April 08, 2005
More Plug-ins For Google Desktop Search Now Available
Google Desktop Search users will be happy to learn that the Googleplex has just posted a batch of new plug-ins for the GDS app. You'll find all of them listed here. Here are three new plug-ins that I plan to explore:
+ Google Desktop Extreme
"...enhanced interface for GDS." Freeware.
+ CD/DVD Spindle Search Plug-in
"...catalogs CDs, DVDs & other removable media and adds files to the Google Desktop index." Freeware.
+ Foldershare: Multiple computer search
"search all of your computers running GDS in parallel from any web browser." Free trial.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 8, 2005 |
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Google Files Proxy Statement with SEC; Brin, Page, and Schmidt Salary Set at $1.00
Hot off the press is the Google's Definitive Proxy Statement. Info about executive compensation, Eric Schmidt's employment agreement (he is currently receiving a salary of $1/per year, the same as Larry and Sergey) options, proposals to be voted on at the annual meeting, total voting power amongst owners, and other info. More about the Google filing in this Reuters story.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 8, 2005 |
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Research Papers: Rankings, Link Farms, Personalization, and PageRank Collusion
Yesterday's post about the revised research paper that will be presented at the WWW2005 Conference next month reminded me that I need to begin compiling links to some of the search papers that will be delivered conference. I plan to do get it done in several installments. So, consider this installment number one. Here we go. More coming soon. + An Analysis of Factors Used in Search Engine Ranking (AIRWeb Workshop)
by Albert Bifet, Carlos Castillo, Paul-Alexandru Chirita and Ingmar Weber.
+ Web Spam, Propaganda and Trust(AIRWeb Workshop)
by Panagiotis T. Metaxas and Joseph DeStefano.
UPDATE: A slide presentation is now available.
+ Identifying Link Farm Spam Pages
by Baoning Wu and Brian D. Davison.
Note: A new tech report from Stanford's Zoltan Gyongyi and Hector Garcia-Molina: Link Spam Alliances, will not be presented at the WWW2005 conference but might be of interest.
+ A Personalized Search Engine based on Web-snippet Hierarchical Clustering
by Antonio Gulli. Note: You can check out the engine described in the paper here. A new personalized version is also available. Antonio Gulli is the Director, Advanced Products at Ask Jeeves. His personal homepage is home to lots of interesting reading and demos including this one for ComeToMyHead, a news search tool (more than 2000 sources) that also offers images, personalization, and classification. In other words, what I'll be checking out this weekend. (-:
+ Pagerank Increase under Different Collusion Topologies (AIRWeb Workshop)
by Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Carlos Castillo and Vincente Lopez.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 8, 2005 |
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Search Forums Roundup: Apr. 8, 2005
Today's SearchDay, Search Engine Forums Spotlight, features our weekly links to this week's hot topics from search engine forums across the web: Bookmarks Seen by Search Engines? - Of Sandboxes and Toolbars: Google's New Patent Application - Attaining Quality Ranks on MSN Search - High/Low Bandwidth Version of a Site: Spamming? - Google Dynamically Changing Page Titles - Keyword Density Analysis Nonsense, and more.
Posted by Chris Sherman on Apr. 8, 2005 |
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Searching Books at Google; Comparing Coverage with Amazon's Search Inside the Book
For several weeks I've noticed that using the trigger word "books" or "book" in a Google search always included a OneBox with results from the Google Print program. Today, P.L. points out that Google has now made this search option official with the addition of it to the Google Web Search Features page. Here are a few examples:
+ Books Dallas Cowboys
+ Books Geoege Bush
+ Books Google
I was unable (in my test, your results may vary) to find a Google OneBox that offered more than three book titles. As you also know, each publisher decides how much text from each book a user can view duing a search session. For the fun of it, I conducted a few random searches to see if some Google Print material was also available from Amazon's Search Inside the Book. I also found a few items from the Amazon.com database and then did a search for them at Google.
