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: Low PageRank & Bad Spelling May Go Hand-In-Hand; Panda, Too? If your website and/or web pages have low PageRank, it’s possible that they also suffer from poor spelling and grammar. […]
Google’s Matt Cutts has just issued a “weather report” about upcoming changes to be expected from Google’s Panda algorithm. If you’re not familiar with algorithmic weather reports, sit back and learn. Because they’re back, and that’s a good thing. Before There Was Panda, There Was Florida At the end of 2003, Google released what became […]
SEOmoz announced they have published the Google Algorithm Change document detailing all “major updates” that happened since the Boston update in 2003. SEOmoz did it with style in this graphical document: While I agree with a lot of the updates listed here, I had worked up a list of my own a few months ago. […]
With Google Panda Update 2.2 upon us, it’s worth revisiting what exactly Panda is and isn’t. Panda is a new ranking factor. Panda is not an entirely new overall ranking algorithm that’s employed by Google. The difference is important for anyone hit by Panda and hoping to recover from it. Google’s Ranking Algorithm & Updates […]
I love search data. Being able to mine through millions of search queries to find out what people are really interested in is fascinating (and useful!). Google provides search data a number of ways, including Google Trends, Google Insights for Search, and via the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, and Microsoft has some great stuff via […]
At search engine marketing conferences, I am often asked for advice on how to hire people for in-house search engine marketing jobs. Usually over lunch a business owner turns to me and says something like, I came here to learn more about all this search engine stuff and what I learned is that I need […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Matteo Lopez Wins The 2011 Doodle 4 Google Competition Google has announced the winner of the 2011 Google 4 Doodle, “What I’d like to do someday.” The winner is Matteo Lopez […]
In conjunction with National Small Business Week, Google is trying to burnish its image by touting the economic impact that its programs, including AdWords and AdSense, have had on the U.S. economy. According to the company, Google provided $64 billion in economic activity for American businesses and non-profits in 2010, 18% greater than the 2009 […]
Today at the Social-Loco conference in San Francisco Google’s Doyenne of Local Marissa Mayer formally announced Google Business Photos. This is not a new product but the formalization of an offering that has been available in a more limited way since last year. Google is inviting local businesses in a few cities in the US, […]
Unlike the 100% voting based social aggregation sites like Digg and Reddit, the website Fark.com (Fark) has articles chosen by editors, not the Fark members. Much like Search Engine Land’s social news site, Sphinn.com, Fark allows for users to submit articles for consideration, and the best submitted are selected. With a monthly traffic ranging between […]
Almost 5 percent of paid search spending in the US is now in mobile, according to a report released last week from banking and investment firm Macquarie Group, using Efficient Frontier data. That mobile search spend could double to almost 10 percent by the end of this year if growth continues at an aggressive pace. […]
Talk of the 2010 U.S. Census is heating up on the web – as local information starts to trickle out – with discussion about what national and local census figures mean for everything from politics to the Superbowl. For local search companies and marketers, the U.S. Census delivers valuable information that helps us understand who […]
Here’s another Google Maps oddity, tipped to us by “emallaich” earlier this week: Louisville doesn’t appear in Google Maps. The city is there — Louisville, Kentucky — but you won’t see the name “Louisville” used anywhere to identify the city.
