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July 11, 2006

July 11, 2006

New Search Patent Applications: July 11, 2006 - Google Patent Filings by the Dozen

Twelve Google patent applications where published this past week, including seven that focus upon geographical information and local search.

(1) How good a match ads may be to the content on pages they are served upon through a program like Adsense. (2) A process for improving the targeting of ads. (3) Real time transportation data for travelers. (4) An exploration of ad layouts. (5) An automated advertising approval process. (6) Reasons for location-based businesses to use local area advertising, including an improved pay-per-call process.

(7) How the most authoritative local search results are identified. (8) The use of visual gap segmentation to separate information on different parts of pages, with implications beyond local search. (9) Ties business locations with regional areas. (10) A method for reducing ambiguity in geographic location. (11) Deciding whether regular or local results might be shown when at least one query term might be geographical in nature. (12) Assigning confidence scores between business identity and location information on a page.

Microsoft adds two more, on the validity of links, and on the validity of anchor text in links. They have very similar names, and cover topics that are related, but the processes involved are very different.

Google

This first patent filing discusses some of the factors that the search engine may look at to determine whether or not an ad served on a page a good match for that page and possibly the category that page may be within, including some user behavior information such as whether or not ads are selected, how long a viewer remains on a page, and if a conversion is made.

Associating features with entities, such as categories of web page documents, and/or weighting such features
Inventors: Ross Koningstein, Stephen Lawrence, and Valentin Spitkovsky
US Patent Application 20060149710
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Features that may be used to represent relevance information (e.g., properties, characteristics, etc.) of an entity, such as a document or concept for example, may be associated with the document by accepting an identifier that identifies a document; obtaining search query information (and/or other serving parameter information) related to the document using the document identifier, determining features using the obtained query information (and/or other serving parameter information), and associating the features determined with the document. Weights of such features may be similarly determined. The weights may be determined using scores. The scores may be a function of one or more of whether the document was selected, a user dwell time on a selected document, whether or not a conversion occurred with respect to the document, etc. The document may be a Web page. The features may be n-grams. The relevance information of the document may be used to target the serving of advertisements with the document.


The process detailed in the next patent application aims at improving the relevancy of ads, and helping in suggesting targeted terms by allowing an advertiser to submit broad targeting information. While serving ads using that information, the search engine would log and collect search query terms, and possibly concepts and concept keywords, associated with the serving of the ad, and suggest candidate targeting keywords or phrases to the advertiser from those logs.

Suggesting and/or providing targeting information for advertisements
Inventors: Ross Koningstein
US Patent Application 20060149625
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

The relevancy of ads may be increased, and opportunities to serve an ad that might otherwise be missed may be exploited by (i) accepting broad targeting information, to be used for serving an ad, from an advertiser, (ii) serving the ad using the broad targeting information, (iii) logging search query terms (or some other information, such as concepts, concept keywords, etc.) associated with the serving of the ad, and (iv) generating one or more candidate targeting keywords or phrases for the ad using the logged search query terms. At least one of the candidate targeting keywords or phrases may be provided as targeting information for the ad. Alternatively, at least one of the candidate targeting keywords or phrases may be presented to the advertiser. Advertiser input with respect to the candidate targeting keyword(s) or phrase(s) presented may then be accepted. Zero or more of the candidate targeting keyword(s) or phrase(s) may be provided as targeting information for the ad, in accordance with the accepted advertiser input. Cost information (e.g., average cost per selection, average cost per conversion, total costs, etc.) may be presented in association with the candidate targeting information.

Traffic assistance similar to that provided by Google acquisition Zipdash is the focus of the next document, and Zipdash is named as a service that would use this process. Some integration of local search and advertising is hinted at in the filing.


Transportation routing
Inventors: Henry Rowley, and Shumeet Baluja
US Patent Application 20060149461
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 31, 2004

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of providing personalized route information involves gathering a plurality of past location indicators over time for a wireless client device, determining a future driving objective using the plurality of previously-gathered location indicators, obtaining real-time traffic data for an area proximate to the determined driving objective, and generating a suggested route for the driving objective using the near real-time traffic data.

