Matt Van Wagner shares what’s changed, what disappeared and what PPC still gets wrong
Paid search veteran Matt Van Wagner reflects on 20 years of Google Ads, lost PPC tactics, rising automation and more
Topic: Google Instant
Google has dropped Google Instant Search
Several years after Google launched Google Instant, they are killing the default search feature to bring search more inline with mobile devices.
Google Testing Faster & Lightweight Mobile Search & Optimizing Your Web Page For Slow Connections
Google is testing a way to speed up your web page speed for slow connections from their mobile search results. Yes, you can opt out.
Google Testing I’m Feeling Lucky Search Button Within Search Suggestions Drop Down
A reader sent us a screen shot of Google testing displaying the Google Search and I’m Feeling Lucky search buttons within the search suggest or Google Instant drop down menu, as you type. Here is a screen shot sent by the reader showing the search buttons directly in the search suggestions drop down: It doesn’t […]
Bing Improves Search Auto Suggestions: Now Faster & Better
Dan Marantz, Senior Program Manager Lead at Bing announced on the Bing Search Blog that they have made two improvements to the auto-suggestions. Bing’s auto-suggest is now faster and a lot more accurate, according to Bing. Bing said two “themes” are behind the change including navigational queries coming to the forefront of auto-suggest and search […]
Google Instant: Only On When Your Computer Can Handle It
As part of the January search update provided by Google – Google Instant has a new default preference. The new preference is to only enable it if your computer can handle it – otherwise, Google will disable Google Instant results. If you go to the search preferences it should say Google Instant is only enabled […]
Google Instant Costs Google $65,000 In France
The Local, a French newspaper, reports Google France was ordered to pay €50,000 ($64,670) to Lyonnaise de Garantie, a French insurance company over a search suggestion that had them labeled as being a “crook.” In the case of this French company, when you typed in their company name, Lyonnaise de Garantie it suggested at the […]
Do Your 2012 Resolutions Include Increasing Conversion Rates?
That’s a trick question. Of course the answer should always be yes. Hopefully your website conversions in 2011 have already resulted in a banner year. But if you feel like you have room to improve (and there always is), then it might be time to review what advice our conversion experts shared with readers throughout […]
Organic Click-Thru Rates Tumbling; Only 52% Click On Page One, Study Suggests
Only 52% of Google users click on an organic search result found on page one, and only 26% of Bing users do the same. Those stats are from A Tale of Two Studies: Establishing Google & BING Click-Through Rates, a new report from search agency Slingshot SEO. And they’re substantially lower than several prior CTR […]
Google Maps — Now With Voice Search
Voice search all began for Google several years ago with the now-shuttered, free directory assistance service GOOG-411. After the underlying infrastructure had matured Google introduced it on Android devices and in its iPhone apps. More recently, in July, the company put the same voice search capability on Google.com on the Chrome browser for the PC. […]
Bing Getting Ready To Launch HTML5 Interface? Live Tiles, Instant Results & More
Rafael Rivera spotted a new Bing interface where Bing was overlaying “live titles” on top of the home page’s awesome backgrounds. This is the new Bing HTML5 interface, that Bing has been for several months. Winrumors reports that along with these “live titles,” Bing will be introducing a form of Google Instant search. The Instant […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 14, 2011
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 Voice Search & Search By Image Comes To Desktops Mobile innovation is fueling Google’s search offerings for the desktop, as the company today announced two new search interfaces — Voice […]
Live Blog: Google Unveils Voice Search & Search By Image For Desktop, “Google Instant Pages”
Everyone ready? Because the big day has arrived! Google’s “Inside Search” event begins today at 9:30am Pacific Time. OK, reset your expectations. It might not be that big. But I’ll be live blogging it, so stay tuned. The event was only announced a few days ago, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s happening. I’m […]
Coming Tuesday: The Google “Inside Search” Event
Heads up! Google’s got something search-related that will likely be announced next week. The company sent out invites to an “Inside Search” event happening next Tuesday. From the invite: Please join us at Inside Search, an event where Amit Singhal and other experts will take you through an under the hood look at Google Search, […]
Google Instant’s Autocomplete Now Also Works On Word-By-Word Basis
