NY Times Swats at Corporate Google
Like I asked a few posts back: What would happen to the world if Google went belly-up tomorrow? Huge things, I think, and with that comes an impressive (if you choose) level of power attached.
Today the NY Times online has a feature article,
Relax, Bill Gates; It's Google's Turn as the Villain, by Gary Rivlin, www.nytimes.com.
The point of the article is perhaps obvious-- the once upon a time cutting edge upstarts of Silicon Valley are edging out the King of Digital Monopolies and earning a smarmy little rep while doing so. It all goes to show that the real attractive stuff of start-ups-- the gutsy, roll up your sleeves, see the new technology we've got-- morphs into taking over the world and hoarding as much money as is possible. That's what really pisses everyone off.
Wordtracker's Keyword Guide
From PrWeb today: A new guide from Wordtracker synthesizes the advice, it claims, from a number of SEO specialists regarding techniques for keyword choice. The release refers mainly to keyword choices for onpage copy-- which a lot of people wrangle over,-- but I'm sure the methods used could be equally useful for those trying to research keywords for PPC campaigns. Includes a link to download a copy.
Keyword Research Guide From Wordtracker, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb275170.htm
PPC Life Beyond Google
Search Engine Watch did a post back in November on the usefulness of what they called "Tier Two" search engines and the potential they have for providing a nice little market for search advertisers who might be savvy enough to think outside the Google-box,
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/041104-102000Of course, I also stumbled serendipitously on a press release from a few days ago headlining "Tier Two" PPC campaigns from notable Redzee.com and IceRocket.com,
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb271626.htm
Vertical Search Engine, Courtesy Knowledge Storm
I keep revisiting the vertical search topic, but it's indicative of my intrigue with search engines and search algorithms that spurs me onward. Anything different from the majors interests me, immensely-- goes back to my knack for rooting for the underdog. Just seems the right thing to do.
Anyway, PRWeb today had a release from Knowledge Storm,
www.knowledgestorm.com-- they are introducing a new vertical search engine, KnowIT,
www.KnowIT.com which they claim will specialize in shaving down the search universe in the field of technology. That's what a vertical search engine does. Not exclusively for technology, but for any field of interest it aims to target. Separates the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. Knowledge Storm says that their KnowIT engine is "a true vertical technology engine." Are all the others false and unreal? Advertising.....
Yahoo! Offers Audio Search Beta Today
In a press release today at Business Wire, Yahoo! announced its introduction of Yahoo! Audio Search Beta. The search giant claims, "Yahoo! Search is the first major search engine to deliver an audio search product that provides users access to over 50 million audio files from major music services and independent publishers."
Read the full press release at Business Wire,
http://home.businesswire.com
Dogpile Tool Compares Major Search Results
Think all search is the same?
www.comparesearchengines.dogpile.comThis is a nifty little tool that will show you a Venn diagram of what search results actually overlap between the majors-- Google, MSN, Yahoo, and AskJeeves. Surprisingly, or not, there are very few similarities. Much of the search results between all the search engines come up as unique, meaning what? That each of them uses a slightly different algorithm or criteria to sort the results.
(I actually took the time to check it myself--feeling very critical this evening. Yep, very few duplicates-- although I was just testing the first page of results for each.)
Preview Seek Promises Best Search Engine
UK's Preview Seek Limited announced yesterday in a press release I caught on prweb.com,
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb267734.htm that they had just launched their top secret search engine, PreviewSeek.com on August 1. The company alleges that the new search engine promises to be the "world's most advanced search engine." Furthermore, they are proud of the fact that this project has been apparently kept under "stealth development."
Why the secrecy? In the world of search engines with so many grasping at the newest algorithms and wondering who will spearhead the next era in internet search, it's no surprise a company who claims to have developed a search engine capable of distinguishing nuances of word meaning, would want to keep it secret. At the very least, it makes for great advertising.
PreviewSeek.com is still currently in beta form,
http://beta.previewseek.com. The company says their new product features "proprietary artificial intelligence and collaborative filtering algorithms" that give it that ability to distinguish nuances in search queries.
In my very brief tinkering with it, the interface is clean and fresh. Search results are clearly indexed by page title tags. Good argument for beefing up those title tags.
