eweek.com
Report summarises this issue which has been rumbling around all week: "Google has taken the unusual step of removing some of its own Web pages from its Web index after reports that the pages used a search-optimization method frowned upon by the search engine.
Search-engine watchers this week widely noted the appearance of so-called 'cloaking' on a set of user support pages on Google's AdWords advertising program. The pages were displaying different title information to Google's Web crawler than to regular visitors to the pages."
Friday, March 11, 2005
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Google personalises news site
This feature emphasises Google's user centric focus and is a move to let users organise search results according to their own criteria rather than by algorithmic determined ranking (or date in the case of news.)
This raises the question of when and how they will launch personalisation of the main index search results and how this will impact on search engine optimisation?
CNET News.com reports that: "Google began testing new customization features on its news aggregation site Wednesday in a salvo against competition from Microsoft...
Google's News: FAQ: "What is customized news?""We've made a number of improvements to Google News that allow you to customize your News front page by creating sections that focus on topics you care about, for instance, your favorite sports team, technology, or celebrity... "You can also design your custom front page by mixing and matching existing standard sections from the 22 regional editions of Google News from around the globe."
This raises the question of when and how they will launch personalisation of the main index search results and how this will impact on search engine optimisation?
CNET News.com reports that: "Google began testing new customization features on its news aggregation site Wednesday in a salvo against competition from Microsoft...
Google's News: FAQ: "What is customized news?""We've made a number of improvements to Google News that allow you to customize your News front page by creating sections that focus on topics you care about, for instance, your favorite sports team, technology, or celebrity... "You can also design your custom front page by mixing and matching existing standard sections from the 22 regional editions of Google News from around the globe."
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Google Search: adds weather feature
Google Search: weather palo alto, ca: "2 results stored on your computer - Hide - About
Google adds Weather feature - en q=weather palo alto%2C ca btnG - 10:56am
Google Web Search Features - 165 University Ave Palo Alto CA) in the - Nov 29"
Google adds Weather feature - en q=weather palo alto%2C ca btnG - 10:56am
Google Web Search Features - 165 University Ave Palo Alto CA) in the - Nov 29"
Monday, March 07, 2005
Google desktop search out of beta
CNET News.com: "Google has introduced a full version of its desktop-search software, with a developer's kit and support for the Firefox and Netscape browsers."
LSI - latent semantic indexing according to Google
Google Groups : SEM 2.0: "Google says...
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a novel, patented information
retrieval method developed at Telcordia Technologies, Inc. By using
statistical algorithms, LSI can retrieve relevant documents even when
they do not share any words with a query. LSI uses these statistically
derived 'concepts' to improve search performance by up to 30%.
http://lsi.research.telcordia.�com/ "
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a novel, patented information
retrieval method developed at Telcordia Technologies, Inc. By using
statistical algorithms, LSI can retrieve relevant documents even when
they do not share any words with a query. LSI uses these statistically
derived 'concepts' to improve search performance by up to 30%.
http://lsi.research.telcordia.�com/ "
Friday, March 04, 2005
Reviews of listed businesses added to Google local search results
MediaPost
Google has added reviews of listed businesses to local search results, in addition to the recently integrated interactive maps.
Shankar Gupta writes:
"The reviews are pulled from other sites, such as CitySearch.com, Gayot.com, and Amazon.com. They include both editorial critiques and user opinions culled from those sites. But, unlike AOL and Yahoo!, Google does not offer users the chance to post their own reviews directly to the search site. In addition to reviews and maps, Google offers other information gleaned from sites it has indexed, such as business hours, payment types accepted, WiFi availability, restaurant menus, amenities, and even inspection data from the Department of Health's Web site. This most recent set of upgrades to Google's search offering is representative of the high-speed development of the local search area,
Google has added reviews of listed businesses to local search results, in addition to the recently integrated interactive maps.
Shankar Gupta writes:
"The reviews are pulled from other sites, such as CitySearch.com, Gayot.com, and Amazon.com. They include both editorial critiques and user opinions culled from those sites. But, unlike AOL and Yahoo!, Google does not offer users the chance to post their own reviews directly to the search site. In addition to reviews and maps, Google offers other information gleaned from sites it has indexed, such as business hours, payment types accepted, WiFi availability, restaurant menus, amenities, and even inspection data from the Department of Health's Web site. This most recent set of upgrades to Google's search offering is representative of the high-speed development of the local search area,
Google tech deals with hardware failure
CNET News.com
Article covers hardware and programming used by Google... "Google's secret of success? Dealing with failure...The technical wizardry behind Google's successful search engine may come down to a blindingly obvious insight: PCs crash"
Article covers hardware and programming used by Google... "Google's secret of success? Dealing with failure...The technical wizardry behind Google's successful search engine may come down to a blindingly obvious insight: PCs crash"
Quirky rant about spam
Spam for the soul: "Roy Rivenburg, Times Staff Writer
Who would have dreamed that spam holds the keys to enlightenment? Like many ignorant humans, I used to consider junk e-mail a nuisance. But once I opened my mind as well as my inbox, I discovered an amazing truth: All I really need to know I learned from those weird proverbs and quotations in spam messages.
A few examples:
'Never play leapfrog with a unicorn...."
Who would have dreamed that spam holds the keys to enlightenment? Like many ignorant humans, I used to consider junk e-mail a nuisance. But once I opened my mind as well as my inbox, I discovered an amazing truth: All I really need to know I learned from those weird proverbs and quotations in spam messages.
A few examples:
'Never play leapfrog with a unicorn...."
Google: A $50 Billion "One-Trick Pony"?
www.businessweek.com
Ben Elgin asks if Google's focus on text based advertising, key to it's success, could also prove to be it's downfall
"Google remains almost entirely dependent for growth on search -- a business that's poised to slow... Its focus on Web-searching -- an increasingly limited arena -- may be blinding it to big opportunities elsewhere"
Ben Elgin asks if Google's focus on text based advertising, key to it's success, could also prove to be it's downfall
"Google remains almost entirely dependent for growth on search -- a business that's poised to slow... Its focus on Web-searching -- an increasingly limited arena -- may be blinding it to big opportunities elsewhere"
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Google gets dodgy - new toolbar feature slated
CNET News.com
"Google's browser toolbar is raising eyebrows over a feature that inserts new hyperlinks in Web pages, giving the Internet search provider a powerful tool to funnel traffic to destinations of its choice. "
"Google's browser toolbar is raising eyebrows over a feature that inserts new hyperlinks in Web pages, giving the Internet search provider a powerful tool to funnel traffic to destinations of its choice. "
Google insiders make millions on sales
marketwatch.com
"It was a sweet Valentine's Day for Google insiders, who collected billions in stock sales this week following the last big lockup expiration after the company's initial public offering six months ago, according to regulatory filings."
"It was a sweet Valentine's Day for Google insiders, who collected billions in stock sales this week following the last big lockup expiration after the company's initial public offering six months ago, according to regulatory filings."
Friday, February 18, 2005
Google blazes trail to Oregon
CNET News.com Google has bought 30 acres of land from the Port Authority of The Dalles, Oregon, for a new technology infrastructure facility, the Web search giant said Thursday.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Google to host some Wikimedia projects."
Google hosting - From Meta; discussion about Wikimedia projects
"Google Inc. has made a proposal to host some of the content of the Wikimedia projects.
The terms of the offer are currently being discussed by the board. The developer committee has been informed of some of the details via email. A private IRC meeting with Google is planned for March, 2005.
Please note that this agreement does not mean there is any requirement for us to include advertising on the site."
"Google Inc. has made a proposal to host some of the content of the Wikimedia projects.
The terms of the offer are currently being discussed by the board. The developer committee has been informed of some of the details via email. A private IRC meeting with Google is planned for March, 2005.
Please note that this agreement does not mean there is any requirement for us to include advertising on the site."
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Google Blogger booted
Internet Daily Frank Barnako MarketWatch
"Postings to Mark Jen's blog, 99zeroes.blogspot.com, ended Jan. 27. On the Web log, he wrote about his work. An example: "I spend the bulk of my time thinking of new features or products that customers would want (read: stuff that I want) and then I organize people to build it. It's great!"
Jen's removal from the Google (GOOG: news, chart, profile) payroll was confirmed by a company representative, to Cnet. Jen's not the first person to lose a job because of blogging...
Bottom line: While Microsoft has shown itself to be tolerant and supportive of blogging by employees, Mark Jen apparently found his new bosses weren't quite so with it.
By the way, one of the tenets of Google's corporate philosophy is to encourage expression. "Democracy on the Web works," is how it's worded. Here's the rest of it."
"Postings to Mark Jen's blog, 99zeroes.blogspot.com, ended Jan. 27. On the Web log, he wrote about his work. An example: "I spend the bulk of my time thinking of new features or products that customers would want (read: stuff that I want) and then I organize people to build it. It's great!"
Jen's removal from the Google (GOOG: news, chart, profile) payroll was confirmed by a company representative, to Cnet. Jen's not the first person to lose a job because of blogging...
Bottom line: While Microsoft has shown itself to be tolerant and supportive of blogging by employees, Mark Jen apparently found his new bosses weren't quite so with it.
By the way, one of the tenets of Google's corporate philosophy is to encourage expression. "Democracy on the Web works," is how it's worded. Here's the rest of it."
Google Discusses Strategy With Analysts
Forbes.com
Google met withWall Street analysts "to review a wide range of topics, including their financial outlook.
Reflecting its iconoclastic culture, Google has banned its management from projecting profits - a policy that limited the disclosures made to the roomful of analysts who make the earnings estimates that influence the company's stock."
"Key points:
Google is likely to require its users to begin providing personal information to use some of its products and services,
Google executives operate under the assumption that 70 percent of the company's resources should be focused on its search engine, even though it accounted for virtually all the company's 2004 revenue of $3.2 billion. Another 20 percent of Google resources is devoted to search products, such as the shopping comparison site Froogle, and the remaining 10 percent is focused on experimental services, such as a three-dimensional mapping program called Keyhole and an online social networking site called Orkut.
Don't be surprised if many of Google's products, including its widely read compilation of recent news stories, remain in the test phase known as "beta" for as long as five years. Page said the "beta" tag is a sign that Google engineers still anticipate making significant improvements to the service.
A hiring spree that has added 2,300 employees in the last two years still hasn't been enough to satisfy Google's expansion plans. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company would like to hire employees at a more rapid rate, but has trouble finding enough applicants that meet its high standards.
Page downplayed recent media reports that the company is preparing to branch into new directions by introducing a Web browser, a service for registering Web domains and telephone service over the Internet. "Most of the things we read are a surprise to us," Page told analysts""
Google met withWall Street analysts "to review a wide range of topics, including their financial outlook.
Reflecting its iconoclastic culture, Google has banned its management from projecting profits - a policy that limited the disclosures made to the roomful of analysts who make the earnings estimates that influence the company's stock."
"Key points:
Google is likely to require its users to begin providing personal information to use some of its products and services,
Google executives operate under the assumption that 70 percent of the company's resources should be focused on its search engine, even though it accounted for virtually all the company's 2004 revenue of $3.2 billion. Another 20 percent of Google resources is devoted to search products, such as the shopping comparison site Froogle, and the remaining 10 percent is focused on experimental services, such as a three-dimensional mapping program called Keyhole and an online social networking site called Orkut.
