$14 billion deal keeps TikTok alive in U.S.
TikTok avoids a U.S. shutdown with deal, but brands and marketers still face uncertainty until China gives final approval.
Topic: Rupert Murdoch
Facebook unfriends Australia and Maryland passes ad tax; Monday’s daily brief
Plus, Google's Search Central Live conference is right after SMX Report
Google to launch ‘enhanced news storytelling’ project with licensed content
But aggressive government intervention in Australia threatens Google's voluntary news licensing strategy.
SearchCap: Bing Hotel search ads, AMP rankings & SEO AI
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Hotel Ads moving out of beta to general release with KoddiJan 23, 2018 by Susan Wenograd The release opens up another paid channel for hotel marketing. How AI can uncover […]
Senator Mike Lee Opens Investigation Into Google-FTC Antitrust Outcome
Secondary political motivations enter the FTC report controversy.
WSJ Report Suggests Intervention In FTC’s Google Investigation By White House
Article asserts Google lobbying affected agency's decision in antitrust case.
SearchCap: Google Penalty, AdWords Website Call Conversions & Pigeon Fears
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 Launches Ability To Track “Website Call Conversions” In AdWords Today, Google launched a what’s likely to become a popular new feature for many AdWords advertisers. Website call conversions allow advertisers […]
Given Nextag’s Lack Of Transparency, Its WSJ Opinion Piece Asking For Google Transparency Isn’t Wise
Nextag CEO Jeffrey Katz is out today in the Wall Street Journal with an opinion piece taking Google to task over a lack of transparency and fairness. Perhaps it’s not the smartest move, given that all his arguments can be neatly turned back against Nextag. Moreover, unlike Google, NexTag is probably in violation of US […]
The Google News “Osama Death” Sample Highlights Some News Coverage Woes
Today, Google News did a post about the death of Osama bin Laden. Disappointingly, it offered no statistics on what was most read, shared, topics most covered. The post did share a “sample” of 100 links to coverage about Osama bin Laden from representative sources. So, I decided to go where Google didn’t — to […]
Live Blogging: Aol’s Tim Armstrong & Arianna Huffington At Signal LA
FM’s Signal LA event kicks off today with a dynamic duo: Aol CEO Tim Armstrong, who is joined by Arianna Huffington, who’s Huffington Post site Aol bought this week and becomes the new president & editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group within Aol. Tim and Arianna were at the Super Bowl together, it turns […]
A To Do List For Google’s New CEO Larry Page
Welcome back, Larry! When you were last CEO of Google in 2001, the company was a much loved scrappy underdog with a bright future. Ten years later, you’re coming back to the helm. Things have changed. You’re soon to be steering a massive battleship that’s taking on water from a number of hits over the […]
What If Google Had Bought MySpace (And What If They Do)?
AllThingsD’s Liz Gannes reports that MySpace is considering significant layoffs — perhaps up to 50 percent of its 1,000 person staff. We also know (and she repeats) that the site could be sold by News Corp. because of recent poor performance. (News Corp’s attitude implies that it had nothing to do with that decline.) Reading […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 11, 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: Bing For Android Now Available To Everyone Bing for Android was previously only available on selected Verizon Android handsets. Now, according to Microsoft, it’s available to everyone with an Android handset, […]
The Networks vs. Google: Fox Now Blocking Google TV Too
Fox Broadcasting has become the fourth major US network to block Google TV from accessing its programing. The Rupert Murdoch-owned entity joins ABC, CBS and NBC, which all previously blocked Google TV access to their shows. Google has said it’s “actively negotiating” with ABC, CBS and NBC to restore access to the programming. Add Fox […]
A Tour Of How Networks Have Blocked Google TV From Their Web Content
After less than a week since its release, three of America’s largest television networks have started blocking Google TV users from watching video content on their web sites. Sort of. While ABC and CBS keep Google TV viewers out, as does Hulu, NBC actually still seems to let them in. Below, a visual look at […]
Google News Tests Editors’ Picks
Google News, which has always prided itself on being a 100% computer-generated news aggregator with no human intervention, is doing an about-face. The Nieman Journalism Lab reports that a limited test is underway which involves human editors from “partner news organizations” manually choosing certain articles “to be featured on Google News.” The new Editors’ Picks […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 7, 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: Internet Ad Revenue Hit Record High In Q4 2009 Recession? Economic slowdown? Financial gloom-and-doom? Not online, and not as far as Internet advertising is concerned. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) says […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 1, 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: Is Google’s Street View Trike Headed Your Way? Google has announced the winners of its Street View Trike suggestions contest – a contest that started last October with Google inviting the […]
Do Search Engines (Google) “Harm Minority Owned Businesses”?
Yesterday WatchdogWatch.org, which monitors NGOs (“watchdogs”) found and blogged about a filing with the FCC in the larger context of its proceedings on net neutrality. The filing is by an organization representing minority owned media and business. The issue raised is whether the concept of “net neutrality” should be expanded to include search engines and […]
He Calls Google A Vampire, But Mark Cuban’s Mahalo Is Doing The Sucking
Yesterday, Mark Cuban warned media owners in a keynote speech that Google is a vampire trying to suck them dry, giving them nothing back and daring owners to block it. This is the same Mark Cuban who is an investor in Mahalo, which touts to advertisers how it taps into Google to generate page views. […]
44% Of Google News Readers Only Scan Headlines? Maybe Not!
