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July 2006

July 31, 2006

Search Headlines & Links: July 31, 2006

Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we've spotted but not blogged separately:

From The SEW Blog...

  • Microsoft, Google & Yahoo Make Business Week's Top 100 Best Global Brands
    ResourceShelf reports on the Business Week Top 100 Global Brands release from this week. You can see from the interactive table that Microsoft remained in the number two slot, Google moved up to number 24 from the 38th position in 2005, and Yahoo also moved up to 55 from the 58th position in 2005....
  • NASDAQ Error Sends Google's Stock Price Down To $38
    The New York Sun reports that on Thursday, during after hours trading, Google's stock price fell accidentally by $350 to about $38, due to some glitch. Reportedly, "someone from a Nasdaq member firm punched in an erroneous figure to commence a trade," which caused the error. Thursday, between 4:10 p.m. and 4:12 p.m., prices for Google stock were as low as $38. At 5:01 p.m. NASDAQ disclosed their decision to "cancel all after-hours trades in Google that were at or below $352.07." So for those of you that thought you made it big, I am sorry. And for those that...
  • Yahoo Finance Hacked & Defaced
    Zone-H reports that earlier today, Yahoo's Finance section at biz.yahoo.com was hacked into and defaced. I have not seen any official confirmation or report from Yahoo on this story. They have mirrored the defacement here and here....
  • Google Trends Launched In China
    Philipp Lenssen reports that Google Labs just posted a link to Google Trends China. Google Trends was launched on May 10th and gives users the ability to look at search volume over time by keyword and broken down by other variables, such as regions and language. I would suspect Google Trends in China applies the same or similar filters and censorship that Google China web search applies....
  • Google To Change Arabic Translation Of "Gay"
    PinkNews reports that Google has agreed to change the Arabic translation of the word "gay" within Google's translation tool. Now, I don't know Arabic, but reportedly, the translation Google provides is equivalent to the word sodomite, which is derogatory. PinkNews says Google has "vowed to ameliorate the issue shortly."...
  • Google News Search Engine Explained
    Philipp Lenssen has an excellent write up on How Google News Indexes. He goes through how news sources get included, how news stories are clustered together, which sources get found on the Google News home page, and then some other tips. Philipp also explains how the news breaking source normally gets the top spot in the results and how to create content specifically for Google News. This can make a very useful and interesting read for anyone interested in Google News....

Headlines & News From Elsewhere

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 5:46 PM | Permalink

Microsoft, Google & Yahoo Make Business Week's Top 100 Best Global Brands

ResourceShelf reports on the Business Week Top 100 Global Brands release from this week. You can see from the interactive table that Microsoft remained in the number two slot, Google moved up to number 24 from the 38th position in 2005, and Yahoo also moved up to 55 from the 58th position in 2005.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:42 AM | Permalink

NASDAQ Error Sends Google's Stock Price Down To $38

The New York Sun reports that on Thursday, during after hours trading, Google's stock price fell accidentally by $350 to about $38, due to some glitch. Reportedly, "someone from a Nasdaq member firm punched in an erroneous figure to commence a trade," which caused the error. Thursday, between 4:10 p.m. and 4:12 p.m., prices for Google stock were as low as $38. At 5:01 p.m. NASDAQ disclosed their decision to "cancel all after-hours trades in Google that were at or below $352.07." So for those of you that thought you made it big, I am sorry. And for those that you that thought you lost your shirts, I am happy for you.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:35 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Finance Hacked & Defaced

Zone-H reports that earlier today, Yahoo's Finance section at biz.yahoo.com was hacked into and defaced. I have not seen any official confirmation or report from Yahoo on this story. They have mirrored the defacement here and here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Google Trends Launched In China

Philipp Lenssen reports that Google Labs just posted a link to Google Trends China. Google Trends was launched on May 10th and gives users the ability to look at search volume over time by keyword and broken down by other variables, such as regions and language. I would suspect Google Trends in China applies the same or similar filters and censorship that Google China web search applies.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:12 AM | Permalink

Google To Change Arabic Translation Of "Gay"

PinkNews reports that Google has agreed to change the Arabic translation of the word "gay" within Google's translation tool. Now, I don't know Arabic, but reportedly, the translation Google provides is equivalent to the word sodomite, which is derogatory. PinkNews says Google has "vowed to ameliorate the issue shortly."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:54 AM | Permalink

Google News Search Engine Explained

Philipp Lenssen has an excellent write up on How Google News Indexes. He goes through how news sources get included, how news stories are clustered together, which sources get found on the Google News home page, and then some other tips. Philipp also explains how the news breaking source normally gets the top spot in the results and how to create content specifically for Google News. This can make a very useful and interesting read for anyone interested in Google News.

I also wrote about Submitting Your News Site To Google News back in June.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:42 AM | Permalink

July 28, 2006

Trulia Distributing Its Maps To Local Realtors

As described on the Trulia Blog and The Future of Real Estate Marketing Blog, vertical real estate search site Trulia is making its maps with listings available for no cost to local brokers and realtors. The maps themselves are built on the Google Maps API and reflect local real estate listings drawn from broker feeds and crawling.

Here's what Trulia says about the new maps distribution:

"How does it work? Visit the Tools For Your Site section of Trulia and click on TruliaMap. Enter your website URL and we’ll quickly tell you whether we’ve indexed your listings. You can then customize a TruliaMap to make it your own. Options include size (narrow or wide), colors, and even an option to have the map automatically animate through your listings."

Local realtors thus get a customized map on their sites featuring their listings. This is a smart (and natural) move because it will provide off-site distribution and branding for Trulia and encourage other local realtors and brokers to get their listings onto the site. It also makes participating local realtor sites much richer for users (The Real Estate Marketing Blog also suggests they add the Zillow API for house valuations). Trulia has essentially shunned the MLS services in favor of dealing directly with local agents.

Trulia offers one of the most feature rich and user friendly real estate sites in the market today.

