Google offers rather than the basic search box. Many of these specific search boxes you can add to your tool bar.

You can search the everyday essentials such as weather and sports. You can search the stock quotes, and you can see what time it is in any part of the world. Along with these everyday essentials comes music, where you can search for songs to listen to, and the precise times of sunsets and sunrises in many cities world wide.

Google offers many reference tools such as a calculator or a unit conversion program. You can also do special book searches and see information about recent earthquakes. Google also offers a person search where you can type in a person’s name and it will list people with that name.

You can look up local searches such as a store, restaurant, or another local business. Google also shows you show times and reviews for recent movies in your area.

There are several health related searches you can make. If you want to learn about a common disease or symptom, Google can tell you about that. You can also find information about medications and several phone numbers for various health related issues.

Google also shows searches in travel. You can search flights arriving and departing from the U.S. You can search currency conversions and see how much a dollar is worth in other countries. Google also has its own set of maps that you can search for locations or directions. Google Maps has a feature that shows up close pictures of certain locations. These pictures have proven to be useful.

Google offers many types of searches. You can add the Google search box to your tool bar. On the Google home page there is a list of specific searches if you want to narrow down your search.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of numerous URL shortening services, such as TinyURL, Ow.ly, and bit.ly to name a few. Longer isn’t better when it comes to web links these days, especially with the popularity of social media sites such as Twitter. Shortening a link saves space, leaving that space for something more important, but not everyone uses these shortening services. Some claim it’s too complicated and time consuming, while others rely on the service for better communication.

Why are URL shortening services a good thing and why should you use them? A simple answer would be “because they just make life easier.” This is true, but there are other, more detailed reasons. Below is a short list:

1.) Shortening a URL that is regularly three lines long is convenient, especially when space is in short supply.
2.) Longer links are more likely to break that ones that are shortened, especially in communications where they can be “recycled,” such as through email.
3.) Some URL shortening services offer the opportunity to personalize the shortened link. This is especially convenient if what you’re linking to is a new product you’re selling, or a new article you’ve posted.
4.) Most of these services offer users a way to view what are known as “click through statistics,” which is a way to see how many people clicked through your link. This is a must for those who like to track visits to their web sites or product pages.

If you’re interested in using a URL shortening service, there are quite a few to choose from, including the following:

1.) Bit.ly (http://bit.ly)
2.) TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com)
3.) Ow.ly (http://ow.ly)
4.) DwarfURL (http://dwarfurl.com)
5.) URLKiss (http://urlkiss.com)

Some popular web sites, such as Google and Twitter, have created their own URL shortening services. With the simplicity of shorter URL’s being such a popular item all over the Web, some of our favorite sites may have URL shorteners built in. There’s only one way to find out!

Move over Google and Bling, there’s a new search engine available to the masses. Blekko, which served some time in a limited beta phase, was released to the public back on November 1st, and offers a new way to search on the Web. Search results through Blekko are focused around content from professionals and content farms, rather than the sometimes outdated links that search engines like Google and Yahoo offer users.

Blekko also uses something that other search engines don’t—slashtags. These tags are entered after a search term within the search box and allow a user to skew the results to a certain point. An few examples of slashtags that could skew results are “/liberal” and “/christianity.”

If you were to enter something like “abortion /christianity” or “abortion /liberal” into the search box on Blekko, the results you receive would be skewed to either liberal beliefs and viewpoints or Christian beliefs and viewpoints on the topic of abortion. If you want to see the “green” views on a certain aerosol spray, you would type in the name of the spray and put “/green” after it.

The current list of slashtags is at 3,000 and is steadily growing. Specificity in search results is what the creators have aimed for. No other search engine employs slashtags as part of the search method, which makes Blekko the first to do so. While these tags (and this method of searching) aren’t perfect, the results they yield are much more to the point than what you may get through a search on Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

Users can create their own slashtags, or they can browse the quickly growing list of tags already created. In addition to the “specialty” tags, a regular set is available that includes “/news,” “/people,” “/blogs,” and “/forums” among others. If you’re searching for something specific, try Blekko and put a new spin on your research.

Most of us have one or two search engines that we use multiple times every day—Yahoo, Google, and Bing, among others—but few of us really look into the other types of search engines that are out there and available for use. There are many different types of search engines out there—web crawlers, directories, and pay-per-clicks to name a few—but one that most likely never comes to mind for anyone is the computational knowledge engine.

