ClickTracks releases v4.1
ClickTracks, one of the best web site analytics packages available, today launched ClickTracks v4.1. Main enhancements include:
* It allows you to determine which links visitors clicked on when there are two links on a page that send traffic to the same URL.
* Set up a persistent cookie that makes it possible for you to link a PPC event to a purchase...even if they happen days apart.
* Less memory needed to run, compared to previous versions.
If you haven't downloaded their free trial, do so today. You don't know what you are missing.
Google / Microsoft merger big news
Talk about dominating the headlines. There are no less than 31 different reports today about the rumoured approach by Microsoft to acquire Google. Andy Beal
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Drugstore.com Battles Portals With Imported-Drug Ads Drugstore.com is pushing Google, Yahoo and MSN to stop showing ads for online pharmacies that are not approved by the National Association Boards of Pharmacy, according to the WSJ.
Drugstore.com is one of only 15 online pharmacies approved to sell drugs online in the U.S. Most other online pharmacies are overseas and their shipping of drugs to the U.S. is almost always illegal, according to the FDA.
The company hopes to persuade the portals and search engines to stop showing paid ads for non-regulated pharmacies.
Larry Page, a co-founder and president of products at Google, called the campaign "highly commercially motivated" because the company is effectively trying to remove ads for low-cost competitors. While Google wants to obey U.S. drug laws, Mr. Page said it may be difficult for the company to determine whether an online pharmacy is based abroad and, even if it can, a Google user conducting a search using drug terms might be based outside the U.S.
"It might be easier for us to say we're not going to accept any pharmacy-related advertising, but that would mean consumers couldn't easily buy things and save money," said Mr. Page. "As a matter of principle, we want to have free choice for consumers ... even if we get some hassles for it."
AOL sees things differently. Andrew Weinstein, a spokesman for AOL, whose search engine and sponsored listings are operated in conjunction with Google, said AOL is "right in line with Drugstore" with regard to drug advertisements from questionable online pharmacies. He said AOL has asked Google not to deliver any sponsored links to AOL's search engine from pharmacies that aren't certified by state regulators, though he concedes that some such links are currently on the site. "We've found some and we're asking Google to take them down right now," said Mr. Weinstein.
Looks like the SEO companies should brace themselves for an influx of online pharmacies looking for natural search engine listings. If they get shut out of PPC ads, natural search will be their best alternative. Andy Beal
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Why you can't trust all search engine stories.
Phew! Am I glad that I decided not to mention Jim Hedger's claim that Google had announced a February IPO. After reading his story, I tried to validate it at other sources and didn't find any, hence not running it. Looks like ISEDB.com should have done the same.
Then again, I'm sure the story attracted a lot of eyeballs for the site. Maybe I should make an announcement that Google has agreed to acquire Microsoft. ;-) Andy Beal
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Microsoft and Google, could they partner?
NYTimes.com adds fuel to the rumors that Microsoft has made attempts to acquire Google, suggesting that the two companies have been in talks.
Google still prefers the IPO route and is considering selling about a 10 to 15 percent stake to the public, which is expected to raise more than $2 billion to be used to invest in the business and generate wealth for its employees, venture capitalists and early investors. Andy Beal
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Google's Ticker Treat
Over at Motley Fool, they take a light-hearted look at Google's attempt to show ticker symbols for relevant searches. Andy Beal
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Did Google attempt to buy Friendster?
According to the Mercury News, Google made a $30 million offer to buy Friendster, the hot Sunnyvale online dating site that lets users meet and date friends of their friends.
Friendster turned down the offer and chose instead to accept $13 million in VC funding.
Overture Tops Google in Paid Listings Study
According to Web Advantage, Jupiter Research, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation, today announced the results of its latest Jupiter Research Constellation ranking. The results show that Overture outpaced Google with the best solution for paid listings, based on a strong feature set and the best management interface.
The report also shows that marketers typically stick with 3 PPC providers with Overture and Google Adwords being the top two. Interestingly, the PPC provider making a bid (pardon the pun) for 3rd place among advertisers is Sprinks, which was recently acquired by Google.
