ORANGE, CA-Google’s Chrome has surpassed Firefox to become the second most used Web browser in the global market, Web analytics company StatCounter announced today.

StatCounter Global Stats—the company’s research outlet—reported that Chrome took 25.69 percent of the world market in November, with Firefox trailing just behind at 25.23 percent. Just two years ago, Chrome held only 4.66 percent of the global market.

Chrome’s huge jump was not enough to surpass Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which maintains a strong lead with 40.63 percent.

“We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally,” said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen in a press release. “Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads, our stats show that people are actually using it to access the Web also.”

In the United States, Chrome still holds just 17.3 percent of the user market. Firefox retains second place with 20.09 percent, falling far behind the clear winner, Internet Explorer, with 50.66 percent of the U.S. market. Although Chrome sits in third place, the browser has made a sizable leap from last year’s 10.89 percent.

According to rival statistics released by Net Applications, an Aliso Viejo-based Web analytics firm, Google Chrome will most likely become the second most popular browser by mid 2012.

In any case, Google’s recent growth as a Web browser, search engine and social media platform is great for those marketing their business on the Internet, especially those focused on Google SEO.

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BOULDER, CO — So you constantly update your Web site and do all the little things on your site that are supposed to help search engine rankings, but lo and behold your Web site isn’t jumping up the search engine ranks. Why?

Your results may be lacking because one of the most important search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, organic link building, is more about other Web sites than your own and is equally important to finishing first place in the search engine result race.

When a Web site is linked to from another site, this is called an organic inbound link. Establishing a network of Web sites that place a link to your site on their own is known as organic link building. Read more…

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