Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Google Crawls Into Academia
Google Crawls Into Academia: "Google and DSpace have embarked on a pilot program designed to allow universities to better manage their intellectual output. "
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Guardian Unlimited | Online | All eyes on Blinkx the woman taking on Google
Guardian Unlimited | Online | All eyes on Blinkx: "All eyes on Blinkx
Victor Keegan spoke to the woman taking on Google
Thursday July 15, 2004
The Guardian
Less than a month ago, Kathy Rittweger went to the office of the technology magazine Business 2.0 in San Francisco to demonstrate Blinkx, a late entrant to the search engine market. The editor she was meeting brought two other people as he didn't know much about the subject himself.
She left the office at noon, saddened that it had not gone very well. "I thought I did a lousy job. I've never really done this whole PR thing." She retired round the corner to Starbucks with her public relations adviser for a debriefing. He told her to be more provocative in future, not so humble and more proud of what she had accomplished. "He was also convinced we didn't stand a good chance".
But by the time she had got back to her hotel, there was an email from one of the people at the meeting, Om Malik, whom she had never heard of. He said he had "blogged" the item on his website at 12.40pm while she was still commiserating over coffee.
Malik wrote that he had the same tingling sensation watching Blinkx being demonstrated as he had had almost five years ago when two fresh-faced boys called Larry and Sergey had stopped by the offices of Forbes.com to demonstrate something called Google.
Malik's comments were soon picked up by other bloggers and Rittweger started getting a wave of emails and calls, including some from venture capitalists, a breed thought to be in hibernation after the dotcom excesses.
The blog was posted on a Friday, and by the Monday there were 5,000 links to it and people were discussing it all over the world. Since then, there have been 130,000 direct downloads, and many more through users swapping files. This week, the site - which is only launched today - has been recording 6m links or hits a day solely from word-of-mouth publicity.
You would be forgiven for thinking that Rittweger and her British business partner, Suranga Chanratillake, who used to work for the UK search engine company Autonomy, ought to be locked up for even thinking of trying to take on the almighty Google, especially at a time when it and the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo - not to mention dozens of smaller companies - are teeing up for the next battle in the search engine wars.
Blinkx has two selling points. First, it doesn't only search the web but simultaneously scours news sites, emails, attachments and your own hard disk. It does all this unobtrusively in the background until you pass your cursor over icons at the top or bottom of the page, when it reveals a digest of related sites as well as material from Word, Excel or PDF files. If you are working in a word processing document, it provides the same service.
It also searches blogs. This function has just been added because Malik suggested it would be a good thing to do. "I didn't appreciate the significance until he wrote the article and then I thought, 'Right, I get it'," she said disarmingly. Blinkx can also search digital TV on the internet, which, in practice, means video output from the BBC. Why? "Because the BBC posts its digital TV free on the internet."
Both Google and Microsoft are working on unified engines that search your desktop as well as the web, and some others already do it. But Rittweger believes Blinkx is the only one that offers all these facilities including video search now. So the company has a window of opportunity in a market where consumers can switch allegiance with two blinkx of an eyelid.
The second selling point is that, unlike Google, it uses artificial intelligence to rate stories, not page rankings. "What it is trying to say," she explains, "is that all words are not equal in a sentence... Quite critically, if you are looking at a document and trying to figure out what it means, Blinkx reads everything you are reading and sorts out what are the key ideas."
Blinkx's planned business model involves getting advertising revenue from contextual adverts, product channels and white labelling, but she emphasises that the search is independent: it is mathematically based and just looks at words and their context. She adds: "It is clean, but users don't know that so we show our advertisements in a different colour".
Her moment of truth came when doing a project on Japanese tourism a few years ago and found that when she put a page into a search engine, nothing happened because search was limited to 10 words. Later, she met Suranga Chanratillake, who shared her ideas and had the technological expertise to develop them.
Whether they succeed is an open question. It is a tough market to crack because for many users, Google is as good as it gets - and, like Yahoo and Microsoft, it has immense resources. But people are also starting to realise that search engines are mining only a tiny proportion of available knowledge. And loyalty is only as deep as the click of a mouse. files. This week"
Victor Keegan spoke to the woman taking on Google
Thursday July 15, 2004
The Guardian
Less than a month ago, Kathy Rittweger went to the office of the technology magazine Business 2.0 in San Francisco to demonstrate Blinkx, a late entrant to the search engine market. The editor she was meeting brought two other people as he didn't know much about the subject himself.