"Twelve to 15% of paid listings revenues come from marketers that control media budgets of $1 million or more. These large marketers buy large numbers of keywords (24% buy more than 1,000 keywords) and very actively manage those keywords (87% optimize their search marketing campaigns monthly or more frequently)." Andy Beal
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Spyware maker Gator sheds skin, renames itself
News.com is reporting that infamous spyware distributor, Gator, is changing its name to Claria in an attempt to better reflect its business.
We'll see if a Gator really can change its spots. Andy Beal
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UK search engine, Espotting releases Q3 figures
Espotting has announced its Q3 numbers showing an advertiser base of 20,000 (up from 16,000) and 1 billion queries.
Now let's see if the financial numbers are enough for FindWhat to press forward with the acquisition. Andy Beal
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October 29, 2003
Microsoft splits MSN into two units
Microsoft has announced its plans to split MSN into two units, one to take control of Web communications while the other develops its information portal and targets growth in areas such as search technology and music services.
Over the next few weeks, MSN will split into two operating units, Communications and Information, that will be divided based on the customers they serve and the products they offer.
The information unit, which will be headed by Yusuf Mehdi — a longtime Microsoft executive known for his work on Internet Explorer — will include the MSN portal, its emerging search service, e-commerce sites, and entertainment and other services.
The communications division, which will be headed by Blake Irving, will focus on growing MSN’s communication-focused products, such as its subscription MSN service, Hotmail, MSN Messenger, and its Passport identity service. Andy Beal
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Have you downloaded the Ask Jeeves toolbar?
There has been a lot of news about Ask Jeeves and its, allegedly, inflated stock price. However, despite having little under 3% share of all Internet searches conducted monthly, the search technology behind Ask is extremely stable and reliable.
If you haven't downloaded the Ask Jeeves Toolbar, I can highly recommend that you do so. This great browser addition allows you to search the web, news and local weather as well as offering a search function that searches for kid-friendly web sites.
Those of you who like the "highlight" option offered by the Google Toolbar, will be pleased to find the same option with Ask. The toolbar also features searches for Events, Maps and even the Stock Market.
If you like to use a toolbar for SEO purposes, you might want to stick with the Google version as the Ask offering does not show backward links or cached snapshots and also lacks a pop-up blocker. That being said, if you are looking for a robust, user-friendly search toolbar that provides results from a solid and reliable index, consider downloading this excellent program. Andy Beal
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Will Google use IPO to acquire technology?
With Google likely to make an IPO early in 2004, what is the world's largest search engine going to do with all that money? David Shabelman suggests that Google doesn't need the money to improve its search technology and is also unlikely to get involved with a lot of M&A.
The likelihood is that Google will use the "war chest" to make targeted acquisitions of small companies that would bring to the table technology that Google can use. Andy Beal
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Ask Jeeves scraps it out with search engine giants
Great article over at Red Herring which charts the rise and fall and rise again of Ask Jeeves.
"When Steve Berkowitz joined Ask Jeeves as head of its Web properties division in April 2001, the company was in a full-blown meltdown. The once high-flying Web business posted net losses of $425 million that year, including a $355 million charge to reflect the crumbling value of businesses it acquired at the height of the boom. Its stock traded for around a dollar, down from a high of $191 in November 1999.
If you were a gambling man – and a cautious one at that – you might safely bet that Ask Jeeves was headed toward the same dot-com graveyard then bursting with hundreds of companies that were too ill-conceived or ill-funded to survive the economic turndown.
Search engine LookSmart sees 70% increase in quarterly revenue
LookSmart (LOOK) reported its Q3 results today, showing a 70% increase in revenue compared to last year.
Revenue increased to $40.3 million compared to $23.8 million in Q3, 2002. Net profits increased to $1.9 million.
"We are finalizing our go-forward plan of operations as we look past the conclusion of our MSN agreement in January 2004," LookSmart Chief Executive Jason Kellerman said in a statement.
Kellerman added that the company expects to provide investors with a mid-quarter update on its plans. Andy Beal
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Looking for Internet marketing advice?
Marketingfind.com is a great marketing resource for beginners and seasoned pro's alike. Recently launched, the site should be added to any online marketer's list of resources. Andy Beal
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Survey shows importance of “organic� search engine optimization
Survey shows “organic� search engine optimization still most important marketing method for website owners Survey results show which method of Internet marketing is most important to businesses.
