June 28, 2008

If You Give Google A Cookie

If you give Google a cookie it will probably want to store your search behavior and given the scope of its publishing network....

Something tells me this story does not end happily.

Though this story has been developing for months, the New York Times article on Friday seems to have sparked a deeper look and the issue of privacy has come in to play.

And so it should at this stage. What really needs to be discussed is the establishing of what is allowed to be collected; how it is collected, stored and shared; what would be needed to opt in or out; and consequences of breaches of any limits set.

There seems to be a need to monitor what is being done and the extent our privacy can be invaded - since many times it is the fringe that uses technology to grab a little more than what we want.

The NYT article by Saul Hansell quotes Nick Fox, who - just so NYT knows for the future - is Senior Product Manager for Ads Quality. Nick will have a lot more to measure for Ads Quality if the traffic can be sorted in some quality manner.

As a marketer I would gladly use the information to improve my media buys. But then again we largely do with almost all other media and ours could be more accurate. I am sure the argument distills to Google would be providing the best connection possible between marketer and audience.

The synethesis of the "good user experience" with the "successful marketing effort" may be more than a cyberUtopia. But there are many who see this as the "belly of the beast".

Given the beta launching of Ad Planner - which Google intends to give away free (guess another industry is in jeopardy) - the depth of knowledge available could be quite large. Marry the cookie with Ad Planner information and the knowledge of our online behavior is soon extensively recorded.

As the Wall Street Journal noted:

"Some ad executives say they are concerned that Google could use the data it compiles about their campaigns to make a business pitch to a competitor. They imagine a scenario in which the biggest online advertiser in a category is running its campaign through Google's ad-serving systems. Not only would Google be helping that marketer deliver ads to particular Web sites; it would also be capturing data about which Web sites and types of ads work best. Advertising executives fear that Google could then resell that same intelligence to competitors. (Any data that marketers put into Google's ad systems will remain confidential, a Google spokesman says.)"

Interestingly I have had a presentation from Microsoft that used aggregated industry info and five 'not named' competitors' information. Nothing specific or against rules but enough that I would not want to share. And the advantage of the marketing pioneers is given away to late entries - so why do the exploration, just wait for the report.

Steve Baldwin of Did-It made an interesting comment during OMMA Behavioral 3.0:

"Whenever I read something about Behavioral Targeting, I am reminded of the classic television show, “The Prisoner,” in which the doomed protagonist #6 repeats that he is “not a number, but a free man!” Today, #6 would be protesting (in vain) that he is:

“not a target” “not a set of behaviors” “not a source of data” “not a click”

Of course, no amount of protesting matters because there’s so much money to be made in BT."

Though there is, as Zachary Rodgers at ClickZ notes, "a loose coalition of Internet watchdogs that have bent their will toward fighting this new breed of comprehensive behavioral targeting."

Interesting that he was talking about recent legal problems with NebuAd and their attempts to gather behavioral information using ISPs and other access providers. When you have the internet user information available to Google the reach is even greater.

Nick Fox told NYT "Google’s approach was different from what Yahoo, AOL and others call behavioral targeting. Those companies look at what a user did a few days earlier to show them ads about the same topic today. Google says it believes that search engine advertising is most effective if it relates to what the user has most recently searched for."

But then Larry Page has already told Reuters: "On the more exciting front, you can imagine your brain being augmented by Google. For example you think about something and your cell phone could whisper the answer into your ear."

Danny Sullivan openly admits he had the implant.

Google has the technology and wants to use it. In the mobile space it is being offered to jump start advertisers apparently. Democratic Media's Digital Destiny reported:"Google has made presentations to advertisers about its mobile marketing capabilities. It appears that mobile cookies are part of their targeting marketing plan. Google told advertisers that “Google provides mobile conversion tracking on phones that support cookies. Google can measure clicks, impressions and conversions for all campaigns.”

How all this plays out will change the way many things are done. Being aware of the various directions at least has you thinking. Add to the opinions at the forum.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 23, 2007

Keyword Specific Domains Grabbing Google Real Estate

The ability for a keyword specific domain name to have Google site links at the bottom of their - what now seems default - top listing is creating an interesting real estate bonanza for the people holding such domains. Add a reduction in the cost of clicks for that term since the domain contains the keyword and that increases the Quality Score, and top position for paid search can be added to further push competitors off the page.

Aaron Wall wrote a detailed piece on this issue today with pics and everything. Makes you want to bid a little higher for those domain names. His reference to Frank Schilling's article on domain values adds even more reasons to grab up domains wherever you can.

