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May 2009

Nice to meet you Chandler Bing 'BING!', Great apartment Chandler Bing 'BING!'

It seems like every time we talk he wants to say my name, so that when he gets to my last name he can exaggerate the bing. BING!" - Chandler Bing on Friends

It's not like Microsoft didn't know what was coming. Choosing a name like Bing for their new search engine was bound to attract all sorts of reaction. It's a source of curiosity and quickly became fodder for jokes and references.

The first thing that came to my mind is Chandler Bing, arguably one of the most charming yet sarcastic characters in US sitcom history. Played by Matthew Perry, Chandler Bing was one of the six Friends on the hit TV show that helped define Thursday nights as a "Must See TV" night. On the show, both his first and last names were the sources of many a tease, but he took it all in stride, something Microsoft appears to be doing as well.

Another famous Bing is a crooner and classic movie star who went by the last name Crosby. Most famous for his hit musical White Christmas, Crosby's smooth vocals grace our ears every December. Crosby was a true triple threat. He could sing, dance, and act with the best of them. Microsoft is taking the multi-faceted approach as well, by tackling various niches from travel to shopping to health.

Then there are the plays on the word Bing as well as colloquialisms and acronyms. Ba da bing ba da boom is a phrase that, according to Urban Dictionary, means something that is done quickly and easily. "Bing It On" is a take on the phrase "Bring It On," while many speculated that Bing stood for "Boy, It's Not Google."

When I asked Whitney Burk of the Bing Team why the name was chosen, she said the word "sounded like the moment of discovery." But Bing is more than a sound. Burk said the word is simple, easy to remember and globally appropriate.

Oh yeah, and Burk said that Bing does NOT stand for "Boy It's Not Google." It's not an acronym.

The ultimate question when it comes to branding and naming is, "Does it pass the verb test?" Xerox, FedEx, Google and Twitter have all seen their names turned into verbs. "Can you Xerox this for me?" and "I need to FedEx the gift in time for Christmas" are phrases you've probably heard before.

Will we now hear people say things like "I Binged chocolate chip cookies and found a great recipe" or "I'm going to Bing his name and see what comes up?"

I'm not so sure. It's not that a brand has to have a name that turns into a verb. You don't put on your running shoes and say, "I'm going Nike-ing." But when it comes to search, people have come to expect it. You hear it when people talk about using Google, even in the movies or on TV.

What happens with the Bing brand remains to be seen. The search engine launches to the public next week and after that, much of it is out of Microsoft's hands. Then, the people will decide if Bing is set to join Chandler, Crosby and the colloquialisms as one of the most famous Bings in history.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Microsoft Teams Up with Tech Partners for Social Networking Enterprise Solution

Microsoft has teamed up with Telligent and speakTECH to form the Social Enterprise Alliance. Via the Alliance comes an enterprise social networking solution for manufacturing and consumer goods sectors companies.

The Social Enterprise Solution is designed to be a robust solution, integrated with a company's site instead of than simply copying and pasting code from Google's Friend Connect or Facebook Connect (which leaves a site co-branded with Google or Facebook).

"The Social Enterprise Alliance with Telligent and speakTECH demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to recognizing partners that collaborate to offer a higher level of solutions and services offerings that are more relevant to customer needs," said Greg Urquhart, general manager, U.S. ISV and National System Integrators, U.S. Partners Group at Microsoft. "By integrating Telligent's Community Server platform with speakTECH's integration and services expertise -- all of which leverage the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server platform -- companies have a better solution to connect with their customers, partners, suppliers and investors."

Ultimately, the Social Enterprise Solution is designed to define and develop communities based around a company.

"Manufacturing and consumer goods companies have a unique opportunity to put the power of social computing to work across all aspects of their business, improving engagement and collaboration of employees, partners, distributors and customers," said Rob Howard, founder and CTO of Telligent. "Holistic social computing solutions enable the agile and innovative enterprise."

As social media continues to grow at a rapid-fire pace, a deep integration of social networking technologies is becoming a necessity for many brands.

"Companies are finding the return on investment for social media campaigns to be aggressively outpacing traditional marketing strategies," said Aaron Sloman, CEO of speakTECH. "It's driving a transformation where traditional marketing departments need to re-tool as interactive marketing agencies."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Omniture Launches Facebook Analytics Solution

Omniture has created a new tool designed to measure the success of Facebook applications. Dubbed App Measurement for Facebook, it utilizes the reporting capabilities of the company's online analytics solution SiteCatalyst.

With App Measurement for Facebook, marketers can view users by how many members they have, see which parts of the app are most popular, monitor video sharing, and observe which users invited their friends to the app.

Check out more screenshots of the tool at Omniture's Flickr stream.

Facebook apps are an increasingly popular way for companies to leverage social media in their online marketing campaigns.

"With more than 200 million active users, marketers are intrigued by the potential of Facebook to help them connect with consumers in personalized and meaningful ways," said Brett Error, CTO and executive vice president, products at Omniture.

But unlike SEO and SEM, social media has been notoriously difficult to measure. App Measurement for Facebook attempts to fill this void.

"The relatively young phenomenon of social media has forced marketers to rely on experimentation to tap into that potential," said Error. "The App Measurement for Facebook solution will deliver actionable insight concerning Facebook applications and help marketers develop data-driven social media marketing strategies that support and positively affect efforts across other online channels."

The tool is now available for SiteCatalyst customers and is part of the Omniture Online Marketing Suite.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Book Settlement Raises Eyebrows in Europe

Google's book settlement in the US is not sitting well with some in Europe. As a result, the EU is commissioning a study on the affects of the settlement on European authors. The deal that Google made with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) includes European authors who have been published in the States. However, they are allowed to opt-out of the deal if they so choose.

The EU, of course, isn't the only one scrutinizing the agreement. Last month, the Department of Justice here in the States launched an antitrust investigation into the settlement, despite the deal's nonexclusive clauses.

Additionally, the settlement must be approved by a court. The hearing is scheduled for October 7, 2009.

The settlement came after two years of disputes and negotiations between Google and the AAP. It involves Google shelling out $125 million to establish the Book Rights Registry, which would kill the existing class action lawsuit against Google for its book search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lyrics, Free Downloads are Among McAfee's Most Dangerous Searches

Security technology company McAfee has identified the world's most dangerous search terms. They searched 2,600 keywords culled from several of the top keyword lists from sources such as search engines and Hitwise. They then ranked them based on risky downloads, browser exploits, email practices, phishing, excessive popups, and linking practices.

The risk for your average search results is low, at just 1.7%. That means if your search returns 250 results, about 4 of them are risky.

But there are certain categories and terms that are more risky than others. Searching for something with the word "free" attached turns out to be a risky venture indeed. Want lyrics to a song? 1 in 4 of the results for an average lyrics search are risky.

Here are the most risky categories as determined by McAfee:

In the United States, these are the most risky keywords:

Globally, one of the most risky searches that can be conducted is for "free work at home" schemes. With the current economic crisis, these search terms may be quite tempting, but they're probably not worth the risk.

McAfee also analyzed risk based on keyword variations. Here is a list of risky root words when looking at variations:

What do you think of this data from McAfee? Leave a comment below to let us know.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dossett Departs Yahoo! After Just Six Months

Jeff Dossett joined Yahoo! last fall but recently gave his resignation. The reason for the departure is personal, according to BoomTown.

Dossett's responsibilities have been assumed by Vertical Audience Experiences head Jimmy Pitaro and Search & Social Applications Tim Mayer.

Dossett originally replaced Scott Moore and Al Warms. Previously, Dossett worked at Microsoft.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Home Buyers More Likely to Search Online than Newspapers for Open House Listings

Trulia is releasing home buying search data from a Harris Interactive-commissioned survey. When looking for open house information, home buyers search:

• 62% online
• 53% info from real estate agents
• 36% neighborhood signs
• 31% newspapers and local flyers

"The real estate section of the weekend newspaper is no longer the go-to resource for open houses," said Sami Inkinen, co-founder and COO of Trulia. "Home buyers are increasingly going online to not only search for the most up to date listings but also to obtain rich information about the neighborhood, schools, and local shops. Both the Trulia.com site and our iPhone application allow home buyers to search for open houses in neighborhoods that interest them, plus they can sign up for email alerts on our website letting them know when new open houses are listed. The print newspaper can't offer that type of experience."

91% of home buyers plan to attend an open house during the purchasing process.

What do you think of this data? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Bing: What to Expect (Hint: It's More Than Just a Live Search Rebrand)

Yes, Microsoft's Bing is a rebranding of Live Search, but there are added features which make it a whole new search engine from the software giant.

What's being carried over from Live Search include the homepage images with hotspots, deep links, Instant Answers, xRank and a slew of features on the local, video, and image searches. Search suggestions are now called "Auto-Suggest." As reported earlier, programs like Cashback and sites like Farecast will be rebranded under the Bing brand.

Here's what's new:

Web Groups affect the way results appear. Certain search terms will have results that are categorized. For example, if you search for a city, you may get groups of results sorted according to restaurants, hotels, weather, airport information and more. A search for a celebrity may sort results according to biography, movies, images, etc. Powerset plays a key role in these groupings. Here are the categories that will be affected by Web Groups:

• Automobiles (car models, car manufacturers)
• Travel/local (countries, cities, states and points of interest such as stadiums, parks and passes)
• People (celebrities, athletes, musicians, bands, politicians, etc.)
• Sports (teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB)
• Health (cancer, diet, over-the-counter and prescription drugs, symptoms, genetic and conditional disease, injury trauma)
• Entertainment (popular television shows and movies)
• Retail (certain electronics such as cameras, cell phones and optics products)
• Events (Oscars, Fourth of July, NASCAR, etc.)

Bing Health is going to include more content directly in the web results. In the screenshot below, you can see how a search for "influenza" brings Quick Tabs in the Explore Pane. When articles is selected, actual articles appear in the results. Content will be provided by nine trusted medical sources including Mayo Clinic, the American Cancer Society and MedlinePlus.

Best Match is designed to make the most helpful information stand out from the rest. If you're searching for UPS, obviously the UPS site should be first and foremost. Included with the result are deep links and a customer service number. There's also a box in the search results where you can type in a number to track a package.

Quick Previews allow searchers to mouseover results and see more information from the site behind the result. Microsoft says up to 24% of clicks result in a quick click back to search results because searchers quickly realize a page isn't what they're looking for. Quick previews can help prevent those unnecessary clicks.

The Explore Pane is a lefthand sidebar that serves up Recommended Searches (previously on the right hand side in Live Search) as well as search history and quick tabs to information relevant to your search.

Bing will also be available for mobile devices and will power Microsoft's Windows Live and MSN toolbars.

Bing isn't available for public use until next week, but what are your impressions of this preview? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Live Search Provides Instant Answers for MTV Movie Awards

This Sunday, the MTV Movie Awards are finally worth watching again for one reason: Andy Samberg of SNL fame is hosting. But if you can't catch the awards live and want to know which movies are winning the Golden Popcorn trophies, simply go to Live.com (because Bing.com won't be launched yet) and type in "MTV movie awards" for some instant answers.

via the Live Search blog

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Search Adds Sports Shortcuts

Earlier this week, we looked at the Instant Answers that Live Search provides for sports teams and players. Now, Yahoo! is rolling out search shortcuts for sports as well.

Simply type in a team or sporting event and get immediate stats. The shortcut works for NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA, and college sports leagues including the NCAAF and NCAAB.

Here are some examples:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Unveils Custom Search Web Element, Previews Wave at Developer Conference

Google is holding its annual developer conference this week and have unveiled a couple of noteworthy projects.

First up is the Custom Search Web Element. This is a tool that generates code which you can then copy and paste on your site. This is a feature of Custom Search, which you can have on your site to assist in on-site searches. The element supports Promotions, which lets you specify information pertaining to a particular search, as well as refinement tabs, which help filter searches.

