Topic: Citigroup

Google Still #1 Traffic Source For Most Of Top 30 Websites — Report

This may surprise no one: Google is the leading source of traffic for 23 of the top 30 websites. That’s according to Citi analyst Mark Mahaney in a document released yesterday to clients. Based on underlying comScore data, the report analyzes visits to the top five websites in several verticals: Media, Retail, Travel, Auto, Finance […]

Google Wallet Now Live, But In Very Limited Availability

As expected, Google has formally announced the first rollout of Google Wallet — the company’s first official entry into the growing mobile payments space. But Wallet is only taking a baby step today. Google says the app is only being made available to Sprint Nexus S 4G phones, and users will be able to pay […]

Yahoo Up, Google Down, Bing Flat: comScore

It’s that time of month. The financial analysts are publishing the comScore search market share data again, just ahead of comScore’s own press release. Last night Business Insider had the numbers up first, which I then confirmed with comScore directly. Below are the July market share figures, as well as those for the past two […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 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: New: Google Now Showing Local +1 Counts Last week we confirmed Google was showing raw +1 counts in the search results and now today, Google seems to be testing showing location […]

PPC

Report: Search Marketing Sees Slower Second Quarter Growth

Researchers at Citibank talked to four large agencies doing a lot of SEM — Covario, Efficient Frontier, Marin Software and Position 2 — and what emerged was a picture of second quarter spending that looks weaker than once expected. And the full year, by most accounts, will be down from what most previously thought, if […]

Live Blogging The Google Wallet Launch Press Conference

Google’s Commerce VP Stephanie Tilenius took the stage this morning in New York to announce what everyone was expecting: Google Wallet. She said that Google wants to create “tomorrow’s best shopping experience” and “bring online and offline together” through an open payments platform. Google aspires to bring offers, payments and loyalty together at the point […]

Bing Hits 14 Percent, Google And Yahoo Flat: comScore

The comScore data for April were released by the financial analysts earlier today. Here’s the quick take on the newest search market-share figures: Google: 65.4 percent in April vs. 65.7 percent in March Yahoo: 15.9 percent vs. 15.7 percent in March Bing: 14.1 percent, up from 13.9 percent in March BingHoo: 30 percent, up slightly vs […]

Google Joins Forces With MasterCard On NFC To Test The Future Of Digital Marketing, Analytics

Google’s Gingerbread (Android 2.3) offers near field communication (NFC) support, which can be used for both “contactless payments” and marketing purposes. People tend to think about and discuss NFC in the context of “mobile wallets” and payments exclusively but there’s a great deal more it can do. For example, Google has been testing NFC-based marketing […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 16, 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: Transcript: Google & Bing On Whitelists & Exception Lists Last week at our SMX West show, Google and Bing spoke about how sites might get excepted from being harmed by particular […]

Bing Hits All-Time Market Share High In November, comScore Says

After several months of slow growth, Bing reached an all-time high market share of 11.8% in November 2010. That’s according to the latest report from comScore. For the month, Bing gained three-tenths of a percent from October, while both Google and Yahoo saw negligible declines. Before November, Bing’s previous high was 11.7% market share back […]

Facebook Passes Google In “Time Spent,” What Does It Mean?

Yesterday morning Citi analyst Mark Mahaney put out a research note with comScore data that showed Facebook had passed Google in terms of time spent online. Mahaney observed: Looking at % of Total Time Spent by the top 5 sites in August, Facebook, for the first time took the top spot with 41.1B minutes followed […]

New comScore Search Metrics: ‘Explict Core Search’ Up At Yahoo, Bing, Down At Google

As Danny earlier pointed out, comScore has devised a new metric called “Explicit Core Search” to separate intended search results from slideshow “gaming” (“contextual search”), which had arguably distorted search volumes at Yahoo and to some degree Bing in recent months. Here’s how comScore explains the new metric: When comScore reports our July 2010 qSearch […]

MSFT Will Challenge Google-Yahoo Japan Deal

In a move that should surprise no one, Microsoft says it will try to block the recently announced Google-Yahoo Japan partnership. In our story from Tuesday, a Microsoft senior VP spoke out strongly against the partnership. Now, Silican Alley Insider received confirmation last night that the company will take steps to challenge it formally. “We […]

