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…
September 2006 Search News Recap Posted
The latest edition of my monthly Search Engine Report newsletter is now
online, recapping top stories in search from the past month. You can read it
online or receive it via email for free by signing up here. If you’re a Search
Engine Watch member, the latest edition of Search Engine Update newsletter has
also been posted. That newsletter carries more items than the Search Engine
Report newsletter and goes out twice per month….
Your
Name Here On Google’s Home Page
Via the New York Times Pogue’s Post, Custom Google is a way to get the Google
home page showing whatever words you want in place of the Google logo — but
using the Google logo’s style. You’re supposed to be able to do the same for
the Yahoo home page, that that simply takes me to a page of paid links. You
aren’t actually changing the Google home page, of course. Instead, you’ll go
to a customized version on a third party site, such as this example. But it
can be a fun way to trick your friends into…
Yahoo
Travel Upgrades Maps, Adds More Features
Earlier this week Yahoo upgraded its Travel Guides with more dynamic mapping
(including satellite and hybrid maps), more community features and the
addition of a “My Travel Module,” not unlike the recent introduction of “My
Local” on Yahoo Local….
Clusty
Labs & Clusty Cloud Creator
Given that Clusty has just had a birthday they’re celebrating by introducing
the Clusty Labs. If you’re familiar with Google Labs you’ll know exactly where
they’re going with this. There’s not a great deal there are the moment
however; a one stop site about Benjamin Franklin (Clusty Ben) Shakespeare
Searched and something new – the Clusty Cloud Creator (I wonder if they could
have managed any more alliteration?) Clouds are of course nothing new, but
what this offering allows users to do is to simply put in their own search
term(s) and the CCC will produce a cloud on the…
Washington Post On Google’s I’m Feeling Lucky Button
The Washington Post has a nice article on Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.
Even though fewer than one percent of Google searchers use the button, Google
refuses to remove it. Marissa Mayer, vice president for search products and
user experience, said “If we took it away, there would be mass protests
worldwide.” I believe it, I really do. The article says that “Google
loyalists” get the impression from the button a “touch of whimsy and
reassurance that the company doesn’t take itself too seriously.” This may
explain why Google has on many of their contextual ads, the line, “Ads by…
Eric
Schmidt Warns Politicians That Elections Will Forever Change
The Financial Times reports that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, warned
politicians at a Tory party conference in Bournemouth that the outcome of
general elections will be changed “within five years” by what Eric Schmidt
calls “truth predictor” software….
Yahoo
Rolls Out PPC Ads In Mobile Search Results
Yahoo is launching (in beta) paid-search ads in mobile in the U.S. and
expanding its test program in the U.K. Only a “select group of advertisers”
are initially included (it’s not clear what the criteria are). But the number
of advertisers will expand over time as the program rolls out. According to
the press release, “consumers will be able to click on the sponsored search
results to go to the advertisers’ mobile web site or a landing page to get
more information about the advertisers’ offerings, including the ability to
call the advertiser.”…
How
Google’s Q&A One Box Results Work
The Google Operating Systems blog has slides from Peter Norvig’s presentation
at UC Berkeley on how the Google One Box Q&A results work. He says that
“Google doesn’t use predefined patterns, they find the patterns from examples,
as this approach is more scalable.” The slides show the algorithms that detect
these patterns from examples. Is it perfect? No. Ben at the Search Engine
Roundtable discovered Google OneBox Q&A Adult Spam last month, in which Matt
Cutts confirmed to be an issue with the OneBox extractor code….
Put
Google Gadgets & No Clickthrough Needed Google Search On Your Site
Niall Kennedy has a good summary of Google’s Universal Gadgets that can now be
put on the Google Personalized Homepage, Google Desktop, Google Pages or your
own web site using the Google Gadgets For Your Webpage collection of applets.
The Google announcement on this is here and tells you how you can even have
your own pony. Google also announced the release of Google AJAX Search API
that enables you to place a Google search box on your site. Google’s allowed
this for ages, but with AJAX, people can search without having to leave your
web site….
The
Google Literacy Project
Reuters reports that Google, in conjunction with LitCam and UNESCO’s Institute
for Lifelong Learning, has formed The Literacy Project. The site, hosted at
Google.com, brings together Google Book Search, Google Scholar, Google Video,
Google Maps, Blogger, and Groups into one landing page. The site was launched
at the Frankfurt Book Fair with hopes to combat global illiteracy. Nikesh
Arora, vice president of Google’s European operations said, “Google’s business
was born out of a desire to help people find information.”…
More on
Ask.com’s Rebranding Effort
Today’s SearchDay article, Rebranding Ask.com, Part Two, continues guest
writer Rae Hoffman’s interview with Ask.com’s Senior User Experience Analyst
Michael Ferguson on how the company successfully re-engineered its flagship
web site….
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