It looks like Google is jumping on the bandwagon and is attempting to add a social component to their web search that will help bring family and friends together via the web search results. They're calling it the +1 button, which the company has described as shorthand for “that’s pretty cool”, or it's time to check it out. If you're familiar with Facebook,  it's concept is very similar to the "like" button that seems to be just about everywhere you look on the web these days.

The +1's purpose is to publicly approve of anything you or your family and friends search for on the Internet. What's great about it is the ability to find things on the web and have the ability to share what you like...

It’s an experience that’s all-too-familiar with Google users.

After typing in a search term and viewing the results, you click on a site that seems to be relevant to your search – only you’re met with something entirely different.  Whether the site was of an exceptionally low quality, offensive in nature or overstuffed with keywords, accidentally clicking on a site that wasn’t at all relevant to your search has been a frustrating yet ubiquitous part of the online experience.

Until now, that is.

Always one step ahead of its competitors, Google recently announced a new service that promises to give its users “a more personalized and enjoyable experience” by allowing them to block websites from popping up in future search results.  The search engine powerhouse claims that not only will this site-blocking service give users more control over their online experience, but it may become a fundamental tool in helping Google determine which sites are worthy of top ranking for their keywords.  For example, a site that is continually blocked from users’ search results may be penalized by Google’s ranking system and removed from its top-tier ranking altogether...

Web development is always evolving and now it's taking another leap into the unknown with the power struggle between Flash and HTML 5. Adobe systems wants to keep a piece of the pie with the coexistence of Flash and HTML 5. Can this union exist?

If it were up to Steve Jobs and Apple, the flash platform would have been phased out a long time ago. Performance, security and reliability have continually been reoccurring issues. They feel the HTML 5 standard is the platform of the future and want to exclude all Flash support from its platform...

Fans of Google AdWords Quality Score, listen up: Microsoft adCenter has recently announced the launch of an improved Quality Score feature that will reveal to advertisers key elements of a successful keyword campaign.

Available this spring, Microsoft developers are confident that their new Quality Score tool will provide advertisers with invaluable feedback on how competitive their keywords are in the online marketplace.  Preliminary features include...

Does Google really care about providing the best quality search engine results? This has become a hotly debated issue and with all the talk and debates,  there's just speculation without any real answers from Google.

We can expect that Google's, like any mega corporation, profits are the only thing that matter. If you think Google really cares about having quality search engine results and ranking, then you are in the minority.

So what could be reasons for websites getting indexed with  high page rankings?  A lot of the top sites seem to be junky sites with adsense ads  compared to the many higher quality sites that finish second...