WebProNews

Tag: Search

  • Yahoo Really Wants That Apple Deal

    Yahoo Really Wants That Apple Deal

    Yahoo made some big waves in late 2014 when it partnered with Mozilla to replace Google as the default search experience in Firefox. Apple’s similar deal with Google is near its expiration, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer seems really interested in that.

    Do you think Apple should drop Google and go with a different search provider like Yahoo or Microsoft? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Yahoo reported its Q4 earnings on Tuesday. During the conference call, Mayer said this about the Mozilla partnership in her prepared remarks (via SeekingAlpha’s transcript):

    External sources estimate that Mozilla has 3% to 5% of the North American search market. So this is a significant opportunity. We began serving Mozilla partly through December, so we’ve not yet had a complete calendar month of data on the deal but we are already impressed with the volume Mozilla search has brought to our marketplace and the insightfulness and agility of the Mozilla team…Our new partnership with Mozilla gives us reason to be optimistic that search will continue to be a growth story.

    During the question-and-answer session, Mayer was asked about Yahoo’s ongoing search partnership with Microsoft (which she reportedly hates) as well as the company’s new deal with Mozilla to become the default search experience in the Firefox browser. She said the “search alliance” hits the halfway point later in Q1, and that the deal has provisions that allow them to consider adjustments to its relationship with Microsoft. They’re actively exploring options and different models, she said.

    She said:

    On Mozilla overall we haven’t disclosed the financial arrangement between the two companies…it’s about 3% to 5% of the North America search market and overall, the volume’s been fantastic and the teams are just terrific to work with. That said it’s a really significant partnership and will always take time to equilibrate and tune our performance with the Mozilla traffic. And so we are very hopeful about it but at this point really too early to tell.

    There have been reports that Yahoo is also interested in taking Google’s place as the default search experience in Apple’s Safari browser, which would be huge for the company in terms of gaining more significant market share. Apple has in recent years been distancing itself more and more from Google. Mayer was asked about this during the Q&A as well. She said:

    The Safari platform is basically one of the premiere search engine in the world, if not the premiere search engine in the world. We are definitely in the search distribution business. I think we stated that really clearly in the past and I think with Mozilla and also in addition we brought Amazon and eBay onboard with smaller distribution partnerships in Q4, we are in search distribution business and anyone who is in that business needs to be interested in the Safari deal.

    The Safari users are among the most engaged and lucrative users in the world and it’s something that we would really like to be able to provide. We work really closely with Mozilla to ultimately bring to their users an experience that they designed and that they feel really suit those users and we welcome the opportunity with any other partner to do the same, particularly one with Apple’s volume and end user base.

    In other words, yeah, she really wants that deal. Kara Swisher who has covered Yahoo for years probably better than anyone else in the industry, liveblogged the earnings call, and commented, “Mayer appeared to practically salivate at the prospect if Apple throws over Google for someone else. Issue: Microsoft. Another issue: Yahoo search technology would have to be majorly upgraded.”

    In response to another question, Mayer went on to say more about Yahoo as a search partner in response to another question:

    Well certainly on search and across the board we pride ourselves on being the best partner in Silicon Valley. We work across the board with Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, we have different Samsung, we have different partnerships with all of these different providers and it’s not easy, they can’t look at each other but we work well with them.

    She said the reason they work so well is because of how flexible Yahoo is.

    In 2014, things started to get really interesting for Yahoo’s search business for the first time in a long time. 2015 may just shape up to be a major comeback year for the company on that front.

    Google is already showing concern about Yahoo’s place in Firefox. If Yahoo scores the Safari deal, it’s going to be a whole new ballgame.

    Google has been trying to get people to switch back with messages like this:

    And one on the Google homepage in the Firefox browser, which says, “Get to Google faster. Make Google your default engine.”

    Google also reported its earnings this week, and also discussed Yahoo’s deal with Mozilla a little. CFO Patrick Pichette said (via Seeking Alpha’s transcript):

    You’ve all heard the announcements about Mozilla. And so when we don’t comment on the details of any of our partnerships that we have, having said that, we continue to do two things that really matter. One is our users continue to actually go in, if they love Google, they will continue to find Google, whichever platform, whichever browser, and that’s really what we’ve focused on doing.

    And then the second piece is the way to win this in the long-term, right? It’s very simple. You just make wonderful products. And when you make wonderful products that are magical people will find them….partnerships matter. But at the core of it, you need partnership, because you have a phenomenal product. And that’s what we’re going to continue to build this amazing company.

    Last week, Merkle | RKG released its Digital Marketing Report for Q4 2014, which looked at the impact of the Yahoo/Mozilla deal on paid search.

    “We’re now able to assess the impact of the deal on Yahoo’s share of Firefox paid search traffic, which grew from 12% at the beginning of December to 30% by the end of the year,” the report said. “However, digging deeper reveals that Yahoo’s share of Firefox 34 paid clicks has been in decline ever since the first big wave of updates in the second week of December. While the initial rollout saw Yahoo’s share rise to a peak of 43% on December 10th, that figure was just 36% by December’s end.”

    “This is primarily the result of users switching the default search engine of their browsers back to Google, as shown by the corresponding increase in Google’s share of Firefox 34 paid clicks throughout the month of December,” it added. “All in all, it appears the deal will move about 2% or less of total paid search traffic from Google to Yahoo. This is far less than the 10%+ of paid traffic that stands to be on the table if Safari default search were to change hands, which news outlets have reported is a possibility in 2015.”

    According to that report, Bing and Yahoo outpaced Google in paid search growth, not only because of the Yahoo Firefox deal, but also rapid growth from Bing Product Ads.

    Do you think Google is in danger of losing any significant amount of market share? Do you think Apple will drop Google? Would it go with Yahoo? Tell us what you think.

    Note: This article has been updated from a previous version to include additional information.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Moz Founder Rand Fishkin On Facebook’s Approach To Search

    Last month, Facebook launched an update to its search experience enabling users to search keywords and get actual posts as results. This is arguably the most significant search feature Facebook has ever added beyond he ability to find a person or Page. It enables you to see what others have said about any given topic.

    When Facebook made its update, it also dropped Bing from the equation. Microsoft’s search engine used to supplement Facebook’s results with more from the web. Facebook no longer includes web results at all. Moz (formerly SEOmoz) co-founder Rand Fishkin thinks that may change, and that Facebook might just do it itself.

    Might Facebook Take On The Web?

    In his 10 Predictions for the Marketing World in 2015 post, Fishkin said, “2015 will be the year Facebook begins including some form of web content (not on Facebook’s site) in their search functionality. Facebook severed their search relationship with Bing in 2014, and I’m going to make a very risky prediction that in 2015, we’ll see Facebook’s new search emerge and use some form of non-Facebook web data. Whether they’ll actually build their own crawler or merely license certain data from outside their properties is another matter, but I think Facebook’s shown an interest in getting more sophisticated with their ad offerings, and any form of search data/history about their users would provide a powerful addition to what they can do today.”

    We reached out to Fishkin, a thirteen-year veteran in search marketing, for some additional thoughts on Facebook’s search efforts.

    “With Bing, Facebook was simply showing external results (like a metasearch engine),” he tells WebProNews. “I think if they use their own crawlers to gather data and a system to serve it, there will be a more holistic, cohesive experience, likely biased/filtered by some of the things Facebook knows about the user(s) doing the searching.”

    Are Facebook’s Changes Having An Impact?

    Facebook’s recent search improvements are certainly significant in functionality. But are they having a significant impact on how people find information so far? Will they more so in the future?

    Fishkin says, “No, and I think in the next few years, the answer will continue to be mostly no (at least if we’re talking about websearch kinds of information vs. ‘where’s my friend’s party Friday night?’ or ‘What does so-and-so’s new boyfriend look like?’). But, long term, I think there’s a possibility. If their early efforts show promise and a direction, I think we can extrapolate from there. For now, I’m not sold.”

    Facebook has been releasing a lot of standalone apps. Among these are dedicated apps for messaging, for managing Pages, and for Groups. Would they launch a dedicated search app? Should they?

    “No and probably no,” Fishkin says. “I think Facebook’s castle is their social graph and the private postings of people to whom other people are connected. They should continue to release products and apps that help build that moat, but for right now, broad search doesn’t fit that world, IMO.”

