Cup of Joe: You Aren’t a Drunk Monkey, So Don’t Act Like One!

The other day I clicked a link on Twitter to a blog post everyone was talking about. I did like everyone else and read the post and then left a snarky comment. But then unlike most everyone else, I right clicked the margin and selected “view source”. Why did I do that? I am [...]

Anchor Weighs in on Click Fraud

I. Am. Hilarious. Anchor Intelligence has just released its Q3 09 click fraud data—and it’s down, contrary to what Click Forensics reported for the same period. Anchor saw worldwide click fraud drop almost four percentage points from Q2, to 23.2% of all clicks in Q3. Interestingly, Anchor found that malicious, “attempted” click fraud had fallen off [...]

Facebook Changes Privacy Policy

Two months ago, Facebook responded to Canada’s inquiry into the privacy practices of the most popular social network in the world. The (somewhat surprising) result was Facebook changing the way that third-party apps could access users’ personal information and how long they retained user data. And now those changes are going live. With the info in [...]

TopRank’s SEO Halloween Costume Contest

The TopRank team loves to have fun – for holidays, on team outings, at conferences, etc. Because tomorrow is Halloween, members of the TopRank team decided to dress up for a costume contest. And it’s up to you to decide the winner! Please vote on your favorite costume below.             Subscribe to this Feed © Online Marketing Blog, [...]

Washington Post Co. Posts a 69% Increase in Profits

I am still rubbing my eyes to see if this is one of those sleep-deprived, delusional, mirage type things that can play tricks with you. Nope, it’s real but you don’t need to peel back too many layers on this one to see that the newspaper side of the Washington Post Co.’s business is actually [...]

Google Feeds Its Spiders

Just in time for Halloween, Google has given us a chance to put together a very timely and pithy headline (although I have to give credit where credit is due â€" hat tip to Andy). So how exactly is Google doing this and what the heck does it mean? In a nutshell, it’s a way [...]

Are There a Lot of Dumb People Using Google?

Google is always testing and tweaking its search interface. More recently, the search engine has tested a minimalist homepage design. Well, apparently that homepage might be a little too simple for the search-challenged, as the latest version adds the rather obvious “Press Enter to Search” text. I know that I’m not representative of the average search user, [...]

5 Basic Tips for Video Optimization

If you’re attempting to improve search rankings for your web pages, these days it’s no longer an option not to optimize digital assets. With search engines incorporating video, images and news into standard search results, marketers have the opportunity to achieve increased visibility by implementing video SEO principles. These 5 basic tips for video SEO are [...]

Facebook Continues to Can Spam

As far as Internet business goes it would be hard to imagine someone having a worse year than Sanford Wallace. Who you ask? Mr. Wallace is the Spam King who had a judgment made against him last year in a suit filed by MySpace for $234 million. Now add Facebook to the list of people [...]

StumbleUpon Updates Design Again (Abandoning Social Search?)

Earlier this month, StumbleUpon started showcasing their new homepage design, when they touted their “Google + Twitter” social search. Now they’ve gone through the rest of the site to make it more consistent (less customizable), easy to understand and streamlined. Read Write Web reports: The new interface is streamlined and more social with an updated relationship system. [...]

Google Chrome: Copyright Infringer?

Sometimes, when you have a really good idea, you have this irrepressible urge to do something crazy with it. Like register it with the government. And then, when other companies independently develop similar ideas, you protect that registration by suing the pants off those other companies. It is, after all, the American way. And it’s what [...]

5 Basic Tips for Video SEO

If you’re attempting to improve search rankings for your web pages, these days it’s no longer an option not to optimize digital assets. With search engines incorporating video, images and news into standard search results, marketers have the opportunity to achieve increased visibility by implementing video SEO principles. These 5 basic tips for video SEO are [...]

Google Fires Back Over AT&T’s Call Blocking Claims

While it remains unclear whether Google Voice should be treated the same way as other telecom companies, the search giant isn’t taking any chances with the rather unpleasant probing it’s receiving from the Federal Communications Commission. Thanks in part to the finger-pointing of AT&T, Google has to answer the accusations that it does not connect [...]

Defamatory Tweet Costs NFL Player $600,000

You’re already careful about what you say on Twitter, right? I mean, you read my advice on reputation management, so you know not to go around tweeting defamatory tweets in the name of "fun." Right? Good, then I never have to worry about you getting in as much trouble as Larry Johnson of the Kansas City Chiefs. [...]

Google Hits a High Note with New Music Onebox

What’s the name of that song? You know the one. They play it a lot at NC State football games? C’mon, you know it. "Boom, here comes the boom…." No? Forget it! I’ll Google it instead! Yes, that’s it! And, pretty soon, you’ll never have problems finding a song, artist, or album again–thanks to a new "Discover Music" onebox [...]

Bingahoo Delayed a Month or Two (or More)?

For all of the drama and the back and forth of the Microsoft and Yahoo courtship from the summer it’s almost laughable to learn that the two still don’t have all the details ironed out yet. The deal that was originally supposed to be signed off on October 27th isn’t quite ready for the super [...]

China Accuses Google of Censorship (Seriously)

Google wants a book deal. And no, not so it can spill all the secrets of the Internet, but so they can offer electronic versions of books. But their proposed settlement faced so much opposition that they had to drop it, although they’re still pursuing other avenues. Aside from Yahoo and Microsoft, authors also challenged [...]

Yahoo’s Time on Homepage Up 20% Since Redesign

Back in July, Yahoo premiered the latest version of their homepage. The two biggest differences were the ability to personalize apps to add content to the homepage, and ditching dozens of links to less popular Yahoo services. And after three months, Yahoo’s ready to report their progress: time spent on their homepage is up 20%. Speaking [...]

Verizon and iPhone in 2010?

It’s a slow news day so we’ll just enter into the realm of ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybe, kinda, sortas’ for a minute and imagine a world without barriers. Sounds nice doesn’t it? Imagine a place where you would be able to have the best possible smart phone device for you personally regardless of who your [...]

Google Wins Over the City of Angels

Google went a long way toward answering the naysayers of their Google Apps offering. How you ask? By winning a contract to provide e-mail and other Internet services to the City of Los Angeles. Nice get. While winning a contract is just the first step in proving that Google is a serious threat to the stronghold [...]

Google’s At It Again: Releases Diluted Challenger to GazoPa

Tell me if you spot any similarities between these two announcements: We’re pleased to announce you that GazoPa enters open beta today. GazoPa is a next generation image search engine that uses image features such as color and shape to search for similar images. And… Today, we’re happy to announce that Similar Images is graduating from Google Labs [...]