Wolfram|Alpha, developed and owned by Wolfram Research and Stephen Wolfram, is that search engine. Announced in March 2009 and released to the public on May 15, 2009, Wolfram|Alpha can answer factual questions (including mathematical equations) from structural data instead of offering a list of web sites that may or may not have the answer to the question.

Examples of questions and calculations/formulas that can be entered into the search engine include:

• How old was Queen Elizabeth in 1970?
• lim(x->0) x/sin x
• What is the life expectancy of a 10-year-old female in Congo?

These questions are answered with charts, graphical analyses, and of course, regular textual information if the question calls for it. The name of any web site can be entered and “searched,” and the results will be information concerning that web site, such as the number of visitors each month and where the site is hosted from.

Wolfram|Alpha runs on any up-to-date Wen browser and is also available for mobile platforms such as iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and Android. The search engine also runs on the Opera Mini mobile browser for people not using iOS (Apple) or Android devices.

The current data sets that the engine gets its answer from was assembled over the last few years. Those data sets will continue to grow, as will the range of questions the search engine will be able to answer.

When writing blogs or articles on your websites to catch the eye of the search engines and to hopefully be ranked high, it is important to use SEO techniques. However, it is more important to write text that flows and makes sense.

All too often articles and blogs are bombarded with keywords. This is called keyword stuffing. Some believe that this technique of maximum keyword saturation is what will enable your site to rank higher than others. These sites seem to forget, however, that people actually read their blogs and articles. If an article is so ridiculously stuffed with keywords, then it is not going to read well at all. In fact, some articles that are keyword stuffed are just off-putting due to the lack of content and obvious tactics.

Like searching for apartments for rent in Seattle, search engines will crawl over your site looking for the keywords, so they are in fact important. On the other side of the fence are the people who believe that using the keyword only once or twice will suffice in attracting the most attention from the search engines. The fact of the matter is that nobody knows for sure what sort of algorithms the search engines like Google use to rank sites.

The best course of action is one that uses the keywords in a logical and judicious manner. Content is more important than using the keyword in every other sentence. Stick to having current and relevant articles on your site with no more than a 1% or 2% keyword saturation. As long as the article reads well and makes good sense, then you’ll be sure to have appeased both your readers and the great search engine gods. Treat your readers like the intelligent beings that they are and you’ll have won an audience and great rankings.

If you’re looking for a way to “give back” but don’t have the means to do as much as you would like, there’s another option you should consider—charity search engines. These search engines donate anywhere from 30-100% of their revenue to specified charities. Some even let you choose a charity, then donate the money that is earned each time your ISP address clicks through that engine.

Charity search engines function like any of the regular search engines you may use, such as Bing, Yahoo, or Google. Advertisements will be displayed alongside the search results, and that’s how the money is made for charity. If you use the Internet (and nearly everyone does these days), then you’ve probably clicked on an ad or affiliate link at least once. Charity search engines are no different than the regular ones.

When you’re searching for something, you’ll be clicking on at least one of the results. Each of those clicks—and in some cases, even the searches themselves—bring in money for charity. It’s simple, really. The more you click when using these search engines, the more money goes to charity.

There are more of these search engines out there than some may think. Below is a small list of charity search engines that you may want to consider using:

1.) EveryClick (http://www.everyclick.com): Donates 50% of its revenue among a number of different charities.
2.) MagicTaxi (http://www.magictaxi.co.uk): Donates 50% of its revenue to a different charity each day.
3.) SearchKindly (http://www.searchkindly.org): Donates 100% of its revenue to charity.
4.) ClickNow (http://www.clicknow.org.uk): Donates 50% of its revenue to the charities registered with the site.
5.) Clicks4Cancer (http://www.clicks4cancer.com): Donates 70% of its revenue to cancer foundation charities.

There are many more charity search engines than just the five listed above. If you’re truly interested in giving back this way, take the time and search for more. You’ll find plenty!

The Internet can be an overwhelming place when you’re searching for news. With every news outlet—newspapers, television stations, and large news organizations alike—running its own web site in addition to sending their articles to the masses through RSS feeds and social networking web sites, finding exactly what you need can be confusing. Many people want their news in one place, and while RSS feeds offer this convenience, they can be hard to understand and configure sometimes.