    Advice for businesses for increasing visibility in Facebook search

    Regardless of whether or not people are actively using it as such, Facebook search gives users new ways of obtaining information. This must mean that businesses, who have suffered drastic declines in organic reach in the News Feed, have some new opportunities to get in front of those actually searching. Fishkin’s advice is as follows.

    “Do remarkable things that people on Facebook want to talk about and share,” he says. “And if that’s too much, at least make sure all your business details are as up-to-date and accurate as possible on Facebook, and that you’re sharing things your followers/fans on that network will actually care about (even if that’s only a few times a year). Just make sure you don’t make Facebook the center of your online promotional efforts – save that for your website and use Facebook to drive traffic to it. You should never build your castle in someone else’s walled garden.”

    I think a lot of people learned that lesson the hard way over the past year.

    Image via Moz

  • NFL Highlights Are Finally Coming to YouTube, Google Search

    NFL Highlights Are Finally Coming to YouTube, Google Search

    The NFL has finally joined YouTube. Welcome to the future, guys!

    The new channel is part of a deal with Google, which will see the NFL upload official highlights and more video content on YouTube.

    “It’s pretty simple: On any screen you watch YouTube, NFL’s YouTube channel will bring you the sights and sounds this week in Arizona, from pre-game analysis to the highlights that everyone will be talking about. After the Super Bowl, don’t let the worst Monday of the year get you down. NFL’s YouTube channel will post more videos all through the offseason,” says Tim Katz, Sports Partnerships Manager.

    Of course, it’s not that simple.

    Re/code has the details on the business end of it all:

    The NFL says Google will sell ads against the league’s information and clips and share revenue with the NFL; the deal also calls for Google to promote the NFL on YouTube and in other places.

    Of course, clips are all you’re going to see. The dream of the NFL allowing full games to be shown on YouTube, if even possible at all, is likely pretty far on down the road.

    There’s also a big search element to this deal. Google will integrate video clips into its search results.

    The NFL already has deals in place with the likes of Facebook and Twitter, and this deal with Google was a long time coming. It’s just nice to see the NFL make any moves to open up its content distribution – however microscopic they may be.

  • Google Shows Concern Over Firefox Switch To Yahoo

    As you may know, Yahoo recently became the default search engine in Mozilla’s Firefox browser after Google had held the spot for a decade. As Yahoo’s search market share has already benefited from the switch, Google is telling Firefox users to switch back.

    On Wednesday, Google tweeted this helpful little video demonstrating how to change the default search experience, in case users who care enough about Google to follow the company on Twitter couldn’t figure out how to do that.

    Danny Sullivan points out that Google is now telling Firefox users who visit its homepage to set the default experience back to Google as well. It displays a message that says, “Get to Google faster. Make Google your default search engine.”

    Yahoo itself has been telling visitors to its homepage to “upgrade” to the new Firefox:

    A couple weeks ago, StatCounter released some data on search market share in the U.S. finding that Yahoo saw its highest amount of that in over five years in December, thanks to its new Mozilla partnership.

    “The move by Mozilla has had a definite impact on US search,” said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. “The question now is whether Firefox users switch back to Google.”

    It will be interesting to see January’s data. Google is obviously worried enough about it to tweet out explanations on how to switch back.

    This week, comScore also put out its monthly look at U.S. desktop search engine rankings for December. From that:

    Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in December with 65.4 percent market share, followed by Microsoft Sites with 19.7 percent (up 0.1 percentage points) and Yahoo Sites with 11.8 percent (up 1.6 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 2 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.2 percent.

    18.7 billion explicit core searches were conducted in December, with Google Sites ranking first with 12.2 billion (up 2 percent). Microsoft Sites ranked second with 3.7 billion searches (up 5 percent), followed by Yahoo Sites with 2.2 billion (up 21 percent), Ask Network with 372 million (up 5 percent) and AOL, Inc. with 222 million.

    As its share rises, Yahoo is also testing out a search results page layout that more closely resembles Google’s:

    You’d have to think a similar look and feel to Google could keep some used to the Google experience from Firefox from bothering to switch back compared to a more drastic change such as Yahoo’s current layout.

    Apparently Bing’s actually testing a similar look as well.

    This might not be a good time for Google to be losing any search market share, considering that analysts have already grown concerned by slowing growth in its core ad business.

    Images via Mozilla, Google, Yahoo, StatCounter, comScore

  • Pinterest’s New Acquisition Should Help Its Search And Ad Offerings

    Pinterest’s New Acquisition Should Help Its Search And Ad Offerings

    Pinterest just announced that is has acquired the team and technology behind recommendation and commerce startup Kosei. The company says it will use he acquisition to accelerate its discovery and monetization efforts.

    “The team includes some of the best minds in machine learning, data science and recommendation engines, who’ve created a unique technology stack that drives commerce by making highly personalized and powerful product recommendations,” a spokesperson tells WebProNews. “Among Kosei’s accomplishments is building a graph that understands more than 400 million relationships between 30 million products.”

    Asked about how the acquisition will affect Pinterest’s efforts in search and advertising, the spokesperson said, “Over the years we’ve been building a system for helping people discover the most relevant Pins, and the Kosei team is a great complement to our existing technology (see how we’ve been using machine learning here). The acquisition of Kosei will enable us to move faster in our efforts to provide relevant recommendations across the service, as well as in ad targeting and measurement as we roll out Promoted Pins.”

    The post linked to above talks about the acquisition, and notes that machine learning tech will be used by the discovery team, which includes search. This is something to consider if you’re considering your Pinterest SEO efforts.

    As far as Promoted Pins performance goes, word is that the ads are already really good at getting clicks.

    We’re told that Pinterest will be working with the Kosei team in the next 90 days to best understand how to integrate their team and technology.

    Michael Lopp, head of Pinterest engineering, said in a statement, “As people use Pinterest to save and discover the things they want to do in the future, we have a growing data set of more than 30 billion objects that will only get more powerful over time. With these leaders in machine learning and recommendation systems, we can move faster in discovery and monetization, and building an infrastructure to help brands better understand customer intention and deliver the best content to Pinners.”

    Head of Pinterest partnerships Joanne Bradford added, “Recommendations and ads systems are rapidly changing due to the confluence of mobile and personalization. The Kosei team and technology will help us accelerate our ad efforts by offering marketers more solutions to tap into our growing and valuable data set and object graph. This year we’ll provide the best ads canvas with the most actionable insights to reach an engaged and passionate brand-centric audience.”

    Kosei co-founder and CEO Lance Riedel said, “We’ve delivered an amazing product that combines a wide range of disciplines, from machine learning to outstanding engineering and a deep understanding of products and consumer interests. As Pinterest builds a recommendation engine for all objects, joining the company will only accelerate our efforts, ultimately leading to very real benefits for commerce partners and Pinners. We’ve been focusing on revolutionizing recommendations with a deep understanding of serving beautiful ads to the right people in the moments that matter, and Pinterest’s vision for building a next generation discovery platform matches our own.”

    Kosei is Pinterest’s 6th acquisition, after Punchfork, Livestar, Hackermeter, Visual Graph, and Icebergs.

    Image via Pinterest

  • Data Confirms Google Is Wiping Out A Whole Category Of Websites

    Data Confirms Google Is Wiping Out A Whole Category Of Websites

    Last month, we reported that Google may have just killed a whole category of websites – lyrics sites. New data shows that search visibility for some of these sites has indeed drastically declined. While it’s interesting enough for this particular niche, it also highlights how Google is capable of basically wiping out an entire niche by adding one type of direct answer to its search results. That, of course, is something it’s doing more and more of as time goes on, and it’s bound to hurt third-party websites as it does.

    Are you worried that Google is squeezing out too many third-party websites in favor of its own content? Let us know in the comments.

    While Google doesn’t display lyrics in search results for every song, or even for every type of lyric query, it does so for many basic queries. Last month, we used “goodbye horses lyrics” as an example. Search for that, and Google displays the following:

    As we also noted at the time, Google displays a link to Google Play at the bottom of the box, which would seem to give those complaining about any “anti-competitive” practices Google may engage in something new to complain about. Clicking the link takes you to a Google Play page that hosts the lyrics, and lets you purchase the song from Google. Some queries will even cut off the lyrics and send you to the Google Play page before you can even read them all:

    There’s no way this wasn’t going to hurt lyrics sites. Now SearchMetrics has put out lists of the top winners and losers of 2014 in terms of search visibility (hat tip to Search Engine Land). The “falling stars” list is littered with lyrics sites.

    eLyrics.net saw a 92% drop. LyricsMode and Sing365 each fell 60%. LyricsFreak dropped 59%. MetroLyrics dropped 12%. Last.fm, which links to MetroLyrics for song lyrics saw a decline of 18%.

    Take a look at the full list:

    Domain Loss in % Category
    guardian.co.uk -100 *Redirected
    mayoclinic.com -97 *Redirected
    elyrics.net -92 Enc/Dict/Lyrics
    patch.com -72 Web Portal
    lyricsmode.com -60 Enc/Dict/Lyrics
    sing365.com -60 Enc/Dict/Lyrics
    lyricsfreak.com -59 Enc/Dict/Lyrics
    tvtropes.org -59 News/Video
    discovery.com -59 News/Video
    starpulse.com -57 News/Video
    thefreedictionary.com -54 Enc/Dict/Lyrics
    topix.com -49 Social/Portal
    thesaurus.com -48 Enc/Dict/Lyrics
    nndb.com -45 Info
    netflix.com -45 News/Video
    myspace.com -40 Social/Portal
    aol.com -39 Internet/Computer/Tech
    flickr.com -39 Social/Portal
    chicagotribune.com -37 News/Video
    nbcnews.com -36 News/Video
    funnyordie.com -35 Social/Portal
    answers.com -35 Q&A/Expert
    examiner.com -35 News/Video
    alexa.com -34 Info
    simplyrecipes.com -32 Social/Portal
    tumblr.com -31 Social/Portal
    ask.com -30 Internet/Computer/Tech
    askmen.com -28 Blog
    indeed.com -27 Classif
    zap2it.com -27 News/Video
    zazzle.com -27 Retail
    expedia.com -27 Travel
    moviefone.com -26 News/Video
    blogspot.com -26 Blog
    foxnews.com -24 News/Video
    dailymotion.com -23 News/Video
    photobucket.com -23 Social/Portal
    toptenreviews.com -22 Price/Classif
    wikitravel.org -22 Travel
    food.com -21 Cooking
    msn.com -21 News/Video
    howstuffworks.com -21 Q&A/Expert
    mashable.com -21 Blog
    enchantedlearning.com -21 Q&A/Expert
    cbsnews.com -21 News/Video
    usatoday.com -20 News/Video
    latimes.com -20 News/Video
    nba.com -18 Info
    last.fm -18 Social/Portal
    rapgenius.com -17 *Redirected
    gethuman.com -16 Info
    crunchbase.com -16 Info
    nydailynews.com -15 News/Video
    nytimes.com -15 News/Video
    city-data.com -14 Adress
    cnn.com -13 News/Video
    huffingtonpost.com -13 News/Video
    nationalgeographic.com -12 News/Video
    whitepages.com -12 Adress
    metrolyrics.com -12 Enc/Dict/Lyrics
    medicalnewstoday.com -11 Med
    retailmenot.com -11 Price/Classif
    perezhilton.com -10 Blog

    RapGenius saw a decline of negative 17%, though there’s a little more to that story. As SearchMetrics notes, it now redirects to Genius, so that can account for a drop in visibility on that domain.

    At the tail end of 2013, Rap Genius was penalized by Google, but the penalty was quickly lifted early last year. The company has since expanded its business model into annotations of content beyond lyrics. In fact, they’ve already been in the news this week with ambitions of annotating the web.

    SearchMetrics shows the visibility picture for RapGenius.com and Genius.com with the re-direct occurring in mid-July.

    Genius and Rap Genius
    Lyrics are still a substantial part of the site, and it’s worth noting that Genius.com’s visibility has been shaky with a noticeable downward trend at the end of the year. SearchMetrics compares this to MayoClinic, which re-directed from a .com to a .org, and had a lot better luck:

    mayo clinic search visibility
    Suffice it to say, the picture is a bit bleak for lyrics sites. Granted, we don’t know how much of the drop-off in visibility for these sites is a direct result of Google’s showing lyrics in its search results (though I’d guess a significant amount). Lyrics sites have often appeared on loser lists from SearchMetrics in connection with various iterations of the Panda update.

    Another thing worth noting is that one lyrics site actually appears on the winners list this time. AZLyrics managed to post a gain of 24% Perhaps this is a result of declines from competitors.

    Bing shows lyrics on its search results pages too, but doesn’t appear to do so for all the same songs Google does.

    Are the search engines going too far with the amount of information they’re showing directly on results pages? Let us know what you think.

    Images via Google, SearchMetrics

  • Google Wants Some Ideas For Webmaster Tools Again. Got Any?

    Google is once again calling on webmasters for ideas on how to improve Google Search and Webmaster Tools. The company put out a brief Google+ update early this morning:

    What would you like to see from Google Websearch & Webmaster Tools in 2015?

    We’d love to hear your feedback & collect your suggestions on the kinds of things you’d wish to see being added, improved, removed, or changed by the Webmaster Tools and websearch teams at Google.

    Google is offering a Google Moderator page where you can submit suggestions and vote one those that others have contributed. Of course there’s no guarantee that Google will act upon any of these suggestions, even if they’re voted the highest, but it’s interesting to see what people want, and at least this gives Google a good way to get a feel for that.

    “What can we do to make your life – as a webmaster, producer of great content, or SEO – easier this year?” Google asks on the page.

    As of the time of this writing, there are over a hundred suggestions with with over 1,100 votes. The top one right now is: “Show more than 1,000 entries for any error report. 5,000 or 10,000 would be helpful.”

    Other popular suggestions include:

    “An automated action viewer, so webmasters can see if they were impacted by an algorithm such as Panda or Penguin.”

    “I would like to see in WMT data from 12 months, not 3 as it is now :)”

    Along side the manual penalty notices, a message to say whether or not an algorithmic penalty is applied to a website, and if so, what type of penalty and what action might help resolve it.”

    “Year on year comparison by month for impressions and clicks query data.”

    “Moe to account structure so http, https, subdomains (even subfolders) of one site can all be accessed and managed easily.”

    “I would like to see a much more detailed link tool within WMT. It would be nice to see all links, especially the latest ones without having to click around and download a .csv. Show us who is linking to which pages using what anchor text natively.”

    “I would like to see all back links data with nofollow and dofollow declaration separately. If possible also provide bad links and quality links checker.”

    There are plenty more where those came from.

    This is your chance to let your voice be heard, so if you’ve been wanting something from Google in this area, you better let them know. There’s a good possibility you’ll have additional like-minded webmasters backing you up with votes, and who knows? Maybe it will make a difference.

    Before you tell Google what you want, we’d love to hear it too in the comments.

    Image via Google

  • Pinterest SEO: Things To Consider

    Pinterest SEO: Things To Consider

    A lot of website owners and marketers are still trying to crack the Pinterest nut. If Facebook referrals start evaporating, that will no doubt be the case even more. Currently, Pinterest is second behind Facebook for driving website referrals as far as social networks are concerned.

    Promoted Pins will be a big storyline this year, and search is a big part of that. But what about simple organic Pinterest SEO? What can you do to get more out of Pinterest, and its search feature in particular?

    Do you currently consider search optimization techniques for Pinterest as part of your online marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments.

    Pew just released some new Pinterest growth stats. Men in the U.S. using Pinterest jumped from 8% in 2013 to 13%. 42% of online women are Pinterest users. It’s more popular than Twitter, according to the firm. 21% said they use Pinterest, up from 15% last year., compared to 18% for Twitter.

    Pew tells us, “In 2014, the number of men on the site doubled, and we see that growth continue today – ⅓ of all signups are men (50/50 men/women in markets like India, Korea and Japan). In the past year, monthly active users outside the U.S. grew by 150%. Since launching Guided Search nine months ago, the number of searches per person has increased by 25%.”

    What Pinterest Says About SEO

    First, let’s look at what Pinterest itself says about search visibility: “Search is an important way for Pinners to find content from your business. If you use Rich Pins and have a verified account, your Pins appear higher in search results. Another crucial way to improve your appearance in search results is to sharpen your Pin descriptions.” Emphasis added.

    Pinterest gives some helpful tips right in its official business guide:

    Note that they’re giving you a specific example of an account that’s doing it right – Tory Buch. You can peruse their pins and descriptions here to get a feel for how they do it.

    Pinterest goes on to give some additional tips about descriptions. For recipes, you would describe the main ingredients and how to cook the dish. For fashion, you would include the type of clothing, the designer, and/or the season. For travel, you would include the location and the kinds of things you can do there. For DIY, you would describe the project, and how to make it, as well as the materials needed to get the job done. For photography, you would name the photographer, the year, the subject, and/or the publication. For design, you would mention the designer, medium, publication, etc.

    Basically, regardless of the type of content you’re pinning, you want to be as descriptive as possible and include all of the relevant keywords. Pretty straightforward. Note in the image above, however, that they advise against just dropping in keywords or hashtags. It’s unclear if this is actually detrimental on an algorithmic level, but either way, you probably just don’t want to do it that way.

    Another key to making your content more easily found in Pinterest searches is to make it easier for people to submit the content to PInterest in the first place. This means taking action on your own site by using high-quality images (ideally at least 600 pixels wide), including the Pin it button, and using rich pins (Product Pins, Article Pins, Place Pins to automatically include information like price, availability, ingredients, location, etc. This is done by adding some meta tags to your site. Pinterest points to Lowe’s as a good example of a a site well designed for Pinterest. They added a “Pinterest-friendly” section for creative ideas, with at least one project that has been pinned over 200,000 times.

    “The more people Pin your content, the more discoverable it becomes,” Pinterest says. “To encourage more Pinning, make it easy to Pin from your website and emails. Promote your Pinterest account on social channels, packaging and advertising.”

    You should use Pinterest Analytics to see which pins are popular, and which ones are driving the most traffic to your site. It will also show you which boards your content is appearing on and how others have described it, which could lead to some helpful revelations.

    “All of these insights will help you make smarter choices about your merchandising, product development and marketing strategy,” Pinterest says.

    It’s probably a good idea to use your Pinterest account well, because it might help you gain some credence when it comes to search result ranking (I’ve not confirmed this, but it’s something to consider). The company does suggest pinning at least once a day so followers get fresh content, and not just pinning your own stuff.

    “You can tell a richer story by adding Pins from others,” it says. “You could partner with bloggers and lifestyle websites to Pin their content. Your followers will appreciate the Pins, and bloggers will appreciate the referral traffic.”

    Engagement with other users through follows, repins, likes, and comments, is also recommended, as is creating group boards and inviting people who “love your brand” to contribute.

    Keep in mind, you can optimize your actual boards to some extent. Give them clear, relevant names. They should be kept to 20 characters or less. Otherwise they can get cut off. Also include descriptions of the boards, again, using relevant keywords. You can choose a cover pin, so you should choose one that’s relevant, enticing, and will make the user want to follow that board. You might consider using the one with the most repins.

    Pinterest recommends putting your most relevant boards at the top of your boards page. You can easily drag and drop them.

    The company also gives a helpful tip you might not have considered: “Try Pinning a handful of Pins at once that together tell a story and capture the imagination. For example, a Pin of a patterned dress next to the place that inspired it is more compelling than just a product photo.”

    If you want to look at an account that gets boards right, check out The Container Store. Pinterest points out how they create boards with pins organized to appeal to different audiences.

    On a side note, unlike the direction that Facebook may be going in, Pinterest actually encourages linking out. In its business guide, it says, “For example, a movie Pin should lead to the trailer or a review, and a product Pin should lead to where a Pinner can make the purchase.”

    Pinterest, at least for now, wants to send you traffic.

    People Search Pinterest With Intent To Buy

    Vision Critical published a study that found that 28% of Pinterest purchasers say they were searching for the item they pinned and purchased or for an item like it. In the health and beauty vertical, the number is 47% (it goes down to 17% for food and drink purchasers). As Pinterest continues to grow, and attracts more people, it stands to reason that the number will grow for additional verticals. In fact, the survey used for the study is nearly two years old anyway, so it’s likely already grown, particularly as Pinterest has put more emphasis on search in the past year.

    For comparison 47% of purchasers said they just happened upon the item they pinned without searching for it. Interestingly, that number goes down for technology purchases and up for food and drink purchases.

    Other Factors To Consider

    Vincent Ng, who was early on the Pinterest marketing train says in his eBook How to Search Optimize Your Pins and Boards For Pinterest and Search Engines, “You also want to make sure that your business pins show up as frequently at the top of search results as much possible. It’s better to have five pins for a specific term show up instead of just one, or worse yet, none. It’s just too easy for one pin to be lost in an ocean of millions of pins.”

    Ng recently appeared on the Social Media Examiner podcast. He talked a little about how Pinterest is getting better at image recognition, and applying that to search.

    “What’s really fascinating is that Pinterest is starting to have visual recognition engines, so they recognize certain colors and certain patterns refer to a coffee table [for example], so even though a picture in the pin description may not say ‘coffee table,’ if enough people in the past have referred to that image as a coffee table, you might see a pin that is a coffee table, but that doesn’t use that kind of description.”

    Still, I see no reason not to include good descriptions.

    Ng also noted that more people are starting searches on Pinterest rather than Google for certain types of searches – typically lifestyle. The biggest mistake people make when it comes to losing traffic, he says, is not making sure the pin goes to the right URL. You should always check the source of a pin, and edit accordingly.

    In his book, Ng makes some good points about keywords on Pinterest. For one, you can find highly searched keywords by starting to type in the search box, and seeing what comes up:

    He also suggests that putting keywords early in the description can help, though doing some random searches, I get the idea that this might not be as big of a factor now as maybe it was when the book was written. Exact keyword matches work best, according to the book, but again, the evolution of Pinterest search may have downplayed this.

    The number of repins does appear to be a major factor, which makes perfect sense, though freshness shouldn’t be counted out. In the example below, the pin in the top right has less than 40 repins, yet it is among others that have thousands, but it is only two days old, while the others have been around for much longer.

    As noted, a lot has happened with Pinterest’s search feature over the last year, so let’s circle back around to advice Pinterest itself is giving out. Search Engine Land shared some tips from Anna Majkowska, a software manager on Pinterest’s search team, back in October. These boil down to optimizing your profile, verifying your site, installing pin it buttons, writing strong descriptions, using rich pins, checking your links, getting more followers, and finding your niches. Maybe not all that much has changed after all, from an optimization standpoint.

    What tactics have you seen work for increasing Pinterest effectiveness. Please share in the comments.

  • Yahoo Up, Google Down After Firefox Switch

    Yahoo Up, Google Down After Firefox Switch

    Well, it looks like that deal Yahoo struck with Mozilla is making a pretty significant difference in the U.S. search market. Obviously Google is still dominating by a very wide margin, but since the deal went into effect, Yahoo has reached its highest share of that market since 2009, while Google is down.

    Do you think this will turn into a more meaningful change in the search market? Will Yahoo continue to gain some of its share back or do you expect this to just be a small blip? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    This information comes from StatCounter, which says Google is at its lowest U.S. share since its been recording the data. The data is based on over 15 billion page views per month to over three million websites.

    Late last year, Mozilla’s long-time partnership with Google came to an end in the U.S. and in a handful of other countries. While Google has been the default search experience for a decade, obviously lending a great amount of queries to the search giant, that honor now goes to Yahoo in the U.S., Yandex in Russia, and Baidu in China. Google remains the default experience in other countries, but some of these could eventually change too.

    “This is the most significant long-term partnership for Yahoo in five years,” a spokesperson for Yahoo told WebProNews in November, adding that the company would also be introducing an enhanced search experience for Firefox users, before launching it to others.

    “In evaluating our search partnerships, our primary consideration was to ensure our strategy aligned with our values of choice and independence, and positions us to innovate and advance our mission in ways that best serve our users and the Web,” said Mozilla CEO Chris Beard. “In the end, each of the partnership options available to us had strong, improved economic terms reflecting the significant value that Firefox brings to the ecosystem.”

    Not only did Firefox switch default search engines in some countries, it added more options as well. In all, Firefox now has 61 different search providers pre-installed across 88 different language versions.

    Shortly after the latest version of Firefox (34) became available, StatCounter shared data suggesting a quick 3x jump in Firefox searches with Yahoo.

    Apparently things have been going pretty well with the partnership since then. Last month, Yahoo achieved its highest U.S. search share in over five years. Here’s how the share looked between November and December.

    It could actually be Bing, who is at risk of losing its ranking in terms of market share.

    “The move by Mozilla has had a definite impact on US search,” said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. “The question now is whether Firefox users switch back to Google.”

    According to the company, Firefox users represented just over 12% of US internet usage in December. Yahoo is doing its part to bump that number up. Since the integration went into effect, Yahoo has been telling users on its homepage to upgrade to the new Firefox, regardless of what browser they’re using. Even Chrome users, for example, see the message.

    It’s never been clearer how smart of a move it was on Google’s part to build Chrome and make it arguably the best browser the web has to offer. It’s also clear that it remains in the best interest of Google’s business at large that Chrome remains the market leader. Purely from a search standpoint, it means it can keep a default Google experience for more users without worrying about expiring partnerships and changes of heart from partners.

    Apple is another long-time partner who has been inching further and further away from Google. Apple’s deal with Google, which sees Google as the default experience on Safari, expires this year, and both Yahoo and Microsoft are reportedly eager to step in as a replacement. It remains to be seen if Google will lose another major browser partnership. If Apple elects to go a different route, we can probably expect the company to make some significant improvements to Safari to help it better compete with Chrome.

    In other Yahoo Search news, the Yahoo Directory, which basically put the company on the map, and was the Google of its day, is officially dead. Meanwhile, the company has added search to its Aviate Android app, enabling users to search apps, contacts, and the web from their homescreen. Yahoo acquired Aviate about a year ago.

    Yahoo’s most recent earnings report revealed that its search advertising business is outperforming its display business. While it’s certainly making efforts to improve the display side of things, the Firefox deal should play a pretty significant role in boosting the search ad business even more.

    Do you think Yahoo can make a significant impact in the search market after all these years? Let us know in the comments.

    Images via StatCounter, Yahoo

  • Here’s What The Internet Looked Like In 2014

    Here’s What The Internet Looked Like In 2014

    As 2014 comes to a close, it’s time to look back at what the year brought, and what people were interested in. What better way to do that than to look at the lists provided by the major Internet services we use.

    What word sums up 2014 in your mind? Let us know in the comments.

    These lists have been trickling in for the past month or so, but taking it all in at once can really give us a better picture of the year as a whole. Let’s start with the search trends.

    Robin Williams took the top spot on Google’s global trends charts this year. According to the company, there was even an uptick in searches related to depression tests and mental health after he died.

    Williams was followed by the World Cup and Ebola. Here’s a look at the global top ten.

     

    Here in the U.S., the list is only slightly different:

    1. Robin Williams
    2. World Cup
    3. Ebola
    4. Malaysia Airlines
    5. Flappy Bird
    6. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
    7. ISIS
    8. Ferguson
    9. Frozen
    10. Ukraine

    The top trending people in the world were:

    1. Jennifer Lawrence
    2. Kim Kardashian
    3. Julie Gayet
    4. Tracy Morgan
    5. Renee Zellweger
    6. Jared Leto
    7. Lorde
    8. Matthew McConaughey
    9. Amal Almamuddin
    10. Donald Sterling

    On the tech side of things, here’s what the list for consumer electronics looked like (global):

    1. iPhone 6
    2. Samsung Galaxy S5
    3. Nexus 6
    4. Moto G
    5. Samsung Note 4
    6. LG G3
    7. XBox One
    8. Apple Watch
    9. Nokia X
    10. iPad Air

    Of course there is plenty more to dig into, and you can do just that on the Year in Search site.

    “On our Year in Search site, you can take an in-depth look at the stories that made 2014 unforgettable,” says Google’s Amit Singhal. “From the rise of the selfie, to understanding if we search for ‘how’ more than ‘why,’ each chapter shares a glimpse into the people and events that drove this year forward.”

    On Bing, Kim Kardashian became the most searched person this year, taking the place of Beyoncé.

    “From her buzzworthy Vogue cover, and extravagant wedding to her photos that ‘broke’ the Internet, Kim and her famous family held our attention throughout the year,” a Bing spokesperson said.

    Here are some noteworthy top ten lists from Bing’s findings:

    Most searched person:

    1. Kim Kardashian
    2. Beyoncé
    3. Miley Cyrus
    4. Katy Perry
    5. Justin Bieber
    6. Joan Rivers
    7. Jennifer Lopez
    8. Kendall Jenner
    9. Kaley Cuoco
    10. Robin Williams

    Most Searched Devices:

    1. iPhone 6
    2. Xbox One
    3. Fitbit
    4. iPad
    5. Surface Pro 3
    6. Kindle Fire
    7. Windows Phone
    8. Galaxy S4
    9. Chromecast
    10. Google Glass

    Most Searched Apps:

    1. Facebook
    2. Twitter
    3. Instagram
    4. Skype
    5. Vine
    6. Snapchat
    7. Candy Crush Saga
    8. WhatsApp
    9. Angry Birds
    10. Farmville

    Most Searched News Stories:

    1. World Cup
    2. Super Bowl
    3. Missing Malaysia Airlines jet
    4. Winter Olympics
    5. The rise of ISIS
    6. Ray Rice controversy
    7. Shooting in Ferguson, Missouri
    8. Ebola outbreak
    9. Brittany Maynard Death with Dignity
    10. Ukraine (Crimea)-Russia conflict

    You can look at additional search trend info from Bing here.

    Here’s what the top ten looks like on Yahoo:

     

     

    Here’s a look at the top “obsessions” of the year according to Yahoo:

     

     

    More from Yahoo…

    The top-searched technology consumer goods were:

    1. Apple iPhone 6
    2. Samsung Galaxy s5
    3. Samsung Galaxy Note 4
    4. GoPro
    5. Apple iPad Mini
    6. Microsoft XBOX One
    7. Amazon Kindle
    8. Sony Playstation 4
    9. Apple iPad Air
    10. Microsoft Surface Pro 3

    Top-Searched News Stories on Yahoo in 2014:

    1. Ebola epidemic
    2. Death of Robin Williams
    3. Elections 2014
    4. Leaked photos 2014
    5. Malaysia Airlines tragedies
    6. Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo.
    7. Jodi Arias sentencing
    8. ISIS
    9. Ray Rice domestic violence
    10. Obamacare

    Top-Searched Sports Moments on Yahoo in 2014:

    1. World Cup: Home team favorite Brazil falls to Germany in the semi-finals
    2. World Series: Giants win their third title in five years with Madison Bumgarner
    3. Super Bowl: Seahawks strong defense triumphs over Peyton Manning and the Broncos in stunning fashion
    4. Sochi Winter Olympics
    5. NFL rocked by domestic violence issues: Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson
    6. Oscar Pistorius trial
    7. Tony Stewart car accident fatality
    8. LeBron James returns to Cleveland
    9. Donald Sterling: Racism scandal forces Sterling to sell his NBA team
    10. Derek Jeter retires from baseball as a New York Yankee

    Top-Searched Lyrics on Yahoo in 2014

    1. “Let It Go” from “Frozen”
    2. “All of Me” by John Legend
    3. “Problem” by Ariana Grande
    4. “Say Something” by A Great Big World
    5. “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith
    6. “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic
    7. “Drunk in Love” by Beyonce
    8. “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea
    9. “Black Widow” by Iggy Azalea
    10. “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen

    Turning to social media…

    On Facebook, the World Cup was the biggest thing of the year. Here’s a look at the most discussed subjects on the social network:

    1. World Cup
    2. Ebola virus outbreak
    3. Elections in Brazil
    4. Robin Williams
    5. Ice Bucket Challenge
    6. Conflict in Gaza
    7. Malaysia Airlines
    8. Super Bowl
    9. Michael Brown/Ferguson
    10. Sochi Winter Olympics

    On Twitter, the most retweeted tweet of the year was Ellen’s Oscar Tweet:

     

     

    Twitter also pulled these highlights in its year-end roundup:

    • World Cup: The biggest sports story in 2014, especially on Twitter. Fans, players, teams and media sent over 672 million Tweets during the month-long tournament. At its peak, there were 618,725 Tweets sent per minute — the largest peak we measured this year — when Germany (@DFB_Team) took home the championship.
    • #BringBackOurGirls: In response to a mass kidnapping in Nigeria, millions of Tweets were sent mentioning #BringBackOurGirls. This map visualizes the hashtag’s global spread over a two-week period.
    • #IndyRef: Scottish citizens used Twitter to say “yes” or “no” regarding a referendum on independence from the UK in the days leading up to the vote in September. This interactive map of geotagged “yes” or “no” Tweets shows the global nature of the conversation, which spread well beyond Scotland. Fom the first debate through polling day, there were more than 3.75 million Tweets about the referendum.
    • Hong Kong protests: When citizens of Hong Kong gathered to protest governmental electoral reforms, characterized by the hashtag#occupycentral, people over the world took to Twitter to add their thoughts. There were more than 2.3 million Tweets about what became known as the#UmbrellaRevolution. Here are the most shared photos, and here’s how the event played out on Twitter.
    • #BlackLivesMatter: There were more than 18 million Tweets about the#Ferguson protests in August, as charted in this visualization. In the hours following the grand jury’s decision in November, there were 3.5 million Tweets from across the U.S. Also tied to a similar grand jury decision in New York, this map shows how powerfully the hashtags #ICantBreathe and#BlackLivesMatter shaped the conversation on Twitter.

    Top 10 Most Viral Blogs on Tumblr in 2014:

    1. Taylor Swift – taylorswift.tumblr.com
    2. Ghost Photographs – ghostphotographs.tumblr.com
    3. Will It Beard – willitbeard.tumblr.com
    4. Literary Starbucks – literarystarbucks.tumblr.com
    5. Crying New York – cryingnewyork.tumblr.com
    6. Jerry Seinfeld Skeleton – jerryseinfeldsskeleton.tumblr.com
    7. Museum of Selfies – museumofselfies.tumblr.com
    8. Sochi on Tinder – sochiontinder.tumblr.com
    9. If They Gunned Me Down – iftheygunnedmedown.tumblr.com/
    10. B4-16 – /b4-16.tumblr.com/

    “One of the most shocking reveals from the Tumblr community comes from its fervent music fans,” Yahoo said. “The Australian pop rock band, 5 Seconds of Summer usurped 2013’s favorite, One Direction for most blogged about musical act on Tumblr.”

    Top 10 Most Reblogged Musical Acts on Tumblr in 2014

    1. 5 Seconds of Summer
    2. One Direction
    3. Beyonce
    4. Fall Out Boy
    5. Lana del Rey
    6. All Time Low
    7. Justin Bieber
    8. Taylor Swift
    9. Kanye West
    10. My Chemical Romance

    Even StumbleUpon released its top stumbles of the year, though it only limited the list to 4.

    The fist one is “20 Gifs That Explain How Things Work”. It’s in the Technology category, and is listed with 267K views. The post comes from FRAUFAYA at the site FreeYork. It looks at things like what happens when we swallow, how keys and locks work, how ants walk, etc. I’ve seen this one before, and I’m pretty sure I gave it a like. It is a pretty good one, so no arguments from me here.

    Number 2 is “Doesn’t Matter How Many Times I See This, It Always Blows My Mind“. It’s in the Philosophy category with 190K views. It’s an interesting story about a person who dies, meets god, and learns that the universe is an egg.

    Number 3 is “Amazing Places to Experience Around the Globe“. It’s in the Travel category, and has 3.3 million views. It’s basically a collection of amazing photographs from different exotic locations around the world.

    Finally, number 4 is “Most Favorited Recipes of All-time“. It’s in Food/Cooking, and has 2.7 million views. It comes from FoodGawker, and has an infinite scroll of mostly pretty good looking food.

    Wikipedia released its first-ever annual video looking back at the year in Wikipedia edits.

    The Wikimedia Foundation’s Katherine Maher had this to say:

    More than anything, it celebrates those who come to Wikipedia to learn and understand the complexity of our world, and those who edit and contribute information so that others might do the same.

    In watching the video, you embark on a journey through the world and Wikipedia, revisiting what you read and edited this year. From the FIFA World Cup to the Indian general elections, and the Ice Bucket Challenge to Ebola in West Africa, we follow threads of discovery through Wikipedia’s vast constellation of knowledge, finding opportunities to contribute along the way. We venture from Sochi to outer space in less than three minutes.

    YouTube gave us a look at the top ads of the year. Then the YouTube Trends team gave us their top picks for videos of the year. For its true 2014 Year in Review, they provided a playlist for each month:

    January

    February

    March

    April

    May

    June

    July

    August

    September

    October

    November

    December

    And here’s the YouTube Rewind:

    Here’s a look at the year in Entertainment as seen through the eyes of Google Play:

    Apple named its top apps, music, movies, TV shows and books on iTunes for 2014. These are for the U.S.

    Elevate took the top iPhone App spot with Threes! winning the top iPhone Game spot. Pixelmator won best iPad app, and Monument Valley won best iPad game.

    Beyoncé won best artist, in the music category while Sam Smith won best new artist. Taylor Swift’s 1989 got best album, and Iggy Azalea’s Fancy got best song.

    In the video department, Guardians of the Galaxy won best blockbuster, while The LEGO Movie took best family movie, and Fargo took best TV show.

    Apple declared Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See the best book in fiction. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobs got best non-fiction.

    Here’s a look at some top five lists from Spotify:

    Top Five Global Artists

    1. Ed Sheeran
    2. Eminem
    3. Coldplay
    4. Calvin Harris
    5. Katy Perry

    Top Five Global Males

    1. Ed Sheeran
    2. Eminem
    3. Calvin Harris
    4. Avicii
    5. David Guetta

    Top Five Global Females

    1. Katy Perry
    2. Ariana Grande
    3. Lana Del Rey
    4. Beyoncé
    5. Lorde

    Top Five Global Groups

    1. Coldplay
    2. Imagine Dragons
    3. Maroon 5
    4. OneRepublic
    5. One Direction

    Top Five Global Tracks

    1. Happy – From “Despicable Me 2″ – Pharrell Williams
    2. Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne) – Clean Bandit
    3. Summer – Calvin Harris
    4. Dark Horse – Katy Perry
    5. All of Me – John Legend

    Top Five Global Albums

    1. x – Ed Sheeran
    2. In The Lonely Hour – Sam Smith
    3. The New Classic – Iggy Azalea
    4. G I R L – Pharrell Williams
    5. My Everything – Ariana Grande

    Top Five Global Viral Tracks

    1. Take Me To Church – Hozier
    2. Gooey – Glass Animals
    3. Ojos Color Sol – Calle 13
    4. Coffee – Sylvan Esso
    5. Hey Mami – Sylvan

    Most streamed artists in the US

    1. Eminem
    2. Drake
    3. Kanye West
    4. Lana del Rey
    5. Ariana Grande

    Most streamed tracks in the US

    1. Fancy – Iggy Azalea
    2. Dark Horse – Katy Perry
    3. Happy – From “Despicable Me 2″ – Pharrell Williams
    4. Problem – Ariana Grande
    5. All of Me – John Legend

    Most streamed albums in the US

    1. x – Ed Sheeran
    2. The New Classic – Iggy Azalea
    3. In The Lonely Hour – Sam Smith
    4. Native – OneRepublic
    5. My Everything – Ariana Grande

    Top viral tracks in the US

    1. Take Me To Church – Hozier
    2. Gooey – Glass Animals
    3. Reflections – MisterWives
    4. Coffee – Sylvan Esso
    5. Say You’ll Be There – MØ

    Finally, Amazon shared its best-selling books of the year. Here are the top 20 best-selling:

    1. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

    2. Gray Mountain by John Grisham

    3. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

    4. Twenty Seconds Ago (Jack Reacher, #19) by Lee Child

    5. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

    6. The Target (Will Robie Series) by David Baldacci

    7. The Fixed Trilogy by Laurelin Paige

    8. The Heroes of Olympus Book Five: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

    9. Top Secret Twenty-One (Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich

    10. Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General by Bill O’Reilly

    11. Unlucky 13 (Women’s Murder Club) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

    12. Edge of Eternity: Book Three of The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett

    13. Shadow Spell (Cousins O’Dwyer) by Nora Roberts

    14. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

    15. Blood Magick (Cousins O’Dwyer) by Nora Roberts

    16. Field of Prey by John Sandford

    17. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander) by Diana Gabaldon

    18. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney

    19. City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare

    20. Flash Boys by Michael Lewis

    Amazon also shared the top 20 best-selling kids and teens books:

    1. The Heroes of Olympus Book Five: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

    2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney

    3. City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare

    4. Rush Revere and the First Patriots: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans by Rush Limbaugh

    5. The One (The Selection) by Kiera Cass

    6. Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

    7. The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak

    8. Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children) by Ransom Riggs

    9. Rush Revere and the American Revolution: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans by Rush Limbaugh

    10. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

    11. Unlucky 13 (Women’s Murder Club) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

    12. A Day in the Sun (Disney Frozen) by Frank Berrios

    13. The Staff of Serapis by Rick Riordan

    14. The Finisher by David Baldacci

    15. The Revenge of Seven (Lorien Legacies) by Pittacus Lore

    16. Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods by Rick Riordan

    17. Minecraft: Construction Handbook: An Official Mojang Book by Scholastic

    18. Cress (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

    19. The Julian Chapter: A Wonder Story by R. J. Palacio

    20. Silver Shadows: A Bloodlines Novel by Richelle Mead

    While there are undoubtedly plenty of other year-end lists around the web, I think these give us a pretty good idea of what the year looked like as we prepare to begin a new one.

    What was the best part of 2014 to you? Let us know in the comments.

  • Yahoo Reveals Top Searches For Celeb Weddings (Finally!)

    2014 has been a big year for celebrity weddings…if you’re into that kind of thing. It turns out that a whole lot of people are into it, and they’re searching for these weddings on Yahoo constantly.

    They’re searching so much, in fact, that Yahoo has released its top ten list of the most searched-for celebrity weddings of 2014. Number one probably won’t surprise you much.

    “For better or for worse, 2014 was a big year in search for celebrity weddings on Yahoo,” Yahoo said in a blog post. “Whether you were dying to get a glance at Angelina Jolie’s unique dress decorated with her children’s artwork, or were gushing over Beyonce and Jay Z’s vow renewals, celeb weddings were a buzzing topic on Yahoo over the past year.

    “Not surprisingly, the ‘Kimye’ wedding was #1 on our list of top-searched celeb weddings of the year,” it added. “2014 was also the year that Barbara Walters’ Most Fascinating Person of the Year walked down the aisle with America’s most eligible bachelor — Amal Alamuddin and George Clooney’s wedding came in as the #4 searched nuptials.”

    Here’s the list.

    1. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
    2. Jessa Duggar and Ben Sewald
    3. Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard
    4. George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin
    5. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
    6. Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg
    7. Kaley Cuoco and Ryan Sweeting
    8. Jay Z and Beyonce (vow renewal)
    9. Novak Djokovic and Jelena Ristic
    10. Jamie Lynn Spears and Jamie Watson

    Yahoo recently released its list of the top searches, which you can find here.

    Image via YouTube

  • Bing Launches Updates For iPhone, iPad Apps

    Bing Launches Updates For iPhone, iPad Apps

    Bing announced some updates to its apps for iPhone and iPad in time for the holidays, when many will no doubt be unwrapping these devices.

    The iPhone app has a redesigned home screen with the larger size of the newer models in mind. The search box has been moved to the middle of the screen, and it’s been made larger.

    “We also made it easier for you to enjoy our beautiful image of the day,” Bing says in a blog post. “Just tap anywhere underneath the search box, and all the elements of the app disappear, creating an immersive, full-screen image experience. And if you want to see yesterday’s image, just swipe from the left.”

    They also changed the layout for weather, trending news, and images, enabling users to swipe from the bottom of the home screen to have inf zoom to full screen. There are additional changes to the iPhone app, but Bing says it wants people to discover them for themselves rather than telling you what they are.

    “On iPad, we have taken advantage of the latest in iOS8 to make the experiences you already use even more powerful,” Bing says. “The translate extension that we brought to our iPhone app a couple months ago is now available on iPad so that you can instantly translate web pages in either the Bing app or your default browser to a desired language.”

    The Bing widget for the Notification Center will also serve the Bing image of the day and trending stories.

    Image via Bing

  • Google Drive Gets New Features On Android, iOS (Also In Gmail)

    Google announced some new features for Google Drive on Android and iOS. On Android, users can search for files in Drive from the main Google app.

    Google explains, “For example, you could say ‘OK, Google — search for holiday letter on Drive’ to get to your files without opening the app and typing keywords.”

    On iOS, you can add files to Drive by uploading content from other iOS apps.

    On both platforms, you can now access and share maps you create with Google My Maps. Google added My Maps to Google Drive last week.

    There is also some helpful, new Google Drive functionality in Gmail. As Google explains in a Google+ post:

    There are now more ways to share Drive files with friends and family through Gmail, without having to worry about accidentally removing their access. By selecting the “Insert as Attachment” option from Drive you’ll be able to attach non-Google files directly to your Gmail message.

    Now you can be sure your friend will always have that great candid photo from your weekend getaway, or the PDF for your aunt’s fruitcake recipe (do people actually eat Fruitcake?) even if you delete it from your Drive. 

    The new iOS app is currently available in the App Store. The Android update will be rolling out over the next week.

    Image via Google

  • You Can Search Google News Archives Again

    Google News used to have an archive search feature. It enabled you to search back through the years for old news stories. This can sometimes be helpful in research (obviously).

    A few years ago, Google pulled the plug on it, but now it’s back. Google announced this in the Google News Publishers forum (via Search Engine Roundtable):

    Great news–we’ve re-enabled archives search! Our team listened to all your feedback you left here in the forum, and was hard at work to bring you an even better archive experience. From all the posts we received, we heard loud and clear how important these archives are to our users. You can now go digging back in time to 2003. Search on…)

    You used to be able to search back much further as Google provided old, scanned newspapers. Now it appears we’ll only be able to search back through just after Google News launched (which was in 2002).

    This comes as Google is about to shut down Google News in Spain because of a law that would require it to pay publishers to use snippets of content. Publishers, however, are trying to stop that from happening.

    Image via Google

  • Facebook Gets Rid Of Bing In Search Results

    Last week, Facebook began rolling out an update to its search experience, finally enabling users to search keywords and get actual posts from their network. One part of the update that the company didn’t exactly announce, but that some have noticed, is that the search experience no longer includes web results from Bing .

    Facebook and Bing have been partners for years. In addition to Facebook getting some special treatment in Bing’s own results, Bing has been the supplier of supplemental search results in Facebook searches. When no actual content from Facebook was a right fit for a search, web results from Bing were offered as kind of a last resort for information retrieval.

    It’s unclear how often people actually used these Bing results from Facebook searches. My guess is not very. I can only speak for myself, but I can probably count the times I’ve relied on these results for finding something on one hand. Maybe less.

    Facebook appears to not value them much either. Now, when you search Facebook for something, you’re presented with these options: Posts, People, Photos, Pages, Places, ,Groups, Apps, and Events. If you can’t find what you’re looking for from those options, why are you even searching on Facebook to begin with? That seems to be the mentality of Facebook.

    Apparently Facebook’s relationship with Microsoft hasn’t completely ended. Reuters shared a statement from the social network:

    “We’re not currently showing web search results in Facebook Search because we’re focused on helping people find what’s been shared with them on Facebook,” a company spokesperson told Reuters. “We continue to have a great partnership with Microsoft in lots of different areas.”

    I guess Facebook has the upper hand in that relationship. It gets its content on Microsoft’s search engine, and Microsoft gets…the privilege of showing Facebook content to its users?

    Image via Facebook

  • Yahoo Tells Users To ‘Upgrade’ To Firefox

    As you may know, Yahoo recently secured a five-year deal with Mozilla to become the default search engine for the Firefox web browser in the U.S. This went into effect with the latest Firefox release, which was launched last week.

    Now, Yahoo is going so far as to tell users on its various web properties, including its popular homepage, to “upgrade to the new Firefox.” They’re not just telling Firefox users to upgrade to the new version. They’re telling other users, like those using Chrome, to “upgrade” to it.

    You’ll also see it at Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, and elsewhere.

