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Search Marketing's Long Tail to Get Longer, Says Study

Investment firm William Blair & Company partnered with AdGooroo for a keyword-based advertiser-side analysis of the global search industry, authoring a report that pegs the number of advertisers at more than 500,000 and growing--with 90% of them currently running search campaigns with Google. The search giant didn't snag all available advertisers, however, as the report found that the 10% of marketers not using Google remained exclusive to either Yahoo or MSN. Analysts attributed this slice of market share to affiliate marketers and other companies whose business policies run afoul of Google's standards. According to the research, 30% of all search marketers run campaigns on Yahoo, while only 10% use MSN--with about half of each of their advertisers using Google as well. More ...

Google Algorithm Tweak Spurs Answers.com Traffic Slowdown

Traffic to Answers.com is down some 28%, according to a statement released by the site's parent company, Answers Corp. The news highlights the struggle many Web properties face due to their dependence on Google for traffic, and consequently, revenue. More ...

Wales Changed History, Will He Change Search?

Sure, Wikipedia has its problems, but Jimmy Wales' wiki-based encyclopedia is a phenomenon that's opened the possibilities for future wiki products and services. Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is a fan: "What Jimmy has done through Wikipedia is change the way people write history. Before, it was guys with guns, now it's anyone." Of course, there are inherent problems with inviting the public to create content -- from misinformed postings to slander to outright lying -- something both men face with their respective sites. The pair has met on several occasions to discuss these and other issues, including the potential for future collaboration. Wikipedia and other wiki sites also have their critics: "I don't trust Wikipedia and I certainly wouldn't trust an open-source search engine that is shaped by anonymous people," says critic Andrew Keen, referring to Wales' next project, the wiki search engine Wikia. Wales says that is a starting point, not an ending point." But what does that say about a wiki-based search engine? Web users want nothing if not comprehensiveness from the services they use. Meanwhile, where's Wikia? It's been six months since it was supposed to launch. A text version of the site should be ready by the end of the year. More ...

Vertical Search Picks Up Google Slack

Big Search may belong to Google, future competition will come from vertical search providers. For example, GlobalSpec.com, a search-engine for engineers, has already established itself as the best way to find information about anything related to engineering. "They own that market," says Charlene Li of Forrester Research. Indeed, GlobalSpec has some 3.5 million registered users, adding them at a rate of 20,000 per week. Vertical search sites have plusses: Results should be better targeted than what you might get from Google. These sites also attract specific audiences, which allows for better targeting for advertisers. Health-related search is another area where vertical providers have a leg up on Google-and it's a particularly lucrative sector, too, as online ad budgets of big pharma and healthcare is expected to hit $1.4 billion next year. Still, most consumers are in the habit of using a general search engine for health-related topics. A study from the nonprofit research group the Pew Internet & American Life Project says that just 27% of consumers went to a medical site to look up health-related information. Says Susannah Fox of Pew: "Dr Google is the de facto second opinion in this country." Verticals are counting on habits to change. More ...

Google Partners For 'Bourne' Online Game

Google is taking its second stab at online gaming, announcing on Thursday a partnership with Universal Pictures to heavily feature services like Search, Maps, Images and YouTube in an online game for the upcoming action flick, "The Bourne Ultimatum." The game is inspired by all three "Bourne" films and launches this Monday in seven countries as part of the film's massive marketing push, two weeks ahead of its Aug. 3 launch. The game features clips of the new film and offers a sweepstakes element for those who complete the initiative. Among the prizes are a 2008 Touareg 2 from Volkswagen, which is featured in "Bourne Ultimatum," a $1,000 MasterCard gift card for each of the 15 weekdays that new clues and active game play are provided to Web site visitors, 10 Apple iPhones and four trips to the winners' choice of New York, Paris, London, Madrid or Tangier--cities featured in the film. More ...

Microsoft's Search Surges, Thanks To Prizes

Microsoft's bold move to offer prizes to users of MSN Live Search is paying off: for the first time since its inception (almost), MSN Search is showing growth. According to Web metrics firm Complete, MSN's search volume increased a whopping 67%, from 8.4% of total search queries in May to 13.2% in June. Perplexingly, the Information Week report doesn't include Complete's numbers (perhaps there weren't any to publish) for Google and Yahoo, but it does mention data from Amazon's Alexa, showing that Google's search volume fell from 67% of total queries in May to 62.7% in June. Yahoo's share, meanwhile, fell a negligible 0.1% to 19.6%. Of course, comScore published markedly different numbers, underscoring the mess that is panel-based Web measurement, and there was no indication of a month-month drop for Google or pop for MSN. More ...

Ingenio: Search Could Gain Lion's Share of Mobile Ad Revenue

A recent Ingenio survey found that 22% of consumers anticipate using a search engine like Yahoo or Google on their mobile phones by 2010 - more than three times the current 7% use of search by mobile users. More ...

Podzinger Now Does EveryZing

Podzinger, known until now as a podcast search engine, is getting a new name and more ambitious mission. Rechristened EveryZing, the company now hopes to make searchable the multimedia libraries of the largest media companies around. More ...

Ask.com Goes for Broke With New Look

There seems to be little gain to trying to out-Google Google, so several smaller search companies are going in different directions. Ask.com has dramatically changed its search results, returning not just links to resources around the Web but also video, blogs, maps and song clips, according to search guru John Battelle's blog. His summary: “This is Ask, a perennial 4th place player in an increasingly one player market, doing what only a 4th place player can do: Throwing caution to the wind and betting on a new interface, one that abandons the ‘ten blue links’ approach that has dominated search for so long.” Ask, which currently gets about 5 percent of all Web searches, is in the midst of a $100 million ad campaign, crafted by MDC Partners' Crispin Porter + Bogusky. More ...

eBay Stumbles Upon $75 Million Acquisition

In what is possibly a move toward sidestepping Google's domination of the search business, eBay has acquired StumbleUpon for $75 million, adding StumbleUpon's collaborative Web-surfing tool to its roster of tech service offerings including PayPal and Skype. More ...