Silobreaker is a news search engine, but calling it that doesn’t really give justice to the site. It’s much more than just a simple search engine and offers a rich user experience. Some of the things you’ll experience include the following:

• As you type in the search box, suggestions pop up. Use them or don’t, it’s completely up to you.
• Searches produce basic facts and people with links to articles or biographies (if you’re searching for a person).
• YouTube videos on important new stories and people (constantly changes and updates).
• A list of top stories that is regularly updated over the course of the day for as long as the story remains popular. If you roll your cursor over the story, a box containing links to biographies of people involved in the story will appear.
• When you read a story, a row will appear toward the bottom of the screen that displays related stories.
• A section full of quotes related to your search or a specific story (depending on what you’re reading).
• Links to more content that is broken down into sections such as blogs, reports, audio, and video among others.

While Silobreaker is a paid news search engine, they offer a 30-day free trial. If you’re looking for something easy to get you the news you want, give it a try. You’ll find what you’re looking for.

The best search engines help you find things that are relevant to your interests and business goals. People use search engines multiple times per day to find things that they need, to shop, to research topics or to do their homework. You may even have a favorite search engine that you use all of the time because it gives you exactly what you’re looking for in a format that appeals to you.

Many of the search engines that are quite popular will give search results containing extra information that appeals to an even larger segment of the online population. Many users turn to search engines to download programs or to find links to good software that they need to do their jobs more effectively. While this may not sound like something that you thought search engines could do, these functions are very important reasons that search engines are so effective and popular.

One smart strategy in using search engines is to save searches when the results appeal to you. That way, you don’t have to go back to the search engines each time and launch a new search. You are essentially customizing the search for your tastes and preferences so that you don’t have to go back time after time and “build” it all over again.

Maximize your use of your Internet options and let those searches work for you. Share your findings in chat rooms and also find out what other people are doing to make searches easier. When you download programs that work well, share that information with your social network groups as well. Trading that information back and forth can be a rewarding feeling and a great resource. Search engines become more valuable to users as they learn how to use all the features and tools that the engines offer.

If you’ve been looking for that perfect pet—dog, cat, or beyond—your search just got a lot easier (and much less frustrating). On December 11th, aKeKee.com, a search engine for pet listings, went live in a beta phase. The site is the first vertical search engine for pets, meaning it gathers its results from other popular pet listing web sites such as Petfinder.com and AdoptAPet.com.

This new power search engine comes six years after the same type of search engine was developed for the travel and job industries, and offers users the convenience of searching for a pet across the United States. Searches can range from cats and dogs to horses, snakes, and even alpacas. The best part? Your search results are displayed within milliseconds. The site’s philosophy involves keeping things simple and offering the best user experience possible.

The idea and design came from founder Dawn Wilson (who also founded the web site OliverAlert.com, a site for lost and found pets) and was developed by Rob Faraj, who took on the project because of an interest in search engines, as well as the challenge that Wilson’s project offered. The two decided on a vertical search engine because of the ease of use, security, and the opportunity for users to subscribe to email email alerts about certain pets or categories of pets.

According to Wilson, the site was founded as an easy-to-use resource for pet lovers. Inspiration for aKeKee.com (as well as OliverAlert.com, founded just over a year ago) came from the love for her own two dogs. Wilsons aim is to make it as easy as possible for people to find the pet that is right for them.

As the search engine moves through its beta stage, aKeKee.com will grow its database and will eventually be available for users to search for pets worldwide.

Search engine giant, Google, has reached yet another milestone: The Chrome web browser now has 10,000 extensions available, many of which have been available for download for nearly a year. Included in the number are the regular browser extensions to increase functionality and productivity, as well as themes to enhance the look and feel of the browser. According to a celebratory post on the Chromium blog in honor of the milestone, every Chrome user has installed at least one extension or theme, and at least 70 million extensions have been installed overall.

A closer look at the extensions gallery in the Chrome browser reveals that there are actually over 10,000 extensions available. 10,078 were available on the last check.

Why is this such a big accomplishment? There is one big reason worth mentioning: Firefox. Mozilla’s popular browser is Chrome’s biggest competition at this point, especially in the add-on/extension market. The most recent check on the total of Firefox extensions showed 12,739.