Barry Diller Ready to Stick a Fork in Ask.com?

Barry Diller is getting close to waving his white flag in the search wars. During IAC’s quarterly earnings conference call, the top dog made it quite clear that Ask.com may be on the chopping block: "We’ve been asked a lot whether we’re open to consolidating transactions in the area of search. The answer is yes," Diller said. [...]

YaToo: Y! Going Real Time

Apparently Twitter is all search-dealt out. After deals to bring real-time info to Bing (now) and Google (later), Twitter was not the last of the big three’s choice for real-time search. (But does it matter if Yahoo’s deal with Bing goes through?) Instead, Yahoo, almost a week behind the others, plans to go real time with [...]

Reader Poll: Best Paid Subscription SEM Communities

We recently posted a list of over 100 resources our readers could leverage to learn more about marketing online through search. One of the categories was paid subscription SEM communities that offer training, forums and often times templates, forms and guides for implementing effective Search Marketing programs. A pioneer forum that has a paid channel [...]

Baidu.com Profits Jump 42% Then Stocks Take a Dump

You read that correctly. Despite an increase in profits of 42%, which is a pretty strong showing by anyone’s standards, the stock price fell over 13% on the NASDAQ. How does this kind of thing happen you ask? It appears that Baidu.com is going to suffer from the same issue that has plagued Google for [...]

Don’t Miss Trackur’s PubCon Social

Whether you’re one of the 11,500+ that have registered a Trackur account, or one of the many that have helped spread the word about Trackur’s affordable social media monitoring plans, I want to thank you! Actually, I want to do more than just thank you. I want to invite you to a special cocktail reception that [...]

Google Voice Goes Mobile

My favorite Google Voice feature is the ability to have all voicemails transcribed and emailed to me. I can then read the text–transcribed with about 80% accuracy–or listen to the actual audio. It saves a lot of time and comes in handy when I’m on the road. That cool feature is now available on my cell [...]

Google Wave to Get App Store, Kill the iPhone?

Google Wave, an instantaneous/asychronous communication app (Okay, it’s IM+email) has been in beta testing for nearly a month. In that time, we’ve seen a couple “apps” developed for it (although they were really just stripped down browsers that helped Wave to run a little faster). But these pseudo apps were so well received, apparently, that Google [...]

Why iCrossing is to Search Share as Viagra is to Sexual Intercourse

Imagine for a second that I’m a doctor. Now imagine that I specialize in…ahem…erectile disfunction. Let’s say the average married couple has sexual intercourse 3-4 times a month–backed-up by most national surveys. But, I conduct a survey among my viagra-popping patients, and release a report that suggests married couples are in fact having sex 8-10 times a month. Would [...]

Sweet! Tweet Delete Complete

Have you ever put together that questionable 140 character outburst or ‘observation’ and then experienced ‘tweeter’s remorse’ when you sent the poorly designed nugget of wisdom? It’s like that e-mail you didn’t want to hit send on (those really suck though because in most cases you have no recourse other than to start putting together [...]

Book Review: Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk

I picked up a copy of Gary Vaynerchuk’s book “Crush It” to read on my way to DMA in San Diego. Get the book from Amazon (link above) not at the airport unless you’re funding your own stimulus package for airport book stores. For readers that are not familiar with @garyvee and Wine Library TV, like I [...]

Google Rolling Out Social Search (in Labs)

There are two brass rings in search these days: real time and social. Google (and Bing) have been working on the real time thing with Twitter, and last week Google announced they were working on a Social Search option in Labs—and now it’s out. With Social Search, Google finds relevant public content from your friends and [...]

Bye Bye, Beacon

As announced last month, Facebook is finally ending its unpopular advertising program, Beacon, through a court settlement. The class action lawsuit settlement only needed judicial approval to make it final. And last week we they got that preliminary approval. Once the deal is good and done, Facebook will officially end Beacon, and pay $9.5M in [...]

What Can Brown Do for Social Media?

While this UPS sponsored video at Mashable is slick, I’m scratching my head over it. Aside from the fact that it’s extremely basic–which is probably UPS’s intent–I’m just not making the connection between a courier service and social media. Can anyone help me out? Why is UPS sponsoring this?

Defining Search Engine Optimization

The search engine industry frequently innovates as do consumer behaviors for discovery and sharing. Those changes require search marketers to take a fresh look at what search engine optimization (SEO) is and why companies should or should not engage in its practice. Defining search engine optimization is often focused on the mechanics: “SEO considers how search engines [...]

Twitter Responsible for British Economic Woes?

Headline seem like it’s over the top? Maybe a little but a report has been released making the claim that Twitter costs the British economy 1.38 billion pounds on an annual basis. That’s a boat load of pounds! (We miss you Carol. Please say something outrageous soon, please!). Regular readers will know how I tend [...]

Google’s Sergey Brin Says “I did not try to buy Twitter”

I know that this video of Google co-founder Sergey Brin at Web 2.0 Summit is widely circulating the interwebz, but not everyone is taking the time to watch it and highlight the interesting sound bites. Here are some of the choicest quotes from Brin: "I did not try to buy Twitter" Admitted that AdWords was "a very lucrative [...]

Champagne Pops at Yahoo as Carl Icahn Resigns Board Position

The single biggest PITA for Yahoo has decided to leave his board position. If you’re not aware of just how disruptive the self-labeled "activist investor" Carl Icahn has been, a quick review of our archives should bring you up to speed. It appears that Carl Icahn isn’t happy unless he’s getting his way, and for all intents [...]

Is Facebook’s Reconnect a Trick or a Treat?

With Halloween looming in the very near future one wonders if the ‘reconnect’ feature’s algorithm doesn’t have a little bit of ‘All Hallow’s Eve’ mischief in it or is programmed for the macabre. Either way it is managing to upset more than a few Facebook users with suggestions that border on the, well, bizarre. Mashable shares [...]

Cup of Joe: Create Great Content or Hardcore Pornography?

You ever have one of those moments when you say something so crazy and off the wall that it has got to be true? For me this happens without me even giving a second thought about it because, to be honest, most of the time it tends to be exactly how I feel–and being sincere [...]

Google Reader Adds More Suggestions and MAGIC!

No, seriously, they added magic. As you’ve probably noticed today, Google Reader has added a few new features. The first is the Explore section, just below the People you follow section. Here, Google shows off two sources of new feeds: Popular Items and Recommended Sources. As you might guess, the Recommended Sources feature analyzes your [...]

