Penguin 5, With The Penguin 2.1 Spam-Filtering Algorithm, Is Now Live
The fifth confirmed release of Google’s “Penguin” spam fighting algorithm is live. That makes it Penguin 5 by our count. But since this Penguin update is using a slightly improved version of Google’s “Penguin 2″ second-generation technology, Google itself is…
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Searching For The Voice Of Siri: Voiceover Actor Susan Bennett Says, “It’s Obviously Me”
A story on CNN.com claims that Atlanta voiceover professional Susan Bennett is the original voice of Siri, Apple’s iPhone voice application. According to the story, Bennett did voice work for the software company ScanSoft in 2005. CNN says ScanSoft was then purchased by Nuance Communications,…
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Google Makes Mobile Search Faster With Ping Attribute
Ilya Grigorik, a Google developer advocate, announced last night a small tweak Google made to the mobile search experience that will speed up the mobile search experience on mobile Safari and Chrome by 200-400 milliseconds. By implementing a attribute named <a ping>, Google is able to…
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Google AdWords Gets Copy And Paste Functionality In The Web UI
AdWords Editor is great for editing and building out campaigns and ad groups, but sometimes it would just be nice to break up an ad group, clone a campaign, or copy keywords on the fly right in the web UI. Now you can. This week, Google added copy and paste functionality to the web UI. […]
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Bing Slams “Freakonomics” Bing It On Challenge Critique
Yesterday we reported on a study appearing on the “Freakonomics” blog that disputed the “Bing It On” claim that people prefer Bing to Google in a blind comparison of search results. Study author Ian Ayers sought to replicate the Bing It On challenge methodology and argued that…
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Out With The Old, In With The New: Google Partners Replaces Google Certification Program
Google launched its new Google Partners program yesterday, a certification platform that provides agencies and online marketers with free certification exams, access to “Google experts” and other members in the Google Partners community, along with sales and marketing toolkits. After…
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Bing Adds Pinterest Boards To Image Search
If image search is important to your business, this might be another reason to be active on Pinterest: Bing has just added Pinterest boards to its image search results. The boards show up on the far right of Bing’s image search results page. The board name and image count are displayed, along…
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Bing Ads Launches Call Extensions With Skype On All Devices
Long anticipated, Bing Ads has rolled out call extensions powered by fellow Microsoft entity, Skype. The use of Skype uniquely allows Bing Ads call extensions to be delivered across all devices, including desktops. Call extensions can be set up using the web UI, Bing Ads Editor or the new Bing Ads…
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Study Disputes “Bing It On” Claim That 2:1 Prefer Bing To Google
A new study appearing on the”Freakonomics” blog aggressively disputes the claim that people prefer Bing to Google and especially the statistical contention that they prefer the search engine over Google 2:1. In an article explaining the study, law and economics professor Ian…
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Google: Webmaster Tools Reporting To Return To Normal Within In Coming Days
Google’s Webmaster Tools search query reports are very delayed right now, but Google tells us that they “expect reporting to return to normal in the coming days.” This is a “bug” in how Google shows webmasters search queries that drive traffic a site. The reporting…
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Yosemite National Park Gets A Google Logo To Mark Its 123rd Birthday
Today’s Google logo celebrates the Yosemite National Park, which congress established as a national park on this date in 1890. The logo includes a collection of badges with “Google” front and center on a yellow badge featuring the park’s famous Half Dome Mountain. A John…
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Google Launches ‘Estimated Cross-Device Conversions’ In AdWords, First Stage Of New ‘Estimated Total Conversions’
Today, Google launched estimated cross-device conversions in AdWords. It’s the company’s first step in providing advertisers with conversion insights that reflect the real-world impact of their campaigns. The new conversion type is the first to roll-out as part of the new Estimated…
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New Google Antitrust Offer A “Significant Improvement” Says EU
After Google’s competitors loudly complained about the company’s antitrust settlement proposal, which displayed three “rival links” to alternative’ search results, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said it would take new “concessions” for…
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After Blocking Keywords In Referrers, Now Google Stops Sharing Through Google Webmaster Tools
Last week, Google moved to send all searches through Google SSL Search, setting up the ultimate end of keyword data passed along via referrers non-advertisers. Now, Google’s official alternative channel for this information — Google Webmaster Tools — has also stopped sharing the…
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Facebook Now Let’s You Search Your Posts & Status Updates In Graph Search
Facebook announced the launch of searching your posts and status updates within graph search. Facebook said, “Today, Graph Search will include posts and status updates.” With this, you “will be able to search for status updates, photo captions, check-ins and comments to find…
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Hummingbird Takes Flight: SEOs Give Insight On Google’s New Algorithm
On the eve of its 15th birthday last week, Google revealed a new search algorithm named Hummingbird. Designed to be more precise and provide faster query results, the algorithm is based on semantic search, focusing on user intent versus individual search terms. As Search Engine Land’s Danny…
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You Probably Think This Search Is About You: Survey Says 56% Of Internet Users “Google” Themselves
To mark Google’s 15th birthday, the PEW Research Center released a survey conducted between April and May of this year to evaluate the number of people who Google themselves. According to the report, 56 percent of Internet users have used Google or another search engine to search on their own…
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Google Launches New Card-Based “Unified Design” Search Results For Mobile Devices
Google has just rolled out their new “more unified design” of displaying search results for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablet devices. As expected, Google said A new “more unified design” will offer “cleaner and simpler, optimized for touch, with results clustered…
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“100% Not Provided Is Not The End Of SEO” Insider Opinions On Google’s Move To Withhold Data
Earlier this week, Google revealed it would be encrypting all search data, rendering website owners unable to see search term information previously offered through the “referrer” system. While Google had encrypted the data two years ago for searches performed by users signed in to…
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Bing(ing) It On At A Seattle Seahawks Football Game [Photos]
I’m not sure why I was surprised to see a small army of uniformed Bing reps standing around a big booth before the Seattle Seahawks game this past Sunday at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. After all, Bing has been sponsoring the Seahawks for a few years now. The players wear Bing logos on their…
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