Guess Who Is 15 Years Old Today: Happy Birthday, Google

The world’s most popular search engine turns 15 years old today. Started in 1998 by Stanford PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google has grown to be the leader in search, owning more than 70 percent of the worldwide desktop search market share. To celebrate its 15th birthday,…

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FAQ: All About The New Google “Hummingbird” Algorithm

Google has a new search algorithm, the system it uses to sort through all the information it has when you search and come back with answers. It’s called “Hummingbird” and below, what we know about it so far. What’s a “search algorithm?” That’s a technical…

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Google’s Knowledge Graph Gets Smarter With Comparisons & Filters

Google’s Knowledge Graph is a little smarter today with the addition of filters and a way to compare two Knowledge Graph items side-by-side. These are some of the Google search updates that the company announced today at a media event celebrating its 15th birthday, and explained in more…

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Google Reveals “Hummingbird” Search Algorithm, Other Changes At 15th Birthday Event

At a special event in the garage where Google was born, the company announced a new “Hummingbird” search algorithm is live and especially designed to handle complex queries. Google also announced a new design for tablets and phones, richer direct answers with comparison, a new song…

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Organic Vs. Paid: What $10 Million In Search Revenue For Hewlett-Packard Tells Us

It certainly isn’t the first look at the relationship between paid and organic search, but new a new study by Resolution Media and Kenshoo claims to put an end to the debate over whether paid search campaigns cannibalize organic revenue or add incremental value, even when organic visibility…

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Apple Maps Sends Two Users Driving Across An Airport Runway

Despite some observers saying that Apple Maps on iOS 7 is better than Google Maps, that’s definitely not the case for anyone trying to drive to the Fairbanks (Alaska) airport recently. As the Alaska Dispatch newspaper reported on Tuesday, Apple Maps has sent out-of-towners driving dangerously…

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For Google’s 15th Birthday, Search “Google In 1998″ For A Flashback

Google turns 15 this week — celebrating its official birthday on Friday. But it already is gearing up for the celebrations with a special easter egg. Search for “google in 1998,” and you’ll see how Google used to look back then, in the year of its birth. The head of…

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Surprise: Yahoo Maps Gets A Facelift, New Features

Shortly after she became Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer declared (disappointingly) that she wasn’t going to invest in Local. In turns out that what she meant was she wasn’t going to go head to head with Google in Maps. Her predecessor Carol Bartz had outsourced maps (to Nokia) and she…

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Google AdWords Debuts Ready Image Ads: Enter A URL, Get IAB-Sized HTML5-Ready Display Ads

The latest roll-out from Google AdWords could dramatically change the number of advertisers running display campaigns — and whether anyone gets paid to make display ads anymore. While that might sound far fetched, the launch of Ready Image Ads introduces a slick new option for advertisers who…

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Google: BitTorrent Back In Auto Complete To Make Search “More Useful to People”

Yesterday we reported that after over two years of being missing, BitTorrent is back in Google’s auto completion results. That means, when you start typing the letters [bit] into Google’s search box, Google will offer an instant search suggestion of the term BitTorrent. Before…

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Study: 61 Percent Of Mobile Callers Ready To Convert

As a marketer if you’re not making it easy for mobile users to call you, you’re losing business. A new survey of 3,000 US smartphone users, conducted by IPSOS on behalf of Google, underscores the critical role of calls in the mobile path to purchase. Almost two-thirds (61 percent) of…

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Google Expands AdWords Conversion Window Settings

In a small but significant change, Google is doing away with the 30-day conversion window in AdWords. Now advertisers can customize the conversion window from 7 to 90 days. Extending the window up to 90 days is good news for marketers whose sales cycle…

Google May Have Penalized Another Major Link Network: Ghost Rank 2.0

Google has significantly penalized another underground link network over the weekend and we believe that one of the link networks targeted by Google is named Ghost Rank 2.0. A few weeks ago, Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, tweeted “Thinking of ghost-related puns for a spam…

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SEO Companies Fined Over Fake Reviews

Several SEO companies have agreed to stop publishing fake online reviews, and will also pay penalties ranging from $2,500 to almost $100,000 as part of settlement announced today with the New York attorney general’s office. The AG’s year-long investigation ultimately caught 19 companies…

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Post-PRISM, Google Confirms Quietly Moving To Make All Searches Secure, Except For Ad Clicks

In the past month, Google quietly made a change aimed at encrypting all search activity — except for clicks on ads. Google says this has done to provide “extra protection” for searchers, and the company may be aiming to block NSA spying activity. Or possibly, it’s a move to…

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When It Comes To Google, Microsoft’s Ballmer Is Still Fighting Old Battles With Old Tactics

I’ve watched Microsoft fight Google in search for a very long time. Bing has come a long way, and I’ve been pleased to see a strong competitor emerge. But Microsoft hasn’t actually hurt Google’s share. It’s only robbed from its partner, Yahoo. So how’s Microsoft…

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Trust In Search Ads Rises, Along With All Other Ads Except Newspaper [Nielsen]

A new Nielsen study on consumer trust in advertising shows trust in search ads has risen since 2007. Nearly half (48 percent) of consumer respondents now say they trust search ads, that’s up 14 percent since 2007. This is certainly good news for search advertisers. In more good news, with the…

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