Search Engine Optimizer

Google Launches Pay Per Action Ads

2007-03-22T19:37:00.000+05:30

Google announced a limited U.S. only beta for a new service they are calling Pay Per Action ads. Google Pay Per Action will allow advertisers to create ads that cost only when a desired action is triggered. The advertiser sets the price per action; for example, an advertiser can decide to pay $5 per lead acquisition, as opposed to paying per click or per impression.

These Pay Per Action ads are available to a limited number of AdSense publishers. Publishers will be able to select which Pay Per Action ads they would like to display on their content sites. A publisher accepted into the beta can choose to display all pay per action ads, or select to show keyword specific ads or select a specific ad from a specific advertiser. To do so, the publisher will have to login to their AdSense accounts, go to the referrals section and select other referrals from the options.

Wordtracker launches free keyword suggestion tool

2007-01-31T09:28:00.000+05:30

Wordtracker has launched a free keyword suggestion tool to help website owners and managers optimize their websites so that they appear higher in search engine results.

The free tool is available at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com and gives webmasters up to 100 keywords a time.

Keyword research is an essential first step in any online marketing activity and the new tool from Wordtracker has been designed to allow webmasters to quickly, and easily, brainstorm initial keyword ideas. This handy reference tool is suitable for boosting organic search performance and getting a better return on investment (ROI) from pay-per-click campaigns(PPC).

“Keywords are simply the words people use when they search. Incorporate those words into your website copy and your position in search engines results will rise – often dramatically – and that means more sales online.” Mike Mindel, CTO and co founder of Wordtracker.

“There is a gap in the market for this type of tool and as Wordtracker provides the most popular paid-for keyword service on the web it made sense to create this service.” Mindel continued.

“Our strength has always been providing in-depth analysis that allows marketers to get to understand customer behaviour online. We’re confident that once people see the benefits of initial keyword research, they will realise that this is a profitable marketing resource that they simply can’t do without.” He added.

Google TV 'hoax' gets viewers clicking

2007-01-31T09:26:00.000+05:30

A video purporting to show users how to become a tester for a forthcoming TV service to be launched by Google has split the web over claims it is a hoax.

A clip posted to YouTube by tech tutorial channel Infinite Solutions on Friday told viewers they could access high-quality US network TV shows as part of a private test by repeatedly logging in and out of Gmail. Cynical net stalwarts immediately mocked the suggestion that the search giant would employ such arcane beta test methods. But others countered with blog posts and video responses to claim they had indeed successfully found Google TV by following the instructions.

Tutorial host Mark Erickson has posted previous tongue-in-cheek instructional videos, one suggesting users can extend their WiFi range by wrapping their Ethernet cable around a mobile phone.

Many Google watchers have said the latest episode is a hoax because no DNS entry exists for the address given by Erickson, tv.google.com. It would also buck the trend of previous Google beta tests; Gmail was made available via invitation, for example.

If fake, the video would represent not just a grand hoax but a testing of the response to any future possible such launch from Google. It is also a lesson in viral communication for many marketers.

The clip was viewed more than 100,000 times over the weekend, causing thousands of people to log in and out of their email accounts, some hundreds of times, in a desperate attempt to access the service.

Google, Intuit Team Up Against Microsoft

2006-09-16T14:27:00.000+05:30

Google just upped the ante in its desktop challenge to Microsoft. The Web search leader hammered out a deal to include various Google tools in a new version of Intuit's QuickBooks small business accounting software. The partnership represents one of Google's most aggressive moves into PC desktop software, the market dominated by Microsoft.

By teaming with Intuit, Google could get access to the 1.5 million small businesses Intuit expects will buy or upgrade to QuickBooks 2007 when it ships this fall. The new software package will include Google's AdWords Find out what Google Checkout can do for your online business. for creating Internet text ads tied to search keywords.

The software will include other tools both companies hope small businesses will find invaluable. It will let businesses list contact information in Google Maps and introduce products into Google search results through Google Base. "QuickBooks has millions of small businesses, and this is the fastest way to get millions of new advertisers into these online networks," Google CEO Eric Schmidt says.

Google Checkout Launched

2006-06-29T19:16:00.000+05:30

Google Inc today announced the launch of Google Checkout, a checkout process that makes online shopping faster, more convenient and more secure for Google users. Google Checkout offers an easy and trusted checkout option that enables shoppers to purchase from participating stores with a single Google login. It also works with Google's search advertising program, AdWords, to help merchants acquire new customers and process all or a portion of their Checkout sales for free.

