The Cabinet Office is using paid-for search engine placements to promote public awareness of the Freedom of Information Act.

Directgov, the government’s central internet portal, has since the summer of last year been using Yahoo’s Overture sponsored links service to direct web users to its FOIA page.

The government has revealed that it pays 10p per click to Overture for the sponsored link, which comes up under searches for the term “Freedom of Information Act.”

This information itself came to light following a Freedom of Information request made by Steve Wood, a lecturer at Liverpool John Moores Univesity, who runs the award winning Freedom of the Information Act Blog.

In total, between July last year and February this year, 1917 click-throughs were registered to the page through Overture sponsorship using the term “freedom of information act” and 1948 using “freedom of information.”

In total the government has spent ÂŁ386.50 on sponsored links since last July.

And the number of views of Directgov’s FOIA page has increased considerably since the Overture service began, rising from 400 in July 2005 to a peak of over 6,700 in October last year. In January this year, 3,895 views were made.

Directgov’s use of Overture is not the first time the public sector has used sponsored links to generate more traffic.

Last April eGov monitor revealed that Bristol City Council had become the first local authority to use pay-per-click advertising to generate more web traffic when it launched a sponsored links through Google and Yahoo to attract visitors to its e-democracy initiative, AskBristol.com.

Web search leader Google Inc. aims to become a $100 billion company and plans to put computer systems and other investments in place to help reach that scale during 2006, executives said on Thursday.”I’ll leave it to you to judge whether that is $100 billion in market capitalization or revenue,” Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt coyly said as he outlined his 2006 priorities to Wall Street analysts at the annual Google Analyst Day meeting.

As of Wednesday, Google’s market capitalization was already more than $100 billion, at $111.5 billion. For all of 2005, Google had revenue of $6.14 billion, up 92.5 per cent from 2004’s $3.19 billion.

Three quarters of the way through a four-hour presentation, Google executives were relentlessly positive in detailing the company’s plans. They provided no further clues to comments by Chief Financial Officer George Reyes at an investor meeting earlier this week that Google growth is bound to slow, which sparked a sharp sell-off in its stock. Read the rest of this entry »

YAHOO MIGHT START DISPLAYING IMAGES in its search results pages, an executive said Wednesday at a conference in New York. 

 

Tim Cadogan, vice president of search at Yahoo Search Marketing, told the audience at Search Engine Strategies that Yahoo had already started testing graphics in search results and was considering different options for incorporating images into search listings. There are “a lot of ways you can make the results more interesting,” Cadogan said.

He added that one possibility involves roll-overs, where users who roll their mouse over a sponsored search listing could receive more details. Should Yahoo implement such a plan, pricing might include a cost-per-thousand impression component, Cadogan said.

Cadogan also said that Yahoo would probably move slowly with this idea. “I wouldn’t say it’s likely this year,” he said at a conference session about the future of search. Read the rest of this entry »

The BlackBerry has become very popular recently, and the maker of the device now plans to add new features by partnering with Google and an Apple accessory maker.  Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of Blackberry, plans on offering Google Talk instant messaging, Google Local and the ability to link its device to Apple computers for free.

Blackberry owners will be able to add a new version of the Google Talk instant messaging program, and also download a free program to synchronize their device with their Apple computers.  The Google Talk will be released in spring.

Users will probably love the new Google Local feature that can be downloaded right now.  This offers users the ability to search for local businesses.  It will also give them access to maps and satellite images. Read the rest of this entry »

Now, instead of wide blue bars there are sleek silver-grey bars.