In the past month, Google quietly made a change aimed at encrypting all search activity — except for clicks on ads. Google says this has been done to provide “extra protection” for searchers, and the company may be aiming to block NSA spying activity. Possibly, it’s a move to increase ad sales. Or both. Welcome […]
I’ve watched Microsoft fight Google in search for a very long time. Bing has come a long way, and I’ve been pleased to see a strong competitor emerge. But Microsoft hasn’t actually hurt Google’s share. It’s only robbed from its partner, Yahoo. So how’s Microsoft going to beat Google? Comments from departing CEO Steve Ballmer […]
Apple’s new iOS 7 mobile operating system officially rolled out today, and with it, the Siri assistant is finally out of beta. The most significant change to Siri is arguably that it no longer taps into Google for searches. As expected, a deal with Microsoft now makes Bing the default in Siri. Twitter also gets a […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: What The Heck Is AdWords Quality Score And Why Does It Matter Anyway? Last month, Google announced some changes in how Quality Score is being reported. While it’s been described as […]
Last year Google was embroiled in controversy over its circumvention of the Safari browser’s cookie-privacy settings (on the iPhone and beyond). As a result the company paid a $22.5 million fine to settle the case with the US FTC approximately a year ago. The FTC summarizes the facts that lead to the settlement: [F]or several months […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Five Years Later, Ex-Farecast Founder Asks “What Is Bing Doing?” Oren Etzioni, the founder of Farecast who sold it to Microsoft in 2008, says he’s “disappointed” with Bing’s development and “expected […]
Since last September, people using Safari on iOS devices and searching on Google have appeared to publishers as if they came directly to their sites, not via Google. Now, the problem has ended, with iOS now apparently having been upgraded to support the “meta referrer” tag. No, this doesn’t solve the “not provided” issue, where […]
One of the things that you might have missed if you weren’t paying really close attention to the live blogs of the Apple WWDC keynote is that when iOS 7 comes out Siri will be able to directly search Twitter, Wikipedia — and Bing. From a search perspective that’s potentially huge news. I’m speculating that […]
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 Ads Will Copycat Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns With New Bid Adjustments It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Microsoft is adjusting the Bing Ads platform to play nicely with AdWords […]
Since September, people using Safari in iOS 6 and searching on Google have appeared to publishers as if they’ve come directly to their sites, as opposed to having been driving by search. At last, the reason behind the Dark Google cut-off of data has been found: mobile Safari doesn’t support the “meta referrer” tag. I […]
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 Matt Cutts On SEO Industry Misconceptions: Updates, Revenue Goals & Link Building Obsession Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, released another video today named What are some misconceptions in […]
Google Operating System blog has screen shots of Google showing larger thumbnail images for videos that come up in the search results. The larger video thumbnails show up for the first video result on tablet devices. I personally tried to replicate this on my devices, including Chrome and mobile Safari on an iPad and some […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Penguin 4, With Penguin 2.0 Generation Spam-Fighting, Is Now Live The fourth release of Google’s spam-fighting “Penguin Update” is now live. But, Penguin 4 has a twist. It contains Penguin 2.0 […]
Well look at that! Search traffic to news sites has dropped over the past eight months, according to how BuzzFeed tracks referrals to sites within its network. A change of user behavior? Or perhaps more the result of “Dark Google” and “Not Provided?” Come on, I’ll explain how Google may be making itself look like […]
Previously Android-only, Google’s “predictive search” tool Google Now is now available for the iPhone and iPad. It’s part of an updated Google Search App for iOS. Google Now for iOS had been anticipated since March, when Engadget discovered a promotional video suggesting it would make the leap. Until its release this morning, Google Now had been […]
With Google Now coming to iOS, a whole new audience using iPhones and iPads are about to meet Google’s predictive search service. It’s a feature that’s gone from interesting novelty to being downright amazing, in less than a year. Here’s a look at how the “predictive search” service has evolved and where it may head […]
Pick your survey, and one of the top activities on a smartphone is to use Facebook. That’s what the new Facebook Home is all about, making it easier for Facebook users to get Facebook. But it also makes another top activity — search — harder to do. On Android devices, search is almost always just […]
The New York Times offers an interesting story about Google and the competitive landscape of mobile. The headline is “As Web Search Goes Mobile, Competitors Chip at Google’s Lead.” The central idea of the article is that while Google is used on the PC equally to discover information and to navigate to specific sites, on smartphones […]
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 Search Retargeting Is Bridging The Gap Between Search & Display Recently, Harvard Business School published a working paper, Do Display Ads Influence Search? Attribution and Dynamics in Online Advertising. While […]
Engadget spotted and has archived a promotional video that suggests the Google Search App for iOS may be gaining Google Now support. That support might help boost usage of the Google Search App, which barely makes the iTunes Top 100. Google Now No Longer Android-Only? Google Now is Google’s predictive search assistant, which tries to […]
