Google Adds Malware Warnings to Mobile Search Results

Earlier this week Google began labeling results that are suspected of containing malware in the mobile version of Google search. Since August of 2006 Google has been labeling suspected websites and blocking access to them in their standard search results. The only change made for the mobile version is that label placed under the result states “This site may harm your device.”. The message in the standard search uses the word computer instead of device.

Yahoo and Microsoft Delay Finalizing Search Pact

Yahoo and Microsoft have delayed finalization of their agreement that would have Microsoft provide the search results and advertising for Yahoo Search. When the deal was announced in July, the two companies agreed to reach definitive agreement by October 27, 2009. Microsoft said  there are some “issues that need some additional clarity and definitive details” before the agreement can be finalized and that the two companies have agreed extend the deadline to finalize deal.  The pact will still need to receive regulatory approval before it can begin.

Google Announces That It Will Add Twitter Posts to Search Results

Just a few hours after Microsoft announced that it would be adding Twitter tweets to its search results, Google has announced that they will be doing the same. Unlike Microsoft, which released a beta version of their Twitter search along with their announcement, Google will introduce a product that “showcases how tweets can make search better” in the coming months. The move by both search engines is part of their strategies to  integrate more real-time information into their search results.

Bing Adding Twitter and Facebook Posts to Search Results

Microsoft announced today that they would be integrating Twitter tweets and Facebook status updates into Bing’s search results. Tweets can be searched from the beta of Bing Twitter search at http://www.bing.com/twitter. Microsoft made no mention of whether or when tweets will be integrated in the standard search results. In July, Bing added tweets from a limited group of high profile individuals to some search queries related to those individuals. Facebook status updates are to be integrated into search results at an unspecified later date. There have rumors that Google has been in discussions with Twitter and Fackbook integrating postings from their services into Google’s search.

Mobile Searches on Google Grew 30 Percent in Q3

During Google’s third quarter earnings calls Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt reported that Google had a 30 percent quarter-over-quarter increase in mobile searches during the quarter. Jonathan Rosenberg, Google’s Senior Vice President of Product Management, said that smart phone adoption was a driver of growth and that mobile search has grown twice as fast as desktop search during the last year in Japan and some other markets. Schmidt also reported that Google made over 120 “search quality improvements” during the quarter.

Google Expands Search Results Filtering Tool

Google has announced that they have added a number of new features to Search Options, their search results filtering tool included in the search results page. The tool already provided a number of options for filtering results based on the when the pages were created and now can filter results from the past hour and from a specified date range. Results can now also be filtered to include more or fewer shopping sites. Users who are signed into a Google Account and Web History enabled can have results filtered to include or exclude pages they have already visited. The Search Options tool was released in May.

Google Adds Links to Sections of Web Pages In Search Results

Google has announced that they have begun to include links to section of web pages in their search results. The new links come in two forms, the first form provides a set links to section of the web page relevant to the search query and the second form provides a link to jump to  specific section of the page relevant to the search query. When these links are shown is determined algorithmically, but Google has provided information on what will provides the best chance for these links being shown. Anchor are needed in the web page so that sections of the page can be linked to, the anchors should use descriptive names, and there should be a “table of contents” which links to the anchors.

Google Introduces Parameter Handling to Webmaster Tools

Google has added the ability for webmaster to instruct Google to ignore URL parameters in Webmaster Tools. URL parameters are name/value pairs appended to end of URLs (example: http://www.example.com?sessionid=1232132). The problem with URL parameters is that each URL created by a variation of parameter may or may not change the contents of a web page, so search engines treat each version as a separate web page. When they are actually the same it can have as serious negative impact on the indexing and ranking of the pages in search engines. In general it is better not use URL parameters in these situations, but the new feature should help to better handle situation where they do exist. In help documentation for the new feature, Google states that up to 15 parameters can be set to be ignored and that they will treat the “requests as suggestions rather than directives.” Parameter handling can be found in the Settings section of the Webmaster Tools. Yahoo has provided the ability to set parameters to ignore, as well as well allowing a default value to be set for parameters, for some time.

August U.S. Search Share Results

Nielsen Online released its rankings of U.S. search share for August, with overall search increasing 49.7 percent year over year to 10.8 billion searches. Google had a year over year increase of 61.3 percent and received 64.6 percent of searches. Yahoo had a year over year increase of 32.3 percent and received 16.0 percent of searches. Microsoft had a year over year increase of 50 percent and received 10.7 percent of searches.

July U.S. Search Share Results

Nielsen Online yesterday its rankings of U.S. search share for July, with overall search increasing 31.4 percent year over year to 10.5 billion searches. Google had a year over year increase of 41.4 percent and received 64.8 percent of searches. Yahoo had a year over year increase of 24 percent and received 17.1 percent of searches. Microsoft had a year over year decrease of .5 percent and received 9.0 percent of searches.