Bing has updated its image search today with a new look and some tweaks to its search and discovery features. The first thing you’ll notice, aside from the fact that puppies are really cute, is the tight tile-based layout that Pinterest often gets credited for making popular in the past year or so. Both Flickr […]
Some Google users are noticing a new Google search interface with top down navigation, search options and filters. Currently, the search options and navigation are along the left hand side bar. This new interface has those options across the top of the search results. Here is a picture: Here is a video from Tecno-Net on […]
The “simpler and more beautiful” AdWords version previewed a couple of weeks ago is rolling out to all accounts globally in the next few days, Google has announced. The most significant change is the addition of “campaign types,” which allows advertisers to use an interface customized based on the type of campaign they are creating. […]
Today at SMX Advanced, Bing has launched a revamped version of their webmaster tools product, with a new user interface and improved features. Much of the changes are just sprucing up existing data (showing better summaries/dashboards and the like), but of particular interest to some is the new Link Explorer, which is a partial replacement […]
Search launches seem to come in threes. A couple of weeks ago we had Bing Social, then came Google with Knowledge Graph and now Yahoo introduces Axis. When I met with Yahoo earlier this week to hear about it I received the now familiar speech that Yahoo is still very much in search and continuing to “innovate” around […]
The new Bing interface, with a healthy dose of social connections and discovery, is now live for all users. Bing’s announcement today says that anyone can access the new interface at www.bing.com/new, but you should also see a new message atop the Bing home page that invites you to try “the best search, now with […]
Microsoft has started to roll out a new, simpler look for the Bing SERP. It looks very much like the “old Google.” It’s more spartan than the previous Bing UI — or “clean” if you prefer. As Google has added more graphics, icons and features to its SERPs some have complained that the pages are starting […]
I was surprised to see a promotion for Google’s “Search Plus Your World” feature turn up in my search results today. I was even more surprised that even after I dismissed it, the promo returned at least twice more. It’s Not Your Imagination Apparently, I’m not the only one. I can see others on Twitter complaining about […]
Google is testing a new user interface feature for the search results where they hide the search tools and options from the left hand side and let you toggle them open and close with a click of a mouse. Michel Wester spotted this and posted a video and screen shots of how it works. Here […]
Earlier this week, I wrote about my disappointment that granular data (the number of URLs reported, the specifics of the errors…) was removed from Google webmaster tools. However, as I’ve been talking with Google, I’ve discovered that much of this detail is still available via the GData API. That this detail was available through the […]
Google announced the related search links at the top of the Google Images search results are now visually appealing. You can now mouse over the related search phrase and Google will hover open an image preview of what the first three images look like for that image search query. Here is an example of searching […]
Calling it “personalized search for the real world,” Foursquare brought its mobile Explore functionality into its recently redesigned PC website roughly three weeks ago, and added some new search capabilities in the process. Those capabilities included the ability to filter places results by four categories: 1) “I haven’t been to yet” 2) “I have been […]
As part of the January search update provided by Google – Google Instant has a new default preference. The new preference is to only enable it if your computer can handle it – otherwise, Google will disable Google Instant results. If you go to the search preferences it should say Google Instant is only enabled […]
The invasion of Google+ into Google’s search results continue. The latest Google+ification? Now Google’s encouraging people at the end of its search listings if they “Want to ask your friends about” what they were Googling. Want To Ask Your Friends? Tom Critchlow tipped me off to spotting this in his search results. I checked, and I found […]
The ability to block web sites from search results disappeared when Google’s new Search Plus personalized results format launched this week. Blocking was a feature added with great fanfare last year. Google says it will return, but the timing is uncertain. How Blocking Worked Previously, search results had a “Block All” link that appeared below them: Selecting […]
If you go to Google and search for variations of either [christmas] or [hanukkah], you will see Google has dressed up the search results page with holiday decorations. The Christmas version shows Christmas ornaments hanging from the top bar: The Hanukkah version shows Jewish stars across the top bar: In the past they placed these […]
Google Operating System blog reports Google has changed the behavior of the Google +1 button as seen in the Google search results. Instead of the +1 button being displayed by default, it is now hidden until you place your mouse cursor over the search result. Then the +1 button will show up and let you […]
Google announced two new improvements to mobile interfaces. The first is a new look for image results on tablets called the image carousel and the second is better movie results on Android and iPhone devices. Tablet Image Carousel: When you use Google Images on tablet devices including iOS or Android tablet’s browsers, and then click […]
Yahoo announced two new features on Yahoo Image Search, social sharing and continuous scrolling. Social Sharing On Images: Yahoo Images enables you to share the images you find on Yahoo Image Search with your friends on Facebook or Twitter, not Google +. When you click on an image result and are taken to the larger […]
