Search Engine Land’s SMX East search marketing conference is returning to New York City on October 1-3. This is our big, once-a-year east coast event, and if you’re involved in marketing, PR, social media or any other customer-facing activity, you owe it to yourself (and your company or clients) to attend the conference. Keep reading […]
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 Reportedly Testing Local News Card For Google Now Google is reportedly testing a local news “card” for its Google Now predictive search product. Quartz first reported on the project, and […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Apple Makes Bing The “Default Search Engine” For Siri One of the things that you might have missed if you weren’t paying really close attention to the live blogs of the […]
Last November, a fraudulent release claiming Google was acquiring Wifi provider ICOA was circulated by the popular release distribution service PRWeb, exposing a number of loopholes in their verification and editorial processes. Our own Danny Sullivan published a comprehensive story explaining how such releases find their way through PRWeb’s system. After posting a statement on the […]
I got a surprise recently on my trip through Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. When I tapped into the free wifi there, I was offered a “premium connection speed upgrade” if I took Bing’s Bing It On challenge. It turns out Bing has been doing this in several airports since March. Bing told me: Bing began […]
A fine of 145,000 EUR (roughly $189,000) is trivial for Google. But that’s close to the maximum fine allowed by German law ($150,000 EUR). The fine is being imposed on Google for violations of German privacy and data protection laws stemming from the so-called “WiSpy” episode in 2008 – 2009 in which Google collected private […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: How To Manage PPC Closely To A Budget A few weeks ago, at SMX West in San Jose, George Michie of RKG, was talking about the challenges of managing enterprise-level PPC […]
This weekend the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had paid roughly $20 million for a company called WifiSLAM. The company was an early stage startup that had raised roughly $1 million in angel investment. It appears to have had some ambitious plans, according to a company description on AngelList: We are building the next […]
As reported last week, Google has formally settled the so-called “WiSpy” case with 30 US state Attorneys General for $7 million. The agreement also contains some other non-monetary provisions that are, frankly, more meaningful. The investigation began in 2010 concerning unauthorized collection of private emails and other “payload” data by Google Street View vehicles. The […]
Search Engine Land’s SMX West search marketing conference is returning to San Jose on March 11-13, 2013. We’ve got a revamped, updated agenda, and have already confirmed more than 100 world-class speakers. If you’re involved in marketing, PR, social media or any other customer-facing activity, you owe it to yourself (and your company’s or client’s […]
Following its acquisition of travel software provider ITA, Google’s flight and hotel search products have offered isolated useful features but have largely failed to live up to Google’s promise of “innovation.” Consumers have mostly failed to notice Google’s travel innovations so far as well. There are now indications that Google’s travel sites and content are becoming more […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Seeking Maps Fix, Apple Fires Mapping Team Manager And Asks Outsiders For Help According to a widely cited Bloomberg report published earlier today Apple has fired another executive in connection with […]
Google dodged a bullet in Germany this week as prosecutors in Hamburg decided, after a lengthy investigation, not to pursue criminal charges against the company over Street View WiFi data collection. Essentially prosecutors found that Google lacked the requisite “criminal intent” to justify prosecution. Google faces another, arguably more daunting legal challenge in Germany however. […]
“What’s the use of PRWeb?,” tweeted Megan McCarthy of Reuters, trying to digest how that service ended up circulating a fake Google acquisition story. Come along, Megan and others, and I’ll explain one of the sorriest uses, getting crap into Google News and out into news sites. For those who somehow missed today’s big tech […]
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 Loses Australian Defamation Case, Awaiting Decision On Damages Google is awaiting a judge’s decision on damages before it decides what to do after losing a defamation case over its search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: How Search & Social Engines Are Using Semantic Search The term “Semantic Search” is certainly not new. However, it has taken on a new dimension and implications in both search and […]
Under the sea Under the sea Darling it’s better down where it’s wetter Take it from me – from The Little Mermaid Every so often, the Google Street View service does something cool enough to make you forget about the WiFi data collection screwup, and this is one of those things — at least for […]
As of yesterday Google’s new offline mapping capability for Android devices is now live (with a Google Maps update). It was announced a couple of weeks ago at the Google Maps “next dimension” event that preceded the announcement of Apple’s new mapping platform. Offline maps are available for 150 countries, and users can save offline […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Ties Yellow Pages Sites For Most Accurate Local Data In April I wrote about a local data accuracy study preformed by a company called Implied Intelligence. The company offers data […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing’s May Search Updates: Domain Cleanup, Recourse Links, Related Searches Back in March, Bing began sharing regular updates about changes that it’s made to search quality and the user search experience, […]
