Google said, “Sitelinks will now be full-size links with a URL and one line of snippet text—similar to regular results—making it even easier to find the section of the site you want. We’re also increasing the maximum number of sitelinks per query from eight to 12.”

Google also improved sitelinks algorithm. Google said, “a significant improvement to our algorithms by combining sitelink ranking with regular result ranking to yield a higher-quality list of links.” Google said this “reduces link duplication and creates a better organized search results page.”

According to ICANN, as per new program between 300 and 1000 new TLDs could be created per year.

ICANN’s Board approves the New gTLD Program during a special session held on Monday, 20 June 2011 in Singapore. (Photo Source: ICANN)

Applications for new gTLDs will be accepted from 12 January 2012 to 12 April 2012. Subsequent application periods will become available in the future. The evaluation fee from prospective applicants is $185,000. According to the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, a $5,000 deposit is required “at the time the user requests an application slot within TAS, and a payment of the remaining $180,000 submitted with the full application.”

Google’s Rob Spiro, the product manager of +1 said, “Today we’re taking that a step further, enabling you to share recommendations with the world right in Google’s search results. It’s called +1—the digital shorthand for “this is pretty cool.” To recommend something, all you have to do is click +1 on a webpage or ad you find useful.”

“The primary benefit is that search gets better. It gets better in the user interface immediately, and we’ll look at it as a potential signal to improve search quality as well. I find social search extremely useful, especially with the recent updates. This change continues the evolution of social search, and it’s a natural progression to improve the search experience,” said Matt Cutts, a Google engineer who is most known for leading Google’s search spam fighting team but who also helped launch Google Social Search in 2009.

I am excited about using +1 button and hope you are excited too.

As many of you know the Firefox is open-source browser tool 38.1 % of European marketing share and Internet Explorer move down to 37.5 percent. Google Chrome also gaining market share  in Europe to 14.6 % from 5.1 percent.

"This appears to be happening because Google’s Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share," Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter chief executive, said in a statement. He also said "We are probably seeing the impact of the agreement between European Commission competition authorities and Microsoft, to offer EU users a choice and menu of browsers from March last year."

Globally, Internet Explorer’s share slipped to 46.9 percent in December, while Firefox was at 30.8 percent and Google was at 14.9 percent, StatCounter said.