The Search Engine Update - Number 226 - August 2, 2006
Search Engine Watch editor Danny Sullivan's recap of top search engine stories from the second half of July 2006.
Search Engine Watch editor Danny Sullivan's recap of top search engine stories from the second half of July 2006.
===================
In This Issue
===================
+ Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
+ Top Stories
+ More From The Search Engine Watch Blog
+ Daily SearchCast: Search News Via Podcast
+ Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
+ About The Newsletter
===============================================
Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
===============================================
Don’t miss our search marketing & networking events! There’s one coming near you:
===================
Top Stories
===================
Below is a recap of major articles from our daily SearchDay newsletter and important Search Engine Watch Blog postings since the last newsletter. Want to receive these stories daily or via RSS/feed? See the Search Engine Watch Newsletters & Web Feeds page for sign-up instructions.
=== Aug. 2, 2006 ===
Google Signs Deal With XM Radios To Distribute Ads In Satellite Radio Spots – Reuters reports that Google is in an ad deal with XM Radio. The deal was reached today, which will allow Google’s “advertisers to automatically insert ads on the radio company’s nonmusic channels.” They expect the functionality of this deal to come to AdWords customers in the 4th quarter of this year. See also: Google Testing Radio Ad Sales In Detroit.
===================
Search Tools for Air Travelers – If you’re planning to fly somewhere, these sites can enhance and supplement your experiences with online travel search engines.
=== Aug. 1, 2006 ===
Google’s Matt Cutts Answers Questions On Google Video – Matt Cutts has released six video sessions so far, over the past two days at his blog. They all answer questions sent to him on the topic of search engine optimization. See also:
===================
Rohan: “The Job of an Analyst is not Easy” – Jordan Rohan is a financial analyst who specializes in internet stocks. His consistent track record in calling the ups and downs of search companies makes his thoughts and insights well worth attention.
===================
Google Toolbar Bug Warns Against Use Of Other Search Engines – Philipp Lenssen reports that a bug in the Google Toolbar warns users when they select other search engines to use. See also: Google Toolbar Look-Alike Installing Malicious Programs.
===================
New Search Patent Applications: August 1, 2006 – Microsoft Answers? – There are a number of new patent applications from Yahoo, including one that utilizes concept networks to understand the intention behind a user’s query. And Microsoft unveils a patent application that could be the inspiration for its new Windows Live QnA service.
=== July 28, 2006 ===
Yahoo Launches New Slurp Crawler – The Yahoo Search blog announced the launch of a new crawler (aka Yahoo Slurp) that is faster and more efficient then then its previous robotic arm. This crawler is still named Slurp, but it crawls faster and uses up less bandwidth. Yahoo says we can expect a “25% reduction in the number of requests and bandwidth consumed by the crawler.” See also:
===================
TrustWatch Extension Puts Phishing Warnings Into Google, Yahoo & MSN Results – Using Firefox or Flock? Now you can get an extension from TrustWatch that will may help you spot phishing scams in your search results at Google, Yahoo and MSN.
===================
Search Engine Forums Spotlight – Links to the week’s topics from search engine forums across the web: Google Ranking In Other Countries – Yahoo! Korea Create Webzari Site Explorer – Google Showing Click Fraud Numbers In AdWords – Site Redesign – Does It Always Mean Lost Ranking?, and more.
=== July 27, 2006 ===
New Research Shows How Search Drives Auto Buyers – A new study from Yahoo and comScore offers some interesting insights into searcher behavior in the huge automotive segment, with lessons for search marketers working in all fields.
=== July 26, 2006 ===
New US Child Protection Law Might Make Webmasters Second Guess What They Write – The US is likely to gain a new law making it illegal to send people to porn by using misleading text, which in turn could accidentally catch some site owners.
===================
Diigo Offers “Social Annotation” Tool – Combining bookmarks with sharing, tagging, annotation and very powerful search tools, Diigo is an appealing, evolutionary step forward in how we find, consume and share information on the web.
=== July 25, 2006 ===
Analyzing the Google AdWords Landing Page Algorithm – Google’s pricing for AdWords includes a component that looks at the content of landing pages, and a recent change that has caused price increases is proving controversial in the search marketing community. This special edition for Search Engine Watch members goes into more detail of the underlying algorithm Google uses to analyze web pages and how it affects the pricing of ads, offering a number of concrete tips and suggestions for advertisers to help manage and control costs.
===================
The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google’s Click Fraud Detection Practices – An independent report on how Google deals with click fraud was published as part of the ongoing Lane’s Gifts v. Google class action lawsuit over click fraud. To my knowledge, it is the most comprehensive, detailed public look into how Google deals with click fraud that’s ever come out. It finds that Google’s efforts to combat the issue have been reasonable, though there are some eyebrow raising bits on how the author only finds the situation was in control by the end of 2005 and how it’s impossible to fully know whether some clicks are invalid — and thus, potentially — impossible to prevent some types of fraud through purely automated means. See also:
===================
Real-Time Traffic From Google Maps Mobile – Google Maps has rolled out a new mobile version offering real-time traffic information in 30 US cities. The service also offers directions designed for those who are walking, in addition to driving. A look at what’s offered and resources from elsewhere. See also: Tracking Packages Via MSN Search.
