Bing

Admitting Role In Google Anti-Trust Complaints Microsoft Complains Of Google “Lock In”

Responding to Google’s aggressive assertion that Microsoft is behind many of the anti-trust complaints that have been leveled against Google in the recent past, Microsoft in a blog post by Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner essentially says “get over it.” Google claimed that Microsoft was directly or indirectly responsible for the anti-trust […]

Google Analytics

SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 26, 2010

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 Street View Finds More Trouble In Europe In a letter earlier this month, members of the European Union’s data protection group urged Google to make changes to its Street View […]

Google

Google’s Street View Finds More Trouble In Europe

In a letter earlier this month, members of the European Union’s data protection group urged Google to make changes to its Street View mapping/photo service and warned that Google might be breaking EU laws. According to Bloomberg News, the letter from the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party asks Google to store unblurred Street View […]

SEO

Yes, More Are Seeing A New Google Look-And-Feel

We’re getting more and more reports from readers who are seeing a “new” Google look-and-feel for its search results. This is a three column design that Google’s actually been testing for some time. That testing appears to be accelerating.

Google

Google Adds “Nearby” Local Search To Options Panel

Google has expanded the choices in its Search Options panel with today’s announcement of a tool to refine searches by location. After doing a search and opening the “Show Options” panel, you’ll see a new link labeled “nearby.” Clicking that link leads to a few refinement options: You can use the default location Google has […]

Content

It’s A Fatal Mistake To Copy Successful Web Sites

At a search engine marketing conference, several of us gave a session on website usability topics ranging from usability and SEO to site architecture and requirements gathering. Afterward, there was time for questions by the audience. Someone asked, “Why don’t we all just copy Amazon.com?” I replied, “Never, ever copy what Amazon does.” The audience […]

Google Analytics

SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 25, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Want To Speak @ SMX Advanced London? Here’s How We’re especially excited this year because we’ve changed the format of SMX London to be similar to our always sold-out SMX Advanced […]

Google

Companies Ask Courts, Regulators To Restrain Google To Compensate For Own Competitive Failures

In a kind of parallel but interesting variation on the complaints filed in Europe against Google, now being investigated by the European Commission in a preliminary anti-trust inquiry, one of the European complainants Foundem has filed a brief with the US FCC concerning net neutrality. The complaints in Europe, broadly speaking, argue that Google has […]

SEO

Yahoo Answers Gets A New Look

Yahoo has announced a fairly substantial overhaul of how Yahoo Answers looks and works — and as a semi-regular user of the site, I’d say these changes are very welcome. The primary functional changes involve a new set of navigation tabs and a new way of browsing the categories on Yahoo Answers. The four new […]

SEO

Opera Says Google Dominating Search On Mobile Web

Opera, the leading independent mobile browser, has been putting out great data on mobile Internet usage for quite some time. Google always ranks as one of the top sites globally. However this month’s “State of the Mobile Web” report is the first time that the company has released search market share data. It shows Google […]

Local

Local Search Complexity = SMB Frustration

In my role as president at GetListed.org, I sometimes receive emails from users asking why one local search engine or another is displaying an old location for their business, or why the search engines still aren’t showing their new website address, or why the phone number listed for their retail location is actually the one […]

Google

Google Caffeine May Be Months Away & You Can’t See It

While some webmasters anxiously wait for Google to roll out its Google Caffeine search infrastructure any day now, Google says it may not happen for “months.” What’s more, the IP address of the one data center where Caffeine was said to be available may have changed, and Google is no longer saying where users can […]

PPC

The Advertiser Interview: How To Surface Key Goals

Last week’s lesson drove home that the most important defining factor of a new PPC account is to understand the goals of the advertiser. Whether it’s sales, leads, downloads, page views, quality traffic to the website or a combination of objectives, a clear understanding of all important goals will help drive key decisions throughout the […]

Content

Extending The Lifecycle Of Super Bowl Ads Through Online Video

At up to $3 million to air a 30 second spot, marketers must ensure they get the full benefit from their Super Bowl ads, even—and especially—after the game is over. According to CBS, Super Bowl XLIV was the most-watched program in television history with 106.5 million viewers. For advertisers to get the most efficiency out […]

Google

Google Advertises Chrome … On Bing!

It’s not unusual for other search engines like Yahoo, Bing or Ask to advertise on Google. But I’ve never seen Google run an ad on another search engine until now. I did a search this evening on Bing for Google Chrome. To my surprise, there was an ad right at the top of the page […]

Google News

Google Real Time Search Now Shows Updates From Facebook Fan Pages

Google’s Real Time Search has gained a new data source, updates from Facebook fan pages. Google had announced a deal to list this information back in December, and now it’s finally being implemented. Google has tweeted the news. See our detailed guide, Google Launches Real Time Search Results to understand how Google Real Time Search […]

Apple

SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 24, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Yelp Alleging “Extortion” It must be the season for litigation. Two class action law firms have filed suit in Los Angeles federal court claiming that Yelp […]

SEO

Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Yelp Alleging “Extortion”

It must be the season for litigation. Two class action law firms have filed suit in Los Angeles federal court claiming that Yelp has attempted to “extort” money from small businesses by offering to remove negative reviews in exchange for payment. The suit contends: Yelp runs an extortion scheme in which the company’s employees call […]

