May 30, 2012 at 8:02am ET by Matt McGee

Searches are up in the two weeks since Google launched Knowledge Graph, its database of facts that adds context to a variety of search results. Although the company didn't share specific numbers, Google Fellow Amit Singhal told the Wall Street Journal that "people are interacting with it [the Knowledge Graph] more" and "doing more [search] queries." Those comments were made Friday, and Google spokesperson Jason Friedenfelds told the WSJ on Tuesday that internal stats show that users are still "doing more searches as a result" of Knowledge Graph. That makes perfect sense since the Knowled [...]

Google Launches Knowledge Graph To Provide Answers, Not Just Links

May 16, 2012 at 1:00pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Hinted at for months, Google formally launched its "Knowledge Graph" today. The new technology is being used to provide popular facts about people, places and things alongside Google's traditional results. It also allows Google to move toward a new way of searching not for pages that match query terms but for "entities" or concepts that the words describe. Knowledge Graph? "Graph" is a technical term used to describe how a set of objects are connected. Google has used a "link graph" to model how pages link to each other, in order to help determine which are popular and relevant for part [...]

Confirmed: Bing 411 Closing June 1st

May 10, 2012 at 9:34am ET by Barry Schwartz

Microsoft is closing down their toll-free voice search program named Bing 411. I have confirmed the Bing 411 service is closing by calling the service and hearing immediately the message: Bing 411: On June 1st, we are discontinuing the Bing 411 service. There were reports of this via LiveSide where they said they "received a tip" on this news. But this is indeed happening and Bing is closing down their 411 service. Google shut down their GOOG-411 service back in 2010. Bing kept theirs live hoping to fill that void, but clearly with the rise of smartphones and voice search embedde [...]

Google Testing “Sources” Area With Info About Movies, Books, People, Music & More

May 9, 2012 at 1:38pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Last November, Google tested a new "Sources" section in its search results, in the third column where ads normally appear. It seems the testing is underway again, showing extended information about actors, films, musicians, people and more. It also seems likely everyone may see this extended information soon, and that it's the "search refresh" the Wall Street Journal wrote about in March finally arriving. Experiment Confirmed I noticed these appearing yesterday in my own search results, and Google has confirmed that there's an experiment happening: We're always experimenting with ways to im [...]

Google Discussion Forum Snippets Now Showing “Top Answers”

Mar 28, 2012 at 8:53am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has expanded the search descriptions to show the "top answer" and sometimes the "question" for discussion forum like search results. For example, a search for ["incoming search terms"] in Google returns results from Google Groups and StackOverflow and in those snippets, it shows the "top answer" listed in the forum. Here is a picture: Both these forums support the functionality of labeling an answer to the question as a "top answer." Google is clearly picking up on that, structuring the data as such and then displaying that directly in the search results. This is all likel [...]

WSJ Says Big Google Search Changes Coming? Reality Check Time!

Mar 15, 2012 at 4:26am ET by Danny Sullivan

The Wall Street Journal is out with a story saying that Google is about to make one of the biggest changes in its history of offering web search, providing more direct answers and gaining "semantic" smarts to understand more about what words mean. I'm scratching my head, since Google already does this. Methinks Google's PR has exploded in ways it didn't expect. Beyond Blue Links! From the story, we learn things such as: Over the next few months, Google's search engine will begin spitting out more than a list of blue Web links. It will also present more facts and direct answers to queries at [...]

Pew Report: 65% View Personalized Search As Bad; 73% See It As Privacy Invasion

Mar 9, 2012 at 10:00am ET by Danny Sullivan

Personalized search? Both Google and Bing will tell you that it provides better results. But two-thirds say they don't care. They view personalized search as a "bad thing," a new survey finds. Nearly three-quarters also view gathering data to personalize results to be a privacy invasion. The findings come out of a survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Around 2,000 adults in the US were questioned between January 20 and February 19 of this year as part of a wide-ranging poll about search engine use, though fewer may have answered particular questions. Personalized Sea [...]

Wolfram|Alpha Goes Pro With Powerful Data Analysis & Presentation Tools

Feb 7, 2012 at 9:32pm ET by Gary Price

Wolfram|Alpha (W|A) is launching a new fee-based service named Wolfram|Alpha Pro. In today's highly competitive environment, you may wonder why W|A would ask people to pay for what many think should be free. Read on: you may decide to willingly open your wallet when you see what's available. Since Wolfram|Alpha launched in 2009, I’ve often wondered if the company would allow users to use their extremely powerful computing infrastructure to analyze their own data along with data sets available on the open web. Well, they have and that's what Wolfram|Alpha Pro is all about. As I wrote a [...]

Yelping In The Beemer: Review Site Inks Deal With BMW

Dec 21, 2011 at 5:48pm ET by Greg Sterling

Yelp is now established and mainstream enough to be included in BMW's Online/in-car content. Yelp reviews and related content will shortly be available to BMW owners "who subscribe to the optional BMW Assist Convenience Plan and have a navigation-equipped vehicle capable of receiving the BMW Online service." This means select BMW vehicles (see below for list) and is available in the US only for now. However Yelp's international coverage makes it probable that the partnership will roll out more broadly if it proves successful in the US. Yelp offered some screens of the BMW in-car search o [...]

Siri, Are You Taking Over Mobile Search?

Oct 31, 2011 at 11:56am ET by Sherwood Stranieri

The new iPhone 4s comes with a feature that is bound to impact how search marketers try to reach iPhone users. Siri, the voice recognition app that comes standard with the new iPhone, can be used to control text messaging and reminders inside the device. But it can also be used as a search tool, to call up specific information from the outside world. With the mobile search space already in flux, Siri adds a game-changing angle, particularly for marketers that want to reach the lucrative (presumably affluent) iPhone audience. Here are some factors for businesses to consider as Siri gro [...]

