Google
This returns sponsored listings (adwords) only for search phrase or single word...
Cory Kleinschmidt at Traffick reckons this will "increase the exposure for advertisers whose ads normally wouldn't appear until page 2 or 3 of the Google search results". I am a little more sceptical especially as this totally seperates the paid ads form the organic results....What will be next along this trend?
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
AdWords: best tips and examples from The Google Team
The Google Team with just 95 characters per ad, you get the lowest cost per lead of any direct marketing medium available. We have studied thousands of AdWords campaigns at Google. This workbook, The Maximum Effect, is a compilation of the best tips and examples you can use to make the most of those 95 characters for your business. We hope you find it useful enough to keep handy as you develop your Google AdWords campaigns.
McCaffrey leaving Google
SiliconBeat
"Cindy McCaffrey, Google's vice president of corporate marketing, is leaving... McCaffrey shaped Google's low-key marketing approach, rejecting a high-profile campaign in the company's early years in favor of word-of-mouth marketing, colleague Matt Marshall says. "Remember, (then interim marketing V.P.) Scott Epstein brought in some high-powered advertising experts and proposed a massive advertising campaign in late 1999. McCaffrey, siding with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, rejected that approach, saying they'd rather spend their money on developing the best product, which would be the best way of generating publicity."
"Cindy McCaffrey, Google's vice president of corporate marketing, is leaving... McCaffrey shaped Google's low-key marketing approach, rejecting a high-profile campaign in the company's early years in favor of word-of-mouth marketing, colleague Matt Marshall says. "Remember, (then interim marketing V.P.) Scott Epstein brought in some high-powered advertising experts and proposed a massive advertising campaign in late 1999. McCaffrey, siding with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, rejected that approach, saying they'd rather spend their money on developing the best product, which would be the best way of generating publicity."
Google Won Geico Trademark Ruling
DMNews.com
"A federal judge ruled in Google's favor yesterday in the first U.S. court ruling that search engines can sell advertising triggered by trademarked terms"
Googles "new policy lets advertisers bid on trademarked terms, but not use them in ad copy. Reebok could bid on the keyword "Nike" but not use the term in its paid listing keyed by that term. Previously, Google would remove a term from auction if a trademark owner requested...
still will consider whether including trademarked terms in the text of paid listings is a violation....
Google has said it is the responsibility of advertisers to obey trademark law, and that as a publisher it should not act as an arbitrator of infringement claims. Outside of the United States and Canada, however, Google continues to remove trademarked terms from its ad auction upon request"
"A federal judge ruled in Google's favor yesterday in the first U.S. court ruling that search engines can sell advertising triggered by trademarked terms"
Googles "new policy lets advertisers bid on trademarked terms, but not use them in ad copy. Reebok could bid on the keyword "Nike" but not use the term in its paid listing keyed by that term. Previously, Google would remove a term from auction if a trademark owner requested...
still will consider whether including trademarked terms in the text of paid listings is a violation....
Google has said it is the responsibility of advertisers to obey trademark law, and that as a publisher it should not act as an arbitrator of infringement claims. Outside of the United States and Canada, however, Google continues to remove trademarked terms from its ad auction upon request"
Monday, December 20, 2004
Google: We've fixed desktop search tool flaw
CNET News.com
"Google says it has fixed a flaw that could allow hackers to search the contents of PCs running the company's desktop search tool. " Article gives full details.
"Google says it has fixed a flaw that could allow hackers to search the contents of PCs running the company's desktop search tool. " Article gives full details.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
GOOGLE GUY GIVES VERDICT ON SPECIFIC SITE BAN
Help-Stop-Smoking Site Rankings Drop Out Of Google - Non-Profit site - Please Help!: "Wait a second. visibility hidden? font-size is set to 1 pixel? But wouldn't that mean that all those great resource links are hidden to users? Hmm.
Weird. Last time I noticed, there were also lots of links to help-quit-smoking-stop-smoking-quitting-aids.com from pages like http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/refer.htm . Hmm. Looks like the same company doing this?
bobmutch, here's what I'd tell Blair: if you want to run a non-profit, don't link to sites that have hidden text via CSS, especially not on the *footer of practically every page on the site*. Who you link to can affect your ranking. This site seemed to have a lot of links to a lot of very aggressive sites for a non-profit. I'd recommend that he remove all links to these aggressive sites, and then send an email to us requesting reinclusion.
Hope that helps,
GoogleGuy"
Weird. Last time I noticed, there were also lots of links to help-quit-smoking-stop-smoking-quitting-aids.com from pages like http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/refer.htm . Hmm. Looks like the same company doing this?
bobmutch, here's what I'd tell Blair: if you want to run a non-profit, don't link to sites that have hidden text via CSS, especially not on the *footer of practically every page on the site*. Who you link to can affect your ranking. This site seemed to have a lot of links to a lot of very aggressive sites for a non-profit. I'd recommend that he remove all links to these aggressive sites, and then send an email to us requesting reinclusion.
Hope that helps,
GoogleGuy"
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Suggested Google Alphabet
Patrick Gaskill
"After reading about the exposed Google Suggest URL over at InsideGoogle and seeing the ABCs of Google posted by Hatta on Slashdot, I decided to automate the process. Each time you load this page, it checks the most popular keyword for each letter of the alphabet given by Google Suggest, and displays them here for your viewing pleasure. "
"After reading about the exposed Google Suggest URL over at InsideGoogle and seeing the ABCs of Google posted by Hatta on Slashdot, I decided to automate the process. Each time you load this page, it checks the most popular keyword for each letter of the alphabet given by Google Suggest, and displays them here for your viewing pleasure. "
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Google Wins Trademark Ad Lawsuit
Forbes.com
"Google Inc. won a major legal victory Wednesday when a federal judge said the search engine could continue to sell ads triggered by searches using trademarked company names.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a claim by auto insurance giant Geico Corp., which argued that Google should not be allowed to sell ads to rival insurance companies that appear whenever Geico's name is typed into the Google search box...
But Brinkema said the case would continue to move forward on one remaining issue, whether ads that pop up and actually use Geico in their text violate trademark law. Google contends that its policies expressly forbid advertisers from using trademark names in the text of their ads. The search engine says it does its best to prevent ads that violate the policy from sneaking in, and that the advertisers would liable for any trademark violation, not Google.
Brinkema said she would halt the trial at this point to put a decision in writing and she encouraged both parties to try and settle the remaining issues."
So it appears the trademark can be bought by anyone as "keyword" but not used in the text shown in the ad....
CBS Marketwatch
Add details to coverage of the case:
"Geico claimed that Google shouldn't let rival insurers buy the Geico name, because customers become confused when they type in 'Geico' into the keyword box and receive links to competing services and rivals. 'There is no evidence that that activity alone causes confusion,' said Brinkema, according to the Associated Press."
Commenting about a related case yet to be heard "David Rammelt, an attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren, which represents American Blind added:
"The judge recognized that the allegations Geico raised valid claims for trademark dilution and trademark infringement...the broader impact of this case is that it will vary on case by case as to whether or not individual companies can show confusion or the likelihood of confusion of those companies."
In the motion to dismiss the Geico case, Google wrote: "Imagine, for example, that Ford wants to target its advertising at Toyota customers. Ford goes to magazines such as Car and Driver and pays to have a full-page Ford ad face every Toyota review the magazine prints that year.
"Ford is aware that many of the readers of those ads go to those pages looking for information about Toyotas. After all, that is precisely the point: Ford wants to target its ads at its competitors' customers and prospective customers, and win those customers," the company argued. "
"Google Inc. won a major legal victory Wednesday when a federal judge said the search engine could continue to sell ads triggered by searches using trademarked company names.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a claim by auto insurance giant Geico Corp., which argued that Google should not be allowed to sell ads to rival insurance companies that appear whenever Geico's name is typed into the Google search box...
But Brinkema said the case would continue to move forward on one remaining issue, whether ads that pop up and actually use Geico in their text violate trademark law. Google contends that its policies expressly forbid advertisers from using trademark names in the text of their ads. The search engine says it does its best to prevent ads that violate the policy from sneaking in, and that the advertisers would liable for any trademark violation, not Google.
Brinkema said she would halt the trial at this point to put a decision in writing and she encouraged both parties to try and settle the remaining issues."
So it appears the trademark can be bought by anyone as "keyword" but not used in the text shown in the ad....
CBS Marketwatch
Add details to coverage of the case:
"Geico claimed that Google shouldn't let rival insurers buy the Geico name, because customers become confused when they type in 'Geico' into the keyword box and receive links to competing services and rivals. 'There is no evidence that that activity alone causes confusion,' said Brinkema, according to the Associated Press."
Commenting about a related case yet to be heard "David Rammelt, an attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren, which represents American Blind added:
"The judge recognized that the allegations Geico raised valid claims for trademark dilution and trademark infringement...the broader impact of this case is that it will vary on case by case as to whether or not individual companies can show confusion or the likelihood of confusion of those companies."
In the motion to dismiss the Geico case, Google wrote: "Imagine, for example, that Ford wants to target its advertising at Toyota customers. Ford goes to magazines such as Car and Driver and pays to have a full-page Ford ad face every Toyota review the magazine prints that year.
"Ford is aware that many of the readers of those ads go to those pages looking for information about Toyotas. After all, that is precisely the point: Ford wants to target its ads at its competitors' customers and prospective customers, and win those customers," the company argued. "
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Google to Scan Books From Big Libraries
Forbes.com
"Google Inc. is trying to establish an online reading room for five major libraries by scanning stacks of hard-to-find books into its widely used Internet search engine.
The ambitious initiative announced late Monday gives Mountain View, Calif.-based Google the right to index material from the New York public library as well as libraries at four universities - Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford in England...
"This is the day the world changes," said John Wilkin, a University of Michigan librarian working with Google. "It will be disruptive because some people will worry that this is the beginning of the end of libraries. But this is something we have to do to revitalize the profession and make it more meaningful."
The books scanned from libraries will be included in the same Google index the spans the Web. By throwing everything into the same pot, Google risks burying the library book results far below the Web documents containing the same search terms term, reducing the usefulness of the feature, said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch."
"Google Inc. is trying to establish an online reading room for five major libraries by scanning stacks of hard-to-find books into its widely used Internet search engine.
The ambitious initiative announced late Monday gives Mountain View, Calif.-based Google the right to index material from the New York public library as well as libraries at four universities - Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford in England...
"This is the day the world changes," said John Wilkin, a University of Michigan librarian working with Google. "It will be disruptive because some people will worry that this is the beginning of the end of libraries. But this is something we have to do to revitalize the profession and make it more meaningful."
The books scanned from libraries will be included in the same Google index the spans the Web. By throwing everything into the same pot, Google risks burying the library book results far below the Web documents containing the same search terms term, reducing the usefulness of the feature, said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch."
Monday, December 13, 2004
Google Suggest FAQ
Google Labs
Completes words in a drop-down list of ten possible &/or likely ways to complete any word you begin to type in the search box AND how many times that option is searched at Google
Main features from FAQ
1) Works in real time
2) Algorithms use a wide range of information to predict the queries - give Google Zeitgeist as an example data source
3) Does not base its suggestions on your personal search history
4) Suggests more refined searches up front - less need to refine queries
5) Uses information about the relative popularity of common searches to rank its suggestions
Labs preferred example searches:
You type a few letters and Google Suggest might offer:
"bass" "bass guitar" "bass fishing"
"prog" "programming" "programming languages" "progesterone" "progressive"
"duke" "duke university" "dukes of hazzard" "duke nukem" "duke ellington" "duke power"
The implications for SEO are discussed at Webmaster World
where AaronL points out the differences between "did you mean" and the new suggest feature:
"The "did you mean" feature offers suggestions after you submit your query, thus allowing you to finish your thought. In addition, it is used most often to address spelling issues, rather than completely different search strings. Here G has the opportunity to shape the query and “herd” the user down G's preferred path."
The last sentence sums up the general feeling about the effect "suggest" could have on searchers habits if it is integrated into the main search.
Alphabetical advantages become interesting again
strong adult filter is on
New opportunities to spam google: how do I get to the top of the suggestions list?
internetheaven believes that "This means that all traffic will be directed to a few specific terms, obviously the traffic for these sites will increase dramatically while the others disappear off the face of the earth. Now you don't have to work out which terms users want, you have to work out what Google is going to recommend they want .... "
While Tigrou feels that from a searchers point of view it "Seems to be a terrible example of engineers gone wild & somehow bypassing look/feel & usability people."
The Google employee who came up with the idea in their 20% time posts in the Google Blog This "Labs project that provides you with search suggestions, in real time, while you type. We've found that Google Suggest not only makes it easier to type in your favorite searches (let's face it -- we're all a little lazy), but also gives you a playground to explore what others are searching about, and learn about things you haven't dreamt of."
Completes words in a drop-down list of ten possible &/or likely ways to complete any word you begin to type in the search box AND how many times that option is searched at Google
Main features from FAQ
1) Works in real time
2) Algorithms use a wide range of information to predict the queries - give Google Zeitgeist as an example data source
3) Does not base its suggestions on your personal search history
4) Suggests more refined searches up front - less need to refine queries
5) Uses information about the relative popularity of common searches to rank its suggestions
Labs preferred example searches:
You type a few letters and Google Suggest might offer:
"bass" "bass guitar" "bass fishing"
"prog" "programming" "programming languages" "progesterone" "progressive"
"duke" "duke university" "dukes of hazzard" "duke nukem" "duke ellington" "duke power"
The implications for SEO are discussed at Webmaster World
where AaronL points out the differences between "did you mean" and the new suggest feature:
"The "did you mean" feature offers suggestions after you submit your query, thus allowing you to finish your thought. In addition, it is used most often to address spelling issues, rather than completely different search strings. Here G has the opportunity to shape the query and “herd” the user down G's preferred path."
The last sentence sums up the general feeling about the effect "suggest" could have on searchers habits if it is integrated into the main search.
Alphabetical advantages become interesting again
strong adult filter is on
New opportunities to spam google: how do I get to the top of the suggestions list?
internetheaven believes that "This means that all traffic will be directed to a few specific terms, obviously the traffic for these sites will increase dramatically while the others disappear off the face of the earth. Now you don't have to work out which terms users want, you have to work out what Google is going to recommend they want .... "
While Tigrou feels that from a searchers point of view it "Seems to be a terrible example of engineers gone wild & somehow bypassing look/feel & usability people."
The Google employee who came up with the idea in their 20% time posts in the Google Blog This "Labs project that provides you with search suggestions, in real time, while you type. We've found that Google Suggest not only makes it easier to type in your favorite searches (let's face it -- we're all a little lazy), but also gives you a playground to explore what others are searching about, and learn about things you haven't dreamt of."
