Google has deep pockets and probably would be happy if Facebook, eBay and Craigslist were part of its empire … but last I checked, they’re all separate companies. Nonetheless, links to those three sites are showing as Deep Links on Bing under the Google.com result when you search for [google]. The “Go to YouTube” link […]
For the fourth straight year, “facebook” was the most common search term in the U.S. this year — part of an increase in navigational searching that saw one-word searches rise 16 percent in 2012. That’s according to Experian Marketing Services, which announced its list of 2012’s top search terms today. The data covers search activity […]
Foursquare has made a quick response to Monday’s announcement of Facebook Nearby, with its own announcement today that Foursquare Explore is cranking up its personalization. The irony? It’s going to use Foursquare activity from a user’s Facebook friends to improve the recommendations in Explore. Think of it as Foursquare judo: It’s using Facebook data to […]
Google has long asked searchers to provide feedback on the quality of its search results, and often runs a number of tests aimed at encouraging such feedback. The latest such experiment, which seems to have been live for at least a month or so, is a bit different because it asks searchers for feedback only […]
Bing has announced that searchers on the iPad will start seeing its “social sidebar” over the next few days. That includes the iPad Mini. Today’s announcement comes just days after Bing finalized a new design for those social results. The social sidebar integrates friend and expert content from a variety of social sources that might […]
Google is trying out a new travel search tool that seems to be aimed primarily at casual travelers that are as concerned about price as they are about a destination. It’s called Flight Explorer and it doesn’t appear to be reachable yet via Google’s regular flight search tool at google.com/flights. As best I can tell, […]
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 Updates SafeSearch Filter In Image Search Google has changed the default behavior of their image search to work similarly to how web search works. Now when you search for less […]
If you happened to do certain abortion-related searches in the past few days, you might’ve been surprised to see the late Truman Capote getting Google+ Authorship credit for an article from The New York Times. What makes it odd, of course, is that Capote died in 1984. He wrote numerous classics that showed up on […]
There’s no escaping it: It looks and acts a lot like Google’s Knowledge Graph. But Bing calls it “Snapshot” — that middle column in between its main search results and the social sidebar on the far right. And today, Snapshot expands to begin showing facts and related information for both people and landmarks. So, on […]
SEO software provider SEOmoz has announced its acquisition of GetListed.org, a software company offering a popular tool for small business owners looking to improve their local search engine visibility. The purchase price is reported to be about $3 million in cash and stock. As part of the purchase, GetListed CEO David Mihm will be joining […]
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 Adds Medications To Its Knowledge Graph Searchers in need of medical information will begin seeing detailed information on medications as part of Google’s Knowledge Graph product. In today’s announcement, Google […]
Searchers in need of medical information will begin seeing detailed information on medications as part of Google’s Knowledge Graph product. In today’s announcement, Google says it’ll source the data from sources like the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, the US Food & Drug Administration, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and others. Here’s […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Competitor Analysis: Realize your Visibility Digital Marketing Depot will host a webcast Thursday Dec 13, 2012 at 1:00 EST (10:00PST). The webcast Competitor Analysis: Realize your Visibility will feature speaker Shaun […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Attacks Google Shopping With “Scroogled” Campaign, Forgets It’s Guilty Of Same Problems Bing is attacking Google over its shift to a pay-for-play shopping search engine through a new “Scroogled” site, […]
A security bug in Google Webmaster Tools has given users access to old accounts and websites that they’re no longer supposed to be able to access. The problem was discovered Tuesday and reported on several SEO blogs and news outlets — including (first, I believe) by Dave Naylor — and was discussed pretty heavily by […]
Google and Bing both hit all-time highs in U.S. search market share in October, while overall desktop search activity was up eight percent from the month before. All of that’s according to comScore’s October 2012 search activity/rankings report. Google’s market share rose two-tenths of a point, from 66.7 percent in September to 66.9 percent in […]
Bing has published its first set of webmaster guidelines, offering website owners general guidance on best practices related to SEO for Bing’s search engine. They’re accessible in the Help section of Bing’s Webmaster Tools as a new entry under the “Content Guidelines” section. The direct link is www.bing.com/webmaster/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a. Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines touch on things like […]
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 Gather Evidence To Help Determine If It’s Time For A Mobile Website Is t time for a mobile website? I was talking to some clients a few weeks ago […]
Google has been told to pay the equivalent of $208,000 (USD) after recently losing a defamation case in Australia involving how it showed a 62-year-old man’s name in search results. Google is examining the original jury verdict and may file an appeal. A judge in the supreme court of the Australian state Victoria issued the […]
