Just bringing you the best in Google-related morsel-sized news:
“I used Google Checkout, but all I got…” Google’s gone the way of the free swag promotion to help push Checkout. Anyone who used the service yesterday to buy an item worth more than 20 bucks got a free T-shirt in the bargain. That promotion might be over, but maybe there’s still a way to use checkout AND get some free stuff from Google. Step 1) buy something with Checkout. Step 2) hope something goes horribly awry. Step 3) Make some noise about it on your blog, and… Step 4) sit back and wait for the free stuff to roll in!
Nothing personal, Froogle Google Video got a new makeover, and now it’s getting a turn on the runway. Google shuffled around a few of the links on their front page, dropping Froogle and Groups from view to make room for Video. Check the screenshot at Google Blogoscoped. As you can see, you can still get to Froogle and Google Groups, though, by clicking on the “More” link…they pop up in a nice ajax box.
The online encyclopedia anyone can complain about If you’ve done much searching on Google recently, you’ve probably noticed a preponderance of links to Wikipedia ranking pretty high in the search results. Some webmasters are hopping mad about this, and are venting their spleen in a Webmaster World forum thread. A couple of frustrated folks are labeling the Wikipedia “junk” and “a problem,” and other ubiquitous sites like the Internet Movie Database and YouTube are the focus of much ire. It might sound like sour grapes, but there’s actually a goodly number of well-reasoned posts debating the merits of Wikipedia and its popularity in SERPS (via SE Roundtable.
