Google has introduced a new experimental refinement tool that lets you click a “similar images” link beneath image search results and see a new screen of images with similar color, shape and other visual elements. The new tool has been released in Google Labs and isn’t yet available in standard image search results. The similar […]
From time-to-time, issues about how domain names can impact Google rankings come up. Is it true that if you buy a name, all the “link equity” that name has gained is lost? Below, a look at this and some related questions. Several years ago, Google sparked some concerns when it said that buying an established […]
A couple of our paid search columnists have offered some great tips on generating ad copy. I’m going to build on this and talk about gearing ad copy to the consumer buy cycle. By targeting specific stages, advertisers can increase relevancy by delivering appropriate messages at the right time in the buy cycle. In this […]
ClickZ reports Digg has dropped Microsoft as the exclusive ad provider for the site. Microsoft ads started appearing on Digg in October 2007 after Digg and Microsoft made the deal in July. Prior, Digg used Google AdSense ads to monetize the site. Then Digg dropped Google for Microsoft ads and now, it appears Digg will […]
Ars Technica reports Google has informed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that they have been working on a new filtering system for videos, comments and communication on YouTube. It is believed that Google is working on these changes in order to make YouTube more kid or family friendly, by complying more with the FCC regulations […]
The settlement that ended the litigation against Google’s book scanning/search project must still be approved by the courts, although tentative approval has already been given. Among other aspects of the settlement, Google is to pay $125 million to fund a “Book Rights Registry” that will help resolve claims by authors and publishers and cover legal […]
Imagine this: You’re at a new neighborhood boutique restaurant with your better half for Friday date night and are looking forward to epicurean brilliance and great service. Over the next hour, your server who never seems to be available, allows your wine glasses to go dry, gets your order wrong and doesn’t even offer dessert. […]
It has been well over three years since Ask.com has retired Jeeves. Ever since then, many searchers and internet users have asked for his return. Today, Jeeves has come out of retirement, at least in the UK, where he returns as the brand behind the search engine. Visiting uk.ask.com or any of the URLs should […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
With more products, features and prices available in comparison to physical stores, the sheer time and transportation savings are making the Web an increasingly preferred shopping venue. In fact, according to the latest Forrester research, online shopping is growing five times faster than brick and mortar stores, with a projected growth of 14 percent by […]
Google Operating System noticed that Google Maps has added a new layer named Webcams. Clicking on that layer, will show you some of the available webcams available on the roads you are looking at. For example, I zoomed into the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to New York City and it showed me […]
YouTube is clearly evolving before our eyes — from a site that was largely about viral, user-generated content (UGC) to a premium content destination that may one day be a viable replacement for cable TV. First the news. Google/YouTube has signed deals with more studios to expand the range of full-length TV and movies content […]
During search engine optimization (SEO) consultations, we search professionals often see and hear things that make our jaws drop. Even after years and years of knowledge distribution through email newsletters, blogs, forums, and other forms of social media, we still witness companies making really stupid optimization mistakes. Since I am a strong believer in learning […]
Generally, I’m not much of a note taker at conferences. I will jot down the occasional URL to check out later, but I’d much rather pay full attention to the speakers and their presentations than miss things as I’m trying to write down what they just said. However, at last month’s SMX Search Analytics conference […]
Although revenues grew 6 percent compared with Q1 2008, Google suffered its first quarter-over-quarter decline (3 percent), as it announced Q1 revenues this afternoon. From the press release: Revenues – Google reported revenues of $5.51 billion in the first quarter of 2009, representing a 6% increase over first quarter 2008 revenues of $5.19 billion and […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
You’ve probably seen it yourself already, and now Google has confirmed some changes to how sitelinks appear in their search results. In the past, sitelinks only showed below the No. 1 listing in the search results, and they typically appeared in two columns with up to eight total links. That won’t change, but moving forward, […]
After disabling new uploads in December, Yahoo will formally kill off Jumpcut in June. More than just a video upload-and-watch site, Jumpcut allowed users to share videos and photos, creating essentially a library of “stock” clips and images that any user could include in his/her own videos. It also offered online video creation and editing […]
Microsoft announced yesterday that it had folded its Cashback program into Live Search Products. Cashback began as a incentive program for consumers to use Live Search as well as CPA-based advertising vehicle for retailers and e-commerce sellers. Cashback icons appeared beside ads responsive to commercial queries for participating marketers: Cashback icons (like Google Checkout icons) […]
The Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP) is not exactly a complicated protocol and its uses are fairly limited, and thus it’s usually given short shrift by SEOs. Yet there’s a lot more to it than you might think. Robots.txt has been with us for over 14 years, but how many of us knew that in addition […]
