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Google Blogoscoped: Google Breadcrumbs in SERPs?

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Rob writes: “Just came across a very interesting Google search result which used breadcrumb data in the URL area ... Very interesting implications beyond just the display here – it proves that Google is reading and understanding breadcrumb data.”
However, Rob disclaims that he has the CustomizeGoogle Firefox extension turned on... does anyone know if this extension might be causing this instead of this actually being Google’s output?

[Thanks Rob!]

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Breadcrumbs in SERPs? | Comments]

[Advertisement] Google books on Amazon

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LifeHacker: ScheduleOnce Finds Common Meeting Times Inside Google Calendar [Featured Download]

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::
Firefox/Internet Explorer: Meeting planning web site ScheduleOnce has a new Firefox and Internet Explorer add-on that adds a new widget to your Google Calendar that helps you and your co-workers find a good time for a meeting.

As you can see in the video, installing the browser add-on integrates the meeting-time finder with Google Calendar, adding not just a widget to GCal, but also pulling your availability from GCal into ScheduleOnce to make it easier for you to compare your availability at a glance.

The ScheduleOnce add-on is a free download for Firefox or Internet Explorer. If you give it a go—or you've already got a preferred meeting availability tool—let's hear about it in the comments.

ScheduleOnce Add-on [ScheduleOnce via CNET]

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LifeHacker: Google Reader Watcher Adds RSS Notifications to Firefox [Downloads]

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::
Firefox only (Win/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Google Reader Watcher adds notifications for unread items right in your web browser, complete with a quick-access menu that takes you directly to the feed.

Once you've installed the extension, you'll need to take a trip to the add-on options panel to enter your Google account information, where you can also filter by label, force a secure connection, or choose whether or not to open Google Reader in a new tab. Hovering your mouse over the status bar will show a tooltip with the updated feeds, but right-clicking on the icon will bring up a menu that you can use to drill down directly into that feed in Reader—very useful for those of us with a massive number of feed items.

Google Reader Watcher is a free download, works anywhere Firefox does, and is a good replacement for the previously mentioned Google Reader Notifier for Firefox, which has since been turned into malware by a greedy extension developer. If you'd rather have your RSS notifications outside of your browser, you can check out the Google Reader Notifier for Windows.

Google Reader Watcher [Mozilla Add-ons]

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eWeek: Twitter Leak Illustrates Google Chrome OS Security Hazards
Planet Google presents :: Recently leaked Twitter documents that were stored on Google Apps highlight a deeper issue - namely, when everything you do is stored online, how will you protect your personal data? As Google revs up its new Chrome OS, phishing and hacker attempts will be exacerbated. How, exactly, will you deal with your data security in this brave new world of data portability?
- This week, Twitter had sensitive documents leaked in a roundabout method that involved a Twitter employee being phished and their Google password used to access sensitive data stored online in Google Apps. TechCrunch, the final recipient of these documents, vigorously defended their position on ...

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Search Engine Journal: Google Reader is Evolving into a Twitter/Facebook Service

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Planet Google presents ::
It is not very often that Google introduces news features to its Google Reader service. This is despite the fact that Google Reader is perhaps among the widely used Google product. But that was before, as Google is putting more social networking/sharing feature to Google Reader.

So now, users can start finding people with public shares items and when they found an interesting Google Reader user who is generous enough to share their items. You can also subscribe to these shared items and it will appear on your Google Reader main page. To find people with public shared items, users can use Google Reader’s new people search feature or browse for users via their name., location or topic.

Aside from those features, Google Reader now allows sharing of public items to specific groups of people only. Users who maintain their Google profile can now add link from the Google Reader page to Google profile. After adding this link, users can start following other users publicly shared items. In addition, Google Reader now also allows rating of shared items.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Google Reader is Evolving into a Twitter/Facebook Service

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LifeHacker: Google Reader Updates with Still More Social Features [Google Reader]

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::
Google's popular newsreader updates with new friend following features, private sharing of items, people search, and a "like" feature that tells the world when you like a link. It's another nice social update, but we can't help but wonder who's using them.

