Earlier this month, Google’s Matt Cutts sent a shockwave through the advanced SEO community by saying that site owners could no longer perform “PageRank sculpting” using the nofollow tag in the way they’d previously thought. Now Matt’s posted more explanation about the change. But rather than stop PageRank sculpting, I expect his explanation will simply […]
The Google Mobile Blog announced yet another shot at an optimized version of iGoogle for iPhone and Android devices. About six months ago, Google quietly dropped the iPhone optimized iGoogle, before that, they had an optimized version since January 2008. After living without an iPhone/Android version of iGoogle for about six months, Google came out […]
CEO Eric Schmidt has weighed in on the Bing launch — and he’s not sounding panicked, not that I would expect him to be. But he certainly puts out a conflicted message that Bing isn’t a serious competitor and yet argues that it’s serious enough that talk of a Google monopoly seems “unwarranted.” Plus, a […]
As first noticed by Michael Dorausch, and later expanded on by Michael Gray, Google has very recently begun showing Wikipedia as a news source on Google News. Little has been said about this until today, when Google’s Gabriel Stricker confirmed to the Nieman Journalism Lab that it’s part of a small experiment on Google’s part: […]
Consistent with some what we’ve been seeing and hearing from other measurement firms, Bing appears to have developed a bit of momentum since launch. Out this morning is comScore data: Microsoft Sites increased its average daily penetration among U.S. searchers from 13.8 percent during the period of May 26-30 to 15.5 percent during the period […]
Finally, Twitter’s making a move toward verified accounts — with the news coming out from the service in response to reports it had settled a lawsuit with the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Tony La Russa, over how someone apparently impersonated him on the service. Twitter denies any settlement. Earlier today, St. Louis Today […]
Joe Wilcox compiled many of the early Bing commercials. Microsoft has a Bing YouTube channel where many of the commercials are available.
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 Updates AdWords Editor (Version 7.5.1) The Inside AdWords Blog announced the release of a new version of AdWords Editor, the desktop editing tool for managing your AdWords campaigns. The new […]
As many of you know, Microsoft’s Bing went live early this morning and many searchers had a chance to get their feet wet with the new search engines. I have been hearing a mix of reaction on Bing and I thought I share some of those articles and blog posts with commentary on Bing’s debut. […]
Tired of just hearing about Microsoft’s new Bing search engine? Now you can use it yourself. Spotted via Techmeme, Bing is live as a “preview” service. What’s the “preview” mean? That anyone can use it while Live Search, the service that Bing is to replace, continues on as the “main” Microsoft search engine. Then sometime […]
Discussions between Google and the Associated Press about renewing their content licensing deal continue, I assume, but all’s quiet recently on the negotiation front. I want to disrupt that. It would be wrong in this particular case for both parties to reach a deal where “terms are not disclosed.” The future of journalism, as well […]
Google cofounder Sergey Brin turned up at a session for the press at the Google I/O event today and took questions on Google’s relations with newspapers, cited hopes of breaking “Page’s Law” of software sluggishness and even one about what he thought about the expected name of Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing. Below, a summary […]
If Microsoft brings “boatloads of money and the right technology,” Yahoo would be willing to strike a long-rumored search deal. So said Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz at the D7 Conference today, where All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher interviewed her on stage. Bartz followed up that statement by saying Microsoft would need “biiiig boatloads of money” […]
I’m at the Google I/O conference, where it is being opened by Google CEO Eric Schmidt. He’s welcoming the audience and saying it’s great to be in front of programmers and saying, “it’s time. it’s time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity before us … it has been 20 years trying to […]
Call it Microsoft Week (or weeks as the case may be). We’ll likely hear the name of the new search engine this week from the AllThingsD conference and next week, to coincide with SMX Advanced, the public will get a chance to actually use it. While everyone who reads this blog will no doubt test […]
Last Thursday, I talked with Twitter cofounder Biz Stone on a variety of issues about Twitter but especially focused around search. In the interview, he discussed: how Twitter may redesign its home page to better reposition itself as a sharing and discovery service; how discovery might be enhanced by perhaps by allowing people to share […]
This had been reported before, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt acknowledged that Google had looked at investing in or buying a newspaper in an interview in London with the Financial Times: FT: Would you ever consider buying a newspaper; they’re cheap right now? ES: We’ve actually looked at this and we’re trying to avoid crossing […]
Google has announced several changes that are coming soon to Google Suggest, the feature that suggests search queries as you type. The two most interesting to me are the inclusion of ads and direct links in the search suggestions. Let’s take a look, starting with the suggested links. Navigation Links If Google is confident about […]
There’s a much longer post to be written on Google and so-called “real-time” search. Twitter is both more and less than a search engine, but there are lots of third parties doing search-like things around the Twitter data. However, yesterday at an event in London, Loic Le Meur elicited this response from Google co-founder Larry […]
Google, which recently liberalized the use of trademark terms as a trigger for showing ads, has again opened up its ad policies to allow trademark terms to be used within ad copy, in certain circumstances, within the United States. Currently, registered trademark holders can request that Google prevent their trademarks from being used in ad […]
