There’s been a lot of chatter lately about Google’s new instant search function and what it means to SEO. Some have already begun the somber SEO funeral procession, with casket and a trio of horn players and all. They are, perhaps, jumping the gun. Google Instant Search is absolutely not poised to kill SEO, however we all must expect a certain amount of transformation.

First of all. What is Google Instant Search? It’s a new functionality Google unveiled a couple of weeks ago that reinvents how the engine processes and shows search results. It begins searching as you type and starts showing you results well before you are done. It analyzes possible outcomes for what you are typing, as well as previous searching habits, to create a reasonable approximation of what you’ll be searching for. To some it seems psychic. There is no magic here, folks. It’s just the usual smart algorithms in place. They are just unleashed a bit sooner than usual.

Just because your searches are yielding faster refinement times doesn’t automatically change the nuances of SEO. However, it may create some quirks in the stream. First of all, users are going to start receiving feedback immediately, right from their first letter. Human nature dictates that if they are given information, they tend to refine their search accordingly. This also means that no two people could receive the same links for essentially the same information. It’s these two points that have naysayers in an uproar. They claim the days of the homogenized Internet is over. SEO is dead because everyone’s net experience is heretofore going to be absolutely different. After all, even Google is saying to expect fluctuations around organic and heavily used keywords.

But hey. All is not lost. There is certainly some smoke with accompanying mirrors going on here.

SEO contributor Stephan Spencer has this to say about the new feature in regard to SEO, “Google Instant isn’t anything to get stressed about. In regards to SEO, Google Instant is not a ‘game changer’ or a ‘disruptive technology.’ I’d argue it’s not even a major SEO development. It’s nowhere near the impact of Bing powering Yahoo’s results, for instance.

Basically, it’s business as usual. The algorithm hasn’t changed, so how users are driven to your site also hasn’t changed. The whole thing just flies by at a different speed now, thus giving the illusion of change. Webmasters need to keep doing what they do best, focusing on content, traffic, and conversions. If anything, consider it a call to arms for SEO practitioners to up their game, to amp their speed in the same way Google has.

“Google Instant demands that practitioners become more aware of what Google Suggest is recommending to searchers, how to influence Google Suggest’s recommendations, and how to win at the more competitive terms that are being predicted by Google.” Spencer adds.

One thing, though, that webmasters must account for is the new-found important of CTR. CTR  is the new ranking. The click-through rate for organic listings becomes more important than pure rankings since users will see many more search results in each session.

Also, Google Instant does modify how eyeballs move around the screen. The traditional Golden Triangle theory regarding those eye movements on search result pages is no longer true. You used to perform a search, sit back and study the results and the ads before either clicking on a listing, or modifying your query. This will now be substantially different as eyes will wander up and down between the query field, listings, Universal Search entries, and AdWords ads. Not sure how exactly this will modify SEO but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.

So as you can see, SEO is most definitely not dead. If anything it’s more interesting than ever before. It may just be entering a new golden age. The prize is there, if you are willing to take it.

Be on the lookout for the Instant functionality to be rolled out across the entire Google platform, including news, images and mobile devices. More information as it becomes available.

One interesting thing that came out of SES San Jose’s Duplicate Content and Multiple Site Issues session is the massive amount of duplicate content on the Internet. They shined a light as to just how much there is. It was astounding and eye-opening. Ivan Davtchev, Yahoo’s lead product manager for search relevance, said “more than 30 percent of the Web is made up of duplicate content.”

With that in mind, it is no wonder trust and linkage play such valuable parts in determining a domain’s overall authority and consequent relevancy in the search engines. Wow. Three out of every ten things on the web is a dupe.  Boggles your mind.

There are three basic types of duplicate content on the web:

1. Accidental content duplication: This occurs when Webmasters unintentionally allow content to be replicated by non-canonicalization (define), session IDs, soft 404s (define), and the like.
2. Dodgy content duplication: This primarily consists of replicating content across multiple domains.
3. Abusive content duplication: This includes scraper spammers, weaving or stitching (mixed and matched content to create “new” content), and bulk content replication.