How are the layouts of ads best optimized? What size fonts are used, and how many ads are displayed on pages? Google explores some of those concepts, and notes that the presentation ideas for ads in the following document also may be used to present news items on search results pages.

Ad rendering parameters, such as size, style, and/or layout, of online ads
Inventors: Shumeet Baluja, Vibhu Mittal, and Mehran Sahami
US Patent Application 20060149622
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Ad rendering parameters for a set of two or more ads may be determined by (a) accepting, for a set of two or more ads, ad information which includes at least one ad feature having a value that depends on ad rendering parameters, and (b) determining ad rendering parameters for at least one ad from the set of two or more ads using the accepted ad information. The act of determining ad rendering parameters may use accepted ad rendering constraints. The ad rendering constraints may include space available for rendering the ads, a footprint available for rendering the ads, and/or a maximum number of ads permitted to be rendered. The act of determining ad rendering parameters may include maximizing a value associated with serving at least one ad from the set of two or more ads with ad rendering parameters subject to the ad rendering constraints. The ad rendering parameters may include sizes of the served ads, and/or a layout of the served ads.


Automating the approval process for paid ads could benefit Google and advertisers. What would such an approval process entail? The next document identifies a number of issues involved in approving an ad, and in followups on advertisements. It also describes a whitelist for exceptions to some of the policies that may keep ads from being approved.

Advertisement approval
Inventors: Gregory Joseph Badros, Robert J. Stets, and Lucy Zhang
US Patent Application 20060149623
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

An advertisement for use with an online ad serving system may be automatically checked for compliance with one or more policies of the online ad serving system. If the advertisement is approved, then it is allowed by be served by the ad serving system. Follow up checks of the advertisement may be scheduled. One follow up check may be to test a landing page of the advertisement for compliance with policies. If the advertisement is not approved, hints for making the ad comply with one or more violated policies may be provided to an advertiser associated with the ad, and/or an ad serving system customer service representative. Determining whether or not to approve the advertisement may include determining violations of one or more policies by the advertisement, and, for each of the violations, determining whether or not to exempt the violation.

Google Local Patent Applications

The following patent applications primarily look at local search, though some of the processes described within them may have broader reaching implications, such as the one on visual segmentation of information on pages.

Businesses associated with a specific location often don't use paid search as part of their advertising strategy. This first patent application thoughtfully goes into some of the reasons why, and explores ways to make it a more attractive medium, including expanded pay-per-call functionality, as well as providing information such as business hours and types of payment accepted.

Generating and/or serving local area advertisements, such as advertisements for devices with call functionality
Inventors: Shumeet Baluja and Henry A. Rowley
US Patent Application 20060149624
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Sets of local, (e.g., online) ads may be generated by obtaining sets of information about (e.g., local) establishments, each set including a business address information and/or a telephone number, (b) determining, for each of the sets, a location using at least one of at least a portion of the business address information and at least a portion of the telephone number, and (c) generating, for each of the sets, an ad that includes targeting information that targets the serving of the ad to queries related to the determined location. A query, including information about a location of a client device, may be accepted and at least one of the generated ads that includes targeting information that targets the location of the client device may be determined.

How does a local search determine which document is the most relevant and authoritative one to return at the top of a local search list? A number of factors are considered in this next set of described processes.

Authoritative document identification
Inventors: Daniel Egnor and Geeta Chaudhry
US Patent Application 20060149800
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A system determines documents that are associated with a location, identifies a group of signals associated with each of the documents, and determines authoritativeness of the documents for the location based on the signals.

If you are familiar with Microsoft's research on VIPS: a VIsion based Page Segmentation Algorithm, some of the ideas in the next document may sound a little familiar. Imagine a page that includes restaurant reviews for a number of restaurants in a city neighborhood. Might the information from that page be segmented, so that reviews for each of the restaurants can be included in results for the right restaurants in a local search? This visual gap approach might be helpful in that endeavor.

The document also notes that this process might be helpful in determining what an image is about, and in indexing them. It also mentions that it could help the search engine understand what the different parts of a page are, and how much value they have (for instance, distinqusihing between content and navigation.)

