This day in search marketing history: January 25
Google defuses miserable failure, plus: Topics API replaces FloC, value-based bidding, average search ranking position and more.
Topic: George W. Bush
This day in search marketing history: January 20
Matt Cutts forks guest blogging, plus: Semrush buys Backlinko, ranking factor study, a Google search quality rater interview and more.
Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook set to preview antitrust defenses before Congress
Sure to be a marathon, the hearings could be dramatic or incredibly dull.
Trolls propel Trump to top Google ratings for ‘idiot’
People upset with Trump's recent actions and policies have used several SEO techniques to get pictures of the president at the top of image search results for the word 'idiot'
A deep look at Google’s biggest-ever search quality crisis
Under fire for months, can Google reverse the drip-drip-drip of criticism as incorrect, absurd or even dangerous results surface to the top?
10 big changes with search engines over my 20 years of covering them
Search Engine Land founding editor Danny Sullivan looks at how search has changed over the two decades he's been writing about it.
Google To Implement Googlebomb Fix To Prevent Racist Listings In Google Maps
Crowdsourcing the entire web goes bad with Google Maps, causing many locations to be relevant for slurs and derogatory words. Google promises a fix is on the way.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 12, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: George Bush “Miserable Failure” Google Bomb Back, This Time In Knowledge Graph The Google Bomb is back! Searching for [miserable failure] in Google now returns George W. Bush’s knowledge graph in […]
George Bush “Miserable Failure” Google Bomb Back, This Time In Knowledge Graph
The Google Bomb is back! Searching for [miserable failure] in Google now returns George W. Bush’s knowledge graph in the search results. The Google Bomb first became popular back in 2004 when Google and some other search engines ranked George W. Bush as the number one result for a search on [miserable failure]. In 2007, […]
Google Images Dominated By Pictures Of Romney For “Completely Wrong” Search
It’s not a Google Bomb, but that doesn’t make it less embarrassing for US presidential candidate Mitt Romney or Google, that a search on Google Images for “completely wrong” brings up results that are dominated by Romney’s picture. Completely Wrong & Google Images Here’s an example of what you currently see in a search for “completely […]
“Spreading Santorum” Drops At Google; New Site Keeps Anal Sex Definition At Number One
As Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum loses two primary races to rival Mitt Romney, perhaps he can console himself with, ironically, another loss. Spreading Santorum, the page defining “santorum” as a by-product of anal sex, has finally dropped from the top results on Google. The related anti-Santorum blog, however, remains. And a page from Urban […]
Now, Mitt Romney Has A Santorum-Like Bing & Google Problem
Perhaps Google may finally have to figure out a “fix” for Rick Santorum’s “Google Problem,” now that an anti-Romney site is making it appear that anyone can rank any protest page for any politician’s name. Bing has the same problem, but no one ever seems to care about that. Spreading Romney I was pretty surprised […]
Why Does Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine Hate Rick Santorum?
US presidential candidate Rick Santorum pulled off a surprise last night, winning caucuses and primaries in three states. So what’s with Bing listing an anti-Santorum web site first in its results in a search for his last name? Does Microsoft have some type of liberal agenda! Wait, you didn’t realize Rick Santorum has a “Bing […]
For “Define An English Person,” Google Suggests The C-Word
I’ve seen some weird Google results in my time, but this one is pretty strange. Search for “define an english person” or some related queries, and Google brings up the Wikipedia page about the C-word in response. As spotted by Search Engine Roundtable, people were asking in Google’s help forums why various searches related to […]
Why Siri Can’t Find Abortion Clinics & How It’s Not An Apple Conspiracy
“I’m standing in front of a Planned Parenthood,” the CNN reporter says, “And Siri can’t find it when I search for abortion clinic.” No, it can’t. It’s not because Apple is pro-life. It’s because Planned Parenthood doesn’t call itself an abortion clinic. Welcome To Search Scandals, Apple It’s been interesting to watch the Siri Abortiongate […]
Should Rick Santorum’s “Google Problem” Be Fixed?
Is Google (and Bing, by the way) not being “responsible” by failing to remove an anti-Rick Santorum web site? The Republican presidential candidate believes so, speaking out this week against an unfavorable listing for his name. But “fixing” Santorum’s “Google problem” isn’t as easy as it sounds. Defining Santorum For those who aren’t familiar with […]
On Yahoo, Teens Ask: “Who Is Osama Bin Laden?”