The new features are very customizable. You can create groups who have permission to see and add comments about items you share; you can find and add friends via search or by finding people who "like" items you like; and you can protect your shared items so that they only show up for your friends. The thing is, this sounds an awful lot like Facebook's newsfeed, or Twitter, but if those sites only allowed you to share links.

That's not to say that we've got any fundamental problem with Google Reader; it's the best online newsreader you'll find. But we are very curious about whether or not any of these social features are really taking hold. Your thoughts:

Do You Use Google Reader's Social Features?(opinion)

Whether you like every update or not, it's always nice to see what the folks at Reader are up to; it's one of Google's apps that's always been great about pushing out interesting and cool features with some frequency.

Following, liking and people searching [Official Google Reader Blog]

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The Register: Google puts Chrome updates on Courgette-only diet
Planet Google presents ::
Squeezing the zucchini juice

Google has shrink-wrapped the way it delivers updates to its Google Chrome browser by releasing a new system dubbed Courgette.…
Offloading malware protection to the cloud

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Search Engine Roundtable: Poll: Should Search Updates Be Named?

Planet Google
Planet Google presents :: The Florida update, Vince/Brand update, April Fools update, Dewey update and so many more are code names for Google updates. We even named a few Yahoo updates, like the Tim update. A Google Webmaster Help thread asks what are these...

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Search Engine Roundtable: Google Pulling Titles From Google Maps Now?

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Planet Google presents :: Title tags in the search results are very important, they drive clicks, which drives sales. It now appears that Google is pulling the title for some listings from Google Maps and not from the title tag in the page's source...

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Search Engine Roundtable: UK & French Users Now Seeing New iGoogle Layout

Planet Google
Planet Google presents :: A Google Web Search Help thread reports that now Google is rolling out the left hand navigation design to iGoogle users in the UK and France. I believe the US had the new, left hand navigation for a while now....

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Search Engine Roundtable: Google Gives Blessing To Image Replacement Techniques

Planet Google
Planet Google presents :: There is only so much CSS can accomplish with making headlines pretty. If you want to give your headlines a pretty font that not all computers support, then you need to go with graphics. But as an SEO, you don't...

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LifeHacker: Google Mobile Adds Local Search to iPhone 3.0 [Local Search]

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::
iPhone/iPod touch: Mobile Safari joins Android and BlackBerry browsers in getting location awareness with Google, using GPS or Wi-Fi triangulation to figure out what food, stores, or other goodies are nearby when you search.

As with its counterparts, the location setting sticks with the browser until you hit update, or it happens to notice you've moved locales. Google says it doesn't pull location data unless you allow it at the prompt—two prompts on an iPod touch, actually—and the location feature can be disabled from the Preferences link at the main Google page.

Has location-aware searching ever helped you find a place to go while you're on the go, or is it just more data collected without reason? Tell us your take on geo-aware Google in the comments.

Official Google Mobile Blog: Search with My Location for iPhone 3.0. And All that Jazz [Official Google Mobile Blog via TechCrunch]

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Search Engine Watch Blog: Optimized Schedule for SES San Jose Plus Social Media & Video Strategies

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Planet Google presents ::
One of my Twitter followers, b_young of California, asked me to put together an optimized schedule for both the Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose Conference & Expo, which will be held at the McEnery Convention Center August 10-14, 2009, as well as the Social Media & Video Strategies forum, which will be held next door at the San Jose Marriott on August 11.

My first optimization tip is to get a Segway Personal Transporter ("Segway PT") in order to ride back and forth between the two co-located events. If that's not possible, then look closely at the agendas for the two events because it's going to be hard to schedule every session that you will want to attend.

It's also important to understand that an optimized schedule for you may differ significantly than an optimized schedule for b_young. The SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch, which organized SES San Jose, as well as ClickZ, Google and YouTube, which organized Social Media & Video Strategies, have tailored different tracks for people with different levels of experience and different search or social media specialties.

So, which sessions would I recommend for b-young, who is interested in advanced-level search engine optimization (SEO)?

On Monday, Aug. 10, I'd recommend checking out a couple of the Partnered Training Workshops. One is a full-day Search Engine Optimization Training workshop taught by Bruce Clay of Bruce Clay, Inc. In addition, I'd recommend the two half-day DMA Certification Training workshops taught by Matt Bailey of SiteLogic and Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing.

On Tuesday, Aug. 11, I'd recommend "Search: Where to Next?" at 10:30 a.m. (SES San Jose); "In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing" at 11:45 a.m. (Social Media & Video Strategies); "How to Turn Your Web Analytics into a Money Making Machine" at 1:45 p.m. (SES San Jose); "Meaningful SEO Metrics: Going Beyond the Numbers" at 3:00 p.m. (SES San Jose); and "Launching a Global Website" at 4:30 p.m. (SES San Jose).

On Wednesday, Aug. 12, I'd recommend "Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues" at 9:00 a.m.; visit the Expo Hall and take in the added bonus of an Express Site Clinic at 10:45 a.m.; "Google Analytics and Website Optimizer, Secrets Revealed!" at 2:30 p.m.; and "The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns" at 4:00 p.m.

On Thursday, Aug. 13, I'd recommend "SEO Through Blogs & Feeds" at 10:30 a.m.; "News Search SEO" at 12:45 p.m.; "Advanced SEO Roundtable: What is it Really? And Where is it Going?" at 2:15 p.m.; and "In-House SEO: Structuring the Organization for Success" at 3:45 p.m.

Finally, on Friday, Aug. 14, I'd recommend two SEM/SEO training workshops. One in the morning is the "Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop" taught by Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing Interactive, and the other in the afternoon is "Managing Complex Search Programs" taught by Bill Hunt, formerly with Global Strategies International.

The conference sessions and workshops should provide the advanced SEO best practices and techniques that b_young needs to remain a top performer in the field.

Remember, your mileage may vary. So, look at the SES San Jose agenda and the Social Media & Video Strategies agenda very closely.

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Google Blogoscoped: Google Changing Titles in Results

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::

Mike Blumenthal writes:

Is Google replacing Title Tags on the main Google results page with Business names?

I have a local client, Napoleon Engineering Services ...

I am not sure if Google is experimenting or not but on a recent trade name search for Napoleon Engineering, to retrieve my client’s phone number I noticed that Google had completely replaced the web page title tag with their business name from the Maps index.

I can reproduce this: searching for napoleon engineering brings up a page which Google titles “Napoleon Engineering Services”, whereas clicking on the Google cache or the actual page shows the title “NES - Custom Bearing Testing & Bearing Inspection- home - ball bearing testing”.

I also noticed Microsoft’s search contender Bing changing titles in results quite a bit, though in Bing’s case that’s often to the detriment of readability. In above case with Google, the new title might make more sense to people searching for “Napoleon Engineering”...

[Thanks Mike!]

Update: Google’s John Mueller comments:

<<We may choose to replace titles which are repeated on a number of pages or which otherwise appear to be suboptimal – that’s probably what’s happening here. To resolve that, it would be a good idea to make sure that the titles are unique, compelling and relevant to every page and that the important parts are visible in the first part of the title text. You can get some help with finding duplicated titles in Webmaster Tools under Diagnostics / HTML suggestions.>>

[Thanks John!]

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Changing Titles in Results | Comments]

[Advertisement] Google books on Amazon

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Digg: ARM Cortex + Google Chrome = Your Next Netbook?
Planet Google presents :: ARM thinks the combination of its low-power Cortex cores and Google's forthcoming OS will be the breakthrough netbooks need to succeed in the market. Intel may have other ideas, however. And what about Windows 7?

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Google Blogoscoped: Google Reader Adds More (Cluttering?) Social Features

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::

Google’s feed reader, Google Reader, added a couple of social options, but Google-watcher Ionut is not convinced:

For more than a year, Google Reader has been struggling to add social features and almost all the new features were contrived ...

Google Reader became more difficult to use as the new features cluttered the interface and forced you to make more decisions. Now you have to decide if you want to star an item or just “like” it, if you want to share an item or share it with a note, if you want to follow the people who are following you.

[Hat tip to Zim!]

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Reader Adds More (Cluttering?) Social ... | Comments]

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Search Engine Journal: Google Introduces Search with My Location for the iPhone

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::
Google has just rolled out its Search with My Location for iPhone running OS 3.0. What this nifty feature does is to allow iPhone users to search for specific location without having to key in the exact place where they are. It recognizes the exact place where a user is, so much so that it gives specific names of restaurants, bars or other establishments when using generic search terms.