Document segmentation based on visual gaps
Inventors: Daniel Egnor
US Patent Application 20060149775
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A document may be segmented based on a visual model of the document. The visual model is determined according to an amount of visual white space or gaps that are in the document. In one implementation, the visual model is used to identify a hierarchical structure of the document, which may then be used to segment the document.

While a search engine may be able to determine where a business related to a page is located, it may want to associate that location with a geographical region. Something like a Hierarchical Triangular Mesh may be used to help in making that association.

Indexing documents according to geographical relevance
Inventors: Daniel Egnor
US Patent Application 20060149774
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A local search engine efficiently indexes documents relevant to a geographical area by indexing, for each document, multiple location identifiers that collectively define an aggregate geographic region. When creating the index, the search engine may determine a set of geographical areas surrounding a geographical area relevant to a document and associate references to the set of geographical areas with the document index.


It's not always clear what the geographic location of a webpage is, based upon information presented on individual pages, though sometimes that type of information exists on the pages. The process displayed in this next filing tries to take information that may be spread out on a page, and tie it together to identify a location.

Classification of ambiguous geographic references
Inventors: Daniel Egnor
US Patent Application 20060149742
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A location classifier generates location information based on textual strings in input text. The location information defines potential geographical relevance of the input text. In determining the location information, the location classifier may receive at least one geo-relevance profile associated with at least one string in the input text, obtain a combined geo-relevance profile for the document from the at least one geo-relevance profile, and determine geographical relevance of the input text based on the combined geo-relevance profile.


Imagine if a search engine could serve either regular web search results or local results. Some search queries could be ambiguous, and may make it difficult to determine whether to serve local search information or general web search results. The inventors of the next document provide some ideas that may reduce some of that ambiguity a little.

Location extraction
Inventors: Daniel Egnor and Lawrence Elias Greenfield
US Patent Application 20060149734
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A system receives a search query that includes a set of search terms, determines whether at least one of the search terms corresponds to the name of a geographic area, and determines whether the geographic area corresponds to an unambiguous geographic area when at least one of the search terms corresponds to the name of the geographic area. The system performs a local search, based on one or more of the search terms, to identify documents associated with the geographic area when the geographic area corresponds to an unambiguous geographic area.

The title of this patent application, and the previous one are so similar, that I was concerned they might be duplicates when I uncovered them. The one above attempts to "extract" location information from a query. This next one attempts to "extract" location information from pages being indexed, with confidence scores indicating how likely it is that business information on a page is associated with an address on the same page.

Local item extraction
Inventors: Michael Dennis Riley
US Patent Application 20060149565
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

A system identifies a document that includes an address and locates business information in the document. The system assigns a confidence score to the business information, where the confidence score relates to a probability that the business information is associated with the address. The system determines whether to associate the business information with the address based on the assigned confidence score.

Microsoft

The titles of two Microsoft patent applications are very similar, but the processes described aren't. The first one looks at anchor text in links, and the titles to pages those links point to, to see if the anchor text is accurate. The second one looks at links on pages, using the Document Object Model, and tries to determine if they are valid links while simulating the experience of a user of the page viewing it with a browser. This may help a search engine understand dynamic html menus, and view links that may otherwise be unavailable to a search engine crawler.

Methods and apparatus for the evaluation of aspects of a web page
Inventors: Michael A. Starbird
Assigned to Microsoft
US Patent Application 20060150076
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for evaluating the extent to which link text, representing a hypertext link on a web page, corresponds to a web page referenced by the link. In one embodiment, the link text may be compared to the title of a web page referenced by the link, such as by parsing the link text and page title into individual tokens and comparing the tokens. The extent to which the link text and the page title correspond may be expressed as a percentage of tokens which match. A graphical user interface (GUI) may be provided which presents a visual indication when a minimum percentage of tokens do not match.