Broadcasting with Google talk

2006-05-03T08:16:00.000+05:30

After that Google Talk is launched a lot of tips are coming, and here is a very cool one, how to broadcast with Google talk !

If you have a mic plugged in, unplug it
Double click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner. This will open up "Volume Control". Select "Options" and then "Properties". Then check the button next to "Recording" then click OK. You may also have to change your setting under Mixer Device.
Now the Recording Control screen should be up. On my computer I selected "Wave Out Mix"
Finally, you might just need to play around as each PC is going to be a little different. The best way to get it to work if you're having trouble is to call a friend on your messenger and simply play around with the settings until they hear music or you see the microphone equalizer moving around in the chat window on your end
It works fine with one user, but when calling another friend it makes the second call on holds.

Online Ad Revenues Grow for Third Straight Year

2006-05-01T16:13:00.000+05:30

U.S. online advertising revenues grew for a third consecutive year as keyword ads targeted to specific search queries continued to dominate, an industry group said Thursday.

Online advertising set a new record of US$12.5 billion last year, a 30 percent increase from the previous high of $9.63 billion in 2004.

Search remained the largest generator of revenues, accounting for $5.1 billion, or 41 percent, of the 2005 figures. That's slightly higher than the 39 percent share in 2004.

Internet ads also set a record for the fourth quarter, with revenues totaling $3.6 billion, a 34 percent jump from the same period in 2004 and 15 percent more than the previous record of $3.1 billion, set in the third quarter of 2005.

EBay Auctioned Dmoz Editorship

2005-10-19T08:29:00.000+05:30

For long time there was a lot of speculation going on about the corruption of dmoz editors, but its first open example came on 18th Oct when a dmoz editor auctions his editorship of a dmoz category having a PR of 5. Ebay finally removed the thread after receiving lot of complaints regarding the same. But by the time thread was removed the bidding has touched $850.

Finally no doubt that getting in dmoz donnt means ur site need to be good and u should write meaningful descriptions, more than that one must have budget to bribe dmoz editors. Google still in its algorithm gives high weightage to dmoz and it seriously need to give a thought on that.

Some interesting points mentioned in the posting at EBay were...

8. What category is this editorship?
I'm sorry but you are bidding on a blind category with a Page Rank 5. If I mentioned which category it was for before receiving the money, the editorship might be revoked. Obviously it's not mortgages, adult, or gambling or I wouldn't be selling the editorship. However, it is a niche that has profitable keywords.

9. Can I make money as a DMOZ editor?
People understand that the DMOZ is corrupt and will often attempt to bribe you. When you are with a corporate client, you can easily charge $1,000 or more for a DMOZ listing. It is both that important and extremely difficult to get listed.

11. If a DMOZ editorship is so great, why are you selling it?
I own 3 category editorships with different logins. I’m only selling one of them.

Google Map Creates Tension In India

2005-10-18T08:34:00.000+05:30

Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam expressed concern Saturday about a free mapping program from Google, warning it could help terrorists by providing satellite photos of potential targets. Google Earth, an Internet site launched in June this year, allows users to access overlapping satellite photos.

Google Trust Rank

2005-10-11T00:17:00.000+05:30

Trust rank, a new technology Google search engine creates that makes searches more accurate and reliable. The new tool is being developed to replace the Google Page Rank technology, apparently due to be phased out soon. To get to grips with this change, let's get clued up on how Google.com employs its advanced search technology in order to provide information such as Page Rank and Trust Rank.

Page Rank Explained - the Google Page Rank uses a very complex technology capable of combining information of a wide link structure in the web with text-match techniques in order to bring results that match exactly what the user searches. The Page Rank algorithm is complex, but there can be said that the net result is based on the number of pages linked to your page. The Page Rank Google interprets each link leading to a specific page as a vote. Not only the number vote is evaluated but also the importance (Page Rank) of pages' count, so important pages make too other pages more important.

