In what seems to be the latest high-profile Google Bomb in a while,  a search in Google.IT last week returned links to a website named upon child-abuse in the top search result.

Interestingly enough, the site that was being linked to was seemingly empty, with the exception of some cleverly crafted meta-information.

After some back-link analysis on the site, we found a prominent blog with page rank 3 and some 50+ pages had a twitter feed containing the link, and a reference to the vatican.

A screen shot of the top position is here

This demonstrates that black-hat SEO is still powerful way of getting your site to the top of the SERPs in the short term, however we are adamantly against the practice.

A search in Google IT today has shown that the false website is no longer indexed.

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One of the most interesting developments to come out of the announcement is “iAds“.

iAds are online advertising featured within installed applications and web-pages. In essence, iads are to mobile phones, what adwords are to Google searches. It is presumed that developers will use iads to subsidise the supply of free applications, similar to what is already going on withing Google Android application development.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that over 1 Billion ad impressions are expected in the mobile advertising space per day, and research group Gartner expect revenue  from mobile advertising to tip over $1.6Billion this year alone.

Given the roaming nature of a mobile user, we expect this advertising to be even more targeted, and be more locale-specific than ever, with ads for a nearby pizza store being targeted to the user’s handset.

These are interesting times for online advertising, and the progress of monetisation of the mobile space, and particularly the success of iads is something SearchNews will be keeping a close watch on.

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In it’s blog, Google have openly opposed the Australian Internet Filter, and submitted it’s arguments to the Labour party including:

1. The filter would block access to some important content, including some politically controversial content, with Google indicates is vital in democracy.
2. It removes choices, claiming that parents will become complacent, under a false sense of security, believing they or their children will be protected from harm on the internet.
3. Isn’t effective in protecting children, because the objectional content is often found outside of HTTP websites.

They’ve also stated it will signficantly slow down internet access of large websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s own video channel, YouTube.

Google has used Youtube as an example, citing it’s Community Guidelines Policy, and self-regulation, and also said that the government should shift it’s focus to user education to help improve online safety.

We at SearchNews are very opinionated on the matter also, we also believe that the filter is poorly thought out, will put burdens on resources, having a direct impact on internet access pricing, and will have a detremental effect on internet access in Australia.

We beleive there are much better ways to protect children and weed out criminals, and that our tax-payer’s dollars can be better allocated to other programs.

The Proposed Internet Filter Policy will be brought before the senate in coming weeks, however it will require support from the Australian Liberal Party to pass into legislation.

We will be watching with great anticipation and hope the outcome is the Internet Filter Policy being shelved as a technological blunder in the history of the Australian Government.

For related information see the following websites:

Google AU Blog / Submission on the Filter

Getup.org.au Community Advocacy Organisation

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This is becoming so common occurence, with the term  “Google it” being referenced in TV advertising campaigns, and not forgetting Television programs and movies. The occurrence is barely worth mentioning, except to say that Google has a set of published Guidelines that define permissible use of their name or trademark.

The article is published at http://www.google.com/permissions/guidelines.html

It also contains a list of Google’s trademarked names, which is handy for anybody who trades with Google or provides associated or re-branded services, or just wants to make reference to the name Google, and is curious about their rights to use the Google name.

If in doubt, simply don’t use it!

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2009 saw some massive changes in Search Engine News, including Google and Yahoo forming an alliance for search advertising, Microsoft launching Bing, their not-quite-search engine titled an emotion engine, and Google’s continuous strive for World Domination, as well as presenting challenges for advertisers and traders in the face of the Global Financial Crisis.

The search engine market, and online economy in general will be a much different landscape at the end of 2010 with the introduction of new gadgets and search tools making information more accessible and easy to find, new innovations and increased competition.

Stay tuned with Search News for all the updates and nail biting announcements.

Welcome to 2010.

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This got us to thinking, who uses Yellow pages these days? The good old-fashioned phone book seems nothing more than a door-stop to many people these days, as we reported last year. Most people these days use a Google or another search engine from their computer, or another web-based search on their mobiles when looking for information, so where does this leave Yellow Pages, when even Yellow Pages Online is competing for an audience?

We leave it to our readers to decide:

Voting is now closed. Thanks to all who submitted.

