You can report indexing issues directly to Google now; Plus, in-person events back in 2022; Thursday’s daily brief
Google updates in-SERP travel planning tools as well
Topic: ITA Software
Google announces additional travel advisory notices in search and updates to its trip planning tools
The user-oriented feature updates will help Google maintain an edge over competitors in the online travel sector.
Google removes ‘ads’ and ‘sponsored’ labels from flight search results
There will be no more referral fees from partners in flight search, as Google seeks to emphasize price and convenience in rankings.
Google discontinues Trips mobile app
Users will be directed to use Search and Maps for their travel planning.
“Trips” consolidates Google’s travel offerings
Enables advertisers and marketers to reach travelers on desktop and mobile.
What will Google Hotels mean for online booking sites?
The new site mirrors the UI of Google Flights and could have a similar affect on the hotel booking market.
With “Trips” app, will Google finally deliver a better travel experience?
New Google travel effort promises to bring together a range of tools and capabilities.
Now It’s Expedia Vs. Priceline As Orbitz Swallowed For $1.6 Billion
After buying Travelocity last month, Expedia grabs Orbitz in competitive bidding.
Travel Search Consolidation: Expedia Buys Rival Travelocity For $280M
The move puts most US and global travel market in just a few hands.
Google Introduces Richer Flight Search Experience
Google is introducing a revamped flight and hotel travel search experience. To date both products have been mostly underwhelming. The big promises of Google’s ITA acquisition have yet to bear fruit but that may change with the new Google Flight and travel search experience. Previously the best feature of Google Travel was Flight Explorer (immediately […]
Hotel Search Upgrade: Google Licenses Room 77 Platform
Despite its controversial $700 million acquisition of travel software company ITA several years ago and the launch of Google’s Hotel Finder site, Google has yet to emerge as a force in online travel. That may all be about to change. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Google “is licensing hotel-booking software from Room 77 Inc.” The news […]
Google Flight Search Takes Off Around The Globe
Google’s flight search tool had been limited to a few markets in the US. As such, it was of limited value. But last week, the company expanded flight search internationally to include 500 airports outside the US. (See postscript below below for correction.) Flight search can also be used by people in other countries — […]
Google Buys Channel Intelligence For $125 Million
Google has acquired retail feed management provider Channel Intelligence (not to be confused with Channel Advisor) for $125 million. The company counts major brands and retailers among its clients. Channel Intelligence (CI) offers a range of services built around data management and product feed optimization. It lists Target, Philips, HP, Neiman Marcus and Best Buy […]
As Google Evolves To Satisfy User Demands, Others Are Necessarily Marginalized
While it might not get off quite as easily in Europe, Google definitely “dodged a bullet” at the FTC, which recently concluded its antitrust investigation and didn’t ask the company to make any changes in the way it presents search results. That was a major disappointment to Google competitors, critics and other third party publishers, […]
Flights, Hotels: Google Is Improving Its Travel Search Tools
Following its acquisition of travel software provider ITA, Google’s flight and hotel search products have offered isolated useful features but have largely failed to live up to Google’s promise of “innovation.” Consumers have mostly failed to notice Google’s travel innovations so far as well. There are now indications that Google’s travel sites and content are becoming more […]
Google Experiments With New Flight Explorer Feature
Google is trying out a new travel search tool that seems to be aimed primarily at casual travelers that are as concerned about price as they are about a destination. It’s called Flight Explorer and it doesn’t appear to be reachable yet via Google’s regular flight search tool at google.com/flights. As best I can tell, […]
Search Convergence In SF: Matt Cutts, Danny Sullivan, Mike Grehan & Brett Tabke
It might be more than foggy in San Francisco this morning, as Brett Tabke of webmasterworld.com said after I took this picture, “that was a twilight zone moment for me”. It must have been interesting feeling for him then about 10 minutes later when Mike Grehan invited him and Danny Sullivan on stage to have […]
Page To Anti-Trust Critics: “Actions” & Google+ Are An Essential Part Of Search
Google’s taken flak over the past year from critics about how the company has been integrating actions such as booking flights or hotels into its search results. It’s also faced criticisms that it is leveraging its search dominance to build its Google+ social network. I found it notable that Google CEO Larry Page, in his […]
Google Expands Flight Search Outside US To 500 Cities
Google Flight Search is taking off to international destinations. Starting today users can search for flights to 500 airports outside the US. Google hasn’t provided a comprehensive list of destinations, but most European and Asian cities I searched for were available. It’s not clear how well flight search is doing or whether people are using […]
TheFind Joins FairSearch.org To “Restore Balance” To The Search Marketplace
In this corner is Google, about to make “major changes” to its algorithm and presentation of search results according to a much-discussed article in the Wall Street Journal. In the other are Google’s critics who now scrutinize and critique the company’s every move. The WSJ-Google article speaks about new innovations to search in an effort […]
Google Offers Flight Search To Go
Google has been improving its flight and hotel search results over the past few months, adding capabilities and polishing the overall experience. In accordance with that “iterative” approach Google announced today that flight search will now be available on mobile devices (browser only). To trigger the verticalized results, you need to specify that you want […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 23, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Projecting 2012 Google Mobile Revenues: $4 or $6 Billion? On Google’s Q3 2011 earnings call CEO Larry Page casually mentioned that Google had a mobile revenue “run rate” of more than […]
Google’s “Find Hotels By Travel Time” Offers Some Of That “Innovation” Google Was Talking About