Don't be surprised if many of Google's products, including its widely read compilation of recent news stories, remain in the test phase known as "beta" for as long as five years. Page said the "beta" tag is a sign that Google engineers still anticipate making significant improvements to the service.
A hiring spree that has added 2,300 employees in the last two years still hasn't been enough to satisfy Google's expansion plans. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company would like to hire employees at a more rapid rate, but has trouble finding enough applicants that meet its high standards.
Page downplayed recent media reports that the company is preparing to branch into new directions by introducing a Web browser, a service for registering Web domains and telephone service over the Internet. "Most of the things we read are a surprise to us," Page told analysts""
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Google Maps
Google Maps beta
Note local search and directions buttons...anyone fancy testing and comparing to Yahoo, mapquest and TT map providers if they provide similar for USA???
Goodbye Mapquest (by Jeremy Zawodny) who says little but gets lotsa comments...
Note local search and directions buttons...anyone fancy testing and comparing to Yahoo, mapquest and TT map providers if they provide similar for USA???
Goodbye Mapquest (by Jeremy Zawodny) who says little but gets lotsa comments...
Gizoogle - Fo all you beotches who wanna find shiznit
Gizoogle - Fo all you beotches who wanna find shiznit
Bootylicious Britain Total Travel Guide: Research, Plizzan & Book Hotels ...
Bootylicious Britain travel guide & directory of accommizzle & attractions wit photos, maps & transport 411 fo' England, Scotland & Wales. Book hotels, ride ...
www.totaltravel.co.uk/
Wales Travel Guide: Visitor Info & Accommodizzles Directory
Bootylicious Britain. Wales region guide. Tha country of Wales has always been fiercely independent. These days gangsta a gangsta of Welsh thugz ...
Bootylicious Britain Total Travel Guide: Research, Plizzan & Book Hotels ...
Bootylicious Britain travel guide & directory of accommizzle & attractions wit photos, maps & transport 411 fo' England, Scotland & Wales. Book hotels, ride ...
www.totaltravel.co.uk/
Wales Travel Guide: Visitor Info & Accommodizzles Directory
Bootylicious Britain. Wales region guide. Tha country of Wales has always been fiercely independent. These days gangsta a gangsta of Welsh thugz ...
Google Search: Hornsbury Mill
Google Search: Hornsbury Mill compare and contrast FP to stand alone....
"Accommodation, Function Venue Hornsby Mill
... County Ground. Hornsbury Mill Eleighwater Chard Somerset | Reservations: 01460
63317 | Email. � 2004 Hornsbury Mill and Totalwebsites.
www.hornsburymill.co.uk/ - 8k - 7 Feb 2005 - Cached - Similar pages
Hornsbury Mill - Location
Add your link here! Email us. Hornsbury Mill Eleighwater Chard Somerset | Reservations:
01460 63317 | Email. � 2004 Hornsbury Mill and Totalwebsites.
www.hornsburymill.co.uk/site/links/ - 6k - 5 Feb 2005 - Cached - Similar pages
Hornsbury Mill
Welcome to Hornsbury Mill a charming 19th century working water mill set deep in
the heart of Somerset, where contemporary capability blends effortlessly with ...
www.totaltravel.co.uk/travel/west-country/ somerset/southsomerset/accommodation/hotels/hornsbury-mill - 16k - Cached - Similar pages "
"Accommodation, Function Venue Hornsby Mill
... County Ground. Hornsbury Mill Eleighwater Chard Somerset | Reservations: 01460
63317 | Email. � 2004 Hornsbury Mill and Totalwebsites.
www.hornsburymill.co.uk/ - 8k - 7 Feb 2005 - Cached - Similar pages
Hornsbury Mill - Location
Add your link here! Email us. Hornsbury Mill Eleighwater Chard Somerset | Reservations:
01460 63317 | Email. � 2004 Hornsbury Mill and Totalwebsites.
www.hornsburymill.co.uk/site/links/ - 6k - 5 Feb 2005 - Cached - Similar pages
Hornsbury Mill
Welcome to Hornsbury Mill a charming 19th century working water mill set deep in
the heart of Somerset, where contemporary capability blends effortlessly with ...
www.totaltravel.co.uk/travel/west-country/ somerset/southsomerset/accommodation/hotels/hornsbury-mill - 16k - Cached - Similar pages "
Google update buzz
digitalpoint.com
Earliest post I have found...Google is updating: "I see real movements in the keywords I track , more than the usual slight movements ... I think its the time for the google dance "
Update Allegra - Google Update 2-2-2005
webmasterworld.com/forum30now 66 pages from 8 on 03/02/2005.
Major Google Changes: Latent Semantic Analysis?
9 pages; graywolf sums up "So in a nutshell it's looking for the most unique pages with the most links from pages with similar topics?"
seochat.com conclusions depend on how the posters site has been affected....
Earliest post I have found...Google is updating: "I see real movements in the keywords I track , more than the usual slight movements ... I think its the time for the google dance "
Update Allegra - Google Update 2-2-2005
webmasterworld.com/forum30now 66 pages from 8 on 03/02/2005.
Major Google Changes: Latent Semantic Analysis?
9 pages; graywolf sums up "So in a nutshell it's looking for the most unique pages with the most links from pages with similar topics?"
seochat.com conclusions depend on how the posters site has been affected....
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Google by the Numbers
Business 2.0
"FUTURE BOY
The blowout quarter proves that it pays to share the wealth.
By Erick Schonfeld, February 04, 2005 "
Excellent article on Googles strengths..
"FUTURE BOY
The blowout quarter proves that it pays to share the wealth.
By Erick Schonfeld, February 04, 2005 "
Excellent article on Googles strengths..
Forbes.com: Time Warner Reports $1B-Plus Google Stake
Forbes.com
TW "holds more than $1 billion worth of the Internet giant's stock. "
TW "holds more than $1 billion worth of the Internet giant's stock. "
Google Gets Domain Name Registration OK
Forbes.com: "Google says it sought approval as a way to potentially save thousands of dollars yearly in transaction fees for the names it already owns or will buy.
The status also could give Google access to internal data on domain name ownership, which the company could use to better evaluate the credibility of Web sites indexed by the search engine, said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products... the domain name registration was purely meant to protect Google's brand."
The status also could give Google access to internal data on domain name ownership, which the company could use to better evaluate the credibility of Web sites indexed by the search engine, said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products... the domain name registration was purely meant to protect Google's brand."
Google algo tweaks...
searchenginewatch.com
By the buzz on forums Danny Sullivan reckons Google is "tweaking and changing things that can have an impact on search results, sometimes in a big way. And one of those big ways seems to be happening, based on chatter on our forums."
Major Google Changes: Latent Semantic Analysis?
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
Compilation of Anti-Sandbox Tactics"
By the buzz on forums Danny Sullivan reckons Google is "tweaking and changing things that can have an impact on search results, sometimes in a big way. And one of those big ways seems to be happening, based on chatter on our forums."
Major Google Changes: Latent Semantic Analysis?
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
Compilation of Anti-Sandbox Tactics"
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Who links to your website?
Come on Google, Fix it !!!
Danny Sullivan posts: "Wow -- wrong advice from Google. Searching for your URL as a text search will find anyone who uses your URL as the anchor text, say http://www.yoursite... But if they link to you like "Cool Site" with the URL embedded in those words, that won't bring it up. Which suggest that this part:
Quote:
To obtain a comprehensive list of the links that point to your page, perform a Google search on your URL.
Should be changed to:
Quote:
To obtain a comprehensive list of the links that point to your page, perform a link search on one of our competitors, Yahoo, MSN or Ask Jeeves. "
Danny Sullivan posts: "Wow -- wrong advice from Google. Searching for your URL as a text search will find anyone who uses your URL as the anchor text, say http://www.yoursite... But if they link to you like "Cool Site" with the URL embedded in those words, that won't bring it up. Which suggest that this part:
Quote:
To obtain a comprehensive list of the links that point to your page, perform a Google search on your URL.
Should be changed to:
Quote:
To obtain a comprehensive list of the links that point to your page, perform a link search on one of our competitors, Yahoo, MSN or Ask Jeeves. "
Google shares hit new high after upbeat Q4 report
marketwatch.com Bambi Francisco on the Google financials: " If there were any doubts left that Googlemania has spread from Main Street to Wall Street, the reaction of analysts and investors to the search icon's fourth-quarter earnings should erase them."
NB This giant of online advertising spends how much itself on advertising? Miniscule compared to MSN's plans...word of mouth viral channels reign supreme.
NB This giant of online advertising spends how much itself on advertising? Miniscule compared to MSN's plans...word of mouth viral channels reign supreme.
Google seeks more marketers
CNET News.com reports that Google "recently introduced an affiliate program that pays $20 to any Web site for referring a new advertiser or publishing partner. Google is likely the last search engine to introduce such a program. Rival Overture Services runs an affiliate program, which was popularized by e-commerce giants Amazon.com and eBay.com.The move also comes after Google rejiggered its advertising system to suppress multiple bids for terms promoting the same Web site, in what critics see as a blow to affiliate advertisers."
Join the Google Referral Program
"Join the Google Referral Program Program Home - FAQ - Apply Why Join?
The Google referral program (beta) is for businesses whose customers and visitors include small to medium-sized businesses, and who want to help those companies become more successful by running Google AdWords, or serving ads with Google AdSense. The program works by giving approved sites unique links to Google, then compensating the referring site for passing on a new AdWords advertiser or AdSense publisher.
Joining is easy, and free
Apply.
Once you're approved, place a Google referral program link on your site.
Earn $20 for each advertiser or publisher you refer. "
Join the Google Referral Program
"Join the Google Referral Program Program Home - FAQ - Apply Why Join?
The Google referral program (beta) is for businesses whose customers and visitors include small to medium-sized businesses, and who want to help those companies become more successful by running Google AdWords, or serving ads with Google AdSense. The program works by giving approved sites unique links to Google, then compensating the referring site for passing on a new AdWords advertiser or AdSense publisher.
Joining is easy, and free
Apply.
Once you're approved, place a Google referral program link on your site.
Earn $20 for each advertiser or publisher you refer. "
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Micro Persuasion: Googlegate Rumbles Around the Blogosphere
Micro Persuasion: Googlegate Rumbles Around the Blogosphere: "Googlegate Rumbles Around the Blogosphere"
New Google perk: Awards worth millions | CNET News.com
New Google perk: Awards worth millions | CNET News.com: "Google has begun giving out an award that could be worth millions of dollars to employees who work on outstanding projects, the company said Monday."
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Slashdot | Google Eyes Domain Registration Market
Slashdot | Google Eyes Domain Registration Market: "1sockchuck writes 'Google is now an ICANN-approved domain name registrar, an intriguing move that could be tied to its blog hosting service, Blogger. Yahoo recently dropped its domain prices to $4.98, as hosting companies use domains as a cheap way to lure customers. Registrar status could allow Google to compete aggressively on price. "
Monday, January 31, 2005
1/11/05 - BayCHI - Google UI
1/11/05 - BayCHI - Google UI: "Abstract The User Experience at Google Marissa Mayer, Google...
Question: Is user experience a sustainable advantage?
No, in theory In practice, yes. 5 years of ongoing advantage from Google’s user experience
--> Why? 10x-20x as many services/words/visible characters/lines/scrolled pages as other major brands (Yahoo? MSN?)
What they strive to do:
Only introduce services that will have millions of views/day
Only put a feature on a page if 20% of the users will want to use it
Only on prefs page if at least 5% of users will want it..."