Google Search: Books iPod
The Ipod Companion
Also SITB at Amazon.com
Ipod and Itunes Hacks
No Amazon
How to Do Everything With Your Ipod
Also SITB at Amazon.com
Google Search: Books Chicago
+ Chicago's Mansions
Also SITB at Amazon.com
+ History of the Development of Building
Also SITB at Amazon.com
+ Chicago Blues - by Mike Rowe
Also SITB at Amazon.com
Google Search: Books Pope John Paul II
+ Pope John Paul II
Also SITB at Amazon.com
+ Witness to Hope
Also SITB at Amazon.com
+ John Paul II
Also SITB at Amazon.com
Google Search
Books Science Fair Projects
+ The Complete Idiot's Guide to Science Fair
Also SITB at Amazon.com
+ Guides to Collection Development for Children
No Amazon.com
+ Resources for Teaching Middle School Science
"Look Inside the Book" only
Amazon.com (all titles available via Search Inside the Book)
-------
+ The Ultimate Montana Atlas and Travel Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed.
Not found via Google Print
+ The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Revised and Updated for the 21st Century)
Not found via Google Print
+ The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook : A Guide for the Serious Searcher
Not found via Google Print
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 8, 2005 |
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Media Companies Buy Keyword Ads
I've noticed some media organizations (NY Times, Washington Post, etc.) purchasing keyword ads from Google, Yahoo, and other services for a long time. A new article in The Wall Street Journal article: News Sites Turn to Advertisements On Google, Yahoo to Boost Traffic (reg required), takes a look.
News organizations don't appear to be adopting the strategy in large numbers -- at least not yet. "If you're in the online news business, ultimately your goal is to draw eyeballs to your news pages," said Robert Niles, editor of the University of Southern California's Online Journalism Review. News sites "need to become more aggressive in trying to [draw readers] to all the great content that is buried on their Web sites." He believes more sites will use the ads.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 8, 2005 |
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April 07, 2005
Updated Research Paper: A Taxonomy of Web Spam
A week ago, Chris blogged about the First International Workshop on Adversarial Information Retrieval on the Web that will be part of the WWW2005 Conference next month in Japan.
One of the papers that will be presented at the conference: Web Spam Taxonomy, by Zolta Gyongyi and Hector Garcia-Molina from the Stanford Database Group has been updated and is now available full text (9 pages; PDF) online.
It's a very interesting read.
From the abstract:
Web spamming refers to actions intended to mislead search engines into ranking some pages higher than they deserve. Recently, the amount of web spam has increased dramatically, leading to a degradation of search results. This paper presents a comprehensive taxonomy of current spamming techniques, which we believe can help in developing appropriate countermeasures.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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UK's 192.com Directory Database Relaunches; Aerial Images for Many UK Locations Available
Both Revolution and Netimperative report that 192.com, an online directory enquiry service from the UK has just relaunched. The online directory enquiry used to rely on subscriptions for revenue but will now rely on advertising. Some "extended" information is still available by subscription but it's even possible to earn credits to view the data for free.
Revenues, previously generated by subscriptions, will now be focused on online advertising via a new priority listings product, which enables listed businesses to pay to appear at the top of the search results. Four categories of search are available and available from tabs on the 192.com home page:
+ People
+ Businesses
+ Classified/Local
+ Maps
Need an aerial view of a location? 192.com now offers aerial views for many UK locations. Here's an example.
The content that 192.com searches (they claim about 130 million entries) comes from a variety of sources including BT, Thomson, Dun & Bradstreet and the Electoral Roll.
The firm has also introduced a web-based mobile phone tracking system, “Phone Track”, targeted at parents wanting to keep an eye on their childrens’ whereabouts.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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Browse Yahoo Images with First Floor Image Search; Lenssen Releases New Version of FindForward
Here's a neat and new image search/browse tool from a company called First Floor Software that uses the Yahoo Image Search API.
First Floor Image Search allows you search/browse (50 images at a time), increase/reduce and rotate images. It works with Firefox or IE.
Since we're on the Yahoo API beat...
