Google are never far away from the headlines or the rumour mills, and the news that they are planning a massive extension to their Silicon Valley Headquarters, following a year of intense recruitment and plans to buy Motorola, means that they are back there again. The plans include a huge museum which will be used to show off to its customers and biggest investors while rumour has it that those inside Google have been working on plans for things like a driverless car.

The Move To Tangible Products

Google has previously shied away from the idea of entering the consumer tech market, instead opting for a plethora of online services. However, it would seem that such plans are now afoot as the company must be struggling to find new ways to invest in online and browser based advances. The most obvious sign of this diversification is the seemingly impending big money takeover of phone manufacturer Motorola.

The Google Experience Centre

The company, now worth just under $200bn, wants to develop what will be dubbed the Google Experience Centre. This massive 120,000 square foot centre is being likened to a private museum and exhibition centre. It will not typically be open to the public but will be used to show off to their biggest customers and prospective clients. This isn’t the most intriguing proposal of the new development though.

Project X

The California based company wants to add a lab and technology centre which will be used to adapt Project X which is a type of “precision optical technology”. Little more is known of this proposed development but if it demands its own lab, and carriers a moniker of that stature, then it has to be good.

Does It All Start With Motorola?

Co-founder Sergey Brin is one of the brains behind this move to the technology sector and it is understood that he has been working on a number of plans to develop high tech products like the driverless car. The Project X lab will be used for testing with gases like argon and optical coating technology. Presumably the first move in all of this will be the purchase of phone manufacturer Motorola in a deal that is said to cost $12.5bn if it goes through.

If you have teenage children at home then it may not come as a surprise to learn that around two thirds of this age group now prefer to social network than watch TV. TV companies have noticed the trend too, and not just in the youth of the country, as they attempt to lure kids into combining both activities with online social networking and online games that incorporate their TV shows.

Getting Kids Away From The TV

For years, parents and even campaigners have been saying that too much TV is bad for children and that we should do everything we can to turn their heads. It seems that the likes of Mark Zuckerberg may have done exactly that, albeit unwittingly. In a recent poll, more than 1,300 people were questioned about their favourite pastimes and social networking was listed by two thirds of them as being their number one pastime.

Social Networking Growth

What’s more, while the numbers are slightly lower, the preference for social networking is growing in virtually all age groups. For the 25 to 34 year old age group, the numbers are fairly evenly spread while even 32% of over 55s said that they like nothing more than sitting down for a good Facebook chat with online friends. Other figures were perhaps a little less surprising.

Favoured Leisure Activities

More than half, 54% in fact, of 16 to 24 year olds listed TV as one of their favoured pastimes while 44% said they enjoyed reading a book and a perhaps surprisingly low 37% said they liked playing video games. Only one quarter of this age group listed exercise or physical activity as one of their preferred leisure activities. More than a third said that they watch TV and social network at the same time showing that multitasking is alive and well even in the younger generation.

How Much Time Is Enough Time?

6% of youngsters spend a staggering 8 hours a day chatting online and a third spend around 3 hours a day on their favourite social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Social networking isn’t a new phenomenon but it really has changed the way the world operates.

Facebook and Google have complied with an Indian court ruling which means that they have had to remove questionable and objectionable content from their Indian domains. Sites like YouTube, Google Search, and Facebook, have come under scrutiny from the court after at least two individuals complained that the Internet giants had published or linked to content on their websites that was religiously questionable and contravened Indian Internet decency laws.

Court Action

The move comes following three months of court hearings and legal battle between the Indian High Court and 21 Internet companies and following the introduction of new Internet laws in India. These new laws mean that websites are legally responsible for the material that is published on their own website. The laws and the aftermath of the changes have led to services like Google and Facebook saying that filtering such content is impossible.

Avoiding Complete Censorship

It seems likely that the two have agreed to remove the content for fear of India, the world’s largest democracy and a major emerging market, blocking such websites in a similar fashion to China. The country asked the companies to put improved checks and filters in place on their websites or face having those sites censored completely in the country. With such demand now coming from India; demand that only looks set to increase further, the removal of content could pave the way for both sites to benefit in the future.

