Multiple search boxes on google homepage

I saw a discussion today about how much google is changing and especially how they are mixing in other things (product search, video search, local business center, news, etc.) in with organic search pages.

This made me think how much better google would be if they just kept these all separate, but advertised the other options more.

A good way I see of them doing this would be if instead of having small text links to the other options they could have multiple search boxes on their homepage, like in this google demonstration

What I think would be even better would be if they created a new system for products, services, ecommerce etc. and then gave webmasters the choice of their pages appearing in this new system or the old system.

By doing this the original search engine would revert back to being useful for finding information, where as the new system would be good for people looking for business, services, products etc.

Why no encrypted search option for google.co.uk

“With Google search over SSL, you can have an end-to-end encrypted search solution between your computer and Google. This secured channel helps protect your search terms and your search results pages from being intercepted by a third party. This provides you with a more secure and private search experience.”

Source: http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=173733

So why no encrypted search for google.co.uk ?

And is it not a bit silly having the link “Go to Google.co.uk” on https://encrypted.google.com/ and https://www.google.com/ when it takes you back to the unencrypted search option on google.co.uk ?

Google Dates Wrong

It looks like google are trying to be too clever again.

Try a search on google like this,

 http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&q=site%3Awww.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk%2Fbusiness-listings.asp

and you will see google has added a date to the start of some descriptions, a perfect example is http://www.google.co.uk/search?&q=Ensurve

My listing is at number 2 and the description google displays is,

“6 Apr 2007 … Ensurve – Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) … Ensurve. Domestic Energy Assessment and Energy Performance Certificate production. Ensurve …”

Nothing wrong with that you may think, but 6 Apr 2007 doesn’t appear anywhere on the page, within the title, meta description, keywords or any links pointing to the page.

What does appear on the page is the date of entry 04/06/2007 which for us in the UK is 4 June 2007. Google has obviously seen this date converted it to a US format and is using it in the description.

WordPress 2.5.1 not getting indexed by google

I have so far upgraded 2 WordPress blogs today, made a post afterwards, pinged google, but neither has been indexed in blog search yet.

Prior to upgrading to WordPress 2.5.1 a new post would be indexed in google blog search within 2 minutes, this is a 3rd upgrade to see if this post gets picked up.

Update: Obviously not a WordPress problem, this post was picked up within a minute.

Sim64 back from the brink?

After being AWOL for 2 years Sim64 suddenly appeared in the SERPS again this evening. Whether it is just temporary, or whether all filters have been lifted time will tell.

Is Google Checkout safe to use

Read an interesting thread in a Legal newsroup on Usenet today.

A poster had brought an item for £325 from an online retailer using their Google checkout facility. The goods arrived 2 weeks later but were not as described and faulty. The poster attempted to contact the retailer only to find the website had gone, emails were unanswered and the postal address was fake.

He initially used the Google checkout mediation service which failed as the vendor could not be traced, he was then told by Google to continue his attempt to contact the vendor or ask his credit card company for a charge back from the vendor.

Now this is where the catch comes in.

The credit card company couldn’t issue a charge back against the vendor because the vendor wasn’t the person who charged the card.
The people who had charged the card were Google so any charge back could only be against them, but as the service google provided was money transfering and this had not been the problem, it meant the poster could not claim the money back of them either.

What in theory this means is that whenever you buy anything online via Google Checkout you automatically lose the security that credit cards provide against bad purchases.

Be aware of this next time you make an online purchase and ensure you read the small print of the Google Checkout terms and conditions.