Microsoft’s Q3: Earnings, Revenue Down, but Still Beat the Street

Despite a 18% drop in earnings and a 14% drop in revenue in Q3, Microsoft still beat Wall Street estimates for its earnings per share by 25% (eight cents). Naturally Microsoft’s revenue reports cover their bottom line, which includes all of their software, hardware, gaming and other offerings, not just their search engine. Bing falls under [...]

Geesh! Facebook Sure Gets A Lot of Pageviews

Everyone has watched Facebook grow in popularity and significance over the past year or so. It almost sneaks up on you just how far reaching the social networking site has become. Claiming over 300 million users is impressive enough but some research is showing that there is data to support the claim that Facebook gets [...]

5 Tips for Making a Corporate Blog Stand Out

These days it seems as if every corporation has tried its hand at blogging. The more corporate blogs that exist in the blogosphere, the more difficult it becomes to gain blog subscribers by creating one that’s truly unique. To ensure your corporate blog stands out from the crowd, follow these 5 tips: 1. Talk about something [...]

Net Neutrality: Business or Politics?

As the new proposals for rules and regulations start to show up regarding net neutrality moving forward it is apparent that politics and political wrangling will rule this one. A very real possible result of this could be that common sense is shelved. Why do I say this? Go ahead and read the article from [...]

19% of Internet Users Update their Statuses

Quick: if I asked you “Do you use an Internet service or site to share updates about yourself?”, how would you answer? “Yes: Facebook,” “Yes: my blog,” “Yes: Twitter,” (yes, all of the above)? Okay, let’s say I took all of those yeses, no matter which site/service you use, and declared them all to be [...]

Social Sites Send Fewer, but More Loyal Visitors than Search

While we all like our sites to have visitors, a loyal visitor—one who returns for later visits—is especially valuable. And while search engines do send a lot of visitors, a study issued by Chitika earlier this month shows that the most loyal site visitors come from social sites, as eMarketer reports today. Studying 33 million [...]

Act Now to Avoid a Flickr Reputation Headache!

Depending on your point of view, Flickr just created an easy way to spot any pending reputation disasters, or just made it easier for one to occur. The photo sharing has added a feature we’ve seen cause reputation headaches in Facebook–the ability to tag a person inside a photo. Here’s how it looks: Now, in the half-full [...]

Facebook and bing – Perfect Together?

Big day yesterday. Bing announces it is getting Twitter results for its index ahead of Google announcing the same thing. I wonder if that is a balm for Mr.Ballmer that at least he one-upped Google on one occasion. But wait there appears to be yet another rabbit that Microsoft can pull out of its hat. [...]

Google’s Social Search for You and Yours

Search is changing very rapidly these days and it looks like we are going to need to buckle up to keep up with the changes and, even more likely, the rumored changes. Until I can use something myself (which means the rest of you can as well) then it is all rumor. Experimentation is the [...]

Book Review: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations

When Brian Solis asked me to do a review of Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, the book he and Deidre Breakenridge published earlier this year,  it didn’t take a second to say yes. Putting that decision into action took a little longer and it finally took some time on a plane to get [...]

Google Plays Second Fiddle to Bing; Announces Twitter Deal Too!

Mark this day in history: Google plays second fiddle to Microsoft by announcing deal with Twitter AFTER Bing. …we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of [...]

Facebook’s Facelift (and Changes for Groups)

As we’ve heard before, Facebook is gearing up for yet another redesign. As we saw in leaked screenshots two weeks ago, Facebook is going to start sorting news feeds by Recent Activity and Top News stories (the ones with the most comments or likes). That change is supposed to also reduce load time, and relegates [...]

Bing Goes Real Time with Twitter

For many people, real time is the holy grail of search—and an area that the popular microblogging service Twitter has soundly beaten all the search engines on. Google’s struggling with it, and Bing’s last foray, in partnership with Twitter, was disappointing. But they’re not about to make that mistake again. Bing says if you can’t beat [...]

Wall Street Journal Ventures Further Into Paid Content World

It’s been a little while since we have drug the already weather beaten newspaper industry back into the spotlight with regard to its desperate need to generate new life. In what appears to be one of the success stories of this new era of content delivery, the Wall Street Journal is stepping up its efforts [...]

Comcast and Twitter: Can Words Overcome Products?

This is the classic social media case study that finally someone has put a real face on. I read MG Siegler’s account of Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts speaking with John Batelle of Federated Media and was getting lulled into the same Comcast story we have been reading for months now. While it is a nice [...]

Google Already Indexing “Real Time” Web?

Sometimes I make a mistake in my writing. I know, hard to believe. So, after correcting an earlier typo, I just happened to check Google’s search index to see if my post had been indexed yet. Not only had the post been indexed, but the typo fix–from just seconds earlier–had already been updated! 0 to [...]

AT&T Activates Citizen-Shills to Oppose Net Neutrality

Is there a fine line between “rallying the troops” and “astroturfing?” Well, if there is, AT&T will be our case study for the day, after an internal email–asking employees to oppose net neutrality–has surfaced. It appears that proponents of net neutrality–and AT&T’s detractors–have jumped on a single line of the wordy memo: We encourage you, your family and [...]

Yahoo Revenue Down 12%, Net Income Up 244%

2008 was a rough year for Yahoo. First Microsoft tried to acquire them, then Yahoo spurned them, then shareholders wanted a merger, then they lost CEO Jerry Yang, then their search ad deal with Google fell through. There was nowhere to go but up in 2009, right? We got a new CEO, Carol Bartz, and [...]

Singing a Different Tune to DOJ: Please Okay Bingahoo!

It hardly seems possible, but it was just last year that the Goohoo (Yahoogle?) search ad deal was under scrutiny from the US government. Ultimately, that scrutiny killed the deal—since the DoJ informed Google that they’d face anti-trust charges if they went through with the deal. Here we are, a year later, and two search giants [...]

First Look: Google Analytics Adds Intelligent Email Alerts & More!

When the Google Analytics team shared today’s new features with me, they wanted to walk me through all of the minor updates–before they revealed the big news. I’m not going to do that to you! You’re getting algorithmically driven, artificially intelligent, email alerts! Andy, in English, please! If Google Analytics detects a change in the data patterns [...]

Google Gives Virgin Free WiFi

Ok, that headline was completely unfair because this post is about WiFi access on Virgin America flights that is being provided by Google. Got your attention though didn’t it? For a moment maybe you thought that Google had really taken this ‘providing service to everyone and type of person on the planet’ to a disturbing [...]

Google to Offer Branded Android Phone?