Trust Rank - the only problem about the Google Page Rank system is that it allows creation of some deluding webpages, created with the sole purpose of pointing to a single target page, to force a Page Rank increase somehow. Yet, some pages present several keywords hidden as invisible text, to appear earlier in query results. Based on such facts, the Trust Rank system will separate sites into two different groups: Trusted and Un-trusted. Google will also tag sites that employ any form of spam technique. As it would be completely impossible to review all content, Google will manually look at clusters, and then, tag sites that use some kind of spam techniques. Other sites that link to tagged sites will be punished as well. Whereas pages that steer clear from spam will be marked as trusted. Trusted sites linking to other trusted sites will increase their importance to Google, accordingly.

Whichever way Google will present the Trust Rank system or whether it will be visible on the Google Toolbar is yet to be known, but webmasters expect Google to give further information soon.

Google Print Sued

2005-09-24T17:55:00.000+05:30

The Authors Guild suit is the first actual legal action taken against the Google Library program. By seeking to have the complaint recognized as a class action, the Guild leaves open the possibility that other publishing groups and thousands of individual writers could join the case.

The Authors Guild suit is the first actual legal action taken against the Google Library program. By seeking to have the complaint recognized as a class action, the Guild leaves open the possibility that other publishing groups and thousands of individual writers could join the case.

Google Starts Offering Print Ads

2005-09-10T08:25:00.000+05:30

Google is raising eyebrows by probing for opportunities outside the digital world for the first time ever, announcing it would conduct a test of a program to re-sell print advertising space to customers of its online marketing programs.

Google has purchased space in next week's issues of PC Magazine and Maximum PC magazine with the intention of re-selling that space to its online customers. The move marks the first time that Google ads will appear anywhere but online.

Speculation in the advertising industry was that Google may experiment with various payment options for the print space, possibly auctioning it off the way it lets marketers bid on keyword placements or attempting to translate the pay-per-click-through model that works well online by pricing ads based on the number of visits to a certain Web URL or calls to a specific phone number they generate.

Google Current (TV Channel By Google)

2005-08-23T16:07:00.000+05:30

A new Television Channel called Current TV has tied up with Google. According to the firm, the first contents of 'Curren TV' will be a 'Google Current' segment. 'Google Current' reflects the immediate needs and interests of young people, offering easily digestible 30-second to three-minute segments. The subject matter is culled from what the world is searching for right now on Google, with the most popular searches on the site forming the basis of news stories.

'Google Current' is to be broadcasted twice an hour (see distribution), together with contents devoted to business, music, art or Internet, and some minutes of 'Current Studio', the attempt to build a community of people sharing their video files.

Chinese Firms Tapped By Google For Selling Ads

2005-08-20T22:34:00.000+05:30

Google stepped up the pace of its expansion in China -- and competition with new stock-market star Baidu.com, by tapping three Chinese companies to sell advertisements for its China site.

Google named China Enterprise, China Source and Hotsales authorized resellers for Google AdWords on Tuesday, adding China to the roster of locales, including the United States, Britain and Latin America, where it has reseller programs.

The search advertising market in China remains small, attracting total ad revenue of just $148 million in 2004, according to iResearch of Shanghai. But strong growth in online advertising more broadly has buoyed Internet portals like Sina and Sohu.com and hinted at the promise of the fast-growing, enormous marketplace.

Yahoo Investing $1 Billion in Alibaba.com

2005-08-13T13:50:00.000+05:30

Yahoo has said it will invest US$1 billion in China-based e-commerce company Alibaba.com, targeting a market exploding with growth and ripe with new opportunities. In exchange, Yahoo will take a 40 percent equity stake in Alibaba and have 35 percent of all voting shares.

China Search Engine Breaks All Records

2005-08-10T16:09:00.000+05:30

In one of the most startling flashbacks to the dot-com bubble yet, investors Friday piled into shares of Chinese Internet search engine Baidu and sent shares up US$95.54, or 354 percent, to $122.54. In just one day, shares of Baidu rose more than Google has gained in the year since it went public.

The biggest since the tech bubble burst, according to Thomson Financial. An IPO hasn't gained that much in its first day of trading since Selectica soared 371 percent in its debut on March 9, 2000, the day before the Nasdaq peaked.

Google Accused Of Overbilling

2005-08-10T13:10:00.000+05:30

Two advertisers have filed a lawsuit against Google, saying the search giant did not live up to its promise to cap the amount of charges advertisers could incur in any given day. The suit was filed in the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County and seeks class action status.

