Last night, President Obama gave his State of the Union address. During his address, Google was plotting how his speech impacted the types of search queries done on Google last night. Google was sharing statistics and charts throughout the night on their Google Politics Google+ page. Here are some of the interesting trends we saw […]
Google now faces antitrust investigations on multiple continents. The US FTC recently hired a prominent outside litigator in a sign that it may be preparing to bring an action against the company. But does Google have a “slam dunk” defense against such a case (at least in the US) under the First Amendment of 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: Why So Many Companies Fail At Enterprise SEO A well-defined brand no longer guarantees search placement. It is only through enterprise-level cultural changes, informed by a close monitoring of search evolution, […]
Following the revelation last week that the iPhone stored user location data a consumer class action was filed. This kind of disclosure/revelation-class action cycle is now familiar. And because Google also collects location data it is now also the subject of a similar class action (Brown et al v. Google) seeking $50 million in damages. […]
It’s a long-standing complaint of mine with Google. You can do a search, then repeat the same search and “subtract” a word from your original set, and Google will return more matches — not less. It shouldn’t happen. But does, and here’s why. Subtracting Gives You More? Consider a search for cars, which reports 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: Google Claims Victory In French Supreme Court Keyword Trademark Case Google wrote that they were victorious in a ruling today by the French Supreme Court over trademark infringement charges brought to […]
Google has won a “motion for summary judgment” in its bitterly fought lawsuit with Viacom over YouTube. This ruling effectively ends the case. Google has won, at least in this court. Viacom vows to appeal.
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 Tests Phone Numbers In AdWords Ads A reader sent us a screen capture of a phone number being listed in the Google AdWords ad text. The phone number is not […]
Just in time for this year’s mid-term Congressional elections in November the US Supreme Court opened the financial floodgates by overturning campaign finance rules that prevented corporations from spending at will to oppose or support political candidates. Two of the biggest likely beneficiaries of these new more liberal (not in the political sense) spending rules […]
With a final “fairness hearing” scheduled for February 18, the US Department Of Justice has filed briefs (PDF) in opposition to the Google Book Search Amended Settlement Agreement (“ASA”). The DOJ commends the parties for their efforts to reach an amended agreement that addresses some of the problems with the original settlement but concludes that […]
Not a month goes by without someone launching a new real-time search engine; but after trying out most of them, there are few I use on a regular basis. Factery Labs is about to change that with today’s launch of its real-time fact engine at 1:00 pm ET. Where other real-time search engines focus on […]
At Google’s recent press event last week, in advance of its annual shareholder meeting, CEO Eric Schmidt seemed to brush off the notion that he might be compelled to resign from Apple’s board because of a potential problem with an “interlocking directorate” (common directors on competing firms). This reaction is consistent with Google’s public calm, […]
Last week the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the Rescuecom v. Google case that has some potentially serious implications for all concerned. The appellate court has jurisdiction over cases arising in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont but the case has national impact because of the way that AdWords is operated and […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
India’s National Newspaper reports that India’s Supreme Court is suing Google, Yahoo and Microsoft for allowing “sex selection” ads. India has a law that does not allow the sale or advertisement of services that allow people to pick the sex of their unborn child. India has virtually stopped all advertisements on TV, newsprint and radio, […]
It’s fairly safe to say: 1) patent law is a mess, 2) patent law is in transition, and 3) newer court rulings are reducing the rights of patent holders. But in a very provocative argument, based on recent cases, the PatentlyO law blog argues that new rules and tests imposed by courts (though not yet […]
You have no privacy on YouTube. So effectively declared a US judge yesterday. And now somebody in the US government better stop grandstanding about search and privacy protection and actually get some laws enacted. Yesterday’s move might be the ultimate incentive, as US politicians realize that what they’ve watched on YouTube may now be open […]
No matter how much 3D, imagery, flash, and other impressive functionality you build into maps, data are the core of the experience. And improving local data is like building the pyramids in a sense. It takes lots of effort from many people. For this reason Google opened up Google Maps to community editing in March […]
You may recall that the failure of Google and Viacom, which owns MTV and Comedy Central among other properties, to negotiate an agreement to work together (read: revenue sharing) resulted in a very public Viacom-Google “pissing match” over copyright infringement and whether Google had made good faith efforts to protect against it. (Danny has an […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web
A US district court judge has ruled that it is unconstitutional for the US government to send secret letters demanding search records from search engines. A provision of the Patriot Act has allowed for such letters to be sent to search engines, ISPs and others by the Federal Bureau Of Investigation — and made it […]
I’ve got a patent, you’ve got a patent. It seems that nearly everyone running an Internet company has a patent nowadays. Local.com is the latest to announce a patent in the local space. The patent (no. 7,231,405), which I was unable to locate through a USPTO and Google Patents search, “covers local search technology related […]
Last Thursday I did a webcast for Search Marketing Now on local search called “Local Search Advertising: Challenges and Opportunities.” The slide presentation and a recording of the webcast are available here. Those who didn’t attend can still hear the webcast and access the slides by registering for free. The presentation was intended to be […]