Search Engine Watch Blog

Google Invests in Low-Cost Internet Connectivity for Developing Nations

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:47:59 -0500

Google has announced an investment in 03b Networks, whose goal it is to get internet connectivity to developing nations. Of course, the idea is that the internet will be high-speed and low-cost.

Google Product Manager Larry Alder explains why this is so difficult, but how it can be accomplished:

Most of today's developed countries are linked by thousands of kilometers of submarine fiber optic cables to carry core Internet traffic. This is a very cost-effective solution, once the fiber is in place; but in many developing and remote areas, fiber isn't available due to economic and sometimes political roadblocks. Though existing geo-synchronous satellites are able to reach theses areas, they provide slow Internet connectivity because of their distance from the Earth - and they're expensive and often fully subscribed. O3b plans to deliver fiber-like Internet backhaul service using a constellation of medium-orbit satellites. This means data can be quickly transmitted to and from even the most remote locations such as inland Africa or small Pacific islands.

What do you think of this initiative? Will it work? Let us know your impressions in the comments.

Yahoo is Planning Home Page Redesign

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:09:35 -0500

Yahoo is planning an overhaul of their homepage design, and will open up to third party developers. The design will incorporate widgets, and Yahoo Music will open up to iTunes and Amazon.

This continues a pattern of Yahoo opening up various products and services to third party developers. Earlier this year, Yahoo launched SearchMonkey, which lets developers manipulate how search results are displayed within Yahoo and later BOSS (Build your Own Search Service), which allows people to use Yahoo technology to fuel custom search sites.

The news wasn't enough to impress Wall Street analysts. Jeffries & Co. lowered their target stock price for Yahoo to $26 from $28. The stock was at $19.07 at the time of this post.

Online Video Advertising to Peak in 2012 Predicts eMarketer Report

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:45:32 -0500

According to a new report from eMarketer entitled, "Video Advertising Online: Spending and Pricing," online video advertising will peak at 78.9% in 2012 -- when "both traditional and alternative media companies will be distributing far more professional-quality video content online, and when the national elections and the summer Olympics will contribute far more to video ad spending than they will in 2008."

That doesn't mean that growth has been anemic this year. According to eMarketer, this year's 55.9% increase in online video ad spending is a key indication that the channel is at least gaining speed -- accompanied by parallel growth in the kind of trusted video content, such as sports, to support it.

David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer and author of the new report, says, "Next year, there will be slightly slower growth, due to the still-struggling economy and the fact that advertisers are working out the best ways to do online video ads."

He adds, "Marketers want video advertising for its far-greater branding power than other online formats." Meanwhile, "Publishers want video advertising for its far-greater revenues -- or at least higher CPMs—than other online ad formats."

Stay tuned to see what happens next.

Microsoft Increases Mainline Ads on Live Search from 3 to 4

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:17:54 -0500

AdCenter customers requested more clicks for their ads. Microsoft ran tests that found adding a fourth mainline ad (the ads that appear above the organic results) increased clicks. So, the Live Search team is implementing those changes, and advertisers should notice the change beginning today.

The top 2 mainline ads will continue to get an extra placement at the bottom of the page as well. This is something that also proved successful in the ad placement testing.

What do you think of these changes? Will they increase your clicks? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Google Adds "My Location" Search Feature to Windows Mobile Devices

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:25:19 -0500

Google has added the ability to search by a user's location to mobile search on select Windows Mobile devices. The feature, dubbed "My Location" uses the Google Gears Geolocation API, which employs Cell ID Technology aka cellular triangulation.

"My Location" will be available in the U.S. and U.K. initially and on the following devices:

HP IPAQ hw6900
HTC 4350
HTC 8525
HTC Atlas
HTC MTeoR
HTC P3300
HTC P3450
HTC P3600
HTC P3650
HTC Touch (not supported on some devices)
HTC Touch Dual
HTC Touch Diamond (only works in IE Mobile)
HTC TyTN
HTC TyTN II
o2 XDA Orbit
Palm Treo 750
Samsung Blackjack II
Samsung i780
Samsung SCH i760

Two devices can also use "My Location" via GPS:

HTC Mogul on Sprint (users can enable GPS with a firmware upgrade*)
Motorola Q9

MIVA Unveils Plans for New Online Advertising Platform

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:09:47 -0500

MIVA has announced plans to launch a new online advertising platform. The new platform will incorporate MIVA's existing Pay-Per-Click solution and add online advertising formats for a more comprehensive offering.

The platform will be launched through a phased roll-out. The first phase will be a beta release, expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“As the online advertising market continues to mature, the needs of advertisers and publishers are also evolving. MIVA’s new platform is intended to address these needs through completely updated technology that we believe will provide a significantly enhanced set of features and online marketing options for advertisers and publishers,” commented S. Brian Mukherjee, SVP and Group Managing Director, MIVA Media.

Live Search to Be Integrated with Blackberry Browser and Maps

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:45:59 -0500

Microsoft and Research in Motion, the company behind the Blackberry, have announced a partnership regarding the smartphones and Live Search. Microsoft's search product will be integrated with Blackberry Browser and Blackberry Maps. Users will also be able to access Live Search via Mobile.Blackberry.com.

“This joint endeavor with RIM is a strategic indicator of our increased focus on securing broad-scale distribution for Live Search,” said Brian Arbogast, corporate vice president of the Mobile Services organization at Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to extending our services across mobile platforms, and we are very pleased to be joining forces with RIM to help bring Live Search to millions of BlackBerry users worldwide.”

SEW Experts: Would You Endorse this Web Site?

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:03 -0500

Think of link building as running for president of your SERPs. The candidate is your Web site, and you need all the support you can muster to get there. In today's SEM agency issues column, "Would You Endorse this Web Site?," William Flaiz shows that the right connections can provide the bump you need, and the wrong connections can prove calamitous.

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SEW Experts: SEO Reporting: Going Beyond Rankings

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:01 -0500

Enterprise-level SEO provides consistently outstanding ROI over the life of the project. One of the best ways to substantiate this is through ongoing reporting. In today's Search Marketing Crossfire column, "SEO Reporting: Going Beyond Rankings," Chris Boggs and Frank Watson remind you that if you're just tracking organic positions and nothing else, you're doing a disservice to your clients.

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Searching Rich Media at TechCrunch50

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:15:16 -0500

Video search has been a key topic at the TechCrunch50 show in San Francisco. Lots of newly launched companies presented (kind of like DEMO minus the payola). In a “rich media” grouping of companies, the proverbial challenge of making images and video searchable kept coming up.

Presenting companies were
• VideoSurf: video search
• GazoPa: image search
• Fotonauts: image search
• Bojam: online music collaboration (like garage band in the cloud)

On the panel of judges was Bradley Horowitz who was a key part of Yahoo’s acquisition of Flickr back in 2005. Now he in charge of Google Gadgets and recently oversaw the integration of facial recognition software in Picassa.

“For a number of years I worked at MIT on image recognition technology and the first time I saw Flickr, I wanted to rip up my diploma,” he said from the stage. “It turns out humans are very good at this. You don’t need a hyper-technical solution. It can sometimes be the activity around the video, not the content in the video that defines relevance.

This point underscores many of the companies walking different lines between algorithmic solutions and user interaction/tagging in order to solve this longstanding indexing issue.

For the sake brevity, I’ll just talk about the best one I saw -- San Mateo, Calif based video search engine VideoSurf. CEO Lior Delgo agrees that users should be brought into the mix but asserts that relying on this alone is flawed.

The company still got Horowitz’ vote for its underlying technology, which includes a great deal of intellectual property around visual recognition. This is paired with some social features that together make it a viable choice for video search over and above existing engines like Truveo and Blinkx.

The technology essentially goes beyond the voice recognition, meta data, and surrounding content that many existing sites rely on, and instead tags each frame with more granular information. This includes character names in popular shows and other things that are more contextually relevant and likely as search terms. Relevancy is weighed on frequency of these keywords, click throughs and a few other factors.

This could also be the right time for this technology, given the expanding corpus of video being brought online. This isn’t just the long tail YouTube ranks but head content that will get more search queries such as network shows on sites like Hulu. Lots more to the nuts and bolts, and it’s clear video search will continue to be a tough nut to crack. But this will be one to watch.

I hope to dive deeper in a column later this month on this and the many other search related companies here -- including a social network for bird watchers (seriously).

MapQuest, Google Launch Blackberry Mobile Apps

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:23:43 -0500

Both MapQuest and Google are have launched new Blackberry Mobile Apps.

MapQuest's application is called "MapQuest 4 Mobile" includes hybrid imagery, traffic information and a GPS “find me” feature. Users can also conduct their usual MapQuest business, such as conducting a search for a business. At first, MQ4M will only be available through Sprint on the BlackBerry 8830 and AT&T on the BlackBerry 8800, 8820, and 8310. Other handsets will be added in coming months.

Google's new Blackberry app is a downloadable search application similar to the one for iPhone. Google says that searching via the app is faster than accessing Google via mobile web. The app includes Google Suggest and has quick links to other Google apps including Calendar and Docs.

Earlier this year, Google added Voice Search for Blackberry Pearl, and updated Blackberry search results pages.

18 U.S., 3 International Systems Added to Google Transit

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:43:14 -0500

Whether you live in or visit cities with transit systems, it's always good to know when and where the buses and trains are running. Google has been teaming up with transit systems across the country and around the world. Today, they're announcing the addition of 18 U.S. transit systems and 3 international city systems to Google Transit.

United States

MetroLink Transit (Los Angeles, CA metropolitan region)
Irvine Shuttle (Irvine, CA)
OMNITRANS (San Bernardino County, CA)
Roseville Transit (Roseville, CA)
AC Transit (Alameda & Contra Costa County, CA)
Broward County Transit (Broward County, FL)
Miami-Dade Transit (Miami-Dade County, FL)
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (Atlanta, GA)
Metro Transit (Minneapolis, MN)
Mountain Line (Missoula, MT)
Capital District Transportation Authority (Albany, NY)
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (Cleveland, OH)
Central Ohio Transit Authority (Columbus, OH)
Cleveland Area Rapid Transit (Norman, OK)
Island Transit (Island County, WA)
Jefferson Transit Authority, (Port Townsend, WA)
Green Bay Metro Transit (Green Bay, WI)
Mountain Line Transit Authority (Morgantown, WV)

International

Ottawa in Canada
Olsztyn, Poland
Moscow, Russia

Searching Rich Media at TechCrunch50

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:45:26 -0500

Video search was a key topic at the TechCrunch50 show in San Francisco this week. Lots of newly launched companies have presented (kind of like DEMO minus the payola). In a “rich media” grouping of companies, the proverbial challenge of making images and video searchable kept coming up.

Presenting companies were
• VideoSurf: video search
• GazoPa: image search
• Fotonauts: image search
• Bojam: online music collaboration (like garage band in the cloud)

This point underscores many of the companies walking different lines between algorithmic solutions and user interaction/tagging in order to solve this longstanding indexing issue.

I hope to dive deeper in a column later this month on this and the many other search related companies at the show -- including a social network for bird watchers (seriously).

SEW Experts: Change How You Think About Your Life and Company

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:04 -0500

Even the smallest thing can make a big difference. Here are some very small things you can do make a difference and serve a cause greater than yourself.In today's link building column, "Change How You Think About Your Life and Company," Sage Lewis reminds us that sometimes, it's more about doing what's right. The links will come naturally.

» Full story

SEW Experts: YouTube-ery: Online Videos as Learning and Marketing Tools

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:02 -0500

YouTube is user-generated content at its best...and worst. Everyone in the world with a video camera -- or just a Web cam and microphone -- can be part of the nebulous social monster that is YouTube. In today's SEM.edu column, "YouTube-ery: Online Videos as Learning and Marketing Tools," Ron Jones looks at what this that mean for educators and marketers.

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