Google Rebrands Some Features, Google Sacks Twitter, Facebook Integrates Skype, & More

Bye Bye Google Blogger And Picasa, Hello Google Blogs And Google Photos!

In the wake of the Google + revolution, Google has opted to rebrand the popular Blogger and Picasa platforms as parts of the tech giant’s new social web site. Picasa will not be called “Google Photos,” while Blogger is aptly named “Google Blogs.” This rebranding effort won’t be limited to just these two Google products in the coming months, but Google has gone on record saying YouTube would be untouched.

Source: The Atlantic

Twitter And Real-Time Search Are Sent Packing From Google SERPs

Somewhat predictably in the wake of the Google + rollout, Google has dropped Twitter and their real-time search feature from query results pages. This potentially takes Twitter out of the ranking equation, and Conversation Marketing provides a few good pieces of commentary to help you future-proof your SEO strategies.

Source: Conversation Marketing

A Switzerland Political Party United Against PowerPoint

When it comes to the use of PowerPoint presentations, Switzerland is definitely not neutral. A political party called the Anti-PowerPoint Party (APPP) has united under the common goal of eliminating the use of the popular program. Their reasoning centers on the loss of productivity resulting from PowerPoint meetings. I wish I was kidding.

Source: Big Think

China Doesn’t Take Kindly To Google + Around These Parts

In a move as predictable as Avatar’s plot arc, China has blocked Google +, Google’s newest social networking project. YouTube, Foursquare, IMDB, and Blogspot Blogs are also on that blacklist. It’s slightly amusing that the country that boasts of the “Great Wall” also happens to have one of the biggest national Firewalls on the planet.

Source: Search Engine Land

Facebook Integrates Skype To Their Network Platform

This piece of news is pretty straightforward, but Facebook has dubbed the addition of Skype to the 750 million-strong social network site “Facebook Calling.” The process of using this app is as simple as a button click next to a friend’s name.

Source: MSNBC

Baidu And Bing Join Forces In China

China’s leading search engine, Baidu, will incorporate Microsoft’s Bing into some search results using the English language. The money details of this joint effort are still ambiguous, but Microsoft will also be censoring English searches from Bing in the country. If you think that sounds like one big, contradictory waste of time, then you are correct sir.

Source: MSN Money

South Korean Schools Will Feature Tablets In Classrooms

Kids, it’s time to start pressuring your parents to move to South Korea. The country recently announced that, by 2015, they will completely replace textbooks and paper in its schools with tablet devices. There doesn’t seem to be a focus on using a universal specific brand, but Samsung’s headquarters are in South Korea, and it wouldn’t be surprising for the company and country to strike a deal in the near future.

Source: Business Insider

Matt Cutts Explains The Evolution Of PageRank

Google Spam Master Matt Cutts dispelled rumors surrounding the potential phase out of PageRank as a significant factor by explaining it is still important and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Cutts also gave some background into how Google tracks PageRank during ever web re-crawl and that data can be manually extracted to the Google Toolbar to prevent webmasters obsessively checking their PageRank.

Source: Search Engine Journal

Xkcd’s Visual Analysis Of Google +

Analysis By: Randall Munroe, xkcd

To Start An Internet Marketing Agency, Or Not To Start An Internet Marketing Agency, That Is The Question

In a humorous twist of bi-polarity, Conversation Marketing’s Ian Lurie writes a personal point/counterpoint on why it’s a bad idea to start an Internet marketing agency, and conversely why it’s an extremely smart idea.

Analysis By: Ian Lurie, Conversation Marketing (Read about the Pros and Cons)

Google’s Search By Image Can Help Your Link Building

Jason Stinnett has a guest post on SEOmoz that details some useful strategies for link building that involve Google’s Search by Image feature. The tool itself takes some getting used to, but is definitely interesting and worth a try when you’re looking to establish professional connections.

Analysis By: Jason Stinnett, SEOmoz

Link Building Tips On A George Costanza Budget

Most businesses conduct their SEO, PPC, and link building marketing on a strict budget. Thankfully Search Engine Land provides some simple, relatively cheap (and often free) link building techniques for expanding your brand awareness online and off. So go ahead and get the lobster.

Analysis By: Julie Joyce, Search Engine Land

Seven Completely Avoidable Split Test Bloopers

Jeremy Reeves outlines some common and very detrimental mistakes you can make during split testing. He also provides some great antidotes for these issues that should be tacked up somewhere on your desk if you split test often.

Analysis By: Jeremy Reeves, Visual Website Optimizer

The Debate Over QR Codes Bogging Down SEO URL Strategies

Like the Twitter and Facebook widgets and logos, QR Codes have rapidly become a fixture in on and offline promotions. Search Engine Land offers some good analysis on how they are growing in popularity, but could become a hindrance to URL optimization.

Analysis By: Brian Klais, Search Engine Land

How To Utilize SEO On Facebook

Did you know that even if your business posts something daily on Facebook, between 3.5% and 7% of your updates are actually viewed by your fans? Small Business Trends dubs this lack of exposure “Facebook’s Walking Dead,” explains Facebook’s algorithm for determining what should be shown in News Feeds, and how to optimize your posts for users. Think of it as Facebook SEO.

Analysis By: Lisa Barone, Small Business Trends

The World’s Coming Age Of Hyper-Specialization

Three authors in the Harvard Business Review outline the future of labor hyper-specialization, where each individual possesses increasingly specific areas of expertise. It’s long, but definitely worth a perusing to get an idea of where the world is headed in terms of labor production.

Analysis By: Thomas W. Malone, Robert J. Laubacher, Tammy Johns, Harvard Business Review

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