Next up is Google Wave. The idea behind Wave is the next era of internet communication. The product was designed by brothers Jens and Lars Rasmussen who came to Google via the acquisition of their mapping product Where 2 Tech. A "wave" can be created about a given topic and then people contribute to it with rich formatted text, photos, feeds, and gadgets.

Here's an image provided by the Official Google blog (click to enlarge):

While impressive, I'm not sure how innovative this is. It appears to basically be a fancy-pants wiki. Wikis definitely need this sort of updating, but there's nothing that appears to be truly brand new here.

Having said that, the product is only being released as a developer's preview. The team is still working on Wave for months until it is released for public use.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

All Things Bing: A Roundup of Reaction to Microsoft's Big News

The long-awaited unveiling of Microsoft's new search product finally came today at the D7 conference. Wall Street reacted positively with a 2.11% increase on MSFT, higher than the DJIA of 0.67%. Here's how the media and blogosphere reacted:

First, here's a summary of Steve Ballmer's appearance at the D7 conference.
From the Live Search blog: The sound of found: Bing!
The Official Press Release

5 Things I Want to Know About Bing - PC World
Microsoft's Bing: Powerset's role, market share, brand (and other burning questions)
Microsoft Reveals Its New Search Engine [Video] - Mashable
To Bing or not to Bing? Hands on with Microsoft's new search - Ars Technica
Hands On with Microsoft's Bing Search - PC Mag
Microsoft's Lu on Bing Search: 'A First Step' - Business Week
What Has to Happen for Bing to Win - AdAge
Bloodied By Google, Microsoft Tries Again on Search - NY Time
Confirmed: Microsoft's New Search Engine is Called 'Bing,' Opens June 3rd - Gizmodo
Bing it on: Microsoft overhauls search, again

Interestingly enough, the best source for Bing news was searching Twitter.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Carol Bartz Paints Yahoo! in a Different Light

"It's simple." That's the mantra new Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz kept repeating at her D7 appearance this week. It's a message Bartz wants to get across to both her staff at Yahoo! and the media.

Bartz took to the stage at the annual All Things D conference to be interviewed by Kara Swisher. I found this to be an unusual pairing, as Swisher is constantly publishing rumors leaked by Purple People and Bartz wants to crack down on the moles leaking the info.

Swisher's column at All Things D is a popular one, though and their opposite personalities provided for one heck of an entertaining session.

If you read news articles and blog posts about Yahoo!, you'd be tempted to think that the company is a search engine that just happens to have a few popular websites. But new CEO Carol Bartz wants you to think of Yahoo! as a whole, not just as one of its parts. And while that may seem the opposite of simplification - it isn't.

When Bartz was asked if Yahoo! was a media or a tech company, she essentially responded with asking why there has to be a separation. She's right. It's as if Yahoo! was a human and everyone wants to concentrate on its foot, when it, indeed, has arms, legs, organs, a brain, etc.

This is a fact sometimes lost on Yahoo! itself. Bartz spoke about the silos Yahoo! has constructed, where the homepage division doesn't want to send traffic to the Finance site. They want to keep the traffic for themselves. And if a company has the wrong goals for its divisions, something that creates competition instead of integration, it's easy to see how this would happen.

Thankfully for Yahoo!, Bartz sees the whole picture. While achieving her holistic vision for Yahoo! is painful at times (i.e. recent layoffs and restructuring), Bartz seems poised to build on Yahoo!'s strengths.

Bartz reminded the audience that Yahoo! is one of the most visited sites in the world, and when people arrive, they spend a lot of time hanging out. She seeks to enhance and personalize that experience so that Yahoo! meets a variety of needs for their large, diverse audience.

Of course, one of the most-anticipated moments was Bartz was asked about the possibility of still striking a search deal with Microsoft. Bartz said the possibility was still there but that it required the right alignment of tech, goals and money. Her take was consistent with her goals for integration and streamlining Yahoo!: "It's simple."

Watch highlights from Kara Swisher's interview with Carol Bartz here.
Read a summary of the interview here.
Read a Q&A with Carol Bartz on the Yahoo! blog Yodel Anecdotal here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft Live Search is Now Bing

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today drew back the curtain on the new incarnation of Live Search: Bing.

Speaking at the D7 Conference in San Diego, Ballmer launched Microsoft's new Search brand, formerly code-named "Kumo." Bing will begin rolling out in the coming days and will be fully available on 6/3.

More than just a rebranding of Live Search, Microsoft is repositioning Bing as a "decision engine," with a goal "to provide customers with intelligent search tools to help them simplify tasks and make more informed decisions," according to a Microsoft spokesperson.

Bing's "decision engine" will begin by focusing on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

"Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don't do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find," Ballmer said in a statement. "When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they've found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions."

Bing includes some advancements to Live Search's core search, such as entity extraction and expansion, query intent recognition and document summarization technology. It also offers a new user experience model, which changes based on the query to offer more relevant decision-making tools.

The Bing brand will extend across other Microsoft search products. Microsoft's mapping platform, Virtual Earth, will now be branded as Bing Maps for Enterprise. Technology from Microsoft's April 2008 acquisition of Farecast is now a central part of Bing Travel. Microsoft's popular cashback program is now dubbed Bing cashback, and will be fully integrated into the Bing Shopping experience.

Microsoft has created a new site describing Bing, DiscoverBing.com, and the brand has a new Twitter account, @bing.

Earlier this week, AdAge reported that Microsoft will launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, which will include online, TV, print and radio.

According to AdAge:

People with knowledge of the planned push said the ads won't go after Google, or Yahoo for that matter, by name. Instead, they'll focus on planting the idea that today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems. That, Microsoft is hoping, will give consumers a reason to consider switching search engines, which, of course, is one of Bing's biggest challenges.

The Bing situation is a lot like Ask.com's situation two years ago, and again last year. In 2007, Ask.com launched a $57 million campaign aimed at winning new searchers with quirky messaging, taking on Google and others head-on. In 2008, it spent another $22 million, but shifted gears to focus on certain niches it was already doing well in.

Those campaigns didn't help Ask.com win any market share. Will Microsoft's campaign for Bing fare any better?

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 28, 2009, 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

Time Warner Board Approves Plans to Spinoff AOL

The Time Warner Board has voted and AOL will be spun off into an independent company. Right now, Time Warner owns 95% of AOL and Google owns the other 5%. Time Warner plans to buy back the 5% Google stake in the third quarter of 2009 before it spins off AOL.

Brand spankin' new AOL CEO (and former Google VP) Tim Armstrong had this to say:

This will be a great opportunity for AOL, our employees and our partners. Becoming a standalone public company positions AOL to strengthen its core businesses, deliver new and innovative products and services, and enhance our strategic options. We play in a very competitive landscape and will be using our new status to retain and attract top talent. Although we have a tremendous amount of work to do, we have a global brand, a committed team of people, and a passion for the future of the Web.

AOL is made up of media and internet access services. Last year, there was talk of splitting those two divisions into two companies, but thus far, nothing has come of it.

Despite AOL's relatively small chunk of the search market (compared to Google), it's Platform-A online ad network is highly successful, consistently ranking at the top of comScore's online ad rankings and reaching 91% of the U.S. internet audience.

How do you think AOL will fare on its own? Share your predictions in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Testing Localization on Global Homepages

Yahoo! has been testing a new homepage for a long time now. The latest test involves localization features for global homepages. For example, if you live in the UK, you can get local transportation information via a widget on the left sidebar. The India homepage will feature a cricket app.

Of course, the US homepage is getting apps, access to email accounts (including non-Yahoo! ones) and social networking. You'll be able to check network updates from a variety of sources directly from the homepage.

I've been able to check out the new homepage when signed in and using Firefox as my browser. It definitely has a sleeker design and the widgets are cool if you can make a new habit of using them. Usually, I just get distracted by a front page story or two before I go on to my normal browsing.

Have you seen the new homepage? What do you think? Share your impressions in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Android, iPhone Web Requests Higher Than Their Market Share

AdMob has released its April 2009 mobile metric report and, as expected, the iPhone is rocking the mobile web. While it doesn't dominate the market share for handset sales (yet?), it does produce the most mobile web requests. The iPhone comprised 8% of smartphone market share, but generated 43% of ad mobile ad requests last month.

Android has similar stats, but on a much smaller scale. Android consisted of 1% of smartphone sales but generated 3% of mobile ad requests.

Smartphones on a whole generate far more web requests than their market share. They only make up about 12% of sales but 35% of AdMob's ad requests. Phones using the Symbian operating system (primarily Nokia phones) enjoyed 52% of handset sales in April 2009, but only generated 36% of mobile web requests.

24% of April's requests were made over a WiFi network. The top 5 devices making Wifi requests were:

• iPhone
• iPod touch
• Sony PSP
• HTC Dream
• HTC Dash

Compared to March, global web requests were down 2% for April, but compared to April last year, mobile web requests are skyrocketing:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo! Image Search Launches Creative Commons Filter

If you need to find photos or graphics that have less restrictions than a fully copyrighted image, Yahoo! is making that easier with a new Creative Commons filter on its image search. Creative Commons does not mean the creator signs away all rights on their content, but they do open it up to greater use.

For example, bloggers flock to Flickr for Creative Commons images that they can use freely on their blogs to complement their writing. Usually all that's needed is a simple attribution to the user who uploaded the image to Flickr.

Of course, Flickr, which Yahoo! acquired in 2005, isn't the only place Creative Commons images can be found. That's why it's nice to have a filter on a broader image search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live.com Offers Instant Answers for NHL, NBA Playoff Games and Players

If your team wasn't painfully swept in the playoffs last night, you might want to use Live.com to keep up with future playoff games. Typing in the name of a team or player will give you Instant Answers, a feature that Live Search has increasingly been expanding.

Right now the NHL and NBA playoffs are going on. Last night the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Eastern Conference finals, beating my Carolina Hurricanes. The only thing that makes this ok is if they go on to beat the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup. BUT, Detroit's Western Conference playoffs are not over yet. They are up against the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 and need just one more game to move on. Game 5 is tonight and if you're away from your TV, you can check scores via Live.com and get an instant update on what's going on.

Maybe you're not away from your TV, but you're watching the Denver-Los Angeles game in the NBA playoffs. That series is tied at 2 games each. Perhaps you're interested in learning the stats of a particular player. Simply type that player's name into Live.com and get Instant Answers stats.

This feature is a little trickier, however, since players don't have unique names. For example, the Denver Nuggets Chris Anderson shares a name with a name with the editor-in-chief at Wired Magazine. No Instant Answers stats come up for his name.

Another Denver Nugget, J.R. Smith, shares a name with a plumbing products company. His Instant Answers stats show up after the first organic link for that company.

For the majority of names, the Instant Answers stats works just fine. It's a great feature for sports junkies who want to look up stats on the fly.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Adds Display Ads to AdSense Link Unit Pages

When online publishers use AdSense, they have an option to utilize link units. These ads feature a list of links that are contextually based on the content of the page they're featured on.

When the links are clicked on, it takes the user to a page of sponsored links. That page is now getting a display ad at the bottom. Google says the conversion rates are better for pages with the image ad. The display ads are also contextually targeted.

If there are no relevant image ads for the content, no image ad will be shown. It will not be replaced with a public service announcement or blank space.

Advertisers may bid on these display ads on a cost-per-impression (CPM) and cost-per-click (CPC) basis.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Digg Removes 'Shout', 'Blog This' Features in Favor of Other Sharing Options

Digg is removing two sharing features from its lineup: the controversial 'Shout' feature and the not-used-so-much 'Blog This' feature. But you can still share content found on Digg.

The new (and also controversial) DiggBar enables email, Facebook and Twitter sharing. Digg also launched Twitter feeds a few months back, which means you can ReTweet links in order to share content as well.

The DiggBar launched last month, and it's a toolbar that frames content instead of installing in your browser. As a result, DiggBar uses Digg URLs, which stirred up opposition from the SEO community.

