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 Shifts Search Ads Closer To Free Results James Carswell noticed that Google, on some browsers, has shifted the search ads on the right hand side of the search results page, […]
James Carswell noticed that Google, on some browsers, has shifted the search ads on the right hand side of the search results page, closer to the free (organic) results. I personally was able to replicate this change, by comparing Firefox to Safari and posted a video illustrating the change. In the video below, you will […]
Earlier I posted that Google Analytics and other JavaScript-based tracking tools might be undercounting visits from Twitter. I’ve done some more digging, which supports the case. In my test, Twitter seems to have sent 500% to 1600% more traffic than log files or hosted stats packages like Google Analytics might show. How Twitter Might Send […]
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google’s founders and CEO didn’t see eye to eye on building out the Chrome browser or OS, at least, not initially. Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, said that initially when Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founders, brought the idea of building a browser or operating system to him six […]
Two pretty cool things coming out of Google Maps today: First, an official announcement that Google’s “My Location” feature is now available more widely on the desktop. Second, Google Operating System has discovered what looks like a test that lets users create “search layers” in Google Maps. More on that in a moment. If you’ve […]
There seems to be no end to companies saying they offer real time search these days. And no end to people quoting how Google itself says it wants to improve in the area. But what does real time search really mean? This article offers some definitions and focuses on players in the space. Real Time […]
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 Image Search Makes SafeSearch Toggle Switch Quicker Google Image Search has made it a bit easier to toggle between the three levels of SafeSearch. SafeSearch is the adult image filter […]
Bing has announced they are now displaying Twitter results for a few thousand “prominent and prolific” Twitterers in their search results. The Twitter results show the person’s latest Tweets and a link to “see more tweets” from that user. For example, if you search for [Danny Sullivan Twitter] or [Danny Sullivan Tweets or [@dannysullivan] in […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: OPA Study Reaffirms Display Ads Drive Search Search and display. One often hears how they work together, but there’s still plenty of skepticism out there, especially in the SEM community, about […]
Since their infancy, social news sites have been trying to stay one step ahead of social media users trying to artificially promote content to their front page. Digg.com has been the center focus for spamming and gaming in social media because a front-page promoted story equates to thousands of visitors and hundreds, or even thousands […]
Earlier this month, I covered various ways people are spamming Twitter in my Twitter’s Real Time Spam Problem article. Since then, I’ve been diligently reporting some of the more annoying spam I see. Despite this, none of the reported accounts have been closed. So, it’s time for a public spam report — and some education […]
If you use Twitter regularly, you probably know spam is a growing problem — particularly with Twitter’s search engine and the way it surfaces trending topics. Danny Sullivan described how spammers are targeting hot keywords in his Twitter’s Real Time Spam Problem article 10 days ago. Since Twitter hasn’t addressed the problem yet, the folks […]
It appears that Bing is overriding the default search provider set by users of Internet Explorer 6. Several IE6 users have complained that since Bing launched, the search provided went from Google (which they set manually) to Bing. To makes things even worse, when the user tries to set the search provider back from Bing […]
Back at the second keynote of Google I/O. We were promised something absolutely awesome and we got it. Steve Ballmer announcing Bing on stage. Oops, that’s D. This is about a new collaboration tool. Oh, and I’m live blogging this, and I’ve had no sleep (see Bing above), so who knows where it’s all going. […]
Let’s just get it out of the way: no, Bing is not a “Google Killer.” It’s also safe to say that Microsoft doesn’t see it that way either. My understanding of what Microsoft believes it has in Bing is a much more competitive product than Live Search. I entirely agree. Over the course of the […]
I’m at the Google I/O conference, where it is being opened by Google CEO Eric Schmidt. He’s welcoming the audience and saying it’s great to be in front of programmers and saying, “it’s time. it’s time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity before us … it has been 20 years trying 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: How To Optimize Feeds To Maximize Your Exposure In Shopping Engine Results Each day millions of online shoppers turn to comparison shopping engines (CSEs) to compare prices, read reviews, research products […]
It appears that Google is testing new user interfaces for Google Web Search, Google Video Search and Google Finance. On Google Web Search, Google is testing showing “Review This Site” as a link, as opposed to a graphical comments icon. On Google Video Search, Google is testing additional search filters on the left hand side. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
During search engine optimization (SEO) consultations, we search professionals often see and hear things that make our jaws drop. Even after years and years of knowledge distribution through email newsletters, blogs, forums, and other forms of social media, we still witness companies making really stupid optimization mistakes. Since I am a strong believer in learning […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google Operating System spotted a new feature on Google Image Search. The feature allows you to click on the color of images you want to be found, and Google will filter your query based on images that match the query and the color you selected. For example, I search on [flowers] and then chose the […]
Back in the day, when some of us old-timer SEOs used to walk to work in the snow (uphill both ways), we’d get to our desks, fire up our 14.4 modems, pop in a floppy disk, listen to our favorite songs on a Sony Walkman cassette player and optimize that meta keywords tag like there […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google today is launching a form of behavioral targeting advertising named Interest-Based Advertising. Interest-Based Advertising allows advertisers to deliver ads based on hundreds of interest categories and previous interactions with those users. The beta is opening to select advertisers at first but will be expanded in the upcoming months. Brad Bender, Google’s Product Manager in […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
A new tool takes us one small step closer to bringing real-time search, i.e., Twitter search results, to the Google interface. It’s called Twitter Search Results on Google, and it adds the most recent five tweets for your search query above Google’s regular search results, like this: (The tool is actually a Greasemonkey script for […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Mike Blumenthal reports seeing Google test a new type of map within the search results listings. He said he is only able to trigger this map to show using Firefox with the Google Toolbar installed. So his theory is that Google is testing some geolocation technology in the Firefox toolbar. I personally cannot reproduce it, […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Ask.com has partnered with Symantec to include a new “Safe Search” feature into the Norton 360 security suite, integrated into the Norton toolbar that is part of the suite. When a search is run from the toolbar, results are safety-rated by Symantec using a color-coded icon, to flag sites or sections of sites that may […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Microsoft’s Live Search still isn’t built into Firefox, but you can add it to your Firefox search box manually. Now, a new add-on from Live Search does this complete with the ability for the search box to auto-suggest terms you might be searching for. For more, see the Live Search blog.
One of the key features of Google Chrome is how it will list the sites you regularly visit on your home page when the browser starts. Now Google has brought that to Firefox, via the latest Google Toolbar update now available. With the update, if you open a new blank tab in Firefox, the sites […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Mozilla’s General Counsel, Harvey Anderson, announced the Russian builds of Firefox 3.1 will drop Google for Yandex. He explained that after months of research and surveys, Mozilla learned that their “Russian users really wanted direct access to the Yandex search.” So, in the next build of Firefox, the default search provider will be Yandex for […]
Back in June, I spoke at Microsoft as part of a regular series for those involved with its webmaster tools group and anyone generally interested in search. My talk was called “Tough Love For Microsoft Search,” and I covered various reasons why I felt the company has generally failed to make headway in the space. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
It’s Christmas Eve, and that means Santa Claus is out doing his run. But where is Santa right now? Thanks to the internet, there’s a huge number of ways to get Santa sightings. Below, a summary that covers online video sightings, Santa’s phone number (apparently he can talk while driving), email updates, tracking him via […]
Michael Arrington went on a rant about Google testing sound effect in the new Google SearchWiki. In short, Michael is upset that Google would spend the time adding sound effects over adding an option to turn off SearchWiki. I do agree with with Michael on this, but we do know that feature is coming in […]