Mar 31, 2013 at 3:17pm ET by Matt McGee

April Fool's Day is pretty much like a national ... err, international holiday for everyone that works for Google. It seems that nobody else on the Web takes the tradition of pranks and jokes as seriously as Google does -- just see our coverage from the last few April Fool's Days for proof: Google's Gags Go Worldwide For April Fool's Day 2012 It's Over: Google Has Already Won April Fools Day 2011 Google Books, Google Maps Get 3D View – But Only For April Fool's Day April Fools' Day 2009: Google CADIE & More From Search Industry It may still be March 31st for me, and maybe [...]

Google Pushes Google Search App With Commercials

Mar 22, 2013 at 1:12pm ET by Danny Sullivan

The commercial in the middle of an episode of "Worst Cooks In America" this weekend caught me off-guard. Was that an ad for the Google Search App? It sure was, and the restart of Google's campaign to push its cross-platform search tool. It was the first time I spotted this particular campaign on TV, though Google tells me they've been running since the fall. That's true, but those seemed to have stopped soon after the New Year, and now the campaign has begun again, it looks like. Of course, Google's no stranger to TV ads these days, such as Google Now recently getting a commercial during [...]

Google On Bing Attack Ads: “Others Should Focus On Building Good Products”

Mar 10, 2013 at 1:14pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google has largely ignored Bing's Scroogled campaign, the one attacking it over the pay-for-play change to Google Shoppping & Gmail privacy. But today, Google search chief Amit Singhal pushed back a bit, saying Bing perhaps should focus on making better products rather than attacking Google. Speaking at the SXSW conference, when taking a question posed via Twitter about how Google views Bing's attacks, Singhal responded to say "We focus on our users." Then he continued: "Others should focus on building good products, too" to audience applause. You can read more of his talk here: Li [...]

Google Releases Interactive Infographic: “How Search Works”

Mar 1, 2013 at 11:58am ET by Danny Sullivan

Ever wondered how Google Search works, finds pages from across the web and decides how to list them in response to a search? If so, Google's got a new resource designed to answer questions. Called "How Search Works," the new area announced today is an interactive infographic that explains more about the search process, including how Google deal with spam issues. The new area was inspired by Google's The Story Of Send, an interactive infographic that Google released last year to explain how it handles email. "We were looking at this site [The Story Of Send], Matt Cutts [Google's chief [...]

The Google Movie — “The Internship” — Debuts Its Trailer

Feb 14, 2013 at 9:16am ET by Barry Schwartz

There is a new movie coming to theaters on June 7th named The Internship. It is a comedy movie about what it is like to work at Google as an intern played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. The movie is about two older men who know nothing about computers who recently lose their jobs. They decide to try to get a job at Google by interning there first. The trailer was released yesterday via Google+ and here it is for you all to see: We've known this movie was coming since August 2012 and been tracking it's progress from when the filming started at the GooglePlex to the movie pos [...]

Google Now (And Nexus 4) Featured In Grammy Show Commercial

Feb 11, 2013 at 7:44am ET by Greg Sterling

Last night during the Grammy Awards show, Google bought airtime to promote its predictive search/assistant feature Google Now. The commercial, called "Live in the Now," also featured the sold-out Nexus 4. It now appears, however, that the popular handset will shortly be back in stock. The Apple-like ad shows people around the world getting useful and "just in time" information from Google Now. It highlights a range of use cases, from language translation in Paris to transportation information in LA -- all without conducting a search. Google Now is available on devices featuring the " [...]

This Year, NORAD Tracks Santa With Microsoft & Bing, Not Google

Dec 12, 2012 at 2:15pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google has been helping the popular NORAD Tracks Santa site locate Santa Claus on Christmas Eve since 2007. But this year, Jolly St. Nick will be tracked on Bing Maps, not Google. NORAD is also pushing an official Windows 8 app. It part of Microsoft being the new lead partner for the site. 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 Goodbye, Google NORAD Tracks Santa has a new "team" page listing corporate sponsors. Microsoft tops the list; Bing Maps is prominent and Google is [...]

Google Ads Pitch Making Google Your Homepage

Nov 26, 2012 at 12:52pm ET by Danny Sullivan

It can seem odd that people search for "Google" on Google, but they do. And for those who do within Google News, the company has been running ads encouraging them to make Google their homepage. I noticed this happening in the middle of last month, and you can still see it happening today: The ad says, "Make Google Your Homepage" with the message "Access Google Conveniently By Setting It As Your Browser Homepage," as you can see in close-up below: I've seen at least one other variation, pitching "Google At Your Fingertips," as shown below: Clicking on the ads takes you to a special [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Marketing | Top News

Google Launches “Get Your Google Back” Campaign For Windows 8 Users

Oct 26, 2012 at 1:00pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has launched a Get Your Google Back site to teach new Windows 8 users how to restore or add Google Search to their devices and to get Chrome. It doesn't help those with Windows RT devices who seem stuck without Google, however. Windows 8 was released today, which means a number of people will find Bing as the default search engine. This isn't always the case. Those who are upgrading and already have Google as default or buying computers from companies that partner with Google to be the default should still have Google, though we're checking on this. Still, plenty of people may f [...]

Google Maps Fills Whitespace With Big Mobile Ad

Sep 19, 2012 at 8:37pm ET by Matt McGee

Having lost visibility in Apple's iOS 6, Google Maps is using a big, new ad that touts Google Maps mobile capabilities and invites existing users to "take your map anywhere." Here's what it looks like on a desktop Google Maps search that I did late this afternoon: The ad only seems to appear when there's adequate whitespace. My search query was for a specific, one-of-a-kind location -- a small airport in Kennewick, Wash. If I search for "dentists kennewick," though, the ad is nowhere to be found and that left pane is filled with search results. The ad leads to Google's "Hello Wor [...]

