Apr 2, 2012 at 12:53pm ET by Gary Price

The Khan Academy gets a lot of deservedly favorable attention for its breadth and depth of online video instruction. But there's another, similar site that I think deserves applause for quality, authoritative online video instruction. It also happens to be a freebie. It's called WatchKnowLearn.org and it’s being developed for K-12 students and educators. While I don’t fit directly into either of those categories I like to think of myself as a "lifelong learner" and for that reason WatchKnowLearn has become an essential reference tool for me, perfect for a quick knowledge "tune-up," [...]

March Madness: Stats, stats, stats!

Mar 15, 2012 at 5:53pm ET by Gary Price

March Madness (an annual U.S. tradition where virtually all sports fans go crazy over college basketball finals tournaments) is underway. Want to keep track of what's going on? There are many places on the internet to access statistics and other useful information as the games are played and teams move toward the Final Four games in New Orleans. So, here's a collection of direct links to databases, record books, searchable archived video and other material direct from the official information source for the Final Four, the NCAA. Men's Tournament 1. 2011-12 Men's Basketball Statistic [...]

Four Seriously Cool Information Resources

Mar 9, 2012 at 1:13pm ET by Gary Price

As a librarian, researcher and frequent blogger, I'm constantly coming across incredibly useful online information resources that are most effectively searched using their own site search tools, rather than relying on general-purpose engines to surface their valuable content. I plan to start writing about these on a regular, ongoing basis, using a bullet-point format that highlights the most useful features of each resource, rather than doing in-depth reviews. Without further ado, here are the first four (of many more to come). C-SPAN Video Library Cost: free In three words, amazin [...]

Scroogle’s Gone? Here’s Who Still Offers Private Searching

Feb 21, 2012 at 4:20pm ET by Matt McGee

You've probably read the news already that Scroogle is gone forever. It launched back in 2003 and was popular among searchers who wanted to get Google search results in a private setting. Now that it's gone, where can searchers go for a more private search experience than Google and Bing offer by default? Here's a list of a few alternatives. Note that different search engines below make different privacy-related claims; I haven't investigated them in detail -- i.e., by examining cookies, etc. -- so anyone looking for a private search experience should do his/her own research. Private Sea [...]

Where’s It Hurt? After You Search For A Symptom, New Google Health Search Results Suggest Causes

Feb 13, 2012 at 12:19pm ET by Greg Sterling

Roughly 100 million people in the US search for health information on a monthly basis, according to 2011 comScore data. Google has seen these queries up close and recently concluded that it doesn't do a great job of servicing them. The company is thus introducing improved results that shorten the time from symptom-related search to discovery of potential medical causes and conditions. Google Chief Health Strategist Roni Zeiger, MD, says the company sees users search on health symptoms and then almost immediately turn around and search for conditions they discovered in those initial search r [...]

Volunia, A Social Search Engine, Says The Web Has Come Alive

Feb 7, 2012 at 2:20pm ET by Sean Carlos

Google might be synonymous with the word search in most of the world, but that hasn't dissuaded others from bringing new search engines to the market, usually aiming to innovate in an area where Google has somehow let up its guard. Volunia, launched this week, promises to help searchers with three distinguishing features: High level site previews in search results A multimedia search within a site function A social layer which, among other things, allows Volunia users to share information and connect to one another My sense is that it is the social layer which will be most apprecia [...]

An Interview With A Google Search Quality Rater

Jan 20, 2012 at 1:42pm ET by Matt McGee

Since at least 2005, Google has been using a large, worldwide focus group to help review its search results and the quality of the web pages that rank well in its algorithm. The people in this program are called Quality Raters and, as you can imagine, the work they do is important to search marketers everywhere. Google was actually advertising Quality Rater jobs in late 2004, but today the Quality Raters don't actually work for Google; they work for contractors such as Lionbridge, Leapforce, Butler Hill and possibly others. According to Lionbridge's Internet Assessors Program job page, it h [...]

