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 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Microsoft: Bing Voice Search | Search Features: Search By Voice

Today, "in the spirit of sitemaps.org", Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have announced the joint alliance of schema.org. This alliance provides a common foundation of support for a set of microdata types -- some that previously existed and some that have been created as part of this initiative. Microdata is a type of structured mark up that can be used to provide semantic meaning to content on web pages. The microdata types currently supported are documented at schema.og. You can also take a look at the announcements from each search engine on their blogs: Google: Introducing schema.org: S [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Google: Rich Snippets | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Microsoft: Bing | Schema.org | Search Features: Enhanced Listings | Top News | Yahoo: Search

There are lots of different ways to speed up searching. Google, Bing and Yahoo all offer browser toolbars -- no need to visit their home pages, just search wherever you are. Google and Yahoo both have their own versions of "instant search," where search results appear as you type. Google's Chrome web browser lets you search right from the browser address bar. And they all fall short of my new favorite search tool: Slashtag.it. If you're really looking to search faster, this is the way to do it. Slashtag.it isn't a search engine; it's an interface that lets you access several dozen se [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Features: General | Firefox | Search Features: Shortcuts

Google has added a pair of features today that make Google News a little more personal. First, the "News for you" section of Google News now includes stories based on your previous Google News activity. If you click on a lot of articles about a certain topic, this section will begin to show more articles on that topic. Second, the right column has a new feature called "Recommended Sections" that also uses your news history to suggest new topics to add to your customized Google News homepage. These personalized news features can be disabled by using the "Standard US Edition" of Goo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: News | Google: Personalized Search | Search Features: Search History & Personalization | Top News

Google is testing a new feature that marries its Instant Previews with AdWords. The test gives searchers a chance to see the ad's landing page without clicking on the ad. As you can see, all of the ads on the screenshot above -- whether above the organic results or in the right column -- are showing the small magnifying glass icon for Instant Previews. The preview image itself seems to be work exactly as the feature works in organic search; the search query, "lcd tvs" in this case, is called out and shown in bold on the preview. When Instant Previews launched in November, Danny Sulli [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Google: AdWords | Search Features: Enhanced Listings | Top News

The idea of "normal" search results died a little more today, as Bing has begun delivering personalized listings depending on a searcher's location or past search history. Google has already been doing the same for several years. Local Results Until today, everyone searching at Bing within the United States generally saw the same results. Now, the city you're searching from can make a difference. For example, the search on the left below is where Bing detected my location as being near Los Angeles. On the right, I changed my settings to simulate being in New York: You can see that [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: General | Microsoft: Bing | Search Features: Search History & Personalization | Top News

Bing and Big Think are hosting"Farsight 2011: Beyond the Search Box," a four hour event today in San Francisco looking at the future of search. We've got various luminaries lined-up. Google will be on a panel. There's that whole Google says Bing is copying them thing that just happened. Plus, Blekko's here -- and it just rolled out a new spam filter seemingly aimed at search enemy number one these days, content farms. Should be a fun day. See our previous post for the schedule. Live webcast will happen off the Big Think home page. Buckle up, and my live blogging begins at 10am Pacific. [...]

Related Topics: Blekko | Channel: SEO | Google: Web Search | Live Blogging | Microsoft: Bing | Search Features: General | SEO: Spamming

Bing has landed its first deal to provide in-car search capabilities with today's announcement of Toyota Entune at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Entune is Toyota's new navigation system, a combination in-car hardware and mobile phone application that will be available in select Toyota vehicles later this year. Entune features Bing for Mobile (with Bing Maps) as one of its featured apps, giving drivers access to Bing search results via the dashboard's touch screen or by using Bing for Mobile's voice search capabilities. Users will first need to download the Entune app to th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Cars | Microsoft: Bing Cars | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing Mobile | Search Features: Cars | Top News

Yahoo is following Google by rolling out its own version of Google Instant, with a twist. Called "Rich Search Assist," the feature automatically shows results as you type, though only in the top half of the page. Meet Rich Search Assist The screenshot below shows an example of this: As you type, Yahoo suggests search topics using its preexisting Yahoo Search Assist service. But now, next to the suggestions, Yahoo flashes up a closer look at the first result you'd get for each topic. As you move down through the other suggestions, the preview changes to match those. The short vid [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Instant | Search Features: Query Refinement | Top News | Yahoo: Search

At last, Google has finally gained a page preview feature. Called "Instant Previews," this is a way for you to see what's on a page that's listed in Google's search results without having to leave Google. The new feature seems promising, another way to save time in the searching process, because there's less need for people to "pogostick" with their search results. Pogosticking is when someone clicks from a search listing to a page, then clicks back if unsatisfied to select another result and so on. With the new Instant Previews, they may be better able to immediately spot the most p [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Search Features: Enhanced Listings | Top News

The first game of the World Series is underway, as I write this. Curious about how it's going, I turned to the search engines to see if they'd knock it out of the ballpark with some instant answers. Yep, if you're a San Francisco Giants fan. Not so much, if you're a Texas Rangers fan. Google & The World Series Batting first is Google, where I did a search for giants, as a Giants fan might to get the score: Nice. Just what I wanted, the current score right at the top of the page, where the first arrow is pointing at. You Got Footballolate In My Baseballbutter! Notice the second a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: General | Search Features: Shortcuts

