As the privacy screws tighten in the US and Europe, Yahoo is doing something surprising: extending the time it holds on to personal search records. In 2008 Yahoo decided to retain search records for only three months. Yahoo thus became the most “progressive” of the major search sites with its compressed data-retention policy. Now Yahoo […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Dutch Agency Orders Google To Remove Data About Citizens’ WiFi Routers Dutch data officials have ordered Google to give the country’s residents a way to remove data that Google has about […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Demand Media: Panda’s Impact On eHow.com “Significantly Overstated” Demand Media says recent reports have “significant overstated” the impact of Google’s Panda update on eHow.com, its flagship website. In a brief statement […]
Do Not Track & Search Marketing Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 These days, we rely heavily on tracking and analytics to craft, optimize and fine-tune our search marketing campaigns. But there’s a growing backlash from privacy advocates to severely limit or even ban common forms of tracking. The US FTC is advocating a “do […]
Well, that didn’t take long. Just days after announcing plans to operate its Streetside map/photo service in Germany, Microsoft is already dealing with its first governmental objection. Thomas Kranig, head of the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection, has issued a statement (in German; here’s a Google translation to English) giving objections to Bing’s plans […]
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.
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 Improves “Who To Follow” Results & Gains Advanced Search Page Twitter announced that it has improved its “Who To Follow” feature with better people search results and added a new […]
Google CEO and soon to be Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has made a number of interesting and often controversial statements about privacy. While the official line from Google is that the company is fully committed to respecting the privacy of others, Schmidt has seemingly contradicted that, at one time saying “There is what I call […]
As you read earlier the US Federal Trade Commission concluded its investigation of Google over the company’s supposedly “deceptive privacy practices in Google’s rollout of its Buzz social network.” My view after talking to people at Google following the Buzz launch is that Google was not intentionally seeking to deceive users. Rather it was overzealous […]
Google has agreed to have independent privacy audits over the next 20 years, to settle an FTC investigation into wrong doing over its Google Buzz product. The FTC has release a statement where Google agreed to allow independent audits of how Google handles privacy controls. After Google Buzz launched there was a lot of concern […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: German Court OKs Google Street View Imagery In “Landmark Decision” German publication Deutsche Welle is reporting that a Berlin court has vindicated Google Street View operation in Germany. In late 2010 […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Forrester Research Publishes 1st Report On Enterprise SEO Automation Tools Today, Forrester Research unveiled a 6- page report on the utility of SEO automation tools for use in larger enterprises. Six […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Should Korean Search Engine Naver Worry About Local Competitors Or Google? For just about the last decade, Naver has been the dominant player in the south Korean search market holding a […]
Sure, everyone has heard of Facebook and Twitter, but what about Feed the Bull or Tweako? Yes, you can talk about sports on your old college roommate’s Facebook wall, but what about squaring off with strangers on a site like YardBarker? These types of niche social networking sites are what the social media industry has […]
French newspaper Le Monde issued a report using search query data to argue that the French are pre-occupied with whether their leaders (and would-be leaders) are Jewish. According to AFP, data from Google’s search suggest/auto-complete function indicates that French people are routinely searching on politicians’ names followed by the world “juif,” which means “Jewish” 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: Social Meets Search At Search Engine Land’s SMX West Event Everything we program at Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo events are always related to search. So why a post […]
One can guess that Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak probably doesn’t “Like” Facebook anymore, the website that now topples governments. (I apologize but I couldn’t resist.) Back in the US the Facebook enemies or, more precisely, “frenemies list” is also growing says a piece in the the Wall Street Journal. The article discusses Facebook’s broad ambitions and […]
New research designed to analyze Google’s personalized search results and make the process the search engine uses more transparent has generated interesting and controversial findings. The study examined a number of commonly held notions about personalization, including the idea that personalization is subtle, that it can often surface more long-tail results, and that personalization is […]
Bing and Big Think are hosting”Farsight 2011: Beyond the Search Box,” a four hour event today in San Francisco looking at the future of search. We’ve got various luminaries lined-up. Google will be on a panel. There’s that whole Google says Bing is copying them thing that just happened. Plus, Blekko’s here — and it […]
