Apple

Google And Yelp Express “Complicated” Relationship In Conference Interview

There’s nothing that jaded and weary conference goers love more than to see some “red meat” conflict between panelists during a session. And that’s what TechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld repeatedly tried to elicit in an on-stage interview of Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman and Google’s John Hanke during the Social Currency CrunchUp event yesterday in Palo Alto […]

Google Analytics

SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 30, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Study Calls Google ‘King Of Malware’ Google has twice as much malware in its search results as Yahoo, Bing, and Twitter combined. That’s one of the findings in the Barracuda Labs […]

Google

Study Calls Google ‘King Of Malware’

Google has twice as much malware in its search results as Yahoo, Bing, and Twitter combined. That’s one of the findings in the Barracuda Labs 2010 Midyear Security Report, which will be presented tomorrow at the DEFCON 18 hacking conference tomorrow in Las Vegas. Barracuda Labs says it studied the four search engines for about […]

Google

MSFT Will Challenge Google-Yahoo Japan Deal

In a move that should surprise no one, Microsoft says it will try to block the recently announced Google-Yahoo Japan partnership. In our story from Tuesday, a Microsoft senior VP spoke out strongly against the partnership. Now, Silican Alley Insider received confirmation last night that the company will take steps to challenge it formally. “We […]

Google

Google Advertising Google Image Ads With Image Ad

As we know with the new Google Image redesign that Google would be pushing image ad formats for image search. Yesterday, I was doing a search for [weeds] and I spotted an image ad from Google encouraging advertisers to try out Google Image AdWords. I don’t believe I ever saw an image ad from Google, […]

Google

Google Places API Offers Local Data To ‘Check-in’ Developers

Google previously announced (at its I/O developer conference) the creation of a Places API as part of the Google Maps API. That Places API is now open for business and being made available to third party developers. Booyah’s MyTown “check-in” app is one that has already been using it. In short all the information and […]

Facebook

Facebook: No Plans To Give Search Engines Access To Facebook Questions

That’s one of the big questions people are asking after yesterday’s launch of Facebook Questions. While many have assumed the answer would be “yes,” a Facebook spokesperson tells us that assumption is wrong. Currently, search engines cannot access questions and answers through our Questions product. That may be something we consider for the future but […]

Apple

SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 29, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Street Slide: Microsoft’s Next Killer Maps App? At the SIGGRAPH 2010 event this week in Los Angeles, Microsoft researchers showed off a next-generation tool for browsing street-level imagery. It’s called Street […]

Bing

Street Slide: Microsoft’s Next Killer Maps App?

At the SIGGRAPH 2010 event this week in Los Angeles, Microsoft researchers showed off a next-generation tool for browsing street-level imagery. It’s called Street Slide, and it combines the up close realism of, say, Google Street View or Bing’s similarly named Streetside product, with “strip” panoramas that offer a wider perspective of a city block […]

SEO

A Market Without Google? The Fallacy Of Security

Returns for online investments are still so much greater than the offline world that it is easy to think that the money is somehow less real, or that there is greater risk to it. That perhaps we should diversify out of the web to help make our businesses less risky. Sure, the shift of a […]

LinkedIn

Diller: Ask.com Was The Little Search Engine That Couldn’t

At one time, IAC’s CEO Barry Diller thought his Ask.com search engine could take on Google. But Diller effectively threw in the towel yesterday on an investors call. Diller downplayed Ask.com’s role in the over IAC company but said he ultimately failed at thinking Ask.com can compete with Google. Diller said: But one thing I […]

Google

Google Introduces Expandable Map Ads For Mobile

At Google I/O Google VP Vic Gundotra and his co-presenters showcased a dizzying array of announcements and products to come. Included among them was Google’s iTunes competitor, soon to come to market, and well as a range of new richer mobile ad formats. Those new mobile ad formats have been gradually rolling out. This morning […]

Google

Estimate: Google Mobile Search Market Share Near 100%

Let’s be cautious about running too far with these numbers, but Royal Pingdom (using data from StatCounter) has reported/estimated Google’s global mobile search market share to be almost 100% Google is clearly dominant in mobile search across smartphones (and feature phones). However these numbers may not be completely accurate. For example, the chart above shows […]

Google

Google, US Gov’t Back Same Data Mining Startup

Their objectives may be different but both Google and the “investment arm of the CIA” are funding the same startup: Recorded Future. According to a piece in Wired both In-Q-Tel (the CIA investment firm) and Google will have a seat on the company’s board. This is reportedly the first time the government and Google have […]

Google

See An Offensive Image On Google? Stay Tuned.

Before the revamped Google Image Search design went live 9 days ago, there was a clear and quick way to report offensive images to Google. In fact, Google released the report offensive image feature just about a year ago, due to complaints. Now, that feature is no longer found in the new design. Here is […]

SEO

More People Go Mobile For Local

Since the beginning of the year, many of us have predicted that mobile will be the top driving force behind local search growth in 2010. A rapidly-increasing number of smartphone users — combined with faster mobile technology, better search offerings, and higher advertiser engagement  — suggests that consumers will be more likely than ever to […]

PPC

What Keywords Am I Missing?