Digg quickly responded by saying that it had talked with experts at search engines and promised that the DiggBar was SEO-friendly. But judging by the comments and blog posts out there, many SEOs were not convinced. Digg continues to work on SEO issues regarding the DiggBar, hoping that its tweaks will finally win SEOs over.

Many Digg members are notorious for disliking SEOs, as they feel they game Digg simply for linkbait. Of course, those same members often game the system themselves in order to win popularity and have more power on the social bookmarking site.

Digg seems to work diligently to strike balances and update Digg to make it friendly to a wide audience, but it's a challenge indeed. Meanwhile, Twitter and Facebook are growing rapidly, potentially threatening the impact Digg once enjoyed in the social networking niche - especially with their ability to share content.

These latest chess moves in the ability to share Digg content seem like an attempt to position the site more in line with the latest trends in content-sharing and social networking. It's an ever-changing scene and there's plenty of room for competition and collaboration.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ask.com Will Not Renew Contract with LookSmart

Ask.com is not renewing its contract with LookSmart. This appears to be a major hit for LookSmart as Ask Sponsored Listings revenue generated 89% of LookSmart's Company Publisher Solutions revenue in Q1 2009 alone.

The partnership between the two companies began in May 2005. The current contract expires on December 31, 2009.

When contacted, Ask.com said that their Sponsored Listings division is working on the next generation of their platform. No further details are available at this time.

An email to LookSmart's financial PR firm was not returned.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 26, 2009, 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

After Successfully Suing Google, Greenspan Settles with Facebook

When it comes to legally challenging tech giants, Aaron Greenspan is on a roll. In March, he won a small claims court suit against Google's AdSense program, which cut him off without warning and without paying him what his site had earned.

It turns out that Greenspan attended Harvard at the same time Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg did. Greenspan developed a network for the Harvard community called houseSYSTEM. The network included course scheduler, student marketplace, email service, automatic birthday reminder, message boards, photo album, digital flyer advertising, event calendar (with online RSVP's), map integration, job placement, and local business reviews. Greenspan thought about adding profiles, but at the time nixed them for security reasons.

houseSYSTEM included a section called 'The Universal Face Book.'

Later, Zuckerberg would add profiles when he started his social network in 2004. And, of course, he called it Facebook.

Naturally, this led to trademark disputes which have now been settled.

This isn't the first time a classmate of Zuckerberg wanted credit for their Harvard-era work. ConnectU's co-founders (and twins) Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, along with co-founder Divya Narendra sued Facebook for idea-stealing. That case was settled as well, with leaked reports purpotedly showing the settlement money in the $65 million range.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 26, 2009, 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ask.com Comments on 'Night at the Museum' Promo

Yesterday, we brought you news that Ask.com was skinning its page with a large promotional campaign for the 'Night at the Museum' sequel (in theaters this weekend.) Later, I was contacted by Ask.com spokesman Nicholas Graham, who clarified some key points.

The Night at the Museum skin is not an ad per se, but rather a promotional exchange. Ask.com is being featured in the film, and, in exchange, Night at the Museum is being featured on Ask.com.

This isn't the first time that Ask.com has done this. Last fall, Ask.com had a promo where searchers could choose a homepage skin featuring the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. Ask.com has presented similar promotions for charities, as well.

A natural question is: Do people want these graphical experiences, or do they prefer the minimalistic white space of Google? But Graham says people do like it and choose to have skins on their page when given the option.

He referenced a weeklong NASCAR campaign, where, after the campaign was over, users were given the option to keep the skin. Many did.

"We know that allowing users to see and experience something other than a 'usual' homepage excites and captivates them, which is why our 'skins' feature is so popular and desired," said Graham. "It also creates strong 'lifetime value' in users, which is such a critical part of brand presence and growing our share of market. And also adds to positive trends in frequency and retention."

What better way to attract lifetime users than by grabbing their attention at a young age. Let's face it, the results on search engines are not so drastically different that Google should be dominating the search market the way it does. If Ask.com wants to steal some market share away, they need to go after younger demographics, to help them form the habit of searching with them instead. (They'll also need to grow up with them and meet their changing search needs and preferences as they mature.)

Ask.com is smart to take actions based on what they have seen build loyalty and also to appeal to younger searchers. The web is an ever-changing world and Ask.com is clearly not out to maintain the status quo.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2009, 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lisa Buyer on Twitter damage control 101 at SES New York 2009

I had just finished posting "Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles" this morning when I was notified that my video interview with Lisa Buyer, President and CEO of The Buyer Group, had just been uploaded to YouTube.

I had interviewed Buyer at SES New York 2009 about a Twitter damage control case study. She describes the story this way: one of her staff members tweeted about a blogger who posted a negative post about one of their clients. The blogger reacted negatively and hours later a story appeared in Google and Google news about how someone was trying to hire The Buyer Group and had a bad experience.

Buyer says she later contacted the blogger to notify her that this was not part of The Buyer Group's corporate culture and apologized. The blogger took the story down. But the case study illustrates the need to have policies in place before something like this happens in your organization.

Lisa Buyer, The Buyer Group, on Twitter damage control 101 at SES New York 2009

I want to thank Buyer for sharing this story -- which shows a lot of class to talk about mistakes made and lessons learned. And I want to apologies for missing this obvious view interview that should have been included with this morning's "Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles."

Consider this additional example a "baker's dozen."

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 22, 2009, 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yahoo! Updates iPhone App with Voice Search

Yahoo! has introduced a new voice search feature in an update to their iPhone app. To access voice search, open the app and click on the Y! icon (with the word "More" underneath) in the right lower corner of the screen.

Then click in the Yahoo! oneSearch box. The keyboard will pop up and a large, spacebar-like box with the words "Press + Speak" will be available. Click on it, say your word or phrase, and then tap again. The app will "think" and then pull up results. The initial results will pull up local options (which are hit or miss) but keep scrolling for typical organic results. Keep scrolling even further for universal options like news, photos, and answers. (See below for screenshots)

I must say, I use the Yahoo! app nearly every day to read the news. (Though, I wish there was an "email story" option directly from the app.) That, along with the Yahoo! Inquisitor app are two of the most useful apps I've seen in the productivity, news, and reference categories. I'm very impressed with what Yahoo! is doing in this space.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2009, 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is Google Testing SearchWiki Note Sharing in SERPS?

Last November, Google launched SearchWiki, which lets signed-in Google users to customize their search results. You can vote up results to have them appear at the top of your page or remove results altogether. You can also write notes on a given result.

Brian Ussery has noticed that Google may be testing SearchWiki Note sharing option being listed at the top of the SERPs. Here's an image he posted on Picasa:

Have you noticed this in your search results? Please share your findings in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2009, 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Fast and the Furious: Google Chrome Adds More Lead to Its Foot

Google has announced that its internet browser, Chrome, is now faster. How much faster? About 30% faster. Chrome is also boasting some new features:

• Form autofill
• Full screen mode
• Remove thumbnails from the New Tab page

Google launched Chrome last September and it has steadily been gaining browser market share (because, you know, if there's anything Google needs to do, it's dominate even more of the internet). A few days later, Google Analytics was tracking Chrome visits.

By the end of 2008, Chrome was released out of beta, then just last month a new version was launched into beta.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2009, 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Expands Smart Ads Program with Tech Partnerships

Despite data that shows how search and display provide a higher ROI than either method alone, online marketers still sometimes have a hard time bringing themselves to purchase display ads. That's because display ads, on their own, perform poorly when compared to search, which typically has a strong ROI.

Yahoo! is attempting to kill that myth with the expansion of their Smart Ads program. Currently, the Smart Ads is an open platform, but Yahoo! has struck partnerships with Teracent and Tumri to make the program available to PC and mobile advertisers.

Through Smart Ads, advertisers are able to create different ads for the same campaign, but target them to different demographics. If you're advertising a product that reaches a wide audience, Smart Ads will be highly useful. The same messaging probably will not reach both a 22 year old recent college grad and a 50 year old who has watched his retirement fund go down in the recent recession.

As a result, it should come as no surprise to know that tests of the Smart Ad program are working. HP has already tested the program and saw results that were 20 times higher their normal display ad results.

With new technology partners providing the ability to a greater advertiser base, Smart Ads could become a very attractive option for those seeking to complement their search campaigns with a solid display advertising option.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2009, 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

adCenter Makes Website Exclusion and Site Performance Reports Available for Content Ads

Earlier this week, Microsoft's adCenter launched a contextual ad network, Content Ads. Two new adCenter features allow advertisers greater control in ad placement.

Website exclusion does exactly what the name implies. If you don't want your ad to appear on a specific website, this feature prevents it from doing so. Do this by clicking "edit" in the ad group settings when modifying a campaign.

Site performance reports enable advertisers to view how their Content Ads are performing on a given website. You can run the report by clicking on the reports tab and clicking on "Site performance" under basic settings. From there, you can select account, view, and date range. Reports can be downloaded, if you so desire.

Obviously, these two features work hand-in-hand. Use the site performance report to see which sites perform best for your ad campaign, and then add the poorly performing ones to the Website Exclusion list.

The features are only available in the browser version currently - and also only available in the U.S. The desktop version of adCenter will get these features in a future release.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 22, 2009, 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles

Andrew Goodman, the editor of Traffick, has posted "Is Guy Kawasaki Singlehandedly Ruining Twitter (Part 2)." Goodman takes a deeper look at the tactics could turn Twitter into a "digital trailer park."

This prompted me to take a second look at what others in the search engine marketing industry have been saying about Twitter tools, tips, tricks, and techniques. And I found twelve video interviews conducted at SES London and SES New York this year that provide wide spectrum of divergent opinions.

Since there's going to be a session on "The Ins and Outs of Twitter" at SES Toronto next month, I suspect we'll add even more video interviews on the "Twouble with Twitters," as SuperNews describes it.

So, sit back, relax, and watch "Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles."

I interviewed Mikkel deMib Svendsen, Creative Director, deMib.com, at SES London 2009. He says most companies are still not aware of just how important it is to monitor their reputation online. And he shares some tips about using Twitter, including the importance of featuring a high quality photo of yourself when tweeting.

Mikkel deMib Svendsen on reputation management at SES London 2009

I interviewed Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOMoz, about the future of SEO panel at SES London 2009. He says people are using more social elements and direct methods of getting information rather than using the traditional search engines. He says people today who want to converse or learn more about social media don't use Google but use such applications as Facebook or Twitter.

Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz, on the future of SEO in 2009

I also interviewed David Naylor, Founder of Bronco Internet, about reputation management. He shares a few tips. He recommends using such social media tools as Twitter to monitor reputation of brands, products, company name.

David Naylor, CEO, Bronco Internet, on reputation management at SES London

I also interviewed Twitter lover Guy Kawasaki, author of the new book Reality Check and keynote speaker at SES New York 2009. He discusses the social media marketing potential of Twitter. For him, content is king of the hill.

Guy Kawasaki Tweets About Twitter Twits & his Reality Check at SES New York 2009

I also interviewed Jeffrey K. Rohrs, Vice President, Marketing, ExactTarget, about Kawasaki's keynote on Twitter at SES New York 2009. Rohrs expresses concern that if Kawasaki's use of Twitter were adopted by most Tweeters, it would create an avalanche of Twitter spam. Rohrs says one of the major concerns about Twitter is how the Twitterati benefit greatly from its expansion but at the cost of reducing it to strictly a marketing spam tool. He also shares his own newly coined Twitter term, "Twangst."

Jeffrey K. Rohrs, ExactTarget, on Twitter spam at SES New York 2009

John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Aaron Lazansky-Oliva of Sohnup Industries, who live-twittered at SES New York 2009. The two discuss social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and run through some of the best practices, tricks, and tips Aaron picked up as a first-timer at the conference.

