Aaron Wall, owner of Threadwatch, has announced that the blog/forum will be closing down this Friday. Threadwatch went live in early October 2004, with a focus on finding threads from forums as "less of a blog and more of an alert system," Nick Wilson, the founder of Threadwatch told me then. Since then, Threadwatch took on an identity as being known as the "edgy search news" source. Nick Wilson's dry humor set the tone for the site even after he sold it to Aaron Wall in November of 2005. Aaron cited several reasons for closing down the site. Best of luck to Aaron and his team - we will [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

The mobile measurement firm M:Metrics released data showing what it characterized as the "top mobile Web companies among smartphone users." Data were drawn from a relatively small sample but seek to reflect reach by the various companies among the broader population of Smartphone users in the U.S. and U.K. The data reflect a composite of domains and/or applications from each company. In both the U.S. and U.K., Google leads, though its margin is smaller in the U.K. Recently iCrossing issued findings of a mobile survey among U.S. users that indicated mobile search rankings corresponded dir [...]

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

Google seeks to extend Microsoft antitrust decree from Reuters reports that Google has asked a federal judge to lengthen the period when Microsoft's operating system is subject to antitrust reviews in order to ensure desktop search players can remain competitive with Microsoft. Last week, Microsoft agreed to change various ways they handled the integration of desktop search in Vista, in response to a complaint lodged by Google. However, Google remains worried that the changes won't be fully in place before the wide-ranging "consent decree" reached between Microsoft and the US go [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Desktop | Google: Legal | Legal: General | Microsoft: Business Issues | Toolbars & Add-Ons

Over the weekend, with the sensational headline "Search & Destroy," the New York Post wrote up the forthcoming results of an "audit" from UK-based Internet Search Metrics (also called Internet Search Management). The Post article says the audit, which is not yet released, argues that the spending on paid search is often unjustified and that more resources should be devoted to optimization. If the audit is simply calling for balance and arguing in favor of devoting more effort and money to optimization, that's a sober recommendation. If it concludes rather that paid search advertising has lit [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing: General

Forecasting is a delicate process which demands care. When prospective new clients ask our agency to build 12 month PPC projections, we often shudder. It isn’t that building forecasts is technically or theoretically difficult: stir reasonable monthly estimates of term-level click volumes and click costs into reasonable estimates of site conversion, bake at 350 degrees, and you have a tasty paid search sales and cost forecast. The problems arise when clients misunderstand the precision of the estimates (suggestion: always provide high and low scenarios to make your uncertainties e [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search | Search Ads: General

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Local.com Announces Patent For Location-Based SearchI've got a patent, you've got a patent. It seems that nearly everyone running an Internet company has a patent nowadays. Local.com is the latest to announce a patent in the local space. The patent (no. 7,231,405), which I was unable to locate through a USPTO and Google Patents search,... Don't Put All Your Links In One Basket We recently redesigned our kitchen and hired a contractor to oversee the pro [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

I've got a patent, you've got a patent. It seems that nearly everyone running an Internet company has a patent nowadays. Local.com is the latest to announce a patent in the local space. The patent (no. 7,231,405), which I was unable to locate through a USPTO and Google Patents search, "covers local search technology related to identifying location information from web documents, indexing that information and making it searchable geographically" according to the press release. Jingle Networks, which operates 1-800-Free411, was recently awarded a locally oriented patent for ad supported direc [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: Patents | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines

We recently redesigned our kitchen and hired a contractor to oversee the project. My husband argued as the primary user of this space, I should be the one to coordinate its design and the people doing the work. I'm not sure if he had resigned himself to the inevitable or just wanted a way out of appliance shopping, but regardless, the task of finding a contractor fell to me. I started my search with my brother who owns a paint company. He highly recommended a man he had partnered with on a Parade of Homes event. The saleswoman in the appliance store recommended the same contractor and wh [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Building: General | Link Week

InfoSpace has introduced video search on its Dogpile search engine through a partnership with Blinkx. Search results are identical to those found on Blinkx, which is also providing video search for other engines and portals, most notably Ask but also Lycos and ChaCha. It also provides some video search capabilities for Microsoft as well. Video search has moved from the realm of novelty to a much more important and mainstream function on major search engines. In fact it's now "table stakes" one might argue. While most engines maintain a separate tab or link for video search, Google and Ask ha [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Search Ads: Contextual | Search Engines: Video Search Engines

Techcrunch reported that Google has acquired GrandCentral, a company that lets you keep one telephone number as you move from home to home or job to job. Arrington said, "We have a high degree of confidence that the deal has actually been closed." Neither Google nor GrandCentral confirmed this report as of yet. However, Techcrunch tends to be spot on with these reports. More coverage over at Techmeme. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions

Yahoo announced that they are combining its search ad and display ad teams. As part of this move, David Karnstedt will be heading up North American sales. Karnstedt was Yahoo's senior vice president of Yahoo's search sales business and is now head of US sales overall. Wenda Harris Millard, Yahoo's Chief Sales Officer in the US, has left Yahoo to join Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Ms. Millard told the Wall Street Journal, "I'm sorry they announced the story this way because clearly I resigned and I have a great new job." "Integrating our world-class search and display sales teams under [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Display Ads | Yahoo: Employees | Yahoo: Search Ads

The Human Touch That May Loosen Google’s Grip from the New York Times questions whether Google's use of algorithms and computers to compile search results might lead to its demise in the future. One of the search engines the NY Times focuses on is the Mahalo human-edited search engine. It also explores several search alternatives. PC World also covers some of these in a timely article. Google engineer Matt Cutts is quoted extensively in the article, making a case that Google does have a human touch. Matt followed up the article with his own blog post named the role of humans in Google sea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Web Search | Search Engines: Mahalo | Search Engines: Other Search Engines | Search Engines: Social Search Engines

Google loses Gmail trademark case in Germany from News.com reports that Google has lost the Gmail trademark case in a German appellate court. Google will not be allowed to use Gmail in Germany, like they can't in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Google Threatens to Close German Gmail Due to Local Law from Google Blogoscoped reports that Google may close down the Gmail service in Germany due to privacy concerns. Philipp Lenssen explains that local German law may require Google to require full addresses of Gmail users, severely impacting user anonymity. Postscript: It is not official, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Gmail | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: Trademarks

EBay to resume ads on Google, but rely on rivals from Reuters reports that eBay has resumed advertising through AdWords on Google but on a more limited basis than in the past. eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy said: I will tell you it will be in a much more limited way than it was before....What we found is that we were not as dependent on AdWords as some people thought. This backs Bill Tancer of Hitwise's data, where he shows that although eBay lost Google traffic, overall traffic levels stayed strong. eBay Pulls Google AdWords Ads To Protest Google Checkout Moves from us covers the backgroun [...]

Related Topics: Business Issues: General | Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Ask Advertising Campaign SlammedAs pointed out on Bruceclay.com - Ask.com thinks you're an idiot - Ask can sometimes be an irritating company. I like the new 3D interface and they're doing a lot of good things in the search arena. However, when it comes to actually marketing what they're up to I'm completely... ASK Home PageThe Ask.com blog has a piece on their home page, which they are particularly proud of, and I think rightly so. They talk about the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

As pointed out on Bruceclay.com -- Ask.com thinks you're an idiot -- Ask can sometimes be an irritating company. I like the new Ask3D interface, and they're doing a lot of good things in the search arena. However, when it comes to how Ask is marketing itself, I'm completely baffled. In the UK they have been running an "Information Revolution" campaign, employing a font reminiscent of Soviet-era dissident 'samizdat' typescript. I wrote about this in a column for the Ariadne magazine, and things don't look any better on the other side of the Atlantic. In the US, first we had the "Chicks with [...]

Related Topics: Ask: Promotions | Channel: Industry

The Ask.com blog posts today about Ask's new home page, which they are particularly proud of, and I think rightly so. They talk about their icons, suggest feature and skins, all of which are worth a quick peek. The nice neat new icons are consistent across the interface and across country versions. There is the "suggest as you type" feature, although there's nothing particularly new about that, since Google has had Google Suggest for some time now. Interestingly though, Google Suggest kicks in immediately you start typing, while with Ask, it takes two characters. However, from a very brief [...]

Related Topics: Ask: General | Channel: Search Marketing | Search Features: General | Search Features: Query Refinement

In this week's Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more. Can anyone say "gum balls"? Jerry Yang, Yahoo's new CEO modeling Yang wishing farewell to Terry Semel A cute Googler, real cute Google's new solar panel plugs The car that makes Google Street views possible Brick and Lace performed at Yahoo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Search In Pictures

Garett Rogers reports that Google Translate has added a dictionary feature. Rather than let you just translate a word from one language to the best guess in another, this tool shows you various meanings, so you can select the right option. For example, "right" has multiple meanings in English, such as to mean a direction, to affirm something is correct or to mean something someone is entitled to. Translating it into French, some of these meanings are shown: 1. (not left) droit 2. bon 3. (not left) à droite 4. (completely) tout, complètement 5. (correctly) correctement, bien 6. direct [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Translate

Google frequently adds new blogs, most are for international translation of their other blogs now - but recently Google added two new blogs. The Google News Blog was launched yesterday and the Google Finance Blog was launched Wednesday. Hat tip to Googlified. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: Finance | Google: Marketing | Google: News