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July 19, 2006

July 19, 2006

The end of the Gawker/Yahoo Experiment

Gawker Media honcho Nick Denton says the Yahoo syndication deal signed in November is lapsing. Why? Not enough traffic, a mismatch in audiences, and maybe, just maybe, Gawker site Valleywag's constant harping on Yahoo exec Lloyd Braun.

Coincidentally, Denton says the bottom-of-post Google AdSense text links, which the company has been testing on Gizmodo, are performing well enough to integrate further across the network.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wal-Mart Emulates the Social Networking Scene

wal-mart hub.jpg
Nothing says mid-summer like the appearance of back-to-school campaigns. Last week JCPenney began its campaign, and this week Wal-Mart's The Hub appeared on the scene.

It's yet to be seen whether the target audience will embrace the site, but it was heavily criticized in an AdAge article and subsequent reporting on other media and blog sites.

The criticism is in response to the antiseptic nature of The Hub. Any content posted to a page must be approved from both Wal-Mart and the poster's parents. There's also no contact between kids with profiles posted on the site. Yes, the site leaches out the general nature of what makes MySpace and other social networking sites so popular, but do remember that it's a campaign and serves its purpose in that way. And are kids really going to embrace this and post their own profiles? Probably not. It really has a similar feeling to the JCPenney campaign that shied away from CGM but populated its site with bubbly teens talking about themselves with an emphasis on personal style and fashion.

When I spoke to Bolt CEO Aaron Cohen yesterday, he said "All brands are looking to be cooler in some way, and yet cooler is so illusive." Clearly Wal-Mart missed the mark of "cool" among the blogging and media community, but what about with the target audience? The question is whether we applaud Wal-Mart for giving some freedom with its brand, though with parameters; or if it should have avoided the perceived social media elements in its campaign?

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Headlines & Links: July 19, 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...

  • Can IAC's Pronto Shopping Search Compete?
    IAC, parent of search engine Ask.com, has had a shopping search tool for some time, in the form of Pronto, a downloadable application. Recently, IAC created a web-based version of Pronto, which has some useful features—but it joins a crowded field with hundreds of other players. SEW correspondent Brian Smith takes a look at Pronto and muses about the challenges it faces in today's SearchDay article, Up Close with IAC's Pronto Shopping Search....
  • Google Finance Adds Suggest Auto Complete & Conference Call Transcripts
    We have been tipped off that Google Finance has added two new features today. The first is auto-complete, like Google Suggest. If you go to Google Finance and begin typing something, it will offer suggestions tailored to stock symbols (pretty useful). Also, if you view a particular stock quote, you may notice an additional link added under the "Facts" section where it has "Site Links." The additional link is named "Transcripts" and links to SeekingAlpha.com. If you view GOOG and click on the transcript link, it takes you to Recent Transcripts for GOOG at SeekingAlpha.com....
  • 11 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Site
    Rand at SEOMoz writes up an excellent post he named 10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic. He has given us 10, plus one bonus idea for driving traffic to your site. I will list them in summery here, but Rand has posted the "ingredients", "process", "results" and "examples" for each listed traffic driving strategy at his post....
  • North Korean Missiles & Chinese Helicopter Training Site On Google Earth
    The Register covers how Google Earth enthusiasts have spotted what appears to be a scale model mockup of a disputed section of the China-India border. Why does it exist? Perhaps to help train Chinese helicopter pilots in case of any military action. And Boing Boing covers how North Korean missile sites are being tracked in the software, including the Musudan-ri/No-Dong missile test site, Pipa Got naval base and Cho Do naval base. More details on the North Korean sites here....