Aaron Lazansky-Oliva Twitters and Tapes SES NY 2009

Mulligan also interviewed Eric Qualman, Global Vice President of Online Marketing for EF Education, at SES New York 2009 about the future of search and social media. Qualman describes the future of search as a competition between the major search engines and the various new social media applications such as Twitter and Facebook. As a result, he says the value of social media will only help to improve search.

Erik Qualman, EF Education on the future of search and social media at SES New York 2009

Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Hollis Thomases, CEO of WebAdvantage.net, about Twitter and its social media applications at SES NY 2009. Hollis discusses how Twitter can be used effectively for building customer relationships and brand reputation. She goes on to describe Whole Foods as a success story in how they use Twitter and then describes a "horror story" that happened to Exxon Mobile when their Twitter handle got hijacked. She recommends several key Twitter tools for young companies just starting out to build their Twitter presence.

Hollis Thomases, WebAdvantage, on Twitter and brand building at SES New York 2009

Gordon also interviewed Brian Cray of Nearby Tweets, who discusses his social networking utility, which brings together Twitter and local search functionality at SES New York 2009.

Nearby Tweets, Twitter Tool, Brings Local Search to Twitter at SES New York 2009

Gordon also interviewed Michael Evans of Talent Magazine, an entertainment and emerging alternative artists and media publication, at SES New York 2009. Evans sees the need for the entertainment market to focus more on in-home activities, especially in a down economy, in order to reach consumers more focused on saving money and tailoring their own private media experiences, especially with the potential of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to offer what Evans calls a StayCation.

Staycationing, Social Media, & the Economy: Talent Magazine at SES New York 2009

Gordon interviewed Bas van den Beld, founder of SearchCowboys, a European focused search website at SES New York 2009. Beld discusses the merits of Twitter and the future of search in tough economic times.

Bas van den Beld, founder, SearchCowboys, discusses highlights of SES New York 2009

Rebecca Lieb, eConsultancy, interviewed Michel Leconte, SEO Samba, about the value of integrating twitter into your analytics measurements to get more value out of your feeds.

Michel Leconte, CEO, SEO Samba, on RSS feeds and blog optimization at SES New York 2009

There you have it: Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles. Try saying that quickly three times at SES Toronto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 22, 2009, 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Google Updates Search Suggestion Feature with Links and Personalization

Google is making 4 major updates to its search suggestion feature. If you're not aware, Google Suggest is a list of keywords that appear in a drop-down menu when you type your query on Google.com. It was set as default on the Google homepage last August. The new updates will be rolled out gradually to new users.

The most significant update is the placement of links in Google Suggest. If your query looks like you're looking for a specific site, the actual site will appear in the search suggestions drop-down menu. This will streamline the process of such searches, reducing the amount of clicks needed to reach the end destination.

There will also be Sponsored Links in Google Suggest, which are search ads placed directly in the search suggestion box.

The other 2 updates are related to the actual queries.

If you're on the results page and conducting another search, you'll get search suggestions. The first suggestions to pop up will be related to the search on the current results page.

Additionally, Google Suggest will be injecting personalization into its suggestions. If you're signed into Google and have Web History enabled, Google will use past searches to provide search suggestions. The reason for this is that Google has found that up to 25% of queries are repeat searches, at least when it comes to users who are signed in.

Finally, one feature is being dismissed. The number of searches conducted on a query will no longer appear next to that suggestion. Google says users haven't found that data to be useful, though I'm sure SEO's and SEM's will disagree!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 21, 2009, 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Ask.com Adopts Live Search's Hot Spot Photos, With Ad Twist

Last year, Microsoft's Live Search began adding large images to the homepage with various "hotspots" that, when clicked on, directed visitors to various searches. Now, Ask.com seems to be taking that approach, with a twist.

An advertising twist.

Today, at Ask.com is a large promotional image of the upcoming film, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. If you mouseover each character or actor, a name will pop up and you can click on it and be taken to a search.

For example, mouse over Amy Adams and her character "Amelia Earhart" will pop up. Click on it and be taken to the Ask.com results for "Amelia Earhart."

Ben Stiller is the star of the movie but his character is a fictional security guard. So, his pop up shows his character's name, "Larry Daley" but the search is for "Ben Stiller" instead.

One weird thing is that a couple of the names actually pop up out of the image frame. For such an advertising effort, that should be unacceptable.

Of course, cynics will criticize this move by Ask.com, deeming it cheesy or desperate. But it really isn't all that different from ads seen on non-search engines. Additionally, it's very similar to more traditional ad methods such as billboards (hello, Times Square!) or large ads in newspapers. We only have to look at the criticized yet successful Cashback program, again by Microsoft's Live Search, to know that the cynics aren't always right.

Instead, I think Ask.com might be on to something here. I often see Ask.com advertising on cable television's Discovery Channel, for example. It would be smart of them to engage in some sort of ad exchange where people driven to search Ask via a cable ad are then greeted with this new type of imaging featuring Discovery channel shows.

Search is overdue for some true innovation in advertising and it's good to see Ask (and Microsoft) attempting it.

That's my take. What's yours? Comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 21, 2009, 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

YouTube Insight Now Downloadable, Plus Google Analytics for Brand Channels

Google has a couple of new releases for analytics features on YouTube. First up is the ability to download Insight from YouTube. Insight was initially launched last October and provides data on which parts of a video are most popular among viewers, how viewers discovered videos, geographic information, and when videos were most watched.

Next up is a bigger release. Google Analytics is now available for Brand Channels on YouTube. Brand Channels are YouTube channels for Google advertisers and they're usually more fancy and have more features. From what I understand, advertisers are usually shelling upwards of $200,000 of advertising on Google in order to get the Brand Channel. It's only fitting that they now have Analytics to track their video efforts.

Unlike Insight, Google Analytics for Brand Channels will provide full reporting as if the channel was their own full-fledged site. Brand Channel clients will be able to access such data points as

• How long visitors stay
• Repeat visits
• Bounce rate
• Page views per visitor

Additionally, geographic location and language will be able to be used to target specific audiences.

Perhaps these analytics features will help YouTube in the monetization department. If YouTube members with large and small marketing budgets are armed with better data on how to reach audiences on YouTube, they may be more likely to spend money on advertising on the site. This has been the greatest challenge YouTube has faced and perhaps arming people with data will provide momentum in YouTube advertising.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 21, 2009, 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Zombie Tweets Found in Search, Twitter App

Remember that Tweet you thought you deleted? It never really died. It lives on in the Twitter search - and at a Twitter app called Tweleted.

Jonathan Ross found this out the hard way when he posted his email address on Twitter. Ross has a quarter million followers and decided that perhaps posting the email address wasn't a good idea after all. But it was too late.

Apparently, it's always too late. The good news is that if you accidentally delete a tweet, Tweleted will help you find it.

I decided to test this out for myself. Sure, enough, I deleted my test tweet, searched for it and found it using both Twitter search and Tweleted:

Do you think Twitter should permanently erase deleted Tweets? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2009, 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

AOL's Platform-A Tops April 2009 Ad Network Rankings

AOL's Platform-A continued its dominance over the ad network market in comScore's April 2009 rankings. Yahoo! followed closely behind in second and a bunch of networks are seeing some significant growth:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2009, 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AdWords Search Query Performance Reports Nix 'Other Unique Queries' for Details

The Search Query Performance Report in Google AdWords just got more detailed. Instead of lumping queries with low volume into a line item called "other unique queries," you'll actually be getting those queries listed instead.

You'll see all the queries that got a click, provided the user allows the referral URL to be shown. As a result of the change, you can better manage keyword variations instead of having a bunch hang out in the low volume abyss.

What do you think of the update? Let us know in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2009, 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

New Version of SearchIgnite Features Click Attribution Solution

If a customer clicks on three separate links before making a purchase, oftentimes only one of the links gets credit. But with the new version of SearchIgnite, all three clicks can be attributed to the purchase.

"With the right tools in place, holistic management of online media provides a tremendous opportunity for sophisticated marketers," said Roger Barnette, President of SearchIgnite. "Attribution of customer conversions across multiple clicks and exposures, as well as managing search and display campaigns together can lead to more optimized efforts across these channels, improve campaign effectiveness and increase return on ad spend."

Also included in the update, verson 3.2, is Dart for Advertisers (DFA) impression and click integration.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2009, 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And the 2009 Doodle 4 Google Winner Is ..... (Drum Roll, Please)

The 2009 Doodle 4 Google winner is Christin Engelberth, a sixth grader at Bernard Harris Middle School in San Antonio, Texas. Her entry was "A New Beginning" based on the theme of this year's contest, What I Wish for the World. Her wish is that "out of the current crisis, discoveries will be found to help the Earth prosper once more."

The three national finalists were:

Grades K-3
Miriam Elizabeth Lowery ~ Grade K, Austin Peay Elementary
Covington, TN
"Friendship Around the World"

Grades 7-9
Blakely Linz ~ Grade 7, Indian Hill Middle School,
Cincinnati, OH
"Stop to Smell the Flowers"

Grades 10-12
Emerald Lu ~ Grade 10, Covington Latin School
Covington, KY
"From the Ashes"

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 20, 2009, 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft, hakia Launch Contextual Ad Networks

Two new contextual ad networks are available for online publishers and advertisers. First up, Microsoft has removed the "beta" label from its Content Ads network. Participating online publishers include WSJ.com, FOX Sports, and RunnersWorld.com.

Meanwhile, semantic search engine hakia has also launched their contextual ad network, dubbed CONTEXA. ReadWriteWeb.com is their first publishing partner.

"We are excited to keep the wheels of innovation turning at hakia as our industry has plenty room for improvement. Today, Web users are overwhelmed with the quantity and suffer from the quality of display ads and quickly learn to ignore a good portion of the Web pages they visit," wrote hakia Chief Architect Kartal Guner. "In the long run, the industry's focus will have shift to increasing ad quality and limiting the supply to increase value. The path to this promise goes through enhancements to both contextual and behavioral ad targeting technologies."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 19, 2009, 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MapQuest Now Optimized for Android

One of the most popular online mapping tools is now optimized for Android, Google's mobile operating system. AOL-owned MapQuest has announced that it's now optimized for Android and users of the new 1.5 version will have access to draggable maps.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 19, 2009, 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Friend Connect Launches Recommendation Widget

One of the foundations of the social web is viral content, which is, at its core, based on recommendations. It's why sites like Digg are so popular. That's why it's no surprised to see Google Friend Connect launch a recommendation widget.

Via the new widget, sites using Google Friend Connect to enable social networking now have a vehicle to support content recommendation. This can help give the networking on a given site momentum - and act as a magnet to attract new and repeat visitors.

Here's a video explaining more:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 19, 2009, 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Twelve bloggers blogging about SES Toronto 2009

I know, the above headline above looks like a parody of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and it's only May! But I've seen a dozen bloggers blogging about SES Toronto, which will be held June 8-10, 2009, at the Sheraton Centre Toronto. So, I can't get the song out of my head.

Maybe if I focus on what they're writing about, then I won't slip into "11 tweeters tweeting...."

It all started innocently enough when Andrew Goodman wrote, "My Top Three Tips for SES Toronto 2009." See, when he said, three "tips are 100% guaranteed to help you get the most bang for your buck, and reduce headaches." I just couldn't stop thinking, will they get me "a ranking in the top three"?

And I read "Ruud Questions: Mike Grehan." Now, Ruud Hein questions were totally understandable. But Grehan's answers....Is it just me, or does Grehan sound like he has a bit of a Newcastle accent?

Then, there was Garry Przyklenk's "SES Toronto Pre-Show Interview: Janice Hatch, Google" and his "SES Toronto Pre-Show Interview: Julie Batten, Klick Communications." I know what you're thinking. These are two posts, but one blogger blogging. No, I'm not counting him twice.

I also read Marty Weintraub's "Jeff Quipp Interview: SEO, Canada & Killer Coffee." Although, I did have to head to Wiktionary to find out what "quintessential multifaceted search marketing agency owner" means. But, right next to the definition was Quipp's photo, so Weintraub nailed it.

