TechCrunch reports that Google is testing integrating results from its shopping search engine (formerly known as Froogle) with its regular search engine results. The upshot is that when you search on a given search phrase, you may see a few shopping results squeezed in between traditional search results.

Now TechCrunch’s article is based on tips it’s received, and it’s not apparent whether, if true, the integration is confined to U.S. search results… or whether Google is just conducting a small test…

But if true - and total integration between Google’s shopping and regular search engines is on Google’s agenda - it might be a good idea for YOU to get listed in Google shopping search engine sooner rather than later…

Source: Robin Wauters, “Google Starts Blending Web And Shopping Search Results Again,” December 15, 2008

If Michael Arrington from TechCrunch is right, Google’s iPhone voice recognition application should hit Apple’s iTunes store today. (Apparently there was a misunderstanding between Google and Apple that created the widespread belief that the free application would be available last Friday…)

In any case, Google’s technology is pretty neat. Basically, it enables iPhone users to generate Google search results based on a question they ask into the phone. The sound is converted into a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which attempt to decipher the words spoken, and then send them to Google’s search engine.

Using some of the iPhone’s features, the technology will also take into account the user’s location to generate localized search results.

Source: Michael Arrington, “Update On Google iPhone Voice Recognition App: Look For It On Monday”, TechCrunch, November 16, 2008

Search engine optimizers have long recommended that webmasters submit their sites to authoritative directories such as Yahoo in order to get valuable backlinks. But a glaring deletion in Google’s Webmaster Guidelines indicates that Google may no longer favor links from directories.

Brian Ussery reports that the following bullet points have been removed from Google’s U.S. Webmaster Guidelines Webmaster Help Center:

• “Have other relevant sites link to yours.”
• “Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.”

Hmmm… another search engine optimization (SEO) game changer?

Source: Brian Ussery, “Google No Longer Suggests Directory Submission”, Beussery.com, October 2, 2008

Frank Watson, writing in Search Engine Watch, reckons the real threat to Google may not come from Yahoo, Microsoft, or indeed any other search engine. Instead it may come from social media.

“People are starting to move away from being satisfied with search results,” writes Mr Watson. “They’re starting to develop trust groups with social bookmarking tools and other community or social networks. If this behavior continues, we may see a change in the way the majority of people use the Web.”

Watson seems to be saying that as more people use social media… and as more advertisers follow people onto social media… search engines will lose their pre-eminence, if not relevance.

Hmmm… I dunno. While I appreciate the rising popularity of social media, I don’t see it happening at the expense of the search engines. What may emerge is a kind of morphing of the two - where search results are more informed by social media.
But that’s kind of happening already, isn’t it? At least to the extent that the search engines seem to favor social media results in the organic search engine results.

As for social media advertising displacing search advertising… I don’t see that happening any time soon. Not among direct response advertisers anyway. Nothing yields an advertising return on investment (ROI) quite so high as advertising your product to people who are specifically looking for that product.

So unless social media can start delivering a direct response kind of ROI, it won’t beat Google or the other search engines on the advertising front either.

All the same, I think Watson is on to something. A Google beater may well emerge from social media or ‘Web 2.0′… and it may not be anything we’ve seen yet.

Source: Frank Watson, “Could Social Media Be the Google Killer?” Search Engine Watch, Sep 19, 2008

According to comScore, Google’s share of search engine usage rose to 63 percent in August. This compares to 61.9 percent in July.

Not surprisingly, Google took share as Yahoo and Microsoft lost share. Yahoo’s share of search dropped from 20.5 percent in July to 19.6 percent in August. Microsoft’s share dropped from 8.9 percent in July to 8.3 percent in August.

Source: Peter Kafka, “comScore August Report Card: Google Gaining, Of Course”, September 18, 2008

Finnish blogger Timo Paloheimo, has launched a nifty little service “Google Minus Google” that allows you to search Google without getting results from Google owned websites (e.g. YouTube, Knol, Blogger, etc).

You can try it out here: Google Minus Google

What’s even more interesting to me is how simple, yet effective Timo’s initiative has been in generating publicity for himself. Apparently he attracted 3,000 visitors on introducing the service.

