Google Goes Social

Last week Google made changes to the algorithm it use to display search results.

For the most part this update centered on reducing the power of 'spam' and 'link farms' in their search results. But they also rolled out a new feature which displays social search information from your friends on Blogger, Twitter, Flickr and other sites. You must be logged in to your Google account for this to work.

See how it works on this brief video:

Dirty Little Secrets of Search

A great article in The New York Times about Google Search... uncovering tricks used to gain top search engine positioning and discussing 'black hat' SEO techniques.

• Read the article here... Dirty Little Secrets of Search

Do you need a Mobile version of your site?

This is a question that would have been answered with a resounding 'Yes!' some time ago. But now it's not so clear cut. The fact is, your typical smartphone is growing in capabilities by leaps and bounds, and nowadays the screens people use to browse your website from their phone are showing off your current site in all its glory.

If we look at a typical snapshot of traffic, you'll see that the sophisticated devices rule the roost. And these devices tend to have the larger screens. My Android sports a 3.7" screen, making viewing most websites A Good Experience.

What you do need is to know how your site performs on a mobile device. View your site and try navigating around it. Do those pretty menus work on a smartphone? What about that fancy Flash? Then delve into your analytics. Are your bounce rates worse for mobile devices? In short, experience your site from the POV of a mobile user of your site.

Analytics insights: Bounce Rate

This year we're going to be focusing on providing some detailed insights into the world of website analytics. We've spoken before about the critical importance of analytics, so lets look at some of the key measurements of your site's performance. First off: Bounce Rate.

A bounce is not, as I've heard suggested, when someone scrolls up and down your webpage a few times. A bounce is simple - it's defined as a single page visit to your website. In other words, it's when someone goes to your site, and views no more than one page before leaving.

So your bounce rate indicates how 'interesting' your page (and site in general) is to a visitor. A high bounce rate suggests you have nothing to offer the visitor. But what's high, especially within the tourism market? I'd say you should be looking for a bounce rate under 50%.

And the next question you should be asking is: how can I improve my bounce rate? That we will explore in depth at a later date!

It's worth mentioning there is a related measurement - % Exits from a page. This is the percentage of visitors who left your site after viewing a particular page. Note the difference between % Exit and Bounce Rate - a bounce is a one page visit to the site. while an exit is simply leaving the site (and as such, not necessarily A Bad Thing).

Beware The Bogus Booking!

With tourism as it is, it's tempting to jump on every booking enquiry. But one should exercise a bit of caution.

When I got an enquiry (I'm not even a hotel!) for reservations for 4 clergymen from Greece, my scam antennas twitched. Why was the e-mail coming from a Yahoo Hong Kong (yahoo.com.hk) e-mail address?


Tracing the e-mail headers shows further revealing information:

Source: The source IP address is 41.138.164.168. Geo-Location Information Country  Nigeria State/Region  28 City  Owerri

What's it all about, Android?

I recently wrote a review of Digicel's Motorola Milestone, and today I saw a local advert for a LIME Android phone (the Sony Xperia). So why all the fuss about Android?

Firstly, the basics: Android is Google's operating system for phones (although it can actually be run on a computer or even an iPhone). Based on Linux, it's one of the major OS for smartphones with almost 50% of the market.

Why is it popular? One reason is that it's relatively easy to get - or even write - applications for it. Like the iPhone, apps enhance the functionality of the phone, making it more like a computer rather than a phone. Remember that smartphones are technically adept devices, with motion sensors, GPS, wi-fi, cameras and more, and applications tap into these features in a variety of fascinating ways.

So while you can certainly Facebook and Twitter, this is really just the tip of an intriguing iceberg that is your Android phone.

Ever wondered if the internet is just down for YOU?

Well, here's a simple way to get the answer for Firefox users.


"TryAgain" is an add-on for the Firefox browser which will give you helpful information instead of the standard 404 page when you cannot connect to a website.

• Get the plug-in or read about it in greater detail on Lifehacker

For those who don't use Firefox as your browser, you can visit this website to find out if the probbem is uniquely yours:

• Downforeveryone.com