Google's Caffeine is Shaking Up Search Results

Search engine optimization is starting to become a lot like the stock market: some of your investments pay off quickly, some don't ever pay off, and others go great for years and all of a sudden are worthless.

If you find that your search results are not what they used to be it may be because of all the changes regarding the search engine market. Every search company is trying to differentiate themselves in this crowded market and this is stirring up rankings.

A month or so ago, Microsoft launched Bing which was promised to provide better results than ever before. They also partnered with Yahoo, meaning webmasters no longer have to optimize their site for Google, Yahoo and MSN (Bing) to ensure they are getting maximum exposure. Now there are just two big dogs, but there is going to be a wrench thrown into the mix.


Google is launching a new search engine named Google Caffeine. Caffeine claims to deliver faster and more accurate search results and the launch could slow Bing's growth.

The public can test Caffeine to see where a site ranks or see what the differences are. It is not nearly as large a change as what Bing was, but it may have some large implications to your website traffic. One of the enhancements will revolve around getting real time data. As news breaks or new content is published it will be added to Caffeine almost immediately.

Google's Caffeine Sandbox


Search engine optimization



Google and Bing are claiming to focus more on crawling of relevant content and reliable websites. This means more time should be spent on boosting your website's content and making sure the structure of your website is sound. There are several things your webmaster can do to make sure you are visible to both Google's Caffeine and Bing.

One of the areas that is being de-emphasized is backlinks. Using the old Google and MSN, backlinks were king; the more links you had to your website the higher ranking you would receive. This caused a problem in the industry because you could literally buy your way to the top. While backlinks are still very important, having website content that is relevant is even more important.

Finally, the age of your website is more important. New websites are being penalized and older domains are being rewarded. There is really nothing you can do about this aspect, just make sure to register new domains as early as possible and don't switch domain names if you can avoid it.

This article was written for Tekniq by Josh Collins

Some insight into Bing, and why you may actually like it

Not all search engines are created equal, if they were Google wouldn’t have over 60% of the worlds search market. But is Bing a Google killer or just another search with a few gimmicks?

At first glance, Microsoft’s msn.com replacement looks surprisingly familiar. It has a search box in the middle of the screen, some links along the top to sign in or create an account and other links that access "images, videos, shopping, news, maps and travel." So, upon first look, it seems that Microsoft spent 100 million dollars to create… Google! But this is really where the similarities stop.

Bing is livened up by a crisp background image that links to some interesting facts and videos about the pictures when you rollover certain areas. Neat, but it is not exactly going to make Bing the search engine of choice.


So how about their search results?

Search results are displayed in the same format as Google and even their results are similar. When I searched for "Kyocera Kansas City" Tekniq popped up as #1 on both search engines. But on Bing I was able to hover my mouse over a little symbol to the right of the results and see a text preview of the page and what the page links to. This little feature could be handy, but with high speed internet it’s probably just faster to click and go to the site to see it yourself.

So where does it really excel?

Bing may be similar in appearance and functionality to Google for searching, but where Bing really dazzles is with its other programs.

1. Bing Images
Bing allows for better image searching and displaying. You can customize the layout of the images and there is no flipping through pages to see more results, simply scroll down and more images appear.

Bing also has a "Show similar Images" link on every image. This is great for finding the type of image you want. So if you want an image of a person talking on a phone, you can type in "phone" and then find the image that you want and click "Show similar images" and you will see more like that image.

2. Bing Videos
Bing has a searchable video service that has video’s from youtube, ABC, BBC and other sites. It also has a quick preview feature where you can roll over the video and it will start streaming it immediately so you can preview the video before even clicking on it.

3. Bing Shopping with cashback
Perhaps one of the best features that Bing has is their shopping feature. It is easy to use and similar to Google shopping but they have a cashback program that pays you up to 10% for buying from certain vendors.

Some of their prices seem to correspond to the wrong products, but one can only assume that it is because the service is new. If they fix this then why would you ever shop online any other way?

4. Bing Maps
Bing’s mapping feature is leftover from live.com. But if you have never checked it out, I think you may be impressed. It has great satellite and areal imagery that let you view your house from all four angles instead of just a bird’s eye view. It also has a plug-in that you can install to access true 3d mapping.

Though it doesn’t have an answer to Google Streets, it is still a nice tool and good in its own right.

