Session Blog Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘Search’

The online space is split up into two pretty distinct groups and the sizes of these two groups are far from equal. On the one side are the people who use Google every day and for many reasons. Many times these people can get upset because their reliance on Google can cause a major hiccup ( go see what Chris Brogan has to say today about this ) For the most part, they have come to depend on Google to help run many aspects of their business and personal lives and are happier for it. I fall into that category for sure. The other side is the smaller group in size but has some major clout. They are consumer advocacy groups and their major supporters: Google competitors and those who have perceived they are being scorned by the search giant. This group held a press conference yesterday which highlighted the call by the group Consumer Watchdog for the Department of Justice to takes seriously the cries of antitrust activities by Google. Computerworld reports Consumer Watchdog, along with a mobile entrepreneur and two lawyers representing Google rivals, all called on the DOJ to initiate an antitrust investigation focusing on a number of issues, including Google’s marriage of search results to advertising and its book search service. “The time has clearly come for Justice to launch a major, broad antitrust investigation against Google, and we think all remedies should be on the table, including, we think, the possible breakup of the Internet giant,” said John Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog. The 25-year-old organization focuses on a number of consumer issues, including health care, insurance and energy, but the group’s move into tech issues in recent years has largely focused on criticisms of Google. Consumer Watchdog sent a letter to the DOJ Wednesday asking that the agency investigate Google for antitrust violations. “For most Americans — indeed, for most people in the world — Google is the gateway to the Internet,” the letter said. “How it tweaks its proprietary search algorithms can ensure a business’ success or doom it to failure.” Now, will a claim like this have any real legs? Since I am not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV AND I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night I can confidently say that I don’t know. I can say this though. This kind of “chatter” in the marketplace keeps it in the backs of peoples’ minds and starts to cast a different light on the target which in this case is Google. Just ask Microsoft how it feels to be painted as the company that blocked competition and free trade. That label taints everything they do and it likely limits their efforts into other areas like search. How? Mainly because the ABM (Anyone But Microsoft) sentiment is powerful. Of course, the main edge that Google has over someone like a Microsoft is that people are mostly happy with their products and services. Microsoft? Well, not so much. So how does Google see these calls to action by advocacy groups and smaller rivals (in this case myTriggers.com and TradeComet.com)? With the usual Google panache by saying Adam Kovacevich, senior manager for global communications and public affairs at Google, discounted the criticisms, saying Consumer Watchdog has been “relentlessly negative” about Google. The group recently questioned the reasons why Google stopped censoring search results in China and criticized Google’s privacy Dashboard as inadequate, Kovacevich said. “We totally understand that with size and success comes scrutiny,” he added. “Although given their track record, even if we broke Google in half tomorrow, Consumer Watchdog would probably insist that we split halves into quarters.” I suspect this type of request for Google to be “taken apart” won’t go away. Whenever I see reports like this I usually dismiss them but I do wonder if there is any merit to the claims. Heck, I don’t know everything that goes on in the online world. Maybe Google is doing back alley roughing up of competitors. Honestly, I doubt it very much. I think the real “problem” is that Google created the perfect tool for the perfect time just as a complete shift in the way that everyone does everything was happening. As a result, their dominance comes almost by default because the wave they caught was unlike one ever seen in history. Timing is everything they say. Doesn’t mean they are bullet proof though. So what say you today about Google’s “unfair advantage”? Real or perceived? Worthy of Department of Justice attention or not? Do you care either way as long as your Google services work and you do what you need to do?

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Consumer Watchdog Barks “Break Up Google!”