And I read the "Tara Hunt Interview: True Community Marketing" by Manny Rivas. See, two bloggers, but the same blog. So, things have a way of balancing out.

I had no problem understanding Shane Schick's "What IT pros need to know about search engine strategies." I learned to read Computerworld back in the 1980s when I worked at Data General, so the dialect of techie used by IT World Canada is easy to translate. A "data centre" is just a "data ceter," right?

And I read Manoj Jasra's post "SES Toronto 2009: Interview of Mitch Joel - Twist Image." And the photo of Joel's left eye even looks like his left eye.

I read Tami's post, "Emanuel Rosen to Give Keynote at Search Engine Strategies Toronto," so I know she is as interested as I am in reading the sequel to "The Anatomy of Buzz."

Then I tried to read Patrick Landry's post "Ressac Media au Search Engine Strategies (SES) Toronto 2009." It's in French. Now, I studied French back in high school, but I never learned words like "Whuffie". So, I'll need to brush up on my grandmother's native language before I fly into Toronto next month. However, I had no trouble with the "Last Minute Interview with Tim Schigel CEO of ShareThis Live via Ustream." Schigel is from Ohio, and I understand his midwestern dialect, even though I grew up in Michigan.

Speaking of French, Sarah Benmaza posted "SES Toronto 2009 - Entrevue avec Bryan Eisenberg." I don't know how she did it, but she got Eisenberg to speak slowly -- so I was finally able to keep up with his train of thought which rockets along at Acela speed.

Christoph C. Cemper wrote about his "SEO Event Plans for 2009." Hey, that's in English. Although, Christoph has been to Rio, Berlin, New York City, Munich, Amsterdam, Hanover, and Seattle during the past few months, so obviously language isn't a barrier for him.

I also enjoyed reading Evan Carmichael's "New forum - online businesses!" Okay, okay, so technically this is a forum, not a blog. But his interview with Amanda Watlington looks sort of blogger-like -- if you are a stickler for details. Besides, I was one short of a dozen, so I'm counting him.

There you have it, 12 bloggers blogging.

Now, all together, let's sing the final chorus: "In the first month of summer, Toronto gave to me: 12 bloggers blogging, 11 tweeters tweeting, 10 speakers speaking, 9 Diggers digging, 8 searchers searching, 7 linkers linking, 6 vendors vending, 5 Google things, 4 conferences, 3 key trends, 2 journalists, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 19, 2009, 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Traffic Referral Share Drops for Paid Search While Organic Gains

Hitwise has new data out showing that the percentage of traffic referrals from paid search compared to other traffic sources has declined in the past year. This should not be thought of as a drop in paid search traffic. In fact, the opposite is true. But if you're looking at the pie of what drives traffic to a site, paid search's slice has become smaller.

Search as a whole, however, is increasing. That means organic has to be driving things, which could be a result of the economy affecting marketing budgets.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 18, 2009, 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Market Share Remains Stable in comScore's April 2009 Rankings

comScore has released its April 2009 search engine rankings and things remained relatively stable. The good news is that for 4 of the top 5 engines, search queries were on the rise:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 18, 2009, 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Search Engine Wolfram Alpha Launches to Much Buzz

In the 1957 movie Desk Set, Katharine Hepburn plays a researcher at a TV station who feels her job is threatened when Spencer Tracey comes along and installs a computer that could spit out the answers in a fraction of the time. Ultimately, Hepburn was still needed because, of course, humans had to operate the computer.

Long-awaited and much anticipated search engine Wolfram Alpha has gone live with much of the same roller-coaster excitement seen in Desk Set. It's trending on Twitter and causing all sorts of questions to be asked. Will Wolfram Alpha take on Google? Were Google's announcements at last week's Searchology an attempt to stave off Wolfram Alpha?

In the end, of course, there's room for everyone. Wolfram Alpha is designed around good old-fashioned computing. Of course, other search engines have been computing for years. So, let's do a little comparison. Here are various search engines for the term "population of the United States."

Wolfram Alpha gives us the 2007 estimate plus a slew of other facts including population density and life expectancy:

Yahoo!, Google, and Ask.com provide an immediate answer at the top of the results:

Live Search, AOL, and hakia do not:

What do you think of Wolfram Alpha? Share your impressions in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 18, 2009, 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Search Plus Display Still Hottest Online Ad Combo in Q1 2009

Yesterday, comScore held its State of the U.S. Online Retail Economy for the first quarter of 2009. Their data showed that search is still a potent way to reach customers online, but driving consumers to search via display advertising is even more powerful.

While most categories are taking a hit due to the recession, some are still experiencing growth:

comScore said that many people are choosing to save instead of spend. Consumers with household incomes of $100k or higher and those in older demographics were more likely to save and cut back on spending (since more of their income is disposable and many have lost savings via the stock market).

Still, when consumers do make purchases, the internet remains a valuable resource:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2009, 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google, Microsoft Increase Search Share in Nielsen April 2009 Rankings

Google search grew 7.8% and Microsoft grew 72% in Nielsen Online's April 2009 search market share rankings. Yahoo! and AOL did not fare as well, declining 2.8% and 8.8% respectively. Ask.com saw some nice growth at 5.9%. Here are the top 10:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2009, 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google News Redesigns, Adds YouTube

Google News is celebrating its 7th anniversary with an update to its homepage. There are new color frames around each section of the page. Additionally, new tiny YouTube logos are indicative of the addition of the popular online video site to the Google News search offerings.

Take a look at this screenshot:

Recently, Google News also updated its story pages with a Timeline of Articles and more universal features.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2009, 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

"Why Conversion Optimization is Now a Must-Have!" - Free Webinar 5-19-2009

I have been speaking about improving conversion rates for years in my Search Engine Watch regular column as well as conferences and workshops worldwide. It seems that people are really starting to listen. In these tough economic times you have to do everything possible to improve the efficiency of your online marketing programs.

OnDialog is hosting a free webinar that I will be headlining from 1-2pm EST on Tuesday, May 19th entitled "Why Conversion Optimization is Now a Must-Have!"

The free webinar will cover:

• Landing page optimization basics


• Real-world case studies


• The pros and cons of various landing page testing tools


• The emergence of 2nd-generation tools that put marketers in control

For more information visit the webinar page.

Posted by Tim Ash on May 15, 2009, 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cashback Gives Lift to MSN/Windows Live Shopping Search

When Microsoft launched its Cashback program last year, many in the search and tech community snickered. It seemed laughable that Microsoft had to pay people to search. A year later, the joke is on the doubters.

New data out from Nielsen shows a 615% growth in MSN/Windows Live Shopping Search in the past year. It should be pointed out, however, that shopping search engines account for a small percentage of the overall search market. However, Microsoft's goal of attacking search niche by niche might just be on the right track.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2009, 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google AdWords to Allow Trademarks in Ad Text

Google is issuing a significant update to its policy on Trademarks in AdWords ad text. Trademarks will now be allowed in ad text, in the U.S. only, under the following circumstances:

• Ads which use the term in a descriptive or generic way, and not in reference to the trademark owner or the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term.
• Ads which use the trademark in a nominative manner to refer to the trademark or its owner, specifically:
  
  
  
  • Resale of the trademarked goods or services: The advertiser's site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the goods or services corresponding to a trademark term. The landing page of the ad must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the goods or services corresponding to a trademark from the advertiser.
  • Sale of components, replacement parts or compatible products corresponding to a trademark: The advertiser's site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the components, replacement parts or compatible products relating to the goods or services of the trademark. The advertiser's landing page must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the components, parts or compatible products corresponding to the trademark term from the advertiser.
  • Informational sites: The primary purpose of the advertiser's site must be to provide non-competitive and informative details about the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term. Additionally, the advertiser may not sell or facilitate the sale of the goods or services of a competitor of the trademark owner.
  
  
  
  

Beginning today at 11am PDT, ads with Trademark that fit the above circumstances may be submitted. However, the ads will first appear on June 15th.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2009, 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Google Responds to Thursday Morning Outages

Google has responded to the outages that affected several of its services in various locations throughout the world. Even though the buzz was big, only about 14% of users experienced issues. Of course when you're Google, that's millions of users.

Apparently the outages were caused by a system error, which necessitated re-routing traffic through Asia. However, there was too much traffic for the detour, creating a bottleneck which served up slow load times as well as preventing access altogether.

The down time did affect a percentage of Google Analytics users as well. If your account was affected, you may see a 1% dip in traffic for Thursday.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 15, 2009, 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Barcode Scanning Now Available for Google Product Search on Android

If you're the lucky owner of a G1 and are out and about shopping, mobile product search just got a whole lot easier - and fun. Now, you can use Google Product Search on your phone and do Barcode Scanning. (You'll need to install the Barcode Scanner app first.)

Google Product Search was made available for the Android during the last week of April 2009.

Have you tried out the Barcode Scanning in Android? Tell us how amazing it is or isn't by leaving a comment below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2009, 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sports Car Searches Up 6% in April 2009 CarMax Searches

CarMax is reporting that searches for sports cars is steadily on the rise this year. April's sports car searches were up 6% over March and 8% over January.

The Ford Mustang took over the most searched car spot in April, something it hasn't done in years. Three other sports cars appeared in the top 20. They are:

• 13th position - Infiniti G35
• 14th position - Dodge Charger
• 17th position - Chevrolet Corvette

"Whether customers are searching for that 'instant classic' or just a fun ride for the summer, carmax.com is the best place to find a car of any vehicle type that matches their needs," said Ann Yauger, director of carmax.com. "Within the CarMax inventory there are thousands of vehicles of all makes and models for customers to choose from."

Related Reading:
Searches for Hybrids Up 43% from March to July 2008
Carmax.com Launches Miles Per Gallon Search Feature

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2009, 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Twitter Hockey Stick Continues to Take Shape in comScore April 2009 Stats

With the help of Oprah, the hockey stick that is Twitter growth stats continued to take shape in April 2009, according to comScore data. Twitter saw 17 million visitors last month, quadrupling its numbers over two months:

However, with Twitter's loyalty problem, will Oprah's fans stick around? Or will this become the peak in a rollercoaster?

What do you think will happen with Twitter's growth? Leave it in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2009, 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Great #googlefail of May 2009

Google services have gone down (or were down earlier today) in various cities. There aren't too many concrete details out there. ZD Net is reporting that the outages in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Australia, France, China among others. There's also a possible glitch regarding Google and AT&T.

According to CNet, the services down include: YouTube, Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Docs, AdSense, and Blogger.

But you don't need an online tech source to know what's happening. Just log on to Twitter (or visit search.twitter.com) and you'll see that #googlefail is a hot topic today. Looks like the "Poor man's email" is a little more reliable than Gmail today.

Related Reading:
Google Launches Apps Status Dashboard To Address Outage Information

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2009, 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Hulu Grows 490% in 1 Year, According to Nielsen

Hulu has seen explosive growth since its launch last year, according to data from Nielsen Online. The online video site, which features television programming, grew a whopping 490% year-over-year in April. Here are the top online video sites for last month, with YouTube maintaining its number one position:

The demographic that has seen the most growth is the 35-49 age bracket with second place belonging to (drum roll please) the 65+ set. That's right. Your grandma is getting her Hulu on.

Related Reading:
Hulu Cuts Deal with Disney
Hulu Surpasses Yahoo Sites in Online Video Race for March 2009
Super Bowl Ad Creates Spike in Activity at Hulu in February

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 14, 2009, 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Begins Health Search Experiment

Google has started a search experiment in relation to health-related queries. The experiment involves a survey, which is triggered by a small percentage of random health searches. The survey will ask whether or not a searcher is looking up a topic because s/he or a friend/relative is experiencing those symptoms or conditions.

The results will be used to help Google provide more relevant data related to public health. You may remember last year when Google launched Flu Trends. The tool used search trends to help determine where the flu was rearing its ugly head.

