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Google Apps to Not Support Older Browsers

Posted by Steve | January 30th, 2010

A shocking email from Google just blasted into my inbox. As an SEO and Webmaster, I have the latest and greatest web browsers installed on my machine. However, I know about 70 individuals who have never needed to upgrade their machine or are now being forced to if they wish to continue using Google Apps.

Google’s email clearly states that they will no longer support older browsers as they move to start using HTML5, a markup language colleges aren’t even teaching yet. I’m a huge fan of technology, but serving hundreds of local businesses who use Google Apps for email, websites, document storage, calendars and so forth, I know that this may end up being a real shock to the system for people who are still on eMachines that crash when you load IE8, Fx3.5 or any newer browser.

Here’s the email:

Dear Google Apps admin,

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting next week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Apps product or account.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

What’s Your Take on Google’s Browser Support Notification?

Share your feedback below.

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State of the Google Index 2009

Posted by Steve | January 27th, 2010

It’s easy to get so caught up on the day to day routine of consulting, optimizing, analyzing, bidding, writing, and theming, that we often forget to keep up to date with what’s going on in search. I finally had an opportunity to watch the State of the Index video by Matt Cutts (above) and just realized how much good stuff I’ve been missing out on.

For instance, thanks to the new Google Onebox 2.0, I don’t have to scroll through miles of really lame lyrics websites. You know, those websites created by some nobody who wanted to get attention so they started cataloging lyrics to get placement in the search results (yes, the same guys who now host AdSense for revenue and garbage for content). A quick query for “Aerosmith Mama Kin” produced the following results for me.

Click the image below to rock out for a minute in Google SERPS (I did) or continue on.

Google Onebox 2.0

Next came Google Squared, a blatant sign to developers to tag the living heck out of your content with RDFa XHTML markup for wicked indexing potential in 2012.

Wonder Wheel is a new tool in the the Options Panel, a great way to get more keyword ideas. It’s built in Flash and provides a brainstorming type model for doing keyword research.

For Developers, Matt talked about the new Google Speed section of Google, built to help Developers “speed up the Web”. Sound familiar? The last time we heard this was back in March of 2008, when they announced the importance of load time to the AdWords Quality Score algorithm. Since that time, Google has produce even more supportive documentation to help users improve load time, such as this AdWords Help page.

Matt continued to discuss the introduction of the Canonical URL, parameter handlers, and being able to Fetch as Googlebot. Matt also recognized that Google outright stated that they do not use the keywords meta tag, which we’ve all known for years, but had never been officially announced.

Thanks Matt for the great wrap up, for Google Webmaster Central and for being our liaison to Google for getting better placement in the Google search results. Despite all the negative things people say and all the skepticism people have about what Google is willing to share, I am remain a huge fan with nothing but trust in your words. I have yet to see one instance of a test result that contradicted a statement you made and will therefore keep GWH as my Chrome homepage (iGoogle Apps version is my Fx; ain’t gonna change it).

Looking forward to a great 2010 in search!

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SEO Review of CCWProShop.com

Posted by Steve | January 25th, 2010

Thank you Corey for reaching out to me on Facebook for an SEO Review of your website: CCWProShop.com. Watch the video above to see a few of my findings.

Best,
Steve

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SEO Standards

Posted by Steve | January 3rd, 2010

It’s going to be a long, but very productive weekend as I work on the new SEOStandards.org website. Bookmark and check it out on Monday. Your feedback and participation is extremely appreciated and definitely welcomed.

The site will feature an SEO Audit Checklist, links to free SEO tools, and discussions on popular SEO topics. Hope you’ll come check it out on Monday, January 4th.

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SES San Jose Interview

Posted by Steve | December 26th, 2009

Above is a video of an interview from Search Engine Strategies in San Jose 2009. I attended SES West with the Local Splash team to help promote their new brand and local search engine optimization and marketing products.

If you haven’t been to SES, I definitely recommend it. Go Platinum and get to all the sessions. Challenge vendors to prove themselves with case studies, metrics and references. But most of all, enjoy the great after-parties!

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