We’ve just launched Site Performance, an experimental feature in Webmaster Tools that shows you information about the speed of your site and suggestions for making it faster.
This is a small step in our larger effort to make the web faster. Studies have repeatedly shown that speeding up your site leads to increased user retention and activity, higher revenue and lower costs. Towards the goal of making every webpage load as fast as flipping the pages of a magazine, we have provided articles on best practices, active discussion forums and many tools to diagnose and fix speed issues.
via Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: How fast is your site?.
Filed under Search Engine News by on Dec 7th, 2009. Comment. 
Introducing Google Public DNS
12/03/2009 08:35:00 AM
When you type www.wikipedia.org into your browser’s address bar, you expect nothing less than to be taken to Wikipedia. Chances are you’re not giving much thought to the work being done in the background by the Domain Name System, or DNS.
Today, as part of our ongoing effort to make the web faster, we’re launching our own public DNS resolver called Google Public DNS, and we invite you to try it out.
Read more on Introducing Google Public DNS…
Filed under Search Engine News by on Dec 4th, 2009. Comment.
I have been seeing reports of Google banning and disabling AdSense accounts due to using a Firefox plugin named Tamper Data. Tamper Data allows people to view and modify HTTP/HTTPS headers and post parameters, which can be helpful, but also used for evil.
The emails being sent to these publishers read:
During a recent review of your account, our specialists found that tamper data was used to modify the country listed in your account. Changing your address in this manner is a violation of our policy guidelines.
What appears is happening is that publishers are signing up using Tamper Data to fake their location. You can read why and how this is done at this blog and this one.
In summary, certain countries are not allowed to sign up for AdSense so people fake where they are from. I am not sure why people would use this technique when they are in an approved location, unless I am missing something?
You can read the dozens of threads about this at Google AdSense Help or a thread at WebmasterWorld.
Google Disabling AdSense Accounts For Using Tamper Data Firefox Plugin.
Filed under Search Engine News, Web Advertising by on Nov 27th, 2009. Comment.
Web search leader Google Inc said it is buying Silicon Valley display advertising technology startup Teracent, which expands its competition with display leader Yahoo Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Web search leader Google Inc said it is buying Silicon Valley display advertising technology startup Teracent, which expands its competition with display leader Yahoo Inc.
Online advertising is divided into search — usually text ads related to content on a Website — and display, such as banner ads that are often used as branding tools by corporations.
Filed under Search Engine News by on Nov 23rd, 2009. Comment.
Microsoft’s Bing search service will pull more information and tools from other Web sites as the company tries to distinguish itself as part of its challenge to market leader Google.
Traditionally, search engines from Google and others respond to users’ queries by offering links to other sites that Web surfers can go to for information.
Microsoft, whose search engine ranks third behind Google and Yahoo, has made changes aimed at answering people’s questions withoutsending them to an outside page. Microsoft will show on the results page more information on travel options, events and attractions in destination cities, in-depth weather reports, product details and even hospital reviews.
The software maker also improved the preview window that pops up when a user rolls the mouse over a link. Instead of just a text description, a smaller, thumbnail image of the Web site appears.
Filed under Search Engine News by on Nov 22nd, 2009. Comment.
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