Mordy Oberstein on old vs. new SEO, Google rank volatility, and an era of refinement
SMX Advanced speaker Mordy Oberstein shares insights on AI hype, SEO’s shifting role, algorithm chaos, and the internet’s golden age.
Topic: Saturday Night Live
How to make engaging long-form YouTube videos
Not everything fits in 60 seconds. Learn how to make compelling long-form videos and video podcasts that drive engagement and visibility.
How much should we care about voice search? It depends on target audience
A new study uncovers data about how target audiences will influence our priorities around voice search. Hint: Older folks like it while the youngest voice searchers worry about privacy.
50 Million Pages Removed From Google This Year Due To DMCA Piracy Reports
We know that the number of DMCA requests have risen since Google introduced its Pirate Update, a penalty against sites that have an unusual number of legitimate DMCA requests filed against them. But what’s the count? TorrentFreak.com did the math and counted that Google took down over 50 million search results or URLs in 2012 alone. To be exact, Google removed 51,395,353 […]
Fraudulent DMCA Requests Spike After The Google “Pirate Update” Algorithm
Remember in August Google launched a new algorithm we coined the Pirate Update? It basically looked at the number of valid DMCA takedown requests processed and used that data to downgrade the rankings of sites that were found to be abusive in this area. Since then, it appears some people have been abusing the algorithm. […]
Google Piracy Algorithm May Be Reviewed By UK Regulators
The Guardian reports that regulators within the United Kingdom will be reviewing Google’s efforts to remove piracy web sites from their search results because they feel Google has not done enough. In August, Google launched the Pirate Algorithm, which is designed to lower the ranking of sites that are repeatedly reported and found to have […]
Can Search Queries And Social Data Predict The Presidential Election Outcome?
By the time this election is over more than $2.6 billion will have been spent by the two US presidential candidates on political advertising. I’ve also seen some estimates that say total political advertising this election cycle will top $6 billion. Yet, remarkably, The Atlantic points to a Google Trends report showing a huge November […]
How YouTube Will Escape Google’s New Pirate Penalty
Google has announced that it will soon penalize sites that are repeatedly accused of copyright infringement. But one site in particular doesn’t need to worry: Google’s own YouTube. It has a unique immunity against the forthcoming penalty. POSTSCRIPT: Please also be sure to read our follow-up article, Google: Many Popular Sites Will Escape Pirate Penalty, Not […]
The Pirate Update: Google Will Penalize Sites Repeatedly Accused Of Copyright Infringement
Has someone filed a large number of DMCA “takedown” requests against your site? If so, look out. There’s a new penalty that may cause you to rank lower in Google’s search results. It joins other penalties (also called “filters” or “updates”) such as “Panda” and “Penguin.” We’re dubbing this one the “Pirate Update” as it’s aimed […]
NBC Olympics Executive’s Email Wasn’t “Widely Available” In Google
The interwebs are all a flutter over how a critic of NBC’s Olympic coverage had his Twitter account suspended after tweeting the email address of the executive in charge of that coverage. It was private, said Twitter. Public to anyone with Google, said journalist Guy Adams, whose account was suspended. Actually, from what I can […]
Geek Chic: Augmented Reality Google Glasses To Go On Sale This Year
The mystery of Google’s stealth consumer product has apparently been conclusively solved. The NY Times is confirming earlier reports that Google is going to release “heads up display glasses” by the end of the year. The glasses — or literal Google Goggles in this case — will utilize a range of Google technologies and databases […]
The Big Roundup: Finding Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals & Specials
We’re already well into Black Friday. In many US stores the frenzy began last night at 10 pm or midnight (as opposed to the normal 4 am door-busting start time). People barely had time to overcome the sleep-inducing effects of L-tryptophan before getting out into the melee. And the word “melee” aptly describes the scene […]
Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Search Engine? Bing’s New TV Ads Have A Ranking/Bass Stop-Motion Flavor
If you know that Hermey The Elf longs to be a dentist, that Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’s girlfriend is named Clarice, and if you can sing “Silver and Gold” as well as Yukon Cornelius, Bing’s new holiday ad campaign will be right up your alley. The Microsoft search engine’s newest video spots play off the classic Rankin/Bass Christmas […]
Does The FairSearch White Paper On Google Being Anticompetitive Hold Up?
