Responding to Google's aggressive assertion that Microsoft is behind many of the anti-trust complaints that have been leveled against Google in the recent past, Microsoft in a blog post by Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner essentially says "get over it." Google claimed that Microsoft was directly or indirectly responsible for the anti-trust complaints recently filed in individual European countries and with the EC: Given that these complaints will generate interest in the media, we wanted to provide some background to them. First, search. Foundem - a member of an organi [...]

Related Topics: Google: Critics | Google: Mobile | Legal: General | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: General | Top News

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s Street View Finds More Trouble In EuropeIn a letter earlier this month, members of the European Union’s data protection group urged Google to make changes to its Street View mapping/photo service and warned that Google might be breaking EU laws. According to Bloomberg News, the letter from the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party asks Google to store unblurred Street View images [...] Yes, More Are Seeing A New Google Look-And- [...]

Related Topics: SearchCap

In a letter earlier this month, members of the European Union's data protection group urged Google to make changes to its Street View mapping/photo service and warned that Google might be breaking EU laws. According to Bloomberg News, the letter from the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party asks Google to store unblurred Street View images for six months, instead of the one year that images are currently stored. The Associated Press adds that the letter also asks Google to notify residents in advance of taking Street View photos by posting information on its web site, as well as in loca [...]

Related Topics: Google: Critics | Google: Street View | Legal: Privacy

We're getting more and more reports from readers who are seeing a "new" Google look-and-feel for its search results. This is a three column design that Google's actually been testing for some time. That testing appears to be accelerating. NOTE: Google’s new look is now live. See: Meet The New Google & Its Colorful, Useful "Search Options" Column. Google Tackles Its “UI Jazz” Problem, Tests Streamlining Search Options Feature is our story from last November that takes an in-depth look at the new user interface and the features it offers. At the time, we wrote: So who s [...]

Related Topics: Features: General | Google: User Interface | Top News

Google has expanded the choices in its Search Options panel with today's announcement of a tool to refine searches by location. After doing a search and opening the "Show Options" panel, you'll see a new link labeled "nearby." Clicking that link leads to a few refinement options: You can use the default location Google has for you, or type in a custom location for your search. The other option is to select between City, Region, or State-level searches, as shown below. In these images, I've already done a local search on the term "seattle restaurants." This new search refinemen [...]

Related Topics: Google: Maps & Local | Google: Search Customization | Google: User Interface | Google: Web Search | Top News

In my last Analyze This post, I alluded to the importance of click to conversion time, that is, the estimated conversion time of the revenue attribution window. I shall devote this article to explaining the importance of the revenue attribution window and some empirical methods to help determine the right window length. The revenue attribution window refers to the maximum length of time between click and conversion that an advertiser must include when calculating the revenue from a click. Consider two consumers who clicked on an ad for a t-shirt on a given day. One consumer clicked on the a [...]

Related Topics: Search & Analytics

At a search engine marketing conference, several of us gave a session on website usability topics ranging from usability and SEO to site architecture and requirements gathering. Afterward, there was time for questions by the audience. Someone asked, “Why don’t we all just copy Amazon.com?” I replied, “Never, ever copy what Amazon does.” The audience responded with surprise, thinking I was not a fan of Amazon. Not true. The reason you don’t want to copy a successful site like Amazon is that their website requirements are not likely to be the same as your site requirements. [...]

Related Topics: Search & Usability

One of the most important things to me as part of the SMX search marketing conferences that Search Engine Land runs is educating newcomers to the basics of search marketing. That's why we run a special SMX Boot Camp track. That's also why we created a special low-cost ticket for those who just want to attend this track during our SMX West conference next week. The track runs on March 2 and covers these essentials: Keyword Research Tools & Techniques: The first step to success with any marketing campaign is to know your message. With search marketing, that means knowing the search ter [...]

Related Topics: SMX & SMN Alerts | Top News

This independent report covers: Why over 50% of ads reviewed failed Industry-specific SEM recommendations How to think outside the click Download Now [...]

Related Topics: Sponsor Messages

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Want To Speak @ SMX Advanced London? Here's HowWe’re especially excited this year because we’ve changed the format of SMX London to be similar to our always sold-out SMX Advanced US show. We think the time is right to take things to the next level for the UK and European search marketing community. The agenda is live, and we're now accepting submissions to speak [...] Companies Ask Courts, Regulators To Restrain Google To Compensate For Own [...]

Related Topics: SearchCap

We're especially excited this year because we've changed the format of SMX London to be similar to our always sold-out SMX Advanced US show. We think the time is right to take things to the next level for the UK and European search marketing community. The agenda is live, and we’re now accepting submissions to speak at Search Marketing Expo – SMX Advanced London 2010. To increase the odds of being selected, be sure to have read the agenda. Understand what the sessions are about. Ensure that your pitch is on target to the show’s audience and the session. Please also be very specific ab [...]

