Google recently released a patent based on the browsing tendencies of “reasonable surfers”. Within, it details that previously, Google had followed a “random surfer” model – that every link on a page was equally important, without process or thought on user tendency or where the most used links would lie. This new development, the reasonable surfer model, means that Google now judges a link based on standard user behavior – or is in the course of perfecting said process – giving more weight to links that are more likely to be clicked on, and less to those buried away in the nether regions of a page.

A Google News Help thread has one news publisher saying he is receiving a news specific error in Webmaster Tools named “Unknown News Site.” I couldn’t figure out what it was, I didn’t see it in the News-specific crawl errors…

At the end of September I posted that it looked like Google had acquired Plannr, a mobile planning startup that lets friends message each other with plans so everyone stays in-sync. This service, dubbed the “Outlook for hipsters” by TechCrunch, is now confirmed to have been purchased by the search giant

As you know, Bing is revamping their webmaster communications and thus let go most of the personalities we have grown to love in the Bing support area. One such personality was Brett Yount, former Bing’s webmaster center program manager who…

Those of you who are Google Merchant Center / Base merchants should be aware that the scheduled automatic uploads are currently not working. Ronald from Google posted a thread at the Google Merchant Center Help area saying: We’ve noticed that..

A WebmasterWorld thread has one SEO noticing that Google is testing a new search results user interface.

A week ago at Search Engine Land, I reported Google News is testing Twitter integration. Google News is experimenting with allowing some users enter their Twitter username and receive personalized news based on what their friends are reading and their…

Last week, I attended SMX East and spoke about “Facebook SEO: Free Ways To Be Found On Facebook”. One hot topic within the panel was how exactly to leverage one’s user base and get them to take the action steps on social sites. Whether it be “likes,” “check-ins,” or “followers” you are looking for, one *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

The Ontolo guys Garrett and Ben are at it again with the launch of the V2 of their Link Building Toolset … And from the demo videos it looks like link building just got easier. We interviewed them here , and wrote about one of their free tools here … Here is what they said in the press release about the tool and how it benefits link builders.

Google announced last night that the company has invested “in the development of a backbone transmission project off the Mid-Atlantic coast” that will help support future harvesting of power from offshore wind turbines up and down 350 miles of the US East Coast. The windmills have yet to be built, but this is key *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***