Advertisement

Upcoming Seminars: Monetizing Social Search: Using Real-Time Analytics & Behavioral Tracking to Enhance Content & Function - The Social Graph: The Key to Search Marketing's Future? - PPC Tips for Success: Building a Winning Account Structure

Stories Discussed In The Show

• Sweet Home Newport
• Google Logo Celebrates Sputnik 50th Anniversary
  Fifty years ago today -- October 4, 1957 -- Sputnik became the world's first artificial satellite to go into orbit. Google is celebrating the 50th anniversary with the special logo above. Will other search engines do the same? So far, it's only Google among the majors. Here's the full...
• Yahoo Upgrades Search Experience, Launches Search Assist & Multimedia Content In Results
  Most of the pieces have been sneaking out over the past month or so. But today Yahoo is formally announcing a range of search upgrades, more Shortcuts, integration of video and photos directly in search results, and Search Assist. Search Assist, which Danny previously wrote about at length, is the...
• IAC Hopes More iWon Giveaways Will iWin New Searchers
  The iWon site has been relaunched with a new look and with the intention to give away more prizes. Barry Diller's IAC revamps iWon.com from BusinessWeek details most of the changes, which include more "games, more prizes and plans to add social networking functions." In addition, iWon will contain a...
• Microsoft Office Live Workspace To Challenge Google Docs
  Microsoft announced the beta launch of Microsoft Office Live Workspace. This is Microsoft's answer to Google Docs and will be a "web-based feature of Microsoft Office that enables people to access their documents online anywhere and easily share their work with others." Microsoft is currently accepting beta testers over here...
• Want That Top Ad Position On Live Search?
  The adCenter blog announced that they have released a new ad ranking formula with the release of their new index and organic algorithms from last week. Microsoft has changed their formula for determining which ads are able to to achieve a top ad placement, i.e. the ad above the organic...
• Yahoo Launching "Blocked Domains" Feature For Advertisers
  As expected, Yahoo has just informed me that they will be launching a new advertiser feature named "Blocked Domains" this month. Blocked Domains will allow Yahoo advertisers to block their ads from showing on up to 250 domains within the Yahoo Publisher Network and distribution network....
• AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo Sued Over Competitive Bidding Patent
  AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo Sued Over Competitive Bidding Patent from InformationWeek reports Performance Pricing filed a patent lawsuit (PDF document) against AOL, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo over how they use competitive bidding within their search ad marketplace. The patent, named Systems and methods for transacting business over a global communications,...
• Microsoft Picks Up Jellyfish Shopping Search Engine
  Microsoft has announced the acquisition of a comparison shopping engine named Jellyfish.com. Microsoft believes that Jellyfish's technology "has some interesting potential applications" that they can make a "key component" of Live Search....
• Senate Hearing On Google-DoubleClick & Post Office Metaphors
  After all the buildup to yesterday's hearing in the US Senate on the Google-DoubleClick deal, the actual hearing itself sounded to be a bit anti-climatic. Below, a look at what was said and how it doesn't seem like it will influence the ultimate decision by the US Federal Trade Commission...
• German Data Protection Commissioner Opposes Google-DoubleClick Deal
  German official says 'nein' to Google-DoubleClick deal from News.com reports that Germany's data protection commissioner has come out against the Google / DoubleClick acquisition....
• Google Ordered To Pay $14,000 In Germany Over Gmail Trademark
  Google fined in German Gmail trademark case from News.com reports Google was ordered by a German court to pay $14,000 over using m.gmail.com for their mobile Gmail users. As we know, Google lost the Gmail trademark case in Germany and was ordered to stop using Gmail.com. It appears that Google...
• Google Finally Opens San Francisco Office
  Google opens San Francisco office from News.com reports Google has finally opened a San Francisco office. The office was opened this past Monday and is located on Spear Street in the tech-heavy South of Market area. Many Google employees commute each day from San Francisco to Mountain View. It appears...
• SMX Local & Mobile Recap
  The SMX Local & Mobile conference is over now. It took place in Denver over the past two days. In case you were unable to attend, there has been a lot of coverage of the conference. Below are links to the various session notes, pictures, and overall write-ups on the...
• SMX Social Media Conference Preview: Categorizing Social Media Sites
  Search Engine Land's first Search Marketing Expo show focused on social media marketing, SMX Social Media, comes to New York on Oct. 16 & 17. I'm super-excited about the show, especially having the chance to stretch out with many sessions exploring how social media is, as I wrote earlier this...
• SMX Social Media Conference Preview: Wikipedia Clinic
  Continuing on with yesterday's preview of SMX Social Media -- Search Engine Land's first Search Marketing Expo show focused on social media marketing, I wanted to talk briefly about a special session we're doing for the first time: Wikipedia Clinic. The idea behind the session is simple. Many people are...
• Techmeme Launches Leaderboard
  This morning there was a ton of buzz about Techmeme launching the Techmeme Leaderboard. The leaderboard is now live at http://www.techmeme.com/lb, and Gabe Rivera posted some insight on how it works....
• FriendFeed: Easy Way To Track What Friends Are Doing On Social Web
  Service Helps Friends Share Their Online Discoveries from the New York Times reports on a new service named FriendFeed that enables people to easily keep track of what their friends are doing on the social web. FriendFeed was created by four former Googlers, Bret Taylor and Jim Norris (who created...
• Yahoo Sued Over Public Art Modification
  Yahoo Company Art Exhibit Stirs Up Controversy from ABC reports that Sharon Louden, the artist Yahoo hired to provide art around their campus, has sued them over changing the landscape around the art. The art installed is named Reflective Tips and consists of clusters of wires with reflectors spread out...
• Black-Hat SEOs Are Worthless, Shady Criminals
  Black hat, white hat, blue hat, new hat... why should anyone care which color hat any search engine optimization (SEO) professional labels him- or herself? This was a question presented to me by one of my colleagues, Bill Slawski at SEO by the Sea at the last search engine...
• Educate Your Team: SEO Isn't Voodoo
  In a recent project document floated my way, everyone's role was listed with many sections explained in extreme detail—programmers were given explicit instructions on expected functionality, designers were shown painstakingly built visual mockups... and the section for search said, "Duane to cover SEO." Basically, "Oh Shaman of search, work your...
• MarketingSherpa Report: Challenges To Bringing Search In-House
  MarketingSherpa has just released the fourth annual edition of its Search Marketing Benchmark Guide. The Guide is a comprehensive benchmark for all things related to search marketing, including things such as expected search spending for 2008, how search ROI stacks up against other tactics, difficulty in SEM staffing, new ways...
• Google's Tips On How to Write a Good Meta Description
  The Google Webmaster Central Blog described what makes for a good meta description versus what makes for a bad meta description. Meta descriptions are a special tag that you place within the source code of your html page. They can be used by search engines for ranking purposes as well...
• Krillion Launches 'Stock Check' Inventory Info For Local Product Search
  Product search engine Krillion has launched a feature, called "Stock Check," that enables consumers to see if products (starting with TVs) are in stores locally, buy them online and pick them up at a range of major U.S. retail chains, including Sears, Best Buy, Circuit City, and others. Krillion had...
• Google StreetView Goes To London
  Google Maps is global, so why not Google StreetView as well? A London expansion is suggested by this image of one of the vehicles that takes the 360 degree street images. (Google has done some of the photography itself, but also uses partner Immersive Media in the U.S.). StreetView image...
• Google Buys Mobile-Social Site Zingku
  Google Operating System reports (and confirms) that Google has acquired a mobile service called Zingku, which had been in private beta. Around since 2005, the service uses text messaging and picture messaging to provide a platform for (what appears to be) entertainment and events-related communication but also has commercial potential....
• Deconstructing Google's Billboard Experiment
  Last week's coverage of Google's Goog-411 billboard in Olean brought forth a number of other sightings of the billboards in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, Ca. & Tonawanda , Buffalo and Limestone (even smaller than Olean) NY. While there may be others yet to appear and more billboards coming...
• Sphinn: Our Internet Marketing News Site & Discussion Forums Leave Beta
  It's official. Sphinn (we pronounce it like "spin"), our social news and discussion site for internet marketing, is now out of beta. OK -- so the logo still says beta at the moment, but that will change in a matter of hours. Since we launched back in July, we've been...
• Billboard Showdown: Google 411 Takes On Ask's Algorithm
  I'm in the Bay Area this week, and driving down Lombard Street, I brought the car to a halt when I saw the two billboards above. Yes, that's one of the Goog411 billboards for Google Voice Search sitting on top of an Ask.com "The Algorithm" one. Sadly, there's doesn't...