Google AdSense: New Features

Google AdSense - Google AdSense: What's New: "As part of our goal to improve the monetisation of your sites, Google has introduced a number of new features for advertisers, which will directly impact you as an AdSense publisher...

Site targeting: focusing on the audience...Site-targeted ads allow advertisers to select the specific sites they feel are most appropriate to their campaign, and to run their ads only on those sites

CPM bidding: a new way to generate revenue... set a maximum CPM bid - that is, the price they are willing to pay for every thousand impressions – and pay on a per-impression basis. This means that, unlike pay-per-click ads, you will earn revenue each time a CPM ad is displayed on your site.

Expanded text ads: testing new formats... text ads that expand to fill the entire ad unit, so that only a single ad will appear in that unit

More image ads: include a small number of Flash ads from a test group of advertisers...and ..wide skyscraper (160x600) format to make a total of 5 ad formats supporting image ads

Under 200 At 1st Google Shareholder Meeting

Forbes.com: "Google Inc. shareholders got a free lunch Thursday at the online search engine leader's first annual meeting as a public company. There were plenty of leftovers. Fewer than 200 people attended the meeting at the company's Mountain View headquarters...

Despite its unconventional reputation, Google put on a straight-laced show. CEO Eric Schmidt and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin spent most of the 90-minute meeting fielding a wide variety of shareholder questions, ranging from concerns about stiffening competition from Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. to Google's policy on employee stock options...

Google's shares have more than doubled from the IPO price of $85, even after declining $2.57 Thursday to close at $228.72 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The lofty share price prompted a shareholder question about whether the company might split the stock to make it more affordable for individual prices. Brin said it's unlikely the stock will be split anytime soon."

Google Patent Analysed - SEO implications

wwwcoder.com: "Cracking the Google Code::Under the GoogleScope::Google's US Patent confirms information retrieval is based on historical data.

Publication Date: 5/8/2005 9:51:18 PM
Author Name: Lawrence Deon

Deon takes Google's definition of their United States Patent Application 20050071741 on March 31, 2005 abstract: "A system identifies a document and obtains one or more types of history data associated with the document. The system may generate a score for the document based, at least in part, on the one or more types of history data.” and concludes that:

"Google’s sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launched a full out assault against artificial link inflation & declared war against search engine spam in a continuing effort to provide the best search service in the world… …if you thought you cracked the Google Code and had Google all figured out … guess again. He states that Google has raised the bar against search engine spam and artificial link inflation...

The filing unquestionable provides SEO’s with valuable insight into Google’s tightly guarded search intelligence and confirms that Google’s information retrieval is based on historical data.

He asks: "What exactly do these changes mean to you?"
Answer: "Your credibility and reputation on-line are going under the Googlescope!"

The article sets out further details of how Google determines link spam, on page spam, site age and many more ...

Article has been picked up by Slashdot Slashdot | Cracking the Google Code... Under the GoogleScope

Related posts:

Google in the news: United States Patent Application: 0050071741

Google in the news: New factor in Google Algo? Aging Delay for New Sites

Rand Fishkin has put together another detailed interpretation of the patent: SEOmoz | Google's Patent: Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data

Section one - Overview of the 5 Most Critical Concepts from this Paper - is a must read. It clearly explains his interpretation of the patent of:


1) Google's Concept of "Document Inception: Google will be using this data to rank documents and establish credibility and relevance.

2) How Changing Content can Affect Rankings: "for some types of queries, particular results are more valuable - stale results may be desirable for information that doesn't need updating, fresh content is good for results that require it..."

3) Spam Detection & Punishment:
"Watching for sites that rise in the rankings too quickly
Watching for registration information, IP addresses, name servers, hosts, etc that are on their "bad list"
Growth of off-topic links
Speed of link gain
Percentage of similar anchor text
Topic/Subject shifts or additions

4) What Google is Attempting to Measure:
Domain information
Information on User Behavior Online
Data contained on your computer

4) The Impact of this Patent he concludes that analysing Google results etc in view of the theories arising from this patent will prove/ disprove previous conjecture about Googles algos...

Google search down

Google search finds outage | CNET News.com: "Google's Web site was inaccessible for a brief time Saturday and some visitors reported being rerouted to another site, leading some to believe that the search giant had been hacked.
The site was down from 3:45 to 4 p.m. PST, Google spokesman David Krane told The Associated Press.
'It was not a hacking or a security issue,' Krane. He said the problem was related to the DNS (Domain Name System), which routes one's Internet protocol address to the appropriate Web site that the user wants to visit. If the DNS system goes down, Web pages requested usually do not appear or take a long time to load. "

Google isn't always No. 1

Google isn't always No. 1 - May. 3, 2005: "A new study of national advertisers and interviews with a handful of marketing agencies indicate that the Internet giant could have a customer service problem.

