Posts filed under 'Search Engine News'
Google made no secret out of the fact that they worked on their own “custom” or “personalized” search engine. Lauren Baker over at Search Engine Journal was quick, because he made a post about it already a few hours ago.
Personalized Search Engine? What’s that? You might come across or already used the Services like Rollyo, Eurekster Swiki and Yahoo Search Builder. Those are “Custom” Search Engines. You can read Loren’s post to learn about how to use them to search your favorite Websites. I want to talk about the use of those custom search engines as cheap solution for an on site search on your Website.
I never tested Search Builder from Yahoo really. I created a “Search Engine” but never used it. I did however use Rollyo and Eurekster.
There are still some remains of the ladder on my site, but they are soon gone. Prior those new Web 2.0 gadgets did I use the Google Search Box with on Site search feature enabled and set to default.
It looked like crap in my opinion and was way to much plastered with Ads. There was not much room left for the actual On Site Search Results. I was ready to test those new toys for their practical use as alternative solution.
Rollyo did not last long on my site. It was not very practical as on site search solution you could not brand it at all and it shows so much other stuff that a user would never realize that he is searching my site and should ignore all the other stuff that is going on the screen. I changed it quickly and used it as intended, creating a few search engines for SQL Server and internet marketing related searches. I had the search box on my site as well as some kind of supplemental or complimentary search option (I should not use supplemental, because that word leaves a bad after taste in my mouth, thanks to Google).
Conclusion: Rollyo use for On Site Search – Impractical
Along came the Eurekster Swiki which looked cool on the surface. It was clearly designed to be used as On Site Search and Custom Search Engine to search your favorite news portals and Blogs. It allowed custom branding which was very far reaching and the initial results were also pretty good. The Keyword cloud was the best feature and the option to promote results and add pages that are relevant to a Keyword. Eurekster was horrible when it came to updates on my site. Even promoted pages were not indexed (I don’t want to say never, because I never waited long enough to find out. I was constantly teaching that dumb thing where pages are that match a keyword.
I got the feeling to work on a Del.icio.us clone for your Website and not a custom search engine. Or they took the word “search” to literally and thought, right search, nobody said something about finding stuff, didn’t they?
Conclusion: Cool Keyword Cloud feature, customization of layout possible, update of search index sucked. Not recommended unless you are a top 10 Del.icio.us tagger.
Yahoo Search Builder sorry, not tested.
Now the Google Custom Search Engine was launched as part of Google Co-Op and in less than 30 minutes (yeah, I like it fancy) did I replace the Eurekster Search Box with a Google Search Box.
What is cool is that Google results are returned on a page on my domain (optional). Eurekster did not provide that option.
Don’t see it as a bonus. All search result links from the customized page at the Eurekster domain to your site except from custom added style and navigation elements are tagged with “nofollow”)
The Google Custom Search is based on Google Co-Op. The Co-Op “Annotation” feature is used as “Advanced Option” for your Search Engine to load tagged URLs into your new Toy. I have not tried that one yet.
The option to get the result displayed on a specified page on my site was cool. The second page that is specified as results page simply has a second piece of code that must be added to the code of your site.
The Search results page always shows Google Ads. Yes, you can use your AdSense ID and get a piece of the pie. You have only a few choices where you can tell Google to show the Ads: Right, Top and Right, Top and Bottom, end of choices.
There is a checkbox to turn them off altogether that states:
“My search engine is for a 501(c)(3) non-profit, university, or government agency website, and I do not want advertising on the results pages.”
I guess I need to check the Terms again to find out how much I am obligated to have the Ads on.
You can specify some color options and you are ready to go.
Other features: Collaboration. Have either friends or everybody mess with your search engine. You can make it private and invite up to 100 people to mess with your toy. You can also accept volunteer requests (or decline them). Or you make it public property and start bedding on each others search engines to see how long it takes until your Custom Search Engine is nothing more than a Custom Spam Engine.
When it comes to look and feel then is Google as generous as always. A few color options and room for a custom logo which is too small to fit anything that you can call logo, including the Google one. I guess the design options come only in one shape and version, the one from AdSense.
Google does not like it if Webmasters take things into their own hands and decide what are pretty and what not. Thank you.
Another feature is the ability to use Google’s pretty new AJAX search APIs to display results. I have not played with that yet to tell you more about it at this point.
Let’s see how good Google Custom Search Engines for a Single Site are with updating themselves. So far so good … now I have to use it for a little while to provide some more info.
Conclusion: so far so good Google. Cool new Features, lets see how it works over time when used.
October 27th, 2006
The Indian internet landscape is getting more competitive by the day. Not only is it widening in breath, it is also getting deeper. Search engines have traditionally been at the heart of how the internet works, and we now have multiple local search engines to choose from. The latest (and most promising) entrant to this field is Guruji, which launched last week.