“Who is Osama Bin Laden?” Does anyone really need to ask? Apparently so, according to Yahoo — teenagers. Two thirds of those searching for an answer to that question were teenagers, the company says, along with some other related search statistics. Teens & Osama Bin Laden’s Death Yahoo’s released a mishmash of stats about Osama […]
Presidential Hopeful Rick Santorum Stymied By Search Problem
As former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum sets his sights on the White House, he has a lot of awareness-raising to do, and he desperately needs some help with search, a Roll Call piece this week shows. Currently, when you search for Santorum, the first result is a blog apparently started by gay syndicated sex columnist […]
2001 In Review: Search Engine Marketing Gets Respect, As Does Search Generally
This article is part of a series, a review of the 2000 decade and search developments. Below, major events from the year 2001 in consumer search. For the complete series, see the introduction, The Google Decade: Search In Review, 2000 To 2009. Search Marketing Gets Respect For me, the biggest story of 2001 was the […]
Offensive Michelle Obama Image Returns, Google Buys Ad To Explain
Google is buying ads to explain why an offensive image of the First Lady is back in its index and ranking so highly on searches for Michelle Obama in Google Image Search. As we reported last week, Google had originally removed the Michelle Obama image on the grounds that the site hosting the image violated […]
Obama: Tops For “Who Is Failure” In Google
I’d thought the googlebombs relating to “miserable failure” and “failure” had finally been defused earlier this year. Guess not. Ranking tops in Google right now, the official White House page for US President Barack Obama: I’ve not heard of any active campaign to linkbomb Obama to the top for these words, so I’m guessing this […]
Obama Is “Failure” At Google & “Miserable Failure” At Yahoo
I told you so. Or I told anyone who cared. I even tried to reach the Obama administration in four or five different ways. Do a search on Yahoo right now for miserable failure, and you’ll find President Barack Obama’s page ranking either in the top spot or the second spot. Given a redirect that […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 21, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Despite Inauguration, Google & Others Still Think It’s President Bush, Not President Obama
President Barack Obama took office officially today plus launched a new White House web site as part of his transition. But the major search engines have yet to catch up with the power change. Google still lists President George W. Bush as being in power, sort of: The screenshot above shows what you get in […]
Bush: Fix Your “Miserable Failure” Googlebomb Legacy Before Obama Takes Office
Few realize that outgoing US president George W. Bush has left behind a unique legacy for future presidents, including Barack Obama — that they are all condemned to rank tops for a search on “miserable failure” in major search engines. It’s my hope that Bush will correct this before leaving office, or that Obama will […]
Where Can I Vote? Google Maps Lists Voting Locations!
According to Google Trends, lots of people are currently trying to figure out where their local polling place is. So it’s time for a good reminder of what we covered earlier. Google Maps has a special area and search shortcut to help you find where you’re registered to vote, voting location hours and more. Searches […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 1, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google: Let’s Query Like It’s 2001
As part of its birthday celebration, Google is letting users search an old version of its index — and the results show just how much things have changed over the years. You can step back in time to search Google’s index from January 2001. What was happening that month? George W. Bush first took office, […]
Cuil Fast Test – Relevancy Isn’t A Google Killer
Now that Cuil is live, I wanted to do a few fast queries to get a sense of how it seems to stack up against Google. With the huge caveat that nine queries are far from letting anyone conclude anything, I still didn’t come away with a sense that Cuil has Google-beating relevancy. Instead, it […]
John McCain’s Google Bomb
Chris Bowers is trying to push in certain articles into the Google search results for a search on [john mccain]. His goal is to “Google Bomb” these articles into the search results before Labor Day. ComputerWorld has a write up on his efforts. But as Danny described in the past, this type of Google Bomb […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 22, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Bush – Tops For “Who Is A Failure” On Google
For years, US President George W. Bush was tops on Google for searches on miserable failure until last year’s Googlebomb "fix" solved his problem on Google. But Bush is back, sort of. People are spotting that Bush’s official White House page is ranking tops for who is a failure on Google. A new Googlebomb? If […]
Scientologists Google Bombed Or Not?
Just days after the one-year anniversary of Google’s Google bomb fix, a new Google bomb may have gotten through — dangerous cult, bringing up the Scientology web site, as shown above. But is it really getting past the fix? Considering one of the targeted words is being used on the page itself, it’s hard to […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 25, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Happy First Birthday, Google Bomb Fix!
Short but sweet — one year ago today, a momentous event that must be recalled. Google bombing was defused. George W. Bush was no longer a miserable failure, and other mass link bombing attempts stopped working. For the most part, the Google bombing fix that Google put into place seems to have continued working. For […]
Search Engine Land Stats: 2007, In Review
As promised, now that a full calendar year has gone by, it’s time to look at some key stats about how Search Engine Land has grown in various ways over the year. Let’s dive in!
Search Year 2007: Search News, In Review
Each month, I compile Search Month — a recap of all the stories that have happened relating to search, categorized by topic. I thought it would be fun to take all the Search Months over the past year and produce this edition of Search Year 2007. It was far more work than I imagined, but […]
Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories Of 2007
Below are Search Engine Land’s 25 most popular stories, in terms of pageviews, during the 2007 calendar year.
Searcharazzi Saturday Spectacular: The Larry Page Wedding Details
Now that the “who attended which conference this week” gossip chatter is over, we have a bigger question: Who is attending Larry Page’s wedding today? As previously reported, Larry is getting married today, and Searcharazzi is reporting to you live from an undisclosed location at the island location, if only in our minds. In any […]
Saddam Hussein, Britney Spears, Harry Potter, & Recycling In Yahoo 2007 Top Trends
What do Saddam Hussein, Britney Spears, Harry Potter, and recycling all have to do with each other? They all made the Top Trends in Yahoo Search in 2007 list. The top news story search in 2007 was Saddam Hussein; the top environmental search was recycling, the top troubled stars search was Britney Spears; the top […]