"Google has always been bad -- worse than bad even," said Dana Todd, the president of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)...

Independent media analyst Jack Myers, in his fourth annual 'customer satisfaction' survey of online sales groups, also found that advertisers aren't entirely happy with Google's service... as Google looks to broaden its services beyond paid search, Myers suggests the company first has some work to do with advertisers.

Google finished a solid No. 5 overall, better than its seventh-place finish in 2004. Yahoo! was No. 2. Of the nine categories measured, Google's sales team edged out Yahoo!'s crew in one category: product knowledge. Google finished third. Yahoo! ranked fourth.

What caught Myers's attention was Google's ranking in one of the most important categories: "responsiveness and accessibility." Google was No. 18, down from 11th place the year before...

Todd, the SEMPO president, attributes Google's poor image to the fact that the company has viewed itself as and acted like a technology company. Google has tried to automate as many processes as possible and that, according to Todd, doesn't work in the advertising world."

Thomson Directories ito sell Google AdWords to SMEs

Revolution Web Site: "By Daniel Farey-Jones - Revolution - Thomson Directories is to sell Google's AdWords targeted pay-per-click text ads service to UK small and medium-sized businesses. The alliance means that Thomson's 500-strong sales force will offer Google AdWords as an integral part of its ThomsonLocal.com online directory and WebFinder.com search engine marketing offerings...

Laurence O'Toole, business information and new media director of Thomson Directories, said: 'This partnership will allow our customers to take advantage of the extensive reach of the Google network, which will aid them in attracting more targeted leads.'"

Europe Uniting Against Schmidt's Google Print Project

Had to post this just because it references my favourite author/ book/ short story for a philosophical (fictional) angle on knowledge..... although the reporter does not mention the librarian...many of whose real life counterparts seem obsessed also with Borges.

Forbes.com: "In The Library Of Babel Argentinean erudite Jorge Luis Borges proposed the idea of a boundless athenaeum, where man could find any book at will. Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) announced a library-indexing project last year (see: 'Book 'em, Google'), but the search giant's Borgesian aspirations seem to have got a few backs up in Europe, which is rallying to an alternative. France's decision to create its online Babel of European literature received critical backing from Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain this week. "

Search Engine News :: Optimise Web Sites for Organic Search

SEO Blog looks like blogs have had a PageRank update....

Guardian on Google local with Yell

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Google to go local with Yell: "Any company can access BT's directory of UK business numbers. But Google decided to make a deal with Yell rather than formatting BT's information itself."

Why Google Is Like Wal-Mart

Wired News: "By Adam L. Penenberg: On one hand, you have a company that rose up from modest beginnings to become one of the richest businesses in America (indeed, the world), and in the process revolutionized the use of technology to create a new way to do business -- helping people find what they want.

And then you have Google..."

Google Local Test Searches: hornsbury mill near Chard, Somerset, TA20

Google Search: taxis near northallerton

Google Search: hornsbury mill near Chard, Somerset, TA20

Google Local UK Beta Launched

Google Local

Google Search: taxis near northallerton: "Business listings provided by Yell.com"

Google Local Help: "Frequently Asked Questions: Google Local takes a new approach to helping users find geographic information online. We analyse the content in our index of more than 8 billion web pages and combine that information with Yellow Pages data to provide the most comprehensive local search experience available.

When you enter a search query on Google Local, your search results page will list all the relevant businesses we found. If you click the title of a business, you can view a map of the business's location. These maps are highly interactive—you can zoom in, zoom out, or drag them to view adjacent areas.

At the bottom half of the page, you will see a "References" section that shows general search results for the business you are researching."

Results change at Google:?

The SEO Blog: The Web We Weave, Linking for Google: April 2005: "Over the past week, SEOs and SEMs have noted some significant changes in the search engine results delivered by Google. Google appears to be actively cleaning its listings by targeting sites using suspicious link-building techniques. A couple of well-known search engine marketing sites have vanished from Google results under keyword phrases they dominated just last week....

If you or someone you know has been engaged in a link-building plan that relies on link trading between multiple sites that don't actually relate to or do business with each other, you might want to take a few hours to examine your link-building strategies."

