Bing has announced they have added transit directions in 11 cities. Transit directions can be used to determine the best way to get from point A to point B via bus, subway, or local rail. Bing released this feature for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington […]
With lots of mapping news today, we’re combining it all into a single round up, which focuses largely on Google. The company decided, after suspending, examining and “scrubbing” its Street View equipment in Europe and elsewhere, to resume collecting imagery and related data in several countries: Having spoken to the relevant regulators, we have decided […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Local Search Marketers Share Ranking Factors Nearly three dozen local search marketers from around the world have shared their opinions on what matters most this year when it comes to ranking […]
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 On Break Up: Cut Us In Half, They’d Demand Quarters Google isn’t mincing words in response to reports yesterday that a consumer advocacy group thinks the government should break up […]
Google isn’t mincing words in response to reports yesterday that a consumer advocacy group thinks the government should break up Google. Google spokesperson Adam Kovacevich had this to say when we asked for a comment on Consumer Watchdog’s plans: “We totally understand that with size and success comes scrutiny. Although given their track record, even […]
Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group that has targeted Google before, plans to call on the US government to start an antitrust investigation into Google and will suggest remedies that include breaking the company up. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, all of this will be detailed at a news conference Wednesday in Washington, DC. […]
Among the major search engines, Microsoft is still the biggest spender when it comes to lobbying politicians, but none are spending lobbying dollars faster than Google. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Google’s spend on lobbying has gone from $260,000 in 2005 to more than $4 million in 2009, an increase of more […]
Google has announced the winners of its Street View Trike suggestions contest – a contest that started last October with Google inviting the public to tell the company where to send its trike for hard-to-reach Street View images. With nearly a quarter-million votes cast, Google says the winners are: Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, New […]
Postscript, February 17: The CBC article cited below has reworded its article and now says the Canadian government is “reviewing” rather than “investigating” Buzz. A semantic distinction, perhaps, but there’s apparently no formal government investigation happening in Canada at the moment, so we’ve updated our headline, too. We’ve also received a statement from Google on […]
Google’s decision to potentially pull out of China if it cannot operate without censorship is a remarkable story. The statement was made after Google discovered a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on GMail. Google didn’t say the Chinese government was behind the attacks but that’s the clear implication. The attacks involved more than just Google […]
Google has unveiled a new Living Stories are, where the New York Times and the Washington Post are experimenting with how coverage of a particular news story would look if content was all centralized within a single page. The experiment puts into practice a vision that Google has long expressed previously as “Living URLs,” a […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: A Roundup Of 2009’s Best SEO Books Time was when someone asked me to recommend a good book on search marketing, there were only a few available—Search Engine Visibility, by Shari […]
I’m at the FTC’s “Journalism & Internet Age” Workshop in Washington DC today, where we’re expecting addresses from Rupert Murdoch and Arianna Huffington, along with Josh Cohen of Google News and a variety of panels. I’ll be on one of those panels later today. I’m going to do a big live blog of things I […]
Saying the host site was serving malware to users, Google has removed a controversial photo of First Lady Michelle Obama from Google Image Search. The site itself, however, remains listed in Google web search results without any visible malware warning. Welcome to the murky world of free speech, politics, and Google. It began last week, […]
Microsoft and Yahoo are making it official: a deal about search. And to share the news, they’re gathering thousands of their closest friends to a press conference at 5:30am Pacific time today. Having been awake now for nearly 30 minutes, I’m just itching to get in and live blog this puppy. So come along for […]
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 Seeks Privacy Counsel With Gov’t Ties Google Watch points out a job posting on the Google site for “Privacy Policy Counsel” based in Washington, DC. Given that Google is under […]
Google Watch points out a job posting on the Google site for “Privacy Policy Counsel” based in Washington, DC. Given that Google is under much more pressure and scrutiny from the US Department of Justice these days, this kind of hire makes sense. Google is recognizing that it’s got to build direct relationships with legislators […]
As a nation, the US seems to be more interested in politics than we’ve been in a long time. Voter turnout in last year’s presidential election was 61%, the first time it passed 60% in 40 years. When President Obama was inaugurated in January, Google reported spikes in search activity. Yahoo said that inaugural search […]
Google wants to make the internet faster. By speeding up the “most important computing platform of our time,” Google believes that consumers and businesses will experience a wide range of benefits, many of which we can imagine, some of which might be revealed over time. There’s no product or specific consumer offering here. Rather Google […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: New York Times To Restore Links To IHT Stories In Coming Weeks Over the weekend, the New York Times was once again ridiculed for how links to its former International Herald […]
Although it’s been around for a little while, Google is doing some promotion of its new “Small Business Network.” Believe it or not it’s a lobbying effort to represent small business interests in Washington DC and at the state level. It’s also a clever way to open a new direct communication channel with SMBs: Google’s […]
Google News has changed how they display clusters of news. If you take a look at a news cluster, such as this one you will now notice links across the top that read “Full Coverage of articles, blogs, local sources, images, quotes and videos.” You can then click view more articles within blogs, videos, or […]
Change is a popular word lately, and living in DC area the theme is practically unavoidable. You can even buy (a shiny version of) change at the mall. I walked through a Macy’s department store last week and passed a large rack of sparkly “Change” pins for sale. Change is everywhere.
