Google Reveals Factors for Ranking Tweets
Things You Should Know About Real-Time SEO
By Chris Crum
It's ok to say "no" to Twitter if that's your thing. There's a chance that it just doesn't fit into your strategy or help you achieve your goals. That's cool. However, if it is your thing, you may be interested in how Google ranks tweets. That is if search marketing is your thing.
Do you see Twitter as important to an effective search marketing campaign? Share your thoughts here.
Google and Microsoft almost simultaneously announced deals with Twitter a few months back, that would give the companies access to tweets in real-time to fuel their respective search engines' real-time results. Microsoft immediately launched their version, but it was separate from the regular Bing search engine. Google waited a while, but eventually started incorporating real-time results right into regular Google SERPs (including not only tweets, but various other sources).
After the Twitter deals were announced, Bing came out and said, "If someone has a lot of followers, his/her Tweet may get ranked higher. If a tweet is exactly the same as other Tweets, it will get ranked lower."
Amit Singhal Google was not as vocal about how it would rank tweets and other real-time results, but the company has now shed a bit of light on that via an interview with MIT's Technology Review. David Talbot interviewed Google "Fellow" Amit Singhal, who has led development of real-time search at the company. According to him, Google also ranks tweets by followers to an extent, but it's not just about how many followers you get. It's about how reputable those followers are.
Singhal likens the system to the well-known Google system of link popularity. Getting good links from reputable sources helps your content in Google, so having followers with that some kind of authority theoretically helps your tweets rank in Google's real-time search.
"One user following another in social media is analogous to one page linking to another on the Web. Both are a form of recommendation," Singhal says. "As high-quality pages link to another page on the Web, the quality of the linked-to page goes up. Likewise, in social media, as established users follow another user, the quality of the followed user goes up as well."
But that's only one factor.
Do you commonly use hashtags in your tweets? If your goal is to rank in Google's real-time search index, you may want to cut down on that practice, because according to Singhal, that is a big red flag for a lower quality tweet. This seems to be part of Google's spam control strategy.
Another noteworthy excerpt from the interview:
Another problem: how, if someone is searching for "Obama," to sift through White House press tweets and thousands of others to find the most timely and topical information. Google scans tweets to find the "signal in the noise," he says. Such a "signal" might include a new onslaught of tweets and other blogs that mention "Cambridge police" or "Harry Reid" near mentions of "Obama." By looking out for such signals, Google is able to furnish real-time hits that contain the freshest subject matter even for very common search terms.
Well, we certainly know more about Google's strategy for tweet ranking now, but there are still plenty of questions about it. What is Google's stance is on Ghost Tweeting? Are Google's ranking factors a good reason to create and follow more Twitter lists in hopes for gaining more reputable industry followers?
The factors mentioned aren't the only ones Google employs. It's not like Google is going to tell us everything. It also helps to keep in mind that real-time search spans far beyond just tweets. Still, Twitter is clearly a big part of it, and even the significance of tweets themselves will evolve in time.
Google says it hopes to factor in geo-location data (with regards to tweets) into the real-time search results at some point. Google and Twitter engineers frequently collaborate on real-time search, which Google itself says is evolving.
By the way, it stands to reason that Google's strategy for ranking tweets probably shares similarities for how it ranks content from other sources drawn from for real-time search.
Showing posts with label Bing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bing. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Gasta Tech News: French to create new tax for web
Google and other net firms could be taxed under plans being considered by the French government.
A report, commissioned by the government, suggests firms such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook should pay a new tax on their online ad revenues.
The money could be used to fund legal alternatives for buying books, films and music on the internet.
But critics say the tax would be difficult to implement and Google says it could slow down innovation.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has taken a tough line on the increasing dominance of digital content.
France has just introduced tough new legislation aimed at removing those who persistently download illegal content from the net.
It has also gone head-to-head with Google over its plans to digitise the world's books, with a project to set up its own digital library financed by the government to the tune of £700m.
And it is considering a law which would give net users the option to have old data about themselves deleted.
The proposals for a tax on content is still very much in the early stages and there are few details of how it would exactly work.
Patrick Zelnik, who contributed to the report and is also the founder of the French president's wife's record label, hopes the idea will be taken on board across the EU.
But Google is among those to have voiced opposition to the plan.
"We don't think introducing an additional tax on internet advertising is the right way forward as it could slow down innovation," said Olivier Esper, senior policy manager for Google France.
The better way to support content creation is to find new business models that help consumers find great content and rewards artists and publishers for their work."
