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Bing vs Google: an eyetracking study: more staring at Google (and organic search beats paid)

How I love eyetracking studies. It gives you an insight on what users are actually looking at, if something which is so carefully positioned on a webpage actually works. I also love eyetracking studies which show how people look at search engines. Add in the paid search – organic debate and on top of that a battle between Google and Bing and I’m sold.

A recent eyetracking research performed by User Centric focussed on the differences between the two search engines. It was a follow up research from a study they performed right after the launch of Bing.

The study showed that even though there was not a lot of difference between the two, Google “won” slightly based on time spent looking at the results. Even though you can interpret that in different ways. It also showed that organic search still beats paid search by miles. Where everybody looks at the organic results paid search is being looked over in many of the searches. Only 28% of people searching on Google actually notices the paid results on the right… (more…)

Yandex Launches Online Translation Service for Russian and Ukrainian

We all have something to say about Google Translate. Usually we complain that it’s not good enough. Or we like it, because it does help us get started. What we do know is that we shouldn’t use it to actually translate a website.

One of the languages which Google has issues with is Russian. That is one of the reasons why Yandex is bigger and better in Russia. Now Yandex is making use of that extra knowledge by launching a Google Translate competitor for the languages Google is struggling with: Russian and Ukrainian. (more…)

Google continues to grow Instant: video previews now available

Last week Google added the feature Instant Previews on the mobile to its mobile users. These users would now be able to watch snapshots of pages, something we were already capable of doing on the web.

We couldn’t however do that in the video section. Soon you will be able to. Google added the Instant feature to the videos making it possible to preview videos. (more…)

A look at some SERPS changes by Google: real time updates, number of words and calories

Google is constantly making changes to their algorithm and to their SERPS, the things we are seeing when we do a search. We discussed a couple of changes last week and now I’d like to shine a light on a few others again.

Today we see several changes and tests appear in the SERPS. Some of them have been there for a while, others are still in test mode and again others are completely new. Let’s look at real time updates, number of words, calories and recipes. (more…)

Bing gaining share in the US: success rate much higher than Google

We keep on asking for a competitor for Google. And all of our eyes are then focussed at Bing. So far in Europe we feel kind of left behind when it comes to Bing, even though they recently started moving towards European mainland by launching in France.

If we however look at the US as an example of what lies ahead we might see some interesting developments in the future. New numbers from Hitwise tell us that in February Google lost some market share, where Bing is gaining. (more…)

Eric Schmidt about leadership

We share presentations from Eric Schmidt more often here at State of Search. He is a good speaker after all, and there is always something interesting he might be saying. And when Eric Schmidt talks about leadership you should keep your ears open, because that is a subject he knows all about.

In this video Eric Schmidt speaks at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in Palm Springs on February 27, 2011.

Google admits to whitelisting sites: endangering their European legal issues?

In a panel at SMX West, which has been going on in San Jose last week, both Google and Bing admitted that they have lists on which websites appear that should not be hit by algorithms. They themselves call it “exception lists” but in more general terms they could also be called Whitelists. This remark, which without a doubt was not intended to be harmful, might just harm the legal battle which Google is fighting in Europe.

The term whitelist is used by amongst others Foundem, who filed a complaint with the European corporate counsel about Google in 2006. The complaint was about how some vertical search engines got hit and others didn’t. That complaint is now being handled by the commission. And Google European corporate counsel Julia Holtz said in Brussels that the company doesn’t “whitelist or blacklist anyone”. Were they lying then or are they lying now? (more…)

Renewed Google Profiles: waiting for the integration in Universal Search

At SES London I was talking to some very nice people from Microsoft. They asked me: is there a way we can make Bing work in Europe? Well, there are several ones off course, like for starters make it work in Europe! But I also mentioned people search. People search you say? Yes, people search.

The most done searchtype on any search engine is without a doubt the “ego search”, searching for your own name. But that is not what I’m directly talking about. What I mean is people searching for your name. Because that happens a lot too.

What if you could actually manipulate what people would be able to see as the first result on your name? Sort of like an overview page which tells the searchers who you are and where on the web they can find you? I can hear you think: a Google Profile you mean? Yes in a way I mean that, wouldn’t it be great to have that on the top of the results. That’s what I suggested Bing would do, play the ego-card so to speak. (more…)

Which brands are successful in Social Media? They are ranked now! (infographic)

Last month Yomego, crunched the data with Alterian’s SM2 tool to create what they call “the world’s first Social Media Reputation Index.” This index tries to benchmarkt a brands popularity. They look at reach recency and satisfaction recency online.

This ‘algorithm’ resulted in a list of brands and how they are performing socially on the web. And they were smart enough to throw in an infographic. (more…)