Update: Google has a fascinating research paper available about how it predicts search trends. Some of the key findings from this research are highlighted in this post at Google’s Research Blog.
Facebook Privacy Concerns Make Their Way To Canada
Facebook is gearing up to face off with the government again—this time over privacy concerns in two different venues: the California courts and a Canadian commission.
Google: Conversion Rates Hardly Vary by Ad Position
Ever wondered if your AdWords conversion rates would be better if your ads were just positioned differently? According to Google, it doesn’t matter a whole lot where they are positioned.
Google Chief Economist Hal Varian and his team claim to have done some research into the subject and has concluded that conversion rates just don’t vary much by position.
Microsoft Partners With Advance Internet On Local Ad Deal
Advance Internet, which runs news and information websites in alliance with more than 30 newspapers has entered into an agreement with Microsoft that will allow its sales staff to sell ads on the Microsoft Media Network on the local level.
Under the agreement Advance Internet’s sales force will offer behavioral targeting and audience extension capabilities to its local advertisers on the Microsoft Media Network.
The Top 50 Websites in the US
Compete puts together a monthly ranking of the top 250 Web sites in the US, based on unique visitors, and breaks up the data by relevant categories and behavioral segments. In its latest report, Compete found that the top performers for July fell into four main categories: auto manufacturers that were part of the "Cash for Clunkers" deal, summer blockbuster movie sites, back-to-school shopping sites and social media news aggregates (like Digg or Tweetmeme).
Digital Music Sales Closing In On CDs
The majority of music sales still come from CDs, but digital music sales are making up an ever- greater share of the U.S. market, according to NPD MusicWatch.
CDs accounted for 65 percent of all music sold in the first half of 2009 compared to paid digital downloads, which comprised 35 percent of music sales. By comparison, paid digital music made up 20 percent of sales in 2007 growing to 30 percent of the music market last year.
API Released for Second Life Plug-Ins
You don’t hear as much about Second Life these days as you did several years ago. For a while, articles were being written left and right about how to leverage this virtual world from Linden Lab as a business tool. Lately, not so much.
Google Tweaks AdSense Fonts for Better Performance
Google is updating the default font faces associated with specific AdSense ad formats. The decision to do so is based on findings that different fonts perform better with different formats.
EU Investing $25 Million In High-Speed Mobile Internet
The European Union said Tuesday it will invest $25 million into research that will underpin the next generation of 4G mobile networks.
The EU says the funding will go towards research on Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced technology, that will offer mobile Internet speeds up to a hundred times faster than current 3G networks. The funding will be released on January 1, 2010.
Google Continues to Satisfy, News Publishers Don’t
The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) shows that Google reigns supreme in the search engines and portal industry when it comes to customer satisfaction. This isn’t hard to believe considering Google’s share of the search market.
There’s a reason why Google dominates the arena. Users are generally satisfied with the results they get, and see no reason to switch engines. That is why Microsoft has its work cut out for it with making Bing a true competitor.