searchnewz: Blog RSS Feed

Google Search on Your Television

Google is always dabbling in new adventures and ways to increase their profit margins. Their most recent endeavor is providing search engine results...

... on live TV! Currently, Google is in the testing stages with Dish Network to create an exclusive TV programming search engine service.

This is still in it's initial testing stage and is not set to be released anytime soon. Supposedly, there is an additional box that will search through Dish network and YouTube for entertainment for you to view on yout television set. This may be similar to the premier TiVo service announced early March 2010.

This is not the first time Google has dabbled into the realm of television. In 2008 Google AdWords launched Google TV Ads for companies to advertise their ads through. This has not been as successful as other Google ventures, but there is always time to tweak their platform and make changes. this could very well be the future of television.

What is your take on Google entering into your home TV set? Are you excited or nervous to see this happen?

Comments

Tag: Google

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! -

SEO and Crowdsourcing

A fairly new concept in the online world is "crowdsourcing" which basically refers to using members of the internet community to contribute to a project. As a term, it is often hard to...

...separate from the idea of "outsourcing" where you can get small projects done on sites similar to Elance, Guru, and Odesk. With crowdsourcing, you are often appealing to a wider community, and you may or may not be paying for advice and input that you are getting.

When it comes to websites and SEO, there are a couple of ways that crowdsourcing can be used for testing and link building purposes. By making an "open call" to qualified people on the internet, you can solicit site designers, conversion optimizers, and SEO experts who will sometimes offer free advice, or who may actually perform part of the project for a fee. There are even overseas developers and programmers who bid on projects that include site design, logo creation, and shopping cart integration, and who may make a sample site "on spec" for you approval.

How can you use the "mind of the mob" to improve your optimization? First and foremost, you can offer an incentive for the person(s) who first discovers major SEO issues, or the most problems. This can give you a lot of input, some of which may uncover a set of minor issues that can blur your overall SEO picture. Crowdsourcing is also a good way to solicit links, but only if your crowdsource is relevant to the topic at hand. You can even create link bait that would be of interest to such a group, and solicit improvements or "things you'd like to see" in the form of online tools, information, templates, or code. With SEO crowdsourcing, you have the potential to make your virtual focus group into a great potential source of links.

The Google PageRank Algorithm can be considered analogous to crowdsourcing. In its most basic form, the algorithm spiders the internet for links and measures the relationship between them, assigning values to each site based on link popularity. In a manner of speaking, the "crowd" in this case has been surveyed, unwittingly, and has presented a result back to the search engine, which then uses that information to improve its results. You could even say that search engines are the biggest users of crowd-based input, and have turned the preferences of Netizens into the most business model in the online world.

Naturally, there are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to crowdsourcing. Unpaid "experts" may be novices who are trying to rack up experience. It also may be difficult to find experienced members of the crowd, or you may get people who are trolling for a better payment once part of the work is complete. On the plus side, you can get more honest input on design choices, since semi-anonymous members of the "crowd" aren't bothered by the political implications of telling you that your site is a mess, and that its SEO functionality is questionable. You can even take some of the toughest criticism you get on a "dev site" and ask yourself if the general public would amplify the same thoughts. Finally, you can use tools like Google Analytics and ClickTale to see how your crowd really interacts with a site, which will give you input on potential hangups in usability and conversion.

The collaborative nature of crowdsourcing means that you can also become a member of the crowd, which can improve your own company's credibility and online reputation. If you have time to offer input on other people's sites, SEO functionality, or even give advice on usability, then your own position in the online world is enhanced. The Web 2.0 community may have a lot of members, but there are plenty of "crowd groups" which are trusted to deliver input on specific questions, and finding the answers to some of these questions can improve your ability to find solutions to similar problems down the road. In the meantime, you can develop relationships with fellow crowd members and potential clients, which can certainly work to your advantage the next time a tough question comes up and people are looking for the "expert" in the crowd.

Comments

Tag: Crowdsourcing

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! -

UK Receives 95% More Google Street View Coverage

This morning Google Street View Coverage in the UK has greatly Improved by up to 95% " 96%. With this imagery update around 238,000 miles of public road are now...

...available in Google Street View in the UK.