Google Maps API and Google Maps have been wildly popular so, by the same token, why shouldn't a useful application built on top of Google Maps? But I wonder how Google will feel about this "re-syndication"?

Posted by Greg Sterling at 5:46 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Launches New Slurp Crawler

The Yahoo Search blog announced the launch of a new crawler (aka Yahoo Slurp) that is faster and more efficient then then its previous robotic arm. This crawler is still named Slurp, but it crawls faster and uses up less bandwidth. Yahoo says we can expect a "25% reduction in the number of requests and bandwidth consumed by the crawler."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 3:59 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: July 28, 2006

Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we've spotted but not blogged separately:

From The SEW Blog...

  • Daily SearchCast, July 28, 2006: Google Class Action Suit Over Click Fraud Settled; Google Radio Ads; Anti-Phishing Protection In Search Results & More!
    Today's search podcast covers the class action lawsuit settlement against Google over click fraud getting final approval; Google ramping up radio ad testing; putting anti-phishing warnings into your search results; ranking woes and more!
  • TrustWatch Extension Puts Phishing Warnings Into Google, Yahoo & MSN Results
    Using Firefox or Flock? Now you can get an extension from TrustWatch that will may help you spot phishing scams in your search results at Google, Yahoo and MSN....
  • Google Testing Radio Ad Sales In Detroit
    Google rides the radio waves, from News.com looks at how Google AdSense for radio is now being tested in Detroit, before a planned rollout of the program to all Google advertisers. Technically, Google's been running radio ads ever since it acquired dMarc Broadcasting in January. It's not like dMarc stopped doing what it was already doing when Google bought it. The real change is that Google is integrating the ability for any existing advertiser to make radio ad purchases on a bid basis. For more on Google's radio plans, see Googleplex Irvine & "AdSense Audio" For Radio Ads and Speculation:...
  • Google Guess, Google Real Estate - New Google Coming Services Found?
    Via Google Blogoscoped, What's in Google's Sandbox? from Tony Ruscoe has him stumbling upon new services that Google may plan to release such as Google Events, Google Real Estate Search and "Google Guess."...
  • Google Hands Over Email In Hate Case
    Feds Retrieve Google Records after Gmail Used for Hate Speech from eWeek covers how the US FBI asked for and was given an email and some session information from someone accused of sending a threatening letter to the NAACP....
  • Google Click Fraud Settlement Approved
    Download fileJust got word from Google that the settlement in the class action lawsuit over click fraud has been approved. I'm dashing out, so this is just a short post to give you a heads-up. So far, I haven't seen any news stories on it. Settlement is here (PDF file), the $30 million in attorney fees is approved, apparently around 500 companies choosing to opt-out. I'll postscript more tomorrow or do a fresh post when stories appear. Google statement: We're pleased Judge Griffin has affirmed the settlement as appropriate and fair to advertisers. We look forward to continuing to manage...
  • What Drives Searchers to Buy Cars?
    The automotive industry is the largest player in the search world, in both natural search engine optimization and in the paid search arena. Until recently, auto manufacturers weren't a major presence in search results, with most search marketing campaigns conducted by independent aggregators who focused on providing quotes, helping consumers locate dealers and so on. Recently, however, the major manufacturers have begun to flex their search muscles, much to the consternation of aggregators, who are feeling crowded. A new study from Yahoo and comScore looked at searcher behavior in the automotive sector, analyzing activity, user preferences, and how purchases were...

Headlines & News From Elsewhere

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:00 PM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 28, 2006: Google Class Action Suit Over Click Fraud Settled; Google Radio Ads; Anti-Phishing Protection In Search Results & More!

Today's search podcast covers the class action lawsuit settlement against Google over click fraud getting final approval; Google ramping up radio ad testing; putting anti-phishing warnings into your search results; ranking woes and more!

Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Tuesday through Friday, via our Odeo channel or through iTunes via this link (or use alternative iTunes instructions explained here) or though our Yahoo Podcasts channel. Need more help tuning in live or finding the chat room? See the Daily SearchCast FAQ.

Below are links to items discussed:

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:53 PM | Permalink

TrustWatch Extension Puts Phishing Warnings Into Google, Yahoo & MSN Results

Using Firefox or Flock? Now you can get an extension from TrustWatch that will may help you spot phishing scams in your search results at Google, Yahoo and MSN.

TrustWatch & MSN Offer Anti-Phishing Tools To Searchers & Surfers covers how TrustWatch already does this on its own Ask-powered search engine. But the extension lets you get TrustWatch info inserted into results at Google, Yahoo and MSN (but oddly not Ask).

That article above also explains how MSN has an anti-phishing tool you can download. There are several others, as covered in these past articles:

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:06 AM | Permalink

Google Testing Radio Ad Sales In Detroit

Google rides the radio waves, from News.com looks at how Google AdSense for radio is now being tested in Detroit, before a planned rollout of the program to all Google advertisers.

Technically, Google's been running radio ads ever since it acquired dMarc Broadcasting in January. It's not like dMarc stopped doing what it was already doing when Google bought it. The real change is that Google is integrating the ability for any existing advertiser to make radio ad purchases on a bid basis.

For more on Google's radio plans, see Googleplex Irvine & "AdSense Audio" For Radio Ads and Speculation: Google To Begin Selling Radio Ads Through AdWords Soon.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:36 AM | Permalink

Google Guess, Google Real Estate - New Google Coming Services Found?

Via Google Blogoscoped, What's in Google's Sandbox? from Tony Ruscoe has him stumbling upon new services that Google may plan to release such as Google Events, Google Real Estate Search and "Google Guess."

Want to try it out yourself? Go to https://sandbox.google.com/. It looks like Google Checkout, but ignore that. Don't try to sign in with an existing Google Account that you have. You need to create a new one just for this sandbox service, Ruscoe says. And that seems to involve registering your credit card, so I gave it a pass.