Between the extra space for top ranking - and the traffic just the number one spot brings, the lowered QS, and the typed in traffic it is a winning combination.

Posted by Frank Watson at 3:27 PM | Permalink

July 3, 2006

Google's Non Search Products A Flop

BusinessWeek reports that when Google launches a new non-search product, the competition "shivers," Google has yet to lead in market share for any of those non-search products. Google's Gtalk is currently ranked number ten with two percent market share, Google Finance is the "40th-most-visited finance site," and Gmail "is the system of choice for only about one-quarter the number of people who use MSN and Yahoo e-mail." So with all these product launches, is Google a threat? Read more at BusinessWeek.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:18 AM | Permalink

June 16, 2006

Schmidt Talks On Staying In China, GBuy & More

Conde Nast Portfolio, a new business magazine out next year, landed a nice coup of having Eric Schmidt speak yesterday at its launch party (Schmidt's also apparently set to be one of the first profiles in the new magazine). The video of the interview is online here, covering mostly stuff you've already heard Schmidt say before in other interviews (the LA Times had one last week) over the past years. But here are some things worth highlighting to me.

What would be the one do over for him? He says if Google had done any one particular thing three months earlier, it would have been better.

China was an example of this. In hindsight, he wishes Google had gotten a Chinese government approved version going sooner. "I don't think we would have changed the decision, but I think earlier, the better." He didn't say exactly why. My assumption would be that Google would be stronger in China compared to Baidu, but also that he would say they would have been serving people in China better for a longer period.

Was Google cofounder really suggesting last week that Google was having second thoughts when he said:

"Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense," Brin said.

No -- it was either a nuanced comment, a misquoted one and there was also a whole part of what he said missing, Schmidt said. The missing part Sergey had said was, he explained, was that Google had decided to go ahead with what it considered the lesser of two evils, serving people even though it had to do censorship.

There's more of the how Google operates stuff, the 20 percent time (for engineers -- still not others, apparently), the 70-20-10 time allocation of work time, and the idea of not trying to tell people what to do, for fear of stifling creativity. Instead, Google suggests what are company priorities and hopes employees agree because they, too, want to work on what's important for the company.

He talks about Google doing ads on cell phones in Japan and says they'll come to Europe this summer and to the US within the next 12 months.

GBuy? That's the press name, not Google's name, and "It's not like PayPal at all." He says its designed to help advertisers have their customers buy things more quickly than through other mechanisms. We'll see. If PayPal means sending money between two people, it probably won't be. If PayPal means an alternative to buying with a credit card (or having a credit card account as a merchant), then I think GBuy will be very much like PayPal. And it operates this way already on Google Base. For more, see Google GBuy Launch Later This Month To Challenge PayPal?. And hang in there. Schmidt said it's coming soon.

Will Google do its own hardware? "It's much better to have a partner," and "It's much better to be in the software business," he said. The economics are better, he explained.

Biggest competition? Yahoo and Microsoft are both strong and good competitors, but Yahoo is the "primary competitor."

Is Google too powerful, especially given statements he made years ago relating to Microsoft that could be applied to Google today. There are a number of other choices consumers could go to, he said -- "and we know this."

In other words, Google knows that it could potentially lose customers at any time, so it will self-police itself. Same thing he told me back in 2002 in my Google: Can The Marcia Brady Of Search Stay Sweet? article:

"We have very poor lock in. Microsoft has very high lock in," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, when we spoke at Google's offices last month. "The switchover cost for you to move to one of our competitors is none. As long as the switchover costs are so low, we run scared. Everyday I wonder if there are very smart people at Berkeley coming up with a new algorithm," Schmidt adds -- but in a way that clearly suggests that he wants Google to run scared, in order to keep the company smart and honest.

Although to update things, Google has much better lock-in these days, given Google's many portal features. People are storing email, web analytics data, photos and spreadsheets to name only few things they may not wish to abandon, not to mention kicking the Google Habit can be hard and people aren't likely to do it unless Google gets really bad, as I've written.

As for having knocked Microsoft when he was at Sun for releasing weak products and using customers as guinea pigs, how does he respond to accusations that Google does the same? He says they have a two to three month product cycle now. To be fair, the endless betas Google used to do have gotten better.

During Q&A, Chris Anderson of Wired asks about the impact AdSense has on fueling spam across the web -- search spam, comment spam, trackback spam and so on. Schmidt responds to say Google looks had at preventing click fraud, not really answering the question.