She left the office at noon, saddened that it had not gone very well. "I thought I did a lousy job. I've never really done this whole PR thing." She retired round the corner to Starbucks with her public relations adviser for a debriefing. He told her to be more provocative in future, not so humble and more proud of what she had accomplished. "He was also convinced we didn't stand a good chance".
But by the time she had got back to her hotel, there was an email from one of the people at the meeting, Om Malik, whom she had never heard of. He said he had "blogged" the item on his website at 12.40pm while she was still commiserating over coffee.
Malik wrote that he had the same tingling sensation watching Blinkx being demonstrated as he had had almost five years ago when two fresh-faced boys called Larry and Sergey had stopped by the offices of Forbes.com to demonstrate something called Google.
Malik's comments were soon picked up by other bloggers and Rittweger started getting a wave of emails and calls, including some from venture capitalists, a breed thought to be in hibernation after the dotcom excesses.
The blog was posted on a Friday, and by the Monday there were 5,000 links to it and people were discussing it all over the world. Since then, there have been 130,000 direct downloads, and many more through users swapping files. This week, the site - which is only launched today - has been recording 6m links or hits a day solely from word-of-mouth publicity.
You would be forgiven for thinking that Rittweger and her British business partner, Suranga Chanratillake, who used to work for the UK search engine company Autonomy, ought to be locked up for even thinking of trying to take on the almighty Google, especially at a time when it and the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo - not to mention dozens of smaller companies - are teeing up for the next battle in the search engine wars.
Blinkx has two selling points. First, it doesn't only search the web but simultaneously scours news sites, emails, attachments and your own hard disk. It does all this unobtrusively in the background until you pass your cursor over icons at the top or bottom of the page, when it reveals a digest of related sites as well as material from Word, Excel or PDF files. If you are working in a word processing document, it provides the same service.
It also searches blogs. This function has just been added because Malik suggested it would be a good thing to do. "I didn't appreciate the significance until he wrote the article and then I thought, 'Right, I get it'," she said disarmingly. Blinkx can also search digital TV on the internet, which, in practice, means video output from the BBC. Why? "Because the BBC posts its digital TV free on the internet."
Both Google and Microsoft are working on unified engines that search your desktop as well as the web, and some others already do it. But Rittweger believes Blinkx is the only one that offers all these facilities including video search now. So the company has a window of opportunity in a market where consumers can switch allegiance with two blinkx of an eyelid.
The second selling point is that, unlike Google, it uses artificial intelligence to rate stories, not page rankings. "What it is trying to say," she explains, "is that all words are not equal in a sentence... Quite critically, if you are looking at a document and trying to figure out what it means, Blinkx reads everything you are reading and sorts out what are the key ideas."
Blinkx's planned business model involves getting advertising revenue from contextual adverts, product channels and white labelling, but she emphasises that the search is independent: it is mathematically based and just looks at words and their context. She adds: "It is clean, but users don't know that so we show our advertisements in a different colour".
Her moment of truth came when doing a project on Japanese tourism a few years ago and found that when she put a page into a search engine, nothing happened because search was limited to 10 words. Later, she met Suranga Chanratillake, who shared her ideas and had the technological expertise to develop them.
Whether they succeed is an open question. It is a tough market to crack because for many users, Google is as good as it gets - and, like Yahoo and Microsoft, it has immense resources. But people are also starting to realise that search engines are mining only a tiny proportion of available knowledge. And loyalty is only as deep as the click of a mouse. files. This week"
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers: "However, don't you think the process should be a two-way thing? Let me get to my point...
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's 'quite period' by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's 'SEC regulated' lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple 'design changes' were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of "
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's 'quite period' by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's 'SEC regulated' lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple 'design changes' were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of "
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers
Search Engine News :: Search Engine Lowdown: Google's Patrick Keane Afraid of Search Engine Optimizers: "post something controversial on here. If it's about Google, you can bet that they are are on the phone to me to discuss their position and make sure that I am 'educated'"
However, don't you think the process should be a two-way thing? Let me get to my point...
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's "quite period" by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's "SEC regulated" lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple "design changes" were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of us are also commanding the paid search budgets of some of the world's largest companies.
Search engine optimization is real...it works...it can help you get to the top of Google. There may be some bad apples, who make totally ridiculous promises, but you get that with any industry. Please, please, someone, anyone at Google, take Mr. Keane aside and quietly remind him that search is not just about paid search and agencies. SEO may be the "red-headed step-child" as far as Google is concerned, but we are still family and deserve the respect!
- Search Engine News by Andy Beal | News Link | Others' Thoughts (18)
However, don't you think the process should be a two-way thing? Let me get to my point...