Question: Is user experience a sustainable advantage?
No, in theory In practice, yes. 5 years of ongoing advantage from Google’s user experience
--> Why? 10x-20x as many services/words/visible characters/lines/scrolled pages as other major brands (Yahoo? MSN?)
What they strive to do:
Only introduce services that will have millions of views/day
Only put a feature on a page if 20% of the users will want to use it
Only on prefs page if at least 5% of users will want it..."
Update re one-ad-per-domain rule
clickz.com
" Kevin Lee | January 28, 2005: It's been a few weeks since Google implemented its one-ad-per-domain rule. The rule was designed to provide a better user experience for searchers by eliminating multiple ads that lead to the same domain. Affiliates may bid on direct links, but they compete with merchant sites and other affiliates in the auction. This competition results in an invisible bidding war within the AdWords system."
Concludes that: "Any pages that contain duplicate content (served via a Web service or data feed) without value-added content could encourage search engines to change their organic algorithms to ferret out and penalize sites with duplicate content. The merchant site itself may be penalized if the product copy sent through the data feeds and APIs (define) is the same used on the primary site.
A few merchants and affiliates who take advantage of paid search and pushing the line on acceptable practices may cause major algorithmic changes at Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.
Search engine marketing may become an industry where the unintended consequences result in a cure worse than the disease."
" Kevin Lee | January 28, 2005: It's been a few weeks since Google implemented its one-ad-per-domain rule. The rule was designed to provide a better user experience for searchers by eliminating multiple ads that lead to the same domain. Affiliates may bid on direct links, but they compete with merchant sites and other affiliates in the auction. This competition results in an invisible bidding war within the AdWords system."
Concludes that: "Any pages that contain duplicate content (served via a Web service or data feed) without value-added content could encourage search engines to change their organic algorithms to ferret out and penalize sites with duplicate content. The merchant site itself may be penalized if the product copy sent through the data feeds and APIs (define) is the same used on the primary site.
A few merchants and affiliates who take advantage of paid search and pushing the line on acceptable practices may cause major algorithmic changes at Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.
Search engine marketing may become an industry where the unintended consequences result in a cure worse than the disease."
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Friday, January 28, 2005
More rumours - Google - Mozilla Browser Speculation
MediaDailyNews 01-28-05
"Google Snags Mozilla Developers, Fuels Browser Speculation"
"Google Snags Mozilla Developers, Fuels Browser Speculation"
Google offers tool to advertisers - rumours confirmed
CNET News.com
"The search giant called the API beta program an 'open invitation to developers to explore new concepts and then write great software' to manage their AdWords campaigns. Google said the API will allow advertisers to more closely tailor ad content to reflect specific needs. The API, for example, will let advertisers create customized reporting tools that offer more detail on how successful their ads have been. "
"The search giant called the API beta program an 'open invitation to developers to explore new concepts and then write great software' to manage their AdWords campaigns. Google said the API will allow advertisers to more closely tailor ad content to reflect specific needs. The API, for example, will let advertisers create customized reporting tools that offer more detail on how successful their ads have been. "
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Google Plans Free VoIP In the UK
Slashdot
"jarich writes 'According to this news article, Google may be preparing to offer free Voice Over IP telephone service in the UK. This sounds related to a previous Slashdot article about Google starting to buy dark fiber. So what are they planning? A free service like Skype (computer to computer only) or more along the lines of Lingo or Vonage?' "
"jarich writes 'According to this news article, Google may be preparing to offer free Voice Over IP telephone service in the UK. This sounds related to a previous Slashdot article about Google starting to buy dark fiber. So what are they planning? A free service like Skype (computer to computer only) or more along the lines of Lingo or Vonage?' "
Adwords API for more control and better targeted ads
SiliconValley.com
" As quietly as it could, Google gathered about 1800 marketing and sales people at a secret location in San Francisco this week to brief them on the next iteration of its wildly successful Adwords/Adsense program, and it's quite a bit different from the contextual ad delivery system we know today."
Silicon Valley Watcher
"The Google API is only available to advertisers and not to online publishers carrying Google ads... Silicon Valley Watcher also learned that Google assembled its global salesforce of about 1800 people in San Francisco this week to brief them on the new technology, and how it will be marketed. It represents a complete revamp of its Adwords/Adsense text ads program. More details HERE."
" As quietly as it could, Google gathered about 1800 marketing and sales people at a secret location in San Francisco this week to brief them on the next iteration of its wildly successful Adwords/Adsense program, and it's quite a bit different from the contextual ad delivery system we know today."
Silicon Valley Watcher
"The Google API is only available to advertisers and not to online publishers carrying Google ads... Silicon Valley Watcher also learned that Google assembled its global salesforce of about 1800 people in San Francisco this week to brief them on the new technology, and how it will be marketed. It represents a complete revamp of its Adwords/Adsense text ads program. More details HERE."
Google to Branch Into Television
Forbes.com
"Google Inc. is using its popular Internet search technology to find information and images broadcast on television, continuing a recent effort to extend its reach beyond the Web.
The Mountain View-based company planned to introduce the new video search service Tuesday in an index that will be operated separately from the market-leading search engine offered on its home page. The feature pinpoints content previously aired on a variety of television networks by scanning through the closed caption text that many programmers offer.
Google's index, which began storing information last month, includes programming from ABC, PBS, Fox News and C-SPAN. "
"Google Inc. is using its popular Internet search technology to find information and images broadcast on television, continuing a recent effort to extend its reach beyond the Web.
The Mountain View-based company planned to introduce the new video search service Tuesday in an index that will be operated separately from the market-leading search engine offered on its home page. The feature pinpoints content previously aired on a variety of television networks by scanning through the closed caption text that many programmers offer.
Google's index, which began storing information last month, includes programming from ABC, PBS, Fox News and C-SPAN. "
Monday, January 24, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
AdSense Teetering?
John Battelle's Searchblog: Traffick
Writes about an: "Interesting post on Traffick positing the theory that Google's AdSense 'faces extinction' unless Google does something about it. The author notes that AdSense doesn't work so well for publishers with strong repeat audiences (I can attest to that), that click fraud is growing "
Battelle reckons that he doesn't "think we'll see AdSense going anywhere, but I agree that upgrades are due, and I sense they are coming shortly. First up might be verticalization - so you can buy in large consumer verticals like autos, travel, etc. Second might be opeing up the network to let developers build mini-networks of endemically related sites."
Writes about an: "Interesting post on Traffick positing the theory that Google's AdSense 'faces extinction' unless Google does something about it. The author notes that AdSense doesn't work so well for publishers with strong repeat audiences (I can attest to that), that click fraud is growing "
Battelle reckons that he doesn't "think we'll see AdSense going anywhere, but I agree that upgrades are due, and I sense they are coming shortly. First up might be verticalization - so you can buy in large consumer verticals like autos, travel, etc. Second might be opeing up the network to let developers build mini-networks of endemically related sites."
Google loses trademark dispute in France
CNET News.com
"A French court has ruled that Google must refrain from using the trademarks of European resort chain Le Meridian Hotels and Resorts to trigger keyword ads. "
"A French court has ruled that Google must refrain from using the trademarks of European resort chain Le Meridian Hotels and Resorts to trigger keyword ads. "
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Google rules out comment spam
Rumours and buzz by the cartload have been flying around between bloggers about the possibility of action against the curse of blog comment spam this week.
It has now been made public that a new tag has been proposed by Google and agreed to by Yahoo and MSN. The code will be built into blogging software to prevent the spam bots which auto add links to blog comments having any value as the links will not be followed and so not influence rankings.
Official Google Blog
"Preventing comment spam"
Matt Cutts runs through a few guidelines. A main feature is that this is to be built into blog software by a large number of blog service providers and will automatically be applied to links in comments. He also states that it will applied more widely than just blogs: "We think any piece of software that allows others to add links to an author's site (including guestbooks, visitor stats, or referrer lists) can use this attribute. We're working primarily with blog software makers for now because blogs are such a common target."
Cutts explains that "Any link that a user can create on your site automatically gets a new "nofollow" attribute. So if a blog spammer previously added a comment like
Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site.
That comment would be transformed to
Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site."
Blog and press coverage about this story
CNET News.com cover the official Google announcment and comments from around the blogosphere.
"Google will introduce new technology controls to thwart people using blogs to manipulate rankings in its search results. Otherwise known as "link" or "comment spam," the ruse is as old as Web marketing. Such Web site promoters use the comment form on forums, blogs or any Web page to place or gain a link pointing back to their own Web site."
CNET quote Danny Sullivan "said that Google plans to give publishers a new control, or tag, that they can insert onto a Web page to indicate that comments or links are not their own or of lesser value to the search engine. Called a "no follow" tag, the control when placed before pages of blog comments will signal to Google as it indexes the Web that the pages are to be overlooked. That will render comment spam ineffectual."
Sullivan at SEW Blogcontinues: "the indexing tag will be the first innovation in almost 10 years for publishers. The last was a tag to avoid being indexed entirely by the search engines. "It's nice to see the search engines give Web authors a new tool to control how we're indexed"
Sullivan concludes: "I'd recommend using it as intended for now -- as a means to flag that there are certain links on your web site that you didn't place there."
He warns against using it to "hoard" PageRAnk or otherwise artificially manipulate within your own site and watch out for potential link partners who use it to avoid you beifiting in terms of PageRank. It may be useful if you need to link to a page that you have doubts about.
Steve Rubel Micro Persuasion: Report: Google to Put Kibosh on Blog Comment Spam
Provides links to the build up to the official announcements by MSN, Yahoo and Google stating "several bloggers have reported that Winer was testing a new Google linking mechanism that might put an end to blog comment spam by omitting all links from its PageRank calculations that have a rel='nofollow' attribute tag. This would change the economics behind why people comment spam popular blogs - to boost their Google search rank."
Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger
Robert Scoble makes two pertinent points:"
1) It will encourage more people to link to their competitors
2) Anyone notice how Google got its competitors to do something without needing to get a standards committee involved? All within hours? Hmm, why doesn't everything in the industry work like this?
Yahoo! Search blog: A Defense Against Comment Spam
Working Together Against Blog Spam
It has now been made public that a new tag has been proposed by Google and agreed to by Yahoo and MSN. The code will be built into blogging software to prevent the spam bots which auto add links to blog comments having any value as the links will not be followed and so not influence rankings.
Official Google Blog
"Preventing comment spam"
Matt Cutts runs through a few guidelines. A main feature is that this is to be built into blog software by a large number of blog service providers and will automatically be applied to links in comments. He also states that it will applied more widely than just blogs: "We think any piece of software that allows others to add links to an author's site (including guestbooks, visitor stats, or referrer lists) can use this attribute. We're working primarily with blog software makers for now because blogs are such a common target."
Cutts explains that "Any link that a user can create on your site automatically gets a new "nofollow" attribute. So if a blog spammer previously added a comment like
Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site.
That comment would be transformed to
Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site."
Blog and press coverage about this story
CNET News.com cover the official Google announcment and comments from around the blogosphere.
"Google will introduce new technology controls to thwart people using blogs to manipulate rankings in its search results. Otherwise known as "link" or "comment spam," the ruse is as old as Web marketing. Such Web site promoters use the comment form on forums, blogs or any Web page to place or gain a link pointing back to their own Web site."