Philipp L. has just released a new version his FindForward search tool that displays the "Related Queries" (via the Yahoo API) to the right side of the organic search results. Lenssen also developed the Yahoo Auto-Linker that Danny blogged about last week.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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Price of Search Ads Increases 9% in March
John points us to this Media Post article and chart about the latest Fathom Online Keyword Index. According to Fathom, paid search listings increased 9% last month to an average of $1.75.
The average cost of keywords--which had fallen during the first two months of the year, after rising steadily from September through the holidays--now exceeds last December's $1.70 by about 3 percent. Matt McMahon, Fathom Online's executive vice president-corporate development, attributed the upswing in keyword pricing to seasonal shifts in ad spending.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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Google Launches Q&A Service, Answers Directly on Results Pages
I've said for quite some time that search engines will slowly but surely become "answer engines" for "ready reference" or factual types of questions.
Today, Google joins other search providers by offering answers (they're calling it Google Q&A) on results pages. I've been wondering the GooglePlex would begin offer this type of service.
Answers, if available, are placed in a OneBox at the top of the results list. Make sure to not confuse this with the Google Answers service that allows you to interact with human researchers. Google is mining open web content including material from the Wikipedia for answers versus using material from reference tool like MSN Search does with Encarta.
Ask Jeeves, who has been offering Smart Answers for two years, also mines answers from sources like the Internet Movie Database and WHO2.com Google's "define" feature (a Google Labs graduate) culls definitions, and acronyms from the open web. Here's an example.
How does Google's new service compare to what others offer. To early to say from a few sample queries but from what you'll see linked below, I see it on par with what others offer. Yes, I know it's a beta so we'll be watching closely. Here are a few (very few) examples to give you some idea of coverage. Yes, once again I know it's a beta. (:-:
An * means that MSN provided a direct answer for this query.
An ** means that Ask Jeeves offers a SmartSearch box for this query.
+ Capital of France *,**
+ Current President of Spain?, *
Note: No Google OneBox answer. However, removing the word current from the query does provide a Google result.
+ World Series Winner 1987?, *
No Google OneBox answer
+ Where is Mountain View? *, **
No mention of the California city that's home to the GooglePlex )-:
+ Where is Timbuktu, *?
No Google OneBox
+ When is Labor Day 2005?, **
No Google OneBox.
+ Who is Lebron James?, *
+ What is RSS?, **
+ Where was Bill Clinton born?
Note: Result from Who2.com, a source that Ask Jeeves also uses.
+ Zip Code for Evanston, Illinois, **
No Google OneBox answer
+ Who Shot Abraham Lincoln?, *
+ Author of To Kill a Mockingbird, *
Answer engines are just on the radar screens of large web search providers. Services like BrainBoost offers answers mined from the open web. We've also read about search technology from Kozoru that will soon play in this space. "Know it All" is being developed at the University of Washington.
Yahoo and AOL offer shortcuts that work by entering a "trigger" word along with a search term into the search box. In some cases an answer might be listed on the results page and in other cases a link to a specialized database is provided. Here's an example of Yahoo offering info from the Columbia Encyclopedia about the subject of television. Btw, see this post (from earlier today) about material from Wikipedia coming to Yahoo results pages very soon.
These blog posts from November and February have more about what others offer and a bit of history about placing answers directly onto results pages.
No answers just questions to ponder... Will publishers spring up who just offer verified and dynamic databases of facts ready for mining?
Actually, they already do. Facts.com is one example. They offer a web-based version of the legendary Facts on File service which is available free online from many public and university libraries. I wonder if web search providers or even search verticals might partner with this legendary "fact" provider and mine these database for factual answers. The same thing with the material like xrefer provides. This would not only provide answers but also allow content from highly respected reference publishers to find more users.
Finally, one thing is for sure, ready reference answer services will also be big winners as mobile web search continues to grow. In fact, Google Q&A is now a part of the Google Mobile service. That's cool! Recently, Answers.com, launched a mobile version of their answer oriented search vertical.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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Yahoo Senior VP of Search Speaks at Wharton School of Business
A few weeks ago, Jeff Weiner, Yahoo's Senior VP Search and Marketplace, gave a talk at the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia. This new article in the Knowledge@Wharton newsletter: One Size Fits One: Tailoring Technology to Consumer Needs, provides a summary and a few quotes from Weiner's presentation.
Here are a three passages from the article:
+ The future, he [Jeff Weiner] predicted, won't belong to either mass or micro players, but rather to consumers who will increasingly tailor their information gathering to their needs and tastes. "The future is going to be 'my media,'" he said.
+ "Today, tens of millions of searches are unique queries," Weiner pointed out. "They are only performed once." That suggests that users aren't just typing in a common word and hoping for pay dirt. Instead, they are devising complex queries to narrow their results.
+ Weiner, as one would expect, paints an idyllic picture of the web, but he conceded that the medium, despite its advances, has its problems. Some individuals -- Weiner called them "black hats" -- have begun to try to game the prominent search engines, looking for ways to trick them into landing on websites that may not be popular or pertinent to an individual's search. Yahoo! is experimenting with automated ways to tackle this problem. In the meantime, the best way to fight back is "tapping into all of us and forming self-policing communities," he said. "That's eBay's secret sauce -- the community of people who take the time to rate the sellers."
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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Newspapers Branding Their Own RSS Tools
It seems like everyone wants something to do with RSS these days. A Wired News article talks about several newspapers preparing to launch their own branded RSS/feed aggregators and then bundling individual feeds (from disparate sources) into various topics that users can choose from.
Yes, you can do this by creating keyword searches with one of a number of feed engines like Technorati, Feedster and Pubsub. However, is this easy enough for the non-tech crowd or for that matter, do they even understand what an aggregator/feeds could offer them?
This point is made in the following passage. As you now see, I think it's a good one.
Gil Asakawa, executive producer of DenverPost.com, said the newspaper is developing its own newsreader software to make stories syndicated through RSS more accessible to average readers.
Whereas newsreaders require users to build news libraries by locating an RSS feed from each website they want to follow, News Hound will bundle several news feeds organized into categories. "The consumer benefit is that not all newspaper readers are early adopters," Asakawa said. "We want to make RSS available to people that are not technically savvy."
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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MSN Officially Launches "Spaces" Blogging Service
A brief article from Reuters announces the fact that Microsoft has taken their Spaces weblog publishing service out of beta and is claiming more than 4.5 million users during the test phase. The Spaces home page also is sporting a new look. More about blogging tools from the major search companies in this December post from Danny and his recent post about Yahoo's new 360 service.
Also, on a somewhat related note, MS released a new version of their MSN Messenger yesterday. Here's an InternetNews.com story with details. Of interest to the search community:
MSN Messenger 7.0 will also introduce the concept of shared search on the IM client. Using integrated MSN Search capability, users will be able to search and share results of search queries while having an IM conversation.
Yahoo Messenger also allows searches to be run and shared during an IM conversation.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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More Bad Press for Google's Blogger Service
In his Media Hack column this time around, Adam Penenberg discusses what we've blogged about before (and where I share a few comments), about problems with the Blogger service in the article: Bloggers Pitch Fits Over Glitches.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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Update: NY Gubernatorial Candidate Removes Google Ad
Elliot Spitzer, a Democrat running for governor of New York has pulled the Google ad that Danny blogged about yesterday. The keyword ad appeared when searching the name of an insurance company Spitzer is prosecuting as New York Attorney General.
From the Reuters article:
"It wasn't appropriate, and as soon as Mr. Spitzer found out about it, he had it removed it as soon as possible," Darren Dopp, a spokesman for the New York attorney general, told Reuters.
Dopp said it appeared that a relatively low-level campaign staffer responsible for promoting Spitzer's campaign Web site made a mistake and put in the AIG keyword.
More in the article: Spitzer pulls campaign ad off Google.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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Wikipedia Gets Support from Yahoo
More Yahoo mojo? (-:
We read a few weeks ago about how Google might help the Wikipedia by providing server space and bandwidth.
