Google Buzz launch raises privacy concerns

22 February 2010 Filed under Google | Industry News

Google Buzz, the internet giant's latest foray into the websphere, is a social networking application widely touted as a contender to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Launched on 9th February, the service caused outrage amongst Gmail users who were automatically allocated "friends" based on people they emailed regularly, and in many cases the default profile settings allowed anybody to see who Gmail users corresponded with.

The company responded quickly with changes to the application, including methods to placate those with privacy concerns, but many critics are still unimpressed, and it's reported that a class-action lawsuit has been filed in California.

At the time of launch, Gmail had over 170 million users.

More information:

Google Buzz Raises a Stink Far and Wide
http://www.enterprise-security-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=71743

Google Buzz 'breaks privacy laws' says watchdog
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8519314.stm

Gmail Users Sue Google for Google Buzz Launch
http://www.kokeytechnology.com/google/google-gmail/gmail-users-sue-google-for-google-buzz-launch/

Google's Take on Page Speed as a ranking factor

11 February 2010 Filed under Google | SEO

Towards the end of 2009, Google announced that the speed of web page loading was likely to become a scoring factor in the search engine's ranking of pages - the slower a page was to load, the more negative impact it could have on your page's ability to rank well.

There's been a lot of discussion since then as to how important this is going to be, and recently on Google's YouTube Webmaster Central Channel, Matt explains how relevant page speed might be compared to other factors:

Google begins to phase out IE6 support

10 February 2010 Filed under Google

On their Official Google Enterprise Blog, Google announced last week that they intend to begin phasing out support for Internet Explorer 6 from March 1 2010, beginning with Google Docs and Google Sites:

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html

Google recently suffered a targeted attack on its Gmail infrastructure, reportedly from China, exploiting a flaw in IE.

Microsoft are continuing support for IE6 until 2014. Many corporate infrastructures are locked into older browser versions due to the huge cost implications of upgrading their intranet applications.

YouTube also intends to phase out support soon, and visitors accessing the site with older versions of certain browsers may see the following banner at the top of the page:

At the time of writing, Internet Explorer 8 is the current version. It becomes time-consuming and expensive to maintain support for older browsers, and here at RO Web Solutions we are phasing out support for IE6 too. Typically our sites will render quite well in IE6 but there may be some small differences in appearance and behaviour. If IE6 compatibility is required then we can of course offer this support for an additional fee.

Being spammed about Search Engine Optimization?

03 February 2010 Filed under Google | SEO

There seems to have been a noticeable increase lately in unsolicited emails sent by website contact forms that claim to be able to get your website on the first page of Google.

These typically take the form of something like:

Name: Patrick Nortoni
Email: patricknortoni25@gmail.com
Telephone: 000-000-0000
Enquiry/Comments: We would like to get your website on first page of Google.

All of our processes use the most ethical "white hat" Search Engine Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized.
Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal.

..or another example is:

Name: Nathan Kyle
Email: nathankylesss@gmail.com
Telephone: 3108364567
Enquiry/Comments: SEO

Do you wish you could increase your online leads?

Getting a GUARANTEED 1ST PAGE GOOGLE RANKING is easier and more cost-effective than you might think.
We have helped a lot of businesses thrive in this market and we can help you! Simply hit reply and I'll share with you the cost and the benefits See you at the top!

Don't get taken in by these!

Just take a look at the facts:

• "Get your website on the first page of Google". - what, for your company name?  I'm sure you're there already!
• An SEO company that uses a gmail account and doesn't offer a company name or a website?. Hmm..
• Telephone number: 000-000-0000?

This is a well-known scam and you can read more about all over the web. Quite often on the websites of genuine SEO companies in fact!