Raleigh, NC – In a survey conducted at search engine news website, www.SearchEngineLowdown.com, visitors were asked which method of online marketing they considered to be the most important for their business. With just nine weeks until Christmas, participants overwhelming declared that “free/organic� search engine optimization was the most vital, with 70% of all those responding favoring this method of Internet promotion.
While Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising continues to dominate the search engine industry headlines, only 16% of respondents signaled its overriding importance to their Internet marketing efforts. Third most popular was “word of mouth� with 8%, followed closely by email campaigns with 6%. Banner ads, which have declined in popularity in recent years, received just 1% of all the votes. Andy Beal
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Is Google News refusing to accept blog sources?
According to this story they are and they haven't picked up SE Lowdown, so maybe some truth to it. Andy Beal
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Google to challenge Amazon.com's book search engine?
Google has begun talks with book publishers to compile a searchable database of the contents of thousands of volumes, a publishing executive briefed on the project said yesterday. Reported by The New York Times Andy Beal
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A guide to better search engine queries
Business Week has a great guide to getting more out of your Internet searches. Andy Beal
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Could Google IPO make it a target for activists?
According to England's Telegraph, any IPO by Google could make it a target for activists who believe that Google has too much power and should be policied.
Others worry that Google is in danger of becoming an Orwellian Big Brother, because it collects information about which websites users visit and is said to hold on to that information, seemingly forever.
In a recent interview, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said: "I think people tend to exaggerate Google's significance. Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan. But if they think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine. People come to Google because they choose to." Andy Beal
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Search engine conspiracy at the White House?
White House staff recently prevented search engine robots from indexing certain pages that discuss the war in Iraq. While officials claim that the move is simply designed to prevent duplicate content from being indexed, others suggest otherwise.
Oh wait, doesn't the FBI monitor any media that mentions certain "trigger" words (like "White House")? Oh well, never say "no" to more traffic. ;-) Andy Beal
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Why an RFP for SEO work is a mistake
There have been a lot more RFP's surfacing in the SEO industry recently. Being totally honest, receiving an RFP is a pain in the rear-end as the company requesting it rarely asks the most pertinent questions.
It looks like the guys over at iProspect are also fed-up with seeing them. CEO, Frederick Marckini discusses why an RFP is not a good way of selecting an SEO company Andy Beal
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October 27, 2003
Ask Jeeves shares fall after Barron's report
According to Reuters shares of Ask Jeeves Inc. (ASKJ) fell 5 percent after a weekend report in Barron's said the Web search provider's stock, which has risen around 660 percent this year, may be overvalued.
The story, in the Oct. 27 issue of Barron's released on Sunday, said the Emeryville, California-based company has profited from a lucrative Web search advertising deal with privately held Google Inc., but has garnered only a 2.3 percent share of the U.S. search business. Andy Beal
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WebSourced, Inc Launches Free Online Dating Service at Cherish.com
WebSourced, Inc (OTCBB: CGIH) today launched Cherish.com (www.Cherish.com) a completely free online dating service, promising to put the fun back into online personals. After months of researching existing online dating options, Cherish.com aims to revolutionize online personals by providing a dating community that combines traditional online dating with social networking.
At its launch, Cherish.com will offer its online dating service without any charge, allowing members to register, browse, communicate and date without any monthly fees.
Cherish.com has the backing of WebSourced, Inc, which has a history of launching successful Internet properties and attracts clients such as NBC, RealNetworks and Alaska Airlines.
How long will Cherish.com be available for free? Answering that question, Pat Martin Cherish's "CEO of Love" said, "We will offer the service without charge until we are satisfied that we have built an online dating community that exceeds the needs of our members."
Martin added, "Online dating has become extremely popular but has also become very complex. We want to provide an online dating community that allows millions of adults the opportunity to find someone to Cherish in a safe and fun environment."
Before the end of the year, Cherish.com will roll out new features that will offer community members advanced search capabilities and enhanced filtering of potential dates. Andy Beal
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October 26, 2003
Google aims to stay No. 1 in search engines
USNews.com discusses whether MSN and Yahoo can steal away market share from search engine, Google. Andy Beal
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October 25, 2003
Coming to Search Engine Strategies Chicago? Join the party!
As you may know, KeywordRanking.com is the Premier Plus Sponsor for SES in Chicago, alongside Yahoo. Just announced, KeywordRanking.com will be hosting a Cocktail Party at the end of the first day, from 6:00-8:00pm.