Greg Grothaus from Google’s search quality team recently addressed the “penalty myth” regarding duplicate content, noting that Google “tries hard to index and show pages with distinct information.”

Everyone knows Google uses a checksum-like method for initially filtering out replicated content. For example, most Web sites publish a regular and print version of every article. Google prefers to serve up only one copy of the content, which is determined via linking prowess. Because most print-ready pages are dead-end URLs sans site navigation, it’s relatively simply to equate which page Google prefers to serve up in its search results.

Once in a while the powers-that-be at Google notice a particularly egregious attempt at gaming the system. Manipulating rankings, deceptions of users, stuff like that. In these cases, Google will “make appropriate adjustments” to the indexation and rankings of the sites involved, according to Grothaus. So be careful of that.

Test and Tune

How do you know if duplicate content is popping up all over your site? There are a few ways to be sure:

* If you have multiple URLs for you home page, you have duplicate content.
* If you go to any page on your site and remove the “www” from the URL and the same content is still served up, you may have duplicate content.
* If you create an error by appending gibberish to a URL string or remove a directory path and still serve up the same content without cuing a 404 error page, you probably have duplicate content.
* If you can isolate a URL construct from your print pages and run an advanced indexation check, such as “site:example.com inurl:/print/” in Google, then you definitely have duplicate content indexed.

Everyone knows duplicate content is usually an accident and not part of some nefarious scheme. To inform the browsers and get things squared away is relatively easy.  Simply read and employ all the best practices delineated on the search engines Webmaster blogs and forums. Here are the big three:

• Bing
• Google
• Yahoo

You also have to make certain that you properly canonicalize your site, 301 (permanent) redirect to any duplicate pages. Use use robots.txt and robot tags to eliminate the rest of them.

If this sounds simple, it’s because it is. With a few easy steps and minimal time investment, you can have your sites duplicate -free in no time. Remember, test and tune your results often. If you have any problems beyond that, it may be time to call in the professionals.

Social media sites can mean big business for your, um, business. After all Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and those crafty blogs have all become a part of the daily machinations of the business world. So how do you keep track of all of your accounts while on the go? With an iPhone of course! Apple’s megapopular multitasking device has a boatload of social media-related applications you can download. Too many, actually. Hundreds upon hundreds. We took it upon ourselves to narrow it down to an essential 14 apps. These are the 14 “must have” applications to keep your business flying in the age of the social media. And as always, they are all available at the Apple Appstore.

Official Apps

These are official applications available for download from the bigwigs, the cream of the crop of the social media world. No funky upstarts needed here. These are all must haves.

Facebook – Free

The official Facebook app provides easy and simple access to your trusty Facebook acount. The grid interface makes browsing and posting extremely user-friendly.Push notifications let you know when you have new messages or other details. This is a great functional app for managing your primary Facebook account. Great for single-account holders.

Twitter – Free

Twitter functionaly on the iPhone used to be handled by a handy little app called “Tweetie 2.” Well, Twitter bought them out and now what used to be known as “Tweetie 2″ is simply known as “Twitter.” Easy and functional are the names of the game here. Login to your account and post away, or read those you follow. All on the go. This is what Twitter was made for.

LinkedIn – Free

This is the only app we use for LinkedIn. Check out new messages, import addresses from address books located on other devices, or just browse around. Anything you can do on the website you can do here. Manage your professional contacts with ease. Of paramount importance for you freelancers out there. Don’t want to miss any jobs, do you?

Multi-service & Multi-account Feed Management (Twitter and Others)

If you run a business, or even do something creative like play in a band, chances are you have more than one account on social networking sites. After all, one does not want to mix apples and oranges. Here are several applications that are perfect for managing many accounts on the go.

TweetList for Twitter – $1.99

A simple Twitter client that manages multiple twitter accounts. The interface is ultra-clean and the UI makes it the perfect app to manage the newest and best feature on Twitter’s roster, lists.