We’ve covered earlier about Googlers and former Googlers making big donations to Barack Obama’s inauguration. Now Google’s taking it up a notch, throwing its first ever party in for a US president’s inauguration, in conjunction with its YouTube video site and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. It’s not a ball. In fact, the invitation […]
With Yahoo layoffs underway, Forbes shares a reminder that there is life after a layoff, and it’s sometimes better. Forbes tells the story of ex-Yahoo bizdev guy Rob Bailey, who left the company in 2006, and is now an award-winning winemaker. While Big Business is laying people off left and right, Bailey’s wine operation has […]
With less than a week to go until U.S. voters choose a new president, Yahoo is sharing what it knows about White House-related search activity. Here are some highlights from Yahoo’s blog post today, which taps into data from Yahoo Buzz:
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Roll Call this week lays out the current state of the Google-Yahoo advertising deal, and says Microsoft is exercising “its considerable political clout” in Washington, DC, against Google. The article portrays Microsoft as aggressively using its in-house and outside lobbyists to rally public and private support against the deal. And, get this, one of the […]
Many in the search industry expect online advertising to take a smaller hit (if any) from the struggling economy than other types of advertising. But that view isn’t shared by all. According to AdAge today, some analysts think online advertising is as vulnerable as other sectors:
Privacy has re-emerged as one of the most pressing and complex issues for everyone online, including search engines, after a sustained period of relative calm. However, the rise of behavioral targeting, domestic spying/wiretapping by the Bush administration, attempts by states to regulate privacy, and more aggressive moves by Europeans to protect consumers have created conflicting […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Going to Washington, D.C. to represent our industry to Congress was a great honor and the highlight of my career as an online marketer. It happened so fast, I never really had time to think about it, and I’m glad I didn’t because I probably would have freaked out. We had fun, saw the sights, […]
Kaiser Permanente, with the largest HMO in the US, has selected Microsoft’s Health Vault personal health records initiative over Google in a big new test with Kaiser employees, according to the NY Times. If successful, the offering could be extended to all of Kaiser’s almost 9 million members.
Google’s recent decision to make its UK keyword bidding policy conform with the US practice of allowing competitors to bid on each other’s brands has drawn ire and threats of legal action. Today brings more such news of potential legal action against Google from a range of travel companies and retailers in the UK.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web
In The Trenches is a weekly spotlight of tips, tricks and news about the tools search engine marketing professionals use to give them a leg up on the competition. Today: News from the search engines, today’s in-depth look, “Geo-Targeting On The Engines,” and this week’s free tips and tools.
Yahoo has largely opted out of the mapping arms race between Microsoft and Google that has seen both invest millions in their mapping platforms. While it was the early pioneer of dynamic mapping and use of maps as a local search tool, the company decided to focus on more “practical” tools and functionality rather than […]
Writing the Search Biz column is challenging because of the diverse group of stories that get collected every day. Today there’s an unusually large number; however, there are basically three broad themes: Google and the company’s legal challenges, Yahoo’s Jekyll and Hyde positions on China and human rights, and the revolving personnel door at both […]
IAC stays in Barry Diller’s control. US government agencies look to Google’s search hardware to find information. Google’s hotel-industrial complex that’s coming to Mountain View. Those darn declining paid clicks — will they hurt Google’s bottom line? Yahoo breaks out golden handcuffs to retain employees, while Google loses another one to Facebook. And more in […]
We were contacted by Google’s DC-based spokespeople after we repeated the Forbes pseudo quotation of Google CEO Eric Schmidt saying that the company would “definitely” participate in next January’s 700 MHZ wireless spectrum auction: “Schmidt now says Google will definitely participate in the auction.” Forbes itself updated and corrected the piece to reflect that Schmidt […]