A report, commissioned by the government, suggests firms such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook should pay a new tax on their online ad revenues.
The money could be used to fund legal alternatives for buying books, films and music on the internet.
But critics say the tax would be difficult to implement and Google says it could slow down innovation.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has taken a tough line on the increasing dominance of digital content.
France has just introduced tough new legislation aimed at removing those who persistently download illegal content from the net.
It has also gone head-to-head with Google over its plans to digitise the world's books, with a project to set up its own digital library financed by the government to the tune of £700m.
And it is considering a law which would give net users the option to have old data about themselves deleted.
The proposals for a tax on content is still very much in the early stages and there are few details of how it would exactly work.
Patrick Zelnik, who contributed to the report and is also the founder of the French president's wife's record label, hopes the idea will be taken on board across the EU.
But Google is among those to have voiced opposition to the plan.
"We don't think introducing an additional tax on internet advertising is the right way forward as it could slow down innovation," said Olivier Esper, senior policy manager for Google France.
The better way to support content creation is to find new business models that help consumers find great content and rewards artists and publishers for their work."
Friday, October 23, 2009
Gasta Tech News: Social Media and Search engines
Facebook/Twitter Use May Now Mean More for Google/Bing Rankings by Chris Crum
Google and Microsoft have both inked deals with Twitter and Microsoft has also inked one with Facebook to integrate Twitter and Facebook updates into Bing search results. Google will be adding tweets to search results.
Google's Marissa Mayer says, " We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information."
There is a good chance that Google will be making a similar deal with Facebook, but even if they don't, their deal with Twitter and Bing's deals with both make it all the more important for marketers to be found in real-time searches and Facebook/Twitter in general.
Google and Microsoft have both inked deals with Twitter and Microsoft has also inked one with Facebook to integrate Twitter and Facebook updates into Bing search results. Google will be adding tweets to search results.
Google's Marissa Mayer says, " We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information."
There is a good chance that Google will be making a similar deal with Facebook, but even if they don't, their deal with Twitter and Bing's deals with both make it all the more important for marketers to be found in real-time searches and Facebook/Twitter in general.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Gasta.com and Google July winners
Google Wins July and Users' Loyalty
Google handled 64.8 percent of all U.S. searches in July, or 6.8 billion queries, reflecting 3 percent month-over-month growth.
Yahoo! was second with 17.1 percent of the market, or 1.8 billion searches, reflecting 11 percent month-over-month growth.
MSN/Windows Live/Bing followed behind with 9.0 percent of the search market in July, or 946.9 million searches, reflecting 8 percent month-over-month growth.
AOL was fourth with 3.1 percent of the U.S. search market in July, growing 10 percent from June, while Ask.com had 1.7 percent of the market, growing 1 percent.
Gasta Search Network (1.2 percent), Comcast (0.6 percent), Yellow Pages (0.4 percent), NexTag (0.3 percent) and AT&T WorldNet (0.2 percent) Gasta.com rounded out the list of the top 10 search providers in July, according to Nielsen Mega View Search.
A total of 10.5 billion queries were conducted in July, 5 percent more than the previous month, according to Nielsen.
ComScore also has Google ahead of the pack with 64.7 percent of the search market in July, down slightly from 65.0 percent in June.
Yahoo! had 19.3 percent of the market in July, down from 19.6 percent in the previous month, while Bing’s share rose to 8.9 percent from 8.4 percent in June.
Google not only has the majority of the search market, but more loyalty from searchers as well, according to comScore.
Though Google maintained a searcher penetration of 84.0 percent in June, the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! sites had a respectable penetration of 73.3 percent.
“The source of the discrepancy between search share and searcher penetration is that searchers on Google conducted significantly more searches on average in a month (54.5) than did searchers on Yahoo and Microsoft (26.9),” comScore noted in its press release.
The company also notes that Google users displayed more loyalty to the search engine compared to users of the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!
“The analysis examined the use of the various alternative search engines by users of the Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft engines, revealing that those who searched on Google had the highest loyalty rate, with 68.9 percent of all their searches occurring on Google Sites. Users of the engines at the combined Yahoo! and Microsoft Sites conducted 32.6 percent of their searches on the combined Yahoo! and Microsoft Sites, but a much higher 60.7 percent of their searches on Google Sites.”
Gord Hotchkiss, president and CEO of Enquiro Search Solutions, pointed to two ways the new Microsoft and Yahoo! combination could “disrupt the Google habit.”
The first way would be to “offer a compelling enough reason to do the cognitive heavy lifting required to break a subconscious habit. A significantly differentiated and superior search experience would be such a reason.”
The second way would be to “continue to interrupt consistently ‘upstream’, by integrating search tightly into their properties or applications so that people don’t have to go to the effort – minimal though it is – to go to Google to launch their search,” Hotchkiss said.
Google handled 64.8 percent of all U.S. searches in July, or 6.8 billion queries, reflecting 3 percent month-over-month growth.
Yahoo! was second with 17.1 percent of the market, or 1.8 billion searches, reflecting 11 percent month-over-month growth.
MSN/Windows Live/Bing followed behind with 9.0 percent of the search market in July, or 946.9 million searches, reflecting 8 percent month-over-month growth.
AOL was fourth with 3.1 percent of the U.S. search market in July, growing 10 percent from June, while Ask.com had 1.7 percent of the market, growing 1 percent.
Gasta Search Network (1.2 percent), Comcast (0.6 percent), Yellow Pages (0.4 percent), NexTag (0.3 percent) and AT&T WorldNet (0.2 percent) Gasta.com rounded out the list of the top 10 search providers in July, according to Nielsen Mega View Search.
A total of 10.5 billion queries were conducted in July, 5 percent more than the previous month, according to Nielsen.
ComScore also has Google ahead of the pack with 64.7 percent of the search market in July, down slightly from 65.0 percent in June.
Yahoo! had 19.3 percent of the market in July, down from 19.6 percent in the previous month, while Bing’s share rose to 8.9 percent from 8.4 percent in June.
Google not only has the majority of the search market, but more loyalty from searchers as well, according to comScore.
Though Google maintained a searcher penetration of 84.0 percent in June, the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! sites had a respectable penetration of 73.3 percent.
“The source of the discrepancy between search share and searcher penetration is that searchers on Google conducted significantly more searches on average in a month (54.5) than did searchers on Yahoo and Microsoft (26.9),” comScore noted in its press release.
The company also notes that Google users displayed more loyalty to the search engine compared to users of the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!
“The analysis examined the use of the various alternative search engines by users of the Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft engines, revealing that those who searched on Google had the highest loyalty rate, with 68.9 percent of all their searches occurring on Google Sites. Users of the engines at the combined Yahoo! and Microsoft Sites conducted 32.6 percent of their searches on the combined Yahoo! and Microsoft Sites, but a much higher 60.7 percent of their searches on Google Sites.”
Gord Hotchkiss, president and CEO of Enquiro Search Solutions, pointed to two ways the new Microsoft and Yahoo! combination could “disrupt the Google habit.”
The first way would be to “offer a compelling enough reason to do the cognitive heavy lifting required to break a subconscious habit. A significantly differentiated and superior search experience would be such a reason.”
The second way would be to “continue to interrupt consistently ‘upstream’, by integrating search tightly into their properties or applications so that people don’t have to go to the effort – minimal though it is – to go to Google to launch their search,” Hotchkiss said.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Microsoft and Yahoo struggle to catch up with Google
Another week, another demonstration of Google’s dominance. While Microsoft and Yahoo have posted poor Q2 results this week, with online ad revenues down by 14% and 16% respectively, last week Google revealed its revenues were up 3% for the quarter.
It’s clear that, despite the economic slowdown, Mountain View’s finest are still doing something right. That something, of course, is search, which these result demonstrate the others are still not making work.
The announcements of Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s online revenue shortfalls has inevitably led to more discussion over whether they’ll join forces – a saga that has been dragging on for almost 18 months now. Clearly, Microsoft will want to see how Bing affects its bottom line first. It will be encouraged by the reaction among the industry which, for the most part, has looked on Bing favourably.
However, any market share increase has so far been minimal. Microsoft hopes new initiatives will help drive this, of course, not least its forthcoming ad-funded online Office Suite. It’s move in this space was inevitable due to the increasing popularity of free offerings such as Open Office and Google Docs, so it’ll be interesting to see how Bing and other online ad services will be integrated.
Perhaps most worrying for Microsoft and Yahoo is Google’s move into the multi-million-pound ad exchange sector (nma 23 July 2009). This is an area in which Yahoo, with Right Media, is an established player but will be looking over its shoulder with concern. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said it’s the big focus for the company, but Microsoft has said its own exchange, currently being tested, is still a couple of years off. It’s a potential goldmine for any company that gets it right.
Microsoft and Yahoo have both undergone significant changes this past year, not least redundancies and launches like Yahoo’s new home page. However, it’s clear that both still have a long way to go before they start worrying Google.
It’s clear that, despite the economic slowdown, Mountain View’s finest are still doing something right. That something, of course, is search, which these result demonstrate the others are still not making work.
The announcements of Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s online revenue shortfalls has inevitably led to more discussion over whether they’ll join forces – a saga that has been dragging on for almost 18 months now. Clearly, Microsoft will want to see how Bing affects its bottom line first. It will be encouraged by the reaction among the industry which, for the most part, has looked on Bing favourably.
However, any market share increase has so far been minimal. Microsoft hopes new initiatives will help drive this, of course, not least its forthcoming ad-funded online Office Suite. It’s move in this space was inevitable due to the increasing popularity of free offerings such as Open Office and Google Docs, so it’ll be interesting to see how Bing and other online ad services will be integrated.
Perhaps most worrying for Microsoft and Yahoo is Google’s move into the multi-million-pound ad exchange sector (nma 23 July 2009). This is an area in which Yahoo, with Right Media, is an established player but will be looking over its shoulder with concern. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said it’s the big focus for the company, but Microsoft has said its own exchange, currently being tested, is still a couple of years off. It’s a potential goldmine for any company that gets it right.
Microsoft and Yahoo have both undergone significant changes this past year, not least redundancies and launches like Yahoo’s new home page. However, it’s clear that both still have a long way to go before they start worrying Google.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Gasta Tech News: Bing News
Microsoft Aims Big Guns at Google, Asks Consumers to Rethink Search
Here's Why an $80M Ad Effort for a Search Engine, Bing, Makes Some Sense
Microsoft has used attack ads to go after Apple, and now it has Google in its sights.
The software giant is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That's a big campaign -- big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.
JWT has been tapped for the push, which will include online, TV, print and radio. Another sign of the campaign's size: At a time when most agencies are laying people off, JWT added creatives on the Microsoft business last week.
People with knowledge of the planned push said the ads won't go after Google, or Yahoo for that matter, by name. Instead, they'll focus on planting the idea that today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems. That, Microsoft is hoping, will give consumers a reason to consider switching search engines, which, of course, is one of Bing's biggest challenges.
"If you grab the average user off the street and ask them, 'Does search suck?' I think they'd say no. They don't know what else can be done," said Shashi Seth, a former Google executive who is now chief revenue officer at Cooliris. "They think search does a pretty good job, and if you could prove otherwise with a product that's differentiated, people will sit up and take notice."
Case for refinement
Indeed, data show that about 65% of people are satisfied or very satisfied with online search. But Microsoft sees an opening on its own proprietary search data: 42% of searches require refinement, and 25% of clicks are the back button.
That's why Mr. Seth likens the Bing marketing challenge to that of the Apple iPhone before it was introduced. Most people, pre-iPhone, didn't know they were missing a multi-touch screen, or an application that would enable them to detect what song was playing wherever they were. But Apple, through its ads, showed how markedly different the experience was and created a new de facto standard for phones.
Many will argue that no amount of advertising Microsoft throws at the product will make a difference -- the quality of search results is the only thing that matters. And that may have once been true; after all, Google built its brand on the back of a great user experience, results that were markedly better and zero ad support.
But that's not necessarily true anymore, as the quality of search engines has approached parity. Sure, there are no switching costs, and it's easy to simply type in a new web address should a better engine come along, but the psychological pull of the leading brand in the space overrides those factors for many consumers.
Consider that Google has conducted internal tests, according to people familiar with them, in which the company put its logo and treatment on another engine's search results. Users still prefer the results with the Google logo, even if they're not Google results. Or consider that a revamped Ask.com made its debut in 2007 to a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who said it "holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches." Two years later? Ask's share of search is down 28%.
'Better mousetrap'
"I don't think they can win this game with a better mousetrap," said Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor Associates, New York. "They have to compete with Google on a brand front -- there's no other way to skin this but go head on against the Google brand."
Obviously Microsoft has not shied away from "going head on" in its Windows campaign. Its chief attack on Apple -- that it's too expensive and not worth the high price -- is showing some signs of working. Apple's value perception among 18- to 34-year-olds has dropped significantly since the campaign launched in late March, which might be a testament to the right message at the right time.
Still, advertising isn't a panacea, as even the most self-absorbed ad man knows, especially when it's not the right advertising. Ask.com famously spent $57 million in 2007 to market its engine, and another $22 million last year, according to TNS. The 2007 campaign was an oddball execution from Crispin Porter & Bogusky that touted "the algorithm" -- a concept unlikely to grab anyone not already entrenched in the world of digital marketing. What Microsoft needs to do is go after people who don't know and probably don't care what an algorithm is.
And all the advertising in the world only works if the product backs it up. People who've seen the Microsoft product suggest it's useful and has some nifty filtering tools, even though it's not a markedly different-looking interface, at least for text search (some of the multimedia search results, however, do look quite different from how Google currently displays them).
"It doesn't take a lot to switch people from one type to another and usually it's a unique feature that gets people excited," said David Karnstedt, CEO of Efficient Frontier and former head of sales for Yahoo. He reflected on his days at AltaVista, which Google supplanted. "Google got people excited because it got people and places right early on. That got people to really start to switch, and once developed the habit of using Google, it was hard to get them to switch back."
Here's Why an $80M Ad Effort for a Search Engine, Bing, Makes Some Sense
Microsoft has used attack ads to go after Apple, and now it has Google in its sights.
The software giant is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That's a big campaign -- big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.
JWT has been tapped for the push, which will include online, TV, print and radio. Another sign of the campaign's size: At a time when most agencies are laying people off, JWT added creatives on the Microsoft business last week.
People with knowledge of the planned push said the ads won't go after Google, or Yahoo for that matter, by name. Instead, they'll focus on planting the idea that today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems. That, Microsoft is hoping, will give consumers a reason to consider switching search engines, which, of course, is one of Bing's biggest challenges.
"If you grab the average user off the street and ask them, 'Does search suck?' I think they'd say no. They don't know what else can be done," said Shashi Seth, a former Google executive who is now chief revenue officer at Cooliris. "They think search does a pretty good job, and if you could prove otherwise with a product that's differentiated, people will sit up and take notice."
Case for refinement
Indeed, data show that about 65% of people are satisfied or very satisfied with online search. But Microsoft sees an opening on its own proprietary search data: 42% of searches require refinement, and 25% of clicks are the back button.
That's why Mr. Seth likens the Bing marketing challenge to that of the Apple iPhone before it was introduced. Most people, pre-iPhone, didn't know they were missing a multi-touch screen, or an application that would enable them to detect what song was playing wherever they were. But Apple, through its ads, showed how markedly different the experience was and created a new de facto standard for phones.
Many will argue that no amount of advertising Microsoft throws at the product will make a difference -- the quality of search results is the only thing that matters. And that may have once been true; after all, Google built its brand on the back of a great user experience, results that were markedly better and zero ad support.
But that's not necessarily true anymore, as the quality of search engines has approached parity. Sure, there are no switching costs, and it's easy to simply type in a new web address should a better engine come along, but the psychological pull of the leading brand in the space overrides those factors for many consumers.
Consider that Google has conducted internal tests, according to people familiar with them, in which the company put its logo and treatment on another engine's search results. Users still prefer the results with the Google logo, even if they're not Google results. Or consider that a revamped Ask.com made its debut in 2007 to a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who said it "holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches." Two years later? Ask's share of search is down 28%.
'Better mousetrap'
"I don't think they can win this game with a better mousetrap," said Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor Associates, New York. "They have to compete with Google on a brand front -- there's no other way to skin this but go head on against the Google brand."
Obviously Microsoft has not shied away from "going head on" in its Windows campaign. Its chief attack on Apple -- that it's too expensive and not worth the high price -- is showing some signs of working. Apple's value perception among 18- to 34-year-olds has dropped significantly since the campaign launched in late March, which might be a testament to the right message at the right time.
Still, advertising isn't a panacea, as even the most self-absorbed ad man knows, especially when it's not the right advertising. Ask.com famously spent $57 million in 2007 to market its engine, and another $22 million last year, according to TNS. The 2007 campaign was an oddball execution from Crispin Porter & Bogusky that touted "the algorithm" -- a concept unlikely to grab anyone not already entrenched in the world of digital marketing. What Microsoft needs to do is go after people who don't know and probably don't care what an algorithm is.
And all the advertising in the world only works if the product backs it up. People who've seen the Microsoft product suggest it's useful and has some nifty filtering tools, even though it's not a markedly different-looking interface, at least for text search (some of the multimedia search results, however, do look quite different from how Google currently displays them).
"It doesn't take a lot to switch people from one type to another and usually it's a unique feature that gets people excited," said David Karnstedt, CEO of Efficient Frontier and former head of sales for Yahoo. He reflected on his days at AltaVista, which Google supplanted. "Google got people excited because it got people and places right early on. That got people to really start to switch, and once developed the habit of using Google, it was hard to get them to switch back."
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