Google's head of sales advertising, Patrick Keane, just finished a presentation here at AD:TECH. The usual stuff, with Google keeping to it's "quite period" by having some of its AdWords customers do the talking. However, Patrick Keane was asked about whether SEO companies can really help a company to get better positioning on Google and the search engines [tick...tick]. Waiting for Patrick's response, I felt confident that, despite my reservations about SEMPO, they had at least been able to educate the key figures at Google. A positive response about SEO was surely about to leave Patrick's "SEC regulated" lips. [tick...tick...tick...]
Oh, how I wish it had. [tick....] Patrick basically replied that there is no way to improve your rankings on Google and that any claims by a SEO company were false. [tick...tick] He suggested that a few simple "design changes" were all that could be done and that a SEO firm wasn't needed. [tick....BOOM!!!!]
Uh, hello? Isn't Google sponsoring SES in San Jose next month...the same SES that has dozens and dozens of sessions on SEO and how to improve your ranking. Are the 1300+ clients that WebSourced assists, and the many thousands more using other SEO companies, simply imagining the great results they are getting on Google, Yahoo and other search engines? If it were not for us SEO's there would be no hype about Google's IPO right now. Granted, paid search is the revenue generating aspect of search, but who do you think created the whole search engine buzz in the first place? Us SEO's that's who! And many of us are also commanding the paid search budgets of some of the world's largest companies.
Search engine optimization is real...it works...it can help you get to the top of Google. There may be some bad apples, who make totally ridiculous promises, but you get that with any industry. Please, please, someone, anyone at Google, take Mr. Keane aside and quietly remind him that search is not just about paid search and agencies. SEO may be the "red-headed step-child" as far as Google is concerned, but we are still family and deserve the respect!
- Search Engine News by Andy Beal | News Link | Others' Thoughts (18)
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Google tools WebmasterBrain | Online Keyword Suggestion Tool
WebmasterBrain | Online Keyword Suggestion Tool: "Tools "Speaking of Google, one of the most useful tools for Web
Developers is at WebmasterBrain.com. Check out Prog (formerly
Proogle) at http://www.webmasterbrain.com/proogle/ which
displays Google search results with additional details, namely,
PageRank and incoming links.
Developers is at WebmasterBrain.com. Check out Prog (formerly
Proogle) at http://www.webmasterbrain.com/proogle/ which
displays Google search results with additional details, namely,
PageRank and incoming links.
Yahoo! News - Google Toolbar Can Browse By Name
Yahoo! News - Google Toolbar Can Browse By Name Google Toolbar's new Browse by Name feature, introduced on July 14, takes the concept of searching from the browser Address Bar and kicks it up a notch. All you do is type the name or description of the site you're looking for. If there's a strong match, Google will go straight to that page. For example, "new york times", "ben and jerry", "john kerry" and "strong bad" all zoom directly to the appropriate page. When there's no single obvious match, you haven't lost anything –- you still get a standard Google search results page. The functionality may remind some of the RealNames service (which shut down in 2002). Web sites could pay to register a simple phrase with RealNames as an alternative point of access for their URL. However, sites need not and cannot register for Browse by Name. If a page's relevance to the search phrase is significantly higher than all others, it will be selected. The process is dynamic –- if at a later time a different site's relevance skyrockets, then that site will be selected. There's no connection with Supported Links or AdWords, and sites cannot pay for placement in Browse by Name.
Current Google Toolbar users will be updated automatically over the next few weeks. Those who have already configured Google as their default search engine will have Browse by Name turned on by default. Others can enable it from the Options dialog. If you don't want to wait for the automated update, just download the toolbar from http://toolbar.google.com. Note that during installation you must choose whether or not to allow the toolbar to send non-personal information about the sites you visit back to Google –- if you choose otherwise, you can't get PageRank data in the toolbar. However, you need not enable advanced features to use Browse by Name.
Current Google Toolbar users will be updated automatically over the next few weeks. Those who have already configured Google as their default search engine will have Browse by Name turned on by default. Others can enable it from the Options dialog. If you don't want to wait for the automated update, just download the toolbar from http://toolbar.google.com. Note that during installation you must choose whether or not to allow the toolbar to send non-personal information about the sites you visit back to Google –- if you choose otherwise, you can't get PageRank data in the toolbar. However, you need not enable advanced features to use Browse by Name.
Google adds audio and video clips search
Google, currently in a quiet period in the run-up to its much-anticipated public stock offering, is likely to make quite a bit of noise by adding audio and video clips to its search services, according to a published report.
