July 19, 2006

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

• Microsoft says Vista to allow Google search engine, Reuters
• LookSmart’s AdCenter for Publishers, Search Engine Journal
• Google Bombing Becomes a Political Tactic, Threadwatch
• Looking at Lycos Retriever Beta, Currybet
• Reed Elsevier Invests in Jobs Aggregation Site Jobster; $18 Million Funding, paidContent.org
• Profits Murdered By Google Adwords, Wolf Howl
• Pirates of the Caribbean - The Long Tail of Search, Hitwise Intelligence
• Google Wifi Map, Google Blogoscoped
• Paying the top DIGG/REDDIT/Flickr/Newsvine users, Jason Calacanis
• Digg Weather Report, Micro Persuasion
• SEO: In or Out? Part 1, ClickZ
• Managing Ultra-Complex Search, iMedia Connection
• Toolbars: Billion Dollar Revenue Stream, V7N
• How much for a Google Fridge?, Search Engine Guide