Yahoo’s earnings are looking up already from the MicroHoo deal. Microsoft and Yahoo have managed to remind investors by “ finalizing ” the deal every quarter since its announcement. This time, however, it was the DoJ that gave them that boost when it finally approved the deal in February . Along with the beginning of reimbursement payments, it looks like the deal was enough to persuade investors and advertisers alike. Reports CNET : Revenue in the first quarter was $1.6 billion, up just 1 percent from the first quarter of last year. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, net revenue was $1.13 billion, or roughly flat with analyst expectations of $1.17 billion. Revenue from display advertising on Yahoo’s site grew 20 percent compared to the prior year. Net income was $310 million during the quarter, but that included several unexpected benefits, such as the sale of Zimbra and the beginning of reimbursement payments from Microsoft under the terms of the search deal finalized in February. Excluding those items, Yahoo’s earnings per share during the quarter were still 15 cents, ahead of estimates of 11 cents. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz agrees—”Large advertisers came back,” she said in the conference call. She also said they finally recovered—well, stabilized—from the decline in their stocks that began when the deal was announced in July. CNET also reports on the long-term benefits of the deal vs. the short-term gains: Yahoo provided some clarity during the earnings call on how the Microsoft deal will affect its bottom line this year. The company saw a one-time benefit during the quarter of about $43 million related to transition costs, but will also see cost reimbursements from Microsoft for continuing to operate Yahoo’s back-end search organization during the transition, said Tim Morse, Yahoo’s chief financial officer. These operating cost reimbursements totaled just $35 million in the first quarter, but are expected to fall between $75 million and $85 million a quarter over the remainder of the year, he said. What do you think? Will Bingahoo save Yahoo? Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community

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Yahoo Earnings Up On Search Deal Hopes

One of the latest rumors that is swirling around Google and its continued efforts to expand into just about everything, is suggesting that the search giant is eyeing ITA Software. The company that is based in Cambridge, MA could be asking in the $1 billion range. Not bad for a company that most have never heard of. Of course, when you learn what they do you can see where the value lies. Bloomberg BusinessWeek tells us more Google Inc. is in talks to acquire ITA Software Inc., a maker of travel programs used by companies including Orbitz Worldwide Inc. and Microsoft Corp., three people familiar with the matter said. ITA Software, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, may seek about $1 billion, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions haven’t been made public. The talks may not lead to a transaction, said the people. With tools that help users find flight information online, ITA Software may help Google compete with travel-search features offered by Microsoft. The companies are tussling for share in the U.S. market for online travel, which generated $88.4 billion in sales last year, according to Sherman, Connecticut travel consulting firm PhoCusWright Inc. Those on the ITA side of the fence that include General Catalyst Partners and Sequoia Capital are not talking. What that means is anyone’s guess but the folks at ITA are staying mum as well. The wisdom behind such an acquisition by Google is that there may be concern that search market share is being lost to Microsoft because of bing’s travel search capabilities. While nothing was stated about margins etc, one would figure that any industry generating $88 billion in sales is going to make Google take notice. Once Google takes notice these days it seems like their next move is to take over as well. And hey, what better way to rain on Microsoft’s advantage than to buy the company that is powering the back end of Microsoft’s offering?! Classic Google. Even if they weren’t making money from the search angle they would still get some MS bucks through fees and licensing. Even more interesting is if this went through and Microsoft decided they needed to do something different it would be a huge hassle to Microsoft. Just that kind of business disruption to a major competitor alone may be worth Google’s investment. This is purely rumor at this point but as they say “Where there’s smoke there’s fire”. Maybe that phrase should be changed to “Where there’s money, there’s Google”.

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Google Eyeing Travel Software Maker?

In what is largely just a name change with a few new twists, Google has changed its Local Business Center to Google Places. It makes sense considering that an actual business listing in the Local Business Center was called a place page then why not clean things up a little, right? Search Engine Land Reports Google has decided to change the name of what was called the “Google Local Business Center” to “Google Places.” The rationale, according to the press release, is to better connect Google Place Pages with the place where local business information is claimed, entered and enhanced: Why? Millions of people use Google every day to find places in the real world, and we want to better connect Place Pages – the way that businesses are being found today – with the tool that enables business owners to manage their presence on Google. This video gives one of Google’s quick overviews of Google Places. Google continues to push the local aspect of search as the mobile Internet increases in scope and there is the realization that while we believe that we live in a more global setting we still actually live locally. Even when we are traveling to another area of the country (or the world for that matter) we now become a “local” as far as searching for goods and services is concerned. It’s almost as if the world was so enamored with being to see the rest of the world through the Internet that we forgot that we are local people and consumers by default. Some other information of interest is that if you live in Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Boulder, San Francisco you can now join the test cities of San Jose, CA and Houston, TX in getting a Tag for your listing (formerly known as an Enhanced Listing) for $25 per month. Also, if you are in the right city you can have interior pictures of your business taken by Google . You can apply for this option but there are no guarantees. Lastly, as part of this announcement Google gave some data that should be of interest to those who already care or should care about their local listing in Google. More than 4 million business listings on Google claimed by business owners (using the Local Business Center, now Google Places) Nearly 2 million listings have been claimed in the United States 20% of searches on Google are related to location There are 50 million Place Pages Place Pages are viewed millions of times each day We have mailed out Favorite Places window decals to around 200,000 businesses around the United States So while most of the change that is being announced by Google is around the name its really just another reason for Google to tell all of us that local search is the real deal. Google has pushed other services hard in the past but the amount of local and mobile announcements over the past six months clearly spells out Google’s commitment to this side of the search world. Is it because it will make your life better? Sure! Oh, and it should make boatloads of cash which will make some folks at other search engines scratch their heads even more.

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Google Local Business Center Now Google Places

Google is at it again. They are making the world a better place by helping everyone do everything at a faster pace and now helping us with difficult spelling issues that names can create. The latest improvements in Google search are designed to help search happen with fewer keystrokes. Among them is the further localization of Google search suggest. The Offiical Google blog tells us. Last year we launched localized Google Suggest by country, offering relevant popular search queries tailored for different regions. However, just as people in the U.K. often look for different things than people in U.S., we’ve found that people in Seattle tend to look for different things than people in Dallas. So last week, we rolled out a version of Google Suggest that is tailored to specific metro areas in the U.S. Here is a picture of how this search may play out. Of course, if you were really searching for Bart Simpson or your business contact Bart Smith this could be a bit annoying. As for clearing up the issue of not being able to spell names accurately Google is helping searchers there as well. By attaching more descriptive information to a name search to help people sift through the many different search results that could come up around names. In particular this is designed to help with names that have many possible misspellings. Google tells us more. Our new technology is based on the concept that people often know something else about the person besides the approximate spelling of his name. People often include other terms such as “composer” or “lawyer sparta wisconsin” in their search query, which provides valuable context to help us narrow the range of possibilities for the spelling correction. We use these additional descriptive words to offer you better suggestions. Some examples: [matthew devin oracle], [yuri lehner stanford], [simon tung machine learning]. With these improvements you’ll start seeing more useful spell corrections for names. For now this enhancement is available in our English spelling system in the U.S. We’ll be rolling out the change to other parts of the world and other languages in the coming months. The last enhancement announced by Google is that now correct spellings in the vein of “Did you mean?” are being presented in 31 languages. I can see the benefits of all of these options. I don’t know about you, but I also get a little creeped out by them. If Google continues to try to “read our minds” and anticipate our intentions what will happen to folks in the future who never had the time to develop their own abilities without Google in the world? Will this produce someone who becomes so dependent on technology to “do the thinking” or will they simply be better and more advanced more quickly? Since most people seek the easy way out for things I suspect Google’s ability to “finish our thoughts” will have very mixed results in making people more effective. Maybe that’s Google’s motive so that folks become SO dependent on them that they can’t function well otherwise. That kind of dependence on any system could go a long way toward making advertisers happy because then their audience is truly captive. Creepy.

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Google Announces More Search Improvements