IndustryThe Search Engine Report – Number 120

The Search Engine Report - Number 120

Search Engine Watch editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan recaps top search engine stories from November 2006.

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In This Issue
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+ Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
+ Goodbye Search Engine Watch & Best Wishes!
+ Top Stories
+ More From The Search Engine Watch Blog
+ Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
+ About The Newsletter

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Upcoming Search Engine Strategies Events
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In less than two weeks, SES Chicago 2006 begins, running Dec. 4 through Dec. 7. The show features over 70 sessions covering search marketing, involving search engine representatives and experts in search engine marketing.

Netscape general manager Jason Calacanis will be doing keynote conversation with me on Tuesday, December 5. Among other things, we’ll discuss his surprise resignation from Netscape earlier this month. I’ll also be doing an evening keynote covering the year’s events in search.

See the SES Chicago 2006 web site for full details. Aside from Chicago, here are other upcoming SES events:

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Goodbye Search Engine Watch & Best Wishes
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Today is my last day with Search Engine Watch, with me heading to my new digs at Search Engine Land tomorrow. I wanted to wish Search Engine Watch all the best going forward, plus help readers understand some of the changes that are happening.

Over at Search Engine Watch, my article Goodbye Search Engine Watch & Best Wishes! explains things in more detail, such as how I will still be involved with the Search Engine Strategies shows in the US during 2007 but why I also felt it was better to go off on my own in writing for my own new web site.

I also explain how I wish Search Engine Watch all the best. During my time at SEW, I’ve worked hard to be inclusive of content wherever it is, even if it is on a “rival” publication. In my new home, I fully expect to still be linking and referring to tall the great content old and new that Search Engine Watch will have.

My managing editor Elisabeth Osmeloski remains in charge going forward, for the time being, and she has more to say about Search Engine Watch’s future here: End of an Era… Beginning of a New Chapter.

It’s been a privilege to have served my newsletter readers by sending out information over the years. In fact, this marks exactly 10 years of sending out the Search Engine Report! My sincere thanks for your readership.

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Top Stories
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Below is a recap of major articles from our daily SearchDay newsletter and important Search Engine Watch Blog postings since the last newsletter. Want to receive these stories daily or via RSS/feed? See the Search Engine Watch Newsletters & Web Feeds page for sign-up instructions.

=== Nov. 30, 2006 ===

Making Search Accessible to Visually Impaired Users – Until recently, the needs of visually impaired users wasn’t a top priority for search engines. That’s changed, but there are still issues that need to be resolved, according to people with vision challenges.

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How The Digg Editorial Process Differs From Search Engine Editorial Process – Digg has to regulate humans in the way that Google and other search engines have to regulate their machines. See also: Social Search Manipulation: Case Study.

=== Nov. 29, 2006 ===

Goodbye Google Answers – Google is shutting down its Google Answers service. The company has announced that new questions won’t be accepted after the New Year, though the site will continue to let people view the question archives. Killing off the service, which never seemed to catch on much, certainly will help Google seem like it is focusing efforts toward more needed areas. But it still feels like an odd, almost surrendering move in the face of Yahoo Answers being such a success. See also: Yahoo Integrates Answers Into Search Results.

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Alexa Ain’t So Bad, Says Site Search Comparison – Alexa has come under plenty of fire recently as not being accurate (old hands have known better for years), as more and more people are using it to “prove” how hot their sites are. Sean Ryan at SLI Systems says lay off the Alexa bashing!

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Search Marketing 2006: Facts & Figures – If you’re looking for hard data about the world of search engine marketing, arguably the best single source of metrics is MarketingSherpa’s annual “Benchmark Guide.”

=== Nov. 28, 2006 ===

Exalead CEO Warns Of “Google Monster” & Closed Yahoo & Microsoft – CEO Francois Bourdoncle taking a big stick and swinging at Google in a keynote talk at SES Paris. He positions his own service as potentially the savior for those in Europe worried about the “Google monster.” Beyond Google, he also criticizes Yahoo and Microsoft for collaborating on a “closed” sitemaps protocol. I’d say the Cold War against American-based search engines is going up a notch.

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Google Audio Ads Sign-Up Page Live – Google Audio Ads now appears to be opening to sign-ups, sort of. Googlaxy.com sent me a heads-up about three new URLS that are (somewhat) active. See also:

=== Nov. 27, 2006 ===

Search Engine Forums Spotlight – Links to the week’s topics from search engine forums across the web: Press Release Services For Links Or Publicity – How To Optimize For Large Retail Sites – MSN Dumb Decision on Unrelevant Links – Important SEO Tips from Pubcon – Yahoo! Cuts Deal With Newspaper Groups, and more.

=== Nov. 26, 2006 ===

Google Settles With Some Belgian Publishers Over Belgium News Inclusion – Google has settled with two Belgian publishing groups involved in a lawsuit against it over content included in Google News Belgium. This comes a day after Google’s legal case was reheard in an appeal. The settlement, following what seems a similar settlement with AP earlier this year, seems to open the door that Google is going to continue making such appeasements rather than fight cases in court. See also:

=== Nov. 22, 2006 ===

Google As News Archivist – Until recently, it was difficult to find news archives on the web more than 30 days old. That’s changed in a big way with the advent of Google’s News Archive search.

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Search Popularity Stats, Sliced & Diced – Catch up time on search engine popularity stats. comScore and NetRatings put out October 2006 figures this week, plus Hitwise released those earlier this month. Google’s still tops, Yahoo still strong, Microsoft is still dropping and Ask surpasses AOL’s search share, according to comScore. Below, the trend from all of them over the past year, plus my long-promised compare-and-contrast charts. See also:

=== Nov. 21, 2006 ===

How We Use the Internet for Science Research – The internet is second only to television as a source of science information for most Americans, according to a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project in collaboration with the Exploratorium.

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Google Breaks $500 Per Share – Google passes the $500 per share mark. Will it keep going? See also:

=== Nov. 20, 2006 ===

Yahoo Strikes Deal With 176 Newspapers – Yahoo has struck a deal with 176 newspapers, consisting of a 7 newspaper chains to “share content, advertising and technology.”

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Yahoo Exec Releases Jerry Maguire-Style Reform Memo – Over the weekend, an email from Yahoo senior vice president Brad Garlinghouse was released by the Wall Street Journal covering how Garlinghouse fears Yahoo’s resources are spread too thinly (like peanut butter on a sandwich) and that massive reforms, along with firings, are needed. See also:

=== Nov. 17, 2006 ===

Search Engines Unite On Unified Sitemaps System – In alphabetical order, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to all support a unified system of submitting web pages through feeds to their crawlers. Called Sitemaps, taking its name from the precursor system that Google launched last year, all three search engines will now support the method. See also:

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Search Engine Forums Spotlight – Links to the week’s topics from search engine forums across the web: Hack Your Competition Out of Organic Search – MSN And Yahoo Join Google With Sitemaps – How Local Search And SEM Relates – What to Look for When Purchasing Links? – What Tools Does An SEO Guru Use? and more.

=== Nov. 15, 2006 ===

Coping with Convergence: Local Search Meets Mobile and WiFi, Part 1 – While many industry and internet specialists agree that a genuine convergence between technology and content for mobile has been achieved, many questions still remain on what exactly are the opportunities for local merchants and search marketers. Is now the time for search marketers to enter mobile and bring their clients with them? See also:

=== Nov. 14, 2006 ===

Google Officially Buys YouTube – Google announced that they have officially closed the deal on YouTube, acquiring them for “3,217,560 shares, and restricted stock units, options and a warrant exercisable for or convertible into an aggregate of 442,210 shares, of Google’s Class A common stock.” See also:

=== Nov. 14, 2006 ===

Video Search Made the Internet Star – The average person can find fame for themselves on the Internet with the advent of user generated video and social media. Nothing in the search industry has generated more buzz than the recent growth in online video search tools and social bookmarking sites. Explore these online video search tools to find your favorites. See also:

=== Nov. 13, 2006 ===

Merge Historical Maps With Current World In Google Earth – Google Earth now allows you to view historical maps within the software. Want to see how people thought the world used to look, before all those satellites were taking pictures? A new layer makes this possible. See also: Google, Microsoft And The ‘3-D Web’.

=== Nov. 10, 2006 ===

New AdWords Algorithm Kicks In; Google Advertisers Upset – Google’s new landing page quality score algorithm for AdWords ranking and pricing has some advertisers upset. See also:

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Search Engine Forums Spotlight – Links to the week’s topics from search engine forums across the web: Cloaking for Religious Reasons – Is Link-bait Ruining The Web? – Yahoo To Test Image Advertising On Mobile Phones – Shopping Cart Abandonment Rates – The Reality Of SEO, and more.

=== Nov. 9, 2006 ===

A Closer Look at Google OneBox Results – A Q & A with Google Product Marketing Director Debbie Jaffe wraps up our four-part series on the special information sections creeping into general search results. See also:

=== Nov. 8, 2006 ===

In The Election Results Race, Yahoo’s The Winner – Like many Americans, I wanted to know what was up with the vote in the US midterm elections this morning. As a search analyst, I then wanted to know how the search engines performed in helping me find out. The results are in! Yahoo’s the winner by far, but I’d still take the New York Times over it. Come along for an illustrated tour.

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More From The SEW Blog
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Below are posts from the Search Engine Watch Blog since the last newsletter and not mentioned above. Want to keep up on daily news from the blog? Visit the home page or subscribe to the blog feed. Note that references to “I” may becoming from any of the Search Engine Watch staff who post to the blog.

=== Nov. 29, 2006 ===

IAC To Launch AskCity; Local Info Services Site – IAC and Ask.com are launching a new local information services site named AskCity on December 4th. The site will combine IAC’s portfolio of Ask.com, CitySearch, Evite and TicketMaster by providing information and services such as Web search, city guides, maps and event listings.

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Name That Search Marketer Game – David Wallace at SearchRank.com has a game; SEO/SEM Trivia – How Well Do You Know It’s Stars? Basically, he took pictures of well-known SEMs and SEOs and blacked out some features from the pictures.

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A Superbowl Marriage Proposal? – Joe Morin thinks he’s got the next Million Dollar Home page mixed with romance going. To wit: someone named JP (to stay secret from his girlfriend) wants to make his wedding proposal in a TV commercial during next year’s SuperBowl. How search marketers can help.

=== Nov. 28, 2006 ===

Linkbombing Against Anti-Martin Luther King Jr Site – In case you missed it, there’s a new link bombing campaign underway to try and reduce the rankings of an anti-Martin Luther King Jr. web site.

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Ask.com Challenges You To Stop The Fat Naked Man From Dancing – Phil Bradley spotted an ad in the London Metro today, asking you to take the Ask.com Challenge and win prizes by searching. ChallengeAsk.com has more details.

=== Nov. 27, 2006 ===

The Complete Google Master Plan – Google Operating Systems located and posted the Full Google Master Plan 1.0. Remember about a month and a half ago, the Google Master Plan was erased? Well, according to Google OS, said it was erased because it was getting a bit “crufty.” The image was taken by Chris diBona, here it is.

=== Nov. 22, 2006 ===

Google Book Search Catches Victorian Plagiarists – We tend to assume that plagiarism is a reasonably modern day phenomena but a fascinating article from Paul Collins “Dead Plagiarists Society” illustrates that is not always the case. In fact it would appear that Victorian authors stole work from earlier authors who in turn had stolen it from even earlier ones, and the article gives some nice examples of this.

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SEM Certification & Training Courses – The move toward offering certification and training in search marketing is accelerating. Here’s a rundown on some new courses and developments I’ve heard of recently.

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Google Finance’s Untrusted Links & Spotting Nofollow – For several months, I’ve been using the Search Status plug-in for Firefox to highlight links that are flagged with the nofollow attribute, a way for site owners to say they don’t vouch for or necessarily trust a link. You see the web in a entirely new light after discovering how often and where people are saying “I don’t trust this.” And today, I finally noticed it happening over on Google Finance.

=== Nov. 21, 2006 ===

Tracking All The Official Google Blogs – It can seem like Google adds a new official blog every week, which is a pain if you want to keep up with the official statements. Who wants to manually subscribe to each one? Well, you don’t have to. Here are ways to get everything all at once.

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Steve Berkowitz Of Microsoft (Windows Live) News.com Interview – News.com has an extensive interview with Microsoft’s Steve Berkowitz, who formerly worked at Ask.com. He goes over the current market, Microsoft’s advantages and challenges, and how they want to compete with Google. See also: Microsoft, Ask & Fox On Google At Web 2.0.

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Google Beats Microsoft, Yahoo As College Grad Choice – Online Recruitment reports on a CollegeGrad.com poll showing Google is the most desired place for technology students to work for.

=== Nov. 20, 2006 ===

Verizon Spins Off Idearc – Idearc is the newly spun off parent of local search provider SuperPages.com. The company started trading today on the NYSE.

=== Nov. 15, 2006 ===

PCNames Domain Search – The PCNames domain search engine does exactly what might be expected of it – it searches for domain names and returns results with details on their availability. It does this virtually instantaneously as well – when you being typing the engine offers details on .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .us.

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Ask.com, Google, & Yahoo Fight Raising SEC Fees – The SEC wants to charge new fees for accessing and displaying real-time stock quotes. IAC (Ask.com), Google, Yahoo and others in a coalition are fighting back.

=== Nov. 14, 2006 ===

New Demographic Heatmaps From HotPads – HotPads is a map-based rental housing search site. The site has launched new heatmaps that contain interesting demographic information showing such data as age, income, percentage of renters and average rent.

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AskTheLocal UK Shopping Search Engine – AskTheLocal is a shopping search engine with a subtle difference; rather than find websites that offer particular products it matches the search query with a postcode to enable shoppers to visit a shop in person to buy the product.

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SEMPO’s 2006 Search Marketing Survey – SEMPO annual survey of search marketers is underway. Contribute!

=== Nov. 9, 2006 ===

Groowe Toolbar Gets Digg & Delicious Support – Groowe is that rare product promising to improve search that I’ve stuck with over the years. Indeed, this toolbar that lets you search multiple search engines is on my list of new things I always install on a new computer. Now version 1.5 for Firefox is out, with new support for Digg and Delicious. Fantastic!

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Yahoo Shows Off Selected Contributions From The Time Capsule – Yahoo has presented selected contributions from the Yahoo Time Capsule project at the ancient pueblo of Jemez in New Mexico.

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Google Sends Porn Worm To 50,000+ Subscribers – ‘Porn’ worm sent to 50,000 after Google blunder from Silicon.com covers how Google accidentally sent a worm to the official Google Video Blog email list

=== Nov. 8, 2006 ===

Collarity Relevance Engine – Collarity is a social search engine that combines a variety of different types of functionality to produce results in a new and interesting way. The basic concept is very straightforward, and is something that we’ve seen before – searchers begin to type in their search and as they do a little box pops up suggesting appropriate terms for the search – a little like Google Suggest but rather more sophisticated.

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Like.com Offers Visual Fashion Search – Image search company Riya has applied its matching technology to a new fashion shopping site called Like. The idea is that you if you find a fashion item you like — a particular handbag, pair of shoes, watch or jewelry — the search engine will find related products by examining the actual image. You can keyword search, browse products or browse items worn by celebrities to get matches.

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Our Search Newsletters & Feeds
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News each day, throughout the day, alerts of new discussion threads from our Search Engine Watch Forums and more — we have a newsletter or feed that covers all of these. See our Search Engine Newsletters & Web Feeds for a full rundown on everything we offer, as well as special buttons to let you subscribe via news readers such as Rojo, My MSN, Bloglines, Feedster, Newsgator, Pluck and My Yahoo. Thanks to FeedBurner for providing our feed tracking and management services!

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About The Search Engine Report
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The Search Engine Report is a monthly newsletter that covers developments with search engines and changes to the Search Engine Watch web site, https://www.searchenginewatch.com/. You may pass this newsletter on to others, as long either part is sent in its entirety. Please note that long URLs may break into two lines in some mail readers. Cut and paste, should this occur.

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