In what is becoming an annual ritual Google announces a dramatic acquisition, pundits speculate about the potentially market-changing impact and anti-trust investigators give it a long, hard look — only to allow it in the end. Last year the transaction in question was AdMob; this year it’s ITA software. Since the roughly $700 million deal […]
A busy day for Google on the legal front continues with news that the company has agreed to $8.5 million in payments to settle a federal lawsuit surrounding Google Buzz and privacy. According to AFP, court documents filed today show that seven plaintiffs will get no more than $2,500 each, lawyers that filed the case […]
Google and Verizon have announced that they’ll be hosting a conference call today at 10:30 AM Pacific Time. Topic? Not said, but probably related to the rumor last week that the two companies have cut a deal to ensure Google’s content has preferential treatment in Verizon’s network, something that made many wonder if Google’s abandoned […]
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 […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: All New Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools Today, Microsoft launched a revamp of their Bing Webmaster Tools. I talked to them back in June, when they previewed the tools at SMX Advanced, […]
The New York Times is the number one newspaper web site. Analysts reckon it ranks first in reach among US opinion leaders. When the New York Times editorial staff tweaks its supersecret algorithm behind what to cover and exactly how to cover a story — as it does hundreds of times a day — it […]
Google has signed an agreement to acquire travel reservations software company ITA. The purchase price is reportedly about $700 million. We speculated about this and the likely travel industry and potential regulatory fallout earlier this week. Google put up a site to explain and promote the deal. Indeed, Google knows it’s girding for a fight […]
Most people have never heard of ITA. However it’s the dominant company that provides reservations (inventory management) software and performs other functions for the travel industry. The company’s client list includes major airlines such as American and Continental as well as popular travel sites such as Kayak and Orbitz. ITA is foundational infrastructure for many […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 8 Easy Ways To Monitor The SEO Your Competition Is Doing If you’re a marketer and you’re currently tied up with other initiatives (campaigns, new site launch, etc.), or a search […]
On Monday when Apple released its iOS 4 software update it changed its terms and privacy policy. One of the provisions of the new privacy terms — though few typically read them — concerns location monitoring and sharing in the background. Here’s what it now says about location: To provide location-based services on Apple products, […]
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: Google Removes Auto-Background Feature Confused about why Google was showing a picture on its home page today. Apparently, plenty of people were, some to the point of being upset. In […]
I would love to be a fly on the wall at the FTC. A few weeks ago the agency grudgingly decided not to pursue its lawsuit to prevent the Google-AdMob deal on the purported basis that Apple’s entry into the mobile ad market would sufficiently balance Google’s new push into mobile display: The Commission said that although […]
Paid search focused videos, slide presentations, and podcasts recorded at various Search Marketing Expo conferences. To see the full presentation, click on either the screenshot, or the session’s title. SMX Advanced – June 11-12, 2013 – Seattle, WA Slides & Speaker Audio: Big Data + Big Math = Exponential Search Performance Seems every industry is […]
It’s been a little while since we’ve done a Search Biz column. So it’s time to dust off the old snark machine and get right into it. First up there’s a very entertaining post on some new, unsealed records from the YouTube-Viacom litigation featuring a range of colorful expletives as both sides insult one another […]
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 Launches Encrypted Web Search Want to keep your searches from being seen when using open WiFi or other networks? Google’s introduced a new “secure” encrypted version of its search. Anyone […]
The champagne is flowing in Mountain View; the FTC has declined to sue to block Google’s $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob. It appears that the public-facing rationale for the decision is the entry of Apple into the mobile ad market. The FTC put out the following statement: In a statement issued today, […]
In November, 2008 the US Department of Justice was prepared to sue Google and call the company a “monopoly” in an effort to stop the proposed search-ads deal with Yahoo. At the time Google wanted to avoid the “m-word” and didn’t quite have the stomach for a public legal battle with the DOJ. Here’s what […]
How much money does Google keep for itself from AdSense ads that publishers carry? Unless you’re a big publisher, Google — which preaches “data liberation” — doesn’t say. But thanks to an anti-trust investigation in Italy, Google may share how much it keeps. At least, that is, to Italian newspaper publishers. It’s a simple enough […]
Google executives reflect on year at annual meeting from CNet News reports on yesterday’s shareholder meeting at Google. At the meeting was Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, co-founder Larry Page, VP of products Susan Wojcicki, VP of user experience Marissa Mayer, general counsel Kent Walker and others. I wanted to sum up the key takeaways as […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Has Facebook’s Active User Growth Dropped 25% to 50%? Are a significant number of people cancelling their Facebook accounts because of privacy concerns? The easy answer would be for Facebook to […]
