Google might like to apologize to those of you who are just now getting accustomed to the new black menu bar that appears at the top of most Google properties. You know, the one that just launched at the end of June? Well, skip that. As the saying goes, what’s new is old. The black […]
Want to show off the people who follow your shiny new Google+ Page, right on your own website? Now you can, with a Google+ badge that shows the faces of those subscribed. Badge Maker Now, Uh, Makes Badges When Google+ Pages launched last week, the badge making tool also went live — but it only […]
Once upon a time Foursquare was a mobile app that allowed you to “check in” places and tell your friends you were there. That seems like a long time ago now. Foursquare has evolved into a local discovery tool and loyalty platform for businesses. It has effectively won in its “check-in” segment and has moved […]
Yahoo is rolling out a couple new search experiences that are aimed squarely at holiday searchers: recipes and shopping. Prior to tonight’s new display, a search for “apple recipes” would include the standard algorithmic results (i.e., 10 blue links) along with a small shortcut at the top of the search results pointing searchers to recipes […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Brands & News Sites Among Winners From Google’s Freshness Algo Update, Report Says Major brands and a variety of news sites — from established outlets to internet-only gossip sites — are […]
Google has confirmed that it’s testing a new content module in its search results that’s (currently) called “Sources.” The module appears to have been spotted first by Cyrus Shepard, who shared screenshots of the new display including this one from a search for pop singer Rihanna. (You can click for a slightly larger version.) As […]
Several people spotted a Google test involving a new look for local results on Google.com. It substitutes a horizontal map for a vertical one on the right rail (thus allowing more ads to appear above the fold) and gray pins instead of red. The gray pushpins become red when moused over. Here’s a screen showing […]
Google Operating System reports a finding by guao.hk where Google is testing a new top bar navigation bar that may replace the navigation bar we have today. As you can see, there is a little arrow down mark on the right of the Google + logo. Clicking on it drops down this black bar with […]
Former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz will be remembered mainly as a cost cutter who outsourced numerous functions to third parties. A partial list of those includes outsourcing Search to Microsoft, Shopping to PriceGrabber, Real Estate to Zillow and Maps to Nokia/Navteq. And now, the new Nokia-powered Yahoo Maps (NokiHoo) have just gone live in the […]
Google Operating System blog reports Google search is testing a new design for tablets. The new design places the various search vertical options across the top instead of placing them in a drop down menu. The new interface also has a settings button to access advanced search and SafeSearch settings. In July, Google launched a […]
In what may be a sign of things to come across other Google properties, the advanced search search options in Google News have been moved away from their own page and placed right inside the main search bar. Here are before and after screenshots to show what I’m talking about. Before: After: There’s a small […]
It sounds great. Speak into Siri about some local need, get nice results from Yelp’s reviews. In reality, it’s pretty easy instead to end up stuck with only a phone number and directions from Google Maps. From Siri To Yelp To Google Maps Consider this example, which illustrates the situation I’ve repeatedly found to be […]
Don’t be alarmed the next time you use Google Maps: Yes, pretty much everything looks just a little bit different than it did yesterday. There’s not a single, major change; instead, almost all of the individual pieces of the Google Maps interface have been updated: the red marker pins, the navigation controls, the Satellite/Earth/Traffic/etc. widget […]
Google has announced an improvement to their instant previews feature they originally launched in November of last year. The improvement lets you simply hover your mouse over a search result and the preview will automatically show up on the right hand preview column. Google said: Now these previews are no longer even a click away: […]
Bing announced a new feature in the search results named “Action Buttons.” Action buttons give you quick links to perform specific actions on specific web sites. IF you are searching for an airline, the Bing action buttons may include items like check flight status, book a flight or check in to a flight. If you […]
In a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone, Facebook is re-organizing users’ homepages. The new look homepage will allow users to “see the things they’re most interested in.” The main elements that will power the new layout are, the revamped Friend Lists, the new Subscribe button, and a real-time ticker. One notable change is that the […]
I like the new user photo galleries that Twitter started rolling out yesterday. They’ll make photo search and discovery much easier, especially for those of us who’ve scattered our photo uploads across TwitPic, yFrog, Mobypicture and other photo services. But I’m also hoping that the product Twitter launched yesterday is a shell of what it’ll […]
Google has confirmed a new user interface test on the search results page where the left side search filters are in a scrollable frame, and the middle of the search results are in their own scrollable frame. Technically, they are not frames, but rather some form of AJAX or HTML5 like interface. I am honestly […]
Google has confirmed that they are indeed testing a form of infinite scroll web search results. I covered the news this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable sharing a screen shot from WebmasterWorld and a video from Waebo of this in action. Here is the video: As you can see, Google replaced the pagination feature […]
When you typically think Twitter, you probably think about text based 140 character updates. New improvements being rolled out geared towards spotlighting user activities and interactions may change this perception. These very visual changes are very “Facebook-esque” in their appearance and could be very appealing to new, less-savvy users. The most dramatic change is a new “Activity” tab […]
