In honor of yesterday’s International Data Privacy Day, Google published its five privacy principles. They are:

1. Use information to provide our users with valuable products and services. Search history informs personalized search, but users can opt-out.
2. Develop products that reflect strong privacy standards and practices. For example, you can chat on Google Talk “off the record” so the conversation isn’t saved.
3. Make the collection of personal information transparent. Last year, the Google Dashboard was launched to show you what info Google is collecting on you.
4. Give users meaningful choices to protect their privacy. You can report privacy issues related to Street View. Google often blurs faces, for example.
5. Be a responsible steward of the information we hold. Google doesn’t sell data to other companies.

You can view the published web document on Google’s privacy principles here.

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Social bookmarking site Delicious has updated the ability to filter viewing options – plus added a new way to browse your bookmarks that is very StumbleUpon-like.

First up, there’s a new display options menu tucked into the top right corner of your bookmarks display. This is for when you’re viewing “My Bookmarks” – not on the main page. Here’s what it looks like:

Delicious also gave the option menu treatement to the tags section on the right sidebar in “My Bookmarks.”

Last but absolutely not least, there’s a new option to “Browse these bookmarks.” Again, this is for your own bookmarks. When you click it, you’re taken to the most recent bookmark – but there’s a toolbar frame across the top. Click arrows to browse through your bookmarks. This is very much like the new StumbleUpon – except your just browsing your own bookmarks. It will be interesting to see if Delicious expands this capability to truly compete with StumbleUpon in the future.

Look for the “Browse these boomarks” link in a blue box in the top right corner:

Here’s one of my bookmarks with the Delicious browsing frame at the top (click to enlarge):

Connect with me on Delicious, screen name nlj.

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(Cross-posted on the Google Korea Blog)

Webmaster Level: All

Legitimate websites may require that their visitors install software. These sites often do so to provide their users with additional functionality beyond what’s available in standard web browsers, like viewing a special type of document. Please note, however, that if your site requires specific software for your visitors, the implementation of this software installation process is very important. Incorrect implementation can appear as though you’re installing malware, triggering our malware detection filters, and resulting in your site being labeled with a ‘This site may harm your computer’ malware warning in our search results.

If using your site requires a special software install, you need to first inform visitors why they need to install additional software. Here are two bad examples and one good example of how to handle the situation of a new visitor to such a site:

Bad: Install the required software without giving the visitor a chance to choose whether or not they want to install the software.

Bad: Pop up a confirmation dialog box that prompts the visitor to agree to install the software, without providing enough detail for the visitor to make an informed choice. (This includes the standard ActiveX control installation dialog box, since it doesn’t contain enough meaningful information for a visitor to make an informed decision about that particular piece of software.)

Good: Redirect the new visitor to an information page which provides thorough details on why a special software installation is required to use the site. From this page the visitor can initiate the installation of the required software if they decide to proceed with installation.

Has your site been labeled with a malware warning in our search results due to a poorly implemented software installation requirement? Updating the installation process to ensure that visitors are fully informed on why the installation is necessary, and giving them a chance to opt out, should resolve this issue. Once you’ve got this in place, you can go to Webmaster Tools and request a malware review to expedite the process of removing any malware warnings associated with your site in Google’s search results.

Written by Jonathan Simon, Webmaster Trends Analyst

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Bing is making it easier for you to keep up with your portfolio and the U.S. stock market. Their new stocks and funds pages offer in-depth data on most U.S. stocks. The pages include an Instant Answer snapshot of what’s going on for a stock at the time you search.

Let’s see how Apple’s stock is doing a day after the iPad was unveiled. Type in the stock code AAPL and you’ll get the Instant Answer in the main search results:

Click on the main link and you get access to the new stocks and funds page for Apple on Bing. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

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Image by SESConferenceSeries via Flickr

As SES Chicago 2009, I asked Matt Van Wagner of Lobster.com to share some of his tastiest search engine marketing tips. (Pun intended.)

I should disclose that I was born in California and raised in Michigan. So, when I moved to Massachusetts, I had to learn how to pronounce “lobster” correctly. It’s “lobstah.” If you don’t pronounce it correctly, then the native New Englanders will know you’re a “blow in.”

Van Wagner, who is also the president and founder of Find Me Faster, is based in New Hampshire. But he gets around. He’s been seen helping small and medium-sized companies as far away as Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Van Wagner shared a couple of SEM tips, including a new one I hadn’t heard before about Bing.

So, put on your lobster bib and enjoy.

Search engine marketing tips with Matt Van Wagner, Find Me Faster and Lobster.com

Disclaimer: No lobsters were harmed in the making of this video. But, when I’m on the Cape this summer, I plan to remedy the situation.

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Posted by Michael Wyszomierski, Search Quality Team

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