Google Sued Over Scholar
John Battelle's Searchblog
"The American Chemical Society yesterday filed a complaint against Google, claiming the new Google Scholar infringes on its own product, called SciFinder Scholar. "
Battelle reckons that the case is not down to the American Chemical Society & Google being in the same business but due to ACS wanting to keep their product's revenue....
"Aha! Google Scholar is free. SciFinder is paid. If Google Scholar wins out, SciFinder loses. They can't sue Google for making information free, but they can sue for trademark."
The legal action doc has been posted at Resourceshelf
"The American Chemical Society yesterday filed a complaint against Google, claiming the new Google Scholar infringes on its own product, called SciFinder Scholar. "
Battelle reckons that the case is not down to the American Chemical Society & Google being in the same business but due to ACS wanting to keep their product's revenue....
"Aha! Google Scholar is free. SciFinder is paid. If Google Scholar wins out, SciFinder loses. They can't sue Google for making information free, but they can sue for trademark."
The legal action doc has been posted at Resourceshelf
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Google Suggest - New Beta Tool from Google
Threadwatch.org
Most wide ranging discussion of the Google "suggest" and reverse engineering...I am alos of the opinion that this tool could skew the seerps even more to high volume (and high cost) for clicks.
Most wide ranging discussion of the Google "suggest" and reverse engineering...I am alos of the opinion that this tool could skew the seerps even more to high volume (and high cost) for clicks.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Site-Flavored Google Search Beta
Google Business Solutions
Users of Google search solutions can test new personalisation features...expect these to become the norm..
Users of Google search solutions can test new personalisation features...expect these to become the norm..
Google offers a suggestion
CNET News.com
"Google has launched a new feature that tries to guess what users are looking for as they type queries into a search box.
Google Suggest quietly debuted this week on the company's Labs site, which showcases Google features that 'aren't quite ready for prime time,' according to a message on the site. "
Google: "As you type, Google will offer suggestions. Use the arrow keys to navigate the results."
Google Suggest FAQ: "Google Suggest : Frequently Asked Questions "
Invisible tabs?
"Google has launched a new feature that tries to guess what users are looking for as they type queries into a search box.
Google Suggest quietly debuted this week on the company's Labs site, which showcases Google features that 'aren't quite ready for prime time,' according to a message on the site. "
Google: "As you type, Google will offer suggestions. Use the arrow keys to navigate the results."
Google Suggest FAQ: "Google Suggest : Frequently Asked Questions "
Invisible tabs?
Google Magazine Search?
internetnews.com
"Google (Quote, Chart) may have found a way to make money from its still-in-beta News service without alienating publishers, as indicated by a patent application on file with the USPTO...There are two key elements of the patent: a method for executing a permission protocol so that the publisher could authorize Google to display more text from the relevant publication; and storing scanned versions of printed documents along with data sets representing the ads that went with them.
Google's problem with its News service is that there's no way to monetize it. News publishers would cry foul if it displayed contextual ads against their content, even if it is just headlines and openers. The patent application hints at a way to take that a step further. It would cover a process of scanning printed media and displaying them as search results "as a replica of the corresponding printed media." This method would maintain a news organization's or publisher's branding -- and it also would maintain the original ads.
But fast-moving tech companies don't tend to waste time on applying for irrelevant patents, said IP attorney John Rabena, a partner at Sughrue Mion, an intellectual property law firm.
"If Google has a patent application on something, they're probably doing it now," Rabena said. In his experience, technology and software companies don't go after a lot of patents. "They tend to stick to their core technology."
A gander at Google's patent portfolio seems to bear out Rabena's theory: The search advertising giant has six applications in the pipeline, three of them filed in 2004, along with seven patents. All but two relate to search; one is for a method of serving relevant advertising and another is for a method of displaying e-mail. "
"Google (Quote, Chart) may have found a way to make money from its still-in-beta News service without alienating publishers, as indicated by a patent application on file with the USPTO...There are two key elements of the patent: a method for executing a permission protocol so that the publisher could authorize Google to display more text from the relevant publication; and storing scanned versions of printed documents along with data sets representing the ads that went with them.
Google's problem with its News service is that there's no way to monetize it. News publishers would cry foul if it displayed contextual ads against their content, even if it is just headlines and openers. The patent application hints at a way to take that a step further. It would cover a process of scanning printed media and displaying them as search results "as a replica of the corresponding printed media." This method would maintain a news organization's or publisher's branding -- and it also would maintain the original ads.
But fast-moving tech companies don't tend to waste time on applying for irrelevant patents, said IP attorney John Rabena, a partner at Sughrue Mion, an intellectual property law firm.
"If Google has a patent application on something, they're probably doing it now," Rabena said. In his experience, technology and software companies don't go after a lot of patents. "They tend to stick to their core technology."
A gander at Google's patent portfolio seems to bear out Rabena's theory: The search advertising giant has six applications in the pipeline, three of them filed in 2004, along with seven patents. All but two relate to search; one is for a method of serving relevant advertising and another is for a method of displaying e-mail. "
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Google Guy: how to get great results: "look at your logs, not your rankings"
Searchenginewatch forum
"I advise people to spend less time on their toolbar PR, rankings, or a single keyword phrase and more time seeing how they do across several search engines, seeing if they can be relevant for diverse phrases, and on looking at their logs to figure out what keywords users are typing to really find the site". And I'd compress that down to "look at your logs, not your rankings." There's often more interesting stuff to learn in one's server logs and by thinking about how surfers use your site.
"I advise people to spend less time on their toolbar PR, rankings, or a single keyword phrase and more time seeing how they do across several search engines, seeing if they can be relevant for diverse phrases, and on looking at their logs to figure out what keywords users are typing to really find the site". And I'd compress that down to "look at your logs, not your rankings." There's often more interesting stuff to learn in one's server logs and by thinking about how surfers use your site.
"Google Introduces Animated Ads"
MediaDailyNews 12-09-04
Google announced it will now allow eye-catching animated GIF banners throughout its AdSense network for publishers. Google intends to continue charging advertisers on a cost-per-performance basis--Some analysts criticized the move, saying that it's a mistake for Google to use a cost-per-click pricing model charge for banner ads--which can have a branding value even if consumers don't click on them. Sometimes, especially with streaming and rich media banners, advertisers don't even call on consumers to take any direct action. For this reason, banners are traditionally sold based on cost-per-thousand impression basis.
The danger faced by Google is that advertisers will get the branding benefits of banner ads, but won't have to pay because consumers might not click on them.
Google announced it will now allow eye-catching animated GIF banners throughout its AdSense network for publishers. Google intends to continue charging advertisers on a cost-per-performance basis--Some analysts criticized the move, saying that it's a mistake for Google to use a cost-per-click pricing model charge for banner ads--which can have a branding value even if consumers don't click on them. Sometimes, especially with streaming and rich media banners, advertisers don't even call on consumers to take any direct action. For this reason, banners are traditionally sold based on cost-per-thousand impression basis.
The danger faced by Google is that advertisers will get the branding benefits of banner ads, but won't have to pay because consumers might not click on them.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Google & Authority Sites: Tourism Example
SiteProNews
In an article about writing content for Google Jim Hedger also discusses the concept of authority sites giving a tourism related example to illustrate how the concept relates to linking:
He theorises that Google is becoming more strict about link-relevance stating that "to postively affect ranking the pages or sites linked together must relate to each other in topic as well as by sharing similar keywords."
His example is regional tourism as a topic.
"A local tourism bureau will almost certainly have a website. That site will link to the sites of member-clients in its region. Each of those sites represent businesses dependent on regional tourism, thus establishing relevance between the sites. The tourism bureau becomes the "hub" from which Google follows links to other, topically related websites. In this way, the Hub site becomes a highly positive link-reference in Google's eyes."
In an article about writing content for Google Jim Hedger also discusses the concept of authority sites giving a tourism related example to illustrate how the concept relates to linking:
He theorises that Google is becoming more strict about link-relevance stating that "to postively affect ranking the pages or sites linked together must relate to each other in topic as well as by sharing similar keywords."
His example is regional tourism as a topic.
"A local tourism bureau will almost certainly have a website. That site will link to the sites of member-clients in its region. Each of those sites represent businesses dependent on regional tourism, thus establishing relevance between the sites. The tourism bureau becomes the "hub" from which Google follows links to other, topically related websites. In this way, the Hub site becomes a highly positive link-reference in Google's eyes."
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Toolbar PageRank is dead, long live PageRank...
JohnGalt That's not my real name... put the cat amongst the pigeons with his post at forums.searchenginewatch "Google says: Toolbar PageRank is for entertainment purposes only..."
He claims to have received the following from a Google rep...""The PageRank that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is for entertainment purposes only. Due to repeated attempts by hackers to access this data, Google updates the PageRank data very infrequently because is it not secure. On average, the PR that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is several months old. If the toolbar is showing a PR of zero, this is because the user is visiting a new URL that hasn't been updated in the last update. The PR that is displayed by the Google Toolbar is not the same PR that is used to rank the webpage results so there is no need to be concerned if your PR is displayed as zero. If a site is showing up in the search results, it doesn't not have a real PR of zero, the Toolbar is just out of date"
The amount of hot air this has generated in a flurry of forum posts indicates that PageRank mania (severe cases of OCD) is still crippling those who hold the delusional belief that the little green line is the holy grail..
Googleguy chips in at seoroundtable
with a refutation which is not wholly convincing and sends the commentators into a dizzy spin trying to interpret what he really means...
Perhaps a tad more helpful are the "facts" that bobmutch posts about the redundancy of the PR toolbar at Threadwatch.org "Toolbar PR used to be updated every month up until Jun 22/2004 when PR went for 106 days without an update (longest on record before that was Aug 8/2003 and Oct 22/2000 at 54 days)... We currently haven't have a Toolbar PR update for 57 days, a BL update for 7 days (Nov 25) and a Google Directory PR update for 35 days (Oct 28).
He claims to have received the following from a Google rep...""The PageRank that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is for entertainment purposes only. Due to repeated attempts by hackers to access this data, Google updates the PageRank data very infrequently because is it not secure. On average, the PR that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is several months old. If the toolbar is showing a PR of zero, this is because the user is visiting a new URL that hasn't been updated in the last update. The PR that is displayed by the Google Toolbar is not the same PR that is used to rank the webpage results so there is no need to be concerned if your PR is displayed as zero. If a site is showing up in the search results, it doesn't not have a real PR of zero, the Toolbar is just out of date"
The amount of hot air this has generated in a flurry of forum posts indicates that PageRank mania (severe cases of OCD) is still crippling those who hold the delusional belief that the little green line is the holy grail..
Googleguy chips in at seoroundtable
with a refutation which is not wholly convincing and sends the commentators into a dizzy spin trying to interpret what he really means...
Perhaps a tad more helpful are the "facts" that bobmutch posts about the redundancy of the PR toolbar at Threadwatch.org "Toolbar PR used to be updated every month up until Jun 22/2004 when PR went for 106 days without an update (longest on record before that was Aug 8/2003 and Oct 22/2000 at 54 days)... We currently haven't have a Toolbar PR update for 57 days, a BL update for 7 days (Nov 25) and a Google Directory PR update for 35 days (Oct 28).
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Google groups : Google modernizes Net community service
CNET News.com
"Google has enhanced its discussion-group service, Google Groups, and on Thursday will make the updates widely available to Web surfers. The new service lets people create e-mail discussion groups and mine information from them, and builds on the company's Web-based groups."
Link: Google Groups Beta
"Google has enhanced its discussion-group service, Google Groups, and on Thursday will make the updates widely available to Web surfers. The new service lets people create e-mail discussion groups and mine information from them, and builds on the company's Web-based groups."
Link: Google Groups Beta
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Friday, November 26, 2004
Google Quality Rater (Temp)
Google Job Opportunities
"Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California, is recruiting part-time remote workers to help with search quality evaluation on a project basis. Candidates must be web-savvy and analytical, have excellent web research skills and a broad range of interests. Specific areas of expertise are highly desirable.
Participants in web evaluation projects must have a high speed internet connection. All applicants must be U.S. or Canada based and must have the corresponding work permit."
The above job advert provoked speculation by inlogicalbearer at searchenginewatch forum that Google is going to "add humans to algo, to track down spammers."
Dave Hawley comments: "Now I can see how Google rumours spread like Chinese Whispers"
"Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California, is recruiting part-time remote workers to help with search quality evaluation on a project basis. Candidates must be web-savvy and analytical, have excellent web research skills and a broad range of interests. Specific areas of expertise are highly desirable.
Participants in web evaluation projects must have a high speed internet connection. All applicants must be U.S. or Canada based and must have the corresponding work permit."
The above job advert provoked speculation by inlogicalbearer at searchenginewatch forum that Google is going to "add humans to algo, to track down spammers."
Dave Hawley comments: "Now I can see how Google rumours spread like Chinese Whispers"
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Net Stocks: Google sliding
Net Stocks: Google sliding as insiders sell $1 bln worth
"Google shares slid below $163 on Monday, the week after 39 million shares became available for sale, including nearly $1 billion of shares sold by venture backers."
"Google shares slid below $163 on Monday, the week after 39 million shares became available for sale, including nearly $1 billion of shares sold by venture backers."
Forbes.com: Adult Site Sues Google for Infringment
Forbes.com: Adult Site Sues Google for Infringment: "Google displays the images from rogue Web sites operated in foreign countries, according to Perfect 10's lawsuit. The search engine also provides links to password hacking sites that provide ways to gain illegal access to Perfect 10's Web site, the suit alleges.
Perfect 10 publisher Norm Zada said he is targeting Google because the company is using the allure of naked women to draw more visitors to its site and generate more advertising revenue.
He said he fears his company, which claims 100,000 unique visitors a month to its Web site, will be driven out of business unless Google is forced to stop distributing the 'free peeks.' "
Perfect 10 publisher Norm Zada said he is targeting Google because the company is using the allure of naked women to draw more visitors to its site and generate more advertising revenue.
He said he fears his company, which claims 100,000 unique visitors a month to its Web site, will be driven out of business unless Google is forced to stop distributing the 'free peeks.' "
Monday, November 22, 2004
Google Muscles Into Microsoft's Turf
Forbes.com
"Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products, said the company's goal is to organize information and make it universally accessible, and that goes far beyond search. "
Web search isn't the only place where Microsoft is playing catch-up:
Internet browser toolbar that blocks pop-up ads and enables search launched years after Google had created its own.
And after Google announced plans for Gmail Microsoft said it would boost free memory on its Hotmail accounts no details yet.
