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….
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