The typical process that an SMB will go through when building an online marketing campaign usually begins with defining their target audience, performing keyword research, analyzing which words bring the most traffic and conversions, and utilizing keyword research tools such as Keyword Discovery. Upon taking these steps, SMB owners will wait to see their results […]

PPC

An Introduction To Paid Search Conversion Tracking

If you asked most marketers what’s the biggest draw of online advertising, you’ll often hear is that it is highly measurable. Interactivity (the ability to click and engage) is certainly a huge benefit as well, but if you’re a marketer who is spending significant dollars on your advertising, just getting people to interact with your […]

Facebook

Up Close With Facebook Questions

Facebook Questions is the latest in a long line of question-and-answer services online but, as Danny Sullivan mentioned in his news article earlier, it’s the only one with a community of 500 million users behind it. For comparison’s sake, Yahoo Answers, the recognized leader in the Q&A space, announced in late 2009 that it had […]

Link building

SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 28, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Facebook Questions Opens To Limited Public Release Long expected, Facebook’s new Facebook Questions service is now being offered. It allows Facebook users to specifically ask question to and get answers from […]

LinkedIn

Facebook Questions Opens To Limited Public Release

Long expected, Facebook’s new Facebook Questions service is now being offered. It allows Facebook users to specifically ask question to and get answers from others in Facebook’s now 500 million strong community. The service just went live at 1pm Pacific Time today, and we’re working on a detailed look at all the features (this is […]

SEO

The Algorithm Ate My Lunch: Responding to Catastrophic Ranking Changes

One of the most unpleasant situations an in-house SEO can face is a major search engine algorithm change that results in a massive downward shift in rankings. Some webmasters have reported search engine traffic losses of up to 90% as a result of Google’s “Mayday” update, and similar catastrophes have been attached to every algorithm […]

Content

What Do Caffeine And Mayday Mean For B2B Marketers?

Most of you have heard about Google Caffeine which launched last month and the algorithm update made in May, nicknamed Mayday. For many B2B sites the algorithm change resulted in a loss of rankings and traffic. Now that several weeks have passed, marketers are wondering how these changes affect their website and what changes (if any) they should make. This column offers practical advice for B2B marketers regarding these recent Google updates.

Google News

Blekko: New Search Engine Lets You “Spin” The Web

Did you think the search engine wars had devolved into a fight between only Google and Bing? Think again. New challenger Blekko is stepping into the fray, opening to limited beta testing today. It offers a compelling way to “slash the web” and put a particular spin on your search results. Blekko isn’t a Google-killer. […]

Google

Google Talking With Game Makers About New Social Gaming Site: Report

Nary a week goes by this summer that we don’t hear more rumors about Google’s interest in online games, social networking, and/or some combination of the two. Tonight, the Wall Street Journal is quoting unnamed sources that say Google is talking with “several makers of popular online games” to have those games included on a […]

Ecommerce

Search Dominates Social Media When Shopping Online: Study

A new study about the buying habits of computer and consumer electronics shoppers shows the importance of search to the online shopping process. Search engines, in particular, are relied on much more heavily than social media — but the study also speaks to the importance of on-site search boxes. The report — which can be […]

Google

The Google Sewage Factory, In Action: The Chocomize Story

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt has quite famously been on record many times talking about how the web is full of garbage. It’s a cesspool out there, he’s said. Today, a short fast look at how his own company pollutes the web. Right now, one of the “trending topics” on Google is the word “chocomize,” as […]

Google Shopping

SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 27, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Report: Bing Generates More Clicks Than Google Chitika, a veritable fountain of data lately, has generated some new interesting findings from activity on its search-based advertising network. The company compared ad […]

Advertising

Report: Bing Generates More Clicks Than Google

Chitika, a veritable fountain of data lately, has generated some new interesting findings from activity on its search-based advertising network. The company compared ad click behavior on Google and Bing and found that Bing generated about 50% more clicks: Across the sample of nearly 15 million impressions used for this study, Google users clicked on […]

Paid social

How To Focus On Content To Create Great Linkbait

Linkbait is quality content that people want to share or link to due to its engaging layout, ideas, and concepts. Although the name ‘linkbait’ sometimes carries a negative connotation, the fact remains that it is a great way to drive traffic, get links, contribute to the web, and share ideas. For bloggers and writers that […]

Google

Google Webmaster Tools SiteNotices For Site Error Notifications

The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced they are stepping up their notifications within Webmaster Tools. They will now send “SiteNotices” for a “significant increase” in unreachable content, that is when GoogleBot cannot reach a number of pages on your web site. Here is a picture of what a SiteNotice may look like: Google will only […]

SEO

Ask Comes Full Circle With “Q&A” Offering

As Matt posted earlier this evening Ask is in beta on a new approach to search, or perhaps more accurately: a return to an earlier approach but with greater experience and sophistication. The IAC-owned company is returning, conceptually, to its origins as a question & answer engine, when human editors were involved. This has been […]

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