Continuing Action

A criminal case is still in the process of being heard and the companies are due in court next month as a result of this. Other companies facing similar threats include Microsoft, who have said that they are appealing the decision and they have yet to take action to remove the content that is causing the furore.

The Start Of The Troubles

The case was started primarily by the posting of altered images containing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. There was also a picture that showed pigs running through the holy city of Mecca and these pictures caused several complaints to the High Court from Indian citizens.

There have been rumours around the mooted IPO of Facebook for some time now and analysts and marketing experts alike are looking forward to the prospect of getting their hands on Facebook annual figures. According to reports, the release is extremely imminent with many under the belief that it may occur this week. One point that has got everybody talking is the proposed $100bn valuation that the expected release will place on Facebook.

The Release

Founder Mark Zuckerberg has been reticent about floating the company too soon, for fear of losing control over how the company operates. However, it seems his fears may well have been overtaken by a desire to raise up to $10bn in capital. It is expected that up to 10% of the company will be made publicly available in the shape of shares and if the company does receive the $100bn valuation that many expect then this means that it will raise $10bn in cash.

Facebook Products

Facebook has 800 million users worldwide and holds a massive market share for display advertising, bigger in fact than Yahoo, Google, and all other companies. While they don’t manufacture or retail tangible goods, Facebook do hold real financial value to many of the people that are preparing their trading accounts for the release. There is almost certainly room for further improvements too, as Facebook Payments continue to build up a head of steam and further monetisation is almost certainly on the cards.

The World’s Most Valuable Companies

Apple is the world’s most valuable company, according to recent reports, and their value is said to be $418bn with oil giant Exxon coming in close 2nd place with a value of $415bn. Exxon had overtaken the consumer electronics giant in the last couple of months of 2011 but better than expected iPhone and iPad sales helped boost their share price by 6.6% to $448.14 putting them back on top of the pile.

The Facebook Float

No figures are yet known, and in fact there’s no official word on whether Facebook will float this week or not, but analysts are waiting with baited breath to see the figures that are introduced and whether the stock will be considered worth investing.

Google has caused something of a stir by merging its privacy policies so that instead of having more than 60 overly complicated and bloated policies, they will have one shorter policy. Critics say that the move is a bad one because it means that information will be more readily shared between the different Google services, such as YouTube and Google+ while many European officials have welcomed the move saying that Google is moving in the right direction with regards to privacy rules.

Google Emails

Registered users of the numerous Google services that are on offer should have, by now, received an email from the search giant, telling them that they are introducing a new, streamlined privacy policy. They claim that the problem is, with more than 60 different services on offer to their customers this means the same number of privacy policies and they, like most of us, are probably aware that people simply don’t ready these policies.

A Single, Shorter Policy

Replacing all of the policies would have proven time consuming and largely impractical and, as Google attempts to combine more of its services into a universal search service, the move seems to strengthen this position. The search engine came under scrutiny recently for introducing the Search Plus Your World service which incorporates results from your Google+ circles into the search results that you see on Google.

Universal Results

By combining the terms and conditions of each service into one, it not only gives the service a more unified feel but it means that information can be more readily shared between the different services that Google offers. It is this sharing that worries privacy critics pointing to the possibility that those sharing computers may end up inadvertently sharing their own information and the advertisements they are served.

Google Terms And Conditions

Virtually every move made by Google has its critics and this latest move is certainly no different. However, we, as web users, should be more alert to privacy rules and to the terms and conditions that we agree to when registering with services. The introduction of a single package of terms and conditions may mean that we are more likely to read them before we sign them (of course, it may not).

Google has launched a new search ranking algorithm which they hope will further improve the experience of web searchers. The so called “page layout algorithm” specifically penalises those pages with an abnormally large number of ads that appear “above the fold”, the section of the pages that users first see when opening a website. Google won’t be offering any tools to assist but they insist that only those sites with an abnormally large concentration of ads appearing at the top of the page will be affected.

Google Quality Results

Every year in the UK, YouGov releases what is known as the BrandIndex. This is an index score that ranks how the public perceive particular brands. This year’s index has been released and while Google is still top of the table with Amazon gaining ground in 2nd place, these are the only two Internet companies that feature in a largely unchanged top 20. Nokia has been kicked out of the top 20 while Dove has shown what social media can do for a brand by entering the table for the first time.