Postscript: Tony contacted me to say there's a way to register via the sandbox area and not have to enter credit card details. He emailed:

This isn't the case. All you need to do is remove everything after the "service=sierra" parameter from the URL you're directed to (which is for the Google Checkout service) and you'll be able to register an account without entering your credit card details... or just follow this link:

https://sandbox.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

You'll then be able to append "?service=codename" to that URL to add each of the services I included in my post.

I went to https://sandbox.google.com/accounts/NewAccount, opened a new account, then went back and did this:

https://sandbox.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=re

See the part in bold? The re part? That's the codename for one of these Google services, which Tony has listed in his post. Doing that let me sign up for Google Real Estate Search. After the screen to enroll came up, I got an error message and kicked back out into a personalized Google home page.

That's OK. Now go to https://sandbox.google.com/accounts/ManageAccount and sign back in. The next screen will show your account, and you'll see that Google Real Estate Search is now one of your subscribed services. Clicking on the link doesn't do anything, but at least you can make cool screenshots like everyone else :)

To add more services, keep going back as above and use different code names.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:24 AM | Permalink

Google Hands Over Email In Hate Case

Feds Retrieve Google Records after Gmail Used for Hate Speech from eWeek covers how the US FBI asked for and was given an email and some session information from someone accused of sending a threatening letter to the NAACP.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:14 AM | Permalink

Search Forums Roundup: July 28, 2006

Today's SearchDay, Search Engine Forums Spotlight, features our weekly links to this week's hot topics from search engine forums across the web: Google Ranking In Other Countries - Yahoo! Korea Create Webzari Site Explorer - Google Showing Click Fraud Numbers In AdWords - Site Redesign - Does It Always Mean Lost Ranking?, and more.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 1:03 AM | Permalink

July 27, 2006

Search Headlines & Links: July 27, 2006

Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we've spotted but not blogged separately:

From The SEW Blog...

  • Daily SearchCast, July 27, 2006: Daily SearchCast's First Birthday!; Microsoft Hires 10,000; Baidu Cuts HP Deal; Google Ranking Changes; Google: The Musical & More!
    Today's search podcast covers the Daily SearchCast podcast celebrating its first birthday; Microsoft's record breaking army of new hires; Baidu getting on HP computers in China; Google rankings shifting around; a musical about Google and more!
  • Google Click Fraud Settlement Approved
    Download fileJust got word from Google that the settlement in the class action lawsuit over click fraud has been approved. I'm dashing out, so this is just a short post to give you a heads-up. So far, I haven't seen any news stories on it. Settlement is here (PDF file), the $30 million in attorney fees is approved, apparently around 500 companies choosing to opt-out. I'll postscript more tomorrow or do a fresh post when stories appear. Google statement: We're pleased Judge Griffin has affirmed the settlement as appropriate and fair to advertisers. We look forward to continuing to manage...
  • Google The Musical Coming Soon
    Philipp Lenssen spots a new musical named Google: The Musical. The musical is being hosted at the Rarig Center on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. The dates of the musical include; Friday on August 4th at 5:30 pm, Tuesday on August 8th at 7:00 pm, Thursday on August 10th at 10:00 pm, Friday on August 11th at 8:30 pm, and Sunday on August 13th at 1:00 pm. What to expect?...
  • Changes Spotted In Google Search Results
    I reported this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google Search Results Shifting Again. What folks in the forums are finding is that some, but not all, of the pre June 27th results are coming back to the way they were. They are also finding that the Google site command search is again working on those datacenters that have the new results. There is a lot of commotion going on in the forums about these changes that began this morning....
  • Baidu To Be Default Engine On All HP Computers Ship To China
    Philipp Lenssen reports that Baidu, the popular Chinese search engine, will be the default search engine on all new HP's shipped to China after October 2006. As Philipp notes, this is bad for Google who has been pushing hard into the Chinese market. Today the Wall Street Journal reports that Baidu's second-quarter earnings were very high, "but didn't meet some investors' higher expectations."...
  • French Court Preventing Greenpeace France From Displaying Crop Data On Google Maps
    BoingBoing spotted an interesting case where a French court ordered Greenpeace France to remove a site using the Google Maps tool to display "locations of commercial, genetically engineered corn fields in France." Greenpeace France overlaid an X in the spot of those corn fields. They have removed the site, but plan on appealing the order. "Greenpeace argues the online maps should not be censored because an EU law requires the French government to make the crop site information public anyway," Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing writes....
  • Yahoo Partners With British Telecom For Yahoo Local UK
    Revolution Magazine reports that Yahoo has partnered with British Telecom to share the "Phone Book" data. Yahoo will add 120,000 businesses who advertise in The Phone Book from BT within the Yahoo Local UK platform. This helps BT offer an additional service to their Phone Book customers and gives Yahoo access to some more data and marketing opportunities they may have not had otherwise....
  • Microsoft Hires Over Ten Thousand Employees In Past Year
    The Seattle Pi reports that Microsoft has broke their own hiring records, by hiring 10,081 new employees worldwide over the past fiscal year. The article takes the angle that the hires were in order to compete with Google. Now Microsoft has 71,553 people worldwide as of June 30, 2006. Wow!...
  • Yahoo Launches Visual Link Map Tool Named Webzari
    The Yahoo Search Blog announced a new tool developed by the Yahoo Korea team named Webzari. Webzari is a tool that visually maps the data from Yahoo Site Explorer. It takes a site's inlinks, and maps them in planets on a map. Check out Search Engine Watch's map which is kinda hard to read, but you can also check out Search Engine Roundtable which has easier to read planets. Notice, when you mouse over the planets, it shows you the location of the server linking to you, and if you click on it shows you more. Very cool interface. Check...
  • What Drives Searchers to Buy Cars?
    The automotive industry is the largest player in the search world, in both natural search engine optimization and in the paid search arena. Until recently, auto manufacturers weren't a major presence in search results, with most search marketing campaigns conducted by independent aggregators who focused on providing quotes, helping consumers locate dealers and so on. Recently, however, the major manufacturers have begun to flex their search muscles, much to the consternation of aggregators, who are feeling crowded. A new study from Yahoo and comScore looked at searcher behavior in the automotive sector, analyzing activity, user preferences, and how purchases were...
  • Study Reveals Changing Web
    A report of a new study over on WebSiteOptimization.com has some interesting research showing how users ineract with web sites, revealing an "F-shaped" eyetracking patterns similar to the results Enquiro found looking at earch results. From the study: A new browser study revealed a shift in how we interact with the Web. University of Hamburg researchers found the Web moving from static hypertext information to dynamic interactive services. Clickstream heatmaps and web page statistics show rapid interaction over smaller areas of the screen. The authors recommend that web developers create concise, flexible, and fast loading web pages to keep pace...

