Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /MSN/

Bing swings into action with new results buttons

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:49:00 GMT

While Google's spending time getting more social with Plus, Bing's just announced it will incorporate 'Action Buttons' to allow users to perform a number of tasks directly from a search results page.

Writing on the Bing blog, Deepak Vijaywargi, programme manager for the search engine, said the buttons would allow searchers to get things done quicker on the web.

"Now when you search across seven popular categories - including airlines, couriers (e.g. FedEx), restaurants, banks, rental cars, software downloads and hotels - you will be presented with buttons for top actions on the site, that directly take you to the page where you can complete your task," Vijaywargi said.

The buttons continue on from Bing's 'decision engine' branding, which the program manager said had been represented in the past by the engine presenting users with 'deep links' they felt relevant to the search.

Vijaywargi also said the particular buttons would be specific to a user's query, and that Bing would use an algorithm to determine which buttons to display.

"Based on how people search, our algorithms now determine top actions and corresponding links in the site for a given category with high precision," he said. "For instance, with airlines the top 3 tasks are: check-in to a flight, check the status of a flight or book a flight.

"For software sites, if you are searching for a specific product you likely want to download it. For car rental agencies, you'd like to rent a car, find out locations or contact them."

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Yahoo! hustles display ad deal to fend off Facebook

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:49:00 GMT

Carol Bartz may have just left the building, but Yahoo!'s newest CEO Tim Morse is already attempting to boost the portal's performance and fill the firm's coffers by flash-selling display adverts.

According to The Financial Times, Yahoo!'s top brass are hustling to secure a mutual ad-selling arrangement with Microsoft and AOL in a bid to ramp up ad revenues and stop Facebook from toppling Yahoo! in the US display-advertising market.

All three firms have remained tight-lipped on the issue, but industry sources let slip that the trio seem close to finalising a deal after making successful pitches to New York ad buyers earlier this week.

Details are still thin on the ground but it's thought that each of the firm's mad men sold premium ad space on their own pages to Manhattan buyers, as well as second-tier slots on partner sites.

The move could make buying display ads across Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL as quick and easy as buying search-related ads on Google.

However, critics have been quick to note that each firm can only guarantee premium space on its own network. Good placement on secondary sites, however, will likely be subject to each partner site's discretion depending on its own ad sales - potentially making for a tough sell to savvy media buyers.

Criticisms aside, Yahoo! seems quietly bent on rolling out the system by the end of this year - especially as the firm's second quarter display advertising revenues came in at just $467 million - $40 million below forecast - after a sales shake-up left the company with fewer hands to sell premium ads to big-name customers.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Google updates search to include social

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:48:00 GMT

Search giant Google recently announced updates to its search service that will see SERPs include social results from Google+ users.

The update, only applicable to users signed in to Google+, aims to make search results more personalised by displaying a note under content their connections have already posted.

Google product manager Sagar Kamdar wrote on the Google Search blog: "This is just the latest step in helping you find the most relevant information possible, personalized to your interests and the people you care about."

Users can already influence their search results on Google with the +1 button, which appears under search results and on pages across the web. The new update takes the next step by connecting users with content on their Google+ networks to the wider web through search results.

Kamdar made sure to reiterate that Google would not include posts marked private on results pages to maintain users' privacy.

In Friday's posting, the Mountain View man also said the search engine would be rolling out the feature over the next couple of days.

Search rival Bing rolled out a similar feature in May, where individual search results were elevated if they received a 'Like' from a friend on Facebook.

According to CNET, Bing director Stefan Weitz said of the update: "Microsoft is deepening its relationship with Facebook, creating a bulwark against Google, which dominates Web search. The Facebook partnership offers Bing searchers something they can't get on Google."

However, as YouGov recently assessed Google+ could become the world's second-largest social network within a year, the Redmond-Palo Alto alliance could have its work cut out for it.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Release date rumoured for Windows Mango mobile OS

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:25:00 GMT

A tech website has revealed Microsoft Windows set to launch new mobile operating system codenamed Mango for new handsets and existing Windows Phones on 1 September.

