In 2002, the US Federal Trade Commission created guidelines on how search engines should disclose paid placement and paid inclusion listings. It’s become clear to me over the past two weeks that the search engine industry has either largely forgotten these guidelines or is ignoring them. That’s why I’ve written a letter today to the […]
European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia issued a statement this morning offering “preliminary conclusions” of the EU’s investigation of numerous antitrust complaints against Google. It lays out “concerns” about Google’s market power in four areas. Almunia acknowledges Google’s prior statements about a willingness to settle and suggests that if a settlement can be reached Europe and […]
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 […]
In this corner is Google, about to make “major changes” to its algorithm and presentation of search results according to a much-discussed article in the Wall Street Journal. In the other are Google’s critics who now scrutinize and critique the company’s every move. The WSJ-Google article speaks about new innovations to search in an effort […]
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 […]
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 Panda Update Costs Demand Media $6.4 Million In 4th Quarter? Demand Media posts $6.4-million loss in fourth quarter from the Los Angeles Times reports that Google’s Panda algorithm is mostly […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Major Entertainment Groups Accuse Google, Bing Of Directing Users To Illegal Content Several major UK entertainment industry groups are accusing Google and Bing of directing searchers to illegal content, and have […]
FairSearch.org, a consortium of companies that originally came together to oppose the Google acquisition of ITA and includes Tavelocity, Microsoft and TripAdvisor among others, has added several new members to its ranks and launched an anti-Google print-ad campaign. Entitled “Good to Know,” the ads seek to expose “truths” about Google and its alleged conflicts of […]
Did watching elected representatives debate SOPA last week without understanding some fundamentals of the internet rattle your nerves? Welcome to my world of watching the same thing happen about Google and search. In September, the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights held a hearing called “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or […]
Ironically, the trade group that created the Cyber Monday concept had its own CyberMonday.com site lost in cyberspace this week. Lost, that is, if you tried to use Bing to find it. The site, along with some Black Friday deals sites, have been deliberately dropped from Bing as being too “thin” in content. Bing’s Version […]
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+ Search Goes Real Time & Gains Hashtag Support Google has announced that its still relatively new Google+ Search feature now will update its results in real time plus has new […]
FairSearch, a group of search companies including Microsoft which lobbies that Google is too dominant, has sent a white paper outlining its anti-trust concerns about Google to the 50 state attorneys general in the US. Below, a review and some fact checking of the paper. You’ll find the paper here, if you wish to read […]
Earlier this morning I predicted that today’s three-hour Senate subcommittee hearing on Google and competition would be more theater than fact-finding. (You can read Danny’s live blog here and here.) And while there were lots of numbers and statistics thrown around by the witnesses (many of them inaccurate) there were few new facts; it was […]
Fairsearch.org has released findings from a new study that raises serious and important issues about Google, its influence on searcher behavior and whether the search giant’s actions are deliberately hindering competition. Unfortunately, the study results are tainted by flawed methodology and a blatant anti-Google bias, implicitly favoring the agendas of the companies that sponsored the […]
OK, it’s round two. And I can tell you no, don’t expect much. How do you clear the press table when Google competitors are about to testify at a Senate hearing? Have Eric Schmidt do a post-game recap in the hearing room hallway. He’s done, I’m back, will catch up as best I can. NOTE: […]
We’re apparently not going to hear anything new at today’s Senate subcommittee hearing on Google and competition. (Danny Sullivan and Gary Price will attend and blog the live testimony.) What we’re likely going to get are very polarized views of Google and how it operates: Google the benign promoter of consumer-centric content and Google the […]
One area that the Justice Department’s Google-ITA settlement didn’t cover was so-called “search neutrality.” In a nutshell, this is the misguided notion that Google shouldn’t be permitted to send traffic to its own properties. In the extreme it argues that the government should regulate Google’s algorithm as well. While the term “search neutrality” carries a […]
In a post on the Bing blog made earlier today, Bing Travel and Kayak have joined forces, as the two travel search engines announced a formal partnership to provide searchers with more comprehensive results. In the next few weeks (no specific timeline has been shared yet), Kayak will begin serving flight search results to Bing […]
In a bit of a surprising interview on Bloomberg News, Kayak.com’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Paul English boldly stated that the travel search engine doesn’t fear Google’s entrance into the travel search market via the proposed acquisition of ITA Software. Kayak is officially listed as a member of the FairSearch Organization, but Google claims […]
Politico is reporting, as have other outlets, that Google and the Justice Department (DOJ) are now negotiating intensely in the waning days of its investigation into the anti-trust implications of Google’s potential acquisition of travel software company ITA. According to the Politico article: The Justice Department has made it clear to Google that it’s willing […]
Add a few US legislators to the list of parties that are airing concerns over Google’s plan to purchase air travel software provider ITA. According to All Things Digital, two US House members and the Missouri Attorney General sent letters this week to Christine Varney, US Asst. Attorney General in the Antitrust Division, to express […]
On Friday Reuters reported that Google and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) are exploring licensing guarantees as part of a potential “settlement” that would avoid litigation to block Google’s intended purchase of online travel software provider ITA. In addition the report says that the DOJ is also looking closely at issues of “search fairness” […]
In a curious editorial yesterday the NY Times makes a kind of luke-warm argument against Google’s acquisition of travel software company ITA. Here’s the operative paragraph: Regulators must consider that if Google extends its dominance to the business of steering online customers to airlines and travel agencies, it would be in a position to charge […]
Microsoft has long and openly been involved in opposing some of Google’s high-profile deals and acquisitions. It helped scuttle the proposed Google-Yahoo search deal that paved the way for its own deal with Yahoo. It unsuccessfully opposed the DoubleClick and AdMob acquisitions. It also owns Ciao, one of the complainants that helped launch the recent […]
Citing a litany of concerns over competition, airfare, and technology, a US Senator is calling on the Justice Department to put conditions on Google’s purchase of travel software company ITA. In a letter to the DOJ on Wednesday, Senator Herb Kohl outlined a number of concerns over Google’s purchase of ITA — the independent software […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Canada’s Yellow Pages Group Acquires Enquiro Canada’s Yellow Pages Group has acquired the well-known search marketing agency Enquiro and folded it into a new entity known as Mediative. As explained in […]