Google must ‘clean up’ any defamatory or offensive results that show in its auto-complete suggestions.

That’s according to a federal court in Germany, which has ordered the change after hearing details of a claim from a German businessman. When his name was typed into Google.de, it was associated with terms like ‘fraud’ and ‘Scientology’.

When alerted to offensive word combinations, Google must take all necessary steps to remove them, bbc.co.uk revealed – namely as a person’s privacy could be ‘violated’ if this happened, the court said. It also said such auto-complete results could create fictional connections between two terms.

It is not known how the decision might impact the work of those using Google for search marketing purposes, but it will likely come as a relief to businesses or people in a position of power, as it may help protect their name/brand.

A representative of Google called the decision “incomprehensible”, adding that he was “disappointed and surprised” at the news.

“We believe that Google should not be held liable for terms that appear in auto-complete as these are predicted by computer algorithms based on searches from previous uses [sic], not by Google itself,” he concluded, cited by zdnet.com.

Despite its outrage, Google has also been ordered to appoint a person who will be responsible for preventing this situation arising again in the future, although reiterated that the individual will only become responsible upon hearing about the violation.

Google ordered to amend auto-complete results originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on May 15, 2013.

Google could be setting up for a large-scale rollout this summer which would have a huge impact on webspammers and blackhat SEO practitioners, webpronews.com reports.

In a video post, the search engine’s head of webspam, Matt Cutts, explained that an update could be coming that would wipe spammers from the face of Google altogether.

Cutts was answering the question: “What should we expect in the next few months in terms of SEO for Google?” He ended up outlining ten different points, although it was his comments on webspam which caused the biggest stir, hinting that an update similar in reach to Panda or Penguin could be arriving in summer.

There was also an update pencilled in for a great deal sooner, with Penguin 4 (otherwise known as Penguin 2.0) expected to hit in the coming weeks. This is expected to go even deeper still than the original Penguin and see similar disruption to sites deemed to be peddling poor quality content.

The Panda update, meanwhile, is set to be made a little less harsh in a bid to make it sympathetic to the “borderline” cases, searchengineland.com claims. This decision, Cutts claimed, was to prevent sites which had only just infringed on the rules to not be affected so greatly, as had been the case previously.

Large-scale Google update coming in summer? originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on May 14, 2013.

Bing is set for another change, allowing users to ‘like’ posts from their friends on Facebook directly via the search engine.

According to macworld.co.uk, Facebook users will also be able to post comments from within Bing’s interface, a move made in a bid to make the engine more interactive.

Although previously Bing users were able to view Facebook content whilst using the search engine, via its social sidebar, they were unable to respond to it. Now, they can interact in real time whilst undertaking searches. It could prove useful for loyal Bing users, although it isn’t known how it will impact those using Bing for search marketing purposes.

“Now you can see what your friends might know about what you’re searching for and engage with them directly without leaving the search page,” Bing’s program manager, Nektarios Ioannides, revealed on the bing.com blog. Using a hypothetical search for tickets to see Beyonce, he outlined the benefits of the new addition.

“I can see that my friend has recently posted that she has an extra ticket to the show. Now, without leaving the Bing results page, I comment directly to her post letting her know that I’d love to join her for the concert. I’ve gone from simply browsing to attending a concert in just a few easy steps – all thanks to Bing.”

Although Google remains at the top of the search game, additions such as these to Bing’s interface may well help push it further forward.

Bing integrates Facebook features into search originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on May 13, 2013.

Small Businesses in the UK could be missing out on around £13 billion is sales as a result of not embracing technology, techradar.com reports.

A new report by O2 Business found that missed sales opportunities as a result of failing to embrace the likes of social media, search engine usage and other modern technologies could be costing small UK businesses £13 billion every year.

O2 Business found that consumers are becoming increasingly “digitally-savvy” and are using all the tools at their disposal when it comes to researching a future purchase. Businesses, on the other hand, are much slower when it comes to taking on digital platforms, which could be costing them dear.