Methods and apparatus for evaluating aspects of a web page
Inventors: Ryan Farber
Assigned to Microsoft
US Patent Application 20060150111
Published July 6, 2006
Filed on December 30, 2004

Abstract

An automated method is provided for evaluating the validity of links included in a web page. The web page may contain commands, such as dynamic HTML or other embedded commands, which are configured for execution upon the occurrence of an event, such as a provision of input by a user. According to one embodiment, the method includes causing the links to be generated by simulating the occurrence of the event. Upon the generation of the links, their validity may be determined, and a report may be produced which indicates whether the links are valid.


My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Technology & Relevancy area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 8:55 PM | Permalink

SuperPages Upgrades Maps With Microsoft

I never saw a press release. But today I discovered that SuperPages, which had dynamic mapping almost before anyone else in local (though it was "cludgey"), has upgraded the mapping on its site using the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform. The "new" maps are much nicer and easier to use than the last time I checked, which was admittedly a long time ago.

While there is aerial photography, there's no "Birds Eye" view here. YellowPages.com licensed Virtual Earth, including Birds Eye, several months ago.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 5:44 PM | Permalink

Gabbing, Gossip & Goings On in the SEW Forums...

In what should become a regular feature here on the SEW blog, here are some highlights from current discussions on the forums:

You may think it's the same old story, but Tonerman has posed an an interesting question to the group, Is SEO on Google worth the effort anymore? With a shift in organic results since Big Daddy, can a solid PPC campaign be your best bet?

Frustration continues over Google's choice to show DMOZ listings as titles for certain sites in search results.

Threads to Watch:
Members also share experiences with optimizing websites that use Yahoo Stores.

One member asks, is Yahoo Filtering Internal Pages from a large site?

Posted by Elisabeth Osmeloski at 4:40 PM | Permalink

Search Engine Strategies Latino, Miami, Florida - Day Two

The conference has officially ended, it was a really great event. Huge congrats to Nacho for running this. I am writing this quickly, because they are breaking down the room as I type this. Here are the sessions I covered today.

+ Translate Or Create: Strategies For Those With English-Language Sites
+ Domain Issues - Latin American Version
+ Spanish / Portuguese Language Ad Issues
+ SEO & Spanish / Portuguese Language Issues

Again, pictures of the event tagged with seslatino at Flickr.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 4:11 PM | Permalink

Google Maps Adds Click To Zoom

Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal points out that Google Maps has added another way to zoom: double clicking. Of course you can still zoom with the mouse rollerball. Here's the official statement from the Google Maps API Blog.

Google Earth and Google Maps are now apparently running off the same platform, which should permit more integration of Earth features into Maps over time.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 4:05 PM | Permalink

Google Jet Plane Security Threat? And Testing A Sofa In Mountain View

Josh Gerstein at the New York sun has an update on the suit over Google Jet disclosure. Basically, Google's founders argue that the information given up by aircraft designer can be could put the lives of those on the plane in danger. Google asked for a court order to keep the designer quiet. Well, the judge declined to hear or rule on the case - go figure. Read more about it from Danny's earlier post.

Postscript From Danny: The security concerns voiced in the case made me wonder out details getting out about Google Force One compare to Air Force One. Was there an Air Force One floorplan I could easily find? A search on Google quickly led me to this one from How Stuff Works. However, it turns out that this might not be entirely accurate and there are some areas of Air Force One, which often carries many guests and reporters, that people are never allowed to go. That means to protect the privacy of Google "party plane," as it has been described, those going aboard might have to face NDAs and restrictions on photos, to be as secure as suggested is needed in the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle recently came across very detailed floorplans left out on a public Air Force web site. The article details how certain details could allow someone trying to blow up the plant to know key vulnerabilities. The Guardian also had an article complete with a less detailed floorplan here (PDF file). FYI, some have suggested what was revealed wasn't that sensitive. The actual document has been removed, but part of it were found and replicated in other areas. Meanwhile, the cached version (which isn't showing floorplans but does have other data) remains in Google three months after being taken off the web (I've dropped them a note about this).

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 12:44 PM | Permalink

MySpace Beats E-mail

myspace.jpg Wow. This just in from Hitwise:

"MySpace.com is the number one ranked website in the U.S. based on market share of visits. The MySpace website accounted for 4.46 percent of all Internet visits in the U.S. for the week ending July 8, 2006. MySpace.com has received a larger market share of visits for the past two weeks propelling the website past Yahoo! Mail."