Meet up with the staff at KeywordRanking.com and hundreds of other SES attendees. Share tips, news and enjoy complimentary drinks and hors d'oeurves Andy Beal
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Louis Vuitton sues Google
Obsiously still upset that they weren't able to prevent the U.S. from invading Iraq, the French have decided to take their revenge on American status symbol, Google. Since the recent trademark infringement ruling by the French courts, it appears that Google is fair game for anyone wishing to protect a trademarked term. This time, it's the turn of Louis Vuitton.
Lawyers for Google and Vuitton, maker of handbags, shoes and other luxury goods, are to attend a preliminary hearing in Paris on November 3. Vuitton, a division of French luxury goods giant LVMH, filed its suit on August 6.
Google plans to appeal a previous ruling that forced it to pay $89,000 in damages to Viaticum and Luteciel.
Andy Beal
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October 24, 2003
Looking for the latest news on Blogs?
Hopefully, you have SE Lowdown bookmarked as your favorite choice for search engine news :-)
Just added to my bookmarks is The Blog Herald which does for blogging, what we do for search engines (writing about the subject until someone pays vasts amounts of cash for us to stop). Great reading! Andy Beal
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Search Engine News Index launched
While many analysts and investors are spending countless hours monitoring the stock prices of search engine companies, we've decided to track the number of news stories each search engine generates.
On the right of this page, you will see our new "Search Engine Index" which will track the most popular search engines and rank them in order of press coverage they receive. We've decided to use Google News as our source as it appears to be updated the fastest and yes, it is unbiased.
Tune in each day to check the Index and see how the latest announcements impact the results. Andy Beal
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Google Beta Tests Regional AdWords Targeting
Search giant Google is testing a feature for its AdWords program that would allow marketers to target their ads regionally, so they appear only when users in certain areas perform searches. See full story Andy Beal
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Search engine spammers turn attention to Blogs
Oh great! Just days after adding a "comments" section to each post Wired.com reveals that spammers are targeting them as a means of adding links in hope of improving search engine ranking.
Well they can certainly try to do that here, but I'm not going to worry about leaking any PageRank. All of our comments are hosted at Haloscan and the only way to get to each page is thru a javascript link (which search engines typically don't spider anyway). Andy Beal
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Google, Google, Google
Everywhere you turn, there's news on Google today. I'm not going to link to every story discussing the speculated Google IPO (I don't think I have enough server space) but Cynthia Webb does a great job of breaking it down, over at TechNews.com Andy Beal
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Google buys Sprinks; partners with the About.com network
Maybe it's an effort to quell the IPO rumors, but Google and Primedia today announced a deal that sees Google providing contextual ads to the About.com network while also acquiring Primedia's Sprinks pay-per-click unit.
As part of the deal, Google will become the exclusive provider of contextually targeted and search advertising across About.com, the Web's largest content site, and most of PRIMEDIA's (PRM) Consumer Media and Magazines Group ("CMMG") websites. The deal extends the reach of Google's base of more than 150,000 advertisers to the targeted audiences served by About.com's 450 topic-specific Guide Sites that cover more than 10,000 topics and the CMMG 127 targeted magazine-related sites. Andy Beal
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Amazon.com expands search engine capabilities Amazon.com has taken a big step in the development of their search technology with the announcement of their "Search Inside The Book" feature.
Consumers can now, not only search for a book title or author, but also search thru the content of books. For example, if you search for "rocket experiments" at Amazon, you'll get your normal list of results for books containing that term. Books participating in their Search Inside the Book feature with "rocket experiments" in their text will show an excerpt with your search term highlighted.
Pretty cool stuff for Amazon. It's no wonder that the company recently spun off A9, a company that will develop search technology. Andy Beal
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Google ready to issue IPO?
According to the Financial Times Google is considering holding a massive online auction of shares early next year.
Investment bankers predict a Google IPO could value the internet search engine company at more than $15bn. By making the offering an electronic format, Google officials hope to make shares available to Mr. & Mrs. Joe Public, giving them a chance to compete with financial institutions.
"Google executives, led by George Reyes, chief financial officer, met a number of leading investment bankers last week to sound them out about an IPO. The meetings marked the start of a process that is likely to lead to a stock market listing by about March next year, a person familiar with the IPO said. The early discussions have not touched on how much Google is worth."
The electronic format would allow all investors to bid for Google's shares directly, rather than leave it to an investment bank to decide on the price of the shares and who should receive them.
When do you think Google will go public? Use the comments link below to share your views. Andy Beal
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Search Engine Watch: Balancing Paid and Organic Search Listings
Looks like SE Watch has embarked on its regular series of articles covering the most recent Search Engine Strategies. The latest article reports on the session "Balancing organic with paid" efforts. Andy Beal
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Search engine, Ask Jeeves, makes profit in Q3
As reported by Reuters and countless others, Ask Jeeves (ASKJ) released its Q3 earnings and reported some good numbers.
The company posted net income of $3.8 million, compared with a loss on that basis of $2.2 million, a year earlier.
Revenue was $27.2 million compared with $15.9 million.
While the stock did edge up in after-hours trading, immediately after the announcement, it had dropped down again by Thursday morning. I guess the results, although promising, don't quite do enough to get rid of that nagging feeling...with Yahoo and MSN getting serious about search, what room is there for Ask, FindWhat and other smaller search engines. Andy Beal
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October 22, 2003
InfoSpace to Acquire Moviso InfoSpace (owners of search engine Dogpile.com) said it will acquire Moviso LLC from Vivendi Universal Net USA for $25 million in cash. Moviso is a provider of mobile media content, entertainment and personalization services in North America, with distribution to major carriers such as Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless. In the third quarter of 2003, Moviso generated more than $3 million in revenue and was close to break-even on an operating basis, according to Infospace, an Internet information infrastructure company based in Bellevue, Wash. Andy Beal
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A chat with Blogger creator, Evan Williams
All hail Evan Williams, the creator of Blogger. In this feature, Williams discusses the creation of the popular blogging tool and the acquisition by Google. Andy Beal
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Google: Not just a search engine anymore
Never heard of The Badger Herald before (sorry Wisconsin), but kudos to the paper for their story on Google's increasing product offerings. Andy Beal
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Yahoo! CEO discusses Google and MSN
The Motley Fool offers part 2 of its interview with Yahoo! CEO, Terry Semel. Semel discusses who he sees as Yahoo!'s competitors and if the company ever considered acquiring Google. Andy Beal
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October 21, 2003
Ask Jeeves Results Due October 22nd
In my efforts to live up to ChriSEO's description as "The Economist" of the search engine world, I would be remiss if I didn't remind everyone that Ask Jeeves will be announcing Q3 earnings tomorrow. Andy Beal
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New feature added to Search Engine Lowdown
Thanks to HaloScan for providing a free tool that allows visitors to comment on any of the posts I make. At the bottom of each post you will see a "comment" link for you to post a comment.
I'll run with it for a while, but if I get too many ego-deflating comments I reserve the right to pull it! :-) Andy Beal
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Microsoft employee blog
Robert Scoble, employee at Microsoft shares news and insights of the company at The Scobleizer Weblog. Andy Beal
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Search engine optimization company acquired
Just when you thought that all that mattered in search was paid advertising, Range Online Media purchases ZenHits in order to increase its natural search optimization offering. Andy Beal
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New Australian search engine to challenge Google
NEW Australian search engine, Mooter Search, launched today with its eye on claiming market share from American giants such as Google and eventual dominance of the Australian search market. Andy Beal
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Google adds "define" to list of operators
Google users can now get access to word definitions using the operator "define". For example, searching for define osmosis returns a definition of the word based upon information Google has collected. Andy Beal
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Google & Mobilemaps Bring Back Geosearching
Danny Sullivan continues his review of local search offerings, focusing on Google. Andy Beal
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October 20, 2003
FindWhat.com announces Q3 results
Pay-per-click search engine, FindWhat.com today announced its Q3 earnings. Revenues increased by 62% to $17.8 million with total revenues for the first 9 months being $51.2 million. Results are $300,000 ahead of the company's projections.
Craig Pisaris-Henderson, chairman and CEO of FindWhat.com said, "We continued to move our core business forward in Q3 2003, while expanding our operational and financial capabilities to integrate new initiatives."
No news on the troubled Espotting acquisition. The company is still investigating Espottings financial results and has not yet decided if the deal will continue. FindWhat says they will make an announcement before the end of the 2003. Andy Beal
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LookSmart to Report Third Quarter Results Tuesday, October 28
LookSmart will report third quarter financial results on Tuesday, October 28, 2003, after the market close. advisory details Andy Beal
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MetaCrawler Search Engine Launches Improved Interface MetaCrawler today launched a new streamlined user interface offering several new features.
Enhancements include:
* "Refine your Results" option to group results by category
* Downloadable toolbar which includes a pop-up blocker and cursor search
* Spell checker
* Adult Content Filter
* People/Business Finder
"With the new interface and features, we are providing MetaCrawler users with a simple, yet powerful way to quickly search and analyze vast sources of information online," said Brian McManus, executive vice president, Search & Directory at InfoSpace. Andy Beal
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KeywordRanking.com Selected by RealNetworks to Enhance Consumer Access to Real.com through Search Engines
KeywordRanking.com (OTCBB: CGIH) today announced that RealNetworks®, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK), the global leader in digital media technology and digital content services for consumers, has chosen KeywordRanking.com to assist in optimizing consumer accessibility to real.com, through enhanced visibility on leading search engines. KeywordRanking.com will provide RealNetworks with their ProRanking professional search engine optimization services to provide the broadest and most relevant possible exposure on search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
“Real.com is constantly trying to provide consumers with the easiest and most complete access to compelling online audio and video programming,� said Jackie Lang, GM of Ecommerce Marketing, RealNetworks, Inc. "We look forward to working with KeywordRanking.com and their professional team so that we leverage their experience with search engine marketing"
Andy Beal, vice president of search marketing for KeywordRanking.com said, “We are delighted that RealNetworks has chosen us to assist with their search engine marketing efforts. They have a strong Internet presence and instant name recognition.�
Studies have shown that over 85 percent of all new visitors to a website originate from search engine sources such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. These factors are driving the need for professionally managed search engine marketing efforts offered by KeywordRanking.com. Andy Beal
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SLI Systems unveils new search engine technology S.L.I. Systems, a provider of learning search engine services that enhance results has launched "SLI Related Search" service and has already signed up The Excite Network and Comet Systems.
SLI Related Search automatically generates search suggestions that help visitors improve their search experiences.
“With this public launch of SLI Related Search we are taking the world’s most intelligent search technology and putting it to work to help consumer Internet search engines improve user experiences while driving significant increases in revenue,� said Dr. Shaun Ryan, CEO, SLI Systems. “This unique technology is constantly learning and adapting, getting smarter with every user search. Increased relevance means increased consumer satisfaction, repeat usage and greater opportunities for revenue generation.�
Overture and Microsoft extend PPC search relationship to June 2005
An Overture press release confirms that the popular pay-per-click search engine will continue to provide ads to Microsoft until June 2005.
There has been much talk of MSN launching their own search engine, but this move clearly demontrates that while they are looking to develop their own crawler, they are either unwilling or unready to offer their own PPC service.
"Overture has been an important search provider to MSN, offering high-quality search listings to MSN customers and strong opportunities for advertisers," said Christopher Payne, vice president of MSN at Microsoft. "We are pleased to continue this mutually beneficial relationship in the U.S. and UK."
It appears MSN will concentrate on developing their own crawler technology first, with this deal giving them breathing room for the later development of an internal PPC service.
When Yahoo first announced the acquisition of Overture, many analysts predicted the end of the MSN/Overture relationship. It appears that despite Overture's "marriage" with Yahoo, MSN is willing to engage in a "menage et trois" for a little while longer. Andy Beal
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Online Advertiser DoubleClick swings to profit
DoubleClick Inc, swung to a profit in the third quarter from a year ago, as operating expenses fell by more than half.
DoubleClick earned $6.34 million, or four cents a share, in the latest third quarter, compared with a loss of $62 million, or 46 cents a share, a year ago. Andy Beal
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Yahoo CEO Semel Exercises Options
Just three months after Yahoo (YHOO) leader, Terry Semel pocketed $11.1 million by excersing options, he's at it again with another $14.6 million in profits from the exercise of options.