ClickZ also has coverage of his talk in Google's Schmidt at Conde Nast Lunch Today and Reuters looks at the GBuy comments in Google tests Web buying system, says unlike PayPal.

Need more on Schmidt talking Google? See our Google , Google: Employees and Google: Revenues categories of Search Topics for archived articles going back for years, if you are a Search Engine Watch member.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:57 AM | Permalink

February 20, 2006

Google's Trusted Tester Program For New Products

Garett Rogers at Googling Google covers Google's "Trusted Tester Program," a preexisting invite-only program that now appears to have gained a formal FAQ left open to public view.

The program lets friends and family of Google employees test new software. The select few login here to access programs. More helpful to anyone is the Google Trusted Tester Program FAQ, which explains the program in more detail. Somewhat amusingly, those in the program aren't even allowed to discuss that it exists despite the fact that the FAQ has been left open to public viewing.

Dirson's blog had mention of this program back last August, but no FAQ was apparently posted then. Google's also long allowed friends and family of Googlers to test beta software. Google Desktop, for example, went out for friends and family testing in February 2004, as covered in the SEW members edition of the Google Desktop launch article:

As for the Google Desktop project, it has been in development for the past year, Google said. The first testing version went out to some within Google in February. Further versions followed, with a release candidate sent to 2,000 Google employees and trusted friends and family.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:30 AM | Permalink

January 23, 2006

Bye Bye Beta: Google News is a Beta No More

And you thought that Google News would always be in beta. (-: Well, that's no longer the case. As of today, approximently 1219 days (29,256 hours) after the Google News that we know today launched in beta, Google has gone ahead and removed the beta monniker from all English langauge editions of the service. Editions of Google News in other languages remain in beta.

Currently, 22 regional editions of Google News in 10 languages are available.

What's New According to a Google spokesperson, adding the new personalization features that went live on Friday night were the last things Google wanted to offer before taking the service out of beta. For a look at these new personalization options take a look at this post: Google News Launches Recommendation Service, List of Popular Stories Also Now Available.

Sources The publicly announced total of English language news sources aggregated via News.google.com remains remains listed at 4500 on the Google News home page but as this "about page" points out that it's more than 4,500 English-language news sources. Precisely how many more? Google isn't saying. Topix.net claims they crawl more than 12,000 mainstream sources and 15,000 blogs and also offer more than 360,000 topical pages. RocketNews offers content from more than 16,000 news sources and even more feeds. NewsNow aggregates content from about 22,000 mainstream news and blog sources.

Words from the Developer The developer of Google News, Krishna Bahrat, has shared his thoughts on the Google Blog.

A Bit of History Google News (as we know it today) officially debuted on September 23, 2002 as a "revamp" of the news site the were already providing (here's SearchDay's initial overview) and since then many have wondered when, if ever, it would leave beta. Well, they don't need to wonder anymore.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:24 PM | Permalink

January 11, 2006

Google Trademarking The Word Beta

No, not really. But one of our SEW Forum threads points over to In Search Of Stuff, where 2006 isos Search Predictions suggests humorously that this will be the year that Google decides to trademark the word "beta." Others I liked:

  • Search will be integrated with everything from mobile phones to microwaves, but people will continue to use their browser to search, their mobile phones to make calls and their microwave to reheat 4 day old pizza that is still good.  
  • The Hilton in Paris will continue to pay well over the odds for PPC traffic, and leave many punters bitterly disappointed when they arrive at their site.  
  • Google release rel=this_link_is_not_paid_I_promise link attribute.

A good chuckle. Thanks Scottie and Mike. My prediction is that Gray Hat Search Engine News will either challenge ISOS for a duel over who can have the funniest satire site about search or that the two will merge.

Speaking of betas, Stop Press! Google Product Leaves BETA covers how Gray Hat is in disbelief that a Google product has left beta.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:18 PM | Permalink

May 20, 2005

Google Factory Tour Recap

So Google's first Google Factory Tour has ended. Overall, I'd say it was a great success on the PR front -- at least if you weren't that familiar with Google. One reporter I corresponded with told me that seemed the case for plenty there, many of whom were overseas reporters. For them, Google trotted out real live people doing interesting things. While it was very stage managed, kudos for the plentiful Q&A periods that let some good questions (and sometimes answers) get out.