Pamela Anderson is a well-known actress. The New Pornographers are an indie rock band. Women rapping are ... well, presumably just females making music. All three are also part of a growing list of known "naughty" phrases that trip up Google Instant. Danny Sullivan has already written about this topic here on Search Engine Land (see The Five Words You Can Never Suggest On Google Instant), but the folks at 2600 -- a hacker community magazine -- are compiling a Google Blacklist of words that Google Instant filters. The list, which is not safe for work and perhaps not safe for other rea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Instant | Google: Suggest | Google: Web Search | Search Features: Safety | Top News

Like it or not, lots of people search for nude celebrities on Google. But with Google’s new Google Instant Search, those inclined to seek celebs in the buff have to figure out their queries without any help from Google. The same is true for those interested in nude beaches, famous nude artwork or "innocent" topics such as the Naked Brothers Band and nude lipstick. Below, a closer look at pros and cons to Google Instant's filtering, including a nod's to George Carlin's famous "Seven Words You Can Never Say In Television" bit. A Good Reason To Filter Adult Terms As we've covered, Goo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: Instant | Google: Suggest | Google: Web Search | Search Features: Safety | Top News

If you thought instant search suggestions and results was fun, get a load of this: At Yahoo Taiwan and Yahoo Hong Kong, searchers can handwrite their search queries and Yahoo will try to match the handwriting to letters, and then show suggested searches. It's all described in this Yahoo blog post, complete with screenshots showing how users can begin their search by using a "handwriting panel" next to the search button. Yahoo says that's the Chinese language character for the first letter of Lady Gaga's name. To the left of what the user has drawn, Yahoo shows six possible character [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Features: Query Refinement | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: User Interface

Rob Ousbey documented on video how Google is testing a feature where the search results on the page are updating as you type your search query. This is a form of search query refinement and Google Suggest that dynamically modifies the search results on the page as you type. Here is his video: The internet was buzzing about this feature over the weekend. I personally find this to be just a bit overboard. It makes the page jump around, I feel it can lead to confusion and other issues. Google sent TechCrunch a confirmation, calling this one of their many "search experiments." [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Suggest | Google: User Interface | Google: Web Search | Search Features: Query Refinement | Top News

I love showing off my Google power searching skills when presenting or meeting or talking with a prospective client. I just know it boosts my credibility in the eyes of my audience. Invest a bit of time in learning some of the lesser-used Google query refinements -- i.e. the operators, parameters, and so forth -- and you too can amaze your friends, family, boss, co-workers and clients! For Part 1 of this series, I'm going to focus on the various commands:  the search operators, also known as query operators -- for the search box to restrict your results or to otherwise pull the needle from [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | Search Features: Commands

At the beginning of Google's "Searchology" event in early 2007 original Google employee Craig Silverstein opined, "If Google had started a year or two earlier, it wouldn't have worked." That's because prior to that time (1998) the internet wasn't yet large enough to require Google or enable people to see the value of its approach. As sites and pages multiplied exponentially Google became an increasingly necessary tool. We're all familiar with the story. Now Google controls a majority of search traffic in most countries around the world. It has become a seemingly unstoppable force. The in [...]

Related Topics: Blekko | Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: Web Search | Search Engines: Cuil | Search Engines: Custom Search Engines | Search Engines: Open Directory Project | Search Engines: Powerset | Search Engines: Social Search Engines | Search Features: General | Top News

There have been many search "preview" tools, plug-ins and add-ons that try and give users a peek at what's behind a link on a SERP. Their objective is to circumvent the click and enable people to more quickly get to desired information. Almost all of these tools have failed to deliver on the promise of that idea. Generally, also, consumers don't use them. One of the most obnoxious in recent memory is the blog plug-in tool "snap shots." Many blogs installed it because it looked "cool" but did very little in the way of adding value. Bing does a version of this currently, which is relativel [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Search Engines: Custom Search Engines | Search Engines: Experimental | Search Features: Enhanced Listings

While Bing is throwing a star-studded party to announce changes to its entertainment-based search results, there are several other changes that deserve a close look, not the least of which is the amount of deep content -- including full articles with thousands of words -- that Bing is now hosting in its search results. More on that in a bit. Look & Feel Let's start with the overall new look and feel that Bing has announced. The biggest change is that search options -- or, Quick Tabs in Bing-speak -- have been moved from the left-side column to immediately under the search box at the top [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Microsoft: Bing | Search Features: Shortcuts | Top News

The biggest sporting event in the world is underway and, if you're unable to follow along on TV, there's plenty of coverage of it online -- including all of the major search engines and Twitter. Here's a look at what you'll find on the web if you're looking for a football/soccer fix. Google Google seems to have been the last to rollout its World Cup information. Earlier today, I wasn't seeing anything special for searches like world cup schedule, but Google is now showing a list of upcoming matches. Still, Google is offering far less than Yahoo and Bing (see below) when it comes t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Google: OneBox, Plus Box & Direct Answers | Google: Web Search | Microsoft: Bing | Search Features: Shortcuts | Top News | Twitter | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Shortcuts