This has lead me to use three of the top search engines in Google, Yahoo and Bing. Although Yahoo and Bing have announced their merger to try and take on the giant Google at the time on this writing Yahoo and Bing are still separate entities.

Using Bing however lead me to think how similar the new Bing’s SERP pages look and feel exactly the same as the traditional Google SERP pages most of us are used too. Surely Google have an issue with this blatant copying but is the fact that we are all used to that colour scheme and layout the reason for this?

Looking into the matter more however leads me to find that Google, Yahoo and Bing use each other’s ideas all the time. Like for example when Bing first came along they had their large image on the main search page which then lead Google to copy this exact idea.

This “copycat” way of working of course isn’t confined to just this industry, all companies see their competitors do something which leads them to do the same. For example the car industry is a prime example, if BMW release a car with 500bhp Mercedes will release one which 510bhp shortly after in an effort to remain competitive in what is a tough market.

In conclusion I don’t think that Bing is the only guilty party, it seems that all the major search engines look at the competition for ideas, perhaps when copying there’s a hint of “ooh that’s a good idea, get to it”. Then again there might be a simple explanation as to why they are similar.

This certainly isnt the final list, I will be adding to this list as and when I need to so please check back for updated links.

If you have any useful links you feel should be on this list please post a comment at the bottom and I’ll look at adding it.

Search Engine Optimisation

Googles YouTube Webmaster Channel – Google‘s SEO guru Matt Cutts answering questions from people the world over. It’s good to see advise from a Google perspective.

Web Design Blogs

Smashing Magazine – The first website I check each morning. Discussing a range of topics within the website design field. Excellent website.

Specky Boy – Another very good website design blog. With weekly website design inspirations.

CSS Tricks – Created by the talented Chris Coyier. Relating to all things CSS.

Line 25 – One of the latest blogs I’ve discovered. I especially like his “Sites of the Week” posts.

Web Design Ledger - Another regularly updated web design blog, includes some very nice posts about photography as well as all the usual website design posts.

Sohtanaka.com – A very talented web designer from Los Angeles, USA.

Website Tutorials

Tutorialzine - Very useful website showing how to create a variety of beautifully designed scripts. Focusing mainly on jQuery and Ajax.

Nettuts – More advanced posts raised on this website. Looking a lot at higher level programming techniques.

WordPress

WP Hacks – Plenty of information about WordPress including some very useful hacks.

Pimp My WordPress – Another website with a lot of WordPress information.

Black hat SEO uses the darker (hence the name) techniques mainly aimed at deceiving the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing whereas white hat SEO of course uses the opposite. White hat SEO uses methods that are recommended by the search engines.

Is Black Hat For Everyone?

So why doesn’t everyone just adopt white hat methods? Well some believe that using these techniques alone won’t fully get the most out of optimising a website so they turn to black hat tricks to try and accelerate results in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

There are many different black hat techniques optimisers are using but in my own experience using white hat techniques are the safest option. Black hat techniques tend to give quicker results than their white hat alternatives but run the big risk of getting blacklisted by the search engines which could be fatal for many websites.

I certainly adopt white hat techniques (maybe some grey hat!) purely that over time I get the desired results in the search engine rankings and eliminate the risk of being removed from the SERPs.