It's not unusual for other search engines like Yahoo, Bing or Ask to advertise on Google. But I've never seen Google run an ad on another search engine until now. I did a search this evening on Bing for Google Chrome. To my surprise, there was an ad right at the top of the page advertising Chrome, apparently from Google: What's that big box below the ad? That's Bing doing a special "Best Match" unit. It's completely editorial and not connected with the ad. But above it is definitely an ad -- that's why it says Sponsored Listing. I also see the ads if I search for just chrome or br [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: Chrome | Google: Marketing | Top News

Google's Real Time Search has gained a new data source, updates from Facebook fan pages. Google had announced a deal to list this information back in December, and now it's finally being implemented. Google has tweeted the news. See our detailed guide, Google Launches Real Time Search Results to understand how Google Real Time Search works, where it appears and how to use it. Facebook fan page updates now appear within those results, which include all of these sources: Twitter tweets Google News links Google Blog Search links Newly created web pages Freshly updated web pages F [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Features: General | Google: Real Time Search | 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: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Yelp Alleging “Extortion”It must be the season for litigation. Two class action law firms have filed suit in Los Angeles federal court claiming that Yelp has attempted to “extort” money from small businesses by offering to remove negative reviews in exchange for payment. The suit contends: Yelp runs an extortion scheme in which the company’s employees call businesses [...] Italian Court Finds [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

It must be the season for litigation. Two class action law firms have filed suit in Los Angeles federal court claiming that Yelp has attempted to "extort" money from small businesses by offering to remove negative reviews in exchange for payment. The suit contends: Yelp runs an extortion scheme in which the company’s employees call businesses demanding monthly payments, in the guise of "advertising contracts," in exchange for removing or modifying negative reviews appearing on the website.  The plaintiff, a veterinary hospital in Long Beach, California, asked that Yelp remove a false and d [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Legal: General | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines | Yelp

Three Google executives have been found guilty of criminal charges over a bullying video that appeared on the Google Video service. Google has responded with a blog post pledging to appeal the convictions and suggesting that they undermine "the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built." The video involved a youth with Down's syndrome in Italy being taunted by four teenagers. The video was posted to Google Video in September 2006. Google has argued that it removed the video within hours and worked with authorities to find the teenagers, something it repeated in its blog post [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Legal | Google: YouTube & Video | Legal: Privacy | Top News

Given the consumerism mentality that is so pervasive in society today, people regularly throw good money after bad, chasing more of what they already have. But this behavior isn’t limited to consumers. Time and again, I see B2B marketers doing the very same thing. The situation B2B marketers work hard to target the right keywords, create compelling ad copy, and drive potential customers to click on their ads, all with the hopes of capturing them as a lead. But unfortunately, conversion rates often fall short of what they could be. Desperate to make up ground, many B2B marketers ramp up [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search Marketing

If sitelinks, product extensions and plus boxes are still sounding like Greek to you, read on for a primer on implementing Google Ad Extensions as a part of your paid search strategy. Testing these new extensions is a great exercise for any in-house search engine marketing manager. Sitelinks Sitelinks launched with wide availability in November of 2009 giving AdWords advertisers the opportunity to provide four additional content links to an existing AdWords ad. The links will only appear for ads that meet (quoting Google) "a certain high quality threshold." Generally speaking, this means [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | In House Search Marketing

Conversion optimization is bigger than your web site. From blogs and landing pages, to official outlets on social media sites, marketers now manage a large extended web that thrives beyond the borders of the traditional web site. Great conversion optimization must leverage the dynamics of each layer—and coordinate the interaction between them. The extended web solar system There are five rings of your web presence under your direct control: Core web: Online applications Inner web: Your traditional, navigable web site Outer web: Landing pages, blogs, microsites Social we [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Search & Conversion

Earlier this evening Yahoo announced that it had deepened its relationship with Twitter and would be integrating Twitter's feeds and content across its network: The partnership integrates Twitter’s real-time social experiences with Yahoo!’s global network of nearly 600M people. Together with the recently announced Facebook integration, this relationship is a key part of advancing Yahoo!’s social strategy, transforming it into a highly customizable social experience that lets people unify their activity from their many social experiences across the Web. The integration also provides Y [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Maps & Local | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Partnerships

As both the Wall Street Journal and Telegraph UK are reporting, the EU has received complaints into Google's competitive practices and potential abuse of its dominant market position in Europe. These come from some private companies, which we discussed in part before. One of those companies, the shopping engine Ciao, was acquired by Microsoft in 2008. Another of the companies, Foundem, is part of an organization funded in part by Microsoft. While these complaints likely exist independent of Microsoft, it's also clear that Microsoft is not a remote and disinterested party in this dispute. Mi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Buzz | Google: Critics | Google: Outside US | 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: Short Vs. Long Tail: Which Search Queries Perform Best?The focus on the utility (or lack thereof) of long tail keywords in paid search campaigns seems to ebb and flow, but recently a series of articles about leveraging the long tail for pay-per click have been published. But in all the debate there’s an important distinction that most people fail to focus on. Keywords and [...] Google Testing Comparison Ads In UKWhen Google launched AdWords Compa [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

The focus on the utility (or lack thereof) of long tail keywords in paid search campaigns seems to ebb and flow, but recently a series of articles about leveraging the long tail for pay-per click have been published. But in all the debate there's an important distinction that most people fail to focus on. Keywords and search queries are two very different entities. While keywords are the inventory an advertiser buys, search queries are the actual words people type into a search engine. The distinction is important, because search queries typically cover a significantly longer tail than keyw [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Features: Analysis | Google: AdWords

When Google launched AdWords Comparison Ads last fall, the company promised it would continue to expand its testing and use of this new ad format. Today, Google says it's begun testing comparison ads in the UK for credit card-related searches. In writing about the launch in late October, Danny Sullivan explained how the ad formats works: Ads are sold on a cost-per-lead basis. When someone clicks to receive a quote, the advertiser is forwarded the information and billed. The advertiser also receives no personal information about the person. In fact, they don’t even get the person’ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords

In December of 2009, the new FTC policy on blog disclosure went into effect. Here we are well into 2010, and nothing much has changed. In fact, even the FTC has said it is unsure how it will actually enforce the new policy. Is this something publishers, bloggers, or social media consultants need to worry about, or will this turn out to be a paper tiger without any bite? While the FTC doesn't have a game plan yet, that doesn't mean it's something you can ignore, it's something you are going to have to address sooner or later. First you should read and try and understand the original FTC doc [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social

Google, Yahoo Sued by Xerox Over Search Query Patents Bloomberg reports Xerox has sued Google and Yahoo over search patents Xerox holds. Xerox says one patent automatically generate a query based on keyword searches, where Google's AdWords & AdSense and Yahoo's Search Marketing, YPN and other products allegedly infringe on. Another patent Xerox is suing the companies over is based on updating pages based on user reviews. Xerox sued Google and Yahoo on February 19th in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. Xerox wants both compensation and to prevent Google and Yahoo from using the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Legal: Patents | Yahoo: Legal

Google announced that the almost two year old Google Ad Manager is ultimately going to be replaced by DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP). Google explained: DFP comes in two flavors, tailored for different publishers' needs: DoubleClick for Publishers, for the largest online publishers, and DFP Small Business, a simple, free version designed for growing online publishers. We'll be upgrading current DART for Publishers publishers to DoubleClick for Publishers over the next year as we continue to add features and modules, and we'll be moving Google Ad Manager customers to DFP Small Business i [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Google: DoubleClick

Exclusive: How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web from Wired has an excellent and detailed look at the evolution Google's search algorithm over the years. It is a pretty long write up, so I wanted to highlight those key points in bullet format for you all. Key Advances: Backrub in September 1997 New Algorithm in August 2001 Local Connectivity Analysis in February 2003 Fritz in Summer 2003 Personalized Results in June 2005 Bigdaddy Update in December 2005 Universal Search in May 2007 Real Time Search in December 2009 Personally, "Fritz" is a name I never heard before. [...]

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

Many people think of link building as purely an SEO endeavor. You build links to improve rank. I'll argue this is the wrong way to think about link building, but not here in today's column. I've accepted that when people use the phrase link building, chances are the word Google is not far from coming up. So be it. Link marketing is related to link building, but it's a far more tactical and nuanced approach to the process. People often use the terms link building and link marketing interchangeably, but that doesn't do justice to either term. If I'm not mistaken, it was Debra Mastaler that fi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Week

Twitter caused a stir Monday when it lifted its curtain enough to show us how much activity the service is seeing currently, and how it's grown since 2007. And while many reports talk about visits to Twitter.com flattening, Twitter's own chart showing the number of tweets its users are publishing is staggering. Twitter says it's currently seeing about 50 million tweets per day, which breaks down to about 600 per second. But how do those numbers compare to Facebook, the king of social networking, and Google Buzz, the new kid on the block? In an early blog post published just two da [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Google: Buzz | Stats: Popularity | Top News | Twitter

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has re-engaged with China around its ability to continue operating its number two search engine in the country in an "unfiltered" way. The Chinese have given no public indications that they will permit this in the country, which is ruled by state control of speech and media. The WSJ reports: Google Inc. representatives are scheduled to resume discussions in coming days with Chinese officials about the fate of Google's China business, said people briefed on the matter . . . The schedule and the status of the talks, which are being picked up after [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Google: General | Google: Outside US