Still, you can hardly blame him. Yahoo's market value has more than doubled this year, resulting in an additional $16 billion in shareholder wealth. Since his last sell-off, Yahoo shares rose from around $32 to $42. Andy Beal
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October 16, 2003
Google France receives fine
Weeks after Google was forced to stop all Adwords listings featuring the company name "eBay", Google France gets in hot water over a similar matter.
The Lower Court of Nanterre required Google France to pay 70,000 euros (about $81,400) to French travel agencies Luteciel and Viaticum after the two companies claimed intellectual property rights in "bourse des vols" and "bourse des voyages," which roughly translate to travel market and airflight market.
According to CNet News, the French court concluded that Google France violated the country's intellectual property code that, translated, "prohibits, in the absence of authorization of its owner, the use of a trademark for products or services identical to those indicated in the recording." Andy Beal
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Interview with Google's Sergey Brin Search Engine Watch has a transcript of Danny Sullivan's chat with Google co-founder, Sergey Brin.
Meanwhile, if you missed our exclusive scoop two months earlier, here it is again...
Inside Search Engine Strategies, San Jose – Day Three: A Chat With Sergey Brin - 08-20-2003
Day 3 of Search Engine Strategies, San Jose included a wide range of sessions covering broad topics such as “Meet the Crawlers� and the more targeted “Google API�. However, there was not an empty seat available when Danny Sullivan sat down with Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, on the eve of his 30th birthday, to chat about the past and future of the world’s most famous search engine.
Sitting in two elegant arm-chairs with a large plasma screen providing a back-drop of a roaring log fire, the setting suggested that we were ease-dropping on too old friends who were reminiscing about the past.
Google’s growth
It has been five years since Google entered the search engine arena and in that time the then unknown challenger to AltaVista has grown from 15 million pages indexed to a colossal 3+ billion, serving 76% of US searches. Danny Sullivan recalled how Brin had attended one of the earlier conferences and had asked the audience who had heard of Google. Back then, few hands went up. Laughter circulated today’s audience when Danny gave Sergey the opportunity to ask the same question; “Who here has heard of Google?�
Danny then proceeded to real off the developments that Google had made this year alone; AdSense, Toolbars, buying Blogger, launching Google News Alerts etc. Asked if Sergey was proud of these accomplishments, he replied modestly, that despite the list sounding impressive, he believed they were “not doing enough� in his mind. Sergey wanted his company to expand even further and provide searchers with even more technological developments and enhancements that would expand the use and enjoyment of Google.
Expanding content on the web
Danny wanted to know from Sergey which of the past year’s accomplishments he was particularly pleased with. After giving the question some thought, Sergey offered that the recent launch of their “AdSense� service was his proudest moment. The affiliate type service allowed small businesses an opportunity to display Google’s AdWords sponsors on their own website, providing a means for many companies to increase income from their website by sharing in the revenue these sponsorships generated. Sergey expressed his desire for AdSense to “spur the next generation of content on the web�.
An IPO for Google?
Turning to the question on everyone’s lips, Danny asked Sergey if an IPO was on the horizon and when might Google make a public offering. Giving his answer, you could tell that Sergey was a man that had envisioned building a better search engine to assist the world, with the last thing on his mind being answering to Wall Street. “We debate [going public] periodically at board meetings� said Brin and it “would be nice to have currency to do acquisitions, [however] there are significant management distractions with being public�. While his statements seemed to signal that Google does not intend to become a public company, Brin did admit that there is a “good chance eventually� that they would issue an IPO but that it is “not the most pressing thing.�
Google acquiring MSN?
If issuing an IPO was not in the future of Google, was an acquisition strategy likely to be developed? Danny couldn’t resist putting a twist on a recurring question, “Any chance Google would buy Microsoft?� Sergey joined the audience in raucous laughter as everyone dismissed this as being a possibility, although with Google’s reputation and dominance, you would be forgiven for thinking that this impossible scenario could just happen. On a more serious note, Danny did ask Sergey whether Google would entertain any advances made by a rival company such as MSN. “We have always said “no� thus far� explained Brin, but he went to on elaborate that they “can’t discount any approach�. This statement created more questions than it answered, suggesting that rumors of an approach by MSN and Yahoo had an element of truth.