While Apple is making waves about the latest and greatest gadgets they are rolling out to the waiting public Google has made a little announcement of its own: It’s a phone! The word on TheStreet.com is that Google is planning on entering the hardware arena with the new Android offerings. It seems as if the [...]

Warning! That Political Ad on Google Could Cost You a $250 Fine!

There’s a problem brewing that involves Google and election mud-slinging. Ooh, I just heard a collective "I knew it" from political conspiracy theorists around the country, but it’s not quite what you think. The problem involves the mandated disclaimer often needed for any kind of political ad. You know the kind: "This ad was paid for [...]

Report: In 10 Seconds, this Mobile Web Surfer Will Self-Destruct!

A company that earns its living by optimizing web sites for mobile browsers just issued a report that suggests most of us need our web sites optimized for mobile browsers! Shocking, huh? OK, if we get over the potential bias in Gomez’s Why the Mobile Web is Disappointing End-Users, we find some interesting stats. Like this one: 82% [...]

10 Proven Applications For Social Media

Tenured digital marketing professionals have been applying social media for end business and marketing objectives for years. But what is clearly valuable to some is still a mystery to many. Whether you’re a marketer trying to get buy-in for social media from the top or a small business owner wondering why you should bother, knowing [...]

The Truth About SEO

I’ve been in the business of SEO for about 12 years and have worked with hundreds of companies of all sizes. I cannot be anything but biased towards the benefits of optimizing web sites to improve visibility in search and the commercial outcomes that can result. For some, Search Engine Optimization is a favorite whipping boy. [...]

Google’s Revolving Talent Door Spins in Europe

We have spoken before of the task that Google is faced with on a daily basis. While the company attracts the best and the brightest help it’s not as easy to keep them around as you might think. The trouble with having a lot of ‘talent’ are the egos that can be attached to that [...]

Report: Most Companies are Dumb When it Comes to Customer Intelligence

Despite most firms indicating their involvement in customer intelligence efforts, the lack of sophistication of said efforts–and the siloing of the data–is holding back many businesses, according to a new report from Forrester. The Intelligent Approach To Customer Intelligence report reveals more than 80% of companies say they use market research, direct marketing, and web analytics, [...]

YouTube: Not So Stupid?

This year, we’ve seen a lot of pessimistic estimates of YouTube’s operating losses. While the site does bring in some advertising revenue, they haven’t quite covered that $1.65B price tag yet. And based on bandwidth costs, various analysts have estimated annual operating losses of anywhere from $470M to $175M. Note that the more conservative estimate here [...]

Google Wave Going Mobile

In case you’ve forgotten, Google Wave is that cool new email-is-so-last-century communication method. Currently in invitation-only beta, some have hailed Google Wave and its instant, integrated communication as a huge timewaster, while others like it. Google Wave continues to roll, too, with new clients announced for both Macs and iPhones. Called Waveboard, the client will be [...]

Google Apps: You Can Run but ….

Ever get the feeling that as Google announces more and more services for more and more people at more and more spots on the globe that there is less and less room to go without a primary colored logo looking over you? Now, don’t get me wrong. I am feeding this animal as much as the [...]

Why I May Run Ads in My Twitter Stream

It’s been interesting to see more and more bloggers moving their thoughts to Twitter. I’ve certainly found myself blogging less, and instead using Twitter to share my thoughts, links, and news. The downside to that approach is that complete inability to directly monetize that content on Twitter. With Marketing Pilgrim, I can place ads around our [...]

Tech Giants Ask the FCC to “Preserve an Open Internet”

It appears the leaders of some of the world’s largest tech companies are not taking any chances that the FCC could be persuaded to ditch Net Neutrality at the last minute–they just sent the following letter to FCC. Dear Chairman Genachowski: We write to express our support for your announcement that the Federal Communications Commission will begin [...]

Waste Your Day Away with Google Chrome Experiments

Chrome-huhWhat is it good for?Absolutely nothing…but playing gamesSay it again OK, maybe Google won’t adopt Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s "War" as the unofficial anthem of its Chrome browser, but fun and games? Sure, why not? Since early this year, Chrome Experiments has been collecting a bunch of user-created JavaScript applications that are designed to show off the [...]

Book Review: Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck

I picked up a copy of Gary Vaynerchuck’s book “Crush It” to read on my way to DMA in San Diego. Get the book from Amazon (link above) not at the airport unless you’re funding your own stimulus package for airport book stores. For readers that are not familiar with @garyvee and Wine Library TV, like I [...]

FAIL! Google Running PageRank AdWords Ad?

So, yeah, I thought Google killed PageRank in Webmaster Tools? More importantly, why is Google running an ad that encourages PageRank obsession? FAIL!

Cup of Joe: Google Wave, Please Give Me Face Touching

So I finally got my invite to Google Wave! I must say that it is rather impressive. I like it a lot and I think it will probably redefine the way that we collaborate in the future. One of the more impressive features is its “real time” chat interface. Which basically means that as a [...]

IAB Against New FTC Regs

In case you’ve missed it, the FTC has finally finalized its new blogging guidelines—including an up-to-$11,000 fine for not disclosing free products or other remuneration given for product reviews (or maybe not). Naturally, this has caused an uproar in the blogosphere—and now the president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Randall Rothenberg, has written [...]

Google Chasing Real Time on YouTube

Real time search is hot (theoretically), but Google is struggling to deliver results. They’ve started some real-time stuff in Gmail, though, with interactive widgets within emails. And now they’re branching out to real time on YouTube. At first glance, real time video sounds even harder than real time search—and yeah, YouTube’s popular, but shouldn’t the Goog [...]

Google’s Q3: We’re “Very Happy”,”Investing Heavily” & “Accelerating Hiring”!

If Google is any litmus test for the state of the US economy, the worst recession in 70+ years is now firmly behind us. The search giant reported a stellar third quarter, beating all Wall Street Estimates. …net income in the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $1.64 billion, or $5.13 a share, from $1.29 billion, or [...]

Android Set for Search and Destroy in Mobile Market

Now this is the kind of news I need to hear! Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chief Googler, has told folks during the third quarter earnings call yesterday that Android is set to further the world domination plan that Founding Father’s Sergey and Larry set in place back in the year 1 AG (After Google) which is [...]

Social Networking via Mobile Phones has Doubled in Last 6 Months!

Forrester continues to examine the intersection of mobile phones and social networking. One startling–or maybe not–statistic: 10% of us access social networks from our cell phones, double the number at the beginning of the year! Two new reports look at how mobile phones are a becoming a big component of our socially networked lives.