Google announced they have improved the Google Instant autocomple suggestions feature to work better at suggesting particular words, in addition to full search phrases. Google explained that many searches done at Google were never done before, so offering up predictions on a long tail query can be complex. But if you look at only part […]
Google Instant Now On New Google Toolbar 7
Google Instant continues to spread. The company has just announced that it’s one of several new features on Google Toolbar 7 for Internet Explorer 8 and 9. Google Instant has to be activated via the Toolbar Options menu, and once it’s on, Instant works the same way it does on Google.com. The Escape button on […]
SMX West 2011 Slide Video: SEO Myths, Mistakes & The Madness of Crowds
SEO Myths, Mistakes & The Madness of Crowds Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 Myths are prevalent in the SEO industry, in part because someone’s job or reputation is tied up with a myth that may have been at one point true, or because some technology du jour – like Google Instant – is being […]
SMX West 2011 Slide Video: Google Instant: 6 Months Later
Google Instant: 6 Months Later Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 When Google rolled out Google Instant results, delivering actual search results and ads as you type, search marketers were unsure of what to expect, and what (if anything) would have to change going forward. This session takes an in-depth look at Google Instant’s impact […]
SMX West 2011 Slide Video: Ask The SEOs
Ask The SEOs Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 You’ve heard the lingo: PageRank sculpting, duplicate content penalties, canonical tags, sitemap structure, nofollow… and most recently a lot about the potential impact of Google Instant. In this session, you can ask questions and get direct answers from engineers from Google, Microsoft and the other search […]
How Google Instant’s Autocomplete Suggestions Work
It’s a well known feature of Google. Start typing in a search, and Google offers suggestions before you’ve even finished typing. But how does Google come up with those suggestions? When does Google remove some suggestions? When does Google decide not to interfere? Come along for some answers.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 5, 2011
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 Must Censor Google Instant In Italy For Derogatory Suggestions ZDNet UK reports the Court of Milan has ruled that Google has to filter the auto-completions that Google Instant provides in […]
Google Must Censor Google Instant In Italy For Derogatory Suggestions
ZDNet UK reports the Court of Milan has ruled that Google has to filter the auto-completions that Google Instant provides in Italy. The issue is that someone was searching for a particular name and Google offered search completions for the name with con man or fraud. The individual sued forcing Google to filter out those […]
Google Instant Now For Google Places
Google has launched Google Instant Search for Google Place search results. To see this yourself, conduct a search on Google and then click on “Places” in the left-hand panel. Then type in the search box and Google Instant will predict and auto fill your searches. Here is an example query for pizza: Google continues to […]
Yahoo Reveals Secrets Of “Search Direct” Alogrithm
I had about 20 minutes with Yahoo’s Shashi Seth after the press conference to discuss a range of things related to the Search Direct announcement. First, he confirmed that Search Direct entirely replaces Yahoo’s Search Assist. Indeed one way to look at it is as Search Assist Plus. The Answer Is Out There Seth said […]
Head-To-Head: Yahoo Search Direct Vs. Google Instant
Yahoo rolled out Yahoo Search Direct today, its rival to Google Instant. Yahoo says that its service is focused on providing actual answers, while Google’s is focused on bringing back links. True? Let’s have a face-off. Test 1: Who’s #Winning For Charlie Sheen? Yahoo says one of the 15 areas that it’s especially focused on […]
Yahoo Search Direct Takes On Google Instant By Providing Answers In The Search Box
Yahoo CTO Blake Irving introduced Yahoo’s challenge to Google Instant, “Search Direct,” at a press event today at the offices of Yahoo’s PR agency. (See Danny’s head to head comparison of Yahoo and Google Instant.) Before diving into the news, Irving first reviewed Yahoo’s strategy (presented as a periodic table). Yahoo Instant Search Take Two […]
Hitwise, comScore Show New Highs For Bing
Hitwise reported new search market-share numbers yesterday and this morning financial analysts are offering an early peak at comScore’s February search share numbers. I’ll start with comScore for February (see update below): Google: 65.4 percent Yahoo: 16.1 percent Bing: 13.6 percent Ask: 3.3 percent AOL: 1.7 percent Here are the official January comScore data: Bing […]
Eye-Tracking Study: Everybody Looks At Organic Listings, But Most Ignore Paid Ads On Right
Interesting new data about searcher behavior from a recent User Centric eye-tracking study: Whether using Google or Bing, all 24 participants looked at the organic search results for their queries, but between 70% and 80% ignored the paid ads on the right side of the page. User Centric studied the search behavior of 24 “experienced […]