Company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page "made no secret" of plans to add multimedia while attending the annual Allen & Co.-sponsored retreat for media executives in Sun Valley, Idaho, last week, the New York Post reported. A spokeswoman for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google could not confirm the plan, the paper reported.
Immediate speculation raised the idea Google would go beyond radio and TV clips and enter the online music business, selling downloads of music files. "You can't ignore it. There is tons of money to be made off of music," Danny Sullivan, editor of searchenginewatch.com, told the Post.
Audio and video search is already available through Yahoo's (YHOO) AltaVista and America Online's (TWX) Singingfish.com.
Company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page "made no secret" of plans to add multimedia while attending the annual Allen & Co.-sponsored retreat for media executives in Sun Valley, Idaho, last week, the New York Post reported. A spokeswoman for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google could not confirm the plan, the paper reported.
Immediate speculation raised the idea Google would go beyond radio and TV clips and enter the online music business, selling downloads of music files. "You can't ignore it. There is tons of money to be made off of music," Danny Sullivan, editor of searchenginewatch.com, told the Post.
Audio and video search is already available through Yahoo's (YHOO) AltaVista and America Online's (TWX) Singingfish.com.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Google registers to list on Nasdaq | CNET News.com
Google registers to list on Nasdaq | CNET News.com: "Google has registered to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange for its upcoming $2.7 billion initial public offering, it said in a regulatory filing Monday. "
Friday, July 09, 2004
Wired News: Single Post Wins Google Contest
Wired News: Single Post Wins Google Contest: "Dash became the overall winner by virtue of a single post on his blog in which he asked his readers to link from their own sites. Countless numbers did and -- after his very late entry assumed the top Google spot shortly after the competition's first round ended -- Dash was never seriously challenged.
'The impetus (was) for me, on a fluke, to say, 'Hey, I don't want these guys who do link spamming to win the contest,'' said Dash"
The contest, sponsored by Australian affiliate marketing company DarkBlue and SearchGuild.com, was designed to spotlight the various techniques used by search engine optimizers to boost sites' Google results. Those results are often a key factor in businesses' fortunes.
But Google is known for frequently changing its ranking methods, largely in an attempt to foil people who seek to manipulate its system with new tricks to improve their placement. Some charge that, partly as a result of these repeated adjustments to its ranking methodology, Google doesn't always return the most relevant results.
Nevertheless, Chris Ridings, the competition's organizer, told Wired News at the time of the first-round judging that it's easier for people to claim they can outfox Google than to actually demonstrate their prowess. The competition, he said, provides a stage for search optimization experts to show how strong particular ranking techniques really are.
To Dash, then, winning the flat-screen television awarded to the second-round victor was testament to the power of good content and a longstanding online presence.
"A lot of people are trying to increase their page rank unethically," said Dash. "I think if we show them (that) the best thing you can do is to write really good material, then hopefully, they'll spend their time doing that (instead of) spending time coming up with ways to graffiti other people's pages."
Furthermore, Dash maintained, his victory proves one thing: That the Web is a meritocracy.
"A page that's read by people instead of robots is going to do better," he said.
Have a comment on this article? Send it
More stories written by Daniel Terdiman
Page 1 of 1
Related Stories
A Contest to Outwit Google Jun. 08, 2004
Kerry Gets Google-Bombed May. 24, 2004
Dropping the Bomb on Google May. 11, 2004
How the Word Gets Around May. 07, 2004
Merchants Bemoan Google Rule Mar. 27, 2004
Spammers Clog Up the Blogs Oct. 24, 2003
Search Results Clogged by Blogs May. 16, 2003
Wired News RSS headline feeds
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ads by Google White Knight UK
Compare UK prices at different
retailers and save a packet!
www.dealtime.co.uk White Knight
Compare Bargain Prices.
Save Time and Money.
www.kelkoo.co.uk White Knight at Tesco
Free delivery and top brands.
1,000 Extra ClubCard points in July
www.tesco.com/electrical Save up to 40%
On high street prices! Over 5000
home & kitchen appliances
electricshop.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wired News: Staff | Contact Us | Advertising | RSS | Blogs | Subscribe
We are translated daily into Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese
© Copyright 2004, Lycos, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Lycos Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
'The impetus (was) for me, on a fluke, to say, 'Hey, I don't want these guys who do link spamming to win the contest,'' said Dash"
The contest, sponsored by Australian affiliate marketing company DarkBlue and SearchGuild.com, was designed to spotlight the various techniques used by search engine optimizers to boost sites' Google results. Those results are often a key factor in businesses' fortunes.