5 Tips for Creating an Effective Content Marketing Strategy

It’s difficult to find much value in content with no strategy behind it. Without a content strategy plan, your intended audience is unlikely to find your copy, let alone read it. During the MIMA Summit last week, the importance of a content marketing strategy was the topic of a session presented by Rachel Lovinger of Razorfish. For [...]

Google Gives a Thumbs-up to Reputation Management

It’s a good day for reputation management consultants everywhere–we just got Google’s official endorsement! Yep, Google has come off the fence and wholeheartedly endorsed the creation of positive web content to try and outrank anything negative. In the Google post, the search engine does an admirable job of creating a primer for Google Reputation Management which [...]

SMB’s, Social Media and Reality

I have followed the SMB market for a little while now. I am considered an SMB myself and I certainly was when I had a small Internet marketing agency / practice as recently as a year ago. As a result, I know the small and medium business market pretty well. I find the typical small [...]

AT&T Tells Google, “Don’t Be Evil”

After getting the Google Voice App blocked on the iPhone and the FCC to scrutinize Google Voice, you’d think AT&T could sit back and rest assured. But not so. Yesterday, they fired another volley in their war against the Internet-based telephony service with a 13-page letter to the FCC. It’s like they read the comment section [...]

Google to Kindle: It’s On

Google’s been saying they’re entering the eBook arena since June. While their Google Books offerings were clearly part of the plan, it hasn’t always been clear exactly what, if anything, they were planning to do for hardware. Well, it looks like they’ve made up their mind (at this point): they’re going ahead with offering eBooks [...]

Twitter at C Level

As Internet marketers and social media users / practitioners we are always digging and trying to find out more. Since most of what is related to social media is happening on the fly the innovation comes more often from good intention rather than good planning. One common theme that occurs, however, is the apparent lack [...]

SMS Ads to Become the Detective David Starsky of the Mobile Industry

According to new predictions from Coda Research Consultancy, the "Year of the Mobile" will be funded by search and display ads, not the current "go to" channel SMS. In fact, SMS (text messages) are likely become the mobile equivalent of Paul Michael Glaser–once the hottest thing around, but now trying to eek out a paycheck from [...]

Google is Finally Killing PageRank

We are one step closer to never having to discuss Google’s PageRank again. According to SER, the PageRank metric has been removed from Google Webmaster Tools, after the search engine realized it was talking out of both sides of its mouth, all the while it continued to display the infamous metric: Susan Moskwa, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, [...]

Social Media Blunder or Brilliance?

In the latest round of social media’s own “You make the call!” game regarding a social media campaign’s failure or genius enter Pepsi and its Amp Energy brand. There appears to be some buzz in social media circles about an iPhone app that Pepsi developed for the drink that is being called crass by some [...]

Yahoo, It’s Not Me. It’s You.

Last month, Yahoo announced the slogan for its new advertising blitz (perhaps hoping to replicate Bing’s blip of search share success): “It’s You!” On September 28, they premiered the first TV commercial for that campaign. In our totally nonscientific comments section, people were 2:1 against the ad, either because it didn’t sell Yahoo’s products or because [...]

The New Technorati Thinks It’s a Blog

Have you ever seen one of those people who spends so long studying a group, they begin to believe they’re part of the group? If not, you can now: Technorati has launched a new design/mission/layout, and it looks like the once-awesome blog search engine has been assimilated. As they put it: While we’ll still track and [...]

Twitter and Spam Look to Part Ways

Do you hate spam? Do you hate Twitter spam in particular? Had it with spam? Well, Twitter feels your pain. I get almost teary eyed thinking about their concern for our well being in the Twitterverse. Here’s there blog post to let you know they are thinking of you. Folks can now help us conquer spam [...]

Bing Holding Steady in September – Maybe, Kinda, Sorta

Bing is going to be a monthly issue apparently when it comes to reporting just how good, bad or indifferent their performance has been in the previous month. What does that mean? Well, it simply means that the reporting of results of what the market share is for the Microsoft search offering is going to [...]

How Social Media & Email Marketing Boost Customer Reach

For years, rumors that email marketing is dying and teenagers the world over have proclaimed email as, “something old people do”.   Whether you agree or disagree that email has one foot in the grave, many online marketers are finding effective ways to leverage email as part of a social media marketing mix. Integrating email and [...]

Did Old Navy Acquire Ask.com?

Other than looking like an Old Navy commercial, I really don’t know what to make of this new Ask.com TV ad. Still, when did Ask.com ads ever make sense?

Ad Spend Up and Down, Depending on Where You Look

As usual, you can find statistics to support almost any argument. For example, if you want to use online ad spending as a measure of the economy, things are either looking up or looking down—take your pick. With search ad spend, the trend is up, but on social networks, the trend is down. Now, don’t get [...]

Google #1 Site Worldwide with 6% Global Traffic

What do you get when you analyze nearly 300 quadrillion megabytes of Internet traffic? Aside from really tired, I mean. Well, if you’re Arbor Networks, you get the largest study of global Internet traffic since the beginning of the commercial Internet in the ’90s. And ten guesses who came out on top. (No fair cheating, [...]

Do You Have Malware or Just Crappy Code? Google Will Tell You

Nothing will scare a web site marketer more than either of these two situations: 1. Google flagging your site: "This site may harm your computer" 2. Seeing exactly how your site looks to Google’s spider Well, Google has announced two new Webmaster Tools Labs features that help with either of these scenarios. First, Google will provide snippets of [...]

Yahoo Settles Class Action Lawsuit; Attorneys Walk Away with $4.3 Million!

If there’s one solid truth about class action lawsuits, it’s this: only the attorneys win. That truth has held out over and over again, especially when it comes to any kind of class action against a search engine. Adding to the list, Yahoo has settled a 2006 lawsuit that claimed it allowed advertisers’ ads to be [...]

Will Google Give Microhoo a Free Pass?

A free pass on what you ask? Well, a free pass on the partnership of Microbing and Yahoo as it morphs into Microbingahoo to provide search from bing that will be sold by Yahoo that will make the online world a better place because of competition. You remember that one, right? Funny how we forget about [...]

Tweets from Above

No, this is not about God using Twitter so if you have any issues around that please put them aside now. This is actually about a service that some airlines are putting in place that utilizes Twitter and Facebook to update those who care where you actually are while flying from point A to point [...]

Top 10 Pitfalls of International SEO

TopRank is fortunate to have an excellent team of consultants, many of whom contribute here at Online Marketing Blog.  It is therefore, a rare occasion that we invite guest posts. The globalization of search and to follow, search marketing, brings a tremendous need for quality information and best practices.  Search Engine Optimization for North American [...]