It’s easy to see that the two browsers are close in terms of the number of extensions each offers its users. Chrome, though, has shown considerably more in terms of growth over the last eight months. Last spring, Firefox offered users a total of 11,000 add-ons, while Chrome only offered 3,000. Do the math, and it’s easy to see that extensions developed for Chrome have more than doubled.

The next six months could prove interesting for both companies as Google rolls out its newly minted Chrome OS (which depends heavily on extensions), and as Mozilla rolls Firefox 4 through its beta phase.

The two search engine giants are about to begin a battle over web apps as well, with Google releasing its Chrome Web Store. At this point, though, most of the available apps function as extensions more than anything else. Mozilla plans to fight back with the release of its Open Web App Ecosystem.

There are many persons who swear by Google as the best search engine in the market. On the other hand, there are others who are not impressed with the results of Google despite its popularity. They prefer Microsoft or Yahoo or any other search engine.

They may acknowledge that Google is better but they may be more comfortable extracting best results from other search engines. In such a scenario, you should find ways to spread your search over the widest range possible.

Who says that you have to visit the website of different search engines to access their services? You can install toolbars that help you access multiple search engines at once. All you have to do is choose the search engine you want to cover and every single search you make will fetch you multiple results.

Of course, the best results in most search engines will remain the same. However, depending on the choice of keyword, you may find significant difference. Rather than being forced to choose between different search engines, you should try and accommodate all the search engines possible.

Installing toolbars often results in reduction of screen space. If you do not want to reduce the amount of space on your monitor, you can opt for a website that acts as an agent and helps you search multiple search engines from a single website.

Of course, you will have to make sure that you deal with a website that provides accurate results. The last thing you want is for the website to claim that it covers Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft but ends up relying on other poor quality search engines.

From the business point of view, you should optimize your website to ensure that it is ranked high and is popular irrespective of the choice of search engine by the customer.

Search engines are a busy place for people searching for the things they need. With over millions of users on the Internet, the search engines are constantly busy sending out spiders to retrieve the information that users want. That constant activity search can range anywhere from diapers, to televisions and even automobiles. The web is a constantly moving highway for searchers seeking for what they need and want.

E-commerce has become one of the biggest uses of online search and usages commonly known today. Users can purchase almost anything online and businesses who market online are aware of this and make full use of this advantage. Most any type of product and some services can be secured via online sites, and some items like digital products are deliverable to the customer immediately.

Search engines are an integral part of the online customer activity process. Whether the customer uses their favorite search engine or the default search engine, their goal is to find the best possible match for their interests. In order to do a thorough comparison, they may often use two or even three different search engines to find what they’re looking for.

Businesses use various creative methods to draw traffic to its sites. One effective method for their search engine marketing can include article marketing. This method uses content that is keyword rich and helps the business to rank high in search engines. Part of the craft of this type of search engine marketing is creating compelling copy that will convert the shopper to a buyer.

Businesses also use social networking forums to increase their online visibility for their product or service. The idea is to get online forums and participants discussing the business, thereby increasing traffic and the potential for converting shoppers into sales and long-term customers.

Making your favorite search on your favorite subject is not all that difficult. For the user, they will just typically type in their subject interest into the search engine’s browser, and a host of relevant returns will appear on the subject matter. Although it may appear magical, there is a small amount of work that goes into making this effective. For the user to get the maximum results from their search efforts, they can and should use a few simple strategies to make their experience enjoyable.

1. Use keywords that are “custom” for what you’re looking for.

As you key in your user queries into search engines, the crawlers examines its index and returns a list of the pages that best match their query. The more direct and detailed the search is, the more accurately and likely you will get exactly what you’ve requested.

2. Use the same engine for all of your searches.

This is preferable if you like the way your favorite search engine returns your results. This is only effective for you if your search engine returns results based on specific keywords or crawls for all of the relevant keywords or key-phrases that you type into the engine. You will either get a whole lot of broad information, or more defined and specific information for your query.

3. Use different engines for your searches.

This is preferable if you would rather have your information delivered to you from different perspectives. Students use this method a lot for research purposes so that they can get a broader view of their subject matter. It is also a good idea to do this in case the engines use different methods to get the information to the user. For instance, different crawlers are coded to search for information within the titles, body of the article(s) or on each page of the site. The software code is written and varies from one engine to another. It’s all a matter of personal preference as to how you want that information displayed.