But Google is known for frequently changing its ranking methods, largely in an attempt to foil people who seek to manipulate its system with new tricks to improve their placement. Some charge that, partly as a result of these repeated adjustments to its ranking methodology, Google doesn't always return the most relevant results.
Nevertheless, Chris Ridings, the competition's organizer, told Wired News at the time of the first-round judging that it's easier for people to claim they can outfox Google than to actually demonstrate their prowess. The competition, he said, provides a stage for search optimization experts to show how strong particular ranking techniques really are.
To Dash, then, winning the flat-screen television awarded to the second-round victor was testament to the power of good content and a longstanding online presence.
"A lot of people are trying to increase their page rank unethically," said Dash. "I think if we show them (that) the best thing you can do is to write really good material, then hopefully, they'll spend their time doing that (instead of) spending time coming up with ways to graffiti other people's pages."
Furthermore, Dash maintained, his victory proves one thing: That the Web is a meritocracy.
"A page that's read by people instead of robots is going to do better," he said.
Have a comment on this article? Send it
More stories written by Daniel Terdiman
Page 1 of 1
Related Stories
A Contest to Outwit Google Jun. 08, 2004
Kerry Gets Google-Bombed May. 24, 2004
Dropping the Bomb on Google May. 11, 2004
How the Word Gets Around May. 07, 2004
Merchants Bemoan Google Rule Mar. 27, 2004
Spammers Clog Up the Blogs Oct. 24, 2003
Search Results Clogged by Blogs May. 16, 2003
Wired News RSS headline feeds
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ads by Google White Knight UK
Compare UK prices at different
retailers and save a packet!
www.dealtime.co.uk White Knight
Compare Bargain Prices.
Save Time and Money.
www.kelkoo.co.uk White Knight at Tesco
Free delivery and top brands.
1,000 Extra ClubCard points in July
www.tesco.com/electrical Save up to 40%
On high street prices! Over 5000
home & kitchen appliances
electricshop.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wired News: Staff | Contact Us | Advertising | RSS | Blogs | Subscribe
We are translated daily into Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese
© Copyright 2004, Lycos, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Lycos Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
Google trademarks targeted by kids' site Googles - Best Practices Search Engine Forums
Google trademarks targeted by kids' site Googles - Best Practices Search Engine Forums: "apparently there's a children's site called Googles.com that owns the Trademark for the word Google and there's a suit brewing over it.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Stelor Productions, the operator of a children's Web site called Googles.com, said on Wednesday it has launched trademark proceedings against Web search leader Google Inc., which is preparing a much-awaited initial public offering.
Stelor, based in Darnestown, Maryland, said it filed two separate actions against Google with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Stelor, which charges that Google's mark is confusingly similar to its own, is opposing Google's trademark application to cover a 'long list of 'Google' goods and services, including children's books, stickers and children's clothing.'
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsChanne...pe=internetNews"
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Stelor Productions, the operator of a children's Web site called Googles.com, said on Wednesday it has launched trademark proceedings against Web search leader Google Inc., which is preparing a much-awaited initial public offering.
Stelor, based in Darnestown, Maryland, said it filed two separate actions against Google with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Stelor, which charges that Google's mark is confusingly similar to its own, is opposing Google's trademark application to cover a 'long list of 'Google' goods and services, including children's books, stickers and children's clothing.'
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsChanne...pe=internetNews"
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Google Filters and Avoiding their Screens
Google Filters and Avoiding their Screens:
"Possible Link Related Filters"
Identical link text
Recripricol links damped
Links pages/ guest books filtered
Interlinking on same IP filtered: Many observers have noticed a cross linking filter resulting from cross linking together too many sites from the same server and especially from the same c level block. A c level block is the part of a website address in the third section. Example: 123.123.xxx.123 xxx = c level There is some belief that the threshold trigger for that filter is about 20 linked sites.
Duplicate content may not only trigger a filter, but sites that contain a large number of pages that are similar in content might be targeted.
The sandbox filter allegedly works this way. A new site will receive a fresh site bonus from Google and rank highly. Following that initial blush with fame and fortune, the site will drop in the search rankings, and drop, and then drop some more. That is where the alleged sandbox occurs.
Once in the sandbox, the site will be anywhere from two to four months rising in the SERPs to a respectable position. During that sandbox period, regardless of the number and quality of inbound links and the PageRank, that site will not rank well at all. It is thought that gaining too many links too quickly might be part of the reason for the sandbox. On the other hand, building up a domain with incoming links prior to site launch may help avoid the sandbox entirely.
"Possible Link Related Filters"
Identical link text
Recripricol links damped
Links pages/ guest books filtered
Interlinking on same IP filtered: Many observers have noticed a cross linking filter resulting from cross linking together too many sites from the same server and especially from the same c level block. A c level block is the part of a website address in the third section. Example: 123.123.xxx.123 xxx = c level There is some belief that the threshold trigger for that filter is about 20 linked sites.
Duplicate content may not only trigger a filter, but sites that contain a large number of pages that are similar in content might be targeted.
The sandbox filter allegedly works this way. A new site will receive a fresh site bonus from Google and rank highly. Following that initial blush with fame and fortune, the site will drop in the search rankings, and drop, and then drop some more. That is where the alleged sandbox occurs.
Once in the sandbox, the site will be anywhere from two to four months rising in the SERPs to a respectable position. During that sandbox period, regardless of the number and quality of inbound links and the PageRank, that site will not rank well at all. It is thought that gaining too many links too quickly might be part of the reason for the sandbox. On the other hand, building up a domain with incoming links prior to site launch may help avoid the sandbox entirely.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Google Bans Traffic Power and it's Clients
Google Bans Traffic Power and it's Clients: "GoogleGuy recently broke his silence to confirm that Google has taken action against an SEO firm and it's clients for spammy techniques. The SEO company convinced some its clients to use javascript redirects and place hidden links to doorway pages created by the firm. GoogleGuy explains:
I believe that one SEO had convinced clients either to put spammy Javascript mouseover redirects, doorway pages that link to other sites, or both on their clients' sites. That can lead to clients' sites being flagged as spam in addition to the doorway domains that the SEO set up.
GoogleGuy later reassured webmasters that those who use javascript mousover to place text in the status bar do not need to worry about beeing banned."
I believe that one SEO had convinced clients either to put spammy Javascript mouseover redirects, doorway pages that link to other sites, or both on their clients' sites. That can lead to clients' sites being flagged as spam in addition to the doorway domains that the SEO set up.
GoogleGuy later reassured webmasters that those who use javascript mousover to place text in the status bar do not need to worry about beeing banned."
SearchEngineWatch Forums - Alt Attributes Appearing as Anchor Text in Text-only Cache
SearchEngineWatch Forums - Alt Attributes Appearing as Anchor Text in Text-only Cache: "Regarding the internal links (i.e. company logo that links back to the same page with same alt text), I have a solution that works well on dynamic sites.
On some of my dynamic sites, when I do an allinurl:www.domain.com site:www.domain.com most the results have that 'In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the # already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.' message.
The reason some of my sites had this was because the content closest to the top of the page was the alt tag of the logo that linked back to the homepage. All the pages had the same header with same text at the top.
What I did was change the alternative text to read the same as the page title for each unique page. Now the alt text is different at the top and no more messages like 'In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the # already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.'
Also, I do not have the same alternative text with a link back to the same page on every page. Not that I feel having the same text linking to the same page over and over again is a bad thing. I only did this because I hated getting 'In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the # already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.'"
On some of my dynamic sites, when I do an allinurl:www.domain.com site:www.domain.com most the results have that 'In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the # already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.' message.
The reason some of my sites had this was because the content closest to the top of the page was the alt tag of the logo that linked back to the homepage. All the pages had the same header with same text at the top.
What I did was change the alternative text to read the same as the page title for each unique page. Now the alt text is different at the top and no more messages like 'In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the # already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.'
Also, I do not have the same alternative text with a link back to the same page on every page. Not that I feel having the same text linking to the same page over and over again is a bad thing. I only did this because I hated getting 'In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the # already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.'"
SearchEngineWatch Forums - Alt Attributes Appearing as Anchor Text in Text-only Cache
SearchEngineWatch Forums - Alt Attributes Appearing as Anchor Text in Text-only Cache: " Some believe that all identical anchor text is fine, while others believe that if the identical phrase goes over a certain percentage of total links it can trip a penalty or filter. I'm one of those that believes it can happen, even just within the site itself without regard to inbound links, though inbounds also could possibly make it even worse if there's a problem. I've had it happen to me; that was one of the factors I identified as causing problems with the site.
Then there's on-page KWD and number of phrase occurences. While for Yahoo a certain ideal density and number of occurences is fine, some believe that for Google it's necessary to whittle down number of occurences of an identical phrase on a page to avoid problems."