Content

Italian Court Finds Google Execs Guilty Of Violating Privacy Code

Three Google executives have been found guilty of criminal charges over a bullying video that appeared on the Google Video service. Google has responded with a blog post pledging to appeal the convictions and suggesting that they undermine “the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built.” The video involved a youth with […]

Google Shopping

A Practical Guide To Google’s Ad Extensions

If sitelinks, product extensions and plus boxes are still sounding like Greek to you, read on for a primer on implementing Google Ad Extensions as a part of your paid search strategy. Testing these new extensions is a great exercise for any in-house search engine marketing manager. Sitelinks Sitelinks launched with wide availability in November […]

Analytics & conversion

The 5 Rings Of Conversion Optimization

Conversion optimization is bigger than your web site. From blogs and landing pages, to official outlets on social media sites, marketers now manage a large extended web that thrives beyond the borders of the traditional web site. Great conversion optimization must leverage the dynamics of each layer—and coordinate the interaction between them. The extended web […]

LinkedIn

Yahoo To Broadly Integrate Twitter Across Properties

Earlier this evening Yahoo announced that it had deepened its relationship with Twitter and would be integrating Twitter’s feeds and content across its network: The partnership integrates Twitter’s real-time social experiences with Yahoo!’s global network of nearly 600M people. Together with the recently announced Facebook integration, this relationship is a key part of advancing Yahoo!’s […]

Google

Is Redmond The Puppet Master In Google EU Anti-Trust Complaints?

As both the Wall Street Journal and Telegraph UK are reporting, the EU has received complaints into Google’s competitive practices and potential abuse of its dominant market position in Europe. These come from some private companies, which we discussed in part before. One of those companies, the shopping engine Ciao, was acquired by Microsoft in […]

Link building

SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 23, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Short Vs. Long Tail: Which Search Queries Perform Best? The focus on the utility (or lack thereof) of long tail keywords in paid search campaigns seems to ebb and flow, but […]

Google Ads

Short Vs. Long Tail: Which Search Queries Perform Best?

The focus on the utility (or lack thereof) of long tail keywords in paid search campaigns seems to ebb and flow, but recently a series of articles about leveraging the long tail for pay-per click have been published. But in all the debate there’s an important distinction that most people fail to focus on. Keywords […]

Google Ads

Google Testing Comparison Ads In UK

When Google launched AdWords Comparison Ads last fall, the company promised it would continue to expand its testing and use of this new ad format. Today, Google says it’s begun testing comparison ads in the UK for credit card-related searches. In writing about the launch in late October, Danny Sullivan explained how the ad formats […]

Paid social

FTC, Disclosure And Your Blog

In December of 2009, the new FTC policy on blog disclosure went into effect. Here we are well into 2010, and nothing much has changed. In fact, even the FTC has said it is unsure how it will actually enforce the new policy. Is this something publishers, bloggers, or social media consultants need to worry about, […]

Content

Xerox Sues Google & Yahoo Over Search Patent. Copy That!

Google, Yahoo Sued by Xerox Over Search Query Patents Bloomberg reports Xerox has sued Google and Yahoo over search patents Xerox holds. Xerox says one patent automatically generate a query based on keyword searches, where Google’s AdWords & AdSense and Yahoo’s Search Marketing, YPN and other products allegedly infringe on. Another patent Xerox is suing […]

Google Ads

Google To Drop Ad Manager For DoubleClick For Publishers

Google announced that the almost two year old Google Ad Manager is ultimately going to be replaced by DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP). Google explained: DFP comes in two flavors, tailored for different publishers’ needs: DoubleClick for Publishers, for the largest online publishers, and DFP Small Business, a simple, free version designed for growing online publishers. […]

SEO

Wired On Google’s Algorithm

Exclusive: How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web from Wired has an excellent and detailed look at the evolution Google’s search algorithm over the years. It is a pretty long write up, so I wanted to highlight those key points in bullet format for you all.

Link building

Link Building vs. Link Marketing: What’s The Difference?

Many people think of link building as purely an SEO endeavor. You build links to improve rank. I’ll argue this is the wrong way to think about link building, but not here in today’s column. I’ve accepted that when people use the phrase link building, chances are the word Google is not far from coming […]

Google

By The Numbers: Twitter Vs. Facebook Vs. Google Buzz

Twitter caused a stir Monday when it lifted its curtain enough to show us how much activity the service is seeing currently, and how it’s grown since 2007. And while many reports talk about visits to Twitter.com flattening, Twitter’s own chart showing the number of tweets its users are publishing is staggering. Twitter says it’s […]

Google

How Google Buzz Hijacks Your Google Profile

Google Profiles existed long before the launch of Google Buzz earlier this month. But since that time, Google Buzz has hijacked Google Profiles in a way unmatched by any other Google product. That’s bad news for those who want to fully opt-out of Google Buzz. Doing so kills your Google Profile. It’s also bad news […]

Link building

SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 22, 2010

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: What Would You Ask Steve Ballmer About Bing, Microsoft & Search? Next week, on March 2, I’ll be interviewing Steve Ballmer on stage at our SMX West search marketing conference. This […]

LinkedIn

What Would You Ask Steve Ballmer About Bing, Microsoft & Search?

Next week, on March 2, I’ll be interviewing Steve Ballmer on stage at our SMX West search marketing conference. This will be Ballmer’s first-ever appearance as a search event. I’m working of my own list of search-specific question to put to him, but I’m also looking for ideas from others. Got a good question you’d […]

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