Google Takes Top Spot

Google has shown that it is still top dog, at least for now, by retaining its top spot in the rankings. However, in December it was actually second placed Amazon that came out on top so unless further changes are afoot, we may well see a new number 1 as the online retail giant aims to topple the search engine behemoth.

Internet Companies And Social Media

The pair were the only Internet names that featured in the top 20. The likes of Facebook, which has nearly 1 billion active users around the world, only managed 182nd, while Twitter, which has become every celebrity stalkers’ favourite destination came in at a meagre 615th. It is ironic, then, that Dove, who entered the chart for the first time, have done so largely thanks to an extensive and advanced social media campaign that featured on both of these sites.

The Rest of The Pack

Third place in the table was Marks & Spencer while the BBC took 4th, Heinz 5th, and Sony 6th making a fairly eclectic mix of brands. Perhaps the most worrying figures for most of these companies is that only three of the top 20 scores actually improved over last year. Amazon, Colgate, and Cathedral City all saw an increase in their index score compared to this time 12 months ago.

Other Figures

Android saw a large increase in its consumer score but still do not feature in the top 20 and it was Nokia, who dropped out of the top 20, who came top in the mobile phone and smartphone sector. Skype won the telecoms section and popular mobile phone manufacturer HTC saw the biggest increase in their index rating.

Regular followers of search engine market share will hardly be surprised to learn that Google held a dominant position over their rivals in January. In fact, between the .com and .co.uk Google websites, they accounted for 91.3% of all searches conducted online which is around 0.5% higher than the previous month and shows that the search engine continues to rule the search roost. Bing, Yahoo, and ASK all saw subsequent drops in their market share figures.

The Latest Figures

The Experian Hitwise figures that are released every month typically make for Google filled news but figures have declined a little in previous months. The period leading up to the 7th January saw Google rake back a lot of this decline in the UK at least. More than 9 in 10 searches conducted are done using Google websites showing our complete reliance on the service.

The Chasing Pack

Bing came in second best with 3.6% of the share while Yahoo followed up with 2.2%. Ask had 1.7% of the share leaving 1.1% of searches that are done using any of a large number of other search engines. All of these companies saw a dip in their results compared to the previous month. Yahoo saw the largest fall of -0.2% while Ask managed almost stable figures. Their decline was a more modest 0.08%.

Other Figures

Although Bing did witness a small decline of 0.12% they have enjoyed a steady rate of increase since Microsoft rebranded its online arm as Bing. This is especially true in the USA where Bing enjoys a 15% share. Yahoo also enjoys a greater share with 17% of all searches conducted using their own search engine offering. Google manages 61% which is still a dominant share but nowhere near the UK figures.

The Search Engine Market

Google continues to dominate the search engine market and with the recent release of new social search features thanks to the advance of their Google+ social network, this doesn’t look likely to abate any time soon. In fact, if users get to grips with the new site design which is currently only available to a limited number of people, it is possible that search figures could increase further.

A BBC investigation has found that Google published what amount to illegal ads through their paid advertising scheme, Adwords. This isn’t the first time the search giant has been caught out in this way either having previously fallen foul of a $500m penalty imposed by the US Department of Justice as well as a less financially significant figure of $3m paid for the publication of illegal gambling ads.

The Illegal Ads

The most recent round of illegal advertisements centres on ads for cannabis, those from fake Olympic ticket sellers, and even ads offering fake UK passports. Google did eventually remove such ads but not until investigative reporters from the BBC contacted them regarding the situation.

Olympic Ticket Fraud

With the Olympics coming to London in 2012, the scramble for tickets has been, as expected, major. Unfortunately, the demand for and price of the tickets means that a number of unscrupulous websites and criminals also use the opportunity to sell fake tickets and, at least in one case, attempt to steal personal information.

Police And BBC Intervention

One consumer attempted to search for Olympic tickets and clicked through an ad for a company called LiveOlympicTickets which featured at the top of Google’s sponsored listings. The woman, who spent £750 on tickets for the games, became highly suspicious when she was asked to fax her signature. Despite contacting the police who, in turn, contacted Google, the ads remained until a week later when BBC reporters contacted the search giant.