A few minutes ago I spotted this news release about Yahoo announcing or perhaps better said, enhancing a relationship with the Wikipedia Foundation. Yahoo will provide Wikipedia with hardware and other resources.
"Yahoo! has been Wikipedia's longest-standing corporate supporter and with this dedication of resources we will be able to offer Wikipedia content to a growing worldwide audience, while maintaining full flexibility in our ability to expand relationships and freely distribute our works."
--Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikimedia Foundation
Also, the news release mentions that in the next few weeks a Wikipedia shortcut will be available on Yahoo (in several languages) that will place Wikipedia content directly onto the results page. Presently, a shortcut provides content from the Columbia Encyclopedia directly onto the results page. Here's an example.
Also, a look at a Wikipedia/Yahoo shortcut from Yahoo France.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 7, 2005 |
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April 06, 2005
March 2005 Search News Recap Posted
The latest edition of my monthly Search Engine
Report newsletter is now online, recapping tops stories in search from the past month. You can read it online or receive it via email for free by signing up
here.
If you're a Search Engine Watch member, the
latest edition of Search Engine Update newsletter has also been posted. That newsletter
carries more items than the Search Engine Report newsletter and goes out twice per month.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Google SEO Support Given To Advertisers
Google & SEO Support For Advertisers now posted for Search Engine Watch
members looks at how increased editorial listings support being given to large advertisers is raising concerns
with search marketers and threatening the "church and state" division between ads and editorial results that Google has long sought to maintain.
In the story, I look at how Google will provide large advertisers with guidance on getting listed in its editorial results, upon request. The company has also provided this
guidance to potential advertisers it seeks to gain.
Google acknowledges both points but stresses that only basic information is provided, similar to what someone might read on its web site or hear at a conference. Marketers
I talked with for the story agree that no "insider" information to produce top rankings is being provided. However, the story does look anew at how some may get the go-ahead
to do things that Google's public guidelines don't allow.
I also do a review of the situation with other search engines, in terms of what they say they do -- or do not -- provide in terms of express support. The story touches on
how Ask Jeeves may finally come up with a free Add URL system of some type, while Yahoo hints at some type of new support system.
Overall, that's what I urge in the story -- a new, guaranteed paid support system that isn't tied to cost-per-click paid inclusion fees that all the major search engines
should provide.
Be sure to also see For Whom the Search Bell Tolls out yesterday from Kevin Ryan at iMediaConnection. Kevin's
heard the same stories that I've been told recently and touches on them in his piece that focuses on whether support provided by the search engines in part threatens the
survival of SEM firms.
Meanwhile, see this post over in our forums that talks about how being a certified
AdWords Professional wasn't enough for one search marketing company to be deemed big enough by Google to handle a large client.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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More On Analytic Vendor Access To Yahoo's API
Earlier I posted how Yahoo was apparently not allowing some analytics vendors access to its advertiser
API. Controversy Mounts over Yahoo! API Access from ClickZ follows up on that story, noting that the newly-formed
Web Analytics Association put out a statement saying it was concerned about any restricted access. For its part,
Yahoo put out its own statement saying that there's no change to its intent to provide open access.
Specifically, Yahoo is telling everyone:
Yahoo! Search Marketing's (Overture) position on APIs and open access has not changed. We support all advertisers, SEMs and agencies that desire to have direct access
through APIs, and continue to expand the numbers of companies participating in our program.
In addition, we've been working proactively with web analytics companies to determine how they would like to add value to their customers' campaign tracking needs, how
we can expand our API program to help them achieve that, and how that can extend the value of advertising on Yahoo! and the Overture network. This does not represent a change
in policy for Overture / Yahoo!
