Google Docs online text program was described as an integral component of Drive, letting people create and collaborate on documents. Google put its search expertise to work to provide tools for people to quickly find files in their Drive accounts. Included is Goggle technology to power searches using images instead of key words.

However, have you wondered how much of storage space you are currently consuming on Google Drive and how much space is remaining? As soon as we migrated to Google Drive this was the first question that struck my mind. I wish they had a nice little counter, much like the one that they have on their Gmail login page, to show this.

But since they currently don’t show the storage usage space upfront, we decided we would spill the beans via this post. Here is a super quick tutorial on finding how much space you have left in your Google Drive.

1. To get started open Google Drive from your Google menu.

2. When your Google drive opens click on the wrench icon as shown below and click on Settings:

3. And that would be it! The next page that opens would display your current space usage:

Please note that only stored files (.PDF, .DOC, .JPG, etc.) count towards your Google Drive storage limit. And Google Docs formats don’t use up your storage space, which is a great thing if you’d ask me.

As a side note, the talk about creating a Google Drive started about five years ago. The booming trend of smartphones or tablets being at the center of mobile lifestyles and the growing popularity of services like Gmail or YouTube hosted in the Internet cloud made the time ripe for Google Drive, executives said.

Google’s “cloud storage” offering will incorporate search capabilities and allow users to store pictures, notes and other documents on the Internet and access them from any Web-connected device.

Google Drive would offer consumers 5 gigabytes of storage for FREE, reports said, adding that it will charge for higher storage. However, other online backup providers will likely be somewhat protected by this relatively low storage provided in the free mode.

Most people can’t back up their photo and music collections to a 5GB (the rumored size) or even 10GB location, so they will likely be able to maintain the business selling online storage.

Dropbox seems like the real target of this product — their incredibly rapid and viral growth must have been a real shock to the folks at Google, who (it’s rumored) had scuttled a “Gdrive” idea previously. With more than 45 million users (as of Nov 2011), Dropbox has a strong start. The question will be how they, and other providers like Box.net respond to Google’s entry.

The Google Drive service would let consumers store their personal information, from digital music to photos, on remote Internet servers and access the data any time with any device, such as smartphones, tablets and desktop computers.

At this point, it was not immediately clear how much Google will charge for the premium versions. A Google spokeswoman said the company does not comment on rumor or speculation.

Google is increasingly developing services to let consumers store their personal information, from digital music to photos, on remote Internet servers and access the data any time with any device, such as smartphones, tablets and desktop computers.

Google Drive will work with sophisticated image search technology to let consumers sift through a wide variety of document types, which could include the likes of Adobe PDF files and photographs, the source said.

How do you see it playing out? Is Google only going after Dropbox? Or should Box.net, Mozy, Carbonite and Backupify be worried about Google Drive?

Before one gets started, evaluating a link value is important for new link builders although it may be very tricky. Moreover, understanding the value of a link is also of great importance not only in building a new link but also in relation to content plan.

When one is making content specifically to target particular linkers, one should comprehend how one can value a prospective link in order to determine if the effort regarding the performed task is worthwhile. Many times when you’re creating a piece of content designed to target certain types of linkers, you’ll need to understand how to value a potential link to be able to determine if creating the content and actually getting the link will even be worth the effort.

Get Started

The foremost aspect that would be helpful especially in amplifying how to evaluate a link target is getting familiar with the phrase ‘it depends’. One would possibly ask if the page rankings matter. One should be able to explain the importance of having more links in a site, as well as another site that probably has a higher ranking. Moreover, one should know the significance of cache date when one is evaluating a resource.

It depends on some aspects

It depends of various aspects such as backlink profile, ones competitor backlink profiles, keywords as well as keyword set (phrase) that one attempts to rank for, in addition to other many factors. Putting into consideration that ones blanket reputation, at this point, one evaluates the effects of a link in relation to algorithm one can never obtain complete skill of as well as one who attempts to consider a marvelous number of various factors. It is ever depending hence it would be impossible to determine certainty all the time especially the links that would be most influential.

An instance

In case one sets up a fresh link builder wobbly on the resources, they would probably retort with a better comprehension of a value of a link. For instance, imagine an individual carrying out a promotion regarding environmental effects those outcomes from bottled water company. It is necessary for one to stat with typical search inquiry operator in attempting to establish a link prospects. The point here is assisting people to comprehend the process as well as introducing people to other better tools for prospecting.

For one to evaluate the value of a link, the content of the articles posted really matters. For individuals with websites, it would be a better idea to address the issue of frequently posting some content on the website regarding current news, as well as news regarding business.

If one is not a good web designer, it would an ideal idea to hire an experienced expert to design the website. This is because most traffic considers an attractive website.

