The other night I googled “SEO Blog” and was reminded how powerful the new authorship markup can be in Search Results. The third listing was Michael Gray’s blog accompanied by his photo. At first, I didn’t even notice that there were two other listings above him. Click the image below to take a look:

This is absolutely masterful technique and Michael’s smug little smile assures all of us Search Engine Optimization gurus that we just got owned! For those of you who would like more information about the new authorship markup there is a Google blog entry about it.

Oddly enough, after visiting Michael Gray’s blog I found an article where he predicts that this very technique will be the next spam tactic. You can read his thoughts on the matter at his SEO Blog post.

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• New York Times – Tumblr Lands $85 Million in Funding
• Techcrunch.com – Tumblr Is A Pageview Machine

Any brand that doesn’t have some sort of Twitter strategy for 2010 should seriously consider making the jump now.

It is also notable that Bing beat Google to the punch on this one. Even though it was only by a matter of days, this shows that Microsoft is pushing Google in the innovation race. As the two companies constantly try and one-up each other, we the user stand to benefit greatly.

Here is how it works. If you are using IE7 or IE6, head on over to Microsoft’s Browser for the Better website and click on the green button that says “Download Internet Explorer 8 for free”. Microsoft will then donate to Feeding America’s network of 206 local food banks. Please note that upgrading from Microsoft.com does not count. Only complete downloads from the Browser for the Better website will qualify.

This is a win-win! A campaign to stamp out both IE6 (the arch nemesis of web designers everywhere) and hunger must be applauded and therefore Gulf WebDev wholeheartedly supports the cause. Help us help you and pass this on to your friends through Twitter, Facebook, and all other forms of social media that you may be using. Internet Explorer 8 is a great product and there has never been a better time to upgrade.

In an effort to prove that they are not simply resting on their laurels and enjoying the view from the top, this week Google unveiled their new search engine codenamed Caffeine. According to the spokesmouth, Caffeine will be more comprehensive with improved speed and accuracy. We were then given a link to the new search engine and instructed to give it a spin.

Upon arriving at the Caffeine search portal, I couldn’t resist trying out a search term relevant to this site: New Port Richey Search Engine Optimization. Wow! The results sure came back fast! It was virtually instantaneous. I am pleased to see that in the local results, Gulf WebDev is still in the A slot on the Google map. However, in the organic search results below that we are nowhere to be found. Even worse, we are not even on page two!! At this same moment in time Gulf WebDev is number four in the organic results on google.com.

It is now obvious to me that when Google switches over to the Caffeine the rankings will shuffle up a bit. This is a fact of reality that companies concerned with search engine visibility should be aware of. Otherwise, it could be the ole “here today, gone tomorrow” scenario.

This search engine consultant is going to hit the books hard the next few days to try and figure out Google’s method to their madness. Time is of the essence. Although Google has stated that Caffeine is “ready”, we still have no official launch date. Therefore, there is no better time than the present to start preparing for how the switch to Google’s new Caffeine engine will affect your website.

When will this happen? Well…. as with anything Microsoft does, the trust-busters will want to take a good look at this one. However, at the end of the day this deal should have no problem getting the green light. From that point, speculators are saying we can expect to see the proposed changes go live on the Internet some three to six months later. More than likely, this will be sometime in early 2010. This gives those of us concerned with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plenty of time to get our ducks in a row.

While nobody is predicting that the Micro-hoo partnership will dethrone Google, it certainly will be a force to be reckoned with. The winds of change they are a blowing. Therefore, there is no better time than the present to make sure your website is optimized and placing well in Microsoft’s Bing search engine results. According to the latest statistics, once the deal goes through Bing will have roughly twenty percent of the search engine market. This is a number too large to be ignored.

To put it in perspective, Rankmark.com is the most highly visited website that Gulf WebDev handles averaging about 840 visitors a day.  A whopping 15% of all visitors show up using Internet Explorer 6.  This is more than Safari (Apple’s browser with 7.94%), Chrome (Google’s browser with 2.02%), and Opera combined!  The IE6 market share is so large that it can not be ignored.  Therefore, instead of developing web content using the latest and greatest technologies to create a better user experience, we are stuck in the Stone Age supporting an outdated, eight year old IE6.

I am of the opinion that if IE6 users were going to upgrade or switch to a new browser it would have happened by now.  Those users will continue to use IE6 until their computer dies.  Therefore, their hands need to be forced for the betterment of all mankind and I applaud YouTube for their efforts.  Now if only Amazon, Ebay, Facebook, and the other big fish would follow the example set before them we might be able to stomp out IE6 like the cockroach it is.

Not sure if you are part of the solution or the problem?  Head on over to ThisMachine.info to find out which browser you are using.  If you discover that you are in fact using Internet Explorer 6 then run (don’t walk) to Microsoft’s website and upgrade to Internet Explorer 8.

StumbleUpon is a recommendation engine that serves you the best pages on the web based on your interests. It installs a toolbar in your browser that allows you to rate the pages it serves with thumbs up or thumbs down. Through this process it gradually hones in on your personal preferences. The engine will then serve you pages that people with similar interests liked also. Before you know it, the content is so good that you can’t wait to hit that stumble button on the toolbar to see what StumbleUpon will deliver for you to gaze upon next. In my first month using it, I bookmarked over 150 websites. This is more websites than I have bookmarked total in my previous fifteen years of surfing the web.

The reason I find StumbleUpon so interesting is because it has turned me on to fantastic websites and content that I have failed to find through search engines, word of mouth, and the numerous other ways we normally discover websites. In fact, the internet had shrunk on me and it wasn’t until StumbleUpon that I was reminded just how big and vast it is. It literally helped me rediscover the Internet and all that it has to offer.

Another great feature of StumbleUpon is that it is community-based allowing its users to form interest groups and add each other as friends. So if you read this article and decide to sign up, don’t hesitate to add me as a friend and let me know how much you enjoy StumbleUpon too. My username is gulfwebdev. Hope to see you on there!

Hugh Caraway
Gulf WebDev, LLC