CNET quote Danny Sullivan "said that Google plans to give publishers a new control, or tag, that they can insert onto a Web page to indicate that comments or links are not their own or of lesser value to the search engine. Called a "no follow" tag, the control when placed before pages of blog comments will signal to Google as it indexes the Web that the pages are to be overlooked. That will render comment spam ineffectual."
Sullivan at SEW Blogcontinues: "the indexing tag will be the first innovation in almost 10 years for publishers. The last was a tag to avoid being indexed entirely by the search engines. "It's nice to see the search engines give Web authors a new tool to control how we're indexed"
Sullivan concludes: "I'd recommend using it as intended for now -- as a means to flag that there are certain links on your web site that you didn't place there."
He warns against using it to "hoard" PageRAnk or otherwise artificially manipulate within your own site and watch out for potential link partners who use it to avoid you beifiting in terms of PageRank. It may be useful if you need to link to a page that you have doubts about.
Steve Rubel Micro Persuasion: Report: Google to Put Kibosh on Blog Comment Spam
Provides links to the build up to the official announcements by MSN, Yahoo and Google stating "several bloggers have reported that Winer was testing a new Google linking mechanism that might put an end to blog comment spam by omitting all links from its PageRank calculations that have a rel='nofollow' attribute tag. This would change the economics behind why people comment spam popular blogs - to boost their Google search rank."
Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger
Robert Scoble makes two pertinent points:"
1) It will encourage more people to link to their competitors
2) Anyone notice how Google got its competitors to do something without needing to get a standards committee involved? All within hours? Hmm, why doesn't everything in the industry work like this?
Yahoo! Search blog: A Defense Against Comment Spam
Working Together Against Blog Spam
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Google Releases Photo Organizing Software
Forbes.com
"Google Inc. released free software Tuesday for organizing and finding the hundreds or thousands of digital photos often stored on a computer's hard drive. Using technology developed by Picasa Inc., which Google bought last year, the new software will try to make keeping a photo collection and editing pictures simple even for beginners, said Lars Perkins, Picasa's general manager."
Main features:
Does not use folders and files, uses proprietry search instead
Very easy to use tools
IE 5.01 or higher, or Mozilla Firefox
It seems to me that Google are intent on changing the way users organise their data, making storage and retrieval as easy as possible for the public especially. Once you get mass take up of such tools or features outside the techie sphere reaching tipping point and taking over the desktop should be a doddle.
"Google Inc. released free software Tuesday for organizing and finding the hundreds or thousands of digital photos often stored on a computer's hard drive. Using technology developed by Picasa Inc., which Google bought last year, the new software will try to make keeping a photo collection and editing pictures simple even for beginners, said Lars Perkins, Picasa's general manager."
Main features:
Does not use folders and files, uses proprietry search instead
Very easy to use tools
IE 5.01 or higher, or Mozilla Firefox
It seems to me that Google are intent on changing the way users organise their data, making storage and retrieval as easy as possible for the public especially. Once you get mass take up of such tools or features outside the techie sphere reaching tipping point and taking over the desktop should be a doddle.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Affiliates and Adwords - TBC
SEO Blog Brad Fallon
Summarises the new policy: "Google changed their AdWords policy so that only one ad will display for any one 'displayed URL' for any given search term.
Huh? Simply, this means that when you search for, say, the title of a book, only one ad can appear that shows Amazon.com as the URL in the ad. "
He comments that "by all objective standards (and the most important 'user experience,') this change was a good thing.
The interesting thing to me is that for the first few days many commentators couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing for those affected by it the most -- affiliates and merchants."
Summarises the new policy: "Google changed their AdWords policy so that only one ad will display for any one 'displayed URL' for any given search term.
Huh? Simply, this means that when you search for, say, the title of a book, only one ad can appear that shows Amazon.com as the URL in the ad. "
He comments that "by all objective standards (and the most important 'user experience,') this change was a good thing.
The interesting thing to me is that for the first few days many commentators couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing for those affected by it the most -- affiliates and merchants."
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Whoops!
Google Search: allinurl:beta.totaltravel.co.uk
"Results 101 - 110 of 110 for allinurl:beta.totaltravel.co.uk"
"Results 101 - 110 of 110 for allinurl:beta.totaltravel.co.uk"
Friday, January 14, 2005
Blog Business Summit
Blog Business Summit
"This event will show you how your business can leverage current real-world blogging techniques, tools and platforms to promote and enhance your ventures."
"The Blog Business Summit is being organized by Steve Broback, who says that among the 100 registrants so far is Tom Peters, the management consultant and author. The conference is aimed at meeting the interests of three audiences: marketing and public relations people who want to understand blogging, bloggers who want to know how to make money, and entrepreneurs who see an opportunity in another "new media." "
"This event will show you how your business can leverage current real-world blogging techniques, tools and platforms to promote and enhance your ventures."
"The Blog Business Summit is being organized by Steve Broback, who says that among the 100 registrants so far is Tom Peters, the management consultant and author. The conference is aimed at meeting the interests of three audiences: marketing and public relations people who want to understand blogging, bloggers who want to know how to make money, and entrepreneurs who see an opportunity in another "new media." "
The shampoo effect : 'Did you mean' feature added to Google's search page instantly doubled usage
Internet Daily remarks about Alan Williamsons evening with Googles Marissa Mayer:
"A project manager at Google spoke at a Silicon Valley meeting Wednesday and said the addition of a 'Did you mean' feature to Google's search page had instantly doubled usage of the site. Marissa Mayer also told the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of ACM SIGCHI the 'I feel lucky' button is rarely used. In trials, though, it was found that removing that option would compromise 'the Google experience,' Alan Williamson reported on his blog. Mayer also said Google has the largest network of translators in the world.. "
The shampo effect? "Rinse and repeat" = double sales....
"A project manager at Google spoke at a Silicon Valley meeting Wednesday and said the addition of a 'Did you mean' feature to Google's search page had instantly doubled usage of the site. Marissa Mayer also told the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of ACM SIGCHI the 'I feel lucky' button is rarely used. In trials, though, it was found that removing that option would compromise 'the Google experience,' Alan Williamson reported on his blog. Mayer also said Google has the largest network of translators in the world.. "
The shampo effect? "Rinse and repeat" = double sales....
An evening with Googles Marissa Mayer
alan.blog-city.com
Alan Williamson blogs about "the BayCHI lecture at PARC given by Marissa Mayer (Product Manager for Google). A very well attended (standing room only session), Marissa took us through a presentation geared around the user experience at Google and the efforts/lengths they go to. "
His account of the lecture ends with a "Quote: Give Users What They Want When They Want It"
Alan Williamson blogs about "the BayCHI lecture at PARC given by Marissa Mayer (Product Manager for Google). A very well attended (standing room only session), Marissa took us through a presentation geared around the user experience at Google and the efforts/lengths they go to. "
His account of the lecture ends with a "Quote: Give Users What They Want When They Want It"
Google settles SEC, California charges over options
CBS Marketwatch
"The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged Google Inc. with failing to register $80 million in option grants to employees when the search engine was a private company. "
"The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged Google Inc. with failing to register $80 million in option grants to employees when the search engine was a private company. "
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Google begins recruiting in India
CNET News.com
"Search giant Google has begun head hunting in India. "
"Search giant Google has begun head hunting in India. "
Opening The Backdoor To The Google Platform
Techdirt
"In a move that looks much more designed to be about getting publicity than actually being useful, someone has released, as open source, code needed to scrape Google, and present a Google clone -- sans ads."
Techdirt's Mike writes "this does highlight the legal question of whether or not compiling a database of publicly available info is copyrightable itself. It's probably in Google's best interest to simply let this one lie."
"In a move that looks much more designed to be about getting publicity than actually being useful, someone has released, as open source, code needed to scrape Google, and present a Google clone -- sans ads."
Techdirt's Mike writes "this does highlight the legal question of whether or not compiling a database of publicly available info is copyrightable itself. It's probably in Google's best interest to simply let this one lie."
Google readies budget search appliance
CNET News.com
"Google on Thursday is expected to begin selling the Google Mini--economical-size hardware for corporate-intranet search--in a move to diversify its business"
"Google on Thursday is expected to begin selling the Google Mini--economical-size hardware for corporate-intranet search--in a move to diversify its business"
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Affiliate ads policy changes
Traffick
Andrew Goodman writes about his own experiences with promoting affiliate programs using adwords and he concludes that: "For those affiliates who actually build their own websites, this policy change does not affect them at all. It's mostly aimed at the types of advertisers who are playing the 'Google Cash' game of sending searchers directly from an AdWords listing right to a parent site, with an affiliate code on the URL."
He also blogs about enforcing policies across the board, reckoning that about 0.25% of all breaches will go undetected and unresolved. Take this figure alongside his estimate of 95% of sites that comply versus 5% that knowingly violate policies to gain unfair advantage and it is still a large risk to break policies. For sites aiming at long term success it is just not worth it. If on the other hand the business is willing to continually pay to rebuild, change domains and urls the % advantage is probably worth it.
Google is the gorilla of search and search ads policies both explicit and implicit and it is questionable whether they can ever detect most policy violations, even to 90% either purely via algorithms or with human input. The frustations of seemingly successful spam techniques is not likely to dissappear soon.
Andrew Goodman writes about his own experiences with promoting affiliate programs using adwords and he concludes that: "For those affiliates who actually build their own websites, this policy change does not affect them at all. It's mostly aimed at the types of advertisers who are playing the 'Google Cash' game of sending searchers directly from an AdWords listing right to a parent site, with an affiliate code on the URL."
He also blogs about enforcing policies across the board, reckoning that about 0.25% of all breaches will go undetected and unresolved. Take this figure alongside his estimate of 95% of sites that comply versus 5% that knowingly violate policies to gain unfair advantage and it is still a large risk to break policies. For sites aiming at long term success it is just not worth it. If on the other hand the business is willing to continually pay to rebuild, change domains and urls the % advantage is probably worth it.
Google is the gorilla of search and search ads policies both explicit and implicit and it is questionable whether they can ever detect most policy violations, even to 90% either purely via algorithms or with human input. The frustations of seemingly successful spam techniques is not likely to dissappear soon.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Google's New Ad Policy to Affect Affiliate Marketers
clickz.com
Reports that "The new policy, which will be implemented over the coming weeks, is intended to create a cleaner interface for users, increase the diversity of merchants represented in the links, and reduce duplicate ads, all while recognizing the important benefits affiliate marketers bring to the table, said Salar Kamangar, director of product management at Google."
See Search Engine News Blog for "Google's official AdWords Announcement "
Reports that "The new policy, which will be implemented over the coming weeks, is intended to create a cleaner interface for users, increase the diversity of merchants represented in the links, and reduce duplicate ads, all while recognizing the important benefits affiliate marketers bring to the table, said Salar Kamangar, director of product management at Google."
See Search Engine News Blog for "Google's official AdWords Announcement "
Google riches outed on the Web
CNET News.com
Due to " a rarely invoked securities law" Google has has to "report stock sales of hundreds of employees, rather than just top shareholders."
The article continues "the SEC filings have struck something of a nerve inside the company by offering an unusually candid look into the wealth of co-workers. That's creating unaccustomed tensions inside a workplace that has long projected an image of collegial egalitarianism to the outside world"
Due to " a rarely invoked securities law" Google has has to "report stock sales of hundreds of employees, rather than just top shareholders."