=== July 21, 2006 ===
Search Engine Forums Spotlight – Links to the week’s topics from search engine forums across the web: Google Maps + Reviews In Main Search Results – Yahoo Panama Release Delayed – Microsoft: MSN – Strider Search Defender – Buying Brand Name Keywords On Adwords, and more.
=== Jul. 20, 2006 ===
A Closer Look at Windows Live Local – The undeniable attraction of Windows Live Local (WLL) is still its spectacular
===================
Google Announces Great Second Quarter Results – Google just announced their second quarter results for this year, beating Wall Street’s expectations. See also:
===========================
More From The SEW Blog
===========================
Below are posts from the Search Engine Watch Blog since the last newsletter and not mentioned above. Want to keep up on daily news from the blog? Visit the home page or subscribe to the blog feed. Note that references to “I” may becoming from any of the Search Engine Watch staff who post to the blog.
=== Aug. 1, 2006 ===
Microsoft adCenter Upgrades Include Firefox Support – Microsoft adCenter has a new release launching Saturday, August 5th, and one of the upgrades includes the long awaited Firefox browser support….[MORE”
===================
AdSense Testing New Ad Unit Styles – Google AdSense has recently added a couple of new ad unit styles, an unbranded unit and an image based one….[MORE”
===================
AOL Video To Launch New Video Portal – A new AOL Video portal launches August 4th. What can you expect? On demand content and video searching….[MORE”
===================
Site Geolocation Tool Sorts Backlinks By Top Level Domain – A new tool uses the Yahoo link command to bring back a sorted list of your backlinks by linking TLD (top level domain), to help determine what country your site might be seen as being from….[MORE”
===================
Enquisite: New Free Analytics Tool Launches – Enquisite is a new free analytics tool that is launching today. I’m not an analytics guru and so others will need to kick the tires. But one of the things that impresses me about it is that you’re able to see locally where your search traffic is coming from….[MORE”
===================
Google Paying News Sites For Google News Syndication? – Philipp Lenssen has some details on Google paying some news sources, such as the Associated Press, for syndicating their content in Google News….[MORE”. See also: Google News Search Engine Explained.
=== July 31, 2006 ===
Microsoft, Google & Yahoo Make Business Week’s Top 100 Best Global Brands – ResourceShelf reports on the Business Week Top 100 Global Brands release from this week. You can see from the interactive table that Microsoft remained in the number two slot, Google moved up to number 24 from the 38th position in 2005, and Yahoo also moved up to 55 from the 58th position in 2005.
===================
Google Trends Launched In China – Google Trends China has opened….[MORE”
===================
Google To Change Arabic Translation Of “Gay” – Google has agreed to change the Arabic translation of the word “gay” within Google’s translation tool….[MORE”
=== July 28, 2006 ===
Trulia Distributing Its Maps To Local Realtors – Wertical real estate search site Trulia is making its maps with listings available for no cost to local brokers and realtors. The maps themselves are built on the Google Maps API and reflect local real estate listings drawn from broker feeds and crawling….[MORE”
=== July 27, 2006 ===
Baidu To Be Default Engine On All HP Computers Ship To China – Baidu, the popular Chinese search engine, will be the default search engine on all new HP’s shipped to China after October 2006….[MORE”
===================
French Court Preventing Greenpeace France From Displaying Crop Data On Google Maps – A French court ordered Greenpeace France to remove a site using the Google Maps tool to display “locations of commercial, genetically engineered corn fields in France”….[MORE” See also: Google Hands Over Email In Hate Case.