Facebook Poke = Arrest

Let this be a lesson to us all: be careful who you poke on Facebook. The click of that button can get you arrested. For most of us, the note that we’ve been poked only elicits an eye-roll. But when Shannon D. Jackson of Tennessee poked one of her Facebook contacts, she actually broke the law—a [...]

FCC Eyes Google Voice’s Rural Call Blocking

Last week, twenty members of Congress sided with AT&T and asked the Federal Communications Commission to take a good look at Google Voice, because the free telephony service doesn’t allow users to call certain rural numbers. Two days later, Sharon Gillett, chief of the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, sent Google telecom counsel a list of [...]

How Quickly the Rumors Fall

Seems like just yesterday that the Telegraph was reporting that Twitter was considering the introduction of video tweets into its playbook (actually it was just yesterday). Interesting and scary thought all at once (honestly, do you need to actually see some of the folks who pass along their nuggets of 140 character wisdom?). So while [...]

Levinson Picks Apple Over Google; Will the FTC Abort the Colonoscopy?

Remember Arthur Levinson? Sure you do. Levinson was the sole remaining board member causing a boatload of headaches for both Google and Apple, by serving on the board of directors for both companies. Ring any bells? Well, he finally manned-up and vacated his role on Google’s board. Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt described Levinson in a [...]

Banks Get Billions in Bailouts, but an Unemployed Blogger Loses Benefits Over AdSense Check

Google AdSense or unemployment benefits? It’s your choice, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too–even when that cake amounts to just $1.30 a day in AdSense earnings! The New York State Department of Labor is investigating the eligibility of an unemployed attorney who was receiving $405 a week in unemployment benefits. That $405 [...]

The Search for Twitter Search Continues

While talk swirls around Twitter on subjects ranging from video to revenue to biz plans and Biz’s plans, there is one that keeps coming up because it is pretty important. How do you search Twitter and mine it for the nuggets of wisdom amongst the wasteland of wackiness? Last week we told you about the unholy [...]

Ten Search Marketing Awards You Should Know

“A person will work for a living, but they’ll die for recognition.”  I’m not sure who I heard that from first, but it’s just as true for agencies and companies as it is for individuals.  One common way to recognize excellence is through awards. There are awards for just about every industry from software to [...]

Cup of Joe: You are a Creepy Guy Dressed as a Pretty Unicorn!

I remember once hearing someone say, “you are your business card”. Essentially, the idea is that the way you present yourself in public defines who you are–more than any piece of paper ever can. I think this is extremely true today, now more than ever. Think about it this way, if you are always [...]

Some Social Media Stats for Your Weekend

It looks like September of 2009 was a pretty good month or Facebook according to Experian’s Hitwise report about social media usage. If you are a regular reader of Marketing Pilgrim you know that we report on statistics all the time and we approach them with same amount of reverence as we do skepticism. What [...]

Oh Goody, Senseless Tweets in More Languages Soon!

The Twitter blog informs us that if you are not already lucky enough to get the good, the bad and the truly ugly of Twitter in the English or Japanese language that help is on the way. Founder Biz Stone gives us some more “Bizdom” on the Twitter blog regarding the status of the social [...]

Some Social Media Stas for Your Weekend

It looks like September of 2009 was a pretty good month or Facebook according to Experian’s Hitwise report about social media usage. If you are a regular reader of Marketing Pilgrim you know that we report on statistics all the time and we approach them with same amount of reverence as we do skepticism. What [...]

Facebook Sued for Infringing Patents

Facebook is no stranger to lawsuits. And now they’re being slapped with two more, for allegedly infringing the patents of Japanese company Mekiki and Phoenix Media/Communications, publisher of the Boston Phoenix. Both allege that Facebook’s core social networking capabilities violate their patents. Mekiki, owners of the Japanese social networking site SamuraiTime.com contends that they have three [...]

StumbleUpon: Now We’re Social Search, Like Google + Twitter

Remember StumbleUpon, the recommendation engine that lets you surf the web for random sites—but mostly sites that other people liked in your areas of interest? (If you haven’t tried it, it’s pretty fun). Well, since they bought themselves back from eBay in April, they’re changing things up. According to TechCrunch, StumbleUpon is revamping itself as [...]

YouTube Now Serving 1 Billion Spam Videos Per Day!

Congratulations YouTube! The video site is celebrating over 1 billion views per day and the 3 year anniversary of being acquired by Google with…some nasty spam videos. No, this just in. YouTube is celebrating with a new logo. The spam is something it doesn’t actually have any control over–and that’s going to be a big problem. RWW is [...]

Social Media in Healthcare Marketing: Making the Case

For marketers in any industryâ€"from manufacturing to real estate to banking, and everything in betweenâ€"making the business case for social media isn’t a quick and easy process. But in healthcare marketing, it’s an understatement to say that gaining buy-in for social media isn’t easy. Consider for a moment just what healthcare marketers are up against: A multitude of [...]

Free PDF: 30 Reputations You Should Be Monitoring Online

If you’re one of those people that won’t set up any online reputation monitoring because “you don’t have anything to monitor,” I have a wake-up call for you. Over at Trackur, we just put together a free list of 30 reputations everyone should be monitoring online. Thirty! Three, zero! 30! Honestly, whether you use Trackur or not–which you [...]

Google Street View Comes to Canada, Czech Republic

Google Maps Street View continues its relentless march, despite privacy protests. Google has recently added two new countries to it quiver: Canada and the Czech Republic. Which will be the first to balk? In Canada, they have added twelve cities in time for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. And naturally, they focused on major metropolises. Metropolii. Uh [...]

Who’s In Charge of Your Conversions?

Who’s in charge of conversions in your company, or at your clients’ companies? Anyone? Maybe it’s time to get on that—a new study by Econsultancy and RedEye, published today, indicates that companies with at least one employee directly responsible for conversions are more likely to improved their conversion rates over the last year. And it’s not [...]

By a Show of Hands, Who Would Like 1,500 Brand Evangelists on Facebook?

Talk to me long enough about online reputation management and we’ll likely get to the topic of managing online reviews. I truly believe that more of your happy customers would be willing to post a positive review of your business, if only you’d ask! Well, Emphatica has launched a new Facebook application that does just that–encourages [...]