The article continues "the SEC filings have struck something of a nerve inside the company by offering an unusually candid look into the wealth of co-workers. That's creating unaccustomed tensions inside a workplace that has long projected an image of collegial egalitarianism to the outside world"
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Google is seeking an ad agency rumour
New York Post Online Edition
"As rumors persist that Google is seeking an ad agency for a traditional marketing campaign, it appears that hot creative shop Crispin Porter Bogusky may have the inside track.
Despite reports that Google has handled its marketing efforts in-house, it turns out that Madison Avenue outsider Crispin has already done some work for the company.
Google, the most popular Internet search engine, hired the Miami ad agency earlier this year to come up with some clever billboards to help it recruit math and computer whizzes. "
"As rumors persist that Google is seeking an ad agency for a traditional marketing campaign, it appears that hot creative shop Crispin Porter Bogusky may have the inside track.
Despite reports that Google has handled its marketing efforts in-house, it turns out that Madison Avenue outsider Crispin has already done some work for the company.
Google, the most popular Internet search engine, hired the Miami ad agency earlier this year to come up with some clever billboards to help it recruit math and computer whizzes. "
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Google to launch charitable foundation
Google readies charitable foundation | CNET News.com: "Google's founders have announced their intention to create the Google Foundation with their April 2004 'owner's manual,' and now the company is in search of an executive director to head the group...
The new foundation will have 1 percent of Google's equity and profits to distribute, the company promised last year."
The article lists personal and company foundations:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation
eBay
Salesforce.com
The new foundation will have 1 percent of Google's equity and profits to distribute, the company promised last year."
The article lists personal and company foundations:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation
eBay
Salesforce.com
60 Minutes Google Fluff Piece
CBS News | Defining Google
Mostly derided as being PR fluff the progarm did have a couple of notable points:
"John Battelle, an author and entrepreneur who has been following Silicon Valley companies for 20 years... says, "Google has a brand image to maintain...
"If anybody got a Porsche or a Ferrari right now at Google, they’d probably be drummed out of the company...But trust me," he adds. "There’s a Mercedes convertible in every one of their heads. There is. And it will…come out. Over time, it will come out." "
The MSN V Google "war is on, with Google betting that its troops can innovate faster than Microsoft’s."
" To this day, Google has still never run a TV commercial. Their popularity has spread literally by word of mouth around the world."
"Google is hiring about 25 new people every week, and receives more than 1,000 resumes a day. But they’re determined to stick to their rigorous screening process"... via various aptitude tests and Brin and Page "personally approve the hiring of nearly every new employee. "
"Battelle describes another advance potentially on the not-so-distant horizon. Users would, he says, "have a device which is in your pocket, which looks like a phone, and you go to a supermarket and you see a potentially overpriced box of pasta. And you take that device and you wand it over the product code, and you see comparison prices from Google of three other stores that are within a mile, OK? That’s power. That’s search. But no one has quite figured out that. That’s also the future."
Mostly derided as being PR fluff the progarm did have a couple of notable points:
"John Battelle, an author and entrepreneur who has been following Silicon Valley companies for 20 years... says, "Google has a brand image to maintain...
"If anybody got a Porsche or a Ferrari right now at Google, they’d probably be drummed out of the company...But trust me," he adds. "There’s a Mercedes convertible in every one of their heads. There is. And it will…come out. Over time, it will come out." "
The MSN V Google "war is on, with Google betting that its troops can innovate faster than Microsoft’s."
" To this day, Google has still never run a TV commercial. Their popularity has spread literally by word of mouth around the world."
"Google is hiring about 25 new people every week, and receives more than 1,000 resumes a day. But they’re determined to stick to their rigorous screening process"... via various aptitude tests and Brin and Page "personally approve the hiring of nearly every new employee. "
"Battelle describes another advance potentially on the not-so-distant horizon. Users would, he says, "have a device which is in your pocket, which looks like a phone, and you go to a supermarket and you see a potentially overpriced box of pasta. And you take that device and you wand it over the product code, and you see comparison prices from Google of three other stores that are within a mile, OK? That’s power. That’s search. But no one has quite figured out that. That’s also the future."
Larry Page And Sergey Brin: Profiles
businessweek.com
"Larry Page And Sergey Brin...found no buyer for their technology and had no clue how to turn it into a business. Initially they scorned the notion of accepting ads. But after a competitor began selling ads around search results for sizable profits, Google followed suit. Its superior technology brought in hordes of users, igniting ad sales. Today, Google is a $2 billion advertising juggernaut..."
"Larry Page And Sergey Brin...found no buyer for their technology and had no clue how to turn it into a business. Initially they scorned the notion of accepting ads. But after a competitor began selling ads around search results for sizable profits, Google followed suit. Its superior technology brought in hordes of users, igniting ad sales. Today, Google is a $2 billion advertising juggernaut..."
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Google Sponsored Links Search
Google
This returns sponsored listings (adwords) only for search phrase or single word...
Cory Kleinschmidt at Traffick reckons this will "increase the exposure for advertisers whose ads normally wouldn't appear until page 2 or 3 of the Google search results". I am a little more sceptical especially as this totally seperates the paid ads form the organic results....What will be next along this trend?
This returns sponsored listings (adwords) only for search phrase or single word...
Cory Kleinschmidt at Traffick reckons this will "increase the exposure for advertisers whose ads normally wouldn't appear until page 2 or 3 of the Google search results". I am a little more sceptical especially as this totally seperates the paid ads form the organic results....What will be next along this trend?
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
AdWords: best tips and examples from The Google Team
The Google Team with just 95 characters per ad, you get the lowest cost per lead of any direct marketing medium available. We have studied thousands of AdWords campaigns at Google. This workbook, The Maximum Effect, is a compilation of the best tips and examples you can use to make the most of those 95 characters for your business. We hope you find it useful enough to keep handy as you develop your Google AdWords campaigns.
McCaffrey leaving Google
SiliconBeat
"Cindy McCaffrey, Google's vice president of corporate marketing, is leaving... McCaffrey shaped Google's low-key marketing approach, rejecting a high-profile campaign in the company's early years in favor of word-of-mouth marketing, colleague Matt Marshall says. "Remember, (then interim marketing V.P.) Scott Epstein brought in some high-powered advertising experts and proposed a massive advertising campaign in late 1999. McCaffrey, siding with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, rejected that approach, saying they'd rather spend their money on developing the best product, which would be the best way of generating publicity."
"Cindy McCaffrey, Google's vice president of corporate marketing, is leaving... McCaffrey shaped Google's low-key marketing approach, rejecting a high-profile campaign in the company's early years in favor of word-of-mouth marketing, colleague Matt Marshall says. "Remember, (then interim marketing V.P.) Scott Epstein brought in some high-powered advertising experts and proposed a massive advertising campaign in late 1999. McCaffrey, siding with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, rejected that approach, saying they'd rather spend their money on developing the best product, which would be the best way of generating publicity."
Google Won Geico Trademark Ruling
DMNews.com
"A federal judge ruled in Google's favor yesterday in the first U.S. court ruling that search engines can sell advertising triggered by trademarked terms"
Googles "new policy lets advertisers bid on trademarked terms, but not use them in ad copy. Reebok could bid on the keyword "Nike" but not use the term in its paid listing keyed by that term. Previously, Google would remove a term from auction if a trademark owner requested...
still will consider whether including trademarked terms in the text of paid listings is a violation....
Google has said it is the responsibility of advertisers to obey trademark law, and that as a publisher it should not act as an arbitrator of infringement claims. Outside of the United States and Canada, however, Google continues to remove trademarked terms from its ad auction upon request"
"A federal judge ruled in Google's favor yesterday in the first U.S. court ruling that search engines can sell advertising triggered by trademarked terms"
Googles "new policy lets advertisers bid on trademarked terms, but not use them in ad copy. Reebok could bid on the keyword "Nike" but not use the term in its paid listing keyed by that term. Previously, Google would remove a term from auction if a trademark owner requested...
still will consider whether including trademarked terms in the text of paid listings is a violation....
Google has said it is the responsibility of advertisers to obey trademark law, and that as a publisher it should not act as an arbitrator of infringement claims. Outside of the United States and Canada, however, Google continues to remove trademarked terms from its ad auction upon request"
Monday, December 20, 2004
Google: We've fixed desktop search tool flaw
CNET News.com
"Google says it has fixed a flaw that could allow hackers to search the contents of PCs running the company's desktop search tool. " Article gives full details.
"Google says it has fixed a flaw that could allow hackers to search the contents of PCs running the company's desktop search tool. " Article gives full details.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
GOOGLE GUY GIVES VERDICT ON SPECIFIC SITE BAN
Help-Stop-Smoking Site Rankings Drop Out Of Google - Non-Profit site - Please Help!: "Wait a second. visibility hidden? font-size is set to 1 pixel? But wouldn't that mean that all those great resource links are hidden to users? Hmm.
Weird. Last time I noticed, there were also lots of links to help-quit-smoking-stop-smoking-quitting-aids.com from pages like http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/refer.htm . Hmm. Looks like the same company doing this?
bobmutch, here's what I'd tell Blair: if you want to run a non-profit, don't link to sites that have hidden text via CSS, especially not on the *footer of practically every page on the site*. Who you link to can affect your ranking. This site seemed to have a lot of links to a lot of very aggressive sites for a non-profit. I'd recommend that he remove all links to these aggressive sites, and then send an email to us requesting reinclusion.
Hope that helps,
GoogleGuy"
Weird. Last time I noticed, there were also lots of links to help-quit-smoking-stop-smoking-quitting-aids.com from pages like http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/refer.htm . Hmm. Looks like the same company doing this?
bobmutch, here's what I'd tell Blair: if you want to run a non-profit, don't link to sites that have hidden text via CSS, especially not on the *footer of practically every page on the site*. Who you link to can affect your ranking. This site seemed to have a lot of links to a lot of very aggressive sites for a non-profit. I'd recommend that he remove all links to these aggressive sites, and then send an email to us requesting reinclusion.
Hope that helps,
GoogleGuy"
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Suggested Google Alphabet
Patrick Gaskill
"After reading about the exposed Google Suggest URL over at InsideGoogle and seeing the ABCs of Google posted by Hatta on Slashdot, I decided to automate the process. Each time you load this page, it checks the most popular keyword for each letter of the alphabet given by Google Suggest, and displays them here for your viewing pleasure. "
"After reading about the exposed Google Suggest URL over at InsideGoogle and seeing the ABCs of Google posted by Hatta on Slashdot, I decided to automate the process. Each time you load this page, it checks the most popular keyword for each letter of the alphabet given by Google Suggest, and displays them here for your viewing pleasure. "
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Google Wins Trademark Ad Lawsuit
Forbes.com
"Google Inc. won a major legal victory Wednesday when a federal judge said the search engine could continue to sell ads triggered by searches using trademarked company names.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a claim by auto insurance giant Geico Corp., which argued that Google should not be allowed to sell ads to rival insurance companies that appear whenever Geico's name is typed into the Google search box...
But Brinkema said the case would continue to move forward on one remaining issue, whether ads that pop up and actually use Geico in their text violate trademark law. Google contends that its policies expressly forbid advertisers from using trademark names in the text of their ads. The search engine says it does its best to prevent ads that violate the policy from sneaking in, and that the advertisers would liable for any trademark violation, not Google.
Brinkema said she would halt the trial at this point to put a decision in writing and she encouraged both parties to try and settle the remaining issues."