So it finally happened. Social networking beat e-mail. But why? There's been a ton of mainstream media buzz about social networks in general, and MySpace in particular.

Does this mean now there's nowhere to go but down?

A more detailed story has been posted in ClickZ Stats.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Podcasting Paradigm

Japanpod.jpgLast time I learned a new language, there wasn't an Internet. Now that I've started Japanese, I'm finding a wealth of online resources.

One of the best is JapanesePod101.com, a daily podcast. The sponsor is a Tokyo-based translation service, which makes perfect sense. Loyal subscribers -- a very targeted audience -- receive daily brand reinforcement.

I also just discovered the dialogue of each daily lesson is spelled out in the "lyrics" section of each podcast's metatag information. This will vastly supplement the already considerable time spent with the podcast.

This could well be a podcasting paradigm: loyal listeners, a relevant sponsor, high engagement, plus a value add feature that enhances an already very immersive experience.

Omedeto!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Windows Live Adds Search/Personalized Toggle & 34 New Markets

Gary Price points to two Windows Live blog posts including, search/personalized toggle and now in 34 new markets. The first describes how you can now toggle between search and personalized experience. Your last selection will be remembered for your next session. The blog says that this "replaces our old 'hide' option, with a much improved experience in 'search only' mode that is faster and includes search filters." Windows Live also entered 34 new markets including;

  • China – Simplified Chinese
  • Netherlands – Dutch
  • Belgium – French
  • Belgium – Dutch
  • Brazil – Brazilian Portuguese
  • Denmark – Danish
  • India – English
  • Russia – Russian
  • Sweden – Swedish
  • Taiwan – Traditional Chinese
  • Arabia – English
  • Argentina – Spanish
  • Austria – German
  • Chile – Spanish
  • Finland – Finnish
  • Greece – Greek
  • Hong Kong SAR – Traditional Chinese
  • Hungary – Hungarian
  • Indonesia – English
  • Ireland – English
  • Malaysia – English
  • New Zealand – English
  • Philippines – English
  • Poland – Polish
  • Portugal – Brazilian Portuguese
  • Singapore – English
  • South Africa – English
  • Switzerland – German
  • Switzerland – French
  • Turkey – Turkish
  • Czech Republic – Czech
  • Slovakia – Slovak
  • Slovenia – Slovenian
  • Latin America – Spanish

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:22 AM | Permalink

Google To Set Up Offices In Michigan

The NY Times reports (also try Reuters) that Google will house up to 1,000 employees in a new facility in Michigan. The office is to reside in downtown Ann Arbor, "the hometown of the University of Michigan, where Larry Page, one of Google’s founders, earned his undergraduate degree in engineering." The Times reports that the majority of the building will be used for "technology and call center, with about 40,000 square feet needed to house the library digitization project."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:13 AM | Permalink

Weird Results Counts On Google

I've written before about Google giving strange results counts and why maybe it's time for them to go. Yesterday, I came across the oddest ones ever, when doing some typical searches to gauge the size of the index.

Here's an example. Search for xxkjdiuenmnmd8i, which when I just did it came back with no results. Now search for -xxkjdiuenmnmd8i. In theory, that should show the size of the Google index, all the pages it has.

In reality, that type of search hasn't often worked. It was only last September that this type index estimation technique gave any results at all. Even then, I didn't trust that the numbers were accurate. Still, they seemed better than what's coming up now. Look at the screenshot below:

Ten results? Only ten results, for a search technique that last month would have come up with more than 25 billion? Something funky is going on.

Finding it odd, I tried a search for the, often useful as a fast way to get a sense of how big Google might be, at least for the number of English language pages it has. The query came back with 23 billion matches. So how about -the, I tried, just out of curiosity. Ten matches:

060711-2.jpg

Ten? Ten?!!! And more strangeness. A search for -and, -cars, -movies all did the same thing. The results were different in various ways, but the count was always only 10 matches, when it should be much more.