Google adds local services and driving directions to mobile search

CNET News.com: "Google is doubling down on mobile search, and is set to offer new features for finding local services and calling up driving directions via wireless devices. On Tuesday, the search company plans to introduce two new search options for mobile phones. One feature lets people with browser-enabled cell phones use Google Local, a Web directory of local businesses and sights, by typing in a name and ZIP code. Using the second feature, people can text message Google SMS (Short Message Service) with the short code '46645' to receive driving directions to most locations. "

New factor in Google Algo? Aging Delay for New Sites

SiteProNews Scottie Claiborne writes : "I haven't seen any brand new sites with new domains appear at the top of the search engine results pages (SERP) since early in 2004. There seems to be a delay of about 6-8 months. I've checked with many site owners and SEOs and I haven't found anyone who's gotten a brand new domain ranked well in Google. If there's a magic bullet, no one's spilling the beans.

What happens is new sites get indexed, they appear for some obscure queries and they may appear at the top for a week or so, but then they drop to the bottom of the SERP for several months. The page shows a PageRank in the Google toolbar, as well as backlinks. Everything else works fine but it just doesn't rank well for any terms in Google. Many times, not even the company name."

Claiborne's "theory is that the age factor for new sites is Google's answer to mini-networks and other multi-site strategies intended to artificially inflate link popularity. Many people divide what should be a single site into multiple sites in order to capitalize on the links that are exchanged between them. Others build a series of small sites that are only designed to add link popularity to the main site.

By delaying the ranking of brand new sites, the mini-network strategy becomes more of a long-term strategy than a quick jump to the top. Site owners who might have started new sites are going to be more inclined to build new pages on existing sites in order to avoid that delay."

Claiborne's advice "if you are launching new sites for clients, make sure you set the expectation that it is likely to be 7-8 months before the site achieves any real results in Google.

We used to keep a site under wraps and launch it once it was "perfect." Now it makes sense to get a few pages up for your new site as soon as you complete them...When launching a new site, if traffic from Google is critical to your plan for success you need to plan ahead. Get the site out there and linked to as early as possible and plan to run an AdWords and/or Overture campaign for a few months until the site can be established in the editorial results. Yahoo and MSN do not have this delay built-in, so focus your early efforts on these engines.

Don't worry, Google will eventually give your new site the respect it deserves -- just give it time."

Google Q&A

Google SMS: "To get answers to questions that cover a broad assortment of topics, including authors, inventors, populations and more, just send your fact-based question or query as a text message to Google SMS. Google will scour the web to find answers to your question and include our information source so that you can learn more.
To get facts:
Enter the fact-based question or query
Sample queries:
india population
Mark Twain's real name
who wrote hamlet "

Discussed at webmasterworld.com: "Google News...New Google Answering Facts"

The Power of Google

Fool.com: Motley Fool Take Interesting: "opinion, Google's not really the innovator that many claim it to be. But it does things right. Every time. And figures out a way to make money off this advantage. Online Search. Online email. Desktop search. Newsgroups. News portal. Click-through ads. Blogging. Image browsers. These are all examples of computerized 'stuff' that had been around for a long time before Google invented a better way to do it, or simply bought another company that had already figured it out.

There's incredible opportunity in simplicity, and Google seems to be harvesting it better than anyone else."

Slashdot discusses | Google Founders Cut Salaries to $1

Slashdot : "GeneralCern writes "MSNBC Reports that Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and CEO Eric Schmidt all [0]slashed their salaries to $1 last year. Since you do not have to pay FICA, Medicare, or income taxes
on the capital gains associated with stock sales, they stand to substantially decrease their tax burden. Is this a breech of the company's "do no evil" mission statement, or just an example of people who love their jobs so much they don't need to be paid to go to work?"
"

Google Budget Optimizer for Adwords

MediaPost: "GOOGLE THIS WEEK BEGAN OFFERING AdWords users a tool that adjusts their bids automatically, aiming to get the highest number of clicks for a given advertising budget. The feature, called Google Budget Optimizer, is aimed at consumers who want more automation, promising the maximum number of clicks for a given spend. Google cautions, however, that the Optimizer is not intended to gain a particular placement, but to achieve the maximum volume of clicks. --Shankar Gupta "

Why Google is Syndication Shy

Micro Persuasion Steve Rubel ponders his question leading to:

"an "aha" moment. Google views syndication drastically differently than its competitors. On the Web Google is all about driving people away from their sites. Once they've shown them an Adwords ad they had their opportunity to collect a dollar, so why not give the users what they need and send them on their way. However, when it comes to syndicated feeds they use it as a tool to drive users to their services and that’s why they are syndication shy. Remember Autolinking? I rest my case.

Feeds may be Google's greatest enemy. If Google did offer feeds that connected users with the information they are looking for from the Web they would miss the opportunity to advertise to them. What will remedy this? Google will incorporate contextual Adwords ads into these kinds of feeds, much like Overture has done. What’s taking so long? Beats me."