• A Little Bit Of History Repeating
    Traffic drops on Facebook. Google reports a flat quarter. New listings on eBay drop by 13%. Surely, no one has ever seen anything like this, and there can be only one explanation: Armageddon. That's certainly the conclusion I would come to based on Web coverage of these events. Consider this headline from Silicon Alley Insider: "Google Bulls Try to Spin Comscore Disaster, Fail." But is disaster still disaster when it's inevitable? Because, really, every one of these events is inevitable.
  • Breaking The Google Habit
    What will it take to beat the Google habit? There's billions of dollars that hang on the answer to that question. My last two columns looked at the nature of habits and how they can lead to an advantage for incumbents by "locking in" customers or users. Before we look at some possible answers, it's important to understand how and why previous attempts at breaking habits have fallen short in an area where far more academic work has been done: health care
  • Deconstructing Search Engine Bias
    Over my last two columns I've looked at activist-initiated campaigns to provide deeper insight into the way people use search engines. One additional insight I gained from talking with activists and reviewing their campaigns is the increased importance on search as editorial, for both natural and paid search. Considering both a searcher's trust, and that search results can also be viewed as editorial content, I thought it would be interesting to switch gears and explore the topic of search engine bias, particularly for the purpose of helping the average searcher better understand and think more critically about his or her …
  • Live Blogging And Searching The Oscars
    During the Oscars, maybe you were playing a drinking game where you did a shot every time someone from the movie "Enchanted" took the stage, a challenge which would have brought down Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Or maybe, like a surprisingly large percentage of Americans, you were watching reruns of "The Simpsons " and "Cold Case." As for me, I was searching away, seeing how marketers and publishers were capitalizing on the Academy Awards. Here's an excerpted recap of the night.
  • Innovation Vs. Execution
    Much of the press coverage focusing on the possible Microsoft-Yahoo buyout has cast the story as a kind of fable in which a fading, mature technology company uses its raw financial power to scoop up a scrappy, but besieged innovator. According to this narrative, the real thing that's at stake here is innovation itself, and if Microsoft wins, we all lose, because there will be less innovation, fewer choices, and less competition. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that innovation, while important, isn't really the make-or-break factor that determines success in the technology business: a view that's supported by …
  • The Last Days Of SEO
    The days of SEO have been numbered for some time. Now, this is not one of those columns. You know, the column where someone rails against search engine optimization and explains how it is an antiquated technique whose course has been run. Rather, this is a look at the evolution of SEO to DAO. What's DAO? I'll get to that. But first, let's examine what SEO was...
  • More On Why Google Is Habit-Forming
    In last week's Search Insider, I introduced the idea of habits, and why they can be hard things to break. This week, I want to explore how search engines can be habit-forming as well.
  • Before Our Very Eyes: What's Google Up To?
    Lost in the shuffle of a heavy news week that included Yahoo spurning Microsoft's advances was this eye-popping bit of tid -- Google is now running video ads on SERPs. The New York Times broke the story, reporting that "on Thursday, Google started testing video ads on some pages of search results." The article includes excerpts from an interview with Marissa Mayer in which she discloses the move and provides the rationale behind it.
  • Will The Future of Search Be Televised?
    Would you believe the next Google-killer is coming from Samsung? Samsung doesn't refer to its See'N'Search set-top box as a Google killer; that's generally a phrase used by the media to describe some technology you'll never hear from again. What Samsung is doing actually doesn't interfere with Google's current business model in the slightest, though it could spell competition going forward.
  • Why Yahoo Should Get Cozy With Microsoft
    As I write this, Yahoo has thwarted Microsoft's attempts at a friendly takeover, and Microsoft now appears to be gunning for a hostile takeover instead. Yahoo is talking to AOL, News Corp, and maybe even Google about possible partnerships, probably as a ploy to force Microsoft into paying more money for a Yahoo buy. t's easy to see why Yahoo would spurn Microsoft's advances, not the least of which is Jerry Yang's own nostalgia over Yahoo, his online baby. But emotions aside, Yahoo should realize that a Microsoft buyout may be the best thing ever to happen to the folks …
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