Our clients often ask us for help in picking their next markets and verticals—they are usually interested in the hot markets and verticals, where many small and medium businesses (SMBs) already invest money online. Palore provides this information by analyzing millions of web pages and seeing which SMBs advertise and where they advertise. The chart […]
Google continues to expand its search market share lead according to data released Wednesday by comScore. According to comScore’s measurements, Google’s share of U.S. searches in March was 63.7%, up from 63.3% in February. Yahoo and Microsoft both remained essentially static in March, down .1% and up .1%, respectively. comScore also says the number of […]
Your analytics software can already tell you a lot about the traffic you’re getting from natural search: which search engines are sending traffic, what keywords are sending traffic, which pages are getting the most search engine traffic. But wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly where in the search results your page appeared when the […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Yahoo Q1 earnings are coming up next week. There were also some recent, not-so-secret conversations between new CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about a search deal of some sort or a broader advertising partnership. And there’s a fairly credible rumor that more layoffs are coming at Yahoo, which are tied to a […]
On the journey from HTML to SERP, a Web site may face a number of potential pitfalls. Pinpointing the obstacles on the path was the focus of the first Jane and Robot meetup in Los Angeles last Tuesday night. Nathan Buggia and Vanessa Fox, the pair behind search and search-friendly web development site JaneAndRobot.com, held […]
Digg is promising a significant change to how its DiggBar framebar operates, one that should solve SEO concerns about how link credit is passed on but won’t entirely remove misgivings about the framing of content. With the new implementation scheduled for next week, only those who are logged into Digg will see the DiggBar. So […]
With most large organizations, a number of key stakeholders must offer their buy-in for an in-house SEO effort to be successful. With various groups all tasked with a variety of other objectives, how do you get everyone focused on the common goal of optimizing your organization’s organic search efforts? Make a sandwich, of course. Think […]
This morning mobile search provider and ad network JumpTap launched “tapMatch” a new PPC marketplace for mobile phones. It accommodates both display and text ads — including both search and contextual advertising — across major carriers and a range of partner sites in the US and Europe. According to the company it offers the most […]
There’s already been considerable discussion of the passing of the maps traffic crown from MapQuest to Google Maps. Hitwise, comScore and Compete all show Google Maps as the traffic leader in the category. One could argue with relative confidence that the long-anticipated development is a consequence of two things: Google’s ability to refer traffic to […]
B2B marketers, how would you address the following question from your client or boss: “Why should I invest in a branded PPC campaign when I rank well organically?” This is a very legitimate question, particularly in this economic climate where companies are looking to cut corner Consider, too, that this becomes a stickier wicket when […]
Our London edition of Search Marketing Expo is coming up on May 18 and 19, and is shaping up to be a terrific show. We’ve got some of the best search marketers from the U.K., Europe and the U.S. speaking, with tracks for people at all levels of experience. We’re kicking things off with an […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
While the major search engines continue to sit in the proverbial driveway, real-time search is in high gear and speeding along without a speed bump in site. And with Twitter offering what’s becoming the default real-time web experience (more so than Facebook or FriendFeed, in my opinion), it’s no wonder that Twitter search engines are […]
Search marketing platform provider Efficient Frontier released a report on Q1 2009 SEM trends. The report is based on data collected from Efficient Frontier’s U.S. clients “and covers 84 billion impressions and 785 million clicks on search and content ads on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live Search.” At the highest level Efficient Frontier said overall […]
A couple weeks ago, we reported that Google fixed the blogroll indexing algorithm in Google Blog Search, but has not yet fixed the link operator, which returned links found in blogrolls. Google has recently updated the link operator for Blog Search to not count links in the blogroll for the link operator command in blog […]
The recent launch of the UK edition of Wired, the magazine for people who keep saying that magazines have no future, has seemed incredibly apposite when considered alongside many of the stories in the news every night. Whether it’s celebrities Twittering, the Queen getting all 2.0, or news of magazines killing their print editions and going […]
(No, this is not a holdover from our April 1 coverage, but I will be ‘optimizing’ the article with my own personal comments in parentheses.) A UK government agency charged with fighting terrorism has a new tool in its arsenal: SEO. (Take that, Calacanis!) According to The Register, the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism (OCST) […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
PC World reports Google has disabled the ability for users to upload videos or comment on videos at YouTube Korea. Google made this move after South Korea passed a new law that requires sites with 100,000 unique visitors per day to require users to provide their real name and national ID card number before posting […]