Note that the results all have additional information that make them appear to come out of Google Base. It all suggests that Google has disabled counting for queries involving a single word, but that somehow, Google Base integration is still happening to throw things off. It might be that Google is still doing a call to Google Base, asking for the top 10 results that it has, in order to integrate those results into a regular web search listing. But because it also has disabled display of regular web search results for a single negative word query, it's only Google Base that shows.

Going back to my post from last month, Google, Kill The Web Search Counts!, I explained how Google had stated that the counts reported for a spam site that were removed were much inflated by a counting glitch. I talked with Google about this and some other issues last week just before leaving for my trip to SES Latino in Miami, where I am now.

Some of what I talked about with Google's Matt Cutts and other engineers at Google has already addressed in a recent blog post. The issue of counts came up, and I'll do a longer post on what Google said after I get back from this trip and clear what I can discuss. The short answer is that they are aware of the issues and are looking to correct things. These strange results counts might be part of that.

More later when I'm back from my current trip, or watch Matt's blog, in case he posts before me.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:12 AM | Permalink

Google Drive Revealed?

Yesterday, Cocaman posted a screen capture of what was named Platypus or GDrive. From the looks of the screen capture it seems like an internal tool used at Google is getting ready for prime time. The page is now offline, of course, but the screen capture read;

+ Backup. If you lose your computer, grab a new one and reinstall Platypus. Your files will be on your new machine in minutes.
+ Sync. Keep all your machines synchronized, even if they run different operating systems.
+ VPN-less acecss. Not at a Google computer? View your files on the web at http://troutboard.com/p
+ Collaborate. Create shared spaces to which multiple Googlers can write
+ Disconnected access. On the plane? VPN broken? All your files are still accessible.

More details at Philipp Lenssen who seems to have more evidence of Gdrive and also at Garett Rogers.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 7:58 AM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: July 10, 2006

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

From The SEW Blog...

