Report: OpenAI working on web search product
The creator of the popular generative AI tool ChatGPT may be working on a search engine to try and compete with Google.
Topic: Blekko
This day in search marketing history: March 27
Google research finds a #1 organic ranking can still benefit from PPC, plus: RIP Blekko, authorship, Google robots.txt generator and more.
This day in search marketing history: February 1
Bing accused of copying Google's search results, plus: Microsoft tries to buy Yahoo, about this result, fake locksmith issues and more.
This day in search marketing history: January 31
Google releases URL Inspection Tool API, plus: AdWords IF functions, Page Speed Update confusion, local paid inclusion and more.
AI content: Is it helpful or spam?
AI-generated content has its place in SEO. Whether it's helpful or spam depends on how, where and why you're using it.
This day in search marketing history: January 7
The Spam Clock targets Google spam, plus: link removal request figures, loads of new tools and features, major search deals and more.
This day in search marketing history: January 3
Why Google penalized Google Chrome, plus: DuckDuckGo launches Donttrack.us, Google challengers, Google newspaper ads and more.
Restaurant app Tobiko goes old school by shunning user reviews
The app represents a return to the simplicity of expert reviews.
SearchCap: Yahoo & Microsoft, Blekko Now At IBM & Link Spam Analysis
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Moz Open Site Explorer Adds Spam Analysis For Risky Links Popular SEO tool software company, Moz, launched a spam analysis feature within their link analysis toolset. 10 Practical Tips For Using […]
Goodbye Blekko: Search Engine Joins IBM’s Watson Team
Quiet for nearly two years, Blekko's home page says its team and technology are now part of IBM's Watson technology.
Want Scotland Election Results? Don’t Bother Asking Google Or Bing
It’s not often you have a vote that might create a new, independent nation. But that’s what’s happening today with Scotland. It’s such a big event that you’d think Google and Bing would be doing something special to provide election results. That’s not the case. Both search engines have long done special presentations for U.S. elections or […]
Revealed: The 17 Other Search Engines The FTC Warned Over Paid Ad Disclosures
In June, the US Federal Trade Commission warned seven “general purpose” search engines — including Google, Bing and Yahoo — about the need to ensure they were properly disclosing paid ads. But 17 other “specialty” search engines were also warned. Which ones? The FTC wouldn’t say. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, Search […]
Ilya Segalovich, Yandex Co-Founder & CTO, Brain Dead & In Coma
Ilya Segalovich, Co-Founder & CTO of Russian search engine Yandex, has lapsed into a coma and is brain dead. Segalovich, 48, had been responding well to cancer treatment before unexpectedly succumbing to complications early this morning, according to a statement released by the company. Yandex listed him as dead; many news reports initially reported that […]
FTC Updates Search Engine Ad Disclosure Guidelines After “Decline In Compliance”
In 2002, the US Federal Trade Commission issued landmark guidelines to search engines, to ensure they were make a clear distinction between their paid and unpaid listings. Now, the FTC has updated those guidelines, saying it has seen a “decline in compliance” since they were first issued. The FTC posted the news today on its […]
Duck Duck Go’s Post-PRISM Growth Actually Proves No One Cares About “Private” Search
Look out, Google! Duck Duck Go is on the rise, posting a 50% traffic increase in just eight days. Is this proof people want a “private” search engine, in the wake of allegations the PRISM program allows the US government to read search data with unfettered access? Nope. Google has little to worry about. People don’t […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 18, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: DuckDuckGo Passes 3 Million Searches, Just 8 Days After Hitting 2 Million Another week, another traffic record in the alternative search engine space. DuckDuckGo (DDG) tweeted this morning about its latest […]
Blekko’s Izik Search App Comes To iPhone, Android Devices
This morning, Blekko announced that its tablet search app, izik, is now available for the iPhone and Android devices. Currently there isn’t a Blekko mobile app, but the mobile Web version of the site is optimized for smartphones. Izik for iPad became available in January. Blekko has moved closer to izik in terms of look and […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 17, 2013
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 Matt Cutts: Stock Images Do Not Impact Search Engine Rankings Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, said in a recent video that using stock images from a stock image […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 6, 2013
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 Pushes To Build Marketshare Through “Bing It On” For Faster Airport Wifi I got a surprise recently on my trip through Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. When I tapped into […]
Blekko Lays Off Eight, Raises $6 Million More
Earlier this week blekko, which just introduced a bold new UI, had a reduction in force. Eight people were let go “as part of an effort to reduce costs,” said CEO Rich Skrenta, who added, “blekko’s revenues are growing and these cost reductions will help us as we work toward profitability.” Skrenta told me by […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 29, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Video: Google’s Matt Cutts On Advertorials & Webmaster Guidelines Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a new video today on YouTube clarifying Google’s stance on Advertorials and “native advertising.” […]
Seeking Broader Appeal Blekko Offers Bold New UI
In January, upstart search engine Blekko launched a specialized tablet app called Izik. The UI and overall experience were optimized for the touch-screen devices. Search results were more visual and finger friendly. Most of all, CEO Rich Skrenta stressed that Izik was leaving behind the familiar “10 blue links.” As part of the Izik launch, […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 11, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: AdWords Product Listing Ad CPCs Close In On Text Ads [RKG Report] Are those sweet efficiencies early adopters of AdWords product listing ads saw in their holiday numbers coming to an […]