A new report saying that 44% of Google users fail to click from Google News to newspaper web sites got some buzz this week. However, after a closer look at the report, I don’t see it providing the damning evidence that Google really is a content vampire, as some news publishers have accused it of […]
Where’s AP In Google News? Apparently In Limbo, As Contract Running Out
It’s been noticed that new Associated Press stories — hosted by Google itself — are no longer appearing in Google News. It’s true. Since Dec. 24, Google has no longer added new AP content, something the company confirmed with me today. I received this statement: We have a licensing agreement with the Associated Press that […]
Search & Real Time Madness
Make no mistake. I think real time search is indeed one of the most exciting developments that’s happened in the search space in years. But I also think search engines are acting a bit like cats getting a sniff of catnip. They’re high on real time search and acting kind of crazy. This week, Google […]
Google Launches Real Time Search Results
So finally, we’ve got Google Real Time search, as the company has announced. Below, I’m doing a quick hit on what’s it is, how to use it and how it compares to that last Google real time search thing you may recall hearing about. How do you get it? It’s rolling out over the next […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 1, 2009
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 Roundup Of 2009’s Best SEO Books Time was when someone asked me to recommend a good book on search marketing, there were only a few available—Search Engine Visibility, by Shari […]
Google Modifies “First Click Free” Policy To Accommodate Publishers Gating Their Content
Google’s “First Click Free” (FCF) policy was intended to provide a better experience for Google users and for premium content and news publishers (e.g., the Wall Street Journal) by allowing their content to be indexed and exposed for subsequent sale to consumers. However, as most of you are aware, the publisher pay walls are going […]
Live Blogging The FTC Workshop On Journalism & The Internet
I’m at the FTC’s “Journalism & Internet Age” Workshop in Washington DC today, where we’re expecting addresses from Rupert Murdoch and Arianna Huffington, along with Josh Cohen of Google News and a variety of panels. I’ll be on one of those panels later today. I’m going to do a big live blog of things I […]
Head-To-Head: ACAP Versus Robots.txt For Controlling Search Engines
In the battle between search engines and some mainstream news publishers, ACAP has been lurking for several years. ACAP — the Automated Content Access Protocol — has constantly been positioned by some news executives as a cornerstone to reestablishing the control they feel has been lost over their content. However, the reality is that publishers […]
Hold On: Are More Papers Really Joining Murdoch’s Google Block Party?
Bloomberg has a story out suggesting that the publishers of the Denver Post and the Dallas Morning News may be joining Rupert Murdoch’s coalition of the willing to block Google. But I don’t think that’s what going on at all, and I’m trying to clarify things. Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group, which publishes the […]
Why TV, Traditional News & Yahoo Might Yet Benefit From Social
I’ve just had a rather surreal afternoon, having been asked (at very short notice) to appear on Channel 4 News (the main news show on one of the UK’s 5 terrestrial broadcasters.) I was invited on the program to to discuss Rupert Murdoch’s reported plans to link up with Bing at the same time as […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 23, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 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 […]
Thoughts On A “Killer” Bing-News Corp Deal & The Myth Of An “OPEC For News”
It’s back, the prospect that Microsoft might try to make Rupert Murdoch happy by offering a “get listed with Bing” exclusive deal. Later, I’ll revisit the topic in a coordinated fashion. But for now, I’ve collected a number of thoughts I’ve put out on Twitter, in blog comments and elsewhere. First, I’ll point readers back […]
Would Someone Please Explain To News Corp How Google Works?
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, […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 10, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: SEM Lessons From The Fall Of The Berlin Wall Twenty years ago the fall of the Berlin Wall didn’t just change politics in Europe—it changed Europeans behavior. To this day we […]
Google To Murdoch: Go Ahead & Block Us
The long-running debate over Google and its impact on newspapers and journalism took another turn today when News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch said his company may makes its sites invisible to Google, and Google fired back by saying, in essence, bring it on. It began with this interview on Australia’s Sky News (which Murdoch owns), […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 12, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Levinson Leaves Google’s Board Of Directors, Stays On Apple’s Arthur Levinson, a member of Google’s board of directors since 2004, has resigned from that position effectively immediately. Google’s announcement doesn’t give […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 9, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Dissecting The AP & Murdoch Speeches Against Those Internet News Thieves Associated Press president Tom Curley and News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch both made speeches yesterday in China that are being […]
Dissecting The AP & Murdoch Speeches Against Those Internet News Thieves
Associated Press president Tom Curley and News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch both made speeches yesterday in China that are being widely reported as an attack on Google. Having read through the actual speeches, I was surprised they weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. Below, I’ve highlighted key portions along with my own commentary. […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 24, 2009
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 New Search Clothes — But Will It Help? (Probably Not) Less than a month after seeming to pull out of the search game by announcing a search outsourcing deal with […]
Dear Fox News: SEO Is Not Search Engine Scamming (Unless You’re Scamming Yourself)
In the same month that Rupert Murdoch has said he’ll charge for all his news sites because “quality journalism is not cheap,” I find it ironic to read the rubbish about search engine optimization that Murdoch-owned Fox News “reported” this week. SEO equals scamming, we’re told. If I have to pay for this type of […]