This day in search marketing history: January 9

AdWords Managed Accounts got shared negative lists, plus: a Google knowledge graph hack, Google’s advertiser growth and more.

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AdWords Managed Accounts get shared negative lists across accounts

In 2017, Google added the ability to create and share negative keyword lists across accounts for Managed Accounts.

This was welcome news for advertisers who had been adding the same lists of negative keyword accounts manually or using a script to automate cross-account negative lists. 

For accounts in a managed account, you could set up a single list of negative keyword in the top-level Shared Library that could then be associated at the account level.

Read all about it in: AdWords Managed Accounts can finally share negative keyword lists across accounts


Also on this day 


DuckDuckGo, Info.com crowd out Bing in Google’s Android search options

2020: Bing would appear as an option in the United Kingdom only, while DuckDuckGo and Info.com will appear alongside Google in all 31 EU territories


Conductor launches SEO services marketplace for Searchlight users

2020: Agency and corporate customers could request managed services directly within the platform interface.


2019: Google started rolling out a new feature in search named “your related activity” that let signed in Google users pick up on previous searches related to the query they just added.


Google working to disable knowledge graph hack that shows misleading search results

2019: The trick made it possible to show any site for any query in the knowledge panel area.


Har Gobind Khorana Google doodle celebrates first chemist to construct a synthetic gene

2018: Google marked what would have been Har Gobind Khorana’s 96th birthday with a Doodle to celebrate the Nobel Prize winner’s accomplishments in the field of biochemistry.


Google is launching automated call extensions in mobile ads on February 6

2017: The call extensions would automatically pull phone numbers featured on landing pages.


2017: Mobile played a significant role, accounting for nearly half of all Valentine’s Day-related searches on Bing.


What Is The Mountain Of Butterflies? Google Doodle Marks 41st Anniversary Of The Natural Phenomenon

2016: For its first Doodle of the year, Google celebrated the 41st anniversary of the discovery of “The Mountain of Butterflies,” when a research team located millions of Monarch butterflies that had migrated to Mexico’s easternmost Sierra Madre Mountains.


Google Results For “Car Insurance” Could Look Different Very Soon

2015: Google finally seemed ready to launch its long-anticipated comparison site for car insurance.


Report: Yahoo Search Losing Firefox Users Who “Switchback” To Google

2015: An analysis showed a gradual but continual losses back to Google, and Yahoo’s share of Firefox 34 clicks dropped from 43% (Dec. 10) to about 36 percent


Search In Pics: SCU Basketball At Google, Android Professor & Framed Panda

2015: The latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.


Google Preps “Hotel View” Interior 360 Imagery

2014: Google was photographing hotel interiors as part of an effort to enhance its travel content.


Simone De Beauvoir Google Logo Has Come To Stay In A Number Of Countries, Just Not The US

2014: A number of Google international homepages celebrated feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir’s 106th birthday with a Beauvoir-inspired Google logo, but there’s no sign of her on Google’s U.S. homepage.


Phone Support For Verification Issues With Google Local For Business

2013: Google offered phone support for businesses having issues with verifying their Google Maps listing.


Survey Shows Americans Confused By How Google, Facebook Make Money

2013: A striking 36% of respondents thought that search engines “sell users’ personal data to marketers.” Another 29% thought that “companies pay annual dues for use.” 


Bit.ly Releases Search API To Discover Hot Stories & Discussions

2013: The new APIs let you search for top stories in real time over the Bit.ly URL network. 


Class Action Lawsuit Against Google For Ads On Parked Domains Turned Down

2012: A lawsuit brought against Google in 2008 over the quality of ads showing on parked or error message web pages was thrown out by the court.


Koreans Accuse Google Of “Obstructing” Antitrust Investigation

2012: A Korean official asserted that Google has obstructed his agency’s investigation “by deleting key files from PCs and asking its employees to telecommute from home.” Google denied obstructing the inquiry and pledged cooperation with Korean government officials.