Headlines & News From Elsewhere

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:12 PM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 27, 2006: Daily SearchCast's First Birthday!; Microsoft Hires 10,000; Baidu Cuts HP Deal; Google Ranking Changes; Google: The Musical & More!

Today's search podcast covers the Daily SearchCast podcast celebrating its first birthday; Microsoft's record breaking army of new hires; Baidu getting on HP computers in China; Google rankings shifting around; a musical about Google and more!

Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Tuesday through Friday, via our Odeo channel or through iTunes via this link (or use alternative iTunes instructions explained here) or though our Yahoo Podcasts channel. Need more help tuning in live or finding the chat room? See the Daily SearchCast FAQ.

Below are links to items discussed:

  • Microsoft Hires Over Ten Thousand Employees In Past Year
    The Seattle Pi reports that Microsoft has broke their own hiring records, by hiring 10,081 new employees worldwide over the past fiscal year. The article takes the angle that the hires were in order to compete with Google. Now Microsoft has 71,553 people worldwide as of June 30, 2006. Wow!...
  • Yahoo Launches Visual Link Map Tool Named Webzari
    The Yahoo Search Blog announced a new tool developed by the Yahoo Korea team named Webzari. Webzari is a tool that visually maps the data from Yahoo Site Explorer. It takes a site's inlinks, and maps them in planets on a map. Check out Search Engine Watch's map which is kinda hard to read, but you can also check out Search Engine Roundtable which has easier to read planets. Notice, when you mouse over the planets, it shows you the location of the server linking to you, and if you click on it shows you more. Very cool interface. Check...
  • Study Reveals Changing Web
    A report of a new study over on WebSiteOptimization.com has some interesting research showing how users ineract with web sites, revealing an "F-shaped" eyetracking patterns similar to the results Enquiro found looking at earch results. From the study: A new browser study revealed a shift in how we interact with the Web. University of Hamburg researchers found the Web moving from static hypertext information to dynamic interactive services. Clickstream heatmaps and web page statistics show rapid interaction over smaller areas of the screen. The authors recommend that web developers create concise, flexible, and fast loading web pages to keep pace...
  • Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo
    Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool....
  • Baidu To Be Default Engine On All HP Computers Ship To China
    Philipp Lenssen reports that Baidu, the popular Chinese search engine, will be the default search engine on all new HP's shipped to China after October 2006. As Philipp notes, this is bad for Google who has been pushing hard into the Chinese market. Today the Wall Street Journal reports that Baidu's second-quarter earnings were very high, "but didn't meet some investors' higher expectations."...
  • Changes Spotted In Google Search Results
    I reported this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google Search Results Shifting Again. What folks in the forums are finding is that some, but not all, of the pre June 27th results are coming back to the way they were. They are also finding that the Google site command search is again working on those datacenters that have the new results. There is a lot of commotion going on in the forums about these changes that began this morning....
  • Possible Shift in Google-Webmasters Communication Policy!, Threadwatch
  • Were All of Google Properties Down Last Night?, Search Engine Roundtable
  • Adam "Mini-Matt" Lasnik's Blog
  • ComScore Adds Competitive Search Data to qSearch, ClickZ
  • UK Microsoft adCenter public opening mid August, Threadwatch
  • Yahoo Partners With British Telecom For Yahoo Local UK
    Revolution Magazine reports that Yahoo has partnered with British Telecom to share the "Phone Book" data. Yahoo will add 120,000 businesses who advertise in The Phone Book from BT within the Yahoo Local UK platform. This helps BT offer an additional service to their Phone Book customers and gives Yahoo access to some more data and marketing opportunities they may have not had otherwise....
  • Live From GoogleFi, GigaOM
  • New Metasearch for Events and Ticket Providers, ResearchBuzz
  • New Natuaral Hazards Gateway Site from USGS, Fact Sheets & More, ResourceShelf
  • French Court Preventing Greenpeace France From Displaying Crop Data On Google Maps
    BoingBoing spotted an interesting case where a French court ordered Greenpeace France to remove a site using the Google Maps tool to display "locations of commercial, genetically engineered corn fields in France." Greenpeace France overlaid an X in the spot of those corn fields. They have removed the site, but plan on appealing the order. "Greenpeace argues the online maps should not be censored because an EU law requires the French government to make the crop site information public anyway," Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing writes....
  • Flickr set of bad parking at Yahoo lot, Boing Boing
  • MSN Gets Rights to 'Arrested', Los Angeles Times
  • Google The Musical Coming Soon
    Philipp Lenssen spots a new musical named Google: The Musical. The musical is being hosted at the Rarig Center on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. The dates of the musical include; Friday on August 4th at 5:30 pm, Tuesday on August 8th at 7:00 pm, Thursday on August 10th at 10:00 pm, Friday on August 11th at 8:30 pm, and Sunday on August 13th at 1:00 pm. What to expect?...