  • Search Engine Strategies Latino, Miami, Florida - Day One
    Day one of the first ever Search Engine Strategies Latino edition is pretty much complete. The networking cocktail is taking place now, there is a Google party tonight and also some Yahoo boat thing. I have managed to cover the Landscape & Tactics tracks, so here is the roundup. + The Opportunity: Tapping Into US Hispanics & Latin America Via Search + Search Landscape: US Hispanics + Search Landscape: Latin America + The Challenges Of Search Marketing To US Hispanics & Latin Americans I also took pictures of the sessions and outside of the hotel, you can see them here....
  • Kayak Launches $10m Ad Campaign - Includes TV
    Kayak, the travel search engine, today launched a $10m advertising campaign with a HUGE offline component. The TV commercials are fun, creative, and potentially viral. It's no coincidence that the spots can also be found on Kayak.com and YouTube. This is either a brilliant move by the company or a sign that Bubble 2.0 is here. You decide after checking out the commercials and then reading my interview with Kayak CMO Dean Harris and my thoughts on the campaign. Kayak is also running a contest encouraging the creation of user generated ads in the same style as the official Kayak...
  • Yahoo Buys Land In Santa Clara
    The San Jose Business Journal reports that Yahoo has purchased 42.5 acres in Santa Clara. The price of the land was not disclosed, but we do know they bought it from San Francisco's TMG Partners. Yahoo's CFO, Sue Decker, said: "We see this as an attractive asset that provides attractive additional capacity and flexibility for Yahoo's future. We are planning for future growth and will analyze several different scenarios over the coming year regarding the development of the property."...
  • Judge Orders Google To Disclose Advertiser's Information
    Out-Law reports that Google was ordered by Justice Rimer to hand over the information on an advertiser to Helen Grant for copyright infringement. Helen Grant "complained that a Google advert led to a service which she claimed violated her copyright in a forthcoming book." A search brought up a site named Realityunlocked.com, "which offered a free download of an earlier draft of the book, and that the site violated the Trust's copyright." Google asked Grant to take the issue to court, this way Google does not have to worry about the privacy issues with handing over the information....
  • Matt Cutts Of Google Comments On Recent Listings Issues
    Last week we reported that Google may have revealed the spam scores to the world. Well, Matt Cutts came back from vacation and he confirmed the data "was real." He promised not to "comment on what any of it means" but at least we know Google is part of the borg. Just kidding. I doubt we will see a treasure like that again, but if we do, it would be interesting to see if Google does add "extra settings for fun," such as –initial_time_travel_wormhole=”Wednesday, December 31 1969 11:11 pm."...
  • Google Binary Search Not Only Finds Malware But Also Shows Signs Of More
    PCWorld reports that Google's binary search feature came in handy to locate "thousands of malicious Web sites, as well as several legitimate sites that have been hacked." The feature reads executable files and can locate some malicious code within those files. It was used to help find malicious sites and programs by a security vendor named Websense. The article also explains that binary search may be a sign that "Google may be thinking about becoming a file searching service."...
  • Eric Schmidt Claims The PPC Model is "Self-Correcting" In Terms Of Click Fraud
    Donna Bogatin reports that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt claims that click fraud is "self-correcting." Meaning, Eventually, the price that the advertiser is willing to pay for the conversion will decline, because the advertiser will realize that these are bad clicks, in other words, the value of the ad declines, so over some amount of time, the system is in-fact, self-correcting. In fact, there is a perfect economic solution which is to let it happen. So the "let it happen" quote, in terms of Eric Schmidt saying let click fraud happen, has been buzzing through the blogging community. Schmidt writes off...
  • Yahoo Trip Planner Released From Beta
    Yahoo is taking is community-travel site Trip Planner out of beta. The site has reached a kind of content critical mass and Yahoo has added some cool features in this general release:Trip Journals (blogging; photos can be imported from Flickr) Map-Based Search (You can drag the map and zoom to areas within countries for more specific options) Yahoo! Search Integration There are also a travel recommendations engine based on travel search history, as well as clipping and tagging functionality In addition to being a useful travel site, with rich user-generated content, in many ways it’s the most impressive expression to...
  • Click Packages Draw Local Advertisers Into Search
    The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports on the "bundle of clicks" search distribution packages that all the major yellow pages publishers in the U.S. are now selling to their local advertisers. Here's an amazing quote from Simon Greenman, SVP of digital products at R.H. Donnelly, "Our strategy is to connect our customers with their customers wherever they may be." That's a radical statement for a yellow pages executive to make because he's not asserting that print yellow pages is the best lead generation vehicle "and we also have Internet." He's saying Donnelly is "agnostic."...
  • The Changing Face of Local
    This ClickZ article discusses a new JupiterResearch report called "Local Advertising: Blending Categories to Compete Effectively." The article doesn't go into great detail about the findings or conclusions from the report. But based solely on my reading of coverage in the article it appears to make two relatively straightforward observations about local: Search engines/portals could steal traffic and potential ad revenues from yellow pages and other stand-alone local sites that seek to cater to traditional directory advertisers The local product definition is changing and categories are merging as the distinctions between classifieds, service listings, local retail and user-generated content and...
  • New Landing Page Quality Score Announced for Google AdWords Advertisers
    The Google AdWords blog has announced new changes that will be seen next week that will result in some advertisers faced with higher minimum bids to keep their campaigns running on AdWords, as a result in changes being made to the landing page quality score algorithm. While a small number of advertisers will be affected, AdWords is targeting those landing pages that offer a poor user experience to those who click the ads....
  • SuperPages For Sale
    Verizon has formally filed with the SEC to sell its directory unit, which contains the print yellow pages and online yellow pages/local search businesses. A likely sale could bring as much as $15 billion. And because AT&T does not look like it's going to spin off its directory business, SuperPages could fetch a significant premium....
  • Specialty Search Roundup #6
    Another week and another set of specialty databases and "research" news for your review. These items have been posted to ResourceShelf during the past week or so. They have also tossed in non-searchable but useful (and fun) reference newsletter and a link to a new mobile version of Reuters for the U.S. Finally, don't forget that The World eBook Fair is now underway offering free, full text and downloadable access (PDF files) to more than 300,000 titles. Why now? This summer Project Gutenberg celebrates its 35th anniversary. The World eBook Fair lasts through August 4th....

Other Things We Read, Didn't Blog But You Might Want To Read...

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:30 AM | Permalink

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