Then there's on-page KWD and number of phrase occurences. While for Yahoo a certain ideal density and number of occurences is fine, some believe that for Google it's necessary to whittle down number of occurences of an identical phrase on a page to avoid problems."
Google Pulls Plug on "onmouseover" Pages
Google Pulls Plug on "onmouseover" Pages: "June 23, 2004 (utc 0)
Along with todays PR update, I've also noticed that several sites that used the increasingly popular tactic of creating keyword stuffed entry pages that forward to the true home page via the onmouseover javascript command are no longer found at all in the index.
This tactic has been discussed here for a number of months now. Nice to see that these sites are no longer appearing in the SERPS.
The sites that were doing this seem to have been completely booted from the index, too. Toolbar shows a gray PR. "
Along with todays PR update, I've also noticed that several sites that used the increasingly popular tactic of creating keyword stuffed entry pages that forward to the true home page via the onmouseover javascript command are no longer found at all in the index.
This tactic has been discussed here for a number of months now. Nice to see that these sites are no longer appearing in the SERPS.
The sites that were doing this seem to have been completely booted from the index, too. Toolbar shows a gray PR. "
Monday, July 05, 2004
Google Cracks Down
Google Cracks Down: "According to threads taking place in several popular search engine marketing forums, it seems that Google has adjusted their algorithms to catch a batch of sites using a JavaScript technique known as 'onmouseover.' "
Google Alters AdWords; Sharpens Relevancy Matching - The Search Engine Marketing Weblog - sem.weblogsinc.com
June 30th 2004 Google Alters AdWords; Sharpens Relevancy Matching - The Search Engine Marketing Weblog - sem.weblogsinc.com: "Google sent an e-mail to AdWords advertisers today announcing an algorithmic change to the matching of ads and keywords. For now, the change affects only broad-matched keywords associated with AdWords ads displayed on Google.com, but Google promises the improved relevance will ultimately affect other matching options and other portions of the advertising network... it is clear that broad matching will no longer be as broad. Although Google expresses a somewhat defensive tone in the e-mail and related FAQ, the truth is that this change should be good news for advertisers, especially those who rely on broad matching to eliminate the work of fine-tuning keyword. Here is the example Google uses—"
”For example, an advertiser specializing in Alaskan cruises may have selected cruises (broad-matched) for their campaign. Previously, this keyword may have been disabled due to poor performance on more popular queries such as Hawaiian cruises. Instead of disabling all broad match variations of cruises, we will now show this ad for specific query variations that are more relevant to the ad, such as Alaskan cruises.”
The big question is HOW—how will Google determine niched relevancy in an ad? Is the change really algorithmic as I stated above, or will human resources be used to evaluate ads? (The second possibility is far less likely than the first.)
One implication seems clear: Google is de-emphasizing broad matching in favor of exact matching.
If the keywords are matched more intelligently to start with, the chances of poor performance are lessened. Is it possible that Google is using this after-the-fact determination to refine the matching relevancy? Nobody outside Google knows, but some posters at WebmasterWorld are already seeing changes in ad positioning.
Includes comments by "adwords advisor"
AdWords Announce Improved Ad Relevancy: "Power posting enables you to put in a unique max CPC and URL for a bunch of different keyword tied to one ad. It helps to make things a little faster on the setup but if you want to have unique ads for each keyword ya still have to type all that in. "
”For example, an advertiser specializing in Alaskan cruises may have selected cruises (broad-matched) for their campaign. Previously, this keyword may have been disabled due to poor performance on more popular queries such as Hawaiian cruises. Instead of disabling all broad match variations of cruises, we will now show this ad for specific query variations that are more relevant to the ad, such as Alaskan cruises.”
The big question is HOW—how will Google determine niched relevancy in an ad? Is the change really algorithmic as I stated above, or will human resources be used to evaluate ads? (The second possibility is far less likely than the first.)
One implication seems clear: Google is de-emphasizing broad matching in favor of exact matching.
If the keywords are matched more intelligently to start with, the chances of poor performance are lessened. Is it possible that Google is using this after-the-fact determination to refine the matching relevancy? Nobody outside Google knows, but some posters at WebmasterWorld are already seeing changes in ad positioning.
Includes comments by "adwords advisor"
AdWords Announce Improved Ad Relevancy: "Power posting enables you to put in a unique max CPC and URL for a bunch of different keyword tied to one ad. It helps to make things a little faster on the setup but if you want to have unique ads for each keyword ya still have to type all that in. "
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Google invests in Chinese search | CNET News.com
Google invests in Chinese search | CNET News.com: "Search giant Google and venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures are among the new investors in Chinese search engine Baidu.com."
