Google To Join Anti-SOPA “Blackout Day” With Home Page Protest

Jan 17, 2012 at 4:26pm ET by Greg Sterling   

Google has confirmed to several media outlets (initially CNET) that it will join other prominent websites tomorrow, including Wikipedia, in protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills. While Wikipedia has said it will go dark, Google will link to anti-SOPA information on its homepage. Still, that information will be [...]

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AdGroup-Level Impression Share Metrics Coming To AdWords

Jan 17, 2012 at 2:23pm ET by Pamela Parker   

Google is releasing new functionality for AdWords that is aimed at helping them better allocate their budgets. The new feature will give advertisers impression share metrics down to the Ad Group level. Previously, impression share metrics were available only at the campaign level, which didn’t help when advertisers were trying to determine which particular ad [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 16, 2012

Jan 16, 2012 at 5:06pm ET by Matt McGee   

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: How To Blackout Your Site (For SOPA/PIPA) Without Hurting SEO A number of websites are (or were) planning to “go black” this week while the U.S. Congress discusses issues related to [...]

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Google Honors Martin Luther King Jr. Day With “I Have A Dream” Logo

Jan 16, 2012 at 1:57pm ET by Matt McGee   

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S., and Google is marking the day with a special logo that includes a couple lines from his famous “I have a dream” speech. King’s birthday was yesterday — he would’ve been 83 years old — but the U.S. celebrates his holiday on the third Monday [...]

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DuckDuckGo Relaunches With New Visual Design

Jan 14, 2012 at 9:31am ET by Matt McGee   

DuckDuckGo has just relaunched with a new visual design across its home page and search results pages. Founder Gabriel Weinberg has been taking feedback and tweaking the design for at least three-plus weeks in the site’s community forum, where he announced the new look and layout early Friday. The home page (shown above) is clean [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 13, 2012

Jan 13, 2012 at 5:04pm ET by Matt McGee   

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’s SPYW, Kenya Imbroglios An “Ink Blot” Test For Google As Good Or Evil? I woke up this morning to discover some fairly outrageous allegations against Google in Kenya. Local search/directory [...]

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Google’s SPYW, Kenya Imbroglios An “Ink Blot” Test For Google As Good Or Evil

Jan 13, 2012 at 11:12am ET by Greg Sterling   

I woke up this morning to discover some fairly outrageous allegations against Google in Kenya. Local search/directory startup Mocality says that Google crawled its site for local business sales leads and then falsely claimed in cold calls to those businesses it had a partnership with the publisher to sign them up. Mocality founder Stefan Magdalinski [...]

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Search Alliance Begins First AdCenter Testing In Europe

Jan 13, 2012 at 9:46am ET by Pamela Parker   

Microsoft adCenter ads are soon coming to Yahoo pages in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, Microsoft announced today. The first testing for the roll-out will commence mid-January and may involve up to 10% of Yahoo’s traffic in these geographies. Microsoft suggests advertisers closely monitor campaigns and be prepared to increase budgets if they’re more [...]

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Bing Tests New Bottom Home Page Bar

Jan 13, 2012 at 8:26am ET by Barry Schwartz   

Paul from WebRanking noticed that Bing is testing a new bottom bar with more graphically interesting information and media. The new bar replaces the existing bar by adding a Popular Now, Weather, Image and Video boxes. Here is a picture of the new box from Paul: Here is a picture of the old box: Related [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 12, 2012

Jan 12, 2012 at 5:10pm ET by Matt McGee   

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: To Understand Google Favoritism, Think “If Google+ Were YouTube” Google’s favoritism of Google+ in its new Search Plus results is just the latest in the line of favoritism it has done [...]

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Big Chains Launch “Hulu For Hotels”

Jan 12, 2012 at 11:18am ET by Greg Sterling   

Several major hotel chains have launched what might be described as “Hulu for hotels,” a new travel search site called Roomkey. According to Tnooz, the consortium includes Choice Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham Hotels. Starwood, operator of Sheraton and W hotels, is not among them. Hotels have been struggling for years to get [...]

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Google Search App For Android Updated

Jan 12, 2012 at 9:20am ET by Barry Schwartz   

Google announced on the Google Mobile Blog that they have updated the Google Search App for Android. The new update makes it easier and faster for searchers to use. The new additions include: New color scheme and simplified UI Faster Enhanced suggestions and query editing Better localized suggestions and search results for more countries Long [...]

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Google “Search Plus” Impact on Local: Limited So Far

Jan 11, 2012 at 7:38pm ET by Greg Sterling   

Amid all the controversy that has erupted over Google’s new search personalization (Search Plus Your World), I’ve been doing local searches to see what if any impact it’s having on that arena. So far, in my unscientific query survey, the impact seems to be minor. Below are some examples where I toggle between personalized and [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 11, 2012

Jan 11, 2012 at 5:17pm ET by Matt McGee   

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Two webcasts next week: “The Buyers’ Journey,” and “Content, Freshness and SEO for Large Sites” Search Marketing Now will host two webcasts next week. On Tuesday, January 17, Christine Crandell and [...]

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Two webcasts next week: “The Buyers’ Journey,” and “Content, Freshness and SEO for Large Sites”

Jan 11, 2012 at 4:57pm ET by Claire Schoen   

Search Marketing Now will host two webcasts next week. On Tuesday, January 17, Christine Crandell and Erez Barak will present “Align Your Marketing Mix to Your Buyers’ Journey: the Solution Search Stage.” They’ll explain what the Buyers’ Journey is, and how to set up your marketing strategy to get your prospects to find you during [...]

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Google Flight Search Expands, Now Showing More Routes

Jan 11, 2012 at 4:22pm ET by Matt McGee   

You can imagine my surprise when I saw my local airport — Pasco (PSC) — showing up in Google’s flight search feature. Don’t get me wrong; I love this airport … from car to gate in less than 10 minutes just can’t be beat. But that’s the point: It’s a pretty small airport and Google’s [...]

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Reports: Mobile Search Impressions Explode, CTRs Beat PC

Jan 11, 2012 at 2:50pm ET by Greg Sterling   

A couple of Q4 2011 reports released this week from Marin Software and IgnitionOne show, among other things, the dramatic growth of mobile paid search advertising. According to the IgnitionOne document, the “mobile [paid] search ad spend is up 269% YoY and impressions are up 317%.” IgnitionOne said that among its retail clients, “Mobile search [...]

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Google Logo For Nicolas Steno: Father Of Modern Geology

Jan 11, 2012 at 9:23am ET by Barry Schwartz   

Today’s special Google Logo, aka Google Doodle, celebrates the life of Nicolas Steno, the father of modern geology. The logo symbolizes the study of the earth, from the ocean to the mountain tops. In Google Doodle fashion, the art makes up the letters of Google’s name, and this one has the Google colors as well. [...]

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December “Explicit” Search Numbers: Bing Now Ahead Of Yahoo

Jan 10, 2012 at 8:12pm ET by Greg Sterling   

Last night I posted comScore December search market share numbers, based on a financial analyst report (one of several that came out yesterday or early this morning). The report incorrectly presented the search share numbers as follows. Those figures made it appear that Google had gained share at Bing’s expense. It was Yahoo that lost [...]

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SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 10, 2012

Jan 10, 2012 at 5:09pm ET by Barry Schwartz   

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: The History Of Google Places, All On One Page Maybe it’s my bias as a longtime fan/practitioner of local search and SEO. Or maybe it’s because I’m mentioned as one of [...]

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