Seesmic – Free

This iPhone app is great for quickly navigating between several Facebook, Twitter and Ping.fm accounts. It features a minimal design that may be low on extras but is great for, you know, actually getting the job done. Quick and works like a charm every time. What more could you ask for?

Brizzly – Free

Brizzly is the hip, new social media kid on the block. It simplifies all of your social media accounts into one simple to read feed. Guess what? The iPhone version does the exact same thing. Perfect for those who hate to type in those pesky urls all of the time.

HootSuite for iPhone – $2.99

This iPhone app gives you easy-to-use access to all of your Twitter feeds at once. It really is the gold standard for this kind of thing. It’s clean, minimal and easy to use. You’ll be multitasking in no time, managing dozens of accounts and making Ashton Kutcher look like a rank amateur. Well, that last one you could probably do anyway. 

Handy Apps for Facebook

Facebook is a repository of contact information, media content and simple brainfarts. It’s number one for a reason, after all. Here are some applications for your iPhone that make getting the most of the site as easy as pie.

VideoUp for Facebook – $0.99

So you wanna upload video content to Facebook from your phone? Of course you do! Then get this app. It does exactly what it purports to do. Handy for you would be Spielbergs out there. Everyone knows he started on an iPhone camera. Time loop.

SmartSync for Facebook – $4.99

Sync all of your friend’s information to your address book, including their profile pictures. This makes it easy and, dare we say, fun to keep your ducks all in a row.

Facebook PixSter – $0.99

So you wanna upload pictures to your Facebook account? Of course you do! This is the app to get, then. It’s easy and that’s all it does. Why mess with a good thing?

Blog Management on the Go

What happens when that great idea strikes and you are nowhere near a computer? Do you risk it? Hope your brain will remember the perfect wordphrasing until eight or nine hours later, after you’ve had a few drinks and exhaustion has set in? No way! Get one of these iPhone apps and start posting on the go. Your readers, or customers, will thank you.

WordPress – Free

The official WordPress app gives you access to any WordPress blog that you have access to. This application allows you to then post something straight to the web. However, it’s been our experience, it is better suited for drafts. Darn these fumbly hot dog fingers!

TypePad – Free

The official TypePad app, if your blog is on the TypePad platform then this is the one for you. Similar to the WordPress app. Post right to the web or set up drafts for later posting. Easy and quick.

iBlogger – $9.99

Yowch. This app sure is expensive, isn’t it? However, if serious blogging is the name of your game, it might be worth it.  iBlogger gives you the capability to do just about anything with a blog post that you can do on a computer. The most comprehensive on-the-go blogging tool out there. Highly recommended. Come on, live a little. Then blog about it.

That’s it for now. As always, leave us some emails or comments with what apps you think should have been on this list. Stay on the go and keep the social media home-fires burning!

Want a practical approach to to reviewing and comparing tools that will help you analyze those wascally SERPs?  We all want proper analysis  of our search engine results, right? Well, then read on.

First of all, these tools all work as Firefox add-ons. Be careful, though. You don’t want to install too many or it will severely impede your browsing speed. There’s a reason they call it snail mail. So just try one at a time and you’ll thank us in the long run. Or, just read through the entire post and pick which one intrigues you the most to try first.

1. SEOquake

Insert massive amounts of data under each listing in Google SERPs, including but not limited to:

• Google pagerank, Google index, Google cache date;
• Yahoo! index, Yahoo! linkdomain, Yahoo! link;
• Bing index;
• Dmoz listing;
• Webarchive age;
• Alexa rank;
• Delicious bookmarks;
• Technorati index;
• Digg index;
• Domain IP;
• Link to Robots.txt, Sitemap and Page source;
• SEMrush info (traffic, traffic value, rank);
• Compete Rank,

And lots, lots more, including the ability to sort the results by any parameter.