FTC Confirms Bloggers Need Not Fear the $11,000 Fines

For those of you in a panic over the FTC’s plans to fine bloggers $11,000–each time they don’t disclose a sponsored endorsement–can put down the brown paper bag. It’s not as bad as it appears. Fast Company asked Richard Cleland, assistant director, division of advertising practices at the FTC, a number of questions about the new [...]

Is Yahoo’s New Mobile Homepage Really the “World’s Most Advanced”?

When your announcement claims you’ve launched the "World’s Most Advanced Mobile Homepage," you’d better live up to the hype–or this Pilgrim’s going to cut you down. Well, the verdict is in on the new Yahoo mobile homepage, and it’s actually pretty darn good. The new mobile homepage (http://m.yahoo.com) is now compatible with more than 1,900 different mobile [...]

Publications Taking ‘Pay to Play’ to Heart

There has been much talk about the survival of the traditional media in the online era. Magazines have avoided much of the focus as it relates to the transition to their online presence. Why? It’s likely because magazines are not a daily publication that has its weaknesses exposed by the more “real time” acquisition of [...]

Twitter Talks To Google and Microsoft About This Data Thingy

We don’t need to go over just how valuable the data that Twitter gathers on a minute to minute basis can be to the world as a whole. We can sit and bemoan the fact that the search capability leaves something to be desired, however. Of course, when it comes to Twitter the discussion wouldn’t [...]

Now See PDF’s PDQ in Google Results

Traditionally, PDF’s and search engines have not gotten along as well as most would like. While being indexed is not the problem it once was there have been difficulties in the rendering of those PDF’s from the SERP’s (search engine results pages). Google today has moved closer to true harmony between the PDF and engine [...]

Google to Go Cloudboarding?

We’re always on the hunt for Google’s next big thing. This week’s report is from Google Operating System, who’s found an internal tool that might roll out to all users. Google Cloudboard is a server-side clipboard that makes cutting and pasting between Google Apps—specifically Gmail, documents from Google Documents and spreadsheets from Google Documents, and [...]

Facebook’s (Semi) Annual Redesign

Whether they’re trying to keep us from going design-blind or they just get bored with their layout periodically, Facebook has regular redesigns. But the new features and redesigns aren’t always popular, and Facebook users seem highly resistant to change. But apparently it’s time for a bunch of new “i h8 the new lay out” groups to [...]

7 Considerations for Tracking Social Media Success

With more and more marketers jumping onto the social media bandwagon, a lot of questions come up. Is it possible to track metrics and ROI? What are other companies doing? Why isn’t it working? Being prepared to answer  questions like these can make a difference in how a company interacts with social media and [...]

Android to Make Waves by 2012

This is interesting timing for me personally regarding the release of a report from Gartner regarding its predictions for the future of smart phones once Android finds its stride. I have noted here before that I am a BlackBerry Storm user on the Verizon Network and I am underwhelmed. I like the network and chuckle [...]

When Google Manually Adjusts Rankings, Does It Violate a New Yahoo Patent?

The next time you suspect Google has manually adjusted your search results, you can do more than simply complain at WebmasterWorld, you can snitch to Yahoo. The #2 search engine was just awarded a patent for its "Method and apparatus for search ranking using human input and automated ranking." In other words, Yahoo holds a [...]

Our Fling With Bing Has Lost Its Zing

It’s time for Microsoft to put the champagne back on ice: Bing’s market share gains are starting to evaporate. StatCounter was the first to dare suggest that Bing was losing its sting, but now new Hitwise data suggests both Bing and Yahoo have lost US audience share in the past month: At first glance, it looks like [...]

Phishing Attacks Plague Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo & More

A phishing attack is targeting thousands of web-based email users, according to the BBC and Read Write Web. Tens of thousands of users of each site have already been victimized, with the usernames and passwords available on lists. The scam to entice the users to offer up their private passwords, phishers imitate legitimate sites and ask [...]

Google Paid $1 Billion Too Much for YouTube? What Will It Pay for Twitter?

The big news this morning is a CNET report quoting Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s admission that he paid around $1 billion too much for YouTube. Here’s an extract from Schmidt’s deposition in the ongoing Viacom suit: Schmidt: I believe YouTube was worth somewhere around $600 million to $700 million. (Viacom Attorney) Baskin: And you communicated that to the [...]

Google at Its Minimalist Best?

Google is well known for many things to many people. Of course, search comes to mind. Then there’s e-mail and apps and on and on and on. Finally, there is the concern of world domination but that’s at least a year or two away so we can all breathe easier. One design element that Google has [...]

The Ultimate Reason for Getting Your Boss on Twitter

This says it all…

Social Media at a Fortune 10 Company: Ford’s Scott Monty

Kudos to MIMA for getting Ford’s Scott Monty to do a session at the MIMA Summit, “Social Media at a Fortune 10 Company”.  Scott will be keynoting the DMA International conference in San Diego with Martha Stewart later this month (10,000 attendees) and MIMA was able to get him to do a breakout session. The [...]

Social Media at a Fortune 10 Company: Scott Monty Keynote

Kudos to MIMA for getting Ford’s Scott Monty to do a session at the MIMA Summit, “Social Media at a Fortune 10 Company”.  Scott will be keynoting the DMA International conference in San Diego with Martha Stewart later this month (10,000 attendees) and MIMA was able to get him to do a breakout session. The [...]

MIMA Summit: Jackie Huba (Church Of The Customer) Keynote

Jackie Huba, blogger at the popular Church of the Customer blog kicked off MIMA Summit 2009 with a moving presentation on the idea of 1%’ers â€" those influential people creating content on the web (similar to Jakob Nielson’s participation inequality). Through the democratization of publishing content, the vocal minority, those 1%’ers (”sneezers” as Seth Godin calls [...]

Yahoo! Turns Yellow in India

Yahoo! Is busy rebranding itself around the world. There is plenty of money being pumped into the effort and apparently some research as to how to grab someone’s attention. In India at least it looks like you need to be on the front page and really bright! Maybe this technique should be considered by the [...]

Bloggers Face $11k FTC Fines For Not Disclosing Paid Endorsements

This blog post was not sponsored by anyone. If it were, I would have to disclose such a relationship or face up to $11,000 in fines from the Federal Trade Commission, according to newly published guidelines. An update to FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising includes the following language (emphasis added): The [...]

Amazon Goes Mobile–Mobile Payments, That Is

I know it’s a conundrum you’ve just puzzled over for years. When will “the mobile” “arrive”? What will it take to get mobile payments off the ground in the US? A month ago, we looked at Read Write Web’s series on this subject, where they concluded that mobile payments wouldn’t take off until a site [...]