The old AdSense interface is gone for good, as of yesterday, so holdouts clinging to that version are being thrust smack-dab in the middle of the new AdSense. Users had previously been able to toggle back and forth between the old and new versions of the interface. Publishers have certainly had plenty of warning. Google […]
As we reported a few months ago, Twitter has rolled out the “activities tab” for web users. This tab allows Twitter to operate more like a classic social network as you can keep tabs on your friends… pun intended. Here’s a look at how the activitiy tab looks: This tab shows items favorited by those you […]
Bing has just launched a new service called Bing Central that ostensibly exists to serve as a hub for Bing users, but unfortunately has too much self-promotion and too little utility in this first version. Although Bing Central offers links and access to several Bing account- and search-related tools, as you can see above, the […]
Sensitive to privacy issues surrounding ad targeting, Google is opening the kimono to consumers about why certain search and Gmail ads are targeted to certain people. The company is launching an additional section to its ad preference center — where users can already manage targeting criteria for display ads. In the new area, people will […]
Many users are now seeing a change in the way that Google’s Keyword Ranking tool is providing competition data. Instead of the traditional bars to display competitiveness, Google is using text as the description. Up until now, this tool used small green bars to display the competitiveness of keywords. The more green in the bar, the more competitive the term […]
Google has quietly removed one of the older search operators, the + search operator. Now if you try adding a + sign in your query, Google will ignore it. Why did Google remove the old search operator? Kelly from Google said in a forum thread that you can now use the quotation marks operator instead […]
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 […]
It appears that Google is testing showing a red squiggly line in the Google search box as you type, if they feel the spelling of your query is wrong. You know, the red line you see when you have a spelling mistake when using Microsoft Word or other word processors. At first, I thought it […]
Google has replaced the destination URL of the “Photos” link within the Google navigation at the top of the page. Now when you click on “Photos,” and if signed-in, Google will take you to Google+ Photos, instead of taking you to Picasa photos. When I click on photos, I am taken to my Google+ profile […]
Google has just announced a new Google+ setting that I’m sure will be a big hit: the ability to control who can send you notifications. As Google’s Kathleen Ko explains in a Google+ post, this is feature that many users have requested. Ko says that the new setting won’t prevent you from getting notifications when […]
Google has worked the most-requested features from its older interface into its new one, including creating scheduled reports and viewing channels on the Home tab. Now, it’s getting ready to sunset the old interface, as of mid-November. So, Google is urging AdSense publishers to take the time now to familiarize themselves with the new interface, […]
On the heels of its announcement about Smart Lists, Facebook is giving users more options for sharing and managing their content, including letting individuals share public content with people who “subscribe” to their feeds rather than “friend” them. The most important change is probably the introduction of a “Subscribe” button to each user’s profile. (This […]
Today Facebook announced enhancements to lists, including the release of “smart lists.” This new functionality helps to auto-generate lists for users, a task that was somewhat arduous in the past. Smart Lists The new smart list feature gives users assistance in list creation. Facebook will actually be auto-generating lists based on user attributes. for example: […]
Google published a nice 4 minute video on how they go about improving their web search algorithms, the quality of results and the user interfaces. They talk about finding problems, coming up with new ideas, testing those ideas, approving or rejecting those ideas and implementing the ideas. Overall, much of this is not new to […]
Mark Reynolds documented new instant previews functionality implemented, as a test, by Google. Google Instant Previews launched in November 2009 and since then has undergone many updates and changes. This new change seems to give a more animated, transition feel to when you activate the instant preview. It is a smooth and slower pop out […]
There will be extensive discussion and debate today about whether the broad and welcome array of new privacy, tagging and sharing controls on Facebook are or aren’t a response to Google+. I directly asked Facebook that question and was told that the new features have nothing to do with Google+ and have been in the […]
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 […]
Another Google search service has gone missing: the home page for Google News Archive Search is no longer available. It was previously accessible at news.google.com/archivesearch. Google News Archive Search allows you to search through news articles that date back longer than the 30 days that are typically covered by regular Google News. It’s still available. […]
On Wednesday, I moderated a special panel at the Churchill Club involving the Googlers who oversee Google’s search algorithm, its search features and its spam fighting efforts. We covered a wide-range of search issues, and a video of the talk is now available. Three Kings Of Search In my opening to the session, I joked […]
Nearly a year after its launch, the “new” Twitter interface will roll out to all users this week — whether they want it or not. The company tweeted this afternoon with a warning to those who’re still using the old Twitter interface: If you’re currently using Old Twitter, we want to let you know that […]