    Yahoo stands to gain a lot if it can get more people to opt for Firefox over Chrome, as it could put a bigger dent in Google’s share of the search market. An early report from StatCounter after the latest version of Firefox was release found that a lot more people started searching with Yahoo. In fact, Yahoo saw a 3x jump in Firefox searches right after the update.

    The firm found that Yahoo usage on Firefox 34 was 29.4% compared to 9.6% for Firefox 33. Google search usage by Firefox users dropped from 82.1% to 63.5% as they upgraded to the new version, it found, and Bing declined from 6.5% on Firefox 33 to 5.8% on Firefox 34.

    Even ahead of the Firefox deal, Yahoo’s search business was looking up. This should help add some momentum to that, and help the company’s search revenue even more.

    Via TechCrunch

    Image via Yahoo

  • Google App For iOS Gets An Overhaul

    Google has released a new version of the Google app for iOS, which makes use of Material Design, as the company has been injecting into its various Android apps since releasing Lollipop.

    The app lets users see and return to their recently visited pages or start a new search with one tap. It also lets you find nearby places and access maps from within the app.

    “When you’re busy searching for everything from your favorite online stores to the hours of the local ice skating rink to recipes for gingerbread cookies—likely all at the same time—the new ‘recents’ button helps keep you organized,” says product manager Nick Hobbs. “Tap it and you’ll find recently viewed pages open and waiting for you. Flip through them with a flick of your finger to juggle all your tasks.”

    You also no longer have to worry about how to get back to the mic (or search box if you’re more of a typing, um, type) to ask your next question. The new Google button at the bottom of the app will take you right back there with one tap,” adds Hobbs. “Last but not least: you can now search Google Maps within the Google app! Now, whenever you search for a place—whether it’s a tree farm or a restaurant after a long day of shopping—you’ll see a map right there with the results. You can get a quick sense of where you’re headed, or even explore Street View if you want to take a closer look. When you’re ready to get going, your trusted Google Maps app will be waiting a tap away with directions.”

    The app is currently available in the App Store.

    Image via iTunes

  • Annie Jump Cannon Gets Google Doodle On 151st Birthday

    Annie Jump Cannon is the subject of a doodle today on Google’s homepage, as the search giant celebrates her 151st birthday.

    Cannon was an astronomer whose work was considered instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. She, along with Edward C. Pickering, is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme. This is said to be the first “serious attempt” to organize and classify stars based on temperature.

    Cannon’s astronomy career spanned 40 years, and during that time, helped women gain respect within the scientific community. She died in 1941, the year after she retired. The American Astronomical Society presents an award in her name to female astronomers each year.

    Space has been of particular interest lately when it comes to Google doodles. The company recently ran one to celebrate the Philae probe, which soft-landed on a comet.

    Image via Google

  • Google: Clicks On App Deep Links Jumped By 10x Last Quarter

    Google started testing app indexing on Android in October of last year, adding deep links from apps within search results on its operating system. In June, they opened it up to everyone.

    On Tuesday, Google provided an update on what’s going on with it, encouraging more webmasters to take advantage. What’s going on with it is that clicks on app deep links jumped by 10x last quarter, according to the company, with 15% of signed-in Google searches on Android now returning deep links.

    In other words, the amount of these types of results is growing, and people are clicking on them more, so you might want to get your app in the mix, especially considering that Google is increasingly focusing on a site’s mobile user experience when it comes to ranking mobile results (though they do still take desktop signals into consideration).

    Google’s app indexing update includes four steps to monitor app performance and drive user engagement, which include: Give your app developer access to Webmaster Tools; Understand how your app is doing in search results; Make sure key app resources can be crawled; and Watch out for Android App errors. Obviously they go into more detail about how to achieve all of this.

    Information related to app indexing that Google shows in Webmaster Tools includes: errors in indexed pages within apps, weekly clicks and impressions from app deep links via Google search; and stats on your sitemap (if that’s how you implemented the app deep links). Google says it will be adding a lot more in the coming months.

    There are two new ways to track performance for your app deep links. Google will send a weekly clicks and impressions update to the Message center in in WMT, and you can now track how much traffic app deep links drive to your app using referrer information (referrer extra in the ACTION_VIEW intent). The company says it’s working to integrate this info with Google Analytics.

    “Blocked resources are one of the top reasons for the ‘content mismatch’ errors you see in Webmaster Tools’ Crawl Errors report,” says Google Webmaster Trends analyst Mariya Moeva. “We need access to all the resources necessary to render your app page. This allows us to assess whether your associated web page has the same content as your app page.”

    “To help you identify errors when indexing your app, we’ll send you messages for all app errors we detect, and will also display most of them in the ‘Android apps’ tab of the Crawl errors report,” Moeva says.

    Google has three new error types that go along with the existing “content mismatch” and “intent URI not supported” error alerts: APK not found, no first-click free, and back button violation. Check out the original post for more on all of this.

    You can bet that app indexing is only going to become a bigger part of mobile search, so if you have an app, you should probably start paying attention to this stuff. Otherwise, you might find yourself left behind on mobile search. And who knows? That could even affect you on the desktop eventually.

    Image via Google

  • Bing Adds Quick Answers For Local Info

    Bing Adds Quick Answers For Local Info

    Microsoft announced that Bing will now display quick answers to queries related to local information. These come in the form of “facts” at the top of the search page, which provide things like phone numbers for restaurants, hours of local stores, and directions to people’s houses.

    “Need help figuring out whether that unbelievable sale item is still around and you can’t waste another moment? Or want to celebrate your savings with a nice dinner? Just search for the phone number and we’ll give it to you right there,” says Microsoft. “Now, how to get there? Just ask for directions and you can see a quick answer showing the best route with distance and travel time information. Click on turn by turn directions to get the full route details.”

    Examples of queries you could use (as provided by Microsoft) include: How to reach 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 from Brooklyn?; Directions to 920 Dexter Ave N, Seattle, WA; Travel time to 440 Terry Ave, Seattle.

    You can also use “reviews” or “address” commands for places.

    The directions feature is currently only available in the US, UK and France, while reviews and address answers are only available on desktop.

    Images via Microsoft

  • Yahoo Sees 3x Jump In Firefox Searches With Browser Update

    As you may know, Yahoo recently entered a five-year partnership with Mozilla to see Yahoo Search become the default search experience in Firefox. This is a big deal in search because the browser has had Google in this spot for the past decade. It gives Yahoo a chance to gain some searches it wasn’t otherwise getting.

    The first version of Firefox – 34 – to utilize Yahoo as the default launched this week, and it appears to already be helping Yahoo significantly.

    StatCounter says on December 2nd in the US, Yahoo search was used three times more on Firefox 34 than on Firefox 33.

    The firm found that Yahoo usage on Firefox 34 was 29.4% compared to 9.6% for Firefox 33. Google search usage by Firefox users dropped from 82.1% to 63.5% as they upgraded to the new version, it found, and Bing declined from 6.5% on Firefox 33 to 5.8% on Firefox 34.

    While this is obviously a limited data set, this brings up a pretty interesting point in that Mozilla’s move to Yahoo could actually hurt Bing. In the past, users who simply didn’t want to use Google may have switched their search preference to Bing, whereas now, perhaps they’re more likely to just leave it at Yahoo.

    We’ll look forward to seeing an update on these numbers as users have had more time to update their browsers and their search preferences.

    “Firefox 34 is still being rolled out so its usage is currently quite low. It will be interesting to see how this develops,” said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. “At the moment the change is having a negligible impact on overall search share in the US, but if this early usage trend on Firefox 34 continues then Yahoo could be on course to gain a number of percentage points.”

    According to StatCounter, on December 2nd, overall search share across all browsers in the US was 78% for Google, 12.4% for Bing and 7.9% for Yahoo.

    In the meantime, it seems Yahoo and Bing are vying to replace Google as the default experience for Apple’s Safari browser, which should have a significant impact on market share for either. It remains to be seen whether or not Apple moves away from Google here, but if past moves by the company are any indication, it’s a very real possibility.

    Yahoo’s most recent earnings report illustrated that its search business has begun to perform better than its display ad business. It’s deals to become the search provider for third-party services that give engines like Yahoo and Bing the best chance to gain some market share against Google.

    Image via StatCounter