Dmoz.org, also known as the Open Directory Project, is widely considered to be the mother of all directories. Well, that was the case at one time, anyway. Dmoz has dropped significantly in popularity over the years, and is the subject of much criticism by webmasters looking for inclusion. What do you think about Dmoz these days? Is it still valuable? Tell us what you think.
Longer Search Queries Hurting PPC Clicks?
Advertisers using paid search may find that they have to adapt to the habits of searchers. And there have been indications that searchers are using longer queries to find what they are looking for these days.
comScore shares some rather interesting data showing that the number of paid clicks has grown 3 times slower than the total number of queries in the US since January 2007. Look at these graphs:
Paid Search Traffic Down 26% Last Month
Hitwise reports paid search traffic was down 26 percent across the board over the past month. Overall, in the four weeks preceding May 9th, paid search delivered 7.25 percent of business traffic, compared to 9.84 percent this time last year.
The Making of Google’s New Search Options
Earlier this week, Google launched what I consider to be the company’s next step in personalized search – "search options." Essentially, it is a link searchers can click, which brings up a left-side navigation menu that allows for different ways of searching.
The following video shows how it works if you have not yet experimented with it for yourself:
Google Blog Search Given Tune-up
Google Blog Search has – in theory, at least – gotten better. A slight overhaul was performed yesterday, with changes in both the engine’s algorithm and the site’s appearance being implemented.
Google Product Search Gains Barcode Scanning Ability
Star Trek fans and recession-conscious shoppers take heed: Google Product Search for mobile is going all next-generation. Barcode scanning has been integrated into the product search homepage such that users of Android devices can easily find more info on many UPC-bearing items.
Google Takes the Next Step in Personalized Search
Google’s Searchology event was today, and Google used this to give kind of a "state of search" presentation, something the company often does in a variety of formats.
One of the highlights of the event was Marissa Mayer introducing some changes to Google’s search results. This is called "Search Options," and allows users to "slice" and "dice" results in a number of ways.
Wolfram Alpha: Meshing The Worlds Of Science and Search
Let me ask you something.
Bit.ly Switch Part of Twitter’s Realtime Search Strategy
URL shorteners sprang into sudden essentialness with the advent of microblogging, and especially with the advent of Twitter. Until yesterday, TinyURL was the shortener of choice, boosted by Twitter’s default shortener setting.
Twitter’s sudden switch to competing URL shortener Bit.ly not only was a surprise to many, but the move could spell an unforeseen and swift death for TinyURL. So what gives? What makes one URL shortener different from another?
Over Half Of Online Retailers Decreasing Search Spend
The weak economy is driving online retailers to shift their marketing budgets and cut back on search marketing, according to a study by Forrester Research on behalf of Shop.org.
The study surveyed 117 online retailers in the throes of a relatively abysmal first quarter about how they planned to allocate their online marketing budget. While a third will be spending less over all, over half of them (56%) said they would be scaling back search marketing specifically, indicating a plan to reallocate funds toward other venues like email and social media.