Guruji is a crawler based local search engine that focuses on Indian content. It has been co-founded by these two ex-IIT Delhi guys who have a strong professional background. They have the backing of Sequoia Capital for venture funding and Suvir Sujan (who co-founded Bazzee) as an angel investor. It is not entirely insignificant to note that Sequoia was one of the earliest investors in Google.
Off course if its about search, comparisons to Google are inevitable. Google’s search algorithm is almost like an industry benchmark and other search engines are likely to be assessed in terms of how closely they can replicate what Google does. But if my understanding of Guruji is correct, it is trying to do what Google does best, but in a very different way. To understand this better, you first need to understand how Google works for Indian content. Let me explain-
Google/Yahoo crawl the entire web and then categorize the content as Indian or not. It still retains the non-Indian content in its database and that content is included in Indian search results but gets lower priority. What Guruji does is in sharp contrast to Google’s approach. It discovers the content while crawling, stores only the India related content and throws out the irrelevant (non-Indian) data. This technique allows Guruji to crawl more, go deeper and hence index more India related data.
To understand Guruji’s second differentiator, take a look at this FAQ from its website - “Guruji currently has the data for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata……….free to submit any business listing you think is important and is missing“. When I first read this, it didn’t make any sense to me. How on earth is web indexing co-related to city specific data? I needed help from Guruji’s founder, Anurag Dod, who made me understand this better. Guruji calls this local (yellow pages) search. Using this section of their website (which seems to be an atomized listing of Indian websites), you can submit your establishment’s url for indexing. And when a query comes up, the user will get not only the web search results but also the business listing (almost like a yellow page listing). This feature is Guruji’s innovation and no other search engine does anything like this.
I think this local search is a very innovative feature. I also feel that this feature will almost work as a counter measure to Google’s very successful adwords program. Not convinced? Ok, let me explain how. I queried for “chinese food south delhi” on both Guruji and Google. The results are shown in the attached screenshots. On Google, you get a bunch of results and you also get a few featured adwords links on the right. On Guruji, the first difference is that the basic results seem more detailed and specific. Secondly, the local search (shown above the basic search results) lists two specific establishments, complete with their address/telephones. Now, isn’t that what the adwords program is supposed to do. This is my hypothesis. I tried to verify this, using other search queries as well but the results are not conclusive, probably because Guruji’s database is still very young and sparsely populated . Because of which, current comparisons of search queries on Google and Guruji would probably not be fair. We need to let Guruji gain traction before making judgments.
Anurag informed me that their future revenue model will be based on search engine ads (PPC) What I didn’t ask him was whether this is Google adwords or are they planning to have an advertising engine of their own as well?
I think Guruji is a very promising prospect. It has the right people backing it (i.e. founders, investors). And it is not trying to benchmark itself to what the Goliath in this field (Google) does. This is important, for one would need to think out of the box, in order to break Google’s stranglehold on Indian search.
While on local search, let me revisit two applications that I have reviewed in the past.
Onyomo- this is also a very promising local search engine, though its modus operandi is different from that of a classic search engine. For details, check out my earlier review. Its capabilities for local listing (or yellow pages search) overlaps with Guruji. It also has a very interesting mashup of city level maps with the search queries. Unfortunately it is available only in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai (future). In these cities, its search results are vastly superior to what Guruji gives at present (because of its modus operandi of adding content to its database).
MapmyIndia- this is the online mapping application that I reviewed a few weeks back and while it is not a search engine, it has a fairly potent local search section. You can search for services, facilities etc in the cities and they are marked out visually in the maps. It works fine, though the listings database needed to be better populated (when I reviewed it). And it has a pan-India coverage.
I am aware of another India focused search application that is currently under development (in the stealth mode). I have been shown a private demo but unfortunately, I can’t talk about it at this stage (I promised those guys). I think that’s very interesting as well.
Overall I feel that in about 6-12 months, these search applications are likely to become more mature. That’s when we shall really get to understand how capable they actually are. And its entirely possible that in the not too distant future, if you want to search local in India, you’d head to one of these, rather than Google. Webyantra says Amen with a capital A!
October 24th, 2006
As if the simple “cool factor” wasn’t enough to make most people want to get in early on any type of Google beta test, the company has now decided that they’re willing to pay people for taking the time to use Google products and to report back on their “user experience.” According to the Google User Experience Research FAQ page, Google will be paying $75 an hour to users willing to spend time with a Google researcher answering questions about various Google products.