Yahoo Eyeing Stake In Alibaba

2005-08-10T13:09:00.000+05:30

Their is a widespread romour that Yahoo would purchase a US$1 billion stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is highlighting the efforts by U.S. companies, also including eBay and Google, to get deeper into the Chinese market.

Online Ad Revenue To Touch $18.9 Billion

2005-08-10T13:01:00.000+05:30

A proof that e-commerce has come of age appeared yesterday as JupiterResearch predicted online advertising would reach US$18.9 billion by 2010 -- almost double last year's gross of $9.6 billion. Much of that revenue growth will be stoked by search engine advertising, which garnered 40 percent of online ad sales in 2004, compared to 27 percent for display and sponsorship advertising and 18 percent for classified advertising.

Amazon To Start Digital Music Download

2005-08-06T15:35:00.000+05:30

Amazon is soon set to start music download service. Although no official announcement has been made but there have been rumor and speculation about the same. It's believed that Amazon would offer both pay per song and subscription options to customers.

China Search Engine Offering IPO

2005-08-06T15:30:00.000+05:30

Baidu.com, an online search engine maker vying to become the Google of China, priced its initial public offering at US$27 per share late yesterday, cashing in on the high hopes riding on a startup with a large audience and puny profits. The IPO raised a total of $109.1 million.

Yahoo Launch Ad Placement Network

2005-08-06T00:02:00.000+05:30

Yahoo has launched a self-service ad-placement network that is designed to offer small publishers, including bloggers, access to revenue from contextually relevant advertising, a service already offered by rival Google. Yahoo said the beta version of the expanded Yahoo Publisher Network is aimed at small- and medium-sized Web sites and is currently available only to sites invited to take part. The beta is expected to run at least to the end of this year with further expansions to come.

Yahoo Tests Audio Search Feature

2005-08-05T23:57:00.000+05:30

Yahoo begin testing a new search engine feature that will pore through millions of songs offered by popular Internet music services like iTunes, Rhapsody and Napster.

The free service, available at audio.search.yahoo.com, boasts an index of more than 50 million audio files, including newscasts, speeches and interviews posted online, as well as the Internet's deepening pool of "podcasts" -- recordings made to be played on a computer or digital device like Apple Computer's iPod player.

Yahoo's new alliance comes just three months after the company set out to topple the Internet's top online music services with the introduction of a rival subscription service that allows customers to download all the songs they want for US$6.99 per month.

Google, Amazon Sued by Adult Entertainment

2005-08-02T13:56:00.000+05:30

Perfect 10's court filing states that the greater the content available through search engines, the more viewers they attract and the more advertising revenues they earn. The document claims that Google should be held responsible for direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.

MSN Shopping Search Engine

2005-07-18T18:11:00.000+05:30

MSN Shopping BETA officially launched today increasing the number of stores by 60x, the number of items by 5x, and the number of offers by millions and millions. You can access the site here. The full rollout will take place over the weekend.

The combination of great technology with a new comparison shopping engine coupled with expanded selection. [The ‘great technology’ refers to PriceGrabber as well as the comparison shopping tool that MSN Shopping built internally, which brings in the various data feeds]. Search refinements are also a huge feature. Consumers can refine the searches by relevant criteria and details and are able to sort by price, rating, popularity, names, etc. This enables them to find what they are looking for quickly and easily with confidence.

Google Song

2005-06-23T18:10:00.000+05:30

Hi guys i recently came acroos this cool google song. Check Out..

Google Online Payment System

2005-06-23T17:30:00.000+05:30

Web search leader Google is developing an online payment system but not a direct rival to eBay's PayPal, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Tuesday.
Schmidt spoke after several days of heated speculation over reports that Google was working on a potential rival to PayPal, eBay's popular online payment system.
Schmidt said Google does not intend to offer a "person-to-person stored-value payments system" like PayPal's, in which money briefly resides in PayPal's control during the transaction, but he did not give details of how the Google system would differ.
"The payment services we are working on are a natural evolution of Google's existing online products and advertising programs, which today connect millions of consumers and advertisers," Schmidt told Reuters in a brief telephone interview in which he declined to elaborate.
"We believe that e-commerce can be improved and we are working on ways to improve the user experience," Schmidt said.
The company declined to say when a product would be available.

Google Launches Personalized Home Page

2005-05-24T18:12:00.000+05:30

Google has unveiled a new service that allows people to consolidate various Google features they use, ranging from web search to email, into a personalized home page.

