With the stellar launch of Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich comes devastating news in the form of an announcement that stated that Google Buzz will be closed down shortly. Google Buzz, originally launched in 2010 as a microblogging/ messaging/ social networking tool that enabled users to connect with multiple platforms such as Picassa, Flickr and Blogger. Although it was received as Google’s answer to the likes of Twitter and Facebook, with the introduction of Google +, it seems like Google has taken the anticipated next step by announcing the closing down of Buzz.

As per the announcement issued by Bradley Horowitz, VP of Google +, the shutting down of Google Buzz is one step of a series of modifications made to the search engine and associated services. For instance, Google Labs, a platform that directly connects Google’s engineers with users, will also be shut down. In addition, Google Desktop, Aardvark and Google Maps API for Flash will also be shutting down as a result of this ‘spring clean’.

According to speculation, Buzz is being shut down as a result of users not giving enough attention. In other words, Google Buzz didn’t generate enough ‘buzz’ to survive the guillotine. According to Horowitz, Google is trying to devote more time and attention to the improvement of features such as Google +.

However, Google Buzz is a feature that battled all sorts of complicated feedback from users as well as legal action from The Federal Trade Commission the due to its privacy issues. According to experts, Google is quite serious about giving the 800 million user strong Facebook. Therefore, the ‘weeding’ of anything (even something that Google has spent years agonizing over) that might get in the way of its success is positively logical. Horowitz further declared that Google Buzz will not be missed by many as most of its users have switched to Google +. In his own words, Google will be focusing their efforts on projects that ‘will have the most impact to the most users’.

For the users who will be impacted with Google Buzz’s retirement, there is a way to download all Buzz data with the aid of Google Takeout. In addition, all the data from your Google Buzz will be archived under the ‘Buzz’ menu item on your Google + profile.

In the third week of August, Google made an update to sitelinks. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, sitelinks are the links to the different pages of the website that are displayed below the title. Although this is not something immediately visible to the user, it is definitely something that makes a difference to a user who is searching for a specific page.

The links have been given a size boost to match the main title. This is definitely a good thing if you are at the top of the search list as it will inevitably draw attention and keep it there. Plus, it takes away the need to go in to the website to find a particular page. Most users are not all too happy to actually visit a site and navigate through to find a page they want. The theory that is put to use with the all new and improved sitelinks is to draw, no demand, attention to the pages of the site that a user might want to visit.

However, the appearance of the sitelinks depends mainly on the URL structure of your site.  Although the appearance has been changed, the generation and ranking is done with the aid of the traditional algorithm.

Have you noticed different pages of the same website, ranking on different spots on the Google result page? Sometimes, a user could end up at the same site, by clicking on several different results.  With the update, a user can easily identify that the top result is located on a separate domain in comparison to those that are ranked below it.

According to Google, this is done mainly as a move to provide the best services to web users. But that doesn’t mean that SEO professionals and website owners can sit back and relax. They have to work their best to make sure that the correct sitelinks are presented while the incorrect ones are demoted. However, if your website is easy to navigate and is easily visible, it will inevitably draw in more traffic.

Google has taken yet another step to integrate its technology in to everyday life. Google +, the latest social networking platform from the internet giant went live on the 28th of June. At the moment, those who want to experience the latest social networking platform will have to wait for an invite from someone who already has a profile. If you are not eighteen years old yet, then you will also have to wait until you are an adult. With the insane amount of hype over the platform and its all new features, the SEO community has started asking whether their techniques will be affected.

One of the features in Google + allows users to recommend websites to those who are in their network. Just like Facebook and all other social networking platforms, a lot of personal information will be shared among members. From birthdates, working place information all the way to interests and preferences, Google + will also store this information in a user’s profile. In addition, there is a feature called Google Sparks on the platform. This is where all the information about a particular individual’s interest will be kept.

Remember Facebook’s targeted advertising campaigns that took a huge chunk out of Google’s Adsense revenue? Well, apparently, Google is fighting back.The Google Circles and the Google Sparks concepts will allow users to be categorized. This means that a person’s interests, history, activities, friends and the websites that they like will be a part of the equation to deliver them advertisements and direct them to websites that they are more likely to visit.

