Only about 2 percent of users have opted out of using Google Instant, according to Ben Gomes, Instant lead engineer. Launched in September, Google Instant tries to predict what you’re looking for and shows you results as you type. Granted, a low opt-out rate doesn’t mean everyone loves Instant. It could just mean people haven’t …

Global – On the same day when Yahoo! announced plans for its second round of layoffs in six weeks, Google is boasting 2011 as the biggest hiring year in company history with over 500 hires in Asia Pacific. After cutting about 700 employees last December, Yahoo! announced it will further lay off 1% of its …

US – Google has announced plans to hire more than 6,000 employees globally this year as it wards off pressure from rivals such as Facebook and Twitter in the technology industry. According to Google’s senior vice president of engineering and research Alan Eustace, the internet giant will add more than 6,000 staff “across the board …

NEW YORK – Google Inc is set to give Eric Schmidt a $100 million (S$128 million) equity award as he hands over the chief executive officer job to co-founder Larry Page. The award, which will include stock units and options will vest over four years and is Mr Schmidt’s first such award since joining the …

US – Eric Schmidt is stepping down as CEO of Google and will relinquish responsibilities to co-founder Larry Page from 4 April after nearly a decade in the role. In a surprising turn of events, Schmidt will relinquish his responsibilities to co-founder Larry Page starting on April 4 after nearly a decade in the role. …

Google China’s share of the Chinese search advertising market in Q4 rose for the first time since the company threatened to leave the country early last year after a cyber attack and censorship battles. Google’s search advertising share increased to 23.1 percent, up from 21.6 percent in Q3 — still much lower than its 35.6 …

More search marketers are reporting seeing PPC ad grouping by segments and categories for certain search queries. Google began testing this new layout for general and brand terms in Google AdWords that showed “Related to [search term]” last June, and it seems it has rolled out more broadly in the last few days. At the …

The majority of Americans oppose bringing in Government regulation to prevent search companies from tweaking results to their advantage, according to new findings released by Rasmussen. Released on Sunday, the survey found that over three-quarters (77%) of U.S. adults were against any government regulation of how Google and other search engines rank their results. Just …