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February 27, 2006

Ebay: It was fun while it lasted

Andy Beal has another good find, reporting on what looks like a very, very scary concept for the folks at Ebay. Google is currently testing a secure payment system to be used with Google Base that will start sometime in the near future. It’s just Google’s latest step in world domination.

“For buyers, this feature will provide a convenient and secure way to purchase Google Base items by credit card. For sellers, this feature integrates transaction processing with Google Base item management...we're starting with a very small number of sellers and we expect to include more over the next several months.”

Dear Ebay: we are so sorry this happened to you.

The new payment system will allow buyers to use their Google Accounts to store credit card information, effectively turning Google into an e-commerce site. The new feature will put Google in direct competition with marketplace sites like Ebay and Craigslist, and may also give PayPal a run for their money (no pun intended). According to the Google Base blog, the company plans to start small and gradually increase the number of users and listings available for purchase via a Google Account.

The announcement shouldn’t come as any big surprise. Google already accepts payments for users buying Google Video content, Google Earth licenses, and Google Store items with their Google Accounts. Creating a payment system does seem like the next logical step especially if you’re Google.

Google Base is currently in beta and allows users to store information, ranging from recipes, cars and jobs to charities and classified ads.

Watch out kids, Google could be coming for you next.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 02/27/06 at 4:43 PM
See more entries in Branding

Don’t Ask Jeeves

It’s official. In a move to rebrand and reestablish, AskJeeves has changed their name to Ask and has done away with our Jeeves. We are saddened.

Ask.com launched their cleaner, (let’s face it) more Google-esque site today, hoping the new look and added features will help people ‘get the good stuff faster”. The sleeker, more mature looking site traded in the butler for an all grown up left-hand ‘toolbox’ that boasts 20 new search tools, including AJAX-based maps, movie times, thesaurus, stock info, dictionary, local search, images and more.

Some of our favorite new features include:

• Ask.com Map: The new Maps and Directions feature gives users a choice of street, aerial or mixed map view. Users can build a 10-stop itinerary, use drag-able pins to change locations, use the “play” feature to simulate the drive ahead or select walking directions for details on how to get where they’re going on foot.
• Encyclopedia Search: Ask.com uses information from Wikipedia, Houghton Mifflin and Columbia to give users direct answers at the top of their results page.
• Desktop Search: Users can download the Desktop Search feature to search for any file, document or email stored on their computer from their web browser.
• Local Listings: Lets users search by category and area to find the best local business around. Equally great for finding a nearby 24-hour plumber or that hole-in-the-wall pizza place.
• MyStuff: Formerly MyJeeves, the first personalized search service for users interested in saving, sharing or organizing search results.

Site officials hope the new look will separate Ask from its early question and answer-based predecessor. Ask Vice President Daniel Read:

“The goal is to establish a difference between the Ask Jeeves of the late 1990s and early 2000s and the Ask.com of today, Read says.” This is the culmination of three years of intensive innovation and product launches," he explains. "The new site brings together the tools and services developed over the past three years into one easy-to-use interface."

Also part of the rebranding, Teoma.com will be rolled into the new Ask.com site. Users looking to visit Teoma (all seven of you) will now be redirected to Ask, which has adopted all of Teoma’s powers and features, with the exception of the Resources page.

Just prior to the rebranding, Jeeves was shown riding off into the sunset on horseback to start his much hyped retirement. Let’s hope the good people at Ask know what they’re doing.

(Hat-Tip to Andy Beal)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 02/27/06 at 4:24 PM
See more entries in Ask, Branding, Design

February 23, 2006

Another Day, Another Tool

It’s Thursday which means it’s time for a new Google toy -- I mean tool. Today’s amazingly insightful creation: the Google Page Creator. Yippee!

The blogosphere, including the ever entertaining Phillip Lenssen, has announced the arrival of the Google Page Creator, a web-based application designed to make it easy for anyone, regardless of skill, knowledge or weight-class, to publish static web pages almost instantly. The application includes an array of sample layouts, an easy-to-use interface, a handy auto-save feature and 100 megabytes of free storage.

To access the program users must have a Google account and Gmail address (Google forehead barcode recommended, but not yet mandatory). Users can edit their page as easily as editing a Word document thanks to some quick AJAX/DHTML magic. Text and images can be placed directly where users want them to appear on screen, and adding headlines, images, links, and different fonts is done almost instantaneously. Once finished, pages are stored on Google servers using the URL http://yourgmailusername.googlepages.com.

Pages hosted on Google Pages are considered regular web pages, and will be included in the Google web index within a few hours of publication. Google assures they won't be given any special treatment in ranking. That won't keep people from hoping they're joking though.