Google Beats Bing, Yandex & Blekko At Keeping Malware Out Of Search Results [Study]
About three years ago, Google was labeled in one study as the “King of Malware.” Things have apparently changed a lot since then. A new study reports that Google is beating its primary search competitors pretty significantly when it comes to keeping malware out of search results. The 18-month study (PDF), done by a German […]
Wolfram Alpha “Handwrites” Answers For April Fools’ Day
Move over there just a little bit, Google. Even Wolfram Alpha, the computation knowledge engine (as it calls itself), is getting in on the April Fools’ Day gags. For at least a day, the company has announced that it’s now the “handwritten knowledge engine.” Ask it any question, and Wolfram Alpha shows results that look […]
Blekko Launches New Tablet Search Engine “Izik”
Rich Skrenta and team at blekko are launching “izik,” a new tablet search engine (and browser) designed to deliver a “from the ground up,” tablet friendly search experience. You can also use it on the PC; however the experience is best on a tablet. It’s available as an app for the iPad or Android tablets. […]
Only 5% Of News Publishers Use The Google News Keywords Meta Tag
Just over three months ago, Google launched the news keyword meta tag designed to let news publishers have a better chance of ranking for words they might not have included in their headlines. Adoption rate so far? Only about 5% of the sources within Google News use the tag, according to new data provided by […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 21, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Official: It’s Google Panda Update 23, Impacting ~1.3% Of Queries Google has confirmed rumors of a Google update announcing on Twitter that they pushed out a Panda data refresh today impacting […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 17, 2012
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 Maps iPhone App Gets 10 Million Downloads In Two Days Just about a week ago Google’s new Google Maps iPhone app was released and oh boy were people waiting for […]
A Yahoo-Facebook Search Partnership? Reality Check Time!
The world, it seems, just cannot wait for Facebook to come along and start its own search engine and knock Google off the top of search mountain. The rumors and expectations of this go back for years. Now the latest twist: Yahoo and Facebook will team up together. If you’re banking on that potential alliance […]
Bing Offers Own Version Of “Pepsi Challenge” Against Google: “Bing It On”
Surely you remember (or have heard about) the now classic “Pepsi Challenge” ad campaign from the 1970s and early 1980s. Pepsi went around to public venues like shopping malls and offered people blind taste tests of its own caramel colored soda vs Coke. Overwhelmingly people preferred Pepsi to Coke. Microsoft is now trying something similar […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 16, 2012
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: Further Penguin Update “Jolts” To Come; Panda Is Smoother & Monthly Fasten your seat belt, if you’ve been spamming Google. The anti-spam “Penguin Update” will have more jolts in the […]
Free No More: Blekko’s SEO Tools Are Now A Paid Product
Blekko has changed its previously free SEO tools into a paid service, putting it in competition with the likes of SEOmoz.org, Ahrefs.com, MajesticSEO.com, SEMrush.com and other SEO data/tool providers. There’s been no official announcement of the change, but Blekko CEO Rich Skrenta confirmed to us that the company’s SEO tools and data now require a […]
As The Yahoo-Microsoft Search Alliance Falls Short, Could A Yahoo-Google Deal Emerge?
Once again, Yahoo is earning so little under its search deal with Microsoft that Microsoft is having to make up the difference due to a revenue guarantee. If the performance doesn’t improve, Yahoo might go looking for a new partner, which could include Google. Let’s explore how the deal has continued to falter, quarter-after-quarter, and […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 12, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: A Google Marketplace? New Google Shopping Is One Indicator Imagine if Mall of America had unlimited space and let all merchants setup shop for free. Now imagine if Mall of America […]
With ROCKZi, Blekko Dips Its Toes Into Social Waters (And I Don’t Get It)
Search engines seem to be inexorably drawn to social platforms. There’s Google+ and there was Google Buzz. Yahoo has Flickr and Yahoo Answers, and had Yahoo Buzz and Yahoo Meme (among others). Microsoft/Bing has So.cl. And now Blekko has a social content platform of its own: ROCKZi, where the tagline is “Read. Vote. Rock.” It’s […]
No, Microsoft Didn’t “Disappear” Kogan From Bing Over The “IE7 Tax”
Shopping site Kogan imposes an “Internet Explorer 7” tax. Kogan then mysteriously disappears from Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Revenge? No, just a technical goof, says Microsoft, one that it is correcting. Kogan grabbed headlines last month when it began adding an additional 6.8% charge to purchases for those using Internet Explorer 7. Calling it the “Internet […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 3, 2012
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 To Discontinue iGoogle, Once Google’s Fastest Growing Product Google announced they are shutting down several products as part of their “summer spring cleaning” efforts. One of those products is iGoogle, […]
Blekko Offers Fresher Index For SEO Purposes
Blekko announced they have made improvements to their crawler and indexer to provide more up to date and fresher results to SEOs looking for SEO related data. Blekko, the Slashtag Search Engine, offers a nice set of free SEO tools. In fact, they pride themselves as being different by offering all these SEO tools for […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 9, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 10 Great Adwords Options For Boosting Conversions We all know that Adwords is the most used system in the world to drive paid traffic to websites. The Adwords system is an […]