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In addition to the possibility of fierce competition that Google poses to Skype, it could also be threatening to some of the world’s largest telecommunications companies whose fat profits are derived from mobile communications.

Google Voice is on trial in the USA at present, and it enables the user to transfer their existing phone number onto the platform, and provides a way to unify your mobile, fixed-landline voice and Voice-over-IP into one number, providing a host of cheap and convenient options including Voicemail, cheap international calls over the internet, Conference calls, Free SMS and more.

The move positions Google as potentially one of the most cost-effective providers for phone-calls, and if the technology is successfully implemented into Google’s Android handsets, it could enable callers to benefit from substantial discounts on their mobile phone bill and provide a very compelling offering that appeals well beyond the tech-geeks who are the current demographic of owners using Google’s Android Mobile Phone handsets.

Google Voice is on trial by invite only in the USA, and invitations can be requested from http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

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comScore advises that between September and October 2009, Bing’s market share rose from 9.4% to 9.9%m with Yahoo! slipping 0.8% percentage points down to 18%.

Google still remains the dominant figure with around 65% market-share.

* This data is based on search volumes within North America.

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This exciting new brand offers a domain catching service, allowing participants to re-register expired domain names the instant they are deleted and purged from the registry.

The service runs on technology previously used by the successful registrar Domain8, to catch deleted .au Domain Names, and operates on week-days when the registry releases the expired domains and makes them available for registration.

Catching is the process of re-registering a domain after it deleted and made available again for registration. The drop.com.au system monitors the registry for the randomised purge, and continuously attempts to register the name until it has been caught. The registration process is completed literally within milliseconds of becoming available.

Interested parties are required to bid on the name they would like to register on the morning of the day when the “drops” occurs (a “drop” is the process of a domain name being deleted & purged from the registry) and as in all auctions, the highest bidder at auction close wins the “right to catch”.

Over the past 6 months, drop-catch services such as this have yielded some very valuable domain assets including printing.com.au (which was picked up for a meager $A 9221.00) and many other high value domain names going for as low as a single dollar (plus registration costs).

The drop.com.au service does not guarantee 100% success, but sources at DBS indicate that drop.com.au should perform with 85% success-rate and higher, which is a good result considering other players have also been taking part, officially or otherwise, for the past 2 years or so.

In addition to the Drop-Catch platform, drop.com.au also plans to introduce many new services aimed at the domain investment market. Hopefully a new after-market service is one of these services, because it is certainly lacking in the industry. Aftermarket services for the uninitiated, allow people to buy and sell .AU domains.

Domain trading is a relatively new concept in Australia, with the regulator of .AU domain names only laxing it’s policy on transfers between registrants (the ability to trade a name) in June 2008. There are only a few players in this space, including the rather expensive NetFleet.

Given FabulousDomains.com’s experience in the International Domain Space with it’s Domain Distribution Network (listing over 600,000 international domains for trade),  it is a certainty that Dark Blue Sea is capable of providing a superior offering in the Australian Domain After-Market, and Search News will be watching in anticipation of their growth and success, and many of the other innovative tools they promise to bring to the domain name industry.

Visit the newly launched website today: www.drop.com.au

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Now it seems another insurance company is using Google in it’s advertising, Allianz, with the term “Just Google Allianz”, and also featured a screenshot of the Google homepage being used to type in the name “allianz”.

I’m sure that Google’s lawyers will be on the case once again, but what is becoming increasingly frustrating with these advertising campaigns, apart from annoying Google’s IP lawyers; is they do little to educate their audience or raise awareness of their brand and website name.

Promotion of a website and educating the audience can have many benefits, least of which would save the advertiser money, as they remove the search engine from the equation, where there is a high chance the user will see competing websites or adverts, resulting in a lost customer.

Even if Alliance were to have the user click on their ad, the cost of that click could be as much as $3.00.

Had the advertisement said “log on to www.allianz.com.au” they would be re-enforcing the website name, and encouraging users to enter a website URL, rather than relying exclusively on a search engine to reference or find information, which is creating a generation of lazy internet users.

One of the key rules of Online Marketing is to present your customer with the right information in the shortest possible time to help them make an informed decision and then get on with what they were doing. Adding a search engine in the process of delivering that information, when you’ve already run a TV ad campaign might not be the best way of achieving that end.

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