Making money online is a very popular method that many businesses and individuals have perfected. Whether they use products or services to make an income, they understand the need for traffic to their site in order to generate that income. Small businesses and online entrepreneurs have caught on to the lucrative system of online income generation. They use various methods that help them to carve out a specific niche and produce checks each month.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps to create income by using specific keywords that are relevant to the business’ site and basic business services. If a company distributes a product that has a high, competitive edge, they would do well to use complex keywords or keyphrases that will bring traffic to their site. Compensation for this traffic following first became very popular with the use of Google’s Adsenseprogram, and since it first started gathering a following, is still one of the major sources for advertising revenue for most online entrepreneurs and businesses.

With the Adsense program, webmasters are allowed to display relevant advertisements by Google under a contractual profit sharing agreement. This means that each time someone clicks on an ad that they see on a website’s page, the member receives compensation for it. There are many layers of the Adsense program with various stipulations, which is why members have a little flexibility in deciding the method of income they prefer. They can also choose the ads, sizes, types, styles and colors that will enhance their site and appeal to various segments of their traffic flow.

Adsense can be very lucrative for businesses because it doesn’t require much for it to operate efficiently and draw in profits. Businesses often try different styles and types of ads to see what works for their business. What makes Adsense so effective over a long period of time is the consistency of ad placement and how well the site draws in traffic. If it is used consistnely, profits can be very lucrative for a long period of time.

With the death of keyword saturation, many search engine optimizers and webmasters have asked how content can be structured most effectively on their website. After all, it’s not like Google ignores your content. In fact, the reverse is true. Google has evolved in its approach to websites, and now has the capability to understand your page’s information better than ever before. This is largely due to the brain of Google: LSI.

What is LSI?

LSI, or Latent Semantic Indexing, is a new search engine robot approach to “reading” the content on a page. Rather than simply looking at how often you repeat specific words, it will determine the subject of the page’s content. It does this by seeing how words interrelate. Beyond merely understanding words, LSI can understand synonyms, see how words connect to one another, and figure out what category the content falls into. As such, rather than just giving searchers results that contain the “right words,” it can give content that is relevant to the topic they’re searching for. This means better and more comprehensive results.

How you can use LSI.

LSI is designed to read your content and figure out what subject you’re writing about without you doing anything extra. This means that the best possible approach is to write high quality content that’s likely to get reader attention and be spread across the web. However, there are a couple things you can do to be sure that you’re helping Google examine your page accurately.

There are two major tools, both provided by Google, that will let you find terms and phrases that are appropriately “on topic.” The Google Keyword Tool, a part of Google Adwords, will allow you to find frequently searched for words and phrases that are connected to the keywords you are already using. Simply typing a few of your current keywords into the tool, then hitting “get keyword ideas” will bring up a list of 100 to 200 results. In addition, Google Sets can provide a full list of terms related, closely or more distantly, to keywords that you’re already targeting.

Once upon a time, in a magical land known as Stanford, there were two men. Their names were Larry Page and Sergey Brin. These two Stanford geniuses took a look at the virtual world around them, and they decided that it just wasn’t good enough. Search engines relied entirely on keyword presence, showing sites that had manipulated their way into the results by creating bogus content or spamming their keywords. Page and Brin were sure there was another way.

They determined that they would find that other way, and create the (search engine) world that they envisioned. A world where sites were ranked based on how good they were and how much people liked them, not on their ability to contain a paragraph of spam keywords at the bottom. Encouraged by Terry Winograd to pursue the project, Brin and Page applied to the school for resources and school credit for the project. Luckily for Brin and Page, as well as for the rest of the world, their search engine research project was accepted by Stanford.

Their objective was to determine which sites were most popular on the web, and use this as the basis for their search results. They called their search algorithm BackRub, and it looked out across the web in an attempt to decide who the “cool kids” were. This was to be determined by looking at all the links on the internet. The theory was that if a site had more links to it, it meant that more people had gone out of their way to tell others about it. They then took it a step further, making it so that the links from sites that were more “popular” were valued more than links from less popular or newer sites.

While they decided on the name Google in 1997, registering the domain that year, they didn’t official incorporate until 1998, after they had indexed more than 60 million different web pages. Even when in the “beta” stage, technology magazines hailed their approach as the way of the future. Thus, Google, the giant of the technological world, was born.

