This day in search marketing history: January 15

Facebook Graph Search arrives

In 2013, Facebook announced a new experience that it called Graph Search.

Facebook Graph Search relied heavily on Likes and other connections to determine what to show as the most relevant search results for each user.

At launch, Facebook Graph Search only included people, photos, places and interests.

Facebook Graph Search wasn’t a traditional web search engine like Google or Bing. It was a new type of search – a social search engine. Although Facebook was already using Bing for web search results at that time.

Dig deeper:

• Facebook Graph Search Arrives To Challenge Google, Yelp, Foursquare & Others
• How The New Facebook Search Is Different & Unique From Google Search
• SEO For Facebook Graph Search? Facebook Has Some Tips
• Up Close With Facebook Graph Search

Less than two years later, Facebook quietly dropped Bing’s results and Facebook made Graph Search less visible. Graph Search would be all but dead by around June 7, 2019. According to a Facebook spokesperson:

“The vast majority of people on Facebook search using keywords, a factor which led us to pause some aspects of graph search and focus more on improving keyword search. We are working closely with researchers to make sure they have the tools they need to use our platform.”

– Joseph Cox, VICE, “Facebook Quietly Changes Search Tool Used by Investigators, Abused By Companies“

Also on this day 

LinkedIn launches LinkedIn Marketing Labs on-demand courses for advertisers

2021: The courses cover the basics including an introduction to LinkedIn Ads, how to use LinkedIn ad targeting, and reporting and analytics for LinkedIn ads.

Amazon Sponsored Products ads now support dynamic bidding, bid adjustments

2019: Advertisers could opt into automated bidding and tailor bids for the search ads by page placement.

EU copyright directive nearing final form as Google tests stripped-down news SERPs

2019: The directive sought to “harmonize” copyright law across Europe.

DuckDuckGo map and address searches now powered by Apple Maps

2019: The company had been using OpenStreetMap.

Google to fix reverse image search bug

2018: “Pages that include matching images” section was not showing image thumbnails as it should.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2018 Google doodle honors Dr. King & his dream for a better world

2018: The image was designed by guest artist Cannaday Chapman and created in collaboration with the Black Googlers Network.

Google Tests “What’s Hot” & “What’s Nearby” As Android Search Options

2016: In addition to recent searches, Google inserted a “What’s Hot” and “Nearby” option in the pull-down menu.

Search In Pics: Justin Trudeau At New Google Canadian Office, Google Expeditions Subaru & Fallout 4 Statue

2016: 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 Knowledge Graph Now Showing Social Profiles For Brands

Google began showing the social profile links for Pixar, Apple, Starbucks, Google and many more brands.

Search Is Number One Content Discovery Tool For Mobile Users

2015: Fifty four percent of respondents said search was the top way they found mobile content/websites

Smartphones Account For 40% Of US Search Ad Spend In Q4 [Marin]

2015: Desktop’s influence, while still dominant, continued to wane

Google Updates Its Structured Data Testing Tool, Documentation & Syntax Support

2015: Google had a new and improved Structured Data Testing tool, updated its documentation and guidelines, while adding more markup support.

Ability To Share Ads Via AdWords Shared Library Is Going Away

2015: The feature would be eliminated on Feb. 11.

Google Wants Webmaster Feedback On Web Search & Webmaster Tools

2015: Google asked: “What would you like to see from Google Websearch & Webmaster Tools in 2015?”

Google Events Knowledge Graph Adds Ticket Links, Delegated Events, Comedian Events & Venue Events

2015: Google made four updates to the events knowledge graph, after launching the markup back in March 2014.

Google Updates Maps App Adding Restaurant Filters & More

2015: Google Maps App added cuisine type filters and more features for iOS and Android users.

Google’s Matt Cutts: We Don’t Have Different Algorithms For Different Web Position Slots

2014: Google’s Matt Cutts answered this question: “Are results in different positions ranked by different algorithms?” Spoiler alert: The answer was no.

Rand Fishkin Steps Down As The CEO Of Moz, Sarah Bird New CEO

2014: The end of an era – this was Fishkin’s final day as CEO of Moz.

Report: Search Engines Responsible For 40% Of Holiday Traffic To Retailer Websites

2014: While still representing the largest share, Experian reported search engines experienced a 13% drop in the amount of upstream traffic sent to retailers when comparing year-over-year traffic data.

Bing Ends 2013 With All-Time High In US Market Share, But Google Also Up [comScore]

2014: Google’s share of search queries was up 0.6 percent in December 2013, to 67.3 percent

EU Wants More Search Concessions, Google Defies French Authority

2014: EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Google needed to deliver additional, revised proposals within weeks to avoid a formal antitrust proceeding.

Is Lowe’s The First Brand To Adopt Jelly?

2014: What we do know: they answered at least one question about how to mount art on a brick wall.

Links From Press Releases Do Have Ranking Benefit Despite What Google Says

2013: That time when Matt Cutts blog started ranking for [sreppleasers] in Google.

Report: Global Paid Search Spending Up 18% In 2012

2013: That growth trend was down just slightly from the 21% annual increase reported for 2011.

77% Of Online Health Seekers Start At Search Engines [Pew Study]

2013: That was significantly more than the 13% who began at health portals like WebMD, general information sites like Wikipedia (only 2%) and social networks (1%).

Google’s 6th “Doodle 4 Google” Contest: “My Best Day Ever…”

2013: The winner would earn a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology grant for their school, and have his or her logo displayed on the Google homepage.