Also Read: Top 10 Link-Building Tips for Your Blog (SEO)

This will help drive more traffic as well as maintaining the existing clients. The link on the other hand, should be enriched with relevant keywords as well as being able to direct on to other relevant links. One should focus on maintaining the link to be sure of the value to persevere. Moreover, for pages that frequently change, such as blogs, it would be best to assess the prospect value of the links that one may get from the page.

Author: Crystal J. Briscoe is from Exams Expert. Looking for exam help? Let’s take advantage of Exams Expert self paced SY0-301 Exam and pass your IT exams on first try.

With PCNames.com, it is unbelievably easy to check and register available domain names instantly; thanks to its simple navigation structure and integration with registrars and expired domain services! PCNames has a huge database of domain names from all around the Internet, which helps the user to create a differentiation in the searched domain name. This effective website not only search domain, but also leads the user into domain registration process.

Advanced tools like Domain Generator, Mobile App, Bulk Lookup and Widgets are also available for experienced domaineers. Bulk Search URL tool, for example, lets you can run a multiple domain search to see availability of domains that you want. You will not have to wait for these domains to come one by one and will have a complete view of your searches having a bulk domain lookup.

Similarly, if you are in search of inspiration for your next cool site there is a simple way to get good name proposal and generate domain names based on the domain keyword that you have in mind for your next online project. With PCNames Domain Generator tool, you can simply type in your keyword that best suits for your site and will get a nice list of domain name suggestions and also will see their availability. Ain’t that really cool?

PCNames also comes with domain search widgets or domain lookup widgets that when placed on your website, helps make a connection with PCNames. They have a variety of domain name widgets which are quite helpful for users. In addition to this, they also have a FAQ section where you can see an extensive list of FAQs about the web so that users can get domain name info and domain name questions to enlighten themselves about the web and its services.

Finally, PCNames has a number of domain name registrar reviews on the web that are very useful when you are browsing through domain name registration process. You can easily register domain name or buy domain name through these domain name registrar reviews. With all these awesome features, PCNames is one of the best Domain Name Search Engines around and I would highly recommend using them for your domain searches.

When Darry Diller, the media tycoon, acquired InterActive Corp (IAC) for $185 billion, it was said that it would knock Google. Four and a half years later the company now feels it is highly unlikely ever to happen as search engine giant Google holds two thirds of the search market and Ask.com a measly 2-4 percent only. So their decision to shut down the search business makes business sense.

Ask was always a search ground-breaker, but for some reason it never caught on. Interestingly, Ask instituted a site preview feature similar, if slower and less smart than what Google announced early this week, in 2006. In 2007 Ask broke new ground on data privacy with the launch of the Ask Search Eraser. The company did music previews before Google, and more. The company at one point served nearly 2-million search queries each and every day.

However, unfortunately the Ask search results never seemed as good as Google’s. In spite of offering a variety of advanced features in its search product, and even tools that were not available on competing services like Google, Ask.com failed to gain sufficient traction, which ultimately forced the company in the longer run to abandon its search business, pushing management to re-focus on the core Q&A business.

As part of disbanding the business unit, the company would also layoff more than 100 employees that include engineers and programmers, among others, with the job cuts largely affecting U.S. workers.

Ask.com will be transitioned into a question & answer online community with search functionalities, and the ability for members to post questions targeted directly to other community members who could post their own replies. The company would continue to index other popular Q&A websites, and return questions already asked on other networks in search results.

The service would use new proprietary algorithms developed to evaluate user-generated replies from other networks to rank trustworthiness. The company is essentially going back to its roots of being a Q&A centric website, just as the Internet population once flocked to Ask.com to “ask” questions! With the end of Ask.com, the search engine, it’s truly Google and Microsoft’s market now. What do you think?

The program, which was launched with Live Search back in May 2008, offered cash rebates to online shoppers who bought items by searching them on Bing. It initially attracted more than a 1000 sellers offering rebates. Microsoft also launched a strong marketing campaign to promote the feature and claimed that it was “showing traction with advertisers and consumers”, but the program kept facing financial issues. To make matters even worse, in April 2010, Bing held 9.43% of the US search engine market share, down from 9.62% in March.

People owed cashback on purchases will have up to 12 months after the feature closes to redeem it, Microsoft said. The company also will provide customer support during that period. But this is apparently why the cash-back program is ending — “After a couple of years of trying, we did not see the broad adoption that we had hoped for,” Yusuf Mehdi, senior VP of Online Audience Business Group at Microsoft, said in the Bing blog.

The cashback program has had its critics. Samir Meghani, co-founder of price-comparison search engine Bountii.com, claimed last November that the rebate did not always mean shoppers were getting the lowest price available on the Web. As an example, Meghani cited how a camera available on Butterfly Photo site could be bought for less money by going directly to the site, rather than through the cashback program. Microsoft later said it was working with the merchant to fix the inconsistency.

