Demand Media, the owner of many websites that have often been tagged with the “content farm” label, is planning to slow down its article production at eHow.com, its flagship website with three million articles. Business Insider has published an email sent from Demand Media to its stable of freelance authors. The email explains that, because […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Gives Image Search A New Look Yahoo’s Image Search is sporting a fresh look today that presents the image results in a cleaner, more organized fashion. Do a search and […]
It’s that time of month. The financial analysts are publishing the comScore search market share data again, just ahead of comScore’s own press release. Last night Business Insider had the numbers up first, which I then confirmed with comScore directly. Below are the July market share figures, as well as those for the past two […]
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’s 12 Sitelink Experiment Returns Google is once again testing — or continuing to test — a jumbo-sized search result that displays a whopping 12 sitelinks below the main/top search result. […]
That image appears to be the first crash involving one of Google’s self-driving cars. (The one on the right with the gear on top.) According to Jalopnik, it happened earlier this week near Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Jalopnik speculates that Google’s Toyota Prius rear-ended another Prius. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that […]
On Sunday the New York Times ran a lengthy article about Microsoft, the search underdog. Directed at a very mainstream audience there was nothing new in the piece for readers of Search Engine Land. However it did raise some interesting questions, directly and by implication. For example: How many years does Bing (and Online Services) […]
Below is today’s top news relating to Google+, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. Businesses Removed From Google+ Google Removes Mashable, Sesame Street & Other Prominent Accounts From Google+ is a post by Matt McGee which highlights some of the recently terminated Google+ accounts. Mashable, Ford and even […]
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+ Has Been Blocked In China Just one day after Google offered invites to Google+, China has blocked access the new social networking site. This is not surprising at all as […]
Business Insider broke the news today that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating Twitter apparently due acquisition tactics of applications. Twitter had begun offering “official” versions of apps by way of acquisition back in 2010 with some notable apps including Tweetie and TweetDeck. Entrepreneur Bill Gross had also started buying Twitter apps under a company named TweetUp. […]
The keynotes at Google I/O — Google’s developer conference — are always filled with such promise. Google TV, Google Wave, music in the cloud! But the products themselves haven’t always gone on to meet expectations. With Google I/O 2011 beginning on Tuesday, here’s a look back at what’s happened with past keynote product graduates. Google […]
2011 bonuses for Google employees are reportedly being tied to how well the company fares in its efforts to integrate social elements across Google products. That’s according to two reports from Silicon Alley Insider — reports that say the news first spread in a company-wide memo last Friday from co-founder (and now new CEO) Larry […]
Business Insider is reporting, based on unnamed sources, that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is on track to be nominated for the post of Commerce Secretary by President Obama: Mr. Schmidt picked up an important vote of confidence earlier this week when former Reagan Administration Commerce Department counsel Clyde Prestowitz essentially endorsed Schmidt for the job. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Twitter Says Activity Levels Are Soaring With the five-year anniversary of the first tweet approaching, Twitter says user activity is soaring. In a blog post that details tweet and account activity, […]
Business Insider reports on a recent Google SEC filing showing the top bonuses paid to Google executives in early 2011. The top bonuses do not list Google’s co-founders or current CEO, but here is what they do list. Nikesh Arora, chief business officer: $20 million in stock and $2.7 million cash. Patrick Pichette, CFO: $15 […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Did A Google Employee Just Register Hiybbprqag.com To Help Recruit New Employees? That’s a screenshot of Google’s “Jobs” page, which can be found at https://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/index.html. But it can also be reached […]
The popular questions and answers site, Answers.com has announced they have been acquired by AFCV Holdings, LLC. for $127 million. AFCV Holdings is paying $10.50 per share for the outstanding shares. “This is a great outcome for our shareholders,” said Bob Rosenschein, Founder, Chairman and CEO. “After an exciting six years as a public company, […]
Back in October 2010, Twitter announced that then-CEO and co-founder Evan (@ev) Williams would step down to focus on product. According to a report in the Business Insider, that hasn’t really materialized. Says the Business Insider report by Nicholas Carlson: The truth is, right now, a few months after Williams wrote a blog post saying […]
Google’s streaming-from-the-cloud-to-any-device music service was supposed to launch at the end of last year. Vic Gundotra demonstrated it at the 2010 Google developer conference. However music-rights and licensing issues have so far delayed it according to several reports. This, despite Google offering boatloads of cash to music labels. Now several outlets are reporting that the […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Foursquare’s Crowley Can Feel Foursquare Fatique, Has Plans To Fix It Feeling Foursquare fatigue and perhaps wondering what’s the point of checking in at times? Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley sometimes feels […]
Has Christmas come six weeks early for Google employees? Business Insider is reporting that the company has given all of its employees a $1,000 holiday cash bonus, 10% salary hikes starting in 2011, and the opportunity to earn additional salary next year, too. All of this is detailed in what Business Insider says is a […]
