This day in search marketing history: February 29
Spreading Santorum drops on Google, plus: Bing artificially increases market share, local mobile search in apps, Susan Wojcicki and more.
Topic: Campaign for "santorum" neologism
This day in search marketing history: March 8
RIP Google PageRank score, plus: member of SEO community killed in Ukraine, Google's Full Coverage feature, Google penalizes itself, and more.
This Holiday Shopping Season, Searching Google For “Pearl Necklace” Leads To NSFW Surprise
Those using Google to find the perfect pearl necklace for their significant other this holiday season may be in for a rude surprise. If you search for “pearl necklace,” one of the top results is a definition from Urban Dictionary, which is completely not safe for work. A reader sent us an email about the shock […]
Bug Turns Google “Anti-SafeSearch” On, Provides Porn Results
There’s a strange bug on Google where search queries that should return no matches are instead turning Google into a porn search engine, almost as if an “anti-SafeSearch” feature is being enabled. Impossible Queries = Porn! The Verge highlighted a Quora post about the bug, where doing some searches for “contradictory” or impossible to solve […]
Google Images Dominated By Pictures Of Romney For “Completely Wrong” Search
It’s not a Google Bomb, but that doesn’t make it less embarrassing for US presidential candidate Mitt Romney or Google, that a search on Google Images for “completely wrong” brings up results that are dominated by Romney’s picture. Completely Wrong & Google Images Here’s an example of what you currently see in a search for “completely […]
Does The First Amendment Create A Complete Defense For Google Against Antitrust Regulation?
Google now faces antitrust investigations on multiple continents. The US FTC recently hired a prominent outside litigator in a sign that it may be preparing to bring an action against the company. But does Google have a “slam dunk” defense against such a case (at least in the US) under the First Amendment of the […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 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: Four Seriously Cool Information Resources As a librarian, researcher and frequent blogger, I’m constantly coming across incredibly useful online information resources that are most effectively searched using their own site search […]
Santorum’s Changing “Google Problem” — & Search Engine Land — Make The Rachel Maddow Show
As we covered last week, Google’s search results for a search on “santorum” have gotten a lot cleaner recently. The change was featured on The Rachel Maddow Show last night, and Search Engine Land’s coverage got a big shout-out. The clip is below, as well as an update on all things Santorum and Google. Santorum […]
Keeping Up With Google: Bing Launches New “Search Quality Insights” Series
Want to understand better how Bing creates its search results? Bing has announced a new “Search Quality Insights” series to provide a more behind-the-scenes look at its search engine. You know, like “Search Quality Highlights” series that Google launched last December. What’s going on with these? And how does Bing’s latest post help Google on […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 29, 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: Optimizing Search Engine Marketing For Seasonal Opportunities Many in-house search marketers operate within a seasonal framework, whether a retail high season culminating in Christmas, a peak summer travel season, or another […]
“Spreading Santorum” Drops At Google; New Site Keeps Anal Sex Definition At Number One
As Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum loses two primary races to rival Mitt Romney, perhaps he can console himself with, ironically, another loss. Spreading Santorum, the page defining “santorum” as a by-product of anal sex, has finally dropped from the top results on Google. The related anti-Santorum blog, however, remains. And a page from Urban […]
Bing & Google: “Spreading Romney” Ranking Tops For “Romney” Is Normal
Bing and Google have weighed in on the amazing rise in less than a month of the Spreading Romney site to the first page of their results for a search on “romney.” That’s apparently business as usual. Prepare for further “Spreading” sites for other candidates to rank as well? Perhaps, but without some Rachel Maddow-like mentions, […]
Now, Mitt Romney Has A Santorum-Like Bing & Google Problem
Perhaps Google may finally have to figure out a “fix” for Rick Santorum’s “Google Problem,” now that an anti-Romney site is making it appear that anyone can rank any protest page for any politician’s name. Bing has the same problem, but no one ever seems to care about that. Spreading Romney I was pretty surprised […]
Why Does Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine Hate Rick Santorum?
US presidential candidate Rick Santorum pulled off a surprise last night, winning caucuses and primaries in three states. So what’s with Bing listing an anti-Santorum web site first in its results in a search for his last name? Does Microsoft have some type of liberal agenda! Wait, you didn’t realize Rick Santorum has a “Bing […]
2011: The Year Google & Bing Took Away From SEOs & Publishers
Increasingly over the years, search engines — Google in particular — have given more and more support to SEOs and publishers. But 2011 marked the first significant reversal that I can recall, with both linking and keyword data being withheld. Here’s what happened, why it matters and how publishers can push back if Google and Bing don’t […]
Why Siri Can’t Find Abortion Clinics & How It’s Not An Apple Conspiracy
“I’m standing in front of a Planned Parenthood,” the CNN reporter says, “And Siri can’t find it when I search for abortion clinic.” No, it can’t. It’s not because Apple is pro-life. It’s because Planned Parenthood doesn’t call itself an abortion clinic. Welcome To Search Scandals, Apple It’s been interesting to watch the Siri Abortiongate […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 27, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Old AdSense Interface To Be Retired in November Google has worked the most-requested features from its older interface into its new one, including creating scheduled reports and viewing channels on the […]
Santorum & Google’s Search Quality Czar Matt Cutts Makes The Colbert Report
The search industry is getting a little more mainstream recognition every day, as tonight’s episode of The Colbert Report picked on Google’s handling of the Spreading Santorum situation. This time the target was software engineer Matt Cutts, long known to search industry insiders as head of Google’s Web Spam and search quality team, he doesn’t […]
Should Rick Santorum’s “Google Problem” Be Fixed?
Is Google (and Bing, by the way) not being “responsible” by failing to remove an anti-Rick Santorum web site? The Republican presidential candidate believes so, speaking out this week against an unfavorable listing for his name. But “fixing” Santorum’s “Google problem” isn’t as easy as it sounds. Defining Santorum For those who aren’t familiar with […]