With all of the recent updates to the Google search algorithms (Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird), a toll is being taken on social sharing and content.

The entertainment website BuzzFeed founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti has since grown to become an international media and technology company providing its users with news and articles on a myriad of subjects. News from the world of entertainment figures highly, but politics, business, animals and DIY are subjects that attract the website’s visitors.

The technology giants are awash with cash, so apart from buying up other companies what can they do with it? The answer is… they can build themselves futuristic headquarters to impress us all. Quirky designs fit the image of such companies and as money is no object, why not create something really special?

Ever since the European Court ruling earlier this year gave people the ‘right to be forgotten’, links have been disappearing from Google search within Europe. If anyone feels they have a right to request the removal of out of date or irrelevant details found on Google search, they can contact Google and ask for it to be taken down.  And they have done so, in their droves.

Going HTTPS, whereby you add a SSL 2048-bit key certificate to your site, will help you achieve a small boost in the search rankings, Google has claimed.

Help is at hand for news content publishers with the launch this week of Google’s new news portal, Google News Publisher Center.

Microsoft unveiled a new look to Bing Ads yesterday.  Earlier last month David Pann, General Manager for the search network at Microsoft, announced Bing Ads plans for the coming year, and was confident about the future:  “As great as this past year was, I’m more excited about FY15 than I’ve ever been. All the fundamentals are set,” he said.

A study into people’s search habits has revealed that search engines like Google could predict when events like an economic crash could happen.

The importance of establishing and maintaining a positive web image, and the devastating effects of receiving negative publicity has certainly been apparent in the news over the past few weeks.

Do you notice when search features get added or taken away? Probably not, unless it’s a feature you absolutely love. But search engines like Google often change their formats, adding and taking away features, in order to refresh and revitalise the search experience. For example, one big decision Google made this year was to completely disable the Google discussion forum search filter.