Of course, with the latest public health problem being the swine flu, providing trends wouldn't be so easy. With just around 6,000 cases worldwide, but millions of people talking about (and likely searching for) the swine flu, it would be far more difficult to provide a Swine Flu Trends.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 13, 2009, 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Searchme Releases Mobile App for Android

Visual search engine Searchme has released a mobile application for Android. The Android is a mobile operating system by Google that is currently found on the G1 at T-Mobile.

"Searchme's visual search app is perfectly suited for Android users who are looking for ways to push the boundaries of what their smartphone can do," said Randy Adams, Searchme Founder and CEO. "This solves a real issue for mobile users - a faster, better way to do mobile search. The feedback we're getting from the mobile community is that they like being able to quickly preview web pages before deciding to take the time to load them in the browser."

Searchme released an app for the iPhone last November. The visual search engine launched last year and is experiencing 4 million unique visitors monthly. Searchme has seen growth of 180% since January 2009.

Related Reading:
Searchme Adds Twitter Button to Aid Tweets of Search Results
SearchMe Launches Search Advertising Beta
Searchme Adds Media Search and Visual Bookmarking

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 13, 2009, 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Voting is Open for Doodle 4 Google Contest

Doodle 4 Google is an annual contest where schoolkids can submit their Google-logo designs. Now, you can vote for your favorites for this year's contest. Voting ends May 18 at midnight PST. Click here to vote.

The theme this year is "What I Wish for the World." So far, Google has selected 400 state finalists and 40 regional winners. The results of the public vote will reveal 4 national winners.

The 40 regional winners will have their designs on display from May 21 - July 5, 2009 in New York City at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Here are some of the finalists' designs:

From Sinceraty Alexander, age 6, PS 34 Oliver H Perry Elementary School in Brooklyn, NY:

From Elizabeth Harman, age 16,at Harman Academy in Wake Forest, NC:

From Elizabeth Keto, age 13, at the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC:

From Lauren Sarantopolos, age 12, Highland Park Elementary in Sheridan, WY:

From Courtney Bodine, age 11, Moorestown Upper Elementary in Moorestown, NJ:

From Miriam Elizabeth Lowery, age 5, Austin Peay Elementary, Covington, TX:

From Johnny Zuk, age 6, Monroe Elementary School in Monroe, CT:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 13, 2009, 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Launches Search Options, Previews 'Google Squared'

At today's Searchology press event, Google launched new search features as well as unveiling the upcoming 'Google Squared.' Read to the end, folks, because there are not only some significant updates, but pretty cool tech as well.

Google Search Options

Beginning today, when you search Google.com, the results page will show a link just above the results that says "Show Options." When you click on that link, a left sidebar will show filters for the search, including images, videos, dates, Wonder Wheel etc. Here's a screenshot for a search for the Smithsonian:

Rich Media Snippets

This is basically Google's answer to Yahoo!'s SearchMonkey. Web developers can add a piece of code to their HTML, which can be picked up by the Googlebot to serve up in their results. Here are two examples:

1. Searching for a person can be complicated when multiple people share the same name. One code snippet can reveal the profession and location in the results, preventing the user from clicking on links that aren't relevant to their search. Notice the grey text underneath the link:

2. If you're searching for a restaurant you've never been to, you might be looking for reviews. With another code snippet, you can allow Google, if its algorithm so chooses, to display the number of reviews and a graphic (i.e. a 5 star display) showing the average of the reviews.

This is an example of the rich media snippet code given at the Searchology event today:

Rich snippets can also be used in Site Search or Custom Search.

Because the rich snippets use open standards, other search engines and web tools can access the data. Additionally, websites who do not wish to have such data displayed in the search results can essentially "opt-out" by simply not having the code on their site.

Sky Map

If you're the owner of a G1 or other Android powered-device, you now have access to Google's new Sky Map. And it's, yes, a map of the stars in the sky. The app uses GPS to determine your location and serve up the map of stars you can view in your location.

You can hold up the phone to the sky and the map will show which stars are viewable in the direction in which the phone is held. You can move the device and the map will move.

Search for a constellation and a circle with an arrow will pop up and show you which direction to point your device. Move in that direction until you reach the constellation. The app will let you know when you're there.

It's hard to understand this fully without a good visual, so here's a video demo:

Google Squared

Expected to be launched in Google Labs by the end of the month, Google Squared could quite possibly be one of Google's significant achievements. Searching via Google Squared means searching for pure information.

In Google Squared, the results would show up in a spreadsheet format that can be edited and saved. The example they gave was the term "small dogs." Across the top are the names of data columns. The first column is breed, and rows of breeds stretch down the page. If a breed is missing, you can add the breed. If you'd like to add a column of data, that is possible as well.

Google Squared still needs a lot of improvement, which is why it's being released to Labs. It collects the information by looking for structures that seem to imply facts. The squares are built out based on high probability of facts.

There will be concerns over Google providing this data on its own by grabbing data and serving it up without sending searchers to the sites that provided the info.

Phew. That's a lot of new Google all in one day. What do you think of the Google News? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2009, 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

John Battelle Discusses Future of Search

John Battelle - author of The Search, founder of Wired, Federated Media and The Industry Standard - discussed the future of search with HubSpot.

The HubSpot blog added a few videos of the interview which covered Google and Social Media, How Small Businesses Can Compete, as well as the Future of Search.

"Search is currently an interface for working with machines. As we learn new ways to interact with information, it will stop looking like a list of links and will start feeling more like a conversation," Battelle told HubSpot. Noting, "Search in social media platforms is a threat to Google."

John is always an engaging speaker on our space. This one is worth the time to look at.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 12, 2009, 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First Newspapers, Then TV Now Google Drops Radio Advertising

Google may be the king of search advertising but it seems every other form of advertising has been a failure, as they plan to stop their radio advertising venture May 31, the Wall Street Journal reported.

First newspaper advertising was discontinued, then TV was stopped and finally radio had the plug pulled.

""Google is going to conquer radio," boasted the exuberant Chad" Steelberg of dMarc in 2006, the WSJ reported. Now three years later the effort has failed. Google just does not seem to be able to conquer the offline ad market like it has search.

Interestingly, Yahoo ranked number one for online display advertising with 13.2% compared to Google's 1.3% - though its does not sell display ads per se.

Posted by Frank Watson on May 12, 2009, 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

IAB Releases Click Measurement Guidelines

The International Advertising Bureau has released new guidelines for Cost-Per-Click (CPC) advertising. The Click Measurement Guidelines were agreed upon by key industry members and offer a strong framework for identifying click fraud.

The Guidelines:

• Define the technical life-cycle of a "click" and outline standard methodologies by which clicks should be measured and counted, including provisions for identifying invalid and/or fraudulent clicks.
• Establish standard terms that will help streamline the buying and selling of click-based media.
• Increase transparency and consistency in click measurements for media companies, ad-serving organizations, advertisers, and third-party click auditors.

You can download the 28 page document here.

"The fact that we've obtained agreement within the online industry on the precise definition and measurement of a click and a procedure for identifying and eliminating fraudulent clicks is a huge win for the industry," said Joe Laszlo, research director of the IAB. "These guidelines help assure marketers that the clicks they are paying for are generated by real people with a real interest in the product or service being advertised."

What do you think of the new guidelines? Share your opinions in the comments below.

Related Reading:
Webtrends Proposes Digital Marketing Measurement Standards
Four Advertising Groups to Develop Online Behavioral Advertising Privacy Standards

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2009, 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Sites Rank as Top Display Ad Publisher for March 2009

comScore has released the display ad rankings for March 2009 and Yahoo! takes the cake as the number one publisher. Yahoo! sites served up 42.8 billion ad views, which translates to 13.2% of the market share. Here are the top 10:

Telecommunications companies top the list of advertisers:

Related Reading:
Yahoo! Makes Web Analytics Tool Available to Search, Display Advertisers
Yahoo Adds Behavioral Targeting Features for Search and Display Ads
Yahoo Rebrands AMP as APT and Launches

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2009, 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Launches Search Toolbar

AOL has released a new search toolbar. It's available for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Flock. The toolbar is dark blue and sort of recedes into the browser, which makes it stand out against other toolbars.

Once the toolbar is installed, the browser relaunches with options for adding buttons to the toolbar. There's a nice selection from social media, news sites, shopping sites, etc.

One thing I did not like is that the installation closed Firefox without prompting me if I wanted all my tabs relaunched. I did. They did not reappear again. On a heavy news day, where a blogger has several tabs open, this would have been a bit of a nightmare. Thankfully, today has been on the light side.

Here's a look at the toolbar:

Related Reading:
Pop Culture and Geography Combine in AOL's New 'Where It's At'
AOL Turns on One Clicks for Pro Athletes
AOL Partners with Grocery Shopping Network for Food Niche

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2009, 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Search Engine Strategies SEM and SEO Training Comes to New York

On June 16, 2009, Search Engine Strategies (SES) will hold a workshop, "SEO Training: Basic to Advanced," in partnership with DM Days at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY. The hands-on training workshops are being led by Matt Bailey, the president and founder of SiteLogic by day, who is a Star Trek fan in his spare time.

Matt has been training businesses about website marketing since 1997 and his speaking style has been described as conversational and entertaining. Previous seminar attendees have praised his ability to explain high level search marketing concepts in a way that even "non-techies" can understand. He's a Buckeye from Ohio and I'm a Wolverine from Michigan, so he can't get any higher praise from me.

Attendees can choose the full day workshop or participate in one workshop in the morning and one in the afternoon. The fee for the full day is $895, the fee for the half-day basics workshop is $295, and the fee for the half-day advanced workshop is $745. For complete workshop details and registration information, visit http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/training/newyork/

Matt McGowan, Vice President, Publisher at Incisive Media, says, "Anyone who's been to our training workshops in the past can attest to the sheer amount of practical information provided to our attendees in such a short amount of time." He adds, "And the attendees who have never heard Matt Bailey speak are in for a real treat. I learn something new every time I hear him, and I've been in this business a long time."

The morning workshop, which covers SEO basics, runs from 8:30 to 10:30 AM and consists of four topics:

"Website Programming Obstacles" explains what you must know about the importance of programming, information architecture, and on-page factors as related to search engines, all critical to a successful SEO campaign.

"Understand Keyword, Understand Visitors" demonstrates how keyword research is the most effective and low-cost research you can perform to understand the mind of your customers.

"Linking Strategies that Increase Rankings" explores the critical marketing activity of gaining links from other websites.

"Get the Buy-off" will show you how to get the buy-off from other departments or executive level approval for making changes to the website.

The afternoon workshop, which covers advanced SEO, runs from 1:00 to 5:00 PM and consists of three topics:

"Engines vs Visitors - Which comes first?" focuses on shared human and search engine factors to build rankings and increase success.

"Social Media + SEO = even bigger results" will cover the uses of social media in your marketing efforts and will help marketers develop a social media plan which takes into account both the potential positive and potential negative effects of social media on their websites.

"Analytics for Marketers - Stats are not for the geeks anymore" reviews the importance of statistics in an SEM campaign and can help marketers differentiate between crucial information and information that can be ignored.

For complete workshop details and registration information, you can visit http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/training/newyork/

Or, if you think my mention of Star Trek was a lame attempt at keyword stuffing, check out the video interview below. My business partner, Jamie O'Donnell, interviewed Bailey at SES San Jose last year -- about Trekkie lore and web anlytics. Hey, this was long before the current reboot of the Star Trek franchise. Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up.

Measuring Web 2.0 with Star Trek - & SiteLogic's Matt Bailey

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 12, 2009, 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Travelocity Unveils New Design for Homepage

Travel search site Travelocity has redesigned and features a more minimalistic style. Don't worry. The gnome is still there.

The new design centers around four main tabs:

• Book My Trip
• More Great Deals
• Explore Destinations
• My Travelocity

A "Best Deals" box on the left side features the latest in travel deals.