Microsoft also has promised its own system for searching desktop computers...Google launched its desktop search product last month and said users should expect more improvements to that product.
Ad delivery, where Microsoft recently extended through June 2006 a contract for Yahoo Inc./ Overture paid ads... Ad placement alongside search results is Google's main cash cow...
David Smith, a vice president with Gartner Inc., says the chain of events illustrates that Google is proving to be customer-driven while Microsoft tends to be more driven by competitive threats.
Google opened an office in Kirkland, not far from Microsoft's Redmond campus...
"Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products, said the company's goal is to organize information and make it universally accessible, and that goes far beyond search. "
Web search isn't the only place where Microsoft is playing catch-up:
Internet browser toolbar that blocks pop-up ads and enables search launched years after Google had created its own.
And after Google announced plans for Gmail Microsoft said it would boost free memory on its Hotmail accounts no details yet.
Microsoft also has promised its own system for searching desktop computers...Google launched its desktop search product last month and said users should expect more improvements to that product.
Ad delivery, where Microsoft recently extended through June 2006 a contract for Yahoo Inc./ Overture paid ads... Ad placement alongside search results is Google's main cash cow...
David Smith, a vice president with Gartner Inc., says the chain of events illustrates that Google is proving to be customer-driven while Microsoft tends to be more driven by competitive threats.
Google opened an office in Kirkland, not far from Microsoft's Redmond campus...
Friday, November 19, 2004
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Forbes.com: : Google Shares Fall
Forbes.com:
"Shares of Google Inc. slipped Thursday after the world's most popular Internet search engine warned for the second time in a week that its fourth-quarter revenue growth rate is likely to slow from previous quarters"
"Shares of Google Inc. slipped Thursday after the world's most popular Internet search engine warned for the second time in a week that its fourth-quarter revenue growth rate is likely to slow from previous quarters"
Google launches search for scholars | CNET News.com
Could this be the first big move to separate "pure/ academic" search from the commercially tainted version?
Google launches search for scholars | CNET News.com: "Google on Wednesday unveiled Google Scholar, a new search product aimed at helping users search scholarly literature such as technical reports, theses and abstracts. "
It will have specially tailored search algorithms according to Anurag Acharya, a principal engineer at Google
It will not initially carry Web search advertisements although "web search advertising accounts for almost all of Google's revenue, which was $805.9 million in the third quarter."
The New York Times: reports that the service "is intended as a first stop for researchers looking for scholarly literature like peer-reviewed papers, books, abstracts and technical reports. "
NY Times quotes Mr. Acharya as saying " his motivation, in part, had been a desire to help the academic community from which Google emerged...Google as a company has greatly benefited from academic research and this is one of the ways we can give back to the community."
Danny Sullivan, SearchWatchEngine editor, comments that Google was certain to have competition soon from Yahoo and others."We will continue to see an explosion of vertical search engines like this," he said of search services that focus on special collections."
Google launches search for scholars | CNET News.com: "Google on Wednesday unveiled Google Scholar, a new search product aimed at helping users search scholarly literature such as technical reports, theses and abstracts. "
It will have specially tailored search algorithms according to Anurag Acharya, a principal engineer at Google
It will not initially carry Web search advertisements although "web search advertising accounts for almost all of Google's revenue, which was $805.9 million in the third quarter."
The New York Times: reports that the service "is intended as a first stop for researchers looking for scholarly literature like peer-reviewed papers, books, abstracts and technical reports. "
NY Times quotes Mr. Acharya as saying " his motivation, in part, had been a desire to help the academic community from which Google emerged...Google as a company has greatly benefited from academic research and this is one of the ways we can give back to the community."
Danny Sullivan, SearchWatchEngine editor, comments that Google was certain to have competition soon from Yahoo and others."We will continue to see an explosion of vertical search engines like this," he said of search services that focus on special collections."
Google launches Keyhole : Next Generation Mapping
Keyhole "technology enables you to point and fly to hundreds of US and international cities. Zoom down to detail showing individual buildings, search for existing businesses by name or category, even fly to a specific address... can easily import lists of buildings, overlays showing demographic trends, proposed developments, and even site plans. The powerful XML-based collaboration capability in Keyhole 2 allows you to share lists of locations, with custom icons and detailed descriptions, with a single click. Keyhole’s streaming technology does the heavy lifting, putting your data in the context of detailed imagery, 3D terrain, and map data."
Google keeping quiet about any plans for integrating Keyhole: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Keyhole's technology and products are an excellent addition to our efforts to do that. We do not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services..." local search is my tip....
Google keeping quiet about any plans for integrating Keyhole: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Keyhole's technology and products are an excellent addition to our efforts to do that. We do not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services..." local search is my tip....
Monday, November 15, 2004
Google Desktop Security Warning Issued
Businesses need policies re desktop search tools: "Two analysts issued independent warnings today suggesting Google's Desktop Search tool -- released in October -- poses security risks for the enterprise. "
Dana Hendrickson, an analyst at VPN Central warns "The most significant threat is when desktop search is used while connected to a virtual private network (VPN)"
Meta Group analyst "Hickernell told internetnews.com that the desktop will be the next battlefront in the search engine wars -- and a new front in the battle for corporate security. Google Desktop Search lets users search documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, instant messages and Web pages that have been visited by that PC. To enable this, it creates cached versions of Web content -- which could include sensitive corporate information stored on servers and accessed via a Web interface.
Dana Hendrickson, an analyst at VPN Central warns "The most significant threat is when desktop search is used while connected to a virtual private network (VPN)"
Meta Group analyst "Hickernell told internetnews.com that the desktop will be the next battlefront in the search engine wars -- and a new front in the battle for corporate security. Google Desktop Search lets users search documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, instant messages and Web pages that have been visited by that PC. To enable this, it creates cached versions of Web content -- which could include sensitive corporate information stored on servers and accessed via a Web interface.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Google Blog
Google Blog: "The documents in Google's index are in dozens of file types from HTML to PDF, including PowerPoint, Flash, PostScript and JavaScript. Together these pages represent a good chunk of the world's information, but hardly all of it. That's why we keep building more advanced systems for crawling the web and creating more sophisticated indices to sort what we find. So 8 billion pages is a milestone worth noting, but it's not the end of the road. The real test is how well we do in finding what you want from within those pages. We'll keep improving that too. "
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "According to ClickZ News, Google has published its much-anticipated AdWords content policy. The policy outlines what is acceptable in its text advertisements and what is unacceptable"
Getting to Know Gmail
Getting to Know Gmail: "EmailLabs estimates that between 1.5 million and 2 million people are now registered Gmail users, and projects that this base could grow to between 5 million and 10 million over the next year. "
Affiliate sites in Google: thread & A study of host pairs with replicated content
Anyone besides me not swallowed the "Hilltop" magic pill yet?: Posred by "caveman Nov 4, 2004 (utc 0) WRT Hilltop, there are two differnet areas of assessment that we have paid a lot of attention to:
1) affiliation, and its consequences
2) themed links, and their consequences
Tested: "One thing we did was to identify a pair of very similar sites in different categories. The sites were deemed similar by virtue of size, construction, PR, linking patterns, and performance in the SERP's. Call them site A and site B.
For site A we went and got 20 good backlinks (PR 6-7) from non-affiliated sites, in categories unrelated to site A's category. No help; the site stayed buried.
For site B we went and got 8 good backlinks (PR 5-7) from closely related sites (two hubs, six authority). Within four weeks site B had popped back to its former glory while most webmasters in the immediate post Florida environment were still bemoaning the disappearance of their sites...
caveman concludes: "post Florida the URL's were typically associated with authority sites. Before Florida, when we saw that, the URL's more typically reflected high PR pages. The assumption here is that a really important backlink is displayed, but that seems a good assumption to me.
On a related note, though I can't call this technically Hilltop, we have virtual certainty that links from unaffiliated, relevant pages that are tightly connected to our own topics perform better than identical links from unrelated pages, for certain kw searches"
Caveman later posts: "The way I read it, the Hilltop/LocalRank "affiliate" filter is quite subtle... ...would need a pretty heavily cross/interlinked domain farm targeting a single category with relatively few "outside" links for a dramatic drop in the SERPs.
ciml; "Monika Henzinger co-wrote an interesting paper on affiliation detection " A study of host pairs with replicated content
we define two hosts to be mirrors if:
The paper proceeds as follows: in Section 2 we establish a classification of mirroring; Section 3 describes our approach to detecting and classifying mirrored hosts; Section 4 presents data from our experiment; Section 5 discusses motives for mirroring; Section 6 presents other applications of this technique; Section 7 mentions related work and in Section 8 we draw some conclusions.
A high percentage of paths (that is, the portions of the URL after the hostname) are valid on both web sites, and These common paths link to documents that have similar content. Therefore, hosts that replicate content but rename paths are not considered mirrors under our definition
1) affiliation, and its consequences
2) themed links, and their consequences
Tested: "One thing we did was to identify a pair of very similar sites in different categories. The sites were deemed similar by virtue of size, construction, PR, linking patterns, and performance in the SERP's. Call them site A and site B.
For site A we went and got 20 good backlinks (PR 6-7) from non-affiliated sites, in categories unrelated to site A's category. No help; the site stayed buried.
For site B we went and got 8 good backlinks (PR 5-7) from closely related sites (two hubs, six authority). Within four weeks site B had popped back to its former glory while most webmasters in the immediate post Florida environment were still bemoaning the disappearance of their sites...
caveman concludes: "post Florida the URL's were typically associated with authority sites. Before Florida, when we saw that, the URL's more typically reflected high PR pages. The assumption here is that a really important backlink is displayed, but that seems a good assumption to me.
On a related note, though I can't call this technically Hilltop, we have virtual certainty that links from unaffiliated, relevant pages that are tightly connected to our own topics perform better than identical links from unrelated pages, for certain kw searches"
Caveman later posts: "The way I read it, the Hilltop/LocalRank "affiliate" filter is quite subtle... ...would need a pretty heavily cross/interlinked domain farm targeting a single category with relatively few "outside" links for a dramatic drop in the SERPs.
ciml; "Monika Henzinger co-wrote an interesting paper on affiliation detection " A study of host pairs with replicated content
we define two hosts to be mirrors if:
The paper proceeds as follows: in Section 2 we establish a classification of mirroring; Section 3 describes our approach to detecting and classifying mirrored hosts; Section 4 presents data from our experiment; Section 5 discusses motives for mirroring; Section 6 presents other applications of this technique; Section 7 mentions related work and in Section 8 we draw some conclusions.
A high percentage of paths (that is, the portions of the URL after the hostname) are valid on both web sites, and These common paths link to documents that have similar content. Therefore, hosts that replicate content but rename paths are not considered mirrors under our definition
Get Banned Fast: mildly amusing thread
Get Banned Fast: ". take a domain with already an established PR
2. name it google"
2. name it google"
Monday, November 08, 2004
Slashdot | Google Image Index Just Not Updated
Slashdot | Google Image Index Just Not Updated: "We ran a story earlier today about the lack of Abu Ghraib photos in Google's image index. We now have a response from Google stating that the image index simply hasn't been updated recently, as well as a fairly convincing demonstration from a Slashdot reader"
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
: Google Help Central : OPERATOR EXAMPLES
Google Help Central: "Google Help : Cheat Sheet : OPERATOR EXAMPLES"
New Adwords Features - Tools and Reporting - New AdWords Classifications
New Adwords Features - Tools and Reporting: "updates to features and functionality of Adwords interfaces"
stuntdubl started thread: Adwords advisor says: I want to affirm that most changes to the AdWords system are a direct result of Advertiser feedback - and that the suggestions from WebmasterWorld are a huge part of that.
Feedback is also collected from email and phone conversations as well, of course. But I'm not kidding when I say I'll forward suggestions from this Forum each week. Yesterday, for example, I sent roughly 7 pages along to a really big list of folks who actually read it. At least a couple of those pages were from right here. So, many thanks to the Forum for the continued feedback - whether it is postive, or not so pretty.
New AdWords Classifications Coming
AussieWebmaster reports: Sometime in November Google is revamping the classification of keyword status... Strong, Moderate, At Risk and Disabled will be gone. Replacing them will be Active and Disabled, as well as "In Trial".
In Trail has been delivered to meet the problem of quick disabling of terms. Google will use its predictive modelling to know what words are not going to do well and give them more time to run. Instead of the 1,000 impressions and you're out... this new system may allow terms as much as 10 times more access to eyeballs.
stuntdubl started thread: Adwords advisor says: I want to affirm that most changes to the AdWords system are a direct result of Advertiser feedback - and that the suggestions from WebmasterWorld are a huge part of that.
Feedback is also collected from email and phone conversations as well, of course. But I'm not kidding when I say I'll forward suggestions from this Forum each week. Yesterday, for example, I sent roughly 7 pages along to a really big list of folks who actually read it. At least a couple of those pages were from right here. So, many thanks to the Forum for the continued feedback - whether it is postive, or not so pretty.
New AdWords Classifications Coming
AussieWebmaster reports: Sometime in November Google is revamping the classification of keyword status... Strong, Moderate, At Risk and Disabled will be gone. Replacing them will be Active and Disabled, as well as "In Trial".
In Trail has been delivered to meet the problem of quick disabling of terms. Google will use its predictive modelling to know what words are not going to do well and give them more time to run. Instead of the 1,000 impressions and you're out... this new system may allow terms as much as 10 times more access to eyeballs.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Firefox Browser Targets Microsoft
Firefox Browser Targets Microsoft: "an article by Mozilla News revealed that a Google-branded Firefox browser may be in the cards. "
MozillaNews - Google's Browser Plans
MozillaNews - Google's Browser Plans
Google plans desktop search tool for Apple PCs | CNET News.com
Google plans desktop search tool for Apple PCs | CNET News.com: "Google plans to release a version of its desktop search tool for computers that run Apple Computer's Mac operating system,"
Desktop search & implications for SEM ClickZ Experts on Search Engine Marketing Strategies
ClickZ Experts on Search Engine Marketing Strategies: " The utility will lead to more search hours per computer user. That will lead to more sophisticated searchers, spawning mega trends that will ultimately affect SEM."
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Google's rapid rise rewarded the open-minded - Internet Software - shares update
Google's rapid rise rewarded the open-minded - Internet Software - Internet Services - Internet - Stock Reports - Markets/Exchanges - Market News: "As Google shares flirt with the $200 mark, investors have to wonder whether many of those buying the stock near that lofty level are money managers who once spurned it at half that price"
Friday, October 29, 2004
Google, BellSouth partner on local-ad effort | CNET News.com
Google, BellSouth partner on local-ad effort | CNET News.com: "Google has entered a multiyear partnership with BellSouth in which the carrier will sell ads through the search giant's AdWords program, according to a statement released Thursday."
