July 2007: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories
Below are Search Engine Land’s 10 most popular stories from July 2007:
Google Dumps The Supplemental Results Label
As many expected, Google has announced that it is dumping the supplemental result label for pages listed within its supplemental index. Does that mean the supplemental index has gone away? No. But Google promises that being in the supplemental index versus the main index should be less of an issue for site owners, going forward. […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 31, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
How To Create A Viral Facebook App
Back in May, Facebook launched a platform that allowed developers to tap into the Facebook hub itself. The Facebook Platform is a set of resources and tools that enables rapid development of applications for Facebook users. It’s proven wildly popular, and companies are leveraging it to gain thousands if not millions of new visitors to […]
IAC Reports Q2 Earnings, Ask.com Revenue Down On A Per Query Basis
Ask.com’s parent company, IAC, released their second quarter earnings statement today. Ask.com is bundled into the “Media & Advertising” category, which overall reported higher revenue than the previous year by 33%. However, Ask.com realized a “lower revenue per query since the launch” of Ask 3D in June. Why? Because the new interface requires less clicks […]
Microsoft Works To Be Ad Funded
Microsoft Works to become a free, ad-funded product from ZDNet reports that the next version of the Microsoft Works office suite is to be ad funded.
iCrossing Acquires Proxicom After $62 Million Funding
Internet marketer iCrossing acquires Va. firm from the Arizona Republic reports iCrossing has purchased Proxicom, a web development firm based in Virginia after getting $62 million last week. Janet at Marketing Pilgrim looks at the other firms they have recently acquired and speculates that iCrossing is on a value building exercise.
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft: Year-To-Date PPC Report Card
As 2007 is now half over, it seems a good time to compare the performance of the Big Three search engines year-to-date. The punch line: Google reigns dominant, providing the lion’s share of clicks, and Google clicks convert well. Microsoft offers strongly converting clicks at a lower-than-expected cost—good efficiency, but sadly almost no volume. Yahoo […]
Google Launches Campaign Optimizer For Automated AdWords Tips
The Inside AdWords Blog announced the launch of AdWords Campaign Optimizer. This is an automated AdWords tool that gives you tips on how to improve your campaign, in just minutes. When you run the tool, Google says it will “automatically analyze your budget, keywords, and landing page, and create a customized proposal for your campaign.” […]
The Future Of Rich Media On Local Sites
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video may speak volumes. Yet despite the popularity of rich media elsewhere on the Internet, the use of photos and videos on local sites is in its infancy. And with earbuds sprouting across the human landscape delivering podcasts on all manner of topics, it is […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 30, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Microsoft vs. Google: Street Photography Rigs Compared
Gizmodo, in something of a tongue-in-cheek post, compares the cars and cameras Google is using to capture its StreetView imagery with those being used by Microsoft for what has been known as StreetSide. StreetSide is a Live Local product that predated Google’s StreetView but has been limited to San Francisco and Seattle. What this post […]
Google Maps Bulk Upload Spam?
First Case of Large Scale Abuse at Google Maps? from Mike Blumenthal reports cases of companies using the Google Maps business location bulk upload feature to potentially spam the local vertical. I am not going to list out the reported violations here, because Mike Blumenthal did so in his blog post and in this Google […]
From eTours To Commanding Ask.com: Jim Lanzone’s Story
I Fought the Law from the New York Times tells the story of how Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone abandoned pursuing a legal degree and learned his true passion was for internet companies. Lanzone attended Emory University’s School of Law in Atlanta. He then worked for Justice Hugh P. Thompson at the Supreme Court of Georgia, […]
Live Image Search Adds Face, Portrait, B/W, & Related Features
The Live Search Blog announced new image search features over the weekend. The new features include a way to search for images of people by face, portrait, black & white and related people. Here are examples of the new features in action, by searching for [paris]:
5 Deadly Sins Guaranteed To Kill Your Link Requests
Here in the Link Week column, we mostly discuss intermediate to advanced linking related subjects, but I’m compelled to cover a very basic topic this week. Link requests. The link builders are out in force this summer. The proof is in my inbox. Over the two weeks since my last LinkWeek column, I’ve counted the […]
Yahoo Monday: Today’s Google Free Alternative
As part of our Google Free Mondays series this month, today is the day to try Yahoo. What are Google Free Mondays all about? My past post explains the intent of the series more. The short scoop is NOT to be anti-Google but rather stress that trying alternatives is good, because there might be something […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 27, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google’s “Unavailable After” META Tag Now Live
Google’s Dan Crow announced today that the unavailable_after META tag is now live and operational. Google To Add “Unavailable After” META Tag from about two weeks ago, explains in detail more about this tag and how it can be used.
Search in Pictures: Google Dog Food, Yahoo Blow Up Chairs & Matt At Word Camp
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.
