This day in search marketing history: March 14
Learn what happened on this day in search marketing history – including developments in SEO, PPC, search and digital marketing.
Topic: Tellme Networks
This day in search marketing history: March 13
Google hides organic search listings plus: broad core search algorithm update, Panda updates, author rank, incremental ad clicks and more.
This day in search marketing history: January 23
Expedia buys Travelocity, plus: Don't Be Evil tool, semantic search, Position 6 penalty, unlimited site exclusions and more.
Ex-Googler John Giannandrea takes charge of Siri
Apple has merged Siri and its machine learning groups under Giannandrea’s leadership.
Confirmed: Bing 411 Closing June 1st
Microsoft is closing down their toll-free voice search program named Bing 411. I have confirmed the Bing 411 service is closing by calling the service and hearing immediately the message: Bing 411: On June 1st, we are discontinuing the Bing 411 service. There were reports of this via LiveSide where they said they “received a […]
Bing Voice Search Coming To Xbox
Later this year, Bing search will take on a new platform: the Xbox entertainment/gaming console. And to prove that it’s all cutting edge stuff in the gamers’ world, Bing will be offering a voice-based search engine (in addition to a traditional text/type-based search) to help users find games, movies and TV shows, music and other […]
Marchex Acquires 800-Free-411 Owner Jingle Networks
Marchex announced this morning that it was buying Jingle Networks, operator of free directory assistance service 800-Free-411, for $62 million in cash and stock. Founded in 2004, Jingle Networks also has a pay-per-call mobile ad network. Jingle’s 800-Free-411 competed with GOOG-411, which was closed down last year, and Microsoft’s Bing-411, which is still operating. However […]
Windows Phones Finally Arrive With Dedicated Search Button
Get in, get out. That’s the idea behind the new Windows Phones: get access to content quickly and “get back to your life.” Personalization and simplicity are also key themes of the new Microsoft mobile experience, which officially launched this morning with speeches from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la […]
GOOG-411 Winds Down, Bing-411 Parties On
Yesterday Google announced that it was shutting down 800-GOOG-411, the free directory assistance (or voice search) service it launched in April, 2007. Back in those days the mobile landscape looked very different than it does today. It was challenging to conduct searches on most mobile phones and the iPhone was in its infancy. The first […]
Bing Adds Voice-Guided Turn-by-Turn Navigation To Windows Mobile App
Bing has added voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation to the Bing mobile app for Windows Phones 6.1 and above. Bing thus joins Google, Nokia and to a lesser degree MapQuest in offering free mobile navigation services. It also means more woe for the PND makers (TomTom, Garmin, et al). The voice component of the Bing navigation service […]
Year In Review: Search Goes Mobile
The iPhone was introduced on June 29, 2007 and that was effectively the beginning of the mobile internet era. With the iPhone also came the acceleration of mobile search for Google, the default engine for the iconic Apple device. This year mobile became a cornerstone of Google’s strategy with a string of announcements, product tweaks […]
Bing’s New iPhone App Goes Live
Microsoft’s new Bing iPhone app — that’s right, you heard it correctly — is an accomplishment on many levels. Microsoft has come a long way in acknowledging the importance of the iPhone platform. And the app itself offers a terrific overall mobile search experience, particularly in maps and local. It’s available this evening in the […]
‘Augmented Reality’ Is Also A Form Of Search
We’re really just at the beginning of the era of “mobile search.” Even what we think of as “search” will be dramatically altered by innovations in mobile. In this first phase the transfer of what might be called the “query box” (and related links) into mobile is complete. In time, however, we many even come […]
Report: ChaCha Voice Search Beats Google, Yahoo/Vlingo In Accuracy, Reliability
A new report finds that mobile search and answers service ChaCha beat Google and Yahoo’s voice search tools in terms of overall accuracy and reliability across a range of query types in a controlled study. The study was conducted by Albright Communications/MSearchGroove in January of this year. The report, which can be downloaded from the […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 30, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 29, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Microsoft’s Tellme Offers Improved Mobile Voice Search Experience
Tellme has been in the speech, automated directory assistance and “voice search” segment for a decade. Two years ago the company was acquired by Microsoft for roughly $800 million. Since that time the two companies have been working on integration and developing next-generation services. Tellme powers Microsoft’s LiveSearch 411, among other services. Today, two years […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 27, 2009
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Need Traffic Report? Call Microsoft Live Search 411!