Yext “Reinvents The Local Business Listing” With New Rich Content Options

2013: And they called it … PowerListings+.

89% Find Search Engines Do Good Job Finding Information, But “Noise” Is Issue

2011: 13% said they couldn’t find what they were looking for. The answers were there, the “signal” that people want to tune into. They were just surrounded by a lot of noise.

comScore: Bing Share Up – Will It Overtake Yahoo? Plus, Ask.com Sale Speculation Returns

2010: ComScore’s search share figures from December 2009: Yahoo, 17.3%, Bing, 10.7%. (Google? It was at 65.7%.)

Amazon Slaps UK Affiliates Using Search Marketing Techniques

2010: Amazon said it would no longer pay referral fees to Associates who sent users via keyword bidding or other paid search on any other search engine or their extended search networks

OneRiot Launches RiotWise Ad Network For Real-Time Search

2010: The launch followed a pilot phase that the company said allowed developers to monetize mobile apps, desktop clients, social search engines and similar applications.

Carol Bartz’s ‘Gut’ May Stop Yahoo Search Sale To Microsoft

2009: Bartz said her instinct or “gut” was not necessarily to sell, although she would need to immerse herself in the issues and economics to make a better determination.

Microsoft Job Cuts May Come Next Week

2009: The cuts were expected to be “far less than the 15,000 positions” first thought.

Yahoo Shows Wikipedia Some SearchMonkey Love

2009: The Wikipedia SearchMonkey App was turned on by default for all Yahoo search users, which made it the sixth app that all Yahoo searchers would see (with LinkedIn, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Citysearch and Zagat).

TweetNews: Yahoo Programmer Melds News Search & Twitter

2009: TweetNews was a new search engine that used hot Twitter topics to bring more relevance and freshness to news search.

Google Directory Update Showing “Real” PR Scores?

2008: Google Directory scores were much higher than those shown on the Google Toolbar.

Microsoft And MediaCart Bring Ad Targeting To Grocery Store Shopping Carts

2008: Microsoft teamed up with MediaCart to offer in-store behavioral ad targeting and took the concept of “location-based services” to the store aisles using RFID tags.

Google Maps Being Used To Engage Political Volunteers, Activists

2008: How candidates, campaign staffers and other third parties were using Google Maps and the Maps API to showcase their messages and organize political volunteers and activists in upcoming primaries.

Wireless Spectrum Bidders Approved, Auction Begins January 24

2008: Among the bidders: Google, AT&T, Verizon and MetroPCS. 

Study Says Get In Top 5 Not Top 10 & Search Engines May Need To Highlight Official Sites

2007: Among the findings: search marketers needed to be more concerned about getting into the top five rather than the top ten, if they wanted to be seen.

More Spotting Google’s Related Searches At Bottom Of Page

2007: More searchers were seeing a series of eight suggested searches as links, under the heading of “Searches related to:” followed by the original word you searched for.

Looking At Microsoft’s Continued Long Game In Search

2007: “It’s tiring to hear the Microsoft leadership just rip at Google rather than deliver successes that speak for themselves.”

Microsoft Live & Yahoo Push For Firefox Users, Plus Revisiting The IE7 Search Battle

2007: How the various search engines were trying to get users to make them their default choice.

SEO Blogs Under Hack Attack

2007: Graywolf’s blog was hacked, then Stuntdubl went down.

Hacking Google To Help It Improve Security

2007: “It’s your worst nightmare – someone reads parts of your Google emails, views your docs, modifies your spreadsheets, checks out your reading habits on the Google personalized homepage or Google Reader, and goes through your search history.”

Googlers Give Overwhelmingly To Democrats; Google’s PAC Gave More To Republicans

2007: While 98% of Google employee money went to Democrats in the last election, the company-controlled Google NetPAC gave 61% of its contributions to conservative candidates. 

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

• SMX Overtime: When to use PPC automation (and when not to)

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.

• 2019: A quick and dirty guide to winning with Gmail ads by Jacob Baadsgaard
• 2018: Understanding AdWords keyword match types for manufacturers by Dianna Huff
• 2016: 6 Big Mistakes That SEO Rookies Make by John Lincoln
• 2016: Automate Your Way To SEM Success by David Fothergill
• 2015: Digital Marketing Advice For The Forward-Thinking Business In 2015 by Trond Lyngbø
• 2014: Health & Medical SMBs Spend More On Marketing Than Other Industries by Myles Anderson
• 2013: 3 Predictions For The Future Of Google+ Profiles In Autosuggest by John Lincoln
• 2013: 6 Tips For Increasing Search Team Communication by Bill Hunt
• 2013: 5 Tools You Never Thought To Use For Link Building by Erin Everhart
• 2010: A Principal Goal Of SEO Should Be Customer Loyalty by Shari Thurow
• 2010: It’s A Great Time To Be A Search Marketer…It’s About To Get Better by Josh Dreller
• 2009: 5 Ways To Rise Above The Noise by Aaron Wall
• 2009: Is Your SEM Strategy Ready For Web 3.0? by Tom Wilde
• 2008: MacWorld Highlights: Steve Jobs On The Future Of Mobile by Mike Blumenthal
• 2008: Website EKG A Must for ROI by Andrew Goodman
• 2008: 7 Tips To Win The Social News Beauty Pageant by Muhammad Saleem
• 2007: New Year’s Resolution: Know Your Inbound Link Potential! by Eric Ward

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