Bing really does deliver some impressive features without losing what most love about Google. If Google doesn’t respond to some of these features by making changes of their own, then Bing may be something to reckon with. My guess is that Google responds in a big way and is able to leverage their name to once again increase their market. But for now, Bing may be the search engine of choice.

New Killer Condom Post

Killer Condom is being updated every wednesday. So far it is going pretty well. We are trying to come up with new matchups that are both wrong and disturbing for your enjoyment. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Madonna vs. Britney Spears

Refinishing, Sanding, Staining and Polyurethane a Hardwood Oak Floor

Overview:Recently, I was charged with the task of refinishing a hardwood oak floor. The floor was underneath a layer of carpet that had been laid a couple years prior.

Refinishing a wood floor isn't all that hard if you know what you need beforehand. I refinished mine because there were some really dull spots on the floor and there were also some dents and scuffs I wanted removed.

Preparation: Remove the carpet

If you have carpet you are going to have to remove it! This part is easy, just tug on a corner and pull it off the tack board. Cut the carpet in long 3 or 4 food sections using a sharp box cutter. Simply, roll it up and haul it away.

You will be left with your pad. In my case the pad was just stapled down and not glued, so you pretty much do the same thing as the carpet and just roll it up and haul it away.Once you get all the carpet and pad removed you have to get rid of the staples and tack board. Invest in a good molding removing pry bar. It will look similar to a normal pry bar on one end, but will have an odd shaped other end that is specially designed to pull finishing nails out of tight places. This tool will save you tons of time! As for the staples, pull em out with pliers, it is time consuming but pretty easy.

Preparation: Remove the trim

If you have trim that overlaps the hard wood you will have to remove that as well. This is pretty easy if you bought the molding pry bar. Simply pry it up and remove the finishing nails. Once you are done with all of this you are left with your wood floor and you are ready for the real fun.

Choose a Sander:

Now it is time to rent a floor sander. There are several different kinds that you can rent from Home Depot. They are similar in cost but different in a few ways.

• Belt Sander: It is designed to take off layers of your floor quickly. This may be best left to a professional since you can screw your floor up the fastest with this one.


• Orbital Sander - 3 disc: This sander is one of the more common ones, it is easy to use and good for a beginner. It is a bit more aggressive than the next sander.


• Orbital Sander - square pad: This is the least aggressive but perhaps the most forgiving. Because you will have to make many passes with the sander if you want to really get down to the bare wood this one can be time consuming but good for a beginner. This is the one I used.

Sanding down the floor:

For this tutorial I am going to discuss using a square pad orbital sander since that is what I used. Start with a 30-40 grit sandpaper and slowly make a pass going with the floorboards. You should see the polyurethane and some of the stain come off pretty quickly. The pads don't last all that long because they get polyurethane clumps on them so I went through about 2 pads every 10 by 10 area.

**Note** Vary your pattern. Don't always start and stop on the same place on the floor. It can create a pattern that is noticeable.

Since this one is forgiving you can go over and over the same spots without really digging into the wood too much, so my recommendation would be to go over each spot a couple times back and forth and then move on to the next row. If you get done and you need to go back over it that isn't a problem. Just remember that you are going to use a higher grit (finer) sand paper afterward that will take off some more wood. The most important part is making sure all the polyurethane is off the floor.

**Note** I had some problems because in some of my dents in the floor I wasn't getting all the shine off the floor in every place. But as I went to the finer sandpaper it got almost all of this off.

Since the large floor sander cannot get all the way to the edge you are going to have to use a hand sander with similar grit paper on the edges. This is time consuming and I didn't get mine 100% even, but since I was staining it was going to help cover up my imperfections.

After you are done making several passes of 30-40 grit paper, do the same thing with 60-80 grit paper. This should take less time since you are touching things up.

Finally, you put on your finest sandpaper (around 150 grit). You should only need to go over once or twice and these pads should last about twice as long. I only used two for a 400sq foot area.

Remember to do the edges with your hand sander after each step.

The result

You should be left with a dull floor without any shine and little, if any, stain. The next step is staining and applying polyurethane.

Staining hardwood floor

Before you stain the floor you need to make sure ALL the dust and particles are off the floor and the central air is turned off. First sweep the floor and vacuum what you can up. Then you can wet some cloth rags with mineral spirits and use that as a tack cloth.