Yahoo’s Image Search is sporting a fresh look today that presents the image results in a cleaner, more organized fashion. Do a search and the results page shows all matches in a grid, with each image sized almost uniformly no matter their true dimensions or orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). Each image expands when you hover […]
@fabioricotta noticed Google testing a new search snippet that places the number of listings found on a page or set of results. Here is a picture, notice where it shows “listing 1 – 9 of 11296.” Google is frequently testing variations to the search description or snippet. They’ve tried showing recent stories, recent tweets, jump […]
Google is testing yet another design, this one is the same gray and black bar look but places the search filters and navigation at the top of the page, instead of on the left. Amit Agarwal posted screen shots of the new design, here are two of the many screen shots he has posted: Agarwal […]
Google is testing a variation on AdWords display that has the URLs shown above the two lines of description, but under the headline. Representatives from the search giant would only say that they’re always experimenting with different ways of displaying information, but multiple members of Search Engine Land editorial team saw the experiment on Google.com […]
Amit Banerjee has spotted a new Google test with the new top bar that places the top bar in a fixed position at the top of the screen and stays there even as you scroll down. Amit captured a screen demo of this in action: As you can see, the top bar stays with you […]
Google has recently been emphasizing current/fresh images in its image search product, and that effort continued today with the announcement of a new time-based filter. And unannounced is the re-appearance of other filters that went missing in Google’s recent redesign. Let’s start with the new filter: Among the image search filters in the left-side column […]
Perhaps the best thing about the new and improved Android market is movie rentals. For others it may be books and still others may like the easier app discovery. For me it’s movies. The online Android market has had movie rentals but they haven’t been available directly on the phone until now. The new Android […]
Bing has announced a set of much-needed tweaks to the Bing Maps user interface. Rather than scattering navigation options both above and below (not to mention off to the side of) the map itself, all menu options are now accessible in a nav bar that stretches across the screen above the map. It’s a much […]
When I first logged into Google+ I was a bit underwhelmed, but the more I used and explored the site, the more I liked it. While it has already been deemed Google’s Facebook competitor, it is quite different. I want to share my opinion on the pros and cons of the site to help shine […]
Today, Google has launched the first of many design changes that will impact all of their products, including search. Their blog post says the updates will roll over over the next few months, but that they have a philosophy of “constant revision and improvement”, and notes three primary principles driving the change: Focus They say they’re […]
I’ve been manically playing with Google Plus for about an hour now and, while there is disagreement here among the editorial team at Search Engine Land, I give it a qualified “thumbs up.” At first glance many people will dismiss Google Plus as redundant and derivative of Twitter and Facebook, in particular. This was also […]
Google is now heavily testing a new top bar color, that color is black. Google began testing this back about a month ago, as reported by Google Operating System but now Google seemed to have stepped up those tests. So much so, users are complaining that their custom Google home page designs look bad because […]
Google continues to tweak and adjust the presentation of local search results on Google.com. I’ve stopped trying to monitor and track all the subtle changes and experiments. However yesterday Mike Blumenthal caught two different presentations of the Places “Onebox,” which appear when you do a business name search (e.g., “Toast Wine Bar”). The first example […]
A reader emailed us a screen shot of the Google home page missing the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button as well as a new look for the inside search result pages. Here are those screen shots. Notice the home page missing the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button: The next screen shot shows a completely new look for […]
At today’s Google Inside Search event in San Francisco, a number of new features were unveiled for both mobile and desktop search, which we’ll cover in detail across Search Engine Land. For mobile search, these changes are launching immediately for Android (version 2.2+) and iOS (version 4.0+) in 40 languages worldwide, including: Local icons on mobile […]
Google Operating System reports Google is testing a new search snippet, one that is displaying the site name as opposed to the destination URL under the search result’s description. Here is a screen shot from the blog: I personally cannot replicate the same behavior, what I see is the full destination URL in the search […]
This week, Twitter launched the instant follow button for websites to make it even easier to connect visitors to Twitter accounts. This button joins the dynamic Facebook Like button that allows for logged in users to instantly connect to the social site without leaving the website. The main benefit of this new button is that […]
Twitter has added a new “Top Tweets” search results feature, along with “Top Images” and “Top Videos.” It’s a major shift away from showing Twitter search results where the most recent tweet comes first, regardless of real relevancy or quality. The change is welcome. Unlike regular search engines, which try to show the most relevant […]
PhoneArena.com has screen captures of a new Google search interface designed for the iPhone and maybe other mobile devices, such as Android, Palm Pre and others. The interface uses colorful app-like icons at the top of the search bar, instead of small blue tabbed links on the current interface. It does push down the search […]
I am seeing reports from searchers that Google is testing a new layout for the organic and paid search results. In this test, Google is placing the destination or display URL above the search snippet or description and below the title of the search result. Typically the URL is placed under the snippet or description, […]