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Chrome marketshare for March 2009

From Matt Cutts:

Google Chrome continued its upward marketshare march in March. I was looking at my browser breakdown tonight. Here’s what I’ve got from the last 30 days in Google Analytics:"

Short Sentences Sell:�How to Make a Big Bang with Little Words | Search Engine Journal

When was the last time you read your own copy and set about cutting out any words larger than three syllables? It sounds like a drastic measure, but these days, even corporations are starting to see the light: words like synergy, sustainable and assessment are being sliced out in favor of more direct, simplified language. What’s the deal here? Have we all gotten dumber?

Not at all. But we have gotten more used to the instantly-ready, on-demand world. That means we want to get to the good stuff in language we can understand immediately. Words like teamwork, wholesome, and report.

Prevent Junk from Seeping Into Your Copy

Junk words and phrases like “It seems like” and “Possibly” and “Actually” are all working together to clutter up your copy. They seep in so innocently and then, before you know it, you’ve started writing just like you talk. Sure, a conversational tone is great – but it also creates a lot of needless words that detract from the real meat of your writing.

Go ahead. Strop out words like “very”, “just” and “maybe”. It might seem awkward at first to edit out everyday words like that – but in no time, you’ll find that your words flow much more easily while making your message clearer.

Yes, More Are Seeing A New Google Look-And-Feel

We’re getting more and more reports from readers who are seeing a “new” Google look-and-feel for its search results. This is a three column design that Google’s actually been testing for some time. That testing appears to be accelerating.

Google Tackles Its “UI Jazz” Problem, Tests Streamlining Search Options Feature is our story from last November that takes an in-depth look at the new user interface and the features it offers.

So who sees the changes? About 1% to 3% of Google users, who will be randomly selected. The test will probably run for about six weeks. If successful, expect to see the changes — altered to take in account test feedback — show up across Google soon after that.

That six week period has long come and passed — but the testing continues. Google tells me a variety of slight variations are live in the wild, still being shown to a randomly selected group of people. There is no expected launch date."

Google adds Facebook to real-time search | Marketing/Ecommerce Research

"Google recently announced it is now incorporating Facebook Pages status updates in its real-time search feature.

The announcement wasn’t exactly detailed - it consisted of a brief message on Twitter (go figure), so not much is known about the ins and outs of the arrangement at this stage.

Google’s real-time search feature is something I have never really taken much notice of. It consists of a scrolling box updating in real time that appears in the first search engine results page (SERP), usually in relation to breaking news or very popular topics.

For example, if you were to run the following search query at the moment: Winter Olympics - you will likely see the real time results section embedded somewhere on the first page of results.

Real-time search draws from all sorts of sources - newspapers, blogs, Twitter and even MySpace. From what I can gather, the Facebook inclusion will be limited to Facebook Pages - profiles set up by businesses and organizations, or individuals such as politicians. These pages are a little different to general Facebook user profile pages."