So it appears the trademark can be bought by anyone as "keyword" but not used in the text shown in the ad....
CBS Marketwatch
Add details to coverage of the case:
"Geico claimed that Google shouldn't let rival insurers buy the Geico name, because customers become confused when they type in 'Geico' into the keyword box and receive links to competing services and rivals. 'There is no evidence that that activity alone causes confusion,' said Brinkema, according to the Associated Press."
Commenting about a related case yet to be heard "David Rammelt, an attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren, which represents American Blind added:
"The judge recognized that the allegations Geico raised valid claims for trademark dilution and trademark infringement...the broader impact of this case is that it will vary on case by case as to whether or not individual companies can show confusion or the likelihood of confusion of those companies."
In the motion to dismiss the Geico case, Google wrote: "Imagine, for example, that Ford wants to target its advertising at Toyota customers. Ford goes to magazines such as Car and Driver and pays to have a full-page Ford ad face every Toyota review the magazine prints that year.
"Ford is aware that many of the readers of those ads go to those pages looking for information about Toyotas. After all, that is precisely the point: Ford wants to target its ads at its competitors' customers and prospective customers, and win those customers," the company argued. "
"Google Inc. won a major legal victory Wednesday when a federal judge said the search engine could continue to sell ads triggered by searches using trademarked company names.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a claim by auto insurance giant Geico Corp., which argued that Google should not be allowed to sell ads to rival insurance companies that appear whenever Geico's name is typed into the Google search box...
But Brinkema said the case would continue to move forward on one remaining issue, whether ads that pop up and actually use Geico in their text violate trademark law. Google contends that its policies expressly forbid advertisers from using trademark names in the text of their ads. The search engine says it does its best to prevent ads that violate the policy from sneaking in, and that the advertisers would liable for any trademark violation, not Google.
Brinkema said she would halt the trial at this point to put a decision in writing and she encouraged both parties to try and settle the remaining issues."
So it appears the trademark can be bought by anyone as "keyword" but not used in the text shown in the ad....
CBS Marketwatch
Add details to coverage of the case:
"Geico claimed that Google shouldn't let rival insurers buy the Geico name, because customers become confused when they type in 'Geico' into the keyword box and receive links to competing services and rivals. 'There is no evidence that that activity alone causes confusion,' said Brinkema, according to the Associated Press."
Commenting about a related case yet to be heard "David Rammelt, an attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren, which represents American Blind added:
"The judge recognized that the allegations Geico raised valid claims for trademark dilution and trademark infringement...the broader impact of this case is that it will vary on case by case as to whether or not individual companies can show confusion or the likelihood of confusion of those companies."
In the motion to dismiss the Geico case, Google wrote: "Imagine, for example, that Ford wants to target its advertising at Toyota customers. Ford goes to magazines such as Car and Driver and pays to have a full-page Ford ad face every Toyota review the magazine prints that year.
"Ford is aware that many of the readers of those ads go to those pages looking for information about Toyotas. After all, that is precisely the point: Ford wants to target its ads at its competitors' customers and prospective customers, and win those customers," the company argued. "
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Google to Scan Books From Big Libraries
Forbes.com
"Google Inc. is trying to establish an online reading room for five major libraries by scanning stacks of hard-to-find books into its widely used Internet search engine.
The ambitious initiative announced late Monday gives Mountain View, Calif.-based Google the right to index material from the New York public library as well as libraries at four universities - Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford in England...
"This is the day the world changes," said John Wilkin, a University of Michigan librarian working with Google. "It will be disruptive because some people will worry that this is the beginning of the end of libraries. But this is something we have to do to revitalize the profession and make it more meaningful."
The books scanned from libraries will be included in the same Google index the spans the Web. By throwing everything into the same pot, Google risks burying the library book results far below the Web documents containing the same search terms term, reducing the usefulness of the feature, said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch."
"Google Inc. is trying to establish an online reading room for five major libraries by scanning stacks of hard-to-find books into its widely used Internet search engine.
The ambitious initiative announced late Monday gives Mountain View, Calif.-based Google the right to index material from the New York public library as well as libraries at four universities - Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford in England...
"This is the day the world changes," said John Wilkin, a University of Michigan librarian working with Google. "It will be disruptive because some people will worry that this is the beginning of the end of libraries. But this is something we have to do to revitalize the profession and make it more meaningful."
The books scanned from libraries will be included in the same Google index the spans the Web. By throwing everything into the same pot, Google risks burying the library book results far below the Web documents containing the same search terms term, reducing the usefulness of the feature, said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch."
Monday, December 13, 2004
Google Suggest FAQ
Google Labs
Completes words in a drop-down list of ten possible &/or likely ways to complete any word you begin to type in the search box AND how many times that option is searched at Google
Main features from FAQ
1) Works in real time
2) Algorithms use a wide range of information to predict the queries - give Google Zeitgeist as an example data source
3) Does not base its suggestions on your personal search history
4) Suggests more refined searches up front - less need to refine queries
5) Uses information about the relative popularity of common searches to rank its suggestions
Labs preferred example searches:
You type a few letters and Google Suggest might offer:
"bass" "bass guitar" "bass fishing"
"prog" "programming" "programming languages" "progesterone" "progressive"
"duke" "duke university" "dukes of hazzard" "duke nukem" "duke ellington" "duke power"
The implications for SEO are discussed at Webmaster World
where AaronL points out the differences between "did you mean" and the new suggest feature:
"The "did you mean" feature offers suggestions after you submit your query, thus allowing you to finish your thought. In addition, it is used most often to address spelling issues, rather than completely different search strings. Here G has the opportunity to shape the query and “herd” the user down G's preferred path."
The last sentence sums up the general feeling about the effect "suggest" could have on searchers habits if it is integrated into the main search.
Alphabetical advantages become interesting again
strong adult filter is on
New opportunities to spam google: how do I get to the top of the suggestions list?
internetheaven believes that "This means that all traffic will be directed to a few specific terms, obviously the traffic for these sites will increase dramatically while the others disappear off the face of the earth. Now you don't have to work out which terms users want, you have to work out what Google is going to recommend they want .... "
While Tigrou feels that from a searchers point of view it "Seems to be a terrible example of engineers gone wild & somehow bypassing look/feel & usability people."
The Google employee who came up with the idea in their 20% time posts in the Google Blog This "Labs project that provides you with search suggestions, in real time, while you type. We've found that Google Suggest not only makes it easier to type in your favorite searches (let's face it -- we're all a little lazy), but also gives you a playground to explore what others are searching about, and learn about things you haven't dreamt of."
Completes words in a drop-down list of ten possible &/or likely ways to complete any word you begin to type in the search box AND how many times that option is searched at Google
Main features from FAQ
1) Works in real time
2) Algorithms use a wide range of information to predict the queries - give Google Zeitgeist as an example data source
3) Does not base its suggestions on your personal search history
4) Suggests more refined searches up front - less need to refine queries
5) Uses information about the relative popularity of common searches to rank its suggestions
Labs preferred example searches:
You type a few letters and Google Suggest might offer:
"bass" "bass guitar" "bass fishing"
"prog" "programming" "programming languages" "progesterone" "progressive"
"duke" "duke university" "dukes of hazzard" "duke nukem" "duke ellington" "duke power"
The implications for SEO are discussed at Webmaster World
where AaronL points out the differences between "did you mean" and the new suggest feature:
"The "did you mean" feature offers suggestions after you submit your query, thus allowing you to finish your thought. In addition, it is used most often to address spelling issues, rather than completely different search strings. Here G has the opportunity to shape the query and “herd” the user down G's preferred path."
The last sentence sums up the general feeling about the effect "suggest" could have on searchers habits if it is integrated into the main search.
Alphabetical advantages become interesting again
strong adult filter is on
New opportunities to spam google: how do I get to the top of the suggestions list?
internetheaven believes that "This means that all traffic will be directed to a few specific terms, obviously the traffic for these sites will increase dramatically while the others disappear off the face of the earth. Now you don't have to work out which terms users want, you have to work out what Google is going to recommend they want .... "
While Tigrou feels that from a searchers point of view it "Seems to be a terrible example of engineers gone wild & somehow bypassing look/feel & usability people."
The Google employee who came up with the idea in their 20% time posts in the Google Blog This "Labs project that provides you with search suggestions, in real time, while you type. We've found that Google Suggest not only makes it easier to type in your favorite searches (let's face it -- we're all a little lazy), but also gives you a playground to explore what others are searching about, and learn about things you haven't dreamt of."
Google Sued Over Scholar
John Battelle's Searchblog
"The American Chemical Society yesterday filed a complaint against Google, claiming the new Google Scholar infringes on its own product, called SciFinder Scholar. "
Battelle reckons that the case is not down to the American Chemical Society & Google being in the same business but due to ACS wanting to keep their product's revenue....
"Aha! Google Scholar is free. SciFinder is paid. If Google Scholar wins out, SciFinder loses. They can't sue Google for making information free, but they can sue for trademark."
The legal action doc has been posted at Resourceshelf
"The American Chemical Society yesterday filed a complaint against Google, claiming the new Google Scholar infringes on its own product, called SciFinder Scholar. "
Battelle reckons that the case is not down to the American Chemical Society & Google being in the same business but due to ACS wanting to keep their product's revenue....
"Aha! Google Scholar is free. SciFinder is paid. If Google Scholar wins out, SciFinder loses. They can't sue Google for making information free, but they can sue for trademark."
The legal action doc has been posted at Resourceshelf
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Google Suggest - New Beta Tool from Google
Threadwatch.org
Most wide ranging discussion of the Google "suggest" and reverse engineering...I am alos of the opinion that this tool could skew the seerps even more to high volume (and high cost) for clicks.
Most wide ranging discussion of the Google "suggest" and reverse engineering...I am alos of the opinion that this tool could skew the seerps even more to high volume (and high cost) for clicks.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Site-Flavored Google Search Beta
Google Business Solutions
Users of Google search solutions can test new personalisation features...expect these to become the norm..
Users of Google search solutions can test new personalisation features...expect these to become the norm..
Google offers a suggestion
CNET News.com
"Google has launched a new feature that tries to guess what users are looking for as they type queries into a search box.
Google Suggest quietly debuted this week on the company's Labs site, which showcases Google features that 'aren't quite ready for prime time,' according to a message on the site. "
Google: "As you type, Google will offer suggestions. Use the arrow keys to navigate the results."
Google Suggest FAQ: "Google Suggest : Frequently Asked Questions "
Invisible tabs?
"Google has launched a new feature that tries to guess what users are looking for as they type queries into a search box.
Google Suggest quietly debuted this week on the company's Labs site, which showcases Google features that 'aren't quite ready for prime time,' according to a message on the site. "
Google: "As you type, Google will offer suggestions. Use the arrow keys to navigate the results."
Google Suggest FAQ: "Google Suggest : Frequently Asked Questions "
Invisible tabs?
Google Magazine Search?
internetnews.com
"Google (Quote, Chart) may have found a way to make money from its still-in-beta News service without alienating publishers, as indicated by a patent application on file with the USPTO...There are two key elements of the patent: a method for executing a permission protocol so that the publisher could authorize Google to display more text from the relevant publication; and storing scanned versions of printed documents along with data sets representing the ads that went with them.
Google's problem with its News service is that there's no way to monetize it. News publishers would cry foul if it displayed contextual ads against their content, even if it is just headlines and openers. The patent application hints at a way to take that a step further. It would cover a process of scanning printed media and displaying them as search results "as a replica of the corresponding printed media." This method would maintain a news organization's or publisher's branding -- and it also would maintain the original ads.