According to one blogger, the web links posted on Google + will act as a vote for a particular website. The more ‘votes’ a website may have, the higher the rank will be raised. However, just to make things extra difficult to us, SEO Companies, Google has decided to monitor a user’s credibility to cast votes on a particular website. This means that when a particular user has added things like Fashion, LOL cats and Baking casts a vote on a website that deals with Business Communication and Networking, the vote will not be counted as a credible. Google will make an assumption about a person’s ability to vote on a certain website by taking their interests in to account.

The verdict? Google + will definitely have an impact on Search Engine Optimization. Although the effects may not be immediate, they will definitely start to show as the platform takes root.

Whenever word comes out about a Panda update or an upgrade to Google search, the SEO community and website owners start twitching and panicking. Why? Most web owners and SEO specialists are on an endless, losing battle with Google. Instead, it’s time to start considering Google as a friend and to try and understand it rather than covering your ears and backing down in to a corner whenever an update strikes.

The first step of understand that Google is not at war with website owners. It is a search engine and the job of a search engine is to offer relevant results for search terms entered by web surfers. Since some websites are trying to sneak their way in to the rankings by mentioning these search terms, or keywords, without the creation of coherent content that someone can make sense of. So, the first step of making sure that the next Panda Update doesn’t kick you out of the rankings is to make your content valuable and useful.

But on-page content is not the only thing Google is keeping a close watch on. Websites cannot beat the massive competition for the top spots solely with the aid of on page content. Inbound links from external sources also generate a sizeable portion of the traffic generated by a website. One of the most effective ways of generating inbound links is by posting articles on article directories. As directed by the latest Panda update, certain article directories have been labelled with the undesirable ‘content farm’ title and were dishonoured. The reason for this is the fact that most of these directories are a breeding ground for poorly written articles stuffed with keywords and uploaded with the sole purpose of exploiting the directories’ popularity. In the end, the blacklisting of these popular article directories affects the rankings of those who have posted the sub-standard articles.

Of the quality of your content is not an issue, you may think that algorithm updates are irrelevant. In reality, it is important to keep updated and adjust when the need presents itself during a major change. However, the wisest choice is to continue researching, reading and testing to find effective and legitimate methods to boost your rankings as time goes by. Bear in mind that Google is evolving with time and is thinking of providing a satisfactory web searching experience for its users. To be truly successful as an SEO services provider or a website owner, you need to think beyond climbing the ranking lists.

A few months ago, Google made an announcement that they have made an update to their ranking algorithm. The immediate effect of the update was seen by several websites. If you have found your page ranking has dropped right after the Panda update which took effect in March, your site may have been guilty of one or more of the many errors Panda has managed to sniff out.

The main purpose of the Panda update was to make sure that people were able to gain relevant and valuable information on a search topic. Websites full to the brim with duplicated and substandard content, more popularly known as ‘content farms’ took the biggest blow. Most of these sites don’t offer any valuable information about a search query or keyword. For instance, some of these sites are stuffed with keywords but offered very little, relevant information about them.

In order to make sure that your website does not fall back to search engine oblivion, you need to keep some very important information in mind. Since Google’s new algorithm is targeting mainly websites with good content, you need to make sure that your website contains just that: useful, relevant and overall good content.

When you are adding content to your website, be sure that the articles are not copied, stolen or spun by article spinning machines. Always check and double check your content for plagiarism to prevent your website’s reputation from going down the drain. But you have to keep the quality of the content consistent throughout the entire website. Instead of throwing in a few patched up paragraphs about a certain keyword, add some real, credible and interesting information in to the article to make sure that the readers are not bored.

According to Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal, the new algorithm functions the same way as a real live internet user. It looks for original content in websites and will regard sites with sub standard content as useless in comparison. A number of sites were even reviewed by external testers.

The verdict is simple, If you wish to retain your enviable position on the Google search results page, keep your contents up to high standards and always, always avoid duplicate content.