Before Google was formally approved to buy travel software company ITA, the company argued that the acquisition would result in “innovation” for travelers and travel search users. Beyond the appearance of flight times/routes in search results we haven’t seen much “innovation” yet. Google’s new “find hotels by travel time” experiment is, however, an example of […]
Big Chains Launch “Hulu For Hotels”
Several major hotel chains have launched what might be described as “Hulu for hotels,” a new travel search site called Roomkey. According to Tnooz, the consortium includes Choice Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham Hotels. Starwood, operator of Sheraton and W hotels, is not among them. Hotels have been struggling for years to get […]
Bing’s Travel Search & Kayak Favoritism Angers No One, While Google’s Gets Headline Attention From WSJ
Bing’s not-so-newest push into online travel hasn’t begun to roil the industry, the latest example of where if Bing does something, no one cares, but if Google does it, it’s time for a Wall Street Journal story examining the potential evilness of the move. In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal has a […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 2, 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: Movember SEO Moustache Competition Raises $17,000 For Cancer Research What started out as a friendly rivalry between Bing’s Duane Forester and Google’s Matt Cutts resulted in $17,000 for the Movember, a […]
Google Makes Flight Search Results Better Looking, More Useful
In September Google did the first part of its integration with ITA, showing flight schedule information in search results and launching a separate flight search “portal” of sorts (Google.com/flights). Here’s what it looked like in Google.com results: The display could be expanded to reveal flight schedule information. However that wasn’t very pretty or useful, especially […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 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 Shuttering Buzz In Favor Of Google+; Farewell To Labs Buzz was a great learning experience, says Google, but in a few weeks it will be shut down and all such […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 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: 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, Yelp, Others To Appear At Antitrust Hearing Wednesday
Next week on Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold antitrust-related hearings on Google. This is a proceeding separate from but broadly related to the wide-ranging FTC antitrust investigation. The title of the hearing is “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?” This title perfectly anticipates the two […]
Google Travel Search Takes Flight With First ITA Travel Product
Google has made what amounts to a promising downpayment on more ambitious travel search tools with its new Flight Search, debuting today. Launching initially for a select group of US cities Google users will have access to an expanded range of airline search options and a much more verticalized experience than has been available in […]
Report: Google Admeld Deal To Get DOJ Review
Google’s planned purchase of publisher-side ad optimization firm Admeld is expected to be reviewed by the Department of Justice to ensure it doesn’t illegally inhibit competition in the display advertising industry. That according to reports from The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and others, which cite sources familiar with the matter. The company announced its plans […]
Official: Google’s New Travel Search OneBox
As we expected, Google officially announced the launch of their new flight onebox. The new travel onebox will show up when you search for flight related keywords with destinations. For example, [flights from new york to san francisco] or [flights from new york or [flights to new york]. They all work to five you an […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 24, 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: How To Fix Common Analytics Mistakes In Multinational eCommerce SEO One of the major headaches in multinational campaigns is solving the many web analytics issues thrown up as a result of […]
Google Tests New Travel Search OneBox
SEOGadget noticed Google testing a new travel search OneBox interface. I suspect this is an early sign of the Google ITA integration, where Google purchased ITA, a travel software company. A typical Google travel search OneBox looks like this: The new travel OneBox offers a more detailed box of information with departing cities, airlines and […]
Google Q1 Revenues $8.58 Billion, Some Investors Unhappy
Google had a strong Q1 with $8.58 billion in gross revenue. Net revenue was $6.54 billion. Both figures were somewhat better than some expected, although many are calling them “mixed.” Growth was 27 percent year over year. Expenses and costs were higher and some investors are expressing disappointment; Google shares are down almost 5 percent […]
Gov’t To Okay Google-ITA Deal After Google Agrees To Burdensome Conditions
The Justice Department (DOJ) has signed off on the Google acquisition of travel software company ITA, but says Google must meet certain conditions. The Justice Department said that as originally proposed the acquisition would have “substantially lessened competition among providers of comparative flight search websites in the United States.” The DOJ is requiring Google to […]
Feds Ready To Approve Google-ITA Deal — With Ongoing Government Oversight
After months of lobbying and speculation the US appears ready to approve Google’s $700 million acquisition of travel software company ITA, with some interesting “safeguards” or provisions. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Justice Department approval of the deal would come with ongoing monitoring of the deal by regulators: Google Inc. and the Justice […]
Google Likely To Face US Antitrust Case Later This Year
Bloomberg provides more evidence of a coming antitrust investigation of Google by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or Justice Department. We’ve now been hearing these kinds of statements and suggestions — from various “unnamed sources” and “people with knowledge of the matter” — for months. The Bloomberg article says that the ITA-acquisition decision could […]
Everyone Wants A Piece Of Google: More Antitrust Saber-Rattling By States Attorneys General
Bloomberg is reporting that Ohio Attorney General (AG) Mike DeWine is the latest figure considering an antitrust investigation against Google. So is Wisconsin’s AG, but specifically around the proposed ITA acquisition. Texas is already conducting its own broad antitrust investigation against Google. Google is formally under antitrust investigation by the European Commission. In addition, Wisconsin Senator […]