But fast-moving tech companies don't tend to waste time on applying for irrelevant patents, said IP attorney John Rabena, a partner at Sughrue Mion, an intellectual property law firm.
"If Google has a patent application on something, they're probably doing it now," Rabena said. In his experience, technology and software companies don't go after a lot of patents. "They tend to stick to their core technology."
A gander at Google's patent portfolio seems to bear out Rabena's theory: The search advertising giant has six applications in the pipeline, three of them filed in 2004, along with seven patents. All but two relate to search; one is for a method of serving relevant advertising and another is for a method of displaying e-mail. "
"Google (Quote, Chart) may have found a way to make money from its still-in-beta News service without alienating publishers, as indicated by a patent application on file with the USPTO...There are two key elements of the patent: a method for executing a permission protocol so that the publisher could authorize Google to display more text from the relevant publication; and storing scanned versions of printed documents along with data sets representing the ads that went with them.
Google's problem with its News service is that there's no way to monetize it. News publishers would cry foul if it displayed contextual ads against their content, even if it is just headlines and openers. The patent application hints at a way to take that a step further. It would cover a process of scanning printed media and displaying them as search results "as a replica of the corresponding printed media." This method would maintain a news organization's or publisher's branding -- and it also would maintain the original ads.
But fast-moving tech companies don't tend to waste time on applying for irrelevant patents, said IP attorney John Rabena, a partner at Sughrue Mion, an intellectual property law firm.
"If Google has a patent application on something, they're probably doing it now," Rabena said. In his experience, technology and software companies don't go after a lot of patents. "They tend to stick to their core technology."
A gander at Google's patent portfolio seems to bear out Rabena's theory: The search advertising giant has six applications in the pipeline, three of them filed in 2004, along with seven patents. All but two relate to search; one is for a method of serving relevant advertising and another is for a method of displaying e-mail. "
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Google Guy: how to get great results: "look at your logs, not your rankings"
Searchenginewatch forum
"I advise people to spend less time on their toolbar PR, rankings, or a single keyword phrase and more time seeing how they do across several search engines, seeing if they can be relevant for diverse phrases, and on looking at their logs to figure out what keywords users are typing to really find the site". And I'd compress that down to "look at your logs, not your rankings." There's often more interesting stuff to learn in one's server logs and by thinking about how surfers use your site.
"I advise people to spend less time on their toolbar PR, rankings, or a single keyword phrase and more time seeing how they do across several search engines, seeing if they can be relevant for diverse phrases, and on looking at their logs to figure out what keywords users are typing to really find the site". And I'd compress that down to "look at your logs, not your rankings." There's often more interesting stuff to learn in one's server logs and by thinking about how surfers use your site.
"Google Introduces Animated Ads"
MediaDailyNews 12-09-04
Google announced it will now allow eye-catching animated GIF banners throughout its AdSense network for publishers. Google intends to continue charging advertisers on a cost-per-performance basis--Some analysts criticized the move, saying that it's a mistake for Google to use a cost-per-click pricing model charge for banner ads--which can have a branding value even if consumers don't click on them. Sometimes, especially with streaming and rich media banners, advertisers don't even call on consumers to take any direct action. For this reason, banners are traditionally sold based on cost-per-thousand impression basis.
The danger faced by Google is that advertisers will get the branding benefits of banner ads, but won't have to pay because consumers might not click on them.
Google announced it will now allow eye-catching animated GIF banners throughout its AdSense network for publishers. Google intends to continue charging advertisers on a cost-per-performance basis--Some analysts criticized the move, saying that it's a mistake for Google to use a cost-per-click pricing model charge for banner ads--which can have a branding value even if consumers don't click on them. Sometimes, especially with streaming and rich media banners, advertisers don't even call on consumers to take any direct action. For this reason, banners are traditionally sold based on cost-per-thousand impression basis.
The danger faced by Google is that advertisers will get the branding benefits of banner ads, but won't have to pay because consumers might not click on them.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Google & Authority Sites: Tourism Example
SiteProNews
In an article about writing content for Google Jim Hedger also discusses the concept of authority sites giving a tourism related example to illustrate how the concept relates to linking:
He theorises that Google is becoming more strict about link-relevance stating that "to postively affect ranking the pages or sites linked together must relate to each other in topic as well as by sharing similar keywords."
His example is regional tourism as a topic.
"A local tourism bureau will almost certainly have a website. That site will link to the sites of member-clients in its region. Each of those sites represent businesses dependent on regional tourism, thus establishing relevance between the sites. The tourism bureau becomes the "hub" from which Google follows links to other, topically related websites. In this way, the Hub site becomes a highly positive link-reference in Google's eyes."
In an article about writing content for Google Jim Hedger also discusses the concept of authority sites giving a tourism related example to illustrate how the concept relates to linking:
He theorises that Google is becoming more strict about link-relevance stating that "to postively affect ranking the pages or sites linked together must relate to each other in topic as well as by sharing similar keywords."
His example is regional tourism as a topic.
"A local tourism bureau will almost certainly have a website. That site will link to the sites of member-clients in its region. Each of those sites represent businesses dependent on regional tourism, thus establishing relevance between the sites. The tourism bureau becomes the "hub" from which Google follows links to other, topically related websites. In this way, the Hub site becomes a highly positive link-reference in Google's eyes."
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Toolbar PageRank is dead, long live PageRank...
JohnGalt That's not my real name... put the cat amongst the pigeons with his post at forums.searchenginewatch "Google says: Toolbar PageRank is for entertainment purposes only..."
He claims to have received the following from a Google rep...""The PageRank that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is for entertainment purposes only. Due to repeated attempts by hackers to access this data, Google updates the PageRank data very infrequently because is it not secure. On average, the PR that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is several months old. If the toolbar is showing a PR of zero, this is because the user is visiting a new URL that hasn't been updated in the last update. The PR that is displayed by the Google Toolbar is not the same PR that is used to rank the webpage results so there is no need to be concerned if your PR is displayed as zero. If a site is showing up in the search results, it doesn't not have a real PR of zero, the Toolbar is just out of date"
The amount of hot air this has generated in a flurry of forum posts indicates that PageRank mania (severe cases of OCD) is still crippling those who hold the delusional belief that the little green line is the holy grail..
Googleguy chips in at seoroundtable
with a refutation which is not wholly convincing and sends the commentators into a dizzy spin trying to interpret what he really means...
Perhaps a tad more helpful are the "facts" that bobmutch posts about the redundancy of the PR toolbar at Threadwatch.org "Toolbar PR used to be updated every month up until Jun 22/2004 when PR went for 106 days without an update (longest on record before that was Aug 8/2003 and Oct 22/2000 at 54 days)... We currently haven't have a Toolbar PR update for 57 days, a BL update for 7 days (Nov 25) and a Google Directory PR update for 35 days (Oct 28).
He claims to have received the following from a Google rep...""The PageRank that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is for entertainment purposes only. Due to repeated attempts by hackers to access this data, Google updates the PageRank data very infrequently because is it not secure. On average, the PR that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is several months old. If the toolbar is showing a PR of zero, this is because the user is visiting a new URL that hasn't been updated in the last update. The PR that is displayed by the Google Toolbar is not the same PR that is used to rank the webpage results so there is no need to be concerned if your PR is displayed as zero. If a site is showing up in the search results, it doesn't not have a real PR of zero, the Toolbar is just out of date"
The amount of hot air this has generated in a flurry of forum posts indicates that PageRank mania (severe cases of OCD) is still crippling those who hold the delusional belief that the little green line is the holy grail..
Googleguy chips in at seoroundtable
with a refutation which is not wholly convincing and sends the commentators into a dizzy spin trying to interpret what he really means...
Perhaps a tad more helpful are the "facts" that bobmutch posts about the redundancy of the PR toolbar at Threadwatch.org "Toolbar PR used to be updated every month up until Jun 22/2004 when PR went for 106 days without an update (longest on record before that was Aug 8/2003 and Oct 22/2000 at 54 days)... We currently haven't have a Toolbar PR update for 57 days, a BL update for 7 days (Nov 25) and a Google Directory PR update for 35 days (Oct 28).
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Google groups : Google modernizes Net community service
CNET News.com
"Google has enhanced its discussion-group service, Google Groups, and on Thursday will make the updates widely available to Web surfers. The new service lets people create e-mail discussion groups and mine information from them, and builds on the company's Web-based groups."
Link: Google Groups Beta
"Google has enhanced its discussion-group service, Google Groups, and on Thursday will make the updates widely available to Web surfers. The new service lets people create e-mail discussion groups and mine information from them, and builds on the company's Web-based groups."
Link: Google Groups Beta
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Friday, November 26, 2004
Google Quality Rater (Temp)
Google Job Opportunities
"Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California, is recruiting part-time remote workers to help with search quality evaluation on a project basis. Candidates must be web-savvy and analytical, have excellent web research skills and a broad range of interests. Specific areas of expertise are highly desirable.
Participants in web evaluation projects must have a high speed internet connection. All applicants must be U.S. or Canada based and must have the corresponding work permit."
The above job advert provoked speculation by inlogicalbearer at searchenginewatch forum that Google is going to "add humans to algo, to track down spammers."
Dave Hawley comments: "Now I can see how Google rumours spread like Chinese Whispers"
"Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California, is recruiting part-time remote workers to help with search quality evaluation on a project basis. Candidates must be web-savvy and analytical, have excellent web research skills and a broad range of interests. Specific areas of expertise are highly desirable.
Participants in web evaluation projects must have a high speed internet connection. All applicants must be U.S. or Canada based and must have the corresponding work permit."
The above job advert provoked speculation by inlogicalbearer at searchenginewatch forum that Google is going to "add humans to algo, to track down spammers."
Dave Hawley comments: "Now I can see how Google rumours spread like Chinese Whispers"
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Net Stocks: Google sliding
Net Stocks: Google sliding as insiders sell $1 bln worth
"Google shares slid below $163 on Monday, the week after 39 million shares became available for sale, including nearly $1 billion of shares sold by venture backers."
"Google shares slid below $163 on Monday, the week after 39 million shares became available for sale, including nearly $1 billion of shares sold by venture backers."
Forbes.com: Adult Site Sues Google for Infringment
Forbes.com: Adult Site Sues Google for Infringment: "Google displays the images from rogue Web sites operated in foreign countries, according to Perfect 10's lawsuit. The search engine also provides links to password hacking sites that provide ways to gain illegal access to Perfect 10's Web site, the suit alleges.
Perfect 10 publisher Norm Zada said he is targeting Google because the company is using the allure of naked women to draw more visitors to its site and generate more advertising revenue.
He said he fears his company, which claims 100,000 unique visitors a month to its Web site, will be driven out of business unless Google is forced to stop distributing the 'free peeks.' "
Perfect 10 publisher Norm Zada said he is targeting Google because the company is using the allure of naked women to draw more visitors to its site and generate more advertising revenue.
He said he fears his company, which claims 100,000 unique visitors a month to its Web site, will be driven out of business unless Google is forced to stop distributing the 'free peeks.' "
Monday, November 22, 2004
Google Muscles Into Microsoft's Turf
Forbes.com
"Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products, said the company's goal is to organize information and make it universally accessible, and that goes far beyond search. "
Web search isn't the only place where Microsoft is playing catch-up:
Internet browser toolbar that blocks pop-up ads and enables search launched years after Google had created its own.
