Stuff to Blog About and More: How Popular is the Google Search Engine

Google's search engine is one of the most visited websites on the internet. The term "Google" has become a word in itself- just google it. Millions of people visit the search engine daily.

Goolge claims that they get their search engine results based on rankings. Google says they keep the formula for this secretive. " There are two reasons for it: competition and abuse. Competition is pretty straightforward. No company wants to share its secret recipes with its competitors. As for abuse, if we make our ranking formulas too accessible, we make it easier for people to game the system. Security by obscurity is never the strongest measure, and we do not rely on it exclusively, but it does prevent a lot of abuse." There are many websites, SEO's, and tech gurus who claim to know the secret behind the formula used by Google. This has made some of them a lot of money as search result rankings mean so much to website traffic.

The University of Michigan's annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for the e-business sector to the list of surveys confirms that Google is doing well.

The ACSI, puts Google at the top of the search engine competition for customer satisfaction in the big search and portals category. Google's score of 87 out of 100 (based on interviews with 3,000 customers) is one of the highest scores ever recorded by the ACSI.

The researchers note that Yahoo has had a bad year with the press they have received concerning a potential sale to Microsoft and the change in leadership. The researchers say that Microsoft still has problems differentiating itself; AOL's appeal continues to dwindle as consumers become more search-centric rather than portal-centric when interacting with the Internet; and Ask is still managing to carve out a small but loyal customer base.

There's no great mystery to that: happy customers translate to successful companies.
Because of it's popular search engine, Google has made huge profits in advertising.

FTC: Your Rights: Credit Reporting

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights under the FCRA and how to order a free annual credit report.

A credit report includes information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting companies sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home.

How do I order my free report?

You can order your free annual credit report online at annualcreditreport.com, by calling 1-877-322-8228, or by completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, like the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

A Warning About "Imposter" Sites

The FTC advises consumers who order their free annual credit reports online to be sure to correctly spell annualcreditreport.com, or link to it from the FTC's website to avoid being misdirected to other websites that offer supposedly free reports,but only with the purchase of other products. While consumers may be offered additional products or services while on the authorized website, they are not required to make a purchase to receive their free annual credit reports.

For more information on free annual credit reports, read Your Access to Free Credit Reports.