BBC Report: Google Admits Accepting Illegal AdWords In The UK

2012: Ads for illegal Olympic ticket resellers, ads for cannabis, and ads for fake identification cards and UK passports. All illegal, but all could be found on Google.co.uk


Google Has Well Over A Million Advertisers

2009: Google’s advertiser growth started at 89,000 in 2003, to 201,000 in 2004, 360,000 in 2005 and 600,000 in 2006. In 2009, one estimate said Google had between 1.3 million and 1.5 million advertisers.


Want To Rank Tops In Google? Do YouTube Videos, Stupid!

2009: A small but interesting study on how you can improve your chances, by 50 times, of showing up at the top of the Google search results: Utilize Google’s Universal Search by creating videos.


Ballmer: Do Yahoo Deal Sooner, Not Later

2009: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that a deal should happen within the next few months, due to Microsoft and Yahoo having new “leaders” in place.


Google Changes, Colorizes Favicon

2009: The new icon was inspired by user submissions as part of a contest.


Google Goes To The Inauguration

2009: Google/YouTube threw its first party for a U.S. president’s inauguration


Search Biz: Yahoo CEO Duel, MSFT Reconsiders Search Brand, MSN ‘Lewd’ In China & Google Won’t Buy Newspapers

2009: Roundup of personnel moves or speculation about who might get the top spot at Yahoo; the ongoing MicroHoo saga; and MSN being branded a “lewd” site in China for user-generated content.


Search In Pictures: Snow Reaches Yahoo, YouTube’s Phone Booth & The Google Bear

2009: The latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.


Google Changes Referral Policy For AdSense Referrals

2008: The two changes made to this referrals pricing structure only impact referrals to the AdSense product.


Real Time US Presidential Primary Results In Google Maps

2008: Google mapped the results of the New Hampshire U.S. presidential primary by candidate and county for both parties.


Microsoft Launches adCenter Add-in Beta for Excel 2007

2008: New features included Keyword Expansion, Keyword Search Volume Historical and Forecast, Keyword Buzz and more.


Google Hiring Investigator / Threat Analyst For Safety & Security

2008: The responsibilities included “investigating deviations from company policies or acts against Google as well as collection and analysis of information helping define and assess threats to Google’s operations and assets.”


Microsoft Provides Local Search Content To Garmin Personal Navigation Devices

2008: Users could get maps, news, weather, local events, and other content.


Google Updates Sky Images & Features In Google Earth

2008: Sky in Google Earth was updated with new content, features, and API integrations.


Jim Safka To Replace Jim Lanzone As CEO Of Ask.com

2008: Safka was previously the CEO of Match.com, IAC’s online dating company, from 2004 to 2007. 


Yahoo Acquires MyBlogLog

2007: After several weeks of rumors, Yahoo has officially announced it has agreed to purchase the MyBlogLog service.


Google Named Fortune’s Best Place To Work, But Rich Early Employees Checking Out

2007: A third of Google’s first 300 employees had left the company, and the culture was getting more conservative


Google A “Frenemy” of Traditional Media?

2007: Google had no intention of competing with traditional media by creating content, but many media companies remained wary of Google.


Google Moon, Google Mars, Now Google Universe? Google Partnership With Space Telescope Project May Make UniTube Possible

2007: the company was getting involved with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. To be built in Chile, the LSST was planned to scan the sky on a continuous basis, allowing for “movie-like” looks at the universe.


Yahoo China Morphing Into A Business Portal

2007: Due in part to deal with crushing competition from Baidu.com and portal Sina.com.


Fraudwall, New Anti-ClickFraud Company Funded

2007: The company raised millions in venture capital to help online advertisers identify click fraud using statistics, user modeling, machine learning, and IP forensics”


Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.


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About the author

Danny Goodwin
Staff
Danny Goodwin has been Managing Editor of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo - SMX since 2022. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events.

Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.

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