Applying stain is easy. I used a stain applicator that attaches to a broom stick. Pretty much wipe it on in the direction of the wood. Do it in sections and then wait about 5 minutes and wipe the excesses stain off with lint free rags. Then move to the next section and repeat.

The process can be time consuming with all the waiting between sections. I did two sections on different sides of the house at a time to speed this up.

Drying time

Once the stain is done you have to wait for it to dry. I used a Cabot oil based stain and it took over 48 hours to dry because there wasn't a lot of ventilation in the house and it was cold and rainy outside. Once the stain stops being tacky in most spots you are probably ready to put your finish on it. Sweep the floor and get up all dust.

Finishing the floor with Polyurethane

If you bought oil based stain then you are going to want oil based polyurethane. Apply it in much the same way you did the stain. I used a lamb wool applicator that connected to a broom stick. Make sure your rinse it out with mineral spirits beforehand or you will get a lot of lamb wool on the floor. Apply it in a light coating and make sure it covers all surfaces. I made two passes with the pad.

Once you get your first coat down the kind I used said you can apply another within 12 hours without sanding. I read nightmare stories about this online. So I would do it the normal way and wait 12-24 hours until it is dry and then sand it down. You can sand it by attaching a find (250-300 grit) piece of sandpaper to a foam mop head and go over the floor lightly. You are just trying to scuff it up so the next layer will bond to the previous layer.

Clean up the dust, I used a micro-fiber fabric and swept it up. Then use your mineral spirit tack cloth to get up fine dust.

Apply your next layer and wait!

Curing time

After your second coat you should be done, all you have to do is wait for the floor to cure. This time varies but the general rule of thumb is that after 2 days you can have light foot traffic on the floor and after 4 or 5 days you can put your furniture back on it. Do not put rugs on it until after a week or more.

Final Notes

After all of this your floor should be done. It doesn't cost all that much compared to a new floor. I spent about $300 in rental fees, stain and other things I needed to do a 400 square foot area.

Killer Condom is Done!

KillerCondom.com is finally complete... or mostly complete. The site is similar to celebrity death match but the matchups are not always celebrities. They are video game characters, tv personalities, objects, brands and more. It should be pretty funny and sometimes a little bit on the wrong side.

The site will update every wednesday at 9am, please share it with your friends.

Killer Condom

House **floor update**

Well I am finally moved in, actually moved in last weekend. The floor looks great, the furniture is in it and the dog is getting used to surroundings. The floor stain took about 2 days to dry and it was still a little tacky in a couple place but I went ahead and polyurethaned it anyhow. I applied it with a lambs wool applicator and mopped it on. Everything went pretty smooth until the end when I encountered the tacky stain and it started moving the stain around a bit.

I let that dry for a day and then I sanded it down with 320 grit paper attached to a foam mop, then I used a terry cloth pad to wipe up the dust and swept it and then applied another layer of polyurethane. I let this one dry for a day and I was done. 3 days later I put the furnature on it and 5 days later moved in with the dog.

There is still a lot of things to be done with the house, mostly minor things but time consuming nevertheless.

I am banning myself from Home Depot and Lowes, I overspend for everything. Every time I walk into one of the stores, I buy about 10 other thing I didn't plan on buying. Or better yet, I buy about 10 things that I can't use because they don't fit so I end up returning everything.

Anyhow, here are some pictures...

New House - Projects that never end!

So I bought a house last week. The process was a bit of a pain, more confusing than anything, but now it is done and the real fun has started. Like most home owners I decided to 'make it my own'. I decided to paint the rooms and rip out the carpet and show the hardwood. But like every project, it is not as easy as it seemed. I pulled the carpet only to find a billion staples, nails, tackboard that needed to be removed. I removed all of that and found that the hardwood wasn't as nice as I would have liked.

So project 2 begun: Project 'Refinish the floor'

So I rented a sander from home depot and started sanding it down. Word of advise to anyone refinishing floors, do not rent the vibrating square sander if you have a lot of deep sanding to do. It takes forever. I made 10-12 passes while changing 36 grit sandpaper over and over. Finally, I moved on to the hand sander with the help of a special friend.

Once the sanding was all done -- or err... mostly done we decided to apply stain. As you can see from the photo below, the staining process went pretty well.

Unfortunately, the stain wouldn't dry. So after 48 hours I gave up and put the polyurethane on over the tacky stain. I have yet to see if this ruined the floor or what. I will keep posting on the process of the floor... stay tuned!