Web Vision » Yahoo

What’s New With Search? Much Ado About Google Instant!

SEO — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:54:03 +0000

There’s always something going on with Google, Yahoo, and Bing – the search landscape changes every day and it can be extremely hard to keep up! But don’t worry, I’ve highlighted a few of the most recent noteworthy events so you, too, can be “in the know”. Here’s the latest scoop:

Google Instant Debuts

On September 8, Google unveiled their newest product: Google Instant. If you didn’t think that searching Google was fast enough, they’ve eliminated the need to hit the “search” button after you’ve finished typing your query and added even more predictive capabilities into your search. Watch it in action:

By the time you’re reading this, it’s probably been rolled out to you so you can try it for yourself (if not, you can get it here). I think it will definitely make the search experience a lot faster and I like the seamlessness of being brought to the search results page as soon as I start typing. For you search nerds out there (ahem, like myself), there’s already been a post stating that Google Instant will Kill SEO. Seriously. Every month or two there is always someone claiming that SEO is dead, yet it always remains to be live and kicking. The main point of Steve’s article seems to be that no two search results will be the same with Google Instant. Unfortunately, they haven’t been the same for over two years due to Google’s personalization – so there’s really no difference here in my opinion. Is SEO dead? No. Did Steve get some good linkbait for his site? You betcha!

In a little bit less “flashy” news…

It’s Official: Bing Powers Yahoo

Remember when I mentioned at the end of July that Microsoft was testing out Bing results in Yahoo? Well, it’s now fully live and integrated into every Yahoo search in the US and Canada (other countries will continue to be rolled out). Have you guys noticed any differences? If you scroll down the the bottom of your Yahoo results page, you’ll see a very small “Powered by Bing” statement in the footer. If you’re a Yahoo power searcher, you may notice a difference in the type/quality of the results you get, for better or worse. Otherwise, everything looks completely the same. The biggest change is that Bing is now the 2nd most widely used search engine, behind the almighty Google.

Google Changes Their Algorithm (Yawn)

Honestly, this isn’t news at all, since we know that Google changed their algorithm at least once per day in 2009. One of the latest updates they implemented is a bit interesting, however, since it now shows more pages from from a single domain for certain queries. Let’s take a search for “Apple iPod” for example. The Apple domain (both apple.com and store.apple.com) gets 7 out of the 10 organic listings on the first page. If you’re a big enough brand, you can get 5-7 of those coveted top slots by searches containing “brand name + keyword” or just “brand name”. But don’t get too excited for your business: searches just for your company name isn’t likely to garner 5-7 of the search results unless you’re a large national brand. Unfortunately, this move reaffirms the theory that Google is biased towards those big brands.

Those search engines definitely keep me on my toes! Stick with me, kid, and I’ll keep you updated on the important stuff. What does everyone think about Google Instant? Love it or leave it? Let me know what you think! Happy (Instant) Googling!

Microsoft-Yahoo Search Alliance Moves Forward

SEO — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:02:32 +0000

We heard about it last year and now we’re finally seeing it action – partly, anyway. As Amanda pointed out last week, up to 25% of Yahoo’s organic search results in the U.S. are being powered by Bing and up to 3.5% may see paid listings from Microsoft adCenter. The difference won’t be noticeable unless you’re one of the lucky searchers to see the “Powered by Bing” badge on the bottom of a results page (they’re currently testing this badge on just some of the results, but once it’s fully rolled out, it will be on the bottom of all the results pages). I went to Yahoo to see if I could get a glimpse of a Bing-branded results page by performing a million (read: ten) searches but it was not to be. Seriously, after 10 searches on Yahoo, I had to leave; I felt like a foreigner in a strange land (I’m a Googler).

When will it ALL be Bing?

Microsoft and Yahoo are currently doing tests for organic and paid results and if all goes well, the US and Canada will see all Bing-powered results in desktop and mobile searches as early as August (August/September is the current time frame). The paid search platform transition to Microsoft adCenter will be undergoing a bit more testing, but is expected to be fully live by October.

Obviously, this is a pretty big transition, especially for those folks who currently use Yahoo Search Marketing for their PPC campaigns. Yahoo is trying to make this as smooth of a transition as possible, and has a bunch of information regarding the change. Not only do they have a complete site called the “Yahoo Transition Center” dedicated to it, there are also helpful posts on the Yahoo Search Marketing blog.

What about the rest of the world?

I haven’t read anything yet about when they plan to integrate the Bing-powered organic results internationally, but for PPC, international advertisers should see the move to Microsoft adCenter in early 2012. Again, this will all be dependent on a successful roll out in the United States and Canada.

On the tail of this news, Yahoo Japan just announced that it plans to use Google’s search engine technology for their organic and paid search instead of Bing. Although this may be a bit of a blow to Microsoft, Yahoo only holds a minority stake in Yahoo Japan and cannot stop them from using Google as an alternative. This proves to be an interesting move, considering that comScore’s figures show that Japan has the third largest number of searches conducted as of December 2009 (behind the US and China). A good portion of Japan’s searches could be Google-powered if everything goes as planned.

Are you excited about this change? Are you mad because I dissed Yahoo? Let me know!

Dec. 24 – Track Santa Online!

SEO — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:07:48 +0000

This is an entry in our daily Internet Marketing Advent Calendar series. Each day your favorite marketing elves Kasi and Amanda will focus on a new topic to get your internet marketing in order before the start of the new year.

Back when I was a kid, the internet wasn’t around. I mean, it had been developed and all that, but it wasn’t accessible to us “regular” folks yet. So, aside from a newscast here or there about his whereabouts, I just had to believe that he would make it to my house that night. I couldn’t obsessively see where he had already visited and track his path.

Kids today are so lucky! Now, just by doing a simple search, they can find tons of Santa Trackers at their disposal! When I typed “Santa Claus” into Bing and Google, it actually suggested “Santa Claus tracker”. Check out some of these cool sites and enjoy!

Santa Update

NORAD Tracks Santa

Santa Radar

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Thank you so much for tuning in this month to our Internet Marketing Advent Calendar.

Read the rest of the Internet Marketing Advent Calendar

Dec. 20 – The Top 10 Searches of 2009

SEO — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:14:10 +0000

As we’re looking ahead to the new year, it’s also tradition to recap the year that is coming to a close. What’s the best way to remember what was on the collective minds of the US in 2009? With the top 10 searches in Google, Yahoo, and Bing, of course!

Google.com – Fastest Rising

1. twitter
2. michael jackson
3. facebook
4. hulu
5. hi5
6. glee
7. paranormal activity
8. natasha richardson
9. farrah fawcett
10. lady gaga

Yahoo.com

1. Michael Jackson
2. “Twilight”
3. WWE
4. Megan Fox
5. Britney Spears — bumped from No. 1 after four straight years, according to Yahoo
6. Naruto
7. “American Idol”
8. Kim Kardashian
9. NASCAR
10. Runescape

Bing.com

1. Michael Jackson
2. Twitter
3. Swine Flu
4. Stock Market
5. Farrah Fawcett
6. Patrick Swayze
7. Cash for Clunkers
8. Jon and Kate Gosselin
9. Billy Mays
10. Jaycee Dugard

I figured that Michael Jackson would have dominated all three, but Twitter actually came out on top in Google. It’s always fun to see the differences between the search engines. I was surprised that Lady Gaga wasn’t in the top 10 for at least 2 out of 3, with her dramatic rise in the music scene (not to mention her, um, odd choices in costumes). Still, I’m sure some conclusions can be drawn about the different demographics that use the different engines. What do you think it means?

Read the rest of the Internet Marketing Advent Calendar

Yahoo! and Microsoft Combining Forces to be One Step Closer to Google Domination

SEO — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:08:23 +0000

A deal between the 2nd and 3rd place search engines has finally been confirmed and is reported to close in early 2010. Microsoft and Yahoo!, who have been in talks since early 2009 after Microsoft’s failed attempt to buy Yahoo! last year, are teaming up to try and chip away at Google’s market share.

What Does this Mean?

Basically, the long and the short of it is that Yahoo! will use Bing’s search engine to supply organic search results. Pay-Per-Click ads that appear on Yahoo’s search engine results pages are going to be powered by Microsoft’s paid search platform, AdCenter. In return, Yahoo! will use their data and technology in other areas of the search business, including enhancing its display advertising technology. Both companies will maintain their own separate advertising and sales teams.

Let’s Look at the Numbers

Google scored 65% of the total US searches in June. Yahoo! came in just under 20% and Bing’s slice of the search pie was 8.4%. Together, the two underdogs don’t account for even half of Google’s share, but it’s still a step closer in rivaling the giant. “They should be worried,” Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineLand.com, said of Google. “It’s going to give Microsoft in one fell swoop a much bigger share of the search market.”

Will There Be Much of a Change?

At this point so early in the game, it’s unclear whether or not Yahoo! and Microsoft will be able to greatly increase their current combined market share. There still needs to be some sort of driving force to steer people away from using Google. In my opinion, I’m not sure it can be done. I used Google to find more information about their search deal, which speaks volumes about the fact that people’s habits are hard to break. Will my preferred search engine change? Not very likely.

Stay tuned for more updates as the details unfold…

What’s a Yahoo PPC Webinar Worth to You?

Hall — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:03:54 +0000

When you’re managing 30+ Yahoo Sponsored Search accounts, you tend to get a lot of administrative and marketing mail from them. Though I do my best to keep apprised of the latest changes in their service, there’s just too much information to care about all of the time. For example, they’ve been running a webinar series for making the most out of your campaigns, which, as PPC Hero cares to point out in good detail, can be a mixed bag of advice.

So why did my eyebrow raise to see that Yahoo will now offer me $20 as a thank-you gift for attending the webinar and then filling out the survey? A gift which I can get up to three times?

The reason I’m not attending these webinars is not because I need $20, but because my perception of time/value is just not there… and $20 sure isn’t changing anything. I even think their webinars are GREAT… for the right market.

For example, look at the titles of these:

How to Create Successful Campaigns
How to Create Successful Keywords and Ads
How to Improve your Ad Quality

All nice topics, covering some pretty hearty stuff like geo-targeting, automatic keyword insertion, landing page quality, and other factors that effect the success of a campaign. The problem is, I already know all this, which means that as many pieces as Yahoo sends my way, I’m still not going to be interested.

Missing the Boat

My frustration with Yahoo’s service, especially compared with Google’s, is their failure to provide powerful tools for account managers like myself. The topic of these webinars and the frequency of their appearing in my inbox is just more evidence of that.

Where’s my offline editor for managing multiple ad campaigns across several accounts?
Where’s my master account so I can easily review the status of multiple clients?
When can I pull reports for multiple accounts automatically, based on specified parameters?

While I appreciate Yahoo’s effort to keep customers apprised of how to make their campaign work for them, my feeling is that they’re doing so as the expense of professionals who need more than what you’ll get out of an hour-long slideshow.

Search Engines Unite to Support Global Sitemaps

Hall — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:31:36 +0000

Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft all announced this morning that they’re supporting an addition to the Sitemaps protocol that makes it easier for site owners with multiple subdomains to manage sitemap files.

In the past, you were forced to maintain an XML sitemap in the same domain as the domain which it referred to. i.e. www.hallme.com would have a sitemap for this domain, and blog.hallme.com would also need its own sitemap hosted on its own domain. There was no way to specify that we wanted blog.hallme.com to have a sitemap hosted on www.hallme.com, nor could we for www.hallblog.com.

For most site owners, this isn’t much of an issue, but if your business consists of multiple web properties, or many subdomains, the management of the sitemaps protocol could be quite a chore! (Imagine a scalable CMS such as wordpress.com).

The update makes life a lot easier for webmasters in these situations. Now, you can host all of your sitemaps for multiple domains at a single domain, and then use your robots.txt file to point search engines to the location of the correct sitemap.

So let’s say we want www.masterdomain.com to have the sitemap for subdomain.masterdomain.com. All you need to do is add the following line to the robots.txt file on subdomain.masterdomain.com:

Sitemap: http://www.masterdomain.com/sitemaps/subdomain.masterdomain.xml

On the same token, www.masterdomainblog.com could have this line added to the robots.txt:

Sitemap: http://www.masterdomain.com/sitemaps/masterdomainblog.xml

For the average small business, this is an interesting, if useless feature, but for businesses spanning multiple web properties, with subdomains, or for businesses like ourselves who manage sitemaps for hundreds of clients, the new update is welcome news indeed!