The new personalized home page service will no doubt make many people scream "Portal!" That's because despite the name, it is essentially a "My Google" feature, similar to the My Yahoo, My MSN and other My Whatever pages that portals created so their users could access the many features they offer.
Well, Google's already been a stealth portal as I've called it for some time, offering standard portal features such as email, search and the home pages of today, blogs. The new personalized home page is merely a visible acknowledgement of this.

But the feature is also welcomed. It makes sense for Google to offer a unified page for many of its services, and the page does this without impacting the regular Google site nor getting far away from the general Google feel at all.

Feeds: A New Channel for Search Marketing

2005-05-14T15:45:00.000+05:30

Savvy search marketers are taking advantage of an increasingly popular technology to attract traffic: RSS feeds that get picked up virtually instantaneously as they are published by specialized webfeed search engines.

RSS feeds deliver summaries of regularly changing Web content to publishers. In this session, representatives who operate major news and webfeed search engines talked about how to prepare, submit, and subscribe to the various webfeed search engines.

Source : www.searchenginewatch.com

Google buys Dodgeball.com

2005-05-14T15:40:00.000+05:30

The complete Story

As a two-person team, Alex and I have taken dodgeball about a far as we can alone. Since we finished grad school, we've been trying to figure out how to grow dodgeball and make it a better service along the way. We talked to a lot of different angel investors and venture capitalists, but no one really "got" what we were doing - that is until we met Google.
The people at Google think like us. They looked at us in a "You're two guys doing some pretty cool stuff, why not let us help you out and let's see what you can do with it" type of way. We liked that. Plus, Alex and I are both Google superfans and the people we've met so far are smart, cool and excited about what they're working on.

Yahoo Offers Free Business Websites

2005-04-25T12:13:00.000+05:30

Yahoo is expanding its Yahoo Local search service by providing a free web site to business owners that will automatically be integrated into Yahoo Local listings.

Google Launches Developer Site

2005-03-23T09:38:00.000+05:30

Google Inc. on Thursday launched a developer website that contains software tools for adding the search engine's services to web applications.

The site also includes discussion groups and links to all of Google's application programming interfaces, or APIs, which are used in developing applications that tie into Google services, such as AdWords, Blogger, Desktop Search, Gmail and web search.

Developers can get regular updates on new projects and tools on the site through any standard newsreader.

MSN Tests Shopping Search Engine

2005-03-23T09:35:00.000+05:30

MICROSOFT'S MSN SHOPPING TEAM IS quietly beta testing a shopping search site, the company confirmed on Friday. The new product--which focuses on price comparison and customer ratings--will face competition from increasingly popular shopping search engines like Shopping.com, Become.com, and Shopzilla, as well as Google's Froogle, Yahoo! Shopping, and America Online's inStore. Justin Osmer, product manager for MSN, said the beta version, available at beta.shopping.msn.com, is very much a work in progress. "Now that the MSN Search engine has launched, we can very quickly innovate on top of it and offer more unique features and services," Osmer said in a statement. MSN's search engine officially launched last month.

Yahoo's Answer To AdSense

2005-03-04T10:05:00.000+05:30

Yahoo appears to be testing out a contextual ad program for small websites, like Google's AdSense. The evidence is pretty solid; Overture ads are appearing on one well-connected blog, and Yahoo has been serving RSS ads for Boing Boing. The site ads are delivered by a JavaScript file called "ypn.js", which may refer to the Yahoo Publisher Network.

MSN Search Campaign

2005-02-26T09:54:00.000+05:30

Not content with its massive television, Internet, and radio advertising blitz to promote its newly released proprietary search engine MSN Search, MSN apparently has released a viral campaign, “MSN Found,” to promote the search site.

The ad features six fictional characters, each with their own Web log. They are Reggie, a DJ from London; Tad, a surfer from Venice Beach; Karen, a dog breeder from Sandusky, Ohio; Swing, a hotel concierge from Tokyo; Cy a security guard and conspiracy theorist from Chicago; and Denise, the owner of the new True dating service.

The viral’s main site, www.msnfound.com, collects all the blogs together, along with pictures of the authors. Each of the authors has a unique shtick.

