Miguel Helft at the New York Times has a relatively long and interesting article, with some interesting details, that rounds up the status and mixed results (so far) of Google's moves into radio, TV and print newspapers. From my understanding, the print newspaper ads have been the most successful to date. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Audio Ads | Google: Critics | Google: Other Ads | Google: TV

Eytan Seidman of Live Search responded to the recent questions on why the Live.com link command went offline. He said it was primarily due to "mass automated usage for data mining." So they have decided to block all queries with backlink operators for the time being. Eytan adds that they hope to bring this functionality back "in a manner that allows folks that use this functionality for real queries." To me, this is a sign that Microsoft is working on a webmaster tools section, similar to what Google has with Webmaster Central and what Yahoo has with Site Explorer. As we know, Google has [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Microsoft: Bing SEO

A new paper from Microsoft Research, Web Object Retrieval (pdf), discusses an approach towards Web indexing that changes focus from page level, to that of indexing objects found upon pages. OK, so that does that mean? It's easiest to show you first, rather than tell you... Microsoft Product Search Take a look at Microsoft's Products Search (http://products.live.com/). Brian Smith went into a lot of detail on the Microsoft's product search last May in eCommerce, Microsoft Style. Microsoft's Live Product Search allows people to upload product information into their database, but it also cr [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing SEO | Microsoft: Live Search Academic

Heads-up! The early bird registration deadline our Search Marketing Expo Advanced show in Seattle is coming up fast. Register before April 2, and you'll save $200 on the ticket cost! SMX Advanced happens on June 4 & 5 and is especially designed for experienced search marketers. A full agenda covering the debates, summits, tips & tactics sessions along with networking events is now posted. Aside from saving, registering early will ensure you have a place at the show. There are only a limited number of tickets. Don't leave it late! [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Conferences

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web: From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Slurp Moves To crawl.yahoo.netThe Yahoo Search Blog announced that Yahoo Slurp, Yahoo's web crawler, is moving from inktomisearch.com to crawl.yahoo.net. In short, the user agent for Yahoo's crawler will remain "Yahoo! Slurp." However, reverse DNS lookups on the IP address by the true Yahoo crawler will now resolve to crawl.yahoo.net. The transition should... Google Base & Data Feed OptimizationThe vertical search results on the main shopping eng [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

The Yahoo Search Blog announced that Yahoo Slurp, Yahoo's web crawler, is moving from inktomisearch.com to crawl.yahoo.net. In short, the user agent for Yahoo's crawler will remain "Yahoo! Slurp." However, reverse DNS lookups on the IP address by the true Yahoo crawler will now resolve to crawl.yahoo.net. The transition should take "a few weeks." [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Yahoo: SEO

The vertical search results on the main shopping engines should not be ignored. We're all very familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but you can also get to the top of Google through Google Base. I estimate that over 30,000 merchants are taking advantage of Google Base, but only a very small percentage have actually done anything to improve their results on Google Base. Over at SingleFeed, I discuss the concept of Data Feed Optimization (DFO) to help submitters get listed higher on Google Base and therefore have the opportunity to show up as a Google OneBox result, above Google's [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Search Engines: Shopping Search Engines

UpSnap, a provider of mobile search and content, has partnered with federated search technology firm MuseGlobal to provide one of the first metasearch engines for mobile devices. From the press release: "Mobile metasearch technology from MuseGlobal searches multiple mobile sites simultaneously. For example, if you are looking for a particular ringtone, rather than going to ten different mobile sites one-at-a-time, which will take you 30 minutes or more, you now go to UpSNAP.com and put in one search only. UpSNAP will then search all ten ringtone sites at once and deliver sorted, de-duplica [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Search Engines: Meta Search Engines | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines

Want the inside scoop on the state of paid search, in particular in the United Kingdom? Research firm E-consultancy recently hosted a roundtable discussion with representatives from Argos, BAA, DoubleClick, eConversions, I-Spy, John Lewis, Net-A-Porter, Signet and Steak Media, and has captured the key elements of the discussion in a free 12-page white paper. Discussion points included an overview of the UK market (including market valuation and trends), new statistics and a list of useful resources for search advertisers. Topics discussed included: Yahoo!'s launch of Panama platform Land [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Ads: General | Search Engines: Outside USA | Search Marketing: General | SEM Industry: General

Maybe you've heard of "hyper-local?" Now let's invent a new term, "micro-local." That's what StreetAdvisor (spotted via Mashable) seems to be going for. A nice looking site in the now familiar "Web 2.0" style, StreetAdvisor seeks to make information even more local, down to the street level -- literally. It's a user-generated content site targeting would-be home buyers. Given that it's in the real estate segment it presumably will offer advertising to local agents, mortgage brokers and so on. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines

TechCrunch has a provocative post about a "stealth startup" called Vutool. According to the post, the company was/is seeking to create a 3-D street-level view of the entire country by having people take multiple images from cars. The post suggests that the company failed to get series A funding and was acquired by Google. Microsoft has experimented with street-level photography and Amazon had already largely accomplished this with its now defunct A9 "Block View" photography taken from vans with automated, rotating cameras. (Former A9 CEO Udi Manber left for Google in early 2006.) It's not c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Earth | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local

InfoNow and Microsoft Virtual Earth have announced a partnership to provide Virtual Earth enhanced mapping on third party websites that use InfoNow's Location Insight product. Location Insight provides banks, retailers and others with the ability to deliver store location information on their sites, on mobile devices and over the telephone. You can see how it will look by doing a search on "enhanced maps" on the Target site (Birds Eye is a part of it too). So is this important and, if so, why? It's significant for Microsoft because InfoNow validates Virtual Earth as a platform. (MapQuest wa [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Microsoft: Partnerships | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines

SEO Home reports that the MSN UK home page currently has the search box prefilled with the query "The Apprentice BBC," effectively making it into an ad. Here's a screenshot: Clicking "Search" takes you to the search results for The Apprentice BBC. The first result I see is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/ with information about the show provided by the BBC. I wonder how much that cost? :-) Postscript From Danny: I'm trying to get comments and more details from both the BBC and Microsoft about this unprecedented deal. Postscript from Barry: It appears MSN UK is now testing several ke [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Microsoft: Bing Ads | Microsoft: General | Microsoft: Partnerships | Search Ads: General

Yahoo Quick Links are little links found beneath some of the search results at Yahoo Search. As an example, a search on barry schwartz at Yahoo Search brings up a Wikipedia entry for the other Barry Schwartz with Quick Links; it looks like this: I have been covering Yahoo Quick Links for a while and got some official answers from Yahoo about how they work. In short, Yahoo Quick Links can happen through both natural and paid means. Buying Yahoo Quick Links Yes, you can buy Quick Links for your listings. Yahoo told me "clients participating in Search Submit Pro can submit their Quick Lin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Yahoo: SEO | Yahoo: User Interface

Google has gained another mobile phone handset partnership, this time with LG. As of the second quarter of this year, selected LG handsets shipped throughout the world will be preloaded with mobile versions of Google software, including Google Maps, Gmail and Blogger. Yahoo signed a similar deal with LG in February. It'll be interesting to see if both companies will now have preinstalled apps on the same phones. As John Battelle notes, we're in a new round of handset distribution wars. To help, I'll summarize who is where in a chart below. Beyond LG, Google announced a bundling deal with Sa [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Microsoft: Bing Mobile | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

A close look at recent market studies sheds some light on what's happening in the world of business-to-business marketing, and provides several interesting insights regarding search marketing. It appears that business marketers' perceptions are changing and as a result—budgets are starting to shift. Slower Adoption Rates As part of Forrester's Marketing Effectiveness Survey, conducted in the second quarter of 2006, the research firm asked B-to-B marketers about the tactics they currently deploy. Not surprisingly, the top practices reported include all the usual suspects... t [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search Marketing

Yahoo announced that they will be offering "unlimited email storage starting in May 2007" to everyone. The announcement also gives a wonderful historical roundup of Yahoo Mail's almost 10 year history. Google Operating System has a post comparing Yahoo's timeline to Google's Gmail timeline. In addition, Google Operating System has an older post estimating the growth of Gmail's capacity throughout April 1, 2012. Finally, if you are interested in more coverage, check out the roundup at Techmeme.com. Postscript from Greg: AOL reminded us that it has offered free, unlimited email storage sin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Gmail | Yahoo: Mail

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web: From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Launches Mobile Ad Network & Mobile Publisher Services Yahoo has launched a new Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services site designed to offer one-stop shopping for publishers that want to get mobile content into Yahoo in various ways. In particular, the services offered will be:... Google Upgrades Mobile Search With More Content Yahoo has been getting good press (often at Google's expense) for its wide release of oneSearch, a mix of structured and unst [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Search Engine Watch has news that a settlement in the Checkmate click fraud action against Yahoo has received final approval by the judge overseeing the case. Those with claims were required to file by November 20 of last year, following instructions at the Checkmate Settlement site. Here's the Yahoo statement they're giving to the press from Reggie Davis, Yahoo's newly appointed click fraud czar: Judge Snyder's final approval of the settlement validates the strength of Yahoo's clickthrough protection systems and our commitment to delivering a quality experience to both our advertisers and [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Legal: Clickfraud | Yahoo: Search Ads

Beyond the news of Yahoo's new mobile content and ad networks and Google's new mobile search upgrades, there's a good deal of mobile search-related news coming out of CTIA today. Among the announcements, InfoSpace has launched a direct-to-consumer version of its mobile local-search application Find It! for Blackberry devices. Previously the company was working exclusively with carriers to offer the application on the carrier deck. The application also has a range of upgraded content and features based on user feedback and learning that InfoSpace has gleaned from being in the market for more [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines