AOL Deal Could Speed Google's Undoing: "AOL Deal Could Speed Google's Undoing... What a difference 10 days can make. Earlier this month, it appeared as though Microsoft and AOL were going to pair off, the Time Warner business unit shedding its old ties with Google for new ones with MSN Search. At the time, rumor had it that no large sums would change hands.
Well, a large sum?$1 billion large?is leaving Google for Time Warner. In return, Google gets 5 percent of AOL, expands the advertising sales relationship between the two services, and the right to make a rude gesture in Steve Ballmer's direction.
With this deal, Google gets to save face, but it may also plant another seed of its ultimate undoing...
Google initially attracted users with a sparse interface that gave search results center stage and treated paid results?advertising?essentially as a necessary evil.
More and more advertising has been creeping into Google's results pages, sometimes there seems to be more paid results than free ones.
This depends, of course, on what you're searching for, but the change is quite noticeable. And is about to become much more so.
If the news stories are to be believed, coming soon to a Web browser near you: Google ads with images, sold by AOL.
According to a story in the San Jose Mercury News: "The partnership could also herald a new experience for people who use Google's search engine, because it allows AOL to place advertising with images on Google's search results pages. Until now, Google's search engine has been devoid of any image ads."
Is this, taken alone, a big deal? Not really, but it places Google one more step away from what attracted so many of us to the service in the first place.
It also creates an opportunity, perhaps, for a company with very deep pockets, to try to become a better Google than Google. I wonder who might do that? "
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
Google refines content bidding for AdWords advertisers
Seperate bids for adwords on search sites v content sites.
Netimperative - Google refines content bidding for AdWords advertisers: "Google has launched a separate content bidding for AdWords, as the search giant aims to expand its paid-for search services.
The move lets advertisers place one bid for ads that run on content sites and a separate bid for ads that run on search sites within the Google Network. The move could give advertisers greater control in maximising return on investment from search campaigns. Previously, the single keyword bid placed by advertisers was applied to their ads on both search and content pages. In addition, the minimum bid for content is now a static $.01 in the U.S"
Netimperative - Google refines content bidding for AdWords advertisers: "Google has launched a separate content bidding for AdWords, as the search giant aims to expand its paid-for search services.
The move lets advertisers place one bid for ads that run on content sites and a separate bid for ads that run on search sites within the Google Network. The move could give advertisers greater control in maximising return on investment from search campaigns. Previously, the single keyword bid placed by advertisers was applied to their ads on both search and content pages. In addition, the minimum bid for content is now a static $.01 in the U.S"
Googling For Gold How Google changes the world
Googling For Gold: "With a market cap in orbit and more cash than a small nation, Google's heft is altering the tech industry's behavior....
The Google effect is already changing the delicate balance in Silicon Valley between venture capitalists and startup companies. Instead of nurturing the most promising startups with an eye toward taking the fledgling businesses public, a growing number of VCs now scour the landscape for anyone with a technology or service that might fill a gap in Google's portfolio. Google itself and not the larger market has become the exit strategy as VCs plan for the day they can take their money out of their startups. Business founders have felt the tug as well. "You're hearing about a lot of entrepreneurs pitching VCs with their end goal to be acquired by Google" ...
There's one snag in this planetary realignment: Google has shown little interest so far in doing big deals with anyone. Although it briefly sniffed around Web-phone giant Skype Technologies, Google blanched at the eventual price of $2.6 billion ponied up by eBay Inc. (EBAY ) in September. In fact, Google's biggest deal to date is the $102 million it paid for online ad upstart Applied Semantics Inc. in 2003. For now, at least, Google is passing on big, bold deals...
But if dot-com history is any indication, the risks of doing nothing could be substantial. Google could be sitting on an ephemeral asset. In 1999, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO ), Google's closest publicly traded equivalent, had a $115 billion market cap but passed up the chance to buy eBay. Today, eBay is worth more than Yahoo, whose value has since nearly halved. At its 1999 height, Doubleclick, the big online ad player of yesteryear, had $14 billion in market cap. It didn't put it to work, though, and in April this year was bought by a private equity firm for just over $1 billion.
in Google's prospectus when it first sold shares to the public 15 months ago. "We would fund projects that have a 10% chance of earning a billion dollars over the long term," wrote founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. And then they added: "Do not be surprised if we place smaller bets in areas that seem very speculative or even strange. As the ratio of reward to risk increases, we will accept projects further outside our normal areas, especially when the initial investment is small." ..
In the Silicon Valley food chain, the first to lay bets on which way things will shake out are the venture capitalists whose fate is now firmly entwined with that of Google. It's not a very comfortable position for VCs, who view Google with a mixture of disdain and envy...
luxuries aren't the real problem. It's what the VCs perceive as arrogance and a lack of respect for the role they play. VCs, after all, have at some point identified, believed in, nurtured, and funded -- not to mention made huge profits from -- the biggest names in techdom, from eBay to Cisco Systems and Google itself. Yet many feel that Google accords them roughly the same respect as it does vendors bidding on the groundskeeping contract.
Startup Day
Many VCs, for example are still fuming over the "Google Startup Day." VCs, who are used to making elaborate and proprietary pitches to potential investors, were instead summoned as a group to take turns making their spiels to Google's 10-person corporate development group. "Check out the gall," says one, sharing an Aug. 3 e-mail from Google's in-house M&A team. "Hi Very Senior Partner," the mass memo says by way of salutation. After explaining the hoops through which the VCs would have to jump to go to Startup Day, it asks those interested to "please fill in the attached spreadsheet with a brief description of each company and its business/technology, an overview of the team, any data points you would like to share, and a perspective of why the company might work with Google." Says the aggrieved VC: "Did it ever occur to them that this was like asking us to do their homework for them? It's the height of arrogance." Not so, responds Google's Drummond: "This was an attempt at outreach," he says. "Most VCs do like to talk to us. Google is very much involved in the venture community -- a lot more than people understand."
VCs have another more concrete reason to resent Google: With its deep pockets and its unwillingness to give quarter to outside professionals, it's now a growing competitor to Valley VCs. Google can easily afford to swoop in and outbid any VC for a startup..
Google strongly prefers to gobble up startups before they have embarked on a sales and marketing strategy, viewing companies that are completely tech-focused as a better cultural fit. It prefers to acquire small, local technology teams that it can simply plug into its headquarters. "Two guys in a garage with nose rings and a dog trying to catch lightning in a bottle" is how banker Smith characterizes the bias. Case in point: Last year Google snapped up Keyhole, a digital mapping company based next door in Mountain View, for an undisclosed sum. Its team moved down the road and within six months, Keyhole was providing the satellite technology behind Google's celebrated mapping tool. Conversely, Google has passed on larger, out-of-town deals, in large part because of integration worries.
Google is creating a whole new ecosystem for entrepreneurs, says Baris Karadogan of U.S. Venture Partners, a high-tech VC firm in Silicon Valley. Karadogan says he's closely watching a group of entrepreneurs who are designing a highly specialized online advertising tool, hoping to sell it to Google for $50 million. "Before," he laments, "you needed a VC. Now you can build a Linux-based data system for $100,000 and survive long enough to sell without ever raising a venture round."
The suits inside Google don't fare much better than the outside pros. Several current and former insiders say there's a caste system, in which business types are second-class citizens to Google's valued code jockeys. They argue that it could prove to be a big challenge in the future as Google seeks to maintain its growth. They deem the corporate development team as underpowered in the company, with engineers and product managers tending to carry more clout than salesmen and dealmakers.
A banker who interviewed for a Google corporate development job came to a similar conclusion. "They just aren't very focused," says the prospective hire, who didn't get the job. "They're biased against businesspeople, and their deal strategy is pretty much, 'O.K., if we see something, then we'll look at it."' The candidate, a Wall Street tech M&A specialist who was looking for a change of scenery and a more relaxed lifestyle, calls the experience "chaotic, bureaucratic, and very rigid."
Surprisingly for a company of Google's size, clout, and business needs, it doesn't yet have a thriving in-house VC arm. And that's despite some glaring holes in its product lineup. "We're clearly not going to do everything right," concedes Drummond. "There are areas we miss that others will fill out." For starters, Google has a long way to go to match the breadth, depth, and richness of Yahoo's portal. Ditto a peer-to-peer marketplace along the lines of an eBay, as well as Microsoft-like software applications.
Despite the hurdles they face, don't expect any of the legions of investment bankers, VCs, or entrepreneurs to fold their tents and go home. The stakes are too big, and everyone wants in. To steal a note from the Google home page: Feeling lucky?"
The Google effect is already changing the delicate balance in Silicon Valley between venture capitalists and startup companies. Instead of nurturing the most promising startups with an eye toward taking the fledgling businesses public, a growing number of VCs now scour the landscape for anyone with a technology or service that might fill a gap in Google's portfolio. Google itself and not the larger market has become the exit strategy as VCs plan for the day they can take their money out of their startups. Business founders have felt the tug as well. "You're hearing about a lot of entrepreneurs pitching VCs with their end goal to be acquired by Google" ...
There's one snag in this planetary realignment: Google has shown little interest so far in doing big deals with anyone. Although it briefly sniffed around Web-phone giant Skype Technologies, Google blanched at the eventual price of $2.6 billion ponied up by eBay Inc. (EBAY ) in September. In fact, Google's biggest deal to date is the $102 million it paid for online ad upstart Applied Semantics Inc. in 2003. For now, at least, Google is passing on big, bold deals...
But if dot-com history is any indication, the risks of doing nothing could be substantial. Google could be sitting on an ephemeral asset. In 1999, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO ), Google's closest publicly traded equivalent, had a $115 billion market cap but passed up the chance to buy eBay. Today, eBay is worth more than Yahoo, whose value has since nearly halved. At its 1999 height, Doubleclick, the big online ad player of yesteryear, had $14 billion in market cap. It didn't put it to work, though, and in April this year was bought by a private equity firm for just over $1 billion.
in Google's prospectus when it first sold shares to the public 15 months ago. "We would fund projects that have a 10% chance of earning a billion dollars over the long term," wrote founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. And then they added: "Do not be surprised if we place smaller bets in areas that seem very speculative or even strange. As the ratio of reward to risk increases, we will accept projects further outside our normal areas, especially when the initial investment is small." ..
In the Silicon Valley food chain, the first to lay bets on which way things will shake out are the venture capitalists whose fate is now firmly entwined with that of Google. It's not a very comfortable position for VCs, who view Google with a mixture of disdain and envy...
luxuries aren't the real problem. It's what the VCs perceive as arrogance and a lack of respect for the role they play. VCs, after all, have at some point identified, believed in, nurtured, and funded -- not to mention made huge profits from -- the biggest names in techdom, from eBay to Cisco Systems and Google itself. Yet many feel that Google accords them roughly the same respect as it does vendors bidding on the groundskeeping contract.
Startup Day
Many VCs, for example are still fuming over the "Google Startup Day." VCs, who are used to making elaborate and proprietary pitches to potential investors, were instead summoned as a group to take turns making their spiels to Google's 10-person corporate development group. "Check out the gall," says one, sharing an Aug. 3 e-mail from Google's in-house M&A team. "Hi Very Senior Partner," the mass memo says by way of salutation. After explaining the hoops through which the VCs would have to jump to go to Startup Day, it asks those interested to "please fill in the attached spreadsheet with a brief description of each company and its business/technology, an overview of the team, any data points you would like to share, and a perspective of why the company might work with Google." Says the aggrieved VC: "Did it ever occur to them that this was like asking us to do their homework for them? It's the height of arrogance." Not so, responds Google's Drummond: "This was an attempt at outreach," he says. "Most VCs do like to talk to us. Google is very much involved in the venture community -- a lot more than people understand."
VCs have another more concrete reason to resent Google: With its deep pockets and its unwillingness to give quarter to outside professionals, it's now a growing competitor to Valley VCs. Google can easily afford to swoop in and outbid any VC for a startup..
Google strongly prefers to gobble up startups before they have embarked on a sales and marketing strategy, viewing companies that are completely tech-focused as a better cultural fit. It prefers to acquire small, local technology teams that it can simply plug into its headquarters. "Two guys in a garage with nose rings and a dog trying to catch lightning in a bottle" is how banker Smith characterizes the bias. Case in point: Last year Google snapped up Keyhole, a digital mapping company based next door in Mountain View, for an undisclosed sum. Its team moved down the road and within six months, Keyhole was providing the satellite technology behind Google's celebrated mapping tool. Conversely, Google has passed on larger, out-of-town deals, in large part because of integration worries.
Google is creating a whole new ecosystem for entrepreneurs, says Baris Karadogan of U.S. Venture Partners, a high-tech VC firm in Silicon Valley. Karadogan says he's closely watching a group of entrepreneurs who are designing a highly specialized online advertising tool, hoping to sell it to Google for $50 million. "Before," he laments, "you needed a VC. Now you can build a Linux-based data system for $100,000 and survive long enough to sell without ever raising a venture round."
The suits inside Google don't fare much better than the outside pros. Several current and former insiders say there's a caste system, in which business types are second-class citizens to Google's valued code jockeys. They argue that it could prove to be a big challenge in the future as Google seeks to maintain its growth. They deem the corporate development team as underpowered in the company, with engineers and product managers tending to carry more clout than salesmen and dealmakers.
A banker who interviewed for a Google corporate development job came to a similar conclusion. "They just aren't very focused," says the prospective hire, who didn't get the job. "They're biased against businesspeople, and their deal strategy is pretty much, 'O.K., if we see something, then we'll look at it."' The candidate, a Wall Street tech M&A specialist who was looking for a change of scenery and a more relaxed lifestyle, calls the experience "chaotic, bureaucratic, and very rigid."
Surprisingly for a company of Google's size, clout, and business needs, it doesn't yet have a thriving in-house VC arm. And that's despite some glaring holes in its product lineup. "We're clearly not going to do everything right," concedes Drummond. "There are areas we miss that others will fill out." For starters, Google has a long way to go to match the breadth, depth, and richness of Yahoo's portal. Ditto a peer-to-peer marketplace along the lines of an eBay, as well as Microsoft-like software applications.
Despite the hurdles they face, don't expect any of the legions of investment bankers, VCs, or entrepreneurs to fold their tents and go home. The stakes are too big, and everyone wants in. To steal a note from the Google home page: Feeling lucky?"
Friday, October 28, 2005
The only sales guy on the planet who's taken a company from zero to $3 billion in revenue : Omid Kordestani
John Battelle's Searchblog: Titans Column: Omid Kordestani: "Google's Omid Kordestani conjured a formula that took its sales to $3 billion. Now he's rethinking the world of advertising again. By John Battelle...
What do you see as the future of advertising?
The measurability of online advertising will extend broadly to all areas of media. You have companies spending billions of dollars on television. As more and more consumers adopt technologies like TiVo, I think you'll be able to have much more useful forms of advertising -- more targeted, more measurable, and with new pricing models. Just imagine if we made it possible for our advertisers to quickly publish relevant ads that could range from the local plumber on one end to Super Bowl commercials on the other."
What do you see as the future of advertising?
The measurability of online advertising will extend broadly to all areas of media. You have companies spending billions of dollars on television. As more and more consumers adopt technologies like TiVo, I think you'll be able to have much more useful forms of advertising -- more targeted, more measurable, and with new pricing models. Just imagine if we made it possible for our advertisers to quickly publish relevant ads that could range from the local plumber on one end to Super Bowl commercials on the other."
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Google base - new way to submit content
Google Tests Potential Classifieds-Killer: "Google has confirmed it's testing a method of structured content submission called Google Base. The new service, unearthed by bloggers who took screenshots before the pages disappeared, could put Google into competition with classifieds providers as well as e-tailing giant eBay.
'We are testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google, which will complement existing methods such as Web crawl and the Google Sitemaps program,' Eileen Rodriguez, a Google spokesperson, wrote in an e-mail exchange....
The potential service has implications for every player that publishes structured data, such as classifieds, product listings, or travel information. Traditionally, specialized search engines like Oodle, Indeed.com, SimplyHired and SideStep have indexed such data. But all of these players have long expected, and perhaps feared, Google would enter the market.
For the original data publishers, such as online merchants, recruiters with job listings, or individuals trying to sell a used car, Google's effort could make it possible for them to sidestep paying to have their ad posted on a job board or on eBay. By asking users to submitting data in a specified format, Google could likely do a better job at returning appropriate results."
'We are testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google, which will complement existing methods such as Web crawl and the Google Sitemaps program,' Eileen Rodriguez, a Google spokesperson, wrote in an e-mail exchange....
The potential service has implications for every player that publishes structured data, such as classifieds, product listings, or travel information. Traditionally, specialized search engines like Oodle, Indeed.com, SimplyHired and SideStep have indexed such data. But all of these players have long expected, and perhaps feared, Google would enter the market.
For the original data publishers, such as online merchants, recruiters with job listings, or individuals trying to sell a used car, Google's effort could make it possible for them to sidestep paying to have their ad posted on a job board or on eBay. By asking users to submitting data in a specified format, Google could likely do a better job at returning appropriate results."
Monday, October 24, 2005
New AdWords Tool Suggests Keywords -
MediaPost Publications - New AdWords Tool Suggests Keywords - 10/24/2005: "GOOGLE HAS INTRODUCED A NEW tool that offers advertisers suggested keywords. Dubbed 'Keyword Tool,' it suggests terms related to those that have been supplied by the advertiser. Google also takes into account past performance in the AdWords system, price, and popularity. The product can also suggest keywords based on terms that appear on a page's URL. Another feature of Keyword Tool is that it estimates the position of an ad, average cost-per-click, and search volume on given keywords. "
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Google discloses details on how it collects and uses data
Update 1: Google Offers Glimpse at Data Collection - Forbes.com: "Google Inc. is now disclosing more details on how it collects and uses data obtained from users, but it is remaining silent on several key questions that concern privacy advocates...Danny Sullivan, editor of the industry newsletter Search Engine Watch, said that although Google can do more on disclosing how long it retains data, its rivals are also guilty of saying too little. "
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Google.org - Google Philanthropic Foundation endowed with $90 millionby Google Inc
Google Commits Funds to Philanthropic Arm - Forbes.com: "Google Inc. is financing its promise to make the world a better place with an initial commitment of nearly $1 billion to a philanthropic arm devoted to causes that mesh with the online search engine leader's crusade...
Brin and Page have since decided their company's ambition extended beyond the limitations of a traditional foundation, prompting them to pool all the company's philanthropy under Google.org.
"We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world's problems," Brin wrote...
the company is endowing the Google Foundation with $90 million and budgeting another $175 million to invest outside the foundation, said Sheryl Sandberg, Google's vice president of global online sales and operations. Google is investing outside the foundation because it plans to put some money into "socially progressive" companies striving to turn a profit...
Google is pegging its total philanthropic commitment to the value of 3 million company shares - slightly more than 1 percent of the stock outstanding at the time of its IPO 14 months ago...
The Google Foundation already has started to give away some of its money. Several million dollars will be donated to the Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture that also has received money from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Cisco Systems Foundation. The Google Foundation also is backing separate projects working to protect the water supply in rural Africa and to promote business startups in Ghana"
Brin and Page have since decided their company's ambition extended beyond the limitations of a traditional foundation, prompting them to pool all the company's philanthropy under Google.org.
"We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world's problems," Brin wrote...
the company is endowing the Google Foundation with $90 million and budgeting another $175 million to invest outside the foundation, said Sheryl Sandberg, Google's vice president of global online sales and operations. Google is investing outside the foundation because it plans to put some money into "socially progressive" companies striving to turn a profit...
Google is pegging its total philanthropic commitment to the value of 3 million company shares - slightly more than 1 percent of the stock outstanding at the time of its IPO 14 months ago...
The Google Foundation already has started to give away some of its money. Several million dollars will be donated to the Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture that also has received money from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Cisco Systems Foundation. The Google Foundation also is backing separate projects working to protect the water supply in rural Africa and to promote business startups in Ghana"
Monday, October 10, 2005
Google Feed Reader
Google Reader: "Reader makes it easier to keep up with your ever-expanding reading list of content from across the web."
Holizz versus the Web Blog Archive Google Reader lets: "you subscribe to a feed when youre already at a website and you cant be bothered to go to Reader and search for the feed?..It finds the author’s preferred feed and takes you to the preview page where you can subscribe. It only has one real bug; it takes you to a blank page with a cryptic message if there are no feeds listed on a Web page."
Holizz versus the Web Blog Archive Google Reader lets: "you subscribe to a feed when youre already at a website and you cant be bothered to go to Reader and search for the feed?..It finds the author’s preferred feed and takes you to the preview page where you can subscribe. It only has one real bug; it takes you to a blank page with a cryptic message if there are no feeds listed on a Web page."
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Google localises online maps search feature
CTV.ca | Google localizes online maps search feature: "Google Inc. is combining its popular online maps with its local search features, continuing a quest to increase its already rapidly rising advertising revenue.
...
The hybrid service blends addresses, phone numbers, maps, driving directions and other details, like user reviews and credit card information, on the same Web page. Google also offers a satellite-mapping option that provides an aerial view.
By combining maps with local search, Google is following its rival Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), which already provides a similar package, said industry analyst Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group."
Google Local: "Example searches:
Go to a location
kansas city
10 market st, san francisco
Find a business
hotels near lax
pizza
Get directions
jfk to 350 5th ave, new york
seattle to 98109"
...
The hybrid service blends addresses, phone numbers, maps, driving directions and other details, like user reviews and credit card information, on the same Web page. Google also offers a satellite-mapping option that provides an aerial view.
By combining maps with local search, Google is following its rival Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), which already provides a similar package, said industry analyst Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group."
Google Local: "Example searches:
Go to a location
kansas city
10 market st, san francisco
Find a business
hotels near lax
pizza
Get directions
jfk to 350 5th ave, new york
seattle to 98109"
The Google Sun Microsystems Deal
Google and Sun are going for open source development as a means to hinder Microsoft in various ways. Together they form a strong challenge to Microsoft. Google rich in cash has no need to charge for software. Open source software is cheaper to develop anyway because of support due for such systems from the wider tech community. Expect a lot more to come from this partnership soon.
More on the Google Sun Microsystems Deal: "Google is gunning for Microsoft, using the Java Sun Microsystems as its muscle, and Google's strategy goes far beyond pushing Microsoft around.
Under the terms of the deal, the Google Toolbar will be bundled into downloads of the Java Runtime Environment. Java will be used to power new software developed and released by Google, effectively endorsing Java and nailing Microsoft's .Net as an emerging development platform. "
More on the Google Sun Microsystems Deal: "Google is gunning for Microsoft, using the Java Sun Microsystems as its muscle, and Google's strategy goes far beyond pushing Microsoft around.
Under the terms of the deal, the Google Toolbar will be bundled into downloads of the Java Runtime Environment. Java will be used to power new software developed and released by Google, effectively endorsing Java and nailing Microsoft's .Net as an emerging development platform. "
Google ETA? 300 years to index the world's info | CNET News.com
Google still on mission to index all the information in the world and money to be made from offering free WiFi.....has to be advertising..
Google ETA? 300 years to index the world's info | CNET News.com: "It could take 300 years to index all the world's information and make it searchable, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt predicted on Saturday at the Association of National Advertisers annual conference in Phoenix.
Schmidt admitted to the audience of advertisers that when he first arrived at Google four years ago, he viewed ads from a skeptical consumer standpoint. Shown ads on Google, he thought "You've got to be kidding! People actually click on this stuff? And they do."
He said he quickly realized, though, that "ads actually do have value if you can figure out the right ones to show."
Technology and the interactivity it enables, such as the ability to measure an Internet ad's success rate by viewing how many people click on it, is shifting power in the advertising industry from executives at corporations to consumers, he said.
"The power is moving from us to the end user; it's occurring by the power of the personal computer, by the power of the cell phone," he said. "Thirty years ago we would make the decision (about ads). Now, that person, that individual makes that decision
During the question and answer session, audience members turned to social, ethical and legal topics. One question dealt with criticism Google and Yahoo have received for cooperating with Chinese government censorship efforts. "The technology is neutral. It can be applied for good or evil," he said. "Overwhelmingly, the message of technology is a positive one."
Previous Next Asked to explain why Google has submitted a proposal to provide the city of San Francisco with free wireless Internet service, Schmidt said the plan arose out of work several engineers did on a system that would allow companies to make money offering such a service. "It's an interesting experiment," he said. "If it scales and if it is successful, we think it's going to be very good for the world.""
Google ETA? 300 years to index the world's info | CNET News.com: "It could take 300 years to index all the world's information and make it searchable, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt predicted on Saturday at the Association of National Advertisers annual conference in Phoenix.
Schmidt admitted to the audience of advertisers that when he first arrived at Google four years ago, he viewed ads from a skeptical consumer standpoint. Shown ads on Google, he thought "You've got to be kidding! People actually click on this stuff? And they do."
He said he quickly realized, though, that "ads actually do have value if you can figure out the right ones to show."
Technology and the interactivity it enables, such as the ability to measure an Internet ad's success rate by viewing how many people click on it, is shifting power in the advertising industry from executives at corporations to consumers, he said.
"The power is moving from us to the end user; it's occurring by the power of the personal computer, by the power of the cell phone," he said. "Thirty years ago we would make the decision (about ads). Now, that person, that individual makes that decision
During the question and answer session, audience members turned to social, ethical and legal topics. One question dealt with criticism Google and Yahoo have received for cooperating with Chinese government censorship efforts. "The technology is neutral. It can be applied for good or evil," he said. "Overwhelmingly, the message of technology is a positive one."
Previous Next Asked to explain why Google has submitted a proposal to provide the city of San Francisco with free wireless Internet service, Schmidt said the plan arose out of work several engineers did on a system that would allow companies to make money offering such a service. "It's an interesting experiment," he said. "If it scales and if it is successful, we think it's going to be very good for the world.""
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Google & Sunin software distribution pact to challenge Microsoft
Sun, Google in software distribution pact - Yahoo! News: Seems Google will be partnering up with Sun to help promote Sun's OpenOffice and Java software systems. The partnership will intensify the battle between Google and Microsoft as OpenOffice is potentially a serious challenger to MS Office if given the proper backing and marketing.
"Working with Google will make our technologies available more broadly, increase options for users, lower barriers, and expand participation worldwide," Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun Microsystems said in a statement."
"Working with Google will make our technologies available more broadly, increase options for users, lower barriers, and expand participation worldwide," Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun Microsystems said in a statement."
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Easier AdSense payments
Google Adsense blog announces electronic funds transfer EFT is out of beta and the service will be available to all users. I like the sound of them putting in a small test deposit for you to keep!
Inside AdSense: "Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT for short) is officially out of beta. So what's changed? Our process for verifying bank account information has improved.
After you submit your bank account information, we will place a small test deposit into your bank account for you to keep. Once you see this test deposit credited to your account, just input the amount of the deposit into your AdSense account to help us verify your bank account information"
Inside AdSense: "Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT for short) is officially out of beta. So what's changed? Our process for verifying bank account information has improved.
After you submit your bank account information, we will place a small test deposit into your bank account for you to keep. Once you see this test deposit credited to your account, just input the amount of the deposit into your AdSense account to help us verify your bank account information"
Thursday, September 29, 2005
New GooglePatent Application: Variable personalization of search results in a search engine
United States Patent Application: 0050216434: "Variable personalization of search results in a search engine
Abstract
A search engine provides personalized rankings of search results. A user interest profile identifies topics of interest to a user. Each topic is associated with one or more sites, and a boost value, which can be used to augment an information retrieval score of any document from the site. Search results from any search are provided to the user, with a variable control of the ranking of the results. The results can be ranked by their unboosted information retrieval score, thus reflecting no personalization, or by their fully or partially boosted information retrieval scores. This allows the user to selectively control how their interests affect the ranking of the documents. "
Cre8: Variable personalization of search results - Google - Cre8asite forums bragadocchio writes: "This invention would enable a searcher to fill out a profile, perform a normal search, and then use a slider button to indicate how much his or her personal information from the profile should be used to modify (rerank) that search based upon the personalization information that they have entered into the profile, by sliding the button partially, or all the way to a full influence on the results. "
He highlights the following "interesting aspects of this invention is the discussion on how certain sites are determined to be related to the specific topics.
Quote:
[0045] where nih.gov, cdc.gov, and med.Stanford.edu are various sites that have been determined (either manually or automatically) to be related to the topic "Health". In other words, for each topic in the directory, there is a set of sites that have been determined to be relevant to the topic, and for each of these sites, a boost value is defined.
[0046] The boost for the sites listed in the topical directory is generally determined as follows:
[0047] a) A "site graph" is generated where nodes of the graph are sites (basically, pages on the same host) and edges between nodes are weighted based on the number of pages from one site that link to pages on another. This same type of graph can be used to compute all topic boost maps.
[0048] b) For each topic in the directory, say "Health", a number of sites are selected as "start sites" S0 whose home page is listed in the Open Directory. For example, for a university like Stanford, start sites may be selected as any site ending in .stanford.edu.
[0049] c) A computation is run in two passes:
[0050] i) first identify a set of sites S1 that are linked-to heavily by those sites in S0, with each site in S1 assigned a weight according to how heavily it's linked-to by sites in S0.
[0051] ii) then identify those sites S2 that are linked-to heavily by those sites in S1, weighted as with S1.
[0052] d) The sites in S2 are boosted with their assigned weights."
Abstract
A search engine provides personalized rankings of search results. A user interest profile identifies topics of interest to a user. Each topic is associated with one or more sites, and a boost value, which can be used to augment an information retrieval score of any document from the site. Search results from any search are provided to the user, with a variable control of the ranking of the results. The results can be ranked by their unboosted information retrieval score, thus reflecting no personalization, or by their fully or partially boosted information retrieval scores. This allows the user to selectively control how their interests affect the ranking of the documents. "
Cre8: Variable personalization of search results - Google - Cre8asite forums bragadocchio writes: "This invention would enable a searcher to fill out a profile, perform a normal search, and then use a slider button to indicate how much his or her personal information from the profile should be used to modify (rerank) that search based upon the personalization information that they have entered into the profile, by sliding the button partially, or all the way to a full influence on the results. "
He highlights the following "interesting aspects of this invention is the discussion on how certain sites are determined to be related to the specific topics.
Quote:
[0045] where nih.gov, cdc.gov, and med.Stanford.edu are various sites that have been determined (either manually or automatically) to be related to the topic "Health". In other words, for each topic in the directory, there is a set of sites that have been determined to be relevant to the topic, and for each of these sites, a boost value is defined.
[0046] The boost for the sites listed in the topical directory is generally determined as follows:
[0047] a) A "site graph" is generated where nodes of the graph are sites (basically, pages on the same host) and edges between nodes are weighted based on the number of pages from one site that link to pages on another. This same type of graph can be used to compute all topic boost maps.
[0048] b) For each topic in the directory, say "Health", a number of sites are selected as "start sites" S0 whose home page is listed in the Open Directory. For example, for a university like Stanford, start sites may be selected as any site ending in .stanford.edu.
[0049] c) A computation is run in two passes:
[0050] i) first identify a set of sites S1 that are linked-to heavily by those sites in S0, with each site in S1 assigned a weight according to how heavily it's linked-to by sites in S0.
[0051] ii) then identify those sites S2 that are linked-to heavily by those sites in S1, weighted as with S1.
[0052] d) The sites in S2 are boosted with their assigned weights."
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
What Google Blog Search means for your website search results
Why Google Blog Search Matters to Your Business: "According to Google, Google's Blog Search is 'Google search technology focused on blogs'. It includes search engine results specific to blogs not just in the Blogger.com community, but across the blogosphere at large....
Google...was already paying particular attention to blogs in regular search results, seems to make a subtle statement with the introduction of blog-specific searches.
Blogs are important enough to warrant their own special level of search, and not just as an advanced search option, but in their own search engine.
If search engines are paying attention to blogging that closely, you should be too -- if you want better search engine results. "
Blogs are easy to get listed in the SERPS..."
Google's Blog Search Help Page states:
"If your blog publishes a site feed in any format and automatically pings an updating service (such as Weblogs.com), we should be able to find and list it. Also, we will soon be providing a form that you can use to manually add your blog to our index, in case we haven't picked it up automatically. Stay tuned for more information on this."
So if you're already blogging - and responsibly pinging, you're probably already listed." If you are not already running a blog "get started blogging today. You'll be missing out on targeted traffic from the most dominant search engine, from the most sophisticated surfers today, and sooner than you know it, the mainstream web."
Google...was already paying particular attention to blogs in regular search results, seems to make a subtle statement with the introduction of blog-specific searches.
Blogs are important enough to warrant their own special level of search, and not just as an advanced search option, but in their own search engine.
If search engines are paying attention to blogging that closely, you should be too -- if you want better search engine results. "
Blogs are easy to get listed in the SERPS..."
Google's Blog Search Help Page states:
"If your blog publishes a site feed in any format and automatically pings an updating service (such as Weblogs.com), we should be able to find and list it. Also, we will soon be providing a form that you can use to manually add your blog to our index, in case we haven't picked it up automatically. Stay tuned for more information on this."
So if you're already blogging - and responsibly pinging, you're probably already listed." If you are not already running a blog "get started blogging today. You'll be missing out on targeted traffic from the most dominant search engine, from the most sophisticated surfers today, and sooner than you know it, the mainstream web."
Monday, September 26, 2005
Google Releases Firefox Toolbar
The long awaited google toolbar for firefox browser users has been released....MediaPost Publications - Google Releases Firefox Toolbar - 09/26/2005: "GOOGLE'S FIREFOX TOOLBAR APPLICATION, IN beta testing since early July, was officially released last week with a set of new Firefox-only functions. Among the new features are the ability to rearrange the toolbar interface and move around the search bar, and the incorporation of Google Suggest, which suggests queries based on what the user has already typed"
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO Remove result
Search Engine Journal: "Google Testing Remove Result and Spam Report Options
Matt Cutts confirms that Google is testing a new Remove Result features that lets users of Google personalized search exclude various sites from their search results. If Google Personalized Search users are sick of spam showing up in their results or irrelevant sites being listed, they can simply remove the pages.
From Cutts : One request we sometimes hear is for the ability to modify Google results, especially to block unwanted sites. A few eagle-eyed people may have noticed a user-interface experiment on Google that adds the ability to remove results. At that point, your options would normally be to 1) ignore that result, or 2) report the url to Google via our spam report form. If youre in this experiment, youll have newfound powers. Click the Remove result link and with one click you can drop that url from your search results."
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO UI fun: Remove result: "One request we sometimes hear is for the ability to modify Google results, especially to block unwanted sites. A few eagle-eyed people may have noticed a user-interface experiment on Google that adds the ability to remove results. Heres what youd see. Imagine that you did the search [lynx paw clipart], and you notice one particular result that looks spammy:
You check the cached page, and you notice that if you turn off Cascading Style Sheets, theres a bunch of spammy text:"
Matt Cutts confirms that Google is testing a new Remove Result features that lets users of Google personalized search exclude various sites from their search results. If Google Personalized Search users are sick of spam showing up in their results or irrelevant sites being listed, they can simply remove the pages.
From Cutts : One request we sometimes hear is for the ability to modify Google results, especially to block unwanted sites. A few eagle-eyed people may have noticed a user-interface experiment on Google that adds the ability to remove results. At that point, your options would normally be to 1) ignore that result, or 2) report the url to Google via our spam report form. If youre in this experiment, youll have newfound powers. Click the Remove result link and with one click you can drop that url from your search results."
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO UI fun: Remove result: "One request we sometimes hear is for the ability to modify Google results, especially to block unwanted sites. A few eagle-eyed people may have noticed a user-interface experiment on Google that adds the ability to remove results. Heres what youd see. Imagine that you did the search [lynx paw clipart], and you notice one particular result that looks spammy:
You check the cached page, and you notice that if you turn off Cascading Style Sheets, theres a bunch of spammy text:"
Friday, September 23, 2005
Google Putting Crowd Wisdom to Work
Slashdot: "daveperry writes 'The Google Blog has a post about their use of prediction markets to forecast certain events that are relevant to their business. From the article: 'Our search engine works well because it aggregates information dispersed across the web, and our internal predictive markets are based on the same principle: Googlers from across the company contribute knowledge and opinions which are aggregated into a forecast by the market. Sometimes, just feeling lucky isn't enough, and these tools can help.' In related news, some software was recently open sourced that enables people to set up their own prediction markets.'"
Official Google Blog: Putting crowd wisdom to work: "Building on the ideas of Friedrich Hayek and the Iowa Electronic Markets, a few Googlers (Doug Banks, Patri Friedman, Ilya Kirnos, Piaw Na and me, with some help from Hal Varian), set up a predictive market system inside the company.
The markets were designed to forecast product launch dates, new office openings, and many other things of strategic importance to Google. So far, more than a thousand Googlers have bid on 146 events in 43 different subject areas (no payment is required to play)."
Official Google Blog: Putting crowd wisdom to work: "Building on the ideas of Friedrich Hayek and the Iowa Electronic Markets, a few Googlers (Doug Banks, Patri Friedman, Ilya Kirnos, Piaw Na and me, with some help from Hal Varian), set up a predictive market system inside the company.
The markets were designed to forecast product launch dates, new office openings, and many other things of strategic importance to Google. So far, more than a thousand Googlers have bid on 146 events in 43 different subject areas (no payment is required to play)."
| Is AOL The Key to Microsoft 'Killing' Google?
Slashdot | Is AOL The Key to Microsoft 'Killing' Google?: "VK writes 'When Steve Ballmer yelled at a departing Microsoft employee that he would 'kill Google' we had no idea just how direct a method he had in mind. Buying all or part of AOL may be the first part of the master plan, as Google relies heavily on the advertising pages that come from Yahoo, since it now syndicates its search to Google.'"
Google dancing and it doesnt look good.
WebProWorld Forum...."There is a TON of movement taking place on these datacenters.
66.102.7.104
66.102.7.105
64.233.189.104
66.102.7.106
66.102.7.147
216.239.63.99
99 66.102.7.99
216.239.63.104
On one of my main keyphrases I have watched my site go to the #1 position in MSN (easy) and #2 and #5 in Yahoo. Today on these datacenters I was pushed from #16 to #70 give or take a few depending on the DC.
Not only was I pushed back, but about 25 scraper sites have moved into the top 40 results. These sites are nothing but reprinted articles and google adsense. Nothing unique. Nothing you cannot find on 100 other sites."
66.102.7.104
66.102.7.105
64.233.189.104
66.102.7.106
66.102.7.147
216.239.63.99
99 66.102.7.99
216.239.63.104
On one of my main keyphrases I have watched my site go to the #1 position in MSN (easy) and #2 and #5 in Yahoo. Today on these datacenters I was pushed from #16 to #70 give or take a few depending on the DC.
Not only was I pushed back, but about 25 scraper sites have moved into the top 40 results. These sites are nothing but reprinted articles and google adsense. Nothing unique. Nothing you cannot find on 100 other sites."
On Cutts Comments On Reinclusion Requests
Cutts Comments On Reinclusion Requests: "one drawback is probably the time factor involved in getting the relisting done. In some cases, it could take 6-8 weeks or it could take as little 2-3 weeks depending on the type of error and its severity.
Dan Thies over at SitePoint mentions in his blog, 'Unfortunately, he doesn't address the collateral damage caused by some of their more aggressive filtering practices, or the possibility that following Google's webmaster guidelines on redirects can do more harm than good.'
Thies did say his students were reporting better results for the reinclusion process as long as they followed Google's rules. This should bode well for worried businesses. As long as they play by the rules, then they are ok. "
Dan Thies over at SitePoint mentions in his blog, 'Unfortunately, he doesn't address the collateral damage caused by some of their more aggressive filtering practices, or the possibility that following Google's webmaster guidelines on redirects can do more harm than good.'
Thies did say his students were reporting better results for the reinclusion process as long as they followed Google's rules. This should bode well for worried businesses. As long as they play by the rules, then they are ok. "
The things Google makes you do
Net Sense Bambi Francisco writes : Google "has just begun testing advertisements on its image pages, a property that holds 1.1 billion images and drew 21 million unique visitors in July. Google images was also the place where 3% of all searches were conducted that month, according to comScore Networks.
The ads aren't turned on everywhere. But in some locations, like Manhattan, if a person types in 'Dell' under the images tab, they will see sponsored search listings at the top of the results page....
What does that add to revenue? A lot, I imagine. What does this say? Google's methodically following the script it laid out for Wall Street. That is: It aims to organize the information (text, pictures, clutter, and so on), attract traffic and sell that audience to marketers.
I can't say this logical prioritization of strategy and laserlike focus is being applied elsewhere."
The ads aren't turned on everywhere. But in some locations, like Manhattan, if a person types in 'Dell' under the images tab, they will see sponsored search listings at the top of the results page....
What does that add to revenue? A lot, I imagine. What does this say? Google's methodically following the script it laid out for Wall Street. That is: It aims to organize the information (text, pictures, clutter, and so on), attract traffic and sell that audience to marketers.
I can't say this logical prioritization of strategy and laserlike focus is being applied elsewhere."
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Google Secure Access: Frequently Asked Questions
bloggers are a-buzzing about a possible Google WiFi launch. The buzz was started by the following FAQ that appears at the subdomain wifi.google.com an
Google Secure Access: Frequently Asked Questions:
"What is Google Secure Access?
Google Secure Access is a downloadable client application that allows users to establish a more secure WiFi connection.
Why would I want to download and install Google Secure Access?
Google Secure Access allows you to establish a more secure connection while using Google WiFi. By using Google Secure Access, your internet traffic will be encrypted, preventing others from viewing the information you transmit. "
Google Secure Access: Frequently Asked Questions:
"What is Google Secure Access?
Google Secure Access is a downloadable client application that allows users to establish a more secure WiFi connection.
Why would I want to download and install Google Secure Access?
Google Secure Access allows you to establish a more secure connection while using Google WiFi. By using Google Secure Access, your internet traffic will be encrypted, preventing others from viewing the information you transmit. "
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO � Filing a reinclusion request
Google opens up means of communication for webmasters.....will Yahoo follow?
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO � Filing a reinclusion request: "Everybody wants to hear about SEO-ish stuff instead of gadgets. I’ll still subject you to pure geekery now and then, but let’s tackle how to do a reinclusion request.
First off, what’s a reinclusion request and why would you want to do one? If you’ve been experimenting with SEO, or you employ as SEO company that might be doing things outside Google’s guidelines, and your site has taken a precipitous drop recently, you may have a spam penalty. A reinclusion request asks Google to remove any potential spam penalty.
The first step is to take a long, hard look at your website. Is there hidden text, hidden links, or cloaking on your site, especially on the front page? Are there doorway pages that do a JavaScript or some other redirect to a different page? Were you trying to use some automated program to get links or scrape Google? Whatever you find that you think may have been against Google’s guidelines, correct or remove those pages.
Now where should you send a reinclusion request? This has changed in the last few months from an email address to a web form. The best location to go is http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py . Google: Help Center You can select “I’m a webmaster inquiring about my website” and then select “Why my site disappeared from the search results or dropped in ranking.” Click Continue, and on the page that shows up, make sure to type “Reinclusion Request” in the Subject: line of the resulting form. Upper- or lower-case doesn’t matter, but make sure you use the words “reinclusion request” in the subject line so it gets routed to the right place.
Now we come to the heart of things: what goes into a reinclusion request. Fundamentally, Google wants to know two things: 1) that any spam on the site is gone or fixed, and 2) that it’s not going to happen again. I’d recommend giving a short explanation of what happened from your perspective: what actions may have led to any penalties and any corrective action that you’ve taken to prevent any spam in the future. If you employed an SEO company, it indicates good faith if you tell us specifics about the SEO firm and what they did–it assists us in evaluating reinclusion requests. Note that SEO and mostly-affiliate sites may need to provide more evidence of good faith before a site will be reincluded; such sites should be quite familiar with Google’s quality guidelines.
Okay, so you found the hidden text that your webmaster put on your front page, you removed it, and you sent your reinclusion request off to Google. How long do you have to wait now? That depends on when Google reviews the request and on the type of spam penalty you have. In the days of monthly index updates it could take 6-8 weeks for a site to be reincluded after a site was approved, and the severest spam penalties can take that long to clear out after an approval. For less severe stuff like hidden text, it may only take 2-3 weeks, depending on when someone looks at the request and if the request is approved.
There’s an interesting thread started by stuntdubl here. I’d add the following things to that thread:
Don’t bother mentioning that you spend money on AdWords or you’re an AdSense publisher. The person who will look at your reinclusion request doesn’t care if you have a business relationship with Google.
Remember, we need to know
1) that the spam has been corrected or removed
2) that it isn’t going to happen again.
I would request reinclusion for one domain at a time. It looks bad if you had 20+ sites all thrown out at once, and you send a reinclusion request for 20 domains in one email. "
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO � Filing a reinclusion request: "Everybody wants to hear about SEO-ish stuff instead of gadgets. I’ll still subject you to pure geekery now and then, but let’s tackle how to do a reinclusion request.
First off, what’s a reinclusion request and why would you want to do one? If you’ve been experimenting with SEO, or you employ as SEO company that might be doing things outside Google’s guidelines, and your site has taken a precipitous drop recently, you may have a spam penalty. A reinclusion request asks Google to remove any potential spam penalty.
The first step is to take a long, hard look at your website. Is there hidden text, hidden links, or cloaking on your site, especially on the front page? Are there doorway pages that do a JavaScript or some other redirect to a different page? Were you trying to use some automated program to get links or scrape Google? Whatever you find that you think may have been against Google’s guidelines, correct or remove those pages.
Now where should you send a reinclusion request? This has changed in the last few months from an email address to a web form. The best location to go is http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py . Google: Help Center You can select “I’m a webmaster inquiring about my website” and then select “Why my site disappeared from the search results or dropped in ranking.” Click Continue, and on the page that shows up, make sure to type “Reinclusion Request” in the Subject: line of the resulting form. Upper- or lower-case doesn’t matter, but make sure you use the words “reinclusion request” in the subject line so it gets routed to the right place.
Now we come to the heart of things: what goes into a reinclusion request. Fundamentally, Google wants to know two things: 1) that any spam on the site is gone or fixed, and 2) that it’s not going to happen again. I’d recommend giving a short explanation of what happened from your perspective: what actions may have led to any penalties and any corrective action that you’ve taken to prevent any spam in the future. If you employed an SEO company, it indicates good faith if you tell us specifics about the SEO firm and what they did–it assists us in evaluating reinclusion requests. Note that SEO and mostly-affiliate sites may need to provide more evidence of good faith before a site will be reincluded; such sites should be quite familiar with Google’s quality guidelines.
Okay, so you found the hidden text that your webmaster put on your front page, you removed it, and you sent your reinclusion request off to Google. How long do you have to wait now? That depends on when Google reviews the request and on the type of spam penalty you have. In the days of monthly index updates it could take 6-8 weeks for a site to be reincluded after a site was approved, and the severest spam penalties can take that long to clear out after an approval. For less severe stuff like hidden text, it may only take 2-3 weeks, depending on when someone looks at the request and if the request is approved.
There’s an interesting thread started by stuntdubl here. I’d add the following things to that thread:
Don’t bother mentioning that you spend money on AdWords or you’re an AdSense publisher. The person who will look at your reinclusion request doesn’t care if you have a business relationship with Google.
Remember, we need to know
1) that the spam has been corrected or removed
2) that it isn’t going to happen again.
I would request reinclusion for one domain at a time. It looks bad if you had 20+ sites all thrown out at once, and you send a reinclusion request for 20 domains in one email. "
Monday, September 19, 2005
America Online May Switch to MSN For Web Search, Abandoning Google
America Online May Switch to MSN For Web Search, Abandoning Google - September 16, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper: "Microsoft is in talks with Time Warner about taking a stake in America Online, as part of a broader discussion about the two companies working together, according to people familiar with the matter.
The conversations have centered on whether AOL would switch to using Microsoft's search engine, these people say. AOL currently uses Google's search technology and was Google's single largest source of revenue last year."
The conversations have centered on whether AOL would switch to using Microsoft's search engine, these people say. AOL currently uses Google's search technology and was Google's single largest source of revenue last year."
Friday, September 16, 2005
Google Pilot New Webmaster Communications Initiative
Google Pilot New Webmaster Communications Initiative | Threadwatch.org: "This is real.
Google is trying out a pilot program to alert site owners when we're removing their site for violating our guidelines. JavaScript redirects are the first trial, but we've also sent a few emails about hidden text, I believe. This is not targeted to sites like buy-my-cheap-viagra-here.com, but more for sites that have good content, but may not be as savvy about what their SEO was doing or what that 'Make thousands of doorway pages for $39.95' software was doing. Personally, I think opening up a line of communication to let webmasters know when we're taking action is a really good thing--a site owner doesn't have to guess about what happened. But again, we're starting with a trial program.
I'll blog about it more soon.
Matt
By MattCutts"
Google is trying out a pilot program to alert site owners when we're removing their site for violating our guidelines. JavaScript redirects are the first trial, but we've also sent a few emails about hidden text, I believe. This is not targeted to sites like buy-my-cheap-viagra-here.com, but more for sites that have good content, but may not be as savvy about what their SEO was doing or what that 'Make thousands of doorway pages for $39.95' software was doing. Personally, I think opening up a line of communication to let webmasters know when we're taking action is a really good thing--a site owner doesn't have to guess about what happened. But again, we're starting with a trial program.
I'll blog about it more soon.
Matt
By MattCutts"
Vint Cerf talks Google
Vint Cerf talks Google: A lot has been made over the past week or so about Google's hiring of Vint Cerf, the man given much of the credit for making the Internet possible. Two recent interviews with Cerf shed some light on where he sees the Web going...
"Last week Google hired a net-god, Vinton Cerf, as its “chief Internet evangelist”. Google’s hiring of Cerf has set off a wide range of speculation among Internet watchers. Vint Cerf is not what many would consider a “normal” person and is no where near a “normal” employee. Cerf has been called the Father of the Internet and the most important person alive....In hiring Vint Cert, Google has acquired one of the most nimble IT minds on the planet. Even though he invented the basic routing protocols that allowed the commercial expansion of the Internet, he is still striving to understand exactly what it is he created. An evangelical urgency around the Internet’s development has always been associated with Cert whose career accomplishments include work with MCI and NASA. What makes him, quite literally, one in a billion, is the depth of knowledge and experience underpinning an articulate and reputably highly-personable scientist. Cert is an engineer, a lobbyist, and an industry pioneer. He is as significant as Thomas Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright, Tim Berners-Lee, and Bill Gates. His hiring is bound to spur Google and its competitors on to bigger and much more interesting things."
"Last week Google hired a net-god, Vinton Cerf, as its “chief Internet evangelist”. Google’s hiring of Cerf has set off a wide range of speculation among Internet watchers. Vint Cerf is not what many would consider a “normal” person and is no where near a “normal” employee. Cerf has been called the Father of the Internet and the most important person alive....In hiring Vint Cert, Google has acquired one of the most nimble IT minds on the planet. Even though he invented the basic routing protocols that allowed the commercial expansion of the Internet, he is still striving to understand exactly what it is he created. An evangelical urgency around the Internet’s development has always been associated with Cert whose career accomplishments include work with MCI and NASA. What makes him, quite literally, one in a billion, is the depth of knowledge and experience underpinning an articulate and reputably highly-personable scientist. Cert is an engineer, a lobbyist, and an industry pioneer. He is as significant as Thomas Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright, Tim Berners-Lee, and Bill Gates. His hiring is bound to spur Google and its competitors on to bigger and much more interesting things."
Secondary Google offering good for investors
Secondary Google offering good for investors | CNET News.com: "Buyers of the 14.18 million shares that Google sold in its secondary stock offering made money on their investment in the first day of trade after the sale.
Google priced the shares at $295 each on Wednesday night, and the company's shares closed Thursday at $303 a share, after reaching a high of $306.75 earlier in the session. "
Google priced the shares at $295 each on Wednesday night, and the company's shares closed Thursday at $303 a share, after reaching a high of $306.75 earlier in the session. "
Thursday, September 15, 2005
A-Z adsense tips for increasing revenue
Digital Inspiration: A-Z adsense tips for increasing revenue : "Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration has compiled a list of his favorite and most productive AdSense tips. A total of 26 tips are included. Besides warning that publishers should adhere strictly to AdSense policies, there are many others that you might have never considered but make a lot of sense."
New Study Shows SEO More Lucrative Than PPC
New Study Shows SEO More Lucrative Than PPC: "The study, published this morning by Search Engine Marketing Firm iProspect looks at the return on investment and tracking information provided by companies that outsource both their pay-per-click management and their organic search engine marketing.
'For those new to the search engine marketing space, it would seem logical to conclude that based upon the vast number of marketers participating in pay per click advertising that it would be a more lucrative channel than natural search engine optimization -- which is known to involve a lot more work. But, the numbers speak for themselves' said iProspect President, Robert Murray.
Findings from the study include:
35% of organizations that outsource their natural search engine optimization and also participate in pay per click advertising -- and can measure the ROI of each -- recognize a higher return from SEO
42% of search marketers who outsource BOTH the management of their SEO and the PPC campaigns, find that search engine optimization produces a higher ROI.
Unfortunately, the study also showed that 45% of marketers who participate in both natural search engine optimization and pay per click advertising cannot determine whether SEO or PPC provides a higher ROI. This tells me that while it's good news that search engine marketing is being embraced by the business world, we've still got a long ways to go when it comes to educating business owners on how to track the return on their search marketing investment. After all, how can you spend your money where it has the most impact if you don't know where it has the most impact? "
'For those new to the search engine marketing space, it would seem logical to conclude that based upon the vast number of marketers participating in pay per click advertising that it would be a more lucrative channel than natural search engine optimization -- which is known to involve a lot more work. But, the numbers speak for themselves' said iProspect President, Robert Murray.
Findings from the study include:
35% of organizations that outsource their natural search engine optimization and also participate in pay per click advertising -- and can measure the ROI of each -- recognize a higher return from SEO
42% of search marketers who outsource BOTH the management of their SEO and the PPC campaigns, find that search engine optimization produces a higher ROI.
Unfortunately, the study also showed that 45% of marketers who participate in both natural search engine optimization and pay per click advertising cannot determine whether SEO or PPC provides a higher ROI. This tells me that while it's good news that search engine marketing is being embraced by the business world, we've still got a long ways to go when it comes to educating business owners on how to track the return on their search marketing investment. After all, how can you spend your money where it has the most impact if you don't know where it has the most impact? "
Google 'click fraud' Suit Sent Back to State Court
Update 1: Google Suit Sent Back to State Court - Forbes.com: "A federal appeals court says a class-action lawsuit alleging 'click fraud' by Google Inc. and other Internet companies should be heard in state court rather than in a federal courtroom. "
Why You Should Care About Google's Blog Search Launch
Why You Should Care About Google's Blog Search Launch: "Blogs aren't just about keeping tabs on breaking news or what your old college buddies are up to. They are fast becoming the content management system of choice for many small businesses. The ability to quickly and easily get content online in a manner that can be picked up by potential customers via aggregators isn't something to be scoffed at. Creative use of blogs has been driving traffic and sales to web sites for quite some time.
The thing that Google's new offering changes is that it will force the other major search engines to also pay attention to blog specific search. As each of the engines works to improve blog search, they'll force each other to up the ante. Existing blog search engines like Technorati and DayPop will also need to rise to the challenge. At the same time, the increased availability of quality blog search will give readers more access to new sites and feeds."
Google Blog Search Debuts in Beta: "In addition to standard search operators like 'link:' and 'site:' Google Blog Search will support new operators like 'inblogtitle:' 'blogurl:' and 'inposttitle:.' Blog search will be available in 35 different languages, though by default, the index will search all content. Safe search is also an available option.
The niftiest feature of Google's new blog search is the ability to create a custom RSS or Atom feed based on search results. Users can opt to subscribe to either the top ten or top one hundred listings for a particular search query. Google will then provide a feed that can be added to a user's favorite aggregator...
if you are already running a blog, you may be looking at some nice new traffic. After all, in the blog search engine, your posts won't have to compete with all of the other sites indexed by Google. If you're not already blogging, you need to give some consideration to whether or not you should start one up.
Now, as with search engine optimization, you shouldn't do it just to do it, you need to make sure that you have a reason to do it. Think about your target audience and ask yourself if there's anything that you can write for them that will make sense to your business. If you're a home improvement company, consider starting a blog that aims to answer common questions that your customers ask you. If you're a car dealership, consider starting a blog that features test drive information and car reviews. As with anything else online, it just takes a little bit of creativity."
The thing that Google's new offering changes is that it will force the other major search engines to also pay attention to blog specific search. As each of the engines works to improve blog search, they'll force each other to up the ante. Existing blog search engines like Technorati and DayPop will also need to rise to the challenge. At the same time, the increased availability of quality blog search will give readers more access to new sites and feeds."
Google Blog Search Debuts in Beta: "In addition to standard search operators like 'link:' and 'site:' Google Blog Search will support new operators like 'inblogtitle:' 'blogurl:' and 'inposttitle:.' Blog search will be available in 35 different languages, though by default, the index will search all content. Safe search is also an available option.
The niftiest feature of Google's new blog search is the ability to create a custom RSS or Atom feed based on search results. Users can opt to subscribe to either the top ten or top one hundred listings for a particular search query. Google will then provide a feed that can be added to a user's favorite aggregator...
if you are already running a blog, you may be looking at some nice new traffic. After all, in the blog search engine, your posts won't have to compete with all of the other sites indexed by Google. If you're not already blogging, you need to give some consideration to whether or not you should start one up.
Now, as with search engine optimization, you shouldn't do it just to do it, you need to make sure that you have a reason to do it. Think about your target audience and ask yourself if there's anything that you can write for them that will make sense to your business. If you're a home improvement company, consider starting a blog that aims to answer common questions that your customers ask you. If you're a car dealership, consider starting a blog that features test drive information and car reviews. As with anything else online, it just takes a little bit of creativity."
Google round up
At Google, new tools and new hires | CNET News.com: "It's never a dull day at Google, as the young company furthers its ambitions in search and other endeavors. "
Google Offers Stock at $295 Per Share - Forbes.com
Update 1: Google Offers Stock at $295 Per Share - Forbes.com: "Google Inc. priced a follow-up stock offering of 14.16 million shares at $295 late Wednesday, offering investors a slight discount from the online search engine leader's recent market value...As it is, Google's market value stands at $89 billion, based on the 292.8 million shares expected to be outstanding after its latest offering. That makes it more valuable than older Internet companies such as Yahoo and eBay Inc., but still behind heavyweights such as Microsoft and Intel Corp."
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Google launches blog search |
Google launches blog search | CNET News.com: "Google has launched a blog search feature, as it seeks to go head-to-head with archrival Yahoo in the booming blog market.
Google's tool is designed to find listings beyond those published through its own Blogger service by searching blogs that publish feeds via RSS or Atom. The feeds are checked frequently for new content, Google said on its Web site."
Google's tool is designed to find listings beyond those published through its own Blogger service by searching blogs that publish feeds via RSS or Atom. The feeds are checked frequently for new content, Google said on its Web site."
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Google offers advice to sites on penalty.
Google offers advice to sites on penalty.: "I have just received an email from Google about one of my test sites telling me that it is being blacklisted for 30 days. "
Discussion to follow re authenticity of email
Discussion to follow re authenticity of email
Monday, September 12, 2005
Is Google Going Pay-Per-Call Route?