Pocket-Lint appeared to confirm rumours that the Mango OS will soon be rolled out on an international level, citing 'multiple trusted sources'.

The long-awaited Mango software will be the second version of its kind and Microsoft's latest attempt to compete with big brand leaders.

"That will be the date that the company will start its fight back against Android and the iPhone," Pocket-lint reported.

Windows hinted previously that Mango would be available sometime in the autumn, and the choice of launch date seems be perfect timing.

"The launch date, we now understand, has been chosen due to its importance in tying in with IFA, Europe's largest consumer electronics show in Berlin, and means that companies like Samsung, Acer, ZTE and LG will be able to show off new devices with Mango installed," Pocket-lint said

First announced by Windows back in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the new operating system is officially powering a new handset from Toshiba-Fujitsu in Japan and has several updated features over WP7.

"The WP Mango will implement multitasking and have improved email conversation view, [along] with threads that bring together SMS, instant messaging and Facebook chats," the BBC reported.

A September release, however, could miff Redmond's new partner-in-mobile Nokia, as the Finnish handset maker planned its first Windows Phone handset to hit the shops in October for the run up to Christmas.

Launching the Mango software before the Nokia handset becomes available could result in tricky business for the mobile manufacturer, plus cuts out one way Windows could get the edge on the competition, according to analysts.

"The key thing that sets apart Mango from the previous launch of Windows Phone is that it will be on Nokia devices," NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin told CNet back in June. "Mango phones will be the basis for Nokia's first entrée into the market since its deal with Microsoft. And it has the potential to deliver to a lot of volume for Microsoft."

Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny the alleged launch date.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Blighty's smart phone use soars while Google gripes at rivals' mobile moves

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:48:00 GMT

Google's griped that Microsoft and Apple are hindering the success of Android using suspect mobile moves amid the news that smart phone adoption has soared among Blighty's teens and adults with Apple's iPhone topping Android-powered counterparts to be crowned Britain's must-have mobile.

According to BBC News, Ofcom found over half of British teens and a third of British adults now use mobile devices to surf the web, with Apple's iPhone the most wanted by mobile-mad Brits.

Smart phones, the telecoms operator said, are currently more popular with adult males (58 per cent) and teenage girls (52 per cent), than among grown women and teenage boys.

Facebook ranked as the site most visited by Blighty's mobile users, clocking up 43 million mobile hours in December 2010 alone. However, online banking activities and gameplay proved popular enough to distract some mobile-savvy Brits from status updates and photo-tagging.

And while the iPhone took top honours as Blighty's must-have mobile, Ofcom noted Apple's iPhone played second fiddle to RIM's BlackBerry among younger crowds, with 37 per cent of 16 to 24 year olds identifying BlackBerry as their brand of choice compared to the 32 per cent who plumped for Apple.

The news came as Google's accused Microsoft and Apple of pulling suspect mobile moves, including filing "bogus claims" against Android, after the pair joined forces to successfully outbid Google and secure the Nortel patents - a hotly contested portfolio of mobile comms technology and patents.

According to Google's official blog, Microsoft and Apple are determined to slow the growth and popularity of Mountain View's Android platform on both sides of the pond.

"Android is on fire," Google's senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond blogged. "More than 550,000 Android devices are activated every day, through a network of 29 manufacturers and 231 carriers.

"Android and other platforms are competing hard against each other, and that's yielding cool new devices and amazing mobile apps for consumers.

"But Android's success has yielded something else: a hostile, organised campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents."

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Yahoo!'s profits slump

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:12:00 GMT

Yahoo!'s profits have slumped - with the firm's top brass shifting blame to Microsoft's underperforming Ad Centre and Yahoo!'s recent sales management shuffle.