  • What Do Google's Leaked Spidering & Ranking Factors Mean?
    Earlier this month we reported on Google's Spam Score Details, but no one knew what it meant exactly. Todd Malicoat took a peek into the Google algorithm a week ago with his best guesses on what each value represents. I am not going to go through all the details, but Todd makes some smart and detailed responses for each listed value listed in the spam score. Re-inspired by Rand....
  • Yahoo Revamps Behavioral Targeting Platform
    ClickZ reports on the details of Yahoo's revised behavioral targeting platform, once known as Fusion and Impulse. Fusion and Impulse has been renamed to Engagers and Shoppers to better describe what the product does. Anna Papadopoulos of ClickZ interviewed Richard Frankel, senior director of product marketing at Yahoo about the new upgrade....
  • Google Says Goodbye To Affiliates?
    At Search Engine Roundtable, I wrote Google AdWords Ridding Themselves of Affiliates, which documents a case of a long time AdWords advertiser saying he was told by his Google representative that he and his kind are no longer wanted in the AdWords program. This all goes back to the new quality score for landing pages, which tend to weed out affiliate sites. Basically, the "quality" of affiliate sites are not high enough anymore to do well in the new quality score algorithm. Google may be weeding out these affiliates by inflating their minimum bid to prices that are not economically...
  • Yahoo's Stock Falls On Panama Delay & Q2 Earnings Release
    Everyone is blaming the fall in Yahoo's stock price due to the delayed launch of Panama, Yahoo's new ad system. We have USA Today reporting about a record second quarter revenue that still didn't help Yahoo's stock price. Bloomberg reports that Yahoo shares "had their biggest drop in more than four years" and how earnings fell just short of analyst projections. CNN has a catchy "No yodeling for Yahoo investors" headline for its report. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters explain that Yahoo's numbers met expectations but that the delayed launch caused concern that Microsoft can catch up with Yahoo...
  • Reporting Data Delayed At Microsoft adCenter
    I covered at Search Engine Roundtable that Microsoft adCenter has been having some reporting issues, where data in your adCenter reports are delayed as far back as the 14th (almost five full days). Microsoft is aware of the issue and will have things working properly as soon as possible....
  • Yahoo Delays Launch Of New Ad System, "Panama"
    ClickZ reports that Yahoo's new ad system, aka Panama, will not be launching in the 3rd quarter. They now estimate a delayed launch date of the 4th quarter. The new ad system was reported on by Danny back in early May. ClickZ has more details on how the delayed launch has affected the company's stock....
  • Google: Semantic Web Faces Webmaster Challenges
    For years, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has posed the idea of a semantic web that will be smarter through tagging. I've always said the flaw with this idea is that people make mistakes with tagging. Google's also said this type of thing before, as well -- but Google's director of search Peter Norvig gave fresh pushback yesterday when on a panel with Lee. Google exec challenges Berners-Lee from News.com has the details, with Norvig explaining that site owners often don't tag information correctly, along with some simply being misleading. True enough....
  • Judge Gives AFP Case Against Google More Time
    A US federal judge has declined to dismiss a copyright infringement case filed by Agence France Press against Google News. Instead, she's given both sides more time to assemble evidence before ruling on a dismissal motion....
  • Zillow Partners With Yahoo!
    Zillow, the real estate wunderkind, announced a partnership with Yahoo! in which Zillow's Zestimates (home value estimates) will show up on Yahoo! search result pages as a Shortcut. Here's the result for 'home values' on Yahoo!. Zillow will also be featured in Yahoo's real estate section (under the 'what's my home worth' link). Read the official press release, Zillow's blog post, or the Yahoo! Search blog post....