WebSideStory, the analytics firm named as having been denied access, didn't comment in the article. Frank Watson, who raised the issue of the denial in his
blog and in this Search Engine Watch Forum thread,
explained his understanding was that the denial was more of a "not now" rather than a "not at all," suggesting that new analytics vendors not already using the API may get
access in the future.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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NY Governor Candidate Spitzer Targets Google Ads Against Prosecution Victim
New York gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer is apparently targeting campaign ads on Google to the name of one of his prosecution targets. Spitzer, currently New York's
attorney general, has ads showing up when people search for AIG -- the acronym of insurance company American International Group. More details from Reuters in
NY's Spitzer Gubernatorial Campaign Goes to Google
Google's policies allow for terms that are also trademarks to be targeted with ads as long as the trademark isn't used in ad copy. Spitzer's ads apparently didn't do that,
saying only "Spritzer for NY Governor." When I run that query now, I also don't see the ads at all. However, it was
interesting to see a New York Times ad targeting the word:
NYTimes.com
Business
Insurer Admits Bad Accounting
Read this article at NYTimes.com
nytimes.com
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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SES NY 2005 Recap
There was an overwhelming amount of information and news that came out of the Search Engine Strategies show in New York last month. Looking to do some catching-up? Here's a guide
to things you might review:
Missed the show? Don't worry. SES is coming to every country and every city on the planet, in its quest to inform and educate people about search marketing. OK -- we
don't get everywhere, but our Munich show happens next week, Tokyo later this month, Toronto in May, London in June and we're back to the US for San Jose in August. A
rundown on all show dates can be found on the Search Engine Strategies web site.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Google Testing New Related Searches & Clustering System?
Over at Search Engine Lowdown, Andy reports that a member of his team has possibly discovered a new feature that Google might be testing. Then again, it could be adware. So what is Google possibly testing? As Beal explains (screenshots provided), an icon at the bottom of web results pages labeled "try alternate searches" allows the searcher to open a new page with searches for related terms. For example, a search for "desktop computer" offers a link to a page of "Try alternate searches" for the queries:
+ computer support
+ computer buying guide
+ free desktop wallpaper
+ desktop computer prices
The first three results for each search are provided along with a link to get more results.
I ran a few Google searches but was unable to duplicate the results. Not a surprise however since Google is likely testing with a small group of users. However, as Andy notes at the end of his post, this could all just be adware. Stay tuned?
Postscript: Google has confirmed that they are testing the alternate results feature.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Google Using ODP Titles In Addition To Descriptions
Google has long used Open Directory descriptions in some cases for the web pages it lists. While that usage seems to have ramped up, it's doing something else I've never
seen or heard of before -- using ODP titles for some of the pages in its listings.
Until now, no major search engine has presumed that it should replace a page's HTML title tag as the source of the titles in its listings, that I can recall. And, I'm not
sure I like the change. Yes, it will help searchers get a better experience for some searches. However, the idea that the title of my page may come from something completely
outside of my control also makes me wary.
Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable has a good illustration here of what's going on here: Google Showing
Dynamic Title. More examples and discussion of this is in forum thread, Google shows different titles
depending on search term used. Join that, if you'd like to chime in.
Also see the Meta descriptions displayed in Google results? thread for talk of how the ODP seems to
be used more in some cases by Google, and the Does Yahoo
Directory use DMOZ listings as the supplementary listings? for a recap of how the ODP even can factor into Yahoo descriptions, plus how other things may influence what
Yahoo uses as a description.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Talking With MSN Search
Spotted via Search Engine Roundtable,
Interview with MSN's Web Search Team from Rand Fiskin at SEOmoz covers a range of topics, such as why the service was created, understanding its in a solid third place
versus Google and Yahoo but hoping that being in the game will change that, some brief coverage on dealing with spam and other topics.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Got Good Rep? Strut That In Your Search Ads
Give Your PPC Ad "Authority" and your CTR will skyrocket from Search Engine Guide has
some nice advice on ensuring your play up your company's reputation in ads as a means of increasing clickthrough.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Feedster Adds Search Term Highlighting
A tweak at Feeedster to mention. I just noticed that the blog/RSS feed engine is now highlighting your search terms in their static search result snippets.
For example, you'll see that my search terms (Ipod and shuffle) bolded in the result snippets.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Online & Search Spending Rose In First Quarter 2005
Internet Ad Spending Up In First Quarter from MediaPost reports of a new study
finding online ad spend continued to grow in the first quarter of this year. Based on questioning 108 media executives, most spend is going to display ads -- 57 percent, while
search gets 20 percent. Overall spending was estimated to be up 11 percent from the previous quarter. At the end of the story are more search specific stats, including that 69
percent reported paying more for search in this latest quarter. Google gets 53 percent of search spend; Overture gets 28 percent.
The vast majority of respondents--69 percent--also reported spending more to buy sponsored listings on search engines.
Thirty-five percent of executives said cost-per-click had increased between 1 and 10 percent, while 25 percent reported a price increase of 11 to 20 percent; 9 percent of
respondents said paid search was now at least 21 percent more expensive than in the last quarter of 2004. FindWhat and MSN are also named with 4 percent of spend each.
A separate brief story from MediaPost also covers that media
planners expect to pay more in the second quarter of this year.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Travellazer Crawls For Travel Content
Relatively new site Travelazer says it identifies sites as travel-related, then spiders them to provide searches that are focused to
travel-related content. The spider identifies pages that seem to contain a variety of travel-related terms, to know if they should be included. Want to submit? Sorry, there's
no option for that yet.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Retaining Your In House SEM People
Those who are good at search marketing are in great demand. So if you've got a good in-house SEM person, how do you keep them from jumping ship? Patricia Fusco at ClickZ in How to Retain a Good In-House SEM Professional
offers suggestions beyond just keeping them well paid.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Google Definitions Goes Multilingual
The Google Definitions service is now providing word definitions in languages in other than English,
according to the Google Blog. The feature is described here. Exactly what additional languages
are now being covered isn't said. Note that Google Definitions are generated automatically by Google and a completely different service from the definition links it provides
to Answers.com -- the [definition] link that appears in the blue reverse bar at the top right-hand side of search results pages, next to the query count number. More on that
here.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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Ars Technica Reviews Desktop Search Tools
Via Greg Linden's blog, Ars Technica tests and recaps major desktop search
tools in Windows desktop search tools. From the
conclusion, MSN Desktop Search comes out on top at the reviewers personal favorite, though anyone
interested in web history search needs is pointed at Google Desktop.
What I believe are scores on a 0-10 scale are also given for each service within an Ars Technica Tested logo. The ratings from those work out like this:
MSN: 9 Copernic: 9 Google: 8 Yahoo: 7 Ask: 5
Postscript: Another article the reviews the desktop search offerings from MSN, Google, and Yahoo was just posted from Forbes web site. The verdict? According to the article, "MSN desktop search beats its competitors hands down..."
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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myGmaps Lets You Tag Google Maps
Want to tag and annotate Google Maps with your own information? myGmaps is a new service spotted
via GoogleBlogoscoped that lets you do this. For example, here's a quick
map I did for a good place for burgers in Newport Beach and the local Fry's
Electronics, for after you are done eating. You can put whatever you want into the pop-up boxes. Just hover over the two points on the map, and you'll see examples of this.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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More On Click Fraud, The Lawsuit & The Need For Third Party Auditors
After breaking the news yesterday of a potential class action lawsuit over click fraud against major
search engines, the Wall Street Journal is back today with a look at the problem itself.
In 'Click Fraud,' Web Outfits Have A Costly Problem (subscription required) covers familiar
ground to many readers. It opens with an advertiser getting worried ironically when refund checks for small amounts arrived from Google and Yahoo for "unusual" or "invalid"
clicks. It recounts that the industry does see click fraud as a challenge -- including Google's CFO having
declared this a big issue last December. Of course, as the story points out, there are some safeguards already in place.
More background on click fraud is covered, and then the article returns to the main anecdote of the advertiser who investigates further suspecting a rival and encounters
what he felt was little help from Yahoo and Google. The Massachusetts attorney general's office declined to jump in, either.
