Search
Bing is down? or up?
Last week there were several reports that Microsoft search engine Bing had lost some market share in September. But now come different reports that Bing was up. So which is it? Like so many statistics about the Internet, it all depends on how you measure things. In any event. the changes are not large. For [...]
Google search rank and the truth
Ranking high in a Google search is a sine qua non for getting any traffic on a Web site. But high rank implies no guarantee of the quality or even safety of a site. Google’s algorithms for ranking can easily be fooled by well-known search engine optimization techniques. In fact, malware distributors often manage to [...]
Bing fading?
Two different Web analytics reports show that Bing usage dropped in September and Google gained. eWeek reports:
Microsoft Bing’s U.S. search fell from 9.49 percent of U.S. search share in August to 8.99 percent in September, according to figures from HitWise. Google recorded 71 percent of U.S. searches, up nearly 1 percent from 70.2 percent in [...]
Flurry of activity at Google search
Google has been adding features to its search facility, perhaps in answer to Microsoft’s Bing. Whether it’s pressure from Bing or whatever, there have been a series of recent announcements from Google. They’ve come in rapid succession and I may have missed one but here is a summary of the activity I’m aware of.
I’ve mentioned [...]
Forum and discussion posts in Google search
There are many forum or discussion sites where a number of people may contribute their thoughts on a particular topic. Google has now made it easier to search these:
Today, we introduced a new search feature that makes it easier for you to find forum posts or discussions related to what you’re searching for. This new [...]
Google adds anchor links to searches
Google has announced:
For most search results, Google shows you a few lines of text to give you an idea of what the page is about — we call this a “search snippet.” Recently, we’ve enhanced the search snippet with two new features that make it easier to find information buried deep within a page.
Normally, a [...]
New size for Google search box
Several days ago, Google made its search box bigger. I wasn’t going to comment on it but after using the newly sized box a few times, I am puzzled. What is the point? Actually, I don’t particularly like it. It’s interesting that the boxes for Advanced Search have not been changed.
What is your reaction? Do [...]
Health information search engine healthBase
An important use of the Internet is finding information about health-related subjects. TechCrunch has posted about a new health search facility called healthBase:
There are so many information portals on the web for health information, it can be tough to decipher which one is the best resource to anwwer a medical question. NetBase Solutions has launched [...]
“Bing” means disease?
Microsoft’s new search facility called “Bing” has a name that may have some interesting connotations in other languages. Last night, we had dinner in a Chinese restaurant and my wife got a fortune cookie that stated that “bing” means “disease” in Chinese. Intrigued, I searched Google to check out this amusing coincidence of sounds. I [...]
Dangerous search terms
A previous post was about McAfee’s list of dangerous celebrity names to search on. McAfee also compiles a general list of dangerous terms to search on. They are dangerous because cybercrooks like to load these sites with malware. The top offender is “screensavers”. A pretty good rule of thumb is to never download a [...]
Search a celebrity name and get a virus
A favorite place for malware writers to foist off their programs is on celebrity related sites. Do a search on a famous movie star and you may get infected. Security firm McAfee does an annual survey of the most dangerous celebrity names to search. This year’s “winner” is Jessica Biel, replacing last year’s top [...]