2. SEO for FireFox

Note, for each listing you’ll see the following data listing:

And, here is what SEO for Firefox brings to the table:

• Google PR;
• Google Cache Date;
• Traffic Value (pre SEMrush);
• Age (Archive.org);
• Del.icio.us bookmarks;
• Diggs (as well as Digg’s Popular Stories);
• Stumbleupon popularity (doesn’t appear to work);
• Twitter search results;
• Yahoo! Links: as well as Yahoo! .edu links, Yahoo! .gov Links and Yahoo! page links);
• Technorati results;
• Alexa traffic;
• Compete.com rank and compete.com uniques;
• Google trends link;
• Number of pages cached;
• Dmoz mentions

Lots, lots more!  SEO for Firefox also allows you to customize the data sets to suit your fancy.

3. Search Cloudlet

This is a really useful tool. It’s great for identifying domains that achieve the lucrative top 100 Google listings benefits. It’s also great for other search engines as well. Install the add-on and run a Google search. The information displayed will allow you to:

1. See the SERPs tag cloud (of the words used in Google search results listings);
2. See the domains returned in Google SERPs (the bigger the font, the more times the domain was ranked within one SERPs);
3. See most powerful top level domains;

All in all, it’s a handy little tool.

4. SERPs Analyzer

This one works as a FireFox search plugin, which is lighter than a full-fledged add-on. It redirects the search to it’s own domain. This may not be the most reliable way to output information but it’s certainly the lightest. For each listing in SERPs it shows the following information:

• Number of clicks the listing generates per month (no idea how the data is obtained);
• PPC cost equivalent per month;
• Yahoo! links and linkdomain;
• Domain Quancast rank;
• Webarchive age

The cool thing about the tool is that it displays the number of unique domains, max. and average Google PR, as well as other interesting data:

Be careful though. Several bugs have been reported. For example, setting Google results per page in preferences didn’t work. It only managed to get more results by directly editing the query URL string (serp_results_per_page=100).

How does Google decide how much a particular link helps your rankings? That one question has plagued link builders since the dawn of  time 2002.

Before we get started on the list, let’s talk turkey. You may have noticed search engines have become more and more dependent on metrics about an entire domain, rather than just an individual page. It’s why you’ll see new pages or those with very few links ranking highly, simply because they’re on an important, trusted, well-linked-to domain. The Internet is changing, and in a way becoming more homogenized. But don’t worry, you can still make money with your site by understanding the nature of search engines and how they judge the value of a link.  Here are 17 examples:

#1 – Internal vs. External

Search engines value external opinions more than internal. This is a simple fact, and it makes sense. If you are in a band and you go around telling everyone how great you are, not many ears perk up, except in annoyance. However, if Spin Magazine begins telling people your band is great, that changes things quite a bit. Search engines work in the same way. Internal links (links that point from one page on your site to another) do carry some weight; links from external sites matter far more.

This doesn’t mean it’s not important to have a good internal link structure, or to do all that you can with your internal links (good anchor text, no unnecessary links, etc.), it just means that a site/page’s performance is highly dependant on how other sites on the web have cited it.

#2 – Anchor Text

An obvious one for those in the SEO business, anchor text is one of the biggest factors in the rankings equation overall.

This, of course, comes with a question. Is “exact match” anchor text more beneficial than simply including the target keywords all hully gully? In a word, yes. We’ve conducted many experiments, much to the dismay of our interns, and we’ve conclusively decided that anchor text that features an exact match is the winner, no contest. However, the engines won’t always bias in this fashion. It seems to me that, particularly for generic (non-branded) keyword phrases, this is the cause of a lot of manipulation and abuse in the SERPs.

#3 – PageRank

Whether they call it StaticRank (Microsoft’s metric), WebRank (Yahoo!’s), PageRank (Google’s) or mozRank (Linkscape’s), some form of an iterative, Markov-chain based link analysis algorithm is a part of all the engines’ ranking systems. So, it’s important. All of the services use the analogy that links are votes and that those pages which have more votes have more influence. Pretty simple, right? Well, sort of. Here is a quick PageRank primer:

1.Every single URL on the Internet is assigned a tiny, innate quantity of PageRank.

2.If there are “n” links on a page, each link passes that page’s PageRank divided by “n” (and thus, the more links, the lower the amount of PageRank each one flows.)

3.An iterative calculation that flows through the web’s entire link graph dozens of times is used to reach the calculations for each URL’s ranking score. The calculation is too complicated to replicate here, either that or it’s magic. It might be magic.

4.Representations like those shown in Google’s toolbar PageRank or SEOmoz’s mozRank on a 0-10 scale are logarithmic (thus, a PageRank/mozRank 4 has 8-10X the link importance than a PR/mR 3. Get it?)

#4 – TrustRank

The basics of TrustRank are described in this paper from Stanford – Combatting Webspam with TrustRank. There will be a quiz later.

If you are long since college age and got tired from just reading the word “Stamford,” then here is a quick primer. TrustRank, basically, says that “good” and “trustworthy” pages tend to be closely linked together. Think PayPal and eBay or something. It follows, then, that the spammy and dangerous stuff is located outside of this safe “center.” By calculating an iterative, PageRank-like metric that only flows juice from trusted seed sources, a metric like TrustRank can be used to predictively state whether a site/page is likely to be high quality vs. spam. So, the lesson? Don’t take candy from strangers. The candy might be laced with spam and phish.

#5 – Domain Authority

The phrase “domain authority” is thrown around all over the SEO world, but a concrete definition remains elusive. Most people use it to describe that wonderous combination of popularity, importance and trustworthiness that is calculated by search engines and based mostly on link data.

Search engines likely use scores about the “authority” of a domain in counting links, and thus, despite the fuzzy language, it’s worth mentioning as a data point. The domains you earn links from are, potentially, just as important (or possibly more important) than the individual metrics of the page passing the link. Our advice? Practice the term “domain authority” for your next SEO gathering but be prepared to hide behind the punch bowl if people get too curious.

#6 – Diversity of Sources

No single metric has more positive a correlation with high rankings than the number of linking root domains. This is also, incidentally, a very hard metric to manipulate for spam. So, that being said, it tends to indicate true, broad popularity and importance. How to rack up those linking root domains? Diversity. Empirical data suggests that a diversity of domains linking to your site/page has a strong positive effect on rankings. Getting a link from an entirely unique domain is more important than getting a new one from a previously linked domain. So get your name out there and start making those contacts. A few of them might turn into new links. Thank us later.

#7 – Uniqueness of Source + Target

Those crafty search engines have a number of ways to judge and predict ownership and relationships between websites. These can include (but are not limited to):

* A whole lot of shared, reciprocated links
* Domain registration data
* Shared hosting IP address or IP address C-blocks
* Public acquisition/relationship information
* Publicized marketing agreements that can be machine-read and interpreted

Anecdotal evidence that links shared between “networks” of websites obtain very little value from search engines. This is particularly referring to the classic SE strategy of “sitewide” links. So, again, diversify those links.

#8 – Location on the Page

Microsoft was the first engine to reveal public data about their plans to do “block-level” analysis (in an MS Research piece on VIPS – VIsion-based Page Segmentation). If you lack the patience to read that long form piece, or are simply out of ADD medication, then read on.

Simply put, internal links in the footer of web pages may not provide the same beneficial results that those same links will when placed into the top or header positions. This is based on of our own experimentation(Gotta keep that intern working) and much empirical data brought to us via Google and Yahoo! This seems to be based on an algrorithim that seeks to dismiss pervasive link advertisement by diminishing the valu that external links carry from the sidebar or footer of webpages. Links from the actual content of the piece, as always, remain the most sought after links.

#9 – Topical Relevance

The search engines have a myriad of tools at their disposal to determine if two pages or sites cover similar subject matter. Years ago, Google Labs unveiled an automatic classification tool that could predict, based on a URL, the category and sub-category for nearly any type of content. This worked for conents in a wide array of subject matters, from  medical news to real estate and back again. Engines may use these automated topical-classification systems to identify “neighborhoods” around particular topics.