A good example given by the Official Google Mobile blog is when searching for “jazz clubs”. If an iPhone user has turned on this feature, Google mobile search will display jazz clubs in the area where the user is. So, if a user is in New York, searching for “jazz clubs” on Google mobile search will give a lists of jazz clubs in New York.

This feature is currently available only for U.K. and U.S. iPhone users. To turn this feature on, simply point your iPhone’s Safari browser to www.google.com and tap on the “My Location” link. Tap on the “update” link to update the screen and your location will be displayed on the homepage.

To protect privacy of users, Google promises not to use a user’s location in search. In addition, users can always opt-out of this feature by disabling it from the Preferences option below the Google mobile home page.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Google Introduces Search with My Location for the iPhone

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Googling Google: Using Google Voice just got easier

Planet Google
Planet Google presents :: Today, Google launched their mobile application for Google Voice, the most impressive Google service yet. With Google Voice, if you haven’t heard of it yet, you can consolodate all your phone numbers into a single “Google Number”. The mobile app is currently available on Blackberry and Android devices. The new app lets you make [...]

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Googling Google: [Sponsored]
Planet Google presents ::

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Search Engine Watch Blog: Welcome to Your Google-Branded Life

Planet Google
Planet Google presents ::
It's 6:30 am. Your alarm goes off. On your Android phone. You turn it off, roll over and check your GMail before dragging yourself out of bed.

You get ready to leave but learn that your normal bus line is off schedule. You use Google Transit to navigate a different way to work.

Finally, at the office you turn on your Chrome OS-powered notebook, which provides access to company information using Google Apps. Can't find something? No problem. The Google Search Appliance is fueling enterprise-wide search for your entire company.

Getting on with your day, you open up Google Calendar to check your schedule and then it's back to GMail for a look at Tasks you need to tackle.

You open up a Google docs (that is shared with several coworkers) and contribute. Then you check the Google Sites intranet to get updates on your department and the company.

It's lunchtime. Your buddy wants to meet up for lunch so he texts your Google Voice phone number and you arrange to meet at that new Italian restaurant for lunch.

You're not quite sure where it is so you look it up on Google Maps.

In the afternoon, you work on some Google Spreadsheets and upload pictures of the company picnic to Picasa.

A message pops up on Google Talk. It's your wife. She uploaded that cute video of your daughter (recorded on her Google Android phone) to YouTube and then posted it on your family's Blogger blog.

An email arrives from your family care practitioner. Those labs from your doctor's visit the other day are in. You check them in your Google Health records.

After work, you go home. Your son needs help with his homework. You get out the Android-powered netbook and use Google search to look up the information you need to help him out. You explore Google Earth to assist with his geography and help him with SketchUp to complete a social studies project due the next day.

Before settling down for the night, you check Google News, your feeds in Google Reader and Google Finance to stay informed with what's going on in the world and your portfolio. You watch a couple of shows on YouTube and then finally hit the hay.

This all might sound extreme, but it's completely possible - right now. These are all items and offerings that currently exist in the Google product line.

Would it really be farfetched to add a few things like a Google TV, a Google gaming console, or a Google personal media player? No, not really. After all, think about the competition.

Apple has the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. Microsoft has the XBox 360. Yahoo! created a Widget Channel to enhance Internet on TV.

Actually, come to think of it, Google has already begun their journey onto TV. Gaming devices, the Apple TV and Vudu offer the ability to access YouTube on your television.

Then there's Google's connection with the government: their close relationship with NASA, Eric Schmidt's appointment to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and the White House's YouTube channel. There's the support for a national broadband plan and their involvement in spectrum auctions.

For the most part, it makes sense for Google to grow as they do. They're a public company headquartered in a democratic, capitalistic society. It's their duty to their shareholders to generate profit and to preserve their role in the marketplace as best as possible.

But Google now has a lot of power. It's probably more power than any of the first hundred or thousand employees ever anticipated when Google was just a startup. Let's hope that power never becomes absolute.

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