Using the internet to research purchases was the second most popular option for consumers, behind only recommendations from friends or family. As a result, a quarter of consumers even claimed they simply would not use a business if they found it didn’t have a website.

When asked what they expected from businesses, 63 per cent of consumers said a website that showcased goods or services on offer was a must-have. Furthermore, this website needs to be visible without having to search endlessly for it, which could prompt businesses to begin utilising SEO.

Elsewhere, a further 30 per cent of consumers expected a website on which they could undertake transactions, whilst 12 per cent wanted to see an active Facebook profile.

Explaining the reason for slow tech uptake among some businesses, general manager of SMB at O2, Pete Lawton, told freshbusinessthinking.com: ”The rewards from investing in technology can be huge, but for many business owners, the whole process of improving their business through technology can be a daunting prospect.”

Lack of online presence costing UK businesses £13 million originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on May 13, 2013.

YouTube is all set to announce plans which could allow certain video makers to request a monthly fee for subscribing to their channels, reports thedrum.co.uk.

Reports suggest a subscription service involving a charge of around $1.99 per month (£1.28) could be rolled out as early as this week, with around 50 popular channels gaining the first pay barriers. The plan to add this option has been an open secret in the online marketing industry for well over year – a period in which Netflix and Amazon have seen subscribers for their own streaming services go through the roof.

A spokesman for YouTube claimed the site was making this move with the aim of improving the quality of its videos whilst providing channels with another way to generate revenue from their productions.    

The overwhelming majority of content on Google’s video sharing site will of course remain free to view. However, a successful rollout of the subscription model could herald a huge change for the online video industry. For instance, rather than relying on promotional clips to drive traffic into a website or boost their search engine optimisation campaigns, brands could soon require their videos to make sales all on their own.

Similar to the flexible pay walls that newspapers and magazines have adopted, the option of charging a monthly fee could allow brands to monetise a service which consumers have grown used to receiving for free.

Nytimes.com claims there will be paid channels for popular video categories like entertainment, music and children’s programming, although YouTube is still yet to confirm the subscription option.

YouTube readying subscription service originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on May 7, 2013.

Google’s Matt Cutts has taken time to clarify the search engine’s patents and the role they play in search, searchengineland.com reports.

Google is notoriously secretive about what makes up its search algorithm, with a large percentage of it still relatively unknown to most outside of the company. This has prompted many working in SEO to try and find clues as to what factors are involved in working out rankings, other than what Google itself has announced. One popular tool is to see the patents Google has taken out, as these are publicly available and give an indication as to where it differentiates from its competitors.

In light of this, however, the search engine’s head of spam, Matt Cutts, has explained that researchers shouldn’t be so quick to pin a great deal on these patents.

Making the announcement via a video blog, Cutts said that just because Google owns a patent, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is actively being used, either in the search algorithm or any other of its web properties. Just as Apple takes out prospective patents which may not be used for decades – if even at all – Google may do the same.

A transcript of the video printed on seachenginewatch.com reports Cutts as explaining: “Just because a patent issues that has somebody’s name on it or someone who works at search quality or someone who works at Google, that doesn’t necessarily mean we are using that patent at that moment.

“So sometimes you will see speculation Google had a patent where they mentioned using the length of time that a domain was registered. That doesn’t mean that we are necessarily doing that, it just means that mechanism is patented.”

Patents no indication of search algorithm, Cutts claims originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on May 3, 2013.

YouTube has sought to reinforce its popularity among young web users in a bid to attract more advertisers, thedrum.com reports.

In a bid to better monetise its offering, the Google-owned video platform is reported to be positioning itself as the prime platform for advertisers that are looking to almost exclusively target young people with their content marketing strategies. It is hoped this would build upon the already widely-held belief that YouTube is among the most popular online destinations for those aged between 18 and 34.

The announcement was made by YouTube’s head of content Robert Kyncl, who told an invited audience during its Newsfront event that it is even now more popular among youngsters than the likes of cable, terrestrial or other online channels.

Kyncl called the 18-34 age group ‘Generation C’, which is derived from them being internet natives and growing up in a world that was “constantly connected”. He claimed there were now one billion internet users around the world who fall into this category.