That test many of you have been seeing where Google shows its search options above the search results instead of on the left? It’s not a test anymore. Google has just confirmed that all U.S. searchers will soon be getting the new interface — one that highly resembles Google’s mobile search results pages. Options to […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Who Should Win The 2012 Social Media Election? With today being Election Day, I figured it would be appropriate to write a post related to politics. Then I thought better of […]
Tuesday is election day in the U.S. and, by almost all accounts, the presidential race between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney will be tight. No doubt many other races across the country will be equally close, and Yahoo will let searchers track results right in its search results pages. Some of Yahoo’s “direct […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Can Blogging Be Your Secret Weapon For Local SEO? I get called frequently by local companies wanting a quick fix for local rankings. In many cases, they discover that local SEO […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Advertising To Increase Transparency With “Quality Impact” How valuable would it be to work on improving your paid search keywords’ Quality Score? And which keywords should you focus on first? […]
Google is in the process of shutting down its collection of city pages — a change that follows the shift from Google Places to Google+ Local, and a change that may be reflective of a larger shift in direction for Google’s local efforts. Mike Blumenthal noticed yesterday that the Portland city page had gone missing. […]
It’s almost unanimous: 94 percent of U.S. teachers say their students equate “research” with using Google or other search engines — more so than Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias. But teachers are less sure that their students are effective searchers, and they’re more skeptical than most adults about the accuracy and trustworthiness of information that’s […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Apple Maps Sees Its First International Territorial Dispute As Korea Protests Island Naming From the it-had-to-happen-sooner-or-later department: Apple is in the midst of its first international territorial dispute over its new […]
From the it-had-to-happen-sooner-or-later department: Apple is in the midst of its first international territorial dispute over its new Apple Maps product. As the Korea Times reports (and also picked up by ZDNet), the South Korean government is upset because Apple is displaying a collection of small islands in between it and Japan with different names […]
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 Loses Australian Defamation Case, Awaiting Decision On Damages Google is awaiting a judge’s decision on damages before it decides what to do after losing a defamation case over its search […]
Google is awaiting a judge’s decision on damages before it decides what to do after losing a defamation case over its search results in Australia. A jury in the supreme court of the Australian state Victoria, ruled Tuesday that Google is liable for defamation because its search results connected the plaintiff, 62-year-old Milorad Trkulja, to […]
Google has started showing active AMBER Alerts for missing U.S. children above its search results on both regular Google Search and on Google Maps. And that includes both desktop and mobile searches. Here’s what one that’s currently showing up on a search for “amber alerts boston” looks like. Here’s Google’s explanation of what might prompt […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yelp Adds Restaurant Menus (And Images) Following on the heels of Foursquare, YP and a few others in the local segment Yelp is adding restaurant menu information and pricing. With the […]
Google is considering offering its search quality rating guidelines to the public. The news comes near the end of the latest webmaster video just posted today on YouTube. In it, Google’s Matt Cutts answers a question about how Google uses the data it collects from its human search evaluators — in short, “those folks don’t […]
Conductor has announced what it says is the biggest financing round ever in the SEO industry: a $20 million Series C investment led by Investor Growth Capital. In a news release, Conductor says it’ll use the money to continue development of its Searchlight SEO platform and to scale the company’s operations internationally. Conductor launched its […]
The French government is digging in its heels. After a meeting today with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, French President Francois Hollande reiterated the government’s plans to create a new law to force Google to pay when it links to newspaper websites. The spat has been going on for a few weeks, since the French […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Search Week: October 29, 2012 Search Week is an exclusive weekly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past week. Below […]
The number of new domains being registered, and existing domains being renewed, is slowing down and Verisign — the company that operates the .com and .net domain registries — says Google is a main reason why. On the company’s Q3 earnings call yesterday, Verisign shared the following data related to domain registrations and renewals: total […]
Microsoft is expanding Bing’s capabilities in the living room with news today that Xbox users can search the web via their console. It’s part of the “new entertainment experience” that Microsoft is pushing out this week via the Xbox. Bing Voice Search has been available on the Xbox since June 2011, but it could only […]
Search is a “core priority” at Yahoo, but the company isn’t planning any significant investments in local search in the near future. That’s some of what new CEO Marissa Mayer revealed today in her first earnings call since she joined the company this summer. Mayer spoke several times about Yahoo and search in general, saying […]
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 Gives Update On Shopping Going Full Paid Inclusion, Hints At AdWords’ Future On Q3 Call Now that Google’s new pay-for-play Shopping is in full swing (the changeover took place October […]