We don’t yet know how popular the Apple Watch will be when it goes on sale early next year. A “flash survey” conducted immediately after the announcement showed 33 percent of 1,000 U.S. respondents were potentially interested in buying one. The device carries a wide range of apps and features. Among them are Siri, Apple […]
Apple announced the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and announced iOS 8, the new mobile operating system for Apple devices, will be available September 17th, a week from today. Here is a preview of some of the new search features within iOS 8 including Bing results within Spotlight, the new settings for your default […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Experts Weigh In On Google’s “Pigeon” Update Aimed At Improving Local Search Results Last week, Google made new search waves when it rolled out updates to its local search algorithm. The […]
There’s increasing evidence that Microsoft’s personal assistant Cortana is being positioned as a key differentiator vs. Android and iPhones. A new TV commercial (below) purports to compare Cortana to Siri, with a mock Siri voice saying “I can’t do that” a number of times. This morning Microsoft announced new geographies and new features for Cortana […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Microsoft Bing Now Added To Google Chrome New Tab Page Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, is now an option within Google’s Chrome new tab page screens. Prior, if you changed your default […]
Microsoft’s new predictive search agent Cortana is finally becoming available to the general public. How does it compare to longstanding champion Google Now? After months of using them both, it’s no contest. Google Now easily wins, in my daily life. But Cortana does gives Microsoft an important foundation in the predictive search space and puts […]
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 Admits They Need To Do Better With Webmaster Communication In a blog post today on the Bing Webmaster Blog, Bing’s Igor Rondel, Principal Development Manager of the Index Quality team, […]
Microsoft shared details about their future plans for deeply integrating academic data/search into the Bing search engine. Starting this Fall, Microsoft said they “will be able to point the way to a wealth of information from the academic community.” Microsoft explained that currently Cortana, Microsoft’s version of Google Now and Apple Siri, is powered by […]
“As great as this past year was, I’m more excited about FY15 than I’ve ever been,” said Microsoft’s David Pann, General Manager for the Search Network, by phone this week about Bing Ads as the company starts its next fiscal year. “All the fundamentals are set,” he added. Recapping the successes of this past 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: Bing Ups Its Twitter Game: Rolls Out Hashtag & Twitter Handle Search Features Starting this week, Bing users are going to see even more Twitter content in search results. As a […]
You’re probably pretty familiar already with Siri and Google Now, the personal assistant-type technologies from Apple and Google, respectively. Each has its own approach to the idea of providing information and answering questions without needing a traditional search box and search query. You may be a bit less familiar with Cortana — she’s Microsoft’s upcoming […]
It’s far too early to consider monetizing Cortana, Microsoft’s new virtual personal assistant, but the company is already thinking about how to scale her across different devices, platforms and around the world. Those were two of the key points from Microsoft’s keynote conversation Thursday morning at our SMX Advanced conference in Seattle. Marcus Ash, a […]
We’re ready to get started on day two of SMX Advanced, and today’s opening keynote promises to talk about the future of search. Microsoft’s Marcus Ash (Group Program Manager for Windows Phone) and Rob Chambers (Group Program Manager, Applications and Services Group) will be here to talk about Cortana, the company’s recently launched virtual assistant […]
Microsoft’s Bing search engine has turned five this week. There are good reasons for some birthday celebrations at Microsoft. The company has created a solid competitor to Google, grown its market share and created a search platform for other Microsoft products. But when it comes to mindshare, Bing is still far behind rivaling Google 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: Big Win For DuckDuckGo: Apple Adding To Safari As Private Search Option DuckDuckGo, the search engine that positions itself as a completely secure and private search engine, is getting a big […]
Bing has gained another win with Apple, becoming integrated into a new version of Spotlight in Apple’s forthcoming Mac OS X “Yosemite” operating system and in the coming iOS 8 mobile operating system. Spotlight will also tap into a wide-range of search resources similar to how Siri works on iOS. During Apple’s WWDC keynote today, […]
One of the most interesting and talked about features in the Motorola-made Moto X is always-on voice search. Activated by saying “OK, Google,” it permits totally hands-free search. Unfortunately this standout feature didn’t sell enough handsets to keep open Moto’s much-touted Texas smartphone factory. The “hotword” OK Google also currently works on the Google search app […]
Apparently, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wants to be the default search for Apple’s Safari browser on iPhone and iPad and has been preparing to make a solid pitch. Well, we all want things we can’t have, and I’d be incredibly surprised if Yahoo got its wish here. Kara Swisher over at Re/code has the scoop, […]
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 Explains How Google Search Handles 404 & 410 Status Codes Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a video today explaining the difference in how Google handles […]
Today, Microsoft released the developer preview of Windows Phone 8.1 and with that, the ability to play with a preview of Cortana, Microsoft’s answer to Apple Siri and Google Now. Both Gizmodo and CNet have released video demos comparing Cortana & Siri & Google Now. I like the Gizmodo comparison a little more, so we […]
