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october 2009 search engine news
What's New in Search - October 2009
Bing Tests New Visual Search Feature
Bing is testing "Visual Search," a new feature launched in the U.S. market that uses imagery to help users find answers to their search queries. These images are organized into "galleries" that currently cover five topics: entertainment, famous people, reference, shopping, and sports. You can click on one of those galleries from the visual search homepage and narrow your query from there or choose a more specific gallery such as NHL players (no more vain attempts at spelling their names correctly!). Players can then be sorted by team, position, rookie status, or reported salary. Why create a visual search feature? Well, Microsoft Research found that "consumers can process results with images 20% faster than text only results." Sweet -- more time for watching hockey -- like this awesome goal.
Promoted Videos Debut on Google AdWords
Google is now allowing users to buy Promoted Videos via AdWords. Promoted videos are videos that a business wants to draw attention to such as a movie trailer, product/service demonstrations, etc. The company places a bid for keyphrases related to the video, the video then appears in search results for that keyphrase on YouTube, and then the company pays for each click the video generates, just like regular text PPC ads. You can see examples of Promoted Videos on the right side of the page when you do a search on YouTube for Justin Timberlake. The Promoted Video service is currently available in the U.S., Canada, and select countries in Europe.
Arthur Levinson Resigns from Google's Board of Directors
Google's relationship with Apple continues to attract FTC scrutiny. This announcement comes roughly two and a half months after Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board because, like Levinson, he served on the board of both Google and Apple. The two men were under investigation from the FTC for potential violations of the Clayton Anti-Trust Act which bars executives from competing companies serving on each other's board where it might reduce competition. Google and Apple currently compete in mobile operating systems (Android and iPhone OS), browsers (Chrome and Safari), productivity software (Google Docs and iWork), and could soon compete on netbook and computer operating systems (Chrome and Mac OS).
The FTC responded to Levinson's departure by saying "Google, Apple and Mr. Levinson should be commended for recognizing that overlapping board members between competing companies raise serious antitrust issues, and for their willingness to resolve our concerns without the need for litigation," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. "Beyond this matter, we will continue to monitor companies that share board members and take enforcement actions where appropriate."
Google Launches Building Maker for Google Earth
Google's new Building Maker software enables users to create three dimensional versions of buildings in select cities worldwide. The 3-D buildings are created using "smart blocks," which are then matched to aerial imagery taken from several angles. Once complete, Google will review the building and, if deemed appropriate, include it in Google Earth's 3-D layer with a credit to the author.
Ask Launches Ask Deals
In early October, Ask launched Ask Deals, a new service that contains "over one million high quality savings offers from national and local merchants across hundreds of product categories." Ask Deals uses Ask' search engine to scan the web and 40 coupon sites for deals and then organizes them into top deals, expiring soon, recently added, free shipping, and printable coupons categories. Users can also add the Ask Deals homepage skin to their Ask.com page, which will stream offers onto the page, and sign up for the "Deal of the Day" email, which will send subscribers offers selected by the Ask Deals editorial team.
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