Google Shift In Algorithm

2005-02-26T09:49:00.000+05:30

RUMORS ARE FLYING ON SEARCH engine-related message boards, forums, and Web sites that Google had done its first major algorithm change of the new year--sending some companies' natural rankings up, and wiping others out almost completely. Google would neither confirm nor deny that there was a major algorithm update, but a company spokesperson said that Google is constantly updating its algorithm to improve service.

Industry professionals, however, had little doubt that the algorithm is changing. "There's some buzz going back several weeks," said Peter Hershberg, a managing partner for New York-based search engine marketing firm Reprise Media. "Several companies have indicated that their rankings have either gotten better or worse."

According to Hershberg, the update appears to be focused on distinguishing between the quality of different links, which the algorithm generally tabulates to determine order in the organic rankings. "It would appear as though Google is making distinction of quality of links. All links are not equal, and they're giving some links more credence than others," he said. "Lots of attention is being given to site content and anchor text." Anchor text refers to the hyperlinked text that directs a user to the linked URL.

He said that the new formula appears to give more weight to sites that have content, not just sponsored links and a navigation bar. And Google apparently now evaluates the anchor text to determine if it's related to the site content, or is just the same word over and over again--in which case the site's rank would fall.

Gmail Moves To Next Stage

2005-02-23T10:06:00.000+05:30

Social networking is out and straight invitations are in at Google's free e-mail service, but the official line is that the shift does not signal an end to Gmail's beta status.

Google is giving more people the chance to sign up for Gmail, but the search giant insists the move does not signify an impending full-scale launch of the free e-mail service, which has been in beta since it launched on April 1 last year.

Yahoo To Buy Indiatimes

2005-02-22T10:21:00.000+05:30

Internet search engine Yahoo is in talks to acquire a minority stake in Indiatimes, the online operation of the privately owned Bennett Coleman Ltd, which owns the Times of India newspaper.

A senior executive at Bennett Coleman confirmed negotiations were taking place but added that the group was also talking to private equity funds. "An Internet initiative requires plenty of investment and since we hope to take our portal to the Nasdaq, we will require support," the executive said. He said negotiations could be completed within a month.

Senior Yahoo executives were in India last week to review the company's domestic operations but declined to comment on a potential investment in Indiatimes.

Internet Explorer 7 Beta

2005-02-21T11:40:00.000+05:30

Microsoft will be launching a beta version of Internet Explorer 7 this summer. The new release will only work with Windows XP SP2 and will apparently add new antispyware features.

Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox

2005-02-21T11:39:00.000+05:30

Yahoo has released a public beta of a Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox.

Google Adwords To Appear On AOL

2005-02-19T10:03:00.000+05:30

Advertisers using Google's AdWords service will now be able to appear on the search results pages of AOL Europe following a newly expanded deal between the two Internet giants. Google previously provided search results for AOL. The value of the new deal has not been disclosed but it covers AOL's network of sites in the UK, France and Germany, which between them have some 6.3m users.

N.Y. Times Buys About.com

2005-02-18T10:34:00.002+05:30

The New York Times Company reached a deal to buy About.com from Primedia for $410 million. News of the deal follows a week of rumors About .com was for sale, and coveted by The Times, along with several other bidders.

The purchase adds an alternative content model to the New York Times Company's online news properties, NYTimes.com and Boston.com. In a statement, the company said it was motivated by About's profitability and growth, and said the purchase would diversify the company's online advertising base. About.com will operate as a separate business division.

Yahoo Expansion

2005-02-17T11:04:00.000+05:30

US internet portal Yahoo is to set up its European operations headquarters in Dublin in a significant expansion of its operations in Ireland.

The move, which is being backed by IDA Ireland, will create almost 400 new jobs over five years. The activities will involve financial, web hosting and customer support.

Yahoo Firefox Toolbar

2005-02-12T09:30:00.000+05:30

Yahoo released a beta version of the Yahoo! Toolbar for the open-source Mozilla Firefox browser. The free tool, available on Thursday, adds similar functions to those available for the Internet Explorer browser.

Google Maps

2005-02-10T09:56:00.000+05:30

In its latest play in the ongoing search wars, Google on Tuesday quietly launched a beta site for a new map service.

Google Maps offers maps, driving directions and the ability to search for local businesses. The search giant appears to be working with TeleAtlas for the mapping products.

Answers.com

2005-02-10T09:55:00.000+05:30

Since last month, Google has been gradually switching over its search term definition links to GuruNet's Answers.com site from Google's old standby, Dictionary.com. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning, GuruNet CEO Robert Rosenschein said Google's transition to Answers.com was complete.