Thursday, October 28, 2004
WebProWorld :: Flash now indexed by Google
WebProWorld :: Flash now indexed by Google: "salomon741
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:19 pm
Post subject:
Indexing Flash Interview and technical review Google SEO and Flash
Here's an article I just found about Google indexing flash. It's just an interview with an employee non-affiliated with Google, but it does answer some questions.
This should be a giant leap for Macromedia, too. Now designers are going to start choosing Flash for its now-compatibility with Google. They should see a leap in sales for Flash.
Now that Google has introduced a new type of content to their index, this also worries me. Could we possibly start seeing a new way to spam the SE's? "
Google SEO and Flash
Google Can Index the Contents of Flash Files -- an interview article by Robin Nobles
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:19 pm
Post subject:
Indexing Flash Interview and technical review Google SEO and Flash
Here's an article I just found about Google indexing flash. It's just an interview with an employee non-affiliated with Google, but it does answer some questions.
This should be a giant leap for Macromedia, too. Now designers are going to start choosing Flash for its now-compatibility with Google. They should see a leap in sales for Flash.
Now that Google has introduced a new type of content to their index, this also worries me. Could we possibly start seeing a new way to spam the SE's? "
Google SEO and Flash
Google Can Index the Contents of Flash Files -- an interview article by Robin Nobles
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Google buys satellite image firm Keyhole | CNET News.com
Google buys satellite image firm Keyhole | CNET News.com: "Google said Wednesday that it has acquired Keyhole, a company specializing in Internet software that allows people to view satellite images from all around the globe...
Keyhole, founded in 2001, offers software that lets Internet users view geographic images collected from satellites and airplanes. The technology relies on a multi-terabyte database of mapping information.
The software gives users the ability to zoom in from space-level; in some cases it can zoom in to a street-level view...Users can also search for information such as the locations of hotels, parks, ATMs and subways."
WebProWorld: Caris & Co. analyst David Garrity described the Keyhole technology as “much more than just Mapquest on steroids” (personally, I think a Mapquest on steroids would be pretty slick).
MediaDailyNews 10-28-04: "Keyhole is a paid-only service that currently costs consumers $29.95 a year--down from the pre-deal fee of $69.95 a year.
"the photos are more lifelike than drawings of maps, some say the new service goes further than most online mapping in melding physical space with cyberspace--which could be a big boon for advertisers.
'It blurs the line between the virtual world and the real world,' said Joshua Stylman, managing director of the marketing firm Reprise Media. That blurring, he said, creates 'an amazing local search opportunity,' because advertisers might now be able to more viscerally connect with consumers who are conducting searches. For instance, local hotels that advertise on Google might be able to purchase listings that could appear next to Keyhole photos of their streets or neighborhoods. "
Keyhole, founded in 2001, offers software that lets Internet users view geographic images collected from satellites and airplanes. The technology relies on a multi-terabyte database of mapping information.
The software gives users the ability to zoom in from space-level; in some cases it can zoom in to a street-level view...Users can also search for information such as the locations of hotels, parks, ATMs and subways."
WebProWorld: Caris & Co. analyst David Garrity described the Keyhole technology as “much more than just Mapquest on steroids” (personally, I think a Mapquest on steroids would be pretty slick).
MediaDailyNews 10-28-04: "Keyhole is a paid-only service that currently costs consumers $29.95 a year--down from the pre-deal fee of $69.95 a year.
"the photos are more lifelike than drawings of maps, some say the new service goes further than most online mapping in melding physical space with cyberspace--which could be a big boon for advertisers.
'It blurs the line between the virtual world and the real world,' said Joshua Stylman, managing director of the marketing firm Reprise Media. That blurring, he said, creates 'an amazing local search opportunity,' because advertisers might now be able to more viscerally connect with consumers who are conducting searches. For instance, local hotels that advertise on Google might be able to purchase listings that could appear next to Keyhole photos of their streets or neighborhoods. "
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
FT.com / Industries - Google rules out becoming net portal
FT.com / Industries - Google rules out becoming net portal
Google has ruled out embarking on a new instalment of the “browser wars” with Microsoft, according to Eric Schmidt, chief executive.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Schmidt said Google would not seek to turn its website into a broader internet portal, a move that would take it into more direct competition with Microsoft and Yahoo...
With the search engine business still at a very early stage of development, Mr Schmidt said there was no need to shape Google's strategy around fending off new competitors.
“It's very possible that Google and Microsoft and Yahoo and others can all do well,” he said. “At this stage, the focus has to be on your customers and your own strategy.”
Google has ruled out embarking on a new instalment of the “browser wars” with Microsoft, according to Eric Schmidt, chief executive.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Schmidt said Google would not seek to turn its website into a broader internet portal, a move that would take it into more direct competition with Microsoft and Yahoo...
With the search engine business still at a very early stage of development, Mr Schmidt said there was no need to shape Google's strategy around fending off new competitors.
“It's very possible that Google and Microsoft and Yahoo and others can all do well,” he said. “At this stage, the focus has to be on your customers and your own strategy.”
Google likely to moveinto brand advertising. DMNews.com | News | Article
DMNews.com | News | Article: "Google is likely to expand into brand advertising. By: Brian Morrissey Senior Editor"
Google has begun to test the display of graphical ads on Google Image search. "Currently, it is a small component of our business, but we think it has a very exciting future," CEO Eric Schmidt said of graphical ads...In May, Google began offering advertisers the opportunity to display keyword-targeted graphical ad units on the pages of participating publishers in Google's worldwide AdSense network...Google said its ad system would determine whether to display an image ad over a text ad based on relevance and performance...
The Google spokesman said the company is selling image ads both through its direct sales force and its agency relations team, led by Chris Theodoros...
Schmidt said any moves Google makes would keep with its mantra of only serving relevant ads that users find useful. "We just don't do untargeted ads," he said."
Google has begun to test the display of graphical ads on Google Image search. "Currently, it is a small component of our business, but we think it has a very exciting future," CEO Eric Schmidt said of graphical ads...In May, Google began offering advertisers the opportunity to display keyword-targeted graphical ad units on the pages of participating publishers in Google's worldwide AdSense network...Google said its ad system would determine whether to display an image ad over a text ad based on relevance and performance...
The Google spokesman said the company is selling image ads both through its direct sales force and its agency relations team, led by Chris Theodoros...
Schmidt said any moves Google makes would keep with its mantra of only serving relevant ads that users find useful. "We just don't do untargeted ads," he said."
ITworld.com - Microsoft finds Google to help promote Windows
ITworld.com - Microsoft finds Google to help promote Windows: "last week Microsoft started offering a Google search tool for download from Microsoft.com...Google's Deskbar is included in Microsoft's Partner Pack for Windows, a collection of Microsoft and third-party products released last week...Google Deskbar ... was built using Microsoft technology."
Joe Wilcox, a Washington, D.C.-based Jupiter Research senior analyst said ""While the MSN Search folks may be in hot competition with Google, for the Windows platform Google is a valuable partner."
Joe Wilcox, a Washington, D.C.-based Jupiter Research senior analyst said ""While the MSN Search folks may be in hot competition with Google, for the Windows platform Google is a valuable partner."
Monday, October 25, 2004
Netcraft: Google are users of Python
Netcraft: Google fix second phishing vulnerability: "Netcraft discovered another application error, which this time revealed fragments of the source code, file structures and application logic that powers the mysterious search behemoth, which we have in turn reported back to Google. At a glance, it is not clear whether the web application stack trace would be useful to an attacker, however, it does confirm the widely held belief that Google are users of the Python programming language. "
Netcraft: Google fix second phishing vulnerability
Netcraft: Google fix second phishing vulnerabilityBoth problems would have allowed fraudsters to inject their own content onto Google’s web site, making the content appear to be published by Google. This is a very effective form of phishing, as people are more likely to trust content if it appears to be hosted on a familiar domain
Friday, October 22, 2004
Yahoo EuropeExecs details
Leading Yahoo Europe: "Pierre Chappaz and Dominique Vidal have been appointed to lead its consumer internet operations in Europe.
As President of Yahoo! Europe, Chappaz, 45, will lead the European operations of Yahoo! and Kelkoo, which Chappaz co-founded and which was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. earlier this year. Chappaz will report to John Marcom, SVP of International Operations, Yahoo! Inc. Vidal, 40, becomes Yahoo! Europe Chief Operating Officer reporting to Chappaz. "
As President of Yahoo! Europe, Chappaz, 45, will lead the European operations of Yahoo! and Kelkoo, which Chappaz co-founded and which was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. earlier this year. Chappaz will report to John Marcom, SVP of International Operations, Yahoo! Inc. Vidal, 40, becomes Yahoo! Europe Chief Operating Officer reporting to Chappaz. "
Link "farms" Google's next target?
Google Ferrets Out Enterprise Search Potential
Google Ferrets Out Enterprise Potential: "Google Inc. plans to tackle the enterprise by expanding the features in the Google Search Appliance and hiring more enterprise-focused engineers and sales and marketing employees, Dave Girouard, the company's enterprise general manager, said in a recent interview with eWEEK.com."
Launched enterprise search in UK and Europe
Launched enterprise search in UK and Europe
Forbes.com: Update 4: First Post-IPO Google Earnings Deliver
Forbes.com: Update 4: First Post-IPO Google Earnings Deliver: "Google Inc. is making everyone who snubbed its unconventional initial public offering of stock regret their decision"
Yahoo rallies on Q3 report, raised Q4 outlook - Semel sells $ shares CBS Market Watch
After Hours: Google soars; Amazon, Microsoft fall after results CBS Market Watch
After Hours: Google soars; Amazon, Microsoft fall after results - Computer Software - Food and Beverage - Internet Services - Technology, Hardware and Equipment - Technology, Software - Software - Internet - Computer Hardware - Markets/Exchang: "Shares of Google Inc. touched their highest levels ever in evening trading Thursday after the Internet search leader surpassed expectations in its first report as a public company."
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Gazette #214: Oct 20, 2004 Google's sophisticated duplicate content filters
Gazette #214: Oct 20, 2004 ... Barn Swallows, Goldfinches, and SEO: "Google is the first search engine to incorporate sophisticated duplicate content filters and the logic necessary to eventually merge domain.com and www.domain.com into the same entity. Unfortunately, there's some small emphasis in that sentence on the word 'eventually.' "
Cre8asite forums. Google - How does this page get high ranking and high PR? PageRank is named after Larry Page, the Google co-founder
Cre8asite forums. Google - How does this page get high ranking and high PR? Only 1 page. [ Search Engine Optimization, Usability and Web Design. ]: "PageRank is not named because it ranks pages, but rather is named after Larry Page, the Google co-founder."
Black Knight wrote "PR10 makes it very likely, if not certain that you'd land at that URL just by clicking links at random for long enough, while PR1 means you'd probably not arrive at that URL even if you clicked random links endlessly for weeks on end. That's pretty much all it really means"
Black Knight wrote "PR10 makes it very likely, if not certain that you'd land at that URL just by clicking links at random for long enough, while PR1 means you'd probably not arrive at that URL even if you clicked random links endlessly for weeks on end. That's pretty much all it really means"
Internet Daily: Blogs push news sites to open up -Google advertisers numbers & projections
Internet Daily: Blogs push news sites to open up - Wireless Technologies - Advertising - Electronic commerce - Internet Software - Retail - Internet Services - Mobile phones - Travel - Media - Entertainment and Leisure - Airlines - Wireless - Internet -: "a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle said internal documents from the company revealed Google expects to add 372,000 advertiser accounts over the next four years. The document reported the company currently has 280,000 accounts. "
Friday, October 15, 2004
Google Desktop Search Download
Google Desktop Search Download
O'Reilly Network: Google Your Desktop review at O'Reilly
Google Launches Desktop Search Tool Slashdot discussion
Search Engine NewsLinks to various articles:
Google Launches Desktop Search - Exclusive ReviewSource: Search Engine Lowdown
Google Desktop Search Launched Source: SearchDay
A Closer Look At Privacy & Desktop Search Source: Search Engine Watch
Google unveils desktop search Source: News.com
AOL launches new portal, tests desktop search Source: News.com
O'Reilly Network: Google Your Desktop review at O'Reilly
Google Launches Desktop Search Tool Slashdot discussion
Search Engine NewsLinks to various articles:
Google Launches Desktop Search - Exclusive ReviewSource: Search Engine Lowdown
Google Desktop Search Launched Source: SearchDay
A Closer Look At Privacy & Desktop Search Source: Search Engine Watch
Google unveils desktop search Source: News.com
AOL launches new portal, tests desktop search Source: News.com
WebProWorld :: The Googlebot Assault Continues: theories
WebProWorld :: The Googlebot Assault ContinuesGarry Grant, CEO of Search Engine Optimization, Inc., stated:
“Only the inner circle at Googleplex knows the purpose of this new spider, but there is no shortage of theories. Some of the more popular ones include:
· Google is creating an entirely new way for ranking pages – something that could dramatically change a web site's position on the search engine
· Google is trying to weed out fraudulent links
· Google is conducting an experiment in order to improve search engine results”
WebProWorld poster Profilesite, “…they could spider once normally, and then use this second robot to compare the content and see if they were being tricked”
“Only the inner circle at Googleplex knows the purpose of this new spider, but there is no shortage of theories. Some of the more popular ones include:
· Google is creating an entirely new way for ranking pages – something that could dramatically change a web site's position on the search engine
· Google is trying to weed out fraudulent links
· Google is conducting an experiment in order to improve search engine results”
WebProWorld poster Profilesite, “…they could spider once normally, and then use this second robot to compare the content and see if they were being tricked”
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Google launch of Froogle UK DMNews.com | News | Article
DMNews.com | News | Article: "Google Inc. yesterday announced the launch of Froogle UK,"
Monday, October 11, 2004
Google’s New Update - Is Google Bombing You? anchor text
Anchor text is the "explanation" that pops-up when you put your cursor over a link.
I tested the "anchor text" theory with my site last week. I only tested one main page that I knew that Google would re-index within 48 hours. The results were very negative. As soon as the new information was indexed, the search engine results from that page dropped down dramatically.
Again, I removed the anchor text from the page and the results seem to gain momentum once again.
I tested the "anchor text" theory with my site last week. I only tested one main page that I knew that Google would re-index within 48 hours. The results were very negative. As soon as the new information was indexed, the search engine results from that page dropped down dramatically.
Again, I removed the anchor text from the page and the results seem to gain momentum once again.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Page Rank Calculation
Page Rank Calculation: "Bob Walfer's pagerank calculation diagram"
Important points:
"PR5 might be just a bit over a PR4 (5,033) or it may be just a bit under a PR6 (27,213) "
Can:" determine how many links from a medium value PR6 page it will take to give you a PR5, a PR6, or a PR7"
Important points:
"PR5 might be just a bit over a PR4 (5,033) or it may be just a bit under a PR6 (27,213) "
Can:" determine how many links from a medium value PR6 page it will take to give you a PR5, a PR6, or a PR7"
MIS Web Design: A Survey of Google's PageRank: Additional Factors Influencing PageRank
MIS Web Design: A Survey of Google's PageRank: Additional Factors Influencing PageRank: "A Survey of Google's PageRank: Additional Factors Influencing PageRank" based on papers by Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin during studentship at Stanford.
So does not take into account any additional changes since that time.
So does not take into account any additional changes since that time.
PR 10 Sites - PR10 List
PR 10 Sites - PR10 List: "This PR 10 Sites page is a list of all the PR10 sites that have a Pagerank of 10."
Page Rank Update List History - PageRank - PR
Page Rank Update List History - PageRank - PR: "This Page Rank Update List History contains the dates that Google Toolbar Pagerank (PR) was updated."
Cre8asite forums. Google - 37 PR10 Pages Drop to PR9's. [ Search Engine Optimization, Usability and Web Design. ]
Great bit of Google tracking Cre8asite forums. Google - 37 PR10 Pages Drop to PR9's. [ Search Engine Optimization, Usability and Web Design. ]: "Google > 37 PR10 Pages Drop to PR9's"
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Google tests bookselling service
Google tests bookselling service: "Google's emergence as a bookselling middleman "
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Cre8asite forums. Google - What Does Pagerank Mean in 2004?. [ Search Engine Optimization, Usability and Web Design. ]
Cre8asite forums. Google - What Does Pagerank Mean in 2004?. [ Search Engine Optimization, Usability and Web Design. ]: "PageRank. Why not just let things drift? That would solve much of the link-selling problem...
this week google has changed the checksum computation of the toolbar that had been cracked and was allowing sites like prog and webmasterbrain to offer "pagerank search"
this week google has changed the checksum computation of the toolbar that had been cracked and was allowing sites like prog and webmasterbrain to offer "pagerank search"
On the possible Google update
On the possible Google update: "spam, i.e. optimization techniques that lead to the rise of low quality web pages to the top of the stack. "
Monday, October 04, 2004
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Google Exec Spills the Beans! ; Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown:
From Search Engine News by Andy Beal Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google Exec Spills the Beans!: Quote:
Branding: "28% of Google searches are for a "product name", 9% are for a "brand name" and 5% are searches for a "company name". "Brand" keywords also have a 8x higher ROI than generic keywords. Not sure if that is for all searches or just consumer-product related searches, but either way it demonstrates the importance of making sure your site shows up on the SERPs for your brand."
Reach: "Google admits that it can only reach 5% of web page traffic via Google.com and its search partners. With their contextual ad partners, that jumps to 80%. Kind of important if they are to meet that 50% annual revenue growth predicted by CSFB."
Branding: "28% of Google searches are for a "product name", 9% are for a "brand name" and 5% are searches for a "company name". "Brand" keywords also have a 8x higher ROI than generic keywords. Not sure if that is for all searches or just consumer-product related searches, but either way it demonstrates the importance of making sure your site shows up on the SERPs for your brand."
Reach: "Google admits that it can only reach 5% of web page traffic via Google.com and its search partners. With their contextual ad partners, that jumps to 80%. Kind of important if they are to meet that 50% annual revenue growth predicted by CSFB."
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Google's ad rules complex, controversial / Documents reveal details about what popular search engine accepts, rejects
Excellent article "exploring many of Google's unpublished rules on what it will and will not accept in advertising
Google's ad rules complex, controversial / Documents reveal details about what popular search engine accepts, rejects
( read in conjunction with Google Ad Policies to Be Publicly Expanded: "Google Ad Policies to Be Publicly Expanded BY Danny Sullivan | September 29, 2004 "..." Google doesn't make editorial judgments about what content to accept in organic search results, with the exception of search engine spam."
Google's ad rules complex, controversial / Documents reveal details about what popular search engine accepts, rejects
( read in conjunction with Google Ad Policies to Be Publicly Expanded: "Google Ad Policies to Be Publicly Expanded BY Danny Sullivan | September 29, 2004 "..." Google doesn't make editorial judgments about what content to accept in organic search results, with the exception of search engine spam."
WebProWorld :: Did Google Unleash Additional Googlebots?
WebProWorld :: Did Google Unleash Additional Googlebots?
Quotes:
"Apparently, Google has begun using another spider in their scanning and indexing of web sites...
Brett Tabke posted an interesting thought concerning Google's extensive crawling, "looks like "panic" based spidering… as if an index needs to be rebuilt from the ground up in a short time period (aka: the old index didn't work)." Another member believed these scans are apart of the PR re-calculation for the next PageRank update. Another poster, idoc, had also had an intriguing look at Google actions:
"I expect a lot of cloaking and redirect sites will be dropped soon from these new bot IPs and this crawl. It's what I had in mind in the post about hijacks when I said I think Google is on it. They have been asking for file paths and filenames with extensions I have never used before. I am hopeful anyway...
As it stands, the reasons behind Google's scanning efforts are unknown. The only things that are certain is they are using more than one crawler and that at least one of them performs a complete site scan. Is Google repopulating their index, or are they hunting out cloaked/doorway pages? Or are they finally getting around to doing another PR update? Like so many others have said, time will tell."
"quote]do you think it has something to do with clearing out doorway/cloaked pages?[/quote]
I think this makes the most sense. When you think about the fact that Google has reached a limit to the number of pages it can hold (4,285,199,774 since August 2003 I believe) and has had to drop outdated or obsolete pages from its cache, it would only seem natural that they would like to stop what they (Google) term SE spam.
There is a good article on this at http://www.searchengineethics.com/cloaking.htm if anyone is interested."
And on redirects: "sending the proper redirect code to this new Googlebot or should I be sending a 301 redirect or a 404 error? I'm afraid that this new Bot might see what I'm doing as spammy even though it is obviously there to help the users."
Quotes:
"Apparently, Google has begun using another spider in their scanning and indexing of web sites...
Brett Tabke posted an interesting thought concerning Google's extensive crawling, "looks like "panic" based spidering… as if an index needs to be rebuilt from the ground up in a short time period (aka: the old index didn't work)." Another member believed these scans are apart of the PR re-calculation for the next PageRank update. Another poster, idoc, had also had an intriguing look at Google actions:
"I expect a lot of cloaking and redirect sites will be dropped soon from these new bot IPs and this crawl. It's what I had in mind in the post about hijacks when I said I think Google is on it. They have been asking for file paths and filenames with extensions I have never used before. I am hopeful anyway...
As it stands, the reasons behind Google's scanning efforts are unknown. The only things that are certain is they are using more than one crawler and that at least one of them performs a complete site scan. Is Google repopulating their index, or are they hunting out cloaked/doorway pages? Or are they finally getting around to doing another PR update? Like so many others have said, time will tell."
"quote]do you think it has something to do with clearing out doorway/cloaked pages?[/quote]
I think this makes the most sense. When you think about the fact that Google has reached a limit to the number of pages it can hold (4,285,199,774 since August 2003 I believe) and has had to drop outdated or obsolete pages from its cache, it would only seem natural that they would like to stop what they (Google) term SE spam.
There is a good article on this at http://www.searchengineethics.com/cloaking.htm if anyone is interested."
And on redirects: "sending the proper redirect code to this new Googlebot or should I be sending a 301 redirect or a 404 error? I'm afraid that this new Bot might see what I'm doing as spammy even though it is obviously there to help the users."
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Google quiet period lifts, or so we think: Bambi Francisco: Behaviour mirrors general lack of communication
By Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.comGoogle quiet period lifts, or so we think: " the end of the period may not really matter for a company whose raison d'etre is to turn convention upside down. Google has already stated that it will not be giving financial guidance. So, don't expect Google to mention how the fourth quarter is shaping up when it reports its third-quarter results on Oct. 21. That will be the first time Google will be part of the reporting-season ritual..
Andy Kessler, is quoted as saying:
"Google will be in a "perpetual quiet period financially but not PR (public relations) wise," .. "The quiet period lifting is not so much them telling us how things are going on inside, but allows them to be out in the press, marketing the company and new products and other ways they plan on owning the world.
"They have already suggested we won't get any real guidance on how the quarter is progressing, or what their business model really is. So, it actually may set up a period of more confusion, a PR and marketing machine blaring loudly (like every company does), but without a clear sense by investors and Wall Street analysts what their real plans are and how this hype fits into their long-run plans."
This dovetails with Googles secrecy about their algos, ranking etc.
Andy Kessler, is quoted as saying:
"Google will be in a "perpetual quiet period financially but not PR (public relations) wise," .. "The quiet period lifting is not so much them telling us how things are going on inside, but allows them to be out in the press, marketing the company and new products and other ways they plan on owning the world.
"They have already suggested we won't get any real guidance on how the quarter is progressing, or what their business model really is. So, it actually may set up a period of more confusion, a PR and marketing machine blaring loudly (like every company does), but without a clear sense by investors and Wall Street analysts what their real plans are and how this hype fits into their long-run plans."
This dovetails with Googles secrecy about their algos, ranking etc.
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Forbes.com: Update 2: Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship
Forbes.com: Update 2: Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship: "Associated Press
Update 2: Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship 09.24.2004, 09:43 PM
Google Inc.'s recently launched news service in China doesn't display results from Web sites blocked by that country's authorities, raising prickly questions for an online search engine that has famously promised to 'do no evil.'"
Update 2: Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship 09.24.2004, 09:43 PM
Google Inc.'s recently launched news service in China doesn't display results from Web sites blocked by that country's authorities, raising prickly questions for an online search engine that has famously promised to 'do no evil.'"
Friday, September 24, 2004
Netimperative - Google planning a browser?
Netimperative - Google planning a browser?: "Google may be investing some of the money generated from its recent IPO in a new Internet browser to challenge Microsoft, according to a report in the New York Post."
Where Will PageRank be at the end of 2004?
Rusty Brick enters the PageRank debate...Where Will PageRank be at the end of 2004?
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Google Gets Local in Canada
Google Gets Local in Canada: "Google Gets Local in Canada" Launch the integration of local search results into Google.ca
Sukhinder Singh, general manager of Google Local.
"Keyword-based search brings you results from both the Web and structured data sources that may be more precise than results you'd be able to get from category-based search of only yellow page data," she said. "Something you wouldn't think of as a category-based search, but a keyword-based search, showcases the unique data set we've been able to bring together."
So a user searching for a coffee shop with wi-fi access would be able to find it with Google Local Canada, while they may not be able to do so with regular Web searches, Singh said. Clicking on a link in local search results brings the user to a detail page with driving directions, map information, and related Web pages.
A local search can also be triggered by using Canada-specific geographical keywords or locations in a search on Google.ca or Google.com. When a user types in a search query along with a postal code or name of a Canadian town, city or province on Google.com, the top results points to Google Local Canada, and are marked by a small compass icon linking users to a Google Local Canada search results page.
Sukhinder Singh, general manager of Google Local.
"Keyword-based search brings you results from both the Web and structured data sources that may be more precise than results you'd be able to get from category-based search of only yellow page data," she said. "Something you wouldn't think of as a category-based search, but a keyword-based search, showcases the unique data set we've been able to bring together."
So a user searching for a coffee shop with wi-fi access would be able to find it with Google Local Canada, while they may not be able to do so with regular Web searches, Singh said. Clicking on a link in local search results brings the user to a detail page with driving directions, map information, and related Web pages.
A local search can also be triggered by using Canada-specific geographical keywords or locations in a search on Google.ca or Google.com. When a user types in a search query along with a postal code or name of a Canadian town, city or province on Google.com, the top results points to Google Local Canada, and are marked by a small compass icon linking users to a Google Local Canada search results page.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Changes to PageRAnk algo reported.. alt.internet.search-engines ::
alt.internet.search-engines :: View Forum - alt.internet.search-engines: "New Google PR checksum algorithm cracked 0Will.Spencer4Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:36 pm Will.Spencer
New Googlebot"
New Googlebot"
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
WebProWorld :: Google Instantly Sees Some Links
WebProWorld :: Google Instantly Sees Some Links: "the constantly repeated question, when will Google update again, is moot"
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
GEO Over-ride
From: "Traffick1" Joe,
As many now know, there is a way to do a geographic override by
country. (If you're in Canada and want to see US or UK or AU ads, you
would type the query into Google, briefly glance at the ads you're
seeing for your own geographic locale, and then go up to the address
bar and add &gl=us, or &gl=uk, or &gl=au, etc... this is great for
consultants and savvier advertisers who want to see who's advertising
in different parts of the world) When geographic targeting came out,
somebody had figured that you could do the same thing for it by
referring to the DMA "metropolitan area codes," but I forget the exact
sequence or whether you need to include multiple parameters. There
doesn't seem to be any info on it out there in public. I'm not sure if
Google really wants to spread the word on it. :) ... you can see how
this thing might get overused.
DMA Codes
As many now know, there is a way to do a geographic override by
country. (If you're in Canada and want to see US or UK or AU ads, you
would type the query into Google, briefly glance at the ads you're
seeing for your own geographic locale, and then go up to the address
bar and add &gl=us, or &gl=uk, or &gl=au, etc... this is great for
consultants and savvier advertisers who want to see who's advertising
in different parts of the world) When geographic targeting came out,
somebody had figured that you could do the same thing for it by
referring to the DMA "metropolitan area codes," but I forget the exact
sequence or whether you need to include multiple parameters. There
doesn't seem to be any info on it out there in public. I'm not sure if
Google really wants to spread the word on it. :) ... you can see how
this thing might get overused.
DMA Codes
Executive Protection Specialist for G
Reported by Internet Search Engine Database Weekly Update
Google's Latest Recruiting Effort: Secret Service Experience Preferred
Google would want to recruit what the listing calls an "executive-protection specialist." The company's Web posting says the job involves "the protection of Google assets," without giving further details. It lists the Secret Service and Diplomatic Security Service among the possible work experiences of the ideal candidate. Other key skills Google is looking for include " knowledge of surveillance, counter surveillance and technical surveillance countermeasures." This could be a sign of change that often comes with the company growing up. This type of position is a standard post at many large, established companies.
Executive Protection Specialist
This position is based in Mountain View, CA.
Reporting to the Manager of Corporate Security & Safety, the Executive Protection Specialist will work with Google's executives, assistants and event planners to ensure the protection of Google assets. Travel of up to 50% will include security/logistics advances, protective details, and special event coverage. Ideal candidates will have full-time experience with executive protection such as private sector assignments, Secret Service, Marshals Service, Diplomatic Security Service or other relevant history. Other key skills and abilities:
Google's Latest Recruiting Effort: Secret Service Experience Preferred
Google would want to recruit what the listing calls an "executive-protection specialist." The company's Web posting says the job involves "the protection of Google assets," without giving further details. It lists the Secret Service and Diplomatic Security Service among the possible work experiences of the ideal candidate. Other key skills Google is looking for include " knowledge of surveillance, counter surveillance and technical surveillance countermeasures." This could be a sign of change that often comes with the company growing up. This type of position is a standard post at many large, established companies.
Executive Protection Specialist
This position is based in Mountain View, CA.
Reporting to the Manager of Corporate Security & Safety, the Executive Protection Specialist will work with Google's executives, assistants and event planners to ensure the protection of Google assets. Travel of up to 50% will include security/logistics advances, protective details, and special event coverage. Ideal candidates will have full-time experience with executive protection such as private sector assignments, Secret Service, Marshals Service, Diplomatic Security Service or other relevant history. Other key skills and abilities:
Saturday, September 11, 2004
delta.com Launches Web Site Specifically for Customers in the United Kingdom
delta.com Launches Web Site Specifically for Customers in the United Kingdom: "delta.com Launches Web Site Specifically for Customers in the United Kingdom"
Friday, September 10, 2004
Google Special Searchs and Article re one way linking...
No PR update...WebProWorld :: GOOGLE Files for Divorce from Webmasters?
WebProWorld :: GOOGLE Files for Divorce from Webmasters?
The discussion opens with the observation that "It has been 80-90 days since GOOGLE had an overall PR update. The previous record was about 50-60 days." And currently concludes with: "PR will be a dead story soon, lets come together and forget PR and move on with quality sites."
In between update to Google Directory is mentioned... AU are now at 13, down from 5 then 8 Google Directory - Regional > Oceania > Australia > Travel and Tourism > Travel Guides
The discussion opens with the observation that "It has been 80-90 days since GOOGLE had an overall PR update. The previous record was about 50-60 days." And currently concludes with: "PR will be a dead story soon, lets come together and forget PR and move on with quality sites."
In between update to Google Directory is mentioned... AU are now at 13, down from 5 then 8 Google Directory - Regional > Oceania > Australia > Travel and Tourism > Travel Guides
Friday, September 03, 2004
Google shares $$$ up...
Google shares ended higher Thursday on the first day on which company employees were able to sell their stock in the Internet search engine.
A total of 4.7 million shares are available for sale today, with a further 39 million available in November and another 177 million in February.
Google shares (GOOG: news, chart, profile) closed up $1.26, or 1.3 percent, at $101.51 in volume of 7.51 million. Since Google stock started trading on August 19, volume has averaged 4.1 million shares per day.
On August 27, Yahoo sold 2.3 million shares of Google for $82.62 each, generating proceeds of $191 million. The shares were part of Google's IPO on Aug. 19, according to a Yahoo spokesman. See full story.
The Internet search engine priced its initial public offering at $85 a share. On its first day of trading, the company's stock soared 18 percent to close above $100.
Google offered a total of 19.6 million shares, down from an initial offering of $25.7 million after a cool reception from investors, regulatory problems and a poor market for Internet stocks.
A total of 4.7 million shares are available for sale today, with a further 39 million available in November and another 177 million in February.
Google shares (GOOG: news, chart, profile) closed up $1.26, or 1.3 percent, at $101.51 in volume of 7.51 million. Since Google stock started trading on August 19, volume has averaged 4.1 million shares per day.
On August 27, Yahoo sold 2.3 million shares of Google for $82.62 each, generating proceeds of $191 million. The shares were part of Google's IPO on Aug. 19, according to a Yahoo spokesman. See full story.
The Internet search engine priced its initial public offering at $85 a share. On its first day of trading, the company's stock soared 18 percent to close above $100.
Google offered a total of 19.6 million shares, down from an initial offering of $25.7 million after a cool reception from investors, regulatory problems and a poor market for Internet stocks.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
IPO: Forbes.com: Google Poised to Lift Selling Restrictions
Forbes.com: Google Poised to Lift Selling Restrictions: "Google Inc.'s employees and other insiders will be free to sell an additional 4.67 million shares of the company's stock Thursday, providing another test of the online search engine's popularity with investors. "
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
E-Commerce News: Personal Tech: On the Web, Branding Is Back
E-Commerce News: Personal Tech: On the Web, Branding Is Back: "Brand advertising is an altogether different animal than paid search and other types of online pitches. It's back in vogue primarily because of the Internet's endless expansion. At the same time that the Web audience is getting bigger and broader, the TV audience is becoming more fragmented even as the costs of TV spots are going up. Add in the speedy adoption of broadband , which makes viewing TV-like ads online a better experience than on slo-mo dialups, and brand-building has a new mass audience to target.
Companies such as Unicast Communications are making this easier. The New York-based outfit launched a product in the first quarter of 2004 that allows video ads to load quickly and run smoothly, regardless of the end user's connection. It also permits interactive features to be included with the pitch. In Honda's ads, for instance, viewers can look up different car colors. The technology is being used in some 90 campaigns on sites including ESPN.com, Reuters.com, Weather.com, and E! Online, says Allie Favarino, senior vice-president at Unicast.
Branding's comeback is also due to the overall surge in online advertising. Year-over-year, it was up nearly 40 percent in the first quarter of 2004, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2003, online ad revenues reached $7.3 billion, up from $6 billion in 2002. In fact, 2003 represented the first four quarters of consecutive revenue increases since 1999...
Perhaps the biggest indicator of growing demand for brand ads is an increase in prices. The cost of brand ads on portals has jumped 68 percent year-over-year, while entertainment sites have seen spikes as high as 90 percent, according to Jeff Lanctot, vice-president for media at Avenue A, an online advertising agency. Lanctot notes that many of the spaces being offered at higher prices are larger and more media-rich, so advertisers are getting more bang-for-the-buck for those increased dollars.
The big question is whether this will boost the fortunes of Web sites beyond Yahoo, MSN, and the other big portals. In its second quarter, CNET Networks, which operates tech news and product-review sites, cited branding as a potential growth area -- but not one that's moving the needle yet, according to Jupiter's Stein. Yahoo is fond of pointing out that 14 percent of all media consumption in the U.S. is over the Internet, but it's getting only 3 percent of all advertising dollars. Yahoo and its competitors hope that number can climb to around 8 percent to 12 percent pretty fast.
But not all inequities are so easily ironed out. Such sites might do well to consider that while more mature mediums like cable TV and satellite represent more than half of viewing hours, they still get only about 28 percent of TV ad dollars. If rich-media ads don't grow as expected, Yahoo, MSN, and others may need to find a fresh growth engine to take over where paid search is leaving off."
Companies such as Unicast Communications are making this easier. The New York-based outfit launched a product in the first quarter of 2004 that allows video ads to load quickly and run smoothly, regardless of the end user's connection. It also permits interactive features to be included with the pitch. In Honda's ads, for instance, viewers can look up different car colors. The technology is being used in some 90 campaigns on sites including ESPN.com, Reuters.com, Weather.com, and E! Online, says Allie Favarino, senior vice-president at Unicast.
Branding's comeback is also due to the overall surge in online advertising. Year-over-year, it was up nearly 40 percent in the first quarter of 2004, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2003, online ad revenues reached $7.3 billion, up from $6 billion in 2002. In fact, 2003 represented the first four quarters of consecutive revenue increases since 1999...
Perhaps the biggest indicator of growing demand for brand ads is an increase in prices. The cost of brand ads on portals has jumped 68 percent year-over-year, while entertainment sites have seen spikes as high as 90 percent, according to Jeff Lanctot, vice-president for media at Avenue A, an online advertising agency. Lanctot notes that many of the spaces being offered at higher prices are larger and more media-rich, so advertisers are getting more bang-for-the-buck for those increased dollars.
The big question is whether this will boost the fortunes of Web sites beyond Yahoo, MSN, and the other big portals. In its second quarter, CNET Networks, which operates tech news and product-review sites, cited branding as a potential growth area -- but not one that's moving the needle yet, according to Jupiter's Stein. Yahoo is fond of pointing out that 14 percent of all media consumption in the U.S. is over the Internet, but it's getting only 3 percent of all advertising dollars. Yahoo and its competitors hope that number can climb to around 8 percent to 12 percent pretty fast.
But not all inequities are so easily ironed out. Such sites might do well to consider that while more mature mediums like cable TV and satellite represent more than half of viewing hours, they still get only about 28 percent of TV ad dollars. If rich-media ads don't grow as expected, Yahoo, MSN, and others may need to find a fresh growth engine to take over where paid search is leaving off."
The Google Backlink Dance Resumes..or does it?
The Google Backlink Dance Resumes: "The Google Backlink Dance Resumes"
What's Google's Growth Strategy?
Motley Fool Ultimately, one has to argue what business is Google in? It's not search, exactly. Last year, selling advertising accounted for 97% of the company's revenues, and that figure has edged up to 98% so far this year.
So if the bulk of your intake comes from selling ads -- whether it's on paid search results, email pages, or my rent-ready forehead -- isn't Google's goal to grow the number of pages that it serves up?
Google has the traffic. It's a gift that shouldn't be squandered. Does that mean that Google should roll out online services like personals or job ads like Yahoo! has or enter the auction game to face a formidable eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY)? Should it branch out into proprietary content? I don't think that Google needs to diversify its revenue base. Paid search is a growing field. However, now that Google is a public company, it is all but mandated to forge ahead and grow. That means serving up more pages to satisfy the sponsored demand. Be the portal, Google!
Forum discussion:
So if the bulk of your intake comes from selling ads -- whether it's on paid search results, email pages, or my rent-ready forehead -- isn't Google's goal to grow the number of pages that it serves up?
Google has the traffic. It's a gift that shouldn't be squandered. Does that mean that Google should roll out online services like personals or job ads like Yahoo! has or enter the auction game to face a formidable eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY)? Should it branch out into proprietary content? I don't think that Google needs to diversify its revenue base. Paid search is a growing field. However, now that Google is a public company, it is all but mandated to forge ahead and grow. That means serving up more pages to satisfy the sponsored demand. Be the portal, Google!
Forum discussion:
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Google IPO reviewed
It's a case where the company took control of the process and dictated to the investment bankers, and they're not used to that situation," said Jay Ritter, professor of finance at the University of Florida and an initial adviser to Google on the Dutch auction system. "A lot of the underwriters did not go out of their way to tout the stock." Furthermore, the company made a number of mistakes, magnified under an intense media spotlight. _ Google failed to account for 23 million stock options granted to employees and was forced to offer to buy them back; _ Company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page gave an interview published in Playboy magazine a week before the IPO was to have hit the market, a violation of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules. _ The company went ahead with the IPO in a very oversold market, with technology shares particularly battered in recent months. _ The Dutch auction system was designed to garner as much money for Google as possible while limiting the usual jump in price on the first day of open trading. While the auction priced Google at $85 per share, the stock quickly soared to $100 in the first hour of trading, and closed Friday up $7.98 at $108.31. With better pricing, Google itself could have gotten that extra $23 a share - or more than $30 million. However, with Google so popular with both investors and the public, most Wall Street firms felt they could not afford to sit out. Only Merrill Lynch publicly dropped out of the auction, reportedly unhappy with the cost-benefit equation. Google may not have met Wall Street's definition of success, since the Dutch auction system poses a threat to major underwriters' business models. But it nonetheless raised $1.6 billion, and its investors saw strong gains in the first two days of trading. "It's certainly a success in that Google went public, and they did it the way they wanted to," said Matt Rhodes-Kropf, associate professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School. "But it was a failure in the sense that they didn't get the price they could've gotten if they had gone through the traditional method. And they did not eliminate the first-day jump."
No matter where they stood on the success or failure of Google's IPO, most experts and insiders agreed that other companies would attempt IPO auctions in the future, and would try to involve the public to one degree or another. And Wall Street would continue to be, at best, ambivalent about the concept. "Certainly, the lead underwriters did not want to use an auction. In that regard, a lot of them have not been anxious to paint this as a success, since it's a threat to their business model," Ritter said. "But outside of the top 10 or 15 underwriters out there, there are plenty of smaller underwriters who would be happy to pick up the crumbs and try to make inroads using the auction system. There aren't that many IPOs around, after all."
No matter where they stood on the success or failure of Google's IPO, most experts and insiders agreed that other companies would attempt IPO auctions in the future, and would try to involve the public to one degree or another. And Wall Street would continue to be, at best, ambivalent about the concept. "Certainly, the lead underwriters did not want to use an auction. In that regard, a lot of them have not been anxious to paint this as a success, since it's a threat to their business model," Ritter said. "But outside of the top 10 or 15 underwriters out there, there are plenty of smaller underwriters who would be happy to pick up the crumbs and try to make inroads using the auction system. There aren't that many IPOs around, after all."
Google's spats with venture capitalists
Very interesting history of Googles relationships with named venture capitalists... Tensions between entrepreneurs who start a company and venture capitalists who finance them are as common as spats between husband and wife...the rows between Google's two strong-willed founders and their venture capitalists are legendary up and down Sand Hill Road.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Are you sick of Google yet...some astute comments
cbs.marketwatch.com
"The founders of Google are waltzed from one blunder to another by experts who appear to be setting them up for failure. The experts are doing a great job but not for Google"
"The founders of Google are waltzed from one blunder to another by experts who appear to be setting them up for failure. The experts are doing a great job but not for Google"
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Google history February 17, 1999 The IPO Report
Google.com: Next Brainchild To Go Big?
by
Tom Taulli
February 17, 1999 : "By being at Stanford, Google.com has a tremendous advantage. The two other search engines -- Yahoo and Excite -- came from this fertile university. Late last year, the company talked to various angels for investment capital. 'They all said yes,' according to Page. One notable investor is Andy Bechtolsheim, the co-founder of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun.
The company is expected to get a venture-capital round in a few months. Who knows -- perhaps Google.com will be the next Stanford start-up to get its Nasdaq ticker symbol and multibillion-dollar market cap"
by
Tom Taulli
February 17, 1999 : "By being at Stanford, Google.com has a tremendous advantage. The two other search engines -- Yahoo and Excite -- came from this fertile university. Late last year, the company talked to various angels for investment capital. 'They all said yes,' according to Page. One notable investor is Andy Bechtolsheim, the co-founder of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun.
