The Rank Magic Blog

Google TV?

May 28, 2006 ::: Google is planning a new version of its search engine designed for TV screens, that the company’s co-founder and its chief executive believe will rival traditional broadcasting. According to an article in The Business Online, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said “At the most people currently have access to only around 500 television channels. They should have access to everything – that is where we are heading.”

Google Handles Half of all Searches

May 20, 2006 ::: New statistics out from Nielsen NetRatings (the same folks who do the famous Nielson TV ratings) show Google now handles half the web searches in the United States. Yahoo has 22%, MSN 11%. Everyone else is splitting up the last 7.

Google Promotes First Non-Google Product On Homepage - Firefox

May 14, 2006 ::: There has been tons of buzz in the blogosphere about Google promoting Firefox on the Google.com homepage. News.com has a quick write up on it, that links to screen capture of what was promoted. We know Google and Firefox have always had positive relations and we can see how Google is primary promoting the Google Toolbar for Firefox. They even pay you a dollar for each person you refer to download Firefox. Just another little fillip to Microsoft.

Class Action Suit Over Click Fraud: $90 Million

May 10, 2006 ::: According to Reuters, an Arkansas judge approved on Thursday a preliminary settlement worth up to $90 million between Google and advertisers who claimed the world's leading Web search provider overcharged them for their ads.

Microsoft Admits Search Engine Blooper, Claims Progress

May 6, 2006 ::: After conceding his company erred in failing to develop its own search engine [Duh!], Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer boasted Thursday of progress in fighting industry leaders Google and Yahoo. <Story by The Washington Post>

Typos in the News

May 3, 2006 ::: "Google, which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads. In many instances, these ad-filled pages appear when users mistype an Internet address, such as 'BistBuy.com.'" Thus starts a fascinating article in the Seattle Times.

It's particularly interesting in light of reports in the Washington Post of a class action suite against Yahoo and others claiming fraud through ads displayed via spyware, adware, and ... "typo domains". There are a bunch of interesting related links in the blog entry at Search Engine Watch.

SEO According to Wikipedia

May 1, 2006 ::: The open source Internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has a pretty good article on search engine optimization. If you're new to Internet marketing, it provides a good introduction.