People love lists. Publishers love lists too because they sell copies of traditional print newspapers and magazines and, online, they generate lots of clicks and page views. For example, the HuffingtonPost has become a veritable archive of slideshows: “the 10 best places to live,” the “hottest beach bods of the summer” and so on. US […]
Most of Apple’s announcements yesterday were anticipated. Still there were a few surprises; for example the specifics of the iTunes-based social network Ping, as well as the pricing of Apple TV 2.0 ($99). Apple pre-empted Google to some degree with both products. Business Insider does a nice job of contrasting the two TV initiatives and […]
As Danny earlier pointed out, comScore has devised a new metric called “Explicit Core Search” to separate intended search results from slideshow “gaming” (“contextual search”), which had arguably distorted search volumes at Yahoo and to some degree Bing in recent months. Here’s how comScore explains the new metric: When comScore reports our July 2010 qSearch […]
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 Takes On Travel Sites, Courts FTC Action With ITA Acquisition Google has signed an agreement to acquire travel reservations software company ITA. The purchase price is reportedly about $700 million. […]
BusinessInsider reports Yahoo’s latest SEC filing announces they can now buy back $3 billion in stock over the next three years. The Yahoo Board approved the repurchase program allowing the $3 billion in buy backs. The transactions can occur either on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Some are questioning if Yahoo should […]
Coy AOL is trying to get as much as it can for its flat to declining search volume from either current partner Google (AOL CEO Time Armstrong’s corporate Alma Mater) or Microsoft, still hungry for more search wins and share. In an article recapping the D8 interview of Armstrong this week, he asserts there are […]
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 […]
TweetUp, the new AdWords-like ad platform for Twitter has added a prime, new publishing partner: the popular Twitter client, TweetDeck. In an email to early TweetUp members, founder Bill Gross explains how TweetUp’s sponsored listings will be integrated in TweetDeck: TweetDeck will feature a separate search column for TweetUp results, where users can see continually […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Hires Ex-MSFT Blake Irving For ‘Product Vision’ One could argue that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz cut lots of fat at Yahoo and stabilized the organization after a period of takeover […]
Business Insider reports that Google is planning on flying out some of their employees who are stranded in Europe due to the volcanic ash distributing scheduled air travel. Google will reportedly be using private jets to fly them out from European Google offices such as Dublin, London, and Zurich. Business Insider received this tip via […]
The 1950s classic Japanese film Rashômon by Akira Kurosawa is an exploration of human perception, truth and how there can be widely differing accounts of the same event. The film’s plot revolves around the rape of a woman and murder of her husband and is told through dramatically differing accounts of four witnesses. The stories […]
The mercurial Barry Diller, CEO of IAC, decided apparently that he didn’t want to sell Ask. During the Q3 earnings call Reuters reported that Diller said the following: “We’ve been asked a lot whether we’re open to consolidating transactions in the area of search. The answer is yes,” Diller said. “And, it is unlikely that […]
Want to do a paywall with no “first click free?” That’s fine with Google, says business product manager Josh Cohen. Want to do micropayments? Google will be “flexible” in considering support of new business models like this. But if you charge, expect less traffic, and also expect that your competitors will be “ecstatic” to pick […]
Yet another News Corporation executive is talking about Google, and yet again, I feel like they have no concept about how Google interacts with their web pages. Which is frightening, since they’re being very vocal about how they’re supposedly wronged by Google. Please, someone, give them a search marketing 101 course. In the latest volley, […]
More early stats are coming in on how searchers are reacting to the Bing launch. comScore shows Microsoft’s Bing search engine continuing to make gains, but Compete shows things remain largely the same. From comScore, the latest stats show that “searcher penetration” has climbed from 13.7% in the week before it launched, to 15.8% during […]
The noise about whether Google is a monopoly that needs to be controlled continues to ramp up, with Google itself releasing a “charm offensive” set of slides after its lobbying using those slides was outed by Consumer Watchdog. I’ll cover that below, but as I watch the debate continue over whether Google has too much […]
When Google went public in August, 2004, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin made no secret of the company’s disdain for how the Wall St. system of analyst ratings and recommendations works. They wrote a letter saying they had no interest in trying to manage analysts expectations and keep Wall St. happy on a quarterly […]
Over the past several days, a number of blogs (PaidContent, Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch) have reported and speculated (based on tips) that Yahoo was contemplating significant job cuts, perhaps as many as 2,500.
NY Google Vet Hirsch Leaving For Startups from Silicon Alley Insider reports David Hirsch, the Director, B2B Vertical Markets Group at Google, is leaving at the end of this month to help invest and advise start ups. He told Silicon Alley Insider, he is planning on “helping incubate and accelerate the early stage game.” Hirsch […]
Silicon Alley Insider is predicting impending layoffs at AOL and recommending them at Yahoo. Alley Insider’s Henry Blodget says that layoffs would be good for Yahoo and “Demonstrate that CEO Jerry Yang can make the tough, unpopular decisions necessary to get this company humming again.” I think that he’s correct that the pressure on Yahoo […]