Related Topics: SEM Industry: Conferences

In a kind of parallel but interesting variation on the complaints filed in Europe against Google, now being investigated by the European Commission in a preliminary anti-trust inquiry, one of the European complainants Foundem has filed a brief with the US FCC concerning net neutrality. The complaints in Europe, broadly speaking, argue that Google has punished competitors by demoting them in search results. The Foundem complaint/brief with the FCC argues that Google favors its own products and thus "search neutrality" is required to prevent Google from harming competitors accordingly: Searc [...]

Related Topics: Features: Analysis | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Web Search

Yahoo has announced a fairly substantial overhaul of how Yahoo Answers looks and works -- and as a semi-regular user of the site, I'd say these changes are very welcome. The primary functional changes involve a new set of navigation tabs and a new way of browsing the categories on Yahoo Answers. The four new tabs will appear across the site, and hovering over the Browse Categories tab will show a dropdown layer that replaces the old laundry list of categories from the left margin of Yahoo Answers. Yahoo has also changed the general look and feel of the site, and made backend upgr [...]

Related Topics: Yahoo: Answers

Chinese scientists say their research will be dramatically compromised if Google shuts down its search engine in China. One scientist says it would be like going blind: "If I lose Google, it will [be] just like a man without his eyes." Another says it "would be like life without electricity." Those quotes and several statistics showing the potential impact of a Google-less China on the country's scientists are detailed in a new Nature magazine article, A land without Google? Nature surveyed 784 Chinese scientists and 84% said that losing Google would "somewhat or significantly" hamp [...]

Related Topics: Google: Business Issues | Google: Web Search | Legal: Censorship | Search Engines: China Search Engines | Top News

Opera, the leading independent mobile browser, has been putting out great data on mobile Internet usage for quite some time. Google always ranks as one of the top sites globally. However this month's "State of the Mobile Web" report is the first time that the company has released search market share data. It shows Google with a lead comparable, almost exactly, to its market share on the PC in the US. Yahoo enjoys a larger share of mobile search than it now does on the PC, according to Opera. And Bing is virtually non-existent. The caveat to all this is that Opera only captures usage on t [...]

Related Topics: Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines

In my role as president at GetListed.org, I sometimes receive emails from users asking why one local search engine or another is displaying an old location for their business, or why the search engines still aren't showing their new website address, or why the phone number listed for their retail location is actually the one for their warehouse. The short answer I give them is that they can likely fix their particular issues by verifying and updating their information at each search engine's Local Business Center or Local Listing Center individually. It's (usually) a fairly painless process [...]

Related Topics: Small Is Beautiful

It's time. Search Marketing Expo - SMX West begins next Tuesday March 2nd at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Register now to reserve your place. Your investment in coming to SMX West will pay off many times. You’ll be satisfied; we guarantee it. Check out the agenda. Conference chairs Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman, and the all-star SMX programming team, have developed a comprehensive agenda that is tactical, strategic and inspiring. Whether you're a beginner or experienced search engine marketer, SMX West has sessions just for you. Each day begins with a remarkable keynote � [...]

Related Topics: SEM Industry: Conferences | SMX & SMN Alerts

While some webmasters anxiously wait for Google to roll out its Google Caffeine search infrastructure any day now, Google says it may not happen for "months." What's more, the IP address of the one data center where Caffeine was said to be available may have changed, and Google is no longer saying where users can see Caffeine search results. Here's the latest on Google's "next-generation architecture." When Will Caffeine Launch? A Google spokesperson tells Search Engine Land that Caffeine is still live at only one data center, and says "we expect to roll it out to all data centers over t [...]

Related Topics: Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Top News

Last week’s lesson drove home that the most important defining factor of a new PPC account is to understand the goals of the advertiser. Whether it’s sales, leads, downloads, page views, quality traffic to the website or a combination of objectives, a clear understanding of all important goals will help drive key decisions throughout the life of the account. Now we’re at the next part of the immersion phase, which is to gather the rest of the information you will need to move on to the research and the build phases. You will probably have to talk with the advertiser, their web produ [...]

Related Topics: PPC Academy

At up to $3 million to air a 30 second spot, marketers must ensure they get the full benefit from their Super Bowl ads, even—and especially—after the game is over. According to CBS, Super Bowl XLIV was the most-watched program in television history with 106.5 million viewers. For advertisers to get the most efficiency out of their media spend, they had to get creative with their ads to gain attention during the big game. With only 15-30 seconds to make an impression, many advertisers included URLs in their TV spots, directing viewers to their web sites, Twitter or Facebook pages to [...]

Related Topics: Video Search