Bing & Yahoo Search Share Up, But Google Has Little To Fear

Once again, Yahoo and Bing have gained share against Google, in the latest monthly search market share figures from comScore. However, questions remain on whether the growth from “slideshow” presentations should be counted as “real” searches. Meanwhile, on a volume basis, Google continued to grow, not drop, its market share. comScore’s latest figures — the […]

Google’s China Gambit: Day Two Reaction

Google’s decision to potentially pull out of China if it cannot operate without censorship is a remarkable story. The statement was made after Google discovered a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on GMail. Google didn’t say the Chinese government was behind the attacks but that’s the clear implication. The attacks involved more than just Google […]

Armstrong: Google Gets “First Dibs” At AOL Search Deal

AOL’s CEO: Google To Get 1st Shot At New Search Deal from the Wall Street Journal reports AOL’s CEO, Tim Armstrong saying that Google will get “first dibs” at a search deal. Armstrong said this at Citi’s annual entertainment, media and telecommunications conference today. This was prompted by a question about possibly using Microsoft Bing […]

Live Blogging The MSFT – YHOO Search Deal Press Conference

Microsoft and Yahoo are making it official: a deal about search. And to share the news, they’re gathering thousands of their closest friends to a press conference at 5:30am Pacific time today. Having been awake now for nearly 30 minutes, I’m just itching to get in and live blog this puppy. So come along for […]

comScore: Bing Barely Gaines Share In June 2009

Now a third major ratings service has released search engine share figures for June 2009, and like the others, they show that Bing made only a tiny gain in the wake of its launch and major ad campaign. The comScore figures have gone out to the financial analyst community, and the comScore press release with […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 8, 2009

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 Pitches New Small Business Customers, Ignores Existing Ones Google is hitting the streets of San Francisco next week — with at least one high-powered supporter in tow — to talk […]

Citigroup Study Says Google More Relevant Than Bing

Citigroup conducted a study comparing 200 queries on Google, Yahoo and Bing. The study found that Google is much more relevant than Bing, in returning relevant results. Google returned the most relevant result 71 percent of the time, compared with Bing at 49 percent of the time and Yahoo 30 percent of the time. The […]

Search Biz: Wall St. Flips On GOOG; Google Canning Slackers & More

When Google went public in August, 2004, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin made no secret of the company’s disdain for how the Wall St. system of analyst ratings and recommendations works. They wrote a letter saying they had no interest in trying to manage analysts expectations and keep Wall St. happy on a quarterly […]

SEO

Search Biz: Fear On Madison Avenue, Google Now A “Froe,” Microsoft’s Avenue A Says GooHoo “Good News For Advertisers,” & Yahoo Planning To Double Headcount In India

In a bit of irony, Microsoft-owned Avenue A/Razorfish’s search VP Matt Greitzer said that the recently announced Google-Yahoo paid search pact “is going to be good news for advertisers.” Greitzer subsequently qualified (or might have been asked to qualify) his early enthusiasm for the deal by suggesting that it could result in higher prices for […]

GooHoo Search Ads Outsourcing Deal Moves Forward

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the “initial test” of running Google ads on Yahoo search results had “positive results” and is thus moving forward. A range of blog posts offers speculation and cynicism about the story and what it may or may not represent for the potential MicroHoo deal. The original test was […]

SEO

Microhoo: Divining The Probabilities

Yahoo’s board has officially rejected Microsoft’s bid for the company, but that’s likely just a gambit to either pressure Microsoft to sweeten its bid or stall for time while Yahoo explores other alternatives. What’s the likelihood of Microsoft actually succeeding in its takeover attempt? There are many possible scenarios. Will Microsoft have to increase its […]

SEO

Google Ranked “Most Powerful Brand”

Gary Price reports that Millward Brown Optimor’s Brandz Top 100 has ranked Google the most powerful brand, based on the survey’s own methodology of earnings times a “branded multiplier.” The top 10 global brands are: