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Google Is Erasing One Of Marissa Mayer’s Last Big Moves (GOOG, YELP)
Google is downplaying a confusing 30-point scale it’s given local businesses in search results.
It inherited the system from Zagat, the local guide business it bought last year to bolster its search results.
The Zagat acquisition was one of the last deals Marissa Mayer pushed through as head of Google’s local business before she left to run Yahoo.
Search Engine Land’s Matt McGee argues that adopting the Zagat system was a mistake, since Google’s own reviews and sites like Yelp have trained most Internet users to expect a system built around points or stars—usually on a scale of one to five.
Now Google is asking consumers to rate businesses as “Poor-Fair,” “Good,” “Very Good,” or “Excellent.” It’s still converting those ratings into a Zagat-style score, but it’s displaying the descriptive terms rather than the score on individual reviews.
The Zagat system is distinctive, but it’s really only useful to people who were familiar with it from Zagat’s printed guides.
Take it away, and one wonders why Google did the Zagat deal in the first place.
Here’s the new review interface, via Search Engine Land:
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Facebook Is Going To Build Its Own Search Engine! (FB, GOOG)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-search-engine-2012-9
Mark Zuckerberg was refreshingly candid speaking today at TechCrunch Disrupt.
One part of his talk that’s going to draw a lot of scrutiny was when he was talking about the company’s search efforts.
Zuckerberg said that Facebook has one billion queries on a daily basis and it’s basically doing that without trying.
He then hinted that Facebook is going to start trying.
He said that search is increasingly headed towards answering people’s questions. Facebook, which has a trove of data on users, is “uniquely positioned” to deliver answers for users.
Facebook has a team of engineers working on improving the search engine.
He said, “At some point, we’ll do it.”
Google’s highly lucrative business is built on search. If Facebook could capture even a fraction of the revenue Google captures it would be a huge boon for the company’s top and bottom lines.
Don’t Miss: DEAR FACEBOOK: Jump Into Search And Triple Your Stock Price
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Google+ Is Growing Much Faster Than Facebook Did In The Early Days (GOOG)
Don’t write off Google+ just yet — compared to Facebook’s early days, its growth is meteoric.
It took Facebook nearly a year to reach a million users and more than four years to reach 100 million. It took Google+ about two weeks to reach 10 million, and less than a year to reach 100 million. Paul Allen, the “unofficial” statistician for Google+ and founder of Ancestry.com, says Google+ could reach 400 million users by the end of the year.
Obviously Google+ has a huge advantages over Facebook from 2004. Facebook was closed to everyone but students back then. Google+ is getting a push from the world’s largest search engine. The Internet is more widely adopted now.
But still.
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See Also:
- Actually, I’ve Tried Google Ads And Facebook Ads And Facebook Ads Are Much Better…
- No Love For Google At The Crunchies This Year
- Google+ Is Adding 750,000 New Users EVERY DAY
Microsoft’s Share Of The Search Market Is Finally Bigger Than Yahoo’s (MSFT, GOOG, YHOO)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-search-market-2012-1
Microsoft has poured billions of dollars into its search engine, and this is what it has to show for it.
It is now the second largest search engine in the U.S., just edging past Yahoo for the first time in December, according to the latest comScore data. That’s nice and all, but Microsoft is in a partnership with Yahoo, so it probably doesn’t want to be taking share from Yahoo.
It really wants to be taking share from Google. That’s not happening. The good news from Microsoft’s perspective is that Google’s search share has been stuck around 65% for years now.
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See Also:
- THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Nokia And Microsoft To Ship 37 Million Windows Phones This Year
- Microsoft Wins Again: Another Big Android Partner Signs A Patent Deal
- THE GOOGLE INVESTOR: Motorola And Chairman Schmidt Agree That Differentiation (Not Fragmentation) Is Key To Success
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Why Google Is The Grinch Who Stole Your Business
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-grinch-who-stole-your-business-2011-12
It’s that time of year when we all reflect on the past, search our souls and determine what we want for the next year. I’ve been reflecting on what it means to work with a company that controls so much of the market, provides such a broad set of capabilities and delivers such a large percentage of monthly revenues to publishers. Of course, I’m thinking of Google and what their dominance in the ad market means for a publisher’s future and its ability to remain relevant to marketers.
What do we know about Google? They are this great company that gives consumers some of the best digital products available on the Web: search, email, maps, Android, apps and more. This has catapulted Google to the rank of second most valuable brand, behind only Apple, according to Millward Brown. This seems to be great for consumers, but what about the businesses who are now reliant on Google for search and display revenue, advertising technology and various business applications like Google docs, Android OS, Chrome, etc.?
Many of the businesses I meet with hold Google in high regard because of the products they represent and the amount of revenue they provide. However, these businesses are equally concerned about Google’s consumer stranglehold, their influence over the ad ecosystem and their focus on automation, all of which lessens the publishers’ worth in the value chain as a whole. Google’s market dominance stretches well beyond search, which in itself is obviously enormous. This expansive dominance should be alarming for every marketing-related business, including publishers, advertisers and agency and marketing services technologies. Here are a few stats on Google by category that will likely frighten even the largest of these businesses:
- 65.38% Share of Search, Oct-11 Hitwise
- 44.1% Share of Ad revenue, Oct-11 PCMag
- 43.8% Share for Video, Oct-11 Comsccore
- 30.03% Share for Travel, Oct-11 Comscore
- 22.38% Share for Automotive, Oct-11 Comscore
- 18.69% Share for Shopping, Oct-11 Comscore
- 16.29% Share for Health, Oct-11 Comscore
If these stats weren’t enough to dampen your holiday spirit, Google now is even prioritizing their own products above the paid search listings on their search engine. This creates a major conflict for the advertisers that have made Google what it is today and may force those clients to pay even more if their advertising is to remain competitive in this new bidding landscape. Google clearly is leveraging its position of power with consumers to launch new products and ensure their own success. The latest example of this is the promotion of their Chrome browser on the Google homepage. As you can see from the chart below, Chrome is rocketing to the position of #1 browser, a rank it is projected to achieve by June 2012.
Google is now a major threat to every business in the publishing and advertising marketplace. In the short term, while they may appear to be a superior partner that provides revenue and marketing innovation, I believe that over the long term they are eroding the value of each and every business in the media sales and publishing value chain. And, worst of all, they are charging heavily for the privilege. I’d estimate that for every dollar spent by an advertiser in the media buying process, Google captures upwards of 25% in tolls (via their various ad services, DFA, Invite, DFP, AdX, Motif, Admeld, etc.), thereby minimizing revenue and profits for publishers and other vendors along the way
So as you reflect on 2011 and consider whom you want to partner with in 2012, give some thought to the short versus the long term. What is your value proposition to clients? And who do you ultimately want to run your business … the Grinch or You?
Have a great holiday and Happy New Year!
The views expressed here reflect the views of the author alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of 24/7 Real Media, its affiliates, subsidiaries or its parent company, WPP plc
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See Also:
- Advertising Firms Need To Be Downsized Before They Become Too Dumb For Their Own Good
- Why Is Windows Phone Failing?
- America’s Dirty Little Housing Secret Is Rocking The Suburbs
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