MicroData For Marketing Executives

Oct 13, 2011 at 12:09pm ET by Mark Sprague

This continues the analysis presented in the MicroData Not Ready For Primetime article previously published. Here, I break down the MicroData hierarchy into three levels so marketing professionals can review each category to see what value it can bring to future marketing, content and SEO initiatives. When you look at the type schema you see close to 300 metadata elements that can describe various entities (called Things here). There is lot of specificity in a few categories such as Local Businesses, Civic Structures and Events. Two of these categories have real implications for local a [...]

Google Spell Checking Within Search Box?

Oct 12, 2011 at 9:23am ET by Barry Schwartz

It appears that Google is testing showing a red squiggly line in the Google search box as you type, if they feel the spelling of your query is wrong. You know, the red line you see when you have a spelling mistake when using Microsoft Word or other word processors. At first, I thought it was a built-in spell checking feature of the browser, but after seeing additional reports and then seeing it myself last night, it seems to me to be a new feature Google is testing. Here is a screen shot of it in action: I've had several other people confirm Google was showing them this red squigg [...]

Google: No Longer Guessing About Celebrity Sexual Orientation

Sep 29, 2011 at 8:49pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Wondering if some celebrity is Gay, Lesbian, Straight or Bisexual? Plenty of people do and turn to Google to find out. But the search engine just stopped offering direct answers about these questions, after they became more noticeable. Google's "Best Guess" About Sexual Orientations Here's an example of one of the answers that were being shown, in response to a search for is anna paquin gay: You can see that Google provided a direct answer: "Best guess for Anna Paquin Sexual orientation is Bisexual." This worked for Paquin and other some other celebrities up until a few hours ago, when [...]

Bing “Action Buttons” Lets You Book Flights, Rent Cars & More

Sep 21, 2011 at 4:02pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Bing announced a new feature in the search results named "Action Buttons." Action buttons give you quick links to perform specific actions on specific web sites. IF you are searching for an airline, the Bing action buttons may include items like check flight status, book a flight or check in to a flight. If you are searching for a car rental company, Bing may offer you action links to rent a car, find locations or contact the company. If you are searching for a hotel, Bing may offer you action links to book a room, locations and their reward program. Here are some pictures: [...]

Bing Gets More Personal With Adaptive Search

Sep 14, 2011 at 4:07pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Bing has announced at SMX East today a new personalization feature named adaptive search. It seems a lot like Google's previous query feature but supposedly, it goes well beyond just the previous query. Bing said the "more you search, the more Bing can learn" and thus adapts the search results for YOU based on your past searches - not just your immediate previous search. Here is a video that explains it, we hope to have more information on this new feature soon: Video: Adapting Search to You Note, it is rolling out slowly over the next few days in the US. Stefan from Bing add [...]

SMX East Keynote: A Conversation With Eli Pariser

Sep 14, 2011 at 8:54am ET by Matt McGee

Good morning! Welcome to day two of our SMX East Conference in New York City. We're beginning today with a keynote conversation with Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble, a book in which Pariser argues that search personalization leads to users being unaware of viewpoints and opinions that are different than their own. We should be getting started at the top of the hour, so feel free to refresh and/or come back to follow along with the discussion. Chris Sherman and Danny Sullivan will be taking care of duties guiding the conversation. Chris has just introduced Eli and we're beginning [...]

MicroData & Retail Products: Not Ready For Primetime?

Sep 8, 2011 at 9:44am ET by Mark Sprague

If you are in the search engine business, the functionality in the Microdata specification sponsored by Google, Yahoo and Bing is a very attractive way to theoretically improve search results. Enterprise search engines are well-versed with named entity extraction tools and techniques, which is how this information has been generated in the past decade. The major search engines are essentially telling content providers that if they name all their entities in their content, they can do a better job of extracting meaning from them to help improve search results. This is a win-win propositio [...]

The Real Reason Google Wonder Wheel Died: It Was A Pain To Maintain

Aug 15, 2011 at 8:30am ET by Gary Price

Several weeks ago we reported that Google had taken the Wonder Wheel service offline. Its removal was a surprise to all its users including the many K-12 educators. A Google spokesperson old us that Wonder Wheel was removed due to the "initial stage" of the Google website redesign but did not share any info when we asked if and/or when Wonder Wheel would return. Now, let's jump to the other day when I came across (by accident) a Google Help Forum post by a Google employee that was posted only two days after our Search Engine Land item. It provides a different explanation than Googl [...]

Official: The Google Wonder Wheel Is Gone

Jul 3, 2011 at 1:20pm ET by Gary Price

A Google spokesperson has informed Search Engine Land that the Google Wonder Wheel feature has been taken offline. The spokesperson said that the search tool was removed due to the "initial stage" of the Google site redesign announced earlier this week. The Google Wonder Wheel along with a number of other search refinements were formally introduced at the 2009 Searchology event but actually became available as part of a test a couple of months earlier. Wonder Wheel was used by SEOs, SEMs, and advertisers as a way to visually identify relationships between a search term(s) and related [...]

Bing Voice Search Coming To Xbox

Jun 6, 2011 at 4:50pm ET by Matt McGee

Later this year, Bing search will take on a new platform: the Xbox entertainment/gaming console. And to prove that it's all cutting edge stuff in the gamers' world, Bing will be offering a voice-based search engine (in addition to a traditional text/type-based search) to help users find games, movies and TV shows, music and other content that's available via the Xbox. From the Bing blog post: By combining all this content with the power of Bing's deep search expertise, Microsoft Tellme's voice technology and the magic of Kinect, we'll be able to provide instant access to the expansiv [...]

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