===================
Yahoo Partners With British Telecom For Yahoo Local UK – Yahoo has partnered with British Telecom to share Yellow Pages data….[MORE”
===================
Microsoft Hires Over Ten Thousand Employees In Past Year – Microsoft has broke their own hiring records, by hiring 10,081 new employees worldwide over the past fiscal year….[MORE”
=== July 26, 2006 ===
Online Ad Spend 9% Of All Ad Spend By 2011 – JupiterResearch reports that online advertising spend is projected to snag up nine percent of the total advertising pie by 2011, with 43 percent of the online ad spend will be search-based ads….[MORE”
=== July 25, 2006 ===
AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides – AOL has launched a beta redesign of its popular CityGuides….[MORE”
===================
Yahoo Invests In Social Search Research – Yahoo hired Dr. Raghu Ramakrishnan as vice president and Yahoo research fellow. Dr. Ramakrishnan is a well-respected database expert who has joined Yahoo to study “links between computer and human-aided Web search”….[MORE”
===================
Librarians And Google: Tips Of The Trade – Google attended the ALA Conference in New Orleans and produced a video entitled Tips of the Trade together with some additional text only tips from librarians and other information professionals….[MORE”
===================
Yahoo & Symantec To Offer New Security Offerings – Symantec and Yahoo will be offering Symantec security services through Yahoo properties….[MORE”
===================
SuperPages Buys Inceptor – SuperPages, which is itself up for sale, has acquired SEM firm Inceptor for an undisclosed amount….[MORE”
=== July 24, 2006 ===
Become.com Launches Search Zoom Filtering Feature – No longer do you have to weed through hundreds or thousands of search results to find a discussion forum or product specs for Aston Martin’s Vanquish. With Become, you can search for ‘Aston Martin Vanquish’ or any other product and then filter by Product Reveiws, Buying Guides, Discussion Forums, and Product Details….[MORE”
===================
Google Versus Yahoo: Consistency Or Wow In Product Development? – An article over at the New York Times ‘In the race with Google, it’s consistency vs ‘wow” discusses the differing approaches of Google and Yahoo to the introduction of new technology and resources….[MORE”
===================
Only 11 Percent Of Searchers Use One Word Queries – OneStat.com published a report detailing that only 11.4 percent of searchers use one-word queries, two-word queries 28.9% leads the bunch, followed by three-word queries at 27.85%, four-word queries with 17.1%, five-word with 8.25% and six-word queries with 3.7%….[MORE”
===================
Google Base Becomes More eBay Like With Rich Text Feature – The Google Base blog announced Friday that Google Base’s editor now has the ability to add rich text….[MORE”. See also: Google Adds RSS To Google Base Results.
===================
SEOMoz Spills The Beans On Pricing An SEO Campaign – Rand Fishkin brakes down his pricing methodology for everyone to see….[MORE”
===================
GoDaddy Launches Private Label Domain Park Program – GoDaddy has long placed ads on registered domains that customers have parked at GoDaddy. Now, GoDaddy is allowing webmasters to sign up for a paid monthly subscription to CashParking, that would see webmasters get a share of the profits made from all clicks on the parked domain….[MORE”
=== July 21, 2006 ===
TurnHere Tricks Out Google Terra – Local short film production firm TurnHere has a new integration with Google Earth that’s kinda neat. When users map a city or neighborhood that TurnHere has a short film about, an icon tags it as such….[MORE”
===================
More 3D Maps, an iTunes Video Podcast Directory, .CA Goes Mobile & Wildfires Database: Specialty Search Wrap Up – This week.s specialty search wrap up from Resource Shelf includes more 3D mapping tools, a iTunes video podcast directory, the Canadian government mobile edition, a resource for locating primary sources with international news and a wildfires and forest fire real time database.
===================
Microsoft’s MSN Revenue Declined 3% Year Over Year – MSN’s revenue declined 3 percent year-over-year. CFO Chris Liddell covers transition of search to Microsoft adCenter, saying “it’s not far off that we’re going to have 100 percent of our business on adCenter”….[MORE”
=== July 20, 2006 ===
Ask.com Adds RSS Smart Answers – The Ask.com blog announced a new feature to its Smart Answers line up today. For example, if you do a search on se roundtable an abbreviation of my blogs name, you will get RSS feed results at the top from my blog. The Ask blog says that the initial list of sites included “was selected based on the most popular feeds chosen by our users in Bloglines.”
===================
Google Labs Launches Accessible Web Search – Google has launched Google Accessible Search, a stripped down version of the Google search results page that also serves up results to sites deemed more accessible to those who are visually impaired.
======================================
Daily SearchCast: Search News Via Podcast
======================================
Want to keep up with the latest in search news while you’re on the go? Try our podcast, The Daily SearchCast. It’s a 10-15 minute recap of the previous day’s news. How to tune-in?
Here are the last three days’ worth of shows:
You can find all shows from previous days listed on the Daily SearchCast home page. Just select any file to download it and listed on your computer or digital audio device.
===============================
Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
===============================
News each day, throughout the day, alerts of new discussion threads from our Search Engine Watch Forums and more — we have a newsletter or feed that covers all of these. See our Search Engine Newsletters & Web Feeds for a full rundown on everything we offer, as well as special buttons to let you subscribe via news readers such as Rojo, My MSN, Bloglines, Feedster, Newsgator, Pluck and My Yahoo. Thanks to FeedBurner for providing our feed tracking and management services!
===============================
About The Search Engine Update
===============================
The Search Engine Update is a twice-monthly update of search engine news. It is available only to Search Engine Watch members. Please note that long URLs may break into two lines in some mail readers. Cut and paste, should this occur.
How do I unsubscribe?
+ Follow the instructions at the very end of this e-mail.
How do I subscribe?
+ The Search Engine Update is only available to paid members of the Search Engine Watch web site. If you are not a member and somehow are receiving a copy of the newsletter, learn how to become a member.
How do I see past issues?
+ Visit the Search Engine Update Archives.
How do I change my address?
+ Send a message to [email protected]
I need human help with my membership!
+ Send a message to [email protected]. DO NOT send messages regarding list management or membership issues to Danny Sullivan. He does not deal with these directly.
I have feedback about an article!
+ I’d love to hear it. Use this form.