Preventing misuse
Turning to the technology developments that Google had planned for the future, Danny asked Sergey to elaborate on the work that goes into the constant development of the famed Google PageRank. Sergey explained that it was still very much an important part of Google’s ranking system and that more than half a dozen new ranking technologies are tested each month with roughly half of these being integrated into Google’s PageRank algorithm. He went to on discuss the issues Google faces with spam and indicated that Google is aware of the “corrupt� uses of some companies in an attempt to manipulate the PageRank but he made it quite clear that they have technologies to deal with any misuse.
Paid inclusion not likely at Google
A request that is often made to Google is that they introduce a paid inclusion option so that those interested in obtaining faster inclusion into the index, have a means to do so, at a premium. While many representatives of Google have expressed in the passed that this is unlikely to happen, Sergey made a point of clarifying his dislike of introducing paid inclusion. “I don’t really believe in it� said Brin, adding that he wanted to “keep any kind of payment from objective search results�. “Objective search� the very thing that has made Google popular, hence his reluctance to tinker with its formula for success. In the second part of the question, Danny asked whether Google had given any thought to offering some form of “paid support� to allow webmasters a faster and easier way of communicating a problem with Google engineers. This was also a “no go� as far as Sergey was concerned as he believed that by offering this type of premium support it would sap resources and “slow down [Google’s] pace of development.�
As the “virtual fire-place� started to die down, Danny asked Sergey what was the worst thing about being at the helm of the worlds most popular and most analyzed search engine. After taken a few seconds to consider the question, Sergey offered a simple answer, “coping with the growth�. While many of us might think that we would love to be involved with a company growing as rapidly as Google, being in control of behemoth such as Google can be a daunting task for someone who has yet to celebrate his 30th birthday. Andy Beal
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VeriSign to restart controversial '404' redirect service
VeriSign will give a 30 to 60-day notice before resuming a controversial and temporarily suspended feature that redirected many .com and .net domains, company representatives said this week. Andy Beal
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Can search engines do better with images?
Carnegie Mellon graduate student Luis von Ahn and his mentor, professor Manuel Blum, believe search engines can one day adopt word labels generated by their ESP Game to help computers see images more as humans do.
The ESP Game tries to improve upon that by asking two players who don't know each other to type in words that describe a series of images. Players win points when they match words - and those matches become labels von Ahn and Blum can affix to the image in question. full story Andy Beal
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WSJ - "Google Acts Like an Ad Agency"
If you have a subsscription to the Wall Street Journal, be sure to read the latest article on Google's Adwords and Adsense services.
Here's an extract:
Without identifying itself, the popular online search engine posts pitches next to relevant content on Web pages where it has lined up space in advance. It's part of an ad-placement service Google began offering to online publishers and advertisers earlier this year and now is rapidly expanding. Google now places ads for its customers on online-media sites such as News Corp.'s New York Post's online edition, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC.com and the Weather Channel.
It's a big step beyond Google's traditional business of selling ads pegged directly to search results. "Google in effect is serving as an online media-buying agency," says Scott Epstein, a consumer-marketing consultant in Silicon Valley. "It's a potential threat to the ad networks, the online media-buying agencies, and to some extent it takes fees away from general online advertising agencies." Andy Beal
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Google interviews by invitation only
The New York Post reports that Google is holding interviews at its New York offices during a special recruiting event.
With the economy in a slump, Google has been "inundated with resumes" according to Craig Nevill-Manning, the head of Google's New York engineering team, which was launched in the spring.
Candidates are attracted to the potential of cashing-in on stock options should Google decide to go public. While speculation is building that Google may soon make a public offering, the NYP provides some insight as to why the decision is not forthcoming.
"[Google] president, Sergey Brin, has been coy about his plans for going public, citing his dislike for filling out forms." Andy Beal
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October 15, 2003
Search Engine Mamma.com parent to change name
Intasys Corporation (INTA), announces that the board has approved convening of a Special Shareholders Meeting to request approval of a change of the Company's name to Mamma.com Inc. Intasys states the change would more accurately reflect the Company's decision to concentrate predominantly on its profitable and growing meta-search engine and on-line marketing business, Mamma.com. As previously announced, negotiations continue on the divestiture of Intasys Billing Technologies. Andy Beal
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FindWhat.com to Announce Third Quarter Earnings on October 20
A conference call to announce quarterly earnings is usually a good sign. Mark your calendars! Andy Beal
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