Search Wikia Takes Steps To Crawl; Acquires Grub
Wikia, Inc., the for-profit company developing the open source search engine Search Wikia, has acquired Grub, a distributed crawler platform, from LookSmart. Distributed crawler? Crawlers are software programs used by search engines to roam the web to discover pages that are then downloaded and indexed for searching. The crawlers operated by the major search engines […]
Microsoft And Google Moving More Deeply Into Each Others’ Businesses
Microsoft vows it won’t let its core businesses be undermined by “the cloud.” This article from the NY Times (and related discussion at Techmeme) quotes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer saying that Microsoft will compete aggressively with Google and other online alternatives to Office and will offer Web-based versions of all its core software: “We’re not […]
NY Times Covers Mashups And User-Generated Content
The New York Times has a long article on mashups, the state of online mapping and user-generated content more generally. It’s an overview piece, but does a good job of capturing the fact that online mapping in particular is one of the important trends online: visualizing all sorts of data on a map, whether local […]
Searcharazzi: False Starts; iCrossing’s $62M
It was about to be one spicy Friday, as Searcharazzi received a call on Thursday from a recruiter looking to replace a top editor in the search space. The conversation went something like this: Recruiter: “Our client is looking to replace the top spot at [name of publication].” Searcharazzi: “I thought that role was filled […]
New Search Engine Optimization Glossary
A Complete Glossary of Essential SEO Jargon from SEOmoz has a very comprehensive list of SEO and SEM terms, words and jargon used in the industry with their meanings. It joins several other established glossaries out there: Search Engine Marketing Glossary of Terms, SEMPO SEO Glossary, WebmasterBrain SEO Terms Glossary – SEO Acronyms – SEO […]
“Google Promotion” Box Found On Google Product Search
Philipp Lenssen reported that Google is now using the Google Promotion label within Google Product Search results, for a promotion of the Google Checkout service above listings. Ionut Alex. Chitu saw this for a product search on watch and sent Philipp a screen capture. I don’t see the promotion box coming up myself, though Danny […]
Report: Google’s “Brand Value” Increases 44%
Google ‘the most improved brand’ from the BBC covers an Interbrand report showing that Google’s brand has increased in value by 44% over the past 12 months. The 44% increase makes Google the most improved brand when compared to the other brands that were evaluated in this report. Google’s brand is valued at $17.8 billion, […]
Ad Quality And User Experience: Interview With Google’s Nick Fox And Diane Tang
When we’re talking about the search user experience, we’re always balancing two sources of information, organic and sponsored listings (at least, for now), with the overall objective of delivering the user the most relevant results based on their query. At this time, nobody has done that more successfully, from the user’s perspective, than Google. And […]
Yahoo Search Adds Travel Shortcuts
The Yahoo Search Blog has announced that they have added new Yahoo Travel shortcuts. If you search on a travel destination, such as Jerusalem, up comes a shortcut box with travel related information. It looks like this:
Microsoft Buys Ad Exchange AdECN
Microsoft has announced that it will purchase AdECN, an online ad exchange that competes with Yahoo’s RightMedia and, presumably, the forthcoming DoubleClick exchange. Assuming that the deal goes through and Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick isn’t blocked by regulators, all the major search engines will have extended graphical ad distribution through so-called exchanges. This is obviously […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 26, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Sprint Announces WiMax Partnership With Google
Wireless carrier Sprint and Google have announced a partnership in which Google will provide “Web search, interactive communications and social networking services on devices for the new high-speed wireless network the carrier is building,” according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
AdSense Publishers Will Get Pay Per Action Ads, Like It Or Not
I covered at the Search Engine Roundtable this morning that some AdSense publishers are automatically being forced into trying out Google’s Pay Per Action ads. Google sent out emails to select publishers, notifying them that a portion of their ads will be serving Google’s pay per action ads. That means instead of these publishers earning […]
Who Called On Your Ads? Google AdWords May Provide Phone Bill Like Records
Click Quality Council Holds First Steering Committee Meeting from Search Engine Watch reports on a recent Click Quality Council Steering Committee meeting where Google’s Shmuman Ghosemajumder said that Google is considering offering a “phone bill-like” AdWords invoice to all advertisers. Frank Watson reported that the Click Quality Council Steering Committee meeting had over 20 attendees, […]
Google Brings Earth Enterprise Into The Browser
Google is bringing mashups behind the enterprise firewall and into the browser. What that means, among other things, is that Google Earth Enterprise users will be able to see data rendered on Google Earth within a browser environment rather than having the Earth client on their individual desktops. Here’s the Google Blog post.
When Ignorance Isn’t Bliss, Part 2
Last week in Part 1 of What You Don’t Know About Your Web Site Can Hurt You, I revealed a few scary secrets most small business webmasters learn about the hard way. If that didn’t scare you away, here are a few more to help the weary web site owner stay in good standing with […]
Yellow Pages Publisher Buys Business.com For $350 Million
RH Donnelley, which acquired SEM firm LocalLaunch in 2006 and owns the local search/online yellow pages site DexKnows, has announced the acquisition of Business.com and its related properties for $350 million.
Scalable On-Page SEO Strategies
Optimizing a website that has tens of thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—of dynamically generated pages, requires thinking differently. Old school SEO, where you assign each page a keyword theme based on keyword research and hand-craft a title tag, H1 tag and intro copy, then figure out the best internal links to send to the page, […]
Search Suggestions On Steroids: Yahoo Search Assist
I chuckled a bit over the buzz Yahoo got when they launched Yahoo Search Suggest earlier this month because I knew something even better was coming: Yahoo Search Assist. Finally, it’s going live and in the wild for lucky people who are selected at random for testing. If all goes well, eventually everyone will get […]
Yahoo Local GM To Leave, Group Now Broader
Paul Levine, GM of Yahoo Local, is leaving (his decision) after almost five years and being replaced by Jennifer Dulski, who is now going to be Group Vice President & General Manager, Marketplace. Her title reflects a strategy shift and will combine Local with Shopping, Travel, Autos and Real Estate and represents a more integrated […]