Currently, many people who use Google’s services, including web search, Gmail, Google Reader and other products are either down or incredibly slow for some Google users. For Danny and myself, we are able to access these services with no problem. However, if you look at recent Tweets about Google, you will notice that many people […]
Almost an annual event, Google Searchology is a time when Google struts its search stuff in front of assorted reporters. Today’s event gets going at 10am Pacific time. I’ll be live blogging from this page, and you can also watch the event yourself via this webcast. You can also follow @google on Twitter, which will […]
Radio Tunes Out Google in Rare Miss for Web Titan from the Wall Street Journal has some excellent history on why Google Radio ultimately failed earlier this year. I’ll quote the story early on, but the Wall Street Journal piece is excellent, on its own. A look at what went wrong shows that Google misjudged […]
The noise about whether Google is a monopoly that needs to be controlled continues to ramp up, with Google itself releasing a “charm offensive” set of slides after its lobbying using those slides was outed by Consumer Watchdog. I’ll cover that below, but as I watch the debate continue over whether Google has too much […]
It used to be common wisdom that Google never did consumer marketing. That’s changed over the past few years, with Google doing everything from billboards to radio ads to bus “wraps” to push particular Google products. Now it boldly goes into that final frontier, TV ads in the United States. It’s a first for Google. […]
Today, Microsoft announced that it had delivered layoff notices to 3,000 employees across several divisions (1,200 in Washington state). This comes just months after an initial round of 1,400 who were let go when Microsft announced second quarter earnings. At that time, Microsoft said it planned to eliminate 5,000 jobs this year, and Microsoft’s CEO […]
Another publisher is complaining that Google isn’t giving them their “fair share” — this time Forbes CEO Jim Spanfeller. Google makes $60 million off the Forbes brand, he claims (with no proof), and boosting “quality publishers” like Forbes would help Eric Schmidt’s web sewage problem. This is from the publication that sells paid links that […]
Google is now expanding its map-based, location-aware service Latitude beyond the the Latitude destination in new ways with a public location sharing badge for third party sites and other apps that incorporate location. The first of those other apps is Google Talk. In the first example, Google has enabled those already signed up for Latitude […]
Much attention has been focused on the forthcoming Wolfram Alpha search service. Will it be as important as Google has become? Perhaps! A new search paradigm? Yes! Or at least a new way of gathering information. A Google-killer? Nope! But when the service launches, it should become an essential in anyone’s search tool kit. Wolfram […]
Apparently talks between Google and the Associated Press aren’t going well, or so says Forbes today, with AP chief executive Tom Curley threatening to take his content and play elsewhere. Where that will be is hard to say. Part of the AP’s original issue with Google was that AP’s own member publications would reprint AP […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
IAC has acquired UrbanSpoon, the restaurant review site that has an incredible popular iPhone application, amongst Facebook widgets and other widgets. The news is now over Techmeme that the company has been acquired for somewhere in the millions of dollar range. IAC has not disclosed the acquisition price. The company was set up by Ethan […]
After skirting one antitrust action involving a proposed ad deal with Yahoo, Google may be facing a new one — this over the proposed settlement of the lawsuit involving Google Book Search. Both the New York Times and the Wall St. Journal are reporting that the US Department of Justice is examining the terms of […]
The highly anticipated Wolfram Alpha search engine made its debut today, although Google tossed in a little spoiler. The webcast was apparently difficult for some to view, but you can get impressions of what happened from Between The Lines and Bits. The site also has a new blog and Twitter account, and we’ll be looking […]
Microsoft is launching Vine today as a limited beta in Seattle only. It’s an interesting local/social communications and information tool that plays in the same sandbox as both Twitter and Facebook, and also competes to a degree with online news sites. Vine is Windows-only software that’s intended to sit open on your desktop so that […]
When’s Microsoft’s new search brand launching? Perhaps at our SMX Advanced search marketing conference on June 2, based on a “countdown clock” someone spotted at the Microsoft campus. The LiveSide Blog reports a visitor noticed a countdown clock at Building 88, where the Live Search team works at Microsoft’s headquarters. The clock says “Countdown to […]
After covering search for 13 years, I’m more than a little jaded. I’ve seen any number of search start-ups promise to revolutionize how we search. None of them have in the huge way they’ve promised, other than Google — and it’s a special case. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been watching Wolfram Alpha walk […]
Ever searched for yourself on Google and come away dissatisfied, especially if someone else you share a name with seems to dominate the results? Ever looked for someone else and been disappointed that you couldn’t find the person you wanted? Google’s new “Profile Results” launching today aim to correct both problems. Since the end of […]
It has been well over three years since Ask.com has retired Jeeves. Ever since then, many searchers and internet users have asked for his return. Today, Jeeves has come out of retirement, at least in the UK, where he returns as the brand behind the search engine. Visiting uk.ask.com or any of the URLs should […]
Digg is promising a significant change to how its DiggBar framebar operates, one that should solve SEO concerns about how link credit is passed on but won’t entirely remove misgivings about the framing of content. With the new implementation scheduled for next week, only those who are logged into Digg will see the DiggBar. So […]