Google added to its presence in the Chinese search market earlier this year with its advertising product called AdWords in two Chinese dialects. China has a thriving Internet market with 80 million Internet users--a figure that is projected to jump to 100 million by end of this year, according to China Internet Network Information Center.
Beijing-based Baidu, which launched its search service in 2001, is the most frequently used search engine in China, the company said. It offers a Chinese Web page index of more than 300 million pages, in addition to paid search services
Google added to its presence in the Chinese search market earlier this year with its advertising product called AdWords in two Chinese dialects. China has a thriving Internet market with 80 million Internet users--a figure that is projected to jump to 100 million by end of this year, according to China Internet Network Information Center.
Beijing-based Baidu, which launched its search service in 2001, is the most frequently used search engine in China, the company said. It offers a Chinese Web page index of more than 300 million pages, in addition to paid search services
The Sandbox Effect: Not a Nice Place to Play
The Sandbox Effect: Not a Nice Place to Play: "Named for the phenomenon of new websites being held back, in the search engine results pages (SERPs) by leading search engine Google, the Sandbox Effect has many website owners upset. When a new website is indexed in Google, it often receives what many observers consider to be a new site bonus. The brand new site will rocket to the top of the SERPs charts for a brief, shining moment. From there, it's all downhill."
Many observers believe the purpose of the Sandbox filter is to discourage unscrupulous webmasters from using practices that are against Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Some of the techniques that Google is attempting to disrupt are the use of throw away spam sites to build early traffic, and to slow down the purchase of expired domain names to get a jump start from any pre-existing Google PageRank.
One technique, to avoid spending too long in the sand, is to purchase and register a domain name and park it. By placing the domain on a parked basis, some of the sand time will be run through the Google hourglass, by the time your site is ready for launch. During the time period of your parked domain, you can be preparing content when your site goes public.
Conclusion
Google has placed a dampening filter in its search algorithm, which holds back new sites for three or four months, following the initial fresh site bonus.
The so-called Sandbox Effect places new websites into a brief moratorium, where they will not rank well, if they appear at all, in the SERPs.
Because the Sandbox appears to affect every new website, the onus is on the webmaster to plan for it happening to them. To counter the Sandbox, website owners are encouraged to carefully select their launch date to limit the damage.
During the sojourn in the sand, a tremendous opportunity exists to add content and incoming links to your website. That time period affords you the chance to find additional links, optimize your site, and submit to the many Internet directories.
With a little planning, and using your time in Sandbox hiatus wisely, your site can burst forth from the filter to the top of the rankings for your keywords.
NB UK SITE STARTED SHOWING PR 28 April 2004
Many observers believe the purpose of the Sandbox filter is to discourage unscrupulous webmasters from using practices that are against Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Some of the techniques that Google is attempting to disrupt are the use of throw away spam sites to build early traffic, and to slow down the purchase of expired domain names to get a jump start from any pre-existing Google PageRank.
One technique, to avoid spending too long in the sand, is to purchase and register a domain name and park it. By placing the domain on a parked basis, some of the sand time will be run through the Google hourglass, by the time your site is ready for launch. During the time period of your parked domain, you can be preparing content when your site goes public.
Conclusion
Google has placed a dampening filter in its search algorithm, which holds back new sites for three or four months, following the initial fresh site bonus.
The so-called Sandbox Effect places new websites into a brief moratorium, where they will not rank well, if they appear at all, in the SERPs.
Because the Sandbox appears to affect every new website, the onus is on the webmaster to plan for it happening to them. To counter the Sandbox, website owners are encouraged to carefully select their launch date to limit the damage.
During the sojourn in the sand, a tremendous opportunity exists to add content and incoming links to your website. That time period affords you the chance to find additional links, optimize your site, and submit to the many Internet directories.
With a little planning, and using your time in Sandbox hiatus wisely, your site can burst forth from the filter to the top of the rankings for your keywords.
NB UK SITE STARTED SHOWING PR 28 April 2004
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
adsense income...Files: How Google Took the Work Out of Selling Advertising
The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Techno Files: How Google Took the Work Out of Selling Advertising: "The highest returns seem to go to sites devoted to very specific tasks - like SeatGuru.com, which rates best and worst seats on airplanes. Though he was not specific, Matthew Daimler, 26, the founder of SeatGuru, said the program brought him thousands of dollars a month. This new revenue, he said, let him 'change from a hobby site to a business, and the best part is that I don't have to have an ad sales force but am still exposed to hundreds of thousands of advertisers.'"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)