Google’s “Search Plus Your World” Promo Returns

Apr 13, 2012 at 8:09pm ET by Danny Sullivan

I was surprised to see a promotion for Google's "Search Plus Your World" feature turn up in my search results today. I was even more surprised that even after I dismissed it, the promo returned at least twice more. It's Not Your Imagination Apparently, I'm not the only one. I can see others on Twitter complaining about it: Here's Andrew Chen: When I google, the "Welcome to Search plus your World" shows up over and over. Can't be dismissed. wtf Jonathan Dugan: Google, if you keep spamming me with "Welcome to Search plus Your World" every time I run a search, I'm going to stop usi [...]

Google Chrome’s Paid Link Penalty Now Lifted

Mar 16, 2012 at 9:37am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has lifted the 60-day paid link penalty Google Chrome was given the first week of January. Now if you search for [chrome], [browser] or similar searches, the Google Chrome landing page will once again show up on the first page of the search results. Here is a picture showing the page ranking in position number for on Google: As you may remember, right after the New Years, Google was caught running a sponsored post campaign for Chrome. After a day or so, Google's Matt Cutts applied a link penalty to the Google Chrome landing page for 60 days. Now, about days later, Googl [...]

Keeping Up With Google: Bing Launches New “Search Quality Insights” Series

Mar 5, 2012 at 1:55pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Want to understand better how Bing creates its search results? Bing has announced a new "Search Quality Insights" series to provide a more behind-the-scenes look at its search engine. You know, like "Search Quality Highlights" series that Google launched last December. What's going on with these? And how does Bing's latest post help Google on anti-trust grounds? Google Seeks Transparency In Google's case, I view the Search Quality Highlights series as Google trying to deal with accusations, especially by those on the anti-trust front but even from places like the New York Times, that Google [...]

Google’s Chrome Page No Longer Ranks For “Browser” After Sponsored Post Penalty

Jan 3, 2012 at 4:32pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Searches for "browser" no longer bring up the Google Chrome home page after Google applied a penalty against the page because of Google's own sponsored post campaign. Google said even though it felt there were no "remaining violations" of its guidelines, the search engine's spam fighting team was going to reduce the PageRank value of the Google Chrome home page, which in turn lead to today's ranking decrease. From the statement Google sent us: We've investigated and are taking manual action to demote www.google.com/chrome and lower the site’s PageRank for a period of at least 60 day [...]

Google: Yes, Sponsored Post Campaign Was Ours But Not What We Signed-Up For

Jan 3, 2012 at 1:02pm ET by Danny Sullivan

It's been about a day since we covered Google's sponsored post campaign to promote its Chrome browser, a campaign that produced posts that violate Google's guidelines against "thin" content and potentially those against buying links. Yes, it was a Google campaign, but not what the company says it signed-up for. One agency is falling on its sword; another is saying no paid links were purchased. Let's piece through what we've got. Google: We Only Meant To Buy Online Ads Google has sent me this statement: Google never agreed to anything more than online ads. We have consistently avoided paid [...]

Google’s Jaw-Dropping Sponsored Post Campaign For Chrome

Jan 2, 2012 at 6:38pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google, the company that has been fighting against paid links and "thin" content, seems to be behind a campaign that's generating both on behalf of its Chrome browser. File this under "what were they thinking." "This Post Sponsored By Google" Aaron Wall wrote about the campaign today at SEO Book, spotting how a search for "This post is sponsored by Google" brings back over 400 pages written apparently as part of a Google marketing campaign: We're checking with Google for confirmation that the company is behind the campaign, but expect a response to be delayed, as Google's PR department [...]

Larry Page “CEO Of The Year” — Investors Business Daily

Jan 2, 2012 at 10:10am ET by Greg Sterling

When Larry Page took over the CEO role at Google last year the company was doing well. Now it's doing better and so Investor's Business Daily has named him "CEO of the Year." The publication summed up its rationale as follows: [Page] reorganized the company's management structure, redesigned the face of the company's products and pushed forward with a multibillion dollar deal to acquire a cellphone manufacturing outfit. He also launched two other products aiming at Groupon, the leader of online coupons, and Facebook, the top social networking site. Google (GOOG) in the past two quarters [...]

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 [...]

Google + Thanksgiving Day TV Commercial

Nov 25, 2011 at 8:52am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google aired a 90 second TV commercial on Thanksgiving Day during the Lions/Packers Football game. The commercial highlighted some of the features of Google +, focusing on the circles and hangouts features - but mostly on circles. The goal of the commercial was to communicate how Google + enables you to share as you would in "real life," i.e. share certain things with certain groups of friends. Here is the commercial: This is not the first time Google aired a TV commercial. They did so back in February 2010 at the Super Bowl. Since then, seeing a TV commercial from Google is n [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Google: Marketing

Google Leads In Search Engines’ Efforts To Woo TV Viewers

Nov 11, 2011 at 12:23pm ET by Pamela Parker

Google's "Dear Sophie" TV spot for Chrome, in which a father creates a Gmail account for his newborn daughter and sends her multi-media messages as she grows up, earned the top spot in Ace Metrix' rankings of websites' TV advertisements. Despite being a recent and reluctant entrant to TV advertising, Google dominated the rankings with five of its ads coming in among the top ten. Bing wasn't too far behind, however, with three ads making the list. The Dear Sophie creative was especially popular among women between 16 and 20, and 36 to 49, who rated it extremely highly for likeability, at [...]

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