Posts on State of Search about ‘News’

Google testing new clean search interface for tablets

Update: Google just officially announced this interface as the new search interface for tablets.

Google keeps testing new search interfaces. This time we ran into a more rigorous change of interface discovered by Amit Agarwal.

This new search interface is much cleaner with more white spaces. The sidebar has moved to the top as well as the filters. The Next Web argues that the interface probably occurred on a tablet, but Amit doesn’t mention this.

However this speculation can be taken very seriously. (more…)

Bing tests the unthinkable

This is a guestpost by Jeroen Smeekens from E-Difference (original post in Dutch). Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily State of Search.

Ads between the organic search results. Have they gone mad at Microsoft? Like Google, Bing runs several different tests each day, showing different types of search engine result pages to its users. Some tests only show tiny changes, and regular users probably won’t even notice them. Others tend to be a lot bigger. But Bing just did the unthinkable and just stuffed its ads between its organic results. Shaking my head Bing, shaking… my… head! (more…)

Google simplifies Adwords for small businesses with AW Express

Yesterday Google announced a new way to do Adwords, aimed specifically at local businesses. In Google’s own words:

“AdWords Express is designed to help local businesses that aren’t already AdWords advertisers create effective campaigns.”

(more…)

Google Tests Sticky Search Bar and Infinite Scrolling

Could it be that in the future all our websites are on the first page of Google? Even though it is millions of sites per search? It could very well be so if we look at the latest Google tests. Infinite scrolling might be the next change Google is up to.

Everything happens for a reason. That also means every Google test is there for a reason. And every design change. The black bar was an example of something which was there for a reason: Google is using it to highlight Google Plus. When Plus came Google also came with a redesign. In that redesign we could see a grey bar showing up on top of the search results, with the search bar in it. That is there for a reason too. (more…)

Irony at its best: Zuckerberg sets Google+ settings to private

e all love numbers and we all love to know who is most popular, or at least, who has the most followers, so when the people from Twittercounter built Socialstatistics to measure who has the most followers on Google+ we all dove on it. And we saw that, oh irony, Mark Zuckerberg was the most followed user on Google+.

Well, not anymore. If you go to Socialstatistics now you will see the face you will see on top of many lists of social tools: Robert Scoble. Did he pass Zuckerberg in popularity? Did Zuckerberg leave Google+? No, he didn’t, Zuckerberg isn’t there anymore because he decided to change his privacy settings. His numbers now cannot be read anymore. His profile is still there. (more…)

Yahoo ends Site Explorer: Yahoo says Move to Bing Webmaster Center

When Yahoo and Bing first announced they would partner up many in the industry expected this was bad news for Yahoo Site Explorer. That would inevitably be shut down. It took a while but Yahoo now indeed has announced it will be closing Yahoo Site Explorer.

The closing down of Site Explorer means that Yahoo is directing all their users over to Bing Webmaster Center which should be the default place from now on for site owners when it comes to Bing and Yahoo. (more…)

One Extra Facebook Fan could mean 20 additional visits to your website

Should we all be running out trying to get likes? Fake accounts? Bribe people to like our content? It could be one of the conclusions if you look at a research performed by Experian Hitwise. They noticed that one fan on Facebook is worth 20 additional visits to your website in a year.

The research shows the importance of likes and fans, but even more shows the power of Facebook in the UK. We already knew that 1 in every 6 page views from UK Internet users goes to a Facebook page. The follow up on that now shows it could get you more visitors to your website. One fan can influence 20 of his friends to also visit your website. (more…)

Million Euro Google and Heineken deal shows new business directions for Google

The Financial Times last week announced that Google and Heineken have struck a million dollar deal. The beer-giant and the search giant will become ad partners.

The deal will mean Heineken will be advertising on different Google properties like YouTube and Mobile ads. The most important part of the deal however is going the other way around: Heineken gets Google’s data.

Heineken will be getting access to databases from Google. They will be able to extract data about the preferences of those watching the ads on Google properties: “where they shop, or what other words they search for on Google.” (more…)

Google to take first steps to integrate + into search soon: realtime is gone

It has been the buzz of the internet world in the past week, and will most probably continue to be so in the upcoming weeks or even months: Google +. Opinions on the new released Google product differ. And these opinions sometimes differ dramatically. Some people compare it to Google Wave and already have declared it dead before it has even come alive. Others believe Google has finally struck gold when it comes to social.

Most people however believe that this really is it. This is Google’s Social Network, and this is what we will have to work with in the future. But don’t be fooled: Google has just started. And we will see next steps pretty soon. Starting with realtime search, which has disappeared from Google, for now. (more…)

Google Take Out: is Google Taking Privacy Serious Now?

The left hand navigation of your Google Profile account when you are editing it has something special to it. Not that you can make your profile as nice as possible, but if you look well, most of the items are related to privacy.

After “Account overview” there is the “Profile and privacy” tab, which lets you change all sorts of privacy settings. In the sidebar you’ll also find ‘connected accounts’ which enables you to look and edit accounts connected to your name. And finally there is the “Data liberation” tab. This option to get all your data out of Google has never been that visible before. Is Google taking privacy more seriously? (more…)