However, there are arguments to be had on both sides of the field here. We are of the opinion that if you get a link from a topic-neutral site such as NYTimes.com or a specific blog on an unrelated subject, then they’ll still pass positive value. Perhaps the engines use these classification tools to predict spam, more than passing judgement. After all, it does look fishy(phishy?) if a site that’s never previously linked to anything in the pharmaceutical field, suddenly does so.

#10 – Content & Context Assessment

Sure, topical relevance can provide some useful information for engines about linking relationships. But, isn’t it possible that the content and context of a link may be even more useful to said engine? Of course it is! Content is king, after all. In content/context analysis, the engines attempt to discern, in a machine parse-able way, why a link exists on a page.

For instance, links positioned for editorial content create certain patterns. They tend to be embedded in the content, link to relevant sources, use accepted norms for HTML structure, word usage, phrasing, language, etc. Through a series of pattern-matching algorithims, it’s possible for search engines to analyze the editorial links and determine their value and liklihood they were added authentically.

#11 – Geographic Location

The geography of a link is, obviously, highly dependent on the purported location of the host. However, the engines(Specifically Google) have been amping up the sophistication in their quest to pinpoint the location-relevance of a root domain, subdomain or subfolder. Here are some of the things they look for:

*  The host IP address location
* The country-code TLD extension (.de, .co.uk, etc)
* The language of the content
* Registration with local search systems and/or regional directories
* Association with a physical address
* The geographic location of links to that site/section

If you earn links to a page or site that is targeted to a particular region, that does mean it should help you perform better in that region’s searches. However, if your profile is tied too heavily to one particular region, it may make it harder to perform in other regions. Keep that in mind as you set out to build links.

#12 – Use of Rel=”Nofollow”

Although in the SEO world it feels like a lifetime ago since nofollow appeared, it’s actually only been around since January of 2005, when Google announced it was adopting support for the new HTML tag.

To put it simply, rel=”nofollow” tells the engines not to ascribe any editorial endorsements or “votes” that would boost a page or site’s ranking metrics. It is an attempt to filter out some noise. Linkscape’s index notes that approximately 3% of all links on the web have the “nofollow” tag attached to them.

#13 – Link Type

Google recently announced that they’re not only crawling this third group, but passing link endorsement metrics through them (which has many upset about the reversal in policy about using Javascript as a way to delineate paid/advertising links).  The mega-engine has also, for years, treated the text in an image’s alt attribute similarly to how anchor text is handled in standard text links.

Not all links are created equal, however. We made our tired, forlorn intern run some more experiments and it was decided that straight, HTML links with standard anchor text pass the most value to engines, followed by image links with keyword-rich alt text. Coming in last, however, were Javascript links, which are not universally followed throughout the web. So, to all of you admins out there, for now it’s best to assume the engines just aren’t that good at passing value to the “quirkier” links. Keep that in mind as you design your sites and put an emphasis on straight HTML links.

#14 – Other Link Targets on the Source Page

When a page links out externally, both the quantity and targets of the other links that exist on that page may be taken into account by the engines when determining how much link value will be passed on.

As mentioned way up on topic number 3, PageRank, algorithims from all of the engines divide the amount of value passed by any given page by the number of links on that page. Additionally, the engines may als consider the quanity of external domains a page points to. They do this as a way to judge the quality and value of said endorsements. For example, if a page links to merely a few external resources on a particular topic, spread out all over the content, it will be perceived differently than a long list of links pointing to external sites. One take is not necessarily better than the other, but the engines may pass greater value through one or the other. However, this is subject to the rest of your page/site and the links contained therein.

Also, the engines are going to be looking at who else your linking pages endorse. If they go  for anything shady or spam-filled, the value of your link is going to go down. It’s kind of like being scene with your one friend who always clears the room at parties. Nice guy, but…

#15 – Domain, Page & Link-Specific Penalties

Nearly everyone in the SEO world can agree on one thing, search engines apply penalties to sites and pages. These range from the loss of the ability to pass value and endorsement all the way up to a full on ban from their main index. If a page or site has received the former punishment, then links from it provide no value for search rankings. Beware, though, engines occasionally show penalities publicly but this is not always the case.