Ultimately, he cut his monthly ad spend on search from $20,000 to $1,000: "Am I willing to take the risk and stick my neck out there at maybe $15 or $20 a click? Not now."
Meanwhile, the AP in Internet giants sued over click fraud has a few more details about the case, including that two
initial plaintiffs have dropped out and that a move to try it in the US federal court system has been requested. FYI, we hope to have a copy of the case that we can post on
the blog shortly.
Can't read enough about click fraud? Here are some stories recent stories also worth reading:
- Click Fraud: Problem and Paranoia from Adam Penenberg at Wired recounts his experiences in being on
our click fraud panel at SES NY last month. He covers both issues raised by panelists and audience members who have experience fraud, as well as general background on the
problem.
- Click Fraud In the Spotlight from ClickZ last month looks at the growing concern and attention that the issue
of click fraud has been receiving.
- High Noon for Click Fraud from MediaPost last month covers for
steps that search marketer Chris Bowler of Agency.com would like to see happen: search advertisers taking more responsibility; better monitoring on the part of search
advertisers; insurance policies and an auditing and certification program.
I especially agree with that last part. It one of the solutions I suggested on the click fraud panel we held, and I've heard other say the same. I'd love to see the major
search engines certify third-party companies that would audit suspected clickfraud.
For the typical advertiser, the difficulty is even knowing how to begin to read the fingerprints of clickfraud. Dedicated companies, on the other hand, aren't starting from
scratch each time.
The plus to the search engines is that this would give them people who are experienced in really ferreting out what is click fraud -- and what is not -- and presenting that
in a way they can easily act upon.
Still want more on click fraud? Search Engine Watch members can use the click fraud category link below for
a compilation of stories about the problem and advice on spotting it that goes back for several years.
Want to discuss? Visit our forum thread, Click Fraud Suit Filed Against Search Engines.
Posted by Danny Sullivan on Apr. 6, 2005 |
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April 05, 2005
Sabre Holdings Purchases IgoUgo Travel Info Community and Database
Dow Jones reports that a major player in travel, Sabre Holdings, has purchased the online travel community and searchable vertical database of travel reviews, IgoUgo, for an undisclosed sum in an effort to offer more travel info and also get involved with paid search. Sabre is the owner of Travelocity and the Sabre Travel Network, the world's largest electronic travel reservation service (what many travel agents and airlines use).
Access to the IgoUGo database and community will soon be available on Travelocity.
According to the news release, Sabre will enhance the engine by developing its own vertical search technology.
"Developing a keyword search engine specifically for travel is a natural extension of Sabre's 30-plus years of experience in travel search technology," said Eric J. Speck, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Sabre Holdings. "We have leveraged the skills of a very talented group of mathematicians who have previously established an expertise in solving complex travel-related algorithms to create this new search engine. Sabre Holdings plans to enhance the capabilities of the keyword search engine and then combine it with the plethora of real-time information in the Sabre system to enhance offerings from the company's other businesses, including Travelocity and Sabre Travel Network... The enhanced IgoUgo site will enable Sabre to participate in the growth in paid search advertising."
The Dow Jones story adds:
... IgoUgo won't compete with Sabre online travel agent Travelocity, nor will it channel bookings to Travelocity, he said. Travelocity Chief Executive Michelle Peluso has declined to participate in the start-up search engines. She has said search engines tend to focus travel choices on price, commoditizing the industry at a time when airlines can least afford it. Further, she views search engines as competition, just like any other online travel agent.
More in the DJ story: Sabre Holdings Buys Travel Search Engine IgoUgo.com, and this news release. Additional info about Sabre Holdings in this Hoover's fact sheet.
Posted by Gary Price on Apr. 5, 2005 |
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Google Removes Child Porn Post & Reports To FBI
Child Pornography Complaint at Chilling Effects illustrates how Google received a
complaint of child pornography in its Google Groups service, causing the company to remove the post and report the incident to the FBI. Google reporting to the FBI? As
Chilling Effects explains, it's something electronic service providers are apparently | 