Last year the FTC asked Apple to disclose the terms of Google’s “default” search presence on iOS. This was part of the US government’s broader antitrust investigation of Google, which is now over. To my knowledge, none of that information made it out into the public eye. However, at approximately the same time, an analyst […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: With $14 Million More Q&A Site ChaCha Soldiers On Q&A is a great idea that really hasn’t worked. Although Yahoo Answers and a few others are still around — and Ask […]
With the news today that Chrome is moving to secure search, marketers may be wondering about the larger picture of using search data in Web analytics. The searches people do that lead them to a site is valuable data to an organization. What other data source do we have that gives us direct access to […]
Google is hiring a new product marketing manager for search with one of the key goals being to find ways to get people to sign-in while they search. The job description says: As Product Marketing Manager within the search growth team, you will be responsible to developing plans, creatives, campaigns and programs to increase the […]
On Friday, Windows Phone users supposedly found themselves unable to access Google Maps. But Google said it made no sudden change on its end to cause this. What happened? It seems likely many people simple noticed for the first time long-standing redirection that Google had in place for those not using Android or iOS devices. Windows Phone […]
Apple Insider is reporting, based on a study by investment firm Piper Jaffray, that Siri today (iOS 6) relies on Google considerably less than it did in iOS 5. That’s partly a result of the switch from Google’s local data in Maps to Apple’s own mapping data. However another part of the change is probably 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: Bing Attacks Google Shopping With “Scroogled” Campaign, Forgets It’s Guilty Of Same Problems Bing is attacking Google over its shift to a pay-for-play shopping search engine through a new “Scroogled” site, […]
It can seem odd that people search for “Google” on Google, but they do. And for those who do within Google News, the company has been running ads encouraging them to make Google their homepage. I noticed this happening in the middle of last month, and you can still see it happening today: The ad […]
It is just over a year since Google began encrypting search by default for signed-in users. A new study finds that as a result, 39% search-related traffic from Google to web sites now has search terms withheld. Optify conducted a study over eleven months with 424 web sites, involving 17,143,603 visits and 7,241,093 referring keywords, to see […]
Citing “sources at Google familiar with its mapping plans,” the UK Guardian website reports what amounts to anxiety that Google’s forthcoming mapping app will not be approved by Apple: Sources at Google familiar with its mapping plans say they are “not optimistic” that Apple will ever approve a dedicated Google Maps iOS app. Though 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: 10 Tips To Optimize Conversions On Your Mobile Landing Pages In my last article, I discussed How Location & Small Screen Size Impact Search Behavior On Mobile Devices, and the main […]
As we wait for a new native Google Maps app for iOS 6, the company has introduced Street View imagery this morning to Google Maps for the mobile web. It’s another attraction that may pull Apple Maps users over on the iPhone and iPad. Below, a look at some of the key features in Google […]
A feature article in BusinessWeek explores the differences in Steve Jobs and Tim Cook’s leadership styles and the cultural differences at Apple under the two CEOs. The article also asks the question: would Apple Maps in its current less-than-perfect form would have been released under Jobs? Buried in the article is the following line: “Jobs […]
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 BOSS Expands To Offer Geolocation Data Yahoo’s Build Your Own Search Service (BOSS) has recently expanded to include geolocation data from two Yahoo services: Placefinder and Placespotter. BOSS is Yahoo’s […]
A change in iOS 6 made by Apple and not anticipated by Google means that for the past week or so — and likely for some weeks to come — those reaching web sites from Google’s search engine after doing searches from within Safari will be counted as “direct” traffic rather than “search” traffic. As […]
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’s Social Sidebar Gains Klout Scores & People Recommendations Klout has become the latest social service to be integrated into the new Bing Social Sidebar that was launched earlier this year. […]
Another source of Google search referrer data appears lost. Searches through Google that happen in Apple’s Safari browser search box in iOS 6, Apple’s latest mobile operating system, no longer pass along search terms to publishers. For those unfamiliar, “referrer” data is information a browser passes along to a publisher about the last page you were […]
Today, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said his company hasn’t done anything yet to bring Google Maps to iOS as a standalone app. That seems to contradict Google’s statement last week about wanting this to happen, as well as the company’s central mission. But negotiations and contract issues yet to be revealed might be a […]
It’s no secret that Apple is ditching Google Maps on iOS6. In Russia, that decision looms large for Russian search engine Yandex, which will provide the backend for the new Apple Maps app, according to Bloomberg. Software developers in Russia that have been using the developer version of iOS6 have reported seeing the Yandex integration […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Study: Bing And Yahoo Search Share Largest On Internet Explorer Browser Internet Explorer (IE) is the browser where the most “non-Google” searches happen, according to data from ad network Chitika. The […]