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 Funnel Reports—Tunnel Vision? On March 19, 2010 Google unveiled Google AdWords Search Funnel Reports via this YouTube video. This was a great day for proponents of multi-attribution marketing 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: SearchWeek: May 3, 2010 Search Week is an exclusive weekly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past week. Below are […]
Google was hoping that the announcement of Apple’s iAd program would help with approval of the AdMob acquisition at the FTC. However that doesn’t seem to be the case; Bloomberg reported on Friday that the FTC seemed poised to try and block the deal: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff is urging the filing of […]
Within the past month, Twitter Search has radically matured. It has gained “relevant” tweets in addition to search ads. The changes are as much a revolution as when web search engines increased their relevancy and integrated search ads a decade ago. Searchers, search marketers — take notice! Below, a guide to what’s happened and what […]
Siri describes itself not as a “mobile search tool,” as I have in the headline, but rather as a “virtual personal assistant.” The company went public with its technology and iPhone app just a few months ago and now Apple has reportedly acquired it for an undisclosed sum that is likely more than $50 million […]
Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group that has targeted Google before, plans to call on the US government to start an antitrust investigation into Google and will suggest remedies that include breaking the company up. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, all of this will be detailed at a news conference Wednesday in Washington, DC. […]
Twitter’s rumored Promoted Tweets are now official, launching only a day after the very similar TweetUp launched (will that be DOA?). Promoted Tweets has two phases, which might be described as an AdWords phase and an AdSense phase. The AdWords part is what is launching first. Marketers buy keywords (for now on a CPM basis) […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: TweetUp Brings AdWords Concept To Twitter Bill Gross, who all but created paid search in the late 1990s when he founded GoTo.com, has launched TweetUp, an advertising ecosystem that does for […]
No FTC review here: Google has acquired Plink a UK-based startup that offers specialized visual search (or augmented reality [sort of]) for art. You take a picture of an artwork or object d’art and information appears about the artist and/or the piece. As the site makes clear, PlinkArt was simply the first in an intended […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Attribution Technology: What’s Best For Your Needs? A few months ago, I wrote an article titled Attribution: What It Is And Why It’s Important where I discussed two types of attribution: […]
Reports have been surfacing for the past week that the US Federal Trade Commission may be preparing to try and block the $750 million Google acquisition of AdMob. Yesterday at the Apple iPhone OS 4 event Steve Jobs discussed Google several times and acknowledged that Apple tried to buy AdMob but Google “snatched” it away. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Internet Ad Revenue Hit Record High In Q4 2009 Recession? Economic slowdown? Financial gloom-and-doom? Not online, and not as far as Internet advertising is concerned. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) says […]
There are more signs that federal regulators may be ready to challenge Google’s purchase of AdMob, the mobile advertising company it bought for $750 million in November. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the groundwork is in place for a formal government challenge: The FTC has assembled an internal litigation team to prepare for […]
In light of its struggles with user privacy, Google Buzz is double-checking to make sure users have the service setup the way they want. Starting Monday afternoon, Google began showing a “Confirm your Buzz setup” screen when early adopters clicked the Buzz tab in Gmail. The screen shows who you’re following, and provides links to […]
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 Execs Still At $1/Year, But Company Cuts Other Perks Google’s trio of top leaders — co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, plus CEO Eric Schmidt — continued to receive $1 […]
Google Buzz is having a bad day. I reported earlier about the lack of search interest in Buzz, but there’s a potentially more serious legal problem coming: A group of 11 lawmakers is asking the FTC to investigate whether Google Buzz violated consumer privacy regulations. BusinessWeek reported over the weekend that 11 members of the […]
Last March Google initiated a trial of what it calls “remarketing” for display and text ads throughout its content network. Today it’s opening up the option for all AdWords advertisers. To be clear this is not “search retargeting” and doesn’t involve any Google.com query data. The benefit of this is being able to reach consumers, […]
Among the major search engines, Microsoft is still the biggest spender when it comes to lobbying politicians, but none are spending lobbying dollars faster than Google. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Google’s spend on lobbying has gone from $260,000 in 2005 to more than $4 million in 2009, an increase of more […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: FTC Commissioner: Google’s Buzz Launch Was ‘Irresponsible Conduct’ An outgoing FTC commissioner has slammed Google over the way it launched Google Buzz last month, calling the episode a case of “irresponsible […]
An outgoing FTC commissioner has slammed Google over the way it launched Google Buzz last month, calling the episode a case of “irresponsible conduct.” According to PC World, FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour also said Google and other online companies may face tougher penalties if they don’t do a better job of protecting consumer privacy. […]