DMNews.com | News | Article: "With the recent introduction of Google Talk - the search engine's newest voice and instant messaging product - and talk of a plan to purchase large quantities of dark fiber,
some suspect that Google may be readying itself for an all-out venture into the newest online advertising trend, pay per call, writes 10e20's Chris Winfield.
When Google Talk debuted a few weeks ago minus a search box but with added, quality voice capabilities, some advertisers no doubt experienced a tinge of disappointment at not having the ability to push their products on this new platform. But things are looking up for advertisers who subscribe to the notion that while Google Talk is a slight disappointment, it is just a stepping stone in Google’s ultimate plan of using VoIP technology to enter and dominate the pay-per-call industry."
some suspect that Google may be readying itself for an all-out venture into the newest online advertising trend, pay per call, writes 10e20's Chris Winfield.
When Google Talk debuted a few weeks ago minus a search box but with added, quality voice capabilities, some advertisers no doubt experienced a tinge of disappointment at not having the ability to push their products on this new platform. But things are looking up for advertisers who subscribe to the notion that while Google Talk is a slight disappointment, it is just a stepping stone in Google’s ultimate plan of using VoIP technology to enter and dominate the pay-per-call industry."
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Google updates indexing service for webmasters
Netimperative - Google updates indexing service for webmasters Netimperative - Google updates indexing service for webmasters: "Google has launched ten new interface languages for its Sitemaps service, which lets webmasters to submit their web pages, including those designed specifically for mobile devices, for inclusion in Google's index.
Launched in the US earlier this year, the beta-test program has been extended to work in French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Traditional Chinese...
Webmasters can sign up for the program at http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps. They then generate and submit an XML formatted site list. This file can be created using the Sitemap Generator, a free open source tool that generates an XML sitemap for most websites.
Webmasters do not need a Google account to generate and submit sitemaps. However, if they do sign up they can log in to check the status of their sitemaps and view diagnostic information for their submissions.
Google said the program is intended to enhance, rather than replace, the crawl technology it currently uses to discover web content.
The firm added that using Google Sitemaps neither guarantees that a site will be included in the index nor will it have any effect on how sites are ranked on Google Search results pages."
Launched in the US earlier this year, the beta-test program has been extended to work in French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Traditional Chinese...
Webmasters can sign up for the program at http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps. They then generate and submit an XML formatted site list. This file can be created using the Sitemap Generator, a free open source tool that generates an XML sitemap for most websites.
Webmasters do not need a Google account to generate and submit sitemaps. However, if they do sign up they can log in to check the status of their sitemaps and view diagnostic information for their submissions.
Google said the program is intended to enhance, rather than replace, the crawl technology it currently uses to discover web content.
The firm added that using Google Sitemaps neither guarantees that a site will be included in the index nor will it have any effect on how sites are ranked on Google Search results pages."
Friday, September 09, 2005
Update 1: Internet Pioneer Vinton Cerf Joins Google - Forbes.com
Update 1: Internet Pioneer Vinton Cerf Joins Google - Forbes.com: "Google Inc. has hired Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf to float more ideas and develop new products, adding another weapon to the online search engine leader's rapidly growing arsenal of intellect.
Cerf's defection from MCI Inc., announced Thursday, represents the latest coup for Mountain View-based Google, which has been amassing more brainpower as its payroll nearly quadrupled to 4,200 workers during the past two years...
In an interview, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said few of the company's recent hires have been as significant as Cerf, widely regarded as one of the Internet's creators because of his seminal work developing the network's essential communications protocols, TCP/IP, at Stanford University in the 1970s.
"He is one of the most important people alive today," said Schmidt, who has been friends with Cerf for more than 20 years. "Vint has put his heart and soul into making the Internet happen. I know he is going to jump right in here and start shoveling out new ideas for Google."
When he starts work at Google on Oct. 3, Cerf's official title will be "chief Internet evangelist," but he is determined to be more than a figurehead or detached visionary...
Cerf expects to spend much of his time developing new applications as Google continues to supplement the search engine that is core to the 7-year-old company. In recent years, it has released free software to organize computer files, sort digital photos, generate maps and conduct Internet-based phone calls and text chats. It also launched a Web-based e-mail service called Gmail.
"What Google has really been doing is building an entirely new (computing) infrastructure and whenever you do that, it creates opportunities for new applications," Cerf said.
Cerf will be a graybeard in Google's youthful culture, which has been shaped by the company's 32-year-old founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But Cerf doesn't expect to have trouble fitting in, even though his penchant for wearing three-piece suits also figures to set him apart in Google's jeans-clad atmosphere.
"I'm 62 going on 12 anyway," Cerf said. "What's wonderful about (Google) is that as long as you bring ideas to the table, it doesn't matter what else is going on."
Although he will report to Google engineering chief Alan Eustace in Mountain View, Cerf won't be based in Silicon Valley. He will be working out of a Virginia office so he can stay close to his home."
Cerf's defection from MCI Inc., announced Thursday, represents the latest coup for Mountain View-based Google, which has been amassing more brainpower as its payroll nearly quadrupled to 4,200 workers during the past two years...
In an interview, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said few of the company's recent hires have been as significant as Cerf, widely regarded as one of the Internet's creators because of his seminal work developing the network's essential communications protocols, TCP/IP, at Stanford University in the 1970s.
"He is one of the most important people alive today," said Schmidt, who has been friends with Cerf for more than 20 years. "Vint has put his heart and soul into making the Internet happen. I know he is going to jump right in here and start shoveling out new ideas for Google."
When he starts work at Google on Oct. 3, Cerf's official title will be "chief Internet evangelist," but he is determined to be more than a figurehead or detached visionary...
Cerf expects to spend much of his time developing new applications as Google continues to supplement the search engine that is core to the 7-year-old company. In recent years, it has released free software to organize computer files, sort digital photos, generate maps and conduct Internet-based phone calls and text chats. It also launched a Web-based e-mail service called Gmail.
"What Google has really been doing is building an entirely new (computing) infrastructure and whenever you do that, it creates opportunities for new applications," Cerf said.
Cerf will be a graybeard in Google's youthful culture, which has been shaped by the company's 32-year-old founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But Cerf doesn't expect to have trouble fitting in, even though his penchant for wearing three-piece suits also figures to set him apart in Google's jeans-clad atmosphere.
"I'm 62 going on 12 anyway," Cerf said. "What's wonderful about (Google) is that as long as you bring ideas to the table, it doesn't matter what else is going on."
Although he will report to Google engineering chief Alan Eustace in Mountain View, Cerf won't be based in Silicon Valley. He will be working out of a Virginia office so he can stay close to his home."
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Google sees $4.1 billion net from stock offer
Google sees $4.1 billion net from stock offer | CNET News.com: "Google on Thursday said it expects $4.11 billion in net proceeds from its shelf offering of 14.16 million Class A shares.
The Internet search-engine giant said in a regulatory filing that the funds will go toward general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures, and acquisitions of complementary business, technologies or other assets. The company gave no details.
'We have no current agreements or commitments with respect to any material acquisitions,' the filing said."
The Internet search-engine giant said in a regulatory filing that the funds will go toward general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures, and acquisitions of complementary business, technologies or other assets. The company gave no details.
'We have no current agreements or commitments with respect to any material acquisitions,' the filing said."
Geico, Google settle lawsuit
Geico, Google settle lawsuit | CNET News.com: "Google and auto insurer GEICO have resolved a high-profile trademark infringement case filed by GEICO against Google over its online advertising practices, the auto insurer said Wednesday...
GEICO, the fourth largest U.S. auto insurer and a unit of investor Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, said its suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia "has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties."
The lawsuit, originally filed in May 2004, had sought to hold Google responsible for trademark infringement for displaying advertising paid for by rival insurers when computer users searched for the word "GEICO" on the Google system.
Terms of the settlement are confidential, Geico said. No further comment on the settlement will be provided, it said. A Google spokesman was not immediately available to comment. "
GEICO, the fourth largest U.S. auto insurer and a unit of investor Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, said its suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia "has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties."
The lawsuit, originally filed in May 2004, had sought to hold Google responsible for trademark infringement for displaying advertising paid for by rival insurers when computer users searched for the word "GEICO" on the Google system.
Terms of the settlement are confidential, Geico said. No further comment on the settlement will be provided, it said. A Google spokesman was not immediately available to comment. "
Adsense Chat - Adsense Additions Create Opportunities
Adsense Chat - Adsense Additions Create Opportunities: "One of the great things about Adsense is that it changes all the time. Google is always introducing new tools and tinkering with its policies. That’s why it doesn’t matter how well you’ve set up your traffic sources or how impressive your CTR is right now, you always have to check the Adsense site and stay up to date with what’s happening.
Fail to stay on the ball and you could find that your top technique could suddenly get you banned or that you’re missing out on an opportunity to massively boost your revenues...
In fact, at the end of August, Google announced some more changes to its policies. (I say “announced,” but if you weren’t regularly checking the Adsense policies page or following Adsense news, you wouldn’t have known a thing about it.)
The first change is that you can now put ad units on your error, login, registration, thank you and welcome pages. That’s a huge difference...
The second change is even bigger. Google have now introduced a Top Queries tool that lets you see the most popular 25 keywords that people enter into your Adsense search box."
Fail to stay on the ball and you could find that your top technique could suddenly get you banned or that you’re missing out on an opportunity to massively boost your revenues...
In fact, at the end of August, Google announced some more changes to its policies. (I say “announced,” but if you weren’t regularly checking the Adsense policies page or following Adsense news, you wouldn’t have known a thing about it.)
The first change is that you can now put ad units on your error, login, registration, thank you and welcome pages. That’s a huge difference...
The second change is even bigger. Google have now introduced a Top Queries tool that lets you see the most popular 25 keywords that people enter into your Adsense search box."
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Job Posting Foreshadows Google Wallet -
MediaPost Publications - Job Posting Foreshadows Google Wallet - 09/07/2005: "AN ONLINE JOB AD FOR a position at Google as a 'fraud operations director, merchant payment solution,' has fueled renewed speculation about whether the company intends to soon introduce a new electronic payment system, rumored to be called 'Google Wallet.' "
Google May Yell For British Company
Google May Yell For British Company: "Chapter 327 of "What's Google Going To Do With The Money" says British yellow page company The Yell Group will be the next Google acquisition. A Dow Jones report on the rumors over Google purchasing UK-Based Yell Group sees the potential bid as "plausible." The report quotes Numis Securities on that assessment: "Google is a company with a market capitalization bigger than General Motors and they may well want to use some of that firepower to diversify into new areas. A natural one would be directories."
"
"
Monday, September 05, 2005
Microsoft, Google Trade Salvos Over Exec
Microsoft, Google Trade Salvos Over Exec - Forbes.com: "Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to 'kill' Internet search leader Google Inc. in an obscenity-laced tirade, and Google chased a prized Microsoft executive 'like wolves,' according to documents filed Friday in an increasingly bitter legal battle between the rivals...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Associated Press
Microsoft, Google Trade Salvos Over Exec
09.02.2005, 06:36 PM
Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Internet search leader Google Inc. in an obscenity-laced tirade, and Google chased a prized Microsoft executive "like wolves," according to documents filed Friday in an increasingly bitter legal battle between the rivals.
The allegations, filed in a Washington state court, represent the latest salvos in a showdown triggered by Google's July hiring of former Microsoft executive Kai Fu-Lee to oversee a research and development center that Google plans to open in China. Lee started at Google the day after he resigned from Microsoft.
The tug-of-war over Lee - known for his work on computer recognition of language - has exposed the behind-the-scenes animosity that has been brewing between two of high-tech's best-known companies.
Ballmer's threat last November was recounted in a sworn declaration by a former Microsoft engineer, Mark Lucovsky, who said he met with Microsoft's chief executive 10 months ago to discuss his decision to leave the company after six years.
After learning Lucovsky was leaving to take a job at Google, Ballmer picked up his chair and hurled it across his office, according to the declaration.
Ballmer then pejoratively berated Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Lucovsky recalled.
"I'm going to f------ bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again," the declaration quotes Ballmer. "I'm going to f------ kill Google."
Before joining Google, Schmidt was a top executive at Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell Inc., a pair of tech companies that Microsoft has previously battled...
Before resigning from Microsoft, Lee began to help Google plot its China strategy with a series of suggestions, including recommending possible sites for the new office, according to Microsoft's brief.
Microsoft alleged Lee's insights helped him win a Google contract worth more than $10 million - a package that Google itself described as "unprecedented" for the company.
Google paid Lee a $2.5 million signing bonus and promised a $1.5 million bonus after one year, plus a $250,000 salary and options on 10,000 shares of Google stock, according to court documents. If he stays for four years, Lee also will receive another 20,000 Google shares, currently worth $5.8 million.
Lee also demanded that Google pay all his legal fees if Microsoft sued, a request that was granted."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail | Comments | E-Mail Newsletters | RSS
Associated Press
Microsoft, Google Trade Salvos Over Exec
09.02.2005, 06:36 PM
Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Internet search leader Google Inc. in an obscenity-laced tirade, and Google chased a prized Microsoft executive "like wolves," according to documents filed Friday in an increasingly bitter legal battle between the rivals.
The allegations, filed in a Washington state court, represent the latest salvos in a showdown triggered by Google's July hiring of former Microsoft executive Kai Fu-Lee to oversee a research and development center that Google plans to open in China. Lee started at Google the day after he resigned from Microsoft.
The tug-of-war over Lee - known for his work on computer recognition of language - has exposed the behind-the-scenes animosity that has been brewing between two of high-tech's best-known companies.
Ballmer's threat last November was recounted in a sworn declaration by a former Microsoft engineer, Mark Lucovsky, who said he met with Microsoft's chief executive 10 months ago to discuss his decision to leave the company after six years.
After learning Lucovsky was leaving to take a job at Google, Ballmer picked up his chair and hurled it across his office, according to the declaration.
Ballmer then pejoratively berated Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Lucovsky recalled.
"I'm going to f------ bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again," the declaration quotes Ballmer. "I'm going to f------ kill Google."
Before joining Google, Schmidt was a top executive at Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell Inc., a pair of tech companies that Microsoft has previously battled...
Before resigning from Microsoft, Lee began to help Google plot its China strategy with a series of suggestions, including recommending possible sites for the new office, according to Microsoft's brief.
Microsoft alleged Lee's insights helped him win a Google contract worth more than $10 million - a package that Google itself described as "unprecedented" for the company.
Google paid Lee a $2.5 million signing bonus and promised a $1.5 million bonus after one year, plus a $250,000 salary and options on 10,000 shares of Google stock, according to court documents. If he stays for four years, Lee also will receive another 20,000 Google shares, currently worth $5.8 million.
Lee also demanded that Google pay all his legal fees if Microsoft sued, a request that was granted."
Google Announces Plan To Destroy All Information It Can't Index
The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "Executives at Google, the rapidly growing online-search company that promises to 'organize the world's information,' announced Monday the latest step in their expansion effort: a far-reaching plan to destroy all the information it is unable to index. " (joke...)
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Matt Cutts: Text links and PageRank... a warning....
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO Text links and PageRank "let me talk about why we consider it outside our guidelines to get PageRank via buying links.
Google (and pretty much every other major search engine) uses hyperlinks to help determine reputation. Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and link-based analysis has greatly improved the quality of web search. Selling links muddies the quality of link-based reputation and makes it harder for many search engines (not just Google) to return relevant results. When the Berkeley college newspaper has six online gambling links (three casinos, two for poker, and one bingo) on its front page, it’s harder for search engines to know which links can be trusted...
what is Google’s current approach to link buying? Of course our link-weighting algorithms are the first line of defense, but it’s difficult to catch every problem case in adversarial information retrieval, so we also look for problems and leaks in different semi-automatic ways. Reputable sites that sell links won’t have their search engine rankings or PageRank penalized–a search for [daily cal] would still return dailycal.org. However, link-selling sites can lose their ability to give reputation (e.g. PageRank and anchortext).
What if a site wants to buy links purely for visitor click traffic, to build buzz, or to support another site? In that situation, I would use the rel=”nofollow” attribute. The nofollow tag allows a site to add a link that abstains from being an editorial vote. Using nofollow is a safe way to buy links, because it’s a machine-readable way to specify that a link doesn’t have to be counted as a vote by a search engine."
So, not OK to sell to pass reputation, OK to sell for traffic....
Google (and pretty much every other major search engine) uses hyperlinks to help determine reputation. Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and link-based analysis has greatly improved the quality of web search. Selling links muddies the quality of link-based reputation and makes it harder for many search engines (not just Google) to return relevant results. When the Berkeley college newspaper has six online gambling links (three casinos, two for poker, and one bingo) on its front page, it’s harder for search engines to know which links can be trusted...
what is Google’s current approach to link buying? Of course our link-weighting algorithms are the first line of defense, but it’s difficult to catch every problem case in adversarial information retrieval, so we also look for problems and leaks in different semi-automatic ways. Reputable sites that sell links won’t have their search engine rankings or PageRank penalized–a search for [daily cal] would still return dailycal.org. However, link-selling sites can lose their ability to give reputation (e.g. PageRank and anchortext).
What if a site wants to buy links purely for visitor click traffic, to build buzz, or to support another site? In that situation, I would use the rel=”nofollow” attribute. The nofollow tag allows a site to add a link that abstains from being an editorial vote. Using nofollow is a safe way to buy links, because it’s a machine-readable way to specify that a link doesn’t have to be counted as a vote by a search engine."
So, not OK to sell to pass reputation, OK to sell for traffic....
Friday, September 02, 2005
Google launches cinema tool -
Google launches cinema tool - Web User News Give users what they want then monetise school of thought as opposed to all we get is bloody poor traffic searching for cinemas...
: "Google users can find UK cinema showtimes using a new feature available on the web and mobile phones.
By adding the words 'showtime' or 'films' to a search query, the new Google Films facility will display cinema times at the top of the results. Eg Madagascar showtimes SE1 9LS, displays show times at cinemas near SE1 9LS.
An SMS version is also available, which will text you the showtimes at local cinemas of a film you're interested in. Text the film title and postcode to 64664 and Google will text back the reply. Normal network text rates apply.
Google Films is the latest feature that extends the search engine to the mobile phone, with similar text query services available from Google for driving directions, product prices and more.
Searchers will also get links to film reviews and an overall star rating generated from the concensus of critics around the web. You can also search for films by actor, director and even plot, eg film: tom hanks talks to volleyball, produces results for Castaway. "
: "Google users can find UK cinema showtimes using a new feature available on the web and mobile phones.
By adding the words 'showtime' or 'films' to a search query, the new Google Films facility will display cinema times at the top of the results. Eg Madagascar showtimes SE1 9LS, displays show times at cinemas near SE1 9LS.
An SMS version is also available, which will text you the showtimes at local cinemas of a film you're interested in. Text the film title and postcode to 64664 and Google will text back the reply. Normal network text rates apply.
Google Films is the latest feature that extends the search engine to the mobile phone, with similar text query services available from Google for driving directions, product prices and more.
Searchers will also get links to film reviews and an overall star rating generated from the concensus of critics around the web. You can also search for films by actor, director and even plot, eg film: tom hanks talks to volleyball, produces results for Castaway. "
Thursday, September 01, 2005
View topic - Webmasters Behaving Badly :: WebProWorld
View topic - Webmasters Behaving Badly :: WebProWorld: "From what i have seen adsense and adwords tend to bring out the worst in webmasters.
E.g. clicking on adwords ads paid for by competitors, clicking on your own adsense ads and as recently discussed, using the company names of your competitors in your adwords ads, using their good name to lure people to your site.
Why does adsense in particular have this effect on people? Is it all to do with the money? Or do people like the challenge of cheating google?
What further measures can be taken to combat webmasters behaving badly"
E.g. clicking on adwords ads paid for by competitors, clicking on your own adsense ads and as recently discussed, using the company names of your competitors in your adwords ads, using their good name to lure people to your site.
Why does adsense in particular have this effect on people? Is it all to do with the money? Or do people like the challenge of cheating google?
What further measures can be taken to combat webmasters behaving badly"
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Search Guys Really Don't Talk to the Ad Guys, Do They?
Traffick - Internet Search Enlightenment: "Geez, the Search Guys Really Don't Talk to the Ad Guys, Do They?
Anyone in the SEO game is by now reading Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO blog, and well they should. The 'real insider Googleplex scoop' is so often what emanates from Matt - and for those of us who don't get to 'that part' of the conferences, it's really illuminating reading.
I did scratch my head at Matt's helpful post about how to write queries. 'At Google,' he writes, 'we use [ and ] to mark the beginning and end of queries.'
Those of us over here in paid search world, of course, think [ and ] refer to an exact match in the AdWords interface."
Anyone in the SEO game is by now reading Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO blog, and well they should. The 'real insider Googleplex scoop' is so often what emanates from Matt - and for those of us who don't get to 'that part' of the conferences, it's really illuminating reading.
I did scratch my head at Matt's helpful post about how to write queries. 'At Google,' he writes, 'we use [ and ] to mark the beginning and end of queries.'
Those of us over here in paid search world, of course, think [ and ] refer to an exact match in the AdWords interface."
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Google Techs, Entrepreneurs Match Wits
E-Commerce News: Portals & Search: "Efforts to outsmart Google gall some webmasters such as Shari Thurow, who believes the best way to increase a site's search engine ranking is to offer valuable content and products. She describes the Black Hats as 'pathetic algoholics' because they are so obsessed with trying to figure out Google's algorithms.
Google knows it can't entirely avoid Black Hats.
"There are people who make their entire living off of Google, which is fine, as long as they don't push things too far," said Peter Norvig, Google's director of search quality.
But he said webmasters searching for secrets are better off looking elsewhere.
"Everything you ever wanted to know about Google is right there on the [online] forums that the webmasters run," Norvig said. "There is a lot of truth in there, but there's also a lot of crazy stuff. We just don't tell them which is which." "
Google knows it can't entirely avoid Black Hats.
"There are people who make their entire living off of Google, which is fine, as long as they don't push things too far," said Peter Norvig, Google's director of search quality.
But he said webmasters searching for secrets are better off looking elsewhere.
"Everything you ever wanted to know about Google is right there on the [online] forums that the webmasters run," Norvig said. "There is a lot of truth in there, but there's also a lot of crazy stuff. We just don't tell them which is which." "
Google Loosing Ground in China
Google Loosing Ground in China - Forbes.com: "A survey by a Chinese Internet research group has found that Google is losing market share to its biggest Chinese rival, Web search engine Baidu.com. "
Monday, August 29, 2005
Google Seeks to Develop Parallel Internet?
Slashdot | Google Seeks to Develop Parallel Internet?: "Google appears to be purchasing dark (unused) fiber optic cable across the United States with the intention of building its own alternative parallel internet that would presumably be called GoogleNet. Possessing such a thing could allow Google to offer internet access in the form of free wifi or other means and create a powerful captive marketing audience which Google could monopolize. Outside of these marketing opportunities, such a development in infrastructure could help reduce Google's long-term content delivery costs were it to take on more bandwidth-intensive activities in the future.' "
Google Groups : SEM 2.0
Google Groups : SEM 2.0: "RE sadness over Google messing with organic search: I'm reminded of the comment by a dot-com exec to a journalist, circa 1999, when asked if he was going to 'sell out' to a megacompany: ''Sell out?' This is a business, not a rock band! Of course I'm going to sell out!'
Google's IPO was their way of saying that it's a business, not a rock band. Nothing in business is sacrosanct, and I expect the public will catch on before too long. "
Google's IPO was their way of saying that it's a business, not a rock band. Nothing in business is sacrosanct, and I expect the public will catch on before too long. "
New Google Search Engine Results to Include Additional Site Links?
New Google Search Engine Results to Include Additional Site Links?: "The Google search engine results pages have remained relatively constant from a 'look and feel' perspective for some time. That is: title tag of the resultant site is listed first - hyperlinked to the entry - then a portion of the page or body text with the search term(s) bolded in the text - then the proper URL of the entry - followed by the file size and date.
.....
I searched under the phrase 'Top 10 Web Hosting'. It was then that I saw something that I had never before seen in a Google search engine result. In addition to the 'standard' search engine result as described above, there were 2 additonal lines of hyperlinked text...the first additional line contained four additional anchor text links (Partner5 - Web Designers - ASP Web Hosting - Partner2). Each link was directing to a separate page. Now instead of the 'standard' single URL/single link listing, I was looking at a single listing that was linking out to 5 separate pages. The last line of the search result (More results) linked to to the following Google search: 'site:www.top10webhosting.com top 10 web hosting'. This search shows the entirety of Google indexed pages for the site....
According to my search engine expert sources, this is typical of a 'test' that Google conducts from time to time. It may or may not indicate that the changes will become permanent. However, it is often the case that proposed changes will appear in this 'test' mode prior to a system-wide rollout.
It appears that the links in the first additional line are being scraped/spidered from the original listing page. I surmise this as the title tags of the linked pages are slightly different in syntax than the anchor text of the SERP links. However, the anchor text and links from the original result page (standard listing page) are identical to the anchor text and links in the additional line.
Will Google be creating multiple links per result across all listings soon? What would the listing for a site that has dozens of subcategories and sub pages (like eBay) look like under this paradigm? Will webmasters scramble to groom their internal links from their homepages - adding new anchor text and links? No one knows for sure, but it is interesting to see this type of test appearing at this time"
.....
I searched under the phrase 'Top 10 Web Hosting'. It was then that I saw something that I had never before seen in a Google search engine result. In addition to the 'standard' search engine result as described above, there were 2 additonal lines of hyperlinked text...the first additional line contained four additional anchor text links (Partner5 - Web Designers - ASP Web Hosting - Partner2). Each link was directing to a separate page. Now instead of the 'standard' single URL/single link listing, I was looking at a single listing that was linking out to 5 separate pages. The last line of the search result (More results) linked to to the following Google search: 'site:www.top10webhosting.com top 10 web hosting'. This search shows the entirety of Google indexed pages for the site....
According to my search engine expert sources, this is typical of a 'test' that Google conducts from time to time. It may or may not indicate that the changes will become permanent. However, it is often the case that proposed changes will appear in this 'test' mode prior to a system-wide rollout.
It appears that the links in the first additional line are being scraped/spidered from the original listing page. I surmise this as the title tags of the linked pages are slightly different in syntax than the anchor text of the SERP links. However, the anchor text and links from the original result page (standard listing page) are identical to the anchor text and links in the additional line.
Will Google be creating multiple links per result across all listings soon? What would the listing for a site that has dozens of subcategories and sub pages (like eBay) look like under this paradigm? Will webmasters scramble to groom their internal links from their homepages - adding new anchor text and links? No one knows for sure, but it is interesting to see this type of test appearing at this time"
Friday, August 26, 2005
Google aims for Web developers' hearts and minds
Google aims for Web developers' hearts and minds | CNET News.com: "Google aims for Web developers' hearts and minds"
MediaPost Publications - When Is Arrogance Good? - 08/26/2005: "When Is Arrogance Good? by Mark Naples
Remember when Google's Search Engine didn't accept advertising? Many of us were using it for some time before there were such things as paid search, let alone sponsored links. Why did we use it? Because it was a better search engine which delivered better results in a simple, elegant interface. Google built a tremendous brand well before they monetized it. Of course, this was done by design.
In some ways, what Google did was to leverage Geoffrey Moore's "Early Adopter" strategy, designed primarily for B2B markets and make it work in the consumer market. Surely you recall having read his "Crossing the Chasm"? Build the brand and make its applications as user-friendly as possible, well before undertaking any monetization strategies. What they did was nothing short of well-executed genius applied in ways well beyond what any early adopter acolyte could have anticipated. Of course, others got there first. But, that's another column.
Think of how Google has been replicating that endeavor in the past 18 months, but toward a different product. With Gmail, Google Sidebar (which used to be called Google Desktop Search), and now their own Instant Messenger beta, Google has been providing free and useful applications that will put Google code on millions of users' hard drives.
Not only are they expanding their brand, they're expanding their footprint in ways that are meaningful to users' hearts..."
MediaPost Publications - When Is Arrogance Good? - 08/26/2005: "When Is Arrogance Good? by Mark Naples
Remember when Google's Search Engine didn't accept advertising? Many of us were using it for some time before there were such things as paid search, let alone sponsored links. Why did we use it? Because it was a better search engine which delivered better results in a simple, elegant interface. Google built a tremendous brand well before they monetized it. Of course, this was done by design.
In some ways, what Google did was to leverage Geoffrey Moore's "Early Adopter" strategy, designed primarily for B2B markets and make it work in the consumer market. Surely you recall having read his "Crossing the Chasm"? Build the brand and make its applications as user-friendly as possible, well before undertaking any monetization strategies. What they did was nothing short of well-executed genius applied in ways well beyond what any early adopter acolyte could have anticipated. Of course, others got there first. But, that's another column.
Think of how Google has been replicating that endeavor in the past 18 months, but toward a different product. With Gmail, Google Sidebar (which used to be called Google Desktop Search), and now their own Instant Messenger beta, Google has been providing free and useful applications that will put Google code on millions of users' hard drives.
Not only are they expanding their brand, they're expanding their footprint in ways that are meaningful to users' hearts..."
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Google IM (almost) gets the message, users say | CNET News.com
Google IM (almost) gets the message, users say | CNET News.com: "Across the Web, many consumers hailed the software's quick download time, which takes a few seconds over broadband and about three minutes over a typical modem, according to the Google Talk Web site. They also applauded its minimalism. "
Inside AdSense - Google AdSense team blog
Inside AdSense: "Which is why we're proud to announce the launch of Inside AdSense here at adsense.blogspot.com. We think you'll find it useful and fun. We'll cover all of the items listed above, plus anything else that can help you to grow your AdSense revenue.
You can look forward to posts around 2-3 times a week from an assortment of Googlers involved in the operation of AdSense engineers, product managers, product marketing managers, and operations staff. We hope you'll visit often.
If you have suggestions for our blog, please send them to inside-adsense@google.com.
Posted by Gokul - AdSense Product Manager 8/24/2005 04:39:00 PM "our system now supports cost-per-impression (CPM) bidding. This lets advertisers try out their best ideas while we make sure that that the right economic incentives are in place.
Regardless of bidding method and format, all ads compete for placement on a page - and that means the winning ad meets a high bar for user value . Since site-targeted CPM ads and keyword-targeted CPC ads compete for every slot on a publisher's site, this improves how you make money.
For many publishers, site targeting actually serves as a sales team. When advertisers want to buy space on your site, tell them, "Just bid directly on our site using Google AdWords site targeting!" And the ads placed by our system will run alongside ads targeted directly by marketers"
You can look forward to posts around 2-3 times a week from an assortment of Googlers involved in the operation of AdSense engineers, product managers, product marketing managers, and operations staff. We hope you'll visit often.
If you have suggestions for our blog, please send them to inside-adsense@google.com.
Posted by Gokul - AdSense Product Manager 8/24/2005 04:39:00 PM "our system now supports cost-per-impression (CPM) bidding. This lets advertisers try out their best ideas while we make sure that that the right economic incentives are in place.
Regardless of bidding method and format, all ads compete for placement on a page - and that means the winning ad meets a high bar for user value . Since site-targeted CPM ads and keyword-targeted CPC ads compete for every slot on a publisher's site, this improves how you make money.
For many publishers, site targeting actually serves as a sales team. When advertisers want to buy space on your site, tell them, "Just bid directly on our site using Google AdWords site targeting!" And the ads placed by our system will run alongside ads targeted directly by marketers"
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Google Rumors: To Launch Instant Messaging Tomorrow
Google Rumored To Launch Instant Messaging Tomorrow: "Google Rumored To Launch Instant Messaging Tomorrow
Google to Deliver Instant Messages from the Los Angeles Times has unnamed sources telling the paper that Google will launched an instant messaging service called Google Talk as early as tomorrow. Aside from IM, the tool would also offer voice chat similar to what Yahoo Messenger currently offers."
Google to Deliver Instant Messages from the Los Angeles Times has unnamed sources telling the paper that Google will launched an instant messaging service called Google Talk as early as tomorrow. Aside from IM, the tool would also offer voice chat similar to what Yahoo Messenger currently offers."
Google changes irk advertisers, please publishers | CNET News.com
Google changes irk advertisers, please publishers | CNET News.com: "Publishers who have seen a bump in revenue through Google's advertising program are heaping praise on recent changes, while some advertisers complain of increased costs.
Google last Tuesday changed the way advertisers using its AdWords program bid on keywords, creating a minimum bid for each one based on a quality score it determines for the keyword. Google's policy statement says the change allows advertisers to resurrect keywords that previously had been disabled because of low click-through performance. "
Google last Tuesday changed the way advertisers using its AdWords program bid on keywords, creating a minimum bid for each one based on a quality score it determines for the keyword. Google's policy statement says the change allows advertisers to resurrect keywords that previously had been disabled because of low click-through performance. "
Somebody loves googleFriday, August 19, 2005
Google Tests New Results Pages
MediaPost Publications: "Google Tests New Results Pages"
"SEARCH GIANT GOOGLE IS TESTING a new way of returning natural search results, a source at the company confirmed Thursday. The new method involves inserting another set of results that are related to the user's queries within the natural listings. For example, a search for 'us' might return results related to the United States, and the abbreviation 'U.S.' at the top of the natural results, but then insert results relating to the keywords 'US Weekly' on the bottom of the organic results page. A Google source called the pages an 'experiment,' only being served to a select group of users on a test basis. The source added that the additional set of results for related terms are not sponsored by advertisers. -- Shankar Gupta"
"SEARCH GIANT GOOGLE IS TESTING a new way of returning natural search results, a source at the company confirmed Thursday. The new method involves inserting another set of results that are related to the user's queries within the natural listings. For example, a search for 'us' might return results related to the United States, and the abbreviation 'U.S.' at the top of the natural results, but then insert results relating to the keywords 'US Weekly' on the bottom of the organic results page. A Google source called the pages an 'experiment,' only being served to a select group of users on a test basis. The source added that the additional set of results for related terms are not sponsored by advertisers. -- Shankar Gupta"
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Google plans big new stock sale
Google plans big new stock sale | CNET News.com "On Thursday, the eve of the first anniversary of its IPO, Google announced plans to sell 14.2 million shares of common stock on the public market, as seeks to raise more capital.
Google, which last year raised $1.7 billion with its long-awaited IPO, is hoping to raise in excess of $4 billion in this secondary offering, based on the current market price of $285 a share, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange commission.
"We anticipate that we will use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures," Google stated in its SEC filing. "In addition, we may use proceeds of this offering for acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies or other assets."
Google, which last year raised $1.7 billion with its long-awaited IPO, is hoping to raise in excess of $4 billion in this secondary offering, based on the current market price of $285 a share, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange commission.
"We anticipate that we will use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures," Google stated in its SEC filing. "In addition, we may use proceeds of this offering for acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies or other assets."
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Google Buys Android for Its Mobile Arsenal
Google Buys Android for Its Mobile Arsenal: "The search giant quietly acquires the startup, netting possibly a key player in its push into wireless, 'the next frontier in search' "
Google vs. Geico: Geico Spin Machine Undermines Google Victory - 08/17/2005
MediaPost Publications: "Google won a decisive victory in the most important part of a the trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Geico. But you'd never know that by looking at some of the headlines to emerge this week, which cast the decision as a loss for the search giant."
Monday, August 15, 2005
Friday, August 12, 2005
ZDNet UK Begs Google for Forgiveness
Slashdot: "prostoalex writes 'In light of the recent CNet ban by Google folks at ZDNet UK are now not sure whether they will get the same treatment, being a CNet company. But, just in case, they apologize profusely:
'Acting under the mistaken impression that Google's search engine was intended to help research public data, we have in the past enthusiastically abused the system to conduct exactly the kind of journalism that Google finds so objectionable. Clearly, there is no place in modern reporting for this kind of unregulated, unprotected access to readily available facts, let alone in capriciously using them to illustrate areas of concern. We apologise unreservedly, and will cooperate fully in helping Google change people's perceptions of its role just as soon as it feels capable of communicating to us how it wishes that role to be seen.'' "
Wanted at Google: A few good chefs | CNET News.com: "Google representatives have instituted a policy of not talking with CNET News.com reporters until July 2006 in response to privacy issues raised by a previous story"
Google: An Apology - ZDNet UK Comment: "Google has decided that search engines should not be used to collate data. We wish to say sorry for believing otherwise"
'Acting under the mistaken impression that Google's search engine was intended to help research public data, we have in the past enthusiastically abused the system to conduct exactly the kind of journalism that Google finds so objectionable. Clearly, there is no place in modern reporting for this kind of unregulated, unprotected access to readily available facts, let alone in capriciously using them to illustrate areas of concern. We apologise unreservedly, and will cooperate fully in helping Google change people's perceptions of its role just as soon as it feels capable of communicating to us how it wishes that role to be seen.'' "
Wanted at Google: A few good chefs | CNET News.com: "Google representatives have instituted a policy of not talking with CNET News.com reporters until July 2006 in response to privacy issues raised by a previous story"
Google: An Apology - ZDNet UK Comment: "Google has decided that search engines should not be used to collate data. We wish to say sorry for believing otherwise"
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Google's Bad PR Day : summary of recent stories
Google's Bad PR Day : Internet Search Engine News Jim Hedger reports: "Google has had another bad day on the public relations front yesterday. Three stories about Google made search marketing headlines which, for a company as interesting and innovative as Google is fairly typical...
The first and possibly most damaging item comes in the form of a directive issued to Google employees banning them from speaking with representatives of one of the Internet’s most popular news services, C-Net news.
Another headline yesterday noted that Google has issued an update for its popular toolbar. In this update, the controversial AutoLink feature of the toolbar is automatically enabled. AutoLink was included in the third version of the toolbar. When active, AutoLink adds links to a document if content in that document triggers it. Currently limited to proving links to FedEx (package tracking numbers), Amazon.Com (triggered when a book title or ISBN is mentioned), Google Maps (when street addresses are placed on a document), and vehicle histories (when a vehicle ID number is entered), AutoLink actively alters web documents, regardless of who created them. While the feature is said to assist Google users, the bottom line is that it will force content change on documents created, for the most part, by private webmasters.
A third headline yesterday led to an article about the troubles Google’s former National Sales Director, Christina Elwell faced when she told her former employer she was pregnant with quadruplets and coping with medical issues arising from the pregnancy. Just a few months earlier, Ms. Elwell was singled out for praise at a national sales meeting as a strong contributor, one of the people who made last year’s IPO successful. After telling her supervisor she was pregnant, Ms. Elwell was informed her position was terminated and offered a lesser role (which was eventually filled by someone else). "
Jim Hedger concludes: "It is however highly unlikely Google will emerge from this year with their “do-no-evil” reputation intact."
The first and possibly most damaging item comes in the form of a directive issued to Google employees banning them from speaking with representatives of one of the Internet’s most popular news services, C-Net news.
Another headline yesterday noted that Google has issued an update for its popular toolbar. In this update, the controversial AutoLink feature of the toolbar is automatically enabled. AutoLink was included in the third version of the toolbar. When active, AutoLink adds links to a document if content in that document triggers it. Currently limited to proving links to FedEx (package tracking numbers), Amazon.Com (triggered when a book title or ISBN is mentioned), Google Maps (when street addresses are placed on a document), and vehicle histories (when a vehicle ID number is entered), AutoLink actively alters web documents, regardless of who created them. While the feature is said to assist Google users, the bottom line is that it will force content change on documents created, for the most part, by private webmasters.
A third headline yesterday led to an article about the troubles Google’s former National Sales Director, Christina Elwell faced when she told her former employer she was pregnant with quadruplets and coping with medical issues arising from the pregnancy. Just a few months earlier, Ms. Elwell was singled out for praise at a national sales meeting as a strong contributor, one of the people who made last year’s IPO successful. After telling her supervisor she was pregnant, Ms. Elwell was informed her position was terminated and offered a lesser role (which was eventually filled by someone else). "
Jim Hedger concludes: "It is however highly unlikely Google will emerge from this year with their “do-no-evil” reputation intact."
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Interview with the AdSense million dollar man, Jason Calacanis - JenSense.com
Interview with the AdSense million dollar man, Jason Calacanis - JenSense.com Pearls from: "Interview with the AdSense million dollar man, Jason Calacanis...$1M a year in Google Adsense (or why 2,739 is my favorite number) - The Jason Calacanis Weblog - calacanis.weblogsinc.com _
What single change do you think made the biggest leap in your AdSense income?
1. Taking off the borders around the advertisement
2. Making the links the same color as the links on the blog
What is the best piece of advice you have for a publisher brand new to AdSense? What would you have done differently when you started with AdSense, knowing what you do now.
I would have run four ads per page, taken off the borders, and made the links the same color as the links on the blog. I would have also made channels for each position and blog so I could track things better.
How many times do you login to AdSense a day? Are you a stats junkie who checks every ten minutes? Or do you check only once or twice a day?
I have about 50 saved Adsense reports in a folder on my Opera browser. Every day I click on it and autoload the 50 pages. I then scan and look for trends. Sometimes I find a CTR spike or an eCPM of note. However, it's pretty steady at this point
"
What single change do you think made the biggest leap in your AdSense income?
1. Taking off the borders around the advertisement
2. Making the links the same color as the links on the blog
What is the best piece of advice you have for a publisher brand new to AdSense? What would you have done differently when you started with AdSense, knowing what you do now.
I would have run four ads per page, taken off the borders, and made the links the same color as the links on the blog. I would have also made channels for each position and blog so I could track things better.
How many times do you login to AdSense a day? Are you a stats junkie who checks every ten minutes? Or do you check only once or twice a day?
I have about 50 saved Adsense reports in a folder on my Opera browser. Every day I click on it and autoload the 50 pages. I then scan and look for trends. Sometimes I find a CTR spike or an eCPM of note. However, it's pretty steady at this point
"
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Adsense changes update from Google
: "There have been many improvements to AdSense over the past few months � some of them immediately obvious and others that may have slipped by you unnoticed. We like to keep you up to date with all these changes, so we have outlined the major changes below. In most cases, we have provided links to more information about the subject, but there is still a lot to read in this email! So settle in and read on for the full story."
Google Anticipated Microsoft Exec Fight - Forbes.com
Summary so far.....Google Anticipated Microsoft Exec Fight - Forbes.com: "Newly released court documents reveal that Google Inc. anticipated a fight with Microsoft Corp. when it hired a top executive away from the software behemoth to launch a new research and development center in China. "
Monday, August 01, 2005
Urchin and GoogleAnalytics.com.
Cre8asite forums. Google - Urchin and GoogleAnalytics.com. [ Search Engine Optimization, Usability and Web Design. ] bragadocchio posts about a thread at Threadwatch called GoogleAnalytics.com - Urchin on it's Way?, about a new domain name that Google registered, in light of Google's purchase of Urchin.
He also links to a patent application release with Urchin's name on it at: United States Patent Application: 0050165889: "United States Patent Application" System and method for monitoring and analyzing internet traffic - this " at how data from specific users is kept together using a "Visitor Centric Data Modeling" approach. It also provides some interesting techniques for trying to identify who thoses visitors are."
He also links to a patent application release with Urchin's name on it at: United States Patent Application: 0050165889: "United States Patent Application" System and method for monitoring and analyzing internet traffic - this " at how data from specific users is kept together using a "Visitor Centric Data Modeling" approach. It also provides some interesting techniques for trying to identify who thoses visitors are."
Slashdot | Google Patents RSS Advertising
Slashdot | Google Patents RSS Advertising: "IO ERROR writes "Google [1]filed a patent application for targeted advertising in RSS feeds about a year and a half ago. The USPTO has now assigned it a number and [2]placed it online. The patent application covers both targeting in RSS feeds and geotargeting by IP address. It gives some insight into how Google's ad servers work."
United States Patent Application: 0050165615: "Embedding advertisements in syndicated content Incorporating targeted ads into information in a syndicated, e.g., RSS, presentation format in an automated manner is described. Syndicated material e.g., corresponding to a news feed, search results or web logs, are combined with the output of an automated ad server. An automated ad server is used to provide keyword or content based targeted ads. The ads are incorporated directly into a syndicated feed, e.g., with individual ads becoming items within a particular channel of the feed. The resulting syndicated feed including targeted ads is supplied to the end user, e.g., as a set of search results or as a requested web log. Embedding of targeted ads into syndicated feeds and/or user response to the embedded ads is be tracked in an automated manner for billing. The automated targeting and insertion process allows ads to be kept current and timely while the original feed may be considerably older. "
United States Patent Application: 0050165615: "Embedding advertisements in syndicated content Incorporating targeted ads into information in a syndicated, e.g., RSS, presentation format in an automated manner is described. Syndicated material e.g., corresponding to a news feed, search results or web logs, are combined with the output of an automated ad server. An automated ad server is used to provide keyword or content based targeted ads. The ads are incorporated directly into a syndicated feed, e.g., with individual ads becoming items within a particular channel of the feed. The resulting syndicated feed including targeted ads is supplied to the end user, e.g., as a set of search results or as a requested web log. Embedding of targeted ads into syndicated feeds and/or user response to the embedded ads is be tracked in an automated manner for billing. The automated targeting and insertion process allows ads to be kept current and timely while the original feed may be considerably older. "
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Google hit with job discrimination lawsuit
Shenanigans....Google hit with job discrimination lawsuit | CNET News.com: "A former Google sales executive has filed a lawsuit against the search giant, alleging it engaged in job discrimination while she was pregnant with quadruplets. "
Monday, July 25, 2005
Google - Record Number of Searches in Q2
E-Commerce News: "While Google's market share for search increased from the first quarter, when it was 35.9 percent -- as did Ask Jeeves' share, which climbed from 5.3 percent, and AOL's, which jumped from 9.1 percent -- Yahoo's share fell from 31.2 percent and MSN's from 16.3 percent.
"
"
About Google Scholar
About Google Scholar: "Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web."
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Google buys Brazil firm for research center
Google buys Brazil firm for research center: "Web search leader Google said Wednesday that it bought Brazil's Akwan Information Technologies, which it will use to set up a research and development center for Latin America. The small Brazilian company develops information search systems for companies"
Optimizing for Google AdWords' New Quality Score System
Optimizing for Google AdWords' New Quality Score System: "by Greg Ives - KeywordRanking
In the coming weeks, Google will release a new method for deciding when your ads show up. Out with the old system of 'on hold, in trial and disabled' keywords and in with 'the quality based system,' where keywords are either active or inactive...
There are several issues that will be challenging for marketers.
Inexperienced advertisers will likely increase their max CPC to retain their paid search rankings. This only provides a short term solution that will drain your budget and leave your ad costing too much.
Increasing CPC is one thing you can do in order to attain active status, but the correct thing to do prior to spending more money per click is to improve your quality score through optimization.
In addition, inexperienced advertisers are likely to erase existing keywords that aren't activated but could easily become so by changing the structure of the account, budgeting, etc (see below). This could lose them some easy return on keywords that convert.
To keep your keywords activated an experienced agency will:
* alter the structure of the account, campaigns, ad groups and keywords
* alter campaign budgeting
* refine content targeting
* optimize for your max CPC
* select proper keyword matching
* ensure rotation of quality ad text
* proper keyword selection
* build out campaign negative keywords
* implement content website exclusion"
In the coming weeks, Google will release a new method for deciding when your ads show up. Out with the old system of 'on hold, in trial and disabled' keywords and in with 'the quality based system,' where keywords are either active or inactive...
There are several issues that will be challenging for marketers.
Inexperienced advertisers will likely increase their max CPC to retain their paid search rankings. This only provides a short term solution that will drain your budget and leave your ad costing too much.
Increasing CPC is one thing you can do in order to attain active status, but the correct thing to do prior to spending more money per click is to improve your quality score through optimization.
In addition, inexperienced advertisers are likely to erase existing keywords that aren't activated but could easily become so by changing the structure of the account, budgeting, etc (see below). This could lose them some easy return on keywords that convert.
To keep your keywords activated an experienced agency will:
* alter the structure of the account, campaigns, ad groups and keywords
* alter campaign budgeting
* refine content targeting
* optimize for your max CPC
* select proper keyword matching
* ensure rotation of quality ad text
* proper keyword selection
* build out campaign negative keywords
* implement content website exclusion"
Monday, July 18, 2005
Google PageRank
SiteProNews: "Google PageRank
Update Analysis By Dave Davies
The most current PageRank update will undoubtedly cause a largër stir than usual in that many sites have shown drops in their visible PageRank while at the same time showing significant increases in their backlinks. This fact reveals that one of three things has occurred in this latest update:
1) Google has raised the bar on PageRank, making it more difficult to attain a high level, or
2) The way they are displaying their backlinks has changed, or
3) The way they calculate the value of an incoming link has changed.
Concludes: "if you've noticed that everyone around you has stayed the same or increased in PageRank try to remember this, there's nothing you can do about where you're currently positioned in regards to PageRank and it will probably be another 3 months before Google updates the public PageRank again so ... start building some good quality (high relevancy, solid PageRank) links. Work towards an increase in the next update.
Panicking now won't help, intelligent reaction will."
Update Analysis By Dave Davies
The most current PageRank update will undoubtedly cause a largër stir than usual in that many sites have shown drops in their visible PageRank while at the same time showing significant increases in their backlinks. This fact reveals that one of three things has occurred in this latest update:
1) Google has raised the bar on PageRank, making it more difficult to attain a high level, or
2) The way they are displaying their backlinks has changed, or
3) The way they calculate the value of an incoming link has changed.
Concludes: "if you've noticed that everyone around you has stayed the same or increased in PageRank try to remember this, there's nothing you can do about where you're currently positioned in regards to PageRank and it will probably be another 3 months before Google updates the public PageRank again so ... start building some good quality (high relevancy, solid PageRank) links. Work towards an increase in the next update.
Panicking now won't help, intelligent reaction will."
Monday, July 11, 2005
Google Doesn't Know it All
Steve Rubel points readers of his blog Micro Persuasion to: Google Doesn't Know it All: " Can't Find It On Google where people can talk about what they can't locate using the search engine."
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Google wins copycat Web domain dispute
Google wins copycat Web domain dispute - BizReport: "The National Arbitration Forum said on Friday that Google Inc. has rights to the Internet domain names googkle.com, ghoogle.com, gfoogle.com and gooigle.com, which are similar to its own google.com domain...
The NAF hears thousands of domain disputes each year under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in a dispute process that is an alternative to trademark lawsuits."
The NAF hears thousands of domain disputes each year under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in a dispute process that is an alternative to trademark lawsuits."
Friday, July 08, 2005
London blasts rock the Net; sites, blogs respond
Internet Daily: "News Web sites in the United Kingdom were hammered for almost four hours after the London bomb blasts occurred.
Roopak Patel, senior Internet analyst at Keynote Systems Inc., said the average measured U.K. site took four times longer than normal to respond.
Hardest hit were the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk), Sky News (www.sky.com/skynews/home) and the Financial Times (www.ft.com).
'The average response time for a home page on the Internet is two to three seconds,' Patel said in an interview. 'So that means some sites took up to 10 seconds. That's doesn't seem significant until you realize the hardest-hit sites were experiencing such traffic they dragged down the average of the 37 other sites [in the Keynote (KEYN: news, chart, profile) U.K. "
Roopak Patel, senior Internet analyst at Keynote Systems Inc., said the average measured U.K. site took four times longer than normal to respond.
Hardest hit were the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk), Sky News (www.sky.com/skynews/home) and the Financial Times (www.ft.com).
'The average response time for a home page on the Internet is two to three seconds,' Patel said in an interview. 'So that means some sites took up to 10 seconds. That's doesn't seem significant until you realize the hardest-hit sites were experiencing such traffic they dragged down the average of the 37 other sites [in the Keynote (KEYN: news, chart, profile) U.K. "
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Google, partners to back broadband venture -WSJ
Internet News Article | Reuters.com: " Google Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Hearst Corp. are investing about $100 million in Current Communications Group, a start-up that offers high-speed Internet connections over electricity lines, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. "
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Keeping an Eye on Google
Keeping an Eye on Google: "A new report offers fascinating, in-depth insights on how users interact with Google search results, based on studies using eye-tracking technology.
The report, from Enquiro, Did-It and Eyetools, is a comprehensive white paper that builds on an earlier press release that described Google's 'golden triangle' of search results.
The study found that most viewers looked at results in an 'F' shaped scan pattern, with the eye travelling vertically along the far left side of the results looking for visual cues (relevant words, brands, etc) and then scanning to the right, as if something caught the participant's attention.
The new study expands significantly on the initial findings, offering a detailed look at the methodology used and much more granular conclusions examining all aspects of Google search results. For example, the study showed that searchers react to organic results differently than they react to sponsored listings. "
The report, from Enquiro, Did-It and Eyetools, is a comprehensive white paper that builds on an earlier press release that described Google's 'golden triangle' of search results.
The study found that most viewers looked at results in an 'F' shaped scan pattern, with the eye travelling vertically along the far left side of the results looking for visual cues (relevant words, brands, etc) and then scanning to the right, as if something caught the participant's attention.
The new study expands significantly on the initial findings, offering a detailed look at the methodology used and much more granular conclusions examining all aspects of Google search results. For example, the study showed that searchers react to organic results differently than they react to sponsored listings. "
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
July stock of the month: Google
July stock of the month: Google - Internet Services - Internet - Analyst: "Google's surge past $300 a share in June helped push the dollar volume trading of the stock to $112 billion according to data compiled by the Hulbert Financial Digest, making it the July stock of the month for Trading Strategies."
Friday, June 17, 2005
Google mobile search: Google Blog
Google Blog: The world in your pocket"Steven Schirripa, Software Engineer
Since millions of people across the globe already use mobile phones like there's no tomorrow, we're launching Mobile Web Search in many languages. Try it the next time you visit Google on your mobile phone - you'll see a new option to search the Mobile Web. How different is it than standard web search? There are sites out there that have already been designed for your mobile phone, which makes them more navigable on the small screen. So we've created an index specifically for these sites. And so your phone can now be that much more useful."
http://mobile.google.com/mobile_search.html
Currently results in error message
www.internetnews.com Reports : "Aiming to make search easier for users on the go, Google (Quote, Chart) released Google Mobile Web Search on Thursday.
The new service points users of Internet-enabled mobile devices to a special index of Web pages that have been optimized by their publishers for the small screen. The XHTML-based service takes advantage of the alignments of text, graphics and tables that mobile-aware publishers have created to make them easier to navigate on a mobile phone.
Nishar didn't discount the possibility of including ads in Mobile Web Search results. "We haven't started doing that," he said, "and Google does not make forward-looking statements." But he said that mobile ads could be delivered as an extension of the company's existing technology."
Since millions of people across the globe already use mobile phones like there's no tomorrow, we're launching Mobile Web Search in many languages. Try it the next time you visit Google on your mobile phone - you'll see a new option to search the Mobile Web. How different is it than standard web search? There are sites out there that have already been designed for your mobile phone, which makes them more navigable on the small screen. So we've created an index specifically for these sites. And so your phone can now be that much more useful."
http://mobile.google.com/mobile_search.html
Currently results in error message
www.internetnews.com Reports : "Aiming to make search easier for users on the go, Google (Quote, Chart) released Google Mobile Web Search on Thursday.
The new service points users of Internet-enabled mobile devices to a special index of Web pages that have been optimized by their publishers for the small screen. The XHTML-based service takes advantage of the alignments of text, graphics and tables that mobile-aware publishers have created to make them easier to navigate on a mobile phone.
Nishar didn't discount the possibility of including ads in Mobile Web Search results. "We haven't started doing that," he said, "and Google does not make forward-looking statements." But he said that mobile ads could be delivered as an extension of the company's existing technology."
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Problems With Google Sitemaps
DMNews.com: "By: Stephan Spencer Netconcepts"
Outlines what he sees as two major problems, one of which he has a solution for sale....
"First, it doesn’t solve the duplicate pages problem that a great many dynamic sites have. Even the Google Store suffers from this....
Duplicate pages, on its own, may not sound like a problem for Webmasters as much as it is for Google itself, which has to dedicate additional resources to maintain all this redundant content in its index. However, it does have serious implications for Webmasters, because it results in PageRank dilution -- where multiple versions of a page split up the “votes” (links) and PageRank score that a single version of the page would aggregate.
This brings me to the second, related problem with Google Sitemaps: It doesn’t do anything to alleviate the phenomenon of PageRank dilution. PageRank dilution results in lower PageRank, which in turn results in lower rankings. For example, consider that the above-mentioned Google Store’s product page (the “Black is Back T-Shirt”) is in Google’s index five times instead of just once. So each of those five variations earns only a fraction of the total potential PageRank score that it could have earned if all the links pointed to a single “Black is Back T-Shirt” page"....
He suggests both of the above issues could be rectified: by extending robots.txt with some additional directives "that specify:
· Which parameter in a dynamic URL is the “key field.”
· Which parameter is the product ID and which is the category ID (specifically for online catalogs).
· Which parameters are superfluous or that don’t significantly vary the content displayed.
Armed with this information, Googlebot will be able to not only eliminate duplicate pages but also intelligently choose the most appropriate version to save in its index and then associate with that page the PageRank of ALL versions of the page. The days of session IDs killing a site’s Google visibility would be over! Google admits in its Sitemaps FAQ that session IDs are still a problem even with the advent of Google Sitemaps:
Question: URLs on my site have session IDs in them. Do I need to remove them? Yes. Including session IDs in URLs may result in incomplete and redundant crawling of your site. "
Outlines what he sees as two major problems, one of which he has a solution for sale....
"First, it doesn’t solve the duplicate pages problem that a great many dynamic sites have. Even the Google Store suffers from this....
Duplicate pages, on its own, may not sound like a problem for Webmasters as much as it is for Google itself, which has to dedicate additional resources to maintain all this redundant content in its index. However, it does have serious implications for Webmasters, because it results in PageRank dilution -- where multiple versions of a page split up the “votes” (links) and PageRank score that a single version of the page would aggregate.
This brings me to the second, related problem with Google Sitemaps: It doesn’t do anything to alleviate the phenomenon of PageRank dilution. PageRank dilution results in lower PageRank, which in turn results in lower rankings. For example, consider that the above-mentioned Google Store’s product page (the “Black is Back T-Shirt”) is in Google’s index five times instead of just once. So each of those five variations earns only a fraction of the total potential PageRank score that it could have earned if all the links pointed to a single “Black is Back T-Shirt” page"....
He suggests both of the above issues could be rectified: by extending robots.txt with some additional directives "that specify:
· Which parameter in a dynamic URL is the “key field.”
· Which parameter is the product ID and which is the category ID (specifically for online catalogs).
· Which parameters are superfluous or that don’t significantly vary the content displayed.
Armed with this information, Googlebot will be able to not only eliminate duplicate pages but also intelligently choose the most appropriate version to save in its index and then associate with that page the PageRank of ALL versions of the page. The days of session IDs killing a site’s Google visibility would be over! Google admits in its Sitemaps FAQ that session IDs are still a problem even with the advent of Google Sitemaps:
Question: URLs on my site have session IDs in them. Do I need to remove them? Yes. Including session IDs in URLs may result in incomplete and redundant crawling of your site. "
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