Twitter Name Auction Raising Money for Cancer Fight

Let’s for just one moment concentrate on something that while connected to social media is about something much bigger. Hopefully we are able to do that without being prompted but for today we’ll give you just a little push . Mashable tells us that over the weekend, Drew Olanoff, who is fighting Hodgkins lymphoma, [...]

Google Goes Real Time—In Gmail

Google continues to struggle with real time search results, but interactive real time features may be headed for a Google property you probably use—Gmail. Recently, a few people spotted favicons appearing on emails in Gmail. Read Write Web traced the new feature to Google’s Enhanced Content feature, as mentioned in a Google Help page last updated [...]

Ads on the iPhone Makes Perfect AdSense!

Google is determined to make sure it doesn’t miss out on the “Year of the Mobile.” Like the rest of us, the search engine doesn’t know when that year will actually start, but if it has anything to do with it, 2009 might just be the top candidate. As of today, publishers can now drop smart [...]

Whoah! You CAN Make Money With Podcasting…$1.5M or More!

Podcasting just doesn’t make money, right? In fact, if you’re going to start a podcast, you may as well dig out that old Ham radio and talk into static–you’ll make as much money doing so. Right? Wrong! Sure, a podcast is not the easiest beast to monetize, but that hasn’t stopped Leo Laporte from raking in $1.5 million [...]

Social SEO & Channels of Distribution

At several conferences I’ve used the image above to illustrate how a blog can be the centerpiece to a social SEO effort where objectives are focused on raising brand awareness and improving customer relationships in a way that is beneficial to search engine visibility. I see several key opportunities with a unified SEO and Social Media [...]

Cup of Joe: The Big Beer Twitter List

We just heard a few days ago that Twitter plans on launching a new feature that will enable users to create custom list of users that they recommend to others. I like thinking of this as a Twitter “Blogroll”. While, I think its a pretty cool idea, Andy seems to think it is going to [...]

Cup of Joe: The Only Twitter List You Will Ever Need!

We just heard a few days ago that Twitter plans on launching a new feature that will enable users to create custom list of users that they recommend to others. I like thinking of this as a Twitter “Blogroll”. While, I think its a pretty cool idea, Andy seems to think it is going to [...]

How NOT to do Email Marketing: Scare Tactics

Toyota and their advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi must have thought they were onto something huge when they launched a series of emails last year. And then this week, AdAge reports, they were slapped with a lawsuit by one of their subscribers/victims. The plaintiff in this case was enrolled in the email marketing campaign when [...]

Facebook Making It Easier to Manage Ads

I have to give the folks at Facebook credit. They keep grinding forward with news that is relevant to making money and providing a better service for marketers. Earlier this year everyone wanted to throw the whole Facebook thing in the center of the ring and stone it to death. They couldn’t do anything right [...]

Revenue?! We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Revenue!

While it isn’t news that Twitter has no revenue model what is interesting to note is near yawn that the prospect of not having can draw from one of the founding fathers of the Twitterverse. The New York Times reports that Evan Williams, who doesn’t get the pub that a guy with a cool name like [...]

Are Banner Ads Dying?

comScore reports that over the last two years, banner ads have seen a sharp decline in clicks—half as many web users click on banner ads now. Two years ago, 32%—nearly one in three—web users clicked on banner ads; comScore’s data show that now only 16% do. And half of those clickers—one in twelve—account for 85% [...]

Google Adds New Search Options

A year ago, we first started seeing Google adding Search Options to their SERPs to refine results by time or to change how those results were listed on the SERP. In May, Search Options became official, adding the ability to filter by medium (image, video, etc.) and view the results as a WonderWheel or timeline. [...]

Will “Bing Losing Sting” Have a Familiar Ring?

I can’t decide if this is newsworthy or just our buddies over at StatCounter trying to get a little pub for themselves. Back in July they were reporting the June search engine numbers on the 2nd when every other reporting agency (Nielsen, comScore and HitWise) waited for their numbers to come in. Now the Dublin based [...]

Basics of User Generated Content for Search Engine Optimization

[Note from Lee: User Generated Content for SEO is something we haven't written about in a while, but now more than ever, marketers need to find efficient ways to generate content assets for search engines as well as the ability to meet customer needs to interact and share. Michelle takes a un updated look [...]

Lawsuit Over Facebook Gets Hand Tossed at Pizza Maker

I am a big fan of pizza. Maybe it’s my New York / New Jersey roots but there’s nothing like a really well done pizza with (insert favorite topping(s) here) sitting in front of a ballgame of some sort. You get the picture right? Well, since pizza is a borderline spiritual occurrence for me it [...]

Facebook Connect Expands to Easy Installation & Translations

As if propelling Facebook into world domination weren’t enough, Facebook Connect is branching out. Now they’re making it easier for non-developers to add Facebook to their sites, and they’re adding translation as one of their services. The “Connect Wizard” distills integrating Facebook Connect into a website into three steps. Many popular websites have long used Facebook [...]

ICANN Haz .XXX Domain Names Now?

After 11 years, the not-for-profit group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers–which we all know as ICANN–is becoming more independent. ICANN has managed internet domain names since 1998, but up until now had been closely tied to the US Department of Commerce. Going forward ICANN will… …operate as a more independent entity. Other governments and the [...]

Google Translate: Now for YOUR Website

Google has long been working on their machine translation offerings. Over last year, they’ve added translation services to Google Reader, Google Toolbar, and Google Docs. And now they’re bringing their translation skillz to you—on your website. Google announced a new translation widget on Monday, bringing Google Translate to any site. Insert a short script—a mere snippet [...]

Grab the Shoehorn! Google Adds Forum Posts to Crowded Search Results

Give it another couple of years and no one will remember the phrase "ten blue links"–especially if Google has its way. The Google search results page is already looking cluttered these days–box results, news item, videos, book results, profiles–now Google wants to add deep links to forum posts to the crowded mix. This new addition to Google [...]

Be Warned, Twitter Lists Will End in Tears!

It will all end in tears. OK, maybe the A-List won’t be crying, but if you thought the “they’re not following me” snub was bad, Twitter’s about to ramp up your angst with the pending launch of Lists. Twitter Lists will allow you to create your own themed list of Twitter users. Want to create a list [...]

Google Mobile…Now Has Everything, Including the Kitchen Sync

Google knows that more and more of our searching is carried out away from our main computers, and it doesn’t want to risk you using some other mobile search interface–hence the rollout of some new synching features. First up, we learn that Google’s Personalized Suggest feature has gone mobile. If you’re signed into your Google account [...]