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:00 PM | Permalink

Google Click Fraud Settlement Approved

Just got word from Google that the settlement in the class action lawsuit over click fraud has been approved. I'm dashing out, so this is just a short post to give you a heads-up. So far, I haven't seen any news stories on it. Settlement is here (PDF file), the $30 million in attorney fees is approved, apparently around 500 companies choosing to opt-out. I'll postscript more tomorrow or do a fresh post when stories appear. Google statement:

We're pleased Judge Griffin has affirmed the settlement as appropriate and fair to advertisers. We look forward to continuing to manage invalid clicks effectively and provide our advertisers with an outstanding return on their investment. --Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel, Google

Postscript: Short AP story here, MarketWatch here, Official Google Blog post here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:43 PM | Permalink

Google The Musical Coming Soon

Philipp Lenssen spots a new musical named Google: The Musical. The musical is being hosted at the Rarig Center on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. The dates of the musical include; Friday on August 4th at 5:30 pm, Tuesday on August 8th at 7:00 pm, Thursday on August 10th at 10:00 pm, Friday on August 11th at 8:30 pm, and Sunday on August 13th at 1:00 pm.

What to expect?

Synopsis

Google is taking over the world - one thought at a time. An entirely original darkly-comedic electronic musical. Librarians, DJs and zombies - it's a brave new world.
This fable about the dangers of information ubiguity will make you laugh, cry and run home to your Internet.

Some more details at MySpace.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:54 AM | Permalink

Changes Spotted In Google Search Results

I reported this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google Search Results Shifting Again. What folks in the forums are finding is that some, but not all, of the pre June 27th results are coming back to the way they were. They are also finding that the Google site command search is again working on those datacenters that have the new results. There is a lot of commotion going on in the forums about these changes that began this morning.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:49 AM | Permalink

Baidu To Be Default Engine On All HP Computers Ship To China

Philipp Lenssen reports that Baidu, the popular Chinese search engine, will be the default search engine on all new HP's shipped to China after October 2006. As Philipp notes, this is bad for Google who has been pushing hard into the Chinese market. Today the Wall Street Journal reports that Baidu's second-quarter earnings were very high, "but didn't meet some investors' higher expectations."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:44 AM | Permalink

French Court Preventing Greenpeace France From Displaying Crop Data On Google Maps

BoingBoing spotted an interesting case where a French court ordered Greenpeace France to remove a site using the Google Maps tool to display "locations of commercial, genetically engineered corn fields in France." Greenpeace France overlaid an X in the spot of those corn fields. They have removed the site, but plan on appealing the order. "Greenpeace argues the online maps should not be censored because an EU law requires the French government to make the crop site information public anyway," Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing writes.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:36 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Partners With British Telecom For Yahoo Local UK

Revolution Magazine reports that Yahoo has partnered with British Telecom to share Yellow Pages data. Yahoo will add 120,000 businesses who advertise in The Phone Book from BT within the Yahoo Local UK platform. This helps BT offer an additional service to their Phone Book customers and gives Yahoo access to some more data and marketing opportunities they may have not had otherwise.

Post Script from Greg: Yell is the dominant yellow pages publisher in the UK and was previously owned by BT before it was sold a few years ago. Yell provides all its content to Google, as the basis for Google Local/Maps in the UK.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:29 AM | Permalink

Microsoft Hires Over Ten Thousand Employees In Past Year

The Seattle Pi reports that Microsoft has broke their own hiring records, by hiring 10,081 new employees worldwide over the past fiscal year. The article takes the angle that the hires were in order to compete with Google. Now Microsoft has 71,553 people worldwide as of June 30, 2006. Wow!

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:24 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Launches Visual Link Map Tool Named Webzari

The Yahoo Search Blog announced a new tool developed by the Yahoo Korea team named Webzari. Webzari is a tool that visually maps the data from Yahoo Site Explorer. It takes a site's inlinks, and maps them in planets on a map.

Check out Search Engine Watch's map which is kinda hard to read, but you can also check out Search Engine Roundtable which has easier to read planets. Notice, when you mouse over the planets, it shows you the location of the server linking to you, and if you click on it shows you more. Very cool interface.

Check it out at the Yahoo Search Blog.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:13 AM | Permalink

What Drives Searchers to Buy Cars?

The automotive industry is the largest player in the search world, in both natural search engine optimization and in the paid search arena. Until recently, auto manufacturers weren't a major presence in search results, with most search marketing campaigns conducted by independent aggregators who focused on providing quotes, helping consumers locate dealers and so on. Recently, however, the major manufacturers have begun to flex their search muscles, much to the consternation of aggregators, who are feeling crowded. A new study from Yahoo and comScore looked at searcher behavior in the automotive sector, analyzing activity, user preferences, and how purchases were ultimately made. The results are fascinating, and offer lessons for search marketers operating in any field. More on the study in today's SearchDay article, New Research Shows How Search Drives Auto Buyers.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 8:39 AM | Permalink

July 26, 2006

Study Reveals Changing Web

A report of a new study over on WebSiteOptimization.com has some interesting research showing how users ineract with web sites, revealing an "F-shaped" eyetracking patterns similar to the results Enquiro found looking at earch results. From the study:

A new browser study revealed a shift in how we interact with the Web. University of Hamburg researchers found the Web moving from static hypertext information to dynamic interactive services. Clickstream heatmaps and web page statistics show rapid interaction over smaller areas of the screen. The authors recommend that web developers create concise, flexible, and fast loading web pages to keep pace with the speed of web navigation.

Read on: Clickstream Study Reveals Dynamic Web

Posted by Chris Sherman at 6:02 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: July 26, 2006

Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we've spotted but not blogged separately:

From The SEW Blog...

