The BannerBlog wrote that they wanted their German car rental client, Sixt, to stand out in the sponsored listings for a search on “Mietwagen” (car rental) in Google. They came up with the idea to display ASCII art of cars in the ad spot. I tried to duplicate the results with Google’s AdWords Preview Tool, […]
With Jim Lanzone being replaced as Ask.com’s CEO, I thought it time to do a piece that’s been banging about in my head. Do successful search companies have to have CEOs or top execs who "grew up" from the search product side? The jury is probably still out, but it’s interesting to look back at […]
Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on year and is down 20% in the past 6 months. Google Maps traffic […]
In-house search marketers are doing quite well financially, according to salary survey results released by SEMPO today. Respondents reported a wide range of salaries, from virtually minimum wage to those exceeding several hundred thousand dollars per year, with the average falling in the $60-70,000 range. And not surprisingly, experience was a factor in how much […]
IAC, Ask.com’s parent company, has announced that Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Ask.com, will be replaced immediately by Jim Safka as the new CEO of Ask.com. Safka was previously the CEO of Match.com, IAC’s online dating company, from 2004 to 2007. He will also retain his job at as CEO of Primal Ventures, an investment […]
The Google LatLong Blog announced they have updated Sky in Google Earth with new content, features, and API integrations. To see Google Sky, click “Switch to Sky” from the “view” drop-down menu in Google Earth, or click the Sky button on the Google Earth toolbar. Here is a list of new features and content that […]
Our sister site, Search Marketing Now, is hosting its first webcast for 2008: “Paid Search for Big Sites, Big Brands,” tomorrow, Thursday, January 10 at 1 PM Eastern Standard Time, sponsored by iProspect. In this webcast, I’ll take a look at how large organizations with complex websites and important brands can effectively implement paid search […]
Many in-house SEOs are actually marketers with minimal technical background or insight into the web site development process. Often, these people either have an interest in SEO or were already managing other marketing functions. Because they are new to SEO (and often times new to web site development), they often struggle with getting their requirements […]
LiveSide reports on a deal that provides access to Live Search Maps/Local content via MSN Direct to the Garmin nüvi 780 personal navigation device (PND). Users can get maps, news, weather, local events, and other content. One can also plan trips on Windows Live Local and then “send to GPS.” The latter capability works on […]
I was tipped off by a friend of a new job listing at Google for Investigator / Threat Analyst in Irvine, CA. The job calls for an individual to work with Google’s Director of Corporate Safety & Security. The responsibilities include “investigating deviations from company policies or acts against Google as well as collection and […]
The adCenter Blog announced the launch of the adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007. To download the 64MB zipped version of the add-in, click here. There will be a webinar explaining how to use the add-in on January 23, 2008, which you can register for in advance. Features as summarized by Microsoft include:
Political and news junkies take note: Google mapped the results of yesterday’s New Hampshire U.S. presidential primary by candidate and county for both parties. There are also videos from YouTube of candidate victory or concession speeches. According to the Google LatLong blog, the results were presented last night in real time. You can also see […]
The Google AdSense Blog announced they have made changes to one of the Google referral products policies. The two changes made to this referrals pricing structure only impact referrals to the AdSense product. Those changes include:
No one enjoys blind dates. Whether introduced by friends, the Internet, or your neighborhood matchmaker, it’s nerve-wracking to meet for the first time. Conversely, everyone loves weddings. The flowers, the tradition, the drunken dancing at the reception–you can find something you like. Everything that comes in between is the interesting part. You’re learning about each […]
If you’re anything like me, chances are that by the time you’re reading this, you’ve probably already broken one of your new year’s resolutions. But hey, that’s okay. Those personal resolutions aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. All they really create is guilt and anxiety over the fit of your pants. Instead of putting […]
The voting for the best search blogs of 2007 began December 28th. Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal held their annual search blog awards, and after two days of posting the results, all the results are finally in. We are proud to have won in three categories, best search news blog, best search marketing blog, […]
It’s no secret that social media should be an integral part of your online marketing strategy. Creating viral content and promoting it is only a fraction of the equation. You must also strengthen your online footprint and become part of the network. Trying to figure out where to start can be daunting. Follow these ten […]
At the beginning of every year, many people take stock of the last year, their accomplishments, and plan for the upcoming year. PPC campaigns also have a life of their own. From creation to optimization to reaching your goals to more optimization, PPC campaigns have their own life which needs to be evaluated to determine […]
Sony has announced a deal to provide Google’s YouTube five-minute clips of some of their most popular TV shows. Some of those shows include “Married With Children” and “Newsradio,” but they plan on adding more shows and even original content in the future. Viacom has agreed to provide videos for distribution on Dailymotion, GoFish, iMeem, […]
Yahoo’s Jerry Yang took the stage at CES yesterday to offer a vision for the company’s future as a more integrated, open platform and “starting point” for consumers on the internet. Much of the news surrounding Yahoo yesterday was about the new mobile application Go 3.0 and related widget platform for third-party developers and advertisers. […]