Furthermore, as many do not have dependents, they are also deemed to be amongst the richest where disposable income is concerned, meaning they may also be more likely to convert as a result of an ad campaign.

Explaining his stance on the youtube-global.blogspot.co.uk site, Kyncl said: “Content creators have long recognised the power of YouTube’s platform to connect with an audience. Advertisers are increasingly doing the same. Together we’ll continue to build YouTube as a global destination for the next generation of entertainment.”

YouTube attracting marketers to a younger demographic originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on May 2, 2013.

Devices using the iOS operating system can now benefit from Google Now – although the creator of the search feature has said this is “just the beginning” for tool.

Speaking to guardian.co.uk following the launch, Android product management director Baris Gultekin explained that it is all part of making devices smarter, essentially by pulling information from various sources to provide the user with information before they have even asked for it.

Google Now has been available on Android devices since last year, but now Apple users can take advantage of the feature – which forms part of the Google Search app version 3.0.0. Conventionally, people have to search for what they want, but here information is presented without having to do so, which suggests there may be some impact on search engine optimisation techniques for those industries affected.

Regarding privacy, Mr Gultekin was clear in his view. “We take privacy very seriously, and make it very clear what the user will get, and what kind of data we’ll be using, and lots of controls so they can turn things off that they don’t like,” he said, adding: “You an opt out if you choose to.”

To use Google Now, people must swipe upwards when on the Search app – they are then presented with information they may be interested in, such as sports scores or weather forecasts. According to cnet.com, the way it combines a sort of personal assistant with predictive search makes it a real rival for Apple’s Siri system.

Google Now launched for iOS devices originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on April 30, 2013.

Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, has made some changes to the way it shows search results after conducting experiments into user behaviour, reports webpronews.com.

For the last week, Bing has been returning as few as four results in their search engine result pages (SERPs), but also as many as 12 or 14 – all depending on whether users don’t find what they want after navigating to a website from Bing’s results.

According to a blog post made on bing.com, more than 50 per cent of users click on Bing’s first result with the click-through rate dropping for results in second position or lower.

For some searches, it is not worth returning more than five or six results, as Bing discovered when users searched ‘ebay’. The click-through rate for the top result when searching ‘ebay’ was over 75 per cent while the third result had a less than one per cent click-through rate.

However, when users click the back button – indicating they did not find what they wanted – Bing now returns up to 14 algorithmic results, which could have a significant impact on current SEO campaigns.

Dr. Ronny Kohavi, partner architect at Bing R&D, explained: “The results were great and our key metrics improved: users were more successful in sessions, they reached the web link they wanted sooner, queries per session declined, pages rendered faster on average and pagination was reduced by a further five per cent.”

According to Bing, the feature shipped to all users last week.

Bing makes changes to SERPs originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on April 30, 2013.

Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, has revealed he isn’t concerned about the amount of tax his company pays.

Often favoured amongst SEO professionals, Google has built a reputation for using legal loopholes to reduce the amount of tax it pays to the UK government, something which senior MPs have flagged as being unacceptable.

However Schmidt says it isn’t a problem, that Google complies with the law and that the significant contribution it makes to Britain negates any so-called tax ‘avoidance’. Speaking to the BBC, Schmidt suggested: “We are investing heavily in Britain.

“We power literally billions of pounds of start-ups… So from our perspective, I think, you have to look at it in a totality. The people we employ in Britain are certainly paying British taxes and, more importantly, they’re British citizens and they’re driving a lot of GDP.”

He also said his company does things in line with every other global business, thesun.co.uk reports.

His comments weren’t enough to ease the concerns of some, such as a government source who spoke to independent.co.uk. They said that Schmidt isn’t investing “very much” in the UK. They also implied that Google has an unhealthy hold over the government.

A Treasury representative responded by saying that the government is committed to ensuring all global corporations pay their fair share of tax.

Taxes don’t matter, Eric Schmidt says originally appeared on Vertical Leap News on April 23, 2013.