FairSearch, a group of search companies including Microsoft which lobbies that Google is too dominant, has sent a white paper outlining its anti-trust concerns about Google to the 50 state attorneys general in the US. Below, a review and some fact checking of the paper. You’ll find the paper here, if you wish to read […]
Sen. Franken Criticizes Google In Hearings, Praises Google In Promotional Video
Politics are messy and often riddled with ethical potholes and challenges. One illustration of this is Senator Al Franken’s apparent “conflict of interest” where Google is concerned. Discovered by Mike Blumenthal Franken did a “commercial” on behalf of Google’s “Get Your Business Online” initiative in Minnesota. Blumethal characterizes Franken as “shilling for Google.” It’s not […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 22, 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: Why So Many Blogs Fail (And What to Do About It) It’s a safe bet that right this minute, someone, somewhere, is advising a small business owner to start a blog. […]
New Facebook Features From F8 Include Timeline, “Liking As A Verb,” & More Engaging Apps
Today’s F8 had it all. A cameo from SNL’s Andy Samberg, glitzy new designs, cutting edge new features and compelling product videos. But what was actually announced? Here are the major takeaways from today’s conference: Timeline For all of those complaining about the new Facebook layout, don’t worry- its days are numbered. Today “Timeline” was […]
F8: Live Blogging The Keynote (Timeline + Ticker)
I’m sitting in the large hall in the SF Concourse awaiting the F8 keynote from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, now a wealthier man (on paper) than Google co-founders Brin and Page. We expect a series of announcements around music and movies but there will be a ton of stats about Facebook usage and growth. If […]
Google Senate Hearings: The Post-Game Show
Earlier this morning I predicted that today’s three-hour Senate subcommittee hearing on Google and competition would be more theater than fact-finding. (You can read Danny’s live blog here and here.) And while there were lots of numbers and statistics thrown around by the witnesses (many of them inaccurate) there were few new facts; it was […]
Kadafi, Gaddafi, Qaddafi: In The Age Of Search, News Publications Still Struggle With Libya Leader’s Name
A decades-old dispute involving Libya remains unresolved. How do news organizations spell the name of Libya’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi? The exact spelling has a bigger impact these days, where people search for news. Use the wrong spelling, and your story might go missing. Can search tell us the “right” one? More below.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 25, 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: Schmidt’s “Just Move” Joke About Google Street View & How It Went Missing Don’t like Google Street View taking pictures of your house? “Just move,” joked Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in […]
Saturday Night Live: Yahoo & AOL Merger Like Two Seniors Dating At A Nursing Home
A couple weeks ago, there were some rumors that AOL may buy Yahoo. This past week’s Saturday Night Live’s news brief skit with John Mulaney started off talking about that news bit. John Mulaney said, and here is the transcript: First up in the world of technology. I heard this week that AOL might be […]
Live Blogging SXSW: Ev Williams Keynote
Live blogging from SXSW continues, with Twitter cofounder Ev Williams to take the stage shortly. Will he announce Twitter’s rumored ad plans, as expected? Stay tuned for the news.
Hulu Hosting ‘Bing-A-Thon’ Tonight
In less than two hours, you’ll be able to watch Microsoft’s latest promotional push for its new Bing search engine: a live “Bing-a-thon” that starts at 8:00 pm EST on Hulu.com. There’s no information about the Bing-a-thon on the Bing blog or the Hulu blog, but the AgencySpy blog describes the event as “an hour-long […]
FDA Cracks Down On Pharma Search Ads
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent letters to a number of pharmaceutical manufacturers to alert them that they were in violation of acceptable marketing practices in relation to their paid search marketing campaigns. The basic gist of the letter is that when these pharmaceutical companies advertise on Google they are a.) not […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 20, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
YouTube Gets Full-Length TV Shows, Click-To-Buy Options
YouTube has experimented with long-form content in the past. However, the site is now rolling out full-length episodes of vintage TV shows like Star Trek, MacGyver, and the not-so-vintage Beverly Hills 90210. Users can also watch these in the recently introduced “theater view,” featuring an expanded player that looks similar to the Hulu player.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 24, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Politically Tinged Promotion For Live Search
Microsoft has launched another would-be viral online campaign for Live Search that conceptually mimics the earlier Ms. Dewey campaign but is politically themed for the election year. The site is called Left vs. Right and (probably) takes its inspiration from the old Saturday Night Live skit point/counterpoint, featuring Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtain, which was […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 11, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web:
NBC & News Corp’s “OverTube” Not A YouTube-Killer — It Might Just Power Those
I’ve been traveling the past three days so am catching up on news — including that of the new supposed YouTube-killer being launched by NBC Universal & News Corp. But while the official release calls this a new "site" coming later this year, more reading makes it clear we’re talking about a video distribution network […]
Video Search Challenge Isn’t Speech Recognition, It’s Content Owner Management
Millions of Videos, and Now a Way to Search Inside Them from the New York Times is a big giant love story to video search firm Blinkx, suggesting that the idea of finding video content will take a leap through new idea of speech recognition. In reality, it’s not a new idea. It’s been in […]