Having your yacht mentioned in a TechCrunch article can be alarming. Follow a few simple guidelines, and maybe you can avoid this. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search & Society: April Fool's

This morning I read the CNN story that said Google was finally going to incorporate facial recognition technology into its Goggles app or another mobile application. I then wrote an opinion piece that argued Google was courting a major privacy backlash, despite seeming to have privacy controls worked out in the article. Thereafter I was contacted by Google, which said the story was pure conjecture and completely wrong. Google told me it was based on facts and statements that were extrapolated out of context by the CNN reporter. Google was getting a retraction from CNN and asked if I woul [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Critics | Google: Mobile

The Microsoft News Blog noticed Bing testing out a new user interface for the vertical search engine links. Instead of having the links to the vertical search properties on the middle section left hand side of the page, the links are at the top. A Microsoft spokesperson told us, "We’re constantly updating and refining the Bing search experience, and before any changes are implemented they undergo intensive testing and experimentation to ensure the best possible user experience. However, we have no news to share at this time." Here is a picture of the Bing home page as I see it versus [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Microsoft: Bing

Join the most accomplished search marketers in the world – attend Search Engine Land's SMX Advanced Seattle, June 7-8. Check out the full agenda, featuring two days of experts-only sessions, keynotes and the highest-level networking anywhere. Register by this Saturday, April 2nd, and you’ll receive the best rates offered for the only conference designed for experienced search marketers. SMX Advanced has sold out each and every year it’s been produced. Don’t miss out! Secure your spot and get the lowest rates available — register now! [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Sponsor Messages

Just that quickly, Google has disabled the +1 button that was spotted online earlier today. The button was pieced together and seemed to work for a couple hours, though, as the comments on our story show, its integration into Google's search results wasn't real good due to the limited rollout of +1 so far. A Google spokesperson shared this statement about the disabled buttons: While we're thrilled that publishers are anxious to integrate the +1 button into their sites, we're still working things out and aren't quite ready for this to be publicly available just yet, so we're disabling [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: +1

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 Launches Page Speed Analyzer In LabsGoogle’s fixation on page speed continues with today’s addition of Page Speed, a new analysis tool in Google Labs. The tool analyzes any URL, gives it a grade (on a score of 0-100) and then offers a potentially long list of ways to make the page faster. The suggestions are divided into High, Medium and [...] Google +1 Button Spotted … And It Works [Er, Worked]Even though Google’s +1 butt [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google's fixation on page speed continues with today's addition of Page Speed, a new analysis tool in Google Labs. The tool analyzes any URL, gives it a grade (on a score of 0-100) and then offers a potentially long list of ways to make the page faster. The suggestions are divided into High, Medium and Low priority. The test, appropriately, runs in a matter of seconds. Search Engine Land has scored an 85 and 84 in the two tests I ran within a couple minutes of each other. Here's a look at the suggestions provided to us: That's an analysis of desktop page speed; you can select to [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Labs | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search

Even though Google's +1 button isn't supposed to be ready for webmasters for a few months, they've already been spotted in the wild -- and they appear to work. Yvo Schaap points to Fanity.com, where a +1 button has been embedded in a social widget next to Facebook and Twitter buttons. (See image at right.) Schaap says he did some digging into Google's code and "found the button endpoint hiding from me, obfuscated, in a stray piece of javascript." I'm not a code wizard, but (assuming I get it right) here's what the button should look like for this individual story URL. (C'mon, +1 it -- [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: +1

Contrary to what I reported earlier based on a seemingly very credible CNN report, Google is not planning to release a version of its mobile app Goggles with face recognition technology. Google has had the capability for several years but so far refrained from putting it out in the world other than on Picasa. I spoke to Google at some length and a spokesperson said that the CNN piece was based on totally inaccurate conjuncture. That speculation was in turn based on an interview with a Google engineer Hartmut Neven taken out of context. The Google spokesperson said that Google wouldn't pu [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Images | Google: Mobile

We interrupt our regularly scheduled RETAIL SMARTS column for this special update on extremely rare, but deadly Panda attacks in the retail community... So this week, I was supposed to share the results from that 300% sales increase of that leather dog collar with nameplate example from last column, but this is a little more important. Stock image from Shutterstock, used under license. I was out of the country and out in the jungle the week the Google Panda/Farmer update hit. None of our sites or client sites were really affected, but that meant I had no real information on the dire [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Panda Update Tips | Search & Retail

In the past Microsoft has been accused of orchestrating third party legal complaints against Google like some behind-the-scenes Cardinal Richelieu or puppet master. But now Redmond has come out of the shadows and joined the list of companies that have filed formal complaints against Google in Europe. "Microsoft is filing a formal complaint with the European Commission as part of the Commission’s ongoing investigation into whether Google has violated European competition law," wrote Microsoft SVP and General Counsel Brad Smith. He goes on in is explanatory missive to lay out the parti [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Antitrust | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: General | Legal: Regulation

It's difficult to gauge the potential impact of Google's new +1 initiative on marketers because of one somewhat mysterious factor: consumer behavior. When compared to Facebook, with its "Like" button, Google likely has relatively few users who've bothered to set up profiles. And, if a consumer doesn't have a profile, using +1 isn't an option unless they set one up -- which is a lot of trouble to go through to express your approval about a search listing or, in the future, a website. Let me recap how +1 works for advertisers. All ads (unless you opt out) will show a greyscale +1 button besid [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: +1 | Google: AdWords

Today on the Google home page you will see a special logo for Robert Bunsen's 200th birthday. The Google logo is an interactive chemical lab set with a Bunsen burner. Robert Bunsen was the co-inventor of the Bunsen burner. You can use the logo by placing your mouse over the burner or other areas of the logo and it will begin to do things. For example: Pull your mouse slowly down the page, and the flame will get smaller Push your mouse up the page and above the logo, and the flame will grow Move your mouse left and right, and the flame will change colors. Move your mouse left [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos

There are so many reasons to make your website faster:  Higher conversion rates, lower bandwidth costs and yes, higher rankings in organic search. Frankly, I’m stunned how often web teams resist doing it. Here’s a list from easy to not-so-easy, of 29 ways you can get things running faster on your website: Put your images on a separate domain. Services like Amazon S3 make this very easy. Open an S3 account. Point a subdomain like ‘blah.yoursite.com’ at the S3 storage. Put your images there. Web browsers can load from multiple domains simultaneously, creating the impression [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | How To: SEO | Intermediate

For an in-depth overview of Google's new +1 extension of social search, see Danny Sullivan's Meet +1: Google’s Answer To The Facebook Like Button. In addition, Matt McGee has written How To Get Google +1 Buttons For Your Website for publishers interested in adding the new button. Danny's article briefly discusses how +1 will be used in conjunction with AdWords. I was able to speak to Google this afternoon about paid search and +1 and get a bit more detail. +1 Ads Should See a CTR Lift According to Christian Oestlien, Google's Group Product Manager for Ads, +1 will appear on all Google s [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: +1 | Google: AdWords | Google: Social Search | Google: Web Search | Top News

The long-rumored Google +1 social layer is now reality, but one of the oddities of today's announcement is that website owners can't put +1 voting buttons on their websites or blogs yet. In case it was lost in the flurry of today's news and discussion about Google +1, you can put in a request to get notified when the +1 button(s) is available. The signup form is here: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/plusonesignup/ You have to provide an email address; including your website URL is optional. As Danny Sullivan reported earlier, it may be "a few months" before buttons are available [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: +1

A little more than a year after announcing its plans to build a superfast, experimental broadband network somewhere in the U.S., Google has announced where that's going to happen: Kansas City, Kansas. In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. We’ve found this in Kansas City. Google says that nearly 1,100 cities applied to host the high-speed broadband network. Many used public and government support to show Google how desperately the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Internet Access

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Meet +1: Google’s Answer To The Facebook Like ButtonNearly a year after Facebook Like buttons spread out across the web, Google has announced its own rival, the +1 button. It launches today as part of Google’s search engine, allowing you to “+1″ the search results and ads that you like. And in a few months, it’ll be arriving at a web site near [...] Twenty Year “Privacy Audit” Intended To Punish, Make Exampl [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

In a dynamic and constantly changing world like internet marketing, measuring the outcomes of our activities is increasingly important. To get a deeper understanding about the most important developments in 2010 and the biggest challenges lying ahead for us in the rest of 2011, I interviewed four of the most influential gurus in the field of web analytics: Avinash Kaushik, Jim Sterne, Dennis Mortensen and Stéphane Hamel. Their insights and predictions follow. Avinash Kaushik Avinash Kaushik is the Analytics Evangelist for Google, co-founder of Market Motive and author of inspiring book [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Features: Analysis | Google: Analytics

Nearly a year after Facebook Like buttons spread out across the web, Google has announced its own rival, the +1 button. It launches today as part of Google's search engine, allowing you to "+1" the search results and ads that you like. And in a few months, it'll be arriving at a web site near you. Is +1 (pronounced "Plus One") part of the new social network that Google's long been rumored to be building? Or is +1 simply that "social layer" that Google has said would come and isn't really meant as a rival to Facebook? Yes. Come along -- let's see how it works now, where it might go, an [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Features: General | Google: +1 | Google: SEO | Google: Social Search | Magazine | Microsoft: Bing SEO | Microsoft: Bing Social Search | Search Engines: Social Search Engines | Top News | Weekender