Google Profited From Illegal Ads

The investigation found that Google had removed the ads but had profited from displaying them while they were on the publisher network. What’s more, the US search giant has so far kept the profits made although this may be in preparation to pay any fine hefted upon them.

Google Penalty For Illegal Ads

Only recently, the Californian based media company agreed to a $500m penalty imposed by the US Department of Justice because they were found guilty of having profited from displaying ads for Canadian pharmacies in the US where they are illegal. This figure was said to be the amount that Google had profited by whilst displaying the ads.

Our very own Rhys Wynne winning an award at thinkvis

The UK SEO industry is looking forward to 3 March when the 7^th ThinkVisibility will be held in Leeds. It is the first of two events to be held in 2012, and it is expected to be the biggest yet with tickets already selling fast.

Once again Dom Hodgson is hosting the event, so it will be great fun as well as informative. Dom has a reputation for making  sure that the content of ThinkVisibility is current and fresh, so that everyone goes away with new and innovative ideas.

The focus this year is on getting things done on a tight budget. SEO is a challenging and constantly changing arena, and many in the field have noticed that easy, free traffic is getting harder to find. Paid traffic, has become more expensive, and many of the shortcuts that worked only last year no longer do.

ThinkVisibility 2012 – Leeds

Dan McGuire of Carnival Creative will be demonstrating that buying a site getting it researched, designed,  built and hosted for under £100 is still possible using the services of Fiver workers. He will also demonstrate how to get that site to rank and convert using social media and link building, again for just £100.

Carla Marshall will cover the very important topic of video marketing, one of the best ways to bring your site ranking and traffic at the same time. She will demonstrate how to go beyond simply posting on YouTube and cover making videos really work to promote a website or product. Video marketing is going to become even more important in 2012, so this is unmissable.

ThinkVisibility aims to cover the whole SEO spectrum, and this year is  no exception. Dan Harrison of WordPress Doctors will give a presentation on new things to do with WordPress and Barry Adams Senior Digital Marketer for Search at Pierce Communications will cover SEO strategies for ecommerce websites. More and more new speakers are being added, so this looks like being the best ThinkVisibility yet.

Once again Manual Link Building,  and Majestic SEO will be sponsoring ThinkVisibility, so a fantastic conference experience is guaranteed.

When it comes to listing famous names that you’re unlikely to see on Twitter, Rupert Murdoch would feature at the top of virtually everybody’s list. The head of News Corp is well publicised for his loathing of digital media despite, or possibly because, of his $580m purchase of MySpace a very brief time before Facebook tore it apart in terms of popularity. However, December 31st 2011 is the date that Mr Murdoch officially took to Twitter arguably in a bid to repair his tarnished reputation.

As you would imagine from a man that is so anti-digital, his Tweets leave a lot to be desired although the poor grammar and Twitter faux pas do at least indicate that the account is indeed managed by the media mogul himself. How long this will be the case remains to be seen.

There have been little more than two dozen Tweets so far, with the very first coming just hours before the end of 2011, and they have been a mixture of Tweets raving about Fox movies and showing off a seemingly insatiable love for reading along with political messages and a few erroneous Tweets to boot.

Digital Murdoch

The move has sparked several rumours. Many believe that Murdoch is embracing the digital revolution in a bid to save a reputation that has become seriously damaged in the past months. The man that was once seen as virtually untouchable has been shown to be entirely human and while his early Tweets perhaps further accentuate this fact, it is likely that they will improve over time.

Is investment imminent?

Another rumour is that the businessman is looking to invest heavily in the microblogging platform, or even acquire it wholly although following his lack of success in the acquisition of MySpace the latter, at least, seems highly speculative.

@rupertmurdoch is a major deal especially for Twitter. Not only does the account, which already has more than 100,000 followers, have the blue tick to show it’s a verified account but it even warranted a personal introduction from the site’s co-creator Jack Dorsey.

Not that the blu verified tick means much, of course, especially following the news that the blue-tick verified account supposedly belonging to Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng has been exposed as a spoof and removed from the site.