Google apparently doesn't like webspam, and has released another monochromatic creature to combat it. It was released hot on the heels of the latest Panda update, and is described as an algorithm update targetting such tactics as low quality content and enforcing Google's own quality guidelines.

Fortuntely no-one expected these kinds of high risk tactics to work forever, and restricted them to churn and burn sites. Right?

Android users can now download and install Instagram, which has managed to annoy a lot of people who they don't know. Fortunately Facebook announced their intent to purchase the app, and the subtle feeling of discomfort and wrongness set in before any organised iOS lynch mobs could form.

According to @google, the search engine is currently rolling out another Panda update. As with almost any update Google publicises in search, this one is surrounded with the usual fear and uncertainty.

Last week Google announced that they had made forty changes to Google search. In this list there were a number of spelling and related term changes and a reasonable amount of alterations relating to image search, spiking queries and document age. Local search, official site identification and introducing Google's product search to more markets were also mentioned in passing. There was also one point about a ranking factor for links being turned off. Guess which one most of the SEO community were discussing.

The comic was originally done for a blog post of mine, "Won’t Someone Think of the Links?"

"This week Google’s search blog, Inside Search, announced a number of changes that were rolled out during February. Apparently one of them was about links. Unsurprisingly, this change was the one that received the most immediate attention, and generated the largest number of blog posts. Which is not too bad for a single paragraph that really does not say a lot..."

Google got caught with its hand in the cookie jar now that it seems that it was tracking Safari users even with their privacy settings turned on. Not wanting to feel left out, the Internet Explorer team helpfully point out that Google had not properly implemented P3P on their sites. This initiated a lot of furious wikipedia-ing as people suddenly needed to work out what P3P actually was for the first time in its 15 year life.

Suffice to say, what started as an interesting point regarding how Google engineered a solution to one browsers' privacy settings as if it was a bug turned into an opportunity for the usual suspects to take pot shots at a rival company.

Pinterest has now offically joined the "We're Sorry About That" club for social networks. Both Pinterest and Path were inducted this month for seeking to make money off of user generated content and uploading contacts to their own servers respectiely.

Fortunately they have now publically apologised and made some updates so everyone can go back to whatever it is they were doing. At least until the next round of ritual social media tar and feathering.

Since Search plus your world was announced, Google+ has experienced a sudden surge in activity. Shame most of it is online marketers posting links to their stuff and to establish 'context' or to build a network. At least Google can now quote some more impressive figures regarding actual usage within the network now.

It is not surprising that announcing a certain Google product could be used to get more content into Google's search results would result in this kind of behaviour. The question is how many of these newcomers will use Google+ as a social network as well.

It probably needs more effort before it can be astroturfing. Of course this would never stop an hour of twitter rage punctuated with declarations of 'social media fail'.

Google announced a change to AdWords ad spots earlier this week:

Starting today, ads that have previously shown to the side of the results may in some cases appear below them. We dynamically optimize each search page, including its ads, to provide the best experience for our users.

At the bottom of the SERP. Below the fold. It got a mixed reaction from offline agency people and online marketing professionals, with varying levels of outrage and knowledge. This change in real terms creates a greater difference between the top positions and those that would normally be off to the site in visibility. I am sure that this will be obvious in the click through rate as well.

Not everyone is ready for an Activity feed on Twitter.