Featured posts from the Search Engine Watch blog, as well as our customary search headlines from around the web. If you’re not familiar with our blog, click on any of the links below, or visit the blog’s home page at http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/.
- New Search Patent Applications: July 11, 2006 – Google Patent Filings by the Dozen
Twelve Google patent applications where published this past week, including seven that focus upon geographical information and local search. (1) How good a match ads may be to the content on pages they are served upon through a program like Adsense. (2) A process for improving the targeting of ads. (3) Real time transportation data for travelers. (4) An exploration of ad layouts. (5) An automated advertising approval process. (6) Reasons for location-based businesses to use local area advertising, including an improved pay-per-call process. (7) How the most authoritative local search results are identified. (8) The use of visual gap…
- Gabbing, Gossip & Goings On in the SEW Forums…
In what should become a regular feature here on the SEW blog, here are some highlights from current discussions on the forums: You may think it’s the same old story, but Tonerman has posed an an interesting question to the group, Is SEO on Google worth the effort anymore? With a shift in organic results since Big Daddy, can a solid PPC campaign be your best bet? Frustration continues over Google’s choice to show DMOZ listings as titles for certain sites in search results. Threads to Watch: Members also share experiences with optimizing websites that use Yahoo Stores. One member…
- Search Engine Strategies Latino, Miami, Florida – Day Two
The conference has officially ended, it was a really great event. Huge congrats to Nacho for running this. I am writing this quickly, because they are breaking down the room as I type this. Here are the sessions I covered today. + Translate Or Create: Strategies For Those With English-Language Sites + Domain Issues – Latin American Version + Spanish / Portuguese Language Ad Issues + SEO & Spanish / Portuguese Language Issues Again, pictures of the event tagged with seslatino at Flickr….
- Google Jet Plane Security Threat? And Testing A Sofa In Mountain View
Josh Gerstein at the New York sun has an update on the suit over Google Jet disclosure. Basically, Google’s founders argue that the information given up by aircraft designer can be could put the lives of those on the plane in danger. Google asked for a court order to keep the designer quiet. Well, the judge declined to hear or rule on the case – go figure. Read more about it from Danny’s earlier post. Postscript From Danny: The security concerns voiced in the case made me wonder out details getting out about Google Force One compare to Air Force…
- Windows Live Adds Search/Personalized Toggle & 34 New Markets
Gary Price points to two Windows Live blog posts including, search/personalized toggle and now in 34 new markets. The first describes how you can now toggle between search and personalized experience. Your last selection will be remembered for your next session. The blog says that this “replaces our old ‘hide’ option, with a much improved experience in ‘search only’ mode that is faster and includes search filters.” Windows Live also entered 34 new markets including;…
- Google Drive Revealed?
Yesterday, Cocaman posted a screen capture of what was named Platypus or GDrive. From the looks of the screen capture it seems like an internal tool used at Google is getting ready for prime time. The page is now offline, of course, but the screen capture read;…
- Search Engine Strategies Latino, Miami, Florida – Day One
Day one of the first ever Search Engine Strategies Latino edition is pretty much complete. The networking cocktail is taking place now, there is a Google party tonight and also some Yahoo boat thing. I have managed to cover the Landscape & Tactics tracks, so here is the roundup. + The Opportunity: Tapping Into US Hispanics & Latin America Via Search + Search Landscape: US Hispanics + Search Landscape: Latin America + The Challenges Of Search Marketing To US Hispanics & Latin Americans I also took pictures of the sessions and outside of the hotel, you can see them here….
- Kayak Launches $10m Ad Campaign – Includes TV
Kayak, the travel search engine, today launched a $10m advertising campaign with a HUGE offline component. The TV commercials are fun, creative, and potentially viral. It’s no coincidence that the spots can also be found on Kayak.com and YouTube. This is either a brilliant move by the company or a sign that Bubble 2.0 is here. You decide after checking out the commercials and then reading my interview with Kayak CMO Dean Harris and my thoughts on the campaign. Kayak is also running a contest encouraging the creation of user generated ads in the same style as the official Kayak…
- Yahoo Buys Land In Santa Clara
The San Jose Business Journal reports that Yahoo has purchased 42.5 acres in Santa Clara. The price of the land was not disclosed, but we do know they bought it from San Francisco’s TMG Partners. Yahoo’s CFO, Sue Decker, said: “We see this as an attractive asset that provides attractive additional capacity and flexibility for Yahoo’s future. We are planning for future growth and will analyze several different scenarios over the coming year regarding the development of the property.”…
- Judge Orders Google To Disclose Advertiser’s Information
Out-Law reports that Google was ordered by Justice Rimer to hand over the information on an advertiser to Helen Grant for copyright infringement. Helen Grant “complained that a Google advert led to a service which she claimed violated her copyright in a forthcoming book.” A search brought up a site named Realityunlocked.com, “which offered a free download of an earlier draft of the book, and that the site violated the Trust’s copyright.” Google asked Grant to take the issue to court, this way Google does not have to worry about the privacy issues with handing over the information….
- Matt Cutts Of Google Comments On Recent Listings Issues
Last week we reported that Google may have revealed the spam scores to the world. Well, Matt Cutts came back from vacation and he confirmed the data “was real.” He promised not to “comment on what any of it means” but at least we know Google is part of the borg. Just kidding. I doubt we will see a treasure like that again, but if we do, it would be interesting to see if Google does add “extra settings for fun,” such as initial_time_travel_wormhole=Wednesday, December 31 1969 11:11 pm.”…
- Google Binary Search Not Only Finds Malware But Also Shows Signs Of More
PCWorld reports that Google’s binary search feature came in handy to locate “thousands of malicious Web sites, as well as several legitimate sites that have been hacked.” The feature reads executable files and can locate some malicious code within those files. It was used to help find malicious sites and programs by a security vendor named Websense. The article also explains that binary search may be a sign that “Google may be thinking about becoming a file searching service.”…
- Eric Schmidt Claims The PPC Model is “Self-Correcting” In Terms Of Click Fraud
Donna Bogatin reports that Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt claims that click fraud is “self-correcting.” Meaning, Eventually, the price that the advertiser is willing to pay for the conversion will decline, because the advertiser will realize that these are bad clicks, in other words, the value of the ad declines, so over some amount of time, the system is in-fact, self-correcting. In fact, there is a perfect economic solution which is to let it happen. So the “let it happen” quote, in terms of Eric Schmidt saying let click fraud happen, has been buzzing through the blogging community.