  • Daily SearchCast, July 26, 2006: Google Use Of Landing Pages For Ad Rank Raises Issues; Google Now Reporting Invalid Clicks? Google Parachute (Beta) & More!
    Today's search podcast covers issues with Google making more use of landing pages to rank ads; Google now reporting invalid clicks to advertisers; online ad spend expected to continue rising; bailing out of the Google Jet and more!
  • Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo
    Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool....
  • New US Child Protection Law Might Make Webmasters Second Guess What They Write
    Via Threadwatch, Congress spanks naughty sex sites from News.com covers how the US is likely to gain a new law making it illegal to send people to porn by using misleading text....
  • FAA Safety Instructions For The Google Jet
    InsideGoogle spotted a funny write up from the Seattle Times called Google founders eager to take users for a ride. I'll quote the piece InsideGoogle quoted: I’m now required by the Federal Aviation Administration to give the following safety instructions, because our aircraft is in beta and always will be:...
  • Google Toolbar Look-Alike Installing Malicious Programs
    Search Engine Journal reports on a SurfControl release that fake Google Toolbars are being downloaded unknowingly and causing those computers to be contaminated with malicious programs. The programs then use the computers to send out mass-email spam and/or for "internet attacks." So be careful where you download your toolbars....
  • Online Ad Spend 9% Of All Ad Spend By 2011
    ClickZ reports on a JupiterResearch report that online advertising spend is projected to snag up nine percent of the total advertising pie by 2011. They estimate that $25.9 billion in revenues will be spent on online ads by 2011, "rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent over the next five years." For search marketers, 43 percent of the online ad spend will be search-based ads, accounting for $11.1 billion by 2011....
  • Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates
    Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers....
  • AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides
    Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that AOL has launched a beta redesign of its popular CityGuides. Here's the current version of the site for New York and here's the new beta version of the same city site. Of the more than 300 CityGuides AOL offers, the top 25 are part of the new beta. Among the upgrades and improvements are a visually richer interface, more imagery, more dynamically generated content and more community features. Gary also points out that AOL's Moviefone and CityGuides have also been added to the AOL mobile application....

Headlines & News From Elsewhere

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:21 PM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 26, 2006: Google Use Of Landing Pages For Ad Rank Raises Issues; Google Now Reporting Invalid Clicks? Google Parachute (Beta) & More!

Today's search podcast covers issues with Google making more use of landing pages to rank ads; Google now reporting invalid clicks to advertisers; online ad spend expected to continue rising; bailing out of the Google Jet and more!

Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Tuesday through Friday, via our Odeo channel or through iTunes via this link (or use alternative iTunes instructions explained here) or though our Yahoo Podcasts channel. Need more help tuning in live or finding the chat room? See the Daily SearchCast FAQ.

Below are links to items discussed:

  • Detailed Look into the Google AdWords Landing Page Algo
    The Google AdWords landing page algo changes this month have resulted in many advertisers sitting up and thinking about quality issues beyond their ad copy, and looking more closely at their landing pages. I caught up with Google to get specifics on how the algo works, including just how they decided what made a good landing page versus what didn't when they created their algo. I also have ten best practices for advertisers needing to improve landing page quality. The full length SEW subscribers article is here. A shorter (but free!) version is here. Want to share your own best...
  • Virgin's Not So Generous Frequent Flyer Program
  • Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates
    Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.
  • Google Toolbar Look-Alike Installing Malicious Programs
    Search Engine Journal reports on a SurfControl release that fake Google Toolbars are being downloaded unknowingly and causing those computers to be contaminated with malicious programs. The programs then use the computers to send out mass-email spam and/or for "internet attacks." So be careful where you download your toolbars.
  • Online Ad Spend 9% Of All Ad Spend By 2011
    ClickZ reports on a JupiterResearch report that online advertising spend is projected to snag up nine-percent of the total advertising pie by 2011. They estimate that $25.9 billion in revenues will be spent on online ads by 2011, "rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent over the next five years." For search marketers, of that 9-percent of the pie, 43-percent of the online ad spend will be search base ads accounting for $11.1 billion, by 2011.
  • AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides
    Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that AOL has launched a beta redesign of its popular CityGuides. Here's the current version of the site for New York and here's the new beta version of the same city site. Of the more than 300 CityGuides AOL offers, the top 25 are part of the new beta.
  • FAA Safety Instructions For The Google Jet
    InsideGoogle spotted a funny write up named Google founders eager to take users for a ride. I'll quote the piece InsideGoogle quoted. I’m now required by the Federal Aviation Administration to give the following safety instructions, because our aircraft is in beta and always will be:

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:16 PM | Permalink

Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo

Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 3:13 PM | Permalink

New US Child Protection Law Might Make Webmasters Second Guess What They Write

Via Threadwatch, Congress spanks naughty sex sites from News.com covers how the US is likely to gain a new law making it illegal to send people to porn by using misleading text.

From the bill:

2252C. Misleading words or digital images on the Internet

(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images into the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not more than 10 years.

(b) MINORS.—Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images into the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material harmful to minors on the Internet shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not more than 20 years.

Hmm -- and source code means meta data? Body copy? Both:

the term ‘source code’ means the combination of text and other characters comprising the content, both viewable and nonviewable, of a web page, including any website publishing language, programming language, protocol or functional content, as well as any successor languages or protocols.

And what's obscene or harmful to minors? I didn't find that defined in the copy (PDF file) of the bill News.com is pointing at. Section 2252B covers the part about minors, and that's here.

(d) For the purposes of this section, the term “material that is harmful to minors” means any communication, consisting of nudity, sex, or excretion, that, taken as a whole and with reference to its context—

(1) predominantly appeals to a prurient interest of minors;

(2) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(3) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

(e) For the purposes of subsection (d), the term “sex” means acts of masturbation, sexual intercourse, or physcial [1] contact with a person’s genitals, or the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

The News.com article goes into more depth on how a lack of clarity could mean that a porn site showing things like Barbie dolls having sex could potentially fall into trouble.

As a parent, I certainly appreciate an effort to protect my children and those of others. But I also get worried about laws that potentially are overly broad. What's "obscene" isn't well defined, for example, from what I can see. We'll see how it goes.

FYI, even without this law, the US government has already been able to stop sites that are misleading. FTC Steps In To Stop Spamming covers how in 1999, the US Federal Trade Commission did exactly this in a case of a porn site trying to mislead people to it.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:24 PM | Permalink

FAA Safety Instructions For The Google Jet

InsideGoogle spotted a funny write up from the Seattle Times called Google founders eager to take users for a ride. I'll quote the piece InsideGoogle quoted:

I’m now required by the Federal Aviation Administration to give the following safety instructions, because our aircraft is in beta and always will be:
In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, stock options will drop from the ceiling above you. Please inflate the options until you feel financially secure.