Headlines & News From Elsewhere

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:29 PM | Permalink

Daily SearchCast, July 19, 2006: Yahoo Stock Drops On Panama Ad System Delay; Google Finance Gets Conference Call Transcripts; Yahoo Gets House Pricing Data; A Semantic Web Smackdown? & More!

Today's search podcast covers Yahoo's stock dropping on delays with its new ad system; keyword prices dropping; Google Finance getting cool conference call transcript links; Yahoo makes it easy to learn your house's worth; a semantic web smackdown between Google and Sir Tim Berners-Lee? 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:

  • Search Engine Watch Server Change
    About a year ago, Incisive Media purchased Search Engine Watch from Jupitermedia. Part of the purchase meant that Jupitermedia would continue to host Search Engine Watch for a year. With that time up, we're finally moving. This is a heads-up that the change is happening....
  • Yahoo's Stock Falls On Panama Delay & Q2 Earnings Release
    Everyone is blaming the fall in Yahoo's stock price due to the delayed launch of Panama, Yahoo's new ad system. We have USA Today reporting that "Yahoo said net income fell 78% from a year ago." Bloomberg saying Yahoo "had their biggest drop in more than four years." CNN has a catchy title for their "No yodeling for Yahoo investors" article. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters explain that Yahoo's number meet expectations but the delayed launch caused concern that Microsoft can catch up with Yahoo in the sponsored search game....
  • Yahoo Delays Launch Of New Ad System, "Panama"
    ClickZ reports that Yahoo's new ad system, aka Panama, will not be launching in the 3rd quarter. They now estimate a delayed launch date of the 4th quarter. The new ad system was reported on by Danny back in early May. ClickZ has more details on how the delayed launch has affected the company's stock....
  • Reporting Data Delayed At Microsoft adCenter
    I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable that Microsoft adCenter has been having some reporting issues, where data in your adCenter reports are delayed as far back as the 14th (almost five full days). Microsoft is aware of the issue and will have things working properly as soon as possible....
  • Yahoo Revamps Behavioral Targeting Platform
    ClickZ reports on the details of Yahoo's revised behavioral targeting platform, once known as Fusion and Impulse. Fusion and Impulse has been renamed to Engagers and Shoppers to better describe what the product does. Anna Papadopoulos of ClickZ interviewed Richard Frankel, senior director of product marketing at Yahoo about the new upgrade....
  • Keyword Prices Continue To Fall: Down 8.6 Percent
    Fathom Online released a keyword price index update that shows keyword prices fell again quarter over quarter by 8.6 percent. Prices on average fell from $1.39 on March 31 to $1.27 on June 30. Last report also showed keyword prices dropping $1.43 at the end of 2005 to $1.39 in the first quarter of 2006, but folks blamed seasonality for the price drop. The reason for this drop? Marketers are bidding smarter says Matt McMahon, VP Marketing Services at Fathom....
  • Google Finance Adds Suggest Auto Complete & Conference Call Transcripts
    We have been tipped off that Google Finance has added two new features today. The first is auto-complete, like Google Suggest. If you go to Google Finance and begin typing something, it will offer suggestions tailored to stock symbols (pretty useful). Also, if you view a particular stock quote, you may notice an additional link added under the "Facts" section where it has "Site Links." The additional link is named "Transcripts" and links to SeekingAlpha.com. If you view GOOG and click on the transcript link, it takes you to Recent Transcripts for GOOG at SeekingAlpha.com....
  • Google Says Goodbye To Affiliates
    At the Search Engine Roundtable I wrote Google AdWords Ridding Themselves of Affiliates which documents a case of a long time AdWords advertiser being told by his Google representative that he and his kind are no longer wanted in the AdWords program. This all goes back to the new quality score for landing pages, which tend to weed out affiliate sites. Basically, the "quality" of affiliate sites are not high enough anymore to do well in the new quality score algorithm. Google is weeding out these affiliates by inflating their minimum bid to prices that are not economically sound for...
  • Judge Gives AFP Case Against Google More Time
    A US federal judge has declined to dismiss a copyright infringement case filed by Agence France Press against Google News. Instead, she's given both sides more time to assemble evidence before ruling on a dismissal motion....
  • What Does Google's Spam Score Mean?
    Earlier this month we reported on Google's Spam Score Details, but no one knew what it meant exactly. Todd Malicoat took a peek into the Google algorithm a week ago with his best guesses on what each value represents. I am not going to go through all the details, but Todd makes some smart and detailed responses for each listed value listed in the spam score. Re-inspired by Rand....
  • Zillow Partners With Yahoo!
    Zillow, the real estate wunderkind, announced a partnership with Yahoo! in which Zillow's Zestimates (home value estimates) will show up on Yahoo! search result pages as a Shortcut. Here's the result for 'home values' on Yahoo!. Zillow will also be featured in Yahoo's real estate section (under the 'what's my home worth' link). Read the official press release, Zillow's blog post, or the Yahoo! Search blog post....
  • Google: Semantic Web Faces Webmaster Challenges
    For years, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has posed the idea of a semantic web that will be smarter through tagging. I've always said the flaw with this idea is that people make mistakes with tagging. Google's also said this type of thing before, as well -- but Google's director of search Peter Norvig gave fresh pushback yesterday when on a panel with Lee. Google exec challenges Berners-Lee from News.com has the details, with Norvig explaining that site owners often don't tag information correctly, along with some simply being misleading. True enough....

  • Google suit disagrees with inventor of the Web, loses, Valleywag

  • 11 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Site
    Rand at SEOMoz writes up an excellent post he named 10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic. He has given us 10, plus one bonus idea for driving traffic to your site. I will list them in summery here, but Rand has posted the "ingredients", "process", "results" and "examples" for each listed traffic driving strategy at his post....
  • North Korean Missiles & Chinese Helicopter Training Site On Google Earth
    TheRegister spots Chinese black helicopters in a remote Chinese village of Huangyangtan. And Boing Boing locates North Korean missile sites including Musudan-ri/No-Dong missile test site, Pipa Got naval base and Cho Do naval base. More details on the North Korean sites here....
  • How much for a Google Fridge?
  • My Google Dilbert Logo Mug

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:16 PM | Permalink

ApartmentRatings.com: 'What The Neighbors Pay'

Apartment locator ApartmentRatings.com has introduced a new service it calls "What The Neighbors Pay." As co-founder and CEO Jeremy Bencken describes it, "It's not quite 'Zillow for renters.'" Regardless, it offers helpful pricing information, benchmarking individual apartment rates vs. averages in the area.

