Search Engine News News

Search figures give Bing online PR boost

2010-03-11 00:00:00

Microsoft's search engine Bing is slowly chipping away at the dominance of Google and Yahoo! in the US market, according to new figures.

The latest data from comScore, which may be of interest to users of search engine marketing, shows it had the biggest increase of any of the major search engines in terms of the percentage of queries handled during February at 0.2 per cent.

Google's share of searches increased by 0.1 per cent, while Yahoo! sites experienced a 0.2 per cent drop and the Ask network slipped 0.1 per cent.

Overall, Google's market share stood at 65.5 per cent for the month. Yahoo! sites were second on 16.8 per cent, while Microsoft sites were on 11.5 per cent.

Total searches for the month across all search engines stood at 14.4 billion, down from 15.1 billion in January.

Google handled 9.47 billion of these queries from home, work and university locations, a drop of four per cent from the previous month.

Yahoo! sites took care of 2.43 billion searches, down six per cent from 2.58 billion in January, while Microsoft sites accounted for 1.66 billion queries.

The comScore figures come after Experian Hitwise statistics showed Google accounted for 70.95 per cent of US searches in the four weeks to February 27th, while Yahoo! Bing and Ask.com handled a combined 14.57 per cent.

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Google aims to boost search engine marketing with "above the fold" ads

2010-03-08 00:00:00

A new feature for the Google Content Network aims to make it more straightforward for brand marketers to specify where their ads are displayed, it has been announced.

Dan Freidman wrote on the Inside AdWords blog that in contrast to direct response advertisers, who measure success by clicks, traffic and sales, brand advertisers use search engine marketing to raise awareness of a product or service someone might think of buying later on.

He added that Google developed its new feature in response to feedback from these marketers, who wanted to be more selective about where their ads appeared.

The filter allows advertisers to choose to have their ads shown only in places that appear "above the fold", so a user does not have to scroll down to see them.

Mr Friedman explained that the feature uses a statistical model to determine where messages will appear on different browsers, screen resolutions and monitor sizes.

Overall, Google handled over 9.9 billion search queries from US internet users in January, according to comScore.

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Bartz makes case for Yahoo!'s online marketing services

2010-03-02 00:00:00

Yahoo! aims to become the search engine of choice for online marketers by offering a unique combination of "science, art and scale", chief executive Carol Bartz has said.

Speaking at the 4A Transformation 2010 conference in San Francisco, Ms Bartz said the internet is moving at a pace that is "creating chaos" for users of search engine marketing and Yahoo! aims to cut through this by offering "better insights, better data and better targeting".

However, science needs to be coupled with art, which means creating more engaging ads. With this in mind, Ms Bartz unveiled Digital AdVentures, a new service that will allow advertisers to work directly with Yahoo! to develop new formats.

Finally, Yahoo!'s chief said the search engine offers scale - with 600 million unique visitors a month - and targeting across large audiences.

Yahoo! users spend around 100 billion minutes per month on its sites and information on their intent can feed into better advertising campaigns.

"We want Yahoo! to be the partner you turn to for answers and solutions and, most importantly, when you want results," she said.

According to comScore, Yahoo! sites handled 2.5 billion queries from US internet users in January.

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Nearby search could boost online marketing services

2010-03-01 00:00:00

Google has introduced a new feature in the US that could provide a valuable boost for businesses looking to attract customers from their local area.

The Nearby option could complement search engine marketing efforts because it allows users to search for restaurants, shops and markets in their area without having to enter location-specific keywords, Google product manager Jackie Bavaro said on the company's official blog.

For example, she added, because the feature works geographically instead of by search term, users "don't have to worry about adding 'Minneapolis' to [their] query and missing webpages that only say 'St Paul' or 'Twin Cities'".

In addition, users can choose whether to have their Nearby option apply to their default location or a customised setting.

Furthermore, the option allows searches to be narrowed down to city, regional or state levels.

The Nearby feature is included in the Search Options for queries in English on Google.com.

According to comScore, Google handled 9.9 billion searches from US internet users during January.

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Google enhances online marketing services for publishers

2010-02-23 00:00:00

Google has announced the launch of "the next generation of ad serving technology" designed to help online publishers maximise the amount of money they generate from their content.

On the search engine's official blog, vice-president of product management Neal Mohan said the latest addition to its internet marketing services, DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), is aimed at site owners who sell ads directly using an in-house team, through an ad network like AdSense or a combination of the two.

He added that for large publishers, such as social networks like Facebook or e-commerce sites, managing, delivering and measuring ad performance can be a "hugely complicated process".

DFP aims to simplify it by combining Google's infrastructure with DoubleClick's ad serving and display ad services.

It features a redesigned interface intended to save time and cut down on errors, more detailed reporting and forecasting data to help publishers identify where their revenue comes from and complex algorithms that automatically enhance ad performance and delivery.

Mr Mohan noted that Google is also launching DFP Small Business, a scaled-down, free version of the programme for growing publishers.

Google acquired DoubleClick in March 2008 for $3.1 billion (£2 billion).

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Microsoft and Yahoo! search engine marketing deal cleared

2010-02-22 00:00:00

Microsoft and Yahoo! have received unrestricted clearance from the US Department of Justice and the European Commission to proceed with their agreement to create a "unified search marketplace", the companies have announced.

Under the deal, Yahoo!'s algorithmic search and pay per click marketing platforms will transition to Microsoft, with Yahoo! becoming the "exclusive relationship sales force" for both firms' global premium search advertisers.

In a statement, the corporations said the new model will "deliver improved innovation for customers", while also increasing volume and efficiency for marketers and providing additional monetisation opportunities for publishers by creating a larger pool of search queries.

Microsoft and Yahoo! aim to have all customers and partners transferred to the unified market by early 2012.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, said: "I believe that together, Microsoft and Yahoo! will promote more choice, better value and greater innovation to our customers, as well as to advertisers and publishers."

According to comScore, Microsoft and Yahoo! account for a combined 28.3 per cent of the US search market in January, handling a total of 4.2 billion queries.

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Google faces online PR battle over Buzz

2010-02-19 00:00:00

A review by Canada's privacy watchdog, a formal complaint filed with the US Federal Trade Commission and a user "revolt" over Google Buzz may prove to be the search engine's "Microsoft moment", an expert has said.

In a blog for Econsultancy, Patricio Robles stated that Google's foray into social networking with Buzz is proving a misstep on the scale of the poorly-received Windows Vista.

Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner is to conduct a review of the Gmail feature and a formal complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center that contests Google Buzz violates privacy expectations, its own privacy policy and possibly even federal wiretap laws has also been filed with the Federal Trade Commission in Washington DC.

At the heart of Buzz's woes, Mr Robles wrote, is a failure to carry out the kind of widespread user testing seen for Google's other products and online marketing services.

"In other words, Google didn't bother to think about its users," he added.

This is indicative of the "insular thinking" that hurt dominant forces like Microsoft, which could be more damaging to Google, as it is easier for people to avoid their products or use alternatives, Mr Robles warned.

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Buzz turns to online PR headache for Google

2010-02-15 00:00:00

Google's new Gmail feature Google Buzz promised to cut through the noise of social media but it seems it has already created some unhappy feedback from users.

The application was launched last week in what some analysts believe is a move by the search engine to challenge the rising popularity of social networks like Facebook.

Google Buzz sets up users of Gmail to follow their most frequently used contacts in real time, while also enabling them to share links, photos and videos either publicly or privately.

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land told USA Today that the move could also boost Google's online marketing services by keeping users on Gmail for longer, allowing it to sell more ads.

However, days after Google Buzz went live, there were complaints from users unhappy about automatically being set up to follow certain contacts.

"This created a great deal of concern and led people to think that Buzz had automatically displayed the people they were following to the world before they created a profile," said Google Buzz product manager Todd Jackson in a blog post.

From this week, he added, auto-follow would be replaced with an auto-suggest feature.

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Microsoft boosts search engine marketing audience

2010-02-15 00:00:00

Microsoft sites including Bing saw their share of the US search market increase by one per cent in January, according to the latest figures from Nielsen.

MSN, Windows Live and Bing accounted for 1.1 billions searches during the month, or 10.9 per cent of the market.

In December, Microsoft's sites had handled 986 million queries.

Yahoo! remained in second place during January, with 1.48 billion searches. This gave it 14.5 per cent of the total market, up 0.1 per cent from January.

Google remained the dominant force in US search - and the top target for online marketing services - with 6.8 billion queries handled over the course of the month.

However, at 66.3 per cent, its market share was down by one per cent from December.

Overall, the number of queries handled by US search engines rose from 9.9 billion to over 10.2 billion in January.

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Google creates online PR buzz with social media launch

2010-02-10 00:00:00

Google has unveiled Google Buzz, a new feature intended to help Gmail users cut through the "noise" of social networks to find the topics that fit with their interests.

It will automatically set users of the email service up to follow the people they send messages to and chat with the most in real time, while also allowing them to share photos, videos and links either publicly or privately.

Users will be able to connect to sites such as Flickr and Twitter using the feature.

The search engine said it plans to extend Google Buzz to businesses and schools through Google Apps, with added features to enhance information sharing between organisations.

Speaking ahead of yesterday's (February 9th) official unveiling of Buzz, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land told USA Today that Google's move towards social networking could boost its online marketing services.

"If Google can get you to do more things in Gmail, they can sell more ads, because you've spent more time there," he commented.

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