The city of Sunrise, Florida, is back on the map. On Google Maps. It mysteriously vanished more than a month ago, making it impossible to find anything in Sunrise via a Google search. Some local businesses have reported significant declines in online sales. The city’s mayor, after contacting Google and failing to get a call […]
Did you know that the US is the world’s second-largest Spanish-speaking country? It’s true. In fact, there are 46.3 million Hispanics in the US today, and 20 million of them use the internet. Are you targeting the Hispanic market with search? If not, perhaps it’s time you considered doing so. Understanding the opportunity Clearly, the […]
Couple pieces of industry-related news to pass along: One is about an industry-wide survey and the other is about a new industry awards; both have just launched today. First, SEOmoz has announced the 2010 SEO Industry Survey — an update of the industry survey they first did in 2008. There are questions about the types […]
Postscript, February 17: The CBC article cited below has reworded its article and now says the Canadian government is “reviewing” rather than “investigating” Buzz. A semantic distinction, perhaps, but there’s apparently no formal government investigation happening in Canada at the moment, so we’ve updated our headline, too. We’ve also received a statement from Google on […]
Last year, I took a look at the spiking searches leading up to the Superbowl to see how the search engines, and those who want to be found in them, satisfied those queries. This morning, I took another look, and while things are a bit better from a searcher satisfaction perspective (primarily due to increased blended results […]
Way back when, in the dying weeks of 2009, I asked the question, “Where does search go from here?” It seems that everyone agrees we’ve barely scratched the potential that is web search, but what might that scratch reveal? What will our searching look like in two years? In five years, or even in ten […]
A new year offers new opportunities for local search providers and small business customers to reevaluate their advertising strategies to reflect the latest consumer usage trends and economic realities. On December 31st, Yellow Pages directory publisher Idearc emerged from bankruptcy with a new name, SuperMedia, and a fresh understanding that new initiatives in the online […]
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 Google & Yahoo Make Money Off A Twitter Typo Domain Like many people, I misspelled a domain name today when I was trying to visit a web site. I typed […]
When most of us travel, we like to visit famous landmarks in the area we’re touring. It’s easy to find famous landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower or the Great Pyramid, but can be difficult to find lesser known sites. And for armchair travelers, it can take time to search for images of landmarks even with […]
Many businesses seek to target local searchers for their products and services, and careful review of a site's analytics is one of the key weapons in a local business's competitive arsenal. Here are a few tips on what metrics to look at and how to use some of them in optimizing your site to rank better in local search results.
Last week the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the Rescuecom v. Google case that has some potentially serious implications for all concerned. The appellate court has jurisdiction over cases arising in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont but the case has national impact because of the way that AdWords is operated and […]
Ask around and you probably won’t find many people who think the idea of “Internet everywhere” is a bad thing. Thanks to laptops and smart phones, wi-fi and 3G, we can work (or play) at airports, check email during cab rides, and compare prices online from any department store. We can Google anyone or anything […]
When the Yahoo-Newspaper consortium was announced in early 2007 both Yahoo and the newspaper industry were stronger and in better shape than they are today. (That’s certainly true for newspapers.) Since that time Yahoo has suffered through the MicroHoo episode, gone through a couple reorgs, laid off a meaningful chunk of its workforce and gained […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
CNET reports on a conviction based in part on search query logs from Google that was upheld on appeal: A physical search of Justin’s computer revealed that a few months before the murder, he had searched for terms including “trauma, cases, gunshot, right chest” and “Florida & divorce.” Prosecutors had also discovered that the defendant […]
Earlier this year, Google Suggest finally made it to the Google home page. The feature suggests queries as you begin typing in the search box. Now Google is testing providing links to web sites, direct answers and even ads that appear within the Google Suggest list.
With less than a week to go until U.S. voters choose a new president, Yahoo is sharing what it knows about White House-related search activity. Here are some highlights from Yahoo’s blog post today, which taps into data from Yahoo Buzz:
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
As the U.S. Hispanic population continues to grow, advertisers naturally want to target this influential demographic. Search engine marketing allows advertisers to efficiently reach the Hispanic market through a number of Hispanic-focused strategies. Though it may sound obvious, the easiest way to target Hispanics is by using Spanish-language keywords (i.e., “salud” for “health” and “prestamo” […]
Microsoft has announced they released a new Live Search Maps India plus new imagery to Virtual Earth.
Last week, my friend Chris Bennett at 97th Floor and his brother Patrick at Modern Blue launched a new analytics package called BLVD Status that I am particularly excited about. I was one of the original pre-beta testers and was able to see this grow into a really powerful and helpful tool for anyone trying […]
You have no privacy on YouTube. So effectively declared a US judge yesterday. And now somebody in the US government better stop grandstanding about search and privacy protection and actually get some laws enacted. Yesterday’s move might be the ultimate incentive, as US politicians realize that what they’ve watched on YouTube may now be open […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
What’s Obscene? Google Could Have an Answer from the New York Times documents a case that is underway in the US legal system where Google Trends was brought in to determine the morality of what is sexually explicit content. The case is about a Florida-based porn web site that the state wants to prove is […]
According to Reuters, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is using Google as a tool to do background checks on potential running mates: “You know, basically it’s a Google,” he said to laughter at a fund-raising luncheon when asked how the selection process was going. “What you can find out now on the Internet — it’s […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Disney had made a 3D version of its Florida theme park for Google Earth. Disney has reportedly gone to great lengths to make this an especially rich 3D experience. You have to have the latest version of Earth and then you navigate to Disney World and click on the golden Mickey Mouse ears.