SMX West 2011 Day One Recap
The SMX West conference is underway and day one is now over. SMX West is taking place in San Jose, California at the San Jose Convention Center. Below you will find links to the “live blog” coverage of the event that I found throughout the day. “Content Farms” Or The Smartest SEOs In the World? […]
Google Operators In Instant, Profiles In Navigation & AdWords URL On Description Line
Google is often changing and experimenting with their web search interfaces. Most recently, Google switched back from the purple AdWords background color the the yellow color. There are at least three new changes Google has implemented or is testing on their search results interface. (1) Google Instant Works For Search Operators: As reported at Google […]
Google Instant Now On Product Search
Google announced they have added Google Instant to Google Shopping Search view within the web results. If you are on Google.com, search for a product and then filter your search on the left hand side by “Shopping”, Google Instant will allow you to search for new products. Interestingly enough, this does not seem to work […]
Google’s “Instant Previews” Now On iOS (iPhone/iPad) Browser
9to5Mac reports Google’s instant previews is now on Google’s search results on iOS devices. Instant Previews, which was introduced on Google’s desktop results back in November 2010, enables you to see a preview of the web page before you click through to that page. Many iOS users on both iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices […]
Google’s Head Of Search: Google Does Not Give Brands A Bias
Google’s head of search, head engineer, and Google fellow, Amit Singhal told Fast Company in an interview that Google Instant does not have a brand bias. Google Instant, the search predictions that Google gives searchers as they type a query, is not influenced by any brand bias, Singhal said. He said, “we didn’t want to […]
Confirmed: Google Image Search Updating Index Faster
Google has confirmed that they are now updating the Google Image Search index of images at a more rapid rate. Earlier this week, I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable that webmasters noticing this at WebmasterWorld. Webmasters were saying that Google Image Search was including their new images within a “few days” as opposed to […]
The Best B2B Search Marketing Advice From 2010
For many business-to-business focused entities, it can be extremely frustrating to hear generic search marketing advice as well as tips for social media campaigns, because putting those theories into practice aren’t always practical for most B2B companies. Couple a typically long research to purchase decision cycle with high-dollar transactions that don’t occur online in a […]
Google’s Search Share Continues To Inch Higher, comScore Says
Google inched slightly higher in search engine market share during October, according to the latest monthly report from comScore. The October report is the second one since comScore began separating out what it calls “explicit core search,” a measurement that takes into account the automatic display of search results in Google Instant Search. ComScore gives […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Tapping Into Google’s Love Of Freshness
Tapping Into Google’s Love Of Freshness Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 Traditional SEO lore has it that high-ranking content typically resides on well-aged sites, changing little over time, exuding authority. While mostly true, the advent of the social web, quickly changing trends and Google Instant has changed the rules for many sites, with search […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Google Instant’s Impact On SEO & User Behavior
Google Instant’s Impact On SEO & User Behavior Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 Google Instant is a radically new approach to search, delivering actual search results and ads as you type, updating with each new keystroke. Some pundits have declared that this means the death of SEO, but Google maintains nothing’s changed with result […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Google Instant & Paid Search: A Game Changer?
Google Instant & Paid Search: A Game Changer? Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 With Google Instant, bidding, quality score calculations and other factors remain the same for AdWords – but advertisers should pay close attention to other subtleties that might impact ad display, analytics and possibly costs. In this session, search advertisers share hard […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Ask The SEOs
Ask The SEOs Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 Some experts say content is king. Others maintain that acquiring quality links is the killer ranking factor. Still others swear by bleeding-edge SEO techniques that run the risk of drawing penalties and having sites banned by search engines altogether. In this no-holds-barred, all-questions-welcomed session, you’ll get […]