And after Google announced plans for Gmail Microsoft said it would boost free memory on its Hotmail accounts no details yet.
Microsoft also has promised its own system for searching desktop computers...Google launched its desktop search product last month and said users should expect more improvements to that product.
Ad delivery, where Microsoft recently extended through June 2006 a contract for Yahoo Inc./ Overture paid ads... Ad placement alongside search results is Google's main cash cow...
David Smith, a vice president with Gartner Inc., says the chain of events illustrates that Google is proving to be customer-driven while Microsoft tends to be more driven by competitive threats.
Google opened an office in Kirkland, not far from Microsoft's Redmond campus...
"Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products, said the company's goal is to organize information and make it universally accessible, and that goes far beyond search. "
Web search isn't the only place where Microsoft is playing catch-up:
Internet browser toolbar that blocks pop-up ads and enables search launched years after Google had created its own.
And after Google announced plans for Gmail Microsoft said it would boost free memory on its Hotmail accounts no details yet.
Microsoft also has promised its own system for searching desktop computers...Google launched its desktop search product last month and said users should expect more improvements to that product.
Ad delivery, where Microsoft recently extended through June 2006 a contract for Yahoo Inc./ Overture paid ads... Ad placement alongside search results is Google's main cash cow...
David Smith, a vice president with Gartner Inc., says the chain of events illustrates that Google is proving to be customer-driven while Microsoft tends to be more driven by competitive threats.
Google opened an office in Kirkland, not far from Microsoft's Redmond campus...
Friday, November 19, 2004
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Forbes.com: : Google Shares Fall
Forbes.com:
"Shares of Google Inc. slipped Thursday after the world's most popular Internet search engine warned for the second time in a week that its fourth-quarter revenue growth rate is likely to slow from previous quarters"
"Shares of Google Inc. slipped Thursday after the world's most popular Internet search engine warned for the second time in a week that its fourth-quarter revenue growth rate is likely to slow from previous quarters"
Google launches search for scholars | CNET News.com
Could this be the first big move to separate "pure/ academic" search from the commercially tainted version?
Google launches search for scholars | CNET News.com: "Google on Wednesday unveiled Google Scholar, a new search product aimed at helping users search scholarly literature such as technical reports, theses and abstracts. "
It will have specially tailored search algorithms according to Anurag Acharya, a principal engineer at Google
It will not initially carry Web search advertisements although "web search advertising accounts for almost all of Google's revenue, which was $805.9 million in the third quarter."
The New York Times: reports that the service "is intended as a first stop for researchers looking for scholarly literature like peer-reviewed papers, books, abstracts and technical reports. "
NY Times quotes Mr. Acharya as saying " his motivation, in part, had been a desire to help the academic community from which Google emerged...Google as a company has greatly benefited from academic research and this is one of the ways we can give back to the community."
Danny Sullivan, SearchWatchEngine editor, comments that Google was certain to have competition soon from Yahoo and others."We will continue to see an explosion of vertical search engines like this," he said of search services that focus on special collections."
Google launches search for scholars | CNET News.com: "Google on Wednesday unveiled Google Scholar, a new search product aimed at helping users search scholarly literature such as technical reports, theses and abstracts. "
It will have specially tailored search algorithms according to Anurag Acharya, a principal engineer at Google
It will not initially carry Web search advertisements although "web search advertising accounts for almost all of Google's revenue, which was $805.9 million in the third quarter."
The New York Times: reports that the service "is intended as a first stop for researchers looking for scholarly literature like peer-reviewed papers, books, abstracts and technical reports. "
NY Times quotes Mr. Acharya as saying " his motivation, in part, had been a desire to help the academic community from which Google emerged...Google as a company has greatly benefited from academic research and this is one of the ways we can give back to the community."
Danny Sullivan, SearchWatchEngine editor, comments that Google was certain to have competition soon from Yahoo and others."We will continue to see an explosion of vertical search engines like this," he said of search services that focus on special collections."
Google launches Keyhole : Next Generation Mapping
Keyhole "technology enables you to point and fly to hundreds of US and international cities. Zoom down to detail showing individual buildings, search for existing businesses by name or category, even fly to a specific address... can easily import lists of buildings, overlays showing demographic trends, proposed developments, and even site plans. The powerful XML-based collaboration capability in Keyhole 2 allows you to share lists of locations, with custom icons and detailed descriptions, with a single click. Keyhole’s streaming technology does the heavy lifting, putting your data in the context of detailed imagery, 3D terrain, and map data."
Google keeping quiet about any plans for integrating Keyhole: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Keyhole's technology and products are an excellent addition to our efforts to do that. We do not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services..." local search is my tip....
Google keeping quiet about any plans for integrating Keyhole: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Keyhole's technology and products are an excellent addition to our efforts to do that. We do not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services..." local search is my tip....
Monday, November 15, 2004
Google Desktop Security Warning Issued
Businesses need policies re desktop search tools: "Two analysts issued independent warnings today suggesting Google's Desktop Search tool -- released in October -- poses security risks for the enterprise. "
Dana Hendrickson, an analyst at VPN Central warns "The most significant threat is when desktop search is used while connected to a virtual private network (VPN)"
Meta Group analyst "Hickernell told internetnews.com that the desktop will be the next battlefront in the search engine wars -- and a new front in the battle for corporate security. Google Desktop Search lets users search documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, instant messages and Web pages that have been visited by that PC. To enable this, it creates cached versions of Web content -- which could include sensitive corporate information stored on servers and accessed via a Web interface.
Dana Hendrickson, an analyst at VPN Central warns "The most significant threat is when desktop search is used while connected to a virtual private network (VPN)"
Meta Group analyst "Hickernell told internetnews.com that the desktop will be the next battlefront in the search engine wars -- and a new front in the battle for corporate security. Google Desktop Search lets users search documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, instant messages and Web pages that have been visited by that PC. To enable this, it creates cached versions of Web content -- which could include sensitive corporate information stored on servers and accessed via a Web interface.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Google Blog
Google Blog: "The documents in Google's index are in dozens of file types from HTML to PDF, including PowerPoint, Flash, PostScript and JavaScript. Together these pages represent a good chunk of the world's information, but hardly all of it. That's why we keep building more advanced systems for crawling the web and creating more sophisticated indices to sort what we find. So 8 billion pages is a milestone worth noting, but it's not the end of the road. The real test is how well we do in finding what you want from within those pages. We'll keep improving that too. "
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "According to ClickZ News, Google has published its much-anticipated AdWords content policy. The policy outlines what is acceptable in its text advertisements and what is unacceptable"
Getting to Know Gmail
Getting to Know Gmail: "EmailLabs estimates that between 1.5 million and 2 million people are now registered Gmail users, and projects that this base could grow to between 5 million and 10 million over the next year. "
Affiliate sites in Google: thread & A study of host pairs with replicated content
Anyone besides me not swallowed the "Hilltop" magic pill yet?: Posred by "caveman Nov 4, 2004 (utc 0) WRT Hilltop, there are two differnet areas of assessment that we have paid a lot of attention to:
1) affiliation, and its consequences
2) themed links, and their consequences
Tested: "One thing we did was to identify a pair of very similar sites in different categories. The sites were deemed similar by virtue of size, construction, PR, linking patterns, and performance in the SERP's. Call them site A and site B.
For site A we went and got 20 good backlinks (PR 6-7) from non-affiliated sites, in categories unrelated to site A's category. No help; the site stayed buried.
For site B we went and got 8 good backlinks (PR 5-7) from closely related sites (two hubs, six authority). Within four weeks site B had popped back to its former glory while most webmasters in the immediate post Florida environment were still bemoaning the disappearance of their sites...
caveman concludes: "post Florida the URL's were typically associated with authority sites. Before Florida, when we saw that, the URL's more typically reflected high PR pages. The assumption here is that a really important backlink is displayed, but that seems a good assumption to me.
On a related note, though I can't call this technically Hilltop, we have virtual certainty that links from unaffiliated, relevant pages that are tightly connected to our own topics perform better than identical links from unrelated pages, for certain kw searches"
Caveman later posts: "The way I read it, the Hilltop/LocalRank "affiliate" filter is quite subtle... ...would need a pretty heavily cross/interlinked domain farm targeting a single category with relatively few "outside" links for a dramatic drop in the SERPs.
ciml; "Monika Henzinger co-wrote an interesting paper on affiliation detection " A study of host pairs with replicated content
we define two hosts to be mirrors if:
The paper proceeds as follows: in Section 2 we establish a classification of mirroring; Section 3 describes our approach to detecting and classifying mirrored hosts; Section 4 presents data from our experiment; Section 5 discusses motives for mirroring; Section 6 presents other applications of this technique; Section 7 mentions related work and in Section 8 we draw some conclusions.
A high percentage of paths (that is, the portions of the URL after the hostname) are valid on both web sites, and These common paths link to documents that have similar content. Therefore, hosts that replicate content but rename paths are not considered mirrors under our definition
1) affiliation, and its consequences
2) themed links, and their consequences
Tested: "One thing we did was to identify a pair of very similar sites in different categories. The sites were deemed similar by virtue of size, construction, PR, linking patterns, and performance in the SERP's. Call them site A and site B.
For site A we went and got 20 good backlinks (PR 6-7) from non-affiliated sites, in categories unrelated to site A's category. No help; the site stayed buried.
For site B we went and got 8 good backlinks (PR 5-7) from closely related sites (two hubs, six authority). Within four weeks site B had popped back to its former glory while most webmasters in the immediate post Florida environment were still bemoaning the disappearance of their sites...
caveman concludes: "post Florida the URL's were typically associated with authority sites. Before Florida, when we saw that, the URL's more typically reflected high PR pages. The assumption here is that a really important backlink is displayed, but that seems a good assumption to me.
On a related note, though I can't call this technically Hilltop, we have virtual certainty that links from unaffiliated, relevant pages that are tightly connected to our own topics perform better than identical links from unrelated pages, for certain kw searches"
Caveman later posts: "The way I read it, the Hilltop/LocalRank "affiliate" filter is quite subtle... ...would need a pretty heavily cross/interlinked domain farm targeting a single category with relatively few "outside" links for a dramatic drop in the SERPs.
ciml; "Monika Henzinger co-wrote an interesting paper on affiliation detection " A study of host pairs with replicated content
we define two hosts to be mirrors if:
The paper proceeds as follows: in Section 2 we establish a classification of mirroring; Section 3 describes our approach to detecting and classifying mirrored hosts; Section 4 presents data from our experiment; Section 5 discusses motives for mirroring; Section 6 presents other applications of this technique; Section 7 mentions related work and in Section 8 we draw some conclusions.
A high percentage of paths (that is, the portions of the URL after the hostname) are valid on both web sites, and These common paths link to documents that have similar content. Therefore, hosts that replicate content but rename paths are not considered mirrors under our definition
Get Banned Fast: mildly amusing thread
Get Banned Fast: ". take a domain with already an established PR
2. name it google"
2. name it google"
Monday, November 08, 2004
Slashdot | Google Image Index Just Not Updated
Slashdot | Google Image Index Just Not Updated: "We ran a story earlier today about the lack of Abu Ghraib photos in Google's image index. We now have a response from Google stating that the image index simply hasn't been updated recently, as well as a fairly convincing demonstration from a Slashdot reader"
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