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.