Bencken said in email that the service "allows users to find out what renters in over 270 MSA's nationwide report paying in rent. ApartmentRatings.com has collected over 400,000 tenant responses nationwide over the past six years and made them available to search at the metro, city, and apartment community level."

Here's an example of the pricing data for a building in the Berkeley, California area.

Even more valuable are the renter reviews on the site. Here's a set of results from my area, Oakland, California. One can sort by a number of criteria, including whether the unit is "recommended," by number of reviews and by point score. The point score or ranking is a composite of several criteria: parking, maintenance, constuction, noise, grounds and safety.

There's also a helpful map-based search tool that offers similar sort/refine capabilities from pull-down menus. Map search is especially practical and valuable in a real-estate context because fundamentally people what to see where homes and apartments are located, typically before moving on to other considerations.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 2:12 PM | Permalink

Can IAC's Pronto Shopping Search Compete?

IAC, parent of search engine Ask.com, has had a shopping search tool for some time, in the form of Pronto, a downloadable application. Recently, IAC created a web-based version of Pronto, which has some useful features—but it joins a crowded field with hundreds of other players. SEW correspondent Brian Smith takes a look at Pronto and muses about the challenges it faces in today's SearchDay article, Up Close with IAC's Pronto Shopping Search.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 1:11 PM | Permalink

Google Finance Adds Suggest Auto Complete & Conference Call Transcripts

We have been tipped off that Google Finance has added two new features today. The first is auto-complete, like Google Suggest. If you go to Google Finance and begin typing something, it will offer suggestions tailored to stock symbols (pretty useful). Also, if you view a particular stock quote, you may notice an additional link added under the "Facts" section where it has "Site Links." The additional link is named "Transcripts" and links to SeekingAlpha.com. If you view GOOG and click on the transcript link, it takes you to Recent Transcripts for GOOG at SeekingAlpha.com.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:25 AM | Permalink

11 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Site

Rand at SEOMoz writes up an excellent post he named 10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic. He has given us 10, plus one bonus idea for driving traffic to your site. I will list them in summery here, but Rand has posted the "ingredients", "process", "results" and "examples" for each listed traffic driving strategy at his post.

10) Targeting Unmonetized Searches
9) Creating Controversy
8) Maps & Mashups
7) Event Coverage
6) Top Ten Lists
5) Online Tools
4) Graphic & Web Design
3) Leveraging Social Networks
2) Blogging & Blog Comments
1) Reporting Remarkable News
*) Offering Something Incredible

Now get on implementing these ideas. Yea, where to begin. :)

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:19 AM | Permalink

North Korean Missiles & Chinese Helicopter Training Site On Google Earth

The Register covers how Google Earth enthusiasts have spotted what appears to be a scale model mockup of a disputed section of the China-India border. Why does it exist? Perhaps to help train Chinese helicopter pilots in case of any military action. And Boing Boing covers how North Korean missile sites are being tracked in the software, including the Musudan-ri/No-Dong missile test site, Pipa Got naval base and Cho Do naval base. More details on the North Korean sites here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:01 AM | Permalink

What Do Google's Leaked Spidering & Ranking Factors Mean?

Earlier this month we reported on Google's Spam Score Details, but no one knew what it meant exactly. Todd Malicoat took a peek into the Google algorithm a week ago with his best guesses on what each value represents. I am not going to go through all the details, but Todd makes some smart and detailed responses for each listed value listed in the spam score. Re-inspired by Rand.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:57 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Revamps Behavioral Targeting Platform

ClickZ reports on the details of Yahoo's revised behavioral targeting platform, once known as Fusion and Impulse. Fusion and Impulse has been renamed to Engagers and Shoppers to better describe what the product does. Anna Papadopoulos of ClickZ interviewed Richard Frankel, senior director of product marketing at Yahoo about the new upgrade.

Here are quotes pulled from the interview that sums up the changes:

+ The new ad matching system uses advanced technology to identify and target prospects at different stages of the purchase cycle.
+ Our Engagers target set lets an advertiser reach consumers who have recently displayed interest in a specific product category. These are good candidates to receive messaging that builds brand awareness and consideration.
+ Our Shoppers target set, on the other hand, lets an advertiser reach consumers whose level of recent behavior indicates that they are more actively in market -- and probably are close to purchase -- right now. These consumers are terrific candidates for direct response messaging and offers, since they have a high likelihood to respond directly to ad messages.
+ Yahoo is currently beginning deployment of its new platform to major markets in Asia and Europe.

Full interview at ClickZ.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:46 AM | Permalink

Google Says Goodbye To Affiliates?

