September 2008: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories
Below are Search Engine Land’s 10 most popular stories from September 2008:
Topic: Techmeme
Google Puts New AdSense Ads Under Maps
The continued success of Google Maps gives Google another growing revenue stream to tap into, and that’s what they’re doing with the placement of new AdSense ads immediately under maps on Google Maps. The ads don’t show up on all searches, but they do appear on enough searches to suggest this is more than a […]
Sneak Peek: Stunning New Google Satellite Imagery
New satellite images that will eventually show up in Google Earth and Google Maps are now arriving from the Google-sponsored GeoEye-1 satellite that launched a month ago. GeoEye has just released the stunning image below as a preview of what’s to come:
Yahoo Upgrades Calendar, Integrates With Other Yahoo Properties
Yahoo! Calendar, one of the company’s early “Web 1.0” properties, is getting a major facelift for the first time in 10 years. Yahoo announced details of the new Yahoo! Calendar beta today, which uses technology from their 2007 purchase of Zimbra.
Online Ad Revenues Up Vs. 2007, Down Vs. Q2; Search A Relative Bright Spot
Overall online ad spending in the US was up almost 13 percent compared with Q2 2007, but down slightly (0.3 percent) from Q1 2008. Online ad revenues for the second quarter were $5.7 billion, compared with $5.8 billion in Q1. Revenues were $11.5 billion for the first six months of 2008 vs. approximately $10 billion […]
Google AdSense For Games Beta
Google has announced the beta launch of Google AdSense for Games. Basically, with the acquisition of AdScape, Google is now able to place ads within online games. The ad formats include video ads, image ads, or text ads. How do you sign up for the beta? You need to complete this form and the requirements […]
Facebook Adds Microsoft Live Search
Extending a partnership that dates back to 2006, Facebook today added Microsoft’s Live Search to its offerings, giving users in the U.S. a way to search the web without leaving Facebook.com. An announcement on the Live Search Blog also says Microsoft adCenter will display paid search ads next to those web search results. Microsoft has […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 6, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Ask.com Goes Back To 1996 With New Release
Ask.com has released version 11 of their new search engine today. The new version somewhat goes back to the Ask Jeeves approach, focusing on providing structured search results, mostly in the form of answers. Techmeme has coverage of the news item, with the main articles currently from the NY Times and News.com.
Banner Ads & Image Ads On Google Images
Earlier this week, we noted a report that Google was showing banner ads on Google Images. Now via TechCrunch, a new implementation — an AdWords ad on Google Images with its own thumbnail image. Notice in the screenshot above how a Guinness Logo is appearing next to a Target ad where NHL Buffalo merchandise is […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 2, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google Blogs & Other “Front Pages” For The Blogosphere
When Techmeme opened in 2005, I’d found a new online newspaper to begin my day with. It quickly and neatly organized top stories as reported by various blogs and news sources for the area I cover. But if you weren’t into technology, you seemed kind of out of luck. Now Google Blog Search has stepped […]
New: Browse Top Stories At Google Blog Search
Google Blog Search just had a big change announced today — top blog posts are now clustered on the home page around particular story topics, similar to how Google News (or Techmeme) operates. You can also drill into various categories of posts, such as technology or politics. It looks interesting and promising, and we’re going […]
SearchPerks – Microsoft’s New Prizes For Searches Program
Microsoft’s Live Search Cashback program has failed to grow the company’s search traffic significantly (as I expected), so now it’s try again time. Out officially today is SearchPerks, a program designed to be easier to use and more broadly targeted than Cashback.
GOOG’s Mystery Stock Plunge
The stock market is bad, but Google trading for as low as 1 cent today and closing initially at $320 (after opening at $488) has the NASDAQ checking out some odd trades and resetting the closing price to $400. Reuters reports that “erroneous orders” may have caused the drop and that these orders might not […]
Pro-Life & Pro-Choice Now Side By Side In Google Search Ads
Anti-abortion groups to buy ads on Google from the TimesOnline reports that Google is now accepting “pro-life” search ads. In the past, Google did not allow anti-abortion groups to advertise against abortion-related keywords. Google stopped that practice a couple days ago after agreeing that the policy it may breach UK’s Equalities Act of 2006. The […]
Yahoo Tests New Home Page
Yahoo has announced they are testing a new home page in the US, UK, France and India. The new homepage contains information from both Yahoo and non-Yahoo properties, such as AOL Mail and Gmail data. They will also keep the “Featured” section more up to date with “timely content from across the Web” and adding […]
National Advertiser Trade Group Recommends Against Google-Yahoo Search Deal
The Association of National Advertisers, a high profile trade group that represents “400 companies with 9,000 brands,” has sent a letter to Assistant US Attorney General Thomas Barnett in which the group objects to the pending Google-Yahoo search advertising deal.
I Don’t Get The Microsoft TV Ad But I Like It
Everyone is talking about the new Microsoft TV ad featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. paidContent.org called the ad pretty pathetic, Sam Diaz didn’t get it, nor did I. TechCrunch got word from Microsoft that the ad is triggered to “engage consumers” and “spark conversation,” which I guess it is doing.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 2, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Waiting For Google Chrome To Launch
Obviously the big story of yesterday and today in the technology world is the impending launch of Google’s open-source browser Chrome. It will likely be available for download here later today. (TechCrunch and Google Blogoscoped have a few screenshots.) There are dozens and dozens of stories on Techmeme.