It is a general fact of the search engine world that what Google wants, Google usually gets. Google has stepped into a great number of territories over the last few years. Their acquisition of YouTube made them an even more fierce giant in the virtual world. Gmail has overtaken many other email services in regards to both function and users. Google Documents, Google Calendar, and many more innovations have made Google the go to resource in a wide variety of areas. It has now been revealed, however, that Google is stepping into the Social Networking arena.

Google added the feature known as “Buzz,” automatically connected to Gmail accounts, which took on some of the general functionality of Twitter. However, Google is not satisfied with the attention and response that this has received, and intends to step up their efforts. While this project, tentatively titled “Google Me,” has been rumored for several years, it was only recently confirmed by project insiders.

The Google Me project is ambitious, even for Google. It will synchronize with the Google account of the user, integrating Blogger, Gmail, Calendar, Buzz, and other services. Beyond synchronizing existing features, Google Me will take on many of the advanced features of Facebook. It has been called a “top priority project” by the members of Google that revealed the information, who prefer to remain anonymous.

Facebook is certainly well established, and users have already established connections with one another, reputations and stockpiles in their browser based games, and far more. Whether or not Google will be able to effectively take ground against the current social networking champion has yet to be seen, but it is certainly true that Google is one of the few groups who has the potential to do battle with them. Users will likely be the ones who stand to gain as the two technological titans up the stakes in order to try to conquer the social networking world.

Webmasters and search engine optimizers are constantly playing a game with the search engines, adding content and developing links in the hope of reaching the top page. Their battle will involve a large number of SEO weapons, and will take months or years to win. Webmasters are often frustrated by seemingly random changes in their rank. Frustrated site owners may scream out that it’s Google changing their algorithm, once again changing the rules of the game. But how often does Google really change its formula?

The answer may leave those frustrated web optimizers a little stunned. Google generally changes its formula five to ten times per week, adopting minor changes in order to fine tune the results for its users. While a webmaster may notice a drop in their site’s rank after one of these changes, most of the alterations to the search formula won’t have a major impact on your rank. So, why are these changes made?

Google pays surprisingly close attention to the behavior of its users. It has teams of programmers who look at information on how frequently users click through to sites for given keywords and categories, and those teams will often look into any searches that aren’t performing well. In addition to looking for glaring errors, Google makes additions and subtractions from their formula in order to get better localized results.

Despite these regular changes, the concept behind search engine optimization will remain largely the same. Developing high quality, relevant, and fresh content will drive more traffic to your site. Getting more links to your site from high quality sources will play a key role in your position. The rest, truly, is detail.

Still, some webmasters may see a massive change, for better or worse, in their sites position. While a change in the algorithm isn’t always to blame for this, major changes will sometimes shake things up in a dramatic way. However, according to Google representatives, major changes to the search engine algorithm are only likely to happen about once per year.

With the death of keyword saturation, many search engine optimizers and webmasters have asked how content can be structured most effectively on their website. After all, it’s not like Google ignores your content. In fact, the reverse is true. Google has evolved in its approach to websites, and now has the capability to understand your page’s information better than ever before. This is largely due to the brain of Google: LSI.

What is LSI?

LSI, or Latent Semantic Indexing, is a new search engine robot approach to “reading” the content on a page. Rather than simply looking at how often you repeat specific words, it will determine the subject of the page’s content. It does this by seeing how words interrelate. Beyond merely understanding words, LSI can understand synonyms, see how words connect to one another, and figure out what category the content falls into. As such, rather than just giving searchers results that contain the “right words,” it can give content that is relevant to the topic they’re searching for. This means better and more comprehensive results.

How you can use LSI.

LSI is designed to read your content and figure out what subject you’re writing about without you doing anything extra. This means that the best possible approach is to write high quality content that’s likely to get reader attention and be spread across the web. However, there are a couple things you can do to be sure that you’re helping Google examine your page accurately.

There are two major tools, both provided by Google, that will let you find terms and phrases that are appropriately “on topic.” The Google Keyword Tool, a part of Google Adwords, will allow you to find frequently searched for words and phrases that are connected to the keywords you are already using. Simply typing a few of your current keywords into the tool, then hitting “get keyword ideas” will bring up a list of 100 to 200 results. In addition, Google Sets can provide a full list of terms related, closely or more distantly, to keywords that you’re already targeting.