At Search Engine Roundtable, I wrote Google AdWords Ridding Themselves of Affiliates, which documents a case of a long time AdWords advertiser saying he was told by his Google representative that he and his kind are no longer wanted in the AdWords program. This all goes back to the new quality score for landing pages, which tend to weed out affiliate sites. Basically, the "quality" of affiliate sites are not high enough anymore to do well in the new quality score algorithm. Google may be weeding out these affiliates by inflating their minimum bid to prices that are not economically sound for them. From the post:

When I asked what I could do to make it meet their new guidelines she told me, "Honestly we have not had any good news for these types of sites." No help offered.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Yahoo's Stock Falls On Panama Delay & Q2 Earnings Release

Everyone is blaming the fall in Yahoo's stock price due to the delayed launch of Panama, Yahoo's new ad system. We have USA Today reporting about a record second quarter revenue that still didn't help Yahoo's stock price. Bloomberg reports that Yahoo shares "had their biggest drop in more than four years" and how earnings fell just short of analyst projections. CNN has a catchy "No yodeling for Yahoo investors" headline for its report. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters explain that Yahoo's numbers met expectations but that the delayed launch caused concern that Microsoft can catch up with Yahoo in the sponsored search game.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:31 AM | Permalink

Reporting Data Delayed At Microsoft adCenter

I covered at Search Engine Roundtable that Microsoft adCenter has been having some reporting issues, where data in your adCenter reports are delayed as far back as the 14th (almost five full days). Microsoft is aware of the issue and will have things working properly as soon as possible.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:26 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Delays Launch Of New Ad System, "Panama"

ClickZ reports that Yahoo's new ad system, aka Panama, will not be launching in the 3rd quarter. They now estimate a delayed launch date of the 4th quarter. The new ad system was reported on by Danny back in early May. ClickZ has more details on how the delayed launch has affected the company's stock.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:15 AM | Permalink

Google: Semantic Web Faces Webmaster Challenges

For years, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has posed the idea of a semantic web that will be smarter through tagging. I've always said the flaw with this idea is that people make mistakes with tagging. Google's also said this type of thing before, as well -- but Google's director of search Peter Norvig gave fresh pushback yesterday when on a panel with Lee. Google exec challenges Berners-Lee from News.com has the details, with Norvig explaining that site owners often don't tag information correctly, along with some simply being misleading. True enough.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:04 AM | Permalink

Judge Gives AFP Case Against Google More Time

A US federal judge has declined to dismiss a copyright infringement case filed by Agence France Press against Google News. Instead, she's given both sides more time to assemble evidence before ruling on a dismissal motion.

Judge: Google News lawsuit can proceed from News.com has the rundown. Part of the problem seems to be that the neither AFP nor Google can easily reconstruct Google News pages from 2003 and 2004.

You'd think that if AFP was going to file a copyright infringement case, they'd have recorded exactly this type of evidence to present. But having been involved in a few cases as an expert witness, it doesn't surprise me that the plaintiff has made accusations without saving the key evidence. Note to those planning to sue over some search-related case -- save HTML pages and screenshots!

AFP says that Google News unlawfully incorporated headlines, photographs and story summaries. Google argues they haven't and that AFP has yet to identify specific infringements over the past year since the case was filed.

AFP Content Still In Google News, Probably Via AFP's Own Partners from me earlier this week covers how some AFP content still shows in Google via AFP partners, despite Google saying last year it would drop AFP.

Continued Google News indexing 'boosts AFP case' from IDG is a follow-up with the AFP lawyers saying this may hurt Google further. We'll see. It could well hurt AFP, if Google argues that AFP itself has failed to instruct its partners on how to keep AFP content out of search engines.

Over at ResourceShelf, scroll down in this post, and Gary Price has listed a variety of legal documents in the case. This is a key one that indicates the absurdity of the AFP claim. They've filed a copyright infringement claim, but the document shows how they are depending on Google to go back and give them the evidence to back the claim, via archived Google News papers and photographs. In contrast, this is exactly the type of evidence you'd assume AFP already had assembled prior to filing a claim.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:52 AM | Permalink

Zillow Partners With Yahoo!

Zillow, the real estate wunderkind, announced a partnership with Yahoo! in which Zillow's Zestimates (home value estimates) will show up on Yahoo! search result pages as a Shortcut. Here's the result for 'home values' on Yahoo!. Zillow will also be featured in Yahoo's real estate section (under the 'what's my home worth' link).

Read the official press release, Zillow's blog post, or the Yahoo! Search blog post.

This is obviously a major coup for Zillow and continues a trend of innovative start-ups partnering with the big search engines to get to the next level. Read more at VerticalSearch.net

Posted by Brian Smith at 2:34 AM | Permalink

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