Google Chrome – Google’s Finally Launching Its Own Browser
So much for a quiet Labor Day off. Google Blogoscoped has news of Google Chrome, a new browser that Google plans to release. More coverage can also be found on Techmeme. No — it’s not just a rumor. Google tells me that it is indeed a real browser it plans to release. Expect more news […]
Microsoft Acquires Market Research Firm Greenfield Online To Get EU Shopping Engine Ciao
Microsoft successfully bid to acquire Greenfield Online for approximately $486 million. But Microsoft isn’t really interested in Greenfield, it was after the company’s subsidiary Ciao GmbH. Founded in 1999 and acquired by Greenfield in 2005, Ciao is an Munich-based EU comparison shopping site with user reviews.
Search & Internet Explorer 8
After finally getting the new Internet Explorer 8 beta installed (demands to upgrade Windows, verify Windows, sigh), I spent some time playing with the new search functionality and checking to see if Microsoft was going to try to stack the deck in its favor with the new browser. So far, it remains pretty even handed. […]
Yahoo! SearchMonkey Becomes More Mainstream
Earlier this year, when I wrote about Yahoo! SearchMonkey, which enables developers to build search result enhancements based on semantic web data, I was skeptical that it would fulfill Yahoo!’s stated aims of encouraging wider use of semantic web standards. While I agreed with Yahoo! that site owners need a reason to adopt these standards, […]
Britain Clears The Way For Google Street Views; Google Argues No “Complete Privacy” In US StreetView Court Case
Watchdog clears Google’s street cameras from The Guardian reports Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office has officially given their approval over the privacy risks with the Street Views option in Google Maps. Meanwhile in the US, Google is arguing in a court case against StreetView that there is no “complete privacy.”
Report: Google To Develop A Venture-Capital Unit
Google to Extend Reach With Venture-Capital Arm from the Wall Street Journal reports Google is in the early stages of putting together a corporate venture-capital unit within Google. Google’s senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, David Drummond, is reported to be leading up the new unit. Google has hired William Maris, […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 30, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google “Knows” About 1 Trillion Web Items
How big is Google’s web index? Google hasn’t said for years and still isn’t saying — but it is blogging today about how it "knows" of 1 trillion web-based items. Joy, we haven’t had a search engine talk about pages it knows about to confuse things since the Lycos days. Glad to have Google making […]
C’mon Microsoft — Say You’re In Search Because You Love It, Not Want To Earn From It
Sigh. Reading Stephen Ballmer’s latest "rally the troops" memo over yet another Microsoft reorganization, I just want to scream at the man and the company in general that they’ll never win at search if they don’t get it through their heads that it’s not about selling ads, but serving searchers.
Yahoo Acquisition Architect Johnson Departs Microsoft
Kevin Johnson, who was arguably the primary architect of the now apparently failed Yahoo acquisition, is leaving Microsoft to run Juniper Networks. Simultaneously, the company is reorganizing the division that Johnson ran (“Platform Services”) into two: Windows and Windows Live + Online Services. Here’s the official Microsoft announcement from yesterday. The company announced no immediate […]
Google’s Knol Launches: Like Wikipedia, With Moderation
After six months of testing, Google has formally rolled out Knol, a service designed to let people create pages of knowledge on any topic they choose. While Google says Knol is not designed to compete with Wikipedia — and there are good arguments to back this up — I still think the easiest way to […]
Rumor: Google To Buy Digg For $200 Million?
There are ways in which Digg is like YouTube: it’s the “brand” in a competitive “social news” segment that also features Yahoo Buzz, AOL’s Propeller, MySpace News, Reddit, Ask Big News and, by some counts, more than 80 others. Similarly, YouTube was the “brand” in a crowded video segment when Google acquired the company. Digg […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 21, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Icahn Settles With Yahoo, Joins Board
As Greg noted earlier, Carl Ichan was seeking control of Yahoo’s board. Instead, Yahoo and Ichan came up with a compromise, giving Ichan 3 of the 11 seats on Yahoo’s board. Eight members of the board will stand for reelection, including Yang. Robert Kotick will not be up for reelection. The board will expand to […]
comScore: Yahoo & Microsoft Gain Share But Google Breaks 7 Billion Searches
It’s search popularity statistics time again, and I’m starting off with the latest figures from comScore. Finally, a change — Google slips while Yahoo and Microsoft gain. Trouble for the Big G? Not really — because in terms of raw number of searches, June 2008 was another record breaker for Google.
Google Has Over 75% Of US Search Ad Market
New figures out on search advertising spend from Efficient Frontier show Google continues to dominate the market, stats that will no doubt complicate the company’s goal to gain approval of its deal with Yahoo on search ads. However, it is interesting how in Japan, it’s a much more 50/50 market split with Yahoo, showing that […]
Blinkx Offers “Red Label” Video Syndication Product
Video search engine Blinkx, which has offered white label video search for some time, has introduced what it’s calling “blinkx Red Label.” It’s basically an API and hosted solution that allows smaller sites to use the service entirely for free. Larger sites with more volume are required to monetize the pages themselves or Blinkx will […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 15, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Twitter & Summize Tie The Knot
The rumors that Twitter will be buying Summize have now been confirmed. Twitter, the popular micro-blogging platform, has acquired Summize, a search engine that searches Twitter. You can read all the news at Techmeme and also make sure to check out Danny’s write up on Summize named Summize Gains “Local” Twitter Search Option.