The company is expected to get a venture-capital round in a few months. Who knows -- perhaps Google.com will be the next Stanford start-up to get its Nasdaq ticker symbol and multibillion-dollar market cap"
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
WebProWorld :: Tips For Link Buying Part 3: Matt Cutts From Google..Don't even go there..
WebProWorld :: Tips For Link Buying Part 3: Matt Cutts From GoogleTips For Link Buying Part 3: "
Matt's approach to link building was more of a philosophical one than straight tips and tricks. However, when taken with the advice that appeared in the previous link building articles, you have a fairly comprehensive list of ideas to keep in mind when designing a website, not just attempting to build links.
Making your content valuable enough to be linked to seems to be the emphasis of all speakers well, that and link relevancy. Of course, the first part is a little easier to control than the second. The thinking seems to be: if you build it (quality content), they will come (links pointing to your site).
Though he was philosophical about how to build links, Matt was specific on things to AVOID when link building. One of the first things he said while speaking on what to avoid was controlling whom YOU link to. Make sure that that any site you are linking to is relevant, quality site. Again, no shady SEO users should appear. He also stated another obvious point: avoid hidden links. Be sure and place your links where site visitors can find them.
Matt also suggests avoiding links coming from or pointing to guest books. These are notorious havens for spammers. He did not say whether or not Google discounted these links, but because he warned about them, you can guess that they don't give much relevance to these types of links.
He also mentioned to avoid buying anything that will artificially boost PageRank. Reading Google's Information for Webmasters Page discusses why this is something that should be avoided: 'Linking schemes do not increase a given site's PageRank, and will often do a site more harm than good. Many sites that advertise link-sharing programs not only offer little value, but will distribute your email address without your permission, resulting in an increased volume of unwanted mail to you."
Another area that should be avoided is interlinking of sites within your own domain. Google can perceive interlinking between domains, because they are on the same IP, as link spam, and this is an action that they can and will penalize." (Update:he meant to say don't interlink multiple domains on the same IP. Internal linking should be fine.)
Matt's approach to link building was more of a philosophical one than straight tips and tricks. However, when taken with the advice that appeared in the previous link building articles, you have a fairly comprehensive list of ideas to keep in mind when designing a website, not just attempting to build links.
Making your content valuable enough to be linked to seems to be the emphasis of all speakers well, that and link relevancy. Of course, the first part is a little easier to control than the second. The thinking seems to be: if you build it (quality content), they will come (links pointing to your site).
Though he was philosophical about how to build links, Matt was specific on things to AVOID when link building. One of the first things he said while speaking on what to avoid was controlling whom YOU link to. Make sure that that any site you are linking to is relevant, quality site. Again, no shady SEO users should appear. He also stated another obvious point: avoid hidden links. Be sure and place your links where site visitors can find them.
Matt also suggests avoiding links coming from or pointing to guest books. These are notorious havens for spammers. He did not say whether or not Google discounted these links, but because he warned about them, you can guess that they don't give much relevance to these types of links.
He also mentioned to avoid buying anything that will artificially boost PageRank. Reading Google's Information for Webmasters Page discusses why this is something that should be avoided: 'Linking schemes do not increase a given site's PageRank, and will often do a site more harm than good. Many sites that advertise link-sharing programs not only offer little value, but will distribute your email address without your permission, resulting in an increased volume of unwanted mail to you."
Another area that should be avoided is interlinking of sites within your own domain. Google can perceive interlinking between domains, because they are on the same IP, as link spam, and this is an action that they can and will penalize." (Update:he meant to say don't interlink multiple domains on the same IP. Internal linking should be fine.)
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Google primer presentation
This was the keynote address at Search and Collaboration Seminar 2004 | Introduction 2004 in Haifa. PDF Paper
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Different search strings for Totaltravel.co.uk Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk
Google Search: allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk: "
Web Results 1 - 2 of about 31,500 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk"
repeat the search with the omitted results included: about 47,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk
Google Search: site:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Web Results 1 - 2 of about 31,500 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk"
repeat the search with the omitted results included: about 47,400 for allinurl:www.totaltravel.co.uk -www.directory.co.uk
Google Search: site:www.totaltravel.co.uk
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Monday, August 02, 2004
August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web (Ftrain.com)
August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web (Ftrain.com): "Google allowed you to search for buyers and sellers, and then, using a service shamelessly copied from the then-ubiquitous PayPal, handled the transaction for a 1.75% charge. Sure, people could send checks or contact one another and avoid the 1.75%, but for most items that was your best bet - fast and cheap. 1.75% plus advertising and a global reach, and you can count on millions flowing smoothly through your accounts. "
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
show all 28,500 Google Search: allinurl:www totaltravel co.uk
Google Search: allinurl:www totaltravel co.uk: " 1 - 100 of about 28,500 "
19,400 Google Search: allinurl:www totaltravel co.uk
Google Search: allinurl:www totaltravel co.uk: "Results 1 - 9 of about 19,400 "
Google's 15 minutes of fame inc history of search related share prices...
Google's 15 minutes of fame: "Google's 15 minutes of fame Commentary: Atypical price for an atypical company "
By Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 9:35 PM ET Jul 26, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- So, you want to buy Google at a valuation of some $32 billion and a price-to-earnings multiple of 100-plus?
That was the question with which investors were left after Google's latest filing Monday, in which it said it would offer 24.6 million shares for between $108 and $135 each.
For a company that wants to be accessible to small investors, the price is a psychological deterrent. But investors will have at least a couple of weeks to determine whether they want to bid at that price.
If you're one of the lucky 800 or so big-time investors invited to Google's road-show luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan on Tuesday, you'll even get to rub elbows with the Google executives. The official IPO launch is slated for the week of August 9, according to investors looking at the deal.
I'd imagine that anyone interested in investments might find it a bit hard to decline any of these shares if they were offered.
Why is Google apparently worth it to some?
For one thing, Google's more profitable than Yahoo. In Google's latest S-1, the company said it had an operating profit of $326 million in the first six months of this year. That was earned on sales of $1.3 billion. By comparison, Yahoo posted a smaller operating profit of $281 million on a larger revenue base, $1.59 billion.
Google's also been the top-rated search engine, ahead of Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT).
Additionally, Google's search revenue grew 7.5 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter. For its part, Yahoo said that its search sales were essentially flat in the same period.
Another positive note for Google is the pent-up demand that may be present by the time Google goes public, especially after the recent correction in Net shares.
Reasons not to buy
But Google is expensive.
Its float alone is larger than the market caps of Ask Jeeves (ASKJ), InfoSpace (INSP) and FindWhat (FWHT) combined.
At Google's latest price, it's estimated to earn $1.26 per share on sales of $1.8 billion, according to Mark Mahaney, an analyst at American Technology Research. That means, at Google's midpoint proposed IPO price, it will trade around 96 times 2004 earnings. Yahoo is expected to earn 33 cents per share. At its current price of $28, it's trading at around 85 times this year's earnings.
I question whether Google deserves such a premium multiple.
First of all, there is a huge overhang of shares. Google is making 10 percent of its company available to shareholders. That means for every 1 share owned, there are nine waiting to be sold down the road.
Secondly, at such a multiple, it's unclear whether the bankers have priced in future erosion of margins due to competitors, like Microsoft and Yahoo. We'll hear some words from Mr. Softy about its push into search this Thursday at its analyst day.
It's unclear how formidable Microsoft will be in search. But clearly, Microsoft has the money to make a difference and the know-how to be a monopoly. Google has yet to be the de facto Web search tool for anyone.
As for Google's ability to compete with Yahoo, it's unclear whether Google has the wherewithal to move into what will be the sweet spot in online advertising: Branded advertising.
This appears to be the next phase of growth, most observers agree. Sure, when Yahoo went public at a market valuation of $334 million in 1996, it generated sales of $19 million in that year. But sales also rocketed 252 percent to $67 million by the following. Those aren't the type of growth rates a mature company like Google is experiencing.
Search explosion was in 2003. What will be the driver in 2005? If it's brand advertising, search engines don't have what brand marketers want: stickiness.
According to comScore, the average time spent on Yahoo is 4.4 hours in a month compared to 22 minutes for Google. Time Warner's (TWX) AOL seems to keep users on its properties for 6 hours in a month, on average.
15 minutes
Yahoo has both search and branded advertising. What will it cost Google to maintain its attractiveness to consumers and investors? It's already taking the steps to emulate Yahoo by offering Gmail.
But does it know the media business like Yahoo does?
It seems that every three years, a new search engine takes the lead and has its 15 minutes of fame.
Alta Vista, the pioneer of Web searches, learned the hard way. Its technology started in 1995 inside Digital Equipment and was the leading search product in the early commercial days of the Internet in 1996. That was before DEC was sold to Compaq Computer and Compaq was sold to Hewlett-Packard, Now, Alta Vista's part of Overture. See related story.
Inktomi was a 1999 darling that inflated to a market value of roughly $30 billion during the bubble heyday. Now, it's part of Yahoo (YHOO).
Google, which had 10 employees in 1999, grew to be the most widely recognized search brand in the world by 2002. See Web searchers doing the Google.
But now Microsoft (MSFT) is brewing up its own "secret sauce" of algorithms to search Web pages.
What will happen by 2005 is anyone's guess, but here's a look at what has happened so far:
1996: Search goes public
(all IPOs are split-adjusted prices. Source: Dealogic)
Jan. 1996: Google founders collaborate on search engine called BackRub
April 1, 1996: Lycos goes public at $4 a share
April 4, 1996: Excite goes public at $8.50 a share
April 11, 1996: Yahoo prices at $1.83.
1998 and 1999: New batch of search engines go public and Google is born
1998: Google opens its doors (answers 10,000 search queries Oct. 7, 1998)
June 1998: Inktomi goes public at $4.15 (market cap at IPO was $370 million)
December 1998: InfoSpace (INSP) goes public at $15
May 1999: Excite merges with At Home for $6.5 billion
June 1999: GoTo.com goes public at $15. Company changes name eventually to Overture Services.
June 1999: Ask Jeeves (ASKJ) goes public at $14
August 1999: LookSmart (LOOK) goes public at $12
August 1999: CMGI buys 83 percent of Alta Vista for $2.3 billion in stock, plus bonds
2000 and 2001: More consolidation and bankruptcy
Oct. 30, 2000: Terra Networks (TRLY) buys Lycos for $46.40 per share, or $5.1 billion.
Sept. 28, 2001: ExciteAtHome goes bankrupt. See story.
2002: Back to search roots
Nov. 13, 2002: Alta Vista relaunches its search site. See Alta Vista's constant search.
December 2002: Yahoo says it'll buy Inktomi for $233 million in cash.
2003: Google accelerates position and portal expansion; Microsoft launches Web crawler; Search gets deeper
March 2003: Google surpasses Yahoo in searches with 1.1 million searches. (source: comScore)
March 4, 2003: Ask Jeeves says it's buying Interactive Search Holdings for $343 million. See full story.
March 11, 2003: Yahoo's maps meet Yellow Pages See Yahoo local
March 29, 2003: Google's Froogle launched See Google's Froogle.
April 7, 2003: Yahoo revamps its search functionalities. See Yahoo returns to search roots.
April 21, 2003: Ask Jeeves unveils its new look. See Ask Jeeves' search gets smarter.
April 28, 2003: Overture completes purchase of Alta Vista for $106 million stock and cash
June 19, 2003: Microsoft tests its own Web crawler. See full story.
July 1, 2003: MSN to recast search to make algorithmic searches more prominent. See MSN to recast search.
Oct. 7, 2003: Yahoo completes purchase of Overture for $2.2 bln in stock and cash.
2004: Google's long awaited IPO
April 29, 2004: Google announces it'll try to raise $2.7 billion through an IPO, offering shares in a Dutch auction. See full story.
So would you buy Google shares at this price? E-mail: Bfrancisco@marketwatch.com Or, you can e-mail me at: Bambi.blogs.com
By Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 9:35 PM ET Jul 26, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- So, you want to buy Google at a valuation of some $32 billion and a price-to-earnings multiple of 100-plus?
That was the question with which investors were left after Google's latest filing Monday, in which it said it would offer 24.6 million shares for between $108 and $135 each.
For a company that wants to be accessible to small investors, the price is a psychological deterrent. But investors will have at least a couple of weeks to determine whether they want to bid at that price.
If you're one of the lucky 800 or so big-time investors invited to Google's road-show luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan on Tuesday, you'll even get to rub elbows with the Google executives. The official IPO launch is slated for the week of August 9, according to investors looking at the deal.
I'd imagine that anyone interested in investments might find it a bit hard to decline any of these shares if they were offered.
Why is Google apparently worth it to some?
For one thing, Google's more profitable than Yahoo. In Google's latest S-1, the company said it had an operating profit of $326 million in the first six months of this year. That was earned on sales of $1.3 billion. By comparison, Yahoo posted a smaller operating profit of $281 million on a larger revenue base, $1.59 billion.
Google's also been the top-rated search engine, ahead of Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT).
Additionally, Google's search revenue grew 7.5 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter. For its part, Yahoo said that its search sales were essentially flat in the same period.
Another positive note for Google is the pent-up demand that may be present by the time Google goes public, especially after the recent correction in Net shares.
Reasons not to buy
But Google is expensive.
Its float alone is larger than the market caps of Ask Jeeves (ASKJ), InfoSpace (INSP) and FindWhat (FWHT) combined.
At Google's latest price, it's estimated to earn $1.26 per share on sales of $1.8 billion, according to Mark Mahaney, an analyst at American Technology Research. That means, at Google's midpoint proposed IPO price, it will trade around 96 times 2004 earnings. Yahoo is expected to earn 33 cents per share. At its current price of $28, it's trading at around 85 times this year's earnings.
I question whether Google deserves such a premium multiple.
First of all, there is a huge overhang of shares. Google is making 10 percent of its company available to shareholders. That means for every 1 share owned, there are nine waiting to be sold down the road.
Secondly, at such a multiple, it's unclear whether the bankers have priced in future erosion of margins due to competitors, like Microsoft and Yahoo. We'll hear some words from Mr. Softy about its push into search this Thursday at its analyst day.
It's unclear how formidable Microsoft will be in search. But clearly, Microsoft has the money to make a difference and the know-how to be a monopoly. Google has yet to be the de facto Web search tool for anyone.
As for Google's ability to compete with Yahoo, it's unclear whether Google has the wherewithal to move into what will be the sweet spot in online advertising: Branded advertising.