According to CNet.com, Yahoo!'s second quarter revenues suffered as sales staff bolted following a management shuffle, leaving the firm with fewer hands to sell premium display ads to big-name customers and just enough hands to sell lower-priced ads to its most trafficked sites.

"We underestimated how much the changes would increase turnover. We didn't have enough salespeople in front of big clients," Yahoo!'s CEO Carol Bartz said, explaining poor sales saw the firm rake in a disappointing $1.08 billion in second quarter revenues - $102 million less than forecast by Wall Street.

Tim Morse, Yahoo!'s chief financial officer, added that poor staffing caused Yahoo!'s display advertising revenues to come in at just $467 million - $40 million below expectations.

Morse said Yahoo!'s poor sales make for bitter viewing given the firm had runaway successes during the second quarter and premium ad inventory left to sell.

According to Morse, Yahoo! set one-day traffic records by taking over 400 million page views over the Royal Wedding - making Yahoo! the web's top royal wedding site.

What's more, the death of Osama Bin Laden generated 900 million page views on Yahoo! News, 50 million video streams and 500 million photo views in just one week.

Both Bartz and Morse also conceded that the sales staff who didn't jump ship faced "technology limitations" when using Microsoft's Ad Centre.

The pair said converting to their Bing-hoo! buddy's system of buying and delivering ads had caused Yahoo! search revenues to fall 15 per cent to $371 million.

Yahoo!'s tepid performance is all the more disappointing after the firm's cool first-quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Twitter seeks terms with Bing after Google walks from data streaming talks

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 01:12:00 GMT

Twitter's highflyers look set to renew a license agreement with Bing after Google unexpectedly quit "fire hose" data-streaming talks.

According to CNet.com, Twitter's feathers have been ruffled by Google's decision to end negotiations as live streams of user tweets will no longer be returned by Google search, in a move that's expected to badly dent Twitter's reach and revenues.

The relationship between Google and Twitter is thought to have soured fast after Twitter cut Google's fire hose feed while the two firms haggled over advertising revenues and the price and terms of data licensing, leading Google to take its entire real-time search product offline.

Google's now tipped to be looking to Google+ as a real-time data source and secret Twitter-killer, leaving Twitter keen to secure a licensing deal with Bing.

Though it remains to be seen whether Bing will ink a new contract as Twitter's doubled its real-live stream provision bill to $30 million per year and hopes to secure a bigger beak-full of Bing's related advertising profits.

The microbloggers are also thought to be angling for increased link-building back to Twitter and increased user interface control.

And while Twitter's now thought to be in a weak bargaining position, tech pundits have said that Microsoft will likely agree to the firm's demands as it will then have preferred access to social signals from Facebook and Twitter, giving Bing a potential edge against Google in the social search stakes.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Microsoft announces 400 million Windows 7 licences sold and previews Windows 8

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:13:00 GMT

Steve Ballmer told the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles yesterday that his company has sold 400 million Windows 7 licences.

He said the adoption of the operating system has been higher than that of its much-used predecessor XP. According to data from Net applications, Windows 7 now runs 27 per cent of all PCs globally.

Windows 7 was released in October 2009 as a replacement for Windows Vista and XP. Despite being ten years old, XP is still run by between half and two thirds of PCs worldwide. Microsoft is now trying to urge both businesses and private users to change over to Window 7 as support for XP is to end in April 2014.

"Bottom line, PCs running Windows XP will be vulnerable to security threats," Microsoft senior community manager Stephen Rose said in a blog post.

Last month, Microsoft demonstrated an early version of Windows 8, which is expected to be released in late 2012. Hailed by Ballmer as a "true reimagining of Windows PCs and the dawning of Windows slates," the operating system signifies Microsoft's intentions to take a slice of the tablet market.

Several companies have already tried to take on the dominance of the iPad, but so far have failed to make any significant progress.

The early prototypes of Windows 8 share many similarities with the Windows Phone 7 interface, yet the OS has been designed for all types of computer. However, some critics pointed out this approach may lead to failure in the tablet sector.