Bing cash-back promo is ending. But not all is lost! According to Microsoft, what was learned will be put into new programs delivering great shopping experiences that help you make better shopping decisions, get great deals, and save time and money on the way. After all, shopping is still one of the most important tasks people engage in while using search! They also already have new ideas for merchants and advertisers to get a broader array of products and offers into Bing and will share more details on that later this summer.

I will not name any of the companies, but hopefully for those that are relatively new to SEO, this will shed some light on some techniques you should avoid.  It may also help some to recognize when a bad SEO comes forward and gives some bad advice, and when to walk away from such shady black hat SEO methods because they can (and will) hurt your Google rankings.

1. “It’s a good idea for us to begin by building toxic links to your competitors, this is a good way to damage their reputation and force them down in the rankings”.  I couldn’t believe this when I first saw the e-mail but it was a genuine suggestion.  Building “toxic links” is somewhat of a gray area, and is difficult to show that it does a lot of damage to your rankings.  I would never recommend building toxic links (these are like comment links or links from “dodgy” websites) to your site because there is every chance you could get noticed, and then penalized by Google.  However building links to a competitor is one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard.  There could even be a chance that they get some benefit out of them, not to mention that no work is being done on your own site!

2. “Put as many keywords in your Title and Meta Tags. This is a great way to show Google that your site is relevant to specific key terms”.  I don’t even understand this proposal very well.  Spamming your Meta Tags!  Wasn’t that something that worked 230 years ago?  Seriously, Google pays barely any attention to the Description Meta Tag, and absolutely none to the Keyword Tag.   These have no benefit to your site, but you can be sure that if you put 500 words in each one, your site isn’t going to rank very well in Google.  The Title tag is one of the more important attributes on your site.  You need to use this wisely.  There is a character limit set at 70 for the top optimized Title tag, and you should stick to this, only use 3 keywords that work best for each page, spamming this, will get you penalized.

3. “Your site is quite dull and we have evidence to show that a lively site attracts more visitors. So we recommend using Flash, and this will help to bring the site into a more favorable and aesthetically pleasing view”.  Right, *Sigh* having a lively site will help with fresh content, but I promise you that there will be no SEO benefit what so ever from adding Flash to your site.  Google and I hate Flash, it can’t be easily read, and Google’s Bot actually disregards most of it.  Not only this it is also filled with so much messy code, slowing down your website (which has now been confirmed as a ranking factor).  Bringing fresh content onto your site is a good thing, Flash is one of the worst!

4. “We strongly recommend that you buy at least 15 domains, preferably with some age and power.  We can send you a list if you would like, we would then redirect them to your site”.  Excuse me for saying this but “OMG”.  Satanic Black hat devil worshipers, this is what is known as Parasite hosting in the SEO world.  The redirect they are talking about is called a 301. It is quite literally where all the power from these older domains is passed through to the new one, to give it a boost.  It is extremely easy to identify, and even easier to penalize.  Google isn’t stupid and neither are you guys, don’t fall into these traps!

To say there has been an uproar over the latest update would be a lie, but there are plenty of people (as with any change) that would like to see the old version of Google Search back. If you are one of those people who miss their old little Google Search and would do anything to get it back, thankfully the solution is pretty easy. To do so is thankfully straight forward, simply make this your default search page:

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=all

How long this will remain available is unknown but it will at least give you a little more time to accept that change is coming.

35 Interesting But Little Known Facts about Google

1. In 1997, Google’s prototype was named “BackRub”.

2. The name ‘Google’ was an accident. A spelling mistake made by the original founders who thought they were going for ‘Googol’.

3. Google.com – The domain was registered on 15 September 1997.

4. Google celebrates Halloween every year in the office. The funniest dress-up was lava lamp in 2007, which I can’t visualize how it must have looked like though.

5. The first ever review of the Google Search Engine was done by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch on August 4, 1998.

6. The prime reason the Google home page is so bare is due to the fact that the founders didn’t know HTML and just wanted a quick interface. In fact it was noted that the submit button was a long time coming and hitting the RETURN key was the only way to burst Google into life.

7. Due to the sparseness of the homepage, in early user tests they noted people just sitting looking at the screen. After a minute of nothingness, the tester intervened and asked ‘Whats up?’ to which they replied “We are waiting for the rest of it”. To solve that particular problem the Google Copyright message was inserted to act as a crude end of page marker.

8. One of the biggest leap in search usage came about when Google introduced their much improved spell checker giving birth to the “Did you mean…” feature. This instantly doubled their traffic, but they had some interesting discussions on how best to place that information, as most people simply tuned that out. But they discovered the placement at the bottom of the results was the most effective area.

9. The infamous “I feel lucky” is nearly never used. However, in trials it was found that removing it would somehow reduce the Google experience. Users wanted it kept. It was a comfort button. I’m Feeling Lucky Costs Google $110 Million a Year.