There appear to be four different ways that users can be called on to provide feedback:
- Usability study at a Google office: Typically, you will use a Google product or prototype, and give feedback on it. You could either meet 1-on-1 with a Google researcher, or work as part of a group. Most studies are done at our HQ in Mountain View, California, but we have offices all over the world, so please feel free to sign up for this type of study even if you don’t live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Remote usability study: A Google researcher will call you while you sit at your computer, and ask you to try out a Google product or prototype via your internet connection, and give feedback on it. You can be anywhere in the world, but need to have a high-speed internet connection.
- Field study: Google researchers will come to visit you, and interview you about how you use computers or the Web. We won’t just show up at your door - we will always check with you, and make an appointment. Again, most of our researchers are based at our HQ in Mountain View, California, but we have offices all over the world, so please feel free to sign up for this type of study even if you don’t live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Online survey: you answer questions on the web or in an email, from your own computer.
Doesn’t seem to be a specific type of person that they’re looking for either, so no need to avoid applying simply because you don’t feel “techie” enough. In fact, Google invites people from all types of backgrounds to sign up…
For each study, we need to make sure that we invite people who match our target user profile for the product we are researching. We also want to get a good balance of ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience, so please be honest with your answers. It’s easier for us to match you to a suitable study when we have more information about you, so if you fill in as much of our sign-up form as you can, it’s more likely that you will be invited to participate.
September 26th, 2006
According to the AdSense Blog, Google has added a new 200×200 size ad format that is being dubbed the “small square.” The new format will support text, video and image ads and could be a handy addition to the layout on some publishers’ sites. Google has also done an overhaul to the channels page to help makes management easier. More information on the new channel interface is available in the Help Center and the new ad unit size should show up shortly.
September 23rd, 2006
By Ross Dunn
Do you want to advertise the physical location of your business for free and get a little extra Google exposure? Thanks to Google Maps this is possible and not many people (read ‘your competition’) seem to know about it.
First I think I need to show you what I mean here. As an example click here to see the location of my company, StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. on Google Maps (no you don’t need Google Earth to
do this). What should appear is a map of my home city, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada along with a marker identifying my business location and a comment balloon providing address and detailed information. This information was placed on Google with my input, entirely free of charge. All that Google needed to do was confirm my physical location by sending a letter in the mail with a code that would allow me go online and verify my physical address. That is it, as simple as pie!
Why Should You Bother With Google Maps?
If simply getting more exposure on an emerging Google tool isn’t enough here are the frills that Google provides freely with this map listing:
- Google allows you to offer coupons to visitors of your map listing. These coupons are touted as a way to “reward loyal customers and attract new ones”. At this time, coupons are only available to businesses located in the US.
- Once your address is fully verified you have full control over your listing. You can add or delete non-address information at will.
- You can add all of your business locations from a single account.
Finally my personal favorite; all that your client or prospective client has to do to find your office is click on a link on your website and voila, they are taken to an accurate road map with directions. They can even click a button and see the satellite view of your location; very slick indeed!
Do it Yourself
Here is the process for you to get your site added to Google Maps.
Step 1: Add Your Business
Visit Google Local’s “Add/Edit Your Business” page. There you will be asked to enter your Google account login and password (or you can quickly create one) before entering the submission area. Once in, you need to provide standard business address and contact information, a 200-character description of your business, the forms of payment you accept from consumers and your operating hours.
Step 2: Choose a Category
Next you will be asked to provide a category that best describes your business. You can enter a phrase here and Google will try to find a related category to make this process simpler for you. You have the option to appear in up to 5 separate categories.
Step 3: Preview and Select Verification Method
Your business listing along with a proof of your business’s mapped location is shown for your approval. Here you can make any necessary final tweaks to your listing. After that, you have to choose which verification method that Google will use to confirm your address; do you want Google to call you or receive a postcard to confirm your address? I chose the postcard because frankly, I love the idea of getting personal mail from Google and it seems like a far more effective way to confirm an address. In addition, when I received StepForth’s confirmation letter it came along with a $35 AdWords coupon (for businesses new to AdWords): click the picture on the right for a sample.
Step 4: Verify 
Follow the instructions provided to you by either the postcard or the phone and your listing will be active within 6 weeks.
Adding Your Google Maps Listing
Here are a couple of ways to add your new Google listing to your website.
- One is to embed a cool JavaScript map of your location into your website using Google’s Maps API, a sample of which is shown here. This option requires more than I can cover in this article and frankly I have to take the time learn how to do it first myself. That said it does look very slick so I anticipate StepForth will be adding it as soon as I can find the time.