"What caught consumer's eyes in the iPad was the fact that it wasn't a full PC with all of the complexities those bring," ZdNet's James Kendrick said.

"No, the iPad was a pure mobile OS that focused on bringing a touch tablet experience that was simple yet full-featured enough to let users do the things that matter."

If the company does indeed overcomplicate a product for a market based on casual ease of use and simplicity, Windows 8 may struggle against the iPad. It remains to be seen if the public will warm to a tablet designed to be a full PC and not one based on mobile technology.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Yahoo! announces Site Explorer shut down

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:49:00 GMT

Yahoo!'s announced plans to shut down Yahoo! Site Explorer and redirect webmasters to Bing's SEO tools "later this year".

According to SearchEngineLand.com, the move comes as part of the Bing-hoo! partnership that's seen Microsoft's Bing search engine pair with Yahoo! to twice-shake Google's search stranglehold.

Yahoo! also confirmed the transition of its much-loved SEO tool to Microsoft's search platform in an official Yahoo! Search blog post.

Officials blogged that algorithmic search results for US, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Mexico had already been successfully transferred to Bing, with the remaining world markets to follow later this year.

The firm said there was little value in keeping Site Explorer running, given that Bing's Webmaster Centre will provide analytics for both Bing and Yahoo! search.

Microsoft, for its share, recently added detailed traffic statistics and a new inbound links feature to its webmaster tools in preparation for the merger.

Meanwhile, Yahoo! advised webmasters to start using Bing's Webmaster Centre while also continuing to use Site Explorer until its final shut down.

Hermant Minocha, Yahoo! Site Explorer Product Manager, blogged: "In a large part of the world, we have not yet transitioned to Microsoft search platform.

"Hence, it is important that Yahoo! continues to receive your site/sitemap submissions so that search results from Yahoo! are fresh and relevant for markets that have not switched over.

"In order to continue to receive relevant organic traffic from Yahoo! search results, we encourage you to continue using Site Explorer as you have in the past until we fully switch over to Microsoft search platform for organic results.

Minocha added that the closure should have benefits for Bing-hoo!-using webmasters, as they'll no longer have to optimise separately for Bing and Yahoo!

"We anticipate that later this year, Yahoo!'s organic results will be powered by Microsoft's search platform in all parts of the world. After that point, any optimization that you do on [the] Bing Webmaster Center tool will be reflected in Yahoo! organic search results," Minocha said.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

Microsoft bringing English-language SERPS to Baidu

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 05:36:00 GMT

Recently, it's started feeling as though Microsoft is making friends all over the place.

First, the firm partnered with Yahoo!, RIM and Skype.

And now the software giant's paired Bing with China's biggest search engine - Baidu.

According to The Guardian, Microsoft's signed-up to provide Baidu with English-language search results - though they'll be censored to meet China's strict politically-driven censorship demands.

The deal will see Microsoft filter SERPs related to subjects China's government deems to be controversial, such as dissident political activity, Taiwan or pornography.

And it looks as though the pairing could be of mutual benefit as partnering with Bing could help Baidu realise its global ambitions, while Microsoft will be able to up its search presence in China while trumping Google in the process.

Baidu currently holds over 80 per cent of the Chinese search market, while Google has near 20 per cent - counting visits to offshore sites - making Mountain View China's second biggest search engine, even though Google officially withdrew from China in 2010 following an alleged hacking incident from the Chinese government.

Microsoft's Bing currently holds 4 per cent of the Chinese market, while Bing partner Yahoo! holds 6 per cent.

Wallace Cheung, a Hong-Kong based analyst, told The Guardian that the pairing's unlikely to make a dent in Google's search volumes.

"It's a good thing, but I see very minimal impact for Baidu. I don't see a lot English keywords going through Baidu. It goes through Google," he said.

However, the move could be a profitable one when it comes to search advertising - something that would be likely to miff Mountain View's mad men.

Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia