A few weeks ago I wrote an article titled How Often Do You Use Local Search? Recently I was checking the local results in MSN and came across something I hadn't noticed before or at least I hadn't paid much attention to ... Windows Live Local. Hmm something fairly new in search from MSN and Microsoft? Windows Live Local (http://local.live.com) is powered by their Virtual Earth technology. I must say that I wasn't really all that impressed with MSN's Virtual Earth technology when it debuted a few months ago. However I thought that there were some great features with Windows Live Local.
We've recently done a lot of testing on how people interact with search results, both on the general engines we all use, and vertical search engines in a few industries. We discovered a number of things, but one finding in particular surprised us. The user interaction with search results has been defined. A standard has been established. And until a discontinuous improvement in the search interface comes along, we will expect all Search to be the same.
I mean, there are dozens of analysts predicting what a company will earn and if that company falls short of expectations then they take a hit - usually as a result of panicked selling of its shares by investors.
But what gets me is these analysts - people who work OUTSIDE the company can actually influence shareholders so much that they drop stocks in a company that makes money hand over fist.
Google has announced a major update that will affect the ranking of web pages in Google's index. In contrast to the usual algorithm updates, this update will be much bigger because it changes the way Google works behind the scenes. Google has given the update the name "Bigdaddy".
This phrase struck fear into the minds and hearts of webmasters and SEO firms around the world for years. It was the time of the month when Google would perform a major index update.
It was the time of the month when coffee sales would skyrocket in delis closest to the web firm's offices. And thankfully it's a time long past.
But that doesn't mean that Google has stopped updating; Far from it, in fact. It just means that the updates are smaller and less noticeable.
And it's been that way for about a year and a half now - the smaller but more frequent updates noticed at Google. There haven't really been the major shakeups we were used to seeing - at least until now.
I decided to use this week's article to go on a bit of a rant.
This is because I'm frustrated with a couple of the big engines. Recently I started exploring some of the local search options available for my clients. I also want to develop a process so that other Enquiro clients can take advantage of our relationship with the engines.
So I proceeded to contact Google, Yahoo! and MSN local representatives to see what we can do with them.
As you are probably already aware, the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) was another smash this year. The buzz word at the show was 'convergence'.
While I'm not terribly impressed with Google's offerings - PPV video downloads and the 'Google Pack' I am more interested in what keynote speaker Larry Page had to say.
You see, up until recently you couldn't see the whole speech. For some reason only bits and pieces were showing up on the web at various locations. So last Saturday I was able to se the announcements section of the speech, but that was all until yesterday.
The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) has recently completed and one thing that is interesting is that the search engines are playing a larger and larger role; Larger than ever before.
In fact, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft all had exhibits at the show. Also, Microsoft's Chairman Bill Gates and Google co-founder Larry Page were both keynote speakers at the event.
Both promoted their search engines, but both also pushed their consumer electronics.
Google recently released an official explanation of how they rank results in their newsletter for librarians. In this document, Google engineer Matt Cutts explains how Google decides what result goes at the top of the list.