This appears to be the next phase of growth, most observers agree. Sure, when Yahoo went public at a market valuation of $334 million in 1996, it generated sales of $19 million in that year. But sales also rocketed 252 percent to $67 million by the following. Those aren't the type of growth rates a mature company like Google is experiencing.
Search explosion was in 2003. What will be the driver in 2005? If it's brand advertising, search engines don't have what brand marketers want: stickiness.
According to comScore, the average time spent on Yahoo is 4.4 hours in a month compared to 22 minutes for Google. Time Warner's (TWX) AOL seems to keep users on its properties for 6 hours in a month, on average.
15 minutes
Yahoo has both search and branded advertising. What will it cost Google to maintain its attractiveness to consumers and investors? It's already taking the steps to emulate Yahoo by offering Gmail.
But does it know the media business like Yahoo does?
It seems that every three years, a new search engine takes the lead and has its 15 minutes of fame.
Alta Vista, the pioneer of Web searches, learned the hard way. Its technology started in 1995 inside Digital Equipment and was the leading search product in the early commercial days of the Internet in 1996. That was before DEC was sold to Compaq Computer and Compaq was sold to Hewlett-Packard, Now, Alta Vista's part of Overture. See related story.
Inktomi was a 1999 darling that inflated to a market value of roughly $30 billion during the bubble heyday. Now, it's part of Yahoo (YHOO).
Google, which had 10 employees in 1999, grew to be the most widely recognized search brand in the world by 2002. See Web searchers doing the Google.
But now Microsoft (MSFT) is brewing up its own "secret sauce" of algorithms to search Web pages.
What will happen by 2005 is anyone's guess, but here's a look at what has happened so far:
1996: Search goes public
(all IPOs are split-adjusted prices. Source: Dealogic)
Jan. 1996: Google founders collaborate on search engine called BackRub
April 1, 1996: Lycos goes public at $4 a share
April 4, 1996: Excite goes public at $8.50 a share
April 11, 1996: Yahoo prices at $1.83.
1998 and 1999: New batch of search engines go public and Google is born
1998: Google opens its doors (answers 10,000 search queries Oct. 7, 1998)
June 1998: Inktomi goes public at $4.15 (market cap at IPO was $370 million)
December 1998: InfoSpace (INSP) goes public at $15
May 1999: Excite merges with At Home for $6.5 billion
June 1999: GoTo.com goes public at $15. Company changes name eventually to Overture Services.
June 1999: Ask Jeeves (ASKJ) goes public at $14
August 1999: LookSmart (LOOK) goes public at $12
August 1999: CMGI buys 83 percent of Alta Vista for $2.3 billion in stock, plus bonds
2000 and 2001: More consolidation and bankruptcy
Oct. 30, 2000: Terra Networks (TRLY) buys Lycos for $46.40 per share, or $5.1 billion.
Sept. 28, 2001: ExciteAtHome goes bankrupt. See story.
2002: Back to search roots
Nov. 13, 2002: Alta Vista relaunches its search site. See Alta Vista's constant search.
December 2002: Yahoo says it'll buy Inktomi for $233 million in cash.
2003: Google accelerates position and portal expansion; Microsoft launches Web crawler; Search gets deeper
March 2003: Google surpasses Yahoo in searches with 1.1 million searches. (source: comScore)
March 4, 2003: Ask Jeeves says it's buying Interactive Search Holdings for $343 million. See full story.
March 11, 2003: Yahoo's maps meet Yellow Pages See Yahoo local
March 29, 2003: Google's Froogle launched See Google's Froogle.
April 7, 2003: Yahoo revamps its search functionalities. See Yahoo returns to search roots.
April 21, 2003: Ask Jeeves unveils its new look. See Ask Jeeves' search gets smarter.
April 28, 2003: Overture completes purchase of Alta Vista for $106 million stock and cash
June 19, 2003: Microsoft tests its own Web crawler. See full story.
July 1, 2003: MSN to recast search to make algorithmic searches more prominent. See MSN to recast search.
Oct. 7, 2003: Yahoo completes purchase of Overture for $2.2 bln in stock and cash.
2004: Google's long awaited IPO
April 29, 2004: Google announces it'll try to raise $2.7 billion through an IPO, offering shares in a Dutch auction. See full story.
So would you buy Google shares at this price? E-mail: Bfrancisco@marketwatch.com Or, you can e-mail me at: Bambi.blogs.com
Monday, July 26, 2004
Google Closes Doors on One Nation
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google Closes Doors on One Nation: "Google Closes Doors on One Nation
Those poor citizens of Azerbaijan can no longer claim to have a Google all to themselves. According to media powerhouse 'BakuToday' (yes, my tongue is in my cheek), Google has decided not to continue with their www.google.az domain.
Google was the most popular international search engine in Azerbaijan. It is translated in Azerbaijani, and fully supports Azerbaijani language standards (Unicode and UTF-8). "
Those poor citizens of Azerbaijan can no longer claim to have a Google all to themselves. According to media powerhouse 'BakuToday' (yes, my tongue is in my cheek), Google has decided not to continue with their www.google.az domain.
Google was the most popular international search engine in Azerbaijan. It is translated in Azerbaijani, and fully supports Azerbaijani language standards (Unicode and UTF-8). "
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Google to post quarterly results | CNET News.com
Google to post quarterly results | CNET News.com: "Google is expected to give an indication of how much it expects bidders to pay for its shares in an updated initial public offering filing as soon as this week,"
Google Crawls Into Academia
Google Crawls Into Academia: "Google and DSpace have embarked on a pilot program designed to allow universities to better manage their intellectual output. "
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Guardian Unlimited | Online | All eyes on Blinkx the woman taking on Google
Guardian Unlimited | Online | All eyes on Blinkx: "All eyes on Blinkx
Victor Keegan spoke to the woman taking on Google
Thursday July 15, 2004
The Guardian
Less than a month ago, Kathy Rittweger went to the office of the technology magazine Business 2.0 in San Francisco to demonstrate Blinkx, a late entrant to the search engine market. The editor she was meeting brought two other people as he didn't know much about the subject himself.
She left the office at noon, saddened that it had not gone very well. "I thought I did a lousy job. I've never really done this whole PR thing." She retired round the corner to Starbucks with her public relations adviser for a debriefing. He told her to be more provocative in future, not so humble and more proud of what she had accomplished. "He was also convinced we didn't stand a good chance".
But by the time she had got back to her hotel, there was an email from one of the people at the meeting, Om Malik, whom she had never heard of. He said he had "blogged" the item on his website at 12.40pm while she was still commiserating over coffee.
Malik wrote that he had the same tingling sensation watching Blinkx being demonstrated as he had had almost five years ago when two fresh-faced boys called Larry and Sergey had stopped by the offices of Forbes.com to demonstrate something called Google.
Malik's comments were soon picked up by other bloggers and Rittweger started getting a wave of emails and calls, including some from venture capitalists, a breed thought to be in hibernation after the dotcom excesses.
The blog was posted on a Friday, and by the Monday there were 5,000 links to it and people were discussing it all over the world. Since then, there have been 130,000 direct downloads, and many more through users swapping files. This week, the site - which is only launched today - has been recording 6m links or hits a day solely from word-of-mouth publicity.
You would be forgiven for thinking that Rittweger and her British business partner, Suranga Chanratillake, who used to work for the UK search engine company Autonomy, ought to be locked up for even thinking of trying to take on the almighty Google, especially at a time when it and the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo - not to mention dozens of smaller companies - are teeing up for the next battle in the search engine wars.
Blinkx has two selling points. First, it doesn't only search the web but simultaneously scours news sites, emails, attachments and your own hard disk. It does all this unobtrusively in the background until you pass your cursor over icons at the top or bottom of the page, when it reveals a digest of related sites as well as material from Word, Excel or PDF files. If you are working in a word processing document, it provides the same service.
It also searches blogs. This function has just been added because Malik suggested it would be a good thing to do. "I didn't appreciate the significance until he wrote the article and then I thought, 'Right, I get it'," she said disarmingly. Blinkx can also search digital TV on the internet, which, in practice, means video output from the BBC. Why? "Because the BBC posts its digital TV free on the internet."
Both Google and Microsoft are working on unified engines that search your desktop as well as the web, and some others already do it. But Rittweger believes Blinkx is the only one that offers all these facilities including video search now. So the company has a window of opportunity in a market where consumers can switch allegiance with two blinkx of an eyelid.
The second selling point is that, unlike Google, it uses artificial intelligence to rate stories, not page rankings. "What it is trying to say," she explains, "is that all words are not equal in a sentence... Quite critically, if you are looking at a document and trying to figure out what it means, Blinkx reads everything you are reading and sorts out what are the key ideas."
Blinkx's planned business model involves getting advertising revenue from contextual adverts, product channels and white labelling, but she emphasises that the search is independent: it is mathematically based and just looks at words and their context. She adds: "It is clean, but users don't know that so we show our advertisements in a different colour".
Her moment of truth came when doing a project on Japanese tourism a few years ago and found that when she put a page into a search engine, nothing happened because search was limited to 10 words. Later, she met Suranga Chanratillake, who shared her ideas and had the technological expertise to develop them.
Whether they succeed is an open question. It is a tough market to crack because for many users, Google is as good as it gets - and, like Yahoo and Microsoft, it has immense resources. But people are also starting to realise that search engines are mining only a tiny proportion of available knowledge. And loyalty is only as deep as the click of a mouse. files. This week"
Victor Keegan spoke to the woman taking on Google
Thursday July 15, 2004
The Guardian
Less than a month ago, Kathy Rittweger went to the office of the technology magazine Business 2.0 in San Francisco to demonstrate Blinkx, a late entrant to the search engine market. The editor she was meeting brought two other people as he didn't know much about the subject himself.
She left the office at noon, saddened that it had not gone very well. "I thought I did a lousy job. I've never really done this whole PR thing." She retired round the corner to Starbucks with her public relations adviser for a debriefing. He told her to be more provocative in future, not so humble and more proud of what she had accomplished. "He was also convinced we didn't stand a good chance".
But by the time she had got back to her hotel, there was an email from one of the people at the meeting, Om Malik, whom she had never heard of. He said he had "blogged" the item on his website at 12.40pm while she was still commiserating over coffee.
Malik wrote that he had the same tingling sensation watching Blinkx being demonstrated as he had had almost five years ago when two fresh-faced boys called Larry and Sergey had stopped by the offices of Forbes.com to demonstrate something called Google.
Malik's comments were soon picked up by other bloggers and Rittweger started getting a wave of emails and calls, including some from venture capitalists, a breed thought to be in hibernation after the dotcom excesses.
The blog was posted on a Friday, and by the Monday there were 5,000 links to it and people were discussing it all over the world. Since then, there have been 130,000 direct downloads, and many more through users swapping files. This week, the site - which is only launched today - has been recording 6m links or hits a day solely from word-of-mouth publicity.
You would be forgiven for thinking that Rittweger and her British business partner, Suranga Chanratillake, who used to work for the UK search engine company Autonomy, ought to be locked up for even thinking of trying to take on the almighty Google, especially at a time when it and the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo - not to mention dozens of smaller companies - are teeing up for the next battle in the search engine wars.
Blinkx has two selling points. First, it doesn't only search the web but simultaneously scours news sites, emails, attachments and your own hard disk. It does all this unobtrusively in the background until you pass your cursor over icons at the top or bottom of the page, when it reveals a digest of related sites as well as material from Word, Excel or PDF files. If you are working in a word processing document, it provides the same service.
It also searches blogs. This function has just been added because Malik suggested it would be a good thing to do. "I didn't appreciate the significance until he wrote the article and then I thought, 'Right, I get it'," she said disarmingly. Blinkx can also search digital TV on the internet, which, in practice, means video output from the BBC. Why? "Because the BBC posts its digital TV free on the internet."
Both Google and Microsoft are working on unified engines that search your desktop as well as the web, and some others already do it. But Rittweger believes Blinkx is the only one that offers all these facilities including video search now. So the company has a window of opportunity in a market where consumers can switch allegiance with two blinkx of an eyelid.
The second selling point is that, unlike Google, it uses artificial intelligence to rate stories, not page rankings. "What it is trying to say," she explains, "is that all words are not equal in a sentence... Quite critically, if you are looking at a document and trying to figure out what it means, Blinkx reads everything you are reading and sorts out what are the key ideas."
Blinkx's planned business model involves getting advertising revenue from contextual adverts, product channels and white labelling, but she emphasises that the search is independent: it is mathematically based and just looks at words and their context. She adds: "It is clean, but users don't know that so we show our advertisements in a different colour".
Her moment of truth came when doing a project on Japanese tourism a few years ago and found that when she put a page into a search engine, nothing happened because search was limited to 10 words. Later, she met Suranga Chanratillake, who shared her ideas and had the technological expertise to develop them.
Whether they succeed is an open question. It is a tough market to crack because for many users, Google is as good as it gets - and, like Yahoo and Microsoft, it has immense resources. But people are also starting to realise that search engines are mining only a tiny proportion of available knowledge. And loyalty is only as deep as the click of a mouse. files. This week"
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers: "However, don't you think the process should be a two-way thing? Let me get to my point...
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's 'quite period' by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's 'SEC regulated' lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple 'design changes' were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of "
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's 'quite period' by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's 'SEC regulated' lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple 'design changes' were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of "
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers: "post something controversial on here. If it's about Google, you can bet that they are are on the phone to me to discuss their position and make sure that I am 'educated'"
However, don't you think the process should be a two-way thing? Let me get to my point...
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's "quite period" by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's "SEC regulated" lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple "design changes" were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of us are also commanding the paid search budgets of some of the world's largest companies.
Search engine optimization is real...it works...it can help you get to the top of Google. There may be some bad apples, who make totally ridiculous promises, but you get that with any industry. Please, please, someone, anyone at Google, take Mr. Keane aside and quietly remind him that search is not just about paid search and agencies. SEO may be the "red-headed step-child" as far as Google is concerned, but we are still family and deserve the respect!
- Search Engine News by Andy Beal | News Link | Others' Thoughts (18)
However, don't you think the process should be a two-way thing? Let me get to my point...
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's "quite period" by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's "SEC regulated" lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple "design changes" were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of us are also commanding the paid search budgets of some of the world's largest companies.
Search engine optimization is real...it works...it can help you get to the top of Google. There may be some bad apples, who make totally ridiculous promises, but you get that with any industry. Please, please, someone, anyone at Google, take Mr. Keane aside and quietly remind him that search is not just about paid search and agencies. SEO may be the "red-headed step-child" as far as Google is concerned, but we are still family and deserve the respect!
- Search Engine News by Andy Beal | News Link | Others' Thoughts (18)
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