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 […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Official: Google Rolling Out App Launcher, Flat Logo The testing is over. Google has confirmed its plans to add a new app launcher to the main Google navigation bar that will […]
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 Makes You A Best In Class SEO? Survey Says… Today, at Conductor’s annual client summit, #C3NY, Director of Research and Search Engine Land contributor Nathan Safran unveiled research from 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: Bing Ads Releases New API, Version 9 Microsoft rolled out version 9 of the Bing Ads API for developers to start using immediately. The API will include the following additions to […]
9to5mac.com reports Apple has quietly taken the beta label off of their voice search feature, Siri. If you look at the iOS 7 Siri, the page makes no mention of beta anymore. The old iOS 6 version had the beta label on it, but iOS 7 Siri has removed that label. Here is the iOS […]
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 One Brand Switched A Million URLs & Lived To Tell About It: 5 Questions With HomeAdvisor.com Last year, home improvement company HomeAdvisor.com underwent a monumental rebranding effort that included switching […]
The Verge noticed that if you ask Apple Siri about Google Glass, Siri will respond with some humorous responses. In short, if you activate Siri on your iOS device and say, “okay glass,” Apple Siri will respond in a witty way. Above are some of the responses in an animated GIF, but here they are […]
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 AdWords New Top Movers Report Aims To Automate “What’s Changed” Reporting The new Top Movers report in Google AdWords shows you which campaigns and ad groups had the largest changes […]
Smart calendar app Tempo announced a $10 million “series A” funding round this morning. The app aims to replace the native calendar apps on smartphones. Needless to say, that’s a tall order. However, the technology behind the app is derived from the same US Defense Department (DARPA) SRI-led research that produced Apple’s Siri and Yahoo’s Summly, […]
Day two of our SMX Advanced event is getting started with our second keynote event: a conversation with Microsoft’s Gurdeep Singh Pall. He’s the VP for the Information Platform & Experience team at Microsoft, and is responsible for vision, product strategy and R&D for Bing. Search Engine Land’s founding editor, Danny Sullivan, is leading 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: Apple Makes Bing The “Default Search Engine” For Siri One of the things that you might have missed if you weren’t paying really close attention to the live blogs of the […]
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 […]
When Google first released its updated Google Search app last October, it never made the iTunes top ten and, last week, wasn’t even in the top 100. But the addition of Google Now helped the app make the top ten in less than a week. Google relaunched its app last October with Siri-like voice recognition […]
Expect Labs, which is a small startup in the San Francisco Bay Area, has a very impressive list of investors. Today the company announced a new funding round, though the figures weren’t disclosed. Investors are the venture or investment arms of Intel, Samsung and Telefonica. Telefonica is the world’s fourth largest telco and owns mobile […]
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 […]
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 […]
One of the very interesting things going on in search is the phenomenon of “predictive search” or personalized recommendations based on a range of user data inputs (i.e., behavior, context, etc). Effectively, these are search results produced without entering a query into a search box. Much of what is happening in mobile and Google Now is […]
A study published today by Indiana-based Butler University compared the performance of a range of search engines and Q&A sites on mobile devices. It found that “ChaCha delivered the highest quality responses consistently across the largest group of categories and question types.” The study was sponsored by ChaCha. However, ChaCha CEO Scott Jones told me via email […]
Yesterday Google issued an update of its search app for Android. Among the modest changes were expanded Google Now content and functionality. For those devices running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) or higher, which is now about 13.6 percent of handsets, Google Now now includes movie ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and movie passes from Fandango. (Apple’s […]
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: Will [Not Provided] Ever Reach 100% In Web Analytics? With the news today that Chrome is moving to secure search, marketers may be wondering about the larger picture of using search […]
By now, everyone’s used to Siri’s wit. Tell her you love her, and Apple’s Siri digital assistant may respond that all you need is love — and an iPhone. Or that it will never work out. And she’s got jokes for a variety of other queries. But who’s the woman behind Siri? Or the man? […]
How much does Google figure into the “future of search,” whose advances will largely be determined by mobile and non-traditional devices? That’s a hard question to answer. On the one hand Google is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) brand in the world, with almost unlimited resources to develop technology or buy companies […]
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 Policing Of Duplicate Ad Sitelinks Extensions Misses Apparent Violator — Itself AdWords advertisers know that Google has plenty of policies by which you must abide, like Ad Sitelinks extensions can’t […]
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 […]
Google Maps new iOS app is terrific — although initiating navigation isn’t as intuitive as it might be. But I’ve found that Apple Maps is as good or nearly as good, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have not had a chance to test maps apps side-by-side in other regions. Here’s what […]
Google has released its long-awaited map app for the iPhone. And it delivers all the expected features: voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, traffic, public transit, Street View and so on. It’s better than Google Maps for Android because it has been built or rebuilt “from the ground up” and didn’t grow by accretion. The bottom line: it delivers. Yet […]
Just when you thought competition in search was effectively over, it starts to get interesting again. Over the past two weeks I’ve spoken to no less than four companies that say they are trying to reinvent “mobile search” for smartphones or tablets. I would almost guarantee there are more out there as well. These companies […]
A few years ago VCs and entrepreneurs believed that there was an opportunity to disrupt online search, to offer a more compelling or next-generation experience. Companies like Powerset, which was sold to Microsoft, were among a class of search insurgents that spoke broadly about the opportunity to go beyond what Google was doing. That battle for 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, […]
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 Introduces Targeting Improvements To Help More Marketers “Get Local” For Holidays While this will be a true multi-channel holiday, the overwhelming number of actual purchases (north of 90 percent) will […]
Almost exactly three years ago then Google employee Marissa Mayer described “the perfect search engine” in an interview with IDG News. She said it would be one “that could understand speech, questions, phrases, what entities you’re talking about, concepts. It would be able to search all of the world’s information, [find] different ideas and concepts, […]
Got the new Google Search app on your iPhone or iPad? Here’s a trick. Ask it, “What’s the best smartphone?” The app will politely decline to say. The app will reply in one of two ways that I’ve found: “No one phone is right for everyone.” “You’ll have to decide for yourself.” Don’t have the […]
Announced in August, Google’s new Google Search app for iOS has been apparently stuck in Apple’s app approval process for over two months. No longer. Google’s just announced that the new app is out. The news came on Google’s official blog today. The company has also posted a video of how it works: [youtube width=”560″ […]
Google has beefed up its Google Now feature. In addition to the existing content (Calendar, Sports, Traffic, Weather, Places) the company has added a range of new cards/categories to Now: Flights Hotels Restaurant reservations Events Packages/shipping Stocks Movies Breaking news Nearby attractions Nearby photo spots Google Now is in a way Google’s answer to Apple’s […]
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 […]
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 Disavow Links Tool Google has launched a new and widely anticipated “disavow links” tool. The tool was announced by the head of Google’s web spam team Matt Cutts, when […]
It would appear that Siri will be getting a little more searchy. As AllThingsD reported this afternoon Apple has hired William Stasior, the guy who took over at Amazon’s search engine A9 after Udi Manber left for Google. While Siri isn’t a search engine it can operate like one from a user perspective. With Stasior’s […]