Search Engine Reports - February 2005

Search Engine Reports

February, 2005
2/28: Snap unrolls a pay-per-conversion service, a twist on traditional pay-per-click.

2/28: At the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York, three vendors of public opinion monitoring software spoke about their products. Designed to search blogs, message boards, and other public forums for consumer opinion, BuzzMetrics, Bloglines, and Intelliseek make it possible to gather feedback on existing products, and collect information before launching new ones.

2/24: AOL unrolls Local Search, drawing on InfoUSA's database in conjunction with Mapquest, as well as AOL Yellow Pages, Moviefone and AOL cityguides.

2/16: Google releases Toolbar 3 in beta. This version allows you to spell-check data input to form fields, translate English into 7 different languages, and, controversially, transform tracking numbers, vehicle identification numbers, ISBN numbers, and U.S. addresses into links. Why is this controversial? Because Google decides where those links go. For example, if you select an ISBN (book-identifying) number, the Toolbar creates a link to Amazon.com, even if the ISBN number you're looking at is on a competitor site. According to Google, they do not receive compensation from Amazon for this. It's possible they are testing the waters for a new way to generate revenue. We'll know more when it comes out of beta.

2/8: Google releases Google Maps.

2/8: AskJeeves acquires Bloglines.com, positioning itself as the search service of choice for the users of this popular site.

2/4: New Scientist publishes an article on the hazards of impression fraud. This is a type of pay-per-click fraud specific to Google Adwords, in which your competitor uses a bot to search the engine for your keywords, driving your impression rates up without clicking through. Ultimately, Google disables the ad, as it would for any ad that fails to perform.

2/3/05: Google updates its algorithm and its index; industry analysts and others observe a loss of positioning primarily for sites that seem to engage in link spamming. Also observed: the release of some sites from the Google "Sandbox," and the loss of some stagnant sites. Some of the link spamming penalties appear to have been repealed in the next few days/weeks, as Google adjusted the algorithm.

2/3: Yahoo releases Y!Q, a contextual search tool available via a "Search Related Info" link in some (not all) parts of their site. If you are reading a news article, for example, you can click the link to see other stories containing keywords found in the first article.

2/1: MSN unveils their new search engine, sending beta version into retirement. Uses Overture and Google Adwords for sponsored listings.

2/1: MSN releases Messenger 6.2, which includes MSN Toolbar by default (though you can opt out). The Toolbar is a desktop search that makes MSN Search your default search engine and home page (though this can be changed).

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