Gmail
Gmail or Google mail is a free email service provided by the search engine provider Google. It’s available in more than 50 languages, and is financed by advertising. With Gmail, emails can be sent and received via a browser interface on a home computer. It can also be used with a smartphone (iOS as well as Android) or tablet. A paid version of Gmail without advertising is available for offices and companies.
General information
In 2004, Google started its freemail service and announced that 1GB of memory would be available. At that time, other freemail providers offered only a few megabytes. Google’s service quickly became famous and user numbers grew rapidly. Competitors quickly fell behind, and Google constantly increased the space available. Gmail users can now use up to 15 GB of storage space.
The test phase lasted from 2004 to 2009. Already during the beta-version of the service, interest was great. Up until 2007, users could only participate in it through an invitation from other users of the beta-phase. This shortage of the offer was a successful strategy. Gmail has been publicly available since 2007. Through the clever market introduction of a free product, which outdid its competitors with a lot of storage space, Gmail was able to quickly gain users in great numbers. Since 2012, Gmail is considered the most widely used freemail provider in the world.
Gmail is based on Ajax, a programming language that consists of JavaScript and XML. It allows users to permanently display an HTML page on the client side without having to reload the entire content when individual parameters change.[1] Gmail is a web application, but the emails can also be retrieved via POP3 and IMAP4, for example for using the Gmail mailbox with a mail program such as Thunderbird or Outlook.
If you want to use Gmail, you need to have a Google account, and if you have a Google account, you will be automatically assigned a Gmail address. Personalized email addresses can also be defined for office use.
Features
The functionality of Gmail is based on stand-alone mail programs such as Outlook Express or Thunderbird. By using Ajax technology, many features of Gmail are similar to an email program that is installed locally. Therefore, Gmail collects all emails written in a buffer in case there is an unwanted termination of the web application, for example through connection timeout or timeout when loading a webpage.
Email storage is centralized. This way, the user has the option of marking emails with several attributes and thus sorting them better. This is a fundamental difference to other mail programs that work with a simple folder system. It is similar to index cards which are provided with several indices.
An often-used method for indexing, Google’s search engine gives its regards. In addition, the emails in the Gmail mailbox can be sorted according to specially defined tabs and some functions are available without having to open the email at all.[2] Storage is shared with Google Drive, where email attachments can also be stored.
There are now many Gmail extensions available, partly officially from Google, partly unofficially from private developers, which can be implemented in order to extend its range of functions. If you miss certain features of a mail program, you can use extensions like Boomerang, or other services such asGooglePlus or Google Hangouts.[3]
Relevance to SEO
Since 2012, Gmails have been displayed in the SERPs of the personalized search. Various factors are of importance. If the emails have been answered, the probability of their being displayed in the search results increases. Google also reads the keywords of emails and automatically decides whether they will be listed in the social search. Other factors are open rate, sender, time, topic, or CTR of the [[Hyperlink|links]). Gmail results appear in the SERPs at the top right edge. However, Google is being criticized about collecting and evaluating all of this data to generate the personalized SERPs. However, these results are displayed only when logged in with a personal Google account. Whether Google collects the data without login remains uncertain. In addition, the Gmail data is collected in order to be able to target search results to the user by means of Google Now on mobile devices even before an actual search.
References
- ↑ What is Ajax?. w3schools.com. Accessed on March 6, 2014
- ↑ Gmail's New Quick Action Buttons Help You Complete Tasks on the Go. mashable.com. Accessed on March 6, 2014.
- ↑ How Gmail Has Evolved Over the Years. mashable.com. Accessed on March 6, 2014.