Gary and I watched and instant messaged each other throughout the night, offering each other commentary on what was being said. If the tour repeats (or when Yahoo and gang inevitably decide to do the same), we might do some live alternative commentary for everyone as a sort of Pop-Up Video or Mystery Science Theater 3000-type of thing.

Most of what was said was old ground for us -- and will be for many of our readers. But here are the highlights I found interesting. Before diving in, a reminder. A webcast of the event is here. You can also view all the slides at once here. Be aware it's a big page, not for the broadband challenged.

  • Schmidt & Brin Do Q&A: Near the end was a long period where Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Google cofounder Sergey Brin answered questions. Andy Beal of Search Engine Lowdown diligently blogged live coverage of some of the answers. I think it's worthwhile for anyone interested in Google to watch the webcast of this. I'm also hoping Google will make an actual transcript available.  
  • Google: We Are French: I especially liked Eric Schmidt getting a little riled over the suggestion that France and all "continental Europe" are viewing Google as a dark force in the wake of print. He pushed back especially on Google supposedly favoring English language books, asking for proof Google said they would do this or are actually doing so. Sergey Brin scored the real goal, however, pointing out that about half the Google Print team is French.  
  • Google Goes Portal: Yes, Google launched a personalized home page, essentially making it official that it is a portal. News from us on that here: Google Launches Personalized Home Page. Reaction from across the web here: Reactions To My Google Personalized Home Page.  
  • Google's Master Plan: Google's come under accusations of not having some master plan, which in part it helps to perpetuate. Just see yesterday's post about Google engineers being encouraged to run "rampant" and "wander around," according to Google's Schmidt. Still, Google's been pushing back on the idea that it's not focused enough. One slide was used to illustrated Google's view that all this creative activity happens in the non-core stuff they do. The core search+ads effort still takes up apparently 70 percent of the engineering time. And more to the point, that's work all done according to some master plan, Google says. You see this push back again in today's post from Google on the launch of its new personal home page.

    Does Google have a strategy, or are we just a bunch of mad computer scientists running around building whatever we want? Today this question gets an answer: we've launched our personalized homepage via Google Labs. It's part of a strategic initiative we refer to as 'fusion' to bring together Google functionality, and content from across the web, in useful ways.

  • Google & Endless Betas: John Battelle reports on Google repeating what they've been saying recently -- expect products to start coming out of beta and perhaps stop seeming to be endless. He also has Eric Schmidt commenting that the Google mission isn't just web search. It's about organizing information anywhere.  
  • Lesson On Web Accelerator: Again from Andy, comments from Google on having learned products perhaps need to be more aggressively tested internally, before releases. However, Google also says that some things you don't find out, until they are released. Oh, and some site owners got blamed again for problems in not knowing how to set up their servers. I hope the fix isn't some idea that everyone will magically solve that problem. Not gonna happen.  
  • Click Fraud: From Andy, Google saying it is pro-active in trying and stop click fraud and yes, we will look around to see if a refund given one advertiser means others are entitled to the same.  
  • Google Employee Heroes: Frankly, this started off with Gary and I rolling our eyes, a slide on the amount of food eaten by engineers. Sort of funny, but who cares? And why just the engineers? Are they the only people of any import at Google? Do any of those ad people who earn all the money eat? If so, how much chicken? Fortunately from a PR angle, things picked up with a rundown on various people behind the scenes that create and improve Google products. Matt Cutts, who is known to readers for his many comments over the years on webmaster issues, got highlighted as one of the heroes. In the end, it served well to put a human face on an increasingly growing and dominant company. Andy's got a rundown on slides here.  
  • Ads, Ads, Ads: A big chunk of time was spent on how wonderful it is that Google has devised a way to monetize the entire web. Seriously. And that organizes the world's information how? OK, I know -- it funds it. But the backslapping of how clever Google was figuring out how to make all the world is its billboard felt, I dunno, a little dirty to my ears. But it was honest, I suppose.  
  • Google & Privacy: It was raised, addressed but this new News.com article on the subject also out the same day goes into more depth: Google CEO defends privacy policies. In short, Google doesn't reveal stuff not already public and wants to safeguard information. If I spot something more in depth detailing what else was said, I'll update.  
  • Mash Ups With Google Maps: Everyone's mixing everything with Google Maps from crime stats to apartment rentals (hey, put both of those together!). Google said they want to make that easier, so people don't have to hack it. Ah, but what about those who license the maps to Google. Are they cool about that? There wasn't a clear answer -- Google just hopes it won't be an issue. SiliconBeat has comments on that.  
  • Google Earth: We already knew earlier that Google's Keyhole software had been given upgrade maps. Soon, the software itself will be upgrade and gain a new name, Google Earth. And better maps will come to Google Maps, as well. Postscript: More from eWeek here.  
  • Google Translations: Apparently the company has been greatly increasing its abilities in this area, including having just won what was said to be some important award in the area. Key takeaway was that if it really could do good automatic translations, it makes information even more accessible to everyone, given we all speak different languages. Postscript: Google Blogoscoped has more on this here.