In the event of a sudden loss of propulsion, look under your seat for the blue, red, yellow and green Google parachute. Place the straps around your shoulders, tighten the waist belt, jump out of the aircraft and press the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on your chest.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:27 AM | Permalink

Google Toolbar Look-Alike Installing Malicious Programs

Search Engine Journal reports on a SurfControl release that fake Google Toolbars are being downloaded unknowingly and causing those computers to be contaminated with malicious programs. The programs then use the computers to send out mass-email spam and/or for "internet attacks." So be careful where you download your toolbars.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Online Ad Spend 9% Of All Ad Spend By 2011

ClickZ reports on a JupiterResearch report that online advertising spend is projected to snag up nine percent of the total advertising pie by 2011. They estimate that $25.9 billion in revenues will be spent on online ads by 2011, "rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent over the next five years." For search marketers, 43 percent of the online ad spend will be search-based ads, accounting for $11.1 billion by 2011.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:06 AM | Permalink

Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo

Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo

Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo

Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Powerful Search + Social Bookmarking = Diigo

Social bookmarking and search services have been exploding in popularity recently, but I've yet to find one that combined ease of use and flexibility in just the right way. I've been playing around with a new "social annotation" service called Diigo that launched this week, and have been favorably impressed. It's simple, easy to use, but offers a lot of power, especially when it comes to searching—both the web as well as content that you've decided to save. More on the new service in today's SearchDay article, Diigo Offers "Social Annotation" Tool.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates

Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.

Concern about click fraud has been rising over the years, though whether click fraud itself has risen remains a debatable point. In my The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google's Click Fraud Detection Practices post yesterday, I highlighted one example of this -- of how Google is conducting more investigations into click fraud reports but not paying out more. The independent expert who compiled the report felt this was due to people having more concerns rather than more click fraud occurring.

Still, that same report highlighted what many search marketers already know. It's difficult to know what exactly is going on within the black box of Google's ads billing system. The reporting Google is doing will help shed a bit more light into that box.

Specifically, there are new reporting options to see "Invalid Clicks" and "Invalid Clicks Rate." Check these, and you'll see all the clicks that Google has filtered before you were billed, plus the percentage of those clicks versus the total clicks to your campaign. More help from Google is covered here.

It will be especially interesting to see what stats individual advertisers start to share publicly. Going back to that independent report I mentioned, it covered how Google catches far more invalid clicks through its filters compared to those found when investigations are done after billing. Some advertisers might find they have double-digit invalid click rates. That's not a reason to panic, in the sense that you aren't paying for those clicks. You should be reassured.

Then again, I suspect anyone seeing high levels of invalid clicks being caught might also want to take a harder look at what they are actually getting billed for beyond this, since the high rate might suggest they are in a click-fraud prone industry and perhaps stuff is still slipping past the Google filters. Of course, a low rate might warrant a further look since perhaps Google's not catching stuff it should.

Confused? Here's the overriding advice. Everyone should be auditing their click logs, watching for odd things, just as you would your credit card statement. Google and Yahoo both have long had systems in place to automatically catch fraud. The Google move significantly helps advertisers understand that this protection is already in place. But it doesn't relieve the advertiser of being prudent and doing their own review, as well.

Finally, isn't giving this data making it easier for those who want to conduct click fraud to test what can get through? What prevents someone from opening an account, then trying various things until they find a way to generate clicks that Google can't catch?

"If you want to invest a huge amount of time and resources, you could already run those type of experiments. It doesn't provide significantly more feedback to fraudsters," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's business product manager for trust and safety.

By the way, though the reports are said to be "real-time," they actually give you a total for an entire day. You can't see minute-by-minute catches.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 4:42 AM | Permalink

Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates

Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.

Concern about click fraud has been rising over the years, though whether click fraud itself has risen remains a debatable point. In my The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google's Click Fraud Detection Practices post yesterday, I highlighted one example of this -- of how Google is conducting more investigations into click fraud reports but not paying out more. The independent expert who compiled the report felt this was due to people having more concerns rather than more click fraud occurring.

Still, that same report highlighted what many search marketers already know. It's difficult to know what exactly is going on within the black box of Google's ads billing system. The reporting Google is doing will help shed a bit more light into that box.

Specifically, there are new reporting options to see "Invalid Clicks" and "Invalid Clicks Rate." Check these, and you'll see all the clicks that Google has filtered before you were billed, plus the percentage of those clicks versus the total clicks to your campaign. More help from Google is covered here.

It will be especially interesting to see what stats individual advertisers start to share publicly. Going back to that independent report I mentioned, it covered how Google catches far more invalid clicks through its filters compared to those found when investigations are done after billing. Some advertisers might find they have double-digit invalid click rates. That's not a reason to panic, in the sense that you aren't paying for those clicks. You should be reassured.

Then again, I suspect anyone seeing high levels of invalid clicks being caught might also want to take a harder look at what they are actually getting billed for beyond this, since the high rate might suggest they are in a click-fraud prone industry and perhaps stuff is still slipping past the Google filters. Of course, a low rate might warrant a further look since perhaps Google's not catching stuff it should.

Confused? Here's the overriding advice. Everyone should be auditing their click logs, watching for odd things, just as you would your credit card statement. Google and Yahoo both have long had systems in place to automatically catch fraud. The Google move significantly helps advertisers understand that this protection is already in place. But it doesn't relieve the advertiser of being prudent and doing their own review, as well.

Finally, isn't giving this data making it easier for those who want to conduct click fraud to test what can get through? What prevents someone from opening an account, then trying various things until they find a way to generate clicks that Google can't catch?