Smart marketing. Now can he make it pay?

Source: Nathania Johnson, “Introducing Google Without All the Google”, Search Engine Watch, August 19, 2008, Google Minus Google

Search Engine Watch reports that, according to analytics firm Covario, Yahoo ate into some of Google’s share of the paid search market in the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. Meanwhile, spending on paid search as a whole dropped from 52 percent to 43 percent in the same period.

Do we just take Covario’s word for it? Neither the Search Engine Watch article nor Covario actually tell us how much share Yahoo nabbed from Google. However, the finding IS consistent with AdGooroo’s claim that Google’s share of paid search slipped, while Yahoo’s marginally increased last quarter.

Source: Nathania Johnson, “Yahoo Snags Search Ad Marketshare Gain at Google’s Expense”, Search Engine Watch, August 11, 2008

Google has introduced another new, nifty tool, “Google Insights For Search” to help marketers understand trends in search behavior.

Based on Google search engine data from as far back as 2004, Insights For Search enables you to, for example, track the popularity (on a scale of 0 to 100) of keywords according to industry category, geographic region, and time period. There’s also a heat map which indicates the level of regional interest for the given search term.

Helpfully, you can also export data generated from the tool into a spreadsheet for further analysis. Give it a whirl:

==> Google Insights For Search

Monday July 28 saw the release of Cuil (pronounced “cool”), a new search engine launched by a group of ex-Google employees including Anna Patterson and her husband Tim Costello.

According to Cuil’s founders, Cuil is more comprehensive - with an index of 120 billion web pages, more than any other search engine - and delivers more relevant search results than Google’s search engine.

Despite the pedigree of Cuil’s founders and team, many commentators - myself included - were rather unimpressed when giving Cuil a spin. I found it slow, the layout confusing (no clear order and a strange use of images alongside unrelated webpages) and the results to be less relevant than those generated by Google.

It also lacks any kind of unique selling point. As an up and coming search engine it has nothing like the “wow” factor of, say, SearchMe and isn’t based on any markedly different technology as is Powerset (which uses semantic or “natural language” technology).

Rather it’s main selling proposition seems to hinge on being better than Google i.e “we’re bigger and more relevant, therefore we’re better”. Yet, as Google has indicated, bigger is not necessarily better (given all the crap on the Internet!) and Cuil has a way to go before it delivers more relevant search results.

Of course, it’s early days and Cuil may still become cool. Who knows, Microsoft might buy it.

Sources: Miguel Helft, “Former Employees of Google Prepare Rival Search Engine”, The New York Times, July 28, 2008, Frederic Lardinois, “Cuil: Good, But Not Great”, Read Write Web, July 28, 2008, Michael Arrington, “Google Beats Cuil Hands Down In Size And Relevance, But That Isn’t The Whole Story”, July 27, 2008

For anyone using or planning to Google’s keyword tool to select keywords for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes: DON’T.

In a recent blog post, Michael Van De Mar points out that Google’s Keyword Tool External (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) is designed to help people select appropriate keywords to target for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising purposes, but the keywords generated do NOT necessarily reflect what keywords people are searching on in general.

He drew this conclusion after optimizing his webpages for the words suggested by the Google tool. Indeed, he achieved high rankings in the natural search engine listings on both Yahoo and Google, but got minimal clicks. His conclusion: Google’s keyword tool may indicate which keywords are worth targeting for PPC purposes, but NOT for SEO purposes.

The reasons? Firstly, the words generated by Google’s Keyword Tool External are based on data on Google’s search network, which includes everything from Ask.com to parked webpages, not on what people are searching on using the Google search engine, much less any other search engine. Secondly the keyword tool gives worldwide, not regional, numbers.

I agree with Mr Van De Mar. I don’t recommend using Google’s keyword tool for choosing keywords for which to optimize your webpages. Certainly not when there are better tools available, such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery. However, the tool CAN be useful for REFINING your SEO strategy. For example, if you know what keywords are being highly contested (indicated by high bid prices) that’s a sign that there is value in those keywords.

Source: Michael Van De Mar, “Why The Google Keyword Tool Is Useless For SEO, Even With Exact Numbers”, Smackdown, July 15, 2008