Hurricane Search Engine & PPC Management Blog

Adwords Ranking Algo Changes in USA

It appears that Google have launched a new algorhythm for adwords at least in America that takes into account local variations in search and click through rates and applying them to adwords. As far as we know at this point there is nothing to suggest this will affect the UK adwords program. I don't think it would make sense to regionalise such a small country but time will tell... Check out the

Google Ranking Secrets

Some interesting points on Google's ranking algorythm are made here in response to the recent patents they have filed in the USA.

Specifically that Google will check the following:

1. The domain name owner’s address is considered, most likely to help in a local search result.

2. The technical and admin contact details are checked for consistency. These are often falsified for Spam domains.

This is interesting information and definately worth considering especially for SEOs who may have previously thought it was worth hiding stuff from whois and entering false data.

Read the rest it's worth a look...

We Want to Stop Software Patents in the EU

The Software Patents Directive, as approved by the European Council of Ministers, would codify US-style Software Patents in the European Union.

If that happens, software developers will no longer own what they write and can be sued for selling or distributing their own software.

Show your support for the campaign against Software Patents in the EU here

MSN Search Launch Local Search Beta

MSN are hot on the heals of Google in the local search stakes, they have just launched the beta version of MSN Local Search.

How good is it? Well you will have to decide that for yourself and we cannot link to live examples since these are based on your personal settings saved with MSN.

First Impressions based on a quick test are that the service is not as refined as that being offered by Google Local or Yahoo Local Search but nevertheless it's interesting!

The interface is definately not as consumer friendly as the one offered by Google and Microsoft seem to have missed the point that people may want to search for local stuff in an area which they are not normally resident.
To change the locality of your local search you need to change your settings at MSN and change your location. Whilst this approach simplifies the user interface it makes the service less useful than that offered by Google, but hey it's still in Beta and doubtless they will make many changes before the official launch.