#16 – Content/Embed Patterns

As content licensing & distribution, widgets, badges and distributed, embeddable links-in-content become more prevalent across the web, the engines have begun looking for ways to downplay these tactics. It’s not that Google et al. don’t want to give proper value to the pages or sites that employ these tactics, it’s just that they are a bit wary about over-counting or over-representing sites that simply do a good job of distributing their licensing deals.

It’s likely that content pattern detection and link pattern detection plays a role in how the engines evaluate link diversity and quality. If the engines see the same link with the same content on thousands and thousands of sites, this is sure to signal a decrease in endorsement. To say it yet again, diversity is key here. The engines place more stock in a variety of links from a variety of sources featuring a variety of content. It makes sense, after all.

#17 – Temporal / Historical Data

Timing and data about the appearance of links is the final point on this rather long list. As the trusty engines crawl along the web, they see patterns about how sites earn links. They use this data to fight spam, identify authoritative links and to pass endorsement on rising Internet stars.

Of course, what the engines do with these patterns of link attraction is the subject of much debate. One thing isn’t, however. The data IS being consumed. It is being analyzed and it is being used to help algorithims do a better job of showing the best results and reducing the abilities of spam.

This list had a lot of information, but it certainly was not a be-all end-all list. Please feel free to suggest your own additions in the comment box.

Able to leap tall search engines in a single bound! Popular SEO blog  SEOboy has compiled another list of their greatest hits. This list chronicles their most viewed, most appreciated articles. The articles span the SEO-verse and back again as they tackle subjects such as redirecting domains and  link building techniques. Check out the list here.

The image above was not seen by millions this Easter Sunday. For the fifth year in a row, the Google logo when unaltered during Easter. This is made especially odd when you consider all of the holidays/special interest days the web giant does celebrate via logo. Bing and Ask have gone Easter crazy, however. No word from Google as to what their reasoning is. More on this as it develops.

The kind folks over at SEOMozBlog have cobbled together an unexpectedly hefty tutorial on creating an online video strategy. The article dictates each step of the process in extreme detail,  from visualizing to editing and ultimately promoting. It’s more than worth ten minutes of your time. Head on over and take a look. Your urls will thank you.

Private e-mail addresses that many Facebook users obviously wanted to keep hidden were revealed publicly last night on a multitude of Facebook profiles, Gawker reports. The glitch lasted about 30 minutes before Facebook went ahead and sealed the gap.

An anonymous tipster let Gawker know of the breach in a message riddled with expletives: “6:46PM: I cannot [bleeping] believe it. Everybody’s email has been turned on to the public for at least the past 30 min. I tried going into my account to remove my email b/c I have an issue with a crazed stalker. But I wasn’t able to. God I [bleeping] hate FB!! When will they ever learn?!”

Hopefully soon, FB, hopefully bleeping soon.

Hitwise, an internet research company, has announced that as of 13th of March 2010, Facebook achieved 7.07% of all internet traffic to their homepage, compared to Google’s 7.03%.

But what does it all mean exactly? How accurate are these stats? Do they take things like toolbars and phone usage into account? Social media in SEO is an ever increasing part of successful SEO campaigns, but really could such monetization kill Google?

One thing that must be remembered: This is Google search we are talking about here. Google has been expanding their empire for quite some time and these stats do not take into account Gmail, Analytics or any of the other services the company provides. In short, they are a behemoth.

However, let’s not forget Google’s recent flop of an entry into the  social networking world, Buzz.  Buzz was hit hard with initial privacy issues and is seen as a general flop in terms of its rivals Facebook and Twitter – although of course it is in it’s early days still.

Let’s keep an eye on this in coming months. The future is social, to be sure. But who will be pulling the strings?