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July 2005

July 31, 2005

Gigablast Debuts Toolbar for Internet Explorer

Gigablast has released a toolbar for Internet Explorer that offers a couple of features I haven't seen elsewhere:

  • Search the sites linked from the current page

  • Search the sites in your bookmarks

A Gigablast toolbar for Firefox isn't available yet but a MyCroft plug-in can be found here.

Presently, the Gigablast index provides searchable access to over 2 billion pages.

Posted by Gary Price at 8:15 PM | Permalink

July 29, 2005

MyJeeves 1.2 Released

If you're looking for something to demo this weekend, Ask Jeeves has just released version 1.2 of their MyJeeves personal information management tool.

Over on the Ask.com blog, Samuel Nunez, offers an overview and also shares a few thoughts about tagging and folksonomies.

Nunez writes:

Having sat through half a dozen usability tests for MyJeeves, however, it is pretty clear to me that foldering is a more intuitive way of organizing, especially to those new to the exciting world of personal information management. Foldering may be clunky, but it's how people think - at least that's how they think today.

What's new other than a the version number? Here's a list of some of the new features.

  • "Tagging as Virtual Folders." That's what the Ask.com blog calls it. However, I posted that an option to "passively" add tags to each MyJeeves entry became available almost four months ago.
  • Tag filtering page (search all items for a particular item)

  • Smart tag entry field with tag suggestion drop down

  • New bookmarklets

  • Ability to upload photos from your computer or mobile device.

  • Tagging of images

Barry has posted a look at a few of the differences between MyJeeves and Yahoo's MyWeb 2.0.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:30 PM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 29, 2005: Microsoft Wins Restraining Order Over Google Hire, Danish-Canadian Island Dispute Spills Into Google, Google Maps & MSN Virtual Earth Side-By-Side And More

Today's Daily SearchCast covers the restraining order Microsoft won against an exec who went over to Google, the Danish-Canadian dispute over an island that spilled into Google AdWords, a Google patent application on RSS ads, whether Yahoo "sandboxes" new web sites, a way to see Google Maps & MSN Virtual Earth side-by-side, the Yahoo Yammy video awards and other items over the past day in search. Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern or via our Odeo channel. Below is more information and links about the stories that were discussed.

Legal Fights

  • Microsoft Gets Temporary Restraining Order in Google Case has Microsoft with a first win in the dispute over their former exec Dr. Kai-Fu Lee who now heads Google China. He can't do work for Google until at least Sept. 6 and potentially longer if it's extended until a trial begins in January 2006.
     
  • Google Ads, a Feud, and a Barren Rock has a patriotic Dane saying small, barren Hans Island near the North Pole -- a barren rock -- belongs to Denmark via ads on Google, prompting a patriotic Canadian to fight back with his own ads. Danish SEW Forums moderator Mikkel deMib Svendsen and Canadian moderators mcanerin, andrewgoodman and Jenstar are still said to be getting along despite the dispute and seeking to broker an agreement.

Patents & Brands

SEO

Search Ads

Gadgets & Tips & Stuff

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:33 PM | Permalink

Comprehensive Blog Comparison Review Offered

Mary Hodder at Nasperization.org has done some very impressive research and put together a great post that offers comparisons of how several of the major weblog/rss engines work. She also has placed much of the material into a very handy chart (PDF). Excellent work Mary! If you decide to do more blog search research, here are some things we'd love to learn more about.

  • Precisely what does each service index and made searchable? Is it just the RSS feed or does a crawler go to the actual blog entry and index the entire post. What, if any, RSS engines provide full text search when an RSS feed is just providing a title and/or snippet?
  • Information about Blogdigger
  • Since it's so easy to create backlinks in the blogosphere, do any of these engines take this fact into account when offering backlink totals? In other words, are links from a "spam blog" or "scraper blog" counted too? Should they be? Since blog engines are becoming a popular ways to measure "buzz" what does each engine offer to make sure that a company isn't creating it's own buzz by creating lots of backlinks.
  • How do each of these services come up with their total blog counts that are posted on their home pages. How accurate are they? How does each service define a blog? This week I've noticed that Blogpulse added more than 50,000 new blogs to their index each day. Wow. This means that in about a month more blogs are being created than there are people living in many major cities. Where are these blogs coming from?

Posted by Gary Price at 10:47 AM | Permalink

Search Forums Roundup: July 29, 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: SEO Is A Lot of Work, Is It Worth It? - Getting from Point A to B with Search - New Ask Jeeves Paid Listings Program Said To Come August 1 - Low Quality Clicks - Google's Cash Cow - Did Google Just Target Directories?, and more.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 10:00 AM | Permalink

Big Brother Enters Top Search Term List In UK

HitWise UK sends us news that "big brother" has become the third most searched-for term among all UK web searches, beating out both "easyjet" and "amazon." Based on searches the company has tracked over the past for weeks, ending July 23, 2005, here's the top ten list:

Rank

Search Term

% Share Of All Searches

1

ebay

0.82%

2

argos

0.21%

3

big brother

0.19%

4

amazon

0.17%

5

easyjet

0.17%

6

autotrader

0.14%

7

ryanair

0.14%

8

bbc

0.14%

9

ebay uk

0.14%

10

tesco

0.11%

How about a little picture on the recent rise of Big Brother, which came into the top ten as of the week ending June 18? OK:

Hey, Danny -- didn't you just say recently that sex terms are always among the most popular? I know Big Brother in the UK has plenty of sex going on, but still -- where are the sex terms?

Adult terms are stripped out of the Hitwise top list. FYI, misspellings are NOT bundled, either. So a search for argus wouldn't equal argos.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:50 AM | Permalink

Threadwatch Thumbs Up For SEO Book eBook

Review: The SEO Book has Nick Wilson doing an in-depth review of Aaron Wall's long-standing eBook, SEO Book. Verdict? Highly recommended to anyone of any skill level to purchase the US $79 guide.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:37 AM | Permalink

Google Analytics? New Domains For Those Who Like To Speculate

Since the blogosphere is always ripe with speculation, I'll toss an item out. Does Google have plans to either begin offering expanding what they currently provide and/or rebranding their services as Google Analytic or Google Analytics in the near future (maybe SES)? We're watching. Why am I mentioning this? In the past week Google has registered both Googleanalytic.com (and other domains) and Google-analytic.com (and other domains). A company that often "holds" domains for Google (before the product/service is launched) has Googleanalytics.com registered. Stay tuned.

Postscript: Google Analytics has launched, as coverd more in Google Renames Urchin Google Analytics, Makes It Free

Posted by Gary Price at 9:32 AM | Permalink

View Google Maps & MSN Virtual Earth Side-By-Side

Spotted via Phil Bradley, Virtual Earth and Google Maps, side-by-side lets you see the same area's satellite view in Google Maps and MSN's Virtual Earth service. Slick!

Postscript (from Gary): I've found that copying and pasting a url works best. Otherwise, you'll need to be very specific when entering an address of a location. For example, entering only a city name doesn't appear to work. Also, this tool doesn't allow you to see how far you can zoom-in to a location. Althought this varies from address to address and from service to service, I've noticed that for many of the locations I've searched for, Virtual Earth offers a "closer" look.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:21 AM | Permalink

Google Seeks Patent On RSS Ads: Filed In Dec. 2003

Google's Advertisements in RSS Patent App in our SEW Forums covers how Google has applied for a patent on putting ads into RSS and feeds. You can discuss in that forum thread, plus Threadwatch has some talk.

Postscript (from Gary): It's important to realize that this patent app was filed with the US Patent and Trademark office in December 2003. In other words Google has been thinking about and developing methods to place paid advertising into RSS feeds for at least 18 months but likely much longer. However, it has only been in the past few months that Google started to test this type of service.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:14 AM | Permalink

Goin' Mobile With Technorati

I've been wondering when one of the well-known RSS/XML engines (Feedster, Technorati, Daypop, Bloglines*) was going to be the first to offer a version of their service for mobile browsers. We now have an answer.

Word from Technorati today that they've just released m.technorati.com Technorati Mobile.

Technorati's mobile home page consists of a search box, a list of the hours top search terms, and links to top stories in three categories. Results pages do not show paid links. Caveat: Although the Technorati search interface and results pages have been optimized for mobile browsers, many of the underlying blogs/news services that Technorati offers links to have not been optimized. This doesn't necessarily mean that you can't view these pages/posts but does mean that the formatting might. I'll be interested to see if Technorati begins converting blog posts (similar to what Google and Yahoo offer) into a mobile friendly format.

* Although Bloglines Mobile is a service I've mentioned and use regularly, they currently don't provide access to the Bloglines search engine on their mobile interface.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:09 AM | Permalink

And Now, A Yahoo Sandbox?

Debate still continues on whether Google has a "sandbox," the idea that new sites simply can't rank well for anything that perhaps their own names until a set period of time has passed. Now rumors and talk of a Yahoo sandbox have begun. Barry rounds up some forum discussions here, and Threadwatch has some talk here. We also have a forum thread here, Yahoo Sandbox?

Sadly, I find clarity in all this gets lost by the fact that "sandbox" has now become a synonym for "I don't rank well in Google." In other words, say someone was ranking well and there was an algorithm shift that made them move from the first to second page or further back.

Happens all the same. Has happened long before we had a sandbox notion at Google or elsewhere. But I've seen people say, "Oh, that's the sandbox" when it clearly does not fit the traditional sandbox notion. This type of mistaken assumption pollutes real understanding of how any Google sandbox may be working.

Sandbox - IN or OUT? at our SEW Forums has lots of background info on the Google sandbox concept and see also New Google Patent May Give Sandbox & Inner Workings Info from the blog recently.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:06 AM | Permalink

Google & Search Pulling From Offline Real Estate Ads

First Craigslist, Now Google: Newspaper Classifieds Woes Worsen from Poynter covers two research reports out that highlight how search engines -- in particular Google -- are attracting local real estate advertising money. Google said to have three regional sales teams devoted to going after real estate and classified ad money. The company's gone into pitching major real estate firms. One realtor is quoted as dumping print ads after the Google ads caused leads to shoot up. An executive summary of the Borrell report can be requested from here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:42 AM | Permalink

The Week in Viral: Marg(ar)inal

A viral try from I Can’t Believe It's Not Butter got some love (registration) from Stuart Elliott of The Times this week, and for dubious reasons. Sure, the Unilever brand is a longtime broadcast marketer, but well, that’s sort of the problem isn't it? The serialized Flash cartoons, which play on familiar soap opera tropes, offer the safe, watered-down comedy you expect from a mass-market TV spot. Note to marketers: successful online viral is about more than making a longer television ad. All due respect to Seinfeld and Superman.

Old and new: Whirlpool tries to tap into American family archetypes with a new podcast series.

Lynx deodorant: You punch keys on your keyboard, and a disembodied pair of lips moans in various expressions of ecstasy. Sex sells, in case you hadn't heard. Except when visitors can't click through and leave after 10 seconds because they're bored. Hey, at least it's interactive.

Virgin Mobile continues the diabolical combination of religious themes and no-commitment phone plans that worked so well for it during the holiday season. The Fallon-created Paygoism Saves site uses an Oddcast-created preacher avatar named Reggie to delineate the precepts of pay-as-you-go. Southern Baptist all the way.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

San Edinburgh & Other AdWords Documentation Bloopers

AdWords Bloopers! over in our SEW Forums is a short but funny look at a few errors that crept into Google's AdWords documentation when it was reworked for the UK web site from the US originals.

  • Google JumpStart charges a one time [UK fee needed here] fee which
     
  • To learn more, visit services.google.com/marketing/links/jumpstart/jumpstart_[are all these links valid for the UK?]
     
  • Here is an example of a used car dealer in San Edinburgh that has created both region and city and national campaigns

The last was where someone meant to change the city from San Diego to Edinburgh but d Spotted by member AccuraCast:

idn't quite get it all removed.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:10 AM | Permalink

July 28, 2005

Microsoft Gets Temporary Restraining Order in Google Case

A Washington State Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order today barring Dr. Kai-Fu Lee from performing his duties as the recently appointed head of Google China.

According to the AP,

Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez granted a temporary restraining order barring Kai-Fu Lee from working at Google on any product, service or project similar to those he worked on at Microsoft, including Internet and desktop search technology.
In a statement e-mailed after the ruling, Google lawyer Nicole Wong called the judge's decision "only a temporary measure to maintain the status quo and to give the court more time to fully consider the parties' positions. "We are confident that once the judge has done so he will side with Google and Dr. Lee. Microsoft will not prevail in their intimidation campaign."

No word on the Google's countersuit in a California court.

A full text copy of the temporary restraining order is available here.

More in this News.com report and this blog post from yesterday.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:47 PM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 28, 2005

Today's edition of The Daily SearchCast is now available (MP3 file). In it, I did a rundown of the past day's search news accompanied by guest host Daron Babin. Today's topics included developments in RSS & feed search, vertical search, employee relations, search partnerships and gadgets & tips & stuff. Below are the stories that were discussed that have more information:

RSS & Feed Search News

  • AOL Offers Personalized Home Page, RSS Feeds covers how AOL now offers a customized home page to anyone, letting you add feeds of your choosing. It follows in a week when Google's personalized home page got the ability to add feeds, as did Yahoo's 360 service. Currently, AOL's only works if autodiscovery on sites hosting feeds is enabled.
     
  • Technorati Founder and CEO Chats with BusinessWeek covers Technorati founder David Sifry discussing how he expect to survive the entry of the major search engines into blog search, though it's NOT literally built into every single publishing platform.

Vertical Search

Employee Relations

  • Ruling Soon In Dispute Over Microsoft Exec With "Playbook" At Google covers court arguments in the between Google and Microsoft over Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, the former Microsoft exec now at heading Google China. He's got the "playbook" for fighting Google, Microsoft says. He wasn't involved in search, says Google -- and Gates threatened he'd be made an example of. Ruling may come today.
     
  • Yahoo Hiring From IBM looks at a NY Times article about Yahoo pulling from IBM talent, including the person who led the Clever project that later because part of the foundation for Teoma. And how Google has pulled from Bell Labs.
     
  • And More On Search Hiring! carries on with the "Where have all the engineers gone? Off to Google, Yahoo and MSN" theme, a BusinessWeek look at the brain drain happening as Google and Yahoo suck up tech talent. 230 engineers hired by Google in the second quarter of this year!

Partnerships

Gadgets & Tips & Stuff

  • Battelle On The Birth Of Google gives us an excerpt from John Battelle's forthcoming The Search book on how Larry and Sergey didn't have love at first site but found togetherness via links.
     
  • Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox Leaves Beta, Version 1.0 Now Available covers Yahoo's Toolbar for Firefox getting the official sign-off by Yahoo. You can resize the search box, save to My Web, add things to My Yahoo and, of course, search via Yahoo.
     
  • New Google Backlink Tool on a new tool that lets you see PageRank score, last cache date and listings in the Google Directory and ODP of sites that link to you.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:10 PM | Permalink

A Look at Search Interface Protocols and Specifications

Developers and other search geeks out there might find this draft document that lists and discusses a number of search interface protocols and specifications worthy of a read/bookmark. The paper comes from the CORDRA project at Carnegie Mellon University. Thanks to Puzzlepieces for the tip. Btw, Michael Fagan (publisher of Puzzlepieces) also notes several other protocols/specifications that aren't listed in the paper.

Posted by Gary Price at 6:25 PM | Permalink

Google Ads, a Feud, and a Barren Rock

Stories from the Canadian Press and Reuters report about how ads on Google are coming into play in a an argument betweeen Canada and Denmark over Hans Island, a barren rock near the North Pole.

"A quick Google search of "hans island" Wednesday revealed a paid advertisement with the banner headline: "Hans Island is Greenland. Greenland natives have used the island for centuries." The ad was linked to a Danish government letter condemning a recent unannounced visit to the island by Defence Minister Bill Graham. However, the paid advertisement was not a Danish government initiative and whoever placed it was acting alone, said Poul Erik Dam Kristensen, Denmark's ambassador to Ottawa. That didn't stop one Internet expert - and patriotic Canuck - from striking back. Toronto resident Rick Broadhead placed a Google ad and said the Canadian government needs to get with the times.

Postscript From Danny: I thought a picture was in order. When Gary and I looked yesterday, we didn't see any ads. Now they are back. Left side shows ads on Google Canada. Right side shows ads on Google Denmark. No ads are appear on Google Denmark when I searched for hans ø, which I'm pretty sure is "hans island' in Danish. I couldn't seem to trigger any Danish-language ads in any way. Here are the ads as of 12:30pm GMT:

Posted by Gary Price at 4:32 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Research Labs Releases Redesigned Site

It's quite the busy day at the Yahoo Research Labs (YRL). First, news that Dr. Prabhakar Raghavan is joining Yahoo to run the YRL. Second, a redesigned version of the YRL web site is now online.

Perhaps the best place to begin is the research overview section where you'll find brief overviews of YRL work in:

The site continues to offer a "webliography" of papers by members of the lab. Two papers just posted (abstracts only) that might be of interest are:

  • Variable latent semantic indexing
    • by Ravi Kumar, Prabhakar Raghavan, Andrew Tomkins
  • Unweaving a web of documents
    • by Ravi Kumar

Links are also made available where you can request a copy of these and other papers from the author(s).

Finally, the YRL site still offers to access bios (now with pictures) of each member of the YRL staff.

Posted by Gary Price at 3:47 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Yammys To Honor Online Video Through Contest

Yahoo wants to drum up interest in its Yahoo Video search service, so it's handing out "Yammys" to recognize what it thinks is the best in online video content. To enter and learn more, visit the new The Yammys site. You can submit as of now and have through Aug. 17. Audience voting will happen from August 30 through Sept 12, then a panel of celebrities will judge. Semi-finalists will get digital cameras, movie tickets, DVDs. The grand prize winners get to go to a premiere, plus get a plasma screen TV and a DVD player. No news of Google have Gammys yet, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:52 PM | Permalink

Official: Google & Univision Partner

We wrote last month about how there was a partnership coming between Google and Spanish-language broadcaster Univision coming. In fact, it was visible to anyone visiting the Univision site. Now the marriage is official. The two have issued a press release announcing a multiyear partnership bringing Google's search results and ads to the Univison site.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:05 PM | Permalink

And More On Search Hiring!

At the end of my post about Yahoo raiding IBM for employees, I originally concluded, "Where have all the engineers gone? Off to Google, Yahoo and MSN." Sounds better if you hum the tune of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone." Thought it was a bit lame so cut it -- then just came across Anyway, Revenge of the Nerds -- Again from BusinessWeek, where Ben Elgin looks at the brain drain happening as Google and Yahoo suck up tech talent. Geez, 230 engineers hired by Google in the second quarter of this year! A nice recap of who's gone where.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:06 AM | Permalink

Battelle On The Birth Of Google

The Birth of Google at Wired, spotted via Google Blogoscoped, has John Battelle recounting how Google came to be. Larry Page and Sergey Brin found each other obnoxious at first. Page was fascinated by the math the web represented and how who was linking to whom might be useful. That led to the precursor of Google, Backrub. Brin joined up and together the rank calculation system dubbed PageRank (the Page coming from Larry's last name) was born. Fast, easy read and tantalizing glimpse of John's The Search book due out in September, from which its excerpted.

Postscript (from Gary): Many of the underlying concepts that Brin and Page used to formulate PageRank (aka link analysis) have been around for prior to when Sergey met Larry. This blog post takes a look at Dr. Eugene Garfield, the father of "citation analysis" which has been used be academics and librarians since the 1950's. Also, not to be forgotten is the pioneering work of Dr. Jon Kleinberg and the IBM Clever team. Take a look at this paper by Kleinberg and the Clever team. The "Web Analysis and Search: Hubs and Authorities" section of Dr. Kleinberg's home page yields even more interesting reading. One paper, "Authoritative Sources in a Hyperlinked Environment" is even cited by Brin/Page in their "Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine" paper. Battelle interviews Kleinberg here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:28 AM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 27, 2005

The first edition of The Daily SearchCast is now available (MP3 file). In it, I did a rundown of the past day's search news accompanied by guest host Daron Babin. FYI, I was on a cordless headset that introduced a bit of static at times. I'll be on a corded phone when doing it today. Topics included developments in paid search, employee relations, feed news, partnerships & deals and gadgets & tips. Below are the stories that were discussed that have more information:

Paid Search:

Employee Relations:

Feed News:

Partnerships, Deals & Business Stuff:

Gadgets & Tips:

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Hiring From IBM

We don't need no stinkin' Microsoft execs like Google, says Yahoo. We'll rob IBM! Yahoo Is Wooing I.B.M. Technical Talent from the New York Times looks at how Yahoo just picked up Prabhakar Raghavan, formerly of the much cited Clever project (and part of the foundation for Teoma), as head of research. He's not directly from IBM but comes to Yahoo via Verity. But another direct IBM hire has happened and Yahoo says more are in the works. This follows on Yahoo recently opening a new research lab at UC Berkeley, though they did lose their former Yahoo Labs head to Microsoft in April. Google, meanwhile, prefers to raid Bell Labs. See From Bell Labs To Google Labs for that.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:30 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Partners With ITV & Rounding Up TV Search Partners In The UK

News from Yahoo that ITV -- on of the UK's major television channels -- will be featuring Yahoo search results, search ads and contextual ads on its site. At the moment, search listings appear to come from Miva -- the former Espotting.

FYI, Yahoo also has a presence with the BBC, which operates the UK's two most popular terrestrial (broadcast over the air) channels. That's Yahoo's search technology under the hood over at the BBC, or at least that's been the situation for some time. Paid inclusion is stripped out, and there are no ads (this is the BBC, after all) and the ranking algorithm gets tweaked.

A Day In The Life Of BBCi Search from Martin Belam is an older (2003) look at the service but still a good read. I haven't heard that Yahoo's been replaced, and I was just up at the BBC about three months ago, so I think things are still going along as before. Check out Martin's more recent posts on search and the BBC, as well.

How about Channel 4, the other major UK broadcast channel. No web search at all, it seems. To busy doing Big Brother edition 201 to think about it, I supposed. Well, no doubt Yahoo and Google will stumble over themselves to swoop in soon.

That leaves five, the last major UK channel that never has anything worth watching other than the occasional good cartoon in Milkshake. The all-graphic home page has no search box and digging in further shows nothing.

Now Sky, there's a much more major network than five, especially in bringing me US imports only a few months after they show in the US (and we got Battlestar Galactica first, yeah!). That's all on Sky 1, which lots of people take -- but Sky runs a number of other channels plus the UK's most popular satellite TV system. Search partner on the Sky web site? Nada that I see. Someone make Rupert an offer!

Finally, once again I have no luck finding the actual Yahoo press release of the news online, so I'll cut and paste below. All PR people everywhere. Put the release online! And send a URL to the online version as part of the release you send. Yahoo's far from the online one at fault like this.

ITV INTEGRATES YAHOO! SEARCH ON ITV.COM

Yahoo! provides a suite of its award winning search technology, alongside
search monetisation products from it’s Overture subsidiary

London, July 28, 2005 – Yahoo! UK & Ireland Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), today announced an agreement with ITV, the UK’s biggest commercial television network to provide search technology, sponsored search and contextual advertising on ITV.com.

ITV.com users visiting sites such as itv.com/soaps, itv.com/motor, itv.com/football, dedicated programming websites for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! along with other sites within ITV Online’s portfolio will benefit from a Yahoo! Search box at the top of each page on the website. Visitors to the site will be able to search the wealth of content within the ITV.com website or extend their search to include the World Wide Web, including image, video and news content.

In addition to Yahoo’s Search box, the site will also display Overture’s sponsored search listings on both the search results page and throughout the ITV.com site as contextual advertising.

“We are pleased to be working with ITV, one of the UK’s biggest media properties,” said Rob Jonas, Head of Business Development, Yahoo! Search, UK & Ireland. “This agreement demonstrates the growing strength of our search technology, as well as our commitment to work with partners to deliver compelling search user experiences. This should be the first of what we hope will be many agreements with popular online properties.”

Commenting on the deal, Jeremy Rosenberg, Online Sales Account Manager at ITV Sales said: “The ITV integrated search partnership with Yahoo is the first time ITV.com has fully embraced all elements of search functionalities. The integrated approach will be setup within the look and feel of each ITV section and searches will be tailored to our user profile and habits to ensure optimisation and relevancy. ITV are looking forward to building the partnership with Yahoo and to look at other opportunities.”

In addition, Yahoo! will also include all of ITV.com’s diverse and continually changing online content through its content acquisition programme. This will ensure that Yahoo! UK & Ireland users will benefit by being able to easily find, for example, comprehensive online information about their favourite TV programmes from Coronation Street to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Notes to editor:

Content Match is Overture’s contextual advertising product that embeds relevant search results on content-based pages, featuring sponsored search listings generated by the company’s growing worldwide base of 100,000 advertisers.

  • Yahoo! Search recently won two awards from Search Engine Watch for outstanding search service and best image search.
  • Yahoo! Search is focused on providing innovative, useful technologies that enable people to find, use, share, and expand knowledge.

About Yahoo! UK & Ireland

Yahoo! UK & Ireland is a subsidiary of Yahoo! Inc., the No. 1 Internet brand globally and the most trafficked internet destination worldwide. Yahoo! provides online products and services essential to consumers' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. Yahoo!'s global network includes 20 world properties and is available in 15 languages.

About ITV Sales

ITV Sales is dedicated to adding value to the 30-second spot proposition by delivering unique advertising solutions for its customers. Opportunities include broadcast sponsorship, branded content, online advertising, text services, interactive advertising, “advertainment” and off-air marketing such as merchandising and licensing.

ITV Sales sells television airtime and programme sponsorship on behalf of all the ITV1 regions as well as ITV2, ITV3, ITV News Channel, Men & Motors and Irish terrestrial channel TV3. It also sells online sponsorship and digital media for ITV’s online properties as well as interactive TV opportunities.

About Overture

Overture Services, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo! Inc., offers essential marketing services for companies doing business online. The company's search-based products and tools help businesses connect with highly motivated customers. Overture is based in Pasadena, California with U.S. offices in New York, Chicago and San Mateo, CA. The headquarters for Overture's non-U.S. business is in Ireland, with offices across Europe, Asia, Australia and South-America. For more information about Overture, visit www.uk.overture.com. Overture is a service mark of Overture Services, Inc.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:11 AM | Permalink

Ruling Soon In Dispute Over Microsoft Exec With "Playbook" At Google

Google: Microsoft Suit Is 'Charade' Aimed At Scaring People from Dow Jones covers court arguments in the fast moving tussle between Google and Microsoft over Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, the former Microsoft exec now at heading Google China. Arguments were heard yesterday with some interesting revelations and accusations, and a ruling may come today.

Google says Lee had no real connection to search at Microsoft, so issues over a non-compete aren't an issue. Microsoft says the opposite, and that Lee is leaving with Microsoft's Google "competition playbook."

Lee also says Microsoft chair Bill Gates warned him he'd be sued, apparently to make an example of him to others who might be thinking of jumping ship to Google.

You've got to feel sorry for Yahoo in all this. Why? They are a serious thread to Microsoft as well, but executives attended a "The Google Challenge" meeting in March, the arguments say.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:36 AM | Permalink

More Details On New Ask Jeeves Paid Listings Program

Ask Jeeves To Launch Own Search-Ad Sales Program from Dow Jones spills more beans about Ask Jeeves launching an expanded paid listings service of its own next Monday, which we've blogged earlier. You'll be able to buy the top three links directly from Ask as long as they are going to make Ask more money, advertisers familiar with the program say. Want to discuss or comment? Visit our forum thread, New Ask Jeeves Paid Listings Program.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:26 AM | Permalink

Feedster to Power RSS Portion of New "My AOL" Service

This morning, AOL is rolling out its new personalized home page service called My AOL. Like most AOL services these days, you don't need to be an AOL subscriber to use it.

The first My AOL feature that's now available allows users to build and maintain a personalized page of RSS/XML feeds. This service is powered by a new partnership between AOL and Feedster, an RSS/XML search engine. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Chris has more about the new service in today's SearchDay article, AOL Offers Personalized Home Page, RSS Feeds.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:01 AM | Permalink

July 27, 2005

Technorati Founder and CEO Chats with BusinessWeek

Technorati's Founder and CEO, David Sifry, chats with BusinessWeek about competition from the "big guys", system architecture, growing pains, advertising, and a new service aimed at "people who need a deeper view of a company or its products."

From the interview:

BusinessWeek: You say you welcome competition from Google, Yahoo, and MSN, should they decide to offer blog search. Why would you welcome such Net heavyweights as rivals?

David Sifry: The larger question is, is it really competition? I look at what Google and Yahoo and other companies in this space are doing, and they're really fantastic at helping you pick out what's the best reference site for something. You go to Google and type in wine, and it will tell you the best places to buy wine. But if you really want to find out what the world's leading wine experts are talking about, Google isn't really built to do that.

Unfortunately, you'll not read about what Technorati is doing to combat the rapidly increasing amount of blog and feed spam out there. Also, no info about what criteria Sifry and crew use to reach the currently posted number of more than 14 million blogs that Technorati claims to be tracking.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:11 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox Leaves Beta, Version 1.0 Now Available

After about 5 1/2 months as a beta release, version 1.0 of the feature-filled Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox has just been made available.

Version 1.0 includes several new features including:

  • A drag-n-drop resizable search box
  • A right mouse click menu to open bookmarks and toolbar buttons in new windows or tabs
  • A search history drop down that automatically expands to the length of the longest search query
  • Addition of RSS / Atom feeds to My Yahoo! via the Live Bookmarks icon
  • Support for the latest Firefox developer releases and alpha/beta browsers

Additionally, the Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox is now available in the following languages:

For more about the Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox, here's a link to Danny's overview article from February.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:01 PM | Permalink

New Google Backlink Tool

Quick note about a new tool to show backlinks to a domain as listed in Google. OK, so we all know (or should by now) that Google doesn't show all the backlinks it knows about. Still, interested to see how what links it does show are listed with this tool along with their PageRank score, last cache data and listing in the Google Directory and ODP.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:14 PM | Permalink

Cairo.com Beats ShopLocal.com in WSJ Test of Local Shopping Engines

In today's Wall Street Journal (registration not required), Walt Mossberg reports recent test of two local shopping engines, Cairo.com and ShopLocal.com.

Which engine is better according to Mossberg?

Our tests yielded a clear winner: Cairo. In almost every case, its search results were better and more accurate than ShopLocal's, and it offered personalization and special features that ShopLocal couldn't match...Overall, Cairo is a smart Web site that makes it easy to compare prices at retail stores, and its added features that do some extra legwork for you take the hassle out of finding good sales. Until ShopLocal.com steps up and adds more personalization and accurate search results, the better Web site for deal comparisons is Cairo.com.

More about Cairo.com in this SEW Blog post from last October.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:11 PM | Permalink

DMA To Allow Deceased to Rest In Peace

Get that Ouija board out of your marketing toolkit! The DMA wants its members to stop marketing to the dead.

They're deadly serious. The mega-trade org has created the ne plus ultra of supression lists: the Deceased Do-Not-Contact list.

Doubtless anticipating a rush of "I-want-to-be-dead-to-you" registrations, the organization will levy a $1 fee to spirit away the departed's contact information. One hopes this will be its final resting place. Until now, the dead have risen, zombie-like, at the end of a five year sunset providison period to repopulate the list.

The DMA plans to market the list (true to their calling) to "funeral directors, hospitals, the American Medical Association and consumer groups."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Unveils New Mobile Search Services

This morning AOL is online with a mobile web search beta. AOL has offered some mobile services (for example, AOL Instant Messenger, mail, news, etc.) for years and has been testing new features since April. Here's a rundown on what's new on the web search front.

The new mobile web search tool automatically "transcodes" or rewrites non-mobile pages into ones that are friendly mobile phones and devices. Google and Yahoo also offer this feature. AOL's transcoding technology comes from InfoGin, an Israeli company.

Be aware that you'll hit a smaller database than with regular search results, as highlighted in this quote from a MediaPost story on the launch:

AOL Mobile Search additionally will filter results to provide a smaller number of hits for users on the go. "When we looked around at the way that search had been offered so far...one problem was that when you decided to search for something, you could always get back millions of hits, which is certainly difficult to go through on your phone," [Ken] Thomas [the senior project manager for AOL Mobile] said.

Fair to say, it's difficult to go through millions of results even if you aren't on a mobile search device. In fact, most search engines only let you actually browse through 1,000 results, at most.

Should you be worried about not hitting the full database. Almost certainly not. Typically search engines have had the ability to hit more "popular" pages, and that will likely work just fine for the needs of mobile users.

How's it look? You can check it out even if you don't have mobile web access? You can view the site on a regular browser here and see a mobile search results page here.

I ran a mobile "web" search for "Search Engine Watch" and spotted paid listings at the top of all web search results page. Presently, neither Yahoo nor Google show paid listings on mobile search results pages. By the way, clicking on a paid listing takes you to a optimized version of the advertisers site.

Web results pages also include product listings. For example, my "Search Engine Watch" search include three non-relevant (Thomas the Tank?) product listings.

Aside from web search, the new AOL Mobile Search site also allows the user to access listings from AOL PinPoint Shopping and AOL Yellow Pages. AOL Yellow Pages for Mobile listings include maps and directions from Mapquest.

Bottom Line? Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of features or services. What is unordinary is seeing paid listings on mobile web search results pages.

To access ALL AOL's mobile services (including search), use this page. For just web search, visit this one.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:12 PM | Permalink

Lee Hits China For Google, Didn't Foresee Non-Compete Problems

Spotted via InsideGoogle, Kai-Fu Lee in China from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog covers how Dr. Kai-Fu Lee -- the former Microsoft exec now at Google and at the center of lawsuits between the two companies -- has been out to Beijing to lay the groundwork of the research center he's to oversee there. It also notes that Lee, the new president of Google China, says he wasn't involved in search research at Microsoft, which is why he apparently didn't feel the existing battle over a non-compete clause would emerge. Gary has past details on the fracas over here: The Hiring of Dr Lee: Google Strikes Back.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:30 AM | Permalink

When Not to Use Search Engines

Turning to our favorite search engine has become reflexive for most people seeking information. But search engines aren't always the best tools—there are other online resources that will save you time or get you higher quality information, if you only take time to use them. And that's the catch: When do you know? Where do you start?

The first thing you need to do is start using your "peripheral vision," writes Mary Ellen Bates in today's SearchDay article, Thinking Outside the Search Box.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 9:48 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Acquired VerdiSoft Mobile Sync Company

VerdiSoft acquisition could help Yahoo users stay synched from SiliconBeat notes that Yahoo acquired start-up VerdiSoft in February but news has apparently only come out now. The company has a Connected Life product designed to let mobile operators keep their customers in sync with data. Makes sense with other Yahoo moves that have happened, to tap into the growing mobile platform. Heck, maybe it will mean that I'll have a sync system that actually work for getting my stuff off my desktop and phone and into Yahoo. The Intellisync software Yahoo uses just crashes on two different computers I tried. Maybe it's me :(

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:00 AM | Permalink

Goodman Revisits AdWords Changes & Importance Of Clickthrough

The Importance of Clickthrough Rate (CTR): Has it Changed? from Andrew Goodman at Traffick is a very long look at recent changes to how Google is making use of clickthrough rate as part of its ad system. He highlights that AdRank is no longer CPCxCTR but instead takes in some other factors such as historical performance or ads with certain unspecified characteristics. In short, it's CPCxQS, with QS being a quality score made up of some things an advertiser can't visibly see. So an end to the importance of clickthrough? Andrew hopes not, seeing clickthrough as still a great indicator of quality and relevancy to the searcher. Good, well-written and fun read.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:47 AM | Permalink

Complaints Over Yahoo's Direct Traffic Center

One of our SEW Forums moderators sebastian has had it with Yahoo's Direct Traffic Center, the administrative control center for those running paid search campaigns. He created a 10 Reasons Yahoo Should Kill Direct Traffic Center thread listing his concerns and problems and found others sharing their problems. Want to see improvements? Jump in and sound off. Think things are fine? Then say so as well.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:31 AM | Permalink

New MSN Screen Saver With Search & RSS Integration

Need a screensaver? The new MSN Screen Saver puts a search box on display, plus shows you RSS feeds, photos from your desktop and more. Seem odd to have a search box in your screen saver? Yes and no. It's odd in that if you go to use your computer, you want your screen saver to go away. But it's smart in that if you like the other things the screen saver offers then realize you need to search for something, there's a search box -- and MSN's search box -- ready to go. Yahoo and Google don't offer screen savers that I know about. I'm sure they'll come. More details on the MSN Search Blog: MSN Screensaver with Search & RSS

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:58 AM | Permalink

New Ask Jeeves Paid Listings Program Said To Come August 1

Rumors that Ask Jeeves is to roll out a new version of its own paid listings program came up earlier this month but now come again accompanied by a date -- August 1. Threadwatch spotted Adrants reporting being tipped off to this and MediaPost in Ask Jeeves Reportedly Gearing Up Paid Search Platform reports hearing the same.

Want to discuss or comment? Visit our forum thread, New Ask Jeeves Paid Listings Program.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:10 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Search Takes To The Air With Connexion By Boeing Wi-Fi Partnership

News comes from Yahoo that they have partnered with Boeing to be the "exclusive search engine" for the Connexion by Boeing in-flight Wi-Fi service in what's termed as a "multiyear" deal. This will put a Yahoo search box on the Connexion portal page that passengers see when they connect to the service. They'll get both paid and regular results on a cobranded page. Boeing recently did a test of the service for journalists and bloggers.

The exclusivity probably won't extend beyond the portal page. In other words, if you've paid to have Wi-Fi access, you're almost certainly going to be able to connect to Google or any Yahoo-rival search engine that you want, despite the partnership.

My personal time spent on these type of Wi-Fi portal pages you get at hotels is nil. I fly right through them, and I suspect many will do the same. Still, it will expose plenty of people to Yahoo and no doubt generate some degree of queries for the company.

A press release has not yet been posted, so I've reprinted what I was sent below. Watch the press release pages at Connexion and Yahoo for when it goes up in those places:

Yahoo! Joins Forces with Connexion by Boeing to Power In-Flight Search

Companies Enhance Internet Search Experience for Airline Passengers,
Create New Advertising Channel for Businesses

PASADENA, Calif. and Seattle, July 27 2005 – Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - News), a leading global Internet company and Connexion by Boeing, a business unit of The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), today announced they have entered into a multi-year, web and sponsored search distribution agreement.  Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will be the exclusive search engine on the Connexion by BoeingSM in-flight Internet service, providing airline passengers with the same highly relevant, comprehensive Yahoo! search results that they have come to rely on at home and at the office.

As a result of this agreement, passengers that connect to the Internet via Connexion by Boeing’s service will be able to conveniently conduct searches via a Yahoo! search box located on the Connexion by Boeing air portal. In response to their queries, passengers will be served Yahoo’s Web and sponsored search results via a co-branded search results page.

“We are pleased to be partnering with a market leader like Yahoo! in order to provide our customers with the highest quality in-flight Internet experience available today,” explained David Friedman, vice president of marketing and direct sales, Connexion by Boeing. “We know our customers place a high value on being able to stay connected to the information and people that are important to them while on the go, and this agreement ensures that our customers can easily find what they are looking for – even at 30,000 feet.”

“We live in an age of connectivity where information should be easily accessible regardless of time, location or device,” said Bill Demas, Senior Vice President, Partner Solutions, Yahoo! Search Marketing. “This agreement highlights just one of the many exciting opportunities Yahoo! and Connexion by Boeing are exploring together to not only provide users with a world-class Internet experience no matter where they are, but to also enable marketers to reach potential customers who are searching for their products and services online.” 

Connexion by Boeing provides real-time high-speed Internet and entertainment services to airline passengers in flight. Business and leisure travelers can use their laptops to send and receive e-mails, connect to corporate networks, watch live global television, or simply surf the web at speeds that are comparable to a modern home or office. Connexion by Boeing is currently offered on more 100 routes daily worldwide and will begin offering its new Yahoo-powered services toward the end of this year.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide.  Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users’ lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world.  Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

About Connexion by Boeing
Connexion by Boeing is, for the second year running, the recipient of the World Travel Award for World's Leading High-Speed In-flight Internet Services Provider. It was recently named one of the wireless companies to watch in 2005 by IDC wireless services analysts and is the recipient of the Network Magazine’s Innovation Awards 2005 honor for “Product Breakthrough”. Connexion by Boeing service is available today on flights offered by Lufthansa, SAS, Japan Airlines, ANA, Singapore Airlines and China Airlines. In addition, Austrian Airlines, Korean Air, El Al Israeli Airlines, Asiana and Etihad have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft. Connexion by Boeing also offers a high-speed connectivity solution for the business aviation and maritime markets. For more information, please visit www.connexionbyboeing.com.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:01 AM | Permalink

July 26, 2005

Yahoo and Motorola Announce Partnership

Yahoo and Motorola announced a partnership today that will provide optimized versions of various Yahoo services on Motorola Linux-based mobile devices, broadband-enabled products for the connected home, and through Motorola’s forthcoming iRadio service. Motorola's Yahoo optimized products are expected to be available to consumers in major markets starting in 2006. Additional details in this news release.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:37 PM | Permalink

Former Google Exec Files Suit Over Alleged Pregnancy Discrimination

Another week and news of another lawsuit involving Google makes the papers. I'm thinking that the busiest department at the Googleplex these days is the legal department.

The NY Newsday article Suit accuses Google of pregnancy bias reports on a new lawsuit filed by Christina Elwell, a former director of national sales for Google who saw her star dropped after she became pregnant, the suit alleges:

She was even singled out at a meeting of Google's sales force as contributing to the company's ability to file for an initial public offering.

However, things changed for Ms. Elwell after she notified Google that she was pregnant with quadruplets and experiencing medical complications.

Over the next year, according to her suit, Elwell, 35, of Manhattan, would see her position deleted from a Google organizational chart, a promised lesser role rescinded and filled by a man she had hired, and her career derailed by a series of demotions and a firing. The suit says she was branded a human resources "nightmare" by her boss, Timothy Armstrong, Google's vice president of national sales, who is also named as a defendant in the suit.

More background in the article. I've also tracked down a full text copy of the complaint Christina Elwell filed with the U.S. District Court in New York City, it's posted here (PDF).

Postscript: Amy Lambert, a Google attorney, shared the following comment with SEW this afternoon:

Google has from the beginning supported the career advancement of all employees, including women, in many ways and has exceptional support benefits for employees who need to balance work with family, including generous benefits for expectant and new mothers. The lawsuit against Google and Tim Armstrong is without merit and we will defend vigorously against it.

Postscript 2: As John notes, Google previous has had a case brought against it involving a different type of discrimination allegations, that of age discrimination. Some further details on that can be found here and in our forum thread Another Google Lawsuit: Age Discrimination.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:06 PM | Permalink

Amazon's A9 Adds Online Calculator

Amazon.com's A9 has joined other web engines in offering access to an online calculator that's accessible from any A9 search box. Results appear at the top of a web page results list. You'll spot an icon of an abacus located next the result. This page contains a examples of what the calculator offers. I'm betting that more special features and shortcuts are in the works at A9.

Posted by Gary Price at 3:11 PM | Permalink

litefeeds: A New RSS/XML Aggregator for the Mobile Web

I said a few weeks ago that Bloglines Mobile is one of my favorite resources when I use my Treo 650. Things change quickly in web world but as of today, Bloglines Mobile remains a favorite. However, I've just learned of litefeeds, a new mobile web RSS/XML service that I'm going to try out. I'll post more about litefeeds after I have some time to use try it out.

Notes:

  • litefeeds requires a small download direct to your Java Phone/SmartPhone, Blackberry, Palm or PocketPC.

  • All configuration (adding,organizing etc) is done online so you never have to type anything on your mobile device.

  • Feeds are cached, compressed, and stripped so that they are mobile optimized. If it's not a full text feed, you can click and then view an optimized version of the actual post.

  • Ability to view Flickr/Buzznet images.

  • Option to clip articles to an "online clipboard" and create a feed of clips.

litefeeds comes from Vancouver-based Webpost.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:38 PM | Permalink

Google's Brin On Keeping The Googlers Happy

Can Google Stay Google? from Fast Company, spotted via John Battelle, does the usual "can they stay ahead" type of thing we've seen before but with some fresh quotes from Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who disarms the interviewer with his bare legs after a volleyball game. Brin still thinks Google is the type of place he'd like to work at, if being asked to join now, because of the challenges and opportunities it offers to scientists who want to solve problems. And while Google has tons of employees now, he's still like to see new ones get the big time -- or at least semi-big time -- compensation as if Google still was a start up. Hence the Founders Awards we've blogged abut before, plus "bonuses and refreshers."

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:06 PM | Permalink

Real-TimeTracking of the Space Shuttle; View Imagery of Earth Taken by Astronauts

The Space Shuttle has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center and is currently orbiting the Earth. The Shuttle will dock with the International Space Station on Thursday.

If you're interested in tracking both spacecraft, here are a couple real-time databases. You'll need to have Java working.

Also, since satellite and aerial imagery is all the rage these days, here's a small archive with selected imagery of Earth taken by astronauts since the beginning of the space program. Want more? The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, is a searchable database with astronaut photographs (more than 600,000 images) of Earth from 1961 through the present.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:46 PM | Permalink

Feeds, Flickr, and Alerts Come to Yahoo 360

A note on the Yahoo 360 Product Blog points out that several new services are available from their social networking-blogging-photo sharing service are now available. Here's a rundown:

Feeds
You can now add RSS feeds to your Yahoo 360 home page.

Flickr
Your stream of Flickr photo entries can be made visible on your Yahoo 360 home page.

Alerts
You can now be alerted each time someone makes a comment to something you post on Yahoo 360 blog. Alerts can be delivered via email, Yahoo Instant Messenger, and/or mobile device.

More
Additional new features and more details here.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:20 PM | Permalink

RSS Search & Add Option Now Available For Google Personalized Home Page

In the past few days, Google has unveiled a new "look-and-feel" along with a couple of new features to their personalized homepage including the ability to add RSS feeds to the page.

To make a feed visible on your Google Personalized home page, enter the url into the box located under the "create a section" header. If you don't know a feed's url or want Google Personalized to suggest feeds of possible interest, simply enter a feed's title or subject into the box.

Once a feed appears is added to your Google Personalized home page, only titles/headlines are visible. You'll need to click again to view the full text. It's also possible to change the number of headlines/titles visible (default is three) by clicking the edit button. Up to nine headlines/titles can be viewed on the page.

The Google Personalized Home Page went live in May. Here's Danny's overview article.

Another new Google Personalized feature offers an option to list important bookmarks on your page.

The option to add RSS feeds to Yahoo's My Yahoo service has been available since Fall 2004.

Postscript: I noted above that you could search for RSS content using the new feature, but it's worth stressing this significant change. The ability to search effectively gives Google a rudimentary feed discovery service, as Nathan points out, similar that offered by Yahoo and MSN Search, not to mention Ask Jeeves-owned Bloglines.

Postscript 2 (from Danny): After scratching my head wondering why the darn thing wasn't working for me, I came across Brad Hill's post that the CustomizeGoogle extension sadly is the problem. Sure enough, when I got rid of that, the page worked for me.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:51 AM | Permalink

SuperPages To Buy Ads For Advertisers On Google & Yahoo

Superpages.com Tries on Agency Hat covers how Verizon SuperPages has advertisers who can't buy enough inventory on SuperPages itself, so SuperPages plans to take their excess money and do buys for them on Google and Yahoo through a new "pay-per-click-plus" program it will begin testing in August.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:43 AM | Permalink

The Daily SearchCast: SEW Blog's Podcast Comes Tomorrow

As I've watched interest in podcasting grow, it seemed the right time for Search Engine Watch to try the new medium. And so we are! Starting tomorrow, we're launching The Daily SearchCast.

The Daily SearchCast is to be a 10 to 15 minute overview of the prior day's search news. Want a fast recap of what happened in search to listen to while in the car, at the gym, anywhere on the move or while working at your desk? We hope The Daily SearchCast will serve you well.

Our search podcast is being produced by the good folks at WebmasterRadio.FM, who along with great production value will be also providing a guest host each day to egg us on with questions about the news, as appropriate.

As for the "us" doing the news, that's Gary Price and me. We'll be alternating as our schedules allow. This week, I'll be doing it. Next week, Gary's on tap as I head out to California to meet with various search engines ahead of our SES San Jose show next month.

We're both especially looking forward to doing something a little more fun than a droll reading of the past day's news. We'll try to give you our views and thoughts on things in a lively manner that voice communication allows.

How to tune-in? If you take our main blog feed, we'll alert you each day to when a new podcast with search news is available.

We also now have a special podcast feed established just to inform you of the latest Daily SearchCast.

Both feeds have enclosures enabled. And yes, you can take both feeds, if you like. It's not an either/or thing.

The Daily SearchCast home page is another option for listening in. That's where we'll archive all the past shows. Just click on an entry, then you'll be able to find the show for the day listed with a short summary. The home page also has a good background article on listening to podcasts, if you need some advice.

You can also listen by tuning into WebmasterRadio.FM. We're now part of the growing line-up over there and are happy to be counted alongside the more established search-oriented shows such as "That's A Wrap" and "SEO Rockstars." We go out live at 11:30am Eastern and then repeat at 2pm Eastern.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:33 AM | Permalink

State of the UK Search Marketing Industry

Tis the season for buyer's guides to search marketing. Like the Marketing Sherpa guides to SEO firms and PPC firms that I reviewed earlier, a new directory from E-consultancy features an inside look at key players in the UK search marketing industry. Today's SearchDay article, Search Marketing UK: A Buyer's Guide, has more details on the new directory.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 10:15 AM | Permalink

July 25, 2005

Registration for Google Code Jam 2005 Now Open

Software developers who write code in Java, C++, C#, or VB might be interested to learn that registration for the 2005 Google Code Jam ($155,000 in prizes) is now open. Registration continues through August 19th.

Posted by Gary Price at 7:37 PM | Permalink

Searching for Podcast Porn

Podcast.net is a large (several thousand) searchable directory of podcasts and on its home page you'll find a list the top search terms users query their database with. The current list shows that Podcast.net searchers want porn on their pods (porncasts?).

It should come as no surprise that five of the ten search terms involve "adult" interests. Now, if NPR or the BBC would begin offering an "adult" podcast with comedy and music, the needs of all podcast searcherer and listeneres would be satisfied. (-:

Top 10 Search Terms at Podcast.net

  1. porn

  2. adult

  3. npr

  4. bbc

  5. open source sex

  6. comedy

  7. erotica

  8. pod porn

  9. music

  10. erotic

and while you're on the topic of podcasts...

If you want something other than porn, the SEW team is starting a new Daily SearchCast podcast of search news beginning Wednesday. It will go out Tuesday through Friday. Danny will be posting more formally about this tomorrow, but I thought I'd leak it now since he didn't put me under embargo :-)

Postscript: More details are here, The Daily SearchCast: SEW Blog's Podcast Comes Tomorrow

Posted by Gary Price at 5:29 PM | Permalink

A Look at Yahoo's Effort to Bring Brand Advertising Online

I haven't had a chance yet to read the new Fortune article: Yahoo's Brilliant Solution, by Fred Volgelstein. However, I thought this five page look at Yahoo's efforts to bring brand advertising online was worthy of your immediate attention.

It's been easy for most people to overlook the media and advertising juggernaut that Terry Semel, Yahoo's CEO, has assembled since he arrived from Hollywood four years ago. That's partly because Semel makes himself easy to overlook. He's not a showman like Apple's Steve Jobs or a high-tech rock star like Google's Larry Page or Sergey Brin. In fact, he seems to work hard at being bland. Listen to him theorize about the online revolution: "The great part about the Internet of all the existing mediums from before is that it's the first one that is truly global, and its impact is massive." Caffeine, anyone?

Posted by Gary Price at 4:14 PM | Permalink

Hispanics Loving Search Sites

In a post titled: Search is HOT for U.S. Hispanics, Nacho Hernandez posts a chart (via Ad Age) that he's been "waiting to see." It lists the "Top Web Properties Among All Hispanic Users." Time-Warner tops the list. Yahoo in second. MSN third. Google fourth. Ask Jeeves seventh.

Note: If you're interested in reviewing the complete "Hispanic Fact Pack" where Nacho found the numbers, it's available here for free (52 pages; PDF).

Posted by Gary Price at 3:10 PM | Permalink

Google Korea Has Its Own Blog

Both Philipp and Nathan report that Google Korea now has its own