Google pulling the plug
Google started out as a small search engine focused entirely on quality results, with profitability as an afterthought. It was this model that made them the behemoth 8000 lb gorilla they are today. Now, after many years of being a pioneer in new ideas and beta programs, Google is pulling the plug on many projects. They’re calling it, “fall spring-cleaning.” Now, they will be focusing on profitability and generating more revenues. That’s what happens when a company goes public – they have shareholders to answer to, rather than the freedom to spend resources on R&D.
Google Opens Office in Thailand
Google has been expanding their international reach year after year, and has now opened a local office in Thailand. They have appointed Ariya Banomyong for the extremely important role of overseeing this Asian location.
Among other things, Google has set a goal of getting local Thai businesses to form an online presence and thus to spend money on Adwords. Thailand has 25 million internet users, which translates to one-third of their total population. The mobile market in Thailand is also expanding, giving Google a great opportunity as they establish their footprint in this emerging market.
Google Expands Site Links – New SEO
Google has expanded its site links to include as many as 12 links on brand or website related searches, each with a small snippet of text. For example, Googling Fox Broadcasting brings these results:
This is substantially more information than the old way that the big G used to display links to navigate a website. Google selects these links by algorithm and you can’t specify them yourself – all you can do is prevent specific links from appearing for 90 days. It will be interesting to see how the SEO world responds in optimizing for site links – which pages to display and what snippet should appear below each link.