Better Business Bureau on Google: Unsatisfactory
Have a look at Google’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) Reliability Report. It shows Google isn’t a good company to deal with. Based on customer experiences:
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record
BBB Definition:
unsatisfactory record - A company has an “unsatisfactory business performance record” with the BBB is based on the experiences reflected in BBB files. This file condition results when the company has failed to resolve or respond to complaints, repeatedly failed to respond or resolve issues in a timely manner, failed to resolve the underlying issues for a pattern
When considering complaint information, please take into account the company’s size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm’s responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
Google Maps Hong Kong Now Even More Useful
When I was relatively new in Hong Kong, the old reliable map service I use was Centamap, an online map of Hong Kong developed by Centaline Property. It is quite useful as it has access to bus stops, schools, restaurants and consulate offices.
However, I found that the layout is cramped. But I continued to use it until Google release its Google Maps service. Both layout and features are astonishing. By the time Google added more features, such as shortest routes from one point to another without the Chinese characters embedded on the English interface like in the Centamap site, I made the switch.
Does Google Toolbar Help Index Content?
The answer to the question above is NO.
Another myth was debunked as Matt Cutts as he explains that installing Google Toolbar doesn’t index pages by virtue of the presence of Google Toolbar.
In an article quoted from Information Week:
But thanks to Google (NSDQ: GOOG), there’s no need to guess the URL. It can be found using the inurl: search query operator with mms2legacy as the argument.
The reason for this, explained Ken Simpson, CEO of anti-spam company MailChannels, is that one’s Google Toolbar may be configured to pass URLs that one visits to Google for indexing. “If you run Google Toolbar, it knows pages you visit,” he said.
As Google explains in its Google Toolbar privacy policy, “Certain optional Toolbar features operate by sending Google the addresses or other information about sites when you visit them. Web History, PageRank, and Safe Browsing in Enhanced Mode all work this way.”
6 Tips When Outsourcing Link Building Campaigns
Link campaigns can be a very challenging part of an SEO campaign. No wonder there are lots of companies trying to outsource link building activities. This demand created companies that specifically do link building jobs. However, as with any other outsourcing jobs, there are tricky spots that come along with these client-vendor arrangements that are oceans apart in many occasions.
Search Engine Roundtable offers a variety of tips (from an SEO discussion thread) to those who plan to outsource their link building campaigns.
Do not pay in advance
Applies generally to all businesses and not just linking campaigns. Paying in advance gives the crooks a reason to hide from you and look for new victims, if that’s their main business.
China Internet Shoppers Soar Rapidly
According to a report by The Standard, the number of mainland Chinese consumers using the Internet to shop or make bookings has increased significantly.
Commerce on the internet in China is expanding rapidly, with spending up nearly 60 percent in the first half of the year.
Chinese internet users spent 256.1 billion yuan (HK$291.9 billion) in the first six months. That was an increase of 58.2 percent from the same period in 2007, according to research institute Data Centre of China Internet.
Spending online for all of 2008 is expected to hit 587.4 billion yuan. That would be up 47.3 percent from the previous year, the Beijing-based agency said.