Do you get the feeling that vanity URLs are everywhere? I’m seeing at least two or three a day, maybe more. According to Verisign, over 105 million domain names were registered at the end of 2Q06, a 27% increase over the past year. But I have a problem with vanity URLs…I usually can’t remember the …
Category Archives: Search
Search algorithm quirks – brought to you by the letter S and the number 6
Ever run a search engine query for a single letter or digit, e.g. to get a stock quote for Ford? Sometimes, the organic results aren’t what you’d expect: A: Altavista (Yahoo), Apple (Google) G: Gmail (Google) I: iTunes (Google) M: Microsoft (Yahoo) S: McDonalds (Google), Standard & Poor’s (Yahoo), Gibson’s Anti-Semitic Tirade (MSN) 2: WordPress …
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Google bug or another “go to hell”?
Back in 2002, when you searched on “go to hell” in google, the top result was Microsoft (full story at Computerworld). Seth Godin points out a new bug this morning, this time involving Yahoo! – if you google “therapy products“, you’ll get a nice block in the middle of your results leading to the Y! …
Amazon.com Restaurants
Have you ever noticed restaurant listings on Amazon.com? They aren’t available from the home page or any of 32 product categories. There isn’t any mention in the press releases or investor relations. However, you can search the site for "restaurants" and something interesting shows up – menus from local dining establishments. Don’t search for "restaurant" …
Google search results – new format
Looks like the Google search results page has been changed to deliver more traffic to different search types. If you go to the page and search, links to other search types have shifted from text-only labels at top to a left-hand nav with a page rank-style feature. This is what the old search results page …
Proof of what search marketers should already know
Seth Godin conveys "good news for Google investors" from a lesson learned with Squidoo and WWE Smackdown! superstar Rey Mysterio. The other side of this coin is terrible news for Google advertisers – which smart search marketers should already know. To quote Mr. Godin: "…the efficiency of using google.com means that many people (perhaps most …
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Yahoo bans trademark keyword bids
Cross this one off of your guerilla marketing to-do list. According to CNet and other sources, Yahoo will prevent advertisers from bidding on competitor keywords starting March 1st. My understanding, mostly derived from hearing Alan Rimm-Kaufman speak on the subject, is that current law is meant to prevent deceptive or misleading advertising – like if …
Guerilla keyword buying
In the wake of "google pontiac," I was checking Google and Yahoo! during the Super Bowl to see if anyone was trying to piggyback on major brand investments. Sure enough, terms like "whopperettes," "brown bubbly," "dove," and "godaddy" were purchased by companies offering services totally unrelated to the keywords. It looks like the 3 companies …