"It now appears we're getting all of that traffic and Dictionary.com is getting none," Rosenschein said.

Dictionary.com is owned and operated by Lexico Publishing Group, a privately held company in Los Angeles. Lexico issued Google a free, nonexclusive license to link to its dictionary definitions in April 2000.

MSN Search

2005-02-08T10:15:00.000+05:30

MSN launched its new Search in India, the first-ever search engine built from the ground up by Microsoft. MSN Search will help consumers search more quickly and get precise answers. Now available in 25 markets and 10 languages, the new MSN Search service delivers better results in one click. A collection of tools gives people greater control in targeting and refining searches to get instant, accurate answers to specific questions.

MSN India today unveiled top Searches by Indians at an event attended by celebrity author and columnist Shobhaa De and co-hosted by popular radio jockey and television anchor Anish Trivedi. Shobhaa De and Anish Trivedi revealed the top searches made by Indians across the globe. The event also saw a recording of Megastar Shahrukh Khan receiving his award for "MSN Search Personality of the Year- 2004".

Y!Q Contextual Search Tool

2005-02-04T10:00:00.000+05:30

Yahoo has rolled out a nifty new tool that lets you use content you're viewing as the basis of a search query, providing results that are difficult to get otherwise without using advanced search commands.

The new tool, called simply Y!Q, lets you use all or part of a web page you're viewing as the source of a search query. Simply highlight relevant portions of text on the page and run a "related search," and Y!Q analyzes the page, extracts the most relevant concepts and uses those as inputs.

Google Domain Registrar

2005-02-02T11:39:00.000+05:30

Google is now an ICANN-accredited registrar of domain names, providing it with yet another potential line of expansion. The fast-growing search provider is approved to sell names in seven top-level domains (TLDs) including .com, .net, .org, .biz., info, .name and .pro.
Google's registrar status, first noted by LexText, is likely to prompt speculation about its ambitions in web hosting and blogging. Google operates Blogger, the free blog hosting service with a huge user base. Cheap or free domain names could prove useful to Google in the notoriously price-sensitive blog hosting sector, where most bloggers use subdomains (i.e. myblog.bloghost.com) rather than full domain names (www.myblog.com).

MSN Search Online

2005-02-01T13:33:00.000+05:30

It's official. Nearly two years after announcing it would develop its own search technology, MSN Search began feeding the general public results found through its own internally developed search engine. The rollout has happened worldwide, including on the main MSN Search Site.

Web’s Biggest Search Engine

2005-01-31T10:11:00.000+05:30

The Web’s Biggest search engine (www.websbiggest.com) claims to search more websites than any other search engine. The wiki-based search engine also lets individual searchers modify everyones’ search results.

In a recent study done by the company, “Other search engines missed from a third to more than half of the websites in the Web’s Biggest search results,” according to company spokesperson Adam Radly. The company has even set up a random search page at http://www.websbiggest.com/randomsearch.html so the public can verify their claims.

Yahoo New Service

2005-01-29T15:02:00.000+05:30

Yahoo began offering on Thursday a new tool that allows users of its local search service to send restaurant or business information in the form of a text message from a computer to a mobile phone.

Yahoo said its new service is available across all the major wireless carriers at no charge for consumers. However, wireless carriers may charge fees for receiving text messages on a mobile handset.

Google Telephony Service

2005-01-29T10:36:00.000+05:30

Google, the company which revolutionised the internet, is planning to launch a free telephone service.
The service will link users via a broadband internet connection using a headset and a home computer.

Voice Search Engine

2005-01-29T10:32:00.000+05:30

A British company has launched a technology preview of a search engine which can read out search results.
Speegle can play back search results as an audio stream, using one of three different voices and several verbosity levels.
The firm, CEC Systems of Edinburgh, says it has applied for a patent for the technology used. The company uses PanaVox Speak Perfect technology on e-commerce sites.

2004-04-28T18:33:00.000+05:30

You can find out more search engine optimization related blogs here
Blogarama

2004-03-06T11:46:00.000+05:30

Hi friends, Web promotion is a very important concept in order to bring traffic to your webpage. There is no use of having a website untill and unless it is promoted effeciently. Search Engine optimization helps in making your web presence and certainly brings traffic to your webpage.