"If you want to invest a huge amount of time and resources, you could already run those type of experiments. It doesn't provide significantly more feedback to fraudsters," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's business product manager for trust and safety.

By the way, though the reports are said to be "real-time," they actually give you a total for an entire day. You can't see minute-by-minute catches.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:42 AM | Permalink

Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates

Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.

Concern about click fraud has been rising over the years, though whether click fraud itself has risen remains a debatable point. In my The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google's Click Fraud Detection Practices post yesterday, I highlighted one example of this -- of how Google is conducting more investigations into click fraud reports but not paying out more. The independent expert who compiled the report felt this was due to people having more concerns rather than more click fraud occurring.

Still, that same report highlighted what many search marketers already know. It's difficult to know what exactly is going on within the black box of Google's ads billing system. The reporting Google is doing will help shed a bit more light into that box.

Specifically, there are new reporting options to see "Invalid Clicks" and "Invalid Clicks Rate." Check these, and you'll see all the clicks that Google has filtered before you were billed, plus the percentage of those clicks versus the total clicks to your campaign. More help from Google is covered here.

It will be especially interesting to see what stats individual advertisers start to share publicly. Going back to that independent report I mentioned, it covered how Google catches far more invalid clicks through its filters compared to those found when investigations are done after billing. Some advertisers might find they have double-digit invalid click rates. That's not a reason to panic, in the sense that you aren't paying for those clicks. You should be reassured.

Then again, I suspect anyone seeing high levels of invalid clicks being caught might also want to take a harder look at what they are actually getting billed for beyond this, since the high rate might suggest they are in a click-fraud prone industry and perhaps stuff is still slipping past the Google filters. Of course, a low rate might warrant a further look since perhaps Google's not catching stuff it should.

Confused? Here's the overriding advice. Everyone should be auditing their click logs, watching for odd things, just as you would your credit card statement. Google and Yahoo both have long had systems in place to automatically catch fraud. The Google move significantly helps advertisers understand that this protection is already in place. But it doesn't relieve the advertiser of being prudent and doing their own review, as well.

Finally, isn't giving this data making it easier for those who want to conduct click fraud to test what can get through? What prevents someone from opening an account, then trying various things until they find a way to generate clicks that Google can't catch?

"If you want to invest a huge amount of time and resources, you could already run those type of experiments. It doesn't provide significantly more feedback to fraudsters," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's business product manager for trust and safety.

By the way, though the reports are said to be "real-time," they actually give you a total for an entire day. You can't see minute-by-minute catches.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:42 AM | Permalink

Google AdWords Now Reporting Invalid Click Rates

Google is now offering AdWords advertisers the ability to see how many invalid clicks that Google catches before they are billed. "Estimating invalid clicks" from the Official Google Blog has more about this good move, which should help to better educate advertisers.

Concern about click fraud has been rising over the years, though whether click fraud itself has risen remains a debatable point. In my The Abridged Version: Independent Report On Google's Click Fraud Detection Practices post yesterday, I highlighted one example of this -- of how Google is conducting more investigations into click fraud reports but not paying out more. The independent expert who compiled the report felt this was due to people having more concerns rather than more click fraud occurring.

Still, that same report highlighted what many search marketers already know. It's difficult to know what exactly is going on within the black box of Google's ads billing system. The reporting Google is doing will help shed a bit more light into that box.

Specifically, there are new reporting options to see "Invalid Clicks" and "Invalid Clicks Rate." Check these, and you'll see all the clicks that Google has filtered before you were billed, plus the percentage of those clicks versus the total clicks to your campaign. More help from Google is covered here.

It will be especially interesting to see what stats individual advertisers start to share publicly. Going back to that independent report I mentioned, it covered how Google catches far more invalid clicks through its filters compared to those found when investigations are done after billing. Some advertisers might find they have double-digit invalid click rates. That's not a reason to panic, in the sense that you aren't paying for those clicks. You should be reassured.

Then again, I suspect anyone seeing high levels of invalid clicks being caught might also want to take a harder look at what they are actually getting billed for beyond this, since the high rate might suggest they are in a click-fraud prone industry and perhaps stuff is still slipping past the Google filters. Of course, a low rate might warrant a further look since perhaps Google's not catching stuff it should.

Confused? Here's the overriding advice. Everyone should be auditing their click logs, watching for odd things, just as you would your credit card statement. Google and Yahoo both have long had systems in place to automatically catch fraud. The Google move significantly helps advertisers understand that this protection is already in place. But it doesn't relieve the advertiser of being prudent and doing their own review, as well.

Finally, isn't giving this data making it easier for those who want to conduct click fraud to test what can get through? What prevents someone from opening an account, then trying various things until they find a way to generate clicks that Google can't catch?

"If you want to invest a huge amount of time and resources, you could already run those type of experiments. It doesn't provide significantly more feedback to fraudsters," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's business product manager for trust and safety.

By the way, though the reports are said to be "real-time," they actually give you a total for an entire day. You can't see minute-by-minute catches.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:42 AM | Permalink

July 25, 2006

AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides

Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that AOL has launched a beta redesign of its popular CityGuides. Here's the current version of the site for New York and here's the new beta version of the same city site. Of the more than 300 CityGuides AOL offers, the top 25 are part of the new beta.

Among the upgrades and improvements are a visually richer interface, more imagery, more dynamically generated content and more community features. Gary also points out that AOL's Moviefone and CityGuides have also been added to the AOL mobile application.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 4:12 PM | Permalink

AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides

Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that AOL has launched a beta redesign of its popular CityGuides. Here's the current version of the site for New York and here's the new beta version of the same city site. Of the more than 300 CityGuides AOL offers, the top 25 are part of the new beta.

Among the upgrades and improvements are a visually richer interface, more imagery, more dynamically generated content and more community features. Gary also points out that AOL's Moviefone and CityGuides have also been added to the AOL mobile application.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:12 PM | Permalink

AOL Redesigns Local CityGuides

Thanks to Gary Price for pointing out that AOL has launch