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 Fixing Reverse DNS GoogleBot Verification Google has confirmed that there are some GoogleBot useragent spiders not properly passing verification protocol. Savvy webmasters noticed that GoogleBot over the .249.70.0 /24 IP […]
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: We Can Improve Our Algorithms For Authorities On Topics In an interesting video released by Matt Cutts, Google’s head of webspam, Matt answers the question on how Google […]
Rumored for months, Microsoft has formally announced its answer to Apple’s Siri and Google’s Voice Search/Google Now: Cortana. Danny Sullivan is at the Microsoft Build Conference and live blogging it. Cortana appears to be sassy like Siri and can perform many of the functions that Google Now does (providing reminders and notifications regarding dates, meetings and […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: New Video Shows Microsoft “Assistant” Cortana In Action Microsoft will be introducing its Siri and Google Now/Voice competitor Cortana with Windows 8.1 in April. The new “intelligent assistant” will eventually be […]
Microsoft will be introducing its Siri and Google Now/Voice competitor Cortana with Windows 8.1 in April. The new “intelligent assistant” will eventually be available cross-platform, although launching on Lumia Phones. The name Cortana comes from a character in the game Halo. It was originally thought that Cortana would look like her character in the game […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yandex Reports Revenue Up 37% In Q4, Ad Network Revenue Nearly Doubles Russian search giant Yandex reported a strong Q4 2013 today, with overall revenue up 37 percent from Q4 2012 […]
Several years ago, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, as a then Google employee, spoke about the perfect search engine that could anticipate your needs and which wouldn’t require any keywords to deliver results. We’re rapidly moving toward searchless content discovery with Siri, Google Now, IBM’s Watson, Nuance’s Nina, Expect Labs and other “intelligent assistants.” Artificial intelligence-powered intelligent assistants […]
Expect Labs, which is behind the MindMeld consumer application, has announced a new developer API. The new API brings the company’s “anticipatory computing” platform to third parties in the cloud. Use of the API is free. Expect Labs is trying to get it “out there” and see how developers deploy the company’s technology on their applications. As a […]
Yahoo has bought nearly 30 companies since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO. A large number of those were talent acquisitions — though not all of them. Among the product or technology acquisitions, Aviate could turn out to be one of the most strategic and important. Emphasis on the word “could.” Aviate presents itself as an “intelligent […]
On the heels of a very recent iOS Maps update, Google has further updated and optimized its search app for iOS 7. Some of the changes are cosmetic: “iOS 7 styling and true full screen browsing” for example. There’s also improved image search for the iPad and better integration with Google Maps. Google Now also seems more […]
Bing posted their 2013 highlights on the Bing Search Blog, summarizing some key statistics they wanted to share with everyone. They did it as an infographic, I wonder what Google would think about that? Here is the infographic stats in bullet format followed by the infographic. Bing.com home page views equals the number of people […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Analyst Gives Both Google Now And Siri A “C+” Piper Jaffray financial analyst Gene Munster performed his now annual comparison of Google Voice Search/Google Now and Siri to determine which one […]
Piper Jaffray financial analyst Gene Munster performed his now annual comparison of Google Voice Search/Google Now and Siri to determine which one performed better. Using 800 queries under a variety of “controlled” and “uncontrolled” conditions, Munster and his team tested and compared the two “assistants.” Munster gave Google Voice Search/Now a C+, an improvement from the […]
Google announced an international upgrade to the Google Search App, which enables the voice response answers that work currently in English to also work in French, German or Japanese. So not only can you ask your question in English, French, German or Japanese or other languages via voice search — Google will respond to that […]
Microsoft’s Bing and Google are pursuing very similar strategies with their mobile apps. Google’s search app for iOS is essentially a browser and gateway to other Google apps and services. The same is true for Bing on iOS and Android. Earlier this week Bing refreshed its Android app to make its UI and design consistent […]
When Microsoft’s next-generation gaming console, the Xbox One, comes out on Friday, it will arrive with Bing built-in to power a range of searches from games to music to television programs — and searches you can do just by speaking to the Xbox. Today, Bing shared a preview of how this will work. On the […]
A big change in Android 4.4 is: those using Google’s new mobile operating system, nicknamed “KitKat,” can search for businesses right from within the Phone app. How’s it work? For me, it’s awful. Google+ Invades The Android 4.4 “KitKat” Phone App: What It Means For Businesses & People is our separate article that explores the 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: Searching For The Voice Of Siri: Voiceover Actor Susan Bennett Says, “It’s Obviously Me” A story on CNN.com claims that Atlanta voiceover professional Susan Bennett is the original voice of Siri, […]
A story on CNN.com claims that Atlanta voiceover professional Susan Bennett is the original voice of Siri, Apple’s iPhone voice application. According to the story, Bennett did voice work for the software company ScanSoft in 2005. CNN says ScanSoft was then purchased by Nuance Communications, a company that is credited with providing Apple the technology […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: WordStream Launches PPC Landing Page Creator, Lead Management Tool For SMBs Successful PPC lead generation campaigns demand good landing pages. Yet many small business marketers are left without the resources to […]