Live Search has just added Instant Answers for snow conditions at ski resorts. Type a query for a resort name (such as “whistler”) or for a resort area (such as “CO snow report”) and you’ll see information such as lift status, amount of new snow, base depth, and conditions.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
As Vanessa noted, Ask.com has revamped its news aggregation service, adding lots of bells and whistles and a few useful features. Most notably, Ask has embraced the social media tenet that you need others to tell you how important a news story is, with its new “BigFactor” ratings. Like Google News, Yahoo News, and other […]
Just as Ask is introducing “BigNews,” Google is offering local news. The Google News Blog says that the new capabilities allow users to “create a local section for any city, state or country in the world.” As the Google News Blog admits, Google isn’t the first to do this. Topix.com was (Topix cofounder Rich Skrenta […]
Ask has just launched a new search service called BigNews, similar to Google News with a side of Digg. It uses something called “BigFactor” to rank stories (using signals like freshness, impact, quantity of multimedia, and amount of related discussion), provides category clusters, and lets you browse by top Diggs and no Diggs (as Mashable […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
According to CNET, Microsoft isn’t waiting for the Yahoo acquisition to happen before it reorganizes. Several internal groups are slated for leadership change, and Steve Berkowitz, former Ask.com CEO and current SVP of Online Services for Microsoft, is apparently part of the changes.
Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that Ask.com is offering its own round up of content and information related to the primaries via its core “Smart Answers” functionality in search results. Search for “Super Tuesday” and you get a host of links and a pull-down menu that sends users to more information for their […]
We’ve already covered separately big developments in news about Microsoft’s bid to purchase Yahoo. But wait, there’s more! Below, a recap of our stories plus other stories on the subject across the web that cover various angles, including the news that for the first time in its history, Microsoft may borrow money in order to […]
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both report on the legal battle for control of IAC’s board and thus the company itself. It’s not pretty, and IAC claims that it’s impeding the company’s ability to effectively operate. The legal fight arguably prevents IAC from making any sort of overture (so to speak) toward […]
Rae Hoffman has released her second annual set of interviews with link building experts. This year, she talked to 11 people in the search industry who are well-versed in the art of link development. Link building is a fundamental pillar of search engine optimization. Links from authoritative sources are strong reputation signals for factors such […]
The nominations are in, and now it’s time for search marketers to vote on which two people should represent SEMs against the major search engines in the SMX Search Bowl search trivia contest, which happens at our SMX West three-day search conference next month in California. The nomination round happened last week, and now SEOmoz […]
It’s just over a half-year since Google launched Universal Search, its method of blending results from its own various topically-focused or “vertical” search engines. Since that time, the system has evolved. In particular, Google Universal Search now fills more than just 10 spots on the page, while shopping and blog search results are among new […]
The Wall Street Journal covers the “open warfare” between IAC CEO Barry Diller and Liberty Media, one of its largest backers and investors. Liberty Chairman John Malone has grown increasingly frustrated with IAC’s financial and stock performance and Diller himself. Diller has control of the company through a Byzantine procedural agreement that allows him to […]
Short but sweet — one year ago today, a momentous event that must be recalled. Google bombing was defused. George W. Bush was no longer a miserable failure, and other mass link bombing attempts stopped working. For the most part, the Google bombing fix that Google put into place seems to have continued working. For […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Don’t like the backgrounds available on Ask.com? No problem. Now you can upload any image you want. For instance, maybe you’d like this one! The new background feature is part of the skinning ability launched as part of Ask3D last year. The other engines offer some customization features as well.
Photo adapted from one by Hans Engel Some felt Ask.com won the privacy oneupmanship that went on last year when it rolled out Ask Eraser, a tool promising to stop recording any information about someone doing a search. But questions quickly came up, including whether the tool helped at all, considering that query data was […]
I conducted a very informal, online Search Engine Land reader survey several weeks ago on a range of high-level topics pertaining to mobile search. The ultimate number of responses from SEL readers was a small sample of 77. Mike Blumethal, a contributor to SEL who writes the Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local blog, thought […]
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, and many of the search engines have special logos up for the day. Google has an artistic logo, with children drawing the face of Martin Luther King Jr. on a sidewalk. Ask.com illustrates their background with Martin Luther King Jr. speaking and pointing. Dogpile […]
Stake Is Bought in IAC/InterActiveCorp from the New York Times reports Liberty Media Corporation purchased an additional 14 million shares in IAC/Interactive Corp, the parent company of Ask.com. The 14 million shares came out to about $339.5 million, but have given Liberty Media Corporation about a 30 percent stake in IAC. Liberty Media Corporation purchased […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Ask’s Mobile WAP site has added voice to the process of getting directions. The voice-activated service is provided by Dial Directions. On the mobile Ask site, next to the “Directions” link you’ll find a new “Voice Entry” link. That sends users to the Dial Directions phone number (347-328-4667) or initiates a phone call. Users then […]
Scott Hendison received an email about a click fraud settlement by Ask Sponsored Listings. If you purchased online advertising from IAC Search & Media and/or ASK Jeeves from August 2005 to now, you are entitled to some form of reimbursement for click fraud or other invalid or improper clicks. The details can be found at […]
Below are Search Engine Land’s 25 most popular stories, in terms of pageviews, during the 2007 calendar year.
Below are Search Engine Land’s 10 most popular stories from December 2007:
Nearly done with today’s search popularity stats review. Previously, I’ve covered the latest stats from Nielsen, comScore, and Hitwise. Now it’s time for Compete. Like the others, it puts Google tops. Unlike the others, it’s far more positive about Microsoft’s share and negative about Yahoo.
With the latest stats from Nielsen and comScore posted earlier today, I continue on with my compilation of the latest search popularity stats, now moving to Hitwise. As with the others, Google is way in the lead for November 2007. But unlike the others, Hitwise has a full year of trending data that can be […]
Continuing on from my earlier post about Nielsen Online’s latest search popularity stats, I’m now moving to those from comScore. For November 2007 — as with Nielsen — it’s the same-old, same-old. Google’s on top, followed by Yahoo and Microsoft. But in terms of raw searches, while Google still shows gains, at least Yahoo can […]
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are 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.
It’s search popularity stats time, now that the figures are in from all the major ratings services. I’m starting off with those from Nielsen Online, the former Nielsen NetRatings. For November 2007, they show the usual picture — Google leading the pack, followed by Yahoo and Microsoft.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Happy Holidays, Search Engine Land Readers! The logos above are from Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com for the 2007 holiday season. Google will actually be uploading a new holiday logo each day, Yahoo’s logo is very animated, and Ask.com has snowflakes falling from the sky! Plus, as always, ’07 Holiday Season Logos & Themes From Search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Group says Ask’s privacy feature is flawed from News.com reports that the Electronic Privacy Information Center has found a few flaws in AskEraser, Ask.com’s new privacy searching feature. The three problems are: AskEraser uses an opt-out cookie instead of an opt-in cookie. Ask stores the time that the user enables AskEraser, which can potentially be […]