"In researching the approach for the new homepage, travelers indicated to us that what they wanted from an online travel company is a greater emphasis on deals and relevant offers," said Victoria Treyger, chief marketing officer, Travelocity North America. "We also knew that we had to balance that sentiment with simplicity and providing inspiration. This design addresses each of those challenges in an easy-to-use format."

What do you think of the new design? Leave us a comment and let us know your first impressions.

Related Reading:
Travel Search Site Travelocity Launches Toolbar
24 iPhone Applications That Accelerate Mobile Search

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 11, 2009, 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Story Pages Get Universal in Google News

When you search Google News, links to articles have been separated into stories. Underneath each story section, is a link to more articles. That page, the Story Page, has been updated to include more universal features.

Now, Story Pages may include links to articles, quotes, blogs, photos and a timeline (which was introduced a few weeks ago).

Here's a look at a Story Page screenshot featuring a search for the latest news in the intense Carolina Hurricanes - Boston Bruins NHL playoff series:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 11, 2009, 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Despite Economy, KAYAK Says People Still Want to Travel this Summer

Travel search site KAYAK says last year's summer Staycation trend may be waning, if their new survey results have anything to say about it. Over 41% of those surveyed said the recession will not affect their summer plans, which is double the number of last year's survey.

I guess that all depends on how survey participants answered the question. If they didn't have any plans or already had reduced plans because of last year, then their plans would not need changing. Other data suggests this could be so:

• 62% will stay with friends or relatives instead of booking a hotel
• 50% plan to take advantage of off-season pricing
• 42% are trading down for a less fancy hotel
• 34% will book a shorter holiday
• 32% are choosing a destination closer to home

"The cost of travel is much lower compared to last summer's weekly fuel increases, so people can more easily afford to travel," said Brian Harniman, KAYAK EVP of marketing and distribution. "We're seeing more people use our cost-saving tools, such as flexible search, airfare history and fare alerts. We've also launched new tools to help people take advantage of all the savings offers out there."

Related Reading:
Kayak.com Releases Winter Vacation Survey Data
Kayak.com Launches Display Ad Platform

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 11, 2009, 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft Revamps MSN City Guides With Live Search and Live Maps

MSN City Guides has undergone a makeover and the "after" shot displays Live Search and Live Maps as new accessories, albeit a bit understated. The Live Maps is below the fold and Live Search requires the user to click a button that says "web" near the search box. It then creates a minimized pop-up window with the Live Search results.

The good news is that the featured restaurants and events for my city, Raleigh, are good ones. Asian Cafe is at the top of the list of restaurants on the Live Maps, and they do, indeed, have good food. I also learned that my area has a Restaurant Week (which began last week), something I can't believe I didn't hear about via Twitter. So kudos, City Guides.

Location is not detected via IP (even if signed into Windows Live), therefore users are required to type in their location.

Non-featured cities need a little tweaking. A stock photo is served up on the homepage. The related videos for my city, Raleigh, features the Obama Victory speech, which took place in Chicago and has nothing to do with finding things to do in Raleigh. The site also has trouble loading in Firefox, but, of course, does much better in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.

Related Reading:
Microsoft Partners with Zvents for MSN City Guides
MSN Virtual Earth vs Google Earth APIs
comScore Search Engine Rankings: Google Up, Double Digit Growth for MSN Live

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 11, 2009, 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pop Culture and Geography Combine in AOL's New 'Where It's At'

AOL has launched a new mapping concept designed to answer those probing geographical pop culture questions such as "Where is the real Hotel California?" There are a few different ways to browse the site. One is to use the info box hovering over the map. Simply click "Next Spot" and be taken on a whirlwind tour of random pop culture locales.

On the right side is a list of topics by which you can narrow your interest. Choose from topics or locations.

Below the fold are the most recent spots added, editor's picks, and an option to submit a spot.

At the time of this post, I couldn't get the site to load the map function in Firefox, an issue I trust will be resolved soon enough.

Related Reading:
AOL Turns on One Clicks for Pro Athletes
AOL Partners with Grocery Shopping Network for Food Niche
AOL Adds Collapsable Widgets, New Theme Color to Home Page

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 11, 2009, 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click Forensics Launches New Traffic Quality Management Platform

Click Forensics today unveiled a newly-architected version of its traffic quality management platform. Here's what to expect:

• Click Forensics Site Score - Sources of traffic are tagged with individual Click Forensics Site Scores that rank visitors based on their propensity to convert. This allows ad networks to more effectively filter and route traffic for highest monetization and provide the best ROI for online advertisers.
• Adaptive Intelligence - Accommodates varying traffic profiles among different ad networks, advertisers, and publishers. The new engine provides the capability to adjust rules and thresholds to produce traffic quality scores that better reflect propensity to convert for each specific client.
• Machine Learning - the traffic scoring engine also employs new machine learning capabilities that allow it to adapt and tune itself in real-time to detect new sources of good and bad traffic as they emerge. Filtering decisions can be made instantly based on traffic quality thresholds set by clients.
• Enhanced Anomaly Detection - more granular click anomaly detection features can distinguish new complex click types - machine or human - even from the same computer. This includes increasingly popular malicious Javascript programs that execute upon a page view or site visit. In addition, volume and spike anomalies can be more easily identified to protect from stealth attacks, such as those resulting from botnet activation.

"Monitoring and processing billions of clicks across the industry's top ad networks, online publishers, search engines and advertiser web sites means we have one of the best vantage points for identifying what does and doesn't work in online advertising," said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. "Our new platform helps customers pinpoint and increase the flow of highly-convertible traffic in real-time, which ultimately improves the results of their online campaigns."

Related Reading:
Click Fraud Increased Slightly in Q4 2008
Click Forensics Releases New Trademark Tracking Tool
Lycos Partners with Click Forensics to Improve PPC Quality

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 8, 2009, 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nielsen Data Shows Continued Influence of Moms Online

We've known for awhile that moms are a force to be reckoned with online. New data from Nielsen Online shows that the trend continues.

• Nielsen defines "Power Moms" as women aged 25-54 with at least one child. These women represent almost 20% of the online population.


• Established Moms (aged 40-50 with 3+ kids) are heavy online shoppers. Shopzilla.com is their most popular shopping site.


• Newbie Moms (aged 35-34 with 1-2 kids) also shop online, but are more into social networking.

"Mom bloggers review everything from beauty products to cars to inkjets, enabling marketers unparalled reach to their target consumers. In an increasingly connected world, moms seek the wisdom of their online counterparts as trusted advisors," said Jessica Hogue, research director, Nielsen Online.

Related Reading:
Women Aged 30-39 Spend Most Time Viewing Internet and TV Simultaneously
Mom Bloggers Prove Powerful Resource to Marketing and Branding Success

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 8, 2009, 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

iPhone Searches Longer and More Diverse Than Other Mobile Phones

Google has released some information about the search behavior of iPhone users. Many of the searches are longer than 3 words and more diverse than other mobile devices. In fact, many searches are longer than typical computer searches!

Typical mobile searches tend to average around 2.5 words and be centered around the Adult and Entertainment niches.

Google attributes the phenomenon to what it refers to as "bar-bet" searches. The idea is that you're out with your friends debating some obscure piece of trivia and you pull out an iPhone to look up the answer.

They've even devised a mathematical equation to determine the intent of a searcher over time. It's called entro-percent and it looks like this:

What do you think of entro-percent and the iPhone search data? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Related Reading:
iPhone Advances Mobile Search in the UK
Google Unveils Adsense for Mobile Search
Google Releases Study on Mobile Search Query Suggestions

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 8, 2009, 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

AutoTrader.com Serves Up New Home Page Design

Vehicle search site AutoTrader.com has a brand spankin' new look for its home page. The biggest change is the focus on the "Find Your Car" feature, which is prominently displayed in a bright blue box above the fold on the left side.

"With more than a decade under our belt as the top on-line auto marketplace, we've got great insight into how car shoppers use our site and the features they find most popular," said Chip Perry, AutoTrader.com president and CEO. "Changes to our home page over the years have been very organic, adding features, buttons and functionality as we developed them. However, the time was right to make a major overhaul of the homepage to make the site more user friendly for returning shoppers and for the flood of car shoppers who are coming to the web for the first time."

What do you think of the new design? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
AutoTrader.com Launches Ad Network to Reach In-Market Buyers
AutoTrader.com Sees Record Traffic in March 2009

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 8, 2009, 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Friend Connect Adds Translation to Comments Gadget

Google Friend Connect has added a new feature to its comment gadget: Translation. This is designed to help people understand comments written in languages they don't speak or understand.

To use the feature, look for the "Translate" link at the bottom left corner of the comments gadget. When you click on it, a list of languages will pop up. Select the language you would like to see the comments in.

Related Reading:
Google Friend Connect Adds Event Widget
Google Friend Connect Launches API

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 8, 2009, 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Favicon Test Offers Opportunity for Increased Branding in Search Ads

Yahoo! is testing placing Favicons (that little graphic next to the URL or in the tab of your browser) next to search ads. This is an idea I LOVE because it creates a great branding opportunity without having huge intrusive display ads.

Additionally, while the "big three" search engines remain largely text-based, there are many visual based searchers out there. These little graphics can easily attract such searchers, and hopefullyl adding great value to the advertiser and customer alike.

What do you think of this test? Is this something that you would be interested in having as an option for your paid search ads? Let us know in the comments below.

Related Reading:
Yahoo! Makes Web Analytics Tool Available to Search, Display Advertisers
Yahoo! Tops March 2009 Mobile Benchmark Study by Gomez and dotMobi
Former Adobe Exec Heads to Yahoo!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2009, 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Trends Releases Embeddable Widget

Google Trends has released an embeddable widget that you can place on your website. The annoying thing is that you can't set what terms you want to appear on the widget. So, I'm stuck copying and pasting code featuring the default terms, which today are the top four contestants on American Idol (which was reduced to three last night), when I'd rather compare teams who made the playoffs in the NHL!

Still, users, if they know what the heck they're doing, can click the "edit" button next to the terms and enter their own terms to compare. Try it for yourself below:

Related Reading:
Does Google Analytics Share Data with Google Trends and Ad Planner?
Google Trends for Websites Adds to Comparison Sites Confusion
New Version of Google Trends Released

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2009, 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft Integrates Photosynth with Virtual Earth

Last year, Microsoft introduced Photosynth, which creates 3D images by using multiple images "stitched" together. A few months later, Photosynth search was enabled via Live Maps. Now, Microsoft is integrating the product to its Virtual Earth. Microsoft sees the potential for the union in the following ways:

• Real estate. Showing homebuyers the inside and outside of properties with interactive views
• Tourism and hospitality. Giving an early 3-D and interactive view of hotels, resorts or cities
• Retail. Enabling customers to see the insides of branches and stores, and browse products in great detail
• Media and entertainment. Allowing media companies to create and share visual projects in a controlled environment, and build compelling campaigns and programs with new media
• Public sector. Giving citizens rich detail on public services, buildings, land use and more
• Internal business use. Using unlisted synths for location-based information, such as insurance risk assessment and claim processing

"The integration of Microsoft Photosynth into Virtual Earth marks an important step in enabling businesses to use Photosynth in a relevant, customer-friendly way," said Jeff Kelisky, general manager, Mapping and Local Search at Microsoft. "With the integrated capabilities of Photosynth and recently added Silverlight API, our Virtual Earth partners have great tools for creating, sharing, viewing and embedding synths across multiple platforms, and building engaging experiences."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2009, 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google and YouTube Accounts are Now Linked

When you sign up for a Google account, you get access to a account-level features on a bunch of products through a singular login. That hasn't included YouTube, until this week.

Now, new YouTube signups will be automatic Google accounts. Existing users can link their YouTube accounts to their Google accounts.

If you're an existing user, you don't have to get or link your Google account now, but in the future, features may be rolled out that require it.