Denials Over Google Street View via the New York Times reports on some of the Google Street View engineers declarations when it came to the Wifi data collection done by Google’s Street View project. Reading those declarations you see engineers stating “it was not part of my duties” to review that aspect of the project. […]
SEOmoz has announced the SEOmoz Industry Survey is now open and ready for you to take. You can take the survey online over here. The last time SEOmoz ran this survey was two years ago, you can see the results of that survey over here. The survey has 54 questions and should take you about […]
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: 62 Percent Of Valentine’s Day Restaurant Searches Were Mobile Google is releasing some data on mobile search and Valentine’s Day. The company said, “A whopping 62 percent of total searches […]
Say you’re marketing an Android app via AdWords targeted to mobile devices, but your product only works on Honeycomb and newer versions of the OS — still, you keep getting folks with older versions showing up on your landing page, and likely getting frustrated. That’s exactly the type of problem Google is trying to address […]
Our next Search Engine Land conference, SMX West 2012, comes to San Jose from February 28-March 1. This is my preview of what we’ve got on the agenda, over 50 sessions covering all aspects of search marketing. Consider it a personal invite of why you should come. SMX: All Search, All The Time SMX West […]
According to CNET, Google faces the “maximum potential penalty” for allegedly obstructing South Korea’s antitrust investigation against the company. Korean officials “raided” Google’s Seoul offices last Fall in connection with an investigation into whether Google was acting in an anti-competitive way toward home-grown Korean search/portal sites on Android devices. (It wasn’t the first time 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: Third Party Page Managment Comes To Google+ Google+ pages for brands & businesses were announced last week, and Google has been busy rolling out supporting features. Yesterday, Google began displaying select […]
As promised, Google has announced a way for WiFi router owners to stop Google from including them in the company’s location database. The opt-out requires a change in the name of the wireless network (the SSID) to include _nomap at the end of the name. In other words, if your wireless network is named “McGeehome,” […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Gets More Personal With Adaptive Search Bing has announced at SMX East today a new personalization feature named adaptive search. It seems a lot like Google’s previous query feature but […]
With the smoke still smoldering from Google’s long-running battle over the collection of personal information via unsecured WiFi networks, the company says it’s working on a service that will allow WiFi router owners to opt-out from being included in Google’s location services. In a blog post yesterday, Google says the opt-out will be available to […]
Google Chromebooks are great — unless you don’t have an internet connection; then they’re essentially useless. (Other colorful descriptors I’ve heard include “suck,” “blow,” “fail” and so on). Now Google is taking steps to address the problem with offline access to Gmail and, very soon, Calendar and, most importantly, Docs. According to the Gmail blog: […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Facebook’s ‘Like’ Button Declared Illegal In Germany Citing violations to the countries strict privacy laws, the Independent Center for Privacy Protection (ULD) called for all Facebook ‘like’ plugins to be removed […]
Google is considering a settlement offer from federal prosecutors in Belgium who say the company broke national privacy laws when it collected personal data from unsecured WiFi networks via its Street View vehicles. According to Bloomberg, prosecutors have offered Google a €150,000 penalty (currently about $215,000 USD) for the gaffe that Google has repeatedly said […]
Search Engine Land’s SMX East search engine marketing conference is headed back to New York City from Sept. 13-15. We’ve got a great agenda. This is my semi-traditional preview for our readers of what we’ve got planned. You should go! Here’s why. Why Everyone Should Come! SMX East is one of the two large Search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Tech Celebs Most Followed On Google+ While “Real World” Rules On Twitter & Facebook How do you measure the success of a social media site? One of several ways might be […]
Google is likely to face more privacy-related challenges on the heels of news today that the company’s Street View vehicles have collected more than just the location of WiFi access points. According to a CNET article today, Google collected those WiFi access points along with the location of client devices including mobile phones and desktop […]
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 Testing URLs Above Descriptions In AdWords Google is testing a variation on AdWords display that has the URLs shown above the two lines of description, but under the headline. Representatives […]
Just a couple weeks after the latest setback, Google picked up a small but potentially important victory today in its defense against charges that the company violated federal wiretap laws when its Street View cars intercepted personal data over unencrypted WiFi networks. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, Judge James Ware has put the case […]
The Google Blog announced that you can now download maps on your Android device so that you can access maps and directions even without a data connection. The feature is a Google Labs feature currently available for Android users who are willing to experiment with new, beta features. It is called “Download map area” and […]
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+ Profiles Will Be Public: Google To Terminate All Private Profiles After July 31st There was speculation back in March that Google was going to launch a social network when it […]