Google Chrome Launched
September 9, 2008 | Google, Search Engine News
It’s Google’s 10th birthday. Think about that Google in 10 years has come to dominate search and become a leading technology provider challenging the likes of Microsoft and Apple - not bad for a company that can’t even spell it’s own name correctly! Google have also recently launched a new browser to the market called Chrome, which is a huge surprise in many ways and not at all in others. Google are ultimately Google and it’s no surprise given the recent history of what they’ve been doing and investing in.
It is a surprise for many other reasons. There are already three some would say four browsers on the market. We have Internet Explorer hooked into the dominant PC platform, Windows, and it’s no wonder why it dominates. Then there’s Firefox, a far superior browser design, variant of the failed Mozilla, the browser of choice for techies and webmasters largely because of it’s userability with plug ins. Then we have Apple’s Safari, recently launched on Windows the prime browser for Mac’s. Then there’s Opera.
Firefox has about a 20% market share, Safari has a tiny fraction but overtime will probably snail like slowly gain more share. Opera really doesn’t register in the grand scheme of things. Then not surprising, particularly given the recent history of all three search engines that for Google, Chrome’s primary objective is to put a massive dent in Microsoft’s dominance of the browser market.
Dispatch the foe has to be Google’s primary business objective.
Google currently support the Firefox project and have stated this will continue which confirms the previous point. Indeed Chrome actually uses bits of technology from Firefox and Apple. If you read our blog on a regular basis you’ll know how Microsoft is struggling in the search market, hence the failed attempt to buy Yahoo. Makes sense then for Google to have a pop at the dominance of Microsoft in another market. Can Chrome succeed?
Possibly. IE’s total dominance is in the fact that Windows comes pre-packaged with IE, it’s usability however is shocking. When Microsoft won the browser wars and put Mozilla to the sword it’s development stopped which we see still in versions 5.5 and 6.0, web designers were in uproar and are still struggling with the implications today in some respects, Microsoft didn’t care, after all they’d won. Recent attempts have been made with 7.0 to make sure it’s usability and performance aren’t totally shocking compared to Firefox, once Firefox came onto the scene and Microsoft realised they had to do something, which ultimately has meant IE has turned into a poor Firefox clone. Google however when Chrome was launched cunningly put a link from the Google homepage, the most viewed homepage on the web, to download it.
Chrome ultimately is branded as a different, more modern browser. Browsers haven’t much developed from when they first came on the scene, then they just displayed text documents, with images added latter. Much of today’s web particularly social sites make use of more modern media such as video and flash. Chrome is designed primarily to display (load) this content quicker. Site’s programming has become complex particularly with the recent popularity of AJAX in web 2.0 applications and Chrome is designed to load the code of the more complex sites quicker. Chrome if you like is the web 2.0 browser and on that basis alone it can possibly succeed. Chromes other features are:
- It’s open source
- Simple tab layout
- Dynamic Tabs
- Crash Control Management
- Importing Settings
- Simple Downloading
It’s more impressive features are:
Google Search is neatly added to the nav bar, now visit Google without visiting Google.
Create Shortcuts to applications, nicely tied in with Google Gears to enhance offline experience.
Incognito Mode - this is very interesting, you can stop all the spy features in websites such as cookie creation. The important question is are then Google’s own spy features disabled? Economically it makes sense for Google to enhance these not disable them. Privacy is currently a big issue in the US with law makers. Do Google care? Probably not, however the Google - Yahoo Adsense deal is another issue. Google may have well added this feature to Chrome to give it some leeway. A compromise on Privacy would be beneficial to push the Adsense deal through.
Google Suggest rolls out
August 26, 2008 | Google, Search Engine News
Google Suggest has fully rolled out. Suggest does what you think it does, that is suggests keyword terms as you type into the keyword box.
Suggest is actually “Graduating” as the Google Blog puts it from Labs. Labs is responsible for much of the cool things that Google produces nowadays. Google employees that come up with the best ideas are allowed to focus on those ideas 20% of the time until they are either dropped or work their way up to the Lab stage and finally become fully integrated services.
Suggest has three main key functions:
- Provide a list of possible better queries
- Reduce spelling errors
- Save time with less keystrokes.
According to Google Suggest will be rolling out fully throughout this week.
Google coming to a TV near you
August 20, 2008 | Google, Search Engine News
Not exactly true but it could be, Google could be coming to your TV. If your a regular reader of our blog you’ll know we like to keep an eye on the King of Search, after all it gives us a good indicator of the latest trends in search.
So what are those cheeky scamsters at Google up to exactly. Not happy with dominating your internet connection and trying to dominate your Mobile Phone in the future they also want to dominate your TV. Google are part of the Wireless Innovation Alliance, lobbying for whitespace TV signals , that is the unused TV frequencies, to be free. A web site has even been set up to Free the Airwaves, encouraging you to not just sign a petition but actually upload a video to YouTube.
One great advantage if this goes ahead is using this medium for free wireless internet access. We also know that Google are keen on using Video as a medium for Adsense. Could we be seeing videos on our own TV’s in the future, knowing Google I wouldn’t put it passed them.
Google to buy Digg
July 25, 2008 | Google, Search Engine News
If you’ve read all the hoo haa about the on off sarga with Yahoo and Microsoft you may be surprised to learn that Google have agreed to buy Digg, the social bookmarking site for around $200 million, something that has very definitely slipped under the radar. The deal is apparently all formerly ratified. Google will be experimenting with Digg in it’s News search.
While Live struggles to claw back some market share from Google, Google has been busily pulling off deals like this which look at adapting it’s search for the future. This has confirmed to us something we at WMA already knew, Seach as we know it is dead!
It’s all go go go in Search Engine Land.
July 21, 2008 | Google, Keyword Research, Live (MSN), Search Engine News, Yahoo
Everything’s kicking off in Search Engine Land and it isn’t just in the boardroom:
First we had the on-off Yahoo - Microsoft Deal.
Then we had the Yahoo - Google deal.
Microsoft has since bought Powerset
Yahoo shareholder Carl Icahn is trying to oust the whole Yahoo board that resembles all the best plots from Eastenders rolled into one which will play out on the 1st August at a shareholder meeting
Yahoo and Microsoft are placing themselves in the best position to buy AOL, which is partly owned by Google, give all the fallout of the above.
Phew! As if that isn’t enough boardroom shenanighans all three companies haven’t forgot what they normally do - Search:
Microsoft has been working on AdLabs, feedback I’ve read says the advertising platform is much improved, so much so that Companies who run PPC for clients are beginning to see Live starting to overtake Yahoo as the next best thing after Adsense.
Yahoo has recently bought analytics company Indextools to compete with Google Analytics.
Google seem remarkably good at forgetting what there best at and want to be better at everything else too but still have that incredibly annoying nack of still having their core service performing outstandingly. We’ve had amongst many things the continuing development of various software tools such as Google Docs, forays into the mobile phone market with Android, we’ve had Google launching a new virtual world called Lively, we’ve had Google webinars and…
Last but by no means least we had the change to the Adsense platform where Google are now giving actual figures on keywords research. Keyword Research is critical to every project we do and is always the first stage of any project. We’d be stuffed without it, optimising a keyword is easy, ok it’s not as easy as all that i hear you say, but the point is what do you optimise for? This is why doing research is so important. There are a number of keywords tools. As I’ve mentioned before Microsoft have launched Adlabs which is mightily impressive and at the moment looks far better than anything the other two are doing, however Live has about a 5% market share, 10% if were being generous. Ultimately doesn’t matter how great a tool is you can’t optimise something in Google (70% market) with figures from MSN. Now Google give us the figures we can do exactly that.
Previously using overture data (Yahoo PPC) was the next best thing until they stopped running actual figures live and changed it for something far less superior, they do still run figures people keep telling me, yes they do but I kindly point out they’re from Jan 07, that is they’re not live, be interesting to see what Yahoo will now do, give that the other two now run live figures.
Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery are other popular tools, however if you want to optimise for Google your better of using AdLabs given the market share. Both give out a plethora of bizarre keywords combinations that make it very difficult to actually work out what terms people are using in Google. People tell me Keyword Discovery is good but it’s so US biased that us poor folks in the UK can’t really tell how good it supposedly is, personally I doubt it!
The feedback so far is that figures are very accurate. One thing I know, it makes my life a lot easier.
