Below is what happened in search today, as reported on
Search Engine Land and from other
places across the web:
From Search Engine Land:
- AOL’s Top
Searches Of 2006
Gary Price reports that AOL has released their top searches of 2006. The
results are categorized by "Overall Search," "Video Search," and "People
Search." Top overall search is "Weather," the top video search is "iPod" and
the top people search is "Paris Hilton." You can find the results over
here…. - MySpace Passes
Yahoo In Page Views But Not Audience
I’ve been waiting for comScore to publicly post figures on November 2006
traffic before pointing to the news of MySpace topping Yahoo in terms of page
views. But everyone’s getting into it, so I’ll pass it along now as well…. - Revisiting
Google’s 2 Percent Or Less Click Fraud Rate
Earlier this week, we covered how MarketingPilgrim reported news widely cited
as Google confirming a clickfraud rate of 2 percent or less. Via Matt Cutts,
Google’s Shuman Ghosemajumder, business product manager for trust & safety,
clarifies things on his own blog in Google, Click Fraud, and Invalid Clicks.
Below, a look at that, along with some definitions of clicks I think will help
and how the detected click fraud rate for Google might be as low as 0.2
percent of all clicks…. - Microsoft
adCenter $50 Promotional Code For New Advertisers
The folks at Microsoft adCenter sent me a promotional code for our readers
here. A $50 promo code is available to all new advertisers, valid through
1/15/07. The promo code is SEL1206 and here are the terms and conditions…. - Yahoo Answers
Birthday: One Year Old
Yahoo Answers, arguably one of Yahoo’s most successful products of the year,
has turned one today. Yahoo has listed The Best of Answers 2006 showing off
some of the best user generated questions and answers for the year. You can
get a free gift from Yahoo for their birthday over here. They give you a
different gift based on your "levels." Since I am a level one, I do not get a
gift. Gifts Include: Level 2: Yahoo! Answers sticker Level 3: Yahoo! Answers
car magnet Level 4: Yahoo! Answers water bottle Level 5: Yahoo! Answers hat
Level 6: Yahoo!… - Yahoo Search
Update; Google Data Flux & Should We Have Holiday Updates?
Yahoo Search is currently undergoing a new index and ranking update. I first
reported it at Search Engine Roundtable and then the Yahoo Search Blog posted
on it saying it should be done this morning. On the Google front, there is
still chatter in the forums about a possible Google update. Google’s Matt
Cutts debunked the update, calling it "normal flux," but some people are
skeptical. Finally, I wrote a piece at my personal blog called Should Search
Engines Update Search Results During Holiday Season? about the issue of
whether updates shouldn’t happen during holidays…. - Google Custom
Search Engine Eases Collaboration Process
The Google Custom Search Blog announces new features that help you communicate
and collaborate with those individuals who want to help improve your Google
Custom Search Engine. The improvements include: View email addresses of new
and old contributors Email announcements of accepted invitations to contribute
View sites each contributor added to your custom search engine… - Google
Newspaper Ads Run Again
PPC Discussion updates us that his newspaper ad that Google is testing with
him and hundreds of other advertisers is currently running now in 78
newspapers. The test run of Google Print Ads is between the dates of 11/29/06
and 12/21/06, and the ads are to be placed in newspapers such as Chicago
Tribune, Boston Herald, Houston Chronicle, Miami Herald, and many others. PPC
Discussions said he would share the results of the test newspaper ad run with
us, so I will track it and let you know what he reports…. - IBM & Yahoo To
Offer Free Enterprise Search
IBM and Yahoo double team Google from Reuters covers how IBM and Yahoo are to
offer free enterprise search to businesses. The story talks about this as a
challenge to Google and others, but Google remains itself very much a
challenger in the enterprise search space (see here and here). Google’s
enterprise search solutions cost money, unusual for most Google products. A
free IBM-Yahoo product should put pressure there, assuming the free version.
I’ll update with more information from IBM and Yahoo when released.
Postscript: You can find the software, IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition, here.
Press release is below:… - South Korea’s
Portal, Daum, To Run Google AdSense
Forbes reports that Daum, South Korea’s second largest portal, is going to be
going with Google when their contract expires with Yahoo (Overture) in
January. Google’s vice president of Asia Pacific and Latin America operations,
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, said "Daum is Google’s longest-standing partner in
Korea, and we are pleased to build on our alliance by connecting Korean
Internet users worldwide to a wealth of new content." Google and Daum
previously had a relationship starting back in 2003, when Daum syndicated
Google search technology…. - Google Employee
Allowed To Auction Stock Options
About Transferable Stock Options at the Official Google Blog covers how Google
is now allowing most of its employees to auction off their stock options to
financial institutions through a bidding process. Previously, employees could
either hold their options or sell them directly themselves. The idea is that
the bidding process might help employees get a better price on their shares
than if they sold directly, if particular institutions wanted to pay a
premium. That’s especially helpful for employees with options to purchase
shares at a price higher or near some of Google’s current record level
prices…. - Google Toolbar
For Firefox 3.0 Adds Great Features
Google Operating System reports that Google released a new toolbar for Firefox.
The toolbar has many of the features of the Internet Explorer version but also
has some features of its own. My favorite new feature is the ability to drag a
file on your browser and it automatically add it to Google Docs &
Spreadsheets, the supported file types include; doc, rtf, odf, sxw, cls, ods,
and csv. Other features include custom buttons, a "Send To" that sends web
pages via email, text message (SMS), or blog, Google Bookmarks integration and
Google Account Sign-in. A full feature list can… - Munch’s Scream
As Google Logo
I don’t normally bother mentioning Google’s special logos (I love them, but
there are so many). However, I’m a big fan of the Scream by Edvard Munch. In
honor of his birthday, Google is showing a Googlefied-Scream today. I can just
see all those who fear Google becoming too dominant having a good time with
this one. If you like Google logo stuff, be sure to see the Google Holiday
Logo page, current through Oct. 31 of this year. You might also like my Google
Logos At Google Kirklandplex post at my personal blog interesting. It shows
some of…
Search News Headlines From Elsewhere:
-
How to get on the Netscape/digg homepage–EVERY SINGLE DAY!, Jason
Calacanis -
Podcast: Google
Employees Allowed To Auction Options; Yahoo Answers Turns One; Yahoo & IBM
Partner On Enterprise Search & More, Daily SearchCast -
Which Restaurant Review sites are
used by Google Maps?, Understanding Google Maps & Local -
Evel Knievel Sues AOL, but he’ll never stop that video from circulating,
Google Watch -
Newsknife names top news sites of 2006, Search Engine Watch Blog -
Podcast: SES Recap, Versioning SEO, Contact Google, Yahoo, Google, Click
Fraud, Duplicate Content, AdWords, Microsoft & More, Search Pulse -
FTC Moves to Unmask Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Washington Post -
If You Can’t Tell Whether Something Is An Ad, It’s Now An FTC Violation,
Publishing 2.0 -
AOL Posts Top Searches For 2006, ResourceShelf -
How You’re Using AskCity, Ask.com Blog -
Sorry, But Live Isn’t Dead, Microsoft Watch -
Google Plants Solar Trees, Wired -
Keyword Phrases SEOs Should Think Twice About Before Attempting To Conquer,
Search Engine Roundtable -
Yahoo! hunts brand licensees for Answers service, Brand Republic -
South Korea’s biggest Internet search engine operator NHN to enter Japan’s
search market, The Age -
Ho, Ho, Ho – Holiday Shopping Search Skyrockets, Search Engine Watch Blog
Online Influence Tied to Search, Social Media Use, ClickZ-
accoona improves its interface?, Phil Bradley - Does
Google Allow Cloaking When They Like the Site?, Google Blogoscoped -
Huge willy seen on Google Earth, Independent Online - ABC,
Yahoo extend news video content deal, Reuters -
New lessons on AdWords Editor now available, Official Google Blog, Inside
Adwords
Shopping Search, Via Mobile Phone, SearchDay- Forward Links – Because
who you link to matters, Jim Boykin
Interview with
Chris Pirillo, Search Engine Guide- The
Supernova17 Story: What Actually Transpired (Confirmed Facts), The Mu Life -
Telecom dumps Microsoft for Yahoo, National Business Review, New Zealand -
Maybe Alexa Stats Can Be Trusted After All, MarketingPilgrim - Measure
Regions With Google Planimeter, Google Blogoscoped -
Building a Kickass Firefox Sidebar, SEOmoz