How many people are familiar with Microsoft’s Voice Search tool “Live Search 411?” It’s a powerful yet not well-known way to do local search from any phone (1-800-CALL-411 or 1-800-225-5411). Conceptually, it’s exactly like Goog-411 but has more considerably more content and capabilities. Built on the Tellme infrastructure it can provide: Local business search Driving […]
Microsoft Continues Peeling Off Yahoo Search Talent
Microsoft (so far) has been unable to buy Yahoo or Yahoo search assets, so it instead continues to take search talent away from the company. Last year Microsoft successfully lured engineering lead Qi Lu from Yahoo to become head of the company’s Online Services Group. Redmond also recently nabbed Sean Suchter from Yahoo. Now Bloomberg […]
Google Brings Voice Search To The iPhone
The New York Times reports in Friday’s newspaper that Google’s iPhone app will be updated with voice search capability. The move should come as no surprise: The launch of Goog411 in 2007 brought immediate speculation that mobile voice search was on the way, and Google tells the Times that data collection from the Goog411 project […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 2, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Google Brings Voice Search To Maps On Blackberry Mobile Phones
Today Google announced a download that enables voice search for Google Maps on Blackberry devices. This is very much like the existing Windows Live Search for Mobile service with voice or Tellme for Blackberry devices (also Microsoft). Yahoo also recently integrated Vlingo’s speech technology into oneSearch.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 23, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Verizon Enters The ‘Voice Search’ Fray With 1-800-THE-INFO
Verizon is formally launching an ad-supported free directory assistance/voice search product in the US called 1-800-THE-INFO. It joins an increasingly crowded field that already features Google, Microsoft, and AT&T, among others. As I said yesterday in my post about the launch of a new voice search offering from ChaCha, most consumers are still unaware of […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 3, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Mobile 411: A Leading Indicator For Mobile Search
There are roughly 250 million cell phone users in the United States and more than ten times that figure around the globe. Approximately 42 million (or so) people use the “mobile Internet” in the US, with varying degrees of frequency. The number of people texting constitutes at least 100 million more on top of that. […]
Microsoft’s Johnson: “Once Yahoo And Microsoft Agree On A Transaction”
This afternoon, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft Platforms & Services Division, issued an email to Microsoft employees (that was released via its PR firm). The letter has a tone of confidence that assumes a deal with Yahoo will ultimately take place. It reiterates what Microsoft believes to be the benefits of that deal and looks […]
A Local Look At Microsoft’s Bid For Yahoo
Last Friday, shortly after the Microsoft bid for Yahoo was made public, Danny and I had an opportunity to discuss the proposed acquisition with Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of strategic partnerships for Microsoft. Our questions to Mehdi often returned to post-acquisition “integration” issues. I brought up local, maps, and mobile as areas where both […]
MSFT + YHOO: What Would Microsoft Yahoo Look Like?
The conference call has happened, and despite saying it has a plan to digest Yahoo, Microsoft didn’t share that with the world. Indeed, at one point it was said any plan depended on what Yahoo’s leadership would suggest. That means it’s time for What If. Some thoughts below from me and contributing editor Greg Sterling. […]
Microsoft Call: “We Love The Yahoo Brand” [But Can The Deal Happen?]
Danny and I just got off the Microsoft conference call. He’s already posted live notes from the call. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at the outset, “This is a decision I’ve thought long and hard about. This is the right path for Microsoft and it’s the right path for Yahoo.” Ballmer added that “A year […]
Live Blogging Microsoft’s Bid For Yahoo Call
The Microsoft conference call on the Yahoo bid is happening now. I’ll live blog rough notes. Greg Sterling will do a formal write-up later.
Microsoft Releases Upgrades For Maps, Local, And Mobile
Late last month, at its “Searchification” event, Microsoft introduced a wide range of search enhancements and improvements. The company also said there would be additional updates to follow. Those are now rolling out and include feature and content enhancements for maps, local, and mobile services. The biggest news is the introduction of a new voice […]
Live Blogging: Microsoft Searchification Day 2007
I’m sitting at the Microsoft conference center for Searchification Day. We’re within walking distance from the Googleplex, where I was for Google Searchology Day just a few short months ago. Searchology was all about Google’s unveiling of universal search, and interestingly, today could be seen as Live’s answer to that. As Nathan Buggia, Product Manager […]
Sprint And Microsoft Extend Mobile Partnership, Offer New Services
Microsoft has been powering the search box on Sprint for awhile now, and the companies have had a public, strategic relationship since last November. But this evening they announced some new enhancements and mobile services. There are essentially two things being introduced: location-aware mobile search and a rich client download (voice local search) powered by […]
CallGenie and R.H. Donnelley Launch Local Voice Search
Yellow pages publisher R.H. Donnelley (RHD), which recently acquired Business.com and owns search marketing firm LocalLaunch, is testing a new voice local mobile search product, 1-800-CallDex, in four U.S. markets: Denver, Phoenix, Spokane (WA) and Tucson. It offers a suite of services powered by speech and local mobile search enabler CallGenie, which is also behind […]
Segmenting Local Mobile Search: The Major Players & Mobile Search Types
Expectations of mobile search and local mobile search in particular are rising. As mobile ad networks form, mobile M&A activity heats up and the search engines pour greater attention and resources into their mobile offerings one could say we’re on the cusp of a new mobile era. Indeed, as much as I’m reluctant to use […]
Exalead Teams With Directory Assistance Provider To Offer Voice-Powered Mobile Search In France
Gary Price at ResourceShelf alerted us to the fact that enhanced directory assistance provider 118 218 in France is now offering a much broader service using content and results from search engine Exalead. In principle, this is comparable to enhanced directory assistance/mobile voice search services being offered in the US by Tellme, 1-800-YellowPages, Jingle Networks […]
Local Mobile Search Provider 1-800-Free411 Touts Patent Against Rivals
USAToday writes about a recently awarded patent obtained by Jingle Networks, which operates the 1-800-Free411 ad-supported directory assistance service. After conducting several searches at the USPTO and elsewhere I was unable to find a copy of the patent itself. However, according to the article: Jingle’s patent, which it bought from inventor Scott Wolmuth, is for […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 15, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web: