The Official Google Blog doesn’t mention Bing obviously, but describes instant scrolling (Google will load 1000 results organized in “pages”, but you can click to get more at the bottom of the list) and the other key element of Google Images new design: a dense tiled layout that is the result of removing the text that described each image (size, weight, URL) in the old design.

To be able to read information about the image, you just have to hover the mouse cursor over the image and a larger preview with the image description will swiftly appear.

If you like an image but it’s not 100% what you are looking for, clicking on “Similar” will open a new image search page that will show results that Google’s algorithm classified as similar to the one you selected. This is one of the best executed and most useful features of Image Search.

Clicking on an image takes to a landing page that shows the image in a frame on top of the page hosting it, which is shown as a background. From a usability standpoint the interface is better than the old one that used to show a small thumbnail on a frame at the top of the browser window.

Display Ad Builder Tool for Image Search Ads

A cool demo of the Display Ad Builder Tool shows how to create Image Search Ads. You just need to choose a template, customize your ad with a headline, description and click text, load an image (process not shown in the demo), indicate the destination URL and Google will create different display network ad formats for you.

As you can see in the image above, the ad text in the demo is sometimes shown only partially because of the different ad sizes, but this issue doesn’t occur in the actual Display Ad Builder Tool.

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The telecommunications giants are all claiming that it is financially unsound to invest in broadband infrastructure because of ROI factors, based on the number of potential customers. The National Broadband Plan, released in March of this year, proposes a private/public funding model to accelerate the technology’s implementation. It appears that the industry giants are wanting the taxpayers to pay for the installation and then let them control access.

All of the cable companies across the country are infamous for demanding non-competitive contracts from county officials in the areas that they provide service and then only establish service in high-density population areas. They then claim the entire county as their territory, regardless of service provision. This ROI claim is the same song and dance that we have heard from the cable industry for years, as they coop instead of compete. This arrangement allows for maximum profit, generally holding the customer hostage unless they purchase a satellite system. They are lobbying the FCC intensely to block an open internet, as they buy as much video content as they can during this process. They clearly see the competition built into the government’s proposal and are once again attempting to hijack the technology.

What this government plan does is open the door for community based broadband operations backed by local investors, as they are also eligible for the federal funding assistance. The question is will anyone step up and grasp what is obviously the communications grid of the future.

About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to laptop computers.

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The website is currently down, but it’s still showing on the Google SERP (you’ll get the official “choose your language page” on Bing though.)

It’s a pity, from a SEO point of view, not to be able to analyze the code and the link profile of the page, but it’s interesting to see that the Google SERP isn’t showing the global homepage of the Vatican at all, or the English homepage: Wikipedia scores the second and third spot, the fourth goes to the Vatican’s YouTube channel, the fifth to the official .va Vatican Museums’ page and only the sixth is a vatican.va homepage in French.

The Vatican suffered from a long tradition of link bombing and brand-jacking, and as Nichola Stott pointed out in her Vatican VA website review, the website itself is not an example of usability and good web design.

Pierluigi Ruotolo on Twitter deserves credit for a finding that could make us question the value of keywords in URL for SEO. Also the exclusive .va TLD seemed more powerful last Christmas, but now .coms have taken the crown. Is it time to go Bing, or maybe Google is evolving into an “Answer Engine” like Wolfram Alpha?

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Google’s algorithm hasn’t been revealed and the more than 200 signals that determine whether a page is relevant for a search query are still secret, but if you want to know what happens when Google bots crawl the web following links, this is a very interesting resource.

After a page has been indexed, the algorithm, which is constantly being updated and refined through the input of human quality raters, evaluates the authority of the page and its compliance to editorial policies.

Before creating the search result page (SERP) according to the user’s query, Google uses related searches to suggest new keywords, considers the occurrence of synonyms, then applies localization (and personalization) to the page, offering universal search results (news, maps, real time results, shopping, video, music, books, meteo, etc.), ranked in relation to their relevancy with a side serving of targeted ads.

Click on the image below to explore how Google works in detail.

Infographic by PPC Blog

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There are a couple different groups of the “right people” to connect with on these sites. The first group are the people who can help you to move forward with your business. Another group are your customers who have already dealt with you. And the last group is those that have not bought from you, yet, but may in the future.

The first thing you need to know is where these people hang out. One group may be on one social media site, and another group may be on another site. When you are trying to cover all your bases because you are not sure where everyone is, and you don’t want to take the time to figure it out, you may actually cause yourself sales as you spread yourself too thin and do not spend enough time on any method. As well, with being in too many places, people will not know where to send others that would benefit from your service, and will just not refer you instead. You do not want to give up any sales.

There are several applications out there that can help you to manage all the different profiles you may setup. You want to make sure you check them all on a regular basis, as people will contact you on all the different sites, and the worst thing you can do is ignore them. For this reason alone, you may choose to only set up one or two profiles.

Once you are setup, there are some steps you can take to make sure you connect with everyone you want to.

1. Care about everyone – Talk to people and be concerned about what they are up to. Ask them questions, and engage them. Make notes if need be, and then come back and ask them how that event turned out for them. They will be amazed that you remembered. If you make someone feel important, then they are more likely going to want to keep in touch with you and support you.
2. Common Interests – If you are not sure where to start the conversation, find a common interest and start a discussion with that. It could be a favorite sports team, a hobby, or a television show.
3. Communication – A conversation goes in two directions, so make sure that you are saying as much as you are asking. It may be better to listen to more than you say, but make sure you are involved. You don’t tend to remember the person who hides in the corner and doesn’t say anything.

When it comes to social media, there are many different tricks and techniques that you can use to engage and find people. Give these ones a try and see how successful they are for you.

Authors’ bio

Lena Morrish and Dima Nikolayenko are the owners of Bridge TO Success Co. Looking to start a home based business on the Internet? Their website is full of tips and tricks that will help you build a good website that attracts visitors.

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