Google Fails To Trounce Bing (Again): The Fallacy Of The Superior Search Engine Revisited

Jan 11, 2012 at 1:44pm ET by Conrad Saam

A year ago, I wrote a quick post called, Google vs. Bing, The Fallacy of the Superior Search Engine, in which I selected twenty search-difficult queries and ran a subjective head to head evaluation of the search results from Google and Bing. The end result confirmed what I had long anecdotally experienced – the difference in result relevancy between the engines was really not that much. In fact, Bing bested Google slightly. Admittedly, my little test, with n=20, had the academic rigor of a Sarah Palin geography lesson. I was rightly skewered by some readers, including one who called th [...]

Are You A Search Geek? Test Your Mettle with this Contest – and Win Two Tickets to SMX West!

Dec 19, 2011 at 11:10am ET by Search Engine Land

Looking for some relief from the craziness of the holiday season? Why not test your search marketing intelligence, by taking the 4th Annual SMX Biggest Search Geek Contest sponsored by Marin Software. You could just win a trip for two to SMX West in San Jose, Feb. 28- March 1, plus an Apple iPad2! The quiz tests your Search IQ with 20 questions about all aspects of search marketing, including paid, organic, and the occasional history question such as this one from a previous quiz: What was the name of Larry Page and Sergey Brin's 1996 research project that laid the foundation for Google [...]

Google’s Let It Snow Easter Egg

Dec 19, 2011 at 10:04am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has a new easter egg for the winter holiday season - search for [let it snow] and Google will turn the search results page into a powdery snow covered set of search results. The search results will become so hard to see that you will instinctively want to wipe the screen clean with your hand. Instead, use the mouse and it will help you wipe off the snow. Don't have any patience for that? No worries, click the "Defrost" button at the top and the snow will melt away. Finally, you can draw shapes in the snow and share them on Google+ with your friends. Here is a video of it in act [...]

The Right Stuff: Heavy Duty Real-Time Airline Flight Tracking Tools

Dec 3, 2011 at 4:00pm ET by Gary Price

Seemingly every day, more real-time or near real-time data becomes accessible on the internet. Over the next few weeks, I'll be writing about many different types of real-time resources, but today, I'll be focusing on real-time flight data—virtually addicting tools for frequent flyers and aviation geeks alike. For example, two weeks ago, Wolfram|Alpha launched a new real-time flight tracking feature that displays information about flights flying close to your own location. I'm a major Wolfram|Alpha user and supporter. However, since Wolfram is using GeoIP, which approximates location r [...]

For The Holidays, Google Has NORAD Tracks Santa & Bing Has Magical Holiday Calendar

Dec 1, 2011 at 1:50pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google's teaming up again with NORAD to product one of my favorite Christmas traditions, the NORAD Tracks Santa web site. But new for this year, Bing joins the holiday sweepstakes with a Advent calendar-like Bing Magical Holiday Calendar. NOTE: For the latest news on 2012 Santa tracking, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2012 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google, From The Web To Apps Where's Santa? Google & NORAD Know Let's start with Santa. Since it's not Christmas Eve, the site has a countdown until it begins Santa tracking operations for 2011: The site also has holiday [...]

Social Media Tactics That Work – Next Monday in Scottsdale, AZ

Nov 28, 2011 at 2:53pm ET by Search Engine Land

Sidestepping the "social media" questions from your bosses and clients? "What are we doing? Is it effective? How much does it cost? What’s this Google+ thing?" Get the answers. Attend SMX Social Media Marketing next week in Scottsdale, AZ and you’ll hear from the pioneering internet marketers who are inventing social media marketing. Learn the latest tactics and best-practices for Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Whether you’re managing your brand’s reputation, driving traffic with content or buying paid ads, SMX Social Media Marketing is for you. Check out the agenda. SMX Socia [...]

Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Search Engine? Bing’s New TV Ads Have A Ranking/Bass Stop-Motion Flavor

Nov 23, 2011 at 3:27pm ET by Pamela Parker

If you know that Hermey The Elf longs to be a dentist, that Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer's girlfriend is named Clarice, and if you can sing "Silver and Gold" as well as Yukon Cornelius, Bing's new holiday ad campaign will be right up your alley. The Microsoft search engine's newest video spots play off the classic Rankin/Bass Christmas TV specials, updating the plot and inserting Bing into the action. One spot shows the Abominable Snow Monster trying to roar ferociously but evoking laughter rather than fear from those who hear him. So, he returns to his cave and searches for "scar [...]

The Confusing World Of Sharing Songs From Google Music To Google+

Nov 16, 2011 at 10:08pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Exciting! Now you can share full songs from Google Music with others on Google+, like no other service allows. That's how I heard the pitch watching the Google Music event today. The reality is much different. Nice, but still disappointing in ways. Google Music Vs. Android Market Google Music is Google's cloud-based music service. Until today, you could listen to a few songs it had in there already offered for free, or anything that you uploaded from your own computer, but you couldn't buy new music to put into your "locker" directly. That was part of today's big news. Now you can buy mus [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: General | Google: Music

Google+ Badge Tool Now Makes Facepile-Style Badges, +1 Counts To Be Consolidated

Nov 16, 2011 at 2:47pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Want to show off the people who follow your shiny new Google+ Page, right on your own website? Now you can, with a Google+ badge that shows the faces of those subscribed. Badge Maker Now, Uh, Makes Badges When Google+ Pages launched last week, the badge making tool also went live -- but it only produced static icons, not badges. Now that's changed, Google has emailed: The Google+ badge has graduated out of preview today, be one of the first to put it on your site! For those who've already added the code, this means all users will be able to see the badge starting today. Featuring both [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: General | Google: +1 | Google: Google+ | Top News

Up Close With Creating & Managing Google+ Pages

Nov 7, 2011 at 5:36pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Today, Google launched Google+ Pages, allowing businesses to take part in its social network. Here's a walk-through on how to create and manage these pages: Creating A Page Within two days or sooner, everyone is supposed to be able to make pages by using the Create A Page tool. Availability is rolling out now, so if you get an "Google+ Pages isn't ready" error, keep checking back. (NOTE: Google now says everyone should have access). Assuming you do have access, I'll start with what you see when making a page for the "Product or Brand" category, though the steps work the same for any c [...]

Brands & News Sites Among Winners From Google’s Freshness Algo Update, Report Says

Nov 7, 2011 at 4:26pm ET by Matt McGee

Major brands and a variety of news sites -- from established outlets to internet-only gossip sites -- are among the winners from Google's recent algorithm update that aimed to reward fresh and more recent content. The findings come from SearchMetrics, the same company that has fairly accurately estimated Panda-related winners and losers several times this year. SearchMetrics uses a "visibility score" that's based on analyzing millions of keywords; the numbers below are related to that score, and not to specific traffic gains or losses. Freshness Algorithm Winners The list below is lengthy [...]

Confirmed: Google Testing New “Sources” Display In Search Results

Nov 7, 2011 at 2:52pm ET by Matt McGee

Google has confirmed that it's testing a new content module in its search results that's (currently) called "Sources." The module appears to have been spotted first by Cyrus Shepard, who shared screenshots of the new display including this one from a search for pop singer Rihanna. (You can click for a slightly larger version.) As you can see, the right column is widened to allow several pieces of background info to show -- things like biographical info from Wikipedia, her birthdate and other family information, plus links to songs and similar artists. A separate screenshot on a se [...]

Google+ Pages Now Open For Businesses, Brands, Places & More

Nov 7, 2011 at 1:04pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Finally, Google is now allowing businesses, brands and any non-human entity to participate in its Google+ social network, through new Google+ Pages that are launching today, promised to be available to everyone shortly. Businesses Weren't Allowed, Initially Businesses have wanted to be part of Google+ from the start. In fact, many businesses and brands made use of regular Google+ accounts as a way to participate on the service despite their non-human status. However, in July, Google terminated any business accounts that it spotted, including one from Sesame Street, promising that formal b [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: General | Google: Google+ | Top News

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