This update of 210,000 miles of UK public roads available, adds to the 28,000 miles currently available before this morning.

This move means that Google Maps users will be able to see 95 " 96 percent of the UKs approximately 246,985 miles of public roads.

People will be able to view and explore 360 degree street-level imagery of places as far North as Shetland and as far South as Penzance; from Pembrokeshire in the West of Wales to Ipswich in the East of England or over the sea to Northern Ireland and many places in between. With this imagery update around 238,000 miles of public road are now available in Street View in the UK.

Google first launched imagery for 25 cities in the UK in March 2009 and since doing so has been working hard to process and stitch together more imagery collected by its cars. By increasing availability to cover almost all of the country, the UK joins countries like Spain, France, Italy and the US, which already enjoy nationwide coverage in Street View.

People can check out a restaurant before arriving, make travel plans, arrange meeting points, get a helping hand with geography homework, or just get to know their town better.

Businesses of any size can make the most of this technology for free by embedding Google Maps into their websites. An owner of a local B&B can promote it to visitors for example, or a local library or restaurant could ensure people can find them on a street level map. Many UK businesses have already benefitted from having Street View technology on their sites, enabling their customers to easily find the information they need.

Street View has already proved both popular and useful across the UK, with more than a 30% sustained increase in Google Maps usage since launch -source: Google Inc.-.

Today, new findings from YouGov reveal how people use it in their daily lives. It shows almost two thirds (60%) of people who have used Street View have done so to find out where theyre going and get directions; one third (33%) have used it to look at places in other countries and one in five (21%) have already used it for house-hunting, despite up until now only being available in 25 UK cities -source: YouGov plc, February 2010-.

Comments

Tag: Google Street View

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! -

Search Engine Rankings for February from comScore

Every month about this time comScore releases the search engine rankings data, and I report it here. These are not the actual search engine rankings that you see when you search...

...at a search engine, which are constantly changing.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) , a leader in measuring the digital world, releases its comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. In February 2010, Americans conducted 14.5 billion core searches, with Google Sites accounting for 65.5 percent search market share.

Websites owned by Google continues to lead the search market in the United States. In February 2010, Google had 65.5 percent of the searches conducted online, followed by websites owned by Yahoo! (16.8 percent), and websites owned by Microsoft (11.5 percent). The Ask Network captured 3.7 percent of the search market, followed by AOL LLC with 2.5 percent.

  comScore Core Search Report*

  February 2010 vs. January 2010

  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations

  Source: comScore qSearch

  ------------------------

                                 Share of Searches (%)

                                 ---------------------

                                                      Point Change

                                                       Feb-10 vs.

  Core Search Entity          Jan-10       Feb-10        Jan-10

  ------------------          ------       ------      -----------

  Total Core Search           100.0%        100.0%         N/A

  -----------------           -----         -----          ---

  Google Sites                 65.4%        65.5%          0.1

  ------------                 ----         ----           ---

  Yahoo! Sites                 17.0%        16.8%         -0.2

  ------------                 ----         ----          ----

  Microsoft Sites              11.3%        11.5%          0.2

  ---------------              ----         ----           ---

  Ask Network                   3.8%         3.7%         -0.1

  -----------                   ---          ---          ----

  AOL LLC Network               2.5%         2.5%          0.0

  ---------------               ---          ---           ---

Americans conducted 14.5 billion searches in February, down 5 percent from January. Google Sites accounted for 9.5 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites (2.4 billion), Microsoft Sites (1.7 billion), Ask Network (540 million) and AOL LLC (358 million).

  comScore Core Search Repor

  February 2010 vs. January 2010

  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations

  Source: comScore qSearch

  ------------------------

                                    Search Queries (MM)

                                   -------------------

                                                        Percent

                                                         Change

                                                        Feb-10 vs.

  Core Search Entity         Jan-10       Feb-10          Jan-10

  ------------------         ------       ------        ----------

  Total Core Search          15,167       14,472            -5%

  -----------------          ------       ------           ---

  Google Sites                9,920        9,475            -4%

  ------------                -----        -----           ---

  Yahoo! Sites                2,583        2,433            -6%

  ------------                -----        -----           ---

  Microsoft Sites             1,715        1,667            -3%

  ---------------             -----        -----           ---

  Ask Network                   574          540            -6%

  -----------                   ---          ---           ---

  AOL LLC                       375          358            -5%

  -------                       ---          ---           ---

* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

February 2010 U.S. Expanded Search Rankings

In the February analysis of the top properties where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the search market with 13.5 billion search queries, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.5 billion queries and Microsoft Sites with 1.7 billion. Facebook.com experienced significant growth during the month with a 10-percent increase to 436 million searches, while craigslist, inc. jumped one position to #5 with 629 million searches.

  comScore Expanded Search Query Report

  February 2010 vs. J10nuary 2010

  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations

  Source: comScore qSearch

  ------------------------

                                        Search Queries (MM)

                                        -------------------

                                                              Percent

                                                              Change

                                                              Feb-10 vs.

  Expanded Search Entity           Jan-10       Feb-10         Jan-10

  ----------------------           ------       ------       ---------

  Total Internet                   23,163       22,271          -4%

  --------------                   ------       ------         ---

  Google Sites                     14,045       13,482          -4%

  ------------                     ------       ------         ---

      Google                       10,378        9,929          -4%

      ------                       ------        -----         ---

      YouTube/All Other             3,667        3,553          -3%

      -----------------             -----        -----         ---

  Yahoo! Sites                      2,670        2,509          -6%

  ------------                      -----        -----         ---

      Yahoo!                        2,647        2,496          -6%

      ------                        -----        -----         ---

      All Other                        23           13         -43%

      ---------                       ---          ---         ---

  Microsoft Sites                   1,772        1,720          -3%

  ---------------                   -----        -----         ---

      Bing                          1,549        1,498          -3%

      ----                          -----        -----         ---

      Microsoft/All Other             223          222           0%

      -------------------             ---          ---         ---

  Ask Network                         736          689          -6%

  -----------                         ---          ---         ---

      ASK.COM                         336          300         -11%

      -------                         ---          ---         ---

      MyWebSearch.com/ All

       Other                          400          389          -3%

      --------------------            ---          ---         ---

  craigslist, inc.                    636          629          -1%

  ----------------                    ---          ---         ---

  eBay                                659          624          -5%

  ----                                ---          ---         ---

  AOL LLC                             576          549          -5%

  -------                             ---          ---         ---

      AOL Search Network              317          299          -6%

      ------------------              ---          ---         ---

      MapQuest/All Other              259          250          -3%

      ------------------              ---          ---         ---

  Facebook.com                        395          436          10%

  ------------                        ---          ---         ---

  Fox Interactive Media               403          391          -3%

  ---------------------               ---          ---         ---

      MySpace                         398          388          -3%

      -------                         ---          ---         ---

      All Other                         5            3         -40%

      ---------                       ---          ---         ---

  Amazon Sites                        238          210         -12%

  ------------                        ---          ---         ---

Comments

Tag: ComScore

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! -

Google Apps MarketPlace Released

Today, the Google Analytics blog announced the release of the Google Apps Marketplace, a place dedicated to enhancing Google domains by allowing businesses owners to...

... install apps for their users.

"Once installed to a company's domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications. With administrator approval, they may interact with calendar, email, document and/or contact data to increase productivity. Administrators can manage the applications from the familiar Google Apps control panel, and employees can open them from within Google Apps. With OpenID integration, Google Apps users can access the other applications without signing in separately to each. The Google Apps Marketplace eliminates the worry about software updates, keeping track of different passwords and manual syncing and sharing of data, thereby increasing business productivity and lessening frustrations for users and IT administrators alike."

Comments

Tag: Google Analytics, Google Apps

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! -

Google Testing to Bring Search to TV

Just when you thought Google couldnt possibly find a new avenue for their search engine, along comes Google TV. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is testing a new television...

...programming search service in conjunction with Dish Network.

Details on the project are a little sketchy so far as Google has not officially announced anything. However we do know that the service is currently in a limited testing stage and the Wall Street Journal explains more:

"The service"which runs on TV set-top boxes using elements of Googles Android operating system"allows users to search content from Dish as well as other Web video, like YouTube, and to personalize a lineup of shows, according to these people.

Viewers can search by typing on a keyboard, instead of using a remote control. Google hopes to link the service up with its nascent TV ad-brokering business, allowing it to target ads to individual households based on viewing and TV search data."

This isnt the first time that Google has delved into the TV space. Back in 2008, Google TV Ads were launched as an alternative advertising medium for AdWords advertisers. While adoption of these ads has been a little slow, Google obviously sees the potential in TV.

What do you think about the possibility of having Google on your TV? Let us know your thoughts below.

Comments

Tag: Google, Dish Network

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! - ,

Goodbye SearchWiki, Hello Starred Results

Google has announced they are dumping their SearchWiki feature and replacing it with a new feature called Starred Results. Starred results are basically a stripped down version of SearchWiki...

..., which will let users bookmark specific search results so that they appear at the top of the page for related searches.

SearchWiki was Googles first attempt at offering personalized search results by allowing users to re-order organic results, remove listings and make comments on the search results page. Heres what it looked like:

As mentioned above, this has now been replaced by starred results that will appear above and separate from Googles organic results. This was noted by Google as a learning they gathered from the year long SearchWIki trial,

"In our testing, we learned that people really liked the idea of marking a website for future reference, but they didnt like changing the order of Googles organic search results."

Heres an example of how starred results will appear for searchers,

Starred results will work across various Google sites, so you may see starred results in Google maps showing up for searches on Google.com. Starred results will show as long as a user is signed into their Google account, and will not carry any SEO impact.

Comments

Tag: Starred Results, SearchWiki

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! -

Google Public Data Explorer Now Live

Last year, Google released a new search function which allows users to sift through global public data. Now before any of you get concerned with Privacy " this isnt your personal stats and...

...online data - its more generic public information. Heres an excerpt from the release post last year.

We just launched a new search feature that makes it easy to find and compare public data. So for example, when comparing Santa Clara county data to the national unemployment rate, it becomes clear not only that Santa Claras peak during 2002-2003 was really dramatic, but also that the recent increase is a bit more drastic than the national rate:

This video gives a quick summary on how it works:

Google has now released the Public Data Explorer into Google Labs.

Google Public Data Explorer takes the enormous amount of data available and provides useful visualization capabilities " helping users make sense of the stats.

This information is only useful if its easy to access, understand and communicate. Thats why today were also releasing the Google Public Data Explorer in Labs, a new experimental product designed to help people comprehend data and statistics through rich visualizations.

To give you some idea of what information people are researching in the Public Data search, Google has released its top search topics are. Heres the Top 10:

1. School comparisons
2. Unemployment
3. Population
4. Sales tax
5. Salaries
6. Exchange rates
7. Crime statistics
8. Health statistics (health conditions)
9. Disaster statistics
10. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

For the numbers and stats buffs, theyll love the data thats available in the database. I recommend heading over and having a dig around the data.

Comments

Tag: Google Public Data Explorer

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Have a bookmark! -

How Google Creates Most Of Their Products

The Pingdom blog consistently puts out top notch content, so I was surprised when I missed the infographic they created 2 weeks ago which was all about Google Facts and figures.

Here are a few highlights from the graphic below:

Google gave 1.8 million shares to Stanford University for the exclusive license of PageRank

620 Million Visitors go to Google.com Daily

50% of Google's products originated from "20% Time"

270,000 words written per minute on Blogger

There are 146 Million Gmail Users

Comments

Finally, Shared Site Ownership Is Possible

Finally, shared site ownership is possible without having to go through the meta tag or HTML file verification process.

The Google Webmaster Central Blog has mentioned that a verified user can add new users by going to the Verification Details page or the Verification home page.

That (Verification Details page) page will show you information about the site as well as a list of any other verified owners. At the bottom of the list of owners, you'll now see a button labeled "Add a user". Click that, enter the user's email address, and that person will instantly become a verified owner for the site! You can remove that ownership at any time by clicking the "Unverify" link next to the person's email address on the Details page.

The new process requires at least one owner who has verified through the meta tag or HTML file. If all of the directly verified owners become unverified, the delegated owners become unverified too.

One more point to note is that the delegated members will have exactly the same access as you have. So, delegation has to be made carefully.

Comments