Related Reading:
New Version of Android Includes YouTube, Picasa Uploads
YouTube Offers Movies and Shows; Signs Sony, CBS and More
YouTube and Universal to Partner for New Music Site, VEVO

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2009, 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

MySpace Ad Revenue Drops in Q1 2009

News Corp, which owns Fox Interactive Media, which owns MySpace, has reported their first quarter earnings for 2009. The news was not so great for the social network, with a reported 16% decline in ad revenue.

"“Our third quarter results directly reflect the continuing weakness of the global economic
climate. Despite this tough environment, we have proven resilient in several key areas
this quarter," said News Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch. "We continued to make necessary operational adjustments to ensure our businesses are performing at optimum levels. We are working daily to increase market share and strengthen our core businesses, even in this very challenging environment.”"

There are changes afoot at MySpace as News Corp and Fox Interactive seek to turn back the negative trend. Former Facebook exec, Owen Van Netta, was recently named CEO of MySpace. Facebook, of course, has been growing rapidly, much to MySpace's demise. It will be interesting to see if Van Netta can breathe new life into MySpace again.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2009, 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Version of Android Includes YouTube, Picasa Uploads

The new version of Android, version 1.5, includes the ability to upload multimedia directly from the mobile device. Here's what can be done:

• YouTube: record and easily upload videos to YouTube
• Picasa Web Albums: upload photos directly to your Picasa Web Albums
• Gmail: multiple-thread selection to easily archive, delete, label or mute several threads at once
• Search by voice: improved speech recognition

Google released the Android 1.5 SDK for developers last week.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 7, 2009, 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Webtrends Proposes Digital Marketing Measurement Standards

Webtrends is offering up The Digital Marketing Maturity Model (DM3) as a model for standards in digital media measurement. Webtrends says the model will help organizations:

• Measure the maturity of digital marketing programs in six core areas (measurement strategy, analytics resources and domain expertise, data integration and visualization, data analysis and insight, adoption and governance, ongoing optimization).
• Assess measurement programs across all digital channels, including web sites, search engine marketing, online advertising, social media and other digital marketing channels.
• Pinpoint the skills, staffing and other investments needed to advance within the model's four levels of maturity.

"For online marketing to continue to grow and mature, there needs to be standardized, structured approaches for organizations to ensure they are getting the most bang for their digital marketing buck," said Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, Webtrends vice president of marketing. "We hope this model leads to consensus about how to build and maintain mature measurement programs across all types of digital marketing investments."

Related Reading:
WebTrends Taps Microsoft, Yahoo Vet as VP of Marketing
WebTrends Releases New Online Analytics Tool
WebTrends Launches New Service to Reduce Wasted Ad Dollars

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2009, 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Judge Dismisses Anti-Spam Lawsuit Against ValueClick

A California judge has dismissed a $45 million lawsuit against online advertising network, ValueClick. The suit was brought forth by an internet service provider in a state with one of the greatest potential for damages.

The ISP, Hypertouch, claimed that ValueClick sent out 45,000 email messages containing false advertising. The judge threw out the case because he said the federal CAN-SPAM Act took precedent over a state law barring false commercial emails. The judge also said that Hypertouch failed to demonstrate fraudulent action on behalf of ValueClick and its co-defendant PrimaryAds.

This isn't the first time ValueClick has run into spam allegations. Last year, they settled with the FTC for $2.9 million in alleged CAN-SPAM and FTC violations.

Expect Hypertouch to appeal.

Related Reading:

ValueClick Debuts Tailored Banner Ad Option
ValueClick Adds Three Publishers to Health Online Ad Network

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2009, 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Ad Planner Seeks Voluntary Data Contributions from Publishers

Google has launched an Ad Planner Publisher Center, which they hope will improve the data offered by the media planning tool. Through the Center, publishers could contribute their own data which will be combined with shared Google Analytics data. Google hopes this will enhance the quality and accuracy of the data.

Publishers will be able to specify their site descriptions, content categories, supported ad formats and sizes. Here's a visual sample of what participating in the Center looks like:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2009, 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AdSense for Feeds Update Offers New Features

Recently, AdSense underwent a slight makeover where the ads being served up changed their root URL to doubleclick.net. Google is now making the same change for AdSense for Feeds.

Google the change allows advertisers to more easily create ad campaigns that span the Google Content Network (sites, feeds, mobile). The change will soon enable advertisers to use Interest-Based Advertising in their feeds, as well.

Are you using AdSense for Feeds? What do you think about the new features? Let us know in the comments section below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 6, 2009, 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Google Goes for Social with Google Talk Location and Friends Expansion in Reader

Google is really going after social media with two updates. First up, if you use Google Latitude, you can now automatically update your location on Google Talk. This is very reminiscent of social networking apps we're seeing for mobile phones. Allow yourself to be found and chatted with - very trendy.

Next up, Google Reader is getting even friendlier by enabling profile boxes for commenters. In other words, say you're checking out the comments on a friend's shared item and you don't know who someone who made a comment is. Mouse over the name and a box will pop up with their profile to give you a little info on them.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 5, 2009, 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AdMob Runs Publisher Bonus in May

Between May 4 and May 18, mobile advertising network AdMob is giving publishers a 35% bonus on any money transferred over to ads. For example, if you transfer $100 of money made through published ads to actually running an ad yourself, AdMob will add an additional $35 worth of advertising.

With the economy the way it is, I suspect we will continue to see these incentive-based campaigns. It was just yesterday that news came of social search site Scour offering $1,000 in search-based prizes. And Microsoft claims it has had success with its incentive-based programs such as Cashback and Search Perks.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 5, 2009, 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FTC Looks Into Google/Apple Ties for Antitrust Concerns

Google is really having a hard time escaping antitrust concerns. Last year, it was the nonexclusive search advertising deal with Yahoo. Last week, it was the nonexclusive book settlement. Now, it's the relationship it has with Apple.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Genetech CEO Arthur Levinson both sit on the boards of Google and Apple. Schmidt has to leave the room when Apple talks iPhone because of Google's competing Android mobile platform.

At issue is Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, which has a provision against "interlocking directorates." Under the Act, it's only a problem if the two companies in more than 2% of either companies' sales.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 5, 2009, 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Charlene Li, Co-Author of "Groundswell", to Keynote at SES San Jose

Charlene Li, the co-author of "Groundswell," will be one of the keynote speakers at SES San Jose 2009. The event, which will be held August 11-14, 2009, is expected to attract approximately 6,000 marketing executives, managers, professionals, specialists and consultants this year.

SES San Jose 2009 is the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast. The event will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, parties and more.

Li is an influential thought leader and guide on emerging technologies, with a specific focus on social technologies, interactive media, and marketing. She is the co-author of the business best-seller, "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies", published by Harvard Business Press in May 2008.

Named "One of the Most Influential Women in Technology" by Fast Company magazine, she is the founder of Altimeter Group which provides speaking and consulting services to organizations looking to understand and thrive in a new economy driven by social media tools and techniques. You can also read her insights on the firm's blog, "The Altimeter."

Li is one of the most frequently-quoted industry analysts and has appeared on 60 Minutes, The McNeil NewsHour, ABC News, CNN, and CNBC. She is also frequently quoted by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, and The Associated Press.

Most recently, she was a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. She joined Forrester in 1999, after spending five years in online and newspaper publishing with the San Jose Mercury News and Community Newspaper Company. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School and received a magna cum laude degree from Harvard College.

In a press release distributed this morning, Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, said, "More than 60 percent of the content at SES San Jose 2009 will be focused on topics that search engine marketing (SEM), pay per click (PPC) advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) professionals, specialists and consultants need to know. That's what makes SES San Jose a must-attend event year after year."

He added, "As more and more businesses move ever greater amounts of their traditional marketing budgets into social media, we've also seen growing interest from marketing executives and managers in sessions that tackle a broader set of social technologies. That's why we're delighted to have Charlene Li as a keynote speaker at our conference in San Jose, which is home to the largest concentration of successful internet and high-tech companies in the world."

For more information about the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, go to the SES San Jose 2009 website. Register through May 8 to save up to $600 with the early bird rate.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on May 5, 2009, 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scour Attempts to Attract Searchers with $1,000 Giveaway

Social search site Scour is holding a contest where the prize is a $1,000 giveaway each month for the next three months. For every search a person conducts on Scour, they will be entered into the contest, up to 50 entries per day.

Members of Scour will also receive 1 entry per 4 searches conducted by friends who sign up to Scour via referral.

This is reminiscent of Microsoft's recent incentive efforts to attract searchers to Live Search via programs like Cashback and SearchPerks.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hulu Cuts Deal with Disney

Online video site Hulu launched last year as a partnership between NBC Universal and Fox. Unlike other online video sites, Hulu isn't about video sharing - it's about internet television.

Now, Disney is getting in on the deal. Disney owns ABC, so this will have three of the top four broadcast networks participating in Hulu. CBS is the outstanding one, and while you can search for shows like CSI, ultimately you'll be taken to the limited CBS site.

Last month, YouTube announced a deal with CBS, but so far the offerings are pretty paltry.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Makes Web Analytics Tool Available to Search, Display Advertisers

Yahoo! has made its new web analytics tool available for free to search and display advertisers, specifically those who work with an account manager. Not only will you find the typical traffic and referral information, Yahoo! is including behavioral and demographic data in the mix.

If you're interested in the tool, contact your account manager. Here's a screenshot sample:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

People Search Engine Spock Acquired by Intelius

Intelius has acquired Spock, according to Venture Beat. Intelius is a company that performs background checks.

Spock is a people search engine. Spock launched in the summer of 2007. At first, Spock was open as an invitation-only beta. In August 2007, it launched to the public, with 1.5 billion people indexed.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Every Twitterer Gets Search on Their Home Page

About a month ago, Twitter began testing search features on the home pages of its users. Now, they're rolling out the updated interfaces to all users.

You may recall that the changes include putting a search box on the right-hand sidebar as well as offering the opportunity to save searches. Additionally, terms that are trending on Twitter are listed underneath the search box.

What do you think of the update? Let us know in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Beta AdWords Interface Available in More Languages

Google AdWords has been rolling out a beta test of their new interface in recent months. Now, more languages have been added to the beta. There are 10 in total. They are:

• English
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Italian
• Dutch
• Hebrew
• Simplified Chinese
• Japanese
• Brazilian Portuguese

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AdSense and Analytics Accounts Can Now Be Linked

Google has finally allowed AdSense and Analytics accounts to be linked together. Simply log into AdSense, go to Reports > Overview, and then click on the link that says "Integrate your AdSense account with Google Analytics."

Here's which reports the Google Analytics team says are available:

• The Top AdSense Content report - View more details about specific pages on your site and analyze ad performance.
• The Top AdSense Referrers report - View how different incoming traffic sources contribute to revenue.
• The AdSense Trending report - Analyze how revenue is generated during different times and days

Here's a video demo:

Related Reading:
Google Analytics Pro Toolset Prefers Firefox To Chrome
Google Analytics Launches API
Google Updates AdSense Program Policies Page

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DoubleClick Launches Rich Media Creation Tool for Agencies

DoubleClick, an online ad network acquired by Google, has launched a new rich media creation tool. The tool, dubbed DoubleClick Studio, is available to creative and media agencies.

For creative agencies, DoubleClick Studio is designed to:

• Produce traffic-ready ads quickly
• Provide organization via a single place to manage rich media ads
• Output high-quality ad units using drag-and-drop Flash components (and/or APIs for advanced users)

For media agencies, DoubleClick Studio is designed to:

• Save trafficking time by having new and updated creatives pushed directly to DART


• Save time creating preview links by allowing creative agencies to do this on their own


• Get tighter control and insight into custom metrics through an enhanced creative preview system

Here's an intro video for the tool.

Will you be trying out DoubleClick Studio? Let us know in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 4, 2009, 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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