The rumblings of recent weeks have come true; Google is now actively censoring search terms such as “torrent,” “BitTorrent,” and “RapidShare” from both its instant search and auto-complete suggestions. While standard search results are not yet affected, Google is sending out a questionable message; censorship can be bought.
This decision to censor “piracy-related search terms” comes amidst mounting pressure from entertainment industry groups such as the MPAA and RIAA. Currently a full list of banned terms is not available, but nearly any combination of “torrent” as well as commonly-associated companies such as RapidShare and MegaUpload, have been banned.
Feelings on the morality/immorality of pirating aside, torrents sites are frequently used for legitimate purposes such as the distribution of open-source software and the circulation of independent films by directors. TorrentFreak contacted BitTorrent Inc. for their reaction, and Simon Morris said that he believes the scope of this filter is too broad. He states, “We respect Google’s right to determine algorithms to deliver appropriate search results to user requests. That being said, our company’s trademarked name is fairly unique, and we’re pretty confident that anyone typing the first six or seven letters deserves the same easy access to results as with any other company search.”
Internet commentators in general are frustrated with what appears to be a biased decision as Google caved to high-profile pressure. This decision appears to deviate from Google’s aim to be a universal search engine. Ultimately, a search engine’s goal should be to deliver relevant results to the consumer, not to police those activities.
Everyone on the web knows about Google –the search engine giant is so ubiquitous that “googling” has become a part of our standard dialogue. And, thanks to Microsoft’s advertising budget, many consumers are now seeking out Bing as a search alternative. But what about smaller and quirkier? Have you heard of DuckDuckGo for example?
It is common knowledge that the more features you can squeeze into a piece of real estate the better, and HTML links are no different. Is the increasing use of link shortening services such as TinyURL and bit.ly harming your SEO efforts however?
A successful web presence is critical to the livelihood of your business in today’s marketplace, and your website is the digital front door. With the increased popularity of Content Management Systems, questions have begun to surface as to whether these systems lend greater benefit to SEO than the tried-and-true method of building an HTML site from scratch.
As various sources around the web report increasingly-useless search results via the Google engine, Net Applications runs a few side-by-side comparisons with Bing to explore the quality of search results.
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/*Mobile internet usage is exploding as can be seen in several NetMarketShare reports. The Browsing by Device Type report (see below) shows that mobile internet usage has now grown to 2.6% for August 2010. It was 0.94% for August 2009, so has more than doubled in a year’s time. It could easily [...]
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/*On August 24th, 2010 Bing and Yahoo! have announced that Yahoo!’s English language algorithmic (organic) search results in the US and Canada are being powered by Bing. According to previous Search Alliance posts
Bing will power 5.2 billion monthly searches… that’s 31.6% of the search market share in the U.S. (290 million monthly searches and [...]
Facebook is the second most popular site in the world, with visitors spending 30 minutes or more on-site during a typical visit. Your official Facebook page for your company is therefore a great way to develop brand recognition and loyalty. Taking an SEO approach to managing your Facebook page can help; here are some strategies to get you started.
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/*It has been a matter of when, not if, Windows 7 would pass Vista in usage market share, and that day has arrived (see below). Windows 7 has been somewhat redemptive for Microsoft. Vista never got any respect from individual users, and corporations virtually shunned the operating system. So, there’s been a [...]
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/*Number increased 159 percent in Q2, compared to the same time in 2009, says Irvine-based WebVisible.
By Kristen SchottPublished: July 20, 2010 02:37 PM
Small businesses spent 159 percent more on Internet advertising in the second quarter, compared to the same time last year, according to a new study conducted by WebVisible, an Irvine-based online marketing firm.
The [...]