- The second, much simpler option is to link directly to your listing from your website. Start by visiting http://maps.google.com and type in your business name into the search window. If your listing is active, it should come up within the results. Click on this listing and you will see your location appear on the map along with your company’s information balloon. Click the title within the balloon and your detailed Google Maps page will appear. Now you can simply copy the URL in your browser and paste that into your website so that your users can find your location. The other option is to take this process a step further and click on the “View Larger Map” link, at which point a far more detailed map will appear and you can copy this URL for use within your site.
Whatever you do just remember that all you need to do is find the page layout that you want your customers to see and then copy the URL so that you can link to this listing within your website.
Here is how StepForth’s Google Maps listing is currently linked from our “About” page.
What the Future May Hold for Google Maps
Having a listing on Google Maps does not currently have any noticeable impact on organic Google Rankings but I can see how it might in the future. For example, it would be very much like Google to add an icon next to each ranking that has a correlating Google Maps profile. After all, when creating a map profile Google does note that they may add advertising to Google Maps API in the future. Even if Google Maps is not added to organic listings in any way, you can bet that there will be more focused push to compete against giants like MapBlast and MapQuest in the future; these are very lucrative markets that Google cannot ignore.
So get your company on Google Maps, it is free after all. Moreover, remember that Google’s history states that anything they add advertising to will ultimately get more exposure.
September 19th, 2006
By Todd Mintz
Most savvy SEOs know that Google is placing an increased weight on links from “authority” websites. Wikipedia, a free internet encyclopedia that can be edited by any user, is certainly one of the top authority websites in the eyes of Google and I´m certainly not the first SEO to observe that an awful lot of Wikipedia pages are currently ranking quite highly in the SERPS.
Many of you likely have tried to place your website link on a Wikipedia page. What most probably happened is a zealous Wikipedia editor likely removed your link very quickly because the prevailing view is that appending your external link to the bottom of a previously created page adds little to the community and likely only benefits you.
But, let us say that you have a website that can be considered a resource in its field. If you see that Wikipedia does not have a page on a topic covered objectively by your website, you can create a Wikipedia page on that topic, link it to your website, and gain the SEO benefits of that link which, more than likely, won´t be removed.
Whats the Simplest Way for Me to Create a Compliant Wikipedia page?
For your first page, I recommend creating a page defining a term not already present in Wikipedia. Look at your website and determine objectively for which terms your site could qualify as a citable resource. Then, check Wikipedia to see whether a page has been created for those terms. If not, youre good to go.
Components That Need To Be Included in Your Page:
Page Categories. All Wikipedia pages must be placed in at least one relevant category. The easiest way to find categories for your article is to search for a page on a topic similar to yours, copy the category “code” and add it to your new page.
Total objectivity. Your page must be objective both in tone and in content. Any sales-y, promotional language will be removed.
Multiple Reference Sources. A short “dictionary-style” definition linking only to one website (yours) will not fly. First, Wikipedia explicitly states that they arent a dictionary. It´s OK to begin your page by defining your term, but that should be a jumping-off point for putting your definition in a much larger encyclopedia-like context. I would cite a minimum of 3-4 references for any newly created page.
Also, I´ve noticed a marked preference by many editors towards referencing your sources within the Wikipedia entry itself versus listing the references at the end of the article. An editor might see a reference tacked onto the end of an article as a spam attempt, where a reference linking to the source within the content itself can be more easily verified.
References to other Wikipedia pages. Within the text of your Wikipedia page, it is encouraged and expected for you to link to other pages within Wikipedia. For example, if the page you are creating has the term “Search Engine Optimization” in the text, you should place the term in double brackets [[Search Engine Optimization]] which will automatically create an intra-Wikipedia link to the Search Engine Optimization page. Following such a policy greatly benefits the Wikipedia Community.
People will edit your page…sometimes in ways you might object to. That´s how the Wikipedia community works. If your page has run afoul of one of Wikipedia´s rules, you are not likely to win a dispute. However, many changes are made due someone´s interpretation of Wikipedia policy and if you disagree with their change, the opportunity exists to discuss it with the other Wikipedian. If you can´t resolve the dispute, you can have it moderated by an administrator.
Now, what´s the best strategy to obtain and keep the Wikipedia link to your own website? Make sure your site comes across to a skeptical reviewer as both authoritative and objective. If your linked website contains promotional material or contextual advertising, the link will almost certainly be deleted. Commercial sites can be sources for Wikipedia articles…however, if you are linking to a commercial source, I would link to the “reference page” from which you are making the citation, and not the home page.
Every page I have created for Wikipedia resides in Googles top 15 for the targeted term (and as high as #1). If your website is linked from Wikipedia, you will receive not only targeted search traffic, but an uber-powerful super-authority link that will help your Search Engine Optimization efforts, especially with Google. You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a Wikipedia link to your website, but the results are well worth it.
September 19th, 2006