Here at Search Engine Land we regularly hear from people who have created “radical,” innovative,” “next generation” search technology, promising to “fix” the “broken” search we all allegedly pitifully struggle with today. In virtually every instance that I can remember, these promises over-hype and under-deliver, rarely offering something that becomes part of my regular search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: A Personal Preview Of SMX West – And Why You Should Go! Our annual Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West is less than two months away on March 8-10, and it’s shaping […]
In a move that could harm its country’s own businesses, Germany is targeting Google on privacy issues again — this time over Google Analytics. German privacy officials are concerned that Google Analytics tracks web users’ IP addresses, and that could violate an individual’s privacy. According to German news site The Local, Johannes Caspar, data protection […]
DuckDuckGo, a small search engine that’s largely flown under the public radar, has started the new year by taking a public shot at Google on the issue of search privacy. The company has launched DontTrack.us, an illustrated guide showing how Google tracks its users … and how DuckDuckGo doesn’t. The site: shows how a search […]
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 Webmaster Video Reconfirms Use Of Social Signals What Social Signals Do Google & Bing Really Count? from earlier this month confirmed that Google and Bing were both using social signals […]
TechCrunch reports Brian Kennish, a former Googler, quit Google a few weeks ago in order to build a browser that essentially blocks Google from tracking you. He is now actively building Disconnect, “a browser extension for Chrome and Rockmelt that disables multiple third party data tracking while browsing.” Brian explained why he left Google 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: Q&A: Google’s Sengupta On The Chrome OS Cr-48 Laptop Yesterday, after writing my review of the Google Chrome OS Cr-48 notebook, I had a chance to catch up with Google product […]
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 Improves Copyright Protection Anyone who has found that their content has been stolen (or scraped) online faces the decision of either letting it go (and using best practices that help […]
Much of the attention and online discussion around the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) just-released privacy report focuses on the concept of a “Do Not Track” mechanism, similar to the “Do Not Call” list now in place. The recommendation is that any such capability operate at the browser level and communicate to publishers and their […]
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: Now Likely Using Online Merchant Reviews As Ranking Signal Earlier this week, the New York Times spotlighted how a merchant with bad reviews nonetheless was ranked well in Google. Today, […]
Will 2011 be the “year of privacy”? There are many reasons to think so. In the US, the Obama administration is planning to establish a committee or “czar” to oversee potential new internet privacy rules. Republicans and Democrats alike seem to be concerned about online tracking and privacy issues. The question would appear to be […]
Some people who chose to blur their houses on Google Street View in Germany received an unexpected real life blurring: Google fans who threw eggs at their homes. Deutsche Welle reports that on Saturday, several homes in the Bergerhausen area of Essen that opted to be blurred were hit with eggs. “Google’s Cool” notes were […]
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’s Sketch-A-Search App For Desktop, iPhone & iPad Yahoo announced a new set of quick search apps today. The one I like the best is this Sketch-A-Search App, but they also […]
The New York Times is reporting that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller met this week with executives from several tech firms — including Google and Facebook — to talk about a plan to make Internet wiretapping easier. The Times says the US government is looking to expand a 1994 law, the Communications Assistance for Law […]
Retargeting: The New Behavioral Ads Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 Traditional search advertising matches keywords with specific searcher queries. This works fine if a searcher clicks your ad, sees your landing page and buys, subscribes or does whatever else you want them to do. But the real world is messier, with searchers often needing […]
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 […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Hot At Sphinn: SEO’s Bad Reputation, Google ‘Pollutes’ The Web & More A news article about Google from The Guardian was popular last week on Sphinn, as was last week’s member […]
As our culture continues to move online, personal information about us that previously may have only been seen by our friends and family is increasingly shared in public spaces on the internet. What can you do if you search for your name on Google and find information you’d rather keep private? Or find yourself or […]
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 Promoted Tweets Come To Google In a first ever move, Google is now carrying ads from someone else’s ad network — Twitter’s, as Google integrates Twitter’s new Promoted Tweets into […]
Despite ongoing controversy in Germany, the small town of Oberstaufen is the first in that country to be viewable on Google Street View. And, as requested, Google has blocked the homes of German residents who don’t want to be included. You can see see that image for yourself. Why is it blurred? Earlier this year, […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Search Dominates Social Networking For Product Discovery, Study Says Search engines are the number one way that consumers find out about new products, according to a new study commissioned by commerce […]