10. Orkut is very popular in Brazil. Orkut was the brainchild of a very intelligent Google engineer who was pretty much given free reign to run with it, without having to go through the normal Google UI procedures, hence the reason it doesn’t look or feel like a Google application. They are looking at improving Orkut to cope with the loads it places on the system.

11. There are no restrictions on Googler’s dress code in the office, in which pajama, ugly sweater and even super hero costume were on the records.

12. Google started off its first operations in a rented Garage.

13. Gmail was used internally for nearly 2years prior to launch to the public. They discovered there was approximately 6 types of email users, and Gmail has been designed to accommodate these 6.

14. Google publishes variety of logos commemorating holidays and events. The first one on the books being a self-made “Burning Man” logo by the founders themselves.

15. Google’s first chef Charlie Ayers, ( hired in 1999 ) quit Google and opened his own restaurant in 2005.

16. Employees are encouraged to use 20% of their time working on their own projects. Google News, Orkut are both examples of projects that grew from this working model.

17. Google products appear in 117 type of languages, including 5 “fake” languages like Elmer Fudd and Swedish Chef. Spanish, German, French and Japanese are the most used search language besides English.

18. Google won the prestigious award for Technical Achievement in 2000. In the nominees list there were no search engines at all.

19. Thinking of working in Google? Well, think again if you can’t answer their mysterious and challenging puzzles. Google setup a billboard in Silicon Valley by 2004, stating “First 10 digit prime in consecutive digits of e”. Geeks who got the hint would have visited http://www.7427466391.com/ (which is not available now) with further puzzles to be solved before they were recruited.

20. Google’s first ever April Fool’s joke went online on April 1st, 2000 and was called “MentalPlex” – Google’s ability to read your mind.

21. The Google logo was never centered (as it appears today). It only appeared centered in March 2001. It was aligned to the left earlier. (And there were a lot more distractions then).

22. Google’s first employee is Craig Silverstein. Craig is the man behind “exact search” (where you get pages containing the exact search term within quotes.)

23. In 1999, when Google moved to their Paolo Alto office, there were only 19 employees in the company. Today there are 0ver 2,700 Googlers.

24. It will take Google 300 years to put the entire world’s information online.

25. Google reckons only 10% of the world’s information is online.

26. Google believes up to 20% of the online content changes every month.

27. Google uses over 300 factors to rank websites which includes PageRank.

28. According to Google, 20-25% of the search queries are unique.

29. The index of Google is 3 times larger than Yahoo’s index or MSN’s index.

30. In Google, thousands of computers are involved in processing a single search query.

31. 70% of Google engineers are working on search-related problems.

32. Google uses over 200 signals for Pagerank.

33. A lot of Googlers work on automatic translation tools. Google has the largest network of translators in the world

34. “Teaching is like learning again”. Since 2000, Google encourage teaching and learning activities among its employees, from the subject of learning Chinese to Ulysses from Greek mythology.

If you liked this article then make sure you also read – “How Well Do You Know Google? (10 Questions Quiz)“

Internet security software and common sense can steer you away from the some of the Web’s riskiest destinations to avoid malware, but when it’s embedded in ads from some of the biggest advertising networks out there, you may be looking at infection at every turn.

According to Avast, a manufacturer of antivirus software, major ad networks affiliated with Yahoo, Fox and Google have been distributing “poisoned ads” containing malicious code. The so-called JS:Prontexi attack uses JavaScript that can open the door to malware attacks and zero-day exploits, all without clicking on anything.

The attack infects advertisements served up by a number of online advertisers, helping place malware on the computers of people visiting leading websites such as Google and Yahoo.

The most compromised services are yieldmanager.com (Yahoo) and fimserve.com (FOX Audience Network) which cover more than 50% of online ads. The list of poisoned ad services is extensive and includes advertangel.com, bannerimg.com, jambovideonework.com, myspace.com, vestraff.com and zedo.com. Doubleclick.com, an advertising server affiliated with Google, is ranked fifth in the avast! Virus Lab list of infected servers by rate of infection.

Because the infected networks serve more than 50 percent of all online advertising, poisoned ads have appeared on major sites including The New York Times, TechCrunch and Drudge Report.

This isn’t the only outbreak of a computer virus spread through advertising. “The poison ad infiltration method is growing in popularity because it does not require users to click on anything,” said Avast virus analyst Jiri Sejtko, in a statement. “Users can get infected just by reading their favorite newspaper or by doing a search on popular topics; the infection begins just after the poisoned ad is loaded by the browser.”

To make matters even worse, there is no provision for ads of this nature to be illegal. Where will the lawsuits land when major networks are compromised with these attacks? The browser manufacturer? The ad provider? The search engine? The user? The actual attackers? And lawmakers are siding with the advertising agencies behind it all – follow the money!