Not too long ago Google released a new Beta service called Google Public DNS.
DNS stands for Domain Name System. Everytime you make a new request to reach a server, for example to when you’re browsing a website, your computer attempts to resolve the domain name that you’re trying to reach.

The DNS protocol is an important part of the web’s infrastructure, serving as the Internet’s phone book: every time you visit a website, your computer performs a DNS lookup. Complex pages often require multiple DNS lookups before they start loading, so your computer may be performing hundreds of lookups a day.

This simply means that your computer is inquiring about the IP address of that domain name in order to connect to it.

By using Google’s DNS servers you can potentially decrease the time it takes to resolve a domain name and essentially connect to any website faster!

To use Google DNS servers and while already knowing how to modify your DNS server settings, go ahead and change them to the following:

Primary: 8.8.8.8
Secondary: 8.8.4.4

If you need help or for more detailed information about all this, visit Using Google Public DNS page here

Google AdWords Keyword Tool: For those of you who are interested in Search Marketing especially Pay Per Click, Google has a useful tool that some of us are aware of and use on a daily basis. The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is very useful when comparing Advertiser Competition and Monthly Search Volumes for keywords. If you haven’t seen this tool before you should definitely spend some time learning it.

Though it looks very simple to use, the Google AdWords Keyword Tool has some hidden features that some of you may not know! Interesting enough, Google by default, hides certain columns when displaying information about keywords. Some of this information include: Estimated Ad Position, Estimated Avg. CPC (Cost Per Click), Search Volume Trends, and Highest Volume Occurred In. This information is essential for a lot of campaigns and I highly recommend you to enable them.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool

To enable these options you must click on the “Show/hide columns” drop-down under the “Choose columns to display:” text and click on “Show All”. This will then enable all columns

About the Statistics: According to Google the following is the description for the statistics found using the tool.

Estimated Ad Position: This column shows the estimated position for ads appearing on each keyword based on the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) that you enter in the Calculate estimates using a different maximum CPC bid field. If you leave the field blank, the in-ad group tool will use your ad group’s maximum CPC. Leaving the field blank in the standalone or external tool will make the column default to positions 1-3.

Estimated Avg CPC: This column shows the estimated average cost-per-click (CPC) for each keyword based on the maximum CPC that you enter in the Calculate estimates using a different maximum CPC bid field. If you leave the field blank, the in-ad group tool will use your ad group’s maximum CPC. Leaving the field blank in the standalone or external tools will make the column default to the average CPCs for ad positions 1-3.

Advertiser Competition: This column shows the number of advertisers worldwide bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google. The shaded bar represents a general low-to-high quantitative guide to help you determine how competitive ad placement is for a particular keyword.

Local Search Volume: This column shows the approximate number of search queries matching each keyword. This statistic applies to searches performed on Google and the search network in the most recent month that we have data for. It’s specific to your targeted country and language as well as your selection from the Match Type drop-down menu. If we don’t have enough data for a particular keyword, you’ll see not enough data. Learn more about the Keyword Tool’s search volume statistics.

Global Monthly Search Volume: This column shows the approximate average monthly number of search queries matching each keyword. This statistic applies to searches performed on Google and the search network over a recent 12-month period. It includes traffic in all countries and languages but is specific to your selection from the Match Type drop-down menu. If we don’t have enough data for a particular keyword, you’ll see not enough data. Learn more about the Keyword Tool’s search volume statistics.

Search Volume Trends: This column shows fluctuations in Google search volume for each keyword over a recent twelve-month period. Each bar in the graph is relative to the keyword’s overall performance for the 12-month period. This statistic is specific to your targeted country and language as well as your selection from the Match Type drop-down menu. If we don’t have enough data for your targeted country and language, you’ll see no data.

Highest Volume Occurred In: This column shows the month that each keyword received the highest Google search volume within a recent 12-month period, specific to your targeted country and language. If we don’t have enough data for your targeted country and language, you’ll see no data.

Let’s hope this extra information will help you and your campaigns… Afterall, what good does this tool do if it doesn’t give us the Estimated Avg. CPC ?

I have good news for those who often find themselves searching keywords on Google just to check their keyword rankings for their sites. Although Google scrappers are found to be against Google’s policy, I am opening this Google Keyword Rank Checker to the public for Beta testing. The purpose of this simple Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tool is to look for a given domain name in the top 500 results when searching for a specific keyword. This tool is essentially a private tool that will be used for my personal use. However you are more than welcome to check it out and give your feedback for the time being.

For best results, I recommend using only one keyword at a time. This SEO tool only works with Google at the moment. There are no plans yet to incorporate this tool with Bing and Yahoo search engines.

Good luck with your rankings