Google already owns Blogger -- a free blog publishing and hosting tool -- so what's the difference between the two Google cousins? Project Manager Justin Rosenstein:

“The Google Page Creator is aimed at people who are interested in publishing a simple, relatively static web site, whereas Blogger is designed for people who want to post frequently, with regularly changing content.”

Currently Page Creator will only enable users to create single web pages, not a collection of pages, like a web site.

Google Page Creator is still in beta (we’re shocked too) and new features will likely be added. If you’re interested in trying it out but don’t have a Gmail account, you can get an invitation code here!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 02/23/06 at 10:29 AM
See more entries in Branding, Design

February 15, 2006

Analyze this

Google announced the acquisition of the stats/analytic tool, Measure Map, from its creator Adaptive Path, LLC, a San Francisco-based consulting, research and training company, late yesterday afternoon.

Measure Map is a web application that allows people to understand their blog and their readership by giving bloggers detailed stats about their visitors, links, comments and posts.

Measure Map developer, Jeffrey Veen:

"Today, as the Measure Map team joins Google, our mission remains the same: to build the best possible user experience so people can understand and appreciate the effect their blogs - their words and ideas - can have. By opening up the app to more bloggers through Google, we hope to help even more people become passionate about their blogs."

The analytic tool collects and analyzes blog-specific statistics to give bloggers detailed data about what visitors are doing on their site. It measures not only overall traffic, but also breaks down the traffic for each individual post. The tool provides a great snapshot of why users are (or are not) coming to a bloggers site. What more validation could a word geek ask for?

Unlike Google Analytics, Measure Map is extraordinarily user-friendly with a visual approach designed to make both beginner and experienced bloggers feel comfortable. It gives updated information presented in real time, rather than the once daily updating of regular stat programs.

The service is still in beta testing (making it a perfect Google fit) and interested bloggers must leave an email address and request an invitation to join.

Google did not disclose how much they paid for the service.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 02/15/06 at 1:53 PM
See more entries in Analytics

In a New York State of Mind?

In a New York State of Mind?

Well, it’s almost that time of the year again. No, not Christmas but Search Engine Strategies. This year's SES Conference will be held in New York, New York from Feb. 27 to March 2nd. New this year: Barry Schwarz is promising quadruple coverage!

Coverage will be conducted by SER Associate Editor, Ben Pfeiffer (who owns Rank Smart), Chris Boggs of GS Group, well-known blogger Lee Odden, and of course, the master of ceremonies himself, Barry Schwartz.

If you’re not ready to brave a New York winter (and, really, who could blame you) or if you’re just looking to plan your day in advance, check out the full schedule of events online. Bruce will also be in town that weekend, speaking at several of the sessions, so make sure to check those out as well.

And if you’d like to know when Barry Diller will be on hand to give him your ‘opinion’ on the butler situation, he’ll be delivering the keynote speech on Sunday, Feb. 26.

For a list of suggested itineraries to help make the best use of your time, SER also provides a Session Planner.

And because all work and no play makes SEOs a little punchy, don’t forget to get your party on while you’re there. Have fun, guys!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 02/15/06 at 11:22 AM
See more entries in Fun Stuff, SEM Events

Ask Boots Beloved Butler

First they put him on a diet, then they gave him a tan and late last week they gave him the boot. It’s a cruel, cruel world for everyone’s favorite butler as Ask Jeeves has decided to go along with the firing of their beloved mascot that was originally announced in September.

Ask kept Jeeves on the payroll as they tried to gauge consumer response. We don’t know what cold, heartless demographic they consulted, but those of us with hearts are saddened by his wrongful termination. (More on that later.)

But I digress.

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor conference last week, InterActiveCorp (IAC) CEO Barry Diller announced that his company intends to officially drop Jeeves as their mascot and shorten the search site's name to Ask or Ask.com beginning March 1.

Company officials hope axing Jeeves will help re-establish the Ask brand as the company prepares to forge their way into international markets.

Rachel Johnson, Ask’s Vice President:

“The broader rebranding of Ask comes as all search engines include all manner of other services alongside the basic finding of websites for users.
The initial decision to axe Jeeves was greeted with dismay by many and a campaign to save the valet briefly flared into life.”

But not even that could save him.

Diller feared Jeeves reflected the early years of Ask Jeeves, not the upgraded, revamped site they are now trying to portray. Diller said:

“This research shows use of the character as the prominent symbol of the brand may inhibit people from recognizing that our search engine has changed," the company said in a statement.”

But the firing wasn’t a complete shock to the butler. Jeeves had an inkling his days were numbered after he was forced to undergo a ‘makeover’ last December to make himself appear hipper and more youthful. He was mandated to go on a strict diet and given a tan.

We are devastated by the decision to rid Jeeves of his rightful position (on the left-hand side of the Ask search box). Ask without Jeeves is like search engine optimization without keywords; a computer without dual monitors; a workweek with no Fridays. We will deeply miss his sharp suits, his friendly smile, and his English charm.

You will always be our favorite iconic butler. Barry Diller just never got you the way we did.

(Hat-tip to the BBC)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 02/15/06 at 10:43 AM
See more entries in Ask, Branding

February 7, 2006

Google Bans BMW--Now what?

In case you've been living under a rock, you know that BMW Germany was caught spamming and called out publicly by Matt Cutts for it. So what was BMW doing wrong? Fairly poorly executed doorway pages with keyword stuffed nonsense redirect users to the proper page while search engines crawled the spam. All in all it's a fairly standard day in the world of SEO.

But wait, what's this? Some people think that Google shouldn't be imposing its standards on the web, dictating how a site can or cannot be designed. Danny Sullivan rounds them up:

Google Orwellian at Publishing 2.0 is one example (I left some comments there), Death Penalty, Investigations? Sounds like the FBI... is another and Google Delists BMW-Germany at Slashdot has some similar comments. Jeremy Zawodny has some pushback of his own on the pushback over here: Google vs. BMW, a sanity check.

What is going on here? Why is this even news? BMW isn't an innocent. They're not even unusual. Sites get banned all the time for spammy techniques. The reason that this is news at all is the brand involved. BMW is international news, but not a new problem.

The problem is when sites try to cheat the system. Setting aside that Google doesn't have to index or rank anyone that they don't want to, they are perfectly within their rights to ban a page for no reason at all, let alone a good one like a very old spam technique. (Really, doorway pages have been burning sites since 1998. This is hardly cutting edge technology here, folks.)

No one is forcing any site to be designed in a certain way. Even the ADA standards are largely ignored by most website owners. The price of playing with Google is following their guidelines. Failing to do so is as good as opting out of playing. Google isn't dictating how to design sites. They're dictating what they won't allow in their index.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 02/ 7/06 at 12:06 PM
See more entries in Design, Google, SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engines, Yahoo

Hey Google, can you hear them now?

Andy Beal is blogging about Verizon exec John Thorne’s recent grumbling that Google is freeloading off their infrastructure.

Thorne told a conference of lawmakers yesterday that Google, Yahoo, and other search engines have been getting a ‘free lunch’ by exploiting the lines and cables they spent billions creating. Thorne is calling for them to turn in their meal cards.

The statement came on the 10th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as lawmakers were getting ready to debate legislation that could allow phone and cable companies to charge Internet firms for using their high-speed lines. Thorne tattled:

“The network builders are spending a fortune constructing and maintaining the networks that Google intends to ride on with nothing but cheap servers. It is enjoying a free lunch that should, by any rational account, be the lunch of the facilities providers.”

Vinton G. Cerf, a vice president at Google, said his company is worried applying a cost for these preferred line could compromise ‘the Internet's freedom… limiting consumer choice, economic growth, technological innovation and U.S. global competitiveness.’

He said in an interview:

"In the Internet world, both ends essentially pay for access to the Internet system, and so the providers of access get compensated by the users at each end," said Cerf, who helped develop the Internet's basic communications protocol. "My big concern is that suddenly access providers want to step in the middle and create a toll road to limit customers' ability to get access to services of their choice even though they have paid for access to the network in the first place."

Posted by Lisa Barone on 02/ 7/06 at 11:09 AM
See more entries in Branding, Google, Search Engines, Yahoo

February 3, 2006

Expectations and Understanding

A popular topic in the SEO world and a frequently asked question by clients is 'how do I get the most out of my search engine optimization company?' There have been long discussions on the forums, the question pops up in FAQs and not infrequently, someone answers it in an article. Most of the time the advice given is focused on defining what it means to be a good client and what in turn you should expect from a good SEO.

Articles like How To Be An Ideal SEO Client by Todd Mintz scratch the surface of the question. We addressed it ourselves in a two part series in our newsletter. Being the Good Client and Being the Good Service Provider were a dual-sided look at both the responsibilities and needs of each party.

Whether you're an SEO or a business owner seeking out-sourced optimization, it is important to understand and embrace your role. To do otherwise is simply to waste time and money and makes everyone lose out in the end.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 02/ 3/06 at 10:15 AM
See more entries in SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engine Optimization