Some Related Material:

  • CNET's Charles Cooper in Growing pains at Google? comes away finding the event a pure PR snowjob and thinks Google needs to open up even more to win the hearts and minds of journalists. Cooper also looks at Google's continued success and wonders when it will tumble, like every other tech company does. Oh, it will tumble -- but can we please, please stop having people call it a tech company? Geez, CNET even just had a story out with Schmidt himself saying they're an information company, not a tech company. Google's not a tech company, folks! What's the main product, the breadwinner? It's ads.  
  • Google Hones Cutting Edge from The Street is a very nice read and balanced roundup of the day. But another story, A Walk Through the Google Search Factory, by the same author shows where Cooper is wrong about the PR impact. "Others outlined in relatively deeper detail how Google has leveraged its superior search algorithms in ways that are beginning to transform how advertisers connect with customers on the Internet," the story says. Actually, what was outlined was how Google has leveraged WHAT IT BELIEVES is its superior search algorithms. But have enough people tell you something as if it is a fact, rather than their opinion, and slips like this come through, from me, from other experienced journalists and even more likely from those newer to Google.  
  • Ten Things I Didn't Know About Google from PC World has Harry McCracken commenting on what his eyes were opened to.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:51 AM | Permalink

February 16, 2005

A New Version (Beta) of the Google Toolbar is Now Available, Still No Firefox

Google has just released a new beta version of the their toolbar.

Google Toolbar 3.0 (beta) can now be downloaded via a link at: http://toolbar.google.com or via this link. If you already have the Google Toolbar installed, you'll still need to download this beta version. In other words, Toolbar 3.0 will not automatically install on your browser.

Firefox? Nope When I first learned that a new Google toolbar was coming, I figured after last week's release of the Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox, I would learn that the a new Google Toolbar would soon be available for Firefox. Well, I was wrong. Google Toolbar 3.0 (beta) is still ONLY available for Internet Explorer running Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP. Google didn't provide any info about when (if ever) versions for Firefox and the Mac will be available.

What does Version 3.0 offer? OK, now that I've answered the question many of you might have been asking, let's take a look at the three new features that Google Toolbar 3.0 offers:

+ Spelling Correction A new button on the toolbar allows you to use Google's spell check technology on any web form. For example, you can now spell check your work if you use many web-based e-mail service like Gmail. (-: When you're ready to spell check, click the "check" button on the toolbar. If an incorrect spelling is detected, the word will be highlighted in red. Click the link and corrected spellings are suggested. It's also possible at this point to edit the word (a box will surround the term) or add the term to your personal spell check dictionary. If you select a corrected spelling, the term turns green and you're on to the next word. Click again to turn off the spell check. This feature should get the Google "as an operating system" people talking.

+ AutoLink This might not only be useful (or not) to you but the commercial possibilities are massive. With "AutoLink" enabled, the toolbar will be "enhanced" with additional links if Google thinks additional information might be helpful. For example, say your browsing a web page with numerous addresses on it. AutoLink will turn each of those addresses into direct links to the Google Maps database. Google currently offers AutoLinks for the following info (if it's recognized on the web page your looking at or found in other material your viewing in your browser): ++ Addresses (U.S. Only)

++ Package Tracking Numbers

++ ISBN's It's interesting to note that Google must have some type of arrangement with Amazon.com on this one. I searched for a book directly from the Barnes & Noble database. As soon as I visited a page for a book with an ISBN, the link button on the browser that was labeled "AutoLink" changed to read "Show Book Info." When I clicked on the button I went directly to the ISBN link on the B&N page. However, if I selected the arrow next to the button, the ISBN appeared with a hotlink to the book's page in the Amazon database. In this case, we're going to have to wait and see if Google will allow a user to choose their favorite book merchant or even query a libraries local catalog?

++ VIN's (Vehicle Identification Numbers) These four lookups have been part of Google's "Search by Number" feature which was released last January. Look for more AutoLink options in the future.

The AutoLink feature reminds me of (providing related links/info based on content found on a page NOT in its implementation) Microsoft's Smart Tags (with Word Documents), Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT, Gurunet/Answer.com's One-Click Answers, Blinkx, Intellext, and what Flyswat offered more than five years ago. Yahoo's new YQ! service also allows web page authors to embed tags into their web pages to find related info.

Speculation? Sure, I'm game. It will be interesting to see how this goes over. If it does, will AutoLink be a new revenue stream for Google? Will they begin offering paid partnerships to certain database publishers and/or advertisers to have their content directly accessible as an "AutoLink"? What criteria will they use to determine useful AutoLinks? I'm also wondering if Google will take the AutoLink technology and make it part of the Google Search Appliance and Google Mini products. In other words, will customers be able to create their own AutoLinks across an enterprise? Bottom Line? Plenty to think about with this feature.

+ Word Translator The third new feature included in the Google Toolbar 3.0 beta release is what the company is calling "Word Translator." With this feature activated, each word on all web pages and other material viewable in your IE browser can be hovered over and translated one word at a time. Translation is available for eight languages (French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Japanese, or Korean) utilizing the same technology available on Google's Language Tools page.

Beta Notes How long will Google Toolbar 3.0 be a beta release? Marissa Mayer, Director of Consumer Web Products at Google, told me that she was planning for a two month beta release. She also said that these new features have been available internally (to Googlers) for the past few months. Finally, if you're wondering what's the current percentage of searches originating from the Google Toolbar, so was I. I asked a Google spokesperson for some help with the answer but unfortunately they wouldn't share the info.

UPDATE: Marissa told Johh B. that the toolbar user base was "in the millions."

Posted by Gary Price at 12:44 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

February 11, 2005

Google and Its Betas

Danny wrote about Google's many betas a couple of weeks ago. It was also discussed at the Google's Analyst Day on Wednesday. During the event Larry Page said that a beta could go for as long as five years.

Today, News.com has posted the story, A long winding road out of beta with more from Larry Page.

"It's kind of an arbitrary thing," Page said. "We could take beta off all of our products tomorrow, and we wouldn't actually have accomplished anything...If it's on there for five years because we think we're going to make major changes for five years, that's fine. It's really a messaging and branding thing." In other words Larry, the term beta really doesn't mean anything?

Actually, it means plenty to Google. Having the term beta attached to many of their services for extended periods of time has marketing and pr value. Huh? By using just a single word Google can tell users, the press, and anyone else who is interested, that of course problems with a service might and will likely exist. Why? Because it's just a beta release. It's a simple, clean (at least up to this point), and easy way to deflect or soften negative attention that a service might receive. More brilliant marketing from Google.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:08 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

February 10, 2005

Things We Learned From Google's Analyst Day

Plenty of press coverage (even though the press wasn't invited to attend in person) of Google's first Analyst Day. Among things discussed? Google cofounder Larry Page seeing no problem with beta going for five years, Google denying again browser plans, a worker shortage slowing plans to expand mobile search, growth of a Google that "knows more about you" and eyebrows raised over an event where when the CFO spoke, it was the chief food officer rather than the chief financial officer. A webcast of the event (with slides) is available online. Here's a look at some of the press coverage.

Google details strategy for analysts San Jose Mercury News

+ On the "so many betas" issue that Danny recently discussed: Larry Page said, "The engineers generally like to have beta on there when they are about to make major changes and improvements," Page said. "If it's on there for five years because they are going to make major changes for five years, that's fine."

+ On Google's future plans: Schmidt said Google will be focused more on international content and services, making its services more personal to users and available on more devices, and developing a "much deeper" advertising network.

Google's big day unusuall San Francisco Chronicle

On being an uncoventional company: "One of the great secrets of Google is that we are not quite as unconventional as we say we are," Schmidt said.

A Door Prize For Analysts? The company did court analysts by offering one of them a free scooter in a drawing. However, many investment companies prohibit analysts from accepting such gifts from firms they cover because of the potential conflict of interest. A Google spokesman did not know who had won.

For first time, analysts get inside glimpse of Google AP (via Seattle Times)

On Hiring Issues Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company would like to hire employees at a more rapid rate but has trouble finding enough applicants that meet its high standards.

On the Neverending Google Rumor Mill Page downplayed recent media reports that the company is preparing to branch into new directions by introducing a Web browser, a service for registering Web domains and telephone service over the Internet. "Most of the things we read are a surprise to us," Page told analysts.