Matsushita’s Panasonic, Google To Work On Internet-Ready TVs from SmartMoney reports Panasonic is working with Google to make TVs that display internet content. Matsushita Electric Industrial, the company behind Panasonic, said the TVs will enable users to browse and watch YouTube videos from their TVs. The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronic Show yesterday […]
Microsoft Agrees to Buy Fast Search for $1.23 Billion from Bloomberg reports that Microsoft is buying FAST Search. The Norwegian search company, Fast Search & Transfer ASA, will be bought by Microsoft for 6.6 billion kroner, or $1.23 billion. Microsoft will buy the company via the Oslo Stock Exchange, share by share. Here is the […]
Here’s a pair of tough questions to kick Link Week for 2008 off with a bang. In 2007, many long-practiced link building tactics stopped being effective. Many link building companies and consultants sold the exact tactics/services that are now useless. Why didn’t you see this coming, and if you did, why did you sell those […]
We’ve just finalized the third keynote panel for SMX West, and it’s going to be a fascinating session. Gord Hotchkiss and I will be talking about the future of search with Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone, Brad Goldberg, Microsoft’s General Manager, Search Business Group, and Google’s Director of Research, Peter Norvig. This ‘Generation Next’ keynote discussion […]
Search Wikia, the open source search engine from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales’ Wikia, Inc. organization, launched today in an alpha version. Widely hyped, typically portrayed as a heroic David vs. Goliath struggle, it’s really just yet another crappy search service that may, potentially, if all goes well, eventually turn into something useful. For now, though, […]
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Search Engine Journal has announced the winner of the Best Search Industry News Blog of 2007, and we are so delighted to inform you that we have secured first place! Thank you all so much for voting for us. It has been a wild year, and as you can see by Danny’s Search Engine Land […]
Digg And Others Sued For Infringing Infamous Computer Solitaire Patent from Techdirt reports Google, Yahoo, AOL, and even Digg were all sued by Sheldon F. Goldberg for patent infringement of US Patent 6,264,560. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls Sheldon a wanted person who has crimes against the public domain for threatening small online gaming websites […]
I am a huge fan of Techmeme, and I always thought it was interesting to watch the Techmeme home page change throughout the day. Amit at Digital Inspiration has actually captured 50 hours of the Techmeme home page and then posted a video of it playing those 50 hours in about 50 seconds. You can […]
Last night at CES, Yahoo made several related mobile announcements tied to its application Go and a new bid to become a mobile platform for third party publishers and developers. There are essentially three pieces to what Yahoo announced: Yahoo Go 3.0 (not yet live), an open mobile widget development platform for third parties, and […]
NY Google Vet Hirsch Leaving For Startups from Silicon Alley Insider reports David Hirsch, the Director, B2B Vertical Markets Group at Google, is leaving at the end of this month to help invest and advise start ups. He told Silicon Alley Insider, he is planning on “helping incubate and accelerate the early stage game.” Hirsch […]
Google’s Lunchtime Betting Game from the New York Times describes a game Google employees are encouraged to play during their lunch break. The game is betting fake money, Goobles, on predictive markets. A predictive market is an exchange that predicts events based on the amount of money wagered on a specific outcome. Google uses Goobles, […]
Many people I speak to still ask the familiar question, “Is this going to be the breakout year for local?” while expressing frustration or disappointment that “local hasn’t yet lived up to expectations.” But local is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s also more complex than the general search market, which features an ecosystem built […]
The fix is in, the votes have been counted, and the winners determined in the 2007 Rubber Chicken Award for Humor (aka the Columbo) in the search industry. And the winners are:
Wikia Search has launched their Alpha version at https://alpha.search.wikia.com/, and boy is it an Alpha launch. Chris Sherman is writing up our long review of Wikia Search and it should be live shortly. Even Wikia said the “quality of the search results is low.” There is not much I can add to that than simply […]
Mahalo has just launched several new features that entwine the human-powered search engine even further into social networking and online community building. The Mahalo Follow toolbar now enables you to post links to Delicious, Ma.gnolia, Mahalo Social, and Twitter with the click of one button. The sidebar now displays quick tips when you’re on sites […]
The Google Docs blog has announced new features for the Google Docs suite of tools. You can now create subfolders to more easily organize your documents and can rename documents and folders from the toolbar (previously, you could only do this from the File menu). The toolbar has also been spiffed up. In addition, Google […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
At number 23, Ask3D was named one of PC World’s “25 Most Innovative Products of the Year.” The site opined that Ask “melds comprehensive search results more coherently than competing universal searches do.” Ask saw the largest gains in consumer satisfaction in the annual University of Michigan American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) vs. its search […]
Robots reading cereal boxes in the supermarket? Googlebot at the art museum? Street signs and building addresses snatched from Street View images for local search, image search, and product search? Three new patent applications published at the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office this week explore the intricacies of reading text in images taken from Google’s […]
AOL-owned video search engine Truveo announced yesterday that its video index had reached 100 million videos and predicted that number would climb to a billion by 2009. The company also said that its search index grew in 2007 from a base of just five million videos at relaunch in August, 2007. Truveo has also been […]