Google's Missing Piece Washington Post

Hiring Problems A Reason for Few Mobile Services Brin said the company's inability to recruit more top-tier computer scientists and engineers abroad is slowing its plans to make Google available to users of cell phones and other portable devices.

Page Works on Google Maps Page said he spent time with an engineering team to make GoogleMaps more readable, searchable and useful prior to its release.

We Need to Improve "We know we should improve all of our products, which tends to be true for software generally," Page said.

On Profiting from Every Service Google Offers "We will eventually make money from Google News," Page said, "but we don't want to make money from all the things we have."

Google's Chef Speaks, but Not Its Finance Officer New York Times

Worries for Privacy Advocates? "We are moving to a Google that knows more about you." -- Eric Schmidt

Unusual analysts day? "They had a formal presentation by their chef but not their chief financial officer," said Mark S. Mahaney, an analyst with American Technology Research. "I have never been to an investor day where the C.F.O. didn't speak."

It's the Food, CFO Doesn't Speak But Chef Does "...Google's top chef, Charlie Ayers, spoke to the assembled analysts and investors about the lunch he had prepared, featuring entrees like grilled pork tenderloin."

Posted by Gary Price at 10:10 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

February 3, 2005

Google Local Moves To Home Page But Stays In Beta

News from Google that its Google Local service has now moved to the home pages of the US-based Google site and Google Canada. Previously, the service was only accessible to those who knew to go directly to the Google Local site or who saw Google Local results inserted into Google through a OneBox display.

Despite the move, the service remains in beta. First launched as a Google Labs project in September 2003, then released as a formal beta in March 2004, Google Local has been in development for between a year and two and a half years, depending on what start date you go with.

Either way is a long time and adds further fuel to the fire of Google not knowing how to get products out of beta. More telling is the fact that Google previously had suggested that Google Local would only make it to the home page when the beta process was over. From my story about Google losing its tab interface last year:

Google Local Search, rolled out earlier this month, does not appear as a search link on the home page. Google doesn't believe the service is yet developed enough for this type of visibility to be given.

"This is a long way from its lab launch, but it's still a product that's in beta," said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer web products, when talking with Search Engine Watch editors about the local launch earlier this month. "When we are more comfortable taking it out of beta, I think then we'd be really look at adding a tab."

So why does Froogle, also in beta, get home page visibility? That product was launched well over a year ago, and recently Froogle was upgraded. Apparently, this tipped the scales in its favor.

For more on Google and its growing beta problem, see NYT On Yahoo's US Gains & Google's Endless Betas, More On The Endless Betas Of Google, and if you're a Search Engine Watch member, my Breaking Out Of Google's Beta Limbo that charts when major Google services were launched and how they they were (or still are) in beta.

For those keeping score, it's now 5 of 7 major services on the home page -- or 71 percent -- remaining in beta. That's if you're a Google Desktop user. If you're not, then it's 4 out of 6 major services in beta or 66 percent.

For more on Google Local, see these past articles from Search Engine Watch:

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:16 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

January 31, 2005

NYT On Yahoo's US Gains & Google's Endless Betas We've had nearly a year of full-blown search wars, but the New York Times notes in Search Sites Play a Game of Constant Catch-Up that despite new releases and "me too" matching of products, Google has still increased its share of searches worldwide from 44 percent in November 2003 to 47 percent in November 2004.

So all's great for Google? Not at all. Yahoo had a gain too, from 25 to 27 percent. And in the US, it was much more dramatic. Google rose from 37 percent to only 38 percent. Yahoo leaped from 29 percent to 35 percent, not that far behind Google's share.

What's behind the gains? The article has lots of quotes from me commenting on how Yahoo shows a desire to define a project, deliver on it and move on. In contrast, I remark how Google delivers something in beta form, then moves on to something else without seeming to finish the job.

Whether this operational style is behind Yahoo's growth or if there are other factors, I don't know. Google responds that it's hard to say it's dropped the ball on any major releases. With respect, I beg to differ:

  • Google Images -- one of only two NON-beta products out there -- was allowed to be nearly a year out of date with images. Only now is it showing signs of being updated.  
  • Gmail remains both still in beta and invite only mode nearly a year after its rollout. How about finishing it up and making it public before moving into other things?  
  • The Orkut social network service? Ditto.  
  • Google Desktop still doesn't support Firefox indexing. We've had some notable Firefox developers get hired by Google recently -- perhaps they could take a minute or two to help make what we view in Firefox searchable?  
  • The Google Toolbar that has been out even longer than Google Desktop still doesn't support Firefox.  
  • Google is literally years behind providing query refinement support to searchers. Google Suggest is Google catching up on this front with the other major players. It was a "20 percent" free time project that one of its engineers cooked up and still hasn't come onto the actual site. It should have been an 80 percent time priority to happen years ago.  
  • Google Catalogs? Another beta project rolled out then apparently abandoned. The most current Ikea catalog is from 2003. Just kill it, already.  
  • Google News nearing its third year of beta? Google cofounder Sergey Brin has said before that it will come out of beta when it's ready. If it's not ready after three years, when will it be?  
  • Similarly, in the NYT story, Google says it will keep the beta label on things until time can be found to add "important features" to these products. Three years for Google News, over two years for the Froogle shopping search engine -- if time hasn't yet been found to put needed important features on these products, then pull them off the home page.

The reality is that Google seems to have no distinction between what makes a "beta" product versus a "final" product. Even the story notes that some of the beta products from Google have been upgraded with new features over time. Any of those times would have been a time to take them out of beta.

How about this roadmap to follow:

  • Alpha: You release a product in limited form to a select group of users. Gmail, Orkut are alphas.  
  • Beta: You release a product to the general public with the expectation that feedback will be taken over a short period of time (two to three months) before a final release happens.  
  • Final: You put the product out on the Google home page or accessible via the More link on the Google home page. Anything out in front of the public in this way is no longer a beta. If it is still a beta, then get it off the main site and back into Google Labs.  
  • Point Release: After the final, this is when you add substantial new features to a product. Froogle today is arguably Froogle 2 or Froogle 2.5, given that it has had several major enhancements.

As for point releases, these needn't be labeled for the general public. Froogle doesn't have to be called Froogle 2, for example. But it is useful to use the terminology for those who are commenting on the changes. It lets us say things like "the second release of Froogle" and know there are substantial alterations that have happened.

Google Groups is a classic example of this. Google Groups was a final product. A new Google Groups 2 came out in limited beta. Then it was deemed good enough to replace the original Google Groups. That happened -- but what DIDN'T happen was removing the name beta from what really was a final product.

Believe me, I love that Google has a fun, creative process -- something I did mention as part of my interview for the NYT story but which didn't make the cut. That's probably because I was much more negative about being frustrated by the lack of completion Google has shown.

At this point, Google is well overdue for an operational pause. Don't roll out anything new until you bring stuff out of beta or declare it dead and no longer supported. Then please give me a wealth of new, fun, exciting and technologically disruptive things in the way you do so well -- as well as a firm timeline as to when those things will either receive official, final support or get rolled back out from public view.

More more on this topic, also see More On The Endless Betas Of Google and if you're a Search Engine Watch member, my Breaking Out Of Google's Beta Limbo that charts when major Google services were launched and how they they were (or still are) in beta.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

January 14, 2005

More On The Endless Betas Of Google

Spotted via Andy, Caveat beta, Google fans from ZDNet UK picks up on what I raised in my Most Of Google In Beta post in December. Google's playing the beta game with its products far too long.

I've been on two discussion boards this week where some have dismissed problems with Google products as excusable because they are in beta. Hey, you lose the right to claim product failings as a beta issue after a certain period of time. I can't say exactly when that is -- but how about two or three months, rather than two or three years?

For the record, Google News is better described not as "over two years old" but "nearly three," as it has a birthday coming in March.

If you're a Search Engine Watch member, be sure to also see my Breaking Out Of Google's Beta Limbo that charts when major Google services were launched and how they they were (or still are) in beta.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:00 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

December 2, 2004

Most Of Google Remains In Beta

Google's release of a new Google Groups service today ironically causes the majority of features offered via the Google home page to be in beta status.

Overall, 4 of the 6 major services on the home page -- 66 percent -- are in beta. If you don't use Google Desktop, then it's 3 out of 5 services in beta, or 60 percent of them.

My article for Search Engine Watch members takes a longer look at this: Breaking Out Of Google's Beta Limbo. It's complete with a chart showing all the major Google services, when they launched and how long to emerge or remain in beta. For things like Google News or Froogle Shopping, we